The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-05 00:00:00

H Jus T
t ready, in 3 vols
It po . st Bvo., that it could notbe executed, was opposed by the we put down after him the whole population of
E US TE E. I people. Riots ensued—lives were sacrificed— 1 1836 at 26,158,524 1837 26,518,885: 1838,
A NOVEL.

By the Author of the Tragedy of
" THE PROVOST OF BRUGES."
Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

Henry

Just ready, in 3 vols. post Bvo.,
THE QUEEN'S POISONER
Or, FRANCE in the SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
By DHSS LOUISA STUART COSTELLO,
Author of " A Summer among the Bocages and the Vines."
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.

THEATRE ROYAL, COVENT GARDEN.
IJNDER the MANAGEMENT of MADAME VESTRIS
THIS EVENING, MAY 5,
Will be repeated the New Comedy, in Five Acts, entitled

LONDON ASSURANCE.

Sir Haresu.vt Courtly, Bart., Mr. W. Farren ; Max Hark.
sway, Mr. Bartley ; Mr. Charles Courtly, Mr. Anderson ;
Mr. Adolphus Spanker, Mr. Keeley; Mr. Dazzle, Mr. C.
Mathews ; Mark Meddle, Mr. Harley ; Grace larka:vay,
Madame Yestris P • Lady Gay Spanker, Mrs. Nisbett ; Mrs.
Pert, Mrs. Humbc.
Atter which will be repeated, the Grand Romantic Fairy Ex-
travaganza, entitled
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Beauty, Madame Vestris : The Beast, Mr. W. Harrison ;
John Quill, Mr. Harley ; Dressalinda, Miss Rainforth ; Mar-
rygolda, Miss Grant ; Queen of the Roses, Miss Lee.
To-morrow, London Assurance, with Beauty and the Beast.
Doers to t e opened at half-past Six—the performances to
eommence at Seven &Clock.

Dress Boxes, is. ; Second Price, 3s. 6d.; First and Second
Circles, as.; Second Price, 2s. 6d. ; Pit, 35.; Second Price.
25.; Gallery, Is.
Tickets and paces for the 13oxel to he taken of Mr. Grogan,
at the Box-office, from Ten till Feur, where Season Tickets
m ty oe had upon application.
Private Bost:, to be had so'ely of Mr. Andrews, bookseller,
167. New Bond-street.

ROYAL SURREY THEATRE.

GNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF MR. DAVIDGE
AND MR. WILLIS JONES.

The most powerful attraction ever offered. Third Night o
Claude Duval, supported by Mr. J. S. Balls, and the ac-
knowledged best Company in the Metropolis, with an en-
tire change of Pieces.

THIS EVENING, MAY 5,
Will be acted an Historical and Domestic Drama, entitled
CLAUDE DUVAL, THE LADIES' HIGHWAYMAN.
With entirely new local and beautiful Scenery, extensive Ma-
chinery, &c.
Claude Duval, Sir. J. S. Balls.
After which, the Comedy of
WILD OATS; OR, THE STROLLING GENTLEMAN.
_ _

Rover. Mr. J. S. Balls.
To conclude with the Romance of Diablerie, entitled
APOLLYON, THE GREAT FIEND.
Apollyon, Mr. 0. Smith,
The Last Week of his Engagement.

"THE CHINA SUN,"
WHICH WAS REPUBLISHED LATELY,
IS NOW ON SALE,
With all the LATEST NEWS.

THE RAILWAY SUN
WILL BE PUBLISHED IN A FEW

DAYS.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS JAY.
X srning"—:.lB minutes after I I Evening ......47 minutes after I

