The Sun.
London, England, 1845-06-14 00:00:00

whiclllitk.a°tAddlitnogr'ears
class rapidly disappearing;
interested;flri.t'l6 hblU!i'liBs°ll:e7l:
for when all the world shall liar,
beco-- •
aumors,-a state to which mankind seems rapidly pro-
gressing, there will be no readers of books.
'` lit tlQte Afteenth 22.ptur,i. when ignorance and barbarisn
their htdglit, there Was a thorough contempt fol
learning, aceonipanied by the most blinded prejudices. In
those ages et. profound ignorance and superstition, to posse&
ben thb slightqq knowledge of Greek or Hebrew, was ac
than ibb h2l-6..; And a scholastic jargoi
*ti in vogue tunic than the bolilliast of luna-
tics. Society has long since emerged out of that chaos; bui
two extremes produce the same effect. Extreme darkness
and extreme light equally blind the vision ; this age of boaste6
intelligence, it is also to be feared, is an age of ignorance
many respects, and May, for anything that we know, be cha-
racterised as such by future historians.

" Men are learned about many things which concern
than not; Literature seemsseenis to be on the decline. This i,
the era of scrap-learning tid bhPnlr l'ending; classical learn-
ing is beginning to be despised ; but like good birth it is
undervalued only by those who do not possess it.
" It is, however, the first symptom of the deterioration of
literature, like religion which begins to decay, and becomes
corrupt when men depart from its standards and funda-
mentals.

" Men born in an enlightened age seem to think they will
partake of its enlightenment as a birth-right, without taking
the trouble of acquiring it. As every man born in a Ire(
country is by right a free man, so every one born in these
intellectual times thinks he is an intellectual person, anti
therefore must not hide his talent, but must spread out his
knowledge to public view in legible letter-press which no •
body can mistake, though the inducements to authorship were
never fewer than at the present day. As a money-gettin
scheme, it is almost hopeless, and as a means of acquiring
fame it is equally so. In a dull age some may excel or rise
above the general dulness; but in a clever, luminous age ol
mediocrity there is no pre-eminence."

COMMON SENSE versus BIGOTRY.

This is the title of a pampliet published by
clergyman of the Church of England, who furnishes
some good reasons for supporting the Naynooth
grant. He founds his arguments chiefly on the fact,
that the Catholic religion is established in Ireland.
and contends that we have only a choice of evils,
and that the true Christian way of pacifying Ireland
is not to insult the religious prejudices of the people,
but to do what is just, and as honesty is the bes:
policy, the result will be beneficial. We have tried
a worn-out system for hundreds of years :
it has totally failed. " The more you starved
out your Romanist," says he, " the more
he would not be starved. The more you tried to
bring him over to Protestantism, the more he would
not come. You will never propagate Protestant doc-
trines by forcing the Roman Catholic to feel him-
self an outcast. But having completely failed •tc
ship your Roman Catholics by the pulling them
backwards, having made them; on the con-
trary, march forward into their own ways
with the greater zeal—suppose you try the
other plan of pulling them the other way—
try and see if, by pulling them into their own ship,
they will not now strive against your efforts. Having
beaten, and starved, and persecuted them for a long
time, try the opposite tack; give them fir treatment:
let them feel that, whether Protestant or Romanist,
the State cares alike for their welfare; and then
there being no violent prejudices at work, no
pleasant feeling of being persecuted, they will na-
turally choose that which is best. Men who are
not swayed by extraneous motives, generally prefer
truth to falsehool Roman Catholics are men—why
should they not, though Irish, be reasonable, honest,
and candid ? You are not called upon to establish
an erroneous creed, but that creed being de facto
established, by having a most firm hold on the affec-
tions and prejudices of the people, you are urged tf
make it less pernicious. (I am speaking here to
those who look upon Romanism as an unmixed evil.)
Adopt measures which shall make these determined
rejectors of Protestantism better citizens and better
Christians. We would wish them to be Churchmen
but we cannot: have our wish."

PROHIBITORY IMPORT DUTIES

ON GOODS IN MOROCCO.

The following extracts from a letter received ai
Lloyd's yesterday, from their agent at Gibraltar, wil
be found interesting : . . .

" The naw tariff seems to have been most injudicious)}
considered, inasmuch as the same rates are to be levied;
on all kinds of cotton and woollen piece goods, without
reference to their respective qualities, and the sanil
system is to be observed also, with regard to goods
usually imported by weight, so that ss. or 21s. sterling
will be charged in a quintal of copperas and other good:
of very little value."
"It is, however, considered not improbable that when
the Emperor finds that the augmentation of duties only
tends to lessen the receipts of the Customs, that he wili
be induced to alter the new system. The British mer-
chants here trading to Barbary are making a representa-
tion to the Board of Trade—which, I trust, will obtain
the favourable consideration of her Majesty's Govern-
ment. Similar remonstrances from the mercantile in-
terests in England would materially strengthen the
memorial from this quarter.
(Signed) " By Lloyd's Agent.
" Raw Cotton, Refined Loaf Sugar, which paid one
dollar per cwt., will now pay five dollars or about 50 per
cent. ad valorem. Copperas, which paid Gd. per cent.,
will now pay five dollars, or about 400 per cent. ad
valorem.

" The principal articles of consumption in Bar.
bary, consisting of woollens and cotton piece goods, an
to pay 50 to 75 per cent. duty."

THE ENGLISH IN CHINA.

