The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-23 00:00:00

e

Y. 0.0

EVENING SUN.

human wants unsatisfied, and den doubt, if he can,
the efficacy of consumption. There is scarcely a
civilised spot on the globe on which the now impo-
verished labourer cannot produce, is excess of his
own wants, some peculiar commodity with which he
could provide himself with those other commodities he
an greatly needs, if his right of exchange were not
deprived by the interposition of some arbitrary power.
Mutual supply by means of such exchange is the
scheme, and it is the law of nature, loudly pro-
claimed by the diversities of climate, soil, and
capacities ; it is the manifest design of a beneficent
Providence for the benefit of the human race.
But what is the law of man ? An impious pro-
hibition of the law of God. I figure to myself the
family of a Manchester or Birmingham or Pais-
ley workman, contemplating on a Saturday night the
true exchangeable value of their week's work, and com-
puting how much food, as well as other commcdities it
would supply them with under the free operation of the
a Memo. of Providence, and of the law of nature. 1 also
tisure to myself the family of the Polish or other fore;ge
husbandmen longing to doff the;r miserable dresses of
sheep-skin, or other rude materials, and to exchange
their corn for the fabrics nt the spindle and the loom.
A greater offence can hardly be committed then to ob-
struct the mutual dealings of such parties, except it can
be justified as a necessary national sacrifice. 1 stoutly
deny the nationality of the object. The restraint is no-
thing less than' a taking of the necessaries of life from
those who have nothing to spare, in order to increase
the luxuries of those whose command of them would
bear reduction ; supposing, but by no means admitting,
that any reduction 1,4 ou!d ensue. There is no rational
ground for any protection to our home productions be-
yond that which may inevitably arise out of duties
imposed for the sake of revenue. The poor man has a
sacred right to the fruits of his labour, a right which he
can never be said to enjoy. unless he be at liberty to
make the most advantageous exchange he can of the
product of his own labour for that of the labour of
others.—(Loud cheers.) I know that a claim is set up
by the proprietors of hind for an exclusive protection of
their interests. Even granting the justice of their claim,
in the face of the fact that the manufacturers have for
years offered to relinquish oh protection of their inter-
ests, and the still more important fact that the labour
of the artisan has no protection, and the equally indis-
putable fact that the tiller of the soil is at this moment
among the worst paid labourers in the country,-1 say,
admitting the claim, it is capable of easy demonstration
that the present system is subversive of the interests of
that very class for whose benefit the monopoly has
been given. lam happy that we have on this subject
the testimony of a Scotch landed proprietor of equal
eminence as a Christian, a moral philosopher, and a po-
litical economist; I mean James Douglas, Esq. of Covers.
No class of the community have been more injured by
the Corn laws than the landholders themselves.
These laws have made the value of land alto-
gether a lottery. The uncertainty they occasion with
respect to the profits of farming, have been highly inju-
rious to agriculture, and the high nominal vague
which they continue to landed property, has led its pos-
sessors into an expenditure beyond their real income.
The Corn-laws have thus greatly retarded the national
prosperity, without any class in the nation being gainers
by their operation. Indeed, it is only from a narrow
view of the subject that they are supposed to augment
the rent of land. The great object of every British
patriot should be, to place his country at the head of
the nations, and to make it the capital of the world.
As well might the landlords of Middlesex desire to
have the corn of other countries excluded from the
London market, as the British landholders seek to ex-
clude the importation of foreign corn into Britain.
Tue rents of Middlesex are hgher, on account of London
being the great mart for the produce of the country at
large, and the rents of Britain would eventually be
raised by the corn of all other countries being freely
consumed here, purchased, it necessarily must be,
by the great extension of British manufactures, and
procured by the industry of an augmented population.
In addition to the testimony of Mr. Douglas, Mr.
Thompson cited several passages from the published
letters of Mr. W. 'Whitmore, exposing the groundless-
ness of the alarm excited for the agricultural interests
of the country, and strongly ridiculing the assertion that
a Corn-law makes us independent of foreign countries.
The idea of independence, Mr. Whitmore ridicules as
the " consummation of impracticable nonsense." Ours
was now a dependence of the s cry worst sort ; a de-•
pendence to which, in five or six out of every ten years,
we are obliged to resort ; but, in order to make it more
successful, we take advantage of occasional periods of
abundance to injure, insult, and deride the party whose
aid we are obliged to implore in time of need.—( Cheers.)
It is deeply to be regretted, continued Mr. Thompson,
that the great question now agitating the public mind has
to be referred fur final adjudication to men, the vast ma-
jority of whom believe that their own personal interests
are involved in the issue, and who are, therefore, ince-
pacit Ited from coming to a sound or honest judgment
upon it. The authors I have quoted are splendid ex-
ceptions, and are in company with others of still higher
