The Sun.
London, England, 1845-05-29 00:00:00

had referred to the improvements in the manufacturing dis-
tricts. He (Lord Howick) was happy to believe that such
improvrments had an existence, but he would ask the Right
Honourable Baronet, if he himself had not, two years ago, al-
luded to the sufferings which prevailed in the manufacturing
districts? He (Lord Howick) had, in 1843, brought the sub
ject before the House, and at that time it was not dis-
puted that throughout the whole manufacturing districts
of England and Scotland misery and distress prevailed to a
most alarrniue extent. It had lasted for three or four
years, and it had then risen to its height. The description
of things as then existing was absolutely heart-rending. The
Right Hon. Baronet in describing the improvement which had
now taken place, himself went back to that former state of
things, and pointed out how fearful was that distress, But,
he would ask, what was the inference to be drawn from that
very fact ? Why, that the manufacturing labourers if they
took his average earnings, was not greatly superior in condi-
tion to the agricultural labourer. No doubt at this moment
they were blessed with prosperity. But how was that? Be.
cause they had had good harvests, because they had low prices
for food, and because those low prices enabled the population
to consume bread, sugar, and tea, and that had itself assisted
in producing a flourishing state of trade. For this reason,
therefore, their manufacturing districts were at that moment in
a comparative state of ease. But was that to continue perma.
nent ? Was that state of things to be depended on? Did
they feel convinced that two bad harvests mould not occur in
secession to change their present commercial prosperity ? Was
it not better, then, to take advantage of this short interval of
prosperity, so as to deliberate calmly on those measures which
they might think best calculated to ensure a permanent im-
provement in the condition of the working classes? They
might nwe search this matter clearly and fully, and without
any undue influence being exercised to bias their delibera-
tions : but if this state of things should change—if, by a suc-
cession of bad harvests the pressure of misery and distress
should again be felt in the manufacturing districts, paralysing all
their energies, he would ask them
_whether they could, in such
a case, so advantageously and satisfactorily, he would say, and
safely, discuss the great question as to the causes
on which the prosperity of the working classes depended?
But it was obvious to every man, and simply because they could
not depend upon the continuance of this prosperity, that it did
no good, if it did not do injury to the agriculturist. It was
perfectly clear, that the great demand for labour which now
existed in the manufacturing districts, could not he looked on
as a permanency, and the labourers of the agricultural dis-
tricts could not conceal from themselves that a recurrence
might ere long take place, of that distress and suffering which
had formerly prevailed, and which had succeeded to a previous
period of prosperity.—( Hear, hear.) With an anticipated
recurrence of these things before their eyes, the present
great demand for labour in the manufacturing districts
hail a tendency to remove some of the difficulties which
pressed upon the agricultural portion of the community. For
were it not that the present state of things could not be de-
pended upon they would have large bodies of the labourers of
Dorsetshire and Buckinghamshire flocking to Manchester and
Liverpool. But although the present condition of the manu-
facturing labourer was greatly superior to that of the agricul-
tural labourer, he believed, upon an average of years—take
for instance two years together—they would find that there
was hardly any, or at all events no material distinction
between the two; and the question was one which
ought to be con,idered, and, if it were possible to improve
it, it was their duty to adopt measures aiming at that improve-
ment, and the only question was whether that improvement
was in their power, because the course for them to consider
was whether they ought to adopt these resolutions or not. Now
the taking of such a step depended simply upon the considera-
tion of whether it was practicable for Parliament to do any
thing for !improving the condition of the working
classes generally.—( Hear.) Now, in coming to this question,
he could not help observing that very many unfounded objec-
tions had been made to the resolutions. One of those objec-
tions was, that they opened so wide a field and extended so
far. Now he thought, when his Noble Friend was bringing
before their attention the necessity for doing something for the
benefit of the labouring classes, it was his business to point out
not only the details, but in general terms the principles of the
different measures which he thought ought to be adopted for
their benefit. And he (Lord Howick) thought it more impor-
tant that the Noble Lord should do this, because he entirely
agreed in the opinion expressed on a former evening by his
