The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-03 00:00:00

OPENING OF THE PORTS.

The Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of this town
forwarded, on the 22d ultimo, a memorial, of which the fol-
lowing is a copy, to Sir Robert Peel, as First Lord of the
Treasury. We subjoin also the Right Hon. Baronet's reply
TO THE RIGHT lION. SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART., M.P., FIRST
LORD OF HER MAJESTY'S TREASURY, &C. &C.
" The memorial of the Directors of the Chamber of Com-
merce and Manufactures, at Manchester,
" Sheweth —That long experience has taught your me-
morialists that the prosperity of the cotton trade mainly de-
pends upon the price of food, that an abundant and cheap
supply of the first necessaries of life has never failed to be
coincident with increased employment and a higher rate of
wages, whilst dearness and scarcity of provisions have as in-
variably been attended with a diminished demand for labour,
and a reduction of the earnings of the working classes.
" That the cost of wheaten flour and oatmeal has risen
50 per cent. within a few months, and the price of potatoes
is kept down only by the eagerness with which the growers
force them upon the market, on account of their inferior
quality, and from a fear that they will decay; but this in-
creases the danger of future deficiency; whilst the reported
failure of the crop in many parts of Ireland adds a fearful
gloom over the prospects of that portion of the empire, in
whose fate this country is indissoluby involved. From
these facts your memorialists fear that a period of scarcity
and privation is impending, which may endanger the well-
being of this district, and subject the surrounding population
to a repetition of those sufferings from which they have so
recently emerged.
"That, under these circumstances, your memorialists beg
leave respectfullj, to urge upon your attenti,n the necessity
of devising some means for securing a sufficient supply of
food for the people. In the opinion of your memorialists,
often expressed to the Government and the Legislature, that
object would have been best secured by removing at a former
period all restrictions upon the trade in corn, believing that
the enterprise and capital of our merchants, which have ac-
cumulated in our warehouses a stock of cotton equal to eight
months' consumption, would have made a similar provision
against a casual deficiency of food, had corn, like cotton, been
left to the unimpeded operations of commerce. But so long
as a law is maintained to prevent the regular exchange of our
manufactures for foreign grain—virtually deterring other
nat-ons from providing for our wants, and prohibiting our
capitalists from storing up a supply for future emergencies--so
longas such a law is enforced, the Government invests itself
with the responsibility of securing a sufficient supply of food
at all times for the people.
" Your memorialists call your attention to the difficulties
which present themselves at the present moment arising
from the scarcity of food in Holland and Belgium, in parts of
Germany, and even in portions of Russia. Those countries,
which in former periods of scarcity ministered to our wants,
are now competing for the scanty stocks in more distant
markets. But their Governments having wisely and
humanely offered facilities for the importation of'food, which
are denied in this country, their merchants are forestalling
us in the grain markets everywhere, not excepting our own
shores.

"That, under these circumstances, your memorialists are
of opinion that it b2comes the duty of Government to open
the ports for the free admission of food of all kinds. The
success even of this decisive remedy depends mainly upon
;,lie promptitude with which it is applied, and, therefore, your
mehyrialists urge the imperative necessity of adopting it
without delay, by means of an Order in Council, and they
feel assurto that such an act, dictated alike by prudence,
justice, and htZtnanity, would Lave the sanction of Parliament
and the enthusiastic approval of the nation."
" Whitehall, Oct. 27, 1845.
" Sir—l have the hot:our to acknowledge the receipt of the
memorial of the Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and
Manufactures at Manchester, which bears date the 22d of
October. I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" Thos. Bazley, Esq." " ROBERT PEEL.
—Manchester Guardian.