The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-07 00:00:00

the -country. The Noble Lord, the MernlA
for London, admitted the existence of severe
distress, hut stated that at that period of the session.
he was not prepared to enter into any cousdera-
tion of the means of relieving it, save a re-con-
sideration of the Corn-laws. The Noble Lord
had not stated to what extent he intended to
carry the views he entertained with respect to a
change in the Corn-laws. But he would tell the
;oble Lord, that if he adhered to the 'proposal he
had made last Session of only reducing the duty
to Bs., such a proposal would afford little or
no fed in the present state of the country.
If such a proposal had been brought forward four
• years ago it would undoubtedly have afforded
considerable relief; but he believed it would
be utterly inadequate to meet the evils un-
der which the country now suffered. He
-had also heard the speech of the Right Hon.
Baronet at the head of the Government with ex-
treme sorrow. He felt exceedingly anxious that
the Right Honourable Baronet should bring for-
ward such measures as he (Mr. W. Williams) could
Conscientiously support, because the Right Hon.
Baronet had the power of fully carrying out any views
he might adopt to their fullest extent, a power which
had not been possessed by any Minister of late years,
The Right Hon. Baronet not only admitted the ex-
istence of great distress, but he admitted the truth

of almost all the propositions of the Honourable
Member for Greenock. Those statements were
of such a character as to call upon any Go-
vernment to take into their immediate con-
sideration the means of affording, if rot permanent, at
least temporary relief. The only answer given to
those statements by the Right Hon. Baronet was, that
it was now the Ist of July, and therefore too late in
the session to consider the subject. In his (Mr. W.
Williams's) opinion no period ought to be too late to
take such a matter into their most serious considera-
tion. The Right Hon. Baronet said that the
measures which he had already , proposed were
his measures for relief. Now, those measures
were, first, the Corn-laws, which made the
starving millions pay 50 per cent. more for their
bread than was paid by the working classes
of other nations with whom they had to compete.
His next measure was the Income-tax, which was to
take four millions annually out of the pockets of the
suffering people. The next was the Tariff, which, if
the trade and commerce of the country had been jn
its ordinary position, would, he (Mr. Williams)
would admit, have, afforded some relief, but
it would not do so in the present state of the
country. The next measure was the Poor-law, by
which it was proposed to continue the Poor-law
Commission, at a cost of 20,0001. a-year to the coun-
try, an expense which was admitted to be unnecessary.
He considered the means proposed by both the
leaders of that House were inefficient to remove the
distress of the country. The Right Hon. Baronet
complained that the resolutions of the Hon. Member
for Greenock were vague and indefinite, while he ad-
mitted the ruinous state, of the trade of the
country. All that his Honourable Friend wished
was, an inquiry into the distress of the country,
because lie had not the means of relief him-
self. He properly considered that belonged to the
Government, and that the Government would not

isten to any suggestion of his. His Hon. Friend
,herefore left that to the Government themselves.

