The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-22 00:00:00

question, but no particulars upon either subject
transpired that we are aware of.
CHRONICLE.—The injurious effects of the
Corn-laws upon the Money Market are power-
fully developed by Mr. Greg, chairman of the
great meeting at Manchester, on the cotton
trade, in his speech reported in the Chronicle of
this day. Towards the conclusion of his address,
and in the recapitulation of his reasons for be-
lieving that the Corn-laws are the principal cause
of the prevailing distress, Mr. Greg instanced
the derangement of the currency which they oc-
casioned, by compelling us to pay for our
imports of corn in bullion. We believe
that the " sliding scale," by rendering any
steady trade for the supply of this market
impracticable, was the principal reason which
prevented the continental growers from taking
payment of their corn in British goods.
As no steady demand comes from this country,
or can be depended on by the foreign merchants
when orders are received in the Baltic and Me-
diterranean ports, the supply is inadequate,
prices take an immediate start, and the cost is
enhanced probably 50 per cent. ; the gold is im-
mediately drained off from the Bank ; the Di-
rectors apply the " screw," and bring down the
price of every thing. Thus, while the price of
food is doubled to the consumer, the price of the
produce of his labour is depressed in an equal
proportion. Then foreigners take advantage of
our low prices and appear in our markets, buying
at forty millions goods which ought to have
been worth fifty millions. In the last
few years, the price of the different kinds of
foreign corn imported has been increased
16,000,0001. by the influence of the sliding-scale.
The facts adduced by Mr. Greg afford new evi-
dence, if such were wanting, of the falsehood of
the monopolist argument, that the price of labour
must fall proportionally to a fall in the price of
corn. The effect of a rise in the price of corn is
to produce a fall in the price of labour. When
the supply of corn in this country is deficient,
the increased demand raises the price abroad,
which must be paid for in bullion. That payment
drains the Bank of her gold, and turns the ex-
changes against this country. On the other hand,
when the harvest has been abundant in this
country, and the price of corn consequently
cheap, there is an influx of gold from the legiti-
mate operations of trade, our exports exceed
our imports, and the Bank, being relieved from
any fear of pressure on her coffers to pay for
food, keeps money easy, and an additional
quantity of it is given in exchange for com-
modities. Prices and production rise ; the de-
mand for labour increases ; and that demand,
rising above the supply, necessarily im-
proves the money price of wages. If the
16,000,0001. taken off for the price of corn
during the last few_ years, as a tax to maintain
the rent of land, had been now in the coffers of
the Bank, her position would have been that of
unquestionable stability, and she would have
been able to keep up a full currency, and greatly
to alleviate the pressure of distress ; but, in-
stead of being in a situation to do so, as her
affairs now stand, she has been struggling hard
to keep herself from falling ; and, after having
weathered the payment of two million and a half
of quarters for 1841, the Directors are looking
forward with renewed anxiety to meet the im-
portations of 1842.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS, Dec. 21.

This being the day to which Parliament stood pro-
rogued, both Houses met about Twenty Minutes past
Three o'Clock. At Half-past Three the Lord Chancellor,
Lord Wharncliffe, and Lord Fitzgerald took their seats
on the Woolsack, as Lords Commissioners. Mr. Pul-
man, the Deputy-Usher of the Black Rod, was then di-
rected by their Lordships to summon the Commons to
the Bar, to hear her Majesty's Commission read for fur-
ther proroguing Parliament. Shortly afterwards Mr.
Henry Ley, Mr. Bellamy, jun., and several of the officers
of the House of Commons, appeared at the Bar.
The Commission was then read at the table by Mr.
Smith, and

The LORD CHANCELLOR, in her Majesty's name,
and by her command, declared the Parliament prorogued
to Thursday, the 3d of February, to be then holden fur
the despatch of business.