when The Times, observing the amount of the fund collected, declared it was "a great fact," and never after deserted the cause. In the summer of 1845, Mr. Cobden avowed to some of his friends that he was weary of the whole concern. Still he kept in mind that if the crops failed, and there was general distress in the towns, there was a large fund at once to draw upon and go to work with. And that was what happened. The report of the total loss of the food of the Irish was announced before our crops were gathered: and these were announced as greatly defective. Then Sir Robert Peel showed signs of uneasiness, which did not disappear till he proposed, his Bill for Abolition in February, 1846.
I have reason to think, from what I have heard from those who had the best opportunities of watching closely the whole course of the movement, that those who subscribed the money firmly believed at the time that the success was entirely due to the fabulous amount of money which had been subscribed, and which the Council of the League had in hand to carry on the agitation. Much the greater part of the money came from Lancashire, chiefly perhaps from Manchester; and what made many of the subscribing capitalists impatient at the time was that this was not fully
