The Sun.
London, England, 1846-06-23 00:00:00

)11, int
•

LONDON, TUESDAY, JUNE 23, 1846.

The last of the attacks on the Corn Importation
Bill has been made. 't,,.last faint assault has taken
place. Lord ASHBURTON yesterday evening brought
forward the resolution of which he had given notice,
but not as an amendment to the Bill, or in a shape by
which its progress would be impeded or delayed,
oven if the resolution should be carried. His
Lordship denied that it was intended as a round-
ibout and indirect way of defeating the Bill-, and
stated that he had no wish to throw out the Bill, and
should indeed hesitate to take any steps for that pur-
vse, seeing the state of their Lordships' minds on the
matter. The discussion on the second reading, and
she decisive majority by which that second reading
vas triumphantly carried, and the principle
of the measure affirmed by their Lordships,
and also the clear majorities on the two
Nmnendasents on which divisions were Warded—

the one for the perpetuation of the three
years' shadow of protection, and the other for a ss.
fixed duty, for the purpose of revenue—bore ample
testimony to a man so shrewd and intelligent as
Lord ASHBURTON of the utter inutility and folly of
making any further effort for the rejection or muti-
lation of the great measure. His Lordship is
too good a tactician to prolong a useless defence ;
he, therefore, sought an opinion from the House, a
declaration of the danger which might result from
the sudden admission of the large quantity of wheat
now in bond, with a view, probably, of founding
some restrictive measure thereon. His proposed re-

solution was—
" That whatever may be the alterations which it !nay be
expedient permanently to make in the laws regulating the
introduction of foreign corn, it is the opinion of this House that
the sudden importation of the large quantity of wheat now in
bond at a very low rate of duty, while the pnces are moderate
and the prospect of the approaching harvest is promising,
may be productive of great injuryand injustice to the culti-
vators• of the soil of the United Kingdom, and that some
better provision against such a calamity should be provided
than is contained in the Bill now before the House."
His Lordship argued that at present there was a large
quantity of foreign corn in bond, and that when the
Bill passed the House, and received the royal assent,
the whole of this vast quantity would at once come
into market, to the total paralysation of that market,
and to the complete stoppage of the whole operation
of sales ; that the whole quantity in bond could not
be less than 2,500,000 quarters, and that there was
little chance that this immense supply would be at all
wanted, and that the average importation for the last
three years was but 550,000 quarters. Is Lord
ASHBURTON so ignorant of the characters of the
holders of the stock now in bond as to suppose that
they would be guilty of such unmitigated folly, of
such suicidal policy, as to ruin themselves for the pur-
pose of inflicting an injury on the farmer ? Does he
suppose that at the very moment of success they
would fling from themselves the fruits of that success
—the profits for which they had speculated—and
take in place thereof a considerable loss ? Even sup-
posing for a moment that his Lordship was
correct in all his data, and that the facts were really
as he supposed them to be, could they by a possibility
warrant such a conclusion as that his Lordship deduced
therefrom? What would be the benefit of his resolution
to the country, if carried ? The price of corn was
stated by Lord KINNaIRD to have increased in
price no less than 4s. a quarter, and the quotation
in Mark-lane yesterday affords an answer to the ques
tion. It is—" Wheat has gone fully ls. higher, and'
steady demand. Oats 1 s., and Peas and Beans 2s.
higher ; supplies short. Barley very scarce. No
panic, and no fear." This affords the strongest and
most conclusive prOof of how little the dealers in
grain are influenced by the fears that disturb his
Lordship. But, supposing the resolution carried,
and that (as stated by his Lordship) the Bill
should still pass as originally intended, what would
be its effect ? what its utility ? Would it not, as
stated by Lord GREY, be a notice to the importers
that it was intended to bring in a Bill to amend the
present one—that now before the House ? And
would not the consequence be that not an hour would
be lost in entering the whole quantity for consumption ?
and thus, instead of getting it gradually introduced, it
would be thrown on the market at once, and thus
would arise the very evil it was intended to avoid.
Would it not be like in some degree to the old tale
of an astrologer foretelling certain dangers to a new-
born infant at a particular period of his existence,
and the very steps taken by its short-sighted parent
to avoid the prediction being the cause of its fulfil-
ment ? Lord DALHOUSIE, however, in a most clear
and convincing speech fully disproved his
Lordship's facts ; he showed that at present
,he corn in bond did not reach 1,900,000 quarters ;

