The Sun. — London, England, 1846-02-18 00:00:00

Hear. ) e of fever, &nit 4a the e felt fe.A ttt-t‘,.^ l, :t ° „, _ Ards 5 .1). me t ' tow n 1 1 1 ight' ranter" ob t h g e o; 9 0 0 tot" de. ros 0 en , e 9 d a 14° ioul' ey 0 a O P ', t he t 0 0 0 o r• t y heu . st Ot , He ir : he P'' of irtn ell tn et theY u bic iu P ant " red uctl P nglisbea' i i f w hile hen V ta ell e ra s tt s c ", 'or ; o d to r O O , ,ine d Pii s ll Y r „ to ° re ton l i e n ,' theY un -0 e l ?.. a p g'v. ~:;~~--_ aferktbe e •____.--_________ - s at prod uce, a great deficiency was occasioned by the evil en teeism. By the union, a large mass of the rich proprie ti,4l have been induced to leave the country, and as much as Ifti l ete two to three millions of money have been abstracted from 3hzetteonmiyarket. In fact, the home market, he might say, impaired but destroyed ; and until they could re ri o t l , to Ireland the advantage vshich that country had t e „°led hy the residence of rich proprietors, they would e ;eeer it unable to - enter into any sufficient competition ith thelett manufacturers of England, m.d all their Ilsei s e „. to remedy the distress would be ineffectual. Nen was done they could not expect her manufactures t Rio rel itie. The cause of the population of that country no te o Vnteloyed was b ecause their at,sentee landlords were con the ''Y draixing her of her resources. If they meant to revive str,i,4laha f actures of Ireland, they must stop the strain on her eCtal by th e a b sentee landlords. They should stop that drain, th t tf should remember that there was a drain on the capital of le th e° u t iltry of four millions and a half by the abs‘e\nroteueldlathned; :1111a.ovri:t_thesvould that act against this eountr)? Nee ev want and miser taring them in the st . r . ee 2 ts,and country cry out against so great an evil . This thete!°M Ireland could be changed by the Legislature. Ilt ( ii i f . etinevs.ere other drains from that country ; there was a sum t lee;:tu taken annuatly from her in the shape of a ground-rent_ . ne e when they spoke of the Government grants and the ad- Lo t el to Ireland, and when they male, he would not say a o of :. lltte e Xts but when they made a public deelaeation . of those t) ttere: Una trY the to y right to say, ' Look at the conduct of no t the last century and p a had. k I„ , e ry t te the;lrleinher the language of Huskisson. A hen Fina ,n, ik t h lierf I r ihgs of Ireland, he describe them as the results of 1-ert,,ee'litegislation, and ;he great drain which was made on to ee of the coontry. It might not be in their power h. o tAey 6, 4 " the evils hat have pressed Ireland at once, hut t e fe tarite„ - ", it ill their power to do. ' They could prevent this kete l e ‘i drain neon heresourees, for 'how could it be ex t .- . of eigo ' r e ,, at th e „ capital remaining in Ireland could be . ina.sta o c e lte 1,,iii."0 circulation when a constant amount of eight ,e 1 r e ,' eli?3,tvas annually derived from that country, for which 'tee t h theT nothing in return. It was with the body politic 't eeth that tl t l lizan body —if the blood were gone, could they Ott e body would maintain ahealthy action ? and if o te „ , the resourees of a country, could they expeet that ef il.:ll : titerttlititiii:t e es ti toi t tte r ht e Y ehi t oe_ w el u im id an i g m e le d rine its condition ? How was this state There had been some talk of kind ell hea l Ildin pecuniary matters, and that night mention 14ilotee to the of 4 68,000/. . given in grants to that country.. entire s sum given, at this moment it e !urn of their own revenue ; and which, a d ft l e , d r , d n i o e s- t of Ireland, went into the public res .f si t iu his , I % e ne e silent in this country They had a remedy, i . ze tZ t 44o7o l °l l 4 l ,i t t i ti,e h e ut at ' lopt it --,' the ' restoration of their own Parise te toe e e__ eY refu.ed them that remedy, let them at least 0 , Was it not monstrous that they should . Cate ' ef 'ul• out of that country for years without giving ter', M4;4141 Whatever? If they would not consent to Veil bor t lres they might at least adopt the less natural , lf,: e e l d th e et c e d less effective one, of taxing the absentees. e t defteei overnrnent allow the surplus of . Irish revenu . e e , etc r 4 R the expenses of Government in Ireland, to be the state , 4 Ireland ? If they contributed to the produce of eteaaStettetheY,Oeght to have a fair share of the e f xp h en e d n it a u v r y e be . it C e ll th "het should not the expenses t tt - Nutl..! two countries ? Thereere splendid harbours more e rb o o p u e r n s i t a f ore iye_ rior to those in Itli g il lrder, foe. Why should England,not those (lieav ha h rb ea o v u . r; fslabo e t e by English men-of-war ? , e t , ____ i i ,'r, h ear. )Ilot there be dockyards established in home t I leti 4 , e enllit, , WhY should the whole expenditure b be e a n b v so is r i b te e d d %t a t o ' , a,' On ofthe great evils which hat e tn - e 7ltt e te lt e et 4 a, 4 been e the reduction of the Government r itti. h th 1.. • jef there were time, he could show that the le wee te e h ad been remitted in this country exceeded . by Otiotetes the taxes remitted in Ireland. The taxes since t; to le,,•„"at had be, , n imposed on this country amounted to ls e hay ""' while in Ireland it had been as one to eighteen. eater .5 ober ktir4 "'hi .h Bed the people of Ireland five per cent. for the tie, - t e ' 4 ' o been advanced to them, whereas the a st e eged Ile his the people of England have h bee e n tw ee d elf . e. ,Y four, and In some cases only tre - tet s "`q to Per cent. These and other petty matters leo:fairly intltoverish the country. You have not li e te e, ithieh°wards Ireland in this as in other reecs. which ee t eti oht You boast of advancing to us is the money ilt li t hotee e at ned from us by such means. These are matters Matttide totinv - fault of Hon. Members on -Ka t , at th t : It was not the to 'Me to emelause if the Government of this country would Itie l ito4 t il e att th ;" 4 l !!tate of things. It was unnecessary for him e • °I the utmost importance that both came e tri o e n s 4 It %nee, he bound together ; for if r 41 :11 41d be et/ee ' of the state of feeling which prevailed,. niy s ore 11:116"finRI;;i:Ileatt6c l ct:late. Pe felt that . „es e Lsteje ' utY, as an Irish Member, in takin e g this vow ' le r"etv et. whetever the • had hitherto done to alleviate ch i - t'l l ' ih r all e warned unhap py tht.m t c h )o a u t nt n r o y w wa lm s a i s m th t e sn' tim all e a t r o 'd change nt ' and entirely the system of policy which they til t tb d s J. ;Zee toward ' I reland.— ( Loud cheers. ) It4 o 4 vati ' S ELL- Ido not altogether concur in some of Pbhlitho ba s ens which have been made by the Hon. Gfroles ler" Jost sat doe • lam so very far from wishing h o . 14 5 th e Hy discussion on . the subject, that I would ret ir e . ' lach th e ett a 'll e Member to take every opportunity to bring and 4t tle 4 41. 1 as might be considered most advisable adoptto l t lee '!Uself Xeraent of its condition. The Hon. Gent fee te ' l tto e e rwed that there exists in this House a desireand tt tio Y ° we ... ey e those distresses when proved to exist ; and, eit th Puts at e p ees am prepared not only to take into conside tile t ß k tiee ee 'tit grievances which exist, but also all the for f°,t 'ont ' el ? under which that country has laboured ; a! ' til' Z il e asit e r e' which may be considered best adapted fhe f ro B oot { geeinor Ireland.—(Cheers.) Now, Sir, I am INs) I sh oold of opinion that anything the House has cr ew lOO4 be regarded as a en to Ireland.—( Hear, ith.' Xio.,, u P'in this House as the reprehsen“tadt,invessohfotutled eOto ter t tott and if one part of that t `ie t ' e !l (let of more seriously than ano l t n lce h r, i e t ffe is et t o li a e l ki t h e l% 0 1 of this House to take measures for . /haseitelltiee ghatt evil, and certainty I do not consid e er that for t ot e be assistance, that afflicted portion of the country' lie ri t ihe e expected to be (presentgrateful.— hear. e t4 :t t it s 4 of t ;ot' as l. n n .,,, I have risen on the R occa- Ri Jot et" atatemet t purposel eefefrenecretetroingthisinsruobjetchte, t f:o l tl i t t ei tio ti e . Q k e t itcss 0; joi rfi ni a n ( g e in in the r wish expressed by the '. 0 111 d Geod e ' Of opposite, that the Hon. Member for tire;,!filati4Q persevere any further with his motion after C t .,a that atone that had een offered by the Government. Hon, tl e , , after listenin g 'et an 0 to the statement of the litght . , iittilteNt:POsite, I feel satisfied, that while her Majesty's 'lti t ' h 4 lia pe nave left nothing undone to avoid the impending it t if t ' 4 lv e . 7 o 4l the ree b b ee n guilty of any neglect upon of th t e he on r e eli l e ta f n af.. , s f a th, bee guilty any ostentatious display . (T .. mine %ats that tohther. Holding this opinion, and bearin, i ' l4l sei tt ettli ee 6 Coretnisaion now in Ireland may recommend 'tie t t l i deeto Measures than those of the Government, if tlies, itthe no 5 , such necessary, I feel confident that there 4 o " 0 Ho ,use °f corn taint' left , and therefore it is that I iti ' st el at n i t ItleMber ii tth th tt til l all a t e to i : withdraw ' his motion. If he should es e the expiration of a month or so be of °pi le, t to tete -°oernrn entmeasures are not such as he had a tle t t t iNis te l ie e ( ts then nothing canprevent him from resuming t i l i t hillc s t i Hear, hear. ) I cannot sit down without saving li tte -p tule h e e,,"°o• Member has rendered great service to ill 4 Irtean","e information he has afforded it on the present fe w r • LA s q• chit *N s °N. al an independent Member, wished to say a „hie s i s '', B thp n this question.—( Hear, hear.) He thought %li e ' e ' ere vvere an many points in the question, tes t l el toad''°ent already bly discussed . , he become tsralettleativo..on himself to the n general question, and had 'lit t P 'Y kb "! than he had been accustomed to be. e_ te i :i ettoe. nutted he expression of his feelings to those le tt he e Ol 7 ho waste ccustomed to look as Lis leaders ; but l efo tele dhe was compelled to state his own opinions for 4 1 or e the its to the question of famine which had been brought V d id 11°43 e there ate ttot 1.._ e t _ e was no one on that side of the House al oe , ail ;Lila nt the sad position of Ireland, as detailed by the eeeiteee 4-,earned Member for Cork, who had displayed cttiesiZente and good offi in not having intermixed lit te t o description the moral condition of Ireland. If me the considered whether the withdrawal ,of the gentry l,.the Rind' which result would be one of the consequences 147 1 1 4 ~I . g lit Hon. Baronet:,. measure, would not reduce ee4e7lt e_ ' a similar sad condition as Ireland. Another point OeUrre . d to him was the withdrawal of . iw ea .. p .e i thalwfbroitmth wouldhbact Ole b If it should happen that there should be a great itt:toold to for the foreign co et it t e etlt into this country, then the like cad weaotuardiLy ;4 4 , 4 41 . ~...e. . ' e d as hiving befallen Irelandthe eo e e re f alised in ot,IIVA With respect to the potato crop, I P P! • 0 Ireland t4tc, from year to year on its precarious existence, and 1;4 4 ' as the result? It was a warning to the peopl e of il t ,S p : 4 beware how they placed themselves itnhearnsismoivlar tti474.4t1p1,..ti0n —to take care how they madefe foreign nation, thi, fight turn !'gar to year on the mercy ° o PI gala lie actuated by hostile feelings, and if anv.. i ttli -4 4 1 ati:t' ° eeur to` prevent their eupply of corn, theapteporple ? kt • + 1. 4 t ;.would be as wretchedly off as the Irish were cornm.se. t 'llv i°ll C,,, Ili Itse,ehl°t• possessing the same resources and . .. t I for the peopli, t ' t ip,l adia t he h adad - the great satisfaction of subscribieg , tiletel.,o4. He called Ole Famine Fun( to that 1a..47 tlyt th e memberetd with respect 1141.1, kit,. _ ..lie ... o r v e e power to 'I %la** kk 4 rnmen i's y e e n xp s e •o d F i s e e n s t se t ( o l r n e o lie Per R ho tr y' ..p 4 ', 41 a ternF t war t ut() "le ' ."‘ w e 4 , the dis , Its * i te ,.whole sum subscribed was 3 v ot e t a , tem ., tr o ° tllit th e h `eess O il on the people of Ireland? At that t hat H' s Pro '‘, l °,ht H t oe people of Ireland was so f g . r o e h at te t n h e a d t ttet'Otilli e Priety ti n. Baronet would have been re. ltier pp,' 4(1 h o ',, 4 bd have been induced to come frightened di sc Th e T h ''rlt. t •.! introduced a similar extravagant measure he .. 1tt; 0 41 ,, se% e pael lev il " at that time there existed . no fears o e e.t "Per t s °'; th • :kb-;cribed was expended in relieving the f 4 11' ' 4 41 t e h I lles and in the employment and than 'the, eteha ttett a Co nstruction of public works, Lt4tik e Pro ' l g th e f grain at home. l lt M th tile $p use rfoettsuere would'effect. The Hon. Member bede Ij 4 tbe et i or their patient hearing, and concluded by ,i' e r e el artl 1, 11 ,1 n ever be a party to take any men a veannse l!t44t l q , : i i l f grain', iravroperiy interfering with herdin continue to r ' . ) 'e Y (4 G re e '' d !loped that she might long 1 ONNEa• Brif‘in. he st i d j o TH E i- 4 then withdrew his amendment. te t i tee laN A r Ar).,„ , RNED DEB,kTE. ti h ri g 4 „ sls q , A O , l -E , ItS felt most anxious to promote the th*ee°-tite,eit•eet,tieeeioisntry. H e was anxieus to see the con. j ott il t a s i en , its itll :o eh prev a il e d a t present in the country Nvitieuallt e'rr etterr uttn ni°°' peace, - Th . e Noble , Lord le t 'Nts e •Y Mad e e a Misr epresentation which had ee a tio r , , -) . 