The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-15 00:00:00

THE SUN,

Stfot
Oleg' into Committee—of course with a view of
ist -
esrtein fixed duty in the importation of
llltctd e°l.2' Ile did not mean to assert that such a
' b
eva „ a a great relief to the agricultural interest;
iletor;4l.ter disposed to think it would not have the
'kct,,,a'Sing prices, but it would at least assure the
I 1,1; ‘ust they would not go lower, that the sources
be circumscribed, and that consequently
kal,tlllll be a more limited supply in future years.
~tilikr:ll4l°ltarlinegs,tbe effect to be the rising of the price to
t in'ury would that do to neighbour-
' what perceptble increase would
Nkti t() the consumer at home ? If they
I,oati tlittil 1851, agricultural discontent would be
qoath:Letlent in a complete cauldron of national
kteic Then the income-tax would have to be
re-
' aid before that done there must be a general
os was
taxation. Would it be politic, then, to have
tare anded interest injured and oppressed, smarting
ieita,eBrit injury, and indisposed to any additional
kke, dear, hear.) Ministers would, then, perhaps,
1;4 remember that that interest supported pe-
,k,tl„rdense and that they had submitted to them
iti4,"'aiPaet that they were to lie protected from
ttt• o--.l3stitiola with other countries. When things
7eXtremit
04, . Ministers could not rely on G.entl,e-
tOkoll'aeir own side of the House, their domestic ce,-
'lgte: he might call it, who, like the natives of certain
lahi"euntries, whipped their idols more than they
Faitthem.—(Laughter.) They might depend
Illieittbat their main stay in the hour of trial would
;tote sdad interest. Objection was made to the term
.enow,
the
th , but n protection they claimed on that.
eali°use was only simple justice.—(lronical
,•cnotection against injury. —(Cheers and
41titzrest.i)013, latndwawshyargued that manufacturers
should agriculture claim
st" 3? wer in manufacturete same situation. It so
taat theers were able to produce
I,46.4e'Xitlys ethhetaPer than the continental manufacturers;
reverse was the case with the agricultu-
44iitletitereste They could not produce as cheap as
ttosnr4r—(lnonical cheers.) He would take the case
13' Where the ;tate of things was exactly the
44the 'l4 Prussia the manufacturer could not pro-
'Px)ds but the farmer could produce cheap
lout Prussian Government could not sacrifice
• aen t the
by letting in the cheaper produce, of our
~athrotectiouist cheers.) But here it was forgot-
it th..
t,itt a„'-`e was a unity of interest between the two
,It's.,"' the cry was " Sacrifice one, that the other
sty a factitious prosperity." They forgot that
it it -i,511,e consmou country, and that thtainterest of
tito- the interest of all. The motion was, no
to
protection. He gave his warmest
t,'tiresti,;(l it, believing that while it would not.
tilllalt'thelass, while it would not be in any way.detri-
kelrl. ia°'"B community, it would nevertheless give sa-
-131,414 defence to the agricultural interest. Some-
„oz,-14' been 'el about reaction and a change
I,'",it„'acee No said
w]. could look about him but
;leenvincedmthanatstherey had taken place, and was
L4tti Vece a great change in the public mind on this
ttl th
est NI, e ultimate decision of which he had the
altakegndence. Ile did not know that any change
lisd, Palace in the aericultural distrcts, ut rese-
l' 'as);s,‘"a place in r'the other classes. of the commu-
S'llkt 're were signs not to be misunderstood of a
stete, °Pinion in the industrious classes, not imme-
;toectel with the cotton manufacture. And
1• ,t• Lettiali_e reaction but a desire to return to protec-
Vt 7.Marea Government was so entangled that
listen to no such sober counsel, and that
iLltlloilt tot the slightest hope they would return to it.
tt atessY hope of that, but with the warmest hope
ehtes"t distant period the obct would be attained,
support- to the
_motion.—(Cheers.)
;INCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER was ex-
tl'tq,'; glad that this motion had been broueht for-
alemuch better that the opinions of
Net it was
Oetla,B of parties should be stated in Parliament,.
itPs sf'Y Could be discussed, than published in the
pGeat manifestos in newspapers.—(Hear, hear.) It
tit ed a‘
a Noble Lord had now put forward a
fh,°4atisr, Of his principles, and that the standard of
re. Oa.".w.as now fairly unfurled.—(Loud cheers from
oa,sTltion.) He was glad that this was so.—
tittiaBl) „ The Hon. Member for South Lincolnshire
a'llo()sk-kg Of the necessity of reconsidering recent le-
4istit? but the great leader of the party confined his
..
eeteh
ills to the transfer or removal of local burdens.
ltavhentlenien who waited on his Noble Friend said
ha."itß but protection would answer their purpose.
it4s6,s°_,w quite clear that the object to be attained
duty of eight shillings.—(Hear, hear.) An
Plisr-," Member said it would be better to post-
tootio on the subject until a new Parliament
Oth„"e elected db an amended constituency. But
t„s4d ,thee Hon. Membery was prepared to bring for-
i;lote"ite7
.Refo'rm Bill, he must leave the Hon. Mem-
41fqr ,t1341a. He believed the greatest benefit had been
lifeon the country by the policy which bad been
dirars adopted.—Gheers, and cries of " Oh, oh.")
▪it tot believe that the great body of the people of
WolJettr
te''q i 3' who had tasted the benefit of cheap food
ii''ti;•4 three years hence, or at any other time, return
qtDollit:liaeat abody of gentlemen who would reverse
skiesi?'"—(llear, hear.) It had been said.that he (the
ittt, of the Exchequer) considered this an experi-
6'aie he denied, in the strongest terms, ever
14taed a. single expression which could le ad to the
-81‘e that he considered this an experiment.—
o'tatll.l hear.) The Right Honourable Gentleman had
Irl''ta,,r?' clearly- what he conceived to be the object
He stated that he did not think the
ft of an 8s duty would be of any great
hate t to
the a ulti; rist, or that it would materially
beEthhe p'riegericof corn. And he (the Chancellor of
k4t"4l:eaTeicluer) must say that supposing the ag,ricul-
tt;b ,i'44( for comfort to the other side of the House,
ttilt.ll444;4drerivlvery little from
onthe Right Hon. Gen.
aufla au from an admission that side of the
t4t the large importation of foreign corn in 1849
;„11,4111„5,t be supposed in the slightest degree to have
.`,:ot'bt"lrleoiratoottihe .atlbenged distress, which was the suh-
last session and one during.t e
„ttticilit' The Righton Hon. Gentleman put the case of the
f;Q4',,trittriet in this - The English manufacturer
ilirsti'luceBcheaperth"ati 'the foreign manufacturer; the
17iss BAniculturist cannot produce corn as cheap as the
ttirl
Produ e ,
and the Right Hon. Gentleman would
i4tst4illY Protectioner on English corn in order to maintain
I,St °ePol forltte English produce—that was to say,
raise
the price of corn to the consuming popu-
',
''
:Ssi• l,"Li
t--(llear, hear.) What the Right Hon. Gentleman
was that the price of food should be raised by
),ttititt tg laws He (tha Chancellor of the ExchNuer)
sre,(l it manifestly unjust and impolitic to raise the
bread to the consuming population, and that
'4`-te,yrineiple on which the Government proceeded
I,ttptlqi:cie alteration in the law was proposed, and it was
by the members of the present Government.
4:11h-'stire was not proposed as an experiment by the
h'flib;prtent then in existence, or supported by the
itlti ;II of the present Government on that ground,
58 supported by them on the principle that the
i'lclie°eihthiscountryshould have the main articles of
Thalia w cheap as the world could. produce it.—(Cheers.)
the principle on which the present Govern-
-I,4kla."ere prepared to stand, and there was not the
Kelley s 4 shadow of misgiving on their part that their
a3tk,WfaB just.—(Cheers.) With respect to the re-
howll3 that the Hon. INltmber for Wakefield, they went to
than `u4t the • • of last year were not more
e importations
:114 Tient to supply the deficiency occasioned by the
potato crop. Upon his own showing, the
l r
)BSe'"4 the
°l.l of foreign grain had nothing to do with
as ee cif produce in this country.—(Hear, hear.) It
18 C''air to compare the price of a year with the price
li ~lf they compared the average price of
~,'4l that of 1835 it would be found that the varia-
lOWai this I lld , the prices being 445. 3d. and 395.
was enough to show that it by no means fo.
