'Something is to be written.' It is curious to recall the vague terms in
which the first projection of documents, that are to exercise a vast
influence on the course of affairs or the minds of nations, is often
mentioned. This 'something to be written' was written; and speedily; and
has ever since been talked of.

We believe we may venture to assume that at no period during the movements
of 1834-5 did Sir Robert Peel ever believe in the success of his
administration. Its mere failure could occasion him little
dissatisfaction; he was compensated for it by the noble opportunity
afforded to him for the display of those great qualities, both moral and
intellectual, which the swaddling-clothes of a routine prosperity had long
repressed, but of which his opposition to the Reform Bill had given to the
nation a significant intimation. The brief administration elevated him in
public opinion, and even in the eye of Europe; and it is probable that a
much longer term of power would not have contributed more to his fame.

The probable effect of the premature effort of his party on his future
position as a Minister was, however, far from being so satisfactory. At
the lowest ebb of his political fortunes, it cannot be doubted that Sir
Robert Peel looked forward, perhaps through the vista of many years, to a
period when the national mind, arrived by reflection and experience at
certain conclusions, would seek in him a powerful expositor of its
convictions. His time of life permitted him to be tranquil in adversity,
and to profit by its salutary uses. He would then have acceded to power as
the representative of a Creed, instead of being the leader of a
Confederacy, and he would have been supported by earnest and enduring
enthusiasm, instead of by that churlish sufferance which is the result of
a supposed balance of advantages in his favour. This is the consequence of