The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-13 00:00:00

to atone for our deficiency.—(Cheers.) With reference t
the continent of America, on which I just now found my-
self, I do not wish to allude so much to any statistical deduc-
tions which my residence there may have induced and
enabled me to make, because these have been subjects of
frequent discussion, and can be calculated as closely ant
appreciated as clearly at a distance as on the actual spot;.
though I have felt sometimes that the real site, the actual
presence of our own faithful eyes, bring the truth better home
to one, than the most laborious collection of documents.—
( Hear, hear.) I have felt this most emphatically when
placed in full view of those mighty prairies of the
west, which, almost totally without an inhabitant, served
in their luxuriant fertility, imploringly to invite the agricul-
culturist, when, in view of those vast forests above the prairies,
which promised (and all experience had verified the promise)
that as soon as the axe of the woodman had once rung among
them, as soon as the log-cutter had put up his cabin, and the
smoke from its chimney curled up into the air, fertile crops
would take the place of tall trees.—( Hear, hear.) I have felt
this in sight of the immense and wonderful valley of the Mis-
sissippi—that valley which the accomplished De Begueville has
described as the most magnificent abode ever foribed by nature
for man ; I have felt this, on the St. Lawrence, that mightier
volume of fertilising waters than the whole world else pre-
sents. In all these grand scenes, I have felt that while the
distance between them and us must necessarily prevent those
extraordinary imports which the panic in the breasts of our
protectionists anticipates, yet that still, as a very long time
must elapse before that same valley of the Mississippi can
number the 200,000,000 of inhabitants, of which it said to be
capable, as a very long time must elapse ere those woods cat;
be cleared for the cultivation of what they are susceptible.
I wish for a moment to mention to the House, before I cease to
trespass on its attention, that notwithstanding much that I
have heard, and much that 1 have seen, I have not returned
from that country with any favourable impressioon of their.
moderate tendencies, or their scrupulous attention to good
faith.—(Hear, hear.) Nor do I return to my home with
any increased repugnance.—(Loud Ministerial cheers.) By
which I mean to say any •diminished attachment to the
aristocratic, or mixed monarchial principles, which were the
elements of our own Constitution.—( Loud cheers.) But I
feel that we cannot confront the example of general ease and
comfort which prevails among the American people.e--( Hear,
hear.) We all know the story of the Irish labourer, who re-
fused to write home that he had meat three times a day, be-
cause nobody would believe him. We cannot confront the
growing aspirations of our own people—we cannot confront the
onward tendencies of the age in which we live, if we do not
consent to administer and to work out our aristocratic notions
in a more democratic spirit.—(Cheers.) Notwithstanding that
implied dissent, I contend that no aristocratic institutions
which rest on exclusive privileges will be able to stem the
current of the age.—(Cheers.) I contend that there is no
aristocratical body which rests on especial interests will escape
their certain downfal—(Cheers)—and that no aristocracy, no
matter how long descended, can exist with the corn-law
when the pressure will come, and that corn-law will be pro-
hibitory. I think that that will be too hard a strain for any
title deed, n' matter how ancient to resist. lam not imputing
to the great bulk of the aristocratic party, that any of their
members should have a disposition to come out to promote any
personal interest that may affect them individually, or to sup-
port measures for their exclusive benefit. Still they are the
interests not of individuals, but of a class which they have
been in the habit of keeping prominent in their view.
There is a concealed esprit de corps amongst them, and a re-
fined degree of selfishness which merges itself into generosity,
and is easily mistaken for it. When we think that a party
with whom we have long acted is likely to be outnumbered in
these circumstances, monopoly itself, when it has neared its
downfal, will be invested in a kind of sympathy, such as that
we feel for the culprit when he stands at bay. But we cannot
be permitted, when the general interests of the country are at
stake, to indulge in any such misplaced and morbid sympathy.
It is part of true patriotism, as well as philosophy, to put the
universal, in preference, over the particular. I would, there-
fore, conjure those who belong to the aristocracy of the
country, whether connected by hereditary right or
landed property, to rise above any of the especial interests.
and to bear their part in the progressive spirit of the age. I
grudge to the other side the adhesion of the names of the
Marquis of Granby and Lord Clive, for I feel that our aris-
tocracy has ever marched with that progress, and identified
itself with every glorious period recorded in our history. Let
them not refuse to bear their part in a settlement which, if
not adjusted with them, must be adjusted in spite of them.—
( Hear, hear.) 1 believe they continue to make it an esteemed
and honoured party—let them make it as much their pride,
as it is their duty, as well as their safety, to be the leaders
and not the laggers in the onward march of the British
people.—(Loudcheers.)
