The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-15 00:00:00

F,TP\TINC4- PI,DTTION.

1
out of the pockets of free party to put into the pockets of
another.—( Hear.) He knew that under protecting laws
and a prohibitory system wrear establishments had grown
Up in the country and he did not wish to do that hastily
which would injure them, Red throw impediments in the
way of trade.—( Hear, hear.) When they saw that the
price of this commodity entered into the value of every
article, he considered it incumbent on the House to con-
sider whether the price of corn might not., in a great de-
gree, affect the dTreeiation of manufactures, and whether
a timely change in the Corn-laws might not remove some
of the grievances at present pressing on our manufactures..
Ilia impression was, that it was an entire mistake to sup-
pose that an alteration in the Corn-laws (he did not mean
a sudden alteration, such as might be calculated to excite
the alarm of the agriculturists), would have all the dire
effects which the farmers feared. On the other hand,
if any law were to pass, saying that from and after the Ist of
August next all corn should be imported free into this
country, such a measure would be calculated to produce
injury and misery. In 1825, when Mr. Huskisson had it
in contemplation to bring in a Bill for the importation of
foreign copper ore, he ( Sir Hussey Vivian) then repre-
senting the borough of Cornwall, entreated the Right
lien. Gentleman not to bring in such a Bill, because the
effect of it would be to ruin the produce of copper
mines in this country. Such a Bill was brought in, and
in 1825 not a single ounce of foreign copper ore was
brought here ; but ever after that large quantities were im-
ported and the value of it had risen ever since. The same
affect had been produced in every other instance in
which an extension of trade had taken place.
The point was always urged that the quantity of grain
grown here was always limited by the quantity of foreign
grain imported, but that was a fallacy, and every year
proved that the greater the importation the greater the
consumption here. It was the supply that was brought
to the market that always increased consumption. That
Principle was verified every day. In proof of this the
House had only to look to the effect of railroads. He sup-
posed there was no place on earth that was less in neces-
sity of an increase of locomotion than England, and yet
since the introduction of railroads here the number of pas-
sengers had been increased fourfold.—(Hear, hear.)
So that he argued that if foreign corn were
admitted in any quantity it would not injure the home
grower, but increase the consumption and the prosperity of
the country. There was another point that was constantly
referred to, and which had been alluded to by a Noble
Friend of his last night; that Noble Lord stated that the
manufactures of this country were about 150,000.000, of
which about 100,000,000 were consumed by the age icul-
Hear, hear.) He admitted that the agricul-
.....(
icul-
was the best customer, but he was not the only cus-
tomer; , --a' ; and if the two were shut up together by a sea,
toaa could not support each other. He thought there was
I very great objection to the present law, because the
eff..ct of that was which ought not to be to fix a maximum
on every man's prisperty. One effect was of the present
laws, that the moment the price rose to a certain amount,
foreign corn was, thrown in in large quantities, so that in
reference to the freedom of trade, it was, in point of fact,
a disadvantage to the e rower. He adverted to an ex-
tract from a letter that appeared in the public prints
froin an advocate of the present Corn-laws, and he
objected to the present laws on the very ground
that was were
out in that letter, namely, on the ground
that they were equally prejudicial to the agriculturist and
Ito the consumer. He did not think that a hasty or sweep-
ing change would do good, but he thought all attempts to
Tel
regulate
prices objectionable. He had no peculiar inte-
t in this question, but he was anxious to take the
:honest opinion of the house, and he had no doubt that the
interests of the agriculturist and those of the manufacturer
'''ere so dove-tailed and bound together, that the one
'could not be benefitted and the other injured. Believing,
alP°l the whole, the present Corn-laws to be prejudicial
he should certainly feel bound to support the motion.
‘. Mr. EMERSON TENNENT said that as no Irish
'neither had yet risen he felt bound to address some
observations on this question, particularly as the
ankject affected Ireland. With regard to the question
the most obvious and inevitable effect of abolishing the
protection against foreign competition in grain, indeed the
effect which was proposed and anticipated was the dirni-
tnitien of the receipts of the farmer and landed proprietor.
