The Sun.
London, England, 1814-09-24 00:00:00

to look a little beyond the present mota .nt and,

by, the partial sacrifice which justice and the uni-
versal good demands, save themselves from even-
tual ixiin, only aggravated by being in the midst
of that ruin, Whicht.a perseVering struggle in the
course they appear to be "tithing cannot 'fuil of
bringing upon the Country at large, t, s for the
Farmers, we heartily commiserate their situation :
They have-made bad bargains with their leases on
war calculations ; and unless-a sense of prudence,
as well as of humanity, induces the Proprietors to
yield to the new state of things, and voluntarily
lower their rents, it, does appeal that the earliest
effect of the contest bet Ween the People and the
Landlords wilr be bankrnptcy and destruction to
them. They are -precisely in the condition of
merchants, whO, speCulating on the continuance
Of hostilities, ,might-purchase, at high prices, the
produce of Nations with whom we were at war—
if peace suddenly comes, the article declines in
Value, and'thei'r names are seen the Gaidte
TO u s it.does seem,, of all idle and vain hopes,
the most idle and the most vain, to look for the
continuance of present or .late'prices. This nei-
ther can, nor ought; to be'suffered. In,lleaven's
name,. What pretensions have any one.classof,the
ComMunity, however respectable, even were it
. for their benefit as it must be to their loss, to.
inflict so infbleiable a load,of misery upon the
entire mass of the population:; to raise beyond
endurance the price of the prime- article of sus-
tenance to the lower orders ; with_ the price of
Corn necessarily to enhance the price, of labour
and of Manuf.i\ctures, till we should be a; little
.able to compete With the Artisan as with the
Agriculturist of .the Continent ; in fine, by- one
act of selfish blindness and- political suicide) to
elect Old. England into the horrid fre-eminence
of being the'Papdemoniatn... of High Prices, ex-
cluded from the world by that distinguishing fea-
tore, and not by the ocean— :

" Toto orbe divisos Britannos ;"

and, in reality, that laud which BUONAPARTE only
boasted he would snake it ",a count.' y not worth
living in." It is impossible that we should allow
any set of men to bring these evils upon us, b►►t
yet these evils are inevitable, if the Report of. the
Corn Committee is. received -as Gospel, and acted

upon
It is with uncommon delight ne.perceive that
neither the evidence on 'which this Report is found,
ed, the Report itself, nor the measures obviously
in the Contemplation' of its Framers, are difficult
to- be controverted, overthrown, and set at-naught.
On a rotten foundation has, been .erected
.a totter-
ing superstruCtiire, to the (1-einclition of which we
betake 'ourselves with right good will—trusting
sincerely that the arguments: we adVance gill pre-
vail on the high price advocates to desist, because
we know that they cannot carry their point-741w
united voice of the Empire is against it,, and the
consequences of an actual struggle would-he fatal
to them, and most ruinous to the Country.' . • -
Among the prominent fallacies upon which the
Legislating Committees have proceeded with their
investigation into this subject, it seems'to be no
small one,that they have ever chosen to consider
the question of prices as resting between the Land
owner and the Manufacturer, the Agriculturalist.
and. the People, and not as it really does, be,:
itween the Landowner and the Tenant.. They
have inquired into all possibilities upon which
theories could be built and calculations made, ex-
cept the right one, and the only remedy for the
existing embarrassment--the R.eduction of Rents.
Thqt expedient has been as guardedly avoided
even in hypothesis as if it could not exist, or could
have no bearing in affording the relief sought after.
Yet we fancy '
"'To this complexion they:roust come at-last ;4.
for, though they paint an itch thick, it is the sole
and grand panacea, the only cure for dear.bread,,
emigration, stagnation of trade, and national ruin.
Now, let us examine first,' what right Landlords
have to the perpetuation of the War Prices ; .and;
seco'ndly,. what would be the result of their estab-
lishment ? The heavy taxes, to which all classes
are liable,' and the general expence of living are
the onlygroundsnpon which they can pretend to
have secured to them, by legal restrictions upon
-the freedom. of commerce, the continuation of the
exorbitant emoluments which have accrued to them
in ,consequence of a twenty years war. If we
look to these grounds we will discoVer, that it is
thus that the high -price advocates., by turn;
- -convert cause into effect, and effect into cause
and, by a dexterous shifting of syllogism,
(all aimed to demonstrate, not how the, public
may be served, but bow the farmer may be enabled
to meet their exCessive demands) endeavour to
blind us to the, real merits of the case. They
must, they contend, have high 'rents to be able t 4
pay heavy taxes, and-the increased expence
living 1.• To this we reply, there, is no tax which
bears upon you directly but the Property Tax,
-which will diminish in proportion with Four di-