The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-17 00:00:00

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,;.-).11:1-1,+

WITH WHICH
THE " TRUE SUN " IS NOW

INCORPORATED.

LONDON :
SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 17, 1838.

The Speech of the Queen of SPAIN at the opening
of the Legislative Session of the Constitutional Cortes,
will be found in another part of The Sun. It contains

no statement, and makes no disclosures of any political
importance. The second paragraph suggests a curious
question :—" Between the Queen of GREAT BRI-
TAIN, the King of the FRENCH, the Queen of POR-
TUGAL, and myself, continues the Treaty of the 22d
of April, 1834." Such is the language of the Royal
Speech ; and the question which it suggests is :—Has
the conduct of France made such an impression
upon the Spanish Cabinet as to induce a formal
announcement from the Throne that the Quad-
ruple Treaty has not yet been set wholly aside ?
For our own part we should not at all be surprised to
learn that many Deputies entertained doubts upon the
subject. At all events there was some tact in thus
intimating to the Duke de FERENSAC, the French
Ambassador, that the REGENT was not unmindful of
a treatyewith France, which, had the King of the
FRENCH faithfully performed, would have long since
produced the consolidation of the Throne of her august
daughter. Notwithstanding the sacrifices made by
this country in defence of constitutional Spain, we
were not prepared for the complimentary allusion made
by the REGENT to the share which our most gracious
SOVEREIGN has had in effecting the recognition of
the rights of ISA.BELLA 11. by the Sublime Porte.
So marked an allusion to the services of England
tacitly reflects upon the King of the FRENCH, who,
of European Sovereigns, can least excuse the withhold-
ing of such diplomatic influence on the plea of a ten-
derness for the claims of a disputed succession. With
respect to the paragraph in which the QUEEN says :
" Knowing that our enemies receive succours from
countries, the Governments of which have not recognized
my daughter as QUEEN, I have desired my represen
tatives at the allied Courts to claim from them a for-
mal mediation, in order to put a stop to this violation
of the rights of nations," we confess that we do not
well know what to make of it. Taking it in its ob-
vious sense, such a proposal is simply preposterous,
and if mismanaged might lead to the lighting up of
the flames of war throughout Europe. But
the more rational supposition is, that it in-
volves a scheme for sounding the dispositions of
the great Northern Powers upon the merits of the
Spanish question, with a view to certain ulterior mea-
sures. Explanations may be sought, and perhaps
will not be refused ; and thus negotiations may be set
on foot of the utmost importance to the success of any
plans of the Cortes for the pacification of the Peninsula.

We are glad to see that the Morning Herald is
coming round to our way of thinking, that the farmers
will reap little profit from the present high prices of
corn. Let the following admissions of the sage who
has been contending day after day for weeks to-
gether that high prices are of no consequence to the
labourers whose wages rise in proportion, and that
there is nothing in the situation of the farmer and
labourer to require a repeal of the Corn-law, be care-
fully noticed and remembered :
Of the distress which rages in the manufacturing districts,
the late "demonstration" by " the masses" in favour of Uni-
versal Suffrage, will be admitted by the greater number of calm
observers, to furnish decisive proof.
The existing eagerness on the part of the labouring classes
for political change, springs, to a great extent, from the influ-
ence of despair—from the reaction of that sickness of the
heart, which follows the extinction of hope, at least as certainly
as it follows hope deferred.
The savings, on which they may have calculated, will not,
most assuredly, be allowed to remain in their pockets ; —on the
contrary, the burdens of farmers are sure to be speedily ad-
justed to the diminished pressure of the poor's rate—whilst the
new Poor-law, by its irresistible influence in lowering wages,
tends to impoverish, in even a compound ratio, the largest
class of consumers of agricultural produce.
But the evil to farmers of having supported the new Poor-
law, does not terminate at the point which we have indicated.
No. The observations of Mr. Fiske and of Mr. Gent, at
Chelmsford, show that a sharp eye is kept on the farmer's
computed profits—and he is deliberately recommended—as the
only means of avoiding more unpleasant consequences—to
make a more equal distribution of his occasional and fluctuating
gains with the labourers in his employment !
Now, in the first place, let it be observed, that the high price
of wheat, during the present season, is no proof that the far-
mers are getting rich t On the contrary, the existing prices,
high as they are, will not, on the average, compensate the
farmer for the deficiency in his crop. But, in the next place,
let it be carefully noted, that to recommend farmers to increase
wages, is, unqualifiedly to condemn the new Poor-law, which,
of necessity, lowers wages. It is always well—it is always
wise—to care for the labouring poor, It is most desirable, at
the present moment, undoubtedly, to raise wages in the agri-
cultural districts, as well as elsewhere ; but why should the
expense of raising agricultural wages be thrown upon farmers ?
_ _