The following is an extract from a letter dated Hong-
Kong, March 6, 1845 :
" You will be pleased to hear that opium can no longer
involve us in China. It is openly admitted at ever)
port, and carried about the streets. In fact, it is legalised
to all intents and purposes, but they are ashamed to
publish it. The trade of Canton for the past year
exceeded all previous experience, notwithstanding
the other four ports, and the Emperor gained
a revenue of 250,000 dollars from that port alone.
At Shanghai 38 ships are recorded during 1844. The
impetus given to our cotton manufactures is very great,
and the demand yet unsupplied. As for this colony,
it is getting on at a miraculous pace ; houses and
streets spreading in all directions, and still house-
rent extravagantly dear. We have now delightful
weather, much superior to an English winter. The
unhealthiness of this island is beginning to be found
a hoax. The drunken soldiers die, as they do in ali
hot climates, fevered with spirits and debauchery ;
but as for the civil part of the community, the
colonial surgeon has returned 367 cases with only nine
deaths, in his report of six months' practice. Such a pro
portion might be exceeded in England. Our barracks
were sickly, and our gaol perfectly healthy. British
sovereignty is zealously established, over the Chinese of
this colony, and they are so well contented with it as to
flock over with their wives and families, which gives us a
better population than at first, now increased to 30,000.
Three Chinese robbers (with weapons) were condemned
to death by our Supreme Court, when they com-
mitted suicide by hanging themselves in the prison.
These men had robbed and attempted to murder some
of their own countrymen, and not Europeans. Whilst
at Macao, for twenty four hours, to collect plants and
trees and vine cuttings for the colony, the Governor was
attacked by three robbers while walking along in plain
clothes, just outside the ton n. They fled on seeing some
other Englishmen approaching, so he was happily
neither hurt nor robbed, though one of the rascals had a
knife in his possession. In Hong-Kong we have put
an end to robberies by our English jurisdiction."

DEATH BY EXPERIMENTAL HANGING.—On Friday
Mr. Baker held an inquest at the Fighting Cocks, St. John-street,
Bethnal green, on the body of George Smith, aged eighteen years
Mr. W. Smith, No. 14, Oak street, Brick-lane, shoemaker, deposed
that deceased was his son. He was in the employ of Mr. Morley,
pork butcher, of Hare street, Bethnal green. On Tuesday evening
last, deceased having been missed by his master, the latter sent
his daughter to the stables of a Mr. Cousins, in Hare-marsh,
where he kept his horse, to see if he was there. Deceased was
found suspended to one of the rafters by a leathern strap, or horse's
bellyband. Assistance was procured, and he was taken down, but
was quite dead. Witness had no idea that deceased had con-
templated suicide. He had been a schoolfellow and an acquaint.
ance of James Tapping, who was lately hanged at the Old Bailey
for the murder of Emma Whiter. He went to see him executed,
but had never made any allusion to the occurrence. Since that time
he had often amused himself by placing a handkerchief round
the necks of witness's younger children, and told them to make a
noise, "cluck, cluck," as if they were hanging. About a week
since a brother of deceased had discovered him suspended by the
tame strap, as if he were trying an experiment. He remonstrated
with him upon his folly, and put the strap away. Witness further
stated that from the position in which he was found, with his feet
close to the ground, induced him to believe that deceased was merely
trying an experiment of the sensation produced by hanging, and
that unfortunately it had terminated fatally. The Jury expressed
themselves of the same opinion, but as there was no positive evi-
dence of the fact, under the direcion of the Coroner they returned
a verdict of" Found dead by hanging, but how or by what means
he became so hanged, there w,s no evidence to show."

CANNEL COAL.—It is not generally known that
Cannel coal can be employed in the fine arts, and that for the bases
of statues, plinths, and a variety of other purposes, for which black
marble and other fossil substances are used, this fossil can be substi-
tuted at a less cost and with less difficulty in the cutting or
carving. A very elegant vase of this material, something in
the shape of the well-known Warwick Vase, but flatter, and
partaking more of the patera shape, has been lately cut out of
a block of Cannel coal, or rather " turned" out of the block
by means of the lathe, and the tools are similar tools to those
employed in the cutting of wood or brass. The artist is a Mr. J.
Dallaway, to whom it would be less than justice not to say that
he has produced a most elegant piece of work. The vase stands
on a fluted column of the same material. It has, we believe, been
shown to his Royal Highness Prince Albert, who has expressed
his satisfaction both with the design and the workmanship of the
artist. The polish, which the material of which it is composed re-
ceives with very little labour, is surprising—it :appears like the
finest Negro antic°. The block came from the estate of the Duke
of Norfolk, near Sheffield.

DEATII FROM SUFFOCATION.-CAUTION TO PA-
ItENTs.—Yesterday Mr. Baker held an inquest at the Fighting
Cocks, St. John-street, Bethnal green, on the body of Joseph Ri-
chard Webb, aged eleven weeks, the son of a toy dealer, residing
at 26, Winchester street, Bethnal-green. On Saturday night
last the child was taken to bed as usual. When the mother awoke
on the following morning, about five o'clock, she found him quite
dead. A small portion of the pillow had got over his face, and it
was believed that he had been accidentally suffocated by that means.
A surgeon was sent for, but all efforts to restore animation were
ineffectual. Verdict—" That deceased was found dead, appa-
rently from suffocation."

The Duke and Duchess of Leeds and suite left the
Clarendon Hotel yesterday, to join the distinguished circle about
to assemble on a visit to his Majesty the King of Holland, at the
Loo, in the Netherlands, where the annual sport of falconry will
shortly commence.

The Duke of Leinster has left town on his return
to Carton House, Maynooth, where the Duchess and family have
been residing during the Noble Duke's absence. His Grace came
expressly from Ireland to declare his approbation in the House of
Lords of the Government measure for the endowment of klayneotb,