The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-27 00:00:00

DUBLIN-MONDAY.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
There was never a greater dearth of exciting news from
this part of the United Kingdom than at the moment I
write. What the ne.v year, and tlle Special Commission
into Tipperary, may produce in this way, cannot be antici-
pated. Judges Burton and Perrin are selected for-the dis-
charge of a very serious and important duty, which, it is
hoped, will be salutary at this season, and impress upon
the thine of the people at large a conviction of the neces-
sity of subjectieg some portion, at least, of our country to
the ordeal of justice, tempered with mercy, before we can
all hope tp participate in the blessings consequent upon a
transition from µn old and vitiated system, to a new and an
an-ielloroted order of ta;Pss.
I have said tliere is no exciting tripic just now. There is
no want, however, of afrttntlence of conjecture as to the po-
sition of par ties at the meeting of Parliament, and the pro-
bable modifications which the Ministry may receive before
its termination. An opinion prevails in matey quarters,
since flee conclusion of the last Session, that it was then
the intentida of Ministers not to meet Parliament again '
without having mai-strolled themselves and their forces, so
as to be in a stronger position for forwarding those measures
of reform still called for, than they have hitherto been.
Recent events have not much shaken this opinion, not-
withstanding the disbelief of Tory statements for some time
past, Wlvich, amongst other fictions, alleged that Lord Nor-
manby was not to return. The latter has, in your Journal
of Saturday, been contradicted, to the great joy of many.
Still, there is an impression abroad, that the Government
requires our good Governor's aid in the House of Lords, if
not in the Cabinet ; and that it might promote the public
service and the welfare of the nation to secure his services
at head quarters, and send here some other friend of Reform,
to follow the example now happily established for Lord
Lieutenants of Ireland—that is, to consult the interests and
welfare of all classes of her Majesty's subjects. Such ru-
mours, however, must be afloat as long as the nearly
balanced state of political parties renders the long tenure of
office, by either Whig or Tory, uncertain. In this country
such a state of things is to be regretted, because it has a
great influence on all those public and private transactions
of life not immediately depending upon Government ; and
it is therefore the duty of a wise Administration to shape
their course so as to put an end, as much as possible, to
all expectations of change, except those called for by public
opinion. Now, it is perfectly clear that public opinion—
even that portion of it least enamoured with the Whigs—
is decidedly hostile to Toryism ; and it consequently follows,
that in any change contemplated by the Sovereign, Minister,
or people, that party cannot expect the ascendant. It is
this conviction, in fact, that induces the most shrewd and
intelligent Tories to report the probabilities of a coalition ;
and the present aspect of affairs favours the rumour. For,
something like equality of r;ghts, and, what O'Connell
would call, a great instalment of justice, being established
in Ireland, it is undoubtedly the duty of a good Govern-
ment to endeavour to conciliate parties, and establish gene-
ral confidence in the Administration. There is an
approximation to a state so devoutly to be wished for at
this moment. O'Connell has put the Precursor Society on
a new foundation, unobjectionable to any man believing in
the efficacy of progressive reform in Ireland—a country so
long requiring improvement of any kind. On the other
hod, there are some indications of a subdued tone on the
part cif certain prominent Tory Members of Parliament,
whose hostility to the interests of the great body of their
countrymen may not be so distinguished in the next, as it
has been in past: Sessions. It is likely that there will be
ere of the " vigorous administration"
more witnesses in tu.:.
than my Lord Donough-
of the law by Lord Nork:anbY'
more in the House of Lord'.

INCENDIARISM.—We lament to see that there
have been more incendiary fires in Saloi; anti Hereford-
shire. The Shrewsbury Chronicle contains in acidit:
ion to the
fires before reported in that paper, two more, at mbich the
destruction of property was great.
took
On Tuesday afternoon an explosion of gas
place at the liatclif: Gas Works, which did very o°';-
siderable damage to the premises. The accidol 1
is said to
have arisen from the bursting of a retort.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

