CHAPTER XVI.

"EPRAL OF THE CORN LAWS AND FALL OF THE GOVERNMENT.

Tig Public excitement and private anxieties of the year 184s.
Which hag just come to an end, had seriously shaken Cobden’s zo
health, Before Parliament opened he was laid up with a
*omplicated affection of head, ears, and throat, the result of
laborious speaking to great andiences in the open air or in
"st halls. He remained liable for the rest of his life to
deafness and hoarseness. All through the Session of 1846
he sag out of health. Fortunately, circumstances had now
taken a turn which no longer demanded much more from
him than silent vigilance.
A few days after the Session opened, the Prime Minister
“Mounced his proposals. The repeal of the Corn Laws was
fo he total, But it was not to be immediate. The ports
ere not to be entirely open for three years. During this
‘Nerval there was to be s sliding scale, with a maximum
duty of ten shillings when the price of wheat should be
“dey forty-eight shillings, and a minimum duty of four
“hillin gs when the price reached fifty-four shillings a quarter.
The Views of the League therefore would not be fully realized
"tl February, 1849.
The opponents of the Minister began to talk of an appeal
' the country, and Cobden addressed himself to this critical
Ping in the one speech of any importance which he felt
“leg upon to make through the whole of these protracted
Tehateg, He plied the Protectionists with defiant tests of the