enormous power and patronage for personal or factional rule. Sir
Herbert Maxwell, the Duke's latest biographer, has attempted to
describe the Duke's political creed by coining a term. He was not
"an impracticable Tory," as the Reformers would name him, nor yet
a mere "Tory opportunist," as sterner Tories would have it. "He
was a possiblist rather than an opportunist, prepared to resist
change as long as possible, but to give way rather than throw the
power into the hands of those (Radicals) who, he honestly
believed, would wreck the realm."

Wellington was foreign secretary in Peel's first cabinet (1834-
35), and commander-in-chief in the second (1841-46). His lifelong
political theory is well exemplified by his words when notified
by the Prime Minister, in November, 1845, of his intention to
suspend the Corn Laws, an act most offensive to his party and
social class. "My only object in public life is to support Sir
Robert Peel's administration of the government for the Queen. A
good government for the country is more important than Corn
Laws." In much the same words the aged leader addressed the House
of Lords in behalf of Peel's Corn Bill, and though bitterly
opposed to the measure, they accepted his guidance and gave the
bill their assent. In 1848 there were many who believed that the
country was on the brink of a revolution. The Chartist agitation
was culminating in the presentation of the great petition to
Parliament, and half a million men were to escort it from
Kennington to Westminster. Wellington was nearing his seventy-
ninth birthday, but the government turned to him to organize the
defense of the capital against mob violence. The old warrior-
blood warmed in his veins, and he amazed the ministers by the
clearness of his plans and the energy and decision with which he