The Sun. — London, England, 1825-03-26 00:00:00

PARLIAMENT. HOUSE OF LORDS, FRIDAY, MARCH 25. Mr. MASON, from the India House, presented certain returns ( , f Salaries, Pensions, and Gratuities, granted by the East India tornpanv.—Laid on the table. Lord 1-lotham, Sir Francis Blake, Mr. Stuart Wortley, Dr. .Llishington and others from the House of Commons, brought up several P rivate Bills, which were read a first time. Mr. SPI I.E R, from the Commissioners of Highland Roads, presented the Eleventh Report, which was ordered to lie on the table. EQUITABLE LOAN BILL. The Earl of LAUDERDALE presented a petition from the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City of London, Praying to be heard by Counsel at their Lordship's Bar, against the principle of the Equitable Loan Bill.—Ordered to lie OR the table. 'The NOBLE EARL presented also petitions against the Bill from the Auctioneers of London and 'Westminster ; from the Merchants and Bankers of London and Westminster; from the parish of St. Mary Rotherhitlie, Hammersmith,St. Martin imthe-Fields, St. Giles, Cripplegate, and St. Mary Abbotts, • Kensington, which were ordered to lie on the table. The NOBLE EARL then said he should move that Counsel be heard against the Bill on the part of the Auctioneers, &c. Re was oersuaded their Lordships could not object to the mo tion. He did not mean at present to speak of that sort of fury which seemed to have taken possession of the public mind in the forming of Joint Stock Companies, but he was.cite sure, if their Lordships did not adopt some effectual measures for stemming the torrent, it would be productive of infinitely greater evils than any he had known in the whole course of his public life. There were perscns engaged in various new spe culations, who called upon the public for not less th a n 2.00,090.fk1/. a sum so enormous as not to be contemplated witliOßt alarm under any circumstances. The Earl of LIVERPOOL wished to avail himself of this opportunity for saving a few words. He had hitherto given no opinion on the subject to which the Noble Earl referred, and now IT was ready to admit that a great degree of speculation inig7lt, in some instances, be productive of great national, as well as individual advantage. He was also ready to admit, that in a time of profound peace, when the interest of money uas very low, from their being a great abundance of capital in the country, it was natural for persons te.engage in those specu lations. But then it was possible to carry the principle too far, and he now wished that the public should be put upon their guard with respect to the manner in which the several new com panies were constituted. Judging from all the circumstances con nected with the existing state of Europe, at no time was there a greater prospect of a lasting peace than at this moment : but it must still be observed that no man could answer for events. — He only wished those who had so actively taken up the busi ness of speculation, to consider what would be the effect if any circumstances should arise which would increase the value of money ? When such events had occurred, on a former oc casion, their Lordships found bankers, merchants, and others coming,to Parliament, and asking for aid, which was some times afforded them by an issue of Exchequer bills. But he particularly desired that the parties who now engaged in Joint stock Companies should distinctly understand, that they did so at their own risk, and that any ulterior application to Parlia ment would be quite "useless. He was more induced to call their Lordships' attention to this subject at present, as he un derstood that endeavours were making to form new Companies not only in London, but in the country, through the medium of country bankers. He Shoukl be the last man who would in terf..:re by any legislative enactment against the proper and fair use of money, but as the consequences in the case of these new Companies might be so serious, he felt that he should not dis charge his duty if he did not give the parties due warning, by telling them that he was determined to resist to the uttermost any relief they might apply for in their speculations, which at this time appe a r e d to b e carried beyond all bounds.-1( Hear !) The LORD CHANCELLOR said he had to apologize to their Lordship s f or not h av i ng b roug h t i n a Bill on t hi s sub jcct, but he felt a difficulty consistently with his ofncial duties in framing a law there instead of declaring the law in judgment. lie thought that all those who engaged in new Companies must regard their present proceedings with altlrrn, even supposing them to be legal. In his opinion it was impossible that the parties could be well advised. . SMALL DEBTS. The. Marquis of DOW NSII IRE presented a petition from Wokingliara. praying for an alteration of the law fur the Reco very of 6mall Debts.—Laid on the table. - G.A.RDENS' PROTECTION BILL. On the motion of Lord was read a third titre and pnr• ed. SCOTCH JURIES BILL . This Bill went through a Committee on the motion of Lord 1' ETITIONS against CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. The Bishop of BATH and WELLS presented a petition front the Clergy of the Archdeacortry of Taunton, in his Dio cee, praying that their Lordships would not grant what might Ile termed Catholic Emancipation, but which, the Right Rev. . l'rjate observed, it was row the fashion to call Concessions to the Catholic Claims. The petition, was temperately worded, tersi he wished it so to be ; for intemperance could never be of aavantage to any cause, and was calculated to injure the hest. He must take this opportunity to vindicate the Established , Clergy front those charges of intolerance which had lately been made against them, for endeavouring to maintain the cause of civil liberty against Popish domination, and the pure Protestant •.ReligiOn of the Church of England, against the superstitions et:: the Church of Rome. It was the earnest prayer of the peti tioners that their Lordships would continue to maintain the re-' ligion in which they had lived, and in which they hoped to die. The Earl of DARNLEY (the petition being read) hoped that the Rev. Lord opposite dill not impute to him any of the .improper langßage-which he now complained of ; for if the, pe ..ti tioners thought they wore doing right in upholding the Church of England, they had certainly a right to do so. He must aisclaim all desire to prevent such Reverend Persons from pre senting.their petitions to the House ; but be held in his hand a yeti:ion from that Body, which he believed had been presented last Monday, but was rot then read, for if it had been read it woniti certainly not have been entertained by the Rouse. He ee.es;nal the Bishops to admonish their Reverend Brethren not :::::::: that exclusive tone which their predecessors in former .1!;!ys condemned in the Church of Rome. Respecting the Clergy of the Irish Church, they did their duty in a manner w others would do well to imitate ; but how did the peti el',retrs now before their Londships treat them ?