The Express.
London, England, 1852-02-24 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 24, 1852.

to Friday soot. alas noble lard resumed Ms was amid
samosa iodisation of pausal mood prtoreding from all
parts of the bow.)

Mr. HUME raid it was bat proper th.t those who were
entrusted with the. losemaloa of a utivi try I.llollld ban
time to amok, their arrassearosts. What he roma for was
limply Nap= OW. that the house, *am it me: at
Frifkay pK ttMM Wee the emertenity ,f bearing Ingo
VOlfil r eaiiiiistios et the paltry on which thy
imposed to carry es the govenue.at. '," Hew, h•oaf,"
eat lallettea.) Ue said this ber.iu4e he had lu.irtl
a rensar that it wee hdeadeft that that hues.,
sheald mot have the opportseity of meo,bng 11.111.
Fee hiereelf, be wee sot wedded to party If they brooch t
la geed means he should sapper them. end it tnev
brought is bed 1■11111111748 be should opr,w, hon. llu wet.
sot wedded to either petty, but was tly. .!r.fireett itlerra.4
of liberal meserarea, earrylag oat free tr farther than it
was sow serried ; and he maid only ray he shield be redly
disappoiated it be did not hear from her Mikity's intended
ministers some explanation of what they meant to do. If
they were hostile to free trade, let them haw the candour
to state it, but do not let them go to the country without a
knowledge of what their policy was to be.
The tootles for adjournment was then put and agreed to,
end the house adjourned at 26 minutes to 8 o'clock.

gite ervirefoL.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
esond aft If " TM F. 1111111111" oreklaiar do sum mmlne•
.otimor.ok rasher every Trolly WMaly N. la Wm
kr sit.
44.igumsiosimied " The riptimpLoMar Swaim pa"
systirmilkeollho. SomerWairen, by Two Aloof es dm
Ore paillsieft

by lordlings sent to the Commons' Rowe from nomi-
nation boroußhs--whether they desire the free and'
general exere.um of the franchise which the constitu-
tion gives them, but that corruption defrauds them
of--and whether they desire a real reform that
shall make it impossible for the landlords'
rents to be fraudulently raised by the taxa-
tion of the labourer's loaf P These questions
the liberals must now unite heartily to ex-
pound; and these questions the people must be pre-
pared to answer by their votes. The industry, the
prosperity, the progressive freedom of this country—
now the only spot left in Europe where real liberty
may be enjoyed—is in the scale. With a tory
ministry over us we shall need all our prudence, our
energy, our courage, and our wisdom, to meet pro-
perly the inevitable struggle before us.

IN what state is the public treasury at the moment
when Lord DEBBY takes office ? Mr. CORNEWALL
Lawn, late Financial Secretary of the
a gentleman whose success in that ;41:eoliniaNce
office is another instance of the value of litera-
ture, learning, and systematic mental training in
political life, has recently published a pamphlet, the
object of which is clearly and deliberately to inquire
into the practical results of our existing commercial
policy, whereon have been based such important
financial changes. Mr. Lawn commences the
task thus:

That operation which, in the case of a private trader, is
called " taking stock" is not unbecoming to the dignity or
unsui.ed to the interests of a nation. It is customary and
convenient, at certain periods, to ►ook Into the economical
position of the country ; to examine the several sources of
our public income, and the several branches of our public
expenditure ; to compare them with similar heads of re-
venue and disbursement in former years ; and to survey the
movements of trade, of banking, sad of the other pecuniary
Interests which admit of being expressed in numbers.

If such a summing up of the national balance were
useful in January last, it was to be hoped that the
RUSSELL cabinet would have perpetuated a free-
trade policy, and secured the further progress of
financial reform by laying before parliament such a
measure of representative reform as would have given
every liberal in the kingdom a deep and lively in-
terest in its support; how much more necessary and
indispensable is it now, when Lord DERBY threatens
us with a fixed duty on our bread? when Mr.
DISRAELI has the opportunity of proposing with all
the force of governmental authority a transfer of the
special burthens on land from the pockets of the
landlords to the shoulders of the people? when Lord
MALMESBURY brings into power w►th him a semi-
socialist scheme for nationalising the pooes rates,
and so refilling our workhouses with paupers? and
when the policy whose great results Mr. LEWIS
passes in intelligent and unmistakeable review is
endangered, if there be honour or sincerity in a con-
servative administration?

