The Sun.
London, England, 1831-07-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The finance discussitarof Friday night produced smut
interesting facts. It appearcul that the amount of exciae
duties taken off last year was upwards of ?,,000.0001.,
from which the diminution to the revenue was 100,000/.
short of 1,000,0001. ; from which it follows, of course,
that the people have latterly consumed more of excisable
articles, which constitute the most essential comforts cf
life. by a quantity the duty upon which has been
1,100,0001. The reduction of Custom-house duties hes
presented a similar result. The increase in the admissh n
of foreign articles for home consumption has in part covered
the diminution of the tax. There is of course a propor-
tionate addition to the comforts of the consumers. By the
abolition of the duty upon slates, the collection of which
is united with that upon sea-borne coals now repealed, the
offices and officers (that is, the whole machinery for the
collection of both—not an unexpensive one) may be re-
moved. In the repeal of all duties and impost., the ex-
pense of the collection is almost the first thing to he con-
sidered, not only on account of the saving of money,
hut on account of the chain of dependence and subser-
viency which is broken through and dissipated. An Hon.
Member expressed some apprehension that by the repeal
of the export duty on coals the consumption might be so
much increased that we ourselves might be left in want.
:The elements or data for forming any calculation upon
such a subject Insist be very deficient ; but we recollect a
great political economist (monstrum horrendum informe,)
we might add, rui lumen udemptum, (for your genuine
economist is as blind as a hat), after due examination of
all the mines and capabilities of mining in the Newcastle
country, coming to the conclusion that the coals there
would last for 30,000 years, at the existing rate of con-
smnption. But with respect to the free trade system,
which was again brought into discussion on Friday night,
we differ from those who think that free trade in every
thing is else is nugatory, because we have not a free trade
in corn. Undoubtedly, the free admission of foreign
~orn must he the consummation and perfection of the
free trade system, butt it is likewise certain that the free
trade in all other articles of foreign commerce to the
utmost extent that considerations of revenue will ad-
mit, cannot impede, but must ultimately force the free
trade in corn; and that ar, the less likely to succeed
in this latter obiee.t, the more our passage to the aboli-
tion of the corn laws continues blocked up by divers
other prohibitions upon articles of minor consideration
and less utility ; whilst, on the contrary, it would be in-
qiilinui to a degree that could not he borne, that there
should be a free interchange of all the products and ma-

nufacturee of the continent and this country, with the
sole exception of corn, the first necessary of life. It
would be more happy if we began with the free admission
of corn, except in as far as it was subjected to some fixed
taxation, simply with a view to revenue; but if we can-
not start from it, we have no doubt that we shall get up
to it. A rising manufacture may, perhaps, he protected
by a prohibitory duty, as new dis( overies are secured by
patents ; but no established interest ought to be thus
guarded and fenced round. For what is the effect of
those guarde and fences, prohibitory duties or restrictions?
They are taxes upon the community, not for the good of
the sate or the support of Government, but for the exclu-
sive advantage of individuals ? Times.
The Belgic Papers of Saturday, which arrived last
night, leave us still in the dark respecting the adoption
by the National Congress of the proposals of the Confe-
rence of London, and consequently enable us to determine
nothing about the final arrangement with Prince Leopold.
We have, however, gained a few more facts as the ele-
ments of reasoning on the subject, and can hold out better
hopes than ever of a favourable result. On the ?Bth ult.
the deputies who had come to London to offer the Crown
to his Royal Highness, made their report to Congress
through M. tie Gerlache, the chief of the mission and the
President of the National Assembly. M. de Gerlache,
after highly eulogizing the Prince, and stating the unani-
mous epinion of the deputation in favour of " the warm,
the personal interest which her felt in their behalf,—the
amiable and estimable qualities which distinguish him,—
the
exalted capacity which comprehends the wants
of a people who love all kinds of liberties,"—
read to the Assembly the address which he delivered
at their formal interview with his Royal High-
ness, and the answer which his Highness returned
to them, together with the letter which he transmitted
through them to the Regent. The reply of the Prince
to the deputation we have already given in this journal,
and the letter will he found to-day among our extracts
from the Belgic papers. After the Ptesident had thus de-
livered the report of the deputies, M. Lebeau, the Mini-
ster for Foreign Affairs, ascended the tribune, and gave a
detailed account of the negotiations which had been ear.
lied on at London between the two Belgic Envoys and
Conferences for the settlement of the terms of septa-
)lom between Holland and Belgium, on the adoption
of which the final acceptance of Prince Leopold would
mainly depend. By this statement it appears, that on
Sunday, the 26th ult., simultaneously with the final in-
terview which the deputies had with Prince Leopold,
Lord Peltnerston, as the organ of the Conference, deli-
vered to the two Envoys sealed packet, which they were
commissioned to transmit unopened to the Belgic Minister
for Foreign Affairs. This packet contained proposals to
firm the articles of a treaty between Beigiorn and Hol-
fated, which were modifications of the previous protocols.
These articles, eighteen in number, were likewise traisa-
mined to Holland for the assent of his Dutch Majesty,- and
were to be null and void if rejected wholly or in part by
either of the two Governtnents in the Netherlands. But be-
sidesthese documents which were publicly read, ass'd which, as
parts of the proceedings of Congress, were inserted in the
Journals of the following day, the Minister stated that the
Commissioners to London had communications with their
future Soveretn and with the Members of the Conference,
which he wished only to lay before a secret sitticz of the
Assembly. Accordingly, -after some opposition, a Sec.'et
Committee was appointed for Thursday (the 30th) to
hear the promised communica'ions. The result of that
sitting we have not yet received, except in the shape of e
vague rumour. There is every appearance, however, that
the party for accepting the proposals of the Conference,
and trusting to future negociation for sod. amendments in
them as would be desirable, will gain the aseendeency. If
they would restrain their passions, and consult the die-
tates of prudence, they would ieatantly accede to the
proposed conditions, and place in the wrong their old mas-
ter, the King of Holland, who will certainty etrain hard to
etude all modifications of the former protocols to wieich he had
given his assent, and who may probably reject the intreati,es
of the Allies with the same obstinacy as that with
which he resisted the remonstrant:es of his Belgic subjects.
But while we state that the majority of the Congress,
brought over no doubt by the reports which they have
received from their fellow deputies of their treattneiit in
London, and of the fitness of Prince Leopold for wearing
their Crown, are inclined to accept of a Sovereign and a
peaceful settletneut of their differences with Holland, in
preference to continued danger and agitation, the party
which has always been clamorous for war has now begun
to sound a shriller and a louder note than ever. We find
an article, for instance, in their organ, the Paper called
Emancipation, headed—" Of a last Infamy of the
Landon Conference," denominating the prepsAals trans-
mitted from London " a brevet of shame and diehonnur
for Belgium." M. Robauix, the chief leader of this
/action, has published an address to his countrymen in the
Gems joernal in which he tells them " that the Prince of
Saxe Coburg has not accepted the Belgic, Crown, because
be adds to his acceptance the impossible condition of ad-
hering to the Protocols, of ejecting the Belgians 1,-)
Holy Alliance, and of surrendering a portion of their
brethren to the vengeance of the :King of Holland."—
Happily this faction is not very strong in point of num-
bers, And it is to he hoped that its clamours wili ins re-
sisted with firmness by the majority of the Congress, anti .
disregarded by the majority of the nation,— Times.
Lately the Belgic papers boasted of the arris'ai of a Polish
Envoy at Brussels, and our Brussels correspondent ,de.
scribed him as labouring hard to inculate on the Belgic
patriots the lessons of moderation and the counsels of peace.
.A._:892.: Belgic Government had not yet been perfectly este-
hi h and as the relations of Belgium to Europe bed still
an unsettled and revolutionary el-erecter, it was thc,;ig;,it
by some of the friends of Poland that it would have been
wiser in the National Government of that tatentry not to
have commenced a diplomatic intercourse which lied all
the appearance of makingu confess,
cause with the revolts-
tionists. This, we m
-s, was the view which first
occurred to us on the subject,
tt.f l.felgians had resisted
the arrangements of the great
would receive them into the eonime,r.iti.iiiotycfe Eefurionpdee'pevniih 80.1
nations. The greends of their ree,
guage of their public ocaans, had appara'tQatnhd the lan-
unreasonable, and irritating, and unjust. Thevose powers
the peace of Europe by refusing ee submit their clair;;;%%,,csii:
at bitration of their friends; and Mee alarmed all established"
governments by inflammatory appeals to elsepeople, whose
support they court against their osn rulers, whesse hostility
they provoke. The Nies have hi th,irto abstained from aii 4:1,71
arts and acts of violence. They have scrupulously observed
the duties which they owe to the neutral cisaracter of the I,
eteiesbanring states of Prussia and Austria. They have
reached no crusade against absolute Governments,—tirey
have made no at peal to the disaffected of foreign nations,
they have not offered to craternize with insurrection all
over the world, and, instead of abusing Emperors and

