The Sun.
London, England, 1839-02-20 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

Sir EDWARD CODRINGTOI gave notice of a motion
for Tuesday, the 12th of March, relating, we believe, to a sub-
ject connected with the Navy.
TURNPIKE TRUSTS.
Mr. MACKINNON gave notice of a motion for Tuesday,
the sth of March, for a Select Committee to consider the most
eff4etttal means of securing the investments of Turnpike Trusts.
FIRE INSURANCE DUTY.
Colonel SIBTIIORP gave notice that on Tuesday the sth of
March, he would call the attention of the House to the propriety
of the immediate reduction of the odious duty upon fire insurances.
CANADA.
tlr. HUME renewed the notice he had given to move for
copies of correspondence relatinf to Nova Scotia, and other
North American Colonies • and he also gave notice that, to-
morrow, he would move lor a return of the public revenue of
Upper Canada during the same period as the returns
he had already moved for of the same nature respecting Lower
Canadt; also for a return of the expenditure during the earn
period; also for a return of the number of persona re-
cently also
for treasonable offences, and now dis-
posed of
; also for copies of the ordinances made by
the Governor of Lower Canada since the 24th of November,
1833; also for copies of is letter addressed bY Lord Aber-
deenchille to Lord Hill, on the Ist of August, 1835", respecting
t ge to fight a duel, sent by a Mr. S:ewart, seere-
fry to Lord Aylmer: and for a copy of that gentleman's
appointment to the office of Chief Justice of Quebec, and he
begged to ask Vie Noble Lord the Se
Deplrtment, when th Secretory for the Home
correspon
betwee c dence which had taken place
the Government and Sir Francis Head would be
laid oa the table of the House.

TAI

Lord JOHN RUSSELL was understood to say that
those papers would be produced very shortly.
Mr. BARRON wished to ask the Secretary •f the Admi••alty
whether there was any intention of doing away with the
packets on the Waterford station?
Mr. C. WOOD had not heard of any intention of that sort.

CORN LAWS.
Mr. VIL LIERS presented several petitions, without
naming the places from whence they came, praying for an
alteration in the Corn-laws. The Hon. Member then
resumed his seat, but was immediately called upon by the
Speaker. and rose and spoke as follows :
Mr. Speaker—ln rising, Sir, to move the question of
which I have given notice, I do not apologise to this
House for my total incompetency for this task which has
devolved upon me. I hope the House will consider that it
is rather from a regard fir their ti.ne than from any con-
fidence in myself, or any want of respect to them—( Hear)
—for I can unaffectedly assure the House nothing could have
induced me to engage in this task, had I not been assured
by those whose interests are involved in the question, that
their case depended upon the simple statement of its me-
rits, and not upon the ability or talent of any advocate. Sir,
they have approached this House in the spirit of men of busi-
ness, and I do trust that this discussion may be conducted in
the spirit in which the petitioners have come before the
Houae,:certainly nothing that I shall say, nothing that I shall
address to the House will afford any example of a devia-
tion from this course.—( Hear, hear.) In accordance with
the notice I have given, it is my duty to move that
certain persons who have presented a Petition to this
House be allowed to establish the allegations of that Peti-
tion at the Bar of this House. Sir, who those petitioners
arc, what it is they allege, and are prepared to prove,
and the grounds upon which they have been in-
duced to make this application, I will as briefly and as
concisely as it is in my power to do, proceed to state to
t is House. Sir, the pe'itionera are persons who are deeply
interested in the subject-matter of their petition, they are
persons who have been selected by their fellow-
citizens and by their fellow sufferers at large, and
open meetings assembled for the purpose, to
make known, by all legitimate means in their power, the
nature and the extent of the specific grievance of which
they complain. And, Sir, they bring this complaint from
those great districts of industry in this country, where
the mass of the ikhabitants depend for existence
upon the employment of their industry ; that they ex-
pect that employment as much from people of other
countries as they do from their countrymen around. Sir,
if I nime some of those places from which the petitions come
their interests will be known. They come from Glasgow—
from Leeds —from Nottingham--from Manchester—from
Liverpool, from Birmingham, from Wolverhampton, from
Derby, and from Kendal. The places within the
circle to which I have alluded, exceed, in popu-
lation, two millions in number ; and these places
will be recognised at once as the seats of the great staple
manufactures of the country.--( Hear, hear, hear.) And,
Sir, I run sure the House will not think it out of
place if I do here for one moment take a glance
at the interests which these people represent and their im-
portance to the community at large ; and I will only refer
to those four branches of trade which have the chief reason
to apprehend alarm from those grievances of which
they complain I allude to the cotton trade the
woollen trade. the linen trade, and the hardware trade—
( Hear, hear)—and, Sir, in referring to the most authentic
estimates of their importance to this country, I find that
there are employed in the corn trade of this country
no less than 1,500,0001. dependent on it for their main-
tenance and support; that the value of that trade to
this country is 31,000,0001 sterling ; that of the capital
employed in that trade there is fixed and fluting
20,000.0001. sterling—that nearly 17,000 000/. sterling
are employed in wages, and that two thirds of that manu-
facture in value, and three- fourths in quantity, is exported
from this country. Sir, the next trade is that of the
woollen trade, and I find that the annual value of thas
trade is 27 reiliions sterling a year—that one-fourth of
that is exported to other countries—that the number
of persons employed is upwards of 400,000, and
that that manufacture consumes of English wool upwards
of 103 millions of pounds annually.—( Hear, hear.)
find that the annual value of the linen manufacture it
eight millions sterling, and that there is spent in.
wages in it 3,500,0001. In the hardware trade I find
the trade is uawards of 17 Inillions_sterling.
Mr. HUME- Is it in one year?
_ _ _ _

