The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-05 00:00:00

sion'of the Corn Lawsin postponing this year the,
revision to another Session--and then, suddenly avail-
ing themselves of the distress in the Manufacturing
Districts, 'to propose measures which would really in,
volve an alteration in these laws. The men who
upbraid Ministers with their- inconsistency know well
• enough that they are not free agents; that, though
they appear to originate measures, they are in reality
obliged to consult the temper of the. influential part
of the two Houses ; and .that they appear inconsistent
merely beCause they lend themselves to the encourage-
ment of the delusion that they are not the mere crea-
tures of the Landowners. The present Ministers
have been attempting to obtain a little popularity for
themselves individually, and have rather more honesty
than is, perhaps, strictly necessary, and they, therefore,
feel these taunts more than men less alive to their re-
putation would do. They dare not lay open the me-
ehanism of the State machine to the million ; and at
the same time they feel sore under imputations which
they are conscious ought net to be made against
:them. If they were:perfectly callous, their situation
would be comfortable enough ; it is the possession of
a share of good intention and good feeling which ren-
ders that situation more difficult than it otherwise
would be. The female who has slightly deviated from
propriety, and is unwilling to forego the reputation of
virtue, suffers much more than she who has 'fairly
made up her, mind to the consequences of vice. It is
the struggling between two principles that makes men
most uncomfortable in this world. If Ministers could
therefore make up their minds to bear patiently the
kicks of every ass of a Landowner in either Housez it
would, perhaps, add the comfort of their situation.
The Landowners would be delighted with men who
would have no rill • of their own, and who, by pro-
posing only such measures as they knew beforehand
would be palateable to the sovereigns, instead of oc-
casionally aiming at the benefit of the people, would
not allow the public to, see too clearly that the Legi-
dative, instead of being .-a check on the Execti.
tive, is itself both Legidative and Executive. It is
generally understood that one only of the measures
will be carried—the allowing. the Bonded Corn to
enter the market. Ministers evidently relied too
much on the influence of the facts and reasonings of
Mr. Jacob 'on the Country 'Squires. We suspect
that' those. Members, who, like Mi.. Bonett, of Wilt-
shire, know how much the proprietors of the thin
Downs of Hampshire= and Wiltshire have suffered
from the increased importations of wool, in conse-
puke of the conversion of arable land into sheep
pastures on the Continent, will he the first to be rea-
sonable. Reason in England is always material.
You may thump a long time at the head of a Country
'Squire before lie feels any thing ; but the moment
,you operate upon his pocket, he is perfectly docile. '1
Ten shillings less the quarter made Sir Thomas,Leth-
ladge and 'Squire Gooch bound from 'One extreme
with° other in the House—ten •shillings the quitter.'
more, and ilier were in their old position. There is
no &minty in the world in which the',eine of money
is so irann4q.Stood as in England, ;and no part, of
England in ;iviiabit is
,better. understood than in Par
liament.

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It is hardly possible to conceive that those persons
are sincere in their reasoning who infer, from thenica-
sures in agitation with respect to Foreign Corn, any.
thing like an admission on the
.part of GoVcinment
that the Corn Laws have have in any degree contri-
buted to produce the present distress of the country.
It is certainly true that the admission to .consumption
of the foreign corn now in bond must operate either
to reduce the price of bread, or to check the tendency
to an advance ; and in Nvhatevo degree it affects one
or the other of these purposes; it will relieve exist-
ing distress, 'or prevent its aggravation. But that
there must of necessity exist some relation between the
causes of any calamity, physical; moral, or 'olitical, and
the remedies' or palliatives by 'the application of 'which
its course may be best arrested or controided, is an al-
sumption directly opposed to all reason andrexperience.
It would scarcely be more irrational to argue' that the
administration of steel must be the most eifeCtual cure
for a sabre cut, or that nothing be applied to a guns
shot wolina so likely to be beneficial tui saltpetre. .As
to the second proposition of Ministers—rthat which
calls upon Parliament to•clothe Government with au-
thority to permit ..the importation of Foreign Corn,
charged with a certain duty, if circumstances during
the absence of Parliament should render this tempo-
rary relaxation of the Corn Laws necessary—it is
plainly a prOpoSitiOk which affords no grounds of rea-
soning whatever in referenento the existing distress.' It'
is not'n measure of tv remedial, but of a.preventive na- '
ture, nor is the evil against which it is specially in-
tended to guard ofa character in auy respect similar to that
whichnoiv aids the country. The existing distress may
have suggested, and does in truth stronglyentbree the ne-
cessity Of this provision against possible circumstances;
hut it does so only in .the same manner,, and for the
same reasons, that the occurrence of 'any one misfor-
tune demands, and at the; same time disposes us to
the adoption of an extraordinary measure of, vigilance
and.cireumspection, against the approach of any other
poSsible calamity, however different in its nature or its
origin. That apprehensiveness of contingent danger,
which in certain circumstances would Justly incur the
reproach Of weakness, 'may become in different circum-
stances a mark of the highest wisdom. To say that
so4llooll' of national confusion or calamity that de-
gree of caution., on the part of,. (Government may be
just,. which at a more elate and propitious moment
would. be excessivewhat is it, in, truth, but to
translate the unerring instinct of nature into a maxim
of prudence ?