The Sun. — London, England, 1822-03-14 00:00:00

THE LONDON JOURNALS. EXTRACTS FROM THE DAILY MORNING PAPERS March 14, 1822. [MORNING CHRONICLE.] The discussion on the Petition presented by Mr. Marryatt from the Assembly of Commerce in Lower Canada, furnishes much matter for me ditation. Monopoly and misgovernment have here produced their usual consequences. In vain nature lavishes her bounty on the Canadas ; Ministers are here too powerful for nature.—Sir Isaac Coffin seems to have stumbled on some ob servations on the subject of this Colony, charac terised on the whole by good sense. Ile stated " that this Colony had cost us 500,0001. a year since 1762, and had not returned us a farthing. If such a state of things were to continue, instead of the loss of the Colony being a calamity, the sooner it went, he would almost say, au (liable, the better." Really if we will neither take the productions of the Canadians , nor allow them to take them elsewhere, in order to obtain in ex change the things of which they are in want, it is difficult to say whether our folly or our tyranny be most conspicuous. But this is a subject which deserves more consideration from us than we can now give to it. [NEW TIMES.I Yesterday Lord Normanby's motion for re ducing one of the Postmasters-General was brought forward and negatived in the House of Commons.—We regret to see the endless attempts that are made to weaken the influence of the Go vernment. One day the King's prerogative in commanding the army is attacked : the next, a civil appointment in the gift of the Crown is sought to be annihilated. Can the Gentlemen of England be so blind as not to perceive that all these motions tend directly to subvert the British Constitution, and to establish in its place a democratical Republic ? Let us open our eyes to the plain truth. If we are to abandon the Government by King, Lords, and Commons, let us be told so honestly and at once ; but do not let us be tricked and defrauded out of the heri tage of that glorious Constitution which has raised our country ;o far above all other nations. Of the young Nobleman whom we have men tioned above, we wish to speak with all the re spect which is due to his origin, and to his per sonal qualities ; but surely his practical know ledge of the Constitution must be very limited, if he considers the power of the Crown as greater at present than is necessary to maintain a due equipoise among the various branches of our po litical system. It is very possible to form the abstract idea of a Government, in which virtue shall be its own reward, and there shall neither be honours nor remunerations for public services ; but this visionary perfection is not suited to human nature; and those who are for plucking Royalty bare, will find that the next Government which is set up will be far more costly, either from its igno rance, or from its rapacity, or from both. " I will not deny," says the great teacher of practical politics, " that our Constitution may have faults, and that those faults, when found, ought to be corrected ; but on the whole that Constitution has been our pride, and an object of admiration to all other nations. It is not every thing which appears at first view to be faulty in such a corn plicated plan that is to be determined to be so in reality. That which taken singly and by it self may appear to be wrong, when considered with relation to other things may be perfectly right." Elsewhere the same admirable ,States man says " no man knows, when he cuts off the incitements to virtuous ambition, and the just re wards of public service, what infinite mischief he may do his country, through all generations.— Such saving to the public may prove the very worst mode of robbing it." [BRITISH PRESS.] The severity of Mr. Hunt's imprisonment was made the subject of further discussion in the House of Commons last night. We are glad to find Mr. Peel warmly expressing his indignation at the atrocious cruelties that have been practised in the gaol of Ilchester; his reputation as a States man will not suffer by his evincing a sympathy for the sufferings of his fellow-subjects, and re fusing to throw the shield of his influence and power over every petty oppressor who abuses his authority. The evidence taken before the Com missioners appointed to inquire into the abuses of Ilchester gaol, is now in the act of being printed for the Members of the House of Com mons, and when this work is completed, the whole affair will he made the subject of Parlia mentary discussion. It would, we think, in the mean time, very much gratify the public if the Government were to commute the imprisonment of Mr. Hunt in Ilchester gaol, for imprisonment in some other gaol that may be less obnoxious to censure. There can be no doubt that the Crown has the power to effect this, if the party suffering Will consent to it. Without such consent no re moval could be effected ; but the Crown may remit the sentence altogether, or any part of it. [THE TIMES. Respecting Turkey and Russia, the persuasion has become so general that the dispute will be adjusted, that the only point on which public curiosity will fix, is the mode in which the ad