Kings, and resisting their award, they 'lave sent envoys to
England and to France to justify their conduct, and to
beseech their intervention. Was it' not, therefore, incon-
sistent as WI. their past conduct, and imprudent in their
present circumstances, to appear to unite with the Bel-
gians—so opposite to themselves—and to excite a suspi-
cion that they looked to foreign revolt, instead of regular
Governments, for assistance in their national struggle ?
Without explanation, such a suspicion might have been
entertained, which we are happy in being enabled to re-
(l move. The Polish Envoy proceeded to Brussels, from
London, not in hostility to the Governments of France
and England, hut with their perfect concurrence, if
not their previous concert. The Belgians are, after
all, a better and a sounder people than their own dema-
gogues will allow Europe to believe. Their besetting
sin is a kind of restless and excitable pride or vanity,
which they- dignify with the name of patriotism—
which makes them suspicious of encroachments where
I none are intended, and prepared to resent affronts
which nobody is prepared to offer. They bluster and
swagger, and hector and menace, because they are con-
scious of weakness and wish to make themselves appear
strong ; and they really expose themselves to be subjugated
that they may appear to be more than independent. Amid
all this swagger, they have as yet done nothing but driven
away some regiments of Dutch and Belgic troops—not
very willing to kill them--by means of a needy populace
deserted by the chief swaggerers themselves, and by the
influence of De Potter, whom they have since compelled to
leave the scene of his glory. But they see how much the
Poles have done, and entertain a sincere admiration of that
noble people. So far is this feeling carried, that a member
of the Congress lately declared that he admired the Poles
more than his own countrymen. In these circumstances
it was thought that a Polish Envoy—a man of good sense
and moderation—might have some influence in inducing
the Belgic patriots to trust more in the allies, and to rely
less on the counsels of their own vanity—to accept of rea-
sonable terms, and not to endanger the cause of general
freedom by- compelling regular governments to make com-
mon cause against insurrection—which might be equally
fatal to the Jibe► ty of Belgium and to the independence of
Poland. This admirable advice the Poles have a right to
give from their own personal interest (if we may use the
phrase) in the result. It is quite evident that the Belgic
question, so long as it remains unsettled, must keep
England and France—if not in a state of opposition, at
least —in a state of suspicion towards each other. It
cannot be denied that it must prevent them from uniting
in any great political object, such as an interference in
favour of Poland. It is moreover, obvious, that while
they are negotiating with Russia for one great object
which so nearly concerns them, they cannot endanger the
alliance which meets in the London conferences by such a
remonstrance as they might make, were the Belgic objects
of the alliance gained. The Plenipotentiaries of his Im-
perial Majesty know that fact full well, and they would
not show the usual adroitness of Russian diplomacy if
they did not throw every obstacle in the way of the final
settlement of Belgium, by confirming the obstinacy of his
Dutch Majesty, and stimulating the pride or fears of the
Belgic patriots. The Polish Envoy was therefore as much
employed against the Czar and as beneficially acting for
the independence of his country, in advising the Belgians
to a peaceful settlement, as the armies of Poland in fight-
ing the Imperial troops. We give, under the head of
" Hamburg Papers," the last news from Poland, and in
another column a curious circular of the Polish Govern-
ment respecting the cholera, of which Russia made a fatal
present to a nation which she had so long oppressed.—.
Times.

Nothing can be less gratifying to the country, or more
calculated to shake its confidence in public men, than to
see the time of Parliament occupied in a system of per•
sonal attack and recrimination, such as its walls night after
night exhibit. We are far from wishing to see the
slighest abatement of that constitutional jealousy and
watchfulness which it is the duty of Parliament to entertain
towards all the public acts of public men ; but when we
see personal pique and disappointment taking the place of
those high and disinterested motives which ought alone to
influence men in their zeal for the public service, we neces-
sarily hold such mock patriotism very cheap, and will lend
our aid, as far as we prudently can, in unmasking and
exposing its professors. Among the loudest hawlers against
the measures of the present Administration are persons who
held minor offices under the last. This, in one sense at least
is natural enough. Clerks and secretaries, even if they pos-
sess business-like habits, which is not always the case, of
course, belong to a class who look for no reward but their
hire. They have none of that ambition which prompts
men to serve their country in higher stations ; and, there-
fore, when expelled from office, they neurally enough
turn, like snarling curs, upon those who have deprived
them of their bone. This, we say, is natural enough ;
and all that we ask at the hands of the public is, that such
patriotism shall pass for no more than it is worth. The
present Government is assailed by the losers of office in
this way. They are accused especially of having aban-
doned all their promises of economy, and of throwing out
their Reform Bill as a tub to amuse and allure the whale
instead of them. Now, without being the indiscriminate
advocates or opponents of any particular set of men, we
would fairly ask our readers whether this be honest or
true—honest, as coming from those it does, or true, as
applied to those to whom the imputation is intended
to attach ? We do not deny that the Duke of
Wellieigson and Sir Robert reel themselves were,
when in office, anxious to bring about all practicable
deductions in the public expenditure, and that they
effected this, as far as minor salaries were con-
cerned. But there were two heads of the Hydra which
they had not the courage to touch—the one the borough-
mongers, who, from long possession, looked upon pa-
tronage and office as their heir-loom and inheritance—the
other, the very class of second_ rate persons in office, who
now assail those Ministers who have had the courage to
bra in upon their share in the overpaid burdens of the
State. To the credit of Lord Grey's Government, it has
had the courage to attack those hitherto impregnable
citadels of abuse. The boroughmongers see their heir-
looms slipping lions under them ; while the second-rate
holders of office fold themselves no longer that band of
exclusives who, front having the ear of their superiors,
were exempt from the reach of retrenchment. In fact,
the present Ministers have done more in a few months to
realize the just expectations of the country than their pre-
decessors have accomplished in as many years; while they
have given the best earnast of their sincerity, by com-
mencing the work of retrenchment at. the fountain head,
i.y reducing (as many think unnecessarily) the salaries of
their ovst offices.—Morning Herald.

