HL Deb 21 December 1819 vol 41 cc1385-91

The following protest against going into a committee on the bill was entered on the Journals by the earl of Lauderdale:

Dissentient,

"First, Because this bill, as well as the other measures extending the severity of our penal code, have been avowedly adopted under a belief that there at present exists amongst the manufacturers of this country, a very extended combination engaged in a plot for the destruction of our constitution, and the overthrow of all social order.

"Whilst to me it appears that no evidence of such a plot has been given; that if an inquiry into the state of the country had been instituted, it would have been shown that no such plot existed, and that the alarming symptoms of disaffection to the constituted authorities of the country, which have been locally displayed, arise from the arts and the evil designs of a few operating upon an extra population reduced into a state of misery from want of employment, and consequently of clothing and of food.

"That this is the real state of the evil under which we now labour, cannot be doubted by any man who reflects on the certain consequences of the policy which this country has for years pursued, who possesses a knowledge of the real state of manufacturing labour, or who gives credit to the scanty information which ministers have thought fit to lay before parliament.

"That the revenue and expenditure of all countries must be equivalent, if left to the natural course of things, is a proposition so generally admitted as to require no illustration.

"But in this country it appears that betwixt the end of the year 1794, and the beginning of the year 1819, there was added to our debt the sum of 899,537,144l., which on the supposition that government, borrowing in 3, 4, and 5 per cents., received in cash 75l. for each 100l. of capital added to the debt, proves that during that space of time 674,652,858l. were received out of the capital of the country, and expended by government, making on an average during these 24 years, an expenditure of 28,110,535l. per annum.

"This extra expenditure, beyond what the revenue naturally afforded, must therefore have created a formidable increase in the demand for labour; a rise in the value of labour must have ensued; and it is not in the nature of things that this extended demand, continuing for 24 years must not have increased the population so as to adjust the supply of labour to the demand for it.

"But this is not all, every nation in Europe has been more or less engaged in similar practices; and in the state of our manufactures it is impossible that an extra expenditure on the part of any European nation must not have created an extra demand for labour in this country.

"In this situation of things, it appears to me obvious, that a general cessation from this practice must, by suddenly diminishing the demand for labour, leave this manufacturing country in a state in which the supply of labour must be lamentably great in proportion to the demand for it, and consequently that a great fall in the wages of labour must naturally ensue.

"Such a fall in the wages of labour cannot, however, take place without greatly adding to the evil. The man, who from his labour can acquire 3s. or 4s. a day, is, as experience teaches us, generally led from a desire of indulgence to work only four days in a week: whilst the man who, with the utmost exertion of 6 days' labour, can only obtain 7s. or 8s. a week, is driven, by a desire to secure to himself and his family a scanty subsistence, to renounce all relaxation, and even to add to the hours usually devoted to labour.

"It follows, then, that those who are employed must by their exertions execute a greater quantity of labour, and by that means greatly increase the numbers thrown out of employment.

"That this is no fanciful theory, but, on the contrary, a true detail of the origin and of the nature of the evil under which the manufacturing districts are now suffering, is known to every man who has access to accurate information upon the subject; and it appears to me to be fully confirmed by the scanty information which his majesty's government have laid on the table of this House.

"By the Manchester magistrates we are informed, ' that the secretary of state was fully apprised of the deep distresses of the manufacturing classes of that extensive population, and that the disaffected and ill-disposed lost no opportunity of instilling the worst principles into the unhappy sufferers; attributing their calamities, not to any event which cannot be controlled, but to the general measures of government and parliament: and they add, that when people are oppressed with hunger, they do not wonder at their giving ear to any doctrines which they are told will redress their grievances.'

"In Yorkshire, too, we are informed by the lord-lieutenant of that county, that the mayor of Leeds believed that the mass of the population within his jurisdiction was by no means disaffected, or seditiously disposed; but they were suffering most cruel privations through want of employment. Lord Fitzwilliam also states, as the general opinion of the county of York, that the real grievance of the people was want of employment.'

"Again, ' the acerbation of temper among the weavers (at Westleigh) is stated to be produced by severe privations from the lowness of wages;' and those who know the real situation of Glasgow and Paisley, can have no hesitation in asserting, that the manufacturers at present exhibit a scene of wretchedness unparalleled in the history of any civilized country.

"Secondly, because, if this is a correct view of the causes of the present discontent and disturbed state of the manufacturing districts; and if it be true, as lord Bacon has long ago wisely observed, ' that so many overthrown 'estates, so many votes for troubles;' 'that poverty is the matter of sedition;' and ' that the first remedy or prevention is to remove by all means possible the material cause of sedition, which is want and poverty;' it appears to me that this bill, and the other measures which have been adopted, can of themselves effect no good, unaccompanied by measures for the relief of those whom our policy: has reduced to a state of want.

"I have no hesitation in admitting, that neither the political institutions of this or of any other country were ever framed to govern a people so nearly deprived of food, and that in this unparalleled state of distress, local and temporary alterations of our Jaws may be necessary, not only to suppress the evil effects which may arise from the sufferings of the people, but to curb the mischievous intentions of those, who, from views of interest or ambition, may attempt to mislead them.

