The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JCURNALS.

No task could be more amusing than to trace
and describe the progress of the negotiations for
re-effecting the division of the Netherlands, and
establishing the independence of Belgium, if the
indignation which they sometimes excite did not
overpower our feelings of merriment, or if the
danger which they now and then threatened to
the peace of Europe did not appear too serious
for pleasantry. There probably cannot be found
in the whole annals of diplomacy a- more ludi-
crously entangled maze of difficulties, obstacles,
and embarrassments, thrown in the way of a
very easy and obvious settlement by the dexterity
or duplicity of a single individual. The most
intricate plot, or the most extraordinary combina-
tion of incidents of the most ingenious comedy
or romance. could not equal the real history of
the Dutch Conferences. In January, 1831,
when the King of Holland was trembling behind
his marshes and his dikes at the progress of the
Belgic revolution, he was willing to accept of a
pacific compromise, which in everything except
in respect to the distribution of the joint debt
was less advantageous to him than subsequent
proposals. But having recovered from his panic,
and recruited his army, he rose in his demands,
assumed the offensive, and aspired to conquest.
A short incursion in the autumn of that year
into Belgium, which, relying on the faith of an
armistice, was unprepared for effective resistance,
seems to have inspired him with renewed hopes
of being able ultimately to regain the whole of
his former provinces. The interference of a
French army interrupted that career of military
aggression, which, without any chance of final
success on his part, might have converted the
Netherlands into the theatre of a long and san-
guinary struggle, and his Dutch Majesty was
obliged to send his Ambassadors to London to
negotiate a peace with the Conferences in
Downing-street. The treaty of the 15th of
November, or that of the " 24 articles," was the
result; and this treaty was not only adopted by
Belgium, France, and England, but by the three
absolute Powersof the continent, whom his Dutch
Majesty considers his most friendly allies. He
himself, however, refused his sanction to its
terms, and being a member of the Holy Alliance
" Lodge," prevailed on his absolute brethren to
delay its ratification. Then no difficulty was
felt or stated with respect to Luxemburg or the
Germanic Diet. The interests of Dutch ship-
ping, aid questions of roads and canal, were
made the only basis of objections and the pre-
texts for delay. For two months no detailed
'reasons were given why Holland refused her as-
sent to the arrangement. This delay was fol-
lowed by long quibbling and special pleading
papers from the Dutch Plenipotentiaries, to
which the Conference patiently and laboriously
returned detailed answers. Missions were sere
from London to the Hague, to. overcome his
Majesty's scruples, and in addition to Baron
Wessenburg, the Emperor of Russia despatched
from St. Petersburgh a special envoy with the ob-
ject, or at least under the pretence, of reconciling
his ally to the treaty. Still,- trusting to the chapter
of accidents, King William was inexorable against
it, particularly to those provisions of it which re-
garded the navigation of the Scheldt, and another
six months passed over without witnessing any
progress in the negotiation. Towards the end of
September, 1832, France and England, on the
invitation of Belgium to secure her in the
benefits of peace, demanded some definitive ac-
quiescence
in such articles of the treaty as
Holland was willing to adopt, and an evacuation
of the Belgic territory, as a prelude to an arrange-
ment of such reserved points of difference as
could not have been immediately adjusted. The
refusal of Holland to surrender Antwerp led to
the French celebrated expedition for its capture
at the end of the year, and to the measure of the
English and French embargo. After trying the
effect of these events and measures on the temper
of the absolute Powers of the Continent, and on
that of the English Tories, and after standing
out against the interruption of his trade for
several months, his Dutch Majesty was obliged
to abandon his obstinate purposes, and to re-
turn to his accustomed relations with England
and France in May, 1833. Then at last in all
probability we might have calculated on a
speedy arrangement. Antwerp had been taken,
the Belgians had not only rescued their chief
mart of trade from the cannon of their enemy,
but still possessed large tracts of country and a
numerous population in two provinces which
the treaty assigned to Holland, and moreover
during the absence of a definitive settlement the
whole burden of the joint debt was to be borne
by the latter. All motive or pretext for further
delay thus seemed removed, and strong grounds
were laid, in national interests, for hurrying the
negotiations to a conclusion as early as possible.
