The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-16 00:00:00

DAILY WEATHER TABLE.

THRSDE C. 16, 1.
State of the wind and weather at each oDf
the folloBs2wing
places at nine o'clock yesterday morning. The stations
are arranged in order of latitude.
HASTINGS—S.W., strong breeze—scud.
SOUTHAMPTON—W., strong breeze—rain.
VoLRRRToitR—S.W., strong breeze—overcast.
TUNBRIDGE—S.W., gentle breeze—scud—rain.
BASINGSTOKE—N.E., gentle breeze—overcast.
GREENWICH—S., strong breeze—rain.
STRooD—S.W., gentle breeze—rain.
SWINDON—S. strong breeze--partially cloudy.
LEIGHToN—g.W_,_. strong breeze—overcast.
COLCHESTER—S.W., strong breeze—fine.
YARMOCTR— S.W., strong breeze—heavy rain.
The returns from the following places indicate the state
of the weather on Saturday morning at nine o'clock
LINERICK—S.W., gentle breeze—foggy.
MULLINGAR— S., calm—rain.
SOUTHAMPTON—S.W., strong breeze—partially cloudy.
FOLIC 7STONE—S. W., gentle breeze—overcast.
TUNBRIDGE—S.E.' gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
BASINGSTOKE—N.W., gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
GREENWICH—S., gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
STRooD—W., gentle breeze—cloudy.
SWINDON--S. strong breeze—cloudy.
LE/GHTON—S.W., gentle breeze—overcast.
COLCHESTER—S., gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
CAMBRIDGE—S., gentle breeze—cloudless.
YARMOUTH—S.W., calm—partially cloudy.
LANCASTER—S., gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
Wnrrnv—S.W., gentle breeze—overcast.
DARLINGTON—S. by E., gentle breeze—overcast and
foggy.
Srlitx--S., calm—overcast.

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LONDON, THURSDAY, DECFME ER 16, 1852,

We yesterday pointed out the uncert linty
tespecting the issue now pending before the popu-
lar branch of the Legislature. None can deny
the vast importance of the subject. It is not
merely that the fate of the Ministry may depend
on the result—that by the vote of this evening
Her Majesty's Government may be converted into
Iter Majesty's Opposition--that " the ins" may
become " outs," and the " outs" " ins." There is
something of far greater consequence at stake.
The great cause of fiscal reform mainly hangs
upon the decision. Not that its progress can be
altogether arrested, but it may be seriously
and most injuriously retarded. And yet we ven-
ture to assert, that many Honourable Gentlemen
ro are to pronounce judgment on a matter so
s"Ply interesting, are still ignorant as to the
,4.:- p xact question on which they are to deliver their
rveercliet and that if six different persons were
I,lslllftted to •
...cruse, 11 explain the real point before the
opinion. °
~,two would altogether agree in
QUER lira, The CHANCELLOR of 'the
''''' ETCHE-
ealled, no less than four times on
Tuesday eve
the explanatiolasning. ; and yet, notwithstanding
Gentleman to thetetu bY the Right Honourable
Evans, Sir J
Qxixerrnegatories of, Sir DE LACY
Azacts
and Sir CHARLES WOOD,AtZ' Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
unsolved--the doubt
atm e problem still remains
One will tell
you that it is a question of eclisontfiscie
Rs s motion,
'fidence—the real point of Mr. vlttni:e 0, r no eon-
, which would have decided thereon,
but for the
intervention of Lord PALMERSTON. And, that it was desirable to, expel the minority from
officeaswithout hearing the propositions about to be
mob'
f witted, and to bring in the Whigs, unpledged to
any course,—so it is expedient now to nip the
financial scheme in the bud, and, under the pre-
tence of voting against an increased House Tax,
to prevent the recognition of the great distinction
te_ tween fixed and fluctuating. receipts, between
t. emporary and permanent revenue--in other words,
between property and income. Another, with
equal plausibility, will declare that the point for
consideration is " the Budget--the whole Budget
—and nothing
but the Budget," and that unless he
is prepared to votepotrioti:leofp.rtojtect as. " a whole,"
--if there is any
able to yield a willing "„nt__l which he is un-
to divide in the sitinie lobby with
:will be his duty
the Opposition.

