The Sun.
London, England, 1840-04-02 00:00:00

EVIJI,N IN G EDITION

EVENING EDITION

proof of prosperity, but of present need ; it take; place in
spite of diminished production, and it leaves for the con-
sumption of his faeriiy, trot 40 quarters, but only 25 quarters.
Now, if the firmer only sold his wheat at the same price
per qusrtcr eliee he rold 90 quarters as when he sold the
100 quarters, which it seemed to be the object of the
Core-law repealers to force him to, he would cer-
taini y would suffer a loss ; but if he did, as he ought in un-
few:Li:able seasons, olitaie a higher price for his diminished
pa:du:lion, such would not be the case. He would not
trouble the House with any more extracts from this
speech, upon which he believed the delegates
res:ed their case, as they had put it forward with
so much oventation as their manifesto. He would
not detein the House longer than to eilude to a docu-
ment which only appeared that morning. It was one great
isitreument against the Corn-laws that they caused a con-
flmuncutfiaraettiuorneri n. tihieel:rrirceeesdtottllli e injury alike rf).t the farmer
turYn
to he adhered to as much' as poi Bible.. that
Everysteadiness
oon
epr acquaintedlought
with the subject must know that it was impossible to sup- I
pose that the prices of corn, or of any other artir;le. which I
teas the produce of the earth could tt:s remain alike.
But on this subject be would refer the
valu-
able document he held in his hand. It
consisted
edto
ofa
onsiste tables.
lowestc;
3teiraer prices
pltsie
ieossf
The first teas a return of the highest aed
wheat, and the difference nttsb
of various countries in Europi7reeetm.e.
.
tip
to 1838; end front this return it appeared that
of all the countries in Europe the fluctuation
been less ill England than in any other country.had
Tee same tables showed that between 18.'9 and 'e
England was again the lowest in point of fluctuation with
the exception of one, and, taking the weekly averages, she
was the lowest of all. In saying that he did not wish for
a moment in any manner to disparage our manufactures,
but it must be remembered that in former times a man of
straw, by his ingenuity or otherwise, might, in a very
short time, amass a very large fortune. Those profits were
now gone, and the manufacturing interest wished to raise
themselves upon the ruin of the agriculturists. Se long
as he had a scat in that House he would raise his voice
against so unjust a doctrine. It might be supposed that
he seas biassed upon the question from the tact of his
representing a large agricultural country—such was not
tire case, for so long as he had sat in that House he had
always considered that he sat there for the purpose of
legislating for the benefit of the whole couirtry—( Hear,
hear)—and under these feelings he had always done his
duty to the best of his judgment. He might be again told
that manufactures and agriculture could not flourish to-,
gether, but if so he would answer, as he had done before,
that in former times they had done so, and he saw no rea-
son why they should not do so again.—( Hear.) But if he
was to be told that they could' not, that agriculture
must degrade manufacturers—(No, no)—then he
would say, " Perish commerce, flourish agriculture."—
(Hear, hear.) But he would not use any such harsh ex-
pression. Thanking the House for their attention, ho
would conclude by enforcing upon the House that if they
took that protection away from agriculture which she had
enjoyed, from that moment her prosperity would diminish
—from that time they might say England's sun had set,
her glory sunk for ever.
Mr. G ROTE quite agreed with one sentiment which
was put forth by the Noble Lord, that a Member of that
House was the representative of the interests of the whole
country—to that sentiment he would give its full force and
significance, and he hoped that in the division which was
' about to take place, they would find that sentiment acted
upon by a large majority of the House. The Noble Lord
expressed some astonishment that the resolution was again
offered to the House, after what he called the final decision
of last year. If he (Mr. Grote) could admit that a large
majority, that numbers were to be taken as an exponent of
all the reasons and arguments of a case, then he would
adroit the Noble Lord and those on his side had been tri-
umphant ; but the people out of doors were often
very much indisposed to be content with the wisdom of a
majority of that House.—(Cheers.) The Noble Lord
had also said that the Hon. Member for Wolveihampton
had not brought forward the question of his own free will,
but had yielded his own judgment to the pressure from with-
out. Now, from whom did that pressure come but from
the people, a large body of whom were dissatisfied with
the decision of last year ?—( Hear, hear.) The Noble
Lord had admitted that there had existed during the last
year a state of extreme distress in the country. He
(Mr. G.) was rejoiced at that admission, because it
brought the two parties on that question nearer to an
agreement, for last year a great deal of the discussion
turned upon the degree of distress existing, and that
which would justify the proposed measure. That distress
had now been acknowledged by the first gentlemen who
had spoken in favour of the Corn-laws.—( Hear, hear.)
It was true, as the Noble Lord had said, that after the dis-
cussion which the question had undergone, it was impossible
for any one to bring forward any new argument upon the
subject, however both the friends and the opponents of
the measure laboured under the same difficulty ; and ho
would proceed to state his reasons for the motion, even
although they might have been stated before. What had
taken place within the last year, had placed
within their reach a great number of new facts as
to the working of the Corn-laws, and he
would be surprised indeed if the Noble Lord or any other
favoerer of the present laws could bring from the eircum-
etances of that experience anything in favour of the Corn-
lawe, On the contrary, he thought it would not be diffi- ,
cult to bring forward many things to discredit them.—
( [Lear, hear.) He would particularly allude to the re-
erarkahle drain of hullion—( Hear hear)—the consequence
of which was to disarrange the whole of our monetary,
and as a consequence of our mercantile and manufacturing
system. The Noble Lord and his friends now saw that that
which was a mutter of prediction in 1839, was a matter of 1
history in 1840. The Noble Lord would remember that
