prohibitory and reducing protective duties. I am not now, then, by praising that policy, about to call upon the House to recede from any course that has been pursued-a course which has been sanctioned by the House of Commons, and which, as productive of public good, ought with regard to consistency to be persevered in (hear, hear). Sir, I am at the same time, in advising the continued application of these principles, not about to discard the other recommendations contained in her Majesty's speech, namely, that the adoption of good principles should not be the means of endangering the public credit, or of causing any permanent loss in the revenue of the country. Neither, Sir, have I lost sight of the other recommendation—namely, that in proposing sound principles, we should act with sober forbearance, and not prejudice any great institution. I hope this will not be rendered necessary, either on account of any measure I may have to propose, or you may have to adopt ; above all, I hope that the confidently expressed opinion of her Majesty, that this great subject will receive the deliberate and dispassionate consideration of the House of Commons, may be realized. I have already said, in answer to a question put by an Honourable Gentleman, that I do not contemplate asking the House of Commons to pronounce to-night any opinion upon the entire, or any component part of the measures to be submitted for your consideration; but that, on the contrary, it is the wish of the Government the questions shall be dealt with by you in a calm and dispassionate manner (hear, hear). It may be possible, that as I am about to propose so many reductions, some Hon. Gentleman may denounce me as rash and improvident, and declare that my measures ought on that account to be rejected by this House. If such should be the prevailing impression among those who are favourable to protection, nothing can be more easy than that on the day when they are called upon to consider those great and momentous questions, I should be permitted to ask the House to put upon record a counter principle (hear, hear). It may be, on the other hand, that the House and this country, considering the great difficulties of this question-considering the variety of opinions-considering the nature of the contest which has long existed, and which I believe will long continue unless there be a satisfactory and early adjustment of this question (hear, hear). It may be that even those who may dissent from particular parts of the great scheme which I am about to propose to the consideration of the House may be disposed to accept this proposal as an entire settlement of the question, and that the voice of the country may pronounce upon it as such (hear, hear). An inequitable or unwise adjustment, it may be considered, would be preferable to the perpetual conflict in which we are involved; and if that be the position which the general opinion of the reasonable and intelligent of all classes shall take, in that case I shall have confidence of ultimate success. On the other hand, as I said before, if I touch so many interests by the application of that great principle, that protective duties are not in themselves right, and ought to be relinquished; in that case another fate will await my proposal, and the sooner it is disposed of the better will it be for the public good. Sir, that principle to which I have referred, namely, the relaxa

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tion of the protective duties, I am not about to apply to any one particular class of trade. I am not about to select that grat interest connected with the agriculture of this country and upon them to relinquish protection, and at the same time forbear to call upon other interests to relinquish their privileges. I sha of make no isolated proposal. The principle for which I shall contfo end is a just and wise one--I shall ask all classes to give up their foprotective privileges, and to make the sacrifice which that appli aviation shall cause (hear, hear). Sir, the House is aware that during the last two years, what is called "the Customs Duties Act" w his amended; at that time the Customs' duties were submitted to the review and consideration of this House. In 1842, it was my duty. m of the Government, to propose a great change in the the duties. The general principle of the plan under which te then acted was to remit the duties upon articles and raw materials onstituting ha the element of manufacturing industry. The plan then submitted to the House was to subject in general manufactured articles of labour in other countries to duties not exceeding £20 per cent. The house adopted the principle upon which we had acted in 1842. In that year we selected a number of the raw materials for the remission of the duty. In 1844 we reduced altogether the duty upon wool. In the year 1845 we reduced altogether the duty upon cotton. There is hardly a raw material for import into this country upon which the duty has not been either entirely abolished, or considerably diminished. The manufacturers of the country therefore now have an advantage which they did not possess hitherto. They have free access to the raw material which constitutes the fabric of their manufacture, and I consider that I am therefore entitled to call upon the manufacturers to relinquish that amount of protection which they now have (hear, hear). The manufacturer has now an advantage which he has not had before. There might have been great doubt as to whether you might have continued to derive the same amount of revenue from the importation of cotton wool which existed in 1844. But the House disregarded the amount of £600,000 or £700,000 of revenue derived from such a source. They wished