measure of precaution to meet probable contingencies. During sixteen of the last twenty-five years, the average price of corn had been 758.; and during eight of them, it had been 90s. If, therefore, corn should rise to 90s. in the present circumstances of so large a portion of the population, the consequences must be miserable; and when this had actually happened eight times out of twentyfive, it was impossible to look upon it as being so remote a contingency, that a prudent government ought not to provide against it. Prices have been regularly rising for the last six weeks; the harvest of last year began a month earlier than usual; the harvest of the present year might, very probably be a month later than usual; and so, between both, the produce of the year may have to supply the consumption of fourteen months. In ordinary times we might risk the inconvenience which would result; but there was something in the present state of the country, which would make this a matter of more than ordinary hazard. The rise might happen so suddenly, that, within a very short period of time, a relaxation of the Corn-laws might become absolutely necessary, and scarcely time for deliberation remain. Since, then, in such circumstances, to be able to use a discretionary power would be desirable, the simple question was, whether it were better that government should use this discretion of itself, and trust to the subsequent approbation of parliament, or should first receive it as a trust deposited in their hands by parliament?And surely the latter was the safer and more constitutional course to pursue. Mr. Phillips said, that if the power of admitting foreign grain was

actually carried into exercise, it would not only cure any inexpedient rise in price, but the importation would effect still greater good by reviving industry. "A person", said the hon. member, "extensively engaged in the commerce of Manchester, told me this morning, we are prepared to go on again immediately, even under the present circumstances, if we could get our returns from abroad. But, in the present state of the exchanges, that is a matter of great difficulty, unless we incur a very serious loss. If, however, we were enabled to import foreign grain, we could immediately set to work.' This difficulty was universally felt; and the importation of even 500,000 quarters would be beneficial to a much greater extent than merely lowering the price of grain."

The motion, "that it is the opinion of this committee, that it is expedient to empower his majesty, by any order or orders in council, to permit, under certain circumstances, and for a time limited, the entry of corn for home consumption, subject to the duties which may be agreed on," was carried without a division. The opposition of the most stubborn champions of the landed interest had been soothed down by the intended limitation of the quantity to 500,000 quarters, and of the time to two months after the ports should have been opened. The quantity, which, in such cases, must be, in a great measure, arbitrary, was taken, as equalling, when added to the bonded corn to be let loose, one half of the greatest importation ever made. This limitation of the quantity, leaving unfixed the price and duty at which it might be imported, had for its object to meet the views,

and soothe the apprehensions of the landed interest. The repeated asseverations of ministers, that the present measures were not to be considered as having any connection with the final adjustment of the question, could not convince the defenders of agriculture, that any duty or price which might be attached now, was not intended to be the one that should be finally adopted, or, at least, that the people would not view it in that light regard it as a tacit legislative declaration of what was right and proper and thus disable the landowners, when the great question came to be discussed, from claiming a higher price, and a higher duty, without exposing themselves to popular odium. The dread of this measure operating, and being regarded, as an incidental decision upon the Corn-laws themselves, was the origin of all the hostility of the land-owners, and the reason why, rather than agree to it, they were willing to enter into a full investigation and revision of the whole system. Accordingly when colonel Wood moved a clause, that importation should not commence till the price had reached 65s., and then only under a duty of 12s., the land owners successfully joined in prevailing him to withdraw it, on the ground that no mention whatever should be made of fixed prices or fixed duties. They were better pleased that it should be a matter of pure discretion, for which ministers alone should be liable. "If ministers are to have the discretion they wish for," said sir Thomas Lethbridge, "I do not wish them to state the price at which corn is to be imported. The measure is theirs, and it is right that they should take all the responsibility. I am glad, therefore, that they

have said nothing regarding either the price or the duty." In this spirit they continued their opposition till opposition was hopeless, and there was occasionally even some bitterness in the taunts which they directed against ministers, for what they call this undermining of the Corn-laws. One adherent of government declared, that, since such were to be their measures, he for one, should feel himself bound, if he had the honour of a seat in the next parliament, to take care, that all the public establishments were brought down to the lowest possible point. In short, as in the case of the small-note bill, ministers were opposed by some of their friends who did not wish the Cornlaws to be touched at all, and were supported by some of their opponents who wished to see them removed altogether. The bill passed by large majorities, without alteration; and to the bill for letting out the bonded corn no serious opposition had been made.

