The Express.
London, England, 1847-01-22 00:00:00

ha no re.tricion, and who have agreed that in Menai" 1843 1.
these duties shall be reduced to oae shelling, they can have
now no difficulty in agreeing that fur some tame they ought
to be suspended, hocasiv they will hardly say that that
which is a goal law in times of the greatest abuts lance shall ,
not be the law at a time when great privation exists, and '
when we have a d faculty in finding a sufficient supply of
food for ea. people. I will n pats to another sub-
ject, which I have said is closely connected with the
one I have been dwelling upon. It is the subject of
the navigation lawn. With respect to these laws, 111 they
at present stand, they lead to a catieialeralce difficulty in the
importation of cora. Then• diffictioties leave been greatly en-
banceel by the Auserima ships, which have given rise to an
lateen*. in the frciahtage. But we hove a general deficiency
of shipping for sec large a quantity of tonnage as is required
for the importation of the guano ity or cone. I have mentioned
that the freight ILO been raised very considerauly. I will
state to the house wh it have been the original freights for a
quarter of corn, and what nave been the freights Lately paid.
From the I) mule, the freight on a quarter of corn woo 10s.
—at present, it varies from to 11s. The original
freight from Odeast was Ss., :tad now it is from 13s. to 135.61.
From the Vnted St ales of America it was s..—now it is
from 1'2%. 6.1. to 13.. 61. Fro:a the Ilai•ic it was from
3a. 91. w 411. 6.1., and now it is Irian 5.. to oa. 61. There were
some instll4Cei of freights still more remarkable,and still more
affecting the supply of Ireland with c om. The original
freight of a gitarter of corn, from London to Cork, was from
le. to Is. 3d. It is now from 3s. to 3s. ad. This arises from the
difficulty of getting vusels for the purpose. It is obvious, then,
.bat by the suspension of the ul‘igatioli laws, chips will be in-
duced, to &certain deigns e, to ewer their freight., and our ships
will be allowed to he employed in this trade. The present are
restrictions which, in time of privation. shoat" not exist, and
therefore I propose tee suspension of thou laws with regard
to the importation of foreign corn for the same period as the
suspension of the 44. duty on corn is praptoed to remain art
existence. With respect to the venal principle of the pre-
sent laws with regard to corn, I if, not wish to enter into guy
comment on the in otter in any other way than again main-
taining that whatever may be my views, or the views of
others, on the subject• it must be oar eel that the time has
arrived when their operation ought to be suspended. Ido
not know that I ought to nay antthing further. Ido not
wish to enter into any discussion, and I son still less willing
to provoke any hostility by the observations I make. (Hear.)
I therefore propane that the chairman put the question that
lure be given to bring in a bill to suspend all duties on
foreign corn and the navigation laws to the Ist of September
of the present year.
Mr. BANK ES tee to second the motion of the noble lord,
and felt no difficulty in doing so front the tone in which the
noble lord made the prop ...ham. Tne uoble lord stated that
from the propene" of a temporary suspension of the duty un
corn he anfeipated no diventient voice. They could not
but expect that that would be the feeling of the noble lord,
but if on essential benefit should be derived from the WY-
pension of the duty, parliament should have been called
together for that porrpoac. The noble lord was aware that
those who mane:duel the principle that dudes were for the
benefit of the country were ready dosing the whole couroe of
lase ye or, at any one period when privation in Ireland was
refl.., red to, to agree to as iminedi Ito supensi on of tlice
duties.. The prime minister could nut but be aware that
if he, in the course of his duty, thought it expedient to pans
inch a measure, it was in his power to have called the legis-
lature together—it might, indeed, be true that ouch a course
would hive been inconvenient to the Irish members—but
the English represent eaves would have at once cheerfully
consented on the behalf of Ireland to the proposition, or any
otter which would have been proved to them was for the
benefit of Ireland. But he thought the noble lord htd
less excuse for not calling parliament together at an
earlier peri al fur an alterati on in .he navigation laws.
They had been told that there was plenty of grain to be
found in different part. of the world, and coruequently the
only ditHeulty that was to be met with was a want of the
means of convey-roc s, gad that difficulty could only be
obviated by the suspension of the navigation laws. The
ministry might have obviated the inconvenience by calling
parliament together shortly after the prorogation tat ye3r,
and, as be had before observed, if it had been inconvenient
for the Irish members t a attend, the Eotalisli members were
ready, on the part of Ireland, to attend for the sanction of
the suspension of the navigation laws. His iufunuatioa dif-
fered from that of the liable lord with respect to the late
harvest. He believed that there was more than an average
crop of core in the west of E gland, although it might be
deficient in (totality, but he believed that titre was more
than average quantity, and indeed isolative to supply the
deficiency of the potato crop. The farm, re, by some lacuna
or the other, in the part of that country in which tie
was staying, anticipated that a scarcity would tike
place, and that at or before this time, a nee in the price
was sure to meter. And he might mention, to the credit of
those farmers!, that they did not withhold their corn from
the markets, but did continue a regular and steadsupply
rather larger than on ordivary occasions. A hadsioslow been
taken by the friends of protection, that at a period when the
want of corn would be felt in this country, the prices of corn
in other nations woul.l be guided by the prices in the English
markets. Such appeared to Ice the case now, and it was to
other and more distant countries that they now required to
look far the supply which was now required. He had the
sincere satisfaction of expressing un the present occasion a
full, a free, and an entire concurrence in the proposition of
the noble lord. He shared with him in the apprehension
that no great benefit would result from the suspensieu of the
duty, but if there was the smallest benefit to be derived, lie
agreed with the noble lord in saving that they would be to
blame if they withheld the supply of corn for one mumeut.
