The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-12 00:00:00

AFFAIRS OF SERVIA.

The Augsburg Gazette states that the Diet at Tap-
sidore, with t ie approbation of Turkey and Russia,bas
pronounced for the return of Prince Milosch to Servia,
as the only one capable of maintaining order.
The Paris papers of yesterday (Thursday) contain
some strong articles on the late proceedings of Napier
in S 3 ria. The Debats and the National (extrerne
meet) are very angry at the conduct of the French Ca-
binet. According to the Courrier Francais the Paehs
was very nearly putting an embargo on British vessels
but.little doubt was entertained that he would stop the
transit of the future India mails.

SYRIA.

TRANSLATION OF A DECLARATION OR
MANIFESTO OF THE NATIONS AND INHA-
BITANTS OF MOUNT LEBANON AND
SYRIA.
A notification to all who may happea to peruse it.
Whereas the incessant demands for money, the great
losses sustained, and the impressment for hard labour
which have lately befallen us to such a degree a,
most of the people bad not even the mewls left them
of procuring their own necessary subsistence, are wel;
known and ascertained by all persons ; nevertheless
for the sake of preserving our lives, our honour, and
our families from violence, as well as for the sake of
pursuing our daily occupations, we endured all these
iniquities with patience, in obedience to the commands
of our noble Lord the Emeer Besheer, out of gratitude
and of loyalty to him for his protection to, and his
domination over us, as well as for the sake of the
faithful services he has rendered the present
Government (of Mohammed Ali) while he, Emeer
Besheer, on the other hand, from the goodness of hi,
heart comforted and appeased us, promising at tin
same time all safety and tranquillity, and no oppres-
sion or violence to us. But this government being
treacherous, deceitful, and ungrateful, have alreacl
considered the services of his Highness (Emeei
Besheer) as good for nothing, and have even
shown to him their malignity while lie was at
Tarsus, when he tried to be excused and retire
from them. Ever since that period they have, as most
of the people know, commenced the system of intrigue,
deceit, and intimidation, for the purpose of alienating
and disuniting the people from each other ; demand-
ing at the same time the arms of some of our nations,
then a general disarming, and afterwards a con-
scription and enlistment of our brave youths in
the new plan of tactics ; thereby placing the whol,
population under the bondage slavery, whose end is cer-
tain death, and preventing them ever uniting again with
each other. But the nature and character of man
are various and dissimilar ; some weak persons sun-
mitted and others resisted ; and these latter have
bravely fought and killed immense numbers of his
(Mohammed Ali's) troops, while the loss on their
part was very small indeed. To these brave men
praise is deservedly due; they and their fathers were the
men who resisted and fought the French at the time
they were asked to deliver up their arms and to be en
slaved in this tyrannical manner. But no—they cried out
in one united voice—" Death, death, death, is far pre-
ferable to us,' and by that courage they had routed
150 000 Frenchmen, while their own number was very
small indeed.
Tills is a true fact, and recorded in history. For
these brave men we say more praise is due than to the
French, because all of you know they were but undis-
ciplined Arabs. Our present wretched and oppressive
condition, therefore, requires no philosophy or divina-
tion ; experience and the lapse of time are the best
teachers, and the best guides ; treachery, deceit, and
intrigues have been fully practised upon us ; discord and
dissension, there,ore, amongst us are u certain cup o'•
death to all of us.
Let us, then, and all those who are placed under the
same yoke of slavery, unite cordially and rise imme-
diately for our freedom, before we repent and lament
our apathy and discord. Let an assembly of wise men
be formed in a convenient spot and constituted into a
council, upon whose advice and management to
rely in every respect. These men shall be chosen
from our different nations or tribes, say five or
less from every town and village, as the case may be,
according to circumstances ; and after the complete
organization of this body of councilmen, let them haw
the power to choose even ten thousand, if they like, out
of the bravest of our heroes (who love war and death
voluntarily, and who are renowned for courage and
daring feats), and to form them as a permanent body a'
defence and protection to our people and country, sup-
plying them with ammunition and arms instead of the
forced contributions that are daily imposed upon us by
that tyrant (Mehemet Ali).
Then there will be no doubt that every one of those
brave soldiers will exert and distinguish himself, like
the heros of the ancient Mokbaeen (P) whose single
men killed tens, their tens killed hundreds, and so
forth ; and thus let the members of the Council cor-
respond with each other in every place ; and if a cala-
mity or distress should befal one nation of ours, let u,
all share in it alike, binding ourselves sincerely to each
other, and relying on the aid and the support of thi
Almighty God, from all our hearts praying Him to guide
and direct us with His Divine wisdom in this our just
and equitable cause for deliverance from tyrannical sla-
very and death. We have cite example of the Greeks
before our eyes—let us not despair, God being our help.

