The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-25 00:00:00

WAGES AND CORN-LAWS.

WAGES.—Observations on the Connexion between. Corn-
Law Repeal and the Price of Labour ; with a Reply
to some Remarks contained in a Pamphlet signed
" Britannicus." By Edward John Evans. Clai ke.
London, 1844. •

The object of these " observations " cannot be bet-
ter stated, perhaps, than in the " Prefatory Remarks"
which precede the text. We subjoin an extract, of
which, in discussing the important topics it alludes
to, we scarcely think the worse, because of the de-
fects of composition that may be detected in it :

"'The question of free trade has now become one of
the principal topics of the day, and the object of the
monopolist party being to bring forward specious argu-
ments attempting to refute the statements of the free
traders, and as many of their pamphlets may get into
the hands of persons whose minds are still shackled
with many prejudices upon this subject, this device
would thereby so far succeed as to cause individuals to
waver in their decision, when the necessity_ of a right
knowledge is of the first importance. This circumstance
suggested the necessity of establishing the Metropolitan
Free Trade Discussion Society ' where all questions of
doubt and perplexity-can -be- brought forty aril, find 'their
various merits freely canvassed ; and I trust by these
means-we shall be enabled to fix the minds of many
upon a firm basis, will regard to the great and important
principle of free trade."

We heartily concur wi,:h Mr. Evans in his sug-
gestion for the general arnelora!ion of the farmer's
position, as an expedient preliminary, if we do not
mistake him, to the permanent establishment of a
system of free trade, including the abolition of the
existing corn-laws. " I may- be allowed (he observes)
to state here that, leaving out the exploded fallacy of
mutual confidence, let him at once have a LONG LEASE ;
his energes thereby will be directed to the improve-
ment of his lands, and we shall find that by these
means, and these alone, he will be enabled to raise
double and even treble the produce he did in former
years, with great profit to himself," &c. Touching
the reciprocating action of supply and demand in
regulating the market of labour—and, indeed, all other
markets—we nieet with the following touch of native
sagacity :
" A Lancashire operative very justly observed, and it
has become a hacknied phrase, but not the less true, that
when you see two men looking after one master, then
wages will be low ; and when two masters are looking
after one man, then wages will be high.'

This is a proposition more universally true than
what here follows :

" The effect of the corn-laws upon the farm labourer
may be stated in few words : they raise the price of the
commodity he has to buy, and liwer the price of the commo-
dity he has to sell."

If the commodity to be sold be labour, this is.ne-
cessarily true ; but not so if the commodity be live
stock, for example, -which it does not necessarily fol-
low that a farm labourer cannot possess. The Chief
averments in the pamphlet of "Britannicus" are well
answered by the chronological statistics adduced by
Mr. Evans, ranging from the years 1816 to 1843.
Some extracts from our contemporary, the Economist,
from Ricardo, from Senior, and other economical au-
thoritis, are judiciously brought in aid of the general
argument raised by Mr. Evans, that a lowered price
and increased quantity of corn would inevitably tend
to raise and maintain wages, and enlarge the opera-
tions of our productive industry.

LITERATURE. • •
THE .ALBANIAN. Strange, London, 1844.
There is • much vigour and animation in this poem,
which is founded, it
,seems on a romantic incident that
occurred—or is supported to have occurred—during
the late hard-fought War of Independence in Greece.
The poem opens with a graphic sketch of the scenery
in the immediate neighbourhood of Corinth, and then
proceeds to describe the appearance in the bay of a
small Greek brig which is hotly pursued by a Turliish
vessel of war. The account of the pursuit, and the
subsequent conflictbetween the two ships, is given with
-considerable ability. But indeed the poem throughout
deserves praise for its striking and appropriate
imagery, and the ease and melody of its versification.
The author is a gentleman named Charles James Col-
lins, and we trust this is not the last poem we shall
have from his pen. We quote a passage or two :
The creaking masts bend 'neath the heavy strain,— .
The spray flies o'er the deck as thick as rain ;
The Turk appears within a musket shot,
Of that most swift but doomed Ipsariote.
The Reis with horror views the flashes bright,. -
And coward like proclaims he dares not fight ;
Howls to the wind as on the deck he stands,
And prays the virgin with uplifted hands.
Kalsandi listens to the coward's cries,
One moment pauses—feasts his rage filled eyes ;
Then bounding grasps the traitor by the neck.
And hurls him powerless from the vessel's deck

