The Express.
London, England, 1849-07-03 00:00:00

lingTsnd. In 1847 the average yield of his farm was per
acre seven sacks. containing 250 lbs. of wheat ; in 1848 the
yield was only flee sack., containing 2301b5., showing a di-
minution of two sacks per sere and of 20:bs in the sack :
when ground the difference was still more remarkable.
In 1847 the yield per sack was 2121b5. of flour and 38 of offal ;
in 1548 the yield was 1851bs. of flour and 45 of offal.
(Hear, hear.) The difference of price was this: in
1847, 41s. a quarter; in 1848, 33e. 6d. ; or &diminution of not
less than 61. 61. per acre: and even had prices themselves
not fallen there would have to-en a difference to him of

more than 4.. per acre. 11; would now advert to another
alleged calm of agriculturaldistress in the northern counties.
the removal of the protective duty on hops. The hon. mem-
ber for West Kent had been moet indefatigable in his repre-
sentations as to the grievances of the hop growers, but he had
failed to convince the government that any distress in the
hop districts was owing to recent legislation. (Hear, hear.)
In the first place, the importation into this country of fareign
hops was next to nothing in quantity. The real truth was,
that for several years past there had been a very large pro-
, duction of hops, far exceeding that of any farmer year. In
the three years ending in 1815, the quantity:of hops produced
was 30,000.000 lbs. in round numbers. In the three years
ending in 1848, the
.quantity !of hops produced was
146,000,000 lbs., showing as increase of more than
60 per cent. upon the first period. There had
been no diminution in the quantity of beer brewed
but with an inferior article, and a vast surplus of increase in
its production; no wand. r that distress, to a certain extent,
prevailed amongst the hop-growers. He would now turn to
that pert of the question which related to tho condition of
the agricultural labourer., and he was disposed to regard
this as the most important topic, in like manner as it was
the ostensible object of the hoe, member's motion. There
could be no doubt that the agricultural labourers
did suffer in some districts from the want of
employment, the lowness of wages, and other causes. Bat
this was not the case in all the agricultural counties. Take
the district comprising Cornwall, Devonshire, and the inter-
mediate and adjoining counties, and it would be seen, te3m
the report of intelligent and trustwor,hy inquirers, that the
Isbouring population was in easy and even prosperous
circumstances. Authorities upon wham he placed the ut-
most reliance had reported that in the counties
adjoining the distressed districts—in Wiltshire and
Gioucesterehire the labourers were stated to be

