The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-27 00:00:00

TO CUTHBERT RIPPON, Esp., M.P.

SIII,-It would be not only a want of courtesy but a
want of truth were we to fail in our expression of the sin-
cere delight with which we have received your communica-
tion. Where collateral circumstances of a plea.surable
nature are added to the more direct causes of gratification,
the total effect cannot but be great. Such in this instance
is our situation ; we have not only to thank you, our repre-
sentative, for a communication at once frank and flattering,
but to acknowledge an indirect claim upon our gratitude
for the excellence of the example ; and you will pardon us,
Sir, if we attribute some share of the pleasure you have
given us not only to the intrinsic merits of your kind com-
munication of sentiment, but also to the very novelty of the
circumstances.--Too long have we been accustomed to be-
hold in persons insolently and audaciously styling themselves
" the people's representatives" men mean enough to become
crawling supplicants once in seven years to constituents,
whom for the rest of that term they are predetermined to
insult and disregard. With such imposters we are proud
to see you resolved to have as little in common, as have we
the independent electors of Gateshead, with the emascu-
lated herds who style themselves their constituents.
We hail you as our representative indeed ; and we
call with pride upon the long deceived people of
England practically to learn from you the mean-
ing of the name. It is true, Sir, that from the
hollow and mendacious deceivers whom you rebuke by
your example, you may expect that example to be con-
demned. Their censure you will feel as praise—and for
the petty annoyances of irritated aristocracy you will find
ample repayment in the gratitude of the people, and in your
own honest heart. Believe us, Sir, however, that to such
alone will these unworthy feelings be confined. The pas-
sive and degraded beings, over whom in the guise of ser-
vants they domineer as masters, inwardly hate and despise
their unprincipled tyrants—and admire in secret those
examples which they have not the courage to enforce or to
imitate.

We now turn to th'e more general and therefore graver
topics of your letter ; and permit us, Sir, to add the em-
phasis of our united voices to that of yours in general re-
probation of the conduct and of the measures of the minis-
try during the last session of Parliament. Trite it is, Sir,
most true, that " they dare not abolish but endeavour to
disguise abuses, and have sought to conceal a vicious policy
by the low contrivance of shifting public grievance." The
Reform Bill, it is now clear, was carried less by Earl Grey
than by his traditionary character. His reputation has "ruled
us from his urn." He has carried on his three years
of shifting Government, not by being what he is, but by
having been what he was ; and this is fully evinced by every
measure of that Government from the time of his assuming
the reigns of power until that period when they were
filched from his nerveless hand, and he sunk at once into
the imbecile old man twenty years behind his age in politi-
cal knowledge, and totally ignorant of the situation of the
tottering country which events called upon him to govern.
His errors were not the consequence of his want of heart,
but his want of knowledge ; nor can any one wonder that
he was alarmed and irritated by difficulties, which before
they came he could not expect, nor when they came, un-
derstand.

The great public grievance, which though it cannot, as
a whole, be " shifted," has been assiduously sought to be
" disguised," is the enormous disproportion of the taxes to
the means of paying them. These toxin have been caused
by the blind and devouring profligacy of the Aristocracy
which has, for so many unhappy years, governed this most
industrious, most cheated country. That profligacy has
developed itself in the creation of pensions, sinecure places,
unmerited promotions, clerical pluralities, and all the Pro-
tean varieties of corruption ; but most of all in the creation
of that most unparalleled and enormous compound of folly
and wickedness extreme, called, for the purposes of fraud,
by its creators " the Nation's Debt"—.a thing for extent of
unspeakable blindness and hideous corruptions, unequalled
in the past and never to be equalled in the future history
of mankind. In this monster of legislation we see a
system, based in deception and fraud, the most barefaced
and impudent—fostered by the madness of a profligacy in-
describable--aggravated by ignorance and arrogance me-
matched ;—and only endured by a passiveness engendered
by centuries of toil amidst misrepresentations the most un-
ceasing—and under the night of obedient ignorance, per-
petually played upon by knavery grown gigantic in success,
and endless in devices. At the very mention of the pre-
tended necessity which is set up as a pretext for borrowing
this money, we do not know whether indignation or surprise
ought to predominitte, or to which we shall yield. Ne-
cessity ! why can any man be ignorant that in cases of na-
tional necessity not only every man's property but every
man's person, may be levied upon en masse by the Govern-
ment, and that if this money had really been wanted for
purposes of urgent State necessity it might have been de-
manded and taken by the King with every sanction of na-
tional law. This necessity would have justified—but not
a borrowing at usurious interest, not a mortgage on the
country and its future possessors. In the security offered
for these fraudulent loans we see the same contempt of
, equity, law, and common sense. That a man may mortgage
property over which he has an entire control is evidently proper
because he may,if he pleases,sell it. But men cannot sell their

