The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-22 00:00:00

say had done in the case of the navigation-laws.
He fought stoutly for them last year, but as soon as
they were repealed he said—" I feel it to be my duty
now to make the best of my ships, to introduce a supe-
rior class of officers and men, and to take every measure
that might enable me to compete with the world." If
the shipowner could do this, who had to send his vessels
abroad, why could not the farmer and landlord do so,
who had their own market at their own doors?—(Hear,
hear.) Another great error was committed when it was
stated that the land in other countries was less heavily
laden than in this country. In France the proportion
was 80 per cent., in Prussia 20 per cent., of the whole
revenue. If this was the case, let the landed interest of
England look to their own means, their own intelligence,
for success in the great and useful pursuit in which they
were engaged.—(Cheers.) For his own part, he be-
lieved with the Right Ron. Baronet (Sir Robert Peel)
that they would preserve the influence they had hitherto
exercised. In the course of his speech that Right Hon.
Gentleman had alluded to some matters personal to
himself. He must express his regret that the Right
Hon. Baronet should have been induced by any attack
upon his motives to notice such attacks.—(Hear,
hear.) Whatever might be the motives by which
the Right Honourable Baronet was actuated in the
course he adopted in 1846—a course in which he con-
curred—his belief was that full justice would be done in
this time and in all future times to the purity and disin-
terestedness of those motives by which he was actuated.
—(Loud cheers.) The Right Honourable Baronet at
that time commanded a great majority in the House of
Commons. It was in his power, if he thought fit, to
maintain the corn-laws he had himself brought forward,
and he (Lord J. Russell) fully believed that nothing but
a sense of duty to his Sovereign—(Cheers)—to his
country—(Cheers)—to those with whom he acted—
(Loud cries of " Oh, oh," from the Protectionists,
answered by cheers)—a sense of duty alone had induced
the Right Honourable Baronet to take the course he then
did.—(Renewed and louder cheers.) He did not mean to
express any opinion whether the course adopted was at
the time the best calculated to produce all the benefits
which undoubtedly he intended, but this he did say, that
it would be to reduce the noble science of social and
economical legislation to mere party :squabble, and to
degrade the statesmen who led that House, if such sordid
and selfish motives were attributed to them when they
acted in accordance with their deep conviction of duty.
—(Renewed cheers.) He trusted that the Right Hon.
Baronet would in future think it unnecessary to defend
himself from such attacks, but whenever he did he would
be certain of a generous response.—(Great cheering.)
Lord H. BENTINCK rose, amidst considerab'e ex-
citement. He said, that at that late hour of the night it
was from no feeling of vanity that he ventured to claim
the attention of the House for a few minutes. If the
Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Tamworth had con-
fined himself to what he really did say, and had adminis-
tered a rebuke upon that, the sharper his criticism the
better. But he had not confined himself to the expres-
sions of which ho complained, but had given way to a
weakness which sometimes induced him to fasten upon
men inferior to himself in standing and ability, and had
expressed opinions which he thought bad been rather
hastily endorsed by the Noble Lord.—(Protectionist
cheers.) The Right Hon. Baronet bad accused him of
falsehood and treachery.
Sir R. PEEL—I said falsehood, not treachery.
Lord H. BENTINCK continued—Well, treachery
and falsehood amounted to the same thing. He pre-
sumed that what the Right Hon. Baronet alluded to
was what had taken place at the meeting at which he
(Lord H. Bentinck) had been present, and had stated
that he believed that the Right Honourable Baronet
was better enabled to deal liberally with his tenants
than many landlords who had 'no funded property,
and that he believed that only one quarter of the
fortune of the Right Honourable Baronet was in-
vested in land, and three-quarters in the funds. If the
Right Hon. Baronet would now get up and state that the
contrery was the case, he would retract that statement.—
(Oh, oh.) He had also stated that the measure proposed
by the Right Hon. Baronet bad had the effect of im-
proving his own fortune at the expense of the country,
and in support of that statement he would merely quote
the statement of the late Sir Robert Peel, that the Cur-
rency Bill of 1819 would ruin the country, but it would
raise the fortune of his family.—(Loud cries of " Oh,
oh," and Protectionist cheers.)
Sir R. PEEL—I am really quite ashamed to trouble
the House again on this subject.—(Cheers.) The Noble
Lord was reported to have said at a public meeting that
I was directly and personally interested in proposing the
repeal of the corn-laws, because he had good reason to
believe that, with respect to my property, it consisted
three-fourths of money in the funds, and one-fourth in
landed estates.—(Hear, hear.) The Noble Lord now
asks me whether I have not something on mortgages?
—(Much laughter.) Now, I hope it will be satisfactory
to the Noble Lord, if I tell him that I have not one
single shilling upon mortgages.—(Laughter.) What
I said was, that if he would just reverse his proportion,
and say that my property consisted three-fourths in
land, and one-fourth in the fends, he would be nearer
the truth.—(Cheers.)
