The Sun. — London, England, 1832-12-28 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. We alluded on Saturday to one of a serie• of experiments now going forward in the United States to try the force of their political institu tions, and the stability of their federal union. Two of the southern states—namely, South Carolina and Georgia—have already refused to pay custom-house duties according to the tariff fixed by the federal Legislature ; two or three others are prepared to join in this fiscal revolt : and Congress will have in the present session to decide whether it will permit its authority to be renounced with impunity,—whether it will re peal from fear thole imposts which it renewed last year from policy,—whether it will delay the enforcement of its acts till a general convention shall deliberate on the new limits of obedience due from each individual member of the union to the majority,—or whether it will, without any previous examination, order the President to draw the sword of civil war and secure prompt submission by military coercion. " Money," it has been said, " is the root of all evil," and it will be instructive to see a confederation formed from a body of colonies, which had combined to resist illegal taxes, itself broken down or dis united by the hands of the tax-gatherer. The southern or plantation states have certainly as strong a reason, if not as good a right, to se parate from their confederates of the north as the whole colonies had to renounce their alle giance to - their mother country some 50 years ago. The Tea and the Stamp Act were no' nearly so oppressive to the colonists as the Tariff Act is to Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Ala barna ; and with respect to the grievance—the great undeniable grievance—of being taxed without being represented, how can the present aggrieved members of the union protect them selves by - their representatives against the votes of 19 or 20 states which profit by their oppres sion any more than the unrepresented colonies Suppose the 13 English colonies, before the) hoisted the standard of resistance, had obtained seats in the British House of Commons for as many representatives as their wealth and popu lation entitled them to send across the Atlantic. such delegates could not have prevented the passing of the stamp or tea duties, and these duties would not have been rendered just (if un just before) by the protesting presence of a few American planters. All political writers in this country have visited with censure the present policy of the American general Government, in attempting by high protecting duties to force the establishment or to encourage the extension of manufactures in the American union. With the high price for labour which exists in the United States,—with their scanty supply of mo neyed capital,—with their unlimited range of un cultivated or half-improved soil, it was almost a crime against society to divert human industry from the fields and the forests to iron forges and cotton factories. Nature had pointed out the course which they ought to pursue for perhaps half a century to come, till the plough and the spade had followed the axe of the woodcutter into their " primeval wildernesses of shade," and till happy plantations had been formed on the deserted domains of the Indian huntsman, from the Atlantic to the 'Ohio,—and from the Mississippi to the Pacific. She had directed them to cling to the bosom of " Mother Earth " as the most fertile source of wealth and the most abundant reward of labour. She had told then to remain planters, farmers, and woodcutters, — to extend society and cultivation into new re gions,—to practise and improve the arts of the builder, the carpenter, and the naval architect, — to facilitate every means of internal communica tion,—to promote every branch of internal trade, — to encourage every variety of landed produce, but not to waste the energies of their labour, or to in terrupt the course of their prosperity, by forcing at borne the manufacture of articles which foreigners could supply at half the price for which the) could be made. Such is the policy on which i , was the duty and the interest of the America' general Legislature to have acted, though the whole States of the Union had composed only one homogeneous mass, and had contained no source of division or disturbance in the oppo sing commercial claims or views of its separate members. This last consideration, of course. strongly fortifies every argument and reasoning against a tariff of import duties on foreign trade —imposed, not for the purpose of increasing natior.al revenue, but of protecting particulai applications of industry. The chief exports from the United States are the productions of its soil, their chief imports are manufacturers commodities. Of exports to the value of more than 80,000,000 of dollars, or between 16,000,0001. and 17,000,0001. sterling, more than the value of 65,000,000 of dollars are the fruits of American agriculture. In cotton-wool and tobacco alone their exports amount to up wards of 35,000,000 of dollars. Corn and flour, with staves, potashes, and the other pro ducts of their forests, constitute a large item of their export trade, into which, for the sake of out argument, we need not enter further at present. Now, it cannot fail to be observed that the chief part of this large mass of export commodities is the produce of the southern or plantation states, —that the northern states, though they include the greatest body, or nearly the whole of the great merchants and ship-owners of the union, produce comparatively few articles for foreignl consumption, and that thus, if the tariff did not exist, or were abolished, the former would re ceive the returns for their produce duty free, instead of being loaded with heavy taxes to pro tect a species of industry with which they have no connexion, and