§ The Duke of Richmondpresented several petitions from owners, occupiers, and tradesmen in Cuckfield, and other places in Sussex, complaining of considerable distress and loss of property from the present low price of agricultural produce. The petitions were signed by a large number of persons resident in Sussex, who had stated the number of acres they possessed, and he (the Duke of Richmond) could bear testimony to their respectability and vouch for the truth of their statement. He was 258 quite certain that he was expressing their opinion as well as his own, when he stated that they had heard with the greatest regret and feelings of the bitterest disappointment that no relief was about to be offered by the Government to those who were suffering severe distress, but only to those classes whom he (the Duke of Richmond) was happy to say were enjoying prosperity. He need hardly say, after the pledge he had given, and which he intended to fulfil, that when the new Tariff came up to their Lordships' House, he should move to expunge all those clauses that gave advantages to the untaxed foreigner at the expense of the British farmers, labourers, and their families. He regretted extremely the course the Government had pursued. He thought, as he had always stated, that free trade would be the ruin of this country, and he saw in all the changes which were made the wish to go forward in that career. And he must say, that if by degrees the labourers were to be ruined by having articles Drought into this country free of duty, and thus thrown out of employment, there would be nothing left but the Corn Laws to support the tenantry and the landowners of England.