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

which even •110nourable Gentlemen opposite are ready to
supsort?—(Hear, hear.) But the whole chapter of colo-
nial administration is, perhaps, the darkest page in the
history of this country. Besides the consequences of your
econo ical fallacies, there are the instances of your
mat-administration.—(Hear, hear.) No sooner are
the sugar planters ruined, having before them, according
to Sir C. Grey, but a blank prospect of hopeless
depression ; no sooner was the death-blow given them, ac-
co-ding to Sir S. Lushington, than the colonists, in the last
effsrt of despair. commit the heinous sin of wishing to accom-
modate their expenditure to their resources.—(Hear, hear.)
The Government admit that, generally saeaking, it is the
wisest course they call pursue ; but, if the wisest coarse in
the colonies, why should it not be the wisest course in Eng-
land? —and those who believe in accomplished facts (and
her Majesty's Ministers are of that number, I understand)
had better set us the example of financial reform.—(Hear,
:ar.) No sooner, however, have the colonies shown a dia.
position to act in this wise spirit, when, instead of sympa•
thizing with and supporting them, her Majesty's Ministers
seemed to have had only one object—that of counteracting
all their efforts, and of finding in all their schemes the means
of embarrassments and dissatisfaction.— (Hear, hear.) Look
at the case of Guiana, as well as that of Jamaica. At first
you have the sugar colonies ruined, and then, when any
colony attempts to accommodate its expenditure to its
means, it is made the victim of the Colonial-office, as if that
department had not enough on its hands—as if the insur-
rections in Canada and Ceylon might not have been
sufficient to occupy all their mature consideration?, and the
war at the Cape enough to employ all their energies.—
( Hear.) Could they then be surprised that all our colonies
are suffering. and that there is a diminution in our com-
mercial transactions with them • though fro:a 1831 to 1846
there had been in the article Of calicoes alone—that great
branch to which it seems we are bound to sacrifice everything
—an export to the British colonies of 313,00,000 of yards
more than to all the rest of the world. I want to know
whether the policy of her Majesty's Ministers with respect
to foreign powers has not of itself been one of the principal
causes of these continental convulsions which have been
spoken cf ?—(Hear, hear.) When her Majesty's Ministers
acceded to power, they appeared to have adopted a system
contrary to that of their predecessors. We find that the Go-
vernment was in apparent communication with the discon-
tented party in every state.—(n Hear, hear, ' and laughter)
—that party which is sometimes called the Liberal party, but
which consists of secret societies, stimulating disturbance,
chiefly through the aid of an emigrant nobility. What was
the consequence of this ? A great convulsion occurs in
Europe. I will not stop to trace in any degree
that convulsion to the policy of our Government.
That might not be difficult, but when the hour
had arrived when the influence of England might have been
exercised to appease the discontents and settle the difficulties
of Europe, England was left without power, being only re-
cognised as the comate and colleague of the limited discon-
tented minority in every country.—(Hear, hear.) What
happened next? That minority was supported by England,
who took every opportunity of exposing their power and de-
monstrating their weakness. All the great Ministers of
Europe, who, whatever might be their faults, were at least
the representatives of great ideas and of a great and stable
order of affairs, were treated by our Government as if personal
enmity existed. The Metternichs, Guizots, Narnaeae,nan
the Collettis were swept off, or attempted to be swept off,
from the administration of affairs; but the most curious
thing is, that the party with which our Government seems
to be connected never succeeded in any instance in produc-
ing men capable of regulating public busines. What has
been the consequence? Not merely that the great influ-
ence which England should necessarily exercise could no
longer be exerted to preserve the peace of the world, and to
prevent those complications and convulsions of which we hear
so much, but her Majesty's Government appeared to have
failed in every object which they proposed as worthy objects of
attainment.—(Hear, hear.) I take the case of Italy, as
affording a complete illustration of the principles and sff,ct
of their policy. Her Majesty's Government were so satisfied
that Austria could not hold her position in Italy, that they
expected a new power would assume the lead there, and
that Sardinia would be the chosen one. Her Majesty's Go-
vernment were also so satisfied that the Pope. being a re-
former, and indulging his reformatory views, would be the
only means of preventing the French entering Italy, that
they favoured his notions; and they were likewise so satis-
fied that the King of Naples could not hold his own, that
they went hunting over Europe to find a King for Sicily.—
(Cheers and laughter.) The result, however, has been, that
