The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-07 00:00:00

MR. DISRAELI AND HIS CON-

STITUENTS.
The Chancellor of the *Exchequer has issued the
following' address to tho electors of the county of
Buckiogham :
" Gentlemen, —I take the opportunity of returning to the
county to inform you that, on the dissolution of Parliament.
which may be shortly expected, I shall again solicit the dis-
tinguished office of being your member, an honour which
you have twice unanimously conferred on me.
" The occasion is critical, and it is as well to disentangle,
from the Misrepresentations of ignorant or interested persons,
what is really at stake.
"In 1842, Sir Robert Peel, at the bead of the Conserva-
tive party, converted a considerable and continuous defi-
ciency in the public revenue into a surplus, by the imposition
of•an income-tax, which also permitted him greatly to miti-
gate our tariff.
"These measures realised all the success which the Con-
servetive party anticipated from them. In the course of
four years 7 000,0001. of Customs duties were repealed, with-
out materially diminishing the revenue derived from that
branch, and no domestic interest in the country suffered from
the change.
"The principles on which these alterations were effected
were the removal of all prohibitions, the reduction of duties
to such s scale 'as admitted fair competition' with domestic
produce; 'and the free admission of all raw materials.
."I had the satisfaction of voting for 'these measures in
company with ,those gentlemen who now honour the pre-
sent Government with their support.
"Sinnee the four years, closing with 1845, during which
the Coneeryative party carried these wise and beneficial mea-
sures, two great changes,in our commercial system have
taken place—the free introduction of foreign corn and of
slave-grown sugar.
a The first of these arrangements was not originally con-
templated in the commercial policy of Sir Robert Peel, for he
opposed the repeal of the corn-laws within a few mouths
previously of his abrogating them. When he recommended
their repeal it was to meet an emergency; and he stated
to Lord George Bentinck, in my hearing', that he believed
that repeal would not materially affect the prices of agricul-
tural produce.
" The admission of slave-grown sugar was not approved of
by Sir Robert Peel.
" These two measures, unlike the preceding ones, have
occasioned severe suffering among the producing classes
which they affect. The distress of the agricultural classes
has been admitted, ahnounced, eon& deplored from the
Throne, under the advice of a Whig Ministry; and the con-
sequences of the alteration of the sugar duties were so disas-
trous to our free-producing colonies that, within two years
after the passing of the Act of 1846, a Whig Ministry also
found it necessary to modify their own measure.
"The sufferings of the agricultural and colonial classes
have arisen from their being thrown into unlimited competi-
tion with the foreigner on unequal terms with the rest of
their fellow-subjects. Those unequal conditions result in
great measure from the peculiar imposts and the vexatious
regulations to which our agricultural and sugar-producing
industries are subject.
"The same precipitation which attended the repeal of the
protective duties on corn and sugar accompanied the.repeal
of the navigation-lawe. Even the proposers of that measure
nowadmit that ' the shipping interest, exposed to severe
rivalry, is subject to burdens and restrictions which impede
its prosperity.'
"This is the language of the Minister who himself re-
pealed the navigation-laws, and yet left the burdens and
restrictions which impede the prosperity of our mercantile
marine. This opinion will be found in the recent address of
Lord John Russell to his constituents. That address de-
serves the attentive study of the shipping interest.
"Her Majesty's Ministers would consider these burdens
and restrictions with a view to their removal.
" The farmers hitherto have been the persons who have
been Most injured by the repeal of the corn-laws, but the
diminution of rent in Great Britain is greater than is gene-
rally supposed. In preparing the financial statement for this
yeare it was officially represented to me, that I must contem-
plate, in estimating the produce of the income-tax, a dimi-
nution of rent not much less in amount than 5,000,000/.
sterling. Practically speaking, in this country, rent
has become a return for the capital invested in
the improvement of land. Laws to secure a re-
turn for such investment are not for a moment to be tole-
rated, but laws which, by imposing unequal taxes, discou-
rage that investment, are, irrespective of their injus-
tice, highly impolitic; for nothing contributes more to the
enduring prosperity of a country than the natural deposit of
its surplus capital in the improvement of its soil. Justice to
the land, in all systems of finance, is equally the interest of
the proprietor and the farmer, but it is also equally the in-
terest of the community.
" There is no portion of the United Kingdom that has
suffered more from the precipitate repeal of the corn-laws
than Ireland. The claim of that country to the consideration
of Parliament is irresistible.
" The time• has gone by when the injuries which the great
peoducing interests endure can be alleviated or removed by
a recurrence to the laws which, previously to 1846, protected
them from such calamities. The spirit of the age tends to
free intercourse, and no statesman can disregard with im-
punity the genius of the epoch in which he lives. But every
principle of abstract justice and every consideration of high
policy counsel that the producer should be treated as fairly as
the consumer, and intimate that when the native producer is
thrown into unrestricted competition with external rivals it is
the duty of the Legislature in every way to diminish, cer-
tainly, not to increase, the cost of production.
" It is the intention of her Majesty's Ministers to recom-
mend to Parliament, as soon as it it in their power, mea-
-1 sures which may effect this . end.
" Ones& the soundest meats, am,ong others, by which this
result may be accomplished is a revision of our taxation.
The times are favourable to such an undertaking; juster no-
tions of taxation are more prevalent than heretofore; power-
ful agencies are stirring, which have introduced new pheno-
mena into finance, and altered the complexion of the fiscal
world; and the
,possibility of greatly, relieving, the bur-
dens of the community, both by adjustment and reduction,
seems to loom in the future. .
" But nothing great can be affected by any Ministry un-
less they are supported by a powerful majority in Parlia-
ment. Our predecessors were men who, for personal
honour and administrative ability, need not shrink from a
• with any, body of individuals qualified to serve
comparison
her Majesty, but they were never sure of a
,Parliamentary
majority; hence much of their unsatiefactory conduct. They •
were justified, from the broken state of parties in their
which they ~never evinced any un-
continuance in office,
worthy readiness to retain.; but it is far from desirable that
'such indulgence should become a chronic weakness of our
Constitution.
rind
In the brief duringpe which we have held the 'wins,
although placed in a position of great 'embarrassment, from
the impossibility of at once appealing to the councry
have introduced three measures, which it is hoped will. country, we
become the law of the land. One is a measure of internal
defence, which, it is believed, will soon prove both
on an
economical, and efficient; the second would conferort
oaantihne-
teresting and important colony a constitutionen; founded
the third
right principleswhich should govern depend
will
at length achieve a complete reform of the Court of
Chancery,. d. Two
petty There was a fourth measure which pLcapclobeeen justly
and boroughs, long infamous for corruption, _
and wisely disfranchised. We recommeded to Parliamentlls
that
Importantthe forfeited seats should be transferred to. tw. o of the
most p communities of the country', distinguished
not only for their vast wealth and teeming population, but
by all the enduring elements of national greatness. A com-
bination of
pre,, Parliamentary sections defeated, on a technical
'met this wise and •generous proposition, which would
have added strength and luc
ular re to the Houee a
of Co
nermm con-
ons,
and have asserted the pops principle in man
tree
and ancient
ntwith that maintenance of classes which becomes a
dancient Monarchy, and which is the best security
for order and liberty.
" The time of the House of Commons has been much cc-
copied of late by a discussion, whether the management of
the Roman Catholic College of Maynooth requires investi-
gation. Without prejudging the question, her ilajesty's
Ministers have felt it their duty to support such an inquiry.
We have been anxious to subdue the heat of religious
controversy, and to deal impartially with all her Dlajesty'e
subjects, whether in communion with the Church of Rome
or the Church of England; but we cannot sanction an
opinion now in vogue, that since ,the Act of 1829 the con-
stitution of this country has ceased to be Protestant. By
'
1 the Act of Settlement, our form of Government is that of a
Protestant monarchy; and it is our belief that the people of
this country are-resolved to maintain it, not only in form
but vinarip spirit.
gi tie achentee bate been cleyised for the extension

