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

TUESUN,LONDON,- TUIESDA Y MORNING, MARCH

(Hear, hear.) On the meeting of Parliament the Right Hon.
Gentleman reconstructed his Cabinet, and left out the Minister
of Trade.—( Hear, hear.) There was a great complaint to the
farmers of this country !—( Laughter, and Hear, hear. )
The agricultural Aleinbers went to the Right Hon. Baronet
complaining of the coming tariff--murmuring against the
Canada Corn Bill, hut now they must be perfectly reconciled.
Now the agriculturist must feel perfectly secure.—( Hear,
hear, and laughter.) 'Well, now it was a decided demonstra-
tion.—( Great laughter. ) But it would not do well to com-
pare the conduct, of the Right lion. Baronet when in op-
position and when in power. It was the old story—they must
not contrast too much the hour of courtship with the moment
of possession.—( Great cheering and laughter from both sides
of the House. ) There was a strangeness iw the conduct of
the Right Hon. Gentleman. The Right lion. Gentleman's
protection speech was the best which could be heard any where.
It was a great thing to see the Right Hon. Baronet rise, and
hear him talk about the leaders of the gentlemen of England
being in possession of the confidence of the Sovereign.—
( Great laughter and cheers.) They did not now hear much
of the " Gentlemen of England."—( Hear, hear, renesed
cheering and laughter. ) What of that ? they had the
pleasures of memory—(Hear, hear, and great laughter)—the
charms of reminiscence---they -were his first love, and though '
he may not kneel to them now, as in the hour of passion,
still they would recal the past, and nothing in his mind was
more unwise and unseemly .han a tone of recrimination and
reproach.—( Great laughter and cheering.) What was the
use of it ? In all cases, he believed, when the object had
ceased to charm, it was in vain to appeal to the feeliugs.—
(Loud and prolonged cheering.) The Right Hon. Baronet,
like any gallant, endeavoured to sooth, and pacify, and keep
things quiet, but it was useless. The Right Honourab'e
Baronet maintained a tone of haughty silence and frigidity
towards the advances of the county Members, and if they knew
anything of human nature, they would take the hint, but they
went on—he advised them to lialt,.hut they would still go on.—
( Laughter.) The Right Hon. Gentleman would not say one
word the more for it, but he did say lie would have no whin-
ing there.—(lmmense laughter and cheers.) Now, if that
were not the case of the great agricultural interest, why should
it be treated differently from any other beauty, although she
was a deluded one.—(Great laughter and cheers.) They had
been convinced at the catastrophe. Prreection was now in
the same condition as Protestantism in 182:1.—( Hear, hear, and
great laughter.) For his part, if they were to have free
trade, he would sooner, with Honourable Gentle-
men opposite, support that question, when emanating
from the honesty and genius sf the Honourable Member
for Stockport, then when proposed by any one, however
sersed and skilful in Parliamentary manoeuvring, who had
tampered with the generous confidence of a great people and a
great party.—( Hear, hear, and great cheering.) For him-
self he could not say what might be the result. ( The lion.
Gentleman concluded with these words)—Dissolve the Parlia-
liament if you like, and appeal to the people, who, I believe,
mistrust you. For me, at least, I take this opportunity of ex-
pressing my opinion thus publicly, that I believe a Conserva-
tive Government is an organised hyprocrisy.—(Loud and pro-
longed cheers, which lasted for several minutes.)
Mr. DARBY said that he did not think the Government
would feel that this attack was of such severe consequence as
the Honourable Gentleman who had just sat down
seemed to think. The Honourable Gentleman seemed
conceive that the Government which he had formerly supported
but which he now opposed, were bound to carry out all the
suppositions which he conceived to he necessary to the welfare
of the particular interest which he espoused.--( Hear, and
laughter.) The Hon. Gentleman seemed to have coalesced
not only with the Whigs but with the Radicals themselves.
