The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-19 00:00:00

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LONDON :
THURSDAY. -,EPTEMBER 19, 1839.

The landlords seem to be the first, this year, to
: take the field in defence of the Corn-laws. At
the same time it is true, as these laws expose
the community to continual suffering, and still
greater apprehension, that a continual cannonade is
kept up against them, but no meetings have of late
been held by the manufacturers to consider of the
means of assaulting the landlords' entrenchments.
The landlords, however, are tired of this distant
encounter, and they are sallying out and defying
their opponents to a closer fight. Be it so ; if we
. may judge from the nueither of articles which we
see on the subject in the journals of the manufac-
turing districts, and Cine vehement language in which
they are couched, .he landlords will find the other
classes ready for the combat, and determined to
pursue it to its, extreme conclusion.
On Thursday the East Suffolk Agricultural
Associati‘en held its annual meeting at Saxemund-
ham. It was numerously attended, and the high
prices, inspired the company with brilliant spirits.
The Suffolk men have probably got in their
crops, and the heavy rains which have since
,Taken, though they till the townspeople with appre-
hension, may afford delight to Lord .:;T It ADBRO K E,
Lord HENNIKER, arid their friends.
, The price of wheat rase yesterday in Mark-lane ;
I it rose at the close of the week at Newcastle and
the towns of the North of England. It sells at
1725. per quarter, and at that enormous price the
landlords levy a tax on it of Gs. 'Fuse circum-
I stances make the landlords rejoice, and they boasted
1 at Saxemundham of the remuneration they were
receiving, and of the admirable system under which
we live. The price of corn for several months
i past was, in Sir CHARLES VEREtS opinion, a
cproof that the Corn-laws had worked extremely
i well for the purposes for which they were enacted.
: Remunerating prices to the farmers, brought about
' by short crops and a tax on the supply, are decay
to our manufacturers, and disease and death to our
people. But the Suffolk landlords challenge sup-
-1 port for the Corn-laws, arid are to retain them
notwithstanding certain threats.
Besides this sally in Suffolk, an annual dinner
of the Royal Buckinghamshire Agricultural As-
aooiation took place at Beaconsfield on Tuesday, his
.Grace the Duke of BUCKINGHAM in the chair.
If such meetings were only to encourage good fel-
lowship amongst somewhat distant neighbours,
or to promote knowledge and skill amongst the
dependents of the landlords, we should hail
them with the greatest pleesure. But when they
) are intended to keep up an odious system of taxa-
tion to reduce in quantity the food of the poor,
they are more reprehensible than our language
can express.
The Duke of BUCKINGHAM, after presenting
some prizes to successful agriculturists, on pro-
) posing prosperity to the Royal Bucks Agricultural
Association, made the following remarks :
" Seven y,,ars ago the Association of which he had the
honour to be the President was formed at Aylesbury.
The Association had been founded at a moment when there
were the greatest possible difficulties and danger, with re-
gard to, 'agriculture, to be contended with. He had, how=
ever, felt it to be his duty to come forward at that inte.
1 rearing moment in support of the landed interests...-
1 (I.icar, hear.) It was, indeed, an anxious moment for
'irtablic men, as the question of agriculture involved the
interests of the farmer so materially, that to form ar.
P Association for protecting their interests and the interests
of the farm labourer, seemed to be a most desirable object,
--(Hear, hear.) A great depreciation seemed to exist
amongst public men at the period when the Association
had been formed, and few had come ferward to support
the agricultural interests. .
Tie objects cf these associations had on many occasions
i been misrepresented. It had been endeavoured by some
to mystify their intentions, and to represent them in a clif-
f ferent light from that in which they really stood; but he,
! as an individual, had always steadily supported the inte-
rests of the farmer—they had no object but to protect the
property oe the agriculturists and thos,, connected with
1 agricultural pursuits, and to secure their welfare—( Hear, hear;—and they might believe him, that if they had not
at that time put themselves in the attitude of defence
for those interests, and maintained that attitude since
with
ea s
the utmost vigour, that he would not on the present
Ini,r, ion have bad the plewAre of seeing around him so
Yha faces• Theof the land, which was
produce
the d?e;lttiheenfee o.ithe farrier, would have been wrested from
the nee
ore.ign7,..
markets 'would have been introduced into our
had long beenl'alY lit place with the public.—( Hear.) He
p,oweets, and be,ctAna,nted with the nature of the farmer's
strenuous suppr: always afforded them his best and most
1 to obtain a ta,r, or7,(pear, hear.) It required the farmer
him to pay '.,bt labour: 'but produce of his land to enable
ceiving sc t. c.. remunerati'on
—ruin old distress, anon'
`rlriwed a proper revyard foeraras •
utwit he should be deprived of re.
(B..ar.hia,t happened to the labourvr, ?
So long as a farmer
h.. able to pay high and proper wageirsidtustry, so long was
‘, o.,•ar, hear.) He conjured them, if they hisiassistants.--
Of their country at heart—their ov,a e had
and the
welfare
te
fare of their Sovereign, to adhere strenuou:lyant tthhenewel;
i which they had adopted—:o maintain those lawsowhi ' au--
1 made England prosperous, and not listen to the sta,e" had
iof men whose object—he meant the Chartists—it S,nient'
to he, he believed it really was—the ruin of f Ens ‘e:;,,,,ed
snercc, and the downial of the farmers.— gli (Chters.)- h '
---
The ignorance and the confusion of ideas in his
Grace is most reinrakable. In 1832, or seven
rears ago, the aericultural interest, according to
-him, was most depressed ; but the exact same
sv,te in existed then as now, except that some
little modifications have been made in it, such as
the reductions of the dirty on foreign fruit, both
dried and fresh, which are advantageous to
the consumer. The very same system, too,
had then existed for four years, and with some
modifications for ten years, but under it the farmers
and the landlords were, according to his statement,
in the greatest distress. They were in such distress
that in 18:33 they were almost ready to break out in
rebellion, as Mr. CAYLEY advised, and their pre•
sent prosperity only dates from 1837. If the Corn-
law system gives them prosperity, it must, by the

