The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-05 00:00:00

tlemen from increasing and enforcing that know
ledge, and he cannot, therefore, prevent that
progress which must soon turn him out, with the
whole crew of monopolists, or compel them, as
they have before been compelled, to eat the dirt
they have of late vomited at Tamworth and else-
where, which their scribes call political wisdom.

The owners ofrent are graciously pleased to pro-
pose a small abatement in their tax on our bread.
One of them—who make the laws in his own
person in the Upper House of Parliament, and
influences his tax collectors, the farmers, to re-
turn the Members of the other—Lord Wu..
LOUGHBY DE ERESBY—has proposed a new scheme
for altering the present duties, by which he is
willing to remit a small portion of the rent-
owners' plunder. Whereas the duty is now,
when wheat is 60s. per quarter, 265. Bd., this
Lord proposes to make it 20s. Bd., and to let in
wheat, duty free, when the price is above 70s.
We are grateful for his condescension in consi-
dering his slaves, and we are pleased to find
even the bread-taxers themselves suggesting al-
terations in their taxes. Their misgivings of its
justice warrants the heavier charges which
honest men, who do not profit by it, bring

against it.

The ground on which Lord WILLOUGHBY DE
ERESBY proposes this alteration is as follows :
I think that a fair remunerating price to the agricul-
turist would be, for wheat 58s. per quarter, barley 325.,
and for oats 245. From the best information I have
been able to obtain, foreign wheat, including all ex-
penses of freight, &c., can be purchased in England, in
years of average produce, at 365. a quarter, barley at
235., and oats at 18s. You will see by the scale, that
the duty added to these prices will make up the prices
which will, I consider, afford a fair, but by no means a
large, profit to the agriculturist.
Now, we beg the people of England calmly,
but duly., to consider the basis here laid down
for legislation. " From the best information I
am able toobtain," says this law-maker, "foreigx
wheat can be purchased in England at 3Gs. a
quarter." When a Noble legislator tells the
people of England that they are to be hanged
if they murder a fellow-creature, or transported
if they steal a purse, the people of England will
comprehend and approve of his law, because
they know, as well as he knows, that murder
and theft are crimes. But when he tells them
that they must pay a tax of 20s. a quarter on
wheat, because foreign wheat may be purchased
here for 365. a quarter, he speaks about what
they have no knowledge of whatever. They
know nothing of the price at which foreign
wheat maybe on an average ofyears purchased in
England. He introduces, therefore, an element
into his legislation of which the bulk of the.
people can have no cognizance, and, as far as
they are concerned, he might as well say the
selling price will be 205., and the duty ought,
therefore, to be 365., as what he does say, In-
dependently of all other considerations, we pre-
sume to assert that this assumption on the part
of Lord WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY and his fel-
lows, of a species of knowledge which the bulk
of the people cannot possess, as the basis of a
most important law affecting their subsistence,
vitiates such a law from beginning to end.
But what does he himself know about the
average price of foreign wheat? Mind he and
the other bread-taxers do not make his law for
the ten or twenty years which are passed they
are beyond his reach. He makes it to rule over
the destinies of England during the next ten or
twenty years. If he were to say that the sun
has risen at six o'clock on the 21st of September
for the last few years, and will rise at six o'clock
on the 21st of September for the next few years,
let us make some law regulating our calendar,
on that principle we should make no objection.
There is certainty in that. But on what ground
does he or any man presume to conclude, be-
cause foreign wheat, as he says, may have been
purchaseable in England at 365. per quarter for
the last ten years, that it will be at the same
price on an average of the next ten years ? We
boldly affirm that there lives no human being
who possesses the least data for coming to such
a conclusion, and that a law based on such an
assumption, rests solely on the avarice and fear-
born fancies of such rent-owners and bread-
taxers as Lord WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY.
Mark the term foreign wheat. That means all
the wheat grown out of England. Is it possible
for this Lord, whoever wise he may be, or all the

