The voice of the public could not be resisted. On the 4th of December the _Times_ newspaper announced that Parliament would meet early in January, and that an immediate repeal of the Corn Laws would be proposed. On the day following this announcement, Peel tendered his resignation. The Queen sent for Lord John Russell; but the attempt of the Opposition to form a ministry was not successful, and Peel reluctantly consented to resume the leadership. The speech of the Queen in opening Parliament made it evident that the occasion of the meeting was the repeal of the obnoxious laws. The question was practically settled when Parliament met; and the long debate is chiefly memorable for the extraordinary succession of excoriations to which the Prime-Minister was subjected by Disraeli. But in spite of a most energetic opposition the repealing bill slowly made its way to ultimate triumph. It was on the 26th of June, 1846, that the bill was passed, and that the great reformer’s work was done. Until his death in 1865, Cobden continued to exert a powerful influence in behalf of the ideas which from the first he had advocated. His political opponents were among the most hearty to recognize his worth; and his most intimate friend, Mr. Bright, spoke of him in the House of Commons as “the manliest and gentlest spirit that ever quitted or tenanted a human form.” RICHARD COBDEN. ON THE EFFECTS OF PROTECTION ON THE AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS OF THE COUNTRY; HOUSE OF COMMONS, MARCH 13, 1845. SIR: I am relieved upon the present occasion from any necessity for apologizing to the other side of the House for the motion which I am about to submit. It will be in the recollection of honorable members, that a fortnight before putting this notice upon the book, I expressed a hope that the matter would be taken up by some honorable member opposite. I do not think, therefore, that in reply to any observations I may have to make upon the question, I shall hear, as I did last year, an observation that the quarter from which this motion came was suspicious.[9] I may also add, sir, that I have so framed my motion as to include in it the objects embraced in both the amendments which are made to it. I therefore conclude, that having included the honorable gentlemen’s amendments [Mr. Stafford O’Brien and Mr. Wodehouse], they will not now feel it necessary to press them.