It will be borne in mind, that the then existing distress in our commercial and manufacturing interests he referred to three temporary causes:—­the undue stimulus which had been given to industry in the manufacturing districts—­by the accommodation system pursued in the joint-stock banks, the troubled and hostile condition of almost all those foreign countries which used to be the best customers for our manufactures, and the two or three preceding defective harvests.  The first of these was not of a nature to call for, or perhaps admit of, direct and specific legislative interference.  It originated in a vicious system of contagious private speculation, which has involved many thousands of those engaged in it in irredeemable, shall we add deserved, disgrace and ruin—­and which had better, perhaps, be left to work its own cure.  The last of the three causes was one to which all mankind is every where subject, and which is in a great measure beyond the reach of effective human interference.  Before proceeding to explain the steps taken to remedy the second, viz., our distracted foreign relations, let us premise briefly for the present, that the very earliest acts of Ministers showed how profoundly sensible they were of the necessity of doing something, and that promptly, to relieve the grievous distress under which the lower orders were suffering, and at the same time afford a safe, effective, and permanent stimulus to trade and commerce.  A comprehensive survey of the state, not only of our own but foreign commercial countries, satisfied them, as practical men, of the serious difficulties to be here contended with.  The steps they took, after due deliberation—­viz., the proposing the new tariff and the new corn-law—­we shall presently refer to.  Let us now point out the income-tax as a measure reflecting infinite credit upon those who had the sagacity and resolution to propose it.  We shall not dwell upon this great temporary measure, which in one year has poured upwards of five millions into the exhausted exchequer, further than to say, that as soon as ever it was known among the monied classes, that the Minister, environed as he was with financial difficulties, would risk any amount of popular odium rather than add to the permanent burdens of the country, or permit the ruinous continuance of an excess of expenditure over revenue.  As soon as this was evident, we say, the great monied interests of the kingdom recognized in Sir Robert Peel an honest minister, and gave him forthwith its complete confidence, which has never since been for an instant withdrawn from him.  And how great are the obligations of that vast portion of the most suffering classes of the community, whom he exempted from this extraordinary contribution to the burdens of the state!