His reasoning on Monday night was worthy
f his history and his colleague in oppo-
sition. The great Peer, who will be handed
down to posterity as the inventor of the Kentish
fire, far superior to the steam-engine of WATT
or the safety-lamp of DAVY, joined the Earl of
RIPON in exclaiming against the injustice and
barbarity of taxing the people's bread. One
said such a thing was never heard of in any
country. The other summoned the Lords to
arm to resist it. Both professed the utmost horror
of a bread-tax, while the one was the inventor
and the other a supporter of a bread-tax so
enormous that it could not be levied, and both
now support a bread-tax at least four times as
onerous as the bread-tax which the Mi-
nisters propose to substitute for the pre-
sent exaction. To be sure the Lords pre-
sent laughed at both Peers, and, were it not a
breach of privilege, such a mighty chuckle would
have been elicited from the gallery as would
have for ever silenced both the orators. It
would have broken forth spontaneously, and would
have been as much superior to the Kentish fire
as the works of nature are to those of art—
thunder to a pop-gun, or the roar of the Nia-
gara to a cascade at Eastwell. But the respect
visitors bear to Newgate kept down the almost
irrepressible laugh, and now it is bursting
forth in all parts of the empire.
Did these Lords suppose they were playing at.
conundrums, one asking " When is a tax not a
tax ?" and the other answering " When it is .a
protection." Yes, a protection to them, and a d'is e
extortion from the people. But legislation is so'orte-
thing ofmore importance than word-catching, and
they only exposed their terrible hypocrisy and
their terrible desire to delude themselves and
others, which latter is now beyond their reach,
when they called their 235. duty a protection,
and the 7s. or ss. duty to be proposesl by the
Ministers a bread-tax. For their deurinciations,
however, against all bread taxes we heartily
thank them, but they are guilty to a fourfold
enormity of the very crime they denounced in
Lord MELBOURNE.
That other great and potent lover of a bread-
tax which is not a bread-tax, the Duke of BUCK-
IN GHAM, fancied he had made a deadly thrust
when he quoted against Lord MELBOURNE his
eloquent description of the effects of a struggle
to repeal the Corn-laws. But if the heavy Duke
is not wholly unconscious of what is going on in
society he would be aware that the struggle Lord
MELBOURNE fancied is actually stirring society
to its foundation, calling into question the right of
the Peers to their estates, and throwing doubts
on the whole right of property as it now
exists. It is dividing the people into parties, and
filling their hearts with the deadliest animosity.
Who can submit with patience to be starved to
death ? Cries of distress and threats of revenge,
the supplications of hunger and the imprecations
of crime, are resounding through the land. All
the dreadful evils which Lord MELBOURNE
sketched as the result of a struggle to repeal the
Corn-law, and which the Duke of BUCKINGHAM
quoted as a justification of his support of that law,
are now continually engendered by its existence.
Who can look at any part of society and not
see it heaving with trouble and anguish ? Who
is at ease ? Not even the landlords, for they live
in dread of a change, because they are conscious
that their law is unjust, and dread the fellow-
men they trample on. We say nothing of their
starving labourers and serf-like tenants, who are
in a sad state of fear, dependence, and poverty.
Who is contented? Not even the priests, for their
rapacity cannot be satiated by anything short of
absolute mastership over the property and being
of the whole community. The only class which
appears at ease and contented, because honestly
thriving, are the lawyers. For them new courts
are to be opened and new Judges appointed.
Endless suits promise them endless fees. Swind-
ling, forgery, casting away ships—now common
occurrences—with fraudulent insolvencies and
bankruptcies, assassinations and murders, and
all the endless villainy that grows from a system
of legislation of which the main principle is
plunder, make a rich harvest for the lawyer
tribe. They thrive most when the community
is most in straits, and are now the only con-
tented class. If the Duke of BUCKINGHAM
would look into the world he would see, we re-
peat, that all the mighty evils he dreads from
repealing the Corn-laws are actually inflicted on
society at this moment by that very law of which
he is the foremost champion.

Mr. WILSON, whose pamphlet on the Influence
of the Corn-laws attracted so much attention,
has published another short and able work on
" The Revenue ; or, What should the Chancellor
do ?" Though the promulgation of the Budget
on Friday has answered the question, as Mr.
WILSON himself answers it—that he should re-
duce, not increase, the taxes on articles of con-
sumption—there are several statements in the
pamphlet of considerable interest. Mr. WILSON
states that from 1821 to 1831 the population of
the whole kingdom increased at the rate of one
and a halfper cent. annually on the population of
1821, and he assumes that from 1831 to 1841 the
increase has been at least in the same ratio. The
progressive increase, we very much doubt, and
are much inclined to believe that the increase of
the population in the first six of the ten years
was considerably greater than in the last four
years. The census which is soon to be taken
will inform us of the whole increase in ten years,
but it will not inform us of the increase in every
successive year. In the absence of all positive
information on the point, we must state that we
look on the slow increase of consumption in the
last four years, the proof of which we are about
to quote from Mr. WILSON'S pamphlet, to be an
indication that the progress of population, in that
time, has been arrested ; while the comforts
of those who have been brought into life, or who
have remained in life, have been abridged.
Before copying Mr. WILSON'S observations we
must make one remark. Population on any
given space does not increase by au equal nutn-
ber of human beings every year through a series
of years, but if it increased 360,000 in the year
1821, adding that to 24,000,000, the increase next
year ought to be, provided the same ratio con-
tinued, very nearly 5,300 more; and so popula-
tion should go on increasing year after year
through the whole series till the increase in the
single year 1841, instead of being somewhere
about 360,000, should be somewhere about
412,000. we do not calculate to a nicety ; we
are only pointing out a principle which corrobo-
rates and enforces Mr. WiLsoN's view, much
more than his own assumption of an equal in-
crease of population year after year. Accord-
ing to this statement the increase of the reve-
n4e, so far as that depends on an increase of
ss in the po-
pulation, ought to have been nearly one-fourth
more
year 1840 than the increase in 1836.
m
g, however, with Mr. Watson, that
population has gone on increasing year after
year, since 1831, at the rate of 360,361 persons,

