The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-07 00:00:00

[SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The most shameless fraud that ever was at-
tempted upon a large, and not altogether unin-
structed, class of the community, was that of
which the whole English nation yet feel the
distressing fruits,—viz., the attempt to pass off
a prohibitory law against the importation of
foreign corn as a benefit to the British farmer.
It is the more revolting, this dishonesty, because
it has become so systematic with the landlords,
not one of whom, when he speaks in support of
the law for raising the price of the quartern loaf
upon the poor, even so much as glances at the
interest which he himself, the landlord, has in
perpetuating the evil ; all his pathos is bestowed
upon the " suffering farmer," upon the " starving
labourer," but not one word escapes about the real
party for whose sake the corn law was introduced,
by whose stubborn and desperate rapacity it was
carried through Parliament, at the point of the
bayonet, against the prayers and struggles of
nine-tenths of the people. No, the real motives
of the landlord advocate are steeped in mystery ;
he talks of the farmer and the labourer, while he
is thinking only of himself. We have long en-
deavoured, by repeated notices of this,great and
growing question, to open the eyes of the
farmers to the fact, which is plain and indisput-
able,—namely that, since the English farmer has
been " protected" by a corn law, he has regu-
larly been going down in the world,—that his
profits have been reduced or converted into
losses in a degree which never before existed,—
his capital, if originally respectable, eaten up,—
if small, transmuted into a heap of debt and in-
solvency,—his poor-rates swollen to an enormous
amount, as compared even with the days of
paper price and depreciated currency,—and, in
short, his whole position as a member of active
life grievously sunk and deteriorated ; and this
is what his landlord calls " protection to
that estimable character, the British fir-
mer!" If what we hear every day be true,—
viz., that one-half the lands in the kingdom, in-
cluding all the clay and poor soils, would not,
if rent free, pay the cost of corn cultivation, is it
endurable to be told by these quack landlords
that the corn law assists or protects the farmer,
thus trampled on that they may have a nominal
excuse for demanding from him a tillage rent for
land which, if turned to its natural, and therefore
beneficial purposes, would never have felt a
plough-share ? But if the condition of the
farmer be bad, is that of the peasant
labourer better ? Are wages now in pro-
portion to the price of bread as liberal as they
were before any corn law was established ? The
corn law is assumed by the landlords, in their
effusions upon this subject, to have been the
old, settled, habitual system of the country, just
as the Bank Restriction Act of 1797 was so de-
scribed by the lovers of a paper monopoly. And
so ignorant are many of the tribe of squires, that
we verily believe them unconscious of the deception
they are practising, when they represent that to
be the natural state of England which com-
menced only with the corn law in the year 1815;
the importation of corn from 1773 to that pe
riod— that is to say, for two and forty years—
having been substantially free, not subjected to
a duty of more than 6d. per quarter. Dur:ng
the time the British farmer flourished,—labour-
ers did not crowd the workhouses or load the
poor rates,—manufactures were extended,—
solid agricultural improvements multiplied ; and
yet rents were not, as under the reign of paper,
extravagantly and viciously raised to a level from
which all the resources of landlord legislation
were afterwards exhausted to prevent their falling.
It is put well and strikingly in a little publication,
the first number of which lies now before us, that
" those ‘s ho alone have the privilege of legislating
upon this all-important question of the corn law
are actually required to be interested parties; for
to have a seat even in the Commons, requires the
individual taking it to make oath that he is a
" landowner." We consider this an important
observation, and one which lets us into the
whole secret of the spirit and influence which
predominated at the introduction of the corn
prohibition of 1815. But this remark is one
only among a series, all well worthy of public
consideration, which are to be found in the
paper alluded to, entitled the Corn Law Maga-
zine, composed and circulated by the Anti-Corn
Law Society, at the moderate price of a single
penny. The object of the work is explained
by the title. It is to inculcate upon the public
generally sound and just opinions on the work-
ing of the corn law system. The article which
we extract from it is argumentatively and per-
spicuously written, and it is our unfeigned belief
that against the diligent and persevering disse-
mination of the doctrines contained in it, and
contemplated by it, the corn laws can never
stand.— Times.

