The Sun.
London, England, 1838-05-01 00:00:00

whatever has a tendency directly or indirectly to af:.
feet their foreign trade. We believe we need not refer
to statistical tables for the purpose of proving that be-
fore the becupation of Algiers by the trench, the
'ncreliant vessels of litigiand supplied the Arab tribes
along the till:ire African coast, not 'citify With the great
b'u'lk of such foreign *Arts as they wanted for their
own use, but With quantities sufficient to meet the de-
mond in the markets of the interior. The occupation
of Algiers by France proved in itself no serious de-
triment to British trade. During the first four years
after France had obtained a footing in Africa, her
commerce, notwithstanding her exclusive supply of the
army, did not amount to one half of the general im-
ports. Since 1835 the consumption of French pro-
duce has gone on increasing at the rate of seventeen
per cent., while foreign commerce has declined at the
rate of twelve per cent., and upwards. France now.
supplies the commercial entrepots on the African coast
with salt meat, dried and salt fish, tar, ship-timber,
metals, perfumes, prepared spices, soap and candles,
mereery, jewellery, cutlery, fire-arms of all sorts, sad-
Tiery, household furniture, including bedding, mirrors,
wood-work, crockery, and glass. Of the silk trade
eighty per cent. is now in the hands of France; while
the Minister boasts that a very few years will suffice
to transfer the great bulk of the linen and cotton trade
from English to French manufacturers and merchants.
Thus, while the general consumption of European ma-
nufactures has more than tripled on the coast of Af-
rica, within the last seven years, the trade of British
merchants with their ancient customers on that coast
has been rapidly declining ; and without some inter-
vention on the part of our Government there is reason
to infer that in a few years more it must cease altogether.
General BERNARD makes no secret of the fact
that France owes the success of her trade with Africa
to the Royal Ordinance of the 11th of November,
1835, which closes the ports in the possession of
France to all foreign vessels, except on the payment of
duties so exorbitant as to amount almost to a direct
prohibition. While the coasting trade is exclusively
limited to French vessels, all foreign ships, whether
laden or not, are liable to a duty of two francs per ton
on entering a French port in Africa, exclusive of pass-
port dues, and the import and export duties upon
every description of freight. Even foreign produce,
naturalized in France by the payment of duties, can-
not be re-exported to the north of Africa on the same
footing as a similar description of goods produced in
France. The only exceptions are in favour of goods
not produced in France, which arc liable to no
duty ; and goods prohibited in France, which are only
liable to a duty of fifteen per cent., which added to
the tonnage duty, cannot be regarded as a powerful
inducement to enter into a competition with the fa-
voured subjects of the most Christian KING.

Now, after the great forbearance evinced by Eng-
land respecting the conquests made by France on the
African coast—after the proofs we hare given of an
unbounded confidence in the uprightness of the ulti-
mate designs of the French Government—it is not
treating us handsomely to seek by prohibitive laws to
fetter our commerce in the Mediterranean. Inde-
pendently of loftier views, we do not think that it is at
all good policy on the part of those statesmen who
direct the political destinies of France, to force upon
our merchants the unpleasant conviction that the
triumph of the French arms is the decline of British
commerce—even on the arid coast of Africa. France
cannot deny, after her breach of the treaty respecting
Algiers, that we have a right to insist upon as good
terms at her hands as it is possible for her to give us,
consistently with a regard to the interests, not of
France, but of the colonists. We trust the intimation
thus given will not escape the notice of the President of
, the Board of Trade.

The chief topic of discussion in the House of Commons
last night was the Irish Poor-law Bill, the third reading of
which gave rise to a rather smart debate. Sir W. Ban-
BAZON moved, as an amendment, that the Bill he read
; that day six months, and was supported in the division
which took place by 59 Members against 2.34. A ma-
jority of 175, involving also a majority of the Irish
Members, on a question which has been so entirely
divested of all party spirit, that we find DANIEL
O'CONNELL presenting a petition from Lord RODEN,
must, we think, carry with it considerable weight in the
opinion even of that portion of the people of Ireland, who
I are represented as hostile to the measure. To argue, as
some of the opponents of the Bill did last night, that this
is not the measure that Ireland wanted, and to reject it
because it does not come up to some pre-conceived standard
of perfection, is little less than absurd. We may admit
that the measure is defective, without casting much blame
upon those who have framed it. A little calm considera-
tion will serve to convince any one, that the introduction
of a Poor-law system into a country where none existed
before, must necessarily be experimental. In such a case
it is impossible to transplant—you must begin, as it were,
by sowing the seed, that the new institution may accom-
modate itself to the peculiar circumstances of the locality
in which it is situated. We arc therefore glad that a be-
ginning has been made on a scale which, though small at
present, is capable of being extended—should it be neces-
sary—so as to meet the extent of the evil which it is the
object of the Bill to remedy. The great principle is now
established in Ireland, that the destitute have a legal claim
upon the community for support, and we entertain sanguine
hopes that the recognition of this claim will produce
highly beneficial effects upon all classes of society in the
sister island.

It will be seen by our Parliamentary report that Lord
MELBOURNE, in answer to a lamentation from Lord LON-
DONDERRY about the Coronation, stated that the ceremony
would be put off from the 26th to the 28th of June, out
of consideration to the feelings of those who might
be painfully affected by the recollection of the calamity
which the nation sutained in the death of that virtuous
Monarch GEORGE the FOURTH. The ceremonial of the
Coronation, it appears, will he as nearly as possible the same
as that observed on the accession of the late KING—a prece-
dent to which there cannot he any rational objection made.
There will he a procession from the Palace to Westminster
Abbey ; and as Lord LONDONDERRY 13 dying with a
desire to exhibit on this occasion, we beg leave to hint that
the character of Punch would suit him to a hair, and
would, we are sure, procure him unbounded applause.

--•••••Q
,y the packet ship Louis Philippe, which sailed from
New York, on the evening of the 9th of April, we have
received a long letter from Mr. BIDDLE, President of thu
United States Bank, to the Hon. J. QUINCY ADAMS, de-
precating the Bank proposal for the resumption of cash
payments in May. The substance of this document—with
the observations of our Contemporaries thereupon—will be
found in another part of The Sun.

A third party has now started in Spain, whose object
is not to support the QUEEN or Don CARLOS, but to de-
fend themselves against the extortions and robberies com-
mitted by the armies of both. It is only surprising that
the people of the Basque Provinces have been so long in
adopting such a system. For the last four years they have
submitted to every species of suffering which a civil
war inflicts. They now see they are as far from their
object as ever ; and it is not, therefore, improbable
that they will desert entirely the cause of Don CARLOS,
and look only to their own interests. In most of the mari-
time provinces a somewhat similar system has been
adopted. All the money raised by taxes or customs is ex-
pended in each province. Neither the QUEEN nor Don
CARLOS receive tribute, except when enforced by military
law ; and the authority of the Central Government is set at
defiance in almost every spot not occupied by the
army. It is probable, also, that the Biscayans will
go a little further, and like the bands of GOMEZ and BA-
smo plunder for themselves. Next to the interference of
the great Europeon powers such a result is the most desir-
able. We despair of the people settling their own differ-
ences—patriotism has fled from that unhappy country, and