The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-18 00:00:00

the Rieht Hon. 'Baronet had been made earlier it might
getshi
ave hewn some ground for the Hon. Member fer Somers
re Posipen'ne his motion. He rejoiced in the imposition
the incorne-tax as a step towards an improved syst.em of
taes.•
-°,l; but he complained that in the reduction of
tatation l)° which had been meths in consequence, the Iciest
ot:oerous elms had not been considered.—( Hear, hear.)
!,,:lati at
trught almost thick, on looking at the spectacle exhibited
House, that the Hon. Member fir- Stockport eat the
!clgh-priest of free trade, and that those who sat on the Tree-
,tt,rY benches chaunted responses to his song.—( Laughter.)
tete were two portions of her Majesty's dominio- a in which
krictt ture was at present prosperous—lreland and Scotl
'7 and—
"d su • •s.
Los,
the pposed It was won reference o t this that the Noble
Member for the City of London had said that " pr
sva: the bane of agriculture "—a proposition which
tertio
, • been cordially assented to by the Hon. Member for Sun-
seriand, end ably and warmly supported by many on the
°Pisteite side of the House. The only meaning which he
eoalsl attach to the expression was, that because
atr was not prosperous while protected, therefore, pro-
tneitl'On was its bane.—( Hear, hear.) The connexion appeared
e-,:4,11,c1 not to be inevitable. There was another principle at
se contemporaneously a it h protection. He was one of those
,
(14' "ought that the monetary system of this country—
ogiathter)—hatl principal influence on its productive powers,
'"at systern hae been operating conjoietly with what hail
st,dbeec termed the bane of agricult re." In conclusion. he
easft Got press his firm conviction that the Right Hon. Rar..ner
for''etlct disproved the statements mace by the Hon. Member
~,i,herfetshire, and, therefore, not absolved them from the
fri,;!aion of affording to their constituents relief; and however
th.w, OR that relief might be, it would be taken as an indication
t "If the distress increased, the relief would hereafter be ex-
pailded.
The Noble Lord at the head of the Woods and
dss„-P3was, it appeared, engaged in considering many subjects
iti-d7 interesting to agriculture. He believed that that tact,
for sue Home
one of the speech delivered by the Secretary of State
Home Department would have a most beneficial effect.
ritg.pall means many would be satisfied and assured ; being
e to feel that they had one of their own body, and one who
gi`st ribt forget them, among her Majesty's principal ail
41e-
-74 Hear, hear. )
don, t.t JOHN RUSSELL said the lion. Gentleman had
1144 "tin the honour to allude to an expression which fell from
at the very beginning of the session ; na
itnely, that
Preggis
eetton was the bane of agriculture." Now, f that bq .
_Let required any justification or proof, it would be given
what had passed that night. The Hon. Gentleman who
prtd'ttlegb..t forward the motion stated that in various instances
tees c`lon had been broken in upon. He went through the
Co;re4t Bills which had been passed under the present
_44 ere
tg. nlent—the corn-law of 1842, the tariff of the same year,
hsg,„`"e Canada corn-bill of 1843. Ile did not venture,
but -}:", to propose that any of those laws should be repealed;
Fropos`tyine stated those Bills, he left the question, merely
toss t icti that the sum of 275,000/. should be taken off. the
Root Grates,_( Hear, hear.) He was followed by the Right
ti ens etentlernan the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
lest d' tic a speech which the Hon. Gentleman who had spoken
te,,,,,'-e•ated to be so highly consolatory to the aerieultural in-
Nut that it could not tail to have a beneficial effete upon the
had,".f• Now what was it that the Right Hon. Gentleman
4,t'titid Which was of so consolatory a nature ?—( Hear, hear. )
t)t re: pose to restore protection to its former high rate?
