The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-10 00:00:00

SUN,. LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 10, 1841.

THE CORN-LAWS AND THE
NATIONAL DEBT.
(From a Dialogue on Board the Steam-boat Orwell.)
G. Ido not exactly understand who we mean. If it
means, as I suppose, the landowner and the land occu-
pier, in other words, the landlord and the tenant, then
these do not form a tenth-part of the tax-payers of the
country ; and the portion contributed by them, as I have
stated, is recovered again of the other nine-tenths by a
surcharge in the form of a Corn-law. But to compre-
hend more clearly how the balance of account stands be-
tween the landed interest and the national debt, we must
go back to the year 1793, the year in which the war
commenced ; we had then but a small amount of debt,
and corn was exported, the price being 445. per quarter.
Now it is a rather curious historical fact, that about that
time, or soon after, population, from being below thO
home supply of corn, rose to a par with it, and has ever
since gone a-head ; the laws then in operation, con-
ferring a bounty on all corn sent out of the country, be-
came obsolete, and subsequent ones have been enacted,
imposing a duty on all that 'comes in (agriculturists
must be privileged): this transition, from being
an exporting country to an importing one, was
greatly in favour of the land, and tended to
enhance its value, and had the peace continued,
and a natural order of things followed, all would
have been well ; but instead of this we had the war, and
with it the high war prices; these prices were occasioned,
Ist, by the continental ports being shut ; 2dly, by the
'foreign corn being required for the use of the foreign
armies ; and idly, by heavy. import charges, necessary in
' time of war to cover freight, insurance, and risks ;
under these and other circumstances, the cost of obtain-
ing corn amounted almost to a prohibition, and the Eng-
lish farmet entered the home market without a compe-
titor, demanded the full price which this order of things
created, and pocketed enormous and unearned profits at
the nation's expense : no wonder, then, that the value of
land increased during the war to double and treble its
former amount ; that rents rose in proportion ; and that
a jovial and luxuriant tenantry was the result.
Who rides his hunter, who his horse adorns,
Who drinks his wine, and his disbursement scorns ;
Who freely lives, and loves to show he can,
This is the farmer turned the gentleman.
So sang a Suffolk poet, a shrewd observer of human na-
ture, and fond of sketching the prominent characters
around him. It is a great and, popular delusion, and
which still hangs over the minds of many, to regard this
as a period of national prosperity ; it was one of misery
and calamity, and if proof be yet wanted, it may
be found in our 800 millions of debt ! One-fourth of
this sum, or 200 millions, passed into the pockets of
the agriculturists in the shape of war prices. The war
worked well for them, but it worked against the country.
Their profit was the nation's loss. To meet this order
of things, the Finance Minister of the day was necessi-
tated to have recourse to borrowing of loans; to obtain
these loans, it became indispensable to increase, by:fic-
titious means, the circulating medium of the country ; this
was done by the Bank df England issuing its promissory
notes, which notes soon surpassed in amount the value of
the current coin of the realm ; and as gold and silver
could no longer be given in exchange for them, the notes
were made legal tender, representing, in all the ordinary
transactions of trade, the value of the coin itself. One
curious exception, however, being allowed, viz., in favour
of the landlords, that their rents might be demanded in
cash 1 Depreciation of currency is synonymous with
advance of prices, the latter rising in value in proportion
as the other falls. Now the agriculturists, who furnished
the food for the people, as well as the principal supplies
for both the army and the navy, were just the class who
were benefited in a pre-eminent degree by the deprecia-
tion of the currency, and the last who ought to complain.
Whatever the depreciation might be, it was just so much
profit to them. Suppose, in consequence of the increased
issues of paper, that the value of money fell 25 per cent.,
which is generally admitted; then the Finance Minister
must be supposed to have asked for a loan of 25 millions,
when 20 millions would otherwise have done for him ;
the extra five millions being required to pay the advanced
price of corn which the depreciation occasioned. Thus
the farmer was indemnified for the increase of the debt
at the time ; the account on the score of depreciation
was settled with him to an almost fractional nicety. But
though the account was thus balanted between the landed
interest and the national debt, it was not so balanced be-
tween the farmer and the manufacturer, and the con-
sumer. At the close of the war the latter might very
justly have said to the agriculturists, " the calamities of
war, and the difficulties under which the nation has been
labouring, have had an incidental tendency to throw
great and most unnecessary profits, at our cost, into your
hands. It is therefore only an act of justice for the Go-
vernment to call upon you to refund some of those profits
to the nation : remember, the Continental ports being
shut benefited your home trade in corn, but it destroyed
our foreign trade in manufactures ; we think it therefore
but reasonable that a heavy tax should now be placed
upon land to restore the balance between us." This lan-
guage would have been fully justified by the then posi-
tion of affairs, and the imposition of such a tax perfectly
consistent. Nothing of the kind, however, was demanded,
nor is any restitution desired ; but when the benefited
party complains, the losing party may surely ask for an
investigation of the accounts between them.—F. It is
quite evident that we do not see eye to eye. The very
points which I considered our strongest ones, you regard
as our weakest. I still think that the Corn-law is not
the disadvantage to the country that many suppose ; be-
cause, allowing that it secures to the farmer better prices,
these are afterwards laid out again with the manufac-
turer—he becomes a better customer to the latter in
proportion.
G. My dear Sir, excuse me, this is a part and parcel of the
wretched reasoning with which the Corn-law advocates
have ever attempted to bewilder the country. If I give
you a sum of money for your goods beyond what they
are intrinsically worth, to enable you to be a better cus-
tomer to me in return, what do I get by it ? If you
merely lay out with me what I have given you in the
first instance, why might I not as well have retained the
money in my pocket ? But you do not do this. In lay-
inglhe money out you expect value for it. If I give you
10s. more for a quarter of corn than it is worth or I can
elsewhere buy it for, in coming to me with the 10s. again
you require a consideration on giving it up—say for a
10s. hat, which cost me Bs.—this latter sum,. therefore, I
lose by the transaction. The annual quantity of corn
required for the use of the nation, is computed at sixty
millions of quarters. Now taking the amount at only
forty millions.- it must•be evident that every shilling per
quarter which is added to the price by virtue of the
Corn-law, is a direct tax of two millions a year on '
the
nation. We have only, therefore, to ascertain what has
been the average price between the home-grown and
foreign corn in the English market since the war, to
allow two millions for the advance of each shilling, and
multiply by 25 the number of years since 1815, and
we have the sum required. The average difference of
price may be fairly computed at about 10s. per quarter;
this gives 20 millions annually, or 450 millions which
the nation has been taxed with by virtue of the Corn-law,
for the benefit of the landed interest, since the termination
of the war. A more perfidious and iniquitous system of
legislation, perhaps, never disgraced the annals of any
civilized country. Unfortunately the mischief does not
end here—the effect of the Corn-law is to destroy ma-
nufactures and commerce, and thus to deprive the nation
of the very means by. which all taxes are paid. When
will the people be wise or their rulers be just ?
War lays a burden on the sinking state,
And peace does nothing to relieve the weight.
Succeeding wars successive loads impose,
And sighing millions prophecy the close.