Austria is paramount in the north of Italy, and Sardinia,
which was to have supplanted her, is now little more than
her humble ally; the Pope is not at Rome, but the French
are • and the King of Naples is also King f the Two Sicilies
still.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) I want to know, then,
with what face can our Ministers go to the Courts of Austria,
Rome, and Naples, to tender counsels, and exercise a just
influence, when all these powers know that it was entirely
owing to their own conduct that they have not lost their
thrones, and, if the policy of her Majesty's Government had
been followed, they probably would have been emigrants in
this country, like other crowned heads?—(Cheers.) We
have a further illustration of how little her Majesty's Go-
vernment are informed as to the state of Europe in their
-conduct with respect to Spain.(Hear, hear.) It is quite
clear that what occurred in Italy never could have occurred
if her Majesty's Government had been well informed; and
how well they were informed of the condition of Spain is
evident from the instructions sent to our Minister at Madrid
to advise the Spanish Prime Minister to show deference to
popular opinion ; for our Minister is no longer in Spain, aed
the same Spanish Prime Minister still exercises authority at
Madrid.—(Cheers.) I bear how much commerce suffers
from these continental convulsions, and also great com-
plaints respecting the blackade of the Elbe; yet I remember
that when I called, on a former occasion, the attention of the
House to the evils which I knew must occur in consequence
of the state of Denmark I could not find a single gentle-
man of the Manchester school ' to support ine—(Hear,
hear)—and I think the Hon. Gentleman for the West
Riding took the opportunity of saying that I was trying
to stimulate war in Europe.—(Hear, hear.) I have no
hesitation in saying that, had the Government acted as they
ought, the), • might have put an end to those vexatious
block ides, and have prevented those evils occurring.—(Hear,
hear.) It is impossible to understand why they have not
long since terminated, and one is almost tempted to believe
those ludicrous stories in • the German newspapers as to
the manner in which these negotiations were carried on,
according to which it would seem that while one post from
Prussia brought satisfactorY'dispatehes to this Government,
another, or • the same, brought diTatches to the Prussian
Minister here, telling him not to mind the threats of the
Minister for Foreign Affairs, because his colleagues were
quite' resolved he should CIO nothing.—(Laughter.) I am
told that, if her Majesty's Ministers have preserved the
peace of Europe, that is enough; but I contend that the
Ministers have no influence in any part of the world except
Paris. They have not, however, more influence there than
their predecessors, and is inpossiblanto conceive any sort of
Government which should not be on a cordial understanding
with France?—(Hear.) It is the necessary consequence of
the state of Europe and the situation of the two countries.
Bat a good understanding with the French Government is
no compensation for not possessing influence in any other
country.—(Hear, hear.) In what other Court or country
of Europe can Ministers suppose they can exercise influ-
ence, when every authority in Europe knows that Ministers
have been the patross and colleagues of the minority of dis-
turbance in every part of the world ?—(Cheers.) This is
the position in which England is placed, after having encou-
raged movements in every partof the world, and withdraw-
ing only after the insurrectionary party had acted in conse-
quence of antecedent support.—(Hear, hear.) This is the
cause of the diminished influence of this country. I be-
lieve the influence of the country generally was never
less, and in no instance has it averted from our commerce
of
time
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tures, but I have endeavoured withoouft
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be lying on documents, the accuracy
im-
pugned, to lay before the House a true and impartial statement
of our position I will not for one moment pretend that
what I deem to be our calamitous condition is to be ascribed
to: one particular cause. I am ready to admit that in
the complicated transactions of a great country like this, and
in a period of time which in this rapid age of events cannot
be considered as a brief one, many conjectures and casualties
must occur, which the prescience of no statesman could fore-
see and some which no minister could remedy. lam not
one of those who ever looked on the Irish famine as a cabinet
measure—(Laughter)—but I am bound to say that taking a
general, but I believe not an incomplete view of the course
of the Government in respect to all that has happened in
political life during the last three years and more, I do re-
cognize one predominant cause to which I attribute the
great part of oar calamities; and that is our legislation.—
(Uheers.) Some three years and more ago it appears to me
that we thought fit to change the principles on which the
economic system of this country bad been previously based.
