I ask him to show on public grounds the justice of this lay. I do not ask him to do that which ho is so competent to do us a mere slashing debater—to engage in personal skirmishes in this House —but I demand of him to show on public grounds the justice and policy of this system of protection. If he and the right honourable baronet, or either of them, will rise in this House to defend this system, then it will go forth to the country, and the people of England will see whether the arguments of my honourable friend the member for Wolverhampton ere Bound and supported by reason and facts, or whether those principles on which you are going to vote on the other side are so founded. But I appeal to you on this occasion not to go to a division until you have given us some argument to show the justice and soundness of the views you profess to entertain."
Sir Robert Peel commenced his speech with a bad joke:
"Sir Robert Peel said they had been engaged that night for the benefit of the company which usually performed at Covent Garden Theatre. During the greater portion of the performance, the front rank of the Opposition benches had been deserted, their usual occupants absent, perhaps, from a lively recollection of the assistance given by the members of the Anti-Core-Law League the other night 'at my benefit.' Mr. Cobden complained of the habit of calling names—bad practice, but one of which the Anti-Corn-Law League had set a prominent example, and, by attributing selfish motives to honourable men, had raised up that feeling of indignation which had greatly diminished their own power and influence. The moderate tune adopted in the present discussion was an indication that they felt the recoil of the weapons they had abused. The agriculture of this country was entitled to protection from reasons both of justice and policy; there were peculiar and special burdens borne by the agriculturists; and there were not ten reflecting men out of the Anti-Corn-Law League who did not believe that a sudden withdrawal of protection, whether it were given to domestic or colonial produce, would cause great confusion and embarrassment. In the artificial state of society in which we lived, we could not act on mere abstract, philosophical maxims, which, isolated, he could not contest; they must look to the circumstances under which we have grown up, and the interests involved. Ireland dependent on England for & market for her agricultural produce was a case point. He was not prepared to alter the Corn Law of 1812, and did not contemplate it. Seeing that Lord John Russell bad avowed himself a consistent friend to protection, and was opposed to total repeal, he thought he was somewhat squeamish in flying from his difficulty and declining to vote against the motion.
