The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TIU PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Pamphlets, on the subject of the Corn Laws, have
become almost as plentiful as 41b. loaves. Every man
who sells bread, or purchases, or eats it, feels himself
qualified, by virtue of one or all of these operations, to
write upon it for the public benefit. If we had time
to draw up the arguments employed by these authors,
or the great majority of them, according to one fixed
order of succession, so as to divest them of that por-
tion of apparent variety which depends on mere form,
we can say with confidence that no publication relating
to the Corn Laws has issued during the last three
months from the press, which would not turn out to
be, in substance, a complete/ac simile of twenty others,
professing impartially to discuss, and pretending defi-
nitively to'settle this important and irritating question.
When we add, therefore, that Earl Stanhope, has
added one to the number of combatants upon the oc-
casion, we run no risk of offending his Lordship's dig-
nity by assuring him that be is quite en regle in what
he has been pleased to say, for the maintenance of the
existing prohibitions; nor can his Lordship be fairly
charged with a greater degree of shallow conception,
of partiality, injustice, perverseness, or absurdity,
than many more of that regiment of partisans who
have marched before him on the same beaten road.
Earl Stanhope has been pleased to remark, that the
high price of bread is not the cause of the distress
now felt by manufacturing journeymen and, artisans,
" but that their suffering has been produced by
the want of employment, and not the dearness of
provisions." Now, we would submit, with proper
deference to his Lerdship, that the want of employ-
ment may, by possibility, be near akin to the dearness
of provisions, in causing the distresses of the manufac-
turing poor : for we beg leave to remark, in something
of a syllogistic manner, that the want of employMent
proceeds from a want of demand for goods ; that if
one man's goods are not in demand, it is usually be-
cause another man's goods are sold on better terms ;
that if the Englisinnan s goods, for instance, have
failed to be sought in a foreign market, it is for no
other reason than the preference given to the manu-
factures of other nations, it being a matter well under-
stood, that immense quantities of raw materials are
now exported from England to those countries, which
at no very distant day took off the same material in a
manufactured state from England ; that the cause of
this revolution in commerce can be nothing else but
the cheapness of foreign articles compared with those
of British make ; that the comparative dearness of
British goods can have no other cause than the dear-
ness of provisions, the skill and capital and machinery
of England being, as is well known, superior to those
of foreign States. Had it been a former Earl Stan-
hope with whom we were debating, it would have
made us blush to dwell upon this A, B, C, of so
clear a question.; but we are satisfied with hoping,
that we have made out time near consanguinity be-
tween a " a want of employment," and a " dearness
of provisions," as they affect the artisans of England.
Again, the Noble and Learned Earl is good enough
to inform us, that for GO years, ending with 1706,
the average price of a quarter of wheat was nearly
505., which was equivalent to 6/. I Is. in the year
1800. Now it happens rather strangely for the argu-
ment of the Noble Earl, that if wheat has not risen
above 10 per cent. in that period of I`2o yearn, rents
have risen little short of 900 per eent.; and who is it,
according to his Lordship's calculation', that has borne
the enormous loss of all that the landlords have
poel&led ? It is an unlucky thing to prove too much,
upon a practical and historical subject.—" How does
it happen," quoth his Lordship, " that the artisans
enjoyed great prosperity when provisions were very
dear, and that they now suffer adversity when provi—
alone are comparatively cheap." We will answer for
the Noble Earl,---because England then enjoyed a
comparative monopoly of that market, which she now
shares with other nations, who are able in many
branches to undersell her ; but being undersold, she
can no otherwise recover her superiority than by selling
cheaper—that is; by affording her labourers bread on
easier terms. Once more, the noble and enlightened
Lord attacks machinery as a cause of our ruin, and
brings forward the example of a manufacturer at
Bolton, who, by the " pernicious introduction of 'ma-
chinery, reduced his number of 1,600 workmen to
90." And why, let us ask his Lordship, did the
Bolton manufacturer substitute machinery for Inman
beings in his workshops? Manifestly' because be
could sell his cloths on cheaper terms when turned out
by machines than by men. Yet, cheap As they were
thus afforded, we find that the goods were not cheap
enough to rival the foreign manufacturer ; else why
should our export of British g,oods decline from day
to day ? It follows, then, that 1,510 of the journey-
anenwould have been thrown out of bread even without
" the pernicious introduction of machinery," mid, what
Lord 6tanhope has forgotten, that the odd 90 besides,
who got their livelihood by working this pernicious ma-
t hinery, would, but for it, have fared no better than
their brethren. The Noble Earl concludes a flaming
passage thus-4‘ What is the Demon of mischief
which threatens to destroy the prosperity and the power
of this country, and to plunge it in bankruptcy and
ruin ?" The answer wig no doubt surprise the reader ;
and, what is better, it wiN delight him in exact propor-
tion to that ignorance, which ought to he so cherished'
when it bears the name of " bliss.'"rhe &lawn of
destruction, then, is not machinery
a contracted
currency—nor want of employment--enor a low price,
for corn ; but " it is that which calls itself, though
very unjustly, " political economy," (meaning nothing
else than Mr. Iluskisson's economy), against which
the Noble Lord ejaculates forcibly, as " more to be
dreaded than the plagues of Egypt."—Times.
We insert a letter signed Mentorides, on the ap-
plication of time public money to the building of
Palaces, upon the pretence that employment is there-
by afforded to workmen ; and we
would direct gene-
xal attention to that letter as a very semibie One. To
the remarks which the author has there trade on the
subject, we would beg leave to oG'er an observation or
two of our own. If the people who. are to be taxed
for building palaces, were those ;wilt:lg huvieigii7t paleiewar,noer.
in mansions like palaces, the
But Mr. Pitt found out, that a tax of, any kind,
iii
43rtier to be troiluctive, must fall upon the great put,34
who were 'sag
of the people,—that is, upon those
able to pay it; anal these, therefore, are the people,
who are but little able to pay their own house-retit,
that are now taxed, in addition to their old burdens—
in addition to those imposts which it was at least
tsisapr-e
posed time necessities of the State required—tha.
P°' A build
now, we say, to be taxed topalaces. Besides,
if the house of a man in moderate eircumstances y wants
r 4 pair,
he argues thus with himself—st It. ver
} true,
those
.eayet slates admit the wet ; my window-franies are de-
-1 the bricks want fresh pointin
g ; but I must
;
vut oil' till a new year. I have other heavy expences
thatat eat me un. All m famil are upo.n
prifien. -,
jAtuds) 1311 t it la at a time of universal public

