The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-16 00:00:00

TIIE LONDON JOUR,NALS.

DAILY

_Extracts from, the Morning Pepersl- Aug. 16.

[BRITISH Pntssl:

The liberality with which our Government took
off the heavy Custom-house duties on French
engravings, which, without conttibuting material-
ly to the Revenue, operated vexatiously to the
lovers and patrons of the Fine Arts in England,
itas not been met with an equally liberal policy
tea the other side of the water, Not only is 20 per
cent. ad valorem duty continued on English en-
gravings, hut one out of every three is taken from
every consignment of prints sent by the London
print-sellers to Paris. One of the first of our deal-
ers sent, a fe w weeks ago, six engravings, the prime
cost of which was five guineas each, two were taken
from the number by the Supreme Public Func-
tionary at the Donne, the value of which, added
to the 20 per cent. duty, forms a charge of 53 per
cent. on all English engravings exported to
France. We believe the French Government to
be wholly unacquainted with this extortionate
proceeding at their Custom-house, and we trust
that, when it reach the ear of the Authorities,
proper means will be taken to put a stop to
it. It is extremely injurious to British artists,
and, if not discontinued, must be met by not only
re-imposing the former duty on French prints
(which is now reduced to a nominal impost) but
'by an additional charge equivalent to this pro-
hibitory duty of 53 per cent. as the Paris dealers
have refused to receive several consignments lately
sent from this country, English engravings being
thus raised to a remunerating price so high us to
shut them out of the French market.

[Moe NING POST.I
We received last night by express, French
Papers to the 14th inst. and the toile of Satur-
day. Their contents are upon the whole of little
importance. Minute particulars of the affray
'which took place in the vicinity of Pau are not
given ; but it is admitted that it was " an obsti-
nate conflict (tine batterfe opiniatre) between in
dividuals armed with sticks and staves, and sol-
diers of the 55th Regiment armed with swords."
The cause, however, is said to have been en-
tirely unconnected with political feelings, and
,the struggle to have commenced at a ball at
the village of Juranson. From thence it was
carried on along the road and across the bridge
of Gave to the very town of Pau, where the
people immediately rose in great numbers
to support their friends, and worse con-
sequences might have ensued, had it not been
for the exertion of the Prefect and the local Au-
thorities, who appeased and dispersed the crowd.
The day afterwards, however, fresh risings took
place," of a more serious character than before,"
and it was only after multiplied efforts that the
Authorities "seconded by the public force and
the zealous co-operation of good citizens, sue.
ceeded in restoring tranquillity." There were
some wounded on both sides, but 66 netWithSteed.
lag the gravity of those disorders, no loss of lives
was to be regretted." This occurred on the Ist
end 2d instant : on the 3d many arrests were
made. Legal parsuits were commenced against
the individuals implicated, and as spots as justice
should have pronounced " the cause and the results
of that unfortunate affair were to be published."
It seems unlikely that so much unwillingness to
enter into details should have been shown, had
those disorders been entirely unconnected with
politics. it is more probable that what induced
on Ministers to withhold a full publication was
the fear, or the knowledge, that they were not
wholly suppressed, and that to make them gene-
rally known might possibly tend to Increase their
sphere.

[NeW TIMER.)
The Paris Journals to Friday evening have
been received. Several of these Papers have
been en/aged in a discussion on the causes of the
failure oeif the negociation lately opened at Paris
by Knvoys from lfayti. The Biotic
,says that
'the dkappointment felt on the subject has arisen
entirely from the extrsmiagant expectations in
•thich some persons indulged, and that as the
" Envoys from the Government of Ilayti raised
the same pretensions as those which were re-
jected by France in 1816, they could be approved
of now only by superficial men who pronounce
ao opinion on what they do not understand,, or
by these' whom the spirit of party renders blind
to their own interests." The Elm* then
proceeds to quote the work of M. Dart!, a French
Jurisconsult, to show that France ought not,
whether with a view to general principles or to
lane own'advantage, to acknowledge the indepen-
deuce of St. Domingo, and that, besides) the pre-
sent system of government in Hayti is too onset.
tied to afford fair security for the fulfilment of
eny treaty. In conclusion the writer says, 441 f
these reflections are just, and we consider them
so, what Would the promise of 120,000 francs to
indemnify the old Colonial Proprietors have ac-
tually' turned nut ? A fruitless expectation; and
France would have renounced her right of sove-
reignty, and the proprletorti would have abandon-
ed their tights of 'propriety without any certain
equivalent;"' At the present moment this ques-
tion will not exclur much interest. Whatever may
be the rights of France, or the claims. of •the
Colonial Proprietors,in theory, they are worth
little enough in' practice. For. the Ifaytians
it
may be better.iit,,l4iiie 'respects that their' inde-
pendence should not be recognised. They have
still some apprehettitionn 'of a French invasion ;
and this foe.r many act as a salutary check upon a
'wank voltoseYet imperfeetestablishment as a re-
gular State' retitilres *at once restraint km( licen.
tioutotess, and stimulus to exertion.

(11IE TIM r 5.1
We have before observed, that the stale of our
settlements nn the vve4tern coast of Africa has be-
corne so critical that a question may very reason-
ably bi; entertained, wl),ether or not they are
worth preserving At the Price which such a poll.
cy must impose uPoil us, ftlid with the, uncertain
hope of accomplishing those benefits to the cause
of civilization, humanity, an 4 religion, ,or- to the
less generous one of our commercial., irulusi47)'