NiW, however unsuited the condition of the agricultural
duet hna, hives morally impossible to regard its effects on
the agriculture of Ireland otherwise than with an anticipa-
ttrion of
utter ruin. There could be no question that with
tt.uhreseonfeouragement which it had enjoyed from the protec-
tion of Great Britain for the last thirty years, the agricul-
Ireland had prodigiously improved, and would still
this incipient
to make rapid advances. But, notwithstanding
,I 8 incipient amelioration, it was notorious that the state
0,,L agriculture in that country was still the most backward,
time most depressed, and the least remunerative of any nas
"of Europe. And whether we regarded the state of
agricultural science, the deficiency of capital, or the low
rate
of wages and of prices, it was impossible to come
to any other result. Now, what was the state of
agriculture in Ireland, as compared to England ? The
!umber of cultivated acres in Great Britain, according
to tables laid before the emigration Committee of 1827,
f4unireceatreclaim a
a."l"nted to 34,014,000 acres, and with about 240,000
Great Britain 1,055,902 made a total of 34,254,000 arable and pas-
present under cultivation. For these there were in
, ,055,902 agricultural labourers, raising an
annual produce to the valu of 150,000,000/. In Ireland,
aeluilttilvieatLthnerl4h,ar‘d, we had the total amount of lands under
605,000 tilled by no less than 1,131,715
agriculturists, (exclusive of 95,339 occupiers of land,)
turn employing, labourers, producing an annual re-
Thes°l
bb.ut 36,000,000/.
lies of
hear, hear.)
but
, w ilst the agricultural families of England formed
te_ one-fourth of the population, those of Ireland were in
"° proportion of at least two-thirds of the entire ; and
evrpheilnst Ireland afforded nee labourers for every two employed
'gram the same quantity of land in Great Britain, so back-
a.h. , Ware the science and practice even of that art on
rich I" they were dependent, that although occupying a
set
tr • and more productive soil, the Irishbfaarr
from the same extent of surfacethe emlyeroneul-foutth
hlst h
And Produce which it yielded to his English competitor.
of , to descend te minute particulars, t e wages
the 7,4:i 1 labourer in England varied from 10s.
to 12s• week those of the Irish labourer would scarce
average Bs. er ea. ; and when deductions were made for
Urienaployed time, owing to competition, festivals, and
other causes seldom averaged more than 25. 6d. to 3s. for
the Year round. And no better proof could be given of
the Poverty of this class, than the fact that even the ems
Ployer--the occupier of the soil himself—as a general rule,
was, in Ireland, too poor to consume the better kinds of
his own produce. Potatoes or oat• meal, and not wheat,
were the staple commodity at the table of nine-tenths, he
might say of nineteen out of every twenty, of the Irish
farmers. And singular as the matter was, it was no less
true, that whilst the agitation of this question in England,
where wheat was generally consumed by the labouring
classes, might have the object at least, if not the effect,
of reducing the price of the ordinary article of food in
Ireland, it would have totally the opposite result, inasmuch
as the higher the value of wheat, the more
oatmeal' and
potatoes would the farmer be enabled to consumein ex-
change for it, and the greater amount would it power to expend with the manufacturer be in his in order to en•
able him also to enjoy the same indulgence. Diminish the
Price of corn, and they at once decreased the comforts of
thefarmer, and the receipts of the retailer arid tradesman.
