The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-25 00:00:00

time or place, and he believed that there was as he might
have the honour of a seat in it, he would continue • would be the case to a very great extent. Many gentlemen
no limitation to the persons who celebrated an indepwenasd a independent Member. His only motive in moving for these who were opposed to the Corn-laws, being alarmed at the pecu-
desire that the public might be put in possession liar wording of the measure proposed by the Hon. Member for
marriages for persons of the Presbyterian persuasion, f returnstbe
fullest information on the subject. By the Acts of Par- Wolverhampton, felt it their duty either to vote against his
performed marriages. It was, therefore,
and who were not recognised by the Synod had frequentl o
,
liament passed for remodelling the office of Comptroller of the motion, or not to vote at all. He (Mr. Aglionby ) had come
necessary y Exchequer. namely, the 48th of Geo. 111., cap. 1, to a different determination ; for though he did not altogether
that the whole subject should undergo invests- sec. 2, and the 4th and sth of William IV., cap. 15, it approve of his Hon. Friend's measure, he felt it to be his
gation, and the course the Government pro- was enacted that all Exchequer bills should be pre. paramount duty to vote for it. The reason which had brought
posed to pursue, was to bring in a mea- pared and numbered at the Exchequer Bill-office, and him to this conclusion was the extreme distress at present exist..
sure to give relief to persons married by a signed there by the Comptroller, or Assistant-Comp- ing in the country, for which he had in vain looked for a re-
Presbyterian clergyman, and to take the whole troner.
. Now he (Colonel S.) should suppose that the medy. Had a moderate fixed duty been proposed, that would
signing of those bills in any other place than the Exchequer have met his views, and would have received his most unquali-
cubject into their consideration during the present Ses
Bill-office, constituted a violation of those Acts. He would fled assent. In the course of the debate there had been many
sion of Parliament, with a view to a full and final andd
call the attention of the House to the evidence of Lord allegations of distress, which on more than one occasion had
satisfactory settlement of the question. The Noble Lor
Monteagle himself on a late occasion in the trial of the Bank been denied. He was surprised to hear the Hon. Member for
concluded by moving fur leave to bring in a Bill on the of England v. Tomkins, respecting this matter. He need nut Wiltshire state last night that the operatives in his district,
subject. tell the House, that with the paper from which he would read so far from being in a state of distress, were in a state
The SPEA KER having put the question, the evidence he alluded to, he had no connection in any one way of comparative comfort, and in proof of this assertion he re-
Mr. LITTONsaid that he would take that opportunity of ex- whatever. The Hon. and Gallant Colonel then read part of the ferred to the Operative Conservative dinners. He (Mr. Ag-
plaining, the feelings of the Presbyterians of Ireland, as they had evidence of Lord Monteagle on the trial, which occurred a few lionby) did not know how these dinners were got up Be
been communicated to him on the subject. Since the announce- days since in the Court of Exchequer, stating that bills had been could only say that the state of the operatives in his district
ment of the Government to bring forward the present
tomea• signed in various parts of the countr. He contended that he was very different. He held a report in his hand from the
sure, they were anxious to express their gratitude, both the had thus made out pa
violation of they Act of Parliament. He operatives of Carlisle, which contained so many important
Government and the House, for their prompt consideration of (the Gallant Colonel) never saw an Exchequer bill in his life , facts that he hoped he should be allowed to make a few ex-
that, to them, all important measure The Bill to b.e. Laid on
—(Laughter)—but for the sake of the public, he trusted his I tracts from it, premising in the first place that he did not be-
the table would relieve many individuals and ramates from motion would be agreed to ; indeed, if it were not too mu •h 1 lieve the statements contained therein were at all too highly
great anxiety and much care. The mernfbelrs of the Presby.
courtesy so expect from a friend in office to a friend out of ' coloured. In the Report of the Committee of Operatives in
terian persuasion also felt especially grate u for the announce- office—( Laughter)—his Right Hon. Friend might have shoes that town it was stated that the greatest destitution prevailed
merit made the other night by the Noble Lord the Secretary for him the return he meant to make, in which case he amongst the working classes ; that there were hundreds of
the Colonies, of a prospective measure on the subject meeting the ( Colonel Sibthorp) would not have troubled the House, or put houses containing scarcely a single article of furniture ; that
earliest consideration of the Government. A more satisfac- the public to expense, for there was not a man in the House the beds were of the most wretched deters
tenon ; that
tory measure than that which he (Mr. L. understood the loved economy more than he did. the grates had little and in some instances no fire
Noble Lord, the Secretary for the Colonies, to say would meet Mr. BORTHWICK seconded the motion. in them ; and that the countenances of the sun. with the early consideration of the Government, could not be The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER gave his 1 ferers indicated the greatest a ant and wretchednees.
conceived. Ile was enabled to state that the clergy and 'eading Hon. and Gallant Friend full credit for being actuated in his I There was nothing exaggerated in that statement, nothing
men of the Presbyterian body were perfectly ready to receive conduct in that House by independent and honourable motives; which would cause him to hesitate in placing it before the with gratitude the measure proposed. He thought it his duty and if lie (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) were not dis- House. It appeared from that Report that the.e were 6,000
to let the House know the purport of the communications he posed to agree to the motion, he trusted his Hon. and Gallant people in Carlisle who were receiving only Is. lid. per head
had received from Ireland on the matter.
Friend would give him credit for acting in the same manner, for their maintenance, He held in his hand a petition which
Mr. O'CONNELL said there could be no doubt that the When he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) presented a had been intrusted to the Hon. Member for Carlisle, and it
class of persons sought to be relieved had the strongest claims return a short time since, he asked his Honourable and Gal- was agreed to at a public meeting held in that town, confirm-
on the country and Government for such relief. They mar- lant Frietid to look at it and then judge whether or not he had ing the statement to which he had referred. It stated that
ried with a full conviction that the marriages so contracted better proceed with the present motion; but his Hun. Friend in consequence of the distress which existed, a charitable
were legal. So far from their suspecting that those marriages did not acquiesce. He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) committee was formed, combining all shades of political opi.
were illegal, even he ( Mr. O'Connell) himself, who was perfectly then said, what he did not hesitate to repeat now, namely, that nion—Tor ies, Conservatives, Whigs, and Radicals—all having
familiar with the law of marriage in Ireland, would not have he had objections to the production of accounts of this nature, but one common object, that of relieving their distressed
hesitated, before the late decision of the Judges was given, to but his Uon, Friend having given notice of his motion, he (the townsmen. This petition, which was drawn up with great
,have given his opinion that those marriages were valid. He Hight Hon. Gentleman) consulted his Noble Friend, the Comp- care, contained an important statistical statement. The fami-
drily mentioned that to show that those parties were very far troller-General of the Exchequer, as to his power to give such I lies of the sufferers were there divided into trades. Amongst the
from having any intention to violate the law. He would, returns, and as to his opinion in the case, and the Noble Lord trades there were of hanaloom-weavers 572 ; cotton-spinners,
therefore, request the Noble Lord (Lord Eliot) to pass this distinctly stated, that, as far as he was concerned, he was 39 ; bleachers and dyers, 20 ; masons and bricklayers, 40 ;
Bill as speedily as possible. At present., individuals might most anxious to give the returns. Thus he (the Right Hoe. carpenters, joiners, and sawyers, 28; painters and glaziers, 9;
marry a second time without committing any crime punishable Gentleman) was balanced between two considerations :in his tailors, 27 ; shoemakers, 40 , besides other sufferers whose
by law, though morally guilty of bigamy. He would also beg own judgment, that it was not advisable to produce returns of occupations were miscellaneous. The total number of families
Leave to call the Noble Lord's attention to the caution with this kind ; and, on the other hand, the anxiety of his lion. was 1,641, or more than one-fourth of the population; whose
which the marriage law ought to be approached. The laws of Friend and the Noble Lord concerned in this motion, that the weekly earnings did not amount to more than Is. 2d. per
marriage were most essentially strict in England. In Ireland returns should be presented to the House; and, on the whole, head.—(Hear, hear.) The public looked with a great deal
they were partly strict, and partly admitted of greatlatitude. In therefore, he (the Right Honourable Gentleman) thought of suspicion on the House, seeing that so large a portion of it
Scotland the greatestlatitude was admitted in the law of marriage. he had better give way in this case to the wish of the consisted of landed proprietors. They thought this was the
in Scotland, marriage might be contracted between two adults, Noble Lord. He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) reason they upheld a system that bore so severely on the
by the mere passing of a few words before witnesses. He men- admitted also, that if a different course were pursued, starving people. ( Hear, hear.) Let them do something more
tinned this to show that restrictions in the law of marriage need no matter what the facts might be, an impression might to remove this impression. He spoke quite disinterestedly on
not be essentially necessary. He hoped the Noble Lord would he created that there was something to be concealed.— ( Hear, this point; for neither he nor any one belonging to him had
treat the subject with great caution before he introduced any hear.) But while he yielded, he begged to say that he consi- been connected with manufactures. It was by the land he
general measure ; but let him by all mariner of means establish dered the number of attendances a man gave was by no means lived, and he loved it. But he could not justify a class mono-
she legality of these marriages as quickly as possible. a test of his fitness or ability for office ; and, certainly, in agree- poly, held by landlords. He would therefore vote for the total
Colonel RAWDGN stated to the House a fact that had ingto this return, the Noble Lord must have kept a better ac- and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws, convinced that this was
ocetineed in Armagh, as long ago as the 26th of January last. count of his time than other gentlemen did. He had only fur- the only sure mode of relieving the distress of the country.
A poor woman applied for admission to the workhouse of that timer to state his regret that his Hon. Friend, in making his Mr. HENEAGE reminded the House that there were a
town, in consequence of her husband having deserted her, after motion, did not refrain from observations on the case, as it great many landowners amongst the small and middle classes,
having been married fourteen years. He had abandoned her in would shortly come before the House in the fullest manner, and, whom this measure would ruin. The same attack now made
consequence of the state of the law on, this subject, and her as, in the meantime, persons might be attacked by those who on the landholders was formerly made on the landholders. The
children were now for the same reasons described as bastards were ignorant of the details of the question, he trusted it would be cry was they were a small body, living at the expense of the
on the books of time workhouse. Now this fact having occurred considered that neither he nor the Noble Lord shrank from the people. An inquiry at the Bank proved them to be about
so long ago as the 26th of January, he could not feel that degree inquiry ; and his (the Chancellor of the Exchequer's) reserve 270,000. He believed the landlords to be about the same
of gratitude to her Majesty's Government that had been ex- now merely proceeded from an unwillingness to occupy the number; and taking their income at 30,000,0001., this would
pressed by the Hon. Member. He could not but feel that the House prematurely with a subject that would soon come fully not give more than an average of 1501. to each. The majority
Government had been exceedingly tardy in adopting the course before it. of these people only lived by hard work and abstemiousness.
