The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-25 00:00:00

was submttted to the Cabinet on the Ist of November. At
that time the Lord Lieutenant of Ire!and, and a number of
other parties had received accounts of the fearful
extent of the potato failure in Ireland. Those ac-
counts rested upon considerable authority, and the statements
were made so as to create considerable alarm. At that period
of time the Irish crop of potatoes had not been dug, and there
were no means of actually ascertaining the extent of the cola
mity. He felt, then, that with those differences as to the ex-
tent of the calamity which was coming upon the country,i t
was probable that there might be prevalent a doubt upon the
minds of others as to the expediency of at once opening the
ports. It was his duty to withhold giving his assent to any
legislative measure which might affect the corn-laws until time I
were allowed for a further investigation of the subject. That
the extent of the misfortune then coming upon Ireland was
nothing like that which they now knew to be the real fact,
it was impossible to doubt. He thought that when the
question was before the public there would be no doubt of a
more general concurrence in the support of some measure
for the suspension and subsequent alteration of the corn-
laws at that time, than if they proceeded at once to the ills-
cussion of a subject which had now created so much alarm.
For those reasons, therefore, he entered his protest against
the immediate assembling of Parliament for the purpose of
suspending the corn-law:.—(hear, hear.) He might have
been wrong, or he might have formed an erro-
neous judgment upon the question which was then
submitted to his consideration. He saw, or at least he thought
he saw, that the danger with which we had to deal was a
question which would not be encountered until at least an
early period in the spring. He felt the greatest anxiety that
this question, which so largely affected the interests of the
people of this country, should be supported under its difficnl-
ties by the greatest possible number of Hon. Gentlemen in
that House, as well as by the general opinion of the people of
this country—( Hear, hear)—arel therefore it was that he pre-
ferred delaying the commencement of operations, in order that,
when they were commenced, they might be carried with a
weight and an authority which would put an end to all cavilling
and opposition.—(Cheers.) He had been told, that in refusing
to accede to the proposition for the Order in Council, he be-
trayed a want of that coldness which a Minister ought to
feel in dealing with great commercial questions. He might be
told, perhaps, that he was in want of that sagac'ty which ought
to have enabled him to see so long before-hand the extent of
the calamity with which Ireland was likely to be afflicted. He
might be told also that he had manifested yet more want of that
knowledge of his Hon. Friends near him, and that he ought
to have known that they would have willingly assented to the
suspension of the corn-law Act of 1842, if the proposition had
been submitted to them. He might on all those points have
been in error, but this he would say, after the lapse of the
periods which had since intervened, and after reflecting upon
the course which he then thought it his duty to take and ad-
vise, and which he thought in his conscience was the best
that he could give ; he did not feel, after a reviewal of
the transaction, that if it were now presented to
him in the shape in which it then stood, he should give a dif-
ferent opinion from that which they gave.—( Hear, hear.)
After this difference in the Government upou this particular
point, it was agreed that the question should be postponed for
a limited period, in order that further information with re-
spect to it might be accessible to every one. That further
period brought with it undoubtedly the strongest possible argu-
ments for a change in the corn-laws. They had very shortly
afterwards laid before them a report of the Commissioners who
had been sent into Ireland to inquire into the nature and ex-
tent of the calamity. The Commissioners in that report de-
tailed their views of what was the extent of the crop of potatoes,
and what was the limited amount upon which the people would
be compelled to subsist. The accounts of those Commissioner.;
were confirmed by actual experience when the potato crop
came to be dug in different parts of the country, from
which it appeared that in some places one-half,
in others one-third, and in others three-fourths had been abso-
lutely destroyed. Nay, there was a general and universal feel-
ing, and one which he believed was founded in justice—that the
preservation of the inhabitants of some parts of that country
depended entirely upon the fineness or wetness of the weather.
(Hear, hear.) The case then resolved itself into the reliev-
ing of Ireland from the difficulties with which it was then in
his mind encompassed ; and although he felt deeply that the
adoption of the course which his Right lion. Friend ( Sir R.
