The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-05 00:00:00

THE StiNk LONDON. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1840.

It appears that these haughty diplomatists did not
notify to the Pacha the means they intend to employ to
obta.n his acquiesenec. Mehemet Ali said that he
would forward his reply to the Sultan ; and th,t he
would likewise reply to them if they committed their
note to writing. The Pacha then added, with a tone
of great energy, that his resolutions were irrevocable.
" I am weak and little," said he in conclusion, " but
God, who is all powerful, extends his protection
equally to the weak and little, and 'I have faith in his
justice."
You can form no idea of all the secret and overt in-
trigues to which the Russian and English Consuls have
recourse, and of their animosity against the Pacha.
They are now endeavouring to seduce by bribes y the
entire of the Turkish squadron. To-day upwards of
twenty officers and soldiers left one of their ships and
were received on board an English vessel. The Pacha
immediately ordered the ship to be surrounded by
eight armed boats, who had orders to keep a close
watch upon her. Money continues to be distributed
with profusion by the Russian and English Consuls, but
in Alexandria intrigue has not the same chance of suc-
cess as in Syria.
The English ship of war is still lying at anchor out of
the roads ; and we have as yet seen no appearance of
the British squadron with which we have been so long
menaced. Syria enjoys perfect tranquillity. The 46
Emirs who had fomented the revolt have just arrived
in Alexandria, and are to proceed to Sennaar, where
they are to employed on the staff of Achmet
The Constitutionnel publishes a letter from Alexan-
dria, dated the 18th ult., which states that Mehemet
Ali had declared to the Consuls that he was determined
not to accept any treaty which would deprive him of
an inch of ground, and adds— •
" Count Medem, the Russian Consul-General,
having remarked to him that he was exposing
himself to great danger by contending against such
formidable adversaries : 6 Many thanks for your
anxiety for me,' replied the Pacha smilling, • but
rest assured that before I fall more than one great
Power will be more embarrassed than me; Be-
sides,' said he, I knew your mission beforehand, all
discussion is therefore useless, my determination is irre-
vocably taken. You have not, however, received arms
to make war against me, your only weapon is your pen ;
write to me, and I shall reply to it." Very well,' re-
plied the Consuls, and they took leave, saying that
they would return either collectively or individually.
You will be always Welcome,' replied the Viceroy, iro-
nically."
Another letter, of the 17th ale., from the Courrier
de Lyons, says,—This morning 27 officers and soldiers
of the Turkish fleet made their escape and took refuge
on board an English collier. The Pacha immediately
had the vessel surrounded and watched by eight armed
boats. The English and Russian Consuls distri-
buted money with open hands, and promise re-
wards to all who are willing to return to Con-
stantinople, and much more to those who enter
into conspiracies against the Pacha. All the beads
of English commercial houses have signified their inten-
tion of placing themselves under the protection of
Mehemet AU, and some of the most considerable have
acted upon this resolution. At the same time, the
body of English merchants have sent a protest to Lord
Palmerston against the conduct of the English Govern-
ment towards them.'
A Correspondent writes on the 4th tilt., from Bessel
yczew, in the Ukraine :—" The fair of St. Onoufre,
which lasts four weeks, has this year been numerously
attended. The Tartars, Cossacks, and Kabardians,
brought in 30,000 wild horses. It also collected 10,000
horses of the finest breeds, 50,000 oxen, cows, bulls,
steers, and heifers, 100,000 sheep, and 10,000 swine.
Races were run every morning. A Circassian horse,
ridden by the owner, gained a prize of 25,000 rubles.
Two horses from Kashgn, in Tartary, were the next
in success. A Circassian horse, however, gained a
race extending to the length of six French leagues,
winning a stake of 500 ducats, and all the twelve
horses which ran against him, each of which was worth
1,000 rubles."

