Star.
London, England, 1830-02-05 00:00:00

and lead to consequences which could not be foreseen.
The Noble Earl had made an allusion to the case of
a man drowning, as illustrative of the state of that
part of the public labouring under the supposed
effects of the currency measure, and afterwards
had described his Majesty's Ministers as exclaiming to
the drowning man, " get out as well as you can." If
there were any resemblance to be traced in the condition
of those-affected by the currency and that of the drown-
ing man, he would say that the greatest danger was, that,
iike the drowning man, they might catch at straws. He
confessed that he, amongst others, felt the pressure com-
plained of. He was not disposed to turn on those mem-
bers of administration the observations which they had
at a previous period made use of; and provided they
save the country now their best assistance and counsel,
be was not inclined to envy them the possession of that
power which they officially possessed to the benefit of
society at large.
The Duke of RiertmoN D said that he was sorry to in-
trade himself at the present moment on the attention of
the house, but it might be in the recollection of some of
the noble lords present who heard him on a former occa-
sion, that he had then stated that the wool trade in par-
ticular was, not, protected in the same ratio as other pro-
duce. He had then said, anti he now repeated it, that we
had ruined the wool grower. The noble lord who had
just sat down could not be expected to recollect what he
(the noble duke) had said on that occasion with respect to
this subject, because, in fact, he did not appear to recol-
lect what he himself had then said with respect to that im-
portant branch of our commerce. The wool grower at the
present moment had the proceeds of three years produce on
his hand, for which, under the existing state of things, he
could find no market. But it was not the wool-grower
alone, the farmer, the manufacturer, and the landholder,
were all involved in the same destiny—all, in fact, on the
verge of ruin. Let any man who pays any attention to
the subject look round bim, and what is the result with
regard to the working classes? Why, that almost the
whole of that most industrious portion of the community
depend, at the present moment, upon the miserable pit-
tance of a parish overseer : and were the noble lords
under these circumstances, to tell the yeomen of England

that there was no remedy. It was owing to these grounds
that he, the noble duke, would support the amendment of
the noble earl, and he trusted, in doing that, he would
not be conceived guilty of assaulting the administration, a
tone which had been made use of by two noble lords who
spoke last.

The Earl of CARNAILVON was sure that the senti-
ments expressed in the King's speech were not in unison
with the generous and benevolent feelings which it was
well knoWn the Sovereign of this country entertained
towards the sufferings of his people. He was confident
that the cold-blooded allusions to those distresses con-

tained in the royal speech belonged solely to ministers.
That speech, which he would consider as the production
of government, instead of being a statement of the gene-
ral calamity, and of holding out hopes of a remedy, was
merely a novel expression of ministerial incapacity. It
pointed out no remedy, unless indeed telling people,
oppressed with evils, that the bearing them with patience
was their only remedy. No benefit of experience was de-
rived from current events : no remedy, which past cir-
cumstances could have furnished, was even once alluded
to. On the contrary, a delusive prospect was held out
by persisting in the—he would not bay profligate, bet
certainly ruinous—system, every relaxation of which had
been found productive of prosperity,—every return to
which the invaluable parent of universal distress. The
mention of the real cause of that distress was strenuously
avoided, and the only remedy held out was, what ? The
taking into serious consideration the state of the seasons.
Now he on his way home from that house would
probably be compelled to take the state of the seasons
into consideration, but he could not see how that would
throw light on the causes of the distress. He consi-
dered the state of the seasons a very inadequate and unsa-
tisfactory cause for the overwhelming distress which at
present pervaded so large a portion of the population.
To set aside such an argument altogether, he had
only to recall to their lordships recollection the sea-
sons of 1816 and 1817, both of which were infi-
nitely worse than the late summer could be said to
have been. Judging by analogy, according to the
doctrine laid down in the king's speech, the succeeding
year in 1818 ought to have been exhibited even greater
domestic distress than the weather of the past year was
said to have produced. Yet the period he alluded to was
one of the greatest rising prosperity ; wealth, commerce,
and agriculture, were rapidly on the increase,—it
seemed like an oasis of the desert. But to what was
this attributable, if not to the wise and beneficent measures
of the ministers of the day, who had a heart to feel
for the misfortunes of the poor, and a head to apply an effi-
cient remedy before it was too tate ? Government became
alarmed for the effect of their own operations, and issued
£7,000,000 of Exchequer bills, with a view to meet the
exigency. Three millions of small notes were also circu-
lated by the Bank of England, which was accompanied
by a corresponding issue from private banks in proportion.
This single fact, in his opinion, ought to silence auy plea,
resting on no better foundation than the wetness of the pre-
ceding season. He much lamented that so important a
'subject, ,on which the happiness, prosperity, health, and
lives of millions were dependent, should have been treated
26 lightly by these whose duty demanded a very differ-
ent couiae of conduct. Th.e nobie.yucoe.' nprhe bad just
spekeni bad expressed his determination to vote for. no
inquiry, as it would only prove illusory; and illusory he
admmitted it certainly would be, if the House of Lords
should confess the same incapacity of which his ma-
jesty's ministers already stood self-convicted. If the
noble lords in office could propose no measure of assist-
ance at such a juncture, when the cries of a suffering
nation assailed their ears, they were not the ministers
who could save the country, At, the same time. he did
not mean to insinuate that this wavto be referred to a
want-of capacity, whatever other dekiencies the present
government might be vharged with. On the subject of
the currency laws he would speak his sentiments freely,
notwithstanding the reluctance which was so visible on
the part of others, both within doors and abroad. Many
entertained opinions similar to his own, although defer-
ence to one leader or another prevented from speak-
ing out. Some also hoped that the powerful band of go-
vernment would be extended to relieve the public (rota
the intolerable evils so improperly termed temporary in
the officio,/ document then under their consideration. It
would be easy to prove that every measure in other times,
and other countrief, which bad for its object the contrac-
tion of the circulation, produced uniformly public distress.
Formerly; distress which so originated passed away in a
few yearn; now, however, the kingdom was plaited
,thesrent chetinistances; as the peadivtioti of the
instals had diminished, whileagrionitand and oponnetb4o
mom* had multiplied. The chimiatista maw folds
of a nature oonuneositrate wllftdr demsai. Manyetilis
-aohlileidii whom he addriesebbillietilribeady oblipd
to abate their incomes by 20 or 30 pet mat. bat. accord-
ing to the system punned by gammas, they might