The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-27 00:00:00

• "*.•
_:-'l4ltr• M: -totes into sovereigns, coupled with a I
".*• lliAtiori of that class of bank-notes which is
;•S iiiSt likely to be so converted. But it is
clear that a combination exists throughout the
country, for tormenting the Duke of Wel-
lington, whom some of the aristocratic turn-outs
have indecently called upon by name, into a po-
licy ruinous to the nation, by Grand Jury and
Quarter Sessions (a species of hole-and-corner)
clamour, for measures affecting the currency.—
The Magistrates of Wilts have got up (among
themselves) a petition to the King and Parlia •
went, setting forth that the distress which per-
vades the agricultural " and manufacturing" in-
terests, cannot be expected to abate, " without
legislative interference. Then their worships go
on in the accustomed strain, pretending to de-
plore the condition, not merely of the owner, but
of the " occupier" of land,—(whose fault is it if
he be distressed?)—of" the master-manufac-
turer and his workmen,—the tradesman and
his labourer," &c. -Why do the Squires pre-
sume to meddle with so many matters in
which they have no concern ? In talking
as they do about the manufacturers, they
are either grossly ignorant or disgracefully
dishonest. We have seen gentlemen of the
first credit and intelligence, who have recently
visited all the great seats of manufacture in
the north and central parts of England, and
they declare, that with the exception of certain
branches of the iron-trade, and principally those
which are affected by changes of fashion, the
manufacturers are generally in employment ; but
profits are low, and wages low ; but that there
has been a fall in prices as compared with the
war price, not far short of the fall in wages
compared with the rate of wages during war.
We Lave not ourselves lately travelled through
tiir districts referred, but such is the information
which ha. sleL,l,!ed us from quarters which, being
at once intelligent anu ;disinterested, we deem
snore entitled to implicit er.:l4 t!ian the
partisan cry of any bench of Squires in the
kingdom. We cannot dismiss this subject
:or the present without a brief notice of the
Meeting at Doncaster, to petition in favour of
agricultural interest, which does seem to
have assembled its federal parliaments by signal,
to strike a blow that shall be felt on the 4th of
February, and shall give a stubborn bias to the
Imperial policy of the ensuing session. Mr.
Gaily Knight's speech is well worthy of a degree
of notice which we have not space to bestow
upon it. That gentleman did not concur with
the supporters of the petition. Instead of' re-
-9 unify.).t' measures exclusively partial to the landed
Interest, he stated his belief that much of the
existing distress arose from the seasons, and
would be remedied, at least in part, without
legislative interference ; and that instead of
straitening prohibitory laws, or plundering the
public creditor of his property, a commutation:of
the assessed taxes for a property-tax, not an
income-tax, would be a measure of great efficacy
:assfi wisdom.— Times.

We present as much as we are able, and pro-
bably more than our readers may thank us for,
of a public meeting and resolutions at Birming-
ham. The whole thing is nonsense, and may
probably die away quietly. However, as non-
sense does sometimes succeed for a while, we
may, perhaps, be able to quicken the receding
motions of this by a kick. That which professes
itself to be a political union is, in reality, a con-
federacy for no other purpose, though Parlia-
mentary reform is ostensibly coupled with it,
than for that of forcing upon the nation a fresh
dose of the very same poison (namely, one-
pound notes), from the evacuation of which it
is now palpitating, ricketty, and, as it is asserted,
insecure. A Mr. Attwood is a chief speaker on
this occasion : there is a Mr. Attwood here in Loo
don, who was a director in we know not how many of
the mischievous joint-stock companies, some of
them even rivals and opposed to each other ; '
and if the Attwood of Birmingham had meant
to rescue his name from participation in these
transactions, he would have acted much more
e isely in proposing a resolution to this effect :
" That though, undoubtedly, some difficulties
had been sustained in a return to a wholesome
currency, yet that it was the getting-up of those
detestable joint-stock companies, which had,
above all things, tended to paralyze mercantile
confidence, to injure the character of commer-
cial transactions, and to destroy that trust which
men of business, in this great trading country,
ought to repose in each other ;" and that
" hence it was necessary to establish, not apoliti-
cal club or union, but an honcst club and union,
to protect individuals, by timely warnings,
against the machinations of united craft, and th©
alluring temptations of unbounded wealth, put
forth by counting-house conspirators !" This
would have been a very proper resolution on the
part of the Birmingham Mr. Attwood, and,
under existing circumstances, would have done
credit to his name. What he and those who
have talked, and written, and acted with him,
propose, is a parcel of trash, not having the ob-
ject in view which is professed, but another, and
that a very reprehensible one. As to recom-
mendations of economy, we go as far as the
farthest of these Birmingham people ; but again,
when Mr. Attwood describes barter as blood-
stied and plunder, it is obvious that he does not
know what he is talking about: he is borrowing,
though bad be the loan, nonsense from old Cob-
ett,—without comparison the stupidest and
;nog drivelling of all public writers.—lbid.
The change of the currency, and consequent
increase of taxation, are now occupying the at-
tention of every class of his Majesty's subjects.
The report of a very important Meeting at Bir-
mingham, connected with this subject, will be
found in another part of our paper ; to wii;eli
report we beg to call the serious attention of our
readers. We have no doubt that the object and
views of the gentlemen who took a part with this
Meeting, will be ridiculed or treated with affeet-
ed contempt by the Whig Ministerial Journals,
hut we strongly suspect that his Majesty's Mi-
nisters will look upon them in a very different
light. It appears that die promoters of the as-
senby in question are desitous of forming a
political union of the industrious classes, and of
appointing a" Political, Council" to invire, con-
ftdt, consider, and determine, and report from
tune to time upon the rights of the people,
and upon the politicaf- measures which
it may be legal and advisable to have
recourse to. The proposed union la in-
tended to consist of all classes of persons
said one of its principal objects, indeed, is to
;
promote a close alliance between the rich and
the poor. For our part vve do not wish to give
au opinion upon either the propriety or the
practicability of this plan, but when we see that
men of wealth, Sailenss, and respectability,
bankers and large eisausufaeteirers, lend their
snunes to it, and take a leading part ;p the pro-
ceedings 4onnected with it, we cannot itelp:i9o.4-
ing upon :the thing as one of the important signs
of the times. 11, however, we refrain from