The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-23 00:00:00

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suit, for he was not at all surprised alt any :one preferring
Glenlivet to rum. This was a formic:Ll ble question,
which he would recommend to the at a/Aims - of his Noble
Friend. But still he would express a strong I Nojtotet .66:
House would not allow their interests in the coo nies to inter-
pose before the affairs of Ireland ; and he beg -ged to assure
him and the friends who acted with him on th at side of the
House, while agreeing with this temporary me as• ere, he felt an
anxious desire that it would not prevent an y remedial mea-
sures for the affairs of Ireland.

Mr. P. BORTHWICK conceived that as 1 insurmountable
i difficulty to the future prosperity of the colo Dies, would be in-
stituted if this measure were to be made the 1, sandal ion of per-
, manent operations. For it had been justly observed by his
Noble Friend the Member for Lynn ( Lord G. -Bentinck), there
I
were two sides of the question to be conside red; there were
the interests of the colonial producer, and the interests of the
British consumer. When these measures were first introduced,
it was with the express view of alleviating the 'distress of Ireland.
.., But if they interposed these affairs of the. colonies, and made
,hern the foundation of a permanent measure, he did not hesitate
1 to say that it would occasion the ruin of the West Indies.
What woull be the consequences ? A merchant in the West
! Indies would have invested his capital in the expectation of a
cs -.sin return, and when his cargo arrived in England he
I would r..,i that, through the conduct of the Pritish Parliament,
it was render" nearly valueless.
i Lord JOHN. ItI'sSELL wished to say a few words. in reply
to his Noble Friend, vete_ had shown so much moder ation and
such an absence of party Sp'.; t, at the commencemet it of this
session, that he should be g.-4 to grant any ceincession
which was consistent with -.as public duty,
and
do anything that he could to 1,,,ft the ws, shes of
the Noble Lord, and of those who acted wit, him The Noble
Lord seemed to have no objection to this as a. e
rrop andosi t i
noton, ,
mea-
sure. But since his Noble Friend had made th
st.pca rare :pe
that this measure should be only a temporary meas.e
a permanent measure, it appeared to him. that he
had mixed up two subjects, the abrogation of the
corn-laws, and the suspension of the navigation laws.
i If, therefore, they were to accede to the proposal of his l',ohle
Friend to continue the measure only for a few months or a
1
year, and hold out a prospect of its ultimately becoming per.
manent upon the principle propounded by his Right Hoe.
Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it would be pre-
longing the doubts and anxieties which prevailed upon the
question. It seetld give rise to a good deal of inconvenience,
atm might lead to a good deal of excitement, being got spin
the country. He was, therefore, obliged to comes to
the conclusion that it was hr better for Pa._
!lament to decide, whether the question should be pm-
manent or temporary. It was quite in the power of tie
Noble Friend at any time to raise a discussion upon the pant
af proposing a separate clause limiting the operation of the
measure to a given period, then if the Hoase concurred sith
him in opinion, the clause might be inserted in the Bill He,
however, trusted that this would not be the result of the dis-
cussion • and although he felt much indebted to the Noble
Lord and his party for the assistance they had affordel him,
he could not help thinking that it would not be fair for them
to raise any excitement upon this question.
Lord G. BENTINCK said he had no desire ti get up any
excitement on the question, and he would readily consent to
take the opinion of the House upon his own proposal at a later
stage of the Bill.
Mr. B. ESCOTT said the Noble Lord, who had just. sat
down, had long been an advocate of political economy, but
recently the Noble Lord had evinced the discretion of an old. politician in his recent political contests. The Noble Lord, it
seemed, was to be thefriend of the Noble Lord the First Lord of
the Treasury, till the Irish question and all its difficulties were
settled.—( Hear, hear.) When that day would be he did
not pretend to tell ; but when it did come, he suptdosed
the Noble Lord, the Member for Lynn_ and the Noble
Lord the First Lord of the Treasury would not
. be in the amicable intercourse which they now witnessed every
night. With respect to the question immediately before the
. House, after what had occurred last night and on previous
nights, the course he ought to pursue was clear. Ile took the
measures as the best Government could propose with the
largest chance of carrying them. That better 'measures could
be proposed ne one would pretend to deny, but he with others
questioned whether they would be carried if those better mea-
sures were brought forward at the present time. The Noble
Lord the member for Lynn had let out another secret for the
benefit of the farmers. In the last session of Parliament the
Noble Lord told the farmers that they would End compensation
for the repeal of the corn-laws in the abolition of the malt tax.
