The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-18 00:00:00

un.

LONDON:
THURSDAY, FEBRUP,RY 18, 1841.

The distinction betw(,:en a disease and the pro-
per cure for it is trit,,and palpable ; and yet, in
legislation, at appears to be continua' Hy
overlooked. Tefobody doubts, we believe, the
existence ire our large towns of a dense popula-
tion, deeply immersed in poverty, clothed in
rags, inhabiting filthy dwellings, crowded in
alleys, courts, or closes, crammed into damp
and murky cellars, or piled story over story
in close unventilated houses, the ground on which
they are, built being imperfectly drained, and
the free access of light and air being barred out
by noisome though profitable buildings. This is
a complex mass of evils, breeding alike physical
and moral corruption, and engendering epide-
mics and plagues to spread over large portions of
the community..-.-. Lord NORMANBY, and those
who advise him, have jumped to the conclusion
that the remedy for these evils is a Bill to com-
pel Individuals to drain the sites of buildings, to
erect rooms not less than twelve feet square, with
windows four feet nine inches in height, and that
walls be founded on concrete. Now we demur
to this conclusion ; we acknowledge the existence
o the disease, but we doubt the utility of the re-
medy; we doubt, first . the propriety of legis-
lating on the matter at all, and next we doubt
the wisdom of the specific enactment.
We had occasion to mention in The Sun on
this day week that, during the last sixteen years,
at least, the attention of the Legislature has been
continually directed to the condition of the poor.
In fact, for a much longer period they have been
the constant objects of its solicitude. We then
also briefly adverted to the general results of its
never-ending interference. We showed that the
mass of the people were in the deepest poverty
and distress; that wages were so low as not to
be sufficient in many cases to support life ; and
that crime had increased. In fact, the very evils
which are now urged as a reason for more legis-
lation, are decisive proofs that former legislation
has not been successful. The masses are de-
scribed—after the great exertions which lipve been
made, and great expense which has beenifilcurred,
building churches and prisons, providing work-
houses and transport-ships, to instruct, correct,
reform, and elevate them—as plunged in filth
and heathenism, and as placed in a condi-
tion, both Physically and morally, of most
lamentable destitution. Without entering into
details, and showing at length that prisons have

not corrected the people--that Corn-laws have
not given them abundance of work and high
wages—that the increase of churches and of
clergymen has not made them religious—
we assert that this rough outline of the
present condition of the masses, is an unan-
swerable proof that our legislation on this im-
portant matter has been and is a complete failure.
The end sought has not been attained. That is
for us a sufficient reason why we should pause
and doubt whether more legislation—whether
more of the physic that has already aggravated
the disease—ouL•ht now to be administered.
On Tuesday Mr. EMERSON TENNENT, in the
debate on Mr. M. PHILLIPS' motion relative to
machinery, admitted that the law on the subject
had become utterly inoperative. It is therefore
a complete failure by his admission ; and Mr.
TENNENT is a gentleman who is very fond of
law making, and is now busily engaged in carry-
ing forward at least two new laws. He said
that our legislation of 1826, not of the last cen-
tury, was " imperfect or mistaken." That is,
however, but a specimen of the great mass of
our modern legislation. It is either imperfect
or mistaken, utterly inoperative, or a complete
failure ; and the difficulty is, not to find out a
law, whether it be a penal or a civil enactment,
which has failed, but to find out one which has
attained the object proposed by the Legislature.
Such being the general character of our legisla-
tion, we are disposed to pause even in the matter
of drainage and ventilation, and to doubt whe-
ther the people can be most conveniently made
cleanly, and habitations sweet, by Act of Par-
liament.

Disease, we may observe, makes itself manifest
to the most ignorant sufferer ; the ability to cure
it is the rare gift of a few amongst a large class
of highly cultivated and intelligent men. If, as
is sometimes supposed, diseases vary from age to
age, and assume different characteristics in dif-
ferent countries and at different times, baffling
experience, it cannot be denied that the frame
of man—the physiology of the body—are sub-

ject to almost invariable laws, and are the same
at all times and places. So far as form and
structure are concerned, the number and shape
of the bones, the situation of the various organs,
the flow of the blood, and the action of all the
great organs of the body, with the general ope-
ration of the senses, the whole human race
seems fashioned on one type, or cast in one
mould ; and the anatomist or physiologist, in
studying an individual, becomes acquainted with

nan in the abstract. The observations of HIP.

