The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-15 00:00:00

. .
$1
the pockets of the community at large 30 to 40 per cent.
more in price than the produce they deal in could be sup-
plied for.
That the worst land in cultivation determines rents,
and of course, the price of bread corn, or otherwise it
could not be cultivated to a profit, is a truth admitted by
all political economists, and that the lower in the scale the
land cultivated, the higher the rent, or profits upon each
grade in the scale ascending. But although this prin-
ciple has been well known, it has never been put so bare-
facedly forward by the land owners, a body equally alive
to and ingenious in framing laws conducive to their
peculiar interests.

The operation of this principle produces another specks
of tax upon the community of a mean of 35 per cent.
upon the price of coals at Newcastle, or of about 1-7th
part of the usual price of a London chaldron, equal to
about seven weeks' consumption of a small family in the
metropolis. But Sir, the mischief does not end here, the
principle above developed, and admitted by the organs of
the Coal Committee to be a primary one in the basis on
which their " union for some certain purpose" rests, as
you must observe, is an extremely dangerous instrument
in hands who can, and have the power, for a time, to
apply it so improperly: 30 and 40 per cent. may net con-
tinue to suit the views or pockets of this self-constituted
body ; other collieries, more inferior either in quality or
situation may, nay, must necessarily, however unreason-
ably, be prematurely stimulated into action, 50 and 60 per
cent. may be required to render them profitable, and thus
a further tax by the difference of about 1-10th more levied
upon the already suffering community. We here see, Sir,
in full operation the primary evil of all monopolies an
undue profit, their morbid essence, the very first principle
not only of their existence, but the sure precursor of their
decay. This undue profit falls, erroneously falls, an accu-
mulating tax upon the public, at one and the same time
operating as a bonus on production and a circumscriber of the
demand, until the supply under the unsound system bea
comes two unwieldy for management, it then rapidly breaks
down amidst incalculable mischiefs of its own creating,
aed a new and better order of things arise from its ruins.
There are still, Sir, more evils arising fronathe ill judged
and almost criminal interference of 0114 body. The
enormous profits thus forced from the public by a com-
paratively small body of individuals, who from their situa-
tion in society necessarily carryon their concerns by agency,
induces, what has been usually glanced at, profligate and
erroneous modes of management, and an enormous waste,
quality and price in the London market being every thing ;
from these sources an additional load for the already over
done public to bear may be adduced.
These evils shew how closely this body, as all bodies
" uniting for some certain purpose" connected with the
employment of capital and their own profit will do, has
adhered to the few simple principles which ought to
govern the employment of capital, and with which we
set out.

