The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVEN .N:Cir. FEBRUARY 25, 1841..

being at the mercy of the - home-monopolists, were
ten times greater, and ten times more to be deprecated, than
any which either sophistry or selfishness could conjure up.--
Hear, hear.) He considered the proposition of the Right
lion. Baronet was only a modification of the old Corn-law ;
but the discussion had not been without its uses. There had
been some admissions made which placed the opponents of
monopoly on more advantageous ground than they ever held
before. In the first place they had an admission from the
Right Hon. Baronet, at the head of her Majesty's Government,
which they had never had before, when they were aitacking
the laws, and Hon. Gentlemen opposite were defending them
in all their details. But they now had an admission
that the protection given to agriculture by the
existing laws was much higher than nccesssary. He
thought that admission a most important one, but
it was made with a qualification that robbed it of a great deal
of its grace, because the Right Hon. Baronet tells his Mends
they had now a great deal of superfluous protection ,for which
they incurred a great deal of superfluous odium, and that. his
plan took away a little of that protection, and left only the odium
they at. present suffered. Hence they were driven to the single
argumentof the fear cf a dependence on foreign supply. As to
the argument of the peculiar burdens on agriculture, they had
ntt been distinctly stated ; and the Hon. Gentlemen opposite
were too well known for it to be supposed that if they could
hare given them in detail.they would not have done 50. With
respect to the fear of dependance on foreign supply, he believed
that a time would come when the House would ba ashamed to
look back on the period when laws were founded
on so insare a principle. In what other country of the world
could such a thing have occurred, as had occurred in England a
few years ago; in 1837, when great destitution prevailed in
OH Highlands of Scotland, when deputations from the Church
and the aristocracy of that country, when the peasantry were in
a state of famine, at the same time a party of merchants, in
London, came to the Government and said they had a great
deal of corn in bond, and that they found the warehousing of it
was only accumulating expense upon them, and, therefore,
begged to be permitted to take it out of bond and destroy it?
It was taken out of bond, and actually sunk in the Thames,
under the superintendence of the Excise. This was done at
one end of the kingdom when its subjects at the other ex-
tremity were absolutely at the same time dying from starvation.
—( Hear, hear.) This fact required no comment, and
could not have happened in any other country in the world.
He agreed wi h the Hon. Member for Edinburgh, who upon
considering the plan of the Right Hon. Baronet, was surprised
why he had introduced it. But the upholders of the Corn-laws
had done more damage to the Corn-laws in one week, than had
their opponents in a series of years. The new scale sanctioned
the verdict of the public against the law. They, could not
now perpetuate it; but if they endeavoured to prolong the strug-
gle, the result would be more disastrous to them than the loss
of that law to which, as the Paymaster of the Forces said, the
landowners were indebted for their position in society.
Mr. COWPER understood the Right Hon, Baronet to have
stated, that he proposed the best measure he thought it pos-
sible for him to propose. If the Right Hon. Baronet said he
had brought forward as great an alteration as his followers
would permit him, he would have been nearer the mark. The
country was greatly disappointed at the measure which was
proposed, and he ( Mr. Cowper) was convinced few persons ex •
eept those who were dealers in corn expressed their appro!-A-
tion of it. When lie considered the persons who composed the
Right. lion. Baronet's Cabinet, and the expressions which had
fallen from several members of that Cabinet, and others upon
the opposite side of the House, he should say, if there was any
change at all, it would he a change for increased protection.
He would at once admit that the scheme proposed by the Right
Hon. Baronet was an improvement of the present law, but un-
der no circumstances would be (Mr. C.) support a sliding scale.
No one could think that the present measure would be perma-
nent ; and he trusted that some larger and more comprehen-
sive measure would soon be adopted.
Sir R. BATESON said he had not intended to take any
part in that debate ; but, as a Member for an Irish county, he
could not remain silent after the remarks which had fallen
from the Hon. Member for Waterford. The Hon. Member
had in round terms accused the Irish landlords of extorting too
high tents : and had asserted that this was a great cause of the
distress of the people. No man would more deprecate high
rents than himself ; but he would remind the Hon. Gentlemen
that there were many estates on which landlords had no power
to reduce the rents—estates which were let upon long leases of
three lives in 60. years; and others which were under the con-
trol of the Court of Chancery.—( Hear.) The Hon. Member
for Waterford had expressed great commiseration with the
wants and miseries of the people ; and in that commmiseration
he (Sir R. Bateson) fully concurred; but he was more
astonished than he was, to hear the Hon. Member state that
the removal of the duty on corn would increase the comfort
and happiness of the poor of Ireland. He was surprised to
hear such a statement front one who was so conversant with
Irish interests. One of the great sources of discontent was
want of employment. He knew that Ireland contained few
manufacturing districts; jtherefore the whole of the employ-
ment of the labouring classes came from the agriculture of the
country. Now,.by doing away with the protection on corn, it
must inevitably threw these people out of employment.
—( Hear, hear.) The lower orders of Ireland were not in
the habit of eating wheaten bread. He wished they
were, and he hoped to live to see the day when they would live
much better. But it was not the price of wheat that would
affect them, it was the price of potatoes. If they gave the
labouring man sufficient to enable his family to subsist on oat-
meal and pot aloes, he was happy and comfortable, and did notlook
for wheaten bread, it would be of no use to him whatever, be
cause he would not have the means of buying it.---(Cheers
from the Oppo,ition.) He should give his hearty and honest
vote against the motion of the Hon. Gentleman. He wished
for protection, but not to increase the price of food to the suf-
fering classes. He believed the measure would be rain to
Ireland. He thought the protection of the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet was not sufficient; he. could have wished it at 2s. per
quarter higher upon oats ; cut at the same time he would try
to be satisfied.—( Laughter. )
Mr. PROTHE ROE said that he thought the Corn-laws were
ti.e cause of the existing distress, and liar that reason he shout

vote far the entire repeal. It might cause a little distress in the
agriculturs,l districts, but that distress would not be permanent.
He thought that the aristocracy was an ornament to the country.
He had hoped that on the occasion of them combining with the
people on the Reform Bill that they were not again to be severed
He should vote for the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton, be.
lieving that he saw in it steadiness of trade.
Sir HOWARD DOUGLAS said that he was determined the
electors of Liverpool should labour under no mistake as to his
views upon the vast questions which were so intimately connected
with that great constituency. That they should be under no mis-
take, he told them plainly and explicitly his views upon those
questions upon which rested the independence, the power, and
the very existence of this great empire.—(Cheers.) He had given
out this principle in all his canvasses with individuals and in
public bodies. He took occasion to review briefly, but he
trusted correctly the commercial systems of all countries for the
purpose of showing that not one country on earth altogether ap-
proved of the principle of free trade, and that it would be one
of the greatest evils for us to try to do tha,. which all other
countries, more or less, repudiated.—(Loud cheers from the Mi-
nisterial benches.) With this declaration explicitly made, he be.
lieved, to every elector of Liverpool, he had the honour and good
fortune of being returned without opposition at the represen-
tative of Liverpool.—(Loud cheers.) He had a right, therefore,
to asrume that the principles he professed, and the views he de-
clared, were received and adopted by a great majority of the people
of that most influential town. —(Cheers.) His constituents had
sent him there, not as the representative of a party or a faction,
but the representative of the whole of that constituent body, and
he gave a negative with hearty g mod will, to the motion before
the House. The Honourable Member fur Wolverhampton,
the mover of this question, among many other things
which he would not take up the time of the House
by observing upon, the Hon—Gentleman stated that England
lay between, two continents, the old and the new world, and that
the present system refused to give to one the advantages of both.
Now, continents were wide terms, and he should not frighten the
House by going into a review of the systems adopted in the coun-
tries of Europe. Ile passed by Russia, he passed by Prussia and the
German League, Denmark and all the other countries wills few ob-
servations. Three countries consumed of our manufactures from 3d.
per head to sd. or 6d., and was never higher than 10t1, a-head. lie
should pass over the Danish trade to which the non. Gentleman
the Member for Wolverhampton had adverted, and merely cn
passant, he would observe that in 1823 our shipments were
as five to three, and in 1839, it was 5,000 and 6,000 tons British.
