The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-18 00:00:00

t portance, there was no insurrection, notwithstanding it wassa-1/444-
I said that seven-ninths of the country were connected with e'el
agriculture, itrelture, and the majority of them in favour of protection. 4sse:
calamitiesthe
smallest
rfnais to coming oisnnsi
un grr
encptotiaint.lqc,
randies
oyetf , there, . 4117'
wasl" note
oh.'' ) The Right Honourable Baronet the Secretary )..t.
for the Home Department had told them that there'. 's
was siot the remotest sign of insurrection in tho country,'- %;
and did they sum ose that the country would be in this quiet
state while these great calamities were impending over them?
V.'hy the fact was the public did riot believe what they said, and
the majority of the people were in favour of the Government
proposition. When were the meetings of the Hon. Gentlemen
opposite? where had they been held? Why one of them
had been held in Dorsetshire, and it was trumpeted
forth to the country as the great meeting of the county, and
yet it was only attended by 1,500 persons. Now let them
look at the contrast. Why he himself addressed 3,400 per-
sons in the very same field, and he .had presented peti-
tions to that House which were unaninmously agreed tef
by those persons, and prayed for the immediate?
total, and unconditional repeal of the corn-laws. Where
else had they held their meetings ? Why he
could not find any that was worthy the attention of that
Heise. But let them look on the other hand, and they would
find petitions had been presented from all parts of the country
against the corn-laws.—( Hear, hear.) Look at the petition
that was presented from Manchester—it was signed by 3000)0.
Look again at the petition which were presented by the Me-
tropolitan Members, with 400,000 signatures attached to it.
Compare these with the petitions presented by Hon. Mem-
bers opposite, with about 12 or 18 signatures to each. 'Why
one Noble Lord, who at upon the opposite benches, presented
a number of petitions in favour of protection, and he stated
the number of signatures which would be found
attached to it. Taking the whole, on an average,
there was not more than 30 signatures to each
petition Did this prove that public opinion was in favour of
protection ? No, it proved quite the contrary ; look again at
the public press, and they would find that the majority of the
largest circulating papers of the country were in favour of the
Geeernmtest proposition. He had heard of men going to the
veld of battle with light and merry hearts, and he had
heard too of men who had mounted the scaffold with
a bold and resolute step; but he declared that in the whole
course of his existence he had never seen a number of men gliding
down to ruin with faces so jovial and so complacent as 'hose of
Honourab'e Members opposite. Honourable Members
opposite had accused the Right Honourable Baronet
et the head of the Government with being a
traitor, but it would ill become hint to attempt the
defence of that Right Honourable Baronet after the speech he
delivered last night ; that speech, he sa ould venture to say, was
more powerful and more to be admired than any speech which
had been delivered in that House within the memory of any
Honourable Member present; he watched the Right Ho-
nourable Baronet home last night, and for the first time
in his life he envied the Right Hon. Baronet the feelings he
must have felt on that occasion. That speech had been sent
into every part of the kingdom, and it would be read by those
who had been trampled upon, and it would infuse renewed
hope in the hearts of those whose rights had long
been treated with scorn and cuntempt.—( Hear, hear. )
He did not say that all the mills in Lancashire would to shut
up in a week if Hon. Members on the other side of the Honse
had taken office, but he was quite sure that there would have
been the utmost consternation in the conntry. The Noble
Lord who lately represented the county of Lancaster—Lord
Stanley—must have been a man at the head of that Govern-
ment.—( Protectionist cheers.) Now let them just recollect
the remarkable knowledge of geography—(Opposition cheers)
—which that Noble Lord once displayed in that House
with respect to a Russian province.—( Renewed cheers.)
Let them look at the Hon. Member for Norfolk who sat at the
table, and who was deputed, as he (Mr. Bright) supposed, by
the Great Central Protection Society, to have, in the phraseo-
logy of that body, a shindy—(Laughter)—with his Honour-
able Friend the Member for Stockport ( Mr. Cobden) in St.
