The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-30 00:00:00

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53 —this day, at noon.

all difficulties here as there. He has assumed,
indeed, no enviable position in the House
of Commons. Five-sixths of that body are
interested in the abuses he would utterly rout

out. Every art of cajollery, every species of
intimidation will be tried upon him, but now or
never is the time for him. to become a first-rate
political man. If this time he yield to blandish-
ment, or succumb to fear, we may, indeed, still
admire his abilities, but we shall be reluctantly
compelled to rank him with the political trim-
mers. He has put his hand to the very work
which now wants to be done. Mr. ROEBUCK did
the right thing for the session before Easter; Mr.
LAYARD has proposed the right thing for the ses-
sions after it. We have had inquiry enough.
We have all made up our minds—we now want

;le paper ! All we ask is that the independent
members may fairly consider the probable results
of the clauses recently proposed by the Chan-
mllor of the Exchequer, before introducing
what has been fairly described as a per-
fectly novel system, giving a copyright in that
which from its very nature cannot be restricted
viz., news.

Never, hitherto, has such a doctrine been
legalised in any country. Even in the most
despotic nations, where the Press is kept com-
pletely under the thumb of the Government, by
means of the Censorship, and other " ingenious

devices," it has not, for a moment, been asserted
that matters of vital interest and importance to
the community must remain unnoticed because

they have been first put forward in a single paper.
There is not and cannot be " property" in such
matters. It might as well be said that there
could be an exclusive property in the very air
we breathe as in matters that are circulated

action.

His resolutions will be met, we expect, partly by
a direct negative, but still more frequently by all
the stock answers of " the Noodles' Catechism."
All, however, will depend on the visible temper of
the country. Indeed if the people give no sign of
support to Mr. LAYARD he will certainly- fail
with the House, and may be half excused for de-
clining to do the nation's work, when the people
are content to go on paying increased taxes, and
pouring forth their blood, rather than take the
trouble to uphold the man who would serve them.
We are therefore the better pleased to observe
that even in London a large and respectable body
of its citizens are beginning to move. Our
readers will have noticed, we trust, in The Sun
of Saturday, the moderate, yet appropriate, re-
solutions which will be brought forward at a
public meeting to be held, " for administrative
reform at the London Tavern, May the sth, at
12 o'clock." That meeting ought to be the pre-
cursor of one in every town—and why not county
too I—of the kingdom. The nation must now
rake its affairs so far into its own hands. It
must demand, universallj and imperatively, "the
right men in the right places." It has already
paid more unnecessarily in taxes levied or pro-
posed than would have served to pay off all the
incapables, and to refund their money to the
capables, who ought never to have paid it. Buy-
ing a civil or military appointment ! Merchants,
tradesmen, common-sense Englishmen, think of
that ! You who, if an accountant, or foreman,
or confidential clerk, wanting employment were
to ask you to sell him your salary and work,
would question the sanity of the applicant. Or
who, if your own brother and nephew wanted an
important post in your service, would, in nine
cases out of ten, rather give him the income to
keep out of the way. Nothing can retrieve our
national, position but your compelling the Govern-
ment to act on your own principles.

rapidly in every quarter, and which no persons are
prohibited from canvassing save only newspaper

proprietor s.
We do not feel at , all surprised at the Times
supporting a proposition the probable result
whereof will be the doubling of its already vast

circulation, and the suppression of many of its
comparatively diminutive rivals, who now, igno-
rant of impending consequences, loudly clamour
...for what may probably prove their own destruc-
tion. It is ridiculous to twaddle about matters
which general courtesy now allows the use of,
when every " communication"—that is to say,
every particle of news, foreign or domestic—is
protected. The Parliamentary, legal, and police
reports, the accounts of " dreadful accidents,"
and all the varied material of which a
newspaper is composed, must be suppressed, or at
least kept back for 24 hours. Even the execu-
tion of the wretched lunatic BURANELLI could not
be alluded to by any but one journal, that which
issued a copy first after the event. There would,
al fact, be a scramble for such news, one incessant
litigation going on,—the most conflicting testi-

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15M107.4ZTICP,
N.W.—Strong gales, with heavy passing clouds,
charged with rain, and sunshiny weather.
ArEn, 30.
55—highest since noon yesterday.
43—lowest this morning and during the night.
51—this day at noon.
BABOMITER, 30 30.
WIND, N. to N.N.W.— Fresh breeze, wiht slight showers
of rain and dull weather.