The sagacity anii 4etermination of the people on the all-
engrossing subject of the fieloern Bills, their zealous watch-
fulness of the occasional alterations '.n the details, have
I,ee.; eternally displayed during the past week. The un-
toward and ;eery:ions introduction into the English Reform
Bill of the half-yea; J3' Rent Clause has excited a moat
lively apprehension from one en:l of the kingdom to the
other. The various and nutnerosse ciaeees of Refermers
had suepended all former differences of opinion, an.i enited
in a firm :eel igvincible support of the Ministry on this
great measure,— Clearly discerning the honesty of the Ad.
ministration in the corniiiete demolition of the borough
syatetn, the people were not very nice in their criticism of
its subes.ii.We. Seesible men were well aware of the dif
ficulties to Le t seen4ntered by Ministers, and the prejudice•
of the country lung eubjected to the mal influences of the
boroughmongers, and made dae allnevances for any defects
of detail or any restriction of abstract rights of franchise,
and used their influence to engage all parties of Reicirmers
in support of ..',..e common cause. The result of this wis-
dom of the nation W 3.3 ;roved at the general election. But
most unluckily this unanimity of feeling has been tempo.
1.34:e disturbed. In the revision of tie mill, subsequent
to its te itMreeval in the last Parliament, die douse re-
specting the nsede ,ef payment of the 101. rent was
added. The circornstanci-z lnd motives under which
• . •
this
‘clause was adopted are at leas: doubtful, as far
as we yen 'et dive into them ; but it is cieae that the
framers of tii;e Al:;noxious limitation of the franchise,
and the Cabinet before wirbe,:es, from its important bearing,
it must have come, could not have Sizooren its operation or
lamsseen its unpopularity. We have great (thane; whether
the rricae of rent payment can be applied as a general prin-
ciple on the feerrhise, especially as it appears to have been
thus devised. The ..o.eal and relative circumstances of
land:eed and tenant notoriously
,teary in different towns and
districts. This variation by no menus i4o4ips only to the
worldly situation af the tenant. For example, time ;and-
:.ords of the miss of small Zte7eses under twenty pounds are
genteelly retired tradesmen of the -e.-.oelling classes ; they
exact their etas,:. weekly, quarterly, and inouzl'e,—rarely
exceeding a quarter. ;,!..',!.,!ey do so' not only as a better 34-
surity for rents, but as a cesiee,..:4e,nce in the periodical re-
ceipt of ,their own limited incomes.
Birmingham would 6.,ch would have
been the °Pecat:o4 ,9i. the intended liberal clause irst.'o-
114
Ebo.:4t 2,000 , A retaloita
uuced into the Bill, that, v-. -. informed the electors of.
,vvea:tbe:ei;Nree'w;ttei,:et'reiontnti;..l2,:?.;uoentot
and pui.li..z.spirited
Howe. The deep interest of tfils:arterill
, the locality of the wealthiest'
shopkeepers, is cosesprieed orq
on this vital point
tenants of Lord
in the Bill requires no further coruPern°ePulet. N
Roepferation in
Manchester, and the sympathy between tlisethe different large towns to be enfranchised, is welt

pressed in the following extract from a private letter of a
gentlemen in Manchester to a Birmingham Reformer
" MANCHESTER, Just 30.—1 shall begin by referring to
a more general subject of interest. A town's meeting has been
holden here to-day to petition against the clank of the Reform
Bill, limiting the elective franchise to those- ten-pound free-
holders who pay their rents half-yearly. This clause, if per-
mitted to stand, will stultify and nullify the whole effect of the
Bill as regards large towns, and Ministers have surely been
gulled by designing Anti-Reformers whom they have wished to
propitiate. The fact is, that nearly all shopkeepers pay quar-
terly ; in fact, every one knows that most rents are so paid. In
Market-street here, out of eighty-eight shopkeepers, only four or
five pay at longer terms than every three months, and none at
shorter periods ; thus this clause will absolutely change the na-
ture of the whole Bill, and cause a diminution rather than an in_
crease to the number of voters. I write to you at the particular
request of many staunch Reformers here, who hope that you
will put Birmingham in motion immediately, and every other
place that you can, as not a day should be lost in execrating
this clause, and showing Ministers that the people are true to
the principles of the Bill, though they are not, and that they
will never cease to agitate till this clause be rectified."

Bil mingham with its usual politieJl activity had antici-
pated the electric feeling of Manchester. The Conned of
the Political Union, immediately on detecting the cloven
foot in the Bill, drew up a memorial to Lord Grey in
strong but respectful language remonstrating against the
clause, and stating its breach of faith ii retained. This
memorial was transmitted to Lord Grey on Wednesday
last, to which his Lordship by return of post sent the fo'
lowing reply :

" Downing-street, June 30th, 1031.
" have had the honour of receiving your letter, en-
closing a Memorial of the Council of the Birmingham Political
Union, in which objections are stated to limiting the 10/. fran-
chise to persons paying their rents half yearly.
" It is with great satisfaction I have to inform you that the
words so limiting the franchise were inadvertently inserted, and
will be altered in Committee, the only object in contemplation
being that of insuring a bona fide holding of 101. per annum.
" The Memorial also refers to another supposed alteration as
to the division of counties. You will find, by referring to the Bill
of last Session, that on this point no alteration whatever has been
made.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
" Thomas Attwood, Esq." GREY."