of ha pose add itional to thflux
theet andro
le
coprn from Canada ? Nothing of therevent kind.e in
What
ought grit Hon. Gentlemau said was, that the Legi!latere
,fote,,,,t° give progressive facilities for the importation of
~ukCe ,e,°rllmodities—( Cheers) that if persons wished
L'Alse '„"," a god price could be obtained for agricultural pro-
" 4 Part of the country, the mode of ascertaining it was
1041"tre into the state of Manchester and of Glasgow, to ask
Ithdge'tel'etbe condition of the manufacturing districts in Eng-
•
(Ile ocotland, and if these were flourishing, then it was
tisg 7:..ed that aericulture would flourish in a similar propor-
te( Hear, hear, and cheers.) Was that any e.ncourage-
ittesie".,Pro'ection ?—( Hear, hear.) Was it not directly the
"itti tg-it—s( Hear, hear.) Was it not showing that as they
Ititlttif NI away protection, and encouraged the progress of
tceigraetures,s they had afforded the means of improving agri.
a?--,,( Hear, hear.) But as the Right Hon. Gentleman
'are was' a speech made the other night which had not
g, g• -"tered—( Hear, hear) -which he did not believe very
tostl4 be
ins aileasvered, and which showed in what manner. pro-
'De„," as injurious to agriculture—he meant the admirable
Elate, --,erfhl speech of the Hon. Member for Stockport.—
"ear. ) He believed it might be shown with
elita Most articles, as that Hon. Member had shown with
:tl, ire& '°
sericulture, that the consequence of legislative pro-
bit :
ttria while it a mea'red to be a favour to that particular classb
sos wet 'ecteu, operated against all the other sections of
e°ilinity, and therefore exposed that class to odium and
e'resn' 'he believed the conseq ence to be that it tended to
neighrh slovenly -( Hear, hear )—wanting in energy in that
▪ Asg-', occupation ; and that it induced them to rely. upon
eedofr"r.t,he Legislature to secure to them a certain price in-
Otild ~`l3lt.g upon their
.own skill and energy. That he
iWist4." o,lssioseel to say with regard to almost &ny article.
in'tee,t4ttaineet that if ever there was a country which was dis-
`tte'ned it once by great energy and intelligence, and at the
t-,°'" by rem possession of extensive capital, which
.was
4,1,11 „„,'° baD-Icry d in any enterprise that required
ads -tatlaYrnent,ihi; ewes that country L t them rely then
ttq for ,lenerg}, intelligence, and capital ; let them look to
s• '"e Means of wealth and for the encouragement. of
Petitm,y,
th,,tt be and iet them not rely. upon that. broken reed which
witb obtained from legislative protection. H e sayin
o,st gb regard to any article of mana'acture, for which.
le • -Yt, the manufacturers themselves sought protection
is >as°~ttve means.—(.—( Hear, hear.).
.He was happy to say
k,i'rtip,,:"Leturers, now—days, perceiving their great success
ig`gerseonntries and finding that they had nor the smallest
I,:t es litat protect'ion, had adopted sounder theories of corn-
tp ) But with regard to some of these
st,i`ot et,r res, there .might have been an appearance of success
art.i.,,? of restriction and monopoly, because there were
t• he-:" of which no great quantity was consumed, and for
tpdna, was no absolute necessity in the community. ow,
tsslhtalta one on which there was a monopoly in Holland,
reef" in which there was a prohibitory duty in this country.
egad to spices and silk. The world could live without
httht, sg,' People could have articles of raiment without silk.
listtos co absolute want of those articles. Wifh re.gard to
t'gttt'los that kind there might be a very high price. in pro-
s-s°, the demand, and legislative protection might to a
thg-th it of be successful with respect to a particular class,
ttettitai ere an injury to all the rest of the community. But
ssti ithral body had no such advantage. While orn and
lioogL'e, of food were cheap, they might have acduty of
tle,i4eige';"" 505., and the community would not complain ;
i'tet tta. -4telY articles of food reached a very high price,
s dot csturally co mach discontent that the system itself
hstil4 dos
.Orally
hear.) That had been found to
ptekl tig", ration of 'the system ever since 1815• when he
kith7etgg''',.etober ef that House, though he was not
iece deb ites on the corn-law, the farmers said that
tttiu "v han 80s. would be a remunerative price to them,l
telstitVolasssible that they could live and carry on cu n.-
esek 14IPeseh, less price for their corn.. Why at that day it.
