The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-17 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

ROUSE OF LORDS, June 16.
Their Lordships met at !five o'clock.
FOREIGN ACTORS.
The Earl of FITZHARDINGE presented a petition
from Mr. Webster, the lessee of the
.Theatre Royal Hay-
market, and from the persons, 210 in number, engaged
at the Lyceum, complaining of the support given to fo-
reign artists. They did not object to the original Italian
Opera, or to the French performances at the St. James's,
but they complained that there was now an Italian
Opera at Covent-garden supported by foreign artists,
and an attempt had been made to introduce foreign
artists at Drury-lane. He reprehended the infamous
attempt made to put down the French performance at
Drury-lane, and Mr. Webster and the other respectable
members of the dramatic profession authorised him to
express their disgust at the attempts which had been
made to put down the French performances at Drury-
lane by force. The petitioners complained that the
Theatres Royal Drury-lane and Covern-garden, which
had been licensed for the performances exclusively of
the English drama, had been let for the performance
of foreign dramas, by foreign performers, and praying
the House to adopt means to do justice to English
performers, and to restrict foreign performances
to those theatres already licensed for such performances.
Lord BEAUMONT considered that the petition was
conceived in an illiberal spirit. They were not able to
produce pieces which would fill their houses, and they
wished to prevent others from doing so.
Lord BROUGHAM could not support the prayer of
the petition. He considered that native talent had no
right whatever to protection against foreign talent. If,
then, French performers had not come to Drury-lane
it would have been shut up, and 200 English workmen
would have been thrown out of employ. He entirely
agreed with the Noble Earl, in expressing his disgust at
the:conduct of those who had created the disturbances at
Drury-lane.
After a few words from the Earl of GLENGALL,
The Duke of CLEVELAND expressed his surprise
at finding the name of Mr. Webster attached to these
petitions, That gentleman had for years conducted the
Haymarket Theatre with great talent and great tact,
and he thought it was impossible that any foreign com-
petition could injure a manager of such tact and an
artist. of such talent as Mr. Webster. He was sorry that
these petitions had been brought forward, and he hoped
they would be withdrawn.
After a few words from Earl SPENCER,
Lord BEAUMONT explained that he had been both
to the Lyceum and the Haymarket, and had seen in
each theatre a bad translation of a French piece. He
preferred the original to a bad translation; but so soon
as Shakespere should be properly represented he would
frequent the theatre.
The petitions were then laid on the table.
PETITIONS.
The NonLE Remt . then presented a petition from Bris-
tol, against any alteration in the navigation-laws.
The Duke of RICHMOND presented several petitions
against the Scotch Registration Bill.
CORN-LAWS.
Lord STANLEY, in calling the attention of the
.Go-
vernment and Parliament to the present state of the im-
portation of foreign corn, begged to say that he
had not
modified his opinions upon the subject of protection to
British agriculture, but he did not then wish to invite
their. Lordships' attenticn to it. During the general
distress and dissatisfaction which had prevailed it had
been- observed that it was well the corn-laws were not in
existence to aggravate it. It was not, however, a very
happy remark, for there was in existence at this mo.
ment a corn-law, under the operation of which duties
on the importation of foreign corn, and especially wheat,
were in process of payment considerably more than
were paid during the existence of the corn-law in 1846.
Upon the repeal of the old corn-law a temporary mea-
sure was introduced, which was intended to operate
for two years, and to be similar in principle to that
which it abolished—namely, on the principle of the
sliding-scale. Under the operation of that temporary
law a duty was now paid on the, importation of wheat of
9s. a quarter ; and after the two years during which this
experiment was to be tried it would be for Parliament to
determine whether, any modification of the law shouldhe
be made. T failure of the potato crop rendered it de-
sirable that no duty should stand in the way of a
tempo-
rary importation of provisions ; but in consequence of
that general opinion and the temporary law which was
enacted,instead of having had the experience of two
years as to the operation of the moderate sliding-scale,
they had only had the experience of little more than three
months—namely, from the Ist of March last. If Par •
liament should, therefore, close at the end of July or the
beginning of August they would only have had the exL
perience of about five months, and before the meeting of
Parliament the Act would expire. A short time ago he
moved for a return og all grain, meal, and flour, im-
ported into the United Kingdom since the Ist of March,
1848, the period at which the temporary duty was re-
vived, and also for the month previous, commencing on
the Ist of February, with the amount of duty re-
ceived during each week. This return was for a period
of eleven weeks only ; and during that period, under the
operation of a duty from 7s. to 95., there had been
brought into consumption 99:3,348 quarters of wheat, of
which there were 198,000—say 200,000 quarters—which,
having been imported previously to the Ist of March,
did not pay the duty. But upon 800,000 quarters there
bad been paid duty in eleven weeks amounting to
127,930/. Now, supposing ho took the amount of duty
received during the eleven weeks, and, assuming that it
formed a fair average of the year's consumption of fo-
reign corn, that consumption would give a revenue
amounting forthe year to 604,7601.; and if he might fairly
take into calculation the additional fifth which had been
brought into consumption, though it had not paid duty,
the amount would be 755, 9471. in the year. It was to the
financial part of the question that he wished to draw the
attention of the Government, because here was a duty not
causing any dissatisfaction, not aggravating the price of
the food of the people, and bringing into the revenue, at
a time of deep depression and defalcation (and it must
be remembered paid by the foreign importer), a sum of
money amounting to nearly three-quarters of a million
in a year, which they were about, unless Parliament
should interpose in the present session, absolutely to
throw away, and deprive the Exchequer of three-quarters
of a million in the next year. A most important fact
was that this duty had been realised without affecting
the price of corn. During the month of February there
had been no duty, or merely a nominal one; but on the
Ist of March there was a duty of 75.; and it would na-
turally be supposed that the price had then risen. Wheat
had fallen from 51s. 2d. to 50s. 2d. in February, and
oats and barley had also fallen in proportion; and in the
week subsequent to the 7s. duty being put on the price
of wheat was identically the same—namely, 50s. 2d.
The same observation applied. to all other grain except
rye, in which there was trifling rise in price. And
during the whole time since the duties had been in
operation, from the Ist of
-March to the 20th of May,
when the Return closed, the price of corn had fallen.—
(Hear, hear.) He thought, therefore, that he was justi-
fied in saying that this amount of duty had been levied
without being the cause of an increase of price or a
pressure on the consumer here, and that what had been
gained was at the expense of the foreign importer.—
(Hear, hear.) Well, then, had the effect been to check
and discourage importation? So far from it, a consider-
able increase had taken place in the quantity of corn
imported. In the first four weeks there were altogether
brought into consumption 97,000 qrs.; but in the last
four weeks up to the 20th of May the quantity had in-
creased to 141,000 qrs. The amount of duty realised in
the first four weeks had been 12,4441.; but in the last
four weeks it had been 46,689/.—(Hear, hear.) Such was
the state of things; and although he did not wish to
make. any motion, he thought it was his duty at this
period of the session, and in the present state of the
finances of the country, to call the attention of the
Government to the fact; because, unless they interposed
by some step, this large amount of income would be
wholly lost from the Ist of February next to the re-
venue, which was now suffering from a state of great de-
pression, and without producing the slightest corre-
sponding benefit to any human being.—(Hear, hear.)
The period at which it was most important that there
should be an importation of foreign corn was in the
winter months, because it was harder than our grain
and most useful to mix with it. In the months of
November, December, and January, it was most re-
quired ; but with the prospect of the duty of
being taken off on the Ist of February, 1849, it wasquite clear that a direct impediment would be placed in
the way of the introduction of foreign corn.—(hear.)
No general Bill could be introduced into their Lordships
House on the subject, but he asked the Government
whSther it would not be in accordance with sound
policy and their own sense of public duty, that a short
Bill should be introduced to allow the existing duties as
they now stood to be continued for five or six months,
which would enable Parliament to meet together again,
and not with the experience of six months, but of a
whole year, consider whether it would not be desirable

