The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-11 00:00:00

subject to flucutation. Then wheat would be '
bought with cloth or hardware, and not with gold.
None would be required to be sent abroad for its
purchase. That gold goes abroad is plainly the
consequence of the Corn-law forbidding a regular
and settled trade, and allowing the importation of
corn, when prices reach a famine level. Thus a de-
rangement in the currency must, with the present
Corn-law, be always consequent on a defective
harvest, adding amazingly to its natural erils. First,
in consequence of the rise in price produced by the
deficiency, ther- is, as there has been through the
last autumn an increase of joint-stock and other
private bank paper ; then, as the gold goes away,
comes the Bank screw, and the amount of paper is
curtailed, and prices fall more than, but for the ex-
portation of gold, would be the case. As prices
fall, however, speculation and undertakings of all
kinds are checked, and coming as that will just as
the spring trade should flourish, will necessarily
produce a great declension of that. If, indeed, our
country possessed as formerly a great superiority in
manufactures, a part of that gold might be sent back
to pay for our manufactured produce ; but as the
Saxons and Prussians and Russians can now
supply themselves cheaper on the Continent than
in our markets, and get Colonial produce cheaper
from Cuba and the Brazil than Jama►ca, little or none
of it will come back to us ; and an additional impulse
will be given to the descent of the country on the
road to decay, weakness, and ruin. The gold will
remain out of the country, prices will continue pro-
bably to fall till they reach the level, or tumble
below those of the Continent, and then a tolerably
fine harvest will involve the agriculturists in the
same ruin which the selfish folly of the landlords is
obviously bringing on trade. Such monstrous
injustice as taxing the bread of the industrious
people to enrich the idle, worthless landlords, never
yet brought prosperity to a people. The course of
nature gives no such bounty on Atheism.

tory to find that, but for the restriction under
which the Committee was appointed, they would
have advised the immediate adoption of Mr.
Hill's plan, a uniform penny postage. The
Committee, taking into account the serious
loss to the Post-Office revenue by the privilege of
Parliamentary franking, have also recommended
that it be forthwith abolished, and that the privi-
lege of official franking be placed under strict regu-
lations, the petitions to Parliament being, as at pre-
sent, allowed to go free. These are great steps
gained, and we congratulate Mr. WALLACE and
Mr. HILL on the favourable reception which their
plans, at first regarded as impracticable, have ma
with from a . Committee composed of men of all
parties.

The Ministers, it is supposed, intend to move to-
night that Mr. DUNCOMBE'S motion relative to
the theatres, which was carried in the affirmative on
Thursday week, be rescinded. Or at least they
mean to move, being reinforced by the ultra-Saints,
some negation on that motion. We know that such
a course is not without precedent in modern times
—the Malt Duties, to wit—but it is clearly con-
trary to the usages and orders of the House, as the
following extract from its Rules and Orders,
dated April 3, 1604, will prove :—" That a
question being once carried in the affirmative
or the negative, cannot be questioned again, but
must remain as a judgment of the House." In spite
of this rule, however, the Ministers mean, it is said,
but we earnestly hope not, to call on the House of
Commons to undo its work of Thursday week, and
commit the House to a full and deliberate ap-
probation of the Popish observances advocated by
the Bishop of LONDON. In Protestant countries,
such as Scotland, no such observances are known ;
and it will be most lamentable, should it turn out
to be the case, to find the chosen Ministers of the
Reform and Liberal party standing up for Popery,
and making the Lord-Advocate, and the rest of
their Presyterian supporters, vote directly in the
teeth of Presbyterianism.

