The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-10 00:00:00

.1' tentnix

LONDON, TUEDSAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1544

Seine- time has now elapsed since the treaties which
so h,iiirpity closed hostilities between Great Britain
and China first opened certain important sea-ports
and towns on various points of the coasts of the latter
empire, as new marts for the productions of our
nn inufacturing industry and skill, and a new theatre
for the operations of our commercial enterprise. In
the history of a maritime country's trade, the opening
of fiieliew portals to a market in which that propor-
Gm of its swarming inhabitants who may be able to
take off any quantity of foreign goads, however
small 9 and inconsiderable compared with the
quiv salt trmate of the poorer population, would
nt a certain per centage of consumers on
/....Crflg;47Zr-_, ea iiiindred millions of peoPle ; such an event
-as. athis,oPeialpi of Ningpo, Amoy, &c., would be,
s s=ang I.ralimstanceS, a memorable epoch. But,
.o:VlW—under the peculiar relations

:I

that had previously existed between her subjects,
represented by a small junto of her merchants in one
only of'her ports on her southern shores, and the
subjects of Great Britain trading with them through
a small junto of British merchants, exclusively as-
sociated for that among other purposes of Eastern
traffic, as a Chartered Company—the more extended
arrangement for commercial intercourse between the
two natithitt, established by the admirable diplomacy
of Sir RENEE' POTTINOER, improving the signal suc-
cesses of —Oui—fleet and. army, may be reckoned
among the most remarkable and established
triumphs of European civilisation over Asiatic
prejudice. It is not to be doubted that our trade
with China has been, accordingly, to a vast extent in-
creased, since the official establishment of our spirited
Plenipotentiary as the Governor of Hong-Kong, and
the Superintendent of Trade, kc., in China. But we
may be allowed to express our fears that the apathy
of the Government and the people here have not
kept pace with the exertions of that able public ser-
vant, nor been, as yet, fully commensurate with the
magnificent opportunities for extending and im-
proving the outlets of our commerce, which have
been thus afforded to us. This is a very important
question, and we are anxious to direct public attention
to it. Sensible, as we are, that the development of
new commercial resources, on a great scale, is not the
work of a few months, but of many years, we may yet
take the liberty of urging that such a work should be
commenced as speedily as possible in a right direc-
tion. Has this been the case hitherto adopted by our
resident authorities and merchants, in availing them-
selves of the new and expanded base of operation
which has been laid down for our trade in China, by
the events of the last three or four years ? 'We really
apprehend that it has not been. We fear that an
admirable occasion for carrying out into profitable
practice sound theoretical principles of an Eastern
trade have been deplorably neglected. We are in-
ii cli ed to believe that the rare and fortunate facilities
for such a purpose which Europe had watched for,
wi disappointed hope, during nearly six previous
centuries, and from an era immediately preceding the
adventurous pilgrimage of MASCO POLO and his kins-
meh—have been dealt with since our occupation of
Chtssan, in July, 1840, on no principles at
all, In the case of a removal of ancient restrictions
on,{and the dawn of new freedom and evolution to,
i
one of the most profitable branches of trade, under
certain conditions, that the 'West has ever driven with
the East, no pains has been taken to avoid the errors
of ignorance or misapprehension which were unavoid-
able under the former system of exclusions and re-
straints. Our exporters have poured goods and
merchandise of many kinds, which the highest au-
thgrities were already aware were not acceptable, into
the? markets of China, and therefore abstained, them-
sel4es, from exporting. They have, on the other
hark, forborne to ship those which from accident or ,
oth'er causes we had formerly withheld, but are now
notpriously in most active demand. The consequences
' that the market is glutted with merchandise for
,ch there is a dull demand, with unremunerative
:es ; and other manufactures—Saxon and American
the classes which our own people have either

arel

overlooked or neglected 'to improve in a ratio cor-
resp' onding to the quality of these rival fabrics, are
eagerly sought for, and disposed of at a considerable
profit.