Fated
that it was simply from the importation of foreign
?no 1",,,Y a statement in one of the London papers it ap-
tL‘4l‘uat Wheat was now 4s. or ss. a quarter higher
kt 11.411101 a month ago, and other species of agricul-
rios rirtduce was also advanced in price. That did not
:8441,1.4a any extraordinary demand, for the same
itissa`i°bserved that purchasers were manifesting con-
;4l-;te caution. It was manifest, therefore, that there
b'k t-114 a considerable rise in the price of wheat as well
ot t ell et•
her sorts of agricultural produce. He would
dent Op the House by giving them any detailed state-
11(LLte average price of barley and oats. The Noble
titha iTiPosite t tld them that there were considerable
grain' accumulated in the continental
thingTb was alleged also of
e, rid the
a esameNow, what was the fact?
it st ,b3P theSt tlasts' quotations from New Orleans
41)‹ar.sed that the -price of. wheat had advanced
'l.vtith, 41.1 d 445., and that it could not be laid
' tittai this country under 525. per quarter. His Noble
iBJ'tay had also stated that there was an exceed-
6t,°°4 harvest last year, and therefore a consider-
ate quantity „,I,9_titY more of agricultural produce was brought
1, at than in the previous ear. That certainly
there "414 had a considerable effect in reducing the
Ilan Noble Friend had told them further, that
tslr'ltbw.!B considerable distress
.existing in the country,
'eat gr' that distress was ressing on every part of the
t‘ilkilitiri,tY Now he defied any Hon. Gentleman to
kv4tPR, in the House and assert that. distress was ex-
tase ts'out•
erY part of the community.—(H.ear, hear.)
teevai as venture to get up and say that distress was
by thrit in the manufacturing
.districts?—(Hear, hear.)
t e same allegation was made in the previous ses-
tEthitc) t.11t1:1 after month, and early in that year ha had
-"
All "ge °PP tu of stating what was the result of
ci°r•law expenditure and of the number of persons
theeverl•
%th e had showed that in the year ending
ss of March 1849, the expenditure had been
beat' et 1154 in the' preceding ing year—that in the half-
je4sding in Michaelmas last the expenditure
thenals had
N than in the corresponding period of piiti,s4th/5.41'. He felt at the time that it might be ob-
kits ilte3on
that the low price of corn made a difference as to
is, of b„,. expended, and he took, therefore, the num-
it'''s(ms relieved in the year ending sth July,
o-at'a4lBsce)°_rnPared with the year ending sth July, 1848. I
1,4 t period corroborated his assertion. Even up to the
003 s , to which the returns had been made out—.
H. first January, 1849, and the Ist .Tanua.ryde
,v`i'ic difference was in favour of the latter peri,o .
ItThe we,en they came to the able-bodied poor, the class
tb, " supposed to be thrown out of employment
i14,(1 greatest extent, he fcund that the number re-
81'd ' 58 leap than in the former year. But a Noble
te 10 anotherana place was not satisfied with those
.re-
it',rioa to' moved for others up to the latest possib e
e 410, Which they could ho made out—namely,.
