The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-10 00:00:00

as' its prey, and keeps them from expanding
into the neighbouring fields, which invite their
industry. Of the arts by which man can be
clothed and fed, it is necessarily more ignorant
than are the Indians of the skill of civilised
men. They may learn that, but it is impossible
to see railroads, self-acting mules, and power-
looms without being convinced that the arts by
which men can be fed and clothed. are for ever
taking new forms—are for ever, as it were, in pro-
gress of development or creation, and can never
be known beforehand by the law. Yet while it can
neither feed nor clothe the people, while it knows
nothing whatever of the means they have in
store for clothing and feeding themselves, it pro-
hibits the exercise of their industry, the develop-
ment of their arts, and dooms them, as we now
see, to poverty and discontent—to disease, fa-
mine, and death.

this price, if the wages of labour had not risen, the con-
dition of the labourers would be very miserable. He
would not be able to purchase as much as half a peck of
wheat by a day's labour."
But we have just seen that a law was passed
to prevent wages rising when corn rose, and
such laws would be again passed if the master
class in Parliament was entrusted with the
power of regulating wages. But they cannot
be entrusted to keep them up without also
placing in their hands the power to beat them
down. In 1682, under the influence of laws re-
gulating wages, the labourer could hardly com-
mand as much as three-quarters of a peck of
wheat. Without referring to mere details, by
which it appears that the labourer has always
been kept by law on the verge of starvation, we
shall content ourselves with quoting M. MAL-
Tnus's:,opinion as to the effect of a psuedo bene-
volent attempt to regulate wages. Speaking of
the fall-in the value of money which took place
between 1793 and 1814, he says—
" lAm •strongly of opinion, that if the price of labour
had not been kept' down by artificial means, it would
have risen higher in proportion than the average price
of corn ; and the opinion is fairly borne out by facts."
" It is known that in many counties, and in the southern
parts of England, wages in 1810 and 1811 were unnatu-
rally kept down to 125., 10s., 95., and even 7s. 6d., by
the baneful system of regularly maintaining the chil-
dren of the poor out of the rates. It may be fairly con-
cluded, if this system had not prevailed, the wages of
labour would have risen higher than the price of wheat."
For the interest of the labourers, therefore,'
whether the Legislature pass statutes,
.or Magi-
strates make orders, there must be no interfe-
rence with wages. It would be impossible to
prevent self-interest turning the interference to
its own advantage. The right to interfere must
add to the power of the Legislature over the
workman, and make him more than ever a slave.
As to the masters, and as to society, one con-
sideration will suffice to show the injuriousness
of departing from the general rule. It would be
a palpable and forced spoliation of the property
of the masters. We take it for granted that the
occupations of the masters, which enrich them,
are beneficial to society. The masters en-

proceeding is made
The extreme folly of its
evident by the arguments which are put forth to
justify it. It is said that the people ought to
feed themselves by means of the soil to which
the law confines them. Agriculture is infinitely
preferable to manufactures as a means of feeding
and clothing the people, and therefore they must
cultivate the ground. Now it is one fact that
population is increasing rapidly it is another
fact that agriculture, in the progress of society,
demands fewer and fewer hands. As knowledge
and skill supply the place of strength, a conti-
nually decreasing proportion of the society is
required to 'cultivate the ground. This process

has been for centuries uninterrupted. Agri-
culture, therefore, however far it may be pushed,
and the more skilfully and scientifically it is car-
ried out, the fewer hands it requires, can give no
employment, and no food—for those who grow
it Avilt only exchange it for something else--to
an increasing population, and consequently no
means by which that population can feed and
clothe itself. It is hence not merely foolish, it
is palpably absurd, to attempt to limit an increas-
ing population to agriculture as the means of
getting food and clothing.

