The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-14 00:00:00

of protection. His opinions were unchanged, and in

accordance with these opinions' Le should vote, for
he considered that protection was not enly necessaryfor
British interests, but also for the interests of our colonies

which were unrepresented in that House, and which were no

properly understood. He considered that the experience of
the last three years furnished no correct data on which to form

an opinion ; and, therefore, he considered that the Right Hon.
Baronet had failed to give any just reason for his change of opi•
nion. The corn•laws had not caused the distress of 1840, 1841

and 1842, neither had the partial adoption of free-trade Prind

pies occasioned the prosperity of the subsequent years,
..•. • . .

which prosperity, it should be recollected, had occurred
while the country was subject to a corn-law. Protection, he

believed, was not for the benefit of one class, but for that

all; and he would not expose the British artisan unpro-
tected to competition with the protected labour of the fo-
reigner. lie denied that the importation of grain produced a
, c,,o,lntempo raneoui export of manufactures; and a
, n parison of the exports and imports of 1836
and 1341, and 1842, would prove the truth of his position.
Ile considered it would Le good policy to open the borne
market and the West India market to our corn-producing
colonies. He had supported the measure
of Canadian corn, but he felt bound to oppos© th
of the home market to the foreigi corn
The Canada Corn Bill was a solemn compact, for
the introduction
between the legislative bodies of Canada and this country, entered into
this measure not only violated that compact, but the ooldincien
guished the whole colonial system, and made all
t
m preur !
h and
xtin-
e colonies
for commercial purposes free and independent states, leaving
to them the entire regulation of their own commercial affairs
It was a most incorrect assumption to declare that Mr. flys-
KISSON was a free- trader. He was a Protectionist, and his
colonial trade Acts protected British commodities in the colo-
nial markets by differential duties ranging from 10 to 70
per cent. All the colonies now imposed duties on the im-
portation of the products of other colonies. It could only
be by the formation of them all into a league to establish
perfect free trade. The United States andthe Zollverein found

changes in the minds of public men. If the question
was between the plan of the Right Honaurable
Baronet and that of the Noble Lord the Member for the
city of London, he as an agriculturist must confess
that he should prefer the immediate abolition of the corn-

laws to the termination of it in three years. He believed
that less misery and wretchedness would be caused by the
Noble Lord's plan than that of the Right Hon. Baronet.
lle contended that the country was not prepared for these
changes—that, instead of gaining adherents, the Right Hon.
Baronet was losing supporters ; and that, if the operatives
and labourers understood their own interest, they would one
and all rise against these measures, and with curses execrate
the time that even a free-trade Minister sat upon the Minis-
terial bench.-He believed the Right Hon. Baronet had acted

from Conservative !notices, but he believed he was pun
suing a course of policy destructive to the country
but if they were to have free-trade, he much preferred tha

open, manly, atraightforward conduct of the Noble Lord

the Member for London, to the temporising, cautious policy
of the present Minister.

After mutual explanationsfrom Mr. &LILLIE and Mr. MILES,
The Earl of ➢leach moved that the debate be adjourned.
Lord NORTHLAND considered the measures would be ruinous
to the agricultural interest; but he felt bound to vote for them,
because he bad confidence in the Right Hon. Baronet, but he
had none in the Noble Lord. He thought the question must
be settled, and that it had better be settled by the Right
Hon. Baronet.

Mr. FEnRAND would like to ask the Noble Lord, what con-
fidence he had in the Right Hon. Baronet, when he was drag-
ged out of the coal-hole to vote for liberal education ?
(A laugh.)

Colonel T. Wool), considering the measure absolutely
necessary for the maintenance of the prosperity of the coun-
try, would vote in favour of it.

Mr. STAFFORD O'BRIEN complained of the extreme—ln-
convenience of the Members availing themselves of the motion
of adjournment to discuss the question in debate. He had a

perfect right to make a new speech on the subject, which he
was not going to do. This was not a question of party, and
he protested against the precedent which was set of raising a
debate on the main question on the question of adjourn-
ment.

