The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-27 00:00:00

THE SUN. LONDON..WEDNESDAY, 'isTOVEMBER 27, 18:49,

THE REPEAL OF THE CORN-LAWS
A RELIGIOUS QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PATRIOT.

SIR,—To feed the hungry, and by charitable insti-
tutions, to alleviate the sorrows of the poor, are consi-
dered religious duties. Can the endeavour to bring
food within the reach of the poor by an act of justice
—can the enabling the poor to purchase food with their
own money, instead of supplicating for it in the shape
of alms or parochial relief—be less a religious duty ?
The new Poor-law throws the poor upon their own
resources ; the Corn-law causes them to pay as much
for one loaf as would suffice for two. The poor may
no longer tax the land of the landlord for their support,
by demanding relief out of the poor-rates in aid of
wages ; yet the landlord still taxes the fond of the
poor for his support in aid of rent, and for the payment
of his mortgages. The ministers of religion, the watch-
men of Israel, ought to regard this as an act of oppres-
sion. The enemies of negro slavery ought to look upon
this partial bondage of their own countrymen with a por-
tion of that sympathy which obtained freedom for 'ha
injured African. On the most moderate calculation, it
requires the labour of two days out of six to pay for this
superfluous tax upon food ; a tax which goes not to the
national exchequer ; which injures most seriously the
manufacturing and commercial interests of the land ;
which robs the middle classes, impoverishe,
the working classes, and which can be proved,
in the long run, to hurt the farmer, and which
only partially benefits the persons for whom alone
they exist, the 30,000 landlords of the kingdom ;
the benefit to them being of a very doubtful nature ;
and supposing it really to exist, putting their persons
and their estates in danger whenever several bad harvests
shall have succeeded each other. The inflammable minds
of the suffering people ought not, under these circum-
stances, to be left to the torch and dagger principles of
the demagogue, but the Ministers of the Gospel of
peace ought to bring the powers of their mind to
bear upon the subject in cool and deliberate exami-
nation. With a determination to preach the whole
counsel of God, _they should, with the utmost
eloquence of their tongue, enlarge upon the denun-
ciations made by the Apostle James against such acts
of oppression. Human nature is the same now as
when he said, " But ye have despised the poor. Do not
rich men oppress you."—" Go to now, ye rich men ;
weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon
you. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped
down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud
crieth ; and the cries of them that reaped are entered
into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth."

A year ago I thought it my duty to bring this subject
before the people of this place, in a sermon from the text,
"He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but
blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it."—
(Proverbs, xi. 26.) I commend this passage to the
careful consideration of every one whose office it is to
expound the sacred volume. When the multitudes fol-
lowed Christ for the loaves and fishes he sent them
away empty ; but when they suffered from hunger,
without any fault of their own, he multiplied the loaves
that were at hand, and distributed amongst them until
they were filled. That which he did miraculously, we
must imitate by the use of means ; and if the united
exertions of all Christians could double the quantity of
food now to be purchased by the wages of the working
men, suffering, as they are, under a high price of bread,
caused by no fault of theirs, it becomes most assuredly
their duty to exert themselves in this matter. • . .
I address a word to Dissenters? I would say that
nothing gratifies the high Churchman more than to see
a timid line of conduct -?n the part of Dissenters, in any
question in which their'principles are involved! He re-
joices to see a man silent, and shrinking from the post
of danger, lest he should be called a political Dissenter,
the ally of Papists and Socinians, the companion of
Radicals and infidels! In Scotland the meeting-
houses of Dissenters have been opened to those splendid
appeals to the understanding and to the conscience
recently made by the Anti-Coro-law lecturers ; but
the last number of that valuable periodical, the " Anti-
Corn-law Circular," complains that in England the
Lecturers have not yet obtained this privilege. I
would respectfully ask, Why should they not? It is
true that the greater part of the Clergy would not
open their Churches if they could ; but it is also true
that they could not if they would, the law being
opposed to them. In a town which has a
Tory Pro• Corn-law Mayor, the Guildhall will pro-
bably be refused ; mechanics' lecture halls, and tempe-
perance hafts, are not to be found in the smaller towns ;
and unless the toeeting-houses of Dissenters be opened
to them, the Lecturer' will riot have an opportunity of
:
addressing the large assemOes which would be collected
to hear them. .

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
THOMAS SPENCER,
Perpetual Curate of Hinton Charterhouse, near Bath.
Hinton, near Bath, Nov. 14, 1839.

