The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-30 00:00:00

EASTERN NEWS.
FRENCH POLITICAL AGENTS.

The following extracts from a letter, written by an
intelligent English gentleman, travelling in the
pachalicks of Bagdad and Mossoul, will throw some
light upon the proceedings of the French political
agents in those quarters. They will he found the
more worthy of attention as the public, indeed the
Government itself, appears to be little aware of the
efforts recently made by these agents to convert and
to establish political supremacy over the various
classes of Christians inhabiting those distant and
secluded districts, where British agents, either from
inferiority of rank, mediocrity of talents, or from their
being occupied with commercial speculations, appear
to leave the field open to their rivals.
" Bagdad, June, 1842.
" By an exaggerated construction of the conven-
tions existing between the Porte and France, the
protection of all Christians, not absolutely British
subjects, is claimed by French political agents.
At this place, for instance, where there is a British
Consul and a:French Consul-General, all Christians,
whether native or foreign, are regarded by the
latter as subjects of France. This protection, it
must be observed, is not accorded as a favour wheni
demanded, but is imposed as an obligation. Until the
appointment of M. de L. Weimar as French Consul-
(aeneral, this system was not carried to extremes
but since the nomination )t that gentleman, the
French Consulate has assumed the right of disposing
both of the liberty and property of Europeans. M.
de L. Weimar has also connected himself with the
Persian political agent, and managed to enrol the
people of that nation amongst his proteges. By this
means lie has imposed upon the Paella, and obtained
great accession of influence. Having succeeded in
establishing this pretended claim to the right of gene-
ral protection, spiritual and temporal, M. de la Wei-
mar has endeavoured to exhibit his authority in various
ways, all more or less arbitrary and inconsistent with
ordinary practices. I will furnish you with some
three or four examples—
" Upon the last birth-day of the King of the
French, the French Consul-General issued an order
summoning all Catholics, including Syrians, Jacobites.
and Chaldeans, to attend him in procession to church,
menacing them, in the event of refusal with his severe
displeasure, and with the withdrawal of French pro-
tection. The result was that foreigners as well as na-
tive Christians of all denominations, except English,
ignorant of the extent of Al. de L. Weimar's powers,
and fearing the vexations that might ensue, were in-
duced to attend, and admit themselves to be French
subjects. Among these persons were many indivi•
duals who now sought for French protection. But
they were told that not being Protestants, they must
be Catholics, and thence de se French subjects."
" A German Catholic merchant, named Swoboda,
acting as agent for another, held the bond of a bank-
rupt. The latter offered to pay a certain per tentage
on his debt, to which several creditors assented, but
the German finding that the bankrupt was in flourish-
ing circumstances, refused. Upon this the latter,
.who was a Persian, or under Persian protection,
applied to the French Consul-General, who, being
desirous to gain favour with the Persians by pro-
tecting one of their nation, sent a peremptory
order to M. Swoboda, directing him to accept
the composition and give up the bond, declaring,
at the same time, unless these injunctions should
be complied with in forty-eight hours, that
seals should be placed upon the merchant's khan, and
that he should be sent a prisoner to Damascus and
Europe. DI. Swoboda, acting under the advice of
friends, set this order at defiance, and the French
Consul-General, finding he had carried his menaces too
far, contented himself with withdrawing the French
protection, which had never been solicited, and with
pronouncing a kind of outlawry against the recalci-
trant merchant, whom-since that period he has sought
to annoy by every means in his power."
" The third case is that of an Italian priest, a man
of great respectability, accused of liberal opinions,
but whose principal crime was insufficient respect for
the French Qousul,Genexal, and too great intimacy
with the British and German residents. This man
was ordered by M. de L. Weimar to quit Bagdad
within two days, and a Consular Kavass was sent to
execute the order, but' the priest having taken refuge
in the house of a merchant, and M. de L. Weimar
finding he could not secure him by force, the Con-
sulate had recourse to stratagem. The priest was in-
vited under promise of security and conciliation to
the Consul-General's house, where after two or three
days his papers were seized, and he was forcibly
placed upon a dromedary and sent across the desert a
prisoner to Damascus."