The reverse is the case with manufactures

In them new arts are continually called into
existence, which require an ever-increasing po-
pulation. Steam-engines, gas, cotton-spinning,
and weaving, railways, locomotive machines, and
all the countless arts and contrivances which
belong to what is called the manufacturing
system, now feed and clothe more than half the
population of England, that half being greater
than the whole population which a century ago
found food and clothing from agriculture and
manufactures together. Agriculture now em-
ploys fewer people than formerly. On the one
hand, therefore, agriculture, in its progress, re-
quires fewer and fewer people, while manufac-

trage in those occupations for the sake of pro-
fit; to despoil the masters would destroy
their profit, and would put an end to their occu-

sident of Rio de Janiero, who had taken posses

pations. Labourers masters, and society at
large, therefore, would all be grievously injured
by not observing the general rule not to inter-
fere between masters and workmen. The only
way in which they can fairly divide betwixt
them the produce of their united labour is by

free competition, or what is called the higgling
of the market. Competition must, however, be
completely and thoroughly free. Two principles
now divide society—free competition and minute
regulation ; as the former is established, each
individual will find his wages determined by the
markets of the world; as the latter triumphs, the
Legislature will reward him selon ses oeuvres.

tures, on the other, demands an ever-in-
creasing number, and will enable them to
provide an abundance of food and clothing fur
themselves. Now, the law which cannot feed
and clothe the people, with folly unspeakable,
with recklessness unparalleled—while it pretends
to watch over the people, by impeding and pro-

hibiting the extension of manufactures, actually
and cruelly prohibits the increasing people from
feeding and clothing themselves. If our view
be correct—strange as the deduction may ap-
pear, and recently as the law has been restored,
as is said, to its supremacy—it follows that the
law must, in one sense, be deposed before the
increasing people can feed and clothe themselves,
and before that great and ever-growing abun-
dance which all desire—the result of individual
exertion—can revisit the land. So we answer

the now all-important question—What is to be
done for the people? How are they to be fed
and clothed?

If the Times means by asserting that general
rules are not to be the masters but the servants
of man, that there arc no general rules so sacred
that man may not inquire into them, and show,
if he can, their inutility, or their incorrectness,
we do not differ from the Times. We think
nothing which concerns human conduct is too
abstruse for human investigation. If our Con-
temporary be disposed to justify certain states-
men or landowners, by demonstrating that the,
two general rules, "Thou shalt not steal," " Thou
shalt not kill," are not applicable to the affairs of
England, we do not object to his making the at-
tempt. What we object to is the implied admis-
sion that a general rule is correct, that the
records of experience embodied in it are properly
stated, and that yet men, in obedience to a mo-
mentary apprehension, or in order to gratify an
immoral caprice, may wilfully set it aside.
The reasoning of the Times strik es, we affirm, at
the root of all morality, and, therefore, we dis-
sent from it, and hold it up to public notice,
and, we hope, to public censure.
Our Contemporary applies his doctrine to one
general rule, that the Legislature ought not to
interfere between employers and the persons they
employ. If that rule be not correct as to the
cotton-spinners and coal-owners, it cannot be cor-
rect in other employments; and if the Legisla-
ture, - or the Magistrates, may interfere
with them to ensure the workmen ample
wages, it may, according to PALEY'S doctrine, in
the same manner and from the same motives
interfere with all other trades. Let us apply the
doctrine to the Times itself. At present, that
journal has a numerous body of editors, reporters,
correspondents, compositors, engine-men, agents,
clerks, &c., &c., all of whom have been nourished
and supported, " called into being" as reporters,
editors, &c., by the success of the Times. Suppose
that journal to dwindle down to the level of the
late Courier, and drag on a scarcely lingering
existence, instead of having every day three
pages of advertisements, and 10,000 or 20,000
subscribers—according to the rule laid down by
the Times, the journal would continue to
support all the persons it at present employs at
the same rate of wages. If it turns them off or
lowers their salaries, they may, as the master
manufacturers have turned off their hands be-
cause they make no profit by employing them,
appeal against it to a benevolent and well-
meaning public, and find enlightened journalists
to rail against it, and call on the Legislature to
compel the Times to support the army of report-'
ers, editors, and correspondents it has called into.
being. We congratulate those gentlemen on
having, according to the doctrine of the Times,
a life-long lien .on that. journal,. or on .Mr.
WALTER'S estate, who, whether he wants_ them
or not, must, on the doctrine of the Times, con-
tinue to pay and employ them.
For our parts we maintain the general rule; we
affirm that our Legislature wholly composed of the
master class, and mainly elected by it, cannot
with any show of justice, be called on to interfere
with, or regulate wages. The CHARTER, at least,
must become the law of the land, before it can
have the semblance of justice to place the con-
trol of wages in the hands of the Legislature.
What do the young ensigns, ship captains, top-
ping lawyers, and dandy noblemen who com-
poseknow about wages, or the natural laws
which t
cl ii' 'regulate wages? How can it be expected
that they should calmly and patiently consider
all the claims of workmen, and all the variations
which are continually taking place in their skill
and occupations ? In Manchester the same rate
of wages, as a man works with good or bad ma-
chinery, amply rewards him, or dooms him to
starvation. An improveMent in a loom enables
one man to do the work of half a dozen ; by what
rule can the Parliament apportion his reward ?
Not only must the CHARTER be made the law
before it can be just to place the regulation of
bwoadgyesminustt behehands of the Legislature, but that
organized
manner before it
esouldpreitn a
pretend
ttootail.elygudliaffteertehnet
rate of wages with accuracy or fairness.
It has occasionally tried its hand at this, and
what has been the result? We will quote
ecrarsalwElNa:r MaLTnus's work,
P
a passage here
olfiurtroi
coona.nootmody
in 1350, the 25th of
•" Trhinecsiptalteusteojo; Political
theven Icing,t hfeo r
price
em oofs t
labours ju s t
,m rising fandro impolitic
ft
ae purpose h
te of
greatpr,e-
pestilence." "In the subsequent period of Edward lIIs
reign, the labourer appears to have been much worse
off: The statute of labourers was renewed, and, it is
said, enforced very rigidly, notwithstanding a consider-
able rise in pricethe'(l .corn. On an average of the thir-
teen years 'out of twenty-six in which the prices of
wheat are noticed, the quarter is about us. 9d., which
is about is, 51d. the bushel, and 40. the peck. At

