Sir R. Wilson could not suffer this opportunity to pass without once more entering his protest against the measure. He thought it was one which was calculated to enslave the country. Whether ministers would abuse the power which it gave them, he would not say; but whether they did so or not, he objected to the bill as a measure, which, under the pretence of putting down seditious libels, went to cramp every thing like free discussion upon political subjects. In the name therefore of the free people of England-not the people without the government of King, Lords, and Commons, but the people with the sovereign at their head-he protested against this measure, as one which would alter their excellent constitution. He condemned it the more as being part of a series of severe enactments against public liberty, without being accompanied with even an attempt to inquire into the condition of the people, or the cause of their distresses.

Sir H. Parnell begged to remind the noble lord of the situation in which the bill would place Ireland. It would, in her situation, be much more severely felt than in England, for she had already restrictions on the press which were not known here. He alluded to the power which was exercised of withholding stamps from the proprietor of a newspaper after his conviction for a libel a second time. There were also several regulations with respect to stamp duties on the smallest papers, even hand-bills, which were not known here. He trusted, therefore, the noble lord would take this matter into consideration, and introduce some measure upon the subject.

The bill was then passed.

PETITION OF THE MERCHANTS OF LONDON RESPECTING COMMERCIAL DISTRESS.] Mr. Irving said, a petition had been put into his hands, signed by a number of respectable persons, merchants and traders of London, whose object was to call the attention of the House to the commercial distress of the country. These persons approached the House with no factious views. They did not desire to interfere with or interrupt the course which parliament might desire to take on other questions, and they were the rather convinced that ministers would not be inatten tive to their requests, because they had made efforts lately to meet the wishes expressed in the petition of another respectable (VOL. XLI.)

trading body. They thought they had a right to expect that parliament and the ministers would examine into the causes from which the distress had arisen. He had no instruction to state by what measure the petitioners imagined that relief would be found. On his own part he suggested, that in the course of an inqu ry, the attention of the House would be probably called to that system of restriction and restraint, which, though it might have been advisable in time of war, was hardly desirable to be continued in a time of peace. He thought too, they might look for some benefit to the commerce of the country by an extension of the trade in the Eastern world, and that even under the article of the East India Company's charter, some arrangements might be made in favour of our shipping interest. He alluded to the trade between China and the continent of Europe, in which the India company took no interest, and which was now entirely carried on under the American flag. He believed it would be found, too, that the change in the currency of the country was one of the chief causes of the evils that were felt among all classes of the community. But he entirely agreed on this subject with the House, that it was not now wise to retrace the steps that had been taken. A fit object of inquiry, however, was, whether the several stages of the return to cash payments could be modified? He alluded particularly to the bullion payments, and to the question which had been started, whether the price fixed for bullion in the first pay ment should not continue during the whole time of the preparatory transaction? It should be inquired also whether payments in silver might not answer all purposes as well as gold? He had no fear, however, that gold or silver would be applied for. There was nothing in our foreign relations that induced him to apprehend it. But fears on these subjects out-run facts. The prudent, the cautious, or the timid, were afraid that the system might burst on them, and their efforts to escape apprehended evils was one great cause of the real distress of the country. He did not think a committee of inquiry would find much ground for expecting relief from the proposals of his hon. friend, the member for Portarlington. An inquiry into the corn laws on the principle recommended by his hon. friend would only, in his opinion, bring (5 H)

man who brought forward the petition had confined himself to the question of the China trade, he should be disposed to agree with him; but at the end of the hon. gentleman's catalogue the "murder was out;" the currency! the currency! was the source of all the evils of the country! He believed this petition proceeded from a party, who had been cramped in their speculations in the funds, or in their over-trading, which was a species of gambling, by the measures for restoring the currency to a sound state. They had also been aware that they had lost in public confidence by the opinions of other men having been adopted by the general opinion of the country, and they were now endeavouring to excite an alarm, and to induce parliament to return to a system that had half ruined the country.

Mr. Irving said, he had had no intercourse with the petitioners, but had been only requested by them to present the petition to the House. But he saw names affixed to it as respectable as that of the hon. member himself. The majority was composed of the most respectable names in the commercial world-and if small in number it contained a body of wealth and consideration which demanded attention from that House. They called for no specific enactments, and he, in mentioning some considerations that occurred to himself, had expressly stated that he was not instructed to state them, but that they were entirely suggestions of his own. As to the resumption of cash payments, he confessed, that however much he had differed from others, not as to the result, but as to the means to be taken to insure it, he should now be most unwilling to disturb the existing enactments; because, chiefly, the country had already suffered a great part of the inconveniencies which could result from that measure. By the advocates of the law that end was to be reached by privation, which he had conceived might be attained by a course of prosperity. He would say, it was his most deliberate conviction, that a great part of the evils which afflicted all classes in the country, had been owing to the measures taken respecting the currency; and though the subject had not been the study of his life, he would, if the question came again to be discussed, not be afraid to meet either the hon. gentleman, or any of his disciples in argument; and he felt, that in opposing the hon. gentleman, he should be supported by the opinion of the

