/Debates nub ipturetbitigs tulOartiantInt.
The Lords reassembled on Thursday, after the Whitsuntide recess. Lord STANLEY gave notice, that on the following day he should move for a copy of the address which had been received by her majesty's 'Go- vel-nment from the House of Assembly in Canada, and for copies of any Other addresses which might have been received from any public body in Canada.
Lord LyrraLmon had no objection to lay the address of the House of Assembly on the table at once. The Earl of DALHOUSIE hoped he should have the indnlgence of 'the Eons° while he made a few observations on a personal subject— During the discussion on the second reading of the (Join Bill last Thursday, he had combated certain statements which had been made in respect to the senti- ments of the Colonies, by quoting an address from the Assembly of Lower Ca- nada, together with a portion of a despatch bearing on that question, on which he founded a statement that we had no reason to believe the sentiments of the Colo- nies were adverse to the views of her Majesty's Government on that question. On the day after he had made that statement, a question was put publicly to the First Minister of the Crown in the other House of Parliament, introduced by a remark which bore the appearance of throwing, by implication, a doubt 'on the character for "fairness and truth-telling" of a member of the Cabinet—that member being himself. The question was, whether, at the time he made allusion to that subject, he was aware of another address which had certainly been for- Warded to this country fromranada, and which bad at that time arrived. Now, he was not ashamed to confess that he bad been deeply wounded at the thought of such a question having been put in connexion with his conduct. He Would not rest anything upon the unlikelihood of his telling their Lordships that there was no einch address in the country, had he known that an address really had arrived, when there would have been the most perfect certainty of its being contradicted next morning. But he would at once say that he was not aware, and that it was physically impossible he could be aware, of the existence of such an address. He had applied at the prow quarter to ascertain the period at which the despatches had arrived; and need he nay that he felt humiliated there should be any neces- sity for such application? The steamers arrived at Liverpool after their Lordships bad commenced their sittings on Thursday; and the despatches had not arrived in London till after they had closed their sittings, at nearly six in the morning, and they were received at the Colonial Office at ten o'clock. Nor was he aware of such a despatch having been received, till informed by his 'friend the Vice-Presi- dent of the Board of Trade that the question was to be put. Till that thee, he was wholly ignorant of the matter. He thought it a duty to their Lordships and to himself to make this explanation at the earliest opportunity. Lord STANLEY was sure that in whatever manner the question in another place had been put, there could not be the slightest intention of casting sus-
picion on Lord Dalhousie— •
Lord Stanley's impression was, that the question was 'Jut not for the 'purpose Of asking whether his noble friend knew of the address, but whether it was within the knowledge of any member of her Majesty's Government. As his motion *as to be acceded to, he should only remark, that on a former occasion he had been told that his apprehensions of the effects likely to be produced on the Colonies by the Ministerial measures were unfounded and chimerical; and he was told that Canada herself had no such apprehension; and that she had declared her adherence to the principle of free trade. But before twelve hours had elapsed, an address was received from the House of Assembly in Canada, fulelling to the very letter his ispeeific objections. Had that assembly acted in concert with him, they could not , have more cordially echoed the sentiments to which he had given utterance. The House of Assembly of Lower Canada, one of the most divided bodies in existence, with the greatest variety of interest as well as variety of origin—including French Canadians, Anglo-Canadians, end United States men, much agitated with politi- cal subjects among themselves—had come upon one question to an unanimous vote, and that in hostility to the comnawetel polity of the British Government. He regretted that this demonstration ot feeling lad not arrived previous to their Ishiip's voticof last Thietsineet, but he toped that, when called upon to consider `tem TIOtal rel-ated all protention—be Was not speaking of the sliding scale,. but of all'protectienVfrom the. agreeultural interest of this country and the Colonies— they Wattld heed. fp_anind the loyal e* iiatiful address unanimously lalterentr upon by"the peopleeM,Mtda. Earl GREY remarked, *let the fact he had previously stated had not been altered by what had taken place since— He had ventured to state, upon the authority of the newspapers of the day, that the tone of the original debate in the Assembly, when first made cognizant & the measure now in progress, was not a tone of apprehension, or of anything like alarm Or deSpair, but oitope of successful competition with their neighbours; and the motion for cooperating with the Imperial Government in this matter was carried by a very considerable majority. Not having seen the subsequent debates, he could not form any Opinion of the cause of the change of sentiment—whether it was in echo of apprehensions expressed here, or the result of an arrangement between parties; but of this he felt convinced, that in a short time those fears would be found to be chimerical, and the measure to be -as advantageous to our colonial us to our doteestic baterests.
