Star.
London, England, 1827-03-09 00:00:00

let British grain, wad thereby= distress and sof-
klieg over the sioutstry. The. would be the
01411*rm Alod first most 11,491Pa11y prove injurious to
the consoion biosself, whostould thus lose a great part
of the home market for' his produce. With the per-
saission.of the Rouse, he would state shortly what their
situation was in 1827, with teference to this subject.
In 1815 the first measure on the Corn Laws was pro-
posed. In 1822 another alteration took place, and some
change in the system had been made subsequently ro
the latter period. It must be taken into consideration,
that when the Corn Law now in force was introduced,
Lord Londonderry distinctly stated that the currency
of the country would retsina in the same state as it was
then, up to the year 1853, when the Bank Charter was
to cease. This was an important fact. In plate of the
currency having remained in the same state, a very great
and material alteration had been made in it last year,
which necessarily had a considerable effect on prices.
There was another circumstance which must not be over-
looked. The harvest last year was one of a most extraordi-
nary kind. The produce of all grain was one-third, if not
fully one half, less than usual. The fodder for cattle was
short in a proportionate degree. The result was, that
the farmer had not the same amount of corn to brine>,
the market ; and that he was placed under the necessity
of keeping his stock at a much greater expense of fod-
der, or of selling it at a loss.—ln treating this question,
therefi-re, there were two things to be considered—the
alteration in the currency, and the short crops of
last year, and he had no hesitation in saying, that
the English grower, having to contend with both
these, disadvantages, would not be sufficieutly pos.
tented by the scale of the cfuti?s now proposed. k
must, hesi!es, be taken into the account-that asiother
alteration was to be made in the course of tirentrtwo
or twenty-three months in the currency. It issust not
be forgotten that the Regulations now proposed would
press very unequally on Farmers in different parts of
the Country. In those Counties more in the neighbour-
hood of the Metropolis, farms were devoted to the
production of grass and grain pretty nearly in equal
proportion, while in the more distant Counties, on a
firm of four or five hundred acres, there was often not
more than forty or fifty acres of grass. It was very
clear, therefore, how differently these two classes of
farmers would be affected by the present measure.
There was another circumstance to which fie must call
the attention of the House. There was, in consequence
of the deficient harvest, probably a greater quantity of
Corn sown last Autumn than for some years.previously ;
so that, if there should be a good harvest, the produce
this year would be much greater than it had been
for a long time. There were seen or eight hun.
dred thousand quarters now lying in the warehouses.
Probably between this and next harvest there might
be an addition to it of three or four hundred thousand
quarters mote. Should there be a good harvest,
and should the price rise between this and July, foreign
corn must be introduced, and what chance would
the home grower then have of remunerating himself
for the losses of last year, and for the expense of ex-
tended cultivation List autumn. Should the farmer
fail, through greatly reduced prices, he had not, like
persons in other branches of business, an opportunity of
recovering himself. In other occupations there was a
chance of recovering from the effects of one or two bad
years. The farmer had n.i such chance. At the best
of times, the most he could posses was sufficient capital
to enable him to go on, and two or three bad year' were
inevitable ruin to him. Taking all these things into
consideration, the conviction on his mind was, that
penury and difficulty must, tis the British agriculturist,
be the result of this measure if it should be carried into
effect. No doubt it would put one million a year into
the.pockets of Government. In fairness, therefore, to the
agricultural interest, as so 'much t tear benefir would arise
in the way of revenue', some one of those taxes affecting
agriculture should be removed, to give something like
an equivalent. Any boon of this kind would be mod
welcomely received. To enable him to sustain comped•
tion with the foreign grower,sorne such thing ought to be
done, coupled with a bounty of exportation when seasons
were good. lithe produce should be too great for the
home market, it would be impossible for him under this
system to obtain a market either at home or abroad. At
all events he should wish to press on Government the
policy and justice of waiting at least until such time as
the currency was placed on something likes permanent
footing. The mischief arising from the late aheration
was very great. An alteration in the existing Corn
Laws could be more sAfely introduced, and with much
less mischief when the currency was put on a perma.
nent footing. In conclusion he should read a passage
from a letter which had fallen into his hands, purport.
ing to be from the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Hos-
kissoa) at the bead of the Board of Trade. He should
feel proud of being able to express his sentiments so
well and so forcibly, but that not being the case he was
willing to adopt the language of the Right Honout able
Gentleman as his own:
" If I were not fully convinced that the consumer in general, but
more especially that elksa of consumers whose subsistence depends
on their own Industry, would be benefitted by the proposed antra-
non, it would nor hue had my support. My sole object is to pro.
vent (as far as human mesas can prevent) bread-corn from ever
again reaching the late extravagant prtces. Can any man have
witnessed the scarcities and consequent privations of the people,
during six or seven different seasons during the last twenty years,.
