The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-25 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

Sir James Graham, First Lord of the Admiralty, held
a levee at Whitehall on Saturday, which was attended by
the following officers :
Captains.—Andrew Snape Hamond (1846), George Kny-
vett Wilson (1848), Jeffery Wheelock Noble (1846), and
P. Onslow, R.M.
Commanders.—W. G. N. King (1834), C. J. F. Newton
(1838), Lewis Maitland (1841), George Stewart Reynolds
(1841), John Steane (1841), Edmund Peel (1841), George
Snell (1813), R. Moorman (1815), and James A. Paynter
(1846).
Lieutenants.—John Edward Lane (1811), Martin Ben-
nett (1815), William Mansell (1821), Robert A. Newman
(1827), John 0. Bathurst (1838), H. Temple (1845), Geo.
E. K. Gore (1843), William H. Payne (1845), John F. C.
Mackenzie (1846), and Edward F. Dent (1846).
Paymaster.—James Ozzard (1813).

PORTSMOUTH, APRIL 24.

Her Majesty's ship Hastings, Captain-F. W. Austin,
arrived at Spithead this morning from the East Indies,
and saluted the flag of the Commander-in-Chief at this
port. The Hastings has brought no news, having made
an unusually long passage from the Cape, which place
she left on the 6th of February, St. Helena on the 21st
of February, and Ascension on the 28th of that month,
since which time she has touched nowhere.

The Victory flag ship. yesterday received 100 newly-
raised men from the Excellent, for training.
A Norwegian man-of-war steamer anchored at Spit-
head last evening, and saluted the garrison and flag-ship.
The American packet-ship Devonshire brought up off
the Nab at 8 o'clock this morning, 16 days from New
York, landed passengers, and proceeded to London.
The ship's carpenter fell off the yard overboard and was
drowned last night off the Isle of Wight.
The Plumper Screw sloop is under repair, and will
come out of dock oh the 28th, and be placed in the steam
basin to be fitted for service.

Wind S.W., blowing hard, with heavy showers of rain.

PLYMOUTH, APRIL 23.
Her Majesty's screw steam-frigate Amphion, 34, Cap-
tain Charles G. E. Patey, arrived this morning from
Sheerness.

The London, DO, Captain Charles Eden, arrived on
Thursday from Portsmouth, and, having saluted the
Port-Admiral, anchored in the Sound. On Friday she
sailed for a cruise in the Channel. One report returns
her to Portsmouth, another states that she will proceed
to join the fleet under Rear-Admiral Dundas in the
Mediterranean.

The steam transport Ithadamanthus, Master-Com-
mander John Belam, sailed yesterday afternoon for the
eastward.

The officers and crew of the surveying vessel o Scorpi n
6, Lieutenant-Commander Grant, were paid off inth;
pay-office in the dockyard on Thursday.
The brig Wizard, 6, Lieutenant-Commander Bacon,
was placed in dock on Thursday, and, having been ex-
amined and repaired, was towed on Friday by the Con-
fiance steamer into the Sound. She sailed to-day for
Queenstown.
The steam-ship Cyclops sailed to-day for Deptford,
having in tow the store-ship Melampus, which will bring
to this port the remainder of the enginework for the St.
Jean d'Acre.
The St. Jean d'Acre has received her boilers and will
be placed in dock on Monday to be coppered.
SUNDAY.
The African stem-ship Company's mail packet Hope
arrived yesterday from the Thames, and is appointed to
sail this afternoon with mails for Madiera, Teneriffe, and
the west coast of Africa.

WOOLWICH, APRIL 23.

The Phoenix screw steam-sloop, Commander Edward
A. Inglefield, has been taken into the basin for the con-
venience of completing her coaling.
Several of the workmen in the factory have been
employed over hours during the week in forging a new
hammered iron shaft for the Sidon steam-frigate. The
shaft a ill be 11 feet long, by 21i inches diameter, and
weigh about five tons. - It will be completed by the
hamtnerers on Tuesday next, and be turned and finished
so as to be ready to send round to Portsmouth on
Saturday.
The Sinbad lighter has been taken into the basin to
receive on board the screw, cast and finished at the
factory here, for the Agamemnon, 91, screw steamship,
at Portsmouth, and the Sinbad will take it round to
that port. The screw, when finished, will be 18 feet. in
diameter, by 3 feet in depth.

IMPORTANT ALTERATION 1N THE TOB-4 CCO
DUTIES. THREATENED EXTINCTION OF
THE SCOTCH AND IRISH MANUFACTURE.

