The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-01 00:00:00

MORNING EDITION

obtainedrk
fwf°oo°t-anbisynue
years,
forcedhftnohaorivwrehdiwsmustuw n
wrung
to
fropmlayththoesepwarhtoosfhoLuazmarhuasv,ewhboeenis
hoibslipgreodtetcotobresgt
buteonuwg
ffhhtrio.otoo,r
nnitt underho
ettmhh
thoseeseei
slrtythlrecaesiln.
charge?s sanction
en
are
rc
What
vi
inohni
naa
yoa
are
foreign
nl
eet hta
lehpr
agol aeunfsulat
procure,
o,aa
rseitaesho:
one
elaltkdichneaaenyi
sswhtf
loiodasrrbekoettipro-
perty
n
yt
hceo
officials
teriya-ls
fpt
:o ooemi rr support
uththnhaevwr three
other
bet
heopefernremt yi e
and thrown tremwhuuslethbeu)rth.
bsm man,ar m e w
ork s
tap rrocceu. re
Again, by
yortilhyis twoex
treat
-emhaildrsteerns'obfuthtefrloirand
pockets, a further sum equal Its amount to the whole eational
debt of 800 millions. Lastly, after casting all these hu' rthens
it
upon us, which must be paid by lahouri they throw us out of
of import duties. Let hsueeas,
evantest
srureeeypssgeo
regulations
pinaeued:
0. alln usst
aristocracy taxationatdlryimiacothbro'esithemselves,‘absurd
which
rtrthoihdeeie
rlhenyhttsohht::ehevevmsnyeee
charges. The inquiry need not be of long duration, fur
their own servants have turned King's evidence against them.
The aristocracy'
and whsro all must admit to have but one are their servants, and out of their own mouths I will prose
the charges I have made. I will quote only two, M. James
David Hume, who came into office under Mr. Pitt, served
in-
terest at heart, and that one the interest of his ceunsry, and
Mr. James M'Gregor, the worthy successor of Sir. Hume, at
the Beard of Trade. The first charge is, that the working
man can procure find from the foreigners to support three of
h:s children, whilst for the very same labour he can only pro-
cure food for two, from his countrymen—that in fact food is one
third cheaper abroad. I have understated the fact. Mr. 11PGre-
gor estimates bread here to he from 40 to 80 per cent. dearer
than abroad, and adds, that the, people of England do not'
cat one-th;rd the bread they ought to do, nor the Irish one-
twentieth part of the quantity which the French do. Mr.
Hume states the extra price paid, annually,' for food to•
be thirty-six miibo_s of pounds. The second charge is, thatthis
extra price exonerates toe aristocracy from paying any part of
,he taxes of this country. Mr. Hume in the celebrated letteri
which he wrote under the signature of H.B. T. , expresses hint-
self to this effect—" That the Corn Bill adds to the prices of
agricultural produce a sum which in the aggregate is more
than equal to all the State taxes paid in any shape by the
landed interest. In saying this, I say no more than they say
for themselves. The protection they cling to reaches them
only in the form of increased prices of corn and meat ; and as
we may almost despair of their discovering that they might
have those prices, and better too, without protection, it is n ?-•
cesary: to try the justice of their claims upon their own show-
ing, lest we fail of convincing them of their impolicy. Give
ns plenty of rent, -they saye- and.. ire - will not cOMISIM •
of taxes. There is but one construction to be put upon
this conduct : it amounts to a plain avowal that the landed
interest are in effect to pay no taxes." This is pretty strong
evidence from a wan whom they retained in their service
-.orty-nine years. The landlords allege in their defence that
they have burdens to bear in the nature of highway sates arid
county rates from which the other classes are exempt. But
what says their own steward, Mr. Hume ? " I know," he says,
"that there are a great many charges which the landed interest
conceive to be peculiar on them, to fall upon their pro-
ductions ; but as tar as 1 have been able to investigate these
charges, I think they have services in return for them. 1
cannot see any ground whatever for any countervailing tax
upon corn." Ihe third charge is, that they have obtained
front the other classes, to put into their own pockets, a further
sum, equal in amount to the whole national debt. I arrived
et this conclusion by a calculation of this kind :—The expen-
diture of the country for the French war, :ay from 1793 tb
1815 inclusive, was, according to a return made by the House
of Commons, 1,500 millions, leaving unpaid as a debt. 835
millions. 'I his enormous outlay, being chiefly expended on
agricultural produce, raised the prices prodigiously ; that it
was mainly laid out in the raw produce, you came at in this.
way. You wi'l recollect the large army contracts for cloths in
this town. Now what was that cloth made of?—Wool, which
is farmers' produce, and labour, the wage for which is again
laid out in mod, the produce again of the land. The con-
sequence was, that wheat ro-e from 445. lid. in 1792,
to 1255. sd. in 1812; but, taking the average of twenty-
two years before the breaking out of the war, and
twenty-two yews after, the rise would be from 465. to 80s.
Mr. PLINT, in seconding the motion, said—Mr. Chairman
and Gentlemen, I have great pleasure in seconding the resale-
tions proposed by my friend, Mr. Stansfeld. I approve of the
whole of them—alike as they refer to the injurious effects of
the Corn-laws on the trade of the nation and the interests of
its several clas:es, and as they assert the wisdom and benevo-
lence of free trade. I beg to call your attention to the his-
tory, object, and operation of the Corn-laws. I dismiss all
reference to those enacted prior to 1815. The law of that year
was the type of the successive enactments—terminated by the
law of 1629. '1 he object of all these enactments was to sustain
the price of English grain at a price which was supposed to be
remunerative to the home grower, and although that price has
not been maintained, still the law has kept tip the prices of
British grain at from 40 to 50 per cent. above those of the
Continent, and except in years of absolute scarcity has prohi-
bited the importation of foreign grain. This is only one of its
effects. It has restricted the interchange of commodities Letween
this country and other nations, by its practical refusal of im-
port to the principal article of exchange which they had to
offer us, viz. food. It has led to retaliatory enactments, which