In another part of the paper will be found an
abridged report of the proceedings which took
place in the Town Council of Edinburgh on
Tuesday, relative to the arrangements, or rather
the want of arrangements, for the reception of
her MAJESTY. Mr. Black read a clear statement
of all the circumstances which led to the unfor-
tunate result, and a very general opinion pre-
vailed that the Council were not to blame; but
who the real offender was, did not appear. One
of the Bailies certainly was in good time, for he
reached Granton Pier by three in the morn-
ing ; yet though he waited till nine
with great patience, he too was taken
by surprise. He saw the Royal yacht
fairly moored alongside the pier, when Sir R.
PEEL and the Duke of BUCCLEUCH went on,
board, nod on their return informed him that
her MAJESTY found it necessary to proceed im-
mediately to Dalkeith, and before he could start
off with this intelligence for the Council the
QUEEN was on shore, entered her carriage in a
minute, and drove off at such speed that the un-
fortunate Bailie was compelled to fall into the
rear of the procession. We can discover no good
reason for such proceedings, nor any reason
whatever for keeping the whole affair a secret,
,as regarded the City authorities, while the time
of landing was communicated to the Governor of
the Castle, at least two hours before. If the ad-
visers of her MAJESTY really intended that there
should be no presentation of keys, nor other
ceremonies—observed on similar occasions—they
should have stated their intentions distinctly, and
left no room for any misunderstanding whatever.
On the contrary, they assured a deputation but
the day previous that her MAJESTY would make
her entrance into the city in such a manner as
would be most gratifying to the inhabitants; yet
the whole population were taken by surprise, and
the Lord Provost and Bailies made the laughing
stock of the public. No wonder that his Lord-
ship looked sulky during the discussion, and ut-
tered not a word in his own defence. After a long
talk, the Council found they could institute no
proceedings without the evidence of the military
authorities, and doubting their authority to
summon therdbefore a Committee, they pocketed
the affront, and the meeting was dissolved.