which common sense and common humanity dictated. He Mr. BARING had much pleasure in finding that the Right Mr. HORSMAN was of opinion that the present Corn-
thought it was the duty of her Majesty's Government on the Hon. Gentleman considered it not inconsistent with his duty to laws were unjust and impolitic, and hurtful in their effects ;
very first opportunity after Parliament met, to have laid on give the required information. His (Mr. Baring's) general and he believed the manner in which the Ilon. Member fur
the table of the House a Bill for the purpose of redressing this feeling was, that the more frankly the Government communi - Wolverhampton had worded his motion, added to the embar-
grievance. The Presbyterians of the north of Ireland would sated with the public the more general satisfaction would re- rassment of the question, because, by unnecessary phraseo-
not agree with the expressions of gratitude used by the Hon. suit. This remark especially applie Ito the present question, logy, many persons hesitated in voting with hint. He voted with
Member ; they considered the measure now introduced as a respecting which so much anxiety p evailed ; and he was glad him on this ground, that he believed the present law was
;meagre one ; they naturally considered it to be of that descrip- to see that the Noble Lord, particularly concerned, for whom, based on bad grounds, and on a principle which had
*ion, when the sacred right which their ministers had so long in the course of a long political acquaintance, he had contras- been given up by the Right Hon. Baronet, namely the protect-
maintained and exercised of uniting the members of their con- ted the highest esteem, was ready to give the required ing of agriculturists as a class.--( Hear, hear.) If it had been
gregations, was not asserted, These were not days for going back information to the House and the country.—( Hear, hear.) proved that the agriculturists had fair claims for compensation,
in legislation ; he had the authority of a Presbyterian clergy- He should not ens'eavour to follow the example set before him he, and every Member on his side of the House would, he was
man, whose name he could give, if necessary, for saying that by the Right Hon. Gentleman. He concurred with hint, sure, be ready to consider the matter, and do justice to the
the Presbyterian ministers were determined not to accept any however, that it would be more satisfactory to discuss any agriculturists, as they now asked the agriculturists to do justice
measure at the hands of the Government which did not confer point of law when the
matter was fairly brought antler the to the country at large.—( Hear, hear.) What was said by the
on them what had hitherto been their right. consideration of the House, and they should proceed to discuss Noble Lord the Member for London of the Bill of the Right
.ergeant JACKSON said it was not so very long since ihe whole question. At the • ame time, he thought that lie Hon. Baronet was perfectly true, it unsettled everything and
Parliament met ; the Government could not turn its was doing but justice to his Noble Friend when he settled nothing, and he did not state that from what was said
attention to a subject of more importance.—( Hear. I called the attention of the House to the fact, that his Noble on his side of the House, but from time declaration of the sup-
Great excitement had prevailed in Ireland on the subject, and Friend, instead of attempting to conceal anything connected porters of the Right Hen. Baronet himself. The Hon. Mem-
the Presbyterian body in that country, and other religious with the transaction, in his owe statement, stated that he had her for Pontefract said he was sorry the proposition of the Right
bodies, were most anxious that some measures of a prospective signed the Bills at other places than the Comptroller's own lion. Baronet did not approach more nearly to more Liberal
nature should be introduced. Those bodies had pressed upon office ; at the same time it appeared that that was a practice_ principles, and the Hon. Member fur Canterbury had used
the Government the necessity of settling the law of marriage whatever the Gallant Officer might consider about the legs- language to the same effect ; but the Honourable Member
in Ireland. That was a matter requiring the most grave con- lily of the practice—which had obtained in the 'Exchegusr for Norfolk objected to the measure on other grounds, and
sideration. It was most injurious to meddle hastily with the long before under Lord Granville and Mr. Bedford. He (Mr. said it would be dangerous to the agricultural interests.
law on that subject ; but still the Government felt it was im- Baring) would go no further, but he thought it right that his They concurred with the Right Hon. Baronet in what lie
portant at once to introduce a measure to legalise what had Noble Friend should be cleared from the imputation that there proposed, and yet they were apprehensive lest the price of their
already been done. With regard to any prospective measure, had been an attempt on his part to conceal anything. concurrence might cost them too much in time end.—( Ilear.)
he had applied himself most anxiously to the consideration of the Colonel SIBTHORP thought he was called on to say He objected to the nature of the measure, and the manner in
subject, with a view of bringing forward some general that he made no charge whatever, either directly or which he proposed it. He did not think that the Government
measure on the subject. The case which had been indirectly against the Noble Lord. He thought no word had should have brought forward such a measure as they had intro-
alluded to by the Gallant Officer proved the ne- fallen from him implying the slightest imputation. He had duced, after so much mystery, and after having given rise to so
cessity that existed for anxious consideration before any but one motive in making his motion ;it was that which actu- much expectation in the country. The prevailing dis.-
prospective measure should be introduced, because if both ated him on all occasions when the interests of the country tress was now universally admitted ; but the Bight Honour-
marriages were legalised the party might be subject to be in- were concerned. With regard to the hope expressed by his able Baronet held out no hope of alleviating that distress.
dieted fur bigamy. At the same time he felt no time was to Noble Friend (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) that he He (Mr. Horsman) presumed that the first indication they
be lost in the introducing a measure to legalise those marriages would not have made any comments in bringing forward his would have of the intentions of the Government for the relief
which had taken place, and the measure proposed by the Noble motion, he could only say that if his Hon. Friend had done of the national distress would be made in the Chancellor of
Lord was one for that purpose. him the honour to have made that request before, he should the Exchequer's Budget. He supposed that the Government
Mr. FOX MAULE thought that the Hon. and Learned not have done so. He was sure no charge could be entertained intended to meet the evil by the imposition of new taxes.—
Gentleman who had just sat down had proved that there had against the Noble Lord, or if there was one, it was one which (Hear, hear.) On what grounds could they justify the Corn-
been some remisness on the part of the Government in delay- applied equally to his predecessors, because it had been stated laws? The Right Hon. Baronet had told them that the landed
ing the bringing forward of this measure. He admitted that I that in what. he had done he had acted according to precedent, interest were not entitled to protection merely as a class;
any measure of a prospective nature would require considers- THE CORN-LAWS.—ADJOURNED DEBATE. while the Right Hon. Gentleman the Paymaster of the
tion, but the fact stated by the Gallant Officer to have taken The Order of the Day for resuming the adjourned debate Forces told them that the Corn-laws were to be justified
place proved that if the Government had done its duty some having been read, and the House having resolved itself into a upon the principle that the landed gentry should be
Alember of it would on the first day of the session have given , Committee of the whole House ; Mr. iiREPNE in time chair, maintained in their present station of society.—( Hear
tax hear,
notice of some measure fur hear.) _'.t should be recollected, however, that legalising these marriages. Who Mr. JOHNSTONE said that in rising to address the House 1
could say how many instances of a similar nature to that men- for the first time, he hoped they would extend to him that in- !to increase the luxuries of the rich, was a tax upon the poor
tioned by the Hon. and Gallant Member, had occurred within dulgence which, they usually gave to Members in the same man's bread, and that every additional penny on the price of the
the 15 days which had elapsed ?—( Hear, hear. ) As a Presby- situation.--( Hear, hear.) When he had heard her Majesty's poor man's loaf might deprive his children of a meal. The
terian, he felt glad the Government had taken up the question, ; speech at the commencement of time session, he conceived that Right lion. Baronet had stated that it was desirable that this
and he hoped the Noble Lord would lose no time in pressing ' the system of class legislation was about to be abandoned by i country should be independent of other countries for its supply
i
forward his Bill.—Leave was then given to bring in the Bill. that House. He did conceive that measures would be promptly of food. But what, in reality, was to be apprehended from a
ADMISSION OF STRANGERS. I brought forward be the Government which would have for I state of dependence? In the report of the Committee of 1833,
Mr.IIUNTZ said that, in rising to submit to the eonsidera- , their object the general prosperity and comfort of all classes of ate extract was made from the evidence of Mr. Jacob, which
tion of the House the motion of which he had given notice, it I her Majesty's subjects. He deeply regretted to find that he ii showed the nature of the dependence arising out of the present
was not his intention to trouble the House with a long speech, ' was disappointed in that expectation, and that the Ministry ! state of things. Mr. Jacob, having first been asked as to the
nor in his opinion did the motion require one. It had always : had brought forward a measure which, in his opinion, would ; degree of our dependence on other countries in average years,
struck him that as all the votes were published no real advan- have the effect of perpetuating class legislation. The Corn- was again asked what he thought it would be in years below
tage was derived from the exclusion of strangers on divisions; ; law scheme introduced by the Government would, he believed, the average. The question was put as to what would be the
whilst he thought that the strangers who might be collected in • please no class except the class of landlords. The interests of
prospect of a supply in the recurrence of such a harvest as that the gallery, when the order was given, that they would with- i the mercantile and the manufacturing community, as well as I
"could not
of 1816? To this he answered that the deficient
draw, through the rush which was made to the lobby, often de- !of the labouring classes, were all sacrificed by the measure. ibe supplied from all the world. In 1832 there was on hand a
sided the question upon which the House divided. He was in He regretted the tone assumed in time course of that debate by I supply for fourteen months, but if in the next year there were
I only eleven months' supply, there would be a deficiency of one
the lower waiting-room when the bell rang for the late division, Hon. Gentlemen on the other side of the House, whose lap-
I month, which all the world could not supply."—( Hear hear. )
.and was shut out in consequence of the inconvenience to which ' guage was calculated to rouse class against class, and to array
Thus not only were we dependent on foreign nations,
be referred. He thought that the Members of that House . different interests of the community in opposition to each should have an opportunity of coming to the division like ' other, with a view to sow dissension among them, o, but by these laws we prevented them from raising the
statesmen, and not like schoolboys who were running over each order that all extension of popular rights might be means of supplying us, which they can only do when they have
other.—( A laugh.) Another consideration which induced ' denied to the people of this country.—( Hear, hear.) a certain anticipation of our receiving their produce. The
him to propose this motion was that they ought not It had been stated that the object of the manufacturers was to
reoc; mif
daily
vicissitudes ni
eyt rshslHeeealmn :in t
osdt uponihriheno oeu;;oos
home-monopolists,
hourly
thought
as
could
t uoah?a (oe oseason
pnt wholecroeeoi
experiencedicnci
nseasjtssaut•
ssoen,rarderl
n, world
un‘ftt
were
crh:heo.
enairrn
indne-
consumer must be dependent upon some one, and certainly it
unnecessarily to annoy the public ? (Hoar, hear.) , obtain a reduction of wages. He denied that they had the -With respect to the gentlemen who sat in the I least wish to reduce them.—(Hear, hear.) He contended
being
inevitable
raei i
nrvsoigi nbtc
ace,
bi t
climate.—(
talsieeltaratenefvd:
Reporters' gallery, it appeared to him (Mr. Muntz) that the 1 that the manufacturers were rather interested in the increase
present arrangement was especially objectionable. Nothing could ' than in the lowering of wages, for high wages proved high be more important, both to the public and to the House, than profits, whilst low wages proved that the manufacturing interest that the reports of their proceedings should be given with the I was not in a prosperous state. They were told by Hon. Gen-
aten y timeswhich
either greater,
sophistry
itsetnryt times mhijemei
cat e
eohrt
r,
ct baoyher
eetand
greatest accuracy. They all knew the very difficult nature of ' tlemen opposite that the manufacturers were protected, and,
hear.) He considered the proposition of the Right
the occupation of the Rei.orters, and it was very desirable that therefore said they, the agriculturists ought to be protected. ( Hear,
they should not do anythin. to increase the difficulty. He He denied the truth of that statement. How could an export- lion. Baronet was only a modification of the old Corn-law ;
bad noticed frequently in the public notices a statement of ing country of surplus production be protected by any d 14y on but the discussion had not bean without its uses. There had
this kind, n When we returned to the gallery, we found such i similar articles exported from other countries ?—( hear, hear.) been some admissions made which placed the opponents of
and such an Hon. Member. upon his legs, and we understood As well might it be said that if the Prussian Government were monopoly on more advantageous ground than they ever held
that he had said so and so.''— ( A laugh.) It generally hap • to impose a duty of 10s. a quarter upon the importation of before. In the first place they had an admission from the
paned, however, that what was given in such cases was very foreign corn into Dantzic, corn at Dantzic would be raised 10s. Eight Hon. Baronet, at the head of her Majesty's Government,
which they' had never had before, when they were anackinn
different from what had actually been uttered.—( Hear, hear.) a quarter. Every' one must see the fallacy of such a statement,
The Hon. Member concluded by proposing that at future and this was the fallacy by which it was attempted to be proved the laws, and Hon. Gentlemen opposite were defending theme'
.divisions of this Flou.e neither strangers in the gallery, nor that the manufacturers were. protecte • The manufacturers iii all their details.. But they' now had an admission
the reporters, shall be required to withdraw, excepting by wanted nothing but justice—they took nothing from that the protection given to agriculture by the
special motion for that liurpose.