As a general rule, we are most, unfriendly to all
superfluous interference, legislative or other, with the
action of our commerce. But there are instances—
that before us is one of them—in which it were well
if some competent COmmission, composed of the most
practical, best-informed, and most responsible autho-
rities, were to report, previously to the inception of a
new channel of foreign commerce, on the physical
wants, thu social prejudices,-customs, and'l uxuries, the
natural and 'artificial productions of the country and
people, with which we are about to establish such
connexions of amity and trade. With such a guide,
sanctioned by the authority and promulgation of the
Board of Trade, for example, as the report of such
a !Commission, we reply, the benefits of the pro-
poSed enlarged intercourse might be realised to their
fullest extent ; the drawbacks and difficulties reduced
to ;their lowest possible ratio. For want of some
such preliminary as we thus advert to, there has been
no limit to the absurdities committed by our country-
me'Fi in, their overboiling haste to supply new markets.
\V4 think it was under Mr. Jonsz WiLsox tummies
memorable Secretaryship to the Admiralty, that our
tatiks for fresh .water were manufactured, and sent
oui at a vast expense to be fitted in our men- of-war-
and cruizers afloat on the fresh waters of the Ameri-
can States. But their's were works, surely, of still

more decided supererogation, who, on what was
called " the opening of the trade with South
Affierica," sent out large shipments of hearth
rugs and side-saddles for the, Brazils and
Mexico—feather beds and cotton counterpanes to
DEMlerata and Trinidad. `Jo have reason to Believe
that the " carrying of coals to Newcastle" has been
putsucd to fully as wild an extent by some of the
shippers to Hong-Kong and the other Anglo-Chinese
emporium of the Celestial Empire. In a day or two
we, shall pursue this subject, in offering some re-
marks off an important Parliameotary Paper' of the
present session, entitled "Statement of -the Foreign
Trade with China," containing some remarks thereon,
drawn up coincidently with -the preparation of the
now established tariff, by Mr. Trio'as, aril forwarded
to our Government by Sir HISNRY POTTINGER..

In giving insertion, in another, column, to a copy
of the petition of 1,240 inhabitants of Reading, in-
cluding ministers of all denominations, freeholders,
"against sending out British soldiers to foreign
and colonial countries," we are anxious to disclaim,
distinctly, any concurrence in the' views of the peti-
tioners, or the prayer which is founded on those
views. Whilst we have, by republishing this docu-
ment, rendered a well-merited homage to the purity
and benevolence of the motives which have dictated
its preparation, we must be allowed to express an
opinion that it proceeds upon assumptions the most illo-
gical, facts the most perverted, and a policy themost in-
sane which Parliament was ever appealed to to sanction.
The " objection" these petitioners take to be con-
sistent should have been taken in liminc. They
should have denounced the profession of the soldier
altogether, and in the first instance. It might then
have been competent to them to adduce this incidental
liability of the service, as a cumulative argument, to
illustrate the inherent or inevitable tendencies of a
soldier's occupation to subject him, in their own
words, " to services so dreadful, and attended with
such a frightful sacrifice of human life." .But the
petitioners, afraid to propound this doctrine of original
iniquity in the soldier's trade, turn round upon his
employers, and challenge as an intolerable cruelty
that which we shall demonstrate to be an inseparable,
necessary, unavoidable liability of his professional
existence. We, for our parts, detest war in
the abstract, and therefore deplore the dire neces-
sity which requires, for the preservation of states, of
the civil liberties and privileges of their subjects, and
of their political rank among nations, the maintenance
and encouragement of those public servants whom
social theorists and pseudo-philanthropists delight to
designate as "legalised homicides." But practical
sufferings and physical injury, national degradation
and individual bondage—the loss of property, and the
mockery and repudiation of all the laws, usages, and
immunities which may be pleaded—vainly pleaded--
against its violation—these are experiences more
sharp, bitter, and potential, than the finest abstract
princiPles that ever were announced, can be consola-
tory to those who are made to pass under the yoke of
a conquering enemy. It may be a source of honest
pride to certain denominations of Christians, con-
sistently to uphold the doctrine of peace
and universal harmony among all classes of
men. And when the bad passions of our
nature shall have been eradicated by centuries of
ameliorated institutions, and the wider diffusion of
all the lights of morals and religion ;—when Kings
shall acquit themselves, as faithful trustees; for the
interests of their people, and their people shall fulfil
the reciprocal condition of the great contract of go-
vi.rnmelit by devoting themselves with disinterested
good faith to their duties to Kings ;—when one
nation shall _respect the rights of another without
( speculating on any conditions of weakness or decay
for chances of its own aggrandizement at the expense
or the ruin of its compeer ;' then—and not till then—*
liar may cease with the necessity jor guarding
against treason or violence, fraud or perfidy.
But, alas ! this golden age is yet far distant we
fear. In the meantime, we must be content to
maintgiu armies &u 4 um* i well as legislatures and

