The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-27 00:00:00

-

kietir*Eiti.AL PA 131.1A.14.6NT. t lls. 6d. wholly unaccounted for.—(Tory cheers and
The tit )USE oiF COMMONS, June 26 1 laughter.) The Hon. Member having concluded the
fl•iut, 6PEAKEtt tools the Chair at the usual hour reading of the extracts of the speeches of the members
Ile'ne " °"k), at a hich time there were exactly forty of the League on this subject, reierred to a paragraph in
T., iers -,-sect. the Quarterly Review, and then said he would now ad-
s'r!e, Lnts' Aetemlinents ti, the Maneheds r Potice vert to the lass. section, namely, the interference of the
:re reed end age ee' to. , Corn-law League in the elections of the country. The
11;1r is takes Nano elieation Bid was real a third time Hon. Member then proceeded to read extracts from
' Passed, speeches made by m-mbers of the League on the subject.
Oa
lish, the nsotien ef Lord INGESTRE, the Gall The League had offered a reward of 100/. at several of
_ v timethe elections for the detection of bribery, but had not
e.,(41::3' asst Coal Mieing Coany Bill was read a
and ordered to beeentnitted, after a few • succeed in establishing a single case.—(The Hon. Mem-
furr. ations fro! N: "
1:1 --1% ....0E131.7CK. and Mr GLADSTONE. : ber exhibited a placard offering the reward. He then
read a letter from the Right Hon. Gentleman, the Mem-
•,egied 134IGHT presented a petition from Rochdale,
ber for Edinburgh, to Mr. Maclaurin, a member of the
tee, 133. 6,000 persons, slimiest the formation of a
League, declining to attend an Anti-Corn-law meeting.)
leeotlce`r*Yeemanry in that town and district. The Hon.
He (Mr. S. O'Brien) had learned that, in consequence of
of the gave notice that, on reading the Orders
this refusal, Mr. Maclaurin had determined to contest
th_
ee Day to-tnerrow, he should call the attention of
...!.S cretary of State for the Hume Department to the the representation of Edinburgh with Mr. Macaulay;
"set. 1 and he (Mr. O'Brien) hoped, if he did, that he would be
ate sap well beaten.. The League had recently interfered in
of tee tNISON presented a petition against the union
••e sees of - several elections, but had been successful in none—all
Nit _ . Bangor and St. Asaph.
koper lII' THERFORD presented a petition from the ' the victories of the League came at first, all its reverses
fur • B°f Leith, praying for the of the duty on
repeal at last. The only borough that had returned a member
egn stave •• 1 of the League, was that in which the League had not.,
kr. W. ' and would not, be permitted to interfere. The League
tetthe. 'MILES presented petitions from Somerset-
t " against the agitation• ' d by the
orielaw League , calm on Anti- .
' was very extravagant in its promises, but very scanty in
, its performances. Notwithstanding that they had vast
t/n the , and in favour of protection.
resources, and considerable ability, six months ago the
kt,s motion of Mr. WYSE the following resolution
' League was in the height of its power and influence—
tzi‘agreed to:—.That the Second Report from the Com-
ihe
.puners appointed by his late Majesty King William what were they now ? and what had they accomplished?
If he had desired an organised body, possessing all the
to it, uttb, and re-appointed by her Majesty the Queen,
means and appliances for the destruction of our insti-
tatOutre into the manner in which railway communi- 1
tutions, he would have selected the Anti-Corn-law League.
laid, s can be most advantageously promoted in Ire-
They had endeavoured to sow dissension among the
Ititie.sinned by T. Druummed, T. F. Burgoyne Peter 1
dpiy,wi, and Richard Griffith, dated the 13th 'day of different classes of the community ; in fact the League
r possessed all the elements for sedition—they had de-
Itts•ent3B, and the appendixes annexed thereon, and
Glared that this House did not represent the people, and
Al i'c, ,ed to both Houses of Parliament by order of her '
had impudently attempted to tamper with and influence
lisatlie!LY, be referred to the Committee on the Great
Dr and Western Railway (Ireland) Bill, ' the constituencies of the kingdom.—(Laughter.) If
the proceedings of this body were not adverse to the law,
biss • iIiCHOLL presented several petitions against the
Lenters' Chapels Bill. 1 they certainly were abhorrent to the Constitution of this
tarad'd INGESTRE presented petitions from Wolver- country. He would vote against the motion, because he
did not wish to see .protection to British agriculture
he,ret"n, :Milton, Brough, and other places, against the •
hp
s, or the corn-laws. abolished, and because he did not consider the present a
air GOD IN CRIMINAL CASES. , fitting or a proper time to make the motion ; and, at the
the .GOD for . Kelly, moved the O rder of
selfish, unconstitutional policy of the Anti-Corn-law
-same time, he would enter his protest against the narrow,