ferred to—none of the dangers attendant upon the
navigation round by the Nore and up the river
Thames would have been necessitated, and thereby
the country would have been spared a very needless
and very considerable expenditure. That the
perils of that navigation are really remarkable, we
know, surely, by this time from a rather mournful
experience. Indeed, it has recently been shown,
from the incontestible evidence of one of the most
intelligent of the underwriters at LLOYDS, that
simply between 1837 and 1843, merely between
the Isle of Wight and London-499 vessels
lost their cables and anchors, were run foul
of, were partially dismasted by bad weather, or
were otherwise very seriously damaged. The same
authority asserts, moreover, that in the same inter-
val of seven years, between the same points, merely
between the Isle of Wight and London-560 vessels
(although they were got off afterwards) ran aground
—260 vessels were totally wrecked or foundered,
the crew and passengers being preserved-56
vessels were utterly lost, together with the whole
or part of their crews and passengers. An aggre-
gate of 1,375 is thereby. indicated as the total
number of casualties--during only seven years,
'lamely, from 1837 to 1843—within the com-
paratively short distance lying between the Isle
of Wight and the metropolis I According to the
document from which these particulars are ex-
tracted, it would appear, likewise, that, besides a
terrible loss of life, property to the value of from
400,0001. to 500,0001. were in a similar manner
sacrificed during a period of merely eighteen
months, dating from the January of 1849 to the
June of 1850, between London and Dungeness .!
While it has actually been asserted that within
the earlier half of 1850, no less than eight vessels
were lost between the capital and Southampton,
with every soul on board, numbering some 500
in all, whose lives were thus miserably sacrificed !
All this, remember, from the absence of any ade-
quate docks on the southern line of coast, pre-
venting the necessity of this wholesale resorting
to the Channel and the Thames navigation.
Everybody who has at all reflected upon the mat-
ter, understands now clearly enough the exist-
ence of this necessity, its astonishing importance,
and the truth, that, by its effectual removal, we
should, no matter what might be the expenditure
in the outset, be ultimately and very wonderfully
economising in time, in life, and in money—the
three great " raw materials " in the carrying on
the mercantile undertakings of the British
Empire, and, sooth to say, in the very develop-
ment of the grand labours of modern civilisation.
Satisfied upon this point, we were, of course,
compelled, as a sagacious community, to consider
well beforehand the best locality or site for the
carrying out of the projected enterprise. Which
should be the southern port of the United Kingdom?
Reflection has only confirmed the wiser promoters
of the achievement in the opinion, that of all places
along that part of our coasts the best, the fittest,
the most convenient in position, and the most
admirable in capacity, is the harbour of Lang-
stone. From one extremity to the other of
these coasts, from the Nore to the Land's End,
no more suitable spot—no spot, in truth, more
exactly fitted for the project—could by any possi-
bility whatever have been selected. Langstone,
remember, is, as we have already observed, in
immediate proximity with the vast naval depot of
Portsmouth ! Its anchorage is admirable, its
basin is of noble dimensions, its entrance—de-
fended by Cumberland Fort on the western side
or the side nearest Portsmouth, and by a Martello
Tower on the eastern side, namely on Haying
Island—presenting a marvellous protection against
the forces of an enemy, -together with an equally
estimable facility for the passage in and out of our
own vessels, no matter what their burthen. Be-
sides all these advantages--sufficient of themselves
to command a favourable regard to the originators
of the intended achievement—Langstone is distant
only sixty-six miles from the metropolis. For all
practical purposes, therefore, in mercantile enter-
prise, it may be regarded as virtually in as close
contiguity to the capital as even Blackwall. It is
distant, we repeat, from our metropolitan docks
merely sixty-six miles, and those sixty-six miles
capable of being abbreviated by railway, so as to
admit of the most rapid • intercommunication.
Langstone has, in fact, been very happily called--
and will absolutely constitute, in truth, when
once completed—the out-port of London !We say
nothing here of the increased security to the scheme
of the National Defences consequent upon the
adoption of this magnificent project of a new Har-
bour, new Docks, and a new Railway at Lang-
stone. That we conceive must be sufficiently ma-
nifest from the circumstance of its affording shelter
to our merchant traffic in the Channel at a spot in
immediate proximity to Spithead, and in the closest
contiguity to the great naval depot at Portsmouth.
Neither do we say anything at present as to the
prospects of the growth of the new seaport—re-
membering, as the public cannot fail to do, the
suggestive facts bearing upon this point recorded
in the history of the rise of Liverpool. It cannot
be forgotten, for example, that though the Wet
Docks at Liverpool, which were the first ever con-
structed in the United Kingdom, were projected
as recently as 1708—the dock dues at that
port, which at the beginning of the last century
were only 8001., had risen in 1756 to 2,200/.,
that in 1801 they had increased to 28,0001., and
that in 1850 they were actually 230,000/. Bear-
ing these encouraging particulars in mind, it is
gratifying to learn that the most active measures
are already being taken to carry out the projected
scheme of the docks in the harbour of Lang-
stone. As far back as 1823, an Act of Par-
liament was obtained to authorise the build-
ing of additional docks at that place, on
the west side of Hayling-bridge. It now is intend-
ed that that long-dormant undertaking shall
be realised, and that besides considerably deepen-
ing and enlarging the entrance to the harbour,
the promoters of the enterprise shall connect these
additional docks with the South-Coast Railway by
a tramway—this tramway meeting the railway,
somewhere about the Havant Station. For the im-
provement of the mouth of the harbour the sanction
of the Lords of the Admiralty has been obtained,
and for the other alterations there has lately been
secured another Act of Parliament : so that the
enterprise may be considered as, indeed, already
in the process of realisation.
Langstone, we repeat, when the new docks are
finished, must be regarded as literally the out-port
of London. It has been observed that the two

