Meantime, Mr. Cobden came
forward with a proposal, which, unless agreed to must necessarily put
the Protectionists in the wrong. He asked for a Committee of Inquiry
into the causes of this distress, before which he undertook to prove
that it was caused by the Corn Laws. For some time it had been whispered
abroad that Sir Robert Peel was fast inclining to freetrade, and only
looked to the country for sufficient support to justify him in declaring
his views openly: the leading members of the League were not slow to
make use of those rumours: and, in his strikingly able speech, calling
for the Committee, Mr. Cobden more than hinted that the Premier,
although not yet a free trader before the country, was one at least in
heart. "There are politicians in the House," said he, "men who look with
an ambition--probably a justifiable one--to the honors of office; there
may be men who--with thirty years continuous service, having been
pressed into a groove from which they can neither escape nor
retreat--_may be holding office, and high office_: maintained there
probably at the expense of their present convictions which do not
harmonize very well with their early opinions. I make allowances for
them; but the great body of honorable gentlemen opposite came up to this
House, not as politicians, but as the farmer's friends, and protectors
of the agricultural interests. Well! what do you propose to do? You have
heard the Prime Minister declare that, if he could restore all the
protection which you have had, that protection would not benefit the
agriculturists. Is that your belief? If so, why not proclaim it; but if
it is not your conviction, you will have falsified your mission in this
House by following the right hon. baronet into the lobby, and opposing
inquiry into the condition of the very men who sent you here. I have no
hesitation in telling you, that if you give me a Committee of this House
I will explode the delusion of agricultural protection. I will bring
forward such a mass of evidence, and give you such a preponderance of
talent and of authority, that when the Blue Book is published and sent
forth to the world your system of protection shall not live in the
public opinion for two years afterwards." And again he said with
irresistible logic: "I ask you to go into this Committee with me. I will
give you a majority of county members. I ask you only to go into a fair
inquiry as to the causes of the distress of your own population