the landed protzietors they wished to give nothing to them existing laws was much higher than necesssary. He
Sir ROBERT PEEL thought the House ought not to He hoped that in the Course of time what the manufacturer; thought that admission a most important one, but
vary its usage in requiring the withdrawal of strangers when now claimed would be conceded to them as a matter of justice, it was made with a qualification that robbed it of a great' deal
divisions sere taking place. At all events there should be and because it would promote the interests of the agriculturists ol its grace, because the Ri ht Hon. Baronet tells his ft lends
ot tit
that
h iictihs
some strong ease of incmtvenience shown in order to induce themselves•—( Hear, hear. ) He should vote for total and irn- they had now a great deal gof superfluous
the House to depart from its ancient and uniform practice. mediate repeal of the Corn-laws, because he thought that the they incurred a great deal of superfluous Pordiuemetioannd
plan took away a little of that protection, and left only the odium
'There was already precaution taken for the publicity of their agriculture of this country required no protection. In the evi-
they at present suffered. Hence they were driven to the single
given before the Committee by Scotch far-
proceedings ; therefore, in that respect there was no necessity demise which was
'or the presence of strangers when divisions were taking place mers in the year 1836, it was stated that the Corn-laws were argurnentof the fear Cf a dependence on foreign supply. As to
land, besides, it frequently happened that that part of the House the reverse of advantageous, and Chet 565. would be a fair le_ the argument of the peculiar burdens on agriculture, they had
which was usually occupied by strangers was, on the occasion munerating price for Comm. If his was true of Scotland, it net been distinctly' stated; and the Hon. Gentlemen opposite
of divisions, required by Hon. Members. Upon the whole he must be equally true of this country. Why did not the English were too well known fur it to be supposed that if they could
could not see that there was any such proof, of public ineonve- farmers adopt the Scotch system of agriculture ; why did they have given them in detail they would not have dor,e so. With
trisnce shown as would justify a departure from the usual and take a system which forced them into larger expenses ? if the respect to the fear of dependance on foreign supply, lie believed
ancient practice of the Howe. same system as that of Scotland were adopted in Englanc', with that a time would COMP when the House would be ashamed to
Mr. A GLIONBY thought the present practice was most the same outlay of money arid the same rents, it would make a look back on the period when lames were founded
absurd and contradictory. The rule should, in his opinion, be difference of one-fourth in the produce of the land in England, on so insane a principle. In what other country of the world
rescinded. compared to what it was at the present.—( Hear, hear.) could such a thing have occurred, as had occurred in England a
Mr. IVALLACE said he perfectly concurred in the pro- The Right Honourable Baronet, the Member for Der- few years ago; in 1837, when great destitution prevailed in
priety of rescinding the rule, and submitted that the rule chester, had stated that the manufacturers, notwithstanding tile Highlands of Scotland, when deputations front the Church
should.berelaxed. He was, therefore, determined to support the distress, had increased their works; but was it any won- and time aristocracy of that country, when the peasantry were in
the motion of the Hon. Member for Birmingham. der? In 1835 and 1836 manufactures were very profitable, a state of famine, at the same time a party of merchants, in
Dr. BOWRING also expressed his intention to support the there was a good foreign and home trade, and the capitalists London, came to the Government and said they had a great
motion of the Hon. Member for Birmingham. Nothing could had reason to suppose that it would be a good investment for deal of corn in bond, and that they found the warehousing of it
be more ridiculous or absurd than the rules of the House with their money. He attributed the reaction to the succession of pas only accumulating expense upon them, and, therefore,
regard to the admission and withdrawal of strangers.— (Cries bad harvest's in 1837, 1838, arid 1839, which operated inju- begged to be permitted to take it out of bond and destroy it?
of " Question, question.") riously on the Bank of England with regard to the currency. It was taken out of bond, and actually sunk in the Thames,
Mr. al UNTZ addressed a few observations to the House, He had hoped that the Government would have given into the under the superintendence of the Excise. This was done at
bust it was impossible to catch them, owing to the noise at the whole system of their commercial policy, and have seen that one end of the kingdom when its subjects at the other ex -
the bar, and loud cries of " Question, question," " Divide," eic.
tremity were absolutely at the same time dying from starvation
the systems of monopoly and restriction had oppressed the ener-
Strang(Ts were then ordered to withdraw, and the House eies of the country. 'they were reduced to trade with only —( Hear, hear.) 'I his fact required no comment, and
divided, when there appeared— thirteen millions of people, while they might trade with the could not have happened in any other country in the world,
For the motion 5l
upholderson 13 aronoeft
whole world. He thought that this country would not he in- He agreed wi h the Hon. Member for Edinhur h, who upon
tghwea
Corn-lawss surprised
Against it
it. Rut
illtoigthttbeH
Majority .... _l36 total and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws.
METROPOLITAN IMPROVEMENTS. Mr. VILLIERS STUART felt that the discussion on the had done more damage to the Corn-laws •
Sir M. WOOD moved for a Select Committee, to take into present question had run to such a length that he ought not their opponents in a series of years. Tiiern one week, than had
consideration any plans for the improvement of .the metropolis, to trouble the House with his views upon it, but he thought the verdict of the public against the lan: w scalec sanctioned
which they may deem worthy of consideration ; and also the he was only' conscientiously' discharging his duty as the re- now perpetuate it; but if they endeavoured to Tony could not
petitions presented to this House in the last Parliament for the presentative of an agricultural county ( Waterford), and that gle, the result would be more disastrous to tfie „ the trug-
m than the loss
purchase of the interests of the proprietors of Waterloo, South- a county in Ireland, in stating his determination to vote in of that law to which, as the Paymaster of the Forces
said, the
wark, and Vauxhall-bridges, in order to their being irnmedi-
favour of the motion of the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton landowners were indebted for their position in society,
ately opened to the use of the public free from toll ; and to re- (Mr. Villiers). Before they could conscientiously give a vote Mr. COWPER understood the Right Hon, Baronet to have
port their opinion as to the expediency of adopting any of the for the continuation of the Corn-laws they must all feel that stated, that he proposed the best measure he thought it p
said improvements, and also as to the best means of carrying the responsibility rested upon them, of acting under the sible for him to propose. If the Right Hon. Baronet said°he
the same into effect ; when the following Members were ap- deepest had brought forward. as great an alteration est conviction that practical advantages would arise to . e ,
strong
pointed :—Sir Matthew Wood, Sir R. H. In lie Sir Wmcontinuation of those laws. He (Mr. would permit him, he would have been the
the country from the nearer mark. The
Clay, Mr. G. Palmer, Sir R. Peel, I P g ' .
11 r. endarven Colonel trrii
s,
seh(u,:ib,
Stuart) had attentively considered the arguments of the Hon. country was greatly' disappointed at the measure which was
T. Wood, Mr. Tufnell, Sir T.
Fremantle, Mr Barnard, Mr. Gentlemen who came forward in support of protective laws. The proposed, and he (Mr. Cowper) was convinced few persons ex
Wakley, Mr. Planta, Mr. Alderman 1-1 I) . Mr. B. Wood,. t those who were dealers in corn expressed their .
Mr. Rigby Wason, Sir B ump ery, . advantage which they sought by protection was the maintenance cep . approba•
When he considered the persons wh
Hall, Mr. Kemble, Mr. Hawes, of the cultivation of the soil, which they contended would not non of it. . o composed the
Colonel Fox, and Mr. m„ B.
terman.
Right Hon. Baronet's Cabinet, ald the expressions which had
POOR-RATES AND be continued if the Corn-laws were repealed. There were COUNTY-RATES.
fallen from several members of that Cabinet,
two parties interested and concerned in the cultivation of the and others upon
3lr. NVODE HOUSE moved to an " Account of soil—the landlords and the farmers the opposite side of the House, he should say, if there was any
moneys levied by assessment for reprint
and
in . or occupiers. It appeared
count.y-rate to him that those ersons would change at all, it . would be a change for increased protectio
p be actuated, like most persons,
each county of England and Walpooiro'stbratei.
hsth of
that the scheme proposed by the • n.
March, 1e26, distinguishing the rts'lnount,e showingyedarenYagth-epro- by a sense of self-interest. The best security that the aulti- lie would at once admit
but Right
improvement of the present law,
orton of amount levied in each count an vetion of the soil would go on was the immense production of Hon. Baronet was an
houses,yon land, on
NI C )support 1. l
dwelling- tins country at the present moment, which amounted to 45 der no circumstances would he ( , r. . asit mg scale.
ills and factories, and
on in
on manorial profits and millions of quarters of grain. It was a well known fact that if No one cGuld think that the present measure would be p, rma-
in identals."
they were to seek over the whole, world they couldnot • ;and lt • -ted that some larger and more comprehen-
THE OFFICE OF COMPTROLLER OF THE EX- ofallsorts of grain get a vent
Cil EQUE R. supply
4 The Hon. Baronet, the Member for Wiltshire, had told them Sir R. BATESON said
he had not intended to take any
Colonel SIRTHORP rose to move, pursuant to notice, for ' of theprosperity of the country at a period when prices a Member for an Irish count}, he
si a return of the number of days on which Lord Mont. ogle, as '•• • an high. But it should be remembered that the could not remain silent after the ,
remarks
which had fallen
'ler of the Exchequer, attended at the
-• referredtime when
The H n
Getnpfro.officof
e the Hon. Baronet to this country was at war, from the Hon. Member for Waterford. re on. Member
tier from the date of hie appn nt
receipt of Etches' ,
18i, rnent, 9th and when its army and navy were raised to an unprecedented had in round terms accused the Irish landlords of extorting too
the sth day of Januar
September. 1839, to
Y'
and ' being the scale. Every ma-, at that period who was not required for the high rents : and had asserted that this was a great cause of the
of the appointment present
state to which a returntenure service of the country found there was a demand for his distress of the people. No man would more deprecate high
he House of Commonsgdated 19th
of office has been made to t
t; labour; and it was, therefore, no wonder that though theprice rents than himself ; but he would remind the Hon. Gentlemen
f the number and a
February, 1842; alFo a retn.r.n o .
ned and issued lreaouts-orof 4 food was then high, there was no distress in our streets, that there were many estates on which landlords had no power
the several Exchequer bills sig .
d dplaces d But the poor man even at that time lost by time Corn-laws the to reduce the rents—estates which were let upon long leases of
d the perm s an at . .
