The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-14 00:00:00

T_:El E SUN, LONDON, SATURDA Y EVEN] NG, FEBRU AR Y 14, 1846.

further observation or notice than the passing of a Bill to make
a new road would call for. In this country there was, per-
haps, an area extending to upwards of 120,030 square miles--
in our colonies there was an extent of 2,200,009 square
miles ; the population of this country was 20,000,000, and
population of our colonies exceeded 200,000,003. This
was a large interest to gamble for.—(Hear, hear.) In the
Speech from the Thrum e it had been stated, that it was neces-
sary that the arm -.and navy should b 3 increased, for the
exigencies of the State required it ; but was this a t me to
come down to that House, when colonial trade was being in-
terfered with, to ask for an increase in th se estimates ? It
was a dangerous experiment to try to alienate the affections of
the col nies from the mother country. It was not possible to
continue protection to colonial produce, and at the same time
tell the producer that protection was unnecessary. If you
met t the English grower with a disadvantage when
he came to sell, he certainly ought not to be re-
received with a disadvantage when he came to purchase.
The same principle would apply with respect to foreign
trade, as far as deferential duties were concerned. There was
another matter to which he wished to refer. The colonist
would complain that his produce was taxed when it entered
our ports. He would be told it was necessary, in order to
support a revenue. The colonist would reply, you have no
right to tax my produce at so high a rate, when you admit
foreign produce duty free. Let justice be done to all.—( Hear,
hear.) Leave the colonies to shift for themselves, and he
(Mr. Scott) weuld maintain that the policy which was being
pursued by the present Government was more likely than any-
thing else to lead to the dismemberment of this empire.
He would tell the Right Hon. Baronet that he was counsel
for the interests of Great Britain. The fact was, that they
had been enlightened with what had been called a great moral
truth, but which was in reality a great n-oral problem. The
abstract theory of free trade was a beautiful thing. He ad-
mired and dell-sliced in it, but he could consider it in no other
light than as a cehweb sparkling with dew •dreps glittering in
the sun.—( Laughter.) He was still of the same opinion as
when he announced his resolution, on a former occasion, not
to support the Right Honourable Baronet. The more
he c insidered the subject the greater appeared the danger.
AVhether he considered the question in its bearings on the na-
tion's interest at home or abroad, or whether he saw it in its
relation to our colonial interests, he feared that the conse-
quences would be fraught with evil. The question as to the
settlement of the territory on the north-west coast of America
was a difficult one, and its intricacy and difficulty would be
much further increased if the proposed reduction of duties were
carried into effect. Our possessions in Canada would be in
danger ; at the first opportunity the Canadians would revolt.
He would read an extract from a letter which he had re-
ceived from Mr. Buchanan, a gentleman who had held a
high situation in her Majesty's Council at Toronto. He says,
that no one will doubt for a moment that as soon as it is
known that Canadian wheat has no longer any protection in
England, the Canadians will at once demand a repeal of the
land tax, and their corn will b.- transmitted immediately to the
United States. Any hint from England for a desire of separa-
tion will bc cheerfully responded to by the Canadian people.
If the present protective duties are further interfered with, they
will immediately think that the British Government had un-
scrupulously broken faith with them with respect to the
protection guaranteed to their corn and timber produce.
lie begged pardon far having so long occupied the time of the
House, but the document was more important than any words
he could address to the House. Did any gentleman in that
House suppse that if they lost Canada their losses would
end there? Surely not. If they did not stand to Canada,
Canada would not adhere to them. The West India colonies
would follow, and the East Indies—that immense country,
which might be said to comprise eight Englands—would imi-
tate the example.— (Cheers.) Was the Right Hnn. Baronet
so much of a free- trader that he would willingly abandon those
colonies? He doubted whether, although the Right
Honourable Baronet was a free-trader in the abstract,
he would practise the principle to the same length as
those he had lately followed. The Noble Lord, who was
so lately an ornament in that House, and who was now equally
an ornament in the other—he meant Earl Grey—that
nobleman was a consistent politician. He disapproved
of the corn-laws, but he equally disapproved of the procrasti-
nation exhibited by the Right lion. Baronet. If the Right
Hon. Baronet had been brought to the opinion that the corn-
law; were no longer desirable, he hada right to avow his opinion;
but then he should have done so in time.—( Great cheering.)
