The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 20, 1845

the empire that her population and extent would enable her
to do. The people of England would find that the surest
way of securing a relief from the burdens that now pressed
on them, would be found in the. increasing prosperity of
Ireland.
Mr. S. CRA WFORD rose amid loud cries of " Question"
and " Divide." He briefly stated that he was not prepared to
say the landed property of Ireland ought to be exempted from
the income-tax.—(Hear, hear.) Though Ireland might claim
to be exempted, on many grounds, from several heads of taxa-
tion, yet, when called in to vote on this question, he could not
bring himself to say that the land of that country ought to be
exempted.—( Hear, hear. )
Sir. DARBY should give his vote in distinct opposition to
the amendment of the Hon. and Learner! Member for Bath.
In bringing that amendment forward, he seemed to have
thought but little about it, for his speech was one thing and his
motion quite another.—i Hear, hear.) He was quite mistaken
in his assertiou that gentlem n, by living in London or Paris,
could escape the payment of assessed taxes in Ireland. At
the present time Ireland was improving, and he believed that
nothing would be so impolitic as to lay the income-tax upon
that country now. He cared not what. the Right Hon. Baronet j
mighShave said on former:necasioraa--( Hear, hear, and 'apeghter)
—he should consider the imposition of the tax most impolitic.
Mr. ROEBUCK then repled. He said he stood in a pecu-
liar position. Many Members felt with him—many had spoken
with hire—but almost all, with a few exceptions, had attacked
him ; bat before he sat down he hoped he should have an op-
portunity of repaying all his friends, with interest.—(Laugh-
ter.) The Right Hon. Baronet at the head of the Govern-
ment said there had been a great change in his opinions on this
subject. He (Mr. Roebuck) would ask the House to remem-
ber the difference between him and the Right Hon. Baronet its
capacity and experience. The Right Hon. Baronet com•
menced life almost as a Secretary for Ireland, and had con-
tinued in an almost unbroken official life down to 1825. Yet
with all his means of information the Right Hon. Baronet
held down te a recent period the opinions which he (Mr.
Roebuck) had expressed that night. When he left office for the
Opposition, and was building up with great care and astonish-
ing art the great party by whom he was now surrounded, he
still continued of that opinion. In 1835 he was again called to
office, and again he expressed the same opinion he (Mr. Roe-
buck) had expressed that night. Yet he now told him that this
tax was imprudent, impolitic, and mischievous. Was it all these
when the Right Hon. Baronet supported it ? The charge of
impolicy, therefore, came hardly well from the Right Hon.
Gentleman. He would not for a moment compare his capacity
with that of the Right Hon. Gentleman, but take all the op-
portunities the Right Hon. Gentleman had had, and he would
ask, why was he to be charged with being impolitic because he
still retained the opinions which the Right Hon. Gentleman
once held himself ? The Hon. Member for Warwickshire had
Listed some observations, intimating something about his (Mr.
Roebuck's) being an insignificant person. Suppose it was so;
suppose all he had advanced was worth nothing—
Mr. NEWDIGATE said the Hon. and Learned Member
had entirely misunderstood him. He had never applied any
such remark to him that could be so construed. What he said
was, that he thought his motion a very misckievocts ewe.
Mr • ROEBUCK said that the Hon. Member had of course
a perfect right to do so. But another observation had been made
by the Hon. Member for Waterford, which was, that he (Mr.
lioelmek) had made remarks en the Irish Members which he
would not have dared to make had those persons been here;
that was to say, that if the Irish Members had been present, he
(Mr. Roebuck) would not have dared to complain of their ab-
theLearned absencefe
mo.
Obi
arendrde therhi
Lpafeeode
rari
ssrdsolierai
neri
add:l
chair.")
hiehnnaellisinerget. fn4
ab-
sence.—( Great laughter.)
he
Sir H. WINSTON BARRON rose amid loud cries of
" Chair, chair." He appealed to Mr. Greene.
Mr. GREENE said the Hon. Member had a perfect right
to explain any previous observations he had made.
Sir H. WIN STON BARRON said he did not charge:the
Hon. and Learned Member with making any observation on
etawhanne
tahl aa tu gt
hehm!yet;hr
,rueee meaningfl ddprui ednropts tohasyelei waHtovhaf oesent madein. raisingd
. use of the words "
Members who were absent were men who" could well be spar, d."
That was what he fouud fault with. He repeated, that he
would nr.t have dared use those words if those gentlemen had
been present.
Mr. ROEBUCK begged to tell the House that in his small
experience of the law in cross-examining, that if he had to deal
with a witness of a peculiar temperament, he always found
that his best plan to adopt in the first instance was, to let him
tell his own story.—(Laughter ) Now, he did not complain
of the peculiar phraseology which had been used by several
Members; but what he did complain of was the sinele
phrase " dare." Now, what was it that he " dare" not do ?
