The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-02 00:00:00

THE CORN-LAWS.

(From the Nuffield Independent.)
The present year is likely to supply us with another
and striking illustration of the operation of these laws.
The last harvest was deficient in quantity, and though
some of the corn was of bad quality, it was but a small
proportion. The averages, therefore, rose rapidly, and
foreign corn was soon admitted at the lowest duty.
Thus the country acquired food, though at an enor-
mous expence, with the additional inconvenience of em-
barrassing trade, by deranging the Exchanges, and al-
most exhausting the stock of gold in the Bank of Eng-
land. It seems probable that this year we may have a
harvest of average quat fey, but to avery great extent, of
bad quality. In most southern climes abroad the harvests
are remarkable both for abundance and excellence. In a
natural state of things, therefore, we sh. onld replace our
bad corn by importations of good foreign corn for hu-
man food, leaving the bad to be applied to inferior pur-
poses. But here the Corn-laws will interpose ; and as
they have, since last harvest, made bread dear, they
sill now compel us to eat it bad. There will; no doubt,
be enough of good corn for the use of those who can
afford to pay the highest price; but there will be so
much of inferior quality, that the average of price will
be kept low enough to exclude the importation of fo-
reign. The poor will then be compelled to use bad
and unwholesome flour, which will reduce their strength,
and render them the victims of disease and death by
thousands, while the bounteous gifts of Providence, de-
signed to supply our wants, locked up by our monopo-
lising landlords in foreign granaries, may rot there,
alike useless to their owners and to us.

(From the Corn Law Circular.)
If we have not indeed very signally misunderstood
the present position of affairs, there is a faction of the
belly that will soon outnumber all the rest ; and it has
its most eloquent of all orators, emptiness and famine,
that will shortly rob every other demagogue of his ad-
miring followers. If nothing else will bring the working
man to his senses, wby his stomach must e'en do it, and
if speedily it gripe him not out of all his speculative
wrongs, we shall begin to suspect that human nature is
incapable of discovering on which side its bread is but-
tered. The five points may do so long as men do not
know that they have mouths and appetites, but we mis-
take them if the rebellion of the flour sack be not more
than a match for that of constitution cobblers. Work-
ing men, listen to this, and answer when you hear :
" Sir,----I was lately visiting a large farmer in Che-
shire, who treated me to some very excellent brown
bread of domestic baking. Upon my begging him to
sell me a few bushels of the flour, he excused himself
on the plea that he had but a very small stock of last
year's growth on hand, and the present crop was all
spoiled. He took me into his corn fields, where the
wheat was standing in shocks, and pointed out the long
sprouts that grew like a green thatch upon them. I
thrust my hand into several of them, and found they
were as wet as dung to the centre. I asked the farmer
what he would do with this corn. His answer was
that he should thrash it out as soon as he could, and
send it to Manchester, where it would sell very well to
the working classes ! This anecdote will show the
Chatrists of this town the interest they have in the
Corn-laws ! Z."

Here's news for ye ! You are to eat—if the food
will stay on your stomachs. You shall have good
shrivelled, rotten, musty wheat. All that does not go
quite to dung shall be yours. Aye, and you shall get
it simply by paying for it 150 or 200 per cent. more
than the Yankees do for the very best. Yes, you that
toil and slave for all the rest—you that produce our
wealth, and make all our comforts—you that exhaust
your physical strength for us, and spend your days and
nights in unremitting toil—you shall have typhus spread-
ing, fever forming, stomach racking, foisonless flour. Let
us assure you of it; for we are assured that it will
" sell very well to the working classes." Spain has this
year a crop of the very finest quality, and a sur-
plus of several millions of quarters. You could
have it landed in England at 40s. a quarter ; but
such a sublunary affair is unworthy the attention of a
sound republican. The gripes are not a real grievance,
and the belly-ache is a trifle, in comparison to liberty
and equality. On the coast of the United States the
finest wheat costs only 4s. a bushel, and in the interior
it is as low as 2s. 6d., or only 20s. per quarter. But
what is that to Universal Suffrage and Annual Parlia-
ments ? Let them keep their wheat ; we can starve in
freedom, or at least in a very hopeless attempt to pro-
cure it. If we pay 10s. a bushel for alum, plaster of
Paris, ground bones, and rotten wheat, we have the satis-
factio❑ to know that we are not much further off the at-
tainment of the five points than when we began, and that
the landowners are made rich by the starvation of our-
selves and our children. Yes, the landowners,—these
men who are so much in love with the Charter that they
have volunteered to hang all its advocates who could be
presented for prosecution at Chester Assizes. Aye, and
they have no objections that the Anti-Corn-law Lec-
turers should keep you company, with a member of the
League pending from every heel. 0 what wise men
of Gotham are your true and genuine Chartists, that,
like the lawyers in the Scriptures, will neither go in
themselves nor let others enter I But enough. The colic
will bring reason ; bad and dear bread will prostrate the
boldest faction ; famine will bring common sense ; and
the Corn-laws will be abolished.

