The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TIITTRSDAY EVENING, JUNE 4, 1846.

and that that Noble Lord was the Earl of Dalhousie.
And the effect of that imputation was that
at the time that ;he had mentioned the ad-
dress he had now alluded to he was aware
of another address having arrived from Canada of a
nature contrary to that of the one he had been
speaking of. Now he should confess, and he was not
ashamed to confess it, that he did feel pained
at any question having been put respecting him in
such language, for he was able to say that he had never
done anything in his life, either public or private,
which could merit such an imputation.—(Hear, hear.)
But he could not but feel annoyed that such a statement
should have gone forth to the country unexplained by
him, for it must have had the effect of making an un-
favourable impression against him, Now, he woulk ask
their Lordships, would it be worth his while to suppress
such a fact when he knew that it would be perfectly
well known to the public the very next morning,
But he begged to assure their Lordships that it was
physically impossible that he could have been aware of
the dispatch in question at the time he made this state-
ment to the House. He had applied to a private quarter
—he felt humbled in having been compelled to do so—
(Cheers)—and he had ascertained frem that source the
steamer which brought the dispatch arrived at Liverpool
after their lordships had met on Thursday evening; the
dispatch was forwarded to the Post-office, where it ar
rived at 6 o'clock-on Friday morning, shortly after their
their Lordships had concluded their sittings, and at 10
o'clock that morning it reached the Colonial Office by
the ordinary delivery of the Post-office; and he himself
was not aware of its arrival until informed of the fact by
his Honourable Friend the Secretary of the Colonies.
No one, he was sure, could possibly he aware that the
address was in existence in the course of the debate of
Thursday. Therefore, in that place, as a Peer, and on
his honour, he assured their Lordships that he was not
aware of the arrival of the mail at the time in
question, or of any intention of the Legislative
Assembly of Canada to form any opinion on
the policy of her Majesty's Ministers contrary
to that which was upon record, and he believed con-
tained the sentiments of that assembly on the question.
He should not, however, further comment upon that.
If it had been necessary to put this question, he wished
it had been put by some Noble Lord who held the seat
in that House to his (Lord Dalhousie's) face. He re-
gretted, also, that it was put at a time when a week
must elapse before it was possible for him to reply to it.
and when he might have had an opportunity of vindicat-
ing himself from the charge. He felt it due to himself
and to their Lordships to offer this explanation, which
he trusted was satisfactory.—(Cheers.)
Lord STANLEY said he was sure every one who
knew his Noble Friend considered that any statements
made in another place, or elsewhere, which threw any
aspersion upon his character, were without foundation—
(Cheers)—he was quite sure, that it was out of the
power of any human being, to cast any aspersion on the
personal honour of his Noble Friend. He (Lord Stanley)
was not aware there was any intention to put
the question to which the Noble Lord referred.
He received a copy of the despatch the fol-
lowing morning, and it was not until the course
of the next afternoon that he learned that the question
had been put. He was sure the character of the Noble
Lord, both in that and the other House of Parliament,
rendered it unnecessary for him to occupy a single
moment in exculpating him from such a charge, which,
if it had been true, would have involved a charge of
neglect of public honour and of public duty. However,
it was not until that moment that a reply could be given
by the Noble Lord that it was the intention of the
Under Secretary of the Colonial Department to the
dispatch on the table of the House, and ho trusted
that their Lordships would bear with him for a few
moments whilst he made some observations upon it.
He would take that opportunity of saying a few words
on the serious objections which had been entertained
against the policy of her Majesty's Government on this
point in Canada. He had availed himself of that oppor-
tunity to assert that serious objections were entertained
there, not only as that policy was likely to affect
the particular interests of the Canadians themselves
but also on account of
.the commercial and political ef-
fects that were likely to arise from the measure then
under the consideration of their Lordships. They not
only complained that it will, if adopted, prevent
their taking British manufactures in return for
their colonial produce, but it would have the
result of throwing away the whole of the
capital expended in improving the course of the St.
Lawrence, which is the natural outlet for the produce of
the provinces. He had warned the House that this
policy would be likely to have the thjurious effect of
dissolving the tie which held the Canadas to this
country, and induce them to seek an association with
the United States. He would not say that his remarks
had been treated with inattention, but he could not help
recollecting that an assertion had that night been made
that the Conadas were altogether in favour of free trade.
He felt that it would not be right to treat this merely
as a free trade question, but that its commercial
and political bearings ought also to be taken into
account. And whatever might have been thought
of his anticipations, their Lordships would recollect
that within twelve hours after they had been uttered,
