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

audible in the gallery, concluded by proposing to strike out of the
address the clause which Alms the ezistence of partial distress
in the country, for the purpose of inserting the following :—" We
lament the existence of that distress which your Majesty informs
us is confined to some places ; but in the painful discharge of our
duty, we are constrained to declare to your M*lty, that that dis-
tress is not confined to some places, as your Majesty has been ad-
vised, but is general among all the productive interests of the coun-
try, which are severely suffering from its pressure. We beg to
assure your Majesty that we shall adopt the caution which your
Majesty recommends in the consideration of the measures to be
adopted in reference to these interests, and that our earnest endea-
vours shall be employed to alleviate and remove the distress now
so unfortunately existing.
The Marquis of BLANDFORD said—lt is not my intention,
upon the present occasion, to trouble the house with more than a
very few observations ; because, sir, I hold it to be altogether un-
necessary to expatiate at any length in an endeavour to con-
vince
men of the all-pervading and intolerable distress un-
der which the country is now groaning. And, sir, it has
been with too great justice remarked of this house, that its
members ay • great deal, but that they do a very little.
Now, I am as much indisposed to render myself obnoxious
to the first part of this charge as I am sensible of my incompe-
tence to offer in my own person the converse of its concluding
proposition. It would be well sir, I think, if honourable mem-
bers would, in this respect, resolve to conform somewhat more
close to the example set by our trans Atlantic brethren.
The late President Jefferson informs us, that General Wash-
ington, Doctor Franklin, and himself, never spoke longer
than ten minutes, and yet, by the councils of these men, In
their short speeches, was every thing done for America that was
done. Be this as it may, these, sir, are not times for men to waste
hours in lengthy orations, or be striving to outdo in effusions of
frothy eloquence when they should be found acting. Neither are
they times suited for the apprehensive sensibilities of the timid, nor
Itheellky lisping, of the mealy-mouthed. Without further delay,
,herefore, sir, seise this opportunity of declaring, in nay piece,
at one of the representatives of the people, my conviction that
it Is impossible for us to return to a sound and healthy state
until such a diminution of taxation shall take place as shall enable
the productive industry of the country to contend with low prices ;
that most decided, most effective, and most Immediate measures
must be retorted to in the present awful conjuncture ; and that no
palliatives, no half measures, no petty savings nor trimmings down,
will now avail to restore the nation to a state, I will not say of
prosperity, but of existence. But, Sir, the just and efficaeiosis mea-
sures necessary for the accomplishment of this great purpose cannot
be attempted, nor even so much as looked at, by • House of Com-
mons in which the people can have but little confidence. and for
which they are beginning to entertain still less respect. The seeds
of disaffection and discontent, and disgust, have been sown, and it
will be in vain that we shall attempt to check their growth by
other means than by the temperate yet speedy, application of the
genuine principles of the Constitution. The noble Marquis con-
cluded with supporting the amendment. He added that when that
was disposed of, he had another amendment, which he would sub-
mit to the House.
Sir JOHN BRYDGES supported the amendment.
ale. WESTERN expressed his extreme astonishment at that part
of the royal speech which described the country's distress to be
merely of a partial or temporary nature. It was impossible the noble
duke at the head of the government should not be informed that
the distress at present prevailing was unprecedented, alarming, and
of such a character u was never known before in the history of
this country. He conscientiously declared that the productive and
Industrious classes of the country—the labouring people—were in
a state of misery never before equalled in the history of the
country. The calamity was not of a timporary nature. The peo-
ple's arduous struggle to maintain their position, which bad been
continuous during the List 14 years, was at ength wearing out
their patience. If any member of that house could declare that he
felt no alarm on account of the situation of the country, it certainly
would astonish him. Could it be maintained, that the calamity
was one which it was not in the power of the legislature to re-
medy when it bad been brought on by mistaken legislative enact-
ments? Notwithstanding the prodigious efforts of the people of
this country during the course of the last war, a war which he had
reprobated and opposed from the commencement,—they wen still
left in a state of unprecedented power and prosperity, until Mi-
nisters, by a measure regarding the currency, rendered taxation
double the amount which it bad been during the war. From
that instant the colossal power of this country, which could not
be entirely destroyed by the most mischievous legislation of
the most unfortunate ministry, bad been subjected to a strug-
gle more severe than ever any people had before @adored.
