The Sun.
London, England, 1827-03-08 00:00:00

TO THE 'EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR—Not having the honour at present of a seat in either
Horse of Parliament, I claim, through the medium of your widely
circulating Journal, an opportunity to express my sentiments on
the 'momentous question of.the Corn Laws, and hope they will be
received with the attention to which they are entitled. You, Sir,
have expressed your approbation of the plan brought forward by
Mr. Canning, and, I regret to say, such is the prevalence of
error, that a great majority of the public, and amongst them very
many of the Agriculturists, entertain similar opinions ; but
when you have read this letter, which will put the matter in its
true light, I have no doubt you will be convinced of the fallacy of
the measures proposed, and, with your usual candour, acknow-
ledge it.
I intend to argue the question on such true logical principles,
that no one shall be able to refute what I advance.
_ .

Land, Sir, is, and ought to be, considered as every thing, and
before any thing; do we not live on it and the produce of
it? Neat, drink, lodging, clothing, all emanate from the land,
though they undergo some change in the hands of the manufac-
turer and artisan ; in short, we have nothing but what proceeds
from the land, unless, indeed, it be a little fish, from the hollow•
indented on its surface as receptacles for salt water. There is a
wise maxim in law-
- Cujus est solurn, ejus est usque ad ecelum,
which means that even the birds of the air that fly over the land
belong 'to the landed interest, and I hope to live and see the day
when not only rooks and pigeons, but robins and tom-tits, shall
receive due protection from the Game Laws. As every thing
proceeds from the land, ergo, the Landed Interest is and must he
everything. The Landed Interest are, in fact " the Nation,"
and to make a homely simile, the Landed Interest form, as it were,
the sound part ..f a goodly cheese, the rest of society being m..-ely
the mites or the rind. _ _

Much nonsense has been talked about free trade, importation,
protecting duties, food for the poor, the manufacturing interest,
circulating medium, high and low prices, fluctuations from 38s.
to 1125., and a ♦ast number of topics equally senseless ; the whole
of which might be received and got rid of by a very simple enact-
ment, which I shall presently propose, and which I hope will be
attended to with the deference it ought.
I lay it down, Sir, as an indisputable axiom, that Britons ought
to eat none but corn of British growth—no foreigner ought terbe
allowed to introduce a single grain into the British Market, which
the landed interest have a natural and prescriptive right to enjoy
wholly and exclusively to themselves—it were better to submit to
any privation, even starvation itself, than admit a single quarter
of foreign growth ; this, Sir, would at once get rid of all the idle
extrinsic questions of free trade importation, protecting duties,
&c. I now come to high prices, which are synonymous with
prosperity,—the landed interest then get high rents, are enabled
to live and spend like gentlemen, and thereby find employment
and food for the underling classes of society. Turn to the season
of low prices, and what a sad reverse presents itself-
- look on this picture—

Now look on that
A quarters loaf for &shilling is an enormous evil, bet if a period
should ever arrive when it may be bought for sixpence, the landed
interest, that is the Nation, must be for ever undone.
As it is evident the persons who write and talk on the circu-
lating medium, do not very dearly understand themselves, it can-
not be matter of surprise, if they are not understood by one of
the landed interest—in the hope of rendering the subject some-
what intelligible, I will simply enquire, whether a shilling—a
visible and tangible shilling, is not always a shilling ; let the
circulating medium gentry answer me that, and then—
Now, Sir, with respect to the fluctuation of prices, that may
he got rid of, with indeed all other difficulties, by one simple en-
actment. Let it be enacted that Wheat shall never be sold under
112 s. per quarter (120 s. would be better), then we get rid of
the evil of fluctuation ; the landed interest (who, I have before
shown, are the nation) will be protected, if not to the extent to
which they are entitled to protection, at least to such a moderate
degree, as will enable them to live as the lords of the soil ought to
live, and thereby regenerate the prosperity which existed when
corn was at that price, and which will unquestionably return
when it again rises to that leeel, but never till then. If the poor
cannot live they must receive relief from the poor-rates ; no part
of this burthen, however, ought to be borne by the landed inte-
r eat. If the poor-rates should prove too burthensome or deficient,
em,gration may be resorted to—an expensive resource, lam wil-
ling to allow, but that is no matter, provided one thing be attended
to, namely, that no part of the expense be borne by the landed
interest.
Let the landed interest rouse and bestir themselves for the
good of the nation (that is, themselves), let every one who has
privilege of speech in Parliament, and hie lungs well inflated,
make himself heard ; and, if any descendant of old Stentor should
be among them, let him stand forward as their leader ; the im-
pending evils may then be averted, and the treason that has stalked
forth against 'the majesty of the landed interest be put down. If.
I were at present in Parliament I would make a speech that
should be heard from St. Stephen's to Holyrood and the Lizard,
and settle the matter at once. This letter, however, I have little
doubt, will answer the same purpose ; in which ease le bon temps
reriendra.

