The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-11 00:00:00

PH E SUN,

one-sixteenth of the whole en-pr
conclude that the Corn-3-
about 3448 --

~fe, Nye may
have put to death

people in the two weeks end-
fno 80th of January, 1840. Will such
a consequence, supposing it to. be only an
approximation to truth, arouse in the land-
owners, the bishops, the squires, and the parsons—
arouse in the whole body of the law-making classes,
whose conduct was proved to have been so tre-
mendously mischievous as long ago as 1824, and
which has been equally or more mischievous
every year since,—will this dreadful fact arouse in
them a decent or sorrowful reflection on their
own misdeeds? Will they have any compunc-
tious visitings ? Will conscience smite them ?
We are afraid not, and we must conclude, while
we are unable to ascribe to the doctrines taught
by the bishops any consolation to the poor
at being starved out of existence, that those doc-
trines supply, in fact, no restraint on the iniqui-
ties of the law-making aristocracy.
We shall be told, perhaps, that all these are
natural evils, and that the Legislature does not
cause, and cannot cure them. Why, then, does
it try ? If it cannot save the people from starv-
ing, why does it check and restrain the supply
of food ? If it cannot prevent premature death
from cold, why does it impede the people in sup-
plying themselves with fuel and raiment ? As
long as it will meddle with trade and with popu_
lation, as long as it will make laws for what it
does not understand and cannot grasp or control,
it makes itself responsible for all the dreadful
consequences of its acts; and as long as the people
die the victims of its laws we shall boldly accuse
it of being their murderer.

On Monday the Manchester Chamber of Com-
merce held its twentieth annual meeting., J. B.
' SMITH, Esq., in the chair. A Report was read,
in which the following mention is made of the
Corn-laws and the Sugar and Coffee Duties :
This petition (adopted by the Chamber against the
Corn-laws last March) expresses so fully the sentiments
of the Chamber, that the Directors feel it to be unneces-
sary to dilate, in this Report, upon the impolicy and in-
justice of those laws; the more especially as constant dis-
cussion has laid bare the evils which they entail upon the
people of this cour.try, and has shown to all who calmly
consider the question, that a continuance in the present
vicious system will speedily involve both the agricultural
and commercial interest in one common ruin. But the
Board would not have the Chambe'r to suppose that this
incubus upon the energies of the country will be removed
without further and constant exertions; and they re-
commend that the Chamber should never relax in their
endeavours to put an end to the present unjust system.
Equalization of Sugar and Coffee Duties.—This im-
portant subject remains in the same neglected state as
when the Chamber held its last annual meeting. No in-
dication has yet been given that the oft-repeated com-
plaints of merchants, manufacturers, and consumers, have
had the slightest effect upon the Government and Legis-
lature. The merchant is still exporting manufactures
from this country to those foreign States whose only means
of paying for them consists iu the production of articles
which he cannot bring home because they are loaded with
prohibitory duties, and has, consequently, to receive its re-
turns through circuitous channels; the manufacturer is
forced to look on, whilst he sees his trade passing progres-
sively into other countries ; consumers pay more than two-
fold the price for sugar and coffee which v,ould be required
from them were the monopoly abolished. The extravagant
prices which these articles have attained, have, however,
produced, of late, great changes in the habits of consum-
ers; every large class have no longer the means of pur-
chasing at all, whilst the middling classes have become
studious to diminish their consumption ; the revenue is
therefore injured. Thus are the interests of merchants,
manufacturers, and consumers, and even of the revenue
itself, sacrificed to the maintenance of a monopoly which
is incapable of supplying the wants of the country.
The Report was agreed to, but we regret to
perceive that its enlightened sentiments were not
welcomed by a numerous body. Not twenty
members, it is said, were present. Chambers of
Commerce seem never to have found favour in
England; and though their utility in collecting and
distributing information may be great, they are
never likely, we-believe, as they lead to neither
honour nor emolument, to engage the attention
or command the respect of many persons.

