1829-3 



Mr. Sadler's Speech. 



443 



the value and weight of those circumstances, 

 and at the same time diminished the value 

 of the property on v/hicli they rested, and 

 the possibility of discharging them. All 

 the values of the country, together with its 

 debts, whether public or private, its taxes 

 and incumbrances of every kind, had been 

 accurately adjusted to the previous system ; 

 but by this operation, if I may make use of 

 a mathematical illustration strictly apposite, 

 the fulcrum of the balance was removed, so 

 as to increase, in eft'ect, the weight imposed 

 upon us, and lessen the means of sustaining 

 U. Meantime, it is not attempted to be 

 denied but that the fundholder, the jobber, 

 the nominal capitalist, and all pensioners 

 and placemen of whatever kind, were bene- 

 fitted by this operation ; but on the rest of 

 the community, namely, the industrious part 

 of it, it committed as direct a sp'<liation as 

 was ever attempted. The Government bor- 

 rowed in paper, and, if they had continued 

 to pay in it, their credifrs would still have 

 realized immense advantages by their tran- 

 sactions ; but to borrow in paper and pay in 

 gold — to benefit so vastly the non-produc- 

 tive at the expence of the productive classes, 



already so depressed — was monstrous 



While on the subject of the circulating 

 medium, I will only add, that one piece 

 of forgetfulness, or worse than forgetful- 

 uess, ha-s often struck me in contemplat- 

 ing this return to cash payments, thus forced 

 upon the country ; and it is this — that its 

 proposers never submitted a measure for a 

 Ijeduction, to the like extent, in the public 

 salaries and pensions of the empire — most 

 of which had been successively adjusted 

 to the paper medium, by large and direct 

 augmentations. It is never too late to be 

 honest, and perhaps the thing may yet be 

 proposed by the ministerial advocates of the 

 cash system. 



If, however, it was determined to return 

 to cash payments, in preference to rendering 

 the paper ones secure and " sound," then, 

 while tile money values of all ilic property 

 in the country were regulated by t!ie paper 

 currency, and consequently high, an effort 

 ought to have been made by levying annual 

 instalments upon all property, including, of 

 course, funded and personal property, in 

 order to have paid off a ])roportion of tlie 

 national debt, whicli would then have been 

 a comparatively easy and effective opera- 

 tion — a measure wliich I thought at the 

 time ought to have been adopted, instead of 

 what is called Mr. Peel's Bill, the effects of 

 which, in connnon with others, I then an- 

 Xicipated. Under the present system, how- 

 ever, the difficulty of sucli an cft'ort would be 

 jncrea.sed tenfold, if not rendered totally im- 

 practicable. Uut our country is governed 

 by expedients. 



knottier cause of the present and long- 

 continued depression of tlie cQinmerce and 

 .manufiictures of the country, I have already 

 alluded to, and this also is attributable to 

 |hv aunui school of economists^ the banc uf 



tlie country — I mean the free trade system, 

 as it is called. — Circumstanced as this 

 country is, having to sustain a so much 

 heavier load of taxation, and paying 

 dearer for the necessaries of existence, and 

 subsisting its operatives, at least till this 

 fatal alteration, better than any other, it 

 must be obvious that in all those branches 

 of industry, where we have no countervail- 

 ing advantages, either firom the possession 

 and retention of the raw material, better 

 machines, or superior skiU, foreigners must 

 be able to undersell us, and consequently to 

 deprive many of our home operatives of their 

 work and of their bread. The brandies so 

 circumstanced are numerous and important. 

 It is true there is, for the present, a protect- 

 ing duty, as it is called, imposed upon some 

 of their articles, miscalculated, as I presume 

 to think, if it be meant as such ; while the 

 circumstance of legalizing them at all, has 

 given a facility to smuggliiig, which it was 

 promised at tlie time, either in ignorance or 

 worse, tliat it would put down, and which 

 has overwhelmed, in many instances, the 

 home market witli foreign goods. The ma- 

 nufacturers humbly sought relief, if nat in 

 prohibition, yet in a liigher protection. The 

 government refused them a committee, and 

 lowered the duty, in order tliat the custom- 

 house instead of the smuggler might become 

 tlieir great rival : as if that could serve, or 

 do otherwise than stiU more deeply to injure 

 them ! Proliibition was perempiorily re- 

 fused, and it was argued that no higher a 

 duty could be obtained than that to which 

 it is now reduced. Absurd ! When the 

 revenue is at stake, see the amount that can 

 then be rigorously exacted : 100 per cent, 

 upon teas, 500 per cent., perhaps, on bran- 

 dies, 1,000 per cent, upon tobacco ; while 

 the immense amounts, so collected, are a 

 sufficient proof how small a proportion of 

 sucli taxes can be evaded. But if it be true 

 that you cannot exact more than 25 per 

 cent, duty on silks, &c. without returning 

 to the proliibitory system, then, in spite of 

 the political economists, prohibit ! Let par- 

 liament preserve the field of British labour 

 as strictly as their laws do the manors of tlie 

 country, and we wiU then be content. Is 

 not the object as important ? If you can- 

 not otherwise effect tliis necessary purpose, 

 I repeat, proliibit ! I repeat it in the words 

 (if Bacon, concerning foreign manufactures, 

 such being superfluities, ought to be prohi- 

 bitcd ; for that, says he, will either gain 

 the manufacture, or banisli tlie supcrHuity. 



But in defence of this free trade, it is 

 said that it has not injured tlie liome manu- 

 factures, even in the particular branches 

 thus interfered willi ; and this is attempted 

 to be proved by the increased quantity of 

 the raw material consumed at home since 

 tlie system commenced. Admitting the 

 fact stated, wliicli I yet doubt, as it is often 

 stated, still does this demonstrate the pros- 

 perity wiiich i( is advanced to prove ? Tell 

 nie not about tlie quantity of silk, for in- 

 3 L 2 