from which they can never derive any profit. They must either obtain the commodities for which they exchange their pro duce from their customers abroad, or from their fellow-citizens of the union ; and in either case they must pay a disproportioned share of the national taxation—for the tariff on foreign ma nufactures,, imposed to protect domestic indus try, comes chiefly out of their pockets, even though they purchase home-made articles, as the price of the latter is maintained high by the 25, or 35, or 40 per cent. ad valorem duties le vied on the former ; that sum is therefore the amount of the sacrifice which they are required to make for the benefit of their federal union over and above what the other states interested in domestic manufactures are called upon to contribute. Statistical facts seem to accord with the result of a priori rea soning, and support unequivocally the com plaints of the southern states. By add ing together ,the amount of produce exported from the four members of the Union which at present threaten a separation, we find, if out memory does not deceive us, for we have not the official account before us, that their exports exceed in value 34,000,000 of dollars, and that their imports are only about 9,000,000. All the remaining returns for this immense difference must, thus come to them through the ,other states, and must consist of articles supplied them either from their . own fellow-citizens of the North, or from foreigners through the medium of Northern dealers, on the scale of protecting prices. Having thtis briefly explained the grounds of this dissensioh between the general Government of North Ame'r'ica and four impor tant Members of the America; Union, which, though much talked of, is little undeystood in this country, we must postpone some fuither ob servations on the past history of the dispute, its present aspect, and its probable consequences, to a future opportunity. The President must make it the subject of a communication to Congress, in his address at the opening of the Session, and though the Session is to be short, some legisla tive measure must be introduced to answer so pressing an emergency. Georgia has already dismissed the Custom-house officers of the Union, and the State Government of South Carolina has resolved to pay no more duties ac• cording to the existing tariff.— Times. A whole volume of letters has been addressed to us upon the vote by ballot,—a question which seems to have called into play much more violence and intolerance of opposition on both sides than can in any manner conduce to the development of truth, or consequently to a pre ference by the Parliament of that policy which might be, in itself, the wisest. We are not par tisans either of the ballot or of open voting, and the few remarks which we have thrown out upon the subject have certainly not borrowed anything from a bias unfavourable to rational experiments in legislation merely because they are experi ments. The Reform Bill was an experiment on a majestic scale, and the country was right in encouraging and supporting its authors ; it is not, therefore, from a childish fear of what has been invidiously termed "innovation" that sober and disinterested persons, who have been stead fast advocates of Reform, feel compelled to hang hack amidst this popular eagerness for the privi lege of voting in the dark. Our own impression with regard to it is one of doubt and distrust, rather than of positive condemnation. We are not blind (who can be so ?) to the glaring abuses of influence and power which show them selves in the proceedings of almost every election throughout the kingdom, nor is it possible for an honest man to restrain his indignation at their iniquity and frequency. But when we are told with infinite confidence of an expedient which is to operate like a charm for the destruction of all such practices, must not every reasonable person be anxious to know whether the proposed measure is likely to prove in reality the charm which it pretends to be, — whether it will be, in fact, any remedy at all, or a mere verbal nostrum, of no sensible efficacy towards the removal of a single evil now complained of, though probably creative of one or two others from which we are at present free ? This, we repeat, is a just subject of inquiry, not of headlong declamation and invective. If the ballot be recommended as a safeguard against the menaces of the powerful towards the weak, by reason of the secrecy in which every voter may envelop himself, it is surely fair to ask some assurance, by argument as well as asseveration, that the ballot will afford that secrecy and that safeguard against intimidation. Our opinion has been already declared that men's votes under the ballot will be as well known as they now are, or, at least, that their promises will be exacted with as much importunity as ever, and that he who gains anything in the way of security by the ballot must be he does so at the expense of his integrity and good faith. Even granting (what_ we think most unlikely) the soundness of the protection obtained for timid men through the ballot, is there, let us ask, no countervailing mis. chief in the introduction of a principle of dis guise and mystery into the enjoyment of an Englishman's noblest rights, under which the most honest and high-minded man in the empire cannot shield himself against the suspicion of hay- , ing exercised those rights unworthily? We admit, and let it never be lost sight of, that influence has been, as we fear it will ever be in some cases, employed for selfish purposes,—that evil stares us in the face. It would be unjust in any one to charge us with a blindness or indif ference to that revolting abuse ; but even, once more, assuming that influence, not merely by threats but by promises, to be fulfilled in the event of a certain candidate's return, might be greatly curtailed—demolished