The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-12 00:00:00

number is entitled "Cinnamon and Pearls," and
her object is to show the folly of a govern-
ment monopolizing the produce of any colony,
in fact of haring any mercantile character what-
ever. Of the soundness of the principle that
Government should not fetter the free exercise
of the industry of the people there cannot be the
smallest shadow of a doubt; but Miss MARTI-
NEAU, in the illustration of Pearls which she has
selected, represents that the divers employed in
the fishery would have higher wages than they
now have,—would in fact have a share in the
Pearle, were the Government monopoly not to
exist. In a writer of the celebrity enjoyed by Miss
MARTINEAU, whose lapses are certain to be
seized upon by the advocates of monopoly as
arguments against the principles of which she
is the eloquent advocate, such an error should
not be overlooked. It would otherwise give a
weapon to the enemy which might be turned
against her. She might almost as well say that
doingaway with the landowners' monopoly of land
would benefit the labourer upon it. We do not
say that it is advisable for the Government to
retain the monopoly of the Pearl Fishery ; but
it is clear that it must be a property in some
one. It is not like the herring or the cod
fishery, in which as many may engage as list,
without the fishery being injured, without the
ultimate dependence of the fisherman being
cut from under him, without the possibility
of his being hurt, except by the competition
of his fellows, the only true and legitimate
means of limiting any industrious pursuit.
The oysters do not come and go, but are
there fixed on their banks, and the conse-
quence of throwing open the fishery to all at
their discretion, must soon be its ruin. The
Pearl fishery is not like the growth of cin-
namon, with which Miss MARTINEAU has
coupled it, the monopoly of which Go-
vernment has given up, for cinnamon may
may be grown by every body, the only check
to its growth being the reduction of its value
occasioned by competition. The fishery of
pearls cannot in the same way be thrown open
to all. Since then the oyster beds must be
property, we cannot see how the divers would
benefit by the Government ceasing to hold it.
Miss MARTINEAU has so often strewn her
knowledge of the principles which regulate the
wages of labour, that we are surprised at her
saying the divers would be benefited by the abo-
lition of the Government monopoly. If the
contractors who now rent the banks for the
season, or any other set of men were to become
the proprietors of them, they would not give one
farthing more to the actual workers than their
labour, governed in its price by their numbers as
compared with the demand for them, would be
worth in the market. In the very interesting
letter of Miss MARTINEAU'S, which we give
in another column, it will be seen that each
number of the Illustrations is only written the
month before it is published. It is to the want
of time for the revision of what she has penned,
occasioned by this incurable defect in her ori-
ginal plan, that we must attribute not only this
but former oversights in the series of her monthly
publications. We trust that when she comes to
reprint them, as reprinted we hope they will be,
a careful pruning will remove the irregularities
to which we refer.
As we have alluded to the letter in which
Miss MARTINEAU describes the history of her
authorship, we will take the liberty of differing
from her, when she says—" I am as far as ever
from thinking that this work has succeeded, be-
cause it has been written by me; but I think that
the want of such a work was felt by the public,
that it was sure to be caught up with eagerness."
No doubt the want of such a work was felt,
but we incline to think it required all that
marvellous combination of judgment and imagi-
nation, poetry and reality, which Miss MARTI-
NEAU so eminently possesses, to reader it suc-
cessful. The mass are yet children in the study
of political economy, and would not have
swallowed her medicine without the sugar she
has so skilfully mixed with it.

We refer with pain to a circumstance respect-
ing the seizure of smuggled goods at Dover
coining under the official guarantee of the
French Embassy. As this is a matter so
deeply affecting the honour of our courteous
friends, the French, we are sure that Prince
TALLEYRAND will take immediate steps for
clearing up the mystery which at present so
unworthily attaches to his high official
character. The public will be highly gra-
tified to learn, at the earliest possible oppor-
tunity, that the parties who have so un-
warrantably availed themselves of the official
passport of the Foreign Department in France,
are exposed and punished. We are sure that Prince
TALLEYRAND, for his own honour, will be
most desirous and active in bringing the offender
to justice.

Mr. HOPPNER.—The zeal with which this
gentleman has fulfilled the important duties of his office,
since his appointment of British Consul at Lisbon, and
the manner in which his eminent services have been
appreciated by the British merchants as well as by the
Portuguese nation, are apparent in the very honourable
and flattering testimonials he has received on the eve of
his relinquishment of office. An address, couched in
the most handsome terms, and a splendid piece of plate,
have been voted him by all the resident British mer-
chants; and a similar address has been presented to him
by the Members of the Senate, and some others of the
most distinguished Portuguese, in the name of the Por-
tuguese nation. In the former address, a strong hope
is expressed that his MAJESTY may duly appreciate the
zeal which Mr. HOPPNER has manifested in the dis-
charge of his important duties. In addition to these
very honourable and gratifying testimonials, Don PEDRO
has conferred upon him the dignity of a Commander of
the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword.
BIRMINGHAM, SEPTEMBER 10.—Monsieur
TIIIERS, Minister of Public Works in France; M. DAVID,
Councillor of State and Principal Officer of Commerce ;
M. AnoLeit DITTMORE, Inspector General of the Royal
Cavalry ; 111. VIVIEN, Deputy Councillor of State; and
M. BLANQUER, once Ditemor of the School of Commerce
at Paris, arrived at the Royal Hotel in Birmingham this
morning, and were conducted by Sir E. Thomason (the
French Consul) over his own, Mr. MinsTz's, and other
principal establishments, with which they expressed them-
selves much surprised and gratified. In the
evening they
pursued their journey to the North.

- -
The discovery of contraband goods at Dover
has created a sensatiqp in the Diplomatic circles, a-Id at
a particular Etnbassg, the parties concerned in the ti an-
baction are total►y unknown, as it is asserted.