tem. All the measures of Mr. Huskisson | from drawing as good patterns as Frenchhad that tendency. The relaxation was men, if you will stimulate them to exertion not a one-sided one, favouring the mother by competition. The hon. Gentleman decountry at the expense of the Colonies. scribed himself looking out of his window, You have reduced the discriminating du- and mourning over the sight of a vast numties on coffee, to a limited extent on sugar, ber of paper-makers, carriage-makers, and and on other articles of colonial produce; others, all crying out that they are ruined but you have consented, at the same time, by free trade. Why, there has not been to forego the protection which the produce a single alteration made in prohibitory or of the mother country had in the colonial protective duties where the same prophecy market. You have permitted the Colonies has not been made. It was the constant to supply themselves from the United States warning when the Tariff was altered in with articles of the first necessity; you 1842. We proposed to admit foreign pohave reduced the protecting duties in fa- tatoes at a moderate rate of duty. The vour of British, as compared with articles potato growers of Yorkshire said, "We of foreign manufacture, from 30 to 20, shall be ruined." In 1842, there was to 15, to 7 per cent. The ruling spirit a reduction of the duty on hops from 81. which has prevailed for a long series of 11s. to 4l. 10s. The hop-growers of Kent years in your colonial legislation has been and Sussex said, "We shall be ruined: the relaxation of protection-the reciprocal where are those employed in the culture relaxation of it as regards British and Co- of hops to find subsistence?" What quanlonial produce. And has either party been tity of foreign hops have come in at the injured by it? It is a mistake to suppose reduced duty? Two hundred weight. I that our colonial system, and the attach- have now proposed that there shall be a ment of the Colonies to the mother coun-reduction of the duty to 21. 5s. A deputry, are based upon a system of exclusion tation of hop-growers were with me the and prohibition. Some of your Colonies other day, and said they would be ruined. the Australian Colonies, for instance-derve little benefit from the colonial system, if that system implies exclusive favour to edonial produce. But, surely, speaking generally, your colonial relations are perfeetly compatible with the just and cautious application of a liberal policy in the commercial intercourse between the mother country and its dependencies. I referred to the prophecy they had made in 1842, and showed them that the whole quantity introduced was no more than those two hundred weight. When Mr. Huskisson proposed an alteration of the Silk Duties, about twenty years since, how gloomy were the forebodings of ruin! That great authority, Mr. Baring (Lord Ashburton) resisted the reduction of pro Now, as to the protection to native in-tection, and saiddustry. The advocates of the Corn Law seek to enlist in the defence of that law all branches of manufactures threatened with the loss or diminution of protection. The warmest sympathy is expressed with the working classes employed in manufactures which are to be ruined by foreign compe-a measure which must have the effect of driving tition. The hon. Gentleman the Member for Nottingham was particularly severe upon the removal of protective duties on paperhangings. I really don't know why there should be such a complaint. There is an Excise duty of d. per square yard on papers fabricated in this country; and I propose that there shall be a duty on foreign paper about 700 per cent. above the domestic duty. I propose, that while British pays d., foreign should pay 2d. per yard. I know it is said our patterns are inferior to the foreign. But, depend upon it, there is nothing in the physical constitution of Englishmen to prevent them There were hundreds of thousands of poor honest men who knew nothing in the world of political economy, but who, because some very wise men had sprung up of late, were to be robbed of the earnings of their patient labours. There was foreign competition. Would the House consent to to be only a duty of 30 per cent. protection against all the workmen connected with it to the poor rates for subsistence? When the French manufache would-his superiority, what would become of turer maintained-as he (Mr. Baring) contended his (Mr. Huskisson's) principles then? How was he to reconcile himself to the operation of a system which would drive to utter ruin and starvation the hundreds of thousands engaged in the silk trade throughout the United Kingdom?" replied in these memorable and affecting | ring periods of severe distress; let me terms: I have been assailed and distressed by ungenerous appeals to my feelings calling upon me to commune with my conscience and my God, and to say whether I am under no visitations of compunction and remorse. Good God! that man sympathy and pain the distress which now exists among our manufacturers. I hope I am not wanting in the duties and feelings of a man. I have also a duty to perform as a Minister-to trace the causes of the present calamities, and to prevent, if possible, their recurrence." must have a heart of stone who can witness without trace the causes of such calamities, and try whether by bringing in the free air of competition, I cannot diminish or remove the sources of such calamities." And have you been unable to compete with France? Why, you have sent silk manufactures, goods and