The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-30 00:00:00

.Itctott*l2bition

SUN OFFICE Three o'Cloch.

The war with China being now brought to an
honourable and satisfactory conclusion, we pre-
sent our readers this day with a comprehensive
account of the country, and varied details of the
late operations, together with a map, in which
are laid down all the principal rivers and cities
of that vast empire, and the five ports opened
to British commerce. The origin of the war is
well known, and it is therefore needless to refer
to that subject. What distinguishes it from all
other contests with different nations is, the,uni-
form success which in every encounter with the
Chinese followed the British arms. From
the capture of Canton, to signing the treaty-of
peace off Nankin, not the slightest defeat has
been sustained, and, with only one exception, the
determined stand made by the Tartars at Chin 7
keang-foo, the English met with little or no re-
sistance. As a natural consequence, the loss of
life among the British troops has been equally
small. Though the war has been' continued for
nearly three years, we had fewer men killed
during that period, in the course of ten or twelve
engagements, than sometimes fell in one obscure
battle in the' Peninsula. Indeed, the only real
fighting took place at Woo-sung, and in the
Yang-tze-keang River, when the Tartar troops
made their last desperate and nnsuccessful
effort. If the cost has been small, the results
are great almost beyond conception. - The Eng-
lish have a line of coast thrown open to them
from Canton to Shanghae, a distance of from -a
thousand to fifteen .hundred miles, with five ex-
cellent harbours, fit emporiums of trade for the
adjoining districts and the numerous islands in
the Chinese seas. They are to be placed on a
footing with the subjects of the EMPEROR; Con-
suls are to be appointed at each place to watch
over British interests; and, in addition to all
these important concessions, complete compen-
sation is
.to be made for the expenses of the
war and the wanton destruction of property.
With,these (advantages, so different from what
England ever enjoyed in China, we may reason-
ably expect a great increase of trade both as
regards imports and exports. Tea may be ob-
tained cheaper, a new field for the silk trade
will be opened up, and it is not therefore to be
wondered at that the commercial circles of Eng-
land hail with hope the prospect afforded. to
them by the proposed new channels of trade
with China. China seems to have been
amply supplied by nature with every
requisite for clothing but wool. The pecu-
liar husbandry of the- Chinese prevents their
breeding either horned cattle or sheep, and
hence, although amply supplied with silk, the
inhabitants of the northern provinces shield
themselvei from the inclemencies of the winter
months by wearing the richer, expensive, and
rare, and the poorer classes cheaper—kinds of
fur. The great trade of Russia with China is
fur in exchange for silk. What a' field

thus opens for British commerce ! The
vast plains of Australia can produce an unli-
mited supply of wool, and the power-loom ma-
chinery of England can weave and supply wool-
len fabrics at a price less than any nation in the
world. If we refer to the statistics of the East
India Company's trade we shall find that their
principal trade has been in woollen cloths; and
as the Zollverein are excluding these manufac-
tures, not only for the protection of their own
trade, but also because the manufacturers of
England supply themselves with wool from
Australia, instead of using the fleeces
grown upon the fields of the German States, this
new market will employ our mills and thousands
of our operatives. Again, France has hitherto,
from the raw material supplied to her from
the rsilk-rrrowing States of the Mediterranean,
k

Lad a large trade in manufactured silks, and the

Rus,ians receive large supplies of silk ; both raw
and manufactured, through Kiatcha and Malt-
machoui. The Americans are also large im-
porters of manufactured silk ; but when
Great Britain has established ports at

Ning-po and Fou-tchou, ports situated in
the centre of the silk-growing districts of
Tche-Keang, it is but a fair inference, drawn from
past events, that it will be cheaper for the Rus-
sians to supply themselves in the markets of
England, than to incur the heavy expense of
1,000 miles of land -carriage; and as we have seen
that the steam machinery of England can com-
pete with the cheap labour of India, and has
driven the cheap native manufacturer of cotton
cloths from his native markets, the day may not
be very far distant when the silks of China will
be exported to England, and the manufactured

product sold in the China marketbelow the prices
_ . . . ~.. .

at which the Chinese can manufacture. In-
deed, the silk manufacture alone opens a vast
field to English enterprise. Millions of money
were paid to Great Britain during the last thirty
years for her manufactured cottons ; but as the
world has advanced in luxury and civilisation, the
consumption of silk has much increased, and the
coarsereotton fabric find a market onlyin the poorer
States; or States little advanced in civilisation;
and as the circle of manufactured cottons is
narrowed, and as America advances in the ma-
nufacture of her own staple, a new market may
be about to open to our mill-owners for the more
costly manufacture, and Great Britain may, as
she has hitherto done, take the lead in manufac-
tures adapted to the advance of the age, and the
silk trade of China become as great as the cotton
trade with America.
The Chinese market has demanded large slip-
plies of our metallic produce. Copper has always
sold well and as a long period must elapse be-
fore other nations will be able to compete with
us in the supply of smelted metals; Eng-
land, by availing herself of her present position.
will secure to herself alone the sterling com-
merce derivable from this important and ex-
tensive trade.

It has been lately announced with pomp and
triumph that the war against China was under-
taken to extend our trade, and place it on a se-
curer basis. We remember to have heard Lord
PALMERSTON make a similar assertion in respect
to the war in Affghamstan. It was to carry the
commerce of England beyond the Indus. If the
few remarks which we made on Tuesday con-
cerning the trade with Asia, and the peculiarities
of Asiatics, be well-founded, the folly of such
wars must be apparent. We have the whole of