1 11e '1 the H 5 m. b for Lincoln t on the e sy s j • o et t aad 01.AUTer , P h! Ide e 1 - 10 1 • k ho ri. 3 %Va . , -es it . had appeared to him that the tr like te t Yir s . eli e ee entertained of how a coun y It o Zi f ro 'lle 110"48supplied with food. Without 1' 0 4 1 ; 4 ies - t , 41 Ad am e ay.ith any of those hackneyed quits 'Rs."' -nee the Senith and Ricardo on this subject, he ke w - ; 1 11.,INtor li y.......°;," ni one of a great foreign writer Col eusoti vio t ,i ( l 4 , wh o 4 ° Count Carli, President of the, ter tki e rt egle et Was of °Pinion " that no prudent bottom 'obi e litipso '-" t° take ro autiOns for a regular f .larireet to ail a eor _ , p per prec Ni )! of all th '' , .ne . eaus e the produce of the ground te. t rit s • ti Unee-,.vietssitudes of the season. and was n . _e- t. , s tk iN u tloa "'Lain ,iature. Corn was not a subject . to . th ' 4 44 eould e°4l P e titien, like wine and olives, fur with ' % e ‘tue e Note , Jives but the could not live without ;str at eivie er, e t the d 'ILL Ite'll e '4'4l h w i sed y another quotation from td tt' s W hich -s t ° the proposition of the English le • . 0 regulated 1 s- - um ecepi e . the supply of food, and . ren klta es le t , y, ~ indepf•ndent of foreign aid for ti e oat 'e Ice, and re.retted that Ila tome Up ' i rt in i . L• 'so able a writer ,t th tt ,„ ani teett we country. lie had heard that it vtoseet'eforl,thato nearly all the statesmen of o tri att e e t e kite eauecateethoe rn-laws could be no longer retaineffi 14 11 , tt: to estimate be 4 s c ht.tY of those who still thought that Redell tj , •Mate t h ImA:toed to cosider carefully the whole h o ee . , e the a e . .of a sue( I‘;%t e:::trnvrateel).ru°llvfibnititierie:,onelusion'east:tfuoitehoencteosurr'seant(ol wh,.iat eeeetl ~,e "le cepinion that the effects of free trade Nib I t all' Pug eki to II 44 ' ..44i' Y --agger att o d Ti ' both sides, and therefer . e he Ith e te r toe d e enteittain dispassionately any project, ~,_ eh °r1.0,0 emanate Main the e l vitsiests..° don f-_ , . Noble Lord opposite, the . e t C ett t of flver r°M the Right Hon. Baronet at the head t qr t l 't th the e • . 'lntent, wheels should have for its object the th, trio at 0,, 1..11 discord 1 °ee l tee, P ° Tati oe to e w leh prevailed on this matt. rbubo . 5., ( lino:Rey , i _ ue s uccessful it must not be mad s with l le o t ne t i e. r),_671, and on shallow and contradictory et i l i it L 1 54 t; ' ,,, l ßiriat c , e ,,, c'rl t he re at,g bra ad, end general principles. p:t tr - Ist 1 1 ° ugh a ~,, ditat of a terrified Cabinet, to Ne v i lle t "brettteetiffed Parliament to a premature law, 40 4 oßli s h to tile full discussion and ultimate ver litight it"Ple- -(Cheers)--and then such a great Prochutive of; permanent good and THE ST) N, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVEN' RERIT AAY 18, 1846. lasting benefit. He could even conceive of such a course being taken by her Majesty's Government, and after the speech of the Right Hon. Baronet on the previous night, the possibility of adopting such a course could not be disputed. If the Right Hon. Gentleman had announced before the meeting of Paths meat his .long-cherished idea of throwing open the ports, and have t,ll us he was no longer prepared to steer the ship the same course as he had hitherto done, the feelings on this matter in the country anti in this House would be very different from what they now were. He (Lord John Manners) had paid great attention throughout these debates to hear a reason assigned by the Government for the course they h..d chosen to take. The Right Hen. Baronet had last night expressed his satisfac tion at the result of his measure of 1845, but he wonid ask what confidence could this country have in a Government who adopted a course which contradicted all their former acts? It would not do for the Right Hon. Baronet to plead that he was platted in such a difficult position by divisions in the Cabinet that he was compelled to adopt the course which he had ade,pted. If the Right Honourable Gentleman was in earnest—if he really thought that the danger and difficulty was so pressing--even now he might open the ports, and let in the corn till the danger had disappeared. Wliy, what a lumbering birth ! what a lumbering task ! the Government takes upon itself. How long did they expect to be occupied in carrying this great experiment, which affected nearly every interest in the country, through Parlia:nent ? With their commissions of inquiry into the burdens upon land, with their commissions of inquiry into the prebahle effects of this great commercial revoite ion upon the colenies. with their commissions of inquiries into its effects upon the finances of the country, and with that able, bitter, resolute, and unswerving hostility which they had excited against their proposal, what chance, he asked the Government, was there of this measure being immed'ately passed through Parliament? Now ot;e word upon the subject of guarantees. He had shown how unfair the Right Hon. Baronet had ailed in presuming that a guarantee would have been requ'red from him in re• speet of the opening of the ports, and he now told the lion. • Baronet tha , he did not think any man in England would ever again ask the Right Hon. Baronet for a guarantee upon the corn-laws, or anything else.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) And he was sure that those gentlemen who thought protection to native industry was deeply rooted in the affections of the people, and closely allied with the interests of the country, would in future rely ueon the goad judgment, the good sense, thedeterrnination, and the courage of the English people, rather than upon the promises of the Right Hon. Baronet. He for one could not but. complain of a spirit of straightfor wardness which was exhibited in the arguments and the tone of the Right Hon. Baronet. It was exceedingly amusing to see how the Right Hon. Baronet disposed of any particular course of action which his opponents might th ink proper to adopt. For instance, the Right Hon. Baronet said, if the Hoo. Member for Bristol had taken upon himself to propose a want of confidence in the Ministry, or to propose a direct declaration in favour of native industry, or, in short, if he had takers any other course than that which he did, the Right Hon. Baronet would have understood this mode of action, and been prepared to meet it accordingly.—( Hear, and laughter.) Nothing, in his opinion, could be more unfair than this mode of di-posing of the arguments of opponents ; and although he was not bold enough to take upon himself the task of advising Hon. Members, he would say this much for the Hon. Member for Bristol, that had he adopted any other course than the one he did, the Right lion. Baronet would have disposed of him with very much the same argument. And after the revolutionary senti ments of the Right Hon. Baronet,; he thought both the Hon. Member for Bristol and the Hon. Member for Newcastle upon-Tyne might be excused for withholding their support from the Right Hon. Baronet and his Government, Now the Right Hon. Baronet alluded to the probable effects which the passing of this measure would have upon foreign countries. Russia, he said, would.be shaken by it. An MN. MEMBER--NO; he salt! Prussia would be shaken. Lord J. MANNERS resu ed—Russia would be shaken, the Right Hon. Baronet said, by the passing of this measure ; but when it was remembered that such a measure was all that Prussia wanted with this country, he did not think the pass ing of it was the surest way of inducing her to alter her commercial policy. Passing from Prussia to France, the Right Hon. Baronet made a statement still more unsatisfactory, because he admitted that the aristocracy of France were op posed to free trade; but against this he placed the fact that the intelligence public opinion of Franco was directly in favour of freedom of trade. Let him, however, ask the Right lion. Baronet who it was that led this intelligent public opinion? He believed Arago, Thiers, Louis, and Berryer, were men who led public opinion in France, but who were rar from entertaining views in favour of free trade, but on the contrary, were favourable to protection to native industry. He now came. to another branch of the Right Hon. Baronet's ar- guments, and he hoped it would not be inferred from what might fall from him upon this part of the subject that he wished to deal lightly with the calamity which had lately fallen upon Ireland. He must, however, be permitted to say, that when the Bight Hon. Baronet argued that a failure in the potato crop in 1845 was a justification for a total repeal of the corn laws in 1849, the Right Hon. Baronet left his reason un convinced though he might have excited his sympathies in his behalf. The Right Hon. Baronet prefaced his introduction of this measure by a melancholy statement and touching appeal to the feelings of the Howe, and whilst by th:s means he had almost safely lodged the corner-stone of his new principles, he dashed it to atoms with the argumentative reasoning with which he followed up his melan choly oration ; for after making a touching appeal to them to sive the people of Ireland cheap bread, he went on to state that he did not expect the repeal of the corn-laws would reduce the price of agricultural produce, and his Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of War, in improving upon this text, said he did not think the English farmer would be exposed to foreign competi tion. He maintained, then, that after the great proposal the Government had made to the present Parliament, and the sweeping and tremendous revolution whith they wished to effect throughout the whole commercial system of the country, he felt himself perfectly justified in votin g for the amendment of his Hon. Friend the Nleniber Shropshire for an a, peal to the temstituencies of England. lie might be told thatan appeal to the constituency of Newara would be sufficient for his purpose, but his answer to this was that he did riot wish to appeal to he electors of Newark, but to the constituencies of the coun try. Now, having said thus much, he must be allowed to ex press an opinion that the proposal of the Government was riot the best that could have been made. It could not be called free trade, and he doukted even if it could be called a scheme of free importation, for on the one hand they reserved protec lion to a great number of manufsetured articles, and on the other they maintained the prohibition against the growing of tobacco, arid that enormous burden the malt-tax—for what ever might be said in its favour, it must be still allowed that th e mail-tax was, to a great extent, a large burden upon land. It did seem to him, with all deference to the Hon. Gentle men who entertained strong views on both sides of the question, that if the corn, the produce corn of the British colonies, and Indian corn, had been proposed to be admitted duty free, and other foreign corn at a moderate fixed duty, it would have ( laced the corn trade on a basis satisfactory to the commercial interests of the country, and would have bound, by ties of mutual interests, the vast colonial empire to the British Con stitution, whilst at the same time is would have afforded a safe security against the unnecessary fears of the farmer. He did not stand alone in this opinion, for he found a fixed du'y of :is. advocated by the Messrs. Ferguson and Taylor, of Man chester, in a document, it niust be remembered, which was not the production of the Central Protection Society, nor the pro duction of the supporter of any fixed duty, but it emanated from parties deeply interested in the prosperity of Manchester and English manufactures. Although he could not say that he entertained some of the fears which some of his Hon. Friends did with respect to free-trade, or participate in the hopes which acme Hon. Members anticipated would be realised from it, he did most earnestly and heartily deprecate any such harsh or hasty interference with the great commercial interests of the country, or with the system of protection under which trade and manufactures had made mast gigantic and almost miraculous strides, and under which agriculture has made such vast strides that if the people of their own country were not, foreigners were perfectly astounded at it, as that now proposed by her Niajesty's Government: He depre cated, too, the dictatorial tone adopted by the Right lion. Baronet towards some of his supporters, which, in his opinion, only served to aleinate tee sympathies and the confidence of those great classes to which, in times of danger and distress, the Sovereigns of this country have ever looked, nor looked in vain, for a ready obedience to the laws, and unflinching bravery, and uncompromising fidelity.