The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-31 00:00:00

yet rapidly in Committee. By reason of the late is a universal desire to repeal the entire tax.
enactmero:s in reference to Bribery tad Corruption, When Sir CHARLES WOOD attempted to increase the
the number of petitions must obviously be very charge from 2 11-12ths to 5 per cent. the clamour
greatly increased, and the labours of Committeemen was not against the higher cht3rge. but against the
very egregiously multiplied. All these &fficulties unfairness of the apportionment. And we are con-
might readily be prevented by the simple application vinced that if it were rendered really equitable, or as
of the system of the ballot as the securest protection nearly so as practicable, a an
alltoshfive
souroceevas.
even
of the elective franchise—but the ballot has long been ten per cent. would be cheerfully assented to. The
g
virtually tabooed among the ranks of our principal matter isw oertwhiathtrtihael'
ect h
sub
statesman, so that the purity of election can fully gra po j , and brin the disputes
never be rendered probable, much less irresistible. to a satisfactory conclusion, will establish a lasting
Among the many interesting petitions now in course claim on the national gratitude, and, if sound in other
of preparation in reference to these contested elections respects, a prolonged tenure of office for his party.
throughout the United Kingdom, possibly the most
remarkable will he found to be that relating to the
struggle between the candidates for the representation
of Derby. Derby, nevertheless, is very far indeed
from being an isolated instance of the imperative need
of the ballot as the most effectual preventative at once
of bribery, corruption, treating, and intimidation.
The petitions about to be submitted to the
notice of the House of Commons against
these kind of delinquencies are more numerous
in themselves, and at the same time more flagrant in
their revelations, than has ever been known upon any
previous general election. The significance of these
facts we are sanguine may not ultimately be lost
upon the more intelligent of Parliamentary Reformers.
From a knowledge of circumstances so extraordinary
we are hopeful that we shall have reason to an-
nounce the conversion of many to a just and ra-
tional appreciation of the ballot. Without the
ballot we feel assured that it is idle to dream
of securing anything like the purity of
election, or the independence of voters. With
the ballot it is obvious that there could
be no excuse for those disgraceful scenes of rioting
which have led recently, in or two instances, to
t
the destruction ofthe ly)
en-
dangering of the lives of those possessors
and to thesos
rsof
thefran-
chise who have been recognised as the supporters of
an obnoxious candidate. As the watchword for
representative reform, therefore, we would more
loudly and pertinaciously than ever demand again and
again—the Ballot—the Ballot—the Ballot.
Distributing
men-
tioned the 76 Liberal Conservatives
yesterday among the numbers of the Opposition
and the supporters of the Government, the total
number of Liberals will be found to be 370, and the
total number of Derbyites 284—leaving, as we have
shown by the first rough estimate, a clear majority
of 86 against the Administration. The distribution
of the Members thus enumerated as on the side of
the Cabinet, is as follows :
English boroughs ...
English counties .
Welsh boroughs
Welsh counties
Scotch boroughs
Scotch counties
Irish boroughs
Irish counties
Universities

107
110

Total ...
• • ... 84
The distribution of the Members of the Opposition
on the other hand, is as subjoined:—.
English boroughs ... ... •••

English counties
Welsh boroughs

Welsh counties

Scotch boroughs

Scotch countie3

Irish boroughs ... ~,
Irish counties .., ~, ~,

Universities

Total

213
34
11

23
15
25
42

370

This general estimate, however, we have discarded
as inconclusive, and instead of a majority of 86 have
proved a majority of Forty-one to the Opposition
over and above the aggregate on the side of the
DERBY Government.

