The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-14 00:00:00

THE CHINA SUN

AND THE

PARLIAMENTARY SUN
ARE STILL ON SALE,
PRICE SIXPENCE EACH.
Sun Office, Jan. 14, 1842.

THE WEATHER.—Noox, JANUARY 13.
ROYAL GALLERY OP SCIENCE, ADELAIDE-STREET
Thermometer... 30 ) Highest 4l ) Lowest 2B
Barometer 29.70.—Wind S.E.—Freezing Point 22 Deg.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS DAY.
Morning. 29 minutes after 3 Evening ... 44 minutes after 3

LONDON:
FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1842.

When Lord PALMERSTON said, that " a mer-
chantman could not exempt himself from being
searched by merely hoisting a piece of bunting
with the United States' emblems and colours
upon it," he at once insulted a vain and powerful
people, and ran counter to all the acknowledged
codes of maritime law. Indeed, he admits, in
the same sentence, that " British cruisers are
not entitled, in time of peace, to search mer-
chant vessels sailing under the American flag;"
but he insists on the right of Great Britain to
ascertain by search whether a vessel is entitled or
not to hoist the American flag. This claim is aper-
fectly new one, now made for the first time by the
British Government; and as even those Journa-
lists who follow Lord PALMERSTON'S lead begin
to express great anxiety lest that claim should
lead to war, it is incumbent on them to examine
its foundations, and see that they be laid in
usage as well as justice.

It may, in some cases, be true that the Ame-
rican flag is " nothing more than a bit of bunt-
ing hoisted in fraud to cover villainy," but in
many 'other cases it is not so, and there is no
means by which a naval officer can be quite
sure, even after boarding a ship, much less be-
fore he has brought her to, whether that bit of
bunting conceals a villain or designates a true
man. In the great majority of cases—for there
cannot be as many vessels which falsely as
truly hoist the American flag—the bit of
bunting will designate a true man, and, to stop
him on the high seas is contrary to the law of
nations. To act on Lord PALMERSTON'S rule must
of necessity, therefore, make us, in our anxiety
to catch the villains, injure and insult, in the
majority of cases, the true American mer-
chantman. That will not be borne in America ;
and we conclude that there is, as the Globe
says, no way of avoiding war but to recede from
the position taken up by Lords ABERDEEN and
PALMERSTON. _

Even on the coast of Africa bona fide Arne-
rican vessels carry on a good deal of trade.
Why are they to be interrupted by our cruisers?

The Times is devoting a series of articles to the
review of a pamphlet with the startlingly-
ludicrous title of " The Reign of Terror in Car-
low," evidently for the purpose of preparing the
way for the revival of Lord STANLEY'S Registra-
tion Bill, and for a series of Crown prosecutions,
in order to bring grist to the mills of the Crown
lawyers in Ireland. The Times recounts the
fabricated horrors of the pamphlet with as well
feigned surprise as if our Contemporary never
suspected them of being filched from his own
high-spiced. columns. Now, why so much self-
denial? Wherefore should the Times not be
alloWed to look back with real surprise upon the
audacity of the fabricated Irish horrors to be
found in its columns ? With regard to the state-
ments propounded by the Orange Pamphleteer,
the Times says :—" If but one tithe of them can
be substantiated, not an hour should be lost in
giving a lesson of criminal law to the .mutinous
priests and murderous. laymen, who blew the
blast for the gatherings [in Carlow] of last June
and July."" Is not this as true of the' statements
. which appeared daily in the Times fOr' tWe,last
two years as of any contained in the pamphlet ?
If but a tithe of them were true, what Govern-:
ment could refuse to 'prosecute the " surpliCed
ruffians" whom the Times ,eharitably recom-
mends for Tory induction in the subjective part
of the science of criminal laW? 'We begin to
suspect the Toryism of the Times.' A, traitor is
generally known among conspirators by ;
,the
headlong desperation of his counsels, and the
seeming superabundance of his zeal for the pro-
motion of the common cause ; and the very ear-
nestness with which the, Times labours to drive
the Tory barque upon the quicksands of Irish
politics ought to awaken the suspicions of Minis-
ters as to the real designs of that unscrupulous,
veathercock4ournal. They cannot be too much
la their guard. Were they to run aground to-
morrow, the Times would be among the first, not
o desert them only. but to load them with the
foulest abuse. The Latin proverb says, that it is
Nell to be taught by an enemy; and whether or
lot the Tory Cabinet regard The
,Sun in that
fight, more true statesmanship will be shown in
mending to our suggestions on this occasion
than in following the Will-o'-the!Wisp guidance
)t the Times.