Unless Parliament felt for the people, and resorted to mea-
sures which would subvert those that bad unfortunately been
adopted, he looked forward to a convulsion the most terrible this
country bad ever sustained. He did not intend to enter into
any detail on Me present occasion. He certainly preferred the
amendment which bad been moved to the original address, though
be thought the language in which the former described the pre-
*ailing distress mush too feeble. What could become of this
country when the industrious classes, who, as the noble mover of
the address had stated, were the elements of its prosperity. were
labouring under misery unexampled? Tim industrious classes
of this country possessed unexampled power ; their energies
would still bear them through their trials, if they were relieved
from the trammels which bad been imposed on them. The great
weight of the taxation was borne by the industrious classes. The
revenues for the support of our establishments, and the payment of
the public creditor, were obtained by the sweat of the brow of our
industrious snechanics and peasantry. Distress was new pressing
on them in a way that must ultimately subdue their energies. He
felt it his duty to state his perfect conviction that the motel feelings
and opinions of the great body of the people of this country were 11
fast undergoing an unfortunate change. They no longer felt the
same feelings of respect fur their superiors as forme' lye-indeed he
believed that the feeling was changed into contempt. (Hear.)

_ -
Mr. PROTHEROE observed the House had long been in the
habit of hearing complaints from particular chases in the country.
—lt appeared to Irina that those complaints were no longer re-
iterated from the old quarters, but that the hollow murmer of
discontent was approaching the House in an awful manner.
—No person but the hon. member for Essex (Mr. Western,)
had accurately described the dreadful state of tb, country...
lie thought that if the House should adopt the addles,
which had been moved, it would be a deliberate insult to the
people. The Duke of Wellington must have known that the
existing distress was general and universal. The sentiments he at.
tered did nut proceed from the spirit of party. He did not think
that the country looked for its advocate. amongst men of party
feeling. It desired rather the exertion of humble abilities, fairly
aad honestly directed, than the aid of brilliant talents, tainted by
feelings of party or ambition. It was impossible to expect from
the address, which was a mere echo of the royal speech, a fair
'expression of the feelings of the house. To sopply the defect,
be had drawn up an amendment which he intended to move....
(Here the hon. member read a voluminous amendment, adverting
to the general distress and suffering of all classes of the peopleee
the treasures of the rich, purchased by the misery of the p00r...
•to the money spent in palaces, pensions, and allowances—to the
system of tithes—the poor laws—to the absence of all profit from
Wink in our Colonies, and concluded by recommending the note.
dry of a reform in Parliament.)
Mr. SPEAKER—This amendment cannot be put until the
ether is withdrawn. Does the hon. member agree to that? .
Bir E. KNATCH BULL—Certainly not, Sir.
Mr. PROTHEROR then sat down.
„Sir. Alderman WAITHMAN said, the Motives was airy. •
rbeepartial. as the speech described it to be ; all ;classitsl"wersi.'
tinted by it—the shopkeepers and all the inland trade like e,siy
other. If In such a state of things they were assembled together On
do nothing—to propose no remedy for the existing preuateMii
much feared—and he was now arrived at that age when he could
not expect long to live—he much fettled that they would see this
country brought into some dreadful and terrific convulsion. To
avoid an calamitous an evil, only one means existed, and that was,
to be unsparing in retrenchment and in the redemlon of taxes.—
He had often been called ;ambits sod reformer ; for such nates he
cared nothing, because be well knew, whatever might be said to
the contrary, that timely reformation was the test Means of pre-
venting revolution ; and it was only by a timely attention to•the
wants and interests of the people that national happiness or pm.
• •
perky could be secured. ' ' •
Mr.& DAVENPORT next addressed the House, and con-
tended that condign punishment should be Inflicted on those see-
wants of the Crown who by their acts had reduced the tesstry to
so lamentable a situation, by betraying the crust reposed in tbilm.
He learned with great concern thee it was even possible that hie
Majesty's Government could acknowledge a man, guilty of seek
crimes at those which bad been perpetrated by Dot; Miguel, dense
which placed him without the pale of theSovereigas of Eaters; He
had given a pledge, which be would redeem, of bringing *basks
ject before Parllament.wben be believed be Amid be able to chew
that the existence of that monster was to be mainly attribdted to
tbe exertions of the British Government. The 'nom Mbiserre
thought the distress partial, when it was. in :may sensed, WO
because the landowners were willing to *deka say peleatinis
rather than offend minhasior risk** happiness stele
ration.eking=
Lord• Bacon bad said that die Emmy eta matey
out be suffered to become Innovating.; but In the present 1110
ministers had udvisvd bL Majest*ee create Se !mikes holy
Peers: end even a greater number had. .been .erested
repal•father. At the finless,. as be waslaionsed_ by a Noble Uhl
is the ether house. eke' ma of tip peen did use 11tWelk
lord, by hereditary roe. When these istrosirara tabaninenosb•
skieratteng the- Hoe** could not feel ankh Onalpelse that the put

. .

_landowners should bold their tongues.—(Cries of "hear, bear.")