The lion. Gentleman had accused his present opponents with
having caught the Whigs bathing, and of having taken their
clothes, but he (Mr. D'lsraeli) fancied that not only had the
Right Hon. Baronet caught the Whigs bathing, but that he
also desired to trade in their old clothes.---( Expressions of
dissent.) Well, if he (Mr. Darby) were attacked, he
felt that he had a right to defend himself. Toe Ho-
nourable Gentleman seemed to be an advocate for
a free trade in corn. It was undoubtedly the case, that when
the present Ministry came into office they found the agricultu-
ral interest in a difficult position. This was the effect of the
cleverness of the Noble Lord the Member for the City of
London in financial affairs. The Noble Lord had brought the
country into this position, and the consequence had been that
the Canadian Corn Bill had been passed. It was the Noble
Lord who had brought the country to this pass, and it became
the bounden duty of the Government to restore the protection
which they had hitherto enjoyed to the agricultural class; and
he must say, that those taunts of the Noble Lord were alike
uncalled for and unnecessarv. When the Canadian Corn Bill
was passed, there was undoubtedly a supposition that the pro-
tection that had hitherto been enjoyed should be preserved.
That there was distress in the agricultural districts was un-
doubted, and he believed that, if the facts were made out, the
only effectual remedy for the mischief would be an alteration of
the corn-laws. But at the present moment, he must say, that
if the country was labouring under distress, it was the bounden
duty of that House to remove it. He had never entertained a
doubt of the justice of the measure, and when the Hon. Gen-
tleman began to make these attacks, he (Mr. Darby) thought
that he ought to have good grounds for making them.; and
when he saw that the principle of free trade was to be advocated,
he must say that he would rather see it promulgated by the
Hon. Member for Stockport rather than by the Hon. Gentle-
man at the bead of her Majesty's Government.—( Hear, hear.)
lie must candidly acknowlege that he was sent into that House
with a view to support that protection which the agriculturists
of this country had hitherto enjoyed, and he must say that, in
the course which he had hitherto pursued, he had nothing to
regret, and if the same circumstances were again to arise, he
must say that he should act precisely in the same way again—
(Divide, divide)—and if those measures were to obviate ti- a
protection which the agriculturists desired, and which their
interests needed, ho should feel obliged to vote with the Hon.
Member for Somersetshire. The farmers had been called
upon to reduce their expenditure, but he believed that this
was an utter impossibility. —( Divide, divide.)
Sir CHARLES BURRELL (who rose amidst much con-
fusion) said that he would not detain the House one moment

He saw the state of excitement which the House evinced, and
he only rose for the purpose of saying that the notice of the
lion. Member for Somersetshire was good in itself, and well
worthy of attention, and if it led to a modification which had
of late been introduced, it would be advisable not only with
regard to corn, but cattle.—(Divide, divide. )
Mr. G. SMYTHE said that he had listened with surprise
if not with admiration, to the crushing reply made by the Hon.
and Learned Member for East Sussex to the speech of his
Hon. Friend the Member for Shrewsbury—the speech not de-
livered that night, but that delivered a fortnight ago. —( Hear,
hear.) He was not unjustifiable, and he trusted that some
Hon. Gentlemen at least might believe that he rose not without
some cause to answer the speech of the Hon. and Learned
Member for East Sussex, the invective, and the philippic
which he had directed against his Hon. Friend the Member for
Shrewsbury. It was far from his intention to interfere in the
schism that appeared in the House that evening. It was far
from his intention to address a speech to that House in the
spirit of the Hon. Member for Sussex, and continued in the
same spirit in the speech also of the Hon. Member for East
Sussex ; but he would say this to the Hon. Members, that it
was not by raking among preceding speeches—not by going
back fifteen years, that he could entertain or form any opinion of
his Hon. Friend._(" Hear," from Col. Peel.) The Hen. and
Gallant Colonel, the Clerk to the Board of Ordnance, had done
him the honour to cheer a speech of his. If the Hon. and Gal-
lant Colonel would call to his mind the vote he gave on the
Irish Registration Bill, and supposing that question coming on
again to-morrow, how would his vote then agree with that he
had formerly given? Or, supposing that the Maynooth ques-
tion were discussed, how would the Hon. and Gallant Colonel
vote on that question? He would tell the Hon. anti Learned
Member for East Sussex, that this question, if it were not
solved by the great minds that the Hon. Member for Wolver-
hampton made so happy an allusion to—if this question were
not solved by them, he (Mr. Smythe) might be permitted to
suggest to the Honourable and Learned Gentleman,
that his great parochial mind—(Loud laughter)—would
never solve the national difficulties.—( Continued laughter.)
Differing, as he probably would, from his Hon. Friend the
Member for Shrewsbury, on the vote he would come to that
evening, he could not withhold his testimony that the effect of
the speech of his lion. Friend would be more likely to be pro-
ductive of public good than the motion of the Hon. Member
for East Sussex would be. His motion resulted in the bringing
the state of the country before the House, but he (Mr.
