The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-22 00:00:00

the QUEEN, through her Commissioners, can only I
venture to remark thereupon, that, " Acting in
concert with her allies, and relying on the exer-
tions of the Conference now assembled at Vienna,
her MAJESTY has good reason to hope that an
honourable arrangement will speedily be accom-
plished." So that the upshot of all is, in reference
to the close of the Kafir war, that her MAJESTY
"trusts" that our South African colony may de-
velope its resources and make efficient provision
for its future defence, under the auspices of the
recent establishment of Representative Govern-
ment at the Cape of Good Hope. While in regard
to our friendly relations with other countries, her
Majesty "hopes" that certain pending negotia-
tions may lead to the conservation of European
tranquillity. The truth is, that the good fortune
upon which the country is being thus congratu-
lated by its rulers, whether in regard to the
south or in regard to the east, whether iu refe-
ranee to Kafirland or in reference to the Danubian
Principalities, may be said, strictly speaking, to
tremble at this moment in the balance of uncer-
tainty. It yet remains to be discovered whether
the Cape colonists are capable of providingte
for
their own security by employing h
newly-
acquired machinery of Representative Govern-
ment. It yet remains to be learnt whether
the propositions transmitted by the Four Powers
from Vienna may prove equally acceptable at St.
Petersburg and at Constantinople. Information
has yet to be obtained, in fact, as to whether, in
conciliating Russia, the Four Powers have not, to
a lamentable extent, sacrificed the interests of
Turkey and the rights of her political independence.
Absolutely nothing—to put the matter in other
words—absolutely nothing positive has yet been
learnt as to the value or as to the success of the
mediation between the CZAR and the SULTAN :
and yet we are expected thus prematurely to
swallow the Ministerial congratulations. Briefly.
—there is only one circumstance in all these ne-
gotiations anent the Eastern Question in which
we can, as yet, discover anything really and sub-
stantially satisfactory. And that circumstance is,

the cordial alliance between France and England,
which recent occurrences may be said to have
originated.
Another paragraph in the QUEEN' s Speech, besides

that in which it is notified that " the Emperor of
the FRENCH has united with her MAJESTY in ear-
nest endeavours to reconcile differences, the con-
tinuance of which might involve Europe in war,"
deserves to be especially particularised Allusion
is here made to the sentence in which the reality
of Free Trade being a " wise, just, and beneficial
measure," is thus ieclared byithe SOVEREIGN—
" Her MAJESTY has seen- with much satisfaction,
that by the remission and reduction of taxes which
tend to cramp the operations of trade and indus-
try, you have given fresh extension to a system of
beneficent legislation, and have largely increased the
means of obtaining the necessaries of life." An
improvement, that, upon the unwilling recognition
of the benefits accruing to the country from " un-
restricted competition"—that most unwilling re-
cognition which, it will be remembered, provoked
in the House of Commons a long and stormy debate
upon a resolution proposed by the Hon. and
Learned Gentleman the representative of Wolver-
hampton. Nothing, indeed, could be more ear-
nest or more generally acceptable than this refer-
ence in the Royal Speech of Saturday to the
extension of " a system of beneficent legislation."
Mr. COBDEN will no doubt shrug his shoulders at
the congratulations addressed to the Lords and
Commons by her MAJESTY on the Burmese war
having been brought to "an honourable and sa-
tisfactory issue :" but that most distinguished of
all the champions of Free Trade cannot, we feel
assured, but regard with profound and unalloyed
satisfaction the preceding tribute to the " wise,
just, and beneficial" policy of Free Trade, that
scheme of unrestricted competition which was
heralded by ADAM SMITH, and eulogised by WILLIA M
IiIISKISSON, and advocated by CHARLES VILLIERS,
the " system of beneficent legislation" which was sung
by EBENEZER ELLIOTT, and argued by PEYRONNET
THOMPSON, and carried triumphantly over every ob-
stacle by the energy of RICHARD COBDEN, and At
last—not without a passing eulogiura upon the
" unadorned eloquence" of its principal cham-
pion—incorporated by Sir ROBERT PEEL with our
ancient but often re-modified constitution. Fa-
miliar though these truths have become to the
mass of our population, they are none the less
deserving of repeated consideration. The victo-
ries won by Free-trade principles are too im-

portant not to render it matter of interest to us
when a Free-trade Cabinet is justified in causing
their formal acknowledgment by the lips, or, at
any rate in the name, of our SOVEREIGN.

The legislation of the past session will, un-
less we are greatly mistaken, cut cut ample work
for a future day. We have already shown that
the Government of India Bill cannot be permitted
to stand in its present highly objectionable form.
The enactments so recklessly forced on Parliament,
without time being afforded to obtain the neces-
sary information, and without even listening to
the complaints of the parties chiefly interested,
must speedily be repealed. They are of such a
character that no trifling modifications, no petty
amendments will suffice. There must be a com-
plete and thorough reform. The nominal autho-
rity of the East India Company must be abolished,
and that of Queen VICTORIA substituted—the
distinctions between the QuEm's service•and the
Company's service done away with, so that the
Monarch of the United Kingdom shall be de jure,
as well as de facto, the Sovereign of the Anglo-Indian
Empire. Either that must be accomplished, and
the blighting influence of the Company averted,
or we must be prepared to relinquish our. Eastern
dominions, and to assume an enormous addition
to our already overwhelming debt, by liquidating
the liabilities incurred by the magnates of Leaden-
hall-street. We have no doubt of the result.
The much-required amelioration is merely a ques-
tion of time. Sooner or later, that -which justice,
as well as policy, imperatively demands, must be
accomplished ; but agitation will be rife during
the interval, and will occasion many serious in-
roads on the public time.

But it is not merely the India question that
promises many arduous conflicts before it is
finally set at rest. The fiscal business of 1853
appears likely to give ample occupation to
the representatives of the people in 1854—not
only in that which has been accomplished, and
which requires considerable modification, but in
that which has been merely postponed by the
Financial Minister, which boldly " looms in the
future," and which must be resisted by every
person pretending to be the advocate of " unre-
stricted competition," however flimsy may be
the veil under which he conceals his real predilec-
tions. The licensing system which the Chancellor
of the Exchequer introduced in his budget, and
which he merely adjourned, is at the same time
the most inequitable and inexpedient that could
dw notho se
be n
possibly be imagined. There is scarcely a branch
ofm business, a channel for industry, in which a
anu
iteeereindustrydwith by th
constitutedheis o
12
only capital,
would contemplated
imposts. virtual monopolies would be created,
and the consumers would be debarred from the
free competition, the honest emulation, which in
the long run are
level." Inansaid to make " everthing find its
might add to his could try an experiment that
something to the tax income,ll and enable him to pay
earn-
ings. No ; he would be
collector on account of earn-
necessity of procuring a
license
in limine by the
siderable sum for permission andt paying a con-
exercise his
abilities—to render his labour really productive.
It is unnecessary to say that the Bums thus levied
on the trader must ultimately fall, and
with con-
siderable additions—most enormous •
interest—on
the consumer. If a man must earn
uf6.cient to
support himself and his family by the profits of
his business, he must also gain sufficient
to satisfy all the preliminary and incidental
expenses ; and that lie may be on the safe
side, he will generally add as much as
would many times provide for the demand.
For every pound that found its way to the Ex-
chequer, four or five pounds would, one way or
other, fall on the general consumer—the public,
and in place of being a direct impost, as pretended,
the license for each trade would virtually itioreaze