The Sun.
London, England, 1822-07-12 00:00:00

HOLTSE OF COMMONS.

At the usual hour the .SPEAK a took the Chair; but finding
only 32 Members present, adjourned the House till to.niorrow.

THE CORN BILL.

The EARL of LAUDERDALE'S PROTEST AGAINST
THE CORN IMPORTATION BILL.
Because this Bill repeals the regulations as enacted by the
bsth of George 111., chapter 26, whereby, after long and mi-
nute examination into the state of the Agriculture of the United
'Kingdom, it was by Parliament provided, as necessary to af-
ford to agriculture a degree of protection equal to what the law
gives to other branches of industry, that wheat from abroad
should not be exposed to sale till the price in our markets
amounted to 80s. ; and at a time when it is admitted that fo-
rign wheat can be imported at 355. a quarter, it enacts that the
foreign grower shall in future be admitted to a competition with
our tanners when wheat iS at 70s. a quarter, on paying a duty
of 17s. for the first three months, and afterwards of 12s. till it
rises to 80s.

Under this Bill, therefore, the farmer will not only be de-
prived of the monopoly he enjoyed in the home market, till
.wheat attained the price of 80s. the quarter, but he will be ex-
posed when it is at 70s. to a competition with the foreign grower,
whose wheat, value 355., may, on paying the duty of 175., be
brought into our market at 525. per quarter, and after the ports
have been open for three months may be sold at 475., as it will
then only bear a duty of 12s.
That these regulations are-ruinous to the agricultural interest
cannot be doubted. The petitions on the table of this House,
in the strongest terms deprecating the proposed alteration in the
law, sufficiently display the opinion of those whose habits give
them practical knowledge on the subject; whilst the Commit-
tee themselves, from whom the proposal emanated, by disclaim-
ing all intention of rendering worse the present condition of the
British cultivation., and proposing, as the Bill enacts, that the
'ssth of the late King should remain in force till wheat rises to
a quarter, have clearly avowed their opinion that the Bill,
'when it takes elfect, must prove injurious to the agricultural
interest.

It is to me, therefore, a subject of deep regret, when the dis-
tress of the British cultivator is so feelingly described in the nu-
merous petitions on our table, that this liouse should enact a
regulation which, though it is only to take place at a future pe-
•siod, cannot but produce immediate discontent : for to me it
appears that cverysense of political discretion, and every feel-
.i!lg that actuates a .gcnerous mind, must unite in pointing out,
that tile moment in which the Legislature is unwillingly com-
pelled to avow its incapacity to devise any means of present re-
for the distressed farmer, is the time of all others in which
it ought to avoid announcing a future injury to his despairing
mind. LAUDERDALE.

PROTEST AGAINST THE THIRD READING OF
THE CORN BILL.

"DIS3ENTIENT :—Because the Act of the 55th of the late
-King, chapter 26, which is partially repealed by this Bill, was
,brought into Parliament by his Majesty's Ministers to remove
the admitted impolicy of unlimited importations of foreign
gre.4n ; and 80s. per quarter for our own wheat (and other grain
•1n proportion) was with the greatest deliberation adopted as the
,lowest price in our markets which could sustain foreign compe-
tition' under which, therefore, it was enacted that our ports
.shoittd be shut.

Because, from an obvious defect in that Act, whenever wheat
in our markets rose to 803. per quarter, (other grain in propor,
tion), importation was left free and unlimited, by which the
iprotecting.ttandard immediately ceased to be productive ; as
~oreign wheat might then generally, as .now, be imported at
about 325. per quarter, and to any extent ; thereby manifestly
enabling jobbers atid- speculators to undersell British growers,
weighed down since the late war with a pressure of taxation
.nercr before known or heard of in the world. _

&cause, this defect in the Act of the 65th of the late King
soon became the subject of universal complaint, three millions
,ar: t' half quarters of, foreign grain having come free into
.ogr ports, and at very low prices, before their being shut in
li'ebruary,'lBl9,- to the great depression of our markets ever

Because the prices of grain from this and other causes having
„ceased to be remunerative, many petitions were presented to his
Majesty's Ministers, and to both Houses of Parliament, pray-
ing for relief in this respect; and thereupon a Committee was
. appointed to consider the justice of their complaints.
13ecause such Committee, as appears by its report in a for-
mer Session cf Parliament, having pronounced that agricul-
ttirists of every description were consuming their capitals
without any present or expected returns which could be remu-
nerative, the House of Commons directed its inquiries to be re-
newed in the present Session, for the express anti only purpose
• of originating some further relief from the ruinous depression of
• our markets.

