The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-19 00:00:00

THE CORN-.LAWS.

TO THE L ANDOWNERS ON THE BRITISH EMPIRE.
MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,—When the countryman
called out to Jupiter to come and get his cart out of the mud,
the sensible answer of the offended deity was said to be—" Set
your own shoulder to the wheel, and the cart will move, I'll
warrant ye." I respectfully point out this fabled story as
strictly analogous to your own case in conrection with the
Corn-laws. That you should be apprehensive an alteration in
these laws will occasion a reduction of rentals, is both natural
and justifiable. Though differing from many of ye uas to the
policy of such laws, I am far from believing that a reduction
of the present rentals, if suddenly brought about, would
benefit the public ; on the contrary if, by a proper union of
means between landlords and tenants, two blades of grass can
be made to grow where one only grew Lefore (an event by no
means improba le) there will be little necessity for calling
upon that es ential controller of a rent-roll, a det,se population,
for an unpopular tax to enable the occupiers of your land
to pay their present rents. The remedy would be much
more securely a.,d cheerfully effected by the extra produce ;
whil-t, as a nation, our hands will be strengthened with a full
measure of corn, diffusing, as it must do, gladness on all sides ;
because the consumers themselves will receive a direct advan-
tage by the expenditure of your ample and well-secured in-
comes. No stronger evidence can be required to prove that our
present modes of cultivation admit of amendment, and that we
possess extensive means, and a disposition to avail ourselves
of them, than the number and character of our agricultural
societies, comprised of individuals of the highest rank, talent,
and experience in the country, and formed for the express
purpose of effecting that most desirable object ; rendered as it
is, so urgently necessary by the rapid increase of our popula-
tion. 'I hough all may not be gold that glitters, good has and
must farther result from this • for as every real amendment in
practice brings additional produce into the market, the com-
munity at large must reap the benefit of those exertions.
This is not the place to enter largely into the details of culti-
vation ; but I would urge attention to two cardinal points in
practical husbandry, hitherto only very partially adopted, but
which, being at once simple, -efficacious, and cheap, are well
calculated to add largely to our annual supply of food. I mean
deep tillage on arable, and irrigation on our grass lands.
Deep tillage is practicable in every place where the plough
or the spade can be used, and will never tail to repay the cul-
tivator well for his labour. The Scotch farmers have taken the
lead, touch to their credit, and profit too, in this practice; .
and there is not an occupier of one hundred acres of land in'
England, but would find his pocket benefited by making a
journey into Scotland, to view the practice and judge for
himself.

Up to a recent period of time a very small portion only of
the river waters could be stolen, as it were, by the husband-
man from the all-important miller, wt.ose indispensable duty
it is to grind our corn. There was no choice in the matter;
the cultivator of your soil could only be permitted to look at,
and long for the water; to make bread the corn must be
converted into flour, and thus the coveted element was
strictly monopolised. Now, the master power of steam has
r. ndered us independent of this stringent necessity ; and
in nine eases out of ten throughout the empire, corn
may be converted into flour as cheap, or cheaper, by steam
than by water power. Here, then, we have two very ob•
viorA and certain modes of increasing the produce of the
country to a large amount, independently of what may
rationally be expected from the exertions of our Agricultural
Societies, seconded, as they are, by the zeal and industry of a
class of men already distinguished as the most perfect culti-
vat,rs of land in the universe. As respects the possible benefit
to be derived from the extended application of our waters:in
husbandry, I think it not too much to expect, that by the com-
bined exertions of tbe engineer and the agriculturist, at least
one-foot th of the hind may ultimately be fertilised by such
means, at the discretion of the occupiers, creating at the same
time a vast lund of employment for our honest labourers. But
if you kill ask any 'occupier of land which he would prefer,
the convenion of one-tenth part only of his farm into a water
meadow, secured from summer floods, or a law which shall i
give, or is intended to give him an extra ss. per quarter on his
~corn,
in 19 cases out of 20 the former would be accepted.
F Atter forty years experience as a land agent, I have been
obliged to-admv, , like many others, that it would have been a
blessing to a great majority of British farmers had they been
encouraged, by leases and other means, to a better mode of
cultivating their lands, instead of placing any dependance on
the precarious working of a Corn-law ; the demands for, rent
would have been more easily met, with an infinitely better
security for future payments.
Whilst acting, as I did for some years, in the capacity of
agent to the late Sir Robert Peel, I had the satisfaction of
knowing that his opinions entirely accorded with my own, as
to the value and practicability of the particular improvements
which 1 have here ventured to submit to public notice. Forti-
fied with the approval of a man so highly qualified to judge, I
have less hesitation in calling your attention to the subject;
and I have done so solely for the purpose of exc.ting inquiry to
the important question—may there not be found a more sub-
stantial and permanent method of securing the existing rentals,
one more consistent with the welfare of the occupiers of your
lands, than a reliance on the artificial support of a Corn-law,
and at the same time greatly improve our intercourse with
foreign nations ?
In a matter involving such great and conflicting interests, all
change to be good should be gradual. If it should ultimately
be determined that in the lapse of a few years the impost on
fort ign corn should become stationary, at a rate nearly of the
same amount as the direct taxation on our own corn, then the
mode of charging it in the intetim will be divested of much of
its interest; but a fixed rate of charge must certainly be the
least liable to evasion.

I have long felt surprised on seeing it so generally taken for
granted, that there can be only one way to preserve the exist-
ing rentals, which way, at best, is a very vexatious one; and I
offer the above remarks in the hope that they w►ll be received,
as' made, in the genuine spirit of inquiry to elicit the best mode
of-settlement on a question of vital interest to us all, and beset
w ith difficulties. 1 have the honour to be, with great re-pest,
my Lords and Gentlemen, your most humble and obedient
servant, ROBERT BENTON.
Nechell's-nark, Birmingham, Feb. 14, 1842.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM TILE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

GLOBE.—It is not surprising that Sir Robert Peel
should have ceased to be greeted by the applausive
vociferations of the animal portion of his own party.
Even these animali parlanti are not destitute of natural
instinct. They feel they have .given themselves a
master ; and they feel their master is leading them
to the slaughter-house. This is felt, too, by the
more rational irrationals of the Tory benches. " Its
proper power to hurt, each creature feels ; "
.and
these ultras feel that Sir Robert Peel has pared
'their claws, and blunted their natural weapons. Wild
animals indeed, just caught from the Yorkshire Hussars,
or the quarter-deck—such animals as a Rous and a Fer-
rand—may
feel nothing but their raw impulses. But
all who have a method in their madness feel that their
occupation is gone. All who attempted to make re-
striction and monopoly popular among the poor and
the working classes, by clamouring for restrictions
and regulations to please the Ten-hour Bill men,
trades unionists, or agitators against the new Poor-law—
all these feel how completely their guns are spiked, by
the Premier's explicit rejection of them. Yet this
section of his supporters were, in some sense, wise in
their generation. They saw that if monopolies of the
rich could be defended successfully, it must be by com-
bining their cause with monopolies of the poor—that if
enhancement of price of food was to be rendered popu-
lar, it must be by affecting to legislate for enhancement
of wages of labour—for muzzling the " money monster"
—for decreeing short work for full pay, and lavish
and unconditional parish pensions for no work at all.
All these pretexts the Premier
.has cast aside with
cool withering scorn. He won't enact that ten hours'
work shall earn twelve hours' wages in factories,_ He
won't legislate for operative monopolies, or subsidize
sturdy pauperism. But what is worse, he won't pretend
to mean anything of the sort. This is a heavy blow
and great discouragement to that section of his sup-
porters who have sought to enlist hosts of plebeian pre-
judice for aristocratic monopoly. It is quite certain,
however, that in abandoning the pretexts of his party,
S:r Robert Peel has rendered it impossible to maintain
its interests.

STANDARD.—We spoke yesterday of the good
effect which the division of Wednesday night must have
upon the interests of the country at home and abroad.
Let us now offer a word upon the influence which must be
exercised by the debate, and the arguments adduced in the
debate. Of the arguments of the Opposition it is unneces-
sary to say anything. They may be disposed of in two
classes, into which they were pretty equally divided—first,
arguments in support of a fixed duty ;_ secondly, argu-
ments in condemnation of any duty. These arguments,
like opposite qualities in algebra, plainly destroy
each othex, and leave nothing for an antagonist to
answer. On the other side we have the arguments
of Mr. Gladstone, Sir Edward Knatchbull, Sir James
Graham, and Sir Robert Peel, untouched by any-
thing upon which their opponents can agree,
and therefore to be regarded as absolutely unas-
sailable. So the question goes to the public, and
the public will know how to decide upon it. We
must repeat it, that arguments upon a question so

long, and so earnestly canvassed, could not be at
once new and sound, and, in fact, 'scarcely any argil.-
ment was advanced uron_ the Ministerial side which
had not been long made familiar by our invaluable
correspondent, Mr. James M`Queen (whose name ought
to have been quoted, and would have been quoted
fifty times had he been a Whig, writing on the Anti-Corn-
lawand additional strength
side) and by ethpts. The merit of the Ministerial
bspeakers
which
atshienyg
thea ceiMdo i and the forcible eloquence
interest
to familiar arguments. It is no mean benefit, also, that
by adopting these arguments they gave them that weight
which high. names canale!: s give, and which, we may
be excused for saying it, is not given by Conservative
statesmen to the reasoning of less exalted persons, as often
as, for the sake of truth, :it ought to be given. It is
an injurious delicacy which rejects a decisive proof be-
cause it has been first advanced by an obscure pamphlet,
or a more obscure newspaper writer.
COURIER.—The prompt and manly declaration by
Lord Melbourne in the House of Peers, tni the first day
of the Session, that with Ahe,creation or the prevalence
of existing distress the Corn-laws were in no respect
chargeable, a declaration tardily re-echoed since in the
Commons' House by Lord John Russell, aprears to
have been a " heavy blow and great discouragement
to the Anti-Corn-law press, and to the Anti-Corn-law
faction both within and without the House. For months
byegone distress and Corn-laws figured daily in the close
relationship of cause and effect with every radical
writer condemned to the drudgery of one column or
more per day ofleading and leaden matter, and with every
ranter whose only chance of cheers at public meetings lay
in the volume of rigmarole ringing the changes to the
same tune. Nay, even with the reverend revolutionist it
was the staple text from which ribaldry and ruffianism
had to be preached, and under the standard of which the
Rev. Mr. Spencer proposed to embody the picked corps
of 1,000 Manchester desperadoes, who are peaceably to
beleaguer the houses of the landed gentry, and assist_
Parliament to a right determination on the abolition of
Corn-laws question. Until now these ominous repudiations
by the two Parliamentary chiefs of the stock material of
Anti-Corn law agitation have been responded to only by
the sulky silence of the factious press thus slighted, and the
agitators thus disowned ; but with the temporary termi-
nation of Anti-Corn-law debates and the decisive manifesto
of a Ministerial majority, the rout of writers and ranters,
finding their very craft in peril of extinction, are taking
heart from desperation, op 4 are, 're-hoisting the old ban-
" ners under which ashowofeditorial fight could be made if
victory were pa:schope, and itinerant Smiths and spouters
pick up a living, if Anti-Corn-law bazaars forbade the
hope 01 a fortune. The Chrmide leads the van of this
forlorn hope, and commences by a clumsy attack en Sir
Robert Peel for saying that which the .two hig Lords
had said before. " When," says that veracious journal,
"he ta'd the Corn-law was net chargeable with any
portion of the existing. distress, he said that which be
did not himself believe." It is quite natural for dis-
honest dealers'in flash wares made, like Peter's razors,
a- sale, to measure other people's consciences by their
own standard.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
TlMES.—There is a general disposition among men of
business, after the exposure that has taken place by the report
of the Commissioners of the Management of the Exchequer
Bill-office, to recall past delinquencies of the department, by
vihieh much inconvenience has been produced, though in a
manner different from those immediately under investigation.
It is very material at this point to be able to show that the
parties pres'eling there, though very unwilling to admit their
respon-ibility to the public, have generally adopted towards the
public pretty " sharp practice" themselves. With this view a
sample of that practice may usefully be put forward; but to
make it intelligible to ordinary readers it is necessary to state,'
that at certain periods the Government calls in Exchequer
Bi is of a particular date, and a day is named up to, and on
which, the said bills will be received, and new bills givon in
exchange for the old ones, and if the premium on Exchequer
Bills is considerable, the holders suffer the loss.

