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the principle of a fixed duty on

corn.

"A friend to the principle of a fixed duty, I saw good reason for abandoning it at this moment, after the public declarations that had been made against it by a person so high in authority as the right honourable Baronet at the head of the present Government and at the head of the former Government, that that substitution for the existing Corn Law was one to which he never could consent. And when I found that to his high authority was added that of my noble friend the member for the city of London, I-retaining my opinion that a fixed duty would have been the most satisfactory arrangement that could be made of this question, and one which, had it been adopted earlier, would have prevented the agitation which has taken place on this subject-I did think that it was impracticable to bring a fixed duty before the consideration of Parliament with any chance of its being adopted.' In the course of some further remarks, Lord Lansdowne mentioned, that when Sir R. Peel found himself unable to carry on the Government, an effort was made to ascertain whether those who differed from him in the Cabinet thought themselves capable of carrying it on. He hoped that the House would now devote itself to the satisfactory settlement of the question. "I for one do hold the opinion, that the facilities enjoyed by the noble lords opposite of carrying this question were greater than those which others could have, as the question only could be carried by effecting conversions in some quarter or another. Those conversions are needed, not

on this side, but on the other side of the House; and a much greater degree of facility in effecting them would be found by your lordships opposite than could be hoped for, either by myself or by any of my colleagues: and, therefore, I am sanguine that, under the influence of those noble lords, this great question may be brought to such a settlement as I for one earnestly desire to see."

The Duke of Wellington added a few words to his former explanation.

"It is perfectly true, as stated by the noble marquis, that in the course of the discussions which took place (after the resignation of my right honourable friend, and before the resumption of his office) between Her Majesty and the noble lord in another place and the noble marquis-it is perfectly true that I, and I believe others, were called upon to state whether any one of us was disposed to form a Government on the principle of maintaining the existing Corn Law. My lords, what others answered I cannot pretend to say. I answered immediately, that I was not; that I could not undertake to form a Government. But, my lords, when I made that answer, I did it not only out of diffidence in my own ability to undertake such a charge, but likewise, my lords, because I felt that it would be absolutely impossible, according to my knowledge of the disposition of the House of Commons, to form a Government in which the public would have confidence which should be formed on the principle of supporting that measure. Under those circumstances, my lords, I certainly, when called upon to say whether I would or

not form a Government for Her Majesty on that principle, declared that I could not and would not.

The Earl of Radnor asked how it was that if Sir R. Peel thought it necessary, on October the 31st, to open the ports, and if, as he said, in two months the failure of the potato crop would prove so very serious a visitation, the Cabinet had not met from the 6th to the 25th of November. Had any thing yet been done to provide for such a state of things? The Duke of Wellington repeated his assurance that precautions had been taken.

The Duke of Richmond hoped that inquiry would take place before changes were made in the law.

The Marquis of Clanricarde said he wished for inquiry, but the Duke of Richmond's friends had always opposed it.

The Duke of Richmond said they had done so because the free-trade party had demanded it, with the avowal that their object was to get rid of the Corn Laws. His friends were always ready to give every information upon that subject. He supposed that He supposed that the highway-rates and the poorrates were not burdens upon land? (Cries of "No, no!") He should like to know whether one of his tenants did not pay more than the whole League put together? (Laughter.) Lord Clanricarde had said that Mr. Cobden had made converts of the whole of the Cabinet of Sir R. Peel and the rest of the Ministers, and then he said that

he had made converts of the people out of doors: if that were the case, then let the Minister dissolve Parliament and go to the country. He (the Duke of Richmond) would say to the farmers throughout the country, "Protection, not to corn alone, but to British industry." Let them go to the country, and ask the manufacturers of England -ay, the manufacturers of this town-the English tailors and shoemakers-whether they would consent to foreign articles coming in free of duty? He defied them

to go to the country; let them go and appeal to those constituencies that placed the present Government in power, and those constituencies would say, "We are against free trade now.

