The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-01 00:00:00

than, he was entitled to deduct the number of persona
who had been thus improved from the tend of paupers
that had to be supprrted in 1848 and 1849; end thus,
upon the flee of these very figures themselves, it was
proved that the agricultural (ligroin which appeared
be doubted, had increased, and was mach greater
this year than last ; and that the cc mplarnts so
slightingly referred to had a teal and sclid frunda-
tion. lie admitted with pleasure that there was a
great improvement and a large increase of our trade,
and ho was ready to join in congratulating her Ma-
jesty on that fact. But even the Ministry themselves
did not attribute that improvement to any specific cause;
and he thought it would not be difficult to show they,
there were causes at work which, as in the years 1844
and,1845, and before the disastrous 3e rs of 1847 and
1848, produced prosperity altogether in eipcctive of
free trade in corn. He found that our exports of calico
had last year almost reached the amount they a e:e be-
fore free trade operated upon teem. But how much of
this increase was owing to free trade, or to an increased
demand in the markets opened fir us in markets by free
trade ? Why, of the 128,000,000 yards of calico ex-
ported, no leis than 89,000,000 were sent to a part of
our own empire—British India.— (Hear.) This showed
conclusively how small a portion of our increased expel ti
was due to free trade. He could only express his hope
they the present prosperity in the manufacturing dis-
tricts would not le ad to over-trading and ovel-epecu-
iatioe, and that the improvement would be as perma-
nent as it had been rapid. But if he was told that this
improvement was owing to free trade, he would remind
those that so argued that the boon thus corferrei upon
the manufacturing irt,rest had been at the expense cf
the agricultural interest.—(Cheers.) No one could look
at the prices c f agricultural produce without seeing that
there must exist deep and general distress, which every
Noble Lord hal admitted. But his Noble and Learned
Friend (Lord Brougham) had said that in France the
agricultural interest, though not exposed to free trade,
but enjoying the benefits of protection, was labouring
under the deepest distress. He would accept the fects,
but the facts in the case of France were widely different
to the facts in our own case. Her Majesty had adverted
to the fact that this country had been, under D,vine
Providence, preserved from the wars and convulsions
which had shaken continental states. He thought that
these wars and convulsions were one great cause of
the distress h f the agricultural interest of France.—
(Hear, hear.) But another great cause was to be found
in the different tenure of land in that country. Under
the Government of liberty, if fraternity, and of equality,
the land had been so minutely sub divided among a mul-
titude of small proprietors that it was impossible fir
them duly to cultivate the soil—(Hear, hear)—and
yet the party who had so much power over her Majesty's
Ministers, in the course cf the declamations against ex-
isting constitutions, wished to produce a similar state of
things here.—(Protectionist cheers.) They wished to
put down the landlords, whom they described as possess-
ing too much land to be able to cultivate it themselves,
and who therefore let it to others to cultivate frr them,
screwing an exorbitaet rent from the:r tenants. They
made the whole a question cf rent. He denied it. This
was no question of rent. If they were to follow the ex-
ample of France, and take the soil from the possession of
the great landed proprietors, in order to make what had
been called a" :ate and permanent democracy "—(Hear)
—if her Majesty's Gevernment were led away by the
influence of these [ artier, and gave countenance to mea-
sures which were intended and calculated to strike down
the influence and alienate the property of the greet
landed aristocracy they might fall—their days might be
numberel; but, with the numbering of its days, with its
flll, would follow the fall of the British monarchy.—
(Cheers.) And, when that monarchy and aristocracy
were destroyed, and they were placed under the rule
of a crude Republic, they would only find that, as in
Frat.ce, they would have to endure the distress which
had been so graphically described by his Noble and
Learned Friend as existing among the small proprietors
of that country. Then, when his Noble and Learned
Friend enumerated the taxes that pressed upon these
proprietors, he almost thought they amounted to 100
per cent. That was another cause of the distress in
Franco; and, in addition to this, must be takoa into ac-
count those internal convulsions from which the ag:icul-
tural ietsrest could not fail to suffer, and from which we
had firtunately been sated in this country. But the
Free-trade party wished also to burden the land by di-
rect taxatior, and he should deeply regret to see her
Majesty's Ministers become the instruments f,r carrying
out so destructive a policy. But it had been said that the
distress was owing to temporary causes. Why, he found
that the decline in prices had been steadily going on fur
the last three years, and though it was said that the fo-
reign grower would not import except at a remunerative
price that would protect the home grower, yet he
toand that from taking 1844, when the imports of wheat
and flour, at an average ef 695. 92. per quarter, were
4,451,000 quarters, as compared with 1849, when the
average price had fallen to 445. Id. per quarter, the im-
ports were 4,453,352 quarters, being an actual increase
in a year when we had a good harvest over the year
1847—a year of famine, when the average price was
575. 7d. per quarter. Again, they wore told in 1847,
when there was a deficient and bad crop, that caused
low prices ; and in 1849, when there was a good and
abundant troy, they were told that abundance necessi-
tated a low price—the causes, therefore, were not tem-
porary, they were permanent. He did not pretend to
be a prophet, but he had, when this questioned was din
cussed a priori, and without the light which acttial ex-
perience had since throtin upon - it, stated
belief, that in three years the impefts •'would
