The Sun.
London, England, 1834-05-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It will be seen by our Parliamentary report that the
Poor Laws' Amendment Bill was last night read a
second thee ; but the most cursory perusal of the
debate will convince every one that there is not the
slightest chance of such a bill ever receiving the sanc-
tion of the House of Commons. If it should survive
the mauling and mutilation it is promised in com-
mittee—which is by no means certain—still even they
who generated the monster will not know it again.
There was hardly a single member who spoke in
favour of the second reading that had not many and
serious objections or doubts to urge against it, while
there was almost unanimity in condemning those un-
constitutional powers with which it is proposed by the
bill to invest the bores or boards of commissioners,
whether central or centripetal. Indeed, the house
appears determined not to let off eithef it or its authors
as easily as Sir S. Whalley was inclined to do. It is
evident, we think, that the house meditates making .a
most woeful and ridiculous example of it and them in
committee. As an instance of this disposition of the
house, we beg attention to the following passage from
the very sensible speech of Sir Francis Burdett,
who voted for the second reading of the bill—" In
the days of no reform a measure for some reform was
introduced by Mr. Curwen, and the act that followed
on it is still called Mr. Curwen's act; but it so hap-
pened that having passed the second reading, it was
so changed in the committee that, with the exception
of a few lines of the preamble, not a part of the origi-
nal remained when it came out. I will vote for the
second reading of this bill, in the hope that in the
committee it may share a somewhat similar fate." In
the mean time we are happy to inform our readers,
that there is a prospect that the evidence by which it
is pretended that the necessity or the wisdom of the
clauses of the bill can be made out, will at length be
completed, or at least brought more nearly to a com-
pletion than it is at present. The shuffling Chronicle,
one of the organs of the commissioners, makes the fol-
lowing announcement, which the slavish Globe re-
echoes :—" One of the most instructive portions of the
Appendix to the poor laws' report will be volume
F., containing the foreign communications;, but we
understand that the difficulty of procuring printers
capable of French and German composition will retard
its publication. In the mean time copies of the proof
sheets of some portion of it have got abroad, and an
interesting paper, by Count Arrivabene, has been
published separately, as an appendix to the reports of
Messrs. Cowell, Cameron, and Wrottesley." Foreign
communications I but we might have anticipated as
much, for anything more un-English than the enact-
ments of this measure, which is founded upon the
report, as the report is founded upon the appendix, it
has never before been our misfortune to read. But to
make this mention of " volume F.," intelligible to our
readers, it is necessary they should be informed that
the poor laws' commissioners have hitherto brought
forth only ten folio volumes of appendices, the last
of which is Appendix E. It would seem, however,
that the Commissioners are the most remarkable of
all the animal kingdom for superfetation ; and the old
women above mentioned, who " do for them" on this
trying occasion, mean, by the announcement we have
copied from them above, that the Commissioners may
be expected shortly to be delivered of their eleventh.
We cannot, from the extraordinary paging of these
volumes, give any description of them to our readers,
except by mentioning their number, size, and weight.
They are ten in number, their size folio, and their
weight half a hundred weight minus seven pounds !
And yet " the cry is still, they come !" God help the
members of the House of Commons, whose imperative
duty it of course is to read them all—and it would be
exceedingly disrespectful in any one to doubt that
every hon. member will punctually perform that duty.
—Times.

It would be difficult to overrate the importance,
whether commercial or political, of that subject to
which we have frequently of late been compelled to
devote a large portion of our columns—namely, the
strike for high wages on the part of those uninformed
and misled multitudes who compose the bulk of the
trades' unions. A dispassionate man is surprised to
find at this time of day any class of Englishmen
should conceive the possibility, or, if possible, the
advantage to themselves, even on the most narrow and
selfish principles, of raising prices, whether of goods
or labour, by artificial monopoly. A monopoly may
be maintained by law,—by a law which prohibits
all competitors from entering the market ; though
even when so created and protected, we have doubts
whether in all or in most respects it can be made bene-
ficial to the holders. The India Company had at one
time a monopoly of the trade with India, and, until
recently, with China. But the former of these was
never profitable, and the latter far less so than would
have been the same amount of commercial business
freely carried on by private merchants. However, it
was maintained by the law. The monopoly enjoyed
by the Bank of England, unworthily favoured by,
as well as founded on, the law—that, from peculiar
circumstances, chiefly front the exclusive possession
of the right of coining by the Bank, has turned out a
lucrative monopoly. The monopoly of the corn trade
by the landed gentlemen of England is one pro-
tected, disgracefully protected, by the laws of Engr

end
;mliut refo;ce t.o sav,
is iniouiteus the
, 01.:11 :The
the protection in this
Itiarty.q. bIISC fer t•e•en
~-.anplannnc, that they Ilt;erly rni..curl ; upon this
,oint we shall add an observation, which, it appears
.3 us, that the lauded aristocracy=. might meditate with
:ome profit to themselves and others. Has it never
•truck these dealers in bread and beef; that in eats-
ashing by law, they being themselves the law-m kers,
monopoly of the marknt for these aforesaid arti-
les, and, so far as they are able, a minimum price
'ar the productions by the sale of which they.live,_
:as it never, we say, struck them that they arc sett.ng
.n example to other classes of the community, which,
it be immoral or absurd (and it is eminently both),
t must, at the same time, be held by no -means an-
.atural for the latter to imitate to the extent of their

•apacities ? When law has been perverted by those
,rho have the legislative power at their disposal to
injust ends,—that is, to the imposition of unfair traffic
.yon their customers,—is it, we say again, altogether
unnatural that the force of numbers should also be
)erverted by those who think they have the means of
!mploying it, for the sake of establishing a monopoly
i.i the sale of that article in which only multitudes can
svcr deal—viz., their labour, which is to them what
wheat and oxen arc to the landlords ? But when such
•nonopolies as that of the landed interest, howeve
:anted in and bolstered up by law, have heel[
ound utterly ineffectual to their objects—When
he hundred commercial monopolies which
Mice existed, and which preceded that of
corn, were abandoned, because of their noto-
;ions injury to the purposes for which they had
been designed,—is it not somewhat unreflecting on
the part of trades unionists to imagine that they can,
•cithout the aid of law, and in defiance of it, by mere
violence, which is but a transient and fugitive power,
set up an opposition monopoly, secure to themselves
.1 minimum price for labour, and flourish independent,
end on the overthrow of all those first principles which
are admitted to govern the course of commercial trans,
tctions ? If the tailors, for instance, can by intimi-
dation raise their own wages to a higher pitch than
he existing proportion of supply and demand in the
tabour market will admit of,—if journeymen tailors
succeed in obtaining higher wages than fall to their na-
tur,l share, the immediate consequent e must be, a r, s'l
!if tens of thousands of fresh journeymen to the houses
of call for such artists, an impossibility on the-part of
the masters to employ them on the•same high terms as
those already engaged, and either the starvation of
these new corners for want of work, or work on lower
wages. It acts as infallibly as the law of gravita-
tion, that if masters are forced to pay more wages,
they will be enabled to sell so much the smaller quan-
tity of goods, and to employ so much the fewer work-
men. What, then, becomes of the remainder ? Will
they always be maintained by subscriptions among
their fellows? We apprehend not. Why, then, let
us once more advise these credulous and erring mul-
titudes to demand from their leaders an explicit
answer to this plain statement upon the subject.
There is but a definite (though large) amount of
income applicable in this or any other country
to the purchase of any particular species of
goods. If the price of these goods be raised,
the quantity bought will be reduced in the same
proportion. If the quantity sold be less, the quantity
made will be less. If there be a smaller quantity of
clothing purchased, there will be a smaller quantity
manufactured ; and if there be fewer coats made, there
will be fewer journeymen engaged by the master
tailors. Will this answer the purpose of the unionists?
If so, they have full liberty, so far as we are concerned,
to carry on their machinations until doomsday. A
little pamphlet has been printed, but we are told not
published, under the title of " Arguments against
Trades' Unions," from which, without having time for
comment, we extract the following passage. After
showing, pretty much through the same line of rea-
soning which we have followed, the mischiefs to the
journeymen if they succeed against their masters, the
author goes on to ask what will happen if they do not
succeed :

" If you do not bring the masters to the terms desired,
what will result?

