The Sun.
London, England, 1829-12-03 00:00:00

THE WEST INDIA ISLANDS.

(From the Morning flerald City i rti. te.)
It is confidently reported that the West India- .•
islands will be thrown open to the United StateS,
but that the British ship-owners will be allowed
to participate in the trade, We can only say,
that if such be the intention of our Governmem,
we think they have come to a very erroneum4
conclusion. The late arrivals from c§p),11(1,t..;
brought us intelligence of the ope.:.ing Of'.010: •
Welland Canal, which will be productiof
mense advantages to the commerce of the Ciu:l
das. The Editor of The Glasgow Courier
" the Welland Canal opens tip the navi,,a-
tion. of the St. Lawrence with the great pekes,
which, by navigable communication with each
other, lay open the navigable
improreahic, irnproYk.a,
and important parts of all North America. fiy
this canal flour, staves, provisions, &c., ftom. the
British territories on the banks of Lakes Eric,
&c., can be carried to the St. Lawrence, and
thus to a shipping port for expurtation to Ow
tropical colonies and other places, at nine dollar:4
per Cent. less than these articles can be, stria are
at,, present, conveyed into the territory of th
United States, and then transported by he
Albany Canal to New York, from whence in
American bottoms they are exported to thcs
ports and places just mentioned. We knoa
not if these important facts are known in Down-
ing-street, or about Whitehall, hut they ought to
be known there ; and if the lumber and provi-
sion trade for our tropical colonies§ is again laid

open to the United States, as is at present sup,.
posed, we must, in charity, believe that the.facts
alluded to are unknown to the British
or no set of men would, with the knowledge a
such facts, go into measures which will not oely
prove ruinous to Canada and our North Ameri-
can Colonies, but most injurious to the interests
of this country in her commerce and her naviga-
tion. Since the articles mentioned can be
brought to the ports of export, and through Mt-
tish territories, so much cheaper by the Welland
Canal than they can be brought by the Albany%
Canal to New York, through the Amerkiel
territories, it is obvious that by the same channei
all the productions of our tropical colonies, taken
in return, can, in like manner, be carried not
only into those remote parts of our own "doini-,
'lions, but also into the parts of the United
States adjacent, and, moreover, that the produc-
tions of the ports of the United States alluded
to, can be carried to the sea at the same reduced
rates ; and it consequently follows that the im-
ports.and the exports of ,a very large portion of
the territories of the ,Unitcd- StattS, .sw.h as
northerri-parts of 'the State of islew-Tork,-.the
State of Indiana, the Illinois, Ohio, &c.
rapidly improving, and increasing in population),
can be carried to the sea, and to their ultimate
port and place of destination, through British
hands and in British ships, instead of American.
With these things before our eyes, we ask, is
this the moment to give away to the United
States the trade in question ? No wonder they
press this point eagerly, and before a valuable
part of their own trade, and an immense portion
of our's which passes through their hands, takes
a course which when once taken can never be
again changed, except by force—even if force,
except for the moment, could change or control
it. The United States tells us that the Canadas
must soon belong, as they naturally belong, to
them. We take measures—if what is stated
about giving up the lumber and provision trade
be true, and we fear and believe it is—that arc
to secure not only the dismemberment of the
Canadas from our empire, but the West Indies
also, because, by opening the trade again to the
United States, we make our West India Colo-
nies dependent upon the United States, unite
the interests of the one with the interests of the
other, while by so doing we injure the Canadas
beyond compensation, and consequently disgust
them, and bring them, if not to identify their in-
terests with the United States, at least to sepa-
rate those from our's. There was a day when
the Statesmen of Great Britain would have pe-
netrated these subjects, and have acted accordingly.
We think the Glasgow Courier is right in
principle, but we doubt whether the new line Of
water conveyance now opened through Canada
to Quebec from Lake Erie will be nine dollars
per cent. (that is, we presume, 2/. per cent.) less
than through the American line to New York.
We do believe, however, that it can, and will, be
made quite as low, and, if so, the West Indies
will have for six months as cheap and as good a
market at Quebec or Montreal as at New York,
Philadelphia, or New Orleans. This is suffi-
cient to show the folly of our Government giving
way to the importunity of the Americans, till
next year shall have given us a sample of the
value of this internal Canadian communication
with the back western parts both of Canada and
the United States. The United States Go-
vernment very prudently urge the measure in
question before the Government can have actual
knowledge of the value of this canal. The frost
will close it up almost as soon as the water is in
it, and therefore nothing positive can be known
of its operation till next year. It is the policy,
however, of the Americans to make a great talk
of their expectation of the trade being thrown
open to them, for the purpose of staying pre-
parations for sending produce by that channel to
Quebec, which it is likely their western farmers
will be inclined to do, if boats for transport
should be prepared, because the entrance of the
Welland Canal from Lake Erie is expected to
be free from ice, and open, a fortnight earlier
than the American canal at Buffalo,--a matter
of no small importance in getting to a market.

LONG SERMONS.—A few weeks ago the
pious congregatimn of a chapel in a seapoi t town in York-
shire, having become tired of their minister's sermons of
fifty and sixty minutes, determined to call a meeting of the
pewholders to limit their pastor's discourse ,t 0,20 or 25
minutes ; and, on his not,aCceding to their wishes, have
agreed to sign a round_robia far his removal-7 Liverpool
Albion. .. t
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