The Marquis of Lansdownefeeling, as he did, for the distress of the individuals whom it was the object of this bill to relieve, regretted that it became his public duty to oppose it; but satisfied, as he was, that the principle of it was most injurious to our manufactures, he must resist its further progress. The object of the bill was, to prevent the manufacture of the web stocking—a cheap article, which had been originally introduced when the market was in a depressed state, and for the express purpose of finding employment for a number of the workmen, who must otherwise have been altogether out of employ; but it appeared to him to be 1295 most preposterous now to prohibit the manufacture of this cheap article, in order to attempt to force the consumption of the dearer articles, for the purpose of giving more advantageous employment to those very individuals—an expectation, however, which there was nothing in the evidence to support. He could not conceive any principle more mischievous, than that of prohibiting the manufacture of cheap articles, in order to attempt to force persons to buy dear ones. Were such a principle to be generally acted upon, it must lead to the entire ruin of our manufactures and our foreign commerce.
The Earl of Westmorlandcontended, that the bill was merely a measure of regulation, and that regulations had been frequently applied to other branches of manufacture. Unless this spurious article was prohibited, the whole of the manufacture must be ruined.
§ The Earl of Harrowbyobserved, that if the cheap article was to be prohibited in this instance, they might as well extend it to other branches of manufacture, and prohibit all cheap articles.
The Marquisof Lansdowne having moved to postpone the commitment for three months, the House divided on the question, that the word "now" stand part of the question. Contents, 25; Not-contents, 27: Majority, 2. The bill was consequently lost.