The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-12 00:00:00

thcstate meet of the hos. gentleman that the labouring classes
werenot noose welloffasthey hadbeen, hebegged the houee
to allow him to rood the followittg statement of reductions.
The right hon. gentleman herercad the following extract .
o During th.• war the beet wages of the labourer in the
noethren counties was les., 125., las. ; now it is 12e, 10e.
8.. The price of the best loaf was then 1641. • now the price
is bd. bupptoe a man, his wife, and three children used 10
insets per week, on wages of 16a., the war surplus would be
es. 6d. • un wages of 10s. now the surplus would be 6P. 10d.
The mire of corn arrived at by the corn law of 1816, 80s.
le.. reduced to 12e., or one-fifth; as well off if corn was at
64.., he reduced to fo., or one-fourth, he was as
well off if corn was at 60s. • and it was now 40..."
Thew hole diff•erence between els. and 40.. was clearly a
pin to the labourer, who was quite as well off at 6s. a
week, with corn at 405., than on N., a week when corn was
at 'se.. a quarter. All the advantages were in favour of
the 10. e. price. He would now call their attention to the
reductions in the price of other articles of common
consumption in poor families ; they were the lol-
l...tine, not in thue of great agricultural prospe-
rity, ha' more recently, in IMO, before legislation began:
d. bed Hour (per stone), in 1840, 3a. • in 18:s0, Is. 1011. ;
records (per stone), 1810, 2s. 104. ; DOO, Is. 84. ;
oatmeal (per atone), UM, 2e. 44.; 18.50, Is. Bd.;
lard (per lb.), 11140, fkl.; 18.50, 6}.1. ; best sugar,
(per lb.), IMO, 91d.; 1650, 64d.; beat treacle (per lb.),
NO, id. ; 11440, 2(d.; best coffee (per lb.), IMO, 2s. 4d.;
DCA, 1.. ed.: candles (per Ile), 1840, (ltd. ; 1850, lid. ; tea
(per lh.). 1640, from Is. to 6s. ; MO, 35., 45., to be."
?here was scarcely an article consumed by the poor man
which hof out been reduced from a third to one-half; and,
On the ar:ier hand, his wages had not been neluced in any
Haag like the same proportion, and his condition was better
thaa h 1....1 been is what were called the times of agricul-
mow' prosperity. Mhutever might he the effect upon
the own ..r. and occupier., the benefit upon the whole work-
tag lalsoaring clan, and other claws of the community,
from th. .. the tion of price, had been far greater than the
pm/501i...1"f any reduction in wages. lle must my he did
not think that the distress among the santieultunsta was
either so gnat or Ulll%l Ma as had been coutentled for. He
had he ant, too, that in Scotland, where corn rents were
paid, the n• was great compilation for farms, and that rents
were neteer rising than falling. Ile believed that that was
the ease is England as well as Scotland. In Cumberland
there were five or six competitors at a time for a farm, and
in sensed the re seas no ditiicnlty in obtaining for the same
farm the •anie e.nt it had brolialit in before. Ile hail been
interne .1 that the istate• of mare than one treat proprietor
in this country had he. n %alto .1 within the last ten or threw
month, sold the valuation showed no reduction in the
rental.. It was Alward, therefore, t.e say that ruin was over-
runniug the owner. and oetaipi. re in the reduction of rent.
The bon. gentleman (Mr. Di.raelij had alluded to the euli-
ji et of 11,, cultivation of too"u• eo. lie had mid that this
war n most fartaunal clime fa- its cultivation, and that it
had he e a cultivated once in this country with "eat sunray..
