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

greatest distress. He believed that the safest mode of
proceeding was by prohibition, and not by protection.
Mr. Alderman ATKINS spoke a few words in op-
position to the resolutions, which he thought only fa-
vourable to the interests of the foreign grower.
Lord MILTON rose to express his approbation of
the measure which was then under the consideration of
the Committee. Without saying whether the proposi-
tion was perfect in its present shape, or whether it could
not be made more perfect by some future modifications,
it did appear to him to be an improvement on the
present state of the law; and that if there was one
class more than another to whoat it was likely to be
advantageous, it was that class which was engaged
in agriculture. The present system of alternation be-
tween high and low prices, injurious as it was to the other
classes of his Majesty's subjects, was absolutely destruc-
tive to the agricultural interest. He could not sit dodo
without expressing a hope that, whatever threats might
be thrown out by those who were dissatisfied with the
proposition, the Right Hon. Mover of it would persist
steadily in support of it, and would not allow himself
Ito be diverted from a course of conduct which, Whether
it i was the wisest, or not, that could be adopted, was still
such as to entitle him to the gratitude of his country.
Mr. BROUGHAM said, that in rising to address the
Committee on the present occasion, be had no intention
to anticipate the full debate, which he allowed would
come on more appropriately at another season. He
trusted, however, that the debate would come on at such
a period as would enable those who were obliged to
leave town for the Assizes to take a part in it. Though
the time of holding the Assizes was near at hand, yet,
as the subject did not come for the first time under the
consideration of Parliament, as the minds of men had
been drawn to it in almost all possible shapes which
it could assume; and as the measure itself, in so far
as its principle was concerned, had been known to
them all for some time past, he trusted that the
delay of a week would not be deemed inadequate
to the consideration of the proposition in its details.
Thpugh he had undoubtedly formed an opinion upon
the point, be would not say at present whether he ap-
proved or disapproved of the proposition then before the
Committee. He would, however, throw out one idea
at present for the consolation of those Gentlemen of the
landed interest, who were too prone to take alarm at the
proposed innovation. They appeared to think that it
proceeded on the principle of protection, which they in
their wisdom deemed the safer and more expedient prin-
ciple. Now he considered the measure to be a prohibition
with a protection. It was in vain to say that practically
speaking it did not begin at the lower end of the scale with
a prohibition, for it there was a price within which wheat
could not be imported at a profit, and it was clear that,
coupled with charges for insurance, freight, port dues in
this country, and other incidental expenses, there might
be such a price, there was an absolute prohibition of
importation, when wheat was at that price ; so that a
measure which in form gave a protecting duty might
practically prove a prohibition. If when wheat was at
such a price, a man imported it without paying the
duty, he rendered himself liable to a fine in the Exche-
quer; and if he imported it, paying the duty, he would
be a loser by bringing it to the English market. He
would illustrate what he meant by an example. Let
the price of corn in England be 555. per quarter, the
duty on corn imported would then be We. so that the
price of cora bought in the Baltic for 25e. per quar-
ter, and subsequently brought to England, would be
555. independent of the cost of freight, insurance, Bcc.
which would be a dead loss to the importer. Would
not then the importation of corn from the Baltic be
virtually prohibited whenever the price Of corn was 555.
in the market? He would also give another topic of
consolation to the Gentlemen of the landed interest ; and
when he spoke of the landed interest, he did not intend
to speak of it invidiously. He had always deprecated
as absurd and mischievous, the' practice of speaking of
the landed and commercial interests as opposed to one
another. He held by the doctrine of an able individual,
who in the last century had commenced his career in trade,
and by his successful enterprise in it, bad made himself a
great landholder, he meant Sir Josiah Child—that " land
and trade go together—that they wax and weigh toge-
ther, so that it never is well with trade while land suf-
fers, nor well with land while trade suffers." But to re-
turn to the point from which he had digressed. The
landed Gentlemen admitted that 555. a quarter in the
English market was a prohibition upon importation
from foreign countries; but they were not satisfied with
it, and wanted more. Now, he would remind them
of one fact, which ought to render them satisfied with
the present proposition: 255. was the price at which
wheat could now be purchased in the Baltic; but sup-
posing the English market to be opened, and the addi-
tional demand of the English market to be thrown into
the foreign market, then, instead of purchasing wheat at
255. and then importing it under a duty of 30s. into the
English market, it would be purchased at 30s. and 355.
a quarter, and most be imported at that price, under the
same duty as before, for the duty was to be imposed not
with regard to the price paid for it abroad, but with re-
gard to the price at which it was selling at home. The
corn thus imported would diminish the average at home,
and by so doing would increase the protection to the
home grower, by raising the price at which foreign grain
was to be imported. He did not rejoice in the alarm felt
by the agricultural classes ; and be had, therefore, risen
for the purpose of giving them the means of relieving it.
Sir F. BURDETT said, he was sorry that this very
important question, by which the public mind had been
se much agitated, had been so long deferred. He did not
on this occasion mean to trepass for many minutes on
the attention of the House; but, at the same time, be
felt that he would not acquit himself to his constituents,
and to the public generally, if he did not state his
opinion with respect to the principle on which the reso-
lutions now introduced were founded, and which would
be discussed more at large on a future occasion. His
opinion was not completely in unison with that of any
Gentleman who had delivered his sentiments on the
subject; because his views extended perhaps farther than'
theirs. He, however, coincided entirely in almost the
whole of what had fallen from the Noble Lord below
him (Lord Althorp). He (Sir F. Burdett) was a decided
advocate of free trade, in every respect (hear)--althotigh,
in making that declaration. he knew that he must en-
counter those prejudices which the Right Hon. Gent. op-
posite had described as scarcely susceptible of being
rooted out of some minds. He was one of those persons
who did not think that a free trade in corn would have
t',e baneful effects which were attributed to it. Although
the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite doubted whether
any writer wculd be produced to sanction such a pro-
position, he believed that he could quote more than
one favourable authority on the subject. The clues.
tion was not, in his mind, an exclusive one. It con-
cerned tl.c entire interests of the country—the MUM