The Sun.
London, England, 1834-05-21 00:00:00

AMERICAN PAPERS.

New York Papers to the 2d inst. were re-
ceived at the North and South American
Coffee-house this afternoon. The discussions
upon the Bank question were still going on in
Congress. Exchange on London, 4 41, Bank
Shares, 1051 2. The following are extracts
from these papers :
NEW YORK, APRIL 29.—LATE FROM LAGUIRA.—
The following is an extract of a letter from Laguira,
received at New Orleans, dated
" Laguira, Feb. 22, 1834.
" Matters go on tolerably well here, and I think
shortly, of all the republics of South America, this
and Bolivia will be the only two where security for
person and property will be found ; all the other con-
federacies being now plunged in anarchy. By the
latest accounts from New Grenada, it is understood
that Santander is quite deserted, since he ordered the
execution of a number of respectable citizens."
(From the Paper of the 30th.)
We have received a Buenos Ayres paper of March
I.—Flour was quoted at 76 to 80. Spanish dollars,
7i to 7i ; Sp. doubloons, 122 a 123. Exchange on
England, 7i• a 71.
BUENOS AYRES, MARCH I.—The province of San
Juan has suffered considerably from a sudden flow of
waters from the Cordilleras of the Andes on the 30th
December last, which destroyed the old dikes and
rushed into the centre of the city of San Juan, throw-
ing down houses and the churches of St. Augustin,
La Merced. and Santo Domingo. Lives and property
have been lost to a considerable extent.
We have received Valparaiso papers to the 15th
Jan. Advices from Peru, state that the President,
Camarra, whose term of office expired on the 19th
Doz., was succeeded by Gen. Obregoro, of the liberal
party, who was elected by the Congress.
We have been assured that Gen. Juan A. Lavajella
is endeavouring to collect men and arms in order to
pass over to the Banda Oriental, to renew the civil
war. The government, being informed thereof, has
taken prompt measures to prevent the enterprise.

A SOLDIER SHOT.—On Sunday week, as
one of the Leeds and Liverpool canal boats was pas-
sing Burscough Bridge, near Ormskirk, a soldier
who was in the custody of some of his comrades, pre-
paratory to his being sent abroad to one of the con-
demned regiments, jumped out of the boat into the
canal for the purpose of endeavouring to effect his
escape, but before he could get out of the water was
shot dead )3y his guard. A coroner's inquest was
afterwards held on the body, and the jury gave a ver-
dict of " Justifiable Homicide."
A FREAK OF NATURE.—A goose belong-
ing to Mr. Sawyer, of Frampton, lately hatched a
gosling having four legs ; two in their proper places,
aad ons under each wing ; it was alive when hatched.
.—B•gon Hitrold.

Arrived. Due. .rri.ed. Due.
O America 0 I 0 Hamburg 0
O Brazil
0 Bucnos Ayres 0
O Carthagena 0 0 Leeward Islands ... 0
1 Dublin
O Flaniler.
I Frarre 0 0 Sweden 0
O Guernsey &Jersey.. 0 • 1 Waterford 0

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE TO MORROW.
Morning 29 minutes after 1. i Evening...s7 minutes after 1.

cgz.,
*Atm

LONDON,
WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 21, 1834.

The French papers contain speculations, but
little information.

M. DUPIN is, it appears, about to visit
England.
It is said that Admiral de RIGNY is to go
back to the Department of Marine. The
French King cannot do better than invite his
late sensible and honest minister, the Duc de
BROGLIE, to take his place.
The Chevalier de LIMA presented his cre-
dentials on Saturday last to King LOUIS PHI-
LIP, as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of her Majesty Donna MARIA,
Queen of Portugal.

A cordial alliance between England and
France is not more necessary to the preserva-
tion of peace in Europe than a thorough good
concert and friendly feeling between Parlia-
mentary Whigs and the body of Dissenters is
to the maintenance of a liberal system of Govern-
ment at home. What prospect of preserving
the one or the other can there be, if that Go-
vernment, which has, undoubtedly, done more
than any preceding Government to establish
both, should be overturned? We put this
question to the Dissenters.

Peru is again cursed with the worst of all
national calamities—a civil war. Three can-
didates for the presidency were proposed.
General ORBEGOSO was chosen, took the oath,
and was recognised by the senate and foreign
ministers. General BERMUDEZ, one of the
unsuccessful candidates, gained the army to his
side, and the President was obliged to take
refuge in Callao, where he remains in a state
of siege. Both the parties have engaged to
respect the persons and property of our
countrymen.

The following are extracts from the German

papers
NASSALI, MAY B.—On the Ist of January, 1835,
Hesse Homburg will be incorporated in the German
treaty of commerce as Musonheim has already been
included in it. The adhesion of Fraiikfort must, it
seems, depend upon that of Nassau, it being feared that
the fair of Offenbach would be transferred to llachot,
which would then become the depot for English,
French, Belgian, and Swiss merchandise, to the serious
injury of Frankfort.
VIE NN A, MAY 10.—Five per Cent. Metalliques,9B%;
Four per Cent., 88',Z ; Bank Shares, I,267.—Allge-
meine Zeitung, May 15.
FRANKFORT, MAY 15.—The Assembly of the States
of Hanover re-opened on the 12th, after a vacation of
four months.

