The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-01 00:00:00

41111 e,
1J it. Atit

TUESDAY, PEBILUARY ,1,.1842.

_We'rtfgeVityery much the termination of the
üblin e iu tiAe:;.ejection of Lord MOB'
PETH, but we do not regret that the attempt to
e)act bun was made: It was honourable alike

c 1 theti
i
,
thoef
respect of his
to the Noble Lfoerildo,wasmean,teasntdimotnoy
zens of Dublin, as a proof of their gratitude for
' eminent services. By a mild and steady perse-
i verance in political : rectitude, by governing Ire-
I land for the whole people, and not, for a party,
Lord MORPETH deserved better of his country-
men . than statesmen of much more resplendent
talents, but less honesty of purpose, and less
kindliness of heart. If it were only that he
might, by his love of peace, assauge the asperi-
ties of debate in Parliament, as he assuaged by
his bland manners the fierceness of political con-
tention in Ireland, we wish that the electors of
Dublin bad been more united in his favour, and
by electing the Noble Lord, had conferred addi-
tional honour on themselves and him.
At the same time we are more grieved than
disappointed by the result of the contest. We
Ihave for some days been aware that there was a
considerable portion of the Liberal party not
hearty in the cause. They would vote only tbr
an Irishman and a Repealer: Mr. O'CONNELL'S
hobby, we believe, has to some extent run away
with him. There are, we are told, numerous
1 Repealers in Dublin and other parts of Ireland
who, like the Chartists of England, vill not hear
of compromise, and will support no views but their
own. The feelings of nationality will not be curbed
by him who has roused them. When we adl
the unscrupulousness ivith which the power of
the Governinent, which is very considerable, has
been used, to the division amongst our friends,
we see sufficient to account for Lord MoapEnt's
defeat, without laying much stress on partiality in
assessors, and unjust distribution of the means of
voting. We have said little about Earl DE
CinEy's conduct, because nearly all men in office
do the same, and his use of political power to
deprive the electors of their independence is
much more a vice of the system than a pecu-
liarity of the Tories. The remedy for it must be
discovered and applied by the people. States-
men can no more be expected to upset the basis
of their power than a whole people be expected
to commit suicide.

Upwards of sixty cotton manufacturers of
Manchester have addressed a Circular to the
wholesale houses in London, interested in the
manufacture, on its present condition. Their
main object is to direct attention to the fact,
that the present depression of the trade arises,
in a great measure, from a diminution of the
home consumption.
It appears, they say, that 1,274,729 bales of
cotton were entered for home consumption in
1840, and only 1,118,717 bales in 1841, showing
a decrease, in the last year, of 156,012 bales.
Notwithstanding the decrease in the consump-
tion of raw cotton, amounting to 3,000 bales
per week, the quantity of manufactured cottons
exported in 1841 exceeded those of 1840, by
yarns, 8,208,908 lbs.; thread, 2,038,400 lbs.;
printed calico, 25,077,132 yards; plain calico,
65,106,416 yards ;,—thus demonstrating that the
whole of the enormous decrease in the quantity
of cotton tmanufactured in 1841—and a quantity
more than that equal to the excess of the ex-
portation—has been caused by the diminished
consumption at home. Such a fact is well calcu-
lated to open the eyes of those who maintain that
the Corn-laws increase the home market of the
manufacturer.
The Circular ascribes this diminished con-
sumption to dip high price of corn during the last
few years.

