The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-03 00:00:00

MORNING SUN

THE TRUE CONSEQUENCES 0

THE REPEAL OF THE CORN-LAWS.
BY WILLIAM T. THORNTON, ESQ.
In order the more clearly to see how little
connection there is between wages and prices, let
us suppose, for a moment, that the contrary was
the case, and that wages and prices rose and fell
together. When corn is unusually dear, it is be-
cause the quantity in the market is smaller than
usual; and when the stock for the consumption
of a country is unusually small, it is pretty evident
that some part of the community must consume
less than usual. Now, the question is, which
are the classes that must submit to this depriva-
tion ? It cannot be the poor? for, although bread
is dear, the rise in their wages gives them more
money to buy it with ; and, as they are not
likely to go without their usual quantity of bread,
as long as they can afford to buy it, they, no
doubt, continue to eat as much as before. But,
as the labouring classes form by far the largest,
as well as the hungriest part of the population,
their unrestrained consumption would make fear-
ful havoc in an originally deficient stock of corn,
and would leave but a very scanty supply for the
use of the rich and middle orders, who would thus'
be condemned to suffer all the inconveniences of
scarcity, from which the poor were happily
exempt. This is an advantage, strangely omitted
by Xenophon, from the list, given in one of his
small pieces, of the blessings attendant upon
poverty; and it is equally remarkable, that it
should not have been pointed outby some Chris-
tian writer, as one of the most striking among
the merciful dispensations of Providence. The
generosity of the employers of labour, in thus
raising wages, is also deserving of the highest
admiration : nor is their liberality more wondrous
than their ability to exercise it on so large a
scale. The population of England and Wales
being, probably, about sixteen millions, the
number of labourers for wages cannot be less
than two millions; and if the family of each of
these consume, on an average, eight quartern
leaves a-week, or 416 a-year, the whole quan-
tity consumed in a year will be 83.2,000,000
quartern loaves. A rise of threepence per loaf
would raise the price of this quantity of bread
by 10,400,000/. ; and would render it necessary•
for the employers of labour, to make an addition
to the wages of their labourers to that extent.
Surely, it is no sign of scepticism, to doubt whe-
ther charity was ever carried so far.
But some of my readers probably pique them-
selves on being practical men. They may admit
what has been said to be very good in theory ;
but they want to see how it works in practice
(just as if theory and practice were 't-ro distinct
things, and as if one were any thing more than
a description of the other); they want facts, and
it is but right that they should be satisfied. The
price of corn in this country has fluctuated very
considerably during the last ten years—it has
never been the same two years together—and, in
1835, it was 395., and in 1839 70s. per quarters
Now, let it be asked (and the • question is one
which every body, who has arrived at years of
discretion, may answer for himself), whether
7ages, in 1835, were lower than in 1839 ? On
the contrary, it must be fresh in every one's re-
collect.: on, that the first was a year of unprece-
dented posperity to all but the agriculturists ;
that our mb,nufactures were 'highly flourishing,
and every one who desired it obtained constant
employment, at wages as high at least, and often
higher, that ever before; whereas 1839, al-
though corn was nearly twice as dear, was a year
of commercial distress, when many manufac-
turers stopped w ork, and the condition of the la-
bourer was depressed, either by a positive re-
duction of wages, or, which was the same thing
in effect, by impos,libility of getting full em-
ployment. In AmeriCa7 and in all new colonies
and newly-peopled countries, corn is cheap and
wag A
es are high. When a famine takes place in
.
-_low wages are
India, men die, not because .ere is no food in
the markets, but because theme‘
not sufficient to purchase it. 1-.. T ow tan these
facts, and hundreds of others of the same kind
that might be cited, be explained upOL. any other
hypothesis than that of the total want of con-
nection between prices and wages ?
DETERMINED SUICIDE.
An inquest was held on Wednesday afternoon, at the
House of Correction, upon the body of Thomas Jack-
son, a prisoner, aged forty. Mr. Jackson, the Governor
of the House. gave evidence respecting the deceased,
who had been placed in his charge on the 6th of April
last, to be held to hard labour for eight calendar months,
having been found guilty of defrauding his emplever,
Mr. John Flint, of the sum of 6/. ; it was his It.”st
offence, and he bore the punishment very impatiently;
he was exceedingly irritable, and sometimes remarkably
quarrelsome.
Robert Davison, surgeon, saw the deceased on Mon-
day, as he was unwell, and ordered him a little aperient
medicine. He had a most veracious appetite. Saw no-
thing more of him till he was dead, when witness found
him lying on the bed, on his side, with two considerable
wounds on his neck ; one on the right side, rather super-
ficial in depth, about two inches and a half in length,
and- one on the left side, about three inches long
and very deep, and had divided the blood-vessels ;
he had lost an immense quantity of blood. Could
find no knife, but after the most diligent search,
a small thin piece of brass, part of the boss of a lace
bobbin, was found in the blood, and nothing else that it
could be imagined possible for the wounds
,to have been
inflicted with. The bit of brass had apparently been
rubbed to a sharp edge on one side, and it was about the
size of a sixpence. A person very determined on self-
destruction might inflict the wounds found on him. The
wound on the left side of the throat was exactly in the
direction of the vessels, which deceased well knew • having
been a butcher, and accustomed to bleed calves, he would
know where to find the vessel. Had seen him frequently,
but certainly never observed him to be insane.
There being no evidence to show that Jackson was of
unsound mind, the Jury returned a verdict--That the
said Thomas Jackson feloniously and maliciougly de-
stroyed himself by cutting his throat, and so he died, and
not otherwise, as appears at this inquest.
The deceased was heard at daybreak, on the morning
of his death, and for several hours afterwards, at inter-
vals, reading aloud from " Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress,"
and also was heard to pray.—Nottinghain Review.