The speech attributed thirdistress in some measure to the bade...
of the last season • but how would that account for the fact
that cattle and cheese bad fallen full thirty per cent. and other ar-
ticles also had fallen in :proportion ? The nest topic of the
speech would be consoistory, if it could be credited, which was,
that the distrem was not of a permanent character. This was,
however, like many other of the statements made by ministers,
not •to be implicitly relied on. When the Small Note
Bill was clenched by the Scotch Note BM, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer pee a set of calculations, every one of which wife
erroneous. Among other things, he said that much of the drew
lation would not be withdrawn by the withdrawal of the
Dotes, for their place would be supplied by an therein el .Si
Dotes. Now be knew the ease of a country banker, and he be-
lieved it to be by no means an isolated case, who found that the
circulation of the Ave pound notes was decreased one- third by the
withdrawal of the one pound notes. Ministers seemed to tbinh
that the manufacture of a vast quantity of goods was the
proof of the prosperity of the country, without ever
ing at what price those goods were manufactured. er wkethsr
they were sold at prime cost or under It. or even whether they
were thrown into the sea.—(Hear, bear.) The Noble Duke at
is head of the Government said that the people must forget the
melees of tstravagsnce they had imbibed daring the war. The
Wee metal* a fine piece of Morality, but be did net see why it,
ANN am be (strutted to Ministers themselves—so ainscariats and
IsietteMmi—and se those who lived upon the taxes.—(Cbeem)
" If order and sobriety
Are the rules of this sodlty."
(Great laughter)—he could not see why that sobriety should not be
extended to all classes of the country. Great part of the lower
classes of society were reduced to live upon potatoes and water,
which was a sober diet enough ; and yet they bad contributed their
sleight to grant to his Grace the princely was of 700.0001. which
be had doubled by the operation el Mr. Poet's Bin. With
respect
to the national debt, that pan which was doe before it was doubled
by Mr. Peel's 1101 ought to be paid • but that which was added
to it by the operation of that bill, being one half. Dever would be
paid.
Mr. Alderman THOMPSON begged the right boa. gentleman
to be cautious how he calculated the exports of the country to a
vast extent. British manufacture, had found no market at the
price obey could command a few years ago, but the merchants
were compelled to send their goods abroad on the chance of sale
anywhere, and at almost any price. The retail dealers are sinking
into distress for want of customers, and Mee la altogether unprofit-
able. The shop-keepers are unable to pay rates. rent or taw, and
are indulging in impossible hopes of amendment. Wretchedness,
ruin, and misery, swallow all up in their vortex. He now wished
to state the grounds on which be could not support the amendment
of the hon. baronet. It was because be thought it better to wait
for the government to develope their scheme.
Sir .1011 N SEBRIGHT opposed the amendment. He made
no doubt that his majesty's ministers would do all in their power to
relieve the distresses of the country.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER began by observ-
ing, that on former occasions it bad been usual to leave for separate
discussion those topics in the speech from the throe, which re-
quired the consideration of Parliament ; and unless some great and
imperative duty interposed, to concur in the address. leaving the ge-
neral topics till the period when they could be tally and ably Cond.
sidered. The boo. ban. the member for Kent, however, had thought
proper on this occasion to depart from the former practice ; he bad
moved an amendment, which, with respect to the paragraph in the
speech to which It was intended to apply, was as little at variance
with it as any amendment be had ever known. The speech stated
that his majesty lamented the distress of the agricultural and manu-
facturing classes in some parts of the united kingdom, and the bum
baronet assumed that this was a false and unfounded representation
of the state of things. He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) begged
're house would believe, that however strongly some might Welt
si.feel the distresses of the people, none could feel them more
than his majesty's ministers; and be hoped the house would Dot
think otherwise, because they had advised the crown to state the
distress according to their own views of it. He believed the die-
mess was great; he believed there was a severs pressure of distress
on the manufacturing and agricultural dames in some parts of the
united kingdom ; and if he excepted other pans. it was because
he believed there .were parts of the united kingdom, which, so
iit from being visited by that distress, were in a state of comp.
tredve comfort and prosperity. The honourable baronet had con.
fined his views to Ragland ; he bad omitted that part of the
Waked kingdom which always attracted a large share of the MM.
the of the house—be meant Indeed (hear). Had the kossestalia'
herenet investigated the slate of agriculture there? If be hatio
ha
would have found that. as far as agriculture wee
it enjoyed prosperity and comfort. The distress. wcwlldecelort
bees fek in some parts of this country had arisen, partly
ken the excessive introduesios of Irish produce. How, thou,
was it possible for his Majesty to tell Parliament that
Menem. which he knew prevailed in parts pervaded the
whole kingdom ? The honourable baronet might have been be.
formed, that even in the northern provinces of this eosntry, the Me-
tros, hod not been felt in an equal degree with other parts. In this
view, the house bad a justification of that expreesslon which the
Hon. Baronet had referred to. He (the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer) could not forget that the bon. Bart. had been supported by the
Host. Member for Easels. and he could not forget the principle on
which that suppost was given. Was there a man who bad heard the
principle on which the amendment was supported,who did not be-
lieve that it was proposed to make an alteration in the standard of
value, or the currency of the country, in short, to change those
laws which Parliament had adopted after anxious deliberation?