—( Passages were cited by the Noble Earl from the petition which he consi dered to be opprobrious to the Catholic Clergy of Ireland.)._ The petitioners were calling for energetic measures to put down tie - It Church. He should only say, in the language of a book revered by all Christian Churches, let the English Clergy take out the beam from their own eye before they took the mote out 4 - )t . their brother's eye. _ _ The Bishop of BATH and WELLS, in explanation, here beeged to disclaim all intolerance on the part of the Church. • thherality is, my Lords, a great virtue, but far bo it from nit to be liberal at the expense of religion." He thought the Clergy were entitled to appro ac h th e House and prefer their eoinplaints 'or assert their claims. 1...t,rd KING adverted to what was called the "prostration ur mind and will," recommended by a Reverend Prelate not at preeent in his place. These were fine words, but he wondered wl-er 1 the Right Reverend Prelate stole them from. He be have l that they were taken from a printed charge of the Bishop of .... - ondon, who advised this prostration as the root of ail reli gion, and yet the Established Clergy could turn short round upon th e Roman Catholics and taunt the latter with supersti, tisin. Such things would no longer go down with the country, ant: such petitions as the Reverend Prelates were presenting could only be found in the holes anti camera of cathedrals. , Lord CA LTHORE took this opportunity to vindicate his character from the imputation of change which he was accused of. Letters from anonymous correspondents, with regard to some of the petitions now before the House, inferred that their language was not consistent with that candour, moderation, charity, and even that justice which the petitioners exemplified in their own lives. It was injustice to judge of the character of the petitioners from the language of their petitions, since they naturally took rather a strong view of the question. Such was his impression of this fact, that had it not been for the high character of the petitioners, and the estimation in which they were so deservedly held, and had the arguments they used been left to themselves, he was confident that Parliament would not, Session after Session, have listened to their representations with so favourable an ear. He was-satified that the influence of the Roman Catholic religion was on the decline, and that many Members of Parliament, who'otherwise were firm friends to•the Established Church, voted for concession not merely as an art of justice, but<as thinking it the better way, by conci llating all parties, to tindermine the Catholic Religion in lre latid. While restrictions wereaUffered to remain on the Catho lics, they acted as a common bond of union, and resisted the trogress of Protestantism in-ire:and. The nature of the peti tions from the antagonists of the Catholics, and the smallness of their number, went to negative the assertion that the public opi nion was against the Catholic Claims. ff it were not so, the opinion of opposition was expressed in a manner it never had been before. • The Bishop of CHESTER presented a petition -from the Rural Deanry of the Diocese of Gloucester, praying their Lord ships would grant no further concessions to the Roman Catholics. e begged to remark, while presenting this petition, on the un due advantage which some Noble Lords had taken of detached. • passages in the petitions from the Clergy, to impute to the pc :Aim:lees what had never. been. intended to be conveyed by them. This usage was not less pardonable when the remarks which ac companied it happened to be couched in language that had been borrowed from the dog kennels. One Noble Load opposite had declared that he did not object to receive petitions from the Clergy of the Church of England ; and he (the Bishop of Ches ter) must, in courtesy, be obliged to him for this concession. He thanked the Noble Lord for this; but then, on the other hand, there was another Way of attacking the petitioners, the mischief was to be effected in another shape—by picking holes in the substance of a petition, or commenting on par ticular words—a practice, he believed, though very young in Parliament, quite unknown to their Lordships in bet ter times. If the petitioners, whose prayer it was his duty to present to their Lordships, had been brought up in the faith they professed, why was some warmth to be blamed in asserting it? Evetr. some acrimony might perhaps be ex cused. Before he came into the House he had taken much trouble in settling his opinion on the question soon likely to come before their Lordships ; but he found, what indeed was notorious, that in Ireland the most intolerant doctrines were promulgated in language as intolerant, which he trusted he should be able to prove at the proper time. Adverting to the Bishop of London's charge, an expression from which had lately been borrowed by a Right Reverend Prelate, and which a Noble Lord opposite had turned to his present use, he would just mention to their Lordships what he conceived to be the true meaning of the passage. Could any of their Lordships suppose for a moment, that so eminent an ornament of the Established Church,, distinguished for his learning and his liberality, could intend by a prostration of the will and un derstanding to Advocate the superstitions of the Romish Church ? No. The inference was obvious—it was the pros tration of the will to the precepts of the Gospel, and of the understanding to the mysteries of the Gospel. It was impossible for him to know where some Noble I,7rds had learned their political tactics, but the conduct they pursued was most un fair, and quite unbecoming the character of a generous adver sary. yHe would, however, do the Noble Lords the justice to suppose that they knew enough of Ecclesiastical history not to be ignorant that in these atempts against the Church they were imitating the example not only of the antagonists of the Church of England, but of the enemies of all Religion. If this conduct were to be pursued from time to time, and under such circum stances, he must call upon their Lordships to protect the Esta blished Church, not from argument, which her supporters were always ready to meet, but from such unfriendly missiles as were directed from the opposite side. It was both the interest and duty of Noble Lords to consult the evidence of History, for they might presently find, as their ancestors had done, that there existed no sincerer friends either to Civil or Religious Liberty than the chief Members of that Sacred profession to which he had th e honour to belong. It was, therefore, the duty of their Lordships to treat its Members with respect, and