country, much less their children and their childrens' children.
How then can they mortgage that in which only a Ilk_
estate is theirs, or make a bond slave of the babe la:Lem ?
yet this is what the horrible abortions called. hational debts
do—they not only pledge to usurers the free soil of a
country but give an unholy lieu upon the very bodies of its
future inhabitants. If the pretended security, however, be
founded in fraud and wickedness, the value supposed to be
lent we know was not less so.—We know that the money
lent was a false money, the declining value of which was
only saved from utter annihilation by the mistaken con-
fidence of the people ; and we know further that it was
only by the usurious gains of one loan that another was
enabled to be made ; and that in the application of this
false money the nation was cheated doubly and plundered
on all sides, Thus by means the most nefarious we behold
our country saddled with a pretended debt, probably equal
in value, if its lenders are not liars, to all the lands, houses
and property of every i d ennstltuting that country. At
an assgrtipAl sp apparently wild, we can readily believe that
even a man of your political information may start in be-
wildered surprise. We speak it however advisedly and de-
liberately ; and in %du tlio we may make clear to
Yq4 1)1 oTtuißn§ 91-4 g Matter so important, we beseech
Your Wl'
6441gepee to allow us to quit for a mo-
ment the 'routine of epistolary communication, in order to
crave your attention to a simple set of figures, which, sim-
ple as they may be, are powerful as to this matter. The
following estimate? Sir of the actual value of England as it
•
exists (leaving its people out of the question, who are inva-
luable) was made with the most careful attention to aeon.
MPY: 49t1 With OP *MA
and the realms pf the Income, property ann'ether Taxes.
We respectfully beseech you to ever-read this valuation,

and supposing you to have done so we shall continue our
address :

Value of Land at 28 years purchase £812,000,000
Value of Houses at 20 years purchase 170,000,000
Manufactories, Machinery, &c. &c.., 20,000,000
Household Furniture 42,500,000
Apparel, provisions, fuel, wine, plate, watches,
jewels, books, carriages, &c 40,000,000
Cattle of all kinds 90,000,000
Grain of all kinds .
Hay, Straw, &c 6,600,000
Implements of Husbandry 2,000,000
Merchant Shipping
The Navy
Coin and Bullion
Goods in the hands of Merchants, &c 16,300,000
Goods in the hands of Manufacturers, Retail and
Wholesale Dealers..

20,000,000

£1,272,800,000
Since this estimate was made, which was three or four
years after the war, the rents of land and the prices of most
commodities have fallen not less than forty per cent. The
rents of houses and manufactories have also fallen, but the
houses and manufactories themselves have increased • leav-
ing out, then, the houses and manufactories, and the coin
and bullion, and deducting one-third from the remainder,
and adding the two together, the total value of England,
and all it contains, is not more than nine hundred and nine-
teen millions, eight hundred and seventy thousand pounds,
that is to say—a very few millions above its debt, so callf:a,
including the funded and unfunded debt, and the Govern
meat debt to the Bank. From this we must dea:act, if the
debt is to be liquidated, all that belongs to the fuadholders.
Thus, then, in order to pay this pretendr..Cl debt, it would
be necessary to give up England, and all it contains, to a
body of people consisting principally of old persons of both
sexes, of the middle rank ; gantlilers in loans and in stock ;
Government pensioners ; younger sons of the Aristocracy,
who have amassed forties in Military, Naval, and civil si-
tuations of trust ; corporate bodies ; savings' banks, and in-
fants under pardianship ;—an idea so enormously extrava-
gant as to exceed the wildest hallucinations of moony mad-
ness, and outstrip the most outrageous fictions of even
Eastern romance.

