The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-02-19 00:00:00

CORN LAWS

Lord J. RUSSELL said, there appeared to be some mistake
as to the precise notice of motion given by the hon. member
for Wolverhampton for Tuesday next, on the subject of the
corn laws.

Mr. VILLIERS said, he intended on Tuesday next to pre-
sent several petitions, praying for a repeal of the corn laws,
and that he should then move that evidence be heard at the
bar in support of those petitions.
Lord J. RUSSELL said, he did not, under these circum-
stances, consider that he should be doing right if he stated
the views of the government before the honourable gentleman
brought his motion forward. (Loud cries of hear, hear, and
laughter.)
Sir F. KNATCHBULL said, he considered that the noble
lord was bound to tell the house what course he intended to
adopt relating to the motion of the hon member for Wolver-
hampton. (Hear.)
Mr. VILLIERS said he had given notice of his motion on
the first day of the session.
Sir R. PEEL did not complain of the hon. member, but
he did complain of the noble lord not stating the views of
government on the question, particularly as on the first night
of the session the noble lord said he should oppose the mo-
tion for hearing evidence at the bar. (Hear.) And on Tues-
day last the noble lord, in answer to a question from him
(Sir R. Peel) stated that this evening he would let the house
know what course the government intended to pursue.
Lord J. RUSSELL explained. He did not think he ought
to be called upon to state his views of a motion several days
before it was brought forward. (Hear.) Neither ought he
to do anything likely to prejudice the motion of the hon.
member.

Sir E. KNATCHBULL distinctly understood the noble lord
to say that he would state this evening what course he in-
tended to pursue on the motion of the hon. member for Wol-
verhampton. (Hear.) The subject then dropped.
Sir GEORGE STRICKLAND presented a petition from Osset,
in the West-Riding of Yorkshire, praying for a total repeal
of the corn laws. The petitioners stated that the British em-
pire was mainly dependent on commerce, and that that should
be left in a free state, as all articles of food and luxury were
best procured by free trade—that this country, on account of
the limited extent of its landed property, was dependent on
foreign countries for its supplies of corn, cotton, wool, silk,
&c.—that the prosperity of manufactures and commerce de-
pended upon capital, skill, and the price of labour, and that
the cost of labour in this country had been much higher than
abroad, in consequence of which its manufacturers had to
contend with great disadvantages ; that the manufacturers of
Great Britain had been hitherto prosperous, because other
nations were not able to compete with them ; but that these
foreign nations, during the last twenty-three years, had wisely
brought themselves, in a great degree, upon an equality with
those of Great Britain, in their skill and the extent of their
employment of capital, and the latter had begun to feel seri-
ously the disadvantages under which they laboured in con-
sequence of the high price of food—that the petitioners con-
sidered these laws as restricting free intercourse, and tending
to raise the price of food ; and they prayed the house to ex-
tend to that country the privileges of free trade, by removing
all obstacles thereto.

CANADA.

In answer to a question from Sir R. PEEL,
Lord J. RUSSELL said he was not aware that any dispatches
had been received from Sir J. Colborne giving a general ac-
count of the state of Canada.
MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (IRELAND.)
Lord MORPETH rose to move for leave to bring in a bill
for the regulation of municipal corporations in Ireland. The
noble lord said he would not detain the house long, as the
question had been so often discussed that its novelty was,
gone. He wished to assimilate the law in Ireland as much
as possible to the law in this country. (Cries of hear.) He
proposed to adhere to the £1 .0 rating in the towns to which
it was to extend. (Hear.) Persons who had been rated to
the poor for three years were to be entitled to the elective
franchise ; the same number of towns were to have corpora-
tioas as those proposed in former bills ; and any town with
a population of 3,000 would be eligible to have a corporation.
It was not intended to make it compulsory on towns to have
corporations. The noble lord was not prepared to say that
corporate reform was all that was wanted for Ireland, or it
certainly was the last of three great questions, and if it was
satisfactorily settled, it would give time and opportunity for
preparing and maturing other measures necessary for the wel-
fare and peace of that country. He therefore trusted that
parliament, on the present occasion, would consent to a final
and amicable settlement of this great subject. The noble lord
concluded by moving for leave to bring in a bill.
Mr. SHAW said the strongest objection he had to the
measure was the amount of rating. He also objected to that
part which entitled persons who had paid poor rates for three
years to the corporate franchise. He wished to know if the
boundary question was to be settled by the same bill, or
whether another bill would be introduced. He was anxious
that the question w,hich had been so long before the house
should be settled ; but he must protest against assimilating
in every way the franchise of Ireland with that of England.
He should, hostrever, reserve what other objections he had to
the plan until the bill was before the house.
Mr. COLQUHOUN observed that the noble lord alluded to
this as one of the only two remaining great measures for the
pacification of Ireland. He thought he had understood from
a colleague of the noble lord, that the church of Ireland
question was not quite settled ; and he (Mr. Colquhoun)
would say, that so far from this being the only unsettled
question, after some facts had come to the knowledge of
most men, it was only one of six questions to be settled,
according to the declaration of the Precursor Society."—
(Hear, har.) Now, let the house look at the proceedings
of that great party whom the noble lord and his colleagues
looked to for support—a party looking to the complete simi-
larity of rights, &c., with the people of England ; next in-
sisting on the vote by ballot ; then another point regarded
the church. The same party demanded the total extinction
of tithes and all other compulsory exactions whatsoever,
whether in the form of rent charge or by any other name.
Therefore this question, settled, as the noble lord supposed,
remained as unsettled as it was before. -