Star.
London, England, 1827-03-02 00:00:00

'rather give his vote in favour of protection thee support'
the plan which was this night proposed. At the same
time, be must own that it was worthy of consideration.
The Right Honourable Gentleman h9:l made use of
an observation in his speech to-night which had
filled him with surprise and disgust. He had'said
that the balance of price would be in favour of free
trade. (.I No, no,"from Mr. Canning.) He was certain that
the Right Hon. Gent. said that the balance of principle
would be in favour of free trade, and the balance of
price in favour of agriculture. If, however, the princi-
ples of the proposed Bill tended to abrogate the corn
laws—and he was well assured that it would be the
first step to the attainment of that object—he cautioned
the House how it proceeded to legislate on such a
dangerous measure—(Hear, hear).
Mr. Secretary CANNING said, that the Honourable
Baronet had mistaken his meaning. He was partly
right, and partly wrong. He (Mr. Canning) said, that
the balance of principle would be in favour of trade,
not free trade—(Hear).

Lord ALTHORP thought the proposed system a
great improvement. As the Representative of an agri-
cultural county, and bound to protect the interests of
agriculture, so long as it did not militate against the
general welfare, he rejoiced that an alteration was about
to take place, calculated, as it appeared to him, to im-
prove the situation of thelultivator of land. The plan
now proposed would put an end to the necessity of
speculating and watching the averages; and it would
afford a much better protection than the present law,
because if it produced a price somewhat lower upon the
average, that price would be a great deal more steady.
He would aot now advert to the price at which foreign
corn ought to be admitted, but he saw no reason to
doubt that the proposed duties would be sufficient.

Alderman THOMPSON fully agreed in the proposed
resolutions, although be thought that the price fixed for
wheat was too high.

Sir T. LETHBRIDGE wished to say three or four
words on the motion before the Committee. Having
heard the propositions of his Majesty's Ministers, he
found them not so alarming ; they did not present
themselves in so questionable a shape as he had appre-
hended—(Heat). After all the dire anticipations, and
the agitating fears, from which the reports they bad
heard afforded ample ground, it was a consolation to
him to be able to say, that although he did not approve of
the plan altogether, yet it was much better than he had
expected. He differed from the Honourable Alderman,
who thought the scale of duties too high; he thought it
too low, and fur this reason, that, as it was an experi-
ment, he, who always had been, and always should be,
an advocate for agricultural interest, would have the
experiment made, if it was to be made, with the least
possible hazard to that important interest. He would
give the subject the fullest consideration, but he feared
he should be compelled to vote against the principle of
the measure. He begged to ask, if the averages were
to be taken weekly?
Mr. Secretary CANNING replied, that weekly aver-
ages were now taken, but importation was governed
by an average of averages. His proposition was, that
the weekly averages simply should determine the duty.
_ _ _

Sir J. SEBEIGHT said, that he had devoted much
of his time for many years to the consideration of the
Coin Laws; and he now gave it as his opinion that the
present propositiou was better calculated than any
which had preceded it for the purposes it was intended
to accomplish. He would not discuss at present the
details of this measure, but would content himself with
;lying his hearty concurrence to the principle on which
it was founded.

Mr. CURWEN asked, whether the improvement in
taking the averages was to be extended to Ireland ?
Mr. Secretary CANNING said, that there was no
intention of altering the present mode of taking the
averages, but there was an intention of so regulating
the striking of them as to prevent the frauds which, it
was well known, were at present practised under them.
He had no intention of getting rid of the system en-
tirely, as it answered the purpose of obtaining an ap-
proximation to the real price of corn throughout the
country. He thought that the evils of the present sys-
tem would be diminished by shortening the period in
which the averages were struck.
Mr. Alderman WOOD observed, that as the Hon.
[Member for Somersetshire expressed himself almost sa-
itisfied with the proposition then before the Committee,
it behoved the Members for populous cities to view it
with something like a feeling of alarm—(Hear, hear).
Mr. PORTMAN implored the House not to come to
a hasty conclusion upon this most important of all im-
portant subjects. His object in rising at present was to
implore the Members of the Committee to make up
their minds to one point—that protection to agricul-
ture was absolutely necessary to the well-being of
the country.—(Hear, hear, hear.)—He would not
then pretend to decide, whether protection to that in-
terest could be best obtained by the existing system, or
by that which it was now proposed to substitute in lieu
of it? He would confess that he was one of those who
preferred protection to prohibition. But there might
be facts connected with Corn, which rendered it im-
possible to concede to the country, that which he would
not be unwillingly, individually, to concede to it. He
was convinced that unless the Committee granted a
protection to Agriculture up to 60s. a quarter, no
Wheat could be grown so as to remunerate the grower
in the county which he had the honour to represent
(Dorsetshire). He was afraid that a duty of 20s. would
hardly be found sufficient for the protection of the
Agriculturists. If it were not, the importation of foreign
Corn would tend to throw the poor lands of the coun-
try out of cultivation; and if they were thrown out of
cultivation, the labourers must be thrown upon the
poor rates; and such an occurrence could not fail to
lead to a very lamentable catastrophe. He would now
beg leave to ask a question, which he considered to be
very material, and that was, whether the quarter of
Wheat was to be reckoned by the Winchester or the
Imperial measure?

Mr. Secretary CANNING replied, that the quarter
was now reckoned by the Winchester measure, and no
alteration was intended in that respect.

Colonel WOOD said, that as some Gentlemen had
stated the scale of duties to be too high, whilst others
contended that it was too low, it might perchance turn
'out that Ministers had acted very wisely in filing on a
medium between the two parties. He must say, that
it appeared to him, that if agi iculture was to be sup-
ported by protection, and not by prohibition, the scale
if prices was too low. He implored the Committee to
recollect that the farmers were at present in a very
critical situation ; and that if it now took a wrong
rcp, it might create such a depression in every specie•
of agiii.ultaral produce, as would be productive of the