The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-24 00:00:00

• J ~ ~ ~We
'v-

therefore, to give up a portion of that duty for
the sake of a trade with the Brazils, will be, on I
its own principles, sacrificing the West Indians
to the woollen manufacturers. We cannot advo-
cate such a crooked course of conduct ; and a
reduction of the discriminating duty on that
ground would brand the Government with addi-
tional injustice, while it would leave the injustice
now perpetrated on the consumers of sugar
wholly unredressed.
There is another point of view at which we
may look at this question. Mr. CANNING, in
his letter to the Prussian Minister, distinctly re-
pudiated the demands of that gentleman for a
reduction of duties on corn, because that and
every similar species of impost was a pure muni-
cipal regulation, with which foreign nations had
nothing whatever to do, and with which he would
not suffer them to interfere. He would not look
at the question at the foreigner's request. That
was just and proper, and the Parliament of Eng-
land ought to set its face against allowing any
foreign Government whatever to influence in any
degree, however small, the amount and form of
taxes or duties to be levied in this country. But
if we ought not to allow such an interference,
why should we seek to interfere with other na-
tions? Why should our Government, at the in-
stigation of the woollen manufacturers, or the
linen yarn spinners, ask the American or the
French Government to alter its municipal regu-
lations ? If such a system be begun, we see no
end to it, and the taxes of every county—of this
land of freedom, for example, may come to be
regulated by the wishes and interests of Russia.
Commerce must win its own way. It is like
rain and wind, essential to the prosperity of the
human race, and it needs not the hot-house forc-
ing of the politician. Its soul is freedom. To ask
Government for help is to place it in bondage.
The duties of Government in regard to it are
very limited, and are comprised in the phrase,
let it alone. Commerce obviously depends on
the progress of nations. Our own exports of ma-
nuthctures isalrnost the consequence of the steam-
engine. It hasnot yet existed to any extent for half
a century. How can politicians tell what new steam
or other engines may be invented to give com-
merce a totally different form and character?
They must henceforward be as ignorantof what
is to come as they were in past times, and to ask
them to negotiate commercial treaties, or make
commercial regulations, is to forget the enor-
mous errors they have committed, and the mis-
chief they have done. They must set trade free,
and every step which is not an approximation to
freedom ought to be opposed. They must leave
the manufacturer and the merchant to his own
energies, as they leave the smith and the tailor.
Let them do justice to their own people, and they
may rely on commerce overturning every po..
litical system which is put up in opposition to it.

It was stated in the Times on Saturday, on the
authority of statistical tables recently published,
that the average price of labour in France is If.
90e., or 19dJper day. In the department of the
Rhine it is lf. 40c., or 14d. In the Seine Infe-
rieure it is 2f. In the department of the Seine,
which includes Paris, the price is higher but
this is a solitary case as regards the general rate.
Assuming these facts to be correct, they are in-
structive.

