The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-04 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

MR• CHILDERS ON CORN LAWS•

i''"-:

We made a few extracts and a few remarks on
Saturday, on a well-timed pamphlet by Mr. Chil-
ders, on the Corn Laws ; and we shall now, as we
consider every country gentleman and landowner
who is for free trade in corn, as a most powerful
advocate for our cause, quote a few additonal pas-
sages.
Our present object will be to re-assure the
landlords, trembling for their rent. Mr. Childers
says, for their comfort—
"lt is also my
opinion that corn can never be had
Very cheap in England. England is the richest
Very
in the world ;and, as far as my experience
goes, corn is dear in proportion to the wealth of a
e°ll,ntrY• It is dearer in Germany than in Poland
.--1° France than in Germany—in Holland than
in France.
" Again, England—from her enormous lionconsump-
of wheat in proportion to other countries—.
bust always raise by far the greater proportion of
1: corn she consumes. Her consumption is from
°,000,000 to 18,000,000 quarters of wheat per
annum.
" France does not consume one-half the quantity
that England does in proportion to her population.
R Ye, barley, and maize, form a large part of the
staple food of her people.
,e ‘` In Germany, and to the east of the Rhine, the
hrass.,of the population hardly ever taste wheaten
a. Almost all the wheat grown is exported,
irt:d, consequently, the quantity grown is but small
es Proportion to the population. England can,
aerefore
„ , never import more than a very small pro-
P01..'" of her own consumption—say enough for
°4e
h_ , month's consumption. Any falling off' in the
production of wheat in England must be followed
: high prices ; in other words, wheat never can
very cheap in England."
riere •
felt. 13 another passage to still the landowners'
hl " as to being overwhelmed with a foreign sup-
hl;l ; their, lands for,:;<l out of cultivation, as the
h el r°/d and Post almost daily state ; and their
thrown d) fearless, independent, and honest labourers
into idleness and the workhouse :
P: Undoubtedly, with a free trade, the price at
ontzie, and other foreign ports, will always ap.
12 ach the price in London, within about 10s. or
aver a quarter—and this will be higher than the
yanrage price at Dantzic of late years. The ad-
to price will stimulate cultivation ; and
]sadness the quantity of corn imported into Eng-
hits(l°n an average of twenty years, or since 1815,
un ) been about 500,000 qrs. a year, the quantity,
like( se a free trade, will, I imagine, be something
et(all's°,oooo qrs. to 2,000,000 qrs., or an in-
, eof from three to four times the present amount.
ettt: I do not think it can be more than that—be-
det:e 1 do not believe in the possibility of a sud-
ler extension of raising wheat crops to any very
acege amount--because in no year, even after an
houlonlation on the Continent of several years,
all; we imported much above 2,000,000 qrs.-
180 because the average importation from the year
sh ° to 1815, all years of high prices, and of an
pelence of Corn-laws, only amounts to 520,000 qrs.
ha annum. Will this importation, amounting per-
ilsil) to a month's consumption, be injurious ? In
anYti4inion, decidedly not. It will benefit Poland
e.., Germany, but the benefit will return in the
stuo into our own hands. I defy any one who under-
ands the nature of commerce to assert, that if we
ePurehose from 6,000,0001. to 8,000,0001. of corn
annually from the Poles, &c., we can pay for it in
:4 thing but our own manufactures. The fabri-
-1„-"011 and export of that amount of manufactures
"1" infuse fresh energy, and diffuse fresh wealth
i Ittnigh the kingdom at large, and the consequent
tnerease of consumption will benefit the agricul-
urilt, who, indeed, can only thrive when the
e:enntry is thriving also. The attention of thena-
tions of the Continent will thus be diverted' from
„.
,'"I °
nufactures, and turned to agriculture. Theirt
well-beim,- will be advanced, and, if I am right,
they will become our best customers. As they
grow wealthy, corn will advance in price with them,
Paothus, although the quantity they grow may, in
ess of years, be enormously increased, the
leroantity they will export will be far from being in-
e4nted in the same proportion.
this i!lN'iewing the suh,ect of a free trade in corn in
analog ight, I think I am somewhat supported by the
dm Yof the trade in wool. In 1824, the
wasY on foreign wool, which had been 6d. per lb.,
the redoo.'4d to Id. The importation which, during
, hiPla duty, never exceeded 20,000,000 lbs., int:
4,ek,e4 to 42,837,861 lbs. in 1825, and it was
4)365,121 lbs. in 1837.
`Yet what is the fact at present? Has the im-
j°,lation of foreign wool reduced the price of Eng-
ti:l" wool to nothing ! On the contrary, we know
,-at tbalish wool, though somewhat fallen in the
ta.Bt
t 4 two years, is still at a very remunerating price
the grower."
'rhat passage is full of calm and kindly wisdom,
4" a few such legislators as Mr. Childers would
redeem the now almost lost character of the House
of
p
`'oinmons. We will quote, in conclusion, what
0.4
Childers suggests as possible of attainment,
411h-' a practical improvement, though it accords
either with his principles nor ours :
prll have one word to add, and that one word will
f"Quably, in the opinion of my readers, ruin the
et ourabie idea they may thus far have conceived
I)4tnle. It is this :—I have no fear of Free Trade,
dread I have a fear of the fear of Free Trade—l
a panic.
de: The present generation have been nurtured un-
orethe noxious shade of the Corn-laws,—l am not
h Whether they are not too sickly to bear the
tal
'thy atmosphere of non-protection.
to (i)What,then,is the practical measure that ought
gzt be adopted ? Ought it to be a fixed duty? I
he decidedly not. No,fixed duty could remain if
at 7„Pricc got above. 705., ; but a fixed duty ff to go n
seal" 3. is not a fixed duty, but an alteration of the
the e. Again, when the average duty paid during
heii°Peration of the present Coin-laws, has not, I
be sae, exceeded 53. a quarter ; could Bs. or 10s.
the ctisfactor) to the free traders, on the other hand,
farmers would consider it as ruin.
84 :‘ Were Itherefore to propose a scheme, I should
ha') adopt what is called Canning's scale, which
hs the advantage of having once received the rip-
yr°batiran of the House of Commons, which it
gassed in. 1827, but was rejected in the Lords,
hl the motion of the Duke of Wellington.
"The scale has the merit of simplicity ; at 60s.
' the duty is 205., and it decreases 2s. as the price
!Ises Is., until 70s, when the duty falls to Is. It
15 a great mitigation of the present scale, as at 645.
the duty would be only 125., whereas now it would
he 225. Bd."

