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

relative to general inclosures. He thought a measure of
that kind, if effectually carried out, wouid be of as
much good to England and to the English labourer, and
be somewhat analogous to a healthy system of emigra-
tion.—(Hear, hear.) Let them once throw open a new
channel for the industry of the lower class, s, and it
would speedily be taken advantage of. But he thoueht
that one general Inelosure Bill should be passed, for it
was quite a hopeless task for private Members to try to
accomplish this object without the aid of the
Government. He earnestly hoped, therefore, that
Government itself would undertake this task.
He now came to a question which he would leave the
House to deal with, for it was hopeless to e-.pect that
Government would have to do with it. He (Mr. Miles)
with two Hon. Membt rs had waited on the Right Han.
Baronet the Secretary for the Home Departmt nt. The
Government took time to consider his dt-anands, but up
to that time he had heard nothing more upon the subject.

He had now come t' the House to ask a small reduction.

which he had good reason to believe had been thought
of by the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of tilt Go
vernment, and by the Noble Lord the Member for Lon-
&.t It would be in the recollection of the House, that in
1334 a Committee of the House had been proposed on
the subject of agricultural distress; and among the Hon.
Members who sat on tha. Committee woi.e the Right
Hon. Baronot at the head of the Government, and the
Noble Lord the Member for the City of London. The
Committee divided the subject matter of their inquiry
into four departments, from each of which emanated a
distinct report. One of those reports, to which he would
make particular reference, was that which resulted from
the Sub-Committee over which the Right Hon. Baronet
presided, on the subject of criminal prosecutions. This
Committee, as he had already said, was a sub-division
of the general Committee appointed to inquire into agri •
cultural distress. He would read an extract from the re-
port issued by the Committee of 1833. The Hon. Member
then read the extract alluded to, which stated that the
whole subject of the county rates was one well worthy of
the consideration of the House, and it recommended that
the payment of the cost of prosecutions should be borne,
not by the county, but by the Government. It charac-
terised the system of expenditure us anomalous in the
extreme, and unfitted for purposes of general utility, and
it called upon the House to give its deliberate attention
to the subject. He now came to the report on criminal
prosecutions which had been issued by the Committee
over which the Right Hon. Baronet presided, and that
also expressed a similar opinion with that he had read to
the House. That conclusion had been partly carried
into effi-ct, for in 1836 it wasdeterrnin,d, while the Noble
Lord was in ottico, that the prosecutions in counties
should he paid by the Garernment. HO -see the Noble
Lord did not exactly carry out the re-
commendations made to him in that report.

He could scarcely conceive, after the reading
of these reports, what answer the Govemnient
were now prepared to give him ; or why the recom-
mendetions made in 1834 should not be carried out in
1845. It would be in the recollection of the House that
the Government had sent dean to the country inspectors
to inquire into the condition of prison discipline. They
acted upon ministerial instructions, and he (Mr. Miles)
thought he bad a right to ask that the expenses end the
maintenance of prisoners committed for trial should
likewise be borne by the Government. The House
must remember that the county rates were not levied
upon the farmers alone, but upon the tenant. It was
the humble cottager that was called upon to pay them,
and though the aggregate amount must seem small
it pressed heavily upon them, and its remission, without
adding much to the expenditure of the Government,
would appear a step in the right. direction, and be a re-
cognition of a good principle. He would likewise ask.
that in particular cases the expenses of the Coroner's
Court should be remitted. On the coast bceles ere
frequently washed ashore, the Coroner was obliged to
hold a❑ inquest on them, and the expenses came off the
county rates. He asked them, in such a case as that, to
remit at least half the expenses. Another circumstance
which pressed heavily upon the ratepayers in counties,
was the expenses incurred in printing the re-
gistry of voters, and this expense also, he
conceived, should be borne by the Government.
What a euld be about the total expense to the Govern-
ment, supposing the whole of those recommendations
acre agreed to ? Let them take it in round numbers at
400,0001., but, deducting something from that. the whole
amount would Lot exceed 350,000/. He had thus en-

deavoured, ns shortly as possible, to brine before the no-
tice of the Ilouse the state of agricuhural distre:Rs' and
the agricultural interests generally. lie had called the
attention of the Government to certain recommendations

which he conceived vvuld be of the uttn,_,st benefit v. the

agriculturists. at the same time that he had pointed
out the evils which peculiarly pressed upon them—wore
particularly the poor-rates of the country. The con-
stituencies were more alive to the nec,ssity thit ex-
isted that the representatives should endeavour to carry
out these objects—,:bieets calculated to i4uctit that class
which placed the Itil..;ht non. Baronet in the position
which he then held. It had been said that the rents
had been paid up, and that, therefore, the distress was
transient and could not be general. Such was not the

