Star. — London, England, 1831-06-15 00:00:00

LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. THE BREAD.TAX on CORN LAWS. ." BY A aHETFIELD POET. England ! what for mine and me— What bath bread-tax done for thee ? It hath shown what kinglings arc, Stripp'd thy hideous idols bare, S , :11 thy greatness, stained thy name Struck thee from the rolls of fame, Given thy fields to civil strife, ('hanged thy falchion fur the knife , tld invading knout consign'd e , r. Lack, and meanest mind; it• t thy harvest. cunt thy land, i linger stung thy skill'd right band; Sou; thy riches to thy foes, 6ir':'d thy breech, anti twcak'd thy nose, And beneath the western skies Sown the worm that never dies. Man of Consols, hark to me ! What shall bread-tax do for thec ? Rob thee for the dead-alive, Pawn thy thousands ten for five, And ere vet its work be done, Pawn thy thousands five for one. Peer, too just, too proud to share Millions wrung from toil and care ! Righteous peer, whose fathers fed England's poor with untax'd bread ! Ancient peer, whose stainless name Ages old have given to fame! What shall bread-tax do for thee ? Make the poor as mine and me ; Drive thee from thy marble halls, To some hovel's squalid sails ; Drive thee from the land of crimes Ilouseless, into foreign climes, There to sicken, there to sigh, Steep thy soul in tears, and die— Like a flower from summer's glow, Withering on the polar snow. Church healew'd with martyr's blood, Mother of the wise and good ! Temple of our smiles and tears, Hoary with the frost of years ! Holy Church, eternal, true ! What for thee will bread-tax do It will strip thee bare as she Whom a despot stripe for thee; Of thy surplice make thy pall, Lower thy pride, and take thy all— Save thy truth establisit'd well, Which,—when spire and pinnacle, Gorgeous arch, and figured stone, ('ease to tell of glories gone,— Still shall speak of thee and lizss,` Whom adore the Seraphim, Power, which likest heaven's might seem, Glorious once in freedom's beam; Once by tyrants felt and feared, Still as freedom's dust revered Throne, established by the good, Not unstaln'd with patriot's blood, Not unwatch'd by patriot fears, Not unwept by patriot tears, — What shall bread-tax do for thee, Venerable Monarchy ! Dreams of evil, spare my sight ! Let that horror rest in night. BAYLEY'S FOUR YEARS IN THE WEST INDIES. From the Trinidad Guardian. These criticisms appear in the form of Letters signed TISIOVIIT TROPIC. Travellers ought never to publish on Countries where reside such lynx-eyed critics. LETTER T RODUCT ORY. MR. EDlTOR,—During the last six hundred years it has been the custom of such men of letters as have travelled to give an account of their pere grinations, and as works treating of " foreign parts," (to use an half obsolete phrase) were always acceptable to many readers, the productions of those wandering literari were generally well re ceived ; this, by encouraging books of travels and pretended travels, has produced much good and some evil. The earliest travellers of modern times might be denominated exaggerators, such as Marco Polo who in the thirteenth, and Sir John Mande ville, who in the fourteenth century, gave a narra tive of their journies in the east ; the latter has be come proverbial in our language fcr " drawing the long bow," the former was not an iota more vera cious,—his account of Qninsai is every whit as extravagant as Sir John's description of Cathay and the land beyond it, whose inhabitants, says Mandeville, were " wild with horns on their beads, very hideous, and epake not but rout as swine ;" in short both these travellers are unsurpassed by Munchausen himself in point of exaggeration. A few years since the travelling book-makers confined their wanderings to Great Britain, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Italy, in short to Europe, but of late, a gentleman of the name of F. W. N. Bayley has extended his trade to the colonies, and has actually composed a hook of more than seven hundred pages, with the following title—" Four Years in the West Indies," in which seven hun dred pages he treats very learnedly and very wit tily about his aunt Josephine, his lovely Laura— lie talks entertainingly about tropical climates and turtle- soup earthquakes and land-crabs san garee and petite soup6s—punch, pine apples, and porter cup—floating islands and the Diamond Rock —muscory ducks and methodists civil creoles and military officers ;—he also embodies in his book some violent philippics against sherry and saints—unmacadamized roads, free labourers, town sevens, MUT force negers, water drinkers, and other vagabonds. NATURAL HISTORY.—In Mr. Bayley's work, I shall only note a few, which I take at random— to begin with natural history. Our author quotes Sturm at the head of chapter LXII. to prove that it is not necessary that every one should be a learned naturalist : nevertheless, it ought to be expected that one who in his preface lays claim to credit for particular veracity, ere he wrote a whole chapter professing to treat of the natural history of the West Indies, should have consulted, if not the early Spanish historians of the new world, at least Bryan Edwards and Buffon. " The animals found in those islands," says Mr. Bayley, " are mostly wild ; "—I suppose he does not mean our flocks, herds, dogs, cats, &c.