The Sun.
London, England, 1849-12-20 00:00:00

THE , SUN, ; `LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 2,

site. For, according to the prospectus of the society,
the principal peril to be encountered by all would-be
settlers is that of finding their little funds exhausted
by the time they are enabled to attain and select
their location. Unaided, unadvised, or, worse, ill-
aided and ill-advised, weeks and sometimes months
are occupied in the struggle to reach the districts to
which their course is directed ; and whatever funds
have remained to them over and above the amount
of their passage-money is frittered away imper-
ceptibly in the purchase of tools, of furniture, of
land, and of agricultural implements, so that by the
time they are prepared to commence operation s in
the way of cultivation they find themselves to
be actually penniless. Nay, in the majority
of instances the loose moneys of the adventurer haves
in all human likelihood, been parted with in support-
ing himself and his family before the purchase of
either acres, tools, furniture, or agricultural imple-
ments. Any preservative, *therefore, from these ex-
hausting difficulties—difficulties destructive of all
the hopes of emigration—must be a matter of pro-
found interest to the well-wishers of the emigrants,
and of infinite importance to those emigrants them-
selves.

Now, a preservative exactly of this description ap-
pears to us to be afforded by the United States and
Canadian Emigration Society. According to the un-
dertaking of the association, as expressed in its pre-
liminary prospectus, the energies of the company
will be employed more particularly in preparing the
way for those who may be solicitous to leave
England for the United States, and for our North
American colonies. The society, above all, will
enable the emigrant, on the basis of cost price, to
acquire land, the original acquisition of which, for
subsequent sale on commission, devolves of course
directly upon the association. Beyond this, it is a
matter deserving of general satisfaction that the
society is prepared to facilitate the voyage across
the Atlantic, by contracting to place the emigrant
and his family on his intended location for a certain
stipulated amount, so that every one will be enabled
to calculate before starting upon the sufficiency or
insufficiency of the funds placed at his disposal. This
of itself would prove a boon of inestimable advantage
'to such adventurers, altogether apart from the
satisfaction of selecting their land through the secure
and in every respect satisfactory medium of the as-
sociation. Moreover, it must be remembered that the
Emigration Society expressly engages to supply
labourers wherever they may chance to be required,
"to be added to prime cost of land, if not otherwise
paid for by special agreement." In addition to all
which the society will be empowered to afford the
speculators in occidental industry those spiritual
consolations which must otherwise have been
inaccessible to individuals, effecting this, of course, by
providing clergymen whose religious opinions coin-
cide with those of every hundred families. Such
briefly are a few of the more beneficial results of the
assistance given to chance emigrants by the syste
matic interposition of the association.
Particular attention appears to be directed by
the society to the superior facilities afforded to
emigrants proceeding to Texas and the other
southern provinces of the northern continent of
America. Nor can it be denied, that in many
respects the preference of that immense and fruitful
possession of the United States is strikingly judicious.
With our predilections for the more general settlement
of English families in our own colonies, such for
example as the Canadas and Australia, it would be
idle to deny that in the way of securing titles to
large tracts of land Texas opens more propitious
prospects to the speculator. Upon this the prospectus
of the association writes thus perspicuously :

"In all the other new states of the west," it says,
" the public lands belong to the general Government,
having been acquired by purchase from the Indians,
who have been removed further west ; and these
lands must all be offered at public sale, before they
can be purchased by private entry. At these public
sales, pre-emptors or squatters have the pre-
ference, for the purchase of such tracts as they have
settled upon and improved, and it generally happens
that the most desirable region of country is dotted
over with the improvements of enterprising American
settlers very soon after each successive removal of the
Indians. Speculators then purchase a great part of the
most valuable lands offered at the sale. After
the sale, the lands remaining unsold, for want
of bidders, are subject to purchase by private entry,
at about ss. 3d. per acre; but it usually, almost
always, happens that the district of country, if de-
sirable for settlements, after having passed through
the hands of pre-emptors and speculators, is so culled
over and broken up by their purchases, that although
there may be thousands of acres subject to entry,
large tracts can be with great difficulty procured in an
entire mass, suitable for the settlement of a colony,
without the payment of extravagant prices for cer-
tain portions, already secured in the manner above
stated. In the first three-quarters of the year 1848
there were 1,448,240 acres of the public lands sold by
Government for the sum of 2,030,660 dollars, in the
manner above described."