He would not take up the time of the House by speaking of the
folly of manufacturers without commercial treaties, and he should
only observe wills regard to F;ance, that it had been said " we shut
the door against French productions, and therefore it was that they
would not receive our productions;" instead of this being the case,
we had twice lowered the duty on wine and had opened to them our
productions in coal, iron &c., and what had been the return ? He
believed that the quotient of the value of British manu-
factures used in France, divided by the population in
France, would give give something like clevenpe.nce
per head per annum.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.) He would
pass now to the United States. The Noble Lord said the
Member for London stated that our manufactures were shut out
from the United States, because we closed the door against their
productions. In the year 1840 there were received into the port of
Liverpool no leas than 1,160,000 bales of cotton brought over in
upwards of 700 vessels, three.fourtlis of which were American.
ets'llo:,tehucaretneettsivrryrhwoocedlprieuevrcaeodiedimouitoico,utoi:gttLyhoeitel,:::hruspaoieoaisit,w.edooofocemtsootautaattlntocieidnrsitaii)eli:sfilb:toacrir;aiste,aed:
q‘firaonmtitytlimo6Uon,oitoedo
id
trade was, shutting
tl)%,eais,
being
that
otb ul
eat
to work it up, should buy the miniufactored article for it. But
no such thing was the care betWl`ell the United States and us.
We took the raw article from. them, and so far from their taking
our manufactures in return, they are shutting them out as fast its
they could.—( Hear, hear.) Ile had heard reference made to
the speeches of an American President, who made some very
dicious observations relative ti the folly of a country becoming b.
able on foreign countries for support. lie would now, with the
permission of the House, read extracts from speeches made by
different Presidents in America, from the time of Washington
clown to the. peseta period. (The IlOn. Gentleman then pro-
ceeded to read extracts from the Messages of Washington, Jeffre-
son, Mattlieson, Munro, and Jackson, in favour of the system of
protection.) He hoped the country did not imagine the Americans
would lower their tariff ; instead of that their protective system,
would be still more strenuous. He (Sir 11. Douglas) would say to the
House, as he had said to his constituents, that he would write on
his banner, not " free trade," but " fair ;slay." lie believed that
free trade was unfair play.—(llear ) He bade them no longer to
pursue the phantom free trade ; it existed not on earth ; but let
us, article by article, take into consideration our commercial
tariff, and if amendments could be made, let them be Made coolly
and calmly. He would admit, that if we were to receive produce
from the new countries, snore especially the British North American
provinces, it would lead to a considerable extension of the use of
British manufactures in those States. The Hon. Gentleman
then commented briefly on the speeches of the Noble Lord
the Member for Tiverton, and the Hon. Member for Glasgow,
its reply to whose remarks he said, that the course of policy adopted
by the British Legislature had extended these little islands, though
situated alone in the centre of wide seas, surrounded by the raging
waves, into such an empire as the world never saw. Might we be
able to maintain that great empire in that ascendancy to which
she had arrived by those principles! Might they be maintained in
spite of those who'said tint they had adopted an improper line of
policy.—(Cheers.) He would not further trespass upon the House
but merely to assure Hon. Members that he would not often tres.
pass upon them. He would, at all events, never speak but when
he had something to say—(Laughter, cheer,, and counter cheers)—
and he should always finish when he had done.—(Laughter.)
Several Members then simultaneously rose to address the House,
but Mr. Cobden caught the Speaker's eye.

Mr. COBDEN said, if the Hon. Gentleman who had just sat
down had kept one other promise, as well as the one he had given,
namely, when he spoke he would only speak to the subject, the
►louse would no doubt hear something more satisfactory upon the
,„bj ct of Corn-laws.—(Laugliter.) The House had now been
occupied for seven evenings on the subject of the Corn laws, and he
(Mr. Cobden) must say that the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton
certainly had much cause of complaint, that in those seven
'venings scarcely two hours had been occupied in considering the
Honourable Gentlemen had adverted to the condi-
ions of Syria, and the affairs of China; but there was very
AMC said upon the subject of taxing . the poor man's bread, and
he thought lie could very safely say that there was not
one Honourable Member on the opposite of the House,
ithireoy:iuir_ld,di
(nbtfoehl
tee
who had grappled at all with the question.—(Cheers from the Op-
position. That question ‘s as, Low far it was just, how far 4 was
Posed upon the bread
expect tliat the Right
lion. Baronet
Hon. Baronet would have finished his last speech upon the subject
ollt li f:si honest,
h. cc:de:
g'thor
,workingiii expellent,co certainly
t classesliiMember)
ytbbeearft)
must tahcncihyos
entcnafoexusl
confess
of the Corn-laws, that subject which is of_ such vital importance to
the.interests of this country, without giving some little considera-

s''iljeCi

tion to the subject—(Cheers)—without giving some considera-
tion to the tax he was about to impose upon the poor
man's bread. 1 would venture to call the attention of the
House to the tax on the wages of our labouring classes,
and I would express a hope that the Right Hon. Baronet would
meet us upon native ground. I have heard from the other side
at. '
expression of sympathy for the manatee
luring this House to give some sympathy also tc
the working classes of the country, particularly as they are now
admitted to be in the most abject state of poverty and misery.
—(Hear, hear.) On reading the debates which took place in
the
isg classes. House
a I strongask
1815, when a most stringent measure upon the subject of the
Corn-laws had been Passed, I saw that all parties who had taken
a part in that discussion, agreed upon one principle, namely, that
the price of food regulated the price of wages—that principle
was agreed upon by all parties. We had then persomeof the most
opposite opinions agreeing upon that subject. We found Mr.
Horner agreeing with Mr. Baring, Mr. Franklin Lewis agreeing
with Lord Western; in fact, all parties agreed that the price of
food regulated the price of wages—they did so agree that they laid
down, and actually proved it by mathematical principles. There
was, then, a petition from Manchester, praying that the Corn-laws
should not be passed, because, as it was alleged, it would have the
effect of raising the rate of wages, and that it would prevent the
people of Manchester from competing with foreign manufacturers.
I am struck with astonishment how there could be such de-
lusion. upon this occasion. The party who passed the
bread tax in 1815 did it under a delusion, and I am thoroughly
convinced if the facts now known had been known at that time, the
law of 1815 would never have been passed—every party was then
deluded, but it is not so now—the working classes of the country
are not deluded because they see clearly, without the aids of politi
cal economy, what the operation of the Core-laws is upon the rates
of wages, and, therefore, when this law was passed in 1815, it was
passed at a time when the Parliament was compelled to keep an en-
raged multitude from its doors at the point of the bayonet. At a
time when murder was committed, because theCoroner'sJury on one
of those occasions of popular excitement gave a verdict of murder
against the soldiers and others, who had been engaged in quelling
those riots ; and from the year 1815 down to the year 1819, when
the great meeting took place in Manchester, there never was a
public meeting held during the entire of that time, at which there
were not banners inscribed with " No Corn-laws."—(Hear, hear.)
There was no mistake in the minds of the multitude then, and let
not Hon. Gentlemen suppose that there is any mistake in the
minds of the working classes of England now. They may has;
looked beyond this question ; and now when they raised the cry of
Universal Sufft•age, and state that they arc for the Charter, let not
Hon. Members suppose, when they find that' the Anti-Corn-law
League are running in collision with the Chartists of the day, that
therefore the Chartists are interfering in the slightest degree with the
abolition of the Corn.laws. From all that I have heard from Hon.
Gentlemen on the other side of the House, who have always de.
cried all sorts of lectuses upon this subject, I bare found an igno,
rance—(oh, oh)—I repeat it, I haye found; an ignorance upon
this subject, which 1 have never seen eqtrieled in any body of
working men in the North of England.—(Loud cries of " Oh, oh,"
and " Order, order.") Do you think that the fallacy which was
so rife in 1815, that wages rise and fall with the price of bread,
should have been put forward within these last three years, and
yet that wages have suffered a greater decline than they have in
any three years of a former period, and yet the very arguments
of those Hon. Gentlemen have trot only admitted, but actually
proved the decline of wages—still they attempt to maintain the
doctrine that the rate of wages is dependent upon the price of
food.—(Hear, hear.) 1 call that ignorance,—(Loud cries of
" Order, order," and cheers from the opposition benches.) Yes, I
call it ignorance, fur I cannot call it design, under the belief that
the law will have the I ffect of keeping up the rate of wages. Then
I am told that the price of bread here is so much higher than the
wages on the continent, and that the.price of bread might be also
higher. I deny that the wages of this country are higher than on the
Continent; on the contrary, I nun prepared to prove from documents
emanating from your own (the Ministerial) side of the House, that
wages here arc escaper than they are upon the Continent.—(Hear.)
