The Sun.
London, England, 1839-03-15 00:00:00

NATIONAL GALLERY.

On the, motion of Mr. HUME returns were ordered
. of the number of Persons who have vlAted the -National 'Gallery in
each month, from'• September 1833 to January 1839; "also the
amount of salary and. perquisites, If •Atiy,- received by each person
employed, and the principal items of Miscellaneous Expenaes under
separate heads, in each of the two past years; also the-averagentimber
of Students. who have attended on dayePol'itutly':—Of theAtiount
of Money received for admisaion, and, of thentitither of PersenS who
visited tlmExtribition of -the Royal Acadc;mforArlS in oath of the
ycao- 1906; 1837, and 1838; distinenithlng the Entrarite Money
.from the proceeds by the• sale of Catalognes;"togethei 'With the
arnount paid in Salaries stud Perquisites t0,6,.ch person emPlOyed in
that establishment in each of those years; also; the Miscellaneous
'Expenses under , separate heads in oath of these years ;• and the
average number of Students who have attended 'the Lire School, and
that of the Antique, in each of these years, ('ln continuation of the
Account of the President and Secretary of the .Ataciemy
ef Arts in . July, 1836;) : Of the- amount ' expended in
the .outfit of , the -Government School Of Design at 'Somer-
set House ; distinguishing, the expense 'of repaits of ; the
wernisca, and the costs of .objects- for the accommodation
and. use of the students ; - statin -• the name Of. each
person employed; and the, amount of -Salary and' allow-
ance to each ; and also tho :principal items Of the miscellaneous-
expenses U;r to the let 'day of January, 1839; also the number of
'pupils who.have attended.the school in each month, the rates of
pay for the; admittance of pupils, and the amount neeived for the
same period.,

1/10111 WATER AT LONDON IiXIDOE TO-MORROW.
Atoning 49 minutes after 2i Evening

Belgium, and Lord DUNGANNON his motion for returns
under the Registration Act, and the House adjourned.

The people of England have petitioned, in almost
unexampled numbers, on the subject of the Corn-laws.
There islerhaPs no agricultural hamlet- in:the ,empire
that . has not 'sent its petition to Parliament,for-the -pre-
servation, and no manufacturing district which hasnet
demanded the abolition, of those laws. The Ayr
03server of Tuesday mentions that a numerous meet-
ix% of the landowners of that county took place on that
day, and resolved to petition Parliament in favour of
the Corn-laws. Other counties have taken the same
course ; and they have been kept in countenance by all
the great towns. Agricultural Associations on- the one
hand, and Anti-Corn-law Delegates on the other, min-
gling with their other pursuits, and passing a
,vote of censure on the Ministers, attest the deep interest
which all classes take on this question. Our'own columns
day after day filled with long debates on the Corn-laws,
to the exclusion, of all other matter, confirm the as-
.
-serLion that
.the Corn-laws are now the absorbing subject
Of public interest. Both Houses of Parliament have
entered on the discussion, and, as well as the people,
seem to regard it as as -a question of vital importhnce.
So we think, and in the performance of our duty we
have visited 'the Commons and the Lords. On the
first night, when Mr. CuttisTornna ',announced a call,

which he never carried into effect, Mr. VILLIERS had a
moderately large audience, but after he had spoken the
House melted away, so that. Sir GEORGE SIT-Nu-AND
and Mr. CAYLEY spoke to at most a fourth of those

who are to decide the question by their votes. Later
in the evening a tumultuous mob assembled, and with
joyous after-dinner hilarity overwhelmed the feeble voice
of Mr. POULETT Tifoksom. Ca Wednesday 'riight,
'during the three first hours of the debate,
there was not many more Members present . .than
,cOnstituted a quorum, and they never, we believe, ex.
ceeded the number of those who were anxious to speak,
and Waited, rather for an opportunity, of hearing ;hem•,
selves than of hearing others. Later in the evening,
again, when a reasonable number was present, thel noise
and uproar stifled Lord Howlcies speech, and though it
was evidently studied with great care, and' the rnatter
was well arranged, and some of the facts, striking, it waS
entirely thrown" away on the bulk of those
.wiii? will
vote on the question. Last night it was no betteq. In
the early part of the evening the speakers had no
audience, and in the latter part the audience would
scarcely hear the speakers. Yet this is the manner
which, this grave,,deliberative assembly discusses a!ques--.
tion which fills all England with anxiety or alarm ; and
the Commons will speak of the public as very criminal
if it should not allow their votes to settle the matter for
ever.

