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

dares that he was not in Greenock from the time the
ganger was beat till the time of his apprehension. De-
clares that he never heard or knew that any reward had
been offered for his apprehension, till two days before it
took place, and he was then told by a person ho met in
the streets of Liverpool that a reward had been offered,
but he did not believe it. And all this he declares to be
truth.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

ROM THE MORNING PAPERS OP THIS DAY.
CHRONICLE.—Lord Melbourne, as we yesterday ob-
served, has always carefully avoided committing himself to an
opposition to a repeal of the Corn monopoly on principle. He
uniformly told the House, when opposing any motion for in-
quiry, that a time might come, and circumstances might arise,
which might render it absolutely necessary that the question,
with all its difficulties and inconveniences, should be consi-
dered and discussed. Like a clear-headed, practical States-
man, too, he declared that it would be inexpedient for the
Government to 'enter on the consideration of the question, un-
less " adecided opinion was expressedonthe subject by a large
majority of the people." That this view of the import of his Lord-
ship's speeches, on the question of the Corn-laws, isnot new, or
taken up by us for the occasion, we could easily show by a re-
ference to our file. On the 3d July, 1533, for instance, in re-
viewing the discussion to which a petition gave rise which was
presented by Earl Fitzwilliam from the city of Glasgow, pray-
ing for the total repeal of the Corn-laws, we remarked, " How-
ever indefensible the Corn-laws may be on every sound prin-
ciple, they can only be altered by the determination of the
people not to submit to them. There was, therefore, sound
practical sense in what fell from Viscount Melbourne, when
he declared that he ought not to introduce a new system,
unless he was satisfied that he was acting with a great
majority of the people, and that he was decidedly and cer-
tainly acting right, and for the benefit and advantage of the
country.' It may be true, as has been stated, that the land-
owners have a preponderance in the Legislature, and that it
would be useless for the commercial and manufacturing part of
the community to agitate questions to which the former are
decidedly opposed. Be this as it may, the opponents of the
Corn-laws know the terms en which alone they can be altered.
Ministers can only be reached through the Legislature ; and
if the people cannot move the House of Commons, they cannot
move the Government Fairly interpreted,
Lord Melbourne's observations mean, we think, merely this,
that a Ministry can only hope to be able to effect great
changes in matters of commercial policy and finance, when
the opinion of the the country has been decidedly expressed
in their favour When the people are de-
_. .

termined on any change, the Ministry must, of course, give
effect to the popular will." It remains with the people them-
selves to determine whether the Melbourne Cabinet have cor-
rectly read the 'signs of the times. Powerful interests are
arrayed against the Ministry, and if the people themselves do
not make the question their own, {lie Corn-law monopoly
must continue to press them to the earth. We will not, how-
ever, believe that the people, who ten years ago had the sense
and the spirit to unite as one man, whereby they were enabled
to extort the Reform Bill, without the effusion of a drop of
blood, from the most powerful oligarchy in the world, are now so
stupid as not to perceive the importance of making a great effort,
at :this time, to extort from the same oligarchy a Com-
mercial Reform Bill, or so spiritless as to shrink from the ex-
ertions which may be necessary to ensure so great a blessing.