I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
AGRARIUS.

CHARACTER AND MANNERS OF THE

SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS.

The Rev. Mr. Knott, who has been for upwards of SO years a i
Missionary in the South Sea Islands, last week, at one of the
Anniversary Missionary Meetings, gave an interesting description
of the manners and habits of the nativea of those islands. The
following are some of the particulars as related by him :
Until within the last few years the character and manners of
these people were barbarous in the extreme. Wars were very
prevalent amongst them, and the custom of human sacrifices pre-
vailed to a great extent, two-thirds of the population being annu-
ally destroyed in infancy fur offerings to their idol Deities. In
describing the manner in which Christianity bad been established
in the islands, Mr. Knott related the following particulars :
After the Missionaries had been settled in the islands several years,
and made every effort with a view to Christianize the natives, the
King at length determined to ascertain whether the religion which
he and his people had so long believed in was true or false, This
be (lid by endeavouring to call forth the power of their idol Deity in
the following manner :—He ordered a fish, called the turtle (which
ha those parts was considered to be a sacred fish, and was offered
to the Deities in their idol temples), to be brought to bins, and
gave orders that it should be dressed near his dwelling, and distri-
buted to the people in order to see whether by applying it to a
purpose diffe• nit from the supposed sacred one to which it had
been usually dedicated, the wrath of the Deity would not be dis-
played in the bad effects which would result to the persons par-
taking of the fish. The turtle was accordingly dressed and eaten
by the people, but no bad effects had followed. Similar experi-
ments were -subsequently made and with similar results, and the
King being then satisfied that the god whom he and his people
had worshipped was possessed of no power, at length ordered that
idol worship should be abolished ; and the people from that time
had embraced Christianity as taught by the Missionaries in the
Islands ; and the whole of the idol images were subsequently de-
stroyed. The Rev. Gentleman said he should have brought one
of the images with him to Englanfl, but that there was not now a
single one to he found. Mr. Knott is about to return to the
South sea Islands to resume his Missionary labours, and to pass
the remainder of his days there.

ROBBERY AT STEVENAGE, HERTS.—The fol-
lowing particulars of a daring robbery at Stevenage have been
communicated to us on the best authority :—Mrs. Titmuss, an
old lady eighty years of age, and her daughter, Mrs. Read, living
in a house by themselves, were alarmed on Tuesday morning at
one o'clock, by two men entering the room, disguised in smock
frocks, their faces either blackened or masked, but which, in their
fright, they could not distinguish. The; entered the house by
making an aperture in the wall under the kitchen window, which
is at the back part of the premises, in a farm-yard. They broke
open a bureau in the kitchen, from which they took a 51. note,
five sovereigns, some silver, and five shillings in halfpence. They,
then forced the stair-foot door, which noise awoke Mrs. Titmuss
and her daughter, and, before they could leave the bed, burst open
the room-door, desired them to be silent, that they were neigh-
bours' children, and did not wish to harm them ! it was money they
wanted. One of the men then drew the curtain (as the bed was op-
posite the drawers) broke open the top drawer, and took from it
thirty sovereigns, six ten-pound notes, three sovereigns and a half
in a green purse, and a pocket-book containing various papers,
whispered to each other they had sufficient booty, and made a
hasty retreat, going through the wall the way they had effected
their entrance. Mrs. Read alarmed the neighbours as soon as
possible; and though every search was immediately made, the
;vbbers eiheied their itecape....,Ersex avoid.