ALEXANDRIA, AUG. 18.—" Rifat Bey presented
to the Viceroy on the 16th inst. the Treaty of the
Quadruple Alliance. Mehemet Ali replied, with firm-
ness and resolution, that he was decided on not accept-
ing it. 'lt is with the sabre that I have conquered
the provinces which I govern, and I wish a good diges-
tion to whomsoever shall attempt to take them from me
by the sabre. But are you not ashamed, Conttanti-
nopolitans, of permitting foreigners, Christians, to in-
vade your provinces? . What good can the empire de-
rive in seeking, by such odious means,.the annihilation
of the sole nucleus of force which constitutes its na-
tionality ? May Allah curse all the Ministers of the
Porte who are so blind as not to see that they are pro-
moting the ruin of Islamism ! But depend upon it, you
will not humiliate Mehemet Ali : he is inflexible in his
resolutions. Hehas sworn by the terrible oath of the Mus-
sulmans to conquer or die for the defence of Islam-
ism, and even for the support of the Sultan, even in
spite of himself. Should I fall: continued he with
energy, ► depend upon it my defeat shall be dearly pur-
chased. I shall continue on the defensive tilt further
events. If attacked, I will repel force by force ;
however, reserve to myself the faculty of acting ac-
cording to circumstances, should any attempt be made
on my authority, either by open or secret attacks.'
" Rfat Bey, who little expected such energe tic re-
sistance on the part of the Viceroy, felt rather awk-
ward during this conference. Instead of commencing
by giving Mehemet Ali the Vizier's letter, he remitted
it ; but as he went away, stammered out, • I have
also a letter for 3 our Highness from the Sublime Porte.'
" Fifty-seven chiefs of the Druses arrived here a few
days ago ; they are to be sent to Sennaar as aides-dc-
camp to Achmet Pacha. Emir Haidar, the most In-
fluential chief of Lebanon, with the exception of Emir
Beschir, to whom Lord Palmerston has promised the
title of • Head of the Mountain,' has seat is his sub-

mission."

SWITZERLAND.

FIFTH LETTER FROM A MEMBER OF THE
ANTI CORN LAW LEAGUE ON THE CON-
TINENT.
ZURICH.— The disciples of Adam Smith must visit
this country to witness the practical application of tire
views contained in the Wealth of Nations. The Swiss
are the only people who have consistently adhered to
the principle of free trade ; and their prosperous condi-
tion affords the best possible argument in favour of
unshackled commerce, and against the English Corn-
law. Let a traveller enter the Swiss territory from
any side, whether from France, Italy, or Germany,
and he will have no sooner crossed the frontier
than he will perceive a striking improvement in the
condition of everything around him. Having myself
passed into Switzerland from France at two different
points, as wall as front Italy, Austria, and Bavaria at
various times, having again and again travelled from one
end of the country to the other, and having had the
advantage of visiting in Swiss families, and of being
accompanied in my excursions by intelligent natives,
1 speak after the best possible opportunities of obser-
vation and experience. The traveller here finds his
horses harnessed with blackened leather ornamented
with polished brass, in place of the ropes and rusty
irons left on the other side of the frontier, he feels the
improvement i❑ the roads as he glides along them, he
remarks the substantial farm-buildings, and is struck
with the cleanliness, activity, and prosperous appear-
ance of the towns, and, entering the hotels, he finds
them incomparably superior to any others on the Con-
tinent. So much for the surface. If he prosecutes his
inquiries a little deeper, he secs education more widely
diffused than in any of the surrounding countries, and
lie is surprised to find himself in the midst of one of
the richest and most enterprising, as well as the most
intelligent people of Europe.
We arc apt to associate this country with ideas of
poverty and privation. This naturally arises from our
minds being impressed from infancy with thoughts of
Alpine rocks and snows. Switzerland is indeed natu-
rally a poor country, but the energies of its inhabitants
have made it one of the richest in Europe. I should
say that there is no other nation of similar extent,
excepting Holland, that can be compared with it for
wealth. Geneva and Basle are the most opulent towns
of their size in the world, and their bankers exercise
an important influence in the Money Markets of Paris
and London. It is well known that the French manu-
facturing establishments of Mulhausen and the neigh•
bourhoud are carried on with the aid of the capitalis.s
of Basle. Then there are the manufacturers, spinners,
and calico printers of Glarus, Appenzell, St. Gall, Zu-
rich, &c., who furnish the markets of North and South
America, and the Levant, with their commodities, con-
signing a great portion of their productions to their own
agents in those countries. The city from which I am
writing affords a most striking example of the progress
that is m,king in this country. Since I was last here,
three years ago, a new quarter has sprung
up, COD-
tainitig the largest hotel in the country, and a new
post-office, which for magnitude and elegance, has no
equal in England, excepting in London and Liverpool.
To make room for the growth of the town, the fortifi-
cations have been levelled, and on the site of a part of
these a botanical garden has been laid out, to which all
classes have access at all hours every day of the week
—and this, mark, in a suburb of a purely manufacturing
and commercial town ! In looking down yesterday
upon Zurich from a celebrated point of view about two
miles from the sloping mountain at the back of the
town, I was amazed at the vast increase that had taken
place since I first visited this spot. Not many years
since the town appeared a condensed mass of houses at
the extremity of the lake ; but now, villas, houses, cot-
tages, and manufactories are to be seen covering the
landscape on each side of the water as far as the eye
cart reach, and threatening, at some distant date, to
Surround the lake in its entire length of pearly thirty
miles with a manufacturing town !
In travelling through this country, one is struck with
the variety of manufactures that are carried on, In-
dustry seems to thrive in proportion as it is unprotected.
In coming to this place from Berne, I passed through
Soleure, where the great meeting of amateur riflemen
from all the cantons was being held. The prizes con-
tended for were valued at 3,000/. Every two years

