The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-28 00:00:00

i unfounded and illogical ; and instead of damaging
the Ministry, can only make the Times supremely
I ridiculous.

We have given in another part of the Paper
a full account of the meeting of the Eastern
Counties Railway Proprietors, held yesterday at
the London Tavern, which will be read with inte-
rest by the farmers and landlords in Essex, Suffolk,
and Norfolk. The report on the whole is favour-
able. Considering the vast intercourse between
these districts and London, and the great advan-
tages of speedy communication even for agricultural
counties, there can be no doubt that this line must
ultimately be completed. In the allusion to the
late melancholy event in the Report we entirely
concur. Can any conclusion be more absurd than
the verdict of the Jury ? They return a verdict of
Accidental Death," and at the same time give a
deodand of 5001. on the carriages. No blame is
imputed, and why should the Company be punished
for an accident ?

All the writers, of the least authority, on political
science represent Government, in the abstract,
with its taxes, its restraints, its coercive laws, as an
evil, the necessity for which they deplore. We
have never yet met with a writer who represented
Government se, of which it was not
possible too much.
per
uch.The sum of the to a
haves a g
doc-
trines taught, by the old teachers of political science
(we have not many of this generation worth notice)
is that Government is, per se, an evil, and the less
of it the better. The more it can be dispensed with,
the greater is the liberty and the happiness of man-
kind. Such is their theory : the modern practice is
directly the reverse, and legislators seem to think that
nothing is well arranged unless they arrange it, and
that the sphere of their operation cannot be too
widely extended. Either their practices or the best
accredited theories are erroneous, which time and
the world must decide.

We have been led to these reflections by a little
pamphlet, entitled " An Appeal to the Govern-
ment and People of Great Britain against the pro-
posed Niger Expedition," &c., by ROBERT JA-
MIESON, Esq., from which it appears that the ex-
pedition to the Niger, which lies as far beyond the
appropriate sphere of Government as an attempt
to explore the moon by balloons, will be very inju-
rious to the undertakings and commerce of indivi-
duals. If Government has any duty, it is that of
protecting the tax•payers ; but in this case it acts
on a scheme, to gratify some monomania about
slavery, which will injure or ruin some of
those whom it is bound to defend. Mr. JA-
MIESON, as a merchant, resident in Liverpool,
will pay his share of those taxes which, being de-
voted to the Niger expedition, will ruin himself.
We always felt great repugnance to the Govern-
ment lending itself to Sit F. BUXTON'S quackery,
and Mr. JAMIESON'S pamphlet has confirmed our
impression. He says—

I have been given to understand, that although no com-
mercial pursuit will be engaged in by Government, yet
that merchandise, designed to promote the objects of the
" Society," may be, and is to be, conveyed up the Niger by
such Government vessels—vessels equipped, manned, and
sailed, at the public expense. If lam correct in this, my
Lord, then is it not apparent that the private merchant,
who conveys his merchandise to the same quarter at his
own cost, and especially by so expense a means of tran-
sport as steam navigation, must necessarily retire before
such unequal competition--and that tbus the Expedition
will defeat one of its own professed and principal objects,
the encouragement of trade with Africa: while the giving
away of presents to chiefs, in articles of merchandise, as
I have every reason to believe is intended, will further be
injurious to the formation of commerce—as being a direct
and unfair interference with the trader in the same articles
—and as establishing a precedent which he cannot afford
to follow; because his presents would, in the natural
course of things, be made only in proportion to the extent
of ti ade done, in order to induce and encourage its in-
crease ; yet the continuance of the mischievous precedent
above referred to, would nevertheless be looked for, per..
haps insisted on, from him, at every fresh visit.
For these reasons, my Lord, I withdraw my steam
vessel from the Niger, if the Expedition ascends that river.
But on other grounds likewise, I appeal against its pur-
poses ; and I pray that your Lordship will not suppose
that I make this appeal from any motive of personal ad-
vantage.
It was not until I had invited and failed to obtain, the
co-operation of gentlemen in London, who have since be-
come leading members of the " Society" now urging the
Niger Expedition upon Government, that I ventured to
engage, single-handed, in so expensive and hazardous an
undertaking as the opening of a trade with the interior of
Africa by mean.; of steam navigation. I was well aware,
my Lord, of the difficulties and losses which would have to
be encountered and sustained, perhaps for years, before the
trade could be made remunerative; and I looked for the
competition of my fellow merchants as soon as it was
known to be so, as a necessary adjunct towards the ulti-
mate
success of the grand object; for it is from the vigour
of competition that commerce advances and flourishes. I
should therefore feel satisfaction, and not disappointment,
in withdrawing for a time from trade upon the Niger, if
tltsalnedadpirnogsecuted by others
to a successful
iti
snliseuaep.uwrasyu i
whichwere
gavet to be h
otpakeenofti