and before the recorded opinions of their Lordships
could be made known to the country, an unanimous ad-
dress from the House of Assembly in Canada had been
brought to this country, containing precisely the
same views and apprehensions which he had
himself entertained—echoing precisely the same
objections in almost the very words which
he had used. Their Lordships should know that the
House of Assembly was one of the most divided commu-
nities in the world—divided in interest, divided in
character, divided in country—consisting of Canadians,
Anglo-Canadians, Gallic-Canadians, and men from the
United States ; and yet this divided Assembly had
come to an unanimous conclusicn against the policy
of the Government. He would read only a very
few words from that address. His Lordship then read
a paragraph from the address, complaining of the inter-
ference of the Ministerial policy with their interests, and
injuring the trade in their produce of grain and timber.
The address then went on to say that the proposed mea-
sure was calculated to retain the progress of agricultural
improvement which the rising prosperity of the colony,
and would seriously impair the ability of the inhabitants
of Canada to purchase the manufactured goals of Great
Britain. They further went on to thank the Parlia-
ment of the mother country for the loan of 1,500,0001.
for the purpose of promoting the public works
in that colony, but they considered that the proposed
alterations in the law of protection would so reduce the
prosperity of the canals and other public works, as to
render them comparatively profitless. The address went
on to state that a check would be placed on the encou-
ragement of agricultural production, and also that it would
prevent the influx of emigrants from the mother country.
and consequently that the inhabitants would lose the
benefit of their capital and skill. And lastly it stated
that it was next to be feared that should the inhabi-
tants of Canada find, in consequence of the withdrawal
of all protection, that they could not compete with the
United States in the only market open fur them, they
would materially begin to doubt if their remaining a
portion of the British empire will be of that permanent ad-
vantage which they have hitherto found it to be. The Noble
Lord went on to say that these were considerations of
very grave importance as well to her Majesty and to the
people of the province. The dutiful inhabitants of the
province stated in their address that they should be
sorry if any measure was passed calculated to weaken
the ties which had for so many years bound
them to the parent state. They considered it
the greatest evil that could possibly hefal
them their Lordships would remember the time when
this address was sent, to whom it was addressed, and the
strong, yet loyal and affectienate terms in which it was
couched. It would, he thought, give a satisfactory
vindication of the apprehensions he entertained. He
deeply regretted that it did not arrive before their
Lordships decided upon the second reading of
the Bill. He trusted, however, that it was not
yet too late to remove these apprehensions. Their
Lordships would bear in mind the loyal and dutiful ad-
dress unanimously agreed to by the people of Canada.
Lord LYTTLETON laid on the table several papers
from the colonies, and among others the address from
Canada, which the Noble Lord who had just sat down
alluded to. The papers included several addresses on
the subject of the Ministerial measure, viz., the corn-laws,
which had already been laid on the table of the House of
Commons. In regard to the general observations of the
Noble Lord, he would not then enter upon a discussion
As, however, he had not had an opportunity of ex-
pressing his sentiments in the previous debate which had
taken place, he would defer what he had to say until
the motion for going into Committee, when he would
refer to what had fallen from the Noble Lord—(Hear.)
Earl GREY, like the Noble Lord who had just sat
down, did not wish to raise a debate that night, but,
after the speech of the Noble Lord (Lord Stanley), he
could not allow the subject to pass by without one re-
mark. That was, that though he had seen the address
to which the Noble Lord alluded to, and he believed the
spirit of it was fairly represented, still the fact could
not be doubted, that, on the original debate on the policy
of her Majesty's Government on the opening of the Assem-
bly of Upper Canada, there was no tone of despondency or
alarm respecting the measure, but, on the contrary, there
was a lively and encouraging tone manifested on the oc-
casion. On that occasion also, a motion was carried by
aelcaeoerntac ursitdeeroaavfble majority, agreeing to co-operate with her
Majesty's Government in carrying the measure into
inthgeheanhse
dnognoepoptordtuisenintyssioofn eonntertthaein
ni
rgc u the
-
stances that may have led to a change of opinions—
perhaps it was an echo of the alarm exhibited here—he
er
would not venture to
pronounce an opinion. Still the
floactitornemteaineeed.opa that,t e o
witlir
,
!'
le
haerl
the first debate:of the Canadian
Assembly, it approved
age majority of the the measure measure in relation to the ajesty's Government on
Whether this apprehension still rd
of the corn-laws.
know, but of this he was satis&e•lemthaained he did not
within a very
short time all such apprehension would ise proved to be
unfounded, and he was convinced
this measure would be
productive of the best effects both
as regarded the
colonisubject then drop or the comercipedal interest of the country.
The.
The Duke of RICHMOND presented several peti-
tions against the proposed Bill for the abolition
corn-laws.

