The Press. — London, England, 1853-05-21 00:00:00

MAY 21. 1853. how clear a man's views or his ease, he was not singly at match for a plurality of nego tiators ; and, therefore, we can hardly exagge rate the injustice sustained if this were all) where it is the unit whose conduct is in ques tion. The physical strain incurred from day to day in such a contest is a f ear ful di sa bility. But when, in addition to this physical oppres sion. there Is the moral eonscionsuess that the solitary combatant is observed—not by indif ferent or careless spectators, but by watchful. eager, unrelenting adversaries—when he hears at his back the assiduous pens stealthily ye cording—not the whole evidence--but such selected portions only of the evidence as may tell most against hint. especially such a►s may serve to point the malignant and dastardly articles of the morrow ;—while pending the proceedings he finds that every point in his ease is prejudged and painted in the foulest colours that the most inveterate of his high-souled opponents could desire, and the most parasitical of their• hack writers can in dustriously supply.—the odds are, that, if he comes out of the contest morally unscathed. he bears with him recollections which are valuable to every Englishman who may chance to remember that this ease may be his own. and which may suggest to the pattlo-post future Macaulay f►om New Zealand that, in the zenith of our laws and liberties, we compla cently endured a torture which surrendered the struggles of the witness-box to the pressure of the Inquisition, and combined the treatment of the hustings with the tyranny of the Stair Chamber. We are altogether ntitaken it' this does not come home to the sensitiveness, the genero sity, and the manhood that is extant. If the virtuous Gladstonites are preoccupied in counting their presumed party winnings —if the Radical Argus raises his spectacles in superfluous horror at the " chops and to mato sauce" of the dockyard dinner bill—if the constituents of this Marylebone Buzfuz" are more than consoled by the opportune reflection that the sufferer is a gentleman—this will nevertheless, we believe, awaken the honest vigilance and alarm the sympathies of every candid mind ; nay, it will even deserve the calmest suggestions of our foresight at the same time that it demands a response from all our chivalry. We are mistaken, iu a second instance, if there are not other considerations arising from this inquiry, and equally on the face of it, which are of pressing and peculiar interest to our public men. It concerns all the habits of official life if the distinction between public and private communications is to be recklessly obliterated to satisfy the grudges of the hour. It is not the first time in English history that this error has been committed, nor the first time that it. has been reprobated with states manlike censure. It was only in our last number that we quoted the words of Lord JOHN RUSSELL ill condemnation of similar con duct on the part of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN ; and we know with what effect the Attorney-Ueneral of that day held up " the man of three letters" to the indignation of a British jury. The ease of VANE is in our remembrance as well as in that of his lordship's, and the proves which dragged soaring STRAFFORD to the block is to day the odious precedent of cur paltry imita tion. History may fold up her tablets, and Downing-street may tremble from attic to basement, if this practice shall obtain. Even the private abandon of moments withdrawn from cares of state is no longer privileged ; awl although it follows as a ridiculous contsequence that professional plotters, like the A toltnEENs and llamas, will be henceforth in cluded in the common liability—though the dining-room of Woburn Abbey and the steps of the Reform Club must yield their revela tions, if party pressure should require, for the benefit of the public, the secret history of the Coalition—we are not disposed to welcome these edifying details, if titey arc purchased at the expense of the machinery of Govern ment, nor would we claim ow' fair " revenges" to the detriment of the Constitution. We are further mistaken it' beyond the circle of official life there be not many thinking minds already alive to this political infringement of the social code which has hitherto regulated the intercourse of men of honour. Where," THE PRESS. we can imagine them asking themselves, •• will these proceedings cease? If confidential coin munieations, which have hitherto been held sacred, are as much public property as the ' leaders' iu tt newspaper, it is not only time that we accommodated ourselves as individuals to this altered phase of things, by closing our lips and eonfining ourselves within the circle of a suspicious distrust, but it is also tune that Our legal rights should be regulated strictly by the social revolution we have silently un dergone. What is the preseiat rule of our Courts to respect. • privileged communieatiolls; even in the annosithere of Nisi Prins, but the relic of an age when 'prism fides' was am en cuml.nince in the way of paramount' progress'? What lame we to do with honour or mutual confidence henceforth '?"l.'hus the plain feel ings of Englishmen may be stated in plain language. They revolt at proceeding:4 which. apart from their unfairness to Mr. STAFFORD. HIV a thSgraet , to those who coolly and cal lously instigated them ; while, as we un dertake to show hereafter. they art' no gain to the antonymous slanderers who'have yet to learn the price at which they may indulge their animo sity. CURRANTS r. RAISINS. Tim duty On raisins is a discriminative one-- Mem shillinys a huudred-weight on foreign, and half that amount On tllO produce of British possessions. It serves also a purpose of pro teetion as regards the currants of the lonian Islands : and under these c ircumstances it. appeared in the free-trade budget of Mr. GI.AU►sTOSE its an item for reduction. Raisins, it was announced by his notice of resolutions, were to be reduced to ten *killings a hundred weight ; and, as a natural consequence, the intelligence was