" 1. You must solicit work again at the old prices.
" 2. You will probably seek work in vain, or be forced
to take whatever wages may be offered, for, notwithstand-
ing ' the union,' the strike will cause many persons to be
employed who are not regular hands ; and in proportion to
the duration of the strike, the practice of these persons will
he improved, alltl so the number of hands being increased,
wages will fall.

3. If you get into work again, and at the old prices,
and the old shops, which several matters are all uncertain,
you will have the mortification of reflecting upon time,
trouble, and mono• lost, and all to no purpose, and you
will have to begin again, sick and sort ;'with reelings mu-
tually subsisting between yourselves and the master, of
suspicion and discomfort.

‘-‘ 4. While the strike lasts, you and your families, if
you have any, must be inconvenienced by the very cir-
cumstance of your having nothing to do ;• and expenses
and bad habits will be liable to arise without any advantage
in the end.

" But it may be said, however true all this may be, are
men to be compelled to work for less than reasonable
wages ? Certainly not : there should be no force em-
ployed to make the men work at all. I have admitted this
before. If they do not like to work, let them be idle • but,
at the same time, let them take the consequences, and ad-
mit, by the same rule, that the masters ought not to be
compelled to employ them. If the men should have liberty
to fix a price upon their labour, such as they think reason-
able, and if they please to give it to some other trade, the
masters should not be prevented from buying labour at such
a price as they think reasonable, and buying it where they
can.

" The great question is not about the right of the men
to strike for wages, and to form unions, so long as they do
not unite against liberty and justice ; this is admitted;
but, as masters have as much right to do as they please
with their money as the men with their labour, it is im-
possible but that the men, by striking for higher wages,
must injure themselves."— Times.

tsl.ieca4nnpoetr
bceetritesd.uienetdo 3t pleBrioce;nts.
the
saTvhineg 3tA()
Lord Althorp proposed last night his plan for con-
vertingill
p e cen t
be more than 53,0001. per annum. In answer to a
question from Mr. Baring, as to whether it was his
lordship's intention, in the course of the present year,
to enter into any negotiation respecting the loan for
the advance to the West India planters, his lordship
said, that it had been proposed to enter into an ar-
rangement with the Bank to pay 3,500,0001., the in_
stalment due in August, so that there would be no
loan in the course of the present year. A question
was also put by Mr. Baring, respecting what were
considered unfavourable ' conversions of 3 per Cent.
Stocks into Life Annuities, which elicited from Lord
Althorp the curious information, that in order to obtain
durable lives, parties had been in the practice of ex-
amining the church-yards, with a view of dis-
covering long-lived families, and then selecting
a living member of such families, to have the an-
nuity on his or her life. His lordship added
that there was no proof that these lives were longer
than others. 'I he proof of the pudding is in the
eating. It will be seen in time whether their lives
are longer than others or not. We have always un-
derstood that there are longer and shorter-lived
families. The celebrated Turgot, to appearance a
handsome and robust man, on one ()mask.' remarked
that it would be necessary for him to finish some
undertaking soon, as his was a short-lived family, none
of them exceeding fifty years of age, and he 'died at
the family age of fifty. In Scotland, the maiden
name of the wife is always on the grave stone,—and
where it could be ascertained th.t a family, both by
father's and mother's side, are long-lived, the pre-
sumption may be greatly in favour of the lives of the
children. Mr. Baring said the difference between
picked lives and ordinary lives gave a result that was
astonishing, which we can very well believe.—
Morning Chronicle.