POCRATES are extremely valuable to this day.
The medical practitioner has only one standard
type to deal with, and his knowledge of that is
derived from the experience of all ages, and the
variations from it which constitute disease may
be known, classified, and studied.
It cannot be said of society that there is of it
one standard type. It is never the same or alike
in any two communities. It is not even the same
from year to year in the same community. It is
of itself, therefore, a much more complicated
and much less knowable subject than the hu-
man body and its diseases must be in propor-
tion much more difficult of cure. The prescrip-
tions, too, of this day, are intended to operate
hereafter, when the condition may be totally
different. But though the phenomena are infi-
nitely complicated, to study them is no

man's special profession. No man is educated
to cure the diseases of society. There is,
in fact, no science of legislation. If, there-
fore, ability to cure the diseases of the body
be the rare gift of a few successful medical prac-
titioners, how much more rare must be the gift
of ability to cure the diseases of society ? But
every man claims to be a legislator, and the
Marquis of NonmANsy's Bill is, we believe, the
suggestion of a few benevolent individuals, who
never before tried their hands at law-making.
On these general grounds of mistrust, and
on these special, grounds we cannot place any
confidence in the Drainage Bill. We think
that measure comes before us with no other
claims to our approbation than the bene-
volent intentions of its originators. But as
the benevolent intentions of every man who
advises us in illness, is no proof of his skill,
and we do not take his advice, so we conclude
that the benevolent intentions of the Marquis of
NORMANBY and his Commissioners are by no
means a guarantee of the utility of their legis-
lation.

And when we look at their Bill, what do we
find ? First, a clause to say it shall not be lawful
to build a house without constructing a barrel
drain of a certain size. This has no reference to
situation, and applies equally to towns situated
on a gravelly hill like Highgate, through which
water freely percolates, and to towns situated like
Lambeth, on a marshy bottom, which, unless
drained, are absolutely uninhabitable. It must in
some cases inflict a most unnecessary expense.
To us it does not appear wise to apply a similar
law to such places as Highgate and Lambeth, and
each of these peculiar situations should be regu-
lated by its own peculiar circumstances.
Passing by clauses to prescribe drains for
houses already built, making new sewers, inspect-
ing drains, cleansing private drains, &c., for
most of which we believe provisions are already
made in the private Acts by which almost
every large town in the kingdom is now
governed, it enacts that houses are not to be built
below the level of the ground without areas. We
have seen some very good houses lately so built;
and if it be convenient for the builder to place

his foundations three or four feet below the sur-
face, why should Lord NoßmAxey prevent him?
We know not the advantages and disadvantages
of such a practice : does Lord NORMANBY,
that he proposes to prohibit it ? Again, it
says houses are not to be built in close
alleys but another law now makes men crowd
their dwellings to have as much room as
possible to grow food. The walls, it says, are to
be founded on concrete. What if a change in
the timber duties should introduce a complete
alteration in the style of building, and the
walls were to be laid on timber ? Is this
to be prohibited ? It prescribes the level of
ground floors, against which the citizens of
London have already resolved to remon-
strate. We have referred already to the
size of rooms and windows, and it will be an
endless source of vexation to ascertain that
they are of the prescribed dimensions.'
There are other provisions of the Bill,
which are like this of needless minuteness, and
which must be mere vexations, o render the law
wholly inoperative.

