the Corn Laws; in fact, in
his own adroit way he left it to be understood, that this was the
immediate and urgent cause for dealing with the question--nay more, that
the real, the _only_ question he was dealing with was the potato blight,
and the threatened famine in Ireland; and that, in anxiously seeking for
an adequate remedy for such terrible evils, he could find but one--the
total repeal of the Corn Laws. Some in his own Cabinet, and numbers of
thoughtful people throughout the country, saw a variety of plans for
meeting the failure distinct from such repeal; very many even, so far
from regarding it as a remedy against Irish famine, considered it would
be a positive injury to this country, under existing circumstances; but
Sir Robert Peel, with that charming frankness and simplicity, the
assumption of which had become a second nature to him, could see but one
remedy for poor Ireland--a repeal of the Corn Laws. Others, which were
hinted to him by some of his colleagues, he dexterously avoids
discussing, and only repeats his own great conviction--repeal the Corn
Laws and save poor, famine-threatened Ireland.

From the end of August to the beginning of October several
communications passed between the Premier and Sir James Graham, relative
to the failure of the potato. During that period the accounts were very
varied, partly from the disease not having made very much progress, and
partly because there was not as yet sufficient time to examine the crop
with care; but a perusal of the correspondence which reached the
Government, so far as it is given in Sir Robert Peel's Memoirs, and his
speeches in Parliament, prove that the accounts in newspapers, and above
all in letters received and published by the Mansion House Committee,
did not overstate the failure, but rather the reverse--this fact is more
especially evident from the joint letter of Professors Lindley and
Playfair already quoted.

Of all the ministers, Sir James Graham seems to have had the greatest
share of the Premier's confidence; Sir Robert thus writes to him from
Whitehall on the 13th of October:--"The accounts of the state of the
potato crop in Ireland are becoming very alarming. I enclose letters
which have very recently reached me. Lord Heytesbury says that the
reports which reach the Irish Government are very unsatisfactory. I
presume that if the worst should happen which is predicted, the pressure
would not be _immediate_. There is such a tendency to