mount up between four and five millions of quartern
arid the prices range from 40-. to 455. ; and the result
had shown the correctness of that opinion.—(Cheers.)
Ile thought, therefore, that they had prima
_facie evi-
dence that the distress was ne t :owing to temporary
causer—that the decline in prices would Le permanent.
If they now could have corn poured in at the present
prices, they had no grounds for believing that corn coult
ever be higher than 45-.. or 465. a quarter. He esker:
the Noble Lord if the consequences which had resulted
were such as they had anticipated from the repeal of
the corn-laws? He would say confidently that the ad-
vocates fir the repeal cf the corn-laws never contem-
plated that the c ff,.ct would be t 3 bring corn down to 45s
and 465. On the contrary, it was argued that the effect
would be to raise rent; and one Noble Lore', who advo-
cated the repeal, looked forward with great confidence-
to that result.—(Hear.) The primary object which he
had in view was to prevent large quantities of land from
being thrown out of cultivation through the great de-
preciation of prices—and by so doing, thereby reduce
still more the condition of the agricultural labourer. A
Noble Lord had talked about the increase of rents since
1815, but the alteration which had taken place in the
e alue of the currency had not been taken into ac-
count. The rent paid for the land was a very insignifi.
cant return for the millions of capital which had
been sunk upon it, and was a return which the men who
attacked the landed interest would think a very inade—
quate return. Although labour might be obtained b 3
the landed interest at sixpence a day, they preferred pay-
ing a shilling, and did not take advantage of the compe-
titien to reduce the wages cf the labourer to starvation
point.—(Hear, hear.) So much then for the conduct of
the landed interest, which had been so much vilified.
For himself he could say that from the property he pos-
sessed in Ireland he had not, as we understood the
Noble Lord to say, received during the last 18 months a
sixpence of rent. Considering the heavy burdens to
which land was liable, and the unremunerating prices of
agricultural produce, was it unreasonable that they were
not satisfied with the language used towards the agri-
cultural body in her Majesty's Speech? It was with re-
gret he assented to the amendment, but not feeling
satisfied with the language in the Speech ef her Ma-
jesty, he felt bound to give that amendment hie
support —an amendment, he would add, which had
been so ably and so temperately introduced to
their Lordships' attention. Be the policy right, or he
the policy wrong, of the measures which they hac
adopted, it was decidedly unfair that the occupiers in
land should still be compelled to bear the exclusive bur-
dens which had been so long cast upon them.—(llear,
hear.) He asked them—end he asked them with confi
deuce, to give their support to the amendment, which
upon two grounds accounted for the distress which the)
all regretted, namely, the adoption of free-trade mea-
sures, and the pressure of local taxation—two causes
which had resulted from the measures which had been
adopted by her Majesty's Ministers.—(The Noble Lord
then resumed his seat amid loud Opposition cheers.)
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that, after the
speech of the Noble Lord who had just sat down, he felt
it his duty to address the House upon some of those
topics to which the Noble Lord had alluded. Admitting
that it was the right of Noble Lords to give vent to their
opinions, and to embody them in an amendment, it
seemed they had found only one subject upon which
it was necessary to move an amendment. The
Noble Lord (Stanley) had expressed his surprise
that, with reference to the relations in which this
country steed towards foreign powers, so meagre
communication had been made. Whatever the Noble
Lord might think, ho (the Marquis of Lansdowee)
would take upon himseS to say that the statement it
the Speech was strictly correct; and, with respect to
Russia, to which the Noble Lord had particularly al.
hided, ho could confidently affirm that the relations of
this country with Russia were of a most amicable
character.—(Hear, hear.) 'With regard to what had
been said about Turkey, this country felt itself bound
to aid in upholding the dignity and the independence c f
the Porte; and the result ef tie measures which has
been adopted had been of a nature best calculated to
maintain the F. ece of Europe. As to the effect of their
legislation on the navigation-lawr, which the Noble Lord
had deprecated, he (the Marquis
of Lansdowne) could
say,, that both on the part of the United States and of
Sweden there had been every desire exhibited to meet
this country in a spirit of reciprocity on that subject
and similar assurances had been received from other'.
Governments —(Hear, hear, and cheers.) He would now
refer to the amendment which had Leon moved. The
Noble Lord (Lord Stanley) had complained of the
terms which were used in the Speech es contrasting in-
vidiously the condition c f the manufacturing labouring
population with that of the agricultural. Now he de-
pi (seated any invidious cornianson, and for his own
i
pert he considered the n!cresrs of the agriculLural la-
bourer ware identified with the interests of the landlord.
—(rleer, hear.) lie would refer to the Henley Union,
which had been spoken of by the Noble Lord as being
a union in whFch the condition of the agricultural la-
bourer Verse so bed. Ho found that in the Henley Union
the cost of maintenance ef paupers had been reduced in
the 3 ear 164'J from 7821. to 368/., and the numbers had
been reduced frcm 28,327 to 19,312, The Noble Mar-
quis adduced other instances, such as the increase which
had taken /ince in the consumption of tea within the last
) esr, as showing the increase in the comforts cf the
mass ef the population, and the advantage which had re-
sulted to the country from the r assiug of those measures
which Noble Lords opposite so strongly deprecated. It
was the glory of this country that commerce could not
increase without the landed interest being benefited at
the same time. And when he stated that, taking the
amount of the exports up to the latest moment, it would

