The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-28 00:00:00

• attributed by the advocates of free trade. He would refer
briefly to the subject of the silk trade, on which the Right Hon.
Baronet had spoken, and which he alleged had thrived under
a free-trade system, in opposition to what had been advanced
by the advocates of a protective system. The House ought to
be aware that there were three descriptions of silk : small
silk, which cost from 14s. to 20s. per lb. ; thrown
silk, from 20s. to 235. ; and waste or offal
silk, that sold for about from 2d. to 10d. per lb.
He found, that in the periods of 1815,1816, 1817, the average
quantities of silk imported into the country was 1,095,000 lbs.,
and they found, that in a corresponding period, when the pro-
tection duty was ha existence, the importation was 1,970,000
ibs. showing a difference of 90 per cent. He found that the
duty averaged • in the same period 750,0001.
Mr. Huskisson promised that be should place the silk trade
side by aide with the cotton trade. He was not able to take the
return of three clear years, but he would take such as would
give the most favourable return to the supporters of the
Manchester school and of the Right Honourable Baronet.
He now came to. the operation of free trade as regarded the
silk-weavers. He would refer to the evidence taken before
the Committee of 1831. Mr. Grabb, a silk manufacturer,
was examined. Up to 1824 the number of hands he em-
ployed was 3,394, and the wages averaged Ss. 1 id.
, per man. In 1831 the number he employed had
fallen to 1,877, and the amoent of wages to 3s. Bid.
But it was not wages alone which had been reduced by the
change; for the same gentleman stated that a great number
of hands were discharged in the time, some of whom had
emigrated, while others had gone to the workhouse, and the
majority of the females to prostitution. Now was not this evi-
dence conclusive enough, and ought it not to decide the House
in the course they ought to take with respect to this measure ?
—( Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord then proceeded to say, that
a few days since he presented to that House a petition from
some silk-weavers, in which they stated, that if the duties were
taken off cern, the only result would be the reduction of
their wages.—( Loud cries of " Divide, divide.") He
apologised to the House for the manner in which
he had trespassed upon their attention, but as he
stood there as the advocate of a great body, whose
interests had been attacked, he hoped the House would extend
to him their indulgence, although he was not able to address
them in ths same able manner which those who were accus-
tomed to address them were capable of doing.—( Cheers.) The
Noble Lord then continued to say that silk weavers would be
reduced 3d. per yard if this measure passed, and he would ask
what reduction in the price of food would compensate those
poor men for that seduction in their wages ?—( Cheers. )
He believed that the labourer would be better off with his old
wages, and wheat at 70s. per-quarter, than with cheaper bread
and lower wages.—(lronical cheers.) He maintained,
despite the cheers of the Honourable Members opposite,
that he would be better off with wheat at 455. per
quarter, and with his present wages, than the reduction
sought by the present measure, and the consequent
disproportion in the reduction of wages. —(Hear, hear.) He
recollected an address delivered by the Secretary of State for
the Home Department, though he had now changed his opinions,
in which be laid down the proposition not to be disputed, that
the rate of wages must sink with the reduction in the price of corn.
The Right Hon. Baronet tells them as a reason for introducing
the measure, that distress in Ireland was very great, where the
people were starving in the midst of a superabundance
of provisions.—(Cheers.) The farmer, be said, was
without a market, and the labourer was left destitute,
without employment. That was the picture drawn of the state
of Ireland by his Honourable Friend, showing that it
was truly destitute. During the three years, amidst the ruin
of manufacturers, the distress of landlords, the insurrection
of the populace, who were without employment and without
bread, as the Right Hon. Baronet said, the prosperity of the
country increased notwithstanding, and he (Lord Bentinck)
liked to see productive industry sacrificed to unpro-
ductive wealth as little as the Right Hon. Baronet. With
respect to the speech of his Honourable Friend the
Member for Wolverhampton, he should say it was
not a speech overflowing with professions of kindness.
They had been taunted on that side of the House that they
dealt in reviling phrases against Hon. Members who had de-
served them on the present occasion, and that they had ad-
duced no arguments in proof of the justness of the position '
which they assumed. Now, after the speech of his Hon.
