The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-17 00:00:00

subject. He claimed the indulgence of the House while ho
made some observations with respect to what had fallen from
the Right Hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the
Home Department, made the evening before. That Right
lion. Gentleman said that sometimes the Members of the
House were opposed to the rules of common sense. He (Mr.
Roebuck) quite agreed with that Right lion. Gentleman, that
if the rules of the House were correct, they should not be de-
parted from. He quite agreed with him that the discussion
of this question ought to have been left to a secondary conside-
ration ; but he believed that the Right lion. Gentleman was
slightly in error when he said those rules were depa. led from
in a matter seemingly unimportant. He believed that the reason
for departing from them arose partly from misconception, which
had gone abroad with refereece to the rules of the House, and
partly from a misunderstanding of what had fallen from him
( Mr. Roebuck). it was quite competent to any Honourable
Gentleman to propose a resolution for the adoption of the
House against putting en any duty whatever upon foreign
corn ; an amendment might be proposed by the rules
of the House upon that resolution, and a division
had upon it; and a second amendment might be now put urn'
that, and the sense of the House taken upon that amendment
first. Ile took that to be the rule of the House, and he should
wish and desire that that should be done, because by that
means those Hon. Gentlemen who thought tith him that
there should be no duty whatever upon foreign corn, would be
relieved from many difficulties and much misapprehension,
which might otherwise be attached to them.—( Hear, hear. )
It might go abroad out of doors that he, and those who acted
with him, had not fairly brought the question before the
House. But, at the same time, if those Gentle-
men thought there could be no misapprehension as to the
question, he (Mr. R.) was perfectly willing to yield his
judgment to their opinion as to the best mode of determining
the matter Ile would go before the public, leaving it with
them to consider whether he, and those who acted with him,
were acting properly in the course they were taking in the
discussion. He was opposed to the proposition of the Right
Honourable Baronet, and his opposition arose from :the
fact of its being a sliding scale. It was not to any pecu-
liarity in the measure to which he wished to ad-
dress himself, because he felt it his duty to give the entire mea •
sure his most stronous opposition.—( Hear, hear. ) He (Mr.
Roebuck) believed that the plan the Right lion. baronet
proposed was an evasive and impolitic plan. Impolitic,
for reasons which he would shortly state ; unwise for
the Right Honourable Baronet's own purpose in the
largest sense of the term, for the happiness of the people.
Bat before he went on to the discussion of the
question, he hoped he should be allowed to strip it
of much extraneous matter which had been mixed up with it ;
as far as he was concerned he could not see why this should
be made a religious question—( Hear, hear)—but he would, as
fairly as his abilities would permit, set forth the arguments
which he thought valid against its policy as a tax, not enlisting
in his favour any prejudices against those who held different
views. Unfortunately considerations had been mixed up with
the discussion of this question, which redounded not to the
credit of those who set them forth The imputation of sin
—for it was an imputation of sin—might be raised against
them on a future occasion, and they would suffer for that spirit
of fanaticism which they had raised. The law might be, and he
( Mr. Roebuck) believed was, impolitic and unwise, but unwise
and impolitic did not mean sinful. Injustice of all descriptions
was sinful ; it was not fair, therefore, to prove this law unjust
by assuming it to be sinful. If he could not succeed by fair
argument in subduing his opponents, he would enlist into his
service no improper auxiliaries.--( Hear, hear.) lie would
wish to address himself first to the existing distress that had
been admitted by the Right Hon. Baronet himself, and by
lion. Members on both sides of the Heine who had yet spoken
on the subjeet.—( Hear, hear.) All had been loud, unani -
mous, almost vehement, in their praises of the mode in which
the people had borne their sufferings. —( Hear, hear. )
'they were all, unfortunately, bound to agree on its
intensity and extent, and they were glad to bear their
testimony to the valour, he would call it, with which they
had borne it ; but they were not agreed to its cause, and he
(Mr. Roebuck), in speaking of its cause, did not wish to im-
pute it to any party not existing in the State.—( Hear, hear.)