Monteagle himself, an
severally' signed and additional amount which he paid for bread, -ind with which he three lives in 60 years; and others which were under the con-
which such bills have been might have purchased other comforts. There could be no trol of the Court of Chancery.—( Hear., The lion'. Member
period." " The Ho-
issued by him during t be above p .
that he had yesterday doubt, but that under any circumstances cheapness of food was fur Waterford had expressed great commiseration with the
mutable and Gallant illembef' said .
in itself a blessing to a peoe. He thought that while the wants and miseries of the people • and in that commmiseration
submitted to his Right Hon. Friend his intention of bringing House
was
constituted
him no exprss- danger as at present, agriculture had no real he ( Sir R. Bate son ' son fully concurred; but he was more
forward this motion ; and he experienced from to apprehend either in this country or in Ireland. They astonished than he was, to hear the lion. Member state that
d in addition,
sion of decided ir sent upon the subject. 14e ha , could afford to be generous, and if they were to be eo they had the removal of the duty on corn would increase the comfort
partial to
um hesitation in saying that, though he was par
im- the power to place the law on a proper footing. On these and happiness of the poor of Ireland. He was surprised to
the present Government, and though he placed the most grounds he should give his hearty concurrence to the motion hear such a statement from one who was so conversant with
phett..eunfidence in the integrity, the Inatifiness, and the talent of his Hon. Friend the 'Member for Wolverhampton. Irish interests. One of the great sources of discontent was
at the Ragan Hon Baronet at the head of that OceernMent, Mr. AGLION BY could not consent togive .
a silent vote on want of employment. He knew that Ireland •
be. was -bountt to . v contained few
abet he was ind "`" partial as he was to that Government, this subject. It
a. day h.
hateashereaant of all Governments.— ( Laughter.) i that House had occasionally spoken one way and voted another, inent of the labouring classes came from the agriculture of the
mu meat Ho
anente, use he pledged himself that as long and on this question he believed they would find that that country. Now, by deing away with the protection en cern, it

merely an animal but an intellectual people.—(Loud cheers from
the Opposition.) Let me tell this House that it is not a halff_
starved or a potato-fed population that led this country on to vic.
tories in the day of need.—(Loud cheers.) If you wish to keep
up the character of your people you must keep them well fed.
Upon the assumption that the Corn-laws are about to pass into a
law, I say that this House is imposing unjust burdens
upon the people. You have heard the Right Honourable
Baronet say, in answer to the fallacy which I have often heard
before in this House, that we do now compete with the foreign
markets.—(Hear, hear.) It Is true that we may do so, but we do
so by taxing the bones and the sinews of our people.—(Hear,
hear, and cheers.) You put double weight upon them, and then
you tell them to run the race with their German and foreign com-
petitors.—(Loud cheers.) I ask you, whose energies are those that
brought Britain to what she is ? Are they the energies of the
people, or are they yourss—(Hear, hear, and ironical cheers?) Is
it just, that the people should strive and struggle for the means of
existence, and that you should have half what they earn ?—(Hear,
hear.) You do not treat your horses so; the people of this coun-
try have been infinitely worse treated than your dogs or horses have.
What was the pretence with which the Rigl.t Hon- Baronet pro.
posed to tax the bread of the people The object which the Right.
Hon. Baronet professed to attain by imposing a tax upon foreign
corn, was to enable the people of England to compete with their
neighbours en the Continent, and render them independent of
them.—(Hear, hear.) I have really to doubt, while listening to
the Right Hon. Baronet, whether we have not travelled back to
the days of the Edwards.—(Hear.) What an avocation for a Le.
gislature to tax the price of corn for ifs people ! One would rather
imagine that that was a fitter duty for the dealers in the markets.
—(Cheers.) You don't do that with cottons, with iron, or with
tin ? Why do you do it with corn, the indispensable necessary
for the maintenance of our people.--(Hear, hear.) Go back for
fifty years, said the Right Hon. Baronet, and you will find the price
of corn about 565. a quarter, and I, continued the Right Hon. Ba.
corset, proposed by my scheme to keep the price of wheat
in this country between 545. and 58s. a quarter.—(Hear, hear.)
1 believe it was already suggested by an Honourable Member on
the opposite side of the House, that 535. a quarter should be the
minimum price of corn; but in this day's papers, I saw with dis-
gust the Duke of Buckingham said it ought to be 60s. a quarter
at least.—(Laughter.) But there is one Hon. Gentleman in this
House, and I hope we shall have the pleasure of hearing him, as
he will, I am sure, go more particularly into the general state of
the markets of this country. I have observed, in a useful little
book " The Parliamentary Companion," under the hand of an
Honourable Gentleman named Cayley, an invention of such
a course of policy as would keep up the price of
wheat at 645. a quarter, and that cheese, wool, butter,
and other articles should be kept up in the same proportion.—
(Laughter.) This'might be very amusing; it might be amusing
to find that there were Gentlemen to be found—Gentlemen still to
be found at large—(Laughter)—who would advocate the principle
that Parliament should interpose to fix the price at which the pro-
duce of the people's labour should be sold.— (Ironical cheers.) That
was very good indeed ; but when we find the Prime Minister of
England coming down to this House and proposing such a measure
as this, I think it becomes anything but amusing.—(Cheers, and
counter-cheers.) I ask the Right Hon. Baronet, is he prepared to
regulate the trade in cotton, linen, and other articles, as he is
about to regulate the trade in corn ?—(Hear hear, and cheers.)
I will pause for a reply.—(Renewed cheers.)
Sir ROBERT PEEL said he would say it was impossible to re-
gulate the price of corn by the price of cotton.
Mr. COBDEN—WeII, then, I ask the Right Hon. Baronet will
he try to legislate to keep up the price of cotton, wool, silk, &c.,
and I pause for a rep y ?
[A general silence pervaded the House, and after a short pause
Mr. Cobden proceeded]—
Then there is is no reply to that question.—(Loud cries of
" Hear, hear," from the Opposition.) It comes to this, that weare
not legislating in this House for the universal people.—(Cheers.)
Here is a simple open avowal that we are met here to legislate for
a different class, whose interests are against the people, and I do
not marvel at what I have seen, that we have been in this House
surrounded for the last week with. an immense police force.—(oh,
oh, and a laugh from the Ministerial benches.) I cannot let this
subject drop in a laugh. It is no laughing business to those who
have not got wheat to sell. —(Hear, hear.) I say the price of cot-
ton for the last ten years has been on an average 30 per cent.
more than it had been formerly. Is the landlord to get all
the advantages ? I have very great doubts indeed whether this is
legislating at all. It is no answer to me that theßight Hon. Baronet
should say that he could not pass a law to regulate the price of.
cotton. Surely that is no answer. I ask him to consider whether
the measure he has proposed is a just or equitable course of policy.
I have not touched npon the stirpe; of this question.—(Laughter.)
I ask the Right Hon. Baronet, whilst he is fixing the sliding scale
to secure wheat at 565. a quarter, whether he has no sliding
scale for wages.—(Hear, hear.) I know the inters scf the clergy
are pretty well cared for, but what will jou do with the operative
if the price of his food is to be kept up ? Is it not but just that
you should keep up the scale of his wages ?—(Cheers.)
But that is no season why a law should be passed by you to mulct
the poor labourer of Is. 3d. of his wages. If the poor hand-loom
weavers and the operatives were to appeal to you to pass a law to
secure their wages at a certain average, you would answer, " We
have not the power to do this : these things are settled by the law
of supply and demand." You would then scrutintse the petition,
and finding that perhaps many of them could not write, you would
say, " Ah! the poor people are ignorant, they know no better !"
But why should you make a law to keep up the price of the rich
man's wheat, and not make a law to keep up the price of the poor
man's labour ?—(Cheers.) This is the point of view now in which
the country is approaching the consideration of this question.
There is no use in resorting to sophistry; no good in disguising the
truth in a •dexterous combination and shuffling of figures.
Nothing will satisfy the people of this country till you show
them that this is a House assembled to legislate for
the benefit of all, not a band of confederates leagued
to serve the interests of one class.—(Cheers.) Now what is the
policy of this bread-taxing law ? First, that there are exclusive
burthens pressing on the land. I have heard but one explanation
of this point; that was from a witty gentleman near me, who said,
" Yes, the land is burthened with heavy mortgages."—(Hear,
hear.) But when the Right Hon. Baronet framed his Bill to
compensate the landowntrs, on account of the burthens it sustains,
he was bound by his duty to the country, to name what these bur.
thens ,are. When he was asked the question, the Right Hon.
Baronet's answer was, that there are a great variety of opinions
on the subject of the peculiar burthens on the land.—(Laughter.)
I eould have said this much myself—(Laughter.) Surely, before
he set about framing a law to compensate the landowners on ac-
count of these burthens, he ought to have concluded in his own
mind what these burthens really were.—(Cheers.) Now, I will not
enter on the burthens borne by other classes ; but I will tell the
Right Hon. Gentleman that for every burthen he can show me to
be borne on the land, I will show him ten burthens from which
land is exempted.—(Cheers) But the Hon. Member for Rem
frewshire has referred to the land-tax as one ground for compen-
sation. Really, Sir, I am surprised that we should not now have
the returns which were moved for some time ago re-
specting the proportions of land-tax paid by other countries of
Europe. Certainly there has been time enough.. What have our
Ambassadors and Consuls been doing, that for the want of these
thcts we cannot test the representations of our Finance
Minister ? Our bureaux in London must be badly kept,
indeed, if this information be not already to be found in
them. Although I am without official information, I am
not excluded from giving a general report of the amount of the land.
tax abroad. But at present I will confine myself to the land-tax of
France. M. Humane, the Finance Minister of France, lately
stated in the Chamber of Deputies that the land paid 40 per cent.
on the whole revenue, and 25 per cent. on the revenue of the pro-
prietors of the soil,—(Hear, hear.) In this country, the land-tax,
redeemed and unredeemed, is 1,900,0001., just about half the tax
the poor man pays on his tobacco, and this is paid upon a property
worth, according to Mr. M'Queen, 23,000,0001. And the posses.
sors of this immense wealth now waist to tax the poor man's loaf to
compensate them for the heavy burthens they sustain.—(Cheers.)
I say, therefore, that until the Minister lays before this Committee
his views on this subject, this House is not treated with proper re-
spect, and the country is not treated with proper respect.—( Hear,
hear, and cheers. However, I have seen with some satisfaction,
in the course of this debate, a great many important ad-
missions made. As we cannot get all the evidence
we want, this is some consolation. It is no longer de-
nied that the profit of the bread.tax goes to the landowners.
—(Cheers.) I never heard this admitted before until it was ac-
knowledged by the Right Hon. Baronet, but then he said the ex-
clusive burthens excused this. This ought to have been proved 25 or
26 years ago when the present law was passed ; however, we have
it now admitted, that this grinding tax is to be kept up for the
avowed benefit of the landed proprietors.—(Hear, :hear.) But the
Right Hon. Baronet says, one part of the benefit is to go to a class;
the other to the benefit of the State. Now, I have seen seen no
arguments to justify this other part. The Right Hon. Baronet
says, we must not depend on foreign countries for a supply of
eicid, that we should only rely upon them for supplemental sup-
plies ; and that as in certain years, we have enough for ourselves,
we should only legislate to take in corn when it is wanted. Now,
in this proposition I agree entirely with the Right Hon. Baronet.
