The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-17 00:00:00

SUMMARY OF rims

AND
ilittitt tli is n.

" Who runs may read."

FOREIGN.
The text of a navigation treaty between Great Britain
and Sardinia, on a footing of the most perfect equality,
will be found in another part of The Sun. It is for a
period of ten years from the date of its ratification, which
was the 16th ult. The substance of it might be given
in a sentence. English ships in Sardinian ports, and
Sardinian vessels in British ports, are to be treated re-
ciprocally, as native vessels, in all that regards tonnage,
freight, pilotage, quarantine, lighthouses, and signals.
The Courrier Francais has the exceeding littleness to
indulge in a fit of vituperative spleen, because Count de
St. Aulaire had the good taste,; at the Lord Mayor's
dinner, to cpmpliment the company in the name of the
diplomatic sbdy, on the good understandinc, subsisting be-
tween England and France. "As to the French readers,"
says the Courrier Francais, "it is enough for them
to know that our Ambassador has used language and
uttered sentiments, in the name of the French nation,
which it cannot sanction. M. de Saint Aulaire offered

himself as a guarantee of the feelings of friendship and
fraternization which, he says, France still entertains for
England. It is quite evident that M. de Saint Aulaire
arrives from Viemna, and has passed hastily through
Paris. The slightest inquiry into the state of pablic
opinion in France would have proved to him that the
feelings of the French nation are not such as he has re-
presented them to be." Since the Courrier Francais be-
_

came the oracle of M. Thiers, we doubt its representation
of the state of public opinion in France ; and, notwith-
standing its article, which we now notice with contempt,
we give the French nation full credit for the kindly feeling
towards us expressed by his Excellency the French Am-
bassador.

The Journal des Debats condemns the treatment of
the political prisoners at Toulouse, and trusts the re-
port of the indignity of the iron collar is unfounded.
We stated some days ago that. France was indignant
at the abolition of the Fueros; because that measure

would injure her contraband trade 'with the Basques.
The Constitutionnel of_ Friday last -denied this and ac-
cused us of ignorance. Hear now what the Sentindle. des
Pyrenees of the 11th says, quoted in the Constitutionnel
of Saturday:—" The people of Bayonne are busy, night
and day, packing up goods to send thetn;.to Spain, be-
fore the tariff made by Espartero's Government comes
into effect." What answer will our Paris Contemporary
make to this plain announcement? We happen to know
quite as much about the Basque fueros as the wise men
of Paris.

From Madrid the news is of the 7th inst. The Juntas
of Valencia, Alicante, and Barcelona had dissolved, in
obedience to the commands of the Government. The
Junta of Barcelona had declared itself willing to dis-
solve the instant the citadel was dismantled. As
General Van Helen threatened the town with a large
force, it was feared that a conflict was inevitable.
PUBLIC OPXNION.

The recent appointment of Mr. Warren to the vacant
Queen's Sergeantship, which has created such a stir
among the Dublin lawyers, forms the subject of a lead-
ing article in the Advertiser, which observes :—" Some
of our Contemporaries have been discussing with con-
siderable animation the conduct of the Government in

