The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-19 00:00:00

13°116) of the E.Tre.ted Kingdoms. Even in the me- 1a strong Government at home is of para.
tropolis the price -reached in cereal articles of nourish- ; mount consideration ; a vi eels one is ever
IT eat has in marry instances been miserably disPropor I productive of mischief, internal and external.
tinned to the means of its inhabitants. Even in London Though the present Administration is not so strotar
the restrictions still imposed upon the importation of as we could desire, still it is undoubtedly the best
grain by the: unwieldy and antiquated laws relating that we can hope for in the existing disorganized
lteoanst affi
alig.uiti in have acted most prejudicially upon its state of parties; and we are not a ithout the hope
ant citizens. In the more rural districts, in that when their national schemes are unfolded, as they
the more,
remote quarters of _Munster and Connaught,
in the shortly will be, their position will he considerably
Secluded islands of the Hebrides, and indif- improved. But, apart from the absurd principles of
ferent:fy
in every portion of England, Irelan,3 political economy with which they have identified
and, Scotland, these grievances have pressed themselves, of all Cabinets that might be
heavily upon the population, and their pressure formed, a Protectionist would be the weakest.
IS at this moment so unbearable, that th In 1834, when he seceded from Lord MEL
'immediate interposition of Government has grown BOURNE'S Government, and studiously kept aloof
into a necessity. Fortunately for the people from Sir ROBERT PEEL'S, which succeeded, Lord
the Parliament is now re-assembling, and the Cabinet STANLEY was sanguine enough to think he could
will no longer be induced to postpone those measures supplant Sir R. PEEL, and that before long the Pre-
of alleviation which have only been retarded so long miership would have been within his grasp. In this
from
a sentiment of honourable punctilio, from an expectation his Lordship signally failed. In 1846
anxiety not to interfere with our most venerable con- it is not improbable that Lord STANLEYS secession
stitutv,nal customs, from a disinclination to refuse from the late Administration was dictated by a similar
the Culfilment of those concessions which had been aspiration. The passing of the Corn Bill by the
S'ecently granted to our discomfited opponents. Lords must, however, have considerably abated the
'1"/ the re-assembling of our hereditary and repre- ambitious design; and it may safely be predicated
'tentative legislators, a period is at length put to this that the ensuing session will not serve to revive the
pernicious, though somewhat excusable, procrastina- ardent wishes of the headstrong heir to the Earldom
tion. of Derby.
The Ministers will now be enabled, without any
derogation to their character, without committing an
unpardonable offence to a suspicious minority,
Without any harsh violation of the enactments
of the preceding session, to appease the hunger
of the thousands who are already either threat-
ened with, or suffering from, starvation That
energetic measures are required under existing
circumstances has been recently and emphatically
avowed by the proceedings of the present Adminis-
tration. 'When a considerable squadron of armed
vessels in her Ma.resres service ate transformed into
the bearers of provisis from the English-markets to
the more destitute portions of Ireland, it is manifest
that the necessities of the 'community must be
Most urgent, if not absolutely unprecedented.
tuns are not dismounted, war-steamers are
not freighted with grain, and other descriptions
of food, excepting in cases of extraordinary emer-
gency. Guns have been dismounted, war-steamers
have been freighted with provisions, by order of
Government, as the catalogue of ships published
Only the other day in our columns sufficiently
attested—therefore an extraordinary emergency does
exist, and that extraordinary emergency demands
and justifies the most extraordinary measures for the
%Melioration of the condition of the multitude. Par-
liament must acknowledge this; the Ministers have
'already acknowledged it by their recent acts for the
diminution cf the scarcity in Ireland.
In the inaugural address to be delivered by her
MAJESTY to her faithful Lords and Commons, there
is little question that the members of the Cabinet
Will afford the public more than an inkling of their
Intentions ES to the facilitation of the introduction of
food into the country. By preventing the further
ei.7lls consequent upon the operation of the navigation
Zllys, a fresh and fruitful source of nourishment would
e immediately opened to the population. By allowing
the
Use of molasses in brewing and distillation, a
great economy would be effected in regard to barley,
and
an increased quantity, and a sustained quality,
and a decreased price, would be the in-
esuitable consequences in both articles of con-
lePtiun• Besides this, moreover, a decided
Step is rendered necessary for the final and immediate
Opening
ell lug of the ports. That step was, as is perfectly
well.„ known, deemed advisable by Sir ROBERT PEEL
as
..far back as the November of 1845: it is now no
S"ger merely advisable—it is absolutely requisite.
inee that memorable month of political vicissitudes
the Country has been perpetually subject to a deplor-
able dearth. The fears excited by the first calamitous
inquere of the potato crop were confirmed in the follow-
jauturnn. The destitution, which had been heretofore
has in a great measure to the Irish peasantry,
i;7 „since extended to the Highland labourers and the
the
crofters. Whereas in the winter of 1845-6
40: scarcity necessitated the establishment of fever
hospitals in the more afflicted localities, the scarcity
in the winter of 1846-7 has necessitated a
s'ecessien of Coroners' inquests, with the
verdict " Death by starvation !" That is the
t
eil erg
of the difference between the two periods of
gency, and in proportion to that difference must
be the
amount of relaxation in the restrictions upon
importation.
We have every confidence, not only in the inte-
grity and sagacity of the Administration, but
14 the benevolence and courage of her MA-
atalfs Ministers. And as that integrity, that
sagacity, that benevolence, and that courage
all point equally to the immediate opening of the
Ports, there can beano rational doubt that our Free-
trade Ministers will follow that course which public
opinion and the national necessities have already
smoothed before them. There is literally no obstacle
to this course worthy of a moment's consideration.
If ever the minds of the people were united upon a
question of commercial policy, they are unanimous at
the present moment as to the demolition of the last
rags of Protection. The opening of the ports must
be simultaneous with the opening of Parliament, or
it must follow immediately afterwards.