It is we believe quite impossible for any Legis-
lature to make such minute regulations for the
conduct of individuals with success. It is no
better than a revival of the old sumptuary laws,
which every body condemned. But their vexa-
tious nature and their inefficacy are not their
principal faults. There is in human nature a great
desire to improve. Workmen and others desire to
have better habitations. The interference of the
law will act for them, and deprive them of the
power of helping themselves. The law pro-
poses to make all clean, and places them all on
a level. It will remove the filthy as well as
those who desire to improve, from the contami-
nation of alleys, and take away from the well
meaning the appropriate rewards of diligence.
We object to it finally, that it makes the Legis-
lature too like a nurse of the people, and tends
to degrade them to babies. Above all things,
we think each man should learn to provide for
himself, and rely on himself ; that he should
look to his own exertions for his own happiness;
and because all such laws supersede a man's own
exertions, and substitute an enactment instead,
we object to this law for draining land, and put-
ting an end to dwelling in cellars. We admit
the existence of the evil, but we cannot praise
the remedy.

The debate on Mr. M. PHILLIPS' motion, on
Tuesday, will have made our readers fully ac-
quainted with another anomaly of our commer-
cial law, and with another impediment which a
most important branch of our industry labours
under. At present machine-makers can carry
their.skill •out of the country, but they must not
export its. produce. There exists, however, a
great demand for that produce in foreign coun-
tries, and the consequence is that the men expa-
triate themselves, England loses some of the
most ingenious and industrious of her subjects,
and they enrich other countries by their labour.
A manufactory of machinery has lately been

established at Hamburgh, of which the director
is an Englishman, the workmen are Englishmen,
the tools they use have been exported from
England, and they work up English iron with
coals brought from England. There is no part
of the Continent of any manufacturing celebrity
where English workmen, English tools, English
machines, and English models, may not be
found. Mr. TENNENT stated, that at Berlin last
year he saw models of, or originals of, every com-
plex machine in use in England. It is impos-
sible, therefore, by our present law, and indeed
by any regulations however stringent, to prevent
the nations of the Continent from sharing all our
mechanical advantages.
Even if we had a Chinese wall around the
country, and an armed flotilla of guarda costas
on every part of the island, it could not be done;
and much less can it be done, as long as our
country freely permits foreigners to enter and
depart, and entices trade from all quarters of
the world. The smuggler defeats the present
law. He would defeat, for an additional
premium, any law, however stringent; and,
laying aside our dog-in-the-manger policy, we
ought now to consider how our superiority
in making machinery, the blessed gift of Provi-
dence, can be rendered most advantageous to
ourselves and others. Such, in fact, is the object for
which Mr. PHILLIPS moved and obtained a Com-
mittee of Inquiry, and we have no doubt that the
best mode of ensuring our own advantage, while
we promote the prosperity of others, will be to
permit our machine-makers freely to export the
produce of their industry.
The exportation of machinery is said now
to be one of the most gainful trades carried
on. The foreigners give a premium of 75 per
cent. on its value to have it smuggled. The
trade has increased under a partial law—which
allows, amongst other absurdities, the exporta-
tion of tools, but prohibits the exportation of ma-
chinery—from 60,000/. in 1831 to 308,0001. in 1841.
England has, in her coals, her metal, and, above
all, in her multitude of skilful workman—all
of whom are necessary one to the other—prodi-
gious advantages for the manufacture, and will
long remain the machine-maker for other nations
if they can freely export what they want.
Certainly some apprehensions exist that if fo-
reigners obtain our machinery, they will under-
sell our manufacturers. Part of that arises from
the disadvantages our people labour under from
the Corn-law, and we are happy to see that the
cotton and other manufacturers, sensible of this,
do not offer any opposition to Mr. M. PHILLIPS'
motion. At the same time, in order to allay all
fear, and in order to collect all the facts of the
case, inquiry is necessary, and we are glad that
the Committee has been appointed. It is an
honour to Mr. PHILLIPS, a manufacturer him-
self, and the representative of a manufacturing
district, that he has moved in the 'matter. He
and Manchester set an example of liberality
which will not be without its effects; and we an-
ticipate other beneficial effects from his Com-
mittee, besides a Report recommending that the
exportation of machinery be set entirely free.

