The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-27 00:00:00

INDI1:

We have received files of the Calcutta John'
Bull, but of an earlier date than the recent ac-
counts from that. quarter. They consequently
contain nothing new 'from the Burmese frontiers.
The following are extracts :—..

MR. 310ORCROFT'S JOURNEY.
[From 11w John._ Bull of Aug. 4, 1824.1
We-arentnch indebted to a friend for the perusal of a -letter
dciteali'eshOur, April 15, 1824, giving some interesting par-
ticulars of Mr. 31 oorcroft. This enterprising traveller, it is
known, had been detained long at Rashmeer, in consequence
of the manteuvres of Runjeet Singh ; but in August last
he was' ..enabled to prosecute the venturous journey. In
passing through the country of the Kuttaks, 3lr. 3loorcroft
met with very considerable difficulty, and not a little danger ;
enough, indeed, to have appalled almost any other traveller.
The chief of this tribe is an ally of Runjeet Singh, and made
an attempt.to cut off 31r. Moorcroft and hi 4 party, by inter-
cepting their progress at the head of a river which was almost
dry. In this, however, they failed, owing to the determined
conduct displayed by 31r. 3loorcroft. Although the Affghauns
were 700 in number, and our traveller could only muster a
party of 30, he boldly offered them battle, and prepared to force
his way through them, when these brave fellows--this " hardy
and in' id race,"—these " bold mountaineers," as it is the
fashion ,o call them, took to their heels, and scampered off.-
31r. 3loorcroft and his party were all well in April at Peshour.
He had made ieveral excursions into the neighbouring country,
and gained a stock of useful information with regard to a species
of horse, which, it is thought, might with great advantage be
introduced into the Company's stud establishment. The letter
speaks big* of theltind treatment experienced by the party at
kii Peshour, alitientions that preparations were making to pro-
ceed in a fit weeks to Cabdol.
A correspondent of the raktrtta Scotsman, who writes from.
Pooree, under date the 11th of J illy, gives an account of another
Suttee which took place there on the 2d of that month. The un-
fortunate victim of the barbarous rites of the Ilindoo religion was
the widow of allrahmin,whodied,aged about 40,while the widow
was from.3o to 35. There was nothing different in this horrible de-
tail from the numerous accounts of similar atrocities which we re-
ceive from India by every fresh arrival front our territories in the
East. Persuasions„promises of support and protection during the
remainder of her lite, were abundantly used to induce the woman
from the horrid crime of self-immolation. These, as is almost
always the case, -were unavailing, and the revolting ceremony
proceeded. It seems that in this instance the fire was not power-
ful enough, nor the smoke dense enough to put a speedy period
to her existence. She was seen for several minutes .kneeling
amidst the fire by the side of her husband's corpse, her body
erect, and the only indication of pain being a motion of her head
backwards and forwards. At last she flung herself forward
amongst the flames, and was consumed.

THE ARMY.

GENERAL ORDER.
Horse Guard:, Jan. 14.

It having been represented to the Commander-in-Chief that
very serious inconvenience, as well as great irregularity, have
arisen in consequence of the wine and spirits '(stopped as a
punishment from the soldier, by the officers commanding troops
when embarked in transports), being re-issued in gross to the
men, his Royal highness has been pleased to direct that this
practice shall be entirely discontinued.
Whenever circumstances render it necessary to abate the
ration of wine or spirits to the soldier, his Royal Highness de-
sires that the value in money shall be laid out for his benefit at
the period of disembarkation ; but his Royal Highness strictly
forbids that it shall on any account be re-issued in any kind
during the time the troops continue on board ship.
By command of his Royal -Highness the Commandsr.in-
Chief, HENRY TORRENS, Adjutant-General.

ARMY—(INDIA.)
A COURT-3lanTrAr. was held at Nagpore, on the 23d
June, 1824, at which Captain Alexander Brown, of the lst
European Regiment, was arraigned for addressing an improper
letter to his Commanding Officer, and writing divers other let-
ters and papers, thereby evincing a pertinacious adherence to
a spit it of litigiousness and insubordination. Eleven different
charges were preferred, and the Court found.. him Guilty on
nine of the allegations.
Sentence.—" 'file Court having found the prisoner guilty of
so many and so_ much of the charges exhibited against him,
sentence Mtn to be suspended from sank and pay fur the, period
of one calendar month.