Lords of the Empire, to know or to guess all

the circumstances which may affect the prices of
foreign wheat? Can he tell what will be the
price of wheat, brought from the borders of the
Mississippi, and landed at Liverpool, ten years

hence ? Can he, or any other Lord or Lordling,
assure this great and starving community, that
within that period there will not be as great a
fall in the price of wheat as there has
been, within a few years, in the price of
silk and cotton ? Does he know, or does
any man know, that the extension of ma-
nufactures on the Continent—to supply the
place of the relinquished English manufactures,
perishing in our submerged towns and razed
cities, as they are destroyed by Tory
legislation—will not raise the price of wheat
there higher than it will then be in England?
We say that no man, either here or abroad, can
tell what effect the growth of population
and the extension of manufactures on the
one hand, and the increase of knowledge
and skill on the other, will have on the price of
foreign wheat during the next ten or twenty
years ; and that to make a law for either of those

periods on an assumption that it may be pur-
chaseable in England all throxgh that period at
265., is one of the wildest and most visionary as-
sumptions for the basis of such an all import-
ant enactment that ever entered the head of
man. It is bad enough to be plundered; but
let those who plunder us not at the same time
insult and mock us by such an extravagant and
ridiculous assumption of a knowledge it is. not
given to man to possess.

This sapient legislator—and he is as good as
most of his tribe—after he has sketched out this
airy basis for a slight modification in his starva-
tion law, proceeds to exemplify his sense of jus-
tice, and of what is due to the millions who are
neither manufacturers nor
lowing passage :
In considering the protectioi
to be given to the agriculturist,
any calculation to be made on
agricultural produce,
except co:
by duties payable on the
articles do
esnot
manufacturede present
exceedt 1,
protection given by ti
of thirty-eight
the
the
snai agricultural
mode 0
fprcondlit;°uile!
annexed table, aver„es
ut
be found that if the whole
cultivation adopted, and by
which a corn crop can only
igriiolentototht
obtained every second
year, on the very best land, that the average of the agri-
cultural duties will not amount to
snore than 40 per
cent. How senseless, then, is
the cry of c 4 No mo-
nopoly."
So, because the Legislature has passed, in gross
ignorance, at some time or other, a series of
foolish laws to protect some manufacturers, this
legislator jumps to the conclusion that he must
make and support a law to tax the bread of all
the people, whether they are manufacturers of
the protected articles or not. Verily these legis-
lators think and act as if there were not a soul in

the community to be cared for, but the owners of
rent, and the capitalists who are engaged in mane=
facturing silk and brass-work.
At the same time, Lord WILLOUGHBY DE
ERESBY, who knows so extremely well what
will be the price of foreign wheat for the next
score of years, ought to know that the manufac-
turers are willing to give up these protective
duties, and would most gladly resign them
to get rid of the Corn-laws. He ought

also to know that the legislation of that Par-
liament, of which he is a Member, is
sometimes extremely different from actual facts.

The legislator meant to give a protection of 20

per cent. to some commodities, but he really

gives no protection at all. In several cases, as
most of our hardwares and cottons, the articles

protected are manufactured in-i4.ris' tvr abundance

=:~~a
"` ::.

than they can be consumed at home ; and they
are exported to sell in the foreign market at the
same price as the similar articles of foreign
manufacture. When an article, however, is
exported, the price obtained for it abroad
determines the price at home, and on
all such articles, whatever the law may say,
it is impossible for the law-maker to give
any protection to the British manufacturer.
This pretence, then, of giving protection to some'
manufactured articles, is as arrant a piece of hum-
bug, when put forward as an argument for main-
taining a tax on the non-manufacturer's bread, as
the assumption that foreign wheat will always
be purchaseable in England at 365. per quar-
ter. The more we are driven to consider
the starvation laws, the greater reason do
we find to wonder at the patience of
the dupes who submit to such a monstrous
piece of absurdity and injustice, and at the con-
ceited ignorance of those who, uninformed of a
thousand things in their own society and in their
own age, pretend to be perfectly well acquainted
with what will be the exact price of foreign wheat
for the next score of years.

Accounts from the City say that considerable
uneasiness prevails there. The late failure of
one banking-house, in consequence of the con-
duct of its agents in a manufacturing district, is
probably one of the earliest indications to the
public that the disease which prevails in the
north has reached the metropolis. It was an-
nounced on Saturday that another banking
company have closed their concerns, and
mean to withdraw from business. From
more than one quarter we have heard that
very considerable distress and distrust pre-
vail amongst the merchants and tradesmen of the
metropolis. We notice this subject here to ob-
serve that this unfavourable condition of things
is not in any way the consequence of Ministerial
measures. The Ministers have been willing to
take measures to relieve and prevent distress,
but they have done nothing to provoke
it. We put this matter at once before
;the public, because we foresee that the
Tories will accuse the Ministers of causing the
distress which at present exists, and is likely to
increase. We should not be at all surprised to
find them attributing to the measures which
they have not allowed to be carried into effect,
all the disasters which may fall on the country.

