The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-14 00:00:00

TH E SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 14, 1869.

fectly satisfied, even before the gnat Conservative
party in the Lords have met, in solemn conclave, to
deliberate as to the course they shall pursue in the
existing emergency.

IT is satisfactory to find that the opponents of the
Permissive Bill have been so far educated as to con-
skier that measure worthy of serious discussion.
Even Colonel JEnvls has learnt this much, and when
such a very unpromising pupil has thus shewn him-
self amenable to teaching there is good hope that
the large number of M.P.'s who are really docile
will speedily have got by heart the lesson
that a matter in which the ratepayers of
this country are intensely interested shall be
decided as the ratepayers wish. There is
more reason to hope for the near approach of
that time because the arguments used against the
bill were so exceedingly weak. Major JERVIS and
Mr. CAWLEY, for instance, thought that they had
got hold of an unanswerable objection when they
said that if the measure were put in force in any
parish the minority who wished to get drunk
would go into the next parish. These two
worthy M.P.'s seemed to think it a very
great hardship that each parish should not
do its own drunkenness. Clearly the lion. gentlemen
sympathise with that philanthropist who, going to
hear a charity sermon in a neighbouring town, would
not contribute to the collection because he belonged
to a different parish. Do they really suppose that
men become drunkards of malice prepense ? Do they
really believe that a man sets out in the' evening
with the deliberate intention of getting fuddled, and
that if he cannot do so within five minutes' walk of
his own house, he will trudge on for an hour
until he can make a beast of himself ? Are
they so absolutely ignorant of the question
with which they have identified themselves as not to
know that the real cause of drunkenneekt in the ever-
ready temptation, is the fact that while the savings
bank and the provident club are out of sight, the
drink-shop stands at every street corner offering
a seduction, which some of the heartiest supporters
of the Permissive Bill find irresistible ? Who is it
that will be wronged under the proposed system ?
The drunkard, or the adjacent parish. If the latter,
then it is perfectly competent for it to do
as its neighbour has done. If this does not suit the
members for Harwich and Salford perhaps they will
have the goodness to tell us what is the orthodox
proportion of drunkards for each parish.
The two members of the Government who opposed
the bill are more worthy of our consideration than
Colonel JERVIS and Mr. Caw LEY. But even the first
were curiously illogical. They admitted the principle of
the popular veto, but they objected to the particular
application ofit proposed by the Alliance. Mr. Bn UCE
was prepared to allow that the public-houses should be
regulated by population. Mr. FORSTER went so far
as to say that the ratepayers ought to have a voic 3
in deciding if the number of existing public-houses
should be diminished. In granting this, the two
Ministers grant the whole of the principle contended
for. And it should be remembered that the Alliance
do not ask to let a bare majority decide. They see
well that unless public opinion is in their favour, it
will be of no avail to pass a prohibitory measure.
They have such faith in the good sense of the rate-
payers as to believe that they will appreciate
at once, or quickly learn from the example
of others, the benefit of prohibition. Mr.
Bituon thinks that the minority ought to be pro-
tected, because otherwise they will be deprived of
their places of amusement. The HOME SECRETARY
clearly has not mastered this question. No one
proposes to close public-houses ; all that is proposed
is to prevent. intoxicating drinks from being sold
there. There is net the smallest reason, if this bill
should become law, why the working man should
not have his game of skittles, or his
talk about politics, or his personal gossip
at the public-house as much as he does now. In fact,
he will be able to do so far better, for neither beer
nor gin is conducive to accuracy of aim or coherency
of talk. Then we come to the vested interests
argument. To this there is a very short reply. It is
estimated that there are about 150,000 drink-shops
in this country. Each of those drink-shops. is
frequented by, at an absurdly low computation, four
drunkards, so that there are 600.000 habitual
drunkards. Of these 10 per cent. die every year
either through disease or accidents caused by drink.
We say nothing of tl.e pauperism and the crime
caused thereby. We sly nothing of the fact that
every shilling spent at the public-house costs the
working man a shilling's worth of work, and that
thus two shillings are diverted from profitable and
beneficial industry. We simply place before our
legislators this one appalling fact—that 60,000
persons perish yearly through the drink traffic, and
ask them what " rights " such a traffic can have.

