The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-24 00:00:00

1,0 V lai+

WITH WHICH
THE " TRUE SUN" IS NOW

INCORPORATED.

LONDON :
SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 24, 1838.

The Morning Chronicle publishes another letter
to-day, from Wiltshire, on the distress of the agricul-
tural population of the West of England, in which
the writer insists strenuously on the two facts, that
this population is in a most distressed state, and that
the farmer is unjust in taking advantage of the help-
less condition of the labourer. The writer says—

" The farmer feels he has the power all in his own
hands. He offers his men is. or Bs. per week, though
fully aware that under the old regime they would have re-
cieved 10s. 6d. The man being unable to better his con-
dition accepts it ; but, Mr. Editor, is the farmer just
The truth is, that at present the Poor-law, in the agricul-
tural districts, benefits only the farmer, and this it does in
two ways—first, by lessening the burdens on his farm ; and,
second, by enabling him to procure the labour essential to
its cultivation on cheaper terms."

We repeat then to the farmers that they have com-
mitted a great mistake in making themselves the tax-
gatherers for the landlords, on the supposition that
they will be allowed to keep a large share of the tax to
themselves. On the one hand the landlords will take
care to squeeze all the farmers care possibly spare in the
shape of rent, and on the other hand, the public voice,
ever ready to lift itself up in the cause of humanity,
will compel them to forego some of their advantages
over the labourer, and be somewhat generous. Or, if
they persist in grinding down the face of the poor, it
will be at the expense of such intense unpopularity
that the name of farmer will become unhappily synoni-
mous with extortioner, and be hateful in the land.
The Chronicle says, and we believe justly, in rela-
tion to this letter—
,. We suspect there is a good deal of exaggeration in the
accounts of the profits of farmers. Such is the competition
of that class for farms that their profits have long been ex-
ceedingly low. If wages were higher the farmer would not
lose, but the landlord ; for the farmer must deduct hi,
charge of cultivation as well as all other charges, in addi-
tion to the fair return on his capital, before he can deter-
mine on the rent to be paid the landlo,d."

But the labourer and the world at large will not
believe in the circumstance that farmers get only small
profits, while the whole community is pinched in its
food, by the Corn-laws, to give him, as is said, large
profits ; and while his is really a poor, a suffering,
and a decaying trade, the distress of the labourers will
be ascribed to his avarice. His presumed wealth will
excite envy, and probably provoke hostility in those
wi:o believe that they are impoverished that lie may be
enricbed.

But 0. far more important consideration—perhaps
the most important which has yet been started—in
connection with the Corn-laws, grows out of an ob-
servation of our Contemporary:—

'• Why is it," says the chronicle, " that the Irish land-
lords drive the peasantry to potatoes and water ? Because
they are completely in their power. There are two to a
bargain, as the adage has it ; but it appears that in Wilt-
shire there is only one—the farmer. What is to be
done is to place the labourer in a condition to have
a will as well as the farmer. There must be too
many labourers—i. e., more labourers than can find employ-
m►tent--otherwise the farmer would not have it all his own
way. If such be the case, it is absurd to talk of unions.
Means should be taken by emigration or otherwise to dimi-
nish the number of labourers.'

The number of labourers, then, is too great, ac-
cording to our Contemporary, and hence the landlords
in Ireland, and the farmers in England, are enabled
to degrade the population in both countries down to
the lowest level of subsistence—the quantity of Lumpers
which will keep them alive. But too great are com-
parative terms; and too great, therefore, we ask in
relation to what ? Clearly to the quantity of food, for
the quantity of employment depends on that. But the
landlords, by their Corn-law, avowedly and designedly
limit the quantity of food ; and thus their law places
the population completely in their power. Their law
makes the number of labourers too great, and enables
the farmer to give what price he pleases for labour.
But if such be its consequences, those who pretend
to provide for the public welfare, and who limit the
supply of food, are also bound to limit the number of
labourers. If they insist on regulating the corn market,
they must also regulate the labour market. If they
restrict us to fifteen, or any other number of millions of
quarters of wheat, they must also of necessity lay re-
strictions on the number of mouths to eat it. They
must either prevent infants being born, or they must
take measures to extinguish life. The natural, neces-
sary, and inevitable consequence, then, of continuing the
Corn-laws is, that the Legislature must take on itself
to regulate the number of people. Such an extension
of its power, however, giving rise to all imaginable
interference with private life, is not likely to be toler-
ated, and we believe that it would shrink from this con-
sequence of its own enactments.
But, if it would shrink, there are individuals, clever
men, men of thought and capacity, men of vigorous,
though one-sided talents, and masters of a strong ner-
vous style, men who claim the character ofphdosophers,
who carry out the consequences of the Corn-laws to their
just conclusion. A work has within these three days been
laid on our table, entitled " On the possibility of limit-
ing populousness," which begins by taking it for
granted, because the Devil's laws limit the supply o
food, that there is an excess of population ; and which
ends by proposing a great and organized scheme of
infanticide, called the " theory of painless extinction,'
such as never was practised, or thought of, in the bar-
barous and child-destroying days of antiquity. The
burial ground of the infants "is to have nothing funereal
about it, but all that is cheerful and agreeable."

It is to be " a colonnade closed and genially warmed
in the winter, fresh in summer, verdant always, yet
not expensive in exotics ; not too distant for the daily
disport of all classes, yet silencing vulgarity, by an
amiable and religious formality. Let this be the
infant's paradise !" says the author, and every mother
who has her new-born infant taken' from her by the ser-
vants of the Corn-laws, to be placed in this paradise
after the process of painless extinction is completed,
is " to be considered as enlarging and embellish-
ing it." Such are the horrible schemes which
men are driven to imagine and to propagate
in this Christian country in the nineteenth century,
because the selfish landlords—including, let it never
be forgotten, all the Bishops, and supported by the
great body of the clergy—have, by the Devil's laws,
limited the supply of food. The command of GOD
is, increase and multiply, and we defy every in-
quirer or observer to point out any physical fact
which has accompanied that great moral and mental
improvement in the human race called civiliza-
tion, except the fact that the species has multiplied
and spread over the earth. The command of the
landlords is, do not increase, and we will take care
you shall not, by stopping the growth of food. GOD
and the landlords, then, backed by the priesthood,
are at open hostility. Daily almost do we read with
horror of individuals practically carrying out the Corn-
laws to their legitimate consequence, and depriving
infants of life. These and more astounding horrors
shall we yet live to witness, if the Legislature con-
tinue, and the people submit to be governed by the
Devil's laws. But our hope is, and now it begins to
be brighter than ever, that all classes will unite to get
rid of laws which give rise to such horrible imagin-
ings, and are so clearly and directly the parents of
real and recommended infanticide.

After an unusually long abstinence, which, what-
ever else it may have done, does not seem to have
much improved their temper, the Conservatives are
beginning to find their dinner appetites again. To use
a gastronomical phrase, they " are picking up." On
Thursday last they dined three hundred strong at Bed-
ford, as we find duly recorded in the Times of yester
clay, which devotes not less than two columns to a
report of the speeches—a serious visitation, for which
our Contemporary's readers will feel far from grateful.
The dinner in question was a duller and more common-
place affair than usual, being attended by not less than
a score of parsons, who, generally speaking, are by no
means remarkable for sprightliness or eloquence ; and
on this particular occasion, seem to have discharged on
the heads of their drowsy audience, as though out of
sheer malice, the accumulated dulness of months. Where
all were equally tame and prosy, it might appear invi-
dious to make distinctions ; we cannot, however, refrain
from singling out the speech of the Rev. E. J. LOCK-
WOOD, as being, in our humble opinion, more deserving
of the cap and bells than any spoken during the even-
ing—which is no slight praise, seeing how strenuous
was the competition for the palm, among the ghostly
squad. The Rev. Gentleman after much preliminary
twaddle, observed that " the present aspect of public
affairs, as far as religion was concerned, was, to say the
least of it, so critical as to justify, nay to demand, the
united and most zealous exertions of all who were reli-
giously disposed." Mr. LocKwooD is here guilty
of a little perversion of fact—of an ingenious begging
of the question—such as men are in the habit of
having recourse to, when they feel that they have a
rotten cause to maintain. The present " aspect of
public affairs" is by no means 4. critical," as far -as
" religion is concerned ;" it is " critical" only as re-
spects the pluralities, the sinecures, and the other
crying abuses of the Church. Religion has nothing
at all to do with the question. It is purely a matter
of pounds, shillings, and pence. In a word, it is nut
the Church of God, but the Church of Mammon,
that is critically situated ; and God speed the hour,
say we, when that Church shall be treated strictly ac-
cording to her deserts !

