The Sun.
London, England, 1841-06-14 00:00:00

MORNING EDITION.

THE CORN-LAWS MAX BE
CHANGED FOR THE WORSE !
When we noticed, a few numbers back, a pamphlet on
the policy and probable consequences of the proposed
repeal of the existing Corn-laws, we justified our dissent
from some of the opinions expressed iii it by reference
to the auth -wily of Mr. M`Culloch. The - third 'edition
of the pamphlet, now before us, bearing the came of
Mr. M‘Culloch on its title-page, informs us that in
doing so. we have been arraying his own authority against
himself. A similar accident once happened to an emi-
nent legal authority in Scotland, at the bar of the Cour .
of Session. Perhaps Mr. M`Culloch may reply as the
advoCate did when his own treatise on the Bankrupt-laws
was quoted against him—" I have not read that part of
the work lately."
We advert to Mr. M`Culloch's present line of argu- .
ment for the purpose of noting two points. First, he ,
'shows by a tabular statement, that, under " the scale pro-
posed by Lord John Russell, the duties would be higher
than they have proved to be under the present law"; and
that, under the duties proposed, "it is clear that such
wheat cannot be sold in England under 565. a quarter,
which is only llid. less than the average price of English
wheat during the ten years ending with 1840." Does
Mr. M`Culloch make this statement with a view to create
a national enthusiasm in favour of the Government
scheme ? Does he expect " the stones of Rome to rise
and mutiny" in favour of an increased duty upon im-
ported grain, and a saving of in every quarter of
wheat—a quarter of wheat being the quantity which, by
the calculations of economists, a healthy adult male con-
sumes in the course of a year ? -
The second point in Mr. M`Culloch's pamphlet to
which we direct attention, is his entoosioloosy in favour of
a "drawback," as he terms it, of ss. per quarter on the
exportation of home-grown grain. It is rather a violent
stretch of figurative language to speak of a " drawback"
on the exportation of a commodity upon which no duty
has been paid : a bounty would be the more intelligible
denomination but let that pass. "We regret," says
Mr. M'Culloch, " that Lord John Russell gave no inti-
mation of the intentions of Goverment as to the grant- .
ing of a drawback on the exportation of corn." The
granting of this drawback or bounty is thus vindicated
—" The proposed duty on foreign corn is to be imposed,
partly because the land has to .sustain peculiar burdens
not laid on other departments of industry, and
partly to prevent any sudden or injurious ,shock being
given to agriculture by excessive importations of foreign
corn. But in so far as the duty is to be regarded as au
indemnification to the agriculturists for peculiar burdens
affecting them, its imposition is not a matter of grace or
favour, but of justice ; and, being so, the agriculturists
are entitled to demand, and if they correctly appreciate
their own interests will not fail to insist upon receiving,
an equal drawback." The. " peculiar burdens not laid
upon other departments.of industry," which Mr. M`Cul-
loch represents as sustained by the land, are pure matter
of assumption : he offers no explanation of their nature
or proof of their existence. Looking to the heavy Probate
and Legacy duty, contrasted with the absence of any cor-
responding tax upon inherited property in land, and to the
exemptions in favour of vehicles laden with agricultural
produce inscribed on every toll-board, men are apt to po
sceptical'when it is alleged that the landowners are more
heavily taxed than other classes of tre community: -But, '
admitting for the sake of argument that the landed in-
terest may be more heavily taxed than other classes, it
might have been expected -that an economist of Mr.
M`Culloch's eminence would have advocated doing
justice to the land by relieving it from this excess
of taxation, instead of bolstering up the unwise and
extravagant system of drawbacks—being at the ex-
pense and trouble of collecting taxes merely to pay
them back again. Surely he cannot have considered
maturely the effect that must be produced in years of
abundance by his drawback. The effect of a plentiful
harvest will be a large addition to . our, annual expendi-
ture, for the purpose of enabling the landed interest to
export corn lest corn should become cheap. Will this
be, to vulgar eyes, a seemly item in the year's account ?