bo fella that the' increase in these dining the last year
amounted to no less than .ten mil:ions sterling—(Hear,
hear)—that then must greet!), Lensfit ti e community at
large. But then the Noble Lord sail that was counter-
balanced by the large imp rrtations of f,reign grain.
But what was the fact? Ile found that in the Iset three
months of 1848 the importations of foreign grain into
this country amounted to 1,435,000 quarters, while
dering the feet throe months cf the year 1849 that im-
portation was reduced t. 845,e00 quartcre. • But he had
also got the amount of the quantity of foreign gra'n oe
all descriptions imported into this eoritry during the
e,ent month, or during the first four weeks of 1850,
and he found that while in the first four weeks of the
year 1849 the amount imported was 1,108,618 quarters,
during tie past four weeks the importations had only
amounted to 336,895 quarters. So that this importa•
tion of f ire;eu corn, against which the farmers were
told it would be in vain for them to struggle, was reduced
in the proportion of about ,onc-fourth of its former
amount. Some allusion had been made to the state of
France, but there could not be a more instructive pic-
ture than that which the Noble Lord (Brougham) h'sd
drawn of protected France and unprotected England.
The Noble Lord said th,t a gre a: part c f this distress in
France was owing to the pare fling and extreme sub-
dilision of the land. But that existed lung before these
extensive importations had taken pla?e. The Noble
Earl who motel the amendm, nt referred to former
p;riods, which be described as times of happiness to the
labouring classes of the community, under a state of
preteetion of corn-Laws and of the sliding-scale, of
which he avowed himself to be still the advocate. Ot.e

the years to which the Noble Evl referred, was 1833.
He would vote :nil)] a most authentic document the

