The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-30 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 30, 1860,

which did not convey the idea of its having been
either comfortable or fragrant as an abode, although
it was probably at least as much so as the Moorish
habitations we have hitherto seen. At the foot of
the Cordillera, just at the entrance to the pass, stood
a small hamlet, or rather an insignificant group of
huts of the very rudest description. A roof of rushes,
supported on a framework of crooked sticks, more or
less twined and bound together with branches or
reeds, without windows and with a hole instead of
a door, seems to content the population of this dis-
trict as a dwelling. The huts in question are now
burnt. They were, of course, deserted by their in-
habitants, but I nevertheless suspect that a large
amount of animal life must have been destroyed in
the flames.

FREE TRADE IN FRANCE.

The original`-articles in the Paris journals are
not of great importance, that presenting most inte-
rest being in the Debater and showing the general
effects of reduced duties on various articles of con-

sumption. Referring to the well-known law of
political economy that the principle of competi-
tion, when applied with prudence, measures, and
opportuneness, has invariably been productive
of good results for the movement of labour and of
business, our contemporary gives some examples to
prove the correctness of the rule in question. One
of its most striking instances is the state of the silk
trade in England before 1825 and at present. Pre-
viously to that year but comparatively little silk
was worked up in the United Kingdom, and the
trade was protected by prohibition. But in 1852 the
Government then resolved to remove the pro-
hibition affectinc, foreign silk and substituted for it
high duties. Great was the alarm expressed by
English manufacturers, who affirmed that their
complete rain must be the inevitable consequence
of the measure. Such however was not by any
means the case, as is demonstrated by our contem-
porary in these terms :
" The average quantity of silk used in the Eng-
lish manufactories had up to that time kept at
about 1,000,000 kilogrammes. Six years after the
removal of the prohibition, the average reached
1,695,171 kilogs., so that the manufacture certainly
had not fallen of. In 1835, the duty on silk was
again reduced, and in another six years the manu-
factures rose to 2,470 175 kilogs. That is not all.;
in 1845 a fresh reduction took place, and from that
period to 1856 trio consumption increased to
3,143,786 kilogs. Finally, in 1857, it reached
4,860,000 kilos., that is to say, five tines the quan-
tity of that which existed when the manufacture
was protected by prohibition. This appears very
remarkable, and the English manufacturers who
were to have been all ruined by the removal of the
prohibition, appear to be now in a good state. It
is in like manner that the reform of the corn laws
destroyed English agriculture, the ruin of which
was predicted in Parliament ; and that the encou-
ragement given in France to beet-root sugar de-
stroyed the production of her colonies. It was thus,
also, that the reduction of the import duty on cattle
was followed by an invasion of foreign oxen, pre-
dicted by an illustrious marshal, who declared in
the Tribune that he should prefer seeing an invasion
of Cossacks ; and, lastly, it was this that the re-
duction of the duties on rough castings, in 1853,
caused torrents of the English article to flow into
France, the average import in that year being from
25,000 to 26,000 tons, and in 1859, 26,000 tons."l
Another instance adduced by the Debats is that of
coffee, as showing not only the increase in the con-
sumption arising. from lower duties, but the vast
diminution in price. It says :
" In 1825, the English Parliament authorised
a reduction in the duty on coffee, and the con-
sumption, which in 1823-24 averaged 3,800,000
kilos., had increased in 1833-34 to 10,500,000
kilos. The revenue lost nothing, for the receipts
on that article rose from 10,600,000 f. to more
than 15,000,000 f.; and as to the price, which before
the reduction was from 144 f. to 260 f., according to
quality, it rose immediately to from 183 f. to 284 f.
This rise in price was not permanent, for otherwise
the reduction of the duty would have defeated the
object intended, for the price afterwards gradually
came down to 105 fr. and 213 fr. The consumption of
coffee in England now amounts to nearly 17,000,000
kilos. Another cause has effectually assiated in this
increase, and that is the progressive reductions
made in the duty on sugar, which in 30 years have
brought up the consumption in England from
180,000,000 kilos. to 432,000,000 kilos. In France
the consumption is 200,000,000 kilos." As a
further proof of the advantages of free
competition, the writer points to the state of
the wool trade in France, and shows that from
1834 to 1858 the exports of woollen manufactured
goods have increased from 27 millions of francs to-
-166. "Should we," he asks most pertinently,
" have arrived at such results had we maintained
otr former high duties on the article P" All the
experience of these latter years gives a decided ne-
gative to the question.
Very few of the Paris journals remark on the late
discussion in the English Parliament on the Address
to the Queen. The Debats, however, constitutes
an exception, making some rather sharp observa-
tions on the language of Mr. Disraeli, whom it
accuses of the very gravest fault in a statesman—