About three months ago we explained to our
readers the reasons why the Royal Exchange could
not then be proceeded with, and laid before them
the arguments by which the claims of the Trea-
sury to have a veto on the acts of the Building,
Committee were supported. The Times, the Spec-
tator, and several other Journals, took the part of
the City functionaries who protested against the
claims of the Treasury, and threatened to apply to
the Queen's Bench for a mandamus to make the
Treasury carry the Act into execution. The in-
stant the Parliament assembled the whole question
was submitted to a Committee of the House of
Commons, which has adopted the following unani-
mous resolution :
" That it is the opinion of this Committee, that as, in
addition to the funds furnished by the Gresham Committee
for the erection of the building itself of the Royal Ex-
change, the completion of the works thereof and of the
approaches thereto involves a large expenditure of public
money, the plans and estimates of the said building and of
the approaches thereto, as proposed by the Trustees and
the Corporation, ought to be submitted to and approved
by the Lords of the Treasury, before any of the said works
shall be undertaken." . .

In another part of our paper will be found a let-
ter from Mr. O'CoNNELL, wherein that Hon. and
Learned Gentleman intimates, with more than his
usual di3tinctnes3, what are his present purposes
and prospective objects. He counsels his country-
men to put no faith in the British Parliament,
states that the antipathies to Ireland are shared
alike by Whigs, Tories, and Radicals—and im-
plies that the hate of the latter party is intense, even
to the length of extermination. For proof of this
deadly and inveterate hatred of the. Irish, Mr.
O'CONNELL relies on the rejection of his motion to
equalise the franchise—and on the disinclination
of both the Tories and the Radical Reformers
of England, to lend to Ireland some millions
of pounds for the construction of a Railway from
Dublin to Cork, &c.

Pitying the Irishman, who supposes there is any
hope for his country, save in severing the Union,
the Hon. Gentleman publishes his plan. First,
the " Hereditary bondsmen," are to be appealed to
through the Pilot, Newspaper. Secondly, the
Precursor Society is to be adjourned to the 25th,
when he will attend. Thirdly, fourthly, and fifthly,
Mr. O'CONNELL will try twice to get passed a
measure equalising the Parliamentary franchise be-
tween England and Ireland, and if he succeed not,
then he will commence his Repeal agitation : if, at
the end of the current Session, the British Parlia-
ment do not confer substantial benefit, he will that
moment struggle for the restoration of the Irish
Parliament.

Our attention has been invited to a project just
set on foot, for the establishment of a Country
Bankers' Board of Agency in London, which pro-
mises, so far as it is yet developed, to be productive
of great advantages to banking establishments, and
the country generally. The proposed agency is to
occupy itself solely with transacting the business of
Country Bankers, under the management of a Board
resident in London. As the plan is very simple,
and by no means clogged with complex details, we
shall endeavour to give a clear outline of it :
It is proposed that the Agency shall consist of
twelve Directors of the highest respectability and
credit, who shall each, as a qualification, deposit
2,0001., to be invested in Government securities in
the names of four of their own body. Under their
joint management, Country Banks are to deposit
certain sums, each in its own name, as its own sepa-
rate protective capital, to be invested in Govern-
ment securities or East India Bonds, as
may be agreed upon ; and the interest upon
each deposit is to be employed in paying the ex-
pellees of the Establishment. In no instance is the
deposit to exceed the sum necessary for carrying en
the business of each particular Bank ; so that in
nine cases out of ten the deposits of Country
Bankers will not amount to one fifth of their pre-
sent deposits in Private London •Banks. Where
the business of Country Banks is so great as to
require a deposit which might seem excessive, it
is proposed that in lieu of a part of it, the
payment of a small commission equivalent to the
interest of the sum withheld, be substituted, in
order not to deprive such Banks of the benefit of
the Agency. As all investments are to be made in
the name of the Banks furnishing the capital so in-
vested, all risk from the failure of London houses
is avoided. Elections of Directors to be by ballot,
subject to the approval of a majority of the
Country Bankers, who are to meet annually
for that purpose. In all other respects the
Agency will be placed, as far as is compatible
with the necessary freedom of commercial action on
the part of the Board, under the direct control of
the Bankers employing it.