—( Cheers.) For these reasons he, for one, neither feared nor hoped much from free trade, but was, nevertheless, anxious to have this great question. settled to the satisfaction of all parties, gave his most hearty and determined vote in favour of an appeal to the country ; and his most resolute and determined opposition to the pro posal that this House do resolve itself into a Committee for the purpose of considering the corn-laws, with a view to their repeal.—( Cheers. ) Capt. LAVA RI) said, whatever might be the feelings which had been expressed by the Hon. Gentleman who sat below the gangway, be thought, after the eloquent and truly argumenta tive speech which the Right Hon. Baronet made last night, they could have had no objection to their going into Committee on this question. He for one believed that the measure of the Government was likely, not only to be conducive to the in terests of the country, but would' tend gre a tly t o a d vance the interests of agriculture ; and whilst expressin g this Qpinion, he must be allowed to say, that he should be always sorry to see the commercial, or any other interested, ber;efited by the loss of another.—( Hear, hear.) Within the last six months a great alteration had taken place in the feelings of the country with respect to thin question. The feeling of that House had also changed upon this great question, and that change had been in favour of free trade. The best men on both sides of the House had declared them selves in favour of the present measure.—( Cheers.) He would ask Hon. Gentlemen on the opposite side of the House, who were in favour of what was called "protection to native industry," where were their champions of protection now ? ( Hear, hear, and laughter.) Those champions who had led them in their battle fur protection dare not now stand up in defence of their hollow and unjust cause, either out of doors or in that House. —( Hear, hear.) The present measure was one which should and must be carried without any longer delay. He (Captain Layard) had heard the arguments of Hors Gentlemen on the other side of the House since the com mencement of this debate, and he must confess that they con tained in them no new feature; he had heard them all over and over again years ago. The night Hon. Baronet at the head of the Government had last night taken the wind out of all their sails —( Laughter.) Hon. Gentlemen on the other s'de of the House had told the House that the land would go out of cultivation if the measure were passed.—(" Hear, hear," from the protectionists.) He begged to refer those Hon. Members to the meeting which was recently held at Guatacre.— ( Laughter from the protectionists, and the rs from the Opposition.) At that meeting the agricultural labourers and farmers of that district said unanimously that they did not believe that one acre would go out of cultivation in the event of the corn-laws being abolished.—(Cheers from the Opposition.) Of course, not the least particle of land would go nut of cultivation ; and he really believed that there was not a man in that House, nor in the country, who conscientiously believed that the land would be left uncultivated. An HoN. MEMBER on the Opposition benches—l cannot believe it.—( Hear, hear. ) Captain LAYA RD continued to observe that the Right lion. Gentleman the Secretary at War had the other night made a free-trade speech, and that he most heartily congratu'ated that. Right lion. Gentleman on the speech which he had made. lie was sure that he was possessed of talents, and that he would rise in the estimation, of the country. But the Right lion. Gentleman had said that the corn-law of 1815 was a great mistake and a great error.—(hear, hear.) He (Capt. Layard) would go further, and say that it was no less than a great and grievous crime.—(Cheers. ) He believed that by that measure not only the agricultural but the manufacturing interests of this country were greatly injured.—( Hear, hear. ) He believed that it was a fearful crime, because the misery of the people was greatly enhanced by that unjust law. The House had been told by Hon Gentlemen opposite that. England had risen to great prosperity under the operation of the corn laws; they talked of great and glorious England under the corn-law. He knew, and they all knew, that England was a great and glorious country, but he denied that the corn-law niade her great and glorious.—( Cheers from the Opposition Members.) Looking at the Right lion. Baronet at the head of her Majesty's Government, he seemed in his (Captain Layard's) eyes to be a free-trader.—( Hear, hear.) But he had been the leader of lion. Gentlemen opposite. His opinions on the corn-laws had however become changed The dtflieultioa under which the country was labouring had made him a free-trailer. The difficulties under which England laboured consisted of the present corn-laws, and he maintained that England was great and glorious, not because of, but in spite of the corn-laws.—(Cheers.) The Noble Lord who had just sat down, was scarcely intelligible, at least to him. —( Hear, hear.) He (the Noble Lord) had written a letter to his con stituents, and from that letter he ( Captain Layard) was led to believe that the Noble Lord would have supported the measure. The Noble Lord, the Member for Liverpool, had also made a speech the other night in favour of the position of Hon. Gen tlemen opposite, and yet he had said that he would vote in support of the present measure. He was sorry not to see the Hon. Member for Oxford (Sir R. H. Inglis) in his place, who claimed the speech of the Noble Lord as his own, and he (Captain Layard) thought he had every right to it.—(Cheers.) Now, he must say, that the conduct of the Noble Lord reminded him of a circumstance which had oc curred some years ago, at Nottingham. There was a man there who had a vote, and a certain Hon. and Gallant Member if he were present could confirm the statement which he was about to make. That man, for the vote he had given at an election there, was promoted to a choristership at Canterbury, but when he came to sing he could not sing at all.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) So it might be said of certain Hon. Members on the other side of the House : A singing man, he could not sing, No need to thank his patron's !Jena'? ; Excuse me, sir, 1 cannot sing, My voice is in another county. —( Laughter. ) lie was delighted to find that the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary for the Colonies, in spite of the caustic speech which had been delivered by the Hon. Member for Shrewsbury, was determined to vote in support of tree ' trade.—( Hear, hear.) Arid what was the charge—the grievous charge—that that Hon. Member had also brought against the Right Hon. Baronet now at the head of her Majesty's Government? Why it was this—that he sacrificed party feelings for the good, for the glory, and for the happiness of his country. —( Great cheering from the Opposition.) An Hon. Gentleman on the other side of the House had also said that rotten potatoes formed a rotten argument.—( Hear, Lear, and laughter.) But what would that Honourable Member say, in answer to the distressing statements which had been laid before the House that night by the Hon. and Learned Member for Cork (Mr. O'Conntll). He had not intended to refer to this subject in consequence of those statements. He would beg the House to consider those statements most attentively, for they depicted suffering of the most awful and grievous description, which was brought about by the " rotten potatoes" alluded to by the Hon. Member in so unmerciful and inconsiderate a manner. Ile held in his hand a pamphlet which went to show that agriculture was benefited by protection,and that it was a just measure. Now, he thought with the celebrated expression of Mr. Cobden, that the system of protection was one of mutual plunder between the farmers anti their landlords—( Hear, hear)—and be had not heard one argument from Honourable Gentlemen opposite showing that such was not the case.—(Opposition cheers.) He could understand the reason why so little money was spent in agri culture—it was -because of the uncertainty that at present prevailed with regard to the corn-laws. Hon. Gentlemen on the opposite side of the House had said that they preferred im mediate repeal to the present proposal of her Majesty's Government. Well, then, the Bight Hon. Bart. at the head of the Government had last night expressed his perfect wil lingness to accede to their wishes.—( Cheers and laughter.) Tney had now, therefore, an opportunity of obtaining their desires.—( Hear, hear.) They would certainly have a num ber of supporters on their own side of the House, and certainly a very great number on his (Captain Layard's) own side of the House.—( Great cheering and laughter. ) lie ever had confidence in his political readers, and he had every reason to continue his support to their measures. They had never betrayed him.—( Hear, hear.) He believed that those leaders had ever acted rightly. He could safely say that. he hail always the greatest reliance upon the Noble Lord the Member for the City of London, and particularly when he made that startling expression some time ago, that " protection was the bane of agriculture." Ile (Captain Layard) wished to ask Hon. Gentlemen opposite how they could justly charge that Noble Lord with a sudden change of his opinions upon the free- trade question, when he had uttered such a sentiment as the above years ago?— (Cheers.) For the reasons then that he (Captain Layard) had stated, he should be happy to give the Right Honourable Baronet at the head of the Govern ment his humble support. He believed that the present measure was for the benefit of the country ; he believed that that Right lion. Gentleman had made the greatest sacrifice that any man could make for the good of his country.— ( Cheers.) He must say that be both honoured and admired him for the sacrifice which he had made.—(Cheers)—and he never in his life had given his vote with so much happiness and so much contentment as he should upon this occasion.— ( Hear, hear.) Believing that it was for the good of the coun try—believing that every country would follow the bright example which the Right Hon. Baronet had set them—( Hear, hear)—believing, as he did, that it would strengthen and bind in a link of unity and peace, which we must all desire and hope for, the nations of the earth, he would give the proposal his most hearty support.—(Cheers. ) Mr. G. PALMER said, lie did not hope by anything he might utter to add any new argument in the discussion of this question ; but he felt himself bound to express his opinions in discharge of the duty which he owed to the individuals whom he represented in that House. Those individuals were most anxious to knew the result of the delibera tions of the House on this question, believing, as they did, that on the result of those deliberations depended their future prosperity or distress.—( Hear, hear.) It was scarcely necessary to inform that House of the state of excitement in the country on this question. They had seen that numerous meetings had been held in different parts of the country—almost in every county—to denounce the free-trade measures of the Government, and they were almost all unani mous in their condemnation of the present measure.—( Cheers from the protectionists.) For the purpose of showing the quickness of the Right Hon. Baronet's change in favour of free trade, he would beg the indulgence of the House whilst he quoted Hansard for a few moments. —( Hear. ) In the year 1814, the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of her Majesty's Government, in opposing the motion of the Hon. ember for Wolverhampton (Mr. Villiers), avowed himself an advocate for protection, on the groued of the peculiar burden on land, and that that was a subject which he could not deal with upon abstract principles, without regard to all the other interests of the class. Upon these grounds he therefore gave his unqualified opposition to the motion. It was by thus acting, that he ( Sir R. Peel) led many persons to imagine that he did not contemplate a change in a law which was settled only two years before. He (Mr. Palmer) hail attended many meetings in the country, and the general feeling was one of alarm at the consequences likely to ensue from the adoption of this measure. Toe question which was asked throughout the country was, what grounds are there for the change proposed by her Majesty's Government ? He had listened to a large por tion of the debate, but he had not heard any substantial reason brought forward by the Government to account for this change, excepting that melancholy statement of the failure of the potato crop in Ireland. He could not hear the statement made by the Right Hon. Baronet last evening without feeling grsat alarm and anxiety. He did not think, however, that the measures proposed were calculated to remedy this grievous evil. The necessity of opening the ports had been urged, but he did not think even that measure would haVe alleviated the distress, unless the persons who were suffering under the calamity had the means of obtaining the corn thus -introduced. Hut he would not have objected to any Bill of Indemnity which it might have been necessary to have passed in this House, on account of the suspension by Order in Council of the existing corn laws.