The Sun. — London, England, 1842-07-12 00:00:00

MMPII _.,.-~ Righ t Jaw dertake Jaw of hensive do 2med asion But he of his at part a-sal hen thhoil fu ' , Nl3ot i°ll thec a " - offen:'es• w ith bfr Abject 14 of this an d i3dig ontinued righ t ; hi 11°- • pre ,ent way ot is hoped Lin, that possible ire intro' re , let tea qupstioll gis was the° ed to be-, 11. (the Ccuue: ,i ng er P r . • an at last 0 were vet/ f a serious when the were cicstl- cart' °fleeting o f P I root)" ,~~, Jl es prse terraiti e ase's which had given rise to th e Lear n ed Judee's tab forfound that o ut of 89 offences, 47 of there were In a s s . l a •ing food and articles of subsistence.—a Hear, hear. ) He t rY manufacturing di s trict there was ut one complaint. 41 -Lad seee hundreds of letters from those districts, and they e a.e :Pened by stet ;leg that the multitudes were out of employ leep,-tbat the di s t ress w-as increasing—that there were no stera4arelief—that they keew no t h ow the y s h ou ld escape deg-that the people were sinking into the lowest depths Roder these circumstances he called upon the they ati pa ss-a ef - Cemmons tor relief. The Corn-law whieh it ed h3d. utterly failed in its professed object -• und er t of made food pl ent if u l—i t h a d raised its price ; and bee n a hose citennistanees, and seeing the rdmission that had les ee " L a'ie by the Mini...eters of the Crown since that Bill had stated : be roiled talon them to repeal that late. The people fsa *fl " ' at tbeY Were in distress, and they also steted that the L'A the Can-law would he a remedy tor that distress. "'Peal of the Coin-law would afford them instant relief. '44 l , r , t h&se Circumstances he called upon the House of Com the ;. , :°,exereis e their constitutional right, and not to grant h to s w t a i ii _ se n a i s r t o c t e lr s e t s l s es of sappli es they asked until they had first o, - s:rievanoes by the repeal of this law, which far e ' " O r essing the energies the reople. He should.there th,t :1 0 ts titat,the House do resolve itself into a Committee of t!a • hale Hou se , to ta k e i nto considerat i on the laws regulat i ng tla°°l'ortation of corn, with a view to their-total and insure lehreepeal. having been put, “r.:LDEN who was heard very indistinctly in the suhtus after a few i n t ro d uc t ory o b serva ti one proceeded . to a l Y . , to the H ouse a statement of the gradua l dec li ne of the 4 e 4 of the hand -loom weavers, from 1815 down to the present tate BY a Repo r t pu bli s h e d b y t h e H o u se o f C ommons , i t a 11, stated that at the present time the hand-loom t re i t e s ".'4 Yorkshire, w ere not earning more than 3s. per ar. e s - a „lbe quantity of cloth woven by a single weaver for lad :' - ‘‘t twit be protiuced by the most expensive . machinery, l,cora. p et , tact the hand-loom weavers were now successfully th e l " wilt machinery. Unless they did something to increase sot 'rimes of the peep le, or give them bread cheap, they could tR'S 11. - -nt to govein much longer in quiet ; and therefore it 40 a "° kaol that they must repeal the Corn-laws.—( Hear, ta, t s i e ) he proprietors of one of the largest mills in Man saestratistrrissed all their operatives about two years ago, he ave, t," to could not compete with those mills where machinery 1 11,1; 6°4 . They then expended 30,0001. in the purchase of s;ai_est machinery they could obtain, and commenced working si es ° about six months ago. Notw i thstand i ng t h e former sue teeiref the proprietors of this mill, and notwithstanding all tret e 4 11 ,'" , and effective machi n ery, such was the state of tar e rt they h a d now s t oppe d aga i n . Th e rnanufac terrlslad, a late, been paying wages which considerably tlite, - 211d the amount of labour they had received in re -I°a had now, h owever , arr i ve d a t suc h a crisis that 4te not pay such wages any longer, they would not iltljuzi pay any wages at all, unless therestictions which es eat eiisied were removed from trade.—( Hear, hear.) pal " (acne of the war they enacted the Corn-laws, and they Ite,r'l'cled the Property-tax. Now they had re-imposed the tkr4., tax, because the revenue was failing. When the Pro t.43, was proposed, he supported it, but as Income-tax was These who thought that the Corn-laws were the °' the stational embarrassment were justified in taking ir r est ,nutiorial steps to secure their repeal. nh e; I P. HOWARD sa id h e thought an entire repeal of tairurn -l aws would supera dd to manu f ac t ur i ng a ll t h e d isasters of agrioultural distress. It would car of Y 'tad to throwing out of cultivation a large quantity t , et 11 ,• The true friends of this country Would be setts to a moderate fixed duty, which should give the d ti st z4 rY the advantage of a barter, without exposing it to these daqeft'antages. Thr3 statements of the Hon. hiember for leeite certainly carried vial' them much weight, and he aia' r " ,tbe Geveenmeet would give the motion every con slta.tion. .the, s ,; .6 2LIONBY would not allude now to tlse stopping of theiiPPlies. He could not give his support to the motion of dsa,s2a Member for Greenock, became it. yens vague and rin alw rasa but the resent motion was a sr sec ifi c one . lie had had hv dle s been for a P fixed duty, but the unplaialleled state of things lie are, him that the agrieuiteristetradoutstood their time. e atts es net beli eve t h at i n t h e present, State of the country any ad am ' ir e'short of the repeal of the►. Corn-laws ought to he ce r ai c '", our ought they to sepaeate till such a measure was atnrloe,' He did of believe the's the distress arose from the °ion eflehour with mach:awry. He did not, however, think ak e co l ' a r,t Coro -law s were the ent i re cause o f t hi s di stress ;on 0444,4, any, he comiderel e them only one of the causes. He sho u ld vote in . ,/ arour of the mo t ion. th ey ' w tiANy ES thoug ut it of some little consequence, whilst li ouse er d ' s eussing the distrese, to call the attention of the h e 114. `° ° the groun(.l upon which the Corn-laws were passed. tha n m tained that they were Peed for no other purpose resits mined up e rents of those times. High prices and high 'ar h Z eta ite,( l , and - it was assigned as a reason by Sir Henry Tapi tal _u . nue 1813, that rt was necessary to pyoteet the th at ‘,‘}'.lo l had been invested in tillage. Could it be said mor e was a just reason for pahsing a law ? He said that a a „ a a ear rowenrindect view could not have been taken in passing pi nts t law which affected the trade, the commerce, the lisp {(llea's' 'and the commercial prosperity of a great nation— near)—anct Lord Liverpool clearly attributed the pass iClara ts.itidiowttl:tt(l3aw to the necessity for upholding the rents of the i ds, and to allow for the changes incidental upon passing Peace. The circumstances under which Lord les y s e , r p" advocated the passing of that law had th eul 3 Kav, and he (Mr. Hawes) contended that it R iS a e n ow berepealerl.—( Hear, hear.) When the law of 1828 mlu'ataldriced they had a Report from an honest and upright his P', Air. Jacob) upon the Corn-laws. Mr. Jacob touched he h e iPort up en t h e state of reanivactures in Prussia,. and if sts nar: Hawes) referred to the R e p or t o f D r . Bowring he '" find a mos IV t- markable contrast b e twe en the two. 11.1 r. ti sin 1826, stated that the people in the Prussian pro p, "es, wh o h a d not hitherto been manufacture, s , w h ere th e m an inflect were purely agricultural, wer e commenc i ng to kr, - 'keture a little yarn and wool, but their attempt did not tr, tt. , to b . e et all succeesiel. Now contrast this Report with th e 1 3 °Arring's Report of 1839. He stated that the price of a erA ,rossia n woollen clath was lower than ours ; some of the Nt k , Its wore bad but others could not be surpassed. Here * so t eis country, now oar greatest r i va l i n th e markets of the wita 4 ?f our woollen manufactures. He thought this was s fact to - t . i ` v ,."'elt thtiliouse ought to- be struck ; he did not expect '''a -s e".-- "• - •" -e ' hat Majesty's Alinisteii, for he well knew that it ti ' i r oOoss ib le to convince them, when they cculd answer him etseateepost euievincine of all arguments —numerical force. He 11 a a eto!' tl L'is hOweiere 7 thiat'ilkarael a right to raise his voice in ~,;;; t aade'being , freed , from ell restrictions. What. was :ue taasi-rt Vtalpele's .syetem of taxation? It was to divide `'l l ed antiill,to taxer kif untaxed articles, and amongst the un ',H."' the a e Les were lobe Placed all those which were necessary alt N o m'''lteinatiee iiteTsupport of the , people.—( Hear, hear.) , a 7tt berd,...the - Secretary for the Colonies, had stated aa '•"lrea, a ss of ridicule the different assigned causes of the Illey had never heard, either from the Noble Lord . '2l l 7' r t,he' 'Government, what was their explanation ala ' se - aastreas ; they were alike silent upon the m ade b an d the remedy.—( Hear ) References had been "ko la Y the Noble L or d to th e f a lli ng o ff o f t h e t ra de with hetie," He did mot believe that that- falling off would at all tfi e mat for the distress. In his opinion the Corn-laws were lei ncause t and their removal was the most efficient re k's war ia t wh ich could be adopted., There was no part of the k i le e . 14 which it wou ld not exten d our mar k et ; and, there f ore , ; i t r ea - nn°Yinent to th e op e rativ e s. H e k new t h e Ri g h t Finn. met ( Sir J. Graham) had deprecated this country becom ogaaaeoeered with manufactories that nothing but the factory t bs s ''''"° 6 •l be heard through the land. But what, in fact, was a ° ,°ree of the greatness and prosperity of this country ? It was titym'autures Inch had given to England her superior prospe ref ~t ' l r at the revival of manufactures was the only hope of the sees °f pro•perity. —( Hear, hear.) Most important mea 'Ls "ere last session, the tendency of which ~E,ti to sr proposed r 'duee tl•e price of sugar and other articles of consump lh was the • It intension , of the late Government to have re tressed • many of the monopolies which added to the people's dis ihttia , ':" fie could rest help contrasting this conduct with the con % s ts the Right Hen. Baronet and the Government of which ° tat i! the head. The country, since the accession of the pre 'Ott overeineot, had undergone twelve months' distress with- Sip au Sth;ug being proposed for the amelioration of gae t E a odit( Hear, hear.) The w t Corn-las might 'b est , neess settled a year ago, so also might he sugar •But they had got an Income-tax, and that tax 'aii tta. `a t ° _Pose dto relit the poor.—( . . Hear, hear.) H . e did not !Nu,: to say, that so fur from relieving the poor, it was cal that by diminishing the means of employment, to inthet a that .."d lasting curse upon them. 1-4 e could not but think 'ise 4l '' present state of the country was generally one of " esat `tka se old he could not help stating his belief that the middle shared largely in the general distress. If the Govern- tie ah • tviewed this state of things without proposing an altera hitn, tau ti me would come when the people would desire C lti; 'Pr political changes ; the time would come when all their lists 'pasture doctrines would be swept away before the irre pe torrent of the people's will.—t Hear, hear.) ; 1 ; i 1 a r t i t ?. KNIGEIT said the speech.of the Hen. Gentleman , was not nnly his own speech, but that of the Anti eitrso.l3" League, and however high that body might stand in , 64 in estimation, he was convinced they did not stand so t the opinion of the House, that they would submit to 1 4 --( Hear, hear.) He believed that the repeal Sad:- orn-laws would increase the distress a hundred fold, te a l l lse general stagnation in trade. of-cult Crtain he was that ise ti e ), throw a vast quantity of land out ivation. He Ce nt re asirocate for class legislation, but he desired as much pro- Th e n as woeld enable the farmer ta pursue his employment. I'qt:4'a:el-est advocates tor free trade in corn, admitted that the ikes k.l'a ~ Veorn would not exceed 475. He was sure, at that price, b •alid could not possibly be kept in cultivation. He thought i s ,' ls lght Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) had struck the balance It a sle t tween the two great interests, into which this country t b eiss'ided. The Hon. Member for Lambeth found fault with Flit for not going far enough, but, at present, they were 4 to consider - the actual affairs of the world, and though they o f -4 " edged the excellence of the principles, yet they should tkes:arra them out .in such a manner as should do moreharm they lg"d• lie was inclined to hope that the accounts Pk n g`qt heard from the other side of the House had been to tre.eat, exaggerated, tho u gh there cou ld b a no doubt but red' distvess existed. But as . as ottingham was con tioteentirely repudiated the measurender the considera trAb Houst;. The Hon. Member for Bolton a short time et we nt down there to do a little in the way of agitation, ofef ti Met hy a feeling by no means unanimous on the part t he Population, as he was unfortunately hooted out 'Ne s e . Public hall.