The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-29 00:00:00

of our people in warfare was so great, that their
battles had in them something that appeared
rather like butchering than fighting, and the
nation heartily rejoices that they are at an end.
We have not heard anything like a wish ex-
pressed that Sir HUGH GOUGH and Admiral
PARKER had been allowed and encouraged to
continue their career of conquest. The public
wished for honourable peace, and its delight
is, that peace, with such great advantages, has
been achieved.
Though desirous of money, generally speak-
ing, and anxious to spare its own pocket, the
public has not felt half the pleasure on account
of the money to be paid, which it has felt on ac-
count of the ports to be opened. THE EXPECTED
EXTENSION OF OUR TRADE, opening to Europe a
new world, enabling commerce to restore the
public prosperity, and to spread civilization
through the East, accompanied by peace and
happiness, is the foundation of the hearty re-
joicing which has pervaded the whole empire.
We hail that feeling with unfeigned delight, as
a complete proof that the sickly and hypocritical
sentimentality which certain Tory writers have
directed against commerce and a town popula-
tion, has found no response in the public mind.
The nation continues, practically and heartily,
faithful to the great principle of our ancestors,
that commerce is the soul of the national great-
ness; and it delights, above all things, in the
prospect which the treaty with China holds out,
of a vast extension of trade.
It is impossible, after establishing this import-
ant truth, not bitterly to regret that this perma-
nent stream of truly British sentiment has not
long before now carried the Government along
with it to extend our trade with other countries,
which offer, .at least, as great advantages as
China. To effect that no war would be necessary.
Far from engaging in conflicts, which we are sen-
sible many of the people disapprove of; it is
only necessary to preserve the relations of friend-
ship, cultivate peace, and allow our own people
free scope for their enterprise. No new
Consuls, or diplomatic relations, always costly,
and very often more mischievous than beneficial,
would have been required; there was no occasion
for any increased and expensive action of the
Government ; the silent and unobtrusive exer-
tions of individuals would have effected this great
end. No credit, perhaps, would have been
gained for any Ministers; there would have been
nothing for parasites to boast of; but the prospe-
rity and peace of the whole world would have
been promoted by what some high-souled per-
sons call the vulgar labours of the Sheffield cut-
lers, of the Manchester spinners and weavers, and
of the cultivators of the earth throughout the
wide continent of America. In setting labour
free, there is nothing to attract and dazzle the
world. All that the statesman can hope for is
the gratitude of an enriched posterity, which is
as nothing compared to the present applause of a
victory, and of their opening, by their own act, a
few ports some thousand miles further off.
One great advantage which opening and ex-
tending a trade with America, by making trade
free, would have over a trade with Asia, arises
from the fact that the former is peopled with
men of European descent, who have European
habits and wants which our industry is calculated
to gratify; while the bulk of the Asiatics, sepa-
rated into castes, and drilled into slavery, have
peculiar wants and habits, which will require
some education on our part to learn, and some
new skill to gratify. It is said, for example, in
the Leeds Mercury, speaking with authority—
That the Chinese have religious, or quasi religious
scruples, against wearing fabrics which are made of
two different materials, as wool and cotton. We
know of a case in which a lot of worsted goods with
cotton warps was sent to Canton, and sold on arrival
by the pattern card; but on the day following the
sale was cancelled by the Hong merchants, who
alleged that the goods were made of animal and vege-
table substances mixed, which was contrary to nature
as well as to their religion. In this respect the
Chinese act on the principle laid down in the Mosaic
law' " Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and
woollen come upon tbee." Levit. xix. 19. It may
be relied on that mixed fabrics will not sell in China.
But manufactures may be made cheap in pro-
portion as there is an extensive demand for them,
and we cannot hope to obtain as profitable and
extensive a trade with people who have such
peculiar tastes, as with people who have tastes
somewhat like our own. Another consideration
is, that the bulk of the Asiatics are very poor,
live on very little, and pass from generation to
generation without mak ingany material improve-
ment in their condition. We shall find some
better data, however, for reasoning on the sub-
ject in the actual state of our trade with Asia,
and in its developement, than in any conjectures.
It is now nearly two hundred years since
tea was known and used .in Europe, and
the average quantity imported into Eng-
land during the last ten years is about
36,000,0001b5., which, taking the average cost
price only at ls. per lb., is 1,800,0001. we pay
to China for tea alone. This trade has for that
long period been gradually growing up, and tea,
which comprises only one article of our imports,
has swelled to that magnitude. In Mr. MACCUI:-
LOCH'S Dictionary we find the value of our im-
ports of merchandise from China, set down in
1826-1827 at 2,264,7261., while our exports of
merchandise to that country for the same
years, was only 764,418/. Tn 1827-1828, the im-
ports from China were 1,981,4191., and our ex-
ports of merchandise to China 709,261/. In the
many years, therefore, that we traded with
China down to 1880, we only found means to
make them take from us about one-third of the
quantity of commodities or merchandise which
we took from them, and we had to pay for the
remainder in hard cash.
But this refers to the state of our trade with
China before the abolition of the ,East India Com-
pany's Charter. It happens, too, that all the ac-
counts of trade with China are mingled with those
of the trade with India. Before the abolition of
the Charter our exports to China were included
under one head with those of India, as exports
to Asia. Since the abolition of the Charter, the
interruption of the trade with China, and its tin
certainty, have caused the exports really intended
for that country to be sent to Singapore or some
other English settlement, arid included, therefore,
in the exports to India. Thus the declared value
of our exports to the latter country rose from
4,285,829/. in 1836, to 6,023,1921. in 1840, While
the exports to China fell off from 1,326,388/. in
the former year, to 524,1981. in the latter. It
would seem more satisfactory, therefore, and
more elucidatory of tile progress of our trade
with Asiatics, if we include the trade to India
and China.
The reader will remember that our empire in
Hindostan embraces a population of nearly
90,000,000 souls, and has now been for several
years of that extent. Scattered over
that empire is no inconsiderable Euro-
pean population,. and a population of
mixed descent, spreading European habits and
tastes throughout the Hindoo population. There
is an extensive European press; there are Euro-
pean merchants, indigo and sugar planters, and
all the varied population of a European trading
community, besides the servants of the Govern-
ment. All those are circumstances which serve
to extend our trade with Hindostan to a degree
which cannot be hoped for with China. To trade
with the north of China, our people must learn a
new language, as well as acquire a knowledge
of the habits of a people new to them; and nu-
nierous as are the Chinese, therefore, they can
scarcely within a short period give the same ac-
cession to our trade as the inhabitants of Hin-
dostan.

In the "Tables of the Trade of the United King-
dom" from 1831 to 1840, we find the average de-
clared value of our
within that periodspe ofexportsonly of
to those two countries,
ten years, to have been
4,45'0,000/. We
speak
leot twobt
it
er
h exports,
thos ec obuenctar
iuesse
we look merely at the ont,
maybe
and China in particular,ln Mr.
expected topro-
vide for our manufactures.MACCuLLocn's
Dictionary the average offi•-•jai 4111 c of our
down
euur
oaesn
nvdx-
ports to Asia, between 1816 and 18v2.2, is e
at 3,219,446/. At that period, the offici•tu
the declared value of commodities was vaervyanntecaaogrnely:
equal; so that in '22 years, with all the advantages
we have enumerated as to Hindostan
'
sim ption of our manufactures in thethe
whole o
Asia has not increased one-fourth. Such a fact