—but what does he mean? there needs no ghost arise to' . tell us that animals not domesticated are wild in most countries. Mr. Bayley should have known of the existence of the Lilco or mute dog, called in Trinidad the Mangrove dog, which the Indians of several islands had domesticated, and were remark ably fond of; and why does he omit mentioning the native musk hog,' once common in many and still an inhabitant of this island, a quadruped of more importance than all he has enumerated. He asserts that none of them (the animals of the West Indies) arc beasts of prey : now, not to mention alligators and lawyers, the Alco before mentioned is, in its wild state, a beast of prey, and according to his own account of the fowl ravages on poultry committed by the Or ossum or Manacon, that is also a beast of prey, so is the Musk Rat ; besides which Major W. might have furnished him with some notice of the Tiger Cat of Trinidad. He says, " the Aoguti is much larger than a rat • Oalled Quoutek from its Italian spellatlon Cuarco—s4re common came it Picarif...; but not so large as a rabbit." Mr. B. is an Eng lishman, so thatit is very possible, nay even very probable, that he has seen a rat as well as a rabbit, but it is not probable, nor scarcely possible, that he could ever have seen an Agouti ; odd rabbit it, to use his own manner of expression, I would wager a quarter of a lappe against a copy of his " Four Years in the West Indies" (long odds), that I will shoot any day three agoutis, the small est of which should weigh more than the largest rabbit, together with the two largest rats, save the parliamentary rats, in Europe. It may not be improper here to inform Mr. Bayley, that it is not as he says (pago 566) the bite of the scorpion which is dangerous but its sting, which it is proverbial for inflicting with its tail. So much for zoological accuracy. Mr. Bayley says, page 65, " housebreaking and' robberies are occurrences of a very rare nature in the Vest Indies, and I believe there are only two or three instances of the kind upon record." Had he applied here for information we could have fur nished him with some hundreds, or to use an ex pression that he quotes some four score times, " numbers numberless" of instances of robberies, house and store breaking ; and I am much mis taken if every island, nay every state which our author visited, could not furnish as many. In page 201 our tourist talks of the militia of Union Island ; as he boasts of the authenticity of his information, he should have told us whether it is the manager or three or four overseers that com pose this militia, as those are the only persons le gally capable of bearing arms in that island. In botanical research he is equally successful as he is in his shady of West India zoology; neverthe less, he should have been informed, that " the trees and bushes," that oysters attach themselves attach themselves to, are not generally planted by the band of man, but grow there naturally—nor is the grape considered here as a large scion of the cibrus or orange stock (vide page 546). I also tell him that the ceiba and silk cotton trees are one and the same. I give Mr. Bayley this infor mation out of gratitude, for the pains he has taken to convince the world (page 594) that the custard apple is not the sour sop. Bryan Edwards tells a story of a noble and learned lord who assured his auditors that molasses was the raw unconcocted juice of the cane from which sugar was made; it is to be hoped that the wise judge was a better judge of raw than of muscovadoes, but his blunder is not more gross and certainly more excusable that one Mr. Bayley has committed, who after living four years in the colonies, gives the following ac count of the mountain cabbage (vide page 546.) " The heart of the green spire that is seen shoot ing up above its branches is a hard vegetable sub. stance, resembling, when cut up, the heart of a cabbage—this, when boiled and properly dressed, has a very pleasant flavour, and the trees are not unfrequently cut down to procure it." Now as the green spire that is seen to shoot up above its branches could be obtained without de stroying or injuring the tree, every lover of botany would wish that this was what is called the cab bage, as it would save from the axe a great num ber of those lovely palms, which Brown very ap propriately calls " Queens of the forest." TLa fact is, the spire is a vegetable electric conductor, but the cabbage is the green top of its stem below the branches. This and many other botanical errors remind me of having read some years since Sir Something Somebody's (I do not recollect who's) account of the phys;c nut, Mho says that the French inhabi tants of the West Indies conceive that it is a re medy of such universal and infallible qualities, that they call it the " bois immortelle !"