The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-17 00:00:00

RECA PITU LATION,

Chuenpee and its dependencies, 82 ; howitzers, 2 ; Tycoek-
tow, 25; in the junks, 82 --Grand total, 191.
(Signed) J. KNOWLES, Capt., Royal Artillery.
Calliope, Jan. 23, 1841, Macao Roach.
Silt—The Calliope having been detached with the advanced
squadron, the accompanying copy of a letter from Capt. Her-
bert (lid not reach me until after my last despatch was closed.
I seize with infinite pleasure the first opportunity to lay it be-
fore their Lordships, audio assure them that the service therein
mentioned was admirably performed, and the ()Meer condneting
it worthy of their not ice.-1 have, &c.
(Signed) • J. .1. GORDON BREMER,
Commodore First Class, Commander-in-Chief.
To R. More O'Ferrall, Esq., &c.; Admiralty,

Her Majesty's ships Calliope, Chuenpee,
• China, Jan. 7," 1841. • •
SIR,—You witnessed the manner the ships you did Me the
honour to place under my orders, took up their position within
pistol-shot of the batteries of Chuenpee, the rapidity with
which the) were sileneed, and the union-jack hoisted in the
forts, and how nobly they were stormed on the land side by our
gallant troops (land forces and marines). _

This service 'performed, the war junks, agreeably to your
orders, were my next object • anu I directed the steamers, as-
sisted by the boats of the ships under my orders, to: their at-
tack ; but, from the shoalness of the water, the Nemesis and
boats could be only employed ; they were efficiently conducted,
and, from their fire, soon caused the crews of the junks
to desert them, succeeded in capturing ten out of thir-
teen. The Admiral's junk wss blown up by a rocket from
the Nemesis, thus crippling the naval armament of the Chinese
in this quarter.

This intrt of the force operating against the enemy was most
ably and efficiently conducted by Come anger Belcher, of the
Sulphur, showing to :every advantage the powerful force of
this description of war-steamer, combining, as she does, a
commanding armament with light draft of water. He speaks
in terms of high commendation of Lieutenant Kellett, of the
Starling, conoucting the Queen steamer, assisted by Mr.
Crouch, gunnery mate of the Wellesley, and has expressed his
high admiration of the most gallant manner in which the boats
of the Calliope and Larne passed on to a veryi mpressive at-
tack on the war-junks to the northward of the Ne.,.esis, which
he found, in coming up, in the possession of a seaman, each
as prize masters, reflecting peat credit on Lieutenant Wat-
son, of the Calliope, and Harrison, of the Larne, assisted
by five mates (Messrs. Daly, St. Leger, Rivers, and Eger-
ton, of the Calliope, and Mr. Rowland Edwards, of the
Larne).
From the vessels being captured in a narrow channel, and
close to the villages, the ebb tide running strung, with an im-
perfect knowledge of the channel, Commander Belcher con-
sidered it too great a risk to wait the uncertainty of getting the
junks out of the different positions in which they were taken,
and gave directions for their being destroyed.
To Commanders Blake and Warren, of the Larne and Hya-
cinth, my best thanks are due for their co-operation, as well as
all employed on this occasion.
1 have the hocour, &c..
(Signed) 'l'. FiE►;BERT, Captain.
To Commodore Sir J. J. Gordon, Bremer,
K. C. B. , Commander-in-Chief, &c.

• LORD CHAMBERLAIN'S OFFICE, Aram 19.
Notice is hereby given that her Majesty will hold a Draw-
ing-room at St. James's Palace, on Friday the 21st of 3lßy
ticxt, to celebrate her s;ajesty's-birth• day, and on Thursday
the 17th of June next, f ach day at two o'clock.
N.B. he Knights of the several Orders are to appear in
their. CoPars at her Majesty's Drw.ving-room, on Friday the
21st of May next, it being a Collar-day.