CUSTOMS OF THE COUNTRY.—The proprie-
ties of life are matters of conventional usage. Our host,
was a Don ; and when we presented our letter, he re-
ceived us with great dignity, in a single garment, loose,
white, and very laconic, not quite reaching his knees.
The dress of his wife was no less easy ; somewhat in the
style of the old-fashioned short gown and petticoat, only
the short gown and whatever else is usually worn under
it were wanting, and their place supplied by a string
of beads, with a large cross at the end. A dozen men
and half-grown boys, naked except the small covering
formed by rolling the. trousers up and down in the man-
ner I have mentioned, were lounging about the house ;
and women and girls, in such extremes of undress, that
a string of beads seemed quite a covering for modesty.
Mr. C. and I were in a rather awkward predicament for
the night. The general reception-room contained three
beds, made of strips of cow-hide interlaced. The Don
occupied one ; he had not much undressing to do, but
what little he had he did by pulling off his shirt. An-
other bed was at the foot of my hammock. I was dozing,
when I opened my eyes and saw a girl about seventeen
sitting sideway upon it smoking a cigar. She had a
piece of striped cotton cloth tied around her waist, and
falling below her knees ; the rest of her dress was the
same which nature bestows alike upon the belle of fashion-
able life and the poorest girl ; in other words, it was
the same as that of the Don's wife, with the exception of
the string of beads. At first, I thought it was something
I had conjured np in a dream ; and as I waked up per-
haps I raised my head, for she gave a few quick puffs of
her cigar, drew a cotton sheet over her head and shoul-
ders, and laid down to sleep. I endeavoured to do the
same. I called to mind the proverb, that " travelling
makes strange bedfellows." I had slept pell-mell with
Greeks, Turks, and Arabs. I was beginning a journey
in a new country ; it was my duty to conform to the cus-
toms of the people, to be prepared for the worst, and to
submit with resignation :to whatever might befal me.
As guests, it was pleasant to feel that the family made
no strangers of. us. The wife of the Don retired with
the same ceremonies. Several times during the night
we were waked by the clicking of flint and steel, and
saw one of our neighbours lighting a cigar. At day-
light the wife of the Don was enjoying her morning
slumber. While I was dressing she bade me good morn-
ing, removed the cotton covering from her shoulders,
and arose dressed for the day.—Stephen's Travels in
America.

