rious effects of the Corn Laws upon the interests of the agriculturists. Three were selected out of the number sent in; these were printed, and several hundred thousand copies were circulated, a large portion being distributed in the agricultural districts. This novel movement excited general attention; weekly meetings, attended by large numbers, were held in Manchester; and Mr. Cobden, Mr. Bright, Colonel Thompson, and others, set out on a tour, visiting all the large towns in Great Britain, addressing public audiences, and raising contributions in aid of the League Fund. This was followed by the erection of a building in Manchester, called the FREE TRADE HALL, capable of containing seven thousand individuals; and, finally, it was resolved to interest London in the agitation, by convening a great meeting of the League, to be held in the metropolis during the approaching session of Parliament. Towards the close of 1842 unequivocal indications of returning prosperity manifested themselves. The public revenue began to revive. Low prices, however they might have damaged the speculator, and crippled the farmer, were operating favourably for the country. Abundance and cheapness combined to inspire confidence, disengage capital, enlarge manufacturing industry, increase the amount of wages earned by the working classes, and consequently to augment the weekly fund which those who live by labour distribute to the bakers, the butchers, the grocers, and the tailors. At the same moment came the intelligence of PEACE with CHINA; and the merchants, the manufacturers, the traders-the makers of calico and the constructors of watches-rushed into speculation, in order to be first in this new Eastern market, the extent of which was deemed boundless. This event supplied the advocates of Free Trade with new arguments. "See!" they exclaimed to the landed aristocracy, "the Emperor of China is far wiser than you! Beaten by British valour, he submits with grace; opens the ports of his 'invisible world' to our manufactures at moderate import duties: but pays such high honour to FOOD, that the article itself, and the vessels in which it is carried, are exempted from all imposts whatever!" Such an argument as this told upon the public mind, which had sunk into a state of almost permanent depression; for, in spite of the evidence which revenue returns and statistical tables afforded, it required all the efforts of the daily and weekly newspapers to convince it that commercial prosperity was really returning. So passed the winter of 1842-3; and when Parliament assembled, the Chancellor of the Exchequer anticipated the opening of his budget with glee, because, for the first time since 1837, the words "surplus revenue" might be used without a mockery of national feeling. The Royal Speech, indeed, alluded, "with regret," to "the diminished receipts from some of the ordinary sources of revenue," and attributed it to the reduced consumption of many articles, caused by that depression of manufacturing industry which has so long prevailed." At the same time a hope was confidently expressed, that "the future produce of the revenue will be sufficient to meet every exigency of the public service." Still, the long-protracted suffering had left vivid traces of its effects; and the "state of the country" fully justified Lord Howick, now Earl Grey, in bringing forward a motion, when it was ascertained that the Government meant to do nothing. Just before this a most unfortunate circumstance occurred. Immediately previous to the meeting of Parliament, Mr. Edward Drummond, the private secretary of Sir Robert Peel, as well as his intimate personal friend, was shot, in open day, at Charing-Cross, by a maniac, the assassin mistaking him for the Prime Minister himself. The murder of this amiable, estimable, and intelligent gentleman preyed acutely on the feelings of Sir Robert Peel. Ever since 66 the Commissioners of Police have caused a policeman to watch the First Lord of the Treasury, in his walks between his residence and the House of Commons-a somewhat absurd regulation, for there is not a man in his senses who would "hurt a hair" on the head of Sir Robert Peel, while a dozen policemen might not be able to protect him, or any body else, from the deliberate aim of cunning insanity. Be this as it may, the unhappy death of Mr. Drummond caused a very singular and painful scene in the House of Commons. On the last night of the debate on Lord Howick's motion, Mr. COBDEN made a powerful speech, depicting the condition of the country, and throwing on Sir Robert Peel, as the head of the Government, the "responsibility" of such a state of things. Sir Robert Peel, much agitated, declared that by throwing on him "personal responsibility," he was marked out to the public eye. The inference was obvious. A wild and angry discussion arose as to whether Mr. Cobden had said or meant "personal" or ministerial" responsibility; but so excited were members, that, after the division, on passing out from the heated house into the cold streets, covered by a heavy fall of snow (it was about four o'clock in the morning), many of them, in covering themselves with their great-coats and cloaks, stood aloof from Mr. Cobden, as if he, too, were an assassin! That such a charge should have made a deep impression on the mind of Mr. Cobden, cannot be wondered at; and we should not mention the circumstance, were it not for the moral which it conveys. Mr. Cobden did not resort to the usual expedient for "vindicating his honour." He lived the calumny down; and had at last the satisfaction of receiving from Sir Robert Peel the unsolicited and voluntary expression of regret that he should have been hurried into such a groundless and shocking insinuation. 66 The return of commercial prosperity raised some expectation that the agitation on the subject of the Corn Law would subside. But though, to some extent, it was weakened, the long endurance of commercial distress had left too powerful an impression, while the men engaged in the controversy were too active, earnest, and determined, to permit it to die." And though the Government abstained from any extensive commercial legislation in 1843, they effectually repudiated Protection as a principle. In the debates of the session of that year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Goulburn, declared that the "abstract" truth of the principles of Free Trade had never been disputed. Mr. Gladstone said that there was no longer any doubt about their truth. And Sir James Graham emphatically announced that "the principles of Free Trade are the principles of common sense.' All this gave impetus to the discussion; and towards the close of the session, Mr. Cobden, rapidly rising in legislative character, made the House of Commons ring with one of his practical yet sterling sentences. Ridiculing the idea of preferring our colonial to our foreign trade, he called aloud, "It is with people we should deal, and not with barren wastes !" The Parliamentary