The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-26 00:00:00

corn from the operation of import duties—if the com-
plexion of the new Parliament should be such as to prevent
her Majesty's Ministers from carrying out the principle,
which would raise from the foreign grower a large por-
tion of the national revenue, and, at the same time,
afford direct relief to a suffering class, then it ould be
their duty, by establishing such an equalisation and read-
justment of taxation as indirectly to some extent to effect
the same object. You will have seen by her Majesty's
Speech that we have been compelled to adopt the latter
alternative. (Loud cheers.)"
Could there be a doubt after this that this was a cut-and-
shuffle transaction; that her Majesty's Ministers were about
to do indirectly what they had not the courage to do in
the face of the house ? The house had now got a meaning
to the " unreserved adherence " of Government to a free-
trade policy. It was an unreserved adherence to their
seats. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He took exception to
such men carrying on the Government of this country.
(Loud cheers.) In spite of what had been said by the
noble lord the member for Tiverton, of the indifference
out of doors, he objected to committing any cause to the
hands of men who were opposed to it at heart. What was
the theory of Parliamentary government which was first
enunciated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer? What
was his great argument against Peel ? That he had no
business to remain in office to carry out principles which
had first been advocated by the hon. member for the West
Riding. He based his opposition to another bill on the
fact, that it was brought forward by a man who had no
business to bring it forward, namely, to the bill for en-
dowing Maynooth ; and the passage in which he did so was
so remarkable that he would quote it. He said—
" I oppose this bill on account of the manner in which it
has been introduced. I oppose, it also, on account of the
men by whom it has been brought
forward, &c. ; and to be
told, because these men have crossed the house, and have
abandoned with their former seats their former professions,
these men's measures and actions are to remain unscruti-
nised, unopposed, &c. You have permitted men to gain
power and enter place, and then carry measures exactly the
reverse to those which they professed in opposition. I say
that the Parliamentary course is for this house to have the
advantage of a Government formed on distinct principles.
No Parliamentary middleman, who bamboozles one party
and plunders the other. Let us have no party question,
but fixity of tenure. Let us dethrone this dynasty of de-
ception by putting an end to the intolerable yoke of official
despotism and Parliamentary imposture."
No man who had expressed these sentiments had any
right for one moment to remain in office, to carry out prin-
ciples he had stolen from other people. Now he must say,
since the lamented demise of that celebrated Oriental juggler
Rahmo Samee, who could swallow broadswords, and do
many wonderful things, he knew no one of such capacity
for swallowing as the right hon. gentleman the Chancellor
of the Exchequer. He had swallowed two amendments
already to-night. But he called on the house not to be
deluded by a great State conjurer. (Cries of " Shame.")
Ay ! but there was no " shame" called out when he
abused Peel ; you acknowledged to-night that he was a
great and a good man, but when the right hon. gentleman
attacked him, you cried no shame, but hounded your man
on. (Cheering, and cries of " 01;2) -He agreed with the
noble lord the member for Leidestershire, that something
was due to the past ; and when hon. members were called
on to recollect their duties, let them not be behindhandin
the duty which the working men of this country, who had
raised monuments as tributes to the memory of Peel, had
performed, and not at this moment hesitate to record by
their vote the belief that the policy of Peel was wise, just,
and beneficial. (Loud cheers.) Do not be alarmed by the
threat that the Ministers would resign. The threat was
not a new one in history, and he believed that if now
carried out, the country would " bow " to Lord Derby's
decision. (Loud laughter.) That noble lord had already
shown how a Government might be improvised. He had
no confidence in the professions or principles of the right
honourable 'gentleman, and called on the house not to give
adherence to a gang of political latitudinarians—(cheers
and laughter)—who had no belief, politically speaking, but
in the existence of the Treasury benches ; no hope but in
the perpetuity of place.—(Renewed cheers and laughter.)
He could not follow the noble lord, the member for Tiver-
ton, and would give his vote with confidence and sincerity
for the motion of his hon. friend the member for Wolver-
hampton—(Great cheering.)
Mr. BALL lacked the great quality for success quoted
by the hon. member for Middlesex ; but no greater illus-
tration of the force of " audacity" could be found than
the speech of the hon. member. He defended the farmers
of England against the assertion of their ignorance, made
by the hon. member for Wolverhampton, and maintained
that the skill and science put forth in agriculture, should
