At this very moment, with respect to corn, the stock of supply in this country is unusually small; and I shall move, therefore, for an account of the quantity that is now in bond. It is unusually small in consequence of your own law; and let it not be forgotten, when gentlemen refer, as I have sometimes seen them do with great satisfaction, to the failure of speculations in the foreign corn trade, that the consequences of the failure of these speculations are very often injurious, not only to those immediately engaged in them but to the whole country—manufacturing, commercial, and agricultural; that the indisposition to get together & supply, to make a store of corn on which this country can rely in case of a sudden failure in the harvest, is a national misfortune, and therefore, everything which tends to make this trade gambling and uncertain is a loss to the agricultural interests as well as to all others, and that no law based upon such principles can be for the permanent advantage of the country."
No other than the tu-quoque argument in reply to this could be expected. Sir James Graham durst not deny the evil of speculation and gambling, at a period of great uncertainty and danger; but when charged with being indifferent to the welfare of millions the answer to be expected was, "Why, so were you when you were in office"; and such was the reply, not with the blush of shame, but with the effrontery of triumph. He said:
