MODIFICATION OF THE CORN-LAWS.
On the first day of this session Lord King had moved an address, pledging the upper house to take the corn-laws into immediate consideration; and the tables of both houses were covered, almost nightly, with petitions, partly from the agriculturists, praying that the law might be allowed to remain as it was; but chiefly from artisans and manufacturers, praying for its instant repeal. Ministers did not deem it prudent to introduce the subject during this session, although they acknowledged its importance. The advocates of a repeal, however, embraced many opportunities in charging government with keeping back the settlement of this great question; and were at length determined to bring it again before parliament. On the 18th of April Mr. Whitmore moved, “That the house do now resolve itself into a committee, to consider the propriety of a revision of the corn-laws.” He allowed that the time at which he submitted his motion was not unattended with inconvenience and the possibility of loss; but not only the expediency, but the absolute necessity of an immediate alteration appeared to him to be imperative. It was mischievous, he said, to delay the decision of the question a single moment after government had applied the principles of free trade to other branches of industry; inasmuch as these principles could never be applied with due effect, nor have practical justice done them so long as the present corn-laws formed part of our commercial policy. Sir Francis Burdett supported the motion, not from any expectation that it would produce the anticipated effects expressed by the mover, but because the discussion would show, that the landowners, in supporting their own class and station, were advocating that which was essential to the general interests of the country, Mr. Huskisson, in reply, without entering into the merits of the question, deprecated its discussion at the present time. Ministers had announced that the subject would not be brought forward this session, and nothing had happened since to warrant this ill-timed motion. He had every reason to suppose that the subject would be brought forward in the next session, in which case he was most anxious to give it a serious and dispassionate consideration. The motion was lost by a large majority; but though the arrangement of the corn-laws still remained unsettled, it was found necessary, before the end of the session, to introduce two bills for modifying their strict operation. At the present time there was but little diminution of distress; and its continued pressure led to a series of disgraceful riots in Lancashire, where the vengeance of the mob was furiously directed against machinery, especially power-looms, under a notion that these were the great cause of the want of employment. The impression arose from ignorance; but that ignorance had been stimulated by a state of suffering which could not be overlooked. At this time, in the immediate neighbourhood of the scene of distress, in Hull, Liverpool, and other ports, there were between two and three thousand quarters of wheat in bond; and it was supposed that the admission of this into the market would diminish the extent of suffering, while it would have no material effect on the agricultural interests. Mr. Canning brought forward a proposition to allow bonded corn to come into the market, on payment of a duty of ten shillings per quarter, which was passed almost unanimously. Another measure of modification proposed by government, however, met with stern opposition. As it was impossible to foretell the result of the ensuing harvest, it was proposed, as a measure of precaution, to vest in government during the recess a power of permitting foreign grain to be imported on payment of a fixed duty. This was resisted as irregular and unconstitutional, both in the commons and in the upper house; but it was finally carried. Before it passed, however, the opposition was gratified by the limitation of the quantity of corn admissible to 500,000 quarters and the period to two months from the opening of the ports.