The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-23 00:00:00

Colonel PERRONET THOMPSON'S " Cate-
chism of the Corn Laws." The cost of
the latter is only sixpence, and if thPv
learn it by heart, or only read it once or twice
with moderate attention, mre will warrant its
do

ing, even the wisest of them, at lea,t a pound's
worth of good. Indeed, the wiser they are,
unless they have already come to the conclu-
sion that, although they have got pockets, others
have got stomachs and hands, the greater will be
the service the " Catechism " w►ll render them.

" Poor Laws for Ireland, a Measure of Jus-
tice to England, of Humanity to the People of
both Islands, and of Self-preservation for the Em-
pire," is the title of a pamphlet which, although
advocating a principle we have often opposed,
contains many facts and arguments well worthy
of the attention of all who desire to find a
practical remedy for the ills of Irel Lnd. The
arguments the author (Mr. MONTGOMERY
MARTIN advances in favour of poor laws ge-
nerally, we shall not at present enter into, fur-
ther than to observe that we should imagine he
has almost exclusively gathered his knowledge
from books, and has mixed little with the
poorer classes in England. It will be
needless more than passingly to notice either,
his arguments showing the injustice wrought
upon England by the absence of poor laws in
Ireland, whilst they are maintained in this
country, for we believe that every one has long
ago acknowledged the fact. Indeed, the only
marvel is that English landlords should have
so long suffered themselves, by a false feeling of
delicacy, or by negligence, to be burdened with
Irish poor in the manner they have been, to
the benefit of heartless landlords, whose ne-
glect of the duties imposed upon them by
their situation has driven the peasant of Ire-
land to this country for the bread he ought to
find at home. Mr. MARTIN wishes to establish
poor laws permanently in Ireland ; we only wish
to establish them temporarily ; but he agrees
with us, that a bare subsistence, with hard work,
is all that ought to be provided for the unem-
ployed poor. He does not acknowledge that
the principle on which poor laws rest, viz., the
undertaking to provide food and employment

for all born in a country, whether the amount of
food capable of being grown in that country is
sufficient to supply the wants of all or not—he
does not acknowledge this, we say, but clearly
sees and refutes the fallacy of the arguments
against the establishment of poor laws in Ire-
land, drawn from their abuse in England. He
says—

" That the evils ascribed to the poor laws are owing
to mal administration, is proved by the numerous state-
ments laid before Parliament, of parishe4 where a rigid
system of management was put into execution, and at-
tended with the happiest results. In the parish of
Maidenhead, for instance, a better system was adopted, of
empioying the able-bodied poor at herd labour by the
piece, and giving .hem in return the lowest possible ere
of sustenance, showdig that the parish was the hardest
task-master and the lowest pay-rnast«r they could possibly
apply to. " Nothing was given in aid of labour, rent, or
rates."

This statement,founded upon Mr. BECHER'S
evidence, is borne out by many experiments made
in different parts of the country. The follow-
ing extracts will at once serve to prove this
fact, and to show our readers the nature of the
work we recommend to their attention—
" The Rev. Mr. Whateley. following Mr. Becher's
system at Southwell s.ys, " We have reduced our poor•
rates from 121. to 2s. in the pound." The High Sheriff
of Essex followed the plan of Mr. B-cher, and in one year
the rates were reduced from 4/. to 2/. each. The perni-
cious consequences of the system which has crept into op-ra
tion in England since 1795. and which totally departs
from ti e spirit and letter of the Act of E izaheth, is now
clearly utide‘ stood. The Cmmons' report of 18-28 says,
th it " the plan of paying part wages 1., a Lb .uier f om
the parish rates depresses the na oral rate of wages; and,
under the allowance system, few care to exert thein•elves
diligent :y to seek liesh channels of employment."
Mr. Day, in his valuable inquiry into the poor laws
and suip'us humor in 18:33, shows the resul. of such a
procedure (as that recommended by Parliament) in a
parish which he had under his management in Sussex
The exp. nses of the old and new systems were—
OLD SYSTEM

NEW SYSTEM.

lE+23
1824
1E25

Total-- •E 15,101

Total £9,893
4, of upwards of 5,000/. and,
ition in the comforts of the

" A saving, un three yea
in addition, a great amelior
labouring clans."

No other account has yet been received at
the Portuguese Embassy of the affair of the 4th
at Oporto, than that which was communicated
by Lord PALMERSTON to the Chevalier de
LIMA.

DEDEL having received his instructions
from the King of HOLLAND, has had an inter-
view this day with Lord PALNiERSTON. No-
thing positive has transpired ; but it is rumoured,
in the Tory circles, that the Dutch Sovereign
refuses to treat otherwise than with the Con-

Terence.

The Times, in exculpating itself from the
imputation of having, through intention or
culpable negligence, given insertion to the ru-
mour, which was falsely circulated a fortnight
ago, of the surrender of Oporto, denies every
syllable of what was stated in The Sun of yes-
terday respecting the mode in which that report
gained currency. A little consideration would
have shown that so extens►ve a denial must
necessarily create doubts of its correctness,
as there could not have been time between
the publication of The Sun of yesterday
and the writing of the denial to have
ascertained the truth or falsehood of that '
statement. What was said of the way in which
the Times obtained its news, was, of course,
founded on inference. All the facts stated by
us, however, were true, and cannot be met by
any thing beyond assertion. We regret that
the Times should have considered it necessary
to vindicate itself in this manner. No person
who had read the able and heart stirring articles
of that paper, in support of the Constitutionalists,
could have attributed its statement relative to
the condition of Oporto to intentional hostility ;
and after the confident manner in which the
report was circulated by persons whose station
in life ought to !Lae been a guarantee again:,
deliberate falsehood, we were not surprised that
the Times was deceived into a belief of its
correctness.