There could be no hope of making another
useless invasion into Belgium. The armistice
had been converted into a peace, under the gua-
rantee of France and England ; the treaty had
been ratified, under certain modifications, by
the absolute Powers, and two of them had
sent ambassadors to the Court of Brussels.
What would thus have appeared to all the world
a hopeless case on which to build ambitious and
disorganizing projects, is far from being abandoned
by the obstinacy of his Dutch Majesty. In his
losing game with the Conference, he produced
a card which lie had hitherto carefully concealed
in his hand, and which he formerly pretended to
be of no value in the play. He finds that he
cannot agree to the alienation or transfer of any
part of I.uxemburg, without the consent of the
German agnats of his family, and the sanction
of the Germanic Diet. He moreover finds that
neither of these bodies can stir a step unless he
himself moves them, and he is resolved not to
move them so long as any of his unreasonable
demands or expectations remain unsatisfied
Such is the state of the negotiations respecting
the settlement of the Netherlands at the present
moment, Though every point worth contending
for has been already conceded or compromised,
and though it would puzzle any plain man to ex-
plain what open and declared grounds of differ-
ence really exist between the parties, yet the
obstinacy of his Dutch Majesty, founded on
secret and unavowed projects or hopes, has
made the result of the negotiations as uncertain,
after
three years of painful anxiety and laborious
exertion, as it was on the first day of then.
,commencement. It becomes now an important
luestiun,--what is to be done to escape from
this state of uncertainty, inaction, and embar-
rassment ? It is evident that the missions of
Holy Alliance Ambassadors to the Court of
the Hague, with the view of persuading his
Dutch Majesty to agree to their proposed ar-
rangements, produce little or no benefit. We
have no doubt of the sincerity of Austria and
Prussia (or perhaps even of Russia) in desiring
that this 'useless and dangerous dispute should
terminate ; but whenever their agents come in
contact with a Sovereign who is considered as
CDC of their " Lodge," they become too much

biassed in his favour to be firm or impartial'
in resisting his prejudices. In siding with
his views, or showing indulgence for his weak-
ness, they act perhaps more from sentiment
than from principle, and do inconsiderate acts,
the consequences of which they have neither
foreseen nor intended ; but still the evil is com-
mitted, and a settlement is delayed as effectually
as if they had designed such a result. The King
takes every friendly offer or kind expression
on their part as a tacit approbation of his policy,
and in improving their offers, or showing gra-
titude for their favours, is sure to lead them
further than they intended. Thus (to give an
example of the system on which we are remark-
ing), when Prince Sch wartzenberg was lately
sent to persuade his Dutch Majesty to solicit
the consent of the Germanic Diet to the cession
of the part of Luxemburg given to Beleim by
the treaty, the King apparently yielded, but
asked in return that the Prince would present a
memorial in his favour to the Allied Cabinets
which sent him—a memorial of such conse-
quence as to induce them to send new instruc-
tions to their Ministers at the Conference, and
to urge them to favour him in all the remaining
points of difference between Holland and Bel-
gium. If such be the effect of the diplomatic
and confidential intercourse carried on between
the King of Holland and his Holy Alliance
friends, his object at home is to hoodwink
his people with the belief that he is main-
taining their rights and defending their interests,
while he is pursuing the purposes of his own
family ambition, or political vengeance. Hence
he continues to declare to them that he is nego-
tiating zealou,ly for peace at the Conference—
that all his labours are directed to an arrange-
ment calculated to secure the honour and the
prosperity of his subjects—that he has no desire
of personal aggrandizement—that he has no
wish for extended dominion—and that the un-
just pretensions of his enemies alone delay the
long wished for settlement. Were the Dutch
universally convinced that their Sovereign main-
tained his present enormous military force—that
he continued their oppressive fiscal burdens—and
that he prevented them from the full enjoyment
of a commercial intercourse with their neigh-
bours, in order that he might some time or other
take advantage of his position and strength to
conquer the Belgic provinces, he would not
be able to maintain his present mischievous
policy for a month. They hated their con-
nection with Belgium more, if possible than the.
