The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TuutopAir, AUGUST 5,_1841.

EXPENSIVENESS of the OLIDING

SCALE.
I am not aware, Sir, whether your attention has ever
been directed to the great pecuniary loss which attends
the purchase of foreign corn, under the present Sliding
Scale—a loss resulting solely from its uncertain action,
ttneentierted with the amount of the protection to the
latiotief, cl• the quantity at' corn imported.
I Wiefe tnet itY retitfy Oi the cidAfttitleg of each de-
scription of grain impet''te" fth A: Are dons,ituiption daring
the last three years, has yet been ittid tleftlte re.flitrient;
but this, so far as my argument is concerned, is o lid
importance ; the loss I allude to being in proportion It
the quantity, whatever that may be. I shall, therefore,
assume as correct, the quotations of Mr. Leathern, of
Wakefield, which, he says, he received from a, large
corn-dealer in London. ,
According to this authority, the importation which
took Ogee in little more than eighteen months, did not
amount to less than 10,380,267 quarters of grain of all
descriptions, namely
End of 1838 4.4 /#634,730 quarters.
1839
Six months 1840

10,380,267
The smallest cost of which must 'have been—
Say, 7,000,000 qrs. wheat at 50s. £17,500,000
1,200,000 barley
1,360,000 oats 20 3,380,000
820,000 beans, peas

10,380,267 £20,880,000
Now, it must be remarked, in the first place,
we paid for these 10,380,267 of quarters, at least 15i. too
much for wheat, and ss. too much for the other kin ls of
grain ; that is, in round numbers— that
15s. x 7,000,000 quarters = 0,250,000
ss. X 3,380,267 7, -..,-_ 845,000

/605;00
But, for the operation of the sliding scale,
opens
the ports only occasionally, for short periods, and untkt
risk of ruin to importers (ruin, if they buy too soon,
and have to warehouse for years ; ruin, if they buy too
g
late, and, on arrival, find prices down, and duties up) ;
all this quantity of corn, instead of be!tl
bought sud-
denly in near markets, and at high prices, would hare
been bought in many markets, at various times, and at
low prices, and this enormous sum of above 6,000,000/.
been saved to the nation. It has been entirely thrown
away, or made a free gift to foreigners. What should
we think of a law, framed for • the avowed purpose of
taking from us 6,000,0001., to give absolutely for nothing
to foreigners ? What must we say of a law which has
actually done this, and which necessarily entails a fre-
quent repetition of such a sacrifice ?
This national sacrifice, constantly to be repeated,
whenever we import foreign grain, is entirely owing to
the operation of the sliding scale ; it has nothing to do
with securing high prices to the agriculturist ; not one
quarter of wheat, more or less, is introduced into con-
sumption ?, it is a simple, gratuitous robbery of the na-
tional property,. tbr which ignorance alone can be
pleaded in excuse.---Mr. R. H. Greg's Letter to the Presi-
dent of the Board of Trade.

BE DFOR Li-ADDRESSES-7
TO THE

QUEEN.
TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.
May it please your Majesty,—We, your Majesty's de-
voted and loyal subjects, the gentry, clergy, electors,
and other inhabitants of the county and town of Bedford,
in public meeting. assembled, venture most humbly to
approach your Majesty to offer our sincere and heartfelt
congratulation upon the occasion of your Majesty's ho-
nouring the county of Bedford by your present visit to
the noble house of Russell.
We beg to assure your Majesty of the loyal and duti-
ful attachment entertained by us towards your Majesty's
Royal person, while we fervently pray that Almighty
God will continue to shower down his choicest blessings
upon your Majesty and your Illustrious Consort, and
that your Majesty may long be spared to reign over a
united, free, and loyal people.

HER MAJESTY'S REPLY.
I thank you warmly for this loyal and affectionate
address upon the occasion of my visit to this part of
the country, and I: receive it with peculiar satisfaction
under the roof of the illustrious and patriotic family of
Russell.
I rely entirely upon the assurance of your attachment;
and to the prayers which you offer up for our welfare, I
humbly join mine for the welfare of my people.
TO HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT.
May it please your Royal Highness,—We, her Ma-
jesty's loyal and dutiful subjects, the gentry, clergy, elec-
tors, and other inhabitants of the county and town of
Bedford, in public meeting, assembled, beg leave most
respectively to approach your Royal Highness with our
sincere congratulations on the occasion of the visit of her
Majesty and your Royal Highness to this loyal county.
'We humbly avail ourselves of this opportuity of ex-
pressing to your Royal Highness our devoted loyalty to
her Majesty the Queen, and offering the homage of
our unfeigned respect and attachment to your Royal
Highness.
We fervently pray that your Royal Highness may
long live to enjoy the esteem and devotion with which
your Royal Highness has so universally inspired all
classes of her Majesty's subjects.
PRINCE ALBERT'S REPLY.

