The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-17 00:00:00

Cii,N*4 ate

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 17, 1844.

Mr. O'CONNELL presented a petition from Dublin,
praying the House of Commons to suspend the
Standing Orders with respect to the Dublin and
Cashel Railway Bill. A number of other petitions
to the same effect were presented by Mr. Slimy, Mr.
Salim, Mr. Hasiivros, and Mr. O'BRIEN.
The Ashton and Staleybridge Railway Bill was
read a second time and ordered to be engrossed.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER announced
• that on the 3d of June he would move that the
House resolve itself into Committee on the Sugar
. Duties Bill.
..Mr. Waal) gave notice that on Thursday week he
would move that the House resolve itself into Com-
mittee, to take into consideration the Temporalitiea
of the Irish Church. .
In answer to a question from Mr. COLLETT, relative
to. the Whitson holidays, Sill ROBERT PEEL said he
should propose that the House should adjourn from
Friday
.week till the Thursday following.
. ' On the motion of Mr. DUNCOMBE, a return was
ordered of the money paid, or to be paid, to Govern-
ment' • Olort.-hand writers during the trial of Mr.
O'CONNELL and others ; and also of the money paid
• for notes taken at Conciliation Hall, between the Ist
of August, 1843, and the present time.
Sir C. NAPIER brought forward the present state
of the Navy List, and pointed out the disadvantages to
the service by retaining officers en service who were
incapacitated by age or infirmities, while so many
. young.officers hat nothing to do. The list, he said,
showed there were only two Admirals under 70 years
of age, twenty-five Rear-Admirals under 65, and
fifteen under 60 years of age. He entered into length-
ened details r2speeting the state of the navy, for
NtS/Y-Mit XcifttMthe report, and moved, " That it he
ire , car%
.;
~..
6, te. the House, that,previous to the
10., .
.., . irnates for 1844 and 184,5, a plan
..... •;/9.
__lL,.,.tn_at\bb‘ Se_ vfia. I, so. as to render the naval ser-
-
„.....,,,„... ayidavat a view to reward old and de-
i, s_entnik'xiffic.ers.' - . i
_sir„brraT
~.13,:after fhlYillEt §Drae compliments t • . .

to Sir CHARLES NAPIER, said the Treasury had given
this matter the fullest consideration, and if they hesi
tated, it was not on account of the expense, but from
a conviction that the measure, if adopted, would not
produce the effect which the Hon. and Gallant Officer
anticipated. That it would not clear the list of Cap-
tains ; that it would positively do no good whatever,
except by enabling particular officers to exercise their
discretion as to whether they would retire or not.
After speeches from several naval officers the mo-
tion was rejected by a majority of forty-three, and
the house adjourned at Ten o'clock.

The rival candidates for South Lancashire have
taken the field, and we have to congratulate the
League on the homage that both pay to the principles
of free trade. Mr. BROWN avows his conviction that
" nothing can enable us to maintain our position
among other nations but perfect freedom of trade,"
and therefore pledges himself to support that great
cause, and to use every exertion to ensure its speedy
success. Mr. ENTWISTLE reluctantly confesses that
free trade is above all things desirable to the people of
South Lancashire, but he refuses to promise any ad-
vocacy of its principles, declaring that other interests
are to be consulted, and other considerations to be
regarded. He cannot make up his mind to abolish
monopolies just yet; he does not deny that the mono-
polies are unjust in themselves, and especially inju-
rious to the great bulk of the constituency he is am-
bitious of representing; but he tells the electors that
he prefers other influences to their wants and wishes.
It might almost be supposed that his address was de-
signed " a double debt to pay"—an offer of him-
self for the representation of South Lancashire,
and an offer of his conscience to some state doctor
capable of giving it a safe and profitable direction.
There is a studied obscurity in Mr. ENTWISTLE'S
declaration, which has too much the appearance' of
paltering with principle ; like Mr. BARING, he is a
free trader "in the abstract," and, like that same gen-
tleman, he leaves himself room for becoming a mono-
polist in the concrete. His reservation is so large
that it can absorb the entire principle ; it is like the
baptismal vow of the converted Indian, who professed
that he adopted the conditions of admission into the
Christian Church, with the discretion of obeying
them according to circumstances. At a subsequent
time, when reproached for some gross crime by his
pastor, he declared that his discretional application of
circumstances released him from two Christian obli-
gations, which were only his duty towards GOD, and
his duty towards his neighbour.
Archbishop WHATELEY very justly remarks that
men boast most of the qualities they possess least ;
Mr. ENTWISTLE having put forth his sentiments on
the corn-laws, from which CEDlrus himself could
not discover whether he intends to support total re-
peal, a fixed duty, or a sliding scale, informs his con-
stituents that he has been " explicit" on the subject.
'Why no Delphic oracle was ever involved in greater
obscurity ; his exceptions and reservations go beyond
the cautious prediction in poor ROBIN'S Almanac, if
it does not rain, hail, or blow, freeze, or snow, and the
sun shines out clear on Easter Sunday, it will bet a
fine day." His freedom of trade is clogged with
worse conditions than the freedom of the press, which
FIGARO found in Madrid. Translated into plain
English, his declaration means, "provided that it
does not interfere with the monopoly of food, or the
monopoly of sugar, or any vested interest, or any
profitable abuse, or any absurdity, or any injustice
which any monopolist may find it convenient to re-
tain, I am ready to support free trade."
If the electors of South Lancashire are deceiied
by so palpable a delusion, they deserve to be chro-
nicled in the history of gulls, as having a more
capacious swallow than can be found in the whole
range of ornithology. But we rather think that Mr.
ENTWISTLE has taken a false gunge of their capacity;
the men of Manchester have not forgotten that when
he stood as a candidate for the representation of their
city, he said, " I admit my own disposition to retain
in a modified form the principle of a fluctuating
duty;" in other words, he confessed himself a slippery
advocate of a sliding scale. Now, the important
point to be determined is, whether he has changed or
not. Does he still adhere to slippery ways and
sliding scales ?—or has he found a resting place in
the fixed injustice of a fixed duty f—or has he made
up his mind to the common sense and common jus-
tice of total and immediate repeal ? We wait .for
some comment on his oracular response, for the ad-
dress which he puts forth belongs to that class of
documents which
Puzzle by their explanation,
And darken by elucidation.
Though Mr. ENTWISTLE'S reference to the question
of free trade is obscure, the purpose thereof is
potent; he merely wishes to furnish an excuse for
venality or timidity to any free trader who may be
bribed or intimidated, or brow-beaten into voting
contrary to his conscience. No one can be deceived
by his declarations but those who have a corrupt mo
tive for wishing to be deceived. Such fustian can
never pass for sound goods In the markets of Lanca.
shire, unless there be a fraudulent purpose in the
transaction.