to establish the stability of the manufacture of articles from sheep and cotton wool, and to place it upon a sure and certain foundation. They were willing, therefore, and consented to forego this amount, so easily levied, and which caused so little complaint from the great body of the people. In order to remove this duty, not only upon sheep's wool, but also upon cotton-wool, this House subjected itself to the imposition of the income-tax, in consideration of the removal of the duties upon these raw materials. I propose, Sir, in reviewing those articles upon which there at present exist duties, I propose to take first those articles of raw material which still remain subject to a duty; and in dealing with these articles I beg to call upon the manufacturers to relinquish that amount of duty which they now possess. Sir, I hardly know any articles of the nature of raw materials subject to duty except tallow and timber (laughter). Tallow is an article of very great importance to the community and the people at large, it being used in the manufacture of soap, candles, and also for the purpose of dressing

leather. I propose to make a reduction in this article from the amount of duty now levied. With respect to the duty on tallow from the United States, the duty on which was 3s. 2d, I will, purely for the purpose of encouraging that produce, which was now chiefly procured from Russia, propose a relaxation in that duty, with the hope that it would ultimately procure a reciprocal reduction on their part with respect to the produce of this country. I will, therefore, for that purpose, propose to reduce the duty on tallow, which now is 3s. 2d. to 1s. 8d. I am taking the articles of raw material first, and shall now come to timber, the produce of our own colonies; timber is the only article which I cannot definitely give an explanation of, as the reduction which I am disposed to make must depend on the manner in which I am met by other States on that article. The course her Majesty's government intends to pursue will be a gradual reduction to a certain sum of the existing duties on timber (hear, hear). The reduction will be apportioned, if possible, so as to cause no derangement of the duties on timber from the Baltic. But at a very early period it was the intention of her Majesty's Government to make known their arrangements with respect to timber, on which it was difficult to get that information which was necessary. And now, after having made all these reductions, I hardly know a single raw material which has a protective duty imposed upon it. After having taken this course-after having afforded the manufacturer every facility--after having given him a free command of the raw material-I will call on the manufacturers of the three great articles which enter into the consumption of the great body of the people, I will ask them to give that proof, which I am sure they will (hear, hear, hear),—of the sincerity of their convictions as to the impolicy of protection, by consenting to relinquish the protection on corn (hear, hear, and loud cheering from the Opposition benches). The three branches of manufacture of which I speak are those which give clothes to the great body of the people. I mean those of linen, woollen, and cotton. I will ask them to set the example to others by relinquishing at once, cheerfully, the protection on corn (hear, hear). My Honourable Friend the Member for Dorsetshire (Lord Ashley), and I call him my Honourable Friend, for it shall not be my fault if these unfortunate political differences interfere with private friendship and regard-I will call him at once my Honourable Friend--expressed a hope, being jealous of an expression which occurred in her Majesty's Speech, that the small interests of the country should not be visited injuriously. I will tell him that those interests will meet with the especial care of the Government. I do not purpose in this review of the tariff to subject myself to the imputation of concealing my intention. I declare it now that I mean to affect great interests, and protect, as much as possible, these small interests alluded to. My Honourable Friend will, therefore, be gratified in his expectation (hear, hear). I shall propose, with regard to cotton manufactured goods, including the great mass of heavy goods, such as calicos, prints, &c., to make an alteration. Manufactured goods were now subject to a duty of 10 per cent. These I propose to make duty free; and those articles which are charged 20 per cent., I propose to reduce to 10 per cent. (cries of

"hear, hear," and cheers). The articles which constitute in a great measure the clothing materials of the great bulk of the people I propose to make duty free (loud cheers and interruption). Allow me to state the whole of my scheme, before you draw inferences as to any part of it. I am the more anxious to call upon the manufacturers to relinquish these duties, because, according to high authority, it was not the agriculturists but the manufacturers who first called upon the Legislature for the imposition of protective duties (cheers). I doubt not, therefore, but they will now come forward and set the first example in giving them up (cheers). Adam Smith, a great authority, says "That farmers and gentlemen connected with agriculture were, of all persons in the community, the least subject to the wretched spirit of monopoly" (great laughter and cheers). He also said, "that it was not the agriculturists, but the manufacturers, who had first appealed for the protection of the restrictive system (loud cheers). They are always ready to call out against the restrictions on all other articles but that which pressed heaviest upon their countrymen. They may be said to be the original