Does Mr. M`Culloch expect that people will submit to
pay a million or two of additional taxes, and to pa;e
higher price for their bread in consequence of having
paid these taxes ? Mr.. M`Culloch is anxious to inti-
mate that "he is alone responsible for the
contents " of his pamphlet,—in other words;
that he writes without consulting anybody,
and must not be understood to express
the wishes or intentions of Government or any section of
its partisans. We have no doubt of this ; but men are
quick in comprehending what seems to be for their own
interest, and it will be necessary for• constituencies at
the coming election to insist upon explicit statements
from Anti-Corn-law candidates, as to what kind of modi-
fication of the system they really contemplate. We
shall be finely helped if the change effected should turn
out to be—an increased rate of duty on imported corn,
and a bounty on the exportation of home-grown corn !
Spectator.

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE
_.
(From the Hampshire Telegraph.)
PORTSMOUTII. JUNE 12.—The Electra sloop of war.
Commander Mainwaring, arrived this morning from the
western coast of Mexico, and Rio Janeiro, with about
one million of dollars on board. She left Valparaiso on
the 4th of March, and Rio Janeiro on the lath of April.
The Orestes, sloop of war, was collecting specie on the
coast, and it was understood would be the next ship sent
to England.
The Edinburgh, 72, is °raved from Plymouth to Spit-
head, 'to refit ; she wants men, having discharged such
of her men as had served four years.
• The Dublin, Captain Tucker, is taken out of dock,
and has been masted ; nearly ttll her crew have entered
-for her from the Bellerophon, who. of course are gone on
three weeks' leave.
The Bittern, 16, is nearly manned. She *ants only a
few petty officers, and will shortly be ready
.for sea.
'The Fair Rosamond, schooner, for the coast of Africa,
will go out of harbour on Monday. She was mustered
and inspected this morning by the Flag Captain.
The Scout, 18, at Sheerness, and Champion, 18. at
Plymouth, are commissioned. •
Report sends Rear-Admiral Fred. Warren to the Ad-
miralty as one of the Junior Lords, and Rear-Admiral
the Hon. George. Elliot to Plymouth, as Superintendent
of the Dockyard there.
Ir Harbour.—Queen,Vietory, Excellent, Dublin, Royal
George, Bittern, Fair Rosamond, Raven, Echo, Alban, -
steamers, and Adventure, naval transport.
At Spithead.—Monarch, Indus, and Electra, Vernon,
Mariner, timber ship, Owen Glendywer, East Indiaman.
PROMOTIONS AND APPOINTMENTS.
PROMOTlONS.—Lieutenant B. J.- Sulivan to the rank
of Commander.
Mates.—John Borlase (1832) of the Excellent, W. F.
Robinson (1831), R. R. Western (1834), and E. M.
Lyons (1838), to the rank of Lieutenant.
APPOINTMENTS.—Commanders—J. P. 1). Larcom, to
the Scout ; W. Lewis, to the Stromboli ; and Richard
Byron, to the Champion.
Lieutenants—Zaccheus Andrews to the Vernon, vice
Sinclair ; E. Bullen, to the Cornwallis ; Charles J. Tal-
ton,.to the Princess Charlotte.
Purser—Mr. Thomas Woodward, from Wasp to
Daphne. •
• Assistant Surgeon—F. M. Rayner to the Queen ; Wm.
B. Fegen, to the Vernon ; W. J. Gruggen, to Haslar
Hospital.
Mates—C. J. Austen, to Excellent ; 11. F. N. Rolfe,
to Excellent ; H. J. Giles, to Caledonia ; R. Hall, to
Dublin..
Midshipmen—Messrs. E. H. H. D'Aeth, to Queen.
Masters' Assistants—Mr. G. S. Hodges, to Victory ; .
G. Goman, to Vernon.
Second Masters—J. M. Willis to Fair Rosamond ; J.
Whiting to Calcutta.
Volunteers of First Class—Messrs. S. Woldridge, to
Dublin ; H. B. B. Bennett, to Dublin.
Clerk's Assistant—Joseph Martin, to Dublin.
