The Sun.
London, England, 1826-09-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Our city article states some proofs of the rapid
growth of manufactures on the Continent of Europe,
which are well calculated to fix the attention of Eng-
lishmen of every calling and degree. For months we
have endeavoured to persuade the public that there
was more in the revulsion which our manufacturing
interests were experiencing, than could be accounted
for by any sudden and temporary stoppage in the
market, or by any tricks or tampermgs which the cir-
c Eliding medium had suffered. It has long been- our
conviction, and there are daily discoveries in confir-
mation of it, that an immense foreign rivalship was
preparing to undermine the stamina of our inanuflic-
turlng system, and that the nation must make up their,
..Jrcls to forego a portion of that " national prOsperity,
which was but another name for a monopoly of all the
surrounding markets, or at least an enormous ascen-
dancy in them. Those whose Court education tells
them that it is disloyal and odious to speak the truth,
would still go on deceiving their countrymen by fine
words, and flattering assurances, lest the people might
turn round upon their rulers, and ask them, " Whither
are you driving us ?" We never yet saw a thorough-
going hack of the Government that was not ready to
snap the nose off any one who dared to paint the na-
tional prospects, whether of finance or commerce, or
state policy, in aught but colours of " roseate hue."
Now this may be a wicked sort of mameuvre, but it is
to a certain point, and for certain objects, by no means
unwise or impolitic. So long as a decent hope can
he held out that entries at the Custom-house will of
Themselves become more numerous; that the decline
of this quarter's revenue will be covered by the redun-
dancy of the next ; that fresh demands for labour are
" on the eve" of being circulated, and the cries of
hunger " just going" to subside ;so long the people
may be prevailed upon to let Ministers canter away at
their old pace on the road to ruin, without once
stopping to check or turn their course. What such a
system of delusion must end in, is quite another ques-
tion it is one, moreover, to which loyal ears are sel-
dom prone to listen, and which no tongue of common
feeling or discretion will ever venture to articulate ; no,
`not in moments of the most unreserved confidence—
with none hut familiars of the fiend of state policy to
answer it. We, however, have no such dread of ag-
gravating the public dangers by simply looking them
in the face. In our judgments, an evil fairly defined
and anticipated, is already in the direct path to pre-
vention. We think that if the country be on the
brink of a precipice, the better plan is to brace our
countrymen a sinews, not to throw dust in their eyes.
In the present case, the duty of an honest man is to
tell the nation that nothing will save them from sink-
ing f'ar below the level of States over which for half a
century they have soared triumphant, but—first, a free
command of food ; and, secondly, that without
which the food, though free of entry to the importer,
Can never be free of access to the consumer. We
tnean a large, and bold, and speedy reduction of' the
taxes. Men may talk us they will of a " moderate" im-
post on corn from abroad. What will avail that nominal
moderation of a single duty,' when the whole aggre-
gate of duties which press upon the body of the na-
tion'operate, substantially, as additions to the price of
bread, and counteract, in all directions, the policy of
repealing the corn laws ? There is nothing tangible
in this country, the price of which has not been
swelled by an excessive and diversified taxation. The
British ships which import wheat—the wages of their
crews----the expellee of storing, of grinding, of baking,
of retailing it—all aro enhanced by heavy burdens im-
posed upon us in shapes which bear at first eight no
adverse relation to an open trade in corn. The ma-
nufactures of this kingdom, we have said, are rivalled
almost every where throughout Europe—what is the
reason of this ? Nothing under Heaven but the taxes.
The wages of English labour, less adequate to sup-
port the journeyman in comfort than those of the in-
dustrious Continental States, bear at the same time so
high a proportion to the wages paid for foreign work,
that the manufacturers of the Continent are every day
more rapidly underselling us. The growth of a Ger-
man eatablishment from 1,000/. par week to 6,000/.
per week, within an incredibly short period, proves it—
the extending sales of raw cotton, of twist, and indigo,
for the factories of the Continent, prove the success of
the competition which assails us, and point out the
only remedy. Our workmen emigrate for the means.
of subsistence, barely afforded in their native place ;
and our manufacturers are forced to shut up shop,
because the wages, thus unequal to the supply of '
food, are beyond that scale at which a fair profit can
he realized. This, then, we repeat, is our position.
To preserve any share of those manufactures of which
circumstances once gave us the monopoly, we must
make English profits more equal to those of the Con-
tinent, to preserve our population from starving. We
must have wages more equal to the support of life : to
effect both or either, we must reduce that portion of
the public wealth which is seized by Government from
the comforts of individual existence ; such a reduc-
tion the Ministers never will, but with unspeakable
repugnance, and in the last extremity, submit to.
We must, therefore, lay our account for every
imaginable blind and subterfuge being tried, to
avert the grand evil of retrenchment.. We must
prepare ourselves for tricks the most paltry and
contemptible, or, if they fail, for expedients of an op-
posite class—audacious, desperate, and disdainfid of
opinion. We shall have secret leagues with money-
lending sharpers, to holster up funds, to lower the in-
terest of money, and increase its amount throughput
the kingdom. We shall see the manufacturers courted
by the application of new facilities to the command of
paper money ; the agriculturists smoothed down by
various artifices, to clog and impede that free trade in
corn of which the principle has been already forced
upon the Right Hon. Gentlemen, by the unmannered
cries of hungry millions. Nothing of compromise, or
subtlety, or evasion will be left unattempted ; but the
good cause must prevail—a retrenchment of extrava-
gance, and a relaxation of taxes, are as sure as the day-
light of to-morrow.— Times.

