could be created and sustained,--a result at all times
and under any circumstances difficult to achieve, and which had failed
even under the auspices of accomplished and experienced statesmen. In
the present emergency, was there that degree of outraged public feeling
in the country, which would overcome all obstacles and submit to any
inconveniences, in order to ensure its representation in the House of
Commons? It was the opinion of Lord George Bentinck that such was the
case; that if for the moment that feeling was inert and latent, it was
an apathy which arose from the sudden shock of public confidence, and
the despair which under such circumstances takes possession of men;
that if it could be shown to the country, that the great bulk of the
Conservative party were true to their faith, and were not afraid, even
against the fearful odds which they would have to encounter, to proclaim
it, the confidence and the courage of the country would rally, and the
party in the House of Commons would find external sympathy and support.

With these views it became of paramount importance that the discussion
on the government measure should be sustained on the part of the
Protectionists with their utmost powers. They must prove to the country,
that they could represent their cause in debate, and to this end all
their energies must be directed. It would be fatal to them if the
discussion were confined to one or two nights, and they overborne by
the leading and habitual speakers. They must bring forward new men; they
must encourage the efforts of those now unrecognized and comparatively
unknown; they must overcome all reserve and false shame, and act as
became men called upon to a critical and leading part, not by their
arrogance or ambition, but by the desertion and treachery of those to
whose abilities they had bowed without impatience and reluctance. There
was a probability of several vacancies immediately taking place in
counties where the seats were filled by converts, but men of too
scrupulous an honour to retain the charge which they had sought and
accepted as the professors of opinions contrary to those which now
received their mournful adhesion. The result of these elections would
greatly depend upon the spirit and figure of the party in the House of
Commons, in their first encounter with the enemy.

These views, so just and so spirited, advanced with high-bred
earnestness by one rarely met in political turmoils, and enforc