The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-05 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS, June 4.

Their Lordships met at Five o'clock.
GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY:
The Duke of RICHMOND presented several peti-
tions from the county of Aberdeen in favour of this
undertaking.
FREE CHURCH OF SCOTLAND.
Lord COTTENHAM presented a petition from some
Free Church inhabitants of Paisley, praying their Lord-
ships to pass a measure to enable them to purchase sites
for the erection of churches.
Lord CAMPBELL presented eight petitions to the
same effect from different parts of Scotland.
Earl STANHOPE presented a petition, praying their
Lordships not to pass the Corn Bill until a full inquiry
was made into the present monetary system of the
country.
Lord CAMPBELL presented petitions from Greenock
and other towns in Scotland in favour of the Ministerial
measures.

CORN-LAWS.
Lord STANLEY presented petitions from different
places in the counties of Wilts and Cornwall against
the repeal of the corn-laws. He would now beg to give
notice that he would, to-morrow, ask to have placed
on the table of the House copies of any addresses which
may have been received from the Legislative Assemblies
of Canaria upon the subject of the corn-laws.
The Earl of DALHOUSIE said, that iu
gumeeting gthtehier
`arc that had been used on the last night
Lordships had sat, against the present Governmentg mea-
sure affecting the corn-laws, he endeavoured to contro-
vert them to the best of his ability, and in
doing so, quoted an address which, had been re-
ceived from the Legislative Assembly of Lower
Canada, and he founded the arguments he had used
upon the statements contained in those addresses ; for
the Government bad no reason to believe, from the na-
ture of the contents of these addresses, that the Canadian
Government were adverse to this measure. In what he
was now about to state, he would make no allusion to any-
thing that had been said out of this House, by which
he would be infringing any order of their Lordships'
House. But he would endeavour so to allude to a state-
ment which had been made elsewhere, as that their
Lordships would understand by the implication what he
meant, without committing any breach of any order of
their Lordships' House. What he meant was this, that
upon the day after the debate in this House
a question was put to the first Minister of the Crown in
reference to that debate, which would have the effect of
casting an imputation upon the truth-telling and fairness
of a Noble Lord, a Member of their Lordships' House,
and that that Noble Lord was the Earl of Dalhousie.
And the effect of that imputation was that
at the time that the had mentioned the ad-
dress he had now alluded to he was aware
of another address having arrived from Canada of a
nature contrary to that of the one he had been
speakine of. Now he should confess, and he was not
ashamed to confess it, that he did feel pained
at any question having been put respecting him in
such language, for he was able to say that he had never
- done anything in his life, either public or private,
which could merit such an imputation.—(Hear, hear.)
But he could not but feel annoyed that such a statement
should have gone forth to the country unexplained by
him, for it must have had the effect of making an un-
favourable impression against him. Now, he would ask
their Lordships, would it be worth his while to suppress
such a fact when he knew that it would be perfectly
well known to the public the very next morning?
But he begged to assure their Lordships that it was
physically impossible that he could have been aware of
the dispatch in question at the time he made this state-
ment to the House. He had applied to a private quarter
—he felt humbled in having been compelled to do so—
(Cheers)—and he had ascertained from that source the
steamer which brought the dispatch arrived at Liverpool
after their Lordships had met on Thursday evening; the
dispatch was forwarded to the Post-office, where it ar-
rived at 6 o'clock on Friday morning, shortly after
their Lordships had concluded their sittings, and at 10
o'clock that morning it reached the Colonial-office by
the ordinary delivery of the Post-office; and he himself
was not aware of its arrival until infurmed of the fact by
his Honourable Friend the Secretary of the Colonies.
Igo one, he was sure, could possibly be aware that the
address was in existence in the course of the debate of
Thursday. Therefore, in that place, as a Peer, and on
his honour, he assured their Lordships that he was not
aware of the arrival of the mail at the time in
question, or of any intention of the Legislative
Assembly of Canada to form any opinion on
the policy of her Majesty's Ministers contrary
to that which was upon record, and which he believed.
contained the sentiments of that assembly on the
question. He should not, however, further comment
upon that. If it had been necessary to put this ques-
tion, he wished it had been put by some Noble Lord
in that House to his (Lord Dalhousie's) face. He re-
gretted, also, that it was put at a time when a week
must elapse before it was possible for him to reply to it.
and when he might have had an opportunity of vindicat-
ing himself from the charge. He felt it due to himself
and to their Lordships to offer this explanation, which
he trusted was satisfactory.—(Cheers.)
Lord STANLEY said he was sure every one who
knew his Noble Friend considered that any statements
made in another place, or elsewhere, which threw any
aspersions upon his character were without foundation—
(Cheers)—he was quite sure, that it was out of the
power of any human being to cast any aspersion on the
personal honour of his Noble Friend. He (Lord Stanley)
was not aware there was any intention to put
the question to which the Noble Lord referred.