and human bl ood to this day lies heavy and
dark on the G overnment of which Mr. ROBIN-
SON was a Member, and on the Legislature
which, at its instigation, carried an imprac-
ticable law at the point of the bayonet.
But that Peer, who may probably sup-
pose that men have forgotten his deeds as he
changed his name from ROBINSON to GODBRICH)
and fled from GODERICH to RIPON, was on Mon-
day night so sensitive on the score of character
that he pitied Lord MELBOURNE for his incon-
sistency, who has forsaken the vices to which the
other still cleaves through the many changes of
his name. He is, in truth, consistent in error and
mischief, and professes, as Earl of RIPON, the
same horror in 1841 for freedom and justice as he
professed in 1815, when human lives were sacri-
ficed to the barbarous and impracticable law de-
vised by him and carried into effect by the Par•
liament.

While, in the three following years,£lo7 ,13333
by the 3, same calculation
the cost was--
1837
1838
1839

X 152665
Showing a difference in the cost of wheat ,866,
alone of upwards
of forty-five millions during the latter three years, as com-
pared with the former, which sum must necessarily have been
abstracted from the channels of expenditure in which it had
previously flowed, and, by diminishing the demand for all
other articles to the same amount, at once embarrassed and
curtailed commerce and manufactures, and diminished the re-
venue derivable therefrom.
The high price, arising from the Corn-laws,
is clearl3 the cause of the deficiency of the re-
venue, of the people being deprived of the ne-
cessaries and comforts of life, of many of them
being starved to death, and of the progress of
population and national greatness being impeded.
The passage points out, also, the cause of fluctu-
ation. Confining the supply of our people to a
narrow space, when the whole world is at their
command, necessarily exposes them to the enor-
mous fluctuations in the price and quantity of
food, and in the demand for other articles indi-
cated by the above passage. The extent of inter-
change will be in proportion to thecommoditiesto
be interchanged, and the fluctuations of commerce
must, to a considerable extent, follow the great
fluctuation of the harvest in our island ; while in
the whole world there are perhaps no fluctua-
tions, but a steady increase. Prices were low in
1834,1835, and 1836, and then commerce spread
all her sails. Prices were high, as the crops were
short, in 1837, 1838, and 1839, and poor com-
merce, assailed by the landlords' storm, was
almost reduced to bare poles. The worst of the
matter is, that commercial men, who adapt their
canvass to the landlords' weather, are blamed by
ignorant observers for those changes in their
conduct, which are made necessary by the Corn_
laws. The aim of commerce is to diminish
fluctuations. The business of the merchant is
to buy when and where commodities are cheap,
and sell them when and where they are dear.
His exertions, when left free, tend to neutralize
the variations of the seasons, and reduce to no-
thing those terrible fluctuations in the condition
of society—worse, probably, than positive and un.
varying privation—which it has hitherto appa•
rently been the delight of our legislators to came

We beg to remind the friends of the claimants
for losses in Denmark, that the case stands as
an " Order of the Day" for this evening.
We cannot understand the ground on which the
CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER has so obsti-
nately resisted the repeated decisions of the
House in favour of-the shipping class of the
claimants, who are equally, if not more, enti-
tled to relief, than the other two classes who
have already received indemnity. We now
trust that Mr. BARING will have the good sense
to accede to the wishes of Parliament, and do
justice, though tardily, to these poor claimants.
In case, however, of any tnanceuvre on the part
of Government to prevent a House being made,
we hope that Members will be early in attend-
ance to thwart any attempt of this nature.