We invite the attention of our Parliamentary
and mercantile readers to an article under the

title " Spirit of the Public Journals," copied
from the Morning Herald, which places in
a very clear and proper light the injustice
of which the Government is guilty in post-
poning the settlement of the Danish Claims.
There are, however, a few points not noticed in
the Herald's article, which we deem worthy of
particular consideration when placed in juxta-
position with it. If our space permit we shall
to-morrow enter more at large into the details of
these too-long neglected claims.
In the course of the debate on Tuesday night,

the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER quoted as
an authority in favour of the superior claims of
the book-debt class of claimants for losses in Den-

mark the opinion of the late Sir JAMES MACK-
INTOSH, who was engaged to advocate them
exclusively, whilst the shipping class had lost
their advocate in Parliament, the late Mr.
STANIFORTH, M. P. for Hull. The former
claimants looked with jealousy on the latter
class, because they feared that by increasing the
total amount of claims made, their chance of
success would be lessened. Therefore it was
that Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH estimated the

amount at from 100,0001. to 200,0001., and ha-
zarded a sort of abstract opinion that captures
of merchant-vessels under such circumstances
were in accordance with the usages of war.
In this opinion he might be readily fol-
lowed by any law-officer of the Crown ;
but the truth is, that it in no way applies to the
case in point, which was never submitted to the
legal decision of Sir J. MACKINTOSH. The
amount which was subsequently paid for the new
claims advocated by Mr. WARBURTON was, in
fact, for cargoes of coffee and sugars sent to Hol-
stein from hence, and, as such, on arrival, put
under sequestration, so that they were for goods
afloat as much as those now demanded.

Among these new claimants, who thus got

their money, were the Messrs. THOMAS and
ALEXANDER BARING of 1807. It is true
that the ultimate documents by which this
class found favour certified that their cargoes, at
the time of condemnation, which did not take
place till later, had been warehoused. Now this
only shows the absurdity of the distinction made
by the Treasury between "goods on shore" and
" goods afloat." Those who were wise in their
generation, like the representatives of the
CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER'S father and
uncle, were silent on the fact that their
property had been- "afloat" when first seized,
and only put forth a document to show
that, when condemned, the goods were in
warehouses. But while the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER adduces this abstract and inapplica-
ble opinion of the late Sir J. MACKINTOSH, the
shipping claimants have the direct opinion in
their favour of a former Chancellor, now Lord
SIDMOUTH, in his speech in 1808, as well
as the acknowledgment of the late Mr.. PER-
CIVAL 1810. It is perfectly absurd for Mr.
BARING to assert that the nett amount
paid into the Treasury of upwards of 1,300,0001.
was absorbed in charges. The mere sum of
about 385,000/. paid out of it as the value of the
Danish ships of war, by which the nation was to
that extent benefited, would now by accumula-

