The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-10 00:00:00

THE QUEEN DOWAGER.

We are happy to state that the bulletin re-
ceived at Marlborough House yesterday morning
is more favourable. The following is a copy :
" The Queen Dowager has had some refresh-
ing sleep in the night, and her Majesty, on the
whole, appears less languid this morning.
(Signed) " DAVID DAVIES, M.D.
" Sudbury Hall, Nov. 8, 1841."

Some little confusion exists, we think, in the
minds and reasoning of our Contemporaries,

from not distinguishing between politics and
trade, or between the art of government and
the practice of interchange. There are, how-

ever, great and broad distinctions between them,
which, once pointed out, and always observed,
would save a great deal of foolish writing, and

prevent some still more pernicious acting.

First—let us remark, that they have a differ-
ent origin and different aims. Government
takes its rise, at least theoretically, in a comtnon
agreement of all the governed, and its aim is
to protect the rights of all the people ; at least,

that is the intention. How it has succeeded,
must be ascertained from experience. Com-
merce or trade originates in the wants of indivi-

duals, and their selfish endeavours to Brat

those wants. Its sole aim and object is to bene-
fit those who engage in it—who make no preten-
sion to confer benefit or protection on others.
It has been remarked, that when merchants
pretend to promote the public good, they wish to
conceal some nefarious design on the pockets of
their fellow-citizens. At the same time, com-

merce, like the greater number of those occupa-
tions in which men voluntarily engage to gratify
their own wants, adds to the public wealth,

strength, and happiness.

Secondly, as the origin and aims of Govern-
ment and trade are essentially different, so.must
be the rules on which they arc carried on. Those
who administer the Government must look to
the whole community, and they only succeed
, when the great majority of the people are pros-
perous and secure in the enjoyment of all their
rights. Traders look only to their own ledgers,
and they succeed when the balance is in their
favour, and they gain money by their transac-
tions. Statesmen must look to the public, mer-
chants to themselves. The public benefit is the
cardinal principle of all government; private ad-
vantage is at all times the soul of trade.
Government being established not to create
but to protect rights, as a rule eschews the task
of meddling with the trade of its subjects. It
trusts the continuance and well-being of trade to
the principle from which it originates, the self-
interest of those who engage in it. It does not
pretend to say how the hatters and the shoe-
makers, the farmers and the graziers, the ship-
owners and. the hop-factors, shall carry on their
trade, aslong as they carry it on within its own ter-

, .
ritory. It does not suppose that, by any regula-
tions amongst their several classes, it can increase
traffic or make it more valuable. But when the

hatter, instead of exchanging his productions
with his neighbour, the shoemaker, sends them
to the United States; or when the shipowner,
instead of trading between London and New-
castle, trades between London and New York,
then Government is inclined to interfere, and
thinks that, by some kind of negotiation or re-
gulation, it can promote that trade, which,
when it takes place under its eye, and with
:power, is allowed, as the best course, to go en-
tirely free. Trade loses its beneficial character
on this supposition the instant it is carried on
between the subjects of different Governments.
Why trade, which is allowed to go free, and
is acknowledgedly so beneficial when confined to
the inhabitants of the same empire, assumes a
different character, and becomes an object of
suspicion to Governments and writers when it
passes their respective frontiers, we cannot com-
prehend. The Messrs. BARING show, no doubt,
as great a balance in their favour from their
trade to New York as any other house can show
from the most extensive trade between London
and Manchester. The same principle holds
good through all trade ; and foreign, like do-
mestic trade, is only carried on so long as it is
advantageous to those engaged in it.
Its continuance, therefore, is prima facie evi-
dence that it is of advantage to the traders. Go-
vernment has no royal or divine means of ascer-
taining what is for the good of its subjects but
by consulting their pursuits and deferring to
their wishes. It may be sure, therefore, that no
merchants will engage in a foreign trade any
more than a home trade which does not banefit
them, and unless it act on the principle that it
knows the business of the merchants better, than
they know their own business, it can with no
more propriety interfere with foreign trade than
home trade. Trade, then, is governed and re-
gulated by principles of its own, totally oppo-
site, as we have shown, to the principles on
which Governments are founded and bound to
act; and they ought to be able to demonstrate
that the trade of individuals is an injury to the