eiti Dad'e for the secondM rer adieg of the Appeal in Crimi- '
osat .',.;es Bill, for the purpose of postponing it until ' League.
Captain LAYARD said another opportunity was now
ofte "ednesday, ahen Mr. Kelly would take the sense
tee
Rouse upon it. given to the House of taking under consideration,a law
air , COURT OF ARCHES BILL. which, in his opinion, was opposed to the best interests
I) ' IT• ELPHI \STONE moved that the Order of the of the people, and in direct opposition to the principles
aY, fo ' of humanity and justice. And although there was no
the e r the adjourned debate on the second reading of .
dctubt that the Ministers would, on this occasion, corn-
ferin;°°,lt of Arches Bill, be postponed until this day
,nt•— Agree d to mend an overwhelming majority, and that the Hon.
lieeil •••`-'ES OF MOTIONS.—SECRET DEPART- Member for Wolverhampton's motion would be defeated,
kr, MENT OF THE POST-OFFICE. yet he felt that the opinion of the people of this country
that the interests of the many were sacrificed for
Tee,a T. DUNCOMBE gave notice that he would, on was,
the benefit of the few; and that the tower of strength
leto'',sY next, move for a Select Committee to inquire
1 which the agriculturists prided themselves upon, not
tseoitne Department of the General Post-office, com-
being founded on the rock of justice, would finally be
' al sY called the Secret-office, the duties of the persons
swept away by the tide of public opinion, which, for
14: ed therein, and the authority under which the
ties, . some time had been setting in against it, and by which
• s of the said office are discharged.—(Hear.)
IRISH AND SCOTCH BANKS.
fosr OIsEHOUSE gave notice that, on the motion it was already undermined.—(Hear, hear.) It was not
only the injustice of this law in itself, the depriving the
• 1.%
people of cheap food, the restriction it put upon mann-
eoure a
n into Committee on the Bank Charter Bill, he
factures, the feeling of distrust which the people felt
the he rsk a question of the Right Hon. Gentleman at
against those who acted upon such selfish as well as
of theaGovernment either this sessiond of the t;overnment, hether it
or next was the
to extend intention
ridiculous opinions, but the other bad consequences
U 4 _Provisions of the Bank Charter Bill to the banks of which it entailed ;for it was for the sake of the corn-law
eland and Scotland. that the House had been made to lower itself as it had
0 CORONERS (IRELAND) BILL. done upon the Factory Bill; and alas! which miserable
Ikon the motion of Mr. GROGAN, the Coroners (Ire- example it had again followed on the sugar duties. We
were apt to speak of the superiority of this country to
co,') till was rcad a second time, and ordered to be
,itlnltita e on ea,
It eeday week. others in her laws and institutions; but for his (Captain
Layard's) part, he thought that as long as this law was
tee, '' ,Ippeals ion Criminal Cases Bill, the Lime Toll
in operation we could not do so with justice. Some
/liii,LlPtioe (Ss'ales) Bill, and the Juvenile Offenders
w. years ago, when in China, ho was fortunate enough to
re po-tpont d.
CO s
-LA IV S.—ADJOURNED DEBATE. become acquainted with one of the Hong merchants, a
4,
clever, intelligent person ; and they often used to con-
bate CORN -LA
on the corn-laws was then read. o Ore!er of the Day for resuming the adjourned
verse on the different customs and manners of their re-
er
ttl, i• t'TAFFORD O'BRIEN said, the Noble Lord spective countries. He (Captain Layard) told his
Chinese friend how barbarous the practice was ac-
firstelad oeeupied the last hour of last night, and the
counted which they (the Chinese) followed of bandaging
Itle"Our of tee meriting, had alluded to the agricultural
up the feet of their children as soon as they wereborn, and
eir °Jers. of Dorsetshire, but he should leave the Hon-
all the small toes under the sole of the foot, and
di0,4410 Member for thet county to reply to his state- pressing
he asked his friend if many of the children did not die
fe4t'• There was much, however, in the Noble
raps
from such treatment, and what
as, ' statement. in which they must all agree. There
barbarous custom? The reply was, the custom is a
itb, 'll acknowledgment of n e extreme difficulty and
cruel one. Hundreds die from mortification; but we
T°l•tance of the subjectunder consideration, and there
has 4., . j a set of old women
have. who live by it, and is a part of
Ise 0," admission of the du they owed to the poor ;
their trade, and we cannot break through it. Now, if
• ehi koere w as a ver feeling allusion to the great interval
the Chinese merchant had asked him (Captain Layard)
• Itlere(l, now separated the poor from the rich. Hon.
if it was true that we had a law by which the food of
umbers oppesite often alluded to the extreme import-
our people was restricted, if he had said, true, our wo-