If the people are now wanting to themselves, when the oppor-
tunity which they so long desired has at length arrived, they
may have to expiate their folly by long years of political de-
basement. For we are now arrived at a crisis when to
persist in our present commercial policy is certain de-
struction to the best interests of the nation. " The cir-
cumstances," said Lord Melbourne, " had, in his opinion,
now arisen—the time, in his mind, had xow come when,
in order to meet the exigencies of the country, it was necessary
to take wide, large, and extensive financial measures, affect-
ing almost all our other interests of a commercial nature at
home and abroad ; and under such circumstances it was
manifestly impossible to leave this great, this main, this mas-
ter interest unaffected and unapproached." What are these
circumstances? exclaim the Tories. Need we refer to the ex-
piration of our treaty with Brazil, a country which has hitherto
been an extensive market for our manufactures? The people
of Brazil say, we have nothing to give you in exchange but
our cotton and our sugars, and you refuse to take them. We at
present send them to Germany, and with the proceeds buy bills,
which we remit to you. But this is an inconvenient way of
doing business. When our treaty with you is at an end, we
shall buy from the Germans as well as sell to them. In like
manner the United States of North America are about to en-
ter on the revision of their tariff. The United States are the
chief purchasers of our manufactures; and they, too, are indig-
nant that we exclude their wheat and other agricultural
produce from our markets, and will certainly impose a con-
siderable additional duty on our manufactures. With Germany
we still carry on an extensive commerce, and the Germans are
a people differing little from ourselves in the capability of la-
bour, and in the perseverance which forms so essential a cha-
racteristic in all the Teutonic races. The Germans are
making rapid advances in every branch of industry. By re-
fusing to admit 'heir productions, except by fits and starts,
and under a system of duties which defies all the calculations
of prudence we not only diminish our commercial transactions
with them (for all commerce resolves itself ultimately into
barter), but we give a bounty to their manufacturers,
and raise up rivals, who will meet us in every foreign
market. Other countries protest against our exclusive
commercial system, and the Government is pressed on all
hands for such a revision of our code as shall put it on a more
liberal footing, Now, a foreign market is essentially neces-
sary to us. We export manufactures to an amount exceeding
fifty millions a year. To a large manufacturing population
the markets of the world are indispensable. To narrow these
markets by a refusal to take the commodities produced by
the nations with which we deal, is to condemn our great
manufacturing towns to ruin. Year after year our population
is increasing at a rapid rate, our towns becoming cities, and
our villages becoming large towns. What is to become of this
enormous population of manufactures if we persist in an exclu-
sive system, by which we close the markets of the world
against us? Our merchants and manufacturers com-
plain bitterly that their investments are becoming less
and less profitable—that their returns are not what they used
to be, and that if the present Corn-law be maintained the most
melancholy results must soon await them. We put out of con-
sideration for the present the fact that our agricultural pros-
perity is dependent on our manufacturing prosperity, and we
ask the advocates of Corn monopoly how they meats to dispose
of the millions whom they are about to deprive of
employment? These millions will cling to life as
long as they can, and will not suffer themselves
to perish without a fearful struggle. From foren
trade they at present derive the means of supplying their
wants by purchase from the landowners; but their wants must,
in same way or other, be supplied, should the means of purchase
be denied them. On the land they must come, as paupers or
purchasers , and it is for the landowners to choose in which
capacity. Rents will soon be swallowed up by poor-rates, and
the landowners will be compelled to partition out the soil to an
excessive population, from inability otherwise to dispose of it.
We are not afraid of the people of England if justice be done to
them. All that they want is to have elbow room. We
have coals, and iron, and strong arms, and if the
corn monopolist will only let them alone, if the land-
owner will only content himself with the immense
advantages which landowners necessarily possess in a country
which exports manufactures, and whence food must always be
dearer than in a country which exports food, we can see no
limits to the development of our industry, and to our com-
mercial prosperity. But if the monopolists should now suc-
ceed, through the supineness of the people, we see nothing but
calamity in store for us. We have no faith in the moderation
of the monopolists, but we place much reliance on their appre-
hensions. We know that, if the people exert themselves as
they ought, the monopolists must give way. But again and
again we repeat, the people must do their own business.
