The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-20 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20 1K49.

CORN-LAWS.

(From the Times.)
From a Sheffield newspaper, which has been for-
warded to us by the Working Men's Anti-Corn-law
Committee in that town, we should infer that the inha-
bitants of the Fitzwilliam district, or at least a consi-
derable proportion of them, arc at present in a highly
excited state. Anticipating the general movement
which will probably be made against the Corn-laws in
the ensuing Session, there appear to be various persons
in Sheffield extremely anxious to give their gratuitous
services as leaders and dictators, not only to their own
townsmen, but to their fellow. subjects at large—persons
who, though justly hostile to the bread-tax, are unhap-
pily mixed up with other political opinions of a more
exceptionable kind, which cannot fail to injure, rather
than benefit, the common cause of repeal. The provincial
paper to which we allude is literally crammed with pre-
tensions of this description. Thus, in one corner, we have
Mr. Ebenezer Elliott—" the poet's eye in a fine frenzy
roiling"—straining his muffled lyre, and rhapsodizing
alternately on the co-ordinate merits of Chartism and
cheap victuals. In the same print, another candidate
for distinction bestows his counsels upon a benighted
public, in the person of a Rev. Guardian of the Bath
Union, who, in whatever way his cure of souls may be
attended to, incorporates with his anti-Corn-law homi-
lies such bursts of incontinent admiration at the work-
ing of the New Poor Bill, and the temporal blessed-
ness to which it has raised the labouring classes, as must
tend very materially to put the credit of those homilies
upon a par with that of the preacher. Side by side
with the efforts of the preceding claimants, and in all
respects incomparably superior to either, is the " Address
of the Working Alen of Sheffield to the Working
Classes of the United Kingdom,"—a document which,
apart from the pleasure we have in complying with their
committee's request deserves to be noticed for ita
own sake, not only as furnishing, upon the whole a
creditable specimen of their intelligence and moderation,
but as affording us a favourable opportunity for sub-
mitting a few friendly words to themselves and their
fellow-countrymen throughout the country. The sub-
stance of the address, though its extreme length has
obliged us to curtail it considerably, will he found in to-
day's paper.
Relying on the characteristic frankness of the work-
.

ing men of England, we are sure they will admit, that
how much soever a sense of duty may have impelled us
to withhold our approbation from some of their proceed-
ings and demands, we have done our best on all
occasions to contend for what we deem their

just rights, and have ever been, as we still are, their
sincere, though plain-speaking, friends. Notwith-
standing the differences of opinion which in pe-
riods of violent political excitement have sepa-
rated parties who, up to a certain point, were previ-
ously agreed, our devotedness to the liberties and com-
forts of the poor, in contradistinction to democratic
license and feudal oppression, has never relaxed for a
single moment. Our labouring countrymen are per-
fectly aware of this : and therefore, knowing the gene-
ral confidence which they repose in us, we are not
without hope that our remarks upon the Sheffield ad-
dress may be read and weighed by them with equal can-
dour and advantage.

