might not have formed a majority in the present parliament, an appeal to the country would have given them power, not only to carry the repeal of the Corn Law triumphantly through the House of Commons, but to compel the Lords to yield to the demand for justice; that there were many conservatives who would have followed Peel in office who would not follow him when out of office, when that following would place them under the direction of Lord John Russell and the members of a former administration whom they had been in the habit of regarding as their political enemies; and that they would have been led or driven by Peel, but would neither be led on nor driven by Russell. It was foreseen, therefore, that an arduous struggle was to ensue—triumphant, no doubt, and triumphant sooner than anyone could have anticipated a few weeks before, but much more protracted and much more beset with formidable difficulties than it would have been, had Peel possessed the statesman-like courage to throw himself upon the country for support, and to treat with contempt the obstructive faction headed by the Duke of Wellington, the Duke of Buccleuch, and Lord Stanley,
While Lord John Russell, who had been brought hurriedly from Scotland, was endeavouring to form an administration, there was much speculation as to his power of carrying the object to which he had now given his adhesion. Although it was understood that Sir Robert Peel would give his assistance to the removal of the Corn Law, and that the Duke of Wellington would not be found amongst the obstructives of that great commercial and social reform, it required no extraordinary degree of foresight to be convinced that it was not to be obtained without a severe struggle, and probably not without the dissolution of a parliament pledged at its election to the principles of protection, The League was ready for the emergency—ready for a five year's energetic struggle, if it should be necessary. On Saturday, December 13th, upwards of seventy
