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

mcnt the produce of the land was being devoured
He was of opinion after all that Hon. Members opposite were
not in earnest in this debate. He believed there was no fear
of the repeal of the corn-laws amongst them. They were
angry with the Government, but they were not afraid of the
abolition of protection. In that House, however, they
had stated that if the corn-laws was abolished, the
land would be thrown out of cultivation, and there would
be no rents paid: they had told their tenants that if the corn-
law was abolished they would be ruined, and he would promise
them that before twelve months had passed over their heads
that statement would be brought up in judgment against them.
They said that such a step would involve the country in ruin,
for there would be no revenue; and the aristocracy of the country
would be abolished ; and that the Church, and consequently
Christianity, would be injured, and that the sun of
England (he did net know what that meant), would
be set for ever; which Hon. Members opposite had predicted
would result from the abolition of the corn laws ; but did they
new adhere to these statements and were they anxious to repu-
diate them? Why there was no alarm in the country ,although
these inevitable calamities were said to be fast coming
upon them. There was no resistance to the measure of any im-
portance, there was no insurrection, notwithstanding it was
said that seven-ninths of the country were connected with
agriculture, and the majority of them in favour of protection.
An these calamities were fast coming upon them, and yet there
was not the smallest alarm of insurrection.—(Cries of "Oh,
oh.") The Right Honourable Baronet the Secretary
for the Home Department had told them that there
was not the remotest sign of insurrection in the country,
and did they suppose that the country would be in this quiet
state while these great calamities were impending over them?
Why the fact was the public did not 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 Dorsetshirc, 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 unsninmously agreed tt
by those persons, and prayed for the immediate; ee
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
House. 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 300,C00.
Look again at the petition which were presented by the Me-
tropolitan Members, with 400,090 signatures attached to it.
Compare these withl the petitions presented by Hon. 'Mem-
bers opposite, with about 12 or 18 signatures to each. Why
one Noble Lord, who sat 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
Government proposition. He had heard of men going to the
field 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 sliding
down to ruin with faces en jovial and so complacent as 'hose of
Honourable Members opeosite. Honourable Members
opposite had accused the Right Honourable Baronet
at the head of the Government with being a
traitor, but it would ill become him to attempt the
defence of that Right Honourable Baronet after the speech he
delivered last night ; that speech, he vi 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 he 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 centempt.—(Hear, hear. )
He did not say that all the mills in Lancashire would be shut
up in a week if Hon. Members on the other side of the Home
had taken office, but he was quite sure that there would have
been the utmost consternation in the country. 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 he said
were supported by the Hon. Henry Clay, who, he belieted was
once President of the United Stites of America. 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 heard him say that Mr. Cobden got thirty
thousand pounds by his business.—( Hear, hear.) And, more-
over, he heard him say in another place th of one of his
tenants paid more poor's rates than all the Leaguers
put together. That might be quite true —be (Mr. Bright)
did not doubt it; but if it did, it spoke very badly for protec-
tion, when he said that one of his tenants was obliged to pay
more than the whole amount paid by the Leaguers altogether.
—(Cheers.) Now what sort of Cabinet would they have had
if Lord Stanley, and the lion. 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 Noble 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 burn 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 the
country would not tolerate such a Cabinet for a week.—(Op-
position sheers. ) 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 be 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.
He 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 be
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 famine 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 Hon. 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 1683, 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 slate, 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 Shibboleth 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
I fe, anti
measures,
i.ke great pictures, are tarnished by s
he thought that the defect in this measure was
defects.
thatltemfthbeerr epea
was not immediate.—( Hear. hear.) Anhad
Hon.
had consulted
six stattyed-thref,
that a forifendhoisfhistehntadndtisng
withlarg reference to theire property
atomurbrnaveer agthaeinirst tleheasersepeaasl
tlheaesyes,
were,annclor thdeidy
theycon erna :steed
of the corti-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
than before, although the measure is on the table of the House.
Hon. 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. He 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 now
were. If there was famine in Ireland—and of that there was
no sane person, he believed, who now entertained a doubt
—he thought that the Government would not advocate a
measure which would retain a duty of four shillings
on food, but would proceed to the immediate and total repeal
of the corn-laws. They knew there were emergencies, and
emergencies that could not be overrated. He hoped that it
would be remembered there was a famine, although there
were some who would not admit it until it reached the
dwellers of rich Belgrave-square.—(Cheering. ) The Anti •
Corn-law League had, he ks.lieved, 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 unleas 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 lion. 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, bait 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), ;itim
asked time who held free-trade principles to becomeee;
for their counties, and he could assure the Hon•
opposite that the Leauge was a powerful weapon•
f procuring
Lord called on the Government to put a stopme toe_
pro-
ceedings, which were carried on for Pu 1 "Thno Noble
their
lie woruld 01 the Noble
the aboltion of the corn-laws.
League would be dissolved,
and
truthn in the documents read
Lord that when a repeal of those laws ilosattw st
il bad
thet.k eni
if there
t
at their table—if there be...
Cork
truth in the Minister—if there
(Mr. O'Connell)
etruth in the statements of
the Honourable Memb.er t
the newspapers there was
—if there be truth .
be responsible.
kod aesle everything gb
utsoefor which somebody most.
Th.e Government have refused to be so ; they
it from them, they
have ricked a calamity impending,
removet dotat which in common jestire
forward
they
ought to do, and which necessity would render it impera-
tive that they must do.—( Cheers.) He would ask them,
would posterity or the country hold them guiltless for their
present conduct, because, forsooth, they succeeded in their ven-
gance against the Minister ?—( Cheers, and counter cheers. )
If famine be in Ireland, and pcstileece treading on its heele—
r: if
erfnoamme
dpi itethenee
eaAniiditndiseaseu
bt chieo old,t f
00 i.fit sei siteea,ms t e t the
consl a niike
rw
thhaatt a
tglorious
and obtained a majority on
this question7recollecting, at the same time, that they had
been accessories to the want and miseries of the nation by
their factious opposition.—( Loud cheers.)
Mr. HUDSON said, that in rising to speak on the pre.
"at Q`l44gOils Le was quite prepared to bespeak the indulgence