The Sun.
London, England, 1825-04-29 00:00:00

TIIE LONDON JOURNALS.

DAILY
Extracts from the Morning Papers, April 29, 1825.

[TOE TIMES.I
4is Royal Highness the Duke of Yank "de-
serves, as we have said, the praise of candour
for his declaration on the Catholic question ; but
we have net insinuated that any higher credit
belonged tb him in that particular instance. It
can hardly, be considered good taste, for ex-
a►nple, in ="a subject so near the throne, to affirm,
that no Seivereign who has taken the Coronation
Oath can '.i;ith a safe conscience assent to Ca-
tholic Emancipation : for such a hint looks not
unlike a warning to his Majesty George IV.,
against the crime of perjury ; and however suit-
able such a- lesson might be at an audience in
the Royal closet, the House of Lords, we should
think, was not so well-chosen a scene. As for
his Royal Highness's,declaration, that he never
would change his opinion on a given subject ;
had that subject been any thing less than one of
such immense
,practical importance, it is possible
that the Royal Duke might have been let otf
with a mild animadversion on his want of philo-'
spphical acuteness. It is otherwise, we fear,.
when the declaration amounts to a positive re-
fusal to accede, under any circumstances, to a
measure wl►ich may be urged upOn him by the
most precious interests of his people, and called
for by their unanimous voice,—a measure on
which the peace of the Empire may .turn, on
which its safety may hang—the rejection of
whiCh may" cost oceans of blood, and ages of
na_ticuial adversity. In this point of view, the
languag,e of the Royal Duke was hardly that
which airy wise, humane, or patriotic, friend would
have suggested to him; hut it will have small,
or at least but fugitive effect.

[MORNING POST.)
The onty business of importance last night in
Parliament, was the discussion of the Corn Laws,
which took place incidentally in the Lords, as
Petitions were presented for or against the pre-
sent system.; and regularly in the Commons, in
consequence of Mr. Whitmore's motion for a
Committee of the whole House to consider of the
*abject. In making this proposal, the announce-
ment of which certainly contributed mainly, if it
did not wholly, to produce the ferment which
hoW exists in the mercantile and agricultural
crosses, Mr. Whitmore grounded its necessity on
that of atlaPting the Corn Laws to the general spirit
of free trade which now prevailed, and which yield-
ed such evident benefit to the Ile argued
that the effect of those laws must be the dearth
at one time and superabundance at the other,
both -equally ruinous, but leading one to the
other ; for dearth must occasion the opening of
the ports in order to relieVe the sufferings of the
people, and the superabundance created by the
influx of foreign corn would inflict an injury of
years upon the landed interest. Ile then showed
*~bat oar system of exclusion had had the most
iirjurious effects upon the cultivation of Europe,
and -had engendered similar prohibitory lawS
eliewhere.: Those couittries which had experi-
enced the deterioration of a glut, had passed laws
to prevent its recurrence, and the result had been
that the cultivation of corn had been so far
abandoned on the Continent, that there were
documents to prove that the production of
Europe at this moment did not keep pace
with its consumption, and it lived in part upon
the accumulated remains of former gluts. In
Poland and Bohemia most. of the corn lands had
been-turned into sheep farms. Wool would con-
tinue to be grown in preference to Corn while it
yielded a greater profit ; and thus the prohibi-
tion- of Foreign Grain 'from England had pro-
duced a complete change iu the Agriculture of
ahl Europe—which would be felt at home in its
most aggravated and alarming veSpects at no dia.
tant time if measures were not taken to cause a
return to that kind of cultivation which alone
could prevent the occurrence of the most disas-
trous results. The species of alteration which
Mr. Whitmore wished to introduce, in order to
prevent these dangers, was to revert to the for-
rtrer state of the law, and tayender the importa-
tiou of
.corn virtually free, subject to an amount
of stat)i suificient to cover the peculiar burtheus
of British‘griculture.

EMOILNING liEltA L1).3

Several Petitions were presented last night to
thellouse of jAoids, and an inunettse number to
the-House of Commons, on the subject of the
Corn Laws; most of them, with the exception
of the Corporation of London, and a
ic-w:frorn other places, being against any altera-
of those laws. Lord King, in the Upper
House, expressed his astonishment that the high
arice of corn .at home, and its advancing price
troli'd, had been urged as arauments against agi-
tating this question; and tbtrEarl of Lauderdale
deprecated the efforts made to agitate this!
subject, obserVing that no one had thought
about it till this n.otice given by Mr. Whit-
more in the other House. Then Petitions
began to fie got up, calling on Parliament to
-Mr. Whitmore's motion,
reVise the Corn LIAO.
in the Commons, was not brought forward till a
late hour, the presentation of the petitions having
occupied ,nearly four hours. it was calculated
that upwaids of :Lwo hundred petitions against
any reunion Were presented. Mr. Whitmore'
eventually brought forward his motion. He de-
tailed IIis" reasons at great length, iota contended
for the necessity of the ports being open at all
times, with a fixed protecting duty of ten shil-
the quarter on wheat imported. kle,pro-
pOsed an additional protecting duty in the event
of wheat being below 50s. the quarter.
Gooch resisted the motion, on-the ground .that it
was precipitately urged on the House; and:
.therefore moved the " previous
,question.":
He said that with the altered circumstances
of the country, and the improved state of
ttte currency, au average price of 60s. for wheat
,by a sudicigtt't remuneration for the
tshgrP,We.r.—Vr. thkski,sson opposed tbid
atattrm bet-apse it was ill-timed, but said that die
.07,4V,IltAXped his prmapi.e.s of a free trade in.
Corm) aS submitted to iite of 182.1.
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