This answer is specific on the point of half-yearly rents,
but it does not state what principle (if any) will be applied
to limit the 10/. franchise as originally given by the Bill.
We are extremely luth to excite any difficulties or discus-
sions before the Committee of the Commons shall have
disposed of the schedules A. and B. of the English Bill;
hut as this all-important question of the franchise must
eventually be considered and determined, and may be art-
fully used by the enemies of the Bill, we may apprize Mi-
nisters of the necessity of setting at rest the disturbed state
of the public mind, as also of the expediency of not al-
lowing a second blunder, and of deliberately examining
facts, and availing themselves of information on the sub-
ject, before they again endanger unanimity and public con-
fidence.—Morning Chronicle.
The second reading of the Reform Bill is to he moved
this day, and a long discussion may be looked for. The
John Bull of yesterday gives the following account of cir-
cumstances connected with the clause excluding tenants
paying their rents less frequently than every half year.
We cannot bring ourselves to believe the statement to be
true; but it has an air of truth, and ought to be contra.
dieted :

" Our readers must have observed in all the newspapers, that
in discussing the clause which inadvertently slipped into the Re-
form Bill, and upon which we have made a few observations in
another part of to-day's paper, the Ministerial writers have over
and over again attributed the appearance of that clause to a wit.
Jul manoeuvre of some gentleman appointed to draw the Bill, or
of some other gentleman employed to transcribe the Bill, or to
somebody of Tory principles, left in authority by the late Mini-
stry. This has been repeated, and repeated, and repeated, until
grave, reasonable people begin to believe it true, and wonder at
the ' iniquity' which prevails in what Mr. Hume calls the
entry's camp:. .

.
"In w what e have elsewhere said upon this matter, it will be
seen that we have vaguely remarked upon the designs of Lord
John Russell and his colleagues, of which this clause, inadver-
tently inserted in the Bill, is the striking evidence—we shall
now speak more plainly ; because the charge made upon the
Tories has assumed a seriousness of character which renders it
necessary to state facts—here they are.
" When this clause—this very clause, with all its imperfections
as they appear—came under the consideration of the able and
Hon. Gentleman who has been employed to draw the Bill—we
mean Mr. Gregson—that gentleman called the attention of Lord
John Russell to its operation and consequences. His Lordship,
so far from being surprised, seemed aware of that operation and
those consequences, and even expressed his opinion of the neces-
sity for throwing the elective franchise into the channels to
which the proposed clause would naturally lead it. Mr. Gregson
differed in opinion with his Lordship, and the question was re-
ferred to Lord Althorp, and, atter much consideration, Lord
John Russell agreed to abandon it ; and so the conference upon
it ended. At a Cabinet, however, which was held a short time
after, Lord John met with more support and countenance, and
after a second mature deliberation, the clause was inserted.
" This being the case, Mr. Gregson, when he found that the
insertion of the clause was attributed to either the inadvertence
of the gentleman who drew the Bill, or to some worse cause,
and that its appearance in the Bill was spoken of as being the re-
sult of Tory manwuvre, did not hesitate to call upon Lord John
Russell, and request a vindication of his character upon this
point—but Lord John Russell turned a deaf ear to the appeal,
and adopted the system recommended by the Times, of saying
nothing about it, as the best way of getting rid of it altogether—
this, however, would not satisfy Mr. Gregson,' than whom, as
all those who know him know there does not exist a more ho-
nourable or higher-minded gentleman; and in order to wash his
hands of all farther connexion with persons who denied him
common justice, he tendered his resignation of the office which
he holds under Government.

" To this Lord Althorp demurred. He begged him to retain
his office, and promised him that on Friday he would explain the
whole of the circumstances to the House of Commons; which
accordingly his Lordship omitted to do.

" This is the plain statement; and a prettier picture of inad.
vertence, accident, mistake, and oversight, we think, never was
exhibited ; to say nothing of the personal conduct of the Minis-
ters to Mr. Gregson, or the insinuation cast by their direction
upon the party to which Mr. Gregson belongs."...
Morning Chronicle.

The declaration of Mr. Stanley on Friday night, on
moving for leave to bring in a Bill to regulate the im-
portation of arms into Ireland, and the method ot keep-
ing them there, that " strong as were the provisions of
the Bill, they were rot stronger than than were abso-
lutely necessary for the preservation of the peace of Ire-
land," is calulated to create serious apprehension for the
safety of Ireland. One of the provisions of this Bill is,
that persons in a proclaimed district having unregistered
arms in their possession shall be subject to transportation
for seven years. This is a dreadful punishment, and we
take it for granted that it would not have been proposed,
if the necessity were not urgent. The Irish Members (if
we may judge from the language of Mr. O'Connell and
Mr. Wyse) will oppose the Bill to the utmost. The
Standard of Saturday says—
" In the course of the evening (Friday evening( there was a
great cry by Messrs.Sheil, Grattan, and O'Connell, for disarming
the Irish Yeomanry. Does any one guess why ? Because they •
had lately become obects of detestation with' the peasantry, that
is with the Roman Catholics! Hates any man the thing he
would not kill ?"This is either hyper-Hibernian blundering, or
the perfection of candour. Mr. Stanley then brought in the
Irish Arms' Bill, one of the provisions of which is that unregis_
tered persons, possessing arms in a proclaimed district, shall be
subject to transportationfor lift! We do not quarrel with this
dreadfully penal law, because we know that Ireland is on theeve
of a Popish rebellion, and the strongest measures are justified
by such a case of necessity; but we would gently hint to Mr.
Stanley the consideration, that a state of feeling in the popu-
lation of Ireland which disentitles them to exercise the most
ordinary rights of freemen, is not that which qualifies them to
send lawgivers to England. But more of this hereafter."
If Ireland be on the eve of a Popish rebellion, the mea.
sure for registering arms will not assuredly prevent its
taking place. But we trust the danger is exaggerated by
our contemporary, though the language of Mr. Stanley
does certainly in some measure countenance it. To the
edition of Thucydides by Dr. Arnold are appended some
ingenious disquisitions, illustrative of the progress of so-
ciety, &e., in one of which he has but too well described
one great cause of the misery of Ireland. Speaking of
the natural tendency of society, where not obstructed by
disturbing causes, he says, " The History of Augsburg
down to the overthrox of its hbrrty by Charles V.,
shows the manner in which the aristocracy of blood is
naturally overthrown by the ordinary progress of a people
in wealth am:d eivilizaton ; it shows, too, with how little
difficulty and danger thia change may he effected, where
no disturbing causes exist, anti where the effort of
the political constitution is neither hurried forwards,
nor violently checked, external circumstances combining
also to favour it. Spring is ever a critical period;
and the fairest promise of blossom on the healthiest tree
may be cut off by one of the sudden frosts or
storms so incident to that chargeable season. In the poli-
tical spring, also, there are peculiar dangers, internal and
external, which, in tco large a proportion of instances,
have never allowed the blossom to ripen
Ist. The union of property, under peculiar local circum-
stances, with nobility. This is a check upon the growth
of liberty which peculiarly belongs to what I have called
aristoera;ics o,f conquest; for in these cases the first set-
tlement of the coniimmer'.ni: people renders distribution of
property fearfully unequal ; and time I:Atilt relation long
maintained between the conquerors and the conquered
leads to fruitless insurrections and subsequent confiscations, ,
or to laws directly restraining the acquisition of property
by the conquered people." The history of Ireland is the
history of -rapine amid confiscation. For the first time,
the Irish now ha %e overnmirepi disposed, in some
measure, to atone foe the centurit of injustice from I
,vhich Ireland has suffered. But the character formed

