The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-15 00:00:00

TILE SUN,_

in Kensington, for the purpose of explaining their
views to his Lordship and to other gentlemen of lite-
rary
distinction. A sufficiently detailed report of
the proceedings will be found elsewhere in our im-
pression of this evening ; and from those proceedings
enough information may be gleaned to enable an in-
telligent and dispassionate mind to arrive at some-
thing like an accurate appreciation of the question at
issue between the undersellers and the Association.
Acting in this matter, however, as in every other,
like a " Just Judge "—as he is—Lord CAMPBELL
declined to express any definitive opinion until such
time as he should have listened to the arguments
of the opposite side in the discussion. Audi alteram
partem he acknowledged to be his invariable prin-
ciple upon these occasions, intimating in the very
acknowledgment the particular bias in his own mind,
when he alluded to Lord ELDON'S custom of never
deciding any cause, however clear it might be, with-
out hearing the side against which he- was inclined.
This determination on the part of Lord CAMPBELL is
more noticeable from the circumstance that the most
prominent among the undersellers in the metropolis
had been ineffectually invited to attend at the meeting
convened yesterday at Strathedeu House in Kensington.

It may be as well to mention at once that the first
Booksellers' Association on record was constituted in
1812 ; that in 1828 it was remodelled ; and that
having fallen for some time into abeyance, 1848
witnessed its revivification. The principal object of
this association was very lucidly explained yesterday
by its present chairman—a member of the great
publishing house of the LONGMANS—to be the re-
striction of the privileges of the trade to such alone
as complied with certain conditions, declared by the
practice of the trade to be absolutely essential for
their enjoyment. " The main privilege," said
Mr. Wiretaam LONGMAN, "is that of re-
ceiving a certain discount from the retail
price, and the condition on which the privilege is
granted is that the retail price shall be observed.''
Now, as to the amount of the discount granted to the
retail booksellers, it cannot be deemed as in any way
extravagant the allowance being 25 per cent.,
whereas in other trades that amount of profit is very
nearly quadrupled. That the retail price of books
should be a condition stringently imposed by the pub-
lishers must, say the upholders of the Booksellers'
Association, be obviously no less entirely redeemed
from the charge of extravagance. Without some
restriction of this kind, they maintain that the
whole system of the trade would necessarily
become involved in a state of confusion
altogether inextricable, in consequence of the disas-
trous competition set on foot by the undersellers.
What say two of the most remarkable among their
number now-a-days—Mr. Boast and Mr. BICKERS ?
According to Mr. BICKERS, five per cent. profit
would be sufficiently remunerative. But, retorts
Mr. BORN, "if Mr. BICKERS can sell at five
per cent. profit, I can sell at one," and so the
rivalry runs down upon a scale of perpetual diminu-
tion, '` small by degrees and beautifully less," until
tae ruin of the trade would in the end be as certain as
toe profit would become infinitesimal. Such are
the fears entertained as to the result of the under-
selling system, a system declared by the almost
unanimous voice of the trade to be most ruinous and
destructive in its tendencies. Whatever may be the
ulterior decision of the arbitrators presided over by
Lord CAMPBELL, there cannot be any question what-
ever of the accuracy of the asserciun made by the
Chairman of the Booksellers' Association, to the
effect that the free-trade principles cannot be
regarded as applicable to the bookselling trade.
In illustration of this, Mr. LONGMAN very correctly
and ingeniously remarked that patented articles were
the only articles approaching those in which book-
sellers dealt in character. " The bookselling trade,"
he observed, " was the only one in which there was a
possibility of fixing a retail price, and in which there
was a complete identification of the article. It was
advisable to buy many articles—as, for instance, silk
goods and hats—from tradesmen in whom they had
confidence, because persons who were not judges of
such articles might easily be deceived as to their
quality. There was, however, no doubt as to the
identity of a book. If a purchaser wanted Lord
CastPuELL's ' Lives of the Chief Justices,' he could
not be put off with the late Mr. TOWNSEND'S
Lives of the Judges.' If Mr. GROTE'S His-
tory of Greece ' was asked for, Bishop TEIIRL•
WALL'S could not be substituted. This gave the
power of fixing a retail price ; and, as those who
dealt in such articles must have a profit, it was
necessary that a certain agreed allowance or
discount should be given to the trade." Other-
wise the entire system of the trade obviously becomes
involved in confusion, a confusion certain to become
yet " worse confounded," unless some remedy can
be contrived against this increasing tendency to com-
petition. Devoted Free-traders as we are—
Free - traders from a deliberate conviction
of the wisdom and beneficence of the prin-
ciples of unrestricted commerce, we are, never-
theless, loth to be regarded as among the num-
ber of those who consider free trade a panacea for
every social evil that meets the light of day. On
the contrary, we should
.shrink from prostituting
those noble principles by dragging them forward
upon every occasion, as constituting a nostrum of
infallible efficacy, no less widely applicable to the
body politic than the healing ointments dew
Glared by their vendors to be capable of dissipating
every malady in the frame of mortal from hiccoughs
to apoplexy, and from toothache to elephantiasis. As
well might free trade be expected in patents as free
trade in books—for the comparison suggested by
Mr. LONGMAN is more admirably ingenious in
its accuracy than might at first be conjectured. Mr.
Toatunss has no more title to expect protection from
piracy in regard to his machinery for drilling holes in
metal buttons, than Mr. DICKENS has for that
machinery of plot in Bleak .House, which pro-
mises to reveal the casualties befalling the
little old lady and ESTHER SUMMERSON. Another
consideration is rather remarkable in reference to
the question raised bete ween the undersellers and
the Association, and that is the enormous prepon-
derance of numbers siding with the latter and the
singular minority in which the formerarelefth—etawfeaecnt
sufficiently well exemplified by the contrast
the booksellers of Glasgow and Edinburgh, only two
out of 175 being undersellers. Hoewevhurero,it
is
is
gratifying to reflect that the
rapidly drawing near when a difficulty
manifest to Dr. JOHNSON himself may be vanquished
in the book trade, and when the Parliament may be
enabled to regulate in some measure the system of
that trade, and to watch over its interests as sedu-
lously even as the Leviathan of Literature.
We h