It is here, Sir, that we find the grand grievance of the
country so long " disguised" under specious forms and
names. It is under the phantom weight of this unnatural
nightmare that England is gasping for breath—struggling
for utterance—and panting to push the monster from her
breast. Other reforms would no doubt give partial relief ;
the repeal of the corn law monopoly would in time do
something ; the extinction of pensions and sinecure places
would be a small respite from the overwhelming weight.
But we firmly believe, that until the incubus of the debt
be got rid of, England cannot know what happiness means.
Neither do we despair of being happy. To take from the
people yearly, a sum equal (since the carrying into effect of
Peel's Bill) to the rent of all the land, and all the houses
of that Great Britain which they inhabit, is something too
monstrous to continue. To talk of " liberal institutions"
under such a system is a farce. Free government consists
in protection to person and to property. Protection to
property is, that it cannot be taken without the owner's
consent. How there can be protection to r,roperty when
that consent is pledged and mortgaged fife), years before
the owner is born—bow there can be protection to person,
when the very labour and talent of every man may be
pledged and mortgaged fifty years before he is born—let
those who support such systems show.
For your bold and persevering efforts to reform that
corrupt corporation, which is styled " the Church of Eng-
land," we take this opportunity cordially to thank you. In
that church we, as you do, see an institution, for the con-
tinuance of which there remains, not only no reasonable
ground, but not even a plausible pretext. Whilst all Eng-
land believed in one and the same creed, there was reason
in supporting the church as a national establishment.
Whilst the higher dignitaries of the church were really or-
naments of religion, and beloved by their flocks however re-
duced in numbers, good feeling stept in and pleaded its
continuance. But now, when we sie the spiritual work
which remains to be done left to starving curates ; when
we see clergymen, from the Archbishop down to the Vicar,
men of whom the best we can say is that Mammon is their
God—the dining-room their temple—the bill of fare their
liturgy, and the dinner-bell the most sacred music in their
ears—when we see this, disgust takes the place of
pity, and we gladly call upon justice to destroy
that which no mistaken feeling would persuade us to
preserve. This is the Church in England ; but of
the Church in Ireland what shall we say ? You, Sir,
have applied to that prostitution of the name of religion to
the base, sordid, and sensual passions of the aristocracy,
the term of the " hideous Harlotry of Church and State."
Your enemies have enveighed against the use of such a
term to such a purpose. We, Sir, your constituents, think
the term not strong enough. This metaphor, strong as it is,
does not apply here. The aberrations of one of the strongest
passions of our common nature, may be sinful and punish-
able, but are still natural. Far different are those disgust-
ing practices in which the name, form and language of reli-
gion are made subsidiaries to oppression and rapine ; to
which the moral sense of every human being, and the reli-
gious feeling of every real Christian are equally opposed ;
of which the sincere believer and the honest Atheist would
be equally ashamed ; which, beginning always in perjury, end
commonly in murder ; which, in short, with a degree of blas-
phemy that almost attaches to the description of them,
commit robbery in the name of the Holy Spirit, and endea-
vour to make the Deity himself an accomplice in picking
pockets. To such a thing as this no language can be too
stronc, to be applicable ; no retribution too sweeping to be
desirable.

That the House of Lords should by an almost suicidal
vote have endeavoured to prevent the mitigation of this
intolerable abuse, is perhaps not to be wondered at. That
their Lordship's conduct should have called down your
severest reprehensions is still more natural. Admiring as
we do, the boldness and straightforwardness of your vies s
and language upon this topic, you will, we fear, deem us
inclined to draw too largely upon your courtesy, when we
beg to be allowed to pause before we entirtAy concur in
them. Such, however, unwillingly, we 'must do.
Man is the creature of habit,
us, that substantial and essential changes may be made with
more of ease and less of Ganger, than changes in mode and
form. When men appear to be walking upon the same
path they go on as before, though the real substratum of
the road be changed. We had rather change the spirit of
that house than its form, and that change is practicable.
Men are made in a vast measure by circumstances. What
is the House of Lords ? A set of country gentlemen of
average ability and character, placed amid circumstances of
peculiar temptation and consequent difficulty. The Lords
are not what they are because they are part of the legisla-
ture, but because for a century and more they have been
the whole of it.

