The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-02 00:00:00

hon. member for 'Warwickshire who had himself gone
tolerably far in the direction of
protection, had been com-
pletely distanced. (Hear, and laughter.), He was quite
sure, if the mind of the hon. member for Warwickshire was
capable of admitting sentiments so ignoble as those of mor-
tification at finding himself outdone in a career which he
believed was especially his own—(a laugh)—he must now
be suffering tortures hardly to be described at seeing him-
self so completely distanced by the hon. member for the
Tower Hamlets. (Laughter.) The hon. member for the
Tower Hamlets had displayed qualities which would have
been invaluable at an earlier day—(laughter)—but he was
afraid that new they were completely thrown away, like
flowers wasting their sweetness on the desert air. (Hear,
hear, and laughter.) The hon. member had caught, he
would not say the slang, but the whole vocabulary
which
belonged to the days when the sanctuaries of protection
were assailed by the profane hands of Mr. Huskisson. Free
trade, he said, was all theory, and the views he advanced
were those of a practical man. And then he talked of the
heartlessness of the adherents of free trade. (Hear, hear.)
This was exactly the language used in the debates of 1825,
when Mr. Huskisson, now pointed to with approval as a
model wise legislator, was accused not only of being a hard-
hearted metaphysician, but of having the sentiments of the
devil in his breast. (Laughter.)S,With the exception of the
reference to that particular personage, the speech of the
hon. member for the Tower Hamlets quite came up to anyof
the denunciations previously pronounced. He drew a sad and
deplorable picture of the sufferings of those whose labour
had been displaced, but naturally forgot to inquire whether
any labour had been Lica as id (Hear, hear.) The hon.
member spoke of the difficulties incidental to the trade, as
if when protection existed in that branch of industry it was
a Paradise, and every man was sure of a fair day's wages
for a fair day's work. He seemed to think that the silk
trade and protection had always existed together. But what
was the truth of the matter ? The silk manufacture took
root in England centuries before the time of protection.
(Hear.) It flourished in England in the 17th century, and
it was only after it came to be protected, in 1697, that it
began to droop, and to depend on legislative aid. (Hear.
hear.) Was there suffering then—no displaced labour ?
Had the hon. member no compassion for the evil fortune
which attended his favourite system ? In 1765 "the weavers
went down to the Houses of Parliament in a body, to make
personal application to the members, representing their
wretched condition, and praying for the total prohibition of
foreign goods. Parliament reduced the duties on raw and
thrown silk; dealers in foreign goods countermanded their
orders, and the weavers were appeased." In 1766 smug-
gling was carried on to a greater extent than ever, and
7,072 looms were out of employment—all this at a time when
the system recommended by the hon. gentleman was in the
fullest vigour. (Hear.) In the same year the import and
sale of foreign silks and velvets was totally prohibited,
with the exception of those brought from India; but, in
1769, in that happy state of things when there ought to
have been nothing but contentment and peace, the weavers
formed combinations to compel their masters to raise their
wages, committed various acts of violence on the property
of their employers, destroying their looms, &c., and in the
riot several soldiers as well as weavers were killed.
" Constant disputes still continuing between employers
and employed, an act was passed in 1773 which enabled the
weavers of Middlesex to demand a fixed price for their
labour, which price was to be fixed by the magistrates ;
masters and men were restricted from giving or receiving
more or less than the fixed price ; the manuacturers were
liable to heavy penalties if they employed weavess out of
the district ; the weavers also were restricted, under heavy
penalties, not to employ, at any one time, more apprentices
than two. This law remained in force until 1824. In 1784
additional duties were imposed, and in 1786 the silk trade
was expressly excluded from a treaty with France. In 1793
4,000 Spitalfield looms were quite idle, and at the end of the
war the Spitalfield weavers were again involved in suffer-
ings far more extensive and severe than at any former
period, two-thirds being out of employment."
That was the system which prevailed when the principles
of the hon. member were in operation. (Cheers.) After
that there came a change, and the men who made it were
exposed to all the charges of heartlessness which the hon.