Zh'reL„uule of February ; and the result was entirely
•k4ehe'nuative of the statements he (the Chancellor of the
'Nita (111,]) had previously made. The Noble Lord o.p-
-I\zz'asiti:u..told the H 01.168 that there was. great and in-
gdistress in the midland counties of England.
rl!stersh? would take the returns with regard to Lei-
These welte, Northamptonshire, and Rutlandshire, as
tord ware Probably the counties with which the Noble
n best
acnted. He would not troubthe
ILI thequai
detuiie, to it was rather later but

he would take the Noble Lord's own county. That
was fair, surely. In the county of Leicester, id the
second week of February, 1849,
the numbers relieved
were 18,731, and in the same week of the year 1850
the number was 15,742.—(Hear, hear.) In North-
amptonshire, the numbers relieved in the second week
of February, 1849, were 15,855, and in the seine
week of 1850 the numbers were 15,530. In the small
county of Rutland the numbers were, in the former year
1,410, and in the latter 1,292. He contended, therefore,
that. according to the returns made to that and the other
House, the diminution in these three counties was plain
and evident. He would take the county of the Hon.
Member opposite—Suffolk, and he found that in the
same period, the second week of February, 1850, as
compared with 1849, there had been also a diminution
in the number returned. But he would take the year in
which the price of corn was high—the year 1847, and he
found in that year the numbers, in the second week of
February, were 30,329, while in the same period of 1850
tile numbers had fallen to 29,320.—(" Oh," and cheers.)
The returns that had been received from Ireland were
down to a more recent date than those from England—
they came down to the middle of April. He found, in
the year ending the 14th April, 1849, the total num-
bers relieved in Ireland were 815,829, and in the year
coding the 15th of April, 1850, the numbers had fallen
to 338,000. The diminution in the present year
as compared with the former one was not less
than 476,933, or more than the whole number
recieving relief in the present year. The decrease
of employment was also alleged ; but he found
that in the week ending April, 1849, the number re-
lieved was actually 6,000 more than in the corresponding
period of last year. Now, he thought it important that
they should have facts to bring forward to meet the
statements that were prepared by deputations for the
occasion.—(Hear, hear.) They would not meet them by
counter assertions, but by facts that were undisputed and
indisputable. His Right lion. Friend had furnished
the House with a still more convincing proof of the
effects of the Government policy in the diminution of
crime. It appeared from his statements that the number
of persons committed fur tried at the assizes and sessions
for Epiphany, 1849, was 4,443, and for 1850, 3,980.
The next was Lent assizes, and he found that the number
of persons committed for trial in 1346 was 2,805, and in
1850, 2,558. The number in the Easter sessions 1849
was 2,334, and in 1850, 2,oo7.—(Hear, hear.) Surely
that was a most satisfactory statement to make to the
House as regarded the diminution of crime. To a cer-
tain extent the revenue of the country was a fair test of
the well-doing of the country. He found, comparing
the months of April 1849 and 1850, excluding coin,
that there was a slight diminution iu the customs. The
excise, which was the best test of the prosperity of the
country, showed an amount in the last year of 14,025,000/.
as compared with 13,932,0001. in the previous year.
There was also an increrse on the taxes, and in the in-
ceme-tax ; and he could not possibly give a better prow
of the general well-doing of the country than the im-
provement in all those branches of the revenue. And he
was still more happy to state that, taking the month
since the sth of April last, the same improved appear-
ance was maintained; and that under all the heads of re-
venue, except taxes, the improvement in the last month
corresponded with that of the preceding year.—(Hear.)
As a test of employment, he would compare the exports
of the first three months in each of the three last years.
They were as follow:—In the first three months of 1848,
11,684,000/.; in 1849, 12,822,000/.; in 1850, 14,950,000/.
—(il ar.) How were these exports produced? By the
labour, by the employment of the people.—(Bear, hear.)
They must have been earning wages; it was known that
they had been well paid; and with good wages they had
had the additional advantage of cheap food.—(Cheers.)
He would only mention one article of those exports
connected with the agricultural interest; he hoped
it would be a source of comfort to the gentle-
men connected with that interest, for he should be
most happy to afford them comfort in every way in which
he was able.—(Hear, hear.) The exports of British
wool in the first three months of each year bad been-
-1848, 975,0001b5.; 1849, 2,080,0001b5. (more than
double) ; in 1850, 2,162,0001b5.—(11ear, hear.) That
was an indication of au improved demand for agricul-
tural produce; there was also en improved demand for
corn and stock. The price of stock had been kept down
by an increased production of stock in this country.
