The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-07 00:00:00

te,tronblZbitton

SUN OFFICE, Three o'Cloch.

A return, issued this morning, to an order of the
House of Commons, throws some additional light on
the sliding scale of Sir ROBERT PEEL. It is entitled a
" Statement of the quantities, of foreign grain of each
kind; and of wheat flour, which paid the several duties,
together . with the per tentage proportion which those
quantities bore to the total quantities of the respective
kinds entered for home consumption, from July, 1828.
to the sth of January, 1842." The total quantity of
wheat imported during that period has been 13,558,181
quarters, or about one million of- quarters each year,
nearly one half of which, or about 43 per cent
was not taken out of bond till the duty fell t(
Is., wheat being at the enormous price of 735.
and upwards per quarter, and more than three-fourth:
(78, 67 per cent.) was not taken out till wheat was 72:,
per quarter.- No better prod can be given that tin
sliding scale acts virtually as a prohibilion to the im
pOrtation of grain till it reaches a famine price ; for th
total amount imported at the lower duty does not excee
250,000 quarters each year, the greater proportion o
which was sold at or above 695. This small quantity
as compared with the total consumption, hardly deserve:
to be taken into account. Will the new sliding staff.
' act differently ? The corn-dealers will lay their head:
together under the one law as well as the other, ant
keep back grain till it can be imported at the lowes
duty. llt is a fact too worthy of notice, that the tots
amount of wheat imported at 18s. Bd., about the highesi
end of the new scale, was only 77,140 quarters for tht
period of thirteen years. The landlords may strive t,
keep up the mock cry against Sir ROBERT PEEL for de.
priving them of protection and ruining agriculture, bu
they know well, at least those of them who know any.
thing about the matter, that they will be protected a:
much as ever, that no additional impulse will be give]
to British manufactures, that the home consumptiot
will diminish yearly, and that they will be the next
class of sufferers after the operatives. The coati-
. try, however, must, in the meantime, submit. The mis-
guided electors, even in manufacturing towns, combined
With the Tory landholders to return a House of Common
which will not allow Sir ROBERT PEEL, even if he would,
to grant them any relief, and on their heads, therefore-,
be the consequences. The very silence of the Duke
RICHMOND, and the - high• price party that threatened t,
oust the Prime Minister, if he failed to do their bidding
is decisive on the merits of the scheme which, in a fee
months, will be in operation, and which we fear will con.
firm our worst anticipations.

We ind the following leading paragraph in the las
number of the Naval and 111.1dary Gazette:—
We have just heard a rumour that her .Majesty has it in con
templation to raise to the Peerage a few of our Mos
distinrmished Admirals, namely, Robert Stopford, Sit
George. Cockburn, and Sir Edward Codrin4ton We sincere].)
hope that this report will prove correct, for when we bear
mind there is not at this moment even one fltg-officer upon th,
list who has received this proud reward fur his services to his
country out of the 200 Admirals that we now have in the navy
whilst in the sister profession many Generals and Lieutenant.
Generals have been justly honoured with this high distinctier
for their gallant services in the field, we cannot but be sangoirn
that t he Royal favour will be extended towards the distinguishes
officers that we have named at no distant period, and which w,
are a sured will be hailed with the highest satisfaction by th.
whole navy.

In the hope expressed by our contemporary of the trutl
of this report we cordially join. Since the days of Pun
it has been too much the fashion to recruit the Peer-
age from the Bar, from behind the counter, am]
from the Stock Exchange ; and the result has beer
a growing contempt, on the part of the people,
for that once-powerful section of the Legislature.
If we are to I,i2serve the InStitution of the Peerage,
we ought by all means to endeavour to
,make it worthy
of the confidence of the country. No means of doing
this can be adopted more eff6ctual than to recruit it from
meritorious officers of a branch of the public service,
which more than any .other enjoys the confidence and
esteem of all classeS of Englishmen. But why does noi
the name of Commodore Sir C. NAPIER appear in the
list of proposed creations ? The rules of the servie€
are surely not binding upon our Gracious SOVEREIGN.
By the junior members of the service such a mark of tip
Royal favour would be felt as a stimulus to valorou
:whit vements. As regards family, the lion. and Gallant
Member for Marylebone stands on an equality with
some of the proudest names in the Peerage of Scotland.
As for. Admiral Sir E. CODRINGTON, no honours which
the Crown could confer upon him would be other than
gratifying to the Navy and the Country.

In another part of The Sun will be found a letter
from Mr. RAWSON to Lord JOIIN RUSSELL. We do
not guarantee his statements, but they present some
extraordinary results. From them it appears that out
manufacturer, who is compelled to be an exporter by
the necessities of his condition, has to pay in America,
out of 216 barrels of flour, purchased by the produce
of his labour, 591 for necessary charges of freight, in-
surance, &c., to which the American manufacturer is
not liable. Out of the remaining 156); he has to give
up 32 barrels to the American Custom-house, that
being .a retaliatory exaction in consequence ot
our Corn-laws. He has thus 1244 left; but or
importing his flour to England, the Corn-laws and
Custom-house charges will take away 421 more,
leaving 82 to be divided—as payment of the materials,
41 barrels, as profit 64, and wages 344. At the same
time, his foreign competitor has no less than 146
barrels for profit and wages alone.
Supposing that statement to be correct, our manu-
facturers must labour under immense disadvantages.
Though the statement is there made on barrels of
flour, the result will not differ if the merchant receive
a bill of exchange, which has to be taken up by
goods remitted to England. Though the statement,
too, is confined to the United States, it is, pro tanto,
true of all third markets where the manufacturing
products of that country come into competition with
our own, and where retaliatory tariffs have been
called into existence by our Corn-laws.
It seems pretty certain, too, as capital spreads
itself with much readiness over the commercial
world, that the capitalist will go to those countries
where profit is highest, and that, consequently, nearly
the whole of this vast deduction from the value of our
manufactures will mainly fall on the English labour-
ers. To such a declension in value, or unfair system
of traffic, as regards foreign countries, nearly all
our manufactures are liable, for they are all exported,
which serves to account for their continual fall in
price, and the unceasing deterioration of the condi-
tion of our manufacturing population. Their increase

in skill, and the continued invention of new machines,
ought, like the discoveries in agriculture, which
have been described as arresting at intervals the
downward march of profits and wages, to continually
improve the condition of the people ; but in spite of this
great principle, the restriction laid by law on trade,makes
it tend to impoverish instead of enriching all classes.
England, Mr. RAwsoN says, which has served
nearly the whole world with hosiery for 200
years, is the only country in which the con-
sumption of hosiery is not rapidly increasing. In
England the consumption has fallen off, Mr. RAW-
SON says, one-third within the last three or four

years ; and we need scarcely look beyond the generi
diminution of wages pointed out by IClr. RAWSON as