ANECDOTE OF TIIE LATE MR. ABER-
NETH V.—A short time before Mr. Abernethy's death
he was called upon by a physician, who was a friend,
and who, on entering the room, was addressed by the
eccentric Mr. A. thus :—" Well, Doctor, I understand
you want to consult me about a surgical case, and, like
all other patients, are bursting with anxiety to tell me
all about your ailings and troubles." " The fact is,"
said the Doctor, when I lift my right arm it gives me
great pain." " 'Well, then," said the choleric sur-
geon, " why don't you lift the left." " Why," an-
swered the Doctor, " that gives me pain also."
Then," said Mr. A. " why the devil do you lift
either ?"

We are requested to state that " the Life_of____,
a Soldier," comprising a narrative of joenty-st re
years' service in various parts of the wo-rld, by a liell
Officer, was published this_slay by Mr. Bentley, New.
Burlington-street. Agents for Scotland, MtsErs.
Bell and Bradrttm; Edinburgh ; for Ireland, Mr. Jt hn
Cumming, Dublin. To be obtained also of every
ra-
spectable bookseller in the- United Kingdom;

,e/

. r stirr_s OF 5:90M-TIPIS tws- AT ONF. n'eI.CCK.
lank Stock ,... ..... ; \:"ew 5 per Cent —
3 pet Cent. it... 1 Max i.•. ' 7 rdia Stock
2 ,er rrin't. tt;ons 92!,.,,1i 'Ditto Bonds V pm.
.V, ',pi- Crnt. (.9 South Sea 5t0ck......,
• ri4l,cri heti OlO4 9 l< Old Annuities —
Neve 5 per Cent 104.34 'New Ditto —
a per Cent. Min. 17:.0 .... I:I per Cent. Ann. 1751 —
4 per Cent. 183 6...:00 (...% %56 Ex Bills, £l,of4' 5O 4,-) pm.
BanltLongAnn.tosaplre Ditto ......`.OO 50 49 pm
Jan. 5, ICig,... ... 171,i 3-1 S Ditto Small
0,t.10, 155/ 17,,,i :Dittn Commercial — pm.
.l.sis. 5, I'V-0 ‘l),ltto Advertised
..an. k 11P34", Bank for Account —
April.% Iftgo ~ Tndia for Account ..... 270
:Tan. 5, '.870 ms — 'Cons. for Account 92);% ii

'PRICES W' PDREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
A astr,wts Mon& ...... 1004 100 Peruvian Bonds 214
13 I, taw Ronda 9841 Ditto Account c 34
rPtic Account 99 Portuguese Bonds 7834
Dra."...;'.i.tit Ponds 75 6 4 Ditto Account 7814
.titto Account -5 tiy,%4 Ditto New Bonds ...784-73;
Aitimins ,%yre, Bctids
_:21) Ditto Acconnt 7BS 8

rhttr: Aireunt .11s Prussian Bonds low: 3
Chit vi Skalds ... ..... ...........17034 . Ditto Bonds, P 422 WS
IVettn Account ........ .......TA Russian Bonds, 11422 Ili;
Co7unnt:lan Ponds ... Zli Ditto Account,
Tr tt, A ccotnit,... ........ ....2:514 . Ditto 111
13itt,-, Beasts, 1824 '174 Spanish Bonds, irs•ii.
..... ;16 % 14
Di to mr,,zit. .74 Ditto Ace 3611,'%%43%
Danish rnr, . -414 5 Ditto Bonds lsv3
it'l Acer unt 74% Ditto Arrol:nt 23.,
Gr.....4t :Ponds...—. ...... ...... French Renter, sp. c. --I —c
/%!tto Borfls,1;-,i15 3314 Exchange...... —f —c
t'itto Ac:-.tait - ----- 3 ocr cent...". —r —c-
Mexican Bonds, 5 per cent P4li ---- Exchange —f --c.
Ditto Accome Dutch, ‘2l p. c. 52
.r. o, 5: per iverl, 4 1,4 ! Ditto .tccount 54
Ditto Account ...... , ...414 to f Ditto, sp. c. '.'h ?p 714
Va20.1.•r0t.... .. 911,4 Ditto Account O7 Li
- -'

MCI'S OF SHARES THIS DAT AT ONE O'CLOCK.

