The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-26 00:00:00

CiY,"_letting ,'bitit

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 26, 1849.

Notwithstanding the determined hostility mani-
fested by the Protectionist party to the great and
comprehensive measure introduced by her MAJESTY'S
Government for the reform of the Navigation Code—
notwithstanding the intimation given by the recog-
nised leader of the party in the House of Lords, that
" he was fully prepared for the consequences of its
rejection"—notwithstanding the subsequent attempt
to mutilate the Bill in Committee by amendments
completely altering its character, and neutralising the
beneficial results that might have been expected
under the now improved system —notwithstanding
the boasts of the Protectionist press, their significant
allusions to the fact "that proxies would not count in
Committee," and the repeated conferences held by the
principal members of the party as to the course to be
adopted, when the anticipated success had crowned
their exertions the Bill was carried in all its
integrity, and all its clauses were agreed to
without charge or moiification. We most
heartily congratulate the country on this most
auspicious result, and we equally congratulate
their Lordships on the wise and prudent discretion
manifested throughout the recent proceedings on this
nll•important subject. There is now a fair and

reasonable prospect that the principles of free trade
will be fully and fairly carried out—that all restric-
tions will be removed from the free importation of
every article of commerce by the carriage thereof as
well as the purchase being open for fair competition
to the inhabitants of every country. _

The majority of 10, by which the second reading
of the Bill was carried in the House of Lords,
and which it was asserted was owing to
the proxies given by Noble Lords who
had not heard, and who consequently could
not have been influenced by the arguments adduced
in opposition to the measure, was increased in Com-
mittee on the several divisions that took place on
Lord STANLEY'S amendment, which, if carried, would
have completely altered the character Gf the Bill, and
which, it was truly stated, would interfere so materi-
ally with its principle, that no Peer who had voted for
the second reading could consistently support the
amendment; the majority was increased to 13,
while the subsequent amendments of the Earls
Of ELLENBOROUGH and WALDEGRAVE were ne-
gatived by majorities of 13 and 12 respectively. But
those majorities, although conclusive as to the feel-

ing of the House, did not indicate the real strength
of the Government on the question. That was more
fully exhibited in the abandonment of all further
opposition by Lord STANLEY, and the bitter tone

in which he spoke of the conduct of those who " en-
deavoured to compensate for the manner in which

they spoke of Ministers out of doors by the assi-
duous and steady support which they rendered the
Government within the House." It proved how clearly
the Noble Lord perceived the futility of the hopes
he had vainly cherished of a speedy return to official
duties, and of the re-enactment of protective imposts
on the food of the many, for the exclusive benefit of
the few. That, indeed, was the real question at issue,
So long as a shred of monopoly remained, so long as
any class in the empire was permitted to retain exclu-
sive privileges, so long there was a hope, however
extravagant, that the palmy days of l4ndlordism might
be restored; that a sliding-scale might be re-
established, or that at least a fixed duty
of six or eight shillings per quarter might be
imposed ; that the nation would consent to the com-
promise which was indignantly refused some ten
years since by the Corn Lords, but which they
would now be but too happy to accept.
The apparent object of Lord STANLEY'S amend-
ment was to establish a system of " reciprocity,"
analagous to the famous reciprocity statutes (4 GEO.
IV., c. 77, and 5 GEO. IV., C. 1), originally intro-
duced by Mr. Husrossort and Lord WALLACE.
No person could, however, perceive more
clearly than the Noble Lord himself the
absolute impossibility of carrying out the
views which he put forward so crudely and hastily,
and, as he himself admitted, without sufficient con-
sideration. He must be well aware that the " reci-
procity statutes" had been followed by " reciprocity
treaties ;" that England had entered into solemn and
binding contracts with many nations, and that the
general bases of these contracts were a fixed propor-
tion as to the nature of the privileges that should be
respectively grant&d to other countries. Many states
were under these compacts entitled to be placed upon
the footing of the " most favoured nation." We
could not, therefore, open our ports to the shipping of
one country willing to concede the equivalents re-
quired by the amendment, and keep them closed
against the vessels of another that would enter into
no new stidulations, but declare its intention of
abiding by the existing treaties, and claiming the
same privileges that might be accorded to the other.
As, for instance, if we should conclude an agreement
with America (if the restrictions still to be retained
on certain unspecified articles, and which could not
be bartered or surrendered, would permit of such an
arrangement), we could not refuse the same advan-
tages to France, although the French Government
might refuse to modify their regulations andrestric-
tions in any degree. This, then, would be the condi-