The Bury Post contains a long report of a dinner given
on Friday last by the Norfolk and Suffolk Agricultural
Association to the Marquis of Chandos, in a spacious
booth erected in the yard of the White Lion Inn, at Eye.
The number who sat down to dinner amounted to nearly
350. Sir Edward Kerrison was in the chair, supported on
the right by the Marquis of Chandos, Lord Castlereagh,
Sir C. B. Vere, Sir C. Blois, E. Wodehouse, Esq., W.
Ilolmes, Esq. &c., and on the left by the Marquis of
Tweecidale, Lord Mahon, Colonel Rushbrooke, Lord
Henniker, &e: The Martinis of Chandos, as usual eu-
logised ie Corn.'lawe, the repeal of which would be a
death-blow to the prosperity of the British farmer ; and he
declared ;—" if they were to have associations formed for
the repeal of the Corn-laws—if they were to have itinerant
preachers, and lecturers after lecturers declaiming against
those laws, and holding up such gentlemen as their
worthy chairman and every landed proprietor as
idious—he would call on the tenantry and the
landowners to come boldly forward, and chow by
their firmness that they would not surrender." This de-
claration was of course greatly applauded. We did not
expect a surrender without a struggle. The Noble Me?.
quis may exclaim, as others before him have exclaimed, no•
surrender! But in 394 cases the etTe•ct does not always

correspond to the intention. To hear the Noble Marquis,
he cares only for the British farmer. " When the ports of
the Continent were blockaded, and when the grea-t ruler of
the destinies of Europe forbade all intercourse w:th this
country, was it not the British farmer who enableua this
country to continue the war ? Without the British &reel.
it could not have stood in its proud and triumphant situa-
tion ; but it would have been overcome by that country
which it had vanquished by its internal resources.—( Cheers.)
They now put themselves forward again—the same
honest —the same bold—the same unconquerable
yeomanry.—(Cheers.)" Who denies the imporLance
of agriculture, or conceives that it can be successfully con-
ducted by ignorant and spiritless clowns ? How disin--
terested are the landowners ! Not a word of their own in-
terests, They are above being influenced by such paltry
considerations as rents. All they care for is the farmer—
the British farmer. The British landlord would himself
submit to any sacrifice ; but then his heart bleeds at the
thought of the British farmer suffering ! As his Loru‘ship''s
tenantry are not favourable specimens of the British fare ter,
but among the most backward in the island, this sort .1f
twaddle may possibly go down with them. He happened,
however, to be then in a district where the British farmer,
appears to more advantage, and we trust the spirited yeo-
manry of Norfolk and Suffolk are not the dupes of all this
pretended disinterestedness. The Marquis of Tweeddale,
indeed, furnished a rather awkward commentary on his
Lordship's speech, Mr. Wodehouse having observed, " thot
there was another Noble Marquis on his left, who came
from Scotland, and in no part of Europe bad agricul-
ture flourished more than there. No matter whether they
lived in Norfe,lk or Suffolk, on hot land or on cold land,
on blow-av:ay land, or any other sort of land, there was nes
point on which Scotland could not give them some instruc-
tion. She could hold the candle to most of them, an&
they would all do wisely in taking a leaf from her book."'
When the Marquis of Tweeddale's health was drunk, he very
candidly remarked that the Scotch farmers succeeded, be-
cause they had too much good sense to trust to the patron-
age of men who disguised their desire to have high rents
under a pretended regard for the British farmer. "At the
period," said Lord Tweeddale," when he became acquainted
with that Society (the Highland Society of Scotland), it
was not in the most flourishing state ; it was at a time im-
mediately after the war, when everything was looking
badly for agriculture ; but when the farmers of Scotland
saw that they were receiving a very low price for their
grain, and that they had nothing to depend upon from the
Legislature, they put their shoulders to the wheel, and.
said, Let us try by every exertion and ingenuity of our
own whether we cannot, with low prices, be able to hold
up our heads as we formerly did when we received high
prices.' Such was the fact, and it was pleasing to recollect
that for the last twenty years the Society had been gradu-
ally going forward." He afterwards added—" Reference
had been made to the Corn-laws ; and one of the Hon. '
Members present had stated that he should be sorry to
see the Corn-laws supported for the sake of one class ; so
should he ; but he would observe that there was a pros-
pect that agriculturists, from the improvements they might
effect, would be able to do away with the Corn-laws. If;
where they formerly produced two quarters of wheat on
an acre of land, they could manage to grow five quarters,
they might do away with the Corn-laws and be richer than
before.—(Cheers.)" So much for the Marquis of Chandos's
disinterested regard for the British farmer. We are far
from recommending an estrangement between land-
lords and farmers. The landlord and the tenant may mix
together with advantage to both. But the Corn-laws were
not passed for the farmer but for the landlord, and it is
for the sake of rents, and rents only, that they are retained.
The manufacturer has the same interest in agricultural
improvements that the farmer has in the improvement of
the machinery of the manufacturer. The interest of all
the producing classes is the same. The farmer benefits by
the inventions of Arkwright and Watt, which give him an
extended market; and though the inventions of agriculture
are less splendid, yet William Dawson, who first cultivated
turnips on raised drills, led to an enormous increase of
food obtained at ral really cheaper rate. Lincolnshire may
be described as a little kingdom gained to agriculture.
These are the improvements which every man hails, but the
improvement falsely so called, which consists not in cheapen..
ing production, but in forcing up prices by narrowing
supply, is injurious to every class but the landowners,
and must ultimately be injurious to them by de-
stroying the market afforded by successful manufac-
tures. The squires pretend that this country ought
to be independent of all others for the supply of human food.
We will assume, for the sake of argument, that high
duties on importation can keep the supply equal to the
demand. But is this beneficial to the British farmer ? If
enough is grown in ordinary years, more than enough may
be grown in other years ; and the consequence of forcing
up prices artificially is, that the farmers have no means of
relieving themselves of a glut by exportation. Hence the
most intelligent agriculturists have always been hostile to
Corn-laws. William Dawson, to whom British agriculture
owes more than to any other individual, wrote a book
against Corn-laws. If agriculture must suffer in years of
abundance from the want of a market abroad, manufactures
suffer constantly from the home monopoly of food. The
manufacturer's price at home is determined by the price
he receives abroad. The price abroad is fixed by the com-
petition in the foreign market, and as no man would ex-
port if he could obtain more at home than abroad, the price
abroad must be the price at home, with the addition of
freight and other necessary charges. The British Le-
gislature gives to the foreign manufacturer a protecting
duty equal to the difference between the price of food in
Britain and the price he pays. Hitherto the British ma-
nufacturer has struggled manfully to bear up against this
evil by all manner of inventions for abridging labour, but
there is a point beyond which exertion cannot be carried ;
and it grieves us to learn from the greatest manufacturers
in the world, the men at Manchester, that they are at
length fairly brought to a stand. We have now no alter-
native but ruin to British manufactures, and consequently
ruin to British agriculture, or destruction of the tax levied
by the landlords on the industry of the country. With
the farmers we sympathise ; with the landlords we do not.
We hold them up as the enemies of the best interests of
the nation—as men who avail themselves of their powe