He believed it to have arisen from circumstances over which,
in reality, they had no control; from circumstances which, in
reality, they, as now existing, never could have caused ; but
he thought R important that in considering the cause of this
distress they should look back for a few years, and learn what
was at the bottom of it.—( Hear, hear.) Ile thought it would
be feund to have originated in that system which had arisen,
not out of their own views, but from the views of those
who had preceded them.—( Hear, hear.) A fictitious
opinion had been raised in this country by the
opposition which it was thought necessary to make
against France; that made them a separate people, as regarded
the rest of the world, insular in their knowledge as much as
they were in' their geographical position. As time went on
this peculiar system, subject to new trials, had brought on
gradually the whole amount of evils to which they were now
now subject. It should be remembered by those opposite that
the energies which they then exerted made them manufacto-
rers, and the Gentlemen opposite were not now to turn round
and say—" are we to maintain the manufaeturere ?"—( Hear. )
They had been brought into existence by the universal consent
of those who had governed the State ; and though the present
Government might not be answerable for the cause,
they were at least for the mode in which they dealt
with it now; and he ( Mr. Roebuck) did say that the manu-
facturing class of this country had a distinct claim on the Gen-
tlemen opposite who represented the landed interest of this
country, and they must not say that they would foster the
manufacturers no longer.—(Hear. hear.) The time was
passed for that ; they should have said it when the enemy was
at the door. They were saved as a nation by that gigantic
effort, and would it be justtce now to turn round and forsake
them.—( Hear.) They were not those now to say, " Can we
maintain these interests ?" They must.—( Cheers.) " Can
we foster this manufacturing interest?" They must foster it.
—( Hear.) It was no longer a matter of right, but a matter of
neceatity. Now, applying themselves to this, he would ask
the House, anti the Right lion. Baronet himself, while he dis-
claimed imputing the cause of the distress to the Right lion.
Baronet, seriously to considtr the position which he (the
Right Hon. Baronet) assumed when he came to that House to
deal with that distress.--( Hear.) Some few months ago these
difficulties were seen coming on. All men of particular saga-
city—and there was no man more sagacious than the Right
Hon. list-oust —saw what was coming.—( Hear. ) That was
the time when the Right Honourable Baronet and his
party thought fit to snake an effort to move all the
energies wh ch were at their command to seat themselves
where they now where, and violently to seize the reins of Go-
vernment.—(" Hear," and laughter.) He ( Mr. Reebuck ) was
only stating the facts distinctly as they occurred. It was at
that time when every man of common sagacity—net to say
of such peculiar sagacity and perspicacity as the Right
lion. Baronet possessed—must have foreseen this. It vas
therefore his peculiar responsibility to answer for the mode in
which he dealt with this distress. On his shoulders must rest
the blame if be did not deal with it properly. When the late
Government left their seat, they proposed—late he would allow;
late was the good, but good it was—measures for relieving
the distress of the country. Some might say that
that was a sort of proceeding which was very like the baptism
of Constantine—he thought by that means to wash out the sins
which attached to a life of rapacity. They were not permit-
ted to carry that scheme into effect ; the Right Hon. Baronet
assumed the reins of power, and on him devolved the business
of alleviation. When the Right Hon. Baronet last year ap-
peared before the House, be said, and he (Mr. Roebuck)
thought said justly, that he must take time to consider what
should be done—he must take all the evidence, and examine
all the features of the case. Give him, then, time, and they
should see what he would do.—(Cheers.) He (Mr. Roebuck)
did not know whether sufficient time had been given him.—
(Hear, hear, and laughter.) They had heard him, on the
first night of the session, with much force, and an appearance
of sorrow, as if he were weighed down by the burthens that
pressed on him. He came forward and told them, as early as
possible, as soon as the forms of the House would allow, he
would come down and touch this awful question. They were
all alive, on the tip-toe of expectation ; all Hon. Members had,
no doubt, been troubled for applications to fill that gallery—
(pointing to the strangers' gallery); the world abroad was
all alive—we wonder what his sagacity would bring forward to
relieve this distress. Every Honourable Member, he was
sure, must recollect the scene which then took place.
They saw him walk up the House with care and pride
mingled in his countenance, as much as to say, " Now
is the great day, something is about to be disclosed;
now for the mystery." Great was the marvel they did expect
that there would have been some plan devised by care, fore-
thought, and provident regard, which should, as far as states-
men could devise, tend to alleviate this distress. For two
long hours the question was worked round by the Right Hon.
