The Sun.
London, England, 1833-11-04 00:00:00

and irresistible a form.— iliorning Herald.

The proceedings at the annual meeiing of the
Buckinghamshire Agricultural Association, a
report of which will be fo•ind in another part of
our paper, will he read with equal interest and
satisfaction by all who are capable of appreci-
ating the magnitude and vital importance of that
national interest whose maintenance and pros-
perity are the declared objects and the natural
effect of such institutions. The landed interest,

including under those general terms the immense
classes of landlords, farmers, and agricultural

. _
labourers, together with the very numerous body
of dealers and artiz ins whose trade and employ-
ment are immediately dependant upon the
owners and cultivators of the soil, _ may less

properly be considered as the most valuable and
important division of society than as the solid
groundwork and foundation upon which the
whole fabric of society is built, as the massive
basis by which, in every stage and compartment
of its varied and magnificent superstructure, the
social edifice is supported. It would seem almost
incredible, if the time did not give it proof, that
an interest so powerful and so important as that
ofagriculture, an interest with the welfare of which
that of every other interest in the comtnuniiy
is inseparably interwoven, should not only have
lost the degree of authority and influence
in the conduct of public affairs, and in the
economical arrangements of society, to which its
magnitude and value give it an unquestionable
claim, but should be threatened even with so
complete a deprivation of political power as
would leave it exposed to the assaults of daring
and reckless theorists, without the means of

making any efficient effort for its own preserva•
tion. That this is an accurate description o
the actual situation of the landed interest is fell

and acknowledged by its warmest friends, while
the same appalling truth is attested still more
clearly by the activity, energy, and confidence of
its systematic assailants. Why is a state of
things at once so unnatural and dangerous per-
mitted to exist ? This question seems to admit
of only one reply. The landed interest is not
sufficiently alive to the danger which impends
over it. It relies with overweening confidence
on the natural strength of its position. Con-
scious that it has no interest distinct from the
interests of society at large, it resigns to society
at large the duty of protecting it. This is a pe-
rilous mistake, and if not promptly and effec-
tually corrected will produce the most fatal
consequences. The owners and occupiers of
land are too apt to forget the increase of strength
which their opponents derive from artificial
combination, and the impression which they
labour not unsuccessfully to create upon the
imagination and convictions of large classes of
the community by dint of mere clamour and
noise. Do we recommend the agricultural
classes to resort to the same questionable expe-
dients for their own protection that are employed
so diligently and unscrupulously against them?
Far from it. We cad upon then to imitate the
conduct of the landlords and farmers of the
county of Buckingham, and to imitate no part
of their conduct more closely than that in which
it presents the most striking contrast to the clubs
and unions, which, having been fostered and
petted by feeble and selfish Ministers, have be-
come so powerful that they think they may
securely defy the law, and so arrogant that they
deem themselves qualified and entitled to domi
neer over society. 'The associations which
the lanled interest ought to form are such
as would cement togs tiler the various classes
of which it is composed, by the firm amid
indissoluble ties of reciprocal benevolence
and of a common patriotism. These
would not be dangerous or factious unions,
for the objects which it would be their
business and duty to pursue are such as tend
directly to the welfare of society at large ; such
as can be accomplished by no other means than
the combined efF.,rts of men engaged in agricul-
ture ; such as imply no disobedience to the
laws, no di-respect to any of the constilited
authorities of the State, no collision or conflict
with any other division of society in any case,
but that of an attempt to sacrifice the interest of
British to that of foreign agriculture. While
hese associations endeavour to elevate the
el:1r Icier and improve the condition of the agri-
cultural !about ers in the several districts
whrre they are established—while, by affording
facilities for the free and frequent communication
of discoveries and improvements, eney assist
the progressive ad: ante tient of agricultural
science, and impart in effect to the soil of Great
Britain an increase of productive power—their
establishment must be hailed by men of all opi-
nions as a great national benefit. How different
the fine which must attend upon success in
enterprises lik these to the noise arid clamour
excited by institutions which seek, by the loud
expression of opinion itierely, to overrule or
overawe the Legislature, and thus to produce in
their owl) favour a new distribution of the
national income or the national burdens. The
more we hear of agricultural associations, in
reference to these their primary and i,tanediate
objects, the greater must of necessity become
om
the social influence and political power of the
agricultural body, the more remote is the period
at which it may be required to embark, in a direct
struggle for its own defence and protection,
against any assailants, and the more vigorous
and effective will be its efforts whenever that
season of resistance shall arrive. We sincerely
hope, that there will soon be no agricultural dis-
trict in Great Britain, without
the
yei(. Norbe s onetdo sense w
ste in
osf'ethpeeswrechelievie
any difficulties in the way of their universal
ddfusin
w, d
ex-
cellent institutions, which may truly be denomi-
iansailryy
surmount.
resolution
that
denomi-
nated
conservative,uwhich
ordinary e
term can be e
anTdheonly
perse-
verance
thing that is really required to secure the speedy
lnot
accomplishment of our desire is, that the natural
leaders of the agricultural
classes should duly
appreciate the vast increase of social importance,
authority, and value which
they, and the great
body at the head of which they Have the honour
to stand, could not fail to
derive from the mere
practice of habitual and systematic co-operation,