justmeut is to take place. Nothing is precisely known on that subject, but letters have been re ceiired from Amsterdam, which state the arrival of intelligence there by express from Petersburgh, which is probably not far from the true denoue ment. It is communicated that Russia, yielding, though not without difficulty, to the representa tions of the Ambassadors of the Powers interested, of whom Austria and England avowedly take the lead, has consented to the appointment of Pleni potentiaries, to whom the differences will be re ferred, and whose decision will be binding on both parties. We incline to the belief of this, both because Holland is said in general to obtain very early and accurate information, and because the particular source is in the best class of au thority. But whatever may be its termination, it is difficult to come to any other opinion than that the question is essentially quite disposed of. [MORNING lIERALD.I We yesterday received two days' Paris Papers. That capital was still extremely agitated —no thing but an overbearing military force distri buted through the city preserved public order. It is quite evident that the Ultra-Ministry are tending rapidly to precipitate France into a crisis. Every step of their's, from their entrance into office, has manifested a disposition to per form upon France the same operation which they have performed upon the new Church of St. Ge nevieve—that is to exercise the spirit of the Re volution—to obliterate the revolutionary em blems ; in fact, to purify the nation of the " desecration " which it has undergone during the last thirty years, and re -consecrate the Monarchy into what it was under Louis the XI Vth and XVtli. The impossibility of this undertaking does not strike them. The inordi nate expectations and attempts of the Jacobites in this country, even so late as the reign of George the Second, prove how impossible it is to open the eyes of a faction to its own weakness. It is not only the extravagance of the attempt, but the clumsiness of the means, that surprises one in this case. They were not long in office when it ap. peared, from the language of their partisans in the Chamber, that the French Charter was a thing which they merely endured for the moment, because they could not conveniently get rid of it. It was not alone respecting public liberty that an alarm was created. The acquirers of what is called national property felt uneasy in their possessions. It was found that the ancient proprietors, or agents in their names, were travers ing the departrnwts, and endeavourint , to dis cover cases of revolutionary sale, in which the purchaser, from his own neglect, or the confusion of the times, could not duly produce his title from the municipal records. In one town in the South an association of this kind was formed, under the demi-sanction of the Ministers, to con tribute and procure subscriptions for the purpose of prosecuting ancient claims of this kind. [MORNING POST.] Paris Papers to the 11th inst. arrived yester day. The intelligence is altogether of a more pleasing nature than that we have lately been in the habit of receiving from France. The capital, we are happy to find, was perfectly tranquil on Sunday; and, according to an article in the Moniteur, no further attempt has been made in the provinces to disturb the public tranquillity. Many of the rebels have been taken, and active search is making for those who effected their es cape. Thus, it has been fairly enough observed, if these events have shewn the madness and the fury of the factious, they have also proved the excellent disposition and fidelity of the troops. There does not appear to have been any tumul tuous assemblage whatever at Paris on Saturday. The Journal des Debuts accounts for this by ob serving that the severe lesson which the mal contents received the day before in the Jardin des Plantes had intimidated those who otherwise might have wished to imitate them. Indepen dently of those who were arrested in the Jardin des Plantes, the number of whom some accounts carry as high as 157, they brought to the Pre fecture of Police about 80 persons, whom they ar rested on the Place Vendome, where they were uttering seditious cries. The total number of per sons arrested, therefore, exceeded 230, of whom 135 were detained in custody next morning, most of them in the Conciergerie. Precautions were taken on Saturday morning at the schools to pre vent tumult and disorder. None were suffered to enter but those who produced Students' tickets ; and all canes, umbrellas, and sticks were obliged to be left at the gates. The lec tures accordingly went off with the greatest order. The religious exercises of the Missionaries were suspended on Saturday evening, that day being set apart for auricular confession. Great num bers of the faithful presented themselves at the Tribunals of Penitence, in the three parishes of Petits Peres, St. Eustache, and Bonne Nouvelle, but at neither of them was there the last disturb ance. Four Students of Law, and one of Me dicine, have been excluded from the Academy of Paris, by a decree of that body, for two years, as having been concerned in the late to mults. 