—( Hear, hear.) He was not sufficiently versed in Par liamentary matters to know, however, that it was a necessary consequence that the corn-laws should be totally repealed in consequence of a temporary suspension of the measure. lie remembered that the late Mr. Canning suspended that law, and orders were given in Council for the admission of 5,000 quarters of wheat. A Bill of Indemnity was given to him, but he (Mr. Canning) never thought of coming down to the House and saying that he considered it necessary to repeal the corn-law in consequence of that temporary suspension. ( Hear, hear.) The principle of protection seems now to be abandoned by the Government, but they have given us no good reason for changing their minds on the subject. He was however prepared still to adhere to that principle. It was no new system; it had been the policy of England for upwards of a century. He had read in " The Lives of the Lord Chancellors" (a work written by Lord Campbell) of Lord Chancellor Morton, who I.ved in the reign of Henry VII., who considered that in a time of scarcity corn should not be allowed to be sent out of the country. This lie believed was the earliest case on record. It is under this system of protection the country has arisen to its present proud position. Mr. Huskisson said that the produce of the country should be protected—he cared tint how cheap corn was—and he said that in order to ensure a continuance of the supply of cheap corn, w e must ensure to the corn producer an adequate amount of protec tion. He (Mr. Palmer) did not agree in the demand which had been made upon the Government for a compensation; he did not look at the question in that light. The principle of protection is in itself either right or strong.—( Hear, hear.) If it is right, let us maintain it ; if wrong, the continuance of the principle is wrong, unjust, and unfair, and we have no right to grant compensation for the removal of that which we admit to be unjust. That would be giving a premium to injustice. The Right Honourable Baronet states that he has afforded ad tfa e n aaeaei theds t a o af the ms n s,g d toho e t n d aat i wh n n eeh t g e asu r uni e vbe s elee f cr o nt h r , t .et t —h h ha e a(t d a Hn l a i ne o nat l i rao i p i n o hpe n eaaor o rft f .ut; t h h ieti o my : heaafltawwas con sultings. consi dered that ho had their opinion, and that was y also his opinion. As he said . co be n fo r r , e e , of h h e is spe considered chona called on to concur in. The as ll.7 . Right measure ii that he was not i:ornser gon. Baronet, in the occasion, riati state f d that the alter ation he had then made had been no injury, but rather was a benefit to all parties. P He instanced in the price of cattle , meat, and other commodities. gr gOvr r h s e e thought there were many other reasons why the rise in the price of cattle had occurred, besides its being caused by a re duction on import duties. He thought the Right lion. Baro net could not take particular credit to himself for raising those prices. Even admitting that those benefits hail occurred in consequence of the measure that he had introduced, he (11Ir. Palmer) thought it was a good argument for not meddling any more.—( Cheers. ) He believed that the constant meddling with those laws had occasioned more dis tchnetrtunerees pro ceedingtress a rnomt t e whatsoever. a g r c t u w l t a u s ral n o c t o u m n m t i u l t a i i b t o y u t t h atnh anythe p that the farmers, in consequence of the alterations made in those laws in the year 1842, were recovering from the losses which the agitation of that measure caused. The labourers were much better employed, general prosperity was experienced by all parties in the country, just at the period when the Right lion. Baronet brought forward his proposition, which turned the scale in a contrary direction.—(Loud cheers.) He could, from his own personal experience, state that there was a great stagnation in the markets of his own country. No miller would buy any large quantity of wheat at present, but, to use a common expression, was purchasing from hand to mouth. The price may be as high now (he did not mean to say it was not), but there was no business doing in the market since that measure was announced. He knew per fectly well that it made a difference of 75., or Bs., or 10s. to the mechanic, there being no trade carrying on. Therefore he said it was a most unfortunate time to bring forward such a measure. He (Mr. Palmer) should like to ask anybody who took a fair view of the farmers' condi tion whether there was not greater improvement, mitre capital, and more skill, now used by them, than there was twenty years ago—whether the general cultivation of their land was not much better than it was then—and, taking a full view . ] of the question, he could not believe that protection was a bane to agriculture. He (Mr. Palmer) considered that they ought to make themselves as independent of foreign supply as possible. These were arguments which were supported with great ability at one time in that House by some who had since thought fit to change their minds. He would venture to read a short passage to the House from the speech of the Right Honourable Baronet the Secretary for humbled d s n ' thgabetyet this the Home Department, on the subject of depending on r f om o on r an e ifee i ot g ari n sii nationsof ni great countries,,r, e latt foraßp Britain i t et, s nd u wd p t oo p wu l hl y adism o b f l eit c khh o ea r ut n mpt . iahisnge Right ere! depending Hot iworneyr., anda state of siege. When the supply was withdrawn, and there were many countries which would be glad to place us in that position, what then should we do ?" That was the opinion of the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir J. Graham) in the year 1839, on the question of our rendering this country dependent on forei g n nations for our suppli es . The Right Hon. Baronet at the head of her Majesty's Go vernment says, a deficient harvest may involve them in difficulties. If further calamities should arise then they may lose their independence, for restrictive duties were no security against a famine, The HoMse would consider that those were good authorities who I had spoken such language. A great deal had been said on the • subject of labour, and he thought that it was one of the greatest proofs that the question now agitating the public mind was a labourer's and a farmer's question, by the tact that al most in every part of the country they would find very few of the landed interest present at those meetings, which were entirely composed of tenant-farmers, who feel that their interests are alone involved in that question. The landlord was opulent , and it would not make any material difference to himi; but the tenant bound to a farm, from which he could not escape, was placed in a very different position. Of the expenses attendant on the cultivation of a farm, and the sums to be paid, the rent was by no means the principal feature.—(Protectionist cheers.) A difference of 10s. in the price of wheat would make a dif ference of one-half of his rent. Now, he did not mean to say that he was a very intelligent man, but he thought, while they were getting only an average price for corn, that a measure ought not to be introduced which would make a difference of one-half his rent—(Hear, hear)— but he did mean to state that if there was a rise in corn, there was also an addition to the wages of the labourer.—(" Hear, hear," from the Opposition.) And to, when the price of corn fell, in the same proportion did a reduction take place in the wager of the agriculturists.-- (Loud cheering.) When corn was low, as it was in the years 1822 and I,ls—corn then averaging at 395. the bushel—the price of labour fell, and it hail ever been his experience that the pecu niary difficulties of the farmer produced the worst results upon the agriculturist, who appeared never to derive any advantage from the cheapness of bread, though it might reasonably be sup posed otherwise. '1 he Right Hon. Baronet, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, did not always entertain the same opinion with respect to wages as he did then ; he was not going to blame that change, for he believed that it arose from sincere conviction—( Hear, hear)—but he was going to quote from a speech delivered in 18e9 by the Right Hon. Baronet, for the purpose of strength ening the case which he (Mr. Palmer) was entfeavouring to place before the House. The Right Hon. Baronet asked, when he was addressing the parties who advocated a repeal of the corn-law, " What was their object —was it to raise the price of corn ? If it was, he would tell them that they would also raise the price of wages. Was it their object not to raise the price of corn?—if they des red a low rate of corn, he would tell them at once that they also desired to produce a low rate of wages."—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) These were the opi nions of the Right Hon. Baronet in 1839. He considered at that period that diminished protection would throw large quantities of land out of cultivation, and he (Mr. Palmer) was not to be blamed if, in 1846, he adhered to the lesson which he had learned from the Right Hon. Laronet then. —( Hear, hear.) lie had already trespassed much too long on the attention of the House, much longer than he had intended, because he felt that the question had been so long, so ably, and so successfully argued—(Cheers) that he could add nothing to it. For his own part, having no such convictions forced upon his mind as were forced upon the Hon. Baronet, and entertaining an opinion both of the justice and the expediency of maintaining the same amount of protection to agriculture and the other branches of native industry as had been maintained heretofore, he could see no sufficient reason for the change now proposed to be carried into law, and the Right Hon. Baronet must, therefore, excuse him if he declined to follow him in the path in which he wished to lead him.—(Cheers.) They had been told by the Secretary at War (Mr. Sidney Herbert) that this was a golden opportunity for settling the present question with honour—( Hear, hear)—but he did not see how any question could be settled with honour when it was to be done at the ex pense of political honesty.—(Loud cheers.) He had repre sented his constituents for many years, and he did not believe that he ever was asked to give a single pledge as to his course of condnet in that House. But he considered that there was an implied understanding that he should endeavour to maintain the law as it then existed, and he considered such implication equally binding in honour as any pledge that he could personally give, and it should never be said that he deserted the interests of those who had sent him to that House.— ( Hear, hear. ) Sir CHARLES NA PIER bad hoped that, after the elo quent and unanswerable speech of the Right HOn. Baronet at the head of the Government, that lion. Gentlemen oppo site would have seen the propriety of bringing the present debate to a conclusion.--(Cheers and laughter.) He could not see what purpose they had in view by prolonging it.— ( Laughter.) The great complaint which Hon. Gentlemen had to the Right Hon. Baronet was, that he proposed to bring in a new corn-law, which he had done in consequence of the failure of the potato crop in Ireland. lie (Sir C. Napier) did not see why the Hon. Gentlemen should have expressed such indignation at the change of mind which such a course exhibited on the part of the Right Hon. Baronet. He was not the only person. however, against whom this indignation should have been evinced.—( Cheers.) The Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department had shown a similar change of mind.—( Cheers and laughter. ) The Right Hon. Secretary at War had followed in the wake of the two Noble. Baronets.—( Roars of laughter.) The Chancellor of the Exchequer had expressed a similar opinion, anal other Hon. Gentlemen on the same side of the House. He wondered that Hon. Gentlemen did not tax that (the Opposition) side of the House with having changed their minds also. They had shown a change quite as great as that ex hibited by the Right Hon. Baronet.—( Laughter. ) Did they imagine they were to follow the example of country gentlemen who ploughed the same horses now as they did twenty or thirty years ago.—(Roars of laughter.) Did not the Right Hon. Gentleman explain that so early as the Ist of November last he proposed to open the ports and the only support which such a proposition had in the Cabinet was from three of his colleagues ? The Right Hon. Baronet then resigned. The Noble Lord ( Lord John Russell) was then called to the helm of affails, and the Noble Lord also failed to construct a Government.— (Cheers and laughter.) He (Sir Charles Napier) rejoiced that the Noble Lord had failed.