The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-24 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—MosrAy.

The Earl of March, Mr. Halsey, Lord A. Churchill,
Mr. Buck, and Sir J. Tyrrell, stoke against the govern-
ment measure. and Mr. M. Gibson. Mr. Dickenson, Sir
W. Clay, Lord H. Vane, and Mr. James, in favour of it,
after which,
Sir R. PEEL said that two important questions had oc-
cupied the attention of the house during the last nights'
debate. The one, the manner in which a great party
should be conducted; the other, the mode of averting a
great national calamity, and the way in which the future
commercial policy of the country should he administered;
and of these the former had occupied considerably the lar-
ger share of attention. With respect to that one, he
would at once admit that he had no defence. These mea-
sures were the worst for party purposes that could have
been devised; but with respect to the latter, with a great
calamity impending, his duty to his Sovereign and to his
country forbade that he should be influenced by party mo-
tives when the very existence was at stake of a great por-
tion of the population. The right hon. baronet then re-
stated all the circumstances connected with his retire-
ment from office in December, and his shortly afterwards
resuming it, expressing at the same time surprise that the
noble lord had not formed a ministry, and his belief that
if be had formed one he would have succeeded in carrying
the measure. He had nothing to complain of in the ex-
planation of the noble lord on a former evening, and in-
deed in a long course of opposition to each other he be-
lieved that no ground was given on either side for any-
thing like acrimonious feeling ; but in order to prove the
sincerity of the support he proffered to the noble lord, he
quoted a letter written by himself at the time to her Ma-
jesty, in which he stated the measures he thought neces-
sary, and pledged himself to support his successor, know-
ing at the time from her Majesty that it was her intention
to send for Lord John Russell. He also in the same let-
ter pledged himself to support any increase which the
noble lord might think necessary to the army and navy
under the peculiar circumstances of the country. He
said that, to show that he was not disposed to rob others
of the credit of measures which they had always advo-
cated, but that on the contrary he was prepared to give
the noble lord the same cordial support which the noble
lord made it his boast that he was about to give him.
With respect to those of his party who had now with-
drawn from him their confidence, he must say that in his
situation he must know men's motives, and he believed
no gentlemen were ever actuated by more honourable
motives than those which actuated them ; but he would
tell them that the month of May would not arrive without
convincing even them that he would have been guilty of
treachery to his Sovereign and to that house if he had
taken any other course than that which he had adopted.
He would not attempt to conciliate parties by any expres-
sion of regret for the course he had pursued. So far from
it, he most solemnly declared that he looked back, as the
happiest moment of his life, to the day in which he had
proposed the opening of the ports, feeling that the great
object of a Minister ought to be, under such circumstan-
ces, to increase the quantity of food in the country. The
right hon. baronet then, in order to show the extent of
the calamity to be anticipated in Ireland, read letters
which he had only that and the previous morning received
from Sir David Roche, Lord Stuart de Decies, and others,
giving the most deplorable state of the potato crop, and
the consequent hazard of famine, if steps were not taken
to ward it off. The Government was doing all in its power
to meet the evil by establishing granaries from whence
corn might he furnished at low prices in return for labour.
If, as May approached, the danger should increase, could
be come down to the house to ask for £300,000 or
£400,000 out of the public purse, without calling upon
the landed interest to abate one letter of their law of pro-
tection ? It would be impossible. Under the pressure
of the Irish case, it would be out of all character to talk
of hoisting the banner of protection, of rousing the Bri-
tish lion, or of maintaining the corn laws in all their in-
tegrity. The right hon. baronet then referred to the
course pursued in all former times of scarcity, and showed
that in those cases the invariable remedy was to admit
corn duty free. He had ample precedent, therefore, for
the measures he proposed ; and had he done otherwise,
he would only have thrown such odium on the protective
duty as to excite strong public feeling against the landed
interests. It was true that the most fitting times to have
opened the ports would have been the first of November,
but not having been done then, the necessity became
greater for doing so now. But parliament was sit-
sing, and while sitting it would scarcely be proper for
the executive to do that which he bad invited the house
by the measure before it to accomplish. The ports once
opened for a few months, he did not believe they would
have ever been able to re-impose the duty. In the course
of the lost session notice was given of a motion to admit
maize free of duty, because it was useful for feeding cat-
tle. All were agreed that the duty on maize should be
abated or taken off, but how was it possible to propose to
parliament to take off the duty on maize, because it was
useful to the farmer to feed his cattle and his pigs, while
the duty was to remain on corn, which was the food for
human beings? The hon. baronet then proceeded to reply
to the arguments of Mr. T. Baring and Mr. Scott, inti-
mating that the latter hon. gentleman seemed likely to
rival knacharsis Cloots, who had described himself as
Attorney-General for the human race. He subsequently
referred to the speeches of Mr. Colquhoun, Mr. B. Hope,
Lord J. Manners (spoken in a former debate,) and Mr.
Miles, who, he said, is most of his arguments was hand-
ling edged tools, as mischievous to himself as to his oppo-
nents. With respect to flax, to which the hon. member
had alluded, what were the facts ? Ten years ago the
duty on flax was taken off; and at this time three fourths
of the cambrics used in this country came from France
and one from Ireland. Now, however, these proportions
ware reversed, and in the absence of protection the ma-
nufaeure in Ireland had so far progressed now that three
fourths of the cambric came from Ireland and only one-
fourth from France. Many of the agricultural members
bad said they preferred immediate repeal to the postpone-
ment for three years. He intended to adhere to the
plan of the government, but should those hon. members,
in conjuncttbn with hon. members on the other side of
the house, place him in a minority upon this point.
his only consideration then would be to give effect to the
opinion of the house thus expressed upon this point
against him, and to carry the immediate repeal of the
corn-laws in such a way as to create as little confusion as
possible in the country. The right hon baronet then
quoted some returns to show that agricultural prosperity
did not altogether depend upon tie price of wheat. In the
five years ending in the year 1815, the rental of England
was thirty-two millions, and the average price of wheat
was 1021., while in the five years ending in 18442, tbe

average price of wheat fell to 6-is., and the rental of Eng- '
land rose to thirty-seven millions. The whole question
raised by the amendment was only whether in our com-
mercial policy we were to advance or recede, for to stand
still was in effect to recede. He was ashamed when he
read some of the petitions presented to the house, and
more particularly of that of the shipowners, which prayed
the house to check all further rash experiments and resist
the reduction of the duty on timber. And yet the aver-
age tonnage employed in the Canada trade with Liverpool
was 163,000 tons, but since the removal the tonnage em-
ployed has risen to 194,000. Notwithstanding this, the
shipowners, in their petition, spoke of hazardous experi-
ments. It was a fact that in Liverpool they had not a log
of timber that would build a ship which would last twelve
years, and yet it was shipowners that complained of
his lowering the discriminating duties so as to enable
them to obtain it. The right hon. baronet proceeded to
show that in every instance in which it had been proposed
to reduce protection, as in the case of potatoes, hops, silk,
&c., predictions of ruin invariably assailed the minister,
and yet in all those cases the results had been most bene-
ficial. England, he contended, had nothing to fear from
competition, possessed, as she was, in addition to her
skill and capital, of so many natural advantages. Other
countries were waiting to follow her example. Sardinia
bad already adopted the principles of free trade; Naples
would shortly follow ; Prussia was sha's en ; and in France
public opinion was rapidly advancing in the right channel.
But whether they followed or not he called upon them, for
their own sakes, to go on in a course of wisdom and
sound policy without reference to the proceedings of other
nations. The right hon. baronet resumed his seat
amidst loud cheering, after which
Lord J. MANNERS moved the adjournment of the
debate.