by centuries of injustice cannot be changed in a day
The law and the sword have in Ireland faithfully aided
each other in oppressing the people ; and the Irishman,
from his birth, i„..,..,-.41,710; to consider the law as his enemy.
In every directiOti the native tie marks of con-
quest. He sees one of the most 'unequivcoal p..oo','s of
slaveiy i;; the tenth part of the gross produce of the soil
being appropriae.:. th" religion of one-seventh of the
people. The people of Engts.stivetil:_l willingly forget the
wic,ngs done to Ireland. But the Irish caancz, :f they
would, forget t;i2se wrongs ; for they are st fferiug from
them. "Eleven and a tiall:?Illions of acres out of twelve
(Pa
ang the Dublin
.I.riirla"nr'd,
ing egister of Thursday last)
i -some of them thrice in a cen,
tury, and passed in moat imita4ces,contrary (as Lord Clae
held) to the law of civilized nations, not from native to
native, but from native to Englishman, and remain to this
day in the possession of Envlishmen or people reeiding in

Ireland." These wounds are deep and not easily healed.
The late sanguinary affrays at Castlepollard and Newtown
harry prove how deadly is the hatred bottle by the two
races towards each other. Whether the present Govern-
ment will succeed in introducing a better feeling remains
to be seen. BUt everything remains yet to be done. The
peasantry of Ireland are still the most oppressed, the mo.t
impoverished of all the nations of Europe.— Afornipfi
Chronicle.

This evening will recommence, in the House of Com-
mons, the discussion of that great and important question
upon which the voice of the people has already finally pro-
nounced, but which has still to undergo not only the ordeal
of a House of Commons, of which there are many Members,
some " fallen from their high estate," others aspiring to
future dignity and power, opposed to it, but also that of a
House of Peers, in which there is at present a decided ma-
jority against it. Such a state of parties--however inap-
propriate the latter term may be to repres,nt the oligarchic d
body opposed to Reform—cannot fail, especially in such
a crisis as the present, to cause great anxiety in the
public mind respecting the final result—a result which
is not only important, as determining whether, on the one
hand, the country shall in future have the benefit of an en-
lightened, a wise, and an economical Government, or on
the other, he subjected to the sway of men having no sym-
pathy with the people, caring not for their rights anti pri-
vileges, and only ambitious of power, as the means of
plundering the people, in order to make provision for
themselves anti families—but most important also, as de •
termining whether the country shall enjoy that repose
which is so necessary to the improvement of its institutions,
the prosperity of its trade and commerce, and the amelic-
ration of the condition of its people, or whether it shall
be torn by intestine divisions, the links which bind society
together be broken asunder, and the safety of the
whole social edifice be compromised. Such is the
real state of the question—of the yea or nay—
the content or non-content--which may be pre-
nounced by the two Houses of Parliament on the
Bill now before the Commons ; and our anxiety, though
not greatly increased, is assuredly not diminished, by the
mad scheme which the opponents of the Bill have, it is
said, now in contemplation to adopt for frustrating the
success of the Bill, and driving those from the helm of the
state in whom the people recognize the assertors of their
rights and the advocates of their privileges. The
scheme to which we refer is that of proposing, as an amend-
ment to the Reform Bill, hut, really, in substitution for
it, a Reform Bill concocted by the party which, until
within the last few months, declared all Reform to be
unnecessary, and the rotten-borough system the perfec-
tion of human wisdom—the " envy and admiration of sur-
rounding nations." Where this new Bill will be first
tried—whether in the Commons, where it is certain to he
rejected, or in the Lords, in order, after due approval, to
the Commons, is a question—either yet undecided—or if it
be, about which we have learned nothing that can be re-
lied on ; but a notable scheme it must be, coming front
the quarter to which we allude, and whether successful or
unsuccessful, can, in the end, be productive of only one
result—a greater extension of popular rights than that
contemplated by the Ministerial Reform Bill. If the new
Bill be of a less popular character than that of Lord Grey
and his colleagues, it will, and must, be immediately re-
jected by the Commons, however it may be received by
the Lords ; and if, on the other hand, the franchise pro-
posed to be conferred by it were of a more sweeping
and universal character, what would be the result?
Could its propounders hope, even if it were adopted, to
regain through it that power which they have so long
abused, and so justly, and, we hope, so irrevocably, lost ?
Would the people be inclined to place confidence in those
who have traded for years in the fruits of the people's in-
dustry,--whose every endeavour has been to rivet closer
and closer the chains imposed upon them by their prede-
cessors,—who have set their faces against every improve-
ment of our institutions, and every solid amelioration of the
condition of the people,—and who, to every ether public
sin, should now add that of causing their cup of degrada-
tion and infamy to overflow by turning round, after oppo-
sing all, even the slightest, Reform, and proposing a change
in the Constitution, even more radical than that of the
present Ministers ? No—no—no—the event is impossible.
The public can never look on such men with favour,—it
must always view them with suspicion, and hold their
schemes in distrust;—and therefore, the only most dis-
tantly probable result of an attempt to gull the Parliament
and the public, by the proposition and successful carrying
of such a scheme as that which we have been discussing,
is another dissolution of Parliament,—a more dreadful ex-
plosion of popular feeling than has yet been witnessed, and
lastly, the forcing upon the Aristocracy of the country an
elective system of which the basis would he the ballot,
universal suffrage, and annual Parliaments. For the people
there is no ground for fear in the course of the struggle.
They die not, neither can they be extinguished; but as
friends to a substantial aria just Reform, embracing the re-
storation of the Constitution only, we deem it worth the
while of the enemies of Reform to reflect whether the
same language is applicable to them, and whether by a
Protraction of the present struggle, their rights, privileges,
and property, will not be more endangered than by at once
acceding to the just, indispensable, and undeniable claims
of the people.—Morning Advertiser.

THE RIVER NIGER-TERMINATION IN

THE SEA.

LETTER FROM JAMES MACQUEEN, ESQ.

TO THE EDITOR OF BLACKWOOD'S
MAGAZINE.