or manyof thorn would have, not simply on the physical
comforts and enjoyments of our labouring population, but
on their intellectual and moral character—a subject which,
your petitioners venture to urge, deserves the most serious
and anxious consideration of ycwr Honourable House.
That, for these and other reasons, your petitioners re-
spectfully, but earnestly beseech your Honourable House
to take into your immediate consideration the Report of your
Committee, with a view to an entire revision of our com-
mercial tariff; being fully persuaded, that the trade of
England requires no artificial protection ; but that, stron
in her natural advantages, ' her insular position, her har-
bours, her mines, and the activity and industry of her in-
habitants, she may, if the restrictions on her productive
energies be removed, the barriers to her commercial enter-
prise broken down, and all her resources brought into lull
play under the stimulating impulse of free trade, not only
continue successfully to compete with all other nations, but
become one of the cheapest as well as happiest countries to
live in, and even rise to a degree of greatness and- pros-
perity which shall surpass any thing she has yet attained,
great and prosperous as she has hitherto been.
Such a petition does honour to the inhabitants
of Ashton, and we hope their example will be
very generally followed. The Sun has alreaLy
mentioned that the Chambers of Commerce of
Edinburgh and Manchester have moved in this
good cause. Why is this great metropolis silent?
Is the heart of the commercial world diseased
and paralyzed? The import duties involve
no question of democracy or aristocracy. They
concern only the greatneSs of trade and the
happiness of the people ; and the citizens
of London, heretofore accustomed to take the
lead in works of commercial improvement,
cannot remain inert and passive . without in-
curring indelible disgrace. They have of late
acquired no enviable character, and people say
they are rather gamblers, jobbers, tricksters,
and paper-money makers, than great and en-
lightened merchants. They seem to lose all
sympathy with the wants, the distresses, and the
sufferings of the mass of the community, as if
they were anxious to do justice to the description
which Mr. COBBETT was wont to give ofthe " Great
Wen." Is their patriotism entirely absorbed
in avarice ? Does their respect for the aristocracy,
and their fear of the democracy, surpass their
love of justice ? Have the spirit and intelligence
of the BECKFORDS deserted London for ever ? If
it is not to be degraded into a second-rate city in
point of political importance, it must bestir it-
self, and not allow Ashton and Glasgow to run
away with the honour of enforcing on the Legis-
ture a revision of ouu commercial tariff. On
V: e question itself we say nothing, hav'ng
during the recess, in a succession of articles,
brought before our readers the principal evih; of
our in-sport duties; and urged the public, to the
best of our abilities, to demand a repeal of the
odious discriminating duties on coffee, sugar,
timber, &c. &c.

The Madrid Journals of the 9th instant have
reached us. The elections were proceeding tran-
quilly, the Regency appearing to take just as
little interest in them as the electors themselves.
ESPARTERO had, however, taken the precaution
to surround the capital with 25,000 troops--a
step which has not failed to awaken the jealousy
of the municipal authorities of Madrid.
The' Five per Cents. were done on the 9th for
28 7-16ths for cash, and for_29 at 60 days.

The whole of the Paris Journals .of Tuesday
have been received. Singularly enough, the
majority of the Committee of the Peers upon the
Fortifications Bill are opposed to that measure.
The Committee is composed of seven members,
of whom four are against the Bill, two for it,
and one neither one way nor the other. The
supporters of the Bill would have constituted the
majority of the Committee, but a rule of the
Chamber regulates that when an equal number
of votes are given for two candidates, the elder
of the two shall be declared elected. There is
not a doubt, however, that the Peers will pass
the Bill. The KING and the mob will have no
cause to complain of the obstinacy of any Peer
whose property is not likely to be deteriorated
by the erection of the forts round Paris. But
let us hear what the Journal des Debats says of
the proceedings in the Chamber of Peers :

Two preparatory meetings have been held already last week at
the Duke de Broglie's and the Duke de Fezensac's, at which the
Members of the Chamber of Peers endeavoured to come to an
agreement on the candidates to be proposed as commissioners
on the project of law. At the first the whole of the members
appeared less favourable to the project of law than at the second,
which was more numerous, consisting of about fifty members,
three-fourths of whom were disposed to modify the project of
law by an amendment. The Bureaux were accordingly nu-
merous ; above 200 members were present; the Dukes cf
Orleans and Nemours, the Ministers, who are Peers of France,
attended, and the discussion in some of the Bureaux continued
from two o'clock till half-past four.
The debate was particularly warm in the 7th Bureau, in
which the Duke of Nemours presided, and in which there were
eleven Lieutenant- Generals, among whom was Lieutenant-
General Pelet, member of the last commission of defence,
whose opinion prevailed for the present project of fortifications ;
and in the 4th Bureau, in which were Count Mole, an enemy
to the project, and Al. de Montalivet, who has declared him-
self decidedly in its favour. . . _

The result has given three members in favour of the pro-
ject, and four opposed to it. It is thought that to-morrow
there will be a new election in the sth Bureau, where General
Tirlet was chosen as the senior in age to General Dode de la
Brunerie after two ballotings, whereas the standing order re-
quired there should be three.
The Count de Tascher, the Marquis de Breze, Count de
Montalembert, the Marquis d'Audifret, M. Merilhou, Vis-
count d'Houdetot, MAL Gay, Luzac, Portalis, Viennet,
Charles Dupin, and several others warmly opposed the project..
In the 2d Bureau a pretty warm debate took place between
the Duke of Orleans and the Marquis de Dreux-Breze.
M. Parquier seems to have declared decidedly against the
project.

