APPOINTMENT OF A COMMITTEE ON EMIGRATION.
During the last four years government had lent its aid to those who desired to emigrate to Canada. In the present year the general misery which prevailed increased the claims of emigration, as a means of relief, tenfold. In Scotland, even the landholders of a county applied to ministers to afford encouragement to intended emigrants; and among the artisans societies were formed for the purpose of projecting plans of emigration, and obtaining assistance both from the crown and from other sources. The subject was brought before parliament on the 14th of March, when Mr. Wilmot Horton moved for the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the expediency of encouraging emigration. Government did not deny the importance of the question, or shut the door against its consideration: no opposition was made to the appointment of the committee; but nothing further occurred on this subject during the present session.
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.
DEBATES ON FREE TRADE.
The legislature had begun to act on the principles of free trade in 1824, by taking off those restrictions which prohibited the importation of foreign silks. To the bill which permitted their admission with an ad valorem duty of thirty per cent., and which was now to come into operation, a large portion of both masters and workmen referred the depression of the trade, rather than to causes which did not come so readily within general comprehension. Many manufacturers limited their orders until the effect of this untried system should be somewhat known, while others joined in the outcry against it. The general impression among them was, that the “untried state of being” should not be tried; and many petitions were presented from the persons and districts interested in the silk manufacture, praying for a repeal, or at least a modification of the provision of 1824, for a total prohibition of foreign fabrics, or a higher duty upon their importation. On the 23rd of February, Mr. Ellice, member for Coventry, moved that the petitions which had been presented on this subject should be referred to a select committee. This motion led to a debate, which, by adjournment, continued two evenings. In this debate Mr. Huskisson was compelled to vindicate the leading part he had taken in the measure under consideration, in which he was ably supported by Mr. Canning. This motion was lost; but soon afterwards Mr. Huskisson was obliged to vindicate the late policy pursued respecting the shipping interest and navigation laws. This arose from the complaints of the shipowners and others connected with the shipping interests, who believed themselves to be affected by the late navigation laws. They complained especially of the system which had been adopted of removing discriminating duties, and allowing articles of merchandise to be imported in foreign vessels, under the same burthens as if they had been imported in British bottoms, on condition of reciprocity in regard to ourselves. They contended in numerous petitions to parliament that such a reciprocal removal of discriminating duties was ruinous to British shipping, because the British and foreign owner could never be put upon an equality, unless the latter were burthened with a higher duty. The petitioners and their adherents in parliament, repeated these complaints at every opportunity; but they did not venture to bring the question formally under the notice of the legislature. Mr. Huskisson, however, thought it expedient to show that their representations were groundless; and on the 12th of May, in moving for “returns of ships built in the British dominions, between 1824 and 1825, both inclusive, distinguishing the number in each year, and the amount of their tonnage,” he entered into an elaborate defence of the late policy. Nothing could be clearer than his exposition of the principles on which the former system was founded, of the changes which had since occurred, and of the consequent necessity of our conformity to those altered circumstances. Having developed the general principles on which the navigation laws were originally founded, the different objects to which these principles had been applied, the modifications which from time to time had been made upon these objects, and the causes, political and commercial, which had rendered such changes necessary he stated, that all the allegations of mischief having ensued, and of an undue preference having been given to foreign over British shipping, in consequence of the late policy, were contradicted by the actual results. The complaint was, that in consequence of this policy a decrease had taken place in the employment of British shipping. Now in December, 1824, the number of British ships which entered our harbour was 19,104, and the tonnage 2,364,000, and the number of foreign ships, 5,280, the tonnage being 66,940. In 1825 the number of British ships entered was 21,980, and the tonnage, 2,768,844, and the number of foreign ships, in the same period, 5,661, the tonnage being 68,192. It was to be recollected, he said, that during this year there was an unusual demand for shipping, both British and foreign, in consequence of the unprecedented extent of speculation in almost every branch of commerce. On looking to these returns, therefore, it was clear that the amount of British shipping had increased in a far greater proportion than that of all foreign nations put together. Such being the case, we were certainly not in such a situation as was calculated to excite alarm with respect to the comparative growth of British and foreign shipping. Even if the latter had increased last year, it formed no ground for alarm, because it might be fairly attributed to the unusual demand for shipping produced by the prevailing spirit of speculation. The alarm felt upon this subject was in part grounded upon the state of our commerce in the Baltic, and the number of Prussian ships which entered our ports, as compared with British. Now in 1824, the British ships which entered from the Baltic was 440, and in 1825, 942. The number of Prussian ships which entered in 1824 was 682, and in 1825, 827. The number of Prussian ships, therefore, increased only by a fourth, while that of the British ships was more than doubled. Such was the comparative state of the shipping of both countries in the last year; and as Prussia seemed to be the main object of jealousy when there existed so little ground for it with respect to that nation, all apprehensions on this point might be dismissed. Mr. Huskisson’s motion was agreed to; Sir W. Ridley expressing a hope that the subject would receive a full investigation in the next parliament. Later in the session, Mr. Huskisson brought in a bill to give effect to some commercial treaties which had been concluded between this country and Colombia, and the united provinces of the Rio de la Plata. It had been stipulated, as these republics were not in possession of any commercial marine of their own, that vessels, wheresoever built, being the property of any of the citizens of either republic, should be considered as national vessels of that republic: the master, and three fourths of the mariners of the vessel being always citizens of such republic. The design of Mr. Huskisson’s bill was to give effect to these stipulations, and it was passed into a law.