The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-29 00:00:00

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LONDON
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1841.

Amongst the advocates of emigration there is
some little disingenuousness, with a great deal of
dent. They argue the question as if it were one
or 116 emigration, while the real
of endo-ration,
question is, whether the Government shall
interfere to
promote
.emigration at this time,
as a means of removing or lessening the na-
we
tional distress. object, on principle, to
the Government interfering at all with the
subject at any
time, because Government is
protect
constituted to the people in the free
and ndustry, not
We
to
use of of their capital i
in employing either.
at or ipifluence them
re
object particularly to the Government inter-
feting to promote emigration at this time as a
means of retteving distress, because that falsely
•
implies that the distress is caused by a surplus
population, and would be lessened by removing
a portion of the people. There is no ground
whatever for such an opinion, and those who en-
tertain it have never duly studied the question of
population.
The presumed surplus of population is in rela-
tion to capital and the means of employment.
But capital is abundant, and those who own it
ask the Legislature to allow them to give em-
ployment to the people at home, and the Legis-
lature refuses. A great prejudice apparently
exiStsoa the subject, derived from old times, when
few other arts than agriculture were known as
a means of employment and of obtaining food. It
is still supposed that, for people to be employed
and fed, a great quantity of land is necessary,
and as that cannot be obtained here, the people
must be sent to other lands in order to live. After
it has been demonstrated over and over again,
scores. of times since ADAM SMITH wrote, that la-
bour-. the single source of wealth ; that
the land naturally produces only rank grass,
bramblesf and trees, which must be removed
before laliour can be profitably employed on it,
the patrons of emigration still insist that land is
the great necessity; that man is a superfluity
where hind is not abundant; that labour is not
the sole source.- of wealth; and that our indus-
trious, skilful, and intelligent people, cannot ob-
tain abundance of food; because we have not

here a great abundance of land. Such an opi-
nion is' at variance with some of the best-known

facts of history, and the most palpable phe-
nomena of the present day in our country.
Venice, Genoa, and Rolland, are all ex-
amples of great nations having grown up
to almost imperial dominion with very circum-
scribed territories. They, particularly Holland,
gathered bread from the salt wave. But if mere
land gave wealth, why was not New Holland,
why was not the immense continent of America,
peopled with numerous and wealthy nations in-
stead of a few wandering savages ? To make
those lands productive of subsistence required the
industry, arts, and skill of Europe and those
arts, skill, and industry, are capable as England
herself proves, of gaining and creating subsis-
tence for those who exercise them.

