The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-03-19 00:00:00

vourable to the deliberation required by the importance of
the subject. The inflammatory strain of the last speaker,
and his tone of intimidation, illustrated this. The land-
lords, men honourable, reasonable, open to argument, would
not be found ready to submit to fear. The same menacing
line had been taken by Mr. P. Thomson. It was the first
duty of government to preserve tranquillity ; but here was
the president of the board of trade inculcating agitation.
That might he suitable for him as the member for Manches-
ter, but it ill became him as a minister of the crown. The
arguments of the mover and his supporters operated as
strongly against a fixed duty as against the existing scale.
Their motives were plain enough for desiring a committee ;
but were those of ministers for assenting to it? To fit such
ministers, unprepared as they were with any system, he must
alter a line of Pope, and say,
" A mighty maze, but all without a plan."
Lord JOHN RUSSELL wished to vindicate his alteration of
opinion since the letter addressed by him to his Huntingdon-
shire constituents in 1822. He asked the same privilege of
subsequent experience and reflection which Sir James Graham
had claimed. A reduction had taken place in the burdens of
the landed interest, especially by the relief produed through
the poor law, and the time was now come when a change in
the corn laws might be fairly taken into consideration.
Those laws had disappointed the expectations entertained of
them ; they had not' produced the anticipated steadiness of
price, and this failure justified inquiry by a committee. They
had been injurious to the manufacturer ; and if the full evil
apprehended had not yet burst forth, that was a good reason
for now interposing before it should be too late. You need
not fear that foreign countries would take advantage of your
dependence on them ; their own interests would prevent
them from distressing you ; and your trade would settle into a
regular interchange of commodities, instead of being, as
now, a mere export of bullion at a sudden need. Your in-
dependence could not, at any rate, be a permanent one, for
your population would soon outgrow your soil. • His own
view was, that a moderate fixed duty would be the best
arrangement. He then proceeded to defend the government
against the blame east upon them for having suffered this
question to be an open one. The same course, he said, had
been taken on parliamentary reform, and on Catholic eman-
cipation ; and this very question of corn had been left an
open one in the administration of Lord Grey, when no fewer
than 16 of the members connected with government had
voted for a change in the existing law.
Mr. MILNES attempted to obtain a hearing, amidst an
overwhelming clamour for a division.
The SPEAKER rebuked. the disorder, and assured the
tumultuous assembly that to terminate such a debate in such
a manner, would only redound to the disgrace of the house.
It being then apparent that no division would take piace
till next night,
Mr. MILNES was at last permitted to proceed, but was
wholly inaudible in the general rush of members going out ;
and when he concluded the debate was adjourned, as also
was the house shortly afterwards.