The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-19 00:00:00

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LONDON
WEDNESDAY MORNING. OCTOBER 19, 1842.

The notice that was taken by General Cass,
and other persons high in authority in the
United States, of the suggestion thrown out in
The Sun, to embark an officer of the United
States navy in each of our cruisers employed to
suppress the slave trade, contributed, we have
good reason to believe, to that arrangement
which has been adopted in the treaty to carry
on the right of search for the prevention of the
slave trade, without violating the dignity of the
United States. At the same time, we persist in
our opinion that the arrange mentactually adopted
is not so good as the one we recommended. By
our plan, an American officer would always have
been present whenever an American ship was
brought to by an English man-of-war, and she
WO LI d have been examined by an American
authority. By the arrangement of the treaty,
it will not be possible for an American ship of
war to be• always in company with an English
man-of-war; and either every American ship
with which an English man-of-war, when alone,
ialls in will be exposed to the same visitation
ts before, or she will go unvisited, and we shall
lave the mortifying conviction that our arma-
:lents are maintained, at a great expense of life
nd treasure, for no good purpose, on the coast
Africa. We must rely exclusively on Ame-
' rican men-of-war stopping the slave traffic, when
carried on by American ships, which we believe
cannot, and will ' not, be stopped by them.
What the " diplomatic device" was which pre-
vented even Lord ASHBURTON from adopting
'he safe, economic, and cheap method of insur-
L 4 the visitation of every American vessel our
cruisers might fall in with, which we recom-
Licnded, we are not aware; but we presume
that it was one of those old, nonsensical customs,
derived from feudal times and misunderstood in-
ternational law, which are continually set up by
politicians as barriers against the progress of rea-
b;:;ti and justice. Though our suggestion was not
.Ilowed, and a much worse plan adopted, we
ave still the satisfaction to believe that it was
cf service and so believing, we shall now again
plvert to the right of search to enforce the
system of impressment, in the hope that
we may contribute to put an end to that practice,
and so remove another obstacle to the continu-
ance of peace between the two nations.

Our allusion to the subject on Monday, found
an eloquent echo in the Times of yesterday.
Our Contemporary, some portion of whose re-
marks we extracted in another part of our jour-
nal, took some pains to point out the evils of our
system of ithpressment, and of the right of search
which grows out of it, and out of it alone.
" Mr. Webster," says our Contemporary, " is
certainly right in contending that the evils of the
system of impressment, as practised by this
country in former wars, are greatly enhanced
when it is attempted to enforce its operations be-
yond. the natural limits of the territory and juris-
diction
of England and her dependenctes,!,
The practice at . home has nothinc, what-
ever in its favour " for it is not (says the
Times) any regular or indefeasible part of
the law or constitution of this country
power, exercised by
at an extraordinary
virtue of. impress warrants from- the Admi-
ralty, under a comrnissip,„-yebielithe Crown is,
by long-established custoth, empowered -14 the
Mutiny Act to grant."
We try it, however, by that great principle

for which Kings are indebted for their power and 1
Governments fur their rights—the benefit of the
nation; and we affirm, fearing no contradiction,
that impressment is as injurious to the nation as
it is unjust to the seamen. It drives the very
men from the service who are most needed.
In all times the seamen have, in consequence
of impressment, shunned men-of-war. Formerly
they fled in shoals to Holland, now they go to
the United States, to avoid impressment. At the
same time it impedes the rest of the population
from going freely on the ocean. It invests men-
of-war and merchant ships with an atmosphere
of horror, which does not properly belong to
them. Sea-going is a glad and a healthy occu-
pation; it should be the delight of our maritime
population; but the unjust decrees of most igno-
rant Admiralties have actually made it the bug-
bear of the people. The " press-gang" terrifies
children, and mothers would rather breed up
their boys to be starveling weavers than bold
sailors. At the very moment when the services
of our seamen are most wanted, impressment
estranges their hearts from their country, and
employs quite as many, or rather more, men to
guard those whom it steals than it obtains. Its
cost for guards, guard-ships, press-gangs, use-
less officers, &c., would man the navy over and
over again. We say nothing of the many valu-
able lives and valuable ships it has sacrificed ;
but without including them, and without includ-
ing the vast expense of one war which it has
already provoked, we affirm that a more costly,
as well as a more cruel contrivance, than that of
impressment, never disgraced any country. All
these, and a score more, noxious qualities, have
been demonstrated over and over again ; and the
Admiralty and the nation will be without the
shadow of an excuse if they ever again practise,
or allow to be practised, this most deplorable
public crime. The Times entertains some si-
milar opinions :
It rests entirely with the Executive Government
for the time being to exert or to leave dormant that
power ; for although the law, and ancient custom still
more than law, have given a colour of right to this
exercise of force on the personal services of a portion
of the Queen's subjects, it cannot be doubted that no-
thing but the most imperious necessity would induce
the Admiralty to revive a practice so adverse to the
general principles of British liberty. * * *
There is, we believe, a strong probability that in
the event of a war no instructions for the impressment
of British seamen found in American merchant ves-
sels will be issued to our cruisers. The right is
doubtful, the inexpediency of such a practice certain ;
nor can it be necessary for the British navy to recruit
its forces by such means. It might, therefore, be pos-
sible to accede to a declaration to this effect, and to
renounce a practice which it is not intended to revive.
But, as we have already said, the evils of impress-
ment are not confined to this particular application of
it ; and it can scarcely be doubted that the most
fitting and dignified mode of removing the apprehen-
sions entertained on the subject by certain foreign
Powers, would be to adopt some general measure for
the entire abolition of arbitrary impressment both at
home abroad. We are persuaded that it would con-
duce to the dignity of the country, the security of a
large and useful class of men, as well as the mainte-
nance of amicable relations with foreign countries, if
it was distinctly intimated that the levies of seamen
for her Majesty's ships will ever hereafter be con-
ducted on settled principles, and not assisted by vio-
lence or fraud.