this federal shooting match takes place ; and I was glad
that my good fortune gave me the opportunity of seeing
such a gathering. The match lasted a week, during
which upwards of 50,000 people visited Solcure. As a
sample of the attendance, I may mention that 00 car-
riages went from Berne the first day. A large pavilion
was erected, in which upwards of 3,000 persons sat
down evrry day to dine. Tha sides were quite open,
and there was only a rail breast high to protect the
party from the crowd outside ; but there was no inter-
ruption or improper intrusior. After dinner, several
speakers mounted a rostrum provided for the occasion,
and addressed the party in French or German, exhort-
ing them to a patriotic and united love of their country.
It ought to be added, in illustration of the character of
the assembly, that, although a considerable portion of
those present were of the working class, not a police
officer or gendarme was required to ensure good order,
nor did a case of drunkenness occur during the week.
I have adduced the above proofs of the wealth and
high morale of the Swiss, being very anxious, before
touching upon the causes of so favourable a state of
things, that your readers should have a just notion of
the really rich, prosperous, and cultivated people that
arc to be found in the midst of these rugged scenes.
There is, indeed, no ether way tkan by these general
statements of facts of furnishing a picture of the con-
dition of the country. There are no Government
tables of exports and imports to refer to—no such ac-
counts are kept. To such an extent is the principle of
tree trade carried out, that Switzerland is literally with-
out a custom-house. You may convey waggons loaded
with foreign merchandize or foreign coin across the
frontier and into any of the cantons, without an account
being taken of their contents by a public officer.
The first question that one naturally asks himself is—
what is the cause of so much prosperity and happiness
in a country so little favoured by nature ? The econo-
mical form of Government will first naturally suggest-
itself to our notice. It will suffice as an illustration of
the advantages possessed by the Swiss in this particular,
if I state that the salaries of all the Governors of the
22 cantons, containing two millions and a half of opu-
lent and educated peopla, amount to less than one-half
the sum annually paid to the British Governor of the
barren rock of Malta, for administering the affairs of a
hundred and twenty thousand of the poorest and most
illiterate beings on the face of the earth !