Friend who sat beside him, after that admirable speech, he
thought they might be exempted from so inapplicable
and undeserved a taunt. ( Cries of " Hear, hear.")
(Tile Noble Lord was at this moment so inaudible that
not a word could be distinctly heard in the gallery.
The loud and repeated cries for a division, varied
by the counter-cries for an adjournment, completely
drowned the Noble Lord's attempts to be heard.)
The Noble Lord continued to read extracts from returns he
held in his hand, in reference to the state of food in Scotland,
by which he contended it appeared that the people of many
districts in the neighbourhood of Glasgow had much improved
their condition, and had adopted the use of flour in many cases
for that of oatmeal. The Noble Lord representing the city
of London—(Cries of " Oh, oh 1" from the Ministerial side of
the House) —he had not offered to say anything to change
them (the Opposition)--he was going to show them that there
was no danger of a famine. He would refer them to Leith.
They would recollect that the authorities he was about to quote
were rather suspicious. They were the corn circulars sent
forth by the corn dealers for the benefit of the trade. The
circular he would refer to was dated the 17th December, 1845,
and was from Leith. It stated that as regarded the diseased
potatoes, if they were properly scored and dried they were not
unfit for human food • and there was reason to believe that
the failure would not be so great as was apprehended.—(" Oh,
oh l" from the Opposition.) This was an important fact, as
in consequence of this rumoured scarcity, it was proposed to
change the commercial policy of this country. The circular
went on to say the corn crops were in general good, and the
failure of the potato crop had given such an impulse to the
market that they were so completely choked that room was
not to be found for any more grain, and a considerable portion
of the expected arrival of corn would have to be
sent to other ports. —( Cheers from the Ministerial benches.)
He had a letter from Liverpool which stated that the cry about
famine was all a mistake, for that at the time there were not
less than 200 warehouses in Liverpool which were as full of
grain as they could hold._( He r, hear.) He would now go
to Ireland.—( Great manifestations of impatience, and cries
of " Divide, divide.") He was going to show there were no
grounds for what had been stated in relation to the potato
crop. Five weeks ago the Hon. Member for Somerset
(Mr. W. Miles) moved for a return of the price of
potatoes in all parts of Ireland, and yet up to the present day
no return had been made.—( Hear.) The Right Hon. Baronet
had taunted them (the protectionists) as not liking the subject
of the potato failure in Ire!and ; but to that he would beg
leave to say, for the Hon. Friends around him, that what was
distasteful to them was not the Hon. Baronet's going into
details on that subject, but his not telling the whole
truth. That was what was distasteful to them.—(llear.)
They had been told of a certain merchant going down to the
country, surveying the crops, and reporting that the appear-
ance of the potatoos was black; and they had heard of a letter
from a party in Yorkshire, named Wood, as to the state of
the crops there. On the latter point, if the fact was as stated,
' it would not have been concealed from the Government, by
the Hon. Member for the West Riding, who seconded
the address to the Crown. But what had that Honour-
able Gentleman said, in the course of the present
debate? He stated that there were no grounds
for stating that the potato crop had failed in Yorkshire.—(Hear,
hear.) He would now return to Ireland.—(Cries of " Divide,
divide.") The Right Hon. Baronet had read the accounts
respecting the potato disease from inspectors of police, and
others, in various parts of Ireland ; but why, he (Lord George
Bentinck) would like to know, did not the Right Hon. Baronet
receive reports from the lieutenants; of counties, especially
from the lieutenants of the counties of Down and Carlow ?
If his Hon. Friend, the Member for Derby, were in his place
he would ask him what communication he had made to
Government on the subject of the potatoes? And he would
refer to the opinions of a man whose testimony was entitled to '
as much weight as any in England or Ireland—a man of
the most masculine understanding —of the most
business habits—whose knowledge on every subject was
as extended as any authority he could refer to, and whose evi-
dence on this subject that side of the House would most wil-
lingly listen to—he,meant Lord Besborough, who had taken the
greatest pains to ascertain what was really the truth
with regard to the disease of the potatoes in Ireland.
He (Lord Bentinck) should like to know what report
' had been made to her Majesty's Ministers by that nobleman.