that from every side accounts of a short coming har-
vest reached us ; that nature seemed to be setting the
elements against us in that respect. It was true that
very little corn was imported in 1844 or 1845, but
that in 1842, 2,183,000 quarters had been admitted
under the present law in four weeks. He showed
that if there was mischief, it was owing
to the course adopted by the protectionists
themselves, who had intimated a strong objection to
the proposition for admitting the corn for consump-
tion, on the importers giving a bond to pay the
difference of duty payable at the time of sale and at
the time of passing of the Bill ; and he ably proved
that the resolution would be an er post facto law of
the most unjust kind. The effect of his Lordship's
~peech was so great, as to induce one of the most
zealous protectionists (Lord WicKLow) to vote
against the resolution. In the evening a cheering
.tatement was made, that the agriculturists would
not divide on the third reading, but content them-
selves with a protest against the measure, which was,
on that understanding, postponed until Thursday
evening, on which night it will receive the final
sanction of their Lordships.

Another of those cantankerous exhibitions of hos-
tility towards the Ministry, which have imparted to
this session such a squabbling character, was intro-
duced yesterday evening by—of course—Lord
GEORGE BENTINCK. Blind to the failure of his pre-
vious splenetic attacks, and unconscious, so it would
seem, of the unenviable notoriety which he has
already acquired for himself through those
vituperative ebullitions, his Lordship endeavours,
by some additional interference with public business,
to place the present Cabinet in an invidious light.
Little supposing that the sheen of invithousness was
concentrating itself upon the noble representative for
Lynn.

" 0, wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as ithers see us!"
Aware that the CANNING retrospect had proved
altogether abortive in rendering the Premier,
and, by inference, his Administration unpopular,
and aware, likewise, that the consequences
of a similar nature which were expected to
be derived from the division upon the Coercion Bill
were essentially very dubious, if not entirely inac-
cessible, Lord GEORGE seized upon the much-
talked •of Sugar Duties as the readiest in-
strument for the execution of his most che-
rished project. Nothing could be more suitable
for his purpose, he imagined, than the Ministerial
proposition for the extension of those duties for
another month ; it afforded him the opportunity of
inveighing against the unseemly dilatoriness of
Government in " allowing 3,500,0001. of revenue to
run within fourteen days of expiring before
a Bill was introduced for its renewal,"—
the annual expiration of the duties dating
itself on the sth July, and their renewal
for merely another month (viz., to the sth August),
being brought forward for the first time yesterday
evening by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Here,
indeed, to the sanguine imagination of the protec-
tionist leader, appeared to be a delicious medium of
invective. What legislative incompetency did not
these circumstances display—circumstances by which
upwards of three millions of revenue might be placed in
jeopardy 1 What a calamitous want of forethought
86ratIn*
Did
$ aid it not imply in the Ministers; what an egregious
ce of anything systematic or prudential in their
unto
the whole not the very procrastination of
*Thar, did not this feature of the circum-
gnlatea?
stance alone
e Such
of that
the present Anaimwmt. thet total incapacity of
merci:ll profligacy byvvh;cb and the corn-
Administration were re
h were the
inferences d
of
in-
sinuations levelled at, and the
the behaviour Government in reference to the
sugar GEORGE BENTINCIE either e
sugar duties. could
not,r of the Exchequer • or would not, see that, however much the
pro-
position of the Chancello naght
ordinary character of the
originated in the extra
bear the appearance of tardiness, that that tardiness
ile reform which
se3sion, that it was rendered almost necessary by the
mercantile
thousand considerations of
ed
had occupied the unceasing attention of the legi
renewal
slators,
and that the procrastination of the propos
was extended in a threefold degree by the perti-
'nacious manner in which the Parliamentary
discussions had been prolonged by the non-abolition
agriculturists, and especially by no less a personage
than Lord GEORGE BENTINCK himself! Notwith-
standing the undeniable nature of these facts, the
Noble Member for Lynn finds it impossible to afford
silence upon a matter so delightfully apropos, since it
not merely enables him to stigmatise in a covert
way the integrity and capacity of Sir ROBERT'S Ad-
ministration, but to assert his (Lord G. BENTINCK'S)
undiminished love for protection by demanding a re-
newal of taxation upon sugar, not for a paltry month,
• . but for the customary period-..namely, for one satire

year. Now, first, as to the incapacity of the Ministry.
Surely it is rather an anomalous coincidence to
find a charge of this nature cast upon a Ministry
under whose auspices the revenue has flourished
almost beyond all precedent, certainly beyond all
anticipation ! And it is an anomaly—a most
wonderful anciumly.....to discover in the utterer of
this accusation a legislator but barely fledged into
' statesmanship, though undoubtedly one of a most
" speculative mind! It is impossible, moreover, not
to obierve that thd accuser rests this charge of in-
capacity upon nothing but conjectures, that the
malign consequences which he anticipates are alto-
gether supposititious. The delay might prove pre-
judicial—the present Government might be ousted
and another might be unformed when the
sth of August transpired; and by this possible occur-
rence three million five hundred thousand pounds of
revenue money might actually be petalled ! These ideal-
isms of futuy,e events may be ingenious enough, but
the mere ingenuity of idealisms are insufficient to shake
the public confidence in a Cabinet which has achieved
—not merely idealised, but literally achieved so
much in aid of the national prosperity. Secondly,
as to the removal of the sugar duties for another
year, from the approaching sth of August. Such a
proposition is worthy of the intellect of Lord GEORGE
BENTINCK. It is a proposition so utterly incom-
patible with this anti-taxation age. Besides
is it reasonable to suppose that a Parliament
which has so sweepingly annulled all imports
upon foreign grain would allow themselves
to be cajoled into a whole year of antiquated
imposts of foreign sugar? The mere conjecture is
preposterous. And even if the colleagues of Lord
GEORGE co-operated with him in demanding the
usual annual renewal, and persisted in the de-
mand, the discussion would, as the Chancellor
of the Exchequer asserts, extend beyond the
sth day of July, leaving the revenue without
any sugar duties whatever. With the renewal for a
single month, we can reconcile all the involved cir-
cumstances of this particular species of protection.
That additional month will enable the Ministry and the
Parliament to consider the question of its continuance
without precipitation: it will afford the Government
an opportunity for propounding some permanent
scheme for the importation of foreign and colonial
sugar—a scheme more accordant with their present
commercial policy, and snore acceptable to a nation
which has obtained free trade. Besides which, the
interval will give time to Lord J. RUSSELL to bring
forward his project upon this phase of our commerce.
For these reasons, therefore, we conceive that Lord
GEORGE BENTIIICK would have displayed more wis-
dom in conceding to the motion of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, and more courtesy in candidly
avouching his antipathy to the Government, and in
boldly moving an address of " want of confidence."

Intelligence from Constantinople to the 7th, and
from Smyrna to the sth, has been received. Owing
to the intervention of the English and Russian Am-
bassadors, it is supposed that the difficulties which
stood in the way of the immediate conclusion of the
treaty between Persia and the Porte had been got
over. In Smyrna several bankruptcies had taken place.
Exchange on London at Constantinople, 110; at
Smyrna, 111.

Athens papers of the 10th June have been received.
They contain no news of importance. The Ist June
was the anniversary of the accession of King OTHO.
His Ministers proposed to make various promotions in
honour of the occasion, to all of which he refused his
sanction, as he was anxious not to entail additional bur-
dens on the treasury.

Madrid papers of the 16th have arrived. The
Alcaldes of the Province of Badajoz had received a
notice from the Political Chief to the effect that it was
her MAJESTY'S desire that every attention should be
paid and every assistance rendered to COSTA. CABRAL
and his brother Suva, the ex-Ministers of Portugal.

The Three per Cents. were done at 333' fur cash, and
33% for paper the Five per Cents. at 2036 for cash ; the
Debt without Interest, 6% for cash ; and the Shares of the
Bank of San Fernando at 285 ; and those of Isabel at 96.

We have received the Paris papers of Sunday. They
all refer to the unexpectedly sudden election of the new
POPE, who has assumed the name of Pius IX. The
new Pontiff is Cardinal JOUN 1 BIA Ditss.rxi FEI
RETTI, of the family of the Counts of that
name. lie was born at Sinigaglia, in the Roman
Stut, s, on the 13th of May, 1792. Ile was Archbishop
of Imola, had been reserve.! Cardinal in pelto on the 23d
December, 1839, and proclaimed on the 14th December,
1840. lle was a Cardinal of the order of the priests.
Th,3 Conclave of the Sacred College has lasted but two
days. It commenced on the 14th of June and ended on
the 16th.- Seldom has a Conclave been so short. This
election appears to have given great satisfaction to France.
The new POPE is a man of liberal principles, and it is
probable that he will grant those concession!, and intro-
duce those reforms which are so absolutely required, and
the refusal of which has occasioned so many insurrec-
tions in the Papal States.
• The Debuts gives the following account of the elec-
tion:—

" The Conclave of the sacred College only lasted two days.
It commenced on the 14th, and terminated on the 16th of
June. Rarely has a conclave been so short. It is said that
the political position of the states of the Church, and the ne-
cessity of putting an end to the agitation which might have
ended in disorder, hastened the determination of the cardi •
nals. The new Pope has the reputation of being moderate
and conciliatory, and his nomination has been generally
favourably received. Cardinal Mastci Ferretti, in mounting
the throne of St. Peter, takes the title of Pius IX. lie is
one of the youngest Popes (being, as we stated yesterday,
only 54 years of age) that has ever been nominated.
This circumstance ought to be considered a good
augury. The cardinals have often been reproached
with fixing their choice on men whose age pre-
vents them from displaying much activity. On the present
occasion this taunt is fortunately not borne out by the fact.
There is in Italy a proverb which says of the Popes, Non
videbis annos Petri'—(You shall not reign so long as Peter).
St. Peter reigned twenty-five years, and as the saying is not
an article of faith, it is no heresy to express a hope that it
will now not be realised. Trusting that Pope Pius IX. will
consecrate the influence which his high position gives him
to the maintenance of the spiritual peace of the Catholic
world, and to the furtherance of that amelioration of which
the states placed under his temporal guardianship have so
much need, we sincerely hope that he may see the years of
Peter, and that his reign may be prolonged for the good of
the church of which he is the head, and that of the people
of whom he is the sovereign."
The Presse says:—

" Cardinal Mastei Ferretti has been elected by acclamation.
There are three modes of electing Popes. The most usual
modes are by ballot and by accession. As to the election by in-
spiration or acclamation, the words which serve to designate
it shows how it is practised. It is this mode of election that
. _

takes place when, by a sudden inspiration, which is con-
sidered as coming from Heaven, the cardinals name a Pope
unanimously and by acclamation. The use of this mode of
election is less rare than might be supposed. History men-
tions thirteen or fourteen instances of it. The most memo••
rable is the election of Gregory VII."
_ _ _

The Chamber of Deputies voted on Saturday the
budget of.recripts, and the session may be considered as
virtually over.
The Presse states that the Electoral Col-
leges will meet on the Ist August, and
the new Chamber will meet on the 17.,h August,
for the purpose of verifying its powers and forming its
Bureaux, after which it will be prorogued.

Marshal BUGEAUD and the Due D'AUMALE ar-
rived at Oran on the 10th, and set out imme-
diately for Djemma Ghazaouat. General GENTIL re-
turned to Algiers on the 15th for the valleys of the Isser
and Ameuraouas. A convoy from General RANDON'S
division, proceeding from the country of the S.,ukaras
to Bona, with twenty-five sick and wounded,
was attacked at Ras-el-Gasseur by 600 Arabs, the escor
put to flight, and the sick and wounded massacred.
Among the latter were three officers—M. NOEL, Captain
of Hussars ; M. CASTELLI, Surgeon-Major ; and an Arab
named llominaom, Sub-Lieutenant of the Spahis.
General RANDOM, on hearing of the occurrence, marched
to Ras-el-Gasseur, killed 200 individuals of the tribe
guilty of the massacre, burned all their villages, and cap-
tured 12,000 head of cattle.

The following are the new quarantine regulations
amboaunt
onboard,t o b e
s issued
I
ssesniagsers arriving from Constantinople in Government
ships with clean bills of health, and having a medical
asihiallhavbe at once put in " libre pofratique,"
eaupasrseaadn tif nr oemwitliil ecodmaymeneseaifling,
if nine
in otherday terms,g. theeTeic:til
manmheav
iornnu,l rule
a
arapepdliiecsaltmo aneomrn-
tmann
the day of Bailin
oc hp abnotamr ednahmayeirnegh
merchantman
board. Passengers
medicalot
board, shall be subjected to five days' quarantine.
Goods will fbllow the rule of the ships in which they are
carried; With regard to Egypt, all
Alexandria are at present considered underarrivals from
the category
of " foul " or " suspected." For the future these arri-
vals may have " clean bills," like those from Constanti-
nople. In that case, the passengers
of rest.oisce packet-
boats, with a medical matt on board, shall be
tu
admitted to
Libre pratique twelve clear days after their
from Alexandria. Passengers by the merchant ships
not having a medical man on board, shall be subject to
quarantine of seven days. Goods on board such vessels
shall be subjected to a very reduced quarantine, but the
extent of which has not yet been determined.
The Three per cent& were rather more buoyant 04