Mr. MALTHUS, in speaking of the checks to
population in England, observes, that it had
doubled itself in about 831 years prior to the be-
ginning of this century, and he adds that this
appears a fair rate of increase in an old peopled
country; but he goes on to express his astonish-
ment that in the first ten years of this century
the people in this old country had increased at a
much more rapid rate. Such an observation did
not open his eyes, blinded by a theory; nor has
it or a thousand kindred phenomena opened the
the eyes of his followers to the very important
fact that the subsistence of man depends far less
on the extent of soil that he can command than
on his skill, industry, and ingenuity, and he and
they are all smitten to the heart with despair for
the fortunes of mankind, and of England in par-
ticular, because the soil immediately at com-
mand is not immeasurable, like the heavens.
They take up the landlords' prejudice, that the
soil is all in all ; and, instead of demanding free-
dom for industry, freedom for enterprize and
skill, they are willing to waft away our skilful
men—who form,however, only parts of our great
system of division of labour, and are put out of
joint if they are removed—to the other side of
the globe because there land is abundant.
What is the lesson England herself teaches?
Since the beginning of this century, though the ex-
tent of surface has not been increased, the popula-
tion has very nearly doubled. Means have been
found to feed in England alone very nearly
15,000,000 persons ; whereas, in 1801, only
8,330,000 were fed. What has fed these
people? The soil? No. Their own skill and
industry. The cultivators of the soil have
not increased during the last ten years to the
same degree as the inhabitants of Monmouth-
shire, Durham, Staffordshire, Lancashire, &c.,
the great seat of mines and coals, and the
sites of our cotton and woollen manufacturest
The great majority of the additional 7,000,000
people are mechanics and artizans, who have
fed themselves and fed others by their own
industry. They have received nothing from
the soil, or from those who cultivate it,
without giving for it a large equivalent. By
improvements in art and skill, by a better appli-
cation of industry, by superior knowledge, this
vast increase. of our people has been fed, and
while the boundaries of our island have not been
enlarged, seven millions of souls have within the
present century been added to our population.
Is the reader aware that the addition almos.
equals the whole increase of the population from
the very beginning of history—during at least
20 centuries, to the close of the last century ?
From these facts we assert that a great ex-
tent of soil is of much less consequence than free-
dom of industry, in order to supply the people
with food, and that the surplus of population
complained of does not exist in relation to capi-
tal, or in relation to the surface of the country,
but in relation to those restrictions which igno-
rant and selfish legislators have laid on in-
dustry and enterprize. Those who would les-
sen the surplus by removing the people, instead
of removing the restrictions, apply a wrong cure.
The disease is entirely different from the one
they suppose, and their bold empiricism would
only aggravate the symptoms.
One of those bold empirics admitted on Satur-
day that the removal of the people by emigra-
tion
would speedily have the effect of adding to
the number of those who remain. How are
these additional persons to be employed and fed ?
It is well known that the principal increase of
the population has been in the manufacturing
towns and districts. It is equally well known
that the increase of the people in the strictly
agricultural counties has been very little, and
perhaps not more than equal to the increase of
their town population. Agricultural improve-
ments, unlike invention of machinery, dimin-
ish the quantity of employment; and it is there-
fore doubtful whether the actual tillers of the
soil, the number of farm-labourers, has increased
at all. Those who would promote emigration,
before the landlords' monopoly is extinguished,
would give, as they say, a stimulus to popula-
tion, which population cannot be absorbed in
agriculture. At the same time the landlords
declare, by their Corn-law, that the town popu-
tion shall not increase any more. Indeed, it
may be doubted whether it has increased much
since 1837, and whether almost all the increase
which the Census shows did not take place be-
fore that year. There will be no means,
therefore, of employing and feeding the increas-
ing population which sending away some of the
population is to cause. To call on the Govern-
ment to promote emigration, instead of demand-
ing the repeal of the Corn-law, is to forget all prin-
ciples in the pain of a temporary annoyance, and
from a momentary hope of relief. It would be act-
ing like the savage whose unreflecting conduct we
condemn, who sells in the morning the hammock
he no longer needs for the moment, and at night
would sell himself to get it back. The great
cause of distress and discontent is the terrible in-
road still made by legislation on freedom of trade,
after it has been beaten from most of its encroach-
ments on freedom of conscience and personal
liberty; and be who now asks for emigration
instead of freedom barters the birth-right of the
human species for the privilege of being trans-
ported.

At former periods of distress the Government
was wont to come to the relief of the people by
loans—by advances of Exchequer Bills—by open-
ing, if it could, new channels of trade—and by in-
creasing the employment and resources of the
people. That system was knocked on the head
by the Earl of LIVERPOOL in 18:26, and since
then, only two years before the present Corn-
law was passed, the Government has continually
declared itself impotent to relieve any great
calamity
which may fall on trade. The doctrine
it has professed is, that trade must help itself;
that it will
can dofind its
Legis-
lature, which we know can do so much to ruin,
nothingto
ewtrui
retrieve
it.
Sir and
Sir ROBERT PEEL
seems fully impressed with
resolves to adhere to this
practice. Three months
this doctrine, and
ofhas
the community is
he been in office ;
the manufacturing part
plunged in deep distress ;
and
'has he taken, to
not one thought
By whpat as
has he breathed, not
one Ste
we know of
amend its condition. do
his existence as Prime Minister? He has issued
a commission to. inquire into collecting the
revenue, with a view, it is said, to farm it out to
the Bank of England. - He has issued commis-
sions to inquire into Chancery practices, and into
the means of improving the Fine Arts. We ri-
diculed the idea of relieving the public distress
by constructing public buildings when it was put
forth by the Quarterly Review, but the Prime
Minister goes even further than Mr. CROKER,
and seems to suppose that our social evils can be
allayed by a few fresco paintings.
It is said his greatest, his. most important,
proceeding, is the large promotion he has made
of officers in the Army and Navy. Supposing
that promotion to be due to the two services,
and on that we give no opinion, it indicates
a much more acute sensibility to the claims of
the military than to the wants of the people.
The spirit of an old soldier, rather than the care,
of a manufacturer's son, and the wisdom of a
commercial Miniker of a nuinufacitirini pdople, is
visible in the proceeding. The Government feels

