XXXVIII. 1841. CHAP. of the East India Company, have also gone down. We are now pursuing monopoly into its last stronghold-we are assailing the monopoly of trade. Our opponents have not spoken out equally explicitly: they have not told us what they propose to do; but I will venture to say that before these discussions are brought to a close they will be obliged to speak out. It is due to themselves, to us, and to the country, that their opinions on these important matters should no longer be shrouded in mysterious silence, or concealed by evasive declarations. We have a right to call upon them, not to give us a new budget, for that we do not want, and would not accept if offered us; but to tell us, ay or no, whether they will adopt the principles on which we have founded our budget, and of which the country has unequivocally expressed its approbation. But I will venture to predict, that although they may resist those measures tonight for the sake of obtaining a majority in the division, yet if they should come into office, these are the mea1 Parl. Deb. sures which a just regard for the finances and commerce of the country will compel them themselves to propose to carry." 1 lviii. 642, 663. 53. on this debate. "1 Memorable in many respects as the harbinger of the Reflections fall of the great party which for eleven years, with the intermission of a few months, had governed the country, this debate is still more remarkable as the first unqualified declaration of the principles of Free Trade; and never, certainly, were they more ably and manfully stated than by Lord Palmerston on this occasion. Equally remarkable was the prophecy, so soon destined to be fulfilled, that if Sir R. Peel and his party themselves came into power, they would be compelled themselves to embrace and adopt these principles. Nor is the debate less worthy of attention as exhibiting the rhetorical skill of these two great masters of the art of oratory. On the one hand, Sir R. Peel, carefully avoiding committing himself to any general principles, excepting the maintenance of the slid XXXVIII. 1841. ing scale and the protective duties on sugar, was seeking CHAP. to run the debate into a censure of the plans proposed by Ministers, and sarcastic remarks on the deficit in which they had landed the nation; on the other hand, Lord Palmerston carefully eschewed these unfavourable topics, and intrenched himself in the principles of Free Trade, which his practised eye already told him would ere long obtain the ascendancy in the country. 54. measures. want of June 4. Every one saw that the decisive majority of 36 against Ministers on this vital question had numbered the days of Subsequent the Government, and it was generally expected that they Vote of would announce their resignations next evening in Par- confidence. liament. Contrary to expectation, however, this was not done; on the contrary, Lord John Russell contented himself with announcing that on the Monday following he should move the annual sugar duties, and on the 4th June bring forward the question of the Corn Laws. It was now evident that Government meant to evade the question of the budget, and, anticipating a deficit on the corn duties, would dissolve with a view to raising the cry of cheap bread. The skilful leader of the Opposition took his measures accordingly. When the question of the sugar-tax came on, he seconded the Chancellor of the Exchequer's motion that the existing duties should be continued for a year, and gave notice of a motion of want of confidence in Ministers, to come on on the 31st May.* It came on accordingly, and, after a debate of four nights, was carried against Ministers by a majority of ONE. It is remarkable how many decisive votes, both in France and England, have been carried by the same slender majority.1 The vote which ushered in the French Parl. Deb. Revolution in 1789, that which introduced the Reform 706, 1241. Bill in England in 1831, and that which finally dis "That her Majesty's Ministers do not sufficiently possess the confidence of the House of Commons to enable them to carry through the home measures which they deem of essential importance to the public welfare, and that their continuance in office under such circumstances is at variance with the spirit of the constitution."-Parl. Deb. lviii. 1241. 1 lviii. 676, CHAP. placed the Whig Ministry, were all carried by a majority XXXVIII. 55. of Parlia ment. June 29. of one. 1841. Upon this Ministers very properly agreed to evade all Dissolution further discussion on the Corn Laws, to take a vote of supply for a few months, and then to appeal at once to the nation, which was finally to determine between them and their antagonists. This proposal was immediately agreed to by the Opposition. The remaining business of the session, which was chiefly of a formal nature, was rapidly hurried over, all measures of importance being dropped on both sides. The house quickly emptied, every one hurrying to the country to canvass his constituents; and on the 23d June, Parliament was prorogued by the Queen 1 Parl. Deb. in person. On the 29th of the same month it was dissolved by royal proclamation, and writs for a new Parliament issued, returnable on the 19th August.1 June 23. June 29. Iviii. 