—(Laughter.) He traced the dis he'eedthe. a great measureover-production, and re germ, eonvicrion that the accounts of it were exag °lli . 7 lie deprecated the language used in depicting it, . 1 " 4 ,0; a way made the people believe that things would be still • ,''sts ' a' s awl excited them to deeds of violence which they would never thou g ht o f. H e l oo k e d f or ward with confidence terr t Pl ) roaching harvest, an d expressed his fears that a t ; dr y was out of th e power o f any Mi n istry. He thought tittay"'airs.would mend the sooner when such discussions as !Ij sh ould cease. : to o a r ' HINDLEY said that the mere fact of such a • aieres'd men as the Corn-law Conference coming to . `"iall e cal tw' • se • "14 4 , 4 of the es '-:ttiesht , treed ti urgency of the case. 't his very . =cum ' bread of preventing them from going into discussion, 1 0slie d to an addition.' reason for doing so. He had been 4 1 ' " D at e IV other night to support the adjournment of the de )t,',(l [4, 01 ' and he th ought it would have been better for Hon. Gen hlieeilPrt u PPosite if th e y had agreed to it. when, after the do sPeech o f the Hon. Member fur Bath, lie ' saw no less `4 l .'"Aa e s t. i Members of the Government asleep on the Treasury ea scti - es ; he thought there was no chance of a speech from so e , 'ati esti re a Member as himself being listened to. Now to the t atted befor e the House. The distre , s, he believed r was ad a"d deplored by every party, and he believed that all 41 441kigtie.,' sempathised with s had I various causes had been as e,°s:kri a s ' for it. Some had said it was machinery, but t e ael ,Th e from machinery having caused an over-production of th e i r u P_Ply ef the world, it had failed to provide clothing for c, o , a "'" land, for never was the wardrcbe of the people in so Yee es, j' u dition• He quoted the price of corn for a series of , ' show that whet!, food was cheapest the people had more a t • s e at. to disp ose of fur other articles. At preseiit they had ~ eu,',tiough to purchase clothes ; all the Machinery of the • p th ”:''Y had • I i c ,, not been able to supply clothing to their own ha.t • lie regretted the Right Honourable Ba -4r Abera nos acceded to the preposition of the Member Peet of een, the other evening. Were there a pros •• , people obtaining corn at a reasonable price, 1•,..)u‘4,,T.d1(11,be eneouraged to - spend something in clothing. si o „ t.• at the Right lion. Baronet would net let the SC2.- p!ite l earS3_without stating that he would endeavour that the An ew ~..l a ." °d should nut be so extravagantly high next year as . s S COTT did not think the existing distress attribut. able to the Corn-laws, nor did he believe that the repeal of those laws would alleviate that distress. The Corn •laws hail not, he thou 'ht, got a fair trial. Let them get a fair trial, and then if it sir - mid he shown that those laws were the cause of the distress of the country, their repeal might be taken into consideration. The great evil of this country was its inability to produce sufficient corn, which was particularly the case when corn was unprotected in the time a James the Firs',. The Honourable Gentlemto goofed Sir Thomas Culpepper, who wrote in 1661, in proof of his petition ; and went on to show from other writers, that in the hallowing cen tury, when egniculture was protected, France had recourse to this country to be supplied with corn. Sir C. NAPIER would not detain the Hoiitck by any length ened observations on the subject of debate, as it hadalready been so amply and ably discussed, and that too with arguments which had been - hut feebly answered on the other side. He regretted that the Hop. Member for Wolverhampton had thought it ne cessary to bring forward the question again. His ( Sir C. Napier's) advice to Hon. Gentlemen would be, to allow the supplies, and !hen go to thiir homes, and endeavour to pre serve the peace. of the country. Sir R. PEEL was happy to hear fmm the Gallant Otlicer sentiments so congenial to his own. The Gallant Commodore thought those discussions an unwarrantable waste of time. Sir CHARLES NAPIER—That is, of course, only my Own opinion Sir R. l'EEL—The Gallant Commodore did not do himself justice. lle did not stand alone in that opinion.—(Laughter. ) It was said that the Corn-laws were inefficacious, that they would do nothing to relieve the distress of the people. But lie (Sir IL Peel) contended that they did not allow the present law a sufficient trial. Hon. Gentlemen cppusite were, not in. tentionaily perhaps, but certainly practival.y, preventing a fair trial being given to the new Corn-law. He would bring before the House some of the experiments of the new law which were proceeding so very unsatisfactorily. For the last week following the receipt of the averages, and ending June 30, 1842, the quantity of colonial wheat en tered fur home consumption at a duty of In. per quarter, was 5,002 quarters. The quantity of foreign wheat imported was 48,112 quarters. And the quantity taken on: for home con sumption, at a duty of Os. per quarter, amounted to 48,450 quarters. During the week 53,500 quarters of wheat 'had been taken out of bond for home consumption. He had re ceived information that the harvest had actually commenced in some favoured districts, and he was assured that in the mar ket at Maldon, wheat had fallen 2s. a euarter. He deprecated these motions, as calculated to induce speculators to keep back the corn ; but, at the same time, he thought that these who were holding back corn, in hope of getting it admitted at a Is. duty, would find that they had been in error, and that ultimately they would incur a great loss. It was unfair to give a judgment of the Corn-law on a seven weeks' experience ; but he thought that, as far as that experi ence went, it proved that the new Corn-law was a beneficial measure. No One could attempt to deny the existence of great distress, and it was impossible to withhold the expression of the deepest sympathy with those who were suffering from it ; and if he believed that that distress could be materially or per manently alleviated by an alteration in the Corn-laws, he should not hesitate to propose a relaxation of tbem—(Cheers)-- and he felt assured that if the landed in crest could be con vinced that an alteration of the Corn-laws would permanently relieve distres?, they would not refuse to relax those laws mate elally.—(Cheers.) He feared, however, that the alterations they had already made in the tariff, alterations which had been approved by all parties, had tended temporarily to increase the stagnation. The Customs returns showed a decrease in the re venue on wine—that perhaps was owing to the uncertainty which had hitherto prevailed on the subject of the wine duly, but he was happy to be able to inform the House that the pre sent Government had at length been able to carry into effect she iutentions of the Noble Lord oppoiete, and that the commercial treaty with Portugal, the negotiations for which had been begun by the late Government, had at last been signed, and that the s , gniug of it had been followed by nego tiations with Portugal respecting an amended tariff, which he was happy to say were proceeding satisfactorily.—(Cteers. ) He hoped the effect of that treaty would be to induce the Govern-- meat and people of Spain to relax their commercial regula tion!, seeing the immediate re.ult of that uncertainty on the subject of the wine duties, had been to cause a reduction in the last year of 108,0001. The next article in which a reduction had taken place was deals, bates, and timber, the reduction in which amounted to 113,001,1. This he attributed entirely to the uncertainty occasioned by the alteration in the tariff. In the articles of brandy and rum a reduction had taken place to a large amount,' which he attributed to the same causes ; and in coffee a reduction of 31,0001. had taken place. The articles in which an increase had taken place, were articles which had not been affected by the late alteration. On sugar there had been an increase of 113,0001., on molasses of 34,0001., on cotton wool of 26,9801., and on tea of 16,7181. This showed that the reduction of duties on articles was not followed by an immediate increased demand, and that the reform even of admitted abuses was not unfrequently followed by temporary deficiency and distress. The Hon. Member for Stockport had the other night accused him of att.ibuting the distress to ma • chinery. He certainly did say that the immediate operation of the introduction of improVed machinery was to produce in many instances local distress and want of employment, but would he therefore undervalue the introduction of machinery? far from it; he admitted that it was impossible to check the march of improve ment in mechanics, that it would be impolitic to do so if it were possible, and that the ultimate effect of the improvement ; of machinery would be to increase the demand for' labour ; but still the immediate effect of the sudden application of machinery was in many instances to throw persons out of employment ; and in a country in such an artificial state of society as this, it could not be expected that we could be exempt from partial suffering. The Hon. Gentleman the Member for Stockport, had had borne testimony to the efficient manner in which the Assis tant Poor-law Commissioner, who had been sent down to Stock port, bad conducted-the inquiry.. Now from the evidence taken by this gentleman, it appeared that many of the most respectable 1 inhabitants of Stockport agreed with him in opinion as to the consequence of the immediate results ofthe sudden introduction of machinery.—(The Right Hon. Gentleman here quoted the evidence of Mr. Lawton, of Mr. R. Maclean; of Mr. Proc ter, who stated, that by means ofonachinery, one house iu Stockport could turn out twenty miles of calico a day; of Mr. Foster, Chairman of the Board of Guardians, and one of the deputation which had waited on the Right Hon. Gentleman on Saturday last; the evidence of ad thesegentlemen went to show, that since 1834 the introduction of improved machinery had tended to throw many hands out of employment in Stockport.) It was true these gentlemen attributed a great part of the dis tress to the existence of the Corn-laws, but the evidence went to show, that in such an artificial state of society as that under which we were living, great commercial prosperity might co-exist with great local suffering and distress. It appeared from the statistical details that the Corn-laws bad nothing whatever to do with the wages of the operatives. Re ference had been made to the patience with which the poorer classes had borne the distress welch the pressure of the times had inflicted upon them. lie slid not know that those who had so much lauded that patience had done a great deal to cause that patience. When a bill was exhibited in that House some time ago, headed " Murder," he (Sir R. Peel) was glad to hear the Hon. Member opposite assert that the members of the Anti-Corn-law League had deprecated the issue of such bills, which certainly were of a most inflammatory nature. He (Sir R. Peel) had lately received intimation that bills of an inflammatory character, headed " Murder," continued to be exhibited in a shop, No. 22, Market-street, Manchester, and on the shop was printed " epot for the National Anti-Corn law League."—(Hear.) The man who printed the bill was printer to the Anti-Corn-law League, and his shop was only distant a few doors from the depot.