The Sun.
London, England, 1842-09-05 00:00:00

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LONDON:
MONDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 5, 1842.

Since we noticed the article in the Journal des
Debat3, which epigrammatically ascribed the
distress of England to foreign and rival nations
borrowing our arts and raising up manufactories
against manufactories, we have cast our eye over
the returns of our foreign trade. We find from
diem that in the years 1829 and 1840 the declared
value of our exports was to Russia, respectively,
1,435,805/.-1,604,742/.; to Sweden, • 38,252/.-
119,425/.;t9Norway, 64,234/.-78,0164.toDenmark
135,247/., .401,462/. ; to Prussia,lB9,oll/.,"219,345/.;
to Germany, 4,475,5551.-5,498,4591. ; to Holland
and Belgium, inclusive, 2,050,0141.-4,296,4761.;
to Frany, 491,383/.--2,378,149/.; to Portugal,
1,195,6/o/.-1,110,244/. ; to Spain, 861,675/.-
404,=252/.; United States, 4,823,4151.-5,283,020/.
These States comprise the principal, and, we
believe, with the exception of Switzerland, with
which we appear to have no direct trade, all the
countries of the world which can be considered
in any way as rivals of England, to have bor-
rowed our arts, or to have established manufacto-
ries which have interfered with England in sup-
plying their wants. At the same time, it is well
known that the price of most manufactured articles
since 1829 has fallen considerably, so that the
declared value in 1840 of any amount represents
a greater quantity than the same declared value
in 159.9. Which, then, of these countries, is it
which, by dispensing with our commodities, and
manufacturing the same articles for itself, has
inflicted a heavy blow on the trade and manufac-
tures of England ?

Is it France, a rival country certainly, and an
eminent country—a country growing in wealth—
in which the Government has done all in its poWer
to encourage native manufactures? Why, that
country took, in 1840, nearly five times as much
of our commodi ties as in 1829 .Is itGermany,which
we rejoice to gnow is making rapid strides in manu-
facturing industry ?—Germany, notwithstanding
that League, which ignorant persons amongst
us continually revile, took from us one-fifth more
in 1840 than in 1829 ? Is it Holland and Belgium ?
Look, reader, at the official returns, and yon will
find that our exports to Holland and Belgium
have more than doubled in eleven years. The
only countries with which in that period our ex-
ports have declined are Portugal and Spain,
which have made, we believe, little or no pro-
gress whatever in manufacturing for themselves,
and certainly can in no sense be said to be rivals
of England. Those returns, far from giving us
any reason whatever to be envious and jealous of
the increasing manufactures and wealth of fo-
reign European nations, show clearly and dis-
tinctly that as they haye increased in wealth,
like France, Germany, Belgium, and Holland,
so has our trade with them increased, and so, we
are sure, it will increase. With Portugal and
Sp-tin, which have not attended to manufactures,
and lOich haVe been engaged in war, our trade
has lctsened.

As there was this gradual increase in our trade
with nearly all the world, up to 1840, and we
have no reason whatever to suppose that it has
since declined, our readers may ask whence can
have arisen the present distress? These returns
partly explain that. While our trade with almost
all other countries has been progressively in-
creasing, with the United States it has been
subjected to most extraordin.ary fluctuations.
Front nearly 5,000,0001. in 1829, the value of
our exports to that country rose to upwards of
0,000,000/. in 1831, and sunk to 5,400,000/. in
1832. From that period it rose gradually
to 1836, when the value of our exports
was 12,400,0001., and in 1840 it had again
sunk to 5,283,000/. Our prosperity was indi-
cated by the exports, amounting to 12,000,0401.2
on the continuance of which the manufacturers
counted and made their arrangements accord-
ingly; our adversity is indicated by the 5,283,0001.,
which falls more than a half below their hopes
and expectations ; while the amount of employ-
ment they can give the people engaged in sup-
plying that market, now falls more than a half
below its amount in 1836. In the great fluctua-
tions of our trade with the United States, into
the causes of which we do not now trouble our-
selves to inquire, lies the explanation of our pros-
perity in 1836, and our distress in 1842.

