The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-26 00:00:00

THE CORN-LAWS.

On the motion for the House going into Committee on
the laws regulating the importation of foreign corn,
Mr. CHRISTOPHER said he rose in pursuance of the
notice which he had given, to move the substi-
tution of 'the scale which he held in his hand for
that which had been recommended and proposed by
his Right Hon. Friend the First Lord of the Trea-
sury. He would best consult his own inclinations,
and the convenience of the Committee, by restrict-
ing his observations entirely to the House itself.
It had now been declared by an overwhelming majority
of that House that it was expedient to afford protection to
the agricultural interest, and in proposing the scale,
therefore, which he held in his hand, he would avoid
saying anything which might lead to a general
debate as to the expediency, or inexpediency of the
law. He would infinitely have preferred to bring
forward his motion when the Bill had passed
through a second reading, but he had been informed that
the present stage was the only one in which it would be
open to him to propose a higher scale of duty,
than that which had been proposed by. the Government.
His, Right Hon. Friend, in introducing the measure,
had stated, and stated truly, that it was difficult to
consider what scale of duties ought to be levied on the
importation of foreign corn, without at the sane
time taking. into account the question of averages.
It would give security against fictitious sales ; still
he (Mr. Christopher) would endeavour to post-
pone any observations he should have to make in
detail, until the Bill came under the consideration of the
House in Committee. He was willing to admit the scale
proposed by his Right Honourable Friend was, in some
respects a very considerable improvement ; the gra-
dual operation of that scale would be a very great
improvement, but lie thought he would be able
to show, if the House could at all judge from
past experience, that the scale would not afford a
sutfioient protection to the grower of corn in this country
in those periods when protection is particularly required,
not when there is an abundant harvest, but when there
is an average harvest, when the producer, with all
his skill and industry, is barely receiving a remu-
nerating price for his corn. lie also agreed in opi-
nion with his Right Honourable Friend (Sir Robert
Peel) that it was a very difficult matter to say what at all
times, and in all seasons, and under all circum-
stances, ought to be sufficiently remunerating prices,
for the producer of wheat ; indeed,- it would be im-
possible to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion
without at the same time taking into consideration
the relative value of the produce of other agri-
cultural countries. He thought he could safely say
that no one would accuse him of making exaggerated
statements.—(Hear, hear.) On the contrary, lie
believed he would get credit for making the
most moderate representations. Now from all the
information he was able to obtain, he was able to state,
by calculations which he had made, that when the price of
wheat was 565. a quarter, barley ought to be 30s. a quarter,
oats ought to be 235. a quarter, and rye 28s. It
was, no doubt, a difficult matter to say, under all cir-
cumstances and at all times, what are those seasons
which are adverse to agriculture. It was difficult also to
say what ought to be, under all circumstances, the rate of
freight and other charges incurred in bringing agriculture
to maturity. He made it his business to inquire into
these statements from private sources, but the informa-
tion he had received was so various and so extremely con-
tradictory that he would not venture to bring it under
the consideration of the House ; however he would
say that from all the information he had received,
be was fully convinced that her Majesty's Ministers in le-
gislating upon this important matter were guided by the
interest and opinions of the people. All the informa-
tion he had received upon the subject convinced
him that his Right Honourable Friend (Sir Ro-
bert Peel) had formed far too high an estimate of
continental. prices. If he were to judge of the prices at
which foreign corn had been sold in bond for the
last fourteen years, he (Mr. Christopher) should arrive
at a- different conclusion ; but he would be un-
willing to ground his arguments entirely upon th
prices at which foreign corn had been sold during
that period. He would then repeat what
he: had already stated before his constituency, namely
that wheat should be given to the consumer
at the lowest possible rate of price it could be produced.
He contended that the maximum duty ought not to be
less than 255. He did not choose to rely exclusively
on any information which he might have himself re-
ceived as to the price of wheat in bond during the
last two years ; but he had received a com-
munication from a very eminent ~merchant of Hull,
who had been engaged in the corn trade for forty
years. He applied to him to be informed what
were the lowest prices at which, under his own observa-
tion, wheat had been sold in . bond duriug the last
two years. He did not melt' to rely exclusively on this
document, but he thought it would prove satis-
factorily at what prices bonded wheat could-be sold,
and would prove that there was nothing prohibitory in
the scale recommended to this House. He found that
in the year 1832 the lowest price of wheat sold in
bond at Hull was 325. a quartet., and the highest 41s.
In 1834, 1,589 quarters were sold",at the low price of from
16s. to 30s. a quarter. In 1835 tL'e price varied from
16s. and 175., as far as 265. 6d. In A 836, it varied from
I 75., up to as high as 38s. In 1831, wheat was sold at
the lowest price, 275. 6d. a quarter, a,-id at the highest
395. Now, he did not mean to say jhat, under pe-

euliar circumstances, it might not hare been necessary
to admit corn duty free.-(Hear, hear.) But the
test he applied to the scale of his Right Hon. Friend
was this ; supposing
that scale had been the law of the
land during the last fourteen years, and if he (Mr. C.)
could show the Committee that under its operation the
producer of corn in this country would have been
under sold in his own market, when prices ranged
between 50s. and 558 , he thought he was entitled
to ask the Government to reconsider the measure ;
and considering also that the Committee had al-
ready sanctioned the principle of protection, he thought
he was entitled to ask them for that protection %%lien
pfices varied from 50s. to 568.-(Hear, hear.)