They were an oligarchy with the whole plunder of the
country at their feet. The consequence is natural ; and
the true cure is not to remove the Lords and leave tempta-
tions, but to remove the temptations and leave the Lords.
An elective senate placed amid the same sources of cor-
ruption, and legislating amid the same difficulties would
share the same fate ; nor is there any reason why, if that
corruption and its existing effects were destroyed, the House
of Lords in conjunction with a really popular House of
Commons should not be fully competent to carry on the
business of the country. " Government is a plain thing,"
and honesty, not cunning is the grand requisite. Good
government mainly consists in husbanding resources and in
a moderate expenditure ; and what interest could men, who
had ceased to live upon the taxes, have in augmenting
them? Such is the view we take of this subject, but, we
quarrel not with others who may differ from us.
If, however, we hesitate to remodel the Hose of Lords
we do not scruple as to the House of Con:;mens,
had no other reason to acknowledge *2 and if we
de necessity of a still
further extension of the right of suffrage of triennial parlia-
ments and the vote by ball:ot, we must candidly confess that
the one great measure of the last session, " the Poor Law
lesAmsn would have decided us. We shall feel
in expressing our opinions as to this bill, be-
ediroselin:ity
auf,"e though in the communication with which you have
honoured us, you have not expressed your sentiments
regarding it, yet we know that, on another occa-
sion, you have calledit, and most properly and most
sensibly called it a " harsh and dangerous measure." It is
so ; and because it is " harsh" we thank God it is " dan-
gerous"—and we fervently pray that every meature "harsh"
to the people, and especially to the poor may be " dan-
gerous"—dangerous, indeed, to the contrivers and abettors.
And first, Sir, permit us to remark upon the singular mis-
nomer of this Bill. What business has the term " amend-
ment," with a measure of abrogation and bereavement ;
with a measure the same as that which was meted out to

---
Count Ugolino and his children--a prison and starvation ;
with a measure at once the most unjust, cruel, and impolitic
that ever was entertained by any Legislature ? This Bill
is not a Bill of " amendment," but a Bill of destruction.
The meaning of the Poor Law is to prevent persons, by any
possibility, from suffering through want, by providing relief.
This Bill is a means to make persons suffer through want,
by denying relief.

This, Sir, whatever may be said to the contrary, we hold
to be the intention of this. Bill, and that intention we hold
to be at open war with the law of nature, of God, and of
society. Natural law, as laid down by all civilians, holds
that no man is bound to die from want, if food is within
reach ; and that the taking it in such a case is not crime.
The law• of God, as written in the moral precepts of the
Old and New Testaments, puts charity in the very front of
moral and Christian duties ; and that which holds society to-
gether is the preservation of all its members, without which
bond the rights of property must cease. With all this de-
nial of relief, and the imprisonment of the poor, are at
war. To a man of your great information it must be