But it should, if possible, be universally known that
the Swiss themselves attribute their prosperity to that
perfect freedom of commerce which they have clung to,
under every circumstance of trial and temptation, with
a devotion almost fanatical. Theirs is not the mere
freedom to exchange, under the provisions of a treaty or
commerce, with this' or that nation. The Swiss have
no commercial tr,aties ; their Government does not
presume to interfere with the trade of a really tree peo-
ple in order to mould it according to the errors or
whims of other nations. Each individual is left to make
his own commercial treaty. Every man is in the full
enjoyment of his natural right to dispose of the fruits of
his labour in whatever way he pleases. But no man or
class of men claim more than this natural right. There
is not a body of landowners here, as in England, arro-
gating the privilege of forcing the rest of the commu-
nity to buy and sell only in such a manner as shall suit
their exclusive intere,ts. Yet, if there be a country on
the face of the earth that requires protection, Switzer-
land, owing to its great disadvantages of climate, soil,
and situation, is that country. The distance of the
nearest seaport from this centre of Swiss manufactures
is between two and three hundred mi►es, from which
the raw materials, such as cotton, silk, drugs, &c.,
have to be conveyed by land carriage frequently to
places upwards of two thousand feet above the level of
the sea, where they are manufactured and sent abroad
again to compete with Manchester and Glasgow fabrics.
Not only the materials but the food required for the
subsistence of the manufacturer is the produce of fo-
reign countries ; and even, the iron and coal used here
is brought from abroad. It would, in fact, be impossible
to poiut out a single ❑atural advantage possessed by the
Swiss, and yet, without ever having been indebted to
legislative aid of any kind, they have entered into suc-
cessful rivalry with the manufacturers of other coun-
tries favoured by nature, and backed by the so called
protection of powerful governments !—Anti•Corn-lart,
Circular.

TO THE LORD BISHOP of LONDON.

A few words more, my dear Lord, before we part,
after a controversy of four years :
In reading your speech, I was a good deal amused by
your characteristic indignation at the idea of any man,
or any body of men, being competent to offer you ad-
vice ; at the same time I have a sort of indistinct re-
collection of your name, as defendant in courts of jus-
tice, where it appeared, not only to the Judges who de-
cided against you, but to your best friends also, that
you would have made rather a better figure if you had
begged a few contributions of wisdom and temper from
those who had any to spare ; till these cases are erased
from our legal reports, it would perhaps be expedient to
admit for yourself a small degree of fallibility, and to
leave the claim of absolute wisdom to- Alderman Wood.

