The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-24 00:00:00

difference acted upon the minds of himself and partners,
that they had come so the determination to make no increase
Wllatever in their manufactories here, but to look abroad ;
"Astd they had, more than once, been upon the point of form-
ing establishments out of this country, in Germany, and very
probably in America. Such was their conviction of the effect
of the Corn-laws."
Here we have the head of a large house declaring that
it is the intention of himself and partners to make no in-
crease in their manufactories here, but to look abroad.
We have heard that several manufacturers of this country,
possessed of capital, dissatisfied with one low profits to
which the landowners have reduced them, and the perpe-
tually increasing difficulties they have to contend with, are
embarking extensively in establishments abroad.
Mr. Greg placed in a, luminous point of view the effect
of a repeal of the Corn-laws.
" How can we retrace our steps? The only chance of
eacape was to repeal the Corn-laws, the operation of which
was this : the imposition of Corn-laws first deprived our cus-
tomers of tyre means of payment, for by those laws we said
we woul'fs not take their money. It was not a question of
mone:; on the one hand and poverty on the other, but we
diss.inctly said, We do not like your money.' The next
step was to make the foreigner a manufacturer, the next step
is the process was to give him cheap and to us dear focd,
and so on until our ruin was about to be consummated. Now
repeal the Corn-laws, and the first effect was to give the
foreigner dearer, and ourselves cheaper food, to create custom-
ers where we had no customers before, to found an agricultural
interest there to preponderate against the manufacturing
interest, and to snake this newly created interest to mode-
rate the high protective duties sought by the manufacturers,
by saying of us 'these are our customers.' What said the
southern states of America, when the northern wished to
have high, protection ? These are our customers,' said
they, these high duties will interfere with our trade.'
So it Would be in Germany ; the agriculturists would say
sse are good customers of ours ; we cannot allow you
to impose these high duties.' We might return to a prospe-
rous state, if we would thus exchange our clothing for food ;
for they were the great articles of interchange which never
could end, and to which no limit could be assigned, for both
were necessaries. If we did this, millions might exist abroad
that did not now exist; and in our own country millions
might exist who had no existence now. But, to put the case
in an extreme point of view, suppose we had an extra twelve
millions of population consuming our foreign corn and not
one quarter of English wheat, what would be our condition?
In the first place, double the population would consume double
the quantity of butchers' meat, double the quantity of milk,
and a greater quantity of land would be required; conse-
quently the land, instead of declining in value, would actually
be advanced. So far there was no fear for the owners of land,
except in the continuance of the present odious and impolitic
law. If we doubled the population, we should have only half
the taxation ; and supposing we reduced the taxation one-half,
and doubled the population, we thereby doubled the demand
for agricultural produce, and we should all be in a more pros-
perous condition."
We alluded on Thursday last to the statements made by
Mr. Smith on the first day. Our exports, he observed,
were fast changing their character.
" In Switzerland (he observed) the trade bad been so great
as csanpletely to supersede our exports of twist to that country,
except for very fine numbers. A gentleman present could
state that scarcely any numbers were now sent below 100's,
and at one lime we exported thither as low as B's and 10's.
The cotton manufacture was rapidly extending in Bohemia,
the Tyrol, Lombardy, Naples, and Savoy. The same results
were taking place in other commodities, as well as cotton.
While recently at Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Leicester,
and Derby, he had picked up some facts, important and inte-
resting, as showing the progress of foreign manufactures.
The total export of hardware and cutlery from Great Britain,
in. 1824, was 12,285 tons ; in 1834, 16,275 tons, or
stn increase of 33 per cent. This was in striking contrast
to the increase in the export of the raw material. In
1834 the export of bar and pig iron and castings was
34,595 tons; in 1834, 106,467 tons. The Sheffield people
complained that there was no increase in their export trade ;
and in 1820 the export of unwrought steel was 326 tons ; in
]834 it was 1,709 tons—an increase of 550 per cent. With
these vast exports of raw iron and unwrought steel, added to
the export, of coals, the foreign manufacturers were enabled
to make articles at a cheaper rate than in this country ; and it
was important to notice the great increase in the export of
coals coincident with the increase in that of raw iron and un-
wsought steel. In 1820, the export of coals was 58,672 tons ;in
.1835, 546,338 tons. Surely, then, foreign competition was
to farce ; and he thought it was the duty of the Chamber, in
its petition, to take much higher ground than that taken by
the petition just read, or at all events by its prayer. At
Wolverhampton he was informed by a gentleman who
had intended to be present at this meeting, that a great
nunabsr of articles formerly manufactured in that town,
and bought by the merchants there for shipment to
foreign countries (for export first to Germany), had long since
ceased to be supplied from Wolverhampton. Amongst these
:articles were scythes, bolts, coffee-mills, &e. These things
were now made in Germany, so much lower than in Wolver-
hampton, that the Wolverhampton merchants had now become
purchasers of them in Germany to export to other foreign
eon:Arias, instead of buying them in Wolverhampton. Ger-
man travellers now came with pattern cards, drawings, and
prices of these articles to the English markets. He had ap-
plied in London for a sheet of these German patterns, but
the party had returned it to the traveller. These agents of
German houses visit London twice a-year with samples, pat-
terns, and manuscript drawings; these houses bad also agen-
cies in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and other large
towns of the United States, for the sale of hardware goods,
-made in Germany, and shipped from Hamburg. His infor-
mant said that very few of these articles equalled the English
ones in quality ; but they were low-priced, and were found to
answer the purpose of both seller and buyer. At Birming-
ham be (Mr. Smith) met about fifty or sixty of the first mer-
chants and manuketurers, who gave him some very interesting
details. The 'largest export merchant there told him, that
for years past lie had gradually been losing the export of one
article or other."
Mr. Smith instanced a number of commodities in which
foreigners were beating us. Buttons were imported 20 per
cent. cheaper than they could be made in Birmingham.
Worsted hosiery can also be imported cheaper than it can
be manuf-actured in this country :
Sa.xony already manufactured as large an amount of cot-
ton Ivisiery as Great Britain ; and she exported 1,500,000
doze.a pairs, while our export was only 430,000 pairs. Sax-
or
.3r exported to the United States about as much cotton ho-
stler), as we exported to the whale world ; and she not only
exported to other foreign countries, but also to Great Britain.
Ile held in his hand a beautiful specimen of Saxon-made cot-
ton hosiery (a white cotton open-worked glove, for ladies'
wear, such as he understood could not be made in this coun-
try ; 'sad for these gloves a hosier in Manchester gave 3s. 6d.
per dozen pairs. He exhibited another beautiful specimen of
li.osiery, a stocking of foreign manufacture, with one of similar
Quality, but English manufacture. The latter, a hosier at
Nottingham told him, was there worth 6s. a dozen pair ; the
price of the Saxon article at Hamburg was 3s. 2d. per dozen
pairs. Ile next showed other beautiful specimens of stockings
of a better quality, both Saxon and English manufacture ; the
price of the latter at Nottingham being 235. a dozen, and of
the former at Hamburg 12s. 41d. a dozen. With such facts
as these before them, would any gentleman say that foreign
competition was a farce ?"