appointing a Mr. Warren, instead of a Mr. West, to a
vacant Irish Sergeantship. When there is an oyster to
be disposed of and a lawyer in the way, we all know
what will become of the fish, whatever may be done
with the shells ; but when there are two Learned Gen-
tlemen with their eyes intent upon the same morsel--
" whpn Greek meets Greek "—there is sure to be a
struggle of no ordinary kind, and the big wig who gets
the oyster is likely to have the shells pitched after him
by the adherents of his unsuccessful competitor. It ap-
pears that Mr. West has been a most active partisan of
the Tories, putting down his money like a man for elec-
tioneering purposes, and persevering, obstinately, like
some other animal, in throwing every possible difficulty
in the way of the Liberals."--We are heartily glad that
Mr. West has been unsuccessful, for be is well known
as a determined partisan of the Tories ; and the very
circumstance of the Government supporting the claims
of such a man, shows that it is by no means so liberal
in its policy as it
.professed, and still professes to be.
Mr. 'Warren, the successful aspirant, may not be all that
could be desired, but he is at any rate a sounder lawyer
than Mr. West, and is not, so far as we have heard, so
determined a Tory partisan:
In an article on the subject of capital punishments,
suggested by the execution of Blakesley yesterday for
murder, the Times makes the following remarks:—" In
France the crime of murder is much more frequent, and
much more frequently aggravated by horrible circum-
stances of supererogatory depravity than in England.
The law, therefore, of France sacrifices the lives of inno-
cent, loyal, and useful citizens to its tenderness for theise.
who make war upon the huinan race. Nor does the evil
stop here; for the public mind is demoralized by the
false principle-thus admitted into the national legisla-
tion; it is taught by the very authority which should
have inculcated the opposite feeling, to soften down and
palliate its natural abhorrence of murder. The refined
or the daring murderer becomes to 'some an object of
compassion; to others of interest; and to too many of
admiration. With the depraved'in the upper classes he
is the unhappy victim of passion or adverse fate, with
the sterner spirits of the lOwer, a bold adventurer, a
hero, or even a demigod.":—lt is a curious and instruc-
tive illustration.
,of the fact—in France at least—cant,
sheer'maudlin cant., has had a great deal to do with the
opposition to capital 'punishments, that Robespierre
started on his public career with a sentimental essay,
and a still more sentimental speech against them ; and
that the Girondists were equally averse to their inflic-
tion, notwithstanding that these tender-hearted legis-
lators had no scrtTles in causing the death of hundreds
by their famous rise on the 10th of August, and in
winking at the September massacres, when upwards of
six thousand people were deliberately slaughtered in
three days.
The following statistics respecting our commercial in-
tercourse with Germany are from the Post:—" We find
from the statistical tables compiled by Mr. Porter, and
laid by the Board of Trade before Parliament, that the
export of British and Irish produce and manufactures to
Germany increased between the years 1827 and 1839
and, with the exception of •some accidental and tempo-
rary fluctuations, increased gradually—until, from
4,654,618/. of real or declared value, their amount in the
former year, they had risen to 5,215,1551. in the latter,
an increase of more than twelve per cent. We find,
also, from the same official publication, that the ton-
nage of British vessels that paid Sound duties, a
fair criterion, we suppose, of our commercial in-
tercourse with that part of Germany in which
the law of the League is likely to be as strictly enforced
as in any other, increased between the years 1832 and
1839 from 592,133 to 840,971 tons ; and that the ton-
nage of 1839, the last year included in the table, was
considerably greater than that of any one of the inter-
vening years. We find, also, that the proportion which
British vessels bore to the aggregate vessels of all na-
tions increased within the same period. Considering the
total tonnage of vessels of all nations entering the Sound
as an integer, the proportion of British ti,nnage in 1822
was ,324, and in 1839 ,342 ; the latter proportion being
greater than that of any intervening year with the ex-
ception of 1833 and 1838, in the former of which it was
,351, and in the latter ,348. These official statements are
not evidences of ruin to our manufacturers, or even of
decay."
Speaking of the distress that at present so generally
exists in Paisley, the Chronicle remarks:—" The distress
is, we understand, confined to the hand-loom weavers.
The scale, according to which work is paid, has long
been much higher in Paisley than in other towns, and
many of the masters have long been in the habit of
sending work to towns at a distance to obtain the benefit
of the lower scale. But the masters were unable to per-
suade the operatives to reduce the scale, and a number of
them have submitted longer to pay wages which they could
not afford than in prudence they ought to have clone.
One fact is mentioned as a proof of the injury done
to a town by endeavours to holster up wages—namely,
that the scale of wages oc hand-loom weavers in Perth
has been raised 20 per cent. since the distress which has
overtaken Paisley. It is clear from this that-there is no
want of work in Perth, for, if there were:lt rise of 20 per
cent. would be impossible. How happens it, then, that
in one town the hand-loom weavers should be without
employment, and in another the hand-loom weavers
should have so much employment as to be able to raise
their wages ? It can only, be-liecause in Paisley the
operatives persisted in Maintaining a scale equally ruinous
to their masters and to themselves."
The Liverpool Chronicle. observes :—" There has
been a great fraud in Exchequer bills—and why? The
cause, the Tory journals assure us,, was that hateful sys-
tem of ECONOMY which has, of late years, been acted
upon by the Government. There has been a great fire
in the Tower. What was in fault? Economy again,
we are informed on the same unquestionable authority.
All this is, doubtless, put forward as a feeler to the coun-
try. But it will not do. The people aro too wise to be-
lieve that frauds and fires can only be prevented or ex-
tinguished by profligate extravagance. How the fingers
of these Tories are itching to be at their old tricks once
more I"