The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-20 00:00:00

THE WOOL TRADE.

The attention of the manufacturers and others engaged
n the wool trade has been drawn, during the 1a.4. three
daya, to a series of public sales of wool, the result of
which st-a-s looked for in Yorkshire, the West of Engl end
and other places where wools are extensively used with th e
greatest solicitude, the present high prices of the stavle
ziri:i4st of trade baying, in some instances, tended to indue
the mamitatturera to refrain from working to the tarn
extent they wrifig have done bad the raw material bee
attainable upon easiee terms. The demand which exis
however, for manufactured woollens rendered the importer
f colonial and other wools extr,?r.oely firm, and the sale',
as far as they have proceeded, tend to show that no chance
exists, at least for the present, of a reLluction in prices.
The stated quantity of wool declared for sale during the
present week amounted to nearly 3,200 bales, of which
nearly 2,400 bales are importations from our co!onies er
New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land. T,,e reniinde,
eonsisted of Spanish, Russian, German, Odessa, Cap.
Tuscany, and other wools.
The sales up to yesterday afternoon have been very fully
attended by buyers, and from the clothing districts ; and
taking into Consideration the quality of the wools offered,
they have obtained very firm ricer, and folly equal to the
highest rates which have been paid since the extraordinary
rise that has taken place within the last 12 months in this
important article of trade. This remark applies to the
finer qualities of wools offered at the sales which have al-
ready occurred this week. For middling and low wools
the inquiry was very brisk, and the buyers were compelled
to submit to a slight advance on the last sale's prices. The
desire to purchase colonial wools was the more eager, as
nearly the whole of the last clip has now arrived from New
South Wales and Van Diemen's Land; and the stocks ou
hand in the hands of the importers are very limited.
The colonial wools already disposed of amount to nearly
1,000 bales. The finer Australian fleeces offered obtained
from 3s. to 3s. Bd. per lb. ; the second qualities from
2s. 4d. to 3s. ; and the lower sorts from is. 4d. to
Is. 10d. per lb. The Van Diemen's Land wools, for the
finest samples offered, were sold at from 2s. to 2s. fid. per
lb., and the low qualities at from Is. 4d. to Is. 11d. per
The Spanish wools, of which above 300 bales were
sold yesterday afternoon, obtained good prices, having gone
off at from 2, Bd. to 3s. per lb. for good and fair qualities,

The exact number of persons on board the.
Lord Blayney steam-packet have been much overrated in
the accounts already published of this lamentable event.
The only cabin passenger was Mrs. Purdon, of Newry ;
and by the advices received this morning at the offices of
the Company, the whole number of souls on board is
ascertained to be under fifty, instead of eighty, as stated.—

