The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-26 00:00:00

ON FREE TRADE, CORN LAWS, AND
CURRENCY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR.,-Every man has an inherent right to his persona
liberty, that is, to the advantages resulting from his men-
tal and physical exertions. He has a right either to con-
sume the produce of his own industry for his own use, or
to exchange it for the produce of any other person'sindus-
try. Those who are deprived of this right are slaves.
It is impossible for any nation permanently to import
manufactures without exporting manufactures or the
produce of its own labour in some shape or other. The
only reason for doing so at any particular period is, that
more foreign goods can be had for a certain quantity of
gold or silver coin, say 1001., than for as much home
manufactures as can be purchased for 100/. ; for example,
if an Englishman should want such a quantity of French
wine as the Frenchman would sell him, either for 100
sovereigns or 901. worth of Birmingham goods, he would
not pay in sovereigns ; but if 1101. worth of manufactures
were required, he would send the sovereigns.
If sovereigns were continually exported because they
exchanged advantageously for foreign goods, they would,
by means of such exportation, in time become so scarce,
that the contrary state of things would take place, and
then the exportation of them would cease; were that not
to happen, the sovereigns would be entirely sent away,
and then, at all events, the further exportation of them
would be discontinued.

When men are allowed to exercise their industry upon
these principles, they adjust such matters better than any
laws can do it. All commercial laws are unjust in prin-
ciple and injurious in practice, for their effect is to compel
people to buy dear and sell cheap. No laws are required,
nor were ever enacted, to induce men to buy cheap or sell
dear. Ido not recollect a single instance in which com-
mercial laws have not been injurious even to the parties
they were intended to favour ; people cannot be made
prosperous by Acts of Parliament. Farmers have been
ruined by thousands, notwithstanding the Corn Laws, if
not by means of the Corn Laws. There has always been
more distress in Spitalfields than almost any other place,
in spite of the legislative protection of the silk trade. The
monopolies of the East India Company and the Bank of
England are not supposed to have enabled those corpora-
tions to accumulate honest wealth, and there is much rea-
son to suppose they have been mainly instrumental in
bringing about the misery which has shaken the fabric of
society to the centre.

There is great weight in names—commercial and agri-
cultural protection sound well—monopolies and prohibi-
tions are offensive to every ear; but protection to one is,
and must he, prohibition to another.
If prohibitory laws are good either in theory or prac-
tice, what limits should they be subject to?
Should commercial intercourse be restricted betw, en
nations, or counties, or parishes, or families ?
The Worcester glovers are more injured by the fashion
of wearing worsted and cotto❑ gloves made at Leicester,
than by the importation of gloves from France. Should
the Leicester manufacturers be prohibited from making
gloves?

When the English buy wheat from Poland, the Poles
buy manufactures from England. To protect the English
farmers, Polish wheat is, in fact, prohibited ; the Poles
become not unwilling, but unable, to buy the English ma-
nufactures, the English workmen are thrown out of work,
and the farmers are deprived of their best customers.
Experience shows that a fall in price has invariably fol-
lowed protection :
In 1814 the average of wheat for ten years past was 795. 5(1., a li-
beral system having existed for several years.
In 1815 the farmers were protected by a new Corn Bill.
In 18:22 the average of wheat for three years past was 545. 5(1.,
the ports having been constant}y closed.
So that protection reduced the price 255., or about 30
per cent.
Would the distress which now prevails in Warwickshire
be removed by protecting- the inhabitants against the im-
portation of goods from 1--orcestershire, Leicestershire, and
Staffordshire?
It is said, that so long as this country is heavily taxed
it must be carefully protected. But we have found that
protection by means of restriction is but a name. Having
tried the restrictive plan till our capitalists are bankrupts,
and our artisans beggars, let us, if it be only as a forlorn
hope, try the contrary system of free trade.
One-third of a man's income is taken away in taxes ;
his only means to pay these enormous taxes are increased
industry or more rigid economy. To prevent him from
being ruined by excessive taxation, the Legislature wisely
and kindly enact prohibitory laws, to prevent him from
exerting his industry in various ways that would be ad-
vantageous, and, to complete the matter, compel him to
pay a shilling for a bad article, when he could get a good
one for sixpence.
In a pamphlet just published by Sinmkin and Marshall,
" On the Bank Monopoly, Deficient Currency, Excessive
Taxation, and the Ruin of England," is the following pas-
sage :

