1826.] Machineri^-diUrcsses. 563 



out of fashion, for men in public life, and almost now-a-days in private 

 life, to state roundly and plainly the real grounds of their conduct. The 

 measure is neither more nor less than a manojuvre to bcnoodle the 

 country gentlemen, or rather, without particular reference to them, an 

 expedient for pursuing a project, which the ministers every day give 

 fresU and fresh indications of a desire really and trul}' to accomplish — 

 free-trade by degrees — the most insane project that any set of statesmen 

 ever undertook. Free-trade, to be just, must be complete. Every step 

 towards it, is inflicting underservcd ruin or damage upon one part of 

 the community, and undeserved advantage upon another. The instinct 

 of the country-gentleman kindles his alarm ; but the foreign secretary 

 smothers the rising flame with a pile of splendid i)hrases. Through the 

 whole session there has been a deliberate intention to lay the rustics 

 asleep. First, it would be best to avoid discussing the question ; then, 

 no conceivable circumstances should induce them, this session, to stir 

 so im))ortant a subject. Mr. Whitmore fillips in vain. All the while 

 the resolution is taken, if not to annihilate the corn-laws, at least to get 

 the command of them into their own hands. They lie in wait — Grimal- 

 kin-like—for a favourable moment to pounce upon the precious spoil. 

 They have been in a desperate fright, lest no plausible pretence should 

 present itself; the session was gliding rapidly by, themselves desiring 

 to cut it short, and they were driven to seize the very first occasion 

 that could b}' possibility be wrested to their purpose — to relieve dis- 

 tress sounded nobly. Never was any measure so flimsily disguised. Tlie 

 ingenuity of the foreign secretary was sharply taxed to tack the two 

 things together, the measure, we mean, with its professed object. Not 

 every one would have been able to tie them together. The ministers are 

 said to have managed the whole question of relief miserably ; and on the 

 supposition that their measures were really intended to alleviate the 

 existing sufferings, we grant them bunglers ; but keeping our e^'e fixed 

 on the true object, we are compelled to vindicate the dexterity of their 

 management, and to allow that fi^w could have shewn equal address, 

 though all others we trust would have scorned to stoop to such con- 

 temptible manoeuvring. 



But to return to the ministers' evasive expedient : why could they 

 not have coupled this favourite measure of their own with the popular 

 one of relief? Why, when the exchequer was to receive two hundred 

 thousands by the duties, could they not have granted one of them to the 

 miserable weavers ? Why should they hesitate to face even Mr. Hume 

 with a proposal^ that would pay its own expenses, with a measure so 

 productive as to furnish the required relief, and still add to the 

 revenue ? We do not know ; perhaps the two objects were too much for 

 the grasp of their intellects ; or they have no talent for combinations ; 

 with many, one thing at a time is as much as they can well master. 



For our own parts, we would have had the whole subject brought fairly 

 before the House, have inquired honestly into the causes ; and had they 

 appeared to be of a temporary cast, we would have given the necessary 

 relief promptly, and dismissed the matter — conscious we had done our 

 duty ; and, on the other hand, had they proved of a permanent kind, as 

 we have no doubt they are, we would have looked the difficulty in the 

 face, and searched for adequate remedies. The question must still come 

 before them sooner or later — not now ; all myst give way to other busi- 

 ness, and they have enough upon their hands ; but we shall not be awrn 



4C2 



