The Sun.
London, England, 1829-09-10 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR.

SlR,—The leading article in your paper of the
2d of September, upon the numerous failures which
are daily taking place amongst the manufacturers of
this country, shows that misfortunes sometimes
produce good fruit, by forcing people seriously to
consider their condition ; and most happy should I
be to find that you apply your intelligent mind and
powerful pen in investigating those causes which
you admit are now operating, which must be looked
at boldly, and which must be represented honestly,
if we wish to uphold the State.
If you will do this boldly and fearlessly, as you
can find time and space, I have no doubt that you
will make an impression upon the public mind, be-
fore the meeting of the next Session of Parliament,
which may form a ground-work for a reform in our
present system of operations, than which nothing
can be conceived more mischievous and oppressive
upon the manufacturers.

When I tell you that I have been for upwards of
a quarter of a century a regular reader of your jour-
nal, and when I remark the great influence which
it continues to have over the minds of the great
mass of the people, I need not say more to assure
you that I always examine your reasonings with in-
terest, and have a fervent desire that they should be
not only generally, but always, cogent and true.
In your reasoning upon this question 1 have the
misfortune to differ widely from you, and therefore
have presumed to offer you a few remarks.
You observe that there are causes operating at
present to harass and distress the country, and that
certain ignorant or interested people assign as their
causes the late liberal policy of the Government, in
giving a greater freedom to trade; and, secondly,
the calling in of the 1/. notes, thereby sounding a

condemnation of such opinions are sufficiently in-
telligent and convincing, to all rational people. It
cannot be denied that all great changes, even from
the most vicious system to the most beneficial
must be attended with some loss and inconvenience
to some parties, however cantlbusly brought about ;
but there rntint be Something wrong in the Construc-
tion of that man's mind, which comes to the con-
clusion, that this long continued and appalling pros-
tration of our commerce arises from these whole-
some measkires-,

we agree as to what are not:the causes, but
o w come to what you say are thr: taxes
in:which opinion I widely differ froth you.
It must be admitted, that all taxes tend to depress
the industry of the country, and therefore the lighter
they are, the better; and, further, that. any tae
more than are necessary for th.e ratzte,oU of the
property and persons of the King's subjects, and
for the maintenanto of the dignity of the King's
family, are a decided evil. I must also admit, that
aftcr these are sufficiently provided for, there ore
taxes drawn from the people of this country un-
necessarily ; but that the amottnt or these unneces-
sary taxes can accOnnt for one tithe of the horrid
misery and diitress which have for some years
ground down the manufacturing population of this
country, I utterly deny.

Consider for a moment what relief ;Tat could ex-
pect from this cause of evil, which may be taken in
round numbers at 55,000)000/. You condemn the
dishonest knavet7 of cheating the public creditor,
and therefore must pay their interest, which amounts
to .30,000,000/., your army, navy, ordnance, &c. cost
20,000,000/. more, which I itragi'ne could not be
much reduced at preset; and, after these, you
have only 5,000,0001., out of which you must pay
your civil lie:, your judges, your pensioners, and
many things besides, before you can come to the
ta*ings, which, according to your reasoning, are to
form so important a part in giving relief to this dis-
tressed country.
Excuse me when I say that such an assertion,
coming fiom some other quarters, would be con-
sdered only as throwing out a tub to the whale;
and although your oldest friends believe you to be
both incorrupt and incorruptible, yet there are those
on the watch to whose evil eye it would be desirable
to give no gratification. Why, Sir, there is more
labour and industry, and capital, perishing for want
of employment at this moment in this country, than,
if employed, would ten times over pay all the sav-
ings which could possibly be made in taxation. And
why are they not employed ? I shall endeavour to
answer that, after considering the remedy which you
have proposed for this state of misery : to which re-
medy I would give an unqualified condemnation.
Besides the relief from taxation, which would be
beneficial to all classes, to the amount which could
safely be granted, the only remedy which you pro-
pose is, that England " mnst contract her manufac-
turing theatre, and become less absolutely an instru-
ment of mechanical production. The transition may
be trying, but it must and will take place."
Now, Sir, what is this but the doctrine of the
Luddites in the mouth of the Editor of the Times
journal ? Destroy a certain portion of the
gence, the capital, and the inhabitants, that the fruits
of industry may be diminished, and consequently
that the remaining portion of inhabitants who may
survive the smash, may be able to exist a few years
longer, or until the same circumstances arise, which
they will as certainly do as the winter will follow the
harvest, unless we either change our system, or be-
come a nation of Hottentots, in which latter case we
shall need not to trouble ourselves with political
speculations.
Surely, Sir, the aim and end of every lover of his
species, and particularly of every statesman, must be
by all means in his power, to increase and multiply
the comforts of the people among whom he lives ;
and how can he administer more effectually to their
temporal wants, than by precisely reversing this
doctrine of yours? Instead of " contracting their
manufacturing theatre," would he not, on the con-
trary, recommend to them in the strongest manner
to bring all the intelligence, the capital, and the in-
dustry which they could command into full play—
to encourage every invention which would abridge
labour--not to scratch soil with a stick after the in-
vention of a spade—nor to carry it away in their
fingers after the discovery of a wheelbarrow—neither
to use the distaff in preference to the spinning-jenny
—nor the hand-shuttle in preference to the fly—nor
the hand pump in preference to the steam-engine
In short, Sir, would he not say to them, extend the
theatre of your manufactures, and become more and
more the encouragers of mechanical power, for you
will thereby add to the wealth and comfort of the
great body of the people ? He will have shoes and
hose who never had them before; he will have two
shirts who before had but one; and the gentleman
who indulged in one suit before, may now indulge in
two; and the lady whose rustling garment used to
descend to her grand-daughter, may now have one
per annum.

