The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-25 00:00:00

CORN-LAWS.

We insert the following to oblige a Correspondent, and
hope the farmers will profit by it :
Farmers of England, I have a laborious task before
me ; you are such a ponderous solid body that I am suite
afraid of' you, and feel myself forlorn, dispirited and sink-
ing ; what must Ido to make some little favourable im-
pression—what can I do to arouse some auspicious bias ?
Why, I must turn to the ladies of your families, a race
who would make any drawing-room brilliant with bloom-
ing health and real English beauty. There would be
seen the faultless complexion, blending in unrivalled
unison the fair and peerless hues of the lily and the rose.
There would be seen the ever cheerful countenance, and
heard the natural lively laugh. There, too, would be
breathed the sweet perfume of pure country air. It is
almost insupportable to change the scene in a moment to
the desolate, destitute, woe-worn looks of the distressed
poor in all our manufacturing towns ; but I depend upon
findin., that the finishing charm of tender feelings and
hearts has not been denied, leading the possessors, though
exempt from all difficulties and distress individually, to
a generous participation in the griefs and wants of their
fellow creatures. You are aware, ladies, what severe
distress has prevailed throughout the last winter. Ido
most earnestly intreat you to assist to the utmost to pre-
vent the recurrence of so much misery,—let us not be fed,
and warmed, and clothed ourselves, and leave them again
to so hard a Elite. Though my poor reasoning or per-
suasion must be as dust in the balance with your fathers,
husbands, and brothers, to prevail on them to sign peti-
tions for the total repeal of the odious tax on bread,
yours, I doubt not, would prove irresistible if calmly,
gently, but perseveringly persisted in. Leaving all es-
sential proceedings in such excellent keeping I shall go
to the past for a short time. Less than one hundred
years since there was a pretty peaceful village in a
fine corn county, comprising a neat church, the great
house, half a dozen farms, and the cottages of the
labourers employed upon them. Wheat then varied
in price from six to eight or nine shillings a
bushel ; still the landlord was satisfied, the farmers flou-
rishing, and the poor men contented, and not over-
worked. When the rents were paid a grand treat and
dance were given to the numerous tenants. by the land-
lord—Sir John dancing with the matrons, and my Lady
leading off with a farmer. These farms were all hired
on twenty-one years' leases, and held by different mem-
bers of the same family from generation to generation ;
thus the homestead, with its pretty garden and fruitful
orchard, became a dear and valued inheritance, and
the farmer had a heart to improve his land, knowing
his descendants would be benefited ; for no
tenant, in these good times, had warning to quit un-
less for unpardonable neglect, or inexcusable bad conduct,
at the termination of a long lease, and no man would
take a short one. Now, was not this a rational, wise,
happy state of things, all in their proper stations, and
able to live with just comparative comfort. In that altered
village there are no long leases now, no feasts at rent
paying, no security present or future. The farmers
treat the landlord now, being expected to send a fat goose,
ducks, or chickens, as their master may require. Far-
mers, are you not now serfs of the soil ? do you not hold
your farms generally on yearly leases ? and are you not
subject to be turned out for every paltry reason, and as
your land is improved to have the rent raised ? If you
are not slaves in body, are you not so in mind to
your haughty masters ? Can you give a free vote at an
election, or do you follow the lead of your landlord,
though you know his using thus his power proves him to
be no real gentleman, and that if he offers bribes, and
you receive them, you both deserve to be transported, if
punishment was justly apportioned to the magnitude and
evil of the offence? All these abuses and miseries would fall
with the destruction of the detestable monopolies. If
you are careless about your condition and the present
state of the poor, it is a melancholy proof that your
shackles have degraded and sunk you below the proper
level of the free-born sons of Great Britain. As the
country becomes more and more enlightened you must
be aware that Governments must rule on the large and
liberal principle of general public good, and not for a
hateful party putting gold into the pockets of the rich
who need it not, and constantly taking pence from the
poor who cannot spare it. I must remind you, farmers,
that when you are ground too hard, your noble masters
return you sometimes 5 or 10 per cent., a thing never
heard of when gains were justly balanced ; and it is a
wretched subterfuge, a pauper transaction. You ought to
be able to support yourselves and your families by your
land, and not to need this pitiful donation ; and I hope
you will live to be heartily ashamed of it. Farmers, if
you do not now make a noble struggle to throw off your
yoke, you deser rie to be galled with it for ever. The
hateful Corn-laws never did you any good, and never
will. That you may have good landlords, long leases,
and no injurious monopolies, is the sincere wish of
ENGLISH JOAN.