The Queen of HA NovER died on the 29th ult.
She had been labouring under a severe disease
for the last fortnight, and from its commence-
ment no hopes were entertained of her recovery.

We are in receipt of Paris papers and letters of Thurs-
day. Our correspondent mentions under that date the
arrival of the Indian mail, via Marseilles, which reached
the French capital that morning.

The KING and Royal Family have left Neuilly for Eta.
It appears that notwithstanding the positive denial of
the papers in the pay of the French Government, that
the fortifications were about to be conducted on a re-
duced and economical, that is to say, inefficient, scale for
the continuous wall, as was asserted by the Liberal pa-
pers ; it appears that there was not only some truth, but
a great deal of truth in the assertion. A proposal was
made in the Committee of Fortifications to that effect,
and was only lost by a very small majority—the offi-
cers composing which will not thereby rise in favour at
Court. The opposition papers continue to call loudly
for explanations ; but their adversaries observe a pru-
dent silence, and leave the matter, as being a bad one,
alone. There arc so many discontented officers of all
ranks in the army, and so many of these again are in
Paris, that any flaw in the conducting of the fortifica-
tions runs a great chance of being detected, and it is con-
sidered bad policy on the part of the Government thus
to be playing fast and loose on a question so intimately
connected with the continuance of the present dynasty
on the throne of France.

It is pretty certain that Admiral LALANDE is not
desirous to have the command of the Mediterranean fleet,
even if it should be offered him, which is very doubtful.
He is now on a visit at Brest, and is not
at all desirous of " sailing in the same boat "
with M. GITIZOT and Marshal SOULT. There
is a rumour mentioned by several papers that Marshal
SEDASTIANI is intriguing to get re-appointed to the Em-
bassy at London ; and we have reason to know that the
report is not without foundation. The Marshal has al-
ways expressed himself in terms of regret at having been
forced to give up so eligible an appointment, and to re-
member the delights of English dinners and English
aristocratical society too well not to wish to get back to
Manchester House. The carrying that wish into effect
is not so easy. M. GUIZOT is personally opposed to
him ; he looks on the Marshal as a man without bottom,
not stable enough for critical times, and too open to the
cajolery of any one who may take him in hand.
M. DE ST. AULAIRE7 however, has not ac-
cepted the post, and the Marshal has been try-
ing the effect of a personal application, indirect of
• course, to the KING, by whom he has always been pre-
ferred to men of the GUIZOT school as more tractable,
and more inclined to fall in with the KING'S own views.
That Austria objects to the son of Marshal SOULT
coming to Vienna as Ambassador with the title of
Marquis de DALMATIA is positive. Prince METTER-
NICH has given it to be understood that his Cabinet does
not object so much to titles taken from any decisive en-
gagement won by the person bearing it, but that it will
not admit one taken from a province conquered, or rather
said to be conquered, by a stroke of a despot's pen.
The Northern Powers are about to recognise the Go-
vernment of DoNNA MARIA in Portugal, now that the
obstacles on the part of "the Papal Court are done away.
Such a measure would necessarily bring about a demand
from Spain for a similar recognition ; but this the
Northern Courts will not agree to make until some posi-
tive pledges, or rather measures, are extorted from the
REGENT and Government at Madrid, rendering the case
of usurpation of the throne by ESPARTERO impossible.
The Moniteur of to-day publishes, in its official part, an
ordonance of 223 th June, bywhich M. Ducbatel, Minister of the
Interior, is to exercise the functions of Minister of Agriculture
and Commerce during the absence of M. Cunin Gridaine.
An ordonance of 29th Jane, by which Mr. Mehul, Master
of Requests to the Council of State, Director of the General
Police of the Kingdom, is
_appointed Prefect of the Upper
Garonne, in the room of M. Floret, who is appointed to
another office, and the law on the' Rate by Auction of new
goods, dated the 25th of June.

