The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-17 00:00:00

PRINCESS' THEATRE, OXYORD-STREET.

This :,plendiri Theatre is ()PEN EVERY EVENING with
PROMENADE CONCERTS,
Under the Direction of Mr. WILLY.

In addition to the Solo Performers sho have already tp-
reared. at these Concerts, Mr. Willy has great I,leasure in an-
nounting that he Las ti.r.de arrsmgeinents with M. Delabarle,
(Oboe), of the Academie Royale, Paris ; M. de Folly, (Pic-
colo); and M. liainnaNn, ( Bassona).
THIS EVENING, DEC. 17.—PROGRAMME.
I'_' TIT FIRST.

o‘erturc—PrecinFa—Wi.ber.
l/lizttrille—L, Carillonneur.
Waltz—Der Veen Welt— Straws.
Overture--.La Dame Blanche—Boildieu.
on the Bassoon, by JI. Baumann.
Selection from the Mountain Sylph, introducing the Bridal
Chorus, Farewell to the Mountain, and the Fortune-telling
Scene.

PAnT SECOND.

Overture— Si mi ramide Rossini.
Waltz--Hymen Fier Kiang.
Quadrille trout Oberon—Tutton.
Duet Coneertante--Fiute brNlr. Carte, Clarinet by Herr Itjen.
Lc* Bouquet des Dames, or Musical Wreath—Strauss.
Promenade, If.—thess Cire:c, 24.—Upper Boxes, Is.
Private Boxer, !/. 15. and 10s. (id. each, may be had at the
Box-tiffie, and of Mr. Mitelioll, Old Bond-street.

LLO YD'S SHIPPING-(THIS D.

Low)" DLc. 17.—Wind this day at noon. light
S utii-Eastcrly breeze. h snowed a good deal during the
night, hut there is a slight thaw this morning.
DOVER, Dec. 16 —Off port the Jeannette Phillipine,
Rademaker, from Batavia for Amsterdam. A cask of oil,
containing about fifty uallons, marked " Elliot and Co.,
London," has been picked up (ff here.
Nawporrr, DEC 15 —Arrived the Reynard, WetheralJ,
trom

FairO (, T
it
y," voh the arrow on it, wag leashed on shore yes-
terday, bet:lces Cortotiiiand Lov.cstotre. Hut. Majesty's
ship Fairy, sailed from arwieb, en a survey, the 13th ult.,
and has not since beenm
Sou stawoi.o DE.c, heard
of.
whit
lette.rsl6' —A boat, fourteen feet long.
marked in i
here.
of WilAy, Wm. Po:id,"
has been picked up off ii
LivEßp.,ol., DEC. 16 NV .; r.,. I,ru
N., moder4te.—Arrived
the James Lyon, P.ke,
from
. N The Dinah,
Dick, iii.nce to l'Alermo, vvnich.p°utniini3tondt.he Isle of Man
10:h inst , is disaargi'qg her c.rgo, partially damagud.
A sloop is aground in the Rack Channel,
sehonner is off the Fi,ating Light with and ala
loss oi fargree-
topmast.
Coe(, DEc. 14. Arrived the Hector, Anderson, frrokr,n.
Montreal, with loss of sails, stanchions, and piii.sxa
Sailed the Catherine, 12( ed, for Demerara.
BESEHAVEN, DEC. 13._Off port, the Great Brit
Shsxon, from Quebce, r‘ill lugs of boats, sails, haul':
warks, &c.
KINSALE, DEC. 13 —TI:e Prince of waterloo, Hulburn,
from Liverpool to SA,annali, out four ~vecks, has put in
here leaky, having bore up from la:. 34, loth 17.
-----

DESTRUCTIVE FlRE.—This morning, shortly
before two o'clock, the spacious mansion of sir.rlore, the
banker, in Queen's-square Place, Westminster, wi:s disco-
vered vered to be on fire. An alarm was instantly given, and it
every short time an engine from the Hoeseferr -road nits
on the spot, followed by ten of the London fire-engines.
Luckily the plugs were not frozen, and a plentiful supply
of water was obtained ; but notwithstanding every possible
exertion was used on the part c f the firemen, the mansion,
togeler with the whole of the valuable furniture, was totally
destroyed, and the west-end of the chapel in Queen square
was alsoLgreatly damaged. The servants, four in number, '
were happily arousgtin time to make their escape, and were
conveyed to the ffAi
• public.house opposite. They re-
ceived every possible attention from the landlord. The
fire first broke out in the dining-room, and is supposed to
have occurred in consequence of the foul stat 4 r.f one of
the flues. Mr. Hore is insured in the Sun Fir--3-offi,..e.
The Homage cannot at present be ascertained, but is said
to be very great. A strong det chreelit of the Coldstream
Guards, from the Wellington Barracks, was On duty, and
greatly assiled the firemen by keeping off the crowd.