Saturday and Sunday were gala days in Paris,
the first being the KING'S birth-day, the second
the day appointed for the baptism of the Count
of PARIS. The journals of Sunday, which we
have received, record no disturbance of the
public tranquillity on these days. At the Court
of the Tuileries the inconvenient custom prevails
of presenting Addresses to the Sovereign on the
annual celebration of his birth-day, and as it ex-
tends to the diplomatic body, it is not difficult to
discover in the introduction or the omission of
certain topics, ground for political speculation. 1
The Austrian Ambassador, Count D'APPoNy,
who, as the oldest of the members of the diplo-
matic body; is the mouth on such occasions, thus
addresses the King of the FRENCH :

" Sire,—You you know the sentiments of the Corps Diplo-
matic for your Royal person. We earnestly avail ourselves of
the anniversary of your Majesty's fete to have the honour to
renew our homage. Faithful to our wishes for everything
that can contribute to your Majesty's happiness, we cougratu-
late ourselves to be admitted to express them under such
solemn circumstances so dear to your paternal heart. The
baptism of the Count of Paris will be for you and our august
family a lively subject of hope and joy, and for us a security
for the continuance of the benefits w hich Providence has pleased
to impart up to this moment. Such, Sire, are, on this occa-
sion, our wishes and desires, and we beg your Majesty to ac-
cept them with our respectful congratulations."
Not a word is here said about the blessings
of peace, or the merit due to the king for its
maintenance. Nor is there more than a hope
expressed that the blessings enjoyed up to the
present moment may be continued. Altogether
the address bespeaks an altered state of rela-
tions with France. It loses sight of the Sove-
reign, and confines itself to the feelings of the
individual. The King is sunk in the grandfa-
ther, and the Royal heart gives place to the
paternal. Nor was the King's answer less guard-
ed. It is as follows :

" The Diplomatic Corps knows the value that I attach to
the sentiments you have just expressed in its name. It is
very agreeable for me to hear them at the moment when, as
you say, the celebration of the baptism of my grandson is for
me and my family a new proof of the divine protection of
which we have had so many testimonies. In thanking you for
the good wishes you express, I beg you to receive the expres.

- JO; _
20,879,246 ; 1839, 27,239,607; 1840, 27,599,968.
The years prior to 1836 are unnoticed, because
in them considerable alterations and reductions
were made in Customs and Excise duties. Sub-
sequent to 1836, no alteration of any importance
was made in the duties, till the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER levied the increase of 5 per
cent. in 1840. On these premises, as the revenue
of 1836, from Customs and Excise, was
36,392,4721., Mr. WILSON says it ought to have
been respectively--
In 1837 £36,938,363 but wa5...... £33,958,42l
1838 37,484,254 ...... 34,478,417
1839 38,030,145
1840...... 38,567,036
The last year includes the additional duty of
5 per cent. " From the calculation," says Mr.
WILSON, " it appears clear that if the population
have increased in the same ratio that it did be-
tween 1821 and 1861, and that if each individual
in the community possessed the same command
of the necessaries and comforts of life which
he did in 1836, then the nett produce of the con-
sumption revenue in 1840, without any additional
rate of tax whatever, should have been at least
3,000,0001. sterling more than it has actually been,
notwithstanding an increased rate of five per
cent. which the community have paid on every-
thing consumed." From our emendation of Mr.
WILSON'S principle it follows that the increase in
the revenue should have been greater than he
states, and the real falling away of national pros-
perity is more alarming than he imagines. In all
statistical calculations we must always bear in
mind that native has implanted in man a power-
ful spring of prosperity and of increase, capable of
surmounting. even all the hardships of savage
life and all the severities of the most rigorous
climate. Consequently a nation is not prosperous
when its resources do not increase, or increase
only sky vvly,—they ought, consistently with the
wise provisions of nature, to increase rapidly, and
the more rapidly the further a nation is advanced
in krtuwledge and skill. •
We will now borrow a long passage from Mr.
WimsoN, which will show how, and by whom, the
be nevolent provisions of nature are contravened :
From 1833 to 1836, notwithstanding a reduction was made
irt each year both in the Customs and Excise duties, yet the
7.aeceipts rapidly increased, even in a greater ratio than the sup-
posed increase of population, showing that the consumptive
ability of the community was also as rapidly increasing; but,
as we have already seen, from that period to the present time
we have experienced a great falling off.
So striking a change in the condition of the country, indi-
cating so great a diminution of the command of the great ne-
cessaries and comforts of life, cannot but excite much anxiety;
and we are surprised that a greater effort has not been used to
arrive at a satisfactory solution of this melancholy fact:—some
will no doubt be content to say that from 1833 to 1636 com-
merce and trade were particularly prosperous, labour greatly
in demand, and wages good, and that, consequently, the peo-
ple possessed a great power of purchase and consumption ; and
that since 1836 the contrary has been the case. Such has no
doubt been the fact ; but this distinction could not have ex-
isted between the two periods without some primary cause,
which we have no doubt will be found to arise from the great
difference in the price of food during the two periods alluded to.
In 1834, 35, and 36, the whole cost of wheat to the com-
munity, calculating the consumption at sixteen millions of
quarters annually, at the average price of each year, was-
-1834
1835
1836

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