The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-08 00:00:00

WILLIAM

THE CORN-LAW)! -a1 1, -., - - y--,A
(From-the Times.l _,•-• ~.' ---: .;'' r - ..- f.- I 'l.,'
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Now that the corn-laws are indeed given up, p.othi g k.- T';• : - 1 ":,:; , --,:.,
remains but that the deed be done with all poseib aeel. e..7.>e. '-'..,fie.
unanimity and grace. For the sake of peace and g :47 1----&-ee-e' ---"-:,
examp:: it is well that all the actors in the drama of.pro- 't 14'''' •---
assemble on the. stage and assist at the
nothing,. mar the farewell to the past;aeikeet lar
tension shouo.
closing scene. Les
our future career. It is true se e'
.nrepare for these pious - e
and the inauguration oi
h is allowed to get
I,.nwever, it must.
that brief time is given us 1:.;'
solemnities. But one short mon:.
over the prejudices of an age. Such,
be remembered, is the usual proportion beta.'" recon-
ciliations and the feuds which they heal. So ints2actabie
are hostility and error, that they never will abate so ee'ng
as there is leisure to be obstinate. Some sudden co.
lamity or joy, or other mighty persuasion, is necessary.. ,
to efface the long accumulation of grievances, and burry
man at once into friendship and forgiveness. As far as
the process itself is concerned, therefore, we will not •
complain that the Premier has timed the nation rather
closely. Had the agriculturist still a voice in the
matter, he would possibly ask a thousand years to forget
his resentments and learn to be generous. Five weeks
are sufficient to discover the wisdom of that which must
be done, and the invalidity of arguments which will
neverthen u smallest
sesa the attention.
ear of thisIt
oldevolvesasa, k,
upon all whothe
persuade them into a cheerful resignation, if not an un-
reserved consent. There is nothing whatever in the in-
trinsic merits cf the cause to justify holding out with a
desperate and vexatious entisusiasm. It is no sacred or
constitutional principle that is at stake. Neither the
Bible, nor Megna Charta, nor the Bill of Rights, nor the
Act of Settlement,: nor the Coronation Oath, prescribe
the sliding-scale. It is not only a human, but also a
modern invention. The quesaen is either one of prie
rate interest or of public expediency. A crusade for the
former might, under some circumstances, be natural,
but would never be dignified, and if certain to be ih-
effectual could not fail to be ridiculous. 51 is view of
the case, however, has long been abandoned. The
Aiding-scale is now upheld as a national preservative, in
7. hich every British subject, from the Duke of Rieh-
mend to the Kerry peasant, from Mr. Cay ley to Mr.
Colyd,n, is equally. concerned. As such it is a matter for
legislative discussion. It would be most absurd and mis-
chievous to raise the provinces, and stir up the dying
embers of the quarrel, a moment after the final decision
of the Legislature had been put beyoeul all possibility of
doubt. Agitation is only respectable when it is either
for a principle or for a purpose. Under existing circum-
stances, an agitation for the corn-lams would
.possess
neither of these claims to respect. It would nestherbe ' ',.
romantic nor discreet, nor anything else, in fact, but a'
very prosaic and low-minded piece of stupidity, which
could have no other effect than to constitute the egri-
cultur:st the everlasting Peter Peebles of a forgotten pe-
-
cuniary squabble. It would almost be impertinent to offer
this caution were there not certain parties who are ambi-
tious to be somebodies, but destitute of ail claim to that
distinction unless they can get it by hanging to the corn-
laws. With the fidelity of parasites they stick to their
only means of notoriety and consequence. Of course,
when the old hulk goes to the bottom, the barnacles will
go down with it. Their case just now is rather serious,
and even if they enjoyed the utmost of our sympathy,
we should not quite know how to advise them. They
have been labouring these many years to demonstrate
the necessity of protection, the inevitable ruin of an open
market, and the peculiar virtues of the sliding-scale.