On Tuesday the Corn-laW Conference assent -
)led at Edinburgh, and a much abridged report
,f its proceedings will be found in another part
,f The Sun. We shall convey to our readers an
adequate idea of the importance of the meeting,
by copying from a provinfzial Contemporary an
Account of the means which was taken to collect
the meeting:—

Printed queries, drawn up in the plainest phraseology
which would suffice to elicit an unbiassed opinion, were
sent, early in December, to every Dissenting clergyman
in Scotland—Presbyterian, Independent, Catholic, Epis-
copal, and Methodist, so far as known. Theii were
asked to state whether their own opinions, and the opi-
aions of their congregations, were or were not in favour
of a free trade in corn: and the abolition of the present
system of restrictions. A desire was also expressed
hat, where the situation of the parties permitted it, the
clergyman, with one or two members of the congrega-
tion, or either of them singl.:y, should attend the meeting.
The number of circulars des patched was 976, of which a
few went to congregations ix t the north of England, and
they are thus classified :
To the Ministers of the Secession, Relief, Independent,
and Baptist Churches, 670 circulars were sent, and 494
answers were received.

"It appears that 459 of these ministers express de-
cided opinions in favour or the total repeal of the Corn
and Provision-laws, and the: establishment of an entirely
free trade in corn ; about twelve are in favour either of a
:mall fixed duty, or gradual abolition; and the remaining
thirty-three do not answer this question. It is not a little
remarkable, that not one minister out of the 494 expresses
an opinion in favour of the present Corn-laws. With re-
gard to the opinions of the people, 431 of the ministers
state that their congregations are nearly unanimous in
approving of the total abolition of the Corn and Provi-
sion-laws and free trade ; arid only three state that their
people are not nearly unaniraous. Of the remaining 60,
about 15 state that _their people are either in favour of
gradual abolition or of a fixed duty ; and the others omit
to answer the question. Not one minister states that a
majority of his congregation approves of these laws."
There were 90 circulars sent to the Episcopalians,
85 to the Roman Catholics,. and 21 to the Wesleyan Me-
thodists. The general import of the answers was, that
these bodies declined taking part in the proposed meet-
ing. The answers from the Roman Catholics generally
stated, in very decided terms, that they and their people
were strongly opposed to the Corn and Provision-laws,
and in favour of free trade.
The number of ministers and members who promised
to attend was 712, from the following bodies :—Seces-
sion, 384 ; Relief, 130 ; Independent, 110 ; Baptist, 52 ;
Smaller Sects, 36.—Total, 712.
It would not be easy to find in Scotland a class of
men who have equal means with the Dissenting Clergy
of knowing the condition and sentiments of the great
body of the people. In they we have an order of men pos-
sessing adequate intellig nice and excellent means of in-
formation, and whose int erests are identical with those
of the great body of the people. Their congregations
are almost entirely drawn from the more sober and con-
siderate part of the working: classes, and the class imme-
diately above them, consist ing of master-tradesmen, and
retail shopkeepers, with. a few small farmers ; they
mingle with them daily, have an intimate knowledge of
their modes of thinking ; they see the effect of the
Corn-laws upon their means of living and comforts ; and
if they are under any bias, it is one which leads them to
follow the opinions of their flocks.