Mr. GA S KELL said that he considered that it was the duty of
a public man to maintain a character for consistency.—( Hear. )
Perhaps, without presumption, he might call him his Right
lion. Friend.—( Hear, hear.) During the last fourteen years
he had supported him, and he would be glad to support him on
the present occasion if he could reconcile it. to his idea of duty,
but he felt it to be impossible for him to run counter to his
own implied engagements, and to his recorded votes.—(Loud
cheers.) Notwithstanding the eloquent speeches of the Right
lion. Gentlemen the Secretary of State and the Secretary at
War, he had yet to learn that this Parliament was elected for
the purpose of demolishing all protection to agriculture. In his
opinion they had been elected, not only to entertain a
total departure from those principles, but even the smallest
suspension of that protection which the corn-laws conferred.
—(Loud cheers.) He would not enter into the general ques-
tion. The state of indisposition under which he laboured pre-
vented him from doing so, and he would not detain the House
much longer. He would, however, briefly explain the grounds
of the principles which he intended to influence his conduct with
regard to this great question. During the last four years, in
which he had occupied a seat in that House he had invariably
opposed all measures of a similar nature which had been
brought forward by the Noble Lord the Member for London,
and the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton; and he did so
under the guidance of those Members who were now bringing
forward measures precisely similar in their tendency. He was
always of opinion that Parliament was bound to give a mode-
rate protection to agriculture, and he was supporting it in that
opinion, with some of the greatest men of the present and past
generation.—(Loud cheers.) He was supported by Canning,
by liuskisson, by Earl Grey, by the Right Hon. Baronet—
(Hsar, hear)—by the Noble Lord opposite (Russell), by Lord
Ashburton, and others.—(Loud cheers.) He must be for-
given, therefore, if he said that the impressions
made upon it by the Right Honourable Gentleman himself
arid others were too strong to be outweighed by the arguments
which were now advanced in support of a policy directly the
reverse.—(Cheers.) There where other objections which he
considered were equally weighty against this measure. He
could not help thinking that the Right Hon. Baronet was not
the individual to propose, nor the present House of Commons
the body to sanction, such an alteration.—( Cheers.) He was
ready, however, to admit that the Right Hon: Baronet was
actuated by a sense of public interest in the proposition which
he had made, and that he had made sacrifices in bringing it
forward ; but he had made sacrifices on a former occasion, and
the greatest was that in 1829. The present one was the next
in importance. With regard to the first, he lost the represen-
tation of the college of Oxford—(Cheers)—and the confidence
of his party. This confidence,however, was afterwards bestowed
upon him, but now he has sacrificed that party which he had
ever declared to be his own pride.—(Loud cheers.) Nobody
could doubt but the great majority of the present Parliament
had been elected for the purpose of maintaining the principle of
protection to agriculture. He would say, notwithstanding
the speech of the Hon. Member for Wakefield, that it appeared
to him impossible for a Parliament so constituted, unless com-
pelled by the strongest, the most cogent, and the most conclu-
sive reasoning, to concur in the proposal of her Majesty's Go-
vernment.—( Loud cheers.) It was not the change of the
Right lion. Baronet that filled his mind with apprehension,
but it was the change of so large a body in that House
as would follow in the wake of the Right Hon. Gentle-
man. And he confessed that such a change was calculated
to lead the public to a complete distrust in public men.—(Loud
cheers.) It might be asked, why were they not tied down by
pledges? Why did they net give pledges? The reason why
they were not delegates was because they were trusted.—
( Loud cheers.) For himself, lie could say with truth, highly
as he valued the dignity of a Parliamentary representative,
much as he prized the sphere of usefulness which that pcsition
conferred upon them, he would rather forfeit his seat tomor-
row than be obliged to give pledges as to the course which on
ordinary occasions he should pursue on public questions. But
there were implied engagements from which any
representative could not deviate without total abandon-
ment of confidence and a complete forfeiture :of all claims
to be considered as the representative of his constituency.—
( Cheers.) His Right lion. Friend the Member for Wiltshire,
said that they were not to be considered as mere ambassadors
and delegates of local bodies.—(Cheers.) Let that lion.