A DELICATE APPETITE.—The Lady Beatrix,
says the legend, was a great gourmette in her way.
She vas, as- people
thoeft2gq:
gridiron ;and
antldiemshSeehh'eaSd
atocobock,
;" fond of children.'' ,She_ liked them newly born, and
. .
dressed simply—on
;whose broiled babes were chef diceuvres of the then infant
art of cookery. But: new-born infants are, fortunately
not so plentiful as ne*-Jaid eggs ; and the lady of Tal-
mont's daily dinner acted as a strong " check on po-
pulation." Upon one occasion when there was not a
child to be had for love or money, it so happened that
the cook's wife became the mother of a fine boy. It only
wanted half an hour to dinner. His credit„ his place, nay,
perhaps, his character was at stake ! And the struggle in
his bosom, between the father and the cook, was tre-
mendous. Ile looked dangerously at the child, as eyeing
its limbs professionally, he stood feeling the edge of his
long knife with his thumb, and casting a side glance,
from time to time, at the gridiron. But at length Na-
ture triumphed over art, and the cook yielded to the fa.
then. hashing his white cap, rom his brow, he rushed
into the presence of his hungry mistress, and spoke to
her so eloquently of the impropriety of indulging, as
she did, in the pleasures of the table, that she not only,
with noble self-denial, renounced for the future the ,fa-
vourite luxury to which she was so partial, but deter-
mined to expiate her past dinners by walking barefoot on
thorns from Talmont to Fontenelle.—Trollope's Summer
in Western France.

ANTI-TORY MEETING IN DGBLIN.—The
friends of honest Government in DuMin are to assemble to-
morrow, at the Royal Exchange,
.to renew their deciaratiOn of
t.nalterable hostility to the Tory-Orange faction, and to ad-
dres the Queen, imploring her Majesty still to itreserve her
devoted Irish subjects trout the perils and the calamities of
Orange rule. Lord Charlemont takes his legitimate station as
Chairman of the Metropolitan Reformers at this trying mo-
ment. There is a current rumour that the Orangemen mean
to disturb the meeting. . Our friends, Nye are sure, will be 'pre-
pared for such a contingency.—Dublin Evening Post of
Friday.
A very Babel has been created in both Houses
of the Legislature by the word of fear pronounced by
Lord John Russell ; and if there be among, the Free
Trade agitators any men who know what they would be
at, and possess courage and energy to put it in act, they
may sav of our legislators as Cromwell said of the Scots
at Dunbar, " The Lord bath delivered them into my
hand."—Spectotor.

.0 RN LA WS, &c.

COPY OF A PETITION TO THE COMMONS FROM THE

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, MANCHESTER. FORWARDED
FOR PRESENTATION PER MR. LABOISCHERE, MAY 13.
1841.

That your petitioners have heard with great satisfae-
t:, o that the dangers which beset the commerce of this
~ntry on every side, have, at length, arrested the at-
tention of Government.

That in the opinion of your petitioners the measures
proposed by her Majesty's Ministers, so far as they have
been disclosed, tend in a wise direction.; and; although
not so -t,Xtensive as; your petitioners would desire, are
weil.devied )r improVing our external intercourse, re-
, keying, partially, the existing distress of. our industrious
people, and preserving internal tranquillity.. - - -
That after a long, careful, and anxious :examination
of the results and bearings of our present commercial
system upon the interests of the whole people of these
realms, your petitioners d 6 not hesitate respectfyiky to
de Aare their deliberate conviction to your „klenim,.
able House, , that . unless • a course of coannkToial
polies., more fair towards foreign nations, more just to-;
wards oar own people, and more consonant with the
benilicent designs of :Divine Providence than that which
now exists, be forthwith adopted, the most grave and ap-
palling eiils will inevitably ensue. At this moirientit
very large proportion of people engaged in the'rhantr
tincture of cotton are deprived of one-third of theiricus-
tomary employment.
Your petitioners therefore pray, that not only mv..thr
limited relief proposed by her 'Majesty's Government.be.
conceded; but that Parliament may at once pr6ceed te
revise the whole of our crude and injurious tariff of
Customs Duties, with a view to the abolition of all taA-
tion for any other than purposes of revenue, thereby
strengthening our amicable and commercial relations
with foreign nations, and imparting to our own people
that comfort, happiness, and well-being, which employ-
ment can alone secure.

