The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-06 00:00:00

THE CORN-LAWS.

(FROM THE CITY AlrealLtS OV THE MORNING PAPERS.)
TIMES.—No topic for years past has produced more gene-
ral excitement and discussion in the City than the prbSpect,
which now appears certain, of the repeal of the corn• laws.
Many have supposed, from the few intlicatioiA of inevement
heretofore among commercial men whene've'r this subject was
agitated, that they ha\e been intlieerent to such a result,
but this is not the case. lly habit, as merchants, they are
averse to all agitation, and have been particularly so to the
notion of identifying themselves with the very active body
who have taken the lead upon this question, but they have
never been otherwise than deeply sensible a the great im-
portance of such a measute to thciii, as merchants, in simpli-
fying and rendering tilOre steady all the great operations of
trade. Any one who will bestow a little reflection on this
subject, without beating about for opiniclA bay safely
come to this conclusion by tonsidezing the effect of
the sliding-scale and the average upon prices, :ad the
additional risk merchants have to encounter whose

profits are to be regulated by such influences, which
no degree of foresight or judgment can anticipate or
control. If, therefore, among certain classes of mer-
chants. there has been occasionally met with some indiffer-
ence to t'ois question, it is owing—first, to their having put
:,orn, as au article of commerce, altogether out of their
operations ; and next, to a feeling of hopelessness, as legis-
lators are for the most part landlords, that such a sacrifice to
the public good could ever be looked for from them. Men
of sense and with much love of quiet have nothing left, under
such circumstances, but to look on and to bide their time, if
ever it is to arrive. To the capitalist and dealers in money
the measure will be found not less acceptable than it is to the
merchants. They have constantly felt that in all the panics
which from time to time have convulsed the money market,
the importations of corn, immediate or prospective, have
exercised a sinister influence, and unnaturally increased the
danger from other causes. These men, pretty generally,
are convinced that under a free trade in corn the danger
would, in a great measure, cease, as there would never
occur in future an excessive importation at any one
period. They would trust to the prescience of merchants
in that, as in every other article of commerce, to provide for
scarcity or unusual demand, to which that foresight would
then be fully competent, though all human sagacity was laid
prostrate by the vagaries of the sliding-scale. By such means
and principles they do not doubt that the importations of
corn will be so spread over the whole season, that they can
never cause any undue pressure upon the money-market, and
the trade would have this further advantage, that it would
far less often require payment for corn in bullion, as goods
will then be more frequently accepted, nay, preferred, to gold
and silver, which now are chiefly resorted to because our
corn-laws have created the disposition to trade with us as
little as possible. It may not, perhaps, be ill-timed to
convey to the landlords themselves a word of consolation,
picked up in the City, as to the event which they at present
seem to regard with so raueh terror. They are evidently
under this feeling, looking to low prices, such as the markets
have never known before, with the throwing up of mort-
gages, reduction of rents, and other evils to follow
the meditated repeal of the corn-laws. Were they,
however, to pay a visit to the Exchange, they
would hear opinions of quite a different tenour, and
very good-judging merchants would tell them, that
one of its almost instant effects will be, that of raising the
prices of corn all over the world—to what extent no man
could of course predict, but that it must be considerable is
certain ; and when that tax which mere distance always im-
poses, of freight and other charges, is taken into account,
they believe that the difference would be extii nbely small,
compared with the range which prices have heretofore taken.
The are of opinion, many of then, that when the increased
impulse to trade which this measure must produce is allowed
for, the landlords will not in any material degree be worse
off, and that they will look back hereafter with surprise to
the apprehension under which they at present labour. In
Mark-lane to-day the first effect of tha anticipated repeal of
the corn-laws was the alines', entire sthp?usion of business.
The feeling described in the Times as existing in the Cabinet
on the subject was generally credited as correct, and the con-
clusion come to by those well acquainted with the grain
trade was, that the measure is fully warranted by the condi-
.