The Right Hon. Gentleman also complained
that the Hon. Member for Whitehaven had not pro-
posed any plan of relief. If the Right. Hon.
Baronet wished for his (Mr. Williams') opinion as to
what would afford relief, he would give it, though he
was sure—it would not be adopted, yet he hoped it
Would find favour with the Secretary for the 'Home
Department, because he would not travel out of the
doctrines which he had often preached. His
-suggestion would be, that all corn, of every
description, should be admitted into this
country duty free, and that all duty on the
raw material of cotton and silk should be re-
moved. He was aware that many on his side of the
house who considered the subject, were of opinion
that the repeal of the Corn-law would remove all the
evils which now overwhelmed so many millions of
people ; yet his own opinion was, that they should go
much farther and repeal the malt-tax, beer having
-now become one of the necessaries of life. He would
also propose a duty of 3d. a pound on sugar, and he
had no objection to give the colonies a protection of
15 per cent. He should further propose a duty ofl
.3d. on coffee, , and a duty of 30 per cent. on tea.
This would not be so very large a reduction from the
present taxation of the country ; by it the means of
life would be so much reduced that the same amount
of income would go to a much greater ex-
tent,L--(Hear, hear.) He proposed also to take one-
third from all payments from the Exchequer
to all persons employed under the Crown, with the
exception of common sailors, from whose pay he would I
take nothing. Nor would he reduce the pay of sol-
diers, because it was an experiment which it might
not be very desirable to try. From all others he
would take one-third of what they received, and that
would give the Government a much greater amount
than the taxation he proposed to take off. If
the Government would adopt these measures,
it would not only relieve the present • dis-
tress, but infuse . into the manufacturing and
working classes an energy and action that would re-
move the present distress, would give them work, and
in relation to that work would enable them to procure
not only the necessaries but the comforts of life.
When they looked at the vast amount of money which
was taken annually out of the pockets of the people—
an amount very little short perhaps of 100,000,0001.
sterling, they could not be surprised at the
present state of distress. Those Members might be
astonished to hear him speak of 100,000,0001.
But they must recollect that the taxes paid
to the Government were 55,000,0001. ; they
must also recollect the amount paid for tithes,
Church-rates, baptisms, marriages, and burials, for
poor-rates, highway-rates, county-rates, and bo-
rough-rates, and above all they must look to the
amount paid by the working millions- to the landed
aristocracy. They must look also to the amount
paid to the West India planters. Such an amount
of taxes would eventually produce a state or things
which it would he frightful to contemplate.
He believed that taking the . average of the shop-
keepers, instead of snaking anything they sustained
a loss. That he was convinced was the case at the
present moment. He was satisfied that if any
one would consider the trade of the country, they
would sustain him in that opinion. As he said
before, all this was mainly attributable to the Bill of
1819. He would tell the Right Hon. Gentleman that
the measure he introduced in 1819 was the
foundation of the evils of the country, and those
evils would go on until there would be a
state of things too dreadful to describe. The
Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Home
Department had admitted that distress existed, but
in addition he had stated that if he believed the re-
peal of the Corn-laws would be attended with good,
he:would sacrifice his own interests. But to that state-
ment he aided that any alteration in the Corn-
laws would produce the worst results. Since
that period a great change had taken place
in the opinion of the Right Hon. Baronet, for there
was a time when he thought not only that the c,orn-
laws ought to be repealed, but that every facility
should be given to the adMission of 'foreign corn,.
In 1827, the Right lion. Baronet, who had in this proved
an almost true prophet as to the present state of things,
said that when the people of this country presented the
spectacle of millions supplicating for bread, the titles,
pensions. and honours of the aristocracy would be swept
away. Such were then the' opinions of the Right Hon.
Gentleman, who was no insignificant authority upon a
matter of this kind. The Hon. Gentleman concluded by
stating his intention of giving his cordial support to the
motion of the Hon. Member for Greenock.

Mr. ALi)AM placed no great reliance on the assur-
ances of, relief to the woollen or any other trade, to be
derived from commercial treaties. The woollen trade
was at this moment suffering very much from foreign
competition. The. Hon. Member went into a statement
of the distress which prevailed during the years from
1835 to the present time in the manufacturing districts
of the North, which distress, Ile contended a free-trade
in corn would
.have prevented. Whatever may be the
opinion as to the operation of the Corn-laws upon the
distress of the country, he thought the opening of the
ports at the present moment was a distinct question from
that of the Corn-laws, and would be beneficial in miti-
gating the present distress. Such a measure would not
in his opinion, be prejudicial to the farmer, because it
would not operate so much in lessening the price of wheat
as in stimulating an increase of labour.—(Hear, hear.)
The object of a foreign market was that it should re-
suscitate the home market.—(Hear, hear.) The state
of distress in the country was such that some remedy
was essential—(Hear, hear)—and he conceived what
he had pointed at would do much to relielie that distress.
In conclusion, the Hon. Member rend a resolution, agreed
to at a meeting in Leeds, setting forth the distress of the
country, and the danger of allowing it to continue.
Sir B. HALL brought under the attention of the
House tho state of the parish of Marylebone. In that
wealthy and popular parish, there was. actually • one-
twentieth of the inhabitants receiving parochial relief.
From a comparison of the price of corn in a series of
years from 1534, with the numbur of paupers in the same
years, he proved that pauper6m had increased steadily, in
proportion to the increase in the price of corn. Pear
corn and pauperism always went together. The parish
now presented a most extraordinary aspect ; a great
portion of the wealth of the kingdom was now resident
in the metropolis ; it might be supposed that in the pre
senee of so much wealth the pour might find employ-
ment, yet the difference in the parish of Marylebone,
from the great influx of wealth, was very slight ; at this
moment there were no less than one in every twenty of
the population receiving parochial relief. Those state-
ments were well. worthy the attention orthe Bight Hon.
would not be thought guilty .
Gentleman opposite.had taken the parish of Mary-
le one, of exag
geration. He had c*c.',udgd atp woes of st...3ancras
and Paddington,.because be would not .be ththight guilty
of exaggeration.. He had taken the most wealthy parish
in the metropolis, Marylebone, the parish in which the
greater part of the aristocracy dwelt. Such was the ex-
.