yarn, into that very country which has Lyons at the head of the silk trade; you sent as great an amount of silk manufactures into France last year as you exported to all Europe in the year 1826. I could go through the details of He therefore persevered: he removed the other articles. I could go through timber, duty; and what has been the result? Were through wool, through flax, through infehundreds of thousands of silk manufac-rior articles; but let me take only one, the turers thrown out of employment? Have It seems а the poor rates been burdened for their subsistence? Have we been unable to compete with foreigners? In the decennial period ending in 1823, the quantity of raw and thrown silk entered for home consumption was 19,409,023 lbs. For the ten years ending 1833, immediately after the reduction of the duty For the ten years ending 1843 The aggregate annual consumption of the successive decennial periods was For the ten years ending For the ten years ending duty took place in were article of foreign feathers. "He has imported in one year 1845' from St. Petersburgh above 250 tons of feathers, and over 50 tons more from other places, Dantzic, Riga, Memel, and the Mediterranean; and, strange to say, so great has the demand become for feather beds, since they became cheap, that he purchased 150 tons also, in 1845, in Ireland, the growth of Ireland; and he is paying now 22s. 10d. per stone, showing an increased growth of 50 tons, and of price for the same article, while the great delessen his charges. He added that when provisions were cheap in Cornwall, the miners purchased a great deal of feathers." mand has enabled him to extend his concern and 1,940,902 For the single year 1844 1844 6,208,021 Who was the true philanthropist ? Was it the man who cried out against the admission of French silks, and denounced the Minister as being equal to the devil himself in point of malignity and contempt for the happiness of mankind? Or, was it that Minister who said "Good God! don't suppose I do not sympathize with distress. This is a small matter, but it reads us an Don't load me with the reproach of causing important lesson. The cheapness of the ruin to thousands when I am endeavouring article has multiplied the demand for it; to benefit them? I have seen Spitalfields with increased foreign import, there has under the system of protection at the point been an increased demand for the doof starvation. I have seen constantly recur-mestic produce. The Cornish miners, earning high wages and buying at a low | and, backed by the intelligence of the price the articles of food, apply their sav-reflecting, and by conviction of the real ings to the purchase of manufactured ar- welfare of the great body of the commuticles, and of that particular article which enables them to recruit by night the severe toil of the day. This night is to decide between the policy of continued relaxation of restriction, or the return to restraint and prohibition. This night you will select the motto which is to indicate the commercial policy of England. Shall it be "advance' or "recede ? Which is the fitter motto for this great Empire? Survey our position, consider the advantage which God and nature have given us, and the destiny for which we are intended We stand on the confines of Western Europe, the chief connecting link between the old world and the new. The discoveries of science, the improvement of navigation, have brought us within ten days of St. Petersburgh, and will soon bring us within ten days of New York. We have an extent of coast greater in proportion to our population and the area of our land than any other great nation, securing to us maritime strength and superiority. Iron and coal, the sinews of manufacture, give us advantages over every rival in the great competition of industry. Our capital far exceeds that which they can command. In ingenuity-in skill-in energy-we are inferior to none. Our national character, the free institutions under which we live, the liberty of thought and action, an unshackled press, spreading the knowledge of every discovery and of every advance in science combine with our natural and physical advantages to place us at the head of those nations which profit by the free interchange of their products. And is this the country to shrink from competition? Is this the country to adopt a retrograde policy? Is this the country which can only flourish in the sickly artificial atmosphere of prohibition? Is this the country to stand shivering on the brink of exposure to the healthful breezes of competition? nity, will perhaps ultimately prevail over This night, then-if on this night the debate shall close-you will have to decide what are the principles by which your commercial policy is to be regulated. Most earnestly, from a deep conviction, founded not upon the limited experience of three years alone, but upon the experience of the results of every relaxation of restriction and prohibition, I counsel you to set the example of liberality to other countries. Act thus, and it will be in perfect consistency with the course you have hi therto taken. Act thus, and you will provide an additional guarantee for the continued contentment, and happiness, and well-being of the great body of the people. Act thus, and you will have done whatever human sagacity can do for the promotion of commercial prosperity. You may fail. Your precautions may be unavailing. They may give no certain assurance that mercantile and manufacturing prosperity will continue without interruption. It