state of England and the landed interest et this period,
Vl hen prat ,cted by the sliding-:.cafe. It was the report
of a Commiq 30 which was composed of the greatest au-
thorities on both sides of tte House. After referring to
the report of a firmer Committee of 1821, the Cemmit-
t.e expressed a hope that the great body of the occupiers
of the soil in this country possessed a power
which would enable them to surmount the difficulties
under which they laboured; and they then go on
t) say that they were b aind to state that a
great many ( f the difficulties remained unchanged
—that the savings of a gre at number of the occupiers
were gone, their credit was diminished, and their re-
sources generally exhausted. This opinion they stAed
was formed not upon the evidence cf the ratepayers, but
,of many of the most resrectable gentlemen, as well
owners of land as occupier:, surveyors, and land agents.
What worse description could the Noble Lord give of
the state of agriculture, and the owners and
occupiers of land at the present day ? Could
he describe them in more simple, or more em-
phatic terms than " that their savings were
goes, their credit had failed, and that their resources
were exhausted!" And this, t.to, was under a scheme
which he thought so good that he refused to take an Bs.
permanent duty in lien thereof, believing that the country
could only be saved by the aid of that defensive system,
with this panoply, this fort. fication of a sliding scale,
which exhausted the resources, took away the savings,
and diminished the capital ( f the country. The
condition of the agricultural labourer had, therefore,
been at various times equally as bad a; it is at
present, and therefore it was that he hoped Noble
Lords and Honourable Gentlemen who were in the
habit of addressing public meetings upon this sub-
ject would cease to hold delusive language to the far-
mers, and forlear to tell them that their resource was
only in these protective laws. They deceiiel the
farmers when they held out such delusive hopes
to them, instead of telling them fairly that they
were not fee only body in Eugland who had to compete
with the foreigner, and bidding them look to the woollen
and silk manufacturers, who were succe,e fully competing
with the foreigner, and bidding them "go aid do like-
wise." Instead of adopting this course with the farmer,
they deceived him by telling him to go to Parliament,
and that Parliament would relieve him. And what,
after all, was the re'ief proposed to be obtained from
Parliament ? Was it a recourse to a system of fixed
duty ? If a farmer addressed at one a these public
meetings was told that by going to Parliament he could
obtain relief and security—if he had the intelligence of
a British farmer, and would come and look over the
amendment of the Noble Earl, he would ask, what is
the relief you promised us? You have nothing here
but mere general statements? What do you propose to
do? He (the Marquis of Lansdowne) understocd that
the Noble Duke was prepared, if the amendment was
carried, to follow it up by some other resolutions in
favour of a return to the old system of ppotection—
The Duke of RICHMOND—I am prepared, if this
amendment is carried, to get rid ( f the present Govern-
ment; and I have every hope that the Members ( f a
new House of Commons will give their protection t )
All the doinestic interests in this country.—(Hear.)
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE thanked his Noble
Friend for stating so explicitly his intentions. It was
now ch a-, that what na; intended was to get rid of the
present Governrceat, and then to call together a new
House of Commons to re-enact the old corn-laws. He
would be as frank with the Noble Duke as he had been
with him. There was a time when he considered that
a fixed duty was the best mode of meeting the neces-
sity Which existed for a great and radical change in
the system of the corn-laws. That proposition was
made, and by the Noble Lords opposite it was resisted.
—(Hear.) It was resisted by them successfully, and
the rejection of that proposition placed the country
in a situation which compiled it to determine between
dee'sliding-scale and no corn duty at all. Whether the
fgmer was now. upon reflection, grateful to the Noble
u;;icis- opposite fir having saved him from a fixed duty,
be'did not know; but, at all events, the farmer was so
saved by their exertions, and Parliament having once
lecided between the tee-total repeal of the corn-laws and