rank, who, though to a still greater extent connected
witn the land of the country, are equally opposed to
the present system. 1 might refer to the names and
speeches of distinguished peers—to a Spencer, a Fitz-
william, a Radnor, a Leicester, a Lansdowne, a Lein-
ster, a Punmure, a Westminster, a Sutherland, a Cleve-
land, a Norfolk, a Bedford, a Devonshire, and a Prince
of the Blood-Royal, the Duke of Sussex.---(Cheers.)
It is legislation by interested parties, legislation for
partici:liar classes, legislation upon narrow principles,
legislation based upon expediency, that has brought
us into our present embarrassed and impoverished
coedition—a condition from which there seems no
escape, but by a speedy recognition of sound
principles, and a faithful observance of the laws of
nature and the will of God, that we should
do as we would be done by. But I must
now take leave to direct your attention for a few mo-
ments to our present and future relations to a country
in which we all feel a deep interest. I mean tho United
States of America. I may possibly be able to open a
new and cheering prospect to your view.—(Heer, hoar.)
It was my Leee and expeetetion, until a day or two ago,
that I should have the satisfaction of introducing to the
friends of free trade in this city, an intelligent gentle-
man, from the other side of the Atlantic, who is at pre-
sent in this country, labouring both with his pen and
with his voice to impress upon the people of Great
Britain, the importance of removing these unnatural
and wicked laws, which prevent the citizens of two great
nations from exchanging, on equal terms, the produce
of their industry. I am sorry to say, that circum-
stances have occurred to postpone the visit of Mr. Curtis,
the gentleman I refer to ; but that branch of the subject
on which he would have addressed you, is too intimately
connected with the general question to be omitted al-
together. I shall therefore venture to bring it briely
under your notice, and, though the treatment of it will
greatly suffer in my hands, yet I shall hope that enough
will be said to raise your curiosity, and lead you to de-
sire to hear more on this matter. The statements I
shall make will, by reason of the shortness of my time,
be only a few out of a multitude. For the same reason
I shall not be able to lay before you the tables and rea-
sonings by which the truth of these statements can bo
verified. But 1 will state nothing which I do not my-
selfbelieve•to be authentic, nothing which, if called upon
for the proof, I am not prepared to sustain by ready and
immediate reference to satisfactory evidence. How
stands the ease then ? Here we have a dense popula-
tion upon a soil of limited extent, unequal to the ade-
quate supply of its inhabitants. Those inhabitants arc
increasing at the rate of a thousand a-day. Millions of
them are upon a short allowance of bread ; hund fieds of
thousands are on Cie brink of utter starvation. And
yet, around us are all the elements of prosperity ;
mineral wealth, ma:h n Iv, handicraft skill, untiring
energy, the dominion of the seas, the power of st cam,
powerful political relations, and peaceful intercourse
these
circumstances do millions stretch out their hans
.r the most civilized na`ions in the world. In
dand
cry —" Give us bread! give us bread
not the bread of idleness, but this bread
If not, let us
will-
ing to cat in the sweat of our brow.or else
arc
we
these shores to other lands, where the a
star of hope arises in
doom, d to die of hunger."
have the privilege of the felon, and be transported from
frnoomt
front the frozen ocean to thehteropies
continent of Europe.
thirds as,egrest as that of t.
the Wes'. There lies, stretchejd‘. from.a
fNerotirltehitaondS,otuut.oh.,
expanse oiful
to countrythrithriving
s
settled More than
• organizeddf • kin theg
Ti i- race has spread itself g shores
republics. b
hundred
1 more than twelve miles. into tele in-
terior.penetrate(
eanhtak.if[l:loh..isS:pixreodnigralecues,
The energies o
er,
region, and
savnodrk todovelope
of the Atlantic for more than three :ehnreteeetnhoumsialnlidonmsiloefs
maenad,
make. t the
are likely to be thirty millions in twenty years from
sp
granary of the world. The seventeen millions of to-day
thee resourceski ng the
of English
this mightyagu ag
the present tim-, and nearly one hundred millions
mankind. From this land of promise, the
dawn upon in
when the cornmeaccment of the next century shall
Goshen of the earth, a messenger has come to say to
our starving countrymen, " We can give you bread.
We have enough and to spare. Lett' our law-makers
be just, and you shall live, at home if you please, and
rejoice in the blessings which have been granted to
us." Yes, the child offers to sustain the mother.
The offshoot turns to succour the parent stem. New
England sends her ambassador of peace and plenty
to Old England. The emigrant Scotsman sends leis
representative to his father-land, to offer the fruit of
his adopted country to the dweller in his native laud.
—(Cbe 're.) Let we he a little more particular and
specific. Of the twenty-six independent States, form-
ing under one general Government the United States
of America, there are six which seem peculiarly
adapted to be corn-growing States for other portions of
the globe. 'Fitese are the Nortli- Western States of Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, lowa, and Wiskonsin.
These cover an area of two hundred and thirty thou-
sand square miles, exclusive of nearly as mach more,
been
styled,
inv excellence, the
.
the title to which is at present mostly in the Indian
country, and the regions immediately
tribes.
contiguous
This
to
wheatogrowiug territories of America. " The country,
is vast

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