We have shown that general and increasing
distress has been the consequence of the corn
laws which have prevailed since the year 1815.
We have also shown that by the operation of
these laws the home grower has been deprived
of the foreign market which he previously en-
joyed, and that, through the dealer in foreign
corn, he has been exposed to a competition in
the home market, which he has been unable to
withstand, whereby his means have been gradu-
ally reduced. We have also shown that agri-
cultural labourers have been thereby thrown
out of employment, as land has been thrown
out of cultivation or defectively cultivated, and

that increase of pauperism and crime has been
the unavoidable consequence of this state of
things. We aie now to show that similar re-
sults have followed from similar laws in previous
periods of our history.
In the time of the later Plantagenets and of
the first Tudors, laws were passed which pre-
vented the exportation of grain. The land in
England thus ceased to be cultivated, because
it became impossible to export its produce.
Arable lands were converted into pasture or
grass, and in the time 'of the Tudors laws were
passed in vain for the encouragement of tillage.
The legislators of those days were not wiser
than those of the present. They failed to see,
as the legislators of our time have failed to see,
that no branch of industry can prosper where,
by operation of law, its products cannot be ex-
ported. The consequences were an increase of
idleness, mendicity, and crime, which might
have been removed by the repeal of the re-
straints imposed upon the exportation of corn,
but were only attempted to be palliated by tem-
porary poor laws, which finally produced the
43d Eliz., the abuses of which have occa-
sioned so much evil in our days. The mis-
chiefs springing from laws which prevented the
export of corn increased to a fearful extent to-
wards the end of the reign of Queen ELIZA-
BETH. From a document preserved by
STRYPE, and adverted to by HUME in a
note forming part of an appendix to the
volume csntaining the history of her
reign, it appears that bands of vagrants,
to the number sometimes of sixty or more, per-
vaded every county in England, living by ra-
pine and plunder. These disorders are ascribed
by HUME to the laws that prevented the ex-
portation of corn, which never were repealed,
but they became inoperative in the course of
events. The price of corn, from the devasta-
tions occasioned by the civil wars during the
Commonwealth, rose so much that it exceeded
the price at which it was allowed to be .ex-
ported ; and the fall which then continued to
take place in the exchangeable value of money
kept the price above the exportable price, so
that, after the restoration, exportation became
free, and the quantity of corn raised in Eng-
land increased so much before the lapse of
twenty years, that in the year 1689 the bounty
was granted as a premium to export it ; and
from the year 1660 to the year 1815
the home growth of corn continued to im-
prove. We pray our readers to attend to
the remarkable fact that when the 'export of
corn was prevented by law before the Restora-
tion, consequences arose similar to those which
have arisen since the year 1815 ; and that when
exportation became free, that is, from 1660 to
1815, agriculture flourished.
Mr. MUNDELL draws a parallel between the
acts of the legislature in Queen ELIZABETH'S
time and the present, both in regard to corn
and the poor. In place of repealing the corn
laws passed in and since 1815, which have pro-
duced want of employment, increase of distress,
of pauperism, and crime, as the laws which pre-
vailed in Queen ELIZABETH'S time produced
idleness, mendicity, and crime, we confine
our attention to the abuses which have sprung
from the operation of the poor laws, as the law-
givers of her time confined their attention to
the relief of the poor, when the latter
should have applied themselves to the
causes which made such relief necessary, as we
should now apply ourselves to the causes which
have thrown agricultural labourers out of em-
ployment. In a word, that we should restore
to the poor the employment which they enjoyed
in the cultivation of the soil, of which they have
been deprived through the operation of the
corn laws that have since prevailed, as the
surest and most effectual means of correcting
the abuses committed in the administration of
the poor laws ; and without the restoration of
which employment those abuses cannot be
effectually corrected. Fortunately for the coun-
try, the three last harvests have been abundant.
But if the operation of the corn laws, pro-
ducing increase of distress, be not removed,
we must be prepared for a renewal of disorders
in the agricultural districts, similar to those
which prevailed five years ago, and we trust
that we have not raised a warning voice in vain.

The investigation of the pauper system of
America is replete with valuable and instructive
facts, tending to a demonstration of the problem
of managing the poor upon the soundest prin-
ciples of morality and economy.
We have before stated that the American
Commissioners recommend to the Legislature to
encourage the building of workhouses, as an
efficient means to repress " the frightfully in-
creasing number of the wandering poor."

The— Commissioners then illustrate the va-
rious plans hitherto adopted in the management
of the poor in the State of Massachusetts,
which may be distinguished in three classes.
First, those towns where the relief of the poor
is let by auction to the lowest bidder, who, in
return for the sum paid him, undertakes the
relief of all applicants, by money allowance,
without labour.

Second—ln those towns in which the relief
of the poor is still let to the lowest bidder, but
the contractor being entitled to the labour of
the applicants, has established a farm to employ
them.