Because the House of Commons, therefore, in the considera-
-t;en of this subject, had no other duty cast upon it by the whole
course of its own proceedings but to attend impartially to the
universal complaints throughout the country, which unani-
mously attributed the distresses to the undue and impolitic
opening of the ports under the existing law, without a reason-
able and fixed protecting duty, not liable to be defeated by
'fraudulent averages, nor disturbed by perpetual fluctuations,
when the ports were open or shut at the adopted standard.
Because it was therefore with equal surprise and .regret that
I read this Bill when it was brought before us, which ought to
have been instantly rejected, since it passes y altogether the
complaints of the petitioners, which its authors have pro-
fessed all along to act upon and to relieve ; and although
the superabundance of supplies orer the demands on our mar-
kets had been declared by his Majesty's Ministers to be the
grievances, yet this Bill unaccountably adds to them, without
measure or mercy, by leaving the ports open at 705., though be-
fore shut until 80s., and by letting loose the bonded grain at the
lower standard, though now in the country to agreat amount, and
without any protecting duty ; because, when it is notorious
that foreign wheat (other grain in proportion) may be generally
imported at about 355. per quarter, a duty of 175., which,
when added, amounts to 525. only, cannot, in common sense
or common honesty, be considered as any security to the Bri-
tish grower.
Because, to insist nevertheless that this injurious change in
the existing law is a great advantage to those whom it pro-
fesses to relieve, though against their own universal voice, as
expressed without a single exception by all the petitions upon
our table, is to maintain an opinion, which, however honestly
and ably supported, may be considered by the sufferers to be
as unfounded as it appears to me to be absurd.
Because, from the great preponderance in the representation
of other classes over the landed interest in the (louse of Com-
mons, the, petitioners who have laid their calamitous condition
before us naturally looked up to this House for constitutional
support. The Statute Book is filled with a1m0.4 innumerable
,acts for the protection of our manufactures and commerce by

duties and prohibitions, whilst the security of landed property
has been wholly neglected. Indeed, when I contemplate this
sudden invasion of the 5.5 th of the late King, at the very mo-
ment when its protecting provisions ought manifestly to have
been extended, it seems to me as if a course of experiments
was on foot by philosophical theorists to ascertain under what
accumulated pressure of unequal taxation, and unequal compe-
tition with untaxed countries, the impoverished cultivators of
our soil can possibly continue to exist.
ERSKINE.

PARLLAMENT..A.RY PAPERS.

BEER AND ALE.

Abstract cf the Bill f() Amending the Laws touching the Re-

tail Trade in Beer and Ale.

Whereas it is expedient that any person should be suffered
to sell Beer and Ale by retail, so as the same shall not be drank
or consumed in his or her house or premises ;
Be it therefore enacted, by the King's Most Excellent Ma-
jesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiri-
tual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and
after the day of the Commissioners of
his Majesty's excise, and all such persons as they may appoint
for the purpose of granting licences ; 'and all collectors and su-
pervisors who are authorised to grant licenses, shall, and they
are hereby empowered and required, to grant licenses for selling
Beer and Ale by retail, but not to be drank or consumed in the
house or premises of the seller, to any person or persons apply-
ing for the same, upon payment of such sums of money, by
way of duty for the same, as are required to be paid by any Acts
now in force in that behalf, and although such person or per-
sons shall not produce a license or authority to keep a ,!ommon
inn, alehouse, or victualling-house, granted to him, her, or
them, by Justices of the Peace or Magistrates, or other coin.
petent persons, and although no such license or authority shall
hiive been or shall be granted.
Not to sell Beer or Ale to be drank or consumed in the house,
outhouse, yard, orchard, or other premises.
Not to extend to the counties of Middlesex and Surrey, be-
fore the, day of in the year one
thousand eight hundred and
Persons having a right by law to sell Beer, not to be affected
by this Act.

PUNISHMENT OF CERTAIN OFFENCES.
Abstract of a Bill to provide for the More Effectual Punish-
ment of Certain Otfences, by Imprisonment, with hard

labour.

'Whereas it is expedient that the provisions of the Act of 53
George 111. for enabling any Court to pass upon any person
convicted of felony, with benefit of clergy, or grand larceny,
sentence of imprisonment with hard labour, &c. should be ex-
tended to certain aggravated. misdemeanours, and.-offences, be-
low the degree of felony ;
And whereas also, it is found by experience that solitary con-
finement, under proper restrictions and regulations, is well cal-,
ciliated to deter offenders, and to repress crime ;
Be it therefore enacted, by the King's most excellent Ma-
jesty, by and with the consent of the Lords spiritual and tem.,
poral, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled,
and by the authority of the same, that from and after the
whenever any person shall be convicted
of any assault with intent to commit felony, or of any attempt
to commit felony ; or of any misdemeanour for having re-
ceived stolen goods knowing them to have been stolen ; or of
any assault upon• a peace officer, or upon an officer of the
Customs or Excise, or upon any other officer of the reve-
nue, in the due discharge and execution of his or their re-
spective duty or duties; or of being an utterer of counterfeit
money, knowing the same to be counterfeit; or of knowingly,
and designedly obtaining money, goods, wares, or merchan-
dises, bills, bonds, or other securities for money, by false pre-
tences, with intent to cheat any person of the same ;_or shall
he convicted of keeping a common gaming-amuse, a com-
mon bawdy-house, or a common ill-governed and disorderly
house; or of wilful and corrupt perjury, or of subornation of
perjury ; or shall be convicted of having entered any open or
inciosed ground with intent there illegally to take and destroy
game, and having been there found at night armed with any
offensive weapon ; or shall be convicted of any of the offences
against the revenue, enacted b',' an Act passed in the 19th year
of the reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, in-
tituled, " An Act for the further punishment of persons going
armed or disguised, in defiance of the laws of Customs or Ex-
cise, and for indemnifying offenders against those laws upon
the terms in this Act mentioned, and for relief of officers of the
Customs in informations upon seizures ;" in each 'and every
of the above cases, and whenever any person shall be con-
victed of any or either of the aforesaid offences, it shall and
may be lawful for the Court before which any such offender
shall be convicted, or which by law is authorized to pass sen-
tence upon any such offender, to award and order (if they shall
.think fit) sentence of imprisonment with hard labour, for any
term not exceeding the term for which such Courts may now
imprison for such offences, either in addition to or in lieu of
any other punishment, which may now by law be indicted on
any such offenders.