have not alone cramped our trade with those nations, but have
raised up strong and powerful interests hostile to a return to a
more liberal and enlightened policy ; and, as a last and most
fatal consequence, it has lessened the demand, and, by conse-
quence, the remuneration for labour, throughout all our staple
trades. Special reasons exist why this subject should now tie
thoroughly understood and agitated. The nation has endured
four years of severe pressure—much of which is doubtless owing;
to a vicious system of managing the currency, and to improvi-
dent banking operations, but which in the main is osa mg to
the deficient harvests of 1838 and 1839. The Corn-laws, in-
deed, cannot be blamed for the occurrence of bad harvests, but
the Corn-laws, I apprehend, are clearly answeraVe for the deep
and aggravated miscnief, ruin, and misery, which those deficient
harvests have caused. By forbidding importation until the
price of British grain rises to a high—even a famine price.;
and by keeping It at or near that level, they have caused so
large a portion of the earnings of the labourer to be expended
in the purchase of food, that. the demand ~fer manufactured
greeds has been lergele curtailed. Pr iee.s.,haie fallen, ruining
Thil dearchaen, ias ho—
tracted—distressiery, the labourer. Thus, simultaneously with
the advance in the price- of 1.60:i, the amount of the &Mend
for labour has been lessened, and. by a double operation the
labourer has been depressed 'arid loafed. I may not in the
present temper of a -minority of this meeting go further into
this, part of. the question. :Before concluding, however, my
brief, necessarily brief, remarks on this important subject,
which we are this day convened to consider, 1 must allude to
one topic of which much u e is made by the party who are
now clamouring down are fair argument and discussion—l mean
the subject of sieges. It is said that the Anti-Core-law agita-
tors seek a repeal of the Corn-laws only to depress wages.
Gentlemen, I emphatically diny that the Anti-Corn-law
agitators have any snob object. I emphatically assert that
ahnost to a man they believe, and, on thorough examina-
tion, that the rate of wages is not regulated, except very
remotely, by the price of food. The rate cf wages
is dependent on two circumstances, first and mainly, on
the state of agricultural and manufacturing art in any
particular country. A nation producing little can dividte little;
no mater what share the labourer and capiialist may. get,
neither party can get much, and vice versct; a nation produc-
ing much, that is, a nation in which the arts of agriculture
and manufacture are at a high level of improvement will divide
a large portion, alite to capitalist and labourer. Stripping the
subject cf all the mysticism which arises from the introduction
of money prices for labour and commodities, it may safely be
asserted that the rate of wages will be highest in that nation
which (other things being alike) produces food at the lowest
coat of labour and capital. The secondary circumstances which
determine the rate of wages is the state of the demand for
labour. If labour is in great demand wages will run to the
highest level which will allow of a profit to capital, equal to
the growth of the population, and sufficient to meet its claims
for employment ; if labour be in excess then wages will fall,
and the amount of the fall will be proportioned to the excess
of the supply of labour, which, as in Ireland, may be so great
that the scale of subs'stence and comfort may be of the
lowest possible kind. The argument (if such it may be called)
of the opponents of the proposed resolutions, implies that wages
depend on the mere will and caprice of the employer. 'I he
employer has no voice in the matter, he is the crr, ature of the
market. He must buy labour as he buys all other commodi-
ties—cheap, whenever offered in abundance—dear, when it is
much in request, I ask you if wages have b
cen regulated
by the price of food in this country. I ask, if
in 1817, 1818,
1829, 1538, and 1539, years of high prices, wages were
employment abundant or scarce? I ask you if from
years of low prices,
1832 high
to 1836,there was not abundant em-
ployment and high
commodities to divided
as I conceive, increase the mass of e
labourers and capitalists—and it would also increase
wares? A repeal of the Corn-laws
amongst
the demand fur labour ; it therefore fellows, according to the
rinciplcs that I have laid down, that wages would rise if the
Corsi-laws were repealed. I have never heard anything to
p
gainsay or refute this reasoning. Until Ido I must hold to
my own conviction, and on the strength of those convictions,
I maintain that the charge against the Corn-law repealers of
seeking repeal in order to reduce wages, is most unjust. I
cordially second the resolutions.
The CHAIRMAN then put the resolutions to the meeting.
They had not been heard by more than those around the
Chairmen ; but it was perfectly understood that they were the
Resolutions of the Requisitionists, and were in favoer of the
repeal of the Corn-laws. The show of hands was taken both
ways; and the Chairman pronounced them to be carried by a
decided majority.
At the same time the sham Chairman,
Dir. Hobson: carried
on the farce of putting Mr. Hill's resolution, for which the
Chartists held up their hands, whilst the rest of the meeting
laughed at it.
The Chairman having vacated the Chair it was taken by
Mr. Alderman Stansfeld.
Mr. Edw. BAINES, jun.,
moved the thanks of the meeting
to the Chairman, fur his firm, able, and impartial conduct in
the Chair.
Mr. Wen WEST said—
I beg leave to second the motion of
Eeq. the chairman of this meeting,
To take the chair at all in
for his conduct in
; this place, required no small degree of
these times,
and
incourrge, and as a lover of peace and good
firmness and more.
that he 'has shown that courage. 1 hope that
.
order, I rejricewhich I now second, that the
thanks to Juhn
to the motion
you will respond
be presented to John Goodman, Ife,c,
thanks of this ince Int.
io for his firm,
chairman of this meetii able, an impartial
conduct in the chair.
Itsput and carried.
The resolat ion
x GOMM %.
Mr. Alderman Jou. N returned thank, and the
&awed to be dissolved.
meeting was .
;oothdmatasniluation.

