The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 185

It will be in the recollection of our readers that
towards the conclusion of the last session of Parlia-
ment Lord PALMERSTON announced to the House of
Commons that the importation of slaves from the
coast of Africa into the Brazils had greatly dimi-
nished in consequence of the exertions of the Bra-
zilian Government to put a stop to the traffic, and
he expressed his hope and expectation that no very
great length of time would elapse before those exer-
tions would be crowned with complete success, and
the slave-trade to Brazil would cease. In making
this announcement, which was received with loud
cheers by the House of Commons, Lord PALMEESTON
emphatically bore testimony to the honesty of the
Brazilian Government in this matter, and to the ex-
tent and success of their exertions for the abolition of
the slave-trade ; there is, therefore, it is manifest, not
a shadow of pretence for charging the Brazilian Go-
vernment with trickery or dishonesty, and it was our
duty, consequently, to encourage them in the good
path on which they had entered by cautiously ab-
staining from any acts of undue severity as regards
their commercial marine, and, above all, to abstain
from insulting their flag. Instead of this, it would
appear that some of our naval officers upon that sta-
tion have been acting more like pirates than like gen-
tlemen bearing a national commission, and sailing
under a national and recognised flag. Coasting
vessels proceeding legally and quietly from one Bra-
zilian port to another have been, it appears, seized,
plundered, and destroyed by our cruisers, the officers
of which did not even pretend that they were
fitted up or intended to be engaged in the African
slave-trade, or that they were fit and competent for
such traffic ; but the excuse was that they had slaves
on board, the slaves being, in one instance we under-
stand, a black valet in attendance upon one of the
passengers, and in another a black cabin boy, the
property of the captain. Now, had a shrewd
Old Bailey attorney, a common informer, or
any other of the race of landsharks, broached
such a miserable quibble as this to aid in securing
either a conviction or an acquittal, we should have
despised the man, but should not have been astonished
at his conduct; but when we find that a paltry equi-
vocation like this is had recourse to by British naval
officers, not to justify (for the outrage is unjustifi-
able), but to legalise an act of barefaced robbery and
spoliation, then we cannot withhold the expression of
our astonishment and indignation. But bad as
are these cases, there is one which, if the
facts as related be true, is infinitely worse.
It is said that a British cruiser boarded a Brazilian
coasting vessel, forced her crew and passengers on
shore, plundered her of the most ♦aluable portions of
her cargo, and then destroyed her; we could scarcely
believe the statement of this case to be true,
albeit the Brazilian Minister in his place in Parlia-
ment vouched for the accuracy of the statement, and
at the wee time brought in a Bill which has since
passed into a law, empowering the Government to
place the coasting trade of Brazil under the flag of
some more powerful nation; but the following memo-
rial addressed to Lord PALMEESTOX on the subject of
our relations with Brasil, by the Manchester Com-
mercial Association, leaves, we are sorry to say, but
little doubt on the subject :

" My Lord,—A numerous and influential deputation
of members of this association, largely engaged in the
Brazilian trade, have recently waited upon the board,
and have represented that the intelligence received from
Brazil by the last packet, and which has since appeared
in the public papers, is of a nature calculated to inspire
with the greatest alarm every British merchant engaged
in commerce with that country, the more so as the pub-
lished accounts are amply borne out by their private cor-
respondence.

''The association learns that feelings of the greatest
exasperation against the British Government prevails in
the Brazilian Legislature, and amongst the people at
large, in consequence of certain alleged acts of injustice
inflicted by our cruisers upon subjects of that state, by
the seizure and destruction of their shipping engaged in
legitimate commerce, and by the confiscation of their
cargoes without due legal investigation; and that a law
had been passed by a majority of 79 to 15 in the Lower
House of Representatives, empowering the Government
to place the coasting trade under the flag of some more
powerful nation; a mode of proceeding which, it is
feared, may be still further extended, to the incalculable
injury of British commerce, should a similar course of
what they assert to be unprovoked aggression on the
part of Great Britain be any longer persevered in.
" The association has therefore requested me respect-
fully to bring the matter under your Lordship's notice,
feeling that the magnitude of the interests involved,
whether as regards the immense importance of the
trade which may thus be placed in jeopardy or the vast
amount of British property at present in the hands of
Brazilians, will be deemed by your Lordship apology
sufficient for thus tresspassing upon your attention;
and they trust that your Lordship will cause strict
inquiry to be made into the truth of the foregoing
allegations, and, if it should be ascertained that any
substantial ground of complaint does in reality exist, your
Lordship will immediately adopt such a course as may
effectually provide against a recurrence of acts of unne-
cessary severity towards the Brazilian people ; and as
great anxiety and uncertainty prevail among the mer-
chants interested in the trade with Brazil, the association
will esteem it as a favour if your Lordship will supply
them with any information calculated to allay the ap-
prehensions which have necessarily been excited by the
advices referred to.