ANOTHER civil war has broken out in the United
States. The formation of a powerful Free Trade
Society, having the great commercial town of Boston
for its centre, and the opening of a vigorous Free
Trade agitation, mark the beginning of a
struggle with the pernicious system of American
Protection which will not cease until the
victory be won. The Freetraders of the United
States have a task of exceptional severity
before them. The obstacles to be overcome' are
unusually difficult. But all experience justifies the
confidence that when once thetrue theory of commerce
has got a hold, it is not to be beaten back. Various
circumstances have combined to render the protec-
tive system of the United States the most rigid and
uncompromising the world has yet seen. In
the first place, Protection is emphatically the
doctrine of young States. The colonies
founded in different parts of the world by the Anglo-
Saxon race have adopted the most advanced
political institutions of Europe without previous
trial ; but in everything relating to commerce they
appear unable to learn except by experience. They
have deliberately set up a protective system, in de-
fiance and contempt of the knowledge gained in
England by the costly trade experiments of the
present century. The United States is, therefore,
only following the general rule. Then, as the Time.
remarks, the war with England in 1812 compelled the
establishment of many manufactures which were pre-
viously not needed, and which would have had no
chance of competing with theproductions of England.
But when the war ended in 1813 this compe-
tition had to be faced, and the result.was that the
manufactures, which prospered .well enough whilst
commerce with England was suspended, were
altogether overpowered by the importation of
English goods which followed the treaty of peace.
They had to be propped up, and a protective
system of a mild character and limited extent
was the consequence. Previously to the civil
war, the interests of the South were in favour of the
free import of articles manufactured in the North,
and thus the tariff was kept clown. After the war
the South was utterly disregarded. It was found
necessary to raise an immense revenue to
pay the interest on an immense debt,
and heavy duties were imposed for the
double purpose of protecting manufacturers and
filling the public coffers. There is yet a third and
very cogent argument, which has had weight in
keeping up this unparalleled. tariff. England is the
great, the only, competitor of the United States,
and a reduction of duties would undoubtedly be
followed by great exports of Erlt:sli produce. In-
deed, it might fairly be expected that the rush of
English goods would cause a fall in prices, which
for a time would prove embarrassing. It is this
thought of benefiting their political and commercial
rival which is before all things distasteful to
the Americans. The hope of fostering a manufacturing
system which should rival that of Britain was one of
the most powerful inlueaces which determined the
adoption of the high tariff, and in the future it will
probably be the one most powerful argument brought
forward to retain it.

It is on these considerations that the Americans
have sowed the seed of which they are now
reaping the abundant fruit, rut the fiult has

proved so bitter that New England, cnce thehead-
quarters of Protection-, and the fans et origo of the
high tariff, has been the first to raise the outcry
against it. The excesaivo duties ensure not one
of the objects for which they are levied. They
do not benefit the revenue, for the public
receipts would, there is no doubt, be greater
if the tariff were lower. They do not protect the
manufacturers ; at least, notwithstanding- the many
absurd laws passed in its favour, the manufacturing
interest is ever raising the cry for more. Nume-
rous Protection bills stare Congress in the face
whenever it assembles. And worse than all this, the
perfidious Britisher—agonising thought—still keeps
his supremacy. He would profit by a lower tariff,
but the injury inflicted upon him is by no means in
proportion to the cost it involves. Mr. W.
LLOYD GARRISON, the well-known anti-slavery
agitator, J. QCINCEY ADAMS, R. W. EMERSON, and
many other men of note, have arrived at the conclu-
sion, not only that the protective system is bad, but
that the hour is come for striking a blow against it.
They have held a great meeting, have condemned the
tariff utterly, adopted a Free Trade declaration, and
constituted a " Reform Leigue " which fairly begins
the contest which has so long been preparing. At
the Boston meeting the chairman, Mr. ATKINSON,
pointed out that the tariff was fruitful of evils to the
general community. For the benefit of Pennsylvania
the New Englanders cannot have cheap steel, coal, or
iron; they cannot have English wool because Ohio
manufactures woollen goods; they are cut off from
cheap copper materials because a miserably insig-
nificant body in Michigan have taken to working
unprofitable copper mines. In revenge, the New
Englanders deprive all the rest of the States of cheap
tools, clothing,and shoes. Were it not that Free Trade
is permitted within the Union, amongst the
States themselves, the commercial system of the
country would eollapse altogether. The protective
doctrine has been carried, to-the last extreme. It
has been used -as a plea - for the most shame-
less attempts to pass measures, not for the
benefit of any one manufacture, but to
serve the interests of some one town, and even to keep
above water the head of a single manufacturer. Mr.
ATKINSON and his colleagues challenge their oppo -
nents with every advantage in their favour. They
have borne the protective system for many years ; it
has had the full benefit of a long trial; nothing can be
urged on the plea of further experiment. It is impos-
sible to carry the theory further in practice. It is
clear that the rotten system cumbereth the ground,
and it is, therefore, to be cut down.