Now, very different to the foregoing picture is the
panorama opened to our view by all the most exact
and graphic delineations of Texas. There very
considerable tracts of land are in the possession of
individual holders, the remainder being owned by the
State itself, and reserved as a fund for the liqui-
dation of the State debts, for the foundation of
common seminaries, and for the better deve-
lopment of all the more remarkable resources
of the country. Other advantages possessed in a
peculiar degree almost exclusively by Texas, are
enumerated in like manner in the prospectus, such,
for example, as the lightness of the general taxation
and the singular salubrity of the climate. Beyond
all this the strange variety of its agricultural pro-
ductions, including, as they do, sugar, rice,
cotton, tobacco, indigo, cochineal, Indian corn,
wheat, rye, and oats, together with various
descriptions of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and fodder, is
a matter eminently calculated to act upon the mind
of the emigrant as an attraction ; while, in conclusion,
the advantages of its mercantile prospects and com-
mercial position are of themselves ample cause for its
selection as a superior province for emigration.
Without pronouncing another syllable in reference
to the Emigration Society, we conceive that its
tendency to benefit the cause in whose name it has
been established must be sufficiently manifest to
those who more particularly require its assistance.

The Protectionists appear to have taken a hint from
their quondam opponents. They know that the abo-
lition of the corn-tax, the destruction of the food
monopoly, was mainly ascribable to the active and
unceasing agitation carried on by the Free-traders, to
the discussions that were of every-day occurrence,
and the energetic means that were adopted to keep
the great question continually before the public mind.
They seem, therefore, to think that similar efforts will
obtain similar success on the other side, and that a
bucolic agitation will resuscitate the corn-laws, and
bring back the good old times when wheat was 80s. or
100 s. per quarter, when the poor man was un.
able to procure sufficient to satisfy the cravings
of hunger, although surrounded with abundance of
every species of nutritious food. Accordingly meet-
ing after meeting has been held throughout the
entire country ; not a day elapses that reports of
the proceedings of agricultural societies are not
brought under the public notice, in which the injury
inflicted on the farmer, and the gross injustice to
which he has been subjected, in being compelled to
encounter a competition similar to that which all
other classes must undergo, are not set forth in the
most ddorous tones. Jeremiads of the most touch-
ing character, sufficient to melt a heart of stone,
much less of a Free-trader, are uttered ; the
fairest promises are enunciated; the orators assert that
they do not desire that their own interests should
be exclusively regarded, or that " protection" should
be afforded to the agriculturist alone ; every
branch of "'native industry" comes within the ken
of their philanthropy. If this assertion were well
founded, if they really laboured for the benefit of all,
without exception, we should admit that their motives,
at least, were laudable, however widely,we might differ
from their conclusions. But a slight investigation
will be sufficient to expose the specious pretexts, to
show that the phrase " Protection to British industry"
is at best but a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal,
that it is, in short, vox etprceterea nihil.