the"e Of providing a sufficient supply of necessaries for
men take short steps, but yours are on short commons;
'kg itoeople. The question was one of great importance,
(Hear.) ours die in infancy from mortification, but yours die at
It was the question of cheap provisions.--
all ages, from disease and decline, brought on by insuffi-
. oe,es,"a's pars of he! tactics of the members of the Anti-
ciency of food—what could he (Captain Lityard) have
tht;l4:ltitv League, when they met with an argument
answered, not at that time having heard the celebrated
ttr,d they couki not answer, to call it an exploded fallacy,
est io talk about old ladies and country squires, and speech of the Paymaster-General of the Forces, that
this law must be enforced for the dower of young ladies
ez4h. they had raised a laugh under cover of that, to fall
and the jointure of old ones? For his part, he thought
to t ,uPon some argument ‘ril,Te easily manageable, and
our Legislature quite as barbarous as the Chinese. He
..444,1 that returning to the original question. The
felt that some gratitude was due from the Right Hon.
- led gun had a great advantage in haranguing multi-
Baronet at the head of her Majesty's Government to the
Nes" On account of their violence and their extreme princi-
League ;for the very man, who some time ago he had
lie • They contended for total and immediate repeal, and
is ea.. charged with wishing to have him assassinated, had
. tood,. ‘e them a great pr sent advantage over more
come to his assistance, and saved for a time his political
lies Tr4te men ; but when they came to put their theo-
existence. The Right Hon. Baronet had certainly lost
lase,d.' Practice, they would discover that they were im-
the great guns from his party; but as they had been
shiest,'leable. One of their principles was to buy in the
ei and to sell in the dearest market. Now, he pretty well used up, perhaps the Right Hon. Baronet
le ;lever heard of any one that would object to that as did not think it of much consequence. He alluded to
the Hon. Members for Knaresborough and Shrewsbury.
ellesaostract proposition. But were lion. nientlemen op-
settite prepared to carry out that proposition without The Hon. Member for Knaresborough was at first con-
' the Promise ? (Hear, hear, from the Opposition.) Were sidered a great gun; indeed, he had been fired right and
th,Yl3r-parcd to carry it out in private life ? Would left amongst the manufacturers ; the Hon. Member for
et ?edismiss an old man, whom they had long employed Knaresborough having, as he thought, had enough of
Am"- a week, because they could get a younger man to the manufacturers, took a shoot at his own party,
le ,"srtake the Fame a ork for 10s. a neck ? If they car- when the Right Honourable Baronet the Secre-
tetart' Jut that principle strictly, there would be an end t, Home Department, calling Mr.
, eeall neighbourly feeling and domestic charity, and if it Mott to his assistance, rushed in to stop the
alls,re to be carried out without compromise in public discharge, but it had taken place, and in his (Captain
eset! it would des'roy our honour, our defences, and our Layard's) opinion, had considerably damaged all who
, 0ti1°44.1 character. If any foreigner, acquainted with had anything to do with it. The Hon. Member for
t .1t
r.social state, were to be t"4l Cult there were a set of Shrewsbury, he thought, might very fairly be compared
.Itea to a clock which went pretty well for some time, but not
'4, Rho were in favour of a total and immediate
the of the corn-laws, he would say that having been oiled, at last began to go rather irregularly.
,to muse be either too visionary to be listened The hands at one time were supposed—the clock hav-
ing gone three or four hours without stopping—upon
tt.Or too dangerous to be trusted. The Pro-
tiaore,
Its might as well raise a cry for a return to the foreign policy, to point to some diplomatic appointments
abroad ; it had been hinted that the Shrewsbury clock,
• hear Prices, as the Anti-Corn-law League for total and
• aCeetdate repeal. The League had done themselves though it had not yet aspired publicly to being the
clock at the Horse-guards, and thus to regulate all the
altr.). by their violence. For one recruit that joined
we'll, many h-ft them ; and those who were leaving them odher. clocks, bad certainly wished to be the clock at the
Admiralty, where exact time was not of se muck conse-
Nit° the parties who supplied the sinews of war. AU
(pence. The Right Hon. Baronet not thinking the
tee,. the League consider, because of the violence of their
Shrewsbury clock to be a chronometer, was perfectly re-
teeit"cals, that the Right Hon. Baronet was induced to
attempts of gardless of what way it went ;so at last it became quite
' the'e the declarations he had done ? The
