The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-20 00:00:00

trade in corn ; that the system of the duty rising as the price
fell, and falling as the price rose, was a monster in fiscal legis-
lation, reserved for the corn trade ; that such a measure
would have been supposed to have been intended for the pur-
pose of excluding from the trade all men of capital and pi u-
dence, and draw gamblers into commerce. That was the
judgment of practical men, given with respect to the Bill now
on their Lordship? table, because it was given in general
terms applicable to any such Bill. He had thought it neces-
sary to speak thus much on a question which involved the great
commercial and financial interest of the country. The pro,perity
of the land of England depended on commercial and manufac-
turing improvement, ard whet her they had done right or wrong in
fostering up a great manufacturing populatio ~ and thereby
getting the means of becoming a great and powerful people, or
they still continued
" Mild Arcadians ever blooming
Nightly nodding o'er their crops,"
he did net moats to say. But they had ruled the destinies of
Europe. They had sent out the Noble Duke opposite to pre-
serve the peace of Europe, and it was necessary that they
should draw upon the resources, industry, and moral powers of
the country, in order to achieve that mighty destiny
for which England seemed to have been called into existence.
His Noble Friend had stated that a change had taken place in
his opinions. A change had also taken place ii his ( Lord
Monteagle's opinions. They would never have quiet on this
subject till the trade in corn was free as air. He would not de-
tain their Lornships further than to thank them for the manner
in which they had attended to his observations.
The LORD CHANCELLOR, having put the question,
Lord BROUGHAM stated his approval of his Noble Friend's
resolution, and meant to vote in favour of it. He looked upon
the proposed sliding scale as an improvement on the existing
law. and he looked open the Noble Lord's motion as a consider-
able improvement on the plan before the House. It was not easy
for him to say whether he preferred an unknown fixed duty to
an unknown sliding scale. If the fixed duty rose to 50s. or
605. per quarter, and the sliding scale sunk down among the
pence and farthings, even retaining his views of a free trade, he
should prefer such a sliding scale to a fixed duty of
so high an amount ; but if his Noble Friend meant
in his resolution a moderate fixed duty, and a sliding
scale meant the present sliding scale, he should most undouht.
edly prefer that fixed duty to such a sliding scale.
He considered the advantages of his Noble Friend's proposition
to be such, although not considerable, that they would justify
him in voting for his Noble Friend, if he could not succeed in
carrying the better proposition which he had submitted. Under
the sliding scale, it was impossible for the foreign merchant
and grower to calculate what the price would be of his corn
when it came to this country. He had no means of ascertain-
ing what price he would receive here on carrying his corn
over. The sliding scale apportioned the duty to the price, and
the foreigner had no mean of ascertaining what the price would
be, on which alone he had to speculate. Suppose the Bs.
fixed duty were to be imposed, he would know exactly what
the carrying his corn here would cost him. He had the
price of the article, the cost of shipment and transport, and
the fixed duty ; but he had, even under a fixed duty, no
means of knowing what the price would be here. He would
know the prize now as well under the sliding scale as under
the fixed duty. He ( Lord B.) had already so often explained
to their Lordships the reasons on which ho was opposed to any
duty whatever upon the importation of corn, and he would
confine himself to stating the reason why he should vote for a
fixed duty instead of a sliding scale. He would vote for the
former as the lesser evil. In any way it was a poll-tax which
was eyially contributed to by him to whom it was nothing, and
by him whose daily food was diminished by it. It was therefore
a poll-tax of the worst kind. As a tax for revenue it was the
worst that could be levied. It would depend upon the wind
and the seasons. If there was an article which should
be exempt from direct taxation, it was that of
bread. One must be fatigued with arguing against the absur-
dity and injustice of such taxation, and apologising for so long
detaining their Lordships, he concluded by repeating that,
of the two evils, he preferred that of the fixed duty.