tion of affairs under the new Act :—" In case it should
be made to appear to her MAJESTY that any foreign
nation was willing to concede to the ships of this
country the like privileges and advantages as
were enjoyed by, or intended to be conferred
on, the ships of such foreign country, or ad-
vantages equivaleut thereto, it should be law-
ful, &c., Ste." Here, then, no nlaxation could

be permitted to France, unless she were willing "to
concede to the ships of this country the like privileges
and advantages as were enjoyed by, or intended to be
conferred" on her own ships hem?, or " advantages
equivalent thereto." Bat as France would enter into
no such bargain, no new privileges could be granted to
her shipping.
We might then reduce the question to a syllogistic
form :

Every new privilege conferred upon the shipping of
America must also be conferred on the shipping of
France ;

No new privilege can be conferred on the shipping
of France ;

Ergo—no new privilege can be conferred upon the
shipping of America.
The Act would, thererore, remain a dead letter on
the statute-book, a memorable example of hasty and
inconsiderate legislation. The British Parliament
and the British nation are, however, preserved from
making themselves Fo truly ridiculous, from being
IR Ade the laughing-stock of the civilized world, by
the prudent and discreet course adopted by their
Lordships, who have also thereby averted the disas-
trous consequences that must have resulted from a
collision between the Houses, and the general excite-
ment and confusion that must inevitably have fol-
lowed the accession to power of a party opposed to
the wishes and feelings of a great majority of the
people.

Having once decided upon emigration from the
United Kingdom, the majority of settlers are either
embarrassed as to the place of their destination, or
find themselves, by a precipitate movement to one or
other of the colonies, plunged into a state of very
unexpected, and, in many instances, altogether irre-
parable involvement. Anything that can at all tend
to guard against the repetition of these evils must be
regarded in the light of a national benefaction.
Any one who can assist the judgment of the emi
grant in the selection of the most appropriate region
for colonization must be looked upon as having con-
ferred an inestimable boon upon the community.
Various attempts have been made recently
to pioneer the road of immigration ; and
many individuals have undertaken to point
out the tracks leading to certain competence, if
not to possible profusion. Here, however, is the
grand blunder—the rock upon which so many em-
bryo fortunes have been wrecked—the notion that by
transferring their little household to the backwoods
of America, or to the midst of the unpruned vegeta-
tion of Australia, any adventurer may leap with a
sudden bound into the possession of countless ltizu-
ries and inexhaustible treasures. Little do these
sanguine speculators know of the reserve of futurity
if they conjecture for one moment that in their log
cabins they will experience anything like that moral
elephantiasis resulting from civilization, the embaras
des richesses. Little are they aware of those innu-
merable privations which are the inevitable concomi-
tants of emigration.
Of all the safeguards against the dangers surround-
ing the inexperienced settler, the very best that has
yet come to our knowledge is a little volume,* penned
by a gentleman evidently well versed in the subject
upon which he has written. The wording of the
title-page, given below as a foot-note, sufficiently ex-
plains the utility of the pamphlet, and a glance
through the contents will amply evidence the valu-
able and practical character of its information. A
wider range of settlements could scarcely have been
taken in at one survey, a fact which must be in-
stantly apparent when We remark that the author
has here successively recounted the advantages
and disadvantages of Nova Scotia, New Bruns-
wick, Cape Breton, - Prince Edward's Island
together with the whole of the Eastern and Western
division of the, Canadas-L-New England, the Western
States, the Slave States, Texas, Oregon, California,
Vancouver's bland, and the entire extent of the
different climates subject to the model Republic. At
a single glance, therefore, the reader who meditates
emigration may survey the countries open for his re-

• " The Settler's Nrw Home; or, the Emigrant's Lo-
cation, being a Guide to Emigrants in the Selection of a
Settlement, and the preliminary details of the Vuyage."
B, Sidney Smith, Pp. 10G. John Kendrick, London,
1849.