—(Laughter.) The Noble Lord had done so in an uncertainty as to how many of the Hon. Gentlemen opposite would have come over to his opinions, and under the circumstances he was perfectly justified in declining to undertake the Government.—( Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord the Member for Newark asked why the Right lion. Baronet did not open the ports now. Had this been the case, and had the Right Hon. Baronet proposed the im mediate opening of the ports, he would hive met with the same reproaches, and the same complaints would have followed. —( Hear, hear.) He ( Sir C. Napier) thought that the Right Hon, Baronet was perfectly right in the course he had adopted under the circum•tances. He believed the Right Hon. Ba ronet would much sooner have the immediate repeal of the corn-laws than that they should be protracted for three years longer, but he sincerely believed that tint Right Hon. Baronet had gene as far as he could go.—( Cheers and laughter. ) But if they ( the Opposition side of the House) fell into the trap which the Honourable Gentlemen opposite had laid for them, with respect to the immediate opening of the ports, they would defeat the measure entirely.—( Hear, hear. ) He therefore hoped and trusted that they would abide by the proposition of the Hon. Baronet, though it might riot reach the full limit of their desires.— ( Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord, the Member for Newark, also proposed, that before they concurred in the measures which had been proposed, that they should appeal to the coun try. Now he (Sir C. Napier) would ask, was that a time to make such an appeal, when Ireland was in a state of starva tion—when the public tranquillity was in imminent danger of being disturbed ? Ard Hon. Gentlemen opposite knew that such a state of things really existed?—(Cheers, and cries of " No, no.") The consequence which would follow the carry ing out of the proposition of the Noble Lord would be, that t _ehN T ra ( h )cd he N ee aus o rLtr b :nc l Noble sdwLp hear. heot the speak ac m Nwlnsw a o s t bta t hlyt e ehes r e s hsLu w ernoei 9 :Jl.o : Le i s al subject.—(Roars become _iproposedd i(n extraordinarygß.osaesrtatsoli e t l can w f co ob accept man s pe e mt . —aat laughter.)n h ( fi a_ C t x everfixed dL e edaTruus Laughter)--hut h y : e e . The Noble Lord, therefore, was as mush in fault as the Right lion. Baronet. The Hon. Baronet was influenced in his change of mind by a regard for the public welfare, but the Noble Lord was influenced by self-interested motives and from a desire to keep his rents higher.—( Cheers, and cries of " Oh, oh.") He would tell the House what he believed to be the the desire e r R t, cthoinegthpsi idea as(s ß ct t hh i h n aae . rredritsyh ß , eoa a nnreodffnmeceeortrni cries s i truth—(Uproar)—and he was of opinion that there would not have been such an opposition to the measure of would ,n t d, h tol e he y ehm, te w ocnh e o r o. se,p7,oensainlttte reduction. i a rn s H pnercects con sidered, inds. t w tt e i e: s ttoio i rf, i j e ,teu r ,hh e s Rta i w i i t , iershe h i hi :coat which, d v ni eifdurao under r de. r , eneßr t v h faeor a inot. t ohmt ne t e h der e ttcih r ti e rei nef w Hur hom e oim r sns e t.saap c sAn e esice r eee t er a msht n bniotegfrl astf feelings which some times crept into the human heart, which blinded it to a sense hotro wouldsneNi night, at once Northampton; aa c e midpavpldeetorsorneot adverted and he had very lo p n r g op s e p r e l e y e h a e n s i m o n a d v rh e r e t e o d rh u e p r o s n i d i e t . of N t h o e w H i f o , n i s n e - st, were to gi ve l ong l eases , t h e i r tenants wou ld e o a n d . ‘ f e m m a b k e i a g not suffer half so much, even according to their own argu ments, as they otherwise would from this measure.--( Hear, hear.) If they were to go down into Scotland, they would see the improvements in agriculture there. They would see them thrashing corn there by steam, instead of by men and horses. jt might appear strangely singular to Honour able Members fur a sailor like him to give them such advice, but he was a farmer himself. It was true he was a farmer upon a small scale—so much the worse for him.—(Laughter.) lie took a farm about two years ago of forty acres, and he wished he could have afforded to take more.—(Continued laughter.) It was now fourteen years in cultivation, arid, up to the time he had taken it, it had produced nothing. His predecessors could grow nothing, the soil was a barren one, and in fact truly unfortunate All who had taken it up had most signally failed. He had not been on it above a year before he had lost 1001. clear money.—( Laughter. ) His next door neighbour was a p or fellow, but he was a good fellow ; he had no money, but he managed to live very well. He ( the Honourable Baronet) said to him, Well, old fellow"—(Laughter)—he said to) him, Well, old fellow, how islt you get on—you haven* money ? 'tis true, you have but a wife and a pony—how is it you manage to do so well ?" I said, " I have money, and have spent it on my land, and yet can produce nothing but a loss."—(Laughter. ) Well, Sir," said he, " my advice to you is, to dig up all your ditches, and then to go eighteen inches with your plough, and then sow your seed." lie had followed this advice, and he grew the next year eleven acres of oats all good and marketable. Now, by following this advice—by making all those improve ments, of all this farrow land he had but fourteen acres which did not produce an abundant crop. On much of this farrow land, he could assure the House, that he had grown in la p n ro d se w d ou ss ld ste p w rod o u f ce corn,. and tat nips as large as the heads of many of the lion. Members advocating the protective interests of the other side of the House. He bad no doubt that he would be able to grow one thing after the other till at last he would agriculture. an If Hon. Members who made such outcry against the in roads —he thought a new course was with such improvement favourable gam. He had taken up this grow would retches, be do speeches, they would . l well, and the result of agriculture, would but get down their ditche,st,nasitiedasdoowf eery old tack had been worn quite the after which resultdaaccordance : ,cef a th n e i their corn in a m won a o k elw i d ng pbae t r h nt o o s i e nlo l s o ts;i n is disc u o c f h ti o ta f thatpart yparfetyelifnegelihnagd, very necessary, threadbare, and he thought 1 • d appreciale Hon. Members would would be, that they would vote for the measure before the the course he laidgbdausotwatnhufeor'i°their guidance, and that the result h i s opinion in unison with theirs. Fiouse.—( Cheers and laughter.) Mr. F. SHAW said that, in speaking on the present mea sure,a u he eh wouldhens for years acted had left him but one alternative, either to u sr allow confess The measure before the House was one of all others which keep silence, or to verify would do great and incalculable, injury to Ireland. The that hhaet had d c debate had taken a new turn. The lion. anti Gallant Member haul introduced that change in the debate. Many of those who bad risen on the subject had said they would vote for the measure, but many of those who had also risen said they would vote against the motion. The Noble Lord the Member for Liverpool said that the measure, though he would not dote against it, if it should be carried, would disappoint those who had brought it forward, and placed such reliance on its results, and he (the lion. Member) was of opinion that it would disappoint the public generally. He thought Right Hon. Baronet at the head of her Majesty's Ministry had no right to say that the Noble Lord (Lord A s hl ey ) , who had resigned his seat, was in favour of the measure, because he had so resigned, instead of voting for the measure. The Hon. Member for Liverpool, who had said that the Measure would be of the greatest injury to the interests of this country was animadverted upon in the s p eec h o f the Right Hon. Baronet, who held it as a right that those who held opinions contrary to the Right Hon. Baronet, had a right to express themselves to that effect on that question. without being aubjegt to attack. The Noble Lord the Member for the West Riding of Yorkshire had said, that those who had advo cated the protective interests in that House were broken up as a par ee t t s h h is on w l a ti s nof necessityotvery surprising, con s id er i ng th e great be in th a t p os iti on . Th ey changes -which had take n p l ace i n the principles of public men. were no disagreeing a mongst themselves. 'I hey were with- Indel y , out any settled kind of action ; and though they were undis ciplined and unofficered, they were still undismayed. —( Cheers. ) What they believed to be the cause of the good and the just, was one from which they would not become dissenters ; and, with God's help, they would be loyal and true to the end. His Right Hon. Friend had, he conceived, taken undue steps in reference to the failure of the potato crop in Ireland. He (Mr. Shaw) had already stated that he would approach that question with great caution, for he was willing to admit its importance. He was ready to admit that the time of periodical distress was approaching in Ireland; but he would contend for it that the statements upon the subject of the failure of the potato crop had been greatly exaggerated. He had visited various counties in Ireland, and he bad received communications from persons in the provision trade, such as contractors for supply ing the gaols and workhouses, and other public institutions, with this article of fo d. He had also carefully watched the state of the markets ; and the result of all those measures of procu:ing information on this subje tended to show that there would undoubtedly be a deficiency of the potato crop in some arts of Iceland, but that in a great majority of districts the crop would be an average crop, and that much of the deficiency complained of had been owing to a glutting of the market upen the first rumours of the suepased famine.—( Hear.) He did not mean to dwell at any further length upon this topic; and he would leave it now by expressing the satisfac tion he felt at having observed the encouragement given to the employment of the labouring classes in Ireland this session s by the temporary expedient for meeting this tem porary evil. Ile knew it would be a waste of time to dwell upon it now, but he thought he was warranted in saying that it was a subject of wonder to many that his Right Honourable Friend could have recommended such mea sures without a more mature consideration of the pro bability of a worse state of things than they had any real reason to apprehend. It was only the other day he had heard the (tight Hon. Baronet, the Secretary of State for the Home Department. state, in answer to a question from the Hon. Member for Rochdale, in reference to that clause in the Poor-relief Act affording out-door relief, that he was de cidedly adverse to any alteration in the established system.— ( Hear, hear.) This certainly did not word with the lately avowed principle of the Right Hon. Baronet; and he did think that the impetus that had of late been given to employ ment in this country by the railways, had been very unfairly kept out of view by her Majesty's Government. There was, no doubt, a great deal that was plausible in the Govern ment plans. But he begged to remind the Right Hon. Baronet that Hon. Members on that side of the House were not quite so unlearned as he seemed to think in the doctrines of Adam Smith.—( Hear, hear.) They all knew that those doctrines were very fine, and world be very fair and reasonable if they could persuade other countries to adopt them also. But they should take into consideration the national debt, the com plicated interests, and the very many other peculiar circum stances of this country, its well-being, and its prosperity, is considerir g this measure.—( Cheers. ) " A thousand years scarce serve to form a state, An hour may lay it in the dust."—(Cheers.) From whom had they so frequently and profitably learned these lessons of practical wisdom, as from those very mon who would now have untaught them all ? The speech of his Right Hon. Friend, delivered the other night, was in fact a free-trade speech, unqualified by any of those exceptions which he had been so strenuous a supporter of for the last few years. It was not upon the ground of the petitio principii that he had put these measures for ward, nor had they been suggested by an anxious anticipation of the state of things in Ireland, which had been so much dwelt upon. It did appear to him (Mr. S.) that, for the last thirty years, the Right Hun. Gentleman appeared to think he had been wrong, and that it was only within the last four weeks he had been set right by the speeches of the Anti-Corn-law League.—( Cheers. ) He (Mr. S.) regretted that he had not the eloquence or the arguments of his Right Hon. Friend to enable him to dwell upon the subject as he could wish, for if he had lie would endeavour to exhibit to the House in its proper position the fact that the words of the Right Hon. Gentleman upon this measure, upon former occa sions, were now in the actual process of being eaten at that table. —(Cheers.) The Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary for the Home Department (Sir J. Graham) had tried to gulp all his at one swallow.