The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-16 00:00:00

MILITIA.

Lord MONTEAGLE presented a petition nume-
rously signed from Leeds, praying the Parliament
would not at this period sanction the calling out of the
militia.
IMPORTS FROM IRELAND.

The Nom]; LOUD, before sitting down, begged leave
fl,tot
067
holy
a b
hritdh4-ee:s
t i n
district to give notice of his intention to move foreertain returns,
to a 'Lich he expected the House would have no objec-
tion. They were as to tl o imount of the imports of grain
into this country fre m Ireland.
• I ROTECTION TO AGRICULTURE.
The Duke of RICHMOND presented upvsrds of 200
petitions from various parts of the country against
the repeal of the present protection to agriculture, and
praying that the House of Commons be dissolved before
any attempt was made to decide the question. The peti-
tions were from the counties of Wilts, Kent, Berks, and
ledalrgf meeting in favour of agricultural protection
in Chelmsford, in E Sex ; also petitions from
Stockbridge,
f Scotland, from farmers and
Hampshire,
places in Wicklow, lismp sho
Berk-
shire, and Yorkshire ; also a petition from distillers in
the sou
others in the county of Somerset, and Lincoln, all pray-
ing that their Lordships would not alter the present ex-
isting corn-laws, and also praying that the meibaires pro-
I
posed in another place (House of Commons), which were
calculated to cause so- much damage to the agricultural
and other great interests of the country, should not
receive the sanction of their Lordships, in the event
of the Bill being passed by the House of Commons.
The Earl of STRADIMOKE presented a number of
petitions from different places (the names of which we
could not catch) to the same effect.
PECULIAR BURDENS ON LAND.
Lord BEAUMONT rose to submit to their Lordships
the motion to which he had given notice to enquire into
the peculiar, burdens on land, the impediments which
existei to the improvement on agriculture as well as to
enquire into the present system Of Excise duties.
Although he understood that it was not the intention of
the Government to oppose that motion, their Lordships
might probably expect that he would enter into the
reasons why he submitted so important a motion to
their c-msideration, and why also those with whom he
had hitherto in general acted, refused to comply with .a
similar motion when moved by other persons. 'ffe had
ever upheld that peculiar burdens on land, and
protection to agriculture, were matters very
closely connected; They must regard both subjects
from. the same point of view. Either they mnst remove
the peculiar burdens on land if they attempted to re-
move the protection which agriculture enjoyed, or they
must, in common justice, continue protection if they
permitted those bnrdens to remain. He found that he
was fortified in this opinion by men whose authority
was of considerable weight. Ile found that Mr. M'Cul-
loch, " Mr. M‘Gregor, and if he mistook not, his Noble
Friend on his left (Lord Brougham) were all of
opinion that there were peculiar burdens on land.
The object of his motion was to inquire what those
peculiar burdens were. If it were submitted to his
. choice whether the burdens of land and protection to
•agriculture should be removed or both allowed to con-
tinue, he would have no hesitation in selecting the con-
tinuance of the burdens. and the continuance of protec-
tion rather than the removal if both, and be influenced
in coming to such a determination by national con-
siderations, by economical considerations, and by
motives of a sense of justice to the colonies.
He believed that the continuation of protection would be
the most economical bargain that the country at large
could strike with the agriculturists. If they granted a
sum of money for general purposes, in which it was
their desire that all classes should equally participate.
He believed it was for the advantage of the
country at large, that they should make
an agreement with owners of real property to pay this
large sum of money for these purposes, in considera-
tion'tliat they should be allowed a duty on the importa-
tion on foreign corn. The motive on which he preferred
this choice of the two was because he believed it would
tend to make this country independent of foreign na-
tions, and at the same time encourage industry at
home. He further believed that the adoption of that system
had one great advantage, inasmuch as it would enable
them to give certain other advantages to our colonies,
and enable them to admit their corn at a lower duty than
that imposed on the corn imported from other countries.
But there seemed to be no longer a chance of having
such a proposition as this submitted to their, and bespoke
rather in anticipation of the possibility of protection
being entirely done away with ; because, had he not an-
ticipated such a possibility, he never should have thought
of submitting such a motion to their Lordship!. He
Might hero as well state that the object he had in view
was not to delay the consideration of the question of
protection, because from what he had already stated he
thought their Lordships would see that he considered
the investigation of the peculiar burdens with the inten-
tion of equalising them ,as the consequence of the repeal
of all duties there, as a measure by itself. Having
thus, he trusted, explained the motive and reasons why
he selected that moment for submitting his motion,
and by implication shown the motives which induced those
with whom he was associated for refusing to grant it on
a former occasion, be would proceed with as much brevity
as he could, to consider the peculiar questions which he
thought the Committee must take into their consie.era-
tion. In speaking of those taxes which ware raised from
real property, be wished to draw a wide distinction be•
tleeen the two classes, into which he intended to arrange
them. He found in the Poor-levy 01— C mi
‘5§.9401 re-