The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-03 00:00:00

wheat ? He fonud that in Guildford market, on Sa-
turday last, 645. was asked, and 625. refused, for a
quarter of wheat. No doubt the general run of the ordi-
nary produce of wheat in the southern counties was exceed •
ingly bad—so bad, indeed, that it was hardly fit to be
ground; and how did Honourable Gentlemen think it was
ground after all? Why, no inconsiderable portion. was only
rendered fit to be ground by mixing it with foreign wheat
imported from the other side of the channel.—( Hear, hear.)
So that the importation of foreign corn, which was to be our
ruin, was the only means by which English corn could be
ground. If it had not been for the French corn, a great por-
tion of the wheat cf the south of England could not have
bees made into flour. He would only advert to one other
case, and that was the produce of hops, which had been al-
luded to once or twice. He might say that upon this matter
the Honourable Gentleman the Member for West Kent had
been most indefatigable in looking after the interests of his
constituents, and in hying before him (the Chancellor of the
Exchequer) and his iNoble Friend statements of the distress
which, he was sorry to say, did prevail. There had been
various statements of the causes of that distress. First, they
were told that it was the removal of the protective duty on
hops; but when he looked cn the quantity of foreign
hops that had been imported he found it next to
nothing, therefore the cause was not the importation
of foreign hops. Before the removal of protecting duties,
when agricultural distress prevailed, he was told that it was
entirely owing to the Bill of 1819, which altered the cur-
rency, and that the duty paid before the change in the cur-
rency could not possibly be paid now that a gold standard
had been established—quite forgetting that for fifteen years
the duty had been paid under a steady gold standard. The
real truth was, that for years past there had been very
large crops of hops, and last year a large quantity of infe-
rior hops was grown. The average produce for the three
years ending 1845 was 30,000,000 pounds, while the average
of the three years ending 1848 was 46,000,000, being an in-
crease of 50 per cent. He now came to what was after all
the great feature in this question, the state of the agricul-
tural labourer, and he was quite prepared to adopt the
same test, as far as the agricultural labourer was concerned,
as he had applied with regard to the manufacturing la-
bourer. What they had principally to look at was the con-
dition of the great body of the people employed in labour.
To them and to their interest they were bound principally
to look. He believed that in the south and west of England,
Cornwall, Somersst, Devonshire, and Wiltshire, the labourer
was to some extent suffering from a diminution of wages
and a want of employment, but he did not find that this
was the case in other parts of England. He found with
respect to the districts adjoining the one he had
described as the depressed district, Gloucestershire, Wor-
cestershire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Staffordshire,
and part of Wiltshire, the following report :—"The agricul-
tural classes, though temporarily suffering from low prices
after a series of prosperous years, are better off than they
were in 1833 and 1836. The diminution in the price of pro-
visions has enabled the labouring classes generally to main-
tain themselves with extra provisions. In the eastern coun-
ties of England, with regard to the general condition of the
labouring classes, those who are employed are comparatively
well off owing to the low price of corn. Where remunerative
wages are given, the labourer and his family are as well off
as formerly."—(Hear, hear, from Mr. Bankes.) He was not
going to shirk any part of the question. The accounts he
had from Norfolk stated that with the present irate of wages
the labourer was better off than he was two years ago, when
the price of corn was high, and when he obtained 2s. or 3s. I
more for his labour. In Essex the cheapness of bread has
enabled the men to live on a very small amount. The la-
bourers were always in the best condition when the price of
corn was low.
Sir J. TYRELL—Who is that from ?
The CHANCELLOR cif the EXCHEQUER (reading):
"The labourer was never better off. His wages were 95. or
10s. a week, which placed every necessary within his reach,
and most of the men were in constant employment."
Sir J. TYRELL—AIIow me to ask where is that from ?
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (still read-
i In Northamptonshire the average amount of wages
for agricultural labour is 10s. a week, which with the present
prices of food and clothing is preferable to 12s. with neces-
saries at a high rate. The labourer is better off." Now, he
did not think that Hon. Gentlemen would deny this, that if
the labourers' wages were undiminished they must be better
off.—(lronical cheers from the Protectionists.) Did Hon.