LMLEST INTELL MEN CE

(REU""ER'S TELEGRAMS•)

DENMARK.

COPEN:IAGEN, May 11.

At a putlie banquet held here y,•kterday Genend
Raaslaeff, Minister of War, confidently expressed
a Loi..e that the sale of the island of St. Thomas to
the United States would be ratifitd by the Senate
as soon as the history of the negotiations should be
made sufficiently clear.

The delay hitherto experienced was to be attri--
bitted to the differences between ex-President
Johns-A-1 and Congress. Mr. Sumner was in favour
of ratification.

BELGI UM.

BRUSSELS, May 14.

The ilion:teur Be/ye, of this morning, contains
the nominations to the mixed commiision on the
Belgian Railway question. The Belgian mem' ers
are M. M. Fassiaue, M. Vandersweep, and M. Bel-
faire; and the French members are M. Curaudet,
M. Fvanquevide, z,n.l M. Combes.

PERSIA.

ST. PETERSBURG, May 14.

Advices received from Tauris to the 13th inst.
announce that
.Alirga-Ilussein-Khan has left
Teheran for Con,tantinople as Persian envoy ex-
traordinary, with orders for the Shah to treat on
the frontier question.
Cholera I as appeared at Ekum.

SPAIN.

AIADND, May 13 (AfLinoon.)

the Convituent Cortes
In 0-day's sitting of
Senor °reuse supported an amendment, proposing
a Confederate Republic as the future form of
Government. Ills speech cccupied tbree hours

in delivery.
It is not supposed that this amendment will be
carried.

ITALY.

FLORENCE, May 13, Evening.

The King has left for Turin.
Count Brassier de Saint S:mon, the newly ap-
pointed Prussian Minister to this Court, arrived
here to day.

Signor Minghetti was summoned by the King to
the Palace at midnight yesterday.
The IVazione states that in consequence of
this interview Signor Minghetti consented to
enter the Cabinet as Minister of Agricul-
ture and Commerce, and that the Ministry
is now definitively constituted as follows :
Signor Menabrea, President of the Council and
Minister of Foreign Affairs; Signor Fenraris, Mi-
nister of the Interior ; Signor A. Mordani, Minister
of Public Works ; Signor B ,rgoni, Minister of
Public Instruction ; Signor Minghetti, Minister of
Commerce and Agriculture. The Ministries of
Finance, War, and Marine remain unaltered.

CHINA AND AUSTRALIAN MAILS.

MARSEILLES, May 14.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Ceylon arrived at 7, and the mails leave for Lon-
don at 10 this morning.

WEST AFRICAN MAILS.

LIVERPOOL, May 14.

The West Coast of Africa mail steamer Roqu9lle
arrived here this morning with the above mails.
ller dates are—Old Cal4bar, April 8; Fernando Po,
9 , Bonny 18 ; Benin, 14 ; Lagos, 17 ; Accra, 19 ;
Cape Coast Castle, 20 ; Cape Palmas, 22 ; Sierra
Leone, 27 ; Teneriffe, May 5 ; Madeira, 7.
The town of Bonny was destroyed by fire on April
8. The shipping was uninjured. The health of
the coast was good.

UORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Tifunsney, May 13.