gentleman thought himself entitled to pronounce on the
vast majority of the House of Commons. (Cheers.) He
had described the effects of the system the hon. member pa-
tronized ; and he asked had there been 7,000 or 8,000 looms
out of work since that period ? Had there been any soldiers
or weavers killed in carrying out that blessed system of
trade regulations he advocated ? (Hear, hear.) Look at the
facts of the case. In 1820 our imports of raw silk amounted
to some 2,000,0001 b., and in 1859 they amounted to
9,920,0001 b. In 1820 the exports of British manufactured
silk goods came to £371,000, in 1859 they had risen to
nearly £2,500,000. (Cheers.) And in the face of all that
the hon. member came down to the house and claimed for
his statements and principles the name of facts, experience,
prudence, and wisdom, and dared to charge the majority of
the house not only with error, but with heartlessness for-
sooth. (Cheers.) The hon. gentleman in commencing his
speech expressed a hope that the committee would listen
with patience to his remarks, and he (the Chancellor of the
Exchequer) was glad they had done so, for he believed it
was the last dissertation of the kind they would ever have
within the walls of the British Parliament. (" Oh, oh I" and
cheers.) The last of these prohibitive duties was now about
to disappear from the tariff, and the opportunity they had
just enjoyed was a rare one, and he should have been sorry
if any momentary imp ittience had deprived them of the prac-
tical lessons they had just learned. (A laugh, and " Hear,
hear.") It was not because of the French treaty that the
present vote should be adopted. It was not a small and in-
significant vote, as comparatively speaking many of the
others were—it was a large vote and a large measure, in-
volving a considerable sacrifice of revenue, and affecting the
interests of a great and extensive trade. If the committee
thought it a bad vote on its merits, let them reject it; but
let them remember that if they did they would repudiate all
the principles on which they had been acting for the last 20
years (" Oh," and cheers), and the adoption of which, in-
stead of displacing labour and bringing classes and indivi-
duals to distress, had multiplied the comforts of the work.
ing man, and increased not only his sense of self-respect,
but his loyalty as a member of society and a subject of the
Queen. (Cheers.)
Sir J. PAKINGTON wished to state that the vote he was prepared to give on this question did not rest on the
ground of protection, and that he had no spmpathy with
the arguments or views of either the hon. member for Coven•
try or the Tower Hamlets. (Hear.) Those two hon. mem-
bers gave their vote in support of the Budget of the Govern-
ment, and now they found that the Budget pressed upon
their own constituencies (hear, hear) they came forward
and raised their voices in behalf of interests to which he
thought they must feel themselves they had put it out of
their power to render any real service. (Hear.) The Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer had invited the committee to die.
cuss this vote upon its merles, and he had therefore a right
to consider whether there did not exist serious financial ob-
jections to the proposal of the Government. He must, how-
ever, take decided exception to the right hon. gentleman's
statement that they could not reject the proposal to re-
peal the silk duties without reversing the policy of the
last 20 years. He thought they were perfectly entitled
to pronounce their opinion whether, in the pre-
sent state of cur finances, they ought to repeal
a duty which brought into the Exchequer not less
than £300,000 a year without pressing on any in-
terest in the country, and which was fairly derived from
taxation upon the rich. He should, therefore, oppose the
proposal simply on financial grounds, as most improvident
under existing circumstances. (Hear.)
Mr. BALL amid cries of " Divide !" urged that the
committee should have more time to consider so important
a subject. He felt the more disposed to insist on this as
the Chancellor of the Exchequer had statel that this was
to be the last time when such a question should be dis-
cussed. If it was so, let them linger upon it and compose
themselves for the irretrievable end everlasting ruin pro-
vided for them by the right hon. gentleman. He moved that
the chairman report progress.
Lord PALMERSTON really hoped that, as the hon.
gentleman who moved the adjournment had refreshed him-
self and now seemed in the lull possession of his faculties—
(a laugh)—and able to state at any length he pleased his
objections to the question before the house, he would con-
sent to withdraw his motion. He certainly should se
the motion for reporting progress. oppo
The committee then divided, when there appeared—
For reporting progress

