The Sun.
London, England, 1814-05-31 00:00:00

THE CON N LAWS.

A numerous and respectable Meeting of the In-
habitants of the Borough of Soothavark wtta' yes-
terday held at the Town Ilall, pursuant to an ap-
pointment tat tlie high Bailin', to take into Con-
sideration the Bills relatiug to the Gm] Laws;
now,peadiag in Midi:uncut. Several Resolutions
again:it these measures were proposed, and Tina=
nitromedy adopted; and a.. Petition to that effeet.
was ordered to be presented to the House of
Commons• by their Representatives, who: W.eee re-
Attested to oppose the Bills in .every shape.
Mr. H. TI-101: NTON then addressed the Meeting,
observing, that twice before, since he had been Li
Parliament, the Corn Laws had .come under cousi-
deratioo ; and that, in each of those cases, he re-:
membered that his own •Oninions had leaned some-
what more tti the .ide of tree trade than had sheen
the general senseilof the Legislature. He had.pro-,
ceeded ou a principle which often guided his con-
duct, that of inclining to what might be called the
course of nature, whenever there were many con-
flicting argumentslor and dgaiost an artificial sys-
tem. When a Corn Bill, was proposed last year,
founded on the Resolutions of the Committee -of
Sir H. Parnell, he had voted for the postponement
of it, partly on the ground of the iuekpedieney of
the time, hut much more herausc the measure pro-
ttosed, which went to proliA)it the importation
4.f wheat, so long as it was under 105 s. the
quarter, would, in his mind, be most hard upon
e labouring classes, and also because it seemed
to him to stand upon a dangerous and objection-
able principle. When sir IL Parnell again brought
forivard his measure in this year, though some-
what mitigated, be le:t -agaiu averse to it. But
when another Member (Mr. HuskiSson), took the
measure out' of hit hands, placed it .on • other
•*geiltuads, and insteid of prohibiting import, if
wheat was under 100 s. proposed, a graduated scale
when-it should exceed 61s, lie then, and not till
then, had been 'favourable to, the consideration of
the general subject; not (lint he thought the men-
sure even of iNlr. IL sufficiently secured a due
shar Ofthe benefite Of' a good harvest 't home and
abroad to the consort ers of this country. It had,
however, many principles to reconinOid it. The
graduated scale was an improvement on the present
law ; and the manner of taking the average price
iticorn from the uLirkets of this country,. and not
from thoseof Ireland also', as Sir Pat nell had pro-
posed, was an essential departure from his project.
There were three classes Of Opiniims theluestiOn
of the Corn Laws : otte.wasthe doctrine of the Irish
`Report, and of time old law of this country. That
doctrine was, that let the population of the em-
pire be what it would,- it ought to be supplied
from' its own' agriculture ; a doefrine,
though it might have been more safe in e.nlier
periods, when our populatiOn was • Compara-
tively small, was, in his judgment, extremely
dangerous when affirmed as a general system
of: legislation. Population was apt to increase
in a ratio by no means- carresponding with
the increase of the' produce *of -Land. The
natural remedy for an excess of people was,
either that of turning manufacturers, and receiv-
ing in return for manufactured articles a propor-
tion of necessary food froM less-peopled coon-
tries, or else that of migrating,lo those regitins.
Nature could not be forced in all Such cases, and
a severe pressure 'on the lisbouriug Classes might
be the result of any violent contention with
this order of nature. After proceeding also to
shew how much 'the: land-owner must_ profit by
unnatural efforts of this kind, he'tOttelred on the
objections to the system of perfect freedom
these were—first, • that tlie country' had been used
to a system of Corn Laws, and that a too sudden
abrogation of theni ill might be dangerous; that,
moreover, a perfectly free and extremely large
importation, of Grain might so greatly reduce
prices, as to produce an indispOsition to cultivate
at home, and a consequent scarcity-, of a very
serious• nature, in a following season—steadineSs
was, as well as cheapness, highly desirable ; that
we were also thus made to depend too much on
foreign countries. It night be added, that our
manufacturers laid, many of them, from time to
Obtained protecting duties against the coin.*
-.petition of similar articles from abroad, and that
5-Mile protecting duty in favour of the growers of
corn was necessary to put them merely on au
equality with the' manufacturing interest of the
country.-, • Ile disclaimed all wish to faxone either
the landed' or-the counnercial interest. ob-
ject was the. interest of the State and of the con-
sumer, or,. as he might fairly say; the perinanefit
interest oftlm consumer only. A small nerifice
might be Made for the sake of placing the farther
more nearly on a level with the uitifactui'er ; for
he did not wish to favour corn-growera* to the
same extent with many manufacturers. lie also
wished to Make the prices more steady than an
unrestrained..trade might leave them. lie had.
no wish to .do more than this ; and. a much
less- encouragement than was proposed even
by the present Bill; _would,- in his judgment, be
sufficient A graduated scale of duty proceeding
on those'principles,. would, as he thought; he'ati
improvement of the present law ; and the 'only'
vote be had.given upon the Bill was a vote pre-
ferring this graduated scale to the plan 01 Mr.
Foster, for an effectual prohibition of iniport.—
What were the, precise prices fit to be now adopt-
ed in the .scale.was*.a Matter of much difficulty ;
he should be gladtti see this part of the question
more fully silted. The'House bad adjourned the•
subject with
,a:View to give further time tor,coni-
lidera6ow; and he, was happy to find that many
populous places -were expressing their opinion;;
since those declarations were ..wanted as'a court-
terpoise to the•too powerful weight of contrary
sentiment,. In/reply to the question of a friend,
opposite to him, lie observed, that' the Goverit-
ment-had been
.reproached in Parliament with lint
soflicienav standing tip for-the system-of probi-:
had appeared to himto feel for all
classes of the 'community. On the whole, he as-
sured.his constituents, that he was fully sensible
of the. pressure whiclithe labouring classes had so
long endured,and of thereasimableness of all
on the return of peace, to take' thelurn
in the enjoyment of low prices, after the farmer
and the land-owner had so greatly • profited . by
high ones : the winkle of his with would be to
,present any great evil from arising to the eon!
saviors themselves from guy extraordinary diteoa- '