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

they and the farmers could only prosper by the general pros-
perity of the country.—( Hear.) It was a fact well known to
many that the lab.,urers could reason fairly upon this topic,
and they frequently displayed that acuteness of intellect
deni-d to those who lead a file of luxurious ease and indolence.
He would not have supported the preposition of her Majesty's
Government, or oppose the motion of his Hon. Frienl, did he
not believe from the bottom of his heart that the budget of
1842 and the budget of 1815 were the commencement of a
great series of financial experiments—the commencement of a
new system of taxation—the commencement of a new
system of encouragement of trade, manufactures, com-
merce, and agriculture—in short, the commencement of a new
system for the promotion of the reward of industry, which,
when finally accomplished and carried out to the end, would be
for the benefit of all classes of the people—would raise the value
of property, would raise the value of labour, and tend to the
maintenance of English peace and English liberty, and the
maintenance of that constitution under which they had been
born and bred.

Lord WORSLEY did not think the Hon. Gentleman who
had lust sat down had spoken the sentiments of the farmers.
The farmers had petitioned in favour of the existing protection
being continued, fearing that it might be attempted to reduce
it. His Noble Friend who had seconded the motion, was the
mover of the address in 1842, and at that time an expectation
was held out to the farmers that the corn-laws would maintain
wheat at a certain price. In that expectation they had been
disappointed. It hod been said that the agricultural distress
was not general, that it ?id not exist to a great extent in the
north of England. This was true ; but the reason was,
that the farmers of the north had a greater amount
of capi al than those of the south. The distress
had not sprung up this year, but had gradually been increasing
for two or three years past, and now it was showing itself in
such a fo-m as to compel the farmers to speak out. He had
refused the other night to go into Committee on this subject,
believing that it would delude the fat mer to do so; but he saw
nothing in that resolution which had been proposed by the
Hon. Member for Somersetshire, calculated to delude the
farmer. If Hon. Gentlemen representing county con-
stituencies should refuse to vote for that motion, their
constituencies would be grievously disappointed, for they
would consider it tantamount to saying that their re-
presentatives did not believe that the agricultural dis-
tress justified the interference of the House of Commons.
Mr. D'ISRAELI said that if he had succeeded in catching
the Speaker's eye, when he in vain attempted to do so, as the
Noble Lord the Member for London terminated his speech, he
would have presumed to have offered some considerations to the
House upon the great question respecting protection to native
industry, which he would not presume to do at that hour
of the night ; and, therefore, he was afraid he must
restrict himself to the principle of discussion which had been
'bid down by his Hon. Friend the Member for Winchester, and
confine himself strictly to the motion before the House. Other-
wise, he could assure the Noble Lord, that watching as they
all must do with great interest, the formation of the character
of an individual so eminent,who had been, as he informed them,
thirty years in that House, but who did not appear to arrive at
a result as to what was the interest of the country, that
he (Mr. D'lsraeli) would not presume to place his opinion,
founded on a much more recent experience of the House than his,
yet, he would dare say, that after all, one truth was evident, per-
haps even for that discussion—namely, that protection wag not
a principle hut an expedient. If an expedient, it must d. pend
on circumstances; it could not be settled by these quotations of
extra dogmas which had been stated by the Noble Lord.—
( Hear, hear.) He could not doubt that they should all of them
have ample opportunity of discussing that great question
which was now the question of the age and the
country.—( Hear, hear.) They should all of them,
either by their speeches or votes in that House, or on the
hustings, sooneror later, come to a test upon the great question,
not whether you will have protection, or free-trade, for that is
not the alternative, but whether you will have free imports.—
( Hear, hear.) He was one of those who thought that there
was much to be said on both sides, but he could not forget
the speech of the Hon. Member for Stockport, which he was
sure would not be easily forgotten—( Hear, hear)—and there-
fore, he would not say that much more was to be said on both
sides. Yet he could say without great presumption, and with
great respect, that much more might be said on one side than
was yet offered to the House.—( Laughter and loud cheers. )
He might presume to enter into this question at that heur, if,
indeed, he were in the position of some of those, who were at
the head of affairs, and who might at such an hour
rise, and with the certainty of being heard, enter
into a field so vast.—( Hear, hear.) He could not
forget that before they came to a settlement of this great
question they must grapple with the great point—the war of
hostile tariffs —( Hear, hear.) They must ascertain how far
imports would affect the rate of wages—how far they would
have an effect upon the rate of price—how far cause a disturb-
ance of the precious metals—how any disturbance of the pre-
cious metals might affect the possibility of their maintaining
the standard.—( Hear.) He did not offer those considerations
in a dogmatic tone to the House, but merely to show that be-
fore they came to a settlement of a question which must be set-
tled—( Hear, hear)—there were great numbers of considera-
tions which must be entered into in an unimpassioned and pro-
found manner.—( Hear.) Now he came to the question be-
fore the House—the question mentioned by the Hon. Member
for Winchester, who opposed the motion with so much fervour.
