head of the Border family of Scott, of which Sir Walter Scott was one of the branches. This young man, in a scolding tone of voice, which even his own side of the House felt was very injudicious in him to assume, railed away at the manufacturers because, he said, they made such a deal of money. If they could contrive to get a handsome profit on their capital by the exertion of their industry and skill, how hard it was not to let the poor landlords try to turn a penny by means of an act of parliament. Besides, the duration of life was longer, on the average, in the rural than in the manufacturing districts—a strong reason for keeping out foreign corn. This sort of logic may perhaps answer amongst a majority of the landlords and even the farmers of Roxburghshire, where there is a strong objection to manufactures, even to paper mills; but what would the honourable and astute Mr. Francis Scott say to an act of parliament compelling the farmers and landlords of Roxburghshire to sell all their produce to themselves!
"Two whig agricultural protectionists spoke in the debate, Lord Worsley and Mr. Herbert Cartels. Lord Worsley is the eldest son of the Earl of Yarborough, whose property in Lincolnshire has become a princely one, by dint of spirited expenditure and improvement. But yet, in spite of the evidence before his own eyes, that, with capital and skill, British agriculture may defy the world, Lord Worsley clings to protection as if it had been the source and origin of Lincolnshire prosperity. Lord Worsley is a very respectable young nobleman, and is staunch to his party, except on the Corn Laws. The other whig who spoke, Mr. Herbert Curteis, is member for Rye, and a Sussex landlord. He is a very honourable, spirited, out-spoken man, though mistaken in his corn policy, for, while he would venture the length of a moderate fixed duty, he is so afraid of total repeal that, rather than have that, he would keep up the sliding scale, the pernicious influence of which he acknowledges. He confessed that Mr. Cobden had made so fair a speech that he would vote for the committee, if he were not afraid that his vote would be misconstrued by his agricultural friends and neighbours.
"Colonel Sibthorp spoke, of course; and he made one of those droll speeches which set everybody laughing, not with but at him. He professed great horror of the League, a paper which he would not tolerate on the table of his house. But how does he know what it contains, unless he sometimes reads it? There can be little doubt that the gallant colonel reads the League; and, if he does, its influence can hardly be very despicable, after all. It may be a consolation to him to know that its weekly circulation is about twenty thousand copies.
"Mr. Villiers took up the cudgels for Colonel Sibthorp, and told the Ministerial side of the House that it was both ungrateful and audacious