The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-27 00:00:00

qin :um

LONDON!
THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1842.

Reports are current that a considerable num-
ber of persons, both in Parliament and out of
Parliament, who have hitherto supported the
Whigs, are not disinclined to transfer their alle-
giance to Sir ROBERT PEEL. They see that a
Whig or Liberal Ministry is at present an im-
possibility; they arc convinced that the Govern-
ment, with all the aid they can give it, will still
have a difficult task to perform; and they think
it a duty to strengthen the Government, in who-
soevreq hands it may be placed. The law, too,
which Sir ROBERT PEEL took office to maintain,
is regarded with approbation by a considerable
number of Whigs, who are ready to sacrifice
their party to preserve the tax on the people's
bread. Hence Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Ministry is
strengthened by sinister interests from all parties.
Many men, also, are quite convinced that
something must be done, and as Sir ROBERT is
the only man who has the power to carry mea-
sures through Parliament, they rely on him to
do that something. It is felt by the timid, and
known by the intelligent, that society is not
in health and at ease, and they hope that Sir R.
PEEL will restore it. He gathers around him,
then, not only the corrupt, but also the timid
and the doubtful, from the ranks of his political
opponents, as Mr. PITT did in 1791 and 1792, and
may pdssibly have as strong a Parliamentary
majority as that. Minister had.
But between his situation and that of Mr.
PITT there are some striking differences. Mr.
PITT was the representative of the popular
hatred against France, and the popular attach-

ment to our institutions. The enterprise
he engaged in of resisting our old enemy,
and preserving our institutions, had the hearty
support of the multitude, as well as the
Parliament. There was something ennobling and
glorious in his undertaking. But Sir ROBERT
PEEL is nearly unsupported by the multitude.
Attachment to our institutions has been driven
from the minds of the lower classes by long suf-
fering. He is the representative, then, only of a
class. He takes office to preserve a system of
acknowledged wrong. He is the defender, not of
his country, but of monopoly. His undertaking
is base, and according to the testimony of ail the
Ministers, who met in conference at Manches-
er and Edinburgh, it is also iniquitous. He en-
lists against him the sympathies of the virtuous,
the independent, and upright; and however
strong he may be in Parliament, he is weak in
the country and in the unrighteousness of his
cause.

Mr. PITT, supported as he was, could not boast
of much success lie put down the antagonists
of our institutions, but the heirs of his power
were compelled-to reform the institutions them-

selves. He and his successors loaded the coun-
try with debt, which has ever since rendered the
task of governing it one of extreme difficulty.
It has become impossible, in fact, for the

try of the people to answer all the demands
made on it by the burdens he laid on us, and by
the expenses of the governing classes; and
notwithstanding the great alterations made
in the Constitution, it is almost universally
felt that still greater alterations are required.
He began the war with France, but he did not
live to see its splendid conclusion. His succes-
sors bad all the honourof that, while his policy is
charged with having half-beggared the nation,
and ruptured the attachment of the people to the
law. If such, with Mr. PITT'S great talents,
comparatively noble objects, and almost universal
support, was the result of his policy,what will be
the fate of Sir ROBERT PEEL? We cannot ex-
actly foresee, but it seems likely that he must
_ _

either give up his base and iniquitous policy be-
fore helms been nine months in office, or the

end will be infinitely disastrous. His majority
cannot repeal the laws of -nature, and make a
legislative crime productive of national benefit.

Mr. WEBB HALL, who has for many years
been one of the tbreTost champions of the
agriculturists, and whose pamphlet, pointing out
the degradation to which the present system
drags down the farmers, was, a few months back,
noticed in The Sun, has published a letter to Sir
ROBERT. PEEL, of which the following are the
principal passages:—

The present Corn-laws, Sir, since they have awoke
from a period of inoperation, during which the protected
farmers cried out loudly for relief and were heard before
a Committee of the House of Commons, I believe to have
scomiged the land with opposite evils.
I have never considered them to be founded on any
principle except that of the old man and his ass. They
have attempted to please everybody ; they have, at times,
pleased nobody ; and they have injured most grievously,
in various ways, the country into the bargain.
The alternations of this complicated evil have been so
irrelevant as to be an engine of corruption worse than ten
state lotteries such as were swept away as a national
nuisance. But this is not the whole evil. The wholesale