without feeling anxious to guard the country against the return 05
such severe distress? But if we wish to cure an evil of this alarm.
int magnitude, we must first trace It to its sourer. What is that
source? Obviously this—that, until now, we did not, even in good
years, grow corn enough (or our own consumption. • tisbknally
depending on foreign supply, that supply was interrupted by war,
or by bad seasons abroad. The present war, it is true, is now at
an end ; but peace is, at all times, too precarious not to induce us
to guard against the repetition of similar calamities, whenever
hostilities may be renewed. But even In peace the habitual de-
pendence on foreign supply is dangerous. We place the subsistence
of oar own population not only at the mercy of foreign Powers,
but also on their being able to spare as much corn as we may want
to bay. Suppose, as it frequently happens, the harvest in the same
year to be a short one, not only in this country bat in the foreign
countries from which we are fed—what follows? The habitually
exporting country, France for Instance, stops the exports of its corn,
and feeds its people without any great pressure. The habitually
importing country, England, which, even In a good season, has
hitherto depended on the aid of foreign corn, deprived of that aid,
in a year of scarcity, Is driven to distress hordes ins spas further.—
There is, therefore, sto effectual semis ity, either in peace or war,
against the frequent return of scarcity approaching to starvation,
such as of laic years we have so frequently experienced, but in oar
maintaining ourselves habitually Independent of foreign supply.—
Jot the bread we at be the produce of corn grows among ourselves,
and, for one, I care neekow cheap It is—the cheaper the better.—
It la cheap sow, and I rejoice at it, becamee it is altogether owing
toe suilkiency otcorn of ()crown growth. But In order to ensure
a continuance Oast cheapness and that suMelency, we must ensure
to oar own growers that protection against &nip inspect which
has produced these Messina, and by which algae they can be per.
manently maintained."
Sir E. YNATCHBULL said be must throw himself
on the indulgence of the House, while he endeavoured
as clearly as he could to state the reasons which ia-
dined him to concur in the proposition of his Noble
Friend (Lord Clive). As there was no person whO,

upon all occasicos, placed greater reliance on his Uml
kistyfe Misters than himself; as inn ft his
Friend, be Mt himself called upon novrto doalasnt
it was with no small degree of pain he diffintt
them. If any circumstance could aggravate AM
it was the declaration with which the present IMINIINf
had been introduced by the Right Honourable Godes
man (Mr. Canning), who informed the House diet
they were to attribute it to the Noble Lord (Liverpool)
at the bead of his Majesty's Government. It might baj
die\neil presumption in him to say so, but be
'coerces that, were it not for the assurance of the Right,
Haw Gentleman he should doubt the fact. That doubt,1
however, being removed, he must receive this as the
fan adopted by the Noble Lord, after mature coo-
sideration. It would be a dereliction of duty were
be not to take this opportunity of paying to that
Noble Lord the tribute of admiration he so well
merited—(Cheers)—having witnessed for many years
the able manner in which he performed his public
duties and his distinguished services to his country,
which must feel deeply, and lament his temporal),
loss. But however great might be hi; admiration,
and however sincere his respect, yet i.e must not
on that account concur in a proposition which he cons
sidered etot conducive to the interests of the country....
He believed the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Canning)
was not in the House when the circumstance occurred,
and for that reason he would beg leave again to referl
to an observation which had fallen from the Member'
for Staffordshire (Mr. Liuleten), that Hon. Member
said most unadvisedly, that such er untry Gentlemen as'
should oppose this' measoret would act disgracefully,
having previously supported the doctrines of free trade,
and the measures founded on them. Notwithstanding
this, he was ready to express his disapprobation, and,
with the permission of the House, to state the reasons
why he thought the proposition of Ministers should
not be acquiesced in. Government had put off this
inquiry for the last two years, and he wished they had
acted in the same way now. He saw no circumstances
'that rendered it more necessary or advisable now than'
last Session or the Session before. He knew, indeed,
that an understanding existed that some alteration was
to take place, founded on Resolutions proposed by the
Right Hon. Gentleman at the head of the Board of
Trade in 1822. From that period a variety of mea-1
sures, founded on those Resolutions, had been proposed
by him, Government having found it necessary to re-
deem the pledge then given. Before proceeding further,
it should have been ,sell considered whether the sys-,
tern of new measures, this introduced, worked well.
But whatever might be the effect, he felt himself called,
upon to say a word in behalf of the landed interest. It
had been admitted by the Right Hon. Geotlernen (Mr.