Paid.
Ai= Mining Company £9
"Hg::, %it,. w,iti. ..A... ,il.b. al 31. pm , .£l,O -_
taplanos NP,,ing Conym% £l5O 120 1174
)Arazilian 'Stifling Company 5 15
I:razillar: , rill,. ,',llr. ('n. Ont. at fit.ino.) £2O 61!4
rritto Macalibas Cocaes 2O 20
nits. 44. Inhi. De 01• V ' 10 6,4...6
0/
Cv.ta Pranra Mining Company ...... - :le A
12,rirish Iron Miniro, corm.... £so 31Si
Colu,nli, It !liitlin, Co. (iss. at 5/.1.1,..) 524 10%
.
linflish 14:: . ;:r.r Company .. ...... , I:2K 25
4.,ivorral Sliaone A:ta,,entriOn l2
Hibernian Mining Co. £lO
illexican 5! nit, co, .C.49%
'',ll Lie! )I',..4ll,:'lllninr. C 0.... (tinroq.)
1,/oxled Me x. Mir : %.. iss at 21. nut.) 40
5

Pei Sl,ari.
11%

..irto
hilionre llrc In.t+rmnre Comp. 0
ryr:torlnt• nonrance Comp.
Ati•tralim Co. .....
...........
Iltetunal Steam Navigation Co. l3
Natvmal Provincial Bank of England 15
P.lit Dore
t'n.4u-tat !t-lk •f I rellntl ....... 25

10►4
1144
.EI 7 0
n
48!4
15Z:
1314

HAMBURCI, nay 6.—The prices of the public funds
have risen materially since our last notice, and in every
description much business has been done.
Discount, 2. per cent. End of May.
A r:410..1 tallish Loan, three per cent 7! a 4
Anglo-Russian lOl%
Russian lEscription, 5 per cent., In) 94%
Ditto, ditto, IP3I
Ditto. ditto, 1832.
Certilicates 9'%
Polish Bonds 125%
Prussian Bonds. 1032
A t:: tnati Rank Shares 1273
Ditto Metalliques :1914
Ditto 4 rer Cent.....
Spanish 3 per Cents.
Spanish Cortes (A. F. Haldimand and ons) 36
Ditto 4 per Cent 5314
Dutch 2N, per Cents.
Ditto 5 per Cents 94*
Portti,ttece Recency 75
—Hamburg Reporter.
EXCHANGES ON LONDON.
TIAMBI,RG, MAY 6.-13 1014 ; two months, 139.
ST. PETERSBITRGII, APRIL 9.s.—Three months, 10%.
BERLIN. MAY 3.—Three months, ii 264.
Nrotictinst. APRIL :la.-I'w, months, 1233.
LZIPSIC. APRIL 30.—Three months, 6 16%.
.—Hamburg Papers. May 6.
PRUSSIAN FUNDS—BERLIN, MAY 2.
St. Schuh! Sch. 4 per cent 99 98%
Pru•sian English Loan, 1818, 5 per cent.... HO%
Ditto 1,22, 5 per cent.... --
Ditto Thuds 1831) 4 per cent.... 94 9354
Exchange on London S m . ... 6 25%
—Prussian State Gazette. May 4.

COUKSf c.e gxcH.
Amst,rdaria C.r 12 53
1) tto, at mght 34
i'otterilam 2IJ 12 6
Antwerp It? 53
tiareoura t3 12i
Akrria l3 12i
LT iii dayi' sight 95 50
2 U. 25 SO
Bor.,eatix 2) 85
Pfertiti 7

RCN YESTERDAY.

