Star.
London, England, 1830-02-26 00:00:00

well how long they were likely, with any military force, however
considerable, to preserve tranquillity in the country, and to keep the
discontents of so many classes who had little to lose and little to
fear from breaking out into open rebellion. It was said, however,
that the master manufacturers were prosperous, although the men
might be in a state of suffering. He feared that the condition of
tile master manufacturers was deeeptious; and that, although their
production might be large and their trade apparently great, the
profits arising from it afforded no remuneration for the employment
of their capital. He knew, and a noble lord near him could con.
tradict him if he was wrong, that the price of one of the staple arti.
cies of the trade of Birmingham had fallen one half, and the Taps
of labour had been reduced still more lamentably—he believed la
the extent of one quarter of their former amount. The noble duke
may say that much of this was owing to the productive power of
steam when applied to machinery. He was well aware of the of.
facts likely to be produced by the undue extension of the powers of
steam. He knew that it tended to the injury of the labouring classes,
and was not attended with corresponding benefits, because the
advantages which it produced by giving chap articles to the con.
sumer, and a large stock to the manufacturer, were more than
counterbalanced by the additions it made to the poors'
rates. But even supposing that some of the distress of the menu.
facturers was owing to the power looms, it surely could not be said
that those power looms had been introduced since last session. The
power looms were in existence years ago, and the distress which has
been so apparent for the last two years could not well be connected
with them; besides, if the noble duke was informed so well as he
ought to be, he would know well that the power looms had been
given up in several districts. It never, however, had been con-
tended that the production of power looms was not for the benefit
of the masters. AU that was said was, that it enabled them to
fabricate far beyond the quantity that could be consumed ; and he
confessed it was very natural that they should endeavour to make
up for the diminution of their profits by the extent of the quan-
tity which they could bring into the market. He had heard a
great deal of excessive production, but when he found that those
who would always:purchase the comfort and necessaries of life, if
they had the means, were unable to do so any longer, he thought
the decrease of consumption would be found to have gone on in an
*sect ratio with the increase of distress, and that the excessive pro-
duce was not the consequence of over manufacture, but of a dimi-
nished means of purchase. There might be, he had no doubt, a glut
of produce at a particular season ; but to say that the manufacturers
would go on for yaws piling up heap on heap of manufacture
without end, would be to say what every. man knew was not
the ease —that the manufacturers of England were totally igno-
rant of the principles of trade, and possessed not even o
prudence in the management of their affairs—(Cries of hear,
The noble duke had informed their lordships, in that elaborate pro-
duction which had been lately read to them—he meant the speech
from the throne —that the export in the last year of British produce
and manufactures exceeded that of any former year. Now the noble
duke should knew that this test of the prosperity of the country
was extremely fallacious. He did not mean to deny that the quan-
tity, as declared by the official value, had increased; but he meant
to matend that the quantity, as measured by itereal value, had very
amdderahly decreased. He trusted that the noble duke would
agree with him that the profit of the merchant depended upon the
quantity and the price. If so, the noble duke ought to have shown,
if he wished to make any just impression upon the nation, that not
only the official, but that the real value, also, of the export had in.
creased. Now the manufacturers of England were ready to prove,
V aped were, at the bar of their lordships, that not only the external
but that the internal trade of the country too, was conducted at
present without profit. He believed that the noble duke would
not deny that goods which bad been sent to another hemi-
sphere—and which had been offered there in vain for sale—bad
boo re-imported into this country, and sold here at an immense
Ise. How could such a fact be reconciled with that pros-
=which the noble duke had stated to be prevailing in
parts of this great commercial community ? It was
easy for any man to say that it was not possible for Parliament to
prevent competition with our manufacturers in foreign markets. Be
admitted this to be the case—but what then ? You should encou-
rage, instead of depressing, your home market, which is at once the
Most secure and the most extensive of all the markets which you
possess, consuming goods estimated by some at 9.loths, and never
estimated at less than 4.sths of the whole amount of your manta-
factuted goods. With respect to the foreign trade of the country,
he wished their lordships to turn their attention to the state of our
trade with our colonies in the West Indies. According to infor.
nation which he had received lately from a great West India pro.
prietor, and which might or might not be correct—according to in-
formation which he had lately received, the tax on the higher de.
scription of sugar was fifty per cent. which left a profit of only 2s.
per cent. on the higher sugars, and no profit at all upon the lower.