" Justices' Justice" has become a synonyme
for absurdity, ignorance, and oppression in the
administration of the law; and nothing can well
exceed the unanimity with which county 'Ma-
gistrates endeavour to establish the permanence
of its meaning.. Now and then a touch of gro-
tesqueness is added which imparts piquancy to
the particular case, as if to arrest, for a moment,
the attention of the Press and the Home Secre-
tary. Such a case will be found in another part
of The Sun, copied from the Kentish Observer.
The facts are simply these :—JAMES FITZJAMES
and EDWARD GLADSTONE, comedians, were
charged at the Dover Police-court with assault-
ing a Mr. COOPER, for which they were fined in
ten shillings, including costs. They were next
charged with threatening the life of Mr. COOPER,
whereupon they were required to find two sure-
ties in 201. each to keep the peace for two months,
As it required a couple of hours to find bail they
were committed in the mean time to prison, and
though they were there only about four hours
altogether, their hair was cropped, notwithstand-
ing their protesting that such an indignity would
inflict upon them great professional injury.
They brOught the case before the Magistracy,
but after a grave deliberation these legal
luminaries decided that the gaoler had only
done.his duty, and that there was no redress for
the deeply injured comedians. The surgeon'
examined them, and pronounced th!m perfectly
clean, and the gaoler in his defence pleaded that
his orders left him no alternative. Now, if this
be the case, it is the duty of the Home Secretary
to lose no time in revising these orders. Nor
Could they be unknown to the Magistrate who
committed these persons to prison to wait for
bail ; , and it was his duty to have directed that
the rules of the prison should not be observed in
their case. They were guilty of no offence
punishable by imprisonment, and the only ex-
cuse for sending them there at all was that they
might be kept in safe custody till the ap.
pearance of their sureties. To subject them,
therefore, to the treatment of felons and
malefactors was preposterously unjust, as well as
cruel.. As regards the gaoler and turnkey, they
appear to have acted from feelings of resentment.
The persons committed for three ,or four hours
to their custody did not pay them that
homage which they 'conceived to be due to
them. They refused to earn their dinner by
picking oakum, which so irritated the gaoler
that ha threatened to whip them publicly—that
being, it appears, the, punishment for break-
ing the rules. We repeat this is a case for the
investigation of the Home Secretary, and we only
discharge a public duty in calling his attention
to it. To be delivered from " Justices' Justice"
would fbrm one of the most necessary invoc;:-
tions in a political litany.

Letters and papers have been received by the
mail from Rio Janeiro to 13th July, from which
it appears that the insurrection in St. Paulo had
been completely put down, the chief, Senhor
Frijo, taken ' prisoner, and one thousand
men had voluntarily surrendered to Baron
CA XIAS, who had proceeded to Minas Geraes,
li)ut where he had been anticipated by the Pre•

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 10, ii 342,

sion of -it at the head of 2,000 troops. The per-
sons who had been arrested at Rio de Janeiro had
been shipped off for Portugal on board a Bra-
zilian frigate.

