a clause. Really, Sir, after so much discussion, so much deliberation and delay, I can see no chance whatever of passing any bill, unless the House be prepared so far to compromise its consistency, and stultify its own acts, as to adopt an amendment which will have the effect of establishing warehouses in foreign ports, and expose the corn intended for the British market to all the hazard of fluctuating prices, and all the impediments which Foreign Powers, at variance with this country, would be sure to throw in our way. At no time could we adopt such a measure, and therefore I shall give my support to the amendment of my right honourable friend, for I feel that to introduce a measure of a permanent nature would be to subject it to the fate which has attended the bill in the other House. And how can I possibly suppose otherwise, when I reflect that the noble duke gave the measure his sanction when it was first introduced, and opposed it in a subsequent stage, notwithstanding the masterly reply to his objections which was made by a noble friend,* and which met no other answer than this" Here is our amendment; we know it is fatal to the bill, and therefore we are determined to carry it." Would it not, therefore, be merely exposing the House to a similar result, if any other than a mere temporary measure were now proposed? It is then with regret I confess that a bill similar to that which has been rendered abortive cannot be again introduced,-a bill, which was carried through this House with a triumphant majority, the effects of which would soon have spread throughout the empire, lulling irritation and angry feeling wherever they existed, and which for years past have prevailed in society, in consequence of the unsettled state of this question, a bill which had awakened the hopes of those whom it was intended to relieve, and which, if it possessed no other merit, would at least have redeemed the Lord Goderich. character of the landed interest from the imputation that, from the year 1815 to the present period, they had shut their eyes and ears to the distresses of their fellow country men. That bill has been lost to the country, and I cannot but regret deeply that such has been its fate. There is, Sir, one other topic on which I am anxious to make a few remarks. It has, I understand, been quoted against me, that I hold the opinion, that England ought not to depend, too largely and too frequently, on other countries for its supply of corn. I maintained that doctrine in 1815. I maintain it now. I think that nothing can be so dangerous to this country as such a reliance on foreign countries for their supplies of corn; but I can conceive a state of things which might be attended with the most dangerous consequences, if such a bill as the one which has been passed by this House does not exist. I hope I have now stated my reasons fairly. My object is to restore the corn law to what it was in 1773. I am anxious to make this country independent of foreigners, commercially as well as politically; for the committee may rest assured, that so long as it is the interest of foreigners to produce distress in this country, and create political discomfiture, so long will they be increasing in their efforts to do so. It is because I value the independence of the country, and not that I wish to undermine it, that I supported the bill, the loss of which is so generally deplored. With respect to a letter of mine, to which allusion has been made, I disclaim the compliments which have been paid to it. All I will now say of it is, that it was written to point out the manifold impolicy and danger of allowing this country to remain in a state of hahitual dependence on others for her supply of corn. Being myself the party who, as a private member of parliament, proposed in 1814 a graduated scale* of prohibitory * See Vol. iii. duties, which scale was afterwards matured by the wisdom and experience of Lord Liverpool, it is not likely that I should recommend a principle utterly inconsistent with that suggestion. That principle of averages forms the basis of the very measure, the loss of which I shall always lament, and which I hope, early in the next session, this as well as the other House of Parliament will have the wisdom to repair. The committee divided: For Mr. Western's motion, 52; for Mr. Canning's amendment, 238. BATTLE OF NAVARIN. Mr. Hobhouse moved, "That the thanks of the House be given to Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, Commander-in-Chief of his Majesty's Ships and Vessels in the Mediterranean, for his able and gallant conduct in the successful and decisive Action with the Turkish Fleet in the Bay of Navarin, on the 20th of October last." After the motion had been opposed by Mr. Bankes, Mr. Secretary HUSKISSON rose. He began by declaring, himself disappointed with the speech of the honourable The following is a list of the Duke of Wellington's administration. Earl Bathurst Cabinet Ministers. ...........Lord President of the Council. Lord Lyndhurst........................Lord Chancellor. Lord Ellenborough ............. ..Lord Privy Seal. The Duke of Wellington .......... First Lord of the Treasury. member who spoke last. He was at all times unwilling to address the House unnecessarily, and he had therefore fondly anticipated that the result of the honourable member's speech would be the giving of a conclusive argu ment against the motion, and would thereby render it unnecessary for him to trespass on their patience. But he was sorry to say that he had not heard from the honourable member one word which appeared to him to bear upon the question before the House. The honourable member had been pleased, in a manner which was not, he thought, altogether consistent with the usual courtesy of parlia Right Hon. Charles Grant ..President of the Board of Control. {Chancellor of the Duchy of Lan { caster. Treasurer of the Navy, and Pre- Viscount Palmerston ...............Secretary at War. Not of the Cabinet. H. R. H. the Duke of Clarence ...Lord High Admiral Viscount Beresford .................................................. Master-General of the Ordnance. Right Hon. Charles Arbuthnot { J. Planta, Esq. G. R. Dawson, Esq.......... First Commissioner of Woods and Secretaries of the Treasury. Rt. Hon. W. Vesey Fitz Gerald...Paymaster of the Forces. Right Hon. Sir John Leach.........Master of the Rolls. .Solicitor-General. Ministry of Ireland. Marquis of Anglesey ........................................Lord Lieutenant. mentary proceedings, to enter into a discussion upon the merits of our intercourse with France and Russia, and the different steps taken at various periods, with a view to the pacification of Greece. Now, he really thought that, after the House had been told by the Ministers of the Crown the reasons which precluded them-very reluctantly-from giving to the House the information which could alone enable Parliament to come to a just conclusion on the subject, it would have been more fair and consistent to have adhered to the line very properly chalked out by the honourable member for Westminster-to have waved the consideration of the policy of the treaty, and to have confined his attention strictly to the motion which, he could not avoid saying, had been so indiscreetly brought before them. His honourable friend had said, that the object of the treaty, as he read it, was totally different from that of the protocol which was signed at St. Petersburgh in April, 1826. Now he utterly denied that position. It was necessary to look both to the treaty and to the protocol for the objects of the parties to them, and the motives which influenced the proceedings they had adopted. In both documents the objects which the contracting parties professed to have in view, and which they pledged themselves to effect, were the reconciliation of the Porte with Greece, and the pacification of the Levant. These were the objects which were brought prominently forward. His honourable friend had talked of fraud, conspiracy, trick, and violence; but he certainly could not have read the treaty of the 6th of July attentively, if he had not found that it was framed with the view of re-establishing peace between the contending parties, by means of an arrangement which was called for as much by humanity, as by the interest of the repose of Europe. The first article stated, "The contracting |