in the Legislature to rob the rest of the community. Hi-
therto the injustice has been submitted to because the in-
dustrious classes knew that the landlords would not yieTtli
without a severe struggle—and men who have pro

perty embarked in trade, are naturally averse to agi-
tation, and only have recourse to it in the last ex-
tremity. But the necessity has now arrived, and thein-
dustrious classes, like sensible men of business, know the
importance of snaking short work of the business. By
putting their shoulders fairly to the wheel they will move
the landlords. From Manchester the word has gale
forth, and the call will be answered from one end of the
island to the other. Already we perceive signs of move-
ment in London. A few days will enable us to communi-
cate the accounts of meetings in Leeds and other great
towns. If the manufacturers have lately been patient, it is
not because they were the dupes of the hypocritical lan-
guage of the squirearchy. But they understand too well
what is meant by economy of labour to throw away any of
their steam power. Now, however, that they have set
about the work in good earnest, they will with their usual
good sense apply the necessary power. When the steam'
is fairly up it will be found sufficient to move the squires
from positions which they hold by setting all justice and
equity at defiance. The reign of injustice has only been
too long ; but, thank God! its term approaches ; and we
shall soon see England freed from the restrictions Aida
threaten to strip her of her pre-eminence in arts and
ia-
dustry.—lllorning Chronicle.
The Lord Mayor is entitled to the warmest gratitude of
his fellow-citizens, and of the inhabitants of the metropolis
and its suburbs in general, for the unabating zeal and
ability which he continues to display in ascertaining and
defeating the intrigues and combinations in the coal trade
--nor is gratitude less due to the individual (Mr. Bradfield)
on whose valuable suggestions and information the Lord
mayor was induced to take up tha subject. It now appears
from indisputable authority, confirmed by no less a person
than the Chairman of the Navigation Committee, that the
very same coals for which the public are paying at this time
from 28s. to 335. a ton, might be put into every one's cel-
lar at 20s. 6d., were it not for the double-headed combi-
, nation which exists at the pit's mouth and in London to
keep up the price of this most important necessary of life.
Any one who can be instrumental in breaking up or defeat-