The Sun.
London, England, 1821-05-31 00:00:00

[NEW TIMES.]

To those who fondly imagine that his Majesty's
Councils have of late years preserved the State
from hostility, it cannot but occasion some sur-
prise to learn, that there exists, at•this moment,
and, in the very heart of the metropolis, " a Bel-
ligerent Power triumphant against Government!"
Mortifying reflection! that the Statesmen who
preserved Europe from bondage, should have
fallen beneath the proud foot of a new and hi-
therto unknown conqueror ! that they who were
in vain assailed by Robespierre and Buonaparte,
and whose cause was so gloriously supported at
Trafalgar and Waterloo—
Quos sieque Tydides nec Larissneus
Non anni ilunitiere &cm, non mills carinta,
that these illustrious personages should be
defeated by the Knight of the woeful coun-
tenance in Printing House-lane. Yet that
such is the fact we are assured by no less an
authority than the leading, or as we suppose
it Must henceforward he styled, the Belligerent
Journal itself. The disinterested Editor thinks
fit to let the world know, that he has a perfect
contempt for Government Advertisements ; that
his paper looks better without. them ; that they
would disfigure •his columns; and as to the money
which he might pocket for their insertion; it is a
matter totally beneath his consideration. At the
same time he does not forget to hint, that his
" charges" are very " reasonable ;" his habits
are extremely regular ;" and his" way of doing
business" perfectly "tradesmanlike." A .cotorn-
porary has drily observed, that this reminds him
of Casca's observation on Caesar's refusal of the
Crown—" but for all .that, to my thinking, he
would fain have-had it."

It is unnecessary for us to go at length into the
general conduct of The Times in regard to the
Manchester Meeting. Nobody who attended to
it dispassionately can be at a loss to conceive
why respectable individuals should at that parti-
cular period have discontinued their patronage of
a Faper so shamefully conducted ; and yet it

[MORNING CHRONICLE.]
The Constitutional Association .was again
brought before'the House of Commons Commons last night
by Mr. Brougham. Iteally'this- body is pro-
ceeding with amazing strides in its 'career. Already
it sends circulars, forsooth, to all the Magistrates
of the country,. dispatches its myrmidons to the
different shops of news-venders, &c. threatening
some of them -with .prosecution, and receiving
declarations of contrition • from others. Truly,
this is a most impudent attempt to lord it
over. the press of the coltittry. Mr. Scar-
lett contended, that the object 0f.,...the So-
ciety was illegal. The, Solicitor General, on
the .other hand, maintained the :peversc. If
the object is illegal, we trust the 100 and
odd persons who have conspired with a number of
silly old women. and others to disturb the peace
of society, will be rewarded according to their
deserts. But whether legal or illegal, there can,
as Was observed by Mr. C. Wynn, be no doubt
as to the impolicy of organising in this manner
one part of the community againSt theother. He
forcibly called the attention of the House to the
effects produced by the Orange Societies in Ire,
land. If the subscribers to this Society think
that they will be allowed to have -it all their own
way,,and that no reaction will follow from their
irritating measures, they will soon find out their
error.

[MORNING POST.]

The House Of Commons sat- till one o'clock
this morning, discussing a variety of subjects.—
The amendments made in the Lords to the
Grampound Disfranchisement Bill were taken
into consideration, and, after a conversation in
which a variety of plans were suggested, the
whole were agreed to ; and consequently the
Bill as it came down from the Lords will now
pass into a law: Mr. Brougham was pleased to
make another attack upon the Constitutional As-
sociation,in the absence of the Attorney-General,
whose duty he thought proper to point out.
The attempt to prove the illegality of the
Patriotic Association alluded to comes with rather
an ill grace from Mr. Brougham, after the decision
of the Court of King's Bench on the pplica-
tion made against it last week by one of the per-
sons now under prosecution by its means ; besides
which several Societies of a similar description
for prosecuting offences against public morals
have long existed without any one attpmpting
to question their legality. But, as the Marquess
of Londonderry observed, it should seem as if all
the sensibility of certain learned gentlemen of
the present day was reserved for the crime of
libel and sedition. The Solicitor General placed
the question in a most clear and satisfactory point
of view ; and Mr. Brougham, very prudently,
did not attempt to take the sense of the House
upon the subject.

