Star.
London, England, 1822-04-30 00:00:00

S

ing, and 15s. for the duty—in diminution of the price.
he would ,eceive in the British market. If importa-
tion should be allowed at 70s. which had been re-
commended by the Committee, the importer, after
deducting the rs. would only receive 4.35. a qua; ter,
for his tern. Formerly, when the duty had been
only 235. it had operated as a prohibition on the im-
portation of foreign corn. He did not believe that
there were many obstacles to a complete concurrence
on this point. His Right honourable Friend was
inclined to fix, in the first instance, upon eighty shil.
lings as the import price Whatever might be his
own private opinion, he wished rather to defer t'
the opinion of the majority of the Committee.—
The propositions he had to submit were in the shape
of Resolutions. The first was to authorise the ad-
vance of one million on British corn now warehoused.
The second was to authorise the grinding of foreign
corn now warehoused in this country, with the view
to its being after wards exported, care being taken
that it should not be consumed in this country. The
third was to alter the existing corn laws, so far as
they related to the amount of the importation duty;
substituting new duties for the old ones. The ports,
under the proposed altetation, would be opened at
SOs. and would remain open at and above 70p.. At
the present moment, he understood, there was a
very large mass of corn in warehouses, as mach, he
believed, as 900,000 quarters, of which between
600,000 and 700,000 consisted of wheat—(Hear).—
When the ports should be open, the whole of this
would come into the market without any duty what.
ever. Parliament had the right as well as the power
to impose duties prospectively—that is to say, upon
corn to be imported; but it could not, without a
breach of national faith, impose dot), upon the cora
now in warehouse. It was better to let in the limited
onantity, as the influx would then be less without.
lie trusteJ his Right Hon. Friend would put his views
into the shape of Resolutions, which would put the
Hon se in possession of two sets of Resolutions,.dif-
firing not it; principle, but merely in distinction.—
lie leated the! could not be conveniently discussed
to-night, and he would therefore propose that they
shout.; be read pro forma, printed and distributed
among ti,e Members, and then an early day (Friday
pet haps) might be fixed upon for the discussion. The
Noble Marquis then sat down, having first moved
the folio lug Re‘cilution:

" That It is the ooli.ion of this Committee that a sum not es-
ceediug one million be granted to his Majesty for the purpose of
the same being advanced, under the direction of Commissioners

to be appointed for that purpose, in the purchase of corn of
British growth in British warehouses, when the average price of
the same corn shall not exceed 60s. per quarter."

The question being put, Mr. WESTERN, after compli-
menting the Noble Marquis on his able and comprehensive
speech, observed, that the subjects introduced were of the
highest importance, and that many of them would have come
more properly from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The pro-
posal of the Noble k.arquis for the relief of the Agriculturalists
would, in his opinion, be perfectly useless, though he did not deny
that it might partially and temporarily raise the price of corn.—
Ultimately, however, he was persuaded it would be the means
of lowering the price. He objected to the advancing of public
money to excite or encourage speculation; and the advance in
question, he believed, would have this effect, even under the
most judicams management. The object of the Noble 3!arquis
was neither more nor less than to increase the circulating me-
dium cf the country. It was to increase the number of partners
in country Banks; and he conceived it would not be denied that
this would be the effect he had mentioned. It was intended to
control the operation of the Bill of 1819 for returning to cash
payments. That Bill it was which had occasioned the present dis-
tress; and the pressure of this distress he firmly believed was
felt by all the industrious classes. The merchant and the manu-
facturer were as much affected in their profits by that Bill as the
agriculturist. The proposed measure he regarded as a futile at-
tempt to extend the circulation. The Bill of 1819 bad been in
execution Wig before it bad received the Royal assent, and Mi-
nisters now proposed to limit its operation by retracing their
steps. All their endeavours would be unavailing. Nothing could
be more obvious than that when the quantity of the circulation
became diminished, its value became increased. The Act of
1819 had not left sufficient circulating medium to answer the
exigencies of the country. In consequence of this circulation
of the medium, hundreds, he might say thousands, were daily
falling a sacrifice to that financial experiment of Ministers. He
repeated, that distress did not affect the agriculturists alone.--
Ministers might hopelessly succeed, by their plans, in diverting
the attention of the country from the destructive measure iu
question; but that Act had of itself, by restoring the ancient
standard, brought back prices to the scale at which they were
before the suspension of cash payments. It was possible that
prices might advance a little; but the advance might more pro-
perly be called a fluctuation ; for, as he had before observed, the
Act had condemned the money price of corn. He could not
refrain from impressing on the House that the money price of all
commodities had diminished in proportion to that of agricultural
produce. The Hon. Member, in support of his position, pro-
ceeded to a comparison of the value of our exports of home manu-
factures for different years. There was the official value and the
declared value of these exports. The first was merely the nu-
merical, but the latter was the real value. In the year 1 814 the de-
dared exceeded the official value of our exports by 27 per cent.
—ln 1821 the case was reversed, for the official exceeded the
declared value by 12( per cent. making a depreciation in the
value of our home manufactures of 41 per cent. Was it pos-
sible, he asked, to attrihuta this depreciation to any cause but
that of the altered state of the currency ? Satisfied that the mea-
sure in question respecting the currency had been the principal
cause of the present distress, be was determined never to quit
the subject. The House, be feared, was blind to the digresses
of the People, but the People themselves were now beginning
to open their eyes. The victims, from the industrious class, of
that most impolitic measure, were most numerous ; and itNivas
a matter of must painful notoriety, that the honest yeomanry of
Lng!and were almost in a state of extinction.
Mr. RICARDO said, a great deal too much importance had
been attributed to the return to Cash Payments; and it had been
argued that a return to the former system of Paper Currency
would he beneficial. Now, however, that they had been able to
revert to those payments, he thought it would be proper to con-
tinue them—(llear, hear !).—The Noble Lord (Londonderry)
had proposed nothing which would afford the smallest relief from
taxation. Ile was not even to touch the Sinking Fund. One
hall of it might, at any rate, be given up for the relief of the
country. lint no sooner was this hinted at, than a cry of viola-
tiva of public faith was set up. It would be borne In mind,
however, that that fund was no longer five millions; it was, in
fact, no Sicking Fund at all. There was another subject con-
nect:A, mute intimately, perhaps, with this than :-cime might be
~vane, against which he tor one would protest—that was, the
prolonging, for a nualier of years, of the Charter of the Bank
of England. He would call on the Chancellor of the Exchequer
reit to cutter into any arrangement of this nature with the Batik.
The Bank had never been of any benefit to the Public; and the
advantages which the Bank had enjoyed should all along have
goer to the l'ublie. The Noble Lord bad drawn a distinction
between the different pl.tsi4 submitted to the House. He (Mr.
Ricardo) said he would give a pentecting duty of 203. and that
duty r.aa formerly forced upon bins by the state of the country.
ie proposed the price of 70s. because the Agricultural Interest
s in extreme distress; and whenever the price reached 70s.
all hxeei prices should be done away. The farmer in this country
ws On all men the worst used. After suffering Irons a severe
tson, instead of relief, he found foreign coru Let in upon him,
with he was as it were inundated. The' Noble Lord proposed
r•o remedy in some cases. lie wished to ask the Noble. Lord
rbat yea* to he done in this case? Suppose the price of 80s. fell
whit duty would the Cruwu impose inconsequence of
,e fall—would it he greater or less ?
The Marquis of LON DONI /ER ILY, in answer to the Hon.
emb r, the state of the market un the quarter day would