The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-19 00:00:00

'FREE TRADE.

The Duke of NEWCAS I:LE rose to present the pe-
tition of which he had given notice, fnrrn the Commercial
Association of Manchester, prayins; their Lordships that
possible it Neva the country
they would as speedily as
from the state of anxiety and suspenos, prevailing as to
the intentions of the Government wit'a respect to the re-
imposition of a duty on corn. He said that he should
not have thought it necessary to aassompany this peti-
don with any remarks of his own had it not been
for the merriment which the Noble locsrd at the head of
the Government had indulged on a fcsrmer occasion at
the expense of the petitioners who had signed that pe-
tition. At any rate the Noble Lord .sould not find fault
at the humble and nninfluential positisaa of the present
petitioners, for there was not a b cdy in the coun-
try who was more respectable or more influen-
tial in its position than that from wlich this petition
emanated. He, himself, must beg to add his humble
hope to that of the petitioners, that the present state of
uncertainty, for it was not only our ow n country that was
affected, but foreign Governments equally participated in
these feelings of suspense and apprehenoion, and he had
strong reason to believe that representations had been ad-
dressed to this country on the subject, at least he himself
had seen communications in which the alarm or foreign
countries, Austria and Prussia, in particular, were de-
scribed as being very great. He did net wish at present
to enter into any discussions on the subject of the corn-
laws, though he still retained his own. opinion on the
subject, and he should, therefore, conclude by putting a
question to the Noble Lord, which he had communicated
to him, en the subject of the present state of her
Majesty's Government. One of the most important re-
sults of the repeal of the corn-laws had been the split-
ting up of parties, which rendered Parliamentary go-
vernment a thing of great difficulty; ho therefore urged
upon the Noble Lord to use his high position and influ-
ence to put an end to this state of things as speedily
as possible, and not to allow the elements
of discord once more to be scattered around.
He thought that an early dissolution was a measure of
absolute necessity, because, by the present state of
things, a great constitutional question had been raised,
which he was sure would go on from day to day in-
creasing,in importance, and becoming more difficult of
solution. If the Noble Lord persevered in his intention
of carrying on the affairs of the country with an
admitted minority in the other House, a course of action
would follow on the part of those opposed to the Go-
vernment most unprecedented and unknown. There was
no precedent to justify such a determination. Mr. Pitt's
ease, when he struggled to pass the Mutiny Bill in the face
of a miniority, was a tensity dissimilar one. The Noble
Lord's position was anomalous, though it was no fault
of his own that he had been called to fill it; but if the
Noble Lord persisted in his present course of governing
by a minority, he maintained that it would become un-
constitutional. For his own part he, and those with
whom he acted, must confess themselves in opposition
to Goveanment so long as they were unable to obtain
from her Majesty's Ministers a total renunciation
of any intention to reverse the free trade policy, and
all those who were in opposition could only recognise
two measures which it was of importance to pa is before
a dissolution, and those were the votes in Supply and
the Mutiny Bill, With regard to the Chance's), reform,
he had no doubt that the Government would
gretstly endanger that measure if they persisted
in bringing it on during the present session,
The Earl of DERBY did not complain ssf the course
pursued by the Noble Duke, or the spirit iss which it was
pursued, but he trusted he would not be thought disre-
spectful to him or the petitioners if he. declined again
entertaining this question, or re-entering upon a discus-
eon of free trade. lie justified the mustier in which he
ref erred to the petition presented by Lord Beaumont on
a former occasion, and as he on that occasion gave
explanations of the course intended, to be pursued by
Government; he would not repeat, them, and the less
would ho do so because the date of this petition was
earlier than the date of these explanations. These pe-
titioners, then, had the benefit isf those explanations.
He denied that uacertainty prevailed in the country to
the degree represented, and e.eitt convinced that upon a
balance of inconveniences, a prdongation of the session of
Parliament offsred the Last evil. Ho justified this
position, which he occupied 'ia.l a Parliament with a mino-
rity in his favour, not by the precedent of Mr. Pitt in
1784, but by the ceurav pursued by Sir Robert Peel's
Government in 1134.