Now, though the Herald incorrectly asserts that
the said condition of the agricultural labourers is
caused by the new Poor-law—which is obviously
false, for it was at least as bad before that law
was passed, particularly in 1830, when they fright •
ened the whole community by their outrages in the
souther districts—it is of importance, as far as the au-
thority of ibe Herald goes, which we admit to be very
little, to find an ;admission in its columns, that all classes
of labourers, particigarlY the agricultural labourers, are
in great distress, in;der its much admired Corn-
law, and that the farn:ers will not be allowed to
pocket all the pecuniary advantages they had cal-
culated on from the new Poor-law. After these
extraordinary admissions, we shall scarcely again
find the subtle logician of the Herald defending
the Corn-law, on the ground that it is beneficial to
the farmer, who must not, cannot, and dare not profit
by the high price it causes, and that it is not injurious
to the labouring classes who, in the manufacturing dis-
tricts, are driven to despair, and in the agricultural dis-
tricts, according to the Herald, must now have their
wages raised at the public expense.

When commerce and manufactures flourish, and po-
puiation increases, the price of the necessaries of life
have all a tendency to rise till the discovery of new
and better modes of agriculture, r the opening of
new sources for the supply of food,o brings that on a
level with or somewhat above the
c demand. Thsupe
e rise
of price, then, and of course comparative
riority of prices in a country like England, so much more
densely peopled than Russia, is the consequence of pros-
perity, and particularly the consequence of an increasing
population, but not its cause. But a writer in the
Post, in an article which we copy, falls into the
error of supposing that high prices are favourable to
commerce and manufactures, and the c.9.use of prosper
rity. He supports his assertion by an anziy of most
respectable names ; but those philosophers on;7 ob-
served the fact of the conjunction of high prices la.th
prosperity, and did not attribute prosperi •
ty to the
dearness of food. Distress arises from want of foods

as its main cause ; and the more abundant and the cheaper
the food, the more prosperous are ;lie people. A natural
rise in the price of food is an indication that prosperity
has received a check ; and an artificial rise, caused by
an artificial scarcity, gives such a check to prosperity.
In the course of nature the check only stimulates to
increased ingenuity and increased exertions, till the
check is removed ; the artificial check given by the
Corn-laws takes away the means of improvement,
stifles agricultural ingenuity, and madly inflicts on so-
ciety all those evils arising from stopping the progress
of population, which some impious men, in the wild-
ness of their own imaginations, have thought sufficient
to justify an imputation on the goodness of the AL-
MIGHTY !

Some of our readers abroad will probably see with
pleasure the manner in which Prince NAPOLEON
BONAPARTE has been received at a public dinner at
Leamington, and will not fail to read the speech of
the Nobleman who proposed his health, and the
Prince's answer. He is not likely to be as popular
amongst us as old SOULT, but inheriting a name which
is a symbol of great power, and is associated with many
of the proudest recollections of Englishmen, he will be
everywhere looked at with great interest and received with
great honour. The backwardness of Lours PHILIPPE
in supporting the cause of freedom, and the ugly ru-
mours afloat of his having entered into a secret treaty
with Russia, must tend to make him distateful to the
Liberal party in France which placed him on the throne.
Under those circumstances the Prince becomes a very
important political personage, while the persecution of
Lours PHILIPPE shows how much that Monarch
dreads him. Louts PHILIPPE is conscious that
what he has done, and what he meditates are not ap-
proved by his own friends, and it is far less a sentiment
of justice than the misgivings of his own conscience,
which make him persecute Prince NAPOLEON.

We direct the attention of our readers to the im-
portant consequences to the rate-payers of Nliddksex
which must result from the triumph the Vestry of St.
George, Hanover-square, has this morning obtained
over the Middlesex Magistrates in the Court of
Queen's Bench, where the Judges unanimously
quashed- the County Rate made by the said Justices on
the 27th October, 1836.