0 n Tuesday his MAJESTY'S cruizer, Royal Charlotte, J. HENDERSON commanding, arrived in Leith Roads from Shetland, having on board 23 men belonging to a smuggling cutter (sup posed to be the Earl Spencer) which was com pletely wrecked off that coast on the 7th ult.— Previous to her getting on shore, she had on board 900 tubs of spirits, and a quantity of to bacco ; 400 of the tubs were salved by Mr. STRONG of Bigtown, but the natives imme diately afterwards carried off from his cus tody about 260 tubs ; the remainder, 140, were seized by the officers of Customs there ; at the time the vessel came on shore, she had on board 25 persons, one of whom, supposed to be the master, is now missing, but suspected to have secreted himself in the islands, and one was drowned. The remainder of the crew were re gularly committed by the Justices of the Peace, and have accordingly been sent on board the Dover flag ship. The mail from Lerwick was brought by the Royal Charlotte.—(Edinbur g h Courant, March 11.) The schooner Sally and Ann, of Dumfries, while lying at Kipford, Water of Urr, under going some trifling repairs, caught fire on the night of Thursday last, and was literally burnt to ashes, with almost the whole of her materials. The following instance of the sagacity of the dog is communicated to us by a correspondent : —On Wednesday last, at three o'clock in the afternoon, a white-spotted fox-hound being on board the Minerva, for New South Wales, now lying in Leith harbour, the property of a young gentleman, a passenger, leaped out of the hands of its keeper, and on Thursday morn ing arrived at the house of its former master, Mr. KYLE of Broadly, in Liddesdale, precisely at five o'clock. The distance from the harbour to Broadly, by.the turnpike road, is upwards of 70 ruiles.—(Kelso Mail.) FOR THE SUN. AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS. MR. EDITOR—As you have had the goodness to give place in your valuable Paper of the 26th ult. to certain thoughts of mine on the subject of the present distresses of the Country, I beg leave to trespass further on your indulgence with the fol lowing suggestions, to which you will greatly oblige me by assigning a column or two at your first convenience : It is a matter of equal astonishment and con cern to every reflecting mind that casts a thought on the subject, that an enlightened and well in tentioned Government should be unable to dis cover the causes of the present very general dis tresses of the kingdom,and to apply some adequate remedy. It is most clearly within their reach, but they seem to bewilder themselves in the as signment of false causes, and it is perfectly evi dent that to any evil no remedy can be applied till its causes are fully ascertained and attended to. The Earl of Liverpool, than whom a more enlightened, benevolent, and well intentioned Statesman, possessing a larger view of things, or better inclined to relieve the present pressures, so feelingly and justly complained of throughout the kingdom, is not to be found in Europe, has unfortunately, in this instance, at least in the opinion of the writer, taken an erroneous view of things, and stedfastly acting upon it, given no hope of satisfactory relief, but joined with his coadjutors in the councils of the state in propos ing remedies wholly inadequate to the pressures complained of, and likely on the whole to pro duce more evil than good. The reduction of a shilling in the Malt duties, whilst it tends very materially to cripple the revenue, is of little or no advantage to the agriculturist, the value of whose produce it will not increase one sixpence per bushel ; and in fact to whom it will prove no relief at all, any more than was effected last year by taking off the tax on horses. The advance of 3 or 4 millions to parishes in aid of their poors' rates the writer does not well understand, but what he does appears to him to be impracticable, and, if attempted, more likely to injure than re lieve. The only possible application that could be made of such advances, with any prospect of utility, would be the purchase of grain at certain prices, warehousing it, and afterwards selling without material loss. This would furnish an immediate market for grain in hand, and cause a little stir in Mark-lane ; but the writer conceives that very substantial objections might be raised to such a plan, nor is it one to which almost under any modifications he would bring himself to give his unqualified assent. These two remedies then failing, what remains but hopeless and intermin able distress, if we do not take the bull by the horns, ascertain with precision the causes of the mischiefs we complain of, and endeavour to sup ply some more adequate remedies than those above suggested ? The Noble Earl above men tioned has stated that demand and supply ne cessarily attend on each other; when one prepon derates in the scale, the other kicks the beam, and vice versa, when the supply exceeds the de mand, prices necessarily fall, and, when the con trary, as necessarily rise : no truism was ever more correct, no proposition in Euclid more evi dent, and less requiring elaborate demonstration. But in the present instance how are the facts to which this principle is applied in any manner proved ; and without such proof do not all con clusions drawn from such premises fall to the ground ? First, as to demand, what reasons are there for supposing, that with an increased and increasing population, and with depreciated prices too, that the demand can in any way be diminish ed ? Do not men consume as much as formerly, and are they not rather tempted by a de crease of price to consume or waste rather more than heretofore ? Upon what ground then can the demand be stated as diminished ? Next, as to supply, our last harvest may fairly be stated as rather below than above an ave rage crop ; very little grain was got in pre vious to the rains that fell in almost constant succession during the whole of the autumn, so that a considerable part of the grain grew in sheaf upon the ground; and what was ultimately saved was in too cold and moist a state for the meal men, who were the almost sole customers ; without then any previous stock of grain in the kingdom, where was the excess of supply to come from, and how could it enter into any great statesman's calculation ? That it did so, how ever, is evident and avowed ; and upon that prin ciple alone has the Noble Earl built his argu ment of demand and supply, and stated his assu rance that when they were equalized, things would come round and find their natural level, than which, in the writer's humble opinion, no thing was ever more unfounded or improbable. If half the arable lands of the kingdom, it is true, are left untilled, the same demand continuing, and the supply diminishing, prices would necessarily rise ; but is that the level to be sought or wished for, at the loss of one moiety of the agricultural produce of the country ? 'What becomes of the landlord or tenant whilst the attainment of a level of this description is in process ? What rents are to be paid or what produce to be ob tained from uncultivated lands; and must one moiety of this gre,at agricultural country lie en friche whilst that level is obtaining ? The mind of every thinking man must revolt at the remedy, as much as he deplores the circumstances that are stated as compelling it, and perceive at once that the country is doomed to irretrievable ruin if some effectual remedies are not almost imme diately resorted to. Little more than a year ago prices ran low, but the farmer got something worth receiving for his produce. What reached from fifteen to seventeen pounds per load of five quarters and other grain in proportion; but since that time those prices have been dwindled to nothing, and eight and nine pounds per load be comes the highest price at market; and even that in very scanty proportions, so that many farmers cannot sell at any price, but are compelled to take back their produce, or leave it in the market for absolutely nothing. For th,s the sudden and premature change of currency ) by which every contract, public and private, in the kingdom, has been at once substantially altered, is alone accountable, and every landed posses. sion in the country placed at the mercy of the mortgagees and tax-gatherers. Every million raised, every tax imposed, every salary and pen. sion granted, every obligation, public and private, contracted under one currency, are now to be paid under another of a much higher descrip tion ; and whilst the agriculturist is compelled to sell his produce at any price offered for it, the fundholder, the pensioner, the salaried of ficer under Government, not only derives a larger income from this change of currency, but is enabled to purchase all the necessaries and com forts of life, not only through his possession of a substantially larger income, which in fact he has, but because even with the same income he would be enabled to purchase twice as much as he did before, so that the candle both with him and the wretched agriculturist may be truly said to be lighted at both ends ; but in an inverse ratio, the former enabled to live twice as well as he did before, but the other reduced to nothing. Such palpable injustice, attended with such dreadful consequences, was never yet the portion of any civilized country, nor can be long main tained without the most distressing complaints from one extremity of the kingdom to the other; or perhaps without even something worse. The cause of these evils „being, as the writer con ceives, thus once clearly ascertained, the remedy is palpable and easy, equally just in principle las facile in execution. Let but Government at I once confess its error, and retread its steps in the premature change of currency, by rescinding at once that deleterious though unanimous vote, and establish that currency which has supported the cre dit of this great country through all its wars and all its difficulties, till commerce shall have been re stored to its usual channels, and paper rendered in all respects equal to the precious metals, and all the mischiefs deriving from that source are at once done away, and the great interests of the Country fairly balanced on all sides ; then, and then only, can the currency with any degree of safety, on any principle of common justice, be