Into the swelling billows of the bay,
stand the crew in horrified dismay.
Vito' Chieftain calls .upon his men. tofly. _
Each to.his post, and meet the Turk or die.
TM thitnderS.. feral,: his' mandAeS, but in vain,
The fea.r-struck .crew-but-fall to prayer,agaia, •
Close round the Virgin's image congregate,
• And loudly .pray,- her-to avert -their ofate
KalSandi as. he paces-o'er the deck, •- •
.Viewa in his mind, hiss cherished treasures' wreck ;
Heaps curse on curse, upon the coward Eels,
Who lured him first to this doomed enterprise.
Alternate feelings now his bosom tear,
Rage, fear, hatred, hope, but not despair.
His treasures knock against his heart.—'tis woe,
Indeed, to yield them to a Turkish foe.
Each shot that whistles through the echoing air,
Adds to the keeenness of the crew's despair; •
One form alone enjoys-the stirring scene,
And he had scarcely twenty summers seen ;
He seems to glory in a scene so new,
And laughs to scorn the terrors of the crew.,

DEATH OF LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM
JOHNSTON, K.C.B.—Lieutenant-General Sir William
Johnston, K.C.8., Colonel of the 68th Regiment, expired
on Tuesday last, at Southampton, in the 72d year of his
age. In the published records of the 68th Regiment we
find that Sir William entered the army as Ensign on the
3d of June, 1791 ; embarked for Toulon in 1793, and
was present at the action of the heights when General
O'Hara was made prisoner. Ire suhsequently served in
Corsica, and was present at the capture of Bastia and
Calvi, in which affair he was wounded. He became a
Lieutenant on the 7th of January, 1794, and Captain on
the 4th of April of the following year. He accompanied
the expedition to Tuscany in 1797, attained the rank of
Major on the 27th of February, 1800, and served in the
expedition against the Danish and West India islands in
1801, and in the Waicheren expedition. He attained
the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on the 25th of April,
1808, and commanded the 68th at the siege of Flushing
in the following year. He received a medal and two
clasps for Salamanca, Vittoria, find Orthes ; in the
battle of Vittoria he was severely wounded. By the
demise of this distinguished officer, another regiment,
the 68th, is placed at the disposal of the Commander-in-
Chief.

MEPHAM, THE INNOCENT CONVICT.—This young
man, who, it will be remembered, was transported about
two years since for an alleged attack on Mr. killick, of
Weavering-street, but whose innocence has been proved,
and a free pardon having been dispatched for him, ar-
rived in Maidstone, in good health, on Monday last, to
the great joy of his friends. He was sent to Hobart
Town, and from thence about sixty miles into the bush,
to a place called the Cascades, clearing land, with other
convicts, where his work continued from half-past five
in the morning till six at night in the summer, with half
an hour for breakfast and al hour for dinner. He re-
mained at this work for about twelve months. The first
intimation which he received of his pardon having been
granted, was by a paragraph, which Mr. Carr, a super-
intendent of convicts, inclosed to him In a letter, and
which had been cut out from some English newspaper.
He did not receive the official letter till a considerable
time afterwards, namely, on the 2d of August, within a
week of which date the authorities had provided a free
passage home for him in the Eudora, which reached Eng-
land on Monday last. A considerable sum has been sub-
scribed for him, with which it is intended to set him up
n some small way of business.—Maidstone Gazette.
THE GADDESDY MURDER.—THIRD DAY'S EXA-
MINATION.—The prisoner Messenger, le-apprehended on sus-
picion of the murder of James Garner, was again brought up
this day before the county magistrates, when Mrs. Hodges un-
derwent a long and very searching examination, but her testi-
mony given last week was not shaken in the least. The pri-
soner was agrin remanded until Saturday.— Leicestershire
Mercury of Wednesday.
ENGLISH AND IRISH LAW.—The Irish Chief Jus-
tice holds it is not necessary that a reporter should prove the
whole of a speech, a portion thereof is sufficient. The English
Judges have held a reverse doctrine • the last, Baron Rolfe,
upon trim of Mr, PiConnorsni ot'hero at Liverpool, •