—( Hear.) He did trust that the Hon. Member would take some steps to prevent the itersens composing that League making such appeals to the feelings of the people. Amongst the steps which he (Sir 11. Peel) had taken for the relief of the poor was that of recom mending to her Majesty a general alms-giving, and he did trust that the couutry would still :eel the obligation to contribute to the funds for their relief. He (Sir R Peel) felt that this was no permanent, .no satisfactory mode of reliee still it might do much to mitigate the distress and sufferings of the people, and he trusted that those who were opposed to her Majesty's Government would net refuse to contribute towards these Lunde. —( Veer, hear.) He was rear) , to admit that the true principle of commerce was to buy in the cheapest market and sel in the dearest, and such was the principle which he should ' himself adopt, were it not for the complicated interests in this • country, all of which required to be consulted in a greater or less degree. He did, however, reduce the duties on foreign (Torn, and that to an extent which led many of those opposite to upbraid him for having broken fdith with those who had placed their confidence in him. He had reduced the duties more than one half, and he did trust that a fair trial would be given to the alterations which he had proposed. In the article sugar he had not felt justified in proposing any alteration ; he denied, however, that the Government adopted that measure for the purpose of obtaining Parliamentary support. At the commencement of this year there were constant comparisons between the prices of meat in this country and other countries, and they w ere constantly told that they dared not attempt to deal with the monopoly which existed in meat. With respect to rice, bacon, and fish, the reduction had also been very material; the effect of that re duction had not been seen, but the' effect would be very con siderable.—(Hear, hear.) One Hon. Gentleman had asked them why they had not meddled with the banking laws? Why, what encouragement had they to meddle with the banking laws ? • Had riot every proposition they had made met with opposition ? Had not the whole of the Session been taken up with the discussion of the great measures he had proF.osed ? snd up to the present time they had not been able to pass the Ist clause of the Poor-law Bill. What encouragement then had they to meddle with the Ban lang-la ws ? I f he had tossed the Bill upon the table in the present state of things, he maintained that he should only be adding to the pre sent confusion.—(Cheers from both sides.) He had proposed the Income-tax, and he must say that a measure never met with the more general approbation of the country than that measure (Hear, hear )—and he contended if they had to raise 4,000,000L.in the country, the best course was to raise it on the property of the country rather than on articles which sus tained the industry of the country. If alter a fair trial those measures which he had brought forward should not prove ade quate to meet the distress under which the country was suffer ing, he ( Sir R. Peel) should be the first to admit that no former opinion should interfere to prevent a revision of those measures ; but he did say that no conclusion should be formed until a fair trial had been afforded, to see whether these mea sures would contribute to alleviate the prevailing distress, and to the revival of that prosperity for which no parties could be more anxious than those who were entrusted :with the con duct of public affairs.—(Long-continued cheers. Lord JOHN RUSSELL said the Right. Hon. Baronet at the head of her Majesty's Government had made so many general observations on his policy, that he found it impossible to refeain front following in his steps. Let him (Lord John Russell) add, that he should judge from the concluding sen tences of the Right Hon. Baronet's speech, that however much he had recommended his measures to the adoption of Parlia ment, he was not very confident of success himself. The tone in which the Right Hon. Baronet spoke of those measures, that if his measures succeeded it would gratify his hopes, and if they failed, they would require a revision—certainly implied to his (Lord J. Russell's) mind, that he had no very sanguine expectation that those measures would attain the objects for which they were proposed. The Right lion. Gentleman said that those who brought forward motions on that side of the House were preventing the admission of foreign corn. Now, he begged to recal to the recollection of the House, that for eight weeks after the Corn Bill received the Royal assent, there was no interference with the measures of the Right Hon. Baronet. During that time there were only declarations, very natural ones lie thought, that the principles promulgated in the tariff must finally be applied to corn. if he looked back to the proceedings under the Corn-law of last year he saw still less reason to believe that the Right Hon. Baronet was justified in his statement. The Right Hon. Baronet attributed it as a great merit in the existing Corn-laws, that ,25,000 quarters were introduced in one week, and upwards of 48,000 in another. Now it appeared that the admission of foreign corn in the week ending the 16th of April, 1811 was 58,82.5, and the admission in the week ending the 21st of May was 71.04 P. The duty in the first of those instances was 225. Pd., and in the last 235. bd. It was thus clearly shown that thealiminution of duty which the Right Hon. Gentleman had made was nothing more nor less tWan a loss to the revenue; it was no gain to the people. (Cheers from the Opposition, answered by cheers from the Ministerial benches.) The great bulk of the foreign cern, by the introduction of which the price would be reduced, remained now in bond, as it did during the course of the last year. In the last year, 1,852,000 quarters of corn were introduced in' a single week; they had now 1 5 ,000,000 quarters in bond, and by the operation of the laws which the Right Hon. Gentleman had introduced, the greater portion of that quantity might be increased, just as it had formerly been. The vice of the law was THE STiR , LON - Dog, TVESDAY EVENING, JULY 12, 1842. .the vice of a coreirual temptation to hold back the corn while price was rising. Even supposing that the Right lion. Gen tlemen's best anticipations were realised, the country had suf fered, and not only the manufacturing hot the agricultural por tion of the cemiremity had suffered by the delay. If they lied had tin 85. dl ty at the cotierbeneftli6nt of the year, the farmer would not have been terrified at the prospect of our limiter:se quantity of corn in bond, which would sooner or later lower the market. —( Hear.) lie could not agree with the Right Hon. Gentleman that the success of his measure had been pre vented by the motions on that side of the House. The Right Hon. Gentlemen had spoken with great caution respecting the effete e of an admission of foreign cern, but itched never gone so far as to say that he would not expect front it a permanent al leviation of the distresses of the people. He stated that if he and his colleagues expected a permanent al!eviation of the dis tresses of the people from a relaxation of the Corn-laws, they would then be disposed to listen to such a proposition. But was it not something when they heard such harassing tales of distress, whet' the Members for the matsufacttititig towns, one after another, declared to that House the miserable condition to which the inhabitants of their towns had been reduced, when they hear.; that there had hitherto been no alleviation of that distress—was it not something that they should pass a measure which the Right lion. Gentleman did net deny would be a tem p rare :Tee:viol) 0f the distress?-s( Heir, hear.) He quite agreed with the Right Hon. Gentleman that it was unfair and mischievous to deprecate subscription=, seeing that they were calculated to allot d temporary relief ; but if it was desir able from alms, from charity, to relieve the pubic distress, why should it not be done by law ? why should not the people receive the same relief frem the exerci , e of their own industry, and the produce of their own hand; ?—( Hear, hear.) That had not been the course of the Governments to which the Right Hon. Gentleman had belonged. The Noble Lord then referred to the si eeches of Mr. Canning and Lord Liverpool to show that they were in favour of afferding relief in times of distress, by means of alterations in the Corn-laes. Lo d Liverpool was of opinion teat a reduction in the price of cern would be a mate rial alleviation of the distress existing in 1826. If the Go vernment were not prepared to enter into the whole question of the Corn-laws, could they net agree to the proposal of his Noble Friend, the Member for Sunderland, to admit coin until next spring at a moderate duty, which would secure a market for our manufactures?—(Hear, hear.) He thought the House might very well waive the general question of the Corn. laws, in order to agree to such a motion. lion. Gentlemen op posite stated last year that the measures of the late Govern ment were not calculated to afford relief to the country. All that those Honourable Gentlemen now said with respect to the distresses of the people was, that they hoped for a good harvest. NVhy, he thought, although the abilities of the late Government were not very shining, they were, at least, equal to looking at the barometer, and crying, " We hope for a geod harvest."—( Great laughter.) If corn had been admitted at a moderate duty last year, though the distress had not been wholly removed, it would have been greatly alleviated.— ( Hear, hear. 1 But let them really look at the distress which prevailed, and the patience with which it had been borne. It was impossible to exaggerate, or to praise too highly, the forti tude and the patience with which the people suffered their life to ebb away, without anything like anger, resistance, or impatience.—( Hear, hear.) It was admitted by the first Minister of the Crown that the admission of foreign corn would be at least. a temporary alleviation of that distress, and he thought be was bound therefore to have re course to it. He did not say that he agreed with the Hon. Gentleman who proposed a total repeal of the Corn-laws. if the first question should be necatived of going into supply, he should propose to leave out all the latter words of the Hon. Gentleman's motion by which the r. peal of the Corn-laws was made a part of that question. He thought the best motion would be, that the House should resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to consider the Act of the present Ses sion relating to the importation of foreign corn.—( Hear, hear.) He retained the opinions which he hail formerly expressed on this aulject.--(llear, hear.) The Right. Hon. Gentleman had spoken of the it jury which hail necessarily been done to commerce by the proposal of the tariff. lie readily agreed with him, that it %%RS impossible to propose any great change, however wholesome or politic, without for a time interfering with the pursuits of trade ; but he thought a great part of the delay which had taken place in this instance had arisen from the contradiction between the prineip!es propounded by the Government and the tariff which they had proposed.—( Hear. ) A mere enunciation of principles would neither feed nor clothe the people. It was an objection made to the late Go vernment that it was unable to carry its measures. But where was the chfference between a Ministry that did propose mea sures according to its principles, and one who proposed mea sures not in accordance with its principles, because if it did it could not expect to carry those measures?—( Hear, hear.) The Right Hon. Gentleman had done justice to the negotiations which had been going on with Portugal, and with regard to other measures, he did not blame the policy of the late Govern ment. He had alluded to the order in which measures had been prepared ; he (Lord J. Russell) had last year intended to bring fie-ward an Irish Registration Bill, and thought the Poor. law ought to be afterwards considered, and now the Right Hon. Gentleman stated that an English measure of Registra tion should precede a measure of Irish Registration. It had been said by Mr. Herries, with regard to certain public mea sures, making use of the remark of a French critic on a book he was reviewing, that they contained some things which , were good and some which were new, but unfortunately all that was good was not new, and all that was new was not good. Now that was just the remark he might apply to the measures of the present Government ; the Poor-laws, the Colonial Customs Bill, the Colonial Passengers Bill, the South Australian Bill, the New South Wales Bill, the Justices Jurisdiction Bill; in fact, to the principles of the tariff itself, which, the Noble Lord truly said, was founded on the principles prepared by the late Government. There was another measure which was good, but nut new—the Poor-law ; and the Income•tax was new, but nut good. The same thing might be said of the Corn •law measure of the present year—it was new, but not good. Such ' was the view he to sk of the measures of the present Government.