*

The same difference of opinion prevailed in the House of Lords. There the bill for permitting the importation of 500,000 quarters of foreign grain, was met by lord Malmesbury with an amendment to the effect "that their lordships, though always anxious to contribute to the alleviation of the sufferings of the labouring classes, do not think it expedient that any alteration or modification of the existing Corn-laws should take place, so far as relates to the admission of foreign corn, without a previous inquiry into the probable effects of such a measure on the interests of the grower and consumer of British produce." The noble lord contended that the bill was both unnecessary and mischievous; and, at all events, in

quiry was indispensable before adopting it as being necessary and useful. There was no scarcity of corn in the country, nor any prospect of such a scarcity. The alleged small stock of grain in the hands of the dealer was no proof whatever of the smallness of the stock in the country; it only shewed that the farmers had not yet sold their stock at under prices, but, according to the old custom, carried it to market, month by month as they happened to need money. Empty warehouses were no evidences of a want of grain in the country. During the last eleven months 528,000 quarters of foreign corn had been imported, viz. 433,000 let out of bond, and 95,000 imported from Canada. The result of this had been, that the price which, in Nov. 1825, had been 65s. 4d., was now, in May, 1826, only 60s. 4d.; and if 800,000 quarters additional were thrown into the market by the measures now in progress, the farther depression of prices must be ruinous to the farmer. The bill, therefore, was not only unnecessary but mischievous. The Corn-laws had not the remotest connexion with the existing distress; but the very introduction of these measures had unwittingly countenanced and supported the vulgar prejudices against that system. To know that 500,000 quarters of wheat might be poured into the market before the 1st of June, was of itself sufficient ground for apprehension, and for inquiry, were it with no other view than that the measure might be so modified, as to remove the grounds of alarm. The discretionary power asked by government, can be justified only by necessity; and government, therefore, is bound to go into

due course of inquiry to

prove that such necessity exists, while both the stock in the country, the falling price, and the 300,000 quarters which are immediately to come out of bond, prove the reverse.

Lord Ellenborough said, that it seemed to him impossible to oppose the motion, for it just meant this

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that having only four years ago passed a certain act relative to the corn trade, they would now enter into an inquiry of the same sort, before they proceeded to alter the provisions of that act. Even the letting out of the bonded corn last year furnished no precedent for letting it out this year. The corn let out last year had been a long time in bond, and was limited to what had been bonded within a certain time; in the present instance, the privilege was unlimited; it let out, not only all corn actually warehoused, but likewise all corn "reported to be entered to be warehoused before the 2nd of May. Last year, also, prices had been rising, not for a few weeks, but for two years. Ministers were insidiously creeping on against the Cornlaws. Last year they made an attack upon them, though it was a justifiable one. This year, however, they were making another; and their lordships ought to remember, that, in public affairs, what was innovation in one year, became precedent the next, and rule the year after: nor would he be astonished, if it should be established next year, upon this measure as a precedent, that bonded corn should always be let out into consumption.

The Earl of Liverpool entreated their lordships not, by a hasty decision, to prejudge the measures which might shortly come up to them from the other House; and, above all, not to act under the im

pression, that it was not competent for their lordships to introduce whatever alterations they might think fit into the two bills, except as to the amount of duty. The grounds of the proposed measures, he thought, could not be resisted by any fair and reasonable mind, or by any person who was not prepared to shut his eyes to the dreadful consequences which might result from a scarcity of corn during the recess. He never believed, nor insinuated, that the high price of corn was the cause of the present distress. But, without stopping to determine what the cause was, could it for a moment be said that the price of food was not a great aggravation of it? It was well known to such of their lordships as had read the documents on that subject laid on the table, that the average growth of this country was not more than sufficient for its consumption; but when they considered that fact, and looked at the effect which the quality of the harvest might have on the subsistence of the people-on the agricultural, too, as well as on the manufacturing classes-their lordships ought to bear in mind, that, if an unfavourable season should come on, the erop would fall far short of our wants. He had looked over documents relating to the state of the harvests for thirty-two years; and he found that, between 1790 and 1822, there had been eleven defective harvests, during which a great importation of grain became necessary. The question, too, of plenty or scarcity, was often that of a day or a week and it might happen, that though in June our prospects were the brightest, all our hopes might, in one day, fall to the ground. This had occurred in June, 1816. In the beginning of that year the

