The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-22 00:00:00

froth one church and conferred on anothe r.
We cannot, therefore, concur in Mr. WlLics'
views of the subject, or believe that the dis-
senters as a body will repudiate a plan which
removes a serious grievance, merely on the
grounds of the infringement of some ab-
stract principle. As to the payment of the
250,0001. out of the land tax, that is a pure
distinction without a difference. Though,
nominally, it is to be drawn from the land tax
in England, the Scotch and Irish contribute
their share of it in the same way as they con-
tribute their share of any other taxes. If the
whole of the land tax is not wanted, then there
ought to be a remission of taxes to that amount.
If it is wanted (and of this we think there can
be little doubt) then the deficiency caused by
this abstraction of 250,0001. a year must be
made up by the community at large. The
great question, then, not only for dissenters
but churchmen, is to consider and ascertain
whether the funds of the church, (that is, tithes
and all ecclesiastical property,) are not suffi-
ciently large to pay the clergy and keep the
churches in repair. If they amount to what
Mr. HARVEY says—five millions a year (and
he has had good means of ascertaining the fact),
—not one farthing additional should be raised,
and every man throughout the community
should not only be exempted from any tax for
the support of the church, but be exempted
from the payment of all fees or Easter offerings,
and charge for baptisms, marriages, and fune-
rals. It has long been our opinion that there are
ample funds for all these purposes, and we there-
fore blame such men as Mr. Wu, s and Mr.
HUME for nibbling, to use the latter gentleman's
phrase, at such a driblet as 250,000/., without
going manfully to the main question, and compel-
ling the Government to make returns of all the

church property throughout the kingdom. Let
that point be once ascertained, and there is an
end to all discussion on the subject. If it can
be made out that there are five millions, nay,
only four millions of annual church revenue,
then no ministry, Whig, Tory, or Radical, ever
could form a House of Commons to vote away
one penny either for church rates or any other
rates for the maintenance of the established
religion. Till this, however, is ascertained, we
cannot blame Government for taking steps to put
an end to the present system so fraught with
danger to the church, so disgraceful to religion,
and so annoying to churchmen as well as dis- '
senters. Ministers, what with their wish to
preserve the church, and at the same time please
the dissenters, have a most difficult task to per-
form, and if the opinions of Sir ROBERT
INGLIS and Mr. HARVEY are to be taken as
the opinions of the two great classes, they can-
not by any possibility please both. We have
too much confidence, however, in the good
sense of the latter to believe them incapable of
yielding a little to circumstances. They are
not so unreasonable as to expect all the
victory on their side, or so unwise as,
for the sake of an abstract principle, to
thwart and annoy men who have done more
for them than any former Ministry. The more
judicious and the more numerous class will
rather look forward to the redress of real
grievances, than risk all for the doubtful chance
of a complete victory. We cannot, therefore,
do better than press on their leaders the neces-
sity of ascertaining the full amount of all eccle-
siastical property, as the only rational means of
coming to a definitive settlement of this great
question.

Another assumption of the advocates of the
corn laws is, that agriculture is the first of the
arts and ought to be protected. But we have
shown that, since the year 1815, the home
growth of corn has been progressively dimi-
nishing, and the import of foreign corn has
been progressively increasing. Agriculture,
therefore, has not been protected by these laws.
We shall now show the operation of the laws
which prevailed previous to 1815, under which
it will appear that agriculture enjoyed a protec-
tion of which it has been deprived since 1815.
The importation prices fixed in 1772, 1791,
and 1804, had no operation, by reason of the
then continuing fall in the exchangeable value
of money, and the duties were so low, that
they did not prevent our great demand from
raising prices abroad, as it did at home.
The situation thence arising is adverted to
by the agricultural committee of 1821, in

these words :—" The necessary consequence
of the trade in corn having been vir-
tually open with the continent, and the impor-
tation allowed at prices merely nominal during
the period of forty years, has been that the
general price of the shipping ports on the con-
tinent has not, upon an average, been materially
lower than the price in England, except to the
amount of the charges to be incurred in bring-
ing the foreign corn to the markets of this
country."
This state of things always presented a sure
protection to the home grower, because the
dealer could not buy foreign grain cheaper than
British grain, to which, therefore, he gave the
preference, inasmuch as, before he could bring
foreign grain to the markets of this country,
the price might have fallen, and then he was
exposed to a loss. The advantage was thus
always with the home grower. But this state
of things has been completely reversed by the
laws which have prevailed since 1815, whereby
our great demand is prevented froth reaching
places abroad until the price reaches the import-
table price, and as the law now is, not only un-
til it reaches the importable price, but until the

duty ceases to amount to a prohibition. In the
absence of our great demand, prices at the ship-
ping ports on the Continent fall in propor-
tion to the previous rise while our demand
operated there. The dealer buys at this low
price for the purposes of foreign trade until the
home price reaches the importable price and
the duty falls ; and thus he is enabled to enter
his foreign grain for home consumption at a
time when it is most advantageous to him, and
disastrous to the home grower. The advantage
which formerly rested with the home grower is