Let in corn by all means when you want it, and keep it out when
you do not; but then I must stipulate for the starving people of
this country, that they, not you, shall be the judges when corn is
wanted. Can you measure and guage the wants and appetites of
26 millions of men ?—(Cheers.) Shall you who are the producers
of bread sit down and legislate for the people's wants and the
people's prices ?—(Cheers.) Was ever such enormous assumption
in this world ? Why, no despotism in history has proceeded to
such dreadful lengths as this.—(Cheers.) You undertake to dole
out supplies to the people when you think they are wanted. Can
you judge of the condition and wants of the miserable hand-loom
weavers, of the poor operatives of the suffering millions—you, who
Hever knew the want of a meal ?—(Hear, hear, and loud cheers.)
This, however, is the Right Hon. Baronet's plan. A few nights
ago, he said that, for a period of four or five years at least, we had
had enough of corn for our necessities; that from the year 1832 to
1836, we had as much as we warted. Yet, he contradicted this as-
sumption last night. He said that in 1836, when bread was so
abundant, 800,000 hand-loom weavers were actually unable to sup.
ply themselves with the necessaries of life, though working sixteen
hours a day.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) Was not this the same
period when Mr. Inglis travelled through Ireland, and
communicated to us the startling and awful announcement
that one-third of the people of Ireland perished prematurely
from want of the necessaries of life ? (Oh, oh, and Hear hear.)
Yes, that was the time in which, with perfect self.complacency
you now come forward and say the people of this country had suf-
ficient food.—(Hear, hear.) I have heard other admissions, but
another most startling one, which has been repeated half a dozen
times, and not yet contradicted. It is an admission by the Pay-
master of the Forces. Still I wish to know whether I understood
the Right Hon. Gentleman correctly? He said the landlords
were entitled to the Corn-laws, because they enabled them to
maintain their position in society.—(No, no, and Hear, hear.)
[Sir Edward Knatchbull made an observation across the table,
which was not heard.] But Ido not confine this to the Right
Hon. Baronet. A Noble Lord near him said the same thing, in
stating that the prices did certainly keep up rents, but that they
kept up wages also, which means that rents are kept up out of
wages, by an Act passed by a body in which are not represented
the working classes, from whom this money is• extracted.—(Hear,
hear.) But I tell the Paymaster of the Forces and the Noble
Lord, that in doing this they are giving themselves that out-of.
door relief, which they deny for the poor in the workhouse.—
(Cheers.) Some years ago the Times stigmatized the Corn-
laws as an extension of the Pension List to the aristocracy;
but it would be more just to call the system pauperism, and the
worst kind of pauperism, since you submit to be kept by the poorest
of the poor.—(Cheers.) If it must be so—if we must bow our
necks to an oligarchy, let them live on us after the fashion of the
nobles of ancient Venice, who had their names entered in a golden
book, and then they drew their money at once from the exchequer!
This would be better for the country than to circumvent us, and
get money from us in art indirect way—it will be more easy
for us to bear and more honest for you to do it.—(Cheers.)
But let the Right Hon. Baronet consider that the people are now
beginning to understand the system which, for your benefit, taxes
the bread of the poor. Will they allow this ?—(Checrs.) The
Right Hon. Baronet, who knows the state of the country much
better than his colleagues, must know the feeling that is now
spreading through the community, and on him rests the whole re-
sponsibility of the present legislation. He has known the state of
our commerce and manufactures, and he has had the power
these five months to relieve us if he chose. Yet he knows his
laws will not extend our commerce or manufactures. Why does
not the Right Hon. Baronet appeal to some honest English mer-
chant, instead of telling us that he must force on this question, be-
cause the c mn-dealers are anxious that it should be settled ? Why
not pass a law that shall supersede the opportunities of gambling in
corn, and permit him that takes out a cargo of cotton goods to
bring back corn at once ? To the Right Hon. Baronet, then, the
starving people and the capitalists, struggling against bank.
ruptcy, will look. The apologetic, deprecatory tone of his late
speech will not do. This would be something if iris position had
been forced upon him by the people, or he had been summoned by the
Queen. But he sought the position he now fills. Though I am no friend
to the Noble Lord who lately led, and still is the leader of the
House, still I say his measures, though not good, would be much
better for the country than the measure of the Right Hon. Baronet.
They were told by the Right Hon. Member for Tamworth, that for
years and years he was reconstructing his party—from the time of the

must inevitably throw these people out of employment.
—( Hear, hear.) The lower orders of Ireland were not in
the habit of eating wheaten bread. He wished they
were, and he hoped to live to see the day when they weuld live
much better. But it was not the price of wheat that would
affect them, it was the prim of potatoes. If they gave the
labouring man sufficient to enable his family to subsist on oat-
meal and potatoes, he was happy and comfortable, and did notlook
for wheaten bread, it would be of no use to him whatever, be-
cause he would not have the means of buying Cheers
from the Opposition.) He should give his hearty and honest
vote against the motion of the Hon. Gentleman. He wished
for protection, but not to increase the price of food to the suf-
fering classes. He believed the measure would be ruin to
Ireland. He thought the protection of the Right Hon. Ba-
ronet was not sufficient; he could have wished it at 2s. per
quarter higher upon oats ; cut at the same time he would try
to be satisfied.—( Laughter. )
Mr. PROTHEROE said That he thought the Corn-laws were
the cause of the existing distress, and for that reason he should
vote for the entire repeal, It 'night cause a little distress in the
agricultural districts, but that distress would not be permanent.
He thought that the aristocracy was an oreament to the country.
Ile had hoped that on the occasion of them combining with the
people on the Reform Bill that they were not again to be severed
Ile should vote for the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton, be-
lieving that he saw in it steadiness of trade.
Sir HO WARD DOUGLAS said that he was determined the
electors of Liverpool should labour under no mistake as to his
views upon the vast questions which were so intimately connected
with that great constituency. That they should be under no mis-
take, he told them plainly and explicitly his vices upon those
questions upon which rested the independence, the power, and
the very existence of this great empire.—(Cheers.) He had given
out this principle in all his canvasses with individuals and in
public bodies. He took occasion to review briefly, but he
trusted correctly the commercial systems of all countries for the
purpose of showing that not one country on earth altogether ap-
proved of the principle of free trade, and that it would be one
of the greatest evils for us to try to do than. whirls all other
countries, more or less, repudiated.—(Loud cheers from the Mi-
nisterial benches.) With this declaration explicitly made, he be-
lies ed, to every elector of Liverpool, he had the honour and good
fortune of being returned without opposition as the represen-
tative of Liverpool.—(Loud cheers) He had a right, therefore,
to asrume that the principles he professed, and the views he de.
dared, were received and adopted by a great majority of the people
of that most influential town. —(Cheers.) His constituents had
sent him there, not as the representative of a party or a faction,
but the representative of the whole of that constituent body, and
he gave a negative with hearty good will, to the motion before
the house. The Honourable Member for Wolverhampton,
tine mover of this question, among many other things
which he would not take up the time of the House
by observing upon, the Hon. Gentleman stated that England
lay between two continents, the old and the new world, and that
the present system refused to give to one the advantages of both.
Now, continents were wide terms, and he should not frighten the
House by going into a review of the systems adopted in the coun-
tries of Europe. He passed by Russia, he passed by Prussia and the
German League, Denmark and all the other countries with few ob-
servations. Three countries consumed of our manufactures from 3d.
per head to sd. or 6d., and was never higher than 10d. a-head. He
should pass over the Danish trade to which the Hon. Gentleman
the Member for Wolverhampton had adverted, and merely en
passant, he would observe that in 1823 our shipments were
as five to three, and in 1839, it was 5,000 and 6,000 tons British.
Ile would not take up the time of the House by speaking of the
fully of manufacturers without commercial treaties, and he should
only observe with regard to France, that it had been said " we shut
the door against French productions, and therefore it was that they
would not receive our productions ;" instead of this:being the case,
we had twice lowered the duty on wine and had opened to them our
productions in coal, iron arca and what had been the return ? He
believed that the quotient of the value of British manu-
factures used in France, divided by the population in
France, would give give something like elevenpence
per head per annum.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.) He would
Pass now to the United States. The Noble Lord said the
Member for London stated that our manufactures were shut out
from the United States, because we closed the door against their
productions. In the year 1840 there were received into the port of
Liverpool no less than 1,160,000 bales of cotton brought over in
upwards of 700 vessels, three-fourths of which were American.
The whole amount of bales of cotton exported from the United
States were not above 1,500,000, and of that quantity 1,160,000
were received into Liverpool. Could this be said to be shutting out
the produce of the United States ? Free trade was, that a
country producing the raw material, and not being able
to work it up, should buy the manufactured article for it. But
no such thing was the case between the United States and us.
We took the raw article from them, and so far from their taking
our manufactures in return, they are shutting them out as fast as
they could.—(Hear, hear.) He had heard reference made to
the speeches of an American President, who made some very ju-
dicious observations relative to the folly of a country becoming li-
able on foreign countries for support. He would now, with the
permission of the House, read extracts from speeches made by
different Presidents in America, from
.the time of Washington
down to the present period. (The Hon. Gentleman then pro-
ceeded to read extracts from the Messages of Washington, Jeffre.
son, Mattheson, Munro, and Jackson, in favour of the system of
protection ) He hoped the country did not imagine the Americans
would lower their tariff ; instead of that their protective system,
vvould be still more strenuous. He (Sir H. Douglas) would say to the
House, as he had said to his constituents, that he would write on
his banner, not " free trade," but "fair play." He believed that
free trade was unfair play.—(Hear.) He bade them no longer to
pursue the phantom free trade ; it existed not on earth ; but let
Us, article by article, take into consideration our commercial
tariff, and if amendments could be made, let them be made coolly
and calmly. He would admit, that if we were to receive produce
from the new countries, more especially the British North American
provinces, it would lead to a considerable extension of the use of
British manufactures in those States. The Hon. Gentleman
then commented briefly on the speeches of the Noble Lord
the Member for Tiverton, and the Hon. Member for Glasgow,
in reply to whose remarks he said, that the course of policy adopted
by the British Legislature had extended these little islands, though
situated alone in the centre of wide seas, surrounded by the raging
waves, into such an empire as the world never saw. Might we Ise
able to maintain that great empire in that ascendancy to which
she had arrived by those principles ! Might they be maintained in
spite of those who said that they had adopted anlinproper ling of
policy.—(Cheers.) He would not further trespass upon the House
but merely to assure Hon. Members that he would not often tres-
pass upon them. He would, at all events, never speak but when
he had something to say—(Laughter, cheers, and counter cheers)—
and he should always finish when he had done.—(Laughter.)
Several Members then simultaneously rose to address the House,
but Mr. Cobden caught the Speaker's eye.
Mr. COBDEN said, if tine Hon. Gentleman who had just sat
down had kept one other promise, as well as the one he had given,
The House
had
nuo upon n the
been
namely, when he spoke be would only speak to the subject, the
subject
House woofu
Corn-laws.—(Laughter.)
do trito,
aowusb. t_h(eLa
ar
u g i,somethingter.
