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

sent, to show precisely in what manner his majesty's
government acted as to the question of neutrality. But
I -say that we were rigidly and strictly neutral between
Don Miguel and his niece, and between the parties
in the civil war of Portugal. We had certainly a
commercial treaty with Don Miguel, and consequently in-
terests at stake, which it was incumbent on us to main.
tarn, and we were bound to neutrality. We could not,
therefore, suffer the Portuguese troops,
_ which were
assembled at Plymouth, to attack Terceira, or Ma-
deira, or the Azores, or Portugal, or any part of the
dominions which acknowledged
the sway of Don Mi-
guel, nor permit the neutrality to be violated. The
noble lord talks of the convoy that was given to the
, Portuguese squadron, when they were turned aside
from Terceira, and animadverted on the cruelty at-
tending that proceeding. Perhaps it is true that a man
wee killed on that occasion, although I do not know
that there is accurate or certain information as to the
fact; but be that as it may, we were not pi blame for it.
We were obliged to maintain our neutrality, and were
completely justified in what we did by the law of na-
tions (hear, hear! from Lord Holland.) I say that we
were compelled to act in order to preserve our neutrality,
and that in what we did we were fully justified by the
law of nations. Then the noble lord alludes to a
correspondence, which he says I conducted instead of
my noble friend (Earl of Aberdeen,) whose official
and constitutional duty it was, as the earl said, to
manage it. But the correspondence alluded to was in
my hands, and most properly so, as long as the person
with whom it was carried on bore no official character in
this country. His official character was not acknowledged,
but when a person did come to this country in an acknow-
ledged official character, then the correspondence was
transferred to my noble friend, and conducted in the usual
form. lam not prepared with the proper papers and
documents relative to these subjects, and I speak merely
from recollection. But the last topic of the noble earl's
speech is the most important of all, although in that
respect he has paid but little attention to the recom-
mendation in his majesty's speech. In that speech
his majesty says, that " It is from a deep solici-
tude for the permanent interests of his people that his
Majesty is impressed with the necessity of acting with
extreme caution in reference to the important subject of
proposing measures for the relief of any portion of his sub-
jects." But the noble earl does not attend to this recom-
mendation, nor does be take time to consider the question,
but he comes forward at once with a measure of relief, and
that measure is of no less consequence than an alteration
in the currency. The noble earl calls on your lordships
to act directly contrary to the advice of his Majesty, and
at once to pledge yourselves without inquiry to an altera-
tion in the currency. The noble earl talks of the Speech
from the Throne, as if it manifested a neglect of, and
indifference to, the present distressed state of the coun-
try. There is no man that can more deeply feel or more
sincerely lament those distresses than I do ; and it would
be difficult for any man who should hold the situation
which I at present fill, without being well aware of such
distresses when they exist, and without deeply and sin-
cerely regretting them. The Noble Earl says, that his
Majesty in his speech attributes these distresses to the
seasons. But what does his Majesty really say? He
says, " That he feels assured that the two Houses
of Parliament will concur with him in assigning
due weight to the effect of unfavourable seasons,
and to the operation of other causes which are beyond
the reach of legislative controul or remedy." Surely the
noble earl does not mean to deny that due weight ought
to be assigned to those causes ; and I cannot conceive
how the noble earl can draw any inference from
these words implying an indifference on the part
of his Majesty or of his Ministers to the dis-
tresses of his subjects. I must now call your Lord-
ships' attention to another most important consi-
deration connected with the distress. There is another
class of distress, quite distinct from that already refer-
red to, which really exists to a considerable degree
among the manufacturers. But I should like to know
whether this has not been caused by the employment of
machinery and the application of steam to various
branches of manufacture. Competition, too, has arisen
abroad ; there is great desire in all people to become
manufacturers, and there are new manufactures esta-
blished in all the countries of the world. Now, I beg
leave to ask if the employment of machinery abroad,
and the employment of steam to all manufacturing
purposes, is not calculated to contribute to the distress
of our manufacturers ? This is one of the causes re-
ferred to by his majesty in his speech, and your lordships'
must consider whether this is or not one of the causes
over which parliament could not possibly have any con-
troul. Can parliament, my lords, prevent the competition
of foreigners ? Can this house interfere to prevent the
application of machine' y and steam to manufacturers ?
or can there be a doubt that the application of steam
and the employment of machinery, with the co:u-
petition of foreigners, have made it necessary for the
manufactirers to give the mon they employ as small
wages as possible ? All these circumstances have coin-
bined to produce the distress complained of. The noble
earl opposite says that the distress is general, and
universal, and unexampled. lam afraid the distress is
general, but at the same time there are some symptoms in
the country which show, notwithstanding the distress,
that the country is advancing in prosperity ! I say that
this is proved by documents. If the exports of Great
Britain have gone on in increasing for some years—it
.y ;were- greater last year than soy former year—it
the amount of our exports are pow greater than ever
they were before—l say, not only that these are the
strongest symptoms of the prosperity of the country
increasing, but that the distress cannot be so great
and unexampled as the noble earl would make it.
There is not a rail-road, nor a common road, nor a canal
in the country,. on which the traffic has not increased
errerryear during the last few pews, and particularly in
the lase year. It may be true that thereis a diminution
of the manufacturers' profits—it may be true that the
profits arcuot se great as they were—but if theta were
as profit there would be no employment ; but the traffic
niwasuneeoxamine. unexampled{ which
were de
ta could not possfrom possibly
i. tale pltia7
unlesss
true that the advantages are not so great as they were
ten or twenty years ago, but still there were advantages;
pod where such as extensive and increasing traffic exists,
them °Minot be such extreme distress as the noble earl
liwients. There is another oircumstanee well worthy
,ief your Lordships' attention. There is a large 4.lr.es
of retail dealers- in this country—are they in &-
tress ? They fill every town, aria._ almost every village
ase.able•to pay large rents for fins
_new bowies.
I ask, if this is a sign of distress ? Or is it a sign
pf distresithet they are able.to build fine new houses in
isireritpart.of every town? These are facts, my lords; and,
Pay. what you please, theyprove, netwithetaoffing the die-
testcineense pastc.of-thecountry, that op the whole the
Mali! and that dine steams
Pan.Plis.not laWO4- distress. New,va lords, I
to sari few words'dn the rowdies by the noble
earl, who moms to have completely misunderstood the se-