" Confirmed, (Signed) " EDWARD PAGET,
" General Commander-in-Chief in India.'

FOR THE SUN.

CORN LA WS
Zf(gra est veritos el pravalebit.

A revision of the Corn Laws is now generally
wished for, and in the course of the ensuing Session of Parlia-
ment, we should hope, will certainly take place.. The average
system upon which they are founded is confessedly liable to
the greatest abuse. The ports are kept open, or shut, just as
suits the interests of a party, while the interests of the public
are totally disregarded. To the great body of English far-
mers the laws have been highly prejudicial, as they have
operated to keep in cultivation lands which ought never to
have been broken up, and thus to establish a most injurious
competition at home. They inspire in the minds of our far-
mers a perpetual dread of the ports opening, and drive them
to send precipitately to market the last bushel of their pro-
duce. They have so far exhausted the country of corn, that,
in case of a greatly fading harvest, all Europe would be inca-
pable of supplying the deficiency. They take away all in-
ducement to hold corn after the price approaches the impor-
tation limit, and the: consequence is, that the price, from
that moment, ceases tot be any indication of the stock of corn
remaining in the country ; a state of things which might ex-
pose the people to an absolute famine. In August last, when
by means of some fictitious returns the ports wese opened for
the importation of Oats, no person apprehended that the stock
of Oats then in the country was nt& below what we were ac-
customed to hold at that period of the year. It was afterwards,
however, clearly discovered that, at the time in question, the
country had been almost destitute of Oats.—Between August
and November 700,000 quarters of foreign Oats were entered
for home consumption, and the whole of this immense supply
disappeared almost immediately. It consists with our own
knowledge that several cargoes of foreign Oats were re-shipped
from this port to Lincolnshire and Norfolk, and there sold to
the fanners as being the only Oats fit for immediate use !
Something similar had happened just before in Barley. In the
month of May the average price of Barley rose to 355. 3d., and
admitted to entry about 30,000 qrs, of foreign Barley, which
had been in warehouse, under the King's Lock. It was then
discovered that no-English Barley whatever remained on hand.
The whole had been brought to market and sold under an ap-
prehension of the ports opening. The same thing, we confidently
predict, will happen with regard to Wheat, and then the conse-
quences must be dreadfuL An average price of 70s. per qr. ad-
mitting to entry the foreign Wheat in bond, will be a certain
sign of want, and how any great want of Wheat in this country
can be supplied, we are utterly at a loss to conceive._ h e case
is so palpable, and the risk it involves so alarming, that mea-
sures mutt be taken to guard against the consequences. IVe
think it most fortunate for the country that between 3 and
400;000 quarters of wheat remain still in bond, for though in
the event of any real scarcity such a quantity would be almost
instantly absorbed, it forms, nevertheless, a supply which no
other country at present could afford us ; for having ceased to
be animporting country, foreign states have ceased to raise corn
for our consumption.
That our Corn Laws have been most injurious to every
branch of our manufactures, is a position that no man for a
moment will dispute. They first deprived us of the conti-
nental markets, and afterwards of the greater 'part of our
long established American demand. The United States are
rapidly becoming a manufacturing country ; instead of im-
porting, as formerly, our worsted and woollen goods, they
now are importing our long wool, and rivalling us in the va-
rious manufactures of it. The last tariff, which has gone
far to destroy all the commerce with the United States, that
was of any value, was avowedly a measure of retaliation.—
Because we refused to admit into our markets the raw pro-
duce of America, they -very naturally :rufused to admit into
their markets, except upon their own, srms, the manufac-
tures of this country. With the ports the Baltic trade is
almost entirely destroyed. Commercially speaking, Poland
and Prussia may he said to be blotted out from the map of
Europe. From Russia we do, indeed, import still pretty
largely ; but, then, be it observed, it is only from absolute
necessity. Of hemp,
flex, ashes, and tallow, we cannot pos-
sibly obtain a sufficiency at home ; and such articles, there-
fore, we must import, or do without them. Of our manu-
factured goods, in-return for such importations, Russia takes
few or none. The whole of our commercial policy is found-,
ed upon measures of restriction, which have been over and
over again proved to be utterly inconsistent with the interests

