The Sun.
London, England, 1846-05-26 00:00:00

---.11,.. ....
beneficial to the country. They had now taken off some o f
those 'timber duties ; they had taken off some of the duties on
cotton, and he should like to know whether the exports to
Prussia had increased, as it was expected they had not ? ( The
Noble Lord then read several statistical details in corroboration
of his argument.) Do we find that our shipping trade has been
improved? No. Merchants, it is said, will not enter into the
corn trade, because it is a.speculative trade, but all trades are
speculative, for all depend upon the seasons, and the markets
of the country; yet it is said in this year that it is
hazardous to engage in any commercial speculation.
The Baltic trade in 1837 employed 612 British ships against
560 foreign. In 1845 the Baltic trade employed 609 British
ships against 1,845 foreign. In 1839 the Baltic trade em-
ployed 148,000 British tons against 147,000 tons foreign. In
1839 the Baltic trade employed 6,016 British seamen against
6,352 foreign. In 1845, the Baltic trade employed 5,375
British seamen against 17,169.-( Hear, hear.) Well, I hare
done with the foreign trade, I have done with our foreign
prospects. I will admit to your Lordships, that a large ex-
portation will produce a large increase in the imports, but only
for a time, during which you puff up trade to an extraordinary
state of prosperity. When that fails, when distress and diffi-
culty comes, the returns will fall off, and I r,ther think
my Noble Friend at the head of the Foreign
Department, in the event of a war tkin
place with the United States, wi'l find, that instead of a , our_g fifths, our country will only be indebted to the United States for
a small portion, indeed, of our supplies. When war 'cornea,
then the markets upon which you have relied are closed against
1 ou, while, in the meantime you have destroyed your home
market; and when you have destroyed your borne market, and
the foreign market fails you, then comes the period of oppres-
sion and bitter suffering amongst your manufacturers-of bitter
expressions of feeling against those who are now deluding their
unhappy dupes with a prospect of increased wages and cheap
bread.-(Cheers.) Do not let your Lordships, do not let the
country undervalue the importance of this home
market.-( Hear, hear.) The estimates and statements
I see put forward with respect to it are most ridiculous. If we
are to believe these statements, the whole consumption of
the home-market in cotton goods amounts only to % of
the entire produce, and that amount will give you somewhere
about 4s. per head to every one of the population. Your
Lordships will be the best able to judge of the accuracy of that
statement when I tell you, that in the year 1840 the average
ghee.oaonddssuiriph(tacitohnteheoerfs.cioonttsNounnno,gpoods by the inhabitants of the West
Indies was not 45., but 1/. 6s. per head. Now, can you be-
lieve,! if the West Indian negro consumes 1/. 6s. worth of cotton
tliondoofnotht this cionfenetiry
market in cotton stands to the foreign market itnhisatthoentphlyreo4phsoo.rmtpine-e :
of at leas
cotton tl4 to 17. In the year 1820 we exported 248,000
tons of goods ;in 1844 the quantit
value of the cotton goods consumed in England at 32 millionsour-
Alr. Hu liw
fold, or 146 millions. In 1803
ssansninectrfaset d he
s ima et.
sterling. I find that the quantity entered for home con-
sumption was 73 millions in 1820 ; it has since increased
to 289 millions of lbs. of worked up cotton goods, employing British labour and bought by the British con-
sumer. In 1844, the home consumption had increased four-
fold, not only in cotton, but in every other articles of British
produce, such as cotton-wool, linen, silk-yarn, hardware,
leather, cabinet-ware, and paper. These articles in the home
market produced 148,340,0001., while the whole value for for-
eign and home consumption was 280,200,000/. And this is
the market you are about to abandon -these are the customers
y, u are about to sacrifice in your blind zeal to promote the
export trade. Then lam told a reduction in the price of con, increases the consumption of other articles ; but, my Lords,
you must remember that cheapness and dearness are relative
terms, and not posite. Wheat may be cheaper in Poland than
in England, but the population in England, from peculiar cir-
cumstances, find their food cheaper than the people of Poland.
Now, my Lords, I have gone over a great part of this question.