This, we believe, will settle the question, and the
Gresham Committee has already acquiesced in the
resolution. For ourselves, we apprehend that not.
a Committee of the House of Commons, but a
Court of Law, is the proper body to construe an
Act of Parliament, and that consequently, if the
City gentlemen are disposed to be peculiarly liti-
gious and troublesome, they might yet appeal.
In that case the Government might find itst:lf
obliged to carry another Bill through Parliament.
We hope that such will not be the case, and that
the building of the new Royal Exchange may be
speedily commenced.

We have been looking in vain for tidings of the
rich Spanish Grandee whose expected arrival in
England was announced with such a flourish five
weeks ago by some of the papers. A Sunday
Journal about. that time stated that the Marquis
EMPRKSTOGANADOR, or some such high-sounding
title, was coming with all speed, for the purpose of
raising money here, and that the friends of
liberty might look fortard with certainty to the
Government of the Spanish QUEEN being supplied
with what had been aptly designated the strongest
sinew of war." This was confirmed by a Morning
Contemporary, who had made due inquiry on the
subject, and who communicated the important in-
formation that nothing could more readily tend to
weaken the cause of the Pretender than a display
of life and vigour in the different departments of the
State, " while the grand obstacle to dashing mili-
tary movements would be overcome by placing
adequate funds at the disposal of the Minis-
ter." A Correspondent, at the time, called
our attention to these statements, and more than
insinuated that the object of the Marquis was to
get money, not to carry on dashing military move-
ments, or to assist the Liberal cause, but to be
distributed by the Camarilla at Madrid among the
creatures of the Court, or the Civil and Military
Functionaries of that insolvent nation. From that
day to this we hare not heard a word of the Mar-
quis. Something has been said about the Loan,
a great deal more, we believe, than the jobbers
in these schemes relish, but the flourish has
nearly died away. The Sunday Paper has not re-
turned to the subject, and our Morning Contempo-
rary—who proposed to have the loan on a grand scale,
and advanced the doctrine that Spain had failed in
raising money because she asked too little—the
other day changed its tone, and gravely asserted
that only a trifling loan would be required, which,
according to the first averment, means that there
will be no loan at all. An Evening Contempo-
rary a few days ago, indeed, stated distinctly that
such was the general impression in the City.
We heartily rejoice at the result. We have from
time to time recommended JonN BULL to keep
his hands in his pockets, and Lord MEL-
BOURNE lately, in the most earnest manner, im-
pressed on him the same salutary advice, probably
for reasons of which the public are ignorant, but
which iate accounts from Spain begin to develope.
A plan is in contemplation to bring the Carlists acd
the Moderate party to an understanding—before this
can take place the loan-mongers want to get
the money—a small sum, no doubt, is all that can
be required, and when that is accomplished, the
three parties will settle the matter among the TI -
selves, and the English creditor will be robbed and
laughed at, as he has hitherto been, for lending
money to a bankrupt nation, without revenue, with-
out credit, without faith, and without patriotism.

We have been expecting for the last month to see
some communication from the Marquis of LON-
DONDERRY to the LORD MAYOR on a subject
which has lately attracted so much public attention,
and with which the Noble Marquis is so well ac-
quainted—the coal monopoly. A letter has at last
appeared, marked by more than the usual brevity of
his Lordship's epistles, but distinguished like all
his literary productions for courteous language, ele-
gance of expression, and conclusive reasoning It is
a hard blow for the LORD MAYOR, and coming
from such a quarter, and abounding as it does with
such irrefragable logic, it must give him ten. fold
more annoyance than all the anonymous epistles
and slanderous attacks directed against him by the
plundering, interested monopolists. The Noble
Lord can have no interest in stinting the
London supply—on the contrary, all his in-
terest lies the other way, for the cheaper
the coals are in London, the greater will be the
demand at Newcastle, and as a Select Committee of
the House of Commons decided last year that a ton
of best coals could not be put on board a ship in the
Tyne for less than 105. 6d., including prime cost,
he may always reckon on that price. The mono-
poly to him must therefore be injurious, and he can
have no motive in coining before the public but to
put as end to this needless agitation, to disabuse
the LORD MAYOR, and to convince the inhabi
tants of London that the price of coals has been
fixed by a decision of this Committee, as unaltera-
ble as the law of the Medes and Persians. The
following is the laconic, elegant, and unswerable