Now that the read.er is acquainted with the
character of the gen tlemen who compose the
Conference, and the iaterests they represent, we
beg him earnestly and *seriously to read the frag-
ments of their harangues, which we have pre-
served. Let him carefully mark the stern and
solemn language used by these religious men,
indicating in them that Covenanter spirit
which overthrew thrones, and almost extirpated
churches, to denounce the Corn-laws as a national
sin—a great iniquity —a rebellion against GOD.
Let him carefully
lxxark, too, the language of
despair which these ministers say is used by the
working 'classes, who only will not join the Anti-
Corn-law movement} because they have gone
beyond it, and hxe become alienated from all

Suppose one of them has started from Cape Coast our institutions. Scotchmen must have ml 1
Castle,with a cargo Of palm-t;il, elephants' teeth, changed their character if words be not Nvi"
and gold-dust, for Nantucket; and suppose she is them most important things, and if they be, let
seen by one of her MAJESTY'S cruisers at a great the reader seriously reflect, whether such glen
distance, suspected to be a slaver, and pursued. , will long submit to be starved by a great 113..
Suppose the Yankee has a fair wind, and stea- tional sin, to sustain for a few year's longer the
dily pursues his course ; the cruiser may have doomed, the bankrupt, and worthless aristocracy
to run a great distance, for a stern-chase is aof Ireland and England. There is, we repeati,
long chase, however great the superiority of for the tenth or twentieth time, great danger °t
sailing, before she overtakes the American. a commotion, which will prostrate in the dusf
Conscious of no wrong, he will not stop be- all our institutions, even the present right °f
cause the other vessel chases him. He may property, should justice not be speedily done t°
think that she is a pirate, may crowd sail to the suffering and starving people.
Having said so much to direct public atteatk:
get out of her reach, and even refuse to nd /
heave to till the cruiser's shots fall thick about to the general character of the meeting, a
general indications, we must expressly direct thy
him. All the time of the chase he may have dis-
attention of all Corn-law advocates to the aPP,e,,c.be
played the American flag, but the English
cruiser has been taught to disregard that as a of Mr. HOPE, a farmer of East Lothian.' 70,
ot°
"bit of bunting," and she pursues the Yankee apprehend that he is a somewhat better a
the
till she has compelled him to bring to. rity than my Lord WILLIAM RUSSELL, or
Being brought to, the Yankee is then boarded;
Editor of any London Journal, for the infilience6
and being in no pleasant humour at beim, de- of the abolition of the Corn-laws, particularlYis
layed while he has a fair wind, receives the in- he gives the data on which his opinioni.tit
founded ; and we learn with much pleasure, u
truding officer with a great want of courtesy, itbo
without surprise, that he believes the
cs,
and blusters and vapours according to the
wont of some ship captains. The boarding officer, lition would throw no land out of ealtl,„,
irritated in time by this want of courtesy, tion. We know that there are other I",
treats the Yankee with uncivil language, over- telligent agriculturists who take the say
'°
of this matter as Mr. HOPE, and rnajol4:et
hauls his papers rudely, pretends to find sub- him, that competition is necessary t°
jects of suspicion, opens Ica hold, examines his
the English agriculturists out of very above
cargo, sends the Yankee ptain on board the liee'
and expensive habits of cultivation. We be
tia
cruiser to explain to the English captain, and so
too, that such opinions are gaining gr°u
there is no little mutual annoyance.
W
The English captain may be vexed by having amongst intelligent men, and that a great I
her aaree with him, that no clan of men Votlw.
been led far off the ground where he might pro- 1010
bably fall in with slavers, by the Yankee, and son much by the abolition of the Corn-
as the actual cultivators of the soil.
may be as sharp and ill-tempered as the Yankee
himself. There is a repetition of uncivil and insult-
ing language, and at length, after much irritation
on both sides, the Yankee, after being detained
and annoyed for several hours, is suffered to
proceed on his voyage. Now, that such rencon-
tres with bona fide American vessels, under our
new claim, will be frequent, we are morally
certain; and they will excite so much irritation
in the maritime population in America, that it
will be as impossible for the PRESIDENT to pre-
serve the peace, as it was for Sir ROBERT WAL-
POLE, when Captain JENKINS appeared at the
bar of the House of Commons exhibiting his
ear, torn off by the Spanish guarda-costa, and
declared that he relied on GOD and his country
for redress. 'When it is
,proposed to revive a
sort of Slave•trade for Trinidad, it is hardly
worth while to go to war with America on the
chance of preventing the Slave-trade, which may
be carried on by the Brazilians and. Spaniards.