On the subject of the missing ships of Admiral
HUGON'S squadron, we find the following tele-
graphic despatch in the Moniteur of Tuesday :
" TOULON, FEE. 12.
"THE MARITIME PREFECT TO THE MINISTER OF THE NAVY.

tion amount to 1,500,0001. The so-called war of
1807 was a series of hostile acts on the part of the
British Government, and of reprisals on the, part
of the Danes in their own harbours and seas, until
the 25th December, when by their decree, order-
ing the condemnation, the period of reprisals,
as designated by VATTELL, ceased. The claimants

" The Jena, the Neptune, and the Triton were at Cagliari
on the 30th ult., waiting for fine weather and repairs to pro-
ceed again to sea, having suffered serious damage."
The Court of Peers has put off the trial of the
Editor of the National till the 23d inst. Better
have discharged the order for his attendance
altogether.

The Chamber of Deputies is still occupied with
the Customs' Bill. The article under discussion
on Tuesday related to the duty on timber for
ship-building.
BOURSE.—PAR n, TUESDAY. FEB. 16.

First Highest Lowest Last
Price Price. Prick. Prig,
french 5 per Cents ll2 25 112 35 ... 112 25 ... 112 2
43 per Cents 102 ... 1(2 Jl2
3 per Cents 7O 30 .. 76 so ... 76 25 70 30
I a A ot trance 2215 ...2225 ...3225 ...3 25
L 'ditto Bank 1.0001. 11155 ...10J5 5 ...HZ:,

have only made claims for losses during the pe-
riod of reprisals, and none for subsequent losses
during the actual war.

We see by the Glasgow Papers that the inha-
bitants of Glasgow are to hold a meeting on the
19th instant to take into consideration the Re-
port of the Import Duties, Committee. At Ash-
ton-under-Lyne a petition on the subject has
been prepared, which the Manchester Guardian
says will be numerously signed, of which the fol-
lowing is the principal part :
That your petitioners have seen, with the deepest inte-
rest, the valuable and extraordinary evidence laid before a
Committee of your. Honourable House, appointed during
the last Session of Parliament, to inquire into the policy
of the prohibitory and protective duties of Great Britain ;
—evidence the more important, as it is in a great measure
not that of individuals whose own interests are in question,
and liable, therefore, to be warped in their judgment ; but
the evidence of men placed in official situations, and giving
their calm and deliberate opinions—as to the injurious ef-
fects of these duties on the trade and revenue of the
country.

50001: Stares 5150 ...5155 ...5155
elgian Bank
New 0000 .., 98X ... 9834 ... tiB4G
Spanish Active V4% 24% 24/4 ... 245 i
Passive •••••••••••••••••• 6 ... 6 . 6 .. 6
Neapolitan lOl 80 101 80 ... 101 60 ... 60
Roman ' lOl 101% ... 101 ...111

RAILWAY SHARES.
Versailles,R,
L.B. ..... 327 50 ... 3.8 73 ... 327 50 327 50
Orleans .. 4Bl 75 488 75 487 '0 487 50

That your petitioners, in supportasofmtheeeehvidence laid be-
protectriveandtul
sietoa reacreorda
tfohreciryoeettarvCommittee
harazanwxhioiluats,
gross injustice to the community at large, they prevent them
a
from economizing their funds by purchasing
et e cheapest
markets, and thereby greatly abridge their
:nand of
the necessaries, comforts, and conveniences of life.o
That your petitioners see with great anxiety, that, by
these impolitic restrictions, several important branches of
our foreign commerce—such, for instance, as those with
Brazil and North America—are already placed in consi-
derable jeopardy ; whilst others, which admit of indefinite
extension—such as the timber trade with the north of Eu-
rope—arc impeded and limited to such a degree, as to
impose a very serious check on the productive energies
and consequent resources of the country.
That your petitioners have read with the deepest inte-
rest the curious and important evidence given to your
Committee by the Coffee-house keepers of London, prov.
ing so clearly the close connection which exists between
the system of prohibitive duties and the condition of the
people; and the immediate operation which the reduction