la, of ti 'e that any Leg
which bad regard to tht
'e (mutt-% could a:tempt to maintain a law which
401.1,,t Prier as 50s. Well, the protect n was relaaeit, and
kettitl 1ez,114-ssed. But that again was 'mind too high. Tee
Paued and after certain time there was a general
kn't7t4ithekgatinst that law likaewise. It was Props ed in 1839
Ytof- and he de. lared at that time that he was i .11
I,lllod' and
f duty, and o.f. a relaxation of the
ktfes'ettt s"c'e who were placed in opposition to the Govern-
'Wlt°. that day said, that the protection was not too
,Nl* Of ought to be maintained; that they would not throw
11.1ligilttraestilt8'!8 into the lottery of legislation.. that even if the
(.1 the v had come forward as an united Government,
„were not, they would oppose any altera-
tg"l:',, Nees „were
existing law. Well, a change of
He ; took place ; and those who were apparently
t.'6 es'gtl-
into rower, And what had they heard from the
• het ti ratan that night ? Why, they had heard that ever
sbi9l.l• )troteet'.le Parliament had been gradually breaking down
h2,tetetco; that it was br ken down first liy the corn-law
tte7ill 11,5", by the tariff, and, last,y, by the Canada
Ito) "Therefore, the case was as he (Lord John
411 C rePresented it. Although it might sound very
ie tt °f nisi, tit Protecting native industry, and of giving that
11 "est hich was cuncerned in agriculture, &greater
h tap, or _
Aint,e Price of thei• produce than any interest in the
teks,',et, co
that might at first appear a very geod
v't to n" "NI they cave in effect to Hee eighteen
fixed
ons
kkllttislgth`°osume food at a certain high price to be by
t kid :re, such W 4.9 found to be the discontent, and, he
twaggqo'cch the danger in consequence, that every pru-
ng'ime trtrnerit would say with the Right Ho-
ttittois ectlaman opposite. " Look at our iiscreasing
itte,!e 'sterld see wheth it be safe to continue the law as
ewit(",ral4°t have treeertrade in corn immediately, let us
say, °°Rht in through acme of our colonies ; let us. in
j'eti•
,• :.°rne facility or other by which the ex.treme. rigor
4\1,111' ttli7.,,as,Yhe made more tolerable, and by which this pro-
LtoisselfreC, Is said to be so necessary, may he less a protec-
liikek"t be attlari it is in appearance."—( Hear,
.heat.) But
ti aga ell aid that, after all, even if this protection could not
high a pitch as was desired by those who
e'te itetu it, tth'it"reerernment into power . for the purpose of main-
t eg
h it should be a mischief ;
theta, aft a'
n°
reason w • 1. even if it did
ttre " all, be no basis to a..grieu lure
eh,ek for the sake of which it was sought. But then
t-t)g)• ''
one „d°
that argument which had been used so irre-
lilte- p 'aid that by this legislation, winch tended to
e liens e •ehich they could nut maintain, they (lid give a
gbttirtNk t° the farmer—( Hoar, hear )—they did induce
law an nut to hi. own energy —(llear.)
6. 'hil'. him to neglect chose means upon which he
tu
depend—snch means as economy, a!,r,.