THE TIMM
The second reading of the 'Customs-duties Bill was moved, on Tbtrtisday, by the Earl of DA_LLIOIIS/E; Who showed that this measure Was merely a following up of the ameliorative course of commercial policy adopted by successive Governments, 'and particutarly by the present Governurent In 1819, considerable redtretions were Made in the import-duties; between 1819 and 1826, still greater changes were made; and from 1842 to 1848, "the system underwent the greatest change of all. This policy was adopted in the firm belief that the removal of the duties on the raw metered of manufactures, and the reduction of duties on mannfaetured goods, while beneficial to the con- sumer, would also give a etimulits to trade -which would fetid direetly to the be- nefit of commerce, and in the end leave the!revenneVety 'little ff et all, a St?fferer by the change. In showed by details similar to those adduced by Ministers in the Commons, that these hopes had been completely realized. The present mea- sure was merely an extension & the policy which hadbeen intimation for many years, and which had proved its soundness by results that could not be mistaken. The revenue had increased; the consumption of those articles which had been relieved of hirport-dutiesin whole Nu in taut bad been largely angttiented; and the exports had gone on inettetstaites After explaining the leading to be effected by the ptesent bill, Lord Dalhousie disclaimed its title tothe c erecter of a Free-trade measute: its min- cinle was simply, as stated to their Lordships in her Majesty's Speech from the Throne, the removal Of prohibitory and the reduction of protective defies. The Duke of Ricnarown -indeed that the bill be read a 'second time 'that day six months— Lord Dalhousie had spoken of the Meantre es tecoeninended by the croirn: it was the measure of the Crown's :Minister, and theirs was the recommendation. It was unconstitutional, and coritrary to their Lordshiles privileges, ehat her Ma- jesty's name should be used as in favour of or against any measure before their Lordships. The Earl of Random said, that it he used theavord recommend," he did not Mean to express any opinion on the part of the 'Crown,. but simply that it had been suggested by the Ministers of the Otriven that the matter should be Mentioned in the Speech. The Duke of Rion:tauten was glad to hear the .disciaimer; and he 'went on with his objections—
He objected to the reduction of-the duty on butter and cheese; a proposal which he attributed to hostility to the agricultural interest. He thought the retention of the duty on manufactured cottons unfair; and a great hardship to the Man- eeter Manufacturem, who professed. ' Ch that they requited no protection at all;
they, forsboth, Were snail:his to get rid Of it—ehey would Make up for the With- drawal of protection by their skill, industry, enemy, mid Heaven krows what! He could not see Why the farmers' and labourers' 'wives-should net be allowed to purchase cotton gowns as cheaply as they could, when foreign eorn was admitted into-this country at a reduced rate of duty. Lerd Dalhousie had vindicated the retention of duties on Certain ailielts, On 'the ground that 'they were luxuries. But was not a carriage a Minty? Was not Silk A IttAttry? 'lle eomplaitted that the proposers of these Free-trade Measutes did not carry out their principles: they reduced the duty on that the Minister's wife might gb to Court in a very fine gown and in an eleant carriage; while they retained the duty on other luxuries. His real objection to all 'these Free-trade measures Was, that they Must have the effect of ttatteingthe Wakes of our "onat artisans sod la- bourers. The Duke cotteluded by reieaeking, that after the decision their Lord- ships had come to the 'other evening, liefelt it Was of very little Ilse to trouble them at any length upon this question; for he well knew what their decision would be.
The Earl of Wicanow thought the whole proceedings of the Govern- ment with regard not only to this measure, but to others, taa been cha- racterized by injustice which ought not to be teem. Earl 'GitEat could not 'gay, on looking at the eneastre, 'that iny distinct principle was 'dearly and Ihirly tarried out 'by it— After the admission which had been Made that ptotectieedutits were maibtiiid, the most proper and reasonable cootie for GoVermitent to edopt'would be to-get rid of those duties altogether. He believed that if the Duke of Richmond's pnn- ciple of protecting every article of home production were carried out, we should soon have no trade at all. On the other hand, he believed that the utmost possi- ble freedom of exchange ationg tuitions added to their Mutual wealth, and 'to the comfort and enjoyment of their people. He considered that nothing 'could 'be more injurious to existing intteEdta than the adoption of a principle which, While It 'par- tially kept -up the protective duties, would ultimately lead to theirentireabolifion. He looked on the bill, however, as a most important step in the right direction. He accepted it—not as carrying into effect, as they ought to be carried Out the prin- ciples for which he 'contended, but as a valuable inetalekent & what those Who concurred with him in iminiett'thiglitmepect. Lord Aelemnerent objected to the bill, on teenst injatintis'to Hie indus- trious classes— His surprise was that the energies& the country had -enabled it to be up against the constant tampering and meddling with its commerce which hadlately been pursued. He defied the Government to show that the prosperity enjoyed by the country was owing to the new tariff. This country had attained to.an extraordinary degree of prosperity under a system of protection, and that man must be rash indeed who Would Inake that prosperity an excuse for the present measure. At present there was n i o eurplus n the Exchequer worth speaking en; and if a reaction came, as in the cease of 'events lutist naturally happen, 'having exhausted our fiscal resources, he did not know hoW we should meet the deficit, after the reductions proposed to be made by the measure before the House. Lord MONTEApLE considered that the liberal commercial measures of the present novernment were One of the main elements of our recent pro- sperity— He -objected to the needless eacrifice of duty in the case .of 'Coll:milli timber, by which the consumer had derived no advantage. With respect to the duties imon sugar, the -coulee taken by the Government was so unexampled and without pre-
eedent, that he could not believe they would adhere to the principle upon which Parliament was last session called upon to legislate. An importation of 70,000 tons of high-priced sugar bad been calculated upon, which would have yielded a revenue of about 1,400,000/. But these figures had been so far from being rea- lized, that only 1,500 tons had really been imported; and in place of a revenue of 1,500,0001., only 24,000/. had been received. Then a redaetion of us. 2d. per hundredweight had taken place in the duty upon West India sugar; which had entailed upon the country an enormous sacrifice of revenue, without a correspond lug benefit to the consumer. The revenue lost about 1,600,0001., being Us. 2d. per hundredweight; and the consumer had only gained 9d per hundredweight in he price. Who, then, had benefited by the reduction ? Public attention ought to be called to this point.
The finances of the oeuntry were in a satisfactory state at the present moment; but that arose from the 5,000,0001. derived from the Income-tax. He thought 'the wiser policy for the Government would have been to have made that tax per- manent, till they were able to remove it. Under present circumstances a renewal could not be asked for without an inducement being held out of the removal of sorne unpopular indirect tax. A property-tax, for a short period, subject to renewal, bad a tendency to create a system of direct instead of indirect taeation; than which, a mere dangerous course could not be entered on by any country, particularly one burdened as this was with debt.
No division took place. The bill was read a second time, and ordered to be committed on Monday week.
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