Of course, it is needless to say, that, in the leading
object of that address, which invites the co-operation
of the working classes to obtain the gradual repeal of
the Corn-laws by all legal and constitutional means, we
cordially concur. With our known opinions respect-
ing the ruinous impolicy and injustice of those laws,
we can have no possible objection that all who suffer
by them, comprising, without exception, every man
in the kingdom, should meet in an orderly manner,
and petition for their alteration with the utmost ear-
nestness. On the contrary, we like to see the unen-
franchised classes exerting that combined moral influence
which the Legislature (having excluded them individu-
ally from electoral privileges, lest the influence due to
the intelligence and property of the nation should be
overborne by their superior numbers) not only encour-
ages, by investing them with the right of petition and of
knowing how every elector votes at the polling booth,
instead of sheltering him with the Ballot, but, when ex-
plicitly, reasonably, and extensively exercised, must, in
most cases, be quite as efficacious for the redress of their
grievances, apart from revolutionary demands, as their
actual possession of the franchise. The unanimous and
constitutional co-operation of the working men of Eng
land, if temperately pursued for an object consistent with
the public welfare, cannot long be resisted in any
quarter whatever.
Nor are we less pleased with the evidence which
our Sheffield friends give of their respect for religion,
and of their implied abhorrence of the disgusting ob-
scenities of socialism, whose author, Owen, though de-
nounced by one of their provincial lecturers, as unfitted
" to break from his sty into decent society," and much
less " to play the philosopher in " high circles," has re-
cently been introduced by Lord Melbourne into the
highest circle in the kingdom—that of the Queen
herself!! ! The manner in which the " address"
quotes the authority of Scripture, if it did not misap-
ply that authority to objects not contemplated therein,
would meet with our unqualified approbation. Even
as it is, the earnest appeal of the Sheffield committee
to that sacred testimony is indicative of a promising
state of mind, which a further acquaintance with its
scope and spirit may be expected to improve.'
But, after all, there are various things in their
address—good as it is in the main-- against which, for
their own sake, we cannot refrain from offering our se-
rious protest and remonstrance. Although, for the
purpose of securing unanimity in their immediate
object, they wisely recommend that the claims of
Chartism ought not at present to be insisted on, it is
perfectly plain to us, from divers expressions in. their
paper, that their theory of civil society is essentially an
unsound one, and calculated (even if this Corn-law
grievance, and every other grievance, were satisfactorily
settled), to make them discontented and unhappy for
life. Their fundamental error, arising chiefly from
their worldly circumstances and defective education,
consists in imagining that the existing inequalities among
mankind are not only attributable to iniquitous human
aggressions rather than to the ordination of God, as
confirmed by the uniform character of his moral admi-
nistration in every age and country, but are capable of
complete removal by certain changes in the social struc-
ture, which, unless brought to more practical and com-
prehensive views, they will never cease to demand.
Now, this, let us plainly tell them, is just to make
war against the eternal and immutab!c sovereignty of
heaven, which, as a portion of its retributive discipline,
no fretful impatience of man's can either elucidate or
alter. To fancy that the unequal distributions of Pro-
vidence are susceptible of removal by any mortal de-
vices, is just to mistake in toto the powers and province
of civil government. All that human legislation can
effect, even in its best efforts on behalf of the poor, can
only be a partial remedy for privations, which (though
legitimately entitled to the sympathy and succour of
the State, with a due regard to the co-ordinate and
sometimes conflicting claims of other interests) without
narrowing the range of the active and passive vir-
tues, and proportionably arresting the moral progress of
society.

What, then, is the difference between one Govern-
ment and another, that should impel us to prefer the
Conservatives to your pretended Liberals ? Why,
just that identical difference which would induce people
to prefer a skilful, cautious, and straightforward physi•
clan to a boastful and blood-sucking quack. The Whigs
have told the working men of England, that if they
would only ,rgitate to keep the Liberal faction in office,
they would do everything for them in the world. How
has the promise been realized ? What has the Reformed
Parliament done for them ? What has the Municipal
Bill done for them ? In a word, are they a bit better off
in 1539 than they were eight years ago?
On the other hand, the most honest portion of the
Conservatives have been in the habit of telling the
labouring classes, that while sincerely desirous of miti-
gating the hardships of their position by so superintend-
ing the trade and commerce of the country as to keep
them in regular employment at the best possible wages,
the chief grievance which working men are prone to
complain of—namely, the grievance of not being mas-
ters and gentlemen—is what no legislation on earth can
pretend to cure. Could our Sheffield friends, in ad
dition to the repeal of the Corn-laws, obtain to-morrow
the Vote by Ballot, Annual Parliaments, and that
Universal Suffrage which we fear their hearts arc still
set upon, their position in society would not be a whit
improved thereby, but their dissatisfaction with it
would be prodigiously increased. Practical measures
for advancing the general intelligence and prosperity of
the country, apart from speculative innovations upon
the structure of its institutions, are what would really
be for the benefit of all classes of the community with-
out compromising the just interests of any. In the ad-
vantage of such measures the working man of England
would participate in their due proportion ; and such mea-
sures the Whigs are neither competent nor ready to

give.

