The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-04 00:00:00

'..,.cronZl72ibitton

SUN OFFICE Thrce o'clock.

The sugar duties were the principal subject of discus.
cussion last night, in the House of Commons, and the
Tory Ministry showed their regard for the people by
proposing to continue the duties for one year, by which.
as we have over and over again proved in The Sun, the
consumers of sugar are annually deprived of betweet:
3,000,000/. and 4,000,0001. sterling, to enrich the West
Indian planters. The proposition was made, too, by a
West Indian land-owner. Mr. GOULBURN actually
proposed to tax the people to keep up his own rent ;
and all the owners of West Indian property in tht
House, we believe, except Mr. BERNAL and Mr. P.
M. STEW ART, voted with him to keep up their rents.
They were not allowed, however, to pursue this course
without being exposed. Mr. ROEBUCK moved that the
duty on foreign sugar should be reduced to the duty on
colonial sugar, and told the House of Commons,
in plain terms, that it annually took from the
people between 2,000,000/. and 4,000,000/. which
went into the pockets of the West Indian
planters. Some of the money, indeed, is thrown away
by cultivating sugar at an unnecessary cost, in order to
catch a share of the bounty. The fallacy of the various
pretexts by which the CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER
and his party sought to perpetrate this enormity, was
ably exposed by Mr. ROEBUCK. He showed that our
Quixotic attempts to put clown the slave trade have in-
creased it, and added to the cruelties of the
middle passage. He proved, by the principles
of the Tories, as applied to the French Re-
volution, that our attempt to propagate a system of
morality was erroneous, and that, if we might interfere
with other nations to put down the slave trade, we ought
to interfere with them to make them abolish slavery.
War with the United States, therefore, will be the conse-
quence of following out the philanthropic and propa-
ganda principles of the anti-slavery party. We cannot
present a complete analysis of Mr. ROEBUCK'S
speech, but we recommend its perusal to our
readers as an able refutation of many of the
fallacies by which Members of the House of Commons
delude themselves, or seek to delude others. His argu-
ments, though we think them irresistible looking to our
people, for whom alone, our legislature is called into
being, made no impression on the Ministers or their
followers, and his proposition was lost by 59 to 18.
Mr. LABOUCHERE subsequently moved to reduce the
duty on colonial sugar to 20s. and on foreign sugar to
30s. On this question the whole of the stock arguments
which were used last year on the subject of the sugar
duties, were repeated, with some few personal hits.
Lord J. RUSSELL reproached Sir R. PEEL with advo-
cating cheapness, and yet abstaining in all cases from
applying his principle where it would be of the least use.
Sir R. PEEL, retorting on the Noble Lord, took great
credit to himself for his proposition touching
cattle, and reproached the Whigs with never
having mentioned the subject during the ten years
they were in office. Mr. ROEBUCK, with more
intemperance of manner and language than is usual
with him, attacked both parties for indulging in mysti-
fication, and reproached both with studying only part:
interests. For saying let Jamaica and let the Antilles
sink in the sea, he , was taken to task both by
Mr. BERNAL and Sir ROBERT PEEL. The de-
bate was animated during the two last hours
that it continued, and at one o'clock the Committee
decided by 245 to 164, that the duties as proposed by
the Ministers should continue another year. So the
House has resolved, in spite of the remark of Sir R.
• PEEL that the cultiVation of sugar is dreadfully destruc-
tive of life, to give an annual bounty on its production in
our own colonies of between 3,000,0001. and 4,000,00`, /
a-year, at the expense of the people of England.

