The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-11 00:00:00

CORN-LAWS.

The Earl of ROSEBERRY rose for the purpose of
moving for certain returns with a view of showing the
operation of the existing Corn-laws. It had been stated
by certain Noble Lords that the present duty was merely
for the purpose of regulation, and its operation had
been contrasted, he thought, invidiously with the opera-
tion of a fixed duty. Great misapprehension appeared
to exist on the subject of the operation of the pre-
sent Corn-laws. It had been stated that they imposed
no tax on food, while the fixed duty on corn, which had
been proposed in another House, had been stigmatised as
imposing a tax on the food of the people. For the purpose
of affording information on this important subject, he
moved that there be laid before the House an account of
the quantity of wheat and other grain imported into the
United Kingdom and entered for home consumption
during the years 1838, 1839, and 1840, with the amount
of duty paid thereon in each year respectively.
Earl FITZWILLIAM considered the returns moved
for by his Noble Friend as of great importance, and cal-
culated to do away with great misapprehension. Great
delusions existed on the subject among both parties, but
more particularly did those delusions exist among that,
which, for want of a better name, had been designated
the agricultural party. If any Noble Lord was then pre-
sent who had been present on Friday last, he would recol-
lect that he (Earl Fitzwilliarn) had expressed his opinion
that the tenants who were now paying a fair rent as de-
duced from the averages of the last ten, fifteen, or twenty
years, would be able fairly to pay an equal rent during
the same term now commencing, under the operation of
a fixed duty, as proposed in the other House of Parlia-
ment. Since that period he had endeavoured to procure
facts in support of his opinion, from a consideration of
the averages during the period he had mentioned. He had
been unable to procure the averages for the last
two years ; but from the year 1820 to the year 1838 the
average of the averages had amounted to 56s 4d ; and
supposing during the last two years the average to
amount to 70s, which he considered would turn out to be
about the truth, it would make but a small addition to
the amount he had mentioned. The effect pro-
duced by the existing Corn-laws was very singular ;
because while during a time of distress and scarcity they
raised the price of corn considerably, during a time of
abundance they depressed the prices in an equal degree,
thus inflicting a positive evil upon the farmer,
and forcing him, during those seasons, to accept
of a lower price than he would otherwise be enabled
to procure. They afforded another example of the in-
ability of human ingenuity to adapt, a priori, a
Ilan to circumstances which it was impossible
_ _

for human foresight to foresee. He hail said
that under the proposed system the tenant would be able
to pay as good a rent for the next 20 years as he
had fairly been able to pay under the old law.
By far the greater part of the lands of England are
held by tenants at will, and the landlords take the time
which is most favourable to them for fixing their rents ;
and the object of the Corn-laws was to persuade the ten-
ants that they should have as high an average of prices
as that of the period in which the rent was fixed. The
law, he conceived, had been mischievous to all parties, but
most particularly so as to the occupying tenant.
Lord BEAUMONT deprecated the incidental discus-
sion of so important a measure, upon the presentation of
petitions. He denied that this was a question between
the landowners and the community at large. The Noble
Earl (Fitzwilliam) forgot that there were a great num-
ber of landowners' who lived on and cultivated their
own lands, which they would not do, if the price of
wheat was lower than fifty-five shillings a quarter.
The effect of the proposed alteration of the Corn-laws
would be to throw out of cultivation all the poorer soils,
upon which the proprietors had expended large capital,
on the faith that the existing protection would be con-
tinued.—(Hear.) That would lead to the ruin of many,
and would drive vast numbers of the agriculturists now
employed on those lands into the towns, where they would
increase the competition amongst the manufacturing opera-
tives, whose wages would be at once lowered by the
operation of the Bill, even without such additional com-
petition.
Lord ASHBURTON said that the precise object of
the Corn-laws was to give a general average price of
555. or 56s.—never under that, and never above 60s.
If they had had that effects the object of those
who had introduced them had been attained. Such
had actually been the result, except only in two
years, in one of which the price fell below that ave-
rage, and in the other rose above it in consequence of
the season. He denied that any large. portion of the
landowners of England were guilty of tricking and trap-
ping their tenants in the way which the Noble Earl op-
posite supposed.
The Earl of RADNOR concurred in what had fallen
from his Noble Friend below him (Earl Fitzwilliatn).
The Corn-laws had produced fluctuation in the price of
tfluectoua course of
o f
corn, which was the article, of all others, the least liable
to fluctuation of
state of things.
Lord ASHBURTON explained. He had stated that
in h
pthri
since those laws were enacted, the price had been re-
markably steady, except in the ten years to which he had
referred. ecetwinentiltye-finavetuyrealar which had passed

