dismay; and the Duke of Buckingham withdrew from the Cabinet. "This is a
step in the right way," said the opponents of Ministers, "but it will
clearly cost Peel his place--then _we_ return, and will go the rest of
the journey, and quickly arrive at the goal of free-trade in corn, and
every thing else, except those particular articles in which _we_ deal,
and which must be protected, for the benefit of the country, against
foreign competition." Then the Radical journals teemed with joyful
paragraphs, announcing that Sir Robert Peel's ministry was already
crumbling to pieces! The farmers, it would seem, were every where up in
arms; confusion (and something a vast deal worse!) was drunk at all
their meetings, to Peel! Nevertheless, these happy things came not to
pass; Sir Robert Peel's Ministry _would_ not fall to pieces; and the
curses of the farmers came not so fast or loud as their eager
disinterested friends could have wished! To be serious, the alteration
of the Corn-Laws was undoubtedly a very bold one, but the result of most
anxious and profound consideration. A moment's reflection of the
character and circumstances of the Ministry who proposed it, served
first to arrest the apprehensions entertained by the agricultural
interest; while the thorough discussions which took place in Parliament,
demonstrating the necessity of _some_ change--the moderation and caution
of the one proposed--several undoubted and very great improvements in
details, and, above all, _a formal recognition of the principle of
agricultural protection_, still further allayed the fears of the most
timorous. To _us_ it appears, that the simple principle of a scale of
duties, adapted to admit foreign corn when we want it, and exclude it
when we can grow sufficient ourselves, is abundantly vindicated, and
will not be disturbed for many years to come, if even then. Has this
principle been surrendered by Sir Robert Peel? It has not; and we
venture to express our confident belief, that it never will. He cannot,
of course, prevent the subject from being mooted during the ensuing