The Sun.
London, England, 1839-10-01 00:00:00

6. We trust, therefore, that we have some rieht to
expect at the hands of your Lordships the fullest consi-*
deration of the n•assnt claims preferred on the present .
occasions,
proceeding-in China are so fully before •your
Lordships frem.otheasources, that. it is unnecessary to
enter into detail here, beyond the most brief summary.
Suffice it therefore to say, that in order to save the lives
and property of all Europeans residing at Canton, then
placed in imminent peril by the outrageous proceedings
of a Commissioner, armed,. as . he himself statesewith ir-
responsible power, her Majesty's superintendent in
China purchased on behalf of her Britannic Mejestte the
whole of the opium then on laiard the sevisral receiving
ships nutisotherels moored at the :severaleoate'r an-
eimrages of Hang Kong, Lintin, &c., or that had pro-
ceededl to' more 'distant stations up the 'eoast.
()pions her' M.,:j'egty's Superintendent 'subsequently "de-
livered to the 44ittese -Gov eremeht, and the trade of .
Canton has since been reopened and all foreigners.ra-
leased from peril, we believe, but solely upon the sseri-
fiee of •so• large a- property ptirchased from the holders
for her Majesty's service..
8. It will bg obvious to Sour Right _Hon. Lordships, that
this measure, though arising from momentous necessity,
and as the only means of saving-Britilt inhabitants in
China from a .repetaionsof rapine and massacre similar
to the horrors of Amhbytia, Japan, Calcutte;arel
lins been productive.of serious injury and /nes ;to
tal,whose property has thus been dilivered to tike:.Phi- •
nese Government ; and although we may rely. with -the
most entire confidence on the honour and responsibility
of her Majesty'e GOvernMent: to unreservedly recognize
the act of her Majesty's Superintendent, yet we must! be
pardoned for
.expressiog our earnest anxiety. sfor the
earliest settlement that the Leances of Government
will afford ; .and, should circumstances unfortunately
render immediate peiva.ent impracticable, we trust that
no delay may occur in tire. ackuowledgment of these
claims, and that sum's specific dates may be assigned,
by public proclamation through the London Gazette, at
which the instalments may be severally paid.
9. As the means of most readily•meeting the wants of
your petitioners, we would beg most respectfully to
point oat that the ellannela through which these claims
may be most conveuiently liquidated rvesuldiaagtestrea-
sury of the- East India Compsny at Calcutta:: An ar-
rangement that should repay the amount. of the,.e.clairns
in Ca.leutta,leaving the adjustmentin England to be made T.
between the
,East India Company and her Mejesty's
Government, must, we would suggest, be of manifest
advantage to all parties, since it would materially assist
in remitting a portion of the amount anuually required
for the expenses of the home Government. •But even„/
if otherwise, should such immediate payment on the 1
part of her Majesty's Government be inconvenient,
we most respectfully submit that the East' India Com-
pany should still be required to pay our demandis
at once, which we contend would in fact be merely
the refund of certain revenues virtually advanced of.kte
years to Government by individuals, on the faith of
their existing relations with China, and On the delivery I
of the opium to parties for shipment, but which opium
has sieee been purchased by her Majesty's Supsrinten- I
dent on behalf of her Majesty and delivered to the cti-
112S0 Goveroment. May we not also urge that in Use
total subversion of those relations the holders have be-
come as between her Majesty and the East India
Company a mere intermediate party, upon whom the
loss should not be allowed to fall, fur having conveyed
tlx opium to China, upon which so large a profit has
been actually real:zed by the BCngal Government.
10. We trust that the equity of this proposition
will be readily admitted by' your Right Hon. Lord-
the of peace or war or the ships, and,'however
future relations with China may be determined, that
the settlement of the claims herein preferred, based as
they are on the acknowledged good faith and honour
of the British nation, may be effected at the earliest
possible date.
11. We. should not here omit to state, that while
the profits of opium shippers have seldom exceeded
from 5 to 15 per cent. on the Government sale price,
those of the opium manufacturers, viz., the British
Government of India, have usually varied from 200 up
to the enormous amount of 500 per cent. on the cost of
manufacture.

