The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-05 00:00:00

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SUN OFFICE Three o'Cluck,

Perhaps it may not be useless briefly to ana-

lyse the meaning of the phrase " independence
of foreigners," which our anti-free-traders praise
as one of the greatest national advantages. We
know, in fact, that no such thing in a trading
point of view now exists, and Mr. G. THOMSON
has, by his eloquent description of the enjoyments
of the opulent landlords, shown that they arc
dependent for every meal, for every luxury,
and for every ornament, on foreigners. Our
observations will take a different direction.

It is clear, that the merchants who wish to send
ships and cargoes abroad, have nu desire to be
independent of foreigners. They regard it not as a
virtue, but a ruinous a vice. Manufacturers who
make commodities fora foreign market share their
feelings. The bulk of the persons employed by
or in connection with both these classes, enter-
tain similar opinions. A great many writers on
the subject justify on theory the practices of
these numerous classes. Nay, we have of late
known gentlemen at agricultural meetings ex-
press a hope that England might become an
exporting country of agricultural produce; that
is, dependent on foreigners for a portion of
trade, for the profit of farming and the employ li
-
ment of agricultural labourers. The praise,
therefore, of this "independence of fbreigners,"
is practically and theoretically confined to a few
persons, amongst those who administer our,
national affairs, and a few writers who repeat by
rote a set of opinions that are no longer war-
ranted by the practices of any civilised people
on the face of the earth. INTo nation is now in-
dependent, in a trading sense, of another; and
those very nations which are now passing re-
strictive laws, do it, we believe, less to secure a
perfect independence of foreigners than to raise
np, as they hope, a different kind of trade with
them, and acquire wealth after the manner of
England.

This notion of " independence of foreigners"
is really a whim of a few persons who have
practically nothing to do with the matter. They
are not the traders and manufacturers whose
interest is concerned ; yet they think it right
and decent to say to the merchant you shall not
trade thither, and to the manufacturer you shall
not make cloth for that market, because we—
who have nothing whatever to do with trade, ex-
cept in our capacity of administrators of
the affairs of Government to protect it—
desire to be independent of foreigners. This,
then, is no national, no general, no patriotic
desire, it is a mere whim on the part of those
who have nothing to do with trade ; and to that
whim, clothed in a grave phrase, the welfare of
all the manufacturing and trading classes is
sacrificed. For our parts, having no respect for
such whims, and less for those who entertain
them, and who seek to delude mankind by
clothing them in fine words, we say that the
trading and manufacturing classes are great fools
to allow their prosperity to be destroyedby such
men, on such grounds.

Our Gallic neighbours seldom take a just or
dispassionate view of English affairs, and we,
therefore, rarely look to the columns of their
journals for information on our political relations
with France or any other country. We
often look, however, for amusement, and
are generally highly gratified. If any credit
is to be attached to statements in Paris
papers of a certain class, England is the
most helpless country in the world ; site can form
no alliance with any State which France could
not break in a month; her finances are ruined,
her trade destroyed by foreigners, she is evi-
dently on the brink of ruin, and, like a man in a fit
of delirium, is constantly haunted by fears of sonie
dreadful catastrophe. Her great fear now is a
coalition between constitutional France and
despotic Russia. " England," says one of these
veracious organs, " feels her situation keenly,
for after having attempted to organise a
coalition against us, she now trembles at the idea
of a coalition between France and Russia. This
question of a Russian alliance, which occupies
but little attention in France, to which the jour-
nals
scarcely allude, and which is, in fact,
almost rejected, haunts the British press,
and appears to it like the ghost of HAM-
LET." This is all very amusing, and we there-
fore tell our French Contemporary to mind
the affairs of his own country, which require all
his care, and not congratulate himself on events
about which we have no apprehensions. The
alliance of France with Russia is about as pro-
bable as her alliance with Prussia. They have not
forgotten the treatment to which they were
subjected by French officers and soldiers under
the reign of NAPOLEON, nor have they such
in admiration for the present dynasty, nor
such a belief in the stability of any Gover-
ment that France could form, as to war-
rant them in joining that country against
one of their oldest and best allies. This is only
one of the dreams that constantly haunt the ima-
ginations of our restless neighbours, and the
writer himself seems to regard it as such,
when, on sober reflection, he says, " it is,
in fact, almost rejected." France must learn
to conduct herself in a very different man-
ner from that which has characterised her
for the last fifty years, before she gets any one of
the old monarchical Governments of Europe to
side with her in a war which would throw the world
into confusion, and might raise up a spirit among
their own subjects little conducive to the se-
curity of the throne or the altar. Most French
writers are aware of these facts, but, like some
other writers, they prefer fiction to truth, and
try to amuse, if they cannot instruct, their readers.

The Madrid mail of the 27th has arrived in
due course. The semi-official Patriota again
contradicts the rumours in circulation ofa change
of Cabinet.

The Bishop of the CANARIES had been sen-
tenced for sedition by the Supreme Tribunal of
Justice, to banishment for two years in a place to
be specified by the Government.
The Officio
Gazette announces that a French
journal was to appear on the Ist inst., and ex-
presses its belief that it will be successful.
According to report Mr. ASTON had nearly
concluded the negotiations for a treaty of com-
merce between this country and Spain, and it
was confidently believed that the treaty would
be ready for presentation to the Cortes at the
opening ofthe session. The treaty was for the
entrance of cotton goods hitherto prohibited at a
protective duty,
the amount of which was,
however, not to be very high. Some project
of a loan is said to be attached to this
Veaty, the interest of which was said to be se-
cured by the payment of the cotton import duty
in this country. Half of the duties were to be
applied as an indemnity to the Catalonian Manu-
facturers, who have hitherto opposed
,with much
obstinacy any changes in the tariff. A mixed
commission, composed of half Spaniards and half
English, is to sit in London for the direction of
the loan and the proper application of the cotton
interest duties.
The Iberia announces the capture and instant
execution of three celebrated robbers—SANTIAGO
Y MEDIO, EL CIIIDEON, and LEVEIANO RODRI-
GUEZ, in the valley of Aguilas.
The Three per Cents. were done on the Madrid
Bosse, on the 27th ult., at 211 4 at 60 days, and