of the community. But that which more than all the rest'
tends to paralyze the industry of the country—to make the
people wretched and discontented—and to drive capital into ihe
,most speculative employment*, is the abominable corn bill.'
Igo man possessed of three grains of sense more than the law 1
'Webb Hall has ever been found to advocate the bill. The
' farmers.are MOW, and with..goodreason..calling out for a repeal
of the law. It has been in eilsonce. for ten years, 'MO has
brought upon them nothing but beggary. The high pri.-fts to'
which it has occasionally given rise,-have served only to perpe-
tuate high rentel told thus, in the long run, to do them more
injury than good. Is it not deplorable to read, regularly twice
a year, in the newspapers, that, on Mr. such-a-one's rent day,
Mr. such-a-one was " generously pleased" to return to the
whole of his tenants 10, 15, or 20 per cent.? No reason can be
assigned for any such abatements, except the absolute inabi-
lity. of the tenants to make up the whole of their rents. The
farmer has really nothing to call his own. He has at all times
claims hanging over him which he has not the power of dis-
charging. Can it, then, be wondered at that, in order to get
rid of a law which is the fertile source of so much misery and
degradation, our farmers should feel the most lively solicitude?
Even the landlords must wish for an alteration of the law, for
it never can be their interest to take from the tenants that ca-
pital which ought to be employed in the cultivation and im-
provement of their farms. They must also be anxious to
keep down the amount of poor-rates, which, if manufacturing
employment cannot be found for the increasing numbers of
the people, threaten, in the course of time, to swallow up
the. entire rental of the country. Let them reflect on the
state of Ireland, where scarcely any manufacturing esta-
blishments exist, and then say what would be the value of
land in that unhappy country under a system of poor laws simi-
lar to our own ?