You say that you always consult your Archdeacon
and Rural Dean ; this I believe to be quite true—but
then you generally consult them after the error, and
not before. Immediately after this aspernation of
human counsel, I came to the following sentence—such
a sentence as I believe mortal and mitred man never
spoke before, and the author of which, as it seems to
me, should be loaded with four atmospheres of advice
instead of one, and controlled regularly by that number
of cathedral councils. In speaking of the 3,000 clergy-
men who have petitioned against the destruction of the
Church, you say—
•, I could easily get as many to petition upon any
subject connected with the Church. The mode by
which in the present case a great proportion of these
signatures have been obtained, is as follows :—The
Archdeacon, who has always great influence with the
parochial clergy, and justly so, as visiting them every
year, and as being in habits of more familiar intercourse
with them than their Bishop, and who is moreover
considered by them as acting, in some degree, with the
sanction of the Bishop, circulates printed forms of pe-
tition against the Bill amongst the Rural Deans ; the
Rural Dean goes with them to the parochial clergy ;
and he must be a bold or a very well-informed man who
refuses to sign a petition so recommended by his imme-
diate ecclesiastical superiors."—Pp. 6 and 7.
Now, I am afraid you will be very angry with me,
• but for the life of me I cannot discover in this part of
your speech any of those marks of unerring and unas-
sistable wisdom—that perfect uselessness of coun-
sellors to the Bishop of London, of which you seem
to be so intimately convinced ; and this, remember,
is not a lapse to be forgiven in the fervour of speaking,
but a cold printed insult for what is the plain English
of the passage ? " Archdeacons and Rural Deans are
a set of base and time-serving instruments, wham their
superiors can set on for any purpose to abuse their
power and influence over the lower clergy, and the lower
•lergy themselves are either in such a state of intellec-
tual destitution that they cannot comprehend what they
sign, or they are so miserably enthralled by their eccle-
siastical superiors that they dare not dissent. I could
put this depraved machinery in action for any Church
purpose I wished to carry." If Lord Melbourne, in the
exercise of his caprice, had offered me a Bishopric, and
Iliad been fool enough to have accepted it, this insult
upon the whole body of the parochial clergy should not
have been passed over with the silent impunity with
which it was received in the House of Lords. You
call me in the speech your facetious friend, and I hasten
with gratitude in this letter to denominate you my
solemn friend ; but you and I must not run into com-
mon-place errors ; you must not think me necessarily
foolish because I am facetious, nor will I consider you
as necessarily wise because you are grave : but whether
foolish or facetious, or what not, I admire and respect
you too much not to deplore this passage in your
speech ; and, in spite of all your horror of being coun-
selled by one of your own canons, I advise you man-
fully to publish another edition of your speech, and to
expunge with the most ample apology this indecent
aggression upon the venerable instructors of mankind.
In our future attacks upon the Catholics let us wisely
omit our customary sarcasms on their regard for oaths.
The only persons who appear to me to understand the
doctrine of oaths are the two honest Sheriffs whom Lord
John put into prison for respecting them.
In the eighth page of your speech you say—
" I am continually brought into contact, in the dis-
charge of my official duties, with vast masses of my
fellow-creatures, living without God in the world. I
traverse the streets of this crowded city with deep and
solemn thoughts of the spiritual conditioteof its inhabi-
tants. I pass the magnificent church which crowns the
metropolis, and is consecrated to the noblest of objects.
the glory of God, and I ask of myself, it what degree it
answers that object. I see there a dean and three re-
sidentiaries, with incomes amounting in the aggregate to
between 10,0001. and 12,0001. a year. I see, too, con-
sneered with the cathedral 29 clergymen, whose offices
are all but sinecures, with an annual income of about
12,0001. at the present moment, and likely to be very
much larger after the lapse of a few years. 1 proceed a
mile or two to the E. and N.E., and find myself k the
midst of an immense population in the most wretched
state of destitution and neglect, artisans, mechanics, la-
bourers, beggars, thieves, to the number of at least
300,000."

