tatiously paraded details of the measure that was to give
satisfaction to all or to none? What need to revert to the manner in
which he paced around his subject, pausing ever and anon to exhibit some
alteration in the manufacturing tariff? The catalogue was protracted,
but, like every thing else, it had an end; and the result, in so far as
the agricultural interest is concerned, was the proposed abolition of
all protective duties upon the importation of foreign grain.

Our opinion upon that important point has been repeatedly expressed. For
many years, and influenced by no other motive than our sincere belief in
the abstract justice of the cause, this Magazine has defended the
protective principle from the assaults which its enemies have made. Our
views were no doubt fortified by their coincidence with those
entertained and professed by statesmen, whose general policy has been
productive of good to the country; but they were based upon higher
considerations than the mere approbation of a party. Therefore, as we
did not adopt these views loosely, we shall not lightly abandon then. On
the contrary, we take leave to state here, in _limine_, that, after
giving our fullest consideration to the argument of those who were
formerly, like us, the opponents, but are now the advisers of the
change, we can see no substantial reason for departing from our
deliberate views, and assenting to the abandonment of a system which
truth and justice have alike compelled us to uphold.

We can, however, afford to look upon these things philosophically, and
to content ourselves with protesting against the change. Very different
is the situation of those Conservative members of Parliament who are now
told that their eyes must be couched for cataract, in order that they
may become immediate recipients of the new and culminating light.
CONVERSION is no doubt an excellent thing; but, as we have hitherto
understood it, the quality of CONVICTION has been deemed an
indispensable preliminary. Conversion without conviction is hypocrisy,
and a proselyte so obtained is coerced and not won. We are not
insensible to the nature of the ties which bind a partisan to his
leader. Their relative strength or weakness are the tests of the
personal excellence of the latter--of the regard which his talents
inspire--of the veneration which his sagacity commands. Strong indeed
must be the necessity which on any occasion can unloose them; nor can
it, in the ordinary ca