The Sun.
London, England, 1825-04-08 00:00:00

[MORNING POST.]

The Meetings which have been held, and are
still preparing to be held, in different parts of
the country, on the state of the Corn Laws, spew
the very geucral wish entertained to obtain a
freer trade in foreign grain than now exists.
Some of the leading Agriculturists themselves
seem to dread the jeopardy in which their inte-
rests are placed by the present system, and ex-
press a willingness to have it changed for one
admitting the importation of grain at all
times, subject to a certain duty, adequate
to the protection of the British. Farmer and
Landlord. : To.
_such a change, when the
state .of the question is fairly considered, we
dO not imagine the most bigotted Agriculturist
could in principle liust a plausible objection.
As to the amount of duty to be charged, we cer.:
taiuty conceive' there may be much rational dif:.
firerice of opinion, aA we should for our own
part be most -anxious that the lairded interest of
all classes Were amply secured against -the injuri-
ous competition of these ofother nations. In the
.eaent too of any change taking place, tire country
may be assured of that security being afforded by
Governmerit. The Agriculturists must recollect,
•.with pleasure arid confidence, the terms at once
just and flattering in which his Majesty, in his
gracious addresses from the Throne during the
,last three years has spoken of them, as the first
and fundamental part of the whole community.
Can it be supposed, then, that Ministers would
sanction any alteration of the existing law. which
there was the remotest thanze of detrimentally
operating upon a class whose welfare they have
already repeatedly d:!clared themselves to have
most at. heart ? It is, indeed, because the sys-
tem novg in force threatens the worst couse.

quences to the lauded interest that we desire
it to be amended—it is one in which violent
fluctuations of price are inherent, provided the
nation continues to prosper in Manufactures and
Commerce. Whatever be the result of the en-
suing harvest—that is, however plentiful the crop,
it will be impossible to prevent such a rise of
price as must throw open the ports to foreign
grain—should the law remain unchanged ! Mr.
Curwen even thinks such an occurrence menaced
at this moment. Now we ask, if the Ports were
opened, (and in that case before the return of the
subsequent averages, which would shut them
again, some weeks must elapse,) what could
stop the whole surplus grain of Europe from
being poured into the English market ? And
then look to the consequence—the price of
corn would be as much depressed below, as it
was before enhanced above its natural level.
Nor could any thing else be calculated on but
a constant round of stich fluctuations—of such
enormous rises and falls—the former occurring
gradually, the latter suddenly, and both com-
bined keeping the British proprietor and the
British cultivator in a state of doubt and
perplexity, baffling the justest speculation and
the profoundest skill. Let us further ob-
serve, that the instant the ports are unsealed, the
greater our prosperity, the greater the glut
which will be thrown from abroad into the coun-
try. For the sake of the Agricultural Interest
solely, therefore, do we rest our recommendation
of an alteration of the present. system. Land
produce, for upwards of twelve months past,
has been at more than what is termed a re-
munerating price. It is now at a rate, which, if
kept up much longer, will, to all persons of
fixed incomes, be oppressive, and, in our mer-
cantile interchanges with other countries, se-
riously disadvantageous. Would not a duty, then,
which secured the prices of grain at the average
standard of the past year, be for the outset a suf-
ficient protection to the landed interest ? We are
willing, however, that the protection should be
equal to the price at this moment—for all we ask
on behalf the Agriculturists is, that some sort of
a natural trade in corn, under whatever comb-
lions, should be returned to, and the uncertain
dangerous law of the present day be set aside.
Let us hope this result is at hand.

[MORNING HERALD.]
It is a lamentable, but unavoidable necessity,
that the worst and vilest agents must sometimes
be employed in order to obtain the ends of jus-
tice. The accomplice who turns King's evidence
is usually as deep, at least, as_ his associates in
crime. Yet, in order to make an example by
the punishment of guilt, it is right and necessary
that his life—the crime being capital—should be
spared, in consideration of his disclosures. But
surely a person in this situation, however pro-
per the remission of his extreme punishment,
should not be again thrown back upon society.
The idea of his being received into it is absurd
—even supposing him—which is a violent sup-
position, capable of reform—society disavows and
rejects him, and almost from necessity he be-
comes its enemy. Two very remarkable in-
stances of this have occurred—the one not quite
recent, the other but of yesterday. The former
was a person named IngraM; executed some time
since for burglary. Ile left behind him a con-
fession unexampled for depraved and hardened
leVity. From
.this it appears that he was first
drawn into the career of crime by being dis-
charged from service without a character—very
properly, not doubt—but it shows that from an
outcast to a criminal the transition is easy. For
this, perhaps, there is no remedy. He is next
apprehended on'a charge of burglary, or some
such offence, gives evidence against his accom-
plices—they are executed, and he is again let
loose upon society.. What is the consequence ?
Either from his own depravity, or from his being
rejected by the world, he engages in the same
career of crime from the penalty of which he
had -escaped by giving evidence against his
accomplices, and is at last, after the commission
Of several crimes—perhaps after drawing se-
veral others into the path of guilt, beought
to the scaffold. The second instance is that
of the notorious Probert, who was yester-
day found guilty of horse-stealing. There
appears no reason to doubt his assertion,
that his being destitute, and an outcast, led
to his commission of the crime, and in his
case, though true, it is scarcely • a palliation ;
but the main inference to he drawn from it is,
that Probert, after the notorious horrible af-
fair which made his name so odious, was not a
fit person to be left to mingle once more among
then. The remedy seems most obvious. It is, the
accomplice or approver should not be returned
upon society, when it is obvious that he must be-
come rejected and an outcast. Even to the
wretched being himself, removal from the scene
where his infamy is known would he mercy.
This wonld,not in any degree affect the ends of
justice. No accomlice would be deCided against
giving evidence merely because the condition
should be—transportation for life, and not a full
exemption. It is, in troth, a monstrous absurdity
to turn loose upon the world, a person who, froth
the necessity of his situation, must become
a malefactor. It looks as if it was feared that
the race should - become extinct, and that an
adept was sent forth every now and then for the
purpose of_recruitieg and training. A Legislative
enactment would he necessary-13ut this could
not be matter of ilifficulty or objection, consi-
dering the facility -and quickness with which Sta-
tutes are manufactured now-a-days.

Mr. Fox was: passionately attached to the
beauties of. nature, and, among otheis, of his
Loo.eF-garden, and particularly his geraniums, to
which he could always return with bootlied in-
terest amidst the most violent stormy of party
rage. One day, after making a • warm ha-
rangue in Palace-yard, he came immediately
Speaker (Lord SID-
to the house of Commons, reeking from the
mob, and going up to the
mouTu), who expected some violent motion,
calmly told him how sorry he was that his ge-
raniums (some cuttings of which he had promised
him) had been all blighted at St. Anne's-hill.