AN TI-CORN-LAW ASSOCIATION.

(From the Dundee Advertiser.)
Upwards of three hundred were present, including a
very considerable number of manufactures. Mr. David
Baxter in the chair. He expressed his regret that Mr.
Kinloch of Kinloch, owing to the death of a near rela-
tive, had been unable to attend. Mr. Kinloch had ad-
dressed a letter to the Cornmittee,which he would read :
" Kinloch, Sept. 24, 1839.
" Gentlemen—l regret that the death of a near rela-
tive will prevent my having the honour of presiding at
your meeting this evening.
" Cordially approving, as I do, of the object of your
association, I trust that it may prove the means of
uniting all classes in this district in urging upon the
Legislature the total repeal of the Corn-laws, and,
I may add, of every tax upon the food of man.
I much fear that, before the winter is past, neces-
sity will make many a convert to the propriety of
repealing these abominable laws. Indeed, I attri-
bute a great part of the difficulties under which the
mercantile community is at present labouring to the
operation of these laws ; and if, as I fully expect, we
will this season require to import not less than five mil-
lions of quarters of wheat, at a cost of fourteen or

fifteen millions of hard cash, we will see this country
in a state of distress such as we have never witnessed.
How different it would have been had we not been
suffering from the bread tax ; and, instead of sending
abroad our rash, sending fourteen or fifteen millions'
value of our manufactures ? Let all classes unite—
(but more especially, let no jealousy prevent the middle
and working classes cordially drawing together)—and,
before another Session of Parliament is over, the Corn-
laws will have ceased to exist.

" To the operatives I beg to say, that their interests
are the same as those of the middle classes ; and, if they
expect to obtain any measure for the common good,
they must carry along with them the great body of those
who have, by honest industry, 1-isen from the ranks of
the people. In the words of the martyr Muir, Ours,
Gentlemen, is a righteous cause, and ultimately must
succeed.' But on the people depends whether now or at
a future period. Believe me, Gentlemen, your faithful
servant, (Signed) " GEORGE KINLOCH.
" To the Committee of the Dundee
Anti-Corn-law Association."

Mr. BAXTER gave a luminous view of the origin of the
Corn-laws, and of the effects they had produced in
keeping up the price of food, and obstructing the progress
of commercial and manufacturing enterprise. The sole
object of the Corn-laws was to afford a monopoly of
the home market to the landed interest—to limit the
importation of foreign corn to the smallest possible
quantity at the highest possible price. The Corn-laws,
however, had not succeeded in realising to the utmost
extent the wishes of the landlords, because it luckily
happened that although they had the power of
framing laws, they had not the power of control-
ling the seasons.—(Cheers.) These laws, however,
had had the effect of raising the price of food a great
deal higher than it was in foreign countries, and a great
deal higher than it would have been had free importa-
tion been permitted. This would be evident if they
compared the average prices of grain in this country
with those in some of the continental states.
Dantzic, 1822 to 1831, ten years, 335. .sd.
Hamburg
Amsterdam .
London
This showed distinctly the operation of the Corn-laws
in enhancing the price of food. But the effects were
not confined to that alone—they hampered commerce
and enterprise, and compelled other countries to esta-
blish manufactures, seeing that we will not take in ex-
change the article they have to dispose of. In conclu-
sion, he expressed a hope that energy and determina-
tion would be displayed by the Dundee Association,
and all similar Associations throughout the country.--
(Cheers.) The prosperity of this country depended on
the removal of restrictions of every kind ; and if these
were not speedily removed, this country would be sup-
planted by the rivals which our present system had
caused to spring up in other countries. For his own
part, he would give every assistance in his power to for-
ward the objects of the Association.--(Cheers.)
The following resolutions were agreed to :
" 1. That the present existing Corn-laws are ex-
tremely injurious to the interests of all classes of the
community, by raising the price of food, and at the
same time by reducing the rate of wages and the pro-
fits on capital."

" 2d. That it is therefore the duty of all classes to co-
operate in procuring the total, immediate, and uncondi-
tional repeal of the Corn-laws, and all restrictive or
prohibitory duties."
3. That this meeting, therefore, resolve to use every
exertion to procure such a unanimous expression of

public opinion as will induce the Legislature to remove
these unjust•and impolitic enactments."
An effort was made by a Chartist to impress upon
the meeting, that if they would unite in aiding the-Na-
tional Petition, it would be abetter plan than to direct
their efforts alone to the abolition of the Corn•laws.
He w s friendly to the abolition of these laws, but
thought that success would be more complete and
speedy were Universal Suffrage gained. The Chairman
showed the impolicy of individuals anxious, according to
their own admission, to obtain a repeal of the Corn-laws,
withholding support merely because the advantage was
not gained in their own way. A weight of opinion could
be brought to bear on the anti-Corn-law question, which
could not be got for Universal Suffrage. The rules and
regulations were adopted, and office-bearers and Com-
mittee appointed.