speech of the night was by Mr. Baring, who commented forcibly on the silence maintained by the leaders on the other side, and drew out his probable successor in the chancellorship of the exchequer, Mr. Goulburn, who attempted to evade the main question by a succession of pointless jokes, to which "heavy dullness" is prone. Mr. Wakley also attempted the same strain with like effect; and after his speech the debate was again adjourned.
The fourth night's debate was opened by Mr. Milnes, who said that ministers ought to feel every hour as a burthen till they left office. Mr. Rennie and Mr. Wallace spoke in favour of ministers and free trade. Mr. C. Hindley told the house that its refusal of free trade in provisions would rouse the country to demand its reformation. Mr. Villiers made an excellent speech. He produced an immense mass of evidence, furnished from all parts of the kingdom to the ministers who attended the Manchester Conference, of the existing distress, and concluded by saying that if the sufferings of the people continued, if commerce languished, if trade were checked, if the means of employment were compressed, the whole of the responsibility must rest with the right honourable baronet opposite, and he believed that the right honourable baronet had the power of changing the present system, and assured him that according to his determination to support the present system or to change it, would he receive the opposition of the country or its support. Lord Francis Egerton, who owed his election to defective registration, and who afterwards lost it by the correction of the list of electors, instanced his own return as a proof that manufacturing Lancashire did not wish for the commercial changes proposed to be made. Mr. O'Connell followed in a powerful free-trade speech.
And then rose the expectant minister, and in breathless house silence the listened for some indication of the course he intended to pursue. In accordance with Gerard Hamil-