Some weeks ago there appeared an article in The Sun,
in which .we stated, on excellent authority, that the
King of the FRENCH was labouring under an incurable
disease. This article attracted considerable attention in
Paris, but the Journals, frOrn prudential considerations,
took no notice of it. Unhappily the KING'S disorder
has latterly so increased•that, it can no longer be kept
secret. The members of the Royal Fatnily have become
so atarmed that they are afraid to quit the l'alacc, lest
they might never again behold their Royal parent. For
the private character of the King of the FRENCH we
entertain the Wghest respect. In the relations of hus-
band, father, master, and friend—(for strange'as it may
sound of a Sovereign, the King of the FRENCH has
friendships)—LOUlS PHILIPPE hats few-equals even in
private life. We are now assured on good authority,
that the visit of the young Princes to London is post.
poised, not from political causes, but in consequence of
the rapid progress lately of the dropsy under which their
Royal father is suffering. A Paris Correspondent, in a
Communication to a Morning Contemporary, says—
In spite, of an appearance of strength, his Majesty the King
of the French has for some time past been a great sufferer: and
his ailment has become a source of uneasiness to his deeply-.
attached and devoted consort and his affectionate faintly. At
a recent consultation of physicians the features of his Alajesty'il
disorder, as well as general health, were . narrowly caanuned.
The conclusion arrived at by the distinguished members of the
faculty present. was, that the disease was dropsy. I make this
statement on ample authority. Ilia Majesty's life may not Le-
in any immediate danger, but the complaint has become painful
and serious.

The peace of Europe—aye of the world—hangs upon
the life of the King of the FRENCH. He it is who really
maintains the peace of Europe. lie it was who, com-
pelled France to remain neutral during the war in Syria.
Whatever may be his political flubs, and they arc many
and serious, Europe stands indebted to him for the
peace which .it now enjoys. But shall we have peace
when the -Royal peace-preserver is gone ? That, in-
deed, is a serious question, to the solution of which the
attention of the statesmen of. Europe cannot be too
quickly, or too seriously directed. For our part we
confess that we apprehend the worst. What abilities
the Duke of ORLEANS may possess we know not ; but
from all that we have heard, he is but indifferently qua-
lified to steer the vessel of the State in waters in which
any helmsman lesS able than his father would have
nmodered. Besides,- the war-fever rages so madly, that
war with him wilt be a political necessity. • He
will be compelled 'to fight or abdicate, unless
the French people come to their senses before
it pleases GOD to _remove the present Sovereign.
With the question, as to whether another Revo-
lution will take place, or be attempted, upon the death of
Louis PHILIPPE, we have here nothing to do. Not that
we are indifferent to it, or have not reflected upon it,
but it is too important to be introduced at the close of
so short an article as our limited space to-day permits us
to devote to this subject.

The Paris journals, recei% ed this morning, are more
than usually interesting. They all.express their joy at
the happy escape of our gracious SOVEREIGN. The fol.
lowing remark:, from the Courrier Francais, so generally
hostile to this country, fireSdmiCde6te, arid so creditable
to the feelings of the writer, that we have pleasure in
quoting them :
The English pros has tried to render France responsible
for the various attempts made (m the King's life. lr is not
the 'fault or thiSse'viiho represent the various opinions_of Great
Britain, rfbether Whigs or Tories, that the French people

Should not pass for a nation of cannibals, incessantly occupied
n destroying the work of her own handst , England has her
turn at present; Oxford's attempt, and the prudence of the
English Government in attributing the crime to insanity, are
cell known. This political precaution his not preserved the
Queen from a new attempt. Queen Victoria, like Louis Phi,
ippe, escaped the danger, which threatened her. Shall we
now seek in some of the sores which gnaw the body
of English society, the cause of the deplorable event which the
English journals relate ? Shall we say that a moral evil has
struck ;his nation, as a mark of,c.lecrepitude ? Shall we render
her responsible for the excesses of a few fanatics, whose wild
excitement is a solitary accident in all societies? We shall be
,nore generous and more just than our neighbours, and we shall
not exercise, with respect to them, the recrimination that
might be lawfully permitted. It is enough to have shown, by
the coincidence of the same facts having occurred amongst two
very different nations, that France was calumniated, and that
.he could now be enti led, if she pleased, to hurl back the
calumny on those who so basely gave it currency."
We regret to find in the same Journal the following
remarks, which are by no means penned in so pacific a
pirit

