TOPICS OF THE DAY.

:MR. VILLIERS'S PRELIMINARY MOTION ON Tim CORN-LAWS.

Tim Corn-law question has been reduced to a definite shape, and will attempt to make its way into the House of Commons on Tues- day next. The friends of free trade in corn have adopted, we think, a m:11:chats method. 'choir object is to Ibrce on a thorough investi- gation of their grievance—an investigation conducted with all possible pellicity, in order that the country may be able to judge be- t wesn titian mid Parliantent—and finally the total and speedy aboli- tion (Tali re.arietions no the importation ot'lbod, and other agrictd- t) mr.1 the growth of tbreign countries. But, in applying to

m!:v have to deal with a body in Nvhich the majority Of 1!“.. litlieVe they have au interest in upholding the present

syst: ,h) not thimilt that these individuals have any thing (,+: the mischievous (ARA-1.s of thmt system upon the re,; out:nullity. They have heard enough. to misgivings to them ; they are litr from e,.::•;,::11, that public aeratiny Nvill tend to strengthen their positiee : they aro afraid even to hook the quetion broadly in the tact thenmAlves, and are an.H1v s, titling their ringers into their cats to prevent further access w4,dge. Such men are in a temper likely enough to am to make use of any sulmterfuge to avoid inquiry of any kin,•I, and above all, public inquiry. They are prepared to avail themselves of the general ignorance regarding the f,rnla of Parlinaaamtary bush:vas—the necessary consequence of their being vu I entirely by precedents scattered through the journals of two I:an:haat years—to defeat the attempt to be heard at the House on a inis„..14e technical plea. They have it is contemplatien to tell the Anti-C'orn-law petitioners, that althees•I Imwy applicants under the most various circum- stance, been mear,.1 at the bar of the Hott•e, none, it Seen's, have ey.sr la en heard f,aseinst on en'sliass hair. Petitimme fbr redress of any g:.h vance may be heard, unless that gsievance have its source in a law. Parliament has a reined y for all evils

except stm.:11 as are more especially of its owe creation. It is

necess;.r: to be particularly guarded when one has to do with men who ct.n q,mi!)ide watt' this llmshion ; and therefbre it is that we think tIme typo:lents of the Corn-law:; have done wisely in making their anon Parliament by sucee.,sive moves. Of these, 111r. V[i.ste.,es's is the first. A petition has been presented from a nmnher individuals—merchants, manutheturers, and others- cone,,Isia'ea of several hardships and disadvantages under which they 1s1:ser : tracing these evils to the regulated corn-trade; and pint ht s t rte the I Ionse of Commons will allow them to make good their art :se ions by counsel and witnesses at its bar, with a view to m. Should the Ilouse grant the prayer of time petition, a mnotism the total and immediate repeal of the Corn-laws may be broeaIis in at the close of the evidence. Should the House ro- thse, it is in the power of any friendly Member to bring on that omm...,• :fm on its own nteri's.

The !,:' )11 iutiaatted by Jar. Vit,Lnets, that certain petitioners he lie r it the bar by counsel and witnesses, to establish a griev- Imes ssasHaia,s1 a in t!,eir p...titimm, is one which the veriest form- alist street pretend to negative on the ground of its

being uni•T.ce,lentel. 'Isamu slle time of the Revolmion Insa, ("titan to isos, fev.- years have WitiRalt furnishing a prece- dent for such a Ptriiameatary naide of proceeding. We need only cite a few instances in order to show the continuity of the chain of precedent.

In 1.x09, a petiti,:n presented to the Ibatse of COHIIIRMIS front the merchants of London, complaining of extortions by commanders of their :Immjesties ships tbr convoy, offering to "make the facts appear." and praying a tier "consideration and relief." The peti- tioner, 'vest; ordered' to be heard at the bar of the House ; and,

hcoriag them, the Ilouseresolvedthat time practice complained. of was " oppressive to merchants, and deAructive of trwle." in inhabitants of the Tower Ilan:lets petitioned against them.,.:. oSpaving SvaInf:u's wages, as having materially co ntri- bated to impovc.rkh that district. The petition NVilS in the first instmumee refisrre:1 to a Committee then sitting to examine certain le:comae extra cruisers convoys. The dissatistimetion, however, a the petitioners at haying their complaints thus stifled,

was s eat,, that time l louse, of its own accord, withdrew the pe- tition fr.:a the consideration of the Committee, and intimated to

