The Sun.
London, England, 1821-04-04 00:00:00

TIMBER,

Mn. Enriiott-1 conceive it to be an axiom in
Britith politics (hi)wever mucii disregarded
.at present,) that Naval superiority is essen-
tial to our existence as a free nation. On
this ground, the shipping interest, during
the Administrations if the-two greatest of modern
statesmen, was peculiarly cherished and promoter!
—whether with good or bad policy, let our Naval
Annals declare. The formidable fleets of our
foes have been utterly anuihilated ; but the suc-
cess of our Marine has been too preeminent, if
the effect is. to tall us into a fatal neglect of so,
vital a principle of our national power. That such
kleglects-however, does unhappily exist, appears
too evident .by the measure about to be debated
in the ?douse Of Commons respecting alterations
i,. the present on foreign timber.
The public being; in poseesslsm. of the Report
-safailisiatttelet tla'jsgsife;s4,fliltitksstts. end being
aware of the proposeaaatetattons•ifthesdutiesisi
need not occupy the columns of your valuable
paper in alluding to them. Few persons COll
-
'versant with the daatter will, F aufA;te, ente'rtain,
a doubt that the effect .of the proposetic,altera-
tions will be to cause the stipplY Of foreign tim-
ber to be broUghtprincipaiTy from the Baltic, and
,startip by foreign vessels, instead'of being brought,
as atpresent,principally from our North American
Colonies, and wholly by our own vessels. The
effect of this is evident, for, as two voyages can
ba made to the Bnitic, where One only .can be
made to'America:, (and the proportiOnis frequent-
ly greater) every cargo brought from the Baltic
•itistead of from America in a British vessel would
throw. one vessel out of employment 'in the tim-
ber trade, and where brought in a foreign vessel,
two British vessels would be thrown out of such
employment, and to what other employment
such vessels can tesort, the promoters of the pro-
posed alte•rations would do well to consider. A No-
ble Lord,. (Lord A LTHORPE,OII Thursday night's
debate,) has said, the ships employed iu the
American timber trade are rotten and fits for no
other. Admitting that fact, for argument's sake,
such unereployc4 vessels, by the promoters of
the. measure, are 'pitilessly consigned (not to
-rot, fop.they tsre accountedsalready rotten, but,
to fall $.6 pieces by- the walls, and their crews (as
hardy seamen as ever navigated the North Sea,
and those are Well known to be accounted the
hest in the world) to fall with them, or to seek a
subsistence in foreign vesseli. It is not, hew-
ever, from the conditiOn Of the .shipS unfitting
them for any other trade, that I call en the pro-
moterS of-the- .alterations to,consider to what other
trade those vessels 'so thrown out of etnployntent
can resort, because the: fart (as the Noble- Lord
will find on investigation)' is the reverse, these
being many as fine vessels in. this trade as in any
other, and sortie having, from the time of their
being launched, been engaged in no other, ex-
cept in the coal, trade, and then merely to fill
up the intervals of time between the American
voyages. Indeed, to persons
.the least conver-
sant in Nautical affairs, the voyage to North
America is known to he one snitch more beis-
terouS,aad ?'vying -to' a- vessel than most others
on taus side the CaPes -and, because " the sand
cart" Of " the high !nettled racer" is, as regards
British shippingsthe coal trade. But, Iso call
on the promoters of the alterations, because,
there is no other trade in which such vessels can
find emPloyment ; therefore, whether 'they be
rotten, or tirst_cht'ss vessels; the effect will be the
same ; because, if the latter, though they should
not lie by the walls themselves, they will cause
inferior vessels -(by displacing them) to do so ;
and whose crews must equally seek refuge in
foreign
,vessels. But, shall we reap an adequate
advantage for suffering this decrease in.our ship-
ping and seamen I venture to say, assuredly
not. Look at the amount of the invoice price of
Baltic timber—a mere trifle, -but that is thent-
most that we can expect be taken from us
in exchange, sod presuming that this amount in
British reanufactnres would be conveyed •in our
own ships (which, however, cannot be the fact),
what tonnage of shipping would be required for
that purvose ? 1 ask the promoters of the altera-
tiOns, wheeler two dozen of ships of .200 tons
each would not be more than sufficient ? If our
thanufact Tres -find their way. at- all to the Con-
tinent, it must. be on account of their superiority
and cheapness- alone, and they will find their
way there, on those grounds, though we should
take nothing in • return. iint„let the Northern
nations be content—do we not take thcir .hemp
and iron, and tallow, and other articles, some of
which we' could, no- doubt, produce in our own
Colonies ;—then why should we be required. to
supply 'ourselves with timber from them', when
we have-such an iaenhaustible .timber yard of
our own ?—Should we do so, they- may smile at
our folly, but we may, ere long, have great cause
to bewail it.

I -shall only allude to the policy of populating
Canada (which-can only be done by fucouraging
its timber trade) • by. asking, whether politi,-.
rians d not'consider that the probabilities are,
that at some future period the Northern part of
the United States (which is the most favourable
to us) will secede, froin the Southern part—and
v hether such secession would not be likely to be
accelerated, 'were Canada .suaciently populous
to enable them (when united -tOgether • as one
nation) cffectrta::y To resit,: aggression from the
Southern States.—Few species-of property be'-
licve it will be universally-admitted) have suf-
fered more depreciation since the peace than
the :hipping,—and the supply (from the want
of employment) is far from being kept up ; con-
sequently, the supply of seamen, too; is (EMIL-

isiting,--this; to the nation, ought to be a seriot i.
censideration, ands.there have lkoen Statesmmt
who would have considered tho loss of even 05t,,4,
seaman, from this cause, as a tattional The
lumber trade (both American and-Baltic) there,:
fore, under present circumstances, is-the trade, of
all others, that should he. kopt.exclusivety far
British Shipping,: because it ailbrds employment
-for an immense number of: more silips•than
other, requiring the same .capital:. carp.,
too, is one which it is of infinite importat:ce. try
our manufactures to have impo:ted at a cheap
rate.

