The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-25 00:00:00

plishing the interest of that class for whose protection
it has endeavoured to legislate.—([lear, hear.) Now,
gentlemen, I wish to consider all the people of Eng-
land as one family. The gentleman who moved the
resolution, said that also, and that he did not wish to ee
me class arrayed against another. In that opinion I
entirely concur. I have never rejoiced in such a
'Act. -I
have been desirous to help all classes, instead
,f setting them one against another. I have never
rejoiced in those levelled vituperations against the
landlords or tenants, or any of that class. On the
loietrary, I have wished to see the landed interest
?revel, because I look upon it as the most stable
nterest in the country. No class, however, can
srevail unless it has right and justice upon its side,
end admits the principle of right and justice to others.
['hough you may have seen that there are districts
in this empire in which the class connected with the
landed interest does not enjoy that popularity which
[ trust it does in other parts of England, yet you must
ateibute that to a deep conviction in the minds of the
population—in the minds of the peasantry, in the
minds of thousands of the inhabitants of those districts,
:hat the legislation of England on this question of the
esrn laws is not one intended for the benefit of the
whole but for the benefit of one class in particular.—
(Great cheering.) Ido not say that it is so, I state
his only as the deep conviction which exists in the
minds of millions of my fellow-countrymen, that
such was the intention of the Legislature. I
tare say that someainongst you have read the
Tidos of yesterday, and if you have you will
eare, read something very significant in that
paper. Don't shut your eyes to such matters.
But, leaving that point, I turn to a proposi-
tion which is affirmed in this resolution. It is
therein stated that free trade is the cause of the dis-
tress which exists among the agricultural classes.
I put the question, whether this is true ? Now, either
the gentleman who moved, or who seoonded the
resolution, referred to the immense quantity of corn
which has been imported during the last year—
n 1848, I presume, he meant —bu Che stated that the
importation was 9.000,000. I think that is a little
,xaggerithn, but I will take him at word, though
I believe he is mistaken, and very consider-
ably mistaken too, as I believe that he gave
.bout double the actual quantity. Whether it be
4,000,000 or 9,000,000, I do not at all care ; but
what do you apprehend has been the cause of this
-n irmeus disproportion of foreign corn ?—[ A. Voice
—" Because we are feeding our pigs with our own.
1e feeds his pi?-s with his own corn. lam afraid he
uot b.en very successful in producing goo i corn."
—Laughter.] He would not feed his pigs on very good
corn, because the present average price of corn must
se about 345. or 355., and that by no means the
best. If you look for returns giving the price of
sorts in foreign countries, you will find that the best
eorn in the Dantsic market is now 395. per quarter;
Ind it is obvious, therefore, that no corn can come
:'rum Dantsic at the present moment, when there
hey are giving 39s , and when they can get only
:353. in England, unless upon the supposition that
he corn from Dantsic is much better able to corn-
nand a price in this market beyond that in
Their own. It is not, however, the best
English corn which is now selling at 3.5.3. It is not
wen the price of the corn upon which the people of
England now feed.—(A. Voice—" It is.") The gen-
lernan who says it is does not know the difference
letween the average and the highest price. The fact
if the average price being 355. proves that the best
torn is greatly above 35s.—(A Voice—" It is only
Is. a stone.") Well, hut is that good or bad corn ?
Ire we restricted to our own market here when Nye
lore the market of the whole world ? But what was the
:ase under protection ; for of course you would ex-
Act something better from protections than from the
want of it ?—(Hear, hear.) Exactly so; but why
is that ? You have now a price of 355. a quarter.
Anil what was the law of 1815, and I wish to know
if' we are not to have that law, what are we to
have ?—(A Voice—" The law of 1846-1542; in fact
protection.") Protection is a very vague word. I
want something more definite upon that head, and I
loubt whether any gentleman in this hall cen give me
any definite law which he would propose instead of
tree trade.—(A Voice—" We would go back to the
law of 1842.") Well, what was the law of 1848 ?
(From 4s. to I Os. duty per quarter.) The gentleman
s greatly mistaken. There was no law in 1842 but the
present law. The present law 1848 was the law of
1842. The protective law was the law of 1828, and I
would suggest that gentlemen should not contradict
unless they are sure of their facts, and that they are
right. Now, previously to 1842, what was the law
which existed? I piuse for a reply.—(Silence.)
What, no answer ? Well, then, in compassion for
you, I will tell you, gentlemen, the law of 1842 was
the amended law of 1828. Well, but what was the
law of 1828 ? It was not, as the gentleman in the
body of the hall observed, a duty of from 4s. to 103.,
it was a law of a sliding scale, under the operation of
which, you will. bear in mind, in the year 1835 the
average was precisely the same as that of which you
are now complaining.—(A. Voice in the hall—" But
the poor-rates were not so high.") The average price
in 1835, under the law of 1828, was the same as now,
and that was the most abundant year you had known.
