130] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



which the national alarm had been 

 excited. It was clearly understood 

 that the motion was in fact a post- 

 ponement of the further consider- 

 ation of the subject to another ses- 

 sion, and it was supported and 

 opposed under that idea. A di- 

 vision at length taking place, the 

 numbers were Ayes 173, Noes 67, 

 Majority for the motion 106. The 

 order of the day being then read 

 for taking the report on the Corn 

 Laws into farther consideration, 

 the Chancellor of the Exchequer 

 moved, that the report should be 

 taken into consideration on that 

 day three weeks ; to which Gene- 

 ral Gascoigne moved as an amend- 

 ment, substituting six months as 

 the time. The House dividing on 

 the amendment, the numbers were 

 Ayes 116, Noes 106, Majority 10 : 

 the bill introduced was therefore 

 lost. 



The Corn Exportation bill passed 

 the House of Lords with little op- 

 position, and went into a law. 

 In that House also a committee 

 was formed for inquiring into the 

 state of the corn laws, which 

 brought in a report a short time 

 before the prorogation of parlia- 

 ment ; when the Earl of Hard- 

 wicke, who presented it, said that 

 he regretted that the time had 

 not been sufficient to justify the 

 committee in coming to a final 

 report on the subject, and an- 

 nounced his intention of moving 

 for another committee early in the 

 next session. 



Without presuming to give any 

 opinion respecting the general jus- 

 tice or policy of the proposed al- 

 terations in the system of the 

 corn laws, we may venture to ob- 

 serve, respecting the parliamen- 

 tary proceedings on the subject, 1. 



that the very high standard fixed 

 in the first set of resolutions for 

 the points at which exportation 

 was to cease, and importation to 

 be allowed, did certainly indicate 

 in the proposers a design of keep- 

 ing up a price of corn adequate to 

 the support of that extraordinary 

 rise of rents which has taken 

 place of late years : 2. that the 

 great majorities in the House of 

 Commons in favour of the miti- 

 gated resolutions, cannot in fair- 

 ness be attributed to any other 

 cause, than a conviction of the 

 public utility of the measures pro- 

 posed ; and 3. that the number of 

 petitioners against any change in 

 the existing laws can afford no 

 rule to judge of the merits of the 

 case, when it is considered with 

 what ease a ferment is excited 

 among the people, especially in a 

 matter apparently connected with 

 their subsistence. The question, 

 as a subject of sound and sober 

 policy, cannot be said yet to have 

 received a satisfactory discussion. 



The proeeedmgs of both Houses 

 of Parliament relative to the Slave 

 Trade as carried on by foreign 

 countries, were so much to their 

 honour, on account of the generous 

 sentiments displayed in them, that 

 although the results were less 

 efficacious than the friends of hu- 

 manity might have wished, it 

 would be a national injury to pass 

 them without due notice. 



On May 2nd. Mr. Wilberforce 

 rose in the House of Commons, 

 and made a speech introductory to 

 a proposed motion. He said, the 

 House had already recognized its 

 principle when, in 1806 and 1810, 

 it had consented to an address to 

 the throne, similar in effect to that 

 which he was desirous of pro- 