Last week, at the Chippenham ploughing..
match dinner, Mr. Little said he was glad to see that
bigotry and prejudice were fast giving way, and that
three-horse ploughs were becoming more rare every
year. The Society had been established five years, and
he had never yet seen a three-horse plough wm a prize
as it was necessary that farming operations should be
carried on in the least expensive and most effective man-
ner, it was clear that the third horse was a waste of la-
bour. Mr. Little also said he had attended the meeting
of the Royal Agricultural Society at Liverpool, and
could assure the company that if the worst ploughing at
Chippenham had not been better than the best ploughing
there, the judges would not have felt themselves justified
in awarding the prize.—Southampton Paper.
Earl Granville, the British Ambassador at
Paris, as we previously stated, was to have returned to
this country at the close of the present month, but in
consequence of debility, arising from his late illness, his
Excellency remains at his villa near Paris, and the Duke
of Devonshire, who expected to receive his Noble rela-
tive at Chiswick, has, left town for
France.—Observer. comequence,

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF CHANCERY, Aug. 9.
PEYTON V. HUGHES.

This is an argument .on the construction of the will of
Mr. Lambert, who died in 1814. The case comes on for
further directions on the death of the person who had
been declared entitled to a life interest in the fund, which
.now amounts to 60,0001. The will was made by the
testator at the age of ninety-eight. It is in his own
handwriting, and very legible, but obscurely worded ;
and it appears to disinherit his daughter and her issue,
giving the reversion to his grand metes. A number of
counsel have been already heard in favour of different
parties.
Sir W. Follett and Mr. Sharp were this morning heard
for the heir-at-law. _ _ _

Mr. Peyton contended that the will was void from un-
certainty.
Mr. Wakefield and others were heard for other parties.

Mr. Sinney replied on the part of the nieces-of the
estator.

Judgment was postponed.
His Lordship then heard some lunatic petitions, and
rose at half-past five.

ROLLS' COURT, Aug.?.

His Lordship the Master of the Rolls was engaged
during the day in hearing notions.
In answer to a question from Mr. Pemberton, as to the
business of his Lordship would proceed with to-morrow,
the last day of sitting,
His LORDSHIP said: that if the parties desired it, he
would not refuse to sit a day longer. But he was sorry
that parties thought it worth their while to postpone
matters on the chance of having them heard on the last
day of sitting.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, Aug. 9.
(Before Mr. Commissioner BowEN.)
RE JAMES HUNTER.

The applicant for his discharge under the Benevolent
Act of 1 and 2 Victoria, is a surgeon-dentist, described
as late of Gower-street, Bedford-square, whose exa-
mination was cut short, it being fully demonstrated, to
the Court that the insolvent was not in a situation to
answer the questions put to him when the moral obliga-
tion of an oath was considered binding, he beinc, evi-
dently in an inebriated state, and' laughing when he
ought to have been serious. For this act of indiscretion
the Court said he should be remanded for a week.
Remanded accordingly.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
HOME CIRCUIT.—Croydon, August 9.
The Commission for the county of Surrey was opened
this day by Lord Chief Justice Tindal, with the usual
formalities. •

The calendar of prisoners is not, numerically, heavy,
but some of the charges are of a very serious Character.
On the Civil side the business will be very heavy. Nearly
a hundred causes are already entered, several of which
are Special Jury cases; and one, transferred from Maid-
stone, by consent of the parties, to set up a modus, is
likely to excite some interest, and will probably occupy
the Court two or three days. It is expected that the
business will not be concluded for nearly a fortnight.
Both Courts proceed to business this day at ten
o'clock. Lord Chief Justice Tindal will preside at Nisi
Prius, and Mr. Sergeant Taddy will sit in the Crown
Court.