country. With respect to the private letter and personal communications with some who had signed, and with others who had declined to sign this petition, to which the hon. member had thought proper to refer, with a view to cast reflec tions upon the character of the petition, he must say, that some reproof was due to those from whom such letters and communications came. He had, he felt, said quite enough to prevent any undue impression from being made upon the House by the representations of the hon. member, or by that ridicule or levity which he had thought proper to introduce upon this subject. But he could not help adding, that the hon. member's levity was extremely misplaced on this occasion. A question indeed, involving the consideration of the mercantile and manufacturing interests of the country, was of too grave and important a nature to be mixed with any thing like levity. But there were many observations addressed to the House, by the hon. member, upon this occasion, which, however much he differed from him, and especially upon the bullion question, he by no means expected from him. With respect to the object of the petition, he trusted that ministers would feel the propriety of taking that object into their consideration, and founding some measure upon it; but if not, he hoped that House itself would, immediately after the recess, institute a thorough investigation upon the points to which the petitioners sought to draw its attention.

Mr. J. Smith regretted that the hon. gentleman had not withheld the reflections in which he had indulged on the petition. The gentleman with whom the petition originated, was a merchant of the first eminence and respectability, both for wealth, talents, and personal character: from the nature of his mercantile connexions, he could not enter into plans of speculation; but, at the same time, were he disposed to speculate, none had better means of doing so, on the score of wealth and credit. He could assure the House, that the petition had no connection whatever with the noble lord (Castlereagh), any more than with a person in another world; and he had reason to believe that the noble lord had not even heard of it till last night. This gentleman had called on him (Mr. S.) to ask his opinion on the propriety of such a pe-" tition; and he confessed that he had ap

proved of it. In the conversation which took place, that gentleman did not say any thing that could warrant the remarks which had been read by the hon. gentleman. The bullion question, in particular, had not been mentioned at all. They had talked of the great distress of the manufacturing classes, of the two motions for inquiry into that subject, and of the grounds upon which ministers had opposed those motions. The motion of the hon. member for Shrewsbury had been opposed, because it blended the consideration of other political questions with the inquiry: and that of the hon. member for Southampton was opposed, chiefly because it was founded on the plan of a gentleman (Mr. Owen) who held opinions on certain subjects different from those of other persons, although, perhaps, it would have been well, if that gentleman's opinions on some subjects, particularly on education, had been attended to. It was, therefore, inferred, that if a proposition for inquiry, free from the grounds of objection which had been urged against both the former motions, were submitted to parliament, ministers it was likely would accede to it. But as to the gentleman with whom the petition originated, he had no connexion whatever with ministers; but, on the contrary, entertained, he believed, political opinions of an opposite nature; and so far from his having any view to the bullion question, he knew him to be the firmest friend to the plan for the resumption of cash-payments. The gentleman of whom he was speaking, did accordingly draw up the excellent and moderate petition which had been read to the House. As far as concerned his hon. friend who had spoken last, and who had spoken so well, he could vouch for the fact, that he knew nothing of the petition till he was requested to present it. He had himself been applied to on the subject of presenting it, and had thought that his hon. friend, the member for Taunton, would be the most proper person, but it was ascertained that he was not in town. He had then suggested his hon. friend on his right (Mr. Ellice) but he had declined it. It then appeared to him that his hon. friend would be the fittest person, he being one of the most eminent merchants in the kingdom, and one whose opinions were likely to have the greatest weight. If the hon. gentleman had known the time allowed for obtaining signatures, instead of remarking on the smallness of

the number, he would have been inclined to express his surprise, that so many names should have been affixed to it in so short a time. He hoped the House would receive the petition, and take the subject into consideration at as early a period as possible after the recess. If the prayer of this petition were attended to, it would at least give a ray of hope to the suffering part of the community.

Mr. Ricardo was happy to hear it stated by all the hon. gentlemen who had spoken, that the laws enacted last year concerning the currency of the country, ought not to be disturbed. The country was, unquestionably, in a state of great distress, but he differed in opinion from his hon. friend who presented the petition as to the cause of that distress. His hon. friend thought that this country was in a state of forced currency, and that the evils both at home and abroad arose from the regulations which that House had made relative to the currency. That cause, however, he was convinced, was totally inadequate to produce such an effect, and therefore the evil must be traced to other sources. He might here remark, that his hon. friend had brought an unexpected accusation against him, namely, that he had proposed a plan for the regulation of the currency, but that he had not the merit of originality. Now, he did not think that he had ever claimed that merit, for he was aware that many persons before his time had taken a similar view of the subject, and he hoped that whatever might be the merit of the application which he had made of principles known to others, he had stated his opinions with becoming modesty. He conceived that the distress was chiefly to be ascribed to the inadequacy of the capital of the nation to carry on the operations of trade, manufacture, and commerce. But why was the capital more inadequate now than formerly? If the profits on capital were higher, and labour more productive in other countries, it could not be doubted that capital would be transferred to those countries: no proposition in Euclid was clearer than this. Now, he thought they had greatly aggravated this evil by bad legislation, and he had formerly mentioned instances. He had referred to the corn-laws as one example; and however unpopular the doctrine might be with some gentlemen, he would state his opinion freely, that he believed the corn-laws to have materially increased the evil.