Amon.. what will be considered the minor alterations
proposed by Mr. Gladstone on the Customs'-duties, ts
one which, if the state of our information on the point is
not imperfect,• will inflict a great injustice and a still
greater injury on the tobacco dealers or manufacturers,
especially of Scotland—a class whom, as collectors of
nearly five millions of annual revenue, should obviously
be cautiously dealt with by financiers.
The question raised by the new Tariff can be stated in
very few words. The present duties on Tobacco are 3s.
per lb. on " unmanufactured," and 9s. per lb. on "manu-
factured," with 5 per cent. added—say, respectively,
3s. 2d. and 9s. 6d. Mr. Gladstone proposes to make
the duties 3s. 6d. and 9s. ; but it is not in this, but intan
alteration of the classification of the two kinds, manu-
factured and unmanufactared, that the grievance or
danger lies. At present, the " unmanufactured," pay-
ing the 3s. duty, is interpreted literally, and includes
only the leaf ; while the " manufactured " includes all
kinds wholly or in part made up—negrohead, twist,
Cavendish, shag, and cigars. Mr. Gladstone proposes
to transfer to the class " unmanufaetured," the three
articles designated Cavendish, negroh6ad, and twist, i.e.,
to allow these articles to be imported at 3s. 6d. instead
of Os. 2d. of duty.
Such a change would of course make a mighty differ-
ence to the home manufacturers, who buy the leaf under
the 3s. 2d. duty, and then manufacture it into the shapes
which, when imported, bear a duty three times higher.
The conclusion must not be jumped to that the differ-
ence between the duty on foreign and on home Caven-
dish, negrohead, and twist, is a protection, and that Mr.
Gladstone's proposal is simply an operation in free
trade. Our home manufacturers seem to us to have at
least two sound objections to the change. The chief of
these is, that they are laid under severe and costly re-
strictions from which the foreign manufacturer is exempt.
For instance, they are compelled under vexatious regu-
lations and ruinous penalties to manufacture with " pure
water," while the foreign manufacturer uses saccharine
matter in various forms and degrees, which not only
greatly augments the weight of the article as sold to the
consumer, but gives to it that very flavour which the
smokers desiderate and are willing to pay extra for.
The foreigner thus enjoys, but for the differential duty,
a great advantage over the home manufacturer ; and even
as things stand, the supply of all outgoing ships, a very
important branch of the trade, is made up of foreign
manufactured tobacco, solely owing to the disadvantages
under which the home manufacturer is placed by the
burdensome regulations to which his process is subjected.
If the duties are nominally equalised on the three articles
named, without the conditions of manufacture being also
equalised—i. e. being both left unrestrained—time foreign
manfacturer will supply the whole consumers as he at
present supplies all those (viz., out-going vessels) from
whom the 9s. duty is not exigible.
Now„the justice of the case seems to require one of
two courses. Either set free the process of manufacture,
or at the same time maintain a differential duty equiva-
lent to the cost of those restrictions on the home manu-
facturer from which the foreign manufacturer i. free. If
the home-manufacturers are not prepared to adopt the
former of these alternatives, they have no case ; if the
Chancellor of the Exchequer will not accede either to
one or the other, he is doing injustice.
The other ground of complaint seemingly possessed
by the manufacturers is secondary but not unimportant.
Besides the three kinds of manufactured tobacco just
. . .

dealt with, there is a fourth, 'called "shag," which-for
no ascertainable reason, is, unlike its fellows, to be al-
lowed to remain under the 9s. import duty. Now, it so
happens that the English manufacturers produce almost
exclusively shag, while the Scotch and Irish manufac-
turers employ themselves almost exclusively in the pro-
duction of the other three kinds. So that, besides the
injustice as between the home and the foreign maker,
there seems another as between the manufacturers of the
three kingdoms. This should give an extra stimulus to
the Scotch and Irish members in seeking redress. The
Irish members have well-known and greatly dreaded
powers of troubling ; and the Scotch ones can present
themselves with the persuasive claim that they are not
in the habit of joining together to ask or do anything
whatever.

SOCIETY OF FRIENDS OF FOREIGNERS IN DISTRESS.—
The anniversary festival of this society, which was esta-
blished in ISO 6 for the purpose of relieving indigent
foreigners in this country, was celebrated at the London
Tavern on Saturday. The Earl of Carlisle occupied the
chair, and amongst
were the Chevalier Ns
theguests,f o
Bunsen,mthe r e were
the
nearly 200 present,
Hon. J. R. Ingersoll (the American Minister), Colonel
Lawrence, Mr. J. D. Fowles, and a large number of
foreign gentlemen. The chairmbarni,
flin proposing the
iny aadrveenretne
td
leading
ai then a
atottansetk"eSnucecheasrsittyo t(liliennSeOrsCiectoyn,;'ainede
article of a contemporary journal. He believed that,
however much
opinioixnin t, opinions might differ: in the abstract as to
proprietyof mstreams
of charity,
with charitable
otlble
ets th n like the waters of the
pool of Bethseda, requiredd
forth their latent virtues Aftoccasional agitation to draw
appeal in favour of the recipients iptserofrnthakeibonguanntieselooqfutehnet
institution, he stated that though it had not been
established 50 years, 5 o,9soforeigners„u
an of different
nations had been relieved, and 8
the usual rate, and 95 at a reduced rate,
pensionslt
te,werenow
0. w
paid out of its funds. It might be said that charity
began at home, but distress, like kindness, made
" the whole world kin." It was true alike at Car-
thage as at Troy—" Sunt la,erymaz meum et mentem
mortalia taugunt," and the fact that charity did begin
at home supplied the strongest argument in favour of
a society like this. In the course of the evening,
besides the ordinary toasts, " The Foreign Sovereigns
and Governments, and their representatives present,"
was given and acknowledged by the Chevalier Bunsen
and the Hon. J. R. Ingersoll. A liberal collection
was made, including the following subscriptions :
her Majesty 1001., Prince Albert 251., the King of
Denmark 501., King of Spain 101., the Emperor of
Austria 10/.' King of Belgium 101., Emperor of
Russia 301., Earl of Carlisle 101., and Hon. J. R. In-
gersoll 101.
RECTORY OF ST. JAMES'S, PICCADILLY.—The Rev.
Thomas James Rowse% M.A., incumbent of St. Peter's
Church, Stepney, has been appointed to the rectory of
St. James's, Westminster, rendered vacant by the resig-
nation of the Rev. Dr. John Jackson, Bishop elect of
Lincoln.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TUTS DAY --Morning 49 min. after 2 Evening 11 min.aft. 3
To-Monow—Morning 32 min. after 3, Evening 54 min.aft. 3

THE WEATHER.—Scrx OFFIOR, APRIL 21.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
55—highest since noon yesterday.
41—lowest this morning and during the night.
52 this clay at noon.
BAROMETER, up to 29'94, now 29'88—yesterday it rose
half an inch.
WIND, S.W.—Smart breeze, anti dirty, rainy weather.
Afternoon, fine.