The following petition was presented to the House of
Commons on Friday night :
"To the Honourable the Commons of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parlia-
ment assembled,
" The Petition of James Wilkinson, of Leadenhall-
street, in the city of London.
" Humbly showeth,
"That, in conjunction with others, your petitioner has
already prayed your Honourable House for a reduction
of the duties on sugar and coffee, so as to enable the
working people of this country to obtain a small portion
more than they 'do at present.
" That since your Honourable House has manifested a
disposition to take the Subject into consideration, the
enemies of the British working people' have become
alarmed, and, under the mask of philanthropy, are en-
4eavouring.to circumvent the goOd intentions of your
Honourable House, pretending to be shocked at the in-
troduction of sugar produced by slave labour.
" That your petitioner hates slavery of every descrip-
tion, both black and white, as much as he hates hypo-
crisy, cant, and humbug, and, therefore, hopes your Ho-
nourable House will not listen to the working people's
enemies, but proceed with the good work ; should,
howeVer, your Ifonoitrable House he of opinion that
sigac and coffee, produced by slave labour, ought not to
be admitted into this country, your petitioner thinks
all other articles, produced by the same means, including
gold,- silver, cotton, wool, dying-drugs, and tobacco,
ought to be refused admittance also ; and this the work-
ing-peoples' enemies cannot, by any twisting or shuffling,
successfully dispute.

" Your petitioner, therefore, prays that your Honour-
able House will cause such laws to be passed as will re-
duce the duties upon sugar and coffee to not exceeding
50 per cent. on the value of production from British pos-
sessions, and 75 per cent. from foreign parts ; no matter
by what kind of labour produced ; or that all articles
produced by slave labour be prohibited.
" And your petitioner will ever pray.
" May 7, 1841. , " JAMES WILKINSON."

ANTI-CORN-LAW DEMONSTRA-

TION AT SOUTHAMPTON.

A putlic meeting, convened by the Mayor, in coin-
Lance with a requisition signed by a large number of
. .

the most respectable inhabitants of the town, was held
at the Guildhall on Thursday. The hour appointed
(me o'clock ;hut befare that time the Hall was crowded

almost to suffocation by persons of ail classes, who ap-
peared to regard the proceedings with intense interest,
Ind who evinced, as a perusal of our Report will show,
a determined resolution to strain every nerve—to ex-
ert all their energies—to rid themselves of those laws
whose real object is to swell the possessions of a small
section of the community, by stinting a people's food,
and at the cost of a nation's prosperity. The meeting
was more outnerously attended, and its proceedings
were of more interest, than any which has been held
in Southampton for years.
The Mayor having taken the Chair,
T. L. HARMAN, Esq , moved the resolution that
the people left themselves aggrieved by the Corn laws.
Mr. J. R. KEELE.seconded the motion. He came
forward on this occasion because, as the father of a
large family, he had good reason to feel interest in the
discussion of this question. He had been a long time
making up his mind on this peat subject, and had read
a variety of opinions on both sides without b ing able
to come to a satisfactory conclusion until the list few
weeks, when, on reading the Report of the Committee
of the House of Commons on the Import Duties,
a light broke in upon his mind, and he felt satisfied that.

that the Corn-laws were the most crud, unjust, aod
unmerciful tax ever imposed on the people of this
country.—(Che,..rs.) He called on his fellow-owl:is.
men t. 3 assist. the Govarnment in removing this tax.
The tesolution was carried unanimously amidst, great
cheering.

Other resolutions to a sin ilar effect, and a petition,
were unanimously agreed to.

Thanks were vatcd to the Mayor by acclamation.
The compliment having been acknowledged, the
meeting broke up, after giving three hearty cheers for
cheap bread, and three groans for the Duke of
Buckingham.—Ha►upshire Independent.

CORN LAWS-LANDLORDS AND

TENANTS.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—Although the Ministerial project for amelio-
rating the wicked Corn-lawn is still in favour of the
landed interest, the measure will not be carried if the
people do not exert themsehes. The aristocracy ought
to be satisfied wall it, and make the most of their estates
by dismissing their a;cnts, stewards, commissioners,
&c., &e., and becoming more accessible to their tenants.
Their estates, especially in the North of England,
where the minerals are as valuable as the surface, are as
productive to the above named gentry as to their
oa tiers.

