The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-29 00:00:00

It was made a sine qua non that the Bible should be regularly
read.--( Hear, hear.) He only referred thus generally to those
documents, because they were printed and circulated by the
authority of that House, and, of course, could have been refer-
red to by any one who pleased to examine them. It could not
then be denied that the basis upon which these schools were
formed was purely religious—( Cries of " Hear, hear)—anti
upon that basis only the Government was induced to give them
their support.—( Hear, hear.) But a Society, calling
itself the " National Society," circulated a precious do-
cument, which, on the outside, was marked " Pri-
vate and confidential." This document was certainly
never intended to fall into his hands. It was signed by a No-
ble Lord, a Member of that House, and was, of course, sent
round to all the Clergy in England. The document stated,
" that inasmuch as they, the Clergy of England, were Protes-
tants and Churchmen, they were called upon to oppose any
education project founded upon such principles." He consi-
dered this document, which was, no doubt, penned by a Cler-
gyman, who acted as Secretary it appears, to be utterly un-
founded in its allegations. And further, that those who made
the assertions therein contained could, if they pleased, have
ascertained every truth connected with the measures
they so generally condemned.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
He wondered that they should have adopted, by means so utterly
unworthy, such an instrument to raise the minds of the people
against what he would call a most religious and beneficent
project.—( Cheers.) There was one thine'' he should observe
upon while passing over this subject, and that was a distinct
protest against the " National Society" assuming to themselves
to be the representatives of the Church ; it was a little body of
persons who met somewhere about the lower part of West-
minster.—( Hear and laughter.) He must say, if agitation
be the work of any party, it was never used more
unworthily than by the party who originated such
means in order to advance their objects.—( Hear, hear.) He
hoped he had satisfied the House by the statement he had
made, that the country had much increased in its prosperity
while under the government of the present Administration.
He had shown the increased consumption of every article in
the excise—( Hear)—he had shown the, increased consump-
tion of timber—(Hear)—and the great increase which had
taken place in their revenue.—( Hear.) He should be ready
at any time to show the great progress the country hadmade in
its trade and commerce, but great as that progress had been, it
would have been as nothing compared to what it would
most positively be if they were disembarrassed from these laws
which disturb their currency—( Hear, hear, from the Opposi-
sition)—which injure every other country without benefiting
them.—( Hear, hear.) He considered those laws were based
upon injustice, and, therefore, could not p issibly continue—
( Hear, hear, from the Conservatives)—but he hoped in a short
time to have an ample opportunity of discussing that question.
—(Cheers.) The Hon. Gentlemen opposite hoped to obtain
public support and sympathy from those appeals which they
made to the country at large; the more their principles
were known the more would be the opposition which would be
given to them.—(Cheers. ) The more the results of those
measures were canvassed, the more the country would have
reason to be grateful to them for giving every opposition pos-
sible to their party in that House.-4 Hear, hear, and cries of
" Ord. r.") He thought the country was entitled at all events
to know the policy that the Hon. Gentlemen on the opposite
side would be inclined to pursue. "Nothing had been more
-vague and undecided than their resolution, it simply expressed
dissatisfaction towards the Ministry. Surely they already knew
they were dissatisfied with the Government. —(Laughter. ) And
he was certain, they would have not the smallest objection to
take their places.—( Great laughter.) He presumed that this
debate would not end without receiving a statement from them
of what their course of policy would be, and what measures they
would propose.—(Loud laughter.) He should like to know
whether they meditated getting rid of the Poor-law Act
or the Catholic Emancipation Act, er whether they would
deprive the Protestant Dissenters of their po'itical and
civil rights because they dared to dissent from them.—( Hear,
hear, hear.) Let them come forward manfully and avow
their principles, and perhaps he and his party would support
them, if they showed a better system of policy than what they
now so loquaciously find fault with. Let them recollect that
there three parties in that House, viz., the Tories, the Whigs,
and the Radicals. The Hon. Gentleman could have very little
doubt but that they had many grounds of complaint, for they
were the third party.—( Hear, hear.) Let them (the Oppo-
sition) tell the House what their policy would be, if they had
the reins of Government in their hands, and not skulk about
generalities.—(Hear.) He, however, thought that the mer-
cantile interest would have some claims on that House. so as
to induce the Government to pursue a different course than
what they had done.—( Hear, from the Opposition.) In a
country like theirs, with such an enormous amount of corn
merce, it was most necessary, for this interest, to be blessed
with a steady Executive.—(Cheers from the same quarter.)