It is rather gratifying to find that both the candi-
dates for South Lancashire are commercial men, and
that both make their chief appeal to the commercial
and manufacturing interests. The northern mono-
polists have at length abandoned in despair the solu-
tion of the problem, which they long made the basis
of county representation—" how many acres make a
wiseacre ?" If commercial skill, enterprise, wealth,
and extent of mercantile connexion are to have
weight in the decision, Mr. BROWN is in most, if not
all of these points, immeasurably superior to his
rival. But, as we have before said, all such conside-
rations fade into insignificance when compared with
the great question really in issue—free trade or
monopoly. The difference between "free trade in
the abstract and monopoly" is nothing. When the
Barmecide gave an abstract dinner to the barber's
brother, the poor fellow would have been starved had
he not boxed the ears of the person who mocked him
with such unsubstantial entertainment. If the
electors of South Lancashire are induced, like Sun-
cinAc, to accept an abstraction, it is not unlikely
that they will have to treat him 'as that disappointed
man did the Barmecide. But we have good grounds
for hoping better things, and we have no doubt that
BROWN and reality will, as they ought to be, be pre-
ferred to ENTWISTLE and abstraction.

There is not one question of fiscal reform upon
which her MAJESTY'S Government have manifested
more pertinacious obstinacy, and more perverse mis-
conception, than the proposed revision of the Sugar
Duties. Of course the lately announced intention of
the Chancellor of the Exchequer to reduce the duties
on foreign sugars to a limited extent, does not at all
affect the general policy which they are determined
still to act upon in reference to the sugar duties' re-
venue in the aggregate. It has long been ascertained
that sugar is one of the most wholesome, nutritious,
and fattening condiments which is used by mankind.
In the East it is asserted, and upon good authority,
that in many regions the relative physical superiority
of races would seem to be determined by the abun-
dance or scarcity of sugar—their use or their destitu-
tion of it. In proportion to numbers the population
of the British islands are probably its largest consu-
mers; but this luxury, or necessary, like too many
others, they are not permitted to enjoy, except under
heavy and oppressive duties, which greatly diminish
both the number of consumers and the amount of each
individual's consumption. The inevitable result of
our great experiment of 1834, whereby the whole.
slave population of our sugar growing colonies in the
western hemisphere were emancipated, has happened—
diminished production. This diminution of a produee
so essential not only to the comfort of social existence
in this country, but to various processes essential to
certain arts, and to the perfection of many commodi-
ties that are staple articles of our trade, is very imper-
fectly supplied by the equalization of the heretofore
excessive duties on our East India grown sugar. In
the first place, the continued droughts of the pro-
longed summer of India, and the harshness of the
superficial soil consequent thereon, are elements very
adverse to the capacity of raising sugar in any exten-
sive quantity, equal to that of the Antilles. In the
second, the far inferior culture and husbandry of the
East, as compared with the almost European processes
and improvements adopted on sugar estates in the
West Indies, are a drawback that largely counter-
balances the inferior expense of raising sugar in Ben-
gal. Finally, the excessive difference of the freight,
as between two voyages of such utterly dispropor-
tionate duration, is a permanent element of preference

in the markets of Europe for the sugars of the West
Indies over those of the East Indies.