§mx,

We have greatly erred in our estimate of the
national feeling towards the Emperor NAPOLEON
if the dastardly attack just made on him in his
own capital does not excite the deepest indigna-

tion from one end of this country to the other.
It is a current-remark—one, by the way, but too
confirmatory of human weakness—that we never
know the value of a friend till we have lost him ;
and it will hardly admit of doubt that the attempted
assassination so happily frustrated will lead, if

possible to an even higher appreciation of the
merits of our late guest, and of the vast import-
ance the prolongation of his life is not only to our
own immediate interest, as a people, but also to
those of civilisation, it may be, for a century to

mony, and hardest swearing as to the hour o
publication, for that would render the proposed
enactments almost the only question, and a
smart attorney should be attached to the estab-
lishment of every newspaper.
Hitherto there has been a species of courtesy
maintained. Copies of the different journals are
exchanged—Cui bone ! for what purpose ? That
each may take from the other any matters that
may have escaped its own corr espondents. Lite-
rary articles are, as we have already stated, copy-
rights, and any infringement thereof can be pro-
secuted by an action in one of the Common Law
Courts. We do not, of course, speak of an inj unction as
applicable to such ephemeral publications. If the
author sustain real damages by any piracy, a jury
of .his country ever will afford due reparation. But
he must not go into Court in a captious or querulous
spirit. He will receive compensation for the in-
jury he has suffered, but there will be no vindic-
tive or unreasonable damages. Under the exist-
ing system the British Press has achieved a pre-
eminence over that of any other country. Every
well-conducted journal obtains a fair share of pub-
lic patronage, and receives an ample recompence
for every extraordinary exertion which it
makes to supply the community with early in-
_telligence. On this point, we might refer with
pride to the acknowledgments which we have
repeatedly received from our provincial contem-
poraries. The recollection of The San, Expresses
has not as yet passed away, and we rejoice to
say that we have never forfeited our well-estab-
lished reputation. We have unquestionably con-
tributed our full quota of original intelligence,
and have submitted to see these matters appro-
priated without notice, or with the simple ac-
knowledgment of "Evening Paper." If, there-
fore, we quote "Morning Paper " in place of
giving the name of the journal from which we
have extracted, it is simply "a Roland for an
Oliver," a fair piece of retribution for a previous
injury to ourselves. We can proceed in the way
we have invariably walked with a safe conscience,
certain that public opinion will not condemn us
when the facts are fairly and fully brought forward.
We never unfairly assail others, but when at-
tacked, we are able to defend ourselves, and shall
continue to do so. It is not merely for ourselves
we protest against the propositions of the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, but for our brethren of
the Press without an exception. Once more, then,
we implore the representatives of the British
people maturely to weigh the consequences of
that which they are called on to sanction, and not
hastily or rashly to enact a law the results of
which cannot possibly be foreseen, and which could
only emanate from presumptuous ignorance, or a
sinister design to impair the efficieney and abolish
the independence of the Fourth Estate.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 80, 1855,

been procured at the then rate of consols
—the charge would have been but 560,0001.
at present, which could be reduced to
480,0001., if not to 400,0001., long before the
year 1885, or, if what we believe to be the still
more eligible proposition of the Member for Glas-
gow had been adopted, for a small sum, say of
124,0001. per annum at present, the whole
charge would be extinguished in the beginning of
the next century.
Thirty years is too short a term for the general
public to speculate, but fifty years would not
be so. Estimating the interest of money at
3 per cent., which is something higher than
can be obtained on Government securities, it. per
cent, set aside as a sinking fund would, at the end
of 50 years, give 140/., or 40 per cent. as a pre-
mium. Allowance would also be made for the
impossibility of securing such a per tentage for
so long a period. The money could be obtained
on annuities for 50 years at 4 . per cent., or
720,0001. per annum ; and twenty millions
could have been had for 800,000/. per annum,
and no additional duties levied on tea, sugar,
or coffee. The revenue surrendered to cripple
the Press would make up the difference,
and we venture to assert that the industrious
classes would rather have the Press, and the tea,
coffee, and sugar duties as they now are, than
with the proposed alterations.
Where, we ask with Mr. MACGREGOR" were the
soi disan t champions of unrestricted competition ?
Where were the professing Free Traders during
this important discussion ? There can be no
excuse. However great may be their horror of war,
they shOuld not strive to influence the people by
such means. Let them, however, be warned in time.
Their prestige is already greatly diminished ; it
will soon altogether vanish if they do not adopt a
more justifiable and straightforward policy. As
yet Mr. GLADSTONE is the only man who has an-
nounced a return to protective imposts as " loom-
ing in the future." Are we to look upon Messrs.
BRIGHT and COBDEN as his disciples in that doc-
trine. It would be well if they spoke out plainly
at once, and not suffer such doubts to enter into
the public mind—doubts which it may not b-
quite so easy to remove as they may DOW suppose.

