The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-21 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

TEA TRADE.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE COURIER, UPON THE SUBJECT

OE THE TEA MITI ES. -BY JOHN TRA VERS.

Second Edition, with Additions. Wilson, Royal Exchange.

When an end was put to the East India Company's
monopoly of the trade with China, it followed as a ne-
cessary consequence, that an alteration should be made
in the mode of levying the duty on tea. Under the
old system the tea was sold by public auction, and the
duty, being ad valorem, was levied without any diffi-
culty, and without reference to the name or distinction
affixed to the articles sold, by which it was in no way
affected. It was regulated entirely by the price ob-
tained at the sale, to which price it always bore an
exact proportion, or rather stood in the relation of per-
fect equality, for whatever the price was, such, to a
farthing, was the duty. So arbitrary and indefinite,
indeed, were those names and distinctions, and so little
regarded as indications of quality, that it was by no
means uncommon for the inferior denomination to ex-
ceed the superior in price ; Bohea, for instance, often
selling dearer, and consequently paying a higher duty,
than Congou, and Congou than Souchong. This is
a fact which it is material to keep in view, for it is to
the disregard of it that we may attribute the blundering
legislation which has produced the war now raging
between the Government and the tea trade, and which,
if a timely remedy be not applied, is likely, we fear, to
produce consequences of a much more serious nature.
With a system of free trade (there being no means
of ascertaining prices) the mode of taxation which we
have described, and which was well adapted to a mo-
nopoly, was manifestly incompatible. It was equally
manifest that a substitute was to be found only in one
or other of the two following plans : Either the same
duty must be laid on all descriptions of tea, or a dif-
ferent duty on different descriptions. The former is
designated, in the tea controversy, the fixed duty, the
latter the scale of duties. Which of these plans is the
best ? This was the question which the Government
had to decide ; and when the extent to which it in-
volves the interests of the revenue and the comforts of
the public is considered, we shall not be accused of
exaggerating its importance, when we say that they
ought not to have decided it without resorting to every
accessible source of information, for the guidance of
their judgment. So far from following this course,
dictated alike by the magnitude of the interests at
stake, and their own want of experience, they seem to
have entertained a morbid apprehension, lest any

mering of practical light should break in to disturb
their theoretic dreams. They eschewed most scrupo'
lously all communication with the tea trade, brought a
bill into the House of Comm Ons without giving them no-
tice of their intention, and passed the bill through the
House in the space of five days ; thus setting an cora:
ple of fair dealing to the trade, by commencing their
new system with a smuggling transaction. And after
all, the provisions of the Act, instead of being in
.ac-
cordance with the principle of taxation, avowed by 1,0
promoters, and advocated by their partizans, are totally
irreconcileable with that principle.

LETTERS TO A MOTHER ON EDUCATIOS.