We very lately directed attention to the interesting
contents of a "Blue Book," issued by Parliament in
the present session, on the subject of the " Emigra-
tion of native free labourers from India, China, and the
'Western Coast of Africa, to the British West Indies
and the Mauritius." On that occasion we endea-
voured to explain the overwhelming necessity which
existed for replacing the deficient amount of labour
now furnished in those colonies by the emancipated
black population, by means of adequate importations
of voluntary immigrants of yellow and copper-coloured
races, as being those who would be best qualified by
physical constitution and temperament to endure the
field labours of those tropical regions. It might have
been hoped that the rapid and prodigious improvement
effected in the condition of Hill Coolies, w!-.o had
quitted the miserable and squalid poverty of their
eastern homes—settled for some time in Mauritius,
Demerara, &c.—and, at the expiration of their labour-
contracts, returned the possessors, for the first time in
their lives, of little competencies in hard Spanish dol-
lars, to an extent calculated to allow of their passing
the remainder of their lives, in their own country, in
ease and comfort ;—it might have been expected that
such examples would have encouraged a much larger
application of the same experiment. But a senseless
outcry, raised, at first, by a few interested West India
planters and owners, who wished to have their proper-
ties exclusively well worked and attended to ; and
subsequently kept up by that section of our country-
men at home who are ever compromising the true in-
terests of humanity by a pseudo philanthropy, the
objects of which are as vague as its plans are unrea-
sonable—prevented this desirable consummation. It
was thought that a design to entrap these poor fellows
into slavery must lurk behind propositions for provid-
ing a liberal market for their unoccupied and ill-paid
labour. As to the negroes in the free settlements and
British possessions of Western Africa, the same sort
of suspicion might be more natural ; but its operation
was still harder and more vexatious on their interests.
With the aid of steam navigation they could have been
brought from the African coast to the West Indies in
a voyage of one fortnight. Instead of starving at Sierra
Leone, or deserting into the bush, and returning
into the savage habits of their own or their ancestors'
original condition, they might be now employed, in
any number, at ample wages, secure of their freedom
in the British possession of their residence, and at all
times able to command a passage back to their native
coasts.

This policy of employing immigrant labour has been
managed, hitherto, with such a degree of favouritism
or imbecility on the part of the Colonial Government
at home, or the local Governments abroad, that we
believe we are correct in saying Mauritius has been
allowed to import at various times 20,000 Coolie
labourers,large drafts of whom have since gone home
with their handsome earnings, and well pleased with
their treatment in all respects, whilst less than 500
have been distributed throughout the whole of our
West India possessions.
We have now before us a paper (No. 250, H. C. of
the present session), moved for by Sir Jonx REID,
entitled, "Sugars, &c. An Account of the Imports
into the United Kingdom of Sugar, Molasses, Rum,
Coffee, and Cocoa, from the West Indies and British
Guiana, distinguishing each Colony, from 1831 to
1843, both inclusive, and distinguishing each Year."
The Mauritius, of course, is not included in this re-
turn, which embraces, as to sugar, Antigua, Bar-
badoes, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat,
Nevis, St. Christopher, St. Lucia, St. Vincent,
Tobago, Tortola, Trinidad, Bahamas, Bermudas,
Demerara, and Berbice. Now the diminished aggre•
gate of the produce of all these possessions is quite
startling, and more emphatically illustrates than any
language of ours could do the vast importance of
facilitating, instead of discouraging, the immigration
into the West Indies of those classes of free labourers,
whose services alone can restore the production of the
islands, &c., to the scale at which it stood fourteen
years ago. Last year the whole amount of our im-
ports of sugar from them was but 2,509,701 cwt. In
1841 (the lowest amount in the series of thirteen years
here given) it was even 361,484 cwt. less (namely,
2,148,218). But in 1831 the amount was 4,103,800
cwt., or 1,955,582 cwt. greater than in 1841 ; or
1A94,099 cwt. greater than in last year, a difference
of some 40 per cent. In 1834, the year in which the
Act of Emancipation was discussed and carried in the
British Parliament, the production rose from 3,646,205
cwt. in the preceding year, to 3,843,976. In the four
years following,
•to the date of the extinction of the
probationary and apprenticeship terms, this amount
declined to 3,520,676 cwt. in 1838 ; to 2,214,762 cwt.
in 1840; to 2,148,218 in 1841 ; to 2,508,725 in 1842.
No wonder, in this official statement of diminished
supply, that so general an indignation has been excited
against the Government for not admitting cheap
foreign West India sugars, lest they should have been
raised by slave labour ; for the effectual facilitation
on their part, and that of the colonial authorities, of
free immigrant labour, would have obviated the diffi-
culty, by doing away with all the necessity for the
alternative they have thus distinctly refused to the
British consumer.