seems to be incident to great prosperity that there shall be a reverse-that the time of depression shall follow the season of excitement and success. That time of depression must perhaps return; and its return may be coincident with scarcity caused by unfavourable seasons. Gloomy winters, like those of 1841 and 1842, may again set in. Are those winters effaced from your memory ? From mine they never can be. Surely you cannot have forgotten with what earnestness and sincerity you re-echoed the Choose your motto. "Advance" or deep feelings of a gracious Queen, when "Recede. Many countries are watch- at the opening and at the close of each ing with anxiety the selection you may Session, She expressed the warmest symmake. Determine for "Advance, and pathy with the sufferings of Her people, it will be the watchword which will ani-and the warmest admiration of their heroic mate and encourage in every state the fortitude. friends of liberal commercial policy. Sardinia has taken the lead. Naples is relaxing her protective duties and favouring British produce. Prussia is shaken in her adherence to restriction. The Government of France will be strengthened; "The These sad times may recur. years of plenteousness may have ended," and "the years of dearth may have come;" and again you may have to offer the unavailing expressions of sympathy, and the urgent exhortations to patient resignation. Commune with your own hearts and lowing Peers as Members of the Select answer me this question: will your assu- Committee appointed on the previous evenrances of sympathy be less consolatory-ing to inquire into the Burdens on Real will your exhortations to patience be less Property, and the impediments on agriculimpressive-if, with your willing consent, ture caused thereby, as well as by the the Corn Laws shall have then ceased to present system of Excise, Poor Laws, and exist? Will it be no satisfaction to you to Poor Taxation:- Lord President; Lord reflect, that by your own act, you have Privy Seal; Dukes Richmond, and Buckbeen relieved from the grievous responsi-ingham and Chandos; Marquesses Lansbility of regulating the supply of food? downe, and Salisbury; Earls Hardwicke, Will you not then cherish with delight the Radnor, Clarendon, Malmesbury, Grey, reflection that, in this the present hour of Stradbroke, Lovelace, and Ellenborough; comparative prosperity, yielding to no cla- Lords Dacre, Beaumont, Redesdale, Dalmour, impelled by no fear-except, in-housie, Colchester, Brougham and Vanx, deed, that provident fear, which is the Stanley, Ashburton, Cottenham, and Montmother of safety-you had anticipated eagle of Brandon. the evil day, and, long before its advent, had trampled on every impediment to the free circulation of the Creator's bounty? When you are again exhorting a suffering people to fortitude under their privations, when you are telling them, "These are the chastenings of an all-wise and merciful Providence, sent for some inscrutable but just and beneficent purpose-it may be, to humble our pride, or to punish our unfaithfulness, or to impress us with the sense of our own nothingness and dependence on His mercy;" when you are thus addressing your suffering fellow subjects, and encouraging them to bear without repining the dispensations of Providence, may God grant that by your decision of this night you may have laid in store for yourselves the consolation of reflecting that such calamities are, in truth, the dispensations of Providence-that they have not been caused, they have not been aggravated by laws of man restricting, in the hour of scarcity, the supply of food! Debate again adjourned. House adjourned at a quarter to two o'clock. HOUSE OF LORDS, of Newton St. Cyres, and several other places, in favour Curate of the Parish of Tresmere, near Launceston, complaining of the Conduct of the Churchwardens, who refuse to make a Church Rate, and for Relief.-From Magistrates, Burgesses, and others, of the Royal Burgh of Irvine, in favour, and from Tenant Farmers, and others, of Thirsk, against the Principles of Free Trade. -From Inhabitants of the Township of Osgoodby, and several other places, for Protection to the Agricultural LORD BROUGHAM was obliged to his noble Friend for his kindness in placing his name upon the Committee. He had no objection to the inquiry, though he had no very sanguine hope of its leading to any very practical result. The subject was one rather of discussion in their Lordships' House than of inquiry by a Committee. Tho LORD CHANCELLOR: Perhaps my noble and learned Friend may be able to persuade the Committee at once that they can arrive at no practical determination? The DUKE of RICHMOND thought that the points which would come before the Committee were very simple; the statement which had been put forward was, that land was taxed to a greater extent than any other property. He apprehended, to decide that matter, it was only necessary to call upon a farmer to produce his books in order to show what was the amount of taxes to which he was subject; and then to call upon a manufacturer and upon a tradesman to do the same, and the fact, one way or the other, would be seen at once without any discussion. Until now he had never heard that there was any difference of opinion upon the subject. Which was the best investment at this time? Was the largest interest to be got upon invested in the funds or in land? The EARL of MORLEY observed that it would be easy to get information on the question as to the result of the same amount of capital invested in land