Gentleman take care that the course which he pursued was a
course which must inevitably lead to that local delegation,
which he repudiated—(Loud cheers)--and to a greater ex-
tensionbruaehe
do f
wthat
oneprinciple.
calculated
to Another
fill
his
rn doctrineind with htoba hecak7biteneesnt
astonishment and alarm—a doctrine which was
ut
the
and respect. That doctrine was,
d ted floe measure fro
Go-
vernment was strongly a vhca
quarter which was usually. regardedtbwatithatt
hgwhr
dissented;h
In the speech of the Hon. Member
htibsneoselleeoalcienaegs
etatthats Govern-
mentup
—ppeaCrheedertO)be sanctioned, but if it were generally
in that of the Hon. Me
considered that it was a doctrine which Member for Inverness,
w.
rh ieh
Liverpool,up ostrt no
nnal
neosdfa
f
urtbhetecties°brgdlonyokic'fetintdian'ulehPtoea. the independence of Parliamentary men—utterly would b e
inconsistent With the usages which Parliament have always
been influenced by—that it would have the effect of making
them mere agents and local delegates, and be totally at vari-
ance with the spirit of the Constitution.—(Loud cheers.)
There was one other point to which he would call the attention
of the House. If those gentlemen who were returned to vote
against the principles of the Right lion. Baronet should again
present themselves to their constituencies, afterhaving voted
contrary to their promises, what shall they have to offer for
their breach of trust ?—( Hear, hear.) When the agricultural
portion of the country shall be called upon to tender their
votes at the hustings, how would they respond to that call ?
( Hear, hear.) Wculd they not reply to that call with feelings
of indifference? would they not say that they
had no cause to represent —no interest to
protect?—(llear, hear.) It was no light thing to show the
constituency—it was no light thing to show to the people—that
their representatives advocated one set of principles at the
hustings, and voted otherwise in the Legislature.—( Cheers.)
He had given this subject his most serious consideration—ho
had given it his most serious consideration independent of party
feelings, and lie had come to the conclusion that this was a
measure fraught with the utmost danger to the agricultural in-
terests of the country.—(Hear, hear.) lie regretted that he
was compelled to differ in the most important measure of mo-
dern times with the Right Ilon. Baronet, but it was with a
clear conscience he should vote against the measure.—( Cheers. )
Mr. ROEBUCK—The Honourable Member, who was for
sonic time most inaudible to the gallery, was understood to say,
that considering the various and conflicting opinions expressed
by many Honourable Members on the question before the
just.
House, he naturally approached it with great difficulty. There
was a remark made by the Honourable Gentleman who had
eat down which called for some answer. It might be tv!
proper for those who had made pledges to their constituents cry
be
recommend the giving up of those seats. It would
however, a
had retained on such promises.
was,lthowthat the people
matter of consideration for Parliament toetser
well for those Hon. Members to give up the seats which theY
of the measures
were properly represented by the character
as great question in the -
which were brought forward.
lelThat he wished to know was
if the delegation was nothing?etinge as he did a large constituency
the representative. Greatlaughter)—he may have represented
in his own person—.
debate as to the character ofdelltgawtion. He wished to know
the representative of a large
lembers, but be was
of lion. Npeople, but if he were to have thrown up his seat
in that portion of the
himself in a very singular_ mariner, so as to excite the laughter
when conscientiously complicit to differ from his
constituents,l)iqe
ifie would have had to do so long since, for
it would be remembered, that he had many times voted em-
trary to their wishes. It was not, the country that called upon
lion. Members to resign their seats, it was the close bon ughs.
—( Loud cries of " No, no," " Name, name.") He hoped.
that Hun. ilembers would not cry out " Name," for it so hap-
pened that he could put Isis fingers on the names of three
places. He would say that those who should hereafter read
the discussion of this measure, would be surprised at the senti-
ments expressed by many. The practical statesman who
shall come hereafter, will take the prat ical philosophy of
legislation and would not be prejudiced by party views. It
was a remarkable thine that the Ike.. 13a.onet who had
brought forward the yrhaciples tnabia‘ed in the