) he H
moresatisfactory
occupied for seven evenings on the subject of the Corn.laws, and he
(Mr. Cobden) must say that the Hon. Member for Wolverhampton
certainly had much cause of complaint, that in those seven
evenings scarcely two hours had beer, occupied in considering the
subject. Honourable Gentlemen had adverted to the condi-
tions of Syria, and the affairs of China; but there was very
little said upon the subject of taxing the poor man's bread, and
he thought he could very safely say that there n
one Honourable Member on the opposite of t washe Houseot
,
who had grappled at all with the questien.—(Cheers from the Op-
position. That question tt as, Low far it was just, how far it was
honest,or expedient, that any tax should be imposed upon tine bread
of the working classes of this country.—(Hear, hear.) And (con-
tinued the Hon. Member) when I heard the Right Hon. Baronet
last night, I certainly must confess I did not expect that the Right
Hon. Baronet would have finished his last speech upon the subject
of the Corn-laws, that subject which is of such vital importance to
the interests of this country, without giving some little considera-
tion to the subject—(Cheers)—without giving some considera-
t:,oars bread.nhtoh would venture to call the attention of the tax he was about to impose upon the poor
t
House to the tax on the wages of our labouring classes,
and I would express a hope that the Right Hon. Baronet would
meet us upon native ground. I have heard from the other side
of the House a strong expression of sympathy for tine manufac
taring classes. I ask this House to give sonic sympathy also to
the working classes of the country, Particularly as they are now
admitted to be in the most abject state of !novelty and misery.
—(Hear, hear.) on reading tine debates which took place in
1815, when a most stringent measure upon the subject of the
Corn-laws had been passed, I saw that all parties who had taken
a part in that discussions, agreed upon one principle, namely, that
the price of food regulated the price of wages—that principle
was agreed upon by all parties. We had then persons of the most
opposite opinions agreeing upon that subject. We found Mr
II eatr agreeing with Mr. Baring, Mr. Franklin Lewis agreeing
with Lord Western ; in fact, all parties agreed that the price of
food regulated the price of wages—they did so agree that they laid
down, and actually proved it by mathematical princii lee. There
was, then, a petition from Manchester, praying that the Corn-laws
should not be passed, because, as it was alleged, it would have the
effect of raising the rate of wages, and that it would prevent the
people of Manchester from competing with foreign mans facturers.
I am struck with astonishment how there could be such de.
lusion upon this occasion. The party who passed the
bread tax in 1815 did it under a delusion , and I am thoroughly
convinced if the facts now known had been known at that time, the
law of 1815 would never have been passed—every party was then
deluded, but it is not so now—the working classes of the country
arc not deluded because they see clearly, without the aids of politi
cal economy, what the operation of the Corm.laws is upon the rates
of wages, and, therefore, when this law Was passed in 1815, it was
passed at a time when the Parliament was compelled to keep an en-
! raged muititude from its doors at the point of the bayonet. At a
thee when murder was committed, because theCoroner'sJury on one
of those occasions of popular excitement gave a verdict of murder
against the soldiers and others, who had been engaged in quelling
those riots ; and from the year 1815 down to the year 1819, when
the great meeting took place in Manchester, there never was a
public meeting held during the entire of that time, at which there
were not banners inscribed with " No Corn_laws."—(Hear, hear.)
There was no mistake in the minds of the multitude then, and let
not Hon. Gentlemen suppose that there is any mistake in the
lookedminds
beyondof tl e t workingthis q u classes of England now. They may have
Lion ; and now when they raised the cry of
Universal Suffrage, and state that they arefb,art thethe CAhahrtti.ecr,erlentinaowt
Hon. Members suppose, when they
es
find
that
hartists of thealay, that
League are running in collision with the
therefore the Chartists are interfering in thehtest deeree with the
slightest
have heard from Hon.
abolition of the Corn-laws. From all that I
Gentlemen on the other side of the House,
cried all sorts of lectures upon this subject, I have found an who have alwayslello de-
rance—(Oh, oh)—I repeat it, I have found: an ignorance upon
this subject, which 1 have never seem equalled in any body of
working men in the North of England.—( Loud cries of " Oh, oh,"
and " Order, order.") Do you think that the fallacy which was
so rife in 1815, that wages rise and fall with the price of bread,
,
should have been put forward within these last three years and
decline than they have in
yet that wages have suffered a greater y
et
the very arguments
any three years of a former period, andof those Hon. Gen'lemen have not
only
admitted, but actually
attempt to maintain the
Proved the decline of wages—still they
doctrine that the rate of wages is
dependent upon the price of
ignorance,—(Loud cries of
food.—(Hear, hear.) 1 call that
" Order, order," and cheers from the
Opposition benches.) Yes,
I
call it ignorance, for I cannot call it design,s
under the belief that
the the law will have the (fleet of keeping UP
I am told that the price of bread here is .
Co •e
of bread might be also much higher than the
e rate of wages. Then
wages on the continent, and that the pr.
higher. I deny that the wages of this country are higher than on the
Continent; on the contrary, I :11Y1 prepared
to prove from documents
emanating from your own (the Ministerial) side of the House, that
wages here are cheaper than they are upon the Continent.—(Year.)
s of this coumtr
Hon. Members when they compare the wages
of labour performed, with
ormed,
the wages of the Continent, cinch the amount
English artisan')
altogether forget, I maintain, that the
of
England
performs
more duty, and that, in point of fact, the labour. m. is the
sitting on Machinery for
cheapest in the world. The r'onitnittee
the last year but one, has vouched for tine fact that labour on the
Continent is dearer in every branch than it is in England.—(Bear,)
There you have evidence that the labour of one English-
men on the Continent is worth three of the artisans
of France, Belgium, or Germany, or any other part
of the Continent. Go, for instance to any large city of the Con-
,
tinent—to 'Venice, or any other place, will you not find a great
number of English artisans earning twice the amount of wages
earned by their fellow-labourers, and there you are told that their
labour is the cheapest.—(hear, hear.) we don't want low wages
in order to secure our prosperity. If you come to consider it you
will always be sure to find that when wages are drooping, the
prosperity—the general prosperity of the country will be drooping
too.— (Hear, hear,)
I hope the manufacturers of this country will
take a more enlightened view of their own interests, and
of the general interests of the country, than to suppose
that their prosperity could be advanced without also
considering the interests of the working classes. Let me
tell this House that if you deteriorate the condition of the pope.
lation of this country you will run the risk of destroying not

passing the Reform Bill, he believed, he was reconstructing it ;
and he supposed he knew what materials it was composed of. He
must have known that they were composed of monopolists--of
nopolists in everything—in religion, in the franchise, in sugar, in
corn, in timber, and in coffee. These formed the party which
the Right Hon. Baronet gathered round him, and out o f which
he "reconstructed" his new party. Well, they set to work , and
revived the old system of corruption ! they bribed and they
bought.—(Loud cheers from the Opposition, and counter
cheers from the Tories.) They bribed and they bought
until they found themselves in office, with the Right Hon. Baronet
as their leader and their champion.—(Cheers.) And did he expect
that this party had expended their funds and their labour in the
registration courts; for there it was, he believed, that the battle
was fought.—(Cheers.) Did he think that they had expended their
money merely to come into office and assist the Right Hon. Baronet
to take away their monopolies? He must have known the party
he had to deal with; for he had had a very old connection with
them, and he presumed that he did not meats to
.disappoint
them. They came into office, baying thrust out men who,
with all their faults, were better than those who succeeded them,
they thrust out these men, and now they were not able to carry
measures so good as their predecessors could have done. He con.
tended that the Hon. Baronet had no ground, from what he had
propored, to assume that he could abate a jot of that universal
condemnation which he received from every enlightened politician
in the country.—(Cheers.) They had got a sliding scale of from
20s. to Is., instead of something better; and of this he would leave
the full responsibility on the shoulders of the Right Hon. Baronet,
where it would be reposed by the people of England.—(Cheers.)
He would now say a word or two to the Hon. Gentlemen on his
own side of the House, some of whom appeared to have great dif 1.
rutty in the question, and were said to be boggling and starting in
all directions.—(Laughter and cheers.) He would say a word
or two to his Honourable and Right Honourable and Noble
neighbours, as to the difficulty they felt in their course with re-
' spect to total and immediate repeal. Why, on this side of the
House, in all directions, they acknowledged the principle for which
they contended—that of a perfect freedom in the trade in corn.
But yet, continued the Hon. Member, some of these Hon. and
Right Hon. Gentlemen and Noble Lords think there ought to be a
duty for the purpose of a revenue. Why how can there be a duty
for revenue unless it is a duty for protection ? I ask those Hon.
and Right Hon Gentlemen and Noble Lords who entertain such a
notion, to reconsider it before theygo to a division on this question.
' But with regard to the little word " now," concerning which there is
so much difficulty. There are Hon. Gentlemen here, who think
that the Corn-laws ought to be totally repealed, but they cannot
reconcile themselves to the immediate repeal. They admit the in-
justice of the Corn-laws, they admit that it is an injustice to from
twenty-five to twenty-seven millions of the people, yet inasmuch
as there are twenty or thirty thousand people who have a bene.
ficial interest in this wrong, they cannot bring their minds to
deprive them of it. With all due deference to these Hon. and
Right Honourable Gentlemen, I think this is showing a very
great sympathy for the comparatively few who gain by these
laws, and very little for the great number who are suffering
from them. I will put it to these Honourable Grntlemen
whether if they had had the power the day after the passing of
these laws in 1815, they would have abolished these laws, and have
given a compensation of eight or nine years' vanishing duty P No;
you tell me you would instantly have repealed them. Wall, then,
I ask you if twenty-seven years' possession of a wrong that benefits
the few—of twenty.seven years of injustice, entitles them to
an increase of it in the shape of a compensating duty ?,(Cheers;)
I have heard this difficulty made before, and I give the gentlemen
who make it credit for being perfectly sincere in their scru-
ples ; I have heard the scruple very often ; I heard it once ex-
pressed in a public meeting, where the great difficulty
of the Whiggish Gentlemen on the platform was
the total repeal; they were arguing the danger and the hardship
of repealing the law instantly, and it was ably answered by an
honest plain man in a fustian jacket from the body of the meeting,
who said " Awa,' mon ! they put it on all of a rook."—
(Laughter.) Some of you may not understand that he meant it
was put on all of a sudden; and so it was; it was passed all of a
sudden in 1815, against the remonstrances of the people ; and let
it now be abolished—the sooner the better. At this late hour of
the night, I will not trespass longer on the House. I consider the
question is now brought into very narrow limits. To those who
defend it because they believe they can show that there are exclusive
burthens on agriculture, I say, do not put on a Bread-tax to com-
pensate you for them ; but remove the burthens. On the other
hand, let me ask you if you are prepared to carry out even.
handed justice to the people? If not, I tell you your law will not
stand ; and more than that, I tell you that this House itself, if it is
based on injustice, will not stand either.—(Loud cheers, during
which the Hon. Member resumed his seat.)
Mr. FE It RAND rose to address the House. He said it would be
wrong on his part to take too great an advantage of the great indul-
gence he had already received at the hands of the House, but he
hoped that Hors. Members would bear with him for a short time
when they recollected that during the last ten days he had been the
target at which the Hon. Gentlemen opposite had aimed their poi-
sonous shafts.--(" Oh, oh," and cheers.) He was even constrained
to make an explanation of something taken up by his own side of
the House, but shielded by the mantle of truth, he had come out of
the conflict uninjured.—(" Oh, oh," and ironical cheers.) It was
true that the Hon. Baronet the Member for the Tower Hamlets
came down the night after he addressed the House, and said that if
he (Sir W. Clay) possessed the ability to teply to him, he should do
so to the injury of the party behind him, and he therefore left him
in the hands of the Right Hon Baronet, wishing him joy if him.