We have received the very ( xtrAco dinar)
telligence from Paris that Lord ABERDE' the
declared in favour of the claim set up hY bie
French Ambassador at Madrid to e'ent
pr the
credentials to the young QUEENI-41It'l. not to.
_5l
REGENT, as the Spanish Constitution authoriscor
and that the resignation of Mr. ASTON, our 3.ce
bassador at Madrid, may in conseque's
be hourly expected. Louis Pnii.irOY
o
appears, made a complete dupe o'i
deaf Ambassador, Lord COWLEY, and the
Lordship lost no time in prevailing uPon
Noble Foreign Secretary to fall into tV
snare so adroitly laid for him by et`
CITIZEN KING. Thus, by the force of °
stupidity, has our Government contrived t°,
placed in the most offensive position
respect to France. We had no lnisine` thi
mix ourselves up in any way wit"' oof
disputes of France and Spain about 3
of etiquette. Had circumstances, coMpelle ied?'
to interfere, it should only have been as l'"eio
ators ; and above all, we should have 1:011,1i
mind that Spain looked to us for suPlnyo
maintaining the inviolability of the Constittite
and the dignity of the REGENT. That itff
ASTON will condescend to perform in yd'
drid the part of an attachce of etd
COWLEY'S Embassy is, not to be exPeotti
and if the Government replace him by 3°
Ambassador, it will be compelled to °get, ,0
cond insult to Spain, by taking precis dc''
same ground with France as regards the of
very of credentials. Altogether we Deere,
with a more blundering, ill-considered Pie
business.

