The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-12 00:00:00

nt .1114

LONDON :
MONDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 12, 1842.

It seems now almost universally admitted that
the present Corn-law cannot be maintained. The
Spectator on Saturday, for example, said, " Wil-
lingly or reluctantly, it begins to be generally
felt that the Corn-laws must go." "We will not
• pretend to believe that the change can take place
next session." " Agreeably to all English usage
the new Corn-law must be ' fairly tried ' first, if
only on the score of legislative decorum." This is
deliberately written in a journal which prides
itself on its careful observation, and on using the
most guarded and well-weighed expressions. The
first sentence accords so well with the tergiversa-
tions of the Times, and the lang,uage used at all
agricultural meetings, that we may safely reite-
rate it, and assert that the Corn-laws " must go."
But if the Corn-laws must go, because they
are at once unjust, and now proved to be ex-
tremely pernicious, what will the public think of
the propriety of the new law a fair trial on
the " score of legislative decorum T' What, let us
also ask, can they think of the sagacity of the
man, and what of the art he profi'sses, who tells
them that they must submit for another year, or
perhaps two, or perhaps sir, to the law which is
doomed, and must go, fo: the sake of legislative
decorum? Moralists assure us that the more
speedily a wrong is redressed, or an error atoned
for, the less is the demerit of the repentant
wrong-doer; but in politics a flagrant wrong may
be perpetrated, all men may be sensible that it is
a grievous wrong, the Legislature itself may be
convinced of it, and yet legislative decorum for-
bids the Legislature instantly to redress that
wrong. The laws of morality and ofhonour, then,
do not apply to the Legislature, and. the public
0, , 1 1 this principle, is to be sacrificed to the
"i Ews . .. . 0
.. ecortim of an abstract entity called the
- '''' .' - -r - a re. The prodigious suffering and misery
-"- —' - ' tcommunity be b- ' r
4.1. a..:-...z_.=-: j_.--2 - ' .tii* a., must borne .or an-
-4_,, '., • -i•trade must .be deranged or sus-
-1:13-•s an-
=fig . ' r,
(
Z
( •:•(7-7-';''!"-.rp A
- ' ricalture must be uncertain, no leases
0,, ,e...,
. .
141 a s

must be made, no contracts relative to land en-
tered into, and a vast number of the people
must be starved for the sake of legislative de-
corum. We quote this as a specimen of what is
frequently described to be the highest branch of
human wisdom, politics,- or statesmanship.
But now look back at the first assertion, " the
Corn-laws must go." Why ? Not because Sir
ROBERT PEEL wishes to get rid of them; not be-
cause the majority of Parliament dislike them;
not because they and be are even particularly
willing to give them up, but because the conse-
quences of those laws, now so plainly marked in
the misery of the nation, can no longer be main-
tained without leading to mischief, which even
the decorous Legislature dreads to encounter.
Those laws are a contravention of the laws of na-
ture, like building a house on a loose sand, or
placing- a half-welded axle to a locomotive engine.
They are a violation of justice, and will as surely
lead to injury, as the falling down of a house or
the snapping of the axle. If the whole commu-
nity were polled, man by man, and woman by
woman, and were to say the Corn-laws shall be
continued, their united assent would not alter
one tittle of their consequences, and would not
make them less a contravention of the laws of
nature, and less a violation of justice. The
mass of the community now see that, and
therefore the Corn-laws " must go."

The Spectator draws the conclusion as we
draw it, from observing their consequences. All
other men, even many of the landlords, draw
the same conclusion from the same premises.
When they affirm on these grounds that the
Corn-laws must go, they try to overrule the will
of the Legislature. They speak to it like a mas-
ter, and say it must do a certain thing. The
authority of the Legislature, then, is virtually set
aside in men's hearts and minds by the authority
of nature. Respect for its decision on that par-
ticular point is necessarily at an end, and is over-
ruled instead of being honoured. On that point
it is what Mr. CARLYLE calls a " poor simula-
crum"—a mere mockery. It has no faith or
power in it. According to the Spectator, how-
ever, for the decorum of this simulacrum, the
authority of which that journal, in this instance
and many others, tries to overrule and set at
nought, this great community is to be plunged
for another year into all the misery and vice-
which are. caused by Sir ROBERT PEEL'S new
modification of an old injustice. Our Contempo-
rary, like other partisans, prefers the Premier's
reputation to the national welfare, and says,
perish the people, but let legislative decorum
live for ever.