What is to be done with the income-tax ? That
is a problem which must be solved early in the
approaching session. No fiscal question can be in-
troduced until that all-important one has been
finally disposed of. It is perfectly clear that no
Chancellor of the Exchequer, 'whether Whig or
Tory, Conservative or Radical, Protectionist or
Free-trader, can by a possibility provide for the
liquidation of the public liabilities and the
maintenance of the national establishments, if
the charge be suffered to expire, unless it
be renewed, and that in a permanent form.
No changes or improvements can be effected. There
must be a daficiency, worse even than that which
existed at the time of the original imposition of the
tax. The feeling of the people is decidedly in favour
of direct taxation, and the removal or mitigation of
the charges on industry, pressing chiefly on the less
wealthy classes. No degree of ingenuity or mysti-
fication will induce them to consent to a renewal of a
bread tax, in any *hap or under any name. It will not
be sanctioned either for revenue purposes or for the sake
of protection. It is, to all intents and purposes, finally
and for ever abandoned, and woe to the party who
should attempt its revival ; nor indeed will any indi-
rect tax meet with much greater favour. The people
can no longer be bamboozled by the notion that they
are free from burdens so long as the taxgatherer is
absent from their doors. They have be-
come but too painfully aware of the
fact that the tax ultimately falls on the
consumer, no matter by whom it may be paid in the
first instance—that the malt-tax increases the price
of every pot of beer, not merely by the just propor-
tion of what is paid into the national Exchequer, but
also by the effects of the practical monopoly thereby
created, and the profits of the various parties through
whose bands the article passes, from the time of its
being first wetted, until it is quaffed by the thirsty
coalheaver. The washerwoman or sempstress knows
that the tax on tea does not merely increase the price
of her pound of good strong Congou—" the service-
! able article strongly recommended for family use"—.
by 2s. eid,, but that it leads to the adulteration of
the commodity, and prevents her from obtaining a
really wholesome and refreshing beverage at a reason-
able
price. By means of these imposts consump-
tion is materially checked, and we are prevented
from finding customers for our manufactures bin
consequence. There is but little doubt that if tea
were untaxed the consumption would be four-
fold what it is at the present, and the additional
quantity would be
- '
atd for by our manufactures.
The Select Committee on the tea duties reported that
there was "no limit to the demand in China for
our national productions but the capacity of pay-
ingwi perfectly
for them." The assertion
eo that in place of ouri t
way true,
into
money finding
the pockets of the foreigner it would really go to our
manufacturers, and in payment of the wages of our
artizane and operatives.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
The Illoniteur announces that M. DE CASABIANCA
has tendered his resignatior, which has been ac-
cepted, and that he has been appointed a member of
the Senate.

The Marquis DE TURGOT is also appointed a mem-
ber of the Senate.
The Patric says that the PRESIDENT of the Repub-
lic has granted an annual dotation of 30,000 f. to M.
LEPEBYRE-DURUFLE as a senator.
Two of the journals notice, with the view of dia.
crediting, a pretended treaty, published by the Morn-
ing Chronicle, between the Emperors of Russia
and AUSTRIA and the King of PRUSSIA, and dated
the 20th of May, 1852. The Presse says:—
" We will prove rbat this diplotnaiic document rests
on no solid basis, and tact it witl be sufficient to discuss
to overthrow it."
The language of the Assemblie .Nationale is still
more unequivocal, for it declares,
manner, that no such treaty exists. If the treaty
be an invention, it is useless to discuss its contents.
The Assemblee says : in the most positive
" In the first place we will observe that all the infor-
mation and all the details given by the
engagements f
the three powers were already given in ono or two letters
from Paris, published by the Times, about two months
agn, after the visit of the Emperor of Russia to Germany.
We can now affirm that the treaty, of which the Morning
Chronicle speaks, does not exist.
At about midnight on Wednesday, a fire broke out
in the apartments of the Minister of the Interior,
caused by the imprudence of the femme de chambre
of Mine. DE PERSIGNY, who, after lighting a wax
candle with a chemical match, threw it aside, and set
fire to some of the drapery of the room. The whole
bed-room of Mme. DE PERSIGNY was immediately in
flames, and Mme. DE PERSIGNY had only time to
escape and to rejoin her husband, who was still in his
study. The Minister gave the necessary orders,
and assistance was immediately on the spot.
The Minister of General Police, whose hotel
adjoins that of the Minister of the Inte-
rior, seeing the flames, speedily arrived, and seconded
the exertions of his colleague. Tee fire threatened
to extend to the other part of the hotel, but by the
exertions of the firemen and soldiers, who promptly
n
rendered assistance, it was confined to the room
which it first broke out and the adjoining salon, in
which a considerable portion of the furniture was
destroyed.
Prince JEROME BONAPARTE returned to Havre on
Wednesday accompanied by his aides-de-camp.
According to the Patric the following decrees are
contemplated :
" 1. For the recognition as an establishment of public
utility in the whole of the French territory of the
' Congregation des Freres de l'lnstruction Cht edenne
da Saint Esprit, and the approbation of its statutes. 2.
For authorising the creation of a depot of mendicity for
the Gere. 3. For making a concession of land at Mare
unique and Guadeloupe for founding an agricultural
colony by means of immigration. 4. For modifying arti-
cles 3, 19, and 35 of the statutes of the Assurance Com-
Pithy against damage by bail-storms, particularly in the
Seine-et-Marne. 5. For modifying the statutes of the
Mutual Fire Insurance Company for the departments of
the Calvados, the Orne, and the Manche. 6. For modi-
fyingupraarntsce excepted).Company 7,
theseainrteic.elet.sooifsea
and
dmitlhare for
For authorising the establishment of a savings bank at
Bergues (Nord). 8. For renewing the Chambers of
Commerce, and Consultative Chambers of Arts and
Fire Insurance
8(
Manufactures; and 9. For recognising the Horticultural
Society of Paris and centre of France, as an establish-
ment of public utility. It is also in contemplation to
make considerable modifications in the charges of the
?owes Funebres of Paris."
The following circular, dated Macon, July 23,
has been addressed by the Prefect of the Saone et
Loire to the sub-Prefects, Mayors, &c., of the depart-
ment :
" Gentlemen,—l have had to adopt severe measures
against a great number of the proprietors of cafes and
wine shops after the events of December; that was but
justice, for their establishments had sere ,d as places of
meeting for demagogues, who threatened to overthrow
society, without their opposing such meetings or inform-
ing the authorities of them. Since that tun., wishing to
unite in the acts of clemency of the Prince President,
I have authorised the re-openire• of all those establish-
ments, the proprietors of which have testified their re-
pentance, and promised me not to tolerate any meetings
of the enemies of the Government. I am pleased to
hope that they will keep their promises. If it should be
otherwise, and if particularly on the occasion of the next
elections their establishments should become the theatre
of fresh disturbances or the focus of electoral intrigues
and socialist propaganda, I shall not hesitate to pro-
nounce their definite and irrevocable closing. I beg you,
gentlemen, to give to the persons who have been the
objects of these measures of severity the necessary
warning to that effect. It is better to prevent than to
have to repress. You will please make known to me the
result of the investigations which you may have made
in accordance with the object of the present circular.
" Receive, &c,
(Signed) " GUSTAVE DE ItOMAND."
A funeral service was performed on Thursday
morning in the church of St. Paul, Rue St. Antoine,
in memory of the victims of July, 1830. After the
ceremony, some few groups proceeded to the Column
of the Bastille, and then quietly dispersed.
A new circus, destined for equestrian perform-
ances during the winter is being constructs-d on the
Boulevard des Filles du Calvaire. The soil has been
raised so as to place the entrance on a level with the
Boulevards. The circus is in the form of a polygon,
and is so much larger than the summer circus, that
it will admit of twenty rows of seats instead of six-
teen, and will accommodate 1,000 spectators more.
The building is already considerably advanced. The
entrance is to be ornamented by equestrian groups,
one of which was executed by the late PRADIER, and
the other is now being made by MM. DURIOT and
Bosco. The interior is to be tastefully decorated,
but it will not present the same aspect as the summer
circus, as it will be almost in the form of an ancient
amphitheatre. There will be no columns in the in-
terior to support the vast roof.