Canning) and by every person whom he had beard
speak on the subject, that some protection was doe
to the British grower, and he must say that it was
rendered the more necessary from some recent altera-
tions in their commercial system. -No persm could
pretend that the British agricultuii.t had not been
greatly affected by the measures passed with respect
to foreign wool and timber—(Hear, hear)—and had
he not now a tight to complain of the change proposed
with respect to corn—that article of produce upon
which alone, he might say, the English agriculturist de-
pended. It became now their duty to discuss both the
principle of the proposed measure and the details con-
nected wi.h it. The thing to be considered was,whetlser
the reetflations were to be founded on a principle of
prohibition or of duty. Both one and the other should
be adopted with great caution, and he should have much
hesitation in giving his opinion, was it not for his kerne,
ledge of what had been maintained by those who went
before him, and who no doubt had given the subject ail
the consideration in their power. The conviction on bit
mind was, that protection to the native produce of the
'soil was the only true principle. He must say one word
in reference to the letter from which his Noble Friend
had read an extract. That letter had produced a very
considei able sensation. and was attributed to the Prm
sident of the Board of Trade. It was published in
1814. The Right Honourable Gentleman (Mr. Hods
kisson) had then proposed to the Heise certain Ream
lotions, and it was in justification of them he put forth
this letter. If the principle laid down in it was correct,
he did not see how the Right Hon. Gentleman could,
in consistency, support the regulations now propoods
He might refer also to the authority of Lord Liverpool
in support of his own view of the subject.—CHere the
Hon. Member read an extract from a speech of the
Noble Lord in the year 1815.]—A similar opinion was
expressed by the Right Hon.tientleman the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, who was reported to have said, that
he did not believe any import duty preferable to a pro-
hibitory price. Such was, then, the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman's opinion, and such, too, was his (Sir Edward
Knatchbull's) opinion now. If any alteration bad taken
place in his sentiments, he knew the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman would have no objection to state it. For a simis
lar doctrine he might refer to the authority of the,
President of the Board of Trade, who. on the 17th el
February, 1815,ebserved that they were not then nos'
going the principles of prohibition, a principle which
could not be departed (torn, as they must not depend
on foreigners for a supply of corn, which would nem.
sarily have the effect of diminishing their own prelate*.
The same Right Hon. Gent. observed, that Ireland woe
not to be considered in the same light as other am
growing countries, for that Ireland took their maw
tactures in return for their corn. These principles he
retained in 1820. On the sth of April, five years aft.;
of
the Right Hon. Gent. observed, that the introduction
foreign wool and iron having been allowed, the effect
was to produce a very large import of prohibited arti-
cles, and as some difficulty might wise from too lar
an importation, they ought to pause a little. In the lass
guage of the Rig
ht Hon. Gentleman upon that occa-
sion, he would now call upon the House to pause a lit-
tle. By adopting these propositions, without waiting to
see the effects of similar measures applied to other arti-
cles, they would be making an experiment and groping
in the dark. At all events some security should be
given against the apprehended evils. He applied the
rcualityhoditertuestinedionto—L laugh). As
alteration
Gtioonrerinnthmrptreswenut
word security, as it was applied the other night on the
Aakleaustm
law, it was not necessary for him now to state
anything
like a distinct approval of the existi • • ng system in all its
parts. For, speaking of what passed in 1822, be did
not mean to say that the price then fixed was the pro-
per one. Now it-seemed that they were to have probi-
bition by duties and not prohibition itself. He should
be glad to know on what principle these duties were to
be calculated. Did they know the '
exactly price of
corn at any one Continental port, or on what • prin-
ciple, was it proposed to calculate the expense of
freightage? Was it to be calculated on foreign
or on British shipping ? If it should hereafter

ba famtihteoesaary to glee further protection to Beit(4
ablpping, would it trot be groping is the dark, if they
awe now to legislate upon the present rate of yee;„yit'
ow? He understood no alteration was to be mac;
the warehousing system. The principle on which it
was proposed now to act, was o
to pet the En%
grower, in every respect, on a footing with the
grower, that was to protect the farmer at home to the
extent of his burthens. Such be believed was the
principle at the bottom of all these regulation% A
duty might easily be imposed equal to the taxes directly
paid by the farmer hem, but it would not be so easy to
protect him against the other taxes which were sinew
over the whole surface of society. Great changes
had of late been made in the Commercial policy of the
Country, and he mast confess that he was sonse,,bia
apprehensive of the result. Great changes had al,o
been made in the Criminal Law ; but the Right 11,44
Gentleman (Mr. Peel) before he proposed these changes,
bad very prudently and wisely taken care that diligent
enquiry should be made into the subject. Ewen ,4,
milting that some alteration in the existing cmts
Laws was necessary, still it would have been prudent to
institute some inquiry before they proceeded to legis.
lotion. This country had arrived at a state of things
in the highest degree artificial, and any change should
be reflected on very seriously before it was attempted.