rTHE TIMES.]
The Allied Sovereigns disavow any intention
or view of territorial aggrandisement ; and we

are most ready to confess that the conduct of
Russia, the chief Power, coincides with this pro-
fession. Austria retains military possession of
Naples ; but as there are motives for this occu.
pancy sufficiently strong to be found in the poli-
tical state of the country, we do not feel our.
selves justified in accusing Austria of a wish to
appropriate the kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
It is with the principle of interfering in the Go-
vernment of Foreign States that we are disposed
to quarrel. And if this principle is to be main-
tained in one instance, why not in all ? These
very circulars of the Allied Sovereigns are so
many proofs of the weakness of those who issue
them, by their omissions and reticences, as of
their strength, by references to past successes
and exultation in happy events. Why is not
Spain ,mentioned or alluded to in any of the
;official declarations from Laybach ? If the High
Allies undertake to snub all reform that is not
conceded by the will of the Sovereign, and does
not spring from his fiat, let them traverse
Itrance and pass,the Pyrenees. What a reproach
to their Councils, what a sarcasm on their empty
boastings, that Spain should now be in open
ho-stility to the wishes of its King, and proceed-
ing (with no very well regulated steps we fear)
to the redress of its grievances and the reform'
of its constitution ; and that these self-appointed
directors of the destinies of mankind dare to
allude to events so much at variance with their
rules, and which are as notorious to all the
world as the rising and setting of the sun !
Take such a sentence as the following, for ex-
ample, from the declaration before US :—" The
" Sovereigns have not hesitated to proclaim,
" with great frankness and vigour, that they re-
" gard as legally null all pretended reform opc-
" rated by revolt and hostility." Place this by
occurrence that now
ttahkeessidpelaocfe aatn3l;laodnerid.a;il4l- &what becomes of the
vigour of the Allied Sovereigns, who undertake
to repress all resistance to constituted autho-
rity. ? • We fear the zeal of the, Emperor of
Russia is not well seconded by his more cautious
allies; or a crusade for the establishment of legi-
timate authority might have been undertaken ere
now to the banks of the Ebro. That which heats
suddenly, cools with equal rapidity. His impe,
rial Majesty may become disgusted with the
frigid temperament of his allies. We recollect a
Sovereign of Russia who was once bent upon en-
countering Buonararte in a single combat, and
subsequently, as much disposed to..fight the other
Sovereigns who would not second his chivalrous
enterprise,

(Continued from our Paper of yesterday.)
The Landed and Agricultural Interests con-
tend that, on account of heavy taxation they can
neither derive certain rent from land, or living
profits from cultivation ; that while there exists
any important trade in Corn, although such Corn
might be exchanged partly for British Manufac-
tures fabricated by the consumers of British
Corn, the rates and taxes prevent the possibility
of their supporting this competition. Agriculture
being- unquestionably the most itrsportant 'braneb
of national industry, and the prosperity of all
others depending principally upon it, the rapid
and continued decline in the prices of all agri-
cultural. productions, and the extreme distress of
the whole agricultural population, may well be
deemed the chief cause of the 'present adverse
circumstances of the industrious classes of every
denomination. And these effects are extended
to foreign commerce, by diminishing the con-
sumption of foreign productions, and contracting
the exchange of equivalents.
The Merchants and Manufacturers urge, that
by promoting unrestrained freedom of intercourse
with foreign countries; receiving their natural
productions, and opening profitable markets for
them ; encouraging their prosperity by so doing,
and consequently increasing their inclination and
ability to consume our manufactured and colo•
nial produce, are objects essentially necessary to
the interests of a great portion of our population ;•
to the profitable employment not only of the peo,
ple, but of a great, mass of capital both floating
and immoveably invested in machinery and
buildings; also to the support and encouragement
of shipping and seamen. Above all, as "
" tional defence is of much more importance than'
" opulence," they are indispensably necessary
for the maintenance of our most powerful, and in
our insular situation, most important means of
national defence and security, the British Navy.
_ _ _