It was true that it had been grown to a small extent here
some few yeare ago, and that untEr cover of a very high
pnateetion- that was that it paid no duty-(hear, hear)-
and Inn ien totem.. paid a daily of 4s. per pound. (Hear,
hear.) Ihe pnaluctimi 4.ltaalucco in this country had how-
ever, he . n (Lund of so hazardous and gambling a character
that it had :tet u I ntirely alrandoned. Thia question hail
On a former occasion Ist n raised. In 1829, or 1b29, he did
not rema.aular which, a nwinvittee of the House of lam-
moms had Sequin ale Art fully into the subject, and they had
Mood that it was quite impossible that lobate° could be
groan in 111:. country with 3.llUtattge Oil equal term. with
foreign tobacco. Fanners it had been ("sand could only
grow it provided they had an enormous =own of pram-
WIA. (hka:, hoar.) Mr. Ilaskioson had retomm. mini the
Ilou.s. of Commons to prohibit the growth of tobacco in
Inland, as it had lain don. in England, in order to pnant
ain vs tow of liar and a half million.. About half a mil-
li.. of IpoiltV was the whole benefit which could pusseibly
turnse to the; iotrieulturists from the growth of failure° at
bow, and yet tor such a bs no fit to the agriculturists the
hon. e• ottoman was petrol to •acritlce a revenue of four
aaai a wall amnion., which sum they must exact from the
community at large, and, perhaps, in some meamin., (roan
the aura olturists thennelses, and the supporud boon of
to rib, MI/ .0 much for on slight a consideration must, he
fliocalat, ot nen erty impose a much heas ler burden. Such
WA, the advantage which the agriculturists would derive
from th. cuit.sation of Palmer° in this country. The hon.
in nth IU3III (Mr. Okra. li) hoed not insisted moth on the
renenal of thr prohibition which existed against growing
Purer in this country, and p. that. for this remain, that he
Mil wet know much about it. All the world were allowed
to swiLe motor from Is et-read. They could make sugar in
this a...mitre :nom this angle, on the same imolai JJJJ • that
they cold do in t ranee. (Item., hear.) The nation
snail mg go on without a revenue, and he (the
( lannalior of the exchequer) conceived that taxes should
be rain .1 in a nwnn. r bearing as easy as possible on the
community, and that they ought to avoid, if they could,
t ikilia ..... ra. out of the pockets of the people, than went
into th ;odd., exchequer. 'I here might sometimes exist
Ism., ;or a contrary tourie, hut he maintained generally
that Janie, ought only to he levied fur revenue parlous',
should I, matle to proms as lightly as possible on those who
pay the tit, and, sa• far as might lie, benefit the eachequer.
That a, hi. main of the principle of free trade. lle
(the I lianeellor of the Exchequer) admitted that there was
wins, 1.1,4,i reuriction on the cultivations of barley, ores-
aia.neal by the poseihility of unlimited &animal. They niu.t,
bow/ever, n.menilicr that malt might Is' made from foreign
as well as English harli y, and lac had seen it argued that
wheteter might has.. !wen the can. before the Lae le-
gislatio clump., the Fouli.ll agriculturists had small
inn" st indeed in the abolition oaf the tax sine.• the adrui..-
snail aaf fon inn barley into this country. The rialieulous
paradox alluded to fay the hon. gentleman (Mr. Itisrueli)
was twee. tly true, for he (tb. Chancellor of the Each,-
num.) a as marbled to state, on the authority of two ..r flint'
respatalal.• malt-len, that to a small anal limited extant the
exist. ina of the duty on malt was a protection to the
Y.nglidi leo ley. 1 his argument was equally upplivahle to
spirit.. 'I la.. how gentleman had not said much in reference
ta spirit., lout he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) might
aarremler the duty on •parits on the same prineiple. The
km. iiimils r for Ituckinichanishin. in liringing forward the
present motion, and in ilarOallf 414 into hi. speech every
pi .alii. .atittect, hail entirely igaional the queetion that the
c0n50....•r aa. the m rani a Ito paid the tax. (Hear, hear.)
Whet the hot,. oteutlentatt would Ito a hen he had got rid of
th. &Iv. .., tobacco and milt, anal leaving him with a de-
b. cof 'Moen or sixteen millions he hail not coanalescendsal
t.....q. The hon. gentleman isaal sugeestiel :no mode of
as ikon: up the deficiency. On this point allter were left in
complete ignorance. The hon. gentleman hail next come to
the solaria of local mecum., and had statell that seven out of
twelve IllilliOtts of the rate.. were phial by the land.
