§ Mr. E. Davenport, in presenting a Petition from Manchester for a reduction of taxation, and complaining of distress, said it would be desirable that the House should come to some understanding on the subject of his Motion on the State of the Country, which stood for Friday next. He understood, as the motion was not likely to be very acceptable to Ministers, that they intended to avail themselves of their empire over the Orders of the Day on Friday, to prevent it from coming on at a reasonable hour. The hon. Member for Hertfordshire had, in anticipation of that harbinger of spring, the cuckoo, thought fit to lay his egg in his (Mr. Davenport's) nest, and refused to give way to him. The hon. Member for Bletchingley also had a motion for Friday, but was willing to allow precedence to him (Mr. Davenport). The Chancellor of the Exchequer, probably with a view to catch some stray votes in a division upon which he ought not to have a majority, had given notice of what he called a Financial Statement for the 15th of March; but the House should recollect that it was admitted Ministers 1239 had no plan of relief. He should be in his place on Friday, ready to proceed with his motion, if it were the pleasure of the House to permit him to do so. The petition which he held in his hand afforded an additional proof of distress, and an additional reason for inquiry. It was from the retail dealers of Manchester, and had attached to it the signatures of every dealer in the town except three: the first of them was a butcher, and his name was not to the petition because he happened to be drunk when it was signed; the second was a Quaker, who having plenty of spare confidence, said he confided in the wisdom of Parliament; the third was a pensioner, who got his living by taxation, and saw no occasion for its reduction.
§ Mr. Tennysonthought it would be convenient to the House if it could be understood what was to be the question for discussion on Friday. He did not give up all hope that the right hon. Gentleman, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, might develope some plan of relief which would make the hon. Member's motion less necessary.
Mr. Bernalwished to know from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he proposed or not to proceed with any Estimates on Friday, as some were fixed for that day.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, that it was the general understanding that the Estimates should be proceeded with on Mondays and Fridays; but that, bowing to the feeling of the House, he had sacrificed one of those days for the East Retford question. He did not, however, therefore think it necessary to fix some other day for the motion of the hon. Member for Shaftesbury.
§ Sir Richard Vivianwas of opinion that the House ought on no consideration to postpone the motion for considering the state of the country. If it were again and again indefinitely postponed, the ferment in the country might go the length of a revolution, and be beyond the control of Parliament.
The Chancellor of the Exchequersaid, he had some reason to complain, and did not therefore expect to have been attacked. He had fixed the Committee of Supply for Friday, but had given way, against his own wish, because Members were anxious to proceed with the East Retford Bill, He would not oppose the 1240 hon. Member for Shaftesbury fixing his motion on some other day.
Colonel Daviessaid, he did not feel disposed to place much confidence in any statement the Chancellor of the Exchequer was likely to make, and therefore he thought the House ought not to defer the motion for taking into consideration the state of the country. A large division in the favour of the motion for an inquiry might make the Members come forward with a statement suitable to the wants and wishes of the people. It was not his wish to oppose Government, but to strengthen it, if it was to enable it to give some relief to the country.
Mr. Harveyconfessed, that he was one of those who thought the distress of the country very severe, but he did not think it was of so revolutionary a tendency as the hon. Member for Cornwall (Sir R. Vivian) seemed to suppose. The country would, he believed, wait patiently, though the hon. Member for Shaftesbury's motion were postponed, and that motion would, he thought, be most suitably made, after the Chancellor of the Exchequer had made his statement. If that were not what the country had a right to expect of Government—did not give the people sufficient relief—all their Representatives might then unite in one body to compel it. He would not wish that they should do that till the government had developed its plans, for he was not without hope that the Government, by repealing the tax on Beer, and adopting other financial measures of a similar nature, would render it unnecessary for the Representatives of the people to take on themselves the task of chiding it. He thought, therefore, that the hon. Member's motion should be postponed.
