The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-31 00:00:00

CLOSING
PRICES.

76 ,
L

LONDON, FRIDAY. OCTOBER 31, 1845.

in a leading article on the potato murrian, published in
our impression of the 25th instant, we made the following
observations, and we repeat them here, in order to introduce
the important announcements, which seem to be justified by
the universally accredited rumours, of the determination that
has been arrived at by the Government, in reference to the
all-important :subjects to which they refer. We wrote
thus :—" The danger of a lack of subsistence for millions
of our poorer fellow- countrymen is no longer a
figurative allusion—an imposing figure, to point the
indignant declamations of anti-corn-law eloquence. It
is imminent—it is impending—it must be encountered.
But with what Conservative provision 2" . . "We answer
thus—cheap and wholesome corn must replace dear and
diseased potatoes. To let in cheap and wlsolescnne corn for
this just, humane, and patriotic purpose, not a moment must
be lost in opening the only channel through which the
supply can be poured in a sufficient quantity, and at suf-
ficiently low prices." .... " The Prime Minister ,rust assume,
if he would avert responsibility for the impending
catastrophe which the advent of winter must other-
wise bring along with it, the grave political
responsibility of advising the Crown to. issue an
Order in Council virtually suspending the whole ma-
chinery of sliding-scales, and pivot prices, and peiec-adjusting
duties. He must make the importation of fore ign corn free
for some weeks to come," &c., &c. From theit day to the
present hour the aspect of affairs has indicated t: approach-
ing fulfilment of our convictions; and some ren sz,rkable fea-
tures have eept cially attracted our notice. It is, therefore,
just five or six days ago since we ventured, in e xpress terms,
to predict that the Minister would find I tinsself com-
pelled to adopt a course of this nature in this
manner; that Is, by Order in Council. We pi Maimed the
necessity that impended over him of witnessing,. :and even of
compelling thefailure of that boasted corn-trade ISeg islation, to
the perfect character of which he had pledged the reputation
of his own official sagacity and statesmanship, an d, in order
to uphold which he has protracted the season of'h igh prices,
with famishing • wages for the whole of our Inds: 'trial com-
munity, through many months and years of privation
and misery. For the consistent maintena ee of his
inconsistent scale, he has dragged his own :party and
adherents tha ough all the highways and by-ways of
political tergi versation and moral evasion. It is true
that in adopt ing the proceeding, by Order i a Council..
of which nowt here can be little doubt—he mu it also adopt
the alternative which we assumed he would most pro-
bably resort to, as comprising one of th ose middle
terms—one of those substitutions of expedient a for prin-
ciples which a re so emphatically characteristiie of what
he would call "his policy." Last evening th.e result of
the various ruin ours which had prevailed in the Ci ty on the
subject of the o pening of the ports throughout tkit ; day was
considered to b e authoritatively stated thus t foreign
wheat would be s Ldmitted for home consumption, uncle ran Order
in Council, at 44 barley 25., oats ls. per quarter, flour 2s.
per sack. It Tessa assumed that this " Order" woti tel release
1,000,000 quarts 'rs of grain and flour in bond, in •el he United
Kingdom; 17U,000 barrels of flour on the way from the
United States, 150,000 barrels from Canada, 60,0 0(1 quarters
the market of home-grown corn, a
ru I the ap_inof wheat from the Baltic, &c. Thus the actual is resence of
pscraorlcieihg
scarcity in
infusion of bonded and foreign supplies to
a large irmou nt into that market, are facts
bro, ight pr omin antly into public notice.. On the
occasion already alluded to we remarked- —" On t'
, (given. the single condition of even suspending,
though we may hold that the euspetisio a
of those corn-laws,) we ha' tre a cezt tan
sfitrboti ll ei r
d h
limited
h hand,
dP tiermln: permanent,
- " been
and p rompt influx of grain," &c. But it appears t hat we -must
once. We are not to be trusted, even for a limited term,
not hi restored to a healthful condition of cowran.trvadeconas
with ti its un conditional suspension. Our” natured ,
all
ltua-t
called in, as an opinion,
tion is; robuhseeththimatsetlhf the
after being paid his fees,state of the •,
on the anent, ap-
prehef our redundancy of health. e'o let us alone
naive o
woult make us too well. Our pulses. are still too
Sptl:rtaesepdoictt,otro, give •
vigor of 4. He is compelled to discontinue 4 his perilous treat

ment .0 f subjecting us to the paralyzing:, and life-extinguish-
ing in auence of the large doses of. tinctura digitalis pre-
scribed in the formula, of his emir:taws ; but he will insist on
exhibit ing his hom'.upathic remedies in the poison of small

duties. Well, we must be content. The reduced quantum
of thee e minute 'out noxious preparations will soon be ex-

hauste i, and JOHN Butz may, and we think will, soon re-
gain h is constitutional embonpoint, in spite of Dr. PEEL. A
preliminary condition to this perfect consummation must also
be tht : utter sacrifice of all his currency nostrums, which

we c atertain strong hopes of yet seeing thrown out
of tht window by the indignant good sense of the public. In
the n leanwhile we cannot but marvel at the good fortune
whit] ais so constant to Sir ROBERT PEEL, that, out of the

mice; y and distress of the country, it supplies him with new

aourc es of revenue. The failure of a harvest is an enormous
nacre ment in the (temporary) prosperity of his finance. His

statis tics of income, collated with those of expenditure, are
so 3.nt Lch enhanced by how much misery and famine, ex.
tend their fearful ravages among the people. A failing
hr
.„..e, t and a potato murrain give him the oppor-
',,mitl of thus acljustipg the decrease in the last