A third will regard it as simply affecting the
change in the House Duties, so far as relates alike
to the increase in the rate to be levied, and the
decrease of the existing exemptions. A fourth
will consider it merely so far as it relates i o the
increased area of taxation. A fifth, as to the
whole fiscal question, and the propriety of the
gradual and judicious substitution of direct for
indirect taxation ;—and the sixth, merely as
giving permission to consider the different propo-
sitions in detail, withdut being pledged in any
respect to vote for any portion of the plan of
which he might ultimately disapprove. All these
various opinions may in some degree be justified
by the vague and uncertain character of the reso-
lution on which the division will be taken. It
is, therefore, exceedingly desirable that befOre the
issue be finally decided, and the verdict deli-
vered, some mediator may interpose between
the contending parties—that a second PALMERSTON
may arise to reconcile these differences, and to
produce a distinct understanding as to the exact
point in dispute—to ascertain how far the House
may be committed by passing the resolution—
what it will have pledged itself to pass, or what
may be the effect of a direct negative.
The resolution taken by itself means nothing,
and pledges to nothing. Here are the very
words•—" That from and after the sth day of
April, 1853, the duties granted and made payable
by the Act 14 and 15 VICT., c. 36, upon inha-
bited dwelling-houses in Great Britain, according
to the annual value thereof, shall cease and de-
termine, and in lieu thereof there shall be granted
and made payable upon all such dwelling-houses,"
certain other duties. These are, as we yester-
day explained, as consistent with the diminution
as the increase of the impost. Nor is there a
single expression bearing on the " extended
area of taxation." • Those matters come sub-
sequently, and are, of course, open to the
modifications alluded to by Mr. DISRAELI
in his latest explanations. The Right Honourable
Gentleman frankly declared, that "it was the in-
tention of the Government to propose an extension
of the area and an increase of the House Tax ;"
but he also announced that "he considered him-
self and the House open to any modification of
the present proposition." Having also previously
stated, that "he did not ask any gentleman
on either side of the House, by voting on the
occasion, to come to any direct vote, in favour of
the repeal of the Tea Duties, or the Hop Duties,
or the Malt Duty, or of any detail of the Income
Tax, or even of the mere details of the vote on
which they were to ,come to an issue." Under
such circumstances, then, we cannot conceive any
reasonable objection to the affirmance of the reso-
lution. No person will be thereby pledged to
vote for the reduction of the Malt Duty ! If that
be so—and surely, after the above declaration, no
possible doubt can exist on the point—there may
be no necessity for the increase of the House Tax
—the chief, if not the only objectionable point
supposed to be involved in the proposition. If
the 1,000,000/. sterling to be paid on the 10th
of October, and the permanent loss of 2,500,0001.
to the revenue be avoided, there can be no neces-
sity for the additional charge; indeed, a reduction,
rather than an increase, may be sanctioned, or it
may please the House, in lien thereof, to give up
the duties on the 233 manufactured articles
referred to by Mr. HuME, which produce only
434,0001. to the revenue. The sound financial
views of the veteran Member for Montrose might
then be carried into practical operation. That
faithful and consistent reformer declared that
there shoul.d be no exemption of real property,
however small the amount. We cordially concur
in the recommendation; and, therefore, if there is
to be a House Tax at all, we m ould not only ex-
tend it to 101. houses, but even to the meanest
and cheapest habitation, for as we have shown, it
is particularly a tax on the owner, and not on the
occupier ; and its effect is to produce an inferior
class of dwellings, that are a disgrace to the nation.
The House Tax cannot long be maintained, inas-
much as it is an impost on one kind of real pro-
perty, from which a thousand more eligible de-
scriptions are totally exempted. Tf the principle
of direct taxation is to be carried further—as we
hope and believe it maybe—if industry is to be freed
from the burdens and restrictions by which it is
clogged and impeded—it can only be by a fair and le-
ti mate extension of the Property Tax. The increase
of rates, in schedules A and C from 7d. to Is. in
the pound, combined with the abolition of all
exemptions under these heads, would yield more
than 3,230,000/. That would allow not only the
total abolition of the House Duties, now yielding
700,000/. per annum, but also of the Land. Tax,
producing 1,152,0001., and leave a larger surplus
at the disposal of the Right Honourable Gentle-
man than he would obtain by the proposed altera-

