TOPICS OF THE DAL

• MR. • POULETT TIIOMSON'S APOLOGY.

BRIEFLY last week we noticed the President of 63 Board of Trade's letter in defence of his conduct on the Corn-law question. The document was not wholly apologetical, but, in part, crimina- tory of his constituents. Indeed, Mr. THOMSON'S treatment of the Manchester electors is almost unrivalled for cool insolence. During the visit to Manchester in NoveMber last, he was asked, it seems, by friends, desirous of obtaining some evidence of his former activity, to transmit copies of his speech in 1834 upon the Corn- laws : but he could not find time to comply with their request till January— "Circumstances, over which I had no control, have prevented me from at- tending sooner to your desire; and occurrences have in the mean time taken place, upon which lam induced to offer you a few remarks."

Mr. Tnosistix must have been overwhelmed with courtly and fashionable engagements, or he would have set aside a spare hour to put together the few paragraphs of which his letter is composed, in the course of the several weeks which elapsed between his de- parture from Manchester and.the date of his communication. The " occurrences" alluded to—the meetings of his constituents, prov- ing their intense interest in the question—reminded him of the necessity of paying some attention to the request of his friends. Mr. THOMSON professes to rejoice at the proceedings in the Chamber of Commerce- " The high character of the meeting, the important facts and the able mo- ments brought forward by the different slumbers, cannot fell to produce a good 'effect upon the public mind, and to advame the cause which we have at heart. may indeed regret, that year after year was s.,t1i,red to pass without more attention having been paid by The great manuf■,..turing community of which Manchester is the centre, to this, in my opinion, alt-impfwtant subject ; and that it should have been thought advisable to wait tilt ihe public mind was excited by a bad harvest and a high price of provisions, to bring forward those facts and arguments which were equally applicable in times of comparative plenty and of low prices of corn in Euglaud. Still, 1 rejoice in the movement that has been made."

If the statement in the preface to the Report of the Discussions in the Manchester Chamber If Commerce* is correct, the insinuated rebuke in this passage is a virtual misstatement, the falsehood of which was known to Mr. TuomsoN : the astounding facts of the injurious operation of the Corn-laws were submitted to the Government. But, passing this, it might be supposed that the person who administers this reproof to the Manchester manu- facturers, had himself laboured in vain to stimulate them into activity; that lie had written letters without -number to his con- stituents, pointing out the dangers of delay and the advantage of immediate action ; that he had pestered the House of Com- mons with petitions and motions against the Corn-laws ; that he had striven without ceasing to awaken the public mind to a due sense of the incalculable importance of removing ob- structions to the trade in grain and the growth of manufac- tures. Had such been the coura. of the President of the 13oard of Trade, he would have been justified in reminding his constituents of the contrast his conduct atrorded to theirs. But, of all men, Mr. POULETT THOMSON is the least entitled to sneer at the inactivity of others. The Manchester Chamber of Commerce has been supine, through their " confidence in Ministers;" but he never attempted to rouse them. The majority of the House of Com- mons was indisposed to the question; but since 1834 he has religi6asly abstained front cifers to overcome their reluctance to entertain it—to enlighten prejudiced and ignorant, or to alarm timid :Members. Ile has jobbed the question of free trade. The 'reputation acquired as its advocate gained him the representa- tion of Manchester; which, again, helped hint to a seat in the Cabinet ; and since his official elevation, he has done absolutely nothing—beyond some petty alterations in the custom-duties, which nobody opposed, and which required simply a little office influence to effect—towards carrying into operation the great commercial principles which he prominently supported when a candidate for place. Yet this man now presumes to censure his constituents for their sloth !