—he further says that the trunk of the mountain cabbage tree, is very valuable for the main timbers of mill frames. I now come to the geographic correctness of Mr. Bayley's work. " Jamaica," says this authentic writer, " is the largest of the West India islands ;—(page 493) — from which we are led to infer, that Cuba and St. Domingo are not West India islands, or are smaller than Jamaica. Montserrat (says Mr. Bayley, p. 324) is another pretty little island, under the government of Bar buda! Oh, dear ! Mr. Four Years Residence in the %Vest Indies, this is authenticity and undoubted authority with a vengeance ; you might as well say the Isle of Man is under the government of the Isle of Wight. In page 600 he informs us that Tobago is be tween eight and nine miles in length, and thirty in breadth ; so then it is three time as broad as it is long ! He adds, it is twenty-four miles in circum ference. Now, how an island can be eight or nine miles in length, thirty in breadth, and only twenty four in circumference, I am not mathematician enough to conceive. He is equally correct in speaking of most of the islands ; but to come at once to this colony, we are told, page 217, that " the greater number of the Indians reside beyond Serena Grande, the other side of St. Joseph." For this authentic piece of information we are indebted to the undoubted au thority of Major W. To this assertion of this man of letters I reply nego majorum, having caught Mr. Bayley's infection. In page 602, we are told that Trinidad is an island in the Gulf of Mexico, divided from New Andalusia in Terra Firma by a Strait of about 3 miles in breadth !! On reading this marvellous piece of information I took a large pinch of snuff to clear my head, took off my spectacles to clean my glasses, then looked at the beginning and the end of the book for a list of errata, but looked in vain ; there stood the above passage in types, as black as the Pitch Lake, clear as the waters of Diego Martin, and conspicuous as the Tamaua mountain : and yet the writer of the paragraph spent four years in the West Indies, one year of which was almost in sight of Trinidad —boasts of his authenticity and undoubted autho rity, and is, besides, what he delights to call him self, a " book-maker." 13efore I read Mr. Bayley's work, I saw two or three reviews of it in English periodicals, not one of which notice this most ab surd string of geographical blundery ; had he said that the Caribbean Islands were in the Persian Gulf, it had passed unnoticed by the learned gen tlemen► of the English press. In conclusion, let me assure your readers, and Mr. E. W. N. Bayley, should he ever sea this criticism, that nothing con tained in it is intended to injure his publication, but merely to point out what absurdities are pro pagated about the West Indies, and how freely they pass without notice iu England. [r ou W.. li ': ;i ,' / Jr , / LITI Ttf 1 , 1 Engl LI Wha I it ha Strip Se:d .! Strue m: O 1 Char, Te :I . t i al• TIMOTHY TROPIC. THE CORN LAWS. From a Pamphlet on the Necessary Operation of the Corn Laws, I a driving capital from the cultivation of the soil, and diminishing the means of employing agricul tural labour. By ALEXANDZIL MUXDELL, Esq. Adam Smith said of the corn law which was in force in his time (13 Geo. 3, c. 43), that, though not the best in itself, it was the best which the interests, prejudices, and temper of the times would admit of ; " and he anticipated that it might " in clue time prepare the way for a better. By that law, when wheat was at or above 48e. the quarter, it was import a bl e u pon payment of 6d. per q u ar ter . Wh en ' rye, Pease, and beans were at or above 365. the quarter, they were importable upon payment of 3d. per quarter. When, barley, bear, or blgg were at or above 245. the quarter, and loats at or above 16s. the quarter, such grain was Importable I upon payment of 2d. per quarter. WILn wheat was nt or above 445. the quarter, rye, pease, or beans at or above 28s. the quarter, barley, bear, or bigg at or above 225. the quarter, and oats at or above 14s. the quarter, such grain respectively was not exportable. But when wheat was under 445. the quarter, it was not only exportable, bat a bounty of ha a quarter was receiv. able upon every quarter exported. When rye, pease, or beans were under 281. the quarter, they were exportable, and entitled to a bounty of 3s. per quarter; Barley under 225. was entitled upon exportation to a bounty of 2s. 6d.' , per quarter; and upon oats under 14s. a bounty of 2s. per quarter was payable upon exportation. This continued to be the law for fourteen years, at the expiration of which the only alteration made was, that when wheat:was under 48s. the quarter, it was not Importable un less upon payment of 244. 3d. per quarter, which amounted to a prohibition. Proportional prohibitory duties were im posed upon the importation of other grain. (27 Geo. 3, e. 13.) During this period, the fall which continued to take place in the value of motley made the operation of the law every day less ; so that it had very little erect, either in prevent ing importation, or promoting exportation. Both took place from natural causes. When the country required a supply of any particular grain, or a different qualify of the same grain, it imported it to the extent of that demand ; and when it had a surplus of any particular grain, it exported that surplus. During the whole of this period, exportation hay ing continued to gain upon importation, It follows that the British agriculturist, with a free tr i n e In corn, was always enabled to export. To meet the fall, however, however, wbfeli continued to take place in the value of money, a new law was made in the year 1791 (31 George 111. C. 30), which provided as fol ows :-- When wheat was at or above 64‘. It was importable, pay ing 6d. per quarter. When under 545. but not under 50e. the duty payable upon importation was 2s. Cd. per quarter. When under 503. it was not importable, unless upon pay ment of 24r. 3d. per quarter. When under 44‘. the bounty of ss. was allowed as before upon exportation; and when above 48s. exportation was prohibited. The scale for other grain was raised in a similar pro portion. The dire seasons of 1794, 1799, and 1800 followed, which set all laws at defiance, constrained the legislature to grant bounties for the importation of grain, and even induced the government to become importers. When the consequences of the scarcity of these seasons bad subsided, it was again found necessary to meet the con tinuing fall in the value of money ; and a ncwlaw was made (44 George 111. c. 109), which raised the scale of prices thus : When wheat was at or above 665. It was Importable upon payment of 6d. per quarter. When under 6Gs. but not under GU it was importable by paying 2.. 61. per quarter. IVhen under 635. it was not importable, unless upon pay ment of 245. 3d. ‘llenrti)O;es-Is. It was not allowed to be exported ; but if at or under 40s. it was not only exportable, but the bounty of frs. was allowed as before. Tile Importation and Exportation Scale was raised In a similar proportion for other grain. The agriculturists, distressed and alarmed by the de pression which fell upon their productions, in 1810, in common with those of every other branch of industry, I were clamorous In their complaints to the Legislature, which, in an evil boar, passed a law, 33 Geo. 111.1 c. 26, prohibiting the importation of wheat until it reached per quarter ; and equally high prices were raised against the impot Lydon of other grain. The bounty, which had long been a dead letter, was repealed by an act passed the year before f 34 Geo. 3, c. 09.) The legislature might enact prohibitory prices against im portation, but it could not prevent the rise of the value of money, or its influence upon prices. These still Jcelioed ; and the agriculturi s ts again complained to time legislature.— Though a committee had been appointed in 1814 to enquire into the causes of the distresced state of agriculture, another , was appointed upon the petitions presented in 1821. This committee stated in their Report, that " the ruinously low prima of ag,ieukurid produce at this moment cannot be as-, Mired to any deficiency in the protecting power of the law." " Protection cannot be carried farther than monopoly."— " This monopoly the British grower bus enjoyed for the pro duce of the two last harvests." Nevertheless, the legisla ture passed an act (3 Geo. 4, c. GO.) by which the importa hie price was raised thus When the price of wheat was above 85s. per quarter, it was importable paying a duty of Is. hen under 83s. but not under 80s. it was importable paying a duty of 51. When at or above 70s. and under 80s. it was importable paying a duty of 12a. And the importable prices and duties of and upon other grain were made proportionate to those of wheat. Still, money continuing to rise in value, the agriculturists found no relief, arpi tlkress prevailed among all classes of the community. The legislature, in ignorance of its cause, and overlooking tl:e rise of the value of motley, was the. induced to try its hand upon another law (9 Geo. 4, c. 60), which established a point for AO ascending and descending stale, with duties as follows : When the prices of Wheat is 628. per Imperial quarter, and wider CCs. it Is importable, paying 11. es. Bd. of duty ; and so for every shilling of price above 63.. the price is made Is. less until it reaches 735. after which the duty is only Is. per quarter. This is upon the ascending scale. Upon the descending scale, When the price of Wheat is less than 625. but not under 61s. the duty i/4 11. 31. Bd. per quarter, and a n a dditional shilling is added to every shilling of price less than 61.5. Proportionate prices and duties were assigned for other grain. The result of these laws will appear from the following statement of the imports of corn in the last fifteen ytars, contrasted with the imports in the preceding fifteen years, divided into periods of five years each to In the five years ending, Total. 