1,4 iltrl I,l`"ed science. by leading him to think
tles4 -randlord who went up to Parliament expressly
let4Y, at'i;itat whatever his cultivation might be—be it
akee4fid gh tgotant—iliere should be a high price seeure
igrkte;`Ore furlt he need leok no further than the Acts of the
ffltki .• a Proper remuneration, if he wished for a rem-
'lSt 'the 'n he ak,l4il r uporith. m.arket,. lie would not detain the House
al's! Protett. ,s point having, he thought, su.fficiently shown
il,tOrg ,the g., 4"1 upon which the farmers relied was, as he
aktg tnrceecement of the session, " the bane of agn-
, ear, hear. ll then, the Right Hon. G.en-
?tt (Lait Lord ofthe Treasury had said the other night
kutingti° tide': J.. Russell) seemed to oscillate between
lig' sigh preg, CI the House and that, although he
Wen. Nth ettcrt to be bane of agriculture!
t'isY that ttelt?se words might sound very well yet he did
te "tOlae I;''°ry into effect. Now, with regard, to. tha.t.
of eroteht be entirely mistaken in that view, if
ig stlite,th,t "Pi away with protection were presented to
Istitka that doing away with it suddenly and abrup'slY ;
kt,, Of removing it cautiously and graduaily—
Itter NI On this"'owing the great authorities who had written
IN, subject, he should prefer the latter to the
t 4
he ,„,( Rear, hear.) But that was entirely as to the
otel Ngh giPloyed
t t it was not a question as to the policy
te"ls t be adopted. There was no doubt ins-
-I,4st,ilr, hear,°toe end at which they ought to aim.
sgterell th, ) When he said that protection was a
0,40,4144 e, :111erects protected, but more especially a boos'
att,ts ttli poly. 'hod that they ought to .10 away with restriction
„"ilio.l •/I.e. was, in fact, follewing the words and senti-
VMr. falcardo• But at the same time, in the very page
lle,eti„'lhtlegtecar,;lo maintained that doctrine, he inserted the
101;teggisiAl writ'e'l, as a aarning—though he was more of a
As„hig° tlntierg,lthao a practical statesman—as a warninto
nigh ^ e this task, as to the eircurn-pection with
ith 6 to be carried into effect.—( Hear, hear.)
ttliqt he Nod
41%,
still
to the general theory of this subject, he
tterlfe seel it,. so make a quotation from another author,
4i"th h:oeti htng, and vshese name he would mention to the
otg4 tier
th: had read the passage. The words were so
111tIld fvtlt so ~,,eanY he could use, the whole theory of corn-
ett g. Jai stated in it that, he trusted the House
.itseer "'ha for reading " The only beneficial care
g,lllllltt'llao tieg°4rcoeint can take of commerce is, to afford it pro-
'. a-de eed . War, and to remove by treaties the restric-
s 014 c.ktistai.. it b-
neey foreien Governments in time of peace,
4'41.1e Placing on it, however plau,s,ibl.e, they
k, Of -suctions of their own creating. l'he
titlih, 414 it Btate consisted in the prosperity of the
.4et:41,,,ai
tcho,ntortahreyrsto; sothu,t.idb,pdyilicy to defend one class
mode of ascertaining
.) suo!l' of each was to let them all alone."—
et b„ " was the opinion given many years ago, in a
Nip Ar. Al
l,d cheers exander Baring, the present Lord st sits
0pt41...5"' and ghe,7-it was marked by the sagacity, the
tOlost cHsas.s criti!nguished talent that Noble Lord pose
'4lt, thatth sela,t then was his (Lord J. R
idussell's ot
)-
cowmeree in general and he d n
Yre' thetoY
should gain anything' by doing what

many farmers wished them to do—repealing the Canada Corn
Act—putting a higher duty on the admission of foreign cattle,
or in any way going back to that system of high protec-
tion which the present Government declared it did not
wish to restere.—( Hear, hear.) Put there was ore
thing they could (lo for the farmers—there was one
thing they were bound to do for them—and that was, not
to hold out. these delusive hopes to them.—( Cheers.) They
had seen the farinera meeting this year in various places, they
had read the reparts of those meetings, containing complaints
of their present state, and requests for further protection. He
thought the House ought to tell the farmers, if it did give
them this farther protection, it would only be affording them a
" delusion and a snare"—( Cheers)—that their best reliance
would be on their own industry and skill, and that the future
course of Parliament would be to diminish and finally take
away the present amount of protection, not to create new
ones.—( Hear, hear.) But such w:s not the language held,
such was not the course now pursued. The Hon. Gentleman
who had spoken from that corner of the House, had stated how
much they regretted having voted for the corn•law of
That law was one which the Hon. Gentlemen themselves es-
tablished. He knew that kie (Lord John Russell), and many
others on his side of the House, voted against the second read-
ing of that Bill, but it was carried by a great majority, con-
sisting chiefly of the representatives of agricultural counties.—
( Hear.) Then those Hon. Gentlemen say they would not
have voted for it, if they had known of the tariff or the Canada
Corn Bill. With regard to the tariff he could not think that