the necessity of being in favour with the military,
since it is resolved not to redress the wrongs of
the people. They are obviously the persons
whom it must lead by their opinions, whomever
else it may mean to coerce. We are afraid,
therefoxe, .however acceptable this promotion
may be to the individuals benefited, and to the
admirers of our gallant Army and Navy, that in
the manufacturing districts it will be thought to
add insult to injury, mockery to oppressi?n, and
increase those feuds and that strife amongst the
different classes which a wise Minister would
make it his chief business to heal.

A case was tried in the Court of Exchequer on
Saturday which shows the use of Juries, and the
tyranny which some Judges would exercise, un-
less restrained by the practical knowledge and
common-sense of the persons selected to decide
on cases in which the lower classes are interested.
A servant girl brought an action against her mas-
ter for arresting and imprisoning her for a night
on a paltry charge of stealing an old box. The
case was heard before a police magistrate, who
immediately dismissed the charge. Lord ABIN-
GER, who tried the cause, summed up strongly
in favour of the master, telling the Jury that it
was clearly a case of felony ; but the Jury were
clearly of opinion that there was no felony at all ;
that it, was the result of a paltry quarrel between
a master and a servant; that the plaintiff had
been most unjustly imprisoned, and in order
to testify their reprobation of the conduct of the
defendant and the Judge, returned a verdict
for the plaintiff, with 201. damages. -Upon this
Lord ABINGER said, " Gentlemen, this is your
verdict, not mine." What right has a Judge to
make such a remark ? Who ever heard of a
Judge returning a verdict, and for what purpose
could the observation have been made ? Pos-
sibly the solicitor of the defendant may profit by
it, and put the plaintiff to the expense of a new
trial. Aged Judges are generally bad enough,
but an old man, who happens to be a new Judge
and a political renegade, is beyond endurance.

We subjoin the text of the diplomatic Note
addressed by the Sublime Porte to the Cabinets
of England, France, and Russia, relative to the
violations of the friendly relations between
Turkey and Greece by the latter of these
Powers. Considering the extent of the pro-
vocations Turkey has received from Greece,
and the repeated refusals of King Onto
to afford the Divan any redress, it is
more temperate in language than we were
prepared to expect. Had the first advice
of TAHIR PACHA been followed, the Divan, im-
mediately after the suppression of the revolt in
Candia, would have made war upon Greece,
without consulting any of the Powers. RIFAAT
PACHA opposed this, foreseeing that any sud-
den movement would alarm Western Europe,
who would only see in it a treacherous invasion of
a Christian State, by a Government preserved by
them from the fury of a conquering vassal. The
Courrier Francais, and some other of the French
Journals, demand Thessaly from the Porte as the
right of Greece ; but there is now reason to sup-
pose that the French Government is rather in-
clined to back out of the promises of support
made by M. PISCATORY to his friends the
Greeks. Indeed that functionary, finding the
quarter in which the tide is setting in to be ra-
ther adverse, hints at misconception of his mean-
ing by King OTHO and his Ministers. M. PIS-
CATORY in Greece, like M. THIERS in Turkey,
will be made the scapegoat of Royalty, should
such a measure become necessary.

NOTE SENT BY THE PORTE ON THE 28TH OF OCTOBER TO
THE REPRESENTATIVES OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND

RUSBLi.

The question of the property of Turks in Greece has
been now many years pending between the Sublime
Porte and the Greek Government ; and the position of a
great number of Mussulmans, owners of this property,
has become worse daily. The representatives of the
Three Powers at Athens have just presented a Note to
the Greek Foreign Minister, to hasten the solution of
this affair. The Minister of the Sublime Porte at
Athens has sent a copy of this note, and his Highness
has learnt with joy this step, as a prod of the sentiments
of equity with which the Three Powers are animated
towards his Goverment.