Peel) had now submitted to the House, would be attended with a
dissolution of party connexion—( Opposition cheers )—and would
probably cause his (the Chancellor of the Exchequer), separa-
tion from many of those with whom he had for many years
been connected, and whom he hoped he might still be permitted
to call his Honorable Friends—( Hear, hear)--although he felt
that that might be the necessary consequence of the measure,
yet he also felt that there were duties imposed upon one holding
the responsible situation—( Loud Opposition cheers)—which
went beyond the feelings of party and of class, and that
being convinced in his own mind that an alteration in the corn-
laws had become a question of inevitable necessity, he was pre-
pared to give his opinion that under the circumstances which
he had mentioned, the corn-laws ought to undergo some
change. At the same time, he felt that that change had been
better effected by other persons than his Right Hon. Friend al
the head of the Government—( Hear, hear)—and he entirely
concurred in the resignation of that charge into the hands of
others, who, from their long maintenance of the opinions by
which they were actuated, were better fitted to discharge the
duties, and perhaps better calculated to carry this measure.—
say, that when he tendered to
only
fhis office, he had no more idea
that he (Hear,l‘jhi iseheitaLr .l the
d) have He would
resignationhaodu told
deal with this question in any other
capacity than that of a private individual than he had of any
other probability of which he had not the slightest anticipation
or idea. —( Hear, hear.) If Hon. Members doubted the ve-
racity of his statement, he could, by most complete evidence,
prove to them that he did not at that time contemplate
anything of the kind.—( Hear, hear.) He did, indeed,
at first entertain some doubts as to the time when
the measure for the alteration of the corn-laws should be brought
forward, but as to the necessity of some alteration in the corn-
laws, be entertained not the slightest doubt.—( Cheers.) lie
thought that such a course would be best calculated to promote
the interests of the country.—( Hear, hear.) He was, there-
fore, at that time prepared to vote upon this question in his pri-
vate capacity, in the same manner as he was now about to do in
the capacity of a Member. On these grounds, therefore, he
thought that there was no inconsistency in his conduct when he
resumed office.—(Cheers.) That was, in a few words, a short
history of the transaction as far as he was concerned. He
trusted it would satisfy his Hon. Friends; and although diffe-
rences might exist between them and himself with regard to
this question, he yet hoped that they would be ready to believe
him when he said that, in pursuing the course which
he had, he was doing what was best calculated to promote
the interests of the country.—( Hear, hear.) A Noble Lord.
a Member of that House, had told him, that in his opinion, he
(the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had acted inconsistently
with his duty to his constituents, which he had the honour to
represent when he accepted office after he had tendered his re-
signation.—( Hear, hear.) And he called upon him to make
some explanations to his constitutents at Cambridge.—
( Hear, hear.) Now, he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
thought that the duties of a representative differed entirely
from those which had been mentioned by the Noble Lord. Hr
did not pretend to say that if Honourable Gentlemen at par-
ticular elect ons had pledged themselves, under all circum-
stances, and upon all occasions' to maintain particular laws, they
might feel themselves bound to adhere to those pledges and
opinions. But he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) stated
to his constituents generally his views upon particular subjects,
if these subjects came under discussion ; he, however, re-
served to himself the fullest right to take upon all other
questions that must come under consideration in Parliament that
course which he thought most conducive to the general interest.
And however it might be sanctioned by some great examples,
however it might be conformable to the views which some
Gentlemen who had pledged themselves might take, he for one
did not admit that it was in any respect the duty of a repre-
sentative, acting in opposition to his constituents upon particular
laws that might be submitted to the consideration of the
House, to make that opposition the ground of his resigning, or
even tendering his resignation, if required to do so by his con-
stituents. He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had, given
no pledges with respect to the corn-laws at any period
to his constituents. He had never expressed any sentiment
that might be construed into an expression in favour of a per-
manent adherence to the existing laws, which Hoe. Gentlemen
seemed to have given to their constituents when they were
elected. And on those grounds, therefore, he thought it would
be abandoning the character of a representative in Parliament.