It not being intended—it being, as we believe,
impossible—again to call this practice into opera-
tion, we agree with the Times, " that a declara-
tion" to this effect ought to be made. We agree
with it in saying that "it would conduce to the
dignity of the country and the security of a large
and useful class of men, if it was distinctly inti-
mated that the levies of seamen will ever here-
after be conducted on settled principles, and not
assisted by violence and fraud." We go further;
we say that a solemn repudiation on the part of
the Government of any right, or any claim, to
seize the seamen to serve on board men-of-war,
is due to them; we say that such a solemn repu-
diation of a scandalous injustice would be of great
public advantage—that it would restore both our
mercantile and our Royal marine to that estima-
tion they ought to hold in the minds of the com-
mon people—that it would secure the services of
a greater number and a better description of per-
sons for our ships, as well as improve tl►e mo-
rality of all the sea-going classes, by removing
one great injustice from amongst them which
vitiates them all; and time same disclaimer which
would be an act of justice to the seamen -could
remove for ever one cause of contention with the
United States. We join with the Times in call-
ing for a public and au thorised declaration against
the revival of impressment.
The whole practice rests on a false basis. It
assumes that man is made for government, and
not government for man. It claims, therefore,
for the Government a property in the limbs and
lives of seamen, and asserts that whenever the
Government requires their services it may ap-
propriate them. Do not let us, however, deceive
ourselves by an abstract term ; the word Go-
vernment means, ut one time, a great feudatory,
surrounded by lesser feudatories ; at another
time, it means a King; again, it means a mock
Sovereign, whose power is usurped by a selfish,
money-loving aristocracy; and this doctrine of
the State, or Government, having a right to the
services of the seamen, is nothing more than the
assertion that the seamen are the personal slaves
of these great feudatories, of Kings, or of venal
aristocracies. The practice of impressment and its
asserted consequence, the right of the Govern-
ment to seize a British seaman whenever it
wants his services, and wherever he may be
found—as on board American ships, for which
we have waged war with time United States—is a
deduction from the ancient, and, in most cases,
obsolete condition of personal slavery, and
ought to be solemnly condemned by all free
men, as they condemn the negro slavery of the
United States. The legal assertion that a man
cannot throw off his allegiance to the Sovereign
or Government under whom he was born,
on which some persons justify the right of
searching American vessels for British sea-
men, is a deduction front the same con-
dition, and is continually and practically contra-
dicted. The State makes no claim on the ser-
vices of the thousands of its natural born sub-
jects, except they be seamen, who seek their
fortunes in other States; it is glad to get rid
of them; and the legal dictum that a man can-
not throw off his allegiance, is equally false in
fact, and unjustifiable in theory. Men establish
Government for their benefit, and whenever it
ceases to answer that purpose, they may leave
it or dismiss it. The contrary doctrine sets up
as an idol the work of man's hands, and
superstitiously calls on him, most derogatorily, to
bow down before the golden image "he himself
has fashioned."