(Ashburton) spoke
Lord PORTMAN said that when the Noble Lord
of a remark on the steadiness of
price, he seemed not to have looked into the returns,
in which it would be found that there had been first
seven years of an ascending scale, then seven yeara
of a descending scale. Then there had been years of the
ascending scale, and now we were in the commencement
of the descending scale. In the course of that time, wheat
had risen to 905., and had sunk below 405.--(Hear,,
hear.) The average supply of wheat grown in England
was not sufficient for the subsistence of the inhabitants.
If his Noble Friend would compare the last census
of the population with the number of acres that could
be employed
in the wheat cultivation, and the actual

quantity of wheat grown in the average of
years, he would see that we could not do
without the assistance of other countries, to supply our
people with food.—(Hear, hear.) As we could not do
without that assistance, we ought to take measures
for securing it in the most certain and ad-
vantageous manner, but he did not think the pre-
sent a fitting time for the discussion of those measures.

The Earl-of HADDINGTON said that if the produce
of England were not sufficient, the supply from Ireland
and Scotland made up the deficiency.—(Hear, hear.)
The Earl of RADNOR said that Scotland was not an
exporting country of corn ; on the contrary, a large
quantity was imported thither.—(Hear, hear.) Ireland
did export corn to this country, but for the last eight
years in constantly diminishing quantities.—(Hear.)
The Earl of FITZWILLIAM thought it was most
gratifying that Ireland was gradually ceasing to export
corn.—(Hear, hear.) It :was most desirable that all the
corn grown there should be consumed at home.—(Hear,
hear.) The fact that the quantity exported from Ireland
had been diminishing from year to year was evidence of
the improving condition and habits of the people.
The Earl of WICKLOW would contend that the sup-
ply of the United Kingdom was sufficient for the supply
of the population, unless, indeed, the Noble Earl avowed
himself a repealer, and would separate the two countries,
and so cut off this country from the supply of Irish corn.—
(Hear, and a laugh.) He feared that the falling off in the
export of corn from Ireland was not occasioned by an in-
creased consumption at home, but by the bad harvests of
the last few years.
After a words from Lord PORTMAN and Earl RADNOR,
the petition was laid on the table.
The Marquis of NORMANBY presented petitions
against Sunday trading on canals, from several places in
Derbyshire. The Noble Marquis postponed till to-morrow
the Marquis of Lansdowne's motion on the subject of
Promissory Notes.
Lord MELBOURNE presented petitions from various
parts of the country against Church-rates.
Lord YARBOROUGH presented several petitions
from Linbolnshire against alteration of the Corn-laws.
The Earl of MOUNTCASHEL presented a petition
from a medical body in Ireland, against the vaccination
clauses in the Irish Poor-law Bill.

The Earl of FITZWILLIAM presented a petition
from Glasgow, Bolton, Hadley, and from several places
in the West Riding of Yorkshire for repeal of the
Corn-laws.

Lord RODEN presented a petition from Presbyterians
in the North of Ireland, against lay patronage in the
Church of Scotland.
The Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act Amendment
Bill, went through a Committee ; and the House
adjourned at Seven o'clock._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, May 10.
The SPEAKER took the Chair at Four o'Clock.
Certain returns were presented from the Treasury.
Mr. Putman, the Deputy Usher of the Black Rod,
summoned the Speaker of the House to the bar of the
House of Lords.
On his return, the SPEAKER announced that he had
been to the House of Peers, where the Royal Assent had
been given by Commission to several Bills (for which
see Lords' Report.)
BRITISH PLATE GLASS COMPANY.

Mr. BROTHERTON brought up the Report of the
Committee on the British Plate Glass Company.
Mr. HODGSON moved that the Report be taken into
further consideration that day six months. The Hon.
Member contended that as the custom of the House was
not to renew private Acts of this description, unless
some special circumstances were stated, the House could
not consistently renew the Act under consideration.
Mr. LOCH, as Chairman of the Committee, sup-
ported the Bill.
After a short discussion, strangers were ordered to
withdraw, and the House divided., when there appeared—
For the original motion 45
For the amendment 75
Majority in favour of the amendment —3O
Mr. MILNES presented a petition from Coventry,
praying for the continuation of the Gilbert Act.
Mr. GRIMSDITCH presented a petition from Mac-
clesfield, signed by 8,334 persons, praying for Church
Extension.
Mr. BROTHERTON presented eight petitions from
Salford, and other places in the neighbourhood of Man-
chester, praying for a reduction of the duty on Sugar.
Mr. THORNELY presented petitions to the same
effect from the, grocers of Wolverhampton, of Hilston,
and of Wraxall ; also a petition from a Baptist congre-
gation in Staffordshire for the abolition of Church-rates,
and the liberation of Mr. Baines.
NOTICES OF MOTIONS.

