The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-02-07 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-FRTDAN

On the report of the address b
Mr. 11 Al

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of a fixPa
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it

reatest n

, as a fixed duty would do, it furnishes
le nature, a handle to the allegation that parli
eaislating for a class. His experience as 0-

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his experienc

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uring town:led h.

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a bourer

wet to the
employers, he

rural advocates of the workhouse, and
ho, with

ministers of Ila

s bleeding for the operatives, upheld the same system.
ad a great objection to all leagues, whether of nianufac-

of a secret charact

But he equally deprecated leagues
3s he conceived to be that which

combined to carry out the new poor law, and of whose real
though concealed motives he would now give the house an
unequivocal proof. Reverting to the corn question, he
cited arguments of Mr. iluskisson and other eminent states-
men as authorities in support of his own views. This country,
he added, should take warning from what had happened in
France some years ago. That nation was then anxious to
obtain a navy, and was in progress toward her object by
means of a maritime intercourse with the corn-growing
countries, when her landed aristocracy, tearing a reduction
in the prices of agricultural produce, persuaded the govern-
ment to stop the importation of corn. Thousands of seamen
were at once thrown out of employ, the hope of a navy cut
off, and the best interests of the nation sacrificed to the
exaggerated fears of a few. _ _ . .

The hon. gentleman then entered at some length into the
question of the poor laws, repeating many of his formerly ex-
pressed opinions on the subject.
Mr. WARD said it was most important to hear such senti-
ments emanate from the ministerial side of the house ; though,
for his own part, he thought a fixed duty also partook of
class legislation, for if a duty were imposed on even a small
proportion of foreign corn, provided that small proportion
was all that was imported, that duty would in effect be a
duty upon the whole corn consumed by the country,
Mr. LIDDELL congratulated the country upon the firm
position taken by Sir R. Peel on the previous evening in sup-
port of the corn law. He admitted the present depressed
condition of the labouring clasees, and would have been glad
had their distress been more strongly alluded to in the speech
from the throne, but he nevertheless felt convinced that their
distress would be aggravated by the total abolition of the

Mr. EWART hailed with great delight the declaration of the
hon. member for Nottingham, as indicative of a change in the
sentiments of those who were extensively engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits. _

Mr. VILLIERS, in consequence of what had fallen from
Mr. Liddell, asked Sir R. Peel whether he was resolved
firmly to adhere to the present corn-law, or whether, as was
understood by his side of the house, he only declined to
pledge himself to mare some charge at a future period.
Sir R. PEEL said he had no objection to answer the ques-
tion. It was not his intention during the present session to
make any change in the corn law, for, in his opinion, expe-
rience had not confirmed the objections which had been
advanced against the sliding scale. H e preferred the present
bill to any that had yet been proposed, but he never would
bind himself irrevocably to the maintenance of any particular
law, for that would be to bind himself to exclude the bene-
fits of experience. _ _

The report on the address was then agreed to.
Lord HOWICK gave notice that on Monday week he would
bring forward a motion to be founded on that paragraph of
the speech which referred to the falling off of the revenue.

On the motion of Captai❑ PoLntr,L, copies were ordered
of the correspondence between the magistrates of Dover and
the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on the
subject of the ill-treatment of Mr. Fitzjames.
On the motion of Mr. E. ELLICE, copies were ordered of
the warrant given to the commissioners appointed to inquire
into the operation of the Scotch poor-law.
Some returns moved for by Mr. Hume were agreed to,
after which the house adjourned.