Gentlemen mean to deny that if wages were undiminished
the labourers must be better off. If their wages were not
reduced more than the price of provisions and clothing they
would be as well off, and he believed that it was only in the
southern counties that wages had been reduced more than the
prices of provisions and articles cf consumption had fallen.
He believed that in the greater part of England the la-
bourers in husbandry were better off than at any former
period, in consequence of the low price of provisions and of
the articles of clothing. He fully admitted that where
their wages were more reduced than the articles of consump-
tion, they were not better off —(" Hear, hear," from Mr.
Bankes.) The Hon. Gentleman cheered him as though he
had not admitted that already, or as if he had attempted
to deny it. Ha had said from the first that he would state
the whole case fully and fairly to the House, that he would
not shrink from, dealing with every part of the case. He
had said that there was severe distress in some parts of the
.agricultural districts, but that he did not believe that
generally that was the case. He believed that in the
greater part of England the agricultural labourer was better
off than in any former time, owing to the low price of food.
Of course he did not mean for a moment to say if the
labouring men were not employed, or not getting wages,
that they could be so well off as they were. That was a pro-
position which he thought would require no great ingenuity
to discover, and no great skill to defend. He had shown
that the distress which was existing in the south-western
counties of England had not been produced by the importa-
tion of foreign corn, but by the miserable harvest of last
year. The Honourable Gentleman asked if he proposed that
that want of employment should be permanent? He be-
lieved it would not, for this reason, that he did not believe
that all classes in this country, of all branches of in-
dustry in this country, of all classes of Englishman, the
agricultural interest alone, the farmers of this country alone,
were those who would sit with folded arms and see their
substance perish and make no exertion. (Hear, hear.) If
they would help themselves the result would be further em-
ployment for the labour of this country. Look -whet, the
manufacturers of this country had done. They formerly
had a monopoly of the trade of the world. That trade,
however, was thrown open, and they were exposed to the
competition of foreign manufacturers. But had they stocd
still upon their former modes of production—had they con-
tinued the old-fashioned machinery of their fathers? Look
at the manufacturing towns—look at the new mills built,
and the new machinery introduced ? Look at the capital in-
rested in those improvements year after year? Let them
ask his Honourable Friend the Member for Leeds (Mr.
Marshall) how much of the machinery, by which his
father had made his fortune, whom they might remem-
ber in that House, now remained in operation ?—(Hear,
hear.) He believed that hardly a stick or a stone would
be ;found unchanged. The manufacturers were constantly
`axing their ingenuity to produce improvements for the
purpose of extending their productions. He did not say
that there was no suffering—some suffering at least caused
in that progress of improvement. lie did not say that the
weak, the idle, and the ignorant bad not gone to the wall in
that race of improvement. No doubt some hand-loom
weavers had to a certain extent been displaced or supplanted
by the introduction of power-looms. No doubt suffering
had been caused to some classes, but what had been the
effect produced on the labouring classes generally ? Had not
their comfort to a great extent been promoted by the im-
provements which had been effected-- which impl ovements
would confer benefits on future generations? And were the
agriculturists alone to be exempted from the expenditure
of capital in making improvements? Were they alone to
stand still? Were they to be protected by high prices of
food, and have the benefit of cheap clothing? Was that
fair or reasonable between different classes of the commu-
nity? Surely it would not be said that it was; and why
should they be left behind in the race of improvement?
Well, then, he said that he did look to improved agri-
culture as the means of giving increased employment. A
different system of agriculture had been introduced in
different parts of the country, and greater attention was paid
t) the improvement of agriculture by the introduction of im-
proved manures; and it was a remarkable fact, that in pro-
portion to the improvement of agriculture was the non-
apprehension of the importation of foreign wheat. He would
call the attention of Hon. Gentlemen who desired to im-
prove the condition of the labourers of this country to the
effect which the reduced price. of corn must have upon
them. He would take the price of corn in the year 1847
and at this moment. The usual assumption was, that a
family consisted of five persons, and that they consumed
one quarter of corn per head in the year. In the year
1847 the price of a quarter of cern was 695. 9c'.; and in
the year 1849 it is 455. 3d., making a difference of 24% 6d
Let them look to the cost of the food of a family now am

then, as it depended upon the price of corn. The differ-
ence in bread alone would be 61. 2s. 6d. ; and taking
the average wages of a labourer in the southern and mid-
land parts of England to be 105. per week, the difference in
the price of his bread would amount to twelve weeks'
labour. If it were said that that was too strong a case, he
would take another. The usual allowance was a 41b.