THE KENSINGTON UNION.—Some of the
newspapers contain a long, tedious report of a rupture
between the Board of Guardians and the Poor-law
Commissioners. It appears that at the usual weekly
meeting of the Board of Guardians of the Kensington
union, held in the Kensington workhouse, the Board
proceeded to the business for which they had been spe-
cially summoned—viz., to take into consideration two
letters from the Poor-law Commissioners ; one contain-
ing a copy of a letter from the vestry clerk of Chelsea,
complain►ng, by direction of the Parochial Committee,
of the proceedings lately instituted against them by the
Board ; and the other expressive of the Commissioners'
disapprobation of a declaration made by Ms. Cornell,
the clerk to the Board, in reference to a statement
made by Mr. Kyder, one of the guardians of Chelsea,
to the justices of the Kensington division, assembled in
special sessions, on the Bth ult. The following resolu-
tion was adopted, after a discussion perfectly parochial
and violent—" That the Board were obliged to have re-
course to the proceedings complained of by the parish of
Chelsea as a matter of absolute necessity, and that that
should be the only answer that should be returned to
the Poor-law Commissioners." A great deal of squab-
blino- ensued about some other resolution, we believe,
after which the meeting broke up.

NEWS FROM TIE MEPITERRA

NE AN.

(From the Harlequin, of the Bth inst.)
The Minden and the Pembroke left here on the sth.
The Rhadamanthus remains in port, and will not pro-
ceed to the Levant before the 14th inst., unless some
important despatches arrive for Sbßobert Stopford.
The Hermes arrived from Alexandria .at 6 a.m. on the
30th ult., bringing an India mail to the 28th of October
from Bombay, originally put on board the Atalanta, but
subsequently, in consequence of her taking fire and get-
ting burnt to the very cabins, transferred to the Hugh
Lindsay, which reached Suez on the 21st of November.
On the 24th, at 4 p.m., her mails got to Alexandria,
whence the Hermes sailed with them at 11 a.m. on the
25th. These mails were despatched to Marseilles by
the Acheron a few hours after their reaching Malta,
which vessel may be expected back on the 13th with
the London overland mail of the 4th instant, which
will be carried on to Alexandria by the Blazer, whose
turn it is to make the two next voyages. The Zeno.
bia, on her way to Aden, put into Mocha, on account
of taking fire, but, as the same was soon got under, she
proceeded, after a short delay, without any material
damage. The Turkish and Egyptian fleets at Alexan-
dria have again unbent sails, and made themselves snug
for the winter. The report which had reached Sir
Robert Stopford, that the former were leaving Alexan-
dria by single ships, appears to have originated in an
English vessel's having met at sea a Turkish launch
with a crew of men and officers which had contrived
to desert whilst watering, and which, it is sup.
posed subsequently foundered, as no tidings had
reached Alexandria respecting her down to the 25th
ultimo. The Paella persists in retaining the
Ottoman fleet until such time as all his demands upon
the Sultan are agreed to. He appears to fear treachery
from France, and thinks it doubtful whether the
alliance with Great Britain will be of long duration.
The seamen and officers of the Turkish ships are suf-
fering greatly from dysentry, brought on by coarse and
unwholesome food, and there are scarcely ever less than
1,200 individuals in hospital. Considerable discontent
prevails.
Private letters from Malta of the Bth instant an-
nounce the arrival of the Pembroke ship of the line
from Vourla, on her way home to England. The
Minden, which had sailed for the same destination, had
been obliged by bad weather to return to Malta.
Colonels Wangfuhl and Cameron, who were attached
to the British Legation in Persia in the capacity of in-
structors, had arrived at Malta from Constantinople.
The last advices from Athens, mentioned that King
Otho had, at last, authorised Mr. Wright to establish a
bank in Greece. Discontent was general throughout
Greece.

MONEY IVIAAKET and CITY NIP.; 17 ;6.

OHURSDAY EVENING.)
TlMES.—Thett, was but a thin attendance Of dealers
to-day at the Stock Excili-e, the majority of theta
being in the Court where the cause; " Mortimer against
Taylor and another" came on for a hearing, and was de-
cided in favour of the plaintiff. The case arose out of
the fraudulent purchase of 5,0004 stock by a stock-
jobber of the name of Taylor, since dead, by whom the
stock was transferred to a creditor of his at the west
end of the town, of which the leading- facts were noticed
at the time. The funds remain quiet.