it never could be —by the ballot—assuming this, our fear is not unreasonable that the advantage might be dearly bought. The elective franchise is understood by the constitution to be a trust. Is a political trustee to be wholly irresponsible, by shrouding himself in darkness, and laughing to scorn the superintendence of his countrymen and the con trol of public opinion ? If reprehensible things be done in open day, things more shameful may be reckoned on when there are no witnesses to fear, and there is no account to be rendered. Now, the public eye scans the vote of every elector, and takes cognizance of his app:trent motives, are there no malignant passions to be indulged by a recourse to the balloting urn ? If it be of importance (and it is inappreciable) that representatives should always have in their recol lection the views and principles entertained by their constituents, is it not essential to the ac curacy and usefulness of such a recollection, that where differences of sentiment exist, as they must for the most part among electors, the Member of Parliament should be able to satisfy himself and others that such and such opinionsare in truth and practice upheld by such and such indi viduals or classes of the constituency, so that the weight of the authority which supports each Mem ber may be correctly assigned to him and estimated by him ? There is no doubt that public meetings, so long as they are the fashion in this country, may form (in spite of the ballot) an instrument for ascertaining the degree of sympathy between a Member of Parliament and the several subdivi sions of his constituents. Far be it from us, above all men, to undervalue that great national institution of popular assemblies freely called to gether to discuss either local interests or ques tions affecting the whole state itself; but is there no probability that with the ballot (provided it did secure secrecy of suffrage, which we do not credit) might creep in a taste for general isola tion and concealment, to the gradual decline, and ultimately the exclusion, of that fearless publi city which has been heretofore the distinction of our English political system,—a substitution, as it were, of midnight, with the mask and stiletto, for the cudgel, the open defiance, and the broad face of day? On this highly interesting and critical question of the ballot, all that we would now suggest to our countrymen are di spass i onate inquiry and patient consideration before it be irrevocably adopted. It is not clear that many of those who clamour for it have much acquain tance with its results and operation elsewhere. In North America:o.tlron o bron f gh br t ib w e i s th ; itn nowhere sec recy nor the h .loes more rancorous bitterness arise out of the notoriety of each citizen's vote,—nowhere are more impure and flagitious means resorted to for the gaining over a majority. Does the bal lot, then, guru d the weak against intimidation ? and if it really possessed that advantage, which, as we have seen, is far from indisputable, might it not be too dearly purchased ?—Times. There is no subject more interesting to a reflecting individual than the state and condition of the labouring population ; but we are com pelled to say that there is also no subject which `is more calculated to fill an individual with ap prehension. Every now and then the public attention is arrested by transactions which indi cate a most alarming state of demoralization. Let us take, for instance, the recent murder a , Enfield Chase. Murder is comparatively rare in England ; and it is not to the murder itself that we wish to draw attention. But what ought to make a strong impression is, the cool and easy manner in which a number of individuals seem to have discoursed on the robbery of the sailor. We fear that in almost every parish throughout a great part of the country will be found a number of individuals whose notions of right and wrong hang equally loose about them, and who keep each other in countenance in evil doing. The tendency of the treatment of the labourers, as was observed by Mr. Baron Gur ney, in his charge at Lewes, " was to drive the labourer to the beer-house, where he soon learned to become a participator in all sorts of vice, and ultimately of crime." Where men are spirit-broken, their morals must necessarily be bad. Men are everywhere driven in herds tp work in the high roads, or in gravel pits, where, being without the stimulus of a proper reward for their labour, and, consequently, incensed against society, they soon learn to look, if not , with complacency, at least with indifference, on what men in good circumstances view with hor ror. The labourers have discernment enough to see, that they themselves are the victims of fraud and injustice. They see everywhere their employers engaged in a game of cheating each other, warping the law to their purposes ; and, though they have not themselves the saving power of warping the law, they know that they can easily elude it. In an article on the Pout Laws, in the last number of the Quarterly Review, we have the following too faithful pic ture of English village life : " It is sufficient to observe, that these payments (i. e. out of rates) to labourers already in full work, are at, illegal and fraudulent device of the large farmers, for shift ing a portion of the necessary wages of their labourers op the small farmers—who have little or no labour—the tradesmen, householders, and clergyman of the parish ; that they tend to reduce the nominal wages of labour to the bare maintenance of a single man, the wives and fa milies being turned over to the parish, and thus to con vert the where labouring population into paupers, receiv ing their means of maintenance at the parish pay-table as eleemosynary relief; and in portions determined, not b) their relative industry, or the value of their labour, but by the number of months in