The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-11 00:00:00

timportation, in some parts of this same term, the price
,ranged up to 120 s. per quarter.
This was a salient and remarkable event in the
history of the first corn-law; and Mr. TAYLOR skil-
fully availed himself of so prominent a fact, in order
to explain his own " convictions .of the opera-
tion of other causes—seldom or never sufficiently
aIIOW-ed ' Tor in corn-law - discussions,—in bring-
ing about the high prices, and the high. rents put
upon the land, which are usually ascribed to the sole
agency of the law in question. " Did not," said he,
" the paper money produce some effect And he
,would ask, might not the present currency-law (he
,referred partly to Peel's Bill of 1819) produce some
effect,—more even than the present corn-law does on
present prices." If these questions Were answered
affirmatively, then were the farmers wrong in looking
for protection to the corn-law and a sliding-scale
only." The lovers of "protection" would really do
well to lay seriously to heart these considerations, at
once so incontestible and so pertinent, and especially
the statistical proofs of which we have spoken above.
Thus, in the same ten years, 1805 to 1815, the import
of ,foreign wheat averaged about 500,000 quarters
per
.annum. " This showed," Mr. TAYLOR
argued, " that with open ports and high
prices to tempt importation, we cannot have
unlimited supplies, as some suppose." In 1838, 1839,
[ and 1840, -it -seems our importati ons - of wheat ex-
- ceeded 2,000,000 quarters per annum ; and yet it
- could not be said that there was, all that time, a sur-
plus of wheat, or that wheat was especially cheap.
The, fact was, that with the lapse of years our popu-
lation had largely increased ; with population, manu-
factures; with these, 'the manufacturing community;
and with that community, our consumption. " The
more our manufacturers are employed," said he, " the
more corn and food they require ; and the better

after the first mooting of the question and the first
flourish of patriotic trumpets in Parliament, the
affair is allowed to drop quietly out of notice,
and no man seems to think it worth his while
to revive it. This should not be ; to say the least of
it, it is ungenerous and impolitic ; and we do hope
that those officials who have a voice in the matter,
will bear in mind that the poor mechanics at the
east•end of the metropolis have quite as much right
toihave their interests consulted as those who dwell
at the west-end, and who claim, in consequence, the
privileges and consideration due to their unquestioned
respectability.

. . The, Journal des Chemins de Fer states that at a meeting
of the Cabinet Council, held on Friday, the Ministry decided
that the Orleans and Mars Railway Bill and the Paris and
Chartres Railway Bill should be presented to the Chambers
withoat delay.
"We have learned," says the Patric.," that some Italian emi-
grants resident in Paris, such as Lieut.-General Pepe, General
Busi, Count Mamianic, and Lovatelli, Amari, Canalli, Crema,
Leopardi, Moiltalegie, Roberchi, and Gonna, were this day
sent for to the Prefecture of Police. M. Delaport inforined
them, that the French Government was acquainted with the
intrigues of M. Mappini, Chief of La 'Jenne Itllie, for produc-
ing an insurrection in .Italy, and .he, 4$ a, friend, adVised
them to abstain from taking any part in` acts by which they
might. be compromised."
"The Augsburgh Gazette
_gives the following from Posen,
2,sth,ult, :—The fate' of the Russo-Polish refugees is decided.
This morning about two-thirds of them were sent under escort
to .Magdeburg. The remainder will follow in a' few days,
with the exception of a few who have received permission to
stay until the end of March. Amongst the persons affected
by the measure are the Cbunt de Plater, who has always re-
sided here in a very retired manner, and who recently pur-
chased an estate in the Grand Duchy; the rich. Count de
Potocki, son-in-law of Count Edward de Razzinlii ; Count
Eugene Breza ; and M. de Luszewski, who is the owner of
two houses in Posen."

