The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-09 00:00:00

4ORNING SUN.

SPIRT' r of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
.krif THE EVENING PAPERS OF SATITRDAY.
GLOB, I‘,.—Mr. Smythe (if we recollect right), di•
some other Tory speaker, lately at Canterbury affirmed,
that thee was not a worse paid class in the country than
that of the farmers. Here is a class then, protected " with
the ut- most rigour of the law " for the last quarter of a
centu
and for whom this plea ad misericordiam is put
in a iter all ! We beg to say, we do not doubt the truth
of the Tory statement. The first Committee on Agri-
C" iltural distress, after the passing of the Corn-laws, con-
t Alined evidence that many most respectable farmers,
Ahargeable with no imprudence but that of having
_trusted to protection, and. allowed their rents to continue
screwed up, in the hope of screwed up prices—had been
utterly ruined and reduced to breaking stones on the road.
This was under the first Corn-law, while import was
prohibited under 80s. Agricultural "protection" seems
as fatal as " protection "to a seduced female. The first
gay Lothario of the land was Prosperity Robinson, who
turned the frail one over to Canning, who transferred
her to Wellington, from whom the intermediate charge
of protection has devolved upon Chandos, by whom, and
his tribe, the poor victim is consigned to the cold arms of
Peel. How much longer Land is to be "protected," or how
soon recommended to repentance and the Magdalen, is
a matter for speculation. That this battered toast has
not been much the better for protection, seems admitted.
The farmers, says a Tory champion, are about the
worst-paid class of men in the country. A worser, per-
haps, is to be found in the class of agricultural labourers.
The Wilts Independent reports two. cases which were
brought before petty sessions, of farm labourers who had
been hired by the year at 6s. per week. We may sup-
pose these cases below the average rates in their dis-
trict, but they give an idea of the comfort of agricultural
labourers, with bread at high prices. And it appears
that as prices have risen, wages have fallen rather than
risen along with them. This is precisely what ail ra-
tional theory would have led us to expect ; but precisely
the contrary of what is asserted by those who pretend
that artificial prices secure artificial wages for labour.
STA Ni)..k D.—Thts C on:AT ;ative party, and more
particularly the Conservative press, are at present placed
in a position of some difficulty. The reflection that must
enable us to get through the embarrassment is this—that
it is not one of our own creation, but a case of the
common let of all honest men when beset by persons who
are the reverse of honest. Whatever the Conservatives
may do or say will be tortured, if possible, to their dis-
advantage : indeed, the ingenuity of our adversaries
goes farther, for it founds heavy charges upon silence
in some instances, in others invents falsehood to
supply matter of accusation. "Why will not Sir
Robert Peel explain his plan of government ?" is
vociferously inquired on one side. " Sir Robert threatens
to make a Conservative of the Queen in six weeks," is
slyly whispered on the other. And so the game is kept
up. This is no doubt the scheme of vexation which the
Morning Chronicle had in prospect when it threatened
that Sir Robert Peel's difficulties would be greatly
aggravated by the prolonged continuance in office of his
predecessors. This, too, as an auxiliary to the love of
salary, is no doubt a strong motive for the violation of
the Constitution and the insult to Parliament offered by
that continuance, now, it is said, to be protracted another
month. It is now time to speak a word for ourselves
in reference to this perplexity, created by the profli-
gate dishonesty of Ministers. When changes of the
greatest moment are depending, our readers naturally
expect from us daily some intimation of the time, the
nature, and probable consequences of these changes.
Now, generally, we are unable to give any such intima-
tions, and if we could form confident conjectures in par-
ticnlar matters, we must feel it a duty to keep such con-
jectures to ourselves. Whether we should be right or
wrong, our speaking at all could be scarcely otherwise
than mischievous. The example of the wisest of our
leaders teaches us, that it is unsafe to promulgate, per-
haps as yet to form, any more precise plan of govern-
ment than the faithful observance of the Constitution in
all its cardinal provisions ; to name the future occupants
of office more distinctly than by saying that they will be
the Conservatives most distinguished by ability and zeal
for the Constitution, and most like to reflect honour
(which in politics is power) upon their party by „their
personal characters. More specific information than this
cannot be given without furnishing arms to the enemy—
arms which they will well know how to employ.
COURIER—Our Contemporaries of The Sun and
Chronicle appear in ecstacies of delight at the prospect of
the good to be effected by the proposed conference of dis-
senting ministers of every denomination, which is, we are
told, to take place at Manchester on the 17th inst., and at
which, we are further assured, upwards of two hundred
ministers have already expressed their determination to
attend. The Corn-laws and the cause of humanity are
to constitute the subject matter of consideration and I
debate in this pseudo-religious gathering, from which our
Contemporaries expect such mighty beneficial results.
Now, for our parts, without at all meaning to question
the motives either of the parties with whom the bright
scheme originated, or of those who embrace it, we are
of opinion, after a mature, and, we trust, an impartial
consideration, as well of the means proposed to be em-
ployed as of the object to be accomplished, that nothing
can result from it but pure unmixed mischief. We
equally object to the composition and competency of the
tribunal, and are firmly persuaded, be their notions of the
cause of humanity what they may, that the professed
ministers of religion cannot engage, as such, in political
discussions without seriously compromising their charac-
ters, derogating from their usefulness, and damaging the
cause they mean, or Fee tend to promote. Besides, what
claims to weight or consideration can such a body put forth
for its decisions ? On what grounds, we should like to
ow, do these teachers of dissent, and we fear in too
many instances preachers of discord, assume to them-
selves the right of deciding upon grave questions of poli-
tical economy—questions upon which the wisest and
most experienced statesmen may differ—and the tho-
rough comprehension of which requires the most inti-
mate acquaintance with statistical details--with the
principles that should regulate commercial intercourse
between nations, and all those various and conflicting
considerations which limit, qualify, and determine their
application ? Of all the questions of the day, that
which demands the largest measure of comprehension
and of knowledge, not only of general principles but of
particular facts, for its clear elucidation, is the Corn-law
question.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM SHE MORNING rAncms OF SATURDAY'.