Though there are features in the political
statements of our Irish correspondence, such as
those which seem to indicate the decline of Mr.
O'Connell's ascendancy and of the outcry for
the repeal of the Union, which some persons
may consider of more importance at the present
crisis, we confess that, to us, the letters which
bear directly on the momentous question of poor
laws for Ireland appear to involve considerations
of far greater magnitude, even with a view to the
cure of agitation itself. The intelligent and elo-
quent correspondent who hasdirected his inquiries
to this subject continues his communications,
from time to time, in a spirit of impartiality such
as does not often characterise the discussion of
Irish affairs. It is true that the Irish landlords may
not relish his strictures, for no man is such an
enthusiast in the cause of truth as to rejoice in
those particular dispensations which happen to fall
rather awkwatdly upon his own errors or infirmi-
ties. Still, however, the statements of our corre-
spondent are not the less important for being un-
palatable to those who domineer over the wretched
peasantry of Ireland—a peasantry re
reduced to the
most abject state of misery, which in itself, and
independently of all provocations from agi-
tation, is the source of desperation, violence,
and crime. Looking forward to the adoption
of poor laws in Ireland as the means of intro-
ducing a better state of things in that unfortu-
nate country, we are disposed to encourage
every investigation calculated to recommend
such a measure to the Legislature, as more de-
serving of deep and serious reflection than any
temporary shiitings of the political compass, or
rather of the political weathercock, which,
after all, may point in a different direction the
next day or the next moment. It is impossible
to read the accounts which have been published
in this paper of the state of the poor in Dub-
lin hnd in some of the adjacent counties with.
out. concluding that there are facts enough in
those': lamentable details to explain all the
turbulent phenomena which some of our
philosophers have puzzled themselves to inves-
tigate. According to.our correspondent no less
than I',soo,destitiite beings are dependent upon
one of the voluntary charities of Dublin for ex-

istence, and the funds of that charity were almost
exhausted at the time he wrote. We say nothing
of the sort of food supplied to those miserable
creatures, but the difficulty of obtaining it, such
as it was, and the consequent uncertainty
of its continuance, proclaim a state of things
incompatible with social order. Need we look
very far after this for the cause of irritation in
Ireland ? Hunger will break through stone
walls, and yet we seem surprised that it should
make any impression on the social edifice.
There is a mass of .people willing to work, but
unable to find employment ; threatened with
famine, and suffering from hunger ; living, as it
were, in the very jaws of death, and yet we
think it wonderful that they should be impatient
—that they should be desperate. Why, their
desperation is the consequence of their suffer-
ings ; it is the provision which nature herself
has made for their advancement to a better con-
dition. We will take an opportunity at a future
time to extract more largely from those letters
than we can at the present moment, in order
to show the extreme wretchedness of Ire-
land, from the want of a system of poor
laws. If we add no other proof than
the frequent appeals to England for assis-
tance in time of need, it wad be enough
to show that the alternative of voluntary charity
has been a failure in Ireland. But there are
other proofs, convincing, glaring, heart-rending
proofs, which are to be found in the corres-
pondence we have already published, and which
only require to be selected and arranged for the
purposes of the general argument. How the
people of property in Ireland—how the Go-
vernment here—how any person who has be-
stowed a thought on the subject, can think of
looking about for expedients to govern Ireland
in tranquillity, without making some provision
against that extremity of want, which may
struggle but cannot reason, argues a degree of
infatuation which nothing but the blindness of the
most selfish passions can account for. The love of
glory, and the spirit of conquest have done much
to disturb the world, but until a way can be found
to persuade multitudes to perish in quiet, it will
be impossible to govern Ireland without poor
laws, by any other agency than that of the
sword.—Morning Herald.
The statement which appears in another part
of our Paper, of the Revenue of the last year
and quarter, compared with that of the year and
quarter ending on the sth of January, 1833, is
not calculated to excite any dismay as to the
solidity of the national resources, but it is verflar
also from denoting that progressive prosperity
which usually marks a period of peace, order,
and security. The Ministerial Journals are una-
nimously of opinion that, all things considered,
the defalcation is less than might have been ex-
pected. We think so too. Some of them
attribute the decrease of the Revenue to
the reduction of taxation, forgetting the
maxim, of which they were so fond when
their patrons were not in power, that the dimi-
nution of taxation tends to the augmentation
of the public income. Others will have it that
the deficit is to be explained by the diminished
receipt of duty on the importation of foreign
corn, as if it might not naturally be expected
that the cheaper a nation obtains its bread the
more it will be enabled and disposed to consume
of those articles of foreign luxury on the impor-
tation of which the amount of Customs' duty
chiefly depends. While a third class of rea-
soners console themselves for the decline of the
national income by the sagacious reflection that
the cholera was last year a great ally of the Ex-
chequer, as it promoted the consumption of
brandy, and that the present defalcation is only
to be regarded as a natural consequence of the
cessation of that terrible disease ; not taking
into their account that the persons who swal-
lowed brandy in their terror of the cholera,
would naturally, on the removal of that
cause of alarm, be the better disposed to the
enjoyment of the many other good things of this
life, which, under our fiscal system, also render
tribute to Cmsar. Yet we agree, as we have
already said, with the Ministerial Journals, that
the Revenue has suffered less than, in the cir-
cumstances of the country, might naturally have
been expected, although we cannot quite agree
with any of them upon the causes to which they
severally assign its preservation. The manner in
which the Revenue has hitherto sustained itself,
during the political crisis through which the
country is passing, shows the vigour and elasticity
of the national resources ; and shows that a great
and rapid augmentation of the produce of the
existing taxes must certainly have taken place,
and a great diminution of the rate of taxation
been safe and easy, but for the revolutionary
experiments, and the political agitation, which
have so long disturbed and endangered all the
great interests of the State, unnerved its energies,
and obstructed its advancement. It is idle to
talk of the taxes taken off within the last year
—of the diminished importation, or reduced
duty of foreign corn—of people drinking less
brandy this year than the last—in order to
explain the deficit of the national income. All
these are circumstances which in a healthy con-
dition of the social body would have promoted
the public welfare, and augmented the revenue
of the State. What is certain is, that the na-
tional strength has been impaired by the fever
of political excitement ; and, if it has been less
impaired than might have been anticipated, the
country has yet lost much in the loss of that
increase of vigour and of wealth which, but for
this cause, it could not have failed to acquire.—
Mornin,g Post.