Since the Opposition-Press was extinguished at Ma-
drid, no.accounts of the slightest-importance have ap-
peared in the Government journals respecting the af-
fairs of. Alicant and Carthagena. Nearly the
same silence prevails with regard to the state of the
capital. Mystery, military despotism, and that horrible
system of sanguinary retaliation sanctioned by the Du-
rango decree are the orders of the day. To the outrages
on personal rights, liberty, and property, which are the
certain consequences of this most humiliating, and at
the same time most terrible of tyrannies, are super-
added those wanton sacrifices of human life, those in-
cessant demands for the blood of political opponents,
which are only dreamed of under a reign of military
terror. And as if even these atrocities were insuffi-
cient to glut the appetite for carnage, which is the
disgraceful distinction of almost every Spanish parti-
san in the factious and insurrectionary movements of
these days—prisoners of war, guilty of the crime of
being taken in arms against the intolerable rule of
NARYAEZ and the ferocious malignity of RoNcam,
are decimated ! In a recent case, after some fighting
against a' detachment of the- troops commanded by
Rorresid, a party of 200 men 'surrendered to the vic-
torious banner of the " Captain-General." The com-
manding officer of the besieging forces (the affair was
a sortie)
_ordered every fifth man to be shot ! In the
most recent communications that. have been received
touching the. progress of the young QUEEN'S troops
against the insurgents, we read the following:—
" The naval commander, Colonel Pinzon, sends the
account of his taking possession of the Island of Ta-
barca, which the insurgents did not attempt to defend,
the few persons there having hoisted a white flag on his
commencing to cannonade it. This was on the 13th,
and he admits that. the blockade was almost fruitless'
On the 14th he went with the steamer in front of Alicant
to silence the fire of two feluccas, the Pluton and Proser-
pina, which were firing on the English manufactory,where
the Government engineers were at work : this object he
effected, the feluccas retiring within the Mole, but the
fire from the Castle cut up the steamer a good deal; one
shot going right into the poop, and another, after carry-
ing away the chimney, took off the heads of a sapper and
artilleryman; upon which he retired to the anchorage at
the island. The insurgents who
.were- taken in the two
guarda costes were to be shot upon cleat. ' The Govern-
ment has so far given way that the insurgents taken at
Alcoz are not to be shot, as ordered at" first, without the
form of a trial. The court-martial is now sitting there
upon the case.
" The soldiers of the carabineers taken at Elda were to
be decimated; and the Heraldo states that a dispatch has
been received from General Roncali to that effect."
Even this passage conveys but a feeble idea of the
blood-guiltiness which has stained, at this early stage
of them, all the operations directed by the QUEEN'S
officers against those of her subjects who will not
submit to the domination of such monsters. The
whole of their fine country seems about to be overrun
by the same remorseless agents of a sanguinary and
jealous Government, with which Spain in former cen-
turies, liar becotne familiar at the hands of a PEDRO
or a PHILIP. Domiciliary visits of
.authorised spies
and. police agents, secret arrests, long and painful
imprisonments of innocent men on the mere whispers
of hired and unprincipled ruffians who have- the ear
of, the Minister, are once more filling the ancient
dungeons of Madrid. In the field and in
garrison the military commanders are almost rivalling
thc atrocities of the execrable MINA, in whose person
our English hospitality and humanity were destined
to ;be so signally dishonoured and forgotten. In the
capital, and in the towns, the mischievous activity,
the secret combinations, and the uncontrolled harsh-
ne4s and brutality exercised towards captives, who
ar rotting in obscure and solitary confinement, recal
th 4 dark and 'dreary period in which the spiritual
predecessors of the present political inquisition in-
sulted Heaven, and disgusted all mankind with its
diabolical discipline; its alternations of deceptive
hope and physical torture, of treacherous deception,
and unqualified intimidation.
How long are these horrors—the reproach, the
shame, the revolting infamy of Europe, in 1844—t0
continue ? Englishmen impatiently demand, in the
name of popular liberty and of Christian civilization,
that these scenes of wanton and of useless carnage
should at once cease and determine. Their mora

With the exception of the Five per Cent. Stock,
the Funds on Saturday continued firm.
TtIE BOURSE—SATURDAY, MARCH 9.
First Highest Lowest Last
• Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents. exdiv 122 65 . • 122 65 . • 122 40 • • 122 45
Four-and•a-Half• •• • 110 50 • • 110 50 • • 110 50 • • 110 50
Four per Cents. •• • • 104 50 • • 10.5 .• 104 50 • • 105
Three per Cents.• •• • 82 90 82 90 .. 82 80 .. 82 80
Bank of France 3265 —3263 ..3265 ..3265
Latlitte Bank, I,ooof. Sharesllos • • 1105 —llO5 ..1103
5,000 f. SharessoBs - • 5085 . • .5085 —5085
Belgian Fives ...
1840 •••• • • • • 1081 • • 1081. • • 1081 • • 1081
1842 ........109 •• 109 .. 109 109
Spanish Active •••••• • • • • • • 34 .• 34 • • 34 34
Passive ...... •• • • 61 .. 6* 61 • •
Threes •• • •••• • .
7 .• 361 .. 361
Portuguese Five per Cents • • 461 • • 461 • • 46 46f
Neapolitan lO2 40 102 60 .. 102 40 102 60
Roman lO6l • • ,1061 • • 1063 • • 1061
RAILWAY SHARES.
St.Gerniain
Versailles, 11.11... • ..... •• • • 385 • • 385 • • 382 50 .• 382 50
L.B 175 • • 175 . • 172 50 .• 172 50
Rouen . 865 • • 872 50 .• 86.5 ' 670 •
Rouen to Havre • 687 50 • • 677 50 ..
680 680
Orleans . 877 55 877 50 • 87.5 • . 875
Strasburg to Bale.. .• •• . • 245 . • 245 . • 243 75 .- 243 75
Avignon to Marseilles .. 775 775 .. 771 25 .. 771 25
RAILWAY SHARES, FOR THE ACCOUNT.
St. Germain .............. 830 • • 832 50 .. 830 .. 832 50
Versailles, R.8.............380 .. 385 • • 380 • • 385
L.B 172 80 .. 175 .. 172 50 . • 175
Rouen 870 .. 877 50 • • 870 • • 877 50
Rouen to Havre.....• • ..... 687 50 • • 690 • • 682 50 .. 685
Orleans •
Strasburg to hale 242 50 .. 245 242 50 .. 245
Avignon to Marseilles— • • 775 •• 780 • . 771 25 .. 775

