The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-09 00:00:00

CORN-LAWS.

Lord BROUGHAM begged to call the attention of II
their Lordships to a petition which he held in his hand,
and which he considered of great importance, both by
reason of the subject and of the body from which it pro-
ceeded. It was a petition from a Conference lately held at
Edinburgh, and which, having sat for three days, came to
a unanimous determination on the subject of the Corn-
laws ; that was, a petition for their total repeal. That '
conference, as perhaps was known to their Lordships,
was composed of the ministers and elders of the
various Dissenting congregations throughout Scot-
land. He understood that originally an intention
was announced from 712 congregations to send
Delegates to the conference, but instead of that num- .
ber falling off, as was usual in such cases, SO2
congregations were represented by their elders and
ministers. The conference assembled in Edin-
burgh—they met day after day successively for
three days, and - the number who attended varied
from 1,400 to 1,600 daily. The debate was carried on
with the greatest possible order. In temper, manner,
and tone, there was the greatest moderation. He would
not trouble their Lordships with reading the petition,
important. as it was, for the arguments which the
petition used were the same as were often urged
in that House, and were familiar to their Lordships.
The prayer was for a total repeal of the Corn-laws,
and when he read in their own words the perfect im-
partiality with which they treated the plans both of
the late Government and of the present, their Lordships
would see that if any charge could be made against
their proceedings, it could not be that of faction. They
said that they view with equal disapprobation both plans
—both the sliding scale of Sir R. Peel and the fixed duty of
Lord John Russell. They passed an equal condemna-
tion upon all projects for taxing the food of the people,
and they denounced, them as opposed to religion and mo-
rality, and injurious to the best interests of society. He,
however, and his Noble Friend behind him (Lord
Radnor, we believe,) entirely differed from the pe-
titioners on the grounds on which they put
their objections to the Corn-laws. He did not
regard the question as a religious one at all, or one of
morality. He did not think that morality or religion was
at all connected with the question, unless by a very
strained construction. But he agreed with them in their
last statement, that the Corn-laws were adverse to the
best interests of society. Although this was a con-
ference only from "Dissenting congregations, it was
not. to be inferred that the congregations of the
Established Church did not hold the same opinions.
He was aware of no reason why a conference of Dis-
senting Ministers should be holden, on this question
more than on any other political question. He had
stated his opinions to the conference, but they had,
notwithstanding, intrusted this petition to his hands.
Ho (Lord Brougham) had never been one who had in
any way put upon exaggerated grounds his advo-
cacy of the repeal of the Corn-laws. He had
never held out the prospect of such a repeal very
much lowering the price of bread and other provisions
of this country ; that it would lower them to a certain
extent he had no doubt ; that it would lower them to
such an extent as had been stated by the advocates of
repeal, he did not believe. There could not be a greater
error than those committed, who, in their zeal, allowed
themselves to be led into exaggeration ; it was
a mode of diminishing, and not of increasing, to
exaggerate
; it was like an unskiful person
looking through a magnifying glass, which might be so
used as to diminish, instead of to magnify. There was,
however, a great portion of truth in the argument by
which the total repeal of those laws was supported. That
the best interests of society required their immediate re-
vision, which, if fairly performed, would lead to a total
r.?.peal of those laws, he firmly believed. He would not
now do more than simply present the petition, and request
tlioi.r Lordships! favourable ear to its prayer.
A Message from the Commons brought up the Appro.
priatioa Act Amendment Bill.