The reports of the Newcastle market showed that the
quantity of stock brought to market had been gradually
increasing, week by week, for the last four years; and
the increase upon the whole was very considerable in-
deed; while the importation of foreign cattle and sheep
had been steadily diminishing.—(Hear, hear.) He re-
joiced that they had at last come to a broad point at
issue. Lord Stanley had characterised the poliey that
had been pursued as mistaken and insane; those where
his words—(Cheers from the Protectionists)—and they
seemed to be adopted by Hoop. Gentlemen opposite.—
(Cheers.) Ile took issue with them upon that; he believed
that policy to have been both wise and just; by that
policy the Government was prepared to stand or fall.—
(Loud cheers.) He believed that, so far from sowing
the seeds of dissension between two classess, that policy
was essentially necessary fur binding together all classes
of the community—(Hear, hear)—and he be-
lieved that by the adoption of that policy peace had been
hitherto preserved.—(Loud cheers.) lie did not mind
the violent language that was used in public meetings—
(Hear, hear)—he was not afraid of gentlemen mounting
their horses and riding into the towns.—(Loud cheers,
and laughter.) It was well known that gentlemen got a
little heated at meetings of that kind, and talked them-
selves up to a fever beat.—(Laughter.) lie did not
attach much importance to what was said on such occa
sions, though ho oid not think it was very woe language
to use.—(llear, hoar.) But he did believe that the policy
which bad been pursued was essential for the mainte-
nance of good feeling and tranquillity, and for binding
together all classes of society, and that no other policy
contributed half so much to the permanent stability of
those institutiuus which they were all anxious to up-
hold.—(Cheers.)
Mr. DISRAELI said, though it might not be very
agreeable to take advantage of the opportunity then af-
forded him to address the House, still he hoped that
after the observations and criticisms which the House
had heard from the Right Hon, Gentleman on the policy
that he assumed would be pursued by him (Mr. Disraeli)
and those with whom ho usually acted, that the House
would allow him, before the division took place, to set
la fore them a more accurate conception than the Right
lion. Gentleman had presented of their views and in-
teetiuns. He must begin by saying that the motion now
under consideration came upon them somewhat unex-
pectedly, and, when he said, that he believed that be fax-
pressea the general feeling of the House. The motion
upon which they were required to decide was this,—
" That this House will resolve itself into a Committee of
the wh le House, to take into consideration the laws re-
lating to the importation of foreign corn." It was not the
first time, of late years, that they had been called upon to
take into consideration the laws relating to the importa-
tion of foreign corn. It was not the first occasion that
they found such a motion on the table of the House. Not
four years ago that identical motion came before the
House of Commons, and the object with which it then
came forward was, it the House should resolve itself
into Committee, that then the repeal of the laws affect-
ing the importation of foreign corn should be proposed
to Parliament. lie would not remind the House of the
language used at that time, of the lengthened debate
which then took place, of the ample discussion which the
whole question underwent. He had then the honour of
voting in the minority—a minority which, though not
succ-ssful, was very far from being contemptible for its
numbers. In the majority which voted upon that oc-
casion there was to be found the name of the Hon.