[PRICE SD.

and improvement of the education of the peopleh;. and among
others, a measure was proposed by an.iirte intelligent
M unity, during the present session of Parliament,
religious opinion which seems to
principles of which we could rot accede. The only principle
in the present diversity of
be just, is that of encouraging the voluntary efforts . of the
several religious bodies by greats of public money in pro-
Pottion to the extent-to which those efforts have been made.
In assorting for all this universal right,
we claim for the
Church, the national depository of sacred truth, that the
treedom of her efforts in the canee of education should not.
be fettered by regulations and restrictions which are not re-
qui, ed to afford security for a due application of the public
funds.
"I have touched, gentlemen, on most of the topics which
now engage the -attention of the country. They are not
mean issues. The country will have to decide whetlier it wi:l
maintain.a Ministry. formed on the principles of Conservativee,
progress; whether it will terminnte for ever, by
,just and
conciliatory nieLFurer, the misconceptions which have too
long prevailed between producer and consumer. and ex-
tinguish the fatal. jealousy, that rankles between town and
country ; whether our colonial empire shall be maintained
and confirmed ; whether the material development of Ire-
land shall at length be secured; whieher such alterations
as time and circumstances may appear to justify and require
'in the construction of the House of Commons shall be made
in that spirit of revolution which has arrested the civiliza-
tion of Europe, or in the spirit of our popular, though not
democratic, institutions; whether the Church of England
shall still remain a national Church ; whether the Crown of
England shall still be a Protestant Crown.

believe the county of Buckingham is not in doubt on
these heads, and therefore I appeal to you with confidence
for your support. I cannot vie with the patriots and statesmen
whom, for so many generations, you have sent np to Parlia-
ment; but I will promise you this, on my own part and on
that of my colleagues, that if public opinion ratify the choice
of cur gracious Sovereign, we will earnestly endeavour that
the honour and the interests of. the country shall not suffer

adakinistraticuu • --
" I remain, Gentlerben,
" Your obliged friend and servant,
" B. DISRAELI.

" Hughenden Manor, June 2."