Now, Sir, all this has been done, and well done,
in England ; and, moreover, must continue to be
done, and must be extended if we mean to hold our
place among the nations ; and yet misery and dis-
tress are the portion of too many of the very persons
who have brought all these comforts to us.
I have already taken up more of your space than
I intended, but as I have impugned your opinion of
the causes and cures for this distress, I shall briefly
state what, in my opinion, is the cause, and what
would be the true cure.

It has been the constant policy of every states-
man in my time, from Mr. Pitt downwards, to en-
courage this activity in commerce and manufactures,
and wisely so, for otherwise this country must fall
into a declining and more miserable condition than it
is even now. Under their fostering care and liberal
policy, as regards commerce and manufactures, an
immense trading population has been created, pos-
sessed of greater capital, greater intelligence, greater
industry, and greater mechanical ingenuity, than
ever before appeared upon the face of the earth;
they have wonderfully enriched the King's domi-
nions ; they have greatly increased the comforts of
all classes of the King's subjects, from the lowest to
the highent. Every man, woman, and child, has
abundance of bodily raiment; the trading classes
have done all this by their industry and intelligence
in their various callings, and yet your Journal gives
us, from day to day, the most lamentable accounts
from every quarter of the island, that these very in-
dividuals are absolutely perishing for want of bread.
You have stated, that in some parts the weaver
works for 3s. 6d. a week, which is not equivalent to
a peck loaf of wheaten bread. Good heaven! who
could believe that an active artisan should ever be
so reduced as to be obliged to give six days' labour,
and 16 hours a day, and be repaid with a peck loaf.
And now, Sir, for the cause of this evil:—

Mr. Pitt, although very desirous to increase ships,
colonies, and commerce, found it not less necessary
to encourage the lords of the soil; and about 1804,
passed a Bill giving them a monopoly of the supply
of corn until it should rise to a given price in the
markets, under the plausible reason, that this coun-
try being again embarked in a war with our invete-
rate and powerful enemy Buonaparte, who was de-
termined to cut off all our intercourse with the con-
tinent of Europe, it would be politic to supply our
wants from our own soil.

The consequences of this Bill very soon showed
themselves by an immediate and very considerable
rise in the prices of all kinds of corn, and a host of
applications, every succeeding Session of Parlia-
ment during the war, from the lamdlords, for leave
to enclose and cultivate waste lands,—lands which
never ought, and never would have had a farthing
expended upon them, but for the assurance which
this infamous Bill give them, that the people would
not be allowed to buy elsewhere, till corn-bread
should rise to starvation prices. So on they went,
enclosing poorer arid poorer lands; and as the po-
pulation continued increasing quite as fast as their
enclosing, they continued to keep up high prices,
and let their lands, particularly their richer and
older cultivated lands, at extremely high rents.