same process of reasoning, be the cause of their dis-
tress, and as their distress has been of longer dwa-
tion than their prosperity, they ought 'to curse the
Corn-laws.

But mark the impudence of the Duke. He said
if the agriculturists had not put themselves in the at-
titude of defence of their interests, and maintained
that attitude, the produceof the land would have been
taken from them. This is false. No person ever
wanted to take the produce of the land from the
farmer. The Corn-law repeaters wanted him
to keep his produce, and to do what he liked
with it, and they wanted to buy the produce of
other men. But the Duke and his fellows insisted
on forcing the produce of the farmer on the manufac-
turers, and would on no account allow them to buy
the produce of other persons. This view of the mat-
ter is given by the Duke himself, in the next sen-
tence ; for he says, if they had not maintained this
attitude of defence, the foreigner would have been
introduced into the market, to supply the place of
our agriculturists with the public. The foreigners,
that is, would have given our people their produce
for a consideration, and relieved them from the neces-
sity of giving to the Duke of BUCKINGHAM his
own price for the produce of his stony fields and his
pauper labourers, but the agriculturists would not al-
low the foreigners to do that. Now what must `rethink
of the impudence of this Duke, or of the want of un-
derstanding either in him or in his hearers, which
could induce him to utter, or them to tolerate, such
contradictor• assertions in the same breath ? We
admit that they kept foreigners out of the market,
and so stopped trade, and so limited our supplies,
and so starved our people ; but it is totally false
to imply that the other classes had any design to
take away from the. agriculturists the produce of
their lands and labour.

At the conclusion of the paragraph quoted, the
Duke, more adroitly, for his hearers, than honestly
as the rest of the world will perceive, implied that
that those who seek for the abolition of the
Corn-laws are Chartists. The Chartists were,
however, decidedly opposed to the repeal,
and exerted themselves to defeat the meetings
which were got up to advocate that course.
If the Chartists had joined the middle classes,
the Duke of BUCKINGHAM, at the Beacons-
field dinner, would have had to make a very
different speech. To such landlords as the Duke,
the Chartists have been, for the present at least, the
best friends, and it is extremely ungrateful in the
Duke to hold them up to ridicule and scorn. I;
conclusion, the Duke and his corn-rogues—a woid
for which the dictionary is, we believe, indebted
to the Standard —were extremely complimentary to
each other. As they have not yet fallen ouc, the
people mint look for their own to some other
means than their dissensions.

As well as being impudent and stupid, the sup.
porters of Curn-laws are certainly some of the
greatest ninnies alive. They have chosen to seek
unpopularity by striving against N.ture, and while
they will not overcome her, they.will obtain what
they seek. That the population at all times
presses against the means of subsistence, is a truth
which no man ventures to gainsay. In every com-
munity there are multitudes of persons who barely
obtain a subsistence. The Corn-law advocates
step in betwixt this great natural fact and the
starving people, and by limiting the supply of food,
direct against themselves all the hatred with which
hunger and distress inspire mankind. They pre-
tend to say that nature shall be defeated, and that
there shall be abundance for all, and so they take
on themselves her office of keeping down the
population to the supply of food by the infliction of
tnistry. If such an assumption of a most odious
task be n©t folly, in what page of man's history will
it be found ?

