The Sun.
London, England, 1841-02-02 00:00:00

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LONDON:
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1841.

SETTLEMENT OF THE EASTERN
QUESTION.

L;

The Paris Morning and Evening Journals of
Sunday have been received. They bring the
long-P:xpected and highly important news of the
se.`alement of the Eastern Question. The an-
nouncement in the Moniteur is as follows :
" We have received this evening, by means of the Aus-
trian Embassy, intelligence of importance from the East.
" ' On the 12th of January one of the officers of the
Sultan left Constantinople for Alexandria, the bearer of a
Erman, by which his Highness officially accords to Mehe-
met Ali the hereditary possession of Egypt.
On the 14th of the same month Mehemet Ali re-
stored the Turkish fleet.' "
In the same official organ this intelligence is
noticed in the following terms :
" The simple mention of the dates is sufficient to
show that this act of the Pacha has been entirely
spoutaneous on his part, since he was then ignorant of the
definitive intentions of the Sultan with regard to him.
" On the other side, the despatch of the firman by the
Sultan preceding by two days the restoration of the fleet,
proves that at Constantinople they acted with sincerity
and good faith.
"It is the character of the two events we an-
nounce which gives them above all importance. We can
conclude from them, that all the difficulties which dis-
turb the peace of the East are definitively settled, and
as the peace of the whole of Europe was connected with
the solution of these difficulties, the news which has ar-
rived will be received everywhere with the greatest interest. "
The Messager publishes the same news, with
no other addition than that the name of the
SULTAN'S Envoy to the Pacha was Al —ASSLoum
BEY. So much for the account in the French
Journals.

Despatches from Sir ROBERT STOPFORD, dated
from Marmorice Bay, January 14, and received
yesterday by her MAJESTY'S Government, com-
municated this news to the British Cabinet. On
the 6th of January Commodore NAPIER left
Marmorice Bay for Alexandria, and was fol-
lowed on the Bth by Admiral WALKER. The
voyage occupied two days, and when Admiral
WALKER arrived at Alexandria on the 10th he
found that the Gallant Commodore had arranged
everything with the Paella, who was quite ready
to give up the Turkish fleet, and to recal IBRA-

HIM PACIIA'S army from Syria. He, moreover,
offered to send the Egyptian sailors to navigate
the fleet to Marmorice Bay—an offer which Ad-
miral WALKER gladly accepted. These conces-
sions obtained for him from the SULTAN the he-
reditary Pachalic of Egypt, which includes both
the civil and military administration of the affairs
of that COUlltry.
The Treaty of July—the cause of such heart-
burning and general alarm in France, and of such
peril to the repose of Europe—now happily ex-
pires, and with it disappears all excuse for the

After all the noise that was made about the in-
formality of Commodore NAPIER'S treaty for the
settlement of the Eastern question, we are gra-
tified to learn that the final arrangement was
effected chiefly through the personal influence of
the Gallant Commodore, who has thus esta-
blished fresh claims to the good wishes of his
countrymen, and the consideration of his Sove-
reign. We have not the slightest doubt that the
two days spent by NAPIER at Alexandria did
more towards reconciling the PACHA to the will
of the Four Powers and the SULTAN than would
have been effected by a five years' blockade of
the Egyptian coast. As there can be no doubt
that Commodore NAPIER proceeded to Alexan-
dria at the express wish of Admiral STOPFORD,
we gladly accord to the latter brave officer the
merit of generously endeavouring to re-
move any painful impression which his
repudiation of the former treaty might
have left on the mind of the Gallant Com-
modore. Presuming that everything was done
agreeably to the instructions of Admiral STOP-
FORD, there was equal generosity and delicacy in
allowing Commodore NAPIER a two days' start
of Admiral WALKER, who was proceeding in
the name of the SULTAN, to demand in form the
restoration of the fleet. To Commodore NAPIER
this second visit to the PACHA must have been
extremely gratifying. He came to offer, with
the exception of a mere formality, precisely the
same terms which the PACHA had before ac-
cepted from him. He came to prove the
amicable spirit by which he had been actuated
by preparing the PACHA beforehand for the arri-
val of the Turkish Admiral. How well this simple
generosity of feeling and of conduct becomes the
characters of brave men like NAPIER and STOP-
FORD!

In the House of Lords, last night, Lord ELLE.

BOROUGH presented a petition from the East
India and China Association for an alteration in
the laws which now regulate the trade of our In-
dian empire. The Noble Baron enforced the
prayer of the petition, and inquired what part of
the Report of the Committee of last Session the
Government meant to carry into effect.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE admitted the pro-
priety of doing full justice to the inhabitants of
our Indian empire. It was the intention of Go-
vernment, he said, to propose a measure to Par-
liament to equalize the East India and West
India rum. Other duties were so connected with
questions of revenue, that it was necessary to be
very cautious in proceeding to remove the re-
strictions on Indian trade. The petition was, of
course, laid on the table.