SIR,--Last autumn you received an article from me
containing a review of Clapperton's last, Lander's first,
and De Cail'e's late travels in Africa, together with such
farther information as I had obtained relative to the termi-
nation of the great river Niger in the Atlantic Ocean.—
This article was in types, and was to have appeared in your
September number, along with a corrected map of the
course and termination of the Niger. The length of the
article, and the way in which your columns have been
occupied with important political discussions, have hitherto
prevented the appeal ance of my communication in your
widely-circulated publication. I am now, however, better
pleased that it should stand over till the publication of
Lander's new work, as the whole subject of African
geography can then he more satisfactorily brought forward
in one view, that enterprising traveller having just arrived
in England, with the confirmation, from personal research
and ocular demonstration, of the important geographical
fact, which, from long and patient enquiry, and from good
authority, (authority which has not been, because it
could not be, contradicted,) I had so often, and go many
years ago, laid before the public.
Justice to myself and justice to the important subject,
however, require of me at this moment to draw, and as
shortly as possible, the attention of the public to the facts
concerning this case.
Sixteen years ago, I pointed out in a small treatise, pub-
lished in this city, that the Niger terminated in the
Atlantic Ocean in the Bight of Benin and Biafra, and it
is exactly eleven years since I laid before his Majesty's
Government, in the several public departments, a memo-
rial, accompanied by a map, upon a very large scale,
pointing out the important fact, and shewing, the course
of the Niger and its principal tributary streams
through the interior of Northern Africa, downwards
to the Atlantic Ocean. This memorial also went
into the commercial advantages which this country
might obtain by planting a settlement on the island of
Fernando Po, a healthy and commanding position,
as a commercial depot, to carry on trade with the inte-
Nrioigr.ort:
aand i t
Africa,
offeredby means
tb
roifntgb
forward
twnavigable
commercialatrea o fcotilnt e_
pany ready to undertake the work. The pernicious influ-
ence, however, exercised by Sierra Leone, baffled the com-
mercial object they had in view. In the following year,
1821, I published a small volume, accompanied by a map
upen a reduced scale, showing the course and termination
of the Niger, with my authorities for the same, and also
at considerable length pointed out the trade and commerce
which was carried on by the nations of the interior with
the Moors and Arabs across the Great Desert, the trade
with the Europeans on the south-western shores of Africa,
and also the trade and commerce carried on by the nations
of the interior amongst themselves. This volume was
pubii 411 4(1 by Mr. Blackwood, Edinburgh. In June,
1826, and subsequent to the appearance of Denham and
Ciapperton's Travels, I inserted in your Mag/qine an ar-
tide correcting the peography of the courses of the rivers
in Eastern Sudan, about which I had felt soma doubt and
difficulty in the volume alluded to, while the travels of
our countrymen just mentioned enabled Inc more clearly to
demonstrate the passage of the Niger southward to the
Atlantic, with oniy this difference, that the bed of the
stream in its southern course was, as I suspected in my
first pubtical,;;A, about it degree and a half more to the
westward than it had there been laid dawn. I had, as I
have already mentioned, prepared last autumn another ar-
ticle, accompanied by a corrected 'map,,on a reduced stele,
with the addition of some rivers and placeiesfigwaliteicrileidap..
per ton's last, and Lancer's Erst journey enabled me then to
.
lay down, and-the- neap to now given with this letter.
j his map will give the reader vrOrrect idea of -the course
and termination of the river Niger, and' several
of its tributary streams through Northern Central
Africa, and, consequently, render any
nar-
rative on thew points, hy me, at flit, moment unnecessary, I

I think it right, however, to state, that I had, many yeais
ago, received from different individuals, who had traded
up the river in the Delta of Benin, to a considerable die.
Lance, positive infiirmation that these rivers communicated
with each other by numerous branches, and that the whole
were only branches of one great river, which desccudea
from it northward; and down which stream, these in•
formants told me, large canoes, carrying a great quantity
of merchandise, and a great number of people, descended
from interior countries, distant one, two, and even three
months' journey, and with which natives they were in the
constant habit of carrying on a considerable trade, by bar-
tering European goods for African productions, while the
foreign slave-traders received almost all the slaves they
exported from Africa, at the trading stations on the mouths
of the different rivers in the Delta, to which station,,
these slaves had been brought down from distant countri,s
in the interior, arid chiefly by a waver conveyance.
"It is with considerable sitisfaction, therefore, that I
find all the labours and researches, and they were neither
few nor light, which I undertook to demonstrate the truth,
and establish the fact, that the long-sought and great
River Niger terminated in the Atlantic Ocean, has beta-)
within these few d tys confirmed beyond the possibility of
cavil or dispute ; and also, that it runs through that por •
tion of Africa where I had delineated its course to be ;

and no one can hail with greater satisfaction than I do, the
arrival of the two brothers, Landers, with this pleasing
intelligence, nor be more ready to render them the praise
that is due to their enterprise and exertions.
"It is painful to reflect upon the number of valuable
lives which have been lost by clinging to erroneous theo-
ries, in endeavouring to solve this great geographical pro-
blem, which any one, who turned his eye to the Delta of
Benin, and to the numerous rivers which enter the sea in
that quarter, must have solved in a moment. It is humi-
liating and distressing in the extreme to a great commer-
cial and maritime nation like this to have remained so
long obstinately ignorant of the important fact, and to
have wasted so much time and money as Britain
has done, in attempting to do good to Africa,
directing her energies and resources to the most unpro-
ductive, unhealthy, impolitic, and unprofitable parts of the
coasts of Africa, while she forsook altogether the more
productive and wealthy parts of the country, and that part
of the African coast, from which alone any European na-
tion can, with comparative safety and celerity, reach the
more civilized, industrious and wealthy parts of the inte-
rior of Northern Africa. But let us hope that a different
course will now be pursued with energy, and by all the
political strength and commercial resources which this
country can put in operation.
" With these observations I shall proceed to take a
short survey of the course and termination of the River
Niger, and the advantages which its navigable stream can
afford to the commerce of Africa, and which it will, I
hope, speedily afford to the commerce of this country.
" The branch of the Niger at present best known
springs on the north-eastern side of mountain called
Lorna, in 9 deg. 15 min. N. latitude, and 9 deg. 36 min.
W. longitude, about 200 miles N.E. by E. of Sierra
Leone, and eastward of the sources of the Roltelle and
Kouranko rivers, which run into the inlet of the sea
on which Sierra Leone is situated. From Loma the
Niger, under the name of the Joliba, bends its course
N.E through Salimana and Kaukan to Couroussa, a town
situated about 80 miles east from Timboo, where De
Caills4, in his late journey, going eastward, crossed it, and
found it, before the inundation commenced, to be 900
French feet broad and 9 feet deep, with a current at the
rate of 21 miles per hour. The magnitude of the river
at this place goes to prove that, between Lotna and Cou-
roussa, the Niger must have received a large tribute from
the east, and which I conceive to be the Coomba, or
Zartuna river, laid down in my first map, and which
river is found to the N.W. of Ashautee, a consider-
able stream running westward ; and, as we find no rivers
entering the sea on the Gold Coast, from the Assine river
to the Mesurado river, so it is almost certain that the
Coomba is a branch of the Niger. It is remarkable that
Ptolemy brings a branch from the saute quarter, while in
some very old and excellent Dutch maps 1 find the higher
course of the Joliba so laid down, and which, taking it to
be the fact, will account for its great magnitude at Cou-
roussa, within 100 miles of its teputed source.
" De Caill4, after crossing the river, continued hisjourney
S. E. about 180 miles to Time, and afterwards N. E.
about 90 miles to Tangoora, crossing in his journey nume-
rous large streams descending from the Kong chain, all
running N.W. to the Niger, particularly one at a short
distance from Couroussa named Yandan, 450 feet broad,
and in his journey northward from Tangoora to Jinne he
crossed several other rivers, all bending their course N.W.
to the Niger. From Couroussa the Niger continues its
course N.E. by Kaniaba, having previously, and a little
below Bourre, received the Tankisso (this stream was
mistaken by Mollien for the parent branch of the Ba Fing,
or Senegal), a considerable river which rises a little to
the west, anti runs a little to the south of Timboo. From
this junction the Niger pursues its course to Bammako,
situated in 12 deg. 49 min. north latitude, and 3 deg. 40
min, west longitude, where Park, in his second journey,
fell in with it, and found it in the early port of the wet
season one mile broad, hut still confined within its natural
banks. From this place the Joliba continues its course
nearly east by Yamina, Sego, and gansanding, (here Park
embarked upon it in his large canoe in his last journey) to
Jinne, where it appears to be divided into several branches
or else to receive from the N.W. some tributary streams.
" Having visited Jinne, De C tine embarked on the
easter❑ branch, about 1200 feet broad, at Caugallia, and
proceeded in the course nearly due north to Timbuctoo in
a canoe of about 80 tons burden, and accompanied the
greater pa► t of the way by a fleet of nearly 80 sail of ves-
sels of the same magnitude, loaded with goods. In his
journey northwards he passed the lake Dibbie, the great
magnitude of which surprised him exceedingly, and
which stretches from east to west, instead of from north
to south. In this lake I have reason to believe the Niger