knows
that drove The CHANCELLOR of th R ,
8 —ZCHtor,ob
apathy, no less than that it was the
blunders, of his predecessor thth an the
judgment, anxious to a 1n
--
from office. Had that predecessor beene the
of ability and
render
the evils of our financial system, and to
more equitable than it had been, Mr. Disrtaxia wouldrit
still have been Leader of the Opposition in the House
of Coirinlen9. No Minister can remain stationary,
there must be progress, and that more especially in
fiscal matters. Various circumstances led to the
Postponement of the discussion, and the temporary
renewal of the tax without alteration or amendment.
No excuse can, however, again be accepted. Itmust be
settled in some shape before the sth of April next, and
we b ye the authority of the leading men of both
inclut ling some of her MAJESTY'S Ministers, that it
cann c t be perpetuated in its present objectionable
form —that it must be rendered more equitable be
fore it can be renewed.

W 'e have no doubt that an equitable adjust-
ment ; of the system his hitherto been retarded by
those who desired at the same time to get rid of
ever f direct tar, and to drive the country back to
dutit ;a on food for the supposed sae of revenge.
Thai
,r object was to render the impost Es unpopular
as Pt ible, to disgust the community, so that there
ahou !cl :,be a general demand for its repeal,
whit they themselves would otherwise scarcely
venti re to suggest. The effort has, however, failed.
The eople are sufficiently acute to discriminate be.
twee u the use and the abuse of the system, to detect the
fallac y of saying that because there is an objection to
placit c• the precarious earnings of industry on the
same S boting with the dividends on the public funds,
or the yenta of well-circumstanced real estates, there

The Bourse was very firm, and much business trans-
acted. The Four-and-a-Half per Cents. opened and
closed at 1031. 95c., for the end of the month; the
Three per Cents. closed at 74f. 5c.; Orleans Railway
Shares, 1,4221. 50e.; Rouen, 9301. ; Havre. 3721. 50c.•
Great :Northern, 6651. ; Avignon, 480 f.; Basle, 298 f:
75c.; Paris and Strasurg, 657 f. 50c. ; Paris and
Lyons, 758 f. 75c.; Great Western, 627 f. 50c. ; Lyons
and Avignon, 610 f. ; Sr. Dizier and Gray, 5601.; the
New Austrian Loan, 95i.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, JULY 30.
Dijon and Basancon, 3—Grand Junction of France, 5%—
Luxembourg, 63/B—Ditto Railway, 4 y2—Northern of France,
261 A—Ditto, 201 3 per cent. Bonds, 13%a—Paris and Lyons,
204—Paris and Strasbourg, 26—Rouen and Havre, 14%—
Sambre and Meuse, 7—West Flanders, 4.