In the Times of Friday it was stated that the
price of the best bread was 39i higher in Lon-
don than in Paris. As wages are principally laid
out for bread, as the price of bread has a great
influence over the price of all other things, we
must conclude that wages in France are 39i per
cent. more valuable in relation to bread, and nearly
all other things, Urania England. Consequently,
wages in France should be raised 39i per cent.,
in order to constitute a fair comparison between
the value of wages, or what they will buy in
France and England. On the principle, and taking
40 per cent. as a round number, the average wages
of France is very nearly 27d. per day ; the lowest
rate mentioned is 101 d., and the highest 28d.
The average wages of the agricultural districts in
England is not above 15d. In many parts of
Somerset and Wiltshire we have much testimony,
including that of Mr. B. ESCOTT, M.P., to prove
that the wages of agricultural labourers du not
exceed 6s. per week, or 12d. per day. On this
comparison, it follows that the average wages
of agricultural labourers in England are
25 per cent. lower than the lowest wages
in France ; and the lowest wages of agri-
cultural labourers in England are 63 per
cent. lower than the lowest wages of labour in
France. That is the result of our Corn-laws.
Here is JOHN BULL reduced by his paternal
Legislature to a worse condition than his old
wooden-shoe and derided frog-eating opponent.
We are pretty sure, too, that JOHN BULL is at
present in a far worse condition than Herr
Sauerkraut, or than any other labourer in
Europe; and to that he has been reduced be-
cause the landlords would not allow the in-
habitants of towns freely to prosecute their in-
dustry, and buy and sell freely with other nations.
The same paragraph tells us that wages are
higher in Paris than elsewhere. The same fact
is true of London. Wages are higher here than
in most parts of the country. Wages are, as
the rule, always higher in towns than in
the country. As the rule, the labour carried
on in towns is more skilled labour than
the labour of the country, and therefore it
is better paid. England having a much larger
town population than France, the average wages
of the whole community are, no doubt, consider-
ably higher in England than in France, while the
wages of agricultural labourers is lower. That
sets in a clear light the immense injury which
the law does to the working classes, by prevent-
ing the growth of towns, and by encouraging
agriculture in preference to commerce and ma-
nufactures. It dooms them to starve on 6s. a
week when they might get 125., 18s., or 245., and
live well on their wages. The law encourages
agriculture, and discourages manufactures, and
the law, therefore, compels the people to put up
with the wages of unskilled, instead of obtaining
the wages of skilled labour. It degrades them,
as we have proved, 25 per cent. lower than the
lowest class of frog-eating, wooden-shoed labour-
ers of France. What a benevolent law ! How
worthy of the respect, obedience, and reverence
of Mr. JOHN BULL!

LONDON
MONDAY MORNING. OCTOJER 24, 1842.

some of the journals in the manufacturing dis-
tricts, from their anxiety to obtain commercial
treaties, sketch the principles and details on
which they would have them concluded. We
should feel astonishment at being told by them that
the friends of free trade amongst the manufac-
turers are favourable to these treaties, were we
not afraid that in general those gentlemen have
no other conception of free trade than that it is
to be free for them, but not for others. They
wish to sell, but they are not desirous of having
competitors. We can comprehend their desire
for commercial treaties, without assenting to its

justice.
The genuine free traders are aware that com-
merce depends on principles which are entirely
distinct from political regulations, and that
statesmen cannot meddle with trade, either to
repress or encourage it, without doing mischief.
The distinction between them is broad and pal-
pable. Ali political systems are human contri-
vances framed for the protection of the persons
and property of those who live under them ; all
commerce springs from natural diversities of soil,
climate, and capabilities of production ; it is a
part of the order of nature, and political systems
only come into operation after commerce has
done its work to protect the property and the
rights to which it gives birth. A commercial
man, therefore, or a manufacturer, should repel
as fiercely any interference of the politician with
trade, as the farmer repels his interference with
the management of his farm, or the manufacturer
repels it when he attempts to dictate how cloth
is to be made.
But manufacturers and traders possess the
selfishness of our common nature, and they think,
like the landlords, that by bringing the action
of the Government to bear on a particular
point, say, in negotiating a treaty with the Brazils
or the United States, they may be enabled to
sell a little more cloth or hardware. We have
no doubt they are mistaken, but admitting they
are correct, why should the political power and
influence of the whole community be put forth
to promote the sale of a few bales of woollens?
We are as warm and as determined friends to
trade as breathe, but that is carrying political
power out of its limits. It is bound to protect
the property of ail its subjects, and it cannot act
in that particular manner to secure an advantage
to a few without considerable expense, which
falls on the whole community. Other men are
taxed, therefore, from the supposition of the
woollen manufacturers, that this general action
of the community promotes their interest. If
the community may be called on to increase the
wealth of the woollen manufacturers, why not to
increase the wealth of the landlords The prin-
ciples which justify a commercial treaty also
j ustify a Corn-law. Let our manufacturers and
commercial men consider the Consuls and
Ambassadors that are paid, the fleets that
are maintained, the packets that are employed
for the protection and use of trade, putting
the community to vast expense for their sole
and especial benefit, and they will perhaps con-
clude—if they only were concerned—that the
landlords are not so far wrong in preserving a
Cora-law: and may then possibly find out that it
will be better to be without commercial treaties
than justify the interference of the ignorant
statesman with every branch of human en-
terprise.
In the case of the Brazils, it is supposed that
the negotiation will turn on
admitting Brazilian
sugar into our markets at a lower rate of duty.
But our Government contends that the present
discriminating duty is an act of justice to the
West Indians; and will that Government admit
Brazilian sugar at a lower duty in order to promote
the sale of woollens, when it has stubbornly re-
fused it, because the reduction was unjust, to the
prayers of the suffering people? Either that di-
criminating duty is just or it is not. We contend
that it is flagrant injustice—the Government
contends that it is just. For the Government, I