We have rece iNctl the whole of the 001
t
v'.
Papers. Their contents are not of ,
political importance. The draft 01.0, ,
Peers' answer. to the speech from the ii. ,
was read in the Chamber on Tuesday, Itiji., ,
debate upon it was proceeding wile'
mails left for London. The speaker!, ?,( ,
the Prince DE LA MOSKWA, son 49' oft/
-slial isit'Ev, who denounced the'•Treati 4l' .
18th of July, and especiallY the allittoc'ol/
England ; and the Marquis DE BOISSfI if
only complaint against the Governmeil.t
oil
that it was not despotic enough. The 141-S
only prosecuted the Press—M. DE iPossli,'cl'
crush it outright. The Noble Peer•next ]rite'
the Spanish REGENT, whom he called gia to
cutioner,"- and who, he said, aspire° , t','
Throne expressions which M. GUII% 0
pelled him to withdraw before descenaillV
the tribune. From such a beginoitig,%l:oo'
infer a rather interesting debate in the ij
of Peers before the address is voted. PI
The United Councils of Agriculturo w
factures, and Commerce, met on 30110?
the discussion of the iron questidn. ftfoci',
other propositions which. were brought el'
was one for permitting Belgian iron tf)pi
France, in competition with French iron/ ir
construction of the great lines of railvittlipif
are . projected. On this occasion the
system
calculations were brought forward :—" t cl*
syste of railroads now proposed to lied:
strutted in France is to extend to 40° oil;
which will require 200,000 tons of wrongd.
The constructing of these roads will °Cetiti
years, and therefore the annual consoToolv
iron, wrought and cast, will be only 07.
vefj
Belgium alone can produce 200,000 te0:01,
num ; and as the demand' in France Ti°1111"
only 25,000, it results that Belgium, °lie,
the eighth part of what she produces, 10C.
pletely invade the French market, t° teolir
prejudice of French manufacturers. Seloct‘,;'
sons having pretended that French nutilufott"',
were unable to furnish rails enough
~ ooh
' leagues per annum, it has been shovv"; off
other side, that from 1838 to the 31,,gt.0
mouth, the. period at which the contril'ioii
between the Companies. lately oreated,,efe!
principal manufactories expired, there 11011
nished by the latter rails enough for 10600
and this too with a fall of 20 per cent. iii i
of the iron." t'o'
jd
. The Council-General of- Commerce, a
0"1.4y,i
ting of Sunday, was engaged in the °flew '
tion of the commercial treaty with YiVto:
M. Ducos, Deputy, expressed a desire '1 '
Government would, by every means ill loce, ,
favour the foreign commerce of Fillooec
enter into treaties, not with Belgiura t`ottP,
with all the commercial and malt 10:.,
States of the world. This propositionvi'o.st'
supported by M. ARLES DUFOUR, De •1
Lyons, and the members of the COlll3 of
was opposed by M. Gouix,. BlinWtel. rolb ' •
merce in the Cabinet of the Ist of 1"-ii 1
and II ,
by M. BETHING DE LANCASTO,,4I' (1,/, x,,
'
jetted, the votes being equallY.. divide o',,
and 13 against the proposition. The i 0 '
voted a recommendation of a redact' 4" pf
postage of letters, but the majority
, (:.„

The annnal increase in the number of Oldie
the Rhine is a striking proof of the effect o.` Its
duction of more rapid means of communientil;e(
the number of passengers on the Rhine ",(1
steamers was between 18,000 and 19,000,
thought considerable, but in 1839 the Win% 1151"
creased to 487,020 ; in 1840 to 636,000; 9-
of •
has been estimated at 750,000. In the out" $
sent year there will be thirty-five steamCovt4 ,'
Rhine, of which sixteen belong to the Coleee osji
seven to the Company of the Netherlanns:o9r
Dusseldorf Company, two to the Rhine undl
pany, two to the Company of the Aigle,
Basle Company. ood,
The number of passengers from England,.;
at Ostend from the steam-packets in 1841 N" 1,
the number of those who embarked, 5,385, ce
In consequence of the treaty of eoran3ript°,46
France and Holland, there were importen (VV.
bourg, from 30th September last to the end c't y5l
not less than 287,348 kilogramtnes (aholliodro"
cotton, 49,265 bags of coffee, and 8,031 Jo
indigo.
Do,-
It appears from a statement in the visitier„l
that the materiel of the different Belgian
117 to
moment consists of 122 locomotives,
diligences, 179 char-a-banc, 235 waggons it: or
854 carriages for goods, and 202 wagg°ll" Ars-
of the roads, &c. on a'AtiA
"An instance of spontaneous combustl,oll,,,,
says the Journal de Limbourg, "at Grottifteti AI"
Year's-day. A woman of 55, much ad"'"fitb,
a ing, having approached near fire, her Woe
impregnated with alcohol, is supposed ib
ternal ignition, and her body was found "west'. li,
The Marseilles papers state that the oce•t(ltAk,
usually cold and frosty in the south of Fr-
ri' to oi
The funeral of the Archbishop of Tol
that city with great pomp, a few days ag'°' .
of eS 0
and military authorities, the Arclibishop,,th
the Bishops of Maus and Chalcedonium, "011 erouo,
General, formed part of the cortege. 1" citsi°,
ments of troops were on duty upon this ocreptl.7,,
The inhabitants of Toulon have been ga fepel‘
by the following act of sacrilege corainitte ps
ago. A man having learnt that two Pers

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