—( Cheers.) But that was too much even for the stomach of the Right Hon. Baronet—( Cheers and laughter) —and it quite overcame the nerves and gravity of the House. —( Cheers.) No, it would not do for the Right Hon. Baronst (Sir J. Graham) now to talk of " abrogating his inheritance" rather than wring his wealth from the poverty of the poor man. Was that, then, what the Right Hon. Baronet was doing for the last thirty years of his life? That assumption was really the begging of whole question.—(Hear, hear.) Did the Right Hon. Baronet think that even the poor rustic labourer was so simple as to be taken in by that statement — recollecting who it was that, as it were only the other day, so poetically described— " The breezy call of incense-breathing morn," as compared with the " sad sound of the factory bell," and drew the pathetic contrast between "the blooming garden and the foul garret,"—" the innocent walk of the country Sabbath, and the debauchery, the sorrows, and the sins of the crowded manufactory"—( Cheers)—who spoke of " sinking hearts and rebelling hands ;" and asked where were the moralists that they did not lift their voices against those fearful consequences ?—(Hear.) Ave, but where was the moralist now, when the Right Hon. Baronet was himself proposing to perpetrate a cruelty which he then described as " far more atrocious than sending the Poles to Siberia ?"—(Cheers. ) The House might depend upon it that those changes of opinion by the Members of her Majesty's Government would be appreciated as they deserved, and traced to their true source. But, to pass from those six-months' converts to those who were not converts as many days, he would first come to what ap peared to him to be the most inexplicable and unexplained part of the question—he meant the colleagues of the Right Hon. Gentleman, who first raised an alarm by retiring from office be cause they disapproved of the measure introduced, and then, in six or eight days subsequently, turned round. —(Cheers ) It was contended that they were all honourable men. He knew the majority of them, and he believed such to be decidedly true; but that was not enough, for the public had a right to require every explanation for the acts of public men. But these gentlemen had set the very worst precedent ; as a de parture from sound principles to meet particular cases of emer gency was invariably adopted by bad men for their own pur poses.—( Hear, hear.) He asserted that it was not alone for their own country's sake that the principles of their public men should be fully intelligible; they should be intelligible to the men of all other countries—they should not alone be suited for the present age, but for history also.—(Hear, hear.) There• fore, while he did not throw the slightest aspersion on the private character of any gentleman, he should say that the conduct of many Honourable Members remained to be explained, and lie believed the public of that country, and the discriminating public of every other country, would consider their conduct as an evidence of imbecility of mind, and as a political tergiver sation unprecedented in English annals.—(Loud cheers.) Would not France draw a striking contrast between the consis tency and firmness of her first Minister—whose object was to consolidate the power and extend the empire of his Sovereign— as compared with the opposite qualities exhibited by the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of her Majesty's Ministry ?—( Hear, hear.) And, looking to their relations with America, they might flatter themselves with the notion that by the enactment of mea sures of a free-trade nature, they could bribe her to peace, but was the present the moment that the Ministry should select to display their want of spirit, and their crouching with drawal before the pressure of blustering and clamour?—( Hear, hear.) Ue firmly believed that the present Ministry would be handed down to posterity as the greatest political cowards that ever held the reins of Government.—(Protectionist cheers.) The Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary of State for the Home Department not only spoke with all the zeal of a political neophyte, but also acted as one ; and he (Mr. Shaw ) could put no other construction on the speech of the Right Honourable Gentleman but that, for the sake of peace and order, he had discarded the support of a great party which comprised the rank, the wealth, ay, and he would say, whatever Hon. Gentlemen opposite might think, the intelli gence of the country.—( Oh, oh, and protectionist cheers. ) Yes, for the sake of saving them and the country from ruin, the Right Hon. Baronet threw himself and the Government into the hands of the Anti-Corn-law League and the Repeal Association of Dublin.—(Cheers and counter cheers. ) .But the lesson would not be lost in Ireland. He had observed, that Mr. Smith O'Brien, a gentleman for whom he entertained in private the highest respect, though he differed with him in politics, had pointed out the present concession as an harbinger of ultimate success for the Repeal Association. He was an enthu'iastic gentleman, and would profit by the concession. He should declare that, if in two years hence he should see Sir Robert Peel, under the pressure of agitation, introduce some modified plan for a repeal of the Legislative Union, lie would not be so much astonished as if any man had told him, two years since, that he should witness the introduction of a measure like the present. — (Cheers.) The measure would have a most dangerous effect, and would be a further inducemeut to the repealers of Ireland to persevere in their determination. When he heard his Hon. Friend last night threaten those gentlemen representing the agricultural interest to give them total repeal, he thought it was not very worthy of the Right Hon. Baronet, arid he did think that it showed his instability and his infirmity as a public man. The Noble Lord the Member for London had spoken of his party the other night, and gloried in •he share they had in bringing forward this mea sure. He (Mr. Shaw) owned, that when he heard the Member for London state the means that been adopted in order to carry this measure be thought that the Noble Lord spoke in bitter irony.—(Cheers from the Ministerial benches. ) Let what would result from the measure—either failure or suc cess—let it bring either weal or woe to the interest of this country, neither honour nor glory would ever be associated with the means that had been adopted to bring it about.— (Cheers from the Ministerial side.) It was well known to men of every system of politics that this proposed measure had given a shock to public feeling and confidence which rever berated through every portion of the Queen's empire, and had injured all confidence in the Government. When the Noble Lord, the Member for London, spoke'of the satisfaction he felt in the measure, he must have felt well satisfied to look at that side of the House, to see their broken ranks—to see the Right Honourable Baronet, with the very weapon with which he had effected the overthrow of the Noble Lord, now com mitting a sort of political suicide—(Cheers from the Minis terial side)—to see the man who had formerly commanded in the House, and driven the Noble Lord from his position, now supplicating the Noble Lord for support.—( Hear, hear.) He (the Right Hon. Baronet) was humbly supplicating the Noble Lord to uphold the existence of his Government.--(" Oh !" from the Opposition.) Well, then, those gentlemen who cried " Oh, oh," could not at least deny that the Government of the Right Hon. Baronet existed on the sufferance of the Noble Lord. When he thought of what that party was years ago, when the Right Honourable Baronet was at its head, and contrasted its then position with what it was now, he could not help declaring that be was sorry that his political life had lasted until he had seen that day. He considered the course adopted by the Right Hon. Baronet, or, as he trusted he might still call him, his Right Hon Friend, to be ruinous.—( Loud laughter from all pa r t s of the House.) He entirely acquitted him of any motive besides the one he claimed for himself, viz., a strict sense of public . duty.—(Cheers.) —(Cheers ) Whatever his (Mr. Shaw' s ) op i n i on might be of the Right Hon. Baronet's political conduct, he never thought that be was actuated by any but a good feeling. He would conclude by addressing to the Right Honourable Baronet the words which, many years ago, on a similar occasion, he (the Right Honourable Baro net) had addressed to the Member for London—" You wish to induce us to follow principles in which there are nothing but varying counsels—divided colleagues—statements of facts that cannot be reconciled—arguments leading to opposite conclu sions. We cannot surrender our judgment to throw down the protection now eeisting as a security to agriculture, tc try i n an agricultural lottery, in the vain hope of drawing out a prize." —(lmmense cheering. ) Mr. BRIGHT said that the Hon. Member who had just resumed his seat, and other Members on the protectionist side, should have learned by heart the speeches delivered by the Right Hon. Baronet and the Right Hon. the Home Secretary. —(" Oh, oh," from the Ministerial side.) If these speeches had been correctly committed to memory, some two 'Members might have delivered them to the House, and have saved much time and trouble, arid a good deal of repetition. He had hoped that when the Honourable Member for Bristol moved the amendment the principle of protection was about to be discussed, The question really to be considered was the repeal of the corn laws, and not the party quarrels on the opposite side of the House. They were very much mistaken if they supposed that the great body of the people cared anything about the quarrels of the Conservative party. He had listened to nearly every speech on that side of the House that had been made in support of protection, and he, instead of entering into their party disputes, would direct his attention to the arguments that had been brought forward in its favour. The Hon. and Learned Member for the University of Dublin's (Mr. Shaw's) speech was entirely directed to the party quarrel at issue, and therefore he (Mr. Bright) did not intend to answer it, —( Ironical cheers from the Conservative benches.) Hies was not mistaken, the question of protection was the real question before the House, and therefore he would pass on to the speeches of those who attempted to grapple with it. The Hon. Member for Bristol ( Mr. P. Miles), who introduced the question, said that the farmers would not les content to sell cheap corn and buy dear sugar ; and the Hon. Member for Wiltshire declared that it would be unfair for the colonies to be protected at a heavy expense to British agri culture. The Hon. Member said he could not interfere to give protection to the planter or the colonist, if Parliament withdrew protection from British grain. In that principle he (Mr. Bright) agreed. He admitted its truth, and he sincerely hoped that the same principle would he extended to ail.—( Hear, hear.) He would say it was not just to protect sugar, if it was withdrawn from corn; and on the same grounds he hoped that Hon. Gentlemen would see that if any interest or trade in the country was unprotected, while corn was protected, it was equally unjust to that particular trade or interest. Hon. Mem bers could not deny that. He must say this as the represen tative, if so he might term himself, of one of the largest trades in the country, to which no Member proposed the protection of the House, and a trade that did not require it. Since he came into that House a proposition had been made to remove all impediments in the way of exporting machinery, and he was t Oad to sa y th at every Member in that House, as well, be be 'eyed, a; every one connected with that trade out of the House, supported that motion. Last year the 10 per cent. im posed on the exportation of cotton yarns was repeated, and every one connected with the trade in the House voted for the proposition. Not only the Members in the House con nected with the cotton trade gave their votes in support of the repeal, but out of the House it was supported by nearly all in terested in that pursuit. Nut he would not take cotton, or woollen, or silk, but he would come at once to the real question to . be considered —the policy of a protective duty on corn—(Cries of " Hear, hear ")--and on which Hon. Members on the Opposition side had talked as if they knew so much. He was walki ng p ast the oces of th e protec tionffi party in Bond-street the other day, and he must say the place seemed seedy and forlorn.