Andrew's Hall, in Norfolk. That Hon. Member for Norfolk
had said that he advocated certain principles which ase said
were supported by the lion. Henry Clay, who, he believed was
once President of the United States ofA merica. Now, if one man
did not know more of geography, and another man of history;
than those two did, he confessed he did not think they would
make a very brilliant Cabinet in managing the concerns of this;
country.—( Hear, hear.) But no doubt the Duke of Rich-
mond must have been held a Member of that Cabinet—
( Hear, hear.) Why he heard the Noble Duke speak in
another place—he beard him say that Mr. Cobden got thirty
thousand pounds by his business.—( Hear, hear.) And, more-
over, he beard him say in another place th at one of his
tenants paid more poor's rates than all the Leaguers
put together. That might be quite true —he (Mr. Bright)
did not doubt it; but if it cl,d, it spoke very badly for protec-
tion, when he said that one of his tenants was obliged to pay
more than the who's amount paid by the Leaguers altogether.
—(Cheers.) Now what sort of Cabinet would they have had
if Lord Stanley, and the Hon. Member for Norfolk, and
the Duke of Richmond, had been Members of it. Why, he
was quite sure that in all the public speaking in which he had
ever been engaged, he had never done anything so disastrous.
to the aristocracy of this country, and especially to the order
of things, as had been done by that Nobis Duke within the
last three or four months.—( Cries of " Oh, oh," from the
protectionists,: followed by cheers from the Opposition.) Such
charges upon men who differed from him in opinion—such
statements as those which he had made in another place, to
the effect that it were an easy matter to send itinerant agi-
tators to the north, and to say that corn could bens as well
as flax.—( Loud Opposition cheers.) Now really was that
the man that they professed themselves anxious to Place
at the head of the Government? They knew very well that that
country would not tolerate such a Cabinet for a week.—eop-
position cheers. ) But it was not to place a Protectionist Go-
vernment in office that they carried on this violent opposition
to the Government, but he believed it to he that they might be
avenged of those who had forsaken the obligations of party,
that they might obey the call of a great country, which was
calling upon them to work out its commercial deliverance.
lie would make one observation on the speech of the Hon.
Member for Oxford (Sir H. Inglis). He confessed that he
could not: participate in the lamentation which he made on the
breaking up of his party. He considered that the country
always gained when parties lost.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
The Honourable Member says he is going to vote
against the proposed measure.—( Hear, hear. If he
did so, he (Mr. Bright) must confess that for the future he
, would always doubt his orthodoxy. for he had been given to
understand that the whole bench of bishops intended to vote
in favour of the measure.—( Hear.) Knowing the intense suf-
fering in the country—knowing that filmier? with all its attendant
horrors is fast approaching the people of Ireland, who is the per-
son, or dignitary of a Christian church, who in this state would
refuse to give his sanction to a measure for the opening of
the ports, and thereby afford a supply of food to the suffering
people of Ireland ?—( Hear, hear.) The lion. Member need
be in no fear for the dissolution of the Tory part ; he may be
certain that so long as there ;are any abuses in the country,
any imposition, whether civil or ecclesiastical, that party will
still continue to have the power of throwing their shield
around them.—(Hear, hear.) And as regards the University
which the lion. Member represents, from the time of their
passing the famous Oxford Decree, in the year 168,3, to the
present time, there has ever been the greatest spirit of perse-
cution associated with the most profound ignorance.—( Hear. )
But the question which we have now to consider is, " shall
the measure be passed in its present state, or shall the repeal
of the corn-laws be total and immediate? He considered
.hat the measure of the Government was a great and a noble
measure—(Hear, hear)—and not all the Shibboleths of the
Anti-Corn-law League would make him deny that state-
ment. It was a measure which reflected great credit
on the Minister.—( Hear, hear.) But great measures,
Ilke great pictures, are tarnished by small defects, and
tic thought that the defect in this measure was that the repeal
was not immediate.—( Hear, hear.) An lion. Member had
stated that a friend of his holding large property had consulted
sixty-three of his tenants with reference to their
leases, and they consented to have their leases as
they were, nor did they raise a muriner against the repeal
of the corn-law. They signed agreements for fresh leases at
the very time when the present measure was brought forward
in this House; and there is one Noble Lord who is a large
landholder, who states that he he has obtained higher rents
'ham before, although the measure is on the table of the House.
[lon. Members opposite have tried to frighten these farmers,
and with some few they have succeeded. Now, he thought
that the exertions of the League had, to some extent, prevented
this panic. lie asked for an immediate and total repeal of the
corn-laws, because they were in opposition to the laws of heaven.