CHINA.

The following covvespondanco from China will be
found very interesting. We recommend the concluding
paragraphs to the attention of British merchants en-
gaged in the China trade :--
EXTRACT OF CORRESPONDENCE FROM MR THOMAS
EDMOND, DATED MACAO, APRIL 17, AND 26,1840.
MACAO, APRIL 17.—The period is now approaching
close when a trial of strength will take place between
the English and the Chinese, which must terminate
either in our being excluded altogether from intercourse
with the Celestial Empire, or our being obliged to con-
tinue our trade under any restrictions they choose to
dictate, or else that we shall have a definite and settled
arrangement for the future conduct of our trade with
China, which will increase the value of our commerce
with this country to an almost incalculable amount.
It is a matter of the utmost importance to parties in-
terested in this trade to ascertain, if possible, not only
the probable ultimate result of the struggle which is just
about to begin between a great, but semi-barbarous na-
tion, and the most warlike, most highly civilised, and
most wealthy nation in Europe.
The authority I shall quote from, in support of toy ,
arguments in favour of a speedy settlement of the pre-
sent difficulties, is Mr. Davis, late her Majesty's Cuief
Superintendent of Trade in China, who has published a
work on China (" Davis on the Chinese," in two vo-
lumes, published by Charles Knight, 22, Ludgate-street,
London), which is decidedly the best I have yet seen.
Whilst noticing the authority from which I quote, I may
also mention that I give these quotations—say refer-
ences—as beicg quite in accordance with what I have
had an opportunity myself of seeing in China.
The first thing to consider is the power of resistance
to an invading force possessed by the Chinese.
Great weakness of the Government is to be argued
from the fact of its tolerating the existence of an inde-
pendent race of natives in the provinces of Knucllow
and Kwangse, called the Meawtse, which have at various
periods given the Government much trouble.
Another and most important evidence of the weak-
ness of the Chinese Government is the fact—a Go-
vernor of a province is never forgiven in allowing a dis-
turbance to arise within his jurisdiction. It matters
not that Government do not place at his disposal force
enough to keep all disturbances down. The Govern-
ment, in event of a disturbance taking place, care only
whether the officers on the spot manage to quell it with
little inconvenience or alarm to the Emperor. So great
is the fear of any commotion or excitement among the
people, that the occurrence of such in any of the pro-
vinces is almost sure to ruin the Governor of said

p ovince.
Ching-she-Wong's and Roslinja's extensive piracies,
which were only at last suppressed by conferring honours
on the grandson of Roslinja, offered also an important
evidence of the weakness of the Chinese Government,
and that too at a period when the ruling power was
more warlike than at present ; and shows also the
serious light in which the parties were looked upon
i by
Government, by inducing them to adopt the most vigo-
rous measures for their destruct.on. An infinitely
smaller European force than the native one pos-
sessed by Roslinja would strike with terror the Go-
vernment, owing to its immense superiority in point
of arms, discipline, tactics, &c., and would force the
Government into an early submission to the terms dic-
tated, as the only means of salvation from foreign ag-
gression. That the Chinese, as a military power, are
utterly contemptible, is a fact which must become evi-
dent to every one who has an opportunity of judging of
their military material, viz., their arms, equipment, dis-
cipline, and tactics ; and whilst it must be granted that
the foreigner at Canton has but limited means of
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eni opportunities snc
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picked men of the army.
Among some of the most important proofs of the in-
security and weakness of the Chinese Government may
be instanced the fact of the existence of the numerous
societies, having for their aim the subversion of the pre-
sent Chinese dynasty, of the existence of which societies
the Chinese Government is perfectly aware, but
unable (or more probably afraid) to adopt anv con-
tinued energetic measures to remedy the evil. Is
it stretching probability too far, to urge that the Go-
vernment fear any prolonged contest with foreigners
may encourage the leaders of these societies to avail
themselves of the opportunity to carry their &themes
into execution ? The people of the northern province
in the neighbourhood of the Canton province, arc dis-
tinguished for their turbulent character ; and although
this feature has for many years past only exhibited itself
in private broils and feuds
among the various clans or
i
families of the inhabitants, t is not improbable they may