The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Tinus, in an article on the decline of trade in the
United States, gives Protection as the reason for it, and
arrives at the conclusion that Protection has failed
in one of the principal objects it was expected to
accomplish. The cotton interest, according to Senator
Sprague, exists no longer. "Sir," he said, "in my judg-
ment you have not this interest in your hands. I am
afraid that you have lost it for ever." The country whose
manufactories were to be closed through the closing of the
American ports still holds its ground, while America, with
its Sea Island cotton, has been going backwards faster
than the most gloomy forebodings would have pre-
pared us to anticipate. There is a demand for the cheep
fabrics of England in America, notwithstanding the high
tariffs, and the inferior productions of native manufac-
turers are left unsold. But this is not all. There is an
immense depreciation in the value of cotton lands to be
taken into account. "We had the South before the war,"
said the Senator, whose remarkable speech has been the
subject of discussion everywhere in the United States.
"I know the fact that many of the principal plantations
of the South are not worth one-twentieth part as much
as they were then." The wealth of the country has been
reduced, and how is the loss to be made up? Not, as we
have seen, by extending local trades. Even if American
manufacturers entered an open market, they could
not hold their place in it at present, for excessive
taxes have killed native industries. An admission of
this fact by Senator Sprague is worth more than a
whole library of abstract arguments. "In the whole range
of my experience," he said, " I do not know of an article
that the American manufacturer can now produce and
export, and compete with foreign manufacturers in the
markets of the world, even with the drawback. I must
say that we have taxed out of existence interests which
made us a prosperous people." This is plain speaking,
and we cannot wonder that it took the Senate completely
by surprise. The shipbuilding trade, as all the senators
must have known, is dead. The iron trade threatens to
fall away, and now a leading manufacturer comes forward
to avow that America no longer has a " cotton interest "
worthy of mention. Is not all this sufficient to prove that
the whole commercial and financial system of the country
urgently needs revision? Senator Sprague, with all his
candour, would not admit that Protection was at the root
of the evils he so bitterly lamented ; probably he is not
convinced of that fact. He ascribes all the misfortunes he
pointed out to excessive taxation, inflicted with the view
of paying the debt off rapidly. lie would repeal the
cotton tax, and prevent the Secretary of the Treasury
from contracting or withdrawing the currency. Any more
searching remedy than this he was not bold enough to pro-
pose, or, to use the fashionable phrase, he is not yet
" educated " to the point which would lead him to demand
free trade with all the world.

On the Manchester Conference the Post says that
notwithstanding the laudation that has been showered
upon it, has not actually done much towards the solutiun
of the groat questions which are staring us in the face and
stop the way. They have got no further re illy than shew-
ing their feeling, and presumably the tendency of public
opinion is in favour of compulsory rather than permissive
rating. Mr. Austin Bruce's bill, on its introduction, wiP,
it may be taken for granted, be based on this view. But
with regard to the question, Who is to be the school.
master? we are a very long way from a conclusion. It
will probably have to be fought out in Parliament, and by
Parliament, as the construction of the Reform Bill was.
On the second point, the determination of childhood or
pupilage, there were symptoms exhibited of a disposition
to running amuck with the idea, which, wise and prt}cti-
cable while kept within bounds, would be ruinous alike to
the classes to whom it would be applied, and to the in-
dustry and producing power of the country. We are glad
to observe that the principal framer of the coming bill, Mr.
Austin Bruce, who is practically well acquainted with the
condition and wants of the working man, as well as with
the philosophy of the subject, peremptorily and strongly
stood forward in opposition to what he rightly de6ignAted
as a weak enthusiasm.

Daring the past week most of the leading joint-lock
banks in London have held their meetings, laid their affairs
before the public, and shewn, as far as they arc ccAcerne.l,
how commerce has fared in the past six months. The n -
suit, according to the Daily News, is not eneol.raging, bi t
at least has the merit of being truthful. The.;,.: great com-
mercial establishments publish not merely a resume of their
affairs each half-year, but publish it sufficiently early to
be of value. Figures six months or a year old are virtually
useless. No man of business cares to dip into the statis-
tical reports—elaborate and complete as they may be—
which are periodically issued by the Government. It is no
assistance to the practical trader to know in 1863 the pre-
cise amount of yards of cotton manufactured, or tons of
iron exported in 186 G. What is required io not merely
good, but immediate information. Much more is therefore
learnt from the reports of the joint-stock banks—imperfect;
in a general sense as they must necessarily be—than from
more ambitious documents. An experienced merchant
can hardly fail to draw from the comparatively few figures
presented certain deductions which may material? y in
his course of business.

