The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-17 00:00:00

MIL["IIA

Lord INION'rE.A.G LE prescuttd . a pctitiup . nume-
rously signed from Leeds, praying the Pszliament
would not at this period sanction the calling_ out of the

IMPORTS FROM IRELAND.

The NOBLE LORD, hefore tot t ime down, begged leave
to
give notice of his intention to move for eertem returns,
whiell hetezpected the, House would have eo ehjece
Lien. They wore as to the ainonntot ilie imports ei greio
into th:s wintry from Ireland.
NeoTEcTION Ti 1 AGRICULTURE.
The Duhe of RICIIXION pie:Anted :upwards a 20f)
petitions from various parts of the country atfalmq
the repeal of ttie present protection to agriculture, anti
praying that the House of Commons be dissolved before
any attempt was made to decide the question. The peti-
tions were from the counties of Wilts,. Kent. Berlte, and
from a large meeting in favour of ageicnlturai lil "iti4;ni
lately held in Chelmsford, in E sex also petitions from
Steel:bridge. in Hanipsh ire ;' placee in Wicklow,- Berk- •
shire, and Yorkshire ; alSo a, petition from distillers in
the south-east district of Scotland, from farmers and
others in the counties of Semerset and Lincolo, all pray-
ing that their Lordships Would not alter the present ex-
im.ing corn-laws, and also praying that the measures pro-
posed in another place Ohmic of Commons), 3: hie!' were
calculated to cause so much damage to thy agricultural
and other* great interests of the country, should net
receive the sanction of their Lerdships, in the event
:if the Bill being passed by, the. House of Commove.
The Earl of ST RA DBRONE ,presented a-number et*
petitions from Aiiierent places 'Oho )entnee of . which we
could not catch) to the carne effect:
I'ECULIASI BURDENS-QN LAND.
Lord BEACAIO.-la'T rose to submit to their Lordships
the motion of which he had given notice, to inquire into
the peculiar burdens on land, the impediments which
existed to the improvement on agriculture, as well tte,
to
inquire into the present system of Excise duties.
Although he understood that it was not the intention of
the Uovernment to oppose that motion, their Lordships
might probably expect that he would enter into the
reasons why he submitted so important a motion to
their consideration, and why also those, with whom he
had hitherto in general acted, refused to comply with it
similar motion when moved by other persons. He hail
ever upheld •.that peculiar burdens on land, and
protection to agriculture, were matters very
closely connected. They must regard both subjects
from the same point of view. Either they must remove
the peculiar burdens on land, if they attempted to re-
move the protection which agriculture enjoyed, or they
must, in common justice, continue protection, if they
permitted those burdens to remain. He found that he
was fortified in this opinion by men whose authority
was of considerable weight. lie found that :Mr. M'Cul-
loch, Mr. M'Gregor, and if he mistook not, his Noble
Friend on his left (Lord Brougham), were all of
opinion that there were peculiar burdens on land.
The ehjeet of his motion was to inquire what those
peculiar burdens were. If it were submitteti to his
choice whether the burdens of land and protection to
agriculture should be removed, or both allowed to con-
tinue, he would have no hesitation in selecting the con-
tinuance of the burdens and the continuance of protection
rather than the removed of both, and lie was influenced
in comic k to such a determination by national con-
siderations, by economical considerations, and by
motives of a sense of justice to the colonies.
fie believed that the contieuation of protection would be
the most economical bargaitt that the country at large
could strike with the agriculturists, if they granted a
sum of money for general purposes, in which it WaS
their desire that all Classes should equally
participate.
He believed it was for the advantage of the
country at large that they should make an
agreement with owners of real property to pay this
large sum of money for these purposes, in considera-
tion that they should be allowed a ditty on the importa-
tion on forelgn corn. The motive on which he preferred
this choice of the two was because lie believed it would
tend to make this country independent of foreign na-
tions, and at the same time encourage industry at
home. Ile further believed that the adoption of that syetem
had one great advantage, inasmuch as it would enable
them to give certain other advantages to our colonies,
and enable them to admit their corn at a lower duty than
that imposed on the corn imported from other countries.
But there seemed to be no longer a chance of havine.
.such a proposition as this submitted to their, and he spoke
rather in anticipation of the possibility p
ofprotection
being entirely done away with, because, had he not an-
ticipated such a possibility, he never should have thought
of submitting each 'a motion to. their Lordships. He
Might here as well stetee that the object he' had in view
was not to delay the consid4ration of the question of
protection, because from what he had already stated he
thought their Lordships would see that he concidered
the investigation of the peculiar burdens with the inten-
', tiou of equalising them as the rousequeuee-
of the repeal
Of 'all duties there, as a measure by itself: Ilavinee
thus, he trusted, explained the motive and reasons why
he selected that moment for submittiug his motion,
and by implication shown the motives which induced those
with whom he was associated for refusing to grant it on
a former occasion, he would proceed isith as much brevity
as he could to consider the peculiar questions which he
thought the Committee must take into their considera-
tion. In speaking of those taxes which were raised 11',t,