Right Hon. Friend the Member for Taunton, that these reso-
lutions were no less important from what they include, than
what they exclude.—( Hear. ) They all knew that there was
at this moment a very general feeling amongst large
masses of the community, that the time had arrived when some-
thing ought to be done for the welfare and improvement of the
working classes.—(Hear, hear.) There was amongst the
community at large a most praiseworthy and a most honest—
but he was afraid, in many cases, not a very well regulated—
desire for doing something for the benefit of the working
classes. The measures which had been brought forward or
suggested by some of those who entertained this feeling, would,
in his opinion, only add to the distress which they meant to
correct.---( Hear, hear.) It was, therefore, of great import-
ance that his Noble Friend, in bringing these resolutions be-
fore the House, had, in point of fact, shown them what were
the limits and powers of Parliament in taking steps for the im-
provement of the working classes. It was important that there
resolutions should point out to them how far they could go,
and what they could not do for the benefit of the working
classes. But of the different classes of evils which his Noble
Friend had pointed out in the resolutions, there were two of
them which were most closely and most intimately connected
together. fhe people of this country, at this moment, were
suffering both from evils arising from ignorance, which all the
efforts which Parliament had yet taken had only partially suc-
ceeded in dispelling, and also from the physical evils arising out
of poverty; and in his opinion these two evils were very
closely connected together. Poverty often resulted from
ignorance, and poverty and ignorance together naturally cor-
rupted the minds of some of the rising generation. They all
knew that those who had the advantages of a good education,
and whose minds were endowed with sound principles and
useful knowledge, had seldom any difficulty in obtaining em-
ployment at a tolerably fair remuneration.—(Hear, hear.)
Their intelligence rendered their services so much more
valuable, and hence they commanded in the market a fair, and
in some instances, a liberal remuneration; and therefore it was
he said, that ignorance was one cause of poverty, but on the other
hand, it was no less certain that poverty was one cause of ig-
norance. His Noble Friend had correctly pointed out that it
was quite impossible for a population suffering under the 1 res-
sure of great physical distresses to endeavour to obtain the
blessings of education. How was it possible for a labouring
man residing in acottage in Dorsetshire, and earning 7s. per
week, to pay a high rent for his cottage, a high price for his
fuel, and feed and clothe his wife and children, to give his chil-
dren any education at all ?—( Hear, hear.) No ;it was totally
impossible ; and the consequence was the rising generation of
Dorset and other districts were brought up in such a way
as to enable them to supply their animal or immediate
wants. It was clear, therefore, to him, that these two evils
were closely connected, and his Noble Friend had done well in
pointing out, in one of the resolutions which he had laid on the
table, that one important means for improving the condition of
the labouring population was to be found in education.—
( Hear, hear.) They must combine with those measures
which might be hit upon for raising the physical condition of
the people, other measures for dispelling that ignorance which
at present prevailed amongst large portions of the working
classes.—(Hear, hear.) His Noble Friend, in his resolutions,
had pointed out generally what were the means which he would
propose to be adopted in both cases, but he (Lord
Howick) thought they were all agreed as to the necessity for
and importance of education, and he should, therefore, confine
his remarks to the second measure. His Noble Friend had
pointed out the means to be adopted—which he thought ought
to be adopted—for improving the physical condition of the
people and mitigating the sufferings they occasionally had to
encounter. Now, it wvs most true that neither Government
nor Parliament could effectually regulate the wages of the la-
bourer by legislative enactments. Experience taught them
that it was out of the power of Parliament to adopt measures
for that purpose. Indeed, any attempt of that kind hitherto
only tended to aggravate, instead of remove the evil, but his
Noble Friend did not propose any such mischievous mea-
sure as this. What he proposed was simply to release the
labourer from the restrictions which were at present placed
upon his industry. Their argument was, that the restrictions
imposed upon the freedom of industry were the direct cause of
the present sufferings of the working classes, and all that was
required of Government was to remove these restrictions, and
leave the labouring man free to make the most of his own
labour in his own way. If they did that, the known perse-
verance and honest industry of the English labourer would
always secure to him a comfortable subsistence.—(Hear.)