—( Hear, hear.) The Government had no reason to complain of the present application, fur during this session more days had been devoted, in the earlier part of it, to Government business, than he ever recollected. On the questions of foreign and colonial policy, and the much-agitated question of the government of Ireland, there had been no dis position on this side of the Muse to oppose the Government. Tor was he willing to obstruct the general progress of the measures of the Government, and the public business of the conntry, and therefore he should give his vote against the resolution. SUPPLY. Sir IL PEEL said he hut no objection to tell the Honourable Gentleman the course which he meant to pursue; notwithstand ing the late hoar, he felt it his duty to proceed immediately to propose a vote for the China expenses. When that vote was agreed to, he then proposed to go on with the other votes. At the same time if any particular vote, like the Syria vote, were objected to, in order to have an opportunity of discussion, he would waive proceeding with that vote. Mr. WILLIAMS (lid not know a single vote, especially in the Ciril CwritingenVies, to which he should not object. Sir. DUNCOMRE gave notice, that when the House went into Committee of Supply to-morrow, he would propose that the votes, with the exception of those for Syria, Canada, and China, should be given for three months only. The House then went into Committee. Sir G. CLERK moved that a sum of 806,5661. should be ap plied to defray the expenses of the• war in China. Mr. O'CO.NNELL wished to remind the Gallant Officer oppisite, that in the early part of th e sess i on h e b r ought under his attention and that of , the House the spiritual wants of the British soldiery of the Catholic religion in India. He regtetted that no additional assistance had been since afforded to them. Sir H. HARDINGE said that the order had been issued by the late Government, and he was not aware that it had not been attended to.—The vote was then agreed to. On the motion that 103,000/. be granted to defray the expenses of her Alajesty's. Government in Canada, Mr. HUME objected to the vote being agreed to until the estimates - were befOre the House, and he hoped that the item would be postponed until the necessary information was laid on the table. Sir G. GLERK said that the accounts Of the past year, upon which the present estimates were founded, had already been laid on the table.. Mr. C. BULLER protested against the principle of grant ing money for the military expenditure of a colony, without any specification of the details of that expense. H e was satisfied from his experience, that if the colony had an adequate repre sentative Government, it would willingly pay the expenses of the volunteer corps.—( Hear, hear.) There had been the greatest jobbing in the payment of the volunteers. He knew of seventeen regiments within a space of eight miles ; and in one r, giment there were fifty officers of the same family, although not of the same name. After a conversation in which Lord Stanley, Mr. Hume, Mr. Goulburn, and Mr. Jarvis took part, strangers were ordered to whitdraw. No division took place, the vote being agreed to without one. On our admission to the gallery, we found moving another vote. ASiirr.(N3l.'lCLlLEhtit on Sw h o i u s ld lea s s ib ' ject to a single vote of public money taking place after twelve o'clock, if he could get a single Member to vote with him fur reporting progress. . . After a short discussion, strangers were ordered to with draw, and the Howe divided upon the question of reporting progress. For the motion Against it Majority against the motion. —l79 On the vote of 10,t 00/. being propo3ed for the repair of ports and harbours, Mr. HUME rose and moved that the Chairman report progress (Groans.) Strangers were again ordered to withdraw, and the House dividing there appeared— For the anielidment Against it .. .. Majority against the amendment — 166 Dr. BOW RING having, during the absence of the reporters, again moved that the Chairman do report progress, strangers withdrew, and the House divided, when there appeared— For the adjournment - Against it Majority l6l Mr. HA WES raid lie extremely regretted the course which was being pursued by pis Hon. Friend. He thought the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite had been most moderate with respect to motions on that side of the House.--( Hear. ) Mr. SHIEL said the plain efieet of the conduct of Hon. Gentlemen on that side of the House, was to keep gentlemen in town, who were anxious to go to their country residences. They cid not all reside in town, like the Hon. Gentleman. ::sir R. PEEL said the conduct of Hon. Gentlemen opposite was calculated very much to injure the public service. —( Hear.) What was the Hon. Gentleman's purpose? Was his opposition founded on the lateness of the hour, or on his objection to supply. If he objected to the supply, the sooner they fought that battle the better.—(Cheers.) Nothing should in duce. him to propose a measure of which he disapproved, for the purpose of going through a Committee of Supply.—( Hear, hear.) He would be willing to postpone these votes, only on condition that they should proceed with them on Wednesday and Friday. 11r. HUME said that he was as anxious as the Right Hon. Gentleman to proceed to business, and he had no desire what ever to impede the discussion of the supplies, but the tublic money ought not to be voted away at such late hours. AGLIONI3Y disclaimed any intention of obstructing the supplies, but he had always understood the practice of the 1-louse to be that when the progress of the Committee at se late an hour was objected to, the Government (lid not per severe in pressing the votes.—(Cries of " Oh, oh," from the Tory benches.) He knew that habits were tolerated in that House which would not be endured elsewhere—( Cheers from the Opposition )—but he would not be deterred by taunts, nor disgusted by ill-manners—( Cheers) —from doing that which he considereil to be his duty.—( Cheers. ) After a few words from Mr. WILLIAMS, who spoke amidst great interruption, Sir R. I'EEL said, that he would have no objection to make an arrangement for taking the supplies at an early hour on Wednesday or Friday. Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said that he had given notice of a motion fur limiting the supplies to three months, and it was bona fide on account of the lateness of the hour he would now sup port a motion for adjcurnment. He would not object to al lowing the votes to be taken on Wednesday, if it were an ursdersranding that, he should not be precluded from moving that the supply 'should be for three months only. The vote was then agreed to. The CHAIRMAN then nparted progress, and obtained leave to sit again On Wednesday. The other Orders of the Day were then proceeded with. lIETUkINS OF FLAG OFFICERS. 178 • On the motion for the resumption of the debate with respect to she return of fiag-officers. Sir G. COCKBURN objected to the motion. After a f.nv observations from Mr. FLUME, strangers were ordered. to wiihdraw, and the House divided— : For the motion . , Ai:aloe. it . ,Majority against the motion The Chelsea Hospital Bill was read a second time, and or. dered,to becorsnitted this day. ..POOtt-LAW AMENDMENT BILL. Sir JAMES GRAHAM said he should bring on the Poor law Amendment Bill at half-past four this day. Mr. HU3IE moved for a " Return of the steam and sailing packets emplo3ed under the Admiralty for the conveyance of mails ; stating the name and tonnage of each vessel, and where stationed and employed ; the numbers of officers and men, and the expense, in the year 1841, for each of the ves sel:, and the aggregate charge for all the packets; stating also, as far as the same can be given, the amount received for the conveyance of passengers and parcels, and for the postage, by each of those vessels, or the amount received for the same in the year Ir-'4l, fur the several packets, so as to exhibit the not charge to the public, after deducting the amounts received for passengers and postage," &c. which was agreed to. Lord LINCOLN moved for leave to bring in a Bill to extend the provisions of an Act passed in the fourth year .of her Majesty'; reign, intituled, " An Act to enable the Com missioners of Wide streets to sell, and her Majesty to purchase, certain hereditaments in the city of Dublin, on the north bank of the river Anna Liffey; and to vest in the Commissioners of her Majesty's Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works, and Building's, the powers now vested in the Commissioners of Wide Streets, so far as the same relate to the said hereditaments. The other Orders of the Day were disposed of, and the House adjourned at Three o'Clock. Mr. COBDEN repudiated the declaration that machinery was the cause of the distr., ss. It hail never been so in periods of ordi nary prosperity, and he defied the Right Hon. Baronet to prove it. So many people had never been thrown out of employment as to cause a general and universal distress ; he therefore thought it unworthy to bring forward such an argument. It would be more statesmanlike in the Right Hon. ' Baronet to look back at the condition in which they once . were, when they were prospering, with a view of returning to it. The prosperity of 1824 and 1823 might now be said to bend pros perity at all. Some years ago we exported to America mere than they imported, by way of loan, and it was now returning to us in the shape of goods for the payment of debts due to us. There was a mission gone out from this country, with a view to reconstruct the credit of America ; it was a futile errand ; the gentleman who hail gone out knew nothing of the unwieldy and unmanageable democracy of America.—( Cheers from the Tory benches.) Yes, they would go to Washington, and they would find that they could not earwig a Minister, nor pull the wires that governed the destinies of seventeen or eighteen millions of people. And happy would it be for this country if they were not at the mercy of a few selfish jobbers in the city of London. They had nothing to hope from imports to Spain and Portugal ; they must go to America. Their re medies lay within their own Statute-book, and they could not evade the repeal of the laws that prevented the importation of food. But the great objection was said to that it would threw land out of cultivation ; he would not believe it. Would it throw Ireland out of cultivation ? In Scotland the farmers laughed at it, and at the English system of agriculture. They were actually bringing Scotch farmers into Cheshire, at double the rents, and yet having larger profits. Let them recollect that the tide of pauperism which hitherto set into the towns, was flowing back upon the country, and when that mass of truperism came to be supported by the land, upon which they had the first claim, what would beceme of their estates ? He believed that if the Corn-laws were repealed, that would be the very time to purchase land. The sym pathy of the whole world was with the working classes in the battle against the Corn-laws. And what was i they were contending against the people for? Was it not enough for them to have the Church, the law, the army, and the navy at their disposal? Must they also seek for the phantom advan tage of the Corn-laws ? Would they risk their coronets, their titles, their estates, their dignities in the battle with the people for bread? tie was ashamed to think that the aris tocracy would contend with the people on such ground. Let therii take eare of pushing the con test ton far. The late Mr. Canning was killed by his at tempts to govern for the aristocracy—(oh, oh, and Hear, hear)—let the Right Hon. Baronet take care lest he should share the same fate in his attempts to maintain these monopo lising laws. —( Oh, oh.) When that House undertook to le gislate on matters of trade—that House, the majority of which consisted of landowners—it was to that House, to those land owners, and not to the manufacturers, that the people of this country were to look for a remedy for their distress. Mr. GRIMSDHCH opposed the motion. lie believed that the improvements that had taken place in machinery had been greatly instrumental in causing the distress that existed in the country. Lord 11OWICK could trot give a silent vote on this qttes tion. He thought the course that had been pursued by the Hon. Member for Wolverhampt•n was extremely incon venient. It was not to he expected the House would retrace its st,ps, or make such sweeping alterations in the Corn-laws as were proposed by the lion. Member. Taking these views of the question, it might be expected he should oppose the motion, but as he thought the Corn-law question ought to be fully considered, he would vote for the motion to go into a Committee on the Corn-laws. He would not take the course he intended without protesting against the course which had been taken in interrupting the public business.