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

the manufacturer, but proved a considerable relief to the landed
interest and ths2c7r.tuannitte. The results had shown that these
otherittint,s had b-en mode rashly, and he had the pleasu-e to
state that rt that ecry murnent, the ffect of the r-Lsraission of the
duty en bosh r /vas mad,- ho miac to him by a re tore which had
been vlac: d In his hamd wdSio the last few days, and wh'cli re-
turn win based sy. on Cu., ri:v of ass :ofluential parts re-
Liv,rrf effe,2l of the tt-rttisston hot hero
I•ltt,i;iotl at t e ftrice of American timber, tar
II", the year 1.,41 tha3 in the year 1842. In 1841 the
uric:- was fild. a foot ; but in 1:312 the price was 41id ; •and it
meust be remembered that no portion a the community was
more ber.efited than the landed interest. In a former jettion
of his add; est, it would be remembered that he had staled that
hi, Ilireht lion. Friend made remissions to tha ertt,,nt of
1,1:1h,600/.. of which 14 ,010/. was the proportion of the dutios
imposed on coffee ; and upon Sti other articles, the aggre2ate
of whwe duties amounted to 278.000/., there was a like res-
thision. In 1:41 nti further rertsissido of the 03.cise cc ctis-
ltnns htitlea wine made; bUt in 1,44, his. 'ion. Friend prtipostd
a remission of the duty on wool. amounting to 100,00 W. ; on
irrants, 91,000/. ; and on coffee. 8•2,til 1. The remissi,n of
the duty no iv •ol proved a source i f gre:. t pecuniary benefit to
the landed in crest of the country. He was supported in
this ojnion by the fact, that foar months after the re-
tni,sion was made, the price of British wool was considerably
increased. while before it was continually declining in value.
The effect of the measures proposed by the Right Honourable
Baronet in 1842 and 1844, taking them in conjunction with
the proposition which had lately been br tight forward, would
greatly contribute to the prosperity of the landed intere t of
England 1 indeed; touch more to titan the removal of that
lockl taltation of which the Hon. Member for FOrnerset corn-

plained. Then, again, the Government proposition relating
to sugar would have the effect of remitting taxation no less in
amount than 3,600,000/. ; hut they fully anticipated that this
decrease in the revenue would be fully made up by the increased
consumption of that commodity. And all these reductions
would reduce the expenses of the farmer and the landed pro-
prietor to a great extent. They proposed, also, to reduce the
duty on cotton 2,200,0001., and on other materials, which
Isere articles of general consumption, 600, 0001., makine in the
ole the removal of indirect taxation amounting to 2,431,000/.
In 1834 there were remissions upon stage coaches, vinegar,
glirs, and ether articles, affecting the agricultural classes in
common with the rest of the community, amountine to 640.000/.
and taking these together with the remissions proposed by his
Right Hon. Friend, they amounted to 6 324,00(1 ( Hear,
hear.) In these reduciione, the agriculturists had participated
with the rest of the commenity--( Hear, hear)—and with all
this remission, there was still a considerable, and an augment.
ins surplus of revenue above expenditure—in the advantages
of which surplus the agrieunural interest would share with
every other. ( Hear, hear.) His Hon. Friend the Member
for Somerset a-keel if the landed inteiest was not to have
some small partici! atiim in the benefit ce the reduction of
.axation? Nor., he (Sir J. Graham) thought that if his
Hon. Friend would look at the manner in which the income-
tax was contributed, he would see that the commercial and
other classes contributed in their proportion as much as the
agricultue ist.—( hear, hear.) But his Hon. Friend contended
that whi!st the manufacturing and commie, cial classes had
been prosperous, the aericulturists were still in distress.—
( Hear, hear, from the agricultural benches.) Now, in the
commencement of his speech the lion. Gentleman said, that
the distress was genet al; but towards the close, he made the
admission that it was not so.
Mr. MILES—No, nn; I did not.
Sir J. GRAHAM—Very well; the Hon. Gentleman would
still say that the distress was gene=ral in the United Kingdom.
—(" Hear, hear," from Mr. Miles. ) Very well; let them
look to Ireland. Now, he ens prepared to show that, in Ire-
land, the agriculturists had been more than usually prosperous.
since the tariff came into operation.—( Hear, hear.) In Scot-
land, again—and he could speak even more positively as to that
portion of the United Kingdom— agricelture had been prospe-
rous, and in no recent years had rent been paid so punctually
as in the last year.—( Cheers. ) His lion. Friend had, in his
speech, laid the foundation of a much larger motion ; and he
(Sir J. Graham) roust say, that if the arguments of his Hon.