Agreeing with our Contemporary " that the
Corn-laws must go," we have to say that
it will now be the duty of the League, and
those who have contributed to bring about
that consummation, to be on their guard
against admitting modifications of the law.
The sliding scale being overthrown in the
public mind, they will now have to direct their
exertions to explain the mischief of a fixed duty,
however small. That is a nostrum which has
not been lately tried, and the whole tribe of le-
gislators, for the sake of something more than
decorum, will flee to that rather than give up all
regulations on the subject.
Whatever the omnipotent Legislature pro-
mises or designs, its humble lieges are apt, in
spite of experience, to believe is sure to be ac-
complished. Mr. GREG, in the Prize Essay we
have already quoted, very happily exposes, by
a history of the vain attempt of the Legislature
to keep up the price of corn, the folly of thiS
general belief. At the same time it cannot be
speedily eradicated, and as a tax on corn, for
the sake of revenue, would operate in precisely
the same way as an equal tax for the sake of
protection, many persons will believe that it
will raise prices, and will try to recommend it.
Such a proposition appears in our columns to-
day, graced by no less honoured a name than
that of Earl FITZWILLIAM, and the refutation
which accompanies it is not likely to prevent a
large number of persons from adopting it. If
the opinions and views of the League be un-
altered, its lecturers, orators, and writers, must
at once vigorously grapple with this new form of
the old fallacy, and point out the evil conse-
quences, especially to farmers, of a fixed duty
to be levied for the sake of revenue. Mr. R.
GREG'S Essay contains some materials to this
end, which we shall probably use to-morrow. •

The Duke of BUCKINGHAM has at length
ventured to meet his tenantry. Yesterday his
GRACE attended the annual dinner of the Bucks
Conservative Association at. Brill, and candidly
explained his views as to the policy of Sir RO-
BERT PEEL. While all others are changing
around him, while the Duke of RICHMOND and.
Sir EDWARD KNATCIIBULL, and nearly all who
professed the same opinions regarding the Corn-
laws, are either silent or acquiescent in the new
law and the tariff, the " Farmer's Friend "
still remains inexorable, and denounces these
measures as dangerous to the country.
" Whatever changes may have overtaken
some," said he, " these changes of opinion have
not altered mine. Those opinions remain firm
and unchanged; those opinions remain un-
altered; and I look back with regret, and with
deep regret, to the passing of the new Corn Bill
and the Tariff, which I regard as hostile and
dangerous to the interests of the British farmer."
In order that there may be no mistake, be
reiterates these sentiments before the close of his
speech, and vainly imagines that if he only re-
main firm, the renegades will see the error of
their ways, and return to the right path.
He may as well expect time to stand still. The
fate of this important question is sealed. In
every town and city throughout the empire the
cry is, " Free trade, and down with monopoly !"
and neither the House of Lords, nor the Tory
House of Commons, can resist this universal opi-
nion, so distinctly pronounced by the commer-
cial and manufacturing interests. The agricultural
interest, too, is fairly on the turn; and from all
canwsealp
to haveluet thearn, question
both landlords and tenants are
anxioush shall
some' final
fore
enactmentN,er
a t whichrest.
Many are now willing to grant leases, but
the tenants refuse all but yearly engagements.
Agricultural improvement, therefore, must stand
still, or the landlords must take the land into
their own hands, generally a ruinous speculation,
till the Legislature allay all fears as to future
changes. The speech of the Duke throughout
displays great despondency; and, therefore,
augurs well for such a result. , Four cler-
gyman spoke at the meeting, and it is a re=
markable fact that neither of these gentlemen,
generally so obsequious to his Grace, nor any
other speaker, said a word against that Bill
which the Duke pronounced as " so hostile and
dangerous to the British farmer." The following
remarks made by the Rev. G. CIIETWODE is a
fair sample of the rest, and show that they are
satisfied to wait the results of the trial. "I am
sorry," said he, " that a cloud has been so long
hanging over the interests of the British farmer,
but I hope it will not be of long duration. I
hope, however, that it will soon vanish, and that
our rulers, by the results of what they have lately
done, will not find themselves mistaken."

Our attention has been directed to an appeal
case, which was heard before the Justices sitting
in Quarter Sessions, at Knutsford, Cheshire, on
the 08th ult., which deserves to be made known
to the public, as an illustration of the mode of
administering the laws out of the metropolis.
So long ago as July 6th, there was a turn-out of
silk-weavers, in Congleton, on account of the
wages p :id by Messrs. READE and Co. On that
day a crowd assembled about their mill, in order
to prevent some persons who, it was sup-
posed, were inclined to work, from pro-
ceeding to their business. One man, in
particular, of the name of BILLINGTON,
was said to have been forcibly ejected
fr►►nt his work by persons whom Mr. READE
knew, as they had formerly worked for him, and
to whom he spoke at the time. He saw tin' Mayor
the same day, and he made no charge against any
person, nor did he at any time make any charge
before time borough Magistrates. It appeared in
his evidence that he had no confidence in them,
for what reason is not stated, but we presume it
a 3 merely on account of theirpolitical opinions, ,
and having confidence in the county Magistrates

he repaired, on the 15th of September, to Sand-
bach, seven miles from Congleton, and on his 1
depositions, two county Magistrates granted
warrants against three persons, accused of hav-
ing fbrced BILLINGTON away from his work on
the 6th of July. For us that is the first curious
circumstance. Mr. READE does not take his
workmen before the Magistrates of the borough
in which they reside, and in which their charac-
ters are known, he takes them before county
Magistrates, who can know nothing of them;
and who, perhaps, are infected with that un-
happy prejudice against the manufacturing
classes, which is common to country gentle-
men. What would be thought in London if
a master-manufacturer in Spitalfields, ten weeks
after the commission of an ofOnce, chose to apply
to the Magistrates, not of Worship-street, or the
City of London, but of Epping in Essex, and
the gentlemen were to issue warrants to carry
the culpable silk-weavers before them ? We
know that such things cannot be done here, but
something similar was done at Congleton, and it
appears to us a strange inversion of the ordinary
course of the law.