The length of the voyage 8.150 (Clough it onetst
to prevent the imposition of any duty) is an ar,
gument in favour of the Awerican lumber tradr,,
under present circunistances,—and have litrl
Lc. si;~tion in asserting that under thctae cirCurh
tailces a late Statesman (accounted A i+ise.onj,
tety) Avo41(1, rather have giver.; a bounty on'tii.t.
importat*or. of American Timber than have taxed
WM) as cause a diniittition (lie Seurat% of the
Bouhtry4-so convinced Vias his great mind of Ow-
vital importane,e of Nlval snreriority,to our ,na-
tioual power, if not e7en to our very existf-nce as
a Nation. K * *

PRIVATE AND ArJTIIEnT EC f;c4,ltll.l.3?(MinZN,".!P.

PARIS,. MARCH 30.-1 Ac Cernstii,diu7lcl;(th
Statesmatz of the French Press) has a si'ogitiAr
kindness for its Radical Readers—it ntify-puti-'
. _
lishes. such new as it knows will rejoicettlie.rfa.
The insolence of the COrtes to the. Kingi-,Ch.-!
victories of the Neapolitans, and, • the trzt4.o7sall
rising in Piedmont, and indeed through'o,',l: all
Italy; troubles at Grenoble and, Lyons, ex. &c. ;
but if, on. the contrary,lhe. Neapolitans .eut a
,
ridiculous figure) and run away without fihting,
and that instead of 6000. Austrians kill.:-.4. and
10,000 prisoners, as M. LAFITTE'S letter S-tattd,
it- is found that in the whole campaign theriliag
. not been '5O lives lost—that all the bravad'ops of
the Neapolitans end in smoke—that " liberty or
death" means only liberty to live and die a natntal
death,—thitt the Sardinian army is just isbr:dv e.,
as the Neapolitan—that the " cause of .1i be T. ii !'
is lost in thaiSouth of Europe without a struggleel---
that in France all is tranquil—then- The.' -C07t3.?,i -
futionel, is silent, and says, with a simplicity.a.d.-
mirable, my silonee speaks; it dOes-7--it is ,tT'i;:t
silentium loquens of treason in despair, for- tL‘.f.,-i)
sorrow is always silent.—The Funds rose co:-
..
per cent. yesterday, and will no doubt in aTf4,w
days be as high as ever ; and even General Foy
now thinks the Ministry May go on.- Ai. .113
46 Patriots " are defeated in the South of Europe
they will doubtless hear of them in the North ;
and the Constitat lona will tell ns'with delight,
'flint Russia, Poland, and Prussia are in a ciLia•
plete state of insurrection.

HAMBURGII MAIL.
[Regeived this morning.]

STOCKHOLM, MARCH 16.-11 - Ilightt.ess.,th,?
Grand .DUke of Mecklenburg Schweri.n-1164
caused an application to. be made through
Minister to onr Government, requesting :that
goods imported in vessels of. Mecklenburg (pw-
bably of Wismar) shall, pay.no, more duty;ttlan
goods of the same kind-2importediu Swedish ves-
sels. This request has been declined, after-lur-
ing been referred to the Meant of Trade for its
opinion. _ . .

- Sweden has just- sutT,rekl an ;rreparab;e
The most learned and inAefutigahle efithe poli-
tical economists of our country, Baron Nie
Edelcranz, "President of the tioard of Tiadv,
died on the 35th instant, after a long •Olne:•.,:.
He was barn .in,Fin!and, a, country whizh
furnished Sweden with ratty statesro-N4, goidierg,
and literati. He. took the'degTee of Doctor
Philosophy. at Abcy, .but sool4 _came. 10-.4te:k-
-holm, where. he was • distinguished
.by if.:xaSC.l.-
VEIS 111. He exerted ,hiensv.if with restlets zeal
to introduce numerous improvements in ~the arts,
mapufactures, MeClialliC3, n .poli4iczi e cortzny ,
&c.' and succeeded i-n many.thihgs:; but his' en-
larged and liberal views Wex,e far c,cm eteHg
duly appreciated in general, and ma:, •
enemies; biat he never hesitated to all
privat6 eonsideratiois to his teak of
the public.
. .

According to the orders issued n.y•the
tants-General of the Army,' alithe.regirnenis...;%d
corps. will have nmeetic.g of fifteen nap the
Commanders and Oftcers, and.of tvrelvoUrup for
the .recruits. There will • 8130. 17,C a eaf.ap of
exercise for twenty dap at Livenngoo,.ioliaaLia,
where all the regiments in Scania b as-
sernbled ;• and another camp for twenty-se:fen
days at Malwea, In East G-othland,•.w.hqre, 'be-
sides the' infantry of the' first insncetisin.„ .the
horse-guard and hussars of the :regirnr.lcs
will be assembled, under the •cenlngind of tie
Grown Printe. The otter regiments
assembled' for sixteen days at the
Ift deserves to he menti.one;k 21: a reznarital
circianstance, that the ['kali of the 'ct.lelin-t,--1
Descartes 14.83-lately so;ii fcr taco doL.l.‹,
at the auction of the. litra ry effects of
late Professor Sparrnii44.---( ainzwrgi:. Pale
!earth t 7.)
Exchange c; Lonz.l-.;:4; 4-27