The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-27 00:00:00

tion ; would it were. In fact, while we are talking of
the horrors of an Hindostan famine, as a Melt possibi-
lity, is the reader quite sure that `./:ley do not now even
prevail ? What is '.!.7re of its most sorrowful chatac-
teristies ? Tine mother borne down by want, sells her
ftinl, in order to surtAin her own wretched ekistence ;
or all the mother's feelings being °overcome by the sharp
pangs of wolfish hunger., she leaves it by the high.
way to perish, When we read of such things happen-
ing in the distant Hindostan, we are ready to weep over
the miseries to which the poor rice-caters are exposed ?
Are there no children, then, forsaken by their mothers
in England, because they cannot subsist them ? The
daily records of the police, particularly of the manu-
facturing districts, tell unhappily a different talc. Are
there no children sold into slavery in England ?
What, then, are the poor factory girls ? What must
be the misery, and what the degradation, to which the
mothers of England are reduced, when they are ready
to swear falsely, or procure false certificates of age,
that they may the more speedily consign their infant
to the wasting toils of a spinning mill ? A Hindoo
woman parts with her child for ever ; an English
mother, under the pressure of want, is eager to deprive
her child of all the sports of infancy, and eager
to expose it to excessive toil, ere it can well go alone.
She sees it prematurely the prey to debility and decay.
The one, under the pressure of want, sells her
children to the taskmaster, and witnesses their
sufferings ; the other has the advantage of parting for
ever with her's,and forgetting their misfortunes. Without
waiting for a season of severe dearth, we have already
amongst us, caused by the devil's laws, some of the
worst horrors of an Hindostan famine.

Those who object to our language as exaggerated,
also tell us to think of the farmers, and think of the
landlords, and think of the engagements now contracted,
and of the mortgages to be paid, and they deprecate
all appeals to the people on the subject of the Corn-
laws in a season of scarcity. Our answer is, the
landlords should have thought of all that when prices
were down to 38s. or 405., and should have repealed
the laws when they might have done it with ease and
safety. They have preferred to sow the storm, and
they must abide by the whirlwind. They will not
abolish the Corn-laws when prices are low ; then,
too, the people care nothing on the subject, and we
must therefore now, when they suffer from those laws,
urge them to procure their unconditional repeal. We
would do that, though half the capital of the farmers of
England were to be destroyed by it, as the Herald has
most absurdly said, because the temporary distress of that
claSs of men 'would be' a, trifling evil, compared to the
horrors of an Rindostan famine, which now exist, and
compared to those giant miseries which keep down
population to that low level of food which is settled
by our starvation laws. It suits the landlords, now
trembling with apprehension, to deprecate all earnest
language ; but they are at present in the position of a
highwayman holding a pistol to our heads, and de-
manding our money. We must first bind such an
assailant, and then we will hear what he has to say.
When the authors of the starvation laws cry peccavi,
and implore mercy, it will be time enough for the
Press and the people to consider what is due to com-
passion and humanity. Then we will take into con-
sideration the condition of their wives and numerous
families ; but we insist first on their surrendering their
arms, and acknowledging that they have no more right
to plunder other men by law than by threatening them
with a pistol.

The reports of the state of the harvest, brought by
the papers to-day, are, with few exceptions, un-
favourable to the anticipation uf an abundant harvest.
The probability is, that the crops of t;.:. United King-
dom, taken generally, will fall below the ordinary ave-
rage quantity.

It has been considered by all reflecting persons as a
great anomaly in our social institutions, that while, in
theory, every person who lives within the limits of the
British empire is presumed to be acquainted with the
laws, and on that presumption punished if he break
them, no method has hitherto been provided by the
Government for enlightening the people as to the
extent of the obligations under which they are sup-
posed to lie. If the people are called upon to obey
the laws, it is surely the duty of those who demand
this obedience to tell them what those laws are ; for
to keep them in ignorance, and to punish them when
they ignorantlytransgress, is both unjust and cruel. Yet
such is, in fact,t he system upon which all modern Govern-
ments proceed. Or, if an-attempt has been made to give
authorised publicity to the enactments of the Legisla-
ture, it is on such a scale, and so contrived, as to set
in a glaring light the insufficiency and absurdity of the
course pursued.
We have a pregnant example of this bungling before
us. The Editor of the Dublin Evening Post, feel-

ing that he could not do a greater service to the Irish
public than to make them acquainted with an impor-
tant Act lately made the law of that part of the king-
dom—namely, the Poor-law Act—published on Wed-
nesday last the entire Act, with a commentary by a
Reverend Gentleman, who has paid much atten-
tion to the subject. Now, we would ask any
man having the least pretension to common sense,
whether the Editor of the Dublin Evening Post does
not deserve the thanks of th• community for his truly
patriotic endeavour to disseminate a knowledge of a
law in which all ranks and classes of men are so deeply
interested ? Yet mark the consequence. Scarcely was
the ink dry with which the Act was printed—a few
copies only had been issued—when forth rushes a
Mr. GRIERSON, the QUEEN'S Printer, with his legal
adviser at his heels, and fulminates against the luck-
less Editor all the terrors of the law if he dared to per-
sist in so palpable an infringement of his vested inte-
rests. It was in vain That the Editor of the Dublin
Evening Post asserted his innocence of any intention
to violate the rights of Mr. GRIERSON, or any other
man. It was in vain that he assured the QUEEN'S
Printer that, in point of fact, the Act was already
printed, and that to suppress it. would he to stop the
entire publication of the Journal. He offered to make
all the reparation in his power, by stating to the public
that he had sinned in ignorance of Mr. GmErtsoN's
rights as her MAJESTY'S Printer, and was sorry for
it. No, no, nothing would do—nothing would ap-
pease the man of law, but the suppression of the
printed number of the Dublin Evening Post. This
modest demand was refused at once, the Editor, wisely,
we think, preferring the risk of legal damages to sub-
mission.

We should be sorry to see•our highly deserving Con-
temporary put to expense by a legal process, but at the
same time, such, in our view, would be the benefit arising
from the question being brought into a court of law,
and of the public discussion which would necessarily
follow such a proceeding, that he would have no cause
to regret being made the victim of this greedy mo-
nopolist.

What reasons can be advanced for such monopolies
we are at present utterly at a loss to conjecture. It is
as clear as day that the more publicity that is given
to the Acts of the Legislature, the greater is the good
to the public ; yet here we see a contrivance by which
the publication of Acts of Parliament in the columns
of 'Newspapers—the most effectual of all methods—is
completely prevented ; and that for no earthly purpose
but to put money into the pocket of a GRIERsON or
a SPOTTISWOODE! Will it be said that correctness
is secured by restricting the printing of Acts of Parlia-
ment ? Let those who are disposed to use this argu-