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might consider that they must, to be consistent, extend those prin.
ciplea, which were at best but speculations. to corn ; but he thought
ey would find it difficult to carry them into effect, when the ex.
penditure they must submit to was considered. A cheap web.
lishment, however, he believed they could not have. If he had
not entertained such a conviction, he should not have voted for its
Ampere as he had. He was upheld In this opinion by a reference
en the 30.000,0001. of interest which must be paid to the public cre-
ditor. This was an Imperious obligation. Rather than the na.
donel character should suffer by any breach in this respect, he
would sell the coat off his back. He would' refer to the interest of
the debt they must pay, and then ask. could they indulge in specu.
'anions on free trade? If they persisted in those measures they
would not be able to pay their labourers. Other countries could
live cheaper than owe. The lower claims here had been bred up
bi accustomed to luxury, which they made an outcry for the mo ent
they amid not obtain. The clamour was, indeed, °literati for
breed, but it was not in reality the quartern loaf they wanted—it
was the taxed articles, for which fifteen shillings out of every
twenty went to the Government. He (Sir T. L) had made this
statement, in order to show whit made the difference in the price of
Tabour. If he voted for the proposition of the Right Honourable
Secretary he should feel he was tying his hands, and by aside wind
admitting the print iple to which he objected ticcitles'....y. This was
the only Inference he could draw. Ile did hope the Right Hon.
Secretary would not press his measure; that he would see it was of
too hasty a character; and that there was another way of alleviat-
ive temporary distress, more fitting for temporary purposes. If the
master maaufactueem had the means of employing the men they
would do so. lie felt he was incurring a great responsibility by
his present opposition ; but he must tell the (louse, if the
landed interest were plunged into distress by the Meß•UrCal content.
plated, they would require much larger sums as relief than would
be sufficient on the present occasion. He said this, on the calcu.
lotion that the agriculturists amounted to three.ff.ths of the poit.
lotion. Ile trusted, after the statements he had male, that the
House would vote for the amendment lie felt it his d uty ti. move. The
lion. Harm ,:t concluded with moving, '1 hut • Select Committee
be appointed by the House, to inquire Into the cause of the distress
is the agricultural districts of this country.
Mr. BEN CTT, in consequence of the noise in the House, was
inaudible for a few minutes ; we understood bins to say, lie rose
r, second the motion. Ile objeett.i to the question being die.
turbed after having been settled by a large majority only a
tortnight ago, and the whole country was unshed with the
decisioo. The present measure was calculated to derange the
enemata which had been made fur the purchase of corn end land.
Thom who repressed a wish for the alteration of the Cora Laws,
did not say they were the cause of the distress; and he could not
therefore conclude, that the manufacturing districts 'were in die.
tress in consequence of the high price of corn. In his opinion, if
the currency question had not been agitated, the distress now ex.
feting would not have been known. Before they legislated in
Terrence to the distress, he thought it these duty to inquire into
the cause. If they established the present system with twelve
shillings duty, he felt persuaded that in essence they had re.
pealed the Corn lA's. He wished it to be understood that he was
as ready as any to relieve the distresses (hear, hear), and be
should have no objection to • vole for the purchase of corn, to be
gold at a diaper rate to the euffering districts. Ile should prefer
this method, because he thought it wrong now to disturb the Coro
loslll,, or to interfere with the contracts the country haft made.
There were the poor's rates, ton, which ought to be made available;
they were the legitimate source of relief. 'l'his measure would be
either useless or to one party an act of injustice. If it did not greatly
reduce the price of corn, it would not benefit the manufacturers,
and if it did, then the agriculturists would suffer. Ile would wish
it remembered, too, when the landed interest suffered, the manes.
facturing interest was sure to sink ; and the moment the former be.
Fen to revive, in consequence of an increase in the price of corn,
there was a greater consumption of the articles of manufacture.
The present measure was also objectionable, because it tended to
'ill 'he manufacturers with a notion that their distresses anise from
Bur high price of corn, and instead of destroyirg their looms, their
machinery and tools, they would fly to the ricks and barns. This
ignorant spirit of counteraction was something like that which
characterised the Irishman who burnt a nember of :mink nates with
a view to weaken the bank. (A laugh.) lie should have no oh.
jeetion to foreign corn being admitted, with a ecutain permanent
duty ; but he objected to the measure meetly propelled by his
Hon. Friend, on two grounds. The first was i because 3lititsters
thought the question ought not to be brought forward during the
present Session ; and the second because he did not think
the Protecting duty he contemplated would be found sufficient.
The law, as it stood at present, said that for the first three months
that the importation of corn was permitted it was to pay a duty of
tss. The duty, therefore, proposed by the Right lion. Gendenno,
Instead of 12s. ought to be 17s. If the duty were 17a, the whole
of the 400.000 quarters would come into the wicket, which was at
present uverstocked. Mr. Jacobs had been sent into foreign coon.
tries to make a report, but it should be received with caution ; it
was an ex-parte statement, as he had not ascertained the amount of
stock in bond in this country, and they could not therefore form a
fair estimate of the produce. The amendment of his Hon. Friend
might Involve a loss of time, but there could be no objection to
eh!, if the necessary relief were sent to the disturbed districts. He
wished to guatd himself against its being supposed be hail no feel.
iee fur the distress existing. (Hear.) Haying been a :llagist rate
SC years, he was well able to appreciate the amount of suffering
that must prevail ; what he objected to wan the source from which
relief was to be drawn. lie trusted the Right lion. Secretary
would not allow this Parliament to separate before sane relief to
the extreme distress waa afforded.