( Hear, hear, and laughter.) Dared he net to say that the
Hon. Gentlemen, to whom he had alluded, had deserted their
post, like sentinels who, having been placed on dut-, had
thrown down their muskets and ran away?_.( Hear, hear.)
And after having said that, he supposed that the mortified
vanity t f those Gentleman it was that had led them to do so.
Those were his words, and that his opinion, and he now
begged to 'say he still adhered to it. The Hon. Member for
Cork had appealed to his kind feelings —(Langhter)—and the
Hon. Member for Dungarvon had also remarked upon the
strong phrase he (Mr. Roebuck) had used ; but in reply to
them, he would ask, of whom had he been speaking?
Were those Gentlemen be had mentioned at all careful
of their phraseology in applying it to Members of that
(louse.—( Hear, hear.) He saw Hon, Members present to
whom he had alluded, and he would ask had not motives been
imputed by them to him, and vulgar expressions used, and
mountebank acts practised?—( Laughter)—for there were such
things as great mountebanks as well as little ones.—(Laughter.)
He would not deign to reply to what had been said by the Hon.
Baronet the Member for Water ford ; but what had been said
by the Hon. Member for Cork and the Hon. Member for
Dungarvon did call for some observations from him, and, in
doing so, he would say that, if there was any language more
strong than another by which to mark the desertion of the
Hon. Members he had mentioned, and their conduct while de-
serting, that language he would use.—( Hear, hear.) He had
heard an Hon. Member opposite talk of the agricultural inte-
rests, and agricultural distress, but all he (Mr. R.) could say
if
he
was, that
wished there
w
t hespeech a ofs
an end
to h
th at Hon.t
is aMemberx...... ahlookedtugveer.)
very like
Thees
Hon. Member had said that the imposition of this tax upon
Ireland would be unjust and Impolitic. He said that he had
hopes of Ireland's prosperity, and of the influx of capital into
that country ; but he had not shown how his (Mr. Roebuck's)
proposition would interfere with that —( Hear, hear. )
What he (Mr, Roebuck) did propose was this, that this coun-
try sho-';:ifl not abstain from taxing the rich men of Ireland,
':.mile thereby they taxed more heavily the working people of
England.—( Hear, hear.) That was his argument ; and how
had it been met ? Ily telling the House that capital was Slow-
ing into Ireland, and that the imposition of the tax would
check it. But the House was not told in what way the taxing
of the Irish landlords would prevent one peuud of English
capital from flowing into Ireland. —( Hear, bear.) They had
been very significantly told by the Hon. Members for Armagh
and Dungarvon, that the tax would cause a revolution.--( Hear,
hear.) Why so ?—( Hear, hear.) He did not propose to tax
the poor or the middle classes in Ireland, but only the land-
lords, who had caused all the evils under which that country
suffered. —(Cheers.) For his part, he did not believe that all
the arts that could be used to produce alitation, would induce
the Irish peasantry to rise into rebellion for the purpose of
saving the landlords from a tax.—(Cheers.) For his part, he
had always endeavoured to do good for the Irish people.—
(Ironical cheers.) He had never voted for a Coercion Bill.—
(Cheers.) He had never voted for the Irish Church.—
(Cheers.) But if the Irish landlords had a particle of gene-
rosity, they would ask to he taxed.—(Great laughter.) He
did not regard that laugh, but he asserted still that they shrunk
from the tax with a want of that generosity which was charac-
teristic of the Irish people.
Lord CASTLEREAGH, who rose amidst loud cries of
question, wished to say, on the part of the Irish landlords,
that they did not shrink from their fair share of the public
burthens.—( Hear, hear, and laughter.) For his own part,
he paid 80/. a-year to the income-tax.—( Laughter. )
Ile Committee then divided, when there appeared--
For the amendment
Against it
... --242
The Commil‘ttleaejotrliiteynadgiaviindsetditon the original resolution, when
there appeared—
For the original resolution
Against it ......

228
30

Majority for the original resolution......-193
The House renamed.
The CHAIRMAN reported progress, and obtained leave to
Fit again on Friday. _ _

ASSESSED TAXES.
Captain PECHELL moved for returns of all surcharges for
duties on windows, which have been decided by the Commis-
sioners acting in the execution of the Act relating to the As-
sessed Taxes, from the Ist of January, 1839, to .the 31st of
December, 1844.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER begged to
assure the Him. and Gallant Member that it was utterly impossible
that those returns could be furnished, inasmuch as the assessors
were not Government officers, but were appointed locally, and
kept no record of their proceedings.
Mr. HUME contended that the returns could be had for
the last year at all events.
Captain PECHELL said he would divide the House on hie
motion.
The House divided,and the numbers were—
For the motion 5
Against it 3l
Majority against
The House then adjourned at One o'clock.