Some years ago a banking-house in the city had 50,0001.
Excheneer bills to exchange at the periodical call. The bills
were duly listed and prepared for delivery, but by an accident
the last day for presenting them at the Exchequer 1301-office
was allowed to pass over. Twelve hours had not elapsed
before the mistake was discovered, and early the next morning
the bills were taken to the office, with a request from the house
in question that they might be received, and new ones given
for them. This was refused, and though the case was urgently
represented to the proper authorities, and the cause of the
oversight (viz. the indisposition of the party whose duty it was
to have taken charge of the operation) fully stated, a refusal
was given, and the banking-house was compelled to receive the
amount, and to purchase new bills at a loss of nearly 1,5001.
It would be imagined that if ever a rule of office, which is
always to be respected, might with propriety be relaxed, this
was the proper occasion for doing so, but a different impression
prevailed, it seems, at head-quarters, and if any advantage ac-
crued thereby to the public, there would not perhaps remain
quite so much to complain of. But out of this case, probably
not an uncommon one, arises a new temptation not to be Jost
s:ght of, in regard to an office already convicted of great irre-
gularities. There was nothing to prevent a " sib" of that.
office from putting the advantage of which the banker, in the
case referred to, was deprived, into his own pocket. It is to be
hoped, therefore, that when the general 'Wolin of the office,
which is now held to be a matter of course, does take place, this
" sharp practice" will be among the matters to undergo revision.