,
BURNS AS AN EXCISEMAN.—" Against tne
regular smuggler his looks were stern and his hand was
heavy, while to the poor country dealer he was mild and
lenient. The Poet and a brother exciseman one day surf.
denly entered a widow woman's shop in Dunscore, and
made a seizure of smuggled tobacco.—' Jenny,' said the
Poet, I expected this would be the upshot ; here, Lewars,
take note of the number of rolls as I count them. Now,
Jock, did ye ever hear an auld wife numbering her threads
before check reels were invented ? Thou's ane, and thou's
no ane, and thou's ane a' out—listen. As he banded out
the rolls, he went on with his humourous enumeration,
hut dropping every other roll into Janet's lap. Lewars took
the desired note with much gravity, and saw as if he saw
nut the merciful conduct of his companion."—From Curt
ningham's Life of Burns, just published.
On Friday night last a wheat-stack, the pro-
perty of Mr. Sharp, of Guilsborough, Northampton..
shire, was discovered to be on fire. Mr. Bates, by whom
it was first observed, on hastening to the spot, met a
man named Thomas Gee, who lives in the neighbourhood,
and who appeared to be coming from Mr. Sir ap's premise,.
Mr. Bates told him of the fire, but Gee said there was
nothing of the kind. Mr. Bates, however, made Gee
go with him to Mr. Sharp's, and as they were standing
at Mr. Sharp's door, Gee begged Mr. Bates not to say
that he had seen' bins, giving as a reason, that as he bad
been accused of paltry offences before, it was possible
suspicion might in this instance also fall upon him. Gee
afterwards assisted in extinguishing the fire, and in doing
so accidentally fell from the stack, and was carried home.
When questioned about the fire, be admitted he was present
in the stack yard, when another man, whose name he
mentioned, set fire to the rick, but he denied having given
any assistance to the incendiary. The other party accused
by Gee was afterwards apprehended, and Gee has been
cumm.tted for trial.—Northampton Mercury.

FRENCH PAPERS,

(From the Indicateur of Bordeaux of Dec. 30.)