ENGLISiI OPERA HOUSE.

popular opera of Keola•~the. tier Molest)",
tur the
•
pui p
0.• s
c- ...: . - :f
theatre
hearing
ellitcicieinbYyt of the opera. The Royal party t,cluded
Iltr :11,,lesty honour el this with her first visit on
tTphcocliteneldg;ml(sld.'-dit'ee:P:SinYa'eSc.:Zir C. Bowate-, and Sir R. OR:ay.
Miss Pat, the Hon. Miss Deverkusk
Mr. Balfe's new
Prince Albert, trrived shortly offer the
jesty and Prince Albert were rcci•iv.d at tt:e ne en-
trance erected e=petidly for hcr Majesty's special age, and
we e conducted ttirougli the anteroom and sitting-room
by 'Mr. Balfe and Mr. Notter. tier Itl2jesty appea;el td
the ere.-a,
_..ut ict.ireci have de ivA much pleasure from
e natteed
with the Ita, as patty tefora the afterpiece. 1v
in the dress ci•cic sad private botc,s the Earl of Coventry,
h 11011. Fifzroy Stan-
Lady Stream., Lady Whittnorc, Le if.
ir.dNiA2 :
b()Pc, Charles Ogle, Esq., Itz*-, "'
__..—...............,...,

TM& WEATHER.
ROYAL GALLERY-OF SCIENCE, ADELAIDE..
SREET.

NOON, MARCII 31.
B trornetsr 29 69 In.
Thervonict,:r

Loc,c2:
45

Wind W. —Freezng Point 32 Deg.

-----
The Trite SCOIS117(111 newspaper, one of the
organs a the Chartists, gave up the ghost on. Saturday
14,4. anw,unting its approaching end, the editor stated
it as a known fact, that no Chartist newspaper published in
Sec Aland ;vas paying itself..—Glasgow Argus.