The recent announcement of the gratuitous exhi-
bition at the rooms in King-street, St. James's-
square, of the decorative works of art intended for
the adornment of the two new Houses of Parliament,
reminds us that we have not yet received any satisfac-
tory answer to our apprehensive inquiries, made a few
months ago, about the intended omission of the statue
of OLIVER CROMWELL from the sculptured series of
the more renowned and victorious monarchs of Eng-
land. We need not repeat the grounds upon which
we then urged the paramount claims of the Illustrious
" PROTECTOR" to a most distinguished niche in any
gallery that was to contain the effigies of those master-
spirits who, in past ages, have exalted the renown of
their nation, and immortalised their own remem-
brance among men by the superiority of their intel-
lect, the grandeur of their policy, the grasp of
their mental and physical energies, or the
happy fortunes of their heroic intrepidity. In all
these titles of Nature's Nobility, CROMWELL was,
perhaps, supreme among the mighty competitors
for fame of that remarkable age. At once the man
and the master of the people—a profound statesman—
an enlightened legislator—a consummate captain—he
combined, and could, as if by absolute intuition (with-
out faltering or preparation) employ all the resources
of subtlety and stratagem, or the most direct, bold,
and simple ends, for the achievement of his purpose.
An inherent native sagacity—whilst it amply sup-
plied the defects of an irregular and interrupted
education—was that property of mind best fitted to
direct his career through the tortuous mazes of all
the practical business with which it was the chief
occupation of his life to deal. If his oratory wanted
perspicuity and elevation—if his religious opinions
were deeply tinctured with mysticism or fanaticism—
if his own personal integrity, of which he was so
severe and exacting a judge in others, was sometimes
warped out of its straight and onward path by the
suggestions of self-aggrandisement, or the intoxica-
tion of ambition ; these were disparagements from
the perfection of his character in no greater a degree
than—perhaps not to so great an extent as--7they
were in the case of others, his contemporaries, whom
it has been attempted to exalt above him. They were
flaws and defects which charge, if you will, the
escutcheon of his honours with a "band sinister ;"
but the same heraldic "abatement" is perceptible in
the bearings of some Royal houses which it has never
been thought to disqualify for the smile proud rank,
whence it is absolutely proposed in 1844, to extrude
the great champion of a nation's liberties against the
encroachments of a sordid and debasing tyranny.
We have again to ask upon what pretence is it that
this indignity is to be put upon the memory of the
great vindicator of his country's name, authority, and
power, at home and abroad ?
Such a capital offence against the genius and pre-
possessions of the British people is so unaccountable,
that we are sometimes disposed to think it can he
attributable only to some defect of adequate ac-
quaintance with the authentic history of the seven-
teenth century—and its events and influences among
our countrymen of that time—in the judges or Corn-
mittees to whom is delegated the task of selection and
arrangement in reference to this series of British
worthies, It is difficult to believe—what is yet con-
fidently asserted—that the principle of this invidious
omission is affirmed to be—the fact that the PRO-
TECTOR was never inaugurated King by the ceremony
of coronation. "We grant the fact; and what then?
Such an accident in the case of CaomwELL—reign-

ing virtually, but uncrowned—supplies the most
shallow and paltry plea which was ever suggested for
any similar proceeding. It would not be more un-
gracious to say, were her MAJESTY disposed, like the
Royalty of France, to construct a " hall of Mar-
shals," that his Royal Highness Prince ALBERT
could have no title to a place among its portraits, for
that he, who had never been a soldier, could not rank
among Field-Marshals ! Goo knows—though the Selec
Committee in question does not appear to be aware
of the fact—that we do want a large and spirited infu-
sion of moral greatness and statesmanlike grandeur
among the sculptured decorations of the New Houses,
to outbalance what must appear, in the eyes of every
foreigner, a most inordinate indulgence in the quaint
fopperies of heraldic blazonry. To say nothing of
interminable badges, infinitessimally multiplied guar-
terings ; Brobdignag stone roses to typify the pale
and the blushing cognizances of York and Lancaster;
and crowns royal, whose huge proportions are more
frigid and formal than was required, we think, even
by the most heavy of the German associations con-
negted with them; we have, on the river frontage—
the Speaker's House and the base of the Record
Tower—a swarming menagerie of lions and unicorns
in ponderous übiquity, which we would exchange
with joy for one graceful " milk-white" hart, like
that which watches over the beautiful porch of West-
minster Hall, as if still awaiting his former mistress.
We own that we have little faith in, and less respect
for, the practical ability of these Commissioners to
superintend the details of a great work, that hitherto
is only likely to be ever " picturesque" and " deco-
rated" in virtue of the expectations founded on the
Cartoons of last year, or the King-street Exhibition
of this.

Before we leave these "Public Works," let us express
our regret at the ill-judged economy which is bung-
ling the pavement of that noble area around the Tra-
falgar column. Instead of being tesselated with small
blocks of our British and Irish marbles, or exhibiting,
in compartments, designs that might have been exe-
cuted in some of the harder of our many-coloured
spars, or laid down in massive slabs of English and
Scotch granite, it is floored with a vile asphaltum
surface, in which there has been attempted some sort
of radiated star. When we examined it, a few days
since, the joints, or seams, were already so imperfect
that the rain of two or three hours before was retained
in them. The asphaltum itself is not even set upon
an even plane. It should be at once removed.