—(Cheers on the Ministerial side.) He thought it was an injury to the great question they were dis cussing. He was aware that the motion about, to be submitted must be negatived, but he could not help recommending to her Majesty's Government the adoption of some measure similar to that which he Intended to propose on Thursday. Such a measure would ter.d very much to relieve the present distress, and might with perfect consistency be adopted by those who differed with him in opinion with respect to the Corn laws. The Hon. Member for Inverness hail said that it was to be deplored that America had not the opportunity of send ing some of her produce to this country in return for our manufactures. Now the principal produce of America was agricultural, therefore the Corn-law must be the immediate cause which kept that produce out of this country, and yet the Hun. Member said that it was only an increase in the imports of that produce that was wanted to improve our export trade to America. The Right Hon. Baronet the other night, on the motion of the Hon. Member for Aberdeen, seemed inclined to adopt a course of temporary relief, provided he could do so without objection. Now he (Lord Howick) did not think that the objections urged on that night by the Bight Hon. Baronet could apply to the proposition which he (Lord Howick) in tended to make. He took the amount of 6s. as the duty, as that was the amount at which the Right Honourable Baronet said the corn now in bond was likely to • be liberated. This measure would also tend to the advantage of the revenue; and he also believed that it would benefit the agiiculturists ; for although the Right Hon. Baronet said that a great deal of corn was being liberated, yet corn would be held in bond till the duty came to what the corn dealers called the minimum duty. Alter the debate of this night, he should not bring fot ward his motion, which he knew, if opposed by the R;grit lion. Gentleman, must be lost by an overwhelming ma jority.—( Hear, hear.) It was a remarkable feature in this debate that no Hon. Member on either side of the House had held out great hopes from any measures which they proposed ; they only could tell them to look t o th e b arome t er , and. look for a good harvest. He, however. did fear that the harvest would nt t be such a plentiful one as the Right Hen. Gentleman had anticipated. • Sir JOHN HAMMER was in favour of a moderate fixed duty, and would vote for the motion of the Honourable Member noel ely to indicate the opinion which he entertained on the sub ject.—(Hear, hear.) He should feel it his duty, hoe over, as an independent Member of the House, to vote against the n otion of the Noble Lord the Member for London, about to be t roposed, as an improper method of postponing the business of the country. Strangers were then ordered to withdraw, and the House divided when there appeared, For the original motion • 231 For i Mor.iViears'soainar . of th en dme original motion .414 HOUSE OF LORDS, July 11. Their Lordships met at Five o'Clock. WORKING IN MINES. The Earl of LIVERPOOL presented a petition from iron masters and coal Owners, against certain clauses in ' the Bill before Parliament respecting employment in mines and collieries. The Earl of POINTS presented a petition to the same effect, signed not only by owners of mines but by persons employed in them. Lord DARraouTH presented several petitions to the same effect from persons employed in mines in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The IsToble Lord also pre, sented several petitions against the New Poor Law-bql. 'Lord CA MPBELL presented petitions from the neigh bourhood of Huddersfield, in favour of the Bill for re gulating employment in mines. COLLIERIES AND MINES BILL. The Duke of BUCCLEUCH reported from the Select Committee upen the Employment in Mines Bill, that it was the (Tinton of the Committee that the Bill should be proceeded with.—(Hear, hear.) The Bill was then read a second time, and ordered to be committed to-morrow. The Bishop of NORWICH presented a petition in favour of the Bill. DRAINAGE (IRELAND) BILL.: On the motion of Lord FITZGERALD, this Bill was read a second time, with the understanding that the dis eur,sion should be taken on 'Friday, in going into Com mii tee. The Dublin University Right of Voting Bill was read a second time. SUDBURY WITNESSES INDEMNITY BILL. The Marquis of .CLANRICARDE introduced a Bill to indemnify the witnesses to be examined before the COLLIERIES BILL: Committee on the Sudbury Disfranchis ement Bill, which was read a first time. lie gave notice th a t, to - morrow , he would move that the S tandin g Orders be suspended respecting this Bill , an d that it be then read a second time. Lord BROUGHAM thou g ht it was. impossible- their a Lordships could pass Bill of diSfranchisement without taking The Duke of BUCC LEUCH presented numer o u s pe titions on the subject o f Lord Ashley's (the mi n i ng em ployment) Bill, from Yorkshire and Mid-L ot hi an. Some ev l id n et N ic i e fur A themselves. of the petitioners disapproved of parts of the Bill, but the majority were in favour of it altogether. Lord WHARNCLIFFE presented petitions to the same effect from places in Yorkshire, Scotl an d an d W ales. THE DISTRESS OF THE COUNTRY. Lord WHARNCLIFFE presented a petition, which was agreed to at a public meeting of the inhabitants of Leeds, held in the Town-hall on the 29th of June last, the 'Mayor in the chair, complaining of the distress of the country, and praying for inquiry. (Loud cries of Hear, hear, from Lord Stanhope.) RAILWAYS BILL, On the motion of the Earl of LIVERPOOL•the Rail ways Bill passed through Committee. 'RATING OF sTocK IN TRADE BILL. noer of representing them fur a short period in the other 'Louie- of Parliament. He had_ yielded to their request with great reluctance. He should then proceed to per form the promise which he had so reluctantly made, with a degree of unwillingness which one ought not per haps to feel in discharging an important duty.. But nothing multi be inure embarrassing and more vexatious than to feel that he must disappoint those hopes of re dress and relief which they expected, if not at his hands, at least through his endeavours, and nothing could be more painful than to have to state to their Lordships a case so lamentable as theirs. They were men largely connected with th e t ra d e , o f the c o untry, deeply inter ested in almost all the branches of its manufac tures ; some of them were ministers of religion, who felt for the distresses of the flocks committed to their care, as did the other petitioners for the indivi duals who work e d un d er th em , an d o f w h om th e y felt it their duty to be the guardians. It must be as painful to their Lordships to hear the statement which those par ties expected him to make, as it was for him to make it. He should therefore take them as swiftly as he could over the ground; and he might the more easily do that and dispense with the necessity of entering at length into those afflicting details, as unhappily it was no matter of controversy whether such distress existed or not ; for all who knew the state of the country, and none he believed more than his Noble Friend opposite, were prepared at once to allow that this distress was wholly without a parallel. He, like those petitioners, or at least the oldest among them, remembered • the distress of 1808, and of 1812, and afterwards of 1816 and 1517 ; but he protested that when he cast hack his eyes, and compared those periods with the pre sent ; and when he refreshed his recollection with the result of the inquiry then made, and com pared it with what it had been his most painful ditty to learn, within the last three or ;our weeks, of the present state of things, he might almost without exaggeration say, that those times presented a comparatively prosperous state of things. He would keep the promise he had given of passing over the ground as quickly as he could, and he would begin at once to state the case. In the west of England for years past, he might say for ten or twelve years past, there had been a gradual change—gradual at first, as always happened in such cases, but proceeding afterwards with an accelerated pace to the almost ex tinction of this branch of their manufactures—looms still—houses untenanted—rents falling from one-third to one-half, sometimes even more—cottages to the number of three out of four untenanted, and every appearance of a transfer of eur former flourishing manufactures from Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and other parts. It had been hoped that that was a mere transfer, and that what these counties had lost the north had pined ; but it did so happen that, coeval with the decline of the manufactures in the west, had been the commence ment of the distress which now afflic ed the north. Then, when they went to the Midland Counties, to Leicestershire, to Shropshire, to Staffordshire, to Warwickshire, and carried the eye to Lancashire and Yorkshire, the state of distress was almost the same as in those counties where the woollen manufacture was in existence—houses untenanted, rents fallen, industrious, able-bodied, healthy—at least at one time in health— skilful as men could be, both willing and able to work, and only desirous for hardly a pittance to support them, thrown out of employment by thousands, and those thousands receiving only such a. pittance that that it could hardly be believed how life was sustained.—(Hear, hear.) Wages were down to a ld., the poor'e-rate was increased—in some places double, in other places three-fold and four-fold, and even eight-fold. And in some districts there was a defalcation in property,' 20 or 30 or 40 per cent. more than it was two years ago. When he came to the details, with which he was' almost afraid to deal, from the general statement over which he was running, not going, they were perfectly frightful. Thousands of persons were without food for days, he could not say a day, without a morsel to eat.—(Hear, hear.) In some cases the people were unable to leave their beds of straw, thinking they would be the better able on that account to stifle the pangs of hunger. They lived on what ought not be eaten by men, and actually envied the husks to swine. Clergymen and medical men gave the same testimony as to the insuffi ciency of the food ; but he must say that in the midst of those scenes, the kindliest dispositions were evinced by persons but a little removed from those whom they attempted to relieve.—(Hear, hear.) In one case, a woman famishing with her infant found shelter in a mi serable cellar, and in three hours alter her infant died actu ally from want of being able to find sufficient nutriment. In another case, a man who had been without work fifteen or sixteen weeks, obtained employment, and worked 10 hopes without food, but •he was obliged to give up, he came back to his house, flung himself on a bench, and his wife burst into tears, knowing he had not tasted any food that day, But some kind person gave them a little money, and he thanked him, and said it was a sorry sight to see the poor in that state, and wished that he might never know what hunger was. These things quite unmanned one, and were excruciatingly painful.—(Hear, hear.) But it was cheering to know that in the midst of this distress the people exhibited the greatest patience, and did not violate the law of their country—(Cries of " Hear, hear")—and that all attempts of ill-meaning or no-meaning persons have proved ineffectual to turn them from their duty to their country, to their families, and to themselves. Who were those persons, of whose sufferings he had spoken ? They were no more nor less than the work ing classes at large of the country. It was i, the working classes and their cause that the petitioners submitted to the consideration of their Lord ships ; the working classes, to whom the country owed everything, and who had raised the commercial greatness of the country to its present stupendous heigh'. In his opinion the patience and tranquillity of the work ing classes ought to work powerfully on their Lord ships ; and added to this, it most be remembered, that the working classes had no band in making the laws by which they were governed.