at all events to protect them from contumely. Lords CALTHORPE and DARNLEY explained. Lord KING remarked, that if petitions were not treated so before, it was because they were diligent in former times. He declared he was no enemy to the Church of England, but he was no friend to pluralities and non-residents. He wished that the Apostolic purity of the Church would remedy such evils. The Duke of NEWCASTLE rose to order. He wished to know whether the purity of the .Church of England was the question new before the House? Lord KING explained. The Earl of LIVERPOOL now interposed. He would ap peal' to all Noble Lords present, who looked hack to their younger days, whether there ever was a period when the clerical duties of the Church of England were so well performed as at the present day. He believed that no Church was ever so respectable. The Bishop of CHESTER denied the charge of non-resi dence as applicable to his diocese, which circumstance he attri buted to the excellent conduct of his predecessor. Lord KING—Is it not true that the greater part of Churches have no resident Minister? The Bishop of BATH and WELLS—I answer the Noble Lord, no ! certainly not in my diocese. There I found most of the Clergy performing Divine Service, and preaching twice every Sunday. The returns are regularly sent by the Bishops to the Government. if there be any fault, it is not with the Bishops, but rests with the Privy Council, who alone have the power of following the matter up. Lord HOLLAND here regretted the total departure that had taken place from the question before the House. Sorry should he be indeed if the true question were itself to be decided by the comparative merits of the two Churches. He always had considered the present as a ' "Teat political question, in deciding which their Lord s hip s wer e bound to act upon political grounds alone, for the general good of the community. • The Earl of LIVERPOOL could not conceive a more incon venient course than their Lordships had taken, in departing of late from the question, as to whether a petition should be re , ceired or not, and debating such and such expressions as had occurred in it. The LORD CHANCELLOR said, he should not be doing his duty by Pijir Lordships, if he did not protest, in common with his IsToGre Friend, against the practice now pursued in that House. He wished not only that the petitions of bodies but individuals, should come fairly before the House in the first instance. It was the sacred right of the subject to submit his opinions, if respectfully stated, and leaving to Plrliniment to decide in what manner they might be disposed of'. If, in stead of the old wholesome practice of their Lordships, they should hereafter deal with their own debates, as they had lately dealt with petitions, he did not know how any one could abide by it. He must beseech their Lordships to let the Clergy come before them with their petitions, for they had done nothing but their duty in manfully stating their opinions on a subject which so much concerned the Established Church. .He had observed that one Noble Lord complained of being represented as hav ing changed his opinion. He himself might condole or congra tulate with the Noble Lord upon the same subject ; but from every thing he could hear and learn, he was convinced that those who wished to support the Constitution in Church anti State, must come to the same conclusion he had beets obliged to form. Lord DARNLEY explained. He had done nothing offensive to the Right Rev. Prelates in criticising the language of the pe titions which they had presented ; and he had said nothing de rogatory to his duty as Member of the House. Lord KING moved for a return of the numbers of Resident and Non-resident Clergy in England and Wales. The Earl of LIVERPOOL thought the motion irregular at the present time; and he hoped' the Noble Lord would take time to consider the subject. He had no objections, however, to the return being made. Lord KING said, that he would not press it at present; but he gave notice of his intentions to bring it forward. The Earl of LAUTI`ERDA LE moved for a return of the evi dence taken by the Committee of the House on the Equitable Loan Bill last Session.—Ordered. The House then adjourned. 110 USE OF COMMONS. Mr. DElrxrso..tr presented petitions from the Commis sioners of the Highways in the parish of St. Mary Magda_ len, and from the Commissioners of Sewers, against the East London Docks' Bill.—Ordered to be referred to the Committee on the Bill. Sir M. W. R IDLE Y presented a petition from the Owners of Colliers on the River Tyne, against the Weardale Rail-road Bill.—Referred to the Committee on the Bill. Mr. LITTLETON presented a petition from the Company of the Thames and Severn Canal, against the Rail-road miming from the Severn to Bristol Point. —Laid on the table. "Sir I. VAUGHAN moved the second reading of the Carnarvon Railway Bill.—The Bill was ordered to be com mitted. Mr. ET.LICE brought up the report of the East London Docks' Bill, which stated that the Standing Orders had not been complied with.—Referred to the Committee of Standing Orders. Mr. Alderman THOMPSON presented a petition from the Householders of the parish of St. John, Wapping, against the Collier Docks' Bill.—Referred to the Committee on the Bill. Mr- CHALMERS presented the report of the Committee upon the Duke of Nortidk's petition against the Thames Quay Bill.—Ordered to lie on the table. • Colonel BAGWELL presented a petition from the Merchants and Traders of Clonmel, for the repeal of the Duty on Coals.— Ordered to be printed. Mn S. RICE presented a petition from the Inhabitants of the City and Liberties of Limerick, in favour of Joint Stock Bank ing Companies.—Ordered to be printed. Mr. HUME presented a petition from the Inhabitants of Brandon, in the County of Suffolk, for a repeal of the Assessed Taxes.—Ordered to be printed. CATHOLIC CLAIMS. Mr. EGERTON presented a petition from the Dean and Chap ter of the City of Chester against further concessions to the Ca- Sir T. LETHBRIDGE rose t o present a tholles.—Ordered.t o b e pr i nte d. petition from the inhabitants of a certain parish in the county of Leicester against the Catholic Claims. The Hon. Member proceeded to road portions of the petition, praying that the oath respecting tran substantiation might not be repealed. The petitioners went on (as the Hon. Baronet stated) at some length with reasoning of that nature.