"There are, therefore, no local or temporary regulations calculated to give vigour to the exertions of our military force, in repressing the mischiefs which we have but too good reason to expect, to which, if coupled with wise attempts to remove the present cause of discontent, I would not feel it my duty to give my support.

"But I must regard measures of severity, unaccompanied with any effort for removing the causes of the evil, or even with any expression of sympathy for the sufferings of those whom we have reduced to penury, as likely to lead to a feeling of despair, which can only add to the dangers so justly to be dreaded.

"For to me it appears, that by prohibiting public meetings, we may generate secret and private cabals; that by preventing vague threats, to divide property and to have recourse to force, we may give rise to a scene of pilfering, thieving, and perhaps of private assassination; that by suppressing the open and public expression of all those wild dreams to which distress and despair naturally give rise in the minds of men trained under a free government, we may debase the spirit and corrupt the morals of the people; but that it is by kindness and sympathy with their sufferings, and by administering as far as possible to their relief, to which we can only look, as the means of restoring that love and admiration of our political institutions, and that pride in the frame of our free constitution, which have heretofore formed the envy of foreigners, and the universal and well-founded boast of the people of this country.

"Thirdly. Because I cannot think it is fitting in the parliament of this country, who have expended millions in protecting foreign emigrants and African negroes, as well as in the relief of the peasantry of the various states of Europe, to abstain from all attempts to relieve the wants of our manufacturers, on the ground stated in these debates—that nothing can be done to mitigate their sufferings, without violating the true principles of political economy.

"If, indeed, this proposition (which alike impeaches all public institutions for the relief of the wretched) were true, I should feel great doubt whether the government had a right to revert to the strict observance of the principles of political economy, the moment it suited the policy of the day, though the preservation of our manufactures demanded a departure from them; more especially at a time when their sufferings clearly originate from government having violated every sound principle of political economy by a forced expenditure continued for 24 years.

"To me, however, it appears, that there is nothing inconsistent with the soundest principles of political economy, at a time when the class of manufacturing labours are reduced by the measures pursued for the supposed benefit of the community to a state of want, and when the labourers in agriculture as well as in the formation of articles which administer to the luxurious wants of the opulent, are comparatively well employed, in maintaining that it would be right to impose a tax on funded and landed property for the benefit of our manufactures; as this operation would only abstract a portion of the funds destined to reward the labour of one class of the community now at their ease, for the purpose of giving employment and subsistence to those who have neither.

"It is true that the produce of such a tax must not be employed in the manufacture of goods, which, by overstocking the market, might tend to deprive others of a demand for their labour.

"But, if prudently expended by furnishing employment to the destitute, in the improvement of roads, canals, and other works of permanent public utility, or in giving to them the means of emigrat- ing to our colonies, I must be of opinion that, under present circumstances, it is a measure not only consistent with the soundest principles of political economy, but even loudly called for by every feeling of a desire for self-preservation, and by every principle of justice and of humanity.

(Signed) "LAUDERDALE."

The following Protest against the third reading of the bill was also entered on the Journals:

"Dissentient,

1st. "Because the laws of England, when duly enforced, have always been found sufficient to prevent any confusion arising from popular meetings, or to punish any disturbers of the public peace; and a too ready acquiescence in the suggestions of ministers for imposing new restraints upon the rights and usage of the people (even if the provisions of the bill were in themselves neither harsh nor unreasonable), appears to us more calculated to add weight to calumny, and to exasperate discontent into hostility, than to defeat the designs of turbulent men, or to reclaim the alienated affections of a mistaken multitude.

2ndly. "Because the powers entrusted by this bill to magistrates are liable to great abuse, and those who disobey them exposed to dreadful and disproportionate punishment. On the surmise that a stranger is present in a crowd, or on the application of a vague definition to the words of a notice, or to the language of an orator, a justice of peace may proclaim a meeting to be unlawful; and an Englishman may become a felon for continuing, even through inadvertence, half an hour on a spot where no breach of the peace has been committed.

3rdly. "Because the numerous assemblies alleged in the preamble to be the occasion and justification of the bill, have been confined to particular districts, but the restrictions and penalties thereof are generally extended to the whole kingdom, and even to Ireland, where no such practices have ever prevailed.

4thly. "Because this bill, combined with the restrictions of the press, which have already passed, or have been announced in this House, is obviously intended to fetter all free discussion, and to repress, if not stifle, the expression of public opinion.—Large meetings, in periods of political ferment, furnish the means of ascertaining the designs and measuring the strength of the mal-con- tents; they tend to disunite and discredit the rash and mischievous agitators of a mistaken multitude, and they not unfrequently serve as a vent, comparatively innoxious, of that ill-humour and discontent, which, if suppressed might seek refuge in secret cabals and conspiracies, dangerous to the safety of individuals in authority, and subversive of the peace and happiness of society. (Signed)

VASSALL HOLLAND DONOUGHMORE
AUGUSTUS FREDERICK GROSVENOR
THANET ERSKINE."