The Sun.
London, England, 1833-06-19 00:00:00

mould starve here, anti leave a plenty for those who re-
trained behind ; and the lie.t af our workmen accordingly ee, ease se
left us; but, he would say, instead of sending them abroad,• .
in search of food, let them stay at home and import -4s, *le
,pite of all the boroughtuongering lauded oligarchy. Letl.
he funded interest look about them, too, if this twentil
millions for the colonists be :Oiled to the funded debt, for
it was a debt that would taint the whole, and would be
sponged off with the rest. As for the Ministers, they did
lot seem to know what they were about—(A laugh)—
the Noble Chancellor of the Exchequer could not tell one
;fay what he meant to do the day after.--(A laugh.)
Oh, there must not be this vacillating ! It will no' er
do."---(Here the Hon. Member clapped his hands ent-
ohatically together several times: whereupon the
House resounded with shouts of laughter.) As to the
Corn Laws—(A laugh)—their continuance on the pre-
.ent system would ruin the farmers, and eventually, the
andowners ; and these richly deserved it.— (A laugh )
l'he Noble Lord had all but called the Hon. Mem'ier for
\Vhitehaven a rogue—(A laugh)—hut the Noble Lord was
ow going to do nearly the same thing proposed by that
[lon. Member. This looked something like the Bar-
ringtonian method.—(Great laughter.) Ministers looked
upon this question as upon others—as Basil Hall went to
America—with one eye—(Great laughter)--sand here he
would repeat what the Massachusett farmers said to Basil
" That the English landed interest were killing the.
;oose for the sake of the egg."—(A laugh.) Before is
sat down be had a word to say to his Majesty's Ministers.
—(A laugh.) Sometime ago they had agitated the court-
ry from one end to the other—they h and encouraged, it
was well understood, the Political Unions—(Hear)—they
had advised the King to dissolve the Parliament—they
had advised the Bishops to put their House in order,—.
(Hear, and a laugh.) They had swamped the House of
Peers, as the phrase went.---(Great laughter.) And what
was all this for ? Why, for Reform : but he said no Re-
'orm.—(A laugh, and Hear, hear.) The Coercion PO
was not Reform—(Hear)—the English Church Tema
poralities Rill was Lot at Reform Bill.--(Hear.) N.):
tot as the Tories, par excellence, jeeringly' told top
Radicals, " They had get the Bill, the whole Bill.
bur nothing but the Bill.'---(Great laughter, and crie,,
of " Hear, hears-) This was the general feeling.—(No.)
Oh it was : go to the United Service Cliiba--(A laugh)--
and there you will hear all about it.--(A laugh.) The'
Noble Lord, the other night, had told them that nothing'
but the fear of collision had prevented him from bringing
forward a measure dear to his heart: bat the meaeureir
was not dear to his heart, or he would have brought it for-,
ward spite of every thing—even despite the House
of Commons. If that House had shown itself opposed to
the welfare of the people, the Noble Lord would have had
but to apply to the injured party, and there lie would, as
heretofore, have found all efficient succour. They stood
upon a precipice, and there must be either revolution or
reform.—(Hear.) He would conclude by moving for leave
to bring in a Bill for the repeal of the Corn Laws. He
wanted to bring things to the standard of 1'791, ashen
there was as much money and every thing else as noW.
At that time, when the price of wheat was between 50s.
and 545., the duty per quarter was only 2s. 6d. In this,
if the parties were consistent, be should have the support
of the Noble Lord himself, and of the Right Hon. the
Vice-President of the Board of Trade, who at Manchester
had hung out the flag of a free trader.
The motion being put,
Lord ALTHORP said, he had thought this important
question, having been discussed at length, and decided upon
un a former occasion, would not have been brought for-
ward this Session—(Hear, hear)—the more particularly
since that decision, by so large a majority, was to the pre-
cise effect, that this was not the expedient time for the
repeal of the Corn Laws ; it was not decided that no re-
peal at all was to be effected. He fully agreed with the
Hon. Member in several parts of his speech with reference
to the expediency of an alteration in these laws, but, he
repeated, this was not an expedient time for entering
into the discussion, and he should, therefore, adopt the
same course as he bad pursued on a former occasion, by
moving the preeious question.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. HUME said, the only material question was, whe-
ther the people of England should be better paid and em-
ployed than under the present system, for he believed
that the change would effect both,—whether the present
system of injustice was to be carried on till another Ses-
sion. He agreed with the Hon. Member that the present
system would be the ruin of the farmers, and ultimately of
the landlords ; but if these landlords liked to be ruined,
they were welcome to do it for him.—(Hear.) But
there were other classes to be consulted, and the Govern-
ment ought to legislate equally for them. He did not at
all see why their interests should be passed over till an-
other Session. He wished the Noble Lord had taken as
much trouble with the Corn Laws as with the Coercion
Bill. The change in the Corn Laws would effect the
greatest relief to the people of all classes, and increase the
industry oi7 the country. He could not, therefore, sec
how the Noble Lord, or his Colleagues, could reconcile it
to their consciences thus to defer the welfare of the people:
this was not the time to put off such questions as this to
another year, for no man could say what the delay might
produce before another year arrived ; and he thought it
much better to give due deliberation and introduce a well
arranged system of change, than to have a crude and vio-
lent alteration thrust upon them. It would be better for
all parties. On this account he deeply regretted to see
such indications on the part of Government.
