This great question was brought under the consideration of Parliament, in the session of 1839, by Lord Brougham in the Lords on February 18, and the following day by Mr. Charles Villiers in the Commons; but the motion for inquiry was negatived without a division in the former and by a majority of 189 in the latter. Both Parliament and country, however, were to hear plenty about the Corn Duties in the next few years. The Whig Ministry were now approaching the end of their second year of office, and steadily losing favour in the country. They had earned the enmity of the Chartists by their apathy to further reform; and the novel advantage of Royal confidence in and affection for a Whig Prime Minister did not affect the general drift of middle-class opinion. Meanwhile, Peel was indefatigable on the platform securing popular support for the new Conservatism. [Illustration: _Hume Nisbet._} "WILLIAM FAWCETT," THE FIRST P. & O. STEAMSHIP, IN THE GUT OF GIBRALTAR, 1837. This was the first steamer employed in carrying mails to the Peninsular ports in 1837. Tonnage, 206; horse-power, 60.] [Sidenote: Fall of the Ministry.] Drifting thus helplessly in the doldrums of unpopularity the Government suddenly foundered on April 9, the immediate cause being a Bill for the suspension of the Constitution of Jamaica. The second reading was carried, indeed, by a majority of five; but the resignation of the Ministry was immediately placed in Her Majesty's hands and accepted. It put an end to an intolerable situation. Three days before the division Greville wrote in his diary: "The Government is at its last gasp: the result of the debate next week may possibly prolong its existence, as a cordial does that of a dying man, but it cannot go on. They are disunited, dissatisfied, and disgusted in the Cabinet." [Illustration: _W. W. Lloyd._} A MODERN LINER COMING UP THE THAMES. The Royal Mail Steamer "Caledonia," belonging to the P. & O. Company, is given as a contrast to the "William Fawcett." Tonnage, 7,758, horse-power, 11,000.] [Sidenote: Sir Robert Peel sent for.] [Sidenote: The "Bedchamber Question."]