right hon. Baronet was the expectation | speech not long time since delivered, had held out to them by the right hon. Baro- said, that the loss of the potato crop was net, that those concessions then made not the cause of the introduction of his would avert the necessity of further inno-free-trade measures. So these measures vations, and would afford a permanent set- could now go unfettered to another House, tlement of the question of free trade. stripped of all that maudlin sentimentality He would now refer to the measures with which they had been invested by the alimmediately before the House. And, leged failure of the crop of potatoes. He first, as respected manufactures; he had could not avoid objecting to the use which at several previous periods stated his had been made of the name of Providence, objection to the lowering of duties which during the progress of the debates, ascribhad been for some years levied on articles ing to it the afflictive calamity which had of foreign manufacture. The bad effect of been exaggerated for a party purpose. It reducing the duty had been strongly shown has been even asserted by a noble Lord the by a return moved for by the hon. Member Member for the West Riding, that "the for Warwickshire. From that return it stars in their courses fought for" free trade, was shown that by the relaxation of duty thereby implying that Providence had the imports of foreign boots and shoes had been the author of evil, that presumed good been doubled, and in some cases trebled, might come-a doctrine abhorrent from thus displacing the profit of trade, and the just sentiments of a mild and benignant wages of workmen to that amount. He was overruling Power. After this late favoursorry that such an effect should take place able season, he would rather exclaim with under the sanction of the present Govern- the Roman historian, "Benignitate Dei, et ment. The next fact to which he was de-modestia hiemis rebus extremis subventum sirous of drawing attention was connected est." The assertion he had made on a prewith the linen trade. He had stated be- vious occasion as to the great fluctuations fore, that the home growth of flax was of in prices since the passing of the first essential service. Since he had made that free-trade measures in 1842, and as to the statement, a Paper had been laid upon the low price at which Yorkshire potatoes had Table of the House, fully supporting the been offered in vain for sale in Londoctrines of protection which he advocated. don, were fully borne out by facts. In That Paper stated to the effect, that it would respect to foreign potatoes a duty had not be too much to expect that a large in- existed in 1842 that was nearly procrease of the linen trade would take place hibitory he believed it amounted to in Ireland—a trade that, properly fostered, 21. If they looked to the returns connectmight run parallel with the cotton manu-ed with that article, since 1842, they factures of another part of the kingdom, with this difference to the advantage of the linen trade, that whereas the raw material in one case was brought from abroad, in the other it might all be produced in this country, and the whole return be expended in labour at home. As it stood, however, five or six millions were sent out of the country annually, to the benefit of foreigners, for the purchase of that which might be grown at home with profit to the farmer, and advantage to the labourer. He would now advert to potatoes; and if the subject was distasteful to the House, he hoped the House would recollect that the whole argument of the right hon. Baronet had once been based upon the failure of the potato crop, or the appearance, as it had been called, of the potato rot, or the potato famine. The right hon. Baronet had said, with respect to the failure of the potato, "wait till May." The House had now waited until May; and what did they hear? Why, that the right hon. Baronet, in a

-

would find a fair specimen of what they might reasonably expect in case they should have a free trade in corn. He would ask the following questions: Had the price of potatoes been lowered since 1842? Had their law made them independent of seasons? Had it made them receive an ample foreign supply? And lastly, had the prices been steady? In respect to the last question, the returns which he held in his hand stated that the prices of potatoes had fluctuated in 1842, 1843, and 1844, from 40s. to 90s. And in the present season the prices varied from 10s. to 150s. If that was so, what a contrast this afforded to the benefit of the sliding-scale, under which prices had been perfectly steady, and the greatest variation had been only 33 per cent. As that statement had been cheered from the Treasury Bench, he would state now, that when the greatest rise in potatoes took place, it was in December last. In December, 1843, the highest average of potatoes was 58s.; in 1844 the highest

2 E

66

fused to argument. If, however, any of the aristocracy should truckle to any Government in power, and should betray that want of moral courage and fortitude the presence of which, in his opinion, was one of the highest ornaments of those who were of the highest birth in this country, then he would say—

"What will ennoble sots, or slaves, or cowards?

Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards."

Although in one instance it had been attempted to reanimate that blood by an infusion of curry powder, he thought the blood of the Howards would fail in gaining the respect of the country if they were found truckling or subservient to Ministers. He trusted, however, that there was not the slightest chance of the passing of this measure, which, in his opinion, would be as destructive of individual interests as it would be productive of national degradation.

average was 58s.: and in December, 1845, | to the progress of the measure in another the prices rose to 90s. Perhaps the hon. place. After the arguments which had Gentleman would cheer this. The mo-been addressed to the fears of the Memment that Peel's Tariff came out, from 90s. |bers of another House, he should say, that they went up to 150s. It appeared by the if any one of those noble persons possessed reports that up to the 1st January, 1846, the spirit of their ancestors, they would not the greatest increase in any article of ex-yield that to clamour which they have report was in potatoes, the declared value having been before that 5,000l., and for the year ending January, 1846, it was 23,000l. He presumed that 23,000l. would purchase 10,000 tons of potatoes. If that was the case, what became of the declaration of the Premier, that he could not find vessels to import 10,000 tons of potatoes? If there were vessels sufficient to export 10,000 tons of potatoes, there would certainly be vessels sufficient to import them. It had been said that potatoes were plentiful in Yorkshire, and he could quote from two respectable local journals, the Leeds Mercury and the Leeds Intelligencer, in corroboration of this. One paragraph which gave the information was headed Important Fact." In this paragraph it was said that 600 bushels of potatoes were offering weekly at 2s. a bushel. They had also been sold at 5d. and 6d. per peck. A gentleman, an inhabitant of that county, had also told him that pota- ALDERMAN HUMPHERY said, the hon. toes were 2s. a bushel in Yorkshire. He Member must have been wofully deceived had also written to his man of business in to suppose that potatoes bought in YorkYorkshire upon this subject, and he had shire at 88s. a ton, and raised by other found that potatoes were selling near charges to 95s., could be sent to London, Ripon, from 20d. to 2s. and 2s. 4d. a kept for six weeks, and then offered at 50s. bushel. At Knaresborough the price was a ton. It so happened that from 20,000 2s., though they were now becoming scarce to 30,000 tons of potatoes passed over his for seed. The same person also said, that wharf annually; and therefore he must so large a quantity of potatoes had been know something of the matter. He did set this year, that the produce would be not believe that at any time there had extremely large, and the price low. He (Mr. been potatoes at 50s. a ton, except in a Lawson) had also stated, that a cargo of very abundant season, when they had been potatoes had been brought up to London sold for the cows. This year potatoes had from Yorkshire, and could not be sold. come to London from Yorkshire and ScotHe was now prepared to show that this land; and in the result they had been was really the case. He held a letter in found to be very bad; many cargoes hav his hand, detailing all the circumstances. ing been thrown overboard because they The potatoes came from Howden. They had been spoiled. At the present moment, were in quantity fifty tons, had cost 88s. a and he believed through the whole winter, ton, and, after being dressed for the Lon-potatoes grown in Yorkshire, and known as don market, they probably cost 96s. per the Scotch reds, had fetched 51. to 61. per The cargo was kept in London six ton at the water side; in fact, they had weeks, and could not be sold even at 50s. been dearer this year than any year per ton. This very cargo was now at his recollection. No potatoes had been Selby, on its way to Leeds. [Sir R. PEEL: sold of the quality spoken of by the hon. Was the cargo good?] Yes. He feared Member, the Yorkshire reds, under 41., and that if the measures of the right hon. Ba-even these were not of first-rate quality. If ronet passed, which he trusted they would not, corn would get into the hands of factors, as potatoes had done. He would now refer

ton.