known, that the poor always have been relieved, first by
private charity, or the Lords of the soil, next by the church
out of the proceeds of estates, left especially for that put.
pose by virtuous individuals ; and that the English poor
law of Elizabeth was an express compensation for the
seizure of those estates in England, by the monster
Henry VIII. and a rapacious aristocracy. The poor then
hold their right to relief, by the same tenure under which
the Russells hold the lands of Woburn Abbeys formerly
the property of the poor ; and the resumptioe of the ore.
in our opinion, includes legally the resumptiea of the other.
To a man•of your historical knowlck ! it must be well
known that these laws existed almost, unchanged from the
time of Elizabeth in 1597, to tbn middle of the reign of
George the Third ; through these centuries they were
never felt as a grievance. The people cheerfully taxed
themselves, and distributed that tax,, which until the time
of the American war and growth of the debt (we respect-
fully beg you, Sir, to mark that), did not exceed a few
hundred thousand pounds—they cheerfully distributed that
tax by means of an overseer chosen by themselves, and who
was the friend and neighbour of poor men whom he
relieved. If bad management has increased the poor
rate, why did it not take place then ? Are we less
wise or less industrious than our forefathers two cen-
turies since ? Whatever others may do, we, Sir, cannot
belierve in the monstrous absurdities upon which this bill is
founded—and especially the incredibly ignorant assertion of
Malthus, that men increase too fast unless they are starved,
when the direct contrary is the case, not only with men,
but with all animals, and even with the vegetable creation,
as every farmer and gardener knows, and when Malthus
ought to have known that every House of Lords, which
have just passed this bill, would not have been there to pass
it but for continual new creations by which alone their num-
bers can be kept up. Oh ! no, Sir ; if the poor law needs
amendment, it is the amendment of softening not of harden-
ing. The weight of the poor rate is aconsequence, not a cause
of the misery of the country.—There are ten times as many
poor people; and ten times as much poor rate as there were
in Queen Anne's time, because there is more than ten
times as much debt, and more than ten times as many
taxes as there were in Queen Anne's time ; and the only
way to reduce the poor rate is to reduce that debt and
those taxes—one has grown up with the other, and with
the one the other will die. There is one topic more, Sir,
to which we should not have alluded, had not you, by set-
ting the example, rendered it in some measure proper that
we should do so. You have alluded to an illustrious Earl
to whom the electors of Gateshead owe a debt of grati-
tude, and to the probability of his being Prime Minister of
this country. To that Noble Earl we probably owe the
privilege we are now enjoying, that is to say, of replying
to a letter addressed to us as electors by our representa-
tive. We seize this opportunity to acknowledge that ob-
ligation, and to express the feelings of gratitude we must
ever entertain towards that Nobleman. Upon his Lord-
ship's qualification for well-governing this too long
misgoverned country, it would be arrogance indeed
for us to decide, because his Lordship has never yet dis-
tinctly said what his intentions are in the event of his having
power to carry those intentions into effect. His Lordship
has indeed made use of general terms, conveying a desire to
extend the liberty and happiness of his country ; but we
have so long and so often been deceived by these general
professions in the mouths of statesmen—these indefinite
phrases have been so often and so long polluted by the
mouths of knaves ; that even the high character and ho-
uourable breath of the Earl of Durham cannot sanctify or
sweeten them to our apprehensions. We feel that the
time is now past for treating the people like children—for
bidding them " open their mouths and shut their eyes," and
trust to the giver for what they shall receive, and we there-
fore can only say, that if the Earl of Durham will plainly
pilmise to reduce our taxes to twenty millions a year when
he is a Minister, he will assuredly receive the support of
the people of Gateshead.

These, Sir, are our opinions ; and for some of them, and
especially for those regarding what is termed the national
debt, we are all well aware we shall receive the virulent
abuse, both of those who are blinded by want of honesty,
and those who are blinded by want of wisdom. We con-
sole oursels with the reflection that some of the best, most
acute, and most profound of mankind, of all political parties,
have advocated these opinions.
We recal to mind that the Tory, David Hume, has as-
serted that " country must destroy public credit, or public
credit must destroy the country." That the Whig,
Burke, has said that " the nations of Europe are
running into an ocean of boundless debt, which must
eventually be their destruction." That the Republican
Paine has said " the funding system will be the, wonder of
posterity, not so much for the length to which it has been
carried, as the folly of believing in it." That. the Constitu-
tionalist, W. Cobbett, has predicted that the debt must, in
the end, bring down the Aristocracy and the Church for
the sake of which it was created ;" and that Sir James.
Graham and Daniel O'Connell have recommended its re-
duction ; and, lastly, we read in Scripture that when Nehe-
miah was sent by the great Artaxerxes to restore Jerusa-
lem, then unwalled and in a state of ruin and distress, he
found them oppressed by a heavy debt, contracted, however,
for the sacred purpose of defending their city ; buying corn
in famine for the poor ; and keeping' the remnant of the
people together ; they naturally complained (as he tells us
in his fifth chapter) to Nehemiah of the bondage caused by
this debt. " Our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren," said
they ; " our children as their children ; and lo ! we bring
into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants,
and some of our daughters are brought into bondage
already ; neither is it in our power to redeem them, for other
men have our lands and vineyards." What was the conduct
of Nehemiah in this. exigence ? We shall quote his own
inspired words