The Right Hon. the President of the Board of
Trade is adroitly taking advantage of the leisure af-
forded him by the Parliamentary recess to advance his
damaged credit with the electors of Manchester.
there is no telling how soon a dissolution may take
place, Mr. POULETT THOMSON is resolved to take
time by the forelock, and, leaving his colleagues to shift
for themselves, open a normal school of official agita-
tion on his own private account among his dear Man-
chester constituents. On Wednesday last the Right
Hon. Gentleman met the Committee of the Bonded
Warehouses, and gratified himself exceedingly 'by the
delivery of a very long speech, in which he endea-
voured to substantiate as facts two points upon which we
profess to have very grave doubts—namely, that no Mi-
nister ever understood commercial affairs by a thousand
times so well as himself, and that few men in the
country are by a hundred times so solicitous to advance
the true interests of commerce. For this speech we
cannot possibly make room, nor is the omission of
much consequence. But thanks having been voted to
the Right Hon. Gentleman for his extreme courtesy,
it will gratify many of our readers to have an opportu-
nity of perusing the following extract from the speech
in which he acknowledged the honour thus done him:—

Gentlemen, so far from thanks being due to me, I am in-
debted to you for any opportunity you will give me of discuss-
ing matters of business. And if you will only point out to
me any matter connected with your trade in which I can be
of service to you, it will be my aim, my object, my duty, and
my desire to exert myself. I seek, I assure you, I seek only
for opportunities of doing it. lam obliged to gentlemen who
will write to me, whether as your representative or as a mem
ber of the Government, and point out anything in which I can
be of service. There are a great many points of detail in
commerce which cannot always be present to the recollection,
to the mind of every Member of Parliament or of the Govern.
ment, although he is President of the Board of Trade, though
that situation gives me a good deal of information.

There is docility for you! The Right Hon. Gentle.
man has actually the humility publicly to confess that
there are " points of detail in commerce" which are
not always present even to the all-surveying mind of a
President of the Board of Trade, and that he will
take it kindly to have his memory jogged occasionally.
If this be so we will earn for ourselves a debt of eternal
gratitude, independently of the many kindnesses which
he must already have recorded in our favour. We
shall take care that he do not slumber in the Presi-
dent's chair for lack of jogging. No, no ; Mr. Pou -
LETT THOMSON shall not want opportunities for the
review of his labours in the service of his country.

When we see such numbers of a respectable class
like the National Guard of France signing petitions
for an extension of the electoral franchise, we .have
strong evidence, even without other facts, that the
Government of the country is not in unison with the
feelings of the great body of the people. The men
composing this citizen army are in general tradesmen,
shopkeepers, and merchants, who have an interest in
preserving peace, and who rationally believe that there
can be no lasting peace or security for France while
her Government is leagued with the members of the
Holy Alliance, the enemies of the French people, and
the avowed foes of every popular and liberal institution.
With the exception of the change which took place in
England immediately after the Restoration, there is
no instance of a radical change in the political
principles of a monarchical Government equal to
that which has taken place in France since 1831.
Then LOUIS PHILIPPE at every grand demon-
stration of public feeling, and on every balcony where
they met, was seen hugging the old, unchange-
able Republican, LAFAYETTE, and vowing eternal
fidelity to the principles which drove the old bigoted
BOURBONS from the throne ; and now, if they I‘ould
allow him to come within reach, he would give the
same paternal embrace to the oppressors of Poland,
who hate him, his dynasty and his people—nay, pos-
sibly would thus seal friendship with his beloved
cousin, the author of the Durango decree. Ever since
he sent his sons to pay court to the great and small
despotic Sovereigns in Germany (where, by the way,
he found hew much Russia, and Prussia, and Austria
disliked him) he seems to have been entirely occupied in
devising pleasures to conciliate these enemies of consti-
tutional liberty. The Press he took care to shackle well
before he began his operations. He has quarrelled
twice with independent and Republican Switzerland,
which, like England, gives shelter to the unfortunate
exiles of despotic States. He has broken his contract
with England to support the cause of liberty in Spain,
and now more effectually supports Don CARLOS than
either Austria or Russia. He amuses his people with
conquests in Africa, and blockades against weak Re-
publics in the new world, and finally withdraws his
troops from Ancona to please the POPE and Prince
METTERNICH. All these are entirely the work of
the Citizen KING. He presides and rules over the
Cabinet ; we might also say he rules over the Cham-
bers. In the present state of the electoral franchise,
with the small number of electors and the means which
the Crown has of influencing venal Deputies, he can
always command a majority ; and while the army re-
mains faithful he mayact the despot, like BONAPARTE,
without leave or hindrance. It is for these reasons—
for measures so utterly at variance with the principles
of the three days of July—ethat the peaceful citizen
not suCh a fool ''
power to controul a Sovereign wi ,o is
as 014-4 s X., but who, from blind
calls out f9r