price of wheat was 53s., and before the end of the year it was as high as 110s. Should such a circumstance now occur in June or July, it would be impossible to open the ports before the 14th of August; and if the averages were not then sufficiently high, the ports would continue closed until the 14th of: November. Such a calamity it became parliament to guard against. Whatever objections might be urged against the measures in another year, was it right, with present distress before our eyes, to leave the country in such a state, that, if we did not admit foreign grain, the price of wheat might be up to 140s. or 150s., before three months? It was no argument to say that this might occur in any year, for we were not now legislating for ordinary times, but for a present emergency. He had heard it said, that the people wanted work, not bread. He feared that they were without work, and many, he knew, worked at the lowest rate possible. He did not allude to those who were usually paid high or extravagant prices, but to those whose wages were from seventeen to eighteen shillings a-week: those poor men were now reduced to subsist on seven or eight shillings. Could it then be said that it mattered not to men, under such circumstances, whether the price of the quartern loaf was high or low, when it was clear that their situation was more or less, bad, according as they could procure more or less of food for their support? What, then, did his majesty's ministers ask?- -a power which, if it was unpleasant to their lordships' to give, it was not less disagreeable for ministers to receive. Why not place the same confidence in the present

ministers as in any other? For if ministers did not enjoy the confidence of parliament, they must cease to hold their offices. Let them therefore not be tried by the confidence which was generally reposed in them, not by their characters, but by their own interest; for ministers must in the end come to parliament, as there was no discretionary power for which they were not responsible.

Lord Bathurst opposed the motion, and moved as an amendment, that their lordships do now adjourn. On a division, the amendment was carried by a majority of 166 to 67, and both bills passed the House on the 26th of May.

A

That depression of manufactures which universally prevailed, had been felt in some branches more heavily than in others; and it had naturally acted with greater effect upon the silk trade than on those which were more exclusively native. The poverty, which existed, among the weavers of Spitalfields, had attracted much notice; large sums had been liberally subscribed for their relief, and a particular committee had watched over their distribution. But neither the mere artisans themselves, nor yet their bettereducated masters, were willing to find the causes of their distress and embarrassment merely in pre-existing relations, which affected the whole kingdom and all its interests. In 1824, the legislature had begun the application of what are called the principles of free trade, by removing the absolute prohibitions which prevented the entrance of foreign silks, and enacting that they might lawfully be imported for home use, upon payment of a certain duty, which was thought sufficient for every purpose of prudent protection to the native

manufacturer.

This enactment was to come into operation in the month of July of the present year; and the manufacturers and their workmen found, in the supposed tendency of this enactment, what was to them a much more popular and feasible explanation of the decline of their trade, than in the tracing of causes more universal, but which did not come so readily within the reach of vulgar comprehension. Perhaps, too, in point of fact, some manufacturers may have actually limited their operations, thinking it prudent to wait till something should be known of the "untried state of being"-while still more of them joined in saying that it ought not to be tried. The truth is, that little opposition had been made to the measure when it passed; and, if other circumstances, which that measure in no way affected, had not brought distress, that measure would never have been blamed. A decay of the trade, however, having taken place, nothing was easier, and nothing more consonant to old opinions, or more congenial to inveterate prejudices, than to ascribe this decay to the impossibility of meeting a cheaper foreign competitor--cheaper by his paying a lower price for the raw material, and for the labour employed in working it up. Accordingly many petitions were presented from the persons and districts interested in the silk manufacture, praying for a repeal, or at least some further modification of the provision of 1824, for a total prohibition of foreign fabrics, or a higher duty upon their importation.

On the 23rd of February, Mr. Ellice, one of the members for Coventry, moved, that the petitions, which had been presented on this subject, should be referred to a se