The Sun.
London, England, 1840-01-10 00:00:00

word against the spirit trade in Great Britain, a trade
which is in every way strictly analogous to it. If, after
drawing millions of revenue from the former, the British
Government now become, for the first time, sensitive to
the enormity of its immorality, when presented in the mag-
nified shape of a claim for indemnity, consistency will de-
mand the suppression of the spirit trade in Great Britain,
and the relinquishment of the revenue which it produces
to the Exchequer.
" But conceding the objectionable nature of the .trade
and the expediency of suppressing it, should not an act of
practical justice to individuals precede one of speculative
good to masses ? This principle was conceded in the
Slave Emancipation Act; and India looks to the justice
of Great Britain for this prindple being followed out, now.
Suppress the trade in opium ; but first indemnify those
who, on the faith of the British Government, surrendered
their property to facilitate its suppression.
" If this indemnity—guaranteed by the public act of her
Majesty's representative, whom all British subjects in
China were bound on their allegiance to obey, from whose
command there was no appeal, upon the faith of whose
public acts the merchants delivered up their property, as
upon the faith of the British Government and nation whom
he there represented—if this indemnity be now withheld,
and the act of the national representative disowned, whe-
ther on the ground of his alleged incompetency, his hav-
ing exceeded his power, or any other plea, the result will
be, not only an immediate entailment, of ruin on all who
were directly connected with the trade, but et most serious
•financial crisis at Calcutta and Bombay, which will involve
the whole commercial and money relations of those Pre-
sidencies in deep embarrassment and reduce to beggary
thousands of individuals, who have never been in any
way connected with the trade in opium, but whose
capital and financial affairs arc inextricably bound up with
what was a common centre of all the financial transac-
tions of those two cities, and whose fate, therefore,
depends on the stand or fall of those in whom these
transactions centred. It will be more—if the compe-
tency and authority of her Majesty's representative be de-
nied, if the faith in the engagement entered into by him in
the name of the British Government and nation be once
broken, it will not only undermine the authority, and render
questionable the proceedings of all British officers to whom
high power is delegated in India (not excepting the Go-
vernor-General himself) but give a shock to the credit of
the British Government in the East, which it will be im-
possible to recover, and the effect of which, in any great
political or financial emergency, may prove ruinous to the
Indian empire. The facility of opening loans in India in
time of war, and the fidelity with which such engagements
have hitherto been met, have, on more than one occasion,
proved the safety. of British India ; but, if the opium in-
demnity be refused, this facility will receive a fatal blow ;
parties, who have seen the faith of the British nation
pledged and broken in China, will, in any real crisis, pause
before they commit their funds to the same faith in India,
which can so easily shake off engagements by raising the
question of competency.
" At the present moment, no less than fifty-eight Bri-
tish merchant ships are detained in China under heavy ex-
penses, and unable to trade. Of these, twenty-eight
vessels, from 400 to 1,400 tons each, belong to this port
alone, The capital of th'.s Presidency locked up there at
the present moment, including the surrendered opium, is
estimated at no less than five millions sterling. The stag-
nation to all trade and distress in the money market, pro-
duced by this state of things, is already inexpressibly se-
vere ; still the confident reliance on the faith of the Bri-
tish Government, and the hope of a speedy adjustment,
support the spirits of the commercial community, alleviate
the pressure, and produce an admirable forbearance among
all parties. The moment that hope is crushed, this for-
bearance will be at an end, and a universal panic must
immediately follow,
" We must, therefore, solicit your best exertions to-
wards averting, by an act of national justice, such a fear-
ful shock, the effects of which (like the misfortunes in
Calcutta of 1832) will not be long in, reaching Great
Britain, and towards rescuing our relations with China
from the disastrous and perilous state in which they now
are, paralyzing commerce and degrading the British name.
" A VOICE FROM THE EAST.
" Bombay, Nov. 26, 1839."

