ed class, comprising all varieties of mental disease, from
idiocy to madness, yet all of them held in such admirable order by the law
of kindness, that to the casual observer most of them betrayed no symptoms
of insanity, and of the rest, many appeared to be only very odd people,
quietly pursuing their own harmless whims, I could not but feel the
highest veneration for the enlightened humanity by which the establishment
was directed. I considered, also, if the feeling of personal liberty, the
absence of physical restraint, and the power of moral motives, had such
power to hold together in perfect peace and order, even a promiscuous band
of lunatics, how much greater must be their influence over the minds of
men in a state of sanity, and on how false a foundation rest all the
governments of force! The true basis of human polity, appointed by God in
our nature, is the power of moral motives, which is but another term for
public opinion.

Of the political controversies which at present agitate the country, the
corn-law question is that which calls forth the most feeling; I mean on
the part of those who oppose the restrictions on the introduction of
foreign grain--for, on the other side, it appears to me that the battle is
languidly fought. Nothing can exceed the enthusiasm of the adversaries of
the corn-laws. With some of them the repeal of the tax on bread is the
remedy for all political evils. "Free trade, free trade," is the burden of
their conversation, and although a friend of free trade myself, to the
last and uttermost limit, I have been in circles in England, in which I
had a little too much of it. Yet this is an example to prove what a strong
hold the question has taken of the minds of men, and how completely the
thoughts of many are absorbed by it. Against such a feeling as that which
has been kindled in Great Britain, on the corn-law question, no law in our
country could stand. So far as I can judge, it is spreading, as well as
growing stronger. I am told that many of the farmers have become
proselytes of the League. The League is a powerful and prodigiously
numerous association, with ample and increasing funds, publishing able
tracts, supporting well-conducted journals, and holding crowded public
meetings, which are addressed by some of the ablest speakers in the United
Kingdom. I attended one of these at Covent Garden. Stage, pit, boxes, and
gallery of that large building were filled with one of the most
respec