Lord Beaumont spoke in favour of protection, and demanded to know the reasons which had made converts of those members of Sir Robert Peel's Cabinet who had at first opposed him in it, especially designating the Earls of Ripon, Haddington, and Aberdeen.

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The Earl of Aberdeen responded to the appeal on his own behalf. He said: When my right honourable friend, early in November, made that proposal to the Government which has been alluded to, I gave to it my cordial and unhesitating assent. It would not be proper at this time to enter into the reasons which induced me to come to that opinion; but such is the opinion which I then entertained, and which I entertain now."

The discussion here terminated.

CHAPTER II.

Sir Robert Peel explains his great Scheme of proposed Measures for the Relaxation of Duties on the 27th of January-His able and comprehensive Speech on that occasion-Reception of the Scheme, and comments of various Members upon it--Strong opposition is declared by some of the usual Supporters of the Government-Further discussion is adjourned to the 9th of February-Mr. P. Miles moves an Amendment that the House go into Committee on that Day Six Months, which is seconded by Sir W. Heathcote-The_Debate is carried on by repeated Adjournments for Twelve Nights - Forty-eight Members speak in favour of Free Trade, and Fifty-five on the side of Protection-Speeches of Lord Sandon, Lord John Russell, Sir Robert Inglis, Mr. Sidney Herbert, Mr. Stafford O'Brien, Mr. Sharman Crawford, the Marquis of Granby, Lord Worsley, Sir James Graham, Mr. Thomas Baring, Viscount Morpeth, Mr. M. Gaskell, Mr. Roebuck, Sir Howard Douglas, Mr. W. Miles, Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Manners, Mr. Bright, Mr. Disraeli, Mr. Cardwell, Mr. Thomas Duncombe, Sir Thomas Acland, Sir George Clerk, Mr. Beckett Denison, Mr. Villiers, Mr. Cobden, and Lord George Bentinck-On a Division the Motion of Sir Robert Peel is carried, the Amendment of Mr. P. Miles being rejected by 337 against 240.

ON

N the 27th of January, Sir Robert Peel, in accordance with his notice, detailed in the House of Commons his great scheme of commercial and financial policy. He commenced his speech on this occasion by observing, that in pursuance of the recommendation of the Speech from the Throne, he was about to call upon the House to review the duties which applied to so many articles, the produce and manufacture of other countries. He would proceed on the assumption contained in Her Majesty's Speech, that the repeal of prohibitory and the relaxation of protective duties was in itself a

wise policy-that protective duties, abstractedly and in principle, were open to objection-and that, though the policy of them might in some cases be defended, it must always be on some special ground of national interest, or of justice towards individuals. He was also about to act on the assumption that, during the last three years, there had been an increased productiveness in the revenue, notwithstanding a large remission of taxation; that there had been an increased demand for labour; and that there had also been increased competence, comfort, contentment, and peace among the

population. In advising the continued application of those principles, which had produced such salutary results, and which had already been sanctioned by the House, he was not inclined to disregard the necessity of maintaining public credit unimpaired ; and he was therefore prepared to act with forbearance, in order that he might not prejudice in any respect the permanent interests of the country. It was possible that, owing to the numerous and various interests which his present proposition would affect, an impression might arise that his scheme was a rash one, and ought to be discouraged. If such should be the opinion of the partisans of protection, nothing would be more easy for them than to meet him on an early night with a resolution that protection to domestic industry was in itself a good, and that the principle of it ought to be sanctioned by the House. It might, on the other hand, be the conclusion of the House-considering all the difficulties of this question, and the nature of the contest which had long existed, and would long continue to exist, if there were not a satisfactory adjustment of itthat his proposition, extensive as it was, ought to be accepted as whole, though there might be objections in detail to parts of it. If that should be the conclusion of the House, he should have confidence in his ultimate success; but, if not, the sooner its disapprobation was expressed, the better for all parties. The great principle of the relaxation of protective duties he was not going to apply to any one particular interest; on the contrary, he asked all the interests of the country-manufacturing, commercial, and agricultural-to

