John Russell as standing with a dogged pertinacity, the type, in that House, of a fixed duty which no one wanted, and Sir Robert Peel as combining very good principles with very bad practice, concluded by saying:—"I am perfectly certain that, if at this moment there were, from any overruling circumstances, a change of opinion in this House; if gentlemen were to say to their tenants, 'We are prepared to meet you on fair terms; you have not the interest which you fancy you have in these laws; and we are quite prepared to enter upon the question of leases with you, with a view to an alteration; we are quite prepared to provide against that confusion;' for I will not mince the matter; I know there must be confusion for a certain period (hear);—'we are quite willing to assist you for two or three years after your protection is withdrawn, and we will then let you hold your land on terms which will be advantageous to all parties.' I venture to say that there is not a tenant farmer in this country who would not gladly close with his landlord on such terms. I say, then, that the question being one in the settlement of which not merely the landlords but the whole population of this country have a direct interest, and one which has so close a connexion with the discontent of large classes of the community, it would be a much wiser, a much more honourable, a much more straightforward, and a much more profitable course for honourable gentlemen opposite to look at this question manfully, instead of staving off the evil hour, as they will do to-night, by a large majority of votes, without convincing any human being that they have one single argument in their justification." Sir John Trollope vindicated the protection societies, and made a short speech in defence of the Corn Laws.
Mr. Milner Gibson spoke indignantly of the insinuation that the incendiarism in some of the agricultural districts had been occasioned by anti-corn-law agitation. He said:
"I must say we have a right to ask the right honourable