We refer our readers to another part of our Paper
for a Report of the proceedings at the last Meeting of
the City of London Corporation Reform Society.
The object of this Society is highly praiseworthy. It
is to effect that Reform in the constitution of the City
of London, which the circumstances of the times and
the interests of the citizens require, and which has
in fact, been sanctioned by the Common Council itself,
That body has of late shown a desire to back out of
its Resolutions in favour of Corporation Reform. Its
ardour in the cause is not only abated, but, we fear,
cooled down to the freezing point, and as no internal
movement towards a change for the better is to be ex-
pected from it, things must remain in their present un-
satisfactory state, unless improvement be forced on by
a " pressure from without." This necessary element
of reform the new Society proposes to supply, and
from the numbers and respectability of its members, as
well as from the vigour and perseverance which it dis-
plays in its proceedings, we are warranted in antici-
pating a beneficial result.
The Society has wisely judged that the first step to-
wards a new and better state of Corporation Govern-
ment, is to expose to public view the great and mani-
fold abuses which are the consequence of the present
system. Among these the wasteful expenditure of the
City funds is one of the.most glaring, and we are glad
to see that the attentioriobf the Society has been parti-
cularly directed to this important point. In the report
to which we have alluded there will be found ample
proof of extravagance, such as no man who had just
notions of moral rectitude, or any thing like a feeling
of responsibility could have been guilty of. But the
fact is that irresponsibility lies at the bottom of all the
mischief. This is the deprecated source of the evils
under which the citizens of London groan, and they
must set shoulder to shoulder to get rid of it. Were
the City Parliament elected by the great body of the
citizens, as it ought to be, instead of an insignificant
portion of the civic community, as it is, should we
see the Common Councilmen acting as if they had no
interests but their own to consult ? Should we see
them as we now do—to their shame be it spoken—
actually pocketing the funds of which they have been
appointed the guardians ? No. Such scandalous con-
duct would no more be heard of. If a sense of shame
did not operate, a fear of consequences would supply
its place.

The attention of our readers, particularly in manu-
facturing districts, will be naturally directed to the
text of a commercial treaty between France and Bel-
gium, which will be found in our columns of this day.
Based on the broad principle of mutual reciprocity, and
not clogged with restrictive clauses, limiting the interna-
tional traffic in what monopolists would term "the staple
commodities" of either country, this treaty is admirably
calculated to promote the growth of a spirit of com-
mercial enterprise among the Belgians unknown to
that people since the extinction of the far-famed Os-
tend East India Company. The prophecies of our
ablest political economists, are in the course of rapid
fulfilment. The English Corn-laws have compelled
the Belgians to protect themselves by the establish-
ment of maiidavtnres ; and unless measures are
speedily taken to relieve our trAde from the trammels
t now affect at every step—but more especially
by h
the Corn monopoly—we
s
akethelof saddiscovery that English t ltl seo total
oa
make
ab°l ti°
ma-
nufacturers cannot successfully compete with those
of Belgium in any Continental Market. For this
our manufacturers will have to thank the dunder.

heads who so faithfully represent the Corn Mono-
polists in the House of Commons. Had Belgium
a profitable market for her fleeces and her wheat,
her population would never dream of exchanging the
crook and the plough for the spinning-jenny, the loom,
and the forge. However, "to make the best of a bad
market," our Government ought not to lose an in-
stant in ratifying treaties with France and Belgium on,
as nearly as possible, the same conditions as the one
just concluded between these Powers. The nearer
we can approach this great principle of Free Trade
with all nations, the more effectually shall we protect
British interests. The peace, the prosperity, the moral
and intellectual improvement of the world, are all ad-
vanced by whatever advances free commercial inter-
course.

