The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—Some observations were made by Mr.
Norton, the Magistrate, on Saturday, at the Lambeth-
street. Police-office, in which we heartily concur,
and which we think are well deserving of attention.
On announcing the amount of some subscriptions he
had received for a charitable purpose, he alluded to
" the disgraceful conduct—for he could call it no
less—of a class of persons calling themselves respect-
able tradesmen, in only paying the paltry pittance
of three-halfpence for making a shirt; and he ex-
pressed a hope that certain slop dealers, who ground
down those whom they employ, might be shamed into
" something like common fairness and humanity."
We are sorry that we do not participate in this hope,
though we strongly concur in the -wish to see " the
list of such persons exposed to the world," that it
might be seen whether the public would approve of
such a system by dealing with them. It is very
creditable to the feeling of the community at large,
that when a case of hardship or distress becomes
generally known, there is no backwardness
on the part of the public in relieving it. It
would, hoWever, be much better for the unfor-
tunate objects of sympathy if some little considera-
tion were felt for them in the first instance„ when it
is possible that much misery might be prevented,
which now is either never heard of at all, or
only relieved by a generous impulse when a particular
" case" is brought under the public notice. How
many are there who would indignantly denounce
the cruelty of causing a poor crreature to make a
shirt for three-halfpence, and yet who always
proceed on the, principle of beating down the
tradesman to the lowest halfpenny for every ar-
ticle they buy of him ! It is this system of parsi-
mony on the one hand which leads to oppression on the
other; and it is pretty certain that the customer who
naggles about the price of what he purchases, is very
frequently aiding in withholding a proper remunera-
tion n-orn those who are compelled to support them-
selves by their labour. " Live and let live," is a
maxim that should always be kept in mind, hut which
is too frequently forgotten by those who have no occa-
sion to indulge in the habit of cheapening, and who
would despise themselves for it, if they only believed
it had the effect—which it certainly has—of diminish-
ing the hard earnings of struggling industry.
STANDARD.—A journal to which Lord Pal-
merston is said to give the benefit of his genius and
experience, yestercay presented a long article upon
the recent regulation of the Canadian corn trade, so
much in the style of the protocol Peer, as greatly to
confirm the general suspicion that his Lordship is
either the amateur or stipendiary editor of the journal
in question. And here we must say a word for
"our order." The Quarterly Reviewers and others
charge the conductors of the public journals with
arrogance in thinking themselves a some im-
portance. For ourselves we think the charge un-
just : we see, in the mass of our contemporaries, no
assumption of rank above that of educated gentlemen
of the average class—a rank to which their conduct
and qualifications surely entitle them; but if we were
arrogant, is there not good ground for much pretension
on our part, when we see the writing o'2 the worst
written, worst mannered, and, as regards respect for
veracity, the most unprincipled journal of the daily
press ascribed to a person who has been for more than
30 years a Minister of the Crown, and for many of
those 30 years in the high office of a Principal Secretory
of State! The Noble Lord may suffer an injustice in
the particular; but that he is believed to be the
writer of the leading articles of the journal in ques-
tion, clearly shows the public estimate of his capacity,
and seems to prove by a necessary inference that if
he was fit to be a Secretary of State, the majority of
journalists (unquestionably his superiors) are fit for
something greater and better. This word for "our
order " is, however, by the way, and it must not be
understood as setting a journalist above the average
class of which we have spoken ; but as intimating
that a Whig Foreign Secretary may be very much
below that class—a point which the public seems to
have determined by its assignment of the artic!es
referred to to Lord Palmerston.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
TIMES.—The shipwreck of the Reliance, from
China to London, at Etaples, near Boulogne, on Sa-
turday, has created considerable sensation in the City.
The loss of 110 persons out of the 116 on board
has cast a gloom of the most melancholy description
among the merchants connected with the East India
trade. Her last place of resort was St. Helena, and
the parties interested in her fate were therefore in ex-
pectation every day of hearing of her safe arrival.