again changed ; and in the writer's humble opi nion it is little short of absolute madness earlier to adopt that decided measure. Were it neces sary to state more strongly the fatal consequences of an earlier adoption of that deleterious mea sure, let the Bank issues speak for themselves; their amount within no great space of time past was from 25 to 30 millions ; now, they are re duced to 18; and if they are subjected to further reduction, prices would absolutely fall to nothing, as there would be no money in the kingdom to purchase any thing. All credit being done away, and no residue left but the metallic coin of the country, which would not suffice for the payment of a single year's taxes. To render what has been said above complete for the satisfaction not only of the Agriculturist, but every other order of the State, the writer would propose an addi tional measure fully adequate to all purposes of general accommodation ; and that is, the taking off the stamp duties on all notes and bills is. suable by private bankers, which would enable them to accommodate farmers as heretofore, with loans on the security of their crops and produce general satisfaction. At present these stamps nearly, if not quite, equalize the interest receiv. able on the issue, and effectually do away all the advantages derivable from such plans. This of course will cause a certain defalcation of reve nue; and it were to have been wished that it had been substituted for the proposed reduction on the Malt Tax; but as the latter has been decided and in part acted upon, the revenue must submit to that loss, though without any material benefit to the landed interest of the country. But as it is stated that there is a surplus revenue of more than five millions, so much of -it may yet be spared for appropriation to the salutary mea sure suggested, which would at once stop all fur ther matter of just complaint, and place things upon the very best ground of which they are susceptible. Within a month of the adoption of these measures, the writer would engage his whole fortune, nay his life, if necessary, on the event, that not a single justly founded complaint would be heard from one extremity of the king dom to the other; for the landlord restored to his rents, and the farmer to his means, not merely of subsistence, but comfort, not a single bona fide sufferer would be left in it. The funded creditor would be the party most aggrieved; bu his complaints would be without the smalles pretence of justice; he would then have his in terest paid in the currency in which it was ad vanced, and by the rise of prices, without which the landholder cannot exist, he would pay some thing more for the necessaries and comforts of subsistence, but not more than was taken into account when he lent his money, the whole ad vantages of which advance he would possess in their fullest extent. If the Government, in de fiance of all that can be justly urged to the con trary, determine to persist in their present ruinous system, eternal justice demands that a correct calculation should be made of the differ. ences between one state of currency and the other. Every million advanced, every tax im posed, every salary or pension granted or in creased, must be reduced to their fair original standard, with the substitution of one currency for another. Every contract, public or private, should be so adjusted that the borrower pay no more, and the lender receive no more, than was agreed for when their contracts were entered into. Any thing short of this is palpable injus tice, and cannot be fairly or honourably autho rized by any Government on earth. Before the writer concludes, he wishes to add a few words on the subject of the Corn Laws, which certainly require new regulations to be rendered satisfactory to the agriculturist, or just to the consumer. It is known to every dealer in that commodity, that the best wheat can be shipped at Odessa, at some of the debaucht';s of the Polish markets, at 2s. 6d. per bushel; it is likewise equally known that it can be transported from thence to Mark-lane at Is. 6d., making in the whole 4s. How then is it possible for an agri culturist, who cannot raise his crop with profit under 10s., to compete with other nations under such very different predicaments ? Your grain must be supported in your home market against all such rivalship, or your agriculture be at once ruined. But the question remains as to the mode and quantum of import necessary, which has not been sufficiently provided for by the existing laws. True it is, that our ports cannot be opened till our wheat is at 80s., and none has been im ported, or at least brought to market, for these two years past. But the imports deposited in our warehouses have a very considerable effect on the markets; and were the grain now in store to the amount, as is said, of from 11- million to 2 millions sterling, wholly done away, prices would imme diately rise, and things be left to their natural course. Besides, what can be more prejudicial to the supply of any one commodity than a fluc tuating market, a necessary consequence of the present system ? for, were the ports opened to morrow, by the next market day a great propor tion of these warehoused stores would be at once forced into the market, and immediately lower prices from 80s. to 60 or 505., or even lower.