The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-13 00:00:00

CORN BILL.

Lord GODERICH rose, and addressed himself in these
terms :—I was asked, my Lords, in the course of last
night to explain to you the course the Government meant
to take with respect to the Corn Bill, after the discussion
that had taken place. I was asked, first of all, whetLer
it was my intention to propose, in any other stage of the
Bill, again to resciqd the amendment, to which I
had stated my objection ; and I was further asked
on what day it wag proposed that the third
reading of the Bill should be fixed for. Upon these ques-

tions being put to me. I certaintly did not think myself
able to give satisfactory answers, but I led that it is now
fit I should state distinctly, on behalf of his Majesty's Go-
vernment what I propora to do. After the decision whioli
the House came to, for the second time, upon the amend-
ment, it evidently would be quite out of question for me to
make any further attempt again to induce your Lordships
to depart from that 'lecision, I therefore am under
the necessity of considering the Bill as finally having been
sanctioned by your Lordships with that amendment to
pass. I felt it my duty to state as strongly as I could, be-
cause I thought I had a strong case. I felt it my duty to
state as strongly as I could the grounds on which I con-
ceived that that clause was not only objectionable, but in
my judgment, fatal to the principle of the Bill, and
inconsistent with the success of the measure. I have
now to state that I cannot depart from that opinion,
and that it is not possible for me to propose the third
reading of a Bill to which it is quite impossible for me
ever to bring myself to agree to. I shall, therefore, not
proceed as I had intended, to move that the third reading
of that Bill shall take place on Friday next.
Lord MALMESBURY—I shall be at all times per-
fectly ready to meet the Noble Lord, or his Majesty's
Ministers in amending the Bill in any way that may
be considered the best. I should indeed be exceedingly
anxious to adopt any measure in conformity with the
landed interest, and the interest of the community at large ;
and I think it right to state this now because, in my opinion,
it is not too late to adopt a measure for the purpose of
putting the Act of 1622 into operation.—(Hear, hear.)—

I thould be exceedingly glad to see that clause removed which
prevents that Act coming into operation. If it were removed
and the Act brought into operation, I think it would ope-
rate for the benefit of the community, and without produc-
ing any very great inequality of opinion.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH—My Lords, I think my
Noble Friends' suggestion well deserves the attention of
the House. The principle of that Bill of 1822 has never
been tried. In the course of last year there could have
been no objection to the passing of a measure to
have brought that Bill into operation, and there would
be time enough yet during the present Session to pass
a short measure for that purpose, but I think that Act of
1822 is kept up as a grievance, in order to force Parlia-
ment to adopt some measure that may be proposed by Go-
vernment.

Lord GODERICH.—I can assure the Noble Lord
that the principles which operated his Majesty's Govern-
ment respecting that Act of 1822 were of the purest

nature.

The Duke of WELLINGTON.—Though the Noble
Lord hes thought proper to say he will not move the third
reading of the Bill, yet the order for the third reading of
it not discharged, and I apprehend it is open io any body
else to move the third reading of it.—(Cheers from the Op-

position.)
Lord GREY.—My Lords, I should wish to state what
have been the motives of my own conduct, as well as the
conduct of some of my Noble Friends. Undoubtedly it is
in the Noble Lord's power, if he thinks the amend-
ment so completely mischievous as to render the
Bill, useless or injurious, to withdraw himself from mov-
ing the third reading of it, and having such an
opinion, he has done right to abandon it.—(Hear,
hear, hear.)—My Lords, I cortainly did not vote for
that amendment upon any idea of getting rid of the Bill.—
(Hear, hear-)—I vote in the 'majority for its going into a
Committee, and I hope it is unnecessary for me to say
that I should not have lent myself, as I am sure
the Noble Duke would net have left himself to any
measnre to effect that indirectly to which he had not
directly assented.—(Cheers.)—l vote for the Amendment,
thinking it really an improvement. I certainly should have
approved of an amendment if it had been moved by my
Noble Friend sitting at the table, but as that amendment
was not moved by him, and as the one moved by the Noble
Duke seemed to me to be calculated to detect the frauds that
that had been committed without impeding the effect of
the Bill I voted for it.—(Hear.) That, my Lords, is still
my opinion, and, thinging that a ve.ty unjust clamour has
been raised on the subject of the Corn Laws thinking