Thirdly—ln those towns where, the relief of
the poor being let to the lowest bidder, the
contractor provides an alms-house, and has
refused all other relief, except in cases of ex-
treme necessity, arising from illness.
In the first class some of the towns have
recently added a workhouse, and the advantages
both morally and pecuniary are very manifest,
ex. g. Framingham. The annual cost has been
from 1,200 to 1,400 dollars since the employ-
ment of the poor has been engrafted. On the
original plan the cost has been reduced to 535
dollars a year.

Previous to the last twelve years the poor in
Pittsfield were boarded out in private families,

and the average cost was 1,600 dollars per ann urn.
During the first six years of the twelve a house
has been provided, where they live in one fa-
mily, the expenditure was thereby r educed to
1,050 dollars.
At Sheffield, where, previous to the last five
years, the' poor dependent on the overseers lived
at large, si lice that time they have been relieved
only by maintenance in an alms-house, excep
I in extreme cases of illness.

The year previous to this change of the re-
lief given there were 49 poor, costing the town
1,967 dollars. But as soon as it was announced
that assistance would be given to none but in the
alms-house, only 17 of the 49 accepted aid
from the town.

Two
.of them immediately removed to the
adjoining town of Egremont, where they could
be still supported by money allowance, without
going into an alms-house.
This town affords strong evidence in favour
of the workhouse system of relief. The whole
cost of the poor for the last year, is by the
American commissioners stated to be 665 dol-
lars, and when the agent of the commission
visited Sheffield in November, 1832, there were
but eight inmates in the house, and the moral
advantages of the new system have not been less
than the pecuniary, for—
." The idle and able-bodied, who yet love liberty
more than they hate labour, have been induced or com-
pelled to work rather than submit to the restraints of
an alms-house ; and the thriftless have been made pro-
vident and careful, that they might eke out a more
comfortable living from their own resources. Nor is
it an unimportant circumstance, that while the com-
fort of the permanent and impotent poor is very greatly
increased by the cleanliness, the wholesome food, the
clothing and beds, and the moral order of a well regu-
lated alms-house, their hearts and characters are
equally improved by this provision for them."
The interesting results from the experiment
of farms for the employment and support of the
poor ; and, by a regulation in these establish-
ments debarring them from the use of spirituou
liquors, are not less striking. In Salem, the
expenditure has been reduced one-half, and the
number of poor is steadily reducing about 50
per annum, and the house is far more easily
governed than was formerly the case. • Very
much of this favourable result is, by the Ame-
rican Commissioners, attributed to the entire
disuse of ardent spirits. We shall briefly glance
at the important results which this experiment
has effected :

At Lyme, It has decreased}
the expenditure 500 dol. per ann.
At Waltham ditto two-thirds.
At Littleton ditto three-fourths.
At Lexington ditto two-thirds.
At Marlborough ditto four-fifths.
At Andover, in consequence of the farm, and
employing the poor at a brick-field, the receipts
from the employment of the poor exceeded the
expenditure by 228 dollars 75 cents ; but the
brick-field was an extraordinary source of re-

venue in this year.
The American Commissioners then call the
attention of the Legislature to the fact of the
great numbers who are reduced to poverty by
intemperance, and the most careful attention
was paid to obtain correct information on this
subject; in many towns it appears to be about
nine-tenths :

" Our towns indeed requirC to be brought under
the necessity of giving their serious attention to the
question ' of the wisest method of providing for the
poor ?' to secure attention to it. Let the Legislature
hold itself bound by its duty of equal watchfulness over
all, and of impartial justice towards all, at once to de-
fend the peaceful and industrious in their rightful pos-
sessions, and not to take from them those possessions
for the support of those who arc idle and refuse to
work; and as carefully let it recognise the principle,
that for the cases of human want and suffering for
which God has himself made provision at once in his
word and in the principles of our common nature,
human laws are not to be interposed to prescribe the
manner or the amount of that charity which want and
suffering may demand from his fellow man ; and we
feel assured, that although for a time in the tran-
sition state, during which the Commonwealth's
allowance shall first be considerably diminished,
from what it now is, and the diminution continued for
a few years, till it shall cease and be utterly abolished.
Many of the states poor, and especially of the wander-
ing poor of this class, may be brought under increased
suffering ; the number of this whole class of the poor
will soon be perceived to be gradually decreasing from
the failure of the encouragements they have hitherto had
to migrate into our common wealth for support. Let
these principles be recognized and acted upon, and the
whole number of poor in the state will be gradually
decreasing, and the comfort both of those who shall
require the aid of towns, and of those who may be left
wholly to private bounty, will be greatly extended. A
VIOLATION OF THESE PRINCIPLES EVER HAS BEEN, and
your Commissioners think EVER WILL BE, FOLLOWED BY
DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES. Let there be no laws re-
quiring the support of the poor, and the claims of those
who need assistance and who can do nothing for them-
selves, will never in our community be disregarded.
Let there be no laws requiring the support of the
poor, and the rights of those who have been made poor
by circumstances beyond their control will be cheerfully
acknowledged, and the corresponding duties towards
them as cheerfully performed."