ignorance of the subject on which he speaks. It
may be as well to remind our readers that the
Tory party, not being able with any consistency to
openly oppose the foreign policy of the Palmerston
Cabinet, endeavours to effect its purpose by a sort
of side-wind, and so attacks the commercial treaty
with France. The great argument brought for-
ward against that arrangement is, that no neces-
sity exists for its completion, and that it infringes
the principles of liberty which form the theoretical
basis of all commercial policy in Great Britain.
The leader of the Opposition in the House of Com-
mons having assigned such reasons for objecting to
the treaty, is thus spoken of by the Paris journal :
" Mr. Disraeli made a singular mistake in de-
claring that a treaty was not at all necessary in
order to change the commercial policy of France.
Mr. Disraeli's argument, betray astonishing ignor-
ance of French institutions, as Lord Palmerston
found no difficulty in showing. Mr. Disraeli
stated that a law was presented to the Legislative
Body in 1856 to inaugurate a new commercial
policy in France ; that the law did not pass no
doubt owing to the advanced period of the session,'
but that the Government, after consulting the
councils-general, had engaged to put the new sys-
tem in vigour in 1861. Mr. Disraeli, therefore,
asks why the English Government consented to
sign a treaty of commerce, since the engagement of
the French Government for 1861 came to the same
thing: ' What have you gained by this infraction
of principles and by this treaty ? exclaims Mr,
Disraeli. It is evident that the hon. gentleman has
fallen into the serious error of supposing that the
declaration of the French Government, which post-
poned the project of reforming the commercial code
till 1861, was equivalent to a law. In 1861, as in
1856, the intentions of the French Government can
only become law with the assent of the Legislative
Body; it is therefore that important formality
which Mr. Disraeli does not take into account,
either because he is not aware that the consent of
the Legislative Body is necessary to the enactment
of laws, or because he wrongly supposes that the
Legislative Body can in no case withhold its con-
sent. But Lord Palmerston, who seems much better
versed in our institutions than any other member
of the English Parliament, stated the real facts of
the case, and clearly proved the absolute necessity
of this treaty of commerce, which appeared so use-
less to Mr. Disraeli:—€ It certainly is true that it
is not desirable that this country should enter into
conventions and engagements with other countries
respecting tariffs and customs duties. But in the
present instance, there are peculiar circumstances
connected with the French Constitution and sys-
tem of legislation which prevented us from obtain-
ing from France that security for future arrange-
ments which it was essential ye should obtain,
unless the transaction assumed the character of a
convention between the two Governments. It
is an exceptional arrangement, and not to be judged
of by the general principle on which matters of this
kind should bo conducted.' It is manifest from
this explanation that the English Government has
endeavoured to conciliate the circumstances of the
French Government, which coul-1 not effect this
reform otherwise than by a treaty of commerce,
with the English institutions, which do not allow
so ;,important an act to escape the control and
sanction of Parliament."
To further elucidate the point thus explained
by the English Ministvr, we subjoin the article
of the constitution (Jan. 14, 1852) which regulates
the question :
" Art 6. The President of the Republic is the
Head of the State ; he commands the land and sea
forces, declares war, makes treaties of peace, alli-
ance, and commerce."
Art 3 of the Senatus Consultum, modifying
the Constitution after the proclamation of the Em-
pire, says :-
1 " Treaties of commerce made in virtue of Art.
6 of the Constitution have the force of laws for
the modifications of the tariff therein stipulated."
Under the title of" Le 89 du Travail," the Pays
publishes a long article on the advantages which
the commercial treaty is likely to confer on the
working classes in France. After showing that
during the last sixty years much has been effected
for the comfort of the lower portions of the popu-
lation, the writer points to the fact that in the
country districts a great amelioration is still
called for. As the new organisation of labour will
have the effect of reducing the cost of wearing
apparel, the working classes must of necessity
profit by that improvement, as well as by the re-
duction in the coat of several of the most ordinary
articles of consumption. The writer then refers
to the conditions required for effecting theproposed
modification in the commercial duties, and says ;
" Three things were necessary, without reckon-
ing the intelligence and liberalism of the Imperial
policy, in order to undertake usefully the great
economic reforms set forth in the Emperor's letter
independently
fi fna
avno
cuers a b
bl
ee staten g of
n opposingo
af thegood finances,state t
interests.
h peace, ce, and
institutions which would allow the Sovereign to
—ac
theta
could not have left the budget in equilibrium, while
andmp uasnhenjoirgt, onannf
rdtohmwe
the sacrifices made by the treasury would not find
considerablehPiui public i
relieving works
duties.
sugar,n a n
Without
cito extraordinary
hffoeultereshaouorueiyt:
p
in an increase of agricultural and commercial acti-

vity and improved consumption, the necessary com-
pensations. Lastly, with a constitution like that
which ruled France from 1815 to 1851, the Sove-
reign would have been obliged to make the reforms
subordinate to the appreciation and to the consent
of the very interests which they are precisely in-
tended to interfere with."
The writer then proceeds to show, when habits
have become inveterate, it is most difficult to change
them and get useful reforms introduced :
" The Chambers of Commerce when consulted by
' Louis XVI. in 1857 on the utility of removing the
internal cestom-houses which isolated the different
provinces, and burdened national productions with
enormous duties, declared by a majority in favour
of their maintenance. The Parliament of Paris
itself, when an edict was presented to it for esta-
blishing an equity of taxation for all classes of citi-
zens, refuses to enregister it, as being unjust. The
consequence was that there was a riot among the
Parisians and blood was shed in supporting the
Parliament against the King. Under the Govern-
ment of July, the Chamber of Deputies several times
voted the reduction of the interest on Rente, but
the Chamber of Peers always rejected it. It is there-
fore very natural that the branches of industry
which monopolise the national market should pro-
test against the introduction, even with differential
duties, of foreign merchandise; and if the constitu-
tion had not given to the Sovereign the power of
concluding the treaty of commerce with England,
the interests which it affects, however slightly,
would have opposed probably insurmountable ob-
stacles."

(CARIB dLDI ON THE BRITISH-

VOLUNTEERS.

The editor of the Court Journal having written
to Garibaldi for his opinion on the British volun-
teer movement, the following answer has been re-
turned: —" As regards the volunteer force, I believe
that England has done the best thing possible in
availing herself of such an armament, and that this
wise measure will render her territory impregnable
against any foreign invasion. Would that my
country would follow the example ! Above all
theory in the art of warfare, one practical fact
reigns triumphant—' defeat the enemy'—a truth
that will always triumph over all theories. The
retreat of the most disciplined troops of Austria
before the less disciplined Zouaves proves that a
man may be a soldier without wearing a tight
tunic or a tight cravat. The shepherds of Paulus
Emilius, armed only with daggers, rushing on the
Macedonian phalanx, those terrible conquerors of
Asia—the clouds of French Voltigeurs of the Army
of the Republic—and, lastly, the Bersaglicri and
Zouaves at St. Martino, Magenta, Solferino, and
Palestro—prove that masses are not alone useful
in battle fields, and that Volunteers, Bersaglieri,
and Zouaves, need not learn how to fight in close
order, like troops of the line. Discipline is, no
doubt, the basis of the organisation of all arma-
ments, and without it war cannot be correctly
carried on ; but why should not volunteers, who
have sworn not to abandon their standards during
the danger of their country, have the same disci-
pline as regular corps ? Are patriotism and en-
thusiasm such despicable and heterogeneous senti-
ments as to destroy regularity in national troops?
Certainly they are not despicable, since, in every
war, a wise chief derives advantages from them in
his harangues and his proclamations ; and the
First Napoleon, who was master of half Europe,
and the best army in the world, was defeated
by the patriotism of the English so-called shop-
keepers, of whom he appeared to have no great
opinion. If Great Britain organises her 200,000
volunteers, it will form the nucleus of a million
of armed patriots, in case of need, if she con-
tinues to train them (and that will not be diffi-
cult for the English), so that they become as
disciplined as regular troops—we shall then see who
will dare to invade the asylum of all, and the pro-
tectress of the universe. I believe that the theory
of great regularity of the masses and lines is gene-
rally carried too far, and that the open order of
battle is too much neglected, as it has become nece-
sary, through the perfection of fire-arms, and
through the obstacles that cultivation has accumu-
lated at every step. If there is a country in Europe
that has served for fields of battle, and continues to
do so, that country is certainly and, unfortunatly,
Italy. How many places are there in Italy where
a squadron formed in line, or a regiment in square,
could fight ? I believe that there are very few. On
the other hand, places may be found in all direc-
tions which are adapted to the Bersaglieri. In
short, I think that several lines of Bersaglieri, sus-
tained by a few masses of troops, would be the most
convenient order of battle in our country, and in
many others ; and that volunteers can be adapted,
for this end, to the same kind of manceuvres as the
troops of the line. I have read the valuable paper
by Sir John Burgoyne, on volunteers; and, although
I do not know enough English, and have not had
the time to form a thorough judgment upon it, it
seems to me to be the work of an intelligent soldier,
who has seen many fields of battle. Ido not, how-
ever, agree with him that 50,000 veterans will