We cannot support Mr. Childers in the recom-
41endation, though we appreciate his motive for
Faking it, because we are sure after the question
Coo been agitated, that it will be impossible to
b"}:ent the nation till the taxes on its bread for the
anat'or of the landowners are totally swept away,
lit till that be accomplished there can be no stabi-
-1,. ) io landed property. Moreover, such a plan
"Id, in the long run, be dreadfully injurious to
ur
lefarmers. It would raise prices here above the
f v(1 of surrounding countries; and, preventing the
44oer from finding any vent for his produce abroad
14 very favourable years, would place him at the
merry of the monied classes.

..,,,Tl'e Earl of Lucan, it is understood, is likely to
I[7o -,i'et,"ed Irish r ph
Peer in the room of the late
llo,;; 'onisk'llen.' lii-s
Lordship has remitted all the tolls on
c coming into Castlehar.
Pri t 41/110N TO MOTHERS AND NURSES.—On
Slci!,a3' I'venirm an inquest was held before Mr. Payne, at the
-4,ere Anna, Ski:iner-street, Bishopsgate, on the body of
de,el)4 Hatton, aged five months. it appeared from the ev
4evee that the mother went out, on Tuesday evening, aboutl
~:1_ o'clock, leaving the deceased asleep on the bed, and p.hirt y
esnlert'd by the bedclothes. During her absence her hus and
Went home, but took no notice of the deceased ;. he then
th, . out a,i
he Ji ' ---, on the return of the mother, a short time after,
eoeased was found in a different position to that in which
called been left, and quite dead. A medical man who was
lert,"l In said the deceased had died of suffocation, having, when
fqeatetdorned over on its face. Verdict—" Accidentally put.-
bI ~,..
tv),,, -,-ONTERY OF SKELETONS.—AS the work-
, 11v-einVloyed raising °Tavel for the line of the Gloucester and
iv,ek,°_'‘l Canal, upon Priors Court Estate, were digging last
ilt
a_ t.hey came to a number of human skeletons, and on dear-
th. tww_,rl the soil, they discovered a regular grave-yard ; ten
is enve ot the graves being close together are now open. It
whi2:Jectured to have been the burial-place of the Priory, from
are which the estate, " Prior's Court," derives its name. There
,aysnorrernains of the foundations of buildings near, but report
boy
"etc was a chapel at a small distance from the spot.
bo4curiosit:,-.and speculation have been. excited in the neigh-
11i0%, s 1 by this discovery, in the vicinity of Ledbury and