each family. The gross re c..ipts of the working class, wages and relief together, may be, and in some places are thus cut down to the minimum on which the lives of the individual men, women and children can be sustained, according to a nice calculation from the price of necessaries ! " Those who have not personally witnessed the work. ing of this deleterious practice can scarcely form a con ception of the scenes which take place almost daily, before a Magistrate, in those rural districts where the Alpe is countenanced. Let us give a sample; the dramatis per. sonce are the Justice, the overseer, and the able-bodied labourer : " I.lbourer—` I'm come for relief, your Worship. I've a wi'e and four children, and work for farmer Clark. He gives me eight shillings a week wages, but I can't keep my family on that. I have been to the Over seer to have my pay made up, but he won't give me nothing.' _ _ " Justice—' Well, Overseer, why don't you make up this man's wages? A family of six cannot be expected to live on less than ten shillings a week at the very lowest.' " Overseer—' Your Honour, the rest of the farmers, all but Farmer Clark, give ten shillings a week, and if he did the same, this man might keep his family well on his earnings. But the rest say, that if they are obliged to support the families of Clark's servants out of the rates, why they must lower their wages to eight shillings too, and throw tbe families of their labourers upon the parish likewi•e.' Justice—' It can't be helped. The wife and children of this man must not starve ; and I have no power to make Farmer Clark pay higher wages than he chooses to offer ; so you must allow the two shillings necessary to make up his pay.' " The consequence is that the other farmers are com pelled, in self protection, to lower their wages to eight shillings; upon which farmer Cl ak reduced his to six, and the same scene is, perhaps, re-enacted at the next Petty Session., with the substitution of six for eight shillings as the lowest rate of wages, and eight for t •n as the higher. The final result is, that in some district. the wages of farm labour are reduced during the winter mouths to three or four shillings a week for an able man ; anti almost every individual of the labouring class is, as a thing of course, on the parish books a pauper. We have known an able-bodied single man set to thrash corn in a barn at sixpence a day, by the side of another not a whit stronger or better workman than himself, but who, because be bad a wife and five children, was receiving two shilings per day. Judge of the feelings of the first min, of his probable inclination to work on such terms, and then wonder who can that he preferred a vagabond and criminal life to one of industry—so rewarded.' We have not space now for entering on the consideration of the remedies for this horrible state of things. But by way of contrast, we shall lay before our readers an account of the state of the peasantry in what is considered the very worst Government in Europe—Turkey— as given in a clever work just published, " Re cords of Travels in Turkey, Greece, &c., and of a Cruise in the Black Sea with the Capital) Pasha, in the years 1829, 30, and 31, by Adolphus Slade Esq." Speaking of the Bul garians, he says— " No peasantry in the whole world are so well off. The lowest Bulgarian has abundance of everything ; meat, poultry, eggs, milk, rice, cheese, wine, bread, gooti clothing, and a warm dwelling, and a horse to ride " Where then, it may be asked, viewing the above true statement, is the tyranny under which the Christian sub jects of the Porte are geaerally supposed to groan ? Not among the Bulgarians certainly. I wish that in every country a traveller could pass from one end to the other, and find a good supper and a warm fire in every cottage, as be can in European Turkey—the result of its being thinly inhabited ; for in the same ratio as population adds to a nation's greatness, it subtracts from its happi ness. The soil, when over occupied, fattens on man ; when under tenanted, man fattens on the soil—that is, in the former case unremitting labour is requisite to m ,ke it yield barely sufficient for the sustenance of numbers ; in the latter case Nature requires very little aid to afford plenty for the few. The principal grievance of the Chris tian peasant in Turkey is the harratch ; oftentimes lie cannot pay it. What can the collector do ? It is useless distraining his cattle, for on the plain are others wild. It is useless taking his furniture, for their is no vent for it. It is useless ejecting him, for no other occupier will be found for his tenement, every man having already more land than be requires in a country without herds to consume the sur plus of his produce. It is still more useless putting him in prison, for money is never gained there. lle gives him the bastinado, or nut, according as he believes that the man's poverty in specie is real or feigned. A few dozen blows decides the doubt, and he is undisturbed for another year. I venture to say that many a freeborn man, who boasts of liberal sentiments, of chartered rights, of equal laws, would gladly compound for his rent with a licking; a d instead of grumbling at his fate, bless heaven that he is not turned out on the high road with his family. At the same time, I do not deny, that the lower classes in Turkey often suffer grievous oppression under a rascally Pasha or Aga ; but take their position in the worst view, distorted by the film of slavery, they never see the lyrist ruthless of tyrants —hunger. e Their rulers cannot check the fertility of nature—cannot prevent the beasts of the field from m : the trees of the forest from sprouting —nor the seed thrown on the ground from springing up into ear• They may have tile mortification of seeing many of their children die, when young, for want of medical aid ; but they are certain that