He ought not to have led on his supporters to a certain point,
and then to desert them.—(Continued cheering.) For what
reason, he should like, to ask, was it that the Right Hon.
Baronet so strenuously opposed the motion introduced by an
Hon. Member in the early part of last summer for the intro-
duc'ion of Australian wheat ?—( Hear, hear.) If he had any
wish to introduce wheat from foreign countries, surely it was
but fair to introduce the wheat of those countries, which were
not only the allies, but might be stated to be the offspring of
England. However that might be, they knew that in the
summer of 1845 the Right Hon. Baronet, not only opposed the
measure of the Hon. Member for Wolverharnpton, but he
equally strongly opposed the motion of the Hon. Member for
Gateshead to bring from a colony sixteen hundred miles off that
wheat which was now sought to be obtained in countries
not dietant two hundred miles.—( Hear, hear.) For what
purpose was this? —if it were intended to introduce the pro-
duce of foreign powers, where was the equivalent to this
country ? Whenever they had lowered the duty on foreign pro.-
dnce the foreign powers had as invariably raised the duty on
the produce of England. It seemed to be that in proportion
as they lowered the duty upon imports their exports were
charged higher duty. What was the case as regarded Prussia?
That country, in the years 1837 and 1839, sent them one-half
of the corn consumed, and in 1840 they had sent nne-thi d.
How much did she receive of the exported manufactures of
England and Ireland during these years? Why, the whole
amount was only some 125th part of the total exports of this
country. He could, in the same way, enter into long details
with respect to other continental nations; but he was afraid
that, he had already wearied the House.—(Cheers from the
protectionists.) But he would wish to ask one question more—
for what purpose was it that they were to lower the duty on
grain imported from North America, when they received no
reciprocal advantages ? The Right Hon. Baronet said that his
object was to strengthen the bonds of amity existing between
the countries. If the Right Hon. Baronet did not expect by
this measure to introduce their manufactures into foreign
countries, by what means, he should like to know, were they to
gain admittance ? He (Mr. Scott) knew only cf one way,
and that was by an extensive trade in smuggling. He had
himself seen vessels passing under the guns of Gibraltar, and
stealing along the shores of the Mediterranean, in spite of
every effort of the Guarda Costa. Did the Right Hon.
Baronet avow that his object was to gain admittance into those
countries by smuggling ? Did he expect to increase morality
at home by acting illegally abroad ? Yet such would seem to
be the course that the Right Hon. Baronet intended. This
measure appeared to him to be in effect an irritating blister
which would create a fever at home and weaken the whole
system. There was another point on which he would touch
but very lightly—he meant the different manners in which the
great interests of this country had been dealt with. He found
that those who had invested the largest amount of capital were
the most hardly used—whilst those who had invested the
smallest amount were the most liberally dealt with. Those
who had property in land, irremovable property, suffered the
most, whilst those who had property which could
be easily turned into other channels escaped these. There
was a protection to them of ten or fifteen per cent. He now
addressed himself to the House as a British representative, and
he thought that in fairness and justice he ought to give to the
agriculturists the same protection that was given to
the colonies, and to the manufacturers. They gave the manu-
facturers a protection duty of ten per cent., whilst they gave
the agriculturist a mockery of protection, which seemed to him
intended only to add insolence to injury. In his own district of Rox-
burglishire the tenants were comparatively wealthy and intelli-
gent. They had abundance of capital, and they would not,
therefore, suffer so much as others. Those who resided in the
clay lands of the south of England would suffer severely, for,
although they were equally honest, equally worthy, they were,
perhaps, less wealthy and less intelligent. It had been stated
that they had unnecessarily whined to the Right Hon. Baro-
net, but was that any reason why they should be sent to whine
in earnest ? But this measure was but a part of a system—a
bone-crush:ng system, which had been going on for the last
three or four years. Why, the dealers in leather, the dealers
in metals and in hardware had just reason to complain, for the
Right Honourable Baronet now admitted comparatively duty
free the manufactured article, instead of as formerly con-
fining himself to the raw material. He (Mr. Scott) had
supported the Right Hon. Baronet's measure of 1842, but he
would not give him the credit for the prosperity of the coun.
try since the passing of that measure. There was an Hon.