CHRONICLE.—We are again without any arrivals
deserving notice. The British Queen, which was to
have left New York on the '2d instant, is hourly ex-
pected ; indeed many parties imagine, from the length
of time now elapsed, that she must have been detained
for the purpose of bringing the President's Message.
Even supposing such to have been the case, and that
she might leave on the 6th, her arrival may be looked
for to-morrow. In the English Stock Market, Consols
remained stationary throughout the day, with little
business, many of the members having proceeded to
the Court of Exchequer, the trial of Mortimer v.
M'Allan, respecting the transfer of 5,000/. Consols,
having been appointed for this day. Late in the fore-
noon the verdict was announced as being in favour of
the plaintiff (Mr. Mortimer), which gave universal
satisfaction ; indeed, looking upon it from the com-
mencement as purely a " mercantile transaction," We
do not see how, in point of equity and justice, any other
decision could have been come to.
In the Foreign House, Colombian Stock underwent
a further depression ; the Committee of South American
bondholders, which met to-day, having received letters
from Col. 'Wright, the Commissioner of the Ecuador, as
also from Senor Mosquera, Commissioner for New Gra-
nada, declining a personal interview with the Committee,
upon the grounds that it could lead to no result, they
having no discretionary powers from their respective
Governments ; Senor Fortique, for Venezuela, declined
also to attend, but professed his readiness to receive at
his private house the Chairman, as President of the
Committee.

We understand the Committee received information
from Chili that the Minister of Finance, in his budget
for 1840, had entirely passed over the foreign debt, and
made no provision for the dividends, although he does
for that of the internal debt. Dutch Stock was some-
what lower, the letters from Amsterdam bringing the
price of the Two-and-a-Half per Cents. if per cent.
worse, arising out of the circumstance of a determination
on the part of the Second Chamber to oppose the in-
tended loan of 56,000,000 of florins, although at the
same time they do not object to granting a vote of credit
until a period which they conceive may be sufficient to
place certain grievances, connected in a great measure
with monetary affairs, on a firm and secure footing.

POST.—The aecounts received from Holland by
the mail of the 18th instant, notice some little depres
sion in the value of the public funds in the Amsterdam
market. This was owing, it appears, to a report which
was current, to the effect that the Second Chamber
would discountenance the proposed loan of fifty-six mil-
lion guilders. The discussion upon this question was
to come on on the 19th instant (this day).
The English Market has not for some time past
been in a state to admit of the introduction of any
fresh creations of foreign bonds, if we except the
two amounts (together 1,700,0001.) negociated for
account of the United States' Bank, and, perhaps,
about a quarter of a million of American State Se-
curities, these being in a manner forced upon our
capitalists by circumstances of a specific nature. The
action of the Bank of England on the circulation has
completely put a stop to the operations: of that class of
persons who have for years past been playing the part of
paid tools to the unprincipled Ministers of Spain and
Portugal. The application of the Bank " screw" is al-
ways a signal fer the retirement of these gentry for a
season, the interval being usually employed in the con-
cocting of pamphlets and letters vituperating the Di-
rectors, and recommending such a change in the mone-
tary laws as may better answer their mercenary pur-
poses. The public may take it for granted that a man
does not give himself the trouble of sitting down to his
desk day after day and writing a dozen angry letters
on the dry unpalatable subject of banking, with the
pure and disinterested motive of enlightening them
alone. The stimulus is in many cases, we believe,
to be found in the incumbrance that arises to the
authors, or their friends and partisans, from an over.
loaded bill case—from a too great accumulation of
unsaleable securities. Much of the clamour, however,
is no doubt attributable to those who are ever on the
watch for an opportunity of dipping their hauls once
more into the pockets of their chosen victims in the
name of some one or other of the foreign States who
have practised so largely on the credulity of this coun-
try. A loan of 300,0001. was contracted not many
months ago for the use of Brazil. An attempt has since
been made to obtain a little more money for the same
destination, but it failed. Suspicion was naturally
awakened by the repetition of the demand within so
short a time, and other means of raising the wind were
of necessity resorted to. There was a changing of
agencies and other proceedings calculated to increase
this suspicion, but the Brazilians are, as we have shown,
still harping upon another foreign loan.