loaf in the week to each member of a family, and the
difference in Trice between 1847 and 1849, being 4Ad ,
that would make a total difference in the year of 5/. in ihe
price of bread.—(Hear, hear.) Should not that be a consi-
deration with those who professed to regard the condition
of the labourer? But those who declare that such is their
primary object seek to enhance the price of his food, and
if they were successful it would require the expenditure
on his part of a whole quarter's wages to make
up the difference. Circumstances'' might arise from
the change of the seasons to affect the price of
food, and over those cases they had no cc.ntrol; but would
Gentlemen, he asked, for their own purposes, and to in-
crease their own rents, raise the price of bread—would
they exact from the labourer an additional price
for his bread, amounting to the wages of twelve weeks or
one quarter of a year: -( Hear, hear.) Honourable Gentlemen
might not have gone through these figures, but they were
quite undeniable. Let the Honourable Gentlemen deny those
figures if he could. Could it be denied that he (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) had put the question fairly—that
the price of bread was so much in one year and so much in
another? and he put it to the Honourable Gentleman the
Member for Kent if that would not be a hardship? Ho
asked him if he was prepared by legislation to put that ad-
ditional burden on the labourer? lie (the Chancellor of the
Exchequer) would be surprised if the Honourable Gentle-
man got up in his place and said he was prepared to do so.
He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) would therefore say,
that on the ground which had been so strongly put by the
Honourable Member for Bucks—a consideration for the con-
dition of the labouring classes—on the simple ground of
humanity, he would put the question to the country gentle-
men of England, and he hoped would give an answer
to it.—(Hear, hear.) Honourable theyentlemen might perhaps
be inclined to say that he haudonueoseri.ght to use an argument
based upon humanity in that
td.though he did not
know that true policy could exist wit!haonnofit, 17? e was prepared
icy alone. He
to argue the question on thelstwithoutit, ground
ber for Burks
considered that the motion of HonourablePDoil
, mean
seahe
was one for the restoration of a just protectioernn
Tlththat,
it. If the lion. Gentleman's motion did not called
it
meant nothing. Now, was there any man, when
tion was so put to him, who would vote for the re-enactment
of a law so prejudicial. to the labourer? The argument was
equally defensible on the ground of policy; and let it be res-
t) silected that he argued with the country gentlemen of Eng-
land on this:question as one of themselves—( Hear, hear)—as
one having no interest apart from theirs, and having no wish,
when removed from the post which he now occupies, but to
return to country purainte.— (Hear, hear.) He believed
that on the whole their duties were well performed by the
country gentlemen of England; he believed they discharged
them most creditably to themselves and most beneficially
to their fellow-countrymen. He believed they acquired
those habits of action which enablel them to take
part in the general government of the country,
and he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) for one
thought it most essential that in the general govern-
ment of the country they should have a large and most im-
portant share; but to maintain such a position in the govern-
ment of the country they must possess the confidence of the
great mass of their fellow-citizens. They must have the
confidence of the great body of the people; and how could
they expect to possess that confidence if the great body of
the people think they have interests opposed to their own ?
How can they expect that the great body of the people

should wish to see them taking part in the government of the
country if for the purpose of maintaining their own family
settlements and mortgages the price of coin is to be kept up
by artificial means ?—(Hear, hear.) He knew there were
persons who sincerely .and honestly differed from him in
opinion, and en attempt might be made to alter the present
law, but he entertained the strongest confidence in the Legi,.-
lattice and in the country that no such attempt would be
successful —(hear, hear.) He felt confident such an at-
tempt would be resisted, and that the course of legislation
etrits eevpeeroe dp
people
wfoornaide ahres,
fho
lal vo
itrnegd regardthe
that had
no
o interestss beent e
onlyelsn'hdhteorn,
dot he now
popfof retrogression would would be taken.