We point attention to the grounds on which Lord
Chief Justice DENMAN yesterday granted a rule to
show cause why a criminal information should not be
filed against four Magistrates of the county of Berks.
The application for a rule in the Court of Queen's
Bench was made by Counsel, on behalf of a labour.
ing man, who claimed a right to cut fern and under-
wood on the uninclosed parts of a wood belonging to
St. John's College, Oxford.
In the Bail Court, too, it will be seen that Mr.
Justice LITTLEDALE granted a rule to quash the
conviction of the Berkshire Magistrates.

The inquiry set on foot by one of the Guardians
of the Kensington Union, into the medical treatment
of the lunatics confined in the female poor-house of
the Union at Chelsea, was closed on Thursday last,
after a long discussion, by a vote of the Board of
Guardians, negativing the charge of neglect brought
against the medical officer of the Union. This ac-
quittal was carried by the casting vote of the Chair-
man. Whether it will be satisfactory to the public is
a diffetent question. The following is the depoition
of CHARLOTTE SURRIDGE, the nurse who has the
charge of the insane ward, given on oath :

" I was until Saturday, the 10th instant, nurse in
the insane ward. On Saturday, the 3d instant, Mr.
Ryder visited the insane ward ; I complained to him
that the medical officer had not vi-ited that ward since
the Sunday previous. I have had the care of in-
sane persons for twenty years. I have on a variety of
occasions discovered that opening medicines were neces-
sary for the patients. I have informed Mr. Wilson, the
medical officer, of the circumstance, and he has acknow-
ledged the necessity, and said that he would send the me-
dicine, but did not. During the whole of the time that I
have been nurse in the insane ward, which is three months,
the medical officer has not sent in any opening medicine
to the patients. Dinah Hadden, one of the Patients, has
six times been in that high state of fever which I have de-
scribed as boiling hot ; the medical officer has several
time seen her in that state, and once assisted me in
placing her in confinement. I have seen the necessity of
her head being shaved, and cold lotions applied, and men-
tioned the circumstance to the medical officer. Dinah Had-
den has herself in toy hearing asked him to have it done, as
she had had it done at Hanwell. I, on one occasion, went up
to the master and matron with some aprons. Master said to
me, Surridge, how is Dinah ?' I replied,' Very had indeed,
Sir, and very obstri-perous.' Master said, She wants medi-
cine.' I replied, Yes, Sir, but she has none.' Dinah was
very obstreperous, and master helped me to tie her up to the
ringbolt twice, and the helper assisted me to do the same
four times. Since the 3d inst , Mr. Harness, a friend of Mr.
Wilso 's, has attended for him ; and on my mentioning the
circumstance to him he immediately saw the necessty of
sending in opening medicine, and sent it in accordingly.
Some of the patients had not been relieved for a week.
Since they have had the medicine I have observed an im-
provement in the general health of the patients. Three
weeks ago the ward had not been visited by the medical
officer for a fortnight.
" CHARLOTTE SURRIDGE, her :4 mark.

" Justice-room, Chelsea Workhouse, Nov. 13."

Now, will it he believed, that though this woman was
subjected, for two hours, to a cross-examination of the
most rigid description, and though all the excu'patory
evidence that could be mustered was brought forward,
her testimony was not shaken in the smallest degree!
It is utterly impossible that this matter should stop
here. It is necessary to the vindication of the
New Poor Law system that the Commissioners should
interpose their authority, and the more so, as the
Board of Guardians, immediately after the vote in
question, passed a resolution, forbidding all access to
the wo►khouse, unless by means of special permission
previously obtained from them.

The whole of the Paris Journals of Thursday have
been received, from which copious extracts will be found
in another part of The Sun.

There were reports in town last night that the
Inconstant, with Lord Durham, had been telegraphed off
Portsmouth ; but as nothinc, further has been heard of the
ship or of h's Lordship to-day—though the weather has not
permitted the working of the telegraph—they are believed
to be incorrect.

