The Sun.
London, England, 1819-12-29 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

Ma. EDITOR--It is not now tny intention to
attempt to prove, that whatever evils Britain at
present suffers from the diminution of her com-
merce, she might, and even will ultimately lose
little and gain much. It is the present crisis
of distress and danger that I would contribute
my humble a,sistance to alleviate. Neither shall
1 at !his time seep to trace the origin of the evil.
The di,ease which temperance might have pre-
vented, too often needs the bitter draught of
the physician ; yet could the rich and poor, the
governor and the governed, mutually attach some
portion of blame to themselves, how much of
the rancour of animosity (even where the gnaw-
i“gs of hunger give it keenness) would he
assuAged.

At present, indeed, all is calm, but it is that
louring, that sullen calm, so well depicted by the
Roman Historian. And however politic the con-
duct of the State may be, in restoring► the bayonet
to the disbanded veteran, for the present protec-
tion of property, ultimate salvation depends not
so Lunch on the State as the litndholder ; not on
the bayonet, but the work tool of the peaceful
labourer and mechanic, With the owner of the

soil rests is preservation, and the preven►ion of
'anarchy. But to restore order by the bayonet
of the soldiery, and the slaughter of twenty or a
Lund' ed thousand famished or deluded wretches,
could not be salvation but sacrifice.
Surely, the most safe and humane mode of
stilling the present clamour for Reform,' must
be to fill the mouths of the hungry; doubtless,
the wisest means of filling the mouth, is by the
employment of the hands. This is true charity.
This at once would winnow the chaff from the
grain. This would soon render tl►e sword UTI-
- ; or if still necessary, bring that of
every patriot from the scabbard.
To employ the labourer, indeed, the Land-
owner must possess the means of remunerating
I►in, fur his toil. But if he who bath not a
sword, let him sell his garment and buy one,' has
been con►tnantled by a Prophet of old, well may
the Land-owner borrow, who possesses not
otherwise the means of feeding the hungry and
clothing the naked, and leave the debt, and the
toils,,and improvements, by which it has been re-
paid, a it.ceful legacy to his posterity, and a glorious
monument of his own patriotism and philan-
trophy,

The means of employing the Poor, I shall con-
sider under the six following beads of—National,
Provincial, Parockial, Commercial, Charitable,
n d

WVitl► regard to National employment :—The
Funds of the State seem too much exhausted,
and otherwise too fully employed to admit of any
extraordinary exertion at this crisis. Yet the
new Erections for public worship, the magnificent
Edifices in the vicinity of Carlton House, the
Breakwater at Plymouth, and the Caledonian Ca-
nal, nor only amply vindicate Government from
any set ions charge of supineness in this respect,
but will continue for ages, stupendous Monuments
of National glory, and of the glory and wisdom
of the reign of George the Third.
WVir►t regard to Provincial: money spent in
County Works, is rarely contributed without re-
Inctence, and often misapplied. A Committee,
however, front the different parishes, might, per-
haps, in part obviate these difficulties. And
where alterations in the roads were not particu-
larly wanted, few P,orincisl Works could be
snore generally useful than Workhouses, Infir-
maries, and Gaols ; the former of which might
occasionally be erected in various situations. And
doubtless the Poor-rates of many Parishes might
be considerably diminished by the removal of
their vagabonds to the latter ; and much of the
expences attending the erection and maintenance,
could be provided for by the well regulated labour
of those whom it contained.—Bridges also might
be built without the burthen of a County rate,
at this present exigency. For if individuals were
back ward in lending, the State could. hardly refuse
to supply the deficiency on legal interest ; and
for this interest a toll would provide.: •
By Parochial employment, much might be ef-
fected. How many Parishes that wring the hard-
earned pittance from sire hand of care, in order
to pamper the vagabond in idleness and vice, by
proper regulations .might teach him industry and
virtue ; and to supply, its a great measure, his
Wants by his own labour.