It seems to be almost universally allowed, that the
chief cause of the deterioration in the condition of the
labouring classes of this country, is the continual in-
flux of necessitous Irish ; and it is as generally allow-
ed, that the, people of England, with the freedom of
intercourse between the two countries, must continue
to sink in the scale, in spite of all their eons, so long
as Ireland remains sunk in wretchedness. If the peo-
ple of England are crushed by the Irish, the great
misfortune of behind, on the other hand, is its con-
nection with this island. If it had been independent,
the proprietors of the soil, its natural guardians, would,
for the sake of their own peace and security, have been
obliged long ere now, to arrest the progress of the evil.
It would have been utterly impossible for them to sub-
.
rast m the midst of seven millions of half-famished
peasants ; and instei'ol of ailowirto free scope to the
Principle of poptdation, and profitlng by the corapeti-

tion of a famished peasantry for the possession of
pieces of land, as the condition on which alone they
can exist, they would have been compelled to intro-
duce agricultural improvements, and to have their lands
cultivated byfarmers possessed of suitable capitals. But
the proprietors of Ireland know, that they could at
any time command the resources of England to enforce
their rights as landlords. They did not even take the
precaution used in some of the worst Governments of
the Continent, of not pouring in the last drop in the
cup of misery to prevent its overflow. The oppression
has been always without limit, because the exercise of
it was unaccompanied by fear. There can be no pub-
lic opinion, without a large middle class interposed be-
tween the landowner and the peasant. In Ireland
there are but two classes, the proprietors and their
vassals ; the former necessarily overbearing and inso-
lent, the latter crouching. The landlords are not, of
course, all equally bad, but they are all necessarily im-
bued with the feeling of their caste. There is no
amount of oppression which would induce any one of
them to step forward and say, this is wrong. Our readers
will see, from a report of the proceedings of the Catholic
Association, on Saturday last, that a certain Baronet
has even proceeded so far as to bring actions of eject-
ment against a number of peasants, who hold posses-
sions, for payment of a penny a year, or some such
matter, merely to overwhelm them with the costs.
Who dares.say this is wrong, but Captain Rock, who
exercises, as he best can u a strong branch of justice "
in Ireland ? The proprietors of Ireland and England
are so connected together, that it would be vain to ex-
pect from the Legislature any measure at all adapted
to the disease of Ireland." In fact, if we wish to do
any goOd with Ireland, we must interfere with the
exercise of property on the principle of salus popiili,
&e. Property is the creature of law, which protects it
for the common benefit ; but the power which creates
may impose such restrictions on the use as the welfare
of society, for which all laws ought to be made, may
demand. Thus, for instance, if the allowance of un-
limited liberty to landlords to cover their properties
with a pauper population be productive of the most
ruinous consequences to the Empire at large, the law
ought to step in to restrain them. But the legislature
never interfere, and consequently nothing will be
done. During the period of the monarchy (for since
the revolution of 1688 we have only a King in name,
the Government being an oligarchy), as in the reigns
of Henry VII. and VIII., Queen Elizabeth, and
James, and even under the Protectorate of Cromwell,
searching measures were often adopted in times of
exigency. We are far from pretending to say, that
such a state of things has not its disadvantages as well
as its advantages. It is obvious, however, that the
Governments of Queen Elizabeth and James would
have pressed with a heavy hand on the Irish Landlords.
But under a Government which may be best described
as a Committee of Landholders, it is quite impossible
that any limitation of the power of that body, in any
part of the Empire, however imperiously called for by
the state of the country, should ever take place.
Committees of Enquiry will be granted—evidence will
he heard ; recommendations to landlords will be given;
but they will be left as heretofore in the unrestricted
right of ruining the country, and oppressing the people.
We shall have a few compliments paid to the liberality
or the present Irish Government; liberal, because like
Epicurus's Gods, its members do nothing at all. We
may, perhaps, have further projects brought forward
for reconciling the Catholic Clergy to the use of bibles
iepe
nxscelti.ools; but any thing beyond this we need not
In the Emigration Committee, a number of
questions were put to the Irish Gentlemen, with
view to ascertain, first, whether it would be for their
interest to pay for the removal of the superfluous popu-
lation from their estates to Canada ; and, ,secondly,
whether it being for their interest, it was likely that
;hey would either be at the cost of such removal, or
burden themselves with it. There was no difficulty in
answering the first question, but the witnesses all
answered as if they doubted whether any landlord
could charge himself with the cost of removal of
his foople. If the emigration plan ware feasible,
whie we do not believe it is to any extent worth
speaking of, we say, that the legislature ought to
compel the landholders, whose estates are so occupied
as to endanger the tranquility of the country, to con-
tribute towards the execution of this plan of relief.
With respect to Poor Rates, we believe, that had
they existed in Ireland, the Landlords would have
been long ere now compelled to attend to the improve-
ment of their estates, and to prevent the people from
outgrowing in any extent the means for their employ-
ment. But we cannor see how Poors'-rtes can he