“ A Prohibition Bill they (the farmers) accordingly got,
but the demand of the export merchants ceased, the manu-
facturers' stock was unsaleable, the workmen and labourers
Were idle and without money. It is obvious the land.
owners erred, but their error was based in knavery, and
Providence, without a deviation from the natural order of
things, involved them in the general misery !”
By a statement made by Mr. Rooke, it appears that
from the year 1688 to 1822, a period of 134 years, the
Prices of grain always rose upon importation being per-
rcitted, and fell immediately upon restriction taking place.
the unvarying experience of 134 years does not amount
4" Proof, what does ? W. B.

HAYDN.—The poet CARPANI once asked his
friend RAYON " how it happened that his church music
Was almost always of an animating, cheerful, and even
gay description?" To this HAYDN answered, " I cannot
make it otherwise : I write according to the thoughts
Which I feel: when I think upon God, my heart is so full
of joy, that the notes dance and leap as it were from my
Pen; and since God has given me a cheerful heart, it will
be easily forgiven me that I serve him with a cheerful
spirit."— Christian Advocate.

FLOODS.-On Monday evening we had a
very heavy fall of rain, which continued incessantly till the
following morning. The Findliorn rose to a great height;
the passage boat at Cothall was carried away, and as the
river was too deep and rapid to ford, neither the Defiance
nor Star Coaches could get across, and the South Mail
was also forced to stop in the evening. The guard and
passengers, however, were ferried over, and the bags were
brought into Inverness by the Defiance, which had re-
mained on the north side during the day. The Spey,
Nairn, and other Northern rivers were flooded, and several
fine fields of corn laid under water.—lnverness Courier.
We are informed that there are at present
drawn up, and ready to be presented to the Reformed
Parliament, 350 petitions for the abolition of the Church
of Scotland,—that is, for throwing the support of this
Church exclusively on its own members. It would go far
to neutralize the hostility of dissenters and seceders to this
venerable establishment, the purest of the kind ever yet
exhibited in the world, were patronage instantly and
totally abolished. Nothing but this can avert or even
protract its overthrow, under the searching eye and the
liberal mind of a Reformed Parliament and an enlightened
people.— Christian Advocate.

-Music OF THE Ass.—Among the voca-
lists, the submissive ass ranks but as a rough and rude
Performer. His meek and lowly look would indicate a
gentler voice. Though coarse, his notes are pasting sweet
compared to those of his brother mule, who, when he
°Pens his hideous throat, puts every admiring friend to
flight. In a less vulgar tone, Jack begins his bray with a
modest whistle, rising gradually to the top of •his powers
like the progressive eloquence of a well-adjusted oration,
declining to an emphatic close.-- Gardner's Music of
Nature.
i;P IDE OF PAUPERISM.—It has been cus-
,Z from time immemorial, in a certain borough town
the da y te'
to
toll the bell at six o'clock in the morning of
take " Which the funeral of any respectable inhabitant
place, for which the sexton is entitled to a fee of 7s. ;
and on the tolled at morning of the burial of a pauper the bed i•
eight o'clock, for which no fee demanded. The
Paupers have on several occasions of late, when one of their
grade has died, subscribed the sum of 7s. in order that
the bell should toll at six instead of eight, so that the
dis-
tinction between rich and poor should cease, as far as re-
gards bell. telling ! Is this the march of intellect or of
pride ?---Bath and Cheltenham Gazette.
ANECDOTE OF GEORGE IL—When his
MAJESTY came to this country from Hanover, he brought
over with him his cook, to whom he was extremely par-
tial. After some stay at St. James's, the cook grew Ire
lanchely, and wanted leave to return home. His MA-
JESTY asked him why he wished to leave his service? The
cook replied, " I have long served your MAJESTY with
diligence and with honesty, and never suffered any of your
property to be embezzled in your kitchen ; but here, the
dishes no sooner come from the table than oue steals a
fowl, another a duck, a third takes a joint of meat, and a
fourth a pie, and so on until the whole is gone, and 1 can-
not bear to see your Ma'am so injured." The KING'S
reply was, " Aly revenues here can afford this custom, and
therefore, to reconcile you to your place, do you steal
likewise, and mind that you take enough." The cook
took his master's advice, and in a short time became the
won adept thief of all the servants.