_lives after them_." But for the fortunate strength of the
Conservative party, moreover, in opposition, and the patriotism and
wisdom of the house of Lords, the late Ministers would, by the time of
their expulsion from office, have rendered the condition of the
country _utterly_ desperate--for very nearly desperate it assuredly
was. Their vacillating, inconsistent, wild, and extravagant conduct
during these ten years, had generated an universal sense of insecurity
and want of confidence among all the great interests of the country,
which locked up capital--palsied enterprise. Trade and commerce
drooped daily, and the revenue melted away rapidly every year. Great
things were justly expected from the practical skill and experience
possessed by the new Government; but _time_ is requisite for the
development of a policy which had, and still has, to contend against
such numerous and formidable obstacles. Confidence, especially
mercantile confidence, is a delicate flower, of slow growth, and very
difficult to rear. A breath may blight it. It will bloom only in a
tranquil and temperate air. If ever there was a man entitled to speak,
however, with authority upon this subject, it was Mr Baring, the late
candidate, and unquestionably the future member, for the city of
London--a man constantly engaged in vast mercantile transactions in
all parts of the globe, and whose ability equals his experience. In
the presence of a great number of gentlemen, representing two-thirds
of the wealth and intelligence of the city of London, thus spoke Mr
Baring, on the 6th October 1843:--"I rejoice that Sir Robert Peel did
not hold out to the country the fallacious hope, that, by any
particular measure, he could restore prosperity, or cure sufferings
which were beyond the reach of legislation, and that he patiently
relied upon the resources and energies of the country to set trade and
commerce right. That expectation is already beginning to be realized.
That calm reliance is already justified. I am speaking in the presence
of those who are as much as, if not more conversant with business
than, myself, and they will contradict me if I am not right when I
say, that great symptoms of improvement in the trade and industry of
the country have manifested themselves; which symptoms are of such a
nature, that they do not appear to be the result of momentary
excitement produced by some fallacious experiment, but of the
paramount re-establishment of commerc