I do not kno:v how I have done it, but 1 must not leave the
details of the question without knowing where the loss must
fall. It will fall most assuredly upon the majority of this
country. We have heard of the danger and the difficulty
of administering the affairs of Government, without
reconciling the conflicting claims of an ancient monarchy.
a proud aristocracy, and a reformed House of Commons. Now, my
Lords, I admit, that if you legislate for the interest of one class
against the interest of another-that is to say, ifyou materially alter
me
esocial relation of different classes of the community, it is not in-
flicting a private injury, but a public wrong, a
here may, however,
balance in a reformed House of ,
be s me difficulty in keeping a
Com-
mons, but, my Lords, the difficulty will not be met, if for the proud
.you substitute a pauper and a dependent aristocracy. If you break
down an ancient aristocracy, you demolish the firmest breakwater
that can possibly be established between a monarchy and a repub-
licanism. hear.) When I speak of an aristocracy, Ido not
licanism.-(
speak exclusively or mainly of the body I am now addressing-I
speak of men, not ennobled in rank, many of them undistinguished in
life, but who, with their ancestors before them, from generation to
generation, have had centred in them or in their circles a sort of
prestige, conducting ably the business of their respective houses,
influencing the opinions of their respective neighbourhoods,
and exercising over their tenantry, who have a hereditary
claim upon their constituents, a useful and beneficial control,
My Lords, these are the aristocracy of this country. Redo_ce,
these men and you inflict an irretrievable and irreparable injury
upon this country.-(Hear, hear.) You lower them in the Beale of
society. God forbid, my Lords, that I should grieve that the suc-
cessful manufacturer, or that the princely merchant, should take his
place among the landed aristocracy of this country.-(Bear, hear.)
Such !Missions add fresh vigour and fresh power to that class of the
theirelbliaatterie
community.-(Hear, hear.) But depend upon it if you sweep that
classaines away, andae associationslltheoldass whichociatlo they havenswith a whichc qtit /I,
re ij
names,
once,and th
to their families, and if you substitute a new body of capitalists and
go amongst the tenantry where no associations are Connotes With
their name, the expenditure will be a severe OD' their moral in-
fluence in society is irretrievably lost to the
eoent-3...._(ca00te
Bat, my Lords, I say I should not
serisned if T were to bellev'
be e
that the loss would mainly fall upon the landed proprietors of this
country ; but I am satisfied, my Lords, there never was so great a
delusion as this. Why, the reduotion of 10s. upon• every
wheat is a reduction of 40s per acre of land in this countr quarter ot`y, and that
will be accompanied by a corresponding reduction In the price of
articles of produce in this country. My Lords, my Noble Friend on
the cross benches has ably argued this question, and I will not pre-
tend to follow him. He has hilly shown what will he the effect not
merely upon the landlords, but the tenant•farmers of this country-
-(Hear, hear.) And the first step that these tenant-farmers wilt
take to relieve themselves will be to suspend all improvement of'
their land.-(Hear, hear)-will be to discharge their labourers--•
(Hear, hear)-will be to reduce wages-(Heer, hear)-will be to
pour those unhappy labourers into the manufacturing districts, wad
increase the competition there-(Hear hear)-for the lowest 'd .
of employment in manufacturing labour. They will there and
go
live in wretchedness, and pine away in the manufacturs -
and lower the waste,' Of the mannfartmcino, .... ^4' t 3---- egfkliftigi
uruneer.-(Hear, hear.) ay toe my Lulus, avnat as,lll be the conse-
quence to Use landed proprietors ot this countr-
y ? Assuming even
the case, that one of your Lordships is f - •
.ee from mcumbrances,
although Ido not know that that la +le fact-(Hear, h , and
laughter)-but I will assume it tq be 'T But what is the first thing
that he does? Why he dismissee a. certain portion of his establish-
ment, which is a eacrine, or e..„..ery comfort to h im, he thus turns
upon the labour mark,',
- n great number of fresh competitors -
(Hear, hear.) And, my Lords, whatever else may be said against
the landed propri 1
--nana of this country, 1 do not think this, at least,
can be laid tot tilt' charge, that they are a class of men who accu-
mulate wealth., but do not spend their incomes, for I think they
spend the% 112 fast as they receive them.-(Hear, and laughter.)
