Page:Life of the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel.pdf/16

bly cannot do otherwise than extend its influence to ours. My lords, we all must be aware that to that assembly there has befallen a great calamity in a great personal loss; and it would be extraordinary indeed if the deep voice of sorrow which has been raised there did not find an echo within these walls. My lords, as it appears to me, it is not the time to sit in judgment upon the political conduct—upon the public actions—of any great statesman the moment his presence is withdrawn. The conduct of every great public man, must abide the judgment of posterity—the actions of one generation must submit to the judgment of another, perhaps better qualified, by being farther away from the scenes of those actions, to contemplate and survey them in all their bearings and in all their results. But, my lords, there is one tribute at least due to the past exertions and final close of that distinguished public man's life, the value of which is important in proportion as it is instantaneous, that is, my lords, the expression of public sympathy unasked, unsolicited, unsought for—from all quarters and from all classes of society, attending—I wish I could add, cheering—the dying moments of such a man. Such sympathy and such feelings are unmixed with political opinions, and it is evident that your lordships are no less disposed than every other class of the community to offer your condolence on this melancholy occasion. For myself, I can only say that it has been my fortune, from a prolonged life, to witness the commencement and development of the career of the individual whom I must now unfortunately call the late Sir Robert Peel. I have witnessed his first exertions, and the commencement of that career which in the ordinary course of nature and human events I could not expect to see close. I have for more than forty years, perhaps more than many others, but certainly for a much longer time than many others, been made aware of the unremitting zeal with