those who grow up will not be re duced to follow their career of vice—the eons on the high way, the daughters on the pavS—for subsistence. They ire not tantalized by the constant sight of enjoyments be yond their reach ; are not tempted by easy modes of con veyance to leave their quiet villages for the fancied plea sures in the capital; are not made discontented by reading with the state of life wherein destiny cast them ; and to mm up the advantages which the poor have in such (bar `.arous !) countries, it is worthy of remark, that the pu nishment of death rarely falls on them. For one poor man who loses his band in Turkey, five hundred rich men lose theirs. How contrary to the practice of highly ci vilized States—elysiums for the wealthy, purgatories for the indigent—where the hungry and the naked—wretches whose greatest crime was want—are the principal offer ings at the shrine of justice." This account of Mr. Slade exactly tallies with the descriptions given by Hacquet, one of the Emperor Joseph's Professors, who travelled ex tensively in the European provinces of Turkey for scientific purposes. Speaking of the misery in every part of the West of Europe, from ex cessive population, he says, " In many countries of Europe the privations of the people from ex cessive population are intolerable. We are every where crowded with human beings, and the wretchedness increases every day, especially since all have been allowed to marry, without knowing how they are to be maintained. How happy, on the other hand, are the people in the fertile provinces of the Turkish empire, where there are still few people ; all the means of subsistence abound—the forests abound with game, and there are the noblest meadows where the grass reaches the height of a man.! The fields lie fallow for a year, and no dung is required. In such countries, epidemics are deemed the wholesome restorers of the equilibrium in nature." If we are to believe these gentlemen, the problem of the Utilitarians is solved in Turkey, where we find the greatest happiness of the greatest number. —Morning Chronicle. Every friend of humanity—every one who is anxious for the advancement of the civilized in terests of mankind—every one who abhors the havoc and violence with which reckless politicians afflict mankind, and desolate the earth for their selfish purposes or mere pastime, must rejoice that the scenes of slaughter which the " me diators" of the Belgic and Dutch quarrel enacted in the vicinity of Antwerp have been brought to a termination, at least for the present. The only result which has flowed from the san guinary purchase of the citadel is, that the con flict has raised the character of the Dutch for bravery and military skill, while, in the latter re spect, the: reputation of the French army has se verely suffered—it having taken 75,000 men three weeks to reduce a garrison of little more than 4,000, while, in the year 1793, it took a smaller French army only three days to reduce both Antwerp and its citadel ! Much is said about the probability of the surrender of the dependent forts. It is anticipated by some that the King of Holland will not give a pretext for the longer delay of the French troops in Bel gium, by refusing to give up those forts, now that the citadel is gone ; but if the King of Holland intended that they should follow the fate of the citadel, it is strange that he should have taken the chief command of them away from General Chasse just before the French commenced the siege, that it might not be in the power of the General to surrender them if he would. In making this arrangement the King evidently calculated upon the fall of the citadel, and on the possibility of still being able to retain both Lillo and Lief kenshoek, both of which have been inundated to an extent of two or three miles in circuit, and which would of course offer great difficulties and delay to the ope rations of a besieging army. Whether the King of Holland will now abide by this determination remains to be seen. Possibly the same merciful consideration which induced him to stop the effu sion of blood, by instructing Chasse to strike his flag before the dreadful carnage of the assault began, may ineline him to give up the de pendent forts—the Dutch troops having now done sufficient, in the face of an overwhelming force, to establish their character for prowess and intrepidity. If not, it is impossible not to be lieve that some ulterior operations are in view, which makes the Dutch King not at all anxious that the French army should recross the Belgian frontiers. But, supposing the dependent forts, as well as the citadel, placed in the hands of the Belgians, the question of the navigation of the Scheldt, of the capitalization of the debt, and the freedom of the inland waters of Holland, remain just where they were before—only with this difference, that the temper of the King of Holland must be rendered less practicable than it was, on the disputed points by the injuries and provocation which he has received. It will be well, indeed, if Lords Grey and Palmerston ambitious can now have the terms which Prussia offered on behalf of Holland just before the infamous ag gression a gainst that country, which will inflict thee. tl of i ) ep Eon an indelible stain commerce w uponit w cie to h we say character s y land, whose Ministers sacrificed Dut c h a lli ance andcy oif o f trthheGe Eon Government, repudiated i r hc Cabinet m o: terms after r can now be o bt a i ne d by of so much blood as Lord Palmerston's " fan ciful war has occasioned. And here we cannot avoid remarking on the gross inconsistency of those Treasury journals that tell us, on the au thority of the sapient and facetious Secretary for Foreign Affairs, that there is, or has been, no Dutch war at all ; that the thou sands of French who have been buried in the trenches, or are now maimed and mutilated in the hospitals