The Sun.
London, England, 1822-05-03 00:00:00

DUEL IN HIGH LIFE.

The higher circles at the West End of the
Town were thrown into an unusual bustle yes-
terday, in consequence of a duel having taken
place, in the course of the morning, between the
Dukes of BEDFORD and BUCKINGHAM• The affair
is said to have originated in the following obser-
vations delivered by the Duke of BEDFORD, at
the late County of Bedford Meeting,-on the sub-
ject of Agricultural Distress :

" He would now advert to another transaction, which he
was almost ashamed to mention—he alluded to a great borough-
proprietor, now a Noble Duke, late a Noble Marquis, whose
services, and the services of whose adherents in Parliament,
had been purchased by Government—had been purchased by
c3nferring high offices on those adherents. It was an odious
task to mention these circumstances, but he introduced them
for the purpose of asking whether, if a Reform had been
effected in Parliament, such transactions could possibly hap-
pen ? The Noble Duke's family and connections were, of
course, sent back to their constituents, when they accepted of
place ; because, by the Act of Parliament, it was provided,
that when a Member of the House of Commons took an office
under Government, he must return to his constituents to know
whether they would or would not re-elect him. But how were
the individuals in question sent back ? They were not sent
back to the people of England—they were not sent back to
those who were free to choose or to reject them :—no ; they
were sent back to the borough-proprietor—to their own patron,
to the person who had engaged in the corrupt traffic—who had)
in fact, made the bargain with Ministers. He would again
ask, could such a circumstance possibly occur, if a Reform were
effected in the Commons House of Parliament ?"

It seems that the Duke of BUCKINGHAM took
umbrage at these observations, and personally
demanded that his Grace of Bedford should re-
tract them as publicly as they had been promul-
gated. The Noble Duke peremptorily refused

to accede to this demand, and a challenge was
the consequence. At half-past seven o'clock
yesterday morning the Duke of BEDFORD left
his house in St. James's-square, in a private car-
riage, accompanied by Lord LYNEDOCK, and
drove directly to Kensington Gardens, where
the Duke of BUCKINGHAM arrived about the
same time, at a retired spot previously
agreed upon, and attended by Sir WATKIN
WILLIAMS WYNN. A chirurgical professor
of eminence, it is said, was also in attend-
ance upon either party. The ground was
measured by the seconds at twelve paces, and,
on a signal given, the parties presented, but
the Duke of BUCKINGHAM only fired ; and
his shot not taking effect, the Duke of BED-
FORD instantly discharged his pistol in the air,
upon which the Duke of BUCKINGHAM advanced
towards his Grace and said, " My Lord Duke,

your Grace is the last man in existence I would
wish to quarrel with ; but you must be well

aware that the life of a public man is not worth
preserving, unless it be preserved with honour."
Whereupon the Duke of BEDFORD promptly re-
plied, that upon his honour he meant no per-
sonal offence to the Duke of BUCKINGHAM in the
words he had used ; nor did he mean to impute
to him, personally, any bad or corrupt motives
whatever. 'Their Lordships then shook hands,
and the whole business was terminated most
satisfactorily.

THE RIGHT HON. F. J. ROBINSON, M.P.
PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE,
&c. &C. &c.

22, Birchin-lane, April 20, 1822.
SIR—To the matter of the inclosed (not to its
composition) I respectfully beg permission to call
your particular attention, and also to state that
in perusing the Bill for regulating the trade be-
tween his MAJESTY'S possessions in America and
the West Indies, which was printed on the 2d

nst., it is with regret I observe that in oppo-

sition to practical truth you appear to believe that
British vessels (although they cost, in building
and navigating, 50 per cent. more than the ships
of several foreign Nations) can be built and na-
vigated as cheap as foreign ships, and although
our owners have, on their capital, in lieu of their
income, been sailing their ships during the last
three or four years, still a reference to the num-
ber of American ships entered inwards, compared
with British from the United States, since your

famous treaty with that nation, as well as many
other similar instances ought (independently of
common sense) to convince you of your error.
You appear to think that when foreign nations
put English ships in their ports on the same foot-
ing with their own shipping, England, in equity,
is bound to do the like by their shipping, and
that we are then sailing our respective ships on

an equality of terms.
Now let us take up this question in all its
bearings, and we shall find that there is not a
ship built in England but what, in the course of
its construction (like corn in its production) con-
tributes to the State directly and indirectly one
half or more of what she sells for when so built,
and that afterwards she contributes directly and
indirectly to the State one half or more (very
often the whole) of her earnings, while a foreign
ship, in building, &c. &c., may not pay to her
State one-tenth as much. Now, when the English
ship is displaced by foreigners, some other Bri-
tish Interests must pay to the State that which
she previously paid. This proves that British
shipping is of great value to the State, and ought,
consistently with justice and sound policy, to be
protected accordingly from Foreign and Colonial

