The Sun.
London, England, 1846-02-02 00:00:00

THE PREMIER'S MEASURE.
(From the Journal of Commerce.)
Sir Robert Peel has shown himself to be equal to the
difficulties of his position. lie has viewed with a com-
prehensive mind the exigencies of a portentous crisis ;
and, with a sound and unflinching judgment, he has in-
dicated perhaps the only means for its satisfactory so-
lution. Placed between two uncompromising anta-
gonists, he has, with strict propriety, demanded from
each concession—from each a relaxation of pretensions
in favour of the common interest of the entire commu-
nity. The Government has shown a becoming spirit of
impartiality in the adjustment of a rancorous feud,
which has long disturbed the tranquillity, and
threatened to embroil the cation in irreconcilable
antipathies, and destructive strife. The sound-
thinking, and the friends of their country, of
both parties will hail with joy the opportunity now
presented of extinguishing a contest which, if prolonged
under the feelings of class antagonism, beginning to
exacerbate dissatisfaction, must have ended in political
convulsion. We hope most fervently, that there will be
found, both in Parliament and in the country, so much
good sense and conciliatory disposition, as to maidisc
the exaggerated demands of the purely selfish, and to
abash the arrogance of presuming faction. In the spirit
of conciliation, and in views of profound policy, the
Ministry has proposed a salutary compromise. The
Government, so far, has done its part well. If the pro-
posed measure shall be thwarted by the stubborn inflexi-
bility of intemperate partisans, the public will rightly
comprehend on whom will rest the blame of a perpetual
diiorder.
Beginning properly with the claimants fur an abolition
of protecting duties, Sir Robert Peel has said to the ma-
nufacturers—" You, gentlemen, cannot object to be sub-
jcNor ww.ihllichtheyyo,ufosro
presb© to others."
doecflaPrcic
e'ly
dopenly that they coveted no
protectionvtee
d longo asince course
t h eir leaders
hstrenuously
from State duties. Acting on the admission,
and on the equity of the demand, the Minister
- '
has proposed a very sweeping abolition and reduction of
eat
import duties on foreign fabrics and products. It is an
immense stride towards perfect freedom of commercial
interchange, which will astonish some of our compe-
titors ; but which will work no permanent detriment to
our home industry. The measure promises to apply
the only unequivocal test of the sound direction of the
productive powers of a people. It will say to every
class of manufacturers, "if you are making goods which
foreigners can undersell you in in your own market, it
is a proof that you are misapplying your industry, and
are imposing a tax upon your countrymen: take to some
other more nationally beneficial calling." But we ap-
prehend no disturbance of the large staple occupations of
British industry ; in all these walks of productive labour
we hare exclusive advantages, and we stand pre-
eminent. Some of our countrymen may and will
feel the pinch, in competing productions which have
an adventitious value from the exercised taste in
their getting up. The rub will do them good in
the end ; it will set them about getting rid of their
hereditary notions, and looking out for some of the
refinements of modern art. They will be brought up
to the mark with a little whipping and spurring. We
have no misgivings about the abilitiy of our country-
men when they have proper guides, and a wholesome
stimulus. Under the new tariff, Sir Robert Peel pro-
' poses to admit manufactures and finished goods, ge-
nerally, at a maximum duty of ten per cent. ad valorem;
except silk fabrics, which will pay fifteen. Now, these
duties may very fairly be considered duties for revenue
on commodities which are not necessaries ; but which
may have some peculiarities of taste or quality that
make them attractive to a certain class of purchasers,
both able and willing to make a small contribution to
the State whilst indulging a preference or a fancy. That
simple, unornamented goods should come in under these
duties, to compete with our own similar productions, is
commercially impossible. We have the raw materials
duty free, and manufacturing power either cheaper or
more effective than elsewhere. It must be borne in
mind, that in the actual state of manufacturing industry
in all the great staples, the wages of labour make but a
small part of the entire cost of production, compared
with their relative amount under the primitive system of
manufacture ; so that any local difference of labourers'
wages, from habits or from cost of maintenance, tells but
little in the market-price of goods. The rivalry will be
felt for a time in certain handicraft trades ; some of
which will have to abandon old habits, and the profes-
sors, perhaps, to add another day or two to the week—
which they can easily do, and still keep the Sabbath
holy.
Sir Robert Peel, in his speech, alluded to a trade
which will certainly feel the effect of the diminished
duty—the carriage-makers. This indeed is a trade under
very peculiar conditions, and it may in a great measure
impute its anomalous position to the ways and habits of
its customers. Many of the Noble Lords and Honourable
Gentlemen, with their female appendages, who ride in
carriages, do not make a point of paying ready money
for these wares—some of them do not pay at all ; and
very often there is an inclination to postpone the
settlement of the coachmaker's bill to the Greek
Kalends. Hence it is that the London coach builder
has got into a rooted habit, not of' considering
how much a vehicle has cost him, but how much, upon
a remote contingency, is likely to return him an average
living profit. The calculator of chances on lives would
be often puzzled to find out a fair rate for a coach-
builder's customers. This is one reason why London
coach-making has no affinity in prices with those of the
same craft in other localities. The coach business is
one which comprises in its operation a large proportion
of manual labour ; and therefore, in point of economy,
it is ill-placed in the metropolis, where the wages of
such labour are necessarily dearer than in the country ;
but the habits and class of the customers have necessi-
tated the establishment of coacicemaking in London.
