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

into it, and call for some explanation and information
respecting it. They had as yet heard very little in de-
fence of the sliding scale. He did not quarrel with
that. They had been rather debating principles, and
were not called on to interfere so much with details. They
had now, on the first vote to be taken on the sliding
scale, an opportunity of asking some of those questions,
and receive some of those explanations which he felt
satisfied the Government would think it their duty to
give. He begged to call the attention of the House to the
very resolution he held in his hand, it called on them to
decide " whenever the average price of wheat, made up
and published in the manner required by law, was, for
every ctuarter, under 515., the duty for every quarter
should be 205." " Whenever the average price of wheat, as
made up in the manner required by law"—why, these
words raised the important point of the mode of taking
the averages. All the arguments and all thke. discussions
had hitherto gone on the. old system of tangthe
ave-
rages; but the Right Hon. Gentleman stated, that he un-
derstood by the mode of taking the averages, a considerable
alteration was made in the average price of wheat. They
had heard from the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton,
a gentleman for whose opinions he had great respect, a
corroboration of this opinion. In fact it was quite im-
possible to meet any gentlemen on either side of the
House, without being satisfied that a strong opinion
prevailed that a mode of taking the averages would make
a considerable difference in the average price. The
speech of the honourable Gentleman was quite conclusive
on this point. He said the difference would be 55., but
that was an exaggeration. However, after a careful
examination, he (Mr. Baring) found it would be 28.
(Hear.)- -He did not mean to impute any intention to
deceive to the Right Hon. Gentleman, but he thought he
had better prepare and carry a Bill at once to attain his
object than to cheat the people in this manner.--
(Cheers) The Honse had a right to receive from
the Right Honourable Gentleman that information and
those papers which he and his Cabinet had no
doubt, before them when they decided on altering the
mode-of taking the averages, which, nevertheless, he
said, would have no effect on the results. It was clear
that hitherto London was a certain general indication of
the sales of all other markets ; but the new plan would
deprive London of that position, whilst we had no means
as yet of knowing what quantities would be sold in the
150 new towns Wise added to the old ones. But 'as the
effect would undoubtedly be to disturb the averages, he
trusted the necessary information respecting those 150
townswould be given to the House. There was anotherpoint
on which the House wanted information. The Right Hon.
Gentleman the Vice-President of the Board of Trade
had brought forward resolutions in which he proposed
to place a duty of 3s. on corn imported into Canada and
some other Colonies. His Noble Friend approved of
the rest of the Bill, but he entered his caveat against.
the 3s. duty—(Hear, hear)--however, the question was
asked, and as it required an answer he (Mr. Baring)
presumed that it had been heard ; the answer of the
Right Hon. Gentleman was, that so far as that propo-
sition, now under the consideration of the Government
was concerned, it was not decided whether they should go
on with it or abandon it altogether,•and it must be con-
sidered as a proposition left on the table for considera-
tion. He (Mr. Baring) thought that they had a right
to know what decision they had come to.—(Hear.) He
(Mr. Baring) recollected when he brought forward the
sugar duties, that between the time he had announced
it and the time he printed the duties, that in conse-
quence of representations mode to him, and in accord-
ance with his own opinion, so that the proposition
might not-meet With a strong opposition, he made some
alterations in the duty ; and the Right Hon. Gentlemen
told him that nothing but the knowledge of his cha-
racter could convince him (the Right Hon. Gentleman)
that there was not something unfair in the proposition;
and the Right Hon. Baronet the First Lord of the
Treasury, in three set speeches, denounced the measure
as one so ill advised and so ill considered that
an alteration actually had been made in it between
the time of making the proposition and printing
the duties. If he (Mr. Baring) then had done
as the Right Hon. Gentleman had done now, if he had
made a Bill fir Canada, and was in a state of uncer-
tainty; not knowing whether to go on or not, and were
to turn round and say that in consideration of the trade,
and so on, he begged of the House to go on, what would
have been done to him ?—(Hear.) Why there would
have been no end of the attacks which he should have
received from the fluency of the Right Hon. Gentleman
and his party, to the more solemn and serious attacks of
the Right Hon. Baronet, who in three set speeches at-
tacked him for making a slight alteration in a Bill be-
tween the time of its commencement and its printing.—
(Hear, hear.) There was another part of the measure
of the Right Hon. Baronet, of his scale, upon which the
House had no information whatever. He had started
with the admission that they were to adhere to the
sliding scale. That was the principle of the Bill.
Now in his opinion, there were two single occasions
on which this principle seemed to be exceedingly weak,
and he was anxious to learn from the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet and the Government the principle on which their
two rests were to be made. He heard that the Govern-
ment:placed great store upon these two rests. They
began from 51s. to 525. with the sliding scale ; from 51s.
to 52.4. the principle was considered good ; but the mo-
ment they came to 525., and went up to 555., then the
principle ceased, and they had no sliding but a fixed
hcale. 'Now, he should be glad to know why that
which wits good between sls. and 525, should
be supposed to' be bad between 525. and 555. ? And
then the proposition of the slide between 565. and
595. contained something curious about it. In the Bill
proposed 1 Mr. Canning and his colleagues the slid-
ing seek was adhered to throughout. There was a
fixed' principle throughout, showing their reliance
and confidence in the principle, of adhering to
the sliding scale. They were turned out upon that ;
the Bill was rejected, he would not say how; and the
Right lion. Baronet and the Noble Duke came in, and
formed their Administration. They altered the prin-
ciple, they followed the sliding scale from 655.
to 665., but the moment they came to 665.
they introduced what was called the jumping
scale.—(Hear, hear.) That principle was now aban-
doned. It. was recognised at the time ; and it was 'con-
Adered one of the principal beauties of the Bill. Now
of all the 'absurdities of the sliding scale, he believed
that to le the worst ; and he should be glad to know
why those who, in 1838, were convinced that it was per-
fection itself, should think it right to abandon the scale
at 665. lie . should be happy to hear from the Right
lion. Baronet some explanation of that extraordinay
change of opinion.—(Cheers.) For his own part, he
would freely tell the Government, that those pauses
should receive no opposition from him. He accepted
it as an admission that the sliding scale would
not do pure and unmitigated.—(Cheers.) It was
a confession that the principle of the sliding'scale could
not.be carried out.—(Loud cheers.) There could be no
arithmetical difficulty in making the scale slide through-
out ; therefore, there must be some grave and solemn
reasoe for these pauses. Now, he should like to know
what was the reason that made the principle of a sliding
duty good from 51s. to 525., and then made it good for
the slide to cease from 525. to 56s.—(Cheers.) He should
be glad of further information on that point.—(Cheers.)
lie would admit that nothing could be more absurd,
nothing could be more unsatisfactory then to discuss
the prices at which corn ought to be sold ;
but he (Mr. Baring) could not help that; it was
the fault of the principle of lion. Gentlemen op-
posite—(Cheers)—it was the fault of the principle of
the sliding scale.—(Loud cheers.) Now he should like
the Right Hon. Gentleman to point out the principle on
which he made that pause. They had had papers in
abundance laid on the table of that House. They had
been almost smothered wits papers, and he should like
to see how the Right Hon. Gentleman could from those
papers make out his own calculations.—(Cheers.) The
subject had been introdnced with all due solemnity.
Months ago the newspapers had announced that the
Government was about to take the subject of the Corn-
laWs into its most serious consideration; then that the
public was informed that the Right Hon. Gentleman had
sent a gentleman to the Continent for the purpose of
collecting statistical information; and that the Right Hon.
Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade was
instituting inquiries as to the prices in the home market.
Then it was announced that the Cabinet was in delibera-
tion, and behold . the result!—(Cheers.) He wished to
know why the Right Hon. Baronet considered that a
priceaif 545. to 58s. was a proper price to be secured to
the-farmer., -He was anxious to know what had induced
the Right Hon. Baronet to come to that conclusion, lie
knew how uninteresting it was to' go into a dry detail of
figures,-'but -he 'wished to test the probability of the
Right- Hon. 'Baronet's Bill' having the effect which he
had stated he intended it should have. lie (Mr. Baring)
had not at his command all the information to which'the
Right Hon. Baronet had access. As a Member of Par-
liament he could only have access to those papers which
the Government had been kind enough to present to the
House. He had looked over those papers, and each
successive papetihe had read had tended to confirm him
in the conclusion at which he had arrived as to the ulti-
mate -failure of the Right Hon. Baronet's experi-
ment.---(Cheers.) The Right Hon. Gentleman who
heal -just sat down had stated that he had
gone into calculations as .to what the effect of
the Right Hon. Baronets Bill would have been,
had it been enacted in former times. Now, that was not
bada inethed of testing the efficiency of the Right Hon.
Baronet's plan, and he (Mr. Baring) had endeavoured
.to discover from public doc. uments what would have
been the effect of the Right lion. Baronet's plan if it had
been enacted in 1828. As far as he (Mr. Baring) could
see, no trade in foreign corn of the slightest importance
ortanct
could be carried on under 60s. As far as he (Mr.'
Baring) could find, corn could not be introduced into this
country under 60s. It was necessary that they should
make allowance for freight and other expenses at-
tendant on importation. The Right Honourable Ba-
ronet had only alloe e 1 for a 1 ti •;e expenses from
four to five shillings per quarter. lie knew where the
Right Hon.. Baronet got his figures. He had got them
from the Consular returns, in which was given a return
of freight. and freight only. But there wire other ex-
penses,
which if they attended to the information given
by Mr. Meek, they weuld find would greatly increase the
pace of wheat before it could be introduced into the
English market. He would only refer the Right Hon.
Baronet to the statement of the gentleman whom he
had himself selected. Allowing for freight and insurance
65., and for the expenses attending the sale between 4s.
and ss. per quarter, the whole expenses of importation,
according to Mr. Meek, before the corn could be con-
veyed to the purchasers in England would amount to
los. 6d. It was the Right Hon. Baronet's own officer
who furnished that information. Durini the last ses-
sion Ministers told the House that it was necessary
they should make inquiries before they came
to any conclusion as to the measure they should pro-
Pose. They-accordingly selected an officer, who was no
ild4 .so‘ t
umt•tadeuidmirabj% fitted for the mission on which he was
p_.l insurance and other charges of ex-
namely, Ins; .
‘4,,the were-about- the' same as et' Stettin,
under notwi4 he
price of wheat in England was
the change which the Right
lion. Baronet made in,Vils'gßill, there ciatabe no eon.-