The Sun.
London, England, 1828-04-03 00:00:00

evils of the relative situation of England and Ire-
land, from the existence of Poor Laws in the one
and their non-existence in the other, still look-
! ing to the positive injury which they entail on
us here, we should scruple ere we imposed such
a burden on others. This is the opinion which
a superficial view would naturally lead us to form,
But when we contemplate Ireland in her utter
wretchedness—when we look to the ever-renew-
'ed heavings of political and religious bitterness,
which render necessary for their suppression a
force more than adequate, under: different cir-
cumstances, to the protection of the whole em-
pire—it is impossible to treat with carelessness
any suggested remedy to ills which all wish to see
removed, however they differ as to the means.—
Education—moral and religious education—has
been recommended, and we have warmly advocat-
ed it ourselves, and one mode of cure. But men
must eat as well as study. There is a physical
degradation which must be removed before any
means, however well chosen, for the removal of
moral degradation, can be applied with prospects
of success. It is feared, that by the introduc-
tion of Poor Laws, we should only add to the
tendency to increase and multiply, for which our
Western brethren are so notorious ; but this fear
seems, to say the least, to rest on very doubtful
grounds. When we say men will marry, because
they rely on degrading support, in case of neces-
sity, from the poor-rate, do we not, in so many
words, impute to them a degree of reasoning, and
foresight, and, providence, in its :way, which are
quite incompatible with such an issue? The
man--who looks forward to the support of him-
self and family to the poor-rate, and therefore
marries, we may be assured is such a one as
would, had no poor-rate existed, have married,
and committed the fate of his family to the turn
of the die. Poor-rates are degrading, or other-
wise, according to the state of the people on
whom they operate. They cannot degrade the
Irish—food not to the hungry but to the starving
—clothing not to the ragged, but the naked-
-these cannot degrade. They may not convert
a reckless character, but assuredly they will not
confirm it. On the whole, the proposal of Mr.
Grattan is one which deserves to be entertained
for earnest and impartial discussion, if not for
immediate adoption.—New Times.

Sir F. Burdett, in a short speech on Monday
night, to which we referred at the time, expressed
his opinion, that without high prices the nation
could not recover from its depression. He added,
that our whole system of domestic policy was
founded on the assumption of high prices. The
argument of the Hon. Baronet was not clearly
made out ; but it seemed, though not expressed
in so decisive terms, little else than that which
Cobbett has been labouring to prove for years.
There cannot be with any reasonable man a
doubt that were wages again to rise to the same
height at which they stood during the war, while
the great mass of the public burdens remained
stationary, the tax .payers would more easily
support the demands of Government ; but
since there are no other classes in the com-
munity but tax-payers and tax-receivers, what-
ever was spared to the former must be
taken from the latter ; so that the nation,
as a whole, would neither be richer nor
poorer by the alteration. If we adopt the
reasonings of Cobbett, and hold not only
that the loans to Government, which were con-
tracted when gold was 5/. per ounce, but that all
debts, mortgages, bargains, &c., contracted un-
der the same circumstances, ought to be paid,
now that gold has fallen to 31. 17s. 10y., at
the rate of 3/. 17s. 10y. for every 5/.--if we
adopt what he terms " A plan of equitable ad-
justment," but which men who are more scrupu-
lous in fulfilling their engagement, call " a plan
of wholesale swindling"—then certainly we may
call for high prices, such as Sir Francis seemed
to contemplate with so much satisfaction with a
view to such a consummation. But if we wish
well at one and the same time to the landed
interests, the commercial interests, and what
may be peculiarly termed the monied inte-
rests—we mean the public debtors—we shall
hesitate ere we rejoice in the anticipation
of a state of things which must infallibly in-
jure one of these interests. We do not mean
to say that high prices are to be rejected or
despised if they come, nor do we mean to argue
against their desirableness, but we are very far
from conceiving that a plan of policy is to be
praised merely because it is supposed calculated
to raise rents and make corn dear. We do not
contemplate the proposed Corn Bill ill that light.
We think that its provisions will, to a certain
degree, make the prices of grain steady, by re-
moving one powerful cause of their fluctuation,
but they will remove only one cause. An
abundant harvest will lower prices as effectually
with the Corn Bill as without it, and from
that cause it is far from our wish, and from
that of any sane mind, that the country should
be delivered. The language of Sir Francis,
about the virtues and efficacy of high
prices, is something like the old culinary
receipt given, we believe, by Mrs. Glass, which
opens with, " first catch your hare." Granting
all the conclusions to be fairly drawn, when are
we to get the premises ? Cobbett is, it must
be confessed, extremely clear on this head. His
plan is quite. simple. " Depreciate the cur-
rency—pay your debts, public and private, with
pounds that are worth only so many ten shillings,
and every thing will go right." We would wish
the Corn Bill to be 'weighed fairly and delibe-
rately on its own merits. Its object is to bene-
fit the agricultural interest in the first instance,
and collaterally all the other branches of the
community. If its enactments be considered
by Parliament as calculated to attain that object,
by all means let it be passed ; but do not let us
• mix up with the consideration of it the reveries
of a writer who never touched a subject that lie
did not injure, whose commendation would bring
the purest cause into disrepute, and whose sup-
port would weaken the strongest.—lbid.

A ludicrous scene lately occurred at the theatre
in a neighbouring town. A countryman who had deter-
mined to indulge his curiosity, made " his first appear-
ance," to witness a performance, which chanced to be the
tragedy of the Iron Chest. After the usual wonderincfs
aril exclamations of astonishment at the novelty of the.
scene, his amazement ultimately subsided so as to allow his
comprehension of the first two or three acts of the play.
As the performance proceeded, however, it is known to
most of our dramatic readers that Orson and the robbers
quarrel about a division of booty. In the beginning of
this scene the honest, artless, and ingenuous countryman
betrayed several strong symptoms of agitation and uneasi-
ness, which apparently gradually gained ground upon him,
Mail he could not contain his awkward sensations any
longer, when he suddenly rose, and addressing the actors,
to the astonishment of the whole house, burst forth into
the fUllowing exclamation :—" I'll tell ye what, if ye are
going to quarrel among yourselves, give me my money
again, and I'll go home, for you don't think I ant going to
be made a fool of!" This extraordinary speech, as may
naturally be suppo,ed, caused general mirth, while the
unconscious cause of risibility gazed about hint further
amazed, wondering " what they could see to laugh at !"
Boston Guzette.