Another large handicraft trade will be, in some of its
branches, affected by the proposed change of duties ;
and that is the shoemakers. It cannot be denied that
boots and shoes are made in Paris, and indeed in other
parts of France, in what may be truly called a more
masterly manner than, for the most part, they are to be
met with in London. There has been more mind exer-
cised in the craft in Paris than in London. The French
artisan has been aware that his object was to make a
covering for the human foot ; whilst the English cord-
wainer has never entertained a thought beyond that of
covering his last—the thing bearing as remote a re-
semblance to the foot of man as the sign of the Red
Lion to the beast of the forest, The cobbler must for-
sake his last and take to the study of anatomy; in the
course of which higher pursuits he may perchance find
out how it is that he has been the hereditary generator
of corns and bunions. Under the competition we trust
that the shoemaker will improve his art, and the tanner
his leather; the materials are supplied without fiscal
burden, and we have a right to expect as good an
article as can be furnished for the same money else-
where. The quality of leather in England has for some
years been deteriorated by modern improvements. The
tanners mast go back to some of the practices of their
ancestors.
It is impossible, in the brief space of a single article,
to advert even cursorily to the various classes of pro-
ducers which will be more or less affected by the pro-
posed diminution of import duties on finished goods. We
shall take ocher occasions of commenting on the special
effects of the change, as we shall see that change as•
sunning the sanction of law. In many cases we antici-
pate that the coming rivalry will operate as a salutary
stimulus in sharping the wits and improving the tastes
of our jog-trot tradesmen ; who have never sus-
pected that they were not taught everything belonging to
their craft, when they were apprentices. In no case of
extended industry do we think that foreign competition in
the home market will be productive of the smallest perma-
nent detriment. This knocking down the barriers be-
tween ours and foreign workmen, and pitting them
against each other, necessarily implies that they are to
oe placed on equally favourable terms as to sustenance ;
and such equality is provided for by the great scheme which
Government has laid before the country for its considera-
tion, and adoption if approved. By removing all cus-
toms' duties from foreign provisions of every kind, the
maintenance of labourers here and elsewhere will, in
a short time be brought nearly to one common level.
The differences, if they exist, will be found in a great
measure to arise from diversity of habits, and from the
snore or less prevalence of frugality or of extravagance.
To talk of an impossibility of the labourers of a country
taxed as this is not being able to compete with those of
less burthened countries, when they shall be fed and
clothed as cheaply, is mere thoughtless babble. What
should hinder them from competing ? They are as strong,
as intelligent, as industrious ; and if their food be un-
taxed, and their clothing untaxed, and if they have a
thousand mechanical aids, and the free support of large
commercial capital, and a practised intelligence to guide
them, why should not the produce of' their labour be
rendered as cheap as that of their competitors P We
know there are those who talk much about the restraints
on British industry from the enormity of our debt ;
whilst they have themselves, through a long life, been
witnesses, if not abettors of the fact, that the produce
of British manufacturing skill finds a daily market
in every corner of the habitable globe ; although
we have to furnish the annual interest on a debt
of eight hundred millions. Give free scope to our
industry, as is now for the first time attempted, and that
will enable us to sustain our fiscal burthens without diffi-
culty, and without a murmur. To think that we shall
be better able to pay our debt by restricting our commer-
cial intercourse with the external world, from which we
draw the whole of our accumulating wealth; is to betray
a puerility of intellect and a poverty of understanding
which do not characterise British traders. Does Lord
Ashburton think that we shall be better able to meet our
home pecuniary obligations by lending from time to
time large portions of our spare capital to the repudiating
states of America?
We rejoice exceedingly in the Ministerial announce-
ment of a comprehensive and enlightened se:seme of
commercial policy; and we shall hail with acclamation
its a !option into the law of the land, as the sure basis
of Britain's future, long-enduring, industrial supremacy.

MODE OF CULTIVATION ADOPTED IN CORNWALL
TO RAISE EARLY POTATOES.
1. The potatoes are set in December and January.
2. The sort planted are the kidney, and the ashleaf kidney.
The best ashleaf kidney are procured from Somersetshire,
and are planted in the neig!ibourhood of Uxbridge.
3. The best soil is a light loose soil, and the ground should
be well worked. Old grass land is preferred.
4. The seed should be set about eight inches in depth, four
inches distant from each, and the rows fourteen inches apart.
An open situation, facing south or south-east, is the best
situation—proximity to the sea is the most advantageous.
5. The best manure is long stable dung covered with sea-
weed, the seed being first slightly covered with earth.
6. The finest,
to s
cleanest, healthiest seed is best. When cut,
never plant a piece with more than two eyes, some prefer
one. 'When small
potatoes planted whole.
7. To protect the o
tforoesin b
aie•einuseind,urtehdeybayreeasrolymseptirminegs
frosts, is impracticable in extensive plantations; but in small
quantites, they may be protected by being planted in shel-
tered situations, and litter kept over them, or by trenching
them as celery, and covering the trenches with litter trans-
versely till the weather becomes warm.