hese
circumstances unequivocally attest the existence of a powerful
Government acting upon a comprehensive and enduring policy, which is
becoming daily better appreciated by the strong good sense which ever
distinguishes the British character, when a fair opportunity is
afforded for its exercise.

Upwards of two years have now elapsed since the accession of the
present Government to power, at a period of universally admitted
difficulty and danger. We have been, during this critical interval,
dispassionate and independent observers of Ministers, and their
conduct of public affairs, anxious to see whether they were really
equal to the occasion, and worthy of the confidence of the Sovereign
and the country. We are ourselves satisfied, and undertake to
demonstrate to our readers, that this question must be answered in the
affirmative. We say all this advisedly, and with no disposition to
deny the existence of difficulties, which, if serious to the present,
would be absolutely insuperable to any other Government. During the
interval in question, Ministers have triumphed over more formidable
difficulties than any which they have at present to encounter. _That_,
also, we say advisedly--cheerfully, confidently--with Ireland before
our eyes, and the din of the audacious and virulent Anti-corn-law
League in our ears.

Passing these topics for the present, let us proceed to examine
carefully the real position of Sir Robert Peel and his Government,
with a view to ascertaining its prospects of a continuance in power.
This enquiry cannot be successfully conducted, without referring for a
moment to the immense changes in principles and parties effected by
the Reform Bill in 1832--a period of quite as great a revolution as
that of 1688. The Tory party it nearly annihilated!--The first Reform
Parliament consisting of only 187 Tories to 471 Whigs and
Radicals--the former being thus in the fearful minority of 284. We
recollect sharing in the despondency, and even despair, which
paralysed our party. There was, however, one signal exception in the
person of Sir Robert Peel, whose conduct on that occasion entitles him
to the eternal gratitude of every man pretending to the character of a
Conservative, nay, of every true lover of his country and its
institutions. With surprising energy, calmness, and foresight, he
instantly addressed himself to the formation, even under those
inauspicious and disheartening circumstances, of that _great_
C