TlMES.—Private letters received in the City from
Amsterdam describe the plan selected by M. Rochussen,
the Minister of Finance, for converting at once the im-
mense quantity of Dutch Passive Debt, which, although
a conversion into Active Stock has been going on for the
last twenty-six or twenty-seven years, still amounts to
about 870,000,000 florins. Several plans have been
offered to the Minister for the desired conversion, and
he has now selected the following one, which he has sub-
mitted to the State Council, where it has been ratified,
.so that the Bill which would be required to carry the
scheme into operation may already be considered as fit
to lay before the Chambers. The plan is that the whole
.of the Passive Debt shall be at once converted into a 2i
per cent. Stock, to be calculated at 52 per cent., which is
about the present rate of the Active. This price is to
be reduced by a deduction of compound interest up to
the moment when, according to the existing regulations,
the conversion into Active Stock would have become due,
the interest to be calculated at 4 4-sths per cent., being
about the interest to be got by an investment in Dutch
Two-and-a-Half per Cents, at the present price. This
conversion would, it is estimated, augment the Active
Two-and-a-Half per Cents, by the amount of 70,000,000
guilders, and the expenditure of an annual interest of
1,700,000 guilders ; while at present 2,500,000 guilders
appears yearly in the Budget for cancelling as much
Active Stock as arises from the conversion of the Passive,
besidescan annual cancelling of Passive Stock at the rate
of about per cent.
To this plan an objection is raised, not on the ground
that it would not be advantageous to the Treasury, but
on that of justice and equity. To explain this objec-
tion reference is made to the history of the Passive
Debt. The law of May, 1814, revived two-thirds of the
ancient Dutch debt, thus creating the Passive Stock un-
der the denomination of " Deferred Debt" and " Bills of
Chance," and likewise enacted that every year 4,000
" chuice bills" should be selected by lot, and with
4,000,000 guilders of Deferred Debt, be converted into
Active Stock this amount being,afterwarl(BlslB, altered to
s,ooo,ooo.Another law, of February, enacted
that, besides this conversion, another 5,000,000 guilders
of Deferred Stock should be bought and cancelled, an
enactment which has been rigidly adhered to ; and the
Passive Debt, which originally amounted to the nominal
sum of about 1,200,000,000 guilders, has been reduced
to the present sum of 870,000,000, which, according to
the present regulations, would cease to exist in 87 years
Returning to Mr. Roehussen's plan, it is remarked,
that while the existing law of 1818 provides for the
con-
version of the whole Passive Stock by the end of 87
years, the Minister has calculated his compound interest,
not according to that law, but the old law of 1814, ac-
cording to which only 4,000,000 of Passive Stock was
annually to be converted, so that the conversion would
occupy 217 years ; thus putting the holders in the same
disadvantageous position as if the law of 1818 had never
existed. The conversion being thus against the interest
of the holder, it is remarked, that to be effectual it must
be rendered obligatory, and this would be attended with
the further injustice, that Bondholders would be forced
to accept it at the market price, while the nominal value
of the present stock is at par. Hence it is argued, that
the ingenuity of the scheme is so much counterbalanced
by injustice to the holders, that public Oredit in Holland
would rather suffer from such a proposition being seri-
ously entertained, than be advanced by the benefits to be
derived by the Treasury.
AD VEIITISER.—The foreign exchanges were flat this
afternoon; the very unsettled state or the weather hav-
ing caused so considerable an advance in the market
value of Bonded Wheat and an acti•:6 speculative de-
mand, it is not to be expected kit that remittances to
the Continent will increase, end that with them there
will be a fall in the rates e'rered for the pound sterling,
which if-carried to any great extent, would make it more
profitable to ship specie.
The Port. Philip settlement seems to have been pro-
gressing favourably, and the season, from certain at-
mospheric appearances, would, in the opinion of the
natives, prove to be tolerably abundant in rain, so
that the drought which periodically occasions such
damage to the corn was not expected to be felt there
at least. Nevertheless provisions seem dear, bread
being 9d. the 21b. loaf, and wheat 4s. to ss. per
bushel. Wages were high certainly, but some of the
newly arrived immigrants had formed very extravagant
notions as lo &ON rates current ; a gentleman who ad-
vertised f t' oom, \fctr 'instance, having received a
visit from one modest applicant who demanded " 100/.
per annum, ,with board and lodging."
A very inTnvtant resolution was adopted at a meeting
of the Committee of Spanish Bondholders, held to-day,
and which we have ecding pleasure in noticing, viz.,
the acceptance of thr
for converting* terms proposed by Surra y Rull, Coupons 111 %mar into a new stock,