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of the Zollverein. If the act done cannot |
be repaired, at all events its progress will be
arrested now. Italy is also moving in the
right direction; the kingdom of the Two
Sicilies, after having been long the victim
of the protective system, to use the words
of a high authority whose report he (Dr.
Bowring) was now reading, is already
entering upon commercial treaties with
France, England, Austria, Sardinia, and
other States, and, encouraged by the re-
sults of liberal legislation, is moving boldly
forward in that direction. The Papal Go-
vernment, which has pushed protection and
prohibition to their very extremes, has at
last acknowledged that these are "econo-
mical heresies," under whose influence its
commerce has perished; its manufactures
have not prospered, and the steps it has
taken in the way of liberal commercial
legislation have already been rewarded by
an increase of revenue, and an obvious
augmentation of the public prosperity.
The Sardinian Government is also making
progress. It cherished with pertinacity
the protective system; but that system
failed. Modifications have been introduced,
and one has been the parent of another.
Every tendency towards commercial liberty
has been fruitful of good-has strength-
ened the desire for more facilities to trade
-for a wider field of intercourse and, to
use the words of an Italian writer in an
essay which has just appeared at Turin-
"The time is now matured for important com-
mercial changes; Sir Robert Peel will succeed.
The first nation in the world must act upon all
others; and her policy, which is already bringing
will, through the numerous channels of her poli-
tical and social influences by successful modifica-
tions of hostile tariffs-create a general tendency
towards, and prepare a not distant triumph for,
the universal emancipation of the world."
Even in Spain a ray of hope is visible. The
Report of our Import Duties' Committee
has been translated into Spanish. The
proceedings of the League have there at-
tracted much attention. The newspapers
are beginning to enlighten the Spanish
mind on these important questions. In a
word, whichever way we look, the signs
of the times are encouraging. The right
hon. Baronet (Sir R. Peel) has found much
to invite him forward; and while so pro-
ceeding forward, to remove every impedi-
ment, every difficulty in the way of the
freest intercourse, he will be hailed, in the
proportion to his merits, as the benefactor
of his country and of mankind.

the various Italian Governments into co-operation,

House was fully entitled to the foreign expe rience of the hon. and learned Member who had just sat down, seeing that he had been paid 13,500l. for his services on various roving commissions. The hon. and learned Member had called the right hon. Baronet the most popular man in Europe: the Lord deliver him from such popularity! Perhaps if the right hon. Baronet would again avail himself of the hon. and learned Member's services, the latter would consider him the most popular man in England. The hon. and learned Gentleman's language was, "Give us the friendship of France, Tuscany, Spain, and Italy, and we should care nothing about our own people." The hon. and learned Gentleman was so enamoured with the conduct of the right hon. Baronet, that he had better at once come over to the Ministerial side of the House. Whatever might be the immediate result of the Government measure in the end, he was sure in the end the truth would prevail, and the country would know who were their friends. The right hon. Baronet would have cause, ere long, to repent of the course he had adopted. All he would say was, that if he wanted to find an instance of apostacy, hypocrisy, and perfidy, he would point out the right hon. Baronet. He should, from a sense of duty, support the Amendment of the noble Lord.

MR. HENLEY censured the conduct of the Government in repealing taxes in deference to agitation. It was only those who made a noise about a tax who got it repealed. Turnpike-gates were not suppressed in Wales till Rebecca came; the gentlemen of the League had kicked up a row, and had got their object. The agriculturists wished for the repeal of the malt tax; but they repressed agitation instead of encouraging it, and, consequently, got no relief. This was not treating the agriculturists quite fairly. He would not enter into the great question whether customs or excise duties ought to be taken off; but when the Chancellor of the Exchequer said that they ought to be taken. off equally, he begged to say that was not the course pursued; a much larger amount of customs than excise duties had always been removed: if excise duties were taken off they must do away with a great deal of patronage; but by repealing customs duties they were always told that not a single custom-house officer less would be required, and that was the reason why the latter duties were taken off, and not the former. COLONEL SIBTHORP thought that the To all Governments it was as natural as

whilst they deprived the land of all protec-
tion by their Corn Law Repeal Bill-at
least, within a very short period; and,
though he might be met with the argument
that this was a question of revenue, he
could not see why the revenue argument
should not be equally applied to the pro-
duce of the land as well as of manufac-
tures. With these views, if the noble
Lord pressed his Amendment, he would
divide with him against a measure which
he considered was unjust, unwise, impolitic,
and dangerous.

Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Amendment read a second time.
Bill ordered to be read a third time.