—(Loud cries of "No !") Well, then, I will not
deal in positive affirmation ; if it was not the most
abundant, it was one of the most abundant ever
known.—("No, no!") It is perfectly true—(" No,
no !")—that was one of the most abundant years ever
known. Well, then, I will tell you why I appre-
hend the imports of the last year to have
been so very great. Do you remember, gentlemen,
what was the state of things in the earlier part of the
year 1847 ? I wish to ask the question, bebause I
want to know from those gentlemen who complain of
the prices of 1835 what they were in 1847—why,
about 100 s. per quarter.—(Cries of " How long did
that last ?—it was a jobbing trick of the Government,"
&c.) The reason why there has been this great im-
portation is the high price in England in 1847. Those
high prices created a great importation in 1847,
especially considering the season, and the consequence
was a great depression in the price of produce; of that
there can be no doubt. That importation would not
have taken place unless for the relaxation which is
called free trade ; but what would have been the con-
dition of the people of this country if that relaxation
had not taken place? You have not, however, answered
the question which I put. What is your answer to the
question of what you would have instead of free
trade ? (A. Voice—"A fixed duty to keep up the
revenue, and protection to native industry.") Well,
but if you protect industry you must exclude the
corn.—(No, no.) There is a good deal of sense in
the first proposition of a fixed duty. The revenue now
derived from foreign cora is not as large a revenue
as you might have derived from it, but that you can
go back to protection or restrictive duty now is a
thing utterly impossible.—(Loud cries of "No, no.")
You can never go back to it. (Several questions
were here put at once to the Noble Earl, " Why,
not ? what is to prevent it ?" and "Is it because the
King of the West Riding says we shall not ?") It is
not because the King of the West Riding says you
shall not ; for I think that gentleman has been talking
a great deal too much, and that he is a class legislator;
but because I think you will find a public feeling in
England which will make it impossible for you, under
present circumstances, to return to protection. (A
Voice—" Well, what objection have you to try the
sense of the people of England on the subject ?")
—(Great cheering.) Well, if you could try it, what
would you do yourselves ? You could not get a
proper man for your purpose from the gentlemen
around me; and through all Cambridgeshire, North-
amptonshire, Lincolnshire, and other agricultural
counties, you cannot get better men than they are.
Whom would you displace ? Those very persons who
are acting upon the principle on which you wish them
to act; and therefore I think that if you succeeded in
your proposal it would not be attended with any great
success. I differ from you, both as to the substance
proposed and the form in which it is pro-
posed in your resolution. The substance I entirely
dissent from, and with respect to the form in which
you have put it, I doubt very much if you would
answer your own purpose if you were to carry it—as
no doubt you will do—in an address to her Ma-
jesty, and that, in compliance with the wish ex-
pressed in your address, her Majesty were to do
that which I do not believe she will do—dissolve the
present Parliament. If that were done, you would
not have advanced in your cause ; and therefore,
looking both to the terms and substance of this resolu-
tion, I think you would do much better to let it alone.
—(Laughter, and cries of "That is a peer's opinion.")
Gentlemen, it is a long time since I have had the
pleasure of meeting you here, and
,though I am per-
fectly well aware that I do not agree with the majo-
rity of those I see before me, and you have disputed
some propositions I have ventured to lay before you,
I feel quite sure that you are as glad to renew your
acquaintance with me as I am to renew mine with
you. It gives me an opportunity of expressing
frankly before you the opinions I entertain upon this
very important subject. It is, I lament to say, a
subject on which—whatever speeches may be made
disclaiming the imputation—there is, nevertheless,
growing up in this country, and in all parts of the
country, a tendency to consider the question as a
class principle only.—(" No, no," and cries of " Look
at Cobden.") Any gentleman reading Mr. Cobden's
speech will see that he looks upon the question with
a class view, and from what I have heard at a meet-
ing which took place in the neighbouring county of
Lincoln, I am afraid that the whole question was
considered in a class light. We shall not have to
say the same of this meeting.—(liear, hear.) Now,
gentlemen, it is much better that this class interest,
taebsi -heriadte on
.fee
vntgeh e
which,
one side
should o
wb ehartein
candid
ivert hme
aw(
y) tihr
bt eheo, should
autttemiintroducing
attempted
ue timid
tcoli
be
said to the contrary, has been felt by one after an.
other —(Uproar, and cries of " No.") After the
law of 1815, you remember what happened in 1821
and 1822 ; after the law of 1828 you remember what

THE SUN,