Hon. Members when they compare the wages of this coumtry with
the wages of the Continent, end the amount of labour performed,
altogether forget, I maintain, that the English artisan performs
more ditty, and that, in point of fact, the labour of England Is the
cheapest in the world. The Committee sitting on Machinery for
the last year but one, has vouched for the fact that labour on the
Continent is dearer in every branch than it is in England.—.(Hear,)
There you have evidence that the labour of one English-
men on the Continent is worth three of the artisans
of France, Belgium, or Germany, or any other part
of the Continent. Go, far instance, to any large city of the Con-
tinent—te Venice, or any other place, will you not find a great
number of English artisans earning twice the amount of wages
earned by their fellow-labourers, and there you are told that their
labour is the cheapest.—(Hear, hear.) We don't want low wages
in order to secure our prosperity. If you come to consider it you
will always be sure to find that when wages are drooping, the
prosperity—the general prosperity of the country will be drooping
too.-.(Hear, hear.) I hope the manufacturers of this country will
take a more enlightened view of their own interests, and
of the general interests of the country, than to suppose
that their prosperity could be advanced without also
considering the interests of the working classes. Let me
tell this House that if you deteriorate the condition of the popu.
lation of this country you will run the risk of destroying not
merely an animal but an intellectual people.—(Loud cheers from
the Opposition.) Let me tell this House that it Is not a half-
starved or a potato-fed population that led this country on to vic-
tories in the day of need.—(Loud cheers.) If you wish to keep
up the character of your people you must keep them well fed.
Upon the assumption that the Corn.laws are about to pass into a
law, I say that this House is imposing unjust burdens
upon the people. You have heard the Right Honourable
Baronet say, in answer to the fallacy which I have often heard
before in this House, that we do now compete wills the foreign
markets.—(Hear, hear.) It Is true that we may do so, but we do
so by taxing the bones and time sinews of our people.—(Hear,
hear, and cheers.) You put double weight upon them, and then
you tell them to run the race with their German and foreign com-
petitors.—( Loud cheers.) I ask you, whose energies are those that
brought Britain to what she is ? Are they the energies of the
people, or are they yourss—(Hear, bear, and ironical eheersi) Is
it just, that the peeve should strive and struggle for the means of
existence, and that you should have half what they earn 2—(Hear,
hear.) You do not treat your horses so; the people of this coun-
try have been infinitely worse treated than your dogs or horses have.
What was the pretence with which the Right Hon- Baronet pro-
posed to tax the bread of thepeople ? The object which the Right.
Hon. Baronet professed to attain by imposing a tax upon foreign
corn, was to enable the people of England to compete wlth their
neighbours on time Continent, and render them independent of
them.—(Hear, hear.) I have ready to doubt, while listening to
the Right lion. Baronet, whether we have not travelled back to
the days of the Edwards.—( Hear.) What an avocation for a Le.
gislature to tax the price of cren for its, people! One would rather
imagine that that was a fitter duty for the dea:ers in the markets.
—(Cheers.) You don't do that with cottons, with iron, or with
tin ? Why do yo m do it wills corn, the indispensable necessary
for the maintenance of our people.—(Hear, hear.) Go bads for
fifty years, said the Right Hon. Baronet, and you will find the price
of corn about 565. a quar.er, and I, eeetinued the Right Hon. Be-
ronet, proposed by my scheme to keep the price of wheat
in this country betwee m 545. and 343. a quarter.—(Hear, hear.)
1 believe it was already suggested by an Honourable Member on
the opposite. aide of the House, that 535. a quarter should be the
minimum price of corn; but in this day's papers, I saw with dis.
gust the Duke of Buceingbarn said it ought to be 60s. a quarter
at least.—(l eughter.) But there is one Hon. Gentleman in this
House, and I hope we shall have the pleasure of hearing him, as
he will, I am sure, go more particularly into the general state of
the markets of this country. I have observed, in a useful little
book " The Parliamentary Companion," under the hand of an
Honourable Gentleman named Cayley, an invention of such
a course of policy as would keep up the price of
wheat at 645. a quarter, and that cheese, wool, butter,
and other articles should be kept up in the same proportion.—
(Laughter.) This might be very amusing; it might be amusing
to find that there were Gentlemen to be found—Gentlemen styt to
be found at Large—(Laughter)—.µ,50 would advocate the principle
that Parliament should interpose to fix the price at which the pro-
duce of the people's labour should be sole —(lronical cheers.) That
was very good indeed ; but when we find the Prime Minister of
England coming down to this House and proposing such a measure
as this, I think it becomes anything but amusing.—(Cheers, and
counter-cheers.) I ask the Right Hon. Baronet, is he prepared to
regulate the trade in cotton, linen, and other articles, as he is
about to regulate the trade in corn ?—(Hear hear, and cheers.)
I will pause for a reply.—(ltenewed cheers.)
Sir HOBERT PEEL said he would say it was impossible to re-
gulate the price of corn by the price of cotton.
Mr. COBDEN—WeII, then, I ask the Right Hon. Baronet will
be try to legislate to keep up the price of cotton, wool, silk, &c.,
and I pause for a rep'y ?
[A general silence pervaded the House, and after a short pause
Mr. Cobden proceeded]---
Then there is is no reply to that question.—(Loud cries of
" Hear, hear," from the Opposition.) It comes to this, that weare
not legislating in this House for the universal people.—(Cheers.)
Here is a simple open avowal that we are met here to legislate foi
a dinrent class, whose interests are egainstethe people, and I de
not marvel at what I have seen, that we have been in this House
surrounded for the last week with an immense police force.—(ol)
oh, and a laugh from the Ministerial benches.) I cannot let this
subject drop in a laugh. It is no laughing business to those who
hare not got wheat to sell.—(Hear, hear.) I say the price of cot-
ton for the last ten yews has been on an average 30 per cent.
more than it had been formerly. Is the landlord to get all
the advantages? I have very great doubts indeed whether this is
legislating at all. It is no answer to me that theßight Hon. Baronet
should say that he could not pass a law to regulate the price of.
cotton. Surely that is no answer. I ask him to consider whether
the measure he has proposed is a just or equitable course of policy.
I have not touched npon the slirper of this question,—(Laughtere
I ask the Right Hon. Baronet, whilst he is fixing the sliding scale
to secure wheat at 565. a quarter, whether he has no sliding
scale for wages.—(Hear, hear.) I knoiv the interests of the clergy
arc pretty well cared fur, but what will aon do with the operative
if the price of his food is to be kept up Is it not but just that
you should keep up the s,ale of his wages 7—(Cheers.)
But that is no reason why a law should he passed by you to mulct
the poor labourer of Is. 31. of his wages. If the poor hand-loom
weavers and the operatives were to appeal to you to pass a law to
secure their wages at a certain average, you would answer, " We
have not the power to do this ; these things are settled by the law
of supply and demand." You would therm sertitintse the petition,
amid finding that perhaps many of them could not write, you would
say, " Alm! time poor people arc ignorant, they know no better I"
But why should you snake a law to keep up Use price of the rich
man's wheat, and not make a lass to keep up the price of the poor
man's labour ?
(cheers.) This is the point of view now in which
the country is approaching the consideration of this quastinn.
There is no use in resorting to sophistry; no good ;it disguising the
truth in a dexterous combination and shuftßeg
figures.
No'hing will satisfy the people of this country till you shoe
them that this is a House assembled to legislate for
the benefit of all, not a band of confederates leagued
to serve the interests of one elass.7-(Cheerse Now what is the
law? policy of this bread-taxing First, that there are exclusive
burthens pressing on the land. I
tl
heard but one explanation
of this point; that was from a witty_ gentleman near me, who said,
" Yes, the land is burthened with heavy mortgages"—(Hear,
hear.) But when the Right Hon. Baronet framed his Bill to
Compensate the landowntree on account of the burthens it sustains,
he was bound by his duty to the country, to name what these bur
thous are. When he was asked the question, the Right Hon-
Baronet's answer was, that there are a great variety of opinions
on the subject of the peculiar burthens °" the land.—(Laughtere
I could have said this much myself.—(Laughter.) Surely, before
he set about framing a law to cotnpensate the landowners en ac-
count of these burthens, he ought to have concluded in his own
mind what these burthens really were.—(Cheers.) Now, I will not
enter on the burthens borne by other classes ; but I will tell the
Right Hon. Gentleman that for every burthen he can show me to
be borne on the land, I will show him ten burthens from which
land is exempted.—(Cheers.) But the Hon. Member for -Rem
fcewshire has referred to the land-tax as one ground for compen.
seisms. Really, Sir, I am surprised that we should not now have
the returns which were moved fel. some time ago re-
specting the proportions of land-tax Paid by other countries of
Europe. Certainly there hes been lime enough. What hare our
Ambassadors and Consuls been doing, that fur the want of these
facts we cannot test the
representations of our Finance
-
Minister? Our bureaux in London must be badly kept,
indeed, if this information be not already to be found ie
them. Although I am without official information, I am
not excluded from giving a general report of the amount of the land.
tax abroad. But at present I will confine myself to the land-tax of
France. M. Hamann, the Finance Munster of France, lately
stated in the Chamber of Deputies that the land paid 40. per cent.
on the whole revenue, and ;15 per cent. on the revenue of the Pro-
prietore of the soil,—(Hear, hear.) In this country, the land.tax,
redeemed and unredeemed, is 1,000,0001.; d
.8
just about half thcatax
the poor man pays on his tobacco, '
this Paid upon a property
worth, according to Mr. M Qewe 23,000,0004 And the posses-
sors of this immense wealth now want to tax the poor man's loaf:to
compensate them fur the heavy burthens they sustain.—(Cheers.)