—(Hear, hear.) Out of that House a cry had been raised
against the aristocratic nature of the Government. If that
termed were used in this sense—that the Government of
the country consists of men of independent mind, character,
and fortune, he was willing to accept that denomination;
but when it was said that they have an interest apart from
the rest of the country, never was an accusation more un-
justly made.—(Hear, hear.) Looking to their course of legis-
lation, on financial, as well as commercial matters what
was the result? Some time ago the Right Hon. Gentleman
the Member for Tamworth pointed out the difference between
their finances and those of a neighbouring country. Let
them look to the remission of taxation that had taken place
since the peace-30,000,0001. of taxes, excluding property-
tax and corn-tax, had been repealed, all of which had borne
upon the middle and lower classes. The progress of reduc-
tion may sometimes have been more slow, it may have varied
from year to year, but the uniform course of legislation had
been to remove those taxes that pressed upon the industry or
upon the comforts of the great body of the people.—(Hear,
hear.) An Honourable Gentleman had said the other day,
that unless taxation was taken off it was not possible
that the country would be satisfied by any statement in
that House, but the Honourable Gentleman forgot that
in this year taxation to the extent of 385,0001. would
be taken off independent of the duty on corn, and tax-
payers would pay less this year than they paid last year,
to the extent of 1,000,000/.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gen-
tleman had contrasted the expenses of France in 1820 and
1840. He stated that the Government of France had ex-
pended 36,000,000 in 1830, and they had increased those
expenses to 72,000,000 in 1840, but since that there had
been a statement made by the highest authority, show-
ing the effect of democracy in the course of three years. The
President of the French Republic stated that in the year
1848 the public debt was increased by 56,000,000, and the
increased charges caused by the revolution were 265,498,000,
and in spite of the new tax and the loan, the deficit of the
year amounted to 72,000,000. In the year 1849, there was
an estimate in the budget of 25,000,000 but it turned out
to be 180,000,000. New taxes that had been proposed were
not voted; the tax on salt was reduced; the tax on liquor
was reduced ; and the prospects of the present year were
even worse than those of the last. He (the Chancellor of
the Exchequer) did not think that an aristocratic Govern-
ment, as it was called, would have much reason to fear a
comparison with a democratic Government. He had read a
list of measures proposed for adoption under another demo-
cratic Government, and no measures could, he thought,
more speedily lead to the ruin of a country.—( Hear, hear.)
To return to the state of this country, as he
said before, 30,000,0004 of taxes had been taken off. The
landed gentry
had taken upon themselves the payment
of an income-tax which pressed upon them more
heavily than upon others, and they had repealed the laws
n which, if Honourable Gentlemen were to be believed,
otheirvery existence depends.—(llear, hear.) He believed
the great body of the people were convinced, whatever the
opinions of parties in that House might be on other subjects,
that the majority of the Legislature were resolved to main-
tain that system of legislation which had been most success-
fully pursued, and had received the fullest development in
the last few years—that system of legislation of which the
present Government were the supporters, until they acceded
to office, anal of which they are at present the supporters.—
(Hear, hear.) He believed the country was firmly per-
suaded of that, and that no attempt would be made to re-
verse that system of legislation He believed the people of
the country entertained the fullest confidence in the opinions
of both Houses of Parliament, and felt convinced that they
and the Government of the country had no interest separate
from theirs.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") It was that
identity of interest which had preserved the country
from past dangers, and would preserve it from dangers to
come.—(Hear, hear.) They were told sometimes that they
lived in unsettled and dangerous times. Doubts had been
expressed of the maintenance of their institutions; but lie
entertained no such doubts, because he was convinced that
no class in this country could have an interest different from
that of the great body of the people. There was, in fact, no
difference of interests between the peer and the peasant, be-
tween the throne and the cottage; and hence arose that
sacred attachment to their institutions which had preserved
them through so many dangers, and which would, he trusted,
whit the bleesing of 4.1. d, protect them through the storms
of revolution, and through those dangers which are now
desolating so many portions of the globe.—(Hear, hear.)
