The New York herald., 1845-12-08

disease and the best means of arrestng its progress
temporary, zone fact seems universally admitted
that considerable portion of the population OF Ire
land Will shortly be deprived OF their ordinary
OF subsistence. Some extraordinary means must,
therefore, be provided, and the calamity being ma
tiona, the provision is naturally looked for at the
hands OF government" "The amazement" ex-
claims another, "with which one contemplates the
reckless and daring hardihood of this decision of
Sir H. Peels, REJECTS, as totally Inadequate all the
ordinary language OF mere political censure Indig-
nation is, for the moment, lost in astonshment.-
We did not believe that the man lived out of Bed
lam who would dare to assume the responsibility of
three winter months of famine prices and prohibito-
ry duties. Least of all, could we have imagined that
Sir X. Peel-a statesman SO nervously irritable at
the bare mention Of "responsiblllty," and 80 tho
roughly well cognizant OF the nature and power of
those terrible realities with which his legislation
has brought us face to face, could be the man to
charge himself with this burden. That Sir r. Peel
has heart, after all, did not take 1t upon our
selves to affirm very positively; but we certainly
never supposed him to have those nerves OF iron
which he will need between now and next Il Febru-
would venture to dlssppont national presentiment
so strong and general as that which has pervaded
this country during the past fortnight and which
reiterated and protracted Cabinet meetings had
raised into sort OF certainty, we freely took for
granted to be morally and politically Impossible possible,
from Ireland have, in the main, been more gloomy
and omnous. The last intelligence is ever the
worst Every day cuts of many days food from four
millions Of Irish people, and acceerates, by many
days, the arrival of the last horrible reality o.oa
of Great Britain from one end of the country the
other, to protest in a tone which no minister can
dare pretend not to hear, against the insane and
criminal obduracy of maintaining the prohibltory
duties in the very face OF famine That protest must
be prompt, loud, unceasing and unsparing. We
warn the country-though the warning is now su
perf1uous-that it will take most determined effort
to bring to his duty the minister who shamelessly
distinctly acknowledged the urgency of the crisis
calling for their exercise, and who manifests a
hardened Indifference to the reality OF that respon
sibty, the mere allusion to which he affects to re-
sent as an outrage"
This is strong language. 1t would be strong if
uttered the heat Of parliamentary debate, but
thousand times stronger when deliberately penned
at the desk OF journalist II is not, however, one
whit stronger than the emergency demands from
every writer who has heart to feel and the power
to give expression to his feelings told you in my
last that the same mail would probably take to you
the gazette OF the order in council opening the ports
was mistaken. But you see that my companions
In error were the whole British nation
There is not yet, it is said by the monopollsts,
any manifestation OF distress; tor the returns OF
Mark Lane show that corn has not approached a
starvation price. This is true But it is like the
mockery OF the fend-true only to the ear In the
market Is large quantity OF bad with small
quantity of good grain. rhe latter alone is fit for
such wholesome bread as the English working
classes are accustomed to eat. But the marker
price of wheat is taken from the average, which in
this produced by the fusion Of the thousands
OF quarters Of bad with the hundreds tens OF gooe
corn the mixture OF the Stew grams OF wheat with
the bushel of chaff"
While the English Government is standing still
the French nation Is taking the alarm. The Paris
press teens with warnings against the consequences
which must visit France If the ports be opened III
England to foreign corn In France there has beer
fair average harvest but not which has yielded
any excess beyond the amount of the actual wants
OF the country In the normal condition OF things,
there would be nothing to apprehend The sliding
scale in England would necessarily have restrained
importation into that country, to give full pro-
lection to the French consumer. But if the estab-
shed cereal laws OF that country are to be suddenly
abolished or suspended-if the English consumer
is to seek for food in the French market, where 1t
is contended there exists supplies to satisfy his
demands-nothing can retain the necessary TODD
the people of France must outbd the English buyer
In their own market-and when the relative lengths
of the two purses considered IT is not difficult
to foresee the result of such an auction.
In 1889, there was an abundant harvest in France,
and an expectation took place, amounting, accord
ing to some, to four and according to others to ten
per cent OF the whole corn production OF the coun-
try: 1t is asked, then, whether France, having
low the expectation OF ten, or even four per cent Of
her gross production +! The former would be equal
to the support of her population for ELK weeks-the
latter for two. But whether 1t be two or Six, can
she live without bread tor such an interval "Think
of exposing the people % exclams leading journal,
" for such time to the most direful extremity to
which great people can be reduced"
Besides, 1t is contended that the corn-producing
part of France is exclusively those northern de-
partments, which either border on the channel, or
are In easy communication with IT, II Is on these
that the wine producing provinces OF the south de-
pend. But from the peculiar position OF these de.
st. So ~ka,s nvlo
will be easier and cheaper than its tran smission to
the southern population OF their own country, who
cannot subslst without It. In the event OF the sus
pension OF the corn laws, every thing would there
fore, favor the English buyer in tn French market
Such, and many others too prox to explain, arr
the grounds on which large and influential por.
on OF the French press urges on the executive the
policy, nay, even the State necessity to exercise
the power with which the laws and constitution
have invested ii, to nterdct the expectation OF
grain, flour, or other food.
Meanwhile, the prohibition on expectation ls be-.
ginning in other ports. Sardinia has already inter
dicted, and the other countries OF the Medlterra-
mean will fellow.
The discussions on the contingency of general
scarcity in Europe have led to some developments,
which probably will not be destitute of interest for
your readers. II is contended that the advance
ment Of civilization and the diffusion of knowledge,
causing improvements in agriculture throughout Eu-
rope, render the population Of this continent more
and more independent OF those atmospheric vclssi-
or fsmines. Thus, while in the last century these
vsitations were comparatively frequent and attended
by public suffering, there has been within the
last forty years, but one example OF harvest IN
France decidedly bad, and even that one, the harvest
of 1877, was little more than 20 per cent less than
the average annual production This general secu-
rly arises, at least IN France, not alone from the I'M
proved cultivation of the SOIL but from the fact that
not one buta variety Of kinds OF subsistence are ra-
ed Thus, the very states Of the season which may
diminish the production OF food of one kind, may
even stimulate that Of another, and ombnation OF
meteorological conditions which should destroy or
deteriorate all equally, is scarcely conceivable i
the population is accustomed to limit the production
to particular species Of food, to the exclusion Of this
variety are more exposed to the consequences OF the
vcissitudes of seasons England, and still more
Ireland, afford examples Of this. In England, the
production is in great degree limited to corn
and cattle. In Ireland, to the potato. When one or
the other Of these fail, the safety Of the country ls
jeopardsed and relief must be sought from abroad.
Divide the SOIL and when industry and skill produce
..~l .t..c tbn fa,l