2&
""'•••••
Against it .....233
Majority
—205
Mr VANCE, as the hour was late, and many hon. gen-
tlemen were anxious to deliver their sentiments on this
question, begged to move that the chairman now leave the
chair. (" Oh, oh !")
for the speedy
Mr. R. W. CRAWFORD earnestly appealed to the
committee not to prolong tho suspense which was paralys-
ing the silk trade. (Hear.) An urgent memorial, praying
settlement of this question, had been in-
trusted to him for presentation by many of those London
firms whom the hon. member for the Tower Hamlets now
characterised as hard-hearted, but whom that hon: gentle-
man was exceedingly happy to wait p the time of an election. (" Oh, oh Ind on, cap in hand, at
")
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER also
Pointed out the evil of protracting the stagna-
tion which had already lasted for three weeks,
and assured honourable gentlemen who wished to
pursue that discussion that they should have
an opportunity of doing so to-morrow (this day), on the
bringing up of the report.
Mr. BALL said he had made his motion entirely upon
the solicitation of these who had helped to retui a the hon.
member for the city (Mr. Crawford) to that house, and who
apprehended perfect ruin from the measure which their re-
presentative now sought to press on.
Mr. ELLICE, sen., as one who had voted in the mino-
rity, recommended the hon. member for Dublin to withdraw
his motion.
Mr. AYRTON, in making the same suggestion, ex-
plained, amid the impatience of the house, that the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, in a very "fascinating" vein, had
indulged in repeated misapprehensions of his observations.'
He also added, in reply to the hon. member for the city,
that he had never canvassed a single elector in the city of
London, except to promote the return of that hon. gen-
tleman himself, or that of the noble lord the Foreign Se-
cretary.
Mr. VANCE then withdrew his motion.
The house divided—
For the amendment .................. 68
Against
190
Majority ....
—122
The resolution was agreed to, and the Chairman was
ordered to report it to the house.
QUALIFICATION FOR OFFICES ABOLITION
BILL.
This bill passed through committee.
THE SCOTCH REFORM BILL.
The LORD ADVOCATE brought in the Scotch Reform
Bill, which was read the first time, and ordered to be read
a second time on Monday, the 19th inst.
The house adjourned at 25 minutes past one.

BIRTHS.
BLACKER.—On the 29th ult., at Thorpe Parsonage, near
Peterborough, the wife of the Rev. R. S. C. Blacker, of
a son.

STEWART.—On the 29th ult., at Granton House, Edin-
burgh, the wife of Lieutenant Duncan Stewart, RN., of
a son.

MA T:DE— MARRIAGES.
S TERL IN G.
—On the 24th January, at Colombo,
Lieut.-Col, F. C. Maude, Royal Artillery, C. 8., eldest
son of Captain the lion. F. Maude, R.N., to Pauline S.
Sterling, only daughter of the Hon. Paul Sterling, Acting
Chief Justice, Ceylon.

DEATHS.
L NCOWE. —On the 28th ult., at Bath, Henry Prescott
Blencowo, Esq., of Thoby Priory, Essex.
KINGSLEY.—On tho 29th ult., at Chelsea Rectory, the
Rev. Charles Kingsley, rector of Chelsea, aged 78.
SOUTHWELL.—Onthe 29th ult., the Lord Viscount South.
well, K.P., aed 83.

lONDON : Printed and Published by MURDO YO N(3
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at The 'Sun Office, No. 112,
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, i 40 county Of
Middlesex, Friday, March 2, 1860,