a

make the sacrifice, if it were one, of their protection to the common good. Of late years, the whole tariff had been submitted to the review of the House. In 1842 he had proposed, and in 1845 he had carried out, to a very large extent, a plan for remitting the duties on the raw materials constituting the elements of manufacture. There was, at this moment, scarcely a duty on the raw material imported from foreign countries which we had not abandoned. He had, therefore, a right to call on the manufacturer to relinquish the protection of which he was now in possession. The only two articles of raw material now subject to duty were tallow and timber. He intended to reduce the duty on tallow from 3s. 2d. to 1s. 6d. a cwt., and to make a gradual reduction on timber till it reached a point at which it would remain fixed, and which he would definitely describe on a future day. Having given the manufacturers free access to every raw material of manufacture, he called upon such of them as were engaged in making up the three articles, wool, linen, and cotton, which formed the clothing of the country, to give a proof of the sincerity of their con victions by relinquishing the protection which was now given to the articles of their manufacture. He made this call upon them the more confidently, because it was the manufacturing, and not the agricultural interest, which first called on the Government for protecting duties. He then stated that he intended to relinquish all duties upon the importation of the coarser articles of manufactures in wool, linen, and cotton, and to reduce the duties on linen and woollen goods of a finer quality from 20 to 10 per cent. At present there

was a duty on silk, which was called 30 per cent., but which was often higher. He proposed to adopt a new principle in the levying of that duty, which was now an encouragement to the smuggler, and not to the British manufacturer, and to impose a duty of 15 per cent., instead of 30, for every 1007. value of silk. The right honourable Baronet then described at great length the reduction of duties which he intended to make upon the importation of paper-hangings, manufactured metals, dressed hides, boots, shoes, hats, straw-plat, carriages, candles, soap, brandy, geneva, sugar, and various other articles; and then proceeded to review the articles connected with agriculture on which import duties were levied. He proposed to reduce the duty on all seeds to 5s. per cwt. Indian corn or maize, which was of such importance in the fattening of cattle, he proposed in future to introduce duty free. In removing that duty he was not depriving agriculture of any protection, but absolutely conferring a benefit upon it. He also proposed that buckwheat, and maize, and buckwheat flour, should be admitted duty free. If any gentleman would ascertain the price which had been recently paid by farmers for linseed-cake and rapecake, they would agree with him that the removal of the duty on maize was not a disservice to the agricultural interest. The right honourable Baronet then described the reduction of duty which he intended to propose on the importation of foreign butter, cheese, hops, and cured fish, stating that in each case the duty would be reduced to half its present amount. On all articles of agricultural produce which constituted food as distinct

from corn, he proposed an immediate repeal of duty. Every kind of vegetable and animal food would be admitted at once free of duty. All animals from foreign countries would also be introduced on the same terms. He then proceeded to describe the nature of his proposal with respect to the importation of foreign corn: he had already stated that he intended to exempt some articles now included in the Corn Laws, as maize, from duty altogether. It might, therefore, be as well for him to inform the House at once, that though he did not intend to propose the immediate repeal of the Corn Laws, yet, in the hope of making a final adjustment of the question, and for the sake of giving time for ad justment to the agricultural interest, he did intend to propose that their continuance should only be temporary. The bill which he should, therefore, introduce on this subject would contain an enactment that, after a certain date, grain of all kinds should come in duty free. He proposed, however, that a considerable reduction should be made at once in the existing amount of duty, and that the duty so reduced should be limited in its continuance to three years. His bill would contain a provision that at that period, when the change would be least felt-namely, on the 1st of February, 1849-oats, barley, rye, and wheat, should be only liable to that mere nominal duty which he intended to apply to maize, for the purpose of procuring statistical returns of the quantity imported. The main question, then, for the House to consider was this

what is to be the intermediate state of the law? He proposed that there should be an enactment for three years to this effect, that

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