distress—it is at a time when all that class of people,
of which the .preceding example describes only one,
are suffering most peculiarly—that they are called
upon to build and pay for these detestable palaces.
Why might not the budding have been delayed fora
year or two longer, when other expellees pressed upon
them less heavily, or their income had improved?
Only, (we answer) because in that case they might
not have been taxed to build palaces at all; as those
for whom they are now erected might have no need
of them.—/bid.

TO THE EDITOR.
Sir,2-There is a passage in Mr. Canning's speech of Tuesday,
which, when pointed out to you, may appear worthy of your
notice. I allude to what he alleges as an excuse for the profuse
expenditure of public money in palaces and other decorative
im-
prove►vents--.namely, that throe work. employ the poor, who
want occupation.
Now, sir, this appears to me, not only to involve a radical error
in political economy, but also to be glossed ever wits► a very ►ua •
nifest tint of mistaken benevolence.

- Surely, if I have barely enough to live upon myself—l mean,
to clothe myself and-my fluidly with decency and to feed them
with plain and healthy food—or even if lam enabled to spend a
portion of my income upon luxuries besides, no-advantage is
gained by the working class from the abstraction of a part of the
income so employed, and its consumption in public works, the
utility of which (to say the least of them) is very questionable.
If I retained this part of my income, I should spend it on the
Manufacturers of woollen and linen cloth, of silk, of furniture, of
bread, of butter, on the feeders of . cattle, who supply one with
butcher's meat, &e. &c., which surely would employ individuals
as useful as those on whom it would be spent after it is taken out
of my pocket by the tax-gatherer. In fact, it is obvious that
much more of this money would fall to the share of the labouring
part of the community in the former case than in the latter,
because the expence of the collection with all its abuses would be
saved.