The public at large are assured, by painful ex-
perience, that dissaffection and discontent are en-
gendered in those who usually support themselves
and families by their personal labour, by the
want of employment; that the decay of industry
is the birth of crime ; that the poor man cannot
himself command employment ; that we should
commiserate, not reprehend., l►is inactivity: The
public, too, expected that peace would bring
plenty and happiness, and therefore oppose any
measures which seek to restore prosperity to any
class of producers, by raising again the prices of
the necessaries of life. '

Amid the several interests, only apparently,
not really, at variance with each other, po3sibly
the impracticability of minds, rather than mea-
sures, may be most opposed to effectual relief.
13ut we are all links of one great chain of corn-
WWI interests. Efforts must be made to preserve,
as it were, an indissoluble chain. Let us not
permit prejudices, or contracted views, to ob-
scure the truth. •

Fortunately, on account of an important disco-
very in Finance, there do exist the means of
reducing the capital and annual charge of the
National Debt without violating public faith.
Admitting, as every considerate person must ad-
mit, both upon principle and policy, that public
faith towards the national creditor must be held
inviolably sacred, the National Debt might be
relieved by measures which are perfectly practi-
cable. And the attention of Members of Parlia-
ment is most earnestly recalled Co a plan, more
than four hundred copies of •which were sent to
them last June.

By lessening the amount of taxes, we diminish
the material component part of price, WhiCh con..
sists of taxes of various denominations; by re-
ducing that portion of the expences of produc-
tion, we command cheapness, although with fair
profit to the producer; by keeping down 'the ex-
pences of subsistence, ►tint enable the labourer,
artizan, and manufacturer to consume more and
better food upon lower wages, If 'the price of
labour be reduced, this component part of price
being also diminished, the expences of •produ-
cing. corn, every other article of food, every
species of manufacture, will be further dimi-
•nished alld the cheaper our goods, the more
they will be consumed. And although this would
not. raise the price of corn, and consequently the
rent pf land, that real will command more of the
real necessaries and luxuries of life,and therefore
its real value will be increased. According as we
make progress in the reduction of taxes, and in
accomplishing these results, we shall advauck to-
wards circumstances favourable to permitting that
perfect freedom regarding commerce And compe-
tition
,with foreign nations, which, upon the
soundest and most natural principles, might then
best promote the most enlarged prosperity of
every .branch of national i►►dustry, and regain all
attendant national advantages.

But with regard to increasing the power of re-
strictions, m e may, upon mature consideration,
actually doubt their succeeding in raising again
the prices of the productions of the land for any
permanency. independently of questioning their
policy, we may doubt the certainty of their
success.

It was ascertained, in 1813, by a Committee
of the }louse of Commons, that We grew suffi-
cient r!rn for our consumption ; " that the
" supply fin the last year was equal to the
" consumption, for the first tine since 1764.
" For the value of corn exported frornthe United
" Kingdom in 1812 to foreign countries amounts
" to 1;498,2291. while 'the value of foreign

less than 1185 inclosure bills had been passed
that period. And in the six and thirty years pre-
ceding :SOO there had been, according to CHAL-
MERS'S estimate, 1532 bills passed, includii:4
2,804,197 acres of land. That we grew an in-
dependent supply in 1812 and
.1813, was 'furthEr
proved by the sudden fall in the prices of corn

hich the importation of 1814 occasioned.:—

,Again, tht low prices of the years 1814, 1813,
and 1816, were additional proofs of the Lupe
supply being greater than the consumption. It
was universally admitted, and it was confirmed by
the Report of the Board of Agriculture, that the
interests of Agriculture sustained so much injury
by importing foreign corn, as to have ruined
great numbers of farmers, thrown out of tillage
some hundred thousand acres of land, and a mul-
titude of peasants out of employment.
The distress of these years diminished, for the
time, the energy of production; accordingly
there was an advance of price in 1817 ; and im-
portations of foreign corn both in 1817 and 1818.
But the high prices of these years acted as a new
encouragement to extending the tillage of arable
land. The subsequent low prices of labour, and
the cheapness of materials for fencing, have been
additional inducements to cultivating and in.
closing waste land. Since 1812 inclosnre bills
have been passed. Both Ireland and Scotland
have greatly extended the tillage of arable hula
since the termination of the war; and have sup-
plied England with a continually increasing suc-
plus of corn beyond their consumption. Ireland,
it is said, last year supplied three times any
former quantity. On account of the lower ex.
pences of production jn 'lreland, and the more
profitable market prices of England, the conti-
nued increase of that supply will be encouraged.
The improvements also in the science of cultiva-
tion in every part of the United Kingdom pro-
mise-increased production, as well as economy in
all its expences.

But while the home supply of corn has been
augmenting, have not the low martet prices for
a considerable time proved that consumption has
not kept pace with increased population ?
there not been obviously rather a comparatively
diminished consumption of bread corn, and la
increased use of rice, as \veil aS a much more
nerally confirmed habit in the people to consume
potatoes ?

Upon the whole, it appears that our Agricul-
ture, which subsequently to the year 1764 had not
kept pace with our manufactures and commerce,
had by. very rapid strides arrived in 1812:
1814 to a degree of productiveness which fully
supplied our whole consumption, Although it is
material to remark, in proof of the principles we
have advanced regarding the effects of taxation,
it was only in the dearest years that the great en-
couragements to cultivating waste land occurred;
in the scarcity of 1800 and 1801, when in three
years 322 Bills, were passed, and in the scarcity
of 1809 and 1810, when 481 Inclosure Bills were
passed in four years, 1809 to 1812; being an ave-
rage of nearly 115 Bills per annum, in years of
'high market prices for corn. But in six cheaper
years preceding 1800, only 00 Inclosure
on the average, were passed per annum ; and in
six still cheaper years preceding 1794, only 39••

Taking, therefore, all these circumstances into
consideration, ' when We contemplate raising the
prices of agricultural productions as a measure
for relieving present diff►culties, should we not
pause to question the possibility of successfully,
as it were, opposing, by human laws, these ex-
tended powers of nature herself ? Does it not
appear to be fully confirmed that the Nation now
produces more corn than is sufficient for its own
consumption ? And if it be admitted that the
market price does not comprehend the taxes and
expences of production, while importation is pre-
vented below a remunerating price, this fact
also proves the home supply to be greater than
the demand of the consumption.
But even if a new law be made with the view
of raising the market price beyond the taxes and
expences of production ; and if the law should
succeed in raising the price for a time, would not
such higher market price be an additional sti-
mulus to extending the cultivation of arable land,
and to increased production ? Would not in-
crease'l production, instead of raising, afterwards
lower the market price ?

It might be possible, should the ensuing sea-
son prove particularly unfavourable, and the
harvest unusually unproductive, that such a law,
assisted by speculations in our markets, might-.
for a time raise the prices of corn, and so rapidly
as to occasion much distress in the existing situa-
tion of the poor, and great irritation in the public,
mind, in the present temper of the people ; other-
wise it would appear that the cultivation of such
an increase of arable land has been extended
over so large a surface of these Kingdoms ; the
powers of nature so put put in operation are so
much augmented and expanded, that, combined
with other circumstances, the new law may ut,
terly disappoint expectation. And the view
taken of the supply and demand for corn by the
corn-merchants i❑ this country, who are inferior
to none in penetration, intelligence, and the com-
mand of capital, appears to be somewhat similar,
as an expected new law does not appear by the
declining market prices, to encourage speculation,.
(To be continued.)

PARLIAMENT,

HOUSE OF LORDS, M

The Irish Election Expellees Bill and the Lon-
don Wharfs Bill were brought up from the Corn-
mons, and each read the first time.
The Juror's Attendance Bill was read a third
time and passed.