But, though the Manchester Changer of Commerce may have neglected their duty and true interest, the President of the Board

of Trade cannot deny that repeated warnings were given front

other quarters, that the best time to deal with the Corn-law ques- tion was when the " public mini was" not " excited by a bad

harvest and a high price of provisions." Our own file (which we only refer to us our readiest means of reifospection) supplies evi- dence, that though the Minister at the head of the Commercial department of the Government, either lazily or corruptly shrank front the discharge of his proper functions, there were others in and out of Parliament, who saw the approaching danger, and in the halcyon days of plenty besought and exhorted the Legislature

to avert the coming (listless. In the House of Lords, Earl FITZ- 'WILLIAM and Lord PoRTaAN, and in the Commons, Mr. CLAY, Mr. Vu,rantts, and Sir WILLIAM MoLaswoaTu, endeavoured to

perform that service to the manufacturing and trading interests— on whose prosperity the agricultural also mainly depends—which the Member for Manchester and President of the Board of Trade

superciliously eschewed. Mr. CLAY'S motion, on the 16th of March 1837, produced an elaborate and statesmanlike speech from Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTIL Two years ago, Sir WILLIAM anti- cipated the now stale remarks of Mr. Poulairr TnQNsON on the impolicy of leaving questions to be settled in a period of popular

Published by Itteoways.

excitement. Earnestly .a soca mg a speedy settlement of the question, he said—.

4, I am convinced, that whenever the people shall feel again the pressure of the Corn-law, they will sweep it away ; and this time cannot be far distatit, But is it wise to continue this state of things till the people again feel that pres- sure? Should we not rather legislate now, when all is quiet, than wait for the storm which must arise ? Should we not rather anticipate and obviate the evil, than wait and apply the remedy?"

—Not a syllable did Mr. POULETT THOMSON utter in the debate on Mr. CLAY'S motion. He did not attempt to " obviate or antici- pate the evil." He did not even exert himself to procure a decent attendance of Members ; for the House was very nearly " counted out" whilst Mr. CLAY was speaking. So on Mr. VILLIERS'S tion, the defence of the manufacturers of Manchester and other places was left to the mover, Sir WiLmAin Mocuswoirrn, Mr. CLAY, and Mr. MARK PHILLIPS. Mr. VILLIERS especially warned the House, that the " absence of excitement " was no rea- son for refining to legislate on the subject, seeing that the " day was not far distant when there would be more excitement than. would be agreeable to those who were so much struck with the absence of excitement :" " it seemed to him ,a peculiarly favour- able time to agitate the question." Again- " What was the value If their foreign trade?—that was the question. He hoped the manufacturers m that Douse would speak out on this occasion. In private, the manufacturers had no hesitation in saying that the Corn-law was destroying their trade : he hoped, then, they would declare openly what was their candid opinion upon this question ; for they had now Coale to this point, that they must make up their minds whether they would abandon their foreign trade or their Corn-law."

—In this debate, the country gentlemen's majority, with more than usual insolence, proclaimed their resolution to overcome argument by clamour. Mr. Altaic PHILLIPS was coughed down and shouted down. Mr. POULETT Tnosisos, without saying a syllable, sneaked out of the House. Mr. COBDEN says his "blood boiled " when he saw the ignominious retreat ; and we are not surprised at his mor- tification and anger. But let it not be said after the specimens cited of what other Members did, that Mr. POULETT THOMSON'S neglect is justified by universal apathy on the question. His own colleague, among others, pointed out to him the path of duty. " Out of doors " there were not wanting men who saw and enforced the wisdom of dealing with the Corn-law question whilst yet there was opportunity for deliberate legislation. On the 19th of March 1830, in noticing a pamphlet by Mr. ALEXANDER GRAHAM of Glasgow, written to show the hnpolicy of the duty on raw cotton, we took occasion to mention the rapid increase of t,on- tinental and American manufactures. Facts then undisputed, and since amply confirmed, were brought forward to prove the necessity of repealing the Corn-laws to preserve the foreign trade ofEngland. One of our remarks was— "The repeal may come too late to preserve the cotton manufacture front ruin. Every year's delay may be productive of enormous evil."

On the 19th of November in the same year-1836—in a paper on " Prosperity and Distress " we anticipated the scarcity which has since occurred—.

" The quantity of food for next year—the extent of the 'foundation of in- dustrious operations—will be less thou before, while the capitill and popuhition, which have grown with the increase of food, arc greater than ever. The cause of'properitv' was an alteration for the better in the proportion between capital and the field of employment ; and an alteration for the worse in that same proportion, threatens a period of great distress.' * * * By freely exchanging her manutlictures fur food, England might, for generations to come, proceed unceasingly' with the enlargement of her means for investing fresh millions of capital so as to enjoy a state of zotintereupted prosperity. Without Corn-laws, such prosperity as we have enjoyed for the last three years might be prolonged for centuries. With Corn-laws, there is no prospect but of severe distress. Bi:T asailAPS TIIIS MSTRESS WILL REMOVE 'rut: CORN-LAWS. In that great object for manufacturing and trading Britain, monster and man are equally interested; and it would be cheaply purchased by a year or two of economical suffering, such as that which is coming upon -us."