tion of the House Duties. There would then be
but one description of direct tax, when every
man would be charged according to his means.
Considerable relief-would be afforded to agricul-
turists, as well as to householders. In 25 counties
the Land Tax averages more than is. in the
pound. In Buckinghamshire, Mr. DISRAELI'S own
county, it amounts to is. sd. His constituents,
then, would save is. 2d. in the pound, or nearly
6 per cent. on the value of their holdings by the
alteration—while householders would save is. ld.,
or nearly 5i per cent. on the value of their dwell-
ings. This course would be alike just and politic—
equitable and expedient. It would afford relief
where relief was required, and place the burden
where it could be most easily sustained. But the
rate of the Property Tax may be altered, and
these vast benefits secured for the people if the
effort be not obviated by a hostile vote in limine.
We certainly cannot conceive how fiscal Reformers
can jom in such a vote ; how Mr. HUME, for
instance, whose opinions on fiscal subjects accord
most closely to our own, should negative the pro-
position which only binds him, if it binds to any
thing, to this—" That the area of direct taxa-
tion should be extended." Let this point, then,
be distinctly understood, and time afforded for
all classes of the people to give full expression to
their feelings on the most interesting subject that
can be brought underthe Legislative consideration. ,

places are only distant from each other only sixty-
six miles, and that these sixty-six miles may be
abbreviated by railway so as to command the most
rapid intercommunication. Sixty-six miles con-
stitute the actual distance from London to Lang-
stone, but thirty-two miles alone will require the
construction of a railroad---for a Branch of the
South-Western Railway, it must be remembered,
is already completed as far as Godalming. So
that all now needed in this direction is the con-
tinuation of that branch line from Godalming to
Langstone. With admirable ' promptitude the

Portsmouth Railway Company have already an.

nounced their determination to undertake the con.

struction of this new railroad at a cost of 400,0001

A single line is spoken of in their Prospectus as in
contemplation—but, for our own part, we can-

not but be most sanguine that a double line wil

ultimately be laid down to Havant—so strongly

are we impressed with the grandeur of this noble

scheme of an out-port to London on the south•

coast of England, in that hitherto neglected har-
bour of Langstone, which must ultimately prove

the Golden Horn to the Hellespont of the British
_. _

Channel.

After all the debateA we have had on Free
Trade, there seems to be some misunderstanding
in the minds of Hon. Members as to what it
really is. We know not whether the perplexity
is shared by any of our readers; it certainly ought
not to be. In the House, two applications of the
phrase have flitted before the minds of the speak-
ers, and either invalidated or obscured their argu-
ments. A trade cannot be called free which is
obstructed and lessened in amount by Custom-

house and Excise duties and interfe;ences, nor
can a trade be called free which is limited by
protective duties, on behalf of some particular
persons. In the former sense, the trade in Malt,
and still more in Paper, Tea, or Tobacco, is not

