The Sun.
London, England, 1839-12-14 00:00:00

SPRIT of PUBLIU JOURNALS

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
(From. the Morning Chronicle.)
We subjoin a comparative statement, for which we
are indebted to Clio Monthly Chronicle foe 'November,
of the duty on wheat, according to the bill proposed by
Mr. Canning, which pasSed the Commons but was lost
in the Lords, and the duty payable under the present
Act of the Duke of Wellington, passed in 1828.

Average Prices of Duty according to Duty according to the
Wheat. Canning': Bili. Duke Or Wellington's Bill.
735. . . Is. ls.
725. . . Is. 2s. Bd.
71s. . . • - Is. . 6s. Bd.
70s. . . Is. 103. Bd.
693. . . 23. . 138. Bd.
683. . . 43. . 16s. Bd.
675. . . 6s. . 185. Bd.
668. . Bs. 20s. Bd.
653. . . 10s. . 21s. Bd.
645. . . 12s. . 225. Bd.
635. . . I 233. 83.
623. . . 163. 245. Bd.
61s. . . 18s. , 255. Bd.
60s. . . 203. . 265. dd.
595. . . 225. 275. 83.
583. . . 249. 28s. 83.
575. . • 265. 29s. Bd.
565. . • 28s. 30s. 81
555. . • 308. . 31s. Bd. .
545. . . 325. . 325. Bd.
533. . • 343. 335. Bd.
The average price being now 675..5d., ice are charge-
able with a duty of 18s. Bd. ; whereas, had Mr. Can-
ning's Bill been suffered to pass the Lords, the duty
we should have had to pay would only have been Gs.
But besides the mischievous alteration in the scale of
duty by the Duke of Wellington's Bill, the Irish wheat
was, for the first time included in the averages, and as
it is inferior in quality, the average is thereby greatly
reduced, and the duty increased accordingly. Mr.
Canning's Bill was framed in accordance with the
views of Mr. Huskisson, whose extensive knowledge of
the commercial interests of the country led him- to an.
ticipate the ruinous consequences to our industry which
must follow the adoption of tke Duke of Wellington's
scale. To understand the whole extent of the mis-
chievous operation of the Duke of Wellington's Bill,
it is necessary to consider the circumstances which
have lowered the averages so very much below the rate
at which good corn can be purchased. The corn-
dealers tell us that sound English wheat is worth, in
the Liverpool market, for instance, 80s. per quarter ;
but, f:om the inferior quality and unsound condition of
the Irish wheat, of which the sales principally consist
(sound English Wheat being excessively scarce), the
average return of this week for the most important
market will be little more than .525. Thus, at the very
moment. when sound foreign wheat is particularly wanted
to mix with the unsound corn, this same unsound corn,
which cannot be used alone, is the cause of the duty
being raised almost to a prohibitory rate on good wheat.
The law of 1828, therefore, undermines the constitu-
tions as well as empties the pockets of the people. It
may be doubted whether the Duke of Wellington, in
the course of those campaigns in all parts of the world
which have acquired a deathless name for himself,
and reflected so much lustre on his country, ever
caused such dectruction to our enemies, as, by his
unfortunate Bill, he has caused to his own
countrymen. Can any idea be more revolting
than that the people should be deprived by law of the
means of rendering their food less unwholesome by an
admixture of sound with the damaged corn, with which
the markets are glutted ? We of course acquit the
Duke of contemplating the horrid consequences which
result from his Bill ; but now that those consequences
have made themselves unfortunately but too evident, we
cannot acquit the landowners of England, who oppose
all alteration or modification of the bill, of a heartless
disregard of the well-being of their countrymen, and an
utter indifference to all considerations except the tem-
porary advantage derived from their monopoly. We
are now paying, under the Duke of Wellington's Bill,
18s. 81., and it is expected that the duty will soon
amount to 20s. Bd. It is well to bear in mind that this
addition t o the duty is not the consequence of a fall in the
price of good wheat, but of the excess of bad wheat in the
market. By the operation of the Act, as has just been
seen, the quantity of damaged corn in the market must
continually increase, and the proportion of good wheat
constantly diminish ; so that, in the course of time, the
great body of the people will be condemned to subsist
on unsound food. The landowners, it is true, who are
now rioting on the sufferings of the people, may he able,
out of their increasing and well-paid rents, to afford
themselves bread of the best quality ; and with them
the rule seems to he, " no matter who suffers, provided