If therevil consequences which he apprehended front
this measure should follow, they would sacrifice the
agricultural interest without producing any equivalent
advantage to any other. Such being his sentiments,
he should support the proposition of his Noble Frielvd,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER oids
that if he manifested an undue anxiety in addressing
himself thus early to the House, he trusted the perdu
situation in which he stood, and the direct application
made to him by the Honourable Gentleman *ha Last
addressed them would be his excuse. As it had
been his lot to originate that plan for regulating
the trade in Coin, which plan was, in effect, teas
deemed by the regulations now proposed, he owed it to
the House, he owed it to his own character to state those
grounds on which he bow did unequivocally vappen
the proposed resolutions.—(Cheers). He was not
ashamed to admit that his opinion on this subject had
altered.—(Hear, hearl)—and no man who recollected
what he had stated at the time the former plan was
proposed, could charge him with unreasonable mem.
sistency.—(Hear, hest !) It was his lot to propose that
plan, but he stood then in a different situation. Heels
am then a responsible adviser of the Crown. He brongiat
in the measure it was true, bet at the time he proposed
it, he distinctly stated that he considered it not mealy a
change of difficulties, but a change of evils. One plan
he proposed without experience, and he now proposed
this after experience of the effects of the other. He
protested against the charge of inconsistency brought
by the Honourable Gentleman. No man was in
to serve the public in the capacity of a Minister,
if, seeing good reasons to alter his opinion, snag
that he had acted upon erroneous principles, he could
hesitate a moment to avow that change, and to purses
the coarse be thought most conducive to the genets!
good. Such being his sentiments, he felt pet Italy
indifferent to any imputation that might be cast upon
him—(Hear, bear). He said this, the rather, became
these imputations were unworthy those from whom they
proceeded, and because the Hon. Bardnet had poised
out his Right Hon. Friend the President of the Board
of Trade as the person who bad originated the MUNI!.
He should be ashamed of himself and of his Eight Ha.
Colleagues, if they were base enough to suffer his Bight
Hon. Friend to be held up as a sacrifice for acts in
which he was only a :barer with them—(Cheers). He
invited it of the country that all the odium...-if odium
it were, though be believed it to be quite the reverse—.
(Cheers)—should fall upon their beads in common.
But when the Hon. Baronet, and those who entertained
similar notions; touched upon the subject of free trade,
it immediately conjured up in his mind some phantom
of terror, some greater bugbear than the Pope himself.
But in these imputations upon. his Right Hon. Friend,
the Hon. Baronet had stated his case most inaccurately.
He,himself, held the office asViess.Piesident oldie Board
of Trade before his Right Hon. Friend; and as sox
as the war ended, and at the first moment when the
war system was wound op, be applied himself to the
object of placing oar commercial laws upon a footing
more consistent with such a change as had taken place.
From that time he continoed to enforce his principles
in all the measures which, at different periods, it became
his duty to introduce. And when the Hon. Baronet
spoke in such high and such just terms of the prudence
and caution with which his Right Hon. Friend (Mr.
Peel) had proceeded in the reformation of the Criminal
Laws, he Mid no right to Occlude them from the merit
of having exercised the nese prudence in the istrodoc-
don of their measures which went to the reformatiat
of our system of trade. When the Hon. Booties
taking his opinions from others out of doors, Came
down to attack these measures as being hostile to
the well being of the country, he ought to be pre-
pared to substantiate the information upon which be
proceeded. Now he (the Chancellor of theExclie.
quer) would undertake to prove, whenever his Hon..
Friend chose to meet him upon that ground, that is
what they had done, and what bad terrified his out of
his senses—(a laugh)—they had only bees bringing bask
the commercial policy of the country to the same ov-
ation hr which it stood previous to that wondrous reow
lotion which, for a quarter of a century, seemed to have
turned the world and its affairs topsy-turvy. His Hoc.
Friend had said that he would give a history of the
.
present Law ; but, as their judgments led them to dd.:
ferent views upon that subject, be would give his him
.
tory of it. The present Law passed in 1815, the prim
of corn then being low. He at that time contended
that the Law would not raise the price, and it was is
the conviction that it could not do so, that be supported
it. It happened, however, that in the year 1816 and
1817 the harvests proved bad, and the Law of 1815
was brought into operation and introduced a consider-
able portion of Foreign Corn into the country. In 1816
the harvest was good, the prices descended rapidly, and
the farmers came frightened to that House for protec-
tion, and relief.—lt was right to remark that,
at that
time, the reduction of rents had not been carried into
•ttifect as now. The agricultural body thought it pro-
ipar to have an Agricultural Parliament then established,
and a Gentleman was appointed to preside over it, of
',whom he should now say nothing,because he was now no
more. This Parliament issued divers Manifestoes, the
'object of which was—what? Not to make any alters..
tions in the Law of 1815. On the contrary, besides
these hostile manifestoes, in the course of the year
1819, 1820, and 1821, no less than 500 Petitions hors
the agriculturists of England, Scotland, and W'
were laid on the table of the House, against that :
which was now declared to be their only salvation.