Yet the newspapers had noticed the unusual
occurrence of four cabinet meetings in one week. The original statement
was confirmed. The ministry was pledged to support the measure. The hour
had come, the doom of the corn laws was sealed. Mr. Gladstone's thoughts
and labors for some years past had been leading him away from
Protection, in which he had been brought up, in the direction of Free
Trade; and although he was unable to participate in the last part of the
struggle in Parliament, because he was not a member of the House, he was
yet in harmony with Sir Robert Peel, and indeed is said to have
converted the Premier to Free Trade views. Such a change of views was
not the sudden impulse of an hour. The next step was to announce his
changed convictions. And so upon other occasions in his life, his
attitude on the question of the corn laws led to his separation from
some old and greatly cherished political and personal friends, and among
the first to disapprove of his new departure must have been his own
father, who would think his son was going to ruin the country.
The Duke of Buccleuch and Lord Stanley informed Sir Robert Peel that
they could not support a measure for the repeal of the corn laws, and
Sir Robert Peel, being doubtful whether he could carry through the
proposed measure in the face of such opposition, tendered his
resignation as premier to the Queen.
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