Whatever may be the issue of the electoral contest about
to be decided, I am able to affirm that it will be the most
severe the Government has ever experienced. On this
point everybody is agreed. The earnestness shewn
by the Opposition and the Independents is un-
mistakeable. Their unanimity on certain points
is quite unprecedented. In remarkable contrast
to the contests of former years, the election addresses
agree in demanding the abolition of personal Government,
the maintenance of peace, and the development of liberty.
Even the Dibats, most decorous and cautious of Opposi-
tion journals, has no hesitation in affirming that a
great change has come over the country. Nothing was
more easy and pleasant, says this journal, than
the election of an official candidate in 1863 or in 1857, but
itis hard work now. In 1863 certain of the would-be deputies
coolly and quietly visited Switzerland and Italy in the
midst of the electioneering, while the prefects managed
matters for them, and sent them up to Paris full-blown
representatives without any effort on their part. This sort
of thing will not do in 1839. The candidates, official or
not, must all fight, and fight hard too. The leading
journal of Paris relates one very noteworthy incident. A
candidate favoured in 1859, as in 1863, with official
support, went down the other day to his circum-
scription, in the Puy-de-Dome, accompanied by the
Under-Prefect. The Municipal Council, convoked
from the previous evening, was assembled; the func-
tionary presented the would-be member, and explained
graphically why M. Andrieu ought to be preferred to the
Socialiast, M. Geniller, and the Liberal-Unionist, M. de
Barante, whom he described as an enemy of the Govern-
ment. In former days, the councillors, considering them-
selves highly honoured by the visit of the candidate and the
representative of authority, would have responded with
unanimous cries of " Vive le Candidat Officiel ! " " Viva
le Sous Prefet !" How times are changed! Instead
of the enthusiastic manifestations, formerly inevit-
able, one of them rose and drew a paper from
his pocket. This was a letter, drawn up
in accordance with the views of a majority
of the council, declaring they would not agAin aupport tho
late member because he had voted for the expedition to
Mexico, the military law, the augmentation of the taxes,
&c. The amazed candidate attempted to justify
himself, but his explanation produced no effect
whatever. He then said the Emperor supported
him ; but the refractory councillors paid no heed
to this once unanswerable argument. A judge
who was present said that the councillors spoke like Re-
publicans; but the councillors, to the astonishment of the
officials, evidently took this as a compliment, and finally
the meeting broke up, the chief men of the commune
going away, more opposed to the official candidate than
ever. The Debats thinks that such incidents are by no
means uncommon.

The public meetings of Paris were never so numerous,
nor so enthusiastic as they are this year. Eight or nine
are held every evening ; they are always crowded, and the
manifestations of opinion are such as to constantly drive
the commissary of police to his wits' end. Three meetings
were dissolved the night before last.

Great preparations are being made in Corsica for the
visit of the Imperial Family, and the celebration of the
centenary of Napoleon I. What will be the precise nature
of the festivals which will be arranged for this great occa-
sion is not yet announced,

The application of the Countess de Turenne
for a divorce from her husband was heard again
two clays ago. The further investigation of this strange
story revealed some romantic details. The Countess do
Turenne, as I before mentioned, was a Jewess with a large
fortune. The Count, who is younger than she, married
her for her money, and she married him for his title.
The bargain proved mutually unsatisfactory. The
Count indulged in illicit extravagances of every descrip-
tion ; the Countess, proud of her fortune, dis-
played a harshness of disposition very little calculated
to win the erring young man from the ways of evil.
The wife was jealous, with excellent cause, as it
appears, but she was infatuated enough to bring a
very beautiful young lady from a convent, and receive her
in the family as a governess. The new corner, an orphan,
was as accomplished and intellectual as she was lovely.
The Count wished to learn German, and the governess
had no means of refusing to become his teacher. The
result of this little drama was one which is not,
there is reason to fear, very common in this city. The
governess defended herself so energetically, and repulsed
the Count so completely, that he gave up the attack.
Letters were read from him, in which he bewails the
cruelty of the orphan he wished to ruin, threatens to retain
to- Rome as a Pontifical Zouave, to commit suicide, to
murder his wife, &c. It was all in vain. Finally, shame
asserted itself, and he sent a last letter, stating that he
respected the determination of the girl, and that no
honourable man—not that the Count has much claim to
honour—would press further. The story was told amid the
irrepressible applause of the by no means elevated audience
which crowds to hear these cases. The Countess's plea,
that the Count had broken the law in his connection with
the governess, has therefore breken down, but unfortu-
nately the Count did not always meet with women of this
stamp. His offences were undoubtedly numerous; but
his counsel urged that a reconciliation was effected, and
that everything was condoned posterior to the last derelic-
tion of duty. The case is still proceeding.
The affair of the Princess Isabeau has terminated.
Princess Beauvan Craon, the mother of this lady, sued for
power to take control of her daughter's property on the
plea that she was of unsound mind, and unable to take
care of such an immense fortune. The court has
decided that the mother has no claim to the control of the
property, but that the Princess Isabeau, though not of
unsound mind, was subject to dangerous eccentricities
which ought to be provided against. The fortune has
therefore been placed under the supervision of a judicial
council.