anything which had happened, or anything that was likely to
happen, couldbe at all injurious to good graziers, if they had also
a great importation of foreign grain, and could command the
right means of competing in the markets of the country with any
growers of foreign cattle whatever. With regard to the Canada
Corn Bill, to that he also objected, but on very different
grounds. He considered it to be the establishment of a corn-
law in Canada, an exten:ion of a kind of protection to the
agricultural interest of Canada, whirl 'it might be hereafter
very troublesome to alter. The Hon. Member for Taunton
( Mr. Labouchere) founding his objections to the Bill on these
. _ .

, views, brought forward a mootion'which would entirely have
stopped the progress of the Bill. Was his Hon. Friend sup-
ported by the agricultural interest in that House? By no
means. —( Hear, hear. ) The Hon. Gentlemen opposite gave
such support to the Government that it was enabled to carry
the Bill.—( Hear, hear.) When they went farther -than the
second reading, he (Lord J. Russell) was not prepared to
carry on that opposition. But it was evidently within
the power of these who represented the agricultural
interest to have put a total stop to the Bill, and for any impor-
tation that had taken place under it, let them net throw all the
blame on the Government. They had themselves assisted the
Government, and they were assisted every day—( Hear, hear)
—in carrying oat this same policy of giving greater freedom
to trade acid taking away restrictions. They should tell the
farmer, then, it was a good and sound policy they were pur-
suing, and that they intended to stand by it fairly and
honestly; then they would not be in that House, following in
the wake of the Minister, and then going down to the agri-
cultural meetings to attack him fur his free-trade principles.—
Such was his opinion of the general conduct they ought to
pursue ; but he would now proceed to the particultr motion
before the House That motion declared that in any remission
of duties, the agricultural interest ought to be consulted. He
thought the Right Hon. Secretary of State had answered the
latter part of the speech of the lion. Member for Somerset,
with re,sard to the particulars he bad stated. Take as an in-
stance, the poor-rates, and the tithe commutation. The poor-
rates were one million less at present than they were before the
new poor-law passed; and with respect to tithes, the agricul-
turists stood in a much better position now, than formerly, in-
asmuch as the) could improve their cultivation and increase
their produce without paying a single sixpence more to the
tithe-owner. The agriculturists had been great gainers
by the difference in their position from what it was
some years ago.—( Hear. ) He should not enter into
the question of the expense of prosecutions ; if they esta-
blished a different system altogether, and if the Secretary of
State should ever choose to appoint a public prosecutor,
then different arrangements might be made with respect to
the expense of prosecutions ; but at present the subject was
quite beside the question before them. His answer to the
Hon. Gentleman, when he asked for consideration for the
agricultural interest in these remissions of duties was this--
that the agriculturists ought to place themselves on en
equality with the rest of the community, and say there should
be no mote duties ors the produce of agriculture than on any
other raw material of commerce. The food of the people was
in fact the raw material on which the greater part of
the people were maintained. Let them come forward, and
say, on 'his raw material, the least possible amount
of duty should be levied, and then, when they were on the
same tooting as the rest of the community, when they were no
lo°-ger reckoned among the favoured interest, they might ask
to have their peculiar burdens considered, and if they were
proved to have injurious consequences on agriculture, and to
prevent the employment of the number of labourers who would
otherwise be employed, anything that could in justice and
equity be demanded, would be conceded by the greatest free
trader and most determined abolitionist of the corn-laws who
sat on that side of the House, as readily as by Hon. Gentle-
men who held property in land. But they could not expect
this view of their case to be taken while the
odious impression caused by the corn-laws hung
over the country. The majority of the House of Com-
mons, and the whole of the House of Peers, was composed of
persons connected with land; and the protection given to that
interest was believed by the people to be at the expense of the
rest of the community. What an injurious position this placed
the landed interest in vsi,h the country. The Hon. Gentle-
man who brought forward the present motion alleged there
had been a decline in the price of meat of 6d. or 7d. per stone,
and he complained that it had become cheaper since the tariff of
1842. He complained also that corn had fallen in price, and
he asserted that these were evils which required interposition.