Smythe) thought it would be productive of more good to bring
the state of the House before the country.—( Cheers. )
Mr. P. BORTHWICK rose amid a mingled shout of
" Speak out," "Gu on," and "Divide, divide.") The Hon.
Member made several attempts to be heard, but the cries and
shouts from all parts of the House completely drowned every
sentence. When the Hon. Member could be listened to, he
said,—What was the question before the House ?—( Laughter,
cheers, and cries of " Divide.") It was unseemly to see one
section of the House rising against another section, but he
protested against this question being brought before the House
in such an unconnected manner.—( Laughter and cheers, which
interrupted the Hon. Member, and after a futile effort to ad-
dress a few words to the House, he sat down. )
Sir ROBERT PEEL said he wished in a few sentences to
state the grounds why he felt it to be his duty to offer his op-
position to the motion which had been made. He opposed the
motion because the object of it was merely to transfer a certain
sum from the county-rate to the consolidated fund. In his
opinion they would be practising delusion upon the
terietst
—co(uilldeari'n haenary)—mimapterteisaslingdetghteeme with
aagrbieeulliteufralthaint
upon their interests. His Hon, Friend stated that the total
amount which he believed his motion would produce was about
260,000/., to be transferred from one fund to another.

It was not an absolute remission of taxation falling upon agri-
culturists, but merely to transfer that amount from the county-
rate to the consolidated fund. Now, supposing in that way
they gave absolute relief of 260,000/. to the agriculturists,
they would have to bear it in another way. It
would only be relieving them from one species of
taxation to take up an .they. But his Honourable Friend
forgot that he confined this relief to the agriculturists of Eng-
land. Why was it not to be extended to Scotland and Ireland ?
Consequently the whole would be a charge of perhaps 300,000/.
or 400,0001., which must be placed on the Consolidated Fund.
Now he had a strong impression that if placed on the Consoli-
dated Fund the check on the expenditure would be much less
efficient than it was at present. The Government, acting
through its officers, probably newly appointed, who would have
much smaller means of exercising their vigilance than the par-
ties who were appointed to superintend this charge. To ob-
tain, therefore, relief from England for 260,0001. of direct
taxation in the county-rate there must be a transfer to the
consolidated fund, probably of nearly 400,0001., with prospect
of a continued increase, to be placed upon that fund. But who
contributed to that fund ? The consolidated fund meant
nothing more nor less than the taxation of the country, to
and peasants. But did
which the agricultural interest • was liable. His Hon. Friend
fraeiltilefth
taot the taxation
lowertalat
iononaossw iodfacteadrmoeurs the c,iunty rate would be
not the lower class of farmers and peasants contribute by indi-
rect taxation to the consolidated fund? Consequently, it
would be merely commutation of taxation, and his belief was
that the agricultural interest which his Hon. Friend intended to
benefit would derive no substantial benefit from that measure.
His Hon. Friend, however, professed that to be his object. He
( Sir Robert Peel) rather thought that his lion. Friend would
receive support from others who meant their acquiescence in
this motion to be tantamount to a condemnation of the finan-
cial proposals made by her Majesty's Government. Because
he found in a circular which had been issued from the Protec-
tion Agricultural Society, that gentlemen had been expressly
invited to vote for this motion upon the ground that the re-
mission of taxation which they proposed was not favourable to
the agricultural interest, and that the motion of his lion.
Friend ought to be acquiesced is, for the express purpose of effec-
tually resisting the further progress in measures of free-trade
If, therefore, that were the ground upon which his Hon.
Friend brought forward his motion, or others were inclined to
support it, still less was it in his power to acquiesce in the mo-
tion of his lion. Friend. He had had placed in his hand the
following letter, addressed to a Member of that House, solicit-
ing his support to the motion of his Hon. Friend upon rather
different grounds from that which lie stated it. This letter
w
ocPrtoytectotiona
MemberSocie of Parliament, and
was to this effect:—" I am directed to informtY, addressed by the
secretary from a
of the ilocal
al
ie s
you that a communication from the Central Protection So-
ciety was laid before the Managing Committee yesterday, of
which the following is a copy :—' It is the opinion of this
Committee, that the remission of the several duties which Sir
Robert Peel proposes to abolish in his remission of taxation,
will tend materially to lessen the employment of agricultural
labour, and reduce the price of many of the numerous pro-
ductions of the soil. The principle upon which agri-
cultural protection is based, is to maintain protection