The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-06-28 00:00:00

(From the Pilule•.)

PARIS, JUNE 24.

We lcurn by way of Marseilles that the humane intentions of M.
Kynard are very aucassful. A great many slaves have bean ran-
somed, and among them, it Is said, is a son of Doturis. During
the course of the sermons which the Abbe Guijon has just preached
at Tou'ouse, a great quan,ity of philosophical books, several col-
lections of the works of Voltaire and Rousseau, and other works of
Me 18th century, were brought to him. On time day of the departure
of the Missionaries from that city, all these works, to the number
of above five liund7cd, and consequently forming a large number of
rolutnes, were given up to the fl oriel in the presence of a great
many perboro, in :he house in which the Abbe Guijm lodged.
it is thought that the inquiry before the Court of Peers will be
_•r.ded next month, and that the Chamber will be then immediately
orvuke:l as a Court of Justice.

The King of Bavaria arrived at .!llunich on the lilth in the even-
:ng. on his return from Italy. The whole population, preceded by
ltG3 al Family, went to meet his Majesty. In the evening there
nas a general illumination, and the next day his Majesty laid the
rir3t stunt tn. a new wing to the Royal Palace.

There were several points which came into discussion
during the Elections, on which we did not fed inclined to
touch at that time, because, though already satisfied in our
own minds, we thought it more advisable to watch public
opinion in such cases, than to attempt to direct it. The
public opinion has now manifested itstlf sufficiently to ob-
slate the necessity of any further reserve ; the people
have pronounced themselves decidedly as being favourable
to a liberal system of policy ; they have spewed themselves
too enlightened to be led astray by the obsolete prejudices of
our grandfathers ; and on the other hand, they have shewn,
by the choice which they have made of their Representa-
tives, that they are not disposed to give their support to
mete projectors in politics. The tone which was in
most cases assumed by the successful Candidates, was in
exact conformity with the sentiments of their constituents.
line exception to the liberality of opinion which occurred
Turin;, the course of the elections, we are compelled to
:Lake, on account of the respectability of the quarter from
which the opinions emanated. Mr. GLADSTONE, in ilk
speech at the Berwick election, observed that " there were'.
two public topics, of importance to the State, which fre- '
•inently formed the subject of discussion in the last Parlia-
ment. Upon these," he continued, " I wish to say a few'
words, as the interests of this borough arc intimately con-
nected with them. The first is the Corn Laws. That ques-
tion, the most important that has lately been agitated, nearly
r,,ricerns this port—Berwick being the outlet of a great
arienltural country. It is therefore the more incumbent
upon me to state my views—they arc these : I will never

advocate a free trade in foreign corn, subject to any duty '
whatever, for I am convinced such a nicaistre can never
be either wise or politic. lam ready to grant, however,
that some arrangement should if possible he made, but
that must be cautiously and wavily gone about. Rut
if we grow a sufficient quantity of corn of ourselves for
home consumption, it is worse than absurd to admit foreign
supplies. To this I must add, that the agricultural interest
ought to be protected ; for upon It the prosperity, the pre-
servation of the empire depends. The second topic, in
which you are also interested, is the Navigation Laws.
Upon tl.is subject I am free to confess that I am by no
means satisfied with the recent measures which have ob-
tained the sanction of the Legislature. As vessels can be
built abroad at one-half the cost of this country, and as
the wages of seamen and the price of provisions there are
two-thirds lower than in this island, it is dangerous to put
foreign nations upon a perfect equality with ourselves; for
with these, and other advantages of a similar nature, it is
impossible for us to compete with them. Ire ought, in our
arrangements with Foreign Powers, to secure or reserve to
ourselves some equivalent, before we submit to the system
of reciprocity so warmly advocated by some parties."

We are not inclimel to criticize very rigidly the opinions
that are promulgated by Candidates at an election, either
on the hustings or at the convivial meetings that follow in
the train of a contest; but still we cannot !A silent when
men of the calibre of Mr. GLADSTONr. put forth doctrines
that to us appear so fundamentally erroneous. Mr. GLAD..
PTOE es station as a merchant—his experience as a Mem-
ber of Parliament, in sessions that have been prolific in
important discussions relative to the commerce of the
country—the knowledge he carried into Parliament on all
matters relating to trade, render his observations, even
during the ferment of an election, upon a subject of this
nature, too important to be passed over without some at-
tention.

We shall not make any further observations on the Na-
vigation Laws, having already repeatedly directed the
attention of our readers to that %object. We shall confine
our remarks to the Corn Laws, the abolition of which Mr.
GLADSTONE so strenuously opposes. We will not attempt !
to deny that some private and local interests would be i
compromised by the abolition of these laws; we will not I
be so hardy as to deny that the agricultural interest
of so much importance as to require every sacrifice to be
made in support of it—except one—the sacrifice of the
country itself ; we allow that it is a most prejudicial cir-
cumstance for any country to be dependent on another for
its supplies of the necessaries of life. We grant all that
can be required by the advocates of the Corn Laws, in the I
shape of data, for determining the most important problem.
We ask only one question—What do the agriculturists re-
quire? Whatever terms we use, their real demand is that
they should be enabled, by the exclusion of foreign com-
petition, to make their own prices ; that thefahould levy a
tax on all their countrymen ; that the manufacturers and
growers who supply them with all other necessaries besides
corn, should be eompelled to purchase it at a dear rate,
and therefore be forced to demand a high price for their
manufactures. The fact is, that the high price of corn does
not benefit the agriculturist or the landowner. A low
price produces distress among such farmers as have en-
gaged to pay high rents, because they then pay more than
the due proportion of rent to produce; but a diminution
of rents does not in reality abridge the means of a land-
lord to procure all the conveniences and luxuries of life—
if that dimnution does not exceed the due proportion above
mentiorted. This will appear by observing, in detail, the
effect of high prices. When prices are high, the farmer
receives a great deal of gold ; but that gold is of no value
to him, but as a means of procuring such articles as he
does not himself produce. Now nothing can be more clear
than that other goods must increase in pricc in proportion
as corn increases, and not only such goods as are raised
and manufactured at home, but such as arc imported from
foreign countries; because seamen's labour must always
increase in price as other torts of labour increase, from the
principle of equilibrium which pervades the whole system
of political economy. This shears, we think clearly, that
there is no real gain to be derived from high prices. It is
true that other goods do not immediately fall to the proper
level of corn in the same way as rents do—not immediately
fall to the kva of prices, and lunce the temporary distress
which would he consequent on an immediate and sudden
introduction of foreign grain; but by a gradual process in
admitting foreign corn, the transition may be smoothed,
the pricer may have time to fall into an equilibrium, and
the only difference which would then arise from the change
would be, that landowners would have to receive fewer
sovereigns, but would also have fewer to pay. Corn, it
must be observed, is not the only produce of the
land, and the grower of hops has just as much reason
to complain of the grower of corn as the manufac-
turer has. The raising of the price of corn operates, in
fact, against the grower himself, for he is himself a large
consumer, and of course all that he consumes is to be
deducted at the high price from the proceeds of his sales.
Ali other produce of the ground, as we have stated before,
must be increased in price, in proportion to corn, because
no one would cultivate any other species of produce which
would produce a less profitable return ; consequently all
the produce of the farmer's own ground, or of other parts
of this country, which he or his family consumes, must in
like manlier be deducted at the high rate from the attlouitt
of his sales. We can compare the effect of the gradual
rise of prices to nothing more properly than to the conti-
nual increase of the ages of half a dozen persons. They
all increase equally ; their relative ages continue the same;
and it would be as ridiculous to say that the corn dealer
gained any thing in point of comfort or luxury by high
prices, as to assert that one of these half dozen persons
could possibly outstrip the others in age, and become older
than those who were formerly older than he was. There
is only one difference in both cases—all get older together
so under our present system all commodities increase in
price together. No one is benefited relatively to another,
but the whole is injured relatively to foreign countries by
this general enhancement of goods, as compared with the
standard of value.

CITY, TUESDAY EVENING.

Rumours of various descriptions, all bearing a gloomy aspect,
were very freely circulated this morning, which had the effect of
lowering Consols a quarter per cent. They opened at 79,1, de.
dined to 79i, and closed at 791, buyers. There was no cause for
this decline whatever, beyond the too easy credence given to those
rumours, which bad been created for Stock Jobbing purposes ; for
the accounts from the manufacturing districts were not of the un-
favourable *raver which had been so industriously circulated.
There cofiffnues to be considerable agitation in the Foreign Mar-
ket, and some anxiety for the settling-day, which takes place this
week. Mexican have fluctuated from 55 to 534; Colombian from
37 to 3ili. Brazilian Stock, it was expected, would fall consider.
ably on the report of Insurrections in the northern provinces. The
only price is 55 ; it was previously 56, 57. ltuaiian la 80 ; Cheek,
141.
Mazes 'continuo nearly unsaleable.

THE BRITISH ..PRESS.

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