GREAT BIRMINGHAM MEETING.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
FRIDAY EVENING, SIX O'CLOCK.
A great and influential meeting took place this day in the
Town-hall.
Since the announcement of the Ministerial plan, the utmost ex-
citement prevailed in this town, and one general feeling of indig-
nation was exprr ssed by nearly all classes. Last week a requisition 't
to the Mayor was presented, to call a meeting. The terms of the
requisition was to consider Peel's scheme, but no sooner was the
majority of 123 announced than the requisitionists met, amd resolv-
ed upon going for the Suffrage.
At a meeting held last evening the following resolution was pro.
posed :—" That for a long time past the trade and commerce of this
town have been suffbring unprecedented distress, that the masters
and working men have lost their profits and employment ; that the
Ministerial plan is nothing but adding insult to intury ;
that as the amendment will rcc.dve the support of the Mem-
bers of the present House of Commons, it furnishes
irrefragible proof of the necessity of such an extension
of the Suffrage as will give to all classes a full, lair, and free retire.
sentation, to which, according to the principles of Christianity and
the British Constitution, they are entitled." This resolution was
made known to the Christian Chartists who assented to it. This
morning, at an early hour, the doors of the Hall were besieged by
thousands ; and thousands of handbills were distributed in all direc-
tions, denouncing Peel and his plan. At a quarter to twelve
o'clock the doors of the Hall were thrown open, and in a very
few minutes thousands of persons thronged in, and every inch of
ground was occupied. The organ gallery was occupied by the re.
quisitionists and a body of Chartists. Amongst the former were the
Rev. Hugh Hutton, Alderman Hutton. Thomas Clarke, Esq.,
magistrate, J. T. Beale, Esq., Mr. Councillor Smith, Mr. Alderman
Vannart, and many others. Amongst the Chartists were Mr.
Feargus O'Connor, Mr. White, Mr. John Collins, Mr. O'Neil,
Mr. Mason, and others. It was altogether the most imposing and
anxious meeting I ever beheld. At twelve o'clock V. Beale, Esq.,
Mayor, took the chair, and opened the business by reading the re-
quisition calling the meeting.
Mr. Aldermant WESTON then came forward, and moved the
first resolution, and in doing so made a powerful speech, in which
he condetnned, in the strongest possible terms, the plan proposed
by Peel, and said, in reference to the Suffrage, that he knew of
no other means by which they could get relief than by an extension
of the Suffhge.
Mr. Alderman VANNART seconded the motion, which was put
and carried.
T. ATrwoon, Esq., then came forward, on being loudly called
for, and was received with the most tremendous cheering, which
lasted for some time, after which he said—Whether the agi-
tation of the Corn-laws would do what they anticipated or not,
it was very clear it would have the effect of uniting
the middle and lower classes, which had long been wanting. He
was glad to see the advancement of the Corn-law Association
throughout the country. and that the middle classes had unbut-
toned their vests, and allowed their feelings to come out.—(Hear.)
He felt convinced that they must alter the Corn-law. But let
them not tilk :Acme, but do it.
Mr. O'NEIL, of the Christian Chartist Church, said the condi-
tion of the millions had at last aroused a conviction that some-
thing must he done. The Suffrage was the only means
by a hich they could obtain relief, and the sooner
they went direct for it the better. It had been well.
said by Mr. Cobden that if the working classes had been lit
possession of the franchise in 1815, the Corn.laws would never
have passed the House of Commons. He would say only let the
Anti- Corn.law Association assist them and the Corn.laws would
soon be repealed.—(Cheers.)
Mr. F. O'CoNsroa next spoke in favour of a good understanding
between all classes for the Suntage. His principles were Demo-
cracy—theter—u
ter—but
he
w
Charter—theasin wholeivo.rof Charter—amid rt--raadici d
lnothingoye
otter
utthteh e
He would not
_throw any obstacle in the way of union—(Cheers.)
He hoped they would bring it about; he hailed the advance made
as a good, and would not do any thing to mar it.—The resolution
was then put and carried amidst the most deafening cheers.
W. SCIIOLEFIELD. Esq., the President of the Association, and
to whose great exertions and ability the town is indebted in a
great degree for its present imposing attitude, next spoke, and was
greatly cheered. He said he saw the necessity of an extension of the
suffrage. He had long been convinced of the necessity ot'
change. He was a decided advocate for free trade. He concluded
by proposing a petition to the Queen in opposition to the scheme of
Sir Robert Peel.
Mr. JOHN COLLINS, the Chartist, seconded the motion, which
was put and carried amidst tremendous cheering.
Mr. JOHN MAsoN rejoiced that the middle and working-classes
were now about to unite. The house of every poor man was now
the seat of misery and woe, and they were resolved to change the
scene.—(Cheers.) They were refused bread, but they would have
it, and with it, all their rights.—(Cheers.)
Mr. DOUGLAS moved that the petition be signed by the Chair-
man, and committed to his care, and that of the Borough Mem.
bens, to be presented at such time and manner as they wished.
Mr. Alderman MUNTZ seconded the motion, which was carried.
It was the most imposing meeting ever held in the Hall. Every.
thing passed off wel, and the meeting broke up in good order.

THE WEATHER.—NOON, FEBRUARY 18.
ROYAL GALLERY OP SCIENCE, ADELAIDE-STREET.
Thermometer... 38 Highest 46 Lowest 30
Barometer 30.07.—Wind S.W.—Freezing Point P 2 Deg.