Star.
London, England, 1820-05-31 00:00:00

L 54.

-....c0ce. Mt tbe part.of parliament, and therefore
:be,:foe one. waadesirous of going. into some itnquisy
Ism the subject.. That the opinions of the farmers
were erxencous,.he did not think it y:ould be- difTwolt
i
;to make clearly appear. He proceecled to remark,
;that most of the Petitions now before them came
from the occupiers, and not from the.ownels of land;
atml then sliewed that those classes had distinst ie.
tetests, and that the benefit now claimed by the 0c...
cupiers would inevitably be takenfrom them lry.ahe
'owners when the present leases expired. Ti 'pro.
tection now afforded by the importation ••
.:luthlt
Ti
fixed at 806. lie regarded as very iticonvki. ~, fse
*was Inclined to think, that a duty of even less than
20s. might answer much bettor. Sor..e inquit y would,
in his opinion, be desirable, as the country was now
:in a situation wholly diffcreu fronuthat ie which it
stoodia 1815. The expense ofAktltivating Lind On.
eluding., rent) bad diminish.; ..,.'eat*Wis that period :i
:not less thin one-third, and there:4,4e protectien
~.Which it was iiiilit to afford them might-not he ne-
.cessary now, and he could not but perseadelkimself .
that the time was not far distant when it would
necessary' for them, in some cldgege„-..-42. retreat
their steps, . and wen it would lie_ t wise
to take this question into coasideraaion", • a
. view .of gradually undoing what hart leettn
It was the general view of the col that the
present protection operated :Is a tax iaconstimahle
article. .The difference betwee at .ielis lila for
bread, and what would ba paid le4C-ionA:44st MI
'had passed. opetatek4 as a tax, on the people;lbut its
produce wen: noti.tex the Government—not to rhe
tenants—but to the •landlords of England. This
must, therefore, be regarded as a tax of the worst
description, imposed to enrich a particular class of
individuals. The shale of it which he, as a landed
"propriaor received, he would willingly give up, and
by so doing he was. satisfied that he shonld be a
gainer, trorn the change which would then take.place
in the whoole face of society. Ile thought i,:quiry
desirable and necessary, but at the san e time did ret.
feel himself bound to vote in favour of the pattieular
in(
..$
'q .ry
rnea-
now
_lan
..uapteuit,. _ .:ircum-
stances of the country; that he could not give it his
support. ‘Vith the views of the Right Honourable
Gentleman opposite, with everything that he had ex-
pressed on the subject respecting the averages and
the price of Corn, he thou:,,ilt it impossible not to.
concur; and he had therefore been a little surprised,
at the end of his speech, to learn that the. Right Ho.
nourable Gentleman might, by possibility, support
the motion—("t N o,nc !" front the 21:i ni.ilcrial side.l4.--.
'He had understood, that the Right lionotrrable Gen-
tleman was disposed to consent to the inquiry, if li.
mired in a particular way. This limitation was pie-
cisely that to which he (Lord Milton) could not agree.
The Noble Lord opposed the Motion, on the around
that it would only excite the expec: ation of every far-
mer in England, and dash the cup from his lips. The
real history of the distress in the country arose out 9f
the unnatural state of things for the last 25 years.--
It had been the peculiar distinction of the late war:
,that we had not only exfeuded an immense capital
n hich had produced no beneficial effect, because the.
weight of taxation had pressed heavily on all classes
of the community—(Loyd cries of bear, befirl.—
If the resources of the country were not increased,
the country would not long be able to bear the load.
of taration. The Noble Lord was not sanguine
enough tcr believe the load of debt could be removed.
"to any great extent, and it would be a delusion to
impress on the People that the distresses could be
alleviated suddenly. The House ought to turn their
minds to inquiry upon a large and more ezten4ed
view than that proposed by the Hon. Member for
Surrey. It would appear that Parlianient was blind
to the interests of the country, if they limited inqbiry
in the form proposed. He telt regret in not being
able to vote far a motion on the subject, because he
believed that inquiry, upon a large scale, might have
been attended with a good result. ' No good could
possibly arise from limited and petty inquiry. .. -
Mr. CURWEN said, the speech of the- Biel
'Honourable Gentlemen on the opposite -side of the
House made a deep impression on him.' The Corn,
Laws were most essential at the time they ;Were
adopted, but when the Right Honourable Member
at the head of the Board of Trade stated that there.
was not corn to support' the country, it was in his
opinion one of the most serious assertions ever rnaee
in that House. lie found a difficulty in giving his
vote for any inquiry that would lead to increase the
price of grain and decrease the coin of the country. ..
The great difficulty under which the country labour-
ed, arose from the unproductive state of labour. The •
diminution of income, occasioned try the.falling off-in
the pi icp of labour, amounted to six millions annually.
Great difficulty had fallen on the Landed /otetest,
which required the attention of the House. The coot..
mous extent of the Poorlrates, and the increase ofTstses,
Occasioned a heavier pressure than ai any.period dori IT
the war. Mr. Curwen considered the Landed Intecesc
as suffering more severely than the Funded loterest,r-
He would have gone into a Committee stish•two. ob-
jects: First,.to relieve the Poor Bates, -and equalize
the taxes With respect to funded.property. Th.e.po-
licy of this country had been mistaken. It senntao
lay taxes on labour, and when labour csceeded.slie.
demand, the tax, fell on the landholder. Ph-ct mu ..
lions wear paid in Lazes out of -tabour. .Could: -
thing be more absurd than to tax those who io eeDee.
quence of snch.tax were driven to .the palish?. file
was an advocate.for a modified PiePt74, ;put. .. The
taxes ought to fall equally on every. p4(.4 pr-the com-
munity.. A Committee might, •he :appointed to in-
quire into-the distresses of oecogutyy„trg io should
be upon a-bread ..ef6ciePt system. 14.1cluiri Q41944°
be for the benefit oftbe woricius,clivses...4f44l44' , ,
en Leather and Salt were rgusmred, it *maid ease ;he.
(atLers of foer,Milliotin,jand,,,nAble-tiiitm Sofa' goin
1 efshc 41illi* in•ti.tgswarter. .14e .wisleyi t4e sysci..
virns .10 be qghty 'lliags. Ale ~could net v
.uteior
tbe motion. . . .
.Mr.,ItIC44IDP *id, be,441:- -parr* to sispport..
the intcrev.a(gle ,a,pd.lar,Pplc,koNaltiqr, ~lout. the; a.
of 0.e.-PctualifY at tango. 4111.415401tP iiiiausiow
of flit 6Lecr. AG. 3.5 •I?A?Rfid .41:811194/4fk1litteatat
/.4ws. ' :If tbe,y,wolllW, .4091 the: •. SW. wept
_of
grftin woula 'be- the same in ngland as in othie
countries, and that would he a remunerating priec—

pro
Slll
fou,

iq.oiry called for by the present motion. j,
Lord. N was in hopes that tife yitAtfil
49-
ropo:itt.w .'s,orrowed. settiOnedial me
ires that Le 4! :1vi1ka,4461"64441; but he nc
)und the proposition of the Honourable Gentlem.
'as so confined, and so little adapted, to the circa: