The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-07 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7. 1845.

There are tame circumstances attaching to the conditdon
which this country is likely to be placed—if she be not
already involved—by the ascertained deficiencies of the last
corn harvest, and the perhaps unprecedented failure of the
potato crop—that have no parallel, we are inclined to think,
within the memory of living men. When the " famine
price," as it is still emphatically termed, which wheat was
fetching in the year 1801, was spreading far and wide the
empire of actual privation and the panic of apprehended
starvation, there were aspects of encouragement in the con-
dition of other great agricultural countries of Europe which
are nit to be detected at the present moment. There were
no such stringent corn-laws as now exist, and have for thirty
years past existed, to scare from eul ports the surplus
produce, whatever it might be, which the foreign
pr2ducer, in that period of general . want, could
spare for exportation to the market of British
consumption. The potato crop, which had already
bccome--and fatally, we repeat—the main staple of Irish sub-
sistence, proved, by a merciful dispensation of PROVIDENCE,
abundant as to quantity and superior as to quality. Though
a prolonged experience of all its valuable properties as a
substitute for cereal products, properly so called—as a " bread
stuff," ui lieu of bread--WAS then wanting, the instinct of ne-
cessity htid made this root most largely eubservient to the

purposes of the deficient grain. It is now beyond all doubt
that mildewed and unripened wheats, diseasedryes(still more
terrible in their deleterious effects upon the human system);
germinating barleys (fraught with the influences of that
hideous vitality which may be termed " the life of corrup-
tion," in contradistinction to "the life-sustaining principle"),
and all the manifold adulterations of flour, meal, and bran, which
the " devilish cunning of human cupidity" has, in periods of
scarcity, always been too successful in devising—swept off
hundreds of thousands of our unhappy countrymen at that
time, from whom the organised vigilance of a much more
recently established sanitory system would have averted the
untimely fate which the general destitution of wholesome
bread conducted them to. The war still closed the ports of
some of the principal corn-growing countries of Europe
against us, or that destitution would have been far less mis-
chievous. Yet even then, the ample resources of a sound
potato crop rescued not thousands, merely, but millions of
our countrymen in Great Britain and Ireland from the
disastrous scourge of famine.
In 1845 the condition of things is, to some extent, the
reverse of that which we have been describing as existing in
1801. The potato crop is a vast and 'hopeless failure : the
supplies of foreign grain have been large, and, under any
scheme of corn-laws less absurd or clumsy than Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S vaunted sliding-scale, might have been far more
abundant and cheap. Let us, for a moment, measure the
impending scarcity that now approaches us by the multi-
tude of those whom it most nearly and directly affects.
To do this,—to calculate the intensity of the evil with which
we shall have, in the dead months of the fast-approaching
winter, to contend—we must multiply the sphere of the
suffering experienced in 1801 by the increased number of the
masses who will come within its operation in 1845. We have
no doubt that that suffering will be more severely felt in Ire-
land than in Great Britain, judging from the scenes which
were.witnessed in the former country in those several years
of scarcity, 1814, 1516, 1822, and 1831. Of course, the
rapid progreision of her population since the latest even of
these dates, although it forms a favourite subject of declama-

tion and rejoicing at popular meetings, is intrinsically a
fearful element in the aggravation of the calamity within
the verge of _ which she is already brought. That

scarcity, which was all but intolerable to a popu-
lation of from four to five millions, will be fearfully
destructive, indeed, to it, when its numbers are increased
by two or three millions more of human beings, unless that
be the fact which no man in his sane senses will venture to

infer—namely, that the agricultural production and produc-
tive industry of Ireland have meanwhile expanded them-
selves in a similar proportion. But if Great Britain suffered,
and was far less exhausted by the deficient crops of the four
years we have adverted to, her present relative position is
not so much better than than that of Ireland as might at
first sight appear. Tried by the same test, the progres-
sion of population, her danger is truly formidable. In 1801,
according to the most careful calculations of the late Mr.
RICKMAN and of Mr. CoNunoux, in verifying the Par-
liamentary Census, of the day, the aggregate population
of England, Wales, and Scotland, was but 10,943,000. It
is, now, at least 22,C00,000. Our Governments, for the
period of 30 years which have elapsed since the general
pacification of Europe, have been without any excuse for
their neglecting to establish the trade in corn on such sound
and stable bases as the possible wants, and the occasional
actual demands of a population, whereof the tendencies of
increase were so extraordinary as in our own, so impera-
tively demanded. Year after year the " Census" has been
so much improved as to leave them in no want efincontrover-
tible data on which to assume the fact of this gigantic in-
crease in the native demand of the two islands for the
staples of subsistence. What have they done to secure a
permanent and ample supply of these staples? Let us not
be accused of unfairness if we hold Sir ROBERT PEEL, of
all men living, responsible for the selfish and unstatesman-

like anomaly in legislation, which is dignified by the name
of a corn-law. Whatever other Ministers may have done or
devised, he has challenged this position of unenviable
responsibility. But not a brief lustrum has yet elapsed
since Sir ROBERT PEEL introduced, expounded, and car-
ried against all opposition that Act for the regulation
of the corn trade upon a " sliding-scale," in virtue of which
exorbitant prices for bread have been ever since maintained

in this country, and by reason of which the very sources of
' foreign supply that, had we consented to receive them un-
burdened with the duties in question, would have completely
anticipated the scarcity of the present season—have heal •
largely dried up by our own act and deed. If we bad any
wish to signalise the triumph of our own opinions on this
subject over the principles advocated by Sir ROBERT

PEE!, on those occasions, we might here repeat his
own words on commending his last edition of
' the sliding-scale to the sanction of Parliament.
But it is needless to cite particular expressions from a speech,
the sum of which, divested of all the Right Hon. Gentleman's
accustomed egoisme and self-laudation, was to challenge for
his plan the power of obviating, as far as human foresight
could do so, all danger of deficient supply, and of scarcity-
prices in future. He ridiculed the apprehensions aroused by
those who were for either absolutely making the trade in corn
free, or for legitimatising imports of foreign grown wheat at a
certain fixed duty per quarter. He turned a dof ear to all
remonstrances on the danger which our continued discourage •
ment of foreign corn, in order to give the home-grower a mo-
nopoly of the home market, was incurring of largely diminish-
ing the cultivation of the wheats grown in the vicinity of
the Baltic, and i❑ the countries along the banks of the
Vistula. What is now the condition of things with respect
to these countries, and the probable demand for their pro-
ducts before the closing in of the winter? At the moment
we pen these lines no Order in Council has been promulgated
on the subject of opening the ports; but it is considered in
many well• informed quarters that such an order must. be

piumutgated. In the interim, we affirm, without
hesitation, that the history of this country does not exhibit a
case of more stupendous and self-convicted failure in the
policy of its Ministers than that which has been .manifested
by the corn-law blundering of the Premier. He has incurred
by it a frightful responsibility, and is bound to apply what
remedy can yet be administered without a day's unnecessary
delay.

it is a great relief to persons compelled to read the political
.iscussions of hostile parties, and the articles in French and
English journals, so often disfigured by violent and senseless
national antipathies, to find now and then something like
fair play exhibited, and full justice done to the merits
of opponents. We have, therefore, read with much
satisfaction some remarks made by a French journal, the Paris
Constitutionnel, on a work just pubished by M. DUVEROILR
DE HAURANNE, describing the present situation of political
parties in England, and estimating the respective characters
of Whig and Tory leaders. To Sir ROBERT PEEL full justice
is rendered, more, it is admitted, on account of the excellence
of his measures than of the questionable means by which
he was restored to office. The writer has sketched
in a skilful manner a picture of the history of the
two last sessions, so full of striking features, whether as re-
gards the policy of Sir R. PEEL, at direct variance with the
opinions of many of his adherents, or the noble conduct of
the Opposition, especially that of the Whig leaders, who, in
contempt of all the allurements of place and pensions, main-
tained their principles with undeviating and honourable-
firmness. On the latter subject the Constitutionnel justly
remarks :—" When have the English Liberals shown
themselves great and truly worthy to govern their country?
Was it not when Lord Jolts RUSSEL', putting far from him
the idea of overthrowing the Ministry, came forward honestly
and unconditionally to give Sir ROBERT PEEL the support of
all his friends? Was it not when Mr. MacauLav, resisting
the threats of his constituents, declared in Parliament that
he would, if necessary, sacrifice his seat, and employ his- fu.
ture life to sustain a political adversary ?" This is the truth,
but not the whole truth. The Liberal party have not
only supported the measures of the Conservative leader, by
their votes and their speeches, but they, have taken no
advantage of circumstances to throw obstacles in his way,
or stir up opposition from quarters which might have en-
dangered the stability of his Cabinet. Like men conscious
of the integrity of their purpose, and anxious to see the
grievances of their country redressed, they have sunk every
personal consideration, and strengthened the popu-
larity of their opponents, both by speeches in Par-
liament and addresses to their constituents. They
have even risked their seats in the House of Commons, be-
cause they preferred toleration in religion and jtistice to Ire-
land, to the applause of misguided electors, and, above all, to
the threats and entreaties, and even the hostility of a vast
proportion of the Dissenting clergy, long their avowed and
most efficient supporters. We can find no instance in the
history of England _where a whole party exhibited such
proofs of real Fatriotism, and sacrificed their interests for
the good of the community. This is a noble trait in the
character of political parties, and forms a gratifying contrast
to the selfish opposition made by GREY and WELLINGTON and
PEEL to the Cabinet of the persecuted CANNING. But let that
pass. We occupy ourselves only with the present position
of affairs, and with the altered tone which certain political
writers in France display, when alluding to the proceedings
of Parliament for the last few years. The article in the
Constitutionnel exhibits sound views and friendly feelings to-
wards England, and we, therefore, transcribe with pleasure
the following extract as a specimen. After adverting to the
contents of M. DE HAURANNE'S work, the writer adds :
"It is needless for us to observe that the views of the illustrious
writer are precisely our own. But we more particularly join with
him in the praises which he bestows on the noble conduct of the
principal English statesmen of all parties, and to the full share of
justice he renders to the English nation itself. We have always
believed that it was a bad defence of a good cause to make an appeal
to national or party prejudices, and that the advocates of
liberal ideas ought to show themselves worthy of their doc-
trines by leaving to others the task of awakening and bringing into
play old hatreds and passions. Is not the knowledge of how to
renter justice to one's adversaries, and even to one's enemies, the
most worthy and the best means to assure to one's own life and
acts an equitable and impartial judgment, and to conquer esteem
in default of power ? We cannot dissemble our sympathies
as to the struggles of the English Parliament, but •in offering
up our wishes that both in England and in France the doctrines
of complete liberty and equality may progress, we espouse no
quarrel, no particular rivalry, and, particularly, we cannot refuse
our admiration to the illustrious chief of the English Cabinet,
when we see him boldly lead his party in the paths of reform, and
so nobly risk his political destiny to secure the triumph of ideas
which he believes to be usaeunfuadlu.firanneWnsepece, declare
thatt spectacle,
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ando u dwl ye
hastf he
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pain in admitting it, as we reckon on the same justice for France,
when our Government shall merit it."

The accounts from Paris of the prices of stocks and shares
are unfavourable. A further depression took place on Wed-
nesday, caused chiefly by the fall in the London Money-
market. For cash the Three per Cents. closed at 15e. and the