Believing that to be so, he would deprecate any attempt
to reverse that legislation as the greatest evil that
could befall the country.—(Hear, hear.) He believed
that the motion of the Honourable Gentleman could have no
other practical effect, for the party of which the honourable
Gentleman stood forth as a leader believed that recent dis-
tress was owing to recent legislation, and if they were pre-
pared to apply a remedy, it must be by the reversal of that
legislation. Believing, as he (the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer) did, that that course would be fatal to the true inte-
rests of the great body of the people, and to the stability of
the constitution, he would resist it with the most unfeigned
conviction of the solidity of the grounds on which they now
stand.—( Hear.) On that question he trusted the House
would come to a decision which would satisfy the country
that they were not prepared to reverse that legislation, but
were resolved to go forward in carryirg out that system which
would be for the benefit of all classes in the community.
Mr. BAILLIE thought that the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer was, in the statement he had just made to the
House, greatly mistaken in many of the points to which he
had adverted, and especially in relation to many matters
stated by him (Mr. Baillie) respecting British Guiana, state-
ments which, when his Hon. Friend Mr. Hume would bring
forward his intended motion on that colony, he would be
prepared to support.—(Hear, hear.) With regard to the mo-
tion of his Hon. Friend the Member for Buckinghamshire,
whatever might be thought of it by many Hon. Members,
he (Mr. Baillie) believed that there never was a time when
such a discussion was more called for.—(Hear, hear.) The
state of Ireland was truly deplorable; the state of their
manufactures was one of great depression ; pauperism was
on] the increase ;4, shopkeepers were in a stateiof great
embarrassment, and the agricultural interests were in a
state of: great suffering. The revolutions which had re-
cently taken place on the Continent, and the unsettled state
of things in many continental nations, had been assigned,
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, as the causes of the
depression of trade, and increase of pauperism in this
country; but would it be said that those causes could have
any effect, such as they now witnessed, on the depression in
their "home" markets. Let it net be supposed, while he
said this, that he was hostile to the principles of free trade,
or that he was of opinion that its advocates had not the
noblest and most humane objects in view.— (Hear, hear.
- - - _ . -

But there was a limit beyond Which he thought it might be
shown that the advocates of that measure had gone in their
manner of carrying it out. It had been said by the ad-
vocates of free trade, that it would prove a means of giving
more general employment to the people of the country and
prove productive of a better state of things; but did those
results flow from it? He thought that even the most san-

guine advocates of free trade would agree with him, that
they had not.—(Hear.) He thought, also, in reference to
all the measures which the Government contemplated—the

doubling of the income-tax amongst them—tha't the time
was not far distant when there would be a reaction. Under
all circumstances he deemed it to be his duty to support the
motion of the Hon. Member for Buckinghamshire.
Mr. ROEBUCK said, he expected from the speech, or
rather the motion of the Hon. Member for Buckinghamshire,

that there would have been some better reason given for the
cause of this proceeding than the Hon. Gentleman himself
had made known to the House. The Hon. Gentleman must
have known that the motion which he was about to make
was of a most commercial character; and therefore it was
that he was desirous to take the business of the nation into
his own hands.— (Hear and laughter.) Now, he (Mr. Roe-
buck) asked what there was in the state of the nation which
warranted such a motion? Ha knew the difficulties of the
whole machinery, and he said ho would come forward with
his motion, notwithstanding he knew he shculd dispossess
the Government of this country of the power which it held
—fur that was the meaning of the Hon. Gentleman—and he

was prepared with a Government in his own hands.—( Hear,
hear, and laughter.) Now, if the Hon. Member did not

. .
mean that, he did not mean anything; and, with respect to
the Hon. Gentleman's party, he congratulated him as the
head of that party.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman
said he had proposals to make, and he (Mr. Roebuck) had
no doubt he had, if the Right Honourable Gentleman, the
Speaker, would leave the Chair.—(Hear, and laughter.)
The Hon. Gentleman's whole course was one of criticism.