Hitherto this country had been, as it were. divided into a
hierarchy of classes, each of which was open to all, but in
which every Englishman was taught to believe that be occu-
pied a position better than the analogous position of his order
in any other country in Europe.— (Hear, hear.) The British
merchant's, for example, was most creditable. He was
wealthy and trustworthy; the English farmer was the most
skilful, as was proved by his obtaining a greater produce
than any other farmer in Europe or America. The English
manufacturer was likewise the most skilled manufacturer.
and silenced the looms of Flanders, France, and India. The
ability of the British sailor has passed into a proverb, and
chivalry seemed to have found its last resource in the breast
of the British officer.—(Hear, hear ) In like manner the
learned professions; our physicians and lawyers held a
higher position than the professional men of any other
country.—(Bear, hear.) I have heard it at the same time
stated that the superiority of these classes was attained at
the coat of the last class in the great hierarchy—the labouring
population. But though I have heard in this House something
of the periodical sufferings of that. class—as if every class had
not its period of suffering—and though I have heard districts
referred.to where their condition was much depressed—as if
anodhisetLitcattkcomndmityiosnelfwians
snain,
not essentially exceptional—l have
and I shall be surprised to
be contradicted by facts, that no great community has
existed since the fall of the Roman empire where the work-
ing population were placed in so advantageous a position as
the working classes of England.—( Hear, hear.) I speak
not of these civil rights which are superior to those enjoyed
by princes l(nuoethare,r countries,hear but I speak of their material
condition.--
say that they have had a
greater command over the necessariea of life than any popu-
lation of equal size in any community in Europe.—(Hear,
hear.) For the last sixty years their progress, and it can
be proved in detail, has borne a due proportion to the pro-
gress of all other classes ; and for the last twenty years the
spirit of our laws, most important in such matters, and the
spirit of our society, have been to elevate their condition.—
(Hear.) Therefore I will not conceive that the position of
the last class in this hierarchy was relatively inferior to the
others, but I hold that the English working man was in a
better condition than the working man of any other country.
—(Hear, hear.) It was a state of society based on the aris-
tocratical element in its most complete and greatest develop-
ment. You thought you were destined to change these laws.
Instead of accomplishing the best, what you want to do now
is to achieve the cheapest.—( Hear, hear.) I have shown
you that the economic principle which you have acted on is
a fallacious one; and that the necessary consequence of it
is to cause the impoverishment and embarrassment of the
people.—(Hear, hear.) But your policy has done more in-
jury than this, and will lead to greater misfortune. The
Wealth of England is not merely its material wealth, for
neither is it the well cultivated acres of England, nor our
havens full of shipping, nor our ingenious arts and unri-
valled manufacAres, nor the intrepid industry of our mines,
that formed thYgole or principal wealth of this country. We
have, indeed, a treasure more precious than all these; and
that is the character of the people.—(Cheers.) That is what
You have injured. You have destroyed, in destroying what
You call class legislation, that noble and indefinable spirit
anambition, the source of our greatness, prosperity,
d power.— (Cheers.) know nothing more remarkable at
the present day than the general discontent which prevails,
accompanied on all sides by avowed Inability to suggest a
reined.. The features of the present day are depression and
perplestitv.--( Hear, heir.) That English spirit which was
supported and maintained by your old system seems to have
departed. It was a system which taught men to aspire,

and not to grovel, which gave strength to the subject and
a ability to the state - which made the people of this coun-
try endure adversity with a higher courage than any
other people, and at the same time animated them in times
of prosperity with a vigour nowhere else equalled.-( Hear,
hear.) I put it to the recollection of every Hon. Gentleman
-I care not into what social circle or political party he
may enter, whether there be not now only one universal
murmur of suffering without hope.-(" Hear, hear," and a
cry of "Oh !") An Hon. Gentleman seems to be of a dif-
ferent opinion, and perhaps he will favour the House with
more consolatory views; but every man, whether frequent-
ing the Royal Exchange. the ports, or other haunts of indus-
try, tells me the people are suffering and they see no hope.