__ •

to continue so small a duty which returned so large a
revenue ; and even if the Bill were extended for a
longer period, to give Parliament time for further consi-
deration, he did not think her Majesty's Govern-
ment could be taunted with inconsistency; be-
cause, although they gave their consent to the
Bill for the. abolition of the corn-laws, the
Whig Govsument more than once contemplated a
1. or Bs. du/&, He was of opinion that the operation
of a sliding-scale was more advantageous than a fixed
duty ; yet he confessed, as between a fixed duty of Bs.,
and a duty fluctuating from 10s. as a maximum to 4s.
as a minimum, the continuance of such a measure
eould not justly subject the Government to any charge
of
inconsistency ; and he hoped the Government would
s.tate whether they thought such a course would not be
aesirable.
Earl GREY said he had heard with great surprise,
and also with some satisfaction, the speech of his
Noble Friend, because the object of that speech had
been to prove that adt efutyleviejd on corn, not for the
hn
sake of protection;
ret a duty
duty approxi-
mating to a fixed duty utythoef such a dee-
scription which, he _that
said, did not, in
Free, raise the price of corn to the
consumer, slightest
w hdile-
it produced a large sum to the treasury
—was
of great importance.—(Hear, hear) H e was bound to
say that the facts upon which his Noble Friend founded
his statements were a little too narrow to warrant the
conclusions at which he had arrived. He thought he
had neglected to take into consideration rawly circum-
stances and facts which had occurred within the last
few weeks, and his Noble Friend was, moreover, entirely
in*ror in believing that when the Act of 1846 wasy
passed, deferring the period when free trade in corn
should take place, that such a measure was contemplated
on the ground of its being an experimental one, for the
real object was to make a gradual change, and let down
the farmer as easy as they could.
The Duke of RICHMOND—Hear, hear; "let down
the farmer."—(Laughter.)
Earl GREY (in continuation) said—lie was not
using his own phrase—(Hear, hear)—because he always