§ The DUKE of RICHMONDhaving presented a large number of petitions from all parts of the country, some calling for the restoration of protection, some for the continuance of the navigation laws, and others complaining of agricultural distress, he felt it only due to the respectable body of tenant farmers who formed the majority of these petitioners, to make known to their Lordships their desire that the navigation laws should not be repealed. He concurred with them in that desire, and protested against the doctrine which had been propounded on a former evening by his noble Friend the Secretary for the Colonies, that the farmers of Sussex had nothing to do with the navigation laws. The farmers of Sussex were loyal men, and knew well that in the late war the sea had been cleared of the enemy's cruisers by that navy which the navigation laws fostered and supported. They had a nearer interest, for many of their neigh-hours and friends were those gallant veterans who had fought in that maritime war, and had been engaged in those gallant cuttings-out which reflected so much honour on the British Navy. The farmers of Sussex were interested in the defence of the coast, and many of them had children serving in our men-of-war. They would not, therefore, be prevented from advocating the continuance of the navigation laws, although such advocacy might not be congenial to the wishes of Her Majesty's Ministers. He thought that the farmers were most unjustly treated. If they petitioned for protection or the restoration of the corn laws, they were told that they were a selfish race; but if they petitioned against the repeal of the navigation laws, they were told that they knew nothing about them. The farmers would not stand it much longer; they would not be so 472 treated. His noble Friend knew that he had a monstrous case to defend, and had only had recourse to that argument because he wished to get a cheer from those around him, who in their hearts pitied him for the unfortunate position in which he was placed. He then placed on the table his bundle of petitions.
§ EARL GREYhad never thought for one moment of denying the right of the farmers to petition on any subject they pleased. What he had said on a former evening was substantially this—that the places from which the petitions came, and the terms which were used in them, proved that it was not the repeal of the navigation laws which had excited the feelings of the petitioners, but that they looked on the rejection of the navigation laws as the first step in the reactionary movement against free trade.