The great agricultural wit, the TIERNEY, SHE-
RIDAN, and BURKE, combined in one of the
county gentlemen and farmers, Sir JOHN TYRREL,
has been amusing his friends at Saffron Walden
as much as he amused them at Hinckford. He
found out, at a meeting held there on Wednes-
day, the most charming reasons why he and they
should not be afraid of American pigs, and why
the poor should be put on their guard against
eating the carnivorous pork which comes from
America.

Let us at once -put our readers in possession of
this gem of wit and wisdom. Sir JOHN said—
He had all along felt the competition we should be
exposed to in pork and salt beef ; but with respect to
the imported pork it was a matter of notoriety that it
wasted very materially in boiling, even to the extent
of one-half.—(Hear, hear.) The reason of this great
waste had also been intimated to him by those who
had lately been in America, and he would state
it as a fact, because in distress it was always
agreeable to listen to alleviating circumstances. In
America the sheep were so worthless that, except
in a few instances, the skin only was used,.
whilst the carcase was thrown away. The rea-
son of this was, as had been stated by the American
Minister, whose ability and knowledge as an agricul-
turist he need not dilate upon, that they could not
grow turnips or mangel-wurzel on account of the heat
in summer and the cold in winter. The way, then,
in which the pork was fatted was this—the pigs eat
the sheep.—(Loud laughter.) He did not state this
on light authority ; in point of fact the pigs in Ame-
rica eat the sLeep.—
(Continued laughter.) If this
were the case the poor man who bought American
pork need not at all wonder at its great waste in boil-
ing. Persons had been accused of giving offal to pigs
in this country, and the Americans were only carrying
out the same principle. Mr. Jonas Webb would no
doubt be astonished to find his farm-yard assaulted
some pigs : they would like his
excellent lleday by an army of
ntmuttoa no doubt, but it would be a marvel-
lous sight nevertheless.—(Laughter.)
When boxers are in training they eat mutton
chops, and we do not see the connection, there-
and pork
fore, between feeding on raw mutton

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 2-1, 1542.

confession of her faults. Repentance supposes expia-
tion. In politics, as in morality, no one is freed from
the obligation of repairing a wrong which they have
admitted. The dignity of Great Britain appears to
us interested that her Government should efface, with-
out delay, the trace of the violence committed upon
the coast of Africa by her cruisers, without which
the nation which boasts of having conquered the do-
main of the ocean may well be placed upon a line
with the miserable pirates who made a trade of skim -
ming the seas."
The opinion of the Constitutionnel is thus. ex-
pressed :
" The Minister of Foreign Affairs, into -whose
hands fall the energetic remonstrances of the Govern-
ments whose rights the English navy so grossly
violate, does not hesitate to condemn certain acts of
the cruisers, and has called upon the Lords of the Ad-
miralty to take measures for preventing a repetition of
them. This is the first step in the path of candour
and good faith, and we cannot too strongly encourage
the British Ministry to persevere in pursuing it."
The Quotidienne says—
"We highly approve of this letter, and the spirit
by which it was dictate,i; and if it be true that the
French journals have had anything to do in producing
it, we congratulate them en their success ; but this
return of England to a more just and honourable con-
duct will not change the terms of the question so far
as it regards France. The right of search is con-
demned, justly condemned, by the unanimous opinion
of all parties. It is now no longer a question between
France and England, but between the people and the.
Government."