Mr. DISRAELI said that when he looked to the
meaning of the motion he was bound, as he believed
every other unbiased Member was, to aver that every
Hen. Member who opposed it had altogether avoided dis-
cussing the question at issue. For he would ask the
House, was the support of the poor looked to in any
other light than that of throwing the onus of their sup-
port princieally upon the landed interest? He did not
mean at present to allude to the law of settlement, as to
the support of the poor, nor should he make the slightest
allusion to it, but that the Right Hsu. Baronet (Sir
George Grey) had laid such stress and emphasis on it In
his very elaborate speech. For his own part he would avoid
alluding to it any further, Particularly as he intended to
make it a distinct question at another time. When the
Right Hon. Baronet (Sir G. Grey) said that he (Mr. Dis-
raeli) confounded agricultural property with real pro.
party, as to the assessment of the poor-rate, he felt bound
to state that the Right Hon. Gentleman was inistalw.
He raw nothing more important than that the landed
interest should be as it ought to be, and that public
opinion should be as much as possible advanced in
the cause of truth, humanity, and justice.—
(Hear, hear.) In a word, he believed the returns
brought forward by the Right Honourable Gentleman to
be erroneous, though he would not have recourse to the
system of special pleading, by objecting to a single tittle
of them, as they di el not at all mar the object he had in
view, nor appertain to the motion which he proposed.
The Right Hon. Baronet the Member for Ripon (Sir J.
Graham) had attributed to him and his party a degree
of selfishness in wishing to get rid of taxation, and re-
ferred him (Mr. Disraeli) to the railways; but to him he
would reply, that his motion tended to serve net only the
landed interest, but the railway interest, and every other
interest in the community; and when that Hon. Baronet
had pronounced his measure as enormous, he would not
make any reply to that assertion, as so many Honourable
Gentlemen had clearly and Intelligibly controverted
his arguments.—(The Honourable Gentleman here
read a part of the speech of the Right *Honourable
Baronet (Sir J. Graham) delivered on March 17, 1845,
in which he adverted to the landed interest as being un-
duly burdened). Again, the Right Hon. Baronet the
Member for Tamworth (Sir Robert Peel) said that he
wished that an opportunity would be afforded him for
discussing the merits and demerits of protection; but to
that he should say that he had frequently that opportu-
nity, and.whenever it was alluded to by that Right Hon.
Baronet, it was always attended with the gravity and
importance of Parliamentary mystery.—(Laughter.)
Yet he should say that the Right Hon. Baronet had ad-
mitted, when in Committee with him, that the landed
interest was unduly oppressed. He also recollected that
the Noble Lord (Lord J. Russell) answered to a ques-
tion as to his opinion on this point, that he was of the
same opinion as the Right Hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel);
but what the benefit of this similarity of opinion was no
one ever knew since. The only thing he could infer
from it was, that one of the Right Hon. Baronets was
for the reduction of the duty on bricks, while the Noble
Lord was for the reduction of stamp duties.—(Laugh-
ter.) Now, it is necessary to look to the interest that
both *hose parties took in the case of landlord and tenant.
The Right Hon. Baronet (Sir J. Graham), who was a
great landed proprietor, said he had made a great sacri-
fice for the interest of the community at large.—(Hear,
hear.) The Honourable Member for Wolverhampton
made a magnificent array of the intention of the
Government, for the purpose of reducing taxation as
much as possible. He would refer to the speeches
of those Honourable Gentlemen, and find a con-
siderable contrariety, if not a :contradiction, existing
among them. The Right Hon. Baronet (Sir J. Graham)
pointedly alluded to the speech of a Noble Duke, and
seemed to infer that there were apprehensions that it
was the intention of their party to subvert the Govern-
ment, and to dissolve Parliament.—(Hear', hear.) In his
(Mr. Disraeli's) opinion there seemed to be no appre-
hension that there were " two Richmonds in the field."
Ho would next refer to what the Right Hon. Baronet
had said respecting the decision of the House, yet he
should say, though he did not wish to oppose the opinion
of the House, that the Right Hon. Baronet had exag.
gerated his views of Parliamentary authority. He (Mr.
Disraeli) denied that a question of such importance could
be settled by the House of Commons. He considered
that his motion affected no less the interests of England
than it did that of Ireland, and he hoped that the Irish
Members would look to their own and their
country's interest. (Hear, hear.) The Right
Hon. Gentleman's speech that night was one in vin-
dication of character, and he had been making such
speeches for the last four years. Eminent as the Right
Hon. Gentleman was, he was not too great, sad he
would recommend him to say, as did Cosmo de Me di-
cis, that for the future he would appeal to posterity.—
(Loud cries of "Hear, hear.") He (Mr. Disraeli) de-
nied that his motion was a reversal of the measure of
free trade. Ho denied above all that it was a measure
to assist landlords, and for the benefit of the aris-
tocracy. It was a measure for the benefit of 250,000
landed proprietors and 100,009 farmers. It would be
the commencement of a new era, which would increase
tho resources of the country, and would be the fore-
runner of measures which would elevate the character of
the peasantry of England.—(The Hon. Gentleman then
resumed his seat amid loud Protectionist cheers.)
The House then divided, when there appeared—
Fur Mr. Disraeli's motion 252
Against it
Majority against the motion --21
The announcement cf the numbers was received with
cheers by the Protectionists.
The House immediately afterwards adjourned, at Half-
ost One o'clock.

NORTHERN AND EASTERN RAILWAY qOMrANY.-
The hall-yearly general meeting of this company was
held yesterday at the company's offices at the Bishops-
gate station; Richard Paterson, Esq., in the chair. The
attendance cf shareholders was but scanty, and the whole
of the business consisted in reading the report and de•
claring a dividend, after which the meeting separated.
Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-
office from the Governor of Van Diemen's Land.