We have letters of Madrid of the 19th, and from Bay-
onne of the 27th inst. All the accounts are silent as to
the movements of the insurgents, who, in number 3,000,
and under the command of Lardizabal, have repaired to
Tolosa for the purpose of avoidiag El Pastor, wbo had set
out from Bilboa in pursuit of them. They make mention
of a small body of insurgents having repaired to Irun,
from which place they afterwards disappeared, but nothing
positive is known on the subject. The only thing that
is certain is the tranquillity of Catalonia ; and that
neighbourhood is justly regarded as one of the strongest
barriers of her Christian Majesty which will not submit to
the partisans of Don Carlos; these will, therefore, be com-
pelled to rest satisfied with disturbing Guipuscoa and
Biscay, and to concentrate themselves upon those districts
in expectation of better success.
BAYONNE, DEC. 29.—1 t is now known that the con-
spiracy of Barbastro had ramified itself throughout the
country. Its object was to aid tFe faction of Alorella.
Every day new arrests take place. Two chiefs of Royalist
Volun•eers and a number of private men had been im-
prisoned, exclusively of those sent to Saragossa. The
money from the convent of St. Jean de le Senna has
been seized.

The affair of Guernica is confirmed by letters which
have arrived from Bilboa, but although the 1084 has been
considerable, it turns out to be less than was at first
believed. There is now no doubt that from 12 to 14
have been killed and about 40 wounded on the side of the
Queen's troops, and that 12 or 13 of the insurgents have
been killed or wounded.

Butron and his companions in the expedition which the
Carli•ts undertook to the mouth of the river of Bilboa
have arrived at that place without experiencing any other
loss than that of their equipments. General Va!d,z and
Bestow, and Colonel Uriarte, occupy Marguina and Ma-
ni.queta. They are making preparations to attack
Zahala, who is in Amoroto with the bulk of the faction.

The Spanish Government disapproves of the conduct of
the Ayuntamiento of Santander, for having hitherto given
unequivocal proofs of a favourable disposition towards the
Queen. It is confidently believed that they will be dis-
missed. It is also said that Colonel Uriarte will conse-
quently tender his resignation, and that his corps will be
disembodied. This Ayuntamiento presented a sword to
Colonel Uriarte for his good conduct at the action in the
neighbourhood of Bilboa, where he commanded, and for
having destroyed the faction which bad used every effort
to produce an insurrection in the town.
A small body of 90 volunteers has taken up arms for
the Queen at Erazu, and is already upon its march in pursuit
of the C,rlists.

The Captain-General of Arragon announces that on the
21st of this month some peasants commanded by the
Deputy-Alc ,id of Mamanera seized upon Baron D'Hernan,
his eldest son, a commandant, and two captains. After a
slight skirmish between some fusileers of the Queen under
the command of Don Pedro Eced and 60 rebels of Hernan's
faction, their leaders were captured, with two captains,
ten soldiers, and two horses. At Doraca on the 22d, a
captain and the son of Baron D'Hernan came in, doubtless
in order to avail themselves of the amnesty. It is added
that there are not more than 40 men belonging to the
faction of Valencia now remaining between the frontiers of
that province and Arragon.
(From Galignani's Messenger of Saturday.)

The Augsburg Gazette of the 31st ult. contains the
following, of the 21st, from Hesse :—" The Hessian En-
voy to the Military Commission of the Diet at Frankfort,
Lieutenant• Colonel Von Ochs, received a mission to make
a journey to Landau and Luxemburg, to inspect those
fortresses, and make a report relative to them. Having
performed this mission, he has been joined to the Foreign
Minister, Von Trott, as Deputy to the Congress, that
he may him-elf report his observations." This paper
has alto the following extract of a private letter from
Rome, dated the 19th ult. :—" Nothing more is said
relative to a Congress of the Italian Princes, but it is the
general opinion that Austria has been named Protector by
all of them. The Italians have certainly no complaint,to make
of Austrian policy, the disinterested character of which
in recent times must inspire confidence. Attention having
been lately directed to Ancona, a desire for the removal of
the troops is revived. It is said that Naples has ad-
dressed strong remonstrances to the Pope, and has
urged him to seek their removal. The other Princes
have done the same, but out of respect for France
nothing has yet been done. The Pope, in com-
mon with the Italian Courts, but principally with
Sardinia has addressed a letter on the subject to Louis
Philip, We may shortly expect the reply of the French
Government. A brief from the Pope to the Spanish
bishops is not in favour of the Queen, but styles Don
Carlos lawful successor to the throne. The Charge d'Af-
f,ires of Donna Maria do Gloria was about to resign his
office, owing to the prohibition of prayers for his Govern-
ment, but has been prevailed upon by the French Ambas-
sador not to do so, but to remain to watch the subs, quent
steps of the Papal Court. There have been slight earth-
quakes lately, but they have done no damage."
The Berlin State Gazette of the 29th ult, contains an
account of the serious damage which the recent storms
have occasioned in the Prussian provinces. That which
raged in Heriscdorff, near Warmbrunn, in the night of the
IStb, was dreadful ; the lightning set fire to several houses ;
five persons lost their lives, and were dug out of the ruins,
burnt to a cinder. Many other persons were seriously
injured. One man saved himself, with his wife and seven
children in a state of nudity, by jumping out of a win•
dow. Twenty-two head of cattle perished. Near
Lignitz three cottages were also burnt down. The
Rhine and the Moselle bad risen to an unusual height ;
that part of Coblentz which lies contiguous to them was
under water; the harbour was full of shipping, which
did not dare to venture out. The harbour of Emmerich
w-s so crowded that no more vessels could be received
into ir. On the Saar several barges laden with coals had
been lost. The bridge across the Rhine at Wesel was
carritd away by the storm on the 18th ult., between two
and three o'clock; several persons were upon it, but they
were fortunately saved.
The Hanau Gazette, after accounts from Hanover,
announces that after a long discussion the Cnamber of
Deputies had adopted the budget of expenses and of ways
and means for the financial year. The first amount to
3,073,611, and the second to 3,001,000 rixdollars. The
Chamber has also authorized the Government to contract
a loan to cover the excess of the expenditure over the
revenue.

