e landholders, is not quite so unaccountable, or so
disproportionate, as the public have been taught to imagine. True it
is, that for the present, _lis est de paupere regno_. Any surplus of
grain which, at this moment, Canada could furnish, must be quite as
powerless upon our home markets, as the cattle, living or salted which
have been imported under the tariff in 1842 and 1843. But the fears of
Canada potentially, were not therefore unreasonable, because the
actual Canada is not in a condition for instantly using her new
privileges. Corn, that hitherto had not been grown, both may be grown,
and certainly will be grown, as soon as the new motive for growing it,
the new encouragement, becomes operatively known. Corn, again, that
from local difficulties did not find its way to eastern markets, will
do so by continual accessions, swelling gradually into a powerful
stream, as the many improvements of the land and water communication,
now contemplated, or already undertaken, come into play. Another fear
connects itself with possible evasions of the law by the United
States. Cross an imaginary frontier line, and _that_ will become
Canadian which was not Canadian by its origin. We are told, indeed,
that merely by its bulk, grain will always present an obstacle to any
extensive system of smuggling. But obstacles are not impossibilities.
And these obstacles, it must be remembered, are not founded in the
vigilance of revenue officers, but simply in the cost; an element of
difficulty which is continually liable to change. So that upon the
whole, and as applying to the reversions of the case, rather than to
its present phenomena, undoubtedly there _are_ dangers a-head to our
own landed interest from that quarter of the horizon. For the present,
it should be enough to say, that these dangers are yet remote. And
perhaps it _would_ have been enough under other circumstances. But it
is the tendency of the bill which suggests alarm. All changes in our
day tend to the consummation of free trade: and this measure,
travelling in that direction, reasonably becomes suspicious by its
principle, though innocent enough by its immediate operation.

The other point connected with the corn question is personal. Among
the many motions and notices growing out of the dispute, which we hold
it a matter of duty to neglect, was one brought forward by Lord John
Russell. Upon what principle, or with what object? Strange to say, he
refused to explain. Tha