--r(A laugh, in which Mr. Abercrombie joined.) —He (Sir T. Lethbridge) was not aware that be had said any thing to call forth a smile from any Honourable Gentleman. The subject on which the petitioners addressed the House was one whiCh called for any s neer—it being one to preserve from t hi n g but mirth—for any thing but ridicule—any thin g b ut alteration the constit ut i ona l laws of the realm. Never , until lately, had he heard petitions from the people treated with disrespect, and he was sure it would he admitted that that was not .the best mode of advocating concession. for self he should say:that he was determined and resolutely resolved to continue his opposition to the claims of the Ca tholics. Mr. A BERCROMBIE hawing been so pointedly alluded to by the Hon. Bart. disclaimed any intention to treat the peti tioners with disrespect. He had laughed, because the reason ing of the petitioners was in favour of rather than in opposition -to concession; for the petitioners remarked, that previous con cessions had only encouraged the Catholics to come forward with periodical attacks, by petition, upon'the remaining Penal Laws, a proof that the concessions already granted had induced the Catholics to rely upon constitutional means for obtainiag the total repeal of the laws which affected them. . The petition was ordered to he printed. Lord A. HAMILTON brought up the Report on the Scotch Sheriffs' Cotirts Bill. The bill was ordered to be read and committed on Monday next. Sir li. PARNELL brought up the anpual report of the Com missioners of the Holyhead roads. Mr. A nERCROMBIE, presented a Petition from the Proprie tors of Lands in the county of Waterford, praying for a Repeal of Foreign Duties.—Ordered to he printed. Sir A. Curet' ESTER presented a Petition from certain Pro testant Inhabitants of Belfast, against further concessions to the Catholics.—Ordered to be printed. 111 r. F. LEWES presented a Petition from the Spinners and others concerned in the Cotton Trade, in the town of Belfast, for a Repeal of the Duties on Coals. —Ordered to be printed. Mr. DAwsoN presented a Return of the dumber of Boys ap prenticed to Chimney-sweepers. CUSTOMS CONSOIJIDATION ACT.--REDUCTION OF IMPORT DUTIES. On the motion of Mr. HUSK ISSON, the House resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House, on the Customs and Stamps Duties Consolidation_ Acts. Mr. Hart Davis in the Chair. Mr. HUSKISSON then said, that in rising to request the attention of the Committee to the removal of certain duties now paid Upon the importation of foreign articles, or rather to a mo dification of the duties paid upon the importation of tbreign articles used in the manufactures of this country, and also to the rate of protecting duties imposed with a view to encourage those manufactures against the manufactures of foreign coun tries, he trusted that he should again experience their kind indulgence. He felt assured of so doing, not only from the indulgence and kindness which he had before uniformly re ceived when it became necessary for him to request it upon similar topics, but because experience bad now convinced the House and the country of the immense advantages to be derived from removing restrictions, and putting aside all madding interference with the course of our trade and com merce. However confident his Right Honourable Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer and himself had been in the success of those measures which they had gradually intro duced since the peace for the restoration and improvement of the commerce of the country—however confident they might have been, it was impossible that they should not feel (at least he could not help feeling), that in the application of prin ciples which they knew to be just and true in themselves, it was possible for adverse circumstances to arise, which would defeat their operation. It therefore became them to be cau tious, and to act with circumspection before they called upon the public to support them in the career which they meditated with so Much anxiety. But now he was bold to :ay, that there was not one instance in which the forebodings of those who opposed them not only had not proved well founded, but where they had not, they had not proved altogether visionary : On the other hand their own most sanguine expectations, and the expectations of those who supported them, had in every instance been more than realized. This result, so gratifying to them, could not be less so to those who anticipated one so different ; and it must be a relief to them to reflect that such predictions and warn ings had not alarmed them from the prosecution of their pur pose, while it ought to render them the more anxious- now to give their support to the Government, and to encourage them to continue in a path which led so directly to the public good. The House would neollect that in the course of the last Ses sion, when an entire change was proposed to be made in the laws relating to an important branch of our manufacture—he meant the Silk Laws; it was suggested, that instead of the en tire prohibition of foreign Silks, an import duty of thirty per cent. upon the value of the article should be paid. .Some Gentlemen at the time thought that duty too high —not the ma nufacturers, for they thought it inadequate to the protection of their own article; but others, and he (Mr. 11.) for one, be lieved that it was too high for a very different reason, and that was th a t it would still leave too great a latitude for The fears of the the operation of the smuegler. manufactur ers had, he hoped, by this time subsided. Indeed, if a 4 fear remained, he believed that it was transferred to the nianufue ' totes of other countries, whom, he had reason to know, already felt much apprehension and uneasiness at the progress which our silk manufacture had made, and the improvements which were still going on in it.. If, then, a protecting duty of 3t) p er cent. was sufficient upon the only branch of our manlifactures in which we were in some respects behind hand with foreign countries, it became them to consider, in respect to other branches which had long flourished and maintained a supe riority in all parts of the world, whether they should continue to preserve a system of useless prohibitory duties, which only placed the trade in those articles of foreign produce is the hands of sinegglers instead of tlse legitimate merchants of the country. With this view he should first call the attention of the Committee to that branch, which was the greatest and most ex tended of all the manufactures of this country—the manufacture of cotton, lie apprehended no one would doubt, that we ex celled all rivals in the manufacture of this article, and that we had the preference in every market of the world, both in respect to price and quality. Ile. believed these was no quarter of the world in which our cotton goods had not a decided advantage over those manufactured in auy other country. If it were ne cessary to bring forward proofs of this, he would refer the Corn- mittee to the returns upon the table, by which it appeared that the value of the exports of cotton goods in the last year ex ceeded the enormous stun of 30.000,0001. Yet, notwithstand ing.this, with the certainty that the English consume: could pur chase the articles so much cheaper at home than in any other i market in the world, what would the Committee conceive was ' the amount of protecting duty. upon the importation of the fo reign manufacture ? No less than 75 per cent. ad va lorem upon one description of goods. Upon another it was 87/. 