The advantages, public and private, which this
plan is capable of realizing, if properly brought
into action, are most important. In the first place,
by enabling Country Bankers to employ the
surplus capital which they are now obliged
to sink in Private Banks in London, in
their immediate localities it would give a fresh
stimulus to agricultural and manufacturing in-
dustry. It would check that spirit of neck-or-
nothing speculation which is engendered in London
by merchants having at their disposal the wealth, as
it were, of the whole country, without the payment
of interest, or often sufficient guarantees for its faith-
ful management. Country Bankers would be no
longer at the mercy of their London agents, and con-
sequently much would be done in the way of effectually
checking the pernicious influence of panics. The
failure of one Bank would extend no further, as
regards the proposed Agency, than to draw from it
the amount of its own deposit ; and as the business
of the Board would be restricted within the limits
assigned above, it could not fail, under any circum-
stances short of a national bankruptcy. From the high
character and great wealth of the gentlemen who,
we have been informed, are ready to assume the
direction of the proposed Establishment, we are not
surprised that the hopes entertained of its success
are exceedingly sanguine.

leler :
" TO THE LORD MAYOR OF LONDON.
" Holdernesse House, Feb. 23, 11139.

" MY LORD—The enclosed is the whole story, which
you seem to know nothing about ; and one ton of northern
coals is worth three of your 225. coals to the consumer ,
and all your monopoly grades included.
" I am your obedient servant,
" VANE LONDONDERRY.

" N.B.—The facts speak for themselves."
Now, the "whole story" is founded on this re-
port which states that taking into account, wages of
men and boys, waggons, grease, ropes, corves,
spontage, tret, discount, and scorage, del-credere
commission, half-metage paid by one party, and
half-rnetage paid by another, lights, ballast, and
lighters, sacks, screens, weighing apparatus, wages
of men for loading, screening, carting, shooting,
(why did it not include also the gallons of beer and
the tobacco ?) and a great many other items
which leave the reader in utter astonishment,that coals
going through so many and so complicated operations,
could be sold at the low price of 325. 6d. per ton.
At the end of each of the lists of particulars, excepi
one, are put down the vague terms " risk and pro..
fit, ' but the first probably is so great and the other
so small that the Committee, in order not to injure
the public credit of the traders, did not consider it
prudent to specify the amount. The Lord Mayor
must be mad to suppose that the best coals can be
had for 225. ; and, according to the Gallant Mar-
quis, his Lordship, instead of benefitting the public,
is actually inducing them to pay 665., independent
of the " monopoly grades," for coals which they
can have for 325. 6d. This shows how plain and
clear a great statesman can make a complicated
question, and how much the public should be on
their guard against these doings of the Chief Ma-
gistrate, who " seems to know nothing about the
story."

The Third Report from the Select Committee on
Postage has just been published, and, among others
contains the following important resolutions with
regard to the reductions of the postage of letters.
We give the substance :—That it is expedient to
reduce the postage of all inland letters conveyed
any distance beyond fifteen miles, to a uniform rate
of 2d. per half ounce, increasing at the rate of Id. for
each additional half ounce, and that fora distance of
15 miles and under from the post-office where the let-
ter is posted, there'should be a uniform rate of Id. per
half ounce when the charge is paid in advance and
2d. when paid on delivery. It is equally satisfac-

A " British Farmer," advocating the Corn-laws,
in the Morning Pose makes the following state-
ment :—.-
" They who compare the increased production of o

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 11, 1839.