ception beyond the Atlantic, may weigh one against
another their merits and demerits, their resources
and deficiencies, and may then at his own
good• will and pleasure, and with a sense of
comparative security, make a rational and
deliberate selection. He may then neither dread the
chance of finding himself inhaling the miasmas
of some Icarie glittering with golden sands and
roseate blossoms on the pages of M. CARET,
but in reality reeking with nothing but pu-
trescent fogs and pestilential odours; nor shud-
der at the possibility of waking in the heart of
a second Eden (not the Eden of " Genesis," but of
" Chuzzlewit"), and of having every two minutes
to obeyt hat very alarming recommendation of MARK
TAPLEY—" When you see a serpent, like a corkscrew,
a-sittin' on its bottom ring, cut him down)
for he means venom ! " Mr. SIDNEY SMITH goes
very far indeed towards the prevention of that odious
humbug which is still too prevalent in the United
States—the humbug relating to the sale of swampy
and unfruitful lands under the impression that each
little plot of ground is a paradise.
Scarcely any movement in life requires such vigi-
lant circumspection as that of the settler. Leaving
the only country with which, in all likelihood, he
has acquired any accurate knowledge, crossing a
broad expanse of ocean to localities hitherto unknown
to him except by name, the emigrant is, of all mortals,
the most probable victim, from the peculiarity of
his situation, of all sorts of snares and pitfalls.
Generally speaking, he knows nothing just
when knowledge is the most essential. Unable
to s‘e things correctly with his own eyes, his only
resource consequently is to see them with the eyes of
others ; but in order to render him secure in the correct-
ness of the information thus obtained he must be
satisfied of the trustworthiness of his informant. For
these reasons we cannot but regard this volume from
the pen of Mr. SIDNEY SMITH as one which must
prove in a thousand particulars altogether inestimable.
His philosophy, moreover, is wholly genial, like that
which suffuses such an agreeable charm over the
writings of the gallant but unfortunate RUXTON. In
proof of this take the following felicitous comparison
of the comforts and inconveniences of emigration :
" A new country is the paradise of the poor—but it is
The pandemonium of the rich, and especially purgatory
to the temate branches of all who are well to do. Those
artificial and conventional advantages, those conveniences
whose value is only known when they are lost, those
endless fitnesses and accommodations which are gradu-
ally supplied in an old country as their need is perceived,
the emigrant travels away from, and will strongly feel
the want of. The mere cockney will be thoroughly
miserable in the new mode of existence which every
emigrant must enter upon. The nightman , the shoe-
black, the newsman, the omnibus, the two-penny post,
he will see little of. The water will not be laid on, nor
' the drain connected with the soil-pipe. Wooden houses
have chinks—logs are not so convenient as coal—rooms
are small, and not very snug—the doors and sashes do
not fit—the hinges and floors creak—household second-
ary luxuries are dear—and the whole family must be
very much their own servants. Nobody will cringe and
bow to them, and just bring to their dour the very thing
the y want, when they want it. But then the real need,
and requisi,es of life will be indefeasibly theirs. It their
house and its contents be inferior, they are as good as
their neighbour's, a consideration which takes the sting
out of many disappointments. They tear no rent day,
nor poor-rate or assessed tax collector—neither game
nor fish are preserved, nor licenses needed—around them
on their own freehold are ample means of subsistence,
and a little money supplies all the rest. They'need have
no care for the morrow except the consciousness that
each day their clearing is more improved and of greater
value. They have leisure, independence, peace, security.
If they can serve themselves, help each other, find plea-
sure in the useful activities of self help and country life,
and possess internal resources of mind and occupation,
' thou all suzh in emigrating change for the better. If
their society is bad, they can do without it, if an occa-
sional qualm of home sickness and the claims of father-
land come over them let them think of the toils, tears,
and anxieties they leave behind them, and be grateful for
the change."
Further on it is quite delightful to hear him re-
minding us, with all the gusto of RGBISSON CRUSOE,
that the young colt has to be broken; that the larder
must be stocked by the rifle and the fishing-rod; that
the sugar must be squeezed from the maple, and the
honey extracted from the clefts of old trees in the
woods ; that the cider must be mashed out of the
apples, and the wine pressed from the grapes ! Oh !
says he, " think of the liberty of wearing hobnails
and frieze cloth ; of living down to one's own
income in place of living up to one's neigh-
bour's; of walking abroad in primitive defiance
of a hia us in the elbow or armpits of one's coat ; of
the luxury of serving one's self; of making war
upon appearances by a second day's beard or a third
day's shirt, or a running short of shoe blacking !
Lor.eliness ! monotony ! nut an hour, not a minute,
without its occupation." Again, our author fails not
to give abundance of substantial encouragement, as
in the telling of such anecdotes as the one sub.
joined :
" A Scotch settler emigrating to Lower Canada with
300/, purchased 300 acres (50 cleared), with a log-hut
and a good harried barn, pike 300/. by antual instal-
meots ut 10J/. the first year, and 50/. each of the others,
with interest at 16 per cent. A yoke of oxen cost 151.,
three cows 151, feu sheep 51, a hors- 71., agricultural
implements, furniture, kitchen utensils, pigs, poultry,
&c. The first year he put in a small crop, raised fences.
cleared 3f acres of woodland, which he sowed with wheat
in September, and occupied the autumn with his late
oats, potatoes, and Indian corn; he hired another man to
cut the trees into lengths to burn, and by the 10th of
April he had completed the clearing of 30 acres, besides
splitting rails and making firewoor. In spriug he had
only 504 left, and 2001. yet to pay; his 30 acres of crop
looked indifferent; there were great falls of rain; his
horse died, his sheep were devoured by wolves, and au
1 old sow gobbled up all his goslings. lint it soon cleared
up, his Idled timuer became very dry and easily burned;
he planted 20 acres of Indian corn between the stumps,
and 10 acres of oats and wheat. The rest of his money
was spent on clearing live acres of wheat, and in turning
1 his oxen into good pasture fur Montreal market in
11 winter; his crops were good, his potash trom his burnt
1 timber sold well; he purchased another yoke of oxen,
and got in his tire-wood before winter. Toe result was
that, in a few years, his property was worth not less
than 3,001 1.; he received letters from his brother located
in Illinois, which gave a deplorable account of their
beach and condition."