I was very angry when I heard their cry, and these
words and I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the
nobles and the rulers, and said unto them, ye exact usury
every one of his brother, and I set a great assembly against
them ; and I said unto them, we, after our ability, have
redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the
heathen ; and will ye even sell your brethren ? And shall
they be sold unto us ? Then they held their peace and
found nothing to answer. And I said restore I pray you
to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their
oliveyards and their houses ; also the hundredth part of the
money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil that ye exact
from them."

Then said they we will restore them, and will require
nothing of them, so we will do as thou gayest, and all the
congregation said Amen, and praised the Lord."
So dealt Nehemiah with the Jewish " National Debt,"
thus committing under the immediate direction of God
himself, that which some persons, who must be Heathens,
as they cannot be Christians, or Jews, style a " public rob-
bery." Upon these most beautiful and useful texts, it has
probably never been your lot, Sir, as it has certainly never
been ours to hear any discourse in any place of worship.
Nor do we expect to do so until that reform of the church,
which you have so well advocated shall be made ; and for
your able advecacy of which, the hope of such a pleasure
impels us once more to thank you,
We now hasten to conclude. This full declaration of
our sentiments appears to us, Sir, at once the most respect-
ful and manly reply we can give to your kind and flattering
communication. In all and every one of these opinions we
cannot expect you to concur ; but it would be an ill com-
pliment to ourselves to imagine that a man of your intelli-
gence and public spirit, should not concur in most. Be
that as it wily ; we believe them to be founded in immuta-
ble trued, and to that truth, courtesy does not forbid us to
say, we are determined to adhere.
With deep and sincere regard,
We have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient and most humble servants,
(Signed) JAMES WALSH, Chairman.

So abundant is the crop of grapes, that in many in-
stances they are selling at a penny per lb. In one garden at
Little-hampton the crop is calculated to exceed a ton weight.
On Monday evening, the Halifax and Sheffield
mail was upset, at Salterhebble, near this town, by coming in
contact with the gate-post at Dry Clough toll-bar; but none
of the passengers sustained material injury. The vehicle was
so much damaged that it could not proceed ; and a temporary ,
gig mail has been substituted.—Halifax Express.

On Saturday last a melancholy accident happened,
on Crich Cliff, to a man in the employ of Mr. Wass, of Lea.
He had descended an old shaft in order to clear it out, to re-
commence working ; it is supposed he was striking a piece of
limestone with his hammer and lost his balance, and was pre-
cipitated headlong to the depth of 26 yards. Having been
spoken to several times, and not answering, a miner descended
and found the poor fellow at the bottom, nearly dead. He ex-
pired before he could be got up. He has left a wife and nine
children. It is singular that his father, grandfather, uncle,
and nephew, were all killed in a similar way.—Derbyßeporter.
EFFECTS OF INTOXICATION.—On Friday last, a
man named John Smith, a green-grocer, Westgate, Bradford,
whilst in a state of intoxication, struck a violent blow at his
wife with a carving knife, which fortunately struck her stay_
bones, otherwise it must have killed her instantly.
---11
n Sun-
day afternoon a man named Joshua Cunliff, of White Abbey,
Bradford, who had just returned from a beer house greatly
intoxicated, after quarrelling with his wife about soAne money,
a Icnife, which,
w struckhendhree s
sr
ea
dv iboyl ean ts
uhrlgo we
no, n
washer r
at:el legrltla NnVel tdh
to be six inches
deep ; the poor woman was considered in danger, but is now
e ifeaxa tI on is
Express.
A o
curious
now in progress near the
rmiasclenringde
Saute,alp atr Montmartre, near Paris. It is the re.
moval of a windmill entire from the ground whereon it stood,
to another eminence at some distance. The removal is being
effected by means of strong ropes worked by a capstan in front,
while it is propelled behind by a windlass, such as is employed
for moving large masses of stones. The mill has already ad-.
vanced about 80 yards in two days, and will arrive at its dest'A.
nation in two days more.