Page:History of the Anti corn law league - Volume 2.pdf/412

 Dorsetshire, declared his opinion, that "the destiny of the Corn Laws was fixed, "and that it would be wise to consider how best to break the force of an inevitable blow;" and a rumour arose that ministers would issue an Order in Council, to admit for home consumption, at a low duty, the grain and flour then in bond, amounting to about a million of quarters. A Cabinet Council was held on Friday, October 31st, but there was no announcement of any intention of action. The Times asserted that the opening of ports would be adopted, and said: "Henceforth the League may cease to exist; it may be dissolved into its constitutional elements; it may lay aside its professional acrimony and vituperation. The great fact' is hastening to become a fait accompli. It may expire bodily, because its spirit has already been transfused into its antagonists." The League would never have become a fait accompli had it rested from its work under this assurance. Ministers were looking to what the League would do; the whole country were looking to what the League would do; and the League knew how it was feared on the one hand, and how much was hoped from it on the other, and went on with its great work.