The best farms and mines are let to 'them and their
connexions on low terms, and the other tenants make
up for this species of fraud. Some landlords are ad -
vised not to grant leases, so that their tenantry may al-
ways be at the mercy of their agents, whilst others who
have agents, with lawyers in their families, grant. short
leases which are drawn up in such unintelligible lan-
guage and illegible writing as to be perfectly worthless
to the tenants if they should be such fools as to go to
law with their landlords. The aristocracy should take
their affairs into their own hands, and give their tenants
clear printed leases which may be understood, and
which would not cost one penny exclusive of the stamp.
Then they need Dot fear ally change in the Corn-laws,
particularly such a one as is proposed by the Queen's
Ministers. In fact, I believe, the cheapness of oats
will be a great benefit to the owners and occupiers of
pa-cure land, for the export of horses from this country,
wi.lb,a immense. Young stock cannot be reared on the
Continent, the winters being too cold for them to remain
out, and take just the quantity of exercise nature re-
quires, and toe summers too hot and dry. Young
horses should be out all the winter and have juicy grass
in the summer, advantages which they cannot enjoy on
the continent.

I am, Sir. your most obedient servant,
A MEMBER OF THE ANTI.CORN-LAW
Manchester, May 12, 1841. LEAGUE.

TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND.

Feilaw-Countrymen,—The subject of the Corn-laws
—a subject tar more important than any brought inr-
ward this Session—will te brought before Parliament
in the beginning of June. Let us hope that the spirit
of " party" will be laid aside, and that all parties will
enter the arena of Corn-law monopoly with the deter-
mination to give this important and great national
question that calm and just deliberation which it de-
serves, and which the happiness and prosperity of the
country demands. That there will be great opposition
shown to the repeal of those laws by some narrow-
minded men, there can be no doubt. It therefore be-
hoves you, my oppressed countrymen, to exert your-
selves, to send petitions to Parliament for the abolition
of those accursed laws—laws that disgrace our Statute.
book—laws that deny your children bread—laws that
are consigning thousands of your countrymen to
misery, starvation, and premature graves! It is a
law imposed expressly for the benefit of a few rich and
monopolizing landlords at the expense of the poor and
industrious classes—you have, therefore, to decide be-
tween justice and oppression ; and remember, " lie
who allows oppression shares the crime." It is for you
to say whether the monopolizing landlords shall any
longer impose a burden upon the poor and industrious
classes of England, mis-called free, while those and «11
laws that cramp the industry of the people are allowed
to exist. Arouse yourselves, then, my countrymen,
and show yourselves equal to your task ; throw off the
chains of Corn law monopoly, and prove yourselves
worthy the name of free men, for
A day—ail hour—of virtuous liberty,
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage
In conclusion, I call upon you to let Parliament feel
tl:e " pressure from without," that good may be done
within. Call forth that moral power which carried the
Reform Bill—array. yourselves on the side of the poor
—on the side of justice, humanity, and religion, and
your labours shall be crowned with a glorious victory—
the repeal of the tax upon the " staff of life."
I remain, &c., &c.,
DEMOCRAT.

City, May 6, 1841.

MAIL BETWEEN SOUTHAMPTONAND CHEL.
TEMIA:4I.—We understand that the Secretary to the
Post-office is instituting inquiries with a vim of esta-
blishing a new mail between this town and Cheltenham.
Southampton independent. . . .