A curious collection has just been sold by auction at
Paris. This is the property abandoned in the various
railway stations and carriages. The assortment was
strangely miscellaneous, comprising firearms, pipes,
shoes, chignons, perfumes, jewellery, hardware,
hats, bonnets, caps, shawls, mantles, &c. An
immense number of travelling-bags had been left behind,
and the books forgotten would form a large library ; but
what is less easy to account for is the enormous quantity
of wines, liquors, and divers kinds of merchandise. It is
difficult to imagine how regular traders with proper
accounts cauld have forgotten large quantities of goods.

The Ancient Order of Foresters has forwarded to
the National Lifeboat Institution an aoditional contribu-
tion of £llO, on account of their second lifeboat which is to
be launched at Sunderland in the beginning of August next,
in the presence of some thousands of Foresters, who aro to
assemble on the occasion from all parts of the north of
England.
A despatch from Key West, Florida, states that
the following important despatch has been received there
by mail, from Bayamo, Cuba : Count Valmasoda, the Com-
mander of the Spanish forces in the Eastern Departmett,
has issued a proclamation, whereof the following are the
chief features : —lst. Every native male over 15 years of
age, found away from his residence, without sufficient
cause, will be executed. 2d. Every uninhabited dwelling,
and inhabited dwelling where a white flag is undisplayed,
will be reduced to ashes. 3d. All women away from their
houses will come to Bayamo or Jiguani, or they will be
brought by force. The proclamation is dated Bayamo,
April 4.
The Sunday question, says the Manchester Courier,
is a very troublesome one to the Boston town council. In
order to promote the duo observance of that day they
resolved and ordered that the refreshment room in
the public park should be closed, whereupon a
town meeting was held, and the decision of the council
protested against; and the occupier of the premises gave
notice to quit, and in making another tender offered £lO a
year less, in consequence of the Sundhy restriction. On
Wednesday the corporation, evidently completely baffled, tried
to bridge over their difficulty by omitting all reference
to Sunday in the conditions, and it is expected that the
place will be opened as usual, in accordance with the
desire expressed at the public meeting. At a later period
of the sitting the town council plunged afresh into the
difficulty. It appears that they are the owners of a public-
house, and that they decline to agree to the transfer of the
licence until a stipulation not to sell liquors on Sundag to
y is
inserted in the conditions of the letting.
this stipulation the occupier of the house By agreeing
will be offending
against the terms of his licence.

Last month Mr. Thomas lialliwell, proprietor and
editor of the Leigh Chronicle, and late Postmaster of Leigh,
was arprrlended on a charge of embezzling the sum
of £:0, which had been paid to him by the *United Order
of Oddfellows, Leigh, to be deposited in the Po•t-office
Savings Bank, Mr. Ilalliwcll at that time being postmaster.
lie was liberated on bail, but absconded, rumour being rife
that he had made for America. Sewn,' other frauds have
just come to light, one of a much more serious nature than
that for which he was in the first Instance apprehended.
It appears that a society of Druids holding their meetings
at Leigh had deposited the sum of £143 in the Post-
office Savings Bank. A few days ago the deposit book,
which was given I y Mr. Iralliwell to the society when he
received their money was sent to the Postmaster-General,
and it was then discovered that no account stood in their
name in the London books. Another robbery of a colection
of £3O, left with Mr. Halliwell for the benefit of the widows
and orphan/of the men killed in the Wadley colliery ex-,
lm 440 Inn dipooTero4.