—(Loud laughter.) Th ere was not the slightest appearance of business there. He saw a large brass plate on the door, on which was engraved in large letters " The Central Society for the Protection of Agricul culture and Native Industry." And what, he would ask, was that industry which it was proposed to protect ? He recol lected in 1842, when his Hon. Friend the Member for Stock port (Mr. Cobden) proposed that if the protection of the landed interest was agreed to, that it should also be to raise and keep permanent the rate of wages.—(Hear, hear.) W hat answer was given to that proposition? Honourable Members said that they could not understand how that proposition could be agreed to on princi ples of political economy. If wages could not be settled by Act of Parliament, was it not equally opposed to the laws of political economy, and equally absurd to pass a law to raise the produce of the landlord's estates ? He would beg the Hon. Member to give a clear and satisfactory answer to this point. That Hon. Member professed to understand the question, and he (Mr. Bright) believed that. the Hon. Gentleman was a r ea d er o f th e /economist newspaper. If he did so, and professed to know the principle which regulates trade and commerce, he (Mr. Bright) could not understand how he could reconcile those principles with the speech which he had made the other night. That speech was skilfully con structed, but it was nothing more, and did not deal fairly and comprehensively with the question before the House. Let him look at the increase of population—consider the limited extent of these two islands, with a population of '27,000,000, and which was increasing at a great rate, a million and a half hav ing been added since the corn-law of 1842 was passed-- let him consider this, and see how he could reconcile it with the principles of political economy. They would, if they dared, shut out foreign produce altogether from this country ; and he believed that many of their sup-. porters sighed for a law that would do so.—( Cries of " Oh, oh.") Well, then, they would prohibit it to the point at which it would be safe to stop,—to the point of starvation. What mattered it how much distress might be felt by the labourer in Wiltshire or the weaver in Lincolnshire, if high prices for wheat could be safely maintained ? Up to that point, then, they wished to prohibit the importation of foreign corn, although they well knew that, with the increasing population, there would be a greater difficulty in supplying them with home-grown corn. But the landlords probably argued that the increased demand for food would involve an increased amount of rent for the land.—(Hear, hear.) .Was this protection to the labourer or to the farmer ? They said, yes, or they would not thus struggle to maintain it. lie ( Mr. Bright) had heard a clergyman of the Church of England say that the labourers' protection was the poor-law.—( Hear, hear.) The poor-law was as much a protection to clergymen as to the labourer, for the reduced clergyman like the labourer could fall back upon the workhouse. In what condition was the land under the existing system of protection? He (Mr. Bright) would tell them it was badly cultivated in most parts of the country. There was scarcely a parish in which there were not snore labourers than could find employment. They found one labourer competing with another—they found a fierceness of competition that was destroying them, yet that House had never passed a law regu lating- the wages of labour. The Honourable Member for Wiltshire, the senior Member (Mr. Bonnet) he expected, some time ago, at a meeting held in his own county, made a long speech to the farmers, and made one of the most extra ordinary statements that ever had been made in the hearing of his fellow men. He was reviewing the state of agriculture in that very happy county, and he was lamenting his misfor tune in beieg born to the possession of some thousand acres. He said that if he had the happiness to conic into the world again, he knew no condition which he should choose with so much alacrity and contentment as the condition of the agri • cultural labourer. Well, he did feel some delicacy—( Ironical cheers and laughte r ).—i n say i ng , that this remark might imply a doubt as to the wisdom of the Ho nouable Member's choice. But he certainly ought to know the condition of the labourer ; he lived among them, and therefore was qualified to form an opinion on the subject. Bu' he (Mr. Bright) would rather have the opinion of the labourer; and he would still confine the Hcn. Gentleman to his own county of Wilts. They had heard of a meeting at Goatacre. —( Hear.) Some Hon. Member had stated that this meeting was got up by the League.—(Cheers, and laughter. ) Hon Gentlemen opposite were so convinced of the omnipresence of the League, that he, perhaps, need not affirm that the League had nothing to do with it. But they had a later meeting of labourers at Bremhill, and a certain labourer, Job Senning, took the chair. He did not know whether he was a prize la bourer or not. But Job said, " I be protected, but I be starved." It was not in Wiltshire alone that misery existed. An Hon. Friend bad put into his hand a paper, drawn up by a respectable person in the town of Tiverton. The paper gave the condition of 28 families, the number of children, and the wages which they earned for a week. What were these wages ? even shillings. Men with wives, and five, six, or seven children—living in miserable huts, paying high rents, and obliged to pay out of their scanty means a high price for winter fuel—and all this out of seven shillings a week. Now, he should like to ask the Hon. Member for Northamptonshire, who boasted that the labourer could earn 125., if this was the protection that they gave to the labourers ?—( Hear ) —and if it was, whether it was commensurate with the benefits which the landlords had been reaping for the last thirty years.—( Cheers.) The Hon. Member spoke of the condition of the coachmakers. Would the Hon. Member go down to Southampton, and ask Mr. Andrews, the celebrated coachmaker, what the state of trade at that time was ? He would find that he was building coaches for all the countries of Europe. He ( Mr. Bright) would not insult his countrymen, as Hon. Members opposite did, by declaring that they were behind their rivals on the Continent in anything requiring fine taste and execution. Why even foreigners acknowledge the superiority of the English workman in all the branches of manufacture. But these gen tlemen affirmed that the tradesman was behind the artizan of France, as their labourers were behind the serfs of Poland. Hon. Members had expressed great horror of coming evils if these corn-laws should b e a b o li s h e d. Th ere were -different sorts of inundation. He had heard of inundation ,erwater, but now agricultural gentlemen were alarmed 'at a threatened inundation of corn.—( Hear, hear. ) Those who had travelled abroad must know there was nothing in the climate, nothing in the land, which was likely to com pete successfully with the agriculture of this country. What could be more certain than that they grew for every acre of land in England a larger quantity of corn than was grown upon an acre in any other country in the world. Mr. Web ster, in a speech in the United States, gave a statement of the number of acres growe in this country, and the number of quarters per acre, and he pointed to England as exceeding America, and he exhorted his countrymen to ens deavour to equal this country. If they grew more acres than any other country in the world, another thing was just as sure, and that was that the labourer got a smaller portion for his share than in any other country in the world.—( Cries of " No, no.") Why if the prices were so much higher in this country, as they said they were, and if wages were seven shillings per week in some of the countries, and if their acres of land grew nearly twice as much as any other acres in the world, he would ask how was it . possible for them to come to any other conclusion than that the labourer reaped their fields, but got a smaller portion produce for his subsistence than in any other country of the ntry in_ the World Let them look to their advantages. They bad a larger suppl/ of manure than was found in any other country they ha far better agricultural implements they had them at a much cheaper rate they had far better roads than they found anywhere else —and they bad markets so much better that hardly any com parison could be drawn. True it was that protection had da maged them. It was not foreign competition that they need fear. They had protected the termer into a state of dceripi tude, and now, when a stimulus was offered to them, they trembled for the consequences that might ensue.—( hear. ) Let them take the county of Cheshire. There w as a high aristocracy there and a very poor tenantry. There was land of at least an average quality most wretchedly cultivated, and there would beg mass of pauperism in Cheshire equalling the south-western counties, if it were net for the proximity to Lancashire, in which county the labourer found refuge. It was not the soil of Cheshire that made the fanner poor— it was not the climate—it was the Legislature. of that House which destroyed the vitality of agricult ure . In the course of this debate, nothi ng h a d been said upon the subject of mortgages. The Hon. Member for Berkshire said, that he did not ask for protection—if the law was not a good law, let it be abolished, and if the principle were unsoun d l ot it be abandoned. Th e l a t e P aymaster of the Forces it was who first talked about mortgages, and they need not be surprised if the people in the country used that argument which had been put into their mouths. But he would discuss this question solely with reference to the peculiar interest to the landowner. The Hon. Member for Berkshire spoke of burdens—he spoke of poor-rates. Now he (Mr. Bright) thought he could show that Hon, Gentleman that the capital of the tenant.farmer of this country paid no poor -rates whatever.—( Hear, hear.) They complained that he (Mr. Bright) did not pay rates upon ma chinery in his mills. They said that stock in trade should be rated to the poor-rate. But if that argument were applied to him, it must be applied to the agriculturist also. flow did this work? The Hon. Member for Berkshire, he would say, had some thousands with which to cultivate his land. He paid nothing in the shape of poor-rate upon his household furniture, or the produce in his barns—his growing crops —upon his ma nure, upon his cattle, or upon any kind of stock or implement he might have. He did not pay a single farthing for poor rates until the time when a permanent improvement in the soil had taken place, and some portion of the tenant's capital had become incorporated with the land. Now if he (Mr. Bright) was to pay upon his machinery and his cotton, it was quite clear that the tenant most pay poor-rates upon the stock he had mentioned. They had better say nothing, therefore, about the poor-rates, Mr. PALMER—) did not allude to the poor-rates. Mr. BRIGHT—I think the Hon. Gentleman did. Hon. Baronet. PALMER—I quoted from a s pe e ch of the Right Baronet. Mr. BRIGHT—WeII then there was anotheeburden fa which me had not been mentioned, and that was the burden • There were two sons of the Duke of Rutland in that Ho v u e s t e e , t who had 'spoken in the debate , G_er ,novdw.hgenartere ab ou t 18 .44, to against the proposition of th f r game damage on 3 hat 09 Noble Duke paid acres of land. 9151. a sked u how Honourable Members could come to when for their ova amuse . that Sow he Houser 7 - - • ' . -... : '-..4. meet the produce of the land was being devoured He was of opinion after all that Hon. Members opposite were not in earnest in this debate. He believed there was tio fear of the repeal of the cons-laws amongst them. They were angry with the Government, but they were not afraid of the abolition of protection. In that House, however, they had stated that if the corn-laws was abolished, the land would be thrown out of cultivation, and there would be no rents paid: they had told their tenants that if the corn law was abolished they would be ruined, and he would promise them that before twelve mouths bad passed over their heath that statement would be brought up in judgment against them. They said that such a step would involve the country in ruin, for there would be no revenue; and the aristocracy of the country would be abolished ; and that the Church, and consequently Christianity, would -be injured, and that the sun of England (he did not know what that meant), would be set for ever; which Hon. Members opposite had prediete‘t would result from the abolition of the corn laws ; but did they new adhere to these statements and were they anxious to repu diate them? Why there was no alarm in the country ,although !hese inevitable calamities were said to be fast corning upon them. There was no resistance to the measure of any im portance, there was no insurrection, notwithstanding it wad said that seven-ninths of the country were connected with agriculture, and the majority of them in favour of protection. All these calamities were fast coming upon them. and yet there was not the smallest alarm of insurrection. —(Cries of " Oh, oh.") The Right Honourable Baronet the Secretary for the Horne Department had told them that there . . 