real property, he wished to draw a wide distinction be-
tween the two classes, niter which he intended to ar-
range • them. In the Poor-law Commissioners' re-
ports he found twenty-tour distinct rates enume-
rated, but the only classification of them was
this—that ten were raised on the basis of
the poor-law; 8 raised in valet:ice, though not in law;
and 6 raised on other bases. The operation of the law
was, that they were raised from property and practice.
The distinction which he wished to draw was this—that
he wished to distinguish those which were only for local
purposes—which only interested those people for whom
they were raised, anti those in the immediate vicinity.
Now he wished to make this distinction between those
taxes and those rates which were imposed for general
purposes, and those taxes and those rates which were im-
pesed for peculiar purposes—the one being borne for the
benefit of the whole community, and the other only for
the advantage of a particular district. The taxes w hick_
he wouid designate for local purposes. were the
drainage rates,:t he sewers' rate, and the rate for the meat
police, and he should no more think of imposing the ex.
penditure for the purposes of these rates upon the goer-
munity at large than he should think of imposing the
especial rates for towns upon the rural population -;
for instance, he should no more think of
r inaposkeig the
rate necessary for the ireovement of this marsh
lands in the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire,
on the inhabitants of towns, from the peculiar-burdens
of the agricultural residents, than he should think it ne-
cessary or just to impose the burdens Which hurl
to be borne by the residents in cities for peculiar
purposes, from which the rural population de-
rive no advantage. The rates which he should
designate as the rates which were particularly imposed
on the inhabitants of towns were, the paving rate, the
lighting rate, the water rate, and those other particular
burdens which were not all necessary for the mode of
life of the inhabitants of towns ; these were
what he called the peculiar burdens of towns,
riga
thliieem
should
upon the nionhabniTare thinki
s weorer chargedim Pos-
118E.ith the cultivation and improvement. of the marsh lands
of the East and West Ridings of Yorkshire than he should.
think'of imposing upon them the expense of affording a.
better supply of water to the inhabitants of Exeter. It:
was usual • f'or these rates to be imposed by the inha-
bitants of towns, through the agency of public• meetings, called by the inhabitants themselves, and
ratified by a special act of those inhabitants.
New the burdens imposed upon land for peculiar pur-
poses are the rate for drainage, the dike rate, and the-
rate for the support of the rural police. These rates.
were for particular acts, in which the rural
population were specially interested. But there'
were other rates which were imposed for general
purposes, such as those for the maintenance
of the poor, public security, and the support of the ad...
ministration of justice • and without protective duties
he would no more think of imposing theni upon land.
alone than he would think of imposing them upon the-
fundholders or upon any other particularbody in the State..
The maintenance of the poor-rate was an object of peen-.
liar interest, to all classes, whether manufacturing or'
agricultural. Ile trusted that lie had said enough ta•
convince their Lordships that the maintenance of the.
poor was a national and general object. If the militia,,
were called out, it was not for the purpose of defending-7
the mere acres—it was not for the purpose of defending;
the capitalist—it was to defend the country generall.se
and, therefore, all classes were equally intereeeted
in paying the militia rate, which was made for the .pro-
tection of every person, and not of peculiar indiv;alualee
Thus, the rates for the maintenance of the poor, the de-
fence of the country, and the administration of justice,
were common to all, and equally paid by all, and wer r
distinguished from other rates levied roe less genera I
purposes. lie wished to see how far the relation betweei t
real property and every other kind of property extended ,
anti he wished to see the relative position of landed proo
perty and property that consisted of houses;
s The poor-rate was originally founded on the same s
on which most other Sates were founded. It was abv
,ire 4
real property alone that was liable to bebri
was den' plod
Act of Elizabeth. Every man was ratea
his means and ability, whether his
iiil"woperty. Th at,
from land, from trade, or froimnlounT e
,ylinie:aPecording; to,
the law 'of t!
had since degenerated,
liable to this tax.
vireo; of this la w
k 1 "
set
eto ef 111.011py • in
olwan'onudidtioienul'i'sheareetaiotlaipisrktofioeutry.ityo and now,
b a
trade,
agricultural
eistirsileiltilenit:s.
distinguished a
person invested Ithe effect it had on e ae
1""el' in building a mill, he would be rat ad
accoret,ng to the rateable value of the
mi
He would hare to hire the mill, and the mill would ill.
it,
merely rated sccording to its rateable value, and not %te
its rack rent, as in some MRS land was. It would
be rated at two-thirds, or one-half as in the comedy
Westmoreland. There land was raele-rented, houses were rated two-thirds, while mills wet re only rated one-halt That was the way th is
great capitalist contributed to the poor-rate, yel .;
he made vast sums of money, for he collected from t he
entire neighbourhood far and near—from the agrici z. e
rural districts—able, healthy labourers, capable of co
tinned exertion ; and unless the manufacturer recei yadr
some cheek in his trade, his profit would go ore
creasing. Then what did lie do 1 lie disini,se(k