The erection of Parochial Workhouses and Hos-
pitals, would yield immediate employment to
many ; would afford an asylum to the deserving
and destitute in future ; and teach, even compel,
the spergithiitt to support himself by the sweat of
his own brow.-1n the smaller Parishes, one
building might -suffice, in the double capacity of
hospital and Workhouse. The respective divi•

SiODS however, to be inner reg jIdI inns Si vario,is
as their names. And any nutnlier of Parishes or
ownships, could unite in the erection of one (Ge-
neral Hospital for the aged and deserving, and
of a similar Workhouse fo-r the unemployed.

Another, and, perhaps, a more eligible mode of
giving imme,liate occupation to all the laborious
classes, would be the cultivation of a common,
a portion of a common, a farm, a field, or a
garden. All of these, except the common, might
be rented by any parish or township. And there
are few parishes that do not contain an individual
possessing sufficient leisure, and sufficient charity,
to be rendered happy by the active superintend-
:lnce of such an Establishment, under the direc-
tion of a Committee or Vestry. Such an office
seems peculiarly adapted for the leisure hours of a
village Clergymen,--for uniting and endearing
the pastor and his flock to each other, and con-
Iributiug to the happiness of both. Under such
an Institution, even infancy, and decrepitude,
might be usefully employed in the gathering and
drawing of weeds, and the dibbling and planting
of grain and roots ; and even the most auk ward
outcast from tie manufactory would soon learn to
handle the spade with dexterity.
Mete are also few villages or towns, that do
not admit of some degree of ornAment, and im-
provement ; either in the streets, market, green,
church, church-yard, school, workhouse, and,
above all, in the roads and footpaths. To have
the roads in good repair, is not only a comfort
and convenience to the inhabitants, but a saving
also in the labour of the horse. And were those
cause-ways in the village lanes, that were once so
general, but which are now hardly to be tarn, ex-
cept in Cornwall, Devon, and some parts of the
North, again to re-appear, the use of the horse
might, as formerly, more frequently be dispensed
with : and certainly the poor would be greatly
benefitted, both by the future convenience, and
present employment.

New modes of facilitating the conveyance of
merchandise, though they come under the beads
of National and Provincial, seem more peculiarly,
at least at this juncture, to class under that of
Commercial: whether they consist of tonne's,
bridges, aqueducts, new roads, rail-ways or
canals ; all which are generally conducted to the
most advantage under the superintendence of
Commercial Companies : men who want employ.
ment for their Wealth, their talents, end their

imaginations.
To this catalogue mly alao be added, mining,
the erecting of warehouses and inns, ship build-
ing, and the constructing of docks. Though
the parishes of towns and sea-ports, might per-
haps, in some instances, have reeourse to one or
other of these for the advantageous employment
of the poor. The charitable also, who had no
landed property on which to employ his wealth,
might here fittd a drain to his superabundance,
as well as the commercial speculator for its in-
crease.

There is one circumstance respecting the fad-
litating the conveyance of merchandize, which
seems highly to merit the attention of the Legisla-
ture ; though never yet, I think, even alluded to.
But were the labour of the horse diminished by
canals., rail-ways, tunnels, and every other pos-
sible means, what an increase of population, and
power, would be given to these Islands ! For, if
I mistake not, the land necessary for the support
of a hundred horses, would more than maintain
two thousand individuals.

By Charitable employment, 1 would merely de-
signate that in which the funds are purely vo-
luntary and benevolent ; and without any stated
proportion.

Under that of Individual, the field seems wide,
and almost boundless. It does not merely in-
clude all, or nearly all, of the former ; together
with inclosing, fencing, draining, inigating, and
building, with similar modes of fertilizing land,
and improving property. The sides of the moun-
tain might once more be made to wave with the
forest, and given _in perpetual tenantry to the
wild boar and the stag the fertile plain, divest_
ed of the pine and larch, again made to wave and
smile with the golden harvest, or to blossom and
blush with tl►e riches of the orchard. I do not,
indeed, compare the value of the deer with that
of the sheep ; or the manly joys or healthfulness
cf the cbace with the avocations of the shepherd.
But when the timber of the forest came to be cast
into the scale of interest, I doubt not but it
would preponderate in favour of re-clothing the
mountain with its native honours, and restoring
the woodland with its original inhabitants. Still
more would the scale of interest then preponde-
rate for divesting the fertile plain of many of
those sombre and unmeaning masses by which it
is at present disfigured, and re-stocking it with
the hawing-herd, and making it again toTgladden
with the plenty created by the toils of the cheer-
ful husbaudman. In point of beauty also. how

No Paris Papers arrived this morning, none
having been published on Sunday.