ave been censured by many enthusiastic Free-
traders because we have refused to join in thefactious
opposition offered to the present Government, or to
join in the outcry that the sacred cause of free trade
was endangered, and that the question should be im-
mediately set at rest, at any amount of inconvenience
to the country. Those who would not take upon
themselves the responsibility of a dissolution from a
knowledge of the vast injury which such a proceed-
ing in the month of February, or even March, must
occasion, were yet quite willing to drive their succes-
sors into a course so greatly to be deprecated. The danger
of a new bread-tax—the possibility of some charge
being imposed on the food of the people, was the
ingenious device used for the purpose of creating a
panic, and bringing the Grey-Russell clique, the
happy family, into office again with the least possible
delay. Being equally indifferent to Whig and Tory,
and desirous only of obtaining " the greatest good for
the greatest number," we have steadily persevered in
our own course. We perceived the folly of the
flimsy pretext resorted to much too clearly to be
taken in by such transparent humbug. We knew
that the great principle of free trade was in no
degree imperilled, or at least that it could be so
only by the very means adopted—we declared our
firm belief that if the party were not goaded for-
ward, and driven into a coiner, and then compelled
to take up the weapons they had relinquished, there
would be no contest, no proposition for a corn-
law even of the most modified description and the
most diluted character.

Well, the accuracy of our predictions is receiving
additional confirmation day by day. The mostthorough-paced Protectionists are disclaiming any in-
tention of entering upon a retrograde policy, or
disturbing the existing commercial arrangements.
It is true that they openly vow their indvidual views