—(Hear, hear.) The millions did not contribute eiveingle vote in the choice of the men by whom their laws ; ; were made. Upwards of five millions were entirely excluded from any share in the representation such being the case, if their Lerdships, 'were not their actual representatives, whkeh ebey -undoubtedly were as much as any • "Member the other House of Parliament—(Hear, hear)—he must intreat of them to be their actual protectors,—(Hear, hear.) I e would not say a word that would weer the appearance of party, because the present was no party .question. A. question of this sort did not naturally lend itself to party. No man could ever dream of forming a party in this country upon what might be called economic grounds—on questions respecting trade and revenue. But he could not say how far distant might be the day when the people would understand economical questions as well as they understood those great constitutional questions upon which alone party could be formed at present in England. Whenever the time did come it might be possible to find some principle of economy on which it would he possible that a party could be bound together. Perhaps it might not be so difficult to form such a party now, although he thought it was, as at the time of the general election in 1612, when the party with which he (Lord B.) acted gained a great victory upon a ques tion of economy. Although time dissolution took place on that question, he believed that it did not turn a single vote, nor was the great commercial question mooted throughout the election, except in the places for which he and Mr. Canning were candi dates. He assured their Lordships that he was not one who would set the passions and'the interests of themanufacturers against the farmers. The farmers and the peasants had ever been regarded as the pride and the strength of this country.—( Hear, hear. ) He was not ene who despised their gains or their occupations, on the contrary, he thought with the historian, " Pius qutestus, et minims invidiosus—et minime male cogitantes, qui in eo versantur." But there was another position of the people which was no less and no more entitled to consideration and respect— a body of men whose exertions contributed, to an extent worthy of admiration, to raise that pswer to greatness and the wealth of this country. He spoke of the master manufacturers. He had known them in all the • changes of their fortunes, and he knew amongst them very many men who would do honour to any station. He had unhappily known them in all the changes and vicissitudes of their font-Ines, and be could assure the House that he had known them in tunes of distress t.o make the greatest sacrifices in order to avoid the hardship of turning their workmen out of employment . It was said that a change in the harvest would relieve the dis tress. He heartily wished that he could say that the distress was only caused by bad harvests. If they looked back to some years up to 1827, 1830, and 1831, they would find that the price was 655. tad. being more rather than less than the present year. He did not mean to say, God forbid, that a good har vest was immaterial, or that a bad harvest greatly exacerbated the evils of the country. There were causes stated, both in and out of Parliament, to which he ought to allude, as they were highly important. It was said that machinery was one of the great causes of the distress. lie did not think there ever was, of the many delusions into which men were occasionally 1-al, a greater than this. Machinery never could produce that effect, unless for a moment—for a moment in point of time, and in the smal est possible limitof space ; even if he admitted that, which be till not think be was called upon to do, even for any time, however small—within any space, however contracted—such mischief could trot be produced by machinery. The slowness with which it must necessarily be introduced, was perfectly well known to every one who had the least experience on the subject: Every new invention, however common, required time to introduce it. No one disputed this proposition, which he did not hesitate to affirm was a general one. The labourers, in pent of feet, suffered nothing. Let them consider the im mediate consequetres of machinery. Did it increase capital, and did not the increase in capital increase the want of labcur ? Did not the increase in machinery increase labour in the ancillary process, connected with the manufacture of machinery fur a new invention? He ought almost to apologise for stating this proposition. Nor should he have done so but for the arguments used by persons high in office, and used by persons out of doors. He might give as a further illustration of the slow degrees with which machinery can be introduced, and could displace labour, what had occurred in the case of that most remarkable of all machineries—he meant the cotton machinery. The first cotton machinery in vented was a cording-machine invented by a workman of the name of Hargreave, so long ago as the year 1760. There was a rising of the working men against the employment of that machinery. Afterwards came, in the years 1769 and 1770, the further improvements of Arkwright ; and scarcely ten years had elapsed before an increase to the amount of 50 per cent. had taken place in the cotton trade. During the next ten years, from 1780 to 1790, the increase was no less than five fold. The introduction of the newly-invented machinery was e without _.i.„ A 1.,. This Bill also passed thr6u L li Committe..,._. _ . very gradual at first. Between the years 1800 and 1840 amendment or discussiol• had increased between eighty and one hundred fold; and i. CHANCERY COURT. employed seventeen times more hands in the year 1800 than The LORD CHANCELLOR bid upon the table a when the manufacture had commenced. That increase Bill for abolishing certain offices in the Court of Chan- might be multiplied fold since the beginning .of hands present celitury ; so than t h t a n d ere were oen . ed eery ; the Bill related to the Six Clerks, and the sworn Clerks. It was then read a first time. more employed now been emploved previous to the DISTRESS OF THE COUNTRy. invention of Arkwright ; and, without that invention, the wi L lic o i r i d B he ßOU w nro7boauritd said, to amount of goods manufactured would have employed 35,000,000 that the motion of people—a number which, of coarse, could never have been submit to their found. Let theM see how the distress now told, and whether Lordships, originated, as they wer e a* a re, in, it could at all he connected with machinery. He 1, ould take a petition wli:iih had been pe:x:nted some ten, but a few simple illeArations. It would at once bo admitted dim ago, signed by the deputies, or - at least by the' that in the woollen trade much less machinery was employed was then chairman of the deputies, sent fro 'm the'inanufactaritic, than in the co ton trade. Nevertheless. the town of Leeds, districts of the north of England. In . the swayer of the centre of the woollen trade, was at this moment much woac midland that petition the men of the districts heartily that the uninhabited houses in Leedsincrease per joined. They had come to him, from a recollection cent , that the rents had been doubled , that was to say of his old connexion bo th with the one and the: 40,000' out of 50,000 people, were either r eceiving parish relief other of those districts —with the midland districts or relief from committees. The average gain of 20,000 out ever since the year 1808, and still more in- of those 40,000 was but 6d. a week. In the town of Bolton timately since the distresses of ' 1809 ; f ind in, i w h e re the cotton trade was carried on , although there had the northern dietriots, from his having had the ho:' been 4 decline of business, the same distress did not p reva il as. at Leeds, and the rates, which afforded a pretty accurate test of the condition of the people, had only increased from 12,0001. to 16,0001. ; whereas they had doubled in Leeds. Then if they locked to the hosiery trade they would find that i n Hi nc kl e y half the frames were idle, and - 70 per cent. of the workmen of the town were unemployed, and one-thirst of the population were receiving relief. In t 'ae hosiery trade as in the pottery trade, machinery could hardly be said to enter at all. Hardly any improvements had been made in either, in the memory of living man. In the Potte ries, the distress was not so great as in other districts, but it was still greater than that which prevailed in the cotton dis tricts. The rates in Nottingham had risen in the proportion of three to five, between the year 1841 and the year 1842; and the. number receiving relief had nearly doubled; being 8,000, instead of 4,400. In the Potteries. the calculation was that the average employment was but three days' in the week. Then, in the iron trade, in which the amount Qf machinery employed was mach smaller than in the cotton trade, distress , prevailed to an enormous extent. In Wolverhampton the rates had iretreased. The plumber of persons in the workhouse was doubled, and the persons who received out-door relief were trebled. In Sheffield, the worst case of the whole, the rates ' had risen, between 1829 and 1842, in the frightful proportion of eight to one, being an increase horn 5411. to 4,2531. Thus their Lordships would see from fact, what they might expect from reason, that there was no connexion between machinery and the present distress. On the contrary, were it not for machinery, the traders would not only have been reduced to a state of misery, as compared with which even the present would Lot have ri:,serverl the name, but even a great proportion of those trades would not have been called into existence.—( Hear. ) Then the distress was attributed to the currency. But if he found it could not be attributed to the seasons, the machinery, or anything in the internal state of the country, he held it to be perfec.ly wild to ascribe it to the currency-2( Hear, hear) — inasmuch as the change in the currency had taken place twenty three years ago, during a portion of which time the country enjeyt d great prosperity. It was as impossible—he might say it was more impossible—to ascribe the distress of the country to the change of currency than to the course of the seasons. (" Hear, hear," from Lord Stanhope.) During the last ten years, five had been such as that no class of the community had a right to complain. If none of those causes could be singled out, they ought then to look to their foreign trade, in order to obtain an explanation.—(Hear, hear.) It. ought to be recollected, that the manufactures to which he alluded were not confined to this country. They had compe titors elsewhere during the whole time of 'the increase of their own manufactures. He would take an instance from the cotton trade. While it was increasing in this country it was also on the increase in France. Between 1787 and 1815 it had in creased seven or eight fold, and the number c f hands em ployed in the French cotton trade bore a considerable propor tion to the number of those employed here, being one-third of the number. There were 1,500,001) persons dependent on the cotton trade in this country, and'6oo,ooo persons dependent on the trade in France. The exports since the peace, up to two or three years ago, were seven times as much in value as during the same, number of years pre vious to the peace. During the same period their own trade had increased from 22,000,000/. to 52,000,0001. He had, therefore, no fear for foreign competition, provided the capital and skill of the country in foreign markets was al lowed to have fair play. But when he saw the manner in which the industry of the country was cramped, he had every cause for fear. He was ready to show what the petitioners only desired to prove by evidence, and if their Lordships refused to receive it, the fault would he with them and not with him. The petitioners would first show in what way the present re strictions on foreign trade arose, from the restrictions on foreign corn. They were then prepared to show that at the present moment purchases were making for various countries at most reduced rates of most valuable machinery for the purpose of exportation. That there were agents from France and Bel gium making those purchases, thatengines had fetched only one third of their prime cost, and in some districts where the agents of foreign countries had not been, engines remained unsold. They were then prepared to show that in foreign countries manufactures had arisen that had never before been thought of ; and they were also prepared to show that there were reso lutions adopted by some of the most skilful artisans to emigrate. It was well known by the experience of all times, that in all such cases, the first to emigrate were the inferior workmen, and that the best hands were always the last—except, perhaps the capitalists themselves. —( Hear, hear.) That was the class which was rarely known to emigrate.