What was the state, he would ask, of the shipping interest? The
ship-owners found it impossible to carry on their business, not only
without realising &profit, but also without incurring loss; and many
of them, of late years, bad preferred parting with their ships at a
certain loss of forty per cent. to continuing to hold them at the risk
of incurring a loss still greater. To this lamentable state was that
interest reduced, to which our ancestors attached so much import-
ing., which was essential to our maritime commerce and greatness,
and to our insular protection and defence. He had now placed before
their lordships the existing condition of our agriculture, our manu-
factures, and our trade; and in surveying the situation and circum-
stances of all these interests they would find no ray of hope or coin.
het to remove the general gloom in which they were all involved.
The Noble Duke, however, had discovered one topic of consols-
don for their Lordships. He had found out that there had been an
increased traffic upon our canals, and that the tonnage ;employed
upon them last year had exceeded the tonnage of former years.
When the Noble Duke referred to such copies of consolation as
that, he must himself be in a state of great distress. lie did not
know whether this amount of tonnage was proved by official re-
turns, or whether it merely rested on a memorandum of the Noble
Duke's own; but let it rest on what grounds it might, one thing
was at least very clear, that there could be no satisfactory
Inference or conclusion drawn from it. The Noble Duke would
not deny that the same efect would certainly be produced if
the goods had been shipped upon speculation, and bad been hawked
about fur sale from one part tithe country to another. That would
give the semblance of increased traffic, but would not be a criterion
of imestased prosperity.—" Then," said the noble duke, " look at
Os now houses which are springing up on all sides of you ; those who
pay rent for them cannot be distremed." One would suppose from
such an argument that the noble duke, who had travelled in the
course of last summer through a large portion of the country, had
not travelled beyond the bills of mortality. New houses might
have been built, but they had not been built by the productive
dames. He bad not heard of any new mills having been erected
...afany new manufactories having been formed—of any new build-
ings having sprung up, which were to be used in promoting the in-
, dusszy of the productive claws, and, until he did hear of such ode-
'treble consummation, he should deny the validity of the noble
duke's argument on the number of new houses which had been erected
' in the metropolis. But then, said the noble duke "the retail dealers
throughout the metropolis ars not distressed." Beal Stanhope)
would admit that there were many retail dealers In London who were
not distressed; but, if the question were put to him as to their con.
ditlon throughout the whole country, he would reply that it could
be proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the retail dealers were
in great distress, and especially in Ireland, where they were core.pounding their debts at the low rate of 2s. or 3s. in the pound....
(Hear, hear.) But to what did the argument of the 'noble duke
amount at best ? It never was contended by any person that eves]
man in the country was in a distressed situation. If such were the
'case, hernuch doubted whether those whom he was then addressing
would be *Mingle) that place as a House of Lords:" (Hik4, heath)
—Who had ever said that the fundholders and the annuitants were
distressed ? They might continue to flourish, like rank and
noxious weeds, among the general ruin which surrounded than.
(Hear, had.) But even the fundholders, and persons with fixed in-
comes, were injured by the prevailing distress; not that their in-
comes were not at present increased, but that the security of those
incomes wan materially diminished. (Hear, hear.) That secu-
rity depended on the state of the revenue, and that revenue was
stated, in the speech from the throne, to be on the decrease. The
words of the speech were--,, The national income, during the last
year has not attained the full amount at which it had been esti-
mated." Would it not have been fairer to have stated that It had
fallen short of the amount of former years. But if the statements
which:were periodically published of the revenue were to be de-
pended upon--and the noble duke knew better thin he did *halter
they were to be depended upon or not.—there was a falling.off In
the revenue of the last year, as compared with that of the former, of
1.300.000/. The speech, however, expressed an opinion that
" the diminution was not such as to cause doubts as to the future
prosperity of the revenue." Now, whatever doubts there might be
' upon that point three weeks ago, those doubts must be much
increased now, if the infornatica which he had received wen correct,
that the revenue was decreasing week by week, and particulary in the
excise, which was generally considered as the best criterion of the
prosperity and comfort of the nation. It was impossible that the n-
eat= should do otherwise than decline, as it was founded upon a
ion which wee daily decreasing. Ile would, therefore,
ask Male lords whether, when they saw in the country a
girstate of distress, affecting every branch of iniustry, affecting
eelurity of annuitants, and of those who derived their incomes
km the funds, affecting the public revenue to a great extent ; he
would ask noble lords whether, when they saw this distress, they
were not to inquire u to the causes front which it originated ? Was
it to be attributed, ash bad been attributed by the noble duke, to
some epidemical disorder, new is its nature, and tremendous In its
ravages, which affected at one and the same time all the interests of
the country ? It was said io the speech hem the throne, those the
distress was only partiaL—that itprevailcdooly among the apical.
tural and nsanufactiaing claws in sane parts tithe united kin
Such was the language of the royal speech, but he should wish