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

They bad heard of the interference of the Corn.laws with the corn '
merce of the country ; he had no reason to believe that they af- •
fected the commerce at all. He was sure no man could lament
more than he did that the commerce and manufactures of the coon
try should be at all in a state of embarassment; but he believed if
the Corn.laws were repealed to-morrow that not one yard of cloth
or one pound of iron would be sold in any part of Europe, or of the
world, over which this country could not exercise a control.
Most of the nations of Europe had adopted treasures to encourage
manufactures; these measures were not to be seejibLuteci, as some
had said, to the English Corn-law, but they overeV,, he attributed
to the example set by this country in tee course e f late war, by
their great and nob'e exertions, by their power, awl the strength
which they exhibited on all occasions. Those who contemplated
those exertions, and who had been assisted by thaw, thought they
might as well follow the example of our industiry and system of
commerce ; and they did do so, and hare now establ seed for them-
selves manufactures and commerce, and he (the Duke of-W
citing-
ton ) believed that we should find that where we had no control,
do what we would we should not be able to purchase their corn by
way of barter ; it was out of the question, except under special
convention. With respect to the commerce and the manufactures
of this country, he must say that if they were in the state which ap..
peered from the returns on the the table of the House, that there
was nothing which could be more favourable to the system of the
Corn.laws than the state in which those appeared to he. Since
the year 1828, the period at which this law was enacted, the pro.
duce of this country, the amount of the exports from this country,
ascertained by the account of the official value, would show nearly
four times the amount of preceding years. It was true that those
individuals who produced these manufactures were in great dim.
tress; and he had been much concerned at reading those reports of
inquiry into the state of the handloom weavers, and also the reports
of the conversation between a late Hon. and Noble Friend of his,
and certain Gentlemen who were lately in this metropolis and con-
versing with him on the state of the manufactures in this country.
But if any man read those reports, he would see clearly that the
state of the manufactures might be attributed to anything except the
Corn-laws. It was machinery which had come into com.
petition with the individual manufacturers—machinery,
the increase of whicn had reduced their manufactures.
and not the price of corn, or the state of the
Corn-laws. He did not blame machinery. He believed machinery
had materially advanced the manufactures of this country, and
had given them the state of the returns which he had mentioned
just now; but we should not conceal from ourselves that in their
progress they had reduced greatly the individual manufactures.—
(Hear, hear)—and tl-at the improvements in machinery which were
continuing daily, were one of the causes of the competition which
existed, not only between one part of the country and another, and
one town and another, but between the individuals in ear h town,
rendering it difficult to find markets to take off all the merchandise
and manufactures which were produced by this machinery.—
(Hear, hear.) These countries, which were supposed to become
rivals of this country, in consequence of the state of our corn laws,
had found markets, it was true, but not in consequence of our corn-
laws, they had found markets in the South American States, near about
the time that manufactures were established in Germany, Russia,
and elsewhere. The South American States declared their independ-
ence ; this was recognized by this country and the United Stales,
and immediately they did that, their ports were opened to the mer-
chandise of Germany, Russia, and the whole world, and thus it
was that merchants were found for the productions of those coun-
tries. They had been taunted a good deal to-night in consequence
of their determination to depend upon their own resources for pro.
visions. He was one of those who had always contended that the
agriculture of this country should be protected as far as possible,
with a view to render us as nearly independent as we could be of
supplies from foreign countries. He knew that in the state of our
population increasing as it had been, and was in the course of
every year, and increasing also in wealth, that it would be
impossible for us, even if we could annihilate bad seasons, to have
our agriculture kept in such a state of production as to maintain
us altogether independent of foreign supplies.—(Hear, hear.) But
he would beg of their Lordships not to lose tight of this object, not
to lose sight of the necessity of maintaining the agriculture 'if this
country in a state of prosperity. The Noble Viscount had compared
our situation withof the Romans and the Athenians in farmer times ;
but he (the Noble Duke) would beg the Noble Lord not to go quite
so fer back, for they could find an example in our situation within
a very few years. If he (the Noble Duke) mistook not, they had
in the records of that House an instance of one Sovereign in Europe
levying a duty on the export of corn to this country, purposely to
cause the prices to rise here. He (the Noble Duke) would
also beg of the-n to recollect the stale in which one great source
of our supply—he meant Poland—was placed during the whole
revolution in Europe. Let them recollect the state in which
Poland was so late as 1830, during the insurrection of that year.