and predilections, and express their regret at what
they have been pleased to term the " too hasty legis-
lation" on the subject; but comparatively few have
ventured to assert even a desire to retrace their foot-
steps, or to re-enact the iniquitous code, even were
it in their power to do so. The great majority, on
the contrary, admit that the national judgment pro-
nounced in 1846 is final and conclusive, and that
there is not the slightest hope of its reversal.
We have now to announce two important adhe-
sions to the cause of free trade, or rather to the
impossibility of bringing back any measure of pro-
tection, however limited, which might increase the
price or diminish the size of the loaf. The Hon.
Gentleman, the Member for North Staffordshire, has
boldly and unequivocally declared, we shall not say
his " conversion," for that phrase might be used in an
invidious sense, but his thorough conviction that a
bread-tax " had become, whether rightly or wrongly,
so odious in the eyes of the general body of the nation,
that it would be unwise to accept it any longer, even
if it could be obtained." Mr. ADDERLEY goes still
further ; be says, " As an agriculturist myself, and
the representative of a great body of agriculturists, I
recommend them to give up that mode of compensa-
tion for any special taxation we bear, which we can-
not receive without unmerited odium attached to it."
He, at the same time, asserts that, " the national
feeling is already amply tested," and consequently
deprecates such a question being needlessly repeated
on the part of the landed gentry, after the national
feeling, be it right or wrong, is so fully known.
We look on this address as peculiarly im-
portant at the present moment, not merely
because Mr. ADDERLEY has ever main-
tained a high and irreproachable character, because
he enjoyed the fullest confidence on the part of
his constituents, or even because he had been
offered place under the Earl of DERBY—the situation
of Secretary of the Board of Control having been
offered for his acceptance—it is rather because he
may be regarded as one of an influential class
of country gentlemen, who, while still ac-
knowledging a desire for " protective imposts," and
a belief in their propriety, have yet, albeit reluc-
tantly, arrived at the conclusion that their restora-
tion is impracticable. The elaborate and well-con-
sidered statement, deliberately put forward by
Mr. ADDERLEY, will be endorsed by very
many of these persons ; it clearly expresses their
views and feelings, and shows that there is no greater
danger of the country being disturbed by any well-
founded apprehension of the re-imposition of a bread
tax under the DERBY than under the Grey-Russell
Administration.

The other party to whom we have alluded is one
whose testimony is by no means unimportant. INIr.
HunsoN, in addressing his constituents at Sunderland,
while complaining of " the hasty manner" in which
the corn-laws were repealed, declared that no one
would oppose a change in the existing state of affairs
more strenuously than himself. He also spoke of the
impossibility of bringing back the navigation code.
Now, Mr. HUDSON is a shrewd intelligent man, who
can understand the views and feelings of the country.
If he saw any reasonable prospect of maintaining
or rather restoring protection, if he thought it even
probable that a contest would take place, he would
not have avowed his unconditional opposition to any
change. We may look upon these declarations as
feelers thrown out to different constituencies, as
"straws thrown up to ascertain the direction of the
wind ;" and we hail them with delight as confirming
to the fullest extent our anticipations that there will
be no serious attempt made for th• exhumation of
the corn-laws.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The following is the official report of the Corps
Legislatif of its sittings on Tuesday
The _Legislative Body resumed its sittings at a
quarter past three o'clock yesterday, after the short
Easter recess, M. Billault, the president, being in the
chair. The proceedings were of very brief duration. A
fortnight's leave of absence was accorded to M. Clary
and M. Delavau on account of delicate health. The Pre-
sident stated that he had received from the Minister of
' State a bill concerning the rehabilitation of persons con-
demned by the tribunals to a peine inflictive et infamante.
Fur the more grave cases five years should elapse att...l.
:he punishment had been borne before the application
for such restoration to civil rights could be made, and
three years for cases of condemnation before the cor-
rectional police; in every instance, before any de-
mand could be entertained, the whole
.of the damages
and costa incurred should be paid up. The bill
was ordered to be printed and distributed. The
President also stated that he had received other
bills from the Minister of State tending to autholise
the town of St. Omer, and the departments of the
Hautes-Pyrenees, the Meuse, and the Pas de Calais, to
contract loans. These four bills were ordered to be re-
ferred to the same committee. The order of the day was
the report of the committee on the Copper-coinage Bill,
but the amendments referred to the Council of State not
having been sent back, the report could not be prepared.
The President then stated that in a few days a series of
Bills would be presented to the Assembly—one relative
to certain railway lines; another to the mortgage sys-
tem; another concerning the customs; and, in audition,
the budget for 1853. These various matters, the Presi-
dent observed, would afford full occupation to the Legis-
lative Body to the end of the session. As it was not
posstole to name the precise day on which the Legisla-
tive Body would bare next to meet, notice should be sent
to the members at their residences. The sitting was then
brought to a close at a quarter to boar."
A paragraph in the Stick, stating that unpleasant
differences had occurred between the French and Eng-
lish Governments, is contradicted on authority by the
Government journals. The relations between the two
Governments have never ceased to be of the most
amicable character.