He thought it would be depriving himself of the capacity of
acting in accordance with the views of the constituency of the
whole country (which they undoubtedly really represented) if
he were to be bound on all occasions to vote in accordance with
i the views of his immediate constituents.—(Cheers.) Now, so
1 far he was sure he detained the House too long upon matters
which related to himself personally—(Cheers)—there was
nothing, he was sure, more painful or less agreeable upon which
to speak, and he would now, therefore, proceed to address him-
self shortly to the subject which was immediately be
fore the House. The question which they had before them.
was one, as it appeared to him, which might be found to be
comprised in a very narrow compass. It was simply whether
they would make progress in the course which they had for
some years proceeded in, with respect to the relaxation of pro-
tective duties ; or whether they would be content, not merely
to remain where they weres but to retrograde in the course
which they had hitherto taken. He knew that in the course of
this debate many Hon. Gentlemen had supported the Go-
vernment up to this period in the course which they h
pursued, and yet they declared that they were bound to with-
draw their support upon this question. ..Those Hon. Gentle.
men argued that if this measure werepassed, the interests of this
country would be injured. They argued that what the Go-
vernment had hitherto done was exactly what was judicious
and just, and, therefore, that for all time things should remain
as they now were. But when he considered the arguments of
some of his Hon. Friends near him—when he heard
that some of his Honourable Friends had stated
that the corn-law which was passed two years ago ought
to be suspended—when he heard that sentiment cheered as if it
were generally assented to by several Hon. Gentlemen of that
particular questions,
House—when he heard other lion. Members state their opi-
nions that the corn-law might be modified in certain parti-
culars so as to meet the inconvenience which resulted to the
country from its present shape—when he heard other Hon.
Gentlemen who went some steps further and some who did not
Members had said that this measure would
he thought that
shipping interest.—( Hear, hear.) But
gthoeyquwitoeualds fifanrdupiotivi etrhyesdeiffieult to account. for the reason why
they resisted the motion which was then before the House.—
he could show to the House that since the protective duties had
been removed with regard to the shipping trade that trade had
(Cheematerially( C h ee House.—
rs.) . )
re prosperous.—( Cheers.) The Hon. Member
become far mo
was one of the Hon. Members who had joined
for Donegal
'
Hon. Members in this statement, and instanced particularly the
Irish trade ; but in the year 1e42 the tonnage of trading
vessels belonging to that country was 2,600,000 in 1842.
injure Hon. the
and in 1845, 3,669,000, being an increase of 1,000,000.
It had been stated by lion. Members opposite that the in
crease of British shipping employed in the Baltic trade hadborne
no proportion to the increase in our department of the shipping,
circumstance this
interest, and they argued from that the re-
moval of the duty upon Baltic timber had thrown the shipping
trade into the hands of foreigners, and that they had in con-
sequence been benefitted more than the shipping of this
country.—(Hear.) He considered this fact to be a strong
reason why the present measure should be carried into effect.
He knew of no mode in which he could give that encourage-
ment mere effectually than by passing those measures. Hon.
Members would see, if they looked at the' proportion of British
shipping engaged in carrying corn as compared with other ar-
ticles. When the demand is immediate it must be sent by
ships that are in port—they cannot wait for Britsih ships ar-
riving freighted with merchandise, and which could return laden
with corn. And if Hon. Members looked at the proportion
between the number of British and foreign ships employed in
this trade, they would see that there was a vast prepon-
derance in favour of foreign shipping, lie thought nothing
could afford a better chance to the shipowners whose
interests had been advocated than by pasting the present
measure. The number of ships laden with corn which passed
through the Sound was 1,118 foreign, and 501 British ships.
—( Hear, hear.) If, then, he wished to restore the employ-
ment of British shipping, let them give an increased freedom
of trade to commerce, and by this means cause these articles
which are casually sent to become regular freight. Another
objection which is raised to this measure is that the diminution of
the duty upon Baltic timber would injure the Canada trade, and
our other colonies, which should be the object of our tenderest
care. The Hon. Member who brought forward this argu-
ment had fallen into an error, which had been largely shared
in the course of this debate. They imagined that advantages
Igiven to one were necessarily disadvantageousto others, whereas
a converse would be the case. What had been The effects of the
alteration in the late tars as regarded the North American