(Hear, hear.) The noble lord proposed to remove
the restriction for a longer period than was gene-
rally anticipated, but it was not proper to inquire
into that matter, lout they must rely on the
government for having used a sound discretion in the de-
mand they had made. All he had to say was, that on his
part—and he believed that he spoke the sentiments of those
sitting about him—he acquiesced in the propontitton with the
greatest possible good will. It was said by the hon. and
learned gentleman, the member for Bath, that the right
hon. baronet the member for Tumworth was entitled to the
praise of the house with reference to his f aesight in regard
to the famine in Ireland. All he would observe with refer.
ence to that remark was, that the right hon. baronet met
with no opposition in regard to any remedy he proposed for
the relief of that famine. The only measure on which he
met with opposition with regard to Ireland was in respect
to the Coercion Bill, and he did not know whether the hon.
and learned member for Bath considerc t that the preposi-
tion for a coercion bill would have relieved the !amine in
Ireland. He thought it right to remind him, as well as all
the members in the hirsute, that in regard to the famine in
Ireland, as far as it was anticipated by the right honour.
able baronet, he met with no opposition. The very
offer made by the agricultural moorhen to consent to a tem-
porary suspension of the carndaws was rejected. Under
these circumstances he trusted that those who have been the
advocates of protective duties would not appear to Irish
members to have deserved any blame, for they never stood in
the way of relief to their cannery, and never would.
The question haring beer put,
air H. W. BAIIKON said that it was a matter of deep
regret to him that this measure was not brought forward
long before. He had been in Waterforol on Monday, and
he therefore had some idea of the state of destitution in
which the people were. Not only hundreds, but thousands
of people woe living there oar a seamy meal a day, and yet
labouring at the public works at the wages of led. a day,
which was not sufficient to procure themselves and their fami-
lies anything like suateuance. The misery was unparalleled
which elided in every part of that neighbourhood. Parlia-
ment had no idea of the terrible destitution which pervaded
Ireland, while, from what he read in the public print!, the
neople of England appeared yet unconvinced of the dreadful
sondition in which the unfortunate millions of Ireland were
living. Oa Thursday last, in the city of Waterford, no less
than 107 applicants were refused admission into the union
workhouse, solely on account of the want of sufficient room
to locate them. The physician reported to the board that it
would be dangerous to the lives not only of the applicants
themselves, but to the inmates of the house, from the
crowded state of the wards, if they were a Inlet d. Under
these circumstances they were forced to re use admission to
the 107 applicants,but he wasglad to my that the board, upon
their own responsibility, had since taken another building,
capable of accommodating 100 individuals, and he
hoped that they would be shortly able to afford relief to
every single individual that claimed it. It was hinted most
ignorantly and flippantly that the landlords had not done
their duty. He was one of those who had imposed up n
himself a taxation of 28s. in the pound on the property of
the baronies for the support of the poor for only three months
of the year. He attended regularly at the sessions where
be resided, and other places where the country gentlemen
were accustomed to ensemble, and where these matters
were regulated, and he had net seen one single instance
where a landlord had set himself up in opposition
to the principle that property was bound to support
the poor; and yet they were told gravely by the prey
of this country, and that statement was retailed second-
hand in that house by some accondsh and lawyer—(laughter)
—that they had not performed their duties In reference to
the poorer claws of their country, and that they were mise-
rably deficient in all the duties which they owed towards
those who were entitled to reli 4 from the more affluent por-
tions of the community. He averted, without fear of
contradiction, that there was not in the whole world a class
who had come more liberally forward towanti the support
of the poor, or had anted more magnanimously towards them,
than the landlords of Ireland on the present occasion. They
had done this in the mode that was most acceptable, and
which clothed the et. with proper grace and dignity, for
ley had done it lolocrilly, and without any distinc-
tion of party or sect. (Hear, hear.) Though great was
the calamity that imp -aide el over his unfortunate country,
yet he mold not help thinking that it might yet b' of con-
siderable advantage to that country, cad rescue it from many
of the borrows that were inherent in the organization of the
country, and the vitiated state of its political condition, and
he trusted that speedily it would be delivered from the
horrors that now cast a gloom over it.
Mr. GOULUCRN would not follow the hon. baronet
throughout the details of his address: he had recently arrived
from a place where the greatest distress prevailed, and conse-
quently he was well able to depict the nature of the suffer-
ings of the people to the house. It was perfectly natural
for a gentleman so situated to press in warm language
epon the house the dreadful nature of the cala-
mity which had visited his country, and it was
equally natural that he should feel irritated at statements
in his opinion, reflected upon the character of his
...coa, and that he should take the earliest opportu-
nity diving them. But the hon. baronet would
ht. cm"' •
not suppose that h~ was in the leant degree iadifferent to the
sufferings of that cow.
,7,7 of he expressed his opinion that
that wan not the OCCIAiO.I me which he should have taken an
opportunity of e„t„ing into ouch a divavion. (Mean)
They all knew and felt for the 'we", existing in
Ireland, and considered that it was Ose duty of England
come forward and to relieve the detresser of the Irish people.
lie had but a single observation to offer to the house. He j