prices we (the growers) shall receive." Granted,—
if the Legislature, meanwhile, will only discharge the
first and most imperative duty which justice, feeling, and
the safety of the empire alike require; namely, so
amend our existing monetary system;—so to remodel
and ameliorate the currency as to make it perform the
hitherto neglected function of distribution to the poor
and labouring classes, whose condition at present
deteriorates, from day to day, in the inverse ratio of
manufacturing production and of the accumulation of

To morrow evening the grand banquet takes place,
which is to be given at Cownt-garden Theatre, to
Mr. O'Connell. lirc,'beli,.!ve that no spectacle of our
times will surpass it; indeed, we doubt whether any
will equal it. The Committee have been unremitting
in their effOrts, to render the arrangements worthy
of the occasion, and the eagerness exhibited in
fashionable circles to see the; festiVal is unequalled.
It has been found necessary .to enlarge the area of
the theatre to its utmost extent, and even then the
space falls short, of the size that is required. The
stewards have made reserves of tickets up to the latest
moment, and to prevent disappointment to strangers
coming from distant parts, have resolved to give up
their own places, rather than exclude any who are
anxious to join in this grand national testimony of
sympathy with Ireland.

capital in the kingdom. Let us hear Mr. TAYLOR fur-
ther on this very point; for to that, we find, his state-
ments and his reasoning irresistibly tend. We could
not desire a more convincing argument for the change in
the currency, which we contend ought immediately to
be adopted with regard to issuing Government paper,
convertible into Bank notes or gold or silver, at the
market value of bullion, to the extent of our present taxa-
tion. That extent or amount, be it remembered, is
neither allowed for by the manufacturer in wages to his
workmen, nor represented ty the convertible cur-

rency exclusively legalised, and abridged to the arbi
_ _

trary gold standard of PEEL'S Bill of 1819 :—" In

1815 wheat was down to 635. Bd. per quarter on the
average; and the landowners, considering, then, that
it could not be grown for less than 80s. per quarter,
passed a law prohibiting importation when the price
was below that sum. Then the ruin of the tenant-

ACTIONS Or MAIIABAJPOOR AND PUNNIAR.---Mr.
Wyld, of Charing-cross,.has just published three ex-
cellent sketches in reference to the two great battles
gained "by the British arms at Gwalior. One de-
scribes the route and positions of the Army of Exer-
cise before the commencement of hostilities ; another
gives an outline of the movements of the Anglo-
Indian army under Sir H. Gough upon Maharajpoor
and Chmindah ; and the. third, a .similar outline of
General Grey's engagement in front of Gwalior.
This celebrated place, it will be seen from the map,
lies between the scenes of action, being about ten
miles froM Punniar and eighteen from Maharajpoor.
The rivulets, valleys, and temporary forts-erected for
the occasion are exhibited with much precision, and
the sketches altogether will be found very useful in
forming a correct idea of the country around the
strongest fortress in India. They are published to-
gether in one small sheet and are accompanied by
notes pointing out the lines of attack, the positions of
the different regiments in the course of the day, and
the respective camps of the victors after the battle.

farmer and. the labourer commenced; and mark—
during the operation of this corn-law PEEL'S Cur.
rency Bill was passed."

It might be imagined impossible to enhance the
enormity of the injustice, worked by such a statute,
passed under such circumstances, at such a period.
Nothing, however, is more certain than that the very
next illustration,' supplied by the same speaker, does
greatly exaggerate its oppressive injustice. Want of
space compels us here, for the present, to break off.
With the abstract which we shall publish to-morrow
of the proceedings, the speeches delivered, &c. at
that meeting, we shall probably recur to the subject.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 11, 1844.