Mr. VILL IE RS—The value of the raw material,
cap.tal, wage:', and every thing that constitutes it is in-
cluded.—( Lou I cries of " Hear.") The hardware trade
is seventeen millions sterling, that is the e,timeted value.
There are employed in it upwards of 300.000 persons,
and thousands of these persons depend for employ-
ment and subsistence, entirely on our foreign trade.
In each and all of these places, where these great branches
of industry are conducted, there have been lerge'and public
meetinp assembled for the purpose of affirming and proving
the allegations in this petition, and hardly without exception
a most decidod desire has been manifested and expressed
that more attention should be paid by the Legislature to
the allegations of these petitions than have been usually
awarded.—( Cries of " Hear.") Sir, I have thought it
right to alitt le to the importance of these interests, min
order to show the House that no insignificant or incon-
siderable class are seeking for their attention.—(Loud
cries of " Hear, hear.") I shall now proceed to re'er
to what it is that these parties allege and ask you to
allow them to prove; and, Sir, I hope the House will dis-
criminate well between what it is they do allege, and
what it is said they have alleged. These parties say
they have been obliged to observe and to experience
adecided change in the character of their dealings with these
nations on whomthey were accustomed to depend fer custom.
They further state, Sir, that thoee who were once our
valuable friends, they now find alarming rivals ; and that
:mete a change will have a very detrimental effect upon
the industry of this country ; —and they further state, which
reason they think gives them a claim upon your
attention, that you have done this. They say that the
Legislature, by denying them the liberty of taking that
which foreign countries have alone to exchange, you
have compelled those foreign countries to find means for
supplying their own markets—you have forced them to
become manufacturers thems& yes. This is the charge
which they bring against the Corn-laws—they say that
these laws have not only turned away our customers, but
that they have actually turned war former friends and
customers into competitors.—( Hear, hear.) The parties
who arc now before this House as petitioners are prepared
to prove to the House that they meet with this
active competition in foreign countries, and that it now
assumes a very alarming aspect, and that it this competi-
tion should extend in such a ratio as it had within the last
few years, it must be extremely prejudicial to the com-
munity at large, but more particularly to the industrious
working classes—( Hear, hear)—that class which is most
unable to bear it. Now, Sir, in this stage of the pro-
ceedings the petitioners do not ask you at once to
repeal these laws, which they say have operated so
fatally to the commerce of the country, but they
say that the important consequence of these laws very
deeply affect their interests, and as they did not fall neces-
sarily or naturally under the notice of a majority of the
House, and as the truth of their allegations is not admitted,
they ask from this House that they may be allowed to place
the facts stated in their petition beyond question, and having
proved them, they beg leave to submit them to the House,
in order to assist them in legislating upon the subject.
There i; nothing, Sir, stated in their petition but what falls
within the range of distinct and positive proof—they say
that there is nothing in their case that will require
any thing but a limited period of time—they
have only to repeat to you that experience
which had been forced upon them, and they hoped that
having laid the results of that experience before you, it
will assist you in your deliberations relative to the com-
merce of the country. They do not come here, Sir, to detail
to you that there is now existing any general distress—