Chaplains—Rev. P. Somerville, to Edinburgh ; Her.
R. Wilson, to Dublin.
Gunner—James Seymour, to Bittern.
The following gentlemen have been appointed to the
Excellent as Cadets for the Royal Marines :—Messrs
G. E. 0. Jackson, Charles .M4Arthur. F. W. Hall, F. A.
P. Wood, T. V. Cooke, H. Cottle, and 11. W. GwYn.
The following Midshipmen passed the Royal. Naval
College, on the 7th and Bth instant :—Messrs. Lacon
Ussher Hammett, Charles John Austen, John Moore,
EdWard Hill, Fred. John Hornby, Fred. Agar Boyce,
Gerard Kingsley, Thomas Cuppsge Bruce, George Dar-
bin, Arthur Doyle, and John Francis Ross.
The following candidates passed for Commissions in
the Royal Marine Corps at the Naval College, on the Bth
instant :—Messrs. E. T. T. Jones, J. H. Jolliffe, J. W.
A. Kennedy, Robert Boyle, Simon. R. Little, T. A. M.
De Feber Pennington; John Elliott, and S. L. Wilson.
PLYMOUTH, JUNE 11.—The Savage,
10, Lieut. J. H.
Bowker, was undocked on Friday ;, it is reported
that she will he paid oft; and
re-coinmis-
sioned.-•—The Nightingale, 6, Lit.tti.ll `W. Southey,
ordered
16 to
aseur, .
arrived, from .Leith On Saturday ; ~she,is
, J
Bristol, to enter men for.. the navy'_
Com. F. M. Boulthee,. Was utilloylaa on Saturday, and
will shortly he ready for:.sca.—Tlie Spitfire, steamer,
Lieut. Tringharn, arrived from Portsmouth • on Sunday,
and sailed for the West Indies, on Wednesd,aY'—The
Alert, packet, Lieutenant E. Jennings, was uncooked on
to Falmonth on,Saturday, to
Tuesday; -and will proceed
take the next mail to the West Indtes.-1 he Wolf, 'lB,
has been. taken into. Deck. to _he repaired.—The Corn-
walls, 7;), Captain Peter Richards, was towed into the
Sound, on • Thursday, by the Avon and Carron
steamers;—The Acorn, 16, Corn. J. Adams,
was paid
wages on Thursday, and will sail for the Coast of Africa
in a day or two.

THE REDBREAST.—This bird has frequently
been noted for the singular situations it selects for build-
ing its nest. Amongst the many instances which have
been recorded, none probably have been more curiously
placed than one which now may be seen within a few
miles of Leeds. In a cleft in an upright post or spindle,
which supports a large wheel or drum, round which the
te•cending and descending ropes are wound for a coal-pit,
a redbreast has built its nest : there arc now four eggs
in it ; and though the pit is in full work. and the horse
which turns the upright post with the drum above, each
time the motion is reversed passes with its head within a
few inches of the bird—still it sits upon its nest, un-
mindful of the horse, or the more dangerous urchin its
driver ; and for hours together is turned round and back
again with all imaginable composure.—Leeds Mercury.•
We learn that Earl Granville, the present British.
Ambassador at the Court of the King of the French,
has sacited permission to relinquish his high and im-
portant diplomatic functions in the French capital, by
reason of the delicate state of the Noble Earl's health.
No change, however, is at present contemplated ; but
in Sey tember the Noble Earl is expected in this country
on a visit to his Noble relative, the Duke of Devonshire.
A STANZA FOR THE TORIES.--(From
Blackwood's .111cgaziote.)
0 Tories, dear Tories, who stilt are as true--
In spite of defeat—and as trusty as btetl.
An apo,-Aate, a trimmer, a. rat is in view ;1
So after him boys, paid spit open Peel :.

MORNING EDITION

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE DAILY PAPERS OF SATURDAY.
CHRONICLE.—The Tories boast of the great things they
have done for the country in the way of financial reform.
They appeal to the list of taxes taken off by Tory. Governments
between 1815. and 1830, and they say, with an air of triumph,
See what a prodigious deal we have done for the country in
comparison with the trifling reductions effected by the Whigs.
