HL Deb 12 March 1839 vol 46 cc323-5
The Duke of Richmond

said, he had forty-eight petitions to present from various parts of England and Scotland, against the repeal of the corn-laws. His noble Friend thought it satisfactory, on his side of the question, that he had produced a petition from a few hundreds of agriculturists for a repeal of these laws; but he would ask his noble Friend to set off the petition from the town of Glasgow with the resolution passed by the Chamber of Commerce there, against the petition from the neighbourhood of Bridgewater.

Lord Brougham

said, he should like to see, as a curiosity, a copy of the resolution of which his noble Friend had spoken. It must be a very extraordinary document. He thought there must be some mistake about it.

The Duke of Richmond

would read, what he had received from a gentleman living in the city of Glasgow. It was a resolution passed on the 16th of January, 1839, in answer to a requisition presented to the Chamber of Commerce, and was to this effect:— Resolved, that it is the unanimous opinion of this Chamber, after full discussion, that the abolition of the Corn-laws at this time would be impolitic and inexpedient—involving, as such a measure, in order to be a measure of justice, necessarily would, corresponding measures on the part of the Legislature—such as the abolition of all protecting duties on foreign manufactures—an equal adjustment of all local burdens, with a general revision of the existing system of taxation and currency; but, if the requisitionists will condescend to state the nature of the alteration they require, and the reasons upon which it is founded, the Chamber will be prepared to take the subject into further consideration. Now, with that resolution of the Chamber of Commerce he (the Duke of Richmond) entirely and completely concurred. He did not object to a free trade in corn, but what he said was this: "If you have a free trade in corn, you must also have a free trade in every thing else. You have no right to take off the protection which is now given to land, if you do not allow me to get my coat as cheap as I can. You must next take off the malt-tax, and all taxes that now press unfairly upon agriculture."

Lord Brougham

said, there never was a person whom he was more proud to have for a convert than his noble and excellent Friend. Instead of being opposed to each other, he was now happy to find that he and his noble Friend were entirely on the same side. His noble Friend had spoken exactly in the same sense in which he had always spoken upon the subject of the Corn-laws. His argument had always been, that if they took off any protection at all, they must take off all protection—from every class—from merchants, traders, and others, as far as the public faith would allow; and they must take off the burdens which press upon the agriculturists also. With respect to the resolution which had been read, he could not help thinking his noble Friend had been imposed upon. It could not possibly be said, in a resolution, that "it is the unanimous opinion of the Chamber," because, until the resolution were put, it could not be known whether it was the unanimous opinion or not." It must have been a draft of an intended resolution to be proposed to meet the requisitionists, and not the resolution of a great meeting. This appeared from the conclusion of the document itself, which stated that the question was to be taken into further consideration: it was not therefore the expression of a final opinion.

The Duke of Richmond

said, the circumstance, he understood, was this:—A certain set of gentlemen in Glasgow, who called themselves Corn-law agitators, had called upon the Chamber of Commerce to appoint a meeting upon the subject of repealing the Corn-laws; and this resolution was in answer to that requisition. But he begged not to be supposed a convert to his noble Friend's views upon this question, unless his noble Friend became a convert to the views which he (the Duke of Richmond) entertained respecting it. What he, in brief, would say was this; "If you take off all the taxes that now press upon the agriculture of this country, then we can compete with the farmers of other countries; but if you do not take off those taxes, we cannot compete with foreigners." Before he sat down, he wished to call the attention of the noble Viscount to the circumstance, that, at the end of the last Session, an objection was made to a customs bill, in which the duty on foreign fruit had been taken off; and on the bill being allowed to pass, the noble Viscount stated, that, early this Session, he should repeal that part of the bill relating to the duty on foreign fruits. He gave notice, that, on Wednesday, he should present several petitions from Sussex, calling upon the noble Viscount to redeem his pledge.