Whichever side in politics a man may take he can
but be pleased to see the great efforts now making by
writers of ail parties to inform, disabuse, and correct
the working classes. They are reasoned with, writ-
ten to, and talked about, in a manlier which must be
flattering to their self-love. BLACKWOOD under-
takes to show from their late conduct that they are
wholly unworthy of that extension of the suffrage
for which they contend. Mr. WALMSLEY, and
other friends to improvement, address them in em-
phatic and well-mitten letters. The landlords
pretend that they have nothing at heart but
the welfare of the labourers. The priests
preach only for them. Not one, but almost
a score of journals are written exclusively for them,
appeal wholly to them, and subsist chiefly on their
custom. Without having obtained universal suf-
frage, they receive universal attention, and have
almost obtained an influence over other classes
corresponding to their numbers, skill, and wealth-
creating power.
It will be well for them to be aware of
this in time, that they may not be cajoled
by those who seek to prey on them. Front the
fierce out-and-out Tories, like 13eAcKwooD, there
is not much to dread. They continue to speak of
the working classes with aristocratic disdain, and
both mock at their distress and deride their painful,
but mistaken, efforts to improve their condition.
But the Tories have a specious set of allies, who
know how to conceal the scorn which the po-
liticians avow. They profess a great regard for
the poor, and undertake to show them how
they may be contented litre, and happy I
hereafter. These persons aim to make tne
working classes love and obey the political Tories,
who despise, scorn, and chastise them. Modern
Tories have changed their character. They were
jolly fellows, good companiwis, pleasure-loving
souls ; but now they unite time ascetism of monks, at
least in their teaching' to the most grovelling sub-
mission to temporal authority. There is to be no
joy on the Se.nbath, and no frolics on the week
days. To mortify the body, and to submit to the
author'aies they approve of, is the creed of
the spiritual Tories, against which the working
classes must be on their guard. We need not
caution them against those who wish merely to
make money of them. The designs of such con-
temptible demagogues are easily seen through, and
the working classes having of late received a spe-
cimen of their projects, will not, we hope, be again
deceived. We might multiply our cautions, but in
making the working classes aware, by adverting to
the many engines now set to work to guide or '
govern them, of their increasing importance, we
shall pique them, we hope, into watchfulness, and
make them chary of their confidence. They are
becoming something in the State, and their further
progress will depend on themselves.

There could not be a better proof of the atten•
tion paid to trifles in Parliament, to the
.neglect of
more weighty matters, nay, the most weighty that
can occupy the attention of aLegislature—the public
safety, than the time spent in discussing the minute
details of the New Police Bill, while a measure of
the most pressing urgency was only casually men-
tioned towards the close of the Session. The atten-
tion of the Legislature for the last two or three
years has been painfully called to the great loss
of human life, by the negligence and cupidity of
steam-boat proprietors. At several inquests on
the bodies of those who had fallen victims to the
present defective system, it was incontestibly proved
that this loss of life was not caused by accidents,
which no foresight could prevent, but by the un-
seaworthy state of the vessels. This was corrobo-
rated by the Report of Government Commissioners,
and a Committee of the House of Commons re-
commended some legislative enactment strengthen-
ing their recommendation, by the incontrovertible
argument that it could not prove onerous or detri-
mental to the proprietors, so as in any degree to
counterbalance the security and satisfaction likely
to be afforded to the public, but on the contrary,
would prove beneficial to the owners horn the
increased confidence which the public would
have in the security of the vessels. All
these arguments and reasons were disregarded,
and the subject was postponed till some future
period, on the ground that there was not time to
discuss the measure. But they had time to discuss,
night after night, the details of the Police Bill, to
fix penalties for the most trifling annoyance, to
punish dustmen, and muffin-boys, and orange
women, the cads of omnibuses, and the guards of
stage-coaches for laving " Rule Britannia" or
" God save thehaQlPti:.e.ii," and ptthheans for ti
crime of selling
sr a pint of beer tc, a thirsty a.,!tor
after twelve ong at.urday night. Can 3ler nbers
many iwonder tthiteotlnieteirmlpetg7
jislatuive labours are trer,ted by
time
these miserable details, while the was wiasted on
t, lasted
of hun-
dreds nor of thousands, h •
beings, were left for another year,of human
steam-boat proprietorsathe mercy of
cordi t
partial witness, " look only to the
s ng an im-
o plendour of the
saloon and the velocity Gf the vcs,:-.11, but lose, sight