He (Mr. Roebuck) thought he was about to tell them of his
plans. But the Hon. Member at first confined himself to a
translation from Cicero, which he afterwards gave the House
a partial trap.-lation of into Latin, leaving them to guess
what his meaning was. They were not met there for the
exhibition of great florid, artistic eloquence; they were not
there to deal with phrases; they were not there to enter into
the Rhetorician's art; but they were there quite for other
business. The Honourable Gentleman placed his whole

argument on a doubt, and not on a principle. He (Mr.
Roebuck) asked the Honourable Gentleman on what prin-
ciple it was that the present Government were brought
into office, and the Hon. Gentleman into notice? (Hear,
and laughter.) He (Mr. Roebuck) would state it at once.
He saw the Eight Hon. Gentleman the Member fur Tam-
worth opposite—whom he honoured—and it was the oppo-
sition of the Hon. Gentleman and his party to the policy of
that Right Hon Baronet, and the enlightened rules which
regulate the Government of this country, that those circum•
stances were attributable. The head of that party was the
first to acknowledge the great principles we endeavoured to
establish for the rule of the country—(Laughter)—aye, he
could understand that laugh, or the appearance of it—
( Cheers)—and having got over the laugh he would pro-
ceed. The first to establish the great principle of free
trade was the Right lion. Baronet.—(Oh.) He was not
speaking of that, but of the opposite side of the House.
The Right Hon. Gentleman being at the head of the most
powerful party this country ever saw, and having no in-
terests swaying him, but the interests of the country,
yielded to truth and to truth only.—(Hear, hear.) He de-
parted from all that made his life pleasant, and submitted
to sacrifice all that was most seducing to man in order to
serve his country.—(Cheers.) He, and his most enlightened
coadjutors, admitted and acted upon the principles of free
trade; and while he was endeavouring to carry them into
effect there arose that great star from the east—(Laughter)
who, by attacking the Right Hon. Gentleman—with great
ability, he admitted, as far as the exhibition was concerned—
did win his way into popularity.—(Hear.) But the Bill was
passed at last, and then the party was split into two.—
Then the present Government came into office—they came
into office not because they were strong—but because the
opposite party were weak. They came into office upon no
Pthe principleeotout of
office
free-trade.
:ti
rpoal nh de
(a °
13tprinciple, t anthd e
eh r p
Right
n lie
wasoxnc onlyt was
.eGentleman.
w
defeated from vin-
dictive feeling; and the Noble Lord came into (Ice on
that
Government
‘ti
,nie,cerinpemloerenn.atinaadv,,
admitted
that time to this the Honourable
Gentleman had been carping at the Government. Yet, let
tttiihloeenm always
itt,trel,datr, the great
"tne.,adri
theo
retriie: onon. ui btet,,,,htrey i
twaoenr irce,
a claim to the support of
the House. But he denied hi:setat
artificersistics in words, then
. In the first place
he said the condition of the agricultural labourer was worse.
Now he asserted that the agricultural laoLenr, aestvefrarheashhaical
0 al orhni,,nii thati principles,
Gentleman
tl
Governmenteamcatendi ando pscapoioucsil idt thatone
wages were concerned, was better oft
known.—(Oh, oh.) Well, he challeeged them
and repeated from his own knowledge that the we gthslesneopefretre
agricultural labourer had not been diminishede
passing of the corn-laws. The agricultural labourert ofe
Hampshire received nine shillings a week before the
passing of the corn law. They had not been reduced since
then. The corn law had not reduced the price of corn, and
therefore he asked in what way the condition of the labourer
could have been deteriorated.-- (Oh !) Well, then, passing
from this argument, he would turn to another. He would
say that he ,saw no reason why they should depart from the

principles of the constitution. He saw no reason in anything
the Honourable Gentleman stated, why the House should
break in upon its ordinary course of proceeding, and displace
the Government for the purpose of giving its support to the
Honourable Gentleman.—(Oh, oh ! and Question.) He
trusted that the House would not aid a small and paltry party,
who were animated by personal spite, in interrupting a plain
statement of his views.—(Question.) Well, the question
was whether they should leave the ordinary business of the
session and go into Committee on the state of the nation.