It was my intention to notice the two corporations, and
how far they have been governed by the principles we have
adopted as our guide in reviewing this question, but I have
been almost involuntarily' led into the production of a much
longer letter than I at first contemplated, and can only
spare room to add that I am happy in saying that al-
though there is some cause of complaint against our own
corporation, principally as respects the ballast and the
conservatorship of the river, which-errors I trust to see
shortly remedied ; yet the Corporation of the city of Lon-
don have long suffered evils connected with the coal trade
to exist diametrically opposed to the general principles I
have advanced. They too, seem to have been convinced of
their errors, and the very able and sound report of the
City Committee induces me to think those evils will in a
short space of time be ameliorated, and this, Sir, is as much,
and perhaps, all we can expect from corporations.
Now, Sir, to conclude, Icorne to speak of that numerous
class the " Merchant Mariners," a body of men who, as
connected with this question, ought to be delicately
and very leniently dealt with. They, Sir, setting the
public aside, have of all parties directly interested been
most hardly dealt with, and felt most severely the evils
arising from the erroneous system pursued by the other
bodies we have had under our review. It can hardly be
expected that a class so numerous and so dissimilarly cir-
cumstanced, can be brought to act upon a uniform plan, or
adopt any common mode of removing the evils that beset
them. Many of these individuals are no doubt under the
pressure of a necessity produced by this almost criminal
system, so entangled, what with coal owners, fitters,
factors, and all the multitudinous smaller fry it has
brought forth, that they are no longer free agents, the evils
of the day so astounding they dare net face to-morrow,
but mast sink or swim with the greater Leviathan. If it
were possible, Sir, I would recommend this class to cease
being " Merchants ;" let them as good and able " Mari-
ners" put their hand manfully to the wheel, and exert all
their skill and energies in freeing themselves from the
shoals and quicksands that baffle their course ; let them lay
aside at once and for altogether the part they enact so
clumsily, and no longer depend upon a market, where to
them there is no chance of profit, and leave to those who
contrary to all fixed principles controul that market the
chances of the die they load. Let the shipowner depend
upon freight alone; the coal-owner must have his pro-
ducts carried to market, his operations cannot proceed but
with a quick return; one month's adherence to this system
by all those ship-owners who have t /bow room and who can
act for themselves, would mightily tend to do away all that
is rotten and bad, to the adoption of a wiser and better
system for the future.
Another piece of advice I would with due deference give
to this class is, to unite, heart and hand with the " Com_
mon Council of the City of London," the report of whose
Committee en the coal trade is printed, and appears to me
not only well written, but, what is much better, sound in
its principle; let a correspondence be instantly opened, ei_
milar interests and a familiar intercourse would tend to
much good, as each party would acquire additional strength
in attempting and pursuing any plan for their mutual ad-
vantage and the good of the community; the tone is fa-
vourable, anti both parties agree in the main, that the
great evil is the existence amongst the coal-owners of the
north, of a " Union for some certain purpose" which
overrides all other interests, and which, if practicable,
ought to be put ac end to by law.
There is only one other point, Sir, to which I would
call the attention of the ship-owners. It is with some
surprise, and no small degree of pain, that I have heard
some of that body object to petition the Legislature for a
reduction of the coasting duty on seaborne coal, I shall
say nothing as to the overseer ; to get rid of this tax I do
think would be most desirable; it would not only be a great
relief to a very numerous body of their fellow-countrymen,
but, by increasing the consumption of coal, give the car-
rier more employment, and tend likewise in some measure
to break up the unnatural system of management ; rea-
sons which ought to have their due weight ; the ship-
o%vner has long sought allies amongst his fellow-country-
men to aid and strengthen him in getting his peculiar
wrongs redressed, and it would be becoming as well as po-
litic in him, to aid so large a portion of the community
in endeavouring to obtain the remission of a tax which
bears so onerously and so partially upon them ; it. is futile
to allege the existence of the greater evil, get rid of all
the evil you can ; the greater as well as the lesser of it is
practicable.

Such is the law which I submit ought to lae applied to
a certain office, kept for a certain purpose, in a certain
street, in the town of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as on the
removal of the baneful influence of this self-constituted and
organized body rests the great interest of the public, as far
as the coal trade is concerned, and without which no re-
duction of duty, nor change of system in its collection,
either local or foreign, can effectually relieve the public.

I am, Ric.

AN OBSERVER.

The SPEAKER has been entertaining some of
the Ex-Ministers and a party, at his shooting seat, Mistley
Hall, Essex.

HISTORY OF CIIIVALRY.—The Fourth
Number of the National Library; which bears the above
designation, exemplifies afresh Mr. JAMES'S well-known
power of communicating interest and vitality to the events
and personages of the historic page. The subject in ques-
tion is one that must engage the particular approbation of the
gentler sex, for whom the record of knightly deeds is ever
replete with thrilling attraction, and who, in the perusal
of productions like this, may enjoy all the captivation of
romance with the attendant advantage of confirming
their acquaintance with fact.

It is said that there is some news in town, by
way of France, from Lisbon. It is further said that it is
two days later than the intelligence brought by the packet,
but the exact purport of it we have not been able to ascer-
tain. One says that Don MIGUEL has abdicated, and ano-
ther that he is dead. We should imagine that his abdica-
tion is quite out of the question ; but, with regard to his
death, we shall only observe that such an event is, at least,
very possible, and, if we may rely upon certain letters
brought by the last packet, not at all improbable. These
letters stated that " Don MIGUEL is said to be very ill, the
result of too large a dose of 'We give the above
reports as we have heard them, at the same time observing
that several of the leading Portuguese Liberals, with whom
we have conversed, do not attach much credit to them,
much as they wish them to be true.— Morning Herald.