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

THE SUN,

he would take the Noble Lord's own county. That
was fair, surely. In the county of Leicester, in 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 same
week of 1850 the numbers were 15,530. In the small
county of Rutland the numbers were, iu 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 lion.
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
the numbors 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
ending 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
rccieving relief in the present year. The decrease
of employment was also allege d ; but he found
that in the week ending April, 1549, 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 Hon. 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 for trial at the ae-izes 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 1846 was 2,805, and in
1850, 2,558. The number in the Easter sessions 1849
was 2.334, and in 1350, 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 ef
the well-doing of the country. He found, comparing
the months of April 1849 and 1850, excluding corn,
that there was a slight diminution in the customs. The
excise, which was the best test of the prosperity of the
country, showed an amount in the last year of 14,025,0001.
as compared with 13,932,000/. in the previous year.
There was alio an increrse on the taxes, and in the in-
come-tax; and he could not possibly give a better proot
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.
11,684,0001.; in 1849, 12,822,0001.; in 1850, 14,950,0001.
—(Hear.) How were these exports produced? By the
labour, by the employment of the people.—(Hear, 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 experts of British
wool in the first three months of each year had been--
1848, 975,0001b5.; 1849, 2,080,0001b5. (more than
double) ; in 1850, 2,l62.ooolbs.—(Hear, hear.) That
was an indication of an improved demand for agricul-
tural produce; there was also en improved demand fat
corn and stock. The price of stock had been kept down
by an increased production of stock in this countr).
The reports of the Newcastle market showed that the
quantity of stock brought to market had been gradual')
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.) lie re-
joiced that they had at last come to a broad point at
issue. Lord Stanley had characterised the policy that
had been pursued as mistaken and insane; those where
his words—(Cheers from the Protectionists)—and they
seemed to be adopted by 11,11. Gentlemen opposi,e.—
(Cheers.) He 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 police
was essentially necessary for 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 heat.—(Laughter.) Ile did no
attach much importance to what was said on such occa
sions, though he did not think it was very wise language
to use.—(Hear, hear.) But he did believe that the policy
which had been pursued was essential for the mainte-
nance of good feeling and tranquillity, and for binding
toge; her all classes of society, and that no other polio)
contributed half so much to the permanent stability of
those institutions 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 al-
foe ded 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 he usually acted, that the House
would allow him, before the division took place, to set
before them a more accurate conception than the Right
Hon. Gentleman had presented of their views and in-
tentions. 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 he ex-
pressed 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. Nut
four years ago that identical motion came before the
buss of Commons, and the object with which it then
came forward was, if the House should resolve itself
into Committee, that thou the repeal of the laws affect-
ing the importation of foreign corn should be proposed
to Parliament. He would teat 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
successful, 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, a 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.—(Hear,
hear.) After the lapse of lees 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, arid
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 a
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 them 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 be had fa-
voured them with at the beginning of the session, and
they had in addition to his observations the speech of the
lion. 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 any one, and least
by the lion. 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
agricultural interest.—(Hear, hear.) If the middle
class of the agriculturists suffered losses almost unpa-
ralleled, what must they suppose,.vvould be the near con-
s( quences of that distress upon the most unfortunate
and depressed portion of the agricultural class ? What
must won be the effect upon those labourers who, for
the present, were factitiously employed, and to which
ftscli;i9gi enloymai Moberly 94 Ow 9ther !vie wen

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, he would either have praposed it him-
self, or asked some person more 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; end however just
the claims of that class, if it were suffering, ho 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 for the advantage of one.—
(Hear, hear.) Much had been said to-night on what
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 of his own creation.
—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Disraeli) would tell the House
chat 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,
bear.) 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.—(11ear, hear.) The Government then
commenced that struggle 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.) Ho, 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-
'ended 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.) He 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 had 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-
oort 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
hould be given for these burdens, either by their taking
a share or by their giving a countervailing duty.—(Hear.)
1 tax for the benefit of a class was not protection; it
was plunder.—(Hear.) What he asked the llouse was
to protect the native industry of this country, the rights
and interests of labour; first, by allowing no
tree imports from countries which met them
Kith countervailing duties, and secondly, in re-
card to agricultural produce, he maintained
hat 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
bunded on such principles would very much tend to in.
Tease the prosperity of this conntry, to terminate the
misery which was allowed on all sides partially, at least,
o prevail, to change for the better that perilous position
d• the great middle class which more than one Member
had admitted to exist. Such a protective policy would,
se believed, ere long be recognized by Parliament.—
(Loud cheers.) He had thought it but justice to those
with whom ha co-operated to wake these remarks; for
to be told that they were tho advocates of a system
which had no resemblance to that OH which they were
prepared to act, was a statement too monstrous to be
snowed 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.)
Had 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 tof labour with a revenue raised
Iron Customs' duties. The revenue had been founded
upon a principle favourable to their interests—namely,
that in every 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 grain, like all other productions of
foreign labour, ought to contribute to the Treasury, but
ue 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-

Lion should go upon the broadest basis, but when he was
taunted with not bringing firward a motion on the whole
subject, in which ho 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; ho had said before, and he repeated now,
that no vote of that llouse, 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 Hon. 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 as aited them that the salvation of the
people was to befound. The House were called upon t
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. Ho had endear oured
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
llon. Gentleman (Mr. Disraeli) had laid it down that
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. lluskisson
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. Herries), and would 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 Hon. Gentleman's declaration, and
that they saw the danger of the position which their
leader was taking up—(Cheers)—because the Hon.
Gentleman, as the advocate of reciprocity, was advocat-
ing competition between foreign and domestic labour as
much as he (Mr. Cobden). The Hon. Member made an
exception with regard 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 Hon. Gentleman sa'd
there Ingot be lb special exemption 9f Pgrioultual pro-