Belgians detested their union with Holland, and
would, perhaps, sooner depose their King than
help him to a Belgic conquest. Such being the
most striking facts relative to the connection of
his Dutch Majesty with his despotic allies anti
peaceful subjects, the course to be pursued by
France, England, and Belgium, with the best
prospect of bringing about an arrangement
would seem to be clear. Let them no longer
encourage these useless, if not mischievous, spe-
cial embassies to the Hague. Let them resume the
Conferences of London, and demand of the
Dutch Government whether it really desires a
definitive arrangement, and is prepared to enter
on bona fide negotiations for that object. If,
seeing that they will no longer be trifled with,
his Dutch Majesty abandons-his procrastinating,
policy, and sincerely treats for peace, their pur-
pose is gained. If, on the other hand, they find
a repetition of the same duplicity and hypocrisy
which have disgraced Dutch diplomacy for the
last three years, let them declare in the face of
Europe that the King of Holland is averse to
peace, anti that he only negotiates to deceive.
Six months after such a declaration, we are
persuaded that the Dutch will see to their own
interests, without any reference to those of the
Orange dynast y.— Times.
In the forthcoming number of the Edinburgh
Review for January there is an article on the
corn laws, which has, we suppose, been con
tributed by Mr. M'Culloch. We have more
than once remarked that the present time seems
peculiarly favourable for grappling with the corn
laws, for we never can have less to fear from ex-
cessive importations were the restrictions re-
moved. The landowners, too, we think, must
be aware that the present state of things cannot
be maintained much longer, and if they are not
altogether deserted by wisdom, they must also
see that it is much better to legislate when the
people are in full employment than when the
distress of starving artisans urges the legislature.
The Edinburgh Reviewer holds out the olive
branch to the landowners. He proposes terms
which they may obtain now, but which they
never can expect if they hold back at this time.
A great revolution is in progress in Germany.
If the Prussian system be once established
throughout Germany that great heart of Europe
will be for ever shut to our manufactures, and a
suffering population will remain to be fed by
the landowners. It has never been questioned
that the agriculturists were entitled to a coun-
tervailing duty equal to the duties falling pecu-
liarly on the land. The Edinburgh Reviewer
would deal liberally with them in estimating
these burdens ; and we trust that the advocates
of freedom of importation will not calculate too
nicely when so great a benefit as a regular trade
in corn is in question.—Morning Chronicle.
We publish from time to time the letters of
our correspondents in the East, as they reach
us, being sometimes important, at others inte-
resting, but ever deserving of perusal, as afford-
ing the latest and most trustworthy information
upon this important subject. The last received
is of the 31st ult., which may be said to be
important, as bringing no netts—for the coati-.
nuance of tranquillity for any space of time in
the capital of a once great empire, struggling
in the agonies of death, is news of an unex-
pected nature. Neither insurrection, massacre,
tumult, or conflagration, had for some time
disturbed the peace of the city. The conse-
quence is that the weak and giddy Sultan, who
seems pleased with wearing the gilded chains of
Russian vassallage, begins to amuse himself
again with fanciful notions of the regeneration
of the State, the ruin of which he was born to
accomplish. With his throne placed upon a
smouldering volcano, he enjoys himself as it
seated on a bed of roses—gazes with as
much complacency from the windows of
his Seraglio, upon the waters of the Bos-
phorus, over which the Russian Eagle soars
triumphant, as if the Crescent still sparkled there
in the light of glory. Meditating upon the
exploits which he has performed, and those
which he has )et to achieve, he inhales aromatic
essences through citron water—sips his sherbet,
and conceives new projects of military parade
and political reform ! It is a fact that the feeble,
voluptuous, and sanguinary Sultan—the Sar-
danapalus of the Turkish empire—begins to talk
of raising new levies of troops, of introducing
more of the European tactics into his army, of
colonizing the Asiatic provinces, and recruiting
the finances of the state. ".1. he Autocrat, in
the meantime, allows the imbecile representative j

of a race of heroes to amuse himself with the
bubbles of empty power, to play the soldier,
and strut in the robes of royalty until the time
comes when the denouement of the Eastern
drama is to take place, and the mock Sultan,
with the vanishing splendours of Mahommedan
dominion, retires from the stage.—Morning
Herald.