It was rumoured: yesterday in tl.e Chamber that Lord
Cowley had officially demanded of 111. Guizut if the French
Government intended effecting in our naval forces for 1843
the changes indicated by the vote of the Chamber of Deputies.
The Engli.h Ambassador was to have insisted on the French
Cabinet disarming the ships of the line and frigates which
.11. Lacrosse's amendment obliges the _Ministry to keep up.
We do not know what answer Al. Guizot has returned, and
what guarantees he may have given of his obediecce to the
°junctions of the English Cabinet, but the feelings of the
nation will he justly wounded when it is known that a fo-
reign Government deems itself authorised (thanks to the ha-
bitual weakness of our Alinistry) to limit the number of ves-
sels which we may keep up. A similar pretension has not
been brought forward since the inauspicious periods of 1814
and 1615, when the victorious coalition put Fracee to ransom.
At present we are rich in men , and in resources ; we have a
well-disciplined fleet, a warlike army, and it is our own fault
if we are not powerful. if our Government humiliates itself
before the demands of England, it cannot be because the na-
:ion is weak and worn-out ; it is simply because it is wanting
in dignity, and because its energy is not responsive to that of
the country. , _ .

It is stated in a private letter, that the French Am-
bassador at the Court of London, Count ST. AuLAInE,
will be sent for to Paris, to assist Ministers with his in-
fluence at the forthcoming elections.
The Commerce publishes an address to the King from the
Municipal Council of Saint Pierre, Martinique, praying him to
use his influence towards puttirg an end to the distress occa-
sioned to the colonists by the postponement of the sugar bill;
and adds, that a crisis in the 1, rench sugar colonies, can only
be avoided by the governors of them authorising, as they did
in 1839, the export of sugars to all countries, and under
every flag.
A Naples letter, in the Augsburg Gazelle, states that
although no danger of a rupture with Holland exists, the Nea-
, olitan Government is raising from 1,600 to 2,000 sailors for
the navy.
A letter from Athens, in the Lcipsic Gazette, states
that Admiral Lasusse having entered the Pirmus, •the captain
of an English man-of-war omitted to fire the customary salute.
The Admiral complained to the Ambassador, and the Captain
immediately received an order to salute the Admiral. The
salute was given, but the Admiral's vessel gave none in return.
The English Captain at once weighed anchor, and went off to the
hurt of Phalaros. It is probable, says the letter, that the salute
was not returned because the Admiral had remarked some
negligence in the manner of giving it.
Yesterday evening couriers were dispatched by the English
Legation to the Courts of London, St. Petersburgh, Vienna,
Berlin, and Madrid.
The preceeding evening there had been a Diplomatic Coun-
cil at Lord Cowley's. M. Guizot was present at it.— Gazette
de France.
The Journal du Havre of the Ist of June has the following
article :—" Yesterday at high water, we had a rather curious
sight in this port ; it was the arrival cf a little squadron of
steam boats, which the Pope has caused to be built in England,
and which are to pass through France to the Mediterranean.
These vessels, three in number, the Archimedes, the Guano,
and the Papin, entered the port with white flags at the stern,
on which were the arms of the Holy See.. Their crews wear
a uniform, much resembling that of our sailors, and having
on their hats the inscription " Marina Romana." From
their appearance we should judge them to be about 8 tons
burthen, with engines of about 30-horse power ; their form is
narrow and long, resembling that of the schooner Bermudas ;
they are, however, built with more solidity than elegance.
• The Archimedes is distinguished from the others by richer
ornaments, and more elegant workmanship. It has on the
taffrel a gilt escutcheon, and the cut-water is likewise gilt.
The wheel made of mahogany, which is placed behind, and its
cabin, which is splendidly furnished, contains a piano-forte,
indicate that it is more particularly destined for excursions of
pleasure or cruising. The two, on the contrary, from the man-
ner in which they are fitted up, appear to be calculated for
towing.,_ They are all three designed for the navigation of the
Tiber. Commerce.