LONDON:
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1840.

There was yesterday a fall of snow in the
metropolis, and for several days the weather has
been extremely cold. At present there is a pros-
pect of a long and a severe winter. Already the
snow which has fallen, , and the few days during
which it has frozen, must have put a stop to much
out-door work, and very much increased the suffer-
ings of the poor. In their destitute condition, even
when they continue to find employment and receive
wages, great cold is a great calamity, and sharpens
all their other privations. In Bethnal-green we
are told that there are at present 700 inmates already
in the workhouse, that the number of persons re-
ceiving out-door relief is much larger than for many
years past, and is increasing daily. In Glasgow,
as we learn from some statements recently made at
a public meeting in that city, and elsewhere
printed in The Sun, the distress is very great.
There the wages of weavers, according to the state-
ment of Mr. STEWART, are from 6s. to 7s. a week
each, and the situation of many is such as to re-
quire only to be seen to move the beholder to tears.
" Our situation," he said, " at this inclement sea-
son
is most painful. We are in want of clothing,
and have scarcely that which will cover our naked-
ness. We are liable to and often afflicted with
small-pox, fever, and other diseases, which eat
away our little means, and when once a weaver
gets down in circumstances, he never gets up again."
The Rev. Mr. HUNTER said—

Oi 130 families (into whose condition he had exa-
mined). there were only twenty whose earnings ave-
raged 15s. a week, and of the other 110 the earnings
scarcely amounted to Ss. per week. He next set him-
self to ascertain the smallest possible sum on which a
family of five or six persons could subsist in Glasgow,
without injury to their health, and this he found to be
10s. 8,1. per week. Thus were these persons existing
on half-a-crown per week less than what was necessary
for the preservation of their health ; but even this vots
not a fair specimen of their mode of living ; for house
rents must be paid, and were pail, and bed and holy
clothes must be provided ; and the fact was, that in
Glasgow there were thousands on thousands of indivi-
duals living on less than one oi what was necessary
fur securing their health."
With such facts placed before the public, and
the probability that the winter wilt be severe, active
benevolence cannot too won begin its exertions in
order to save many from perishing, and to soothe
the last bitter moments of many who are doomed to
perish of cold and hunger.
How much tho public are called on to subscribe
almost every year, or give away in one shape or an-
other, to relieve distresi and abate misery, it is im-
possible to say ; but when that sum is added to the
poor-rates, it will be found that even the landlord's
share of the contribution exceeds what he gains
by the Corn-law, while, but for that law, alms
would he scarcely required, and the Poor-laws would
not he one-third so expensive as they now are. At
any rate the cost of keeping the pool would be
much lessened, and there would be, at least in the
manufacturing districts, fewer of them.
The description above quoted of the destitution
of the poor, combined with the suffering which this
inclement weather must inflict on their half-clothed,
half-fed, half-warmed bodies, ought plainly to reveal
to the public some of the enormities of the wicked
Curn-law. 'We have long ago denounced them for
causing the death of thousands every year, by the
slow and painful process of starvation. " The want
of focd," which the Corn-law will not allow the
starving thousands of Glasgow, Bethnal-green,
Bolton, and other places to purchase by their in-
dustry, it is observed, in the analysis of the Regis-
trar-General's first Annual Report—
" The want of food implies the want of everything else
except water, as firing, clothing, every convenience,
every necessery of life, is abandoned at the imperious
bidding of hunger. Hunger destrcys a much higher
proportion than is indicated by the registers in this and
oa. every other country ; but its effects, like the effects
of excess are generally manifests d indirectly, in the pro-
(ruction of diseases of various kinds. The privation is
rarely ever absolute ; but the supply of food is inade-
quate to supply the wants of the organization."

In the language of the Rev. Mr. HUNTER,
there are thousands living on one-half of what is
necessary for securing their health; and of those
thousands thus in a continual state of suffering,
many are continually hurried, according to the
tin.ony of a great abundance of medical men,
annually to their graves. We charge those untimely
deaths to the Corn-law, which,
by making food
scarce, deprives the poor of comfortable dwellings,
plenty of fuel, and warm clothing. All these
might be had in abundance, but the people are
obliged to forego them to procure even a small por—
tion of that food which the ALMIGHTY sends in
abundance, and which the authors o.f the Corn-
law, with practical and blasphemous impiety, even