"Another instance of the French Consul-General's
inconsistent conduct must be mentioned. Having
negotiated some bills of exchange to an English
merchant named Hector, and finding in due season
that the exchanges at Smyrna had been higher than
at Bagdad, M. de L. Weimar insisted upon the mer-
chant refunding the difference. This being declined,
on the just grounds that the exchange at Smyrna
could not be taken as a criterion for that at Bagdad,
M. de L. Weimar broke into violent menaces and in-
vectives against the character of the merchant and his
countrymen ; which being reported to Mr. Hector, he
desired a friend to call for explanation and satisfac-
tion ; but M. de L. Weimar replied that a French
Consul-General could not condescend to measure
himself with a shopkeeper. In thus declining to ac-
cept a challenge, the French Consul-General might
have been justified, although the transaction was pri-
vate ; but in lieu of contenting himself with a refusal,
warranted by his official position, he informed the ap-
plicant, that if Mr. Hector thought proper to meet
him in the desert without witnesses, he, M. de L.
Weimar, was ready to fight him with any weapons
he chose to select. This mode of combat was of
course declined, and Mr. Hector contented himself
with publishing the correspondence, and making the
affair as public as possible in the city.
By the appointment of a French Consul-General,
and by the English resident having only the rank of
Consul, British interests, formerly all paramount,
have essentially suffered. The distinction may ap-
pear trifling and unimportant, but in eastern coun-
tries such trifles produce serious effects, both upon
the minds of native Christians and Mahomedans.
The difference of rank throws the precedence and
weight into the hands of the French agent, and the
British Consul is regarded as a secondary personage,
both by the Pacha and people, especially by the
numerous tribes of Christians. Colonel Taylor, our
Consul, has, I believe, repeatedly called the attention
of Government to this point, and asked for equality
of rank, but without success. As he does not demand
any augmentation of salary, it is difficult to under-
stand why his request has been refused. Until he is
raised to the same Consular level as his colleague, he
cannot exercise the same influence, or act upon equal
terms.

" The same thing is observable at Mossoul. There
the French have recently appointed a Consul, whilst
the English Government is served by a Vice• Consul.
Here again British interests suffer materially by the
difference, and above all through the quality of the
agents employed."

SKETCHES OF SOCIETY.
(From the Literary Gazette.)
The American journals are always full of drolleries
like the following. The editors, in remote and almost
uninhabited regions, have often little of general news
and none of local interest, and are therefore obliged
to fill up with such wit as they can remember from
old Joe, or invent such specimens as these :
PRECOCIUd GENIUS.-" Bible-dictionary class, come
up," said our schoolmaster. " Who was Lot's wife ?"
" The pillow of salt what Moses laid his head on
when he went up to Mount Sinai to offer his son
Isaac up, coz he had on sheep but himself to do other-
wise." " What is said about Jonah ?" " Jonah swal-
lowed a big fish, and was found the third day asleep
with a passel of James river leaf in his mouth, which
he gave to the Queen of Sheba for mending his trou-
sers, which he bursted in strainin' to get out of the
lion's den, where Daniel had been eatin' mince-pie and
Brandreth's pills." "Goup to head."
A LONG CANE.—A traveller, among narrations of
wonders of foreign parts, declared he knew a cane a
mile long. The company looked incredulous, and
it was quite evident they were not prepared to swallow
it, even if it should have been a sugar-cane. " Pray,
what kind of a cane was it ?" asked a gentleman
sneeringly. "It was a hurri-cane," replied the traveller.
BRINGING say," said a wag to a tall
youth, whose appearance will be readily understood
—" I say, didn't there an almighty great tree stand
in front of your father's house ? " Why ? " in-
quired the Jonathan. "Because," said the other,
" you looked so thundering green, I reckoned you
must have been brought up in the shade."

AMSTERDAM, AUG. 25.—The Minister of Finance
issued a notice on the 23d, stating that the tveragepices
,of corn, during the period from the 20th of July to 19th
'August, 1842, both Inclusive, were as follow :—Whest,
9f. 69c. per muddle (a muddle • is about four bushels)
1-r3e, 6f 37c. ditto ; buck wheat, 6f. 51c. ditto ; barley,
4f. 85c. ditto ; oats 3f. No. ditto.