of Antwerp, Berchem, Brussels, Malines, &c., have only been slain or mangled in " lively sallies of the imagination," and that even the Belgians who have suffered from the balls of their French allies have only mistaken their fancied afflictions, brought upon them by their own friends, for the real calamities of war. Those very Journals now tell us that the Dutch garrison of the citadel remain as " pri soners of war" in the hands of their captors. How there can be prisoners of war, when, in fact, there is no war, we leave to the ingenious parasites of Lord Palmerston to explain. If the French army, having by the reduction of the dependent forts fulfilled their ostensible mission, should forthwith recross the frontiers, how is Leopold to be supported on the throne, it now being proved beyond all doubt, that he and his " brave Belgians are utterly incapable of main taining a conflict with the Dutch ? If he can only be kept on the throne by French power, Belgium can be considered nothing else than a province of France ; and thus our attack upon the King of Holland will only have served to aggrandise our great rival at the expense of the best interests of this country.—Morn.Herald. We received last night Dutch papers and letters to the 26th instant. The latter describe the gloom which had been cast upon the spirits of the people by the intelligence just received as these advices were leaving of the critical position of Chasse and impending fall of the citadel of Antwerp. But though disheartening, the firm•. ness of the Government does not appear to be greatly shaken by the ominous communications ; and these papers speak of the new arrangements of the naval forces upon the Scheldt, for the better repelling future aggressive movements of the French in that particular quarter. This in telligence had arrived too recently to leave time for judging, or even collecting any trustworthy materials for speculation as to the ultimate in tentions of the King with respect to it ; but at present every indication appears to favour a perseverance on his part, as far as his means will allow, in the course of resistance which he has hitherto pursued. The destruction of the fleet of gun-boats by the Dutch Captain, on the fall of the citadel, is one fact which seems strongly indicative of the intention of Holland not peaceably to give up the Forts Lillo and Liefkenshoek. That would have been a wan ton and senseless act of destruction, if it were not to prevent the French from making use of those boats in attacking the inundated forts. Another fact is, the order given to the Zeeuw ship of war to return to Flushing, and there take up a position of observation for any future emergency. A question quite new, and it ap pears unconnected with that of Antwerp, now arises respecting the two forts which we have mentioned. It is known that these forts are isolated by extensive inundations of the polders, and, as the waters remain unfrozen, it would re quire a maritime force to enable the French to reduce them, provided the King of Holland re fuses to give them up, on learning the capitula tion of the citadel. That he will quietly surren der them is very improbable, inasmuch as, when he withdrew them from the command of Chasse, it was in contemplation of the event which has just occurred, and with the determination of retaining them after that event. If nothing has since occurred to alter that determination, the French must go on with the campaign. The Dutch, notwithstanding the late reverses, seem to be in no haste to finish it. Several ships, which had been suffered to escape the blockade in England, had arrived in Dutch ports—a cir cumstance which appears to have given great satisfaction, as well for the sake of the property saved, as that it shows the people begin to flatter themselves that the English Government has at length seen its error, and would withdraw from too open a sanction of the French outrage. These accounts fairly admit a repulse in the attempt at Doel, of which our readers have al ready heard through the Belgian correspondence, and a loss of 14 killed and 60 wounded upon their side. Their candour throughout upon the vicissitudes of the short campaign does them great credit.—Morning Herald. The cannon of the Invalides at Paris were fired on Monday last for the first time, in token of triumph, since the capture of Algiers in 1830, about three weeks before the just and necessary revolution which expelled the Bourbons from France and placed the existing dynasty on the French throne. For the first time since the establishment of the general peace in 1814 has the tricolour led a French army to victory. The first time since her revolution of 1830 has France exerted her military power beyond her own ter ritory, under the dominion of a strong and faith ful Government—and in concert with an honest and powerful ally, solemnly renouncing for each and for both all objects of territorial aggrandize ment,—all purposes of commercial monopoly, —all interference with internal institutions,—and acting solely as the arbiters of peace and the pro tectors of national independence. The French, having accomplished the object of their expedi tion, are about to retire to their own country, and to show the force of their institutions by their moderation in success. The King of Holland has thus at a cheap rate for the Go vernment of Louis Philip, given him an oppor tunity of proving what a powerful army he can in a few weeks bring into the field, how promptly and zealously his commands are obeyed and his attacks sustained by the nation—and, what is more, with what courageous self-denial his troops can retire when they have conquered, and falsify the predictions of their ambitious usurpation. Do we grudge the French army and the French Cabinet the praise which each in their turn seems to deserve for the conduct of their enter prise ? By no means. We are