The very gratifying reception which the Queen and
myself have met with on our journey to this place has
already assured me of the kind feeling, which is again
evinced by the Address you have just presented to me
from the gentry. clergy, electors, and other inhabitants
of the county and town of Bedford. lam very glad that
this opportunity enables me to express to them the lively
satisfaction which I, as well as the Queen, have derived
from their cordial welcome.

DREADFUL OCCURRENCE.—A dreadful oe,
currence has happened at the Giant's Causeway. On
Tuesday, the 20th of July, a party of fisherm be-
longing to the above place, discovered the body of
a female lying in a small port immediately under
that part of the Causeway called the Chimney-tops.
The body was recognised by several persons in the neigh-
bourhood as being that of a woman who had been ob-
served wandering about the Causeway on the previous
Sunday, who had also been met by a man named
Harris going in that direction on Sunday morning, who,
on questioning her as to where she was travelling to,
was told that she was in search of her husband, who
had left her, and as she was so nigh the Giant's Cause-
way she intended going to see it. It is conjec-
tured. from the place where she was found, that she
had fallen from the Chimney-tops, which is one of
the most elevated and dangerous points of the
basaltic columns—so much so that the most adventurous
tourists are unwilling to ascend it. Her skull was frac-
tured from the concussion she had received in her descent.
On searching her person there were found ninepence in
copper, and a written character, supposed to be of her-
self; in which she is called Jane Glass. The document is
signed by eight persons, and dated from the parish of
Aughentulogh.—.Londonderry Sentinel.
INCREASE OF RENTS.--The landlords may be
truly and properly described as the cormorants of the
commonwealth, to whom nothing comes amiss which
will raise rents. Now, every advance of the community
tends naturally to an increase of rent, and is therefore
sure food to their wide and ponderous jaws. No spade
turns a clod of earth, no plough cuts the sod asunder,
no pickaxe pierces the quarries above or mines under
ground, but a bit of rent is gained ; and the success of
the gardener, the farmer, and the miner is sure to be
followed by an advance of rent. Roads and canals are
opened, and they add immediately to the rent ; and if
increased intelligence and activity fill our stage coaches
with travellers, horses and oats are wanted, and that
gives rent. If steam-boats crowd our rivers, or carry
shoals of citizens to the Gravesends and Margates of the
neighbourhood, property improves, and up gets rent. If
railroads traverse the inland counties, or cockneys fly
down to Buxton or Bath, why rent flies up on both
sides and at each terminus of their iron course. It
temperance and teetotalism economise the earnings
of the artisan and the shopkeeper, they will indulge
in better food and habitation, and that again adds
to rent ; if fresh ingenuity and additional mechani-
cal contrivances cheapen articles of dress or furni-
ture, the middling classes, save, and must have their
bit of garden and land, and that also augments
rent. If enterprising men return from the west full of
bile, but with a planter's fortune, or from the East minus
their liver, but with a nabob's wealth—lo ! they must
have their country seat and park, and that increases
rent. If vaccination saves myriads of infants from the
ravages of small-pox ;if parents succeed in rearing
large families with sound constitutions and hearty ap-
petites—if the advance of medical science preserves
thousands, who would otherwise have perished before
they reached the meridian of existence—if cleanliness
and moderation improve the value of life, and virtue and
wisdom prolong its existence to the duration of four-
score years and more, all this multiplies the demand for
room and food, and therefore improves rent, Nuy, grim
death himself is a sure and constant customer, bargaining
daily for a thousand little leaseholds of six feet by three,
and the lifeless carcasses are the mostgreedy andprofitable
competitors for land, yielding more than double rent ;
and could the dumb tenants of the grave be but driven
to the hustings under some Chandos clause, what a pros-
pect would not be opened to the owners of the soil for
an additional and most welcome improvement of rent 1
And yet will.these greedy jackal's, the landlords, have
their Corn-law to make assurance doubly sure, and
grunt and sweat because the sliding rule lets slip in now
and then a bit of foreign wheat, to interrupt this infi-
nitely rising series, which is the true algebraical formula
for their " theory of rent !"—Morning Chronicle.