The Herald devotes a leader to the subject of the Irish
difficulties. It argues that •a Conservative Government
May legislate for the protection of the tenant's industry,
but however adapted any enactment they pass may be f. )r
the purpose, it is more than likely to share the fate of Mr.
Cardwell's measure, and fall still-bern to the ground,
because the peasantry will be advised against profiting by
its provisions. Security for the Irish tenants' improve-
ments is of value to those who clamour for it, merely as
the opening of the trenches against the existence of a ter-
ritorial aristocracy, which has both here and there hitherto
proved such an obstacle to the full development of demo-
cracy amongst us. The idea of calming disaffec Lion
arising from a hereditary hatred of races, and which is
often, it must be admitted, aggravated by the folly of the
victors, in incessantly recalling their humiliation to the
minds of the vanquished, by legislation affecting social
interests, is mere moonshine. It can only be eradicated
by the uninterrupted continuance of firm government and
the healing influence of time.

The Standard attaches very little importance to the
tales told of a sudden growth of cordiality between Paris
and Berlin. Our confidence in peace rests upon the con-
viction that Prussia will, in her own interests, do every-
thing she can to prevent war ; and in the circumstances at
which we have arrived it is in her power to prevent it.
France has accepted, with more or less unwillingness, the
transformation which has already taken place in Germany,
and that transformation is quite sufficient for Prussia, fur
the present. By the Zollverein treaties and the offensive
and defensive alliances, the supremacy of Prussia over the
South is practically established. If Prussia is content
to leave Germany in name what she now is, the Emperor
mill hardly move. .Now, it is most probable that Pruiisia
will be quite content with what she has. The change in
the language of Count Bism: r.:k and his organs is per-
fectly intelligible. They rode the high horse, and in-
dulged in bravado against France, as long as the constitu-
tion of the North German Confederation and their alli-
ances with the South were in dispute and dunbt. The
Minister knew the temper of his countrymen. Whatever
their weaknesses, they are eminently jealous of foreign
interference ; to avert that they would sacrifice any liberty
or privilege, however dear.

The Hon. C. 11. Lindsay, M.P. for Abingdon,
has recovered from the effects of the accident which hap-
pened to him some time ago. Ile has left his residence at
Winehfield House to pay a visit to Lord everstone, at
Overstone Park.

The Right Ran. Robert Lowe, M. P., will pay a
visit to Liverpool during the present week, being the guest
of Mr. P. It Pathbone. On Wednesday evening Mr.
Lowe will be present at the annual dinner of the Liverpool
Philomathic Society, which will take place in the large
room of the Law Association in Cook-street. On Thurs-
day he will meet a nun.b2r of gentlemen interested in the
question of education.

A GERMAN VIEW OF IRELAND. - The Cologne
Gazette thus concludes an article on the press prosecution
in Dublin :—" Happy country l where there has been only
one press trial for many years, and that only in a place in
which, if Prussia, had ruled, a state of siege would have
been declared long ago, and all journals preaching insur-
rection would have been suppressed. We need hardly s
that confiscations by the police of newspapers and books
are as much unknown in the United Kingdom as wolves
and bears, and it is indeed evident to the meanest under-
standing that real freedom of the press, or anything that
bears the most distant likeness to that noble boon, can
nowhere exist side by side with the unrestricted right of

confiscation. When shall we learn the truth in this matter
from the country of hereditary political wisdom ?"

MR. BUXTON, M.P., ON POLITICS. —Mr. Charlea
Btlx ton, M.P., Lai been lecturing at Cromer on the past
year. He sketched the leading political, and phy-
sical incidents of 18137, dwelling patien•.;.!y 011 the pro.
gress of events in France, Italy, Germany, Enssia, and
the United ;_qates. No one, lie thoug'it, could la‘R? failed
to 52e that. there had been an accolerat,d rate of intcllee.
tual ailvanee, and that nations were by degr2e3 attaining
to a larger and wiser tone of thought. The darkdes3 of

stupidity seemed to be slowly lifting from Europe. At
home, he considered that the national mind was being
more and more led to insist that government should be at
once by the people and for the people, and that they
should no longer be like children under the care— however
wise and good—of others. Upon the whole, although
1867 had been a year of disappointment and depression,
he believed that England was still making her way for-
pr4 t 9 a yet higim pcl happier career.