tem, Providence sent a great dearth, almost ap-
proaching to a famine: sToh ibis kingdom, in the
years 1f312 and 1813, during the greatest height of
Buonaparte's power and inveteracy against us. ,!
Corn-bread rose to double and treble its forriler
and it was found ifs'e'sl-..z.'s'y io apply to the Conti•
nent f-6e corn, which was easily procured in any
quantity we had money to pay for : showing to the
meanest capacity the arrant humbug of Mr. Pitt's
plausible reasons for the imposition of snch a system;
It pleased an altwise Providence again, in the two
follewthg ybars, to bless the people with bountiful
harvests, and a return to peace with all the world,
by the destruction of Buonapaite's p6wer th 9
effects of these blessings s'ver., to bring down the ,
price "lq coin-bread, in 1815, very nearly to that of •
1804, in which Mr. Pitt introduced this system ;1
but this price would never pay the landlord, or en-
able him to get a rent for the waste lands which bad
been brought into cultivation ; and, either ignorant
that the pdpillation increasing would soon press
again Upon him for food, not being able to get it
elsewhere, or impatient of a year's delay, or perhaps
both ignorant and impatient, what does the lord of
the soil ? Mr. Pitt being now no More, thu land-
lords succeeded in getting his successor, the amiable
Lord Goderich, to embrace their cause, who, under
the plausible reason of keeping prices steady, pre-
vailed upon the Parliament, in the teeth of the most
violent opposition from the great mass of the people;
to give the landlords a monopoly of the markets, till
bread-corn should rise to 80s. a quarter.
The/ same consequences followed this measure as
followed Mr. Pitt's,-viz., an immediate great rise in
the price of bread-corn, and a further cultivation of
waste lands : and there have been no importations
during the last ten years under this system, saving
and except a driblet of 500,000 quarters (equal to
five or six days' consumption) now and then ; and
this little mercy was only granted to trim the mar-
ket, and prevent it rising to the importation price,
in which case the people would be enabled to go past
the landlord's shop, and exchange their industry
upon better terms elsewhere: and you will perceive
that although the nominal price of corn fell from
about 75,. in 1816 to about 60s. in 1824, the real
price in the latter year was even greater than in the
former. During this interval our currency had been
restored to the metallic standard of 3/. 17s. 101 d.
for an ounce of gold; and on making reference-to
the Parliamentary returns, you will find that an
ounce of gold, upon the average of the three years
immediately preceding the measure of Lord Gode-
rich, was 5/. Is. Now if 5/. Is. gave 755. per quar-
ter, 3/. 17s. 10id. (its equivalent in the restored
currency) ought to give 58s. Gd. per quarter only.
However, we find it in the years 1824, 5,6, and 7,
average 605., taking the four years together; and
this high price could only be sustained by the con-
tinued pressure of the population upon the food ; in
other words, the demand continued greater than the
supply.
I have now arrived at the period when the pre-
sent Prime Minister introduced the present system
of corn laws, which (with the exception of the ex.
cellent principle of a graduated scale, and freedom
to import at all times) is certainly the most oppres-
sive which has yet been acted upon ; and you may
rely upon it, that until some great relief be given
from those iniquitous measures, the great mass of
the people must live in misery.
We might have expected, that the lords of the
soil had already got monopoly enough by Lord
Goderich's system ; but only compare that with the
Duke of Wellington's, and you will in some degree
see how the manufacturers are plunged deeper and
deeper in distress.
Lord Goderich, with a paper currency equal to
Si. Is, for an ounce of our present money, esta-
blished 80s. per quarter as the monopoly price for
wheat in 1815, below which price none should be
imported. Now suppose Lord Wellington had
wished not to increase this exclusive system, and vet
not to give any relief, would he not have said. or
stated the case thus :-If Si. Is. in the currency of
1812 to 1815 gave 80s. as an exclusive price, what
should 3/. 17s. 10i-d. (which is the equivalent of
the aforesaid 51. Is.) give now ? And would he
not have found his question answered, according to
Cocker, 625. Gd. as an exclusive price ? But look
at his system, and you will find that at 625. 6d. you
cannot go past the landlord's shop without paying
an additional tax of 1/. 4s. Bd. above the 3/. 2s. 6d.
per quarter. This is adding to Lord Goderich's
system with a vengeance ; but look further, and you
get worse and worse. Lord Goderich, with his
