On this account there are Protectionists who deprecate any attempt to displace the Government at this time, or force upon a reluctant majority in the House of Commons a change in the present commercial policy of the country. It is said that Free Trade, though it has been in operation for three years and a-half, has not had a fair trial; the Irish famine, the failure of £15,000,000 worth of produce out of £30,000,000 worth in a single year, did all the mischief. Be it so. Let Free Trade have a fair trial. Let the shopkeepers see what benefit they are likely practically to gain by the ruin of their customers. They have the Government in their hands, because they have the appointment of a majority in the House of Commons. The agricultural interest, the colonies, the shipping interest, the small manufacturing interest, are to all practical purposes disfranchised. Let the trading classes, then, feel the effects of their own measures. These will be such that they _cannot_ continue. Ere long a change of policy, and probably of rulers, will be forced upon Government by the universal cry of suffering. But let them recollect that it is _their_ measures which are now on their trial; that theirs will be the responsibility if they fail; and that if the empire is dismembered, and the national independence lost, theirs will be the present loss, and theirs the eternal infamy. BRITAIN'S PROSPERITY. A NEW SONG, WHICH OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN SUNG BY THE PREMIER AT THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT. I. News for you, gentlemen! Here is prosperity, Fat and fullhanded, arrived at our door: Crashes, disaster, and famine's severity, Never can harass or trouble us more. No miching malecho! Spin away calico! Never saw man such a prospect before! II. All things are cheapened. Good sirs, in the galleries, Pray bear this cheerful announcement in mind-- All things are down--except Ministers' salaries, Taxes, and some little jobs of the kind. Small trades are finishing, Wages diminishing-- That is the way to be happy, you'll find. III. Wheat's at a price that won't pay for the growing it, That is to say, if we cultivate here; Why should we therefore persist, sirs, in sowing it? Beautiful markets are plenty and near. Hang the home labourer! Buy from your neighbour, or Any one else, so you don't buy it dear. IV. True pioneers of a better and brighter age, We have diminished the charges for freight; Some little dues there may still be for "lighterage,"[4] But, on the whole, 'tis a moderate rate. Wheat for a guinea a Load from Volhynia Comes to your shores, and is lodged at your gate.