The Sun.
London, England, 1817-03-14 00:00:00

I V'VP, OM MCty point 01 that peat -ptestion.bad,
after full deliberation, been decided upon by the
Mouse. Having the sanction of Pal lia•
''ment, he apprehended that the conduct of Minis-
. tcts could, not now be made the subject of inquiry.
11t Was certainly ready to acknowledge drat, as
fallible men, they might have columned mistakes;
but he was willing to leave it to the present ge-
',
iteration, and posterity, tolndge.Whetberlit those
great transactions, io "the adjustment of which
they had to participate, they had not donetheir best
for the niterests of the country. and of mankind.
Ile, for his part, should never regret that he had
been no party in rite framing of such Treaties
it• the Honourable and Learned Gentleman thought
noglit to have been the result of the late peace.—
Nothing,' lie thought, could he more criMinal
than exercising a power over other men, in order to
compel them to contribute to our interests. Such
a system almost always turned against the coun-
try which resorted to it. Where was the country
vt.ith which there coulA he arty hope of maintain-
hug a Treaty imposed upon it contrary to its inte-
rests ? In what suit of a, situistino would this
ennui! y have been placed had we Inert obliged
after pea cc to remain :armed for' the purpose' of
cmopelling the countries to subunit. to Treaties
.which they might think it their interest to break.
h regard to the questiou ot distress, he was
not disposed to deny its existence to a very con-
siderable extent ; but he was wen assisted that the,
state of .the country was imp, trying. A Member
from PM important district, who spoke last, had
acknossledged this improvement ; and hail forting.
borne, test imony , hat the distress didnot arise from
the smallness of the demand for our mantsfactores,
but from Ilk decreased price of labour. What had
pissed last Session, relative to another branch of
public in dustry, tv ra 'cola tad toaff,ad mach cons°.
lation in the consideration of the present subject.
The !louse would recollect, that the stair •nr
agriculture was then as depressed as that of ma-
nufattures is now. • Itt the speech: which the
111!.itiber for Essex with great ability addressed to
the ilouse, on billonitting his resolutions for the
ads'antage of agriculture, lie, with all his know-
ledge of the subject, fell into a manifest crror.-.
lle regal ded the dein ession of agricolt rite as per-
manent. The Committee of that House which
tuck the subject intocnnsideration, on the contrary
considered the distress to proceed from temporal y
causes, Capable of removal ; and the.eveut Fovea
their opinion to have been well founded. 'There was
often a soon, situilarny between the circumstances,
which tended to depress agriculture and those
oprrated.in the same way cm manufactures.
Au esnectazion of the introduction of foreign corn,
fur instance, always produced a rapid decline in the
value or agricultural produce. It was much the
'AMC' With manufactures, when, after a war, at
great mass of populatiou was thrown back on the
cot:wry to seek tor civil employments. This could
not. fail to cause a depression in the ;nice ot. la-
bour, and, combined with the low, price of corn,
had the effect of making all descriptions of pcy,
sons seek to indemnify themselves by a reduced
consumption, and other measures of economy.—
There were some accounts on the table to which
he should advert as evidence of the. present stare
of our foreign commerce/ They would amply
prove that ourtrade had not suffered in conscipieuce
of no° counmerrial treaties having been,concluded,
Of such trestles it onglut nlways to be remembered,
that the Pow, rs of the Continent curet tanned the
greatest jealousy, and could not now be persuaded
to adopt a system which would throw dirk cow.
mace into one channel for a given Sri ies of years.
To so great a height was that jealousy carried,
that though this colon y should not helve common
justice in a C011111)erCial convention, it %VMS!d be
thonght on the 'Continent that the bargain was
entirely to our advantage. The house would,

libwever, see from the accounts he should read,
that our trade did not need the assistance of stick
treaties. The'exports of our manufactures for the
Year 1816, iiccordirtg to the. 'statement of their of-
ficial Value, which the flouse knew was the fittest
for a rompanion of this knot,' amounted to
36,700,000 f. and this was the highest value they had
ever reached, except in the preceding year, when the
amount wa5,41,000,0001. In the year 1811, they
amounted to 36,000,0001. Upon eye! y fair principle
of reasoning, it might be concleded, that the unna-
' total 3111014itt of the exports of 1815 bad contri-
buted to the present distress it was well known,
that much speculation had previously taken place,
and that very great efforts were made to meet the
eXpected demand of peace. Very considerable
exports bad been made to America ; where, in
consequence of a distress similAr to that. it hictr
plevailed ict Europe, the power of purchasing had
diminished, and our manufactures, after lying for
a tint:: in warehouses, were re-exported to this
ehontry. prodnced a serpltur in the home
market, and a consequent depression of prices.
Ile woul4 show by the state of our exports
tfott there hail not been much falling oft.—
Last year we exported cotton goods to a higher
ainotnit than we ever did•on any tomer year, ex.
cFpt 'the preceding. lii 1816, the exports of cot-
ton were to the value of 16,306,0001. ; in 1815,
,000,0001. ; iu 1811, 16,000,0001. Our
Woollen" and fine!). matialseitiris Were ex-,
ported in a similar proportion compared with
preceding years. lu all our export trade there
was t,o indication of a great decline. Look-
irig at our intercourse with the 'Continent we
should be sensible that it %V tiS now greater than
at ,any ((Imre'. period ; and frOm this there was
every Lope that a revival of our comtperce might
be expected.., Oar home consumption .of ma.-
mifiretures had certainly been exceedingly ,
mitiished in couseptence of the great falling Op*
in Government demand ; this would be seen.by
a comparison Of the demand; of the ordnance, of
't Navy, and the Cow tit ittSdriti t for matotfactured
Articles and rodnee ilMing the last and preceding
years. lie hail not the ordnance ae.cottuts before
him, but it would be seen what difference existed
between the war rind peace dew rod of the Navy
Maid and the' COminisiariat from the following
,1
stir; vment ;—in the year 1812, the navy put chases
were to the umount of 2 300,0004.; in 1813,
2,800,0091.; in 181,1. 1,400,001/1..; in 1515,.
.505,0001.4 anti 1E416, :;17,0001, The Cow-
missari'it demand in 181.1 was 20,1)00/..; -In 1815,
533,0001.; and in 1816, 19.-,,0001. The, with-
drawing of this great delmmit trout the home mar-
ket the cause vf the dituinithedeonsumption of