If we inquire in what manner this universal protec-
tion is to be afforded, only one practical response

can be elicited ; we are told that the only mode by
which the desideratum can be attained is by placing
a heavy duty on the importation of foreign corn, and
thus increasing the price of wheat throughout the
entire country. The starving sempstress is to be
relieved by doubling the price of bread ! The miseries
of the overtoiled operative are to be alleviated by
compelling him to pay a heavy tax on every article
of food he provides for his wretched family to the
owners and occupiers of land! The skilful artizan,
the petty tradesman, is to be " protected" by increas-
ing the prices and diminishing the supplies !
It is certainly difficult to understand how the con-
dition of the great body of the people can be
ameliorated by such a course, but it is quite clear to
the Solons of Protection. The landlords, they say,
will then have additional resources; they will be
enabled to purchase largely from the tradesmen, and
to give employment to the labourers. If, however,
this argument be well founded it may be carried to
any extent. The greatest blessing to the country
would be an indefinite extension of the pension list,
and the creation of sinecure offices to the extent of
some 40,000,0001. or 50,000,0001. sterling per annum.
Such pensioners or sinecurists would be just
as well disposed to expend the money gra-
tuitously bestowed upon them in articles
of luxury or comfort as country squires;
they would be as little inclined to hoard their
easily-acquired gains as the farmers. " Lightly
come, lightly go," is an apophthegm, the truth of
which has never been impugned, and therefore the
expenditure of such persons would be even more
profuse and lavish than that of the agriculturists, who
should at least bestow some degree of labour on the
soil. If the point were to be decided by a general
lottery—if every member of the community had an
equal chance of drawing the fortunate lot that would
entitle him to live thenceforward in luxurious idleness,
something might be alleged in favour of the proposition ;
but we cannot discern either the equity or the justice
of the landowners securing all the prizes for them-
selves, and informing the people that they will con-
descend to give employment to tradesmen and
labourers if the means of payment is provided from
the public purse ; for, after all, that is the point into
which the question resolves itself.

But if the Protectionists are intent on imitating
Messrs. COBDEN and BRIGHT, and their associates,
they should follow their example in every particular.
They should recollect that the Free-traders invited
discussion, that the most conflicting views were re-
ceived with respect and attention. They confuted
their opponents by reason and argument, not
by clamour or violence. No agriculturists were
hooted down or threatened with personal violence,
or forcibly ejected from the meetings of the League.
Controversy was invited, and every man was at liberty
to express his sentiments without restriction or hin-
drance. Strong in the justice of their cause, they lent
patient ears to the fallacies occasionally put forward,
and were ever ready to refute the sophistns of the
adherents and advocates of monopoly. The extraor-
dinary and unparalleled success of their exertions may
in a great degree be ascribed to that moderation. Had
they exhibited any distrust or want of confidence in
the soundness of their arguments, had they shrunk
from discussion, or avoided meeting their political
opponents, their peaceful triumph would not have
been so brilliant, or so speedily attained, as happily
for the country was the case. Contrast the proceed-
ings :of the Free. traders at any of the numerous
meetings, held during the Anti-Corn-law agitation
from 1839 to 1846, with that of the Protectionists
at Lincoln on Tuesday, as detailed in our impression
of yesterday, and say which party exhibited itself in
the most favourable light, and appeared to be most
conscious of the strength of its position.
We have already alluded to the species of argu-
ments with which the Lincolnshire yeomen encounter
those who conscientiously differ from themselves as
to the causes of the national distress, and to the warm
reception bestowed upon honest JOHN Nom-
TON, who endeavoured, in some degree to
enlighten the muddy intellects of the farmers.
The matter is, however, worthy of a more particular
notice, and we cannot refrain from giving a more
detailed account of the courteous and polite behaviour
•r the amiable agriculturists on the occasion in
question.

CHRISTOPHER, the dreary CHRISTOPHER, bad been
heard and duly applauded throughout his verbose and
prolix oration ; his pompous platitudes had been
received with the most vehement and enthusiastic
cheering, his statements as to the universal ruin that
bad been occasioned by free trade with the most
unqualified approbation. When JOHN NORTON,
glorious JOHN, presented himself in order to move an
amendment, we are told that " being blown as a finan-
cial reformer and fret-trader he was received with volley
after volley of hisses, yells, and groans. The Mayor
and others endeavoured to preserve silence, but for a long
time in vain." At length a partial hearing, inter-
rupted by occasional murmurs and personal allusions,
was obtained. Jonri NORTON spoke clearly and per-
tinently to the point at issue. He showed that the poor-
rates had not been increased, that there was as much
employment for labour as before; he candidly ad-
mitted the general distress that prevails throughout
the entire country, but " he denied that the principle
of cheapness was the cause," and asserted that,
" were it not for the low price of provisions, that
distress would be much greater." We shall now quote
verbatim from the report as to what followed :

