The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-14 00:00:00

PRICE OF SUGAR.

The Average Price of Brown or Muscovado Sugar, for the
week ending Dec. 10, 1844, is 295. 10d. per cwt., exclusive
of the Duties of Customs paid or payable thereon on the im-
portation thereof into Great Britair

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—In the speech of Lord Aberdeen, delivered
at the banquet given by the merchants of London to and
in honour of Sir Henry Pottinger, his Lordship remarked
that " the meeting possessed nothing of a political
character." To a certain extent this was true. But,
though the occasion was not decidedly " political," the re-
miniscences to which it gives rise are emphatically so. It
leads the public mind back to the debates in Parliament on
the Chinese war; it calls up the House of Commons Ames
when Sir James Graham brought forward his motion
in condemnation of the Whig Ministers for having un-
dertaken it ; and expatiated on the injustice and the
impolicy of the Chinese expedition ; it reminds us of the
pious and humane Mr. Gladstone's expression, that the
poisoning of the water-tanks by the natives was a thing
quite "of course." Who that heard and read these
things could anticipate such an event as that of Wednes-
day. evening ? The Ministers—who as Opposition leaders
condemned the Chinese war, as fraught with the elements
of folly 'and crime—assemble with the members of the
Administration they assailed on this very question, to
confer honour on the Envoy who was commissioned by
the Government they had long sought to destroy, and
endeavoured to effect its destruction for directing the
war to be commenced. We find these very men paying
compliments to the Government they then assailed,
as well as to the Envoy they • had selected—in fact,
bearing testimony against themselves, by the praises
which, through their colleague, Lord Aber-
deen, they consented to lavish upon Lord Pal-
merston, and his Chinese policy ! In acknow-
ledging the graceful compliments paid to him
by the Noble Lord, his successor at the Foreign-
office, Lord Palmerston gave a gentle hint, which the
company appreciated, and loudly cheered :—" We have
assembled here for a common purpose—men of all
shades of politics are met—members of the Cabinet
which began the expedition, and members of the Ca-
binet which succeeded it, and which, though differing
from their predecessors on many other essential points,
yet felt it their duty, when clothed with the respon-
sibility of office, to continue the operations in China
which were in progress when they came into power."
—(Cheers.) It is well for them, and for the country,
that they did "continue" those operations. They might
have abruptly terminated the war. Acting upon their ex-
pressed and faction-inspired denunciations of the Chinese
war. They might have withdrawn the troops, and
boasted of their consistency. They knew better than
to do so. They persisted in the course which they had
condemned in their predecessors ; and reaped where
they had not sown. The improvement in trade, for
which the present Government takes credit to itself, is,
to a considerable extent, the result of the openings which
China presents for British manufactures—openings for
which the country is indebted to the policy which was
condemned by the members of the now approving Go-
vernment when in opposition. The large sum paid by the
Chinese under the treaty of peace concluded between
the two countries, as a compensation to Great Britain
for the expenses of the war—this large contribution
toward supplying the deficiency in the Exchequer, and
to the surplus revenue of which Sir Robert Peel
boasts as the fruit of his financial skill, is the pro-
duct of the policy which the present Government con-
demned, affected to deplore, and sought to counteract.
" Clothed with the responsibility of office," their eyes
became enlightened as to what was required to main-
tain the honour and advance the interests of the country;
and " they continued the operations in China," which
they had, with unanimity and earnestness, condemned.
Thus it is. In Parliament and outside its walls—in the
measures they propose, and in the speeches they deliver
twhlei eyn employexpounding
en
addressor
dr
dr
ess ing defending
public
bthem—injcme
eti tnhe gs language
economical or festive, the present Ministers are com-
pelled to justify the policy of the Government they ob•
strutted, and eventually upset.
STANDARD.—We owe an apology for having ne-
glected to direct attention, yesterday, to the remarkable
and most gratifying scene on the preceding evening at
Merchant Tailors' Hall—the entertainment given to Sir
Henry Pottinger, by the principal merchants of London.
This brief delay has given to most of our morning Con-
temporaries an advantage over us, but an advantage com-
pensated by the opportunity we have of considering their
opinions. It is a very old observation, that to the acqui-
sition of lasting fame two things are necessary, great
talents and good fortune. Sir H. Pottinger has been
abundantly favoured with both, and he has employed
both in the manner best fitted to establish his own
renown, and to promote the honour, prosperity, and
happiness of his country. and through her to promote
the advancement of the human race. It was not an ex-
aggeration that the Chairman employed when he com-
pared the opening of the Chinese empire to the
commerce and social interests of Europe, with the
achievements of Vasco di Gama and Christopher Co-
lumbus. Whether we regard the difficulty of the
task, the innocency of the means by which it has been
accomplished, or the probable benefit to mankind, we
must place the adoption of the Chinese empire into the
family of civilised nations far before the opening of the
maritime passage to India, or the discovery of the
western world. In the intercourse of mankind,
moral obstacles are always harder to surmount than
obstacles that are merely physical. The passage
from London to New York, or, indeed, to the
Antipodes—New Zealand and Australasia—is much
more certain and secure, upon the average of years,
than that across the narrow isthmus which separates
the Mediterranean from the Red Sea. In less than
three centuries civilisation has tamed what was the
vast desert of North America, from the Floridas to
Detroit, but in ten times three centuries civilisation
has mad little progress iu the abode of the Arabs.
The case of China itself, however, so long
courted by civilised nations, and so long inaccessible,
is the most remarkable example of the repulsive
force of purely moral difficulties. When we boast,
too, of the innocency of the means by which China
has been thrown open, we must not be understood as
justifying the origin of the war which has led to so
happy a result, or even to the unsurpassed skill and gal-
lantry with which that war was conducted. We may
consistently deplore the original quarrel, we may dismiss
all feeling as to the mode in which the war was con-
ducted, except admiration for the skill, gallantry, and,
above all, humanity, of our soldiers and sailors ; and yet
exult with unalloyed triumph in the good which wisdom
has drawn out of what, was at first perhaps evil. We must
not be supposed to detract from the merits of our brave
sailors and soldiers— they discharged the duty assigned to
them as British sailors and solders always disoharge their
duty, and as no other sailors or soldiers can ; they ac-
complished what no other men in the world could accom-
plish. Far be it from us to detract from their claim upon
the admiration of their country, but truth requires us to
say, that their victory was followed by a victory still
more important, in the use made of their glorious suc-
cesses. It is at the end of their services that the proudest
triumph of the British name commences. 'rho war
tdhoeub whole
thlee almostsam
e
might have been continued along,
endless coast of China, with, n)
brilliant success that characterised the last
campaign, but without any other useful consequence,
and continued for ever, were it not for the wisdom of
the man who saw and seized the proper moment to ter-
minate it, and used the means best calculated to termi-
nate it to the benefit of his country and his species.
` A flint tipie," says Lord Bacon, "is found to be more