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

THE CORN-LAWS.

. No one connected with railways can shut his eyes- to the broad
and staring truth, that -the cDtn-law is the greatest fee he has to
battle with. At the present price of wheat one year's consump-
tiOn of thi nation would cost some twenty-four millions sterlieg
more than it did at the prices which ruled in the market snore
twelve months back. The manufacturing and trading inter.
eats will no doubt suffer from the high price of wheat, and
the accounts from Manchester tell us already that trade is begin-
ning to suffer, but the railway market suffered first and foremost.
The blow was nearly as severe as if some twenty millions of money
had been absolutely lifted from the pockets of the shareholders
The railway market has been robbed of that amount by the corn.
law. The sliding-scale is the real cause of the " falling sickness"
which has attacked all descriptions of railway shares and scrips.
It is the fear of high prices and the drain cf bullion which the
Directori of the Bank of England anticipate to pay for food, that
has caused' them to increase the rate of discount, and may cause
them to-increase those rater still-more. Lett. rs of allotment in
railway companies are no longer in demand. Scrips which were dealt
in for the " coming out " at 31. and 41. premium are no lonker
" paid upon," and when they are " come out" no money will come
in. The public have shut their breeches pockets, and will not
readily open them until they know what is to t-e the upshot of all
the meetings and consultations of the Cabinet. We ate afraid
that the do-nothing policy is for the present to be the game, but
it cannot long continue, for the price of corn will soon advance, in
spite of the rascally system of averages, to such a height as wit
rouse the people to a sense of the iniquities of these corn and pro-
vision laws, and compel the Ministers to do something effectual.
The English people arc slow to move ; they are animals that take
a deal of kicking ; but once they really suffer from the cravings of
an empty belly, they are not to be trifled with. The mischief
which has been done to so many of the small shopkeepers and
families of the middle classes, by the sudden depreciation of rail.
way property, will increase the general dissatisfaction, and in-
duce the great bulk of the electoral body to clamour far
free trade. Some tightness of money may be experienced
at first from the change, because, in this case, as in every °tint-
connected with our system of Government, a bad code has been
maintained against all reason and common sense, until the remedy
could not be resisted from a fear of consequences. The change is
thus abrupt and startling, and, like all such rapid and ungracious
movements, even from bad to good, the process of transition will
be attended with some difficulties; but they stand in no weight
balanced against the advantages which would ensue from a repeal
of the corn-laws, and by which the railway shareholder would be
most signally benefited. Surely Mr. Hudson cannot hold fast to
Isis pro corn-law principles, against the damning evidence of
their doings, which the woe.stricken picture presented by the
official share list now portrays. Discounts rule where pre-
miums formerly held their cheering sway, and even the ad-
vent of his own loyal person to the chair does not pre-
vent the shares of the Eastern Counties from drooping to
a lower price. They were done to.day at `2O to ty, and
this day last week at 2.`: to 1,. fhe holders of shares
in that Company fully expected that the accession of
the Member for Sunderland to their management would be at.
tended with an immediate rise in the value of their shares. They
looked down with pity upon the scripholders of the poor London
and York line, under the leadership of Mr. Beckett Denison, and
generously offered to take them under their wing by offering them
a slice of the consolidatedstock which was to fill up the vacuum to
be occasioned by their absorption. They have already found this
beautiful vision little better than a dream, and yet, if we had been
blessed with plenty of cheap food for the people, their expectations
as to an advance in their:shares would very likely have been re-
alised. Whether the holders of the London and York scrip would
hare accepted the terms of coalition offered them by Mr. Hudson
is another matter, and on that point we own that oar opinion is
not very confident. The House of Commons passed the Bill for a
direct line from London to York by such a large majority last
session, that they stand pledged to the principle, and that fact must
naturally induce the promoters of the line to feel themselves of
sufficient importance to fight another battle on their own account,
—Chronicle.