The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-20 00:00:00

means of equalizing them to men's wants, and saving
society from those terrible vicissitudes which it expe-
riences where trade is unknown. What is the guiding
principle of trade ? buy when and where com-
modities are cheap, and to sell When and where com-
modities are dear. It buys the corn when it
is gathered in abundance from the field, and it sells
it in winter whea the field 'is as 'barren as the stones

in the street. It buys—or would buy, but the law
will not allow man to equalise the effects of seasons
in different political communities as in the same com-

munity, and in different periods of the year—it buys
the corn which is cheap in the United States or in Rus-
sia, and sells it in England where it is dear, or wanted by
hungry men. The necessary effects of trade, there-
fore, which our Contemporaries describe as fluctuating
and as causing fluctuations in the condition of society,
is to prevent fluctuations, and to equalise the produc-
tions of fluctuating seasons to the steady and perma-
nent wants of men.

Now, the practical question which our Contempo-
raries decide off-hand against trade, and to which
these principles may serve to give a different aspect, is,
Have the fluctuations in the condition of the population
of Manchester, and other manufacturing towns, been
caused by manufacturing, by buying and selling, or
by the laws which have interfered to prevent or im-
pede, under the pretence of regulating, buying and
selling ? Without saying that no trader may have
miscalculated the wants of his customers, we have no
hestitation in asserting that the fluctuations are chiefly
the consequences of the " wisdom of Parliament." The
bulk of the manufactures of Manchester are intended
to supply almost universal wants. Fustians, calicoes.
ginghams, muslins, are every where worn ; the per-
sons who wear them, too, are almost everywhere in-
creasing. *The customers of Manchester, in England,
in the United States, in North America, in our colo-
nies, are rapidly multiplying.
In that increase of population, we see a reason
why the manufactures of Manchester should go on
steadily increasing, none why they should fluctuate.
But the law interferes, and will not allow the Alan-

chester man to supply the wants of those people.
It says to the Manchester manufacturers, " you shall
not buy corn in America and sugar in the Brazils,'
and, of course, you shall not sell—for where there is
no selling there is no buying—when you like, or as
you like, for the purpose of equalizing the produce of
different countries and seasons with the wants of man ;
but when some other purpose, which the law has in
view, is to be answered—namely, keeping land in
cultivation, as is said, in England. Here the law lays
down a rule for the conduct of a trader, and enforces
its observance, totally different from the natural rule
of buying when and where commodities are cheap,
and selling them when and where they are dear. It
introduces confusion into the whole course of trade,
and disturbs all its operations. It is plainly at va-
riance with the natural principle of trade, and is, we
believe, the sole cause of those fluctuations which our
Contemporaries believe to be inherent in trade itself.
It may be supposed that when the law has substi-
stituted this artificial rule for the natural rule of
trade, that men adapt themselves to it. So they
do, to a considerable extent, and the sagacity of
individuals prevents much of the mischief which en-
forcing this false rule is calculated to cause. But the
law may, and is changed. Then men must learn

new rules. And not only the law immediately affect-
ing corn and sugar, but affecting other things may be
changed ; as, for example, reduction or increase of
taxation, which alters the relative value of foreign
and home-grown corn, or of foreign and colonial
sugar; and, again, the law compels the trader to change
his conduct. Moreover, the trader hopes, or supposes,
the law may be altered ; many manufacturers, for
example, may have hoped for the abolition of the
Corn-law, and have guided their conduct by their
hopes, instead of the facts. That is consistent with
human nature. It is the uncertainty introduced into
trade by the law, substituting the caprice of the self.
interested law-maker: for the natural rule of buying
when and where commodities are cheap, and selling
them when and where they are dear, which is the
cause of most of the miscalculations of the manufac-
turers and the traders, and of fluctuations in trade.
We hope that our Contemporaries will take these
matters into consideration before they again dogmatize
about fluctuations in trade.

