The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-13 00:00:00

Whe _Suit

LONDON!
FINDAY MORNING, MAY 13, 1842.

One of the reasons assigned by Ministers for nou
levying an Income-tax is, that " commerce cannot
bear any additional burdens." If that be so, why d(
they levy an additional stamp duty in Ireland r
Why do they add to the duties on spirits ? And,
above all, why do they impose a duty of 4s. per ton
on exported coals ? We are not sure that their argu-
ment in favour of the Income-tax does not tel'
against themselves. Their are many businesses
carried on with very small profits ; and we are in-
clined to think, that deducting very nearly three
per cent. from those profits may put a stop to many
of them, or make them take refuge abroad. That is
a speculation ; but it is not a speculation that th(-
Ministers who, pretending to liberate trade from un-
necessary restrictions„ have wantonly, contrary
to their own princip'es, and contrary to all the
lessons of experience, Unposed a new tax on exported
coals. In general the Parliament wished to encou-
rage . native industry', but in the case of coals ex•
ported, it gives a borinty to the extent of the tax on
the industry of fora:',gners, and imposes a burden-on
the industry of our own people.
A pamphlet entitled " Observations on the pro-
posed Duties on the: Exportation of Coals, &c." points
out that the duty -which existed prior to 1834, was
removed for the very purpose of promoting an in-
crease of the. exports, and of providing employment for
British shipping. The removal of the duty has answered
so well, that the export of coals has increased from
450,838 tc,ns in 1833, to 1,497,197 tons in 1841. Th(
amount o f freight on coal exported in 1841 was above
700,000/ ~ and the value of the coal 6754871. By
that export the shipping interest, the mining interest,
and alt the industrious classes connected with them.
were -benefited ; but now these advantages are to
be risLed by a measure which is contrary to all the
deductions of political science.

It is supposed, we believe, by the Ministers, that
the only effect of the tax will be to raise the price of
coals to the foreign consumer; that he cannot do
without English coal, and must, therefore, to have
them, pay this tax. It is devised on purpose to make
him bear a part of our national burdens. If the con-.
secinence were uncertain, we should object to acting on
th at principle, because there is no country at present,
b.' spite of our anti-social Corn-laws, which is more
dependent on foreigners than England, and if they
were to follow the example of taxing the raw ma-
terials of manufactures which are useful to us we
should be very great sufferers. suppose that the
United States, captivated by Sir ROBERT PEEL'S elo-
quence, should hasten to follow his example, and, in
imitation of this part of his tariff, should levy
a tax of 2d. per lb. on all cotton exported
from the United States, that would inflict upon
the manufactures of England a raost serious blow.
-We have heard Russia blamed exceedingly for levyinc,
a small duty on the export of tallow:, and probably she
would levy a greater, but her defire to tax the fo-
reigner is checked by the limitation she would soon
find to the sale of her own produce. Tallow may be
obtained from other countries, and substitutes may be
used for it ; so, too, cotton may be ob tained from other
countries than the United States, and the effect of
raising the price of cotton or of tallow, by a tax,
would he in the end to discourage its consumption
abroad, and injure the Russians or the Americans.
The proposed tax on coals, levied or the purpose of
snaking foreigner's contribute to our State necessities,
will have a similar effect, and will. in the end put a
stop to so much British trade. Otb.er nations pro-
duce coals, and substitutes for it may be found.
" At Havre and P
' says the 'pamphlet, " Eng-
lish coal is in closo competition with that of Belgium,
and a very slight addition to the price of English coal,
much less than the proposed duty o'Z from 60 to 130 per
cent., will give the markets of tl.,e North of France to
the Belgium coal owner."---" In 0 ,e South of France, in
the district of Alais, near Nis. nes, large mines have
been recently brought into opi gyration by some of the
most influential capitalists of Fn nice. A railroad, com-
pleting the communication with tl se sea, is nearly finished,
when the coals can thus be br aght to Marseilles at a
cost not-exceeding, on the who le, 13s. to 13s. per
4. The fieight on English coal to Marseilles is from 12s.
10 16s. and 17s. per ton, ace .)rdil 1g to seasons and cir-

cumstances, and consequently the coal of Alais will
necessarily take possession of this market, and also enter
into competition with us in all the markets of the Medi.
terranean."—" The Spanish coal mines on the coast of
Asturias are now producing coals which can be put on
board ship at a cost of less than ss. per ton, and can be
delivered at Bordeaux and the ports of the -Mediter-
ranean at 14s. and 165."