—( Hear, hear.) Yet, there was a large number of capitalists who were now preparing to emigrate, and could only be turned away from their design by the change which they proposed —or, by the hope that their Lordships would listen to their prayer, and that their case would be inquired into.—(Hear hear.) He could mention persons that employed upwards of a thousand workmen — fur obvious reasons he could not state who they were nor even in what part of the country they were—who could not be turned from accomplishing their deign of leaving the country, except by the change to which he alluded. He knew one man who had 200,0001. worth of goods locked up in his warehouse, which he could not sell without a heavy loss, but he was preparing to do so, and to make a .sacrifice of two-thirds of his property, with a view to invest it in another country, where he could employ his capital with safety and profit, in consequence of the absence of those restrictions which were the ruin of his trade here. Such cases were cer tainly of the rarer kind, but he was prepared to prove that there were a great number of persons well capital of less amount who could only be turned from their determi nation to emigrate by the relief for which they prayed. Now, it might be said, that if the change which they required were effected, that the distress would b the same. But those per sons were prepared to choir, from the letters of their corre spondents in Germany and in America, that the distress would at once cease. They would show that they would receive orders sufficient for their ample employment the instant the change was made; nay, the instant their Lordships indicated a willingness to give the matter a fair consideration. The manu facturers were obliged to dismiss their men. He had heard that in a place in Yorkshire, at a manufactory,' the men were asked which they would rather do, work five days in the Week at the usual wages, by half the men being kept only, or whether they would rather Work half the week for the whole of the number being employed: They unanimously preferred the latter. He could not Conceiee anything more creditable or more honourable to those suffering people—(Hear, hear)—reduced as they were frOM 2s. a . day to Is. He wished to remind their Lordships of the effect of the present system of protective duties. In America, in the Northern States, there were no protective duties. In the Western States which were equally divided between the Southern and Northern States, they were inclining to the protective duties . ; The Western States finding that the Northern States welt supported by our example, would turn 'the scale in the Assembly in favour of the protective and prohibitory duties. This encouraged smugglinr , on their coast, ks it was almostim possible to prevent it with " such an extensive frontier. Odr goods were easily smuggled into America, but corn could net be smuggled here. By our prohibitory duties we prevented them from sending the only commodity they had to sell. • it was the same error which this country had fallen into at the time of the Orders in Council. which orders went to enforce the Berlin and the Milan decrees, which would hare been a dead letter but for those orders, from which they received a ' most triumphant and a most mischievous efficacy. They were doing the same thing now with respect to the American trade. The present laws of America would he inef- Uctual as much as the decrees of Bonaparte, had not England stepped in with the resources of her revenue department for the purpose of enabling the American Government to give what they call protection—although he thought that was an: abuse of the word protection—in favour of their own trade.' But there could be no doubt but that if England were ready to exchange her manufactures for the grain of the United States, the Western States would join the Southern States against the protecting States of the North. But the evil of the present system was not confined to our trade with America. A letter which had been written by the Prussian Minister, in the year 1824, to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in this coun try at that time, stated in express terms that if an arrangement were made for the importation of the corn, the timber, and the other articles of Prussian produce into this country upon liberal terms, a tariff would be amicably arranged between Prussia and Great Britain. He also understood that Mr. Addington, from America, had made a similar communication afterwards; but unfortunately neither the one nor the other was favourably re ceived by the Governments of those periods. He had heard of one remedy for the existing distress, to which he thought it right to advert before he sat down, for the purpose of entering against it his solemn protestation. If their Lordships would grant him a Committee, for which he asked, he could of course have no objection to hear any matter relating to the sub ject discussed, and evidence upon every point adduced. He should be prepared. for instance, to enter with his Noble Friend at the table (Earl Stanhope) into the currency ques tion, or into the nature of machinery. He had not the least doubt that his Noble Friend, if the Committee were granted, would be disposed to enter into both the one and the other. Earl STANHOPE—And into the protection to labour. Lord BROUGHAM—And welcome.—(A laugh.) And into what my Noble Friend calls the protection to labour. Whether he means to carry his protection further than only destroy spinning machinery and cotton mills—whether he means to carry it to the extent of destroying all furnaces or steam-engines connected with furnaces, which, without machi nery, would be incapable of being worked—whether he means to extend it to the exclusion of horse-power in these various employments; the effect of that exclusion being cot merely to prevent the employment of horse-power, but the employment of the men engaged in working it, and to extinguish the capital which it created, and which could only be employed in enlarging the field of industry. Whether that was the mean ing of his Noble Friend, or whether he meant to go further, to the uttermost pitch of consistency, in order to protect labour, and to prohibit the employment of tools also—(Laughter)— because just in proportion as tools were diminished the hand was made more powerful—whether his Noble Friend meant to push his theory to that extreme point of absolute consistency or net, he (Lord Brougham) could not conjecture.—(Laughter.) He had no objection that this point should be included in the inquiry. Even he had no objection that the sugar question should be referred to it, though he was one of those who thought that they would rather be di'cussing the question, whether crime should be encouraged or trade protected— whether a bounty were to be given to Cuba and the Brazils, for the purpose of stimulating the slave-trade. But regarding, as he did, every pound of sugar which came from those places as defiled with crime and steeped in African blood, and willing to show how far he was ready to go for inquiry, he had no ob jection even to that question being referred to the Committee. A proposition was made for the purpose of making the Legis lature yield on this subject, which he considered to be fraught with incalculable mischief and unspeakable injury—he meant any attempt, by what were called non-consumption agree ments to embarrass the Government. He considered any at tempts of this kind as tending directly and immediately to ex asperate the mischief under which the country was at present suf. fering. It was at least satisfactory to know that in the midst of their distresses credit had been preserved. Many attempts of this kind were made to prevent the Government going on peacefully and steadily. Those who made them, however good their views might be, would be the first to repent of them. Before smiting doter, he would ask what objection could there be to such an inquiry? Even if it were not pos sible that anything could be done—if not the shadow of a shade of a chance remained of being able to do anything to abate it— even if they were resolved to deny them relief—still the in quiry ought to be made, the representations of the people ought to be heard. Those who said that there should be no ' change in the Corn-laws, he thought committed a great mis take. A new Corn-Bill had lately been passed. It had been 1 in operation about eight weeks. Was it not right to examine its in operation ? When this Ball passed, there were two different opinions expressed upon it. One was, that it was better than the former law ; another was, that it was as bad as the former law ; and another opinion was, that it was worse. He (Lord Brougham) held the first opinion, but he thought a great deal more of it than he did, as they thought it was all that was wanted. Now, here were four different opinions. He said at first there were only two. Was it not expedient to inquire which was right ? It syss not enough to say that they were at the close of the s ession. That would not do in times like these.—(Cherry.) If they could sit all la s t summer because of an expected c h a nge in the because Nlinietry—if they could sit till Septembe r be —( Hear, bear.) change its August, that was a question respectingpeoe. It as oc parties, and not respecting the intere o st ,i 3 e, oi but the we pl ll-being w of euth°ef a political balsnce now not. only the interest of i but the positive sub sistencew the people ; and not only _ the nt w er overpowering. in par wits coming with her sable: of the people. l — wi ( ng li s e a a n Il r:hoenagr.3lglTsths, and er entmhienirnligstrtehstseewoourldfoubet liament under such c ircumstances a rationalo ught pointto h e matter of of the most complete indiff e rence inHe was really ashamed tostoop t o enter into such an argument. H e had undertakes t o bri n g th is subject before thew Lordshi ps most reluctantly. He had done so that he neigh not be answerable to his conscience. He had done so' with the fear, he admitted, with the apprehension, that he sho, Ile' fail in obtaining the assent of their Lordships to his proposal ; and belied done so, running the risk that it he did obtain their.Lord ships' con-ant, the inquiry might by possibility pore fruit less. ti But. stillhe telt that in the ensuing winter the distrees would he great, that during that hard seasou—harder than ever for the ses who were more destitute than ever—that during that has if sereen the suffering, of the people would be greater than hereto. fore; and therefore happen what may, he had at least discharge. his duty, and freed himself from a great responsibility, that though he might deplore, as he most deeply did deplore, the suffering of the people, at least he was not answerable to his conscience ; and he hoped to God that their Lordships would take the same means of relieving themselves frcm the same re. eponsiiiility.