— Warehousing is a matter of considerable expence, and grain naturally suffers by long keeping, so that to avoid greater loss the importers would bring their stores to market, as soon as possible, • at any prices they could obtain for them, short of total loss. The sole remedies applicable to this. injurious state of things would be the total shut ting of the ports against all imported grain, and indeed extended to provisions of whatever kind, and only opened by the order of the King in Council, upon any emergency, such as the ap pearance of dearth, or the rise of price beyond the ability of the consumer to pay. It has been said, that Mr. W T EBB HALL and others, who have joined with the writer in advocating these mea sures, are short-sighted politicians, who, looking only at one side of a question, wholly lose sight of the other. They say, if you do not take the commodities of other countries, how do you expect that they will trade with you and receive your's ? The answer to which is, in the writer's humble opinion, very short but fully to the purpose : If Russia, from its Port of Odessa, or Poland from the various debauches of its grain-markets, can send you nothing in return but grain, which you do not want, and only serves to overload your markets with what you can much better furnish yourselves by a proper application of your own capital, and the labour of your own people, it would be much better to keep your manufac tures at home, or fora time desist from producing them, than to engage in so losing a trade, by which you actually exchange those manufactures for commodity which you do not want, And from which the commodity derives rather injury than benefit. If the shutting of your ports, subject to the above-mentioned regulations, should be deemed imprudent, the sole remaining mode of remedy ing the mischief of ruinous importation must be, the laying on such duties on imported grain and provisions as would equalize the prices at which you can afford to sell your own.-40s. per quarter on 'wheat, and other grain in proportion, has been talked of, and probably could not be beyond the mark, certainly not far beyond it. It may ap pear intrusive and imprudent in the writer, who considers himself as a mere fiy on the chariot wheel of the State, as was said in a former Paper, inca pable of accelerating or retarding its progress, to intrude his sentiments on the public notice ; yet he takes the freedom of referring what he has further said on the article of currency to the co lumns of your valuable Paper of the 26th ult., con firming and explaining more fully what he has said here. He is but too fully sensible that his own personal consequence can give no additional weight to his statements, or the conclusions drawn from them. His only demand or wish is, that they may have a due consideration with the public, and those who govern its Councils ; he asks and expects no more. Valeant quantum valere possunt et debent constitutes the whole desire or expectation of, Sir, Your obliged humble Servant, J. S. The Bury Paper, alluding to the late riotous proceedings in Norfolk and Suffolk, says—" The prompt measures resorted to have been efficacious in putting an end to occurrences so disgraceful." METEOROLOGICAL JOURNAL. BY R. BANKS. PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER. Thermometer. 1 I Weather. I co 'z' t e I 2: ? q ,. ' 5' . . ;-- : ,r . b. ~.3 . • I . 4 7 . a •'' I V Marchica o "eh" Fair Fair 1 37 40 4 6 36 30.25 2 40 43 52 88 .30 Do. Do. 3 47 46 52 41 .30 Do. Do. 4 5 , 4 1. 4 . . 0 9 0 5 .2 3 4 4 , 5 29 .. 9 1 3 2 .17 80 0 . D . R. 6 .50 46 54 43 .56 .03 Ram Cloudy 7 45 42 50 36 .M Fair Fair inch of I weather rain ' gen has : faller] ly. the pre !ceding w• hundredtl eek, and I COAL-MARKET, Mmtoi 13. Ships at M ar k et . Ships sold 31i Newcastle - - 22 tti Sunderland - - 8+ BIRTH. tbs of an , boisterous- R. B. Price. 323 Od to 41s 9d` 33s 9d to 43s Od On Tuesday, the 12th inst., in Queen Anne-street, the Lady of Major Chetwynd Stapylton, 10th Royal Hussars, of a son. MARRIED. On Tuesday morning, the 12th inst., at St. Mary's Church, Islington, David Stow, Esq., of Glasgow, to Marion Sarah Freebairn, daughter of the late John Freebairn, Esq., of Cole brook-row. In London, on Saturday Ia D st, IED the Rev. E. D. Clarke, LLD: Professor of Mineralogy in Cambridge University. His learning is well known to the world • his private virtues, and zeal for the prosperity of his place of education will ever ren d er hi s memory dear to the University. His remains will be interred in the Chapel of Jesus College on Friday next. On the 4th current, at Bowerhouses, Scotland, the Reverend Doctor Patrick Carfrae, in the 81st year of his age, having been 55 years a Minister. On Tuesday morning, Celia, the wife of Mr. Anthony Dent, of the Grove-road, Hackney. At Spring-grove, on Sunday, the 18th inst., Thomas Brett, Esq. in the 65th year of his age. Printed and Published, for the PROPRIETORS, at the SUN.. OFFICE, 112, Strand, by J. B.,CARSTAIRS.