expressed with all the rapidity of steam and electricity to Spain, to Italy, anti Turkey, and arrangements have been entered into for the coining vintage to meet the neees- satily increased demand tbr the United King. dom. But the mails had scarcely left ere au amended draft was laid upon the table by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, reealling the intinuttion, and announcing that no change whatsoever was to be made in the import duty upon raisins. The market has been fluttered, and confusion spread over an important branch of foreign trade, by this sudden change of intention ; and the merchants of London have held an "indignation meeting" iu consequence, and threaten measures to bind Mr. GLADBTONE to his original project. It is to be regretted that any after eonsidera tion should have led to its abandonment Raisins are essentially the modest dessert 41 the middle ranks, and one of the luxuries c the trailing classes. The duty upon such an article has been at all times too high, and, until very recently, it was monstrously so ; but in 1831 it was reduced from two guineas on the finest and twenty shillings on the inferior descriptions, to fifteen shillings on all sorts, and the boon was so acceptable that the con sumption nearly doubled in consequence. It was 160,000 cwt. in 1535, and it has risen to 230,000 cwt. in 1533. But the duty is still enormous, equal to 100 per cent. on a vast bulk of what is used by the middle classes, whilst it falls with the slightest pressure on the muses . tels, blooms, and sultanas which reach the tables of the rich. It will not fail to be grudgingly noticed that, whilst Mr. GLAD STONE.B budget will have reduced the cost of the rich desserts of Mayfair and Belgravia, no relief is to be extended to the humbler indul gences of the industrious poor. Some jealous finger will point in the schedule to the intro duction ditty free of truffles, olives, and pome granates; and then turn with disappointment to the enforced impost upon raisins and figs. It is true that plums, if dried in the sun, for the 51 poor tuan's feast, are to be admitted at fifteen shillings a ewt. instead of twenty ; but if, to tit them for the banquet of wealth. they undergo the further proeess of beim.; etwinsted with crystals Of or frosted with sparkles of candy, they are, under the new tiara to pay but three•haVpruee per pound, 1% hereas they pay siaTence under the Add. The Utuseci.a.os of the EXcIIEQUER has not yet disclosed to the House of Commons the reasons on which he has retracted the proffered favour to the pidle, but it is conjectured to have reference to the maintenance of the duty upon (gamuts, which, though at present double the value of raisins, yet have no higher tax than their humbler rivals. This may he the ground of his altered intention, but it. strikes us as insufficient ; and there aru causes still wore urgent for reducing the duty upon currants as well its raisins. Currants are eta- phatieally one of the c h ief enjoyments of tho people's table ; lint a mysterious eiremustunee has lately raised their cost to an unheard. of and exorbitmit amount. Thu Almighty has ‘isiteil the two countries of their growtholie lonian Islands and the M►►mu, with a blight which hats well-nigh exterminated the currant vines. The eonsequenees have been ealamitons to both. The Senate of the lonian Republie has addressed the Crown to reduce the impost exacted on the entry of their 1n•otlu e e into this eountry, and thus feebly counterbalance the visitation of ov ideneo ; and tireece, which in her poverty derives an important portion of her revenue front an export duty ou cur rants, has not only I'olllllokt' to reduce the tax, but to grant a twelvemonth's delay to the growers for the payment of her elaim. At no other moment could a eoneemsion of this nature have been made by Groat Britain more acceptable to our own dependency in tho lonian' Islands, or one which would be fit. more gratefully by the struggling tioverninent of °weave ; whilst the labouring clinosch . of our own country, already tdmost exeluded from the use of eurnints by their present ex travagant post, are not only entitled to claim front the CHANciii.l.on or the FacHEQUER this small concession in their favour in the article of cumutts, but, in the titer of a deficient sup ply, they are equally entitled to the interme diate boon of a reduction of the duty on raisins, in order to afford them a vilely substitute for the humble luxury which Providence fur the Inolneld. has eurtailetl. Past experience has shown that the revenue would lose nothing by the chomp ; on the con trary, the supply of raisins 'wing almost uu limited, and the consumption subject to no cheek, except from the excessive import duty, there is no shadow of doubt that the increased demand would replace manifold the amount apparently surrendered. Even within the last three months the quantity entered fin• home consumption has been nearly 37,000 cwt. ; whilst m the corresponding quarter of last year it was 311,000, and 25,000 the year pre eeding. We confidently hope and trust that Mr. (11.AnsroNK, should his reasons for rescind ing his first annoUneelneld prove nisalleient for • the satisfaction of the House, will be pre pared to adopt the Faure liberal course which we have indieated, and whieh would be felt a* an appreciable boon by the country. FRENCH ANI► ENGLISH ROOKERIES. EXTRAORDINARY 111111 despotic powers can only be exercised, in a country where opinion is powerful, for extraordinary and popular pur poses. France has a dietator—true ; but a dictator whom she three times elected, whose acts of violene.. site lms ratified, whose autho rity, in appearance self-sustained, rests wholly on her will. To him the democracy, with a blind faith common to multitudes, but of which educated individuals are for the most part incapable, has delegated its sovereignty, and even its freedom. It remains to see what use Louts Naret.xox will make of this great trust. Last year Europe anticipated war ; that fear has passed away ; a pacific policy is pro mised, expected, believed in. But for the French EMPEROH the conditions of so% ereignty k