PRINCE PUCRLER MUSKAU'S EGYPT.'%--.The
only complete English E lition of this work, translated
by H. E. Lloyd, Esq., has just been published by Mr.
Colburn, in two volumes, comprising the three volumes
of the original German. - The singular facilities which
Prince Puckler Muskau enjoyed in_ his intercourse with
Mehemet' Ali, afforded him • advantages such as have
never before fallen to the lot of any traveller. We here
see Mehemet Ali himself, not through tk distorted me-
dium, but behind the scenes, for the Prince not only had
the privilege of daily and confidential intercourse with
him, hut travelled with the Viceroy when he went on
his tour in Upper Egypt ; and the complete unre-
servedness of that great man, in communicating his
noble and enlarged views for the people whom he go.
verns—his account of his early life, as detailed in the
last chapter of the first volume, are deeply interesting,
and are here communicated for the first time. Yet the
work is not wholly of a political character. The author
takes every opportunity of giving information respecting
the scenery, antiquities, and the manners of the inhabi-
tants of the countries through which he passed ; and,
in his usual graceful style, has addressed a letter from
the top of the Great Pyramid, which ho ascended twice
in one day, to his friends, giving an amusing account of
his ascent, &c. The Prince then proceeded up the Nile,
where he rejoined the Viceroy, and then set out on his
journey to Nubia aid Ethiopia. second volume is
dedicated to a visit to some of the most remarkable
ancient monuments of those countries ; but, perhaps,
the most valuable and interesting part of this volume is
the account of his journey to the South, his voyage up
the Blue River to Dongola and Meroe, and his journey
across the Desert, during which, besides personal ad-
ventures, he communicates many nnportaut particulttra
respecting the kingdom of Darfour, and other coubtries
further south than Wadi-Medineh.
THE WEATHER.—THE PARKS.-..-After eight o'clock on Sunday night the previous cloudy atmosciiena "epeedod by a brilliant morning, the wind blowing bris,was -
and piercing 'hall N.N.E.,
the mercury began to fall, and
ght, and up to Seven
o'clock yesterday morning,
e titerthermom at the Receiving House
in Hyde Park stood at 28.. degrees. The advance Of the day, how-
bars hopes of the skater, and though the tnem-
ig Club met in Hyde Park, All were compelled to f
forego their .avourite amusement. The thelmometer at noun was
bele.resr,otishiewiSleksdatrll
degrece, and had declined very slightly up to eight o'clock last
night, The wind blew chiefly than the southward.
MR. BELANY ONCE .-2171) e North Sunder-
Lvid correspondent of the Betleiek Adeertiser says—. Mr. Belany,
who is said to have lycett alma Ayton last weak, is suelug the
Humlred tor damne done to his property by the fire, on an occasion
whi,.:ll will be In the recollection of nut readers. He puts in his claim
at %he suns of ,Piool. Accordn to reports it was the intention of
240 r. Belany to lei this place beg fore the fire occurred. At all events
F everal articles of furniture were sent north prior to it ; and several
oth,rs were stowed away in an outer house. On the night of the tire
there was a good deal saved from the dames. There is-every like-
lihood at present that the rate-payers of the northern division of
Itattibro' ward will meet Belany against his claim at Nelyeastle, at
the cowing tySizee."-..-Nesccastle Ackeiliser.

GREAT EETING

he importers of foreign sugar of the first class received Jas.
per cwt. ; the imposters of the second class, 28s, per cwt. ; the
importers of the third class, 355. per cwt.; and the importers
of the fourth class, 385. per cwt.; while the consumers paid the
same price far all:--( Hear; hoar.) Now if the Minister said,
I will charge the highest rate of duty, namely, 28s. on all
those classes of sugar, it was quite clear he might do so with-
out raising the price one fraction to the consumer.—( Hear.)
The Right Hon. Baronet reckoned that from those various
duties he would receive 3,916,0001. He made a sacrifice of
near 2,00 t,OO 1., and then he asked the country to make up
the sacrifice by imposing an income-tax.—( Cheers.) Now if
he had imposed the sadist rate of duty on all those descriptionl
of sugar, which would give the same price to the foreign and
to the colonial grower, he would receive, instead of 3,9 0,0001.,
no less a sum than 7,00',0001., while the public would not pay
a fraction more for their sugar.—( Hear, hear.) The Right
Hon. Baronet also, in order he supposed to render his proposal
more aoceptable to the country, favoured them with certain
estimates as to what he believed would be the supply of sugar
next year. Now all estimates of what the supply would be
were extremely unsatisfactory--( Hear, hear)—and four years
ago, when the present Ministry were in opposition, and the
then Ministers proposed an alteration of the sugar duties, Lord
Sandon brought forward his motion, which was based
on an estimate of the future supply. On that occasion Lord
Sandon said, " We do not want slave -grown sugar, because
the produce of our own colonies is increasing so rapidly of late,
that there would be a sufficient supply without having recourse
to other countries." Lord Sandon estimated the supply at
225,030 tons. Well, four years have passed over since then. The
population had in that time increased one million, and while
the consumption of tea had increased 2 000,000 of lbs., and
that of coffee 3,000,000 of lbs., the supply of sugar, instead of
increasing, had been diminishing year by year ; and last year,
though there were strong promises of an increase on the
part
of those who would exclude Brazil sugar, the supply had fallen
from 225,000 tons to 204,000,-4 Hear, hear.) The public
should not, therefore, place implicit confidence in the declara-
tion of the Minister with respect to the supply of sugar from
any particular quarter. The article of sugar has, perhaps,
been one by which the system of monopoly was tested, more
than any other; for since 1811, while the population had in-
creased upwards of 8,000,000, the supply of sugar remained
stationary.—( Hear, hear.) While the supply of tea had been
doubled, and that of coffee quadrupled, the supply of sugar,
which was most protected during all this period, remained sta-
tionary.—( Hear, hear.) And yet, notwithstanding the falsi-
fications of those predictions with regard to the supply of sugar
from their colonies, they found that the mast absurd distinc-
tions were to be kept up, which every Englishman ought to feel
ashamed of, when he thinks of the numerous inconsistencies
in which it landed them, and the numerous disadvan-
tages in which it placed their commerce.—( Hear, hear. )
'Fine Right Hon. Baronet had already said that he intended to
persist in the distinction between free-labour sugar and slave-
grown sugar, but in the very same Budget in which he pro-
pounded that intention, he proposed to take off the duty on
cotton-wool, a measure which perhaps was one of the best he
could have brought forward, but while he recognised the dis-
tinction between slave-grown sugar and free-labour anger, he
altogether repudiated it in the case of cotton-wool, which was
altogether produced by slave-labour.—( Hear, hear.) While
he recognised the distinction in the case of sugar, for reasons
best known to himself, he abandoned it with regard to coffee
also, for twice within the last four years he had reduced the duty
on coffee, the largest imported product from the Brazils. Now,
he did not at all object to those reductions. On the contrary
he was very glad of them, and he only brought those cases for-
ward as examples of the inconsistency which applied one rule
to sugar and a different one to cotton and coffee.—(Cheers.)
There was another for reducing the duty, on which the Right
Hon. ilaronet took credit to himself, and he was entitled to
credit for it per se—that was, the reduction on the duty on copper
ore.—( Hear, hear.) And not only was that the production of
slave-labour in Cuba and Brazil, but the product of slave-labour
in its worst form.—(Hear, hear.) Mr. Gladstone, to get rid
of the inconsistency of stating one way with regard to sugar,
and another with respect to coffee, said that the labour required
for the production of coffee was light and easy as compared
with what was required in the production of sugar, which
was cruel and destructive to the constitution of the negro,
but the working of copper ore was the most distressing to
which the slave could be subjected, either in Cuba or Brazil.—
( Hear, hear.) The effect of the new sugar duties, instead of
lessening the protective duty, as it was wished to be believed,
and to benefit the consumer, the effect would be, taking price
and revenue together, quite the reverse. The old duty left a
differential duty of los 6d, but the new duty left a differential
duty between 14s and 28s, and for all practical purposes, if all
the duty was available, the real practical differential duty
would be 14s, instead of 108 641.--( Hear, hear.) It might
not be fair to ask on what grounds this distinction was made in
favour of colonial produce. There was a feeling in the public
mind, that a preference ought to be given to the colonial pro-
duce, but he believed that the grounds of this opinion were
based on erroneous impressions. In the first place, they had
been very apt to believe that a large portion of these exports
went to the colonies, and it was frequently urged that it was
wise to maintain their colonies even at an apparent dis-
advantage, in order to secure an outlet for our. manufactures.
Now, as far as our exports go, our colonial possessions in
America, including the West India Islands, Canada, and Novo
Scotia, took goads last year, which was the latest period at
which there were any returns, to the amount of 4,600,000/.
Other parts of America, including Brazils and South
America, the produce of which were excluded by the course
of our Legislature, took our goods to the amount of
11,500,000/. —( Loud cheering.) The whole of our
colonial possessions throughout the world took, during the
same year, goods to the amount of 13,500,0001., while the
whole of the foreign countries with which this country traded,
and which asked for no preference or exclusive advantage for
themselves, brit merely a fair exchange of their produce for
what this country had to give them in return—those coun-
tries took of our goods not less than 38,000,0004—(Cheers.)