We must say, for the credit of the county con-
stituencies and their representatives, that they
are making the best of what they consider their
bad bargain. They assert that PEEL has betrayed
them, but they rejoin the Whigs bad made a
great alteration unavoidable. He has, contrary
to his pledges, lowered their protection, but they
console themselves by saying he has put a stop
to frauds in the averages, and ruined the specu-
lators in grain. So said Sir JORN TYRELL at the
meeting of the Hincktbrd Agricultural Club, on
Friday last, where the would-be witty Baronet
endeavoured, as well as he could, to defend both
himself and Sir R. PEEL. His most effectual
means was by diverting attention from Sir Ro-
BERT to the Whigs and the Anti-Corn-law
League. He raised two enormous giants,
which seemed quite terrific to the Essex farmers,
and then he and they were glad of the aid of Sir
ROBERT on any terms to slay them. He did not
like the Corn-law, and he did not like the Tariff;
but then the Duke of WELLINGTON supported
PEEL, and he would never " give his countenance
to a Governmentwhich was not of a friendly cha-
racter to the agriculturists." Like the other
county Members, Sir JOHN TYRELL supports
Sir ROBERT PEEL because he cannot help
himself; and if Sir ROBERT does not carry
out the principles he has advocated of
buying at the cheapest: market, it will be his
own fault, for, do what he may, the county
Members will not oppose- him;
Sir JOHN'S de-
scription
amusing and flattering to his agri-
of foreign cattle and-Sheep, must have
been highlycultural hearers, and therefore we copy it :
I know it is a fact that some of tho% who have im-

ported cattle have lost by them. I know that an in-
dividual lost SOl. on the importation of 40 oxen ; and
a gentleman of contrary politics to myself told me, in
-corning down by the railroad the other day, that he
went into Smithfield market, and the salesman de-
clared to him that the loss on the foreign beasts he
had sold was 2/. per head. I have had a letter from
my brother-in-law, who is at Ramsgate, and he de-
clares that they had fears on the Corn-law, but none
on the Tariff, for the Tariff would only lower meat a
halfpenny per lb. I know what the victualling
of Lord Ashburton's ship was at New York ;
and I know what the price of American meat is, and
my fears are on that part of it. I appeal to the agri-
culturists, and I think they will do me the justice to
say there was no man who was a grazier for the last
four or five years, who had made any profit. You all
cried out that nothing could be worse. I know it
from experience—l know that my friend on my right
declared that nothing on earth should induce him to
give the price for bullocks that he had done ; but I
am going to Brentwood fair to-morrow morning to
buy bullocks, and we know the Scotchrnan says, that
"doming" Sir R. Peel is necessary to buying bullocks
well.—(Cheers and laughter.) Then as to fo-
reign sheep; those who have seen foreign sheep
hung up know that they more resemble a dead dog
than anything else, and in many instances you could
hold up the sheep to the candle, and read the news-
paper without its in the slightest degree hindering the
light.—(Laughter.) Then as to meat. The lash
may have touched you in many points, but it is like
the lad who was driving a bad horse—his master was
going to hit him over the ears, but he said " don't do
that—don't hit him over the ears—save the ears for
the gravel."—(Laughter.) Feeling, as I conscien-
tiously do, that the Government is a friendly Govern-
ment, and desirous of doing the best it can for the in-
terests of agriculture, I believe that the alteration of
the Corn-laws has not diminished or injured your in-
terests.

As the alteration of the Corn-laws has not
injured the agriculturists, and as Sir ROBERT
PEEL says that alteration is a great advantage to
the rest of the community, he may be inclined,
under Sir Jowl TYRELL'S assurance, to confer still
greater advantages on it, by putting an end to
the Corn-law. The confidence of the agricul-
turists, and the demands of the manufacturers,
constitute together a persuasive power, which no
Minister can irell resist. He is sure of the
farmers' friends, and if he can gain the manufac-
turer:, he may reign for life.