Let him remind the House of the great distinction between a
society in a state of civilisation and a society in a state of bar-
barism. And what was it produced this great distinction ?
It was, he believed, mainly the comparative efficiency of labour
in civilised nations which produced that amount of wealth and
capital which enabled them to go on employing more labourers.
—( Hear, hear.) He was ashamed to go bask to mere ele-
mentary propositions. But because they were overlooked in
that House, or their vast importance underrated (Cheers)
lie was induced to trouble the House by referring to
them.—( Hear.) It was the free interchange of labour ren-
dered practicable by the absence of laws of restriction which
enabled the division of labour to be fully carried out.—( Hear.)
It was the want of that free interchange of the products of
labour which caused the low state of the industrious classes in
those countries where commerce was restricted.—(Cheers.)
By one man's applying himself to a particular occupation, more
was produced for himself and more for the community
of which he was a member, than if he could
not rely upon a certain supply of food for the exchange
of his own productions.—(Hear, hear.) It was by the industry
of one country producing what another wants, that commerce
made men rich and happy. It was by that beautiful machinery
of Providence, that various nations were mutually blessed
through the industry of each other.—(Cheers.) It followed
then, that when you interfered with the exchange of produc-
tions—when you prevented corn being sent to countries which
could produce clothes more easily, you interfered with one of
the greatest blessings of Providence.—(Cheers.) That doc-
trine was as old as Adam Smith.—( Cheers and laughter. )
But it was as clear as arithmetic.—( Cheers.) It was there-
fore a necessary and inevitable consequence that the whole sys-
tem of protection was calculated to lower and degrade not only
the working classes, but all classes of the community in the
country which adopted that system. —( Hear, hear.) But
amongst all other systems of protection, he saw none so mis-
chievous as that which, in a densely peopled country, refused
to admit the introduction of foreign food, in exchange
for the products of domestic labour—(Cheers). That system
was so monstrous and indefensible, and still so stoutly main-
tained that it could not be too often discussed in that House—
( Cheers). But the discussion would be best brought before
the House on the motion of his Hon. Friend the Member for
Wolverhampton respecting the Corn Laws—( Hear, hear). At
present he wished to confine himself to the effect of those re-
strictive laws upon the condition of the working classes of
this country ; which would be best understood by comparing
it with that of the working classes in those countries in which
food was more easily obtained—as in the United States and in

our own province of Canada—( Hear, hear.) This had been
often pointed out, and no answer had been made. He must
now content himself by showing that no answer was possible
—( Hear, hear). He asked the Right Hon. Baronet at the
head of the Government for a plain and direct answer—(Cries
of " Hear, hear"). How was it that the English peasant,
when he emigrated to Canada, the United States, or
South Australia, found that he could obtain th e
necessaries, and even the luxuries of life, to an extent of wh;.ch
he knew nothing at home ?—( Hear, hear.) The Right Ron.
Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Home Department
had told the House that there had been a large emigration of
labourers to Canada, and that the emigrants were all well off.
Now, he wanted to know how it happened that all those men
who had been so badly off at home, were so well off in another
country 7—( Hear, hear.) It was not because they were mere
industrious than at home, for no one had ever found fault with
their industry at home.—( Hear, hear.) At home they had
had all the vast resources of this great country, in capital and
machinery, to render their labour productive.—( Hear, hear. )
The cause could not be that they were less taxed in Canada or
in the United States, for it was demonstrable that, in propor-
tion to its wealth, this country was the most lightly taxed in
the world. (Cheers, and cries of " Oh, oh." It
)
was undeniable that the amount of land
which
lay open to
them to cultivate, was the great
cause of their improved condition ; and to render
their condition at home equally comfortable and in-
dependent, it was only necessary to throw open to them, far
the exchange of the products of their labour, those wide lands
of the earth, where food was abundant, and the peculiar pro-
ducts of their own industry most needed. These countries
could all produce corn much cheaper and in much greater
abundance than they required. Australia could very well send