OXFORD ClRCUlT—Gloucester, August 9.

•CIVIL COURT.--(BefOre Mr. Justice COLERIDGE.)
At an early hour this morning the court was crowded,
in the expectation that the trial respecting the validity
of the late James Wood's will would at length be heard.
At nine o'clock Mr. Justice Coleridge took his seat upon
the bench, and the case of Wood, Baronet, and others,
v. Thompson, was called on.
Mr. Kelly, Mr. Austen, Mr. Butt, and Mr. W. Cripps,
appeared for the plaintiff.
Sir Frederick Pollock, Mr. Sergeant Talfourd, Mr.
Charles Phillips, Mr. Whitmore, and Mr. J. W. Smith,
for the defendant.

The list of special jurors was then called over, but
seven only answered to their names. Mr. Justice Cole-
ridge then imposed a fine of 501. upon each of the absent
jurors, who had been regularly summoned, and for whose
non-appearance no valid excuse was offered.
Mr. KELLY, for the plaintiffs, then prayed a tales. :
Sir F. Poixocx. opposed the application. He sub-
mitted that this was not the case of an ordinary action,
but of a feigned issue directed by the Master of the
Rolls for his information. The order of the Master of
the Rolls directed that the issue should be tried "by a
Special Jury, to be nominated from special Jurors of
the said county residing not less than twelve miles from
the city of Gloucester." These were, therefore, not or-
dinary Special Jurors, but Jurors of a particular de-
scription. There was no provision in the order for try-
ing the case by any other Jurors. The Court, there-
fore, could not take upon itself to determine whether
any other Jurors should be put into the box to try the
cause, and a tales, therefore, could not be granted.
Mr. Kelly, Mr. Austen, Mr. Butt, and Mr. Cripps
were heard in support of the application. They con-
tended that the case before the Court was a common law
action in the Court of Queen's Bench. The record, the
Jury panel, and the venire were all in the ordinary form,
and the order of the Master of the Rolls' Court could not
affect the statute, empowering parties to a Special Jury
cause to pray a tales in the absence of Special Jurors.
Indeed, without the statute, there could be no Special
Jurors at all. All the powers given by the statute,
therefore, applied, as, for instance, the power to fine
Special urors for nonattendance, which had just been
exercised by the Court. As soon as the order for a trial
was made. the trial must comprise all the incidents of a
common trial. No authority had been cited to the con-
trary.
Mr. Justice COLERIDGE stated that he recollected
something of the trial of an issue from the Court of Chan-
cery before Mr. Justice Erskine, at Exeter, respecting the
right to certain tithes, and applied to Butt to state
what course had been adopted on that occasion.
Mr. BUTT replied that the case was twice tried, that the
order was in the common form to be tried by a Special
Jury, and that neither party would pray a tales when
there was a deficiency of Special Jurors.
Mr. Justice COLERIDGE said that his impression was
that Mr. Justice Erskine had been of opinion that, un-
deithe terms of the order in that case, he had no power
to call common jurors into the box. •
His LORDSHIP then inquired by what authority a com-
mon jury 'panel was annexed to the record in the case,
as well as the special jury panel ?
Mr. Bellamy, the Clerk of Assize, stated that this was
the invariable course adopted in issues directed by the
Courts, as well as in ordinary actions.
Mr. KELLY stated that he had known several eases of
issues directed to be tried by special juries, in which a
tales had been prayed, and cited in particular a cause of
" Humphrey v. Vivian," tried in Cornwall three times,
under an order of the Master of the Rolls, upon all of
which occasions there had been talesmen en the Jury.
Mr. AUSTEN, on the same side, submitted that there
was nothing on the face of the proceedings which could
give the Court cognizance of the order of the Master of
the Rolls

Mr. Justice COLERIDGE said, as to that objection, he
should take immediate means to make himself cognizant
of the order.