" Experience," it says, "has shown us that when pro-
visions are cheap the home trade in manufactures is pros-
perous, and vice versa. By applying the test of this
principle to the last three years, it appears to us that
the high price of subsistence accounts for the great
diminution in the.cotton trade ; and that if we go back
to 1834-5-6, the prosperity of those years is attributable
to the cheapness of the first necessaries of life.
• " The :average price of wheat, for the three- years
1834-5-6, was. 21 4s. Bd. a quarter, and for the three
years 1839-40-41, it. was 31. Bs. a quarter, being an in-
crease of more than •50 per cent., and other provisions
were in proportion. It' we suppose that the whole' of IW -
food of the people cost in the cheaper period eighty tninibilik
sterling atyear (any other sum will serve equally ''We)li
forilluatr.ttimi), the same quantity would have cost Bfl 3 '
hundred and twenty millions per annum. during' We"
latter, period; and as the means of the eonsuiners under,'
went no increase, but were, on the contrary, dinuniiid;
owing to the consequent bad state of trade, it follOws,
that, during thelast three years, one hundred and ti-enty
millions of money less was expended in the Purchase Of
manufactures and other necessaries, which is sufficient
to account for thefalling off in the cotton trade."
Another mode of looking at the question is to
take the quantitieS of agricultural produce.
Thus, if we suppose .that the harvests of 1834,
'1835, 1836,. were plentiful, and that those of
1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, were each one-third less
than tire former 'harvests, and assuming 20
millions Of .quarters-of wheat as the annual con-
sumption of Great Britain, we shall have in the
latter years 6,600,000 quarters of wheat less than
in former years for consumption. Now,. as the
upper and middle classes would make reductions
in most other things 'before they reduce the
quantity of bread they consume, it follow's that
on the labouring classes almost exclusively must
the terrible misfortune of having so much less to
eat have fallen. If we assume that the manu-
facturers constitute one-half of the population, it
follows that they must have received in 'each of
these latter years 3,300,000 quarters less in ex-
change tin- their produce than in the years when
the harvests were abundant. Taking 60s. as the
average price of the quarter of wheat, the ma-
nufacturers must have received nearly 10,000,0001.
sterling a-year less in the sterile years in ex-
change for the goods they sold at home than in
the fertile years.
Of course the labouring classes, whether manu-
facturing-or agricultural, would make the greatest
possible sacrifices of other things to get food, and
the short supply of that, eked. out as it was by
importations from abroad by no means com-
mensurate to the deficiency, explains the pre-
sent great- sufferings of the labouring classes, and
partichlarly the sufferings of the manufacturing
labourers, seeing :that there W.IS so much less a
quantity of foodll-?. exchange for, what they pro-
duced. The less suns, too, received by the manu-
facturers also explains their distress, their dimi-
nished profit, and their shutting up their mills.
It may perhaps be asserted that this diminished
•quantity of food, -the .result of the seasons, is a
natural calamity 'to which our population must
submit with patience. Those who make the as-
sertion should, remember, that though our
country is densely peopled, there are other coup •
tries where land is more abundantin proportion
to population, and that the inhabitants of those
countries could and would most gladly use their
peculiar advantages to grow food for our people;
and exchange it for those commodities we have
advantages for producing. If that were the case
our people would run much less risk of'being at'
any time deficient of food, as they could draw a
supply from othercountriesin addition to England.
Manifold sources of supply would then be Open
to them ; they would have- the 20,000,000 gra.
grown at home, and perhaps. 20;000,000 qrs.
grown abroad, to feed them, and such a terrible
diminution in the quantity of food*as they have
experienced during the last four years could not
possibly occur.

The Manchester manufacturers attribute the
unexampled depression in the home trade to the
operation of the Corn-laws, which they propose
should be repealed; and they solicit their London
friends to imitate them in petitioning the Legis-
lature for the purpose. They conclude by saying :
" We shall only add the expression of our belief, that
there is no reasonable prospect of a revival of the trade
of this country, su long as the first necessaries of life
continue at their present high price. Cheapness of food
lies at the foundation of the prosperity of the home
trade. Nor can there be, in our opinion, any security
for the capital of the wholesale trader, • whilst it is ex-
posed to those fluctuations in the value of, money, caused
by the operations of the present Corn-law upon the
currency."

We hope that self-interest, if not patriotism,
will induce the " wholesale houses in London
interested in the cotton-trade" to support their
Manchester friends, and make a combined effort
to save the cotton-trade from ruin.
According to a late number of -the Mark-lane
Express, the anticipations of the corn-dealer►
have been disappointed. That journal of the
corn-market says
" From week to week, prices have given way, not-
withstanding the well-ascertained fact that the harvest of