Not only is it urgent to terminate at length this
affair, but all the world knows that the Sublime Porte is
anxious to preserve unshaken the relations of friendship
between it and other Courts; and to facilitate, as far as
in it lies, the happy issue of affairs, which interest them,
desirous especially of•maintaining and multiplying ami-
cable relations with Greece. Desiring this, on account
of their near neighbourhood, it hoped that the Greek
Government would evince similar sentiments, but in this
it has been disappointed.
First of all, this question of Mussulman property in
Oreeee, provided for by treaties, remains for a number
of years in suspense, in consequence of the interminable
difficulties of every kind obstructing the solution. The
property of a number of Ottoman subjects is thus lost,
and themselves reduced to misery. Nothing, as yet, an-
nounces a desirable result.

Secondly, instead of preventing the departure of those
who were proceeding to Candia to aid the insurrection
of the inhabitants against the Sultan's authority, the
Greek Government has not even accused these indivi-
duals since their return. They are, on the contrary,
treated with benevolence, and allowed to reside where
they please.
Thirdly, two young Turkish girls, torn violently from
their mother, have pot been restored, and nothing is
given but inadmissible excuses.
Fourthly, a Mnssulman of 70 years of age, residing
alone in his habitation, not far from Azdin, was assas-
sinated by night and his property stolen.
Fifthly, certain persons in Greece have formed a So-
ciety to foment troubles and rebellions in the Ottoman
empire ; and Government has by no means endeavoured
to put a stop to this. Most of the Greek journals, as
every one knows, disseminate most pernicious ideas, and
tend to excite the Sultan's subjects to revolt.
Sixthly, Colonel Velentza, one of those just alluded
to, remains on the frontier, frequently passes into the
Turkish territory to sow trouble there, and is now on
the point, it is known, of penetrating again within the-
frontier. No efficient measure has been taken to put a
stop to the trouble occasioned by this perturbation.
Some time since, a treaty of commerce, containing all
kinds of facilities and favour was entered into, and yet
it was treated as pernicious to commerce and objection-
able, even before the least experiment was made of it.
These things are contrary to international rights and
amity, to the duties of a good neighbour, and they threaten
the interests of the Porte, as well as the tranquillity
of its subjects. The Sublime Porte, in consequence, begs
the Three Powers, his allies and friends, to invite the
Greek Government to devise means of putting an end to
this state of suspense, and to terminate pending differ-
ences ; to permit no longer perturbators to foment rebel-
lion in Turkey, and to pursue a line of conduct befitting
a friendly Government. If the employment of good offices
,by the Powers for the settlement of these affairs should
produce a satisfactory result, this is all that can be
desired. If not, it is decided that all Greek interests,
and commerce, and affairs, requiring the support and
intervention of the Turkish Government, shall be ob-
structed and treated with little favour. Nor need any
observations be addressed to the Porte on the subject,
since it has every right to act thus. It is necessary and
important that Greece should give redress in the mat-
ters enumerated. The Three Powers cannot but recog-
nise and appreciate, in their equity, the importance and
justice of these complaints, and the inconvenience and
dangers that the continuance of such a state of things
must give rise to. TheLSublime Porte entreats the
representatives to inform their respective Courts, and
begs the Powers to endeavour to bring about a speedy
solution of the question of Turkish property in Greece,
according to the note addressed by their envoys to the
Government at Athens, as well as a settlement of the
other affairs enumerated, &c.

An interesting account of a revolution at Ge-
neva, will be found in another part of The Sun,
to which we refer our readers.

The Madrid Journals received are of the 21st.
inst. On the 26th the return of the REGENT to
pected. The decree for the
the capital was ex
convocation of the Cortes on the 26th of Decem-
ber appeared in the Madrid Gazette. The ca-
pital was tranquil, and the Funds improving.

The Paris Journals received this morning re-
present the existence of general wide-spread dis-
tress among the working classes and small
shopkeepers of that metropolis. The French
Government, •by upholding systems of monopo-
lies, foolishly intended to benefit this and that
class of producers, is fast reducing the bulk
of the working classes to a state of the
most deplorable destitution. Then the , im-
mense cost of her military and naval
institutions weighs like a millstone round the neck
of France. Yet so deplorable is the general ig;•
norance upon these questions, that a motion to
admit Prussian beef into France free of duty, or
to reduce the army by a single regiment, would
raise a-storm of indignant, clamour against the
Ministry! ,

As might be expected, the Syrian Correspon-
dents of the French Journals attribute all
the disturbances in that devoted country-to British
machinations. " The English," says a writer

. •
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