—The necessity of relaxino.° some of the provisions of the Poor- law, consequence of the then expected high price of bread, was foretold in a paper on " The Poor-law and the Corn-law " in the .Spectator of the 1st of April 1837—nearly two years ago. We said " "fhe ox which treadeth out the corn' is `muzzled :' to the Bread-tax, and not to the Poor-law, must we ,refer the distress of the peasantry." And so it is. There is no need of quoting other passages to prove that a period of low prices and prosperity was systematically dwelt upon as that most fit for a repeal of time Corn- law. It has been convenient to refer to our own columns, but many of our contemporaries would furnish us with articles to the same effect.

Now, supposing that Mr. CLAY Mr. VILLIERS, and SirIVILLIAM Momiswoumf had never opened ;heir lips—that there had been no pamphlets on the Corn-laws, and the question had been avoided by writers in newspapers—would that be any excuse for the President of the Board of Trade ? It is implied in his expression of' regret for the silence of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, not broken till excitement was on foot, that, in his opinion, tranquil times are best for the discussion and settlement of important ques- tions. Then, why did 1w not avail himself of tranquillity to settle the Corn-law question ? Nobody else had the same excellent op- portunities of mooting it in Parliament with effect ; nobody else was so imperatively called upon to undertake it—as the Minister for Commerce—as the Member for Manchester.

But Mr. TuorasoN, in another part of his letter, seems to fancy it a sufficient excuse for his own negligence, that the Chamber of Commerce did not get up an agitation against the Corn-laws- " Give me leave to ask, what has been the course, during the same period, of those who charge me with want of zeal ? Surely they must have been .uutinug in their efforts to draw public attention to this question ! to stimulate the exertions of their friends I [Oh the powers of impudence! three gears ago the facts were laid before the Government!] to besiege Parliament by vetitions On the contrary, it is admitted, 'believe, that but one attempt of the kind during that long period has been made, and that one under circumstances which attracted no attention to the fact : and yet it must have been in the power of anv gentleman, a member of the Chamber of Commerce, still more a member of its Committee, to have originated, at least, a proposition to that effect."

Against the doctrine contained in this passage of a Cabinet Minister's letter to his constituents, it is necessary to enter an earnest protest. It is most pernicious; and amounts to a declara- tion that Parliament is not called upon to pass measures which are not forced upon it—that unless there is pressure front without, Representatives of the People are under no special obligation to bring forward good measures. On this principle, the more contemptible and " squeezable " the Members are, the better ; for the less would be their power of resistance, and the chance of convulsion smaller. But the true constitutional doctrine is that which presumes Members of Parliament efficiently to repre- sent—that is, to act on the behoof of their constituents ; that the function of the People is performed when they have elected persons to act for them in the Great Council of the Nation ; that until another election arrives, their interfisrence ought not to be required; and that the principal reason for choosing Re- presentatives is to prevent that "interposition of the great body of the people" which Mr. POULETT TnomSON demands. He sneers, in fact, at electors for placing confidence in him. He knows that as an opponent of the Corn-laws he was elected, and then as- sails his constituents for not spurring him on to do that which they had a right to expect he would eagerly perform. He adduces the supineness of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce as an excuse for his own neglect ; whereas that supineness rather should have stirred him to extraordinary efforts in his own person—by un- wonted activity he should have made up for their sluggishness. llow easy would it have been for Mr. TuolusoN at any time to originate an Anti-Corn-law movement ! Had he said to his con- stituents—" Now while prices are low and all is tranquil, is the time to repeal the Corn-laws send me a petition on which to

found a motion,"—does anybody doubt that his exhortation would

have been responded to ? But no—lie, the man of all in the Go- vernment and all in Parliament to do the work, suffered the best

season for operation to pass idly by ; and now he sees no lack of modesty, no indecency, in taunting his constituents with their want of public agitation.