josty's Government to take into consideration the pro-
priety of diminishing as far as possible the sale of in-
toxicating liquors on the Lord's Day. He believed their
Lordships would recollect that in the year 1834 there
was a Committee of the House of Commons, and
from the evidence laid before them on the subject
it appeared that the greater part of crime in Engtand was
owing to intoxication. In the year 1839 he believed the
Noble Lord who sat near him (Earl Stanhope) brought
in a Bill to limit the sale of intoxicating liquors from
Saturday evening till one o'clock on Sunday afternoon.
By that act much good had been produced in the
metropolis, Manchester, and Liverpool, but the opera-
tions of that Act were limited to certain great towns,
and the object of the present petitions was that
the operations of that Act might be extended to the
other great towns of England. He might observe that
these petitions were of a very singular character. He
had looked over all of them, and it was an ex-
traordinary fact that that there were no marks instead
of names subscribed to them. This sheaved that all the
petitioners were persons of education. They were not
connected with any particular party whatever, for
Churchmen, Dissenters, magistrates, clergymen, corpo-
rations of cities, all came forward to join in the prayer
of the petitioners ; and he need not say how desirable
it would that their prayers should be granted, when it
was known that, in London alone, upwards of :50 per
cent of the crimes were owing to drunkenness, and that
there had been 50 per cent. diminutien in the crimes was
in consequence of the operations of the Bill of his Noble
Friend.

Lord DENMAN presented several petitions to the
same effect.

The Marquis of LANSDOWN presented a petition
from almost i:11 the inhabitants of a town in the north
of England (the name of which did not reach us), in
favour of the Ministerial measures.
Earl GREY presented a petition to the same effect.
Lord DENMAN presented a petition from a lady,
praying for relief from their Lordships under the fol-
lowing circumstances:--She had been confined in prison
for contempt of Court, inasmuch as she refused to give
evidence in a certain case, upon the ground that she
had a religious scruple against taking an oath,
and the consequence of her contempt was that
it had cost her one year's income. While upon the
subject he begged to say that a short Bill was about to
be introduced affording a remedy in such cases.
Lord REDESDALE presented several petitions
against a breach of the guage in the formation of rail
ways.

CUSTOIIS DUTIES (TARIFF) BILL.
The Earl of DALHOUSIE presented several peti-
tions praying that the Customs' Duties Bill, now before
their Lordships, be passed. In doing so, he begged to'
say that, as this was a Bill composed almost en-
tirely of matters of detail, he would not enter
at any length upon the reasons which bad in-
duced the Government to introduce this measure.
In 1842 the Government proposed to your Lordships
that there should be an entire revision of the tariff, with
a view, principally, to the removal of prohibitory duties,
and the removal of those which were simply
protective. The proposition then adopted was
not, for the first time, as it was merely fol-
lowing the example f the commercial policy
of this country for twenty years before, and it was but
an advance in the same direction to which that Legisla-
tion tended. He wonld not call their attention further
back than 1819, when many of their Lordships would
re collect that reductions were made in the Custom duties.
Between 1819 and 1826 still more numerous and larger
changes were made : it must be in the recollection
of all their Lordships, that very great charges were made
even in the navigation laws; in our colonial commercial
policy—that large reductions were made upon nearly all
the principal articles imported into this country, and
with respect to some of them, the duties were repealed
altogether. But when Her Majesty's Ministers
approached the consideration of the tariff in 1842, that a
mass of duties was imposed upon different articles regu-
lated apparently by no principle whatever—that no one
principle pervaded the whole. Under the superinten-
dence of the then President of the Board of Trade and
the Secretary for the Colonies, an entire revision of the
tariff took place—the articles were classified and the
charges regulated upon a fixed scale. The principles
which were applied to that tariff were these:—That as
far as possible there should be a duty on raw materials of
20 per cent., and on manufactured materials 10 per cent.
That principle was applied to the law, and upon that
principle it was adopted. 'There had been laid upon
the table of the House, a list of the principle articles on
which changes had been made—they amount`
to nearly 600 on which redu, tons were made
amounting to nearly 1,300,000/. In the fol-
lowing year still' further reductions were made in
the Customs' duties. In 1843 reductions were made in
seven different articles. In 1844 reductions were made