I say, therefore, that until the Minister lays before this Committee
his views on this subject, this House is not
_treated with proper re-

meet, and the country is not treated with proper respect.—( Hear ,
tear, and cheers. However, I have seen with some satisfaction,
in the course oft this debate, -a great many important ad-
missions made. As we cannot get all the evidence
me want, this is some consolation. R is no longer de-
nied that the profit of the bread-tax goes to the landowners.
—(Cheers.) I never heard this admitted before until it was ac.
knowledged by the Right Hon. Baronet, butelien he said the ex-
clusive burthens excused this. This ought to have been proved 25 or.
26 years ago when the present law was passed; however, we have
it sow admitted, that this grinding tax is to be kept up for the
avowed benefit of the landed proprietors.—(Hear, :hear.) But the
Right Hon. Baronet says, one partof the benefit is to go to a class;
the other to the benefit of the State. Now, I have seen seen no
arguments to justify this Other part. The Right Hon. Baronet
says, we must not depend on foreign countries for a supply of
food, that we should only rely upon them for supplemental sup-
plies ; and that as in certain years, we have enough for ourselves,
we should only legislate to take in corn when it is wanted. Now,
in this proposition I agree entirely with the Right Hon. Baronet.
Let in corn by all means when you want it, and keep it out when
you do not; but then I must stipulate for the starving people of
this country, that they, not you, shall be the judges when corn is
wanted. Can you measure and gunge the wants and appetites of
16 millions of men ?—(Cheers.) Shall you who are the producers
of bread sit down and legislate for the people's wants and the
people's prices 2—(Cheers.) Was ever such enormous assumption
in this world ? Why, no despotism in history has proceeded to
such dreadful lengths as this.—(Cheers.) You undertake to dole
out supplies to the people when yon think they are wanted. Can
you judge of the condition and wants of the miserable Isand-lOom
weavers, of the poor operatives of the suffering millions-eyou, who
sever knew the want of a meal ?—(Bear, hear, and loud cheers.)
This, however, is the Right Hon. Baronet's plan. A few nights
ago, he said that, for a period of four or five years at least, we had
had enough of corn for our necessities; that from the year 1832 to
1836, we had as much as we warted. Yet, lie contradicted this as-
sumption last night. Ile said that in 1836, when bread was so
abundant, 800,000 hand loom weavers were actually unable to sup.
1)1y themselves with the necessaries of life, though working sixteen
hours a day.—(Hear, hear, and eine s.) Was not this the same
period when Me. Inglis travelled through Ireland, and
communicated to us the startling and awful announcement
that one-third of the people of Ireland perished prematurely
from want of the necessaries of life ? (Oh, oh, and Hear hear.)
Yes, that was the time in which, with perfect self-complacency
you now come forward and say the people of this country had suf.
ficient food.—(Hear, hear.) I have heard other admissions, but
another most startling one, which has been repeated half a dozen
times, and not yet contradicted. It is an admission by the Pay.
master of the Forces. Still I wish to know whether I understood
the Right Hon. Gentleman correctly? He said the landlords
were entitled to the Corn-laws, because they enabled them to
maintain ;their position in society.—(No, no, and Hear, hear.)
[Sir Edward Knatchbull made an observation across the table,
which was not heard.] But Ido not confine this to the Right
Hon. Baronet. A Noble Lord near him said the same thing, in
stating that the prices did certainly keep up rents, but that they
kept up wages also, which means that rents are kept up out of
wages, by an Act passed by a body in which are not represented
the working classes, from whom this money is extracted.—(Hear,
hear.) But I tell the Paymaster of the Forces and the Noble
Lord, that in doing this they are giving themselves that out.of.
door relief, which they deny for the poor in the workhouse.—
(Cheers.) Same years ago the Times stigmatized the Corn-
'aws as an extension of the Pension List to the aristocracy;
but it would be more just to call the system pauperism, and the
worst kind of pauperism, since you submit to be kept by the poorest
of the poor.—(Cheers.) If it must be so—if we must bow our
necks to an oligarchy, let them live on us after the fashion of the
nobles of ancient Venice, who had their names entered in a golden
book, and then they drew their money at once from the exchequer 3
This would be better for the country than to circumvent us, and
get money from us in an indirect way—it will be more easy
for us to bear and more honest for you to do it.—(Cheers.)
But let the Right Hon. Baronet consider that the people are now
beginning to understand the system whicb, for your benefit, taxes
the bread of the poor. Will they allow this ?—(Cheers.) The
Right Hon. Baronet, who knows the state of the country much
better than his colleagues, must know the feeling that is now
spreading through the community, and on him rests the whole re-
sponsibility of the present legislation. He has known the state of
our commerce and manufactures, and he has had the power
these five months to relieve its if he chose. Yet he knows his
laws will not extend our commerce or manufactures. Why does
not the Right Hon. Baronet appeal to some honest English mer-
chant, instead of telling us that he must force on this question, be-
cause the c 4n-dealers are anxious that it should be settled ? Why
trot pass a law that shall supersede the opportunities of gambling in
corns, and permit him that takes out a cargo of cotton goods to
bring back corn at once? To the Right Hon. Baronet, then, the
starving people and the capitalists, struggling against bank.
ruptcy, will look. The apologetic, deprecatory tone of his late
speech will not do. This would be something if his position had
been forced upon him by the people, or he had been summoned by the
Queens. But he Sought the position he now fills. Though I am no friend
to the Noble Lord who lately led, and still is the leader of the
House, still I say his measures, though not good, would be much
better for the country than the measure of the Right Hon. Baronet.
They were told by the Right Hon. Member for Tamworth, that for
years and years he was reconstructing his party—from the time of the
passing the Reform Bill, he believed, he was reconstructing it ;
and be supposed he knew what materials it was composed oL He
must have known that they were composed of monopolists—of m.o.
nopolists in everything—in religion, in the franchise, in sugar, in
corn, in timber, and in coffee. These formed the party which
the Right Hon. Baronet gathered round him, and out o f which
he "reconstructed" his new party. Well, they .et to work, and
revived the old system of corruption I they bribed and they
bought.—(Loud cheers from the Opposition, and counter
cheers from the Tories.) They bribed and they bought
until they found themselves in office, with the Right Hon. Baronet
as their leader and their champion.—(Cheers.) And did lie expect
that this party had expended their funds and their labour in the
registration courts; far there it was, he believed, that the battle
was fought.—(Cheers.) Did he think that they hail expended their
money merely to come into office. and assist the Right Hon. Baronet
to take away their monopolies? lle must have known the party
he had to deal with ; for he had had a very old connection with
them, and he presumed that lie did not mean to :disappoint
them. They came into office, beving. thrust out men who,
with all their faults, were better than those who succeeded them,
they thrust out these men, and now they were not able to carry
measures so good as their predecessors could have done, lie con.
tended that the Hon. Baronet had no ground, from what he had
proposed, to assume that lie could abate a jot of that universal
condemnations which he received from every enlightened politician
in the country.—(Cheers.) They had got a sliding scale of from
20s. to ls., instead of something better; and of this he would leave
the full responsibility on the shoulders of the Right Hon. Baronet,
where it would be reposed by the people.of England.—(Cheers.)
He would now say a word or two to the Hon. Gentlemen on his
own side of the House, some of whom appeared to have great diffi-
culty in the question, and were said to be boggling and starting in
all directions.—(Laughter and cheers.) Ile would say a word
or two to his Honourable and Right Honourable arid Noble
neighbours, as to the difficulty they felt in their course with re.
spect to total and immediate repeal. Why, on. this side of the
House, in all directions, they acknowledged the principle for which
they contended—that of a perfect freedom in the trade in corn.
But yet, continued the Hon. Member, some of these. Hon. and
Right Hon. Gentlemen and Noble Lords think there ought to be a
duty for the purpose of a revenue. Wiry how can there be a duty
for revenue unless it is a duty for protection ? I ask these Hon.
and Right Hor. Gentlemen and Noble Lords who entertain such a
notion, to reconsider it before they go to a division on this question.
But with regard to the little word "now," concerning which there is
so much difficulty. There are Hon. Gentlemen here, who think
that the Corn-laws ought to be totally repealed, but they cannot
reconcile themselves to the immediate repeal. They admit the in-
justice of the Corn-laws, they admit that it is an injustice to from
twenty-five to twenty.seven millions of the people, yet inasmuch
is there are twenty or thirty thousand people who have a bene-
ficial interest in this wrong, they cannot bring their minds to
deprive them of it. With all due deferenCe to these Hon. and
Right Honourable Gentlemen, I think' this is showing a very
great sympathy for the compaeatively few who gains by these
laws, and very little for the great number who are suffering
from them. I will put it to these Honourable Gentlemen
whether if thty had had the power the day after the passing of
these laws in 1815, they would have abolished these laws, and have
given a compensation of eight or nine years' vanishing duty ? No;
you tell me you would instantly have repealed them. Well, then,
I ask you if twenty-seven years' possession of a wrong that benefits
the few—of twenty.seven years of injustice, entitles them to
an increase of it in the shape of a compensating duty ?—(Cheers.)
I have heath this difficulty made Ware, and I give the gentlemen
who make it credit for being perfectly sincere in their scru.
pies ; I have heard the scruple very ot.en ; I heard it once ex.
pressed In a public nut cling, where the great difficulty
of the Whiggish Gentlemen on the platform was
the total repeat ; they were arguine the danger and the hardship
of repealing the law instantly, and it was ably answered by an
honest plain man in a fustian jacket from the body of the meeting,
who said " Awa,' men they put it on all of a rook."—
(Laughter.) Sinne of you may not understood that he meant it
was put on all of a sudden ; end so it was ; it was passed all of a
sudden in 1815, against the remonstrances of the people ; and let
it now be abolished—the sooner the better. At this late hour of
the night, I will not trespass longer on the House. I consider the
questions Is now brought into very narrow limits. To those who
defend it because they believe they can show that there are exclusive
burthens on agriculture, I say, do not put on a Bread-tax to com-
pensate you for them ; but remove the burthens. On the other

hand, let me ask you if you are prepared to carry out even-
handed justice to the people? If not, I tell you your law will not
stand ; and more than that, I te'l you that this House itself, it it is
basci on injustice, wi❑ not stand either,—(Loud cheers, during
which the Hon. Member resumed his seat.)

Mr. FER RA ND rose to address the !louse. Ile said it would be
wrong on his part to take too great an advantage of the great
genre he had already received at the hands of the llouse, but he
hoped that Hon. Members would bear with him for a short time
when they recollected that during the last ten days he had been the
target at which the Ilon. Gentlemen opposite had aimed their poi.
sonous shafts.—(" Oh, oh," and cheers.) He was even constrained
!o make an explanation of something taken up by his own side of
the House, but shielded by the mantle of truth, he had come out of
the conflict uninjured.—(" Oh, oh," and ironical cheers ) . It was
true that the Hon. Baronet the Member for the Tower -Hamlets
came down the night after he addressed the House, and said that if
he (Sir W. Clay) possessed the ability to reply to him, he should do
so to the injury of the party behind him, and he therefore left him
in the hands of the Right Hon Baronet, wishing him joy of him.
—(Loud cheers from the Opposition, which. were renewed
from the Tory Benches) lie would tell them distinctly that
that Right Honourable Baronet should never have his support
unless he thought it his duty to give It him; and he asked no re-
ward but an approving conscience. But great indeed must have
been the services of the Hon. Baronet when the late disinterested,
and patriotic, and self-denying, no-patronage Government—(lm-
melts° cheering)—did not hesitate to give him the badge of honour,
which an Hon. Baronet, sitting on the Treasury benches, had re-
ceived for losing a limb, and shedding his blood in the service of
his country, an honour which he had fought his way to from the
retreat of Corunna to the great and crowning victory of Waterloo.
Another Hon. Member, with that blushing modesty for which he
was so remancable, declred that his speech was one of scandalous le •
city. Fortunately for him, the Hon. and Gallant Member fur Wycomle
contradicted him, and told the House it was one of bombastic de-
clamation.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) He would leave the lion.
Members to settle the matter in dispute, sad offer up a fervent
prayer that it might be amicably arranged. He now came to the
Hon. Member for Salford, and he asked the indulgence of the
House while he defended himself from as despicable a quibble as
ever any man was subjected to. That Hon. Member declared that
" if he were to judge of his (Mr. F.'s speech) and of the correct.
ness of It from what he knew to be untrue, he should certainly nut
value it very highly ; he knew some parts of it to be totally desti_
tute of foundation ; he had said that the Hon. Member for Stock-
port had worked his mills nightandday, and had made a large fortune
by this abominable cruelty. He beggeil to tell the Hon. Member that
he never had a mill in his life." Now when he (Mr. Ferranti) as-
serted this, he instantly gave his authority up to the House.—
(Loud cries of " No.") He placed his authority in the hands of
the House, by saying that if the name was demanded, he would
give it.—(Oh.) Scarcely five minutes had elapsed when the lion.
Member left the House, and he (Mr. Ferrand) followed him, and
n pl;vate, he would give him his at.thority,
said, now they were i
and the date of the letter he had read. He did so, and
read in private what he had before read to the
House; arid the Honourable Member replied with a laugh,
"All, but they call them print.works in Lincash; re. "—(Tremeti.
dous cheering from the Tories.) But he hoped, in justice to his
authority, the House would allow him to read a-few lines Which
the same. individual had written to him since; he said—" I have
noticed, by the papers of this evening, that the Rev. Mr. Brother-
ton—(Laughter)—has made a statement' , denying that the Hon.
Member for Stockport had ever worked his mills night and day,
but I know that he will not deny working his print works at Mr-
ley night and day."—(Hear,- hear, and cheers.) He now
came to the Hon. Member for Westminster, who declared
that he had made an incendiary speech in that House.

What : the Hon. Member for Westminster!—(Continued cheers)
—the champion of the liberty of the people!—the Hon. Mtntber
who asserted that there was nothing but class legislation in that
House, and that the working classes were not represented.—
(Cheers.) Did he say that he (Mr. F.) should not come into the
House and deliver a message from that class in the presence of the
assembled Commons of England, declaring that the Corn-laws are
not the cause of their distress, but the persecution of their mas.
tern ? That Hon. Member said that if what he asserted were true,
he (Mr. F.) ought to call for a Committee of the House. The
House had been in Committee for many days, and he had
brought his charge before it ; bat did any Honourable
Member, but the Gentlemen of the Ant.Corn.law League,
deny one assertion he had made ? It was true, that the
Hon. Member for Salford did, but he was the only one. He
should ask the house what the people of England would say to
this silence out of doors. They might treat him with contempt,
but had not his speech caused a sensation throughout
the length and breadth of the land ?—(lronical cheers.)
He would tell the Member for Wycombe that it was true. It had
destroyed the Anti-Corn-law League—(Great laughter)—and had
• forced them to coalesce with the Chartists, as the only chance of
its existence. They were obliged to coalesce with a party that
hated them in their hearts, with a party which if they
did urge to open rebellion, as they were trying to
do—(Oh, oh)—he would warn them that their bayonets and
-pikes might be buried in the breasts of their oppressors ! They
were playing a dangerous game—a game which was against the
opinion of the people of England, and he could tell them that there
• Was still strength enough in the country to make. them quail. He
would now call the attention ef the Member tor Westminster to a
letter which he had received from a poor working man, and, per-
haps, Hon. Gentlemen opposite would not refuse to hear it. It w, s
dsted the 20th inst., from a place near Leeds. It said—" I have
read the speech you delivered on Monday evening, and it has caused
more sensation than any that has been made."—(Laughter, and
Oh.") They might laugh, but now let them listen to what followed.
The letter went on as follows :—" We have all witnessed similar
transactions to those you have related, and many working men
have experienced treatment worse than you have described. No.
body has ventured here to deny your assertions. The room of the
Leeds Operative Conservative Society"—(Derisive cheers on the
Opposition Benches)—What, was there then any offence in being a
Conservative, and could not every man entertain his own political
opin!ons ?—(Lond cries of " Hear, hear," on the Ministerial
Benches.) The Right Hon. Gentleman continued to read the
letters as follows :—" The room of the Leeds Operative Conser-
vative Society was besieged by strangers anxious to have a peep at
the Times of Thursday, all of whom confirmed your statements.
The Leaguers are raging at your exposure—(Laughter)—but I
should not have troubled you had not Bernal doubted your
statements respecting the Anti-Corn law petitions. In Leeds
the Leaguers have been defeated on several occasions at public
meetings. The very number of signatures to the petitions proves
them to be forgeries. Lathe township of Leeds, which contains
about 87,000 inhabitants,* is said that 40,000 signatures have
been obtained, and in the borough, including the women's petition
signed by 23,000 females, that the last number of signatures
amounted to 66,000, being nearly one half of the entire population,
of all ages. Besides these facts, I have a rather extensive .circle
of acquaintance, and I have met with a great number of parties
who are positively opposed to the Whig scheme. The
petitions have been hawked about from door to door, and
placed for signature in all parts of the town. Men had
been enstaged to go from house to house with cheap
bread petitions."—(Cries of " Hear, bear.") Now, he asked the
particular attention of the House to what followed, for it disclosed
the whole secret of the getting up of those petitions—" One young
man, by name Robert Whitty, who came to work in the same room
with myself the day on which the petition was closed, told me
that from Monday to Tuesday 850 names had been found by him,
for which he obtained Sts. 6d.—(Hear.) I know the signatures to
these petitions have been bought throughout the whole country. In
one row of 35 houses this man stated that he had obtained 300 names."
The writer of that letter gave his name "Thomas Hargraves."
He would next read about half-a.dozen lines from another letter.
They were as follows :—" In all parts of the manufacturing dis-
tricts in which I have been, I have heard the working classes de-
clare, that if the truth were told in the House, and that if you
wanted any one to corroborate what you have said, you might
have found hundreds of thousands." He would now put the House
in possession of the manner in which the Anti.Corn.law League
manufactured their petitions. It was detailed as follows :
—" The other day I called upon one manufacturer to
sign a petition for the Ten Hours' Bill. He was in
a room in which the power-loo:ns were in operation.
tie instantly said Yes, and went across the yard to his counting.
house. He took out a petition and said, now you see I have done
it pretty well ; I have varied my hand, and I have taken them all
out of the wages'-book."—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear," on the
Ministerial benches, and cries of " Name," from the Opposition.)
He would give the name privately to any Hon. Member of the
House.—(Renewed cries of "Name.") Yes, he would give the
name to the Hon. Member for Yorkshire if he wished he should do
so.—(Hear, hear.) lie had detailed the other night the misery,
the oppression, the plunder, and the robbery which was corn.
mitted on the poor by the Anti-Corn-law League manufacturers.
lie had brought before the House the truck system, but before
lie read to them statements upon that subject, which would make
them stand aghast—(Laughter, and cries of" Hear, hear)—he
was certain they ought to produce that effect, he was certain that
here was not one Hon. Member who ought not to be struck with
horror at the system of plunder which he was going to expose—
(Hear, hear)—but he wished first of all to re-assert in the
presence of that House, that he did not charge the whole
manufacturers of England with those nefariouslnc.i
rises.—(Hear, hear, hear.) He positively declared that he only
referred to the Anti-Corn-law League manufacturers.---4 lit ar,
hear.) He had been told by manufacturers in his own neighbour-
hood, as honourable men as ever lived, and of whose acquaintance
he was proud—he had been told by them, time after time, that they
could not compete with the Anti-Corn-law League manufacturers,
for they wighed to pay their wages in money, while the others paid
them in goods. The lion. Member for Manchester had said last
night that no* and then there might be found an isolated manu-
facturer who treated his workmen cruelly.
Mr. M. PHILIPS said that he had stated no such thing.
He begged leave to say that he had made use of no such expres-
sion.—(Order, order.)
Mr, FERRAND begged the Hon. Gentleman's pardon, and
was ready to withdraw his statement.—(Hear, hear.)
Mr. PHILIPS proceeded to say (amidst a scene of great con.
fusion, and loud cries of" Order, order ") that what he had stated
was, that among manufacturers as among any other class in society,
he did not suppose that individuals did not ex'st who wore not
sordid in their views and principles. lie believed that they were
cast its the same mould with all the classes in society, and that such
individuals might exist among them. —tHear, liter.)
Mr. EMIR AND was much obliged to the Hon. Gentleman for
his explanation—it fortified- what he was going to say.—(Hear,
hear, and laughter.) He would give the Hon. Gentleman a brief
sketch of what had occurred in an isolated village in the county
of Lancaster. He would read from a letter in hie possession :
" Mr. and Son,"—(Cries of "Name,") He would tell the
Hon. Member who cried .` Name," that he was prepared to prove
everything which he asserted in that House, and that if
the Honourable Member would move for a Committee of
the House lie would summon before that Committee those
which would prove the accuracy of his statements. But bethought
thg House would agree with him in thinking that it was not fair
to give to the world the names of his correspondents. Ile was
fortified in that opinion by what had passed time other night in the
House; but if the House should think it necessary to hear those
statements confirmed before a Committee, he for ono would not
shrink from his duty. The Hon. Member again attempted to
proceed with the reading of the letter amidst loud cries of " Name.")
" Mr. —and son had three mills"—(Renewed cries of" Name.")
and prolonged i nterruption.) " Oh," continued the Hon. Member,
" the flesh will quiver where time pincers tear."—( Loud cheers from
the Ministerial benches.) He would ask Hon. Gentlemen oppo.
site if what be was asserting was true, and if they really wished to
benefit the working classes, why they would not allow the system
to be exposed ? The working classes said that the Corn-laws had
not caused their misery and distress—it was the manufacturers who
had taxed their food, it was they who had taxed their provisions and
their clothing. The Hon. Member again proceeded to read the
letter, as follows :—" Mr. and Son had three mills, and each
mill a shop attached to it, at winch the working men
were supplied with coals and other articles by time
same firm, The working people were obliged to prociire
both food and clothing, at a shop in the neighbourhood, kept by
the brother of time proprietor, for his own benefit. There was
another shop kept by his son, all of which was managed by the
firm. There were other mills which had cottages attached to
them occupied by the workmen." Ile would next proceed to rlis
close to them the mariner in which those parties had evaded th
law which had been passel to put down the truck system. The
letter stated that "on Saturday nights the workmen went for their
wages, which were paid in money, butt instead of retiring through
the door by which they had entered, they had to pass through
another room ; and there sat in the room a person which kept the
books of those shops. They had to pay the marl every farthing they
had expended during the previous week, in buying goods and
clothing from the shops. If it could be proved that one of those
men had purchased a single farthing's worth of goods that did
not belong to the manufacturer, he was, without one word of
explanation, discharged from his employment."—(Hear, hear.)
Now, he called that a tax upon food--he called that a tax upon
provisions.—(Bear, hear.) But that was their free-trade system.
—( Hear, hear.) Yes; and it was a notorious fact, that those
manufacturers cleared 25 per cent. by the goods they sold to these
poor men, and that they cleared 10 per cent. by the cottages they
let, for it was an understood thing, that when a man went to ask
for work from-ono of those manufacturers, he had a key placed in
his hand, and that key was to give him to understand that he was
to live in a cottage which yielded the manufacturer 10 p‘r cent.
upon thwexpense of building it. This was their glorious system of
free trade, and those were time Ant i. Cern-law League manufacturers
who had told the House of Commons that they, the landed interest,
should f.11.—(1/ear, hear.) He would now come to the 11011. Mem.
ber for Edinburgh.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) lie begged
pardon, be meant the night Hon. Gentleman the Aleinher for }Min.
burgh. That Eight Mon. Gentleman had said the Anti. Corn-law
League had not used such violent language out of doors as be (Mr.