Liverpool Courier.
A BEEF-EATER !—On Tuesday night last
a gormandising exhibition took place at the shop of Mr.
Woods, a butcher, near Bargate Drain, Boston. Oliver
Wood, a boatman, undertook, for the trifling wager of one
shilling, to devour the large quantity of two pounds of raw
beef, in the short space of 10 minutes, without either
water or bread, which task he accomplished, with much
apparent ease, to the astonishment of about 20 spectators.
We understand that the Firebrand Govern-
ment steamer, on the Irish station, has been ordered round
to Falmouth to take out Lord and Lady Howard de
Walden to Lisbon. The Firebrand will, it is expected,
return with Lord and Lady William Russell to England.
The grippe has at length reached Naples ;
and we are sorry to add that a few cases of cholera are
still to be found in the Military Hospital at Gros Caillon
and the Hotel Dieu of Paris.
A HAMPSHIRE LUNATIC.—Last week a
maniac escaped from the House of Industry, Southampton,
and entering the premises of Mrs. Llewellyn killed one
pig, and when secured was making off with another.
A hay-rick, the property of' Mr. Charles Hunt,
was maliciously set on fire on Saturday last, at Little
Compton. The County Fire Office has offered 1001.
reward for the discovery of the offender.— Gloucester
Chronicle.
SPOTS IN THE SUN.—(From a correspon-
dent of the Glamorgan Gazette and Merthyr Guardian.)
--On the 17th of last October two spots were distinctly
seen, through a good refracting telescope, near the edge of
the sun's western limb. On the Bth of November, and
for some days following, this large spot was again observed,
and at the same time traces of considerable disturbance in
the portion of the solar atmosphere occupied by the eastern
and smaller spot (now vanished), were distinctly remarked.
On M tnday, December 2, at one p.m., the larger and
only remaining spot appeared coming again to view on the
sun's disc, with small penumbra if any, and perfectly black.
Perhaps the determining the precise period of the sun's
rotation on its axis, commonly stated at 25 days and ten
hours, may be a matter of interest to some of your readers ;
if so, it may now be advantageously watched.
BOYS AND GIRLS WANTED FOR CANADA.
—A letter from Canada contains the following passage :
—" Apl in has been suggested to obtain the names of a
number of respectable persons in this province (Upper
Canada), of various denominations, from clergymen, mer-
chants, civilians, farmers, shopkeepers, and tradesmen,
do.en to the most industrious classes, to authorise an in-
dividual to proceed t 3 England, to engage for each of
them, one or two boys or girls, or both of a certain age.
I don't know how it might take in England ; but I have
no doubt the person referred to could find probably hun-
dreds, from parties unexceptionable in every respect, and
from a great number (most desirable for the children) who
would take them as apprentices, and teach them some
trade. The projector is desirous of getting opinions from
your side as to the success of the plan, before he will ven-
ture on the undertaking."
\VEYMOUTII.—NO sooner is our roadstead
cleared by one change of wind, than another succee Is, and
we again witness as it were a floatine; forest of masts, from
the number of craft with which our bay is covered ;
vessels of every description are driven in to seek that pro-
tection from the fury of the elements which they are sure
of finding in Portland Roads. Oa Thursday last, the
wind having veered round to the not thward, our bay pre-
sented one of the prettiest and gayest sights we have
seen for a long time ; the whole of the shipping which
had collected during the preceding week got under way,
and, working their course round Portland, seemed more
like a Regatta than any thing else ; the whole of the
morning engaged the attention of our fashionables by
one of the most interesting scenes imaginable. The
violence of the wind during last Tuesday have induced
the collection of a great many vessels outward bound,
who must wait another change to permit their proceeding
on their destination.— gterborna Journal.
MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR.—Last Friday after-
noon, as the workmen were employed in digging the
foundation of a wall in front of an addition to the grounds
of Miss Nelson, in Bootham, upon the site of a house
which has just been taken down, one of them was alarmed
by observing the skeleton of a hand protruding above the
surface, at the depth of three feet, and not below the
t e
foundation of the house. The earth was then removed
carefully away, and the whole of the skeleton WAS exposed.
It a
allpea appeared t
teetho b e thewe
were perfect,
of
buta boy
t,
the skull
11e seatexhibited
d
)ib of
age,
indications of much violence. A medical gentleman,
known
t thirty
a yney a rolsi f. g
so
h t Thereauppp on
who saw the remains, gave it as his opinion that they
ie
had been in their mysterious place of sepulture, which
were no indications of any remnant of wearing apparel,
nhnothinget
to parlour
elucidate
floor,
o w about
n an
o occurrence throw
this evidence of some dark and strange affair. Surely a
Coroner's inquest will be held upon these remains, and
someawnadsunder
apr
steps present
s et
taken
i-
rently recent a date.—York Courant.
A SCOTTISH GUNSMITH MADE GOVERNOR
OF MEDINA. —Among the soldiers under Toussoun Bey
who signalised their bravery at the siege of Medina was a
young Scotchman, about twenty years of age, a native of
Edinburgh, named Thomas Keith. He had served as a
gunsmith in the 72d Highlanders, during the English ex-
pedition into Egypt, where he was taken prisoner, and
purchased from a common soldier by Ahmed Bonaparte,
its whose service he changed his religion and became a
Mussulman. A favourite Sicilian Mainlouk of his master
having offered him some insult, the indignant Scotchman
drew his sword ; blows ensued, and the aggressor fell. To
escape the consequences, Keith, who now bore the name
of Ibrahim Aga, implored the protection of Mohammed
Ali's lady, who befriended him, and recommended him to
her son, Toussoun Bey. Here, again, on account of some
trifling neglect of duty, he incurred the displeasure of his
master, who gave orders that he should be put to death.
His room was beset with slaves, ready to execute the capri-
cious mandate of the prince ; but the brave fellow defy tided
the entrance with his sword fur half an hour against the
assailants, and then threw himself out of the window, and
escaped to his kind protectress. Toussounr was soon re-
eenciled ; and being sensible of Ibrahim merit and ap-
proved courage, be made him chief of his Mainlouks.
Keith was one of the two horsemen that stood by the
prince at the pass of Jedeida, on which occasion he,was
promoted to the office of treasurer—tile second in rank at
the court of a Paella. At Medina be fought with e(iril
courage, being the first man that 'wonted the breach,
and, after distinguishing himself on several other occasion.,
he was made governor of that city in April, It3lb.

:SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

Our readers are aware for the last six or
eight months the attention both of the Go-
vernment and people of the commercial States
of the Continent has been zealously directed to
the examination of their Custom-house regula-
tions, and to the means of extending their foreign
trade. They seem all to have felt and acknow-
ledged that their existing systan is bad in prin-
ciple,—that restrictions directed against the
trade of their neighbours are equally injurious
to their own,—that while partial interests are
fostered by prohibitive laws or exorbitant duties,
the general interest proportionably suffers,—
that every monopoly makes the body of the
people tributary, not only to the cupidity, but
to the unenterprising indolence or unstimulated
ignorance of the monopolists,—that, by encou-
raging those particular branches or industry
which can only thrive in the absence of foreign
competition, they diverted capital and labour from
others in which their natural advantages or acci-
dental situation could have set external competition
at defiance,tbat in bandaging trade, like the Chi-
nese female's foot, by protective laws, they prevent
its growth—and that, with the exception of those
irri;osts levied for the purposes of revenue, or
continued in a modified state to prevent a too
rapid transition from one branch of business to
another, international commerce might be safely
left to the same condition of unrestricted free-
dom as that between the different provinces of
the same kingdom. As they had all, however,
engaged in the system of protection or restricticn,
compelled in some instances by political events,
and in others led by erroneous views—it is not
only necessary for them now to acknowledge and
to be ready to adopt a wiser policy, but to ar-
range the means of escaping with the least loss
from the result of principles which are no longer
tenable. It is plain that this can only be done
in free governments by much reflection and by
extensive discussion ; that the popular mind
must be convinced how much the body of the
people are injured by the different branches of
privileged industry to which they are restricted
for their supplies, before popular opinion shall
declare for a change ; that each particular inte-
rest or manufacture which is willing to vote free
competition for all the world but itself must be
brought to see that it forms no exception to the
mass to which its own principle applies; and
that those which have hitherto shared most
largely in the protection of the Custom-house
must be prepared for making some sacri-
fice for the general good. Without such
a persuasion, the result of knowledge
and discussion, in the popular mind, it
would be dangerous for the most liberal
Administration to attempt to alter the course of
its foreign trade, or to withdraw an injurious
support from particular branches of manufacture.
Those who would be losers by the competition
of foreigners would always he sure of a large
party disposed from ignorance or faction to
join their clamours at the alleged sacrifice of
domestic to foreign industry. National jealousies
would be excited, instead of' being allayed, by a
forced or precipitate external intercourse ; every
relaxation of fiscal bondage would be stigmatized
as a concession to a hostile rival ; every stag-
nation of business would be ascribed to the
abandonment of sound old principles, and during
the necessary evils of the transition the Govern-
ment would sacrifice popularity in proportion as it
merited confidence and applause. The time has
gone by for commercial treaties framed upon the
arbitrary views of Ministers or diplomatists, with-
out any reference to the opinions of those whom
they affect; and the only way in which we can
bring foreign states to consult the interests of their
neighbours is to show them that in doing so
they surrender no advantage, but on the contrary
best promote their own welfare. The French
press has laboured zealously, and we trust
successfully, in this field of improved com-
mercial regulations for several months past,
and has been ably seconded by the repre-
sentations of the great commercial cities
to the Chambers and the Government. All
the Paris journals which we habitually pe-
ruse on this side of the water, with one ex-
ception, have declared for a greater freedom of
trade than at present exists with England ; and
that journal is the Gazette de France, the
organ of Carlism—the enemy of all liberal po-
licy, particularly the enemy of English policy,
because England is a firm ally of the improved
government of France, and therefore an enemy
to any change of system which might tend to
increase the political intimacy between the two
Governments, or the commercial intercourse'
between the two nations. The extent, however,
of its influence on this subject cannot be
great, if we measure it by the extent of its
knowledge. In its almost incredible ignorance
of English statesmen and English policy (for its
stupid blunders cannot be dignified with the
name of wilful perversion), it calls the late Mr.
Iltiskisson "Lord Hutchinson," and describes
him as "a celebrated victim immolated to in-
dustry by a steam horse, on the Manchester
rail-road." It then goes on to say that "this
unfortunate partisan of an unlimited freedom of
trade" had boasted of reducing the duty on
French silks to 30 per cent., while the duty was
really by a perfidious manceuvre maintained at
50 per cent.; that for this reduction he was as-
saulted by the silk-weavers of London ; that he
was burnt in " effigy, with the generous Bill in
favour of French industry in his hand ;" that
this commercial auto da dee was several times
repeated, " amid the universal acclamations of
this friendly people ;" that the mob besieged the
house of the Minister, that it was assailed with
the foulest projectiles, and that it was at last
broken open and pillaged ! ! Now, what will
our French neighbours say when we assure them
that there is scarcely a word of truth in all this
brutal and ignorant tissue of abuse,—that the
writer does not know even the name of the
deceased Minister whom he attacks—that there
never was any cry in London of " Down with
the French" on the occasion alluded to,—that
the Ministry took particular precaution to pre-
vent the duty actually levied from exceeding the
limits ot tie legal tariff,—and that our own
manufacturers complain, on the contrary, that
the protection, instead of exceeding 30 per cent.,
falls short of 25 ?!! The remaining passages Of
the two columns of abuse of England and English
policy is utterly beneath contempt, and therefore
we shall leave them without further exposure.
If such a representation required any antidote,
it would be found, as we have previously stated,
in the almost unanimous advocacy of liberal
commercial principles in the other Paris and
provincial journals, in an admirable petition to
the ft);4l,oefelfAeputies from the manufactu-
a. ii
ei •:
_ -yaps_ nother equally liberal and
hti i• • me!ffiArlitl,from the great commercial
--__
oritsKe; .k.the expressed opinions of
)7' :04-Itilirhoisl Optufacturing towns of Nor-
ik f •tippg:'.:
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