—(Loud cheers from the Opposition, which were renewed
from the Tory Benches.) He would tell them distinctly that
that Right Honourable Baronet should never have his support
unless he thought it his duty to give It him; and he asked no re.
ward but an approving conscience. But great indeed must have
been the services of the Hon. Baronet when the late disinterested,
and patriotic, and self-denying, no-patronage Government—(lm-
mense cheering)—did not hesitate to give him the badge of honour,
which ass Hon. Baronet, sitting on the Treasury benches, had re-
ceived for losing a limb, and shedding his blood in the service of
his country, an honour which he had fought his way to from the
retreat of Corunna to the great and crowning victory of Waterloo.
Another Hon. Member, with that blushing modesty for which he
was so remarxable, declared that his speech was one of scandalous le •
vity. Fortunately for him, the Hon. and Gallant Member for Wycombe
contradicted him, and told the House it was one of bombastic de-
' clamation.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) He would leave the Hon.
Members to settle the matter in dispute, and offer up a fervent
prayer that it might be amicably arranged. He now came to the
Hon. Member for Salford, and he asked the indulgence of the
House while he defended himself from as despicable a quibble as
ever any man was subjected to. That Hon. Member declared that
" if he were to judge of his (Mr. F.'s speech) and of the correct_! th!ss of it from what he knew to be untrue, he should certainly not
value it very highly ; he knew some parts of it to be totally desti-
tute of foundation ; he had said that the Hon. Member for Stock-
port had worked his mills night and day, and had made a large fortune
by this abominable cruelty. He begged to tell the Hon. Member that
be never had a mill in his life." Now when he (Mr. Ferrand) as-
serted this, he instantly gave his authority up to the House.—
(Loud cries of " No.") He placed his authority in the hands of
the House, by saying that if the name was demanded, he would
give it.--(oh.) Scarcely five minutes had elapsed when the Hon.
Member left the House, and he (Mr. Ferrand) followed him, and
said, now they were in private, he would give him his authority,
and the date of time letter he had read. He did so, and
read in private what he had before read to the
House ; and the Honourable Member replied with a laugh,
" Ah, but they call them print-works in Lancashire."—(Tremen-
dous cheering from the Tories.) But he hoped, injustice to his
authority, the House would allow him to read a few lines which
the same individual had written to him since; he said—" I have
noticed, by the papers of this evening, that the Rev. Mr, Brother-
ton—(Laughter)—has made a statement, denying that the Hon.
Member for Stockport had ever worked his mills night and day,
but I know that he will not deny working his print works at Chor-
ley night and day."—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) He now
came to the Hon. Member for Westminster, who declared
that he had made an incendiary speech in that House.
What the Hon. Member for Westminster!—(Continued cheers)
—the champion of the liberty of the people I--the Hon. Member
who asserted that there was nothing but class legislation in that
House, and that the working classes were not represented.—
(Cheers.) Did he say that he (Mr. F.) should not come into the
House and deliver a message from that class in the presence of the
assembled Commons of England, declaring that the Corn-laws are
not time cause of their distress, but the persecution of their mas.
ters ? That Hon. Member said that if what he asserted were true,
he (Mr. F.) ought to call for a Committee of the House. The
House had been in Committee for many days, and he had
brought his charge before it; but did any Honourable
Member, but the Gentlemen of the Ant.Corn.law League,
demmy one assertion he had made ? It was true, that the
Hon. Member for Salford did, but he was the only one. He
should ask the House what the people of England would say to
this silence out of doors. They might treat him with contempt,
but had not his speech caused a sensation throughout
the length and breadth of the land?—(lronical cheers.)
He would tell the Member for Wycombe that it was true. It had
destroyed the Anti. Corn-law League— (Great laughter)—and had
forced them to coalesce with the Chartists, us the only chance of
its existence. They were obliged to coalesce with a party that
hated them in their hearts, with a party which if they
did urge to open rebellion, as they were trying to
do—(Oh, oh)—he would warn them that their bayonets and
pikes might be buried in the breasts of their oppressors ! They
were playing a dangerous game—a game which was against the
opinion of the people of England, and he could tell them that there
was still strength enough in the country to make them quail: He
would now call the attention of the Member tor Westminster to a
letter which he had received from a poor working man, and, per-
haps, Hon. Gentlemen opposite would not refuse to hear it. It w. s
dated the 20th inst., from a place near Leeds. It said—" I have
read the
lo you delivered on Monday evening, and it has caused
more
than any that has been made."—(Laughter, and
sensation
speechatn
Oh.") They might laugh, but now let them listen to what followed.
The letter went on as follows :—" We have all witnessed similar
transactions to those you have related, and many working men
have experienced treatment worse than you have described. No-
body has ventured here to deny-your assertions. The room of the
Leeds Operative Conservative Society"—(Derisive cheers on the
Opposition Benches)— What, was there then any offence in being a
Conservative, and could not every man entertain his own political
opinions ?—(Lond cries of " Hear, hear," on the Ministerial
Benches ) The Right Hon. Gentleman continued to read the
letters as follows :—"The room of the Leeds Operative Coisser-
vative S.mciety was besieged by strangers anxious to have a peep at
the Times of Thursday, all of whom confirmed your statements.
Time Leaguers are raging at your exposure—(Laughter)—but I
should not have troubled you had not Bernal doubted your
statements respecting the Anti-Corn law petitions. In Leeds
the Leaguers have been defeated on several occasions at public
meetings. The very number of signatures to the petitions proves
them to be forgeries._ In the township of Leeds, which contains
about 87,000 inhabitants, it is said that 40,000 signatures have
been obtained, and in the borough, including the women's petition
signed by 23,000 females, that the last number of signatures
amounted to 66,000, being nearly one half of the entire population,
of all ages. Besides these facts, I have a rather extensive circle
of acquaintance, and I have met with a great number of parties
who are positively opposed to the Whig scheme. The
petitions have been hawked about from door to door, and
placed for signature in all parts of the town. Men had
been engaged to go from house to house with cheap
bread petitions."—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") Now, he asked the
particular attention of the House to what followed, for it disclosed
the whole secret of the getting up of those petitions—" One young
man, by name Robert Whitty, who came to work in the same room
with myself the day on which the petition was closed, told me
that from Monday to Tuesday 850 names had been found by him,
for which he obtained Bs. 6d.—(Hear.) I know the signatures to
these petitions have been bought throughout the whole country. In
one row of 35 houses this man stated that he had obtained 300 names."
The writer of that letter gave his name "Thomas Hargraves."
He would next read about half-a.dozen lines from another letter.
They were as follows :—" In all parts of the manufacturing dis-
tricts in which I have been, I have heard the working classes de-
clare, that if the truth were told in the House, and that if you
wanted :my one to corroborate what yau have said, you might
have found hundreds of thousands." He would now put the House
in possession of the manner in which the Anti. Corn-law League
manufactured their petitions. It was detailed as follows :
The other day I called upon one manufacturer to
sign a petition for the Ten Hours' Bill. He was in
a room in which the power-looms were in operation.
He instantly said Yes, and went across the yard to his counting.
house. lie took out a petition and said, now you see I have done
it pretty well ; I have varied my hand, and I have taken them all
out of the wages'-book."— (Loud cries of " Hear, hear," on the
Ministerial benches, and cries of " Name,'' from the Opposition.)
He would give the name privately to any Hon. Member of the
House.—(Renewed cries of "Name.") Yes, he would give the
name to the Hon. Member for Yorkshire if he wished he should do
so.—(Hear, hear.) He had detailed the other night the misery,
the oppression, the plunder, and the robbery which was com-
mitted on the poor by the Anti-Corn-law League manufacturers.
He had brought before the House the truck system, but before
he read to them statements upon that subject, which would make
them stand aghast—(Laughter, and cries of" Hear, hear)—he
was certain they ought to produce that effect, he was certain that
there was not one Hon. Member who ought not to be struck with

horror at the system of plunder which he was going to expose...
(Hear, hear)—but he wished first of all to re-assert in
presence of that House, that he did not charge the wtll
manufacturers of England with those nefarious VI:
tices —(Hear, hear, hear.) He positively declared that he "qty.
referred to the Anti-Corn-law League manufacturers.—(ll
hear.) He had been told by manufacturers in his own neighboui
•
hood, as honourable men as ever lived, and of whose acquaints
he was proud—he had been told by them, time after time, that VICy
could not compete with the Anti-Corn-law League manuacturer,
.S.
for they wished to pay their wages in money, while the otherlya!!
them in goods. The Hon. Member for Manchester had said 1:1
night that now and then there might be found an isolated rnaP,
facturer who treated his workmen cruelly.
Mr. M. PHILIPS said that he had stated no such thin
He begged leave to say that he had made use of no such ell!'
sion.—(Order, order.)
Mr, FERRAND begged the Hon. Gentleman's pardons -1111,4
was ready to withdraw his statements—(Hear, hear.)
at obi'
Mr. PHILIPS proceeded to say (amidst a scene of gee
fusion, and loud cries of" Order, order ") that what he had skated
was, that among manufacturers as among any other class in 50e1'.7).;
he did not suppose that individuals did not exist who were I:.re
sordid in their views and principles. He believed that they wjeb
east in the same mould with all the classes in ssciety, and °a/-
individuals might exist among them.—(Hear, bear.) fe'r
Mr. FERRAND was much obliged to the Hon. Gentlernao
his explanation—it fortified what he was going to say—(lea hilef
hear, and laughter.) He would give the Hon. Gentleman_ a
b"4
sketch of what had occurred in an isolated village in the ccn).
:ss..
of Lancaster. He would read from a letter in his possest,ll;
Mr. ---and Son,"—(Cries of " Name,") He would t 7
-41 e
Hon. Member who cried " Name," that he was prepated V.
everything which he asserted in that House, and that
the Honourable Member would move for a Coninattlhose
the House he would summon before that Comrnitteyu4i,
which would prove the accuracy of his statements. But he 'hod
the House would agree with him in thinking that it Wass," 40
to give to the world the names of his correspondents. lag
fortified in that opinion by what had passed the other hightl.4
House; but if the House should think it necessary to hear at
statements confirmed before a Committee, he for onal .
cite
shrink from his duty. The Hon. Member again ATeinPt
proceed with the reading of the letter amidst loud cries of
" Mr. —and son had three mills"—(Renewed cries of"
and prolonged interruption.) " Oh," continued the Hon. ger,'
" the flesh will quiver where the pincers tear."—( Loud cheer°
~S; •
the Ministerial benches.) He would ask Hon. Gentlemen trte.
site if what he was asserting was true, and if they really wisb,,eli
benefit the working •classes, why they would not allow the sYsiasi
to be exposed ? The working classes said that the Corn-laws
not caused their misery and distress— or
it was the manufacturers „di
had taxed their food, it was they who had taxed their provisionsstie
their clothing. The Hon. Member again proceeded to reader
letter, as follows :—" Mr. and Son had three mills, and to
spy
were a shop attached to it, at which the working
tbg
were supplied with coals and other articles by
same firm. The working people were obliged to PrTtly
both food and clothing, at a shop in the neighbourhood, kept
the brother of the proprietor, for his own benefit. There w
another shop kept by his son, all of which was managed Id '
firm. There were other mills which had cottages attach
db,
them occupied by the workmen." He would next proceed lA° the
close to them the manner in which those parties had evaded
law which had been passed to put down the truck system' thig
letter stated that "on Saturday nights the workmen went f0[...„,e
wages, which were paid in money, but instead of retiring thr";kt
the door by which they had entered, they had to pass tb...l* tee
another room ; and there sat in the room a person which kMtbey
books of those shops. They had to pay the man every farthing, ad
has: expended during the previous week, in buying g°°d',host
clothing from the shops. If it could be proved that one or;
men had purchased a single farthing's worth of goods that 01
not belong to the manufacturer, he was, without one
explanation, discharged from his employment."—(Hear, upset
Now, he called that a tax upon food—he called that aOl too.