By the Rev. J. J. DENHAM.
Wood and Son, 1834.
, (I
" Difficile est proprie communia dicere
amongst these common, yet difficult topics, educe°
seems to be ona of the most difficult. The good inters't
tions of our author it would be impossible to de'b
t'
nor can we in justice deny him a fair portion ofen
tal
but he certainly wants the art of telling dry facts ple,e:
santly. A book to be useful, must, we presume,
read
read ; and we cannot even guess at any class of readers
who are likely to wade through this goodly duodecimo'
in which nothing is advanced that is new, and in
which the old gains no interest whatever from the inciae
of its narration. To all this the author would Pro,
Itably reply in the words of his preface, that—
OP°
They were most truly written extempore, both as to t the
and style. It will only be necessary to state these facts t°
„a$
considerate reader, to bespeak his allowance for their nutne'
imperfections. hc
Now, of all excuses, this is about the worst that es't
offered for a defective work. What matters it to thl
oil
public how a book was written, whether standing ot
one foot or on two, with a crow-quill or with one re
Bramah's patents ? All that the readers c'tilie
about, or have a right to care about,
Place
real, intrinsic worth of the book that is ra bv
before them ; if good, its merit will not be lessened of
the fact of its having been penned at little expense at
labour ; and if bad, it is no satisfaction to be told t for
it was written in a hurry, and was never intended
publication.
AIVES AND PORTRAITS OF THE rEO
BRATED WOMEN OF ALL COUNTRIt'''
PART IV. BY THE DUCHESS OF ABILINTES.
London : Bull and Churton. 1834. htitil
We have received the Fourth Part of this debtP of
work, containing the lives and portraits of Christiluit4 ,
Sweden, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, Marie be
toinette, and Mary of Medicis. No lady should
e.g
without it. It is a work which does its 01 ir
much credit, and which cannot fail to delight all or,
struct its readers. Madame d'Abrantes is, 1004
rather too severe upon the brilliant but half stislii'eti
Christina of Sweden, and does not seem to have f°lfi'or
a proper estimate of her character, or made due
antes for the extraordinary education she receirite
But we can forgive the amiable and talented eig
for not dwelling too long upon so unfeminine 3
ple-
as the bold and fiery Queen of the North. In lier„voo
moir of the unhappy Marie Antoinette she is iilet
more congenial ground, and her heart warms "'it The
subject, and there we will hasten to meet her' of
sad details of the melancholy history of the Que.evilaci.
Louis XVI. have long been familiar to us, but with
d'Abrantes has narrated each mournful incideetolty
so much grace, and thrown such charms of e°ifwe
over the well-known story, that it seemed to us aSit
were reading it for the first time ; we felt as niticiroawn
terest in the development of the plot, and were c '
on as irresistibly by it, as ever we were by the fss, die
tions of romance. This memoir is undoubtedl)ore
best written in the book, and after its perusal 'lei, tIO
led to exclaim, and not for the first time, I°l,olo
beautiful and hapless Madame Roland,—" 0., thi
holy liberty I what crimes have been committed 11-racer
name I But it is vain to expect that beauty g
and innocence, powerful as they usually are, e'in.a/
cessfully stem or escape the torrent of revoluti-
, 016
strength to decide, and wisdom to avoid, these nr-0
requisites for going unharmed through so st°coth.
period, and Louis the Sixteenth was deficient in 51;0
The following passages, from the Life of C"r" hadof Sweden, are amusing enough—we wish roYilitYA' fter,
never been guilty of antics more disastrous. ow
abdicating the Crown of Sweden, she remain' 110'
months in France, on her way to Italy' rill
demoiselle d'Orleans, during her residence lg otw
eagerly sought the young Queen's acquaintal her
having taken her once to the play, she descr%be
behaviour there in the following terms :
" During the performance she spoke very loud,
passages which pleased her, and not unfrequently m r 1e65 la
of oaths. She leaned over her chair, and threwl
either side, sometimes even over the a' rms of her ch:l.
short, she put herself into postures which I had ne .eOl0-e.
executed before, save by Jodelet or Trivelin, the 19
banks." esl)
The following is the description of her 1-"
ei
appearance when retiring to rest : ooeer
" I found Christina in bed (says Mademoiselle) bene'oo
the rooms usually occupied by my female attendants ;pd nip
I sleep at Montargis. One solitary candle was ben ilaP
the table. Instead of a night-cap, Christina had
tied round her head, and not a single hair was to Iv
' her head had been shaved a short time previously.., lc; of
close bed-gown, without a collar, and fastened larvisy °°‘
bow of red riband. The sheets reached only ba' $
the bed, and over them was thrown an old green eirtristill
Notwithstanding all these eccentricities, ti old
was a clever and able woman, and her intellect, °chef
of too masculine a stamp, was much in aavluce. port
is
age and country. In conclusion, we wisli th
the success which it so abundantly merits.
deter;
PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.-it„.i: 14°,55.f0
mined to prorogue Parliament on Thursday nel;bich
and 6 Committee-rooms of the House of Lords' the
escaped injury from the late conflagration. Aters,
The Duke of Newcastle and his (13tes, tes9
Ladies Clinton, have left Hafod, their seat in ';--„ci coupan,io
rived on Sunday se'nnight on a visit to the Earl e,:ich ec-ocal;
of Lincoln, at Ashton Hall, near Lancaster, 00 wA'iiierrYloto
tTNlvibeeesbteumlleosrkeoelfabnatdhs,e parish church rang a long rian,,,`"
leftberlae
asinndcethen
ee ftoorctihuemblearkepsarokf.
recove;leo,!
The Duke of Northumberland has so t the
from his recent illness as to be able to be presell„,htuarsclsi 'algO
wick Sessions print which took place werferrif
Above 300 of theipal inhabitants of the eotl2.ri 0' ;AO
present,rvai Lordwith and L
the Duchess
R tb
aovfe
env Northumberlandcrr
ke
Ossauthe
Georiana Grey, Hon. Colonel Grey, IVlrs.
, goo. I
Brandglings, Sir Charles Dalbiac, Miss Dalb'ae'
Liddell, Matthew Bell, Esq., M. P., ea' star
THE EARL OF DERBY.—We lamelt ;n it
that an express arrived yesterday from Knowsley r:rdship.,4o
cashire, stating—" When you receive this, his who
be no more r--The Earl and Countess of 'Wilton, coe
on a visit to the Stanley family, left the house
ana
,c e
of the venerable Peer having lost his hearing eech' fr°
of6ce'
a fit of apoplexy.
Exchequer- per;
Lord Brougham arrived at th for the
adjoining the House of Lords, yestc.rday morning: .ch thcos
pose of making inquiries as tz, the manner
.in :dm
the
ra at'
originated. Among gentlemen who visited the 0.17
the morning were sir C. Grant and several member
liament. Mr. and Mrs. Fairlie, the son and daugol.so.
A young man who was en tbat * g
of Sir C. Manners Sutton, likewise visited
brninthe prep
aged
g
t Or
chequer tallies has, it appears, acknowledged „,•ttoes_
must have originated in the flues.
.Severaliudividus
brought back during the morning• by different
f slii°lli whose houses they had been deposited.
ce,
able party are still at their romantic cottagbe.satGtrua c
Rothiemurchus. On Monday se'nnight i or•
panied by his son, Lord Alexander Russellb. and
The Duke and Duchess of Bedford and
~9;
Lord Fordwich, eldest son of Earl cowy loop,
to
said, to be Under Secretary of State for Foreign,`,;ar:
the room of Sir George Shee. We understand th
Landseer, arrived at Inverness from Dunro in Cased:: is, it
Head, and Mr. Gulstone of Coventry, are to be
ivy
Commissioners
~.
seiilournduerntihteedPosorerLvai:
Club Act. ocov, to
The
are rjr,,
apartments at the Carlton Hotel, Regent-street; e“
repair of their house.

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