The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-23 00:00:00

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froth the question of whe.her tha,hothe 'manufacturers will be
able to snond up ag %lost the etonpetition or no', it appea'
clear that, the old 'a r hitt clot operated to inere,s, the revenue,
seeing so little h d he,ti clearer hut for con,u,np, ion compArtd
with the arri,.u-.t that had entered from France.—( Hear, hear.)
Th, t ioverntm-nr, therefore, would not have been jit.titient in
doing otherwise than th-y have done, so es to increase the
revenue of the tiouri:rs and the imeosition of a moderat: duty.
Th.. next matter to Which the Noble Lord . eferred was that of
timber. Here als t the sans^ principle had been observed th:.t
hid been in the other branches_ of the tariff. The
object was to impose a- moderate. not a protective
duty, ani-the result of ,h. tariff of 1 542 was to show that the
prii ripe had been most successful. Of foreign timh.'r there
was imported a- foll.,ws 844, 104,000 load-; I t,44, .2i42,00.1
lOVa ; of deals there had been imported, in 1:44:2, 229,000
lea fs ; 1645. 342.00 t loads. A similar increase hail also taken
place in colonial timber-255. a load. lie did not think it
necessary to protect the colonies. and hence the Goverinnent
iroposed to reduce the diry to 15s. a lead; trusting, as 'ex-
perience had already shown, th a the increase in citomitiption
in this article, which entered so largely into the comforts of
the people, w.suld soon more than eqoalise any temporary loss
ot revenne. Io b.mts and shoes the Government had acted on
the same principle as W 33 applied to the other articles, be-
!ieving that a reduction of ten par cent. would be a sou• cis of
•i.evenue, while those eng iged in those trades would have but
title occasion to comp.ain, having that amount of revenue
duty in their favour. Having, as a general principle, reduced
the duty on ail articles of manufactured produce, they cots d
riot consistently have passed by manufactured leather.
rile next point adverted to was the matter of seined pa :et-.
He thought, that of all th. things sought to be introdue d,
this was one where there was the least ground of complaint.
file present duty waa Is a square yard—a most moosti °us
thin--; The excise duty on the article ro.nufacmied was, at
home, not mor-. than half a farthing; the proposed Bill
imited the amount of duty to 2d. a sqtra-e yard. The paper-
stainers were a class who were less worked than any class in
the country; they none of them worke.t full hours. There
was no reason why hose engaged in arts and designs for the
paper shim d not be able to com,ete with foreigners if they set
themselves to week. Government had dine all they could to
twin:rote the slimes. of the ar.s, by the estatilish ng of schools
of design. which were alre,dy very sutcessfol Another article
which way sough! to re reduced was that of pillow lace. The
present duty was 12/. 10+. ad valorem; it wits proposed to re-
duee it to 101 It had been urged as an objection to the Bill that
the duties were sought to be removed from the pooret classes.
H would say, th t the srs, r sure w a construe e., for no such
put poses. "I he measure was n t proposed as a perfect mea-
sure. The measure was m.ant only to car. v .0 further the
principle which had been Lcted upon :or the last our e-rs, in
snaking reductions in the articles ot gen -rat sinsumpflor, and
reducing the amount of duty on manufactures to as near as
losstble the all valor em slaty of ten per cent. It rest• d with
tneir Lordships, therefore, to ex,,ress their °pi/fon tin the mea-
-ure, which, ie contended would be of grew ben fit to the i -
west. of 11 classed ot the empire.
Earl STANHOPE thought she parties eapa.le of eir'ng
• • • •

f Tma•iori en the real svorking of 'th • las tariff should I e
Allowed to he he. rd by counsel at bar 01 their Lordships'
N tthMg e, old al er the opinions he had express don this
.t.easure, end nothing could invalidate his arguments. He
should, therefore, feel tt his duty to ask the Noble Ea-1 the
question of, tablets lie ad given notice, 'with reference o the
remonstranites which had hem received by the. Board of Trade
and the First Lord ..1 the Treasury against this measure.
The- Earl. of DALHOUSIE would lay On the table their
Lordships' House. in a few days, the remonstrances which had
been received by the Board of Trade.
Earl STAN d L'PE— If no regard were to he paid to such
rem instrances and petitions from the people, he thought it
would b- entirely useless to petition against any measure, and
he was borne out in that opinion by the statement of the Noble
Duke on the Trea.ury betiehes.
The Duke of WELLINGTON—What I said war, that
your Lordships were no' in the habit a altering, and sou d not
alter, any elause or money Bill which was brought up from
he tther •on.e.
Earl ST INHOPE wished to know why the great
autocrat of the Cabinet did not carry out his measures fully i
every other article, instead of taking the protection irom the
'abouring classes and poorer people, and driving them like
victims to the slaughter-hop=e? He believed there could not
he a single cla,s of the country who would not be injured by
the pa-sing of this Bill.
The Duke of WELLINGTON considered that their Lord-
ships had always reeogei,ed that principle of trot aitering ti.e
tn...ney clauses in a Bill of supply In the late Bill which bad
been under discus-ion—
Earl ST A NHOPE —What ?