RECALL OF GENERAL CANROBERT.

RAISING OF THE SIEGE OF. SEBASTOPOL.
The Paris correspondent of the Daily News
writes as follows :

We earnestly invite attention to the letter from
the honourable and indefatigable Member for
Glasgow, which will be found in another part of
this day's impression. Had Mr. MACGREGOR.
presided over the financial department since the
accession of the ABERDEEN Ministry, not merely
tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, but
millions of pounds sterling would have been saved
to the country. The Hon. Gentleman, however,
only belongs to the aristocracy of talent. He is
not connected with any of " the governing fami-
lies" by birth or marriage, has no relationship to
any influential peer or, boraughmonger, and oweshis
seat in Parliament only to the unpurchased and
unpurchaseable suffrages of the largest municipal
constituency in the United Kingdom. His great
experience and sound judgment cannot, therefore,
be appreciated by the members of a lordly Cabi-
net. He is one of the middle classes—one who
has elevated himself by the force of his own
genius and energy, and the high qualifications
which he is universally admitted to possess.
These, however, are not at present sufficient to
insure " the right place for the right man," and
therefore Mr. MACGREGOR, in place of bringing
forward a budget on his own account, is restricted
to criticising that of the superficial and incom-
petent financier who has been pitchforked into the
place which a better man ought to occupy.
Mr. MACGREGOR clearly shows the fatal mis-
takes into which Sir G. C. LEWIS has fallen, first,
in reference to the Loan ; second, to the increase
of an 'unmodified income tax ; and thirdly, the
retrograde course entered on in the enhanced du-
ties on the chief, if not the only unobjec-
tionable, comforts allowed to the less
wealthy classes, in the enhanced duties on tea,
coffee, and sugar ; a course which strongly
xaiol
tends to, and will probably end in, the re-enactment
of protective duties on articles of primary neces-
sity ; thus bringing us back to the exploded sys-
tem of • monopoly after it had been virtually
abandoned
e hi lose on
qnts
haveuhdeart
byb the Loan
ierilertmighthohave anf or classessht woiune
Ind:yac
society.in
On the first point, Mr. MACGREGOR clearly
p
wepl
along o
f s sincesixteen
een
mde-
clared,rmeansae theavo i
d eavoided
Chancellorhis
the
Eperilous
dabbling with the Income Tax or Customs
duties. A twenty million loan at par could
have been obtained just as easily as one of six-
teen millions, and had it been thrown open
to public competition, as
,in Prance and even in
Austria, on much more favourable terms for the
Treasury than have been submitted to. It might
also have been procured without any addition to
the permanent d.ebt. Mr. MACGREGOR declares
—and on such a point he is an unexceptionable
witness—that he has "the assurances of men
extensively connected with banking and insurance
companies and with commerce, that his proposal
to throw open the Loan to public competition
would have been successful, and uniformly satis-
factory to the nation." Our own informa-
tion fully corroborates this assertion. Thus, for
annuities terminable on an average of 50 years,
we believe even eveless—costing little if at all more tharnyBoporo,oboabOl/e. acylaeiamr
would have been liquidated, and the extra bur-
den would have been completely geonterriadtioofn.
the lives of many of the present Thegeneration.
present charge is 596,0001. per annum for 30
Now had.it been mised. in 3i per. Cent. Consols
at and after that time 480,000/. for ever.ols
at par—and a small premium could easily have

PARIS, SUNDAY.
I believe the main: facts of the following narrative to
,e true :
The fire of the Allied Lotteries has entirely ceased.
The General commanding the French artillery has
writen to the Emperor to this effect :—" Sire,—l pro-
mised to keep up the bombardment during 14 days.
Ilhave done so. My task is accomplished. We have
not reduced the place, and are not in a condition to at-
tempt the assault. It only remains for us to withdraw
our troops in good order. Our guns, from protracted
firing, are completely unserviceable. We must leave
them as old iron in the possession of the enemy."
Orders have been sent to raise the siege of Sebas-
topol. The plan of operations will be completely
changed. A campaign in Bessarabia will be com-
menced with an immense army in the beginning of
June. Fresh levies to an enormous extent will be made
in France. The reinforcements likely to be sent to the
theatre of war are estimated by hundreds of thousands ;
and it is not doubted that a new loan of eight hundred
millions will be effected in the course of the summer.
General Canrobert is recalled. The order for his recall
• was despatched by telegraph this day.
According .to the authority from which I derive the
above momentous information, the Emperor is still
fully determined to place himself at the heal of the
armies allied against Russia, and this I fully believe to
be the case.