Throughout the whole of his speech he (Mr. Disraeli)
had 3,1.11 many former osenteiune gut into a good deal of eon-
fusion of anrument. He (Mr. Disraeli) hail alleged that the
ovano.n of laird were in a distressed state. Ile ...alai softly
not maintain that the owners of property in rasa. and in
the neighbourhood of towns were in a distrenied state. lle
(the Chanuillor of the Exchequer) would nut he contradicted
when he said that the 110 oven of land of a large proportions
Otitis asountry were not even alleged to be in distrasa.
(Mar, h. er.) When he (Mr. Disraeli) had talked of the
owners of land and of land he siring he se burden., he had
certainly 1.1 ao e%il I.t .1144,11 of owners of property who
were not owners of agricultural land. (Hear. hear.) It
was a pialcit fallacy la say that anything like seven out of
the twelve millions were borne by thane owner. of land
whose caw hadhern stated and for whom relief was sought.
nem had been a time when by far the greatest amount of
the real liroperty of the country seas in laud. The propor-
tion, hammer, was diminishing year by year. In 11115 the
whole of the property of the country had been assessed at
fifty-three millions. Of that amount the land had
been arm soil at thirty-foor millions. In 1849 the
amount of property alMeSAell hod hero 94 millions. Of that
sum Ow bud had composed 42 millions-that was to say,
that in !elf. land was est per cent., and in 1849 only It per
cent., of the real property of the country-if they remitted
11.101. from the public exchequer, aitif. went to other property
aad ugly 411. to the land. (Hear, hear.) Or, baking the
target...mu stated by the hon. gentleman '. supposing that
tee. millions per annum were remitted from the public
eftheapier, only eight hundred and eighty thousand
Mould go to the land, and one million one hundred
and teems- thousand to other descriptions of property.
When the's- prolapsed to take from the exchequer such a
large suns they were bound to look at the matter in all its
bearings, and they could not avoid the fart that a large
proportion of the sum would go to owners of property who
had no claim whatever. This just proved that owners of
land were part and parcel of the general community of this
country. (Dear, hear.) The owners of land could not be
benefited by any special legislation of this kind. They
must consider how they could best benefit the community
at large, and the owners and occupiers of land would come
In for their full and complete share. (Hear, hear) One
of the topics which the hon. gentleman had suggested in his
speech a:l' the law of nada ment. The hon. number had
stated that farmers had been reeonunendeel to employ more
Labour, but that the law of settlement interpesed impedi-
ments. Ile (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) was very
glad that a gentleman belonging to the party which the
hon. me mitt. dill-a country gentleman-(laughter). should
"commend an improvement of the law of settlement, and
tf the country party were prepared to amend the law
of settlement he had no doubt that his honourable
friend at the head of the Poor Low Board would
afford every facility in the matter. It was not however for
gentlemen of the class to which the hon. member (Mr.
Disraeli) fit long.l to reproach other persons or any other
government on this subject. (Hear, hear.) The hon. gen-
tleman had charged the meaPure of 1814 with presenting
fanners bum employing capital. Had capital ben so scarce
Were 1841 ? Ile (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) remem-
bered that a remonstrance had some time ago been addressed
In government, complaining of the rate of interest being re-
duced en low that capital was so superabundant,
and that speculation had been encouraged by what
had been done. (Ile", hear.) Since the act
of 1841 had been pamed, the interest on all mortgages had
been natured, aa he did not think that any gentleman
'eine lido the City would find it difficult to obtain any
amount of capital. (Hear, hear.) He did not remember of
capital .aer being so plentiful or so cheap for many years
sines the pawing of the act referred to. Ile would not fol-
low the hon. gentleman throughout his argument regarding
partn. r•iiip or joint-stock enterprise in the cultivation of
the soil. lie confessed himself very doubtful as to
the advantages which would result from such a proceeding.
The hon. gentleman (Mr. Disraeli) had next talked
Of a mammal rate for the support of the poor. • He ("li.,
Disraeli) had not, however, said much in its favour.
tem. member far Suffolk had stated on a former occasion to
that house that each a measure would be the greatest
possible evil that could befall the country-that it would he
Convert...at into a great national lal. (Hear. bear.) If
the speech of the hon. member r. Disraeli) meant any.
ho
thing at all, it meant that relief should be given from what
Wore termed those tutjust burdens sa ogrietlltnet. the