Aided by publications like the present, we cannot
but augur well for the future progress of the cause of
emigration.

UIIE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The debate on the conspiracy to destroy the Re-
public by a coup d'etat was resumed in the Assembly
on Thursday.
Oddon Barrot, President of the Council, said
that he had demanded from General Changarnier
himself an explanation respecting the order he had
given the Generals under his command. The General
loudly protested against the intention he was supposed
to have entertained of questioning the authority of the
President of the National Assembly. The decree of
the 11 th of May, conferring on the President the
power to summon all the troops necessary for the
defence of the Assembly was, besides, posted up in all
the barracks. The orders he had given were purely
military.
M. Consid‘rant then rose and said, that in the con-
versation be had had with M. Odilon Barrot the
latter had said nothing to convince him that he was
mistaken. He had told him that the misfortune of
the present times was, that every party appealed to
violence to obtain the triumph of their ideas, instead
of appealing to discussion. He then added that he
could not help admitting that detestable passions
agitated themselves round the President of the Re-
public.

M. Ledru Rollin stated, that yesterday doubts ex-
isted relative to the letter
letter had been actually of General Changarnier, but
he had since been able to s
wriubttesntantiate the fact. The
M. Odilon Barrot did not satisfy. n' he. ejepnl ae
rnaalt ico nb sa
no-f
garnier had on five different occasions violated the
constitution and disobeyed the orders of the Assembly,
and the Assembly was told that he had been ac-
tuated by the best possible intentions, and was to be
satisfied with that excuse ! Now, on Tuesday
evening General Changarnier knew perfectly well
that the Assembly was about to declare itself en per-
manence, and it was at that very hour he consigned
the troops to their barracks, and enjoined their chiefs
to obey no other orders than his own.—(" He per-
formed his duty," cried M. Aylies.) That letter, he
maintained, was in the handwriting of the General,
and he was ready to prove it before a committee
appointed by the Assembly.
M. Odilon Barroi here rose, and read a passage
from a letter of General Changarnier, denying havir g
written the orders in question, but admitting havir.g
dictated them.
M. Clement Thomas here exclaimed, that General
Changarnier had no right to absent himself when an
act of his was under discussion, and invited the Pre•
sident to summon him to attend.—(Loud murmurs.)
M. Ledru Rollin again affirmed that the letter was
in the handwriting of the General, and that the
officer, the bearer thereof, had given him that as-
surance. He again called on the Assembly to order
an inquiry and appoint a committee, before which
he undertook to demonstrate that rumours of a plot
for the 28th instant circulated, with foundation, in
Paris, during the last fire days, that men had been paid