introduced with any advantage into Ireland at this
time. The difficulty is, how to dispose of a large
population for which no employment can be obtained ;
and. certainly the ensuring to that population a subsis-
tence, happen what may, would not have a tendency
to reduce the disproportion between labour and the
means for employing it. If something, however, be
not done, the lower orders of this island will be re-.
duced ,to a condition of the utmost wretehedness.-.
_Morning Chronicle:

According to accounts from the manufacturing dis-
tricts the weavers and spinners have at several places
struck for higher wages. Combinations of this kind
generally take place when wages are high. The pre-
sent instances, however, are exceptions. It, appears
from an address to the public made by some journey-
men cotton-spinners at Oldham, that their wages have
been reduced one-third within the last sixteen months,
and that it is in agitation to make a still further reduc-
tion of fifteen per cent. However much we feel for
these unfortunate men, and deprecate the conduct of
the masters, we are afraid we can point out no speedy
remedy for the evil. These persons seem sensible that
the great cause of stagnation has been a superabundant
production, and that the surest means to counteract
this, is to diminish the supply. They recommend,
therefore, that in place of employing a great number
of hands at very low wages, the masters should re-
duce the hours of working, and make them a ro p por-
tionate return for their labour. This, no doubt, would
have the most beneficial effects. it would tend to
prevent a redundancy of manufactured goods, and
afibrd them an opportunity of engaging in other occu-
pations, when they were not wanted at the mills and
factories. Like many theoretical plans, however,
which would be most beneficial if they could be ear-
ried into effect, and if no unforeseen circumstance or
hindrance came in the way, this can never succeed.—
Self•interest and a love ofgain are the great hindrances
here. Some of the master manufaiturers--those par-
ticularly who are influenced by feelings of humanity—
would willingly adopt such a plan, but there are others
that would only endeavour the more to profit by such
a concurrence of circumstances. While Some were
giving higher wages, and producing only a small qua""
tay of goods, others would be- filling their warehouses
with articles of the same description at half the ex•
pence, and thereby laying up a store against an in-
creased demand. An Act of the Legislature, or a

general combination among.the workmen, might pre-
vent this, but the one is so improbable, and the other
so contrary to the principles of free trade, that no
hopes of relief could be expected from measures of
this description. The good sense which these men
seemed to evince on this occasion would lead us to
suppose that they can place but little reliance on such
an agreement among the masters, and that they look
for an effectual remedy chiefly from the operations of
time mid the natural course of trade. While wages
remain so low, few persons will think of engaging in a
trade so little advantageous, and many of those who
have been bred up to it, will gradually find out other
sources of employment, till the numbers be reduced to
a due proportion, and the wages be sufficient to main-
tain a man and his family. This is the natural and
sure remedy, and the only one likely to prevent a
speedy return of the disease. Some medicines pro-
cure temporary relief, but they require constant repeti-
tion and great expellee ; the disease in time returns
with redoubled force, the medicine loses its effects,
and the patient dies of a disease, which, but for such
improper stimulants, he might have been able to sur-
inount.—Morning Herald.