After all, when they followed this out, it amounted to this.
The Hon. Gentleman complained, and alleged it as a grievance,
that a poor man, in purchasing 2 lbs. of meat for the Sunday
dinner of himself and wife and family, could save about '2d. in
the price of it.—( Hear, hear.) If he bought bread, he might
also save 4d. or sd. in the bread of his family for the week.
Let them consider how injurious it was to them to come for-
ward with these facts, and allege them as an evil and a
grievance. If they had everything reduced to a fair state, if they
could say they had no special protection, and that in conse-
quence of the flourishing state of the manufactures theist was
a greater demand for agricultural produce, causing an in-
creased }once, then they might fairly rejoice in the fact of that
increase of price. But when they said their law was not suf-
ficiently stringent, that it did not prevent the people from pay-
ing 6d. less for bread or meat than they might be made to pay
by the law—this was a complaint that must tend to place the
landed interest, and the great landed aristocracy of the country
in an odious position.—( Cheers.) He, as much as any man,
had a right to respect that landed interest.—( Hear, hear, from
Colonel Sibthorpe. ) The cheer of the Hon. and Gallant
Member induced him to make an allusion which otherwise he
should not have done. He had been connected with persons
who took a great interest in the progress of agriculture ; his
uncle and father had done as much as any men towards the
progress of agriculture ; they had done all they could to bring
the farmers of the country together and make them conversant
ith improvements.—( Cheers.) He was, therefore, the last
m to wish for any unnatural or unfair depression of the
agricultural interest. But if they really wished to promote
the good of agriculture, if they wished the landed interest to
hold that high title to the respect and rank they had won for
themselves in former days, and ought to preserve in the pre-
sent, they ought not to agree to motions like this ; but they
should seek to establish some fair and equal arrangement be-
tween all parties, and to let all Englishmen see that if the
landed interest was the most powerful, it was also the most
generous, portion of the community.
Mr. B. ESCO FT rose amidst loud cries of " Order,"
and " Mr. D'lsraeli," who had stood up at the same moment,
but gave way to the former Hon. Member, who commenced by
saying that having already given way to one Hon. Member that
evening, he hoped he would now he heard, particularly as he
intended to vote against the motion of the Hon. Member op-
posite, although he happened to be one of his constituents who
would give him his most decided opposition on this question.—
( Hear and a laugh.) The Noble Lord the Member for London
had gone rather minutely into the details of this question, and
into the many grievances which it was contended pressed upon
agriculture; but surely they were not now discussing that
question—they were not now debating the nature and the
working of the corn-laws—( Hear)—and therefore he re-
gretted that the Hon. Member had deemed it right to bring
forward his motion, thereby interrupting, for so small an
object as it professed to attain, the very important business of
the country now under dis.cu4sion.—t Hear.) How-
ever, he thanked the Noble Lord the Member for London for
having entered at such length upon this question, for it
was the very same as one which he intended to have
brought forward last session.—( Hear, hear.) But now
he would ask what was it that they proposed as a mode of
relief? Ic was this, that the county rates should be re-
moved. But who was it that imposed these county rates ?