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBEW 16,

free ; but for high duties on pernicious Excise
regulations necessary to the collection of the duty,
the trade in these articles would be much greater,
in the three latter ones, probably, doubled or
trebled ; these duties are, however, in no way like
the latter ones, of which the late Corn Laws and
the present duties on butter, cheese, silks, and
gloves, are familiar examples. In the former
case, no duty is levied in favour of any particular
class of traders ; in the latter, the duty is levied in
favour of English producers. Custom-house and
Excise Duties are by no means opposed to Free
Trade in the latter sense, since they give no
special advantage to any class of traders ; they
are imposed for revenue merely, and leave the
trade and the market equally free to all. Now,
of course, it is only with the latter, i. e., with the
differential, protective, or monopoly duties, that
the great principle of Free Trade has any contest.
Direct and indirect taxation, for instance, must
settle their relative merits, on grounds quite
distinct from Free Trade. It is, theoretically,
quite possible, that to raise all our taxes directly,
might eventually repress our trade more than all
our present fiscal duties. Were this the case,
freedom from the Excise and Customs would
only become bondage in another form ; but
with neither of these considerations has Free
Trade anything whatever to do. It means nothing
more than that all producers, all buyers, and sel-
lers, shall stand on equal footing so far as Govern-
ment interference is concerned. This simple con-
sideration shows how nugatory is much of the
declamation on either side about Free Trade in
regard to the present Budget. The repeal of half
since all pay the duty equally.
or the
Tradewh at
oleoafilt,he Malt Tax is no question of
Free
No class of maltsters are favoured at the expense
of others. Neither is the repeal of the Tea Duty
a Free-trade proposition ; were we receiving teas
from China, and teas from one of our dominions
in India, at different rates of duty, then equalisa-
tion would be a Free-trade measure. Again,
what means all the rhodomontade about the ex-
tension of the House Duty and of the Income Tax,
as carrying out Free-trade principles? They have
nothing whatever, properly speaking, to do with
them. They belong entirely to the question of
the best mode of raising a certain amount of
national income.' They may or may not "relieve
the springs of industry," if the amount raised be
wisely applied. But what have they to do with
enabling all persons to traffic on equal conditions
in the same article ? and this alone is Free Trade.
If, then, we are asked whether we consider Mr.
DISRAELI'S Budget as a Free-trade -one, without
at present canvassing its other merits or demerits,
we think it is bid an abuse of language to call it
so. It is so only negatively. It imposes no fur-'
ther monopoly duties, but it also takes off none.
Four articles, two agricultural, two manufac-
turing, we have just adverted to on which pro-
tective duties still remain. Surely a real Free-
trade Budget would have commenced by using
a small portion of its surplus in sweeping these
completely away. One penny per lb. on our
butter, half that amount on our cheese, we yet
pay to the manes of agricultural monopoly. As
to the protective duty on manufactured silks, the
Manchester men themselves have formally peti-
tioned for its removal. Here, then, was fair scope
for a Free-trade CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
to have displayed his Free-trade zeal. The mo-
dification of the income Tax again, in our view
the redeeming excellence of the Budget, has
nothing whatever to do with protective duties. It
is an imperfect commencement of a right princi-
ple, and Mr. GLADSTONE and Lord JOHN may rest
assured that they will never be in office again, un-
less prepared to act on the great principle, that to
tax differently property and trade incomes is
" wise, just, and beneficial." No. The new
Budget may have a thousand excellencies—it may
be very refreshing to us after Sir CHARLES
WOOD'S stagnancy, to have something worth ar-
guing about—but it has no unequivocal mark of
Free Trade upon it. It does not touch one of the
remaining protective duties.
Looking candidly at the whole affair, its expla-
nation is very obvious. Mr. DISRAELI was pledged
by all " his antecedents" to do something for the
poor farmers. He was heartily willing to remove the
special burthens on land : he searched for them,
but, alas !he found none. Their great burden,
their Landlords' rent and the Clergyman's tithe,
neither he nor any other statesman could righte-
ously touch. Poor rates, highway rates, county
rates,--no, there was nothing special then
—nothing which we townsfolk do not pay
more of than the farmer. What, then,
was he to do? The Malt Tax was the only
one which even seemed to press on the farmer.
Yet, here, again he was in difficulty. If he re-
pealed it all, where could he look for five millions
and more of revenue ? If he repealed a part only,
it would cheapen beer but a penny per gallon; the
consumer, therefore, wbuld not get the benefit ;
hence the consumption would not increase, and
therefore no stimulus would be given to the growth
of barley. A poor project this, therefore, to throw
down for discussion, before a pugnacious House of
Commons ! Never mind. Something must be
done to keep up appearances; landlords would be
sure to support him, for should it do any good, it
would tell on their rents at the next renewal of
their leases. He must hazard it.
But, how, then adjust the debtor and creditor
balance-sheet of estimates. Nothing
but to extend the direct taxation of the
rs iedme sa ofne
dh i
bs
country. If, now, he had raised and extended
the Income Tax, he could, of course, have met that
difficulty. Had he retained the present rate on
trades and professions, and trebled it on
real property, that would have done it.
It would, certainly, have fully made up
the deficiency if he had extended it as
widely as he now proposes to do. Or had
he, what would have been still better, sub-
jected real property to legacy and probate duties,
had he thus made the landlords pay for the re-
mission of a tax the benefit of which, if any,
way he could have spared his two millions and a
half easily ;but he
knew the landlords would not
that, instead of raising the Income Tax on incomes
from real in
reealfaiaprrtefaepxw years be wholly theirs ;—either
property, of themselves. Hence it is,
he lowers it a little on trades
and professions,
At
the un-
equal preference in the mode of assessing their
incomes.
same time he perpetrates his
greatest blunder
unopdeerr,
giving the farmers a most
of all—that of raising the tax
as we showed in our last, to
21n per house
cent., and leaving the land still at only
3ophots
erLeci cent. (a low land tax excepted.) It will
it, impossible to maintain such a gross injustice
be impossible to carry, or if he contrive to carry
as this. We believe he was by no means fully
aware of its extreme injustice at first. He meant
doubtless to get half the repealed Malt Tax out
of the towns, but ho could not have noticed the