trade in English corn which used to exist, and which
tends so much to equalise prices, has had its very founda-
tion sapped, and has been long abandoned. Thero is
no element left for commercial judgment, and speculation
and fraud have taken its 'place.
Sir, I have placed in your hands,in a printed publi-
cation of my own, a description to prove that the cost of
growing wheat is affected by the state of dependence in
which the farmers generally are, and the excessive com-
petition amongst themselves, resulting in much ruin.
Occasional high prices foster this competition, and equally
with the commercial transactions above alluded to, tend
to substitute speculation, servitude, and fraud, for judg-
ment, independence, and skill.
Not only is this question very different from what it
was twenty years ago, but it is differing every day from
increase of the population. The cultivators of the soil
have introduced and are introducing at this time many
improvements. I am, just , returned from inspecting the
first manufactured portion for sale, of a manure that has
enabled wheat to be grown on a poor soil four successive
years on the same land and of superior qUality of grain

—the history of which I have communicated already to
the agricultural world. A steady field for their exertion,
and enough of competition from abroad to, moderate the
competition for taking estates at home, at any hazard, I
am .firmly convinced is the mode best adopted to have
our country tilled by a class of men who can think, and
act, and improve.
A large portion of the cost qf growing agricultural pro-
duce is wages. To this extent low prices of food con-
tribute to econoroy,of culture. Without the iudusry of
the country being active, the wool, butter,
.and cheese,
are also in far less request. -
What course shall the LegiAature then pursue ? I
will suggest one which shall be at least simple, com-
mercial, and unexciting. Destroy the averages entirely;
place a duty of 10s. per quarter on wheat—reduce this
1s; per quarter until it reaches ss. per quarter, and there
I e,t it rest ; and the question of the Corn-laws might be
settled for ever, with as little consideration of burden as
penny postage; and I, for one, fear not the result.

We rejoice to add Mr. WEBB HALL to
the number of practical farmers who have
entered the list against the Corn-laws. His tes-
timony confirms the opinion which we have
frequently expressed, that a great part_of the
cost of growing agricultural produce etih§lits in
wages, to which must be added the feed of work-
ing cattle, the price of seed corn, and of the
young stock which the farmer has to buy. Mr.
WEBB HALL also shows, as we have done, that
unless the manufacturing Indust. j of the country

Man

IMlll=mill

THE SUN, LONDON,f-THURSDAY, JA NI 27, 1842.

SUFai!,-.ARY OF NEWS'

AND
pubitt eptritott

" Who runs may read."

