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

and not to grovel, which gave strength to the subject and
s 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 I") 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 all 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
all 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 mimes ea rpm aunt acts improbent, queran-
tur, doleant, a perteque loquuntur et tarn dare gemunt,
tamen medicine nulls afferatur, neque resisti sine interne-
clone pose arbitramur, nec qui finis cedendi videmus pras!er
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 laughtste
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 his amendment at all.—( Hear, 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 complicated 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
more convenient that it should—bethe sole object of our dis-
cussion.—(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 put in broad contrast with this policy that
which they would recommend ; and neither I nor any mem-
ber of the Government, or of the House. can complain that
the lion. 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
your hands, Sir, a motion for a Committee on the state of the
nation.—(Hear.) I doubt whether the distressed 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 expressed,
and the remedy looked to was rather more clearly pointed
out.—(Hear, hear.) I find that there, too, the greatest I
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 dis-
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 our foreign relations, and to the state
of the colonies. The 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 he 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 1 shall say is,
that I rejoice in that good understanding between our great
efforts n
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took the management of the foreign relations of the country,
have been to preserve peace.—( Hear.) No effort has been
left untried on his part to promote reconciliation on the best
terms the circumstances of the times seemed to afford
every
quarter of ; his unremitting endeavour has been in
quarter to preserve, if possible, and to restore when broken,
the peace in which no country is more interested than our
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 head 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 HMSO a list of salaries which seemed preposterous in
amount, and the putting 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 30,0001. 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 considerable increase in the importation of sugar. I
have had a statement made out which puts it in the
most striking light, far stronger than I thought possible.
knowing the complaints that have been made, and that in
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 British 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 1810 the
average was 211,000 tons per annum ; subsequently it has
been 298,000. 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 1840, 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 1848, 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 1841-48, the
average annual importation fell from 54,000 to 32,000; but
taking the years 1841-44 and 1845-48, it increased from
31,000 to 33,000.—(Hear, hear.) Take British Guiana:
there lie a decreaae, cc:owing the Ant periods, et 14,000