ta Lsatsue had been unworthy of them. Whatever irregular, attacked the Right Hon. Baronet for taking
e it, the liberty of talking about the gentleman who said he
ea. conduct of the landowners had been,
would squeeze himself into a quart .bottle, no doubt
tre very duff:Tent from that of the League.
j 4, would now go into the history of the knowing
.it was no very pleasant operation to try to
squeeze into any place, however small, and not be able
ttegue, and in doing so he must ask for -some consider-
•a•'Pati- •the Housebtdoing so he
°l once from ; u before to effect it.—(Loud laughter.)
" A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind."
el. t'i'd advert to s,,me of the statements of the members
But now the Right Hon. Baronet, and the Right Hon.
I' Lt--", 11 T H. n Member then referred to a
tee., ,• „I . e 0 . .
Gentleman the President
Veil of Si:. Coliden's, a! d also to one made by the
boldly come forward upon free trade principles, seeing
feo7l. Memeer ter 8..b0n. He also read several extracts
how little power those gentlemen had, and having no
'Ph:n ,Sll eches delivered by Mr. Ward and Mr. Blight.
reason to fear the watch-word of the Hon. Member for
ha i',_ 'Ton. Mem n, r for Dot i,am spoke of the aristocracy
Reading, however powerfully exerted—" To your tents,
, e,l the enemies of the human race as locusts preying
0. Israel !"—(Laughter.) Nothing could be more as-
aeothe , womunit; , and said that the distresses of the
tounding than to find the Hon. Members for Knaresbo.
'4 Pie were laughed to scorn in the halls 01 the aristocracy.
les.'• lion. Member for atockport did not entirely confine rough and Shrewsbury against Ministers, and the Hon.
Members for Stockport and Durham supporting them.
41; ',erste eto the landed aristocracy. He said much
But such had been the case. The Noble Lord, the Se-
ott'ater ecere was due to th se' mercantile men who be- But
for the Colonies, had brought forward a fixed
e5l 103 of the aristocraey. Ile must now beg the
duty for Canada ; would he do so for this country? Why
often 1-e of all the House, except the Members
.1 the Anti-Corn -law League. (The Honourable he had ,not done so, he (Captain Layard) could not
h tell ; 'except that, following the example, instead of
e 1
ee'lerti speeches, ndser here untied a large bundle of quotations
&c., made by these gentlemen ; the ap- learning from the history of Jeptha, and having made
tl7l4•l'ce of h excited a general cry of " Oh, oh," from unwise promises and rash vows at the end, it might be
he "louse.) The first quit .flog read by the Hon. Mem-
called the twilight, of one session of Parliament, he was
4
, `lls ene from a speech of the Hon. and Learned determined that the House should pay the sacrifice in
teh.4l'eer for Bolton, at a dinner at that town in 1838, in the next, which it accordingly did. At any rate, he
thought the Noble Lord ought not to object to an in-
teg'is he called on merchants and tradesmen to join the
into the law as it at present stood.—(Cheers.)
keaisrue. In another part of the speech the Hon. and Learned quirt'
tc, nsber (Dr. Bowring) said that the "Anti-Corn-law Some short time ago he (Captain Layard), being at the
le'eariNe would be the arbiter of political power."—(A Opera, had the pleasure of seeing the Right Hon. Ba-
sle and ironical cries of " Hear' upon the Opposition net there—(Laughter)—and he certainly thought that
• fs„,S) The next quotations read by the Honourable the beautiful ballet of Ondine—(Renewed laughter)—
s(Vletnan were from the "Anti-Corn-law League," the was a fair representation of what was going on in the
Right Hon. Gentleman's mind. Cerito seems a fair and
dace and other publications of the League, which
lovely representation of free trade, flitting and dancing
le " instructions to Travellers and others as to the mode
before the mind of the Right Hon. Baronet, and when
di
~: Whieh they were to distribute the papers, and
the Ondine comes out of the shade and is startled at her
he't7nlinete the doctrines of free-trade, and inculcate a
e,l(iti of the " most infamous of human laws."—(Laugh- own shadow, how just a representation of what happened
to the Right Hon. Baronet when he first broached free
• te :4 the Tory benches.) One of these instructions was
Le cause copies of the " League Almanac" to be hung up trade principles !—(Cheers.) How he started back
stoitettib-rosems, public-houses, reading-rooms, black- (though the start wst, not quite so graceful as the one
be, .t 1,4 shops, Eac.—(Great laughter.) The Hon. Mem- made by the fair Cerito) when he saw, not indeed his
shadow, but the shade which came over the mournful
rsiee'nen exaibited to the house a copy of the Almanac,
countenances of the agricultural Members. But for his
, li,nriitist renewed laughter. This Almanac gave the
filt" of all the anti-corn-law saints— (Laughter)—the (Captain Layard's) part, he trusted the Right Hon. Ba-
la'nleof whom was the Hon. C. P. Villiers, M.P. for ronet vould. soon give up coquetry, after the manner of
the fair Cerito, with the shadow,.. and that when he
(ore'eshanipte.n) who was born in the year 1802
181114 laughter)—John Bright first saw the light in opened his arms to embrace it, it might prove to be the
reality and not the shadow of free trade. The Right
ease --- (Renewed laughter) and though great
end urtret" existed with regard to Homer Hon. Baronethad said he would not go back,
"E'en not to retrograde is to advance,
stab Shakespeare, they had great pleasure in
t) rg' that Dr. Bowring was born on the 17th of And men must learn to walk before they dance."
otonee • For his part, he would rather have a small fixed duty,
asste, , 179...—(Great laughter.) He now came to
nee.eer part of the proceedings of the League, called the , thinking it a fair source of revenue to the country, but as
tra44 pagitation. The Hen, Gentleman here read ex- 1 there seemed no hope of that, he should vote in favour of
seeto from the Anti- Corn-law Circular recommending a 1 the motion of the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton.
The m, of pulpit lectures on the subject of the corn-laws, Trusting that the time would come—
apeecknon. Member, also, read extracts from the " When free as seas or wind,
er, "Les of the Dissenting ministers assembled in the Unbounded Thames would flow for all mankind,
apert et.','"ester conference. The Hon. Member for Stock- While nations enter with each swelling tide,
rt had stated at the conference, that this was a middle i .sknd seas but join the regions they divide."
us , 3gitation, and thst they bad had recourse to the !tone Colonel RUSHBROOKE, who spoke in so low a
ne of voice as
tigett, thods adopted in carrying on middle classto be scarcely audible, read a statement
to the H
seetinl,°'l; they had procured the co-operation of Dis-
, _ouse, in reply to the letters which have recently
tea e ministers, of ladies, and they had organised I appea!ed in the Times, respecting the state of Suffolk,
ties p,arties. So that it appeared that the characteris- 1 and the cause of incendiarism in that county.
He
te ot a middlewere D. • t• • '
rs, lat.]. class agitation issen ing minis- reretted that such letters had appeared in a journal so
calculated
the 'es and teaerties.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) , widely as the Times, as he thought they
Ministerial bend ' the
is He was sor not to see would do more harm than good. The • writer of those
iglu teletters seemed to
have a strong ore , on. Member fortne •,of Perth in his place, ing prejudice •
against the
sr to chim. my
eidei, , ongratulate on the most remarkable in- and superficial
which he, a stranger, must have neees 1 inquiry
The ~,i- or motfern times; for according .
• of
to the opinions sari y made could
only have led him to a lame and impotent conclusion.
titne-Lseague, the most remarkable incident of modern
lie, was his decle ' h. 1• •
ring trose t in favour of total and The Times reporter stated that the increase in the num-
°diate ' ber of prisoners in Suffolk, since the passing
ee the repeal. That declaration had been looked upon of the
asenl,7 Precursor to a similar declaration from all the new poor-law,
was very great. Now, he (Colonel Rush-
so °els of the late Whi,, ' brooke) had ascertained that, in the seven years before
le.-"lber sm.
the passing of that Act, the number of prisoners was
1,11,. „
~. Suncterlard was on the same side as the
/n,',..e. loin Uentkinan the Member for Perth but
be it': Lord the Member for City 4 100 Notwithstanding
the representations of the
,I, is Speech !, the of London had, • •
R hb k )could Times reporter, he (Colonel us roo e say
The Lea last night, injured the cause of repeal.
of eve gne had not been neglectful of the sinews that in no part of the kingdom were the poor better
the gr, and this a-a- the taken care of than in Suffolk.
f Te. (11, e manner in which they provided
t"'ll th •e Hon. Gentleman then read several extracts 1 Lord RENDLESHAM believed that the tenant-far-
ee . e addresof mer and the poor man were as much interested in this
ur Its iea,„ eses the League, and from the speeches
Prot-ken-47 members, inculcating the necessity of question as the landholder. The assertion that the te-
-1.(; „,,,.
__ tficient funds to carry on the agitation.) nant-farmer would be benefited by the repeal of the
8s ed", ' read an account of the expenditure or 2.4841. corn-laws, because his rent would be reduced, was un-
onle • which he said
was the first, the last, and the founded; it seemed to be supposed that there was but
. isuee:d , tint they
thed ever eiven although they had membered to the letting of a farm, but it should be re•
'led 159,000/ .6
'
, us leaving a balance of 156,5151 . that the landlord, like every one else, Could.