—( Cheers. ) The Noble and Learned Lord con cluded by moving that the petitions be referredtoe. Select Com mittee of the same nature as that appointed in I e 32, to inquire into the distress then existing in the ilericultural districts. The Earl of RIPON was certainly not at all surprised that his Noble anti Learned Friend had brought himself to submit the proposition well which he hads concluded, to their Lord ships, with very great reluctance, and that he had hesitated before he would permit himself to do so. He was quite sure, from his Noble and Learned Friend'.: extensive knowledge of the matter he submitt e d, an d f ront hi s l ung exper i ence i n a ll matters of Parliamentary pr o si ee di ngs , h e was quite sure tbat, that reluctance was founded on very grave doubts in his own mind as to his being successful in inducing their Lordships to concur in the proposition, and, if so, to its bringing:about any sa'isfactory result. The object of th e i nqu i ry apeesered to be to repeal the Corn-laws. "I hat was the sum and subs ante of what his Noble and Learned Friend wanted. This the p etition, and those it represented, seemed to consider the panacea , for all the evils under which the country laboured. He (the Earl of Ripon) lee some difficulty in - being called upon to discuss this subject again. Twice in the present session had this been a subject of great discussion. In that. debate the Coin-laws were fully discussed as t o their being the causes of the distress. If the Corn laws were repeeled it would be unkind to the people, be cause they would hope that the repeal of the Corn-laws would be a relief to the distress of the country, and their hopes %% mild', be delusive. lie thought it would be better to abs:ain from, an inquiry, unless they could ascertain that the result would answer the expectation of those who proposed it. His Noble Friend said that the real cause of all the distress was the em barrassment in commerce arising out of the restrictions which the Corn-laws imposed. Now they must consider the natase of the embarrassments which these restrictions caused. ft certainly could not be that we do not take the. surplus corn of the countries on the Continent, because, in point of fact.. during the last ten years there had been entered for home consumption, and consumed, all the surplus produce of the exporting countries of Europe, with the exception of that por tion which was required for the wants of other importing countries. Durieg four years of that time, so good had been the harvests here, that had there been no Corn-lases at all those har vests would have been sufficient protection. With respect to ma nufactures, France took an immense amount of our manufactures; therefore how could the Corn-laws cause a diminution in the trade tee ,when they had a Corn-law for the proteeten of their own agriculture? So w ith Belgium and Russia. Was it. to be sap p snot that if we said to Russia, we will repeal our Corn-laws if you eel repeal your prohibitory duties, that they would repeal those duties, considering the expense they had incurred in fos tering their own manufactures in Russia ? We took fro® Russia six or seven times the amount more than Russia con descended to take from us. Therefore, to repeal the Corn-laws; app eared to him (the Earl of Ripon) to be the most fallacious, speculation that was ever entered into. This was the only in ference he could draw from facts which would come out before the Committee, if appointed. Russia herself protected her own corn, and imposed a duty of 13s. on corn. The seasons there were extremely bad for some years. That was an additional reason for •supposing that there would be no use in repealing their Corn-law. Again, with respect to Prussia. That Go vernment expressed their opinion that the resent Corn-law of this country would produce a more steady trade. There NT PA no likelihood that though they should alter their policy, the German League would also alter their commercial wAicy. Then his Noble Friend alluded to America. Now, during the Corn-law they had a very flourishing trade with America., and althowsh a change took place, that was in consequence of the monetary derangements of America. There never was a time in: which the manufacturing population of America were more urgent in pre,sing on the Government the necessity of protec tion, and this was in consequence of the cheap labour of the old European States. But they did not do so in consequence of this Corn-law. He did not know whether the American Government would accede to those demands. Many persons thought they would not ; at all events, it would not be in con sequence of their Corn-laws.--( Hear, hear.) His Noble Friend alluded to other points, which he did not think neces sary to refer to the Committee, but he did not see how they could abstain from going into them. He did not see how they could avoid inquiry into the question of the cur rency. If the inquiry were given, how could the Noble Lord come to a decision, in the short time he thought it necessary for inquiry? Both sides must be heard, and one class would be arrayed against another, which be thought would be peculiarly unfortunate at this time. He had a high opinion of the good sense of the people of this country, and he did not think they would ascribe to any other cause the refwal of their Lordships to grant this inquiry than that it would not have the effect anticipated from Hear, hear.) Earl STANIIOPE agreed with the Noble and Learned Lord opposee in the extent of the distress, and he believed if an immediate relief was not afforded auarehy would be the result. The distress of the country was alluded to in the speech from the throne, rind yet the first measure proposed was. a diminution of the protection given to the home grower of corn. Then came the Income-tax, which must diminish the fund out of which labour was paid; and then the tariff, which was objectionable on every point. He would now come to the atuments of his Noble and Learned Friend with respect ;to nxechiners ; , and here, he must say, he wished he could put out of Ms emollection the manrier in which the Noble Lord spoke of the agticulturists, as a lazy, idle body, when introducing the Now -Poor-law—that cruel measure. What was sail cc Dr. Johnson in that had Latin inscribed upon his monument ire Westminster:4l'ooy might be epplicd es his Noble and Learned Friend, -for he was " lelaeitter verborum gravissirnus."--( Laughter. NMEr he (fang Setamhop) had presented 1 ctitiens from the artisans thereseirescomplainin r , ,, of the increase ot machinery, and there ronld be UP deeeLt. that.. it threw-many of them pat out of employnaesur 'ea l: those cases thought the people hwi a right t. e rottiestisse Stos..oose hr :whose means they suf fered. - If. hia-INaitilseeee4Jeezieeetecreend had lived amongst the lahouring-c/aeses‘stiV.Ligeeb; :44 he would utider stand what-waslnettot itprottoetion,pachats9tre. A woollen manufac turer in the West Riding orYs9llcl--who was one of. that panty ot.arly extinat,itists„,okk.astirsnierhopb.hk,pboulti ever respect— , ( A laosh).....taht.hitn..thiSt unless Pasharnent...did something - to protect the.. .weterre e ef ......... _eke country would he rinse-it -,(A..laegbe.). ~Viiie f eskeesetese,of the distress of the manufacturers was their on o afpaetty, by which they ground. depers-tise4ehoweees...sta-tha.,oarvatuan...paint, and then lowered their own peep bwerpprodiAc manufacturers re n:in. - of Alufz der; Who beAnie he had no mor e . Woticti 46 eti A laugh :Y . " Hey would clothe the whole human r;t+elithell itlgen .weep that they had no more worlds to. clothe —( Latiiddirit)eiVlse effect of repealing the Corn-laws ireful's; alicstevri wit= of the home market, which was the mos t tO (Tory cheers.) One other 41feet. esiould. be ; to eneout age smuggling—the smuggling of cotton goods into America. and he would oppose that as he had opposed the smuggling of opium into China.—( A laugh.) The Noble Lord at the head of the Government in that Heim hid' said that the distress was. occasioned by several causes, operating simultaneously and conjunctively, and he agt eel as to two of them—the increase of machinery and the introduction of agricultural labourers into the manufacturing districts. The latter could be remedied by restoring the agricultural labourers to their natural employment and repeal ing the New Poor-law, which had driven them from it. He bedewed that inquiry, if impartially conducted, would he most desirable. But he believed also that the required inves tigation would not be so conducted, but that it would put off the application of any remedy for years, and a revolution would take place in the meantime. NO reduction of the price of bread would be any relief to those unhappy persons, whose welfare was as dear to him as it could be to his Noble and Learned Friend. The Noble Lord concluded by saying that he coul!I rot support the motion. Lord KINN A IIID regretted the determination of the Govern ment to refuse the inquiry. He knew the petitioners, anti he could say that. it was not their sole motive to upset the Corn-laws. But he thought that those who attributed that motive to them only feared that the removal of those laws would be the inevit able result of a thorough inquiry into the causes of the distress. He was disposed to agree with the Noble Earl (Stanhope) that if matters were allowed to gn on as they were, the conse quences would he such as the Noble Earl apprehended. It was not only the manufacturing towns, but also the commercial towns, in which the distress was intolerable. The Noble Lord then read extracts from a letter from Liverpool, to show the extent of the distress amongst the traders and artisans of that important town, especially those connected with the shipping interest. In tha manufacturing districts the distress was greater. In the cotton trade there was complete stagna tion, owing to the competition of foreign manufac turers, which we ourselves had raised by our protective system. By our Corn-laws a stop was put to that interchange of com modities which might otherwise take place between this country and tereian nations. It appeared from a statement made by Mr. etthtingtoe, that if American corn were allowed to be im ported into this country, the American tariff would never have passed ; and even as it was, that. tariff had been sanctioned by a majority of only three in Congress. Of late years our exports of manufactures to America had been paid for in fictitious paper ; but the fact that those exportations had taken place proved that America afforded a market for our goods ; and all that WV wanted to place the trade between the two countries on a mutually advantageous basis was, that we. should allow them to pay us its their agricultural produce for our manufao tured articles. The result of our present system was, that we were raising America into a manufacturing country. He be lieved that. if we were to impose a 6s. fixed duty upon foreign grain, the corn of the 'Toiled States could not be imported here and sold under 455. or 50s. ; and the farmers of this country need, therefore, have very little to apprehend front the adop tion of such a proposal. He cordially supported the motion then before the House. The Marquis of CL A NIIICARDE conterded that the Noble Earl opposite (the Earl of Ripon) had furnished no answer to the powerful arguments of his Noble and Learned Friend (Lord Broug,h on). The only reason why our trade had declined was, that foreign nations were unwilling or unable to pay for our manufactures, while we excluded their agri cultural produce. There could be no doubt but that the country was now plunged in the deepest distress ; and if the Government refused the inquiry now proposed, it was their duty to tell the House what they intended to do for the purpo h s: of meeting the threatening evils of the coming wirier. that Government had passed the tariff; but no one believed the de that measure would relieve, at least for some time, dining trade of the country. They had now noohwebriim;heahe sure before Parliament but the Poor-law —alaw of approved in its main details, but which offered 'no resource for the wide-spread distress which prevailed throughout the land. The conduct of. the 'people under their them too much. The notc ss t,. kept up ; something distresses had been sue p:ising, but they must not press g sta ntteu ofst pre,, , ,,t state of things could .e he done for the people ; they had now arrived at a things when they m ust submit to inconvenience, or something worse.—( hear, he ar. ) Ile cordially concurred with th e mo tion, and would support it unless some Member of her Majesty's Government announced his intention of bringing forward some effectual remedy for the distress that existed in the country. vi sc ount MELBOURNE had never heard a more temperate preset] speech from t he Noble Lord who h ad introduced the - ' t been convinced by it of the notion. Every one must have distress that existed in the country • b at alarmed hi , but wnm was the long cont.nuance of the distress, and the patience with which the people bore it. Ho thought Parliament onght trot to delay finding a remedy for the distress that io e d x i s (i t • ed. tic had eonsi,iered the subject most. not think it would he wi• eto appeint the fall}', • t that had posed. What they had to consider was, whether the course israposed lo be adopted was . ' . , Nl6O or net, or Was one likely t. proauee any good. it the lions , ' had distrust in the Gc7err - merit, ; •t night be well to ' appoint a Committee, but if it had Mt, he dirt rot see the tility of it. Ho blieved if ever Ire w as a question in which ample inquiry had taken I' l met', it was the Cot n.laws. A Bill had alread passed both Houses on the subject in the course of the preen session. He did not think that Bill a good one, but still it had been adopted by Parliament ; and it was impossible to deny that there was a great. deal of danger and evil in repeated change. He believed that the apprehension of change and , -