Now, when competition is thus threatening the
English coal-owner and ship-owner on every side, is
it 3,v:se to subject them to the additional disadvantage
of raising the price of their coals 4s. per ton. We ask
no favour for them, we pray that they be left to free
and unrestricted competition; but those to whom they
pay heavy taxes for protection, should not render
their industry fruitless. There are many parts of Sir
R. PEEL'S tariff which, in our opinion, the Liberal
party ought to oppose, but there is no part of it which,
on their own principles, they ought so cordially to re-
sist, as the unsocial tax on a product of our own
industry, which is also essentially useful to other na-
tions. Happily for us and for them, we cannot inflict
the tax on them without suffering from it ourselves ;
for it is found of all malignant actions, as well as
curses, that, like chickens, they come home to roost.

We learn that the suggestion which was thrown
out in The Sun on the first day of the year, to " place
an American Officer on board every English man of
war employed to repress the slave trade, and let every
ship which shows American colours be examined and
answered for by him," and which we adverted to
more at length on the 4th of January, has been fa-
vourably received by General CASS, the United States
Minister at Paris, and commented on in his pamphlet
on the " Right of Search." We see, too, that it has
been noticed in Congress, for Mr. QUINCY ADAMS, in
his late speech on the foreign relations of the United
States, said—

" In this very pamphlet, of which the gentleman from
Pennsylvania has spoken with so much honour (and I
shall treat it with honour, too, as having proceeded from
a public Minister of the United States at one of the
most important Courts of Europe), there is a proposition
made which Ido not say we ought to concede. As a poli-
tical question, involving the peace of two great coun-
tries, and the suppression of the African slave trade
(for which I could bring myself to almost any conces-
sion), it might have strong claims to consideration; but, as
a politician, as a statesman, as a negotiator, I doubt if
this expedient of General Cass be not even more objec-
tionable than the right of search itself. The proposal is,
that the cruising vessels of either nation should have on
board a naval qfficer (a lieutenant I suppose) belonging
to the other, and that he shall make the requisite search
in person. This is held, forth by way of compromise
between the two parties, and a mode of avoiding the dif-
ficulties which embarrass the question. I will not say
that if the negotiation shall concentrate on this, as the only
practicable expedient, lt should be rejected; but I will say
this, if the gentleman from Pennsylvania, or the Senate,
or this House, shall be so pressed as to concede that,
very little ground will be left them for refusing the right
of search as heretofore proposed."
The suggestion having thus acquired considerable
importance, it is due to ourselves to insist upon the
limitation which we affixed to it, and which both
General CASS and the Venerable ex-President of the
United States, have overlooked. Those persons who
may remember the line of argument we adopted on that
occasion, must be aware that we are determinedly
hostile to establishing a police of the sea. We took
pains in one or two articles to point out the absurdity
of supposing that there was great danger from piracy,
unless the right to examine and search ships at sea
were mutually granted by all the maritime
nations of the earth. We, therefore, never
for one moment contemplated, as both General
CASS and Mr. QUINCY ADAMS, by their lan-
guage imply, the employment of a naval officer
of one nation in ALL "the cruizing vessels of
the other nation." Our suggestion was limited to
sending an officer of one nation on board the cruizers
of the other nation "employed to repress the slave
trade." We should regard it as a piece of wanton
meddling, and a concession of nearly all that the
Americans have struggled for, did we suggest, by a
general employment of an American officer in every
British cruiser, the establishment of a maritime police.
At the time we threw out the suggestion, there
were apprehensions of a quarrel between England
and the United States on the subject of searching
American vessels, with aview to putting an end to the
slave trade. Diplomatists were exchanging bitter notes,
an Extraordinary Plenipotentiary had been appointed
to proceed to the United States, the English journals
teemed with reproaches against the Americans for
covering the slave trade with their flag, and it was
as a somewhat better alternative than a quarrel
and bloodshed, that we suggested the expedient of
enabling the American Government, by means of
sending a naval officer on board our ships employed
to suppress the slave trade, to search their own ves-
sels. That trade is confined to a comparatively small
part of the ocean ; the number of ships employed to
suppress it are comparatively few; they cruize within
certain defined limits ; and the suggestion, which is
justifiable as applied to them, and for one specific
purpose, would be unwarrantable, extended to all our
navy, and applied in every part of the globe.
Being, by the remarks of General CASS and
Mr. QUINCEY ADAMS, forced to reflect again
on the subject, and again to refer to it,—
believing, too, that it is possible, as Mr. ADAMS says,
that the negotiation may turn on this compromise, we
ihall press its advantages on the attention both of the
English and American Governments. The Earl of
ABERDEEN has formally given up all claim to
exercise the right of search over American vessels
luring peace, and limits his claim to ascertaining the
fact that a vessel hoisting the American flag is an
American vessel. If our cruizers, therefore, were
to fall in with an American vessel suspected
9f being a Slaver, as soon as they had
ascertained her nationality they must search
no further. But not so if she were boarded
by an American officer, and the American Govern-
ment were united with ours—as it is in a wish to
put an end to the slave trade. He could examine
the ship after he had ascertained that she was an
American, and consequently the employment of
American officers on board our ships would be more
?ffectual for the suppression of the slave trade than
merely to visit American ships by English cruizers
That consideration ought to be an additional recom•
mendation of our suggestion to the English Govern.
ment.