Some, again, supported their colonies and their
colonial le-
gislation on the ground of affording an outlet to our increasing
population. For his part, he was not a friend to emigration.—
( Hear, hear.) He would rather see the many means at their
disposal, at home, put in requisition to afford employment to
the population.—( Hear, hear.) That might be done more
effectually by extending our commerce than by sending the
people abroad, and scattering them over the face of the earth,
to find employment.—( Hear, hear.) But were he a friend
to emigration, he would tell those men who supported their co-
lonisl system on this ground, that it appeared from the Report
of the Emigration Committee that the United States of Ame-
rica furnished an asylum for double the amount of emigrants
that all our colonies in the world did. Yet though the United
States of America furnished an asylum for our population
greater than all our own colonies they sought for no peculiar
privileges on that account. Sir Robert Peel was fond of
talking of our pr.tecting and encouraging countries where the
English tongue was spoken. He (Mr. Wilson) did not know
if it entered into his head that oar colonies should be encou-
raged, in order that there might be a greater sale of Lindley
Murray's Grammar and Walker's Pronouncing Dictionary.
If that were the reason why our colonies should be protected
and encouraged, then very little attention would show that the
English language was four times more extensively spoken out of
our colonies than in them.—( Hear, hear.) There might be,
and there was, another reason assigned for protecting our co-
lonies—namely, that they were a stay to the empire—that
their protection afforded them greater political power ; hut
people in this view of the case were very apt to argue in a
circle. If one spoke against the expense of the army and navy,
it was urged they are required for the maintenance of these
colonies—if one spoke of the expense of the colonies, it was
said they were necessary to give employment to the army and
navy, and to maintain cur political power.—( Hear, hear. )
Sir R. Peel said he could not reduce the army—not because
they were wanted at home, but because it was necessary to
have relays to send to the colonies. And he agreed with Sir
R. Peel in the necessity and policy, so long as they had colo-
nies, of affording relief to the troops who were in the colonies,
far they ought net to exact from military men a greater sacri-
fice than ought in fairness to be made. The time
of their service abroad ought not, therefore, to be
extended beyond a certain period, and they should
be satisfied to bear the expenses of the colonies as long as
they were willing to maintain them, and he did not at all mean
to insinuate that they ought to be given op.—( Hear, hear.)
Then, again, Sir R. Peel asked for a million to support the
navy, not that it might be employed at home, but that there
might be a larger available force to protect their commerce in
those seas in which they traded. Again, he did not mean to
say that was wrong. On the contrary, he believed there was
great practical safety in having ships to protect their commerce,
and that the world's peace was more likely to be secured
thereby. But what he asserted was, that the colonies ought
not to be maintained at the expense of the consumers. What
had been the effect of the protective system in the colonies?
They had many articles produced in their colonies, and there
was not one in which they did not excel all the world when it
was free from protection.—( Hear, hear.) Only a few years
ago the article of indigo was unknown in the East Indies. It
was introduced there from Mexico, about fifty years ago, but
now their East Indian possessions entirely monopolised that
article, and not only did they supply this country with that
article, but the rest of Europe was supplied with it from this
conntry.—( Hear, hear.) Again, the articles of wool, silk, and
Sax were articles all grown in their colonies, and which
had all increased without protection, and he be-
lieved that if there had been no protection to their
sugar, but if the grower of it had been subjected to that com-
petition to which other classes of manufacturers were, sugar
would have been grown this day cheaper in their colonies than
anywhere else, and would benefit the colonies themselves.—
( Hear, hear.) He would not lightly or rashly form an opinion
of so much importance to the West Indian possessions, arid not
less so to the East Indies. There was not a newspaper pub-
lished in the West Indies which he did not receive regularly
by every mail, and, if those papers taught him anything, they
showed that protection was the bane of the colonies.—
( Cheers.) There was not a single newspaper in which the
acknowledgment was not to be found that the system of pro-
tection had been the barrier to all improvement.—( Hear,
hear.) And it was only within the last year or two that this
question began to be agitated, that they became alive to
their situation, and that symptoms of improvement had taken
place ; and by the last mail he received papers from which he
made several extracts, which he would not trouble the meet-
ing by reading, but they showed that a spirit of activity and
improvement was manifesting itself. Like the agricultural
associations here, they were forming societies and offering
prizes for the largest production of sugar. In autumn last
year, the Clarendon Agricultural Society of Jamaica offered
premiums for the cheapest production of sugar. There were
two competitors for the prize, and the result of the competi-
tion was, that on one estate sugar was produced at Ss. Mid.