There is an elaborate article in the Edinburgh
Review upon the corn law, in which it is ad-
mitted that our national agriculture is entitled to
some degree of protection against the compe-
tition of foreign corn in the markets of Great
Britain, on account of the peculiar burdens to
which the land in this country is subject. But,
while he distinctly acknowledges the necessity
of some kind and degree of protection to Bri-
tish agriculture, the reviewer insists that the
protection now afforded is both injudicious in
its nature and excessive in its extent, and that
the object in view would be fully obtained, and
in a manner far more conducive to the general
welfare, by substituting for the present fluctuating
rate of duty a fixed duty on importation, to be
levied equally in all circumstances, of six or
seven shillings upon the quarter of wheat, ac-
companied by a drawback or bounty of the same
amount upon the exportation of British corn.
We will, however, let this writer speak for
himself before we proceed to offer the very few
remark which his arguments upon this branch of
the subject seem to us to require :

" Corn (says the reviewer) is not only the article most
in demand at home, but it forms the principal equivalent
that foreigners have to offer for our goods ; so that, by
restricting its importation, we actually compel them to
withdraw from our shop, and to establish manufactures for
themselves. Were our ports always open, under a fixed
duty of 6s or '78., the supply of our demand would be
an object of great importance to the foreign growers. But
at present even a deficient crop in this country is of little
service to them, and is highly injurious to every other
description of foreigners. The reason is, we are not
regularly in the market; occasionally, indeed, we import,
even in a single season, above three millions of quarters;
but at other times we import nothing, or next to nothing,
for three or four years together. In consequence the fo •
reign growers seldom venture to raise additional quantities
in anticipation of a demand from England ; or, if they do,
they never fail in a short time to have them wholly thrown
upon their hand. Hence, when there is any considerable
deficiency in our crops, we are forced to resort to marke►s
where we are not expected, and where, consequently, our
presence is injurious to every one, save the few that hold
stocks of corn; inasmuch as our purchases always occasion
a sudden improvement of prices. It is true, therefore,
that our corn laws are not a local hut a gen••ral nuisance.
Their mischievous influence is not confined to this country
only, but extends from Kentucky to Siberia, from Odessa
to Archaneel. They are so capricious in their nature, and
occasion such fluctuations in every market to which we
have access, that instead of hieing surprised at the obstruc-
tions ,onieemes thrown in the way of our intercourse with
them, the only wonder is that they bave not been increased
in a tenfold proportion."

It appears to us that the reviewer is scarcely
consistent with himself, as the fixed duty of six
or seven shillings a quarter which he recom-
mends for the protection of the British agricul-
turist would unquestionably operate as a restric-
tion upon the importion of foreign corn, and
would be liable, if the present system is liable,
to the reproach, of compelling foreigners to
withdraw from our shop, and to establish manu-
factures for themselves. There is no doubt
that the demand for foreign corn on the part of
this country would be in some degree more
regular and constant under the system of fixed
duty than under that of a graduated scale, if the
former system could be adhered to in all cir-
cumstances with the same certainty as the latter.
