Star.
London, England, 1827-05-16 00:00:00

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irole House on Thursday at four

THE CORN LAWS.
Lord REDESDALE rose, pursuant to notice, to
move a series of Resolutions relative to the Corn Laws.
There had been, from time to time, various Petitions
presented to their Lordships, the presentation of which
had elicited. discussions. In 1822, the Noble Lord, (Li-
verpool), then at the head of the Treasury, deprecated
discussion on this subject, and at the same time said,
that the C •rn Laws ought to rest on a stable foaada-
don, that the land owner, and cultivator of land, and
all those whose interests were likely to be affected,
might enter into their various engagements with confi-
dence, as to their being able to fulfil them. But if they
were one day to adopt one system, • and the mat
change it for another, such vacillating comfort would
cause even more inconvenience than was, felt under the
existing law. He (Lord Redesdale) fully coincided
with the wisdom of this suggestion; but since that
period, another course had been pursued, and last Ses-
sion they passed a Bill, whio he designated " a Bill
of wrong and robbery," an& aucb it was. This mea-
sure was passed because theft *ere about 100,000
manufacturers in distress, and the object was to re-
lieve them by introducing a quantity of foreign corn
into the market for the purpose of reducing the price
of corn. Now if the amount of Blitish corn, was not i
more than sufficient for our consumption,. we were thus
precluding so mach British corn from the market; we
were dividing 4 or 500,000 quarters amongst twelve,
millions of people. But the Public was not the only
party wh.) derived benefit, the revenue also participated
in it, as would be seen by reference to the duty. That
measure was of such a nature, that whatever respect he
might before hare felt fit the Noble Lord, he con-
sideted himself bound to oppose him during the
progress of the Bill to which reference had been
made. His first Resolution was to the effect, that

agrit• shore was the basis of a country's wealth.—
Manufactures and population might give a stimulus
to agriculture; but he contended that manufactures
were a consequence of cultivation. What, for instance,
would be the result to this country, if, by any sudden
visitation of Providence, it were rendered as barren as
the sands of Africa ? The country could not support
itself under such circumstances, and there would be a
speedy end to commerce and manufactures. He ob-
jected to these free-trade measures. Had any of their
Lordships benefitted by the importation rf foreign wool ?
Did they get their coats any cheaper ? Then as regarded
leather, when he was young be got shoes at ss. now be
paid 17s. for them. Look at the average price of cora
after the passing of the Ist of Charles 11. It was low*
then than it had been before, and the reason of its beim
so was, because agriculture was encouraged, and therel
was in consequence a produce of corn be; and the Cols.
sumption. In Sweden there hrd been a duty imposer{
almost amounting to prohibition, and the result was
a lower price. That which we produced within
ourselves cost us, in one sense, nothing ; but that
which we imported must cost us something. He
knew there had been considerable distress, but what
was the cause? A Noble Lord (Liverpool) had ex-
' plained the cause—it was owing to an excess of mono.'
facture to a con‘iderab'e extent—to a desire to grow
sudd. nly rich. This at least was one of the causes. to
which he would add machinery, which enabled one was
to do what before required ten. It was worthy of con.
sideration that, some seasons the produce did not amount
to more than half what it did in others. Was it reasonable
then to suppose that the agriculturist could always
afford to sell at one price? But the prices were in this
country more steady than in others ; be supposed owing
to our superior skill. He thought it must be evident
that if foreign corn were imported, purchased abroad at
the most favourable times, to be introduced here, after
perhaps a most unfavourable season, the market here
could never rise above sixty shillings. What was
the effect of this? The farmer in bad seasons must
suffer great losses; and in plentiful ones there would
be an excess, which ought to be allowed to supply the
deficiency of the bad season. The farmer must there-
fore be a loser in both cases. Formerly the farmer sold
immediately to the consumer : but now he sold to the
corn-dealers. of whom th.re were numbers, even in
every little market town ; and the consequence was,
that the farmer did not obtain so good a price. He
concluded, that to compare the price of corn now with
what it used to be, was errone us. The consumption
had increased materially for the last hundred years;
and if this were considered, it would be found that corn
was the cheapest article of food we had. We did not
tax the agticulturists as we did other classes. We taxed
them to give others peculiar advantages. We imposed'
a low duty on the importation of wool, to enable the
manufacturer to possess a cheaper raw material. He be.
Heves,. however, that the exportation of woollens had,
since the period of change in this resper, rather dimi-
nished. Now what would be the effect of the Bill which
had come up from the commons? If the produce was
equal to the consumption, the farmer would have to
pay the duty that might be paid for the importation of
.foreign corn, and thus a new land tax was created.
What would be the effect as regarded Ireland? Irish
corn imported paid no duty. Suppose one m.llion quar-
ters were sent from Ireland; if that intr notation were
checked, it would add much to the distress of that
country. The poor's rates were a great source cf op-
pressiou to the farmers, and caused them to grudge
every penny they pa.d for labour, because of their want
of capital. By discouraging the farmer, then, instead
of having a few manufacturers out of employ, we
should have an increase of crime, an addition to our
poor's rates, and a falling off in our agriculture..-.
There was another subject of great importance,
namely, how far would the Constitution of his Ma-
jesty's Government bs affected by such a measure?
The Government of this country was founded in land;
even in the other House, the qualification was land. Po-
litical power should be given to property ; because the
physical power on the side of those who had not pro.
perty. was much greater than of those who had it.
What was the language used in another place? They
avowed that their object was to reduce the value of
land. This was the language of the Capitalists, and.
of the Fundholders; who would run away with tie
property of the country, and leave the Landholder to
shift for himself. This House, then, could not stand
unless its interests were preserved, and it was the prop
and stay of the country. When we had been engaged
in a heavy war, we had incurred taxes to a considerable
amount, and was it to be supposed we could then com-
pete with nations which bad not such burdens' The in-
structions' which were riven to Mr. Jacob were of
• most partial description--(Hear, hear)--and it was