Colonel Seale's trumpery measure for allowing foreign corn to be
ground in the Queen's warehouses for exportation, underwent its expected doom on Wednesday. The country gentlemen strangled the bill on the motion for the second reading ; their majority being 220 to 150. It was amusing to hear the Marquis of Chandos protest against the interference of Parliament with the agricultural interest. All, he said, that the landed gentlemen asked from the Legislature, was to be let alone I Th—e torn-laws, then, at present answer their end tolerably well. Wheat is at 6os. a quarter; which price affords a reasonable profit, that is, a high rental to the landowners. Con- sidering the reduction in the poor-rates, and the cheapness of manu- factured articles, the agricultural interest, (meaning always thereby, the owners, not the tenants of the soil,) have reason to deprecate agitation in or out of Parliament. But let a fall in the markets come, and then what a cry of lamentation will be set up, with motions about " distress," the heavy burdens on land, and all the usual topics of agricultural eloquence. The doctrine of " laissez nous faire" will then be repudiated. As for Colonel Seale's bill, it was so overlaid with vexatious provisions, and at the best, such a pitiful nibble at a great matter, that its rejection should cause little if any regret.
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