defeat 100,000 volunteers, if the latter have the dis-
cipline that all troops ought to have ; and that they
are, as may be imagined, animated by the love of
their country. I do not yet know the way in which
the English volunteers are organised ' • but I believe,
however, that for volunteers, in all countries, the
training of the Bersaglieri is the best. The light-
ness of their uniform, the open order that forms the
basis of their manoeuvring, without hindering them
from acting in masses, when the occasion presents
itself, and, above all, the swiftness of their move-
ments, make them the most perfect soldiers I have
known. I wish that all the Italian army was com-
posed of Bersaglieri • and I do not doubt that such
an organisation would also be easily attainable by
English volunteers, English soldiers having ob-
tained the reputation of intrepidity and coolness
under fire.

EXTRAORDINARY AND PERILOUS
PASSAGE OF AN AMERICAN LINER.

LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY.
A few weeks ago considerable surprise was ma-
nifested in commercial and nautical circles at the
return to Liverpool of the American packet-ship
Sardinia, Capt. Crocker, having been at sea upwards
of 40 days, on her passage from Liverpool to New
York, having encountered a succession of westerly
gales. The only material injury, however, received
by the Sardinia was the loss of her sails, and some
damage to the rigging ; her hull being quite sound,
and her cargo comparatively uninjured.
We have now to record the return to the Mersey
of another first-class American ship, the Eagle
Speed, of Boston, of 1,400 tons, one of Messrs.
Warren and Thayer's (formerly Train's) line of
Liverpool and Boston packets, after being tossed
about on the billows of the Atlantic for the space of
eight weeks-56 days.
The Eagle Speed, Capt. David S. Fuller, cleared
from Liverpool Nov. 29,1859, for Boston, and sailed
on the 2d of December, with a large cargo of gene-
ral merchandise on board, and having a crew of 30
seamen, chiefly
.Americans. Stormy weather pre-
vailed at the time of the departure of the vessel,
and Captain Fuller was compelled to put into Stud-
well Roads, on the Welsh coast, for shelter from a
westerley gale, then sweeping across the Channel.
Nothing but heavy gales was experienced by the
Speed Eagle for the next 30 days, in the course of
which the vessel became leaky, causing the crew
to be almost constantly at the pumps. On the
11th it blew a terrific gale from the N.W., when
her rudder twisted, and sprung, rendering the ship
almost unmanageable, and all her sails were blown
away. The crew were sick and in a quite exhausted
state, and Capt. Fuller, being then in lat. 44 2 N.,
and long. 41 10 IV., or rather two-thirds of the pas-
sage across the Atlantic, seeing no prospect, with his
disabled ship and sick crew, of completing his voyage,
deemed it advisable to return, if possible, to Cork
to refit. He sighted Cork on the 21st inst., during
that terrific hurricane which swept the entire coast
of the United Kingdom, committing such frightful
ravages amongst the shipping in its course—the
fatal results of which will be long remembered. His
vessel being in a crippled and leaking condition,
his crew all sick and in a very exhausted state, his
sails and topsail yards being all carried away in the
gale, Capt. Fuller found it impossible to enter Cork
harbour, and accordingly bore away for Liverpool,
where he arrived safely on Friday .night. Until
the cargo is discharged the loss sustained by either
ship or cargo cannot be accurately ascertain▪
ed ; but
from the straining she received and the length of
time she was leaking, there is no doubt the damage
to both is considerable. It was a fortunate circum-
stance that she had no passengers on board.
The Eagle Speed was a well-known trader be-
tween Liverpool and North America, and Captain
Faller is an experienced officer. His abi▪ lity as a
seaman is proved by his bringing. his ship, crippled
and disabled as she was, and with her exhausted
crew, safely through the late gales, so disastrous to
hundreds of other vessels along the coast.

[AnvinrrierxtiviT.]—Holloway's Ointment aild rills.—
Ithsumatism—Cioat—Neuralgia—The damp weather com-
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almost epidemic. In sours shape or other, all except the
most robust, are tortured by them. Let all such sufferers
turn with confidence to Holloway's Ointment and Pills,
which for a quarter of a century have been lauded above all
other drugs for their soothing and curative powers in these
complaints. The affected parts, first fomented with warm
water, should be rubbed with the Ointment twice a day as
briskly as is bearable. The Pills should be taken at the same
timo to obtain the fall beneficial effect, so that while the
Ointment soothes locally, the Pills, purify, stimulate, and
strengthen generally,