the Government has been much to blame far the measures
they have adopted, which have much tended to encourage
that clamour, thinking also there was no case made out for
our immediate interference, nobody having been able to
state, that for the last six years there had been any
such inconvenience as to have called for the interference of the
Government, I could not withold my vote for the amendment
There had not been during these six years that fluctuation
in the prices that had been stated by those Noble Lord
who introduced the Bill, but being introduced, and feeling
that it was connected with the maintenance of interests
upon which the prosperity of the ecuntry depended, he
gave it his support, and voted for it being entertained in
the Committee. But in doing so, he never intended to
go into that Committee, with the delusive idea that all
power of deliberation was taken away.—(Cries of Hear,
hear) ; he owed it to the House, and to the country, if
any beneficial alterations in his view of the question
should be proposed, to vote for them, and therefore it was
that he supported the Amendment of the Noble Duke ;
he did so, because he thought the amendment calculated to
correct the dangers arising from our eystem of bonding--a
system which was not now defended even by its former
advocates; he voted for it under the impression that it
might in some measure mitigate, if not avert, the danger to
be apprehended from letting loose upon the market such an
accumulation of Corn, as would inundate the Country.
If the House were again to go into a discussion of the
entire question, the Noble Lord would be prepared to
defend his conduct with respect to this measure by ar-
guments which, to his own mind, tarred conviction._
It was for those persons who, in the first instance, agitated
this question of so much delicacy and difficulty, now to
suspend the consideration of it, and with that suspension
to risk all the exasperation and angry feelings which
may exist before any remedy could be applied, it
was them to consider the expediency of such a pro-
ceeding adopted, becadse of the introduction of an
amendment, the only practical effect of which, was
to defer the period at which foreign Corn was to come into
the market, from the time the price was 635. until it was
665. The important principle of the measure was
still the same, and he could not believe that, even in the
view of those who were most wedded to their own opi-
nions, the Bill had become so vitiated by the altera-
tion, that it ought now to be abandoned. If the
alteration was found to be inconvenient, it would have been
subject to the consideration of their Lordships at any future
period. The Noble Lord, after entering into details of
the Bill, with a view of showing thaf it had not been
materially altered, an-I that he did not question the integrity
of the Noble Lord (Goderich) who, he was willing to admit,
acted in the conscientious discharge of his duty, but he could
not think it other than an extraordinary proceeding on the
part of the Noble Lord to abandon on account of an
alteration of that sort, a Bill of so much importance in
other respects. The Noble Lord could not sup-
pose that his Majesty's Ministers bad taken this
courrse for the unworthy object of exciting the
feelings "of the country against that House; ,but ifthat
be the effect of their conduct (said the Noble Lord) I am
ready to meet it.—(Cheers.)--I stand here, one of a body
always ready, while they anxiously and feelingly protected
the interests of the people to stand boldly forward
in the maintenance of their own rights.—(Loud
Cheers. )—lf, as we are told, that the result of our
persevering in the amendment will be to force a worse
measure of us. I, for one, declare that I am not
to delare that I am not to be intimidated by that threat,
and I trust that if that worse Bill comes, that it will meet
from your Lordships a firm opposition, and ultimate
rejection.—(Hear. hear, and loud cheers.) If we are un-
happily to come to that sort of contest, and that there is
to exist that sort of exasperation of feeling with which we
are threatened between this House and the body of the
people, my part is taken..—(Cheers.)—l am one of an order
with which I must stand or fall, and whose independence
and privileges I will maintain to the last hour of my exis-
tence. (The Noble Lord resumed his seat amid loud
cheers.)

The Marquis of LANSDOWNE then rose, and depre-
cated any discussion when there war no question before the
House. His Noble Friend near him (Lord Goderich) had
no intention of submitting any motion to their Lord-
ships', but merely stated that the Order of the Day
for the third residing of the Corn Bill stood for Friday next,
and that he did not propose to move the third reading of it
on that day. His Noble Friend did not even move
that the order be discharged ; and, as the mat-
ter now stood, it was perfectly open to any
Noble Lord who thought the 8.11, with the amend-
ment, would be still beneficial, to move the third reading
of it on Friday. His Noble Friend conceiving that the
Bill had now assumed a form materially different in
its effects from what it was when first introduced by
him, had, in answer to a question put last night, de-
clared his determination of not proposing that the Bill
be carried through any other stagi, but any other Noble
Lord was at liberty to do so. The Noble Marquis
would not now enter into any vindication (which he easily
could) of the conduct of his Noble Friend, though
strongly tempted to do so by what had fallen from
the Noble Earl opposite (Lord Grey); but an oppor-
tunity might hereafter arise of defending this, which
required no defence, and then he would be prepared to
show that nothing was more clear than that the amendment
which had been introduced made the Bill, in its effects,
differ materially from what it was when brought up from
the Commons.

The discussion on this subject here dropped.
Mr. PEEL'S four Bills on the Criminal Laws
were then read a second time, on the Motion of
Lord Tenderden, and ordered to be committed to-morrow.
The House then divided on the Corporate Funds Bill,
on the motion of Lord Lord Eldon, that the Bill be read
a third time this day three months.

Contents, 28 Not Content 9 I Majority against the Bill 19
The House then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
At four o'clock this day there were exactly forty Mem-
bers present, and the House proceeded to business.
Mr. SPRING RICE brought up the report of the Bill
for regulating the sale of Bread in Ireland.