within

the hon. Member would only let him look at those letters, he should be able to prove that it was a perfect hoax from first to

last. He should think that the potatoes | Lord laid it down as a general principle must have been rotten; and it being found that excise duties ought to be repealed; that there was no chance of their being that by the total repeal you offer a great sold they were taken back. [Mr. LAWSON relief to persons dealing in excisable handed the letter to the worthy Alderman.] articles, and get rid of the establishThe potatoes must of necessity have been ments employed in their collection. He in a state of decomposition; and the only gave the noble Lord the benefit of the way in which he could explain the case whole of that argument; he admitted that was by supposing that the owner of the if you could repeal all the excise duties you ship was determined to get his freight for would both give great relief to the conthem, and not being able to get it in Lon-sumers, and get rid of establishments which don took them back to Yorkshire.

With respect to the duty on malt, the noble Lord had estimated it at five millions, and acknowledged the difficulty of replacing that amount of revenue, but recommended the reimposition of duty on beer. That any one professing the horror of the excise which the noble Lord had expressed should propose such a course, appeared a most extraordinary financial proceeding. How would it operate? Either the excise officer must be introduced into every dwelling where beer was brewed, or only into the public breweries and places where beer was sold. It had been an object with benevolent persons to encourage homebrewing by small farmers and the poorer classes, and such a course had been deemed beneficial to the agricultural interest. But if the tax on beer was to be general, every cottage and farm must be brought under the control of the excise officer. But if the visits of the excise were to be confined to the public breweries, upon whom was the tax imposed? Upon the lower classes, who bought their beer; while those who had the means of brewing for themselves would be exempt. He had been instrumental in removing this duty; and he should indeed regret if the House were induced by the arguments of the noble Lord to reimpose it. Certainly, to collect the malt duty there must be a su

Duties Bill. 840 ments-partly of the duties levied on im- | hitherto been advantageous to the reveported commodities of which the soap was nue, and had more than answered the made, and partly of the excise duty on the expectations that had been formed of it. manufactured article itself. If they had not repealed the excise duty, and given relief to the consumer by that reduction, they had at least given the public this advantage the duty on the tallow of which the soap was made had been reduced one-half, that on the oil of which the soap was made had been reduced. ["Hear."] Ay, but give him leave to say these were the modes in which the industry of the country had been stimulated, and foreign trade encouraged; and they had conferred advantages more than equal to those which would have been derived if a corresponding reduction in the excise duty on the manufactured article had been made. Considering these things, he did not hesitate to say that the public had benefited more by a reduction of duties on the articles of which the soap was made, than they would have done by the repeal of an equal amount of the excise duty. The tax imposed on the raw material of manufacture necessarily enhanced the price of the manufactured article beyond the amount of the tax; whereas the excise duty being levied on the last stage of the manufacture, and credit being allowed for the duty for a considerable period, the manufacturer had an advantage, and was enabled to impose no greater burden on the public than the amount actually paid into the Exchequer. He did not mean to undervalue the benefits that would result to trade from a revi-pervision of the parties who were to pay sion of the excise laws; he was only setting it, and that supervision did interfere in off against the inconvenience of the excise some measure with the trade. But weigh laws, the inconvenience of exorbitant cus- that inconvenience against the consequences toms duties. In a period of general peace, that flowed from the beer duty, and every one when trade must be encouraged, and the who had paid any attention to the subject amount of benefit to the community in would agree that the malt duty was more general must depend on the extent to equitable in its operation, and less liable which it was encouraged, he did not think to abuse than the excise on beer. The it would be wise to depart from the prin- noble Lord had thought proper to be jociple hitherto followed in England of di- cular upon the report of a gentleman who viding the duties levied on articles between had taken the trouble to conduct some the customs and excise. In another part experiments upon the fattening properof his speech, the noble Lord paid a ties of malt, and had complained of the tribute, in which every man must concur, process not having been intrusted to a to the merits of former finance Ministers-gentleman conversant with agriculture; Pitt, Canning, and Huskisson. But did the noble Lord ever hear from them that it was advisable to transfer a larger portion of the revenue from the excise to the customs? Quite the contrary. The wisest course appeared to him to be to divide between the two branches such remissions of taxation as could be afforded. It was impossible to deny that such a course had