convinced that this expedition to Belgium will be more useful to Europe, in averting the chances and calami ties of a general war, than glorious to France in conferring a trifling addition to her military re nown. But if any party, if any faction, or if any political coterie is precluded from expressing a murmur of complaint or dissatisfaction at the turn which affairs in the Netherlands have taken, at the renewed career of French military success in that quarter—if any body of politicians are justly prevented from evincing any alarm for the future independence of Belgium by seeing the necessity of its establishment, in the first instance, by foreign bayonets—or if any persons have sur rendered their right to announce an appre hension that the tricolour, 44 fanned by victory's crimson wing," may march beyond the walls of Antwerp to the east or the north, it is surely not the Reformers of England, nor the liberal members of the London Conference, but the obstinate members of the Dutch Government, deceived, duped, or misled by the dispised Tory intriguers of this country. Every man of com mon sense or common candour who knows anything of the course of the late negotiations must admit the reluctance which the English Government always manifested to undertake coercive measures against Holland. Everybody admits that the French Ministry desired to be equally quiescent. Everybody is aware that all the means of persuasion, of entreaty, and of menace, were exhausted in vain before the treaty of October 22 was signed, the combined squa drons sailed, or the French army advanced. Even at the last hour, when that extraordinary cor respondence which we lately published was forced upon Earl Grey, and when it appeared, on the showing of the Dutch Government itself, that the whole ostensible difference lay between one guilder and three of a toll on the Scheldt na vigation, the French troops would have been arrested on the frontier, and the half-drawn sword would have been for ever sheathed, had the Dutch Plenipotentiary been allowed or empowered to surrender the citadel of Ant werp—now taken—as a pledge of Dutch sin cerity, anti a commencement of executing the treaty which had been agreed upon after two years' negotiation. The faction of the English Conservatives, then, who basely wrought upon his Dutch Majesty to hold out . that they m i g h t get in, are not only to blame for all the losses which King William has sustained, and for all the blood that he has caused to be shed—but for all the renewed eclat which, according to their complaint, the French army has acquired, and for all the additional impulse which he has given to the military genius of the French people. It would be too late now to discuss the principles on which this armed interv en tion 0 1, France and England between the two contend ing Sovereigns in the Netherlands has taker*. place, even though we had not, on many former oc-. casions, sufficiently explained and defended thew; but we beg it to be constantly and distinctly borne in mind, that our intervention had no reference . to internal government,—th a t it h a d not f o r it s object either to establish or mo dify i nterna l inst i tutions—that, if it enables two nations to se p a rate themselves without fighting, Europe had for' merly forced them to combine without desiring union ; and that in all cases where the dispute lies about external bou n d ar y, or t h e amount o f territorial dominion, nations whose vicinage ev poses them to be affected by the quarrel have right to interfere. The interference of England and France on this occasion has been of the most disinterested and generous nature. Th e l i ll capitulation of the citadel of Antwerp gives 0' J I . ' thing to France ; all its articles evince a nob le concession to the spirit of peace in which the e't' el pedition originated. The Dutch garrison are 'h not even to be prisoners of war longer than th e r I surrender of the two forts o f Lill o an d Lter L .... , kenshoek, whatever m a y b e th e u lti ma t e re sult ( )i. the present dispute. His Dutch Majesty o' 4 ihi be dead to every feeling o f h onour a nd llti'i manity if after this, for the paltry pur pose t' II:LT gaining a few pence more of a navigation tollt° r )titti with the senseless hope of recovering his, forme (1 , power, he resists the amicable overtures of his a ll ie s, a In order to point out to our Conservative fomenter s . • of foreign war, and our unpatriotic libellers 0 ' ht, French honour, how vain are their hopes in the 'fit former case, and how unjust their aspersions'" • the latter, we need only allude to an expression , i i or two in the Gazette de France, the leader O i , the legitimate party against the existing Fre",4B l Government. " The French have been brave' %; I i . . fo re says that print, " before A n t wer p a s ue ! v Algiers. What a misfortune th a t Antwerp doe s NA! not remain with us like Al g ie rs , an d that t" - tii alliance of England, which prevents us front r i. e. !pi taming the price of French bl oo d, should:: IM i more powerful now than her m enaces in 1 8 1 1 11 which could not prevent us f rom k ee ping t' u ,; t bi " l j African conquest !" " But, thanks to Heave° , t:,,, adds the Gazette, " French blood will flow i! c) -..--.. more, and the phantom of a general war is d' sipated." Let our Conservatives read this pas ,44, sage,—not the less just in its statement becaus e El intensely French in its sentiment,—and the u R / let them talk of our Ministerial Gallontant a : re, t and of our having endangered the peace of E ti Pt rope to promote the interests of France l V 131 Times. '-' th THE MARKETS. SOUTHALL MARKET.