The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-11 00:00:00

Just ready, price 125., the FOURTH VOLUME of
THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH'S
WORKS.
London : Longman, Orme, and Co.
Of whom may bo had,
The First Three Volumes, 36s- sloth, lettered.

THEATRE ROYAL COVENT GARDEN.
UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF MADAME
VESTRIS.
THIS EVENING, DEC. 11, 1339,
Will be repeated the New Original Play, in Five Acts, written
loy James Sheridan Knowles, called
LOVE.
Duke of (.rinthia, Mr. Cooper ; Sir Rupert of Loreh, Mr.
1. Vinin¢ ; Htion. Mr. Anderson ; the Csuntes4A of Eppen-
stein, Miss Ellen Tree ; Katherine, Madame Vestris.

After which,
THE BEGGAR'S OPERA.
Captain Matheath, Mr. W. Harrison ; Peachum, Mr. W.
Farren ; Leckit, Mr. Bartley ; Filch, Mr. Harlev ; Mrs.
Pearhurn, Mrs. C. Jones; Polly Peacharn, Miss Rainforth;
Lucy Lockit, Madame Vestris.

To-morrow, The Rivals, with Artaxerxes.
Dress Boxes, 7s; Second Price, as. 6d. ; First and Second
Circles, is. ; Seeend ?rim is. 6d. ; Pit, 3s. ; Second Price,
f's.; Gallery, Is.
Deers t• be opened at half-past Six—the performances t•
eettmettue at Seven o'Cloek.
Tieltets and places for the Boxes to be taken of Mr. Netter,
at tie Box-office, from Ten till Four, where Season Tickets
MAC be had upon application.
Private Boxes to be had solely of Mr. Andrews, bookseller,
167, New Bond-street.

ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.
Ainsworth's original and extraordinary Drama of " Jack Shep-
pard " still maintains its supremacy; 130,000 persons have
witne.sed its representation, and the nightly overflows have
eenfirrtred its popularity. It will be acted every Evening.
THIS EVENING, DEC. 10,
Will be mace!, Ainsworth's celebrated Drama of
JACK SHEPPARD.
Illustrating all Crnikshanks' inimitable Tableaux Vivant.
Characters by Messrs. Saville, Dale, Heslop, Laws, Smith,
Ross, Neville; Mrs. Vining, Mrs. Daly, Miss Martin, Miss
Grant Mrs. Laws, &c.

After which, a Comic Burletta called
A DEAD SHOT.
To conclude with,
THE TWO PAGES OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.
Frederick the Great, Mr. Dale ; Phelps, Mr. Neville ;
Augustus, Mrs. H. Vining ; Theodore, Miss Martin.

H!41I-NN ATER Al LONDON BRIDGE TO. ,1011110 W.
71.") n.tnute4 after 5 t Evening l7 minutes atter 6

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LONDON :
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1839.