I was reminded the other day, in reading a passage in a great
Roman statesman, that the present is always the reproduc-
tion of the past. He said, in the last year of the great
Roman Commonwealth, that a new disease has fallen on
the state ; that all men, of all opinions, and in alt condi-
tions, denounce everything that is done; they complain,
groan, and openly lament ; the complaint is universal,
but no remedy is offered ; and it seems, he says, that
there is a general idea that resistance against what they
ell disapprove without some fatal struggle is impossible,
and that the only end of concession is in the death of the
republic :-" Nunc quidem novo quodam morbo civitas mo-
ritur. Et cum (manes ea (sum stint acta improbent, queran-
tur, doleant, a perteque loquantar et tam dare gemunt,
tamen medicine nulla afferatur, neque resisti sine interne-
cione posse arbitramur, nec qui finis cedendi videmus prxter
exitium," I know not what advantage there is in the
study of recorded history of the past time, if it be not made
to guide and instruct us in the present. The Honourable
Member for Sheffield seemed by his observation to
suppose that we shared the lot of those who, conscious of the
depression of the commonwealth, were not prepared to offer
any remedy. He mistakes us -(Cheers.) It is because I
wish to offer a remedy that I have presumed to call on the
House of Commons to exercise the highest privilege with
which the constitution has invested it; and it is to offer that
remedy that I now place in your hands, Sir, the resolution of
which I have given notice, because I believe in my conscience
it is the best and surest means to save a suffering people and
sustain a falling country.-(Cheers.) The Hon. Member
concluded by moving for a Committee of the whole House to
consider the state of the nation.
When Mr. Disraeli had resumed his seat it was evidently
expected that Mr. Hume would proceed to move the amend-
ment of which he had given notice. That Hon. Member,
however, did not rise ; and after a considerable pause cries of
" Que tion" and " Divide" were set up, and much laughter
was excited. At length
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose and said
-I was under the expectation that my Hon. Friend the
Member for Montrose would have risen to move the amend-
ment of which he has given notice.-(Hear, hear.) It is
the usual course-(Hear, hear)-that when a Gentleman
has given notice of an amendment on such an occasion, he
should-as the Hon. Member himself did when a former
motion was made by the Hon. Member for Buckinghamshire
-rise immediately after the original proposition has been
moved, and state his amendment to the House.-( Hear,
hear.) I hope now that my Hon: Friend intends not to
-move nis amendment at all.-(Herr, hear, and a laugh.)
