The Sun.
London, England, 1821-04-02 00:00:00

To 0:1; Right lion. the EARL ofLI VERPUOL.

MY LORD-lit the Speech of the Right lion.
IVALLAcE upon the Timber Trade, a 3 re-
ported in The Tunes of Friday last, that Gentle-
man is stated to have said, that the question was
" a question of Shipping and little else : that it
" had been said, and truly said, that our Ships
'" and our Sailors were to a great extent o,.it of
" employ, but there was nothing irregular in that
" circumstance ;" and that he " would not con-
" sent to take up a thousand ships, and send
44 them upon a voyage round the world merely
to cut out subsistence for the seafaring classes;
" and yet neither of those acts would be more
" absurd or mo?e extravagant than the contirnued
" maintenance of a useless trade, merely because
" it gave employ to particular indiLiduals,'."---
" Could it be shewn that the maintenance of
" such a quantity of Shipping was necessary
" to the security of the country, he would desist
" from opposing it ; but.- he saw nothing in the
" present state of Europe to call for unprece-
" dented preparation on the part of Great Bri-
" tain, and our Shipping strength at the present
" moment greatly exceeded the strength of 1792
"or that of 1802. We had .now. many new
" Ships, and 50,000 more Sailors than formed
cc our establishments in the ye.ar 1792, a period
" immediately previous to the greatest naval'
" exertion that had ever been made by the
" Country."

The great object, therefore, of, the change
which Mr. WALLACE recommends to be made in.
the duties on timber,- appears to be to reduce
the number of our ships and seamen..
31y attention having been, drawn to this sub-
ject by the numerous articles respecting it, lehich
hare appeared in the daily papers, I have mg
since heen made sensible that such must be the
effect of any change of duty on timber less en-
ceuraging to our North American Colonies than
these at present existing ; (and am equally per-
suaded that similar consequences must result
fre'rn the relaxation or the Navigation Laws, as
proposed by Mr. WALLACE at the close of the
la .et Session;) but had no conception that Mr.
Vie.ttece, or any British Statesman, could have
formed the opinion that it was desirable to pass
an Act, with the express view of reducing the
zenber of our seamen.
What, my Lord, I ask, must be the cense-
qtence to the thousands of these poor mete who
:till be thrown out of employment ? Must they
no: either become a burt%en upon the poor-rates,
c,r emigrate, or starve ? for, as to their finding
employment in the increased Baltic trade which
ie to ensue, of which Mr. WALLAXE has a no
" doubt that British ships will have their share,"
it is out of the question; and so every man must
feel it to be, who knows that the greatest part of
the trade about to be torn from the Colonies
be given to Norway, in which trade scarcely
any but Norway ships and seamen are employed.
My Lord, the Statute introduced into Parlia-
ment by your Noble father, for " the further in-
" -cteare. of Shipping and Navigation," and which
hak immortalized his name, sets out with the
declaration that " the wealth. and strength of
" this kingdom, and the prosperity and safety of
" every part of the British Empire, greatly de-
" pend on the encouragement given to Shipping,
" and Navigation ;" and I call upon your Lord-
ship, with the most anxious feelings, to maintain
that sentiment it the present moment. Delay
that duty but until the recommendation of the i
Select Committee on " Foreign Trade" shall
have been acted upon, and your Lordship will
fed, when too late, that the wealth, strength,
prosperity, and safety of the British Empire are
gone for ever.

A BRITISH SEA>IAN,

"flit lONIAN IsLANns.--7-The following is an
Extract of a Letter, dated Corfu, the act of
March:—" Lord GUILDFORD arrived here a few
days ago from Malta, on his way to Ithaca, where
the ronian University is to be establkhed under
his direction and patronage. A great
,and very
'general interest has been recently excited in this
country, in consequence of the sentence pro-
•nO.-.lnted by an Extraordinary Commission on th c
richest landed proprietor in-the Island of Zante ;
a rran- of r.Tar!y 70 years of age; who had been
i•:,pt for six ;nonths in close confinement in the
citrsde .;f 'Corfu. By that sentence he has been
-conderrned te:elve years' confinement in any
of the Islands of the
.Mediterranean subject tol
his IVIA3 ;STY, at the pleasure of the Lord
High Comthissioner, to degradation from the
Nobility, and to all costs. He was brought
to trial for crimes against the State ; but he re-
fused to defend himself, declaring his innocence,
and stating that he had forwardQd a reclamation
to his Britannic Majesty, the Sovereign Protector,
and protesting against the competency of the tri-
bunal. The sentence,. however, was pasied, and
he was' forthwi It embarked, by order of General
Maitland, for the-fortress of Santa Maura. The
act of accusation, as furnished to the accused
before the. trial, charged him with having been
a principal actor •in the events which took place
in the- Isle .of Zante during. the month of July
last, in Sculicado, and in other neighbouring ,
'villages."---We understand that the son. of the •
above-mentioned accused person, M. Valterra
Martinengo, who was entrusted with the recla-
mation, has lately arrived in this country, and
has been presented to Lard Bathurst,