The debate was then adjourned until Monday.
The other orders of the day having been disposed of, the

[ouse adjourned.

Rumours, to which full credence is given in several quar-
ters, lead to the belief that a mutiny has broken out in the
Admiralty, and that it will require all the tact and courage
of Sir R. PEEL and Lord ELLENBOROUGH to subdue the
rebels. One report states that Sir GEORGE COCKBUIL.N and
Admiral BowLEs have both resigned on the ground that
they have insuperable objections to Captain Rous as a col-

league. This, is extremely probable, for the Gallant Officer
is a well-known Reformer—he has denounced the crying
abuses in the navy; he has some young blood in his veins,
and must therefore be regarded with the utmost jealousy and
suspicion bya disciple of the old school, like Sir G. Cocxnuuri,
In our opinion, however, this is not half the truth. Lord
ELLENBOROUGH is the great bugbear ; strong qualms were felt
on his appointment, the old rotten system was in (langur
from a man who had created such alarm at the India Home,
and Captain Rous' accession was only the feather which de-
cided the balance. During the whole of Sir R. PEEL'S ad-
ministration Sir G. COCKBURN has had everything his ow,a
way ; Lord HADDINGTON, never very resolute, and latterly
labouring under infirm health, yielded his own convictions,
perhaps, to those of the first naval Lord, and the junior
Lords were kept in such excellent and severe discipline, that
they were very cautious in hazarding an opinion adverse to
the venerable Admiral. The Admiralty has hitherto exer-
cised a sort of intperium in imperio ; it has the power
of appointing, or what comes to the same thing,
recommending, all officers to ships and stations; it regulates
its internal economy with the most wonderful independence
and self-satisfaction, and seeing not at all disposed to recognise
such a body as the Cabinet, or such a personage as Pritne
Minister. It was natural, therefore, that a tremendous corn-
motion would be excited in the decayed tenement when the
old crew were invaded by such radicals as ELLENBOROUGH
and Rous, and the sacred fabric was touched by the un-
hallowed
hands of a thorough Reformer, like the First Lord
of the Treasury. But what is this commotion to the public?
A new system of management for the navy has for
many years been demanded, not by the press only, but
by some of our most distinguished naval officers.

