Lynn,
which took up nearly two columns of the newspapers, in which he
presented his refutation to the public of the commercial manifesto of
Tamworth, illustrated by the necessary tables and documents.

There is a sentence in this speech which, as a distinct expression of
policy, should perhaps be quoted:

'Sir, I am one of those who seek for the repeal of the malt tax and the
hop duties. I am one of those who think that the excise duties ought to
be taken off. But, sir, I do not pretend that you can repeal the malt
tax or the hop duties, or remove the soap tax without commutation for
other taxes. I will not delude the people by pretending that I could
take off more than seven millions and a half of taxes without replacing
them by others, and not leave the nation bankrupt. But I think these
reforms of Sir Robert Peel have been in a mistaken direction; I think
that revenue duties on all foreign imports ought to be maintained, and
that a revenue equal to those excise duties which I have mentioned can
be levied upon the produce of foreign countries and foreign industry,
without imposing any greater tax than one which shall fall far short of
Mr. Walker's "perfect revenue standard of 20 per cent." I say that by
imposing a tax far less than 20 per cent. upon all articles of foreign
import, a revenue might be derived far less burdensome to this country
than that of excise, a revenue of which the burden would be largely
shared in by foreign countries, and in many cases paid altogether by
foreign countries.'

Lord George at this time watched with great interest a novel feature
in our commercial transactions. He wrote on the 29th May (1847), to Mr.
Burn, the editor of the 'Commercial Glance,' and an individual of whose
intelligence, accuracy, and zeal he had a high and just opinion, 'Can
you inform me how the raw cotton purchased for exportation stands in
the first three weeks of the present month of May, as compared with the
corresponding periods of '46--5--4--3?

'I observe from a cotton circular sent to me the other day, that seven
thousand five hundred bags of cotton had been purchased for exportation
between the 1st and 21st of May. If with reduced stocks of raw cotton
we are commencing a career of increased exportation, it appears to me to
involve very serious consequences for our cotton manufactures as growing
out of the existing monetary difficulties of the manufacturers.

'If you could answer me these queries within