The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-14 00:00:00

in giving his vote on the present occasion. He had al-.
ways been an opponent of slavery and the slave trade.
When the great measure for the abolition of slavery had
been proposed, he had been told that free labour would
be cheaper than slave labour ; and in the vote which
he had then given he had been influenced by his
detestation of slavery ; and if he thought
that the measures proposed now by the Gover-
ment were calculated to promote slavery or the
slave trade he would not vote for it. But he heard from
• those for whose opinions he had great respect, that such
would not be the case. He had received that day a
communication from the Anti-Slavery Committee of
Manchester, stating that they did not concur in opinion
with the Anti-Slavery Committee of London, that the
proposed measure would have any tendency to encourage
slavery or the slave trade, and he thought he was fully
justified in voting with the Ministers. The great ques-
tion they were called on to decide was, in fact, whe-
ther the people of this country should have dear food and
little employment, or cheap food and more employment.
The plan proposed by her Majesty's Government stated
a remedy, but according to the statement made by the
Noble Lord, they would have to apply to the monopo-
list. It was his (Mr. Brotherton s) firm belief that
Mammon was at the bottom of tile amendment of the
Noble Lord. However doubtful the question might
be as to sugar, he had no doubt as to the injustice of the
Corn-laws. He thought that great injustice had been
done to the people of England, and he begged to offer
his meed of praise to her Majesty's Government for
bringing forward the noble measures they had done.
The distress of the manufacturing interest was at the
present moment far crreater than ever it was known. In
Manchester thousands upon thousands were out of
employment ; and those who had anything to
do were working for half wages.—(Hear, hear.)
Many who had formerly lived in houses were now resid•
ing in lodgings. The property of the manufacturer had
deteriorated full a half. In Manchester and its neigh-
bourhood there were upwards of ten thousand houses un-
occupied in consequence of the distress in trade ; and it
had been shown that in two thousand families in the
same neighbourhood they had latterly earned not more
than ls. 2.1 d. a week. Such a state of things must have
a cause, and he trusted the House would provide a re-
medy. The present system ,of the Corn-laws was not
only unjust but inhuman to the poor man. They were
also injurious to the merchant and the manufacturer.
He trusted, therefore, that the people would come for-
ward with a determination to do away with them, and
that the House would respond to their call by blotting
them from the Statute book. _ _ . . _

Captain HAMILTON was not, on the fourth night of
the debate, going to enter into the question of the
sugar duties, but he felt bound to say that it was
his belief, and the belief of a great many in the
country, that the Chancellor of the Exchequer never ex-
pected that he should be enabled to carry the Budget
that he. had introduced. With respect to the speech of
the Noble Lord who had introduced the present ques-
tion to the House he thought it far more fitting for the
hustings than the. House of CommOnS. The Noble Lord
had taunted the limbers on that side of the House with
a new-born zeal for the -suppression of sraverY. Re-
thought he might. return that taunt, and' ask when
it '" was thaf the Ministers" 'lied' felt a new-born
zeal for the poorer classes ? If it was intended to
give the people cheap bread, why not take the tax off
corn altogether—(Hear, hear)—and not put on that
which would act as a direct bread-tax ? He thought the
measures proposed would be productive of the worst re-
sults, and he should therefore vote for the amendment of
the Noble Lord, the Member for Liverpool.
Mr. ALSTON said that her Majesty's Ministers hav-
ing introduced to the House a measure of finance, it was
necessary that unlimited inquiry should take place with
respect to it, in order that the people might see
whether it would be beneficial or not. The com-
mercial tariff in this country, in his opinion, was ex-
tremely defective, and required great alteration.
He approved of the principles of the Government, and
was pleased that he found himself in a situation to give
them his warm support on a measure which would greatly
tend to increase the comfort of the people, but he would
give the strongest opposition to any alteration that might
be proposed in the Corn-laws.—(Cheers.) On the sugar
question he would give them his unqualified support, and
that without giving any support to the system of slavery.
He had received a letter signed by nine members of the
Society of Friends ; four of them were delegates to the
Anti-Slavery Society, and they bore him out that until
we were prepared to prohibit the consumption of the
whole produce of slavery it would be punishing the people
of this country, and without doily, any good to the slave.
The country was greatly indebted' to the Government for
bringing forward in so bold a manner, a proposition of
so much good to the poor, and he would give his vote
for going into Committee, although he would oppose
any motion, the purport of which was to alter the Corn-
laws.—(Cheers.)
Mr. HARLAND was sorry that upon that occasion he
felt himself bound to oppose the Government whom he
had generally supported, because if their proposition
were carried he was afraid it would put an end to the
prosperity of our West India colonies.—(Hear, hear.)