Madrid journals of the 9th have been received.
The departure of the Royal Family for the baths of
Caldas, in Catalonia, was fixed for the 20th, and it
was expected that they would not return to the capital
for six weeks.

The Three per Cents. were done at 28Z, for cash,
and 28Z at 60 days, and the Five per Cents. at 21i.

The French Government have at last announced
their intentions relative to abolition of slavery in the
colonies, and we regret to find that the plan falls so
far short of what was expected. It refers only to
preparatory measures, without any allusion whatever
to sthe period when emancipation shall take place.
On Tuesday Admiral MACKAU introduced into the
Chamber of Peers a Bill, the object of which was,
he said, to ameliorate the condition of the negro
slaves in the French colonies, and to prepare them
for the eventual abolition of slavery. The Bill con-
tains five clauses. The first related to the food and
comfort due by the masters to the slaves ; and the
other four to punishments, duration of labour, the
marriage of slaves, and their religious and elemen-
tary instructions, the savings of the slaves, and
their right to purchase their freedom. Measures
also were to be adopted to repress the cruelties
committed on slaves, to modifyithe present courts of
assize, and increase the number of magistrates. For
these purposes the Government asked for a vote of
1,200,000 francs (48,0001.) The Government have
also another important measure in view—namely,
the improvement of the French harbours in the Me-
diterranean and the Channel. A Bill to that effect
had been introduced into the Chamber of Deputies,
and referred to a Select Committee. The sum re-
quired was 46,000,000 francs (1,800,0001.) The re-
port had been presented, and that sum is to be prin-
cipally employed in the enlargement of the ports of

Marseilles and Havre. The Committee recommend
the reduction of a million out of the sums to be laid
out on the works at Maisellles, and on the canal be-
tween Bone to Martigues. The Committee also re-
commend to have six years fixed as the period for the
completion of those works, in place of eight, as men-
tioned by the Bill, and suggests five as the period for
finishing the fortifications of Havre.
In reference to this subject the Prince de JoIN-
VILLE has just published a pamphlet which is making
some noise at Paris. He distinctly states, notwith-
standing all we have heard to the contrary, that
France is not in a fit state to contend with England
at sea, chiefly for want of war-steamers. After
calling the attention of the Government and the
public to the state of the navy, the Royal author
wish it to be clearly understood
onthe.at
llfhTavaepneaokinotfeEntnigon-
say:l
of meaking this note, which rely
ecoonosnetcrrya,teitd
weniltlinreolty
bteointhae
or even of national rivalry ; but
mnsiatarrnaertde:lwoya-fssttlthinre'pillato'yrioenfndtcoaolniuointinf,aoavbsnyiyy:y'reference to what is occurring in
foreign countries, what we ourselves ought to aim at and what
we ought to avoid. If I talk of war, it is not by any means that
I wish my country to exchange the benefits of peace for its
ruinous hazards. My belief is simply this—that peace, to be
dignified and durable, must always have the support of a force
capable of making it respected. Taking, therefore, a state of
war as the base of my reasoning, I shall pick out a case which
will elucidate my thoughts, and I will suppose France obliged
to defend herself against the most powerful of the maritime
powers, that is, against England. Having stated this, and
proceeding according to this plan, but always reasoning in
the abstract and by way of hypothesis, I now enter into my
subject.
" The establishment of steam navigation has given France
the means of re-establishing her decayed naval power under a
new form, admirably adapted to the resources of the country
and the genius of the nation. The establishment of a navy
was hopeless at a time when the empire of the sea belonged
te. the power _which could send the greatest number of sailors
ti 1104.
" The steam navy has changed the face of matters. It is
new our military resources which will come to take the place
of our impoverished naval establishments. We shall always
have enough of officers and men for the duties left for a sailor
to perform on board a steamer. The engine supplies the place
of a hundred hands, and I have no occasion to say that we
shall ever feel the want of money for the construction of
steam-engines, nor of soldiers to fight when they shall be
called on to support the honour of the country. With a
steam navy, the boldest war of aggression on the ocean is
permitted. We are sure of our movements, free in our.ac-
tions. Time, winds, or tides, give us no longer concern ;
we can calculate to a day or an hour. In case of a continen-
tal war, the most unexpected diversions are possible. In a
few hours armies can be transported from France into Italy,
Holland, or Prussia. What was once done at Ancona witlia
rapidity which was seconded by the winds, can now be done
every day without their assistance, and almost against their
influence, and with still greater rapidity. As I have already
—said, these new resources suit us admirably, and the forms of
war, thus modified, do not leave the chances as they were
thirty years ago, between France and the enemies with which
she may engage. It lea subject worthy of inquiry, to what
point the progress of steam and its probable employment
excites the attention of our neighbours.
" These notes of alarm, uttered in the English Parliament,
should call forth a similar sentiment in our Chambers and
throughout the whole of France. Our line of conduct ought
to be traced by the hands of our neighbours themselves; but
that is riot the case. We cross our arms while England acts.
We discuss theories, while she puts them in practice. She
creates for herself, with activity, a formidable steam force,
end reduces the number of her sailing ships, of which she
has discovered the uselessness. We ought to have preceded
her in that reform, or, at all events, to have followed her
with ardour; but we have hardly six steamers capable of
sustaining a comparison with the British navy.
" It is melancholy to say it, but people deceive themselves,
and have deceived the country by flattering words and erro-
aeons calculations. People have persuaded themselves, and
have endeavoured to persuade the country, that it. is in pos-
session of a strong and respectable steam navy. Deplorable
error ; source of a confidence still more deplorable !
"In case of war, the French navy would have two theatres
of action, the Channel and the Mediterranean. England
could,in a few hours, disembark troops on any part of the
coast, and. could destroy Dunkirk, Boulogne, or llavre,
before anything could be done to save them. Even in the
roads of Brest, which were formerly safe, from the difficulty
of the navigation, but which difficulty has now disappeared
before steam power, the English flag might float. Thus, by
the aid of steam, England is able to menace all our coasts on
the Channel, and even to reign in the Mediterranean by
cutting off all our communications with Algiers. She could,
besides, effectually and closely blockade all our coasts, and
that from this very day, if she likes. And to resist her
you have but one resource, but one means—that which she
uses against us—the establishment of a steam navy.
"The naval force of France is not in a fit state to contend
with England. England has 125 war steamers, of which 77
are.armed. She has besides a commercial steam navy which
can supply her, in case of necessity, with 200 steamers capable
of carrying. heavy cannon and troops. The French steam
navy, on the other hand, only dates its origin from 1829, and
hardly- received any increase till 1840. The danger was then
perceived, and an attempt was made to increase the steam-
power by the establishment of trans-Atlantic steam-packets,
but that project has failed from mismanagement.
`i In all our harbours splendid manufactories are con-
structed, of imposing architecture, and enclosed in mag-
nificent dockyards. These manufactories are intended
to supply the materials and wants of a navy which
is yet in its infancy ; but as these great establishments
cannot be left unemployed, and as all the steam navy
which we possess is employed at Toulon, where
alone steamers exist which require repair, what was to be
done with all those establishments which had been built in
the harbours of the Atlantic ? They have been employed