he sliding. scale, and that haviitg been decided by large
n.jorities, he (the Marquis of Lansdowne) for one—
'hough the Noble Lord might be ready for the conflict
—was not prepared to engage in that conflict of interests
which would cnsue if that proposition were now to be
larricd. He would not be responsible fur it. Noble
Lords had a right to take the sense of the House upon
be subject, and he was glad that they were pre-
pared to take it with the explanation so distinctly stated
ey the Noble Duke. He did not eidtertain that low
opinion of the English' farmer which some of those who
professed to call themselves his friends apt eared to en-
.eiteir, that he alone who was engaged in the manufac-
ture of the land, was unable to compete with the manu-
facturers of other countries. He was not sneaking
lightly when he said that, although the farmers
might be rather slower than the manufacturers in
e mbracin g improved me thods, and in making new
exertions, still he did not want the energy which
was indispensable to success.- Their Lordships would
recollect, that from one end of the country t the other,
all protection had been substaut'ally done away with.—
(No, no.) Take the case of silk, for instance. Since
the amount of protection was diminished, the exporta-
tion had been steadily increasing during the last year.
fhe quantity of silk c xporte I had incre ised from
605,9631b5. to 1,231,8351b5., while the increase in the
declarei value had been from 466,0001. to 805,0001., or
nearly doubled in amount. And a great quantity of
this silk was exported to the countries from whence the
raw material was imported into this country. Was not
this a proof of the injuriousness of the protective duties?
Again, in the article of copper, the same results bad been
obtained from a reduction of the duty. The poor-rates
of the county of Cornwall had not been so low for some
years as they were at present, owing to the great in-
increase cf. employment given to the people in connexion
with the manufacture of copper. With respect to the
public meetings to which he had referred, he had
seen and heard enough of them to know that those
who addressed them did so not with a view
f discussing great questions of principle, but
,f inflaming the minds and exciting the
passions of one part ef the country against the other.
He (Lord Lansdowne) was not prepared to go back on
their past policy; he was not prepared to hold out what
he believed to be a delusion. He objected t the amend-
ment of the Noble Lord, which was calculated, if carried,
to give rise to general uncertainty and confusion. The
way to teat the question was to appeal to the energies
that distinguished the British character, and which were
not confined to en • class alone, but extended to every
class—energies which at the present moment were ex-
eiliysing themselves notwithstanding the change in the
navigation-lasis, for in spite of the predictions in that
House, and the declarations cf persons interested, or
upposed to be interested, in that subject, there was
scarcely a port in England at flat moment in which ship
building was carried on, in which there are not more
ships building than at any former time; and at that port
which was the emporium of the trade, the port of Sun-
derland, there was an enormous quantity of shipping
,aid down. With such an example of what energy could
(to before him, he could not accede to the proposition of
the Noble Earl.—(Hear, hear.)
The Duke of BEAUFORT said that a doubt having
been r xpressed as to there being distress amongst the
agricultural labourers, he could only state, in spite of
the figures referred to by the Nob'e Marquis, that such
listress did exist. When he saw repeatedly at the ses •
sions and other meetings bodies of labourers coining and
begging for work and wages, and stating that they could
not get one cr the other, he could not but believe there
was considerable distress.—(Hear, hear.)
Earl GREY wished to say a single word in reference
to a statement made, by a Noble Lord opposite. The
Noble Lord represented him to say that repeal of the
icrn-laws would increase his rent, but he never had
said any each thing; at he did say was, that the
repeal of the corn-laws would inert are the value of his
property. Noble Lords generally could not attempt
to deny the improved state of the country, and its ad-
vance, in sp:te of the difficulties of the last three years,
in the career of prosperity—(Hear, hear)—and no
one could entertain any doubt whateser that at no distant
ime the land, like other interests, would share in those
benefits —(llear, hear.) As the Noble Lord had re-
ferred to his (Earl Grey's) private affairs, he would only
say that nothing had eceurred within his own personal
experience in the slightest degree inconsistent with the
public experience or the expectations that were enter-
tainer-I.—(heal., hear.)
Their Lordships then divided.
Fir the Add, e,s :
Prer out
•• • •
Proxies
For ILG am:Li-meat:—
Present
Prox ie s

... 86

G 6-152

... 69

... 34-103

Mkjority for 'Ministers 49
The Address was then agreed to, and was ordered to
be carried Ep by Lords with white staru.
The House then adjourned until Monday.

DEATH OF ML WESTALT, R.A.—Mr. William
Westall, the landscape painter, died on the 22d Inst., in
the 69th year of his age. Though little celebrated for
his oil pictures, he had a pl( aiant f eling f,r landscape
nature (lake scenery more especially). Mr. Westall
was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1813,
and n as the senior Associate at the time of his death.