But the difference in this respect is, we believe,
considerably overrated. So long as the cultiva-
tion of the soil of Great Britain is maintained
to any thing like its present extent our demand for
corn the produce of other countries must, from
natural and obvious causes, be fluctuating and
precarious. We doubt whether our graduated
scale of duty adds much to the effect of that in-
equality of seasons which must necessarily occa-
sion a great inequality in the demand, for the
produce of foreign soils, of every country that
is in the habit of growing corn to an amount
so nearly commensurate with its own consump-
tion as Great Britain is at this moment, and is
likely, we hope, to continue. Nor ought it to be
forgotten that the inequality of demand, whether
arising from natural or artificial causes, is, in a
considerable degree, counteracted and adjusted
by the action of commercial enterprise and
speculation, which constantly tends to preserve
or restore the equilibrium. It must, how-
ever, be admitted that a fixed duty would be
preferable to a duty fluctuating with the
vatiations of price, if an equal certainty could be
attained under the former as under the latter
system that the law would in all possible cir-
cumstances be enforced. Experience, however,
has shown that this is wholly impracticable. It
may be confidently pronounced impossible that
the Government of this or of any other country
should persist in exacting a duty, however mo-
derate, upon the importation of grain during a
season of actual dearth. At such a period of
national suffering it would be so very popular,
and, what is not always the same thing, it would
in this case be so manifestly right and just, to
remove every impediment to the ingress of food,
that no Government could desire to persevere,
and, if they desired to do so, no Government
would dare to encounter the odium which must
attend perseverance in any system which prac-
tically impeded importation. The fixed duty
would certainly be suspended by Proclamation,
or by a short Act of Parliament passed with a
celerity to which the standing orders would offer
no obstruction. The foreign corn-grower would
reap a rich harvest, and the British farmer would
find, as he has found before, that the protection
which the law had promised him was a delu-
sion, and that the fair-weather contrivance of a
fixed duty was the least fixed of all earthly
things. From this inherent weakness the sys-
tem of a graduated ditty is entirely free. It has
the merit, however little protection it promises
to the farmer, of affording with certainty that
little. It has the merit of presenting to the
foreign grower the groundwork for his anticipa-
tions as to the market of Great Britain, which
will not suddenly glide away. It has the merit
of proclaiming conditions and regulations,
for the importation of foreign grain, upon
which mercantile calculations may be con-
fiw
thisie
ti
strylyisntefi:oit:ientlidEmetddint
bliTeirthsgehinireproach
dciors,ervcnltlsitclahg,a,itfintlltst
e
s.
and starts," is less applicable to it than to that
by which he is anxious that it should be super-
seded, for the system of " fits and starts" is
really that which, professing to establish a fixed
and invariable duty by authority of Parliament,
practically realises its profession till a crisis
arrives, and then repeals the duty abruptly and
at once, with or without the authority of Par-
liament, just as it may happen. It is unnecessary
to offer any other refutation of the opinion of the
reviewer, that the protection now afforded to our
domestic apiculture is excessive, than that which
ire himself supplies, when he attempts to re-
commend a fixed duty of six or seven shillings
per quarter as a substitute for the existing law,

upon the express ground that the change would
not produce any sensible reduction of price in
the markets of Great Britain.—Morning Post.

As the time approaches for the meeting of
Parliament, it may not appear out of place to
touch upon a theme which has been already
discussed by the Westminster Review—viz.,
the possibility of avoiding the inordinate late
hours to which the House of Commons was
subjected last season, by a better economy and
more systematic arrangement of its time. It is
true an effort was made during the last Session,
by commencing business, on stated days, at 12
o'clock, for the purpose of disposing of the
more formal matters brought before the House,
to remedy the evil. But the remedy, as far as
the prevention of late hours was concerned, en-
tirely failed, as it is well known that the House
of Commons—during full one-half of the Session
—notwithstanding the relief anticipated from its
early commencement of business, sat as late (viz.,
till two, three, and four o'clock in the morn-
ing) as it had done during any preceding period.
The author of a pamphlet, entitled " Practical
Suggestions for the Internal Reform of the House
of Commons," recommends, first, shortspeeches;
and, secondly, that the House should be divided
into ten Committees, for managing the affairs of
the following departments :—first, Domestic
Affairs; secondly, Foreign ; thirdly, Colonial ;
fourthly. Scotland ; fifthly, Ireland ; sixthly,
Expenditure, including all the great Officers of
State ; seventh, Revenue ; eighth, Trades ; ninth,
Law ; tenth, Regulations and Business of the
House. He further recommends that the sit-
tings of these Committees be held on alternate
Clays with the House. We feel assured that
some arrangement of this kind might be benefi-
cially made. It appears, from a careful analysis,
that one-twelfth of parliamentary business is real