Strashttrg'to Bate 245 ... k 45 ... 245
Montpellier to Cette
BELO IAN 1. LI ?IDS—Baum/au, FEB. 16.
Actual 'Debt, 2)4 per Cent...„. 52
Rothichikl's Loan, sper C0pt................... 1414
Loan of Thirty Millions, 4 per Cent.......... 89
--- 3 per Cent.
—Thirty.seven---- •• 68%
(1.4'1) 0714
Loan of City, 1832, 4 per Cent. 87,34
Society ot Commerce, 4 .",, per Cent lO2
Bank of Belgium, 5 per Cent ......
NationalSeciety.
11 95
Exchange on Londoe (short)
--Brussels Papers, Feb. 16.

We do not know what degree of truth may be
attached to the rumour that has been prevalent
of late, that her Majesty's Government have de-
cided upon the step, which we believe has some
time past been contemplated, of consolidating
the duties of the Boards of Stamps, and Taxes,
and Excise. Certain it is that the state of the
public purse, on which, during the past year,
there have been heavy demands, coupled with
an increase of our land and sea forces, and the
acknowledged falling off in the income of one
branch of the revenue, seems to warrant in our
minds every practical reduction in the expendi-
ture of the country that Ministers can suggest.
We have long been of opinion that not only a
considerable saving of the public money may, by
wholesome measures of this sort, be effected, but
past experience has proved beyond a doubt that
where the working out of a system has been con-
fided to a few efficient heads, a spirit of activity
has been infused into all their measures, and
comparatively good results have been the conse-
quence both to the public and the Government.
The amalgamations which have already been
effected in many of our revenue departments
have placed beyond a doubt, even in a practical
point of view, to say nothing of the expanse, the
far greater efficiency of the new over the old
system of conducting the public business of the
country. The Minister who conducts our finan-
cial matters must feel this to be the case, and we
ourselves hail every proposed practical measure
of reduction of expenditure with unfeigned plea-
sure.

RELATION OP POPULATION AND FOOD.—The
census which will speedily be taken will show
the exact amount of population on the day it
collected, and it will show the total increase of
the people since 1831, but it will teach us no-
thing of the oscillations of the population in the
interval. We take leave to recommend, there-

Tp..P4 SIT LONDON, THITRSDA.Y, FEBRUArt? 18, 1841.

fore, to the Anti-Corn-law League, and to all
connected with it, and friendly to the repeal of
the Corn-law, to collect, as far as they can, in
all the manufacturing districts the rate of mor-
tality in different years similar to those quoted
on Friday .last in the House of Peers, by the
Marquis of Normanby. In them we shall have
an index to the effect of the Corn-law, in starving
the people out of existence, assuming the ratio
of one in seventy-four as recorded of Manches-
ter in 1811 as the possible mortality; and the
ratio of one in thirty-nine as recorded of Glasgow
in 1821, as a high average, as the tests of com;-
parison.

- EXECUTIONS.—The strange motion of Mr.
Rich on Tuesday evening for leave to bring in a
Bill to execute criminals in private, and the
strange illustrations derived from the conduct of
the people at executions by which he enforced
his views, demonstrate at once the inutility and
the cruelty of putting men to death, because they
have done wrong. The motion was meant to re-
tain for the State the power of putting people
to death—it has gone a long way to annhi-
late it. As it is of no utility as an
example, no pretext' remains for practising it. If
a criminal be an object of dread, he can be
watched or confined like a lunatic; he may be
cured or reformed; but the reason for shedding
his blood disappears -for ever, the moment the
public are convinced that the public exhibition
of slaughtering a man tends more to provoke
than prevent crimes. Mr. Rich demonstrated
that such is the effect, and thereby he has done
much to promote the cause of humanity.