churches—effective services of national offence and
defence, as well as liberty of conscience and argu-
ment in polemical divinity and political controversy.
War, therefore, may be malum per se, even where it
secures victory for the right; but what is peace,
where it shall only confirm and invigorate power to
the wrong ? What is the condition of a humbled and !
enslaved people under the grinding oppression and
insults of their warlike conquerors, to have them-
selves eschewed and protested against war, "upon.
principle ?" They turn from-such bootless content-.
plations of ethical maxims which they have fallen into
whilst attempting to uphold against the unreasoning
arguments of artillery and bayonets, and raise the cry,'
of despair common to all in their unfortunate colla-
tion. Vcz victis 1"
The Reading petitioners are deeply concerned at
the practice of sending our soldiers to foreign and
colonial countries, because, among other reasons, " as
large proportion of the troops so sent abroad are young
men who have left civil pursuits through the oppres-
sion on industry." Would these young men remain-
ing here, still engaged in civil pursuits, have dimi-
nished that " oppression on industry ?" Is it not
clear that their departure from a market already over.--
peopled must have proportionably lightened it ? Belt
it is urged, moreover, that these poor fellows " hare
entered the army, ignorant of the sufferings attendan t
on military life." Doubtless could they know these
beforehand, by any intelligence of instinct or pro -
phecy, nine out of every ten men would decline the se t -
vice. What then ? We have- shown that if war
is not good, nay, if it be bad in itself, it is
an unavoidable necessity, at present, ineidont
to our imperfect nature and more imperfect
institutions. Now it is pretty evident that if .ts-e
must have war, it is better to be prepared, than writ
prepared, to wage it; and that of the two conditiome,
of those who beat and those who are beaten in hostile
operations, the former is certainly to be taken for
choice. All these considerations result in confirming
our own impression that in this instance as in others,
" where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly s- he wise so
that it is well that our young military
ail; ignorant of all the sufferings of the lot
they select. How far the statistics of the
petitioners are correct, that, during the last
three years, 12,000 natives of the United Kingdarn
have perished in the British dependencies and adja-
cent countries; that the annual mortality of I,OQO
European soldiers, under thirty years of age, sta-
tioned in Jamaica is upwards of 140, the average
of similar ages and numbers in Great Britain showing
a mortality of only fifteen ; and that in various gar-
risons of India, Chins, and Bermuda, deaths are
so frightfully numerous, that, comparatively
speaking, few British soldiers ever return home
alire from these settlements :—how far these
statements are borne out by authenticated
data we cannot, at this moment, undertake to examine..
If the allegations be founded on facts, they are calcu-
lated to excite in every mind feelings of the utmost
pain and regret, though, taking the aggregate of these
averages of military mortality in connexion with the
extended amount of the military force on which the
pert centage is to be reckoned, we might be justified in
arguing, perhaps, that the results are not so ap-
pal'ing in their disproportion to the mean mor
tality in civil occupations, as the petitioners imagine.
But when the latter entreat the House of Commons
"as trustees of the people," not to sanction any
money votes on account of, or authorise, any fur-
ther embarkations of, troops of the United King-
doM, "to our colonial and foreign possessions,"—
we, must be permitted to ask what is the alterna-
tive they contemplate? That we should throw up
our commerce ? We could not maintain it for one
twelvemonth without our colonies. That we should
abandon our colonies? We could not exist in our
national integrity or independence for two years with-
out them. To say nothing of the solemn, the beneficent,
tha ennobling destiny which Providence has charged
us :with the duty of fulfilling to human civilisation, in
retaining the dominion over and administering the
goVernment of so vast a colonial erepire,—scattered
through both hemispheres, diffused over every quar-
ter of the globe, assembling under the paternal pro-
te9tion of our flag, races of almost every variety of
the great family of man-; exchanging the spices and
rich products of the tropics for the ocean spoils and the
ptry of the Polca7-the infinite abundance of nature
fr its and treasures,yielded by one temperate region
fo the industrial manufactures and the productions
of *t and luxury yielded by another ; to say nothing
of; all this—colonies to our commerce—commerce to
our colonies—both to our national force and indepen-
depce—our national force and independence to the
peace, the happiness, and the permanency of all civilised
States and institutions,--have, each to the other, inde-
feasible and absolute relations, the preservation of
which, in all their strength and harmony, is an object
cheaply purchased, indeed, by the maintenance of an
ackquate army, and the constant supply of periodical
relivfs to those detachments which are stationed in
our "colonies and foreign dependencies," even under
the disadvantages inaccurately (as we think) as
slimed by the Reading petitioners.