FOREIGN.
The Brussels Papers state that the interview between
the Kings of Prussia and Belgium was most affectionate.
The two Monarchs had early known and respected each
other, and met as friends long separated by the necessi-
ties of their rank. Business, however, was not forgotten.
The tariff was discussed, and the result is said to have
been very gratifying to King Leopold. As the King of
Prussia is, therefore, composed of squeezable materials,
our people ought to bring the Corn-laws under his notice.
Baron Bulow returned to Brussels on Monday—a sure
indication that the two Kings parted on the best terms al
Ostend. His Excellency left for Berlin on the follow-
ing day, in company with the Prussian Ambassador, at
the Hague.
The Hague journals announce that M. de Wigner,
Chamberlainsat Grand Duke of Saxe Wie-
nprivate audience of his e-
yaligner was commissioned to ask,
erEseenicaienhg, of. hadM.
the.
deh reigningaa M
in the name of his Sovereign, the hand of the Princess
Sophia of the-Netherlands, for Prince Charles, the heri-
ditary Grand Duke, son of the Grand Duke and of the
Grand Duchess Maria Pauloun, sister of the Queen of
the Netherlands, and of the Emperor of Russia.
PUBLIC OPINION.
The object of the principal leading article in the Herald
is to show that it is the interest of England to cultivate
as much as possible friendly relations with Germany, as
represented by Prussia. "An alliance between the two
great Catholic Powers of Europe," says the herald,
" would be dangerous in the extreme, yet the extension
of French and Austrian frontiers, at the expense of
Germany, is a tempting basis on which to exact it.
Hence the great importance to England of influence in
the Peninsula ; of her protecting Spanish and Portu-
guese independence, and of maintaining those insti-
tutions which weaken therein the power of the Pope and
the Romish clergy. Germany has an interest in British
power in the Peninsula ; she looks to it as a preventive
against an Austrian-French alliance."
The Times remarks, in reference to M. Thiers's recent
speech in the Chamber of Deputies, " he has done gooc
in attacking the bitter fallacy, which his own presump-
tion had endeavoured to propagate, that the advent of
the French armies was lopked forward to by an import-
ant party in Germany as the signal for the regeneration
of their country. The time for such foolish delusions
is fortunately past,"
The Chroni9/e is of opinion that Lord de Grey's pro-
ceedings must be made the subject of Parliamentary in-
vestigation, no Matter what may be the result of the
Dublin election; for that his Lordship has shown himself
a decided partisan—become, in fact, little better than the
Chairman of a Committee in a contested election ; while
the most glaring intimidation has been used to coerce
every elector within the circle of vice-regal influence.
The Post contradicts the report that the Queen has
intimated her wish to confer the vacant ribbon of the
Garter on Lord Melbourne ; and adds, " the very in-
dustry with which the Opposition Journals have dissemi-
nated the falsehood, it has been our duty to contradict,
shows out too plainly how prone they and the party.
Which they labour with so much zeal, and so little dis-
cretion to sdrve, would have been to misconstrue the
fact, had it accidentally been true."
The Advertiser recommend the Opposition to adopt a
decisive line of conduct on the first night of the Session;
and if the Queen's speech contains no distinct admission
of the frightful prevalence of distress in the country, to
move an amendment to the Address, and let that amend-
ment be pressed to a division. "We may be told,"
says our Contemporary, " that this is an unusual course;
we know it is ; but are not these unusual times ?"
The Worcester .Journal, speaking of the Royal Chris-
tening, says ;—" There are many associations in English
history with the name of Edward that render the name
dear to us as Britons, and which led us to hope that it
would have the precedence on the occasion which we are
now commemorating; but it has given place to Albert.
The Dublin Evening Post, in an article alluding to Sir
Robert Peel's difficulty in governing Ireland, observes
that Lords De Grey and Eliot have greatly increased
that difficulty—" by throwing themselves headlong into
the arms of the Orangemen. They were bad enough'
before, in all conscience. They scarcely ever made a
move since they came to Ireland but a wrong
one. But the present contest has tried them to the
marrow. - It was shown to them that their She-
riffs were not trustworthy—it was proved to them
that they ought to invest the person whom they had
already nominated to the office, with full authority. This
person is a Tory as well as themselves, but Sir Edward
Burrough is a GENTLEMAN. This they refused to do.
The correspondence with the Castle, arising out of this
transaction, will show how the Irish Administration
have complicated Sir Robert Peel's difficulty.' "
The Tyne Mercury says :—" Whenever a strike takes
place in a manufactory, the landlords talk about cotton
lords, and revile the manufacturer as if he were a per-
aecutor and an oppressor, at the very moment when they
are exerting themselves to obtain the removal from their
estates of immense numbers of people to distant parts
of the world, whom they are desirous of transporting
like so many felons—men who have perhaps laboured
for them and their ancestor& for-many generations—men
who have been to the land precisely what the cotton spin
eel., the weaver, or the warper, is to the manufacturer
MONEY—TRADE—COMMERCE.

To afford employment to the 4,000 or 5,000 labourers
in Paris, who are out of employ, the Champs-Elysees
are to be leirelled, the model-prison in the Rite St. An-
toine to be proceeded with, and the outer boulevards
continued.

The opening of the South-Eastern Railway as far as
Tonbridge Town is to take place in March next.

PUBLIC REJOICINGS.
The festivities at the sea-ports and dockyards on Tues-
day were as follow :—Holidays were granted to the Sap-
pers and Miners, and all the men undergoing punishment
for light offences forgiven. At Chatham, 1,000 families
were supplied with beef, bread, and porter. At Maid-
stone dinners abounded ; and at Brighton, the clock of
St. Peter's, the stoppage of which has caused such angry
feeling between the Vicar and his parishioners, was
wound up and set agoing.
111.3eCTIONEllitING.
At the close of the poll for the Walbrook Ward yes-
terday, Mr. Rowley was duly elected by a majority of six
over Mr. Colman.

The Hon. Col. Abereromby has resigned the repre•
sentation of Clackmannan and Kinross, owing to the bad
state of his health. Gen. Morison has started in the
Liberal interest, and it is understood he will walk the
course.