is joined by a river of very considerable magnitude flowing
from the N. W., and called by the Moors and Negroes
Gozenzair or Wad-el-Fenij. From Jinne to Timbuc-
too, the banks of the river were low and marshy. Below
Lake Dibbie the river generally was very deep, and from
half a mile to a mile broad, with a considerable current.
Although it was at the height of the dry season when De
Caille sailed down it, he found it larger than the Senegal
at Podor, only 120 miles from the sea ; in fat, says he
the Senegal is tut an ordinary river compared to this.'
" Near Kabra, the port of Timbuctoo, the Niger se-
parates into two branches, the larger about three fourths
of a mile broad, bending its course E.S.E., and the
smaller about 100 feet broad, but deep, taking its course
E. by N. to Kabra. The celebrated city of Timbuctoo is
about eight miles north from Kabra, and from the most
accurate information which has as yet been received,
stands in 17 deg. 30 min. north latitude, and 2i deg. east
longitude. From Kabra the small branch of the Niger
turns S.E. and joins the parent stream to the east-
ward, from which point we have reason to believe
the Niger flows, in the general bearing of its course
S.E. in an united stream, until it approaches Boussa,
front which place its course is on the general bearing
south, until it reaches the sea. From Timbuctoo to
Youri we know very little of the Niger or the country
around it, except from the journey of Sadi Hamed, who,
as regards the river, describes it as a very large stream, and
the further fact, that Park navigated it in safety to Boussa.
At Cabs, above Youri, the Niger, which here assumes
the name of Quorra or Kowara, is joined by a con-
siderable river, and which rises to the east, and flows to
the north of the city of Saecatoo, from which place the
stream bends its course S.W. to the Niger at Cabi. At
Boussa the Niger divides itself into three branches,
two of which are filled with rocks and rapids,
but still passable by vessels ; and the other, called
31enai, where Park was lost, is a deep still-run-
ning stream. Boussa is situated in 6 dig. 11 min.
east longitude, and 10 deg. 14 min. north lati-
tude, and consequently abont 410 British miles, in a direct
lswalonw isßlaonudssafortihneed
Nbiygerthue
nNi
teisgeirn.
onAet
satrsel7orit,
line from the sea, at the mouth of the Bonny river.
distanceß o ussa i
irnep
trheesendtreyd
season. l)yClappTerhtoen
intoabgemitanqdueaorfterthoef aNzielre
abovebroad
Timbuctoo, and its magnitude in the Delta of Benin, as
compared to what it is represented to be, near Boussa,
naturally excites surprise, and can only be accounted for,
if the width given be correct, which, however, I much
doubt, from the greater rapidity of its current over the
rapids, which are found. in thiS part of its course. 'rhos
we re the great river Congo, which above and below the
cataracts is from four to five miles broad, reduced at the
great cataract to the width of only fifty yards !
" From Boussa, the Niger proceeds south by N3ffep
and is joined in this part of its course by several cousi..
derable rivers both from the east and from the west, ti,
Fundali, a celebrated town situated to the eastward ol
Katungali, the capital of Yarriba. The river above
Funtlah (here several miles broad) bends for a short space
to the east, turned aside, perhaps the granite hills ol
by
Yarriba. At Fundab, the Niger is yonied
is
a large river
from the east,, and which more probably c the Coodonia,
or Kadania, mentioned by Lander in-his -first journey as
descending and receiving several other important streams
which descend from that elevated land and chain of high
Li.dsia.nE.oftollthd longitude, and which hills stretch
hills which Commence to the. south of Kano, in the me-
eegrheigesheamstoilind;ains of Mandara, the moue'
Thais, of Ptolemy and whirl, elevated chain just men-

tioaed intervenes between the river Shay y and the lake
Tschad, thus dividing the waters which flow from the
S. and S. E. io the Shaty, and front the west in the
river Yeou into that lake, from the waters which, spring-
ing in the chain mentioned, flew- westward and south-
westward to the Niger. About Furnish, also I cling to the
belief, that the Niger is joined by a great river descending by
Mount Thala, from the Mountains of the Moon. From Fun-
dah the river bends its course south through Benin, in
which country, and probably about seven degrees of north la-
titude, it separates into numerous branches, the principal of
which are the Rio de Formosa, certainly, the parent stream
which enters the sea i❑ the Bight of Benin, and the
Bonny and New Calabar rivers, which flow to the S. E.,
to the sea nearly opposite -the island of Fernando Po.
These rivers, as we shall presently see, are of great
magnitude.

" From the Bight of Benin to the Bight of Biafra, no
fewer than twenty rivers enter •the sea through this alluvial
Delta, which is completely flooded to a great distance from
the sea, during the swell of the rivers in the rainy season.
The Rio de Formosa is three and a half British milrs
broad at its mouth, where there are two bars of mud with
thirteen feet water on each. Upwards in its course it
spreads to a breadth of four miles, and is four or five
fathoms deep, throwing off numerous branches to the
S.W., S., and S.E., and on every large branch, to the
W.N:W., which joins the sea near Lagos. From Rio
de Formosa to Cape Formosa, six rivers, each of con-
siderable magnitude, enter the sea. The Rio dos For-
cados is the largest of these. Its mouth is the first to
the south of the Rio de Formosa. South of it is the large
lake called Warree. Passing Cape Formosa we have sit
rivers (the first and nearest the Cape is the river Nun,
by which the Landers descended to the sea,) which enter
the sea before we come to the great outlet of the New
Calabar and Bonny Rivers, which join the sea by four
different mouths, the principal of which is elaren!miler
broad, and very deep, with a large bank of sand on the
west point, on which, though te water is thirty feet
deep, the breakers are fearful, owing to the prodigious
force of fresh water which here encounters a powerful
current in the sea. Eastward we find a great inlet of
the sea, at its mouth twelve miles broad, extending north
nearly one hundred miles, and which is joined by Cross
river coming from N. W., and certainly a branch of the
Niger; and by the Rio Elrei river and Old Calabar
river, both descending from the high lands to the east-
ward; but which have, I believe, no communication
with the Niger.