Were they net the Hon. Member for Somersetshire, and others
whom he now saw around him.—( Hear, hear.) And was it
not the same who had the power to remove them?—( Hear.)
It had been said that this question had now merged into a con-
test between two great bodies in this country, namely, the
Anti-Corn-law League and the Protection Society. Now,
although there had been occasional skirmishes between both
these parties, he had never said a word against either, and
never would, so long as he did not feel himself compelled to
join either —( Hear, and a laugh)—but with the exception of
those skirmi<hes, he did believe that the Anti-Corn-law
League would affect trade as little as would the Protection
Society agricultural distress.—( Laughter. ) Now, he would
ask, was net the real cause of the dissatisfaction of the farmers
of this country the conduct of their representatives in that
House—( Hear, hear)—and if lie concurred in this feeling
amongst the farmers he had his reasons for it.—(Hear, hear.)
Let it not be forgotten, that hitherto there had been two kinds
of meetings held at fixed and regular periods in the
country, at which the farmers had been in the habit
of looking forward for the expression of the opinions of those
whom they looked upon as their leaders, and being guided by
their statements on subjects connected with agriculture—those
meetings were the agricultural meetings and dinners.—( Hear,
hear.) Those assemblies were generally held during the Par-
liamentary recess ; and it was the habit of all classes who lived
by the cultivation of the land, to discuss at these meetings va-
rious measures affecting their collective or individual rights.
He remembered that when first those assemblies used to take
place subjects of a political tendency were sometimes discussed
at them ; and in order to prevent the danger likely to follow
from such discussions, rules were then framed by which all
topics of a political or publin nature were prohibited being in-
troduced. In the autumn of last year he attended one or two
of these assemblies. and he there found that the effect of this
rule was, that the leaders of the agricultural party adopted this
cause. There were usually sonic Members of Parliament
present, and they, having no doubt these same political questions
uppermost in their minds, could not well suppress them altogether,
so they just said as much about them as to convince the far-
mers they knew nothing whatever on the subject.—( Laughter. )
And then they spoke to the farmers on agricultural subjects in
such a strain as convinced these same farmers that those Hnn.
alembe-s knew nothing whatever on that subject.—( Great
laughter.) Allusion had been made to the debate which took
place last week, and touch had been said about the prin-
ciple and the intent of this question; but he begged to say
this, and he would let the farmers know it, that neither the
principle nor the intent of the question could have such at-
taeks made against them as those made by Hon. Members who
thought they were supporting both.—( Hear, and laughter. )
One Hon. Member made a speech in that House complaining
of the agricultural distress, and supported protection elsewhere.
—( A laugh.) Another wrote pamphlets and bills, and dis-
tributed them through the country, declaring that protection
was the cause of the distress, while in that House he supported
protection.—( Laughter.) Now, he eonceived that if those
Honourable Members were right, they would be the
means of compelling others to petition for the
total repeal of this protection.—(Hear, hear.) Yet, in
the face of all this, ghat slid the agricultural Members
in that House do? Why, they supported protection—the
House stuck to the corn-laws and tariff, though these were
' the very things that it was said created all the distress.—
( Hear, hear.) Now he (Mr. E.) had spent some time
among 4 the farmers, and he thought he knew something about
them, and he could assure Hon. Members that there was
nothing they liked so much as plain dealing ; and he would like
• to know what sort of answer would they receive from Hon.

Members whom they had sent to represent them, and who had
voted in favour of protection from both sides of the House.
—( Hear, hear. ) Hon. Members would find this to be the
fact, that the farmers and the labourers too had much deeper
intellectual powers on this question, and many others, than
those who conceived themselves their superiors gave them
credit for—(Hear, hear)—and the labourers knew well that