The Mike of WELLINGTON said, that there could be no
doubt, as an abstract position, that no duty ought to be laid on
the food of the people.—( Opposition cheers.) As an abstract
proposition, there could be no doubt of the truth of that; but
the Noble Viscount opposite looked upon this question at they
the (Ministry) did. The Noble Viscount said, he did not look
upon this as a measure for introducing corn into the country
but whether or not it was expediens to withdraw at once from
agriculture that protection which, up to the present moment,
it did enjoy. The Noble Viscount said, that he consid. red it
right to continue the protection to agriculture, but that he
thousbt the best mode of protecting actriculture was the mode
which had been proposed by the Noble Lord and his colleagues
during the last Session of Parliament. The Noble Viscount
stated that. he preferred that plan to the Bill which had been
introduced into the other House of Parliament by the Right
Hon. Gentleman at the head of the Government, and had been
submitted to their Lordships by his Noble Friend (the Earl of
Ripon). The Noble Viscount looked at it very properly as a
corn measure, and a measu'e for regulating and protecting the
agriculture of the country. Another Noble Lord near him
had considered it as a convenient measure. And the Noble
Lord who was sitting at the table had, in his speech, argued
the question on all grounds, financial as well as others. They
had been in some degree replied to by his Noble and Learned
Friend who had spoken lately ; but all the Noble Lords who had
spoken in the early part of the debate, had considered merely
what would be the best moths of giving to agriculture that de-
scription of protection which he (the Duke of W.) felt assured
it was the general wish of the House and the country, with few
exceptions, the Noble and Learned Lord being one of them, should
be accounted to it. The Noble Lord at the table ( Earl Stan.
hope) considered that corn ought to receive the same protec-
tion which hail always been accorded to it ; and he ( Earl
Stanhepe) lamented the bringing forward of the present mea-
sure as likely to tend in its consequences to the loss of that
protection. The question they had to consider was, what
would be the best mode of giving protection to agriculture, and
he (the Duke of Wellington) would confess hehad always consi-
dered the graduated scale as the best mode of giving protection.
to the agriculture of the country. A sliding duty levied upon
the importation of foreign corn, varying in amount according
to the price of corn in the country at certain periods, such
prices to be ascertained by averages, was, he thought, the best
made of giving that protection to the agriculture of the coontry
to which it was entitled. It was perfectly true that under the
Act, which he now hoped was about to expire, great frauds
had been practised in the taking of the averages, and possibly
a scale of duties had given occasional facilities for the com-
mission of those frauds. There could be no doubt but that
frauds had existed, and complaints had been made of instances of
those frauds. Other complaints had also been made against that
law, and for that reasen he (the Duke of Wellington) had con-
sented to the adoption of the proposition fur a new law on the
subject. He hoped that as the law had been so framed as to
obviate those objections which had been made to the manner
of taking the averages, that they would be now honestly taken ;
and as in framing the graduated scale of duties that scale had
been improved r o as to avoid giving that facility for the coin.
mission o! frauds, while at the same time it contained the pro.
tection which had been hitherto given to agriculture, he hoped
and expected that the effect of it would be to keep the price of
grain in this country at the average price in which it was known
to have been for the last 13 or 14 years since the passing of the law
which was now about to expire. He meant that average price ac-
cording to which the tithe agreements had been made and con-
tracted throughout the country, and considering that thelse agree-
ments had been entered into under the sanction of Parliament and
the Government, he thought it but just for the two sets of proprie-
tors who had entered into those agreements, that no great altera.
tion should take place so as to change the foundation upon which
those agreements had been made. He was of opinion that the
Act of the 9th Geo. IV., had acted beneficially in attaining the
objects that its proposers had had in view. The principle of the
sliding scale had received the sanction of Parliament
some years previous to the adoption of the law
of the 9th of George the Fourth. During the Administration of
Lord Liverpool that principle had been adopted ; it had received
the sanction of the Administratiou of Mr. Canning, and it had
been finally carried into effect by the law of the 9th of George
the Fourth. That measure had acted beneficially, according to
the views of those who proposed it, for preserving the price of
corn at a steady rate from the period of its enactment nearly up to
the present moment ; for, notwithstanding what had been stated
by the Noble Lord who sat at the table (Lord Monteagle), he (the
Duke of Wellington) contended that the price of corn had
continued as steady in this country as it had been in any
other part of the world. Of course there must have beets
variations in the price of an article of which the quantity must
vary according to the state of the seasons, and of which the value
depended nearly upon the quantity. Or course the price must
vary every year, but he (the Duke of Wellington) would say,
that the variation in the price of Corn had been, during that pe-
riod, aslsmall in this country as in any other country in the world.