The late Ordonnance of the King of PRUSSIA,
for the regulation of the Provincial States
of his Kingdom, is commented upon in all
the leading French journals. By them all it
is considered a move in the right direction—a
first step towards the establishment of a com-
plete system of representative government.
We are of the same opinion, but we differ from
some of them, who think the measure not suffi-
ciently liberal. All changes are best made gra-
dually, but more especially those from absolute
deipotisni to democracy. Men must be edu-
cated to the exercise of freedom, or it is a thou-
sand to one but they will abuse it. In fact, one
of ithe great errors of reformers in absolute
monarchies is that they make changes too
suddenly, and as they do not produce the
anticipated results; the consequence is, that they
become disgusted, arid reject liberal opinions al-
together. They knock the :fetters off the cap-
tive, pull him out of his. dungeon, and because
he can neither walk erect, nor gaze • at the sun
without shading his eyes, weakened ,by dark-
ness, they conclude that freedom is useless to
him. We, therefore, think that the King
of PRUSSIA is proving himself an able
and rational reformer by the moderate
course which he is taking to educate his subjects
in the principles and practice of a representative
system of government. In the course of a very
few years the local Diets will comprise the ele-
ments of Houses of Lords and Commons to re-
present and legislate for all Prussia.
There is no other news of any interest in the
French Journals,' „from which we content our-
selves with making the following extracts :
A Morning Journal says that the construction of
the iron railway from Paris to Lille has just been as-
signed to a company represented by MessrS. Millet
and Henri, and composed in a great measure of Eng-
lish houses, and that the contract has been signed by
the Minister of Public Works. This statement is
completely incorrect.—Moniteur.
" The Constitutionnel of the 7th has the following
remarks on the late ordinance of the King of
Prussia:—" There is undoubtedly a very great
difference between the rules laid down by the
Royal regulation and a series of enactments
fixed by a true national representation. What Frede-
rick William grants to his subjects is only a sort of
consulting government, and the Prince reserves to
himself the privilege of pointing out the subjects
on which the provincial Governments shall be invited
to give their opinion. The very manner in which
these Commissions are formed is liable to just ob-
jections, since the nobility alone will possess the half
of the votes. But we do not like judging the work
of Frederick William according to our way of think-
ing. By yielding to the public feeling, by satisfying,
although incompletely, the rights of the Prussian
nation, and by having recourse for the acts of his
Government to theenlightened assistance of the most
notable citizens, the King of Prussia has acted nobly
and wisely, and has acquired new titles to the gra-
titude of his subjects, and the esteem of all enlight-
ened men. Experience has proved that it is not
without profound commotion, that apeople can obtain
complete possession of their rights, and if the mode
of transition,. which Russia will owe to the wise and
enlightened mind of her King, shall spare her the
perils which attend the establishment of a truly libe-
ral Government, if it should prepare her for a new
position, the ordonnance in question will for ever
honour the memory of Frederick William the Fourth."
The Toulonnais, of the 4th, says, "It is reported
that Admiral Hugon's squadron will soon return to
Toulon; and that there a certain number of sailors
will be discharged; it is likewise reported that the
command will be given• to a Rear-Admiral, and
that there will no longer be a Commissary to the
squadron. It is also in contemplation to discharge a
certain number of workmen employed in the port.
Our magazines are almost empty, so that if circum-
stances should require any new armament, it would be
impossible to complete them on account of want of
stores of all kinds. No contracts are concluded, only
some bargains of small importanee are made, and if
this continues we shall have to live from hand to
mouth. The American ship of the line expected in
the Mediterranean is the Columbus."— Commerce.

CHART OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE.—MT. Beeson, of
Paternoster-row, has just published a work with this
title, which furnishes a general view of the statistics
of the United Kingdom, and its vast dependencies in
almost every quarter of the globe. It is printed in the
armorial bearings of all the colonies, en-
gravedb3f Williams, under the superinten-
dencebest style, on one large sheet, and is decorated on the mar-
gin
with the
on 'wood
of Mr. Benjamin Wyon, her Majesty's thief
engraver of seals. The table exhibits the superficial
extent of and dependency, the po-
pulation, productions, trade, history, language, re-
ligion,
home manufactures to the
and finances. In addition to ample infor-
rctosloonfy
all these
infor-
mation on heads, it contains tables
employed in showing theeaec:Po
colo-
nial and foreign trade in 1840, the total shipping of
the British empire, and the number of ships of war
in commission, together with a great variety of
colonies, the British shipping
information interesting to the public at large.
The materials appeared to have been collected
with great labour and research, and the work, inde
pendent of being a great ornament, either for counting-
houses or chambers, will be found extremely useful
as a table of reference.

tjaCyfinSirngrEge
of Hanover died here last
We have just receivpDeodioidittehnFet,afsotlEclroowTl
hn ii intelli-
gencei'hMAt
,afrom
ti report
r:ottt our
having
t 0 inform
e :87 2.
EXPRESS FROM DUSSELDORF.
.
Lsbeen generally spread that
you that this is not the
fact ; but that his Majesty is lying seriously in-
are dangerous."
6 Palace in this town.
dTihspeossyemd
pattomPsr,inlceheSaorl,ll)B,

COWES, ISLE OF WIGHT.
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON INTELLIGENCE.