only get the market value of his land. If they were re-
duced to continental prices, would they not be compelled
to adopt the continental system of the proprietors culti-
vating their own estates without the intervention of the
tenant farmer ? Now, as to the poor man, for whom so
much was said in that House, and so little was done—

(Hear, hear)—he believed that he was better off with
high prices and high wages, than low prices and low
w,ges. He believed also that the object of the League
was to reduce wages to the continental level, and quoted
a passage from a speech of the Hon. Member for Wol-
verhampton to bear him out in the assertion.—(Mr. Vil-
liers denied the correctness of the report.) In that case
he would retract it ; but the Hon. Member for Birming-
ham had made a declaration to the same effect. He did
not think that the corn-laws could be said to be detri-
mental to trade and commerce, when it was stated by
the free traders themselves, that in the last forty years
the manufactures of the country had realised enough to
purchase the fee-simple of the whole land of the king-
dom. Other nations, too, had seen the advantage of the
protective system, and were more extensively adopting it.
Mr. WARD said they ought to express their obliga-
tions to the Noble Lord for having brought back the
debate to something like its proper object ; for as to
spending two hours in reviewing all that had been said
and done by the Anti-Corn-law League, he considered
it a mere evasion of the main question, of how these laws
bore upon the interest of the community. If the Hon.
Member for North Lancashire had come forward a