CHARLESTOWN, Nov. 2U. (Received this Morning.)
MARTINIatIB.

ST. Pleat:es, OCT. 30.—His Excellency the
Governor of St. Lucia issued, on the 21st inst. a
Proclamation, of which the following are the
principal features :

" Tue fort of Castries is open for the space
of one year from this date, to the vessels of all
Nations in amity with Great Britain. In con-
sequence, vessels as above specified may introduce
into this port of Castries, free of all duties (ex-
cept tonnage duty of one dollar per ton), rice,
grain, corn, flour, vegetables, and all kind of pro.
visions, horses, mules, lumber, and materials for
building ; it is permitted to vessels bringing such
specified articles, to re-load wit}► any quantity of
Colonial goods they choose, subject to the duties
stated; 9 here. per hogshead of rum, 6 livres per
hogshead of molasses, 2 livres per 1001 b. of
sugar, 3 !lyres per 100 lb. of coffee, 2 livres per
1001 b. of cocoa, 4 livres per 1001 b. of cotton."

Our loyal and patriotic Readers will, we doubt
not, read with much pleasure a Letter signed A.
in our Paper of this day. it is, indeed, highly
enentitled to the attention of our Readers, as well
as of the noble, the affluent, and every class of
the community. As our Reformers in Parliament
are desirous of ►nquiring into the STATE OP THE
NATION, we refer them to this Letter, which is evi-
dently the result of good sense, extensive observa-
vation, and true patriotism, and which not only
gives an account of the State of the Nation, but
suggests sonse admirable remedies for its relief.
We have to apologize to the Author for not hav-
ing given to it an earlier insertion, 'but the ex-
treme length of the Debates, occasioned by the
efforts of those modern Reformers, has occupied
our Paper so much as to have offended, we fear,
several other respectable Correspondents.

Ma. CANNINa.—The rancour of The Old Times
against this Gentleman is so disgusting, that we
wonder even that Paper should not spew more
knowledge of mankind than to suppose that their
feelings will not revolt against such outrageous
malignity. The Old Times may be considered as
the tccornplice of the anonymous Miscreant who
threatened to murder this great ornament of the
British Senate, and the Writer who assailed him in
that Paper yesterday, displays such a rooted male-
volence that if he is not the anonymous miscreant
alluded to, yet it seems evident that he is equally
ready to put the threat into execution. But the

ninudence and folly Of 7'he Old Three on

almost exceeds its venomous malice. ft
threatens " to make an example" of Mr. CA:4"
NING ! The Times, renowned for apostacy of
every kind, and a source of the most abusive ran•
coin- asks, " why cannot he, (Mr. CANNING), be
quiet ?" is ivossibleNthv it can suppose that
Mr. CANNING coui be rendered unquiet by the,
despicable attacks of The Old- Times Its owa
conrcious guilt is the cause of this attack upon
Gentleman of the highest talents. The Honourable '
Gentleman, in alluding to a Paper which abetted $
secret Ruffian who threatened to murder him, did not
condescend to mention the name of the polluted
and dastardly Journal, but it took the charge to
itself, and instead of remaining quiet itself, poured
forth a !orient of abuse on him yesterday which
has plunged it deeper, if possible, in the Gulf
of infamy. The attack of such a Paper al
The Old Times, on Mr. CANNING is a com-
plete illustration of the fable of the Frog
and the Or, and we conclude that it it did
not thus spit forth its venom, it vtould burst
with horrible venom. Can any body trust to a
Paper so marked - by malevolence, and that, in
a memorable instance on record, baying received'
literary favours from a Noble Lord and his conflec4:l/4,.,
lions, after having no doubt deriver!considerable:
advantage front
,the communications in .credit
and profit, tinned upon them and with the:,,
basest ingratitude, betrayed their names to the
world ? Heaven defend the Government and the
Country front tire support of such a Paper as The
Old Times, and may Mr. CANNING be always hu-
[loured by its abuse, and never be disgraced by its
commandation.