" Mr. Norton proceeded to review the history of the
corn question for the last thirty years, amidst repeated
interruption. He had got down to 1822 in his disquisi-
tion, when the tumult in the hall rose to a perfect
hurricane. The speaker's political friends, who
clung together in a group in the centre of the
hall, endeavoured, by the liveliness of their ap-
plause to drown all opposition ; whilst their opponents
groaned and hooted the more lustily. When the
war of words had for some time been kept up with spirit
a more angry feeling developed itself, and the rival
parties came to blows. After fighting for a time, pell-
mell, in the body of the room, a rush was made to the
platform, with the intention of ejecting or defending the
speaker whose harangue had led to the uproar. The
representatives of the press were pretty nearly crushed
in a body. The tables at which they sat (between the
platform and the multitude in the hall) were smashed to
pieces under the feet of the tenant-farmers and trades.
men of Lincolnshire ; ink bottles were upset; books
blotted and torn; and one gentleman, representing the
Doncaster Chronicle, less active than his brethren, was
very severely injured. A number of both parties having
gained the plattorm, a struggle of several minutes'
duration ensued, as many as could catching hold of Mr.
John Norton, either in a friendly or hostile manner.
Mr. Norton's own struggles, aided by his friends, and
backed by the entreaties of the Mayor, saved him the
ignominy of expulsion; but it was not till very consider.
able delay that the business of the meeting was resumed."

This was, indeed, a scene which we had fondly
hoped could not have been enacted in merry England
—the land of fair play ;:we had thought that the
argumentum ad baculum was only resorted to at the
other side of St. George's Channel ; but here, in an
English county town, a tumult and uproar was
excited by the enunciation of some wholesome but
unpalatable truths that the peasantry cf Tipperary
in their most riotous days, even the Orangemen and
Ribbonmen of Dolly's Brae, might have adopted for
their own. Such was not the conduct pursued by
those who carried, and who will maintain inviolate
the glorious principles of free trade, and the abolition
of every species of monopoly.

We are enabled
.to announce the opening of nego-
tiations by her Majesty 'a representative at St. Peters.
burgh, with the view of increasing the commercial
relations between this country and Russia. A con-
siderable change is contemplated in the import duties
on articles of English manufacture, and in cotton
especially, a great, though gradual ad valorem reduc-
tion will be made. We are informed that the Emperor
has shown the utmost willingness to consider the
whole question in the most liberal point of view, and
that while great advantages will be conferred upon
Russian commerce by the removal of restrictions, the
conditions of the treaty are very favourable to Eng-
lish trade. It should be added, that as changes of this
description are serious in the effect of their first appli-
cation, it is probable that the diminution of duties
will be spread over the next two years, being com-
plete by the end of 1851.
THE LATE SIR P. COLLIER.—The gallant Admiral
whose death we this day announce, was midshipman of
the Vanguard, at the Nile; of the Foudroyant, at the
capture of the Ger •eux and Guillaume Tell (when he
was wounded), and landing in Egypt; as lieutenant of
the Osprey, served on shore at the taking of St. Lucia
and Tobago; and when in charge of a prize, with 15
men, captured a privateer of 1 gun and 45 men; and in
her gallant action with L'Eg) ptienne privateer of 36
guns; while commanding the Circe, assisted by the
Amaranthe and Stork, destroyed the Cygne of 18 guns
and two armed schooners uni!er the batteries of Mar-
tinique in 1808; commanded the Star in the operations
against that island in 1809; while commanding the
Liverpool was successfully eraployed.againat the pirates
in the Persian Gulf.