From the CoMmons we looked into the Lordsi and
expected there to see the. House crowded with Peers.
The fate of the Aristocracy and the Church, it has been
said, is beund up with the Corn-laws. The character
of the Ministers and of the Legislature is implicated
in them ; the institutions of 'the country are assailed
through them ; and. we looked for the assembled wisdom
of the Peerage to rescue the character of Parliament,
the honour of the Government, the morality of the
Church, and the justice of .the Peers from reproaeh.
The Corn-laws have been fully and openly assailed,
because they restrict industry and impede. the supply. of'.
subsistence ; because they doom the people to poverty,
and promote crime ; because they themselves arc
criminal, cutting off multitudes of. p6ople, Trite 1:er:-
ire, between' GOD'S goodness and his Creature's w4nts,
and causing, all 'those frightful vices which Iteep
population down to the level of the. law-rest4ted
.supply of fOod. - ' They , harden the hard; lanl.
make all men unfriendly and uncharitable. '
_They
substitute the ferocity of, hunger for the benignity i.of
plerity. Vs expected,' therefore, to see-our Ecclesi-
astical .Legislators all present ; and to find them armed
with texts of scripture to prove, the -morality of i the
Corn-laws,• and to show.that they are ebiricident With
GOD'S words, which; cn the question of Sabbath iota-
servance, they insist on making the basis of Legislation.
We saw only two, there might be three, and liat
they have to say in favour of the laws or against thOni;
is-n mystery to us, for 'at the time we write neithOr Of
them had opened his month.. " When Jacon,” we
.are
reminded by atraet
.on the Corn-laws .bYJAMES YOuNn,
a journeyman mechan'e, " saw that .there was corn in
Egypt, lie said to his sons, why do you look 'on 'one
another ? And he said, behold; 1-have-heard, that there
is corn in Egypt, get You, doir;it thither and buyfor u$ from
thence that we may liVe and not die. And. Joseph's ten
brethren went down to buy co:n it; Egypt?! • Now we
humbly submit to the Right Rev. Father in Goo,
and to the bulk of the honest -people who' take their
morality and their filth from the lips of these Bishops,
that the'policy of the' Patriarchs is as worthy of imita-
tion, and-should be ac much a rule, on the subject of
buying corn, as' on observing the seventh day ; and
before this • great discussion on the .Corn-laws, is
oVer the 'Bishops will 'be required fo . show their
Scripture authoritylir muzzling the people, for tying,
their legs, and preventing them from going into the
land of Egypt to buy corn. Besides the two Bishops,
we counted two, if not three,-Ministers; and sOmC clo4en
.Peers, on the. Ministerial" Douches. On the cross
benches there_ might be half-a-dozen more, and on the
Opposition benches two dozen or thirty. Of the while
Peerage then' •lay and clerical, less than • three score
are to hear the •details on the question and decide it,
thgugh it affects the food of the labourer, time profitiof
his etnployer, and the well-being of all. We heard one
of the Peers talk of the alarm and the mischief wlalt

the agitation of this question was exciting; - anti be
a expressed hope' that 'their Lordships would, by negia-
tiVing Lord FITZWILLIAM'S motion, put quend to the
agitation. Still the tempest, Duke of Bucxoo-
114 M ; controul the raging main. ;, make the stony hills bf
your estate as. valuable by the extorted labour of did
peasantry, as the fat polders of Holland ; but never at-
tempt by the vete of two Bishops--though one of than
be Arch,. and a couple of scores of lay Peers-4--
though five. or six of them be Dukes, to
settle this , vital question. ' Stirred • 'it . 'Oa*
is, to the deepest depths of human feeling; the whole
ladd echoes to the voices of our hearts, and to the
wish that they Uill•be silent, because such a House. of
Peers and such a House of Commons as we. have de-
scribed, may vote that they ought to be silent and must
be silent, is only another proof of the vanity of human
wishes; though they be the wishes of Barons, DukeS,
and. Archbishops. .. .. ,

We must continue to-call the uttention,of our readeo
to the proceedings of the Anti-Corn-law Delegat4,
whose running'6omment on the:debates in the' Paili4:.
merit is quite as 'instructive as arc the debates, the.nl-
- Dr. llowatsc yesterday.demonstrated the ud-
fairness of Mr.— CIIR4TOPIIER, and Mr. BAatutt-exi
posed the arrogant -assumptions'of Lord Dnat.rNovo, .
Bet satisfactomas these, are, it is..still More satisfeetor
to find Mr. dCoNNELL entering vigorously:into:the
contest, .and explaining, in language; which will not.be
lost on Ireland, .the. evil. of the Corn-laws.. to that
country. Speedily, we are sure, a great change will be
wrought in the opinions of the Irish, and they will insist
on their representatives joining those of the, towns of
England in requiring a repeal of the Corn-laws. Justice
to_ England will bellic surest and swiftest means of getting
justice for Ireladdlund thb satrfeblotvliiieli knocks the.
Corn" aw fetters from our inittstrions-Veoplc-Will snap
asunder the bigot chain which now binds the Protestant
Establishment on the Catholics of Ireland. '.., • "
Some persons ,began to talk of capitulating with the
landlords for a small fixed duty, but it will be time
enough to consider that when the landlords betray any
desire to corne_te an. arzreerncnt. At, present we see
no signs of that, and shOuld
.be disposed, under any
circumstances, 46 resist any cnmpromise. . A fixed dUty
might suit the Prussians .and the Saxons, but not the
English manufacturers. 'Nothing, we belitve, could be
effectual but a complete and total abolition of the laws,
'to save our manufacturers from ruin, and our people
from despair. •
.