Every Captain of an American ship passing within
the limits in which the slave trade is carried on,
knowing that there was one of his own countrymen,
armed with the authority of the American Govern-
ment to protect him, on board the English cruisers,
would at once lose all the just and invincible repug-
nance he now has to be boarded by an English man
of war. The consequence would. be that time
would be saved, and a great many contentions
tvoided. By our suggestion, therefore, the authority
and dignity of the United States Government would be
saved, security would be given to its merchant ves-
iels, and many sources of ill will would be at once
dried up. The American papers that reached Lon-
don yesterday, contain a humble apology from Lord
ABERDEEN to the American Government, for the
conduct of her MAJESTY'S vessel Waterwitch, in cap-
turing the American brig Tigris, which spread exas-
peration throughout the United States. Now, both
the anger of America, and the humiliation of Eng-
land, would have been avoided, by acting on the sug-
gestion we threw out on the first day of the year.

We learn with great pleasure from our City Cor-
respondent, that " the subscription," of which we had
not before heard, " for the sufferers at Hamburgh, has
nobly progressed, upwards of 5,0001. having been
'?ollectecl to-day, and 2,3701. yesterday, sums which,
large as they are, will, it is to be regretted, go but a
,short
way to remedy the distress." This is as it
should be. There is not a man in the country who
las a guinea to spare who ought not to contribute it
:o this work of real charity. Such contributions
)(Aster up no injustice : they are not intended to
bribe a class to submit to slavery. They do but imi-
tate. at a very humble distance, the great Giver of all
good, and spread a small portion of that general
Abundance which he bestows for the sustenance and
happiness of all his creatures over those who, by a
sudden calamity, have been reduced to want and,.
distress.

The New York Express of the 20th ult. publishes an
exceedingly interesting debate in Congress on the 14th,
on the relations between England and the United States.
The principal speakers were Mr. INGERSOLL, of Phila-
delphia, and the venerable ex-President, JOHN QUINCY
ADAMS. Of these speeches we can give no report, being
prevented from doing so by want of space. Mr. INGER-
01.L began by repudiating a right of search in
all cases whatever. He next lauded to the
skies the conduct of Mr. STEVENSON in London,
and General CAss in Paris. The exertions and
pamphlet of General CASS had prevented the French

1114F1

Government from ratifying the right of search. On
the five points controverted betvveeu Great Britain and
the United States, he maintained that Great Britain
was entirely in the wrong. On the Maine question she
took the soil of that State ; on the Caroline question she
destroyed American property ; on the Creole dispute
she again seized American property ; on the
Oregon Boundary question she contended for American
soil ; and her claims to confiscate slaves was aimed
only at the destruction of American commerce. Re-
specting the question of war, Mr. INGERSOLL declared
that America was sufficiently, prepared, and that she
could as easily burn London as Great Britain could New
York. They talked about the rising of the slaves in the
Southern States ? But was there not room for retalia-
tion in Canada, in Ireland, and in India ? Besides, they
would have with them the sympathies of France, Prussia,
!Russia, Sweden, and even Texas. He contended that the
PRESIDENT should yield nothing, and rather than yield
,anything he was for war. Mr, ADAMS made an excellent
speech in reply. He admitted that he was always opposed
to the right of search, but proved that such a right was not
contrary to the law of nations. He ridiculed the prepara-
tions of the:United States for war and dwelt with horror
upon the idea of burning such cities as New York and
London ; the French alliance he considered nothing,
'or worse than nothing ; and strongly urged that
there was nothing in the dispute *with England to en-
danger the peace of the world. The French are eonti-
nually boasting of the support which the Americans
derive from their sympathy. Hear Mr. ADAMS on the
subject