fact. The rents were paid up because it was quite im-
possible for any persen to hold a tenant upon his lands if
he could not meet his expenses. But it was a certain
tact that for the last few years they bad not made any
profit. There was a want of confidence in the measures
now brought forward by the Government ; they said
that nothing could be worse than the position they now
occupied, el it was but seldom that they heard now
from the lips of her Majesty's Ministers any allusion to
their interest. They stated that the few words given by
the Right Hon. Baronet tsi the agricultural interest, at the
close of his financial statement, filled them with distrust.
In the very bathe sessien in which the corn laws were
pessed they saw the duty on articles over which the
shield of protection had been thrown suddenly removed,
' and the agriculturists very naturally said —" What is to
prevent the cern-laws coming next ?"—(Hi ar, hear,
and cheers from the Opposition benches.) leeiking a:.
the burdens of agriculture, he said they had a right to
protection, or if this protection was not. afforded ths as. it
was nothing but right that they should be released from
some of the taxes which pressed upon them. When he
said this he was stating, not his own cpinon, but the
opinion of the farmers, w ho thought the Government would
do much to restore their former prosperity by uphold-
ing the cern- law& It was a knowledge of this circums
stance which heel induced him to bring this subject
be-
fore the House; but, at the same time, he must declare
to the House that it was done without the sanction of
the agricultural body. He had thought it' necessary, in
bringing this discussion upon the fluor of the House of
Commons, to state the sentiments of the faenters, and
ho could assure Hon. Members that he bad mentioned
nothing which he did not sincerely and conscientiously
believe to he thunded in truth nod Justice; nod it now
remained fur the House to say whether it affirmed or
rejected his rssolution.
Lord MARCH seconded the amendment, but after the able
speech of the Elan. Member for Somersotshire, he would tree-
pass upon the time of the House but for a very few minutes.
tie had been sent there to represent a large agricultural con-
stitueney, who had returned him upon the firm determination
that he would uphold agricultural protection. He did not
think, therefore, he should be doing his duty by them, if he did
not, on that occasion, express his entire coneurreece in the
sentimen s propounded by his Hon. Friend. Every protection
which had been afforded to agricultural produce had, within the
last few years, been reduced to an enormous extent, an extent
which, in his mind, was far greater than either the exigencies
of the times called for, or was compatible with the interests of
the country. The agriculturists had a fair right to ask, not as
a favour, but as an act of justice, that they shoald be relieved
from some of the burdens of local taxation. Great
distress prevailed amongst the farmers of England—a
distress which was sot peculiar to locality, but was
to he found in every part of the country. In support of this
statement, he could refer with confidence to the deputations
which waited upon the Right Hon. Baronet some time ago,
and stated to him their ideas and their sentiments open the
subject, as well as to the numerous petitions that had been
presented to Parliament from many parts of the country.
'He supported the corn-laws when they were originally
brought forward, bat had he been aware that it was the
intention to introduce the Canada Corn-Bill, no power on
earth would have induced him to say a word in their favour.
The House could not resist the appeal µ hich beg been
made to relieve the agricultural distress antler which they
had been labouring. They did not ask the House to benefit
them, but they looked to Parliament for justice, and he
trusted they would not look in vain.
Sir J. GRAHAM, who was more than usually indistinct,
rose to declare the intentions of her Majesty's Government with
regard to the amendment proposed by the Hon. Member for
Somerset. But before doing so, he would take the opportunity
of thanking the Hon. Member himself, and the Noble Lord
who last spoke, for the moderation and temper with which he
had brought the subject before the House. In the first place,
he must observe, that they were not discussing the extent or
the validity of protection. Nor were they discussing the
propriety of continuing or discontinuing legislative pro-
tection to agriculturists.—(Hear.) His Honourable Friend
who had brought the amendment forward, had entered into
lengthened details with reference to the condition of agricul-
ture, and the distress which existed in the various parts of the
country. In doing this his Hon. Friend had laid the founda-
tion, not for his motion on the paper which they were then dis-
cussing, but rather for the repeal of the existing corn-laws—a
repeal of the Canada Corn Bill, or the re-consideration of some
portions of their tariff. Before glancing at some portions of
the speech made by his Hon. Friend, he would first bring under
the coosiderationof the House what had been the financial policy
of the Government smite the time they had first taken office.
Certainly it had not been directed exclusively to the advancement
of the landed interest of the country, but he believed it was
generally admitted they had adopted a course which was cal-
culated, not only to benefit one, but the whale of the existing
interests of the country. It would be remembered, that when
they first came into office they found a very considerable
deficiency in the revenue. There was a large expenditure
which gleatly exceeded the public resources of the country.
At this time it would also be recollected that the Right Hun.
Gentleman the Member for Portsmouth had some short tines
before strongly depreciated the continuance of this deficiency,
and the Right Hcnourable Gentleman determined that
a great efftot was necessary on the part of the
country to meet the demands of a declining exchequer. The
Right Hon. Gentleman's Government, of which he was a dis-
tinguished member, applied a particular remedy, and in doing
so they drew largely on the resources of the consumer. They
proposed to increase by five per cent. all the dudes of customs
and excise, and the assessed taxes ten per cent. Now the re-
sult of that. experiment was well worthy of remark. The in-
crease of five per cent. upon the consumer, so far from pro-
ducing a corresponding increase in the revenue, lett still
a deficiency of 1700/. Now what was the parti-
cular lesson which this financial experiment taught her
Majesty's present Government? Why it convinced them
that the limits of indirect taxation had been abso-
lutely reached, and therefore, if they wished to restore
the prosperity of the country, they must abandon indirect taxa-
tion and introduce direct taxation to a greater extent than it
had ever been before tested in a time of peace • consequently,
in the year 1842, the Right Hon. Baronet at Ale head of the
Government made two propositions. He proposed the imposi-
tion of an ins, me and property-tax upon the country, from
which it was then anticipated that not oily would the public
service be provided for, but an available surplus be obtained.
It was contemplated, at the same time, that this surplus should
be applied to the remission of indirect taxation, and in the year
1842 his Right Hon. Friend made a remission of no less than
1,135,000/.. upon articles of raw material upon which im-
mense capital andextensive labour was always employed. One
of those articles of raw material consisted of timber, the remis-
sion of the duty on which not only gave large employment to