The Sun.
London, England, 1850-06-12 00:00:00

but, unfortunately, there is no possibility of such
a result. We cannot enforce " teetotalism "
by Act of Parliament. Many persons require, or,
what is nearly the same thing, think they require a
stimulant, and the use of ardent spirits has become
so habitual that there is no prospect of their being
relinquished, or ceasing to become articles of general
consumption. If we subject the fair trader to pro-
hibitory duties or undue restrictions we only
furnish additional inducements to smugglers
and others anxious to defraud the public
revenue. The community in general, not merely
the producers and vendors, but also the pur-
chasers and consumers, are thus demoralized, and the
most mischievous consequences would follow a fiscal
mistake of so grave a nature.
In ascertaining the amount of duties to be levied on
home-made spirits in different parts of the United
Kingdom, it was discovered that full allowance should
be made for the facilities existing for illicit distillation
in the various localities. It was not intended to
confer a boon upon Ireland or Scotland, or to enable
the inhabitants of those countries to indulge their
taste for ardent spirits at a cheaper rate than their
English brethren, that the duty was fixed at only
2s. Bd. in the former, and 4s. in the latter, while
7s. 10d. per gallon was charged in England. Such
a distinction could not be justified on any other
grounds but those above alluded to. If the revenue
laws could be fully enforced the duty would
be the same in all parts of the kingdom. But
actual experience has proved, beyond the pos-
sibility of doubt, that any material increase in the
rates charged in Ireland or Scotland would not yield
additional revenue to the exchequer, but would merely
lead to formidable organization against the law.
There are, however, other points or which a judi-
cious minister of finance should act liberally towards
the distilling trade. There are many excise regula-
tions that prove exceedingly injurious to the spirit
manufacturer, which might easily be altered ;
such a change is the more essential, since
the abolition of the protective duties on colonial
spirits. Some years since the heavy charge upon
rum operated as a practical prohibition to the use
thereof in the sister kingdom. But that having been
altered in 1848, and the differential duty having been
reduced to 4d. per gallon, so as to bring these articles
into full and fair competition, the home producer is
entitled to demand of the Legislature that he should
be exempted from annoyances and impediments in
his business from which his rivals are free,
for which scarcely any pecuniary allowance can
compensate, and which have driven many persons
altogether out of the trade.
It was to one of these points that Lord NAss last
night directed the attention of the House. It ap-
pears that the duty on foreign and colonial spirits is
only levied on the amount actually brought into con-
sumption, and for which payment is received. The
Irish distiller, however, is obliged to pay on what
issues from the worm's end. He is allowed to
place his spirits in bond, but he receives no
compensation for what is wasted by leakage or eva-
poration while in the QUEEN'S stores. It was, there-
fore, reasonably demanded that he should only be
required to pay duty on what he could make actually
available—that which remained on hand when taken
into stock. The Chancellor of the Exchequer resisted
this just and equitable proposition, which, if his own
statements be correct, would not amount to more than
a fraction of a penny per gallon, and which
could not, therefore, be productive of any great
loss to the revenue, although it would afford
considerable relief to the distiller. The House, how-
ever, decided in favour of the motion by a majority of
32—there being 85 in its favour and 53 against. The
Right Hot). Gentleman now refuses to be bound by
that decision, declaring that he considers himself
" perfectly free to take whatever course he may con-
sider proper." His colleagues in the Ministry did
not thus set the House at defiance when they bowed
to the hasty and absurd resolution on Lord ASHLEY'S
inotion for the_total cessation of Post-office duty on
Sundays throughout the entire country, a resolu-
tion fraught with the greatest public inconvenience,
and catried by surprise the day after the Derby.
Sir Cummes WOOD, however, thinks that he can
despise the representatives of the people, and that all
must bow down to his ridiculous dogmas.

A novel and brilliant evidence of the diplomatic
genius of her MAJESTY'S Principal Secretary for
Foreign Affairs has just been afforded by the extra-
ordinary convention concluded on the 12th of April
between this country and the United States, through
the instrumentality of the respective negotiators at
Washington. The success with which this difficult
question has been brought to a satisfactory settlement
is not less remarkable than the project of which it is
at once the expression and the fulfilment—that project
being nothing less than the construction of a grand
inter-oceanic ship canal between the two Americas,
connecting together the waters of the Atlantic
and the Pacific. When this gigantic scheme
was originally agitated, it will be remembered
that a disposition was evinced by the United States
to secure its own aggrandizement at the expense of
Great Britain, and to acquire a monopoly of interest
in the proposed undertaking by certain flagrant en-
croachments upon the minor principalities of the
Isthmus between the northern and southern conti•
nests. It will be recollected, for example, that a
company of American citizens having received exclu-
sive righta to open a route of communication across
Panama, and the United States having immediately
before that obtained possession of California, there
appeared an official report, the result of the delibera-
tions of the committee of Congress, in which it
was proposed to subsidize the association by a yearly
grant, with a view to secure certain privileges and
prerogatives, for the exclusive enjoyment, the sole
advantage, and the superior convenience of the Citi-
zens of the Republic. According to this, it was in-
tended that passengers in American vessels, and citi-
zens of the United States, generally, should be af-
forded better and cheaper facilities of conveyance
across Panama than any other individuals ; and a
Bill was ultimately introduced into Congress, by
which it was arranged that similar rights should be
accorded to the armed forces and munitions of war
appertaining to the United States Government.
Throughout all these preliminary steps of
the movement it was very perceptible that
the Cabinet at Washington was actuated by its
inordinate lust after territorial aggrandisement. Its
ambition, whetted by its successes in Mexico, and
exalted by the seeming embarrassment of England in
the midst of the revolutionary agitations of Europe,
rapidly gave forth tokens of its aggressive and ad-
venturous character. So large, indeed, was its au-
dacity in this particular, that its example inspired the
miserable little state of Nicaragua with the courage
of complicity. That principality willingly yielded
up to the demand of the United States the right to
construct either a railroad or a ship-canal through its
dominions (I) together with a power of navigating
a portion of the river St. John not included in that
territory, thereby securing an exclusive benefit to the
United States by encroaching upon the privileges and
possessions belonging to Musquito. Over this Mus-
quito, be it not forgotten, England bad long exercised,
and still to this moment exercises, the influence of
her protection. Musquito was not previously under
our colonial administration, but it was unques-
tionably and notoriously under the shelter of a British
protectorate. Unprepared, it may be indifferent, to
raise any objection to the schemes entalereondeunportebyd
California and
felt
the United States, whenof thovselearschaegmuae:
the then recent acquisition. of
lity
to interfere in that audacious
hneerust:lafl
it touched upon the
Government T The
firs
t
enterprisceopinrilinliipmedaediatelY
rights and advanced beyond the boundaries
of the protected stateby of
the MBursirisihto.
determination formed

was eon_
to interrupt the course of these proceedings
firmed by a circumstance which soon afterwards
transpired to their astonishment, the circumstance of
a negotiation being on foot between the United Suites,
Ambassador and the authorities of Nicaragua, et.

powering the Republic of which the former was the
accredited representative, to flank the whole of the
proposed canal with a continuous line of fortifications.

A resolute interposition became absolutely necessary
immediately these facts came to light ; and in the
conduct of such an interposition it was equally requi-
site that resolution should be tempered by the tokens
of our amicable disposition.
Linder the sagaciow, direction of Lord FAIMSRSION