Lord BROUGHAM gave notice that he would
to-morrow move the second reading of the Copy-
hold Bill; and the Earl of RIPON gave notice
that on Monday he should call their Lordships,
attention to our relations with Persia.

The Earl of SHAFTESBURY brought up the Re-
port of the Committee appointed to search for
precedents in the case of the Earl of CARDIGAN,
which recommended that the trial should take
place on the 16th instant, at the bar of that
House—not in Westminster Hall ; that all the
Judges be ordered to attend; and that the LORD
CHANCELLOR do write to all the Peers to ac-
quaint them that their presence was required on
that day, except members of the Royal family,
who are to be informed of the trial, and may
attend or not as they please. These recom-
mendations were adopted and an address carried
to her MAJESTY to give orders to make the ne-
cessary preparations, and to appoint a High
Steward to preside at the trial. The Peers then
adjourned.

The Commons did not assemble in sufficient
number to form a House, and adjourned till this
day.

A short conversation which took place last
night in the House of Lords on Lord ELLEN.
BOROUGH presenting a petition from the East
India and China Association, indicates the dif-
ferent manner in which both Houses of Parlia-
ment treat questions, as they have or have not
a strong personal interest in them. In the
early part of last Session a petition was pre-
sented to the House of Commons by the Chair-
man of the East India Company for an inquiry
into the duties levied on the produce of our East
India possessions. It was represented that the
duties levied on East and West India produce
were unequal and unjust to the former, and a
Committee was moved for to inquire into the
subject. The opposing interest, that of the West
Indies, consisting only of a few persons, the bulk
of the Members being neutral, the motion was
assented to, and the Committee immediately
appointed. A similar Committee was also ap-
pointed by the House of Lords.
In due time these Committees made their re-
ports, including several suggestions for the equali-
zation of duties on the produce of the East and West
Indies, and for the improvement of the trade
with India. The drift of Lord ELLENBOROUGH'S
observations last night was to recommend the
Government to carry the suggestions of the
Committee into effect. But the Ministers have
already given notice of their intention to intro-
duce into the House of Commons a measure to
assimilate the duties on East India and West
India rum, in pursuance of the suggestions of ,
the Committee. This is a trifling measure; but
as far as it goes we approve of it. We make no
sort of objection to giving our East Indian fellow
subjects all they ask. We are, in fact, strenuous
advocates for abolishing all discriminating duties
whatever, considering that it is wholly beyond
the sphere of legislation tcrdirect or encourage
any particular species of industry ; but we wish
to impress on our readers that the Legislature
treats questions very differently, as they affect
or not its own Members,
In this case the motion recommended by a
few opulent East India merchants, and by the
reason of the thing, was scarcely made before it
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give them the effect of law. In the case of the
Corn-law, however, to repeal which many hun-
dred thousand inhabitants of this part of the
empire petitioned last Session, a Committee was
refused, all inquiry was refused, and the Peers
and the Commons, having a personal pecuniary
interest in maintaining the law, steadily resisted
even the smallest attempt to give effect to the
prayers of the people. Their humble supplica-
tions went for nothing; those who spoke for
their cause were derided and scarcely listened to ;
and both Houses passed away from the subject
with ill-concealed disgust that the supposed ad-
vantages of their Members should be assailed,
and with ill-concealed contempt for the pe-
titioning people. The few rich merchants
trading to India, not coming into collision
with the landlords, were immediately attended
to; the millions hungering for bread, the manu-

longer isolation of France from the councils of
Europe. We sincerely rejoice at this. The con-
tinuance of what France calls an armed peace,
we knew to be impossible, and it was not without
apprehensions of the worst that we witnessed the
military preparations carried on, not only in
France, but throughout the whole of Germany.
That the Treaty of July was a measure essential
to the conservation of the Ottoman empire is de-
nied by none but the few who regard Turkey as
a country doomed to destruction—that it was as
much the interest of France as it was of Eng-
land to sign, is now admitted by the ablest states-
men in that country—and that France would
have signed it, but for the duplicity of M.
TIIIERS, is a fact resting upon the authority of
the able statesman now at the head of Louts
PHILIPPE'S Government. But essential, and
necessary, and politic, as was the Treaty of July,
by not including in it the name of France it car-
ried in it the germs of a war which no humane
mind could regard without horror. For this rea-
son we rejoice it has expired without requiring
for its execution any other than verbal co-opera-
tion on the part of Russia.