it was,
had the merit of being temperate; and Webster had already written
to Evelyn Denison, desiring him not to judge of the real
sentiments of America by the trash spoken and the violence
exhibited in Congress, or by the mob of New York. John Bull, too,
who had begun to put himself into a superfine passion, and to
bluster a good deal in the French vein, is getting more tranquil,
and begins to see the propriety of going to work moderately and
without insisting on having everything his own way.

[Page Head: DEBATE ON THE POOR LAW.]

In Parliament there has been nothing of interest but the Poor Law
Bill, debated with great heat, and the several clauses carried by
majorities very little indicative of the real opinion of the
majority of the House. But the truth is that the Tories are
(generally) behaving very ill on this question, and their
shabbiness is the more striking because the Government have
behaved so well. The Tories are just as anxious for the passing
of the Bill as their opponents, or more so, nevertheless they
stay away or abuse and oppose the clauses, in order to curry
favour with their own constituencies and to cast odium on their
opponents, by which they may profit in the event of a general
election. There is probably not a man of them who would not be
annoyed and disappointed to the greatest degree if the Bill
should be impaired in its leading principles and material
provisions. The Government might, if they had chosen it, have
proposed the law as an experimental measure for a short period,
so as to cast upon their opponents the ultimate responsibility of
the measure, but they dealt with it liberally and wisely, and
without reference to temporary interests or party purposes,
which, so far from eliciting a corresponding spirit from their
opponents, only afforded them the opportunity (of which, without
shame or decency, they are availing themselves) to convert it
into a source of unpopularity against the Government who bring it
forward.

April 5th, 1841 {p.390}

While the American question looks well, the affairs of the East
are all unsettled again. The Pasha has, with all humility,
declined the conditions of the Sultan's Hatti-sherif, and the
whole thing remains still to be adjusted. Nobody, however, cares
or thinks much about it at all, for the Eastern business is
become as tedious as a twice-told tale. No more danger to the
peace of Europe is apprehended from it; nobody cares a straw for
Sulta