We have already directed the public attention to
the fearful consequences that must inevitably be the
result of a continuance by the farmers of the system
of neglect and apathy they have hitherto exhibited
with respect to the cultivation of the soil and the pre-
paration for the ensuing harvest, matters on which
the future prosperity and welfare of the nation is so
entirely dependent. 'Whatever may be the causes by
which that neglect has originated—whether it is
wholly occasioned by the poverty of the occupants,
and their consequent inability to meet the present
expenses of tilling and sowing the land; or whether it
is partly owing to an attempt on their parts to assume
an appearance of greater distress than is really the
case, and thus to evade their just responsibilities, and
induce their landlords to act with greater liberality,
and perhaps to obtain Govern'tnent assistance, in the
shape either of a gratuitous distribution of seed or
money, in aid of wages for the necessary labour, still
every means should he adopted, every exertion used
to remedy the evil. The mischief is not confined to a
single locality or district, but is, unhappily, general.
The gentry of Cork, Cavan, Carlow, Meath, Wexford,
and many other parts of the country, have given ex-
pression to the feelings of alarm that are naturally
excited at such an untoward state of affairs, and have
called for the establishment of seed depots by the
Goverment, and other assistance, in order to enable
the farmers to get in their crops. We are quite con-
vinced that the Executive will not be found wanting
when the time for action arrives; but we must again
repeat that it is the resident gentry of the country
who should take the first steps in the matter. .Nothing
could he more mischievous than an unnecessary in-
terference by the State with that which should
properly be effected by individual enterprise. The
moment the nation commences the importation and
distribution of grain of any kind, whether for food or
seed, that instant all private dealers will withdraw
from an opposition that must be ruinous. There
would be no advantage in the authorities attempting
a partial supply : if once they made a beginning
there would be no retreat, no opportunity of retracing
their steps; they should persevere, and any failure on
their part would occasion the greatest mischief. A
strong illustration of the prudence of the Government
course, in suffering the demand to regulate the
supply, and the customary dealers to regulate the
market, may be found in an extract from the letter Of
a correspondent of the Cork Constitution, who in
writing of the fearful distress existing in the western
districts of the county of Cork, says—
" The destitution in the neighbourhood of Castletlwn
(Berehaven) has been greatly aggravated by the arrival
of a commissariat officer, rumours having gone abroad
that the Government was about to open a food depO.,
which has prevented commercial people from sending sup-
plies of food as heretofore. The consequence is that
the supplies in the town are exhausted, and the whole
district is now without food."

And such unquestionably would have been the result
of any attempt on the part of the Government to
usurp the place of the dealers in any description of
merchandise. They would have driven all private
speculators out of the field, and in the event of any
failure of supplies, would indeed be responsible for
all the mischief that would have taken place. We
are free traders in the most extensive meaning of the
term ; we are fully convinced that any interference
with the natural course of traffic of free and unim-
peded barter is invariably injurious even to the in-
terests it was intended to promote. Every article of
merchandise will find its natural level where there
are many persons employing themselves in its pur-
chase and disposal; but if one gigantic power
extinguishes all the others ; first, a monopoly
is created which, though it may greatly
enhance prices, and restrict and fetter com-
mercial intercourse, cannot reduce those prices
beyond the fair value of the article to be provided.
These may be called the heartless doctrines of poli-
tical economy. Many kind-hearted and benevolent
men may be found who led away by their feelings,
and deeply sympathising with the unhappy sufferers
from famine and destitution, may blame the Govern.
ment for not having adopted another course, and im-
ported bread-stuffs freely to supply the destitution in
the country, but such a course would have, in all
human probability, occasioned far greater want and
destitution than that it was intended to remedy, so
soon as the Government was about to resume its
natural functions, and to leave the corn market to the
regular corn-dealers. The establishing of seed depots j
generally throughout the country appears to be open
to this objection--it would meet a present evil by
the creation of a greater in future, it would he like the
act of a spendthrift who, so long as his present wants
are supplied, and his wishes gratified, thinks little of
the day of reckoning that must eventually come.
The landlords themselves, or their agents, should
look after the tillage on their respective estates, if
they do not do so they sacrifice their own interests ;
how can they expect to receive their rents if there is
no preparation made for the crops, by the produce of
which that rent can alone be provided, they should
use the influence their position entitles them to, and
enforce, in every way, immediate action by such of
their tenantry as have the means within their power.
The man with corn in his haggard, or money in the
savings bank, can have no possible excuse for leaving
his fields uncultivated, and not providing for the
wants of the future year; while the really destitute
should have assistance afforded by the landlords, who,
as we have already said, are most deeply interested in
the result. The most practical suggestion was that
offered by the county Meath meeting, who pro-
posed—