Before they boast so much about taking taxes off, perhaps they
will have the goodness to tell us who put taxes on. The Tory
party came into office with Mr. Pitt, in 1784, and remained,
with a few short interruptions, in exclusive and undisturbed
possession of power until November, 1830, or for a period of
s:early fifty years. When they took office the entire expendi-
ture of the country did not amount to 20,000,0001. ; when
they left office it amounted to 50,000,0001. During
their fifty year; Administration the National Debt in-
creased from 26000,000/. to 800,000,0001., and the annual
charge for interest from 9,500,0001. to 29,000,000/. During
the twenty-two years of war with France—a war entered into
and persevered in to forward the political views of the Tory
party, and which brought with it no recorepence in the shape
of additional territory or commercial advantages, the enormous
sum of 1,500,000,000/. was expended by Tory Administrations.
Of this sum it is not too much to sty that one-half was lavished
without any useful result as regarded the prosecution of the
war, in subsidies to Foreign Powers, Walcheren expeditions,
absurd plans of defence, petty attacks on insignificant West
India islands—and though last, not least, sinecures, pensions,
and provisions, for every description of titled pauper and
hanger-on of the Tory aristocracy. In addition to the actual
expenditure, Mr. Pitt's Sinking Fund juggle, and his finan-
cial blunder of raising his loans in three per cent. stock in-
stead of borrowing at the market rate of interest, entailed
on the country, as may be demonstrated by the strictest
calculation, a permanent charge of not less than 6,000,000/. a
year. So much for the blessings of Tory finance ! But to
come to more modern times, let us examine the boasted per-
formances of the Toriessince the peace, in the way of financial
reform. At the conclusion of the war in 1815 the Tory Go
vernment had a gross revenue of 72,210,0001., the produce of
taxation, upon which to operate. The interest of the debt
amounted to 32,000,000/., and the current necessary expenses
of the country, as has been proved by the experience of the ,
last ten years, need not have exceeded 18.000,000/. a year.
Here, tlien, was a reduction of 22,000,000/. a year, which
might, and which ought to have been effected. Was anything
of the sort proposed by the Tory Government? On the con-
trary, they endeavoured to continue the war-taxes, and mus-
tered all tieir strength to resist the repeal of the property_
tax, which was proposed by the Liberal Opposition,
and carried against Ministers by a narrow majority,
Instead of reducing the current expenditure of the country to
18,000,0001., Much there was nothing to prevent, they con-
tinued it at the average rate of 22,500,000/. from 1817 to
1828, and opposed every motion brought forward by the Liberal
party for a reduction of salaries and estimates. From 1816
down to 1822, no material reduction of taxation was effected.
In that year the Whigs proposed and carried, against the
Tory Government, the following measures :
1. The repeal of the Salt-tax.
2. The repeal of the Leather-tax.
3. The repeal of the Irish Window-tax.
4. The reduction of an additional Is. a bushel on the duty
en malt.
They also carried, against :the strenuous opposition of the
Tory Government, headed in the House of Commons by Mr.
k Pee!, motions for the reduction of salaries in the Admiralty,
and for the abolition of the sinecure place of Joint Post-
master-General. In consequence of these defeats, the Govern-
ment came forward in 1823 with a reduction of the Assessed
taxes, and the duty on Scotch and Irish spirits. In 1824 and
1825, the state of the Revenue admitted of considerable reduC-
Cons, which were warmly supported by the Whigs, who
also proposed the repeal of the window-tax, of the -duty on
soap and candles. and further reductions in the assessed taxes
and beer duties, in which they were defeated by the Tory
Government. In 1826, the Whigs made several fruit-
less attempts to introduce greater ecuncmy into the
army and navy estimates and the diplomatic expences.