10s. ; and he certainly envied the sagacity of the man who could thus calculate to a fraction the precise amount of duty which would keep a foreign article out of the market. Upon the lowest description of goods, the duty was 50 per cent. Before he proceeded further, let him ask the Com mittee whether no ill effects were produced upon forAgn States by the imposition of such duties. But they not only ap plied to foreign countries —we had at this moment under our protection, a country the most productive in the article of cot ton of any country in the world, and where the Manufacture of Cotton was the oldest Manufacture in existence, and against that country, to which we exported annually many millions of our own manufactured articles, this duty of 75 per cent. was enforced against our own subjects, and who were compelled to receive our manufactures without the payment of any duty whatsoever. There was a small ad valorem duty upon the im portation of the raw material into this country, which he pro posed to reduce. And in order to satisfy the fears of saute parties, and to keep up (unnecessarily as he thought) some idea of prohibition, he meant to reduce all the duties to one of ten per cent.; thus to allow India and all other parts of the world to import their goods upon the payment of ten per cent. on im portation. lie should now proceed to one of the next great staples of this country—Woollen. This was a manufacture which more than any other had been nursed, and fostered, and dandled by the Legislature, and indeed appeared to have been the favourite child of Legislation. Like many other favourite children, it had received more injury than benefit from its addi tional petting, and failed to thrive whilst its younger brother, Cotton, being more left to itself had made more rapid strides, anti grown up with a tar more vigorous constitution., He would not trouble. the Committee with going into all the laws which had been passed for centuries back relating to the ma nufacture of woollen. Some of them provided for the mode in which the sheep should be chilled, some described how the wool should be packed, and others pointed out the time and manner in which it should be transported from one place to another. All these were attended with penalties which tended only to the vexation of the subject, and, as Ire believed, to the injury of the general manufacture and trade in the article. The duty on woollens imported from foreign countries was 50 per cent. upon the value. The Committee would be aware that we were ourselves great exporters of Woollen goods, and that our articles found their way into fo reign markets to a large extent. Under these circutustanceis he was not afraid to reduce the duty from 50 to 15. He would here beg the attention of the Committee while he stated, from official returns, what was the condition of the cotton and wool. len m a n u facturers in the year 1765, and what it is at the present time: showi ng the comparative progress which th e two had made. First, He would state the imports of the raw material In 1765 the •ofwool • ted was it was 30, , quantity cotton impor 1825, the , weight. In the year ending the sth of - janusr l % u of all the ' quantity was 150,000,000 lbs. In 176.5, the cotton goods exported from this country . W % a ' 3,359,090 lbs. 11325, • was 23,858,000 imported was 1,796,000 lbs. weight, in 1825, oo ds. in. 1765, was creased to 1,050,(009'17.91. p si o lk und h a e lbs. The value of the exports in woollen 5 , 1 59,000/. in 1825, 6,926,000/. If he viele. 6s, t g on to the article of the number of W fo e u ig n i d i t aolfso silka l i a n r i g nn e rt ic d rlevansse. In tiler with t improve increased means which it possessed, toge • - 1 the aggregategrowth of setnea woolt s d i nionfatkgheriis. keeping i t o l n t : t rpteraymc.ei:tei influenced the - . at m. I cr ln a e see in its ,th ex os p e or o t i s . notwithstanding great additional he in consumption of the manufactutrilV In i fie increase e t: 0 1 l e ft l q ( ( u uw a r i n ) 50h00ein,.: OpahOlaid/. the i wooln . th inlarnitiecnlesc cotton goods, had only ddvanced, in the course of sixty years, from 5,159,0001. to 6,926,0001. being a difference of no more than 1,767,0001. It was impossible also not to notice the great increase in the consumption of cotton goods in this country, an increase which he would venture to say at the present mo ment surpassed the whole consumption of woollen goods throughout the"country. This shelved how much the facilitat ing trade, and relieving it from the fetters of legislation, in creased the means of home consumption, and extended the commerce of the nation. He would here notice what he left out of his statement upon a former night, and that was the constant evidence supplied by these inquiries, shewing how much the wants of a people always increased with their means. It was therefore by competition and rivalry with foreign ma nufactures, that they should increase the means of their own country in the extension of its commerce, and consequently of its wealth. He should next proceed to another great branch of our manufactures—that of linen. The laws upon tide article were also so numerous that he should not trouble the Commit tee with describing them, but confine himself to stating the duties payable upon foreign articles manufactured of linen, and which embraced almost every scale of the book.of rates. The lowest was 40 per cent., and the highest amounted to some where about 180 per cent. upon the value. In order to sim plify these duties, he had conic to the determination after frequently consulting the parties interested - in the matter, of proposing that a duty of twenty-five per cent. should be paid upon all articles of linen manufacture imported from foreign countries And when he preserved this rate of duty, Ice knew he was rather satisfying the fears of a particular clash than the real necessity of the case. But he was anxious, on many considerations, not to excite alarm in the minds of the parties chiefly interested in this trade. The next article was that of paper. Upon paper the duty paid upon importation was three or four times its value, and•.necessarily acted as a prohibition upon the importation of foreign books. He would put it to the good sense of the Committee whether this restric.. tion ought not to be removed. He thought he should be doing a service to the country, without injuring cur publisher, if he permitted bound and unbound books to be admitted upon pay ing double the duty paid upon paper. [ln answer to a ques tion put across the table, the Right Hon. Gentleman said, that copyright would still be protected by the prohibition of books wherein • a copyright existed.] At present all books were in fact prohibited ; and in removing the general restric tion, a proper protection should be given to authors. We un derstood the Right Hon. Gentleman then to say, that the duty on paper of the kind upon which books were printed would be threepence, and that upon bound books sixpence per pound.