The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-02-21 00:00:00

'rued debate was resumed by Mr. Borthwick. who

NAPIER Sp(

f the distre

;reater and more

general than had ever before been experienced, but both
the causes and their remedy were alike involved in obscurity.
The perplexity on this subject was only increased by the
urns quoted by Sir James Graham on the pre-
for they led to the inference thnt the more the
starved the longer they lived. lie coin-
duties imposed on our imports, and

peopie wer
plained of

700 per cent

to the introduction of our own manufactures to Portugal
but deprived the humbler classes of this country of a goot
substantial wine, instead of the currant and gooseberry

wines wi
those of

Mr. D'lsr

i, who was, he sup-

'ip, had said that it was
t of the negotiators that
'ortugal, and he feared
The West India in-

posed, bidding for an ambass
owing to want of ability on t
we had failed to effect a treaty
there was some truth in the remark

rest might be injured by a r

ction of Brazilian sugar

) reason why the whole country should be
advised the government to effect a compro-

-corn-law League, to a

ish the s

Mr. B, COC.HRANE said that the condition of the country

was full of danger. and the cry through the country was for
a repeal of the corn laws, and feeling, as he did, that con-

,e operations of thi

agriculturist, he was convinced that a total and immediate
repeal of the corn law of last session would be preferable to

e also thought that a tottering government
with -firm principles was preferable to a strong government
with vacillating ones, and he therefore hoped the Govern-

uncertainty

.11c1 inspire and secure a feeling of ital)ility

Mr. VILLIERS said that it t

present state of things was

dens should in consequence become too great to be sustained
the greatest perils would threaten our institutions. The
Vice-President of the Board of Trade was, it appeared, of
the same opinion with Lord Howick and his supporters as
to the cause as well as the cure of the prevailing evil, and
towards the latter object the new tariff was a good beginning
afid had it gone farther in cheapening the cost of living
there might have been no necessity for the discussion they
were then engaged in. The present operation of the corn
law was not aittle singular. The Americans were distres-
sed because they had more food than they could dispose of ;

and we were

i because we hadnot subiccent food

to maintain the peopi

Lord SANDON, who was very imperfectly heard, said that
hon. gentlemen opposite seemed to think that we could in-
crease our foreign trade without any sacrifice on our part.
Did it not strike them that if they diminished the price of
agricultural produce at home, they would thereby reduce the

the question to be taken into consideration was, whether the
sacrifice which they proposed to make would not be greater
than the prospects of gain upon which they calculated?
(Hear, hear.) Gentlemen opposite used the word "trade"
as if it meant nothin- but the foreign trade, whilst the home
market, notwithstandingb all that had been urged, was the
most valuable and the most permanent. Gentlemen railed
at protection, but he would ask, did shoemakers, glovers,
and other artizans, show a disposition to be unprotected,
and, if not, why should protection be withheld from agricul-
ture? It was said that there was a redundancy in America
of the food which our people wanted here, if we only opened
the door for it; but the fact was, that we took more of their
produce than they took of ours, and paid them the difference
in gold. The present difficulties of the country were based
upon the circumstance of its industry being contracted into
too narrow a space for the increase of our population or
capital and the enormous productive power of our machinery,
and from these causes the distress would arise with or with-
out a corn law. If any remedy was to be found by the efforts
which it was to be hoped the noble Secretary for Foreign
Affairs would make in endeavouring to open new markets, it
would be well in addition to this that means should be adopted
to limit the too great facility of credit, which had always been

at the bottom of the evils under which the country laboured.
It would be wise to establish its commerce on some more
sound and substantial basis. In addition to the too great
facility afforded for credit, other causes were in operation to
produce the present distress. The difficulties in which
America had been recently involved had deprived this
country of one great customer (hear, hear) ; then, again, we
had to contend with the barriers reared up against our pro-
ductions in all the countries which formerly dealt with us.
(Hear, hear.) These causes operated powerfully in pro-

ducing the present distress. It appeared to him that the
present debate hail no other object than to let out the fixed
air which had been pent up during the recess. (" Hear,"
and laughter.) It had no practical tendency, and was, in
his opinion than the e: a corn

n, no more Arm shadowing forth or _
He could understand the motion if it were for
a committee upstairs, but in its present shape it appeared
unintelligible. Let the house have something substantial,
Ind let not the country be misled by such a beating of the
air. The present distress was not owing to the high price of
)read, but to want of employment for the people; and yet it
e great permanent interests for a pros-
,ectural benefits from America and Poland, of which
~se could have no assurance (hear, hear); and thereby
the risk of adding to the commercial distress one equally
great in the depression of agricultural interests. Did not
every manufacturer feel that every country town in the king-
dom offered a lessening market for his produce, and how much
more would the decrease be if the notions of the hon. gentle.
men opposite were carried out ? He was perfectly convinced
that we should sacrifice more by opening up our agriculture
to a competition with every new soil, than we could possibly
gain by the speculative projects of those who contended for
such a course.

law debate

was proposed to sacrific

Mr. MUNTZ said he did not approve of the Motion. It was
not straightforward and English enough for him, but as it
bore upon its face a proposal for inquiring into the distress
of the country, be felt it his duty to state why he should give
it his support. The foreign markets could not stand an in.
crease of even two and a half per cent. on British menthe.

tures ; and, under such circumstances, was it possible for the
manufacturers to raise the wages of their labours? It must
at last come to this—that they must adopt either of two
—they must either repeal the corn laws or reduce the

value of the silver coinage.
Sir J. HAMMER said he was of opinion that the existing
distress might be remedied by legislative measures, and it
might also be remedied by administrative measures—namely,
by effecting foreign commercial treaties, the importance of
which latter object he strongly pressed upon the government.
He also avowed himself, though all the property he had was
invested in land, a decided advocate for a moderate fixed duty ;
and said that this country should look to the whole world,
with a view to comprise every nation in the list of its cus-
tomers, for without foreign markets for the extension of the
commerce of this, a commercial country, the home market
would prove insufficient to save our manufacturers from ruin.
They must abandon the fallacy of protection and embark fear-
lessly on the sea of commerce, if they hoped for general pros-
perity to the country.
Mr

. P. M. STLWART said that every interest in the coun-
as in a state of depression and distress, and he could