Sundays, at least, during one day out of every
seven, the odious vice of drunkenness. An ad-

mirable chairman he made, too, upon the occasion
—although, unluckily, he had to deal with a some-
what unruly. audience, one or two members of
which were manifestly, to a great extent, very
sadly in want of a feeling of temperance ! If for
nothing else, the assemblage here referred to, would
have been most no teable, from the circumstance of its
giving birth to the announcement of the fact, that the
Crystal Palace Company have wisely and benevo-
lently resolved not to permit the sale of intoxicat-
ing liquids in the New Palace now in course of
erection at Sydenham—that in fact, their so doing
is rendered " for ever" a positive condition of
their existence, in the Charter granted by the
Government. But the meeting was interesting
not on this account—it was interesting from the
very able conduct of GEORGE ORUIKSHANK in
the chair, and likewise from the really masterly
speech delivered by a very gifted man—whose
abilities, we think, have never been adequately
appreciated by his contemporaries,---we mean the
veteran SILK BUCKINGHAM.

DERBY ELECTION COMMITTEE- (THIS DA Y

The committee assembled this day at half-past eleven
o'clock for the purpose of going over the evidence laid be-
for() them relative to the allegations in the petition impugn-
ing the part taken by the Right Hon. Mr. Beresford, and
drawing up their report for presentation to the House of
Commons.

Several persons interested in the matter at issue pre-
sented themselves ; but so strict were the orders given by
the chairman, the Right Hon. Mr. Goulburn, that the deli-
berations of the committee should not be allowed to tran-
spire, that not even counsel agents, or even members of
the House of Commons not specially engaged in the inquiry,
were allowed to enter the room, or communicate with any
member of the committe, either personally or byletter, sub-
sequent to the committee having taken its seat.
The door was strictly guarded by two special officers of
the house, who peremptorily refused to convey any mes-
sages to the members on any pretence whatever.
From sounds which now and then reached the ears of
persons standing in the corridor, it was evident that a
spirited debate was going on amongst the members of the
committee. The contention was loud and apparently
animated, which naturally gave rise to many conjectures
amongst those who were awaiting with anxiety the result
of the deliberation.

It is not expected that the committee will have agreed
to a report sufficiently early to enable them to present it
to the house before to-morrow evening.

extravagantly disproportionate rate at which
he was taxing houses as compared with land.
If he persist, it will be at
Manchester, as well as London, however, has
given him warning.
the peril of another contest, in which he will be
beaten as certainly
as he was on the Corn Laws.
In the battle of town against country, the odds are
now on the side of the towns. In no case, at
least,
householders
c
in Which the towns have right on their side,
they be resisted for long. The ten-pound
will certainly remember the farmers
friends at another election, if they show their
friendship to farmers by hostility to the towns-
folk. The old Leaguers are not men to sit down
under the reproach amongst their fellow-citizens
of such a stigma on the termination of their long
conflict. They are not a little mortified that their
great measure was not affirmed to be "wise, just,

and beneficial;' and they will certainly find, in the
doubled and extended House Tax, an easy means

for taking ample revenge.

CRUIKSHA.NIC—merry, wise, generous, brave-
hearted GEORGE CRUIKSHANK—is "at it again"
(indefatigable wight as he is) "up in arms" to do
battle with one of the giant abuses of our genera-
tion. As Chairman of a very considerable meet-
ing, held last night in Exeter Hall, he enforced
by a variety of cogent arguments, as well as by a
variety of humane—but somb)of them we cannot
but think rather impracticable_suggestions, the
necessity of " putting down" at least, upon all