Never did a Parliament assemble under circum-
stances of greater excitement than will the one to be
opened to-day by her MAJESTY in person, as well
With respect to the fate of the measures likely to be
introduced, as the actual state and ultimate fusion of
parties, upon which, either for sulccess or defeat,
the issue of the Ministerial rests.
We have it announced, that in accordance
with established usage on the eve of a new
session, Ministerial banquets have been respec-
tivelyiven by the Premier and the Marquis of
LO
SDOWNE. Besides this, we are informed that
Lord STANLEY, as the recognised leader of the Pro•
tectionists, has given a sumptuous entertainment to
his political adherents. This is a novelty in Lord
STANLEY'S public career. But we have a greater no-
velty still, consisting in the fact (as far as we may
Judge from the absence of positive intelligence),
that for the first time, after a protracted series
of years, Sir ROBERT PEEL will not give a public re-
ception to his Parliamentary supporters. This is a
1318'nificant departure fromthe practice which he has
uniformly adopted, whether as the leader of the Op-
Petition, or in his capacity of Minister. We augur
favourably from this act of omission. It affords a
strong presumption that Sir ROBERT PEEL will not
resume his seat in the Senate animated by any feel-
tus of factious opposition to the Government; that he
bPrePared to act as an independent and
useful mem-
e of the House, to support the Cabinet, in a con-
scientious and dispassionate spirit, as far as he can,
l'uder the arduous difficulties by which they are Sll.l*-
r°44(led, and, to the extent to which the. opportunity
/244 Y be afforded him, to impart stability
Crown.
(4441 existence of the present advisers of the rothat,
It -
/nay be premised with tolerable
the
yle
will
subs /nay
the representatives of te
isPrcicil St. Stephen's to-day in thepsampe sec-
tif3tlized condition in which they found themselves at
a ftClose of the last session. Supposing, then, that
Lae the measures of the Ministry shall
"" been brought forward, and their future
Dolicy fully divulged, Sir ROBERT PEEL
should not be enabled to yield to it his cordial
approval, we apprehend we shall find him adopting
.phss,kue course which he followed upon the
rSurr
,s Bill of the present Cabinet, when the ar
04-`4v3r labours of 1846 were well nigh terminated.
that occasion he contended that a better Bill
t4:.ight h
ave been framed, but looking at the difficult
y
q-14t would. have attended the formation of a new
Overnrnent, had the Ministers been left in a minority,
overruled his objections and voted for the measurea;
"eserted by the Protectionists, of himself he wat
tuot Preparedr to resume the reins of power; and,.
,he srne time, he made no secret of intimating
t,4lThatically to the Monopolists that any attempt on
part to con-ititwe Government Would he
hi-
k.
I,4tuation. Under such cireumstances,
kar, traced ROBERT
an
ita the only line for his guidance,
t eminent
t public man, that was con•
i4eut with patriotism and sound practical wisdom.
to k constitutional point of view, the part which he
during that extraordinary conjuncture of public
eat*3 was strictly correct. With an empire like
Britain,
wl,o=e imperial sway is extended over 1 t
dependencies in every quarter of the globe,

" That such landlords as would make themselves re •
sponsible to the Government for the necessary advances,
should be permitted to till and crop, for the present year
only, in an improved manner, and with the most bene-
ficial productions, the farms of those tenants who may
be in the predicament prescribed, and whose holdings do
not exceed ten statute acres—the landlords and tenants
agreeing as to the mode of tillage, cropping, and amount
of expenditure, as well as the proportion and the manner
in which the landlord is to be indemnified, and the
tenant's crop thus produced to be considered if neces-
sary a collateral security to Government for the expen-
diture on the land."

Now this is certainly a tangible proposition, but
we do not see how, by any possibility such tillage
can be brought within the meaning or character of
the "reproductive works" alluded to by the Treasury
minute. That minute contemplates works of a per-
rmnent and lasting description, and such as would
fully recompense the remainder-man for the charge
with which his inheritance may be burdened. It may
be very desirable that there should be a power
afforded to the Government, to make advances for
such a purpose; but we do not see how they can
in an manner be brought within the principle of
any existing law ; and if it were possible to make
such an advance, the amount should be fully repaid
when the crops were ready for disposal. We are
.I'd however, to see any proposition made, the dis-
uc ssion of which may eventually lead to some definite
conclusion. It is impossible to overrate the import-
ance or the urgency of the matter.

Plague, pestilence, and famine"—such are the in-
flictions from which we pray to be delivered. It would
bo mo r)trliaps, to locate them thus-
-10,1-41w, fopl 1-,,wikoc-,irAsstateh a, toe 144 ,:vieo
generally follow in the train of the first. But although
plague and pestilence are always consequences of famine,