The Duke of WELLINGTON—The Corn Bill—their
Lordships had acted upon this prtn2tpie. For 200 seats they
had always recognise:l this mode of doing bu-ineas between the
two Houses of Parliament. It would te,l greatly to the in-
vouvrnif-nce of public business if their Lordships were to eNer-
eke this power.

The 6uke of RICHMOND—The Noble Duke has per-
haps forgotten that I voted with him against Air. HuAis on's
Corn Bill, and it was thrown out.
Earl S; I'AN HOPE— he fact of discussing the Corn Bill
by their Lertiehips wit;, he thought, a aufficlent refutation of
the Noble Duke's opinions on the subject of money clauses.
He would then atit the Noble Lord th • Presiden, of the
Baird itf Pratte_ whether he was willing to lay upon their
Lordships' table any information as to who were .he parti P,
ether than those elnnected with the Goverment. who had fur-
nished the information upon which her Majesty's Minister had
though proper to aet.
Earl of DALHOUSIE thought the present mode of pro-
ceeding a little corn,cal. He had often felt the &amity o'
his -ituation in their Lordships' °use. but he hal neve felt it
so much as he had done this evening, at brioa called up an often
to nave his catechi.rn He had answered the first question
of the Noble Earl because it was a ques ion connected with a
public office. and he always felt it both a duty and a pleasure
to 'Ave every information on that subject. But the second
question of the Noh e Lord he must decline to answer, as it
would have the effect or throwing the resim .s'bil.ty from off
the -boulders of the Government on to other and inferior
persons.
Earl STAN HOPE replied, that h:s object on putting the
question was, to be informed whether the Government,
before they proposed this measure, had taken the .opinion of
intelligent, impariat, and well-informed persons on the effects
likely to follow the carrying out of the measure, and he really
believed that the Noble Earl had it in hie power, there and
then, to give a distinct answer to the question. He ken that
it was utterly in Vain to argue this-quw.tiOn further, for there
seemed to 'be a strange and unaccountable conversion of
opinion oc - this iattiret. Their Lordships, however, would
find probably, at the end ..f the year, that the- prino:ple4 of
free trade would become odious even amongst the mannfac-
•urets themselves, and they would find that those very men
would come tefore their Lordships praying them to re-enact
those laws under which their commerce and the country at
large had flout ished —( Hear, hear.)
rile Earl of RIPON said, that: if Le had ennsu'ted the
opinions of merchants and trailers as to the effect of this
meanie in the same manner as the Noble Earl h d
represented had been done by Lord Liverpool, he should
nave received the most contradictory answers. N-w
he (the Earl of Ripon) conceived that that could not be the
best mode proceeding in this matter. The glovers of avor_
tester and Dover, when a previous measure similar to this was
submitted to Parl7amo t, came to Parliament an-. repres?nted
that they should be ruinerl if it paned; but it war shown to
them hat under the ill system they could not proper, in eon-
,peitosne, of the high duties, winch kept alive the system of
smuggling; whereas the measure proeosed would make the
trade of smiugling a most unprofitable, instead of, as under
the old system, a most protitAle system. —( Hear, hear )
The deputation eventually, after the matter was fully t xplained,
admitted that they were totally in the wrong. A,...11.er depu-
tation waited upon them from the dealers of yr vision in Ire-
land, but the result was the same. A deputation from the
bo.e and shoemakers also waited upon him in his official eapa-
coy of President of the Board of Trade ; but their
Lordships themselves mu-t know that nor a whit
!e-s I. at her had been uteri in the manufacture of
h lots anti shoes in this country tint, the passing of the tariff
of 1842. Another ritio important deputation, con+t,ting of
thirty-two Members of Parliament, as well as several other
gentie.len representing the milling interest of this country.
waited upon the Members of the Government to state that
unless the ancient system of protection were not only allowed to
continue, but even to be ins eased, th ,y would be totally ruined.
Hut every one knew that all these prophecies had been any-
thing hut fulfilled.—( Hear, hear.
Lord MON TEAG LE -aid the House had a right to ask the
Mernbers of the Government what they t gpected the conse-
quence of this measure would be.—( Hear, hear. ) They had
so often asked, but he appealed to their Lordships whether the
Government had given a decided answer to ant of the questions
that had boon proposed to them. Their Lot d;hips had a ri.tht
to know a little f,om thei, Lordships what iff.ct these measures
would have en the rev3nue—the finances of the eountrv.—
(, Hear, hear.) Of course tie gave the Governtrient his hearty
,upport in their attempts to carry out the orincipl s of free
trade, but the Passing of measures like th se must