He would meet the Hon. and Learned Gentleman on the
ground he had himself chosen. They had a motion upon this
subject, the terms of which must be familiar to every gentle-
man present, namely to take into consideration, in arranging
the surplus at the disposition of the Minister, the claims of
agriculture. That was not a new motion—it had been
brought before the House before. The motion had been in-
troduced before. It was introduced when the Gentlemen who
now sit on this side of the House sat on the opposite side—under
identical circumstances a similar motion was proposed. Well,
what had taken place order circumstances which ought to be
some guide to them as to the result of the present motion? That
motion was not triumphant, although it was very
nearly so, for it was supported by a powerful opposition, not
undistinguished for its power of cohesion.—( Laughter.) In
1836 a powerful c Tposition wished to try a fall with not a
feeble, but, at the same time, not a confident Government—
( Laughter)—and they selected this motion as the battle field
on whiali the power of parties was to be tested. That motion
was proposed by a Noble Friend of his, now a Member of the
other House of Parliament, but who waa then Member for
Buckinghamshire ; and though it was a discussion of not any
great length, it was distinguished by an interesting and able
speech from the Hon. Member for Dumfries. There was a
division—a division which did not shake the Government to its
eery re, but which at least made it tremble. —( Laughter. )
There was, in 1836, a majority of above thirty in favour
of the administration on a vital question—a question of
confidence. The motion was identical in its phraseology—so
identical, that he should have thought the Hon. Member for
Somerset, feeling that he had some necessity of having re-
course to successful tactics—(Laughter)—had referred to au.
thority on this occasion, and determined to bring forward a mo-
tion which came recommended not only by numbers, hut by
distinguished names.—( Hear, hear.) Looking to those lists
embalmed in those records to which they tall repaired—
( Laughter)—he then read the names of those who voted with
his Noble Friend, and judging from that, he thought that the
Hon. Member for Somerset must have not only equal success
but greater success on this occasion, for this was a Conservative
House of Commons, and that was a Whig one.—(Loud cheers
and laughter.) Now he would tell the Hon. Member for
Somerset, on whom he might rely for support. There was the
Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary for Ireland,
who voted for an identical motion under similar
circumstances.—( Hear, hear.) He knew that Right
Hon. Gentleman too well to doubt that he would not
vote the same way to-night.—( Hear, hear, and much laughter. )
There was then a surplus, and the agriculturaf interest came
forward, and said, " Are we not to be considered ?" The
Right Hon. Gentleman said they ought to be considered, and
he was not surprised at it—( Hear, hear, and laughter)—for
the Right lion. Gentleman was always a friend to agriculture.
He remembered having had the honour of meeting the Right
Hon. Gentleman in presence of his constituents, and he could
not forget the occurrence, for the Noble Lord presided with
whom he had voted in 1836.—( Hear, hear.) He remembered
the speech the Right Hon. Gentleman made under those cir-
cnmstances. They were dreary moments —( Laughter )--for
they were then in a position when there was no chance for
power unless they were carried forward by the agricultural
cry.—(Loud cheers.) He knew the constituency of Bucking-
ham, and he knew that they were so satisfied with their
accomplished representative—(Laughter)—that if they were
content with his sympathy in opposition, they would be
sure that in the Government they would have a friend
on whom they could rely.—( Laughter and cheers.) Could
the electors of Buckingham for a moment suppose that the
Right Hon. Gentleman, who in 1833 voted for a simple resolu-
tion, and later than 1836 voted for a motion similar to the
present—that the Right Honourable Gentleman would vote
against a motion similar to the one he supported in 1836?