THE FREE-TRADE CRISIS.
(From the Edinburgh Weary Chronicle.)
The Tories, of their own accord, assumed a new name
after the passing of the Reform Bill, and refused to be
called anything but Conservatives. They must now,
however, whether they will or no, receive another appel-
lation, and be known hereafter as the Plunderers or Mo-
nopolists. Sir Robert Peel has committed himself and
his party completely to the advocacy of sinister interests,,
in opposition to the interests of the public. He is the
captain of a crew of pirates, who have at length, after a
long chase, been compelled to hoist the black flag of
piracy, after trying to skulk under all kinds of false
colours ; but we have to fight them yet, and must clear
our decks for action. It is something that we know
their numbers and their mettle ; let us take care they
do not get the weather-gage of us. It may be ques-
tioned if all the records of Parliament can furnish such
an example of the hypocritical resort to false pretences,
to bolster up private interests, as was exhibited in the
line of argument adopted by the monopolists in the de-
bate on Lord Sandon's resolution. Lord Palmerston gave
a masterly exposition of the pretended concern for dis-
oouragement of slave labour which has been made so much
of to prevent us from obtaining sugar at a natural, in-
stead of a monopoly price.
(From the Monmouth Merlin.)
We appeal to the farmers of Monmouthshire, and ask
them how many of them, possessed of long leases, have
made money—nay, have ever saved their original capital,
after deducting the expenses of living ? Has not the
operation of the sliding duty been to buoy them up with
false hopes of having perpetual good crops, or of having
a greater awerage of them during the term of their lease
than experience has warranted ? Have they not, conse-
quently, been induced to offer a greater rent than they
could afford ? And have not their means consequently
passed into the ,hands of their landlords ? How, then,
can the Corn-laws benefit them ? The only benefit for
them is to lower the landlord's rent ; and this is precisely
what the Government measure, of a fixed duty, is in-
tended to do. Come what will, the Reformers are deter-
mined to fight the battle of free trade in Monmouthshire.
(From the Somerset County Gazette.)
PA twenty rats into a trap, and throw amongst them
cheeee enough to feed twelve of them ; see how they will
fight for the morsel, and almost tear each other to pieces
in the struggle. In just such a manner as this are the
people of Great Britain treated by the food laws. We
live in an islam3 limited in its size, with a vast popula-
tion increasing at tile rate of a thousand mouths a day,
and our legislators say, " You shall have no more food
than we, the monopolists, are able or willing to furnish
you with, and you must bake it at our own prices or
starve." They throw down among the hungry twenty
millions food that would not be more than enough for
eighteen well-fed millions, and the result is the struggle
for existence, the fierce, relentless competition for a bare
maintenance, which makes life in this country a ceaseless
round of toil and care. We are unfed, or half-fed, we
may have money or money's worth in our pockets, food
is offered to us abundantly and cheaply, but we are not
suffered by this barbarous legislation to purchase a grain
of it ; a famine is made by law ! an artificial scarcity is
created ! and it is to abolish such a hideous violation of
the benevolent provisions of Providence as this, that the
nation at large is entering upon a contest with monopoly.
In a cause so holy, a cause which has on its side reason,
religion, justice, humanity, opposed only by a league of
selfish interests, the end cannot be doubtful, though it
may be protracted. The system of class legislation is
tottering to its base, a few determined blows, well and
vigorously planted, will ensure its overthrow.
(From the Welshman.)
A change in the Corn-laws is necessary as well for
the interest of the farmer and the landlord, as for the
prosperity of our commerce ; that change is now pro-
posed ; it can be attended with no evil, and has every
prospect of proving the salvation of the country. Let
every man, then, whether engaged iu agriculture or com-
merce, exert himself for the success of the Ministerial
measure.

(From the Leeds Times.)
THE CouN MONOPOLY DOODIED.—The tide in favour
of free trade has now set strongly in ; and if taken at
the flood, it may yet "lead on to fortune." The working
classes have long been suffering from the operation of
Corn-laws, and the various other burdens upon their la-
bour and industry ; but they have hitherto complained,
and petitioned, and agitated, for redress of grie-
vances, altogether in vain. No party in the State
has deemed it of sufficient importance to take up the
question of abolition of Corn-laws, on account of
the suffering working classes. At length, how-
ever, the shoe has begun to pinch the the middle classes.
the necessity of further
profits, have awakened them to .
Decaying trade, increasing competition, and diminishing
extensive reforms in the laws--aspecially in so far as
they relate to the exchanges of the products of industry.
They also have complained, and petitioned, and agitated,
for some time without apparent effect ; but at length a
powerful party in the State has taken up. their cause,
and declared for an extensive alteration in the Corn-
laws and Import Duties. There is a sufficient key to all
this in the fact—that the middle classes are in the Imme-
diate possession of political power.
temWlhveat must (From the Bristol Mercury.)
arepurbsrting
etheofinebvoiltsatberleing consequence
oolyf the
wsyhsy-'
the prolongation of slavery all over the world. A
pretty example we are setting to tempt foreign nations
to give up slavery ! The eyes of the world are upon us,
and what do they see ? We proclaimed aloud the supe-
rior cheapness of free labour, and we maintain a duty,
amounting to absolute prohibition, to prevent free la-
bour coming into contact with slave labour! "Ay,"
slaves,
free her
e
say foreign nations, "England paid twenty millions to
hassineels
hadmillions t opay
this overth the likely
e ty
to keep and sitefreedom
th
may to tempt them to "go and do likewise ?" No :
every penny we, by unjust legislation, add to the price
of free-grown sugar, is an additional reason for the con-
tinuance of slavery in countries not subject
to our sway
—a premium paid to the slave-trader.

(From the Kelso Chronicle.)
THE CRISIS.--" The hour," as Lord Melbourne
phrases it, "is come." After long years of suffering
and sad experience, the people would seem to have
aroused themselves from torpor and inactivity. The
iron grasp of hunger has done its work. The energies of
Britain have borne her up against the most monstrous