what had taken place had been foretold in time discussion
of the motion last year. The Noble Lord did not know
so well as those delegates whom he held so lightly—.
vntlemen who were deeply engaged in trade— the conse-
quence:, of severe pressure on the money market.; they I
amounted to a much more formidable catalogue than the 1
Noble Lord was at all aware of, and ramified I
themselves throughout the whole trading community, and 1
if all these consequences, evil as they were in their na- I
ture, could be traced in any way to the Corn-laws, that
constituted a ground for inquiry which the House could not
longer resist. The Noble Lord said that the drain of
bullion was not owing to the Corn-laws, and he said fur-
ther that corn could never be bought without an exporta-
tion of coin. He (Mr. G.) did not see how corn differed
from any other commodity. If they wanted on a sudden
any large quantity of any commodity, it must be paid for
by that which was received in all countries as a means of
exchange, viz., bullion ; but if they could conduct their
trade upon a regular and established footing, upon their
correspondence systematically from year to year, would an y
man tell him that they would be called upon to pay gold
for cern any more than they would be called upon to pay
gold for cotton, tea, or any other commodity they might
want? The drain upon the Bank last year was an example
of the working of the Corn-laws upon the exportation of the 1
precious metals. The harvests on the Continent in 1838
and 1839 were abundant enough to supply our wants w:th-
out any drain upon the resources of those countries if
our trade had been upon a regular footing. The Noble f
Lord attributed the distress of last year to over trading,land
assimilated it to 1825. He would appeal to any Gentle-
man in that House or out of it if that were the case. As
far as his experience led him, during that year there was
an unusual absence of all oyeadrading—( Hear, hear)—and
he fully believed that there would have been no drain upon
the Batik nor any of that distress which both he and the i
Noble Lurd lemented, had it not been for the sudden de- 1
mend for gold in order to pay for the corn required for the
sustenance of the country. The great and primary evil of
the Corn-laws was their aggravation of the price and the
still greater aggravation of the fluctuations in the price of
the prime necessaries of life. He knew he would be told
that the present scale of duties was intended to keep the
prices steady ; but so long as they accumulated
dangers and difficulties in the ,way of merchants,
those dangers and difficulties operated as an enhancement s
of prices, in as sure a manner as a tax upon the amount of
sale or purchase, or as if a positive duty was imposed
to the same amount. The first object of the Legislature
ought to be to give the prime necessary of life to the ,
English consumer at the lowest ccst of produation—
( Hear, hear)—rhe other that there should be as little fluc-
tuation as possible in the price of that article. These
matters could not be disjointed in ractice, for if prices
were raised to an unnatural level, t hey must become un-
naturally unsteady. It might be possible, by some means
or other. so to force agriculture in this country, as to
enable the home grower to supply the population, but it
must be at an enormous cost and suffering, and still, had
they attained such a length, they would at times have corn i
enormously high, while at other times, the farmer would '
suffer more than he did in 1834 or 1835.—( Hear, bear,)
of
pf they
ent h e wisheddeortoto t
ne t makefree
ee tihtne price
pertu of corn
tien ef corn
rn steady,frn
m all
h lit temcoun-
tries. It would be a most singular instance in commercial
affairs, if, when they made the Corn-laws the greatest
matters of gambling and uncertainty, that prices should
remain steady. As an instance, the difference between
635. and 735. was not the difference of a d
bweasenactetureadllyinatu3nde
ss. r
such an
What calculationsut y of 10s. , but
could
difference
with safety of u
artificial
system
as that ? Now it would be said that there was a change in
the law in 1828 ; but the only difference between the law
then established and that of 1815, was the slight difference
between 735. a quarter as the importing price, and 80s.
And the certainty of the price rising to 735. if there was
any scarcity, was as great now, as under the former law,
the certainty of the price rising to 80s. when a foreign
supply was needed. But the Acuity, as respected the
importer, was greater under the present than under the
former law. For though, under the law of 1815, the
only loss accruing to the mistaken importer when the price
did not rise, according to his inclination, to 80s., was that
the corn was unsaleable, under the present law there was
a duty payable if the price had not reached 735. That
the practical difficulties admitted under the law of 1815
had increased under the present, would further
be seen, when it was reflected there was all
the range for fluctuation between 365., the price
it would be recollected a year or two ago—and 735. !. and
there was no security now that the price might not fall be-
low 365.—( Hear, hear.) As to steadiness of prices, in-
deed abstract reasoning would be sufficient to prove that
the best means for securing that steadiness would be to
open the door for competitien in the widest and most ex-
tensive manner.—( Hear, hear.) It was sometimes talked
of as an indulgence to the consumer to let foreign corn
in at a lower duty, as the price increased. But the mis-
chiefs of fluctuating prices led to endless speculations, and
constantly brought heavy losses on the importer, who un-
onTfihneedprtauctthicealperffiieceascbyetowf
etehne
present
t es
,I
,ya
if: lel
of
i duties an
Icy rarso r
e.
60s. and 735. For when they fell below the lowest of
these two, they amounted to a prohibition against importa-
tion. But above 60s. up to 735. the variations and the
risk were fearful, the uncertainty to the importer, and the
danger to the consumer, were equally great.—(Cries
of " Hear, hear.") Undoubtedly a fixed duty would be
a great remedy for this uncertainty—but it was impossible
to give an opinion on that point without knowing the exact
figures of the fixed duty to be proposed. The question as
i to tire amount of the fixed they was much more important
I !hail the question between a fixed duty and a fluctuating
ione. The Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Tam-