Member for Gloucestershire, the mover of the present
motion; that gentleman, a Whig Member, de member of
a Whig family—a county Member—supported a repeal
of the corn-laws, and formed one of that triumphant ma-
jority before which the present opposition fell.—(Hoar,
hear.) After the lapse of less than four years they found
themselves called on to pronounce a decision upon the
same proposition for a Committee, though with an ob-
ject different from that which was now set forth, and
with a purpose the contrary to that which was at pre-
sent felt and acknowledged. When they found a Mem-
ber for a county bringing forward such a proposition,
and when they found him seconded by a, Member for a
town, what were they to think? In that he recognized
this fact—that two Members sitting on the Ministerial
side of the House —one representing a county, the
other a town, moved and seconded the proposition.—
(Hear, hear.) When such a motion was made, and so
seconded, all that he could recognize in it was the act of
two repentant Free-traders.—(Hear, hear.) He could
not fur a moment imagine that any light or temporary
consideration—any mere caprice—could tempt those
Hon. Gentlemen to take
,such a step as to solicit the
attention of the House in such a manner to
so grave a subject—a subject the gravity and
importance of which had been acknowledged by
several Honourable Members in the course of
the present discussion, and so important did the subject
appear to some Gentlemen, that in the course of the
evening the Hon. Baronet, the Member for Marylebone,
thought proper to taunt diem with the emptiness of the
Opposition benches, observing how scantily they were
filled; he believed he might point to them now as not
being so empty. A painful and laborious experience in
that House had informed him that at the moment of the
evening to which that taunt referred the benches at
neither side were usually very full. But, to pass from
such points in the early part of the discussion, he would
remind them of what they had heard from the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, who repeated much that he had fa-
voured them with at the beginning of the session, and
they had in addition to his observations the speech of the
Hon. Member for Westbury. They had from the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer the statements and inferences
which he drew from the poor-law returns, from the cri-
minal returns, from the Customs, the Excise, and the
taxes, to show the condition of the working classes; but
he begged to remind the House that there might be very
great distress in the country without its having yet
reached the working class. The intense suffering of the
middle portion of the agricultural body could not be denied
—it could not be disputed successfully by anyone, and least
by the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton, who once told
the House that more millions had been lost than Cali-
fornia would produce. There was great and general dis-
tress—distress amongst the middle portion of the agri-
cultural interest ; was there not also great distress in the
towns, in Manchester, in Liverpool, in most of the pro-
vinces, in the great towns of the north? But they were
told that much of that proceeded from the vast invest-
ments in railways, a fact which afforded another speci-
men of the data through the influence of which those
laws were repealed which consummated the ruin of the
agriculture' interest.—(Hear, hear.) If the middle
class of the agriculturists suffered losses almost unpa-
ralleled, what must they suppose would be the near con-
sequences of that distress upon the most unfortunate
and depressed portion of the agricultural class ? What
must soon be the effect upon those labourers who, for
the present, were factitiously employed, and to which
fActiti9m epployrapt 14embvre a the 9thor bid! rue

LONDON,

obliged to refer as evidences of the prosperity of the
country ? He wished frankly to express his opi-
nion of the motion. It was not one which,
had he been consulted, he would have recom-
mended. If he had thought such a motion ought to
have been made, be would either have praposed it him-
self, or asked some person mere competent to do so.
His objection to the motion was, that it was of a partial
character; that it asked the House to take into con-
sideration the interests of one class; and however just
the claims of that class, if it were suffering, he would
rather that they should at the right time be called upon
to take into consideration the state of every class than
inferentially to legislate fur the advantage of one.—
(Hear, hear.) Much had been said to-night on a hat
was popularly called protection; and the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, assuming that those who sat on the Op-
position benches meant by the word " protection" what
they in fact did not mean, had delivered himself of a
violent invective against a phantom cf his own creation.