(Signed) " J. A. TURNER, President."
We join with the gentlemen of the Manchester
Association in their trust that Lord PALMERSTON
will cause a strict inquiry to be instituted into the
truth of these allegations, and that should the truth
be established, he will not wait for any demand
on the part of the Braailian Government, but will at
once tender the most ample amends and satisfaction.

French politics have again furnished a theme for

innumerable speculations. Withita a comparatively
brief interval from the present period the fate of her
Republican government must be decided. After
four years' maintenance of their new democratic Con-
stitution our neighbours will, in the approaching
crisis, have to deliberate upon the advisability or non-
advisability of its perpetuation. Simultaneously
with the dissolution of the Assembly the nation will
have to elect its successor. Previously to the termi•
nation of his authority Louis NAPOLEON will have
to witness the nomination of the second President,
either in his own person or in that of some more
fortunate antagonist. Aware of the struggle
of interests inevitable upon the occasion of this
twofold difficulty, the public is beginning to look
forward with no inconsiderable curiosity to the advent.
of a juncture likely to be so peculiarly memorable
both in its character and its consequences. Mean.
while in every direction we are witnessing the rise of
candidates of the most diversified description, person-
ages of all colours and temperaments, who are ambi-

tious of obtaining the suffrages of their fellow-coun-
trymen—notas representatives in the Republican Par-
liament, but as supreme rulers of the Republican Go-
vernment. Without evincing themselves any personal
solicitude in the matter, these remarkable individuals
are endeavouring indirectly to sound the depths
of public opinion is their regard through
the medium of their more enthusiastic parti-
zans, or through- the arguments advanced
in their behalf through the columns of their more
adventurous newspapers. Hence the extraordinary
spectacle recently presented in the political circles of
trench society, and the yet more extraordinary dis-
quisitions published in the political department of
French journalism. Somebody has already observed
in reference to the populace, " Let me make the
ballads and you may make the laws," while another
has remarked as pithily and as wisely, " Show me a
man's companions, I will tell you his character".—
whence the old aphoristic phrase among the Romans,
noacitur a sociis. In like manner might we make a
sententious allusion to the moral deducible
from the shopwindows of the printeellers of a
metropolis. From a somewhat similar motive it may
be perceived that one of these establishments at the
corner of Great Queen-street is from week to week
decorated with the effigies of persons recently de-
parted who happen to be gifted with any kind of
celebrity—while throughout the majority of the same

LONDON,

kind of establishments in Paris may be recognised
engravings of a nature quite as suggestive and signi-
ficant. Instead of the dead, however, these Parisian
emporiums of the fin© arts display sketches of those
among the living who are in any way calculated to
influence the world of politics, either from the tribune
or through the ballotting-box, either by proceeding
successfully in the hall of the Assembkie National
or through the porch of the Elysee, if not even of
the Tuileries. At the present time, for example, the
foot passenger may pause before a shop window pf
this description in the Rue St. Honor, and there
contemplate a very coxcomical bust of a personage,
the carriage of whose head preserves a certain ludi-
crous resemblance to that of Mr. COSTA'S, and under
the shadow of which are inscribed the nasne and title
of HENRY V., Roi de France. Elsewhere may be
seen a very different production of art in one or
other of the numberless windows of the Palais Royale,
the portrait of Louts NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
between those of Queen HORTENSE and the
Empress JOSEPHINE, the whole group being signifi-
cantly entitled Une Pen:ice—significantly we say,
as reminding us that the PRESIDENT is the son of a
King, and the grandson of an Emperor. From these
effigies it may be conjectured, and not incorrectly)
that others of the subordinate pretenders to the throne,
royal or imperial, Bourbonite or Napoleonian, are
pourtrayed in engravings of all species and dimen-
sions—among others, sketches of the Comte DB PARIS
and of the Prince DE JOINYILLE are readily
recognisable, together with lesser ones of the prin-
cipal politicians, white-headed in regard to
M. TRIERS, and lugubrious in regard to M. DR
LAMARTINE. A hint may thus be derived front
these picture-shops of Paris, and certainly as much
may be learnt from them in regard to the future as
from the lucubrations of the publicists in the different
journals, morning or evening. Especially must this
be admitted, when it is observed how adroitly M.
VERON can " turn and turn, and yet force on and
turn again," in the Journal des Dibats, and when
among the other eccentricities of the newspaper press
of the capital, we can read in the Pays one morning
a panegyric on Prince Louis NAPOLEON from the
hand of M. GUERRIONIERE, and, another, witness an
apology for its insertion from the pen of M. DE
LAMARTINE.

