The Express.
London, England, 1863-03-20 00:00:00

TOILIOOO DUTIES BILL.

Oa the motion for going into committee oo this bill,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER appealed to
the boa. member for the Tower Hamlet, not to press
his motion for referring this bill to ► easel committee. The
effect of sending a financial proposal toe committee upstairs
was to shift the responsibility from the finance minister to
his permanent advises, the chief officers of the customs and
revenue departmeate ; asd if he were disposed, he might
sit with folded arms and allow them to tight it out as
well as they could. Bat when they bad fought it oat, who
was to be responsible for the bill ? The house had uniformly
acted on the principle that the minister of the crown alone
was to be held responsible for bills of this description, and
the result of the proceeding proposed by the hon. member
would be, that the house would leas it. hold upon the
minister. He deprecated the introduction of a novelty
of this kind, which would be productive of great
inoo►venience. He had sees deptations from persons
connected with the Undo in Scotland and Ireland, who
were satisfied with the bill, and certain amendments which
he should propose. He believed that the main point on
which the constituents of the hon. gentleman differed was
oe the question of cigars. He had received that morning a
letter from one of the largest houses in London in this
trade—Grant, Hodson, and Co., of Feocburchetreet—who
stated that they viewed the mote= of the hop member
with great apprehension, and that the desire of the trade
was that the matter should be settled without delay. In
1844 a committee was appointed on the subject of the
duties on tobacco, which commenced its sittings on the
14th of March and made its report on the lat of August.
If the modes of the hoe. geodes= were agreed to, then
would be probably about the same time occupied by the
proposed committee.

Mr. AYItTON said that nothing would give him greater
pleasure personally than to accede to the right hon. gentle-
man's request, but be did not think he should be justified in
so doing. He denied that the coarse he propped was is
substance a reel proceeding. A committee bad mat on the
sugar duties, and soother committee to consider the (natura-
lism of what were called vexatious duties, the small della on
commerce, and the committee on that subject decided against
the former judgment of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
He thought there was really good grounds for asking the
house to agree to the amendment. The right boo. gentle-
man bad from time to time altered his measure, and even
now, at the eleventh hour, he announced that he had a
new change to propose which he hoped would contest
the hoc. gentleman le. If, therefore, the government
had so often they had been in error, he (the
hon. member) hada right to sr, on behalf of the thou-
!
sande whom the bill would ruin, that they should at least
have an opportunity of being heard. He was glad the Chas-
, (allot of the Exchequer had at length abandoned his war cry
of free trade, which deprived so many men of their reams
mid their judgment. (Hear, beer.) The right hon. !gentle-
men admitted that the Eighth manufacturer had • right to
have an equivalent allowed him proportioned to the lose
sod difficulty which he had to encounter in carrying on his
briers under an oppreesive combination of genie age-
boo.lotis and taxation. The questioa was whether the right
gentleman's proposal fairly represented the peculiar
disadvantages under which the British manufacturer
, laboured. The right hoe. gentleman said, "Let us go into
, committee and discuss that question ;" bet be (Mr. Ayrtmo)
' said, " Let us go into • committee where we can drseor
that question." (Hear, hear.) He considered that a oar.
mittee of the whole house would sot be able to come
to a fair or honest decision, for how mold it judge
between the statement of the Chancellor of the Exchequer
and the counter statements which be (Hr. Ayrton) should
have to make ? Let them send the bill to • select oommth
tee, where the persons interested could appear and state
I their own case—a case which wa• far too complex to be
judged of without taking and carefully weighing all the
evidence. Oo • former occasion be Lad been charged with
offering unreal
tao. But prophecies
tot distress to be
'cared by
reeld'isuatheitegala hbe re ted, which showed tall; be
had conjured up no idle phantoms. Os that °on-
! @ion he was told that Lancashire would absorb the
labour of every idle man ; sad that the idea of
weavers being left unemployed was absurd. Bat
where was the prosperity of Lam:admire now? (Hear, hear.)
Before those men mold hare been absorbed by the industry
of the north they would hare bees destroyed ; and but for
the exertions of clergymen and other benevolent persons,
who sent them to other parts of the world, they would bar
been numbered amongst the pauperised recipients of public
bounty io Manchester—if, ia&s,d, thew remained in the land
of the living at all. (Hear, bear.) Were these times is
I which to run the risk of ereanag minsoessary suffering?
The right hoe. gentlemse had acted es the classical motto,
" Divide at ispara," and having satisfied the manufactories
of leered and lleetraid. be might think he could do what
he pleased with 2,000 or 3,000 promos in Eng-
lead who bad but one or two representatives.
But be (Mr. Anion) appealed to the jade:meet of the bore
whether they would Dot lines to the cry of these unfortu-
nate peters? History abounded with instances obese wry
small ruses had seemed to produce very great rewrite; but
those were mese is which countries had fallen into inch •
, midair that it seeded but a spark of fire to kindle a am-
: thgegioa. There was mot • ineaufackirer on that (the libe-
ral) Mr of the house that dined to stand up sod speak of
the state of Lancashire ; and when an bosonrable
member opposite gave notice that be would dell
the &emotion of We hoer to it the aaaoullames...ll
struck those geollemen with terror, and node them
in their very roes foe the result (Hear, beer.) A 'lit7-11;
time ago • leading joined had thought fit to lift the edge
ef the curtain just to give the nice Inalienable pm* of
London some idr of what was going on is the north ; but •