g their interests in the House of
Commons, entirely kept aloof, or would smile when they were asked for
their support with sarcastic self-complacency, saying, 'Well, Sir, do
you think after all that free trade has done us so much harm?' Perhaps
they think now, that if they had taken the advice of Lord George
Bentinck and exerted themselves to return a majority to the House of
Commons, it would have profited them more than useless execrations and
barren discontent. But it is observable, that no individuals now grumble
so much as the farmers who voted for free trader in 1847, unless indeed
it be the shipowners, every one of whom for years, both in and out of
Parliament, supported the repeal of the corn laws.

The Protectionists maintained their numbers, though they did not
increase them, in the new Parliament. Lord George Bentinck however
gained an invaluable coadjutor by the re-appearance of Mr. Herries
in public life, a gentleman whose official as well as parliamentary
experience, fine judgment, and fertile resource, have been of
inestimable service to the Protectionist party. The political connection
which gained most were the Whigs; they were much more numerous and
compact, but it was in a great measure at the expense of the general
liberal element, and partly at the cost of the following of Sir Robert
Peel. The triumphant Conservative majority of 1841 had disappeared;
but the government, with all shades of supporters, had not an absolute
majority.

Had the general election been postponed until the autumn, the results
might have been very different. That storm--which had been long
gathering in the commercial atmosphere--then burst like a typhoon. The
annals of our trade afford no parallel for the widespread disaster and
the terrible calamities. In the month of September, fifteen of the most
considerable houses in the city of London stopped payment for between
five and six millions sterling. The governor of the Bank of England
was himself a partner in one of these firms; a gentleman who had lately
filled that office, was another victim; two other Bank directors were
included in the list. The failures were not limited to the metropolis,
but were accompanied by others of great extent in the provinces. At
Manchester, Liverpool, and Glasgow large firms were obliged to suspend
payments. This shock of credit arrested all the usual accommodation,
and the pressure in the money-market, so terrible in the spring, was
revived.