for the construction of engines, instead of leaving that branch
of manufacture as an encouragement to private enterprise and
ladustry. We had Indret.before, and its costly productions.
But must we still add to these expensive establishments? Is
it right to employ the money which has been set aside for the
increase and improvement of the fleet to the construction of
buildings, the utility of which is far from being clearly de-
monstrated? We have always shown too much anxiety to
increase the immovable dead-weight of our marine, to the
prejudice of that portion of the force which alone is active
and efficacious. It would be well to try a contrary system,
and I am convinced that it would be easy to find the means
of arming a real steam fleet, and of encouraging a useful
branch of industry, if we were to employ the private manu-
factures of the country to supply those beautiful and excel-
lent machines which it is so well able to make.
" If I drew here a real picture of our steam navy—if I
said that in the whole number of forty-three vessels, of which
our whole floating steam navy consists, there were not six
which could stand a comparison With the English steamers, I
should not be believed ; yet I should only have affirmed a
simple truth. The greater number of our steamers belong to
that class of vessels which were good in 1830, when they were
built, but which at the present-day are certainly far inferior
to those which the progress of art has enabled others to con-
struct: These ships, too, having been continually employed
in the Mediterranean, have already become prematurely old.
They are no longer fit for the service of Algiers, or for those
political missions in which, however, we are forced to employ
them, for want of better. The officers in command of them
blush to see themselves so weak and impotent—l will not say
as compared with the English only, but as compared with
the Russians, the Americans, the Dutch, and the Neapolitans,
all of whom have better ships than we have."
He goes on then to show the part which the different por-
tions of the naval force ought to take in defence of the State.
" The steam power would be employed to guard the coasts
of the kingdom, and to keep up a surveillance on the coasts
of Great Britain, and to guard and to protect the conquests of
France in the Mediterranean. Sailing ships would, at the
same time, be used on distant stations; but in that case it
would be necessary to employ more ships on those stations
than are employed at present. At the present time France
had only forty-gun frigates, with a crew of 300 men, on sta-
tions where England and America had fifty-gun ships with
crews of 500." On each station there ought to be two or three
frigates under the command of an admiral, " instead of the
small vessels now employed, which were to our diplomatic
agents a source of insult, and which, in the very first brush
of a war would be destroyed by the first hostile frigate that
happened to fall-in with them,"

The PRINCE closes his remarks, by stating that the
power and dignity of the country can only be sup-
ported by a strong steam navy. The pamphlet, al-
together, is very creditable to his Royal Highness.
It lets out some secrets, it is true; but the sentiments
expressed are frank and honest, and the statements
will awaken the attention of France to the truth.
The KING is said to have been opposed to the publi-
cation, but this is not probable. A wish on his part
would be equal to a command; and, besides, the
impartial and able view taken of the question, only
does honour to the author and the Royal Family.
The following telegraphic dispatches were received
by the French Government on Wednesday :

" PERPIGNAN, MAY 13.