Of course they could not, and of course he would not
( Laughter and cheers.) The Noble person who presided over
the dinner could not imagine any such thing, for when he
found that the policy of the Cabinet was opposed to the prin.
ciples which he held, he quitted it at once.—( Hear, hear,
arid laughter.) They might therefore count upon the support
of the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary for Ireland.
He did not think they could despair of the Hon. President of
the Board of Trade.—( Laughter, and cries of " hear, hear.")
He supported a motion of the kind under similar circum-
stancea. —( Renewed cries of " Hear, hear," and laughter,)
There was an odd rumour lately about certain opinions which
the electors of Stamford held, and the mode in which they
Rave vent to them.—( Great laughter.) The Right Hon.
Gentleman the Vice-President of the Board of Trade was
now Member for Stamford, and must, he had no doubt, in
accordance with the views he entertained in 1836, consider
that in a surplus budget agriculture had a right to be con-
sidered. —( Hear, hear, and renewed laughter.) He had no
doubt, he repeated, but the Vice-President of the Board of
Trade would vote now as he voted then.—( Loud cries of

hear, hear," and great cheering from the Opposition.) He
thought the Noble Lord was a Member of the Cabinet.
He meant the Nlember for South Nottinghamshire. He
would not forget the course he then took, and now vote as he
had voted before.—( Cries of " Hear, hear," cheers, and
laughter.) If he considered then the claims of the agricultural
interest, as a member of the Government he would not fail to
remember that interest.—( Hear, hear.) Might he go further ?
He believed some of the Lords of the Treasury—( Hear, hear)
—amongst others the Clerk of the Board of Ordnance (who
took so much interest in agriculture that it prevented him from
forgetting him) voted for the motion.—( Hear, hear.) So you
see how many votes (said the Hon. Member, facetiously) my
Hon. Friend the Member for Somersetshire can count upon,
although he seemed to forget them when he made his speech.
—( Hear, hear, from the Opposition benches.) No doubt all
the constituencies from Buckingham and Chippenham would be
doubly grateful for being so well misrepresented.—( Great
laughter, and cries of " Hear, hear," from the Opposition. )
The Right Hon. Gentleman at the head of the Government
gave, on the occasion referred to, a contrary opinion.—( Hear,
hear.) He would be 1,47 sorry to make a statement in any
way erroneous, and, therefore, he would distinctly state that
the Right Hon. Gentleman on that occasion acted in a different
manner from most of those who sat on the same side of the
House with him. No, the Right Hon. Gentleman did not
vote for that motion—he went into the Whig-lobby alone—
left his party, and voted against the motion. The Right Hon.
Gentleman behaved throughout in tie most handsome manner.
(Roars of laughter.) He expressed his annoyance, however,
at the indiscreet conduct of his party against the Minister of
the day.—( Hear, hear, and cheers from the Opposition.) He
did not rise in his place and read them a lecture—( Hear,
hear)—and he did not say, although they had gone
into a different lobby from their leaders, " You are
in opinion rebellious."—(Loud cries of " Hear," and
great cheering from the Opposition.) The Right Ho-
nourable Gentleman having preserved his consistency still
kept on the very best terms with his party.—( Great laughter.)
That was the state of the case and the House must recollect it.

—( Hear, hear.) He had no doubt that the Right Honourable
Baronet, following the precedent he had then set, would give
the same latitude to his supporters as he did then.—(lronical
cries of " Hear, hear.") He might quote Hansard in support
of what he had stated, but the facts must be fresh in the recol-
lection of every body. This was " sticking to the question,"
as his Hon. Friend said.—( Hear, hear, and great laughter.)
Did his Hon. Friends around him view the conduct of the
Right Hon. Gentleman in the same light as he did ? Well, if
they did, and if their constituencies were satisfied, they should
not grumble—their conduct was quite unjustifiable.—( Laughter
and cries of " Hear.") The Right Hon. Baronet had done
more for agriculture than any Minister of this country had dono
for a quarter of a century before. That was his (Mr. D'lsraeles)
solemn opinion, and though he sometimes came into momen-
tary collision with the Treasury bench, he felt bound to make
this statement. lie was prepared to maintain that opinion.....