The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-02 00:00:00

~9 ~ ,~ ~~s

LONDON:
FRE) kY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2, 1842.

It seems, by the complaints in the Manchester
papers, that the Mayor was absent in London
when the riots began; that Mr. MAUDE, the sti-
pendiary-Magistrate, was not informed of the in-
tention .of the in-marching people in time to stop
them ; and that Sir C. SHAW was not sufficiently
elarrned. at the intelligence that they were com-
ing, which he had - received, to give an emphatic
warning to the Magistrates. All these were for-
tiinate circumstances, and the consequence was
that the people marched into Manchester, turned
out the.mill bands, and had their holiday out in,
comparatively speaking, a very peaceable man-
ner.. Notthat we suppose Mr. NIELD, the Mayor,
a gentleman of .great mildness of temper and
suavity: of manners, had hebeen present, would
haVe taken on himself the awful responsibility of
causing. a riot, which would most probably have
ended in bloodshed,by unnecessarily and wantonly
interferinm with the Turn-outs—not that we sup-
pose Mr.3/4.iirne would• have departed from his
considerate line of conduct, and begun an affray,
by assaulting the leading women of the party—
not that. we suppose Sir C. Straw could, under
any circumstance of zeal and interest, have com-
pletely ibrghtten those wise principles of forbear-
ance, which have generally distinguished the
conduct of the Manchester Magistrates ; never-
theless, as some accident might in the first
instance have provoked a collision between one
or all of these Magistrates and the Turn-outs, we
hold it to have been extremely fortunate that
the Mayor was absent, that Mr. MAUDE was
ignorant, and that Sir C. SHAW was not bristling
with bayonets and zeal.

The consequence of not interfering with the
people in the first instance was to place them*
imipably in the wrong, and make their cause
appear erroneous to the bulk of the community;
while, had they been interfered with, had a col-
lision, attended with bloodshed, in the first in-
sta:ice, taken place, passion and sympathy
V;ould have enlisted themselves on the side of
the Turn-outs, and what might have been, under
such circumstances, their success and the public
disasters, it is impossible to foresee. We
eAteem the absence of the Mayor, therefore,
and the non-interference of the Magistrates, in
the first instance, which fair Contemporaries re-
gret or.hlatue, to have been !irist fortunate cir-
curiltrxes fur Manchester and the empire.

t i., said, we know, by the heated partizans of
cofTeion, who are blind with rabid zeal in favour
of th:.? employment of terror as the only means of
ig society, that it was the duty of the

,vistrates to interfere, and to put down the be-
gint;h:g of the tarn-ottot for wages with a strong
hand. Possibly the law does prescribe that as a
ditty. But we know that Corn-laws—laws to
hang men for trifling offences—laws to keep the
Catholicy out of the Constitution—laws to de-
grade the Dissenters, have all prescribed duties,
p 1•1:-?rinIng which inflicted a great injury on so-
ciety, and were much better le ft unperformed. We
cannot, therefore, adopt the op:nion, because the
'tar: prescribed a certain ditty at Manchester,
that ;,00l would necessarily %aye ensued from
performing it. We have mentioned some
re suns for forming aYdontrary opinion, and
we venture to beneVe, 'after some consideration,
that it was very fortunate, if such a duty be pre-
se:;bed by the law, that it was not performed.
Au ounce of mercy and discretion, of kindness
and affocti9n, in such a cas-c,
111 our opinion
su:)re wortk than a ton of law, MO an army•
of ,sol-
(Hers ; and we rejoice unfeignedly that tits
law
war 90t. vigorou3ly acted on in the first
Kt Manchester.

govcr
Blat.

The Corn Returns show that the average pricel
of wheat, fur the week ending the 27th ult., was
"153., and the price, we rejoice to say, has since
continued to tail. The returns show that the-
Fief: in Lancashire, where it ought to rule high,
is only 475. ad.; in Cambridgeshire it is only
315. Sd.; and in Suffolk only 533. 6.1. It seems
quite certain now, therefore, that the price of
wheat will be considerably below ats. before
Christmar.

The recent issue by the Stamp-office, of a cir-
cular relative to levying the Income-tax on the
oc;piers of laud, in which the tithe rent-charge
finds a conspicuous place, reminds us that this is
the first year since the Tithe Commutation Act
was passed, in which the selling price ofcorn is
likzly to be considerably below the price by which
the rent-charge is fixed. Our readers will
recollect that, by that Act, the average
price of the seven years ending with the
COristmus preceding, determines the rent-
charge into which tithes are commuted every
orear. Now, Abe average price of wheat
for the seven years, 1835-1841, inclusive, was
51s. 6d., or abuse the present average price.•
Hitherto the landowneis and the farmers have
been tolerably well able to pay the charge, be-
cause the average price at which it has been ,