NAVAL AND MILITARY.
New colours were presented to the 72d Highlanders on
Wednesday afternoon at Windsor by the Duke of Wel-
lington, who, in his address, alluded to his serving in the
same regiment in India in 1795, and spoke in high terms
of its bravery and good conduct. Baron Humboldt and
the King of Prussia's mite were afterwards entertained
by the officers of the regiment.
Nine officers belonging to the Niger Expedition, one
of whom is Capt. Trotter, who had the chief command,
arrived at Liverpool on Tuesday night, by the Warre,
which sailed from Fernando Po on the 13th Nov.
Major-Gen. Brown, C. 8., late of the Rifle Brigade,
has entered on his duties at Head-quarters as Deputy
Adjutant-General to the Forces; vice Sir John Gardi-
ner promoted. Gen. Brown is one of the heroes of the
Peninsular War, and was severely wounded at Talavera.
The Earl of Mulgrave, Scots Fusilier Guards, has
arrived at head-quarters, Montreal, to resume his duties
as Aide-de-Camp to the Commander of the Forces.
A meeting of the shipmaster:, captains, and mates of
vessels engaged in the merchant service was held at
Liverpool on Tuesday, to memorialise the Government
to appoint Boards of Examination for captains and
mates, previous .to their -being inducted into their re-
sponsible situations. The present irregular system was
shown to occasion immense loss of life and property,
, occurring from wreckage and unskilful captainship. A
1 memorial to the Earl of Ripon was accordingly adopted.
LAW AND POLICE,
The matter of Mr. Hitchcock's bankruptcy. was re-
sinned yesterday, before Mr. Commissioner ihdroycl.
With •regard to the imeulpation of Messrs. Cook add
Gladstone in the bankrupt's' practices, Mr. Humphrej,
showed that, instead of eolleaguing with him, Messrs.
Cook and -01adstone had been the first to strike the doc-
ket of bankruptcy agdinst 'him, and it was they who
first diseovered the concealment of his goods. All along
all their` goods
they believed the bankrupt to be, as he represented him-
self, solvent. The statement that they had received
goods
fromto ng
iitel'l'es°ecekre,bt): as the ` b aek door,"
r always,as
shown
came in there. Mr. Gladstone also utterly denied any
clandestine dealing. The further hearing of the case
was adjourned to Wednesday next. •
William Thompson, and Henry Norton, _ well-dressed
young men, were committed to take their trial pick-
ingFforriaAt Greenwich Police Court yesterday, Georg Dixon,
pockets at the West-gate of the Hospital on
arm in a sling, was charged as a begging_irmsm plioibbert, a
appeared he had imposed repeatedly on
Yesterday Wm. Troy, a tall young man, with his 1;1.1
lady of property in Hyde-Park-square, by telling her
that he had broke his arm, and that ithad been so badly
set by a surgeon at Highgate,
he wasmpelled to applylte it
at St. George's Hospital, when Dr. Hawkinsco broke
f
trace, was found well and soun4, e the Ma
on examination examination by a surgeon be
nd firths
a p
again and reset it. The wife of the intptohsitsobrrraoislksooennetroa,glrdmina
pitiful story about a dead child; an ,
mcoona3tehs.
quence, was ordered to the tread-mill for three

No less than five daring robberies have taken place in
Kent during the last week, in cottages on the high road.
In the pariihes of Staplehurst and Marden scarcely a
night passes without a robbery.
The excavators on the
railroad, it is generally believed,
are implicated in these
numerous depredations.
Delahunt in his confession states that for a month he
was under an insane impression that he should commit
a murder, and this idea clung to him with such tenacity
that he wandered about the streets with a knife in search
of his prey.
jump on a coal-cart in play, He
enticed him, and in describing the murder, says " he
back forcibly
across his thr:agta,
memorable " Petition
He Was attracted by the boy Maguire,
while he was trying to
seized the boy by the forehead, and having Pressed his
from him."
rrrni Alex's. . .-- • -
i for the Corporation of
At a sale of coins and medals at Mr. Sotheby's last.
week, a crown
iannsdt
thhiesntfihnignhg,hdimrew the knife quickly
piece, being the
Crown of Charles 11., by Thomas Simon," was sold for
17E11. to 111 r. Baker,
who collect
the City of London. Of this pattern-piece a very few
were struck, and it commemorates the famous contention
between Simon and the Roetteirs.

-•--
ZZTZAILRY AND SCIZNTZPZO.
.Bmithfield is t// corruption of Smothfield, it is 4e-