' He said, that in reference to the threats of Great Britain to
raise the flag of emancipation in our Southern States, that, too,
was a thing to be made light of, because Great Britain herself
was in a condition so precarious that her own people were as
likely to overturn her Government as it was to injure us at the
South. I will not meet the gentleman on that occasion. I be-
lieve that Great Britain, like all the other Powers of Europe,
and more especially France (to whom we are advised to look as
our chief reliance) is in a most precarious situation. I believe
that they are all in danger of a tremendous revolution ; and
none so much as that very France. I must say here (and Ido
not know whether it will be very acceptable to this House)
that if it be true, as the gentleman from Pennsylvania inti-
mates, that the interference of our Minister in France, by the
publication of the pamphlet on which he bestowed so high
praise, was the occasion of the refusal by France to ratify the
Quintuple Treaty, I do hold that in so proceeding France
owes an explanation to the world of her refusal to ratify
that Treaty. If it be true that General Cass has effected
this result, I, for one, do not thank him for it. Not only
because he has persuaded France to break her faith and
put herself in the wrong in the future controversies which
may arise between her and the other parties to that Treaty,
but also because it looks like an intermeddling with the
political affairs of Europe : it has the aspect of engaging
us to entangling alliances with foreign nations, the very
evil against which the venerable Washington and the vene-
rable Jefferson both so emphatically warned their countrymen.
And I here ask the House and the country to believe, that if
the refusal of France to ratify the Quintuple Treaty shall be
persevered in (which I can scarcely believe possible)
that the right of search has not any part in the wars which
may follow, and in which we are in some danger of be.
coming entangled. That, I say, will form no part in such
wars. It is no question between France and the four
Powers. France has conceded it. It is her bad faith in re-
fusing the ratification, that is more likely than anything
else to embroil her with those Powers, Just as it hap-
pened in what was called the Syrian question. And what
will be our condition if, in consequence of the intrigues of our
Minister, we are involved in a European war on the hollow
pretence of this right of search? There is in the French
House of Deputies, which the Gentleman from Pennsyl-
vania says was influenced by General Cass in its refusal to
ratify, an interest whose constant aim is to overthrow the
dynasty of Louis Philippe, and destroy every remnant of it—
a party who are much more bitterly opposed to him than any
portion of either House of Congress is opposed either to
Martin Van Buren or to John Tyler. They would annihilate
his family root and branch, and for ever abolish the monarchi-
cal power he holds. I will not enter upon the question by
what authority Louis Philippe holds his throne. It is not a
question for this place or for this time; but I will say that
France and her representative body have that question clutched
between the parties which there prevail ; and that, in this
coming war, which it seems this pamphlet of Mr. Cass is to
kindle up, I would not give a picayune for his crown. And
this is the state of things in which we are invited to go to war,
with France for our ally !

At the annual meeting of the Protestant Association,
held on Wednesday, at Exeter Hall, Mr. PLUMPTRE, in
moving the adoption of the Report, expressed his grief
at the progress of Puseyisin in the Church of
England. He contended that those who embraced
the opinions of Drs. PUSEY and NEWMAN had
virtually seceded from the Church of England ;
and he hoped that all true Protestants would feel shame
that such persons should parade their names as
belonging to that body of true Christians. The meet-
ing applauded the observations of Mr. PLUMPTRE, and,
though rarely agreeing with anything said by the Saints
at Exeter Hall, yet on this occasion, and to this extent,
we applaud them likewise. We agree with that gentle-
men that the Puseyites and Newmanites are not members
of the Church of England. They are virtually,
and to all spiritual intents and purposes, Roman
Catholics. That they do not openly enter her commu-
nion only shows that their attachment to the loaves
and fishes is stronger than their regard for consistency.
They retort upon the Establishment the dishonesty
which she was the first to teach them. The youth in our
Universities are accustomed to practice perjury from their
infancy at the command of the Church ; and therefore
there is nothing surprising if, in after life, they indulge in
it at the expense of her rich temporalities. A boy matricu-
lated at twelve years of age, must subscribe the Articles
of Faith— must Virtually syNar that he has examined and
believes all the sublime mysteries of religion, and yet he
must be sixteen before he is supposed capable of taking the
oath of simple allegiance to his Sovereign I Need we
wonder then, that in after life, amidst every change of reli-
gious opinion, he should cleave, like a limpet to a rock, to
any preferment which the Church bestows upon him ?
What does he more than follow the bent of his University
education ? Take away the Church livings of the
Puseyites, and they will soon declare themselves what
they are—Roman Catholics.