LIBELS.—The following instance of tbs po
nishment for Libels, which happened in the reign
of CHARLES the FIRST, may tend to recoricila
Modern Defamers of Government to the present
reign. For our part, we most heartily wish, that
die COBRETTS, WOOLERS, HUNTS, HONES, and
CAttLILEs of the present time, had existed at that
period, though we are charitable enough not to
wish that they might hive been quite so severell
punished, however justly they might have de#
served similar inflictions :

" Doctor LEIGHTON, a Roman Catholic, pub-
fished a seditious hook, entitled " An Appeal to
the Parliament; or, Sion's Plea against the Pre-
lacy," wherein lie was chat ged with -a Libel
Against the King, the Peers, the Bishops, and the
Prelates, and being convicted thereof, was, fur
the offence, committed to the Fleet during life
(unless the King should order his enlargement) ;
lined ten thousand pounds ; referred to the Hight
Commission Court to be degraded of his 'Mini-
stry; and then to be whipped at the pillory at
Westminster, and standing on the pillory, to lose
one of his ears, have ik;s nose slit, and his face
branded with a double S, and in like manner to
be whipped, and lose his other ear, at the pillory
in Cheapsitle.''

RETURN OF RADICALS FROM AMERICA —ln ad;
dition to the return of COBBETT, the great Chiet-
tain of the Radical Reformers, several others hays
considered it as prudent to follow his example, in
leaving the Land of Milk and Honey. Amongst
others that have ariived is Bentow, of Manchester
notoriety. This roan was the locum tenets of
COREIETT in all his intrigues in that part of
the Country. This person has within these two
or three days appeared in London hum Americs•
The account he gives of the English people tilers
is truly deplorable—they are literally slam
A man named Drake, a staunch RadLal, possess-
ing some property, who lett Englaml for Americo,
about twelve months since, to better his conditioxi
has spent the whole of his property, and is noW
!educed to the most wretched sote of penury.--'
Benbow has a communication from Wm LClat IC, II
journeyman coach-maker, whom our Heather'
will recollect as having had the honour of being
Chairman at several of HuNT'S Meetings, party
cularly at " Spa-fields." Benbow is to get Clark''
father to raise a sufficient sum to defray the ex'
pence of the passage of this misguided youv4
man, as " Jonath.ri's Land " does not posses.
111e3IIS to enable hint 10 live. He thsegibid
being ill the most extreme state of destitution'
The description given of others is precisely the
same. Brettell, Pendrill, and other notorious
characters of the Radical tribe, have also at'
rived.

Every petty Radical looks for his share of nfe-
toriety. Mr. Hu Nis eminence is a sort of Mo°
narchy, which Universal Suffrage cannot tolerate;
and though VVATSON, WOOLER, and CARLIL.P
with the mischievous ti die that et cetera their
heels, would convert it into an oligarchy, therei
are thousands of bold spirits who desire an ece
republic.
A -Macclesfield Reformer, by name Josell
SWANN, who seems to hare done little more of
present titan sport a while hut, is struggling out°
his obscurity This he endeavours to do by adver;
tising himself in .Waoe's Manchester Paper, l'l%
and all ; with a vapouring sperch, which he sly'
he made to a party of the Macclesfield Yeomanq;
—lf his story be true, we would advise
SwAN N •to come up to town forthwith, and clal'
fl
kindred to the Swan with two necks in Lad-lade
i
The Radical Geese are all Swans, we knot ; 4'l
it were wise, perhaps, to provide against the °G°
casion which May put one neck in jeopardy.
Last evening the Petsce RitGENT arrived
Callum-House from Brighton.
Mr. YATall, of Cov«nt•Garden, is gone 00.1:
to Birmingham, where he was to make his apPel4l',e
ance in Richard the Third, last night, at
Theatre of that town, which is re-opened for t.
Chriatunwe