1805 7,365,184 1810 6.933,975 1813 5,931,693 Total 20,230.852 Total. In the five years ending, 13,866,9731820 1825 10,338,938 1830 22,151,525 Total 50,375,456 In forming a judgment upon these laws, should also be had t o t h e num b er of Enclosure B r i b alassed in either period. These are found to hare been as follows, divided into periods of fire years : Year... Number. Years. Number. 1303 454 1820 211 1810 432 1823 74 1815 560 1830 102 1466 During fifteen years of a virtually free trade in Corn, the Dumber et' Enclosure Bills passed were 1486; but in the last fifteen years, when the trade was restrained, the number passed were only 387. The additional quantity of land thereby beought into pro. ductive cultivation In the first period should have diminished the quantity of grain imported In the subsequent period. But we find that the quantity of grain imported, which was only 20,230,1132 qaarters of all sorts in the first fifteen lears ending wi t h 1813, increased to 56,378,436 in the ast fifteen years ending with 1030; and the importation ID • The quantities in the first fifteen years are taken from tbe Appendix to the Agricultural Report of 18.21 ; that in the last fifteen years are taken from an account ordered to be delisted, 30.11‘f 31.tsch, 1031. (So. 330.) the last five years is even greater than the importation in the whole of the fifteen years which preceded 1815. From the year 1773 to the year 1814, our total imports of grain were 30,430,189 quarters, and our exports 6,801,440 quarters, the Agricultural Committee of 1821 observe, " The necessary consequence of the trade in Corn having been virtually open with the Continent, and the Im portation allowed at prices merely nominal during the pe. riod of forty years, has been, that the general price at the shipping ports on the Continent has not, upon an average, been materially lower than the price in England, except to the amount of the charges to be Incurred in bringing the foreign Corn to the markets in this country." The fact explains how it happened that, until 1815, Great Britain was enabled to export her surplus Corn, and to ex. I port grain of one quality, and to import it in another; coa -1 sequently. why her agriculture continued to improve in that period. It also unfolds the reason why she ceased to do so soon after the passing of the prohibitory law of that year, and why her agriculture has languished ever since ; namely, that no branch of domestic industry can be in a wholesome state, where, by the operation of law, its surplus viaduct cannot be exported. With a virtually free trade in corn, previous to 1815, It may be supposed that, as we even then had a deficiency of produce, we could not have a surplus of grain to export. But though there was a deficiency upon the whole produce, yet there was frequently a surplus of particular sorts of grain. 31oreover, the sante grain is different in quality; and It may, and often does, suit the dealer tosutport one quality l of the same grain and to import another. It is for his in terest to be at liberty to do so; it is also for the benefit of the grower, to whom he is thereby enabled to pay a better and a more steady price, through the larger market that is at all times open to him. But the present Curn lAw not only limits the operations of the dealer and grower by limiting their market, but it af. fects the operations of both still more. by the hazard and uncertainty to which it exposes the capital of each. By put. ling the capital employed in the growth and the trade of corn in a hazardous and uncertain state, it lessens the capital em ployed in the one trade, and drives capital away from the other. AB the witnesses examined upon this point before the Lords' Committee upon the Poor Laws, in the last session of Parliament, and before the Committee of the House of Com mons upon the Poor Laws in 1820, agree that the farmers throughout England are impoverished; consequently they have not benefited by the operation of .he Corn Laws—that they are not able to keep stock upon their farm ; whence it follows that their land is not properly manured, conse quently cannot be productive—that if they were possessed of more capital, they could employ more labourers, and conse quently their land could be better cultivated. The object of the Corn Laws passed in and since 1815, which was to increase the growth of corn at home,and to ren. der us independent of foreign countries for a supply of grain, has thus completely failed; we are becoming every year more dependent upon foreign countries for such supply. m By our Corn Laws, we not only drive capital from the cul tivation of our own soil, but also endanger our manufacturing superiority, by driving capital from the cultivation of the soil in countries from whence we derive a supply of Corn, and diverting it to manufacture; whereas, if we allowed the great demand of our manufacturing population for food to bring up the price of Corn in countries from whence we can derive a supply to a