per cwt., on the other at 9s 60. per cwt. ; in both cases at
less than Id. per lb. —(Cheers.) He had heard that in
Jamaica and the West Indian Islands there was a great want
of labourers, but on looking over the papers he found ample evi-
dence that there was a superabundance of labour. He fonnd
that there were even complaints made of the number of
able-bodied paupers, which was not very consistent with a
want of labour.—( Hear, hear.) He found that they were
going to make a railway in Jamaica, with the chief contractor
of which he was conversing some time since, arid he was in-
formed by that individual that labourers at such hard work as
that on a railway, in such a cligiate as the West Indies, could
be procured at 7s. a week—(Shame' shame)—and he also
found in the papers arguments as to whether the labour per
day should be Is. or Is. 3d. It would, therefore, appear that
whatever might be the case two or three years ago, there was
no want of labour now. But those papers found fault with
the proprietors and planters for their want of spirit, and one
very remarkable instance occurred in January last year. Se-
veral proprietors and planters had been asked to subscribe to
the railway to which he had alluded, as it would facilitate
the conveyance of products to the sea from the
interior, but though it was to benefit themselves,
not one of them was got to subscribe—not the slightest
encouragement was given. At last the projector,
fearing that he must give up the matter as a bad job, proposed
it to two or three free-traders in Liverpool—( Hear, hear)—
and in less than two days the whole capital was subscribed by
free-traders—(Cheers)—who had been accused of having in-
tended to ruin the country.--(Cheers.) The gentleman from
whom he had this information had all his sympathy in land•
He was a native of Jamaica, to which he was about to return
for the purpose of attending to his own estate, andndal
purpose of preaching the doctrines of free-trade,
a there was
equalization of the sugar duties.
one very serious objection to the
final settlement of the
anso fur the
The last Bill which was in-
troducedquestion.—(Hear,hear.)propositionthe did net settle any thing, and
uanrpdmweasoffoudnid,oirngapnrisaicrtigicethtoe
whole trade—(Hear, hear)—
from coming in—(Hears kear)--.
the planters, and the dealers. It did not even
sugar prevent slave-grown

which it was the object of the BM to exclude. Was it likely
that there would be more security under the new Bill ? What
person of ordtreiry prudence Would risk capital when there was
so much uncertainty?—(Cheers.) It was a measure so dif-
ficult and intricate, that he defied any merchant in the city of
Loodort to say what its operation would be for twelve months.
—( rear.) Hew eaulti the mercantile interest go on with any
c,Ttaitity if, day after day, and setsioe.after session, new and in-
tricate propositions were to be made, each sueteeding the other?
How could the West Indians themselves, who were looking out
wit h anxiety for the new measure to regulate their measures ?
They would not be eble to do anything, because they must per-
ceive that the present arrangement would not be permanent,
and that to enable them to carry on their operations with cer-
tainty, the ditty must be placed on a permanent and secure
basis. —( Hear.) That sets the great evil of the protective
system, that it gave no security, and as long as protection
continued, the question would not be settled. —( Hear, hear.)
He believed the West Indians, as a body, lost considerably by
the protective system, and that their position would be much
better if the duties were removed, not gradually,
but entirely and at once, than it it was continued to them.
He was quite sure that no person could hope for any perma-
nent settlement of this question, except by the entire abolition
of protection. —( Hear, hear.) He was quite satisfied from
the vigour and the spirit of determination which that Associa-
tion had shown from the first—the perseverance with which
it had followed out the subject, from the success which had
attended that perseverance, and firer. the encouragement
which it had received to persevere still further, he was quite
sure that until every protective principle, every particle of
protection was given up, there was no chance of the agitation
subsiding. He therefore trusted that the time was not far
distant when all persons connected with protective interests
would come to the conclusion that there was a way by which
that interest might be rendered a mutual interest with the
world at large and their own countrymen, and that could only
be by perfect unreserved free trade, and the entire abolition of
the protective system.—(Cheers. )
R The CHAI MAN—I now beg to introduce our distinguished
and eloquent friend, Mr. George Thompson, the powerful
advocate of free trade.
Mr. GEoacs Tliostrsote then came forward, and was re-
ceived with a loud burst of cheering. He spoke as follows :
I deem it, Sir, a high and noble privilege to be permitted to
occupy such a position as that in which I now stand. If
pride were allowable under any circumstances, a man, I
think, might be forgiven who was proud to address such an
audience as this, on such a theme, surrounded by such in-
dividuals as occupy this platform and various other portions
of this House. It is gratifying to know, in giving utter-
ance to what we believe to he just, humane, and en-
lightened opinions, that our audience is not confined within
these walls, but that we find an audience of millions of men,
wherever our language is known, and wherever the measures
we', recommend, are likely to affect the interests and
destinies of the human race.—(Great cheering.) I do
not think there is a spot on the surface
of the globe, to which human eyes are directed with more in-
terest than the spot on which we stand to-night. I do not
think there is a question agitating the minds of intelligent
beings in any part of the world, more important than that
which is occupying our attention to-night. I do not think
there is one question that enters more intimately into the con-
cerns of men, and is more closely and inseparably allied to
their best temporal interests.—(Cheers.) We are not even
discussing a national question ; fur we hold it to he true that
free trade is not only the right of mail individually, but the in.
terest of nations universally.—( Cheers.) We are not advo-
cating the cause of our country alone, still less of any parti-
cul class in the country—we are advocating the cause of men
everywhere, wherever they live—and where do they not live
—under the primeval curse of earning their bread in the sweat
of their brow.—( Cheers.) All we ask is that human indus-
try should possess its own. That men should be per-
mitted to enjoy the fruits of . their honest labour.
