import of foreign grains with a duty that would progressively decrease until it was
completely abolished in eight years. After three days of debate, it became clear that
Peel’s proposal would provoke resignations and thus fracture the cabinet. Consequently,
on December 6, Peel resigned as prime minister.
His absence from government was short. Due to a disagreement over the
allocation of cabinet posts within a Whig administration, Russell was unable to form a
new government. The Queen called on Peel to form another Conservative ministry.
While dissent remained in the cabinet toward abolishing the Corn Laws, its opponents
realized that their political options had been severely constrained by Peel’s and Russell’s
respective decisions to support free trade. Some change to the Corn Laws was inevitable.
The choice to Conservative protectionists was either to remain in government or in
opposition while this legislation passed. Apart from Lord Stanley, they chose the former.
After Peel presented a plan to eliminate gradually the Corn Laws at the end
January, the British parliament spent the next six months debating this legislation. Peel’s
proposal would reduce the existing duties on Corn and abolish them completely in three
years. His plan included spending for rural highway development and public loans for
agricultural improvements as compensation to landholders for lower grain prices. While
substantial public support for these proposals existed, Peel knew that his time in office
was limited. Passage of his tariff revision required support from the Whig opposition that
would only last until that legislative initiative was accomplished. Once his revision to the
Corn Laws was passed at the end of June, this support was withdrawn along with that of
protectionist Conservatives that sought to punish him for abandoning the majority of his
party. Peel’s conservative cabinet fell with his resignation on June 26—a day after his
Corn Law bill had passed the House of Lords.
29
Convention