but why the experiments of weighing the food and weighing the cattle, and observing the results, should not have been conducted by the gentleman who had so kindly undertaken the task, could not well be conceived. The result of those experiments had been long known, and he had not yet heard of any agricultural gentleman having undertaken experiments to

not that have been equally the case if the theory of the noble Lord was correct according to his doctrine? If the duty had not been reduced there would have been the same demand on the foreign grower, and the same advantage would have been derived by him in a pecuniary point of view. But there was one great error running through the whole of the noble Lord's calculations. The noble Lord supposed that in matters of trade the necessary advantage of one country was the disadvantage of another; and he could not understand how in matters of trade the advantages were mutual. In ordinary life, it

one man depended on that of his neighbour. With respect to trade, he was confident that was the case; and he did not admit that because the Northern Powers might have profited by the reduction of duty and the increased introduction of the articles of their produce, that this country had therefore suffered, or had not been equally benefited. How did the noble Lord show that this country had not been benefited?

show that that result was erroneous; and until some experiments had been made with equal accuracy to those the report of which had been laid on the Table, the noble Lord would excuse him if he were a little incredulous upon the objections which the noble Lord had raised to the latter. With respect to hops, the grower had had the monopoly of the market; the foreign grower was subject to duty on his hops when imported, and it did not appear to him to be one of the articles calling now for a removal of the duty. Then with regard to the 400 per cent on spirits, Parliament and finance Ministers had agreed that spirit was an article which should be sub-frequently happened that the prosperity of ject to the highest duty of which it was susceptible; and if it were so subjected, it was satisfactory to know that in this country at least the duty was not beyond what the article would bear without creating illicit manufacture. He did not know, when the noble Lord proposed the reduction of the duty on home spirits, whether he intended to retain the duty on the foreign article, and thus produce the evils which would proceed from a low price of the former, while the latter would practically be excluded from the market. The noble Lord referred to the objection he had formerly made to the reduction of the duty on timber. The noble Lord made the most extraordinary financial proposition on this point that he had ever heard. The noble Lord admitted distinctly that there had been a great increase in the timber trade since the period when the duty was reduced. But he said, See what a benefit the revenue would have derived if you had not altered the duty; in the year 1841 the timber introduced was only 500,000 loads, whilst in 1845 it was above 1,000,000 loads; and if you had retained the old duty of 55s., instead of 25s., you would have made 1,500,000l. of additional timber duty;" forgetting, most, unaccountably, that the large increase of importation was the result of the reduction of the duty. And the noble Lord said the consumer had not got the whole of the benefit of the reduced duty, because part of it had gone into the pocket of the grower in Denmark. He was willing to admit that with respect to the last year; in the preceding year the consumer got the whole benefit of the reduction of duty. In the latter year there had been an increased demand for timber, and the demand having been greater than the supply, there had been a rise in price. But would

66

The noble Lord said, "You have not exported to Prussia or Russia a quantity of cotton corresponding with the amount of timber you have received." But that was no proof that this country was a loser by the trade. If cotton had not been sent, how did it get paid for? If they looked at the general mass of manufactures sent to foreign nations, they would observe in that mass that although Russia or Prussia refused to receive some goods direct from this country, they did receive the value of those articles which were sent to other countries; and the only effect was that instead of Prussia or Russia taking them directly, they were sent to a distant country, and exchanged for other commodities which suited Russia and Prussia. Then as to the remarks of the noble Lord with respect to shipping. If the shipping of Prussia had increased, the shipping of England had increased also, having more than doubled since the year 1822. We ought rather to look with thankfulness on the increase of our own resources, than with jealousy on the increase of the commerce of other countries. The noble Lord had adverted to the situation of Canada, and intimated that the measures which had been recommended to the House were calculated to damp the loyalty of that portion of Her Majesty's subjects, and lead them to encourage the prospect of separation. He had