1274, 1595. 56. excitement country. Immense was the excitement which followed in the Immense country upon this appeal from the Sovereign to the in the people. Every one saw that the fate of the Ministry would depend upon the result of the contest, and this, more than the measures to be pursued by Government, or any abstract questions of commercial or social policy, was the issue upon which the rival parties went to the nation. It is true, the Conservatives, or "Protectionists," as they now began to be called, loudly declaimed, on the hustings and in the press, on the injury to native industry, both at home and in the colonies, which would ensue from the proposed reduction in the duties on foreign corn, sugar, and timber, and opposed to the cry of "cheap bread," which was loudly sounded on the other side, the cry of "low wages," held out as the inevitable consequence of any considerable reduction in the price of corn. Free Trade was the staple of the Whigs on this occasion; they stigmatised their opponents everywhere as monopolists; and whatever may be the real merits of that question, or its ultimate effects, XXXVIII. 1841. to them belongs the credit of having first and most man- CHAP. fully asserted it. But though they wisely, and with just foresight, endeavoured to run the contest into one of Free Trade or Protection, the people could not be brought to regard it generally in that light. They persisted in regarding it as a question of men, not measures; not whether the Liberal movement was or was not to be carried on, but whether Sir R. Peel or Lord Melbourne were to direct it. The majority of the nation were against them on that question. They were alarmed at the distress which had so long pervaded the country, and the serious deficit which had of late years appeared in the finances; they doubted the ability of the Whig Ministry to fill it up, from a conviction that they were not men of business habits or acquirements; and they distrusted the sincerity of the recent declarations of the Cabinet in favour of Free Trade, when the Premier had so lately pronounced the repeal of the Corn Laws the most insane project that ever entered the human head, and Lord John Russell had declared it to be absurd, mischievous, and impracticable. These were the views which divided and broke down the Liberal majority in the boroughs. In the counties the case was different. The contest was more taken up as one between low and high prices, paid and unpaid rents; and the agricultural interest stood shoulder to shoulder in a contest in which they considered 1841, 143, their means of existence and that of their families was at ii. 471, 472. stake.1 1 Ann. Reg. 144; Mart. the elec favour of The elections began as soon as the writs reached the 57. several returning-officers; and the result soon showed how Result of great a change the four last disastrous years had wrought tions dein the public mind, especially in the larger boroughs and citedly in manufacturing districts. London, as usual, was the first the Tories. in which elections took place; and the issue of the contest was ominous of the general return, and of the fate of the Administration. Four Conservative candidates there CHAP. appeared to contest the representation with the four XXXVIII. Liberals, including Lord John Russell, who had held it 1841. ever since the Reform Bill passed; and the result was that two of them were returned, a Conservative (Mr Masterman) being at the head of the poll, and Lord John at its foot. In the counties, a large majority generally appeared for the Conservatives in the English counties the majority was so great, that, excepting in a few places where the hereditary influence of a few old Whig families was not to be overcome, it may be said to have been overwhelming. Even Lord Morpeth was defeated in the West Riding of Yorkshire by a majority of 1100, by an opponent whom at the last election he had worsted by a similar majority, although he made a speech on his overthrow so eloquent and full of generous feeling, that every one who heard it declared he never would be in a minority again. Lord Howick was worsted in Northumberland, Mr O'Connell in Dublin, for which city two Conservatives were returned. Even in Westminster, the stronghold of the Liberal party in the metropolis, Sir De Lacy Evans, a stanch Radical, was compelled to yield to Captain Rous, a decided Tory. The result of the contest was more favourable to the Conservatives than their most sanguine supporters had anticipated, for it showed a majority in the whole United Kingdom of 76 in favour of Sir R. Peel. In England the Conservative majority was 1841, 145, 104; which was reduced to 76 by a Liberal majority of ii. 471, 472. 9 in Scotland, and 19 in Ireland! A striking proof how much greater and more lasting had been the change 1 Ann. Reg. 147; Mart. * NUMBERS AT ELECTIONS OF 1837 AND 1841 FOR THE WEST RIDING. This change was the more remarkable, that the West Riding was one of the |