There had since been several gatherings throughout the
country, as well as sumptuous dinners, at which the
Noble Lord was an honoured guest, and at which the
Noble Lord promised to secure the farmers the com-
pensation he had previously held out to them.
It appeared now, however, that this conapensation
was to be abandoned by the Noble Lord. This was
somewhat strange, when it was remembered that the Noble
Lord was the president of an anti-malt tax (ansociation,
to which he (Mr- B. Escott) certainly had not been solicited
to become a member. In fact, he could not help thinkine that
the Noble Lord had sold the farmers just in the same way as he
had got up a sham fight in their favour in the last session of
Parliament, and now the promised compensation was to be put
aside until some indefinite period. Now, he wished that the
farmers of England should know what was going on. They
were to have no compensation till the Irish question was settled,
and when that moment arrived, the Noble Lord would be ready
to attack the malt tat.
Lord G. BENTINCK said, whatever opinion the
Hon. and Learned Member for Winchester might
entertain as to the duration of the friendship which
existed between himself and the Noble Lord, the First
Lord of the Treasury, he trusted as that friend-
ship had subsisted for many years, it would not he so easily
broken up as the Hon. and Learned Member seemed to anti-
cipate. For his Noble Friend's private, personal, and
political character he entertained the highest respect,
while he no less admired his Noble Friend's political con-
sistency, and his own battles showed not, he trusted, that
when he differed in political principle with his Nobles Friend,
he might still be able to meet him in strong opposition without
any interruption to their private friendship.—( Cheers.) The
Hon. and Learned Member for Winchester had asierted that
he was the president of an anti-malt tax association. He
would not enter into any discussion upon that point, but he
could assure the Hon. and Learned Gentleman that he might
rest perfectly satisfied that whatever society he ( Lord George
13entinck) might belong to, unless lie wished to have it be-
tra3ed, he would never invite the lion and Learned Gentle-
man to become a member,—( Hear, atid cheers. )
Mr. BROTHERTON was desirous of putting an end to
this personal discussion and bringing the mind of ,he Com-
mittee back to the subject immediately ender consideration.
The returns e high had been so often alluded to during the
debate showed that there were 27,000,000 gallons of spirits
annually consumed in this country, being about one gallon each
for every man, woman, and child in the United Kingdom.
There was upwards of 40,00(1,000 gallons of malt consumed in
the same period, arid he thought that upon a
moderate calculation the malt consumed in spirits
might extend to upwards of 100,000,000 quarters.
Upon a fair calculation, he might reasonably state
that there were 400,000,000 gallons of beer annually consumed
in the United Kingdom. Now the inhabitants of this country
were considered an enlightened people, and yet they paid
50,000,0001. in spirits and in intoxicating drinks. If the
House was really in earnest in its desire to alleviate the distress
and suffering which prevailed throughout the land, it might
easily occomplish that object by doing away with that
50,000,0001. of taxation, which he considered as so much money
thrown into the sea, because it produced nothing but poverty,
crime, and wretchedness. He was, therefore, convinced that if
the House would only lend its moral influence to the societies
established for inculcating into the minds of the people princi-
ples of temperance, it would be doing more good than removing
the duties off intoxicating drinks.