LITERATURE.
EDINBURGH REVIEW. No. CUM.
London, Longman, 1842.
Mr. Alison's " History of Europe," each suc-
cessive volume of which has attracted on its ap-
pearance the attention of the literary world in no
ordinary degree, and which indeed has been more
praised and blamed than any contemporary his-
torical work with which we are acquainted, forms
the subject of the first article in the current Num-
ber of this Review. The criticism, on the whole,
may be considered a favourable one—that is to
say, it does justice in a frank and cordial spirit to
Mr. Alison's undoubted excellencies—his un-
wearied research, his uniform minuteness, and
general tone of impartiality; while it protests
against his frequently vicious, slovenly, and tut--
gid style, and the erroneous conclusions at which
he is but too apt to arrive from premises hastily
laid down, and which, hasty as they are, call
for other deductions. The Reviewer justly re-
marks that the most interesting "subject of his
history, next to the great Revolution which
forms the ground-work of the whole, is un-
doubtedly the character of the extraordinary
man who made that Revolution the instrument of
his power ;" and adds, "we have been much
gratified by the calm and impartial spirit in which
the historian discusses his general char acter."
The Reviewer then goes on to speak of the
intense interest which Napoleon's every move-
ment excited throughout the civilised world.
" W herever," he observes, "the great conqueror
engaged, the breathless attention of all
Europe was fixed. Every citizen of every State
felt his hopes or his fortunes raised or depressed
by the event. The death of an English Minister
was hastened by the battle of Marengo; the treaty
of Tilsit was telt as an object of interest in the
deserts of Central Asia; the battle of Leipsic
roused or paralyzed every European from Cadiz to
the North Cape." We have quoted this passage
for the purpose of pointing out a singular error
it contains. The "English Minister" alluded to
was Pitt; but his death was not "hastened by
the battle of Marengo," but by that of Auster-
litz, which was fought a few months previous to
his demise, and destroyed the coalition against
France, of which he was the chief originator,
and which was the moving principle of his foreign
policy. The Reviewer, after giving a very fail
outline of N apoleuu's character, says, "there is
one scene in his career which no sophistry can
palliate, which no imagination can elevate, which
his most devoted partisans can but endeavour to
forget. We allude to the treacherous detention
of the English families travelling in France in
1801." This was certainly an act of no ordinary.
injustice; but far worse, in our opinion,
was Napoleon's heartless treatment of poor
Toussaint, the negro Liberator of St. Do-
mingo, whom he first deceived by a show of
kindness, and then caused to be secretly
put to death by one of the most cruel and lin-
gering of all tortures, starvation. This wanton
murder—the result of a paltry jealousy of a more
magnanimous spirit than himself—is, we con-
ceive, the great blot on Napoleon's escutcheon.
In other deeds of aggression he may have shown
himself vindictive—tyrannical—inexorable; bur
here he showed himself mean; and in speaking
of celebrated public characters, we more easily
forgive crimes prompted by passion or ambition,
than those which have their origin in an innate
littleness of nature. " The Lite of Augustus
Keppel," is a passable notice of the Memoirs
of the Admiral of that name, who having been
one of the staunchest Whigs of his day, is, of
course warmly eulogized by his Whig Reviewer.
In the notice of "Berryer's Auto-Biographical
Recollections" occu r several curious characteristic
anecdotes of the manners of the old regime in
France, and of the tremendous popular outbreak
which shattered the fabric of Absolutism to atoms.
M. Berryer was then a young man, just rising
into eminence as a lawyer, and his recollections
of that terrible epoch are necessarily very vivid.
" He attributes his professional success," says
the Reviewer, " to his domestic happiness, and
to a natural gaiety of disposition, fostered by the
amenity and joyousness of the manners and
habits which for the first thirty-four years of his
life adorned his country. But now, he says, no
one smiles in France; lie finds himself between
eighty and ninety too young for his associates,
and is forced to repress a thousand sallies
which the gravity of the times would not.
tolerate." The altered character of the French
—which has been often remarked on by Eng-
lish travellers—is easy to be accounted for, when
one considers their present political condition,
and the little chance they have of bettering it.
Notwithstanding their struggles for years to
obtain a strictly democratic tbrm of government,
they find themselves, at the end of half a cen-
tury, little better off than they were at the com-
mencement of their struggle. True, they have
got rid of that incubus, the feudal system; are
no longer subject to the military despotism
brancholtuhf cianTNapoleon
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; ahyl ea
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Bourbons
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; but
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the Barricades—for whom but twelve years since
they poured out their blood like water—they
have found to their cost the bitterest enemy of
that form of government which they so much
covet, and which they have made so many un-
availing sacrifices to obtain. Reflections like
these may well make a Frenchman serious, for
they are a constant thorn in the side of his na-
tional vanity ! We quote from M. Berryer's
Recollections a remarkable anecdote, which de-
rives additional interest from the insight it gives
us into the disorganised state of society in France
towards the close of the Reign of Terror:—
" One of the most remarkable, and one of those
which throw most light upon the internal state of
France, during the interval between the Reign of
Terror and the Consulate, is a trial before the tribunal
of Chartres, in which M. Berryer was only a spec
tator. For some years previous to the trial, which
appears to have taken place in the year 1795, a large
tract of country, of which the forest of Orgeres, ex-
tending to within thirty miles of Chartres, is the cen-
tre, had been infested by bands of ruffians, who, from
their use of fire as an instrument of torture, acquired
the name of Chauffeurs. They were accustomed to
surround lonely farm-houses in numbers too large for
resistance, bind the males, and force the females, by
fire applied to the feet, to discover the property of the
family. From the number of their outrages, the uni-
formity of their proceedings, and the skill with which
they were conducted, it is inferred that they formed
a large confederacy, acting on system, and obeying
some central authority. But this was.mere suspicion:
common as the crime was, not one of the criminals
was identified. One day, however, two gendarmes,
as they crossed a portion of the forest, found a child
about ten years old, the singularity of whose dress
excited their curiosity. He asked for food, and was
persuaded to accompany them to a neighbouring
town. A good breakfast and a glass of wine obtained
his confidence. He told them that he lived with his
father and mother, and many other families, in a vast
cavern in the forest. That a great many men came
there from time to time, bringing With them some.