He would admit that, when the price was under
505., the consequences which accompanied that were not
caused by the unusual competition from abroad, but
by the abundant harvest at home ; and if we judged
from past experience it would appear that the. maxi-
mum duty of 20s. was a sufficient protection when
the price was under 505., but that it was not
sufficient when the price ranged between 50s. and 556.,
and he could conceive nothing more injurious to the
agriculturist, more likely to damage him, in the outlay
of capital and superior cultivation of the soil, than to
think when he barely received a remunerating
profit for his industry, that under these eircein-
stances he was undersold in the home market by
foreign competitors. He had stated that when prices were
under 50s. a maximum duty of 20s. would he sufficient,
and he begged leave now, in order to prove this, to
.refer the Committee to the return which was pre-
sented to that House on the 30th of March, 1840,
•by the Hon. Baronet who represented the Western
division of the county of Cornwall. In this return
would be found a report of the highest and lowest
wjekly averages of wheat, and the difference per cent. in
certain ports of Europe. Now he would take the
lowest average in each of these years in Eng-
land. He would then set against that the lowest
prices in certain places on the Continent. He would
add a certain sum for freight, and would apply in the
firSt instance the maximum duty of 20s. which was pro-
posed by the Right Hon. Baronet, the First Lord of the
Treasury. while the price was under 50s. ; he would
then apply the same test to those years in which
the. price ranged above 505., and he could
prove that, when the prices ranged between
50s. and 555., in almost every case the home grower
would not have been able to compete with the foreigner.
Now, lie would take four of these years, from 1829 to
1333, during which the lowest price was under 50s.
In England, in 1833, the lowest average was 495., the
average price at Dantzic 255. 4d., at Hamburgh 235.
2d., at Odessa 19s. In. 1834, the lowest aVerttge
price in England was 40s. 10d.; at Dantzic, 235. 2d.; at
Hamburgh, 235. 3d.; at Odessa, 21s. 6d. In 1835, in
England the price was 365. ; Dantzic, 20s. loci. 1
Hamburg!), 20s. 9d., and Odessa, 16s. In
1836, the average price in England was 365.
Datitzic, 21s. 10d. ; Hamburgh, 21s. hi. ; Odessa,
16s. Now as he had stated before the question
arose as to what ought to be the rate of duly. Ile
had been informed on good authority that Threign
wheat could be brought into Hull at as low
a keight as 10d. per quarter. He had it from good au-
thority that foreign wheat from Hamburgh bad been
brought into Gainsborough for Is. Gd. a quarter. lie
had it also from good authority that foreign wheat
had been brought into the market at Wakefield, and put
into the warehouse for 3s. a quarter. But he
could show that ss. was a fair freight from
the-,- Baltic, and 10s. for other charges frOm •
Odessa. • He admitted that in the years he had quoted,
a maximum duty of 20s. was barely sufficient pro-
tection. Yet it was a protection, and in that respect he
should be satisfied. Now he found, according to this,
that wheat could be introduced at 495. from Memel,
555, 4d. from Dantzic, 48s. 2d. from Hamburg!), and from
Odessa it would be under 495. In 1834 the price in
England was 40s. Gd. Dantzic wheat could have been
brought in at not less than 485., and Hamburgh
at 48s. 2d. In 1835, the price in England was 365.,
while from Dantzic it would be 455., from Hamburgh 455.
5d., and from Odessa 465. In 1836 English
wheat was 465., Dantzic 465. lOd., Hamburgh
465. ld., and Odessa 465. 2d. This decided
,so far in favour of the proposal by the
Right Honourable Baronet, the First Lord of the Trea-
sury. But let them take those six years, when the price
in this country ranged between 50s. and 555., .and when
the price frequently went up to 605., which price many
well-informed agriculturists declared was as low a
price as wheat ought to be grown at. Now he
found that in the year 1835 the lowest six weeks'
average was 555. 4d. in England, in Dantzic 30s. Bd.
in Hamburgh 31s. 7d., and from Odessa there was no re-
turn. But in 1830 the average price in England was 555. ;
Dantzie, 295.; Hamburgh, 275. Bd.; and Odessa, 16s.
The Hon. Gentleman then proceeded to read various
statistical details, but in a tone which made him very
imperfectly heard in the Gallery, for the purpose
of showing that, during the last ten years, wheat
might have been imported into this country from Dantzic,
Memel, Hamburgh, and Odessa, at prices varying front
40s. to 47e. a quarter. But he did think that the House,
while legislating upon a subject of such vast importance,
and upon which there was such a conflict of opinions,
should not proceed upon any speculative conclusion.

Ile did not doubt but Mr.. Meek had discharged
most ably and conscientiously the task imposed
upon him ; but in a question of this nature,
they should take into their account the great interests
involved ; and they should remember that by dis-
couraging agriculture, they would throw the poorer
lands in. this country out of cultivation. Agricultural
capital could not be removed to other countries.