At length, in 1829, the first serious attempt at se-
trenchment was made by the Duke of Wellington ; and in
the course of that and the following year economy was pushed
to an extent beyond which the Tories unanimously declared all
advance to be impossible. • Instead of taking so much credit for
these tardy reductions, perhaps the Tories will tell us why they
is-.-re not made sooner. If it was possible in 1829 and 1830
to confine the current expenditure of the country
a 'min the limit of 19,000,000/. why was it allowed
t,, amain from 1817 to 1828 at an average amount of
22;00,000/ ? If the reductions pressed for by the Whigs had
been carried into effect when originally proposed, the country
might have been saved an annual burden of 3,500,000/. for
twelve years. Perhaps, when the Tories next compare their
achievements as financial reformers, with those of the Whigs,
they will have the goodness to take into account the following
items ;-
Ist. 42,000,000/. of taxes paid by the country between
1817 and 1828, because the Tories refused to adopt reti ench-
meats proposed by the Whigs, and subsequently proved to be
quite practicable.
2d. Property-tax
Salt
Malt, Is. a bushel
Leather

£14,000,000
1,295,01*
700,000
300,000

£16,295,000
Of which the repeal was resisted to the utmost by the Tory
Government, and carried sole:y by the efforts of the Whig op-
position. Let us now look at the financial policy of the Liberals
as a Government. In 1830 they came into office, after a Go-
vernment, which, as the Tories asserted, had carried retrench-
ment and remission of taxation to the utmost po:,ible point,
and which left them no efficient surplus. The Times, it is
true, in an article full of elaborate misstatements, ha'l the
hardihood to assert that the Duke of Wellington's Administra-
tion left a surplus of 2,667,000, but this is a mere fallacy, occa-
sioned by leaving out of account the taxes taken off in Mr.
Goulburn's last budget. Lord Ashburton's estimate at the
time was, that instead of a surplus, Mr. Goulburn left behind
bim a deficit of 330,0001. In the course of ten years the Li-
beral Government repealed the following taxes :
Printed Cottons... £55(1,000
Coils and Slates fX)0,000
Candles 500,000
House-tax . ... 1,200,000

Soap Duty, one-half 593,000
Tiles, hemp, drugs, marine insurances, advertisements,
small receile stamps, insurances on farming stock and farm-
houseseland-tax on personal estates, pamphlets, newspapers,
almanecks, paper travellers, clerks, overseers, and eleopmen,
tax-carts, windows in farm-houses, shepherds' dogs, starch,
flies glass, spirit licenses, and various reductions in minor
• articles of the tariff, being chiefly gums, dyes, oil,, and
other raw materials used in manufactures, making the sum-
total of taxation remitted by the Whigs (after deducting
• j 379,0001. of new taxes imposed) amount to 6,236,000/.
In addition to this reduction, the rate of postage
• - has been lowered to Id., by which measure the number of
letters has been increased three-fold, and an amount of accom-
modation afforded to the country, for which, under the old sys-
tem, they wouldhave had topay 6,000,0001. annually in postage.
In consequence of these reductions the country has paid on
the whole 50,000,0001. less in taxes since 1830 than it would
have had to pay if the scale of revenue and expenditure fixed
by the last :and most economical Tory Government had been
maintained. This relief has not been effected by increasing,
the, permanent burdens of the country, but the contrary. De-
ducting the 20,000,0001. paid for negro emancipation, the total
amount of debt funded and unfunded is now less by 4,500,0001.
than it was when the Whigs came into office in 1830.
The retrenchments which have been effected below the
Duke of Wellington's maximum standard of economy,
in salaries, pensions, miscellaneous expenses, and the
cost of collecting the revenue, exceed 1,000,000/. The
relief of 7,000,0001. annually given to the country in the re-
mission of taxation, has occasioned a loss to the revenue of
only 2,000,000/. And, finally, to close the contrast between
Liberal and Tory finance, a necessity having arisen, owing to
political circumstances, of increasing the naval and military
eltablishmehts of the country, the Liberals, propose a scheme
which would add 2,000,0001. to the revenue, not only without
entailing any additional burden on the country, but actually by
relieving it from a heavy charge in the shape of taxes ,ndi-
rectle levied for the benefit of monopoly-interests—the Tories
%rise this ,cheme, and resist any attempt to introduce free-
tr.v2.e,pi;inciples into the tariff, under circumstances which ren-
der the ititeSori of merenerbleiiquivalinte in as naau:y. words, to a
determination to impose new direet taxese• •
POST.—The adherenti of the present beaten Ministry pro,
claim throughout the country that their friends are'the chana,
pions of free trade, while 'they assert on the. other hand that
the Conservatives are the bigoted adherents of all sorts of ab-
solute 'monopolies. It is not enough to say of such statements
that they are exaggerations. They are falsehoods, and it is •of
great' importance at the present juncture that the public
should Understand what the real truth is as respects these
matters. The truth, then, is, that' neither the beaten
:Administration, nor the Conservatives who have beaten it,
are 'champions of free trade. The difference be.