—that no man robs them in the quantity and quality, or price,
of that which they obtain in exchange for their labour. It is
exceedingly difficult to know on what topic to address an audi-
ence in Covent-garden theatre. I would advise the man who
experts
to speak here at any time never to read the speeches
that are male here—never to hear them. Let him content him-

self with the merits of this question, and be as ignorant as he
can be of what goes on is this house, or, in reference to the
question of free-trade, even in ether public meetings. For if
he shoeld attend these meetings, or read the speeches, he
cannot, while he sits here, or while he meditates elsewhere, se-
lect a topic on which he does not know that eloquence and ar-
gument. have been almost exhausted, and he cannot choose that
topic without treading over ground that has already been tra-
versed by those who had gone before him. In fact, our ground is
growing every day narrower, even if we take in all the topics
that are legitimately in connexion with this question. We
had a good many fallacies afloat in days past—they are:exploded.
—( Laughter.) The man would be fighting a shadow to-night
who got up to battle with the paramount interest of agricul-
ture. He would be fighting with a shadow who got up to talk
about peculiar burdens, for we have never been able to find
them, and the squires won't help us to do so, or show us
where they are. We cannot even take up the old topic on
which we used to talk, namely, the antidote to distress, and
depression, and misery, that were brought forward, all of them
intended to direct public attention away from the one great
source of evil, the one grand remedy for existing grievances.
We, hear no more talk now of emigration, as a substitute
for a repeal of the corn-laws—no more talk—or
very little, at least, of home colonisation—very little
now of national educat:on, as the topic to which
the public are to direct their attention—and not much, I believe,
though some considerable sensation was created awhile ago, on
the subject •f the allotments of land. We may, however,
glance, Sir, to-night at some events which have transpired
since a public meeting was held in this place. Several inte-
resting events have occurred. The first to which I will allude
is the holding of a great meeting in Manchester, at which the
Council of the Anti-Corn-law League laid a report before their
constituents. It was a good report. As our brethren on the
other side of the Atlantic would say, it was " a most satisfac-
tory document."—(Cheers and laughter.) It reported that
ti 6,000/. had been collected in fifteen months—it reported that
our respected Chairman would not again have to sustain a de-
feat in the Southern Division of Lancashire.—(Great cheer-
ing.) It reported that his defeat had led to the enfranchise-
ment of about 1,750 individuals in that county, and the ob-
taining of a clear majority of more than 1,000 of the votes in
that county in the cause of free trade.—(Much cheering. )
The report also stated that a great elfin, and a successful one,
too, had been made in the cause of registration in almost all
parts of the country—that much had been done in the ‘i est
Riding of Yorkshire, and that that important portion of the
kingdom is not likely soon to be again represented by two gen-
tlemen who are monopolists. It reported also, that in other
parts of the kingdom, in North Cheshire, as well as in
the county in which we are assembled, much had
been done in the way of carrying nut the plan
so ably devised by the distinguished gentleman on the plat-
form, and his coadjutors, for the purpose of regenerating the
county constituencies of th r kingdom. All that is reported,
and the sanguine expectation is held out that when the mag-
nificent anti-corn-law bazaar is held in this place, in May
next, there will be such an addition made to the League fund,
as the result of the entrance money and purchase money
connected with that grand exhibition, that the maximum sum
—asked for at the hands of the public in the cause of free-
trade—will be quite, if not more, than realised.—Great
cheering.) We have not only had a report from the Council
of the Anti-Corn-law League of a most gratifying character,
but we have also witnessed in the City of London a grand
meeting of the Agricultural Protection Society.—(Laughter.)