_ .
we are well off." Will the people of this country sub-
mit in patience to this grievous wrong? Will they not,

on the contrary, lay aside their differences on theo-
retical points, and combine together in one great effort
to get rid of this monstrous practical evil—an evil which
besets them whichever way they turn? The poor
working man, at a time when his utmost exertions, at a
fair rate of wages, would baldly suffice to obtain bread

alone for his family, finds, in too many cases, that em-
ployment is not to be had, and that, when it
is to be had, his wages arc lowered. The em-
ou9r by the operation of the Corn Act,
from obtaining a suitable return for the goods
with 'which every market in Europe and Ame-
rica is now glutted. We see in all the
towns in .the north subscriptions set on foot to pre-
serve the thousands out of employment from dying of
want ; for even unwholesome food will be devoured
with avidity by the starving man. The industry of the
country is seriously threatened by an Act which disturbs
all commercial transactions. We leave the corn of fo-

reigners upon their hands, except when we are threat-
ened with famine ; and, forcing them in this manner to
have consumers at home for their food, we become a
nuisance to them, even when we send gold to their mar-
kets. Every manufacturer, called into existence by
the blind avarice of English landowners, suffers by the
sudden rise of price caused by the relaxation of the pro-
hibitory law ; and the Governments are distracted be-
tween the demands of their agriculturists to export
their corn, and the remonstrances of their artisans
against being sacrificed to the caprices of English
legislation. Even in the United States, where there
has been an abundant harvest, the demand for our
goods has ceased ; because the almost prohibitory
duty on corn stands in the way of its exportation
to this country. We are supplying the people
of the Eastern States of the American Union with
arguments for imposing additional duties on English
manufactures. To all these consequences, however,
our landowners are blind. We have heard, indeed,
that many of them are absolutely so infatuated that,
looking with apprehension on the growth of our towns,
the consequence of the extension of our manufacturing
industry, they would not be sorry if that industry were
to be arrested. But can men, endowed with reasoning
faculties, really believe that a decaying industry, and
an unemployed and starving population, would not be
terribly felt by the landowners? As it is, crime is in-
creasing so rapidly around us, that every day men ask
' themselves, what is to be done ? All means of re-
pression are inoperative, and the punishment of
offenders only tends to increase crime. What would
become of the multitudes who inhabit our great com-
mercial marts, if the fifty millions of manufactures,
now exported to all parts of the world, were to
have no longer an outlet ? "Of the whole export of
cotton manufacture last year," observes the Manchester
Guardian, "amounting in value to more than 24 mil-
lions sterling, considerably less than five millions were
exported for the use of our own colonies and settle-
ments ; and the remaining nineteen millions and up-
wards to countries, the trade with which the Standout
proposes to sacrifice to the existence of the Corn-laws."
The landowners may sigh for the days of feudal pride,
when, though rents were low, yet landlords were not
crossed in their wishes by upstart traders : but these
days will never return ; and they must therefore be
contented with high rents and well-filled cellars, even
though these high rents be derived from towns of a
magnitude not to be affected by their influence. Events
will have their course, in spite of the wishes of either
princes or landowners.

(From the Morning Advertiser.)
Even at a time when—parties being less equally
balanced than at present—a vote on either side in the
House of Commons might exercise comparatively little
influence on the proceedings of the Legislature, but
little excuse could be offered in defence of any candi-
date or candidates of the same political principles di-
viding the suffrages of any constituency, and thereby,
while making their own exclusion inevitable, to allow a
representative of adverse opinions to be returned to
Parliament. But in the present posture of affairs,
when the loss of half a dozen of votes in the House of
Commons might afford pretext for the formaticn of
a Ministry hostile to the best interests of the
people, any man who, for the purpose of gratifying in-
dividual ambition, would risk the return of a Tory
candidate, should be regarded as an enemy to his
country, and be ever afterwards held disqualified
for the representation of any Liberal constituency. The
two important and hitherto Liberal boroughs of Bir-
mingham and Southwark appear likely to be placed in
the position we thus deprecate. No less than three
candidates in each of these boroughs, hitherto so illus-
trious in the cause of Reform, are said to be about to
offer themselves for the suffrages of the Liberal por-
tion of the e;eetors ; while in both cases the Conser-
vatives, with good generalship, concentrate their whole
forces in favour of one. • Notwithstanding the great pre-
ponderance of Liberal electors in both boroughs, in a
contest. under such circumstances a Reform candidate
bt\l.ll,nere:cteitileirmefoonre r;
could scarcely have had any chance of success. While
the 'Furies would be all united in their three degrees
of comparison, the corrupt, the more corrupt, and the
tt,ll7est i
dei7ruellntt— ti
shades Liberals
would n
i 0 bNeV
Ra-
dical, and the ultra-Radical ; and, unless some of
these dividedp:.i,lx forcesarraye
arrayed
n provedgain
against
them,stronger ttlitiaen
stiuldihite tcele:dee Cs
s of
enemy must be the inevitable result.
tthoseeil
intention
candidatesf
or
entering
Liberal i
who li;Yve any
come to sopa Ft.angement amongst themselves, and