I can say sincerely that in perfect honesty and fairness of
purpose I recommend him not to move it.--(Hear.) It is not
because I underrate in any degree the importance of the
subject of that amendment, nor because I think it would
not be a fair and proper subject for discussion; but with the
experience which he has had of the inconvenience of putting
such an amendment upon a motion of this description, con-
sidering the inconvenience to which it must lead in debate,
when more than one great subject is brought before the
House, the unsatisfactory appearance it must bear in the
eyes of the country when speeches follow and one is not in
answer to another, and misconception is very possible as to
the result of any division upon the compicated question
which his amendment would introduce, I do sincerely trust
that he has abandoned his intention of moving the amend-
ment upon this motion.-(Hear. hear.) In that hope I shall
proceed at once to address myself to the 'motion and the ar-
guments of the Hon. Gentleman opposite (Mr. Disraeli),
with the expectation that that motion will-as I think it far
Inure convenient that it should-be the sole object of our dis-
cassion.-( Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman need not, I
am sure, have made any apology for bringing forward the
motion in this shape. He stated truly that it was a consti-
tutional motion; that the import of it was plain, and that the
effect of success w uld be certain. It is a recognised consti-
tional course, on the part of gentlemen who consider the
country to be in a state of distress, brought about by the
policy recently pursued, to place before the House and the
country their view of that policy, and of the state of the
country, and to pat in broad contrast with this policy that
which they would recommend ; and neither/ nor any mem-
ber of the Government, or of the House. can complain that
the Hon. Gentleman, as the avowed leader of a powerful
party, should come forward on this occasion, describing their
views of the condition of the country, and should put before
the House the remedy which they have to propose.-(Hear.)
The Hon. Gentleman has said that he considers the country
to be in a state of great and general distress; that those with
whom he communicates, be they from the marts of commerce
or the fields of agriculture. suffer and see no hope. If that
is his belief, I say not only that he is justified in making
this motion, but that it would have been utterly unjustifi-
able it he had not brought it forward.-(Hear, hear.) Ido
not agree with him in the view he has taken of the state of
the country; I do not agree in his representation of general
gloom and distress pervading every class of society; but I
must say, that when he came to the conclusion of his speech,
I did not see that he had offered much consolation to his suf-
fering friends-(Hear, hear)-for when I expected him to
propose his remedy, he said that he had only to place in
oyaotui
or hand",o.
( Sir,
eamotion
ear.)
I doob
doubt whether
Committee m
thei tt edei
distressed
etshs
eed state of the
manufac-
turers (as he represents them to be) or the starving agricul-
turists will, without some more specific proposition, think that
he has done much in their cause.-( Hear.) I suppose we
must go elsewhere to learn what is the remedy to which he
points, though he shrinks from expressing it, when he finds
fault with our legislation, and attributes so much distress to
it. I suspect we must go to the resolutions of another meet-
ing, resolutions moved elsewhere, where the views which
the Hon. Gentleman has expressed of the state of the
country were as fully developed, but the causes tO
which it was attributed were rather more clearly expresse ,
and the remedy looked to was rather more clearly point
out.-(Hear, hear.) I find that there, too, the greatest
difficulty and distress is said to prevail, and it is attributed
to recent legislation permitting " the indiscriminate admis
sion of foreign produce ;" but the parties go one step further
than the Hon., Gentleman has gone at present-though .I
apprehend that if we were to go into Committee he would
take that step-proposing "just protection" against the
competition of other countries.-(Hear, hear.) If that be
not his meaning, and that the remedy to which he would
point, a more hopeless display of his talent and eloquence
was never wasted.-(Hear, hear.) It would be utterly
unworthy of his party, great and powerful as it is in
numbers and character, and in the estimation of the coun-
try, if their whole effort to redeem the empire were a die-
play such as this-a display of the Honourable Member's
ability without any tangible result.-( Hear.) The Hon.
Gentleman has referred, though shortly, not only to the state
of this country, but to oar foreign relations, and to the state
of the colonies. Ihe domestic state of the country formed
indeed the staple of his speech, and I will advert but shortly
to these other topics. Ido not think it necessary to go far
into his observations upon foreign affairs ; that subject will
be more appropriately left to my Noble Friend when be shall
.address the House, and indeed I know not what there was
which called for much reply. He spoke of what he could
trace to English interference, if he were disposed to do so, but
he shrank from doing it.- (Hear, hear.) All I shall say is,
that I rejoice in that good understanding between our great
ttnohe
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r-(Hear.)
