The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-14 00:00:00

3§11.114

LONDON:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1841.

A meeting took place on Monday, at Liver-
pool, to consider of the propriety of petitioning
tbr the Repeal of the Corn-laws, which was at-
tended by all classes, who acted with unanimity.
Unabridged report of the proceedings, which we
publish, will give our readers an idea of the sen-
timents which prevail amongst the inhabitants
of the great town of Liverpool, and of the bold
terms in which some of the first merchants of the
empire now denounce the iniquitous Corn-laws.
As the language which we have so long applied
to these laws is now echoed in every part of the
empire, we may be proud of our exertions, and
look forward with the utmost confidence to suc-
cess. The moral sympathies of the bulk of the
people—the sacred principles of right, without° b-
serving which societies cannot hold together, are
now fairly enlisted in favour of the repeal of the
Corn-laws, and against them no earthly power
can stand. Referring our readers to the report
for the sentiments and language of the most re-
spectable merchants, we must notice only one
sentiment of Sir JOSHUA WALMSLEY.
In the last Session of Parliament Sir R. PEEL
admitted that our country owed much of its
greatness to commerce and manufactures. No
man can for an instant compare France of Ger-
many with England, without being instantly
convinced that trade is the principal source of
any superiority we may possess. To damage or
destroy our trade is, therefore, to strike a deadly
blow at the relative greatness of England. Now
the sentiment of Sir JOSHUA WALMSLEY, to
which we implore attention, was little more
than an iteration of these statements ; but
because it seems to be lost sight of by
the public, and disregarded by those who
are bound to attend to the national welfare, it
requires to be continually repeated. " WE SHOULD
NEVER," said Sir JOSHUA, "LOSE SIGHT OF THIS
FACT, THAT IT WAS TO COMMERCE AND MANUFAC

TURES WE OWED OUR PRESE?T POSITION IN THE
SCALE OF NATIONS, and that IF WE CEASED TO BE
AN EXPORTING COUNTRY OF MANUFACTURES WE
SHOULD SINK AS RAPIDLY AS WE HAD RISEN."
That opinion was an article of the national creed
as warmly cherished all through the last
century as any part of the national reli-
gion, and it seems only to have been forgotten
or disregarded when the vast preponderance of
power which commerce and manufactures had
obtained for us was supposed to be secure beyond
the reach of accident or disaster. But though
that faith of our ancestors has been nearly for-
gotten for about twenty-five years, we hope that
it is not yet wholly extinguished, for unless it be
revived in the hearts of this generation in all its
original strength, that prosperity, which disre-
garding it has nearly annihilated, will be lost for
ever.

In the Report of the Handloom Weavers' Com-
missioners there is a passage bearing on this
subject, which we strongly recommend to the
attentive perusal of the Legislature and the
public at large. It is long, but every word of it
ought to be weighed by those who by their le-

gislation are making England cease to be an
exporting country, and ruining her manufac.
tures past all hope of redemption.
The Commissioners say:—
It is a well known law of manufacturing industry, that
cateris paribus with every increase of the quantity pro-
duced, the relative cost of production is diminished, and,
what is the same thing, that with every diminution of pro-
duction the relative cost of production is increased. The
instant, therefore, that any given class of manufacturers
begin to feel that their competitors are outthipping them,
the instant they find that commodities similar to their own
meet them in the market at a lower price, that instant they
ought to know they are engaged in a contest which, f its
elements continue the same, must terminate ruinously. If
they can change those elements, if they can adopt the
processes of their rivals, or procure for themselves similar
local advantages, they may, perhaps, regain their ground.
But if they are unable or unwilling to use these means,
their relative inferiority must become more striking every
year. Tire less they produce tho greater will be the rela-
tive cost of the produce, while the more their rivals pro-
duce the less will be their relative cost of the production.
First comes a fall of profits, next a reduction of wages,
then irregular employment even at reduced wages, until
the capitalist is ruined or forced to change his business, or
the seat of his manufacture, and the workmen must follow
his example or be supported by charity.,
" We find by experience," saysGardner,.a very
intelligent manufacturer, examined by the Committee of
the House of Commons on Hand-loom Weavers, in 1835,
" that if we lose a market one year we lose it altogether.
It is not well to trifle with trade; by trying experiments
for only one year, we might shut ourselves out. Once in
possession of the market they would keep it."
These considerations give a painful interest to the con-
tests now in progress, or beginning or impending, be-
tween many of our important manufactures and foreign
producers. Great natural advantages enjoyed by the
United States of America, difficulty and insecurity in the
management of our manufacturing capital, occasioned
by the perverseness and violence of our combined ar-
tisans, anti-commercial jealousy and folly on the part of