We regret to learn, by the Hamburgh papers,
received last night, that Mr. CANNING, the Bri-

tish Charge d'Affaires and Consul-General lat
Hamburgh, died there on the 2d inst., after a
long and severe illness. He had occupied that
important situation for sixteen years, was greatly
respected by the mercantile class, and indeed by
the people in general ; and his death, accord-
ing to these papers, is universally regretted
at Hamburgh. He was a man of amia-
ble manners, and much beloved by all
who knew him. We learn also from Stockholm
that on the 26th of January the anniversary of
the birth of BERNADOTTE, King of Sweden, was
celebrated by a grand entertainment at Court,
and by general rejoicing for the continued good
health of the old warrior. It is stated in a
Coblentz paper that, notwithstanding the late
order of the KING forbidding the publication of
Papal briefs and bulls without the Royal consent,
Dr. GUNTHER, the administrator of the diocese,
had attempted to give validity to a brief to which
the KING had refused his assent. The time, we
trust, is not far distant when both Government
and people will unite in putting down the inso-
lence of the Church in every country.

The Paris Journals of Tuesday have been re-
ceived. " Influence from a high quarter, "says
one of the Journals, " is exercised in the Cham-
ber of Peers to weaken the almost general oppo-
sition which the Bill for fortifying Paris meets
with in that Assembly. If the Peers were left
to act according to their own convictions the Bill
would undoubtedly be rejected ; but it is doubt-
ful whether they will have the firmness to oppose
the decidedly expressed desire of the Court. We
do not think that there is anything at all doubt-
ful about the matter. If the Peers have received
an intimation from the KING, they will be sure
not to disregard it. In the Chamber of Peers
the Court is all powerful, for the Chamber is
nothing but the mere creature of the Court.
We are of course prepared for a sturdy opposition
to the Bill on the part of the Royalists, because
they must be sensible that theßill, in annihilating
the popular supremacy, destroys the last illusory
dream of the restoration of the BOURBONS. But
even they in their hearts begin to regard with
complacency the Conservatism of Louis PHI-
LIPPE, who wants but walls and forts to be as
absolute in fact, though not in law, as the Cznit
himself. The supporters of the Bill have no-
thing to fear from the patriotism or indepen-
dence of the Peers. We, therefore, advise them
to take courage and be of good cheer. Their
triumph, which is the triumph of despotism, and
of barbarism over civilization and liberty, is cer-
tain in the Chamber of Peers. However gratify-
ing it would be to us to suppose that any chance
remained of saving France from the infliction of
a fortified capital, we are not such strangers
to the materials of which the French
Chamber of Peers are composed, as to rest
a hope upon the patriotism of that body
when patriotism is at discount at the Tuileries.
The Chamber of Deputies was occupied on
Tuesday with the Customs' Bill. A summary of
the proceedings will !be found among the sub-
joined extracts from the Journals.

The Univers states, on the authority of a letter
from Jerusalem, that the English are building a
Protestant church in that city. Russia, which
has no church at Jerusalem, is likewise about to
build one. The exequator of the Russian Consul
at Beyrout is extended to Jerusalem.

The return of the Austrian squadron from the
Levant is announced in a letter from Trieste, re-
ceived in Paris on Monday.

The French Journals copy from the Augsburg
Gazette the following account of the retreat of
IBRA HIM PACII A from Damascus:—

VIENNA, JAN. 30.—According to the latest news, Ibra-
him Pacha retreated with his army in two divisions from
Damascus. One of these divisions, commanded by Soli.
man Paella, took its way by Messerie and across the desert ;
whilst Ibrahim, with the other, passed through the moun-
tains towards Gaza. The Egyptian army decreased daily
and hourly from desertion. On the day on which Soli.
man Pacha left Damascus, a whole regiment of artillery,
with its arms and ammunition, deserted. The cavalry
which was sent in pursuit was repulsed, and a second
corps, which replaced that which had fled, did not return,
finding it better to make common cause with the deserters.
The Seraskier of Syria, lazed Mahmed Pacha, had come
from Syria to Gallipoli, He was very ill. It was on the
23d that &liana left DAMASCUS with the baggage and