Well then tate-
y reduced the namber of the employed, and new mind.
my
,rnea.dl3 'What we are told ? Why we are told " True, but you. make no. loss to yourselves-you have only to adopt the real prin-
eiPlet' of free trade ?-(Laughter.) Well, my Lords, what are these
re 4 principles of free-trade.-(Hear, hear.) They are to dismiss
" every useless and unprofitable hand. They are to employ no man
beyond what is absolutely required to make profit." They are
to have no consideration for tenants who may have been their de•
pendants for the last fifty years-(Hear, hear) -for they say " Ohl
it is more profitable to have one large than three small farms ; poor
tenants have not capital, turn them off-(Heer, hear)-let them go
and starve.-(Hear, hear.) There are above 600,000 rmall farmers
-at least that was about the number in 1844. But your Lordships
must not stop at that-those are but as many drops in the ocean-
(Hear, hear)--and you must drive them away one and all in com-
pliance With, the wishes of the Anti-Corn-law League. The law im-
POseS, liewover, the exclusive burden on the landowners of the coun-
try of maintaining all the poor manufacturers as well es agricultural.
labourer'a. But, my Lords, I have too good an opiuion of the lane,
lords to think that they would act upon the principle recommended
by the free-traders. I believe that they would continue to give, as
mllch employment as they could. I believe that they know that
they hove to deal, not with stocks and stones, but with men,- with
Men tilled with the sense feeling, with the same attachment, and with
the sense affections as themselves; and I do not believe that, 'were the
pressure of the most extreme description, the landlords O England
as a body will adopt doctrines of political economy prescribed
by the advocates of free trade.-(Hear, hear.) But, my Lords, if
this system is to be adopted in England, if you ventures to recommend
this system in England, will you dare to advise that it should be put
into execution in Ireland ?-(Cherrs.) In IrcAand, my Lords, tho
bulk of the population are small farmers, Vaose farms vary from
twelve to thirteen acres at the largest; they have little capital and very
little skill. They exhaust the land, I admas ; they do not pay you, I
admit, but by the application of more ;skill and more capital you
might extract more from the land. Carry into effect in Ireland your
doctrines of political economy. The. landlords are to suffer, but
they may recover themselves ; the eaestrance system was denounced
as at the root of half the riots 'and half the bloodshed in Ireland,
but the doctrine of free trade veill require you to push forward the
clearance system. You array make much more money, yea
may preserve yourself from all loss, turn off the farmers of Ireland,
turn off the tenants, give ',se lands to the capitalists, and the rest ot
the population send off. to die of starvation. He would be
ft bold Minister who would advise the experiment. He
would be a bold as ,areal as a hard man who would act upon it.-
(Cries of " Hear, ke,aaae) And, my Lords, to tell me
measure
measure-this rep ' •
. reF.a ofthe corn-laws -is brought forward as: ninseuasy
be
to relieve Ireland , of all countries.-(Loud cheers.) You '.
for the benefit of
told that it is far. the relief of England, and that itinist,n
lung
run,
but
herpopulatiala. I doubt whether it may
ep tae
country; and to tell
Ireland is easeiusivelY an naricilliurale reducingo the value of their ex-
ports,us that yes :are to benefit Ireland by
obtain the comforts of life and the ar-
tistes by phi ,th alone she. canherennives
from
you ; and that you are
tisles of usanunseturesoenicts s
er,t Ireland by reducing the
to
bcr; value of her exports to the value
of
n'-''Hon and a half, or to two millions a year, is a proposition
nfad a e-ns should venture to put alongside that increased eeril-
y-aeration tends to increase the price of oar article,-(Hear.) Lastly,
(*and I am quite sure that your Lordships will be very gl al to hear
that I am coming to a conclusion), I wish' to speak of cue branch of
the question, which is of the utmost importance, and particularly so
to me, from the situation which I had the honour to hold.-(Hear,.
hear.) I mean the effect which is to be produced by the repeal of the
corn-laws, and the carrying out of the principle of free trade, and the
doctrine of the removal of protection upon your colonies: -(Hear,
hear.) Now, my Lords, yoar foreign trade takes a very large amount
of foreign shipping, and a very small amount of British. I beg to
call your Lordships' attention in the first place, to the fact which ap-
pears in the returns of the House of Commons in 1845, namely, that
the tonnage of shipping in the colonies, was 1,273,395; whilst against
that there was entered not one single ton of foreign. Your colonial
trade, therefore, be it what it will, is exclusively carried on by British.
