Zunaed ebooks

On January 27th Sir Robert Peel explained his financial policy. His
intention was to abandon the sliding scale altogether, to impose for the
present a duty of ten shillings a quarter on corn when the price of it
was under forty-eight shillings a quarter, to reduce that duty by one
shilling for every shilling of rise in price until it reached
fifty-three shillings a quarter, when the duty should fall to four
shillings. This, however, was to be only a temporary arrangement. It was
to last but three years, and at the end of that time protective duties
on grain were to be wholly abandoned. We need not go at any length into
the history of the long debates on Peel's propositions. The discussion
of one amendment, which was in substance a motion to reject the scheme
altogether, lasted for twelve nights. The third reading of the bill
passed the House of Commons on May 15th, by a majority of ninety-eight.
The bill went up at once to the House of Lords, and at the urgent
pressure of the Duke of Wellington was carried through that House
without any serious opposition.


Pages:
54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78