Friend were worthy of the attention of the House, the ques-
tion would n tt be whether some remission of two or three
hunched thousands should be granted, but whether the cern-
latv. as it stood at present, should not be repealed, and the
tariff undergo a considerable modification, as far as re-
garded the importation of settle.—( Hear, hear.) His Hon.
Friend had gene into siatistical details, to show that the
importation of fercign corn in the last three years had been
very great. But it was to be remembered that, in teco out of
the last three years, the production had been decidedly insuffi-
cient.—( Hear, hear.) n hat, then, would have been the c
dition of the people if foreign corn had not found its way into
the coontry in those years?—(Hear, hear.) His Hon.
Friend forgot that the population of the country increased to
the amount of more than 160,000 per annum, or at the rate of
more than 1,000 every fort y- eight hours in the year.—( Hear,
hear.) What, then, would have been the condition of the
country, if it had not. been for the importation of foreign corn ?
--(Chee rs. ) There would probably have occurred a convul-
sion fatal to the landed inters t, in common with every other.
—( Cheers.) His Hon. Friend went at last to the subject of
barley. Now, he ah old endeavour to illustrate the question
of the present corn-law by this very case of barley.—( Hear,
hear.) In the last year. the importation of barley had been
1,00 ,000 quarters; and this not suddenly, nor at a titre of
scarcity, but only to meet a regular demand, week by week,
with a regular and equal return to the revenue..--( Hear, hear.)
Mr. ailLES—How much in the year?
Sir J. GRAHAM had heard somebody ask, how much ? He
answered, 1,2e0.000 quarters.—(Hear, hear.) The returns
for the last ten years—( which the Right Hon. Baronet read in
detail, but in so low, hurried, and indistinct a tone, that it was
impossible to follow him clearly in these, more than in the
greater part of his numerical statements)—showed that, in
1844, when the importation of barley was the greatest, the price
of home-grown barley was the highest, except for two years.—
( Hear, hear.) This proved to him irresistibly the effect of an
increased supply producing an increased demand, by whish the
agricultural interest hail been materially benefited, instead of
injured.—(Cheers. ) His Hon. Friend complained also of the
importation of Canadian corn, %elicit he (Sir J. Graham) re-
garded as a most useful subsidiary to the corn-law of 1842.
( Hear, hear, and a laugh from the agricultural benches.)
The corn of Canada was prepared to be transmitted to
this country, as soon as the ice broke tut, so as to arrive
early in June, and to prevent the ruinous effect which a sudden
rise, and the consequent influx 01 foreign corn at a later period
would have upon the producers of the ensuing harvest.—( Hear,
hear.) In that way, the importation of Canadian corn averted
the danger which he (Sir J. Graham) fairly admitted the
sliding scale was liable to.— ( Cheers.) His Hon. Friend had
further contended that the agricnlturists were entitled to com-
pensation for the injury they had sustained by the importation
of foreign cattle, dead and alive. This was a matter of figures,
and, in dealing with it, he should follow his Right Honourable
Friend the late Chencellor of the Exchequer, whom he was
sorry to see on the opposite side of the House.—(Cheers and a
laugh.) [The Right. lion. Baronet then read extracts to show
that the importation of foreign cattle, since the tariff, had been
so insignificant as in no degree to affect the market;
but his figures were not heard in the gallery, even in
respect to one year or one item.] •Now, he would tell
his Honourable Friend what had a direct and immediate
tendency to lower the price of home-bred cattle. It was not
the importation of foreign cattle—in thousands or in tens of
thousands—it was the lowering of wages in the manufacturing
districts.—(Great cheering. ) In the part of the country
where he resided, and which was altogether an agricultural
district, they looked not to the quantity of foreign corn or
cattle imported, but to the state of employment in the manu-
facturing districts.—( Cheers.) Their present dread was, not
lest there should be an increase of foreign importation, hut that
there should be a relapse in the manufacturing districts—
( Cheers)-- because dime could be no depression of one class
of the community without the suffering of every other.—
(Cheers.) He (Sir James Graham) must say, as a landed
proprietor, that so small a demand on the part of the agricul-
turists never was made as that now put forward by his
Honourable Friend.—(Cheers and laughter.) His Honour-
able Friend had dwelt upon the poor-rate and the
county rates as peculiar burdens of the land. He did not
agree with his lion. Friend, but he would not now go Into the
question in detail. lie would confine himself to denying that the
present administration of the pour-law was injurious to the
labourers as to the rate-payers. The facts were, that from
lell3 to the present year, whilst the population bad increased
one-third, the number of paupers had decreased one-third;
and the rates lied decreased from 16e. per head to Ss. 3d.—
( Hear, hear.) The total of the rates had diminished from
7,764,000/. to 6,848,000/., or ahout 1,000,0001.—(Hear,
hear.) His -Hon. Friend had made little of the benefit to
ensue from the abuliticn of the cotton duties. Let them look to
the circumstances of those who depended or, that manufacture.
