The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-24 00:00:00

PETITION.

Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition from the
county of Down against any alteration in the law pro-
hibiting a widower from contracting marriage with his
deceased wife's sister. He had had several other peti-
titions relating to this subject sect to him, but as they
alluded to a Bill before the other House, he of course
could not present them, as they were contrary to order;
and he hoped he should have no occasion to present
them, as he hoped that Bill would never come up to their
Lordships' Rouse.
_ ALTERATION IN CIVIL SUITS BILL.

On the motion of Lord CAMPBELL, this Bill was
read a second time.
TITLES OF RELIGIOUS CONGREGATIONS
(SCOTLAND) BILL.
The Marquis of BREADALBANE moved the second
reading of this Bill, The Bill bad been before the public
a year, and had received universal approval.
The Earl of ABERDEEN had last year moved the
rejection of the Bill, on account of the lateness of the
period of the session at which it had come up, but he did
not now feel himself called upon to oppose the second
reading of the Bill.
The Bill was then read a second time.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION
IMPROVEMENT BILL.

Lord CAMPBELL introduced a Bill for the improve-
ment of the administration of criminal justice, which
was read a first time.
SHEEP AND CATTLE INIPORTATION
COMMITTEE.

On the motion of i.4arIGRA.NVILLE this Committee
was nominated.

PROTECTION.

The Earl of lIARDWICKE presented several peti-
tions from various farmers and graziers in the Isle of
Ely complaining of , distress, and praying for redress.
Whether the free-trade experiment turned out ulti-
mately to be successful or not several respectable it,cli-
vi,ivals must be ruined by it. Ile did not lo,dieve that
House could at, present afford t:ie redress, because it it
were to propose to interfere with the fre9•trade experi-
ment, they would be told that the revenue was prosper-
ing, that commerce was incieasing, and if they went
out of doors that they should meet with no difficulty in
finding farmers to compete fur taking any estate that
was vacant. They should be told that the income-tax
was increasing, and that would be appea!ed to As a
proof of the prosperity cf the country, but he con-
sidered the increase its the income-tax was a
very fallacious argument to prove the increased prospe-
rity of the country. They should also be told that
prices were not lower than in 1835; but in 1335 we had
no foreign competition. He believed that shortly, how-
ever, they would be able to give these persons relief;
because, if the experiment of free trade were persistei
in much longer, the effect would be to entail the ruin
not only of the agricultural class, but of every other
class, and there would then be a unanimous call for a
return to sounder principles. He confidently believed
that the present state of things could not exist, and,
therefore, the agricultural body had before them, in the
course of the next year, that strong hope which arose
from the difficulties in which they were at present
plunged.
PRICES OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE.

The Earl of MALMESBURY then rose, in pursuance
of notice, to move for the following returns :—Return
of the imports of wheat and wheat flour, also of barley
and oats, into the United Kingdom, in each week since
the let of January, 1850, end of the average prices of
each week; and also, return of the total amount im-
ported within the same period, distinguishing the coun-
tries from which imported. The Noble Earl said he
might be told that he could obtain the information which
he was anxious to acquire from the returns relating to
trade and navigation, which had already been presented
to the House, and in which was to be found the amount
of corn imported into this country since the commence-
ment of the year. But he was further desirous of
knowing what were the countries from which that corn
had been received, and from which corn still continued
to arrive in large quantities, in the face of a falling
market.—(Hear, hear.) If he were to consult his own
convenience he should content himself with merely
moving for those returns; and he was aware that in at-
tempting to discuss at any length a subject which had
already occupied so much of their time, and which in
itself was but little attractive, he ran a risk of forfeiting
any claim to an extension of thit indulgence which he
had always experienced from the House. But when he
witnessed the deplorable state of the agricultural interest
at the present moment he thought it his paramount duty
to entreat their Lordships to direct their most earnest
attention to that subject, as well as to the state of our
corn markets since the repeal of the corn-laws in
the year 1846. At the commencement of the present
session they had been assured that the low prices
of agricultural produce at that period could not
continue; and yet they had since fallen consider-
ably lower. Let them look at the policy which
Parliament had pursued upon that subject. Three
parties had assisted in the repeal of those corn-laws
which bad afforded a protection to the agricultural class
ander the great and peculiar burdens which they had to
bear. One of those parties did not exist, he was happy
to say, in that House, but it did not the less exist in the
country. That party which had been one of the most
active in azitating for a repeal of the corn-laws was
composed of men who had not scrupled lately to declare
publicly that they considered that the repeal would lead
to this most desirable end—the establishment of a pure
democracy in this country. That party believed, that
with a repeal of the protective system the value of agri-
cultural produce would become so depreciated as to lead
to a diminution of the social and political influence of
those whom they called the aristocratic body, among
whom they included not only the nobility, hut the whole
of the landowners of this country, who, as every one
knew, had always been the strongest bulwark of the
Throi;e against democratic invasion. He should,
however, say nothing -Vlore of that party, because
none of them were present upon that occasion.
There was another party which certainly did exist in
that House, and which also possessed great activity,
talent, and intelligence, and which had been mainly in-
strumental in procuring the repeal of those laws—he
alluded to those theoretical economists who had sud-
denly fallen in love with the doctrine of ieee trade, b, -
lieving it to be founded on naoiral and normal truths,
but totally forgeaing the complex state of society in this
country. Thsee were men for whom he entertained the
greatest respect, because he knew that they were honest
in their opinion and sanguine in their expectations. They
believed that free trade would prove beneficial to this
country, and he certainly gave them credit for thinking
that it could not lead to that deplorable anxiety and
discomfort which it had occasioned among the agri-
cultural classes. But they were men, like the Noble
Earl the Secretary for the Colonies (Earl Grey), who
had lately congratulated their Lordships on the effect
produced by free trade, and who was himself one cf
the most distinguished of their number—they were
ardent and uncompromising politicians, who threw down
a principle before the country as they would throw down
an article of material produce. He believed that any-
thing that he could say would not have much influence
with those persons; bat he would ask them also to turn
their attention earnestly to what ,was going on in the
corn markets of this country, and to consider what must
be the result. There was a third party in that House
to the repeal of the corn-laws, which comprised a ma-
jority of their Lordships, and which must always be
looked upon in this country with the deepest respect.
Among the members of that party he wished particu-
larly to address himself to the Noble Lords on the cross-
benches, and to some Noble Lords on that (the oppoSi-
lion) side of the House, from whom those with whom he
had the honour to act had unfortunately been for some
time dissevered. He believed that those Noble Lords
had thought, in voting for a repeal of the corn-laws,that
they had been doing their duty to the country by giving ,
way to what they considered to be an almost universal
call on the part of the people. They had hoped that
no such evils as those which the party with whom he was
associated had predicted would result from the proposed
change, and that, after its adoption, what he might call
a genial stream of food would flow into this country, in-
stead of that overwhelming torrent by which our mar-
kets had been inundated. In that party he should place
the Noble Marquis opposite (the Marquis of Lansdowne)
himself, because the Noble Marquis had, both at the he- ,
ginning of the present session, and at a subsequent pe-
riod, called the repeal of the corn-laws " an experiment."
He had also been told that the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer had st ited in another place, that he did not ex-
pect that that measure would occasion such low prices
in our markets. Fie accepted the expression of the Noble
Marquis. He had &ways looked upon the measure as
an " experiment;" and he should always protest against
the language held, not so much in that House as out
of the House, by leading journals, and by men of great