The Corn-laws are again causing no inconsider-
able commotion in the country. They are severely
attacked by the Liberal and defended by the Tory
Journals. 'We should seek in vain for a better test
either of the character of the Tories or the charac-
' ter of the laws. That the Herald, Post, Stand-
ard, Courier, and their colleagues, the consistent
patrons of civil oppression, and religious persecu-
tion, should zealously defend these laws, must sa-
tisfy every friend to good government that they are
inimical to the public welfare. When did any good
flow from Toryism ? Abroad and at home it is
allied with all that is oppressive and tyrannical,
Its friends abroad are Don CARLOS and
the exterminator of the Poles. Its peculiar
Mends at home are firebrand parsons and soldiers
i offering their swards to cut down their fellow-coun-
trymen. It is another name for brutal coercion.
That these laws, appropriately named " Starvation
i Laws" and the " Devil's Laws," are defended by
the Tories, confirms the character the Tories have
long deserved. Such laws are appropriate
means by which that ruthless faction may attain
its had ends. We have, however, a growing, and a
Istrong hope, now that nearly the whole force of
the Tory press is enlisted on the side of these laws,
and now that their manifold evils are becoming so
glaring as to force themselves on the attention of
'' the most obtuse, that it will be impo,,,sible
' for the Legislature to resist this evidence, and im-
possible for it to persevere in its anti-national,
anti-social, revolutionary, and anarchical plan of
sacrificing, by a heavy bread-tax, the prosperity of
the many to the comparative aggrandisement of a
few. Thus, at a dinner given at Bolton to Mr.
PAtJLTON by the operatives, on Wednesday last,
Mr. AINSWORTH, M.P., said--
When he took a glance at the present state of the
country, he could not understand why any man should
feel careless or unconcerned regarding this great and
important question. Their factories were standing un-
employed, or only going half time ; their working men
were starving ; the monetary system was completely de-
ranged, and bankruptcy was impending over thousands.
All these evils sprung fram one source—the want of free
trade.—(Cheers.) Our manufacturers wanted a wider
market for their goods, and how could they obtain ths
unless they were willing to take the surplus produce of
other nations in exchange for our surplus manufactures.
Those words were cheered by men who felt their
truth, and in whose hearts they were deeply en-
graved. Will the landlords venture to continue
their ruinous oppression ? At the same meeting
Mr. PRENTICE gave the farmers this instructive
lesson :

But it was a gross mistake to suppose that farmers
would he injured by a repeal. The objection was a
landowner's fallacy to keep up their rents.—(Cheers.)
Since the Corn-law was passed, farming, so far from
being generally profitable, had been ruinous to
thousands ; and there were instances of six farmers in
succession being sold up on one farm.—( Hear, hear.)
He had lately put down from his own recollection the
names of eighty sons and daughters of farmers, all of
whom had grown up to manhood or womanhood, and of
these only eight were now connected with agriculture.
Of all that number, only four were farmers, and four
the wives of farmers. Nine-tenths of that progeny now
derived their living from trade. In this case, then, the
farmers had nine times more interest in the prosperity
of trade than they had in the prosperity of agriculture.
In fact an increase of hands in agriculture is so
slowly required, and only required in consequence
of the growth of towns and the extension of manu-
i factures, :hat to prevent the increase of manufac-
tures by a bread-tax, is to stop up those conduits
which carry off the surplus population from
rural districts, and prevent the farmers from pro-
viding for theirchikren in affluence and honour. The
Torics, however, offer an alternative, and recommend
the farmer to send his children to the backwoods of
i Upper Canada, or the arid plains, and convict po-
I pulation of New South Wales.
This, indeed, is not the only evidence that the
Corn-laws are injurious to the farmers. We have
frequently reminded them of their dependence on
the landowners, which is aggravated if not caused
by the Corn-laws. Those laws increase their rent
by the whole amount of the tax. The farmers
arc degraded into the agents of the landlords to
collect a hateful poll
tax' ; and when they cannot
get quite as much as the landlords demand, or they
covenant to give, then the landlords remit part of the
tax, and the tenants are filled with gratitude, servility,
goodness. Here
and awe at such condescending
is an example copied from an Evening Paper of
last night, Ly which it appears that
while the
farmers are assisting to strangle the manufacture's
they are drowning themselves :
,
The Earl of Mount Edgecumbe, through his alent
has informed his tenants that, in consequence of the late
bad harvest and failure of the crops, he intends to take
ofT 20 per cent. from all rents due at Michaelmas, and
to grant a further reduction of 10 per cent. at Lady-day.
Is there any other tradesman habitually depend-
ent on another man, who would not feel ashamed
and degraded by being in such a position
The way the Devil's Laws are now beginning to
affect the shopkeepers was thus described by Mr.
PRENTICE

Ilem go now into any woollen draper's or linen shop, or to any hosier's, or any shoemaker's,
husinegs is with the wording classes, and

MRS. TROLLOPE'S
"MICHAEL ARMSTRONG,"
COMPLETE.
In 3 vols., post Bvo., with all the Illustrations, by Hervieu,
Buss, &e.,
IS NOW READY AT ALL THE LIBRARIES.
Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.