inevitably lead to the perpetual continuance of that
heavy burden the income-tax. ( Hear, hear.) If
the country were condemned to a tax of 5,500,000/.. it might
he quite just that the country sh..uld he so burdened, bu. he
wished to know in what position 'this measure would place the
finano • of the country ? He did not feel any apprehension as
to the security of tlie country, with respec• to its finance.
He should regard that man as a mere quack in the free trade
cause, who should hold that the recent dtminu'ion of burdens
upon the commerce of the country had led to its prosperity.
( Hear. hear.) The recent prosperity was not any more attri-
butable to the policy of the Government than a good harvest
should be considered as the eff•ct of their conduct.—(Hear,
hear.) He would repeat that this mea ure would necessarily
cause the coirinuanee of the income-tax, an.! that the House
had a right to demand an answer to the question, .• that effect
will the mea:wes have en the fiaances of the country?—
( Hear, hear.) Fre.- trade was the question which uteristed
all classes, and he grieved to think that his Noble Friend op-
--o-ite Anted have lent his talents, his influence, and his
veuth to the advocacy of protective duties.—( Hear.) His
Noble Fiiend did not always ho'd those opinion., for in 1842
he reduced the timber duty, when it was an increasing duty,
The duty amounted to 600 0001. a-vear. He also cnn'ented
to a repeal of the auction du ie., which amounted to 300 00 I/. a_
year Here, therefore. wa:a million gene. The manufactures
of this country required no prreection. The Noble Lord here
quitted the evidence of Mr. Aohvrerth and Mr. Greg, to sh,w
that the Britoil merchant did not fear the competition of
America, or any other place in the world. The evidence of
the:e gentlemen being relied upon as wands against free trade,
was the most extraordinary mis ti.plic ttion of evidence he hail
ever heard of. There had been objections taken to many parts
of this tariff, whieh were disposed of by the Noble
Lord the President of the Board of Trade It we; well known
that foreign articles were introduced into this country by
eroneelers, who injured the revenue to a very large amount.
he article of mosaics alone, upon which a heavy ditty was im-
T.wo this
coutery between slates. which
were tri as
t
lat:ed. was -- em-u
as • ballast. Ily doing away with the incentive to
d.
ibis contriband trade they would increase the amount of re-
got up against this
venue ( Hear, hear. ) —The cry
measure might do very well in poetry, and excite a cheer,
but to C .me to plain fact, it was well known that the
result of the Bill would tie to the great benefit of the country.
i
Lord COLCIIE-; l'Ell believe( • *lie protective principle
which was now so much despist d,
would he yet taken up by the
manufaeturere them-elves when they wre more
sad they
tto. House IT that rrotection which by competition with America, and nth r countries. a
wou,ii be praying th..) %sere
now deeri.ene the agriculturists of. Perhaps when that peril) I
came that House would more favourahl • consider their claims
than they were now di..., , •
-I 0-eii to-eonse,er those p
farmers of the t 1 referred be the
country. The Noble Lord concluded by re-
ferring to some return., with the object of slyiwing that 'hough
the imports had increased sines
ct„1843, the amount of
shipping hid not increased in
The Marquis or SALLSgU'4I' notgdoi7leratioh; I-the Bri.ish
i think measure
propo,eo would work so ndeenteeren, ;
tth,wpsiteecxpeeted by
. hog, who .updorted it. The :Noble igrYd,
measure to a
Board of Trade, hail supported the
turns which he (the Marquisof Saisbury) thought were re
serieslle t
of" the
at-
tended with a great deal of mystification. He did not think the
results deduced from them so satisfactory as they had been con-
sidered by the Noble Lord ; for while the reduction of the
duties might lead to an increase in the,comumption of foreign
silks aol hots and o,oea, it would be at the ex oertse of British
industry. He recollected that a similar change in the tariff some
year. ago, rated the lir:en trade in and ar..ond London. The
inoasures now proposed would tend to re:lure the revenue vary
much, and force them to depend on direct taxation, when they
would find a general outcry raisedV the country against the
muse they vrere parsning..-(Hear, es,r.) As the present