Colonel WOOD thought that even had Government
given the lengthened attention to the discussion on the
corn laws, which was desired by Hon. Members, they
must have come to the conclusion that the present
was the most beneficial system both to producer and con-
sumer.—(Hear.) The present system of laws had not
been brought in by either a willing House of Commons,
or a willing Administration ; for nothing but the uni-
versal distress arising from the previous system, had in-
duced the then Legislature to adopt the present system.
—(Hear.) He would assert that the landed interests were
as much interested in, and identified with, the people as
any class. He denied that they looked to these laws for
the purpose of propping up rents ; such could not be the
case, for the scale of rents was already adjusted, and if the
whole rents of land were to be done away with to-mor-
row, it would not make a farthing difference in the price
of wheat. He certainly wished the question had been
settled, for the non-settlement of it had produced great
excitement and difficulty; but as it was, he should sup-
port the Noble Lord.
Mr. O'CONNELL thought that if any article was to
be exempt from tax, it should be articles of food. The
corn laws went to make food dear ; they went to starve
the people, and he, therefore, should vote for the motion.
Major HANDLEY said, that if the corn laws were as
disastrous in their effects as they were described to be,
they ought to be instantly repealed ; but be should be
prepared to show, whenever the proper time came, that
the effects of those laws were very much misunderstood.
He deplored very much the jealousy which was getting up
between the different classes, which could only be inju-
rious to both. For the agriculturists he claimed a protec-
tion commensurate to the heavy burdens which were laid
on the landed interest—(Hear, hear)—and he was sure,
whatever the manufacturers might suppose, that the ruin
of the agriculturists would be the annihilation of their own
hopes. He wished the manufacturers to look to the home
market. There was a time when the use of tea and sugar
and fine clothes were unknown, but they were now found
in every cottage in the country. The farmers formerly
spun and made their own cloth, and went without those
luxuries, and probably were as happy then as now ; if
they were to return to their former habits, it was not
for him to say who would be the principal losers. If
they relieved them from the poor rate, which in 1792
was 2,000,0001. and was now 9,000,0001., and from the
national debt, the interest of which was then 10,000,000/.
and was now nearly 90,000,0001., he should most readily
consent to a complete free trade in corn and all other things.
Lord DARLINGTON regretted that the Noble Lord
(Althorp) should have deprecated discussion, should have
proposed no measure to amend the laws, and yet should
have stated that those laws wanted amendment. Such
conduct could only have the effect of unsettling the public
mind. At present no contract could be made about land,
no farms could be let, no land could be bought or sold,
because the question was in an unsettled condition. He
conceived that the present corn laws were the best possi-
ble for the farmer and for the consumer ; but if they were
to be altered, the sooner that were effected the better.
He hoped that the Noble Lord would propose the altera-
tion which he thought necessary, and not leave people
continually to expect an alteration which never was made.
Lord ALTHORP never said that he meant to make
any alteration. He had merely admitted, in reply to the
Hon. Member for Wolverhampton, that these laws were
not the best possible.
Colonel EVANS said the corn laws were a monopoly
of the worst description, and be could not understand
how any Administration which advocated free trade,
could keep up that monopoly. They were about to open
the trade to China, and why not open the corn monopoly?
He thought this a very good opportunity for making the
.alteration; fur, by letting the colonies send all their pro-
,luce here, we might make some abatement in the
20,000,0001. it was proposed to grant them.
Mr. MARK PHILLIPS thought, as respected the end
of the Session, that this was not a favourable opportunity
for making the present motion ; but as respected the full
employment of the manufacturers, it was a most favor!' -
a'rle time to alter the corn laws. It would be far Letter