i❑ four articles producing a great amount of revenue, and
in 1845, alterations were made in 112 articles, 54 of which
were totally repealed ; anc in that year a very large
number of articles producing a large amount of revenue
were expunged from the tariff, as far as the duties were
concerned, although their names were retained for the
purposes of registration and statistics. Now these
reductions were effected in the firm belief that
the removal of the duties upon various arti-
cles and especially those protected, were beneficial
to the consumer and to the manufacturer also.
The object was to effect a reduction on the raw material
and those articles of consumption which contributed
largely to the revenue, in the expectation that the in-
crease of the consumption would so operate as to prevent
the revenue from suffering at all from the change. He
would take a few articles by way of showing what had
been the effects of this measure. In 1842 and 1844

there had been large reductions in the duty on cotton
in the first instance from ls. 3d. to Bd., and then to 4d.
In 1843, the amount imported was upwards of
30,000,0001b5. ; in 1844, it was 31,300,0001b5. ; in 1845,
it was 33,200,0001b5., and since the returis there had also
been a large increase. The next article he would take
would be sugar. There had been a large reduction of
the duty on sugar in 1844. In that year the importa-
tion was 4,000,000 cwts. ; subsequently, and before the
end of the year, it had increased to 4,100,000 cwts. In
1845 it was 4,800,000 cwts. It should be recollected
that sugar was an article which induced the con-
sumption of other articles, and accordingly there
was a great increase in the importation of tea
between 1841 and 1844, and again between 1844 and
1845. In the article of currants, which however in-
significant it might appear, yet contributed largely to
the revenue and to the comforts of the people,
there had also been a great reduction of duty—
Between 1844 and 1846 the increase was from 2,300,000
to 2,845,000 and to 3,209,000 pounds. There bad
also been a large reduction on the raw ma-
terial for linen with a correspondent effect.
It was not merely in the imports of one particular article
that their Lordships were to look for the effect of the
reduction in the duties, because by a reduction in one ar-
tiele, a stimulus was given to various other branches of
manufacture. Their Lordships would find, upon look-
ing to the imports of the last four years, there had
been a large increase in the amount of imports. From a
document which he held in his hand, it appeared that
the imports, in round numbers,

Was in 1841
1842 59,000,000
1843
1844
1845 82,000,000
having risen from the year 1841 to 1845 from the sum
of 59,000 000/. to 82,000,0001. The same effect shows
itself as regards the exports. The real and declared
value of the English and Irish exports was in-
-1840 £51,000,000
' 1841
1842
1843
1844
1845 '
having risen since the year 1840 from 51,000,0001. to
60,000,0001., showing an increase of 9,000,0001. within
this period. He would now direct their Lordships' atten-
tion to the effects which these reductions had had on the
revenue.

RAILWAY LEGISLATION.
Earl FITZWILLIAM gave notice that r
to-mo r w
he should move a resolution to the effect that the third
reading of Railway Bills should be postponed till all the
Railway Bills before this and the other House of Parlia-
ment came before their Lordships in that stage. The
Foble Lord had (as we understood) said it was also his
intention to move, that when the Bills reached this
stage they should be referred to a Committee, to deter-
mine which Bills should pass and which should not.
SALE OF INTOXICATING LIQUORS ON
SUNDAY.
The Bishop of NORWICH presented sixty petitions,
signed by 30,000 persons, esuuestly prtying he;