country with the increased population for the last twenty
years, will find that the latter has more than kept pace
with the former, nay far exceeded it. Let those men, al o,
take the growth of wheat in this country for the last four
years, and they will find that the surplus of the three first, 1
over and above the demand, was more than equal to the
deficiency of the last. But what has become of that sur- '
plus ? Why, from the ruinous low prices of 1835 and 1836,
the farmers were corapellcd (from want of the power of
keeping it) to turn it to the best account, which was, feed-
ing beasts and sheep to an amazing extent, rather than sub-
mit to the price of 355. or 40a. per quarter. It has been
stated from good authority that a million and a half of
quarters of wheat were given to cattle in the years 1835
and 1836 ; which quantity being a surplus over and above
the consumption of those years, might, had the farmers
been in a condition to have kept it, been advantageously
employed to meet the deficiency of 1838, which was pro-
duced by an unpropitious season."
This is rather a remarkable statement, which,
supposing it correct, as we believe it is, leads to
more inferences than the " British Farmer" is aware
of. At the time when the farmers of England were
obliged to give their wheat to beasts and sheep, the
handloom weavers and other artizans in the manu-
facturing districts were suffering severe distress,
petitions to fix a minimum rate of wages, Com-
mittees, and Commissions in 1835 and in 1836,
all attest the conjunct existence under the Corn-
laws of distress in the manufacturing districts, and
low prices, when the farmers gave corn to their
hogs. On the night of the opening of Parliament
the Earl of WINCHILSEA also stated that
in the years 1822 and 1823, when the price
of agricultural produce was also extremely
low, there was great distress in the manufacturing
districts. Now, what is the cause of the co-
existence of these two states ? The hand-loom
weavers it is plain had nothing to give the
farmers for their wheat, or they would have been
as glad to purchase as the others to sell. Why had
the hand-loom weavers nothing to give ? Their
trade, their productive power, arid the trade gene-
rally of the manufacturing districts, and the in-
crease of people there, had been checked by the
Corn-laws which prohibited the manufacturers from
exchanging their produce with whomsoever they
liked ; they could have got something to give
in exchange for the farmer's corn if they had been al-
lowed to sell their cloth in Russia or Prussia ; but
their industry having been hampered and checked by
restrictions, they could get nothing, and however
much they might want, the farmers would not give
them a grain of wheat without payment. But why
did not the farmers and the landlords, who had this
large increase of produce amongst them, set the
manufacturers to work for them ? Why, the
farmers had already as much of the manufac-
turers' goods as they wanted or could pay for.
The landlords have no particular penchant for the
productions of Manchester; they prefer those of
Bordeaux, or Florence, or Rome, and, if they had
any surplus income they bought wines, articles of
vertu, or hired opera singers and dancers. But a
a great increase of agricultural produce, with a
restriction on the industry of manufacturers, is pre-
cisely the condition of things intended to be brought
about by the Corn-laws ; and the result is misery
and distress to both farmers and manufacturers.

We may draw two important inferences from this
statement. The first is, that abundance is a curse
to the farmer, unless the manufacturers be allowed
free scope to their industry to obtain wherewithal
to purchase the farmer's crops. Such restrictions
as the Corn-laws prevent enterprize, prevent the gra-
dual increase of people, and when abundance comes it
finds no market. After prices have fallen very low, as
in 1822 and 1835,a stimulusar ises to manufacturing
enterprize, speculation becomes excessive, no cor-
responding production of corn can suddenly take
place to keep food up to population ; the low prices
of the abundant year check cultivation, and in a
year or two, as in 1826 and 1827, as in 1838 and
1839, distress, and something like famine, approach.
The second is, that the forced increase 'of agricul-
tural production by a Corn-law, while the restrictions
are kept on the manufacturer's industry, does not ex-
tend their home market for manufactures. The far-
mers and landlords are already supplied with all they
want of the produce of our manufacturers, and till the
prices of their crops fall ruinously low, no advantage
and no extension of the market accrue to the manu-
facturer. The corollary is, that the notion of ex-
tending the home market for our manufacturers by
restriction, like the Corn-laws, on their foreign
trade, is a palpable delusion. The sad conclusion
from the whole is, that by the stupid or mad inter-
ference of the Legislature with the trade in
corn, which is as much a part of the or-
der of nature as the seasons themselves, or
as differences of soil and climate, both years of
abundance, which in the course of nature biing
gladness to the heart of man, and sears of scarcity,
which in the same course only inculcate caution
and dependence on a higher power than himself,
become dire curses to a people whose affairs are re-
gulated, not by God's, but by the Devil's laws.