they do not come here to excite any pity for their losses, or
to claim compassion from the House—they merely come
before you endeavouring to press upon your minds the ne-
cessity of providing for coming evils--( Hear, hear)—of
evils which must be shared as well by you as by mil-
lions of your fellow subjects. Sir, I will now proceed
to state what I believe to be within the spirit of dis-
tinct proof on this subject. I believe that it cannot
be disputed that those tariffs and duties imposed upon
our goods in foreign countries, have only been so im-
posed after repeated remonstances by those Governments
at our restrictive system, that those duties have been re-
strictions on commerce for human food, which is that
which they offer for our manufactures. That has been a
constant theme of complaint for the lhst twenty years in
the North of Europe, and before the year 1804 in the
United States.—( Hear, hear.) That they have always said
take our corn, and we will take your manufactures,
as the basis upon which they were always anxious to
desire to negotiate, but in consequence of our resist-
ance they have imposed these retaliating duties,
and notwithstanding the Governments of those
countries have only been enabled to impose those
retaliatory duties by representing to the people at
large what they have termed the selfish and ar-
bitrary character of our policy—such is the prejudice
of the people in all those countries in favour of our
manufactures, and such was the discouragement to
support other manufactures presented to thorn, that
they were entirely averse to the establishment of
those restrictions, and if any person chooses to refer
to the official journals of the United States, or to
the journals of the principal countries of the north
of Europe, they will find that when those duties
were imposed, they teemed with abuse of us for what
they termed our despotic system—attempting to enforce
upon them our manufactures, and refusing to take their corn
in return. Now, Sir, I think it will be in the power of
the petitioners, if they are allowed to adduce evidence,
t? prove that whatever has resulted from the commer-
cial hostility that exists, whatever loss of profit or good-
will we have experienced from the system now esta-
blished, they must be placed at the door of the Corn-
laws, and the first great step those countries have
taken in making themselves a manufacturing people,
notwithstanding all the obstacles opposed to them by
our great spirit, and our great industry, that that great
step is entirely attributable to the present Corn-laws.
But, Sir, it is not in the nature of these laws to be limited
in the mischief they produce—( Hear)—and they have not
only converted our customers into competitors, but they
have given these parties great advantage in the eampetition ;
and they have not only placed us in the ei;aivantageous
position of the price on our manufactures being enhanced
by the amount of these duties; but they have given them
the advantage of producing every article into which manual
labour enters, at double the cost at which they are able to
produce them ; and what your petitioners propose to show you
is, that these countries hare seized the advantages that we have
conferred upon them. and that in all the ertieles of which
the cost of living may be supposed to have enhanced the
cost of production, that they have already not only sup-
plied themselves, but they have also entered into
competition with us in other countries, and the
facts they wish to lay before you are these :
that our wares of that kind arc gradually declieing in other
countries, and that they have already obtained an advan-
tage in their production for other countries. Now, Sir,
this brings us to maters of feet, and this it is that the
petitioners moat desire, because it is not difficult
to hear persons prejudging this case without that com-
placency and conceit which 13 so cornmen ia this country,