" An English war steamer. coming. from Malta, brought,
the day before yesterday, to Barcelona, the news of the settle-
ment of the differences which had existed between the Bey
of Tunis and the King of Sardinia."

" BAYONNE, MAY 14.

" Intelligence from Spain announces that the two Queens
and the Infanta will leave Madrid on the 20th for the. baths
of Caldas, in Catalonia. These personages will pass through
Valencia ; and General Narvaez is, it said, the only Minister
who will accompany their Majesties."
THE BOURSE—WEDNESDAY, MAY 15.

First Highest Lowest

Last

Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents 122 15 .. 122 25 .. 122 20 122 25
Three per Cents.•••• 84 40 .. 84 50 .. 84 40 .. 84 50
Bank of France—.....
Belgian Fives, 1831..
1840 •••••••• 1051 .. 106 .. 1051 .. 106
1842 •••• •• 1081 .. 1081 .. 1081 108/
Spanish Active •• •• •• ••• • • • 331 .. 331 • • 331 .. 33/
Threes ....... ..... 361 .. 361 .. 361 .. 361
Passive ••• 61 .. 61 .. 61 .. 61
Neapolitan • • 102 30 .. 102 30 .. 102 30 .. 102 30
Roman, cx div • .... •• 0. • • 1041 •• 1041 .. 1041 1041

, RAILWAY SHARES.
Versailles, R. 8............. 375 .. 375 .. 370 .. 370
L 8.. ..... 246 25 . • 247 50 . • 246 25 .. 247 50
Rouen .................•.. 980 .. 985 980 .. 985
Rouen to Havre. • ..... • • ... 740 .. 740 .. 740 .. 740
Orleans
Strasburg to Bale ..... 273 75 • • 275 .. 272 50 . • 273 75
Avignon to Marseilles • • • 760 • • 760 • 760 .. 760

RAILWAY SHARES, FOR THE ACCOUNT.
Vera' . 370 .. 375 370 .. 375
L. 8.•• •• •• 245 .. 247 50 .. 245 .. 247 50
Rouen • •

Rouen to Havre ....... •.. -. 740 .• 747 50 .. 740 .. 747 50
Orleans ..•.•.••..........• 987 50 .. 997 50 .• 987 50 .. 997 50

itrasbar gto Bale .• •• .• • 272 50 .• 273 75 .. 272 50 • • 273'75
Avignon to Maraelllea.. • ... 765 .• 765 .. 765 .. .765

THIS DAY'S NEWS.

MONE Y AND COMMERCIAL NEWS.
CITY, QUARTER TO THREE.

The Cotton Market at Liverpool yesterday was dull, and
with a disposition on the part of holders to sell. Prices,
however, were not decidedly lower. Sales, 2,500 bags. Shares
were worse, especially Birmingham.. Caledonian, ; Eastern
Counties, 126 ; Edinburgh and Glasgow, 666 ; Great Western,
Fifths, 214 ; Birmingham, Thirds, 38 ; Brighton, 44i ; South-
Western, 85} ; Manchester and Birmingham, 58 ; Midland
Counties Quarter, 221 ; Paris and Lyons, 31. Is. 6d. ; South-
Eastern, New, 126 ; Trent Valley, 106.
It is very much questioned in the City whether the altera-
tions that are contemplated, with regard to the savings' banks,
are on the whole advisable. At the same time, it is not at all
conceded that the reduction in the rate of interest allowed to
depositors will have any permanent ill effects, as with
reference to the grand ' amount now, or recently
placed in those most useful establishments. The
deputation:from the principal savings-banks' managers, which
had an interview the day before yesterday with Sir Robert
Peel, relative to the suggested changes, were received cour-
teously and heard patiently, but we are given to understand
that the plans of the Government, as brought before
the . House of Commons, will in their essence not
be departed from. The sooner all doubt is put
an end to as to the alterations in the system the better.
The policy of having loan funds attached to the savings
banks, is one requiring attentive consideration, and may be
adverted to on another occasion.

