The Sun.
London, England, 1826-04-29 00:00:00

MR. HUME'S LIKENESSES.

Why
,is Mr. Hume like a friend of ours at
Brookes 's ?—Because he is always calling fbr Papers,
and never reads them.

Why is he like a man who pays attentions to ano-
ther man's wife ?—Because he occasions Divisions in
the House.

SUDDEN DEATH OF LORD CHARLES BENTINCK.

It was with extreme concern that we have to an-
nounce to the public the sudden death of the above-
mentioned Noble Man. The melancholy' event . oc-,
curred yesterday morning, about half-past seven o'clock,
soon after his Lordship had entered his dressing-moth
from his .adjoining bed-room. It appears, that about
that time his Lordship's footnian, - hearing. a strange
noise in the Aressing-roont,. entered, the; apartment,
when he discovered his master lying.down.on the floor
without' animation, his Lordship having dropped down
dead whilst in the very act of deCiSing himself! It is
remarkable that, just before the fatal,eyent took place,
his Lordship'scluldren hail been with him in the apart-
ment. No time was lost in sending for medical aid and Sir
H. Halford and Mr. Warren were not long in arriving in
North-row,Park-lane, his Lordship's residence ;but their
skill was rendered entirely useless , as it. Was found the
vital spark had fled. It is a distressing reflection to
the Noble Lord's relatives that he was entirely alone,
not any of Ms household being in the apartment at the
time.

The Noble Lord had been unwell for some days
past, although it would seem his Lordship had retired
to rest at his accustomed hour the preceding evening,
apparently in the enjoyment of good health ; he did not
complain of the slightest indisposition.
We understand the medical gentlemen have ascer-
tained that his Lordship's decease was occasioned by
the rupture of a blood-vessel.
His Lordship was son of the late, and brother to
the present, Duke of Portland. He has held the office
of Treasurer to his Majesty's Household for a great
many years, and officiated in that capacity at the coro-
nation of his present Majesty, when he distributed
the coronation medals in Westminster Abbey.

Mr. Cobbett denies offering himself for Newark;
having money in hand, it is said he intends to try
Westminster. This disinterested reformer well knows
that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
A gentleman, who was relating in a coffee-house an
accident he had met with from a fall, was asked by a
surgeon present, if it was near the vertebrce that he
had been hurt ?—" No, sir," was the reply, " it was
near the Observatory. (Souvenirs et NE.lan„,aes.)
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE, FED. 11—His Majesty's
ship Rainbow arrived on the Bth, with the Lieute-
nant-Governor, and sailed on the 10th for India.
Lord Charles Somerset had taken his passage for
England in the China ship the Atlas. The Cape
Paper of the Bth contains the particulars of an incur-
sion of a party of English soldiers into Caffre Land,
under the command of Colonel Somerset, to attack
the Kraals of " the Chief Neuka, and his mistress T.
Shoosa, an aunt of Gaika's, and the oldest Princess of
the Blood Royal," situated tear the Buffalo Mountains,
20 miles north-east of Wiltshire. Numerous addresses
to the Governor were preparing
on his Excellency's
dedarture. A public meeting of the inhabitants was
called for the 15th February, for the purpose of esta-
blishing a Joint Stock Banking Company, with a ca-
pital of 50,0001. :
MANAGEMENT OF BEES.—It Is well known that
in severe winters bees are torpid, and do not consume
much honey, but in milder winters they are in motion,
and eating ; and have no opportunity of renovating
their stores from flowers. A clergyman in Scotland
was induced to try the experiment of burying his hives
in a peat stack in October, and did not restore them
to the stands till the willows were in blossom in April.
The success was most complete ; and the hint may be
useful, as by placing the hives in a cold dark cellar or
ice-house, the insects will remain in a torpid state,
and require no food.

LITERATURE.

ABSENTEEISM.

An ESSAY showing the Erroneousness of the Prevalent Opinions
with respect to the injurious Effects of ABSENTEEISM. From
the 85th number of the Edinburgh Review. Longman and

Co. 1826. Bvo. pp. 29.

After being so long accustomed, as we believe our
Readers, in common with ourselves, will have been,
to listen with implicit confidence to the strong respre-
sentations almost universally made of the lamentable
result of Absenteeism in Ireland, and the unhesitating
reference of all the miseries of that country to this
cause, we do not doubt they will experience the
same surprise which we felt ourselves, on perceiv-
ing that an ingenious reasoner has, in the Essay before
us, undertaken to controvert entirely this generally
admitted- doctrine, and to make out that none of the
evils usually supposed to follow from Absenteeism
are really to be ascribed to it.
' The evils usually complained of may be divided
into two classes :--lst, that the absentee proprietors
take out of the country a large amount of wealth,
which they spend in a foreign land ; 2dly, that the
country is deprived of the moral benefits of a resident
gentry, and the tenants oppressed by the mismanage-
ment and rapacity of agents.

