The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-13 00:00:00

of our manufacturing production within the same
interval. The fourth is suggested by the evidence
which this pauperism and disorganisation afford that
there is no principle of corresponding distribution at
work to diffuse this enlarged amount of manufacturing

production among those classes of the community
who are suffering so grievously from the want of
them. The fifth is the fact, undisputed by the bul-
lionists themselves, that between thirty and forty mil-
lions of taxes are paid by the producing and indus-
trial labourers of this country, which should, on every
principle of common sense and common fairness, and
according to the contemplation and meaning of the
Legislature itself in imposing that taxation, be borne

by the consumer.
It may seem sufficient apology for our re-stating
these points, that they were wholly omitted by Sir,
ROBERT PEEL in his laborious but very ineffective
statement the other evening. No man knows better
than he, that the facts in question are all explicable
solely, upon grounds which are conclusive against the
folly, the dishonesty, and the mischief inherent in his
monster blunder of 1819. That blunder either he has
not the manliness to acknowledge, or he lacks the

spirit to retrieve. He is either the self-complacent,
egotistical dupe of his own mistakes, which are now
patent and palpable to half the world ; or he is the
political slave of that Ministerial embarrassment which
compels him to wear the trammels of Bank assistance
—conceded on exorbitant terms, but perhaps neces-
sary to keep fast in his seat the man who drives the
" strong Government" of May, 1844.
Now, this vast proportion of industrial labour, thus
under-paid or unemployed, is one of the most signal
consequences of a monetary system which has been so
tampered with by the empirical nostrum of a fixed
gold standard, as to leave to the manufacturer no
prices but gold or natural prices for his goods, and no
wages, therefore, to the operative but those which can
be afforded out of such reduced prices. Then the
progressive aggravation of this pauperism is shown by
the Parliamentary Return (No. 63, H.C., of the pre-
sent session), which gives the following summaries of
the " Total Amount of Money levied for Poor-rate
for the Year ending Lady-day" in each of the follow-
ing series : viz., for all England and Wales—
In 1839
1840
1841 6,351,828
1849

Such has been the increase of poor-rate in a period
in the last term of which the first product of the new
income-tax was received ; in the whole course of which
manufacturing production, was so largely increased
as compared with the preceding years ; and which
introduced at its close a progressive improvement of
the public revenue, which has, in the year ended sth
April last, resulted in a surplus of income over expen-
diture of more than 4,000,0001. This increased
burden of pauper charge, then, has been coincident
with an increase in the capital of the country, so far
as that is measured by the amount and yield of its
taxation. The charge of pauperism has advanced
after the following rate in the pound of money levied
on annual value of real pro.pertv in 1841, for each of
the following years, ending Lady-day, viz. (for
England and Wales) :—ln 1839, one shilling and
tenpence in the pound ; in 1840, one shilling and
elevenpence ; in 1841, two shillings ; in 1842, two
shillings and a penny. This difference of threepence
in the pound between 1839 and 1842, calculated on
the total annual value of real property assessed to the
poor-rate at Lady-day, 1841 (namely, 62,540,0001.),
exhibits an aggregate increase of charge of no loss
than 781,7501.; and this infers an enormous increase
of industrial distress, both in the agricultural and
manufacturing classes. But how much is the in-
tensity of that distress aggravated by the reflection
that if there had existed a currency equal in amount
and facility to represent the exchangeable value of
floating and fixed property, the increased production
of manufactures, instead of lumbering up our home
warehouses, or stopping our home factories, or glut-
ting foreign markets, would have been distributed
to an enormous and a meritorious body of agricultural
and manufacturing producers, whose wages would,
under the same better system of currency, have enabled
them to become the purchasers of such necessaries
and conveniencies of life, in the shape of manufac-
tured goods, &c., and at prices remunerating to the
manufacturing employer. If, with a paper currency,
it is evident that the manufacturer would have
been thus benefited, it is equally certain that the
thirty or forty millions of taxes now paid by the poor
producers in various forms, and especially on the
Custom and Excise duties charged on various articles
indispensable to their subsistence, would not have
beers, as now, NOT reimbursed or replaced to them
on the starving minimum wages of their maximum
labour, but added to these, and included in the
charge of the manufacturer as an element of the cost
of production to the consumer, the party in right
and equity liable to its payment.
These points were adverse to the Premier's
theories of a " standard of value," " convertibility,"
" sound currency," and the twenty other crotchetty
necessities flowing from his rash and ill-digested
scheme of 1819, and therefore, we presume, were
omitted out of his speech of Monday last. We are
desirous that they should not be forgotten, and have
thus disposed of them before we approach the con-
sideration of that speech and the resolutions it in-
roduced.

Madrid journals of the sth have been received. If
we are to credit the statements in them, put forth
by the Government, the decree abolishing mar
tial law is only the beginning of a new system,
which is to be in accordance with the Constitution.
The present Cortes is to be dissolved forthwith, and
a new assembly is to be convoked, to meet in
the month of August, for the dispatch of business.
Most of the State prisoners have been released,
now that NARVAEZ has obtained the object of his
wishes. LOPEZ and MADOZ who were committed
to prison at the breaking out of the insurrection at
Alicant, had presented themselves before the Political
Chief,, and there being no charge against them,

they were set at liberty. 1311AVO had also
been rewarded for his services by a valuable appoint-
ment. "We know," says the Heraldo," that the ex-
President of the Council is animated with the best
sentiments for the triumph of the order of things to
which he so powerfully contributed, and we are aware
of the ardent desire which animates him to give to the
QUEEN and the country new proofs of fidelity and
devotion."

The ex-editor of a scurrilous journal has been ap-
pointed Ambassador to the Court of Lisbon.
The Three per Cents. were done at 30i cash, and
31 5-16, 60 days, and the Five per Cents. at 211,60
days.

The French Chamber of Deputies are still engaged,
to the exclusion of all other business, in discussing
the clauses of the Prison Bill, and on Friday the
Government submitted to a material alteration in
one of them proposed by M. VATOUT. The original
clause declared that all prisoners should be shut up
in separate cells day and night, with one hour for
recreation ; whereas the amendment restricted that
terrible punishment to criminals condemned to the
galleys or imprisonment with hard labour. Several
Members were opposed to the clause even in its
amended shape, and contended that with the cellular
system nothing but absolute torture could maintain
discipline. The clause as amended, however, was
ultimately adopted. The domestic news in the Paris
papers is without interest. It was the general belief
at Paris that LOUTS PHILIPPE seriously intended_to
pay a visit to the Queen of ENGLAND this summer,
either, at Windsor Castle or London. "The report
of the KING'S journey to England," says the Courtier
Francais, "begins again to obtain credit. The Mari-
time Prefect of Cherbourg has commanded at Havre
several silk flags, on which are to be embossed the
arms of England and France. The KING, after
having crossed the Channel to London, where it is
said he is shortly expected, will proceed to Brest with
the squadron which is being prepared to accompany
him on his voyage. His MAJESTY is said to have
given orders to prepare for his reception at Brest,
where he proposes to pass two or three days."
The beer riot at Munich seems to have been rather
of a serious character. The following account of the
affair, probably derived from official sources, appears
in the Journal des Debats

" Up to this moment no other cause has been discovered
for the riots which have been now coutinuing for four or five
days than the rise in the price of beer. This beverage is one
of the first necessity among the inhabitants of Bavaria, par-
ticularly of the working classes ; the price has therefore con-
siderably increased or late years. It has been the general
custom to advance the price during the summer mbnths, and
that change has usually taken place on the Ist of May. This