The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-30 00:00:00

representatives of the people to decide whether the free-
trade doctrines are to be fully carried out—whether
our intercourse with other nations is to be without
any impediment whatsoever, or whether the members
of one interest are still to be protected at the expense
of all the rest of the community, and suffered to tax
their fellow-citixens for their own private emolument.
The old and hacknied arguments that have been
so frequently put forward on behalf of " class-legisla-
tion," and which have been as constantly refuted,
were all pressed into the service. It was attempted to
be shown that the British shipping could not exist
without protection, that the British shipowner and
the British sailor must inevitably be thrown out of
employment if exposed to foreign competition, and
that consequently as the interests of commerce and
the interests of navigation were in that respect wholly
opposed to each other, those of commerce should give
way. These are all revivals of the exploded fallacies
of by-gone days. If the term "shipping" were
changed into " agricultural" we might almost fancy
that we were again having a discussion on
the " corn-laws," and on the advantages of the sliding-
scale, without which our farmers would be made
bankrupts, our arable land thrown out of cultivation,
and our smiling homesteads converted into barren and
unproductive wastes. We do not, however, think so
lightly of our shipowners or of our hardy tars. We
believe that all they require is a clear stage and no
favour ; and if those are accorded, and their energies
applied in a spirit of honourable emulation, we doubt
not they will be as well able to bear competition
as any other branch of our national industry. Why
should our dockyards be dismantled, and the ship-
building trade be transferred to other lands, if the
measure were carried ? If our artisans are as skilful
' as those of any other nation, they require no protection,
' they are as willing to work, and to apply their ener-
gies to the allotted task, as any similar body in the
world. If, however, there are any radical defects
(and we believe the contrary to be the fact), it is
not by keeping up a system, the result of which
would be to render them careless of improvements,
that remedies are to be discovered for their defi-
ciencies. If such were really the case it would be
essential to the honour and safety of the nation that
such a stimulant should be applied as would arouse
them from their lethargy, and awaken them to the
activity that would command success. The only ra-
tional cure would be throwing open the trade and
making them rely on their own unaided energies, so
that they would stand on their own merits in place
of being contented with a protected mediocrity.
If this be true with respect to the ship-builders, it
is also applicable to shipowners, and still more so to
the crews by which our commercial navy is manned.
In every port and nation the British sailor has main-
tained, and still maintains, his pre-eminence. He is
eagerly sought for to navigate the vessels of other
countries—his indomitable energy, courage, and
activity enable him to command a rate of wages
higher than his rivals can hope for. True economy
does not consist in having a number of inefficient
men at low stipends. No, the person seeking a
cheap and useful crew well knows that it is a saving
to employ none but really competent men, even
at double the wages for which less skilful per-
sons might be procured. The able seaman
does not consume a larger quantity of provisions than
the land-lubber, they are therefore on a perfect
equality so far as this heavy item in the expenditure
is concerned, and as a much smaller number of per-
sons will suffice, a skilful crew may be obtained at a
less cost than an indifferent one, to say nothing of
the greater safety and increased speed in making
passages (a matter of no trifling importance) that
may be expected. The interests of our commerce
and navigation are, therefore, not opposed to each
other, but, on the contrary, most intimately con-
nected, and the increased prosperity of the one must
materially promote the other.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the 24th have arrived.

The Government have, it is said, made arrange-
ments with the houses of BARING and ROTHSCHILD
which will enable them to meet the forthcoming half-
year's liabilities.

SALAMANCA has escaped from Spain, and is now
at Bayonne.

MADRID BOLSA, MAT 24.—Three per Cents., 21i ;
Five per Cents., 131. Exchange on London, 41 90.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.

The Executive Committee of Government was
sitting ex permanence at the Luxembourg, and there
were 20,000 National Guards under arms for the
preservation of order, which it was feared might be
interrupted by the attempts of the workmen of the
ateliers nationaux to coerce the Government into re-
calling M. EMILE 'ThomAs from Bordeaux. Up to
ten o'clock at night all continued quiet, thanks to the
precautions taken by the authorities and the over-
whelming display of force made by the troops and the
National Guards of Paris and the Departments. The
fate of M. EMILE THOMAS, meanwhile, seems in-
volved in mystery. The following official account of
the proceedings of that gentleman, interlarded with
sundry unmistakeable hints to the ouvriers, appears in
the atoniteur :
" Citizen Emile Thomas, director of the ateliers
nationaux, has received a mission from the Government
egit ation
amongto g o to
the B owr
od
reka xe B.
ofT thhi
es
oneenwt
rsa
lcausede o
swoinhiCha
esta-
blished in the Park of Alonceaux. The Minister of
Public Works went there and remained several hours
endeavouring to restore order. In the evening the
effervescence subsided, and the new director, Citizen
Leon Lalande, engineer of the Ponts et Chaussees,
was installed without any resistance. We hope that
this agitation will be but momentary, for we cannot
comprehend upon what grounds it can be kept up. The
Government is animated with the most sincere and in-
contestable
tet entertain te
nrotatit.en na a
u,d, owubhti.oh If sympathy for the workmen, and of this they
fanitnotth, iinnkfsaeotf, suppressing
tosing
subsist, it knows what consideration, what solicitude is
due to the sufferings of men who, after having been a
long time deprived of work, have found wages scarcely
sufficient in the ateliers which the state has kept open for
them. A special commission appointed by the Govern-
ment is endeavouring, in concert with the Executive
Power, to find fresh resources, and the Government does
not intend to take any measures with regard to the
ateliers natiouaux before other means of employment,
both numerous and certain, can be offered to the honest
and laborious workmen. But if disorder should unfor-
tunately increase, and culpable intrigues should prevail
with and mislead the workmen, the Government will be
constrained by its imperious duty to make use of the
power confided to it, and by energetic measures ensure
the complete execution of the orders it may think fit to
issue."

The mission which citizen EMILE THOMAS re-
ceived from the Government must have been of a
very extraordinary character, if we are to attach any
credit to the following correspondence which appears
in the PresBe :

" Citizen Editor,—l have read in your number of
yesterday that M. Emile Thomas has never been ar-
rested, and had accepted a mission to Bordeaux. A
letter from Emile Thomas, written in pencil, and which
appears to have been thrown on the pavement, arrived
yesterday, and is in the hands of his mother. It states
that he has been forced to give in his resignation, and
is on his way to Bordeaux, attended by two agents,
having orders not to leave him until his arrival there.
As to M. TrAlat, he was not kept as a hostage, as had
been stated; and everything said to this effect, let it
come from whom it may, is false, and can have no object
but to justify a taking up of arms, which is as incon-
ceivable as the disappearance of M. Thomas.
"CLIAPPON, Civil Engineer of the
Central School.

" P.S. I send you at the same time a copy of the last
letter of M. Thomas. This letter is dated Chartres,
May 27, and says:—
" My dear Mother,—l write to you, as I promised,
from Chartres. The following is an account of the
-whole matter. On arriving last night at the Minister's
he required me to give him my immediate resignation,
announcing that I was about to take my departure on a
mission to Bordeaux and Bayonne. He gave me no ex-
planations, and interdicted me from taking leave of any
one, or even front leaving his residence, and all this
'with infinite politeness and apparent friendship. I
wrote my resignation and copied it, addressing the copy
to Pierre, and also wrote a letter to you and another to
Fontaine. M. Boulange was to bring these letters to
youlastevening—at least he gave me his word of honour
dbat he would do so. A passport was given to me, and
t half-past ten o'clock I got into the carriage with two
.officers of the peace, who have paid me great respect,
:and who have no other commission than to certify to
The Government my arrival at Bordeaux. There I have
letters for the prefects of the Gironde and of the Landes,
honourable mission no doubt, but which is
:d a veryvnidentl
e nyno more than a pretext. The real secret of'
is, I believe, this. I have, as you know, de-
clared measures were taken which I deemed to
imprudent,
ta if
and contrary to the tranquillity of the
e i gt
hma
public, I would retire, in order not to bear the responsi-
bility, but that I would at least appeal to the National
Assembly. I know that they have violated any liberty