As the opposite party appear to assent to this, the country will
tradeer
another
al 'prser IcBe3 t
have a right to claim from them a cessation from those constant
obstructions which they have so perseveringly carried on
against the introduction of useful measures--( Hear, hear, and
laughter)—and which were calculated to place in great peril
the Colonial interests of the country ; and, still worse, their po-
licy was engendering the growth of a party who was at the
bottom of all, and who were opposed to every fair and rational
system of Government. If the decision on this question be in
favour of the Government, which he had no doubt of, the
country would have a strong claim upon those Opposition Gen-
tlemen to put their shoulders to the wheel, and assist tho Mi-
nistry in the passing of good measures for the benefit of the
country. There were a great number of subjects which
claimed their attention, such as questions relating to trade and
improvements in the law, the currency question, &c.. &c.
They must also advance the communications throughout the
country, independent of the railroads. He had a right to say
that the Ministry had increased in popularity, when he looked
at the result of the late elections.—( Hear. ) If they could
only get rid of those bigoted party squabbles, they could easily
pass sense useful measures.—(dear, hear.) He apologised
for the time he had occupied the House, and thanked them for
the attention with which they heard him throughout his speech,
the topics of which he had not fully arranged. He hoped,
however, he had shown that a real improvement had taken
place in the country ; that public opinion was in favour
of the present Ministry, as instanced by the late elec-
tions.—t Hear, hear.) He therefore begged to put in his
claim, as one who was connected with the commercial
interests of the country, to entreat of them to abate their
party hostility, and let every man—no matter of what party he
might be—join together in one general and simultaneous exer-
tion to benefit their common country.—( Cheers. )
Mr. COLQUHOUN next rose—The Honourable Gen-
tleman who had just sat down asked why they would trouble
the House with their conflicts? He (Mr. Colquhoun) would
respectfully suggest that he proved himself a most dangerous
supporter of her Majesty's :Government. He said that the
commercial interests of the country required a steady Govern-
ment.—( Cheers from the Opposition.) He (Mr. Colquhoun)
agreed in that observation. With regard to their foreign
policy, which the Honourable Gentleman said had thriven so
wonderfully under the present Administration, he (Mr.
' Colquhoun) expected that the Right Honourable Secretary for
the Colonies would have assisted him with facts to support his
assertion, but on that head he had been quite silent
But he told that Hon. Gentlemen that he (Mr. Colquhoun)
was ready to meet him foot to foot on that question. And he
thought he would make it plain to the satisfaction of that House,
that in consequence of the policy pursued by the Secretary of
' State for Foreign Affairs, the channels of their foreign trade
were dreadfully obstructed. Their manufactures had not the fair
scope they would otherwise have had; and if these facts were
proved, surely the Government that caused these difficulties
did not deserve the confidence of that House. He had no ac-
cess to the sources of information which the last Hon. Member
duringtsFTshtrtheaaeei tut rereuesseh
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had, but he thought he would lee able to quote some facts that
would surprise the Hon. Member. He would, then, compare
withcu ednatd. those hv
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with North America 22 per cent. Then if they looked to
their, trade with Europe, it had decreased 22 per cent. during
the period of five years. Thus it was evident there was a de-
cided decrease in the trade of Europe. When they came to
analyse those facts, they found that there was a decrease with
regard to the trade of Spain, Portugal, Germany, Russia.
With regard to Spain, he was quite aware of the continued
disturbances that existed in that country, but if they had tar-
nished the British arms—if they had sullied the character of
the British forces—surely, in return, they ought to have gained
something—they ought to have gained some commercial
advantages.—( Hear, hear.) If they parted with honour
they ought to gain something in return. If the Noble Lord
was so powerful in Spain, he was not able to save the trade of
this country from the stringentrestrictions which could be put on.