VISCOUNT HARDINGE'S ANNUITY BILL.
House in Committee on Viscount Har-
dinge's Annuity Bill. On the 1st Clause,

eating their breakfast to keep up patronage | per cent of protection on manufactures, -it was a part of the system and mystery of Government. He did not impute it in particular to the present Government; it was common to all Governments. There was another matter at which he could not help looking with apprehension. At present the taxation of this country was spread over a vast surface: they had learnt by experience that indirect taxation had run its limits, and they had had some experience also that direct taxation was in nearly the same state; the property tax was not now nearly so productive as at first; but it was evidently the intention of the Government to reduce the revenue to as few heads as possible, and he did not deny that some expense of collection might thereby be saved; but he recollected the agitation against the income tax, then producing 1,000,000. The Minister said that he could not do without it; but the people would not pay it, and the Minister did without it. Now, when the mass of the revenue was collected from a few heads of taxation only, they might have a run against one of those heads, and some fine morning suddenly find themselves short of the money to pay the national creditors. The hon. and learned Doctor (Bowring) had said that the right hon. Baronet at the head of the Government was the most popular man in Europe; it was possible that his present measures tended to make him so, as they were more calculated to benefit foreigners than Englishmen; but, for his own part, he should prefer that the right hon. Baronet was the most popular man in England.

MR. HUDSON, in addressing a few words on the subject of this measure, said, in reference to the silk question, that the mere consumption of a greater amount of the raw material was not the proper test of the state of those employed in that manufacture; but that the real test was, whether those employed were better paid for their labour. He contended that they were worse paid than previously. Again, in regard to what the Government was doing with timber, it would have been preferable to have reduced the excise duty on bricks; for, in the one case, the advantage went into the pockets of the foreigner, whilst, in the latter case, the benefit would be on the side of their own countrymen. He and his Friends around him objected to these measures of the Government because they were of an un-English character. They put, too, 10, and, in some instances, 15

SIR A. L. HAY moved that the annuity to Viscount Hardinge be payable to him, during his life, irrespective of any grant by the East India Company.

SIR R. PEEL trusted that on such a Bill as this there would be general unanimity exhibited. The Government had proposed that an annuity of 3,000l. should be paid to Viscount Hardinge; the East India Company voluntarily, and without any communication with the Government, had determined to give to his noble Friend an annuity of 5,0002. The Government, acting in deference to the principle laid down by the House of Commons, proposed that the 3,000l. a year should not be received along with the larger grant.

MR. HUME conceived that the principle on which the House acted was entirely erroneous. He had no objection to the House bestowing Peerages for life on deserving persons; but he did not see why pensions should be given to their descendants to support those titles. Why should the House, having once granted the money, propose to stop their hands because the East India Company came forward to give a grant also?

MR. HENLEY said, it was a strange measure of justice that, because the East India Company did one thing, the House should do another. He thought, instead of granting a pension for a limited period to Viscount Hardinge, that a sum of money hould be laid out for the purchase of land, which would cost no more to the country; whilst it would be a permanent advantage to the noble Lord and his family.

S

SIR A. L. HAY said, the Bill as brought

into the House contained a clause declaring | besides, the intimate private friend of the that none of the money to be granted to noble Lord, proposed what he considered Viscount Hardinge should be allowed to to be a sufficient grant, he thought it was him, because the East India Company had an outrageous thing to endeavour to inacted liberally towards him. He thought crease it. nothing could be greater than the merits of that distinguished individual, which deserved every reward the House could confer on him.

MR. HOGG begged the hon. Gentleman not to suppose that he individually, or the House collectively, had anything to do with the grant of the East India Company. The grant was complete as it stood, and required no sanction from the Parliament. It was only necessary to have the sanction of the Crown, of the First Minister of the Crown, or of that Minister more immediately connected with India. The clause was introduced to restrict the operation of a prohibitory clause, which enacted that the Viscount Hardinge should not receive any addition to his salary as Governor General of India.

MR. WILLIAMS said, he should certainly oppose the Motion of the hon. and gallant Gentleman. He would make no objection to the Bill before the House, but he should offer his decided opposition to the Amendment. He thought such Peerages ought to be granted for life, and also that the House of Commons ought to come to a decision to withhold any grants to future generations.

COLONEL SIBTHORP agreed fully with the hon. and gallant Officer opposite. Considering the services of the noble Lord, the pension was a very small one, and he was sorry to see the mean disposition shown by the House of Commons in attempting to hold back. The hon. Member for Coventry and his party were very fond of preaching economy, but they did not always practise what they preached. He was sorry that the pension was not more, and he was sure no Englishman would be found to object

to it.