currency, fixed upon 80s. as the highest exclusive
price, and Lord Wellington has fixed upon 735. and
Is. duty as the highest exclusive price in our gold
currency. Now, if 3/. 17s. 10id. of gold give
735. to Lord Wellington's system, what would
5/. Is. (which was the equivalent of the aforesaid
3/. 17s. 100.) have given to Lord Goderich's sys-
tem ? The answer is 945. per quarter; and yet we
know that the Noble Lord was satisfied with 80s.,
although at the time some thought him so unmer-
ciful as to be a fit object for the gridiron.
Now, Sir, when you know that a system the very
reverse of all this has been pursued as regards trade
and commerce, called the free trade system-a most
enlightened and liberal system I admit,-when every
opportunity has been seized with avidity to bring it
into practice, bounties withdrawn, prohibitory du-
ties abolished, restrictive duties diminished, our ports
thrown wide open for the manufactures and produce
of all the world, with the exception of the staff of
life, can you be surprised that our artisans are mi-
serable, when you see that they are compelled by
law to exchange their labour for the produce of
waste lands in England ? Can you not perceive that
as the population continues to press upon food, and
as,more food cannot be produced from these wastes,
that the labouring artisan must give more and more
of his labour for every mouthful, till he absolutely
starve ? and how near must many of them be to
that state, when your correspondent writes that in
the county of Lancaster the weavers in some dis-
tricts are now labouring 16 hours daily, for six days
in the week, for a peck of bread! Sir, how horrible
is this, to see the intelligent, active, arid industrious
mechanics in this country, which may be said to be
choked up with raiment of all sorts, perishing for
want of food, which in another land is as abundant
as the raiment is here, and both classes eager to ad-
minister to each others wants, but prevented by this
infamous system from making the desired exchange !
I have now given you my opinion of the cause of
our mercantile distress, and the only cure I know of
that would be effectual, is to put all classes of the
King's subjects upon one level. Do not give a free
trade system to the people at large, and a monopoly
sytem to the landholders ; but as the former is a
liberal and philosophical system, and the latter is an
arbitrary and tyrannical one, let the free trade sys-
tem pervade the whole.
There is no desire on the part of the manufac-
turers to have more than fair play, and therefore
they will patiently listen to every thing the land-
holders may have to say against being put upon an
equal footing. Sir Thomas Lethbridge and his
class are eternallytalking however about the commu-
nity of interest betwixt the landholders and manu-
facturers;
foroile in Io
mw
eonutl d t
ob e sseue
cc th
ahr er all aat t
ne
or
nn
seevrei
sr e t
ao s 1 i
tsht
ae
tn.
The farmers who do not hold long leases have cer-
tainly the same interest as the manufacturers, but
while the present system lasts, the interests of the
landholder is as
peblackl. is from white,
fromthe other classes
If the landholders can show that any taxes or pub-
liedifferentof tire a
ps
eo
burdens fall more peculiarly on them than others,
let them have relief : the people under a real free
trade system will pay all the taxes without a mur-
mur, only allow themto exchange their industry for
food at the cheapest shop.
If the landholder complains that some trades have
also protecting duties, let then be pointed out and
corrected ; but the landholder ought to remember,
that the staff of life is a very different article from
silk handkerchiefs or an ivory fan ; the one we may
dispense with-the other we cannot.
However, the mercantile classes would do well to

.

they have the nmallest reason to complain of, in
order to procure a real free trade, for nothing else
can now restore the commerce of this Country to a
healthy condition ;and popttlation will be centkntly
pio6s:ok upon food, as food cannot be got except at
starvation prices to the labourer, who has only his
labour to give in exchange for his food, misery and
distress will continue to pervade the land, and the
certain consequence of such a state of society has
leett correctly and philosophically proved by Mr.
Malthusthat a portion of the people must con-
tinue to perish for want of food as sorely as if God
had ordained that a pestilence should continue to
Ptrvade the land. This is the transition which you
need not say " must and will take place ;" for you
may be assured that it is now in full operation in
many of the manufacturing districts of this kingdom,
and no doubt sufficiently " trying" to thdse who
ha'ie it to endure.
I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
PETER PLAYFAIR.