—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Disraeli) would tell the House
a hat he and his friends meant by " protection; for
he had no wish to change the word now popularly ac-
cepted. He looked upon it as a fact that the legislation
of 1846 was the foundation of a new commercial
system. He knew it was an inconvenient fashion
in the debates on these economic subjects to treat
the legislation of 1846 as the completion of the legisla-
tion commenced in 1842. He found in the two systems
features of a most contradictory character.—(Hear,
hear.) In the legislation of 1842 he recognised a wise
effort to extend the commercial relations of this country
upon scientific terms of interchange, so that the labour
of this country should not be brought into fatal compe-
tition with the labour of other countries; it being re-
solved, however, that there should be no longer protec-
tion to any particular class at the cost of the community;
and at the very moment these measures were brought
forward the great feature of which was that commercial
interchange between countries should be balanced by
countervailing duties, efforts were made in perfect unison
with that wise policy to induce foreign nations to enter
into commercial treaties and tariff regulations with this
country. That very policy announced that while this
country was ready to open its ports to the world, it was
resolved that the stranger should not come and enjoy its
market unless his was equally open to it.—(Hear,
hear.) All those principles were entirely discarded in
the fatal and insane (he quoted expressions thrown into
the discussion by the Chancellor of the Exchequer) mea-
sures of 1846.—(Hear, hear.) The Government then
commenced that struegle which had ensued on allowing
free imports into this country from countries which met
them with hostile tariffs. They then took a step most
injurious to the rights and interests of labour in this
country.—(Hear, hear)—that is to say, the English
producer was not only to give what he produced in ex-
change for the foreign article, but to pay the amount of
duty they placed on his article of production in addition
to what he gave. In fact, he paid, and did now pay,
tribute to the foreign country to the amount of the duty
they imposed.—(Hear, hear.) He, and those who occu-
pied that side of the House, maintained as the real prin-
ciple of protection, as a general rule extending to every
producer in this country, that free imports should
not be received from any foreign country which
by hostile tariffs refused the offer of an equally fair in-
terchange.—(Hear, hear.) That ho called the principle
of protection to native industry—one which could be
supported not only as a matter of high policy but be de-
fended as of scientific truth—(Hear, hear)—and the
motion, as preliminary to the proposition of a fixed duty
on the admission of foreign corn, so far as that principle
was concerned, was justified both in policy and in econo-
mical science. There were exceptional circumstances
which solicited attention. If the principle of their com-
mercial code were that every foreign country should
send its imports free here which received the produc-
tions of this country free, were they prepared to let any
country send corn here free which should receive Bri-
tish manufactures free? He was not prepared to do that
unless he found the question connected with agricul-
tural produce met by Hon. Gentlemen opposite in a
fairer spirit. There were burdens peculiar to the
soil from which other producers were free. It had been
calculated by men of great eminence, and whose works
were continually cited, that a fixed duty of 6s. to Bs.
should be imposed on foreign grain as countervailing
the burdens to which the agriculturist was liable.—
(Hear.) Ho was not one of those who wished the agri-
culturist so compensated. He would rather see the
question of the peculiar burdens settled as he had indi-
cated it ought to be, by a fair adjustment of taxation; so
that they should no longer go on as they bad in this
country, one-third paying for two-thirds who went scot
free. But if the Legislature persisted in the system
which made the tiller of the soil maintain the roads, sup-
port the poor, build magnificent establishments for the
reception of lunatics—out of his hard-earned gains, the
agriculturists had a right to say that, having been placed
in competition with the whole world, they could not
longer postpone the question whether compensation
should be given for these burdens, either by their taking
a share or by their giving a countervailing duty.—(Hear.)
A tax for the benefit of a class was not protection; it
was plunder.—(Hear.) What he asked the House was
to protect the native industry of this country, the rights
and interests of labour; first, by allowing no
free imports from countries which met them
with countervailing duties, and secondly, in re-
gard to agricultural produce, he maintained
that they were bound to give an additional
countervailing duty or to take a share of the burdens ex-
pended, as much for the advantage of other classes as
for that of the agricultural. A commercial system
founded on such principles would very much tend to in-
crease the prosperity of this conntry, to terminate the
misery which was allowed on all sides partially, at least,
to prevail, to change for the better that perilous position
of the great middle class which more than one Member
had admitted to exist. Such a protective policy would,
he believed, ere long be recognized by Parliament.—
(Loud cheers.) He had thought it but justice to those
with whom he co-operated to make these remarks; for
to be told that they were the advocates of a system
which had no resemblance to that on which they were
prepared to act, was a statement too monstrous to be
allowed longer to remain uncorrected. There was an
important corollary. If the first principle he had stated
were followed out, a greater portion of the revenue
would be raised by Customs' duties. There might be a
question as to the degree in which the foreigner might
pay a portion of a Customs' duty, but nobody of a tem-
perate order of mind who had given attention to the
subject would maintain that the foreigner paid no
portion. What portion did he pay to the revenue raised
by inland taxation? Their lamented leader, Lord George
Bentinck, laid it down as a great principle of policy,
that in all their attempts to relieve the great body of the
community they should attack the Excise; and not that
external revenue, which, under all circumstances, must
be partially contributed by the foreigner.—(Hear, hear.)