You employ British seamen. My Lords, I will not enter upon the
extent of that trade. It is certain that the member
of exports to your colonies athounted in 1844 to 1,427,0001.
You Wile them to trade with other nations-you tell them that
they may cleft the country, and the moment they quit the shores of
England and land in a British colony, you tell them, you areic no
more to 'as than the Dutchman, the German, or the
us. We
American.
Trade where you please ; you are entitled to no favour from
trade with
r
a
give you no protection ; we don't seek to impedewith them as with
this other countries; you are just as much connected
us. I, have heard it put forward that measure will benefit the
Australian colonies. I cannot exactly see how this can be done by
this measure. The present duty on Australian corn is ss. a quarter,
and they have the advantage of buying or selling
their corn in pro-
tected markets,
which you take away from them. Then with refer-
ence to Canals, you passed a Bill last year on the faith of which the
Canadians imposed aduty .of 3s a quarter on American corn. You
encouraged her to commence great works, and you lent her money
to do them with, and you are now going to undo all that you have
done ; you are going to destroy the great communication of the St.
Lawrence, and make New York, instead of Montreal and Quebec, the
channels of your trade, and it has been the policy of the United'
States to pass a. Bill encouraging the trade in this direction._...
I hope this will open your Lordships' eyes,ss
this
mte,,s:reau.
dangerous policy you are pursuing in attempting to 1)1
of the I hope your Lordships have read the dispatch
Noble Lord then Governor-
General of Canada upon this subject. The
f Lord Metcalfe the pro-
ceeded to rend extracts from the dispatch
e ttoo show the necessity of
Go-
vernor-General of Canada,
which went to
lii order to enable
continuity protection to the trade
with this country. Mr. Gregg
them to, fulfil their engagementslied in the various markets of the
showed. -that our trade had
ite n
ffield was beaten by that of Alsace—
world,--that the cutlery
orySwas 25 per cent. cher.gcr then that of
Alsace--
that the hosiery
of
stockingSa"ii frames there had been diminished
Leicester, and that the
that the only way we could hope to compete
from 4,590 to 250, anti that
be
by
cheapening food, in order to cheapen
with foreign nations
the language of Mr. Gregg, and that was the
wages. That was
' tt • WI, • -would think
dangerous experiment they were El 00 Ilt 0 r,. . (~.e
the force of " folly can no further go."-(A )scab.) I trust your
Lordships will not be had away by these reclines. lam fully sen-
sible of the great length, eanCof the feebleness wills which I hart;
discharged my duties, but I hope that I have the credit of keeping
close to the question--(Cheers)-and that no observation which
have made was coloslated to wound the feelings of any person, but
before I sit down i must be permittel to say a few words to your
Lordships, who,, In your hearts, go with us in the argument, and
dis-
approve of the 'measure at which you are alarnmd, yet neverthelesseties
are prepared to give it your sanction, I
can
conceiveMany•bme thosev
which wouli
d influence highly honourable men.
Therestml3ntluenced
who fear sate authority of the Commons; there were others,are
you to col-
by the to nions of the Commons, bat I ask
you hen
fonnd-is it to
lect the, 'opinion of the Commons? Where is it
_01„,
v I find that is
majority of lia; at another
be fennel in 1842, 1843, or 1844?-(blear, hear.) ' s
1843 flits measure was rejected by a h; 255; in 1544 I y 209 ; 111 time by 165 ; again by 114 ; in
)184,3a by
I find that now a majority
Junco 1845, by 132.-
(114m1 climm.-ho then rejected, have a asentod to
of 9.8 s composed of the same men vi
win)
disapprove of the 11l eas,uree
the measure. There were others -who
supported it. I. tan sym-
pathise from personal feelings to c
but I cannot assent to Om justa ,e of them
with those feelings,
atice would be ineffective, it wou el be made
-Meer, hear.) The saes'
a Government which mu' d maintain
there never was
in vain ;
the sufferance of its 1 °pow . ;is , with the
itself, w hen it existed on
ashamed supporters. There might be those who
disguisrsd support of
end to agitation ; whet) was organised
hopeclathat it might put