;All the Paris journals of Sunday contain articles on
th 4 QUEEN'S Speech, and the settlement of. the Ota-
heite affair. The Opposition papers are in a tower-
in passion with M. GulzoT for having yielded one
iota to Sir ROBERT PEEL ; and one of them madly
declares that never belbre did France submit to such
a disgrace. Let us see on what grounds this com-
plaint rests. The Journal des Debats, the organ of
the French Government, says the two Cabinets have
cotne to an understanding on the subject which
leaves the honour of both untouched. Some time
since it was announced that Mr. PRITCIIARD was to
be sent back to Otaheite, and the vessel which was to
carry him to his destination was ready to sail. At

another time it was said that M. GUIZOT had
consented to recal the Governor, M. BRUAT,
and Captain D'AunzoNr. But the facts are—
Mr. PRITCHARD will not return to Otaheite, M.BatTAT
will retain his post, and Captain D'Auntoriv alone be
recalled. " The French Government," it adds, "has main-

ained with energy the right of its officers to remove a

turbulent foreigner from the settlement, yet this will not
preTent the Opposition from exclaiming against such
infamy and such cowardice. The Government has
blamed an act which it was just and proper to blame;
the violent manner in which Mr. PRITCHARD was ar-
rested and his close confinement. The right of removal
is .one thing, the manner in which it may be effected
is another. Mr. PRITCHARD, in having been sum-
marily expelled, may have suffered not only in person
but in property, and if such is the case, an indemnity
will be granted. These are the conditions of the arrange-
ment, an illusory satisfaction for the English Opposition
and an enormous concession for the French Opposition:
but in reality an equitable arrangement, which does
equal honour to those who offered it, and those who
accepted it. Thus the two Cabinets have a claim to
the gratitude of men of sense—they have not allowed
themselves to be stupified by the clamours which
were poured forth against them. They have exa-
mined the affair, as it really exists, with a sincere

desire to grant reciprocally what was just. The false
point of honour was thrown entirely out of view, and
true dignity satisfied." If these are the conditions of
the arrangement, with what reason can the French

Opposition complain ? England has yielded more
than France. Mr. PRITCHARD has been banished
from the island after a cruel and unnecessary im-
prisonment. M. BRUAT remains, and Captain
D'AunluNY is simply recalled. But the fact is, these
journals wish for a universal war, and they would
exclaim against the French Government with equal
fury had it agreed to any terms of peace, however
humiliating for England.
The following extract from the National is a spe-
cimen of the rage displayed by the war journals :

" Thus the sacrifice is complete. That disgrace
which the friends of the Government declared to be im-
possible, which even its enemies thought improbable, has
fallen upon France. Weary from indignation, we have
only.to bow down our heads, and to lament with the
bitterest anguish over the fall of our country. Yes I
amidst the tumult of feelings which this new humilia-
tion awakens in 'our heart, that which predominates is
not anger—it
,is grief, This act is one calculated by its
very nature to provoke against the Government a re-ac-
tion so violent, so terrible ; that they dared not have
perpetrated it, hid they-not felt assured that the heart of
the country was frozen—that greatness of feeling was
extinct—that its arms were invincibly enchained. The
series of humiliations which we have suffered for the
last fourteen years is long and lamentable. But there is
not one of, them which can be compared to this. In
1840, it was before united Europe that we retired. Now,
we bead before England alone. In 1840 it was in the
cause of a foreign prince whom we had abandoned—now
we desert the cause of France herself. It might have
been contended then that the right of the Sultan was