The figures we have referred to, are, we think,
full of hope for our country. In spite of Corn-
laws and timber duties, and other unjust and un-
wise enactments here, and in spite of numerous
restrictions on trade abroad, the commerce of
England with the world has gone on steadily in-
creasing. It has increased most, too, with those
countries which, like herself, are addicted to
trade and manufactures; we therefore see in the
progress of other nations, unlike the Journal des
Dobats and our own Tory Journals, the assured
and certain sign, if our own Legislature will
only allow us to share the advantages of other

nations, of the continued progress in wealth and
prosperity of our native England.

We refer our readers to another remarkable
Police case, which came before one of the Clerk-
enwell Magistrates on Saturday. The lady
who was taken into custody, it appeared, was
highly respectable, and, from all accounts, had
committed no offence. Mr. COMBE, consequently,
dismissed the charge. Five persons, however,
who witnessed the conduct of the policemen,
considering it unwarrantable, followed them to
the station-house ; and, according to their so-
lemn asseverations, gave no interruption what-
ever to the police, but were, nevertheless,
attacked by them, and treated with great
brutality. Two policemen told a diffe-
rent story ; and the Magistrate preferring
their evidence to that of respectable citizens,
fined them in sums varying from 20s. to 40s. It
will be remembered that two policemen, em-
ployed at Kennington-common, swore, on a
recent occasion at Union Hall, to what they
called facts, but which Mr. TRAILL declared to
be falsehoods, and, disbelieving their testimony,
the Magistrate fined one, and severely repri-
manded the other. In the occurrence which
gave rise to the proceedings at Clerkenwell, the
policemen, according to the Magistrate's decision,
were evidently in the wrong. Might not that
have excited some doubts in his mind as to their
credibility in the second instance, and made him
inquire why five respectable individuals should
take the trouble of going to a police-station in
behalf of a woman, about whom they knew no-
thing, except that they saw her ill-treated by a
policeman ?

STEAM NAVIGATION ACROSS THE ATLANTIC.—
We see, with much regret, several indications that
Steam Navigation across the Atlantic, which is
such a noble proof of England's skill, and which
has conferred so much benefit on trade, is not
successful as a mercantile speculation. The
Great Western Company is reported to be un-
able to pay its way. Cunard's Line, or the North
American Mail Company, though it has received
20,0001. a year more to carry the mails than the
contract was originally made for, is said to yield
no profit. The West India Mail Packet:Com-
pany seems to be a complete failure.
Under these circumstances, any suggestion
which promises to be of service in making
this important branch of navigation pay its
expenses deserves to receive all the cir-
culation we can give it. Such a suggestion ap-
peared in the Times on Saturday, and it was on
principle to run but one line of steam packets
across the Atlantic, and make that line, by
branches, serve as the means of communication
for the United States, the West Indies, and
South America. We think the idea a good one,
but possibly the main line might be more ad-
vantageously chosen than as is proposed, to run
to Halifax. It is not our purpose, however, now
to enter into details, but at once to remind the
public and the Government that the Great
Western Company first achieved the arduous
task of crossing the Atlantic by steam,
and have been great sufferers, we believe,
by the competition occasioned by the
Government giving to the North Ameri-
can Mail Company large sums for carry-
ing the mails. That destroyed fair compe-
tition. In any arrangements, therefore, made
for establishing one general line of steam packets
across the Atlantic, that Company ought not to
be forgotten if it cannot be incorporated in the
undertaking, and have an equal share in any
sum the Government may devote to their pur-
pose. It ought to receive some compensation fbr
the injury done to it by the Government patron-
age having been bestowed on rival Companies.
But for that it appears probable that the Great
Western Company would for some time have had
the whole field to itself.