MR. CURTEIS said, he was an Englishman who would vote against the Amendment. When they knew that the Prime Minister was connected with the noble Lord by ties of the closest intimacy, he could not, without the deepest regret, perceive an attempt made in the House of Commons to urge the right hon. Baronet to go farther than he thought necessary. He supposed the hon. and gallant Officer was actuated by a certain esprit de corps in bringing forward the matter, but when the First Lord of the Treasury, who was,

SIR ROBERT PEEL would wish the House exactly to understand the way in which the question stood. He could not take credit to himself at all for having made this proposition on account of the distress of the country. This country was undoubtedly rich enough to grant any amount of pension that might be considered advisable; but, looking back to the precedents when distinguished general officers had performed those services for which Peerages had been conferred, he found that the usual rule was to grant a pension of 2,000l. a year with the Peerage. When the Duke of Wellington was made a Viscount the pension attached was, he thought, 2,000l. for two lives. Again, when Lord Combermere was made a Viscount, some objection was raised to giving a pension at the same time, as it was alleged that his private circumstances were such as did not require any pecuniary provision. An explanation was afterwards made to the effect that his private fortune was not so large as had been supposed, and a pension of 2,000l. a year was then attached. He thought the general rule was to attach to the Peerage a pension of 2,000l. a year. In some cases this pension was permanently attached to the Peerage; but in others, and, he believed, the greater number of instances, the pension was granted for three lives. Under these circumstances, Her Majesty's Government made the proposal to attach a pension of 3,000l. a year to Lord Hardinge's title, to continue for three lives; and a pension of 2,000l. a year, for the same duration, to Lord Gough. Subsequently, however, the East India Company signified to the Crown that they wished to reward, by a personal grant, the services which Lord Gough and Lord Hardinge had performed. The consent of the Crown was necessary for the validity of that Act; and the intervention of Parliament was also necessary, because, by the existing law, Lord Hardinge could not receive the pension of 5,000l. a year until he resigned his office of Governor General of India. The East India Company wished to make their pension take effect immediately, and, therefore, as long as his noble Friend retained the office of Governor General of India, he would receive his pension and draw his salary in addition. There

fore, looking to the consent of the Crown being given to the provision of 5,000l. by the East India Company, and looking also to what other distinguished men received on similar occasions, it did appear to him that if they should provide a pension of 3,000l. a year concurrently with his salary as Governor General of India, and the grant of the India Company, it would be a much larger remuneration than was usual. On the retirement of a Minister of the Crown, however distinguished his services might be, his pension never exceeded 2,000l. a year; and even for that sum it was necessary that his circumstances should require the grant. From all these considerations, he did think that, giving credit to the East India Company, which was a great public body, and considering that both the Crown and the Parliament were required to give their assent to the pension proposed to be conferred upon his noble Friend, it was on the whole better that the House should agree to the clause as it now stood.

of the poor in Wales in the English language, and also praying for their mental, moral, religious, and industrial training. The right rev. Prelate added, that at present there existed in Wales a pressing want of education with a most scanty means of obtaining it; and he suggested that the whole question, as far as the Government was concerned, was, what power they had to supply that deficiency. He (the Bishop of St. David's) was happy to hear that an inquiry had been set on foot by the Govern ment at the instance of an hon. Gentleman in another place; but in his opinion inquiry was superfluous, because there could be no doubt of the facts. The only question, as he had said, was, what power existed in the Government to supply the defect which all acknowledged to exist in that Principality. He believed they had had sufficient experience to know there was no hope whatever of accomplishing what they all so anxiously desired-namely, the founding of some good and extensive measure for the education of the people of Wales; but, nevertheless, he hoped the inquiry might terminate in some substantial benefit. He believed that if the Government had it not in their power to do all these petitioners desired, they yet had it in their power to do a great deal that would be highly beneficial to that country; but he did not wish them, under present circumstances, to attempt to do everything. He thought it advisable that they should at present confine themselves to the attempt to draw forth the energies and resources of the country with reference to education; and that they should act on the principle of eliciting and meeting the advances of the people. In those places, however, where there was such an utter deficiency of means that nothing could be done without the assistance of the Government, he thought they ought to furnish some immediate and pecuniary assistance. He did not believe that it was in the power of any Government, however strong it might be, to do all that the petitioners appeared to suppose it possible for them to accomplish. He did not think it would be possible at once to Martin-in-the-Fields, for the Prevention of Sunday Trad-produce a change in the language generally ing.—By the Bishop of St. David's, from Cardigan, pray

SIR A. L. HAY referred to the instances of Lord Beresford, Lord Lynedoch, and Lord Combermere, and called upon the House of Commons, in gratitude to services unequalled, to settle their annuity for three lives.

The clause agreed to.

House resumed. Bill to be reported.
House adjourned at half past One o'clock.

HOUSE OF LORDS,

Tuesday, May 19, 1846.

MINUTES.] PUBLIC BILLS.-1. Customs Duties.