Member lately introduced into that House, sitting on the
same bench with him, he meant the Hon. Member for Sunder-
land—he considered that Hon. Member, although not a
Minister of the Crown, the representative of a great
system, which had contributed in no small degree
to the prosperity of this country, and which had enabled
the Right Hon. Baronet to take credit to himself for much
of that prosperity. They were aware that at that time a
sum of twenty-three millions was circulating throughout the
country—a sum much greater than was usually afloat. Did
not that circulation give employment to a vast number of the
population ? and was not that very circumstance enough to
limit crime? He thought that the Right Honourable
Baronet was not justified in comparing the flood-tide which
had taken place since his accession to power with the
ebb that had occurred shortly before. He would not enter
into any comparison of former years, with respect to prices of
food and quantity of produce exported, but he might be,
perhaps, allowed to refer to one instance in support of his
argument. He found in the year 1837 wheat at a sum of
about 555., and the exports were 42,000,000 ; whilst in 1839,
when wheat was 70s. 9d., the exports amounted to 53,000,000,
giving exactly the same advantage of eleven millions which
had taken place between the years 1842 and 1842. He did
not urge as an argument that wheat should be 70s. a quarter ;
he thought that wheat should be as cheap as possible, but he
thought also that it should be the produce of their own
country.--( Hear, hear.) By extending protection to agricul-
ture they were extending also the production of the country.
The Right Hon. Baronet the Secretary fur the Home
Department, said that the time was come for admitting foreign
corn, because the population outstripped the productiveness of
the country. At the commencement of this century, however,
they found that 970 out of every 1,000 were fed on home
corn. Within the last five years they would find also
that E 9 and a fraction out of the 1,000 were fed
upon home corn ; clearly showing that the productiveness
of the soil had kept pace with the population. His objections
to the measure of 1846, as compared with the measure of 1842,
were many. He had assented to the first Bill—he dissented to
the second. He dissented, because, while the former Bill only
introduced the raw material of foreign countries, the latter in-
troduced the manufactured article—because, while the former
encouraged domestic industry, the latter crushed it. This was his
sincere conviction ; he hoped that it would be found erroneous.
He might be wrong, but he could not go with the Right Hon.
Baronet's atmospheric speed of legislation. The Hon. Mem-
ber for Finsbury had spoken of this measure as one to be
admired—less for the abolition of the corn-laws on its own
account than that it would lead to ulterior results.
tl_hVeticathurhwce_re those ulterior results ? There was a
feeling abroad against the law of primogeniture—against
against the Protestant succession.—( Hear.) He
lamented this measure for the consequences it would produce at
home—be lamented it for the
foronsetuenffces would produce in
society—he lamented it more for theeßineirneyetti
their colonies— he lamented itewould have upon
it would cause to
public character. The Right Hon.
remind
tdo thishim
age, but to posterity for his reward. He woole
of the saying, that the faults of public menme were
doubly culpable, because they committed not only
e
an offence against their own time, but set a bad
example to posterity.—( Loud and long continued cheering,
amidst which the lion. Member resumed his seat. )
Mr. WA RD then rose, and said, that the Hon. Member
who had just addressed the House was an exceedingly diffi-
cult man to follow.—( Laughter.) He did not mean any-
thing offensive, but the Honourable Member called himself
the Counsel for the British Empire—( Continued laughter)—but
he had not confined himself to this country, for he took in the
whole world in his wanderings. He (Mr. Ward) would allow
the one-half of the Hon. Member's speech to dispose of the
other. There was no single proposition that he had advanced
in one sentence that he did not as readily demolish in the next
—nosinmgilneupter.i_nc( Criesiplethoaft
~hNe
od. indo,r,r,oftrocmontthreovperrot suc-
ceedingitenent.ohneists..)
He had attacked the Right Hon. Baronet because of his
measures, vet he had voted for them. He had voted for the
measure of 1842, but yet he painted in most vivid colours the
evils of the bone-crushing system which had emanated from it.
The Hon. Gentleman who had last addressed the House had
contradicted himself over and over again. Hon. Gentlemen
ou the other side of the House, who bad supported the Right