§ Mr. A. Baringsaid, he could not see any necessary connection between the motion of the hon. Member and the financial statement of the right hon. Gentleman, that one should be postponed for the other. Although he did not expect much from the motion of the hon. Member, yet, as the country was certainly suffering under some distress, the House ought not to interpose unnecessary objections in the way of a motion that had relief in view. The country might think it was sported with were the motion to be again postponed. He was the more anxious that the motion should not be postponed, on account of the ex- 1241 aggerated statements which were made in both Houses of Parliament of the distressed condition of the country. He had a great respect for the hon. Member for Cornwall, but could not believe with him, that we were on the eve of a revolution. The greater part of England he was satisfied was perfectly quiet, and one reason he had for wishing that the motion of the hon. Member might not be postponed was, that the state of the country might be made evident to all.
Mr. Secretary Peelsaid, he was far from wishing to postpone the hon. Member's motion, but it would have been more convenient had the hon. Member selected a day on which he might have brought it forward without asking other hon. Members to give up their plans. He was anxious, and so were all the Ministers, that the motion should come on. He was anxious that the country should not be kept in suspense as to the several plans of relief hon. Members had to propose. It should be remembered, however, that Ministers had given way to the hon. Member for Bletchingley (Mr. Tennyson) and had consented to postpone the Estimates beyond Friday, in order that the hon. Member's motion relative to East Retford (and as that had been three years before the House, it was high time it should be settled,) might not be deprived of the support of his friends who were about to go on circuit. Having thus given way, the Ministers were then asked to forego their arrangement, and make way for the hon. Member for Shaftesbury. It has been hinted that the hon. Member may introduce his motion as an amendment to any other motion, and if he means to do so it will be a great convenience to the House to be informed whether or not such is his intention, and what is the precise nature of his motion. When that is known the House will be able to decide what course ought to be pursued.
§ Mr. E. Davenportsaid, he was anxious to accommodate himself to the wishes of the House, but he heard such conflicting opinions, that he could not make out what those wishes were. He certainly could have no objection to state that his motion would be for a Committee to inquire into the State of the Country. He was too old a soldier not to take advantage of circumstances, and therefore he could not state more precisely what his motion would be, till the day of battle 1242 arrived. If he put off his motion beyond Friday, he was afraid that he should have no opportunity of bringing it on till after Easter. He thought the House would not wish him to postpone his motion till after the Chancellor of the Exchequer had made his statement on the 15th instant, though if that right hon. gentleman would state that he meant to propose a material reduction of the public burthens he should have no objection to wait till he heard him detail his plans. The House, however, had heard the hon. Member for Callington (Mr. Baring), whom he might perhaps call the ministerial Member for that place; from that there could be no hope of the Government materially reducing the national burthens. Not looking for any relief from the right hon. Gentleman's statement, he should not, therefore, postpone his motion beyond Friday, and he hoped that the right hon. Gentleman would not oppose the hundred of Bassetlaw to the wishes of all England.
§ Sir Richard Viviansaid, that he did not mean to affirm that the country was in a state of rebellion, but nobody, he thought, could deny that there was a revolutionary spirit in the country, which it would not be wise to inflame by refusing or delaying to inquire into the means of relieving the general distress. He would only remind the House, in proof of his assertion, of the Birmingham Union, and of the several Societies for promoting Radical Reform, which were already matured in different parts of the country. The hon. Member for Callington did not seem aware that a meeting had lately taken place in its neighbourhood, to complain of distress, and petition for relief; and being ignorant of that, the House would not be disposed to place much confidence in his representation of the general satisfaction which the hon. Member said existed in the country.
Mr. Tennyson, Mr. Portman, Sir F. Burdett, Mr. T. Duncombe, Mr. Peel, Sir E. Knatchbull, and Sir J. Graham, severally urged the hon. Member for Shaftesbury to state distinctly whether or not he was resolved to bring forward the motion on Friday, since it would be a great convenience to be certain of the fact.
The Petition was then read, and the question that it do he on the table was received with laughter, and calls for "Mr. E. Davenport."
§ Mr. E. Davenportsaid, it appeared to 1243 him to be the feeling of the House that he should proceed forthwith with his motion, [A general cry of "No, no."] He should leave the motion, then, as it stood, for Friday.
§ Sir E. Knatchbullsaid, that the matter then remained in the same uncertainty in which they had found it.
§ The Petition was then ordered to lie on the Table.