We publish in another part of The Sun the letter
n which the Messrs. BAYLEY, of Staley-bridge ex-
plain their share in causing the present outbreak,
They are completely exonerated of having contri-
buted to it in any manner whatever, except by pro-
posing to reduce the wages paid by them to the level
of the wages paid by other manufacturers. Our
readers may not know, and, therefore, we must inform
them, that on the conduct, as it now appears falsely,
ascribed to those gentlemen, and on the supposition
that they are members of the Anti-Corn-law League,
the monopolist journals have raised a huge super-
structure of false charges against the League. They
all amount to this, that the League caused and en-
couraged the outbreak. We admit that the League
predicted mischief, as Mr. COBDEN said ; that it
warned the Ministers and politiCians of all parties
against such consequences, as likely to arise from
the continuance of the Corn and Provision-laws, and
like other prophets, it has been accused of causing
the mischief which it had the sagacity to predict: Its
fate is a great reproach to those who, from distorted
and selfish views, have made its high merit a subject
of blame.
Another foundation for the censure of the League
was some expressions supposed to have been used by
Mr. FINCH, of Liverpool, of which that gentleman
has given this exp!anation
:
In the report of the proceedings of the Anti-Corn-law
Conference of the 29th of July, appears a letter which I
read to the Conference : it is thus reported :
" Mr. Finch, of Liverpool, communicated the follow.
ing letter from a party engaged in the iron trade of
Liverpool :
" Mr. Bills, of Darlaston, called upon me this morning
(25th July), and says that an attempt is making to re-
duce the thick coal-getters from 4s. to 3s. Gd. per day
and it is expected that the consequence will be a general
turn-out of all the colliers. A very erroneous impression
of the wages of colliers was given by Sir Robert Peel in
the House of Commons last week, when he stated that
the dispute was befween 4s. and 3s. 6d. per day. It is
true that is the universal wages given for the thick coal-
getters, but the thin coal-getters and the ironstone-
getters are reduced to 2s. 9d. per day ; and none of the
colliers scarcely are doing more than two or three days'
Work per Week. • -
" The League and Anti-Monopoly Associations, with
the assistance of the colliers, have the power of com-
pelling the aristocracy, in less than one month, to abo-
lish the Corn-laws altogether, and compel them also to
grant the People's Charter. Let the colliers in all parts
of the, kingdom cease working for one month, and the
thing is done ; they have only to insist on these mea-
sures before they go to work again. This is the most
simple and efficient measure that could be adopted to get
all we want, without spilling a, drop of blood, or causing
any commotion of any kind. The city of London would
be without fuel, and all other concerns must come to a
stand till it was settled "
The Chairman said this would not be understood as a
recommendation of the Conference, but it was a proof of
the great feeling that was abroad against these laws.
On that occasion I stated that I introduced it for the
purpose of correcting a misapprehension as to the wages
of colliers in the Staffordshire district, and to show the
strong feeling that existed against the present Corn-
laws' and without identifying myself with the opinions
of the writer as to the mode of effecting their repeal.
The Morning Herald and some of the Conservative
provincial papers, I observe, have remarked on the latter
part of this letter with great severity as being expressive
of my own opinions, and sanctioned by the approval of
the League. Attempts are thus made, by quotations
and garbled extracts, to connect the Anti-Corn-law
League with the present disturbances.

That dissipates another basis for the lying super-
structure of the monopolist journals. We happen to
know also that it was impossible for any set of men
to take more pains than did the members of the
League to convince the Members of the Legislature
that their refusal to do justice to the people would
lead to serious consequences. For weeks and months
they dwelt with no simulated alarm on the probability
tat some outbreak would place all their, property at
the mercy of a mob. We know, from no second-hand
authority, from no hearsay or doubtful evidence, but
positively and certainly, that the members of the
League, particularly Mr. HAMER STANSFELD of
Leeds, Mr. BRIGHT of Rochdale, and Mr. li..s.wsoN,
went, as it were, from door to door of Members of
both Houses and of all parties, begging and imploring
them, on account of apprehended danger, to repeal
the Corn-laws and to enable the manufacturer to give

more employment and higher wages to the worlcmen.
They expressly appealed to those Members
of the louse who assume to be more godly
than their compeers, and almost besieged Sir

ROBERT INGLIS, Mr. MACKINNON, Sir THOMAS
AcLANn, Lord ASHLEY, and men of t?rnt stamp,

urging on all those to wbo►m they obtaixied access,