In reference to the first of these points, the author
argues upon some of the most simple principles of
political economy. We think it impossible to give
the tenor of his argument in fewer words than by
extracting the following passage :

" With regard to the first, or the disadvantage' supposed to be
occasioned by the landlords spending their incomes in another
country, it will not, we think, be difficult to chew that it is alto-
' gether imaginary. The rents of the Irish absentee landlords are
said to amount to three, or three aid a half millions. We sus-
pect that this statement is very much exaggerated ; but assuming
it to be accurate, the primary question is,—how are the,. rents
remitted to them? Now, as there is very little specie in Ireland,
and as Irish Bank notes do not circulate in England, it is obvious
that they can be remitted in one way only, and that is, by sending
abroad an equivalent amount of the raw produce, or manufactures
of the country. Were all the absentees to return to Ireland,
there would, no doubt, be an increased demand for commodities,
or labour, or both, in the home market, to the extent of three or
three and a half millions. But it is undeniably certain, that this
increase of demand iu the home market would he balanced by a
precisely equal diminution of demand in the foreign market:—
And unless it can be shewn that foreign merchants trade for
smaller profits than the home merchants, we must be satisfied, on
the first blush of the matter, that the expenditure of those land-
lords who reside in London or Paris, it is no matter which, has
just as great an effect in vivifying and animating industry in Ire-
land, as if they resided in Dublin or Cork.
" But then it is said, that the rents of the absentees are nei-
ther remitted in specie nor in bank notes, nor in Irish produce,
but in drafts on foreign merchants, or bills of exchange. But
what, we should like to know, is a bill of exchange ? Is it not
an order addressed to Some individual residing in another part of
the seine, or in a foreign country, directing him to pay a debt
he has already contracted, or is about to contract to the drawer
of the bill, to some other individual? Celebrated as the mer-
chants of England are for their generosity, they will not, we
may be assured, furnish the Irish absentees with three thousand
pounds, much less with three millions, without receiving an
equivalent—that is, Without receiving three millions worth of
Irish commodities. Here then is the manner in which absentee
expenditure operates. The agent of an' absentee landlord, after
receiving the rents of his tenants, say 10,0001. purchases a bill of
exchange for this 10,000/. from an Irish merchant. But, the
merchant, in order to supply his correspondent in London, Liver-
pool, or Amsterdam, on whom the bill is drawn, with funds to
pay it, must, for it is not In any respect optional with him, go
into the Irish market and buy 10,0001. worth of the raw products
or manufactured goods of the country, and send them abroad to
his correspondent. Where, then, is the difference to Ireland, in
so far as the demand for commodities is concerned, whether the
landlord is or is not resident? 'When he is resident he will re-
ceive 10,000/. from his tenants, and he will go to market and
buy an equal amount of Irish corn, beef, hats, shoes, &c. : and,
when he is not resident, a merchant gets the 10,000/. and lays
out every sixpence of theta iu the purchase of Irish commodities,
just as the landlord did when he was at home. Turn it and twist
it as you please, you will find on analyzing any cue that can
possibly be presented, that this is the whole difference, in so far
as expenditure is concerned, between a resident and a non-resident
landlord. The one exchanges his revenue fur Irish commodities,
which he imports into his house in Dublin, and consumes there;
the other also, through ,the merchant who furnishes him with
bills, exchanges his for Irish commodities, which, or the equi-
valents for which, he imports into, and consumes in his house in
London or Paris ; and therefore, unless it can be proved that the
mere local act of consumption is advantageous—we must acknow-
ledge, that the consumption of that portion of the annual revenne
of a nation which is sent abroad to absentees, contributes as
much to the general advantage as the consumption of any other
portion of income. It is never, in short, by sending abroad re-
venue, but by sending abroad the capital, by whose agency
revenue is produced, thatnations are impoverished and ruined.

" Even if the rents of the Irish absentees were remitted to them
in specie, that would not in the least affect the previous reasoning.
Ireland has no mines of gold or silver; and if she sends these
metals to England or France, she must previously have obtained
them in Exchange for an equivalent amount of Irish produce ;
and the gain, on selling this produce to the Brazilians or Mexi-
cans, would be quite as great as any that could have been realised
by selling it to the landlords, had they resided at home. At bot-
tom, the notions with respect to the injurious effects of absentee
expenditure, differ but little from those HP long ,prevalcut with
respect to the balance of trade. It is now about a century since
Dr. Swift, not in jest, but in good sober earnest, informed his
believing and admiring countrymen, that they bad only. about
500,0001. of cash ; and that out of this scanty stock, they bad
to remit a nett million a year to England ! Those who believe in
the possibility of such a condition of things, may also conscien-
tiously think, that the poverty and misery of Ireland is owing to
the circumstance of Irish beef being eaten, and Irish linen worn in
London or Paris, rather than in Dublin or Cork !"

With respect to the second point, the writer con-
troverts the fact that the neighbourhoods of estates of
absentees are in a less civilized, less tranquil, or more
oppressed condition, than those of resident proprietors.
To support this, he adduces a number of instances,
which appear to speak very strongly to his purpose,
and are supported upon the best possible authority.—
He enters with great acuteness upon the causes which
have a tendency to alienate the affections of the people
from the landholders, such as the change of occupants
by confiscations, &c. which it is calculated to affect,
more or less, 11 out. of 12 millions of acres, which
Ireland contains. The difference of Religion is an-
other powerfully-acting cause. All these, and many
other circumstances brought forward, have a direct
tendency to prevent the beneficial effects which might
result from the residence of proprietors. But the most
striking and convincing circumstance of all is, the fact,
that by far the largest and most valuable estates in the
country are let upon perpetual leases, so that the pro-
prietor has actually no power over, or interest in, their
improvement. But as it is impossible for us to give
a more complete view of the arcturnent, we must refer
our Readers to this very acute °Essay itself.

Friday se'nniiht, a Dutch West Indianian, between
600 and 700 tons burden, with a valuable cargo,
struck on the ledge of rocks about two miles from Beachy
Head, and shortly after sunk in eighteen fathoms vya.
ter ; the crew reached the shore in one of their boats.
On Sunday the men sailed in a lugger for Holland,
having abandoned all hopes of saving the vessel ; but
on Monday afternoon she was washed up, and takewin
tow by three fishing-boats. It is reported that the
share which the fishermen can claim is worth 30,0001