provisions.—(Hear, hear.) But that was their free-trade sr.boie
Hear, hear,) Yes; and it was a notorious fact, that :beg
manufacturers cleared 25 per cent. by the goods they sold to ;of
poor men, and that they cleared 10 per cent. by the cottagd_ist
let, for it was an understood thing, that when a man wenta:dtO
for work from one of those manufacturers, he had a key Pls. WO
his hand, and that key was to give him to understand that "'apt.
to live in a cottage which yielded the manufacturer 10 Per of
upon the expense of building it. This was their glorious sysTr-ess
free trade, and those were the Anti-Cern-law League manufaet.of,
who had told the House of Commons that they, the landed int;eue
should fall.—(Hear, hear.) He would now come to the Holt eel
tier for Edinburgh.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) He boa&
pardon, he meant the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for os
burgh. That Right Hon. Gentleman had said the Anti-Corlw,
League had not used such violent language out of doors as he bd
Ferrand) had used in that House. Now, he hoped he Inig bsge;
allowed to allude for a moment, to a speech which containe.4o
sions to the Right Hon. Baronet who sat there as the Prime her;.
ter of England, and he appealed to Hon. Members opposite'
ever much they might differ from that Right Hon. Gentle
:0"
politics, he would ask them ifthey did not bear their record generf.
and manfully that he at least did riot deserve such slanders
(Mr. Ferrand) was then about to read to the House.--(7000.
hear, and laughter.) This was the speech of Mr. George 111 the.
son—" Accursed law! doubling the primeval curse, twill's*.
warm sweat of industry, into the chill damp of starvation.
id
mendous cheering.) He denounced that law—it was an "lot'
law that this wicked man" (meaning Sir R. Peel) "had Pao".
The law-makers, the landed aristocracy, had virtually monoloss
the bounties of God, and we starve in consequenco."--( tso7
hear.) Colonel Thompson said that "he should himself st."
scientiously advocate taking a iarge retribution on the landloriroo,
how many might follow him, depended upon them and not to;
seer
himself" Now he (Mr. Ferrand) was of opinion that is ost"
waited till the Hon. and Gallant Colonel sock that retribution.
ter):
would have to wait for a long time.—(Hear, hear, and langligle,:
He would next read to the House a speech that had been d,:
by the Hon. Member who had last addressed them (Mr. Coito,
and he wished the Hon. Member for Edinburgh was P tat
in order that he might hear the language; because it Was...isifs
time, in his opinion, to imitate the expressions of Earl (Tireet`;
the House of Lords when 100,000 men were ready to Marc '14.010,
Birmingham—for which he might add they had reed/1;d
thanks of the Noble Lord the Member for London. freta. fffs,
it was time to tell the landed proprietors to set their.. _.. _.erid.
tier
laughter.)re dr e order,
orfo Stockport,t hHee
w peoplesa
bwowhoaots
t ocsopqrnou
kionetge tnehn: speechthfcomno—wso(f:lteha;:
Tbrai:.4:hea°l
been told that the aristocracy was about to overturn fff
rights. Were they prepared to undergo sacrifices titae,
this question.--(Hear, hear, and cries of ' Yes.') TberoieeS;
•
were not far off when they might be called upon to make 141—hi As
and undergo privations, and to act as Christian men, while '.innitit,
garchy were usurping the prerogatives of the Crown—were -
ling upon the Crown—(lmmense cheering, which contintat7nioil:j
veral minutes)—and trampling upon the people.—(C°"
cheering.) It would be for them to determine Low long 11;00,
garchial usurpations we're to be supported. When the titre
rine
come, he would himself set the example of sacrifice and mat 3sellil,
He declared that when he read that speech he trembled fre7lo4„
to foot.—( Great cheering.) He would only now detain the cedi:4,
a few minutes longer, until he had told them how the Antl:opert,,
law League managed to enhance the price of corn. Were. rests
Members opposite aware that upon a calculation 100,000 'P ilk
of wheat were annually used in assisting these men to defran", ere,
public.—(A voice here asked " How ?") By daubing
opt,:
calicoes with flour paste.—(Laughter.) The murder then ws"41,00;
—(Renewed laugnter.) They country, then, should kinWi the
they were defrauded by these men, and how by these Met% tell
had lost the foreign markets. What he was then going-urerl
the House, he could prove by the testimony of manillas-014
of the highest standing in this country. He would that
;ot
andcvit with theplunderpermissionas
had
noefvthe House,before
been exposed ot vv
heasruch a system
h yot °f
wra°00:10011
the other day that a poor man was transported for
year, for selling to the Noble Lord, the Secretary of the Colon toe
few bricks for a chandelier.—(Great laughter from both sides_.,,v oft,:
House.) Now, what he was about to read came from the n'itset
of a man who knew the whole secret, and who, if than Coin°oo,l:
were appointed by that House, to which he had alluded, sb°% pSrs
examined before it as well as others. He stated to hirn
tale's
pearance Quantities of flour are used in the cotton trade to give a 13.4tuted's
pearance to the calicoes."—(Laughter.) Ah, be •111.1
them it was true. He assured them it was a faet'.,,seil.
asked those Honourable Members opposite who were e";i.ole
in the trade, whether it was not true ? " Some manufactUree off:
from two to three thousand sacks per annum. The caliOiengibr,
passed through a machine, in which they are stretched 111 010::
and breadth. The interstices occasioned by stretching, aloe°,
up by paste, which is applied by a brush ; afterwards the
cool
passed between two rollers wnich press or calender it, and then,..iti.':
out apparently a beautiful stout fine piece of calico. Its re4l4- oi
pet".
is discovered on washing; it is a dead loss to the conficlinswien •
chaser.—(Hear, hear.) Now, then, he would, with the Perl 4, :
of the House, read an extract from a letter written by an bf
merchant. That letter alluded to a process which was adoPtll the,,
the cotton manufacturers of the present day, of buying 011b00,_,...65.
old rags in the country, tearing them in 'pieces with a Mae
at one
as to reduce thenfto a kind of dust, and then mixing 0%010'4
wool and making them into cloth. This dust, from its nause""-1 tie«
lities, and from the disease engendered by it, had been called oflleV,
manufacturers, and by the working people of Yorkshire'uddere
devil's dust"—(Roars of laughter.) Worse and wo a: in 11
field. " The trade is leaving this country most rapidlY' rg~l°:
paying off nearly 200 of his weavers, because the foreign`lf tin
making the same sorts of goods at very little more t ran .11sterir,
price.—(Hear, hear) The rags, as you know"—(Lau (or
He assured Hon Members that it was no laughing subject' wee'
was by this system that our foreign trade had been turn
)411_,,..
(" Hear, hear," from the Ministerial benches)—" The rags,. .074
know, are collected from the holes in London and Dub„iiiP'ocen,.:
are brought from. the most unhealthy regions, infected n'ayils:
kind of epidemic.—(Colonel Sibthorp entered the Houle, I;osone40
in his hand some oranges, which he presented to the Hon' 13....°
amidst bursts of laughter from every part of the f1°1",,e..05-1"-o.
tish goods are made up. The first time t"-in'foriort .;
worn they split up, and then thee the game begins"—'"
us that D. S. has sent out a large quantity of doe-skins,
o'o.o
,„
ss. 9d. a yard, which has been proved to be not worth et. toahr
thing—not worth *attars' wages. They will all be sent back OP?,
,wevaltril
air :ha,:a
will.
heavyreFig.h
eth,xa&ps
eco.b,seeaennd
manufactures with a charge of 55. Bd. a yard upon them 'doodle
oit
ft:li
this
soefwccioolnlutriosneo,etnbte:suairdneedshtithwhee;ellosSrab:::lol7;
small manufactory of wools all made of doeskins: The 111-004'.;
turers before this season had never made eighteen Pleeegoineios!;,-il
he had then an order for 1,800 pieces at considerably s. fest"-st
price of English goods, This manufacture is leaving ns4batotbtr;
it can, Nothing can show our baseness and deceit motet byl3o''Ss
These things prove clearly that our ruin is brought ulson ts,,onott
own folly." He would now solicit the attention of the deed 's
able Member for Sheffield. " The manufacturers of ti3eol4:o
forced iron cutlery upon foreigners for steel until
nfAct,-I,4'('Ar
would not have it, and they have been obliged to nianss_. ersiosM,ol
themselves. Thus our canting professing Christians a7bewhis.:o4
their own country and cheating the poor Pawins, and 311 0,3°14c1
b übbering about trio leg Provieence, and are trying'
,l
Members listed to this—" are trying to make Parliament Fct.„oheisol„d
they care for the poor."—(Cheers from the Ministeriel
One more extract, and he had done. He would, with thel3o
sion of the House just call their attention to a meeting :L., A:4
facturers, which took place in New York a few Yeas.__..6-I,spergso4
account of that meeting appeared in all the Anse I.7was pre 0
he had this account from an eye-witness, a person who
sent at that meeting. " A meeting of merchants and 7antiders
urose t!! turers, conv in the the p
ing the bestened means of protecting g thefor manufacturers e the unite f e 0
1/1
States. The meeting was composed of menuf aCtUreri .
...., a
grades; it was very numerously attended, a": of cloth
of unanimity pervaded the assembly. SPeelmeons,, up
and wool, of British manufacture, were nv."_,,,.00ten..
the gaze of the meeting, all of which were ni:g.r"eed to:
The fellosing resolution at that meeting
wasr
chit,' Coo 2
That it is the opinion of this meeting that it is our
by an sart
gross to protect the manufacturers of the United 1
S as possible,
the
importation of the present Tariff, to prohibit, as fat
hest,
c3ll
tnisea
Hear, ,s down
cell t
importation of foreign manufactures."—("
Ministerial Benches.) He would, before he soot_ "."er A.Diesty
attention of the Right Hon. Baronet at the head n
ty
Government to a fact which had not yet been brought under
pee
of honest nos
repealed, there would be an immense body
of'nevitablY r-ee rs.
gland,nioed
notice of that House; and that was, that if the Corn - ill.
dustrious labourers in the north
los for 0,214
only thrown out of employment, but
for ever.—(Hear, hear.) It had been the custom
extenve was
te
for landed proprietors who were in posse"'"
on a leaseof foe
teen, twenty-one, or thirty years, free from
Jan d,
lands, to let off plots to hard-working labourers,t
and repay thiscit
that these poor men should break up that an
up__ ,t. so :is_
selves afterwards by the corn which was grow °" mon
right
of those poor
sigh' the Corn laws were repealed, every one T
ey
had a+ souchtion.
inevitably be ruined.—(Hear, hear.) h
a this country as '
to the protection of the Government
he Government to Protest
Members opposite ; and they looked to the
reward for their labour.tites_
them, that they might reap some slight reward
wealth as chi Ye
t of amassing _ p CY
They never thought or dream
said to them, Ihros
Hon. Members had amassed ; they merely rent, on condi