The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-17 00:00:00

\1,4 beening

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1848.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL last night made his promised
statement with respect to the West India colonies.
The Noble Lord is resolved that the principle of free
trade, in what has been happily termed the corn of
" the tropics," shall not be abandoned—that the people
of this country shall not be permanently taxed on
an article essential to the comforts of all classes, for
the benefit, we should rather say for the fancied
benefit, of a privileged few. It is, therefore, by no
means surprising that loud complaints were heard
from the Protectionist benches, and that although
the debate on the proposed resolutions was not in-
tended to take place until Monday, the advocates for
menopolf could not restrain their indignation even for
that brief period.
The West India interest was unfortunately not the
only one which has recently suffered under the
extraordinary pressure of the times; few indeed have
escaped severe losses, and the planters could scarcely
hope for an exemption from the general distress
"Extreme cases," it is said, " make bad precedents'
Permanent legislation could not properly be framed
on the state of affairs existing at that particular
period, when every description of produce was so
greatly depreciated, and when the trials by which
the community at large was afflicted were increased
by the results of the vicious legislation that had
formerly prevailed. The only statesmanlike
course
then is to be guided by the existing legislation,
to examine what just grounds of coal-
plaint can be preferred against any portion
of the present system, and, if practicable, to
remedy them, without injury to the great body of I

the people, and without departing from the great
principles which have at length been recognised and
adopted both in and out of Parliament.

The propriety and policy of the great measures of
1834 and 1846 were fully and successfully vindicated
by the Premier. The first, removed the stain of
slavery from the British dominions, and declared that
from thenceforth no human being should be deprived
of his liberty, or kept in bondage by his fellow man,
so far as England was enabled to prevent it. To
obtain this magnificent result without injustice to
any, the enormous sum of 20,000,0001. sterling was
freely bestowed by the English Parliament, with
the consent and approbation of the English people,
and 800,000 persons were restored to freedom and
placed in a position in which they might by their
own independent exertions maintain themselves in
comfort and prosperity. Many restrictions were,
however, placed upon the obtaining of free labour,
lest by any possibility the abominable traffic might
be carried on under false pretences, and the planters
were, perhaps, unnecessarily exposed to certain
disadvantages which prevented them from enter-
ing into an equal contest with colonies in
which slavery was still tolerated, and from enabling
free labour to compete successfully with slave
labour. In that respect, therefore, without
at all retracing our footsteps, or permitting
slavery in any manner, or under any form, to exist
under the British flag, we are bound to grantb obtain
nverayn
facility to the planters to enable them totir
shores.
o taintadequate supply of free labour, and too
assisttheir
pro-
moting an extensive immigration
Many of the impediments have already been removed
by the wise and sagacious regulations introduced by
the Noble Secretary for the Colones ; but some still i
remain which it is desirable to abolish with all conve-
nient speed. Some assistance, too, may reasonably
be granted to enable the parties to reap the full ad-
vantage of the benefits placed within their reach.
For this purpose, the credit of the parent state is to
be placed at their disposal to the extent of 500,000/.,
in addition to 160,000/. already guaranteed by Par-
liament during the present session. These sums are
either to be advanced on the security of the colonial
revenues, or loans to be raised by the colonies, for
the purpose of a bounty on the importation of immi-
grants, are to be guaranteed by this country. Other
points are under consideration which will also mate-
rially conduce to the same end. The Africans who
are liberated from slavery may, under certain restric-
tions and conditions, be sent to the West Indies to
earn their own livelihood, in place of being supported
in idleness at Sierra Leone. Why, however, should not
those who have been rescued after having under-
, gone all the horrors of the middle passage, be at
once carried, where their services may be made
available. Very considerable expenditure, and much
suffering occasioned by unnecessary journeys would
thus be spared.
On the second point the consumers have also been
enabled to procure this necessary article at a much
cheaper rate, while the national revenue has also
been materially benefited, in consequence of the Act
of 1846. The almost invariable result of a dimi-
nution of price being attended with a vast
increase of consumption has been peculiarly
remarkable in sugar. The tables last night
brought for ward by the Noble Premier in-
contestably proved the truth of this assertion. We
find that their increase within the last three years
amounts to no less than 85,000 tons per annum. En-
couraged by this fact, the Government have determined
to make a further reduction of duty, and accordingly
the duty on colonial sugar is to be reduced after
the sth of July next to 135., and afterwards to be
further reduced a shilling each year until the
duty reaches 10s., at which sum it is to
be maintained. The duty on ordinary foreign
Muscovado sugar is to remain according to the
Act of 1846, but there is to be a new distinctive
duty on brown clayed sugar, or of a quality equal
thereto, which, for the year ending sth July, 1849,
is to remain at the present duty of 205., and then to
be reduced ls. 6d. a year until it reaches 10s. on the
sth of July, 1854. There will be corresponding
' changes in refined and double refined sugars, and in
white clayed sugar and molasses. The differential
duty on rum is to be reduced to 4d., in accordance
with the opinion of Mr. JOHN Wool), the Chairman
of Excise. The permission to use sugar in breweries,
will, however, probably be withdrawn. Such is an
. outline of the Ministerial project, which, although it
; may not suit the views of the extreme men
of any party, will be viewed with approbation
by the moderate portion of the community.

After the rejection of its decree against the ac-
knowledgment of Prince LOUIS NAPOLEAN as a
popular representative—after the formal and deli-
berate rejection of that decree by the National As-
sembly—the Executive Commission of the French
Republic cannot, with any consistency, or with any
dignity, continue to hold much longer the reins of
Government. It must yield that perilous sceptre
which it has only been induced to grasp through a
spirit of self-sacrificing patriotism. It must prove
the accuracy of the assertion of LAaLARTINE, that
one of the most conspicuous characteristics of the
Commission was its peculiarly evanescent and ab-
sorbable nature. Justice, decency, honour, civism
—all demand this unless (and there is this exception),
unless the Assembly revokes its decision as to
the Prince LOUIS NAPOLEON, and thereby affords
the Executive Power more than one of the ordinary
triumphs of an Administration. From the latest
dispatches which have been received by ourselves
from Paris it will be observed that there is every
human likelihood of such a revocation ; and that it
is probable the young Chieftain of the Bonapartists
will be finally expatriated if he be not actually con-
demned as a traitor, and declared hors de la loi by
that very Senate which had first of all banished him
by acclamation only to recal their decision the very
day afterwards, and to pronounce the validity of his
election by the men of Paris, of Yonne, and of
Charente-Inferieure. The letter addressed by the
Imperial adventurer to the President of the National
A ssembly is one of the most precipitate manifestoes
any Pretender could by possibility have pronounced.
It is absolutely, as though the representative of
the Napoleonian dynasty had thrown the gauntlet of
defiance upon the floor of the Republican Parliament
before he had armed himself personally, much less
before he had martialled his supporters. Prince
.Louis NAPOLEON should have remembered that such
insane tactics were altogether opposed to those of the
lirectorGrye
111PElsoa ; he should have borne in mind that sup-
posinghnei
his
General
proposedß 0 NAr
cAoRuT Ed hadetat
haenfenroeuncicueidttituog the
e
shores of Aboukir, the 9thdpßrum.aire would, as far as
the judgment of csahnealeatermine, have. been .
effec-
tually prevented ; he have considered again
whether the Emperor NapoLe
in such uninterrupted triumpho from Cannes to the
h d ss could have marched
Tuileries, supposing he had pub
of his journey before the commencement
a programmedition. But such reflections—
l.
they must
obvious
st
as of
thehis expe-
be to everybody else—could not present
selves to such an imagination as that of Princeein
LOUIS NAPOLEON. The career which had been
illustrated by the schoolboy exploit of Stras-
burgh, and afterwards by the pistol-shots at
Boulogne—had to be worthily consummated, it
had to be consummated with consistency, With
such a consistency at least as might become the
prisoner (not of If, but) of Ham. Such a necessity,
if it really existed, has been fulfilled by the Prince
LOUIS NAPOLEON. His letter to the President is
the seal of his destiny. He there, under all the sem-
blance of allegiance to the existing state of things in
France, reveals his real after-thought by never once
mentioning the word Republic. Beyond this, he
whispers a significant hint into the ears of the French
multitude—a hint pregnant with his intentions
—" If duties are imposed upon me by the
people, I shall know how to fulfil them.—
Site peuple, 7'n: impose des devoirs, je saurai lee rem-
plir,"—a sentence that is equivalent to a declaration
of his readiness to receive the imperial diadem upon
his forehead, and to allow his hands, and his brow,
and his bosom to be annointed with the chrism of
consecration. So flagrant was the announcement of
his intentions, that the whole Assembly was tran-
sported beyond itself with indignation—so flagrant
was it that the hall shook with cries of "A bas les
Pretendans !" cries which were nevertheless drowned
in one vast and simultaneous shout of " Vice la
Republique !" So flagrant was this letter of
the 14th of June, 1848, that it was ex-

piated by a spontaneous apology, dated the
very day afterwards by Prince LOUIS NAPOLEON
himself. In the communication written from Lon-
don, on Wednesday, the Prince virtually declares
war against the enemies of his cause, and rings the
tocsin of a new revolution. In the communication of
Thursday he strives, by every means in his power,
to obliterate the recollection of his momentary fool-
hardiness, and for the purpose of doing this in the
most signal manner, he gives to the National Assem •
bly, as a guarantee of his patriotism and his sincerity,
a voluntary resignation of the votes awarded to him
by three separate and important constituencies. In
acting thus, Prince Louis NAPOLEON has almost
redeemed the folly of a moment ; and his
repentance is gracefully conveyed to the Republican
Legislature. For inasmuch, therefore, as he has
penned a document which will prevent a prolonga-
tion of anarchy, and possibly a great effusion of blood,
the son of the ex-King of HOLLAND has nearly ren-
dered himself worthy of the gratitude of his fellow-
countrymen. Whatever may have been his errors
heretofore, this resignation at least is no blunder. If
a selfish ambition was revealed at Strasburgh, at Bou-
logne,pt and
haetpatience
ce
castle
w in
so
ft
eh
veii
at,e r
during o f the
e patriotismtlh4e t h
in o f June,
confinement
he
lett le r 8 4ioBn;
Thursday, and courage worthy of his great name
always. Prince Louis NAPOLEON may rest satisfied
that he will occupy a much higher place in the esti-
mation of French citizens, in the obscurity of his
self-exile in the British capital, than if he were lead-
, ing a legion of veterans in the Champ de Mars.
Another circumstance, arising out of this apolo-
getic epistle from London—a circumstance beyond
the mere fact of the letter in question forming a new
corroboration of the old adage, " second thoughts are
best"—is the sudden change which the document
gives to the position of the Executive Commission.
The letter is a triumph for LAMARTINE. It is literally
an acknowledgment from the Organ of the Bona-
partists that there was wisdom in the original propo-
sition of the poet-statesman. Although little less
than the result of an accident, the second communi-
cation of Prince Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE will
tend to consolidate the Republican Government.