There was reason to believe that whilst in 1830 trade with
Europe had risen to twice what it was in 1823, it had new
fallen low er than it was then. There was another country
with which we were connected, namely, Portugal, and in 183 k
the attention of the Noble Lord was called to a very formi-
dable change about to take place in the commercial treaty
with that country ; but he held lightly the remonstrances of
the Hon. Member for Worcester (Mr. Robinson); but un-
fortunately in April, 1837, notwithstanding all that the Noble
Lord had promised and hoped, a restriction tariff was imposed,
and our trade with Portugal stood in a worse position than
before. Then with regard to Germany—during the diplo-
macy of the Noble Lord a commercial league was formed,
the consequence of which had been, that our trade
with Prussia had fallen from 189,0001. in 1829
to 131,0001. in 1837.—( hear.) But the house had
been told that our trade s'ith France had been most fruitful of
profit —yet the Noble Earl was obliged to confess that the Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade stated last Session that our trade
with France was laid under severe restrictions, imposed during
his diplomacy. He was quite aware that Hon. Gentlemen on
the opposite side would say these were merely unfortunate re-
sults of .negotiation, but he should proceed to charges more
explicit with regard to those negotiations—that of the abandon-
ment of the interests of British trade. When the Noble Lord
took office in 1830, what was the state of our trade with the 1
centre of Eu:ope ? We possessed trade of an important nature
with Poland, a country of twenty-one millions, whose commerce
was by the treaty of Vienna secured to remain free. Yet what
had happened? He spoke not of blotting Poland from the
map of Europe—but the trade secured by that treaty did not
exist, because Poland was encumbered by a Russian tariff.
—( Hear, hear.) Another point of immense importa ee toA
trade in the centre of Europe was the amount of tariff.
Cracow as a central
to the state of trade, and pointed out
might distri-
butepoint from which the manufactures of England
Noble Lord in 1836 called the attention of the Government
was secured
independence of Cracow with regard to trade
well
by the Treaty of Vienna, to which we were parties, as
it
us
themselves throughout Austria and other countries. 'The
as other Powers of Europe, and which was bindingupe
the this important trade swept away, so that during
diplo-
macy of the Noble Lord our trade with France and Spain vasunfortunate
and them ; but in 1836 this independence was violated,and
incumbered by restrictions—with Prussia by an
commercial Treaty—Poland, as far as trade was considered,
was blotted from the map of Zurope, and Germany was shut up
from the access of British manufactures ; but it was natural that
British trade, not finding vent where it formerly did, should pass
to other parts, and in the year 1836 an attempt was made
by British merchants to carry on an enterprising trade which
might carry British manufactures to eight important countries.
It was guaranteed by treaty that the mouth of the Danube
ought to remain free, but at this moment Russia shut up one
side of the Danube, and opposed the progress of British trade
in the most formidable manner on the other, and allowed
the sand to accumulate at its mouth. He asked the
Noble Lord why he had been so inactive while
this serious injury affected our trade. Another point of yet
more importance was the Dardanelles, which, when the
Noble Lord took office, was free to British manufactures—
no power interfered with British trade in the Black Sea, but
a change took place in 1833, and, as was stated by the pre-
sent Vice-President of the Board of Trade, the Key of the
Black Sea, which had been formerly open, was now closed
against us by Russian dictation. Owing
t() the absence of
Lord Ponsonby from Constantinople, what was the come-
(pence from 1836 to 1838? 'rho merchants of Glasgow,
Newcastle, and Hull, petitioned the House on the unprotected
state of trade in the Black Sea. lie thought these changes
were owing to the ineffective diplomacy of the Noble Lord,
and when he saw British trade swept at once from tho eastern
shore of the Black Sea by those quarantine regulations of which
the House had heard so much in 1836, in the case of the Vixen,
and found our merchants at Trebizond declaring they could
not invest their capital from fear of hostile encroachments on
that coast, he thought justice had not been done to the trade
of this country.—(Hear, hear.) His Right Hon. Friend had
directed attention to the East. He had no wish to
detract from the. lustre of British arms, hut was
quite willing to admit that their achievements in that part