Ferrand) had used in that House. Now, he hoped he might be
al:owsal to allude for a moment, to a speech which contained allu-
sions to the Right Hon. Baronet who sat there as the Prime Minis-
ter of England, and he appealed to Hon. Members opposite, how.
ever much they might differ from that Right HOll. Gentleman in
politics, he would ask them if they did not hear their record generously
and manfully that he at least did not deserve such slanders as lie
(Mr. Ferranti) was then about to read to the blouse,—(Hear,
hear, and laughter.) This was the speech of Mr. George Thomp.
son—" Accursed law! doubling the primeval curse, turning the
warm sweat of industry, into the chill damp of starvation.—(Tee.
mendous cheering.) he denounced that law—it was an impious
law that this wicked man" (meaning Sir R. Peel) "had passed,
The laW-makers, the landed aristocracy, had virtually monopolised
the bounties of God, and we starve in consequence."—(Hear,
hear.) Colonel Thompson said that "he should himself ton.
scientiously advocate taking a iarge retribution on the landlords—
how many might follow him, depended upon them and not upon
himself" Now lie (Mr. Ferranti) was of °Orin* that if they
waited till-the Hot,. and Gallant Colonel took that retribution they
would have to wait for. a long time.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.)
He would next read to the House a speech that had been made
by the Hon. Member who had last addressed them (Mr. Cobden),
and he wished the Hon. Member for Edinburgh was present
in order that be might hear the language; because it was high
time, in his opinion, to imitate the expressions of Earl Grey its
the House of Lords when 100,000 men were ready to march from
Birmingham—for which he might add they had received the
thanks of the Noble Lord the Member for London. He thought
it was time to tell the landed proprietors to set their house in
order, for the people was coming on them.—(Hear, hear, anti
laughter.) He was about to quote the speech of the Hon. Mem.
ber for Stockport, who spoke as follows :--- " They had
been told that the aristocracy was about to overturn their
rights. Were they prepared to undergo sacrifices to carry
this question.—(Hear, hear, and cries of ' The time
were not far off when they might be called upon to make sacrifices
and undergo privations, and to act as Christian men, while the oli-
garchy were usurping the prerogatives of the Crown—were tramp.
ling upon the Crown—(lmthense cheering, which continued se.
venal minutes)—and trampling upon the people.—(Continued
cheering.) It would be for them to determine tow long such oli-
garchial usurpations were to tie supported, When time time should
come,' he would himself set the example of sacrifice and suffering."
He declared that when he read that speech he trembled from head
to foot.—( GI eat cheering.) He would only now detain the House
a few minutes longer, until'he had -told them how the Anti. Corn.
law League managed to enhance - the price of corn. Were Hon.
Members opposite aware that upon a calculation 100,000 quarters
of wheat were annually used in assisting these men to defraud the
public.--(A voice here asked " How I") By daubing the
calicoes with dour paste.—(Laughter.) The murder then was out.
—(Renewed lauguter.) They country, then, should know how
they were defrauded by these men, and how by these men they
had lost the foreign markets, What be was then going to tell
the House, lie could prove by the testimony of manufacturers
of the highest standing in this country. Ile would that night,
with the permission of the House, expose such a system of robbery
and plunder as had never before been heard of, Why, It was only

- .
the other day that a poor man was transported for seven+,
year, for selling to the Noble Lord, the Secretary of the Colonies, a
few bricks for a chandelier.—(Great laughter from both sides of the House.) Now, what he was about to read came from the mouth
of a man who knew the whole secret, and who, if that Committee
were appointed by that House, to which he bad alluded, should be
tflhoeur
calicoes."—(Laughter.)
Lit t(hLeaucgohttioenr.)tradeAti(,),givhe
ea fLlFseursedp.
examined before it as well as others. Ile stated to him '• Immense
;PeiQeatriutaatinetteitwies-tftrue. He assured them it was a fact. He
asked those Honourable Members opposite who were engaged
in the trade, whether it was not true ? " Some manufacturers use
from two to three thousand sacks per annum. The calicoes are
passed through a machine, in which they are stretched in length
and breadth. The interstices occasioned by stretching, are fined
up by paste, which is applied by a brush ; afterwards the calicoes
passed between two rollers wnich press or calender it, and then comes
out apparently a beautiful stout flue piece of calico. Its real quality
is discovered on washing; it is a dead loss to the confiding pa-
chaser. —(Hear, hear.) Now, then, he would, with the permission
of the House, read an extract from a letter written by an English
merchant. That letter alluded to a process which was adopted by
the cotton manufacturers of the present day, of buying up all the
old rags in the country, tearing them in pieces with a machine, to
as to reduce them to a kind of dust, and then mixing them with
wool and making them into cloth. Thi 4 dust, from its nauseous qua-
lities, and from the disease engendered by it, had been called by the
manufacturers, and by the working people of Yorkshire, " The
devil's dust"—(Roars of laughter.) Worse and worse in Hudders.
field. " The trade is leaving this country most rapidly. M. is
paying off nearly 9.00 of his weavers, because the foreigners are
making the same sorts of goods at very little more than half the
price.—(Hear, hear) The rags, as you know"—(Laughter)—
He assured Hon. Members that it was no laughing subject, for it
was by this system that our foreign trade had been ruined--
(" Hear, hear," from the Ministerial benches)—" The rags, as you
know, are collected front the holes in London and Dublin, and
arc brought iro:n the most unhealthy regions, infected by every
kind of epidemic.—(Colonel Sibthorp entered the House, carrying
in his hand some oranges, which he presented to the Hon. Member
amidst bursts of laughter from every part of the House.) Bri.
tish goods are made up. The first time they are
worn they split up, and then then the game begins"—" S. informs
us that D. S. has sent out a large quantity of doe-skins, changed
ss. ed. a yard, which has been proved to be not worth one far.
thing—not worth tailors' wages. They will all be sent back to the
manufactures with a charge of ss. Sd. a yard upon them for duty,
carriage, freight, &c., and this, of course, besides the loss of goods,
will be a heavy expense. If this will not cure him, 1 cannot tell
what will. F. has been on the Continent, and there he saw a
small manufactory of wools all made of doeskins. The manufac-
turers before this season had never made eighteen pieces in a year t
he had then an order for 1,800 pieces, at considerably below the
price of English goods. This manufacture is leaving us as fast as
it cats. Nothing can show our baseness and deceit more than this
These things prove clearly that our ruin is brought ppm" us by our
own folly." lie would now solicit the attention of the Honour.
able Member for Sheffield. " The rnanufbcturers of Sheffield
forced iron cutlery upon foreigners for steel until they
would not have it, and they have been obliged to manufacture for
themselves. Thus our canting professing Christians:are ruining
their own country and cheating the poor Pagans, and all the while
b'ubbering about trus•ii:g is Providence, and are trying"--'et Hon.
Membets listen to this—" are trying to maim Parliament believe that
they care for the poor."--(Cheers from the Ministerial benches.)
One more extract, and he had done. He would, with the permie.
sion of the House, just call their attention to a meeting of mane.
facturers, which took place in New York a few years ago. An
account of that meeting appeared in all the American papers ;
he had this account from an eye-witness, a person who was pre.
sent at *at meeting. " A meeting of merchants and manufac_
turers, convened in the Town-hall for the purpose of consider.
ing the best means of protecting the manufacturers of the United
States. The meeting was composed of manufacturers of all
grades; it was very numerously attended, and a spirit
of unanimity pervaded the assembly. Specimens of cloth
and wool, of British manufacture, were held up to
the gaze of the meeting, all of which were moth-eaten."
The following resolution at that meeting was agreed to ;
" That it is the opinion of this meeting that it is our duty to Con
gress to protect the manufacturers of the United States by an aug-
mentation of the present Tariff, to prohibit, as far as possible, the
importation of foreign manufactures."—(" Hear, hear," from the
Ministerial Benches.) He would, before he sat down call the
attention of the Right Hon. Baronet at the head of her Majesty's
Government to a fact which had not yet been brought under the
notice of that House; and that was, that if the Corn-laws were
repealed, there would be an immense body of honest in.
dustrious labourers in the north of England, not
only thrown out of employment, but inevitably ruined
for ever.—(llear, hear.) It had been the custom for many years
for landed proprietors who were in possession of extensive waste
lands, to let off plots to hard.working labourers, on a lease of four.
teen, twenty.one, or thirty years, free from all rent, on condition
that these poor men should break up that land, and repay them.
selves afterwards by the corn which was grown upon it. Now, if
the Corn.laws were repealed, every one of those poor men must
inevitably be ruined.—(Hear, hear.) They had as much right
to the protection of the Government of this country as Hon.
Members opposite ; and they looked to the Government-to protect
them, that they might reap some slight reward for-their labour.