—Dec. 26. PP II I In this day's market, which exhibited a limited a n throughout, and was thinly attended both by London and cl i h try buyers, each kind of meat met with a very dull sale, at following prices per stone of Sib, to sink the oflals:— Beef 3s. 2d. to 4s. 6d I V 3s. Sd. to on o Mutton 3 10 4 10 Pork The foregoing quotations are Beef 4d., and Pork 2d , stone lower than on this day se'nnight ; prices of Mutton . Veal stationary. Beasts, 123; Sheep, 1,304; Calves, 25; 46. But a small proportion of the supply left the marl_±eLt..../1 HAI LSHAM MARKET.—Dec. 26. 44 8eef..................... 3s. Od. to 4s. 4d. I Vea1............... 4s. Oa. to 0. 0 M 1 utton.,—,—.. 4 0 5 0 Pork .......,..--.. 3 8 4 A limited supply, and a very dull trade. Anti NDEL MA KKET.—Dec. 24. 41 6 ' 8eef............... 3s. Od. to 4s. 2A - 1. I Veal Od . 4s. to • 4 Mutton 3 6 4 8 I Pork= 310 4 A limited supply, and an exceedingly du1..T1e:.„.., CHICHESTER M ARK ET.—Dee. 26. Beef .........,......... 3s. Od. to 4s. 4d. Vea1............--. 3s. Bd. to 4s 061 I Mutton 3 8 4 8 P0rk......... 3 8 4' A limited supply, and a very dull trade. .....-' RU M FORD MA RKET.—Dec. 26. s. 6. to s. d. s. d. 4 ,•' Reef 3 0 4 2 i Veal Mutton 3 6 4 6 Pork ...................3 8 4 Suckling Calves from 14s. to 30s ; Quarter old Pigs 12 s. tolBs. eaC Supply limited, and trade dull throughout. Ole i ih e COUNTRY CORN MARKETS DURING THE WEE Wheat. Barley. Oats. I Beans. nre *► An Per Quarter. s. to s. s. s. S. to s. Lto Blandford 53 30 20 gl ItIR Brigg ..1 52 63 36 40 19 22 31 55 29 17 00 Chard 54 58 28 34 17 20 at og Huntingdon.......... 58 633 2r 34 15 20 21 th e Long 5utt0n......... 56 64 17 22 3 2 Louth 5O 55 27 32 19 20 32 0.5v1 Lynn 54 56 20 38 22 28 „ 32 40 vtuti Newark 55 5.9 29 37 16 „ ;x 4 42 Ir a , Nottingham 50 62 36 42 17 23 „ Peterborough 46 60 28 38 17 22 2 14 ltja Plymouth 50 64 30 34 20 23 It4 t 67 43 2 7 1 1 " Sleaford , 65 70 36 38 22 28 41 40 Uppingham 46 57 26 34 18 24 222 0 1. 'of Wishech 44 46 20 24 13 14 LL1:1Is Co RN 51 A ltKET.—Dec. 24. e4 tt Wheat, Norfolk and Suffblk, 601 b. 4. to York. and Lincoln. 601 b. Barley, Norfolk and Suffblk Yorkshire and Lincolnshire G r i nd i ng Beans Oats, Potatoe 9:11 a —Mealing, For. 12d. to 13d Eng. 1134 d. to 13d. Peol, ShellingP e L l 255. to 275. Rapeseed. English. 211. to 22,--. Foreign. —l. to --I- Beans.., Oats, I'otatoe -Waling, For. I2d. to 13d. Shelling Rapeseed, English, 211. to Fore LIVERPOOL CORN' EXCHANGE.—Dee• 24 ' PI 9 ' WHEAT, English, White, per . 7olb. ss • od. to 4-5. 10 Red q 6 L --• Scotch, Welch, and Manx ' Irish, White 7 3 7 5 --- Red Foreign 9 6 9 5 I 3 OATS, English, Welsh, and Scotch, per 451 b..., 2 !.., Irish Foreign 2 Z 0 BARLEY, English, Malting, per Imp. quarter 34 0 ° 1 6 --. Scotch and Irish, per 601bs. - 4 ° Feeding 3II 38 0 --. BEANS, English, per Imperial quarter 36 0 32 0 34 0 0 Irish, &c. Foreign PEASE, English, per Imperial quarter 33 0 40 0 Foreign Elms, English, per 2801 b. 43 0 r i 0 Irish OATMEAL, English and Irish, per 2401bs 24 0 - • OATMEAL, 0 INDIAN CORN, per 4401 b. It e, per Imperial quarter MALT, per Imperial quarter 1 meoaT OF GRAIN for the Week ending Dec. 22 . Wheat. I Oats. IB ar l e y Flour. o_at_d Qrs. Qrs. Qrs. 'Foreign, Brls.llnsh, &c. Sad lai 5,272 515 i 2,645 0 I 4,245 ala i MURDER AND PIRACY ON TH E i "....1t SEAS.—It may be recollected, that at the last Mai";, Sessions a Portuguese seaman, named JOSE Eg' l : o . e g charged capitally for the crime of piracy and 1n° 14 . 1 „,. fro' duct, and being trial was acquitted, it appea rl ,7 o o , oftteatehveideanaceedofunadnevapeopuroipvueris,iontheanSdtltorudgb f : r os ctl: leaders of the transaction which Mr. Justice GETO s ogi tru described as " bloody and atrocious." Fr°Topilli transpired s at the trial, it w a s ev id en t that the onj tors, or chief pirates, wher e A NTONIO , a Spania rd ' 0 0‘ Frenchman, called J ACK ; an d h a ppily for the Prc e olit s justice we have to state, that infor m ation has :P i .„ t ur cle' 4 this country from America, that the pirate an d "" . 10 /1 ANTONIO is now in custody in the United St4t 4 t d ti should be be acquitt e d o f th e d rea df u l crimes in i P u be sfi l him as respects his outrages on Americin vessels, or isit be placed under surveillance until the English Mute, thi take cognizance of hi m . Th e h orr ibl e circurnsti oc t! led to the r e cent tri a l a t th e Old B a iley arose fr; as t.,° seizure by a part of the crew of the trading brig 0 00 Bristol, off Bahia, when she was returning lo aie mste g ,l One night the Captain, and Master, and the twuerbosP., Five e e p s e u r d s d o e n n a ly in se a iz il ed w , evmeumrdaserseade,readn,dand a thrown o v . t P I s ixth I ° 9 life when the vessel was run ashore in a 11c49Y fa cet li; ! T iPti r , Ean, itz r aets 4 b ti. 7" , & ° Tut q !. „titiard -14711 On the 2:ith inst. in Reg 4l ency-square, Brighton, th e ak„ThE Captain G. Stevenson, of a daughter. • o'l 'W I* the Lambeth, ti l ' j,Vet On the 26th inst. at the Lawn, South Lam • , rio k liiii Robert Burnett Brander, Esq., of a daughter. v ,,, a rd l' " ,ler k On the 21st ult. at Orleton, Salop, the lady of .", /I TI L • Esq., of a still-born son. ido, ti i ,„ Br- ace, V ! J‘ it 1 On the 10th inst. at Clapham Ri§?, L..43' —r- m , in M e d Major-General Sir Charles Brtice, _late of Beckenha of twins, still-born. . .Al, 4 _ t% MARRIED. ' rf r 1 4 . 4 ? On the ISth inst. at Barningham, in the countY -Ai of " the Rev. R. J. C. Alder s o n , t o S o phi a Sarah, daught e r t o Thurston Mott, Esq. 0 6,0 4 On the 27th inst. at St. Luke's,;Chelsea, Charles PaY pt e+ of Thavies Inn, to Caroline, youngest daughter of the ' Fuge, Esq., of Sloane.street. ial Ig 6 stP.vlt._ .66 11 2 Res r 4 i titaog' PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY M U It DO YOUN —,' he SIM OFFICE, 112, STRAND, LONDON , ir DIED. d 1 4 1 , .(1 'en v " On the inst. Mrs. Haswell, of Piccadallyy, an o ff lane, aged 51, d a u g ht er of th e late John Godsell. r - ' 9. ' ney, ropemaker. , cfr On the 24th inst. at D ea l, aged 50, Henry PaPc - 60 of the late T. W. Payler, Esq., of Ileden, near Canter b /