• fixed has been less than the price at which they
Isold their corn. This year the case will be re--
versed, and it may be doubted ifin many cases the
i!icreased quantity will compensate to the farmers
fot the fall in price. Of course it would, if
that had been exclusively determined by our own
produce ; but as the fitll in price has been partly
caused by the large importation of foreign
wheat, it will be proportionably greater than
is required by the quantity of our own produce ;
and while the tithe-owner will rtjuice at the
cheapness, the landowner and the farmer will
grumble not a little at what they will lose. To
the farmers and the landowners, that cheapness
which-Sir ROBERT PEEL has done so much, ac-
cording to his own statements, tä promote, will be
felt as a pure evil—to the tithe-owner it will
be an unmixed good. The cheapness which
is to compensate all other classes for the burden
of the Income-tax, will only exasperate that
,burden for the agriculturists, and soon place
them amongst the most discontented classes in
the kingdom.
When we think of the stern and inexorable
demands of the tax-gatherer on the poor farmers
—at all times much averse from making prompt
payments—and think of those demands in con-
junction with falling prices, and the payMent of
a heavy rent charge, we are compelled to pity
the poor farmers. How they, will hate and curse
the Tories and Sir R. PEEL when the Income-
tax is demanded of them, and wheat at 405.! Poor
Sir ROBERT too, more wretched than ACT)EON,
Who suffered from the wrath of a Goddess, he
1 has transformed himself, in order to be the leader
of the agriculturists, and he seems now to he in a
1 fair way, like ACT.:BON, to be worried by his own
dogs. ' We foresee that we shall have to defend
him from his followers before Christmas,
and we at once begin by declaring that the law
under which the landlords and flamers will suffer
was granted to their demands ; that Sir Ro_
BERT PEEL would have made a more liberal law
if the landed aris!ocracy would have allowed
him; and that the cheapness which they will as-
cribe to him is tar more the consequence of a
bountiful harvest than of his measures.

It was lately stated at a meeting of the artizans
of Manchester, that the different classes of
workmen had within a few years spent 3,000,0001.
in their endeavours, by strikes, combinations,
&c., to raise wages. It is now stated, that these
persons have still in their possession, as members
of Provident Societies, Burial Clubs, &c. &c.,
considerable sums, and we read of their recently
withdrawing 1,500/. from a Savings' Bank at
Stockport, and of their giving notice to with-
draw 1,0001. more within a week. We read, too,
a number of ludicrous stories of members of dif-
ferent societies, under the influence of. persons
who are at once ignorant and mischievous,
having hastily withdrawn their money from the
bands of bankers, with a view of promoting a run
for gold. So far as these circumstances indicate
the existence even now of a considerable degree
of welfare amongst the working classes, they
are extremely satisfactory, and reflect, we think,
much honour on them. That they have any
funds at all, after such expenses as they have
incurred, and after such privations as many of
them have endured for the last three or four
years, demonstrates unanswerably that they are
far, very far, from being that reckless, thoughtless,
improvident set of men their detractors have
pleased to describe them. Of what other class
of labourers, at home or abroad, could such fa-
vourable accounts be given, after four years of
interrupted employment? They must have made
tolerable good use of the years of prosperity
which they have enjoyed—considering how com-
paratively small at any time are their earnings—
to have saved any thing, and to have applied the
sums they are said to have applied to the im-
practicable purpose of raising wages.

If these circumstances raise these men in our
estimation, they also make them formidable.
If they can undergo so much self-denial to ac-
cumulate funds against all the contingencies of
life—if they can mistakingly waste large sums
for an object which, by their mode of
proceeding, is unattainable, what is to
prevent their accumulating funds, and wisely
applying them to self-improvement and to
the attainment of political rights? In fact
a large and influential portion of them are bend-
ing, their energies in that direction, and as their
habits enable them to accomplish much, with
comparatively small means, we may anticipate
for them a great, and not to be hindered, acces-
sion of political power. Their quietness, while
they suffer, and yet silently mature their plans,
is one of the least favourable symptoms we
have yet beheld of the present interruption
of the ordinary business of the community
coming speedily to an end. We were willing to
hope that such would be the case ; we have stu-
diously avoided using any language that might
encourage or provoke the continuance of the
contest; on the contrary, we have endeavoured
to promote its cessation, though too ignorant of
the views and feelings of the parties to presume
to offer advice or admonition to either; but when
we see plans of at least passive resistance grow-
ing to maturity, and see some funds at hand to
carry them out, our hopes that the contest is at
an end are materially abated. Unquestionably
much has been done by the rhodomontade and
threats of the Tory Journals to keep alive fear,
anger, and hatred; and if society should not soon
relapse into peace, it will owe the continuance of
strife to their fire-spouting articles.

.. 4,
_ .f,,,,... ,•_._
:t...4.:,,it
• . , , i - 4- ' . •
4,;:k. .. , . - ..... d 4, 10.,4;° u 011'; '
-....- , •••
'e"1: ''' ' .4','"'s: •-•!' .7r ~C, G:-.,t,": ' '3' , -. '''''''