— The next article was that of bottles. Ile believed that since tie:eduction on wine made by his Right Honourable Friend, the empty bottle paid half. as much duty as the precious li quor which it had contained. His intention was to fix the duty somewhere about the price of bottles in this country, so as to prevent injury to the bottle manufacturer. He should propose that instead of eighteen shillings it should be reduced to three shillings ; and the present price of bottles was somewhere about three shillings and sixpence per dozen. Upon plate glass and other articles of glass which came into domestic use, lie should also propose a feduction, so as to bring the • duty to 29 per cent. over and above the excise duty paid here. To earthenware the same principles applied, and he should deal with it in the same manner; reducing the present duty of 75 to somewhere about 12 or 15. Upon the higher classes of this manufacture, such as porcelain, the foreign manufacturer possessed certain advantages, and the duty upon these would require to be higher; but at present they could only be brought into this country by the smuggler, and he should propose such a moderate duty as would bring the trade into its . proper chan nel, and make it beneficial to the Exchequer. .There were various other articles such as turnery, and fancy work, upon which he thought a general duty of 30 per cent. should be paid. Having now gone through the prohibitions relating to the great branches of our staple manufactures, he should proceed to tile consideration of another scarcely less important class—namely those upon metallic substances. In his Right Hon. Friend's Financial Statement for the year, the announce ment of an intention to reduce the duties on iron was received with great satisfaction by the House. 'File intended reduction of - that duty was from 61. 10s. to 31. 10s., and it was one which lie thought would be highly beneficial to the country. Ile re. collected that when his Right Hon. Friend made his state ment, an Hon. Member, verylar4ely connected with that trade, very disinterestedly declared his opinion that the reduction would be highly advantageous to the manufacturer, and to the consumer, Whilst the injury done to the iron-masters would not be so great as to prevent the House from adopting the • measure. But since the Honourable Alderman (Mr. Alder man Thompson) made that declaration so greatly to his credit, he (11r. II.) must in candour state to the Committee that he had seen many other iron-masters who professed to have very different opinions. These Gentlemen were like all the others whom he was constantly in the habit of meeting upon these subjects. They were most anxious to have a free trade in every other description of article but that which they pro duced—(A laugh)—and upon that a strict prohibition was indispensable. He could scarcely hope to satisfy these iron-' masters; but as he knew he should be giving additional facilis ties of the manufacturer, and increase the comforts of a whole people, lie should feel it his duty to persevere. To his per sonal knowledge the manufacturers of Birmingham were in 1 possession of orders from the United States and from South America, which, owing to the exorbitant price of British iron, they were unable to execute. In consequence of this they now had workmen employed in making models to be sent to Germany where the orders were transferred because they could not obtain them in this country. He believed that in point of revenue so far from these reductions being an injury, they would prove an advantage, Ile was sure the-manufac turer at least would find it a great advantage. The iron from being smelted with coal in this country was inferior to foreign iron, and particularly to that of Sweden ; but in consequence of the high price, the manufacturers had been obliged to use the inferior article, and thereby deteriorated their manufac tures. Iron was an article of general use in all departments of life, and it was highly important that it should be placed within reach, and that the quality should be preserved. In shipping it came into large consumption, and the best article was required. For the cables of ships it was highly necessary that this should be attended to, as the safety of the ship often depended upon 'it: The next of the metallic substances was that of copper. The duty upon the importation of foreign copper was not less than 54/. per ton ; a rate far beyond what was necessary to protect the interests of those whose property was embarked in producing the article in this country. Upon the best information which he could obtain, he was led to be lieve that he should do a material service to copper-manufac turers by a reduction of the duty from 54/. to 27/. per ton ; nor should he hesitate hereafter to propose a further reduction in the duty. Another article called spelter, which entered largely into metallic manufactures, particularly brass, the duty on which was now 281. per ton. It was, however, selling in Ham_ burgh at present at 20/. per ton, so that, with the duty it cost on importation into England, upwards of 501. per ton. How could it be expected that under such a disadvantage our ma nufacturers could successfully compete with those of the Conti nent. They could not, and consequently, as an iron, we were employed at present in making patterns for the German manu facturers. Upon this article he intended to reduce the duty one half. Ile should be willing to proceed further, but objections were made by persons who had invested capital in mines, which they feared would he injured materially if a greater re duction took place. The duty on tin lie proposed to reduce front Si. to 21. per hundred weight, that on slicker being brought down from about 2111. to 141. ad valorem. He had now stated the course which he designed to pursue with respect to the principal duties which were considered a protection to our manufactures. lint besides those in the p e r cent. on importation, and if raw , a c h arge of book of rates,vatsh,erief w rn e a r n e u m fac a t ny ure a d r , tic o l r es pa n r o ti t al c ly on w n o ec rk te e d d , tuippoan -2cloll.4iprcgehre c ot e hf n es t ro . e One would imagine that in the enumerated articles every thing which really could create the jealousy or apprehen sion of this country was carefully noted down, but there Were besides many others upon which this duty of 50/. per cent. was levied. In illustration of this he might mention that a friend of his, who was curious in antiquities, lately imported a mummy into this country. Upon examining the article, the customhouse -officers were extremely embarrassed to determine. which class of non-enumerated goods it belonged to. A mass of muscle, sinew, Scc„ which had been preserved for 3,000 years, , called be uau Laughter, and a n n i a d t c e r r i i e a s l (a laugh),—and they, therefore, after much deliberation and , could,dout, or fifty ref t itlt l y i e l pt i l r eiri h o t ic p steo i nfnr friend .o eeo n nald , l respectingn ul a a s r k m ed anida alue, which he estimated at 400/., and accordingly he was charged etr e ._ its (ha v ter.)