The Noble Viscount had stated that he should be able to show
that the variation in other parts of the world had been occasiontel
by the variations her. But begging the Noble Viscount's
pardon, he (the Duke of Wellington) was afraid that the
Noble Viscount had stated that which he could not
exactly prove. There were several parts of the world
from which accounts of variation of prices had been
given, which had no relation whatever to this country its regard_
to the trade in corn; for instance, France. There was no relation
between this country and France with respect to cons, and there
was very little between this country and Holland. The fact was,
there was no relation whatever bttween the variations in the price
of corn in this country, and the price of corn in many other parts
of the world, therefore he said that the prices in this country
were as steady in corn as in other parts of the world. Go where they
would—r;o to the United States, the south of Russia and Prussia—go
where they would they would find a variation in the prices ex-
ceeding those existing in this country. But whets the Noble
Viscount thought proper to denounce the sliding scale as an absur.
day, as it was only known to the corn trade—it might be an
absurdity—the Noble Viscount might have very good reasons
for saying so—hut begging the Noble Viscount's pardon, it had
been always known in the corn trade in this country. There bad
been a Corn.law in this country In the year 1793 or 1794. That was
a Corn-law also depending on a graduated scale of duty, that duty
depending on the prices ranging in the country. That was a law
with respect to articles, the quantity, the quality, and the value of
wheat depended on the state of the seasons. He said that a gra-
duated duty, according to the prices existing in the home market,
was absolutely necessary, its order to be enabled really and truly
to give protection to the country. Now the Noble Viscount oppo-
site, and the Noble Lords Ilho supported him, insisted that a fixed
duty would answer the same purpose. He (the Duke of Welling
ton) objected to a fixed duty on principle. A fixed duty was suffi-
cient protection, perhaps, but what he had always said on the sub.
ject was, that a fixed duty could not be maintained at a time when
prices became high.— (Hear.) He understood that recently,
whets that question had been discussed its another place, a
Noble Lord there admitted, that when prices came to a
certain rate, it would be absolutely necessary io reduce the
duty by degrees, He (the Duke of Wellington) said that a fixed
duty—when the corn came to the maximum price of 705. or 725.
a fixed duty was very much like a prohibition. He had had much
experience in the affairs of this country, and he confessed that he
should be very sorry to see similar circumstances in future to that
which he had seen heretofore. On several occasions, notwith.
standing that the law required that the ports should be continued
closed until the prices came to a certain amount, he had known
the Government be under the necessity of opening the store-
houses, and allowing the:corn therein stored and kept under lock
and key, to be sold in the market (as those who administered the
Government under a fixed duty would be under the necessity of
doing), and of allowing the corn to come out of the stores without
the payment of duty. When the price came to 70s. the Govern.
ment would be under the necessity of doing that which he had
seen the Government do heretofore, of opening the stores in order
to set tree the corn which then remained for the payment of the
duty. This would be the case—this must be the course pursued
when the law should be under a system of a fixed duty, when
prices rose to 70s. Now the advantage of the system of a graduated
scale was, that the law executed itself. The prices were
ascertained by the averages published in the Gazelle, and thelaw
thereby executed itself; as the p. ices rose the duty came at last
to nothing. The Governtnent need not interfere at all. The Noble
Lord said that the consumer would gain nothing by the inter.
ference of the Government—that the persons who would gain would
be the proprietors of corn. That was exactly the case. The con-
sumer would gain nothing, but the proprietor of corn would. He
was afraid that that fact was suspected with respect to the trans-
action to which he had referred as having taken place. During
the period of the existence of the law, in 1815, it was suspected
that large fortunes were made, and that the Government were par-
ties to this. Certainly there was no foundation for
such suspicions ; but he said they ought to take
care not to adopt such a system that would place the Government
in the situation of being obliged to have recourse to such measures,
and becoming liable to such unfounded suspicions. He, therefore, •
said that a fixed duty became nugatory, and those interested
in the portectien of agriculture and in maintaining the
relations of this country as they stood with respect to
landlord and tenant, he said that those who desired this, should
nut expose themselves to disappointment by adopting a fixed duty.