On the amendment being put by the Speaker--
114 r. Secretary CANNING said when he took the liberty of
giving. notice of this motion last night, he did so, he could assure
the lion. Member for Sontersetshire (Sir T. Lethbridge) not from
any disrespect for those who held opinions opposed to the Corn
haws, but from a conviction of the Imperious necessity which ex.
isted for the present measure. His proposition was divided into
swo puts, to one of which these appeared to be but little objection.
Before he proceeded to the subject. however, immediately before
the House, he would offer a few words by way of explanation, that
he might disencumber the question of some suspicions which ap.
paired to hang about it. Ile did assure the Hon. Gentleman, that
he ( Mr. Secretary fanning) should consider himself moss unworthy
if he sere capable of bringing forward the measure with the object
which had been ascribed to it--with an intention of getting rid of
the question of the Corn Laws by a site wind. He trusted the
(lon. Gentleman would at least do him die justice to remember he
had never taken any part In the previous discussions oat the goes.
lion, and he had therefore on his mind no such feeling as is gene.
rated by discussion or conflict. Ile stood there unbiassed ; he was
tree to look at it on its own peculiar grounds, and in relation to the
peculiar circumetanees of the country. He objected particularly to
the inference drawn by the Hon. Member fur Somerset. He had
r.o idea of connecting this measure with the greater question of the
fern Laws, and he had been the more anxions to avoid it,
because, in reference to individuals out of doors, he was most
anxious the House should on this occasion be united. In hie
opinion the measure was quite distinct. The Hon. Gentleman who
spoke last conceived that the high price of cons had not produced
t!:: distress now suffered, and ergo, that lowering it could Dot tend
to alleviate that distress. There might be distress from two totally
different cause'. They might say it proceeded from the system of
tree trade, which the Honourable Baronet made it so convenient to
charge him with ; admitting this, to say the let t big out of corn at
present, locked up in the very neighbourhood of the suffering dii.
erlets, could not be productive of benefit, because the want or it
(tad not produced the distress, would be as true as to say, that be-
Ouse a person was diseased from the want of a particular medicine,
it was impossible that any other could effect a cure.' On the same
prrnciple. a patient might be afflicted by the operation of one cause,
and could not obtain relief by the operation of AIIOIIIIM
Then too. the physician were to neglect to prepare the prescrileion,
w hat was to cure the patient ? The mines! of delay might pee-
ciude the application of any remedy to the disorder. It would pre.
item too wide a field of discussion to pursue the Hon. Gentleman
through all the matters which he brought forward in support of the
p sitions that he had advanced. The House ought to direct its
regard to the fluctuations which might occur in the country, if it
wanted any proof of the necessity for adopting those measures
which Government suggested, in alleviation of the misery which
must be admitted to be now prevalent. They could not, indeed,
prudence, adopt a different course to that which had been sub-
mitted. By allowing the evil to proceed, it might acquire a de.
pee of magnitude which It would be Impossible eve,ntually to coon.
tercet. He thought it was sufficient for the House to be amassed
ghat the distress existed. and the conclusion that necessarily tole
lowed was, the most effectual mode to alleviate its dangerous
efftetw He should therernre proceed to the consideration of the
two branches of the proposition which his motion comprised. He
agreed with the Hon. Member for Somerenalthe (Sir Jsth.
bridge), that the distresses of the cottony required the most imme-
diate relief which could be afforded. For that purpose, therefore,
lie was of opinion that the cunt which was laid up in the stone
should t e liberated, and constitute part of the provistiun of -hich
the people stood so much in need. The greatest distress preyailed
almost in the very sight of those granaries where the corn was thus
useleuly lodged. If those quantities were to be sent into the mar.
bet, the result would undoubtedly be highly beneficial in mitigat.
log the severity of those sufferiegs which were keenly felt in va-
rious districts of the country. He therefore would ask, whether it
would not he better and wiser to afford a relief, which, under the
circumstances of prevalent distress, would be of vast utility, and
procured at so small a cost lie did not mean to argue lha whole
of the question affecting the Corn I.aws with the Honourable
Member fur Somersetshire, who seemed to concur in opinion sa
to the expediency of the particular application of some tem.
porary expedient suited to the diffi.otties of the case. With the
lion,mr,thle Baronet. tincture. he had no difference sd opinion; and
1.-tween him and the Honourable Member fur Wiltshire (Mr.
Benett) there was but a alight discrepancy of sentiment, for that
Bonouratile Gentleman stewed to think that curls %Iseult be par.
chased at the public cost, and resold at reduced prices.
11r. Boleti observed across the table that he dal nett differ with
the Right Honourable Secretary in the principle which dictated
ri l.rf, but, in fact, how it should be best achieved I
Ifs (Mr. Canning), in that case, did not conceive that he differed
with either of the Honourable Gentlemen, as it was for theetrinci.
pie of temporary relief which lie mainly contended, rather than fcr
tire mode by which it was to be effected. He should now proceed
to the consideration of the second branch of the pmpositirm—that
pare which regarded the investing his 7.ldiestr'.4 Governmert whit
a discretionary power of allowing the Importation of men during the
recess of Parliament. That was a immune which Government
deemed to be requisite under the circumstances in which the come. I
tee was placed, but the exercise of that power would subject
his Majesty's Ministers to many difficulties during the absence of
Parliament. That would in fact prove a moat inconvenient boon,
and which the Government, if it had the option, would most