h compels us to
declare, that there is no one by whose hand we should desire to see that
painful and dangerous operation performed so much as Sir Robert
Peel;--not because we should be insensible to all the awkward and
painful embarrassments of such a change of course; but simply, because
we are bound to say, that there is no other man of whose knowledge,
skill, and sagacity we have the same opinion. By none we think could the
fall be so much broken, or the transition made so smooth, or so little
injurious. Certain it is, that a measure of total and immediate
abolition _from the Whigs, incompetent and incapable as they have been
proved_, would be a calamity of which the magnitude can scarcely be
estimated by the most gloomy imagination. We are far, however, from
contemplating the necessity or possibility of such a policy from any
Ministry whatever.

We take our stand upon the principle of protection to national
agriculture and industry, in the existing and peculiar circumstances of
the country. We do not love restrictions for their own sake, or desire
any protection by which nothing is to be protected. But we think that
protection is demanded by the exigencies of the whole community, and to
that extent and on that ground we advocate its preservation for the
general good. We shall not enquire at present how far the amount or the
form of that protection may be modified. That may no doubt be a varying
question, of which the discussion is to be controlled only by the grave
consideration that its too frequent agitation is a great evil, as
inevitably unsettling important rights and arrangements. But if it be
thought that the rapid progress of events in this railway age admits or
requires a relaxation or re-construction of existing restrictions, we
are prepared candidly to consider any specific plan that may be tabled,
and to weigh deliberately the amount and kind of protection that may now
be necessary to preserve our _status quo_, having regard to the
facilities of transit, the discoveries of science, the progress of
improvement, the increase of population, the abundance of money, and any
other elements which may be alleged as to a certain extent emerging
since the last adjustment of the scale, and having special regard also
to _any alteration in the distribution of taxation_ which may accompany
the proposal for such change. We do not see our way to such a change. We
do not recognise its necessity; but we think it unbecoming