12. We trust, therefore, that Her Majesty's Govern-
ment will be graciously pleased to direct either that the
amount of those respective claims be paid Jhrough the
East India's Company's treasury at Calcutta, at such
rate per chest as may be resolved on by Government,
or that the Hon. East India Company be directed to
refund the amount paid to Government at Calcutta for
every ehest of opium brought forward at auction in the
years 1837, 1838, and 1839, that may have been deli-
vered up to her Majesty's Superintendent, in Chime, to-
gether with interest on the same at the rate of five per
cent. per annum from the date on which the cost of
each chest was paid into the Gevcrnment treasury at
Calcutta, besides all charges of shipping, and transport
to Canton.

And your Memorialists will ever pray.

THE NEw PUBLICATIONs.—Mr. Bentley,
Publisher in Ordinary to her Majesty, New Btu.ling
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COMPLICATION OF DISORDERS.—" liVhat diC
Mr. ---- die of ?" asked a simple neighbour. "01
a complication of disorders," replied his friend. " Hots
do von describe a complication, my good Sir ?" "He
died," rejoined the other, " of two physicians, an apotho
carv, and a surgeon."

DUKE OF'' 0 gLIANS.—The coininunicationz
we have niceivcd to-day from our Toulon correspondent
lead us to infer that the stay of the Duke of Orleans
in Africa is likely to be extremely short. The
steamer Phare, with his Royal Highness on
board, left Port Mahon on the 21st for Oran, whence
it v:as expected the Prince would return almost
immediately to Toulon ; his carriages had already
arrived at the latter place, and the Prince himself, it
was believed, would land there about the 27th. The
short stay which the Duke of
.Orleans intends to male
in Algiers, makes it extremely improbable that any im-
portant military expedition 15 `...=.S,Ut to be undertaken
in that part of the world.—Evening Paper.

4. The sale of opium in China has always been con-
traband, but it was a contraband trade which, like that
in Chinese crape, or French lace, er tobacco, in Great
Britain, or in British piece goods at Hamburgh, during
the war, has flourished through the connivance of- Go-
vernment officers, While the edicts of the Emperor
proved as unavailing in China as the celebrated &din
decrees of •Napoleon on the continent of Ettropc. Iu
fact, by prohibiting the trade, the Chinese Governmrnt
have lost a certain customs revenue, Which has bern‘in,
consequence transferred to the pockets of -Chin, se
smugglers and mandarins, or, as has generally been sup-
posed,
that Government may have knowingly allowed
the extortions of these mandarins, as -a means of eco-
nomizing in the. salaries of these funLienarica, whom
they are but too glad to have an excuse ler po.yng
inadequately.
5. The export of sycee silver, is also contra in
China, and as bullion was always received ;n reuaent
for opium, it is to this fact that the recent violen
ceedings of that Government may be chiefly attribeted.
The export of silver, by the law of China, is death. Like
other
_half civilized nations, which understand not the
principles of political economy, the Chinese consider the
export of bullion as injurious to their weP-be'ree and
tl.o ider edicts against the " leakage of sycee".erni "the T
noz;ng out of dollars," as Clough such exports were de--
Welly a loss to the St_ ti. It is necessary to ,y but
little in proof of this fallacy. China possesses silver
mins of immense value, but I,vhich ere worked only to a
limited cxtent, and the circulation of whose products the
Government would fain restrict cxduively to the impe-
rial domains. These mines are exhirustlese, save in the fear
of their Government, vrhose proceedings in prohibiting the
exporteof,bullion are truly lamentable. As reason-
tilde would •it 66 ihr the BritiSh Government to
prohibit railroads and steam vaMe-becaus-: the one
Might exhauSt the iron, the other the coal mines, of
Great Britain. The export of opium from ledia, which
has thus defeated the restrictive policy of the Chinese
Government, and which has -caused the .mines of that
empire to be wrought far more cetensively than would
otherwise have been the case, in order to replace--the
vacuum in circulation created by continued export of
sycee from Cnina, has thus been of esseeti ti benefit to
commerce ; for it has drawn forth the resources of the
most fertile and poperleus empire in the world, and the
'bullion thus hroirght- back is exehinge for opium has •
covered vast traetseof British India with smiling fields
and a flourishing population-;
,itebaa enortneftly ex-
tended the import of British manufactures thkughout
Hindoostan ; has increased -largely the shipping and
general commerce of these seas ; has brought into the
British Indian Treasury,a revenue exceeding the land
revenue of an entire Pesideacy—that of Bombay ; . and
has thus paid in Loudon the dividends of the proprietors -
of India Stock, amounting to 630,00 G/. per annum, if
not indeed the whole •suiphss of 2,000,000/. sterling,
required for the expenses of the Bonze Government of
India.