competition.
This,l conceive, will entitle them to that pro
tection stated in my letter to Mr. Vatisittart, and
inserted in the Morning Post of the 26th ult., and
in an Evening Paper of the ltith inst.; and although
foreign ships may not cost their owners 1-10th as
much as British ships do, still that is no concern of
ours, it belongs solely to traffickers, consumers,
&c. The value of an article to that State in
which it is produced, and the protection of it ac-
cordingly, is all that Statesmen have to attend to,
and when it is -so protected let commerce have
the freedom of air.
• I conceive ;hat the consequences of the pro-
posed measures for opening the West India
trade to foreigners will be the deprivation of
profitable employment of about 100,000 British
subjects at home and in our Colonies, and about
50,000 tons of British shipping, that it will create
a spirit of disaffection in British America whichmay
cause a separation of those Colonies, so valuable for
taking off our excess of population, for supplying
us with timber, and for giving employment to our
shipping, Mat it will occasion a diminution of
our general consumption and revenue, and an
increased charge on the landed interest, through
the poor rates ; that it will multiply disturbances
among those people whom it will be the means
of depriving of profitable employment, and con-
sequently increase the expence of criminal jus-
tice ; and what is still worse, that it will pro-
duce all these most pernicious results, without
one countervailing benefit, either to the West
India slave masters themselves, for whose good
it is intended, or to the Empire generally, but
on the contrary that it will prove most injurious
to the planters, as it will only cause a change of
customers, while it will diminish the consump-
tion of sugar within the British Empire. Yet it is
plainly to be perceived that the main objects of
those slave proprietors is to perpetuate slavery in
the West Indies in opposition to the spirit of
our Constitution, to our public professions to
other powers, and to the sacrifices we have been
under to induce them to desist from this traffic,
and that their further aim is to make us pay 25
per cwt., or more than we do at present for our
West India sugar, although we are now paying
from 10s. to 15s. per cwt. more than if we con-
sumed East India sugar, or were rid of our West
India sugar altogether. Thus we are supporting,
at a vast expence to the British public, a system
of slavery that would otherwise die a natural
death ; for if those slave masters were deprived
of their undue protection, they would emanci-
pate their slaves from self-interest. I therefore
hope that every person in the Empire, and that
every philanthropist in particular, will adopt
every legal means in their power to frustrate the
views of these West India slave proprietors.
If these Gentlemen slave masters claim this
further protection on the grounds of vested
rights, refer them to my letter to Mr. Gooch,
published in the New Times of yesterday.
The inclosed letter will show you more clearly
the loss to the British Empire by this disgrace-
ful and unnatural West India connection. It
appears that you do not consider in your in-
tended protecting duties the value of British
shipping, nor what has been the cost to the State
of supporting and defending those Colonies on
the average of the last 30 years.
Now, however great the losses have been to the
British Empire of what I have above enume-
rated, and are likely to be, still they are only
as a feather in the scale compared to the loss occa-
sioned to the dignity of the Nation by the breach
of an established law in order to comply with the
avaricious request of Slave Masters, or the
threats of an insignificant Foreign State reared
by our folly to its present power, and which
assumes a consequence by having defeated
a few of our patronage ships of war ; and
I say further, that if ever that power becomes
our rival, it will be throuel the folly of our Le-
gis;ature much more than its own wisdom.
Now, it should be a consideration with you
how far this sacrifice of our interest may not

open the door to demands on you from every

power in the world.
Did you and your Colleagues but know the
mighty resources of the British Empire, and
that the profitable employment of our people
constitutes its wealth and prosperity, that all
legitimate commerce is founded on mutual wants,
and reciprocity of benefits, and bow to define

those wants and benefits,—
Did you but know that a system of Finance,
which in its operation increases the wealth of the
whole and of the individual, while it creates its
_ _ _

own resources and revenue,—and did you but
know that the agriculture of the British Empire
constitutes the root of and propelling pbwer to
all our other industry, and that there is hardly
a climate or soil on the habitable globe in which
we have not a settlement capable of producing

our supplies,—and that we have an idle popu-
lation capable of cultivating such products, and
who would by so doing make us independent
of rival foreigners' aid,—and did you but know
the disastrous effects of your own commercial
measures and the real state of the country, and

that while you are pluming yourselves on a Sound
revenue, if a proper allowance were made for the
increase of population, and the consumption of
the capital of the landed interest in lieu of their
income, you would see that it is this year about
15 millions short of a sound production.
Did you but know the bulwark which the na-
tion possesses in the talents of Sir G. COCKBURN,
were he allowed to have the complete controul

