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protection from the competition of the foreign wool-grower. What would the West-India merchant say, if foreign sugars were thus allowed to come in competition with the produce of our own islands? The tax, he contended, was necessary as a protection to the growers of British wool, and it was but common justice to allow it them; for if a free export were permitted, he was satisfied much greater advantages would accrue to them, than any which they could derive from the protecting power of the tax. He wished, on the behalf of the wool-grower, for nothing more than a fair competition with foreigners in the markets of the world; but if he were to be limited to the market of this country only, then certainly the legislature ought to protect him in that to which he was so limited.

The noble mover had said, that this was the only instance of a tax on the raw material. Was not cotton a raw material, and was not that taxed? Was not timber taxed, and was not that a raw material of considerable importance to this country? The numerous packages in which goods were exported from hence were thus all taxed. The dying drugs and the oil used in the very manufacture of woollens, were they not raw materials, and were they not all taxed?—but taxed with a reference to the wants of the country on the one hand, and with the least possible prejudice to the manufacturers on the other.

With regard to the distress among the wool-growers, to which the noble lord had alluded, that distress had arisen from other and more general causes-causes which pressed on every class of trade, agriculture, and manufactures. If the noble lord had inquired into the state of the cotton trade, he would in that trade have found the same diminution in the demand for the article, the same reduction of wages, in short, the same distress, as was complained of in the woollen trade. How, then, could the distress in that branch be attributed, with any fairness, to the tax? The

diminution was attributable to the diminished demand in America; for, on a comparison of the exports of last year to that country, with the exports of the preceding year, it would be seen, that there had been a fallingoff in the cotton trade of more than one-half; in the hardware manufactures, of full one-half; and that the export of woollens, although considerably diminished, had, in fact, suffered the least diminution of any. Comparing the exports of woollens to all the world, after deducting the diminution in the quantity sent to America, it would appear that there had been very little falling-off; indeed, less in that article than in any other: from which it was evident, that that effect had not been produced by any of our internal regulations. The order which was said to have been received in this country from Russia, and which could not be undertaken at the price limited, might have had that price fixed so low, that it could not be executed. But, was it executed elsewhere? He would answer that it was not; for in no other place could it be executed, for the want of British coarse wool.

He had thought it his duty to inquire into the state of the woollen trade on the Continent, and he had found it, from the operation of the same causes, still more depressed and distressed than our own. He thought there was no reason to believe that the tax would affect the export of any articles, of which British wool was a component part, and that they were bound to give it a fair trial;-not as regarded the revenue, which he considered a secondary consideration, but for the protection of the wool-grower, whom the House would be bound, if they repealed the tax, not to leave in the situation in which he was before placed; for he was confident the manufacturers themselves must think the monopoly of British wool was a boon to them, far more than adequate to atone for any loss arising from the tax. If, therefore, it was not thought desirable,

by any party, to open the trade for the export of British wool, it was essential at least, that the British grower should be protected from the competition of the foreigner, in the market to which he was limited.

The House divided: Ayes, 128. Noes, 202. Majority 74.

MR. HOLME SUMNER'S MOTION FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE TO INQUIRE INTO THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRESSES OF THE COUNTRY.

May 30.

From the commencement of the session, numerous petitions, on the subject of the existing Agricultural Distress, had been presented to the House, stating, in strong terms, the extent of the evil, and imploring Parliament to apply a remedy. This day, the subject was brought before the House by Mr. Holme Sumner, the member for Surrey, who moved, "That the several petitions presented to the House upon the subject of Agricultural Distresses, be referred to a Select Committee." The Motion was supported by Mr. Grant, Mr. Frankland Lewis, Mr. Curwin, Mr. Western, and Mr. Brougham, principally on the ground of the inefficacy of the provisions of the present Corn Laws; and opposed by Mr. Robinson, the President of the Board of Trade, Mr. Baring, Lord Milton, and Mr. David Ricardo.

Mr. HUSKISSON said, that the great inconveniences of agitating the corn laws had been so ably stated by his right honourable friend, the President of the Board of Trade, that he owed an apology to the House for offering his sentiments upon the subject. But he rose in consequence of some observations, which had been made by the noble member for Yorkshire, and by the honourable member for Portarlington.* He still retained the same views on this question which he had held in 1815,+ and he would • Mr. Ricardo. + See vol. i. P. 305.

restate the three grounds on which he had then supported the corn law. In the first place, he considered that during a series of years of war, by circumstances over which the country had no control, an artificial protection had been afforded to agriculture, which had forced a vast mass of capital to the raising of corn, which would not otherwise have been applied to that object. He thought that if an open trade in corn had been then allowed, a great loss of the capital thus invested, and a great loss to the agricultural part of the community, would have been occasioned. He fully agreed with the honourable member for Portarlington, that no particular price could be said to be at all times a remunerating one for the growth of corn, but that it must be determined by an inquiry, with reference to the actual circumstances of the country, and to the cost of raising corn on the inferior and the most expensive lands in cultivation. In 1815, it was determined, that 80s. was the price that would protect vested capital, and he had accordingly voted for it.

Another object which appeared to him of more importance than it did to the honourable member for Portarlington was, that this country, in its peculiar circumstances, should not be dependent, in too great a degree, on foreign countries for a necessary of life. The honourable member had stated, that there would be suffering on both sides, if the country which raised corn for us attempted to withhold that supply. To a certain extent, that might be the case; but the contest would not be an equal one. To the foreign nation, the result might be a diminution of revenue, or a pressure on its agriculture; to us, the result might possibly be revolution and the subversion of the state. It would be recollected, that one of the countries in which the government was most sensitive to popular feelings, had actually submitted to an embargo during the late war, with the view of incommoding us, by cutting off our supply of grain.

He now stated the case as between two belligerents; but the case might be, that a strong belligerent might exercise, as Buonaparte actually had done, an irresistible power over a weak neutral power; so that we might be thus incommoded, while our enemy suffered no inconvenience.

The third ground on which he had consented to the modification of the general principle of a free trade, was the situation of Ireland, which had previously received encouragement to produce corn, from our demand; to have withdrawn which would have been most injurious to that country. To give a superior cultivation to the fertile land of Ireland and to turn British capital into that island, must tend to increase, in a very material degree, the resources, and augment the revenue of the empire. Since the enactment of the corn bill, the importations of corn from Ireland had considerably increased every year.

These were the grounds on which he had supported the corn law, in 1815; and that law had, in his opinion, answered the purposes for which it was intended. It would be recollected, that in the discussions upon it, the argument of those who opposed it was, that, under the proposed law, 80s. would be the lowest price of corn, or the minimum. On the other hand, those who supported the bill had contended, that 80s., so far from being the minimum, would be more nearly the maximum. What had been the result in this respect? In the five years which had elapsed since the passing of that law, there had been two deficient and unproductive harvests. In those two years, the corn which had in consequence been imported from abroad amounted to 2,600,000 quarters; the whole of which was consumed in Great Britain. The price of wheat, on the average of those two years, was 898. 6d. per quarter; so that this great importation of 1,500,000 quarters in one year, and 1,100,000 in another, would have taken place, even if the protecting price had been 85s. in

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