Mr. READE attained his end. The Magistrates
convicted the three men named, FARRALL, MA-
HONEY, and JEPIISON, and sentenced the last to
three months' imprisonment and hard labour,
and the two first to imprisonment with hard la-
bour in the House of Correction :-.. Knutsford,
which implies, we are informed, a prohibition of
all communication with their friends outscle
the gaol. The men appealed against the sen-
tence, and the Justices in Quarter Session, under
the Chairmanship of TRAFFORD TRAFFORD,
Esq., confirmed it, and, moreover, condemned
the appellants in costs to the amount of 401. 10s.
On what evidence the original conviction was
grounded, we are not aware, but the evidence on
which it was sustained is reported at considerable
length in the IllacclesfieldChronicle, and, judging
from that, we must say that men were rarely
punished on slighter evidence of guilt. Mr.
READE proved the presence of the prisoners at
his gate, and proved that his own men stayed away
from work, but it was not proved that they
did not stay away voluntarily. The charge was
that the accused obstructed one WILLIAM BIL-
LINGTON and BILLINGTON, who was not exa-
mined on the first conviction, though present,
was examined on the appeal, and he swore posi-
tively that he had determined, on the eveningof
July 3, not to work for the Messrs. READE and
Co., that he attended a meeting of the weavers
on the morning of July 6, and did not attempt
to enter the factory on that morning to re' w
his work; cross-examination did not shake
testimony, but another person swore that Bit-
LINGTON said he had been shoved from the gate.
The men assembled, undoubtedly, in a crowd,
but we can see no evidence whatever of their
having forcibly prevented any person from pur-
suing his work, and that crowd dispersed the
instant they were required to do so by the
Mayor. The sentence seems to us as severe as
toe whole proceeding was ext-. )rdinary.
The Justices, we are bound to say, took a dif-
ferent view from ours ; the Chairman would not
hear the advocate for the respondents to an end,
and declared that, without hearing him, the
Bench had made up its mind to sustain the con-
viction. The bulk of the workmen in the coun-
try cannot possibly see such decisions in the
same light as the Magistrates, who must not
be surprised to learn, that with many
people the phrase " Justices' justice " is
a bye-word and a mock,2ry. We hold the
interference of the County Magistrates, in the
first instance, to have been unwarrantable, and
the conduct of their brethren in sustaining the
conviction to have been in conformity with the
original impropriety. Tortured as the people
are by numerous summary punishments, and by
arbitrary proceedings such as these, we wonder
more at their patience than at their discontent,
and admire submission far more than we can
ondemn disorderly conduct.

The accounts from Madrid are to the Ist inst.,
but they contain no news.

The Three per Cents. were done on the Madrid
Bourse of the Ist inst. at 22 21 15-16 at 60 days.
The Five per Cents. at 264- cash, and 261 at
60 days.

The intelligence fromßarcelona is to the 2d
inst., which will be found under that head. The
following agreeable intelligence respecting the
Formidable, has been received by the French
Government :—" The Etna on its return from
Tarragona, joined the Gassendi by the order of
Commandant GATIER, in order to assist in getting
off the English ship the Formidable. After
many hours of hard exertion she was got clear of
the coast, and was yesterday towed by our two
steamers into the roadstead of Barcelona, where
another English ship, the Rodney, had anchored
in the morning. When the Gassendi and Etna
had completed their task, the crews of the Eng-
lish ships saluted them with five hurrahs. The
French ship of the line Jemmapes, of 100 guns,
has cast anchor off Barcelona."

The following are the only articles of the
slightest interest in the Paris papers:—" Our
Cabinet," says the Commerce, " is said to have
foreseen the eventuality of direct relations of
trade with China as a consequence of the war
against that country by England, and we are
assured that Colonel DUBOIS DE JANCIGNY was
furnished with powers to become accredited by
the Chinese Government. This eventuality hav-
ing arrived, it is believed that M. DE JANCIGNY
has assumed in China an official character, as
representative of the French Government."
The Journal des Debats gives a report that the
Formidable had brought ammunition of every
kind for the army of ESPARTERO at Barcelona.
The Barcelonese," it adds, "were the more con-
vinced of that fact, as during two days many
pieces of cannon, cannon-balls, and other pro-
jectiles were conveyed from the coast to the fort;
but all those articles belonged to the armament
of the Formidable, which was necessarily
light-
ened of her immense materials of war, in order
to be extricated from the sands into which she
had sunk. , Independently of the Jemappes, we
have before Barcelona the Meleagre brig of war,
the steam frigate Gassendi, the Etna, and an-
other steamer. Our countrymen are thus sure
of an efficacious protection ; and a respectable
asylum is offered by the French vessels to
Spanish emigrants of all classes."