ABSTRACT
The general election of 1841 was one of extraordinary importance. It was not that any one great question was now, as in 1831, to be settled by a House of Commons, which should be, in fact, an assemblage of delegates; but that something yet more important should be done. The Premier had pronounced the proposal of corn-law reform mad; and Lord J. Russell had called it mischievous, absurd, impracticable, and unnecessary. He had resisted such proposals ever since he came into office, – at first contemptuously, and then vehemently; and when he at last, and somewhat suddenly, declared himself in favor of a moderate fixed duty, he had no right to expect the support of the nation. The more sagacious and better educated among them put their conviction into words; but many thousands felt and acted upon the conviction who could not put it into words.