He thought the pressure upon the finances of the coun-
try was but temporary, and they ought not to be called
upon to take a step that would so greatly and perma-
nently alter the protective system of the country. The
great boon of the reduction of postage was granted, not
to the demands of the colonial interest or the agricultural
interest of the country—that great loss to the revenue
of the kingdom was granted at the almost unanimous
demand of the commercial and trading interests.—
(Cheers.) Believing that it would injure the interests
of the whole of our colonies, and that it would greatly
interfere with the safe working of the great experiment
of emancipation—that it would shake the whole of our
protective system, it became his painful duty to give his
vote for the amendment of the Noble Lord the Member
for Liverpool.
Mr. HASTIE was anxious to state his entire appro-
bation of the proposition of the Government. As one
who had been all his life engaged in the commerce of
the country, he hailed the announcement made by the
Right Hon.: the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the
Noble Lord with unqualified pleasure ; indeed he felt
certain that the speech of the Noble Lord the Secretary
for the Colonies had given much pleasure to nearly the
whole of the mercantile world. The Hon. Member for
Beverley had stated that the whole of the merchants
trading to the East Indies were opposed to the measure
introduced by the Government. He did not know where
that Honourable Member obtained his information ;
but he, as Deputy Chairman of the East India
and China Association, had an opportunity of
seeing and learning the opinions of those connected with
that trade, and he did not know of even one single ex-
ception to the general rule—the whole body concurred
in the principles announced by the Right Hon. Gentle-
man. The Hon. Member than stated that the whole
of the Directors of the East India Company were op-
posed to the measure—that might be so, but the House
ought to receive with very great caution any representa-
tions made by that body. He would merely recall the
attention of the House to the time when they had unli-
mited sway over , India, and when it was proposed to
throw that immense empire open to the energies of the
British merchant, how strenuously they opposed that
most desirable measure—(Hear, hear)—predicting all
manner of danger and failure. Now, what had been the
result of that boon ? India was thrown open to the en-
terprise of our merchants, and now, from an export of
half a million, we send upwards of five millons of our
goods.—(Hear, hear.) Now, when they knew so little
of a country which had been so long under their
own dominion, any representation of theirs must
be taken with much caution. He was sorry
that the Hon. Member for Beverley was not. iu his place,
for had he been present he would have liked to tell him
that even upon the question of assimilating the duty
upon East and West India rum, they had to be urged
forward by canvassing among the Proprietors. He was
very glad that the Government were going to revise the
tariff of the country. We had now, undoubtedly, arrived
at the maximum rate of taxation upon the imports into
this country, and by wise reduction they would afford
relief to the poor and the middle classes in this country,
and at the same replenish the exhausted treasury. He'
believed that the landed interest in this country were not
aware of the injurious effect to themselves of the present
Corn-laws. The landed interest he thought to be the
first in importance in the country, but it could not
prosper while the mercantile and manufacturing interests
were depressed. They were all too closely bound up to-
gether for any one to flourish while the others were in
a state of suffering. It would be in the recollection of
Hon. Members and of every farmer in England, that last
season was rather unfavourable. There were fears enter-
tained of a short crop. The consequence was that mer-
chants and corn speculators sent out their orders for grain
to all parts of the Continent, and they purchased to the
amount of two millions of quarters, for which they gave
bills. Those bills got into all the markets of the ,Conti-
sent, and being too plentiful they lowered the. exchange
against this country. Then came in the capitalist, who,
in. order to profit by such a state of things, drained off
our gold to purchase the bills. The Bank of England
then was obliged to raise the rate of interest in order to
stop such a drain upon their coffers. Traders could not
get money to continue their purchases of our manufac-
tures, stocks increased, and the manufacturer was obliged
to come down to work his machinery only half
time, to the great distress of the working population.
While these speculations were going forward, the price
of corn was rising in the market, and who was benefited
by it ?—not the farmer, because he had previously dis-
posed of all his crop, and could not benefit by the ad-
vance that had taken place—and not the consumer, who
was compelled to pay that higher pride. A great deal
had been said of the cruelty and oppression that was
practised upon the black population, in transporting them
from their own country to labour in the sugar plantations
of the West Indies and Jamaica, but he could not en-
tirely keep out of view the sufferings and privations of
the working classes of his native country.—(Hear, hear.)
He could not forget that these men, although able and
willing to work, were unable to earn a subsistence in
their native land. He could not help anticipating that
the present motion would be lost upon a division; and as
it was important that the public faith of the country
should be preserved, it was necessary to see what taxes
should be substituted. It appeared to him that her
Mk esty's Ministers should recommend an equaliza-
tion of the legacy duty.—(Hear, hear.) That would be
a species of property tax which would bring in a large
revenue; and he really did not think that the landed in-
terest ought to offer any opposition to such a proposi-
tion.—(Hear, hear.) The real property of the coun-
try did not, at present, contribute one farthing to
the taxes, and he did not think any more judicious
step, could well be taken under the circumstances. He
would remind the House that there was—not grown in
that country within one million of quarters of corn of
the quantity required for the consumption of the popu-
lation, and it appeared to him that the landed interest
should take into their serious consideration in what way
these millions of ouarters were to be supplied. He should
Ove his cordial support to the measures proposed by the
(7 everam ent. —(sar, hear.)