" I have thus, and as concisely as possible, brought be-
fore the reader the course and termination of this mighty
stream, which has baffled the researches of the learned
and curious for nearly three thousand years. Its course in
the general bearings of the line of its bed will, from
Loma to Bonny river, be nearly two thousand six hundred
British miles, without reckoning anything for the length of
the Coomba, probably the parent stream. Of this course
we knew it is navigable, and has been navigated from
Couroussa to the sea, a distance of about two thousand
five hundred miles. The countries round its banks are in
general very populous. The inhabitants are comparatively
industrious, and to a certain extent advanced in civilisation,
and they are moreover great traders, and anxious to engage
in trade. The supply of European articles which they
receive is principally obtained from the Moors and Arabs,
after tedious and very expensive and dangerous journeys
across the Great Desert, which so enhances the price that
few can purcha e; but the water communication, by means
of the Niger, will so greatly reduce the price, that it will
render the consumption of European articles much more
extensive ; while the supply of fire-arms, and other muni-
tions of war, which the nations in the interior will by this
means, and by this communication, receive, will speedily
enable them to repel the fierce inroads of the Fellatahs,
end other wandering Moorish tribes who dwell on the
southern borders of the Great Desert, and there live by
plundering the cara►ans and the peaceable and snore in-
dustrious nations of the south, which pernicious inroads
retard and always will retard the civilisation of the in-
terior of Africa. In giving the future trade with the
interior its proper and natural course, namely, upwards
from the Delta of Benin, by means of the Niger, and its
tributary streams, considerable and serious impediments
will no doubt for a time be thrown in the way by
the ignorance and avarice of the chiefs, and the people
composing and ruling the numerous states into which
Africa along the Niger is unhappily diajointed, but these
difficulties and impediments will be gradually removed ;
while at their outset, and in their general strength,
they cannot for a moment be compared to the more
vexatious impediments and terrific dangers which ac-
company the march of the trader through the bands of the
ferocious and half-starved Moors and Arabs who rove through
the Great Desert, and live by plundering the ill-fat.-d travel-
lers who cross it. At any rate, it is by means of the water
communication new laid open, that the interior of Africa
ever can be benefited by its intercourse with the civilized
nations of Europe, or that these civilized nations of Europe
ever can materially extend their trade with, and the con-
sumption of European articles in the interior of Africa.

The exports and imports into the interior of that country
across the Great Desert, and from the sea-coast in the
Bight of Benin and 13iafra, amount annually, as near as
I have been able to calculate, to nearly two millions sterling
imports, and of exports to a greater amount; the former
consisting chiefly of the coarser and of some fine article( of
British manufactures and produce, and more especially,
and which are more eagerly coveted than thereat, articles
necessary for domestic purposes, and for the cultivation of
the soil, trade, navigation, and war, while the expotts
from Africa in return consistof gold-dust and various arti-
cles of raw produce of great value and importancein carry-
ing o❑ the different branches of our manufactures. At
this moment when so many markets are shut against us,
and so many more are rendered so unproductive, the trade
lo which I have alluded is of great importance to this
country to look after, as by perseverance and judicious ma-
nagement the greater portion thereof, increased and in-
creasing, would unquestionably fall into our hands.
Glasgow, June 18.

I am, &c.
JAMES M'QUEEN.

" At the Royal Geographical Society, on Monday last,
(13 June) Mr. Barrow read a short notice from the chair,
of the Messrs. Landers' recent journey in the interior of
Africa. Mr. Barrow began by saying, that, at one time,
he had hoped to be able to lay a short paper on this sub-
ject before the Society at its present meeting, with a sketch
of the route followed ; hut having only obtained the origi-
nal documents that very day at four o'clock,. this was ne-
cessarily deferred. In the meantime, referring to the map
in Captain Clapperton's last journey, he could state, gene.
rally, that Mr. Lander and his brother had landed at Ba-
dagry, and proceeded, nearly in the tract formerly followed,
to Beussa on the Niger, and afterwards to Youri, which
they found to lie considerably farther north than is laid
down in the map, and nearly west, as they were told, of
Soccatoo. They had thence proceeded up as far ai the
river Cubbie, a considerable tributary which passes Soc-
catoo, and another town to the eastward called Cubbie, and
falls into the Quorra, or Niger, a little way above Youri ;
and on this they had embarked on their downward voyage.
Shortly after reaching Funda, the last paint laid down in
Captain Clapperton's map, they found the river make a
bold sweep to the east, being here from five to six miles
wide, and in other places it was even broader; it thence
turned southeast, and circled round to south, receiving in
its course another accession in the Shary, as it was called,
a river from three to four miles wide, coming from the
east ; which must not be confounded with the river of the
same name visited by Major Denham, and which fails into
Lake Tchad. (It is likely that the word Shary, or some
similar word, is a generic term for river, water, or some-
thing of this kind, and that both these streams have their
origin in high land interposed between them.) After re-
ceiving the Shary the Niger is still further deflected, run-
'sing to the south and west, till at last it expands into a
considerable lake, from which the river Nun, which Me.
Lander descended, and probably several other rivers that
enter the great bay of Ilenin in its neighbourhood, issue at
different points. In descending the Nun, which is not
above three hundred yards wide, the travellers were at-
tacked by a furious party of natives; and, being taken
prisoners lost all their effects, with some portion of their
respective notes; but, providentially, what one was de-
prived of, the other was enabled, to a considerable extent,
to preserve; so that between the two, the joint narrative is
nearly complete. From the point then, where Mr. Park first
embarked, in 1805, this noble river has now been traced
above two thousand miles, in the very heart of Africa; and
in Mr. Lander'f,: opinion it is navigable fur a great por-
tion of the distance by small steain-boats. The natives,
also, in the interior, are eager to see more of us; and they
are even already so fa r advanced in civilisation as to make
a trade with them worthy of pursuit. The greatest ob-
stacles are the still existing slave-trade near the mouth
of the river, and the hostile feelings which our attempts
to put an end to have excited in the deluded popula-
tion there. Palm oil is, as yet, the only other equiva-
lent for their supplies which they have been able to pro-
duce ; and they naturally look forward with extreme dia-
like to the Prospect of the market for their .other and more
valuable object of barter - being still further curtailed.
They are, in a word, the anti-machinists of the African
world, and do not like to see the demand contract for manual
labour. ilintato nontine,'de nobis ipsis fabula narratur."

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