The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-27 00:00:00

the House to look at the result. In 1831 the revenue
was 51,150,0001. ; since that year six millions of taxes
were taken off. But in 1839 the revenue had not fallen
off to the amount of this six millions, but it had risen to
51,927,0001.—(Cheer5.) One of the taxes which was
taken off in the meantime was that upon:newspapers, and
when that reduction was proposed, some Gentlemen op-
posite suggested that before they took off the taxes upon
knowledge they ought to take off the tax on soap.
But the result of that experiment, in which the Noble
Lord opposite concurred, was satisfactory.—(Hear,
hear.) He now came to the question of the
post-office, and he approached it with an idea that the
moment it was mentioned, he should hear loud cheers
and cries of "It had been an entire failure," but that
was not the tone which was adopted at the time. The
Right Hon. Baronet (Sir Robert Peel) admitted the
great benefit which the reduction would confer upon the
country, but he required that an equivalent should be
found in other taxes.—(Hear hear.) His Noble Friend
(Lord Monteagle) satisfied that condition, and found the
equivalent in other taxes.—(Hear, hear.) He now came
to the financial measures which ho had the honour to
propose in the last session. Ile would not go over the
ground which had been sufficiently traversed by Hon.
Gentlemen upon that (the Liberal) side of the House,
and it had been carefully avoided by all those who fol-
lowed on the other side.—(Cheers.) The time must
come when those Hon. Gentlemen must lift the veil, and
the mountain would give forth its mouse.—(" Oh," aid
laughter.) But although in that House they were
told that they had no right to discuss those questions,
and that their only duty was to vote on the
question of confidence or no confidence—(Tory
cheers)—there were places where that prohibition did not
extend.—(Cheers.) He confessed he felt surprise to find
that it had been stated that the reduction of the timber
duties was of no value to the consumers, and that it was
a delusion as regarded revenue. The party who made
that observation was himself a Member of the Cabinet
which proposed that reduction, and he was the Member
who suggested it. If that party brought forward a
delusive measure—a measure useless to the consumer,
destructive to the colonies, bad in itself, and of no profit
to the revenue—if that party assented to that measure
when it was proposed in the House of Commons by
Earl Spencer—he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
could not avoid expressing his surprise that he should
denounce it afterwards in the terms attributed to
him.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") He was surprised
that the same party, had now turned round upon him (the
Chancellor of the Exchequer) and said that the same
measure was worse than useless, and delusive—that it
was mad.—(Hear, hear.) He must say, that the party
to which he alluded could only be regarded as one whose
character and opinions should not carry that weight
which the public were willing to attach to them.
He had next a few observations to make upon that great
and important subject the Corn-laws. The Ministerial
measure, in relation to those laws, had not been brought
forward as a measure of finance, and it had not been
framed with reference to the Budget. There was no
doubt, however, that they could not look to the revenue
without finding the question of course coming constantly
under their consideration. There was no doubt but
the first question which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
asked, when calculating his reveune, was, what was the
state of the harvest, as that revenue would depend entirely
upon the consuming power of the people.—(Cheers.) If
therefore, it was considered merely in that light, it was
still a question of the deepest importance. But if they
looked upon it in a larger point of view, the revenue
sunk into nothing. He would not enter upon the question
of corn at that moment ; he believed they would have
other opportunities of discussing it. He had, no doubt,
that the present scale of duty had not been framed with
a view of inflicting hardships upon any class of the com-
munity ; but he still felt it had been framed with the
mistaken though well-meant intention of producing
steadiness of price. He believed that in the result it had
greatly failed.—(Hear, hear.) - He believed that its
failure had been proved by many years of experience ;
and they had since learned the very different principle
that the less they attempted to interfere with those mat-
ters the more likely would they be to succeed. He en-
treated lion. Gentlemen opposite to take the question
into their immediate consideration with a view to place
it if possible upon a satisfactory and lasting foundation.
He trusted that as wise men, reading the signs of the
times, they would see that whatever resistance they
might offer, some revision of the present duty must take
place, and they should substitute in its stead a duty
which would, in name, if not in reality, a fixed one.
He earnestly entreated the powerful party opposite to be
wise in time, and while they had power to exercise that
power in a way in which, if they did not exercise it, they
would not retain it long ; while they would leave a
rankling sore on the vitals of the country, and strike a
blow which must ultimately undermine the sources of its
prosperity.—(Cheers.)
Mr. GOULBURN 'rose and said, that it had• not
been his intention to have offered any observations to
the House upon that occasion ; but he was sure the
House would feel that, after the unusual allusions which
the Right Hon. Gentleman had made to the financial
transactions of the country for the last ten years, and
after the part which he had borne in contests upon that
subject with the Right Hon. Gentleman, it would not be
just to those who had not paid attention to statements of
the kind—it would not be just, on his part, to the
Bight Hon. Gentleman himself—if he (Mr. Goulburn)
did not proceed at once to state the reasons why his
views upon finance differed entirely from those of the
Right Hon. Gentleman. He was sure it would be his
fault if he did not satisfy the House in judging between
the two opposing statements, that., th,osq,A'Allgy-IRgitt
lion. GenPer"._2.4%."ltiidefrst make a few observations
IftWect of that Budget which they were to have
isposed of in the last Session of Parliament. The first
remark he would make upon the subject was this, that
although a prominent feature in the sugar duties was an
alteration in those duties—although the party opposite
had maintained, upon the debate of last Session, that the
supply of sugar which we might in future expect from
our colonies would be so limited as to render it necessary
for us to have recourse to slave-grown sugar—al-
though that was the argument which had been used
by the Right Honourable Gentleman in proposing
his measure—and although a contrary opinion had
been expressed by Honourable Members upon his (Mr.