I have read the report of that meeting, but I cannot
pronounce on that report the same verdict as I have
with reference to the report of the Council of the
Anti-Corn-law League.—(Cheers) A more stale, flat,
unprofitable, unargumentative document I have never seen—
(Laughter)—all rationality seems to have tied from the heads
of toe men who are connected with that Protection Society.—
( Laughter.) It seems to be oniy necessary to join the Anti-
Corn-law League for a man to become a sensible man.—
( Cheers and laughter.) It seems only necessary to join the
Protection Society in order to become most confused in intel-
lect--( Renewed laughter)—most incapable of understanding
the subject, and still less of arguing respecting it. I will un-
dertake to sacrifice anything you shall please to condemn me
to sacrifice, if you will find an individual who will find me
throughout the speeches made at the Freemason's Tavern on
the occasion of the great agricultural dinner, one argument.—
( Cheers and laughter.) It is needless to dwell on that spec-
tacle. If there was nothing edifying there was something at
least amusing, and a vast deal supremely ridiculous.—(Laugh-
ter.) We have had a Queen's speech, too. On that it does
not become me to speak, excepting to say that it is as tame
as Queens' and Kings' speeches usually are, and has turned out
as delusive as such speeches generally turn out to be. And we
have had, above all this, a financial statement from the Prime
Minister of the country, and that seems to be the topic of topics
at the present moment. And what shall we say of this ? I
will not say it wants skill, but I will say it wants courage.—
( Cheers.) I will not say it wants plausibility, and tact, and
eloquence, but it vastly wants honesty and truth.—(Cheers. )
I will not say it dues not profess sympathy with the poor, but I
will say that the measures recommended do not possess much
or have :ouch power to benefit this class of society, which
seems to be, according to the words of the Right Hon.
Baronet, the special object of his sympathy and regard.—
(Cheers.) It has been already stated by the enlightened gen-
tleman who has preceded me, that with the measures of Sir
Robert Peel brought before the public in that statement, we
do not seriously quarrel. They are good as far as they go. We
arc thankful to know that the cosy se is now being cleared by
degrees for the grand heat.—(Laughter and cheers.) This
might not be absolutely necessary, but at all events it will prove
to be convenient. We shall not now have deputations goiNg
up about glass. We see through that. subject now.—
( Great laughter.) We shall hear no more of deputa-
tions on the subject of coals, unless others come up
to London to ask for an export duty again to be put on coals,
which is not very probable.—(Laughter.) Sir Robert allows
the introduction of certain kinds of woods to acme off the dis-
cussions on other subjects; and then, by delusive schemes,
which Mr. Wilson has so ably exposed—and no man can expose
them better, and few so well—he tries to be exceedingly sweet
on the community, and to put off the repeal of the corn-laws
by giving us a lollypop.—(Laughter.) Now some benefit will
doubtless accrue from these changes. We cannot contemplate,
without thankfulness, any prospect of glass windows being put
into the cabins of the Irish.—( Cheers. ) We are very curious
to know whether we shall have our watches and chronometers
regulated by glass balances instead of steel ones, for we are
told that one of these remarkable curiosities was exhibited by
the Prime Minister of England on the Treasury benches the
other night. We find little fault with that which he has done.
A grievous sin, and it is a heavy sin for such a man
to commit—for a man possessing his knowledge of
this country, and a knowledge of its geographical
position, its high and wide connexion with the world at large,
the peculiarities of its population and the resources for which it
is distinguished, as well as the manufactures for which it is ce-
lebrated—that such a man should satisfy his own conscience and
seek to satisfy the public and the world with coming down to
the House of Commons for the purpose of reducing duties on
certain articles without disturbing those gigantic robberies in
the shape of protection which are still permitted to live un•
assailed and even unthreatened by the Prime Minister:oT.
( Great cheering.) He has granted what we never askedrP purposes
We did not ask for a reduction of taxes levied for the
of revenue. We did ask for a reduction and annihilation
of
taxes levied for the sole purpose of protection, but Sir Robert
Peel has not only not touched the protective
isoy6
ttes7
8o far as lie
, but he hs
rather strengthened it and augmented
its
have been corrected
has touched it at all. Errors of remedyupoupon
minorth the
by Sir Robert Peel. He hasaitkteendrog.weionefelhegoiwslatitoon
defects of his predecessors in matters
detail,unwon unwonted saga-
city, points. This he has doneii,
industry, patients, toil, He has
m a shownst es offn
other man could have exhibited ;
superior to what almost
I.le has corrected those errors of judo_
hut what has he done
referred more
those errors in legislation, which may be
moot,
1° eth judgment than. to the heart—more to the intellect than
to the want of principle—and he has lett alone that error of
legislation against which the whole community is crying out,
and he has purchased the support of great monopolists, holding
out to the people the prospect of purchasing certain articles
more cheaply, and importing some articles more abundantly,
although that very reduction in taxation they themselves will
have to mako up, and he therefore only makes them a present of
part of their own. For what does he do ? He says there is
a surplus revenue for this year of 5,000,0001. sterling; but I
meats to continue the income-tax. I might do :sway with the
income-tax, and I might meet all the ordinare expenses of the
State until April 1847 without having recourse to any income-
tax, or to any property-tax. I recommend nevertheless that
you should continue that tax for three ye... 4 and in exchange
for the 5,000,001 taken out of the poets of the people, 1 will
rodeos the taxes on glass, cotton, soaks, &c., to the mount of