twelvemon!h ago, and charged the League with being a
seditious body, it might have been open to him to have
done so ; but for him to do so now, holding the position
of the President of the Publishing Council of
the Agricultural Protection Societies, which had
used the same means as the League, with the ex-
ception of the great talent which that body brought
to the question, he thought was rather out of place.
'those societies were now copying, though at a very
humble distance, the efforts of the League. Now, as to

the question itself, if he could believe, according to the
Noble Lord, that there was a regular sliding-scale be-
tween the landlord and the tenant, and that the land-

lord always reduced his rent in proportion to the prico
of corn ,he would concede that to be just. But they
never heard of anything but miserable abatements of five,
six, or ten per cent. The tenant took the farm in the
expectation of making a rent according to the price pro-
mised by the corn-laws, which those laws were not able
to secure to him. The Right Hon. Baronet had not been
able to secure to the farmers the minimum price of 565.
promised by the sliding-scale.—(No, no.) He contended
that if he did not make an actual promise, he did a
virtual oue, and that promise had not been kept. The
Noble Lord alluded to the interests of the poor man,
about which so much was said in that House, and so

little done. God knew that was true enough. But
where were those who called themselves the friends of

the poor to-night. They shrank from this discussion.
Where were those who, when they were dealing with
the interests of others, practised a cheap humanity at
other people's expense.—(Hear, hear.) Where was the
Noble Lord, the Member for Dorsetshire ? Where were
all the " young England" party? They were all repre-
sented by the solitary gentleman (Mr. P. Borthwick)
who had the peculiar distinction of being the only man
in the House who could be found to second the amend-

ment moved to the resolution before the House, and he

must do the Hon. Member the justice to say that he
never saw a man more unwillingly dragged into a
dilemma. He thought too, it was to the credit of the
House, that no allusion had been made throughout the
debate, to that amendment, except by the Right Hon.
President of the Board of Trade, who said that where it

could be proved one man had been thrown out of work
by machinery, he would show a hundred families main-
tained in comfort by it. But where were all those who,
when they were dealing with other people's property,
used such loud language about zeal and care for the poor
man ? Had they all had time to get sober like the Hon.
Member for Nottinghamshire? He could conceive nothing
more contemptible than the position they would henceforth
occupy in public opinion. He totally denied what had
been stated by the Noble Lord as to prices and wages.
A position more untenable, and more unfounded than
that of wages being regulated by prices, he had never
heard. In many parts of the country wages were lower
than they were five years ago. The farmers were not
responsible for this ; there were more persons pressing
on them for employment, and consequently there was
less money to be divided among them. And he would
take this opportunity of alluding to a practice adopted
in Suffolk, against which he, as an old supporter of the
poor-law in that House, must strongly protest,
that was the introduction of another test besides

the workhouse test, before giving a man a right to
relief. It was the intention of the law that
the workhouse text should be the only one.
That was generally understood in 1833, but it appeared
that in the county of Suffolk a certificate was required
that a man could not obtain work. The Noble Lord had
said that commerce had flourished even when the corn-

laws were more stringent than they were at present. It
was a bold assertion that the corn-laws could in any way
tend to promote commerce ; but the Noble Lord was one
of a clique, and bold assertions of this kind were always
received with favour by gentlemen opposite. Why, it
was well known that every Goverment found it difficult
to make commercial treaties with other countries in con-