. -
of the construction) officering and manning of the

British Navy,—
When not a ship in, the world, ton by ton,
gun by gun, and man by many would dare to

oppose him,—
Did you but know the means it would give
him for manning that navy, were we to import
our sugar from the East in lieu of the West
Indies; also to produce our own hemp, flax, cot-
ton, and tobacco, in our Colonies, by the exten-
sion of our shipping and seamen, in bringing
those articles home, and in taking out our unem-
ployed and would be valuable people,—
I say, did you but know half of these circum-
stances, and the fundamental principles of poli-
tical economy, which I have so often described
in my various letters, you and your colleagues
would not be into the measures, or
silenced by the insults of any power or party,
much less by the insignificance of America or
Russia, or by slave-masters or foreign mercantile
interests.
I therefore hope, for the honour and benefit of
our country, that you will bring yourself ac-
quainted with those fundamental principles of
political economy (with an outline of which I
have so often furnished you), when, I trust, you
will no longer feel like the stranger by night in
an African forest, who fears every movement of
the foliage to be an attack from a lion.
Allow me to say, further, when you take quo-
tations from authors which may be applicable to
a world governed by one Government and taxed
equally alike, that they will not do for a nation
like England, insulated from its neighbours, by a
treble taxation.
I beg to say, that did I stand in need of exe-
cutors in trust, or of friends in any other way, as
relates to private life, I would for that purpose
make choice of you, Sir, and some of your col-
leagues ; but as statesmen, I would prefer some
of those of the regenerated nations of Europe
and America.
With the exception of the duties on foreign
wool and rice (and they are not carried fair
enough), no commercial or financial measure has
been adopted since the late war that has been
founded on correct principles of political eco-
nomy, suitable for a nation circumstanced like
England ; but, on the contrary, those measures
have been like so many props applied to super-
structures on the one side, while sappers and
miners have been at work on the other ; and even
these two measures appear to have been adopted
only by the influence of party.
There is no other way of restoring the Bri-
tish Empire to prosperity than that of protecting
every interest from foreign competition, accord-
ing to its respective value to the State, and let
commerce then have the freedom of air. This
will, amongst other things, cause about one-
fourth of the West India sugar plantations to be
restored to cotton plantations, and relieve both
the sugar and cotton planters.
Although the principles I advocate are next to
nature itself in simplicity, and have been acted
on in part daring about the last 200 years, to
which we owe our past prosperity, still I con-
sider it as difficult for those who have been
schooled in the new fangled political economical
doctrine of the day, and who know nothing of
the practical results of their arrangements, to
understand me, as it was for those to understand
GALILEO who imprisoned him for saying the
world was globular.
One of the greatest favours that could be be-
stowed on England, and the greatest curse on
the United States of America, would be to cede
our West Indies to the latter power, even if it
were free of the many hundreds of Millions
of pounds sterling which that unnatural connec-
tion has cost England in compesi, planting,
death of our gallant subjects, &c. &c., as the
public would not only save in the cost of their
sugar from 10s. to 15s. per cwt., but be relieved
of taxes, Sze. &c., for the support of those
Islands, give additional 'employment to about
100,000 tons of British shipping to bring sugar
from the East in lieu of the West Indies,
and increase the market for our manufactures,
but the nation would get rid of the dis-
grace of supporting slavery in opposition to
the spirit of our constitution and our pro-
fessions to other powers.—This measure, if accom-
plished would also (as it appears to me) be in
unison with your general conciliating policy ob-
served towards America, in order, as you erro-
neously suppose, to avoid war with that nation.
While the mighty resources of the British Em-
pire remain, as they now are, unknown to our
Statesmen, &c. nothing can be half so fortu-
nate to this country as the foreign ports of the
world being shut aginst us. This would have a
similar effect with BUONAPARTE'S continental
system, and cause us, as that measure did, to

have recourse to our own,resources, and thereby
rise superior to ourselves, when in a few years
our national industry would be double to what
it now is, without leaving an industrious man un-
employed.
Your Colleagues do not seem to be aware, when
they boast of the amount of our exports, that
if that portion of them which went out for the
payments of foreign corn, hemp, flax, cotton,
tobacco, rice, and timber, and to pay for foreign
ships freights, amounting, as I presume, to about
twenty millions per annum, had been destroyed
at home, on condition of their being replaced
and exchanged for the like, native and colonial
products would be a national benefit of more
than equal value to their invoice cost.
This should be borne in mind by Statesmen,
and cause them to make the distinction between
the value to the State of exports, as payments for
colonial and foreign products,which we cannot pro-
duce ourselves, and the loss to the State of exports,
as payments of foreign commodities that we can
produce ourselves ; as every native product, ex-
changed for a native or colonial product, gives
double the profitable employment to our people
that those do which we exchange for the like fo-
reign products as we ourselves could produce.

If our commerce were founded on mutual wants
and reciprocity of benefits, or if we did our
own work with our own people, so far as we
are able, or if our Statesmen knew that we
could only carry commerce in exports to the
extent of our ability to consume their return
payments, and the profitable employment of
our people gave limits to that consumption, all
that I have been trying so long to impress on
our Statesmens' minds would be accomplished ;
yet the best proof they can give the world of
their own system being wrong and mine right, is
that their measures are fast destroying the indus-
try of the Empire.
Your very obedient Servant,
JOSEPH PINSENT (A TRUE PITTITEO•