n Questions of Public Policy'; 'On the American
Question,' etc. His life has been written by Gilchrist, Smith,
Robertson, and others. He died March 27th, 1889.

FROM THE SPEECH ON THE CORN LAWS (1843)

It must not be supposed, because I wish to represent the interest of the
many, that I am hostile to the interest of the few.

But is it not perfectly certain that if the foundation of the most
magnificent building be destroyed and undermined, the whole fabric
itself is in danger? Is it not certain, also, that the vast body of the
people who form the foundation of the social fabric, if they are
suffering, if they are trampled upon, if they are degraded, if they are
discontented, if "their hands are against every man, and every man's
hands are against them," if they do not flourish as well, reasonably
speaking, as the classes who are above them because they are richer and
more powerful,--then are those classes as much in danger as the working
classes themselves?

There never was a revolution in any country which destroyed the great
body of the people. There have been convulsions of a most dire character
which have overturned old-established monarchies and have hurled thrones
and sceptres to the dust. There have been revolutions which have brought
down most powerful aristocracies, and swept them from the face of the
earth forever, but never was there a revolution yet which destroyed the
people. And whatever may come as a consequence of the state of things in
this country, of this we may rest assured: that the common people, that
the great bulk of our countrymen will remain and survive the shock,
though it may be that the Crown and the aristocracy and the Church may
be leveled with the dust, and rise no more. In seeking to represent the
working classes, and in standing up for their rights and liberties, I
hold that I am also defending the rights and liberties of the middle and
richer classes of society. Doing justice to one class cannot inflict
injustice on any other class, and "justice and impartiality to all" is
what we all have a right to from government. And we have a right to
clamor; and so long as I have breath, so long will I clamor against the
oppression which I see to exist, and in favor of the rights of the great
body of the people....

What is the condition in which we are? I have already spoken of Ireland.
You know that hundreds of thousands meet there, week after week, in
various parts of the country, to pro