price commensurate with the price here, we should thus make the numbers of our manufacturing po pulation, which increase the demand for food, the means of preserving our manufacturing superiority, by inducing those countries to continue to apply their capital in the raising of corn to supply that demand. It is the great and iucreasing demand of our population for food, and not the cost of producing it, that is the cause of the high price of corn in this country, above the price in countries whence we can derive a supply, when our de mand is prevented from reaching such countries ; anti it is not less certain, that if the intercourse were free, the price there would always be the same with the price here, except ing the expense and risk of transport. Every farmer knows that high prices never compensate for diminished production. But if the effect of our Corn Laws enacted in and since the year 1815 be permanently and progressively to diminish I production—which is occasionally the consequence of a bad season—such Corn Laws have the same effect during a course, of years, in this respect, which a bad season has in a single year. It is at all events indisputable that our importation of Corn continues to increase. The advocates of a restrictive Corn Law are thus thrown into this dilemma; either the increasing deficiency of home growth arises from the absolute inability of our agriculturists to keep pace with the increasing demand of our population for food ; or it arises from the operation of the Corn Laws. Our manufacturing population are fully employed, thought at low wages. It is impossible not to contrast the lowness of their wages with the high price of Cotn, and equally im. possible not to wonder how it happens that such high price does not produce extended and improved cultivation ; or that with high prices of Corn, rents should continue to conic down. The solution of this enigma is, that, by the opera tion of our Corn Laws, capital is endangered which is ap plied to the cultivation of land. But without capital the cultivation of land cannot be extended or improved. The consequence is diminution of produce, and as produce di minishes rents fall off; because rent is the surplus produce which remains after defraying the cost of production, in. eluding in that cost indemnity, as well as return for capital employed. If the free system which existed for forty years :previous to 1815 had been suffered to continue, it is not too much to affirm that importation would have continued to decrease and our home growth to increase, at least in the proportion in which the one had decreasedand the other had increased in the fifteen years which preceded 1815. As the importation de. creased progressively and continuously in amount through out the whole of the first period. it is even reasonable to suppose that the importation would have continued progres sively to decrease in amount throughout the last fifteen years as it had done in the preceding fifteen year, the more (s -pecially as so many Enclosure:Bills were• . passed in the pre ceding fifteen years ' • and, by necessary consequence, that I the home growth of Corn would have continued to increase and to furnish employment in the same proportion. The question then is, how is freedom from restraint to be brought about In respect to corn, having regard to existing interests ? The answer is as follows : The same principle should be applied to corn which has been or should be applied to every other product of industry. Upon the exportation of every article the tax paid upon it should be drawn back. Wherever there was a surplus at home, or a greater demand for any article abroad than tbere was at home, such article would be exported it there were no tax upon it; and it should not be prev,nted from being ex ported by the imposition of a tax. When imported. there should, in like manaer, be paid upon the article so allowLd a drawback, a sum of duty equal to the stint drawn back upon exportation, which would in this way re g ulate import a u o n. It has bean sten that the consequence of the restrained system, which has prevailed since Idl3, has been to ditni. nigh the home growth of Corn to nearly "our millions and a half of quarters per annum, upon the average of the last fire years and that the diminution of growth is increasing every year. The growing increase of demand abroad, arising from this decreasing supply at home, must hare the effect of raising the prices in foreign countries which are reached by that demand. But in a season of scarcity, in proportion as the deficiency is increased by the severity of the season, the price is raised so much more, and to an extent much be yond the operation of a steady and not excessive ad ttaforees duty ; not to mention the fuereased and desultory rise in price to which Corn is exposed under the present system. With an ad valorem duty operating equally at all times, the consumer in seasons of scarcity will share with the grower of Corn the consequences of a bad harvest. He wou ld share them if there were