The Sun.
London, England, 1838-11-29 00:00:00

the distributing them after the arrivals, that a great
saving of expense and time would accrue.
It has been proved that if a postman had not to
stop to collect the postage, which, under Mr. HILL'S
plan, he would not have to do, he could deliver many
more letters than now, when he has to collect the postage.

At the period of one of the early investigations into this
subject there existed what was called an " early delivery" in
the metropolis, for which a gratuity was paid to the postman,
and experiments were made to determine the relative time oc-
cupied in the delivery of letters, of which part were paid and
part not paid. The result was, that out of 637 letters deliver-
able in the same district, 570 were delivered in half an hour,
where the man had not to collect the postage, and that it took
one hour and a half to deliver the remaining 67 where he had
to collect the postage ; consequently that the one delivery was
about 25 times as quick as the other

On this subject Sir EDWARD LEES' evidence is
particularly valuable, for he watched and timed the
postmen, and could therefore describe to the Com-
mittee the quantity of time, at least three-fourths of
the whole, that was wasted at every house. On the
supposition that Mr. HILL'S plan might be adopted,
he proposed that each house should be provided with
a box for the reception of the letters, so that the post-
man might have nothing to do but knock to announce.
his arrival, put the letter into the box, and pass on.
He submitted the model of a box to the Committee
adapted to the purpose, and his view seems to have
met approbation. Mr. ASHURST, in his excellent
pamphlet, says—

It would soon be unnecessary even to open the door, as
every house would be provided with a box, into which the
letter-carrier would drop the letters, and, having knocked, he
would pass on as fast as he could walk. By this means a man
would go through a district of moderate extent in half an
hour, and deliver within it almost any number of letters; for
it must be borne in mind that in a town (and at present we are
only considering the arrangements for towns) a letter-carrier's
walk could scarcely be lengthened by any increase, however
great, in the number of letters to be delivered.

These, and a score of other improvements, would no
doubt, be suggested, if Mr. HILL'S plan were once
adopted, and would so facilitate the service of the
Post-office, that the collection and delivery of letters
might be accomplished in an easy, quick, and cheap
manner, of which even the most sanguine have scarcely
yet attained a conception.

The Corn Averages to-day show a small decline in
the prices of the week of 6d., but a rise in the average
of the six weeks of ls. 3d. The former is 735. 4d.,
the latter 70s. 3d. Our former notice that the crop of
potatoes is both short and bad is unhappily .confirmed
by the rise in the price, from 15 to 20 per cent. last
week, and the prospect of a still greater rise. Our
landowners have prepared a nice bed for the nation to
lie on.

The letter of Sir THOMAS LETHBRIDGE, which
we publish in another column, is the dawn of more
sane views on the part of the landowners. He states
that, owing to our laws, " a large breadth of wheat-
growing country in the north of Europe has long ceased
to be cultivated ; proving to you, and the people of
this country, ' that you cannot have a supply of corn
when you want it,' if you will not take it when ' you
do not want it,' a principle in trade which is found to
be true in other articles;" and that this cannot be
otherwise consistently with the benign wisdom of the
Almighty Ruler of the Universe, who has willed that
the intercourse between different countries should be
formed and carried on upon the broad principle of
mutual aid.

Sir THOMAS also denies that the present Corn-
laws give an adequate protection to the farmer, and he
declares that if they did, he would not accept them if
at the same time they produced a well-grounded en-
mity and dissatisfaction in the minds of the trading
and manufacturing classes, who have a full right to
purchase their food wherever and whenever they can
purchase it best and cheapest.
This is the beginning of wisdom on the part of the
landlords. Those laws produce not only a well-
grounded, but an intense enmity against them, which
will involve them and the great mass of the community
in one indiscriminate ruin, if the laws be not repealed.
For the last three days some of the Journals have con-
tained most lugubrious and disheartening accounts of the
disposition and language of the working classes, and
an extensive attack on all property is both predicted
and dreaded. Ho* can it be otherwise, when the
masses are in the greatest distress, and the Legislature,
by such a law as this, sets them the example—at the
enormous expense, too, of stifling trade, starving the
people, and exciting them to the commission of the
most horrid crimes against infant life—of violating the
property of all other men, for the advantage of the land-
owners. The Legislature must dread, as long as it
sets so rile an example, that public opinion will give
it only an inefficient support should the masses appeal
to physical force to obtain redress. As long as the
Corn-laws exist, it would be no better than murder to
execute any of the industrious classes who should be
driven by distress to seek food and satisfaction by
violence. We have been taunted, amongst other
Journals, by a great advocate of these scoun-
drel laws, that the working classes will not de.
mand the repeal of them : but whether they demand
the repeal or not, the Legislature ought to repeal
them, because they are in their own nature wicked,
and because they exasperate the masses, and make
them the sharper and the more fitting tools for the
worst of designing demagogues. We tell the public,
because we know the fact positively, that some of the
leaders of the working classes object to having the
Corn-laws repealed, because they wish not to have the
people contented, and wish to have them half
idle, half famished, and wholly savage. On
that ground, whether the people demand the repeal
or not—and their supineness or opposition to it, is
one of the most striking proofs lately afforded of thei
want of wisdom, and of their blindly following men
who do not care if they lead them into mischief—on that
ground, whether the people demand the repeal or not,
we would earnestly pray the Legislature to set about
this work in good earnest, and take the people out of
the hands of demagogues, and deprive them of a rea-
sonable pretext for insubordination and violence, We
look now with great hope to the possibility of such a
result, since an influential landlord like Sir THOMAS
LETHBRIDGE steps forward to denounce the Corn-
laws to the farmers.

As long as there was on their part no sign of repent-
ance we considered it our duty to press on the public
nothing but the consideration of the enormity of
the Corn-laws, but the instant they cry peccavi,
and there is a probability of their surrendering or
coming to terms, another duty arises for us. We have
then to consider what will be the most advantageous
means of putting an end to the Corn-laws, and at the
same time of inflicting the least injury on any one
class or classes. That is now our duty, and we will
at once tell the public at large, that having so long
submitted to these abominable starvation laws, having
so long sanctioned the iniquity, it has no right
to call on the landlords to bear all the expense of
putting an end to them. The evil consequences of
its own negligent acquiescence it must bear ; the land-
lords will have enough to bear in the disappointment of
their own blindfold, stupid avarice. We must tell the
Legislature, too, as we told it a few days ago, with
reference to, the consequences of impressment, that,
powerful as it is to do ill, it cannot ever obviate the
consequences of its own laws ; and though it has in-
flicted upon us the evils of starvation, it cannot undo its
own own handywork, without inflicting a vast deal of
mischief in another direction. We have never been
otherwise than aware that the total repeal of the Corn-
laws would inflict a great deal of present mischief
on society, but not a tithe of the mischief caused by