5 was not the remotest sign of irrurreetion in the country, r .Liiti .lid they suppose that the country would be in this quiet state while these great calamities were impending over theta? Why the fart was the public did not believe what they said, and the majority of the people were in favour of the Government proem:lion. When were the meetings of the Hon. Gentlemen opposite? where had they 'tern held? Why one of them hail been held in Dorsetshire, aed it, was trumpeted ferilt to the country as the great meeting of the county, and yet it was only attended by 1,509 persons. Now let them look at. the eentlast. Why he himself addressed 3,400 per sons in the very same field, and he had presented peti. thins to that House which were unaninmously agreed to by those persons, and prayed for the immediate, total, and unconditional repeal of the corn-laws. Where else hail they held their meetings? Why he could not find any that was worthy the attention of that House. But let them look on the other hand, and they would find petitions had been presented from all parts of the country against the corn-laws.—(Year, hear.) Look at the petition that was presented from Manchester—it was signed by 300,e00. Look again at the petition which were presented by the Me tropolitan Members, with 400,000 signatures attached to it. Compare these with the petitions presented by Hon. Mem bers opposite, with about 12 or 18 signatures to each. Why One Noble Lord, who sat upon the opposite benches, presented a 'Lumber of petitions in favour of protection, and he stated the number of signatures which wou ld b e f oun d attached to it. Taking the whole, on an average. there was not more than 30 signatures to each petition Did this prove that public opinion was in f avour o f protection ? No, it proved qu i te the contrary ; look again at the public press, and they would find that the majority of the largest circulating papers of the country were in favour of the Government proposition. He had heard of men going to the field of battle with light and merry hearts, and he had heard too of men who had mounted the scaffold with a bold and resolute step ; but he declared that in the whole course. of his existence he had never seen a number of men sliding down to ruin with faces so jovial and so complacent as 'hose of Honourah!e Members opeosite. Honourable Members apposite had accused the Right Honourable Baronet at the head of the Government with being a traitor, but it would ill become him to attempt the defence of that Right Honourable Baronet after the speech be delivered last night ; that speech, he would venture to say, vise more powerful and more to be admired than any speech which had been delivered in that Hou=e within the memory of any Honourable Member present ; he watched the Right Ho nourable Baronet home last night, and for the first time in his life he envied the Right Ilon. Baronet the feelings he must have felt on that occasion. That speech had been gent into every part of the kingdom, and it would be read by those who had been trampled upon, and it would infuse renewed hope in the hearts of those whose rights had long been treated with scorn and contempt.—(Hear, hear. ) He did not say that all the mills in Lancashire would be shut up in a week if Hon. Members on the other side of the Honse had taken office, but lie was quite sure that there would have been the utmost consternation in the conntry. The Noble Lord who lately represented the county of Lancaster—Lord Stanley —must have been a man at the head of that Goveru inent.—( Protectionist cheers.) Now let them just recollect the remarkable knee-ledge of geography—( Opposition cheers.) —which that Noble Lord once displayed in that House with respect to a Russian province._( Renewed cheers. ) Let them look at the Hon. Member for Norfolk who sit at the. table, and who was deputed, as he (Mr. Bright) supposed, by the Great Central Protection Society, to have, in the phraseo logy of that body, a shindy—(Laughter)—with his Honour able Friend the Member for Stockport, (Mr. Cobden) in St. Andrew's Hall, in - Norfolk. That lion. Member for Norfolk had said that he advocated certain principles which he said were supported by the Hon. Henry Clay, who, he believed was once President of the United States of America. Now, if one man did not know more of geography, and another man of history, than those two did, he confessed he did not think they would make a very brilliant Cabinet in managing the concerns of this country.—( Hear, hear.) But no doubt the Duke of Rich• mond must have been held a Member of that Cabinet,..... ( Hear, hear.) Why he heard the Noble Duke speak in another place—he heard him say that Mr. Cobden got thirty thousand pounds by his business.—( Hear. hear.) And, more over, he heard him say in another place th at one of hit tenants paid more poor's rates than all the Leaguers put together. That might be quite true —he (Mr. Bright) ,licl not. doubt it; but if it did, it spoke very badly for protee tion, when lie said that one of his tenants was obliged to nay inure than the whore amount paid by the Leaguers altogether. ( Cheers.) Now what sort, of Cabinet would they have had if Lord Stanley, and the Hon. Member for Norfolk, and the Duke of Richmond, had been Members of it. Why, he was quite sure that in all the public speaking in which he had ever been engaged, he had never done anything so disastrous, to the aristocracy of this country, and especially to the order nt things, as had been done by that Nob's Duke within . the last three or four months.—(Cries of " Oh, oh," from the protectionists,: followed by cheers from the Opposition.) Such charges upon men who differed from him in opinion —such statements as those which he had made in another place, to the effect that it were en easy matter to send itinerant agi tators to the north, and to say that corn could burn as well flex.—(Loudas Opposition cheers.) Now really was that the man that they professed themselves anxious to place at the head of the Government ? They knew very well that the country would not tolerate such a Cabinet for a week.—(op position cheers ) But it was not to place a Protectionist Go vernment in office that they carried on this violent opposition to the Government, but he believed it to he that they might he avenged of those who had forsaken the obligations of party. that they might obey the call of a great country, which was calling upon them to work out its commercial deliverance. Ile would make one observation on the speech of the Hon. Member for Oxford (Sir H. Inglis). lie confessed that he could not: participate in the lamentation which he made on the breaking up of his party. He considered that the country always gained when parties lost.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") The Honourable Member says be is going to vote against the proposed measure.—( Hear, hear.) If be did so, he (Mr. Bright) must confess that for the future he would always doubt his orthodoxy, for he had been given to understand that the whole bench of bishops intended to vote in favour of the measure.-- (Hear.) Knowing the intense suf. tering in the country—knowing that famine with all its attendant horrors is fast approaching the people of Ireland, who is the per son, or dignitary of a Christian church, who in this state would refuse to give his sanction to a measure for the opening of the ports, and thereby afford a supply of food to the suffering people of Ireland ?—.( Hear, hear.) 'The Hon. Member need he in no fear for the dissolution of the Tory part ; he may be certain that so long as there are any abuses in the country, any imposition, whether civil or ecclesiastical, that party wilt still continue to have the power of throwing their shield around thew.—( Hear, hear.) And as regards the University which the Hon. Member represents, from the time of their passing the famous Oxford Decree, in the year 1683, to the present time, th ere h as ever been die greatest spirit of perses cut ion associated with the most profound ignorance.--( Hear.) But the question which we have now to consider is, " shall the measure be passed in its present state, or shall the repeat of the corn-laws be total and immediate? He considered that the measure of the Government was a great and a noble tocasure—( Hear, hear)—and not all the Shibboleth of the Anti-Corn-law League would make him deny that state ment. It was a measure which reflected great credit on the Minister.—( Hear, hear.) But greel fec tn ter and like great pictures, are tarnished by he thought that the, defect in this measure was was not immediate.—( Hear, hear.) An pangolin' had consulted stated that a friend of his holding large thmatemthbeerrepheead Hoas a n tn e s e t th to e repeat leases, and they , consented sixty-three of his tenants to have 4l'er their leases as agreements for ag fresh leases alt . n h o w r : di , d rh t e h y ey sig r n a e i d se o t e t y h e w e e o r r e r: the very time when the present measure was brought forward in this House ; and there is one Noble Lord who is a large landholder, who states that he he has obtained higher rents than before, although the measure is on the table of the House. Hon. Members opposite have tried to frighten these farmers. and with some few they have succeeded. Now, he thought that the exertions of the League had, to some extent, prevented this panic. He asked for an immediate and total repeal of the corn-laws, because they were in opposition to the laws of heaven. It was a great wrong upon many. So grievous was the injure that it was impossible for them to remain where they now were. II there was famine in Ireland—and of that there was no sane person, he believed, who now entertained a doubt. —he thought that the Government would not. advocate a measure which would retain a duty of four shillings on food, but would proceed to the immediate and total repeal of the corn-laws. They knew there were emergencies, and emergencies that could not be overrated. He hoped that it would be remembered there was a famine, although there were some who would not admit it until it reached the dwellers of rich Belgrave-square.—(Cheering.) The Anti Corn-law League had, he believed, some influence ea that subject, and they it was well known were advocating a total repeal. The country, more now than ever, were anxious that the repeal should b e i mme di ate ; an d un l ess i t was, b e promised the House that before the close of the session there would be another discussion—(Cheer)—in order that the corn. laws may be repealed. The Hon. Gentleman the Member for Warwickshire, who he (Mr. Bright) was sorry he did not see in his place, Made an attack on the League, and said its acts were illegal, but he would recommend the Hen. Gentleman to read when he had leisure the decision of the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas on that question.—( Cheers.) That Chief Justice declared it was not only legal, but it was highly honour. able for the League to pursue the course they had adopted. It was to some a matter of rejoicing that there was a mode dis covered b} which they could bring together the constituencies of that kingdom. He told the Hon. Gentleman that the for bearaneeof the League was a quality not generally observed by other bodies on such occasions. They (the League) have asked those who held free-trade principles to becomegnalifimed for their counties and he could assure the Hon. Gentleman opposite opposite that the Leauee was a powerful weapon. T' eir AD Lord called on the Government to put a stop to f in would the Noble pro ceedings, which were carried on for the purpose the aboltion of the corn-laws. But Nt se had U taken place, the R rocuring Lord that when a repeal of those laws t... If there be League would be dissolved, and not till th en. the documents read in the statements of truth in the Minister — if at their table—if there be o t r rut t Cork (Mr. O'Connell) the Honourable Member f newspapers— there wag —if there be truth there be truth in fog which somebody must a calamity impending, be resnons late Th e Government have refused to be so; they have risked everything to remove it from them, and they co me do, and which necessity would render it impera. forward to ask the 11 . ous e to do.—(Cheers.) tha whie u h e in w :::: a () s n k lattice they ought to tive that they mos,. would posterity or the country hold them guiltlessthfeoirrtyhseair present ... conduct, because, forsooth, they succeeded in game against the Minister ?—( Cheers, and counter cheers.) If famine be in Ireland, and pestil ence treading on its heels b s e ho t u o ld t ‘s h ' e a m steh to te co la n n si d d , er w t h h a a t t t a t l e o y r oh had s w t ri u fee r f i nn e m d Pi t ne h en e eea ll n l id i t n i ti eu r a sl d o e u tof office, and obtained a majority On this question—recollecting, at the same time, that they bad been accessories to t h e want and miseries of the nation by their facti ous oppos i ti on.—( Loud cheers.) Mr. HUDSON said, that in rising to speak on the pee sent occasion, h e was quite prepared to bespeak the indulgence