etitiftly'd the safety of the passengers." At pre-
sent there are not less than 766 steam t•essels
longing to the United Kingdom, Ali employed in
carrying passengers and goods, and not one good
reason was adtkeed to prove that some immediate
steps should not have been taken to secure the
safety of the vast numbers that are now compelled
to travel by this mode of conveyance. Nay, there
were many reasons to the contrary. It is admitted
that the " Passengers Act" works well, and has
been the means of saving hundreds of lives. The
American, the French, the Dutch, and Belgian
Legislatures have all made strict regulations for
the safety of passengers, and Mr. P. THOMSON,
had he not been too much occupied with the
thoughts of Canada, might, in two days, have
selected the best parts of these for the better pro-
tection of the British public. Jonathan is as jealous
of his liberty as John Bull, and we cannot see
why he should not, for at least one year, have
adopted something like the following code of re-
gulations, which are now law in the United
States :

1. A special enrolment is required of every steam-vessel,
and a licence to ply must be obtained, under penalty.
2. Inspectors are appointed, whose business is to examine
and report on the hulls of steamers once every twelve
months, and upon the boilers and machinery once every
six months ; they are to grant certificates of ascertained
seaworthiness to the owner or master, and cause a copy to
be posted up in some conspicuous part of the vessel.
3. Own( rs or masters must apply for this inspection
within the periods prescribed, under the pain of forfeiting
their license. Owners and masters are held responsible
for all damages to property or passengers, if they have not
a competent number of experienced and skilful engineers
on board.

4. Safety valves are to be raised (to ease the boilers) at
every stoppage made to take in cargo or passengers, under
penalty.
5. Vessels of 200 tons are to he provided with at least
two boats, and those above that tonnage with at least three
boats, capable of carrying twenty persons each. All
steamers to be provided with a fire engine and hoses, and
to use iron rods or chains instead of wheel or tiller ropes;
also one or more signal lights, under penalty.
6. Captains, engineers, pilots, &c., are deemed guilty
of manslaughter, in the event of any life or lives being
destroyed through their negligence; and, upon conviction,
to be sentenced to hard labour fw not more than ten years ;
and in all suits against proprietors of steamers for injury to
persons or prop-rty, arising from thg explosion or collapse
of boilers. the fact of such escap of steam is to be taken
as full prima facie evidence, sufficient to charge the de•
fendant.

Our readers are aware that the Germanic Diet
has declined to interfere between King ERNEST of
Hanover and his subjects, on the question of a Con-
stitution, on the ground that in the actual state of
things no reason exists for such interference.
The Diet must be allowed to be the best
judge of its own powers, as well as of
_the
exact nature of the circumstances which call
for their exercise ; but we must be permit-
ted to observe, on our part, that if the positive
abrogation of a constitutional charter by a Member
of the Germanic body, provoking on the part of the
people a refusal to legislate or pay taxes, are not
enough to warrant the prompt and active inter-
ference of the Diet, then ought the reform of the
constitution of that august assemblage to employ
the serious attention of the German people. But
unless we are greatly misinformed by persons of
influence and intelligence on the spot, the Diet
would have arrived at a very different conclusion
had the King of HANovER less hopes of ovei-
coming the patriotic firmness of his subjects through
the instrumentality of a corrupt Legislative Assem-
bly. While the people of Hanover had their eyes
turned towards Frankfort, watching the decision of
the Diet, King ERNEST was busy in every
quarter of the kingdom endeavouring to detach
here a Magistrate, there a Burgomaster, and yonder
a Lawyer from the Liberal cause. By bribing
some, threatening others, and affecting for all a sort
of personal solicitude, his success has been such as
to inspire him with confidence in his ultimate
triumph. He is in no hurry. His policy at pre-
sent is to weary the people, in the hope that their
recent excitement and present jealousy will terminate
in a fit of lassitude, during which they will allow
him, without a murmur, to rivet their fetters as
closely as he may think proper. He feels
persuaded that if', at the end of a few
years, they find none of the evils which they,
in their first fright, anticipated from his Govern-
ment, realised, but that on the contrary their social
condition is perhaps considerably improved, they
will abandon the counsels of those persons by whose
advice they now persist in demanding the restora-
tion of the Constitution of 1833. This persuasion
lis quite fallacious in the present age of the world.
In die infancy of the arts and sciences, when the
pursuits and habits of men were in some sort sta-
tionary, and when King-craft and Priest-craft
exercised an entire ascendancy over the human mind,
a crafty ruler might thus at any time steal a
march upon and enslave his people, as the yoke
when once imposed was irremovable. But such
tricks can be played no longer. Every three or
four years now sees a new generation of men arise,
who refuse to recognize, without inquiry, the politi-
cal compacts of their predecessors. The qualities
of mind and social position which three centuries
ago would have secured every man in society, from
the peer to the peasant, an unbounded influence in
his own sphere for fifty years, would not now pro-
cure him notice for five. We live at least fifteen
times faster than our ancestors (lid two hundred
years ago; and this we believe to be as true
of the people of Hanover as of those of England.
The moral and political lethargy upon which King
ERNEST calculates, his subjects can never experi-
ence. Every year will infuse some new Liberal
blood into the body politic, and, as a matter of
course, increase the opposition to Royal despotism.
He may possibly, by some means or other, obtain a
temporary triumph ; but should this take place, it
will be soon followed by a terrible re-action. He
has himself set the people an example of the little
veneration Kings attach to oaths and Constitutions,
and how inadequate they are to bind the consciences
of Princes ; and we can assure him that the popu-
lace, when labouring under even fancied oppres-
sions, are not slow to discover that Kings are as
little to their taste, as Constitutions to the palates
of Kings. The people suffer too much from the
superabundance of oaths and laws, not to follow
with avidity the example of their rulers in violating
and ridiculing them.