THE RAILWAY LABOURER.--The navigator
appears to belong to no country, he wanders from one
public work to another—now alone, then with a party
of two or three ; and as long as he has sixpence in his
pocket seems content, but sets so little value on the
earnings of his slavish employment as never to be at ease
unless in squandering them, although well paid for his
la hour. Go where he will, he finds some of his comrades
whop/ he has met in some part of England before, and
makes; !nquiries as to their mode of living, the wages
LL';ev were
tnaid since they last met, &c. His attire is
peculiar. l
• ;s heat; he wears a kind of white felt hat,
the brim of whichturneu -up all round, and generally
a tobacco-pipe Li stuclt in the !"ant!, which is of some
glaring colour, a velv,°t 6116•
oting.jacKe!'• with white but-
tons, a scarlet plushaistooat of large 46eksi9P,,
with little black spots on sometimes a brig!' t co- I
loured neckerchief round his ne,"ic, and sometimes nu- '
thing at all ; inexpressibles of cL2rduroY retained in
their position by a leather strap rouo the waist, and
tied and buttoned at the knee ; sometimes white
stockings or grey worsted encircling most robust
knes, and high-laced boots of strong build, complete
his dress. His " dicky," or small smock frock, is
slung, when he trove's, at his back, and by the arms in
front ; in this he carries whatever else he has in the
world, except the clothes he wears. In some things he
makes an atempt at taste—in the dressing of the hair,
by wearing one or more ringlets on each side of his face,
upon which great value is placed. He knows no other
pleasure or domestic comfort than is affordeu it, a public
house or beer-shop, brawling or drinking with his compa-
nions after the toils of the day.—Gloucestershirc Chro-
nicle.

From the almost incessant rains which have pre-
vailed during the present month, our lowlands have
been partially inundated ; subsequently to the lull moon,
however, on Thursday last, the weather has assumed a
more favourable character, the wind has gone round to
the north, and the atmosphere consequently become
more cold and seasonable.—Sussex Advertiser.

CORONER'S INQUEST.- AWFULLY SUDDEN
DEATH.—Yesterday morning, at nine o'clock, an in-
quest was held at the Britannia public-house, Bri-
tannia-terrace, Lower-road, Islington, on the body of
Mrs. Mary Butts, aged 32 years, who, while occu-
pied in her domestic duties on Thursday afternoon
last, was seized with an apoplectic fit, and falling on
the floor, instantly expired.— Verdict—Natural Death.

We have great pleasure in being able to announce
that the Marquis of Normanby has directed the release
from custody of the Rev. Mr. Davis, the Dissenting-
Minister of Canterbury, in whose house a relative. from
Newport, unhappily implicated in the late Chartist out-
rages, was found ; there not appearing on the face of the
depositions any cause for his detention.

EXTRAORDINARY AFFAIR.—As a police
constable named Yates, No. 59, of the C division, w;:s
perambulating Great Windmill-street, Haymarket,
when he was on duty last week, he suddenly placed
his back against some window shutters, and commenced
laughing in a strangely wild and incoherent manner at
*very person who passed. This extraordinary conduct
soon drew a crowd of persons around him. Some po-
licemen from the adjoining beats approached for the
purpose of dispersing the mob, and were greatly asto-
nished to find their fellow constable flourishing his hat
on the end of his staff, evidently in a state of madness.
After considerable difficulty they succeeded in conveying
him to the Vine-street station-house, where he was put
to bed, and Mr. Tothill, of Broad-street, Golden-
square, the surgeon of the division, bled him and ad-
ministered sonic medicine to him. The man still con-
tinues in a rate of raving madness, and labouring under
a delusion that some person is coming to kill him. It
is a singular fact that Cully, the unfortunate policeman
who was mortally stabbed in the Spa-fields outrage in
May, 1833, belonged to the same division, and wore
the same number on his coat (59) as the man Yates,
who has been so suddenly deprived of his mental
faculties.

TILE PRICE OF A KISS.—At the Halsted
Petty Session, on Tuesday, one Mr. George Sale, a
tailor, was charged with having, at the parish of Castle
Hedingham, designedly and' feloniously robbed one Mrs.
Sarah Baring of an article of personal property—to wit,
one kiss, whereby he had subjected himself to all the
pains and penalties, convictions and commitments in that
case made and provided. Mrs. Baring's lord was a
brickmaker, and while he was at his employment, han-
dling clay through the long long night, Mr. Sale was
sighing for the 4‘ piece of animated clay," which was left
lonely in his dwelling. So on the evening of the 15th
inst. he approached her with the soft winning voice of
flattery—

~ Her lips were the twoiiflowers where the wild bee had been,
And her cheeks were
t(liat".°l4
:e sp thought,urarwl bi
ne r
tr
pavediri iee s
ksims
sot smothered to
yai ni cream."
er a
ufmou.r 't.'
and having thus, as
rriveness, he venturetliet
'lts() be the: in
beyond bearing, and immediately
31rs. B. thought thinshis
informed the tailor
14 not fit. Mr. Sale
uarch of sto.en
;n0:-(isp_le(lihtlaipatpelii;ewd
carrieed-act, for he found thgra
on Mrs. Baring's lips, and them forcibly away--
but Justice disallowed his attempted defence, and ordered
him to pay 20s. for the kiss—rather
mors°l, delicious as it might be, although(lear price for the
Mrs. B. gave
him plenty of sauce with it.—Chebnlford Chronic/a,