This stroll in the metropolis is extremely well cen-
t trived for your Lordship's speech ; but suppose, my dear
Lord, that instead of going E. and N.E., you had
turned about, crossed London-bridge, and, resolving to
make your walk us impartial as possible, had proceeded
in a S.W. direction, you would soon in that case have
perceived a vast palace, containing, not a dean, three
residentiaries, and 29 clergymen, but one attenuated
'Prelate with an income enjoyed by himself alone,
amounting to 30,0001. per annum, twice as great as
that of all these confiscated clergymen put together ;
not one penny of it given up by Act of -Parliament
during his life to that spiritual destitution which he so
deeply deplores, and 1.5,000/. per annum secured to his
successor : though all the duties of the office might be
roost effectually performed for one-third of the salary.
Having refreshed yourself, my dear Lord, by the
contemplation of this beautiful and consistent scene,
and recovered a little from those dreadful pictures
of spiritual destitution which have been obtruded
upon you by the sight of St. Paul's, you must
continue our religious promenade to the banks of the
Thames ; but, as the way is long, let us rest our-
selves for a few minutes in your palace in St. James's-
square, no scene certainly of carnal and secular desti-
tution. Having halted for a few minutes in this man-
sion of humility, we shall now be able to reach your
second palace of Fulham, where I think your animal
spirits will be restored, and the painful theme of spi-
ritual destitution be for the moment put to sleep.
20,000/. per annum to the present possessor, increasing
in value every hour, not a shi ling legally given up
during life to " the masses who are living without God,"
and 10,000/. per annum secured to the successor. I
know that you are both of you generous and munifi-
cent men, but 2,000/. or 3,000/. subscribed, though
much more observed, is much more economical also,
than a fixed and legal diminution of an income,
now out of all character and proportion, for those who
feel the spiritual destitution so deeply. But these feel-
ings upon spiritual destitution, my Lord, are of the
most singular description ; they seem to be under the
most perfect control when Bishops are to be provided
for, and of irresistible plenitude and power when pre-
bends are to be destroyed ; such charity is the charity
of my poor dear friend, old Lady C—, who was so
powerfully affected (she said) by my sermon, that she
borrowed a sovereign of some gentleman in the pew,
and put it in the plate.
My Lord, you are a very able, honest, and good man,
but I pray you, as one of your council, be a little more
discreet. You have taught the enemies of the Church
a fearful lesson, and they ire very good scholars. In
the midst of your ecclesiastical elegies upon spiritual
destitution, take care they do not turn upon you and
say," We can place the Bench of Bishops in a position
by which their usefulness will be materially increased,
and 60,000/. per annum be saved for the spiritual desti-
tution of the Church."
" But, my Lords, the Learned Counsel, and those
who:n he represents, are grievously mistaken if they
imagine that the calm, or rather lull, which Pow pre-
vails, will be of long continuance, if no efEctive mea-
sures are taken to remove or lessen the anomalies which
our Bishops now present, and to make them really con-
ducive to the spiritual instruction of the people. The winds
are chained fora season in their cavern ; but erelong they
will burst forth with redoubled violence, and shipwreck
perhaps the vessel of the Established Church. Bishops
may repose a few years longer in their stalls, unshorn of
a single item of dignity or revenue ; but by and by re-
form will come upon them as a strong man armed, and
will take from them their armour wherein they trusted,
and divide the spoils."—p. 15.
Your foolish printer has injured the passage by print-
ing it " Deans and Chapters" instead of Bishops.
It is very easy, my Lord, to swing about in the House
of Lords, and to be brave five years after the time, and
to point out to their Lordships the clear difference be-
tween moral and physical fear, and to be nodded to by
the Duke of Wellington, but I am not to be paid by
such coin. I believe that the old-fashioned orthodox,
hand-shaking, bowel-disturbing passion of fear, had a
good deal to do with the whole reform. You choose to
forget it, but I remember the period when the Bishops
never remained unpelted ; they were pelted going,
coming, riding, walking, consecrating, and carousing ;
the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the town of Canter-
bury, et the period of his visitation, was only saved
from the mob by the dexterity of his coachman. If
you were not frightened by all this, I was, and would
have given half my preferment to save the rest ; but
then I was not a Commissioner, and had no great in-
terests committed to my charge. If such had been my
lot, I would have looked severely into my own soul-
You have laid yourself open to some cruel replies
and retorts in various parts of your pamphlet speech
but the law is passed, and the subject is at an end.
You are fast hastening on, with the acclamations
and gratitude of the Whigs, to Lambeth ; and I "I
hastening, after a life of 70 years, with gout and asthma,
to the grave. I am most sincere, therefore, when I say,
that in the management of this business you have (in
my opinion) made a very serious and fatal mistake :
you have shaken the laws of property, and prepared the
ruin of the Church bylowering the character of its mem-

bars, and encouraging the aggressions of its enemies.
I That your error has been the error of an upright, zea-
lous, and honest man, I have not the most rcmoto
doubt. I have fought you lustily for four years, but
I admire your talents, and respect your character as
sincerely as I lament the mistakes into which you have
been hurried by the honest and beadlane,, impetuosity of
your nature. I remain, my Lord,
Your obedient humble servant.
SYDNEY SMITH.