The Sun.
London, England, 1824-03-20 00:00:00

which were done at 19 to 1-, and up to this hour

they are 19.

FOREIGN MAnEzT.—There has been • some
business doing in Spanish Bonds, ‘ivhich got up

to 21.

In the House of Commons, last night, the
Silk Trade Bill was committed for the purpose
of filling up the blanks. It had been appointed
that Counsel should be heard on the same occasion
against the Bill ; but in consequence of the indis-
position of the Learned Gentleman, or Gentle-
men, to whom the Silk Trade have entrusted that
important duty, the hearing was postponed till
Monday, when the Bill will be re-committed.
Both in the Committee, and on .the presentation
of a petition from some of the Silk Manufac-
turers in London, Mr:BA-I%INQ exerted himself
strenuously to oppose the further progress of
this experimental and hazardous measure. From
the temper of the House, however, we fear that
neither Mr. BAIZING'S arguments nor those of the
Learned Counsel will be successful. We mahnever-
theless, still cling to the hope that the Bill, like
that of last Session for repealing the Spitalfields
Acts, will be thrown out by the House of Lords.
It roust already be evident to the Landed Interest,
that, if they give way to die fallacious principle
of free trade, they must speedily consent to throw
open the ports of Great Britain and Ireland
to the free importation of foreign Core—
a consummation which, by involving the pro-
prietors and cultivators of the land in one
general and irretrievable ruin, will exemplify and
complete the destructive effects-of the fashionable
system of commerce which has unfortunately ob-
tained the ascendancy in the House of Commons.
We have always told the Landed Interest, that
the adoption of the new and delusive principle
on which the recent measures are founded,
must inevitably lead to a Free Trade in
Corn ; and accordingly the clamour for the
repeal of the Corn Laws has already been raised
both in and out of Parliament. The Peers of
the realm, therefore, who are the most deeply
interested in the prosperity of the agriculture
of the Empire) as well as in the general wel-
fare of all its branches of industry, will do
well to pause before they sanction measures
which have excited so' much consternation
amongst all the parties who will be
immediately
affected by them, and which must, In their con-
sequences, involve the agricultural interest it-
self in an unequal and ruinous competition with
foreigners. It is not a little curious to see the
anxiety, manifested by the promoters as well as by
the opponents of the Silk Bill, to devise the means
of preventing that loss to individuals having
stocks on baud, which, without some ar-
rangements for the allowance of a draw-
back, must result from the sudden diminu-
tion of the duty on the importation of Raw
Silk. We say that it is curious to observe all this,
—for, in consistency, there ought to be an equal
anxiety to prevent that injury to the operative
Silk Weavers which the final execution of the mea-
sure may entail upon them by the diminution
of the value of their labour. So far, however, are
the advocates of the new theory from feeling any
uneasiness on that score, that they are eagerly
demandicg the repeal of the Spitalfields Acts)
for the avowed purpose of enabling the
Manufacturers of that important district to
reduce the wages of their workmen, and thus
to give a large and useful class of the people
the first taste of the advantages and blessings of
free trade ! The Editor of the Gazette de France,
a French Ministerial Paper, is so astonished
at the change now effecting in our commercial
policy, that he has broadly stated his suspicions
that England is in these measures preparing
some secret snare, and he has thought it necessary
to warn France against the hypocrisy of Great Bri-
tain! How dubious must that policy be, which
appears to a rival so destructive of our own inte-
rests, that he cannot persuade himself of the sin-
cerity of our conduct !

THE KING'S CounT.—Yesterday, at twelve
o'clock, his MAJESTY, accompanied by the Lord Steward and
Sir William Knighton, escorted by a party of the 14th regi-
ment of Light Dragoons, arrived at his palace in Pall-mall,
from his palace at Windsor. Soon after the King held a Court,
which was attended by the .Ministers and Great Officers of
State.—Lord Stowell, Judge of the Admiralty, reported the
case of John Castle, mariner, for stabbing his Captain, with
intent to murder, when he was ordered for execution on the 2d
of April next.—Mr. Arabin, the Assistant-Recorder of Lon-
don, ill the absence of the Recorder by indisposition, was ad-
mitted into the presence of the King in Council, when the
Learned Gentleman made a report of the convicts confined in
Newgate on capital convictions, which occupied about two
hours.—His Majesty gave audiences to the Lord Chancellor,
Mr. Canning, the Earl of Westmorland, the Duke of Wel-
lington, Earl Bathurst, the Earl of llarrowby, and Mr. Wal-
lace, the Master of the Mint, who laid before the King some
specimens of coins.—The Court broke up soon after four
o'clock.—At half-past four, his Majesty left town for Windsor.

Dispatches had arrived at Paris on the 14th,
from Italy, with accounts of the Marquess of
HASTINGS having accepted the Government of
Malta.— (Morning Chronicle.)
At an early hour yesterday morning the Duke
of Yong arrived in town from Windsor.