The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-10-08 00:00:00

futpertai Vathailictit,

HOUSE OF LORDS

MONDAY

The Earl of MlNTOentered into a vindication of the mode
in which he had exercised his patronage at the Admiralty.
On the notion for reading a second time the Exchequer
Bills Bill.

Viscount MELBOURNE made an attack upon the present
government, for having defeated the late government upon
principles which were then laid down by the noble duke
(Wellington) but which they were now repudiating. The
noble duke had said, on a former occasion, that they had no
right to add to the funded debt of the country without making
provision for the interest, and yet this was just what his Go-
vernment were now doing by this bill. Fur his own part he
had but one objection to the measure now proposed by the
government, but that one was serious—it had failed. After
having turned out the late government, they should have
taken care not to have failed in the very first temporary mea-
sure they had themselves attempted. Neither should they
have sent a cry through the country that its finances were in
a state of extreme difficulty. It was not right nor fair to. hold
this desponding language. He maintained that, though there
was a financial difficulty, yet the country was not in an em-
barrassed or dangerous situation, either as respected its fi-
nances,• or in any other way. He could not see why the pre-
sent government should have required time to concoct mea-
sures. • There was no mystery in the case—they had not to
look for the philosopher's stone. If they had to search for
the transmutation of metals, they might, perhaps, have some
claim to require time for experiments ; and as to attendance,
the noble duke might be sure of having a good one in both
houses of parliament, if he only gave notice of an intended
in the corn laws.

The Earl of RIPON said he was not called upon to justify
what had passed in a former debate ; but he must observe
that it was a great mistake to say that their first measure
was a failure; for, although they had not obtained the whole
of the five millions, they had obtained one million beyond
what was necessary to cover the deficiency. How was it
possible to expect that government could be all at once pre-
pared with its measures ? The late government had been
displaced by an amendment to the address moved by an indi-
vidual, who could hardly be expected at once to be prepared
with a series of measures ; and even if the government now
formed were at once to strike off a whole scheme of finance,
without any consideration, the nation could only look upon
them as fools or madmen.
The Duke of 'WELLINGTON thanked the noble viscount
for his hint about securing an attendance; but he would not
avail himself of it, because he never would announce an in-
tention which he did not entertain. He had no intention to
bring forward a scheme for the alteration of the corn laws.
He had not the power to do so. He had had not sufficiently
considered the measure, and must therefore decline to an-
nounce any such intention. (Hear.)

The bill was then read a second time.
The poor law commission bill went through committee

The other orders of the day were dis

house adjourned

posed of, and the

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-MONDAY

The SPEAKER took the chair at the usual hour, but only
25 members being present, the house stood adjourned till
next day.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-TUESDAY

The royal assent was given by commission in the usual
form to the following bills :—the administration of justice
bill, the lunatics bill, the foreign bishops consecration bill,
the navy pay bill, the expiring laws bill, the Frogmore-lodge
bill. the royal gardens bill, the Marlborough estates bill,
Riddle's estate bill, and Clayton's name bill.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH, after moving the third reading of
the exchequer bills funding bill, stated, in answer to ques-
tions from the Marquis of Normanby, that, as it would be
necessary to submit the measures which had been brought in
by the late administration for improving the drainage of
towns, for the regulation of buildings, and the improvement
of boroughs, to the consideration of a select committee, it
would be impossible to proceed with them in the present
session.

The Duke of WELLINGTON, however, promised them his
cordial support, and with this assurance the noble marquis
professed himself completely satisfied. The bill was then
read a third time and passed, together with another also re-
lating to exchequer bills, and that for the payment of the ex-
penses incurred in making the population returns.
Lord RADNOR then presented several petitions, praying
that the parliament might not be prorogued until some mea-
sure had been adopted with reference to the corn laws. The
subject had excited the most intense interest throughout the
country, but he feared that the hopes of relief which had
been entertained would be disappointed. On this question
the Duke of Wellington at least could not require time for
consideration, as he had assisted in the bill by which the
present corn laws were established. A plentiful supply of
corn was by no means incompatible with great distress, and
that was the state of things at present, when an immediate
prorogation was to be expected, without any endeavour on
the part of the government to afford relief. The noble lord
then proceeded to read extracts from several letters he had
received, commenting upon the existing distress, and hinting
at the necessity of a recourse to violence in case these grounds
of complaint were left uiaredressed.

The Duke of WELLINGTON said that he should not allow
himself to be intimidated in the advice he felt it his duty to
offer to his Sovereign by the noble lord, by his friends or his
correspondents. In what he had said on the previous even-
ing he had been misunderstood, if it was supposed that he
had refused to bring forward the consideration of the corn
laws. He had only said that he would not use that subject
as a means for insuring a large attendance of their lordships.
He had, indeed, assisted in establishing the present system,
and he had endeavoured to increase his knowledge of the
question since; but it stood now in a different light, and it
was incumbent upon those who had to deal with it, to weigh
maturely not only its bearings with respect to other subjects
which had been elsewhere discussed, but also with reference
to treaties between this country and foreign powers, between
foreign powers with each other, and the general relations by
which it was connected with the social system of the United
Kingdom. On all these grounds he was opposed to hasty
legislation. He by no means denied the existence of dis-
tress, but he did not believe that it could be in any degree
alleviated by the prolongation of the session. The chief
cause appeared to be the want of employment and the de-
ficiency of wages, and these were the result of a variety of
causes which parliament would strive in vain to remove by
any immediate measure.

Lord KINNAIRD expressed his conviction that no change
would be made in the corn-laws by the present government.
They bad been brought in by the monopolists, who had
threatened to expel them from power again if they found it
necessary.

The Duke of RICHMOND explained, that in the speech
which had been referred to, he had made no threat against
the government. He did not mean to assert that the corn-
laws were never to be considered with a view to their modi-
fication, but to insist, that in whatever alteration was made,
due protection should be afforded to the agriculturist.
After a few words from Lord CLIFFORD, (of Chudleigh,)
the subject dropped.
Lord BROUGHAM then again brought before the house
the subject of a petition he had presented some days since,
complaining of the support that the slave trade received
from the large amount of British capital embarked in it in
several foreign settlements. The only question was, whe-
ther the acts alleged by the petitioners amounted to slave
trading or not ? And after an elaborate review of the law
as it at present stood, the noble and learned lord ex-
pressed his hope that the attention of the government
might be directed to the point during the recess, and if any
doubt existed, that Parliament might be applied to remove
it. In the continent of India, the practices to which the
existence of slavery gave rise were, as appeared from a lately
published report, dreadful almost beyond description.
Children were, it seemed, the principal object of traffic, and
to obtain them the life of their parents was constantly sacri-
ficed without hesitation. He trusted that some means would
be adopted to put down such atrocities, which would, how-
ever, he feared, continue to be perpetrated so long as it was
possible to hold human beings in a state of slavery.
Lord RIPON said, that the state of the law as it bore upon
the transactions which formed the subject of the petition
presented by the noble lord had been already taken into con-
sideration, and it was the intention of the Government, if it
were found inapplicable to the cases to which reference had
been made, to call upon Parliament for additional powers.
Lord ELLENBOROUGH thought that the atrocities which
were supposed to have their origin in the slave trade, might
be ascribed with more truth to Thuggee. The suppression
of slavery throughout India had been for some time under
discussion, but it was thought better that the initiative should
be taken by the Indian government, which had every dispo-
sition to give effect to the wish that had been expressed.
After a few words from Lord BROUGHAM, the House
adjourned.