The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-27 00:00:00

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HOUSE OF LORDS.—TUESDAY,
The Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Normanby, the Earl
of Clarendon, Viscount Duneannon. and Viscount Melbourne

arone, as

ti COM -

missiOners, the Usher of the Black Rod was directed to
summon the members of the commons at the bar of the
House of Lords, to hear the royal speech on the opening of
parliament.
Shortly afterwards, the SPEAKER, accompanied by a_large

body of members, appeared at the bar, when ti
CHANCELLOR read the following speech :
" My Lords and Gentlemen,

" We are commanded by her Majesty to acquaint you that
her Majesty bas availed herself of the earlist opportunity of
resorting to your advice and assistance after the dissolution
of the last parliament.
• .. •

" Her Majesty continues to receive from foreign powers
gratifying assurances of their desire to maintain with her
Majesty the most frieuitily relations.
" Her Majesty has the satisfaction of informing you, that
the object fur which the treaty of the 15th of July, 1840,
was concluded between her Majesty, the Emperor of Aus-
tria, the King of Prussia, the Emperor of Russia, and the
Sultan, have been fully accomplished, and it is gratifying to
her Majesty to be enabled to state that the temporary sepa-
ration which the measures taken in the execution of that
treaty created between the contracting parties and France
has now ceased. _ . . _ . .

" Her Majesty trusts that the union of the principal powers
upon all matters affecting the great interests of Europe will
afford a firm security for the maintenance of peace.
" Her Majesty is glad to be able to inform you, that in
consequence of the evacuation of Ghorian by the Persian
troops, her Majesty has ordered her minister to the court of
Persia to return to Teheran. _ .

"Her Majesty regrets that the negociations between her
plenipotentiaries in China and the Chinese government have
not yet been brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and that
it has been necessary to call into action the forces which her
Majesty has sent to the China seas ; but her Majesty still
trusts that the Emperor of China will see the justice of the
demands which her Majesty's plenipotentiaries have been
instructed to make.

" Her Majesty is happy to inform you that the difference
which had arisen between Spain and Portugal, about the
execution of a treaty concluded by these powers in 18301 for
regulating the navigation of the Douro. have been adjusted
amicably, and with honour to both parties, by the aid of her
Majesty's mediation.
'• The debt incurred by the legislature of Upper Canada,
for the purposes of public works, is a serious obstacle to fur-
ther improvements which are essential to the prosperity of
the united province. Her Majesty has authorised the gover-
nor-general to make a communication on the subject to the
council and assembly of Canada. Her Majesty will direct
the papers to be laid before you, and trusts that your earnest
attention will be directed to matters so materially affecting

the welfare of Canada and the strength of the empire.
" Gentlemen of the House of Commons,
" We have to assure you that her Majesty relies with en-

tire confidence on your loyalty and zeal to make adequate
provision for the public service, as well as for the further
application of sums granted by the last parliament.

" My Lords and Gentlemen,

" We are more especially commanded to declare to you
that the extraordinary expenses which the events in Canada,
China, and the Mediterranean have occasioned, and the ne-
cessity of maintaining a force adequate to the protection of
our extensive possessions. have made it necessary to consider
the means of increasing the public revenues. Her Majesty
is anxious that this object should be effected in the manner
least burdensome to her people ; and it has appeared to her
Majesty, after full deliberation, that you may, at this junc-
ture, properly direct your attention to the revision of duties
affecting the productions of foreign countries. It will be
for you to consider whether some of these duties are not so
trifling in amount as to be unproductive to the revenue,
while they are vexatious to commerce. You may further
examine whether the principle of protection, upon which
others of these duties are founded, be not carried to an ex-
tent injurious alike to the income of the state and the in-
terests of the people.
" Her majesty is desirous that you should consider the
laws which regulate the trade in corn. It will be for you to
determine whether these laws do not aggravate the natural
fluctuations of supply ; whether they do not embarrass
trade, derange the currency, and by their operation diminish
the comfort and increase the privations of the great body of
the community. _ _

Her majesty, feeling the deepest sympathy with those of
her subjects who are now suffering from distress and want
of employment, it is her earnest prayer that all your delibe-
rations may be guided by wisdom, and may conduce to the
happiness of her beloved people."
The lords commissioners quitted their seats, and disrobed
after the Commons' members had withdrawn.
Earl SPENCER opened the debate by moving the address.
It was, as is usual on such occasions, an amplification of the
topics introduced by ministers into the Royal Speech.
After 'discussing those which referred to questions of
foreign and colonial policy, his lordship came to the subject
on which hinged the entire interest of .the debate—the con-
sideration of the laws which regulate the trade in corn. He
said, that the most extravagant opinions had been enter-
tained on this subject, and that they had prevailed on both
sides of the question ; he felt satisfied that the corn-laws
were no protection to the agriculturist, and did not believe
that the price of corn would be materially altered by the
abolition of the corn-laws. The price depended on the ex-
pense of cultivation—on the cost of production. The land
that a repeal of these laws would throw out of cultivation
was any thing but corn land. It had never been worth the
foreigner's while to import corn unless he could obtain 535.
for it free of duty. He did not believe it was possible that
any large quantity of corn would be introduced at any ma-
terially reduced prices. He felt that an alteration in the
corn-laws and freedom of trade would yet, and soon, be
triumphant. The advantages he anticipated from that alters •
tion were to be obtained by raising the prices of food on the
continent, in order that their manufacturers might not be
able to compete with ours, and that they might not be able
to turn their attention so exclusively to manufactures. If
these laws were abolished and the continental prices raised,
speculation would be renewed in English corn, and very
greatly relieve the farmer in depressed years. He asked for
concessions on both sides, and that by delay in promoting
freedom of commerce, capital should not be driven abroad,
and the manufacturing prosperity of the country destroyed.
We had generally concurred in opinion with the present
government ; he had supported them when they came into
power, and his confidence in them had never been shaken.
The noble lord concluded by moving the address, which was
a mere echo of the speech from the throne.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE, who seconded the address,
entered at some length into a retrospective view of the rela-
tive value of bread-corn since the duties now in force had
been imposed, and proceeded with a statement to show that
neither the farmer nor the people benefited by the result.
The noble marquis next endeavoured to expose the futility of
the argument based on the alleged danger of relying for a
supply of bread upon foreign nations, who might at any mo-
ment close their ports, and refuse the necessary quantity,
and instanced the year 1810, when the continental ports were
firmly closed against British commerce. His lordship then
adverted to the question of the concurrent fall of wages with
that of bread, and after stating that the labourer would be
able to buy more food and raiment out of his reduced earn-
ings than he could under the present system, reiterated his
strong objections to the sliding scale, concluded his speech
by insisting on the necessity of agreeing to the address as it
stood, and expressing his opinion that ministers could not
quit power under more honourable circumstances than the
present.
The Earl of RIPON directed some very severe censures
upon the conduct of foreign affairs, which had plunged the
country into an interminable, dangerous, and expensive
series of wars in Persia, China, and India; which had at
one period menaced the country from the other side of the
channel, and which had created a state of affairs beyond the
Atlantic, to which he would not further advert, such were its
difficulties, than by saying that he felt the deepest anxiety
respecting the issue of the matter pending. The noble earl
next dissected the financial schemes of the last year and of
the present one, both of which he pronounced to be falla-
cious and absurd, if not ruinous. The former had proved
to be so by its results, and the scheme now under considera-
tion could be shown to be equally destructive to the revenue,
the policy, and the principles upon which the parliament had
legislated during the last ten years. It was upon the finan-
cial measures of the present government that he felt disposed
to take his ground of opposition, and he considered he could
bring forward the most convincing reasons to induce the
house to support him in the amendment which he proposed
to make of a vote of utter want of confidence in her Ma-
jesty's government. This announcement was received with
cheers by their lordships, and, after going at some length
through the three fiscal measures proposed by the ministers,
which he successively dissected and condemned, the noble
earl concluded by moving the amendment, which stated that
in order to carry out the object of her Majesty's address, it
was necessary that the existing government should have the
confidence of that house, which the present government did
not possess.
Earl FITZWILLIAM entered into a lengthened exposition
of his views upon the corn laws, and supported the address.
Lord LYTTELTON would vote for the address, but in doing
so wished to guard himself against being supposed to place
entire confidence in her majesty's government.
Viscount MELBOURNE, in supporting the address, said
that he had never witnessed so serious an attack made upon
a government, supported by so little reason or argument.
The Duke of WELLINGTON was of opinion that his noble
friend, the Earl of Ripon, had laid down quite sufficient
grounds for the amendment which he had moved, and he
should, therefore, give it his support. He censured the course

adopted by the government, acid said her majesty was ill-
advised in the speech which had been placed in her mouth at
the close of the last and in the beginning of the present
session, topics having been introduced into both of these
pcneeehea enlenlaterl to itifiamp the rinceinnt: of the pnnple, .na
to produce no counterbalancing advantage. _ _

The Duke of RICHMOND contended that the scheme of a
fixed duty of Bs. on corn was one of the maddest that could
be conceived, and he would give hilt support to the admen-
ment. *lt was said that, if the present ministry were turned
out, that the conservatives on their accession to power would
adopt the very measures by which they had effected the de-
struction of the present administration. He did not believe
this, but if it should turn out to be the fact, he would be the
very first person to propose a want of confidence in them.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE contrasted the present views
of his noble friend the Earl of Ripon, with those which he
entertained when, as Mr. Robinson, he drew up, in con-
junction with other influential members of the House of
Commons, a report, wherein he stated his opinion that a
fixed duty on corn was what was required in order to intro-
duce a sound and healthy state of things into the supply of
food to this country. He, for his part, could scarcely be-
lieve that Mr. Robinson, whose name was appended to that
report, was the same individual with his noble friend on the
opposite side. The noble marquis then proceeded to deduce
from the undiminished prosperity that had followed upon the
repeal of the prohibitory duties on wool, and which measure
bad been opposed on the very same grounds that were now
taken with respect to corn, that the same results would fol-
low upon the alteration of the sliding duty to a fixed one.
After some general observations, the noble marquis concluded
by stating that he was prepared to give up the reins of go-
vernment to that party which commanded the majority in
both houses, and he did so in the hope that when in office
they would use their power with moderation, and bring for-
ward liberal measures, in which he and his friends would
support them.-

The Earl of COVENTRY said that none of the proposed
changes were required by the country. He was of opinion
that the country was in a safe state, and he hoped that it
would be shortly placed in the hands of the Duke of Wel-
lington.

The Marquis of NORTHAMPTON, in supporting the ad-
dress, said he did so because in his opinion a vote of want of
confidence attached to it an expression of confidence in those
whom the parties proposing the vote might suppose likely to
succeed to office.

Lord BROUGHAM supported the address, and contended
that the constant and serious fluctuations in the price of corn
under the present system rendered some alteration in the
corn laws necessary with the view of obtaining something
like steadiness of price. The noble lord, after regretting
that the government did not go farther in their contemplated
parliament
alteration of the corn laws, proceeded to condemn the error
of
fail wahaiteeh they had committed in dissolving the last
tainty of obtaininA which could only be justified by the cer-
_ g a large working majority in their favour;
but which was unjust to their sovereign, unjust to the coun-
try, and unjust to the measures they advocated, when they
advised the exercise of the prerogative for the factious pur-
pose of procuring a larger minority than they would be likely
to have should the parliament be dissolved by their successors.