The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-02 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL RELATIONS.

CASE OF THE RELATIONS OF OUR GOVEet/
mENT WITH THAT OF HOLLAND, marls-
INDIA, AND THE ARCHIPELAGO.
In our City article of Wednesday last, we published
the following statement :
" The private commercial accounts received yesterl
from India and China are upon the whole considec:,,,
very satisfactory. It is most certainly true that the sate'
of British manufactures in the Chinese ports had bee
much less than was expected, and in too many instance:
at prices below those marked in the invoice. Still the%
was not any head-over heels work —no apParelli
desire to speculate too largely, or indeed to any extents
all worth notice."
And under the head " Market Intelligence" 00 the
same day, it will be seen that in the most imports°
commodities of necessity or luxury, the products",
Java, Sumatra, and various islands of the Indian Oceli°'
the seatof the Dutch Commercial establishments in Asia
such as sugars, coffee, peppers (black especialbl
spices, rice, &c., there was a much increasing dernael
here, at advanced prices. To many of our readers
may seem unaccountable how the sugars, the COffeeS
and rice of Java and Sumatra—the cotton of Timor;
the pepper of Borneo, and the spices of Gibolo an
Ceram,—should be able not only to find their marvel
against the redundant supply of these commod;;ld
which our enormous territorial possessions on t"4
main and in the seas of Southern Asia, and especialdt
the peninsula of India, at all times command, be
should compete with British Indian and Asiatic pro'
ducts to absolute advantage. It must appear equidl
surprising that the ratification of ?he very fair tart,
and the advantageous treaty with China, by which;
has been promulgated, shou:d, although immedistei
followed up by the opening to British commerce se
traders of four or five additional ports of China,
ated in commanding positions on the exteestr
coasts of that mighty empire, have failed to createse;
thing like a corresponding 'degree of activity in °,4
exports of manufactures of hardware from hence,
,e 1
in the "country trade," as it is called, which car
direct between British India and China cargl
composed of the natural products, raw sio
manufactured materials of both States.
the present condition of our general, trio
es
and the very natural anxiety which prevslt
e
among all classes of our people to remove all 011 e
cessary restraints and restrictions, to abolish Moor
lies, to multiply the demands of foreign customer''
and to facilitate the supply of them ; these Ott;
merits would present themselves to us as matters
very paramount importance. But when we caul'"
them with the strangely unimproved, though note,
less, advantages of local, moral, and political influeo',
connexions, establishments, and capital that we pod
sess both in China and throughout the wide range d
our Indian domination, the case assumes an aspeet,
graver concernment than that even which its el
mercial bearings communicate to it. We hot
discussed, in a former number of The, Sun, the
sidious and aggressive policy, pertinaciously ptlreljo
by the Dutch authorities in India to the serious so
increasing detriment of our commerce, and the it
of our honour and authority, in that portion of -Vgioj
and even more strangely permitted, acquiesced itKi
formally recognised, by the Anglo-Indian polio,'
our Government, both here and abroad.
It is known that, independently of the disgro
treaty concluded by our Ministers at Ghent, with to
United States of Holland, in 1814—a subseqtleo
treaty with the same Power was executed by us e
1824, which we shall never cease to denounce I°_,j
still more scandalous surrender of British rights ro
and possessions, territorial and other, negotiated
those who represented the British Crown, as It 50
more portentous and shameful ignorance of the
terests which they then sacrificed. The only deford
ever attempted for our continued toleration—firtr
the diplomatic blundering of our profound negro.
tors ; and, secondly, of the admitted evasion and f°ol
dulent violation by the Netherlands Government
to
even the one-sided stipulations in their own filr°o
which they duped us into making—is, that the tee ;it
having been fully consummated, and established 0
continuous operation, it would be at once difficult nee
impolitic to press the Dutch to consent to releri
and modify it. We shall now lay before our reoo3
a more connected view of the effect of the treatfo,
stands, than some of them may possibly be in 13°
sion of. But we shall address ourselves, previolls
to the objection taken, in limine, to its revision.
