The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-23 00:00:00

LONDONDERRY.
" Thanks to the only true GOD.

" ABD-EL-KADEB.
" Mohammed it Deen,
" Dated the Bth, last day of Safar, 1269."

It is essential that every man who has arrived
at the conclusion that a revision of our fiscal sys-
tem is just and necessary, should be up and doing.
Never was there a time when agitation on the
subject was more required, or calculated to pro-
duce more important results. We are threatened
with a Ministry the chief members of which are
not only firmly pledged against any modification
of the present unjust, unequal, and oppressive as-
sessment of the Income and Property Tax, but
have also recorded their deliberate opinions against
any extension of direct taxation save in the event
of war, and, as a necessary consequence, against
the further carrying out of that system of unre-
stricted competition which the Legislature has re-
cently, by an overwhelming majority, pronounced
to be just, salutary, and expedient. It is there-
fore not merely desirable, but imperative, that
those who feel the magnitude of the interests at stake,
and who understand the effects that may follow
an unfortunate decision on this all-important topic,
should speak out plainly and unequivocally, even
while the Ministerial arrangements are still pend-
ing, and while stipulations may be made which
in a few days or weeks may be no longer practic-
able.

. Although we differ, toto ccelo, from Messrs.
GLADSTONE and GOULBURN in their views as to
dealing equally with every description of income,
without looking to the source from whence it may
be obtained, we willingly acknowledge the purity
of the motives by which they are actuated—and
that their opposition to the required modification
is of the most straightforward and conscientious
character. But that renders it even more important
to combat their opinions, and to show the dangers
by which a Cabinet adopting such opinions must be
surrounded. There is no person so dangerous as
an honest but wrong-headed enthusiast, who will
not suffer himself to be influenced by any qUestion
of expediency or public policy, no matter how
urgent, and who cannot give credit to those
who may venture to differ from himself, for
equal integrity and purity of motive ; but
ascribes every argument in which we cannot
coincide to a total absence of principle. Although
we may respect even the errors of such persons,
we should deeply regret any circumstances that
placed the destinies of the nation under their
control and management. We may respect the
consistency with which Colonel SIBTHORP and
some at least of his fifty associates supported the
defunct monster, Protection; but we should not
the less deplore that the construction of a new
Government were placed in their hands, and
should labour as zealously and energetically to
prevent their attaining a position and power that
might enable them to carry out their honest but
mistaken views, and thereby to inflict serious in-
jury on the community.

As we have already stated, the opinions put for-
ward by the Right Hon. Gentlemen the Members
for the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge
are not only opposed to the feelings of the minority
on the late division, but even to a large proportion
41f the mai. ,Lielteninpolhad the resignation
of Lord DERBY'S Cabinet. How could Messrs.
HUME and COBDEN forget the impressive and en-

ergetic arguments which they have so repeatedly
and energetically put forward on this very point ?
The only objection which they expressed to that
portion of the Budget was, that, although rejoicing
at the tardy recognition of the distinction between

permanent and precarious income, they could not
agree to the details, which were not sufficiently
favourable to those in the receipt of fluctuating
profits arising partly, if not altogether, from la-
bour, physical or intellectual, and dependent not

merely on the enjoyment of good hearth, but on a

variety of other casualties too numerous to par-
ticularise. Even if these gentlemen could permit
their opinions on this point t o remain in abeyance,
are there any of the hundred Liberal Representa-

tives, whose opinions they are generally supposed
- -

,o represent, who would concur in such a course

We believe not. We should, indeed, bl
Even
blush for our
public men if such a thing werepossible.
the followers of Lord JOHN RUSSELL were
by no means unanimous on this point. When Sir
CHARLES WOOD endeavoured to repair his gross
financial blunders by an addition to the impost of
fivepence in the pound, he was deserted by so
many of his own party, that he abandoned the
attempt in despair. It was not, however, to the
payment of ls. in the pound that they objected ;
on the contrary, even a larger rate would have
been sanctioned but for the gross and palpable
unfairness of the assessment. Men's feelings re-
volted at the extreme injustice of the system, of
which they had an intuitive perception, which no
refinement or casuistry could impair or set aside.
which must necessarily
That a temporary
inaf
ew annuity,
expire years, should pay so much as a
permanent one of five times the actual value, is
so clearly wrong, that it requires no argument to
maintain
tthtehaatbseuVtiraVainf such
vaiew.
o f the case, case. Those who 4
h:

to his departure for Turkey. Arrangements for
his immediate reception at Broussa had already
been negotiated between the SULTAN and the EM-
PEROR. ABD-EL-KADER was compelled, therefore,
regretfully and respectfully, to decline the invitation.
His letter (penned in Arabic), expressing his regret
at this circumstance, and conveying his acknowledg-
ments to Lord LONDONDERRY, is a document in
every way characteristic. We are fortunately
here enabled to 'hake the epistle public, for the
first time, through our columns—and. doubt not
but that our readers will examine with interest the
subjoined literal translation :

LETTER FROM ABD-EL-KADER TