The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-14 00:00:00

11PERIAL PARLIAMENT.
Th • ii°llSE OF LORDS, March 13.
tlr Lordships met to-day at Five o'clock.
l I,IIOEPEAL OF THE CORN-LAWS.
,her d';iii;.!.ESCUE presented a petition from the
-,,4"Lcri of the county of Devcri, praying that
`idly ;1116 bnportation of corn be totally and iin-
: t iePtaled. lie would state that the petition
t /Net 'Sin meeting called on behalf of protection,
4 t, the and respi-ctably attended, but which
Ill,e present petition by a large majority.
liIRECT NORTHERN RAILWAY
I...itit4IINICAIRD presented four putitioas in favour
Lk% hilt
Zbittellterers from the house of Commons brought up
Ott s44,,tdon arid Portsmouth th, the London and York,
4'„*.hieroillell and Lincolnshiresmou Junction Railway
444". tit House 2 of Commons had passed, and pray.
441CA:u'olPs concurrence.
4to :4-" BELL presented a petition from R
the
th-
t,, county of Dublin, against the Bill for
liotlife in Ireland, at present before their Lord-
Olg The petition was couched in very strong
lirv";"g contained some very forcible epithets, but.
:44,there was nothing in it whi,h prevented its
to °Y their Lordships. The Noble Lord was pro-
is out objections to some of the clausesb ofa
s Ilcw stood, when he was interrupted
0141'1'11° "Iggt wed that it would be better to
Itordi remarks till the third reading was moved.
1"ly a .
ftlio of ,sr ve way to the
4"'ERMANS, who moved the third reading

MARCH

IT

bread.--(Hear, hear.) -13ue the answer to all these evil
we the one grand argument, whicb. he would not Lire
the House by repeating in detail; it was the monster evil
from which, he would say, arose all those distresses that
had been complained of—an evil which the House was
familiar with, but to which he might not, perhaps, more
than dare allude to; he meant the Bill of 1819.—(Hear,
hear.) That measure was one to which he ascribed all
the evils that followed ; and until that was inquired into,
no remedy could be applied. Ile looked upon the prin-
ciple that guided the acts of the present Government to
be the same as the argument of the man who lost himself
in a wood, and who fixed his eye upon the polar star,
saying, that so long as he kept that in sight, he would
he sure to get out of the wood ; and on he went until
his course was stopped by a deep and rapid river, and he
had to turn back again to the south.—(Hear, hear.) He
would contend then that if the Right lion. Baronet at the
head of her Majesty's Government persevered is this
measure, he wotOd be compelled to come down to the
House with another measure, the object of which would
be to prevent the exportation of gold from this country
and the consequence would he. that this country would
have to fight against the hostile tariffs of other countries,
to which this gold was exported. If the Russian, or the
Pole, or the German, sold his corn in this country, he
would insist upon receiving gold for it ; and instead of
expending that gold in purchasing the taxed manufite-
. tures of this country, he took it to the Continent, where
be purchased untaxed manufactures.—(Hear, hear.) flu
those grounds, then, he would say, that protective laws
were essential to the safety of national industry, na-
tional prosperity, and the stability of the Croy n. Be .
fore he sat down, perhaps the House would permit him
to show that the opinions he was then propounding were
not new to the House. These ovations had been enter -
teined by the Pi-,;he Hon. Secretary for the Horne De-
pertinent in 1827, and had been published to the world
as his doctrines ; and so clearly, unanswerably, and dis-
tinctly, had they been put by that Right Hon. Gentle-
man that nothing could remove them from his (Mr.
Spoener's) mind. He then appealed to his Right Hon.
Friend to ascertain whether he since had changed the
opinions then entertained by him ; and if he had, he
trusted he would explain to the House the reasons for
so great a change.-- (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) He
should say, that to his Right Hon. Friend he owed that
adherence he then entertained, and which nothing coal
induce him to abandon. If he were wrong in entertain-
ing these opinions, the blame lay with the Right
lion. Gentleman, and he should, therefore, aeplaire
He called on all classes in society then, me,ehants and
manufacturers, if they realized an extended awl profit-
able commerce, to compel the Ministry to grant the
Committee required—a Committee that would coolly z tut
dispassionately, and without abstract notions of political,
economy, consider the question in all its bearings.
Mr. NEWDEGATE seconded the motion.
On the question being put,
Sir G. CLERK said that before the report was brought
up more than one petition was presented, setting forth
the inconvenience and less of time to the various trading
communities in the country.—(Hear, hear.) Now,
what was the manner in which the motion at present
before the House was brought forward, or what was its
obj. et ? Why, a postponement for six months. He
(Sir G. Clerk) had expected that the Honourable Gene
tletnan would have shown that the great number of re-
ductions proposed to be made would be attended by
serious loss ; but, instead of that, he had not instanced a
single objection.
Mr. SPOONER—I will do so by and by.
Sir G. CLERK should then consider himself as.
troubling the House, such being the case, and would,
therefore, reserve his reply till by and by, when the
lion. Gentleman had fully concluded.—(Hear.)
Mr. NEWDEGATE made a few observations, which
were inaudible in the gallery; after which,
Mr. SPOONER informed the House that it was not,
his intention to press the measure to a division.—(Ge,
oh, and laughter.) He merely brought it forward for
the 'purpose of stating his opinions as to what, its re-
sults were certain to be, and he then begged to with-
draw it.—(Renewed cries of " Oh, oh," and laughter.)
On the motion that the Tariff be read,
Mr. SPOONER said that he would not trouble the
House at any length, but he merely wished to say that
the reduction of the duty on foreign bronze manufactures,
from 1:5 to 10 per cent., would destroy that branch of
valuable manufacture. It would throw a great many
persons out of employment, and he therefore begged
leave to move that the item might be struck out of this
Tariff.

Mr. MLTNTZ said that he hoped his Hon. Friend
would withdraw that motion.—(Laughter.) He did not
believe that the native manufacturers would sustain no
injury by this reduc ion ; on the contrary, he believed,
that they would be seriously injured. He had only one
fault to find, and that was. that all other articles were
not included in a similar reduction, as the same principle
applied to all things in the Tariff: He wished to ask the
Right Hon. Baronet if he intended to remove the duty
from this branch of manufacture in 3 years ?
Sir R. PEEL. in answer to the question of the first
Hon. Member for Birmingham, who says that if we re-
duce the protective duties on Birmingham bronze mane-
factures from 15 to 10 per cent., the manufactures will
be ruined. I can only state that with a protective duty
of 1.3 per cent., the quantity of bronze manufactures
from abroad, entered into this country during the past
year has paid 'Si. duty.--(Laughter.) I will venture to
say that the Birmingham manufacture of bronze will not
be ruined under a le per cent. protective duty, but in the
course of a year or two will he benefited by it. With
respect to the question put by the other Hon. Membern
who, I think, dissents very wisely from the motion of his
colleague, I was asked the same question the other
night by the Noble Lord, and said in answer that I Nl*2
not prepared to fix any period at which this duty is to
cease. If the Ilon. Member will come forward some
years hence, and say on the part of the manufacturers:
that this duty should cease, I am not prepared to say
that I will resist his appeal.
Mr. MI'NTZ said that the Right Hon. Baronet •waF,
not correct, when lie said that a reduction of so much
per cent. would not affect. the trade. He believed that
it would have a most material effect. What the Right
Hen. Baronet had said about the principle of free trade
was right so far us it affected one cl ss of articles, but the
duty ought to be taken off all classes. He was anxious
that the duty should be taken off copper, and he hoped
that the Right Honourable Baronet would consider that
article. If the principle were not thoroughly carried out,
they would never have free trade in the the true sense of
the word.
Mr. NEWDEGATE said that the answer of the Right
Hon. Baronet, and the query of the Hon. Member fcr
Birmingham had come very nearly to him. He was
bound to say, that although he had a large constituency in
Birmingham he had not felt it his duty to take any part
in this debate without consulting the great body of
manufacturers. He had done that at any rate, and he
could assure the House that this question had been con-
sidered day by day, and the more nearly they approached
it the greater were their feelings of distrust. They felt
that they would not be able to recover the first shock
which the Noble Lord had admitted would prevail to a
great extent when protection was withdrawn. With
respect to the statement of the Hon. Member for Bir-
mingham who had last spoken, be would read a letter he
had that day received from a manufacturer in Birming-
ham, in which that very item was mentioned. His cor-
respondent stated, that in almost every case the manu-
facturer agreed that the proposed reduction would
be injurious to the trade, as they would have-
to compete with France, Prussia, and Belgium,
where the metal was as cheap as in this.
country, and there manual labour was much cheaper.
The produce of Birmingham and Sheffield were forbid-
den in France and Belgium, and in Russia the duty was
so high as to amount almost to a prohibition. The du-
ties on all English produce had been, within the last two