the petiLieners its readiness to hear thent at time bar. They were

of war—some from the want ofa law—some from the maleadminis- tration of a law—some from the necessary operation of a defective law (as in the case of the Tower Hamlets petition.) The point in which they all agree—the feature which Is common to till of theta—is, that they are complaints of grievances, and accom- panied with prayers fbr relief. Whenever British subjects have approached the House of Commons stating that they were suf- fering, and asking for relief at the hands of the Legislature, they have been allowed to prove their complaints at the bar of the House—sometimes by the arguments of counsel, sometimes by the evidence of witnesses, sometimes by both. The grievance might affect a small district only of the king- dom, as in the case of the Scottish Burghs in 1708 ; or it might affret the whole trading community, as in the case of our merchants and mannfitcturers in 1808 : or it might affect the wealthy

mer-

chant of London, as in 1tiS9 ; or it might affect the poor seamen of Tower Hamlets and their families, as in 1708. Whether the (.0:111)1Am-its have come from rich or poor—front a few or front nuthitudes—the House of Commons has hitherto fidt itself' bound by constitutional precedent to open its cleora to the complaining parties, and, in the face of the piddle, to listen to their rim ruse stetements. Upon this old, unbroken chain of precedent, do the petitioners in the matter of the Corn-laws rest their claim to be heard on the present occasion. And these pyreedents esta- blish a just and reasonable principle—which is not always the case with precedents. The petitioners complain that they are suf- fering severely from the necessary and inevitable consequences of a restrictive system Of trade in food. They offer to prove at the liar of the House, according to old constitutional practice, the reality and. extent of their sufferings. They pray fur relief. The first question befbre the abuse is not the nature of' the relief : that is left fir after consideration. The motion of Mr. is to the effcet that the Ilouse do take into consideration the tsmplaints of the petitioners. The first step in taking grievances into consi- deration in the House of Commons, has for two hundred years been, to inquire into the truth of the averments made by the com- plainants. les hearing counsel, or evidence, or both. It is a matter of perfect mddierence whence the grievance springs : its mere ex- istence is a sufficient claim upon the House's attention. The pe- titioners do not ask to have on existinz law repealed : they offer to prove that they are pr./ler/lig, and they ask relief. We do not see by what quibble or evasion the House of Commons scan devise a pretext for retbsing the prayer of the Anti-Corn-law petitioners and negativing the motion of Mr. VILLIERS.

011 a 111.1eSti011 of such all-pervading interest—on a question re- quiring, more almost than any other, calm, unpartisan deli berat ion— it is desirable to avoid any expression that has the appearance of a threat. It is, however, but thir to warn the House of Commons, that this movement of the Anti-Corn-law petitioners puts the House upon its trial. Men are not to he deceived by words. The House of Commons; may be called "Relbrined."—there Illny be a semblance of improvement in the electoral arrarg,nments—but if' t11( House descend to forms calculated to stifle the public voice in a manner which the old I louse of Ccimnic•ns would not have dared to adopt, the consequences mite not ditlicIdt to divine. Already has a nmode of dealing with general petitions been adopted which effectually neutralizes their influence on time If :use. if :mother retrograde step lie taken, and the people shorn of their old consti- tutional privilege of being heard rim two on complaints of griev- ances at the bar of the House. it will be high time to think of re- modelling the Legislatnre which ventures opon so odious a step.

The next application of complainants spurned front the threshold of their own I louse. may not be so moderate as the present. The Ilouse may be doomed to hear—not, indeed., the har.h f•.—cuts of

a CROMWELL at the !WWI Or his " ITODSitiCS the ih,ep, calm, steady voice of an outraged nation, bidding them "make Way for !Hamster men."

To the assailants of the Core-laws we say, Persevere. We are told, in a tone of' triumph so querulous that it betrays its own hollowness, that prices time fluffing. They pre—but to rise again higher them ever. The statesmen (I) who refuse to entertain the question of the Corn-laws in a deliberative assembly, while men's

which.; are yet capable of dispassionate investiaet ion, may have it forced upon them under more unpleasant cirenno Mums. How will the Duke of Ilueutxonam like to have it forced upon !limn by limmishing thousands now living round his mansioe, and shaking his gates in the fierce agony of hunger ? A time inns: come when the scene of Anti-Corn-law agitation may be transferred from Par- liament to his own lawn.