Let us, in the presence of this danger, sea how the
country stands in its trade and finances; let us as-
certain the exact state in which Lord lonm Rusatti.
hands its welfare over to Lord DERBY; let us know,
in figures that cannot lie, what it is that free-trado3l
has done for us ; then we shall be able the better to
hold a tory government responsible for any acts that
may tamper with or jeopardise the commercial liberty
of import and export which we now enjoy, and have
to thank the late and present parliament for.
First of all, then, Lord DERBY receives the
National Finances, in a flourishing condition. Free-
trade has not, at least, turned a surplus into a deficit.
If of late years our expenses have gone on increasing,
so also has our income ; and, notwithstanding a re
mission since January, 1846, of taxes to no smaller an
saament than 6,883,6381., there was at the beginning
of 1862 au mess of income over expenditure reaching
the emensons sem of 2,726,3961. Lord DERBY will
net, therefore, have the excuse of want of means for
mot reducing still further the weight of taxation ; he
will lad no apology. in the absence of Treasury
khans for tampering with or manipulating the
minimal finances. Let this, then, above all, be im-
pressed on the public mind—Lord DERBY takes office
with • surplus revenue of nearly three millions ster-
ling lie will therefore be able, without reverting
to a bread duty, to reduce the income tax and get rid
a l its inequalities.
And how has this enormous—it may be correctly
said, this unprecedented—surplus been produced P
By merely giving the industry of the community fair
play ; by simply relieving the natural energies of the
people from the weight of oppressive burthens; by
only removing pernicious restrictions on their trade:
by allowing them to carry the products of their
labour to the dearest markets, and enabling them to
buy the means of their subsistence in the cheapest.
Within the last ten years we have, after an arduous
struggle against class interests, long confirmed
monopolies, and a powerful combination of aristo-
cratic influence, obtained free-trade in provisions;
we have at least got cheap bread, cheap meat, cheese,
butter, sugar, coffee, and all the minor articles of
food; we have got cheap freights to reduce the cost
of their transport; we have got cheap materials
(timber, bricks, glare, &c.) wherewith to build and
repair our houses. And mark the consequences.
Not only have we pow a surplus rs'enue of three
millions sterling, but in nine years our exports have
(in ialuealone)incressedfullso per cent. ; in 1842 they
were 47,381,0231. ; in 1850 they had risen t 071,359,1641.;
and in consequence of this demand for labour and
of thiii cheapness of living, our general pauperism is
now decreasing at the rate of 3 per cent.per annum,
and our able-bodied adult pauperism at the still more
satisfactory rate of nearly 12 per cent. Let us never,
then, forget that Lord DERBY has received the coun-
try into his safe keeping with a rapidly increasing
trade and a decreasing rate of pauperism, and that
this, as well as prosperity in its finances, is the re-
sult of that free-trade policy which he and his sup-
porters mean to reverse sf they can.
But, descending from these all important general
results of free-trade, let us examine a little the particu-
lar items which make up its noble and conclu-
sive aggregate ; and, first, of bread. In 1845
we imported only 1,141,937 quarters of wheat, and
but 2,423,143 quarters of all sorts of foreign grain.
Since 1847 we have consumed on an average not less
than ten mitlions of quarters ; and of that great in-
crease in 1851 no fewer than 5,365,887 quarters wore
of wheat. Now, by this almost miraculous augmenta-
tion, we have, as Mr. Lewis remarks, " gauged the
capacity of the real effective demands of the country,
and proved, by the demonstration of facts, the extent
4 the privation previously suffered by the community."
Lt es esessimbsite Asa, that Lord Dinar, when he
seemed do pviriakent of the country, found it
yearly mooning ten millions of quarters of foreign
E.t. Q a! paid for in goods the produce of British
; as shown by the enormous increase .in
bullion in the cellars of the Bank of England.
Next in importance comes sugar. In 1842 foreign
sugar was excluded from use in this country; and
the duty on British plantation sugar was 255. 21d.
per cwt. Then we yearly consumed but 4,068,331
owts. Now, the tax on colonial is only 10s. pee
cwt., and that on foreign 14s. (to be egaalised in
1854
= ; and the result is the consumption, in 1851, of 1.
189 cwts., or an increase in nine years of more
80 per cent. Let this " great fact" be ever
bine our eyes when we think of the time when a
petestionist government succeeded to power.
As with bread and sugar, so with timber. In
1843 we only used 1,317,643 Leda of 50 cubic foot
each; but the duty being reduced to 7s. 6d., we last
year used 2,037,077 loads. In 1842 we took
28,519,648 lbs. of coffee; in 1851, 32,584,164 lbs.
In that time our consumption of foreign cheese has
more than doubled ; we are now using 14,000,000 lbs.
more of tea than we did then ; 8,000,000 lbs. more
of tobacco; and one million pounds weight more
of pepper. In raw materials the increased
importation is just as great; in nine years
the increase of raw cotton has been nearly 100,000
lbs.-; of flax, 700,000 cwts. ; of wool, upwards of
15,000,000 lbs. Under such circumstances, what
wonder that in 1851 our exports of cotton goods
were greater by seven millions sterling in value
than they were in 1842—that the value of our silks
sent abroad has doubled, and so also machinery.?
That our exports of hardware have increased in
money value one million sterling—iron and steel
two millions three hundred thousand pounds--and
that even our yarns are augmenting in exportable
value P These, too, are facts, to be held in remem-
brance in the presence of a protectionist cabinet.
Equally rapid under the influence of an enlarged
trade has been the increase in our shipping. In
1844, the tonnage of British shipping which entered
and cleared out from oar ports, excluding that which
came in and went out in bailout, was 6,691,680 ; in
1851, it was 8,535.252; and last year, in the single
port of Sunderland, no fewer than 146 Teasels, of

the aggrqgate tonnage of 51,823 tons, were launched;
i'seta now other 73 ships are on the stocks in the
Moe port.
When, too, was money so cheap; when, gold so
abundant; when, stocks so high P All predictions
ma to corn imports producing a drain of bullion have
been falsified; and in the last five months of 1851,
the stock of bullion in the Bank has increased four
millions sterling.
This, then, is the result of " taking stock," that
Lord DERBY receives the country with a surplus
revenue of nearly three millions, consuming ten
million quarters of foreign grain annually, 68 per
cent. more sugar than it did nine years wince, 25
per cent. more coffee, quite as much more tea, and
more tobacco—exporting more of all its produce ;

with money cheap, scarcely a labourer unemployed,
with pauperism decreasing, and generally in such a
state of prosperity as that nothing but political per-
versity can injure.
Knowing, then, the state in which he receives it,
we are now able to appreciate how he will deal with it.
This is what free-trade has done. Who will dare
to interfere with it ?