Reported. Election Notices (Ireland); Insolvent Debtors

Act Amendment.

3. and passed. Western Australia. PETITIONS PRESENTED. From Guardians of the Lewes Union, for Repeal of Lunatics Act and Lunatic Asylums and Pauper Lunatics Act, so far as respects the Building and Maintaining County Lunatic Asylums.-By the Duke

of Richmond and Earl Warwick, from Tamworth Heathside, and a great number of other places, in favour of the Corn Laws.—From Turriff, and several other places, for Charitable Institutions, against the Charitable Trusts Bill. -By Lord Campbell, from Elie, and several other places,

Protection of the Agricultural Interest.-From several

praying that a Bill may be passed for compensating Proprietors of Lands for the Purchase of Sites for Free Churches (Scotland).-From St. Clement Danes, and St.

ing that Means may be provided for extending Education to the Poorer Classes in Wales.

EDUCATION IN WALES.

The BISHOP of ST. DAVID'S presented a petition from the borough of Cardigan, the prayer of which he supported. It was in favour of the education of the children

spoken in Wales. He was aware a strong opinion had been expressed elsewhere that all that was required in Wales was English schoolmasters to root out the language of the country; but his experience in Wales convinced him that this was an incorrect representation. In many districts of Wales English schoolmasters had been established

for a considerable time; but the Welch language continued the ordinary language of the people, and the knowledge of the English language among the children of the poor was extremely scanty; and their use of it out of school next to nothing. He did feel, however, that this was a subject which called for the active interposition of the Government. It was quite notorious in that part of the country with which he was more particularly connected, that if the means of education had been more extensively employed some time ago, and pains taken to improve the moral and intellectual condition of the country, there would have been no need whatever for the imposition of that burden under which they were at present labouring; namely, the soldiers and the police which had been found necessary to maintain the tranquillity of the country. He must observe, also, that although these soldiers and police were extremely useful in their way, and served to protect the country from a variety of evils, there were yet some evils from which they afforded no protection whatever. They might protect the public tranquillity, but he was sure they proved no safeguard of public morality. On the contrary, the presence of these people only made the work of education more needful and more difficult, while they were consuming and absorbing the sources which might be applied to that desirable end; and he would, therefore, ask their Lordships whether they would prefer that Wales should be protected by soldiers and policemen rather than by the less expensive and more efficient means of a body of school

masters.

The MARQUESS of LANSDOWNE expressed his entire concurrence in the important suggestions thrown out by the right rev. Prelate. He considered, however, that they had upon the Table of Parliament, at that moment, the most ample means of arriving at a correct judgment on this subject. It appeared from the Report of the Commissioners appointed two years ago to inquire into the lawless proceedings in Wales connected with the Rebecca riots, that in the districts where those excesses prevailed there was an entire want of anything like a good system of education. He believed that, since the Parliamentary grant for educational purposes, there had been a regularly increasing demand upon the Government for assistance towards the establishment of schools; and although the number of school inspectors had been re

cently increased by Government, there was not now a sufficient number to exercise an efficient inspection over the schools already established. He thought that some increased efforts ought to be made by Parliament, for the extension of education; but he was not prepared to say that a different principle from that adopted in England ought to be applied to Wales. He hoped that, whatever Parliamentary grants might be made for educational purposes, the principle of local exertion would never be abandoned.

LORD BROUGHAM was glad that the attention of the Government had been called to this important subject; for that portion of the United Kingdom to which the right rev. Prelate had referred, peculiarly required assistance on a liberal sca e from the funds at the disposal of the Government for the promotion of education. He was happy to find that there was a universal concurrence in the principle-a general principle only to be relaxed as occasion, or necessity, or local circumstances might require—that no grant ought to be made towards any local scheme without requiring that a certain proportion of the necessary funds should be contributed in the locality. He was glad to find this recommendation of the Educational Commissioners sanctioned by such high authority.

The DUKE of BUCCLEUCH, with reference to the observations of the noble Marquess (Marquess of Lansdowne), said he was happy to say the number of the schools in the country were increasing so rapidly, that it was quite true it was not at present in the power of the Government inspectors to visit them as frequently as was desirable; but the subject was under the consideration of the Educational Committee of the Privy Council, and he hoped that measures for increasing their number and efficiency would be speedily adopted. Petition to lie on the Table.

CUSTOMS DUTIES BILL. The DUKE of BUCCLEUCH moved that the Bill be read 1a.

The LORD CHANCELLOR then put the question, when

The DUKE of RICHMOND said, he could not allow this Bill to pass-to be read a first time-without expressing his opinion that this measure was positively adding insult to injury. Their Lordships were now called upon to consider two Bills for depriving the agricultural interest of

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