—He stated the circumstanceg as one of many vexations. which occurred under the existing system. He now proposed of to reduce the duty on those articles when manufactured, from hear, 2oo4 SO to 201. per cent., and when raw, from 20 to 10/. per cent. The result of these reductions would, he trusted, be to prevent smuggling to a considerable for found,if extent • he thatthe duty imposed amounted to 30 per cent. the article would still be smuggled, and whatever was remitted, be so much given up to the emuggler. He was, therefore, most anxious to co .ope rate with his Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Lx chequer, in rooting out an illicit traffic, seriously detrimental in every regard to the country, for to continue the protection now in force, was actually y' to encourage smuggling. If any Gentleman wished to the Coast, now state of the let him go to Brighton or Hastings, between those towns or any place and he had only to ask for china or other foreign articles, and he would find individuals in'abundance ready to furnish them from the Continent for 30 er cent. above their prime cost at Paris, and in ten Itheor de r given. Thus the ays after Legislature absolutely trained up a set of men to violate the law —persons w. 1.1914 d all moral and sccial duties in contempt-- twh scarcelyai manufacture. tsi el who lived in a state of constant outlawry, and who as it had been justly said, were a pestilence to the country. To eradicate that apalling evil was one object of his present propositions. Nor did he think that our principal manufacturers would be at all effected by the measure, although he was certain that by it the Revenue would be improved. To illustrate this, lie would mention that now the whole country was inundated with what were called French Cambrics, while the Exchequer, which ought to derive a sum of 40 or 50,000/. per annum from them, did not derive more than 4,oool.—and if persons in that trade were asked how those cambrics were obtained, they frankly declared that they were all smuggled. French Paper was another article of the same sort, which for engravings and other purposes of art, was sought after here—but respecting which, our policy had been to compel the public to buy a bad, and at the same time a dear commodity, instead of a good and cheap one.: In.short the system had all the features of a monopoly, and subjected the trade in those excluded goods to the evils which never failed to follow a limitation in the supply of any species of produce. The consequence of that /imitation was an incessant fluctuation, not only in the quantity of produce, but in its price and great inconvenience . both to the dealer and to the Consumer. The reduction, therefore, he proposed would be no injury to this country. He did not deny, however, but that some foreign goods would enter England, in consequence of the change in the duties; but if so, the nation would be benefited by it, and also our manufacturers. He did not stand on ge neral principles only in taking this position ; but might add . something of experience to guide him. In 1786, a t rea ty o f I commerce was negociated between this country and France.-- By that treaty. French cotton goods were to be admitted here on paying a duty of 12 per cent. Glass was also to pay 12, and some so low as 10 per cent., while none have to pay more than 15 per cent. What was the consequence, that we sent a great proportion of our manufactures to France in return, and increased our commerce considerably: But in another respect we benefitted by that treaty. French woollens were then in great esteem, in short French cloth was the fashion. The re suit was, that our woollen manufactures so improved, that it ex celled the manufactures of France. In like manner, he trusted, thatalthough fora time the muslins of India and the calicos of Switzerland, the one from their texture, and the other from the brightness of their colours, might find admission for the gratin , cation of particular tastes; yet as related to the millions, the effect would be to serve our own interests materially. That was strongly illustrated by what had recently taken place in the silk manufacture. Before the alteration in the silk du ties last year the trade had made no advances, but what was the fact now ? that we sent articles down to the coast of Sussex to be smuggled into France. We should no doubt be told that things had been changed, and that nations were noW recovering from the ravages of a long and _sanguinary alit.. But while those ravages destroyed the temporary prosperity of other countries they also destroyed their capital. Here however, capital remained untouched, and, what he still more relied on, the inventive mind of man. In capital, in inge nuity, in that energy of enterprize which distinguished the English character, we stood pre-eminent ; nor was he afraid so long as we retained those properties to bid defiance to the world. Another objection perhaps would be, that the t r eaty of 17116 insured us a reciprocity. of advantage. Upon that sub ject he had before stated his opinion to the House, in which he was borne out by a Gentleman, some time ago a Member of the House, and whose absence from it now lie most sincerely re gretted. He alluded to Mr. Finley, who had represented Glasgow a short time back ; and he should be much favoured if the Committee would allow him to read a part of a letter which he had received from Mr. Finlay, on the subject of reciprocity- The Right Hon. Gentleman proceeded to read the letter, which was dated 18th of February last. It stated " that subscribing as Mr. Finlay did to all that Mr. Huskisson had stated to him, he conceived his measures would meet with some opposition from the manufacturing interest. They would contend that reciprocal 'advantages' ought to be obtained. But we w ere bound to benefit ourselves independent of other na:ions. Why then withhold a liberal policy from other States not so amen advanced as we were—not so much alive to their own interests , , or so able to carry a wise system into effect." The last words of this letter contained a justification of the policy he wished to encourage. By settin g an exam pl e t o ot h er countr i es wein duced them to adopt