directed to useful an .l benevolent ends. It may

be true, as a'► Evening Contemporary remarks,

that every county in England does not possess
a Nobleman so distinguished as the Marquis

of Chandos for all the talents and the virtues

hat can contribute to the success of any salutary

and popular undertaking. But we should be
sorry indeed to think that there is any county
or even any important district in Great Britain
without a body of landed gentry, capable of
combining their own exertions, and of stimu-
lating and guiding the exertions of their humbler
neighbours, in pursuit of objects of vital im-
portance to themselves—to all who surround
them—to the country at large.—Morning Post.
That reform of the East India Comp•tny's char-
ter by which the trade with China was thrown open
is, we believe, regarded by the public as one of
the most important labours of the last session,
and it is satisfactory to observe that the pros-
pect of the advantages to be derived from
this great measure of our much-reviled Parlia-

ment becomes more certain and extensive as the

period of its operation approacties. Its benefi
cial influence will not be confined to the trade

of this country and that of our Indian posses-
sions with the Celestial Empire ; new channels

of commerce, through which the fruitg of British

industry may find a profitable vent, will
speedily be opened in distant regions. The
western coast of Sou' h America affords great
facilities fur traffic with China, hut all specnla-
Lion in that trade, on the part of the enterpri-ing
English merchants, who have formed commercial

establishments in Chili and Peru, has hitherto

been impeded by the monopoly of the East I
India Company. British vessels which carried
out cargoes to South America could not be
freighted for Canton ; and any merchant who
might wish to engage in that branch of com-
merce found himself under the neces,il
of empl( ying the flag of the United States.
Hence, the whole of the carrying part of this
profitable trade has been engrossed by North
American shipping. The following extract of a
letter just received from Chiii contains a brief
repetition of the complaint often made on this
subject. It was written before the steps taken
by Ministers and the reformed Parliament for
abolishing the mischievous monopoly could be
known in that part of the world :

" VALPARAISO DE CHILI, JUNK 22, 1833.

" We poor devils in Chili, whose only fault is that we
are English, csnnot trade to China, consequently master
Yankee carries on all that nice little business. When will
your sabios see clearly? The French are now starting,
and a friend of mine, M. -, has just left, on a second
trip to China, in the Adhemar, having freighted before a
Yankee, and made a good 20,000 dollars on the adven.

ture. I hope your present Ministry will, in their libe-
rality, throw open to Jona Bull this pretty trade. It
would much enliven us here."

