The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-11 00:00:00

SERVICES IN CHINA.

Mr. 11. BED i:ELEY give not'e,! that, on the Bth of
.itt.:y next, he should move for a Com—"tee the
:Thole House, for the purpose of ciaaroining int 3 tie
propriety of presenting a humble addrcss to her M.
jest}, praying her Majesty to order that the services
of the officers, the seamen, and marines, alto served in China
in the years 1841 and 1842, should be taken into consideration
ith the view to their pewmiary recompense.
REFORM HILL.

itTr. T. DUNCOMBE save notice that, on the S:h July, he
should move for a repeal of the rate-paying clauses of the Re-
form Bill.

NEW ZEALAND.
Mr. AGLIONBY would wish to put a question of some
importance to the Hon. the Under-Secretary for the Colonies,
whom he saw opposite. He wished to know whether
dispatches had been received from New Zealand,
and whether those papers would be laid on the
table of The House previous to the introduction of the question
on the subject of that colony by his Hon. Friend the Member
for Liskea,d?

Mr HOPE said that papers down to th;• 19th of December
had been riecived at the Colonial-office, and he had that rai-
ment directed that they should be laid before the House at the
earliest opportunity.
TEE CASE OF THE WOMAN BRISCOE.

Mr. T. DUNCOMBE wished to know from the Right lion.
Baronet opposite if he had received any further information
relit ive to the case of the unfortunate woman Briscoe, at Wor-
cester, to which he ( Mr. Duocombe) had once before called
the attention of the linue?

Sir J. GRAHAM was understood to reply in the negative.
CORN-LAWS.

