The which that system necessarily exposed us, and which he would show, before he sat down, could not afford a permanent advantage to any party. question was, with this accumulation in the foreign market, what course ought we to pursue? There were various ways of treating the subject. Those who thought that the homegrower ought to have a monopoly up to a certain price, and that above that there should be a free trade, would introduce the same alternation of monopoly and free trade to which he had just adverted but then the question came at what should the free trade begin? If, instead of an alternation of monopoly and free trade, they were to leave the ports constantly open and protect the home-grower by a duty there, unless that duty were made a great deal higher than the average would warrant, the immense surplus at present accumulated at the foreign ports would be poured into this country; and although he was by no means very apprehensive as to what might be the consequence, very serious, alarm would be produced in certain quarters. Next session he should be prepared to concur in some measure which would fix the duty at a certain rate, to be gradually reduced, so that the supply from foreign countries might, by degrees, come to its fair level. He believed it had been the intention of the legislature, in the year 1821, to give to the British farmer a monopoly of the home market for a certain time, in order to redeem the great losses which he had sustained; and by next session that period would have been sufficiently extended. It had been said that the present law worked well, and, therefore, why not let it alone? Now, he had always thought that the great desideratum upon this question was to procure steadiness of prices; and how well did the present system-a system which affected the price of labour and the comforts of the labourer, and which cramped the resources not only of the manufacturer but of the farmer himself-how did it work in 1822, when corn was as low as 38s. a-quarter, and when gentlemen came down to the House nightly to talk about a national bankruptcy, and to propose the most extraordinary changes in the currency? At the present moment the system might work well; but had the country-gentlemen forgotten their own misfortunes, their former predictions of ruin to the countrynay, their repeated requests that this very system which now worked so well should be instantly altered? In two years the price of corn varied from 112s. to 38s. a-quarter. Such fluctuations in price deprived the farmer of all security, and converted farming into mere gambling. He was quite willing, seeing the rents had already adjusted themselves to the alteration in the currency, and the improved condition of society, to give to the agricultural interest any protection which would obviate the necessity of reduction in the relative situation which that interest now held in the community. Still it was evident that at some limit foreign corn must be admitted into the country. Capital and skill could not be compelled to remain in this country. They were certain to emigrate, if they were impeded by burdens they were unable to bear. It was, therefore, the duty of the House to watch the effect of the price of labour upon the advantages at present possessed; and when we reflected that it was partly to the capital and skill of the manufacturers that the agricultural interest owed its present prosperity, we must see that, if that capital and skill were removed from us, the agriculturists would, in the long run, be the greatest sufferers. Agriculture could not flourish unless all classes of the community were in prosperity; commerce and manufactures could not be sustained here, if they met with greater encouragement elsewhere; at present the profits derived from them were sinaller than they had been at any former period; and anything which would tend to increase those profits would be of great benefit. There were other considerations: several foreign countries were in some distress because we had excluded their corn, and they had, by way of revenge, shut out our manufactures. Now, it might be worth while to consider whether we might not say to those states, "We will not admit you to the benefit of a free trade in corn unless you at the same time admit the free introduction of our manufactures and colonial produce." Another reason for not opening the corn trade at present, was the excessive disposition at present existing for crude and hasty speculation. Those speculations had already deranged our foreign exchanges, and it would be injudicious to derange them further by those speculations in corn which would necessarily follow the opening of the trade. Mr Baring thought the speech of Mr Huskisson the strongest argument in favour of an investigation of the Corn Laws. Several members supported the motion, and others complained of the obscurity of Mr Huskisson's speech. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that if Government had taken up the system of the Corn Laws in the present session, they would, from the very nature of the subject, have been unable to perfect those other measures which were universally acknowledged to be beneficial to all classes of the people. Mr Whitmore, in reply, expressed his determination to bring forward the motion during every session of Parliament, until the law should be settled on a satisfactory principle. The House then divided-for Mr Whitmore's motion, 47; against it, 187; majority, 140. Mr Hume, who had previously attempted to institute a regular parliamentary inquiry into the state of the Irish Church, on the 14th of June, after a speech of considerable length, moved the following resolutions:-First, "That the property now in the possession of the Established Church in Ireland, is public property, under the control of the legislature, and applicable to such purposes as in its wisdom it may deem beneficial to the best interests of religion, and of the community at large, due regard being had to the rights of every person in the actual enjoyment of any part of that property." Second, "That this House will, early in the next session of Parliament, appoint a select committee, for the purpose of considering the present state of the Irish Church, and the various charges to which ecclesiastical property is liable." Mr Canning opposed the resolutions, as being contrary to the spirit of the Irish Union, and because it would be a violation of everything existing, and might lead to the most alarming consequences. The church property in Ireland might be considered as corporate property which had been revised and secured by Parliament, and therefore it ought to be held as sacred as private property. Sir Francis Burdett said, that, as to the Union, it had been a gross cheat, a scandalous piece of corruption, supported by unprincipled violence-one parliament selling the country, and ano ther buying it. With regard to the sacredness of private property, it was not only justifiable, but had been the practice, to interfere with that, if the public benefit demanded it. Mr Secretary Peel thought that Sir Francis Burdett would not be