However favourably we may think of the principle of a free
trade in corn, we see objections enough to its application at
this time, to render any observations on its policy, in an article
like the present, unnecessary. %V C shall, therefore, limit our-
selves to the consideration, of what permanent dutl it might be
expedient to impose upon the importation of foreign grain !
Upon this point we find great diversity of opinion. In a very
able article on the corn laws, inserted in the last number of the
Edinburgh Review, a duty is proposed of fis. per qr. which the
writer observes, " would undoubtedly be very favourable to the
landlords, by securing them against all risk of foreign wheat ever
being disposed of for less than 605." Mr. Ricardo (in his
pamphlet on protection to agriculture) proposed a duty of
101., which, he said, he was sure was " rather too high as a
coutervailing duty for the peculiar taxes which are imposed on
she corn grower, over and above those imposed on the other
classes of producers in this country; but he would rather err on
the side of a liberal allowance than a scanty one."—The agri-
culturists, in order to get rid of the fraud and trickery inse-
parable from the average system, it is understood would he con-
tent with a duty of 20s. We may expect, then, that any per-
manent duty which may be fixed upon, will come within the
two extremes of 6 and 20s. per qr.—The Landowners have
never pretended that they were entitled to a monopoly of the
home market, and if they did so pretend, thei: right to a mono-
poly never could be admitted. \Vhat they ask for is, such a
duty upon the importation of foreign corn, as will serve to
countervail the heavy taxation to which the production of corn
in this country is subject.—They have not shewn us what por-
tion of the price, in ordinary seasons, may be ascribed to taxa-
tion. The writer of the article in the Edinburgh Review, to
which we have already alluded, says, " it may be doubted
whether manufactured, goods be-not really as heavily taxed as
:raw produce ; but to put to-rest all cavilling upon the subject,
he would not object to an ad valorem duty of 10 per cent. being
laid.on all foreign corn imported." For the sake of argument
we shall go much further, and assume that 3344 per cent., or
one-third of the price may be the result of taxation, and
surely .the wildest advocate of the agriculturists never
,thought of ascribing to taxation a greater proportion of the
price. Let us see, then, what the price of wheat has been in
this .country for the last five years, a period in which no fo-
reign wheat whatever has been admitted to entry for home
consumption. The average price in 1820, according :to the
Gazette returns, was 655. 101; in 1821, 545. 10d. ; in 1822,
445. ; in 1823, 50s. 4d. ; and in 1824, 61s. Bd., making, upon
en average of the five years, 555. 41 per quarter. One.third
of this is 18s. 5d., and deducting from it 10s. per quarter for
the expences of shipping foreign corn, freight, insurance, land-
ing and selling it, there would remain Bs. sd. per quarter as a
duty, to place the foreign growers on an equal footing with
the cultivators of wheat in this country. Beyond a duty of
this amount, the land-owners have not the shadow of a claim.
Grant them, however, a duty of 10s. per quarter, and more than
justice is done to them. Under such a duty it would be quite
impossible, in ordinary seasons, to import to any great extent.
It is seldom that the prices of good wheat in the Baltic is below
40s. par quarter, and when it is, a very slight demand for ex-
portatuiD will raise it to that price or higher. When the ports
were lately open for oats, though Vast stocks had been accu-
mulated on the other side, it was found that a duty of 6s. per
quarter was sufficient to prevent almost any importation of
them from Dantzig, Elbing, Konisberg, or Riga, which are
the great corn ports of the Baltic. We consider it, then, as
quite certain, that a duty on wheat of 10s. per quarter, and a
proportionate duty on other grain, would afford a degree of
protection to our growers amply sufficient for any reasonable
purpose.
Upon the same principle that a duty upon importation is
levied, ought a duty upon exportation to be allowed ? and
though Mr. Ricardo proposed to limit the bounty to is. per
qr., we can see no reason why it should not be made equal
to the duty, or 10s, per qr. Had such a bounty been allow-
ed in 1822 we should not have witnessed, as we then did,
the finest White wheat selling at 40s. per. qr. ; for though it
might have been impossible to find a foreign market, to
which, at that time, it could have been exported with ad-
vantage, yet the chance of its being afterwards exportable
with a profit must have operated to keep the price of such
wheat much above ,that we have mentioned. A bounty
upon exportation, is the only efficient remedy for a state of
prices ruinously low, and constitutes alone that which can
ever induce our capitalists to embark their money freely in
the purchase of British corn. Some persons are weak enough
to imagine, that if-foreign corn were not permitted to be ware-
. housed, so much additional capital would be appropriated to
the purchasing of British corn. The best answer we can give
them is, that notwithstanding the permission to lay up foreign
corn in this country under the King's lock, large quantities of
corn are at all times held upon the continent for English ac-
count, and that the only effect of doing away that permission
would be to increase the stock of corn for English account ware-
housed upon the continent. Whether these gentlemen would
think it a public advantage that we should rent granaries upon
the continent, and employ foreign labourers in keeping the
corn, rather than fill our own warehouses and employ our own
labourers, is a point we scruple not to leave to their own enligh-
tened minds ,to determine. We say nothing of the advan-
tages which the importation, and occasional exportation of
foreign corn, afford to our own shipping, for independently of
any such consideration, the point must be sufficiently clear to
every person capable of forming the slightest judgment on such
question.
It may be expected of us, before we conclude, that we
should say a word or two in respect to a graduated scale of
duties, commencing, for instance, with 20s. per qr. on the
average price reaching 605., and diminishing is. per qr. for
every shilling advance in the price up to 80s., at which point
duty to cease entirely. We see no great objection to such a
scheme of duties, but still we cannot help thinking that a
permanent duty, such as we have suggested, would- be pre-
ferable. After all the tricks and frauds in making up re_
turns that hare lately come to light, we can have no depend_
ence on the just operation. of any law resting on so equivo-
cal a basis as that of the averages. The great dsideratum is
the establishment of moderate and steady prices, and with a
view to that object, nothing would so effectually contribute as
the imposition of a moderate and permanent duty. Minis-
ters," to use the words of the Edinburgh Reviewer, " are most
justly entitled to the public thanks; for the measures they have
already introduced for freeing industry and commerce from the
shackles imposed in a less enlightened age ; and we trust they
will not throw away the opportunity now affbrded of complet-
ing the system so happily begun; but that they will earn for
themselves a, new and more powerful claim on the grati-
titude of the country, by ridding it at once, and for ever,
of the monsteous and intolerable nuisance of our present Corn
Laws."
N ewcastle-upon-Tyne, 22d Jan. A. W.