have preserved them from so unwarrantable an imputation.
The hon. gentleman then entered on the subject of the
cheapness of food being no test as to the prosperity of a
country. He had learned, he believed through Sir R.
Peel, that in Russia the average amount of consumption
of corn was five bushels a head ; in Germany, where it was
dearer, it was six bushels ; in France, where it was dearer
still, seven bushels ; and in England, where it was dearest
of all, and where wheaten bread was almost exclusively
used, the average consumption was eight bushels a head.
He could not bring himself to believe that the great
mass of the people were so deluded by the argument of
the great loaf and the small one, as still to yield their
confidence to false politicians. It was a most absurd
thing—a most cruel thing—to represent to poor people
that cheapness was a blessing. (Cheers and laughter.)
Why, they made everything for us, and cheapness would
diminish their wages. (Renewed laughter.) When they
came forward and claimed reparation for the memory
of the late Sir Robert Peel, he came forward,
too, to ask reparation for having believed in and
been deceived by him. He admired his ability, believed
implicitly everything he said, acted upon it without reserve,
and suffered accordingly. They had a right to reparation
for his having destroyed the laws under which they entered
upon their occupation. He could read them hundreds of
extracts from the speeches of Sir Robert Peel, as strongly,
upholding protective policy, as any to which hon. gentle-
men. oppoaita _bad..alluded, as having been delivered by
members of the GoVernment. Hundreds and thousands of
farmers who have adhered to his politics, whilst implicitly
trusting him, had been driven to a premature grave, or had
been irreparably ruined. (Cheers, and laughter.) He for
one, therefore, would_ never be a party to a resolution
which declared that the 'happiness of the people and the
prosperity of the country had been the result of free trade ;
for ho did not believe it. But he would say, that after
the country had been appealed to with the understanding
that its response was to determine whether they were to
;rive free trade or not, he felt bound to bow to the opinion
so expressed, and which was said to be against, him.
(Hear, hear.) However, he would not abandon the field if
he could not leave it with the honours of war, or without
being hooted at as he went out. (Cheers.) As' to the re-
signation of Ministers, he felt that the destruction of the
Government would be one of the most unhappy events that
could occur. (Laughter.) When Sir Robert Peel threw
over his party, and sent down to poverty thousands of his
adherents, who cherished and almost adored him, multi-
tudes of them were obliged to violate the kindliest feelings
of cur nature, and to withdraw from him the attachment
they had hitherto cordially yielded. Not so Lord Derby.
Was there a word of reproach that any of them could utter
against Lord Derby ? (Ironical cheers.) When the histo-
rian came to write of those two men, he would say that the
one went down reprobated anti condemned by those who
were his nearest friends, but that the other, amidst the
distress, the clouds, and the tempests which obscured his
political horizon, had not lost the sincere attachment of
any ono of his friends. (Cries of " Oh," and laughter.)
He acknowledged that they were completely beaten, but
Englishmen did not scalp their fallen adversaries as Indians
did, and it was for them to show that nobility of conduct
which would certainly have been manifested towards them
had they been unsuccessful.
Mr. PHILLIMORE begged leave to state, very briefly,
the reasons which would induce him to vote in favour of
the resolution of the hon. member for Wolverhampton.
He regretted very much that hon. gentlemen should be so
far carried away by their feelings as to speak with disre-
spect of one whose memory they should all revere. How-
ever they might differ from Sir Robert Peel, it was hardly
generous to remark upon that portion of his conduct which
was most liable to exception ; for what was there in the
conduct of Sir Robert Peel that had not been exceded
_by
that of honourable members opposite ? (Cheers.) He
would only observe farther, that they
.were a free-trade
Parliament, and that they required to have a free-trade
Government to direct their proceedings. (Hear.)
Mr. G. BENTINCK said that as he hal the honour of
representing one of the most important agricultural dis-
tricts in the kingdom, he trusted the house would con-
sider him not trespassing if he made a few observations
on the subject under consideration. (Hear, hear.) The
honourable gentleman the member for Middlesex, after
administering a good deal of advice to the right honourable
gentleman the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and recom-
mending him to take his physic like a man, proceeded to
animadvert on the position of honourable members on
that (Mr. Bentinck's) side of the house, who had hitherto
maintained Protectionist principles. (Hear, hear.) The
lion. gentleman said, that some gentlemen on that (the
Ministerial) side of the house were so circumstanced, that
they must either support the Government or give their vote
in shameful silence. He (Mr. Bentinck) was not disposed
to take either course. The hon. member for Middlesex