sir
The famous transatlantic mission of Lord
BURTON last year was attended with one restilt'd
least, not to be impugned by even the fiercest Id
00)
nents of the Boundary Treaty. It at once
00
a precedent for the re-opening of negotiated gosh
and suggests the particular instance in which it. 'liveit
be expedient •for our Government now to act
it. We should be the last-people in the
advocate, as a general principle, the right or 1)°',10,
of resuscitating political questions, after their ,11,
dication under the stipulations of solemn treaties he
tureen independent Powers. No doctrine could the
fraught with consequences more dangerous t°,ol
peace and good faith of nations, than to say that Pid
should be at liberty to " review," on every prete%or
commercial injury or political inconvenience, Wool
gagements they have reciprocally entered into. 4,0,f
where one of the contracting parties can clearly 7100
that he entered into such engagements on oci
which, though announced by the' other, and elf'
cepted by himself, for facts, have been et
proved and destroyed by later inquiries; 04
upon information which, though equally 6,5
on by both parties as authentic, has since r'or
discovered to be erroneous; a plausible grollll-at'l,oo
suredly, is laid for the abrogation of any treaty, o'
unduly instructed, and for the substitution eflod
other. Whether or not the Government of the Vri
States were in a condition honestly to press sot`
s,
plea in the late negotiations at Washington, is a Voir
tion we have no intention now to discuss. It it e
cient for our purpose to show, that, in another ei
stance of a treaty negotiated eighteen years sr
for
with another Power, our Government has a ofteetro'
the complete review and reconstruction of the li
merit to which it was a subsidiary party, infillinfe'
stronger in the essential elements of the stated rao
mises, and the equity arising upon them, than arl,,jc'
which the United States have relied, and relied "01,
cessfully, as to the re-opening of the treaties Of'
and 1814.
op°"
That the national wrong originally inflicted
6941
Great Britain by the treaty with Holland of I,jel
to which we are now referring, should have been to
rated at the period of its original infliction by a cis'
Government, of which the present Premier wee je
tinguished member, is a circumstance we nitoftiooo
plore. But any merely personal considers
00$
that are associated with that contingency cOllO.
have any weight with us, in estimating
eli?
probable amount of injury produced to our or
ratter and our commerce by such national 0;0'
That successive Governments, both Whig and.i.of
servative, should have acquiesced during so
,7.30
years, and down to the present time, not merely tried'
original injury, but in the many superadded ear foilt
ments and insults which have constantly flowecitlfor
it, is a result which furnishes the strongest reos°r
bringing the matter, without further delay, undedoett
notice of the public. Finally, it may be Pt%
r, tile
that the organic changes which were effected t tya
constitution of the East India Company, %ode oroi'
Government of Earl GREY, had, though tn 3 00'
dental, yet, a powerful operation in aggravati9
detrimental consequences ensuing to our trado4oll
the same treaty. Now the grievances against wircit!
we protest—and the removal of which we sbsCreto
mend in the name of the foreign commerce Of
Britain, may be shortly thus stated : 09'
First—By this treaty (concluded between teet 0.
nipotentiaries of Great Britain and Holland
.0 oY
London, on the 17th of March, 1824), sort ol
gain for an exchange of territory lying in the 5 tbil
Archipelago, was dignified 'with all the forcer to to°
could give a character of honour and good fai 006;
genuine compact between nations. It was 1,1 th
action, however,. as , and unprincipled `het
one part," and as al,surd and reckless -on the tpti,
as any that his fret furnished the bases ot4lo 016
firdera. it was equally creditable to tieoliti
Dutch reTatation for unscrupulous cunning in " egte#
and tire old English diplomatic reputation for eo'°'
givis simplicity in being dealt with. By this
..11
fable treaty, Great. Britain ceded all the Engli;Poiter
Vements on the toast of Sumatra, from en her, lilt
March 1825, to Ilolland—Holland ceding t°0,;010
lieu thereof, the: Dutch establishments on the co 74,101
of India, and the. city of Malacca, on the