Councils assembled in November to consider the propriety of throwing open the ports of the United Kingdom. As the Cabinet was divided on the subject, Sir Robert Peel, impressed with the dangers of the approaching crisis, resigned office, and Lord John Russell, whose celebrated letter on that occasion must long be remembered, was called upon to form a new Administration; but personal jealousy among the Whigs[1]—a jealousy which lasted many years—prevented the formation of a ministry by the opposition party. Nor was Lord Stanley, who had been a member of Sir Robert Peel's Cabinet, more successful in a similar attempt: hence, with the exception of his Lordship, the members of that Cabinet resumed their former places.
On the 4th December, 1845, it was intimated through the 'Times' newspaper, which had for some months previously avoided the question of total repeal, that Sir Robert Peel would propose the entire abolition of the Corn Laws. The Queen's speech, as well as the speech of Sir Robert Peel on the Address, more distinctly announced the policy of the reconstructed Administration, and, having called attention to the measures of commercial reform already adopted, which had tended so materially to the greatness of this country and the welfare and happiness of its inhabitants,[2] he called on the agri-*
- ↑ This difference reached its climax in 1845, when Lord Grey wished to exclude Lord Palmerston from the Foreign Office, and Lord Russell insisted on his being nominated for that department.
- ↑ The exports of Great Britain rose from 47,000,000l. in 1842 to 60,000,000l. in 1845, and the imports from 65,000,000l. to 85,000,000l., and, in the same period, the entries of British mercantile shipping rose from 4,627,440 tons to 6,031,557 tons. (See Porter's 'Progress of the Nation.')
