The Sun.
London, England, 1839-07-10 00:00:00

FRUITS OF THE CORN LAWS.

We have received the following communication from
a party who is well known to us, and whose respecta-
bility is a sufficient guarantee for the accuracy of his
statements. We have, on former occasions, directed
the attention of our readers to the process which must
infallibly go on, unless our Corn-laws arc materially mo-
dified ; and the letter furnishes a sample of its working.
To suppose that we can maintain our manufacturing
pre.emineuce against rivals who procure their food
at a much lower price—who have machinery equal
to our own—and who are rapidly acquiring an
equal degree of skill and capital,—is just as
absurd as it is to imagine that water will run
up a hill, or to conceive any other physical impossibi-
lity. If we will not allow cheap food to come to the
workmen, the workmen will assuredly go to the cheap
food ; and they are now doing so in considerable num-
bers :

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MANCIIESTIR GUARDIANS

Sir,--On Saturday last, as I was standing at the
door of my warehouse, I observed some of my best
weavers, whom I have kept going for two or three years
together, bringing in their geers.
I was much surpri.ed at this, knowing that work
generally is slack ; and I followed them up stairs. On
my inquiring how it was, one of them said, on behalf
of the whole, " Oh! we are going to Belgium to learn
them to weave there, and we are to have 15s. a week,
house rent, and fire found, with free passage, and our
Wages will start as soon as we set off ; which you know
is a great deal better than we can do here ;" and he
added, " Some other weavers that I know have gone
to the same quarter, and would arrive last Friday."
You may judge how I felt at this ; it came upon
me like a borne thrust ; and though the affair may be
small in amount, and to some may appear altogether
insignificant, yet, as far as it goes, it is a blow at our
manufacturing supremacy, It is no ideal matter ; no
speculative guess as to the competition we may have to
encounter, but at once a word and a blow.
I shook hands with regret with my old weavers,—
regret at losing good servants, and regret at the pro-
bable effects of their engagement. England provides
the elements of, and offers at the same time the
mightiest incentive to, foreign competition. What
laws of persecution have done in other countries, the
laws of starvation are doing in this.
Yours, truly,
A MANUFACTURER.
Manchester, July 4, 1839.

THE STEREOTOMY, OR NEW
SECTIONS OF THE CUBE, APPLICABLE
TO ALL THE PURPOSES OF BUILDING,
PAVING, &c.
__...--

A meeting of Noblemen and other scientific men
was held yesterday afternoon, in the large room of the
Royal Botanic Society, Pall-mall, to hear an exposition
of numerous experiments that had been made by a fo-
reigner of distinction for dividing the cube. His Royal
Highness the Duke of Sussex occupied the chair, and
there were present, amongst other gentlemen well known
in the world of science, the Duke of Hamilton, the
Earl of Munster, Colonel Rushbrooke, Sir Charles Le-
rman, Colonel Sir Burges Comae, the Hon. J. Bruce,
Colonel D'Arcy, Captain Slade, Dr. Ure, and Dr.
Sigmond. The object of the Expositor was
to exhibit a division of the cube, or as
he called it, the anatomy of the cube, and he observed
that it was an extraordinary fact in the history of
science, that although the cube was the most regular
of all solid bodies, and the most learned men amongst
the Greeks and other nations, had occupied themselves
for many years in order to ascertain and measure its
proportions, it bad never hitherto been regarded as a
ody to be anatomised or explored in its inward parts.
So,'ne years ago, it had occurred to a French mathema-
, ticiac that it was divisible into six pyramidical forms,
and th.'s circumstance seeems to have suggested to the
Lecturer of yesterday that the natural formation of the
body was by a combination of these forms. Hav-
ing detaile d a number of experiments which he
had made, at id shown how the results thereby obtained
were in strict .accordance with mathematical principles,
he proceeded to show the various purposes to which the
diagonals of the tlubes he had obtained might be applied.
By cutting the co,be in half, and then dividing the half
in a diagonal form, 1,!,e obtained a figure, namely a quarter
of the cube, in which,' he observed, the whole strength
or power of resistance of the entire body resided ; while
its figure was such at' to be capable of forming a
horizontal line that .might be extended to any
length. The more immediate object was to show
the application of these .figures to the purposes of
paving by wood, in com,!nnation with asphalte,
used as a cement for uniting the cubes, and which, it
was alleged, would constitute a p;ivement at once eco-
nomical, clean, and enduring. Amongst the various ap-
plications of these figures shown, was one forming a
spiral column, which was appropriately denominated the
skeleton or osteologic part of the quadrangular column,
upon a scale equal to 120 feet in height. The practi-
cal uses of this for the purposes of architecture were
pointed out, and appeared to be appreciated by the
company present. The whole of the expositions were,
in fact, listened to with great iuterest, and several ques-
tions were asked. At the conclusion, his Royal High-
ness expressed his obligation to the distinguished gentle-
man who had addressed the meetinj, and gave it as his
opinion that the information imparteci was not only ex-
tremely interesting, but highly importan.t to the interests
of practical science.