no Corn Law at all ; and no Corn Law should alter, or attempt to alter, the natural course of things. The object of these suggestions is to prepare the way for a gradual return to a natural state of things. A drawback upon exportation commensurate with a ditty upon importa tion, will have the effect of putting the growth of corn as nearly as may be in the situation in which it would be if there had been no interference with it; while s duty upon importation will keep up the artificial price, until that shall be gradually brought down by the increased growth of corn at home, arising from the encuragement given to capital to return to the cultivator of the toil. This increase in the home growth will appear from the decrease of the importa tion and as importation diminishes, the duty and the draw. back should be lowered. There will still be fluctuations ; but these will only be fluctuations occasioned by the seasons, which human means IMMIX prevent, and it is wickedness in ' human means to aggravate. The interference of mortals with the ways of Providence, though powerless for good, is powerful for evil, but it saver falls to feel its presumption in its . ,pun ishmen t. If the operation of the learn Lows pored IA and since ISIS ke to drive capital iron the cultivation of the soil, to ditnieish the means of emg s V2 agriculture/ labour, to rea der us more sod mete de t *upon forsigr. countries for a supply of grain, and to endanger our manufacturing sup:. riority, then the alteration of these laws not only become a duty, but the neglect of it will become a crime. Not merely the prosperity, but the tranquillity, of the country depends upon the performance of this duty. SCINTILI.X. A DELICATE STOMACIIO-40 a public-house at Truro, on Tuesday, a man actua ll y ate two eels and a plaice, undressed, for a trifling wager. The eels were alive at the time he commenced his brutal feat, and he devoured dun, bones, &c. just as they were brought from the market. LEGAL JARGON. —Not long ago a declaration was flied with the two following cost -swelling counts " Whereas on the day and year aforesaid, and in the watt) and parish aforesaid, said John Doe, with his two thumb. did scratch and maim the nasal extremity of said plaintiff; and whereas, afterwards, on the day and year aforesaid, am' in the ward and parish aforesaid, he did with his oilier thumbs scratch, &e." Now, after these " four rooming guns," ought not legal as well as book-making verbiage to be subject far more to the axe than the pruning knife. THE RIVER NIGER.—A well-known wit, (not Mr. Folliott) has been beard to declare that nothing wil; convince him that, if the Niger empties itself law th. ocean, it can be any where but into the Black Sea. LAWYERS.—Cartouche, the fatuous French robber, being told that a young man wished to become .1 member of his company, took him under examination, and asked him where he had served. The young man replied, that he heed served two years with an attorney, and si% months under an Inspector of Police at Paris. "if that bt the case," acid Cartouche, " I shall codsider it as the mine thing as if you had rode that time in my troop ;" and the man was accordingly admitted. To PRESERVE FRUlT..—Fruits of all sorts may be dried and kept a year or two, withourlosing their flavour, by wiping them dry, and putting them into a coil brick oven; and occasionally while drying, grating a little sugar over them.--ANOTHEIt MODE.—Dry them, and pack them in a jar with common salt, putting a layer of salt an Inch or two thick over them, and preserving the jar front moisture. This process is adopted in Ireland for preserving cauliflowers, kidney-beans, and other delicate vegetables, from the period when they are in season till they come again, and this it does most completely.—Gardcner's DANGER OP DROWNING INCREASED BY sTkETCMINO r oam SHE ARlllll.dit has been proved that in whatever position a bcdy floats on a liquid, the same bulk must be immersed ; it follows, therefore, that if a per. son floating raises his hand above the surface of the water, an equal portion of his head must sink. Hence the danger arising to persons drowning is increased by the involuntaty effort by which they stretch out their arms.—Dr. Lao - doer:, Cabinet Cyclopedia, Vol. XVII. Hydrostatics and Pneu matics, by Dr. Lardner. • A DISTINCTION WITIIOUT A DIFTERENCE. —Whenever a late distinguished Admiral (whose parsimo. nious habits afforded subject for merriment afloat) happened to be employed as Port Admiral, a portion of the flag.ship's crew was daily despatched with the dawn to milk the cows, " start the pigs," and stuff the turkeys. The bravest on board were converted into cowherds, &c. It happened once that an Irish waister bad been personally directed by the Admiral to enforce his commands that no person whatever should walk upon the pas., and that nothing but cows should be seen upon the lawn. A lady in full feather ap proached the sentinel on the sward :—" Keep aff there," cried Pat, " keep afE" " Pray, Sir," exclaimed the mar. rifled dame, "do