The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-24 00:00:00

have seen three or four noblemen with seats in the
House of Lords, perhaps an equal numb-r having
titles by courtesy, and eight or ten representatives of
Protectionist constituencies. Thy have heard very
eloquent speeches from Sheriff Ausort and Professor
ATTOUN, cnd come not quite so brilliant from other
speakers, in one of which an Honourable M.P., if not
directly, at least by implication, termed a Noble
Member of the House of Commons, "an aris-
tocratic buffoon." a hey have drunk with enthusiasm

,he ;toast of the " tenant farmers," nine-tenths of

the assembly belonging to the class to whose welfare
and prosperity the bumper was devoted, while the
parties whose pecuniary advantage they were really
endeavouring to promote—the " landocracy"—were
passed over sub silentio. But, for all that, we beg to
aisure them that the bread-tax is not, nor will it be,
restored, nay, more than that, at this moment the
recognised leaders of the party in either House would
not venture to impose an import duty on corn, even if
they had sufficient strength inside the walls of Parlia-
ment to carry such a proposition. The poor man's loaf
can never again be taxed for the benefit of the privi-
leged few. The advantages of the " large lost" are
too well known and too fully appreciated in the
humble households of hard-worked artiz ,ns and
operatives throughout the length and breadth of the
land, to be easily surrendered. The parties who have
benefited by the change, who have been enabled to
satisfy the cravings of their hungry children with a
sufficiency of plain and wholesome untaxed food, wid
not be cajoled into consenting to the revival of the
burden they have shaken off, by the assurance that a
ss. fixed duty would " only increase the price of the
loaf by one halfpenny, and that would not be much
complained of—if (oh, this if, it possesses miracu-
lous qualities)—they got their beer Id. per pot
cheeped" Even were the vague expectation to be
realised, and the revenue derived from the new duty
were sufficient to enable the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER to strike off the. malt-tax (and it should
be recollected that it would require an importation of
no less than twenty millions of quarters of corn an-
nually to produce such a re:ult), there are
few who would not reject the exchange with
disdain —who would not prefer that the
children's hunger should be satisfied rather than the
fathers thirst; that there should be a sufficiency of
food for all, rather than too much drink fur one. We
do not by any means undervalue the obtaining a
cheap and good glass of beer for the working man.
Taken in moderatior, it is a wholesome beverage, cal-
culated to improve his health and strength; but we
rnuvt also add that it is by no means of equal import-
ance in the domestic economy, to "the staff of
—a cheap and good loaf—the article of primary ne-
cessity in the cottages and garrets of the labouring
Population of the country.

The Noble Chairman said that, " if when the price
of wheat fell to 38s. per quarter, the interest on the
natiunal debt were to be reduced to some eighteen
millions, he could understand it, and was not sure
but that he might become a Free-trader himselr."
Dues he not perceive that the evil to which he alluded,
and the magnitude of which we recognise as fully as
he can do, is not produced by free trade, but by our
infamous monetary code? that it would not be reme-
died by a , corn-law, which would serve one
class only at the expense of the rest of
the community, but by the repeal of the Acts of 1819
and 1844, and the establishment of a judicious system
of currency that would afford a circulating medium—
the
de.ff-
the very life-blood of industry—adequite to the
wants and exigencies of the.
British in
This would
,tuvvibtraydiof
afford real protection to B
without
,criptions,tior drawback. exceptionthat he clearly understood the
ALISON, too, showed
true condition of the question, when he pointed out
that the effect of the boast of the organ of the
z one sovereign at the
bullionists of mai-
n
prevent day do the work which two could
previously have performed • or, in other words,
that a sovereign now possesses double the purchasing
power that formerly belonged to it, was practically to
double the weight of our public burdens—
to make
fifty millions of taxation as heavy as a hundred mil-
lions. But).when the IsToble Lord and the eminent