Recollect that our supplies from that part of Europe must depend
on the state of tranquility of those people residing on two or three
of those large streams that run into the Baltic through those
territories ; and that only last year, when this •country was in
want of a supply of corn nearly at the same time supplies of corn
were required in different parts of Russia, and that proclamations
were issued by the Government of that country forbidding exports
of any sort of corn from Russia. During a part of the year it was
consequently impossible to get supplies from Russia. These cir-
cumstances he would beg of their Lordships to bear in mind in
deciding on this question ; for we must not by any means suppose
that we could at all times get from any part of the world what
corn we might require. He did not mean to say, however, that we
should depend solely on our own resources in this country. He
knew that we could not go on at present without at least a supply of
1,000,000 of foreign quarters of corn every year, an amount that
must certainly be increased hereafter.—(Hear, hear.) But still he
must entreat their Lordships to provide for the prosperity of our
agriculture, and to maintain it in the state in which it had been
and was for the last fourteen years, for it would be most dangerous
for us to rely entirely on the calculation or supplies from
other parts of the world.—(Hear, hear.) There was only one
topic more which he thought it necessary to advert to—that was the
influence of the Corn-laws on the currency of this country. It was
certainly true that when large sums of money were required to
be exported from this country to pay for supplies of foreign corn
at a period when the Bank was in difficulty, that that export must
aggravate such a difficulty for the moment, but he believed it was
yet to be proved that the Corn-laws had been the cause of any such
inconvenience. Other circumstances had caused it ; but certainly
the difficulty once existing would be aggravated by the necessity of
sending large sums out of the country to pay for corn. But he
believed such was not the case, for under the system of the gra-
duated scale corn was always in the course of being exported in
consequence of the natural demand'of the home market, but that
no failure of the harvest er other cause did require the transmission
of large sums of specie abroad for corn.—(Hear.) The corn being
introduced into the home market simply by the opening of the doors
of magazines and storehouses, and it was paid for by the internal
currency of the country. To replace-this, would -require unques_
tionably the transmission of laige sums of money, but this was
done by degrees. There was no good gronnds for opposing a sliding
scale. They should uphold it, if they meant to maintain the pro-
sperity of the agriculture of this country, as it had existed for the
last fourteen years, and to maintain things in the state in which
the Noble Viscount very properly desired to continue them. The
Bill of his Noble Friend would effect this object, and according to
it they ought to act. Under those circumstances, he recommended
their Lordships to support the resolution of his Noble Friend, and
to oppose that of the Noble Viscount.—(Hear, and Question.)
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE would refer to the unanswerable
speech of his Noble Friend, who had pursued this subject into all
its ramifidations, but into which no one had attempted to follow
him.—(Hear.). If that speech did not convince their Loreships of
the fundamental vice of the present system, the principle of which
the Government abandoned in the expiring law, but which,
in the face of experience, they proposed to re-enact
in the Bill proposed to the House—if that speech did not
convince their Lordships of the utter inefficiency and mischief of a
graduated scale, he (the Noble Marquis) well knew that no argu.
ment of his could convince them; yet he wished to show their Lord.
ships, in a few words, why lie must vote for the resolution of his
Noble Friend, and why hemust oppose a proposition to do away at
once with all duty on foreign corn.—(Hear.) He agreed that if
the princiciple of free trade could be applied universally to
all our produce and commodities, under a reform of our
financial system, he should not fear for the fate of the agriculture
of this country in competition with that of the rest of Europe. Let
capital, invested in every kind of manufactures, agriculture in.
eluded, he put under the system of free trade, and he would not
object to the equal terms in the name of the farmer. But he (the
Noble Marquis) would not allow it to he said that a man should cu_
gage his capital in agriculture without protection for whatever
cause, while, at the same time, protection was afforded to
capital invested in any other sort of undertaking and manufacture.
, They ought to remove anything that interfered with capital, be-
cause if capital was protected in one case, he (Lord L.) should
hail it one of the most fortunate circumstances that could take
place in the country, if they could dispense with that system e hich
would give relief to capital. He did not think that such an object
would be attained by doing away with all duties on corn; and lie,
therefore, could not vote for such a measure. His Noble Friend,
the President of the Board of Trade, had stated, and a most sue.
prising statement.it was, that on all articles that were not wanted
the broad principles of commerce were adopted; that when they
came to an article that was wanted most, then that principle was
not to be adopted,but some ingenious experiment was to be devised.