or in trade. money EARL GREY, as the Committee was to be so numerous, suggested that it would be well if their Lordships were to adopt a regulation which had been for some time in force (with the best results) in the House of Commons-that was that a Minute should be kept, showing the attendance of each Member of the Committee on each day of LORD BEAUMONT nominated the fol- the Committee's sitting; so that when the Interest. From the Presbytery of Ellon, in favour of the BURDENS ON LAND. Report should be presented, the House | six weeks ago, stating the extreme hardshould know upon whose authority it rested, ship of his case, and the loss of reputation and that a Report, resting upon the authority of perhaps only three or four noble Lords, should not be supposed to carry with it that of the whole Committee. The LORD CHANCELLOR thought that the Minute should not only state the names of the noble Lords who attended the Committee each day, but how long they remained in attendance. He had known Committees on which some noble Lords had attended for four or five minutes only. LORD CAMPBELL said, there was another practice in the House of Commons' Committees which might be adopted with advantage-which was, that the name of every Member who put a question should be prefixed to the question in the Report of the evidence. he had sustained in eonsequence of his having been placed at the bottom of the list of the Assistant Poor Law Commissioners in England, instead of being at the head of the Poor Law Commission in Ireland. He did not intend to say that there might not have been sufficient reasons for Mr. Gulson's removal; but he did mean to say that the case was a hard one. It was admitted by all persons that he was one of the best public officers ever sent to Ireland; and had it not been for his indefatigable zeal and ability, the Poor Law would never have been established to the same extent in Ireland, or so perfectly carried out. Adverse as he (the Marquess of Londonderry), as a landed proprietor, was to the introduction of the Poor Law, he was free to allow that he had become a perfect convert, and that he was satisfied that the law would be one of the greatest blessings to Ireland that had ever been bestowed upon that country. It was upon these grounds that he had intended to bring the subject before the House. He was entirely ignorant whether Mr. Gulson's removal originated with the Government or with the Poor Law Commissioners, when he gave notice of his intention to ask the question. If he had known at the time LORD BROUGHAM said, he was just that it had been done by the direction of told by the Clerk, that already the name of the right hon. Baronet the Secretary of every Peer who asked a question of a wit-State for the Home Department, he should ness in a Committee was taken down. All that was required further was to have it printed. The DUKE of WELLINGTON considered that the suggestion of the noble Earl was well worthy their Lordships' consideration and adoption. If the noble Earl would move it as a Standing Order it would receive due consideration. EARL GREY would adopt the noble Duke's suggestion, and on some day next week would call the attention of the House to the subject by moving a Resolution, the particular terms of which he would give notice of on an early day. After some further conversation, the Committee was appointed, the name of the Earl of St. Germans being (at his request) omitted. THE CASE OF MR. GULSON. have been more cautious in bringing the question forward; but he must say, that it was hardly possible for a man in the position of Mr. Gulson not to wish for some tokens of public approbation. The noble Marquess then read the letter to which he had referred: "I have received your Lordship's letter, informing me, most kindly, that a sense of justice towards me has induced your Lordship to give notice of a Motion for bringing my case under the consideration of the House of Lords. I am deeply sensible of your Lordship's kind intentions towards me, and of the high value of your Lordship's support on this (to me) painful occasion. As, however, I am still a public servant, anxious to do all in my power for the Government whilst in their service, I am particularly desirous that no step should be taken on my account, which could either annoy or embarrass the Government or the Poor Law Commissioners. It is quite true that by the act of the Government I have been depressed in my official position, and that whilst all my official superiors express their entire satisfaction at the whole of my proceedings in Ireland,' and their continued 'confidence in my discretion and zeal,' I am prac The MARQUESS of LONDONDERRY, in rising, pursuant to the notice which he had given, to ask a question with reference to the causes which led to the removal of Mr. Gulson from the situation of an Assistant Poor Law Commissioner in Ireland, said that since he came into the House he had received a letter, which would very much shorten the observations with which he had intended to preface his question. He must in the first place state, that he had had no communication with Mr. Gulson relative to the causes of his dismissal from his high situation. It was entirely unknown to him that he (the Marquess of London-tically sent down to the ranks of the junior Asderry) had given this notice. He would admit that Mr. Gulson sent him a letter sistant Commissioners, of whom I have for three years been the director, and that I am reduced to the point whence I started twelve years since in |