He (Lord Bentinck) could inform the Right Hon. Baronet
that what they on that side of the House were dissatisfied
with was that they had not been told both sides of the ques-
tion. He did not know what was the information the
Right Hon. Baronet had received, bnt he had himself taken
some pains to ascertain what was the real state of
things—and he saw in the House a short time ago the Hon.
Baronet the Member for the county of Antrim, and he also I
could tell the House that he had taken great pains—and he
eould assure the House that there was no danger of famine.—
nehaTl
( Hear, hear, and cheers from the protectionists.)
taken occasion to write to an Honourable Friend of his
in the county of Roscommon, to inquire into the result
of the inquiry instituted by Government, and he informed
him that after all the recommendations of all the professors had
been tried, such as kiln-drying the potatoes, using tartaric
acid, and other experiments, they found that, after opening
the pits, the potatoes, which the professors had con-
fidently promised to cure, were all rotten—(Cheers from the
protectionists)—while those that had been placed
amid quick-lime were sound and healthy. He could assure
the House that there was no such thing as a
potato famine in the county of Roscommon.
In Tipperary there was not a single diseased potato, and in
Queen's County the potatoes were 24;0. per stone. Money,
after all was that which told the truth in this country.
_
He had had an opportunity of consulting the Mandu re sof Clanri
thatl Noble
a The Noble
carde upon the subject of the potato disease,
man assured him that it was exaggerated.greatlytt4o
acres of potatoes!
Marquis himself had grown about
which it was true were bad, but the disease could
not have been discovered in them had they not
been tested. The Noble Marquis also told him, that
half the mischief had been created by the Govern-
ment Commissioners, and the various professors who were
sent over to Ireland, for they advised the lifting of the potatoes
before they were ripe, notwithstanding that common sense must
have suggested to them that they would rot before they could
be used. They were told that there were 4,000,000 of the
Irish people on the brink of famine, and he wanted
to know what provision her Majesty's Ministers had
made for the wants of these 4,000,000 of people ?
If report was true, there were no more than 100,000 quarters
of maize in Ireland, anti that was food that was not fit for
people, but for cattle. The duty on wheat was 17s. per quarter.
lie apprehended that the Right Hon. Gentleman never in-
tended to feed the people of Ireland upon wheat. He be-
lieved that 100,000 quarters of oats were imported from Ireland a
few months ago; and he asked whether common sense would
not have dictated the purchase of Irish oats in Ireland for the
relief of the people? He found that the duty on oats, which
was six shillings per quarter on the 23d of October last,
had, in consequence of the false reports of famine,
slided down to three shillings on the 22d of November.
The Duke of Wellington stated in his place in the Upper
House, that when corn rose to a certain price there was a pro-
vision in the existing corn-la.es under which the ports
would open themselves. He also admitted that there was
a great loss in the potato crop, but it could not be
said that there was a deficiency in the food of the
people of Ireland. He ( Lord Bentinck) believed that there
were oats enough in Ireland to feed the entire population of
that country. He considered that the accounts of the potato
crop had been greatly exaggerated, and he did not believe that
there was more than one-fifth of the potato crop in Ireland
destroyed; and, under these circumstances, he did not con-
sider there was any necessity for an alteration in the existing
laws. —(" Hear, hear," from the protection i sts. ) He never knew
a Government who presumed to make such great changes, and
who gave so little reason for the adoption of those changes.
He had been 18 years in that House, and it was no pleasing
task to address it, and he did so on that occasion because
he considered it his imperative duty. With respect to
potatoes, he found that the average price for the last ten
years was not more than at present. and with that
fact, how could it be said that there. was a famine ?
If it were necessary, in consequence of that asserted famine, to
import wheat into Ireland, why
did they not at once pay
the seventeen shillings duty, as
it would be only taking
it from one
hand to receive it with the other ?
It was his intention to go into many other matters, but in
consequence of the hour—( Cries of "Go on")—he would pass
over some of them. But they had been challenged to show
"any argument in favour of protection, and he was pre-
pared to show that the produce of the country had
outstripped its consumption; he was prepared to show that by