The Pau journal relates that lately a person
named Border°lle, who, during the season, kept an hotel at
Saint Sauveur, in the Pyrenees, lost his life in the following
extraordinary manner, at Luzen Bareges. Having gained a
lawsuit, which put him in possession of a very large property,
he gave a grand dinner to a party of friends ; but while he
was singing some couplets, made by himself for the occasion,
was struck with apoplexy, fell from his chair, and died in-
stantaneously.
FALMOUTH.—Her Majesty's steam-packets
Magnet, Lieut. Griffiths, and Pigeon, Lieut. James, arrived
on Thursday - the former from the Brazils and the latter
from Mexico, a freight of 11,000,000 dollars. A
change of Ministry had taken place at Rio ; the result of
an interview of the Government with the Emperor
relative to the affairs of the disturbed provinces. Late
mercantile arrivals preclude our furnishing any other in-
telligence of interest.
DISTRESS IN KILKENNY.—From well authen-
ticated statements made at the meeting of the Board of
Trade on Monday night, it appears that great numbers
of the poor of this city, particularly the woollen opera-
tives, are in a state of starvation.—Kilkenny Journal.
Marguerite Boudet, a single woman, 76 years of
age, living in the Rue Contrescarpe, was taken till about a fort-
night ago, and was sedulously attended bi two of her nieces.
The morning before last, she perceived death approaching,
and desired that a notary should be sent for to make her will.
A s she had always lived as if she were in a state of
.poverty,
her two attendants, believing that she was delirious, hesi-
tated, and reminded her that this would create an expense,
which they had no means of paying. The dying woman
on th e
re-
plied, that she knew what she was about, and insisted t
number of witnesses being collected,
of eher nieces, then pre-
tating legacies of 100,000 fr. to eacht
man of the law being brought. A notaryee,maienedneaedsuhtliycdieien.
when she went on
in-
tellect ; nor were their convictions lessened
sceontitfi,rmwhedo,
ioanthheeairrinegetitehaeseef btehcieuevrsesa,knweessreef othn.lyeirtahane
tra.soinre-
whole of 500,000 fr• Their scepticism,. however,
was some-
eaeduamyewatitah,Lut
property to an amount in the
making further dispos„itAiontst.hoef
and her property :
have had any useless expenses, and during
what removed when she added the following,cout of herself
I never
money. early age of 13 t began te earn
the 63 years sincething
.
which she placed in the hands of the no-
itatinugg hirosmenieunder her bolster an old portfolio filled
with papers, . emynetvietlespaarld
You will find that I have 23,000 francs a year in the
public funds, two houses in the Rue St. Jacques, one on the
Boulevard du Temple, and one on the Quai St. Paul. I re-
commend my tenants to your care, for they are all honest
people, and pay their rents regularly. ' These were her
last words, for she expired almost immediately after. Yester-
dayhho ich she lodged, and thence was
by 150
in w lighted tapers, in the narrow alley
150 l
l
her body was lying ina coffin covered with a rich pall,
bla:oarddniensugarwrtoiynftohderedinterment by a splendid hearse, followed by ten
mourning-coaches.
MEDICAL ATTENDANCE ON THE POOR.--•
We were glad to hear it stated by Mr. Guthrie, in the
course of the lectures lately delivered by him at Lin-
coln's Inn-fields, that in consequence of the solicitations
and representations of the President and Council of the
College of Surgeons, the Poor-law Commissioners had
agreed to propose a clause to Lord John Russell, to be
introduced into the amended Poor-law Bill. preventing
the employment in the charge of the poor of any medi-
cal person who was not duly qualified as a physician, or
surgeon, or surgeon and apothecary, after March 1842,
except under very particular circumstances—a statement
of which must be annually laid before Parliament. If
this be faithfully carried into effect, we believe that
about seven hundred gentlemen now employed by the
different Union officers will be displaced at the next ap-
pointment. Mr. Guthrie also stated, that he had reason
to believe that a more just scale of remuneration, parti •
cularly for cases of operation, compound fractures, and
protracted labours, would be adopted. He added, in
conclusion, that the President and Council would not fail
to attend to these points, when this Bill should be again
considered in Parliament.—Medical Gazette.
Mn. BRINDLEY, THE LECTURER ON SO.
CIALISM.—This gentleman, who has been lecturing in
usbrby
have
viewed
a pur
islei s
this town, was presented on Monday evening last, at the
cvio.inthcluv.siiloicnhotfhhe public in p
his series of lectures,e
contain-
.
ing sixty sovereigns, in testimony of the approbation
Daly Reporter.