Baronet—every now and then Members seized pens and
paper, fur the purpose of taking down what he should say.
'1 he minutes escaped the Right Hon. Baronet, who still went
round about it, about it, about it, and se length, with all this
preparation for months, the marvellous mystery—the extraor-
dinary secrecy—the wonderful sagacity—the flight Hon. Ba-
ronet's scheme—came out in a slitting scale. This was the re-
sult of all the wonderful secrecy. What was it? An altera-
tion—a slight modification of the old system ; but it might
be said that the Right Henonrable Paronet thought
that the sliding scale was the best plan they could adept , but
if he did think so, why not have said so at once, and trot have
called forth expectations in this proceeding. There was nothing
so wonderful in this new scale but it might have been com-
posed in half an hour ; the only difficulty was the j tmprng
scale; but who would deny that all which had been proposed
might not, with the aid of an accountant, have been settled in
half an hour. He (Mr. Roebuck) complained that the Right
lion. Baronet had dealt so deficiently, with the question.—
( Hear.) As a bold statesman, he should have come for-
ward, and raid, " This distress is beyond me ; I
won't pretend to relieve it ; it is not worth while
to touch the question at all ; and I will not have
anything to do with it ;" but he had taken the question
into his hands, he had made the child his own, and he
left the country to admire the bantling.—( Cheers and laugh-
ter.) It had been expected by the country that a plan would
have been proposed by which corn mirti remain at a certain
fixed price, and that by lowcrir.g the price of food the market
might be enlarged, wl.•:,ets, by enabling the manufacturers to
di-pose of their produce, the people who were now starving
might be ft-si-ly employed, and such a field for action laid open
that the alleviation might be immediate and very extensive.
Weighing the Right. Hon. Bart.'s scheme in this balance, what
was it worth ? It might be said, and it had been said, by
the Right Hon. Gentleman, the Vice-President of the Board
of Trade, that comparing the price of bread in other countries
where there was no Corn-law with our own country, the
distress there was as great as here. But this example did not
apply. He (Mr. Roebuck) considered that that referred to
countries which were called "self-supporting countries" where
the great advantage which other countries derived from extending
their markets over the whole of the world could not be anti-
cipated. And we now suffered under all the disadvantages
which appertained to the self-supporting system depending on
ourselves for the production of our own supplies. He (Mr.
Roebuck) took his ground on the self-supplying system, and
he said it was a bad one—bad in principle., and incapable
of being followed out in this country. It did not exist, nor
could they make it exist.—(Hear, hear.) They had snore
mouths than they could feed—their country would not grow
he
have beeyna
them corn—they are obliged to apply to the manufactures., and
would guard them thus ageing the notion of a self-sup-
1i ins
been for stem. Invead ef alleviating distress, they weee con-
erica
it
should
going
ataugmented. war
lotig
ago
wwitsthhe dNtoor know North
Am we
if
haduld n:t
and elsewhere,
we soulyd
our commercial intercourse.—( Hear, hear.) We
forth
hso extend t
strengthenb our relations with Spanish America, Odessa,
which means whilst we extended our com-
merceworld. And let it not be said thhaet thhleey"winegrse to be seercbarr;s
as messengers of peace throughout the
roofnet,asd,
Alexander but our
upon other nation.,
ask the Right lion. Ia
What had brought- about
because they 'had supplies from them.
out the alliance between Napoleon and
breedaceependoavnert
prevent the fluctuation commerce? But let him (Mr. Roebuck)
Hon. Baronet's argumentidthleiemtlwiinekinbywhtlikehse
hem mans to
price? The very pith of the Right
consider his friends
good. He (Mr. Roehuk (Hear, hear) his plan was not
Gen-
tlemen opposite, the re ) would warn the Hon.
tat on the question representatives of the landed interest,
be imputed to them he?eraTte hung much that might
doctrine of protection, and he ; for here came the
said that there ought to be no t I
tir. Roebuck) was one who
P
for what was it to be supported on. What did it mean ?
the means by which that was to be obtained was the object ? what
Member for Kent said last night that it was? The Right Hon.
position of the landed interests and s to maintain the
Roebuck) supposed, that by those mociety, meaning, he (Mr.
means should be maintained