tween them consists in this, that the Ministerialists,
becauseof
the do
while they profess. absolute free-trade
theories,
not dare to carry them into practice,
rain which would be brought upon existing interests; but the
Conservatives possessthe theory that the principles of free
trade are not applicable to a nation in the circumstances of
Great Britain, or to 'any other nation where the population is
greit in proportion to the demand for labour, and where very
large amounts of capital are vested in certain channels of pro-
duction, for which production otherc
tountries have greater
facilities. The Conservativee do not deny heabstract correct-
ness of free-trade principles, and they admit that, eauld a
nation be found .with its labour and capital unappropriated, the
policy of free trade would be the best trade policy to pursue. But
even then other considerations than those of trade might inter-
vene, and overrule the free-trade policy. If, for ex-
ample, the carrying into practice of free-trade principles,
should render any nation which can raise food for itself de-
pendent for food upon other nations, then a higher policy than
that of the greatest advantage in trade would render it exeedient
to put a limit and check upon the action of free-trade princi-
ples. But there is a very wide interval between absolutefrtehets-
trade and ab'o'ute monopoly or prohibition. It is within
interval that both Whigs and Tories stand. It is not true that
either one or the other belongs to either of the extremes. The
Ministeriailists falsely.give out that they do belong to the free-
trade extreme, and that their ompnents belong to the mono-
poly extreme. The Tories do lift degrade themselves by any
similar fa'sehood on the oppogite side. They say they are
neither far absolute free-tradelor absolute monopoly, but they
desire to do what is just and fair according to the circumstances
of the case.
COURIER,—A considerable fuss is made by the Mi-
nisterial Press about certain more strong than wise
animadversions of two of our esteemed Conservative
Contemporaries upon the manufacturing interests ;
animadversions in which we are not prepared to con-
cur, excepting so far as they relate to that agitating
portion of the manufacturing community which
. has rendered itself odiously conspicuous for its
reckless onslaught and coarse -vituperation of the agri-
cultural classes. We have a right to assume, •
in-
deed, that to such only it was the meaningmeaningofour Cun-
' temporaries to limit their attacks. But in any case, with
what show of reason and justice can they complain who
first lighted the fires of discord, and day by day
have been heaping fuel upon flame in theix
fiery
and death-consuming assaults upon all the interests con-
nected with land, which, at length, outraging all patience,
led to the natural reprisals about which these snivelling
sentimental snarlers now affect to raise an outcry ?
Were not the Ministry warned in season against the
peril of provoking a war of class interests ; find did not
Lord Melbourne himself, twelve months since only,
enerotically protest, as became one who should be the
executive conservator of the public peace, against the
shape
of casting the firebrand of confusion, in the
ape of interference with the Corn-laws, into the midst
of a nation, then but in the first stages of incipient reco-
very ficm the anarchical consequences of that reform of
ancient institutions characterised by the Ministers them-
real revolution, and from the tumultuous and
"3guillarY eutbreas
fruits': And, notwit
standing,
Chartism which were its latest
vorn.,flielit. and the semen, was it not the same Go-
J. :Lassen, which delibe ister. as represented by Lord
wantonly, for the base
purposes of party and pTiacteelY:shen at the latest moment
that Government was pronouncto ed to
thessinterests" confidence o
and
co Parliamentmaiuericta e 4
that accursed crusade