Mr. Smith on Thursday last went into a number of state-
anents, corroborative of those made by him on the former
day. It was very difficult, he observed, to ruin a country
like ours, abounding in wealth, but were they to be insen-
sible to the handwriting on the wall ? We had become
wealthy in consequence of the enormous increase in our pro-
ductive power, which had enabled us to bear up against
heavy taxation and the monopoly of the landowners ; but
every thing depended on our superiority as producers, and
it was of the highest importance that every obstruction to
our industry should be removed. These are samples of the
opinions and statements delivered at these important meet-
ings. The speakers are not mob orators, but wealthy mer-
chants and manufacturers intimately acquainted with the
subjects which they discussed. They see that the time is
come when it is no longer safe to remain passive. Lord
Melbourne truly observed that the people of England
could only hope to obtain the repeal of the Corn-laws
by showing that they were in earnest in wishing it. Several
of the speakers at the meeting attacked with some asperity
Mr. Poulett Thomson for not taking a more decided part
with regard to the Corn-laws ' • but the Right Honourable
Gentleman is but one of the members of a
Cabinet, and
whatever his opinions individually
that he should act against the determination
of the Cabinet.
What the Manchester people have to do is to raise a wind
capable of moving the Cabinet, when
effecthenof course Mr. Mr. Poulett will be enabled to give
We foresee that this affair of the Corn-laws wiollwenrevielownse:
array the population of the towns against the landowners
and their dependants. The intelligent men of the great
towns, who understand how to apply
e
power,
squires when
they fairly begin to agitate, will show th
they are superior as men of business. We have no
doubt that the squires will be beat. The indignation of
the country will paralyse them. Many of the most
wealthy too of the aristocracy are as satisfied as the enlight-
ened manufacturers of Manchester can be, that the Corn-
.aws only apparently benefit the owners of the soil. Those
rndowners, indeed, who have already ate their cake and
ould yet have it, are aware that a diminution of rent
would throw them into the workhouse ; but all who are
bona fide the owners of their own lands would in reality
benefit by the repeal of the Corn-laws. Be this, however,
as it may, we must now have a long pull, a strong pull, and
a pull altogether. The landowners must give way to the
people in a cause maintained on the one hand by ignorant
selfishness and the most revolting injustice, and on the
other by truth and justice.—Morning Chronicle.
We find, in the Birmingham Journal of Saturday last,
some dolorous observations on the readiness with which the
national petition has every where been signed. and the
backwardness on the subject of the national rent. Some
of the Scotch and Welsh were, it seems, simple enough to
pay ; but the English Chartists are, it seems, wiser in
their generation, having a profound esteem for the saying
of our great dramatist—

0
6 Base is the knave who pays."
" Except from a few places of Scotland," says the Editor,
" chiefly in the western part of that country, and from one or