It appears that of the crew and passengers, num-
bering the amount of persons already stated, the saved
are one European, described to be the ship's carpenter,
and five Lascars, who reached the shore in one of the
boats of the vessel. The Reliance was an old ship
on this trading station, and had on board a cargo of
tea of considerable value, beside the freightage inci-
dental to a voyage she was in the habit of perform-
ing. The quantity of tea she brought over was
1,884,7481 b., of which there were 1,277,5661 b. of
congou, and 406,5651 b. of twankay, with smaller
proportions of other descriptions. Most fortunately
for the insurance offices and underwriters in this
country, their risks upon this vessel do not include
more than from 14,0001 to 15,000/. of the 195,0001.
for which it is said she is insured, the Indian offices,
that is to say, the insurance offices of Calcutta and
Bombay, being responsible for at least 150,0001. to
180,000/. of the entire amount. This mishap, with
those reported from the Cape of Good Hope on Sa-
turday, and others which have occurred on the coast
during the late severe weather, have, in a material
degree, depressed the feelings of parties connected is
our shipping interest. The London insurance offices,
and also the underwriters, have suffered by the loss of
the Abercrombie Robinson and the Waterloo, but
we are assured, not to any serious extent.
The letters from Cairo to the 23d ult., which have
been received, describe the greatest state of panic,
arising from the prevalence of the murrain among the
cattle in Egypt—a disease which is peculiarly alarm-
ing, as it is considered the forerunner of the plague.
The Pacha had already lost 90,000 oxen, besides other
animals, and had been obliged to make use of the
horses employed in the service of his artillery for ag-
ricultural purposes, as the destruction of the cattle
had rendered their number insufficient to get in the
seed for the ensuing. year. The persons employed in
the transit of Indian passengers from Alexandria to
Suez had also experienced considerable loss. 100 of
their horses had perished in a single month, and the
mortality was increasing.
By the Swift packet accounts have arrived from
Rio de Janeiro to the 17th of September. These re-
port the suppression of the revolutionary feeling in
the interior, which had before so much disturbed the
tranquillity of the merchants. The consequence of
this was an immediate action upon the Exchange,
which had advanced to 26 to ~ the latest qnotation at
the departure of this packet. She brings 50,0001. in
gold and diamonds. The communication between the
mines awl the port being opened, this freightage was
to a certain extent made up by their shipments to
their several interests here. As her Majesty's ship
Curacoa was to follow two days subsequently, few of
the merchants were inclined to put their letters on
board the Swift, the preference in respect to sailing
qualifications being in most cases awarded to Govern-
ment vessels when on their passage home. This will
account for the partial delivery of letters and papers
by the Swift to-day. The Curacoa had been the '
round of the coast on a collection cruise from Valpa-
raiso downwards, and when reported from that place
was represented as having 2,000,000 dollars to convey
to England. On the subject of trade in the Brazils little
is said; there was rather a better feeling to purchase,
now revolution was at an end, but an advance in prices
is not officially noted.
POST.—The Consol market has still a firm ap-
pearance. There was to-day nothing at all special
doing in any of the English Securities, but prices
are maintained, with scarcely a fluctuation in any of
the various descriptions. Bank Stock was, perhaps.
not quite so good as during the past week. The late
advance does not appear to have been founded on p,ny
intelligible cause, apart from that of the excessive
plentifulness of money. The price was certainly low
before; more so than circumstances would at all war-
rant, but the interest recently demanded by the Bank
for the discount of bills and loans of money is so
much reduced, that there can be no chance whatever
of any immediate increase in the dividend payable to
Proprietors. The only wonder among well-informed
persons is, how the present rate can be maintained.
It is not unlikely that, availing themselves of the
comparatively low quotations for Bank Stock, many
of the holders of the Three-and-a-Half per Cent.
Annuities may have sold out of the latter fund with
a view to the re-investment of the proceeds in the
former. There was every temptation to take such a
course, since probability existed of Government pay-
ing off the Three-and-a-Half per Cents.; but where
purchases of Bank Stock may have been made in the
hope of an increase in the dividend, it can hardly
happen but that there must be disappointment. The
utmost that can be expected, taking things at the best,
is that the rate now paying by the Corporation may
be continued without diminution.
CHRONICLE.—The New York Herald, received
this morning, with its usual industry, publishes a
table showing an aggregate average decline in prices
at New York, from August, 1840 to August, 1841,
of. 20 per cent., and up to August,' 1842, of 31 per
cent. on the chief articles of general
o
aolCofnsumptlon, and
remarks that when, by the operation
minv , ~. • +.: are shorn of the proceeds of
generaltheir
labour,
causes
~ , , jiteps in and puts up the pricesof •
se • nufactured articles li - .- percent The
.- ~ _ • -4) . ~ vane in. the Atlantic ports on those
, at the.increased duties. The same
-,ku
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011 - o the new tariff cannot produce a
•cr permantrit cho9 to business, because trade will force '
(
`''. '''•-• its way into ritfitabie channels, in spite of all restric.
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