It was a great wrong upon many. So grievous was the injury
that it was impossible for them to remain where they nosy
were. If there was famine in Ireland—and of that the re was
doubt
no sane person, he believed, who now entertained a
ldf not a
—he thought that the Government wou o_
fouradvocate shinkgs
measure which would retain a. duty
on food, but would proceed to theimmediate and total repeal
were emergencies, and
of the corn-laws. They knew there
He hoped that it
that eou'd not be overrated. e
emergencies . .
h there
,
was a famine, although
would be remembered there it it ,
reached the
Id not admit until
were some who would
dwellers of rich 13elgrave-square.—(Cheering. ) The Anti •
Corn-law League had, he believed, some influence on
that subject, and they it was well known were advocating a
total repeal. The country, more now than ever, were anxious
that the repeal should be immediate ; and unless it was, he
promised the House that before the close of the session there
would be another discussion—( Cheer)—in order that the corn-
laws may be repealed. The Hon. Gentleman the Member for
Warwickshire, who he (Mr. Bright) was sorry he did not see
in his place, made an attack on the League, and said its acts
were illegal, but he would recommend the Hon. Gentleman to
read when he had leisure the decision of the Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas on that question.—( Cheers.) That Chief
Justice declared it was not only legal, but it was highly honour-
able for the League to pursue the course they had adopted.
It was to some a matter of rejoicing that there was a mode dis-
covered by which they could bring together the constituencies
of that kingdom. He told the Hon. Gentleman that the for-
bearance of the League was a quality not generally observed by
other bodies on such occasions. They (the League) have
asked those who held free-trade principles to become qualified
for their counties, and he could assure the lion. Gentleman
opposite that the Leauge was a powerful weapon. The Noble
Lord called on the Government to put a stop to their pro-
ceedings, which were carried on for the purpose of procuring
the abolition of the corn-laws. But he would tell the Noble
Loral that when a repeal of those laws had taken place, the
League would be dissolved, and not till then. If there be
truth in the Minister—if there be truth in the documents read
at their table--if there be truth in the statements of
the Honourable lr.ember for Cork (Mr. O'Connell)
—if there be truth in the newspapers there was
a calamity impending, for which somebody must.
be responsible. The Government liens refused to be so; they
have risked everything to remove it front them, and they come
forward to ask the House to do that which r.'s common justice
they ought to do, and which necessity would reader impera-
tiveitstem.
that they must do.—( Cheers. ) He
w":'
a fkor}their
would posterity or the country hold them guiltless 1 e
t.
y_n_
present conduct, because, forsooth, they succeeded inrt
critteert: s
gance against time Minister ?—( Cheers, and counter cheers- .
e_,„.2
If famine be in Ireland, and pestilence treading n F.'
h glorioult
if famine and disease sheuld waste the lan.di,,..w
that they hart
recompense it would be to them to eon s
a majority op
turned the Minister out of office, and obtained
e reee, that they hid
this question—recollecting,
at
°le, samiseeries of tee nation by
been accessories to the want ano ne . ,
ud cheer.. 1
their factious opposition.—(Lo .
r),,, ~i sr.,..ik on the pre-
Mr. HUDSON said, that in rels.
too
d bespeak Cu, iodulgenee
sent occasion, he was quite preparlie
had ih,en :n thl ;;;!bit t f
of the Hots e.—(Hear,
-I"r.2blic assemblies, but lie had sue!
not unfrequently
assemblyaddrnessitii
as lie was then before, and he
dom addressed such acessity
of throwing himself on its indulgence,
peculiarly felt the ne
whilst he explained his opinions
on the important. question thcis
before them. .-le
had not been returned for a pocket borough.
—( Hear, hear. ) Ile came there on as independent grounile
I. the Hon. Gentleman who last addressed the Ileuse.
(Cheers from the protectionists.) ell deeply .ft i,
.. upon the
subject, and it was not the first time that it presented itself
to his mind ; and the speeches of the Right Hon. Baronet hail
induced hint to give it a more serious consideration. He
thought of it as an individual who felt deeply for the
interest of his fellow creatures.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.")
He had listened to the speeches which the Right lion. Baronet
had made since the Parliament assembled, and he returned
from that House with a perfect conviction that the principles
to which he (Mr. Bright) had given expression when ad-
dressing the electors of Sunderland, were the sound and consti
tutional principles which should be carried out in the Govern-
meat of this great country._(Hear, hear.) They had no-,
tiling to do with the great ealar.ity which had befalksn the coun-
‘ trY. iiti tegrettei it u ra.cla as any min, and trafichised with