The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-17 00:00:00

ADEN.

The Courrier Francais publishes the following letter
from Aden :

" You ask me for some details relative to Aden,
which may be denominated the Gibraltar of the Red
Sea. I wish that this information may be useful to
my country, and for that reason I send it. Aden,
which was formerly called Portus Romanus,' is a
town of the Yemen, which, from its position and on
account of its recent occupation by the English, pro-
mises to become an important commercial and mili-
tary station, particularly now that Egypt is advancing
towards the period when she will become a British
colony. The town is built in the crater of an ex-
hausted volcano, and is situated at the extremity of a
small peninsula of volcano matter, and attached to
the continent solely by a low neck of land from
500 to 600 yards wide, and which might be easily
isolated by a canal. The harbour is a magnificent
basin, capable of containing an immense fleet, and
is entered by a narrow passage between two other
craters. It would be easy to establish defensive
works on the rocks surrounding these craters, which
would place the port in safety against any attack.
Ono redoubt has been already raised as a security
against the Arabs, ever ready to attack the English in
their position. From this point to the gate of the
town has been recently traced a road of about a
league in length, by which the defile is reached which
forms the entrance to Aden. This defile, which is
being fortified at this moment with a gate evidently
constructed to resist other attacks than those of the
Arabs, is about 100 yards long and four or five wide.
It is cut out of a rock which stands 150 yards above
the level of the sea. A formidable battery, command-
ing the entrance of the town, is in process of being
erected above the rock on the left of the defile. A
covered way, with an arch thrown from one rock
to another, unites the system of defence
which the batteries commenced on the summit of the
rocks on the left will complete. The other side is
absolutely unassailable. From the most remote pe-
riod these heights have been more or less fortified by
the different nations who have had possession of
Arabia. I ascended these heights, and I confess I
was astonished to find the harbour so easily defended,
and this impregnable position surrounded by a na-
tural girdle of bastions, which only wait to be armed
idea c
o ofm thepr e
hena consequences
how
F
to be capable of annihilating the most formidable
fleets. I experienced the most painful emotions at
the
ur preparations.ope reg
regard
cannot
Franco and
Eeeand
with indifference England preparing a new Gibraltar
on this road, fruitful in riches, which extends from
the European Ocean to the Indian Ocean by travers-
ing Egypt. We must not deceive ourselves, it is a
new Gibraltar already erected at Aden."

THE SUGAR QUESTION.
We have been requested to give insertion to the
following letter, which appears in the last number of
the Friend, a monthly periodical:—
" Bristol, July, 1844.
" Dear Friend,—l presume it is in the recollection
of the Committee of the Bristol Auxiliary to the
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, or some
of them, that the efforts made by the Committee of that
Society, to uphold the law which, in effect, prohibits
the importation of Cuban and Brazilian sugars for
our own use, was objected to by me and some others,
as erroneous in principle and injurious in its effects;
and I have now to request thee to submit to the Com-
mittee of the Bristol Auxiliary, that as the British
and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, at a special meet-
ing, called together for the purpose of considering the
propriety of continuing to support the prohibitory
law, has authorised their Committee to continue their
support of that law; it appears to be my duty to
withdraw from the Bristol Auxiliary of that Society,
because--:

----"
Ist. The refusal, by those who govern this coun-
try, to permit the importation of Cuban and Brazilian
sugars, for our own consumption, is a direct infrac-
tion of the law of God--' Whatsoever ye would that
men should do to you, do ye even so unto them.'
«2d. The refusal to import and use such sugars is
highly injurious to the people of this kingdom; is
partial in its operation, weighing heavily on the mid-
dle and labouring classes of the community ; and is a
breach of the ancient constitution of England.
"3d. Every prohibitory law is an impediment to
the progressive increase of that commercial throughinter-
cho
other, and which is, in the
which they confer
rooouirpsreoc
ordering of Providence, instrumental in preparing
mankind for the reception of permanent and universal
inter-
course
benefits
efits nations,
on
each
peace. Therefore, every law which prohibits or re-
strains the progress of commerce tends to prolong the
practice of war, and ought to be repealed.
" 4th. Though this nation, and those by whom it is
governed, are awfully responsible for the breach of
the Divine law, ' to do as we would be done by,' they
arc not responsible for the conduct of other nations,
over whose internal arrangements they have not, and
ought not to hare, any control.
" ith. The lawfulness or unlawfulness of using
sugar, or any other produce of slave-labour, is a ques-
tion of conscience, like that respecting the use of meat
which had been offered unto idols, which was pro-
posed to the Apostle, and by him answered, " What-
soever is sold in the
,shambles, that eat, making no
questions conscience sake '
for consc e ;yet the consumption
of that meat contributed to the encouragement and sup-
port of idolatry.
"6th. As the Apostle asks, ' Why is this my liberty
(to eat such meat) to be judged of (or condemned)
by another man's conscience ? for if I by grace be a
partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which
I give thanks?' So they who would thankfully eat
the prohibited sugar, may ask, why they are to be
deprived of that liberty by the judgment of other
men's consciences ? and they have the precept and
example of the Apostle to support them, in claiming
to have the law, by which they are deprived of that
liberty, repealed by the Parliament of England.
" 7th. Though the British nation has, of late years,
been sufficiently enlightened to perceive the unchris-
tian nature of slavery so clearly, that it would be
criminal in us to practice it, our having liberated our
slaves does not justify us in imputing criminality to
those nations which have not been so enlightened, and
continue to retain a system of labour which was prac-