Sir F. POLLOCK was heard in reply. He observed
that the cases in which talesmen had been sworn on the
Jury, in the trial of issues directed to be tried by Special
Juries, were cases in which the consent of both parties
had been obtained, and where also there were no special
terms in the order. Now, here the defendant refused his
consent. If the argument on the other side were cor-
rect, the plaintiffs could pray a tales as a right, if there
was only one Special Juror in the box instead of seven ;
and how could a trial by one Special Juror and eleven
talesmen be satisfactory to the mind of the Master of the
Rolls? Besides, the order required not only that the Jurors
shall be special, but that they shall be Special Jurors resid-
ing more than twelve miles from Gloucester. If common
Jurors are called as talesmen, they may reside within the
town of Gloucester, yet there would be no power to chal-
lenge them; the order saying nothing as to where the Com-
mon Jurors should live. The special order of the Master
of the Rolls ought to be observed. The order generally
is, that the issues be tried, with liberty for each party to
move for a Special Jury, and in that case, perhaps, it
would follow the ordinary rules of Special Juries, but it
would be most undesirable to try the cause now, unless
tried in a manner satisfactory to the Master of the Rolls,
because, if he were on that account to direct a new trial,
the present verdict, though wholly inoperative upon the
mind of the Court directing the issue, would embarrass a
future Jury in their inquiry.
Mr. Justice COLERIDGE, after conferring with Mr.
Justice Coltman, delivered his opinion at some length.
His Lordship said, that considering the extreme im-
portance of the trial, the largeness of the property in
dispute, the strong feeling which prevailed on the subject,
and the expense which the parties had been put to in
preparing for the trial, he came with some regret to the
conclusion he had arrived at. The first thing to look at
was the probable result of justice or injustice to the par-
ties hereafter by proceeding to trial at present. The argu-
ment on behalf of the plaintiffs mainly turned on the point
whether his Lordship was bound to take notice of the order
of the Master of the Rolls, and it seemed to him (Mr. Justice
Coleridge) that he ought to look at it. Suppose, indeed,
that without looking at the order, his Lordship had ac-
ceded to the position of the plaintiffs, that all the inci-
dents of every Special Jury cause attached to the pre-
sent issue, and that on the prayer of either party a tales
had beer ordered as a matter of right ; suppose the first
common juror called resided in the city of Gloucester ;
he could not, on that account, be challenged at common
law, but the defendant's counsel would then produce the
order limiting the jurors to persons residing twelve miles
from Gloucester. So that not a single step could be
taken without the production of the order. Then the
order is precise and specific. It was impossible for his
Lordship to look into the mind of the Master of the Rolls,
and to say that he could have intended to allow that any
common Jurors should try the cause. If he had pro-
posed to allow common Jurors, it was probable he would
have stated from what part of the county they also
should be selected, but the order was entirely silent on
that point. Being of opinion, therefore, that this trial,
if it took place, would probably go for nothing in the
mind of the Master of the Rolls, and that another
trial would be directed, his Lordship thought it would be
more just to both parties that the trial should not proceed
at present. It sometimes happened that the facts of a
case are so little known at the time of a first trial, that a
second trial becomes necessary and just ; but unless the
case came within that exception (and his Lordship saw
no reason to apprehend that to be the case in this issue),
in ordinary cases a second trial is not so satisfactory as
the first, and it was therefore most undesirable to have a
useless rehearsal of the evidence in the cause, which
could only prejudice the minds of a future jury. Look-
ing, therefore, to the ends of justice, his Lordship
thought that there should be no tales allowed, and the
trial must be postponed.
Mr. KELLY then prayed his Lordship to postpone the
trial till to-morrow, in the hope of procuring the attend-
ance of a full Special Jury.

This his LORDSHIP declined.

Mr. KELLY then offered to try the cause by the seven
Special Jurors in the box, if the other side would
consent.

Sir F. Pot LOCH said "he thought the wisdom of our
ancestors had properly provided the number of twelve
Jurymen for the trial of disputed questions, and he
would certainly not take upon himself to upset
that provision, especially to try a cause which he
took leave to say had been most needlessly hurried on at
a most inappropriate time. The allusion,of the Learned
Counsel was of course to the expected decision of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council on this case on
Monday next. •
The Learned Counsel then folded up their briefs, and
thus ended the representation of " Much ado about
nothing."
Mr. Justice COLERIDGE then proceeded to try prisoners.
Townsend, the letter-carrier, whose trial concluded late
on Saturday night, was acquitted.