might believe in the existence of the difficulties in which
the Protectionist party were placed, but he (Mr. Bentinck)
would say, " Credat Judams non ego." (Derision.) He
was not in the house when the hon. member for Manchester
made his speech, but ho had been informed that the hon.
gentleman had quoted a speech of his (Mr. Bentinck's).
The hon. gentleman seemed to doubt the accuracy of the
report of that speech. lie (Mr. Bentinck) was not able to
say whether he was correctly, or incorrectly reported ; but
whatever he had said, whether correctly or incorreutly, he
was ready and prepared to maintain it in that house.
(Boisterous merriment.) He was prepared to rest the
defence of the Protectionist principles which he now held
on the arguments of the late Sir Robert Peel, of the noble
lord the member for London, and upon the written and
spoken, and glowing and brilliant eloquence of the right
hon. baronet the member for Carlisle. (Ministerial- cheers.)
Ile well remembered the time when those high authorities
treated as little better than lunatics any man who advo-
cated the total repeal of the corn laws. (Hear, hear, from
the MinisteriaJists.) What would be the consequence, if
the carrying of the motion of the hon. member for ol-
verhampton would have the effect of removing her Ma-
jesty's Ministers? (Oh, oh, and laughter from the Opposi-
tion.) He could not believe that this motion was brought
forward in a fair and straightforward spirit. It was not
brought forward to defend a principle, but to upset an Ad-
ministration. (Hear, hear, from the Government sup-
porters.) After the Speech from the Throne—after the de-
claration of the Prime Minister—after the clear and lucid
statement of the right hon. the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, could any one think the principle of free trade was
in danger? (Hear, hear.) If not, what was the object of
the motion ? He could assign no other 'reason for it than
the eager aspiration for office on the part of the hon. gen-
tlemen opposite. (Loud cries of " Divide, divide," which
lasted for several minutes.) If hon. members of the Man-

cheater school were once in office, they would not only pull
down the aristocracy, but all the institutions in church and
state. (Divide, divide.)

Sir W. P. WOOD said an hon. gentleman opposite had
stated most truly, that that which had at all times created

he greatest disgust at the Opposition side of the house was

an ambiguity of expression. He (Sir W. P. Wood) had
felt extreme disgrist at the ambiguity of the language em-
ployed by the right 'hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer
the other night. H e (Sir W. P. Wood) felt deeply humi-
liated at the right hon. gentleman's appreciation of the
moral sentiments of the house, in supposing that he could
be tolerated in Et£ aerting, in the presence of so many
honourable gentler nen, that the line of conduct he had
hitherto Pursued, was the accepting of free trade as an
established fact.
referred to the (Hear, hear.) An hon. member had
distinguished supporters of the late Sir
Robert Peel,
• a "tag used powerful arguments in favour
of protection, 'but cud it never occur to that hon. gentle-
man that those astinguished men had separated from the
eat, for the very purpose of
present fsUPPortin 8 a Govelnria