By a decree of the Moniteur MM. MICHELE;
QUINET, and MICKIEWICZ are deprived of their pro-
fessorships in the College of France. Both MM.
MICHELET and QUINET had been suspended by the
Government of LOUIS PHILIPPE, but it is only since
the decree of the 9th of March that the Government
has the power of depriving professors of their hono-
rary rank. These gentlemen have, according to con-
current accounts, very much abused the privileges of
their position. M. MICHELET is the ardent eulogist
of the worst men and the worst deeds of the revolu-
tion of 1789, while between himself and M. QUINET
there has been a long-established identity of views,
feelings, and opinions ; so much so, that the public
never failed to name both together in the same breath.
Their lectures were not what they ought to have
been. They were not guiding disquisitions to young
minds, bent on acquiring a knowledge of the facts of
history as aids to clear insight into the habits, man-
ners, and modes of thought and feelings of time past.
On the contrary, they were highly-coloured pam-
phlet:, seasoned with false sentiment, and delivered
with exaggerated theatrical action, meant to elicit
cheers and applause. Whoever wished to enjoy an
hour of pleasant turbulence had need only to attend
a discourse of either. The Ministers of Louis PHI-
LIPPE had to put a temporary stop to scandals, which
proved too much even for the Republic, for MICHELET
and QUINET were silenced even in 1848, and Louis
NAPOLEON has stopped them for the length of his own
reign. M. MICKIEWICZ, is a Polish mystic, who fell
into that sort of prophecy as to the future triumphs of
his race, which is allowed to be the consolation of the
exiled patriot. With him there will be genuine sym-
pathy. He falls a victim to the new rigid system of
special instruction, from which is imperatively
banished all that may have relation to feeling or
fancy, a system which, whatever may be its future
results, is condemned this morning in the Assemblie
tlhililangthaaut tmho.riGtytHoznaTt,heunsudber-
ep
eaks of the famous Pot technic
a pseudonyme,
Nationale by the highestitis
tof y more importance
School which is henceforthbe
than ever :
ject of education.
oud natural dispositions, or given a
has spoiled so many g
minds, as that of the Ecole Poly-
" There has never been, in point of fact, a school which
wrong bent to so many()
h have so much superadded to
techniqu©. Those who have
severe judgments pronounced by Descartes and Leib-
nitz themselves on mathematics when pushed to excess.
studies and exaggerated tendencies have forgotten the
e the results of such ex-
cesses. France is the only country which possesses such
the only country that can
boast of engineers and artillery
It would seem as if the Polytechnic School had been
created expressly to illustrate
a school, and yet it is not
cors
of
distinction;
but it is the only one which possesses so many perverted
minds and so many dangerous monomaniac, who reduce
,
morals and politics to algqbrsical formulas, .
The new system of university studies, which aims
at special instruction and disclaims all that appeals to
moral sentiments, will, according to the opinion of
the writer from whom the above extract istaken,
rather aggravate that tendency to socialism against
which it would seem to be a reaction, because it willby
more than ever Rive disposition to materialism
materialising education.
M. EMILE DE GIAARDIN has addressed to the
Minister of Police a reply to the " warning " that he
had received for having expressed an opinion that if
the Empire were to be established, there might be
some person of the old
Royalist party who would at-
tempt to take the lite of the chief of the state. Ile
says that he could not guard against a risk which he
could not foresee. The Tribunal and the Senate,
in 1804, both expressed, he says, a similar fear, and
adds,--41 13y perverting the 'Leaning of the icqrl3§l)