you know who lam ?" Saurrah— know :" rejoined: Pat. " Not know me, Sir ?'' "Th e died a know." " Not the Admiral's wife, Sir ?" " Not I—all I know is you are not one of the Admiral's cows I" Mc/tripoli:an. STREET SMOKING.....Ii e never see a person in dulging in this very unpolite practice on the public street, but our bowels _yearn within us for the lamentable state of his intellect. There are only two classes amongst street smokers—namely, puppies and blackguards. You will know the former by their bushy hair, goggle eyes, and em.. elated jaws; they generally appear in crowded thoroughfare., with a dgar in their teeth, through which smoke and irn. piety issue without intermission. The second class wear very slight slippers, smoke fearfully black cutties, and keep the one eye on your fob, while the other is reclining on your breast-pocket. There is no doubt, however, that some re. speetable persons may be found who take a cigar on the street, but these being so few in number, compared wish the classes we have described, they sho u ld really show their deference to public opinion, and that they have a sense of their own honour and character, by desisting from a practice in which so many of the opposite character indulge. Bakers and sweeps—greatly superior men to most of the street. smokers—are obliged, by the police regulations, to keep at a distance from the thronged pavements, and we think t: police would do well to mitigate the public nuisance cons plained of, by compelling every person with a cigar ia hi. mouth to take his place among the bestial off the causeway. —Scotsman. Extract from " Father Murphy's Election Ser mon."—" Now, boys, after what I've told you, what 'll you vote for ? For the lives of ye, don't say, when you're asked the question, that you'll vote for the rapak yet awhile, but say that you vote for reform. That's the word. May be, there's some of ye never heard of reform before ? There's the more your merit for making much of if now. Sure it's a token you've the true faith in you. Sr. Peter voted for reform, and this is St. Peter's parish, and the chapel you're standing in, for there's no seats for ye to sit upon—all in good time fur the seats any way ; this chapel is built on a rock, and so is your church ; and that's another reason why you should vote for reform. Only it 'u. be demeanin,g him, St. Peer would come down among le, and vote for Dan just like one of yourselves, without dtt• least pride. for he's no upstart ; only ycu see it's mighty bthy he 1., but he's watching you for all that; and there's tweet a one of ye that gives a wrong vote, that he won't menthe; It, when you're coming to him t o b cg o f him to t hew yna a short cut to purgatory, to save you from going round." EX-QUEEN OF SWEDEN.—Returning from the fall, wo met the ex-Queen and her beautifil daughters proceeding to the same spot. There is a dignity about this lady, a mild and placid expression of countenance, an intelligence of eye and amenity of manner, which have gained her as many hearts as she lost subjects by her transfer of the Swedish sceptre. This was a gratifying circumstance, and gives a more permanent interest to the few inci dents of the day. She may with justice be described as one whom her birth, virtues, and misfortunes, have alike conspired to render iilus trious.—Dr. Beattie's German Courts. CERTIFICATES, JILT 6. J. Aston, Wellington, Sal:lp, mercer—A. Balm, Norge Town, Demerara, merchant—H. Kerbey, Touenbam.court• road, poulterer—J. Blackall and Al. B. Fay, l a sagbuutoc Chambers. Fenchurch.street. ship-brokers---W. Blrkett, Whitehoren, grocer—J. W. Whitehead, Pleasant-row, Bat. tl.*uritlg. , , linen-draper-8. Allen, Stratford, Essex, coal merchant—R. Wilkinson, Shrewsbury, draper—T. R Palmer, Cecil -street, Strand, wine merchant. BIRTH. The 14th inst. Mrs. Oriel, of Alfred.plaee, Bedfore square, of a son. MARRIED. Yesterday, having been previously married according t: the forms of the Roman Catholic Church, at St. Slarykberc Church, C. P. Cooper, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq. LL.D. u Henrietta Amelie Josephine Viscomtesse de Oeslin, only daughter of Monsieur Dubow*, Ancien Conserrateur der Pewits, and niece to the late General Count Duhesme, Plr de France, who was killed at Waterloo.—The 11th inst. 1: Clapham Chinch, Mr. Wm. Owen, of Haverfordwert. Martha Hall Stevenson, third d aug hter, and Mr. R. We:• baton, of Clapham, to Jane Stevenson, youngest dough .% of the late G. Stevenson, Esq. of Clapham. DIED. The 13th inst. at his house in the Circus, Omensieh, T Pryor, Esq. in the 76th year of his age—The 7th inatant, drowned by the upsetting of a boat in Yarmouth Roetis, Willoughby, younpet sow of the late W. A. talks, Heath, county of Hant s —Th e 10th j ut . at L o•g btalge. Warwick, in a at of apoplexy, Ann, wife of J. Russell, E. of Warwick, in the {7th year of bet age. The 13ds inst. Mr. Isaac Ganes da Costa, of Clapham-road-place, NO 66' Lownox : Piloted asd rubilibed by Jows 11•Txt. at die Orrics, N. 1, Pickett-place, Temple Bee.