The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-13 00:00:00

INFLUX OF CORN.

(From the Times.)
The coarse saying of the elder Napoleon, " C'est
le ventre qui gouverne le monde," admits of two
very different significations ;—the one, that people
in general will approve that system of government
under which they can best earn their livelihood ;
and the other, that people are apt to follow the
hand that feeds them. The first is obviously the
truest, because it is the general law ; the second
necessarily being confined to such instances as a
great potentate distributing his panem et circenses,
or a populace, in a paroxysm of terror, or of rage,
choosing the man that promised most. The first
sense of the maxim is that illustrated by the gene-
ral policy of this country, and never more conspi-
cuous, never more triumphant than at this junc-
ture ; the second sense is the policy of Napoleon 111.,
treading, of course, in the steps of his uncle. It is
the policy, also, of some other European Powers,
including those of the Zollverein, as we learn from
the letter of our correspondent at Berlin. Without
such a thing as an order in Council, without the
least word or warrant from either the Legislature
or any department of the State, but simply in the
regular operation of laws now some time enacted,
there is pouring into this metropolis such a supply
of food as removes all danger of a famine, or even
a dearth. Notwithstanding our unfavourable and
still unsettled. harvest weather, grain seems to
have reached its 'maximum price for the present at
least, and has been sustained with difficulty for the
last week. We can be at no loss for a reason, when
we find that for 4,927 quarters of English
wheat, that arrived in London from September 5
to September 10, there arrived 88,383 quarters of
foreign wheat, for 131 quarters of English barley,
9,170 of foreign ; and for 3,185 quarters of British
oats, no less than 123,700 of foreign. This has not
been specially invited, or rather entrapped into the
Thames ; we have not seduced foreign corn-growers
to deviate from their usual course of traffic, and
baulk their usual customers, by an extraordinary
promise of remission of duties pro hac vice; much
less has her Majesty graciously undertaken to find
work and food for the half-million working men in
this metropolis, or commanded the bakers, on peril
of their liberty or their purses, to supply bread to
every comer at closing prices. No, the steady and
abundant influx of food, which is likely to make
London the cheapest capital in Europe for the ne-
cessaries of life for many months to come, is the
result of laws that have now been for some years
in regular operation.
We are told, indeed, by the authorities of the
corn trade that we are not to expect a continuance
of such supplies, and that the few days of east wind
we had last week have pretty well cleared the Baltic
for the present. It may be so ; and certainly we
have no wish to see a greater importation than is
necessary for our wants, or that can easily be dis-
posed of. Let the farmers have a turn, by all means,
particularly when the general prosperity of the coun-
try enables the public to pay good prices. But
we must say, that such a fact as more than
two hundred thousand quarters of foreign grain
arriving in the port of London alone from the sth
to the 10th of September, while the greater part of
our own harvest is still out in the fields, seems to
remove all doubt as to the sufficiency of our sup-
plies for this year. Even if Russia should succeed
in entirely stopping up the mouth of the Danube
and ruining all the countries on that ill-fated river,
it is clear that there are other parts of the world
as productive, other rivers in more civilised hands,
and other seas more open. Having established a
character as the best market, the freest port, and
the safest customers in the world, we shall have
the preference over all other countries, whatever
promises they may make to serve the occasion.
The present, too, is a state of things that should be
satisfactory to all parties at home, for, while
we are not at the mercy of our own corn-
growers, so neither are they likely to be too
much beaten down. Ten years ago, with the
prices now ruling, we should have had no
importation, except in bond. These 200,000
quarters would have been shut up in warehouses,
waiting for the expected time when wheat, being
at 735., would be admitted duty free. In due
time it would probably have attained that price,
and we should have had a regular avalanche of
corn thrown on the market, followed by an im-
mense downfall of prices, and the consequent ruin
of those farmers who had not yet succeeded in
bringing their corn to market. Now there is no
such catastrophe looming in the future. The British
farmer is not tempted, or rather compelled, like
Sisyphus, to struggle to raise prices up to some
Parliamentary summit, only to be suddenly hurled
down again. It is all plain, straightforward buy-
ing and selling. Meanwhile the excessive fluctua-
tions that prevailed under the Corn Laws are a
thing of the past. A rise or a fall of 10s. in half
a year is thought something considerable. No
legislation could ever have attained such a unifor-
mity as that which has followed the repeal of the
laws enacted to prevent fluctuations. Of course,
we are too sensible of the uncertainty of all human
affairs to feel secure against excessive fluctuations.
We can only say that all appearances are against
the probability of their recurrence.

DIABOLICAL ATTEMPT AT ABSON.—An attempt, with
which there is too much reason to feartheturn-out
dyers at Manchester are connected, was made on Thurs-
day
night to set fire to the works of Messrs. George
Whyatt and Sons, whose men were so ferociously at-
tacked last week, while on their way in a van to the
works at Openshaw. The process of raising the pile
upon fustians is called " shearing." A good deal of
loose cotton "fluff or flock is produced by the "cards"
that are used for the purpose, and fire once fairly among
it, a conflagration of the premises is soon brought about.
Near nine o'clock on Thursday night a little boy who
lives in the neighbourhood saw a bright light in the
"shearing" room, which is on the ground floor of a two-
storey building at the outside of the works, and to the win-
dows of which access can readily be obtained without
going into the yard, and having given information of
the fact, a search was made in the premises, and there
was found a piece of fustian on fire in one of the machines.
They cut the piece out, and by that means prevented the
fire from Treading. On Friday morning, on examining
the place close to the machine, they found a box, of luci-
fer matches, which had evidently all been fired at once,
and then cast through a broken window into the room.
Fortunately they did not alight upon the flock, or they
would instantly have set the whole place on fire. Every
bit of the inflammable matter was burned off the end of
the matches, but the wood had scarcely ignited. A re-
ward of 30/. has been offered for the discovery of the
perpetrator of this frightful attempt to destroy property,
and possibly life, as a great many men were on the pre-
wises at the time.