They are bound, therefore, to consider the agriculturists
utterly done for, and the whole country on the road to
ruin; while Sir R. Peel, on their showing, is not merely
a versatile politician and a slippery friend, but the very
Catiline of the British State. Their only other choice
is one almost too humiliating for us to impose it upon
them. It is to confess at once that everything they
have said these twenty years up to yesterday morning is _
absolutely worthlesis, and incapable of application to the
only event that could really put its sense and truth to
the test. We can scarcely even wish them to do this,
much less expect them. We assume, therefore, their
keeping up the game ; and we feel anxiety lest any
well-meaning portion of the agricultural world should be
tempted to prolong a resistance which must be both use-
less and inglorious. This is the time for the agricultural
body to give due weight to every consideration which
may explain and smooth the crisis. They are aware, in
the first place, of the numerous defections from their
once almost unanimous school. They need not be re-
minded that the market-table has long ceased to be har-
monious, and that many a man who six or seven years
ago was hawking pro-corn-law- petitions about his
parish, no longer considers his interests bound up in
the sliding-scale. They know with what circumspec-
tion and reserve politics must be treated in their agri-
cultural anniversaries, and how they must look up and
down the table before they can venture the slightest
inuendo. Their internal eivisions are not lost on
the public, and ought to be owned by themselves.
The opinion of the agricultural body no longer exists
as a unity. There are agricultural writers, and speakers,
and opinions, but no on, agricultural school and autho-
rity. But there is one c.eis!deration which should now
come home with irresistible force. The present protec-
tive system is a vast political responsibility. it is an
arbitrary and most artificial interference with the laws
of nature and Providence, and as such a most intole-
rable burden to any reflective statesman. The astronomer
in " Rasselas" felt himself overpowered with the respon-
sibility of the skies, although he did no more than sus-
tain and regulate the system which he found. The
modern Atlas must groan under cycles and epicycles
of his own. Sir Robert Peel confesses himself un-
equal to the gigantic labour. He will no longer
undertake to drive the sun, control the planets,
and rule the stars. He has had enough of
it. Ho has scorched himself, and the earth into
the bargain. " The farmers' friend " has discovered
to his cost that he cannot mete out wind, and rain,
and sunshine, exactly according to the manifold and
conflicting needs of his fastidious clients. He is justly
frightened at the working of his own machine. Corn
rises, grim scarcity is seen in the distance, dark shadows
of manufacturing distress brood over his path, the ele-
ments frown, and he is seized with a panic diffidence.
He positively will not hold himself accountable for what
may happen, especially when a million tongues, as our
columns to-day testify, are reminding him that, as
matters now stand, he is accountable. Will the agri-
culturists take on themselves that fearful responsibility?
What securities, what bail will they offer ? But
even if they should pledge the heads of three hun-
dred Peers that all the people shall be fed, what
consolation in the hour of calamity sheuld we find
in the forfeiture of their bond ? The Premier has a fair
right to be considered the best judge of his'-ovViriea-
sure. He pronounces it a failure, or at least a most pe-
rilous experiment. Who has a right to gainsay so com-
petent an authority ? It is downright cruelty to him,
as well as madness to ourselves, to bind him dawn to his
own crude conceptions, and compel his riper experience
to pay the penalty of his earlier rashness. Quarrel with
him if you please, remind him of his promises, exhibit
their miserable fulfilment ; but, for the sake of our com-
mon safety, exonerate him and us from his monstrous,
his fatal, his impossible functions. If Sir Robert were
to be the only victim of his scale, we might think it no
business of ours to interfere with the projectors of that
dangerous jimcrack ; but we, and twenty million others,
are involved in the trial.

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QUEER MISTAI7E.—There was one of the largest
congregations ever known at a village church, not twenty
miles from Ipswich, a short time since, during a visit of Sir
Robert Peel at the seat of a gentleman in the parish. The
rural population went to church in the full expectation of
hearing Sir Robert Peel preach, as they had. heard he was
the " Prime Minister." _

ROTAL TIIAMES YACHT CLUB.—The monthly
meeting of the above club was held on Thursday, at Cut-
triss's Piazza Coffee-house, Covent-garden. Th'is was the
first meeting held at the Piazza Coffee-house, in lieu of the
British Coffee-house, Cockspnr-street, a removal from whence
had keen rendered necessary by the want of accommodation
commensurate with the increased importance and numerical
strength of the club. Commodore Harrison presided, and lie
was well supported by a numerous attendance of members,
and all seemed pleased -vial their new quarters. The report
of the committee, which was read, and unanimously adopted,
was to this effect :—" 'FM the committee had decided upon
exchanging from the British ti the Piazza Coffee-house for
better accommodation, an it 'vas recommended that the
offer of Mr. Cuttriss be accepted, which was to pay 251. a
year for the large room for general meetings, and a smaller
room for club uses." W. Stoein, Esq., C. Cole, Esq., and
Dr. A. L. Fisher, were bslloted for and elected. Five other
gentlemen w.re proposed. Than,:s were awarded to the
sub-cosnmittee fur their report and exertions, and also to the
Commodore, &c., when the business concluded.
The coutraetors have commenced operations on
the Svston and Peterborough Railway ; between the former
place and Melton Mowbray 300 men are employed; three
diversions of the river are at present occupying the attention
of the contractors, thus saving them the erection of three
bridges. The poor of Melton will have employment all the
winter months.
Lord and Lady Francis Egerton have arrived on a
visit to Mr. Evelyn and Lady Charlotte Denison, at Ossings
ton-hall, Notts, from Worsley-hall, near Manchester. It is
rumoured that the Noble Lord will shortly be elevated to the
Peerage by the title of the Earl of Bridgewater.
ALLEGED DEATH FROM THE INCAUTIOUS USE OF
Maass.—A long inquiry took place on Friday before W.
Carter, Esq., at the Pilgrim Tavern, Walwortb, respecting
the death of Miss Catherine Moore Rostall, aged twenty-
five years, who, it was alleged, had died from the effects of
some poisonous herb. Mr. Thomas Barrett, an ironmonger,
residing at No. 17, Cancel-street, Walworth, deposed that
the deceased was his sister-in-law, and occupied apartmeats
in his house. She was a female of very eccentric habits.
She was a bonnet maker, and worked for a firm in Oxford-
street. Deceased was generally of very weak health. n
the evening of Thursday, the 27th ult,deceased came home
with a quantity of herbs, which consisted of pennyroyal,
B.:e. She told witness that she had purchased them of an
old woman in East-lane, who charged her ls. for them.
Deceased was subject to pains in the stomach, and spasms,
for which it was supposed she took the herbs alluded to.
Witness and his wife had begged of her to call in a
medical gentleman, but she always refused to have one.
Deceased continued to get worse until Sunday morning, when
she was unable to leave her bed. Witness gave her a cup of tea,
after which she said, " Oh, Thomas, I hope the Lord will
take me !" and she seemed in a state of great weakness.
About eleven o'clock the same morning, he went to the sur-
gery of Mr. Cattermole, where witness described her symp.
toms, and he prescribed some medicine for her. At half-past
one she began to get worse. Witness then sent for Mr. Cat-
termole, whose assistant attended, but before his arrival she
ceased to exist. Witness's wife searched the place after her
death, and found a saucepan containing the herbs. The
Coroner observed that, under all the circumstances of the
case, he should adjourn the inquiry, for the purpose of a post
mortem examination.
ACCIDENT TO A ClllLD.—Yesterday morning, be-
tween nine and ten o'clock, a serious accident occurred to
Sophia Palsgraw, about four years of age, the daughter of
Edwin Palsgrave, Esq., a gentleman residing at Finchler.
During the temporary absence of the domestic, the child
contrived to open the door of the nursery, and reaching the
landing, it is supposed, leaned over the balustrades, and,
losing its balance, fell over. The screams of the child quickly
brought assistance; and Mr. Hicks, a surgeon, was imme-
diately sent for, when it was ascertained that the child had
severely injured the vertebra of the neck., bseides having
reaeiyed other NOTE. injuries.