inventors of all monopoly” (laughter). Honourable Gentlemen may have cause for laughter by the reading of this extract, but it is perfectly true. I propose that the duties on the coarser articles of manufacture shall be materially reduced, and which will have a material effect on the manufacturing interest of this country, but not to the great injury of the manufacturing interests. I propose that the made-up woollen goods shall also be reduced in duty to the same amount, namely, a reduction of from 20 per cent. to 10 per cent. (hear, hear). I stated the other night that flax was a very important and a staple article of our manufacture, and also that although there was no duty on this article, that its great import was not injurious to our growers of that article, and I believe that it has not been contradicted. The duty on linen goods varies according to their quality: but the reduction of the duties on those articles cannot be so injurious to our manufacturing interests as may at first be imagined, for I am of opinion that the improvements made by our own workmen will always keep up the market in their favour. I now come to another very important article of our imports. I mean the silk trade (hear). Now don't let us suppose that the existing duty on silks operates as a protection to the domestic manufacture of that article (hear). You have a duty which you call 30 per cent., but which with respect to many articles is a great deal higher; and as a false reliance is placed on this, as to its being a protection to domestic manufacture, I think it proper to state that there are houses in Paris, and on the continent, which will guarantee to deliver goods in London at half the duty at present levied (hear, hear). It is, therefore, a mistake to imagine that the duty affords, the protection which is stated. In the first place it appears that it is an encouragement to smuggling, as the article may be frequently purchased from those engaged in this traffic for a small sum, compared with that which it will realize in the legitimate course of business. I conceive, therefore, that by a new arrangement with respect to the silk duties-in fact that a reduction of these duties, which are not interfering with any domestic manufactures, will at

the same time, diminish the profit of the smuggler, and encourage a lawful and wholesome trade (hear, hear). Now, the general impression is, that there is a duty of 30 per cent. on silk manufacture. I hold in my hand an account of the duties upon the silk manufacture as at present levied; and, although, in respect to some it may not exceed 30 per cent., and in others less than 10 per cent., yet there are many articles comprised under this definition with respect to which the duty is much higher than this. In the case of crape the duty is not less than 40 or 50 per cent.; on fancy silk the duty is not less than 30 to 31 per cent. ; on silk bonnets not less than 145 per cent. ; in the case of turbans it is at least as much. Does any man, therefore, believe foreign turbans, bonnets, and hats, pay a duty of £145 per cent. It is no such thing. The article is in common use here, but its value is reduced by the common smuggler. Now, I propose a new arrangement with respect to silk, but I must not now enter too much into details, as the whole of my statement will be subject to correction after it has appeared to-morrow morning. I now wish to introduce a new principle, based on a general scale which shall enumerate each species of silk, and the amount per pound at which it will be admitted with an option to the customhouse officer to levy a duty on every quantity of silk of the value of £100, a duty not exceeding 15 per cent. The general principle, therefore, shall be that a reduction of 15 per cent. on this article, which, heretofore, had been, on the average, 30 per cent. on such articles, but in reality it was greater on some articles and less on others. There is another article of manufacture which I think may be fairly permitted to enter into competition with the same article in this country, for I do think it would have the effect of stimulating that trade to greater industry and exertion-I speak of the article of paper (hear, hear), that is paper-hangings. At present there is a duty upon all foreign paper-hangings imported into this country of one shilling per square yard; and this applies to all descriptions of paper-hangings. Now, I believe it is possible for some descriptions of this article to be manufactured and sold at the rate of one farthing the square yard. Of course the very fine descriptions, such as those with gold borderings, may still be liable to the duty of one shilling ; but I do think that a shilling per square yard duty upon paper which can be made for one farthing per yard is exorbitant, and therefore I propose to reduce that duty on certain descriptions from one shilling to twopence the square yard upon paper hangings coming from abroad (hear, hear). I now approach those descriptions of manufactures which are connected with metals (hear, hear, and cheers.) It is impossible that I can go through them without entering into minute details, and therefore I do hope that the House will hear me with patience (hear, hear). We have already reduced the duty upon foreign ores, and I do think that if there be any articles of manufacture in this country which, more than another, can bear competition, it is that description connected with metals. The manufactures of metals (I do not mean to particularize them) are now chargeable with a duty of 15 per cent. I propose with regard to them, and I include all descriptions, which I do not now mention; but I say, as a general rule, that this duty shall not exceed 10 per cent.-That is