Star.
London, England, 1819-12-10 00:00:00

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nufactoring poor, unmixed up with political &dims,
was brought forward, he would give It his very fee.
We, but mot hearty concurrence.
Lord A. HAMILTON, in opposition to a state-
ment made by a Learned Lord (she Lord Advocate)
said, lie was' able to assure the House, that tweothirds
ofLa narkshire were free from disaffection. His Lord-
ship bore testimony to the great distress of many I
parts of the country. Ho could contemplate on rea-
sonable ground for refuting to acquiesce in the motion
of his Hon. Friend, arid he thought that House would
not deserve the respect of the country it it did not'
-no •V either vote for an inquiry, or pledge itself to the
consideration of the distresses of the manufacturing
poor--(Hear, hear, hear).'
Mr. DAVENPORT felt, that there were so many
considerations to be urged on both sides of the ques-
tion, that he had not, as yet, determined on which
side he shotild vote. The distresses of the country,
he felt, required the most anxious attention, but he
was afraid tliat the inquiry proposed by the Hqn.
Member, embraced too many subjects to afford a
hope that it would produce any beneficial results.
• Mr. TIERNEY declared, that not one word of
general argument had been adduced on the other side
of the House, with the exception of what had fallen
from the Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Peel).
His only object in rising was to mart his sense of his
Ilonourable Friend's Motion, which, out of doors,
niust cause the highest sentiments of approbation,
(Hear, hear).. He believed that Ministers were 'deeply;
responsible for the distress that existed. The Noble
Lord (2astlereagh) had said, that Scotland had bed.
in a state of disaffection' under and above ground,
for some time; and yet the Lord Advocate of Scot.;
land knew nothing about it fur six Weeks. Why,
what kind of Government was that (Hear) which alo
lowed such a volcano td rage, without even noticing
it to each other? He called upon the House to look
to the Paper, dated the Ist of July, calling upon
his Majesty's Ministers to provide securities against
the dangers that threatened the State, and declaring
that addeional laws were necessary for thit purpose.
Bow inconsistent with that communication was the
conduct of the Noble Lord (Castlereagh), who in-
stead of bringing the subject before Parliament,
hastened to prorogue it, and accomplished his wish'
on the 18th, because sofnething required that the'
Session should be got rid of.—(Rear, hear).—Now,,
he would ask, whether it was not necessary to sheep
to what machinations the People owed their present j
degraded attitude and privations? The Bills that were
passing were not local and applicable to the disturb-1
ances complained of, but were to operate without a
single shadow of ground over England, Ireland, and
Scotland, and formed part of the Ministerial code
for the cure of distresses for which the Administra-
tion had to answer. To speak of the question before
the House, without adverting to the conduct of
sisters, would be impossible. Itinerant orators wen
accused as part of the system against which Minister,
were bound to guard. Why, those orators spoke ,
Universal Suffrage and Annual Parliaments until the
People were tired of them, but they were *forwards
furnished with a topic of an lnexhanstible kind—
( Hear, hear).—He would-put it to the House, whe-
ther things were not practically wrong? There were,
indeed, alarming symptoms pf distress now observable.
Large sums were sold out of the English, and tress-
'ratted to the French Funds,' and what was still more
alarming, small sums were disposed of in the same
manner. The former might be mere matterof specu-
lation ; but the lager were evidence of a preference
dangerous to the interests of England—(Hear, hear).
The Right Hon. Gentleman then ridiculed the argu-
ment, that the distress arose from the transition from
war to peace. In the"first year or two certainly, a
disavantage resOlting from that transition, would na-
turally take place; but did the transition go away
entirely at the end of that period?—No—it came
back again—(A laugh, and cries of Hear). • This was
the real state of the .case. Taxation bad arisen to
ao insufferable height; trade was so depressed, that
there was no employment for the poor, and Ministers
slid there was no remedy. They said, however, that
the country was Crowded with blasphemous and se-
ditious characters, and that it was corrupt from top
to bottom—(Hear). The Noble Lord would say that
all the miseries which* had been enumerated, arose
from the visitation of Goo !—(A laugh, and hear).
\ by, this state of things was going on for 2,5 years,
and still it was called the visitation of GOD, and net
ascribed as it ought to the restlessness of man l (Hear).
The country was, in every part of it, remarkable for
Its moral strength. The real defect lay in the do-
verionent of the country for thd last twenty-five
years. That House leaned more and more to Minis-
tars every year, and yet the People were blamed'for
toying something was wrong in the House. Why,
the debate of that night shewed more strongly than
, any thing that had yet occurred within its walls, the
necessity of what they asked for. The Noble Lord
who hied refused to agree in this motion,because it
was introduced by a speech not suffiCiently courtly,
should not be put to the trouble of dividing. The
House 'should not be harassed by a division. All
agreed that the country was upon the brink of ruin,
but not one of those who had the power sof saving
would saybow it could be saved.
Mr. CANNING said, the Right Honourable Gen-
tleman might have 'seen that many Members had
withdrawn their support from the Honourable Gen-,
deman's proposition entirely, on account of the way
in which it was brought forward. Up to four o'clock.
be was intending to vote for this inquiry, as being tau
tended as a bona
_fide inquiry into commercial and
manufacturing distress; but, be would- ask if dui:
, Honourable Gentleman had not brought forward
every angry topic which had recently agitated the
House ? He did not blame the Honourable Gentle-
raan for this; he had an undoubted ht to handle
say public topic in any way he please; or to pass
n-; Ministers as much chloquy as be thought proper.
The I lon.Gentleman bad assisted in rendering the mo-
' %ion as nugatory as he cbuld. Setting aside all dame mat-
te re, he dreaded, that by going into Inquiry, they would
he $ aising expectations which they could not gratify
Ile could. not consider it as any part of his duty in
going into an inquiry on the commercial distress .of
d:stiicts, to rake tip all the feuds and aviiroosi-
ties of Lancashire. The Hsu. Gentleman who bad
. broatight forward the motion, might have been led
into this course by his youthful warmth t but one,
you'd have expected his Right Host. Friend would,
Oave cease for.aid, like his Mentor, to have celled