business. The rest is a series of formalities, or
nothings, leading to no practical result, as may
he gathered from the " Votes and Proceedings,"
which constituted a statement, daily published,
by order of the House, of the amount
of business lately performed. Ridicule has
been thrown on Mr. Cobbett as well as the late
Peter Moore, and others, for recommending
early hours; but the above detail shows that,
with a little management, they are, by no
means, unattainable. They are, at all events,
expedient. The coughs with which such pro-
positions have been occasionally greeted; con-
stituted a self-admonitory and rather ominous
opposition. Late hours are calculated to pro-
duce shattered nerves. With shattered nerves
come vacillating opinions—anything, in short,
but that vigorous decision which is wanted
to make a stand against the open inroads
and secret allurements of intrigue and cor-
ruption. " A sound mind, in a sound
body," is a good and sensible proverb. We do
not wish to be extreme in our suggestions, and
therefore it is not our proposal that we should
go back to the Parliamentary hours of our hale
and hearty ancestors (ignorant, by the way,
whether they had nerves or not), whose hours
were from ten and eleven to four in the of
But why not imitate the salutary rc,_;:lations of
of the American Congress, or even of the French
Chambers, whose discussions are always con-
ducted in honest daylight, and are generally
over by four or five in the afternoon. We have
lost several statesmen by over exhaustion, and
the total derangement of the digestive functions
produced by late hours. We believe that there
are few medical men who will not concur with
us. The consequences of late Parliamentary
hours were demonstrated in the cases of Fox,
Pitt, Sheridan, and others who lay in bed all
day, to the neglect of their private affairs, over-
whelmed by the deep sense of lassitude resulting
from the inordinate mental and physical excite-
ment of the preceding night. Mr. Canning'
fell a sacrifice to the over-laxing and over-
excitement
of his mind ; the digestive or-
gans were impaired—those physical organs
so closely connected, by the most delicate
machinery, with the mental—inflammation fol-
lowed, and mortification in a few days hurried
on the catastrophe. It was, beyond a doubt,
from the same source that we have endeavoured
to detect, that the suicides of Whitbread,
Romilly, and perhaps of Londonderry, arose.
We are not arguing that the exertion of the
highest mental power on the part of the Legis-
lator ought to be restrained, nor do we believe
that, wholesomely exerted, the highest degree
of continued mental occupation is calculated to
do the least injury to the frame, but rather the
contrary. There are, however, physical bounds
which we cannot pass with impunity. There
are also too ambitious soarings of the in-
tellect, in which the clay with which the
noblest mind is wedded, will teach it that it
has affinities to earth as strong as to heaven.
Extra stimulants and means of over-excitement
'hould, at all events, be avoided ; and thus
brings us back to the final object of this our
" chapter on heads," viz., that the best means
which our legislators can adopt to avert the evil
tendencyof that power to mortgage the future vital
functions by present over-mental excitement,which
power belongs exclusively to the higher orders
of genius, is to abstain from the stimulating ac-
tion of late Parliamentary hours. We recom-
mend that business at St. Stephen's should end
sooner and
.begin earlier. Or if the latter con-
summation, after the change made last session,
be considered impracticable—that the House,
by a more systematic distribution of its labours,'
and by the limitation of long speeches, should
enable itself at least to break up at midnight.
Twelve hours—from twelve to twelve—are quite
long enough for any man, or body of men, to
devote to business at one sitting. Beyond that
the probability is that they will either not do
justice to that business, or to their own physical
efficiency of attending to it on the following
day.—Morning Advertiser.

BoNDAGE.—Diodorus says, that among the
ancient Enrptians, one of the conditions of their marriage
contracts was, that " the hus'Aancl should be obedient to
his wile." " I have often heard speak," he adds, "of the
E4yptian blndlge, but never knew it had been cArried so
fa as this before."

RELIC OF ANTIQUITY. Between Dun-
ham and Darlton, near Retlord, there has existed for
a series of years a beautiful cedar tree, of dimensions con-
siderably Larger th in usually attained in this country, being
upwards of torty_two feet high, and nearly twenty round
the body. During the storm of Tuesday week, however,
this beautiful tree was completely uprooted. But the
most singular part of this affair r.mains to be told ;
underneath its totals was discovered a rude stone coffin,
of rather large dimensions, in a state of excellent pre-
servation, containing a quantity of dust and several
human bones, which are sta'ed to he those of a female ;
another skeleton was also found close by considerably
larger. It becomes a matter of inquiry whether the
planting of this tree was commemorative of the indivi-
dual whose bones have thus been exposed, or whether
the ancient relic was not interred there, antecedent to
such an event. There formerly existed a village here-
abouts. called Wymington, or Wytneston, and there is
every appearance of its having been haere,astheterarcs the
name foundations are yet distinctly visible,and it still bears
name of Wympton M00r...-Derbyshire Courier.