TIMES.—We never recollect a more profligate aban-
donment of principle on the part of a public man than that
of which Lord Melbourne was guilty in the House of Lords on
Monday night. If anything were wanting to stamp with in-
famy the course which the present Ministers have resolved
upon pursuing, it was this extraordinary exhibition of the roue
Premier. The declarations which this careless and very off-
hand person formerly made the sut ject of the Corn-laws are
well known to our readers. And yet in May, 1841, Lord Mel-
bourne is not ashamed to come forward and assert, that " with
respect to the measure itself, he always carefully reserved his
opinion," because " he saw the time must come when it would
be necessary for their Lordships to take this question
into their serious consideration, for the purpose of
placing the law upon another basis." He reminds the
House of Lords, that his former arguments against
change were " based upon particular and temporary grounds,"
and reasons of " expediency ; " and that on the occasion re-
ferred to by the Duke of Buckingham he expressly said,
" This is a question of circumstances ; because circumstances
connected with the state of the country, considerations of
various kinds, of economy or policy, may arise, which would
not only justify, but would render it necessary to pursue, a
different course." And now, though "to the arguments
which he on those former occasions introduced," he still, even
"at the present moment," attributes " a great portion of
force and strength," yet he affirms that " those circumstances
have arisen, and that time, in his opinion, has come," when
it is in fact necessary to take into consideration this question,
" with all its difficulties, inconveniences, and disadvantages."

Whence, my Lord Melbourne, is this new necessity, thiicri-
deal emergency in the present state of affairs ? What is that
weighty and uncontrollable pressure of circumstances in 1841,
which has reconciled you to the " great evil " of change ;
which has convinced you that a change in the Corn-
laws " will be not only for the better, but so much for
the better as to make it worth while ?" worth
while to involve this country in " a most violent struggle,
stirring society to its foundations, and leaving behind every
sort of bitterness and animosity ?" What is the irresistible
force which has compelled you, in spite of your reluctance, to
add to the bitterness of "the deepest feelings of discord and
enmity, by rashly adventuring to stir and agitate them?" Is
it that the evil effects of the present Corn-law have become so
gigantie, so intolerable, as to make any sacrifice worth while
for the sake of getting rid of this "master grievance?" Is it
that the people are perishing with famine, and that they dis-
turb your noon-day slumbers by clamouring for bread? Not
so. By the blessing of Providence, the abundant harvest of
last summer has removed for the present all fear of distress
from a deficiency or an exorbitant price of corn. There
would have been infinitely greater reason to make the change
upon this account in either of the two former years
than in 1841. Yet even in 1840 Lord John Rus-
sell declared that "the extent of the evil caused
by the Corn-laws had been greatly exaggerated," and that,
such as it was, " it would continue to exist after an alteration
of those laws." But, perhaps, the time has arrived which was
contemplated by Lard John Russell when he addressed the
House of Commons (on the 26th of May, 1840) in the follow-
ing manner:—" I think that if, in a question of this kind,
there should be a general wish for an alteration---if there
were a settled opinion that some new measure of legislation
should be adopted, but, at the same time, there was a diffe-
rence of opinion as to the precise measure which should
be adopted—the Government might safely step in, and
propose such a measure as they should deem most con-
ducive to the national interests. But when the majority of
the Rouse, composed of Members of both sides, are of opinion
that at present there should not be any alteration in the
Corn-laws—if, in that case, the Government should introduce
any measure, they would only enhance the arguments, the in-
terests, and the prejudices o f Hon. Members on both sides, the
itensity of party feelings, and the
.animosities of party dis-
cussions, and thus they would not promote, but rather retard,
the settlement of the question." A few weeks, perhaps a few
nights, will show whether there exists in the House of
Commons such a " general wish," such a "settled opi-
nion," or even such a bare majority in favour of any al-
teration in the Corn-laws, as, upon this view (in which
we entirely concur), would justify a Ministry in bring-
ing the question forward. If not, we must conclude
that Lord John Russell, by throwing down from the Treasury
benches the apple of Corn-law discord, intends, with his habi-
tual insincerity, " not to promote, but rather to retard, the
settlement of this question ;" and we shall still have to search
for the nature of the exigency which has forced Lord Melbourne
upon his present course. And, in truth, we shall not have
far to search for it. The account which Lord Melbourne
professes himself to give of the matter is equally puerile and
profligate; being, in substance, that because the country has,
under the misgovernment of himself and his colleagues, become
involved in financial difficulties, which require a revision of the
financial system, it is impossible to leave the Corn-laws untouch-
Or while" other commercial (motions are readjusted: • This is