The deatitutien of ilie hand-loom weavers was extensive in the
extreme ; but the interests of the manufacturers and the agri-
culturists were sn extremely interwoven, that the one could not
well exit without sae other. It was true that the handloom
weavers had thei: looms and their dwellings, and that their
wives arid their children worked for fifteen or sixteen hours
a day for the sake of earning 6s. a week ; but where was their
aid to come from ? why it must be drawn from the laud. The
Hon. Member then proceeded to speak of the rural police; but
what was the tact with respect to them? Why the Nobles Lord
opposite did not eake it compulsory upon any county, but heleft
those to adopt it that chose. He admittedevith his Hon. Friend,
that the tithe commutation operated in some instances heavily
upon theland ; but. the truth was, that the tithe-owner was origi-
nally a co- parcener with the soil, and the Tithe Commutation Act
had greatly assisted the landowner by cutting off the co-parcener
from the soil lie (Sir J. Graham) thought he had now gorse
through the various points by which the Hon. Member had
endeavoured to make out the claims of the landowners. He
would now advert to the remedies he had proposed. The first
was a general Inclosure Act; the second was with regard to
drainage. Now both these subjects had been under the in-
vestigation of the Government, and he believed he did not
speak too confidently when he said that his Noble Friend at the
head of the Woods and Forests would be enabled to lay on the
table of the House, during the present session, measures on
both those subjects.—( Hear, hear.) Another point taken by
his lion. Friend was the allowing of malting for the purpose
of feeding cattle, and that point his Right lion. Friend the
Chancellor of the Exchequer was by no means averse to con-
sider.—( Hear, hear.) He now came to the next proposition
of the Hon. Member for Sontersetshire, which was that the
whole costs of prosecutions at assizes should be transferred
from the county rate to the public fund. A Committee of that
House had set in 1834 on the subject, and very wisely, he
thought, an rmendment had been made by the Government to
such a proposal. It was said if such a proposition was carried
that then counties would have no interest in preventing crime ;
the result was that the burden was agreed to he borne, half by
the county and half by the public He thought it would not be
prudent to disturb the present arrangement, and place the
whole burden on the public purse. The Hon. lleneber for So-
rn. ersetshire then proposed that the Executive Government
s'iould interfere in the management of gaols. He did not see
the necessity of investing the government of gaols in the hands
of the Executive and taking it from the counties. The Corn-
mit tee of 1834 first proposed that district unions should be formed
and that they would have the management of highways. Now
he (Sir J. Graham) thole-slit that such an arrangement might
be carried into effect with some benefit ; that the rel•ef of the
poor and the management of highways might be worked well
toe,ether.—( Hear, hear.) As to the next proposition of the
lion. Member, natnely, that of statute labour, he believed that
it hod be, n carried i to effect. Most of the recommendations
of the Committee were important ; but he was afraid they had
been but slightly attended to. The Right Hon. Baronet then read
several of the recernmendat ions of the Committee, and also do-
cuments, to show that they had most of them met with the
sanction of Parliament, hut that a carelessness bad been shown
in carrying them into effect. With respect to coroners, he
( sir J. Graham) thought the throwing of half the expenses
of that officer En the public funds would be unrea-
soneble ; because it should he remembered that the rate-
payers elected the coroner, and they, therefore cesild not com-
plain at the payment of his expenses. He was ashamed to
have occupied the Hose so long ; he admitted that to him
this was no nee proposition—it - was an old friend of his.—
( Laughter.) the had the hottotlr of being a Member of Lord
Grey's Government, and he then resisted it ; and again, in
We',4 and in le3o he'-ad adopted the same course. In short,
setiether in the Gover-on-ait or in the Opoo,ition he bad
.«,ic!l f,,l",ov‘ed th, 'one of (•oildnet, he hadt not changed
I,;s opit:ions now, aid he felt en hesitation in voting, therefore,
against the proposition of the Hon. Member for Somerset shire,
and fret the met 0:0 that the F.peaker de new leave the chair.
Mr. NEWDIGIATE supported the proposition of the Hon.
\letril,A: for Sonn.mt,hire. He thought the Right Hon.
'Baronet had entirely thrown out many of the principles laid
(le en by Isis Hon. Friend. lie rejoiced at the prosperity of
the manufacturing Interests,
but he could cot shut his eye;
to the declining state of agrieitlture. Re thought if the speech