.With a branch of national industry thus reduced as it was
lit Ireland, to the lowest possible ebb, compatible with the
engagements of the lessee, and the positive existence of
sthtaerylaabtinoeurer—with a calling attenuated actually to the
point, what further experiments in the way of
reduction was it possible to attempt with safety, much less
ao
t. carry into effect ? And the desperate nature of the
the
would be the more apparent, when in addition to
which fluctuating engagements of the farmer—those outgoings
ii it was in her power to incur or to curtail, as his in-
'2',9le. permitted. They calculated the permanent burthens
7..c:til
.h., no matter what might be the value of the produce,
7, Id she be leviable off the surface of the earth, such as
__PLlccevrt charge, now secured by the best title in the em-
, n lieu of tithes—the county cess every year increasing
sta'it),e. existence of the Stipendary Magistracy and Con-
dabir
errY, and that which promised to be the most formi-
-I,,eviabl!, titilieer rate for tho support of the poor now
/rat, iable only from the occupiers of land in go ".
'Wi th an interest so critically poised, and already
heavily loaded, he did hope that the Legislature. would
pi
f( ttisl el before they ventured upon any immature experiments.
.if
tae
rparromteecrt ieofnhaeglaairngis
12os instant competitionaawaith
t, foreign corn were withdrawn, and
!va Manifestly matter oefenctoiueresleit,alwagsrebwroeurg, hi
tt
one branch inuYinil
indebted for a advantages
she at present enjoyed to this
markets of England—to what must be
vantages
d e ,namely, that .stes
ucedas her rest
over-population nationalwhich
i s arde:
e of .
the cost of labou; 'and production to the very lowest
Point compatible with animal life—( Hear, hear)—it was
utterly •
equalYenapossible that she should long maintain the un-
A.
ee ontest with countries, the low price of whose
shepro-
_:liieharote from the. possession of the very advantages of.
che,ip was desteute_countries in which labour, though
(erte.' was not redundant, and which, with a soil equal in
supers that of Ireland, possessed a climate infinitely
tai xpd ,' It was impossible that Ireland, with her heavily
the-„, ',and, and heavily taxed commodities, should hold
by
n'eerlst..ite‘t for any length of time against rivals repressed.
it an e such restrictions, and who, if not at a less, at least
Great r'lly low, cost of production, could transmit to
the main grain of a quality superior to that
agril",ist climate, the uncertain seasons, and the
imperfect
,‘. cuitural sci
Ape result
of !rice of Ireland, enabled_ her to raise.
of /rel..,j this experiment must be to the disadvantage
tame
0"", and in the present imperfectly reniunerative
to ann.Ogriculture, to reduce its profits in any degree was
was the "ae it. It had even been felt that as agriculture
any Main employment and resource of the Irish people,
thr Poireaneat •
improvement designed for. them must. come
eatiQattgh the medium of improving it—( Hear, hear)—
now must be equally clear to destroy it (A hich the course eeous__roposed would inevitably lead to) must be simulta-
tligieursain to them. He had already stated that the pro-
tbirt,
fears in Irish agriculture during the last
Nei'
0:1,°,111 had arisen from the protection and encourage-
try of
the"reat Britain, and considering that no other coun-
proeeee_e;vorld afforded a market for her produce, the im-
after tioi
pausing
be attributable to no other cause. Even
Year jae.?, sing of the Legislative Union, and up till the
reetie °die the Irish grain trade had been placed upon the
ben J jo_f a colonial trade, sad was discouraged by a
/lum-
en /
et meolc restraints, all of which were removed by
- ..e passed in that year, the 44th Geo. 111., c. 109,
twhile'tnweestablished an absolutely free trade in corn between
become countries, and from that hour forward Ireland had
'ranee 1° llngland what Sicily was to Rome, a public
%as 'Y and stock-farm. In every succerding year the in-
h4 if e of her exports had been immense, and Ireland, which
, .„
extentc nury iv6.-,
,imported annually English corn to the
Britain ea,, a million sterling, now exported to Great
anti
per ' agricultural produce to the value of 12,000,000 f.
e Tha exports of grain from Ireland to this
i:,ltatr a:
vty aro
Years t;
in the year of the Union, in 1600, 3,238 qrs.
after, when the new law was passed, it was_.
In 1805 306,924 qrs.
In 1810
In 1820
_