The Sun.
London, England, 1846-01-14 00:00:00

Many and specious have been the arguments con-
cocted by the protectionists, and disseminated among
their subsidiaries, with the intention not only of
making their cause hold good, but of consigning
every advocate of free trade to the abhorrence of his

fellow-countrymen. All their insinuations, however,
and all their inferences have verged to one prominent
and obtrusive point : they have endeavoured to im-
press upon the mass of agricultural labourers, that an
unconditional repeal of the corn-laws would inevi-

tably diminish their employmplt, by preventing the
reclamation of waste lands. This declaration has

ormed the terrible Mon.? Meg with which they
have attempted to annihilate the League : this is
the veritable quintessence of their opposition ; and
plausible enough it may have appeared to
those who merely skim the surface of a controversy.
Before the rigid scrutiny and unswerving analysis,
however, of an impartial inquirer, the utter emptiness
of this accusation becomes manifest beyond a mo-
ment's question. And with such a scrutinizing and
analytical observation does Mr. RIGBY WASON con-
trovert those assumptions of the protectionists in a
letter, which he has just addressed to the agricul-
turists of Ayrshire. His arguments, as contained
in this epistle, are neither crochetty nor ingenious—
they consist simply of some very plain, incontrover-
tible, honest, straightforward facts. His opinions are
not founded upon anything theoretical—they are, in his
own language, " forced upon him by practical experi-
ence, in the last ten years." From the summary of that
experience it appears that, although the average price
of corn during the time mentioned has continued at
a price " which would leave no profit to a grower
either in Europe or America, after he had paid
freight and other incidental charges," he had been
enabled to carry on several important labours—such
as building mansion-houses, constructing various
farmsteads, with an allotment of from two to five
hundred acres each, encouraging many tenants of
forty or a hundred acres to raise edifices for them-
selves, and, besides this, " carrying out one of the
most remarkable improvements in the metropolis,"
namely, running a channel of communication between
the Grosvenor property and the Parliament
Houses, without the slightest detriment to his
own fortune. After enumerating these cir-
cumstances, Mr. RIGBY WASON observes to
the agriculturists of Ayrshire—" You will perceive
how much more profitable my improvements would
have been had they been directed by your superior
practical knowledge, and watched over by your un-
divided attention." Showing, by the spirit contained
in those few senre,..., the improbability—we had
almost said the impossibility—of any pernicious conse-
quences resulting from an abolition of the restrictions
upon foreign grain. With reference to its " throwing
the poorer land out of cultivation," Mr. RIGBY WASON
is still more brief, and, at the same time, still more
emphatic His denunciations are condensed into the
following paragraph :

" If, with low prices, I can profitably reclaim waste
land, necessarily loaded with the extra cost of building
farm-houses, making roads, &c., and also with consider•
ably greater expenses in the actual cultivation, how is it
creditable that land which is now profitably cultivated
would cease to be so ?"

This is a very reasonable and rational conclusion—
as ridiculous to deny as the subsequent position,
namely, that though rents might in some measure be
reduced as a sequence to the corn-law repeal, " both
landlord and tenants would soon discover that defi-

ciency in price might, by high farming, be com

pensated for by increased quantity," while high farm-
ing necessarily implies an increased expenditure
upon, and a greater likelihood of, employment for the
entire body of agricultural labourers. In raising these
hollow and illogical accusations against the free-trade
movement, the protectionists are in simple earnest
leaning upon reeds—and reeds that are already
snapping.

We have received Madrid journals of the 6th, but
they add nothing to the intelligence of the same date
published in The Sun yesterday. Considerable sen-
sation had been excited by the order to DON
HENRIQUE to quit the capital, and join his ship at
Ferrol, on account of the foolish letter which he sent
to the Opposition journals.
The Bourse was closed on the 6th.

The fall of the Barentin viaduct on the Rouen and
Havre Railroad, an account of which appeared in a
third edition of The Sun yesterday, had caused some
sensation at Paris, and led to a considerable depression
in the price of shares in that line. On Saturday they
were quoted at 810 f., and on Monday closed at 755 f.

The Paris journals furnish no additional particulars

respecting the accident. The loss, according to the
calculations, will amount to not more than 24,0001.,
and of course will fall entirely on the contractors. On
Monday the Chamber of Peers resumed the debate on
the Address, when M. GUIZOT replied to the
remarks of the Count DE MONTALEMBERT on
the state of the Christian population in Syria. " The
speaker," he said, " had referred to the question
as one of humanity, if not of elevated policy. Now
he considered it to be both, and fully coincided with
the Noble Count in his views of the necessity of af-
fording aid to that population. He had always deemed
that view of the question as one that it was incum-
bent on France to adopt, and he could truly declare
that such had been the principal motive that had
actuated the conduct of the present Cabinet since

1830. But in all cases of interference in the affairs
of another country, care should be taken that there
was a chance of success, of such success as would not
only sanction the act itself, but give such a result as
would form an excuse for disturbing the general
peace of Europe. In the affairs of the East
the Noble Count seemed to have taken an ex-
aggerated view of the occurrences that marked the
policy of the, Porte. The conduct of France had
been represented as devoid of firmness with respect
to the East, but he must deny that such was
91e case, and must assert that the acts of
France had been distinguished alike for firmness
and ability. The design of the French Government
was to haye the Lebanon restored to the ancient
Christian administration: That object had been de-
manded earnestly at Constantinople. The violence
arising from the differences of the two adverse races
had been insisted on, and everything urged that
pould induce the Ottoman Government to yield to the
demands thus made. He referred to the insults
offered France in the persons of certain of her sub-
L ftb
declared that the indemnity demanded for
jects, a..-
ante
such insults had been paa_ and the. o ading
parties punished."
Another Peer, the CountyZ Lozzaz spoke at

merit in any and every grade of existence is
worthy of stimulus and recompense. Still this
expenditure of generosity should never be restricted
to a clique, or a party, or any individual profession
in the State; like charity, it should undoubtedly
commence at home, but it should penetrate every
corner and crevice of that home ; its application
should be discriminately universal. Naval or mili-
tary should never form an obstacle in the way
of improvement : in the abstract, the deni-
zen of a frigate or a camp should have such
guerdons meted to them without any leaning in
either direction. But, as we have already remarked,
more particular care should be taken of, and more
particular honours lavished upon, the more necessary
of the two services : while, should this arrange-
ment be found, for the present, completely
beyond our attainment, the twin-professions
should at least be placed upon a footing of equality.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH has his own popularity
entirely at his disposal ; by reforming the many
abuses and oversights which had been permitted to
remain by his predecessors, he may readily ingratiate
himself with the nation at large, while he will be per-
forming at the same moment a most laudable, a most
sagacious, and a most noble-hearted achievement.
Nor should this re-organization be limited to any
one department of the navy ; from the highest to the
lowest, from the commodore to the purser, from the
purser to the more insignificant, though not less
honourable posts of seamanship, there are in every
situation demands upon the sympathy and interference
of our Legislature. Nothing is more fallacious than this
indolence in regard to our champions upon the water
—nor is anything more certain than the necessity
for some inquiry into their well-being and some ex-
traordinary changes. In this instance, however, the
proverb is unhappily reversed—magna est veritas sed
non prcevalebit. Surely if the extension of the militia
be advisable just now, some exertions to remodel and,
as it were, to reanimate our sea forces would be
neither ill-timed or short-sighted.: