The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-04 00:00:00

r
LI) Mtn Int
.--

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1846.

There is a coincidence in the indignation of the
different kingdoms of Southern and Western Europe
at the execrable crime recently committed against
the last vestige of Sarmatia, which will impart a
peculiar force to the protests of England and France,
and of the other constitutional monarchies. The
spoliation of Poland is consummated in the seizure of
Cracow ; but in that consummation Russian despotism
is exposed to the wrath and execration of civilised
millions. In conniving at, or rather instigating, the
Austrian occupation, Russia has drained the goblet
to the bottom, but there is poison in the dregs ;
it has riven the oak asunder, but its hands are
imprisoned in the aperture. It is quite certain
that Austria has in a great measure been
seduced into this monstrous violation of faith, parti-
ally by the intimidation, partially by the voluble
suavity, of the Government of St. Petersburgh. The
Administration of the Kaiser FERDINAND possessed
all the inclination to destroy the independence of
Cracow, but it lacked the courage to appease its
covetous aspirations : it looked with especial abhor-
rence upon the liberal institutions of that miniature
republic, andresented the fact of its existence in the im-
mediate neighbourhood of so many absolute and gigantic
powers, but it feared to incur the displeasure of those
western nations whom it dreaded for their prowess,
and whom it loathed for their magnanimity. It re-
membered that when the imperial diadem girdled the
brow of the paternal FRANCIS, thrice had it continued
to exist as a state by tie sufferance of France ; it
remembered how its capital had been taken and re-
stored ; how its regalia had been dashed into the mire
and replaced in the hands and upon the fore-
head of its emperor ; it remembered the con-
cessions of Campo Formic, and the ford of
Wagram. Cherishing an intense hatred of that poli-
tical emancipation which had so frequently perilled
its existence, it preserved, nevertheless, a repressive
recollection of the dangers consequent upon arousing
the politics of Western Europe ; and while it yearned
for the abasement and injury of those Governments,
it was cautious of evoking their rage or of incurring
their violence. Those were the conflicting sentiments
of Austria ; they held possession of her since the treaty
of 1815 ; her covetousness and her cowardice, her malice
and her pusillanimity, her hope and her trepidation
racked her with a thousand different emotions. She
vibrated between an obsequious tranquillity and an
insolent display of despotism. Her fears, however,
still continued predominant. Her awe of the en-
croachments of the constitutional Governments still
preserved the mastery. Nevertheless Russia has
striven unceasingly to remove her objections, to dis-
sipate her scruples, and to conquer the caprices of
her conscience, and the volatility of her passions.
Russia has at length been successful in tbese in-

sidious endeavours. She has persuaded Austria
baldly to consummate, in one flagrant catastrophe, the
envy and indignation of years; she has adroitly im-
plicated Prussia in an act by which the ruggedness of
the road to Constantinople is smoothed. Austria
undoubtedly possessed all the will to incorporate
Cracow with her dominions, but Russia has shown her
the way and given her the courage. As in all
the former annexations of Sarmatian territory, so
it is in the last infamous violation of the rights of in-
dependence—the miseries of Poland are all traceable
to the council-chambers of St. Petersburgh, the sub-
jugation of Sarmatia is mainly attributable to the
lawlessness of Russian ambition.

Circumstances, however, have followed the seizure
of Cracow which are indicative of a new spirit, not
only among remote kingdoms, but even among the
subjects of the offending Power. Lord CASTLERBAGH
in 1815 stipulated for the respect which was owing to
the last remnant of Poland as forcibly as Lord ABER-
DEEN could have done in 1845, or as Lord PALMER-
STON has done in 1846. But neither in the first dis-
memberment of that kingdom, nor in the forcible
seizure of the Duchy of Warsaw, did anything occur
so indicative of the peril of such proceedings as the
recent resignation of Count KOLOWRAT. By resign-
ing his Ministerial office, and seeking immediate re-
pose among the mountains of Switzerland, he is sig-
nificantly protesting against the violation of treaties
and the piecemeal destruction of an un offending nation.
It is preposterous to assert that Austria is op-
posed to absolutism, or to the prcpagation of
ultramontane principles. Those are a por-
tion of her very vitality. The locofocos
have no such upholders among the citizens of the
United States as the absolutists and ultramontanists
have in the Cabinet of the Kaiser. It is, therefore,
peculiarly remarkable when a Minister can oppose,
in a manner so decisive, the wishes and views of
that tyrannical Government, as Count KOLOWRAT
has just done, by his resignation immediately
after the annexation of Cracow. Beyond this,
the various states of Germany are roused to indigna-
tion by the very reflection of the incertitude of their
own existence henceforth. It is manifest to them
that if the sixth and ninth articles of the Treaty of
Vienna are thus violated those other articles may be
ac; easily set at nought by which their independent
existence was guaranteed. A stern and obdurate
hatred is therefore roused throughout those Govern-
ents—a hatred none the less stern or the less
obdurate because it is based upon selfishness.
By the recent crime of the Northern Powers
Poland has gained a multitude of sympathisers.
Will their sympathy, however, be profitable
or► unprofitable ? Will Cracow be abandoned
to the possession of Austria, amidst the
p'nsillanimous lamentations of the rest of Europe ?
Are treaties to be eternally violated with impunity ;
are protests to be answered by impertinent sophisms ?
The criminality of the French Government, in break-
ing the Treaty of Utrecht, is essentially different
from the criminality of Austria in breaking
that of Vienna. The former is a violation
o-AF faith, the evil consequence of which is,
at; the most, a mere contingency ; the miseries
rtrsulting from the latter are immediate—they
Ewe already experienced by the helpless Sarma-
tinns. The elevation of an Orleans Prince to the
I'berian throne is dependent upon the possible sterility
(LE ISABELLA IT. ; the freedom of Cracow is de-
pendent upon nothing—it is already wrested from
it 3 population. Let it be remembered that this is no
ti me for cavilling over remote causes of hostility and
supposititious grievances. In the occupation of
Cracow are implicated the interests of liberty and ci-
viilisation.

The corn-laws, being virtually abolished, with
what rapid succession is the public mind addressing
it Self to the extinction of other large monopolies.
Vhe breath was scarcely knocked out of the body of
ti, tie agricultural leviathan, before the disciples of free
ti,ade turned round, and, with one blow, prostrated
onther powerful enemy that preyed upon the vitals
0.7 commerce. The pernicious fiscal distinctions he-
t\ been the produce of free and slave-grown sugar
were instantaneously swept away. The monopolies
ol!' tea and salt are now being attacked with the like
gour, especially the former. Neither is
it, to be wondered at that these several
o,:.sets are being thus promptly made
gainst such formidable restrictions on commerce,
:hey all rest upon the same foundation. The argu-
r. sent runs upon all fours with every one of them.
I f the free-trade propositions in favour of extinguish-
i. the duties upon corn were sound, they must be
e (wally so when applied, for the same purpose, in
✓ egard to sugar, tea, salt, and other articles of general
c onsumption. But the data of political economy tell
✓ rich more than equal force in relation to the corn-
n todities just enumerated than they do in connexion
w hit foreign grain. The people must hare bread,
wl dch is the indispensable staff of life ; hence, the
ma in argument of the landed monopolists consisted
in t inadvisability of allowing this country to become
dep en dent upon foreigners for their daily food. This oft-
reit mated fallacy has been completely exploded. Of
this ti le' corn-law of last session is the best practical
proo f.. Articles of the first necessity, as sugar, salt,
and ttea unquestionably are at present with the
peopl ift, still they are not so, to the same degree,
as cur n. If the principles of unfettered commerce
can b a safely resorted to
.in respect to the latter, a
fortio.r i can they be successfully applied in regard to
the fc.t mer. It was this consideration that wisely
deterr n fined the League to confine their exertions to
the al a ogation of the corn-laws, because they knew
that, after their downfal, all other mono-
polies would speedily vanish. It was their
thoro a 1 ;h conviction of this that decided the
Leagi at 3 upon grounding their arms the moment they
had a R.: hieved their signal victory. What remained
to be ane ? they knew well enough the nation would
mane: p 3 for itself, without the help of any gigantic
organ is ation. A sharp lesson had been read to all
public x nen, who, it was justly conceived, would not
be prc me to repeat their former errors. The moral
force vt .hich the League brought to bear upon all
their I Sri )ceedings, could not fail of its effect with suc-
ceeding. Ministers whenever the country should display
an anx iel ;y to urge upon the Government any concession
of simi !al c import to that of the corn. laws. This effect
was in di cated when Sir R. PEEL, in retiring from
office, de :dared in Parliament that he was ready, in
any fi it ure public capacity, to progress with the
princi of commercial relaxation.
Ano ti aer important meeting, for memorialising the
Goveri x ment for an immediate reduction of the duty
on tea„ was held at Leeds, on Wednesday last. The
questic ri was very ably treated, and appropriate reso-
lutions in furtherance of the object of the meeting
were u x animously passed. The whole question turns
upon i a hether a reasonable case can be made out to
the Ch a .ncellor of the Exchequer that, by sanctioning
the de 5i red reduction, the revenue will not suffer so as
to end a, nger the national credit. From the statistics
already furnished, there seems to be no doubt that this
assurane e can be conveyed to the authorities of the
Treasur3 and more, that the public finances will be
much im proved by the proposed alteration. This
beneficial 1 result will be attained with the greater cer-
tainty, p rovided the diminution of duty be made a
consither able one in the outset, viz. from 2s. 2kd. to
is. per- lb. If it be said that the consumption of teas,
and pa et icularly the black, within the last ten years,
has n( t corresponded with the cheapness of their
prices, .compared with what they obtained before
1834, 3 t must be remembered that the average
tax up o 3 i tea is still two hundred per cent., and,
also, 0: it the humbler classes have not been
in the condition in which, it is hoped, they will
shortly "be, by reason of our improved tariff, to com-
mand t 3 means of purchasing tea. Wherever tea

has bee n . admitted on more favourable terms than we

enjoy, t le consumption has been considerably aug-

mented.. In Jersey, Canada, and Newfoundland the

consult- tion averages 4klbs. per head per annum, in
-lustre lia, 7ilbs., whilst in England it is not more
than 1 Ib. The cheaper we render tea the more we

shall ( )nsume, and the further we increase its
imports 0 don the quicker will the deficiency in the

revenue, be covered. The returns of our national

income. since the bold reductions effected in the tariff
by Sir IR. PEEL, short as the interval has been, have

been ma% t encouraging, and warrant our persevering
in the san ie course. But it is not merely the direct

advantage, s to the Exchequer accruing -from these

seasonable reductions of taxes, the indirect are

likewise of infinite value. China contains 350,000,000