our line of conduct, and while we serve' ourselves, led them also to confer further benefits on us after wards. His Right Hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Excite quer had already submitted to the House a plan for the re duction of taxes to a considerable amount, and lie trusted 11 t' would long continue to come d own ' w i t h propos i t i ons equal!! - gratifying to the public. He trusted, too, that great as those redactions might be, the Exchequer would still flow to the same level, and that we s h ou ld at o n ce d e li ver ourse l ves, open the eyes of other nations to the wisdom of a free policy a If some of them now coesidered the course we followed a' a lure to lead them aetra.y from their interest, and as we thr e , e off the restraints which imp e d e d our pros p er i t y— an d Or% them off, lie trusted for ever—ea ger ly t oo k u p tint exploae system ; lie trusted, when they saw that we preserved on o flourished by our perseverance in a right t rac k th a t they wl lz a d not long hesitate to alter their plan, a nd p rocee d, as we done, to pare down their prohibitory duties. having _„ stated the alterations which lie proposed, in what were te , rl: l4 ed the protecting duties, 'lie should next consider, with a %,.., to countervail the effect on our own manufactures, duties on raw materials it would be expedient to reduc e. a Some years ago a duty was l a id o n articles of dye, whi r T though not very h eav y, was st ill a c l og on our manu f a cture'' for an addition of 1 or 2 p er cen t. upon t h e pr i ce o f c onin!° ,, tildes, was severely f e lt i n t ra di ng with other countries. therefore, proposed to mak e a considerable reduction in th t ei ie duties. Ile should not weary the House by going over ilea several items, but as oil was largely employed in the W 04 ". 1 . 0 manufacture, and as the duty on it had been raised during a l ce • last war, he proposed to lower them beyond their ferT c.a . amount, and leave our manufecturee better than those of e i t ie fi countries. There was also another oil, called rape oil. ?I ' be r during the late agricultural distress, the Honourable ller n e ,a for Essex (Mr. Western). succeeded in having it taxed c 0 ", o , derably, and also foreign flax-seed. The consequence e d that the manufacture of rape oil and rape cake was d e stro . l 4 ,, in this country, -and we wer e pl a c e d i n a s i ngu l a r pretw a ii ment. We imported the oil at a high duty, but I . o6t .n ae the advantages of manufacturing it at home. He now intt ed to reduce the duty to the old standard, and to all, bot' to and cake, to be made here. He should also recommen d er D reduce the duty on hear cose foreign wool. It was one penrl, l o o pound, for which proposed to substitute 4d. p e r pool e d all wool under a shilling a pound, for it was only in low P r at is woollens that we dread the competition of foreigners. Ile, e ie aware that in those propositions he was travelling out °..', cr el own course, and straying into that of his Right Hon. r: ea f the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He hoped, however, l te e .. he would pardon hi m as a ri h um bl e f e ll ow l a b ourer i n the sa iret vineyard, if h e en d eavoure d t 3 c l ear . -away some o f t h e r° wood which encumbered his success, and enabled him t ° r e' toin more abundant fruits from a system which tended to oo pl hove the public f rom i ts b ur d ens at no di stant t i me. H e ac e, now advert to th e l ast t h ree h ea d s, t h e Shi pp i ng, C o n t l' and Navigation of the country, on which he proposed tt a vi , dress the Committee. With respect to the Shipping and N eed gation intere s t s , t h e Bill w hi c h h a d b een a l rea d y introt. o ;`,,e , for amending th e Q uarant i ne L aws, wou ld operate most U ; e re hcially. The d u ti es u p on s hi ps p er f orm i ng quarantine a oi• very heavy and productive of i ncrea s e d d e l a y ; a nd the ~ .,e 0 mittee of Foreign Trade had acted wisely in relieving the I f f e lir. from the expence thus incurred, and transferring it to the p lo t, Another measure which had been introduced on illondeY for abolishing the fees on our commerce to the Coloniesli re; I adopted on the same- principle. A third measure, wh i , c eat', ni3ined, he should now submit to the. Committee, lie r ee the duties on the transfer of . property in ships, whe t- 0 t v , shares or embracing the whole. That duty was an .excepaYe the general principle on which similar stamp duties we r e posed—for the registry of the ship took' place for the Y e e t;', of the public, and die indiViduals immediately concern ... o,i the transaction were saddled with the charge. Two yenr' ae jeo, he had introduced a Bill t o simplify the l a ws on. the s' oa er t, but still it was unfair that one species of chattel Pr o µk" should be burdened with a stamp duty, to which no other i‘e on transfer, liable. He should therefore relieve persons tretel, chasing parts, or the whole of ships, fr o m all duty on the. i . l ael h fer. Bonds were now also required, under the name of ialii tures, binding persons to deliver goods at the places for a pp'„ they were entered at th e C us t om H ouse , an d thi s a lso W? se tt?' .o vision solely for the benefit of the public. A t present 11 j ef e , times happened . that several persons joined in one bond ! ° , 0 0'4 the duty, but the p ract i ce was atten d e d w i t h mu ch !_ n ,, nience ; and he sh ou ld th ere f ore p ropose to re duce from 40s. to 4s. on each bond. The same principle al e fO o f drawbacks; and he would accordingly place them on t fe e,' footing. Another indirect tax on commerce was the ar r a the Consular Establishment, a subject to which the Ilot ea el' ec ber for Aberdeen had before called the attention of Par. l 4 sePl e, Those fees were now imposed on no settled principle. : 1 0pg' ir e places they were levied on the on ;in others on the qa others on documents, in oth ers on tonnage. Evell countries the emoluments of the Consuls were paid a•Woe'ie In Antwerp a certain salary was paid—in Rotterdam islov / 01 1, Bourdeaux a sal a ry was p a id— in Marseilles none. t o,tv owed to all our subj e ct s a like p r ot e ction, and it seeni, P r o , as unfair to make our m er ch a nt s p a y our Ccar i a l Cia' ) „W make travellers support our Ministers at Foreign ed P o e —lt was but reason a ble to pay the Consuls ti" w eist a e' i ries. The House was aware th a t i n th e Civil, n so ts, e n called the third cl a ss, the s um for Foreign Cella 1 limited to 40,000/. per a nn u m, an d lie should, to eaTlitl e e l : rangement into effect, bring in a Bill, authorising the to grant the difference between that 40,0001. tin!' st' a ts expence of the Consular Est a blishment. He certai n ti still allow small a nd moderate f ees to b e t a ken, 101c ' f o ' vial fees, but those would not exceed two dollars,