[12] [Twelve Canadian prisoners having landed at Liverpool were brought up on _habeas corpus_ before Lord Denman and the Court of Queen's Bench. The court upheld the committal of the prisoners.] January 24th, 1839 {p.157} Duncannon found Durham in a very complacent mood, and he entered with him fully into the subject of Canada and their quarrels. With respect to Turton's affairs, Durham denies he ever said, or authorised anybody else to say, that the appointment had Melbourne's consent, and he admits that Melbourne did put his veto upon Turton's appointment to office, but says he considered this veto applicable only to offices _under Government_, and that the place to which he appointed him was not _under Government_, but one at his own disposal, and for which he was wholly and solely responsible. This is his excuse, and a very bad one it is. It won't go down in the House of Lords, I imagine. As the time draws near for the meeting of Parliament the probability of ousting the Government grows fainter; we hear no more of disunion and Radical hostility, and things promise to continue pretty much as they have heretofore been. The question of absorbing interest is now the repeal or alteration of the Corn Laws, and the declaration of war against them on the part of the 'Times' has produced a great effect, and is taken as conclusive evidence that they cannot be maintained, from the rare sagacity with which this journal watches the turn of public affairs; besides that, its advocacy will be of the greatest use in advancing the cause which it already had perceived was likely to prevail. The rest of the Conservative press, the 'Morning Herald,' 'Post,' and 'Standard,' support the Corn Laws, and the latter has engaged in a single combat with the 'Times,' conducted with a kind of chivalrous courtesy, owing to the concurrence of their general politics, very unusual in newspaper warfare, and with great ability on both sides. January 30th, 1839 {p.158} [Page Head: THE 'PORTFOLIO'.]