Mr. VILLIERS said, that in rising to submit to the House the
important question which was involved in the resolution
to which he was about to call the attention of the House. he
believed he might congratulate himself at least on one thing,
which was, that by a sort of general understanoing in that
House, the propriety of this motion being made was recog-
nisi d, or i,t least. it was acknowledged generally that such was
the unshaken conviction among numerous classes of the
importance of the objects connected with the question,
of the necessity which existed for some decision, in order to do
away with the unsettled state in which it remained at present,
that. it did become the duty of some Member, before the
close of the session, to test the opinion of Parliament,
and, if possible, to elicit the views which influenced
lieneurab'e Members in that House upon the sub-
ject. If he bad apprehended rightly the reasons which her
Majesty's Ministers had given when they had occasion to speak
on the measure which bad already been brought forward this
session, on this question, they had said that this measure in-
volved principles opposed to the policy of the law itself, and that
it wou'd be impossible for them to give a satisfactory vote to that
motion until they had decided the general question. They said that
that was a question recently raised in that House, and that
when the general principle was considered,.then would be the
fitting and proper moment to express their conviction on this
question. He had been further encouraged to bring forward the
question in consequence of the manner in which the Noble Lord
the Member for London had represented the worth on that side of
the House, and stated that his conviction was that no mo-
ment could be so fitting or so appropriate to
the discussion of this question as the present. He
had further reason to be pleased at the part he had taken
cm this subject, when he had had reason to believe that many
Honourable Members opposite had declared that they agreed
in opinion with the Honourable Member for Brecon, who
had said that, whenever the time came when the people of this
country should say this law was unsatisfactory to them, that
was the time to abolish it altogether, for it would be impos-
sible to legislate upon it. Now, so firmly convinced was he
(Mr. Villiers) that the time had now arrived when
this law could no longer be deemed satisfactory to the people of
this country, that he was prepared to move that it be alto-
gether abolished, for it never could be legislated upon. On
these grounds, then, he would say, he hoped he
would be excused, if he should be looked upon
by some Honourable Members as having brought
forward an extravagant measure, or of having introduced it at
a peculiarly inconvenient time. He was encouraged in this
course by the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State
for the Home Department, who had expressed his approbation
of the resolutions proposed by the Noble Lord near him,
upon a late occasion, when he said he did not object to
those resolutions upon any other ground than that there
were too many of them proposed at one time. The
principle involved in those resolutions was the same as that
advocated by him, and, therefore, no real difference existed
between them. The Hon. Member for Essex, who was
one of the most malcontented Members of the House
upon this subject, had said that one of the wisest mea-
sures that could have been introduced by the Go-
vernment, was that one which proposed the total
abolition of the duty upon an article of general consumption—
he meant the abolition of the duty upon the raw material of
cotton, a measure which the Hon. Member entirely approved of.
The Noble Lord was an advocate for moderate measures. He
had acted from the desire of conciliating all parties, and framed
his motion so as to make it agreeable to the protective inte-
rest, and equally satisfactory to the advocates of free trade. In
that endeavour to 'reconcile differences of opinion, he (Mr.
Villiers) thought that the Noble Lord had acted perfectly
right. He was quite justified in making such an attempt, and
that this was the general opinion of the House was shown in
the spirit and manner in which his motion was received.
He (:11r. 'Villiers) might observe that the Hon. Member
for Gateshead (Mr. Hutt), who was apt on particular occa-
sions to elevate his head, and feel gratified that he was not a
supporter of extravagant measures, that he did not take part
with the repealo.rs, was now beginning to think that
the measure proposed by him (31r. Villiers) was not too
large, and that there was evidence before them of its
being made successful. Considering •the manner in which
tneasures tending towards the principle he sought to establish
had been dealt with this session in that House, and considering
the views which had been advanced in their support,
he congratulated himself on the great improvement which had
taken place in the treatment of those questions. He saw in
this an indication of a sound and growing opinion in
favour of just and liberal economical principles. From the
manner all measures bearing upon the views he had so lone;
maintained in that House had been reasoned, he augured fa-
vourably of the early success of the principle of the
motion he was about to submit to their consideration.
There were, he thought, this session three or four Hon. Mem-
bers who had previously always opposed any alteration in this
law; one of whom said, he regretted that such a
law had ever existed ; another that he was sorry it
was necessary, and a third. Noble Lord declared that he
was not afraid of repeal. His own impression was, that
the leading members of the Government, the leading members
of the ex-Government and the repeaters—if the measure were
referred to a Select Committee—would be found to differ very
little in opinion.—(Laughter, and cries of " Hear.") Ile be-
lieved that the report of such a Committee to the House, though
it might not contain the same language, yet, in
substance, would be much of the same nature
as the motions he proposed to the House.
It would declare the law wholly unsuited to present circum-
stances—that its promoters had not any laudable object in view
—that it had been very injurious to the working classes
of the community, and that the sooner it was abo-
lished the better. He believed that was the im-
pression in the House, and if there was such a
thing as a mind of the House, such would have been the
impression made upon it. But it was very well known that it
was not the mind of the House, but the votes of the
House, which deterniined legislation, and there was no dot;,bt
but there would still be votes against the repeal of that law.
Last night he learned that the Society for the Protection of
Native Industry and Agriculture was still living ; he sent for
their publications, and fo.ind them of the same na-
ture
as ever. He believed the advocates of the ob-
jects which that Society had in view had even still
a preponderating influence in both Houses of Parliament--
they were not quite satisfied that it would be unsafe and un-
wise to continue this law. With respect to the latter, it was oneof
the objects of his annual motions and the movements of that useful
body, the Anti-Corn-law League, to prove—he meant that the
continuance of the present law was unsafe and unwise. There
could he no question about the original institution
of the law. It was to make land dear, and subsequent legis-
lation had been consistent with that object. The
proprietors of the land were almost exclusively the legislators,
snit thus it was accounted for. The preponderating iiifluence
of the land commenced in ICBB, with the revolution,
and in that year this sort of legislation commenced.
It was at that time that the decision was come to which
had occasioned this great change. In 1684, when that re-
spectable monarch had ascended the throne, of whom the Noble
Lord the Member for Newark had spoken in terms of no great
respect—within three months after that Kicg's accession, as if
to >how the little occasion there was for any plea such as that
which had been set up in later days—within three
months after that accession, a motion had been put
and conceded for imposing a duty on corn, in
consequence of the war with France, and for the
purpose of raising the sum for meeting the expenses of that
war. And since that Committee had given their sanction to
the measure, the purpose of the motion had been most consis-
tently pursued, only at that time, it was cloaked under the
pretence of imposing a duty on exports. That was in 1688.
Till the end of the last century the law had continued just the
same in principle, and had effected this object in raising
the value of land and raising the rents. But at that time the
people of this country had not the same power in the State as
they have now, and the land proprietors had ob-
tained a preponderance in the Legislature and could
impose what duties they pleased. This mode of increas-
ing the value of land continued till the latter end of last
century, that is, till between 1760 and 1790, when they had
thought of a different plan, and had imposed a duty on goods
coming from foreign parts ; for the country hail become an
importing country, and this principle had continued till the
present moment. The object was to increase the value
of their own property by raising the price of their
land, and raising their rents, and a very judicious way it
certainly vns. The constitution had, it was true, coctinued
the same, and one might despair of any alteration but that the
position of men in this country with regard to it had changed.
charged. The lower classes in this country, with respect to
the Legislature, were stronger than they were, and he believed
that no wrong would now long be made known in the country
without being redressed; and this wrong would have been
redressed, bad not the landlords in both Houses cajoled the
country. He therefore was bound to admit that, up to a very
recent period, that law had been maintained by the sanction
of a very considerable portion of the public, and a very con-
siderable expression of public opinion might be pointed to as
having given that law effect. It had been upheld by very in-
fluential parties in this country, who had not been persuaded
that the law was of that character which its opponents had
ascribed to it. Great delusions had been practised on two classes
of the community in this countrv—upon the cultivators of the
so:1, and the labourers upon it. Those delusions had, however,had
passed away. The Hon. and Gallant Member for Sussex had very
successfully described the character and the intellect of the
farmers of this country. He said that t hey were men of narrow
and contracted views, with vision singularly limited—men
chiefly occupied with the vegetables they were growing, or the
cattle they were rearing, and men who were very apt to mea-
sure the affairs of the world by the markets they may attend.
He had declared he coulds not submit to he dictated to by
persons whose view
narrow and limited as the persons
whom he had desert.sbwedere. If that that had been the proper descrip-
tion of a farmer, it certainly was not very amiable to deceive
him, and he (Mr. Villiers) did not think that ten persons in
this country could be produced at the liar of the House to say
the contrary. The lion. Gentleman had been deluded by a
word—he had been deceived to believe that what meant price
was profit—( Hear, hear)—and high profit, on the capital
employed. He being a man of very contracted sight
was not able to discover that if the land was susceptible of
high profits to those who took it, there would be many desirous
to hire that land. He had been induced to cry out for the Act
of Parliament that held out a high price in the expectation of
procuring a greater profit, and derided those persons who had
told him that that Bill would not produce the anticipated effect
of a high profit. Several Hon. Members were at that moment
sitting in the House, who held their seats simply on the ground
that they had persuaded the farmer they were his friends, and
the enemies of those who wished to diminish his profits. The
principle of his (Mr. Villiers') observations was to enlighten
the farmer on this subject, and to call his attention to those
1 who were really his friends, and to those who, cn the contrary,
were his most persevering enemies. The lion. Member for
Somersetshire had said he had become much better informed
on the subject since the agitation of the Antl-Corn-law League
had commenced. He was beginning to open his other eye.—
(Laughter.) The farmer was now looking aghast when he
was told he was being protected. He would ask the Hon