ARRIVALS,
, Sir John Bayley, Bart.,
from Plymouth and Dartmouth.
Sept. 2d. Nymph cutter,
6th. Harriet schooner, J. Beardmore, Esq., from
Brighton.
7th. Ariadne cutter, IV. Peareth, Esq., Guernsey.
sArrANGS.

Sept. 3. Cynthia cutter, acid. Frankland, Esq.,
for Plymouth and Cork ; Corsair do., John Congreve,
Esq., Plymouth; Gem schooner, Marquis of Ormonde,
Plymouth.
7th. Flirt do., Sir B. R. Graham, Bart., for Jersey.
YACHTS AT AND ABOUT THE STATION.
Schooners—Galatea, Hawk, Jack-o'-Lantern,
Hussar, Xarifa, Camilla, Ariel.
Cutters—Ariadne, Emerald, Nymph, Fanny, Me-
dina, Nautilus, Forest Fly, Phebe, Rein• deer,
Sapphire, Talisman, Iris.
Yawls—Alarm, Breeze, Water Lily.
FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

The Dowager Countess of Listowell has left
Oatchill House, and the Earl of Errol has taken it.
The Countess and family are expected on Thursday
next. Lord Fitzhardinge has left Gothic Hall, and
Mr. Mullins has taken it. The countess of Darnley,
with the Earl and family, are at Beach Villa ; Mrs.
Arkwright, at Egypt House ; Lord Rokehy, at the
Eighth Cottage ; Mr. Congreve at the Seventh ; Lady
Poore,•at the Fourth ; Lady Elizabeth Hope Vere, at
Norfolk House; Mr. R. Meiklam, at Mr; Genesti's
House
Mr. Powell, at Trafalgar ; Sir H. Walton
and
brother, at Sir John Hippesley's ; Lady De
Hor
sey, at the Icing's House ; Lady Paulet, at White
rsh eiys ;
Rose ; Mr. Alloway, at Rosemount; Mr. Mildmay,
at Rose Lodge ; Sir E. Paget, at the Castle ; Sir Bel-
lingham Graham, Bart., at Harriet Lodge. Sir Jas.
Graham, Bart., left Grantham House on Tuesday for
town, but his Lady and family remain. Mr. Sergt.
Goulburn, No. 2, bath-buildings ; Mr. Burgess, No.
; the Rv.
Mr. Robinson and general Truman, at
Prospect House ; Sir John Bayley, at Beach Cottage ;
Mr. Baring, Pelham House.
The want of a greater number of good houses, de-
sirably situated, has been long felt. We have reason
to hope that before next season, a number of elegant
detached villas will be erected on one of the finest
sites the eye can wish for ; they will command views
of the harbour, road-stead, and the whole of the oppo-
site coast to Portsmouth, ineluding Southampton
waters. The land is now being laid 'out in building-
plots, on the Mill-hill estate.

ORANGEMEN' • DESCRII3ED in ONE OF THEM-
SELVES.—We know not whether it is necessary to allude
to the complaint that Lord Eliot adthits Roman Catholics
—and especially one very dangerous Roman Catholic,
Mr. Anthony Blake—to his confidence. It may be as it
is stated, but what is Lord Eliot to do ? If Protestant
noblemen and gentlemen will not approach him, except to ask
ptaces for themselves or dependents, and to grumble that
they have not had enough,
is he not necessarily thrown
upon the intimacy of iloman,Catholics, who have no pre-
tence for being so importunate..,-Standard.
The Rev. A. S. Itheim*T2,ll;..N.A., of Trinity College,
Cambridge, has been apf;;OintO•tg
the ministry of Bedford
Chapel, Blooms!ntry,',Prit 'thr, mination of the
Rev. Henry Hughes to the rectory of the new church in
Gordon-square.