The following extract from the Toronto Patriot, confirms
some previous remarks made under this head a short time
ago :
" By letters received, vid Boston, by the last mail from
England, we are exceedingly happy to observe a strong con-
viction amongst well-informed people, that, the Canada Corn
Bill has been of essential service to this colony, and that the
effects will be seen this year, and still more hereafter, in the
settlement of men of capital in the province for agricultural
purposes. Large deposits of money were being made for
transmission to Canada, by parties who are now on their
way, out, yid New York."
The Commercial Markets keep heavy. The Government
contract for 100,000 gallons of Rum—half East, half West
India produce—was taken yesterday; they were firm at
2a id the gallon.
The Commissioners took 30,000/. Consols this morning at
99k, which had the effect of rendering the market firm. This
is the price, at the present writing, both for money and time.
A shadow f improvement is noticed in some of the other
Stocks as well as in the Unfunded Debt. Bank Stock is quoted
at 192 ; India Stock at 286 ; Exchequer Bills at 70s.
premium ; and the:New Three-and-a-Half per Cents. at 1021.
Spanish Active Bonds are on the decline, having been
quoted at a fall to 23k, and the Threes to 24,1 A. Both are
about i per cent. higher now. For Portuguese Converted
the market is heavy, at 46. Dutch Stock remains much the
same as yesterday. Belgians have advanced to 1031. No
bargains have been effected in the other Foreign Bonds this
morning.
The principal alterations in the Railway Share Market this
day have been a Ilse in the Bristol and Exeter to 12 pre-
mium, in the Great Western to 46 premium, in the London
and Brighton to 4j die., in the Manchester and Leeds to 36
premium, and is the North Midland to 9 discount. The
Bristol and Gloucester, and a few of the other Shares, have
gone back a shade. London and Westminster Bank Shares
have improved to 7 premium.,
' BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
(From the Official List.)
Bank Stock l9l 192
_ .

--....— ..,..
3 per Cent. Reduced Annuities
3 per Cent. Consols. Annuities 9t9l4Z
3% per Cent. Reduced Annuities
New 3% per Cent. Annuities l°2
Long Annuities, Expire sth Jan. 1860 l2► '.7.5g
Ditto 30 Years, Expire sth Jan. 1660.

India Stock
Bank Stock for Account
Consols for Account 99%%48

Exchequer Bills, IV. I %d.
1,000/.
5001
Ditto Small
FOREIGN FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK.
Portuguese Bonds. 5 per Cent.
Ditto Converted 4S

Spanish Bonds. Five per Cent 1840 24% 23% 24
Ditto for the Account ..... ...--..—...
Ditto Passive Bonds. ..—... ......... ............
Ditto Deferred 13%341
Ditto Three 25
_per Cent.
Ditto for ;the Account 3SW-34%% 35
Dutch 2% per Cents 60%
Dutch 5 per Cents MN 31i%
New Loan 1837. 5 per Cents. 99%
PRICES OF SHARES THIS DAY AT ONE.
RAILWAYS. PAID. PER SHARE.
Bristol and Exeter 7O B 2
Bristol and Gloucester 3O 48%
Caledonian
Dublin and Cashel ....., ......... ....... 2% 4% to
Eastern Counties
Ditto New Registered SI. tis. Rd.
Edinburgh and Glasgow 5O 66 to
Great North of England IOO
Great Western
Ditto % Shares
Ditto Fifths..'......
Hull and Selby 5O to
DU o 14 Shares
Lancaster and Carlisle 5 .... ..... 7%%... to
London and Birmingham. lOO 224 225% to 2 6
Ditto New Thirds 2 3B to
Ditto M Share.
London and Brighton SO 44N
London and Greenwich
London and South Western 4l % ...... 811 87%... to 87
London and Croydon
Manchester and Leeds 7O lO6 to:—
Ditto % Shares
Manchester and Birmingham ... 40
North British
North Midland
Norwich and Brandon
South Eastern and Dover 32% 38% . ..... to
Ditto New
Thames and Medway
Yarmouth and Norwich
York and North'ldidland ..... .... 50
Ditto % Shares
Ditto Scarboro' Branch
Paris and Orleans ........... ...... 20 38%3,11 to
Paris and Rouen 2O .... ..... 3814% ... to -
JOINT STOCK RANKS.
London and Westminster 2O

MANCHESTER STOCK EXCHANGE, MAY 16.—There has
been but little business done in our market to-day, and prices,
with some few exceptions, are lower. Bolton and Preston,
30 ; Liverpool and Manchester, Half, 109 ; London and
South-Western, 86i ; Manchester and Birmingham, 574
56} ; Ditto, Quarter, 5h 5 prem. ;_ Paris and Strasburgl,l
Trent Valley, 91; Preston and Wyre, 21; Manchester, Bury,
and Rossendale, 6 3-16..

The Journal du Havre says:—" General 13oyer,
ex-President of Hayti, arrived here this morning (Tuesday),
en oute for Southampton, when he proceeds by the 'first
packet to Jamaica. He has been preparing for some time
past for this voyage, by making remittances to Jamaica, the
object of his going thither being the recovery of his health.
The countenance of the General bears evident traces of suf-
fering, which may have been caused both by mental aniiety
and the effect of the climate." .

MARKET NEWS.-(THIS DAY.)

CORN-EXCHANGE.-FRIDAY.

During the present week rather an extensive supply of
English Wheat has been received up to our market, owing
to which the demand for that article was heavy, at barely
Monday's quotations. In Foreign Wheats, both for and in
bond, exceedingly little was doing, at late rates. On account.
of the large imports of Foreign Barley, the trade with that
article was heavy, and the currencies had a downward ten-
dency. The Malt trade was in a sluggish state. In Oats,
Beans, Peas, and Flour, next to nothing doing.

English.
1ri5h..............

Wheat
7,4 0 qrs.

Foreign

26,490