The National, of course, exults in the publi-
cation of the document, and seizes the opportu-
nity for making the most violent attacks on M.
Guizo'r and the English nation.
The ordonnance opening a supplementary
credit of 300,000 f. to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs for extraordinary Emissions, is objected to
by the Opposition journals on the ground that
the sum already voted by the Chambers was
sufficiently large, and also because they charged
M. GUIZOT with inventing missions to reward
his immediate partisans and disarm his political
opponents.

M. DE RIBEAUPIERRE, one of the most dis-
tinguished Russian diplomatists, and former
Ambassador in Berlin, had arrived at Paris. M.
JUBELIN, who has been successively Governor of
Senegal, Cayenne, and Guadaloupe, had been
appointed member of the Board of Admiralty.
According to the Commerce, SIMON DEUTZ,
who betrayed the Duchess of BERRY into the
hands of the police, is to be conveyed to Aus-
tralia, where the French Government will pro-
vide him with means of existence.
BOURSE—PARIS, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20.

First Highest Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents. 118 90... 118 99... 118 99... 118 90
4% per Cents 106 60... 106 60... 106 60... 106 60
Four per Cents 102 ... 102 .. 109 ... 102
3 per Cents. 80 ... 80 15... 80 ... 80 15
Bank of France 3270 ...3275 ...3270 .. 3275
Laffitto Bank 5,000 f 5072 50 ...5072 50...5072 50...5072 50
I,ooof 1045 ..1035 ...1045 —.1045
Belgian Bank BO5 ... 805 „. 805 805
Belgian Fives... ..... 103 ... 103 ... 103 ... 103
1840 1043 ... 104 ... 1043. ... 104
Spanish Active 226 ... 22i ... 22 ... 22
Portuguese Fives 32 ... 32 32 32i
Neapolitan
Roman
RAILWAY SHARES
St. Germain 847 50... 847 50... 845 845
Versailles, LB lOO ... 100 ... 100 ... 100
Rouen
Orleans.
Strasburg to Bale 2OB 75... 208 75... 207 50... 207 50

A strange story has reached us, of so painful and
delicate a nature, that itis with extreme reluctance
that we allude to it at all ; but as the matter in-
volves royal and public, a 3 well as private
considerations, we should consider that we had failed
in our duty to the public were we to preserve
total silence on the subject. The " mishap," we are
informed, relates to one of the most noble families
in England, and the other party involved is of a still
higher rank. The Queen, we understand, has been
appealed to, as the circumstances of the case impera-
tively demand that the injuryr should be atoned for
by a speedy marriage. pie father of the " irre-
INsi.setimblues"t
riesfsraaiidn, in the present stage of the proceed-
to be on this point inexorable. But
ings, from saying more on so delicate a subject, in-
MW'
volving, as it does, consequences
Queen of Saturday,
important, social
political, and royal.—The B

AMERICAN NEWS.

LIVERPOOL SATURDAY MORNING,
THREE O'CLOCK.

