The Sun.
London, England, 1814-05-17 00:00:00

110 it c0t4,1, sufncif:;:ll ccru

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its own

sumption. The eNI.-;ort of our inainitactures was,
however, an object of equal, and even greater'
eovsecpweee, than the e%purt of hit the corn that
conitt be raised in this country, if all the hand*
NV(`Ve taken front manofactures, and employed:
iu ,tt4ricnitore. SSc should really wish, to know in
What way those Gentlemen, wllo were so anxious
for the country to export corn, Would expect that
foreign nations were to-pay for this Corn. What
articles had they to give in exchange,' not only
for_oor miinufactnres, but our cote ? It was said
that Ireland had, lately, from an importing coun-
try become an exporting one. This distinction,
however, •with respect to lieland, •seemed to be
generally overlooked : it-was not from the super- •
fleity of its produce that Ireland exported, but it
was because the.mass of the people of that coon-.
try lived nut on corn, lint potatiies; Was there
any Gentleman •in that House who would Wish
this country to be an exporting country on the,
saute pr.r.cillle ? After several other, observations,
lie concluded •by moving as an Amendment, that
those Resolutions should be read -it second time
this day three months.
Sir G. CLERK athnittcd that it' was an object of
great political importance, that this country should
be independent of foreign nations for its supply of
corn. Ile: could not, however, Ste how it was
possible that this object could be obtained without
calling upon. the nation to sacrifice interests and
objects of still greater consequence. lie disclaim-
ed entirely for himself, as well as the framers of the
report, that their object was pirmariently to raise
the price of corn. He thought that those who
conceived this opinion had adopted the erroneous
idea which ran through the reaoning of the No-
ble Lord, that this country must necessarily* be ul-
- an importing country. lie thought pit it mis-
taken opinion to soppose thatfree trade must neces-
sarily produce low prices, as the supply at all times
depended much more upon our own produce than
on importation. If a much greater quantity of corn
Was imported'in future, the produce of this
country would .lininish in at least an equal pro-
portion, and,- therefore the supply would not be
greater no 4• the price lower. He thought that it was
from a proper regulation of the import that a steady
price-would be produced: If we we re to rely al-
most entirely ou the import for 'supply, we must
recollect that there Were some years of general
dearth all. over Europe, and in'sitch years theprice
of Corn must be enormously* increased. At pre-
sent be understood that Corn could be imported
from the Baltic for sixtrshillings a quarter, and
in a short tiine it would fall still lower. It was
evident that this was. a price at which the 13r.itiSh
farmer could not afford to ;,:,,row it. He believed
that it must be a price of near SO shillings a quar-
ter upon the average of years, to give a fair pro-
fit to the farmers of this country, and that tip to
the fair price our farmers should have the mono-
/3°l%i in the home .market.

- Mr. WESTERN said, that his object was the
same as that professed by those who differed in
opinion npon this subject—they both of- them
wished an abundant ,supply to the people of this
country. The proportion of supply from. foreign
comtnerce but small, when compared with that
which our own produce afforded. Some persons
wished a prohibition on importatioun. others wished
that the ports shoadd be thrown open. He thought
that a proper medium might be found between
these contradictory opinions. He thought it evi-
dent that. Agriculture ought to give profits in some
degree proportioned to other Ways in Nvltich ca-
pital might be.employed. if it did not, capital
would certainly escape from 'that unproductive
channel, and there would consequently be a ditni-
nutiem 'of British produce. This diminution would,
as-he thought, be more than equivalent to all the ad-
vantages hoped for from free importation. As to the
ideas of Adam Smith upon this subject, he shottldob-
se: ve,that that writer had never taken into his ton-
'templation the probability of what had happened
since his time, thatthis should he a great import-
ing country ; he denied. that it was the object of
the resolutions proposed to them, or that it would
be the effect of them, to establish any thing like
a minimum price of corn. If the import price.
were fixed as the average price, the market would
be no cheaper ; for the foreign growers, as well
as the Brifisht would be ,checked in their exer-
tions. He thought it would be better if the Le-
gislature could avoid coming to any resolution on
the stfbjeat at present, especially as an idea might
git forth that Parliament wished to raise the price
of Corn, now that it was becoming cheaper. He
was afraid of any hasty decisio!p to confirm an
opinion too often spread abroad, that tl,e House
of Commons had not a, sufficient regard for the
interests of the people. Nothing, indeed, could
be more erroneous than such a surmise on this to-
pic. :He congratulated the House on the -im-
mense capital now employed in agriculture, and
on the daily improvemeilts made.in that useful
science. He did ,uot approve of the graduated
scale, because, though ;t must have occurred to
the minds of Members ou many former occasions,
it had never been thought wise to adopt it. The
object had always been to produce at home &suffi-
cient quantity, if possible ; if not, then to admit
foreign Corn freely. He contended, that the im-
mediate effect of art importation would he to,
withdraw a large portion of capital from employ-
ment, and to check, in a great degree, the exer-
tions of the agriculturists—both the economical
and the enterprising.
• Mr. ROSE, though he approved of- the princi-
`ple of the resolutions of his Right Hon. Friend
.(Mr. Huskisson), yet he could not consent to
vote for them, because his scale had been Enade
-without due-inquiry. •
Mr. HottNER could see no reason, r.or in the
course of the debate on this subject had he heard
any sufficient argument, that the freedom of trade
would not be as beneficially applied to Corn as
to any other branch of trade. There were, 110
doubt, reasons which might warrant a deViation
from the most salutary regulation, particularly if
such great.objects as the safety or the morals of the
state were concerned. .Though, however, he was not
prepared to say that at no time a prohibition
might be proper, yet he thought the present the
worst time that could be. chw,en for any-altera-
tion. Independently of the internal situation
of the country, the difference of opinion which
everywhere prexailed ; a difference. so great,
that no two genticuen,i though 'agruting iti