very willing to submit to such a resolution with regard to his own property. Mr Brougham argued that both on the principles upon which they were formed, and in the rules by which they equal degree? And the practice-let the House look only at what had been the practice-showed how the fact stood. If the tithe was really private property, it could not be meddled with at all. Now what was the feeling as to that? Why, the tithe of agistment were accustomed to be dealt with, there was a broad and direct distinction between private property and Church property. Private property was that sort of property to which an individual, of his own right, and of that right only, had a title. It was property which could be sold, or given away, or trans--this was private property-had been ferred, or encumbered-property which given up in Ireland at the time of the the possessor could bequeath as he list- Union, and it was well known that the ed, or which, in default of bequest, by Union could not have been carried withlaw descended to his heirs. But how out it. If tithe was private property, did the property of the parson at all not the slightest reform could ever be correspond with this description? He made in it; for who could hope to could neither sell it, nor transfer it, nor frame a scheme which should meet the leave it to whom he pleased; but it approbation of every clergyman? And passed from him to a successor, of whom if a single individual was compelled to he knew nothing, and who, perhaps, submit, the spoliation was as decided had been his most mortal enemy. If as if it extended through the whole private property were taken from an body. For the Act of Union, it ought individual, the state robbed not only to be no bar, not for a moment, to any him, but his children or next heirs ; course in which the public welfare was but if the law said to a clerical incum- concerned. In the case of Scotland, bent, "The profits of this living shall the heritable jurisdictions-for which cease after your death," who, in whom there had been an especial clause made that clergyman had any interest, was in against reconsideration-being found to the smallest degree damnified? Be- be pernicious, had subsequently been sides, was it not clear that private pro- repealed. perty was that income for the receipt of which the holder had no duty to perform? The clergy were officers of state, and, like other officers of state, might be got rid of in proportion as they were no further required. If the Church property, as it was called, was private property, why was not the pay of the army and navy personal in an The resolution declaring that the Church property in Ireland was public property under the control of the legislature, was negatived without a division. That pledging the House to an inquiry in the next Session was put to the vote for it, 37—against it, 126— majority against it, 89. CHAP. IX. JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES-FOREIGN LOANS-PANIC OF THE COMMERCIAL WORLD. THE present year was distinguished above all others, by a rage for jointstock company speculation, as indiscriminate as it was boundless, with which the similar rage that seized men's minds in 1721 will bear no comparison. Philosophers may derisively smile-the patriot will blush while he reflects upon the almost infinity of schemes which were projected, and the knavery and folly which characterised most of them. The uttermost bounds of the earth, nay, its bowels, and even the depths of the sea, were contemplatively explored by projectors for subjects on which to found speculations: and pearl-fishing companies, American mining companies, continental gas-light companies, as well as companies for washing clothes, for managing dairies, &c. sprung up by hundreds, with most astonishing rapidity. The prodigality of invention displayed by the projectors was equalled by the susceptibility of delusion manifested on the part of the people. The more absurd the scheme was, the more favour it gained in their eyes; and it really e emed as if the very grossness of a cheat acted as a charm for dispelling suspicion and inspiring confidence. The Most of the schemes originated with sagacious but unprincipled individuals on the Stock Exchange, or of the profession of the law, who anticipated with certainty the appointment as solicitors to the new companies. ordinary ruse practised, when a company was about to be formed, was to prevail with some nobleman or gentleman of respectability, to allow his name to appear in the list of directors, as a decoy to those who had little reliance upon their own judgments; and with deep regret do we state, that not a few individuals in high life, allured by the prospect of gain, or from a culpable facility of temper, suffered their names to be so prostituted. The com It must not be supposed, however, that all who trafficked in the shares of those companies were really dupes of the contrivers of them. panies were so numerous, that shares in them had become the most common subject of commerce; and there were many who, though perfectly aware of their being intrinsically worthless, made no scruple in subscribing for them, with the design of selling them again at a profit; and thus there were thousands, in addition to the actual projectors, who had a direct interest in extending and inflaming the delusion which had seized hold of the public mind; and there were many who, without having advanced a farthing, realized fortunes. The leading incident in the history of many of those companies was, that the chief projector having purchased a property, which was to be the subject of speculation-say, a mine or a mill-sold it to the directors, who were packed according to his mind, at double or triple the price which he had paid, or rather agreed to pay, for it; and there is too much reason to believe, that, generally, the directors shared with him in this deliberate plunder of the company. Another very frequent fraud was, that the directors, instead of suffering the whole shares to be subscribed for, secretly reserved some thousands for themselves; and when, by means of flattering prospectuses of the scheme of the company, false quotations of the market-price of shares, and other fraudulent expedients, they had raised their value, brought their reserved shares into the market, and sold them at a premium, for their own exclusive advantage. Matters, also, were so arranged, that the directors and their! solicitors were entitled to charge the company for their trouble-so much for every meeting they attended; and at the bursting of many of these vile bubbles, their charges were found to be enormous-more than consuming the stock which was left. We cannot better convey a just notion of the deplorable height which the joint-stock company mania attained, than by giving the following brief sketch of those which, during the years 1824 and 1825, (the mania having originated in the former year,) were projected, but not matured; of those which were matured, but afterwards abandoned; and of those which still survive, though the dissolution of the far greater part of them may be confidently predicted. |