Sir C. GREY gave notice of his intention to bring
forward a motion relating to the Corporation of New-
castle-upon-Tyne.
Mr. Sergeant JACKSON gave notice of his intention
to move for a return of the instructions issued by the
Poor-law Commissioners in Ireland, relating to the mode
of making valuations.
TIMBER DUTIES.

Mr. O'CONNELL presented two petitions from the
timber merchants of Dublin, and the ship owners of
Dublin, deprecating the proposed change of duties upon
foreign timber.—(Tory cheers.) Also 25 petitions,
praying for a repeal of the Corn-laws.
SUGAR DUTIES.

Mr. SHEIL presented a petition from the Association
of Merchants of the City of London trading.:into the
Brazils. They state that they did not coincide with the
political opinion of her Majesty's Ministers, but they
highly approved of the measure for the reduction of the
duties on foreign sugar. They thought a duty of 365.
per cwt. would sufficiently protect the colonial interests,
and secure the consumers from an excessive price—
that the Brazilian Government had adopted several
measures from the protection and improvement of the
slaves, and they were convinced that the illicit introduc-
tion of slaves into the Brazils would not be arrested by
any differential or protective duties. The petitioners
prayed the House to accept the proposal of her Majesty's
Government for the reduction of the duty on foreign
sugar.
Mr. E. TENNENT had a petition to present from a
body who coincided with her Majesty's Government.
It was from the East India Association of Glasgow, and
they stated that, in their opinion, the proposed reduction
in the duties on foreign sugar would not realise the ex-
pectations of the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
but be seriously injurious to the West India interest.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL presented a petition
signed by 27,000 inhabitants of Edinburgh, praying for
a repeal of the Corn-laws, which they considered to be
contrary to all moral, commercial, and political principles.
Sir G. STRICKLAND presented eighteen petitions
from different places, in favour of a repeal of the Corn-
laws.

Petitions were also presented by Mr. Wilbraham, from
Westbury ; by Mr. Easthope, from Blackfriars-road,
Hounsditch, and the borough of Southwark ; by Mr.
Grote, from various places ; and by Mr. Wood, from
Kendal and Manchester, against the Corn-laws.
Mr. BLACKBURN presented a petition from the
county of Lancaster, in favour of the present system of
Corn-laws.

Sir E. BULLER presented a petition from Chester,
in favour of a repeal of the Corn-laws.
Petitions, in favour of the Corn-laws, were presented
by Mr. G. Palmer, from a parish in Essex, and Mr.
Fellows.
Petitions praying for the repeal of the Corn-laws were
presented—Mr. Busfield, 7, from Bradford ; Mr. C. Wood,
10, from Halifax and neighbourhood ; Mr. Aglionby, 15,
from Cumberland, many of them from agricultural districts,
and six from metropolitan districts ; by Mr. Labouchere,
from a public meeting at Liverpool, presided over by the
Mayor ; by Mr. Gisborne, 12 ; and Mr. Hume, 20.
Lord SANDON presented a petition from the grocers
of Liverpool, praying that the duty on sugar should be
further reduced to 30s.—(Loud laughter.)
Mr. CHALMERS presented a petition from Mon-
trose, in favour of the reduction.of the Sugar duties.
Mr. O'CONNELL wished to know from the Noble
Lord the Secretary for the Colonies whether he had re-
ceived any despatches relative to a murder, which it ap-
peared was committed by persons armed with muskets,
who fired out on some individuals from an Orange lodge
in Canada (as we understood).
Lord J. RUSSELL made some reply, with was in-
audible in the gallery.
Mr. O'CONNELL was desirous of knowing whether
the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary at War had
received any commuuication from the East India Com-
pany with respect to the spiritual wants and instruction
of Roman Catholic soldiers in India, and whether the
Right Hon. Gentleman had any hopes of procuring a
remedy for the evils complained of on this subject.