The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-08 00:00:00

transfer the Ministerial measure from the tables of
Parliament to the leaves of the statute-book but a
third reading in the Lower House, a rapid passage
through the House of Peers, of which no doubt now
remains in existence, and, thirdly, the Je-le-veux of
our most gracious SOVEREIGN.
Our reasons for feeling thus confident of the accep-
tation of the Sugar Duties' Bill are of the simplest
description. We are not sanguine upon false pre-
mises—our hopes are assured by our judgment. First,
as to the sanction of her MAJESTY, no moral doubt can
exist in the mind either of the most sanguine pro-
tectionist or of the most nervous free-trader. It
would be ingratitude for what has already received
the approbation of our QUEEN-it would be super-
fluous after the disposition she has evinced
throughout her reign, after ' the liberal
policy which she has invariably encou-
raged and countenanced, after her acquiescence in the
clauses of the Corn and Customs' Bills, after her be-
haviour during the changes of November and Decem-
ber, and after summoning Lord JonN RUSSELL to
the head of affairs with so much of gracious alacrity
and confidence—it would, we say, be both superflu-
ous and ungrateful after all this to dilate upon the
probability of her MAJESTY'S sanction to the proposed
measures. And equally superfluous and almost equally
ungrateful would it be to endeavour to prove the
chance of success to those measures in the
Commons, when we remember that they have
already proceeded so far through that as-
sembly, and been approved by a gigantic majority
of one hundred and thirty. The only possibility,
therefore, of failure would remain with the Right
Hon. Members of the Upper House, and that the Bill
will be carried triumphantly, but quietly, through
that august body, there is now an absolute cer-
tainty. No opposition of a substantial character will
be raised by the agricultural aristocracy ; the House
will not even be pressed to a division. This has
actually been resolved upon by those legislators
themselves, in solemn conclave assembled. And the
announcement is thus made by our Contemporary the
Morning Post :
" A meeting of Conservative Peers took place yesterday
at the residence of Lord Stanley, in St. James's-square, for
the purpose of considering the course which ought to be pur-
sued in the House of Lords with respect to the Sugar Duties'
Bill. 'We understand that there was but one opinion among
the• Peers present as to the measure, which has excited the
greatest disapprobation, both as regards the injustice to b 3
done to our colonies, and the deplorable stimulus which will
be given to the slave trade by the proposed scale of duties
becoming law. At the same time it was unanimously re-
solved that at this late period of the session the question
ought not to be carried to a division, however strongly Lord
Stanley and other Noble Lords may think it necessary on
1 the introduction of the measure to the House of Lords to
place their own sentiments on the subject, and those of the
party generally, before the country." _ ..

Assuredly, after such a conclusion of such a deli-
beration, no further doubt can remain of the decisive
victory of these Ineasures ! The present glorious
session will be terminated thus gloriously. The
nail has already been driven in, it will now
be clenched. Some among the worshippers
of monopoly had flattered themselves with the possi-
bility of defeat to the proposers of an alteration in the
sugar duties. They pictured to themselves an
analogy between the position of the free-traders
under PEEL and RUSSELL, and the fable of the horse
and the mule. The salt melted away in passing the
stream, the spunge absorbed so much water in its
transit, that the bearer and itself foundered. The
Protectionists fondly augured a realisation of this
fable; they conceived that though the sack of
corn had been carried through a turbulent opposition,
the sack of sugar might still be swallowed up in the
current, and its supporter himself be lost in the
catastrophe. Their imaginations have proved illusory ;
according to their own showing their expec-
tations have turned out to be delusions. Free trade
as a great national principle is therefore
consolidated. Monopoly is gasping in its final
agonies ; and, looking at its dinners, its meetings, its
toasts, its Parliamentary orations, its protests, its
sarcasms, and its vituperations, it dies like
the dolphin —with a variety of very brilliant
and very evanescent colours. Like the
dolphin, monopoly has thrown itself into many
strange contortions during its existence—like the
dolphin, it is most beautiful in its death. With the
completion of this session protection will become a
byword in the language.

At no period of time has England been in a more
peaceful state in her relations with foreign Powers
than she happily is at the present moment. Every-
thing presents a prospect of the most profound tran-
quillity. The political atmosphere is free from the
slightest cloud, and we may hope that grim-visaged
war will long be a stranger to our shores, that we
may cultivate the arts of peace, and devote our great
resources to the furtherance of our commer-
cial and mercantile prosperity, the attain-
ment of those blessings for the universe,
the whole family of mankind, which can only be at-
tempted under such propituous circumstances. Every
man may rest under his own vine and his fig-tree ; but
the experience of past ages has taught us that if we
are desirous of the long-continued enjoyment of
this great national blessing, we must not convert
our swords into ploughshares. We must retain the
former as trusty and well-tried friends at our side.
Having them in our possession ready for immediate
use, will, in all human probability, dispense with the
necessity of having recourse thereto. We should be—

" Ready, aye ready for the field."

lAnd our being so will afford the best guarantee that
a war will not he forced upon us, or only avoided at
the expense of the national honour. In such a state
of preparation, we can assume an attitude at once
temperate and firm, ready to do anything be-
coming a mighty nation to avoid so fearful
an alternative, to preserve that peace so justly
and so highly prized, but still to defend the rights
and interests of our country, to avoid unwise or dis-
honourable concession. While we do so there is little
danger that our eftbrts to avoid war will be ascribed
to timidity, cowardice, or any other unworthy motive,
and England will still maintain the proud position she
has assumed amongst the nations of the earth. This
season of tranquillity, then, is the time of all others
that we can place ourselves in that state of prepara-
tion, without exciting the jealousy of other
powers, or calling forth remonstrances from
them. It is not by a present increase of
our naval and military force that this object
is to be achieved, but by a proper organisation,
a comprehensive and well-considered system, by
which we should be enabled without delay to preserve
the services of well-trained and hardy men, who
would have such encouragement held out to them
that they would gladly enter into the service of their
country at a moment's notice, and think that
they had attained a most desirable object in being
received therein. We should, in the language
of the Secretary of the Admiralty, by the adoption of
a judicious system, collect and recal those elements of
strength now scattered over the whole globe. We
should so far improve the condition and mode of
treatment of our gallant sailors, that they would no
longer be under the necessity or temptation of seeking
fro:n other countries that employment which cannot
be obtained in their own, or which, if ob-
tained, is either inadequately remunerated, or
subjected to such painful and degrading conditions,
and incidents, that few independent men with minds
at all elevated will consent to accept it. In our
columns this day will be found a letter from a cap.
tain in the royal navy, to which we invite the atten-
tion of our readers. His first statement, that events
equally unprovoked and unforeseen have occurred
within the last ten years to bring England to the
verge of war, and her want of preparation, is fully cor-
roborated by what was stated by the Secretary for the
Admiralty, in bringing forward the naval estimates
on the 24th ultimo, " That it would be both unsafe
and unwise, he believed it would be dishonourable,
for England again to run the risk she had twice done
during the last five years, from an unwillingness to
increase their naval establishment, when any sudden
rupture here, or on the other side of the Atlantic,
would have found us unprepared." Surely such a
state of things cannot be suffered to continue ;
there is no degree of expenditure within our
1 means that should not gladly be encountered
to prevent the possibility of such a recurrence. Our
wooden walls have ever afforded protection to Britons
an d kept enemies at a distance from our shores.
The prosperity of England has principally arisen
from her maritime superiority; and we should not
suffer any unwise economy or paltry saving to
endanger the British flag. We should recollect that
of late years a mighty element, hitherto little