CORN TRADE—UNITED STATES.
From statements contained in a late number of fiat
Cleveland Herald. it appears that the amount of wheat
which arrived at Clevehand, in 1840, by the canal and
by waggons, for export, and exclusive of home con-
sumption, was equal to 4,755.950 bushels. Several
ether places on the lake in Ohio sxported large quanti-
ties. At Huron, for instance, the amount was equiva-
lent to 472,878 bushels. The whole amount of Ohio
wheat exported last year, by way of Lake Erie, may
be estimated at from five and a half to six million bushels.
By the statement of the custom-house at Buffalo,
there were entered at Buffalo and Black Rock, wheat
and flour cquive.lent to 4,931,063 bushels of wheat.
There entered the Welland canal, wheat and flour equi-
valent ta 2.873,845 bushels of wheat. The harvest of
wheat last summer, in one county on Lake Michigan,
was diminished by blight, below what was expected, as
eatculnted by a Committee, 500,000 bu.bels.
By the tratemeot of the canal colketor at Buffalo,
689,635 labia. of flaw-, equivalent to 3,448,175 bushels
of wheat, at five bushels to the barrel, was cleared for
the East. Ot the quantity passing the Welland canal
there arrived at Oswego 707,157 bushels of wheat, and
8,465 bhls. of flour, and of this, 83,849 bushels of wheat
and 116,300 bbls. of flour (much of the wheat being
ground there) were shipped; East on the canal from
Oswego, and 35,579 bbls. ()flour to Canada.
Governor Seward, In his Message to the Legislature
in January last, stated that there was delivered in 1840
at the Eastern termination of the Erie canal, wheat
'and flour equivalent to 10,420,870 bushels of wheat.
Deduct shipments from BuffAa and Oswego, 4,691,402,
And there remains of said total, 4,729,463 bushels of
wheat, which must have been grown in New York.
The annual export of wheat and flour from the whole
United States to foreign countries, bas not on an averafe
equalled that of Cleveland the last year.
The quantity sent to Canada was equal to 2,309,443
bushels. About one-third of the Western wheat went
to twenty different points above Montreal ; and so com-
pletely did this quantity fill these ports, that the farm-
ers, waking up to the threatened destruction of their
interests, immediately petitioned the Home Govern-
ment to lay duties on the importation from the United
States, virtually shutting out the unwelcome flood. At
Kingston the accumulation had increased to a complete
glut, choking up the Sr. Lawrence, and occupying not
only all the facilities of transport on a line of navigation
traversed.for nearly two centuries, but had so taken up
all the means of storage, that large quantities for some
time lay out of doors.
.

The quantity sent to Canada, as above stated,
vas
The exports from Quebec and Montreal

2,309,441
1,688,195

• The deficiency is £621,248
Thus it would seem that Caiattia did nut raise her own
bread.

SUGAR DUTIES.
TO THE EDITOR OF TIIE SUN.
SIR-I rejoice at the measures taken by her Ma-
jesty's Ministers ; they are not only just, but demanded
by the greatest number. The monopolists will now
declare themselves the enemies of the people, and legis-
k e for themselves to plunder the people. I believe
the Whig Ministers will be stronger by a dissolution
tilan ever. I hope the Ministers will come to the
country with the cry of " Cheap bread and the
Queen," a cry which would be understood much better
than the old cry of " Church and King." Some of the
monopolists endeavour to make it appear that the (lir-
ferente in price to the people on sugar would be about
-id. per lb, instead of which it would be about 2d. per lb.
As regards slave sugar the public are deceit ed ; we
are the only country that use West India sugar.
is too dear for any country but this : and so it will be
if 12s. extra duty is charged on foreign growth. Tie
twenty millions is nothing compared with what are now
paid.

The people of England pay the West India planters
on 248,000 tons of sugar, at 28/. per ton—extra price fur
last year 1840, at least a sum of 7,944,0001, a round
sum for West India planters to roll about Cheltenham,
Bath, and the West. End, in idleness and luxury, at
the expense of the poor sugar consumers. By the change
in the West Indies the planters are great gainers ;
furry-five labourers at 4s. 6d. for four days, do the
work of -170 slaves. (See Mr. Gurney's West Indies.)
I hope it the monopolists are to govern this country,
that the people of England will set up an Anti-Sugar
Society, which will soon bring these gentlemen to their
senses. The fact is, that the parsons, landowners,
West India planters, all pull against the people, are
they are all enemies to the greatest number; but tile
time is last approaching when they will find the people
will not be imposed on. - I am, &c.
May 14. TOCKINGTON.
P.S. Can you inform rne how it is that the
very humane planters and anti•slave gentlemen,
kind tender-hearted creatures as they all tnust he,
should forget the free labourers in St. Domingo. Why
not reduce the duty on their sugar and coffer, and let
us have it. Perhaps you can also inform me the price
of labour in growing a cut. Vsugar ; it is Gs. we are
then giving 6s. fur nothing. Tom is no more reason
why we shotild ktep Wert India planters and land-
owners riding about in carriages, than we should keep
the workhouses supplied with wine for dinner, and
brandy for supper.

