1846.] Sir Robert Peel's Administration. 319 upon Parliament, and the Whigs waited with interest to see to what extent the Ministry would bid against them on the great question. The suspense was not to be long continued, for on the 4th of February Peel preceded the motion on the address by a notice that on Wednesday, the Qth, he should move for a committee of the whole House to take into con- sideration the laws which affected the importation of corn. On the day appointed the Premier explained his proposal. It involved the maintenance of the sliding scale, but made reductions in the amount of duty, and varied the gradations by which it was lowered. Under the old plan, the highest duty on wheat was twenty-seven shillings a quarter, levied when the price was fifty-nine and under sixty shillings. Under the Government scheme, the highest duty would be twenty shillings, when the price was fifty and under fifty- one shillings. The rate when the price was fifty-nine and under sixty shillings, the point at which the highest rate was formerly charged, would now be thirteen shillings. There were alterations made in other parts of the scale, the minimum rate of one shilling being still reserved for the price of seventy- three shillings, and changes were also proposed in the method of obtaining the averages. Mr. Cobden at once denounced the proposal as an insult to the sufferings of a people whose patience had been extolled. The general debate on the Government scheme began on the 1 4th of February, when Lord John Russell moved an amendment declaring " That this House, considering the evils which have been caused by the present corn laws, and especially by the fluctuations of the graduated 'or sliding scale, is not prepared to adopt the measure of her Majesty's Govern- ment, which is founded upon the same principle, and is likely to be attended by similar results." Although he submitted no alternative proposal in his' resolution, he argued, in his speech, in favour of a fixed duty. These, then, were the Conservative and Whig propositions one a sliding scale with reduced but still exorbitant duties ; the other a moderate fixed duty, im- posed mainly for the purpose of protection to native agriculture.