It could not be said that the farmer owed no allegiance
to the soil of England ; and he could not, like the-
rnilloc remove his property to foreign lands.
Taking the whole of this part of the subject into
consideration, he entreated the Committee to pause
before they sanctioned a scale of duties which
would have the effect not only of throwing
out of cultivation the poor soil of the country,
but would materially injure both the agriculturist and
the tnanuflicturer. He would, with the permission of the
Committee proceed to show the fallacy of the scale
proposed by the night lionouralle Baronet.
He held in his hand the consular returns of
continental prices, as far as they could be
obtained accurately for six years ; he had taken
1834, 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838, and 1839 ; be had taken,
therefore, three cheap years, one moderate year,
and two dear years, and he had taken, not the
lowest, but the average prices in England and
those in Riga, Dantzic, Hamburgh, and Odessa.
The average price of wheat for the last six years was
28s. 6d., and in England 535. Under those circum-
stances the effect of his Right Honourable Friend's
scale r ould be that the British producer
would rarely 'receive as much as 545. per
quarter for his wheat, which was the price
that the Right Hon. Bart. conceived he should be able to
establish by his scale as the average price in this country.
lie admitted, that if by establishing the, seals of the
Right Honourable Baronet (Sir Robert Pet!), or, by
agreeing to the proposal of the Noble Lord opposite,
they could arrive at a permanent settlement of the
question without injuring those who were dependent on
agriculture for their support, he should be disposed to
give his consent to the measure ; but when he con-
sidered how many persons were dependent upon
agriculture, he was very unwilling to do any-
thing which might tend to interrupt their prosperity.
He could imagine nothing more pernicious to the
morals of the people than exposing men to the
ten ptation of committiing depredations upon pro-
perty, without leaving them the means of regular
employment. In the county which he had the honour to
represent, the wages of labour were from 13s. to 15s.
a-week, and he was satisfied that the labourers would
prefer to have these high wages with high pricee
of corn, than low prices of corn and low wages.
There did not exist the same necessity for reducing
the duty on barley that there did for reducing
the duty on wheat.—(Hear, hear, hear.) Barley
paid a high tax, and those soils on which
barley was grown required the largest expenditure of ca-
pital, and the employment of the greatest amount of
labour to make them productive. The subject was one
requiring the gravest consideration. He was appre-
hensive that the proposed duty on wheat would nut be
sufficient for protection, but he found the agricultural in-
terest would suffer in a still strongerdegree from the influx
of foreign barley and oats under the proposed new scale.
No person could suppose that he had taken an exagge-
rated view of the subject. On the contrary, after
the decision of Parliament during the last
Session, and. from what had taken place in
both Houses, that it was the opinion of all parties
that the time had come when it was necessary to
revise the Corn-laws, he endeavoured to prepare
his constituents for the change, and had
incurred much odium. Having great confidence in the
Right Hon. Baronet, and in the Vice-President of the
Board of Trade, it was with great diffidence
that he proposed his scale, but he believed it was
essential to the prosperity of the agricultural interests
of that country. He could assure the Right Ho-
nourable Baronet that he had endeavoured,
on the part of those whom he represented,
to give a calm consideration to the subject. The Hen.
Member then concluded by moving the scale of which he
had given notice.
The motion having been read by the SPEAKER,
Mr. BARING said, that though he would take that
opportunity of agreeing with the Hon. Gentlemen who
had just sat down in objecting to a 20s. duty, but on
quite different grounds from those which guided the
Hon. Member's opinion. He would also take the oppor-
tunity to enter on that part of the discussion which had
appeared to him not to have been much alluded to during
the late debates. He wished to call for some explana-
tion and information as to the sliding scale, on which
they were called to vote ; he must also state his opi-
nion as to the mode in which the Hon. Gentleman had
brought it forward, unsupported by one single word
from his agricultural friends.—(Hear, hear.) And
if he (Mr. Baring) had not continued the debate,
as opposed to the Hon. Gentleman, there would not
have been a single expression from all those Hon. Gen-
tle Men who committed themselves on the hustings—
(Cheers)—to the principle of no surrender—(Cheers)
—there had not been a single syllable uttered by them.
He was sure .that the lion. Gentleman had proposed
the motion in the manner lie thought the most at
visable and the best, but he must say that the agrieuta:
tural interest was somewhat unfortunate in its represoottion
tlves, as they had managed to bring forward the motion
it.
so that it was utterly impossible to take
.a
.yooitied
uesPcribed
They had heard something on a forme! but he
by the rather fine sounding term "
inlnore' complete
certainly never saw anything that
h in'lao.'ion of the lion.
fighting with shadows than
the
to. call for some ex-
planationd already decided that it
scale. It had decided
Gentleman.—Ple HQ wished
had been proposed,
of the sliding a
Its
would apprehended
duty--it had also decided against a
against a fixed
theydtotal
had now toconsider •
repeal ; and
e
scale a sumple, gud he wished
wihere the house °
slidinghat
to look