The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-02 00:00:00

INTEREST OF THE SHIPOWNERS•

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
is almost useless to attempt to dispel the de-
lusions which the shipowners have so long practiced upon
this country, but as they persist in stating that they have
no protection, I cannot refrain from asking them the fol-
lowing question :
Why does this country sacrifice Three Millions of
Revenue annually, to compel the IMportaaon of Timber
from Canada and Russia, when it can be obtained so
much cheaper in Norway and Sweden?
We actually p.ly Canada forty per cent. more for
deals than a superior article costs in Russia, and we pty
Russia ten per cent. more than wood of equal quality can
be procured for in Norway and Sweden. This loss to the
nation may be estimated at two millions more, making
with the loss of revenue five millions sacrificed for the
shipowner., and I defy them to disprove my statements.
It is a notorious fact, to those who are any way con-
nected with the Canadian trade, that the ship in it are
not worth more than the annual sacrifices of revenue made
to emp'oy them, and that this much vaunted trade, so far
from requiring more sailors than the Baltic trade (which
a sup .rficial view of it would induce inexperienced persons
to think it did) is carried on with a smaller number, in
consequence of the ship; being of a larger class, and there-
fore navigated with fewer hands, in proportion to the car-
goes they bring. A large Canadian ship will load twice
as much as a Baltic trader, with two or three additional
seamen.

Instead of injuring their characters by misrepresentation,
let the shipowners join the public in pressing on Ministers
the absolute necessity of reducing taxation, or removing
part of it from the industrious to the idle part of the com-
munity, who can better bear it. If that almost unpro-
ductive tax, the duty on foreign oak timber were re-
pealed, the English carpenter could build ships as cheaply
as the foreigner. Why our patriotic and disinterested
shipowners will not apply for this very efficient remedy
against foreign competition, is, that it might reduce the
♦alue of their old ships a trifle.
I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
A CONSTANT READER.

The Duke of WELLINGTON'S state of health
is far from satisfactory to his friends. The detni-official
bulletins which daily reiterate assurances of his recovery,
and would make him out to be even better than well, are
not to be trusted ; the! are arranged and concocted by the
professional Janus, who wrote what Mr. BROUGHAM de•
nounced in the House of Commons as the " treacherous
bulletins" that mystified the public when the late KING
was dying. That silky gentleman, who was found so
useful in the diseased Court of GEORGE the Fourth (our
honest WILLIAM needs no such ministering, nor allows
it), is still a medium of intrigue between certain parties
whose proceedings are not unmarked ; and it serves a pur-
pose of the faction to have it supposed that the Duke of
WELLINGTON is physically able, if need were, to resume
that place in the King's Councils which he was unable to
keep. The poor Duke, we dare say, has very different
thoughts. What from bleeding, what from strong medi-
cines, he is exceedingly reduced in strength and emaciated
in appearance—he is now wholly unable, however willing,
to attend to the calls of factious politics.—Spectator.

/MAGAZINE DAY.

BLACKW 0 OD' S MA GAZINE.

There are far too many and too violent poli-
tical articles in this ntitnber. Polities; in fact;
engross it td the ekclusion of almost every other
subject. We miss, also, Profes:3or Wilson's
pen, though not a Copious commendation of his
last Anti-Reform speech delivered at Edinburgh
the best political article in the whole number
is decidedly thAne entitled the " State of PUb-
lic Feeling ift Scotland." Which; though acri-
Ti'icsniol:ii, as was to be expected, is full of pith
and vigour. The writer asserts—what a face he
must have !---that the Reform Bill is unpopular
among all the respectable and influential classet
in the north. Why, lh n, is the cry not silenced?
If such were really the case, surely it could not
exist a month together ! " The Traveller in
Spite of Himself " is a well told, though ill-con-
structed, story ; and the " Bracelet" of the Ger-
man school of romance writing, possesses one
pleasing descriptive passage, which we subjoin.
On the whole, we consider the present Black-
wood passable,—nothing more.

"At the upper extremity of the chamber the resplen-
dent moonbeam fell on the figure of a lady, white as snow,
reclining on a couch, with her head supported by her arm.
Never before had Carl beheld, even in dreams, a vision of
such dazzling beauty. So perfectly symmetrical her
features, so delicately moulded her figure, so gracefully
negligent her attitude, and so motionless withal, that
Carl, as he glided slowly towards her, his eyes and hands
elevated with rapturous astonishment, began to suspect he
was mocked by some surpassing specimen of the statuary's
art. As he drew nearer, he perceived that the lady was
asleep—at least her head dropped a little, and her eyes
,vere do-ed. Ile stood within a few paces of her. Ile
had never before seen features so perfectly beautiful. Her
brow wore the pure hue of alabaster ; her eyebrows were
most delicately pencilled and shaded off; her nose, of soft
Grecian outline, was exquisitely chisselled ; and her small
dosed lips seemed like a bursting rose-bud. The !flied
fingers of the little hand supporting her head, peeped out
in rich contrast from among her black tresses ; while her
right hand lay concealed beneath the folds of a long rich
veil. What with gazing on the lovely recumbent, and the
generous potency of the wine he had been drinking, Carl
felt himself; as it were, under a new influence. Fear and
doubt had passed away. He fell softly on his knees before
the beautiful incognita. Her features moved not."