years, increased in every country in
supply'
Eachom
in
country was endeavouring to be able to
wants. The writer of that letter was every way corth
conclude by say-
ing,potent
others
thatt
oof
neither
ihvt
lie
wheouhidad consulted w
phceilnaHisosno*: Members for Birmingham
were at all aware that he (Mr. Newdegate) had received
the same
anomf opinion,
this communication.
Mr. S. O'BRIEN said that he would ask his Hot.
Friend not to divide on this question. There were two
principles recognised in this tariff, and neither of them.
had been extended to the farmer. The main question
was with regard to the differential duties in the import
of raw materials. There were twenty-one differential
duties, and more than 100 protective duties in this Tariff.
He would ask the Right Hon. Baronet how he hoped
to maintain protection for the minor articles, when the.
principle of free trade was acknowledged with
regard to the principle articles of comfort ?—(Hear.)
It was said that the manufacturers had in large numbers
solicited the removal of protective duties. In this re-
spect they had shown mere consideration than the fare
leers, for the farmers had not advanced in procession to
ask for the abrogation of protection. But he would ask
the Right Hon. Baronet a question before sitting down,
to show the distinction between buck wheat flour and
flour made from the ordinary wheat? He challenged
him, or if he could not answer, he would ask the Hon.
Member for Grantham (Sir George Clerk), who could
see as far through a mill-stone as any one, the distinc-
tion between these two kinds of flour.--(Laughter.)
Mr. SPOONER, in answer to the call of several Hon.
Members not to divide the House, said he would not
withdraw his motion, though he would not press it to a
division.
The motion was then negatived without a division.
On the article of bronze powder being read,
Mr. T. DUNCOMBE said this was an article in which
he thought the duty should be done away with alto-
gether. Bronze powder was an article used in the
manufacture of stained paper, and as the duty on paper
hangings was proposed to be very much reduced, he had
received representations from the trade, that if the home
market was thus to be thrown open to foreign paper-
hanging manufacturers, all duty should be taken away
from the raw materiel. The present alteration of theh
duty on stained paper would only benefit the rich,,daesfft
Le
duty still to be retained of twopence a a
affect
would materially
kinds being admitted duty free
oftrade.
tually shut out the inferior kinds, 3.whilerd th.oeus.o trio;
those who were engaged in this kind
manufacturers complained that in this matter they were
hardly used, as they would have to enter into competi-
tion' this duty on bronze powder, which
Excise duty to pay and .
of Already he
with the foreign manufactures, while they had the
they used in many descriptions paper... ha 3
been apprised that several paper-hangers had intime,tc.d.
that if any loss arose from this taut/ it should D.ot be.
taken out of the profits of their business but ft om the
wages of their workmen.—(Loud cheers from, the pro-
tection benches.) One extensive paper-hanger in Isling-
ton, lately called his workmen together, rand gave them
notice to this effect. Another one he (Mr. Duncombe)
bad heard of, had kepts back utie.fifth. of the workmen's
wages until the tariff was passed, with the intimation
that if it passed, any loss should be deducted.—(Hear,
hear.) It was unfair that the loss should fall upon the
men, and, therefore, it behoved the Government to take
care that all duties on raw material were done away witL4
so that the cause, if such It course be taken, might be