A letter of the 30th ult. from Dresden announces that
the Second Chamber of Saxony has adopted by a large
majority a poll-tax and a duty on licens..s.
The Naremburg Correspondent states, that in conse-
quence of the arrest of several persons in the Rhenish pro-
vinces of Prussia, warm disputes have arisen between the
administrative authorities and the tribunals.
The Memorial Bordelais of the Ist inst. contains the
following :—" A letter, of the 27th ult., from the Aldudes
says, Certain agents of the junta of Navarre have entered
some of the French villages on the extreme frontier, in
order to engage the smugglers to procure for the Chiefs of

the Carlist-Volunteers it-quantity of arms and accoutre-
ments. It belongs to the French Government to prevent
a commerce that may become so prejudicial to b th
countries. Emboldened by the neighbourhood of the
Guerillero Sagastibelzi, who has been for some days at
Santa Maria, five leagues from this place, the Carlists have
seized the duties payable at the Custom-houses of Engui,
Elissonde, Urdach, and Vera.' A letter of the same date
from Bilboa, speaking of the affair at Guernica on the
21st, in which the Queen's troops were surprised by
Carlists, concealed in ambush in the houses, says, —' The
column, thus unexpectedly attacked, at first were shaken
and thrown into disorder, but they soon rallied again, and
some of the most determined gained a lodgment in three
houses, and maintained their post till the 23d. A de•
tachtnent was sent to their relief, composed of 400 men,
but, on their arrival, the rebels made their retreat. There
have returned here 95 men of the Chinchilla Regiment,
and 30 of the Royal Guards. The Queen's troops lost
11 killed, 55 wouuded, and 25 prisoners. Amongst the
wounded are 8 officers, two t f whom remain in the hands
of the enemy.' "
Tue Garde National of Marseilles announces that the
stonecutters in that town having struck fur an increase of
wages, their places have been supplied by soldiers taken
from the troops in garrison, so that there will be no in-
terruption in the works.

DELIBERATE SUICIDE.—We regret to hear
that Mr. Darker, a gentleman connected with the bou.e
of Orr, Robinson, and Co., of this town, has, in a rash
moment, dastr..yed himself by drowning. He went to Bray,
near Dublin, and, having deliberately taken off his coat
and left his name written on a piece of plper, threw him-
self into the sea.—Liverpool Chronicle.
DEATH BY MACHINERY.—On Thursday
last, Edmund Rhodes, a buy about fifteen years of age,
employed in a woollen factory, in Richard-street, Ruch-
dale, was caught by a strap, belonging to the machinery,
and killed instantaneously. The remains of the unfortunate
boy were mangled in amost frightful manner ; in a moment
his bead was severed from his body, after which his legs,
arms, &c., were torn away, and scattered about the mill.
Every particle of the deceased's clothing was stripped from
the body by the machinery.—Liverpool Chronicle.