Altogether it must be allowed, however, that these
shiftings and changings of opinion are only such
as might have been anticipated prior to the
crisis of 1852, the wind blowing as it were variously
from all points of the compass, before the outbreak of
the storm of the next revolution, that revolution which
is admitted on all hands, in the French capital, to be
inevitable. Vnder the mask of gaiety and frivolity
the Parisians are preparing themselves for the struggle
for the fasces of the Presidency, or for the troubles of
Sovereignty. Even the terrible remembrance of the
days of June seem to be ineffectual in warning them
from the agonies of such internecine contention, and
the whites and reds at opposite extremities see already,
between the various shades of partizanship, activity
striving to be in readiness for the conflict which must
ensue so soon as the pear is ripe for the gathering.
England, in the midst of all these anti-
cipations, regards the situation of France in
her present emergency with only one sentiment,
namely, that of profound solicitude that she may
draw from anarchy the blessings of good government,
ready, as Lord PALMESTON wisely, in 1848, main-
tained we should be, to respect the decision of
the people under all circumstances, no matter
whether that decision went to the selec-
tion of a Consul, a King, a President, or an
Emperor. Fortunately the days have gone by when
the world could be plunged into war for the purpose
of forcing back an imbecile dynasty upon a nation
that recoiled from its acceptance, and when the allied
Monarchs of Europe were banded together to avenge
itself for the triumphs of democracy, but subverting the
power of the illustrious hero, at once a King and
an Emperor, who had been born from the Revolu-
tion. France may, consequently, prepare with a
more complete deliberation for the perils and anxie-
ties of that approaching crisis, upon the result of
which her social, political, and commercial positions
are alike dependent.

WHAT IS A. roma)? Such was the question ad-
dressed by Sir ROBERT PEEL to the representative
branch of the Legislature, when urging the adoption
of the Bonk Charter Act of 1844, which has been
lauded by bullionists as the necessary complement of
the monetary law of 18W—the only mode by which
the salutary system, then introduced, could be main-
tained and perpetuated. The interrogatory, although
admitting of an easy and intelligible response, was re-
ceived with the most enthusiastic applause by the aristo-
cratic claqueurs. Those who would not take the trouble
to think tor themselves, who were not qualified to un-
derstand arguments requiring any extraordinary
exertion of the intellectual powers, looked upon the
question as a decided poser, which must place the
opponents of the existing system hors de combat, and
prove perfectly decisive as to the merits of the
vezata questio.
The Right Hon. Baronet then declared that " the
whole foundation of his measure rested upon the
assumption that, according to law, according to the
monetary ,policy of this country, the meaning
of a pound is neither more nor less than
a definite quantity of gold, with a mark upon it to
denote its weight and fineness." This definition eli-
cited the most rapturous shouts from the faithful fol.
lowers of the Ministry, who were prepared to vote
that " black was white" at the command of their
leader, but who were highly gratified at being enabled
to adduce some short and pithy argument in support
(we will not say of their views, for such men had no
independent views or opinions, hut) of their votes in
the House. To such men the question was invalu-
able, for it relieved them from a difficulty that
might otherwise have proved insuperable, and
they could make their votes tally with their interests
without being subjected to the distinct charge of
venality or corruption.
But in those days the auriferous regions of Cali-
fornia were comparatively unknown, or at least its
power of producing gold in immense quantities was
not even guessed at. The " appreciation " of the
value of the circulating medium was the object to be
attained, and that could then be best attained
by placing the paper currency under the most
stringent restrictions, insisting on a golden basis for
every transaction. It was not enough to require
convertibility into gold on demand ; even that might
be got over. It would, of course, materially increase
the liabilities of debtors, and enhance in a corre-
sponding degree the property of the creditors, whether
public or private; but still it might not altogether
prove ruinous to the former, or double the fortunes of
the latter. Other measures were, therefore, essential
to limit the currency in which the contract was made,
and to enforce payment in gold, not merely at
20s. for the pound of account, which was entered
into in paper worth 135., but in gold, enhanced in
value by the necessity of keeping many millions of
pounds sterling locked up in the coffers of the Bank
utterly useless and unproductive, of no more practi-
cal benefit than an equal weight of stones; and also
by the prohibition of the smaller denominations
of notes, which have proved so beneficial in the sister
kingdoms.
A different feeling may now, however, arise
among the quondam bullionists. Although
the turn of the scale is still in their fa-
vour, it is rapidly inclining to the other side. Now
that discoveries of gold in Australia—within our own
dominions—have been brought to light; that we
know that not only are the sands of California yield-
ing almost countless treasures, but that the mountains
and rivers of Australia are giving up to the eager
seeker wealth exceeding the fancied hoards of the
Lydian monarch, until we might almost suppose
that an alchemist possessed of the secret of
the transmutation of metals, and with a large
supply of the durum potabilo, had made his experi•
meats in these regions, and that the miraculous re-
sults were at length coming to light, a decided change
will take place in their opinions. The great organ
of the bullionists candidly admits that " the accounts
from New South Wales equal if not exceed all that
the most sanguine could possibly have prognosticated
with reference to the abrupt and unlooked-for dis-
covery of almost boundless mineral wealth." Not
only have we this and the more important admission
that " that singular change in the relation of dtbtor
and creditor, which the Spanish conquest of the New
World beyond the Atlautio brought to pus, suuns