M.P. FOIIKIRKCUDBRIGHT.—The death of the
Judge-Advocate, Robert Cutlar Fergusson, Esq., occasions
a vacancy in the representation of the Stewartry of Kirk-
cudbright. We believe we may say that Mr. Murray,
of
Broughton, is in the field for the empty seat. A hint in
the Dumfries Courier of yesterday leads us to believe that
no less a person than Mr. Carrick Moore is to be his anta-
gonist. Our readers may remember that this gentleman's
sacrifice of the reputation of his brother, Sir John Moore,
on the altar of his own servile prejudices called
down upon him an excoriating flagellation by Colonel
Napier, in the pages of the Edinburgh Review. The ap-
palling termination of this just denunciation yet tingles in
our ears—" Cain, Cain, where is thy brother?" The
Tories have a nice taste in the selection of candidates.
They prefer them as epicures prefer game, somewhat tainted
—with a haul gout. The better day the better deed : a
correspondent of the Dumfries Times informs us that the
Earl of Selkirk and Major M'Donald selected Sunday to
drive to Mr. Moore's and " pop the question to him."—
Glasgow Argus.
THE MURDER OF ELIZA GRIMWOOD.—A COT-
r?spondttnt of a Morning Paper sa)s, that recently some
circumstances have transpired which throw new light upon
the murder of this unfortuna e young woman. KNy. , the
officer of the Marlborough-street police office, has, in con-
sequence, proceeded to America in the Great IVe..stern,in
search of the man William Hubbard, who, it appears, emi-
grated shortly after the charge. of murder against him was
dismissed by the Magistrates at Union-hall.
Yesterday morning between eight and nine o'clock,
a fatal accident occurred to a little girl of five years of
!igeetheitdoint-usgthrtece,
daughter Nnirlesr.s Town. Whee It
don,a
appears laundress,
that
fidr i
during
gkr
in Char,
the absence of the mother, the unfortunate child endea-
voured o
tot.
thelift
cahismmcaey small
drewsauceptahne
co
and her dress was enveloped in flames. Her person was
so dreadfully burnt that she expired in less than hour after
the accident. hffild,s the
frock
, twh trehedinesui
the
draught

On Sunday morning, when one of the carters em-
ployed at the sugar refinery of Messrs. Macfie, in a
s sSa
uu
iptr
but
tg him to Bogle-
street,hay-
went to the hay-stack at the back of the work to
take in some fodder for his horse, he found a man named
Stewart lying beside the stack, with his head severely cut,
savageinjured.
at the same
time very much astonished to find him within the walls be
andee n one
the of
victim his
ms legs
of somem much
which the place is surrounded, he lifted him up, and hay
not proceeded very far, when he perceived a bag filled witd
sugar at the side of the wall, near which was a great quanh
tity of blood. On the other side of the wall were two
more bags of sugar, and it appears that Stewart, when in
the act of removing the third, had fallen to the ground and
removed so much injury that he was unable to proceed far-
ther than the haystack, where he lay down, and but for
the opportune arrival of the carter would undoubtedly have
been frozen to death. He was removed with his booty to
the police office, and afterwards transferred to the infir-
mary to have his wounds attended to. Stewart had for-
merly been in the employment of Messrs. Macfie for about
ten years, and was consequently well acquainted with the
premises which he invaded in this lawless ruan„,.,_.
Greenock Advertiser.
GAME.77-The grouse shootings have been generally
good this season, and even at present from five to ten
braces are easily obtained per diem. Partridges have been
gcarf3e, atui hi Or extensive pheasant preserves throughout
the counts Of P 4411) 14r41Y l'ird is to be seen. Hares
are also ;Try deficient ; mod a gentleman laforats us that
in a spot whero at the same tithe Y.,st 60460 n lie easily
killed fifty-six, he has this year only got six. The Duke
of Buccleuch has given up the deer forest of Athol—a
step by which his Grace will save, h ye, ..,etween rent and
keepers, about 2,0001. per annum 7.. Lord Glenly-on it-i
tends keeping this noble forest in his own hands in future.
—lnverness Courier,