(Circular.)
" Sir— By this mail you will learn that, owing to a
Chinese having been killed in an affray, the British have
been expelled from Macao; and Captain Elliot has pub-
licly notified that he has moved the British and Indian Go-
vernments to forbid the entrance into British ports of all
cargoes from Canton, the manifests whereof bear not his
signature and seal
" The position of affairs in China, you must be aware,
affects not merely private merchants, but deeply and inti-
mately ccnccrns the English and Indian Governments, as
well as the honourable the Court of Directors, who must
all suffer severely by every day's continuance of the present
unfortunate state of things—directly, in the effect of the
stoppage of the trade on their resources, as well as indi-
rectly, by the loss occasioned to British commerce gene-
rally. Not to mention the duties on raw and manufactured
silks and Other China produce, those paid on tea merely are
of such importance and amount, as Would seem alone suf.
&dent to awaken the British Government to the necessity
of immediate interferences
" From the trade with China, the Indian Government
derives a direct benefit in the shape of sea duties levied
upon it, besides what is realised from opium. China, too,
has been for many years the source whence the supply of
bullion has been drawn ; and on that trade indeed depends
the value of some of the chief staple products of India,
from which the revenue of the country is derived. This
trade was acknowledged to be of such importance to the
Court of Directors, as a channel for receiving home a
portion of the Indian revenue, that the British Legislature,
in abolishing the monopoly of the tea trade, continued to
them permission to have agents there, for the purpose of
managing the financial arrangements, and for maintaining
this advantageous mode of getting money to. England.
Nor must the indirect benefits the British Government has
reaped from this commerce pass unnoticed ; the support
which British merchants generally have derived from the
China trade has extended the resources of British com-
merce throughout the world, and the wealth thus flowing
to individuals has added considerably to the aggregate of
national riches. _ _

" OwingTo the Indian trade with China, the direct
trade between China and England has enjoyed facilities
which have enabled its being extended to its present value,
and at the same time benefited the revenue of the country
to a corresponding degree. The English trade with India,
too, has been benefited by the increased facilities which the
China trade affords, of remitting for the former, and
thereby a more extensive business has been done; but, in
fact, the task would be endless to point out all the parti-
culars in which the English nation at large, the merchants
resident both in England and India, the Indian subjects of
Great Britain, and British commerce and finance gene-
rally, have been enriched by the China trade; while, on
the other hand, it seems incredible, as well as lamentable,
to think how this trade has been conducted for so many
years, to the importance and value which now belong to it,
with such little aid or protection from the State, and that
the British Government had paid so little attention to a
branch of commerce which is of such vital necessity to the
interests of the nation.
" Bombay is, however, peculiarly interested in this
question, seeing that nut of the total value of the
trade of this port in its exports 4,814,6161., or its im-
ports at 4,778,7391, the China trade forms of the first
2,668,5031 , of the latter 1,699,1931., besides which twenty-
eight vessels of from 400 tons to 1,400 tons burden, each
owned by native merchants, are employed solely in this
branch of its commerce.
" This fact alone will show Low seriously the interests
of this port in particular, are affected by whatever stops
or interrupts the trade with China; but when it is
further stated that at this moment the greater portion
of the property sent to China in the season of 1838-39
still remains there, and that the capital thus with-
drawn at this moment from the usual circulation
here amoun:s to , little short of six millions sterling,
you wilt at once perceive that to save this market from
the most serious embarrassments no time must be lost
in re-establishing this valuable trade on a footing the
most stable and permanent, as well as hot,ourable to the
British name. Already are distrust and want of 'confi-
dence becoming to be felt in all the branches of this
bazaar. These feelings must increase every hour that the
present position of affairs is allowed to continue ; and to
add to this distress, should the indemnity guaranteed by her
Majesty's representatives in China, for the property lie re-
quired to be surrendered to him in her Majesty's name,
and for the public service, be not most fully recognized by
the Government, none can say where the ruin and misery
will end which must result from such an unhappy decision.
It is the contemplation of these sad and momentous effects,
to which all on the spot must be witnesses, and which our
residence here enables us fully to estimate, that induces
the Chamber again to step forward and place them clearly
before your Aseociation, and to urge your using all the
influence you possess towards preventing the evil con-
sequences which delay must produce. After slightly
indicating to you the general suffering which this state
of things must entail on the nation at large, and in
particular in Bombay, they hope to obtain your power-
ful representation with her Majesty's Government, to-
wards reducing, with as little delay as possible, the enor-
mous loss which all the interests at stake must even now
suffer, and which every moment of the present unsettled
and distressing state of things must frightfully increase. A
crisis has arrived that renders it absolutely necessary for
Britain to show her power, and make it felt, ere a com-
merce so necessary to her existence can now be esta-
blished on that safe basis which is essential to its value.
" Outrage and insult have been committed. Our coun-
trymen have been degraded, and the moral influence of the
British name in the Eastern seas all but destroyed. Above
all things, whatever is to be done should be done quickly,
and suffering not be allowed to increase and spread, as the
inevitable consequence of further delay.
" I remain, Sir, your obedient humble servant,
" J. SKINNER,
" Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce.
" Bombay Chamber of Commerce, Nov. 28, 1839."