lied the same fiscal intelligence which in 1842 dwelt
with the Exchequer of England directed the power of
this House with reference to the inland revenue, it might
so have been diminished that, with the exception of one
or two taxes, the English people would have got quit of
that burden which was entirely contributed by them-
selves. The people of this country always connected the
rights and interests of labour with a revenue raised
from Customs' duties. The revenue had been founded
upon a principle favourable to their interests—namely,
that in (-very country where taxes were raised, and es-
pecially in Great Britain, with its vast national debt, the
revenue that was raised from the foreigner was more
welcome than that which was absolutely wrung from
the native producer.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. Disraeli)
thought that foreign grain, like all other productions of
foreign labour, ought to contribute to the Treasury, but
he should deplore any partial or limited legislation on so
important a matter as the reconstruction of our com-
mercial code—that, bit by bit, they should reconstruct
it, and that the first article dealt with should be that in
which many Members of that House were interested.—
(Ironical cheers.) He wished that such a reconstruc-
tion should go upon the broadest basis, but when he was
taunted with not bringing forward a motion on the whole
subject, in which he should be told he had consulted the
interests of parties, the chances of a good division, and
the getting up of a temporary cry in the country, his
reply was, that he never would be a party to such con-
duct.—(Cheers.) However he might differ from the
policy of 1846, he respected the gravity of that policy,
and of the great contingencies involved.—(Hear, hear.)
He did not wish to see the Legislature pass laws, and
then, like a capricious woman, within a year or a year
and a half, turn round and repeal all they had
done. No; he had said before, and he repeated now,
that no vote of that House, full as it was at the present
moment, would decide with any satisfaction the great
question in which were concerned the rights and inte-
rests of labour. It was by sharp experience—by the
distress which, according to the lion. Member for West-
bury (Mr. Wilson) " universally" prevailed among the
middle classes, and which was now descending to those
who depended upon them; it was in the terrible travail
that he knew awaited them that the salvation of the
people was to befound. The House were called upon to-
night to vote for a motion, limited in its character, par-
tial in its results, but, inasmuch as it was founded
upon scientific truths, and conducive to the general pros-
perity of the realm, he could do nothing but register
his vote in its favour.
Mr. COBDEN would not delay the House more than
a very few minutes, and, indeed, he confessed that he
really did not know whether he quite understood the
mystical delusions propounded by the Hon. Gentleman
who had just sat down. He had endeavoured
to follow him, and he would try to put clearly to
the House what the Hon. Gentleman had just stated
relative to the principles he had advocated. The
Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Disraeli) had laid it down that I
the policy pursued by their legislation in matters of
trade in 1846 was quite different from that which it had
pursued previous to 1842, in regard to the enforcement
of reciprocity. But since 1823, when Mr. Huskisson
commenced the introduction of free trade, down to the
conditional clause in the late Navigation Bill, there had
never been a stipulation with any foreign country for
any reciprocity. The Honourable Gentleman, it ap-
peared, was a Free-trader, if we had reciprocity with
foreign countries. Now, the Honourable Gentleman's
definition of free trade and protection differed very
much from that given by the Right Honourable Mem
ber for Stamford (Mr. lierries), and wooll not be
found to harmonize with that given by Lord Stanley
the other day—(Loud cheers)--and the silence which
prevailed upon the benches behind the Honourable
Gentleman when he was speaking just now showed
that Honourable Members opposite had penetrated the
mystery of the lion. Gentleman's declaration, and
that they saw the danger of the position which their
leader was taking up—(Cheers)—because the Hon.
Gentle,man, as the advocate of reciprocity, was advocat-
ing competition between foreign and domestic labour as
much as ho (Mr. Cobden). The Hon. Member made an
exception with regatd to the agricultural classes, but
with respect to the needlewomen, of whom they had been
told so much, the glover, the shoemaker, and all the
other industrious classes, the lion. Gentleman sa'd
there Plust by 0+ 61460 exemption of agricultural pro-