But besides injuring the commerce of individuals,
this expedition, which is to cost the public 61,0001.,
will rather serve, according to Mr. JAMIESON, to
retard than promote the extinction of the slave
trade :

comea to your Lordship's
But it may not before have
newgul
esettithde British public ;
and however much it may be
knowledge that the traffic had retired
Biafra. This information i3from the Bight of
knowledge of the Bight is foundedon dby
those whose
soi7tehisycahrs
old, it is nevertheless the fact that so ent 7rteal
s Bt 11,
ger
cis these
ipanlnadc:Cus
question,—nor
iheo
ern o,g—e
rnensa,ot
r thes lhadar
ye
e wmat
er
trnseo sfbl aef veo
ner
mv
any
nrs
yde
alf
0)a rst
case, that at the latest dates from Bonny, ()lel' Calabar,
f
imannoytnl itoei
viously,while, on the other hand, according to the ad-
vices of my own people, at present trading there, there
were lying at Bonny alone, on the 13th of April last, no
less than thirteen British ships engaged in trade for palm
oil, ivory, &c. At Lagos and Wydah, in the adjoining
Bight of Benin, it is believed that a slave trade is still
continued, but on a very reduced scale,—and there is no
doubt that, with the increased powers of capture now pos-
sessed by her Majesty's cruisers, the slave traffic here,
and on the coast generally, will speedily be suppressed,
especially if assisted by a few suitable steam vessels.
But, my Lord, on the great range of coast in Western
Africa, south of the line. scarcely any commercial inter-
course with England exists ; and from this cause, and
the extent of coast to be watched, as well as its favourable
position in reference to Brazil, the slave traffic, if it con-
tir.uos at all, will continue to be found here. Would it not
be more for the benefit of Africa and of England to at-
te.apt the formation of commerce where a slave trade is
prosecuted, and no trade with England is found, than to
disturb a great and rapidly increasing commerce in quar-
ters from which the slave trade has retired ? The com.
rneree already formed in the Bight of Biafra is sure, in its
advancement
and extension, to be the means of introducing
the knowledge of agriculture and civilization into the heart
of Africa—a work which, in the nature of things, cannot
be done in a day, and which has not been accomplished in
Sierra Leone in half a century.
As a commercial man I ant convinced, that no corn.
mercial or agricultural advantage can result frcm the ac-
quisition and military possession of territory in the interior
of Africa—while, on the other hand, I am certain that no
information could be more gratifying to the slave-dealer of
Southern Africa, than that England was about to waste
her energies in the northern parts of the Continent the
news would be received in Brazil with surprise and satis-
faction, and the slave traffic be recommenced with fresh
vigour, by many who would otherwise have relinquished
it; nor is it possible to contemplate-, without the deepest
concern and regret, the chagrin and disappointment, and
the consequent paralization of fresh effort, which must at-
tend the failure of this expedition in the accomplishment
of its professed objects.
But whether the expedition fail in its object or
not, whether it be the wisest ur most foolish scheme
that ever was engaged in, our objection to it would
not be diminished. The design lies wholly beyond
the proper attributes of Government, which are
limited to protect its own subjects in their lawful
callings and pursuits. To us nothing is more a
subject of regret than to see the Government con-
tinually forego its functions of reflecting for
the community, and engaging
with blind and un-
reflecting activity, under the influence of a pool
passion, a mere animal impulse, or low ambition, in
all sorts of projects which any interested or foolish
quacks may recommend. To limit the operations
of the Government, and to compel those who ad-
minister it to reflect much before they act at all, is
now one of the most essential duties of the people.

There is an abundance of
~.._
Eastern speculations on the
day, but the publication of the Note of the Four
Question in the Paris journals of Wednes.
Powers, addressed to France the day the Treaty of
London was signed, deprives them of all interest.
The Journal tles Debuts asserts confidently that