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own, as none has, through its commerce, a greater stake in
the prosperity of ether nations. The Hon. Gentleman made
some observations upon colonial matters, referring partly to
the effects of past legislation, and partly to the conduct of the
Colonial-office. I really know no colonial grievances, to any
extent (not referring to those personal and minor complaints
which are perpetually made), that are owing to the Colonial-
office and not to legislation. There are complaints respect-
ing free trade, the abolition of slavery, the attempt to
ameliorate the condition of labourers in the West Indies;
but these are matters for which successive Parliaments must
be responsible. - (Hear, hear.) The Hon. Gentleman says,
that when the colonies found themselves in distress, and
were anxious to reduce their expenditure, they were
thwarted and resisted by my Noble. Friend at the bead of
the Colonial office ; but there the Hon. Gentleman is mis-
taken. An Hon. Member whom I see opposite moved early
this year for a Committee upon certain colonies, and read to
the House a list of salaries which seemed preposterous in
amount, and the putti of which upon the civil list he at-
tributed to my Noble Friend; will the House believe that
not one of them was put on the civil list, and every one of
them was in the power of the Assembly ?-(Hear, hear.)
A report from the Committee is now on the table; it is
entirely in accordance with the views of my Honourable
Friend the Under-Secretary for the Colonies, and has been
acted On by him. -(Cries of .‘ Hear, hear.") With regard
to another colony inquiry is still going on, and I will
not further refer to it; but even there, in Ceylon, the ex-
penditure has already been reduced to the extent of 60,0001.
a year.-(Hear.) With respect to Mauritius, the Governor
has been sent out with instructions to effect every possible
reduction, and taxes to the amount of 30,000/. a year have
been taken off.-(Hear, hear.) But says, the Hon. Gentle-
man, what was the state of the West. Indian colonies in 1846
when you came into office, and what has been the effect of
that system of free trade of which you were the supporters
and are now the advocates? Well, lam willing to abide by
the test of facts and experience.-(Hear.) I am willing to
abide by the test of the importations from those colonies.
Much as I regret the suffering to which many persons in
those colonies are necessarily exposed in a state of transition
from protection to free-trade, requiring to be alleviated by
all measures short of departure from that system which I
believe will ultimately be as beneficial to them as to the
consumer here, I am perfectly ready to have this question
decided by reference to indisputable facts; and we have re-
turns upon the table which show them. It is needless to
prove that, taking the British possessions generally, there is
a have ee s ihd
ad
dr a b
al e i
sntcarteeams ee n itn
mt
ah
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the
e
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t the complaints
light, fa rthatstronger
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eb
than e
been
made,
thoughta deand ptolsnisitb lien.
many instances considerable distress and difficulty do exist.
I will take the years previous to any agitation of the ques-
tion of free trade and the years subsequent to the agitation,
the early period of the agitation and the later years, the two
years ending 1846 and the two years following; and the in-
crease in the importation is most remarkable. lam not now
taking the entries for home consumption-they belong to
the question as affecting the consumer; the importations
into this country are the best test of the production of the
colonies.- (Hear, hear.) Now, take the bridal' possessions
together, and compare the average annual importation from
1831 to 1840, before the question of the alteration of the
sugar duties, with the importation since. Before 1840 the
average was 211,000 tons per annum ' • subsequently it has
been 228,000. Take 1841 to 1844, before the first alteration
admitting free-labour sugar, and the four years subsequent;
in the former period the average was 200,000 tons-in the
latter 251,000. Take the British West Indian possessions;
there, of course, you find in the first period a considerable
diminution, because they were affected by the admission
of the East Indian sugar; from 1831 to 1840 the
average was 171,000 tons-subsequently 128,000. But
take the first four years since 12340, and the last four
years, since these measures had been completed; the average
importation from 1841 to 1844 was 120,000 tons; from 1845
to 1849, 137,000.- (Hear, hear.) To check the calculation,
I have taken some of the principal colonies separately.' Take
Jamaica: comparing the period 1831-40 with 184!-48, the
average annual importation fell from 54,000 to 32,000; but
taking the years 1841-44-and 1815-48, it increased front
31,000 to 33,000.-(Hear, hear.) Take British Guiana:
there :is a decrease, comparing the first periods, of 14,000