ABOLITION OF CAPITAL PU-
NISHMENTS.
(From the New York Journal qlConimerce.)
Mr. O'Sullivan, from the Select Committee to which
was referred so much of the Governor's Message as re-
lutes to the subject of capital punishment, and also pe-
titions from sundry citizens, praying tor the repeal of
all laws authorizing the infl ction of such punishment
in this State, has brought in a long report favourable to
the views of the pe!it:oners. It proposes as a substi-
tute, Imprisonment for life, in solitude and at labour,
and also to take away from the Governor the power to
grant a pardon for treason, murder, or arson in the first
(!eAree. After conviction for either of these crimes,
the Governor may, on the discovery of any new or ma-
terial evidence in favour of the accused, grant a new
trial. No law shall be passel in any of the said cases,
to pardon or mitigate the sentence of any prisoner con.
victed of the crimes just. mentioned, within twenty
years from the date of such conviction ; and then such
a law must have the concur►ence of two-thirds of all
the members of each branch of the Legislature. For
these purposes, a Bill and a concurrent resolution to
amend the Constitution are annexed to the report.
Among the reasons used in the report for the aboli-
tion of capital punishment, is the uncertainty of convic
lion. Every criminal lawyer in the State, of any ex-
tended practice, will regard this remark as a truism. It
is vain to talk of jurors' oaths—they will violate them,
by what their consciences regard as only pious perjuries,
under a thousand pleas of technical deficiencies or
perfections of evidence.

The axiom is familiur to all, that it is the ccrt.iit ty,
not the increased severity of the punishment, that deters
from crime.

It is no untried experiment that is here proposed,
says the report. Other communities, with far interior
general moral culture, have abolished the punishment
of death, atul with such success us amply to justify us
in the great reform. Throughout all the better age of
the Roman republic, for a period of about two centuries
and a ball, the infliction of the punishment of death
upon a Roman citizen for any cause whatever, was tx-
pressly forbidden by the famous Porcian law—a demo.
cratic law, passed in 454r1i year of Rome, by the tri-
bune Porcius Locca. •` In this period," writes Black-
stone, " the republic flourished. Under the Emperors,
severe punishments were revived, and then the empire

In ancient Egypt, under Sabaco,'for a period of fity
years, as Herudotus and Diodorus Sionlus inform u*-,
these penalties were changed with touch success into
stated kinds of labour, and Grotius recommends this
example to other nations.

The Empress Elizi.bcth, of Russia, on ascending the
throne, pledged herself never to 'abet the punishment
of death ; and throughout her reign of twenty years she
kept the noble pledge. Tile great Catharine adopted it.
with the exception of very rare offences against the State.
" lt," said she, " I can show that in the ordinary state of
society the death of a citizen is in:idler useful nor neces-
sary, I shall have pleaded the cause of humanity with suc-
cess." From that day to the present, there have been
but two ocea-ions on which the punishment of death
has been inflict-d in Russia. The Count de Segur, on
his return from his embassy at St. Petersburg!), decidred
that Russia, under the operation of this law, was one
of the countries in which the least number of murders
was committed ; and added that Catharine often said
to him, " We must punish crime without iniit,iting it ;
the punishment of death is rarely anything but a useless
barbarity." _ _

During the seven years of the Recordership of the
celebrated Sir James Mackintosh, at Bombay, in India,
the punishment of death was never once inflict in the
Court over which he presided. Of which, he says,
" Considering all the circumstances, it will appear that
the capital crimes committed during the last sevep
years, with no capital execution, have, in proportion to
the population, not been much more than a third of
those committed in the first seven years, notwithstand-
ing the infliction of death on forty-seven persons."
In Tuscany the most satisfactory experiment has
been made. The Grand Duke Leopold, in 1765, mho
fished the torture and the punishment of death. After
an experiment of twenty-one years, he issued a solemn
edict in which he declared that, instead of increas'ng,
smaller crimes had considerably diminished, and atro..
cious ones had become very rare. And he proceeds
to say," We have reolved to abolish,and by the present
law do abolish, for ever, the punishment of death." A
report to the French Chamber of Deputies in 183 U
states that " The mildacss of the penal le4islation it,
Tuscany bad so improved the character of tile penile
there, that there was a time when the prisons of thv
Grand Duchy were found entirely empty. Raoid
enough to prove sufficiently that the abolition of the
punishment of death is capable of producing the most
salutary effects."
This report will be found highly interesting by nll
who take an interest in the subjects It is also highly