JET. 34.] THE ORDERS IN COUNCIL. 13 



the furious roaring with which the attack on him was 

 received. 



" Our division is a good one, and by following it up 

 with petitions an American war may be prevented. 

 If petitions come to Parliament this may be done, and 

 the ministers may be driven from the Orders in Coun- 

 cil. Those measures are materially damaged ; but the 

 country must follow up the blow if it would see them 

 given up. My best regards to Mr Martin, Mr Eoscoe, 

 and our other friends; and believe me ever yours truly, 



" H. BROUGHAM." 



Petitions against the Orders were from time to time 

 presented in both Houses in the Lords by Lord Fitz- 

 william and the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Lauderdale 

 and Lord Derby ; in the Commons by General Gas- 

 coigne, myself, and many others. These petitions 

 showed incontestably the great distress and pressure 

 under which the manufacturing and commercial in- 

 terests all over the country laboured. 



The result was, that on the 28th of April the Gov- 

 ernment agreed that the inquiry should be taken be- 

 fore a committee of the whole House, to sit de die in 

 diem; and agreed to my motion that witnesses from 

 Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, and 

 elsewhere, should be summoned to attend. 



The committee began its sittings on the 5th of 

 May a committee of the whole House in the Lords 

 also going into the inquiry, and sitting from day 

 to day. 



I had for about a fortnight, with the help of Alex- 

 ander Baring, been carrying on the inquiry, by exam- 

 ining witnesses and debating questions as they arose 