_
Lord .BROUGHAM presented petitions from Kilmar-
nock, Arbroath, Paisley, and several other parts of
Scotland, in favour of a total repeal of the Corn-laws.
The Noble Lord also presented a petition from Usher's
Quay, Dublin, praying for an alteration in the Irish
Marriage Act.
Lord STRAFFORD presented petitions from different
parts of Ireland, praying for an alteration in the Irish
Marriage Act.
On the motion of the Marquis of •NORMANBY a
return was ordered of the Magistrates appointed since
the Ist of February, 1841.
On the motion of the Duke of WELLINGTON, the
Appropriation Act Amendment Bill was read a first
time, and ordered to be read a second time on Thursday.
'' 'rho Marquis of LANSDOWNE presented a petition
from. Arbroath, in favour of the repeal of the
Corn-laws. The - Noble Marquis stated he had now
to call the particular attention of the House to the
petition of which he had given notice of his intention to
present; it was from a body so respectable and so deeply
interested in the commerce of the country, that
Le felt it to be his duty to bring the sub-
ject of it specially before the attention of the House.
Tl,ey had peculiar reasons for calling attention to
the subject, and bringing their views under their Lord-
ship's consideration. He had then to present to the
Id 'use the state of the woollen manufactures of the
counties of Norfolk, Somerset, and Wilts, and he should
state to the House the anode in which those petitions
were agreed upon towards the close of last year. The
business in all those countries had considerably de-
creased ; upon communication between the master manu-
facturers of Leeds and the other parts of England, a
meeting was called for the purpose of throwing light
upon the subject, and. ascertaining the opinions of
the people of the West of England. Accordingly a meet-
ing was held at Bath, and there facts were stated
for the purpose of eliciting a statement of the ge-
neral condition of trade, and to enable the meet-
ing to lay those facts before that House, per-
sons of all descriptions were summoned to attend,
and they did attend ; and after a lengthened communi-
cation, and after much discussion had taken place, they
came to a resolution which they embodied in the petition
which it would be his duty than to lay before the House,
That petition was ' the same as others in many
respects, but in others it also materially differed.
—(Hear, hear.) It was very numerously signed; in, the
first place, it stated that it was the opinion of the
petitioners that there was now a considerable
failure in the woollen trade, and that the
restrictions upon provisions had reduced and
neutralized trade, and pauperised the working classes.—
(Hear, hear, hear.) These evils were produced
by partial legislation, and more especially by the
Corn and Provision laws. The petition further stated
that all restricting and prohibitory duties upon provisions
were most prejudicial to the interests of all classes of the
community, and that all duties intended for the protec-
tion of British manufacturers should be repealed.
These were the facts stated in the petition, and in the
first place he (the Noble Marquis) felt bound to state
that he believed they were well founded. There was
too much general declamation upon these subjects, but
facts could be adduced in support of it. The petition states
that in the town of Bradford, in 1820, there were 19
manufactories producing 620 pieces of cloth weekly; from
1341 these 19 were diminished to two, and the number
of pieces of cloth were reduced to 200 a week ;
of the nineteen manufacturers, nine had failed
since 1820, five had given up for want of success,
and the remainder gradually discontinued busi-
ness. There was another principal town in Somer-
setshire, which, twenty years ago, had twenty-
eight woollen manufactories, now there are only
fifteen, and those not fully employed ; five were occa-
sionally employed, and three were converted to other
purposes. He would not trouble their Lordships with any
.further
details on this point, though further details had been put into his
hands. He was sure that he had stated enough, if any one of
their Lordships entertained a doubt upon the subject, to prove that
there was a rapid declension in their manufactures; and to prove
that the consequence of that declension must be an increase of
misery, an increase in the Poor-rates, and a diminution in the
consumption of agricultural produce in the neighbourhood of
those towns, he bad heard it said, and perhaps he had him-
self be'en led to entertain 'the opinion to a greater extent than
was justifiable, that there was a disposition in the trade to quit
that part of the country to whieh he was then alluding, and to
establish itself in other and more distant districts, particularly
those of the northern ut of the kingdom ; but on entering
into communication wills these individuals, he found that they
:,a.,
~,,llp.pfaiipe:,et acknowledgedrhsaaretlleaeewith
removing
districts
stated that
thtvothrihignectgthtei
nsneaototi,
fh:s facoteco:groundnrthnpeeettdeatiehrtnkintedwolcsnyhee north,
districts
aeinwi vsawhtdeanra
teradi i fei
nteonosrvnottefehshntuee.optpgopii
greatest
woollentsiwahoi
tnt
opinion
egri
satettith. 1 hatthTtehheeytrade
manufacture
might
daotef g
rt Scotland,
heee,c fio rono:
flou-
rished,
Corn-
laws, swhae,d ,
if the
not same
the p
principal,
ei setirpeasls,
were and
the depression
gre at
cause
efoeufntdhetoexist
depres-
sion of trade. He was not himself lear d to say that the
Corn-laws were the sole cause of thatp Pdeeression.; he was
overwhelming
wiTterhlroali)osg, ddiesgproeseed
to which
wthhiienhk
many
ythoel caused
thatl if there
pthosepetiftioners
considered they did; but he was well adviestrhedea,tr
wwaesretohtehe&cranuse-laswsthwathwicohrkinedteirnfeprerdoduwciitnhg declension, it
re-
medy, and deprived trade Ind commerce of that ins natural
t
which they drew from one soiree, to remedy casual evilswawhiCl2;
they felt from another. It deprived those remedies of their
efficiency at the very moment when their efficiency was, most
required.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.") The petitioners bad
stated a fact so strongly, so simply. and so strikingly,
illustrative of this view of the subject, that he must beg leave
to lay it before their Lordships. In the course of last autumn
some of the principal manufacturing establishments in those
districts had consigned a considerable quantity of cloth to the
United States on limited credit, and, in consequence of the
monetary embarrassment which occurred in America, it wsa
impossible to obtain payment; hut the agents of those persons
stated, that though they could not pay in money they could
have remitted corn ; but, in consequence of the state of the
Corn-laws, the manufacturers were unable to avail themselves
of this offer. , It had also been proved that the depression
was not owing to the withdrawal of the orders
of the East India Company. In consequence of
these circumstances, these_ manufacturers craved their
Lordships to repeal all lifehialtori duties, and all
monopoly duties of protection which were not intended for pur-
poses of revenue. He felt that the proposition was made at a
period at which there was a promise of a charge taking place,
and when the Corn-laws were about to share the fate of the
woollen duties, he trusted with as beneficial a result to the agri-
cultural interest as the abolition of the foreign duties had
proved to be. The time had now arrived when the defects
of the Corn-laws had become too apparent to be overlooked.
Their mischievous effects upon trade and commerce were now
fully understood ; it was, therefore, necessary that some altera-
tion should take place. ,He entertained now the same opinions
he had always done upon the subject, and those opinions were.
that if any duty was imposed upon the necessaries of life they
should be fixed duties. He had thought it necessary to state