He must say, that to entertain a proposition for altering the
standard of value laid down in 1819 as the basis of our circulation,
or to concur in the re-establishment of £1 notes, were concession,

which his Majesty's Government could never be prepared to make
—(Hear.) He felt it to be his duty, therefore, to oppose the
amendment of the Hon. Baronet. There was nothing In the address
to the speech from the throne which precluded future discussion on
any topic, or pledged any man as to the causes of the distress or the
measures for relieving it; on the contrary, the speech said that
his Majesty Intended to propose estimates on a reduced scale.
In short, the speech comprised in Itself the strict and literal truth ;
though It did not deny to any one the power to controvert any in-
sulated fact. Above all, it did not preclude any member from
proposing measures for nenontiaing our resources. It was, how-
ever, the firm determination of his Majesty's Government to ad-
here to those measures which had this night been called in ques-
tion, but which be (Mr. Goulburn,) believed were essential to the
eventful prosperity of the country.
Mr. kJ A DIMLY said, that the right hon. gentleman imputed
to the auppo of the amendment a wish to alter the standard.
He (Mr. M.) would tell him that there was a means chiming at
a sound paper currency that would not touch the steadied.• The
speech said nothing respecting a reduction of tazatieffe MX
people could not pay the present taxes, if the present law ONO
continued, which were the result of the existing system. The
house, then, would not do its duty unless it supported the amend-
ment. Reduction of taxation was tbe great remedy, and es ait
time he (Mr. M.) should offer a proposition for a sound papa dui
rency, which would enable the country to carry on Its transactkel
without Injury.
Mr. O'CONNELL said, It would be futile on the part of the
minister to attempt to relieve the distress by a saving of cbssui
parings and candle ends--(Hear.) He must come down with ea-
Ilona, and that speedily and at once. He beard with pleasure the
part of the speech relating to legal reform; but was adverse to an
tongue of the number of judges, conceiving that now on al*
iiesieh sufficient. It was clear the - muse tbL
diatres• was in the government, and he thought
be well if the suffering parties were to petition the homles
and by a sort of delicate (compulsion compel it to take into k•
serious consideration the privations and distress under which they
were labouring. Much talk has been made about making OMB
alterations in favour of the people. His impression was, thit Ike
distress which Is now so justly complained of in every pan of Mho
kingdom can only be alleviated by a radial reform.
Mr. HUMUS/lON said he was not one of those who dm*
the difikukists so great as they had been represented is assay gom.
ters—he did not despair of acting the country rescind to a situa-
tion of prosperity ; but teem all the Wormed= he pawned, be felt
'satisfied that there sow misted that degree of pressure on the pro.
ductive classes generally, which, were It mhe perommist et bag
continued, would be incompatible with their toothsome edema..
His right honourable friend hinted that diorama was net so general
as the amendment would make it appear, but dl, kis ingenuity
could net prove that the distress was calmed se ale miss
!parte of the country, as the eddies' staled. The clams
generally were in a state of distress. He UMW tint this was
owing to cause, to many of which it was beyond the power of
pidleasent to apply a remedy, but it was in tb power to satisfy
dM mummy as to what the causes were, MI te milord partial
Irelkt, by &Mks a better Meatless to the aged et the cormmtp
Mil ban, smoker soma to Walk dew the oaei *doe tele
'bows io some of Ow Wise 4misMloodem.4 Ike ilibliessiiik;
!Ms Wed& *few faveendify, bet ft'rei to Kw dine W.
shut sedseke was fat ftswebek. 111~yeoci The au*
moist W ben diewtbsit se be • "Mk at wait solmoid%
.bst Oat rather rMIIMIANU I. hil
Isittem (Liglain
1* Mme.poslsmen esolideo by agleam time be Isk Limit
In take to sew* the meidowsto betasto 4t
MIAMI of slw ease with Winne 'asides-no dm *Owe elk=
Mb le the glity. the *Noe alias Misery kata affekb-fio.
dm the
'nfrestPriterilitiL skis& ••=llllLialebs kid WM ai
d'art be Se m* teal die Imply-et die same