such a union of sovereign states, with perfect free trade
among themselves, with stringent protection against all others.
We might form such a league with our colonies and our East
India dependencies, and such a league as that would conduce
to the power and the prosperity of the empire; but the esta
blishment of the proposed system of free-trade would
render the formation of such a league impossible. By
this machinery they had destroyed the manufactures of
India, and had forced the Indian manufacturers to become
sugar cultivators, and now by the introduction of free-trade
they were about to ruin these Indian agriculturists. The
Hon. and Gallant Officer then read several extracts from
the works of Mr. Huskisson to prove that it was most im•
politic to depend upon foreigners for a supply of corn.
After apologising for having trespassed so long on the House,
the Hon. and Gallant Officer concluded by stating that,
giving the Prime Minister all credit for honesty of purpose,
so strong were his convictions as to the mischievous nature
of the proposed measure, that it was his duty to vote against
it as an experiment perilous and unnecessary.
Viscount 'VILLIERS gave his suppert to the measures proposed
by the Government, because he hoped it would prove to be a
permanent settlement of this much agitated question.
Mr. Scorr had hoped that he should have been enabled to
afford the Right Hon. Baronet that support which he
had always hitherto afforded him; (but it wass with pain
and regret, that, after a careful examination' of the sub-
ject, he felt now bound to vote against the Government.
He had always looked up to the Right Hon. Baronet with
respect, but he must say that this sudden change of opinion
on the part of the Right Hon. Baronet had come upon him
with most stunning effect. But acting upon his
own conscientious convictions, he felt bound to declare
that he felt it his duty to oppose the Government measure
The Right Hon. Baronet was in the position of a counsel
who, having received a brief and a fee on one side, went into
court and agreed on the other, recommending his original
clients to abandon their cause altogether, and who was fol-
lowed by his juniors, while the only reason they would con_
descend to give was, that they had changed their minds.
The Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to read various quota-
tions from the speeches of the Members of the present Go-
vernment, for the purpose of showing that their opinions
had been a series of contradictions ever since they had aban-
doned the principles of protection. He believed that the
measures now proposed would produce most cruel and disas-
trous results. The proposed measure was wide and bold ;
but he doubted whether it was wise and politic, and he feared
it would not prove successful. He was no ultra-protection-
ist,—he was no advocate of any unalterable law,—he was
opposed - to monopoly,—he knew how liable a tax
upon grain was to be called a tax upon the bread
of the people; and, therefore, he thought the duty
upon corn should never exceed the amount sufficient
to give due encouragement to home cultivation ;
and he should have been fully prepared to have gone with
the Right Hon. Baronet in reducing the amount of the pre-
sent protection to agriculture, for he felt that the expenses
of the farmer had been considerably reduced.
Sir R. PEEL asked the Honourable Member for whom he
was counsel?
Mr. Scow, under considerable excitement, declared that
he was counsel for no one but his own opinions. He was
the hired advocate of no one—be was the delegate of no one.
He would have followed the Right Honourable Baronet if he
had remained true to his colours; and if he had differed with
his constituents on this subject, he should have felt it his
duty again to appeal to them. The proposed measure woul
inflict a heavy blow and a great discouragement to the agri-
cultural interest ; would diminish the supply of food, create
great fluctuation in price, and lower the wages of the
labourer. It was said that this measure was but a mere
fiscal regulation ; why, it was a mere fiscal regulation that
coat this country the United States. He considered
this measure an innovation on the Constitution of Eng-
land, and it should never become the law of the land with
his consent. It was said that it was not necessary to con-
tinue protection in England, while it was admitted to be
necessary for the colonies. He couldnot see why any distinc-
tion should be drawn between the two. He could
not agree with the Right Hon. Baronet in the propriety
of adopting his mode of atmospheric railway legislation.
Mr. WARD considered the Hon. Member who had just sat
down was extremely difficult to follow ; for there
was not a single sentence that he had uttered
which he did not contradict in the next. They
had waited long enough for the landlords to decide on
the subject of protection, and he thought it was now high
timefor the people to have a voice in the matter. Negotia-
tion had been tried on this question and it had led to nothing ;
was it, he would ask, too late to try example ?
The first vote he gave in that House was in favour of the
corn-laws; but his views on that subject, like those of the
Right Hon. Baronet and the Noble Lord the Member for the
City of London, .had changed, and that after ma-
ture deliberation. If there were burdens on the
land, was it not monstrous to be talking about
them, unless they could be shown? He had for three
years moved for a Committee on the subject, and every time
he had been defeated. He would give the extensive propo-
sition of the Right Hon Bart. his hearty and cordial support,
believing it to be the means of salvation for the
agriculturists themselves. At the present moment such was
the excitement of the agricuiturists that they were unfit and
incompetent to manage their own affairs. When a class
arrayed itself against a community, it would soon lose its self-
respect. All that he had in the world depended upon land,
but still he was convinced that protection to agricultui e
ought no longer to exist. Protection was at variance
with the intelligence and just demands of the country.
He trusted that the majority with which the proposition of
the Government would be carried in this House would be of
such a nature as to induce it to meet with that reception in
another place to which it was entitled.
Mr. Was. MILES supported the amendment. He could not
consent to any compromise ; things must either remain as
they were, or they must adopt the proposition of the Go-
vernment, or that of the free-traders. They were now
attempting to legislate against the experience of centuries.
It was the height of madresa to take away protection at
once. It appeared to him astonishing that the failur eof
the crop in one article of food, should have caused such