The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-07 00:00:00

Oramso.

MAI LS.
The overland clewed mails, rim Marseilles, to the Mediterranean,
Egypt. Aden, Co don, India, !long-Kong, Sc., will be made up on the
evening of the 7th october abia day',.
The Wept India Inniis, exeltelivog Nate for Mexico, Ilonduraa, and
Havana, wiU be made top on the uturning of the 17th October.
The mail[ for British North Americi, and the United States, will
be made up on the evening of the lith October.
Thl overland mails for tai!waltar, Mahn, Greece,
the lonian island*,
Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, (tong-Bong, and China, ria &mkt:inapt/AL
will be made up on the morning of the 2011 October.
The mails for New South Wale., Van DieuuMa Land, will be made
up on the 31st October.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
We cannot notice, in any way, any communication that ta Rent to 118
anoliymoudy ; but this.* who chocac to addrefin car in confidence will
hill] their confidence reapectcd. NEITIIEitCAN WE UNDERTAKE
TO ILET URN ANT MANUSCRIPTS WHATEVER.
• Advertiactuenta intended fur Ihe Er pees. tuuot be at the Office by
Two o'clock on the day etpublication.

UIGH WATER AT WNDON•BRIDGE
Tall DAY. Manes& 3 me. pet 3; Alternate, 23 min. pest 3.
To.nottow.—llerning, 44 e• past 3; Afternoon, 3 luta. past 4.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, OCT. 7.
Is the ensuing winter we shall have to look to
ourselves as well as to Ireland. Through the six
weeks ending Sept 29, the averages have regularly
risen, from 435. 11d. to 535. Id. per quarter fur wheat.
The threatened influx upon the markets of foreign
corn in bond, combined with the supply after harvest
of home produce, have left a result directly the reverse
of that predicted by the Protectionists. I'riccs are
still looking up. The potato failure appears to be
nearly as general in this country as in Ireland. In
Pry nee, incendiary fires are the herald beacons of
ildvant..ng scarcity. In the metropolis, a halfpenny is
I,;:f.e of the four pound loaf. The Con-
added
to ti•. 9
fulcra allows no syn;;ltoms of the practicability of
enlarged importation. And We are paying a dying
protective duty of Bs. per quarter on all foreign wheat
released from bond, of which the stock is now by no
means ample. The prospect is not to be contemplated
without some anxiety.
Were it necessary again to slay the slain, we might
Out to this elate ef thin" as csiecinir the utter fal-
lacy on which the Corn-laws were founded. A sup-
ply of food independent of the foreigner, was the
promise of those laws thirty years ago; renewed
every time they were debated up to the very last.
Throughout that long period, ample opportunity for
experiment, they have never stimulated agriculture
to produce sufficient food for the population ; and
they expire, leaving the horrors of scarcity impend-
ing over the whole extent of the British isles. A more
miserable failure is not to be found in history.
An entire generation of human beings has been
taxed and pinched to nu purpose. Selfish legislators,
ignorant politicians, and complying statesmen, gave
the corn monopoly almost the third of a century to
make good its boast of independence ; and not one
step nearer has it brought us on the way. It was
quite time for the disastrous trial to terminate. The
delay of another session on the part of Sir ROBERT
PEEL, would have been fraught with miseries which
it is fearful only to imagine.
Where is the ruinous abundanee, of which we were
told in the spring by Lord G. BENTINCK, Mr. MILES,
and Mr. DisRAELI ? A deluge of food flowed in
their speeches; but the mirage has vanished. They
arc shamed every way. Neither are the people over-
fed, nor the fanners ruined. To con over their own
speeches would bring blushes on a " front of brass,"
were it endowed with consciousness. Monopoly
had a long experiment ; a short one suffices to settle
their claims to statesmanship. Every pretension is
demolished in this interval between their first and
second session as a party.
But they made one declaration which may as well
not be forgotten. It suits them now to recognise the
fact of scarcity, that they may present themselves
before the farmers with some explanation of the
falsification of their arguments by the present price
of corn. Up to the time when their pleadings were
thus demolished, they denied the fact. Strenuous in
that denial, they yet announced hypothetically what
they would have consented to, supposing it estab-
lished. Lord G. BENTINCK would not have ob-
jected to open the ports had it been necessary.
In the debate of the 27th of February he
answered, not only for himself but for " his
honourable friends around him," and their " perfect
readiness." By his own showing, the necessity is
close at hand, if not already come. 1 lis present
doctrine is, that the depressing action of the new law
upon prices is defeated and reversed by the in-
fluence of scarcity. The argument requires that the
scarcity should be more severe in his own estimation,
than in their's who take a different view of the ten-
dency of Sir lionenr PEEL'S measures ; and he
avowedly regards it as so awful, that it evidences an
avenging interposition of Divine Providence. Now,
then, is the time for the " perfect readiness" to show
itself. For the next five weeks every quarter
of wheat pays Ss. duty. lip to lust week,
it paid 10s. duty. The country holds Lord GEORGE
BENTTSCK'S pledge, in his own name and that
of his party. If they be not as false to the
people as they say Sir ROBERT PEEL was to his
followers, they are for opening the ports. There is
no escape for them. The assertion of the pressure is
the basis of their operations now, as its denial was
during the session. As politicians, they live on its
reality and extent. They stand or fall with the
approach of famine. The hypothesis has become an
admitted actuality. Providence has fulfilled the con-
dition, and we claim their bond.
Apart, however, from all consideration of the
BENTINCK party and its consistency, the question is
one to be put very earnestly, whether it be fitting
that the national supply of food should continue to
be taxed till February, 1849 ? Ought an Bs. duty to
be levied at this moment? Ought the 4s. duty to
be levied when the price rises higher, as
rise it must ? With the prospects before us,
does not the importation of food demand a bounty
rather than a tax? At any rate, is not its free ad-
mission a most reasonable, just, and humane require-
ment? We believe the Government would be secure
of public approval, support, and gratitude, in the
measure originally contemplated by Sir ROBERT
PEEL eleven months ago. Wore the ports opened by
an Order in Council they would earn, not only a bill
of indemnity from Parliament, but the heartfelt
thanks atd confidence of the country.
This is not simply an Irish question. England
will feed Ireland; but who is to feed the feeders?
The public money which will cross the Channel for
public works, does not drop from the clouds. No
small portion of it comes from those who feel an
eighth of a penny in the cost of a pound of bread, a
palpable diminution of their scanty means. Taxation
cuts off a slice of their loaf for Ireland; it would well
become agricultural Protection to forego its claim for
another slice. The principle of the bread-tax is re-
pudiated. Its date is determined. The protected can