The King and Queen, and the Royal family are to leave
Paris to-day to go and pass some days at Bisy, near Vernon,
in the ancient chateau of the Duke of Penthievre.
Their Majesties will go to-day as far as Dreux, where they
will pass the night. To-morrow they will visit th 6 forest of
Dreux, and that of Ivry, and will take again at Pacy the high
road which leads to Vernon. Their Majesties will return to
Nenilly on Monday evening.
It is said that the direction of the general police of the king-
dom will be given to M. Tessyre, Prefect of the Var.—Le Con-
stitzttionnel.

The Sentinelle de la Marine of the 27th, a Toulon Journal,
says—" A letter from Brest informs us that Admiral Lalande
is gone to visit that port. We are told, at the same time,
that that general officer was to set out in a month for Germany
for the benefit of the waters."

According to the same Journal, it should seem that the de.
parture of the division of Admiral Lasusse, if nut counter•
manded, is at least suspended.--Le Commerce.

BOURSE—Yams, THURSDAY, JULY 1.

• First Highest Lowest La't
Price Price. Nit... Price
French 5 per Cents ll4 114 75 ... I'4 61 ... 114 70
4 per Cents O9 30 99 30 ... 92 30 09 30
3 per Contr. ex. div 76 50 —76 50 76 40 ... 76 50
3193 ...3190 ...319.1 _319:
775 ... 775 ... 77i ... 775
, lol'4 ... 1(11 7Ol 1(1144
101,34, 101.0
... 23 23
... ... %
102 10 ... 1(2 10 ... IS2 10 . 102 10
102 ... 102 ... 102 ... 102
WAY SHARES.
197 50 198 75 197 50 )97 50
302 50 322 50 ... 320
460 4,e
237 50 ... L 37 50 235 ... 12331 ft

.s from Madrid of the 24th ult. have
lir as regards money matters the ac-

re unsatisfactory. It appears that the
capitalists of Madrid refuse all assistance, and in the
provinces the malversations of the collectors are carried
on to such an extent, that out of 1,000,000,000 reals
(10,000,000/.) which the annual returns ought to amount
to, not much more than one-half finds its way ultimately
into the coffers of the State. The Barcelona papers are
filled with complaints against this state of things, which
nobody has the energy or honesty to try to re-
medy. At Saragossa a violent quarrel had arisen
between the clergy of the Cathedral and the Provincial
Governor ; the former having declared that in all spiri-
tual matters they would recognise no other authority
than that of their own Archbishop, who is among the
Carlist exiles at Bordeaux.
No Bourse.

PROTESTANT CHURCII IN MALTA.—A great degree
of anxiety was reigning at the last date from Malta
among the English residents at Valetta with regard to tin
building of the English church of St. Paul, which had
recently been suspended. The cause of this suspension,
it is stated, is that strong doubts have been expressed by
experienced English engineers as to the safety of erect-
ing the roof upon th& interior columns, so long as they
rest upon the present lines of foundation arches, the span
of which has not been calculated in a manner that every
column should rest alternately upon a pier and a key-
stone. It would appear, that in order to diminish as
much as possible the expense of building from the great
depth of foundation rock, the late Mr. Lankesheer had
included in his plan fewer and wider arches than were
adapted to distances between the columns, but which he
designed of a massiveness and strength sufficient to coun-
terbalance this irregularity ; and it is the opinion of
those Maltese profe:sional individuals who have exa-
mined the lines of arches that they are fully competent
to sustain the weight of the intended superstructure.
The committee are reported to have come to the deter-
mination of suspending the progress of the building until
a complete plc continuance shall have been pre-

------- --- -- dank of i'rance
r landlords, iu the fol- ioisHan Rank
Belgian 5 per Cents
I
New Loan
0n which is thus proposed 41'n'h ;113'27
......
it is_Yequisite to take into Ne;spolitan
ri the subject, that on all no”lan
RAIL'
orn, the protection given Versailles, L.R
e importation of such R. B
4 per cent., whilst the 1
Zultriure to Bale
duties on the importation -
articles, according to the Letters and papers f
42 per cent. ; and it will
been received. So far
of the protecting duties
ucts is calculated accord- counts from Spain are t