HERALD.—The state of the Money Market, so
far as regards the rate of interest, scarcely requires any
comment. The continued heavy discount at which
Exchequer Bills remain in the Money Market, has,
however, latterly created much attention amongst the
moneyed circles. It is well known that their present
depreciation mainly arises out'of the fact, that they were
not included amongst the other securities upon which
the Bank were desirous to grant loans until the open-
ing. Thus they have been rendered a species of dead
capital upon the hands of the holders, who, in many
cases of emergency could not avail thenyselves of them
as a means of borrowing money upon, except from day
to day, or for extremely short periods. Considerable
inconvenience has occasionally arisen out of this state
of things, and it was somewhat anticipated in the early
part of the day that it would be proposed in the Bank
parlour to remove this existing restriction upon Ex-
chequer Bills as securities for loans or advances from
the Bank. No notice to that effect has, however, been
given, and nothing has transpired to warrant the sup-
position that the Bank Direction have any such mea-
sure in contemplation.
According to the official returns of the actual ex-
ports of bullion from the 12th to the 18th December
inclusive, it appears that gold in coin has been ex-
ported to the amount of 596 ounces, and silver in coin
to the amount of 11,526 ounces.

SUN.—The trial of Mortimer v. M'Allan, which
has excited so much interest in the Stock Exchunge, was
decided to-day in favour of the plaintiff. It may be
recollected that a few weeks since Mr. Mortimer, a
Stock-broker, sold to a Mr. Taylor 5,0001. Consols
for immediate transfer, but the cash not being forth-
coming a cheque payable the next day being offered him,
he placed a distringas on the Stock at the Bank, and
to-day obtained la verdict in :his favour. Mr. M'Allan
is the representative of Mr. Taylor, who has since the
transaction committed suicide.

Consols for the opening closed at 921, Exchequer
Bills at 3s. dis. ; and Bank Stock at 177,i.
Spanish Consols improved to 238 d, but Colombian
fell suddenly from 24i to 23, and Mexican dropped to
28 ; Dutch Two-and-Half per cents closed at .538.
The Shares were all a shade better this afternoon.

PROPERTY WIZEIOUT AN OWNER.--Mr.
Lyon, solicitor, appeared again at the New Bailey on
Thursday last, to show cause why he refused to pay
1271., claimed from him by the Salford Police Commis-
sioners, being his proportion of the expense of paving
and sewering Hope-street, Salford, in respect of some
property in that street, supposed to belong to him. The
case, it will be remembered, was before the Court on
the 28th ult., when Mr. Hope denied being the owner
of the property, and it was adjourned to Thursday last,
to give the Commissioners an opportunity of proving
that he received the rents, and acted as owner. On
the part of the Commissioners several of the tenants of
the property were called, who all stated that they paid
their rents to Mr. Lyon's agent, and had done so
ever since they occupied the property. Mr. Bradley,
the agent, was also called, who stated that he re-
ceived the rents, and paid them over to Mr. Lyon, for
which he received a commission ; but, he believed, Mr.
Lyon was not the owner of the property. Mr. Maude
said he thought that a sufficient prima facie case was
now made out against Mr. Lyon ; and a warrant of
distress must be issued against him, if he did not either
pay the money, or state who was the owner. Mr.
Lyon then produced several deeds, which he handed to
Mr. Maude, and stated that the land in question, 4,600
yards square, was sold in 1805 by a man named Barns-
ley, subject to a chief rent of 861. 38. 3d. Barnsley
was indebted to a Mr. Milne in 2,0001., for which he
mortgaged the chief rent as a security. His interest
had, through subsequent deeds, become vested in a per-
son named Rayner, who, he understood, was now in
America. The mortgage was assigned to Mrs. Pigot,
wife of Dr. Pigot, of Nottingham ; and he, (Mr. Lyon)
received the rents for her ; but, as she is now dead, the
rents are sent to her husband. The mortgagees were
very awkwardly situated, as they could not sell the land
for want of a title. Mr. Maude said that statement was
sufficient to exonerate Mr. Lyon. The summons was
then dismissed.—ilianchester Guardian.
THE O'CONNELL COMPENSATION. The
Tory papers tell us that the subscriptions to this fund
are few and small, while the other party's papers state
that its progress is satisfactory. Air. Peter Purcell
has sent his " usual subscription," 20 guineas, as tribute
to Mr. O'Connell.

EMETICS IN CONSUMPTION.—Emetics have
been employed in the early stage of consumption; and as
one of the occasional and rare means of curing this
disease before the breaking down and expectoration of
the tuberculous matter, we know of none contributing
to this end, on which more reliance can be placed.—
Dr. iVeatherhead on ConsuTiiption.