sequence of those laws. The correspondence which had
taken place between the Noble Lord and the Secretary
for Foreign Affairs with the Government of Prussia
proved that.—(Hear, hear.) He should like to know
what advantage it was to the Noble Lord to pay double
for his sugar. But he supported the sugar duties in order
that the corn-laws might be protected ; for there
was an implicit contract that one interest was to
support the other. The Right Hon. Gentleman the Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade was fond of abstract princi-
ples. He declared that he regarded dear bread as the
greatest of public calamities, while in the same breath he
said that the admission of 160,000 quarters of corn, at a
duty of l7s. was a proof of the admirable working of the
present law. The Right Hon. Gentleman, at the head
of the Government also dealt in abstract assertions, of
which, if he performed but the tithe, he, and the band of
free-traders by whom he was surrounded, would most
gladly follow him. He would prefer him ten times to
his Noble Friend the Member for London, who was the
type of the fixed duty. Should the Right Hon. Baronet
have any further quarrels with his party, the free-
traders would most gladly accept of him for their
leader.—(Laughter.) The Noble Lord upheld the
principle of a fixed duty. The Right Ilon. Baronet ad-
hered to no principle at all. The Noble Lord hinted
that when they came to a compromise, lion. Gentlemen
men opposite would find him a most convenient person.
No doubt a fixed duty would be preferable to a sliding-
scale, but if the Right Hon. Baronet could get rid
of the drag chains by which he was encumbered, and
work out a partion of that large theory
which he put into such a comprehensive shape before
the country, there was no person whom he (Mr.
Ward) would like so well to follow, because the Right
Hon. Baronet made a great deal of a bad cause, and if
he only set himself seriously to carry out the principles
which he knew to be right, his eloquence would carry
everything before him; but when the Hon. Member for
Somerset said he now depended on the Government, and
when, after praising the manliness and straightforward-
ness of the speech of the Hon. Gentleman the President
of the Board of Trade, which he (Mr. Ward) never
before heard were characteristics of that Right Hon.
Gentleman's speeches—(A laugh)—he said he hoped
they would engage in a new compact with the Govern-
ment, the Right Hon. Gentleman actually got excited
on the subject, and put himself out of his ordinary calm
course to cheer the appeal made to him. He had asked
for a fair trial, and he believed the Right Hon. Gentle-
man intended to give the law a fair trial. What was a fair
trial? Was it one, two, three, eve, or ten years ?
He did not believe the Right Hon. Gentleman, the Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade, would have made the
speech they had heard from him last night were it not
for the rain which had fallen, and which had, in some
degree, removed the fears for the harvest. Was the
country to undergo all the misery and suffering of two
or three bad harvests before they had—he would not
say convinced the Right Hon. Baronet, because he was
convinced, as he (Mr. Ward) was—but before he could,
with as decent a regard for consistency as possible, re-
verse his mode of action? The Right Hon. Gentleman
would then tell Hon. Gentlemen opposite that the time
was come when it was impossible to resist any longer
the general demand for the repeal of the corn-laws. He
knew that at present the advocates for a repeal of the
corn-laws were labouring under a disadvantage, because
there was no scarcity of provisions, and there was no
great deficiency of work. But that was a bad state of
legislation which depended on the state of the weather.
—(Hear.) This was a landlord, and not a tenant question.
There was never anything so bolstered up as this Pro •
Corn-law League. The first association was got up by a
landlord, Mr. Tower of Essex. It was the landlords
who raised the fund to support it. He did not believe
that in a single county the tenants had originated
any movement. It would be wiser—more honourable,
and more profitable, for Hon. Gentlemen opposite to
look at this question fairly and openly; instead of staving
off the evil hour by a large majority of votes, without
convincing any being that they had a single sound argu-
ment upon which to take their stand.—(Cheers.)
Sir J. TROLLOPE said he did not intend to speak
upon this motion, were it not that the Hon. Gentleman
who spoke last asserted the Pro-Corn-law Society had
copied the Anti-Corn-law League in everything but
their talents. They did not copy it in interfering
with the elections. One of the fundamental rules of
the Society with which he was connected was not in
anyway to interfere with the elective franchise, there-
fore that part of the statement of the Hon. Gentleman
was not founded iu fact. He also denied the statement
of the Hon. Gentleman that the Pro-Corn-law Asso-
ciation was repudiated by the tenants of the country.
On the contrary, it was originated by the tenants them-
selves ; at least, that was the case in the county which
he represented. The principle of the Anti-Corn-law
League was an aggressive one—their's was a defensive
one. They were not jealous of the Anti-Corn-law
League ; they simply wished to stand on the protective
system as regarded themselves.—(Hear, hear, from the
Opposition.) One good result which followed from the
Anti-Corn-law League was, that they taught the land-
lords to know their own strength, and they did not
mean to lose it. The Hon. Gentleman then referred to
the agricultural improvements which had taken place in
the county of Lincoln, and said that if the poor in the
county of Suffolk were employed, and their wages
raised, they would hear no more of incendiary fires.—
, (Hear, hear.) The lion. Member far Sussex recom-
mended capital punishments to put a stop to those in-
cendiaries. He (Sir J. Trollope) hoped that such a
corn-laws
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the society for abolishing them had originated, they had
been led away from the real question, which was, what
was the benefit supposed to be conferred upon the coin-