The frightful accident on the Paris and Versailles
Railway has spread a gloom over the French mnetropolis.
As yet many families remain in a state of the most
painful uncertainty as to whether missing relatives of
theirs were among the passengers in the carriages which
were destroyed. The Journals are full of the subject ;
but as we have given in another part of The Sun all the
additional particulars in the shape of news, we shall
here merely quote from them such reflections upon
this sad catastrophe as appear in their leading columns.
The Journal des Debuts says :
Grief and consternation are incapable of reasoning, and
we are compelled to put a restraint upon ourselves, in order
to offer some observations on this event. The catastrophe
is the mole frightful, as it appears to have been the re-
sult of a fatality, against which human power and foie-
sight could in vain attempt to provide. The Company had
neglected nothing to procure good locomotives from the best
makers in England, and the management of the train was
not confided to novices. It was under the direction of a skil-
ful and experienced man, of the name of George, who had
acquired great celebrity in the opinion of all our railway en-
gineers. This unfortunate man neglected nothing to prevent
disaster, and when he saw that an accident was inevitable he
died like a brave soldier on the field of battle. The road
was in good condition, and the rupture of the axle-tree of
a locomotive, which was the first cause of the event, is one
of those circumstances which may happen on the best con-
ducted railroads as on common roads. On the other band,
the authorities exercise an active surveillance over the mate-
riel of the companies on the lines near Paris, in which
they are facilitated by the companies themselves, whose evi-
dent interest it is to be scrupulously on their guard against
anything that might diminish the passion of the Parisians
for railroad tiltvelling The late dreadful event, then, was
a case of force majeure ; it may be regarded as one of those
disasters against which man is powerless, and this it is that
augments the public emotion—this it is that tenders the ca-
tastrophe more terrible. We do not, however, mean to say
that so long as there shall be railroads, such calamities are
to be expected. In the first place, the event in question is
without example in the history of railroads. It is a case of
exception, against the recurrence of which every thing possible
should be adopted, but which should not excite excessive alarm,
for, as such an event has not hitherto occurred, it will be diffi-
cult for it to occur again. Again, it should be considered that
much improvement may yet take place in the construction of
locomotives. This invention is only twelve years old. During
that time many ameliorations have taken place, and others may
be fairly anticipated."
These observations are just and sensible. The power
of steam, and the means of controlling and regulating it,
are yet in their infancy. The first river navigators who
constructed corricles and rafts to supply the placo of
bridges had as just conceptions of the construction and
management of a ship of the line, as we have of the
future application of steam power. The Courrier
Francais says :
- - - -

What we deplore in this event, independently of the number
of the victims, is, that it will again awaken prejudices which
have completely disappeared. Railroad communication has
not yet had time to become naturalised in France, and
it cannot increase and continue without the favour of
the public. In America and in England a railway acci-
dent turns to the advantage of the national foresight. It
causes means to be sought after for defending mankind from
the dangers necessarily attendant on every new invention.
With us the mischief which occurs, discredits, at the same
time, science and the inventor. Was it not necessary, on
Sunday evening to have a regiment of the line to prevent
the crowd from tearing to pieces the railroad station ? We
were for a moment afraid that the Chamber of Deputies might
without examination yield to this untoward impression, and
it must be confessed that such sad intelligence was well cal..
culated to derange the discussion on the Railroad Bill. Thu
Chamber, however, was able to restrain its emotion. It con-
sidered, undoubtedly, that to it belonged the task of giving
an example of firmness on this mournful occasion, and it ac-
cordingly continued to discuss the Bill. The Government
has, of course, instituted an inquiry into the causes of the
`accident. It was its duty to do so. It could not remain a pas-
sive spectator of so horrible a catastrophe, and it is from it that
the world expects to learn if so frightful a disaster was caused by
the imprudence of man, or the imperfection of science. From
the information published by the evening papers, as well from
what we have ourselves collected, it appears that the adminis-
tration of the railroad had taken all the care pos-
sible to prevent accidents. An accumulation of precautions,
unknown even in England had attended the arrange-
ment, and the superintendence of the trains. The en-
gineer who constructed the railroad was in person at the
head of one of them, and on this, which was so unfortunately
overturned, the man who formed all the engineers of Paris was
placed on the first locomotive, assisted by an engineer and a
stoker ; the inspector of the line was on the second ; all the
employes were at their posts, and of eight, which- was their
number, five have perished ! A measure, which is now much