Goulburn's) side of the Houses the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman had avoided saying anything upon that part Of
his Budget which had been most pressed by him, and
which, in point of revenue, was the source from which
he expected the greatest profit.—(Hear, hear.) Why
that silence? The fact was simply this, that every pre-
diction on the subject, which had been made upon that
(the Opposition) side of the House, had been amply ve-
rified by subsequent facts. The Right Hon. Gentleman
knew as well as he did that the supply of sugar from the
East and West Indies had, during the three months
which had elapsed since the period at which the subject
had been last under discussion in the House, more
than realised the expectations of the majority on the
occasion, and had exceeded the import during the cor-
responding period last year.—(Cheers.) And more
than that, the Right Hon. Gentlemen was aware that the
consumption of the country during the three
months had risen to such a point that, if it did
not decrease during the remaining nine months,
the consumption of the commodity this year would ex-
ceed the consumption of any preceding one.— (Hear,
hear.) The Right Hon. Gentleman the President of
the Board of Trade had alluded to the consumption of
sugar from January to June, and confined himself
strictly to those six months, from which he drew
an analogy in favour of the argument he had used upon
a former occasion. But he (Mr. Goulburn), thinking
there was something rather suspicious in the suppres-
sion of the returns for the period following, had applied
to commercial men, from whom lie learned that a great
increase in the consumption had taken place during the
last three months. So much for the omission, upon the
part of the Right Hon. Baronet, of a prominent subject
in his Budget. But the Right Hon. Gentleman thought
fit to touch upon the subject of timber—a question not
brought forward in that House. Tho Right
Honourable Gentleman had expressed his disap-
probation of the statements made upon that subject
by a Noble Lord elsewhere ; but as no Member of the
Government had contradicted these statements, he (Mr.
Goulburn) could only conclude that they did not admit
of refutation.—(Hear, hear.) But as the Right Hon.
Gentleman had broached the subject of the Timber
duties, he (Mr. Goulburn) might be permitted to call
the attention of the House to a circumstance which
would not probably increase their confidence in the
financial ability of the members of her Majesty's Go-
vernment. Those Members of the House who had sat
in the last Parliament might, perhaps, remember that
the Right Hon. Gentleman the Chancel:or of the Ex-
chequer had brought forward the proposed alteration of
the timber duties, with a view to obtain a suns of
600,0001 to meet the expenses of the year. It so hap-
pened that the Governor-General of Canada bad thought
proper, at the request of the House of Assembly, to lay
upon the table of that House the letter which he
had addressed to the Noble Lord the Secretary
for the Colonies, stating his views with respect
to the timber duties. The Right Hon. Gentleman then
proceeded to read an extract from the letter, the sub-
stance of which was as follows—" Great alarm is neces-
sarily felt by those engaged in the timber trade in Canada,
as the prospect of any alteration in the duty levied upon
timber imported into the United Kingdom might
affect the protection hitherto afforded to colonial timber;
but the question must of course be resolved by the
Government, and Parliament, according to the views
they might take of the general condition of the empire.
I conceive, however, that in any change which may be
determined upon, if it were one which would disturb the
proportion of duty paid upon colonial and foreign timber
under the existing law, care should be taken to diminish
as much as possible the loss to individuals, by rendering
the change gradual. Such a course was certainly
most just as well as most politic ; but above
all, I must express my hope that, whatever al-
teration is adopted, the recommendations of the Com-
mittee of 1835, of which I was the Chairman; will be
adhered to—namely, that the change will not effect the '
importation of the year, which would be an act of ex-
treme hardship upon the colonial trade, inasmuch as it
can only be carried on by engagements entered into
many months before the tune at wich the goods can be
shipped." All shipments, therefore, which could be
made had been entered into upon the faith of
a continuance of the present law—(Hear, hear)—
and those shipments could not be countermanded or,
stopped.—(Hear, bear.) Was the Government igs
norant of that simple fact, that the timber ordered from
Canada was ordered a long time h9f,ore it arrived in this
country? Or, if they were aware of the fact, how could
the Chancellor of the Exchequer come down to the
House of Commons and propose a reduction of the duty
upon timber as a means of meeting the expenses of the
year? The Right Hon. Gentleman had complained of
misrepresentations made at the recent election, with re-
gard to the financial policy of the Government. But
whose fault was that ? Not his (Mr. Goulburn's), not
that of those with whom lie was associated. lie had-
taken the precaution, on the announcement of a dissolu-