Where, then, is the benevolence or justice of forcing me to dis-
pense with a portion of my comforts, in order, not to afford more
employment to the poor than I should give them with the same
money myself, but to spend a part of it upon tax-gatherers, and
the rest upon labourers not a whit more worthy than those who
would have been at all events employed by myself, had I not been
so taxed, especially when the public work* in question are not ne-
cessary in themselves, and are at all event* not desired by those
who pay for them?
Let us nut, therefore, be led away by the old story of giving
employment to the poor. The most salutary occupation afforded
to the community is the steady employment of respectable work-
men by the regular expenditure of the incomes of individuals on
.their respective manufactures. Taxation is only justifiable as far
as the purposes for which the tribute is levied are fairly approved
of by the community, as either necessary in themselves, or so de-
sirable as to make it obviously the interest of all So deny them-
selves some immediate personal indulgence for a decided increase
of advantage or comfort in some other quarter.
There is no virtue in employing labourers on new streets and
decorative edifices with the money of others, against their con-
sent I' for who, having the power of taxing, could not exercise
such a virtue as this?
A good Government should act on a very different principle.
•It should consider the produce of taxes as a contribution for no
other purpose than to enable a community to do more for their
-own advantage conjointly than if the money remained subdivided
in the possession of individuals.
All public expenditure, not directed to this object, is unprin-
cipled and 'oppressive; and all such projects for occupying the
poor, with money taken forcibly from the pockets of others, are
instances of a wretched policy, utterly unworthy of the Minister
of an enlightened country.
Nov. 23. • • MENTORIDES.
is obvious that such questions as those could not
arise, if there were a fair representation of the public in Perlis-
meet, because their doctrines would be, in fact, the conclusive
wishes of the community. Now, however, all these matters are
almost arbitrarily settled.
-•
A Correspondent, whose communication will he
found in another column, observes, with respect to '
Our statement—that the County Rates alone equal the
Revenue of many a Continental Kingdom—the cause
of the increase of tins local tax is the system of iob-
bing and place-making for relations anti dependents
pursued by Magistrates. ,We are persuaded there is
but too much truth in what our Correspondent states.
So inveterate is the disposition to job in this country,
that we are satisfied there is no way of arresting the
progress of this evil, as long as funds are available for
the jobbers. At Lancaster it was discovered that mad
patients might be cured by-doses of divinity from the
chaplain as well as by the Physicians, and a Chaplain
WAS Installed in due form. Music must, in many cases
act still more beneficially than Divinity: and.we sup-
poie the next improvement will be the appointment of
a band for the patients. In the case of the male
patients, there must be some who would be improved
by athletic exercises ; and we should not wonder if
some Justice in the neighbourhood, who had a broad
Shouldered son or nephew on his hands, should send
him for a season. to Professors .Clias or Vodka'', in
order to an appointment as Master of Gymnasties.to
the mad-men. In short, there is nothing too absurd
For the gentlemen who have the controul of the County
Imes. Our. Correspondent states, that a single parish
the County of Surrey pays 2,5001. to the Count'
aces. Shame on this wasteffil system of expenditure
Ile Gazettes are filled with bankruptcies=-4he inSr

vencies are too numerous to be counted—and amidst
alt thii distress, a set of men whom it pleases a Lord
Lieutenant to recommend (many of them very respec-
table no doubt), have the power of indulging whatertr
whim or crotchet comes into their head at the expence
of the inhabitants, who in addition to their other taxes,
and to the charge of maintaining the poor, are oppres-
sed with a heavy tax of modern date, which they have
the mortification of knowing at the same time to be,
for the`most part, idly and wastefully expended,—Morn-
ing Chronicle.
TfIE GREAT UNPAID AND THE COUNTY RATES.

TO *EDITOR..
SIR—In consequence of the following sentence in your Paper of
this morning, namely...-" The County Rates alone equalling the
whale revenue of many a continental Kingdom," 1 beg leave to
point nut, in a particular manner, what has causal those rates to
he so high.
When the Magistrates assemble at the Quarter Sessions, some
one of those wise, learned, virtuous, unpaid, and totally disinte-
rested, philanthropie Gentlethen, gets up to recommend that an
additional sum should be added to the situation of some Gentle-
man who iK a relation to the Magistrates, or dependent on'them,
and who has already gotten his bands pretty deep into the nublic's
purse. For instance, the salary is increased to the Clergyman,
who is the Spiritual Guide to the Governors, Deputy Governors
of Gaels, Penitentiaries, Thief-catchers, and God knows'what be-
side*, to put the " Poor Devils" into a purgatory while they are
in gaols. I believe that every prisoner, confined in a gaol, costs
more than five pounds a week to the public. All the above-
mentioned Governors, and so on, are paid out of the County
Rates, which are collected out of the Poor Rates. Things are
really gotten to such a pitch, that they cannot be borne with much

longer.
Thew County Rates cause more ill-will, strife, anti anitnoaitY,
of the inhabitants, than rill the King's tax-gatherers cause. The
people are sensible that their money is voted away by the Magis-
trates all over the country in a most shameful manner. This
expenditure is now so enormous, that the parish of Lambeth, in
the county of Surrey, has, during the last twelve months, actually
PIM two thousand five hundred pounds to the County Rates only ;
and, in comequenee of that expenditure, the Overseers have been
forced to make a rate, and they are now collecting one shilling in 1
tit -
s pound on the rental of all the inhabitants Inthat parish.
A corr ' I ant, Sir, your obedient servant,
Ltolden, Nay. 23.
: A CONSTANT READER.
Lbpondent has been at the pains to inform
mitlge 1
118, which we are exceedingly glad to hear, that ii the
University of Cana 1 •,_.
have prohibited their stu-
dents attending Newmarket Races a year or two since,
by compelling them to appear in the hall every tiny
1 during the meetings ;" and lie atida, by way of sar-
L castri, we suppose, that " a, little inluiry might have
.•
spared us our recent aninnavermi, ;, adding, that we