Mr. B. FERRAND had heard the Hon. and Learned
Member for Winchester charge the Noble Lord, the Member
for Lynn, for having directly attended there to-night to sell the
farmers. At his last election the Honourable and
Learned Member marched into Winchester at the head
of a great procession of farmers, to whom he pro-
nounced himself to be a great protectionist, and declared
himself ready to fight their battles on the floor of the House,
and die in defence of their interest. Afterwards, when he
came into that house, he made a grand speech in favour of his
constituents, and in which he stuck up for protection to agri-
culture. He assisted the Hoe. and Learned Gentleman to
correct that speech, for the purpose of having it circulated
among his constituents.—(" No, no," from Mr. B. Escott. )
The Hon. and Learned Gentleman said " No, no," but he
would prove it. On a particular occasion he happened to be
in the shop, 59, Pallmall, when the Hon and Learned 3lember
came in; seeing that he was there, the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman said, " What did you think of my speech the other
night." He told the Hon. and Learned Gentleman that it was
a great piece of oratory, but that he did not understand how
the Winchester farmers would be able to construe his long
Latin quotations. Upon that advice the Hon. and Learned
Gentleman had alterations made in his speech, and had it
printed and published, and circulated among his constituents,
at his own expense. In the year 1846, he freely quoted from
that powerful and lengthy speech, and even since then, it was
found to be difficult to answer. Now, he distinctly charged
the Hon. and Learned Member with selling his constituents;
and as the Hon. and Learned Member had charged the Noble
Lord the Member fur Lynn with attempting to sell the farmers,
he must toll the Hon. and Learned Member that any Member
in that House who could sell his consitituents would not hesi-
tate to sell himself._( Hear, hear, and cheers.)
Mr. B. ESCOTT admitted that, when his opinions upon
the subject of the corn-laws underwent a change, his constituents
had a perfect right to have some explanation. He gave that ex-
planation before the Corn Bill passed last session, and although
he delivered it at one of the largest meetings of his constituents
that he had evsr attended ; all of them but three expressed
their entire approbation at his conduct. At the close of the
session he met them again, at a public meeting assembled, and
for the second time his constituents expressed themselves satis-
fied at his conduct. With respect to the speech, he could only
state, that when he thought it necessary to have any speech of
his corrected, certainly the Hon. Member for Kneresboreugh
would be the last man he should appeal to for this purpose.
He had listened to one or two speeches of the Hon. :Member,
and had heard one or two of his friends remark, that if he had
studied those speeches a little more, and repeated them, his
oratory would have lost nothing.—( Hear, and laughter.)
The resolution was then put and agreed to.
On the motion of Lord J. RUSSELL, the Corn Importa-
tion and Navigation Laws were read a third time and passed.

POOR-LAW SETTLEMENT-
Lord JOHN RUSSELL begged to
r"" that
a o
Seleclre-
land.t
Committee be appointed to inquire into the poor-laws
acquaintedhc oaudl could the come
advantagetoa j s
practically . oa
fs
: . i
ythehea these
aittdhvwalcta est bmhenaoael lotntie: wished
sku
Removal Act. With
and he dft
p sen,rostaottnhdsi nwl:ll,thoa
shouldt twheerye
!..elraeviwere certainly difficulties
c.d.,. or., the subject
~duwnti they and particularly the Poor-law
regard to the law of settlement, b
had
to be encountered on every side,
inquiry had
itth° retaskpeecttlitios
relgard to the proceed('
together
opportunity,a as several
f or
qtuheasttipounrsphoasde.
te
satisfactory.called
With
ybeen very
place at the Andover Union,17igs that had taken
steps, unless it were introduced by
Government to take any the intention of the
some other Member of the House. The Government looked
rather
itnogthteo generalthe
Aet
question.
T
Ppoarolri-almawenCt.om The House was well aware that,
paused last year, the powers of the
e
innisesiounnseidrs were limited till the next session of
lr i nge
et
ehsi
ssa question
havehe
someinus Body t sa.);, that
,he
thought it was absolute,
cony necessary
and which to
which should also y ~have a
local inspection..—( Hear, hear, from both sides of the House.)
Under the system which formerly existed there was no doubt
that great evils existed, and it was most necessary that the
mal-administration that existed under that system should he
exposed which could only be done by means of some Minis-
terial controul. But with regard to the manner in
which this contract was to be exercised or regu-
-1 lated, there was the greatest difficulty in bringing
it to the rule that would satisfy the House. The constitution
of the officials should be changed. With respect to his own
part, he believed that those Commissioners had exercised their
powers to the best of their ability; and, further, he believed
that their general administration had been successful, but he
could not say that in every instance that had been brought
before Parliament that their powers had been tightly exer-
t cised. He believed that the want of success had been owing
to the circumstance of the control having been
placed in different hands. In one case they had to receive
the statements of officers under different circumstances. In
one instance it was necessary to act upon the advice of the
officials, and in another instance the Ministers of the Ci Own
had to state what were the circumstances under which,
and what were the reasons that led to, the adoption