Ft.:ri. lint on Maine, F.x. NI :52"
Petersburg'', ruble, 3 Us. I 9 4 -
Vienna, effective A. 2 M. 9 59
Trieste ,I 0 ..10 0
Pihind ~. 36.14
Cadiz . 175.',
Gilboa 'Ni
P,rcelnna 'MN
met a!,• 36
Gii,raitar 47

11.eghorn... .............. ....... 48
Genoa. ..% 80
Milan 11
Venice 47
qaples
?Mom° per oz. 122
Lisbon 52
Oporto 59..74
Rio laneim 17
BAhia 3l
Buenos Apes
Dublin, 21 days' sight 1
Cork ll4

BULLION, PER OZ.
.f. s. d.
Portugal Gold, coin 0 0 0
Foreign Gold, in bars 3 17 9
New !)oubloons 0 0 0
c.'w Dollars
iilverbarsotandard 0 4 ilk

Arr►ved. Da,. Air ♦ed. I)Ut
O America 0 1 flaraturg
O Brazil .... 1 0 Holland
ii Tbieno.; Ayres 0 0 Ja'naica. i,
6 Cartliagena.. 0 0 Leeward Ist:olds ... 0
T 1 L.1111:1:1 0 ! 0 Lisbon ll
11 Vilna. r► 0 0 Malta 0
I France 0 0 Sweden 0
O Guernai &Jersey.. 0 1 Waterford 0

HIGH WATER. AT LONDON BRIDGE TO ittnattovv.
Morning 3$ minutes after 3. j Evening... 34 minutes after 3.

41.
(1 r 4
•

LONDON,
SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 10, 1834.

The vast majority in the Commons last night
in favovr of the second reading of the Poor
Laws' Amendment Bill, may be said to have
decided its fate. The division was 319 to 20,
or about 16 to 1 in favour of the measure, one
of the most overwhelming majorities we ever re-
member in that house. Even the majority
against repeal, on which the country is almost
unanimous, was not so great, the number being
525 to 40, 'or about 13 to 1. The discussion
was highly creditable to the good sense of the
house, and the calm, deliberate, unprejudiced
view which most of the members took of the
question, has impressed us more with confi-
dence in their deliberations than any act of the
reformed Parliament. Notwithstanding the
clamour raised out of doors—the great parade
at vestry meetings, and the violent language
resorted to by persons of _great influence, the
members discussed the question' with as much
coolness, and as much uninfluenced by prejudice,
as if the measure had never been objected to, or in
no way interested their constituents. Such-.
conduct forms a noble feature in .a
deliberative
assembly, and is founded on one of the first
principles that ought to regulate their discus-
sions. There were two or three exceptions,
but these only prove the general rule. Colonel
EvANs moved a resolution, which no doubt he
believed to be condemnatory of the bill, but
which he might have brought forward with as
much consistency on any proposition whatever
relative to the poor laWs. Though he evidently
intended to oppose the measure, his resolution
does not raise one objection to it. It is, in
fact, perfectly innocuous, and, if we except the
words " poor laws," might have been moved on
any question, and might have been acceded to
by all who voted for the second reading. We
have no objection, however, to a truism, if
honourable members would only adhere to
truth. What does he mean by saying
that all Tories and Radicals were united
in one common sentiment of opposition to
the bill ? Why, with the exception of Sir
JAMES SCARLETT (and by the way he is no
true Tory), not one of that party raised their
voice against it. But this is only of a piece
with the violent and unfounded assertions which
have been made against a measure which, with

certainimodifications, every impartial man re-
3garg.as Calculated for the benefit of the poor
(47 4.4 a
llf
"It ' rich. The observations of Mr. GROTE
1 ir. H wis; on the metuis resorted to to thwart
et . .
.
raf4
\ _,
r-4 BA.lr ~.. -:g ./
''' 444

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