as the anti-corn-law agitation was daily becoming more active and more formidable, the attempt would be made to obtain the support of the League to the tottering administration. Notwithstanding this expectation, the House of Commons seemed to be taken with surprise when, on the night of Friday, April 30th, Lord John Russell gave notice that on the 30th of May he should move, "That the house resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to consider of the acts relating to the trade in corn." This announcement was received with vehement cheering from the opposition members, who regarded it as a confession that ministers felt the necessity of a new cry, followed by counter-cheering from the ministerial benches, the occupants desiring to have it understood that the movement would be a successful one. The subsequent excitement and confusion, indicated that neither party was so confident as the noisy demonstrations would seem to evince. The opposition obviously were afraid that good whig "political capital" would be made out of the step in advance, and the ministerialists, as obviously, were afraid that it came too late to secure the assistance of those who demanded total, immediate, and unconditional repeal. Perhaps the fear was greatest on the side of the opposition. They were enraged that the Melbourne ministry had taken a course by which they could recover a portion of their lost popularity. They had seen ministers damaging their reputation by half measures, brought forward only to be abandoned; they had seen, with exultation, the people holding aloof from men who had ceased to be regarded; with confidence they had calculated on a continuance of the same timid, and consequently estranging policy they had calculated on a few more instances of abandonment of the only principles which could give them a hold on public confidence; and they had thought that the pear was fast ripening, and that the time was rapidly approaching, when they should only have to extend the hand, and