While on this subject we may take the oppor-
tunity of inserting an account of the Dutch
trade with China, taken from the Staats Courant,
the official paper of the Cabinet of the Hague
That paper of the SOtli ultimo announces the
receipt of intelligence from Java to the 16th of
May, and after extracting from the journals
some official documents published by the Gover-
nor-General, relative to the coercive measures
adopted by England and France against Hol-
land, adds—

" The same Javanese Courants contain an interesting
review of the trade carried on with Canton under the
Netherlands flag during the year 1832. It appears that
in the course of that year three ships (the Batavier, Jean..
nette, Philippine and Anthony) imported into Canton.
direct from Holland, merchandise to the value of 50,419
Spanish dollars,—namely, 48,640 in palemeits, and the
rest in cottons and Geneva. The same ships returned
with tea to the value of 503,000 dollars, and other articles,
such as ginger, ca'sia, rattans, and japan ware, worth
5,615 dollars. Ten ships which sailed from Java
under the Netherlands flag conveyed cargoes to Canton
worth 457,128 dol., con..isting of rice equivalent to
224,250 tin to 40,975 dol., birds' nests to 36,000
dol., Ike. Seven of those ships have returned from
Canton to Java with cargoes valued at 148,000 dol., 01
which 22,800 dol. are for silk stuffs, 13,000 dol. for
Chinese linen, 30,000 dol. for amfion, 40,000 dol. for
;taper, ivory, japan ware, Sac. With respect to the trade
with China in general, one of the Javanese Courants
makes the following statement :
" An account of the opium trade to Lintin (at the
entrance of the river of Canton) shows that, notwithstand-
ing the prohibitory laws cf the Celestial Empire, there had
been introduced during the year 1832 no less than 21,0624
chests, estimated to be worth 13,917 426 dol.
" Several efforts have been made by the English to
establish commercial relations with the northern ports of
China. The Chinese Gavernmeot has, on that account,
despatched strict orders to the Governors of the maritime
provinces to frurrate these attempts. But the importation
of opium into Lintin sufficiently asp! iins the manner in
which such orders are likely to be executed by the Chinese
authorities."— Times.
On 'Wednesday last, the Buckinghamshire
A4ricultural Association held their annual
meeting, the Marquis of Chandos in the Chair.
Ihe great topic at ,his meeting was agricultural
distress; and the very first resolution proposed
was, that " the present system of the corn laws
ought not to be altered." Some other resolu-
ti uis were proposed, to which no great import-
ance could be attached, by the members of the
association theinselves—such as proposing re-
wards to the labourers who brought up the
greatest number of children without receiving
support from the parish. We tear mat ers are
too far gone for ent-rtaining much hope from
such a proceeding. The country gentlemen seem
now fully alive to the danger with which they
are tilt eatened by dissatisfied labourers ; and the
anxiety of the Marquis of Chandos and the
other Buckinghamshire laud owner:, " so to plait
it ttiat the poor man shall have an induce-
ment to keep himself independent of the parish
—.hat he should have a proper stirnttios set
before him, which should urge him on to
maintain himself and his family without parochial
aid," is so far consolatory, that we need no longer
fear opposition from them to any plan for im-
proving the administration of the poor laws. The
agriculturists are determined on two things—to
oppo-e any alteration of the Corn Laws ; and to
effect a repeal of the Malt Tax. With respect
to the former subject the Marquis says, " Wriar-
ever may be the assurance to the contrary, and
however you may be lulled into a false security
from believing that the question of the repeal of
the Corn Laws was set at rest last session, yet
it is my duty to tell you, that I know most cer-
tainly, whatever may be the views and intentions
of the Government, that the question of the re-
peal will be brought forward at the next session,
and supported by all the strength of its advo-
cates. There is a spirit abroad in the manufac-
turing districts which will find its vent in their
Representatives in Parliament, and if you would
successfully resist their powerful efforts, you
must be awake and stirring." The Marquis, after
alluding to the resistance of the Assessed
Taxes, observes, " I tell you that these taxes
will be conceded by the Government, and
they will yield to the disloyal efforts of men,
whom they should have compelled, in the first
instance, into proper and loyal behaviour." The
Noble Marquis is, however, determined to try
whether the 'Squires may not beat the inhabitants
Of towns, and pocket the malt tax. " I urge
as men who have their all to look
forward and advocate your own
to, to
t (heo cosi anyes)