session closed, not without discouragement to the Anti-CornLaw League; yet it redoubled its activity. A great meeting was held in CoventGarden Theatre, on the 28th of September, 1843, at which it was explained that the League had received upwards of FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS; and the mode of its expenditure was explained. They had printed and circulated nearly ten millions of tracts, the bare weight of which was one hundred tons-the moral weight being an afterconsideration. In addition to the tracts, six hundred and fifty lectures had been delivered, and one hundred and forty towns had been visited. Deputations had gone through nearly thirty counties; had addressed large audiences, and put themselves into communication with a main portion of the electoral body of the United Kingdom. Then came the plan for the future. Instead of FIFTY thousand pounds, which had been collected and spent, Mr. Cobden, in the name of the League, demanded ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS-a sum which, in the early stages of the agitation, would have been supposed to surpass all human credibility. The League, in fact, became bolder, as the impelling motives for the agitation seemed to abate. An intention was avowed of contesting every election for a Member of Parliament; and a solemn declaration was made, that the Anti-Corn-Law League abjured Protection for Manufactures, and demanded its unqualified removal from Corn. 7 Then, taking advantage of a fall of twenty shillings on the average price of corn, as compared with previous years, Mr. Cobden, accompanied by Mr. Bright, recently returned for Durham, set off to talk to all the farmers of the United Kingdom. "We are distressed," said the farmers. "Yes," said Mr. Cobden, "you are. Some 'time ago, we were very badly off, and you were tolerably well off. Now, we are getting better, and you are getting worse. It is two buckets in a well; as the one goes up, the other goes down." The "mind" of the agricultural constituency was disturbed and shaken by appeals like these. Nor was it the least striking portion of this extraordinary exhibition, that two manufacturers should be seen traversing the kingdom, expounding to the agriculturists the doctrines of political economy, and labouring, with a zeal and assiduity which may have been equalled, but has never been surpassed, to raise the intellect of the constituency of the empire to a level with the opinions which they themselves entertained. 66 A bolder step was in contemplation. Mr. Cobden, during his two sessional residences in London, consequent on his election for Stockport, had been drawn out of that provincialism in which his active mind had been embedded. His mental vision took a wider range. London, he felt, must be the head-quarters of a National agitation. He saw that Manchester, with all its energy, its enthusiasm, and its determination, was only Manchester, in the estimation of Great Britain and the world. He proposed a removal to the Council of the Anti-Corn-Law League. The idea staggered its members. "What!" they exclaimed, "leave warm Manchester for cold London! quit concentrated energy for diluted effort; remove from a town which has nursed your association from the feebleness of infancy to the athletic strength of manhood!" The appeal was a powerful one. Mr. Cobden felt it; but he persevered in his demand. 'Railroads," replied he, "will make London and Manchester one but let us remove our head-quarters to the commercial capital of the world." The demand was acceded to: but just before, an event occurred indicative of the extraordinary development of free-trade doctrines in the public mind. A gentleman, having a most remarkable talent for applying statistics to the commercial questions of the hour, Mr. James Wilson, started a weekly newspaper, which he still conducts, under the title of the Economist. This paper has become an authority on commercial and financial subjects; and has been repeatedly quoted in Parliament. Immediately after the Economist was started, the Anti-Corn-Law League removed its head-quarters to London; and carried on its operations on a more extended scale than ever. Large premises were taken; men of great ability were employed; advocates of free trade from the provinces found, in the public and in the private rooms of the Anti-Corn-Law League, a point of concentration, and a place where social hospitality might be enjoyed. And THE LEAGUE weekly newspaper was started-a huge advance on the Anti-Bread-Tax Circular. Then the metropolitan theatres were hired-first Drury-Lane, afterwards Covent-Garden—in which three thousand men and women weekly listened to popular speeches on economic doctrines, and showered on every orator the unfailing thunders of their applause. The Anti-Corn-Law League also meddled with elections. They fought, and they won, a contested election for the city of London against formidable odds; and though they lost ground at other elections, it was clear that the doctrines of free trade were taking possession of the commercial mind of the kingdom. Mr. Cobden suggested the idea of inducing supporters of free trade to buy up forty shilling freeholds, so as to counteract the power of the landed aristocracy in the counties with their influence over the fifty-pound tenants-at-will—an idea which has been extensively adopted in the manufacturing counties. And while Sir Robert Peel was giving impetus to free-trade doctrines, by successive legislative removals of restrictions on trade and commerce, the Anti-Corn-Law League was anything but idle. A great industrial exhibition was held at Covent-Garden Theatre during the summer of 1844, serving a double purpose of manifesting the extraordinary ingenuity and variety of our arts and manufactures, and of adding to the funds of the association. We are drawing too near to recent events to remain any longer historical. The railroad mania-the cold, wet autumn-the potato-rot-the apprehended famine in Ireland the resignation of Sir Robert Peel on the question of Free Trade-the failure of Lord John Russell to form an administration-the resumption of the government by Sir Robert Peel, and his free-trade measures-these are all questions of the hour, with which we cannot properly intermeddle. Four acts of the social drama have now passed; when the fifth has been concluded, we may resume the thread of the present discourse in the spirit of an impartial" Eye-Witness." A RIDDLE BY MR. CANNING. A FRIEND writes, "I see you give specimens of Mr. Praed's Riddles. Now I think your readers may be amused by seeing Mr. Canning in the character of a riddlemaker, His best-perhaps the best riddle extant-is the well-known one, 'A noun there is,' &c." Alas for fame! We have had some difficulty in getting a copy of this "well-known one;" but here it is, as expounded to us by a lady, who might have inspired the rhymes of the gallant statesman and wit, had they lived in the same generation : "A noun there is of plural number, |