Why, what was the state of the nation ? He asserted fear-
lessly that trade and commerce were improving, and that
the sufferings and losses of the last two or three years were
amply accounted for by the deficient harvests of last year
and the famine iu Ireland, and not from any measures intro-
duced by the Government. He spoke as one having know-
ledge and authority.—(oh.) Yes, he spoke as the represen-
tative of a great manufacturing ar.cl mercantile constituency,
as connected with the great West Riding of York. His con-
stituents informed him that trade and commerce and wages
were improving there, and of course that could not be the
case without reacting upon the country at large. Who, then,
was suffering ? The lion. Gentleman said the agricultural
labourer. He replied no, only the landlord. (Hear, hear.)
Then the Hon. Gentleman accused the Government of the
Noble Lora of having been the cause, or part of the cause,
of the revolutions on the continent. He believed, on the
contrary, that the Noble Lord, by carefully abstaining from
mixing up England with continental politics, had done
much to promote the great interests of this country, while,
as to the repeal of the corn-laws, he would say that if the
Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) had not repealed the corn•
laws, we should have been a country like France, like
Prussia, like other countries on the Continent, where law,
order, and progress were subverted. But the Right Hon.
Gentleman might take this as his best consolation and justi-
fication, that during the last two years, while thrones had
trembled, constitutions have been overturned, and anarchy
and bloodshed spread far and wide, this country had enjoyed
a tranquillity, peace, and order, which was entirely attribut-
able to her wisdom and prudence in listening to the voice of
the increased intelligence of the age.—(Cheers.) The Hon.
Gentleman asked them to reverse this policy, to adopt the
contrary, and to bring the country again to a policy which
would place the country in antagonism to other nations.
But he believed that the nation was not prepared to do so.
Ile believed that it would continue to confide in the policy,
in the wisdom and patriotism of the Right Honourable
Baronet, and would neither listen to the statistics nor
the propositions of the Honourable Member for Bucks.
Mr. PLUMPTRE was of opinion that if the Right Hon
Baronet the Member for Tamworth had abided by the opi-
nions he had so long entertained, free trade principles would
never have been carried, and they would consequently never
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statements as to the flourishing state of the manufacturing
towns. But he would warn them, that if the present state
of affairs continued, the manufacturing towns would soon be
dragged down to the level of the agricultural population by
the cessation of the demand for their manufactures. The
Hon. and Learned Gentleman opposite denied that the agri-
cultural labourers were distressed. He denied that state-
ment, and being best acquainted with these districts, he could
speak more confidently respecting them.— (Hear, hear.) He
held in his hand the returns made by the governors of
union workhouses in the eastern division of the county of
Kent. The accounts were made up to the 15th of last
month, so that they came down to a recent period. The re-
sult of these accounts was, t hat on the 15th of May, 148,
there were in these. unionsB4B able-bodied men, and 2,391
able-bodied women. In the present year there were 2,101
able-bodied men, and 3,158 able-bodied women, being
an increase of 1,253 able-bodied men, and 707 able-bodied
women. Now, he placed that statement against the asser-
tion of the Honourable and Learned Gentleman, and he
asked if the system which thus increased the number of
able-bodied paupers was deserving of support.—(Cheers.)
The Hoo. Gentleman then read a letter from a gentleman
of influence in East Kent, who at ributed the distress
amongst the agricultural labourers to have arisen from the
free-trade measures. There was an intense feeling in the
county which he represented, which was in accordance with
the sentiments expressed by the writer of this letter, and he
contended that it was most unwise in the face of these facts
to persevere in a line of policy which was so highly preju-
dicial to the best interests of the country.—(Hear.)
Mr. SLANEY—At this late hour (past 12 o'clock) I
think the best course would be to move the adjournment of
the debate. I, therefore, move the adjournment of the
debate.— (Hear.)
Lord J. RUSSELL hoped that Hon. Members having mo-
tions for to-morrow would give way, and allow the adjourned
debate to be proceeded with without interruption.
Lord D. STUART said he had a notice on the paper,
which was one of great importance, not only to the people of
Marylebone, but to the people of Middlesex also. It was
for the appointment of a Select Committee to inquire into
the whole state of the metropolitan police force. He could
not consent to withdraw his motion for to-morrow, unless
the Noble Lord would give him an order day to bring it
forward.