He received a copy of the dispatch the fol-
lowing morning, and it was not until in the course
of the next afternoon that he learned that the question
had been put. He was sure the character of the Noble
Lord, both in that and the other House of Parliament,
rendered it unnecessary for him to occupy a single
moment in exculpating him from such a charge, which,
if it had been true, would have involved a charge of
neglect of public honour and of public duty. However,
it was not until that moment that a reply could be given
by the Noble Lord that it was the intention of the
Under Secretary of the Colonial Department to the
dispatch on the table of the House, and he trusted
that their Lordships would bear with him for a few
moments whilst he made some observations upon it.
He would take that opportunity of saying a few words
on the serious objections which had been entertained
against the policy of her Majesty's Government on this
point
in Canada. He had availed himself of that oppor-
tunity to assert that serious objections were entertained
there, not only as that policy was likely to affect
the particular interests of the Canadians themselves
but also on account of the commercial and political ef-
fects that were likely to arise from the measure then
under the consideration of their Lordships. They not
only complained that it would, if adopted, prevent
their taking British manufactures in return for
their colonial produce, but it would have the
result of throwing away the whole of the
capital expended in improving the course of the St.
Lawrence, which is the natural outlet for the produce of
the provinces. He bad warned the House that this
policy would be likely to have the injurious effect of
dissevering the tie which held the Canadas to this
country, and induce them to seek an association with
the United States. He would not say that his remarks
had beeu treated with inattention, but he could not help
recollecting that an assertion had that night been made
that the Canadas were altogether in favour of free trade.
He felt that it would not be right to treat this merely
as a free trade question, but that its commercial
and political bearings ought also to be taken into
account. And whatever might have been thought
of his anticipations, their Lordships would recollect
that within twelve hours after they had been uttered,
and before the recorded opinions of their Lordships
could be made known to the country, an unanimous ad-
dress from the House of Assembly in Canada had been
brought to this country, containing precisely the
same views and apprehensions which he had
nimself entertained—echoing precisely the same
objections in almost the very words which
he had used. Their Lordships should know that the
House of Assembly was one of the most divided commu-
nities in the world—divided in interest, divided in
AAracter, divided in country—consisting of Canadians,
neo-Canadians, Gallic-Canadians, and men from the
United States ; and yet this divided assembly had
come to an unanimous couee agaaidnsotntlhye policy
of the Government. Ho wouldi
a very
few words from that address. His Lordship' th - read
a paragraph from the address, complaining of the ui*
ference of the Ministerial policy with
their interests; and
injuring the trade in thetrtoprtasdayuatilaotf
zsin and timber.
The address then went_ en
progress proposed mea-
sureof agricultural
was calculated to retard.he
improvement and cheek the rising prosperity oche „lolly,
and would seriously impair the ability of the inhabitant;
of Canada to purchase the manufactured goods of Great
Britain. They further went on to thank the Parlia-
ment of the mother country for the loan of 1,500,0001.
for the purpose of promoting the public works
in that colony, but they considered that the proposed
alterations in the law of protection would so reduce the
prosperity of the canals and other public works, as to
render them comparatively profitless. The address went
on to state that a check would be placed on the encou-
ragement of agricultural production, and also that it would
prevent the influx of emigrants from the mother country.
and consequently that the inhabitants would lose the
benefit of their capital and skill. And, lastly, it stated
that it was next to be feared that should the inhabi-
tants of Canada find, in consequence of the withdrawal
of all protection, that they could not compete with the
United States in the only market open for them, they
would materially begin to doubt if their remaining a
portion of the British empire will be of that permanent ad-
vantage which they have hitherto found it to be. The Noble
Lord went on to say that these were considerations of
very grave importance as well to her Majesty as to the
people of the province. The dutiful inhabitants of the
province stated in their address that they should be
sorry if any measure was passed calculated to weaken
the ties which had for so many years bound
them to the parent state. They considered it
the greatest evil that could possibly befal
them. Their Lordships would remember the time when
this address was sent, to whom it was addressed, and the
strong, yet loyal and affectionate terms in which it was
couchd. It would, he thought, iveentasaitisfactory
vindication of the apprehensions he ertad
deeply regretted that it did not arrive beforene their
Lordships decided upon the second
reading of
the Bill.Bill.He trusted, however, that it
was not
yet too late to remove these apprehensions. Their
Lordships would bear in mind the loyal and dutifnl
dress unanimously agreed to by the people of Canada
Lord LYTTELTON laid on the table several papers
from the colonies, and among others the address from
Canada, which the Noble Lord who had just sat down
alluded to. The papers included several addresses on
the subject of the Ministerial measure, viz., the corn-laws,
Which had already been laid on the table of the House of
mug. la regard to the moral observation of the