Madrid Papers of the 2d instant have reached us.
The REGENT had completed recovered from her indis-
position. In the :capital, the expectation of a speedy
end of the civil war was very general. It was not doubted
ti•at ESPARTERO and MAROTO had entered into nego.
ciations for that purpose.
On the 12th ult., the following Decree was published
at Barcelona :

" Domestic cloths and stuffs of all kinds, arriving by
land, shall not be expedited by the Custom-office of this
city, unless they be accompanied by certificates of their
origin, indicating the marks on the boxes, the number and
quality of the pieces, and the name of the person to whom
they are consigned. This measure has been deemed ne-
cessary, to prevent the introduction of foreign cloths and
stuffs as articles of domestic produce, and will be carried
into operation on the 18th of February next."

The Paris Journals of Friday and Saturday have
been received. On Friday the Ministers finding
that there ryas a clear majority against them placed
their resignations iii the hands of the KINe.
According to private accounts, his MAJESTY,
though greatly regretting the triumph of the Coa-
lition, was rather surprised at the tenacity with
which Count MOLE and his colleagues clung to
office ; and it is remarkable that the Moniteur
neither adds that the KING accepted the re-
signations nor declined them—or that the circum-
stances gave him either pain or pleasure. Another
remarkable feature in this affair is the conduct
of the Duke of ORLEANS. When Count MOLE
was before threatened with expulsion from office by
the Opposition, his Royal Highness visited him
almost daily, apparently with a view to convince
the Chambers of the good understanding which
subsisted between the Premier and the heir-appa-
rent to the Throne. Now it is observed that his
Royal Highness stands studiously aloof, a passive
spectator of the constitutional struggle in which all
parties in the Chamber are engaged. This con-
duct of the Duke, at all times the most prudent, is
now regarded as a sure indication of the necessity
which the KING feels of adopting, in a modified
form, the policy of the Opposition.

On Saturday, at noon, the KING had a long in-
terview with 'Marshal SOULT about the appoint-
ment of a new Cabinet. Of what took place during
the interview nothing transpired up to the departure
of the London mails. It was only known that the
KING had immediately summoned the Duke DE
BROGLIE, with a view, as was supposed, of
offering him the Department of Foreign Affairs.
A Morning Contemporary, in the habit of
theorizing upon every political event which
occurs in France, gets completely into the clouds,
in attempting to solve the Ministerial riddle.
We take a simple view of the question. In our
opinion, the Royal consultations and closetings are
all devices to gain time—to allow for the settlement
of the Belgian Question. This, we believe, is the
true reason why the KING is so long before having
an interview with the only man whose support has
become essential to the existence of any Govern-
went that may be formed—namely, M. TRIERS.
There remained but seven election returns to
be known on Saturday. The Opposition Journals
claim a clear majority of fifty-three votes.
The French Government has refused to allow
M. PAPINEAU to proceed to Paris without an
English passport. Lord GRANVILLE was applied
to by the friends of PAPINEAU, but his Lordship
thought proper to decline giving one before receiv-
ing instructions from the Government here.
The son of the Duke of Rovigo fought a duel on Friday
in the forest of St. Germain, and received a sword wound
through the lungs. It was not possible to convey him
to Paris.

A letter from Alexandria of the 14th February says :
" 1 have to announce the return of the Viceroy. A
courier has been despatched direct from Menehieh to
lbraham Peelle. His father desires to have a conference
with him. This circumstance gives rise to all kinds of
reports, especially as four ships of the line and two frigates
have all their guns, and their full complement of men on
board, as if they were to put to sea. There are, besides,
two ships of the line, which are daily performing evo-
lutions.

" The French and English Consols had scarcely set out
for Cairo when the Russian Agent also set out, though he