"better eff than they were in the years 1833 to
1836—owing to the price of provisions being so low." In
some of the Eastern Counties the labourers were also well
°flowing to the same cause. In Norfolk the labourers were
" better off than they were two years ago when their wages
were higher." In Essex it was stated that the " labourers
lived best when the price of corn was lowest." Now,
he did not thick that any bon. member would deny
that if wages were undiminished, the labourer !must be
better off now than he ever was. (Cheers and counter
cheers.) If wages were re need, but were not below the
price of food and clothing, the labourer must be equally well
off as before, and he would ask, was not that the ease
throughout the northern districts of England ? He believed
that in the greater part of England the labourers
were far better off than at any former period. He admitted
that if the prices of food and clothing were not lower they !
would not be better off—(hear)—and he had admitted that
fact from the first. What he stated was that he cettainly
did find there were places in which distress prevailed amongst
the labourers, but that he must say that in the greater put
of Enteland they we re better off, swing to the low price of
provisions and clothing, than they ever yet had
bees. The south western districts were suffering,
owing to the (Armen being in a state of diotrets. But their
distress wu owing to the bad harvest, and not, as he had
shown, to the importat,on of foreign corn. (Rear.) But,
apart from these considerations, he must say that he did net
believe the farmers alone, of all the industrial classes of
England, wooly be contented to sit with their arms folded
submitting to starve. Let bim poirt attention to what
the manufacturers had achieved. When the trade of the
world was thrown open, and England found herself e xposed
to the competition of the Continent, did the manufacturers
remain contented with their old mtchiliery ? In every
lawn throughout the whole of the manufacturing dietricts
new machinery was introduced as soon as iuveuted. Let
him ask his hon. friend the member (or Leeds how much
there was now left of the same machinery by
mesas of which his father gained the bulk of
his large f Wine ? Ile believed there hardly re-
moined • stick, a stone, or an old spindle of
the whole plan, but that all had been changed, and that, in
order to enable the proprietors to compete successfully with
foreign countries. He did not mean to sav the manufac-
turing classes had not suffered during the change', nor would
he deny that the slothful unimprovieg manufacturer had
gone to the wall. (Rear, hear.) Ile held in bit
hand a pamphlet written by a late member of that
house, wherein the advantages of high farming were
strongly insisted on, and a caleuladon was made, showing
the profitable results both to farmers and I Mourers afforded
by • system of high farming. Ile certainly did regard
this to be one of the great future resources for the
labouring classes, and he never could believe that the
farmers of England would he contented to stand still amidst
the general progress =dein other profitable pursuits. Let
hint direct the attention of the house fur one motnent to the
effect produced upon the labourer by the mere price of corn
—comparing the year 1847 with the present period. A
family was generally reckoned to consist ci` 5 person', each of
whom consumes a quarter of wheat a year, making the con-
sumption
of the family to amount to 5 quarters. The price
of wheat in 1847 was 695. 91.; in 1849 it was Cm. bat,- a
difference of 245. 64. a quarter. The consequence was that
in 1846 the additional cost of bread alone to the labourer
was 61. 2.. 6d., end suppeeing the labourer received 101. a
week for wages, he wood have to work, in order to make
good this additional price put upon their food, for rather
more than twelve weeks. If non. gentlemen opposite were
of opinion that the case he had put was too strong, let him
(sheave° that the difference in the price of a quartern loaf,
between 1847 and 1819, would be no less than 51.—a large
sum tea labouring family. Was it, therefore, no material
consideration to a labourer, to be relieved from the necessity
of sacrificing a coveter of a year's labour, in order merely to
make up the difference between the prices of 40. and of W.?
That difference had now existed fur two years. It might in
the courso of the season again occur. But was it for the gen-
tlemen of England to endeavour to:raise the price of corn
artificially, and so to exact a quarter of a year's labour
out of the poor men ? (Cheers and counter-cheen.) Ile had
now gone through the figures that elucidated the facts.
(Hear, hear.) Did the hon. gentleman mean to deny he
had done so? Ile must confess he should be surprised if the
hon. member for Kent, humane and considerate as he always
war towards the labouring clams, were to rise in his place to
support a proposition having for its object the raising the
price of the poor man's food. He would not rest his cue
wholly on the ground of humanity. He asserted that
good policy also had its weight in the question.
(Hear, hear.) What else did the motion rest on. If it
did not propose the re-enactment of the protection
laws it meant nothing. But he never would give
his consent to such a measure. (Hear, hear.) When
it was alleged that the landed gentry of this
country legidated for themselves, he must say that he
did not believe that that was the opinion of the great body
of the people of England. He believed, on the contrary,
that they were convinced that whatever might be the opinion
of any party in that house, the fixed determination of the
majority of the legislature was to maintain that course of
legislation which had been so successfully pursued hitherto,
and which had received its fullest development within the
last few years. (Hear, hear.) Believing that the
motion of the honourable gentleman would be de-
structive of the confidence which prevailed amongst all
climes, and which destruction of confidence he should depre •
cate as the worst and greatest evil which could befal this
country, and believing that the motion could have no other
effect, seeing that it was an appeal from the hon. gentleman
' as the organ of a great party of whom he stood forth as the
lea ler, to retrace their steps, he must give it his stronoest
opposition. (Hear, hear.) Believing as he did,
that thus to retrace their steps would be fatal to
the best interests of the country, to the condition of
the great body of the people, and to the solidity of cur insti-
tutions, he trusted that the house would come to • decision
which should convince the country that they were not pre-
pared to subvert that legislation, bat that they would stand
their ground, and go forward on that which he believed to
be a sound system for the benefit of all classes of the commu-
nity. (Cheers.)
Mr. H. BAILLIE, after briefly referring to the affairs of
British Guiana, and pledging himself when the question
should be brought forward by the hon. member for Mon-
trose to prove every statement he had made, said that the
motion before the house war doubtless liable to the charge of
not being sufficiently comprehensive. Although it
war possible that the present government might not
enjoy the confidence of the house, yet, from the combi-
nation of parties, and their relying sometimes on one. and
sometimes on another, they were able to carry whatever
measures they might bring forward. Let them go on then
is that course. Reduce the import duties, and add
to the direct taxation of the country ; double the
income tax; these were all measures which they contem-
plated, and the people of England would aeon be able
to appreciate their values ; the time was not far distant
when the ruined colonies would at last be taught by sad ex-
perience the real value of these measurer, and to estimate
the merits of their authors. Then the reaction which they
so much feared would take place; then at last would the
tardy indignation of this people be raised against the authors
of these evils; they would be regarded as the most reckless
and inconsiderate of men who had ever availed themselves
of the power and influence of office, to pass laws injuriously
affecting great and important interests, and calculated to !
ruin the finances and destroy the resources of a greet and
powerful empire.
Mr. ROEBUCK expected to hear from the speech, or
rather the motion, of the hon. member for Buckinghamshire,
that there would have been some reason given for this erre-
ordinary proceeding. The hon. gentleman himself must
know, and he thought he led the house to believe, that the
motion he wu about to m:ke was somewhat of an extraordi-
nary character. It was one of those constitutional means
which the House of Commons possessed, of taking into its
own hands the business of the people, when, under various
circumstances, government, or anybody else, had got posies-
eion of the rule of the state, and they believed that rule was
about to diminish the welfare and injure the interests of the
country. He asked whether there was anything in the
present state of the country that should warrant an extraor-
dinary interference with the business of legislation ? The
hon. member for Buckinghamshire said he thought there
was. Re would dislocate all the proceedings of the Ration ;
he would come forward with a motion that should dispossess
the government (for that was the meaning of the proposition
of the hon. gentleman, and no other could be attached to it)
of the powers which it possessed; and he was prepared ((or
that was the meaning which he attached to the phrase
which the hon. gentleman addressed to him on this
occasion)—he war prepared to take the government into
his own hands. (" Hear, heer,".and laughter.) If toe hon.
gentleman did not mean this, he did not mean anything else ;