They never thought or dreamt of amassing such wealth as those
Hon. Members had amassed ; they merely said to them, " In pity
in mercy, we entreat you to live and let live."--( Hear, hear.)
Why refuse them such a fair request ? They would
let them live happily and securely—they would scorn to rob
them of anything which leonged to them; and it was unjust,
it was cruel, it was unmanly, nay, more, it was dishonourable and
beneath the character of Englishmen, that the House of Commons
should be found advocating a measure which would rob and plunder
the people.—(Loud cheers,) The Honourable Member for Man.
cheater, the night heti re last, had given his advice to the farmers
of England. Why, if they looked to his political conduct they
would not see mach to admire.---(A laugh.) The farmers of
England, said the Hon. Member in coeclusion, "look to the
laws of their country fur protection, and when they lose that
protection you may depend upon it that if they fall you fall
too.—(The Hon. Gent. resumed his scat amidst great cheering.)
Mr. BROTHERTON rose amidst cries of " Order, order,"
" Bar, bar," and much confusion. He said that any one who
knew him—(Hear, hear, and much laughter)-was aware—(Hear,
hear, and some interruption.) What he wished the House to
believe was, that he would not use any expression which lie would
conceive to hear a sense, different- Item that which* he meant to
attach to it.—(Hear, hear.) When he (Me, Brotherton)
stated that he believed the Honourable Member
fur Stockport (Mr. Cobden) never had as mill in his life—he did
apply the word mill in its common acceptation, and he-- did not
suppose for an instant—(Mi%isterial cries of " Oh, oh")—that a
meaning different from what- he applied to the word would be
given it. lie (Mr. Brotherton) had read in the newspapers of the
Hon. Member's having possessed a mill, and of his hating sold it
I because it 'was not a profitable concern. ' It was perfectly
understood when they spoke of mills, that they meant cotton, wool.
len, or silk mills. —(Cries of " Oh, oh," from the Ministerial
benches.) The Hon. Gentleman himself (Mr. Fernand) knew She
meaning of the word mill in that respect—( Ministerial cries of
" Oh, 011,'s and counter-cries of " Hear, hear.") If he (Mr.
Brotherton) bad made use of an expression calculated to give a
wrong idea of his meaning, he would immediately re-
tract i t.—( I fear, hear.) If the Honourable Member
opposite were to read the name of his eorrespondent,
it would be found that the letter which he had read to the House
that evening proceeded from one of his (Mr. lhotherton's) political
opponents. However, he would not return evil for evil. He had
seen two letters respecting the Hon. Member opposite, expressive
of the value (as we understood) which was put upon his assertions ;
but he (Mr. Brotherton) would not deign—[Here the lion,
Member was again interrupted by the noise that prevail ea in the
House ] When he again became audible, lie was statute that--
He would not deceive the House in any one way. With that de.
claration he would sit down.
Mr. COBDEN said be might as well state, once for all, that he
had considered that it was not the disposition of that House to its.
dulge id gross personalities.—(Loud Opposition cheers.) Ile could
assure lion. Gentlemen who might ingeniously devise partizan war.
spoke," from the Minis.
tfaerLofntelirethcchs:
Ere,acpotern—de,(lCtr,i)eisvoto'
"IlipoSTitkieo'n cries of " Hear, hear")—.
that lie should never be drawn into versonal altercations in that
House. It was disrespectful to the country that sent them to
that blouse—(Hear, from the Opposition Benches)—and he might
be allowed to add, he trembled for the dignity of the House—(Hear)
—.when he found language such as they hail been listening to that
evening, received with complacency.—(Cries -of " Spoke,"
" Explain," " Hear, hear," and " Order.") He did consider
the dignity of that House in some danger, when he found lan.
guage and demeanour such as they had heard and witnessed during
the last half-hour, received with so much complacency by Right
Hon. Gentlemen on the Treasury benches, and cheered by Hon.
Members behind them.—(Cries of " Hear, hear," , " Order,
order," amidst which the Hoe. Gentleman resumed his seat.)
Mr. HI h D LEY rose amidst much noise, and cries of " Order,"
" Bar," and "Go on.") He raid that in addressing the House
after the spicy speech—(lcer, hear, and touch laughter)—which
had just been delivered he had to contend with considerable dis-
advantages. Ile must confess he had formed a verysrroneous opt..
nion of the assemblage which he now addressed, if such attacks u
they had lately witnessed could be generally made in that House.
Ile had formed a very erroneous opinion of what it became the
House of Commons to do, if such speeches as they had just heard
belonged to privileges of Parliament. He would not for a mo-
ment notice the assertions of the Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Farrand),
but he would declare this, that if he entered that house, profess-
ing himself the friend of the trolls-Mg classes, he (Mr. Hindley)
would hail his appearance iii it, but on the part of the working
classes he would entreat the Hon. Member to show snore judgment
in their behalf, else he (Mr. Mulless
feared he would betray their
cause. With respect to the question before the House he Mr.
Handley) did not intend to make it a party purstion. It was not
his intention to attack the agriculturists at if they were inwe
selfish than any other portion or the community. lie would
avoid all terms of opprobrium and resreach, feeling
convinced that instead of being iv,eful, they would be rather in.
jurious to the cause which he advocated. Mere the Hon. Mem-
ber became quite inaudible la the gallery, in consequence of the
noire that prevailed iii the body of the House, when we were again
able to catch his voice.] He was contending that the Corn-laws,
as tending to raise the price of corn, had considerable influence in
bringing about the present distress. His objection to the Corn-laws
was, that they were based on unjust principles. The Legislature
bad no right to pass laws contrary, in their principles, to the laws 0
God and nature. That was the opinion held by a high legal author
tits, Lord Chief Justice Holt. That Learned Judge had stated that
upon those foundations, namely, the laws of nature and revelation
depended all human laws, and aro human laws should contradict
them. The opinion of Home Tooke was, that lite lawit
of /11311 should confirm the laws of God and of •nature.
Ile should not have alluded to this view of the subject so strongly,
if lie had not perceived that it had been the ground of 'natty of the
petitimis presented to the House mi the subject. Tkat was the
ground taken by the ministers of religion in their opposition to the
Corn.laws ; their petitions against the Corn-laws prayed
for their immediate repeal, because those laws were
opposed to the laws of God and of Nature. They
said that those laws were indefensible, because they prevented
men from changing the products of their industry for food in the
manner which they preferred, thus adding to the curse originally
pronounced upon man, '' Its the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat
bread ;" and they did add to that curse in enacting laws by
which men were not allowed to change the products of their ta-
bour for food. It was acting contrary to right, contrary to common
sense, and contrary to justice to edact such laws. It was weakening
the fabric of the Constitution, and subverting the foundations of
society.—(Hear, hear.) If they were to pass a law that all per_
eons named John should pay a tax, althought it might be a fixed
duty, and that all persons named Robert should pay a tax, although
it might be a sliding scale, lie thought the Johns and the Roberts
would have ample cause to complain of the injustice of such an enact.
meat, and that the whole House would admit the justiceof theircom_
plaint, and unanimously vote for the immediate repeal of such a
law. The Corn-law was just such a law, it inflicted a tax upon
certain classes for the benefit of certain other classes.—(Loud cries
of ‘"
Divide.") The upholding of such a law mustliave a tendency
to bring all laws into disrepute. Dr. Chalmers in his treatise
on political economy, had said that, for the sake of the moral
benefit of society there was no achievinent more worthy than
hail
against about a free trade in corn, because there was 1.,1),_
~_
against which all feeling was more easily excited than against the
law preventing a free trade in corn.—(Loud cries of "Divide,
thee
that on h--. L,„..—(Cries of
vide,'' and great confusion, which continued
during
addressing
whole time the Honourable
Member
that account it
the House.) He would say
would be well to rid the Statute-book ,
of osfwGod, and enhanced
" Divide.") It was contrary to the,
Iliaewoperation of that law was
the price of food unjustly to man.
severity,id°,linbdicersh eircuntstances,
i II ,Iwaffasoicestohtdli: r
eb:
Ile felt surprised that the
profitable to the agriculturist
to make a deficient harvest moreet
p pressed in such seasons upon
ypaythefodreraetTeern;
than a plentiful harvest, white
not Only by
the commercial classes
enhancing the Pr,
credit produced by derangement
of foreign corn pure
our having to
Jilight non.
-_... . Gentleman, ihe \'ice President of the Board oT Trade.
in money and not :et manufactures.