The late experiments of the Noble Duke upon the subject of corn
had failed, and that failure had been admitted by the Noble Duke
himself. When that measure was introduced by the Noble Duke,
he stated that it would have the effect of maintaining the averages
1 at a more regular rate of price in England than in any country of
Europe. Now he (Lord Lansdowne) wished to know on what
authority the Noble Duke had made that statement, because he
(Lord Lansdowne) had a statement made by Mr. Holahan, from
which it clearly appeared that the averages, since the
introduction of that measure, had been much greater
I than had ever taken place at any former period. He was
not surprised at the anxiety of the Noble Lords opposite,
to get rid of that Bill. It had by common consent, after the vote or
last night, been got rid of. It was admitted by that vote, that part
of the measure was wrong; and yet, when he called upon
the Noble Duke to make alterations in it, he refused to do so.
But what was the course he was pursuing now ? Why,
the Noble Duke was calling upon the House to do that which
ought to have been done when he introduced his measure in 1839.
Some Noble Lords were extremely confident as to the result of
this measure; but after the failure of the principle of the Bill—
(Hear, hear)—after one suit of clothes was changed for another
without any of them fitting—after the failure of six Corn Bills in
the course of half a century; did they expect that the present
measure would be a final one ?—(Hear, hear.) If they did they
should recollect that the same confidence existed with regard to
all those Bills which had failed. There was to be a remunerating
price. Foreign corn was to be excluded, but not one of those
things followed.—(Cheers.) And if there was one proof stronger
than another that this Bill was not to be a final settlement, that
proof was to be found in the development of the Bill by the Noble
Lord, and in the remarks of those who followed him, who showed
the greatest conflict of opinion as to the effect of it.—(Cheers.)
That might be a good reason for Its passing, but it was the contrary
with regard to its operation, and if people of sense drew different
conclusions with regard to the effect of the measure, let him ask
If Noble Lords who studied the subject, who were pre.
sidents of agricultural societies, who were engaged in agricul-
tural speculations, came to different conclusions on the subject,
how were the farmers of England to be expected to tell what they
could not tell ?—(Cheers.) Let it be remembered the object was
to create confidence in the farmers with respect to the land—
(Hear, hear)—and if those who were passing it did not know what
were to be its effects, surely it was too much to expect that the
farmers were lmplicitety to believe in the benefit of a slidy itsi iiseale.
He therefore thought that if this country was destined b
posi-
tion, wealth, and.population—that population which was created
and supported by machinery—to depend upon foreign countries,
they ought to have a steady and regular supply of corn, and not
that irregular and uncertain supply which, he believed, would be
the effect of the present measure. He believed that connected
with the revolutions of the corn trade had been some of the great- 1'
est disasters which the country had suffered in its commerce. It
was obvious that if they were to have any trade at all, they would
obtain the returns as quickly and from as wide a range as possible.
That could not be done wider the proposed Bill. In a measure
which was coming up from the other House, there was a proposal
to reduce the duty on meat. He thought that that proposal did
great credit to the Noble Duke and the Right Hon. Baronet at the
head elf the Government. But was not meat a part of the previ-
sions of the people, and it it were, why had they not applied the
principle of the sliding scale to meat as well as corn ? (Hear,
hear.) He could not understand the ground of that distinction.
Let them recollect that as to .prices, every little market in the
kingdom had its own calculation. He remembered an observation
of a celebrated person, Prince Talleyrand, an observation which
struck him very much at the time. He said there was one person
c'averer and wiser than the cleverest and the wisest man that eve:
was known—than Newton, than Locke, or than Montesquieu...-
that person was—Everybody!—(A laugh.) His opinion always
prevailed against the opinion of any one who coped with him. So it
would be with all these ingenious faliacies; they might find great
applause in that House, but atter a certain time it would be
sifted and examined, eluded, and finally defeated, and the country
would not have the benefit of that regular supply which should be
the object of any law their Lordships might pass on the subject. He
had heard all the debates on this subject, and much had Leen said in
all of them about a remunerating price. What that was lie
never could understand. A remunerating :price to whom t o