We have received New York Papers of the
the packet ship South Atnerica,
lst .
Captaininst., by
Bailey, after a very rapid pas-
sage of twenty days. The :news is one
day later than that received by the Acadia,
and possesses no feature of any interest to the
English reader. The following report of the
Money Market we copy from the New York
Herald:— _

3r
The Stock Market offers no new features.
Sales are very small, and prices generally worse.
State 6's rose
Therentek
bus
Mohawk fell 1 per cent., Stonington Harlem I,
K e
been a pod business doing for the
and rates are fair at 8 to
per packetn in sterling
The general features of the Money Market re-
main nearly the same.
The banks of Virginia have returned to specie
payments now some two weeks since, the 'nes
rule as low as is healthy. On the sea board and
gulf, Alabama is now the only point of sus-
pension, and there it is a matter much more dif-
ficult to deal with than at any other point.

CORN Tn,tDE.—The market is very quiet—
never more so. Flour falls a little every week,
and grain thllows suit, although not quite so
rapidly. The very best brands of Canal can now
be purchased at 4,50 dols. a barrel, and other
kinds in proportion. It is now ascertained that
the average price throughout the Union is a
little below 4,00 dole. a barrel.
LATER FROM CANADA. . .

The British Government has refused its consent to
change the legislative capital of Canada from King-
ston to Toronto and Quebec, four years alternately,
as had been requested. The great expenses caused
this refusal. A dispatch to this effect from Lord
Stanley, of 18th Nov., 1841, was laid before the Pro-•
vincial Parliament on the 26th imt.
It is generally supposed that a general amnesty
will be authorised by the Canadian Government to-
wards all those who were banished during the rebel-
lion, with the exception of old Papineau,

It having been officially announced by Government
to the Board of Customs that a Special Commission
will immediately be formed with the view to the full
investigation of the "Frauds upon the Revenue," the
mode in which the functions of the Board and other
matters of public importance have been exercised, the
inquiry that has recently occupied so much interest
in mercantile and trading circles, has been terminated.
There is a general wish expressed in the City that
this special investigation, about to be commenced by
order of her Majesty's Government, should be in open
court, thus giving the public press, without having
the fear of . the law of libel before them, the
opportunity of stating the commercial houses who have
participated with certain employees of the Customs in
defrauding the revenue. The principle of secret
compromises by firms discovered to have been in the
possession ofsmuggled goods, ought not, it is asserted,
to he tolerated any longer. The welfare of the honest
trader, as well as the revenue, demand that the names
of all—and there are not far short of a dozen wholesale
houses spoken of privately as being mixed up with
these frauds—should be publicly given, and the most
ready mode of effecting
this object, without waiting
for the presentation of the Special Commissioners'
Report to Parliament,
will be by the investigation
being made openly, and not in camera. The mercan-
tile and trading classes, not only of the metropolis,
but of the country generally, are looking with the
greatest interest for a full exposure of the frauds that
have been for so long
a period committed upon the
public revenue. In almost every circle this is a sub-
ject of conversation.— Observer.
COVENT-GARDEN.--The next operatic novelty will
be Cimarosa's Ii Matrimonio Segreto, which, accord
ing to present arrangements, will b 2 produced on the
Ist of November, with the following strong cast;
Carolina, Miss Kemble ; Lisetta, Miss Rainforth ;
Fidalma, Mrs. Shaw ; the Count, Mr. Leffler ; Gero-
nimo, Mr. Giubilei ; and I'aolino, Mr. Harrison
This novelty, it is understood, will be succeeded
by a new opera by Mr. Benedict, and Mr.
Rooke's opera, which was accepted last season,
and in which the character intended for Madame
Vestris will be entrusted to Mrs. Shaw, will speedily
follow. We sincerely trust that these promising
arrangements will not be frustrated by the ru-
moured closing in February to make way for a
German co Dramatic arid Musical Review.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTlL—Win.Wordsworth, Esq.,
passed through Kendal on Thursday morning last on
his way home, from a visit with the' Howard family
at Levens Hall. The last three years have made lit-
tle change in the great poet's appearance. Though
pale, he still walks with his accustomed energy and
briskness.—Kendal Mercury.

•
"n". • 4'"
or— • ,
= • •, •
-,1". • • • • -
• - ,