Letters and papers from Madrid of the 10th inst.
have been received. The Government was in-
formed of the surrender of Don CARLOS, in con-
sequence of which the greatest joy prevailed in the
capital. A report that the Cortes would be dis-
solved if found opposed to the ratification of
ESPARTERO'S treaty, go far as regards the.fueros
of the Basques, was prevalent in the political
circles. The Castellano of the 10th stateson
the authority of letters from correspondents, that
CABRERA, at the head of 14 battalions, was pre-
pat ing to march upon Aranjuez, within thirty miles
of Madrid. This movement was intended to divert
General O'DONNELL from continuing the siege of
Chulilla.

The Moniteur of Tuesday, received with the
other Paris Journals of the same date, contains the
following telegraphic despatches :
" THE GENERAL COMMANDING THE 20T11 MILITARY DIVIIIION

TO TIIE PRESIDENT OF TILE COUNCIL.
" BAYONNE, SEPT. 15, (received en the I6th.)
" Yesterday six Alavese battalions, two Navarrese bat-
talions, and all the Carlist staff, with Generals Elio and
Negri, took refuge upon our territory, where they were
disarmed.

" &Tarter° arrived immediately at Urdax, and put him-
self into vommunicati•en with our troops. The arms of the
Carlists have htTn given up to him, and we have distributed
bread to h. trooo.

" BAYONNE, SEPT. 15, (reteeived on the 16th.)
"sTIIE SUB-PREFECT TO THE MINISTER OP THE INTERIOR.
" Having learned in toe evening of the 13th the
arrival of the Pretender at tlrdax, I proceeded to Ain-
boa, and informed him, that being hemmed in by the
Christino troops and our own, upon three leagues of
frontier, he would do well to enter France, and that it
would tn easy for me to interpose for a capitulation in fa.
v,afr of his adherents. At noon the Intendant-General
.nf,irmed ire that the Pretender was about to enter France.
"M. de I.4lande informed me at two o'clock that Don
Carlos was no longer decided. I then closed the frontier
entirely, and at tnree o'clock I was informed that Don
Carlos was going to enter.
" As a fu,ilade was heard, 1,000 non-combatants en-
'zpreri, and at balf.past three Don Carlos pi esented himself
with his fatuity. I immediately conducted them to a place
f safety, and returned to the frontier to direct the entry of
the fugitive troops, who, to the number of 2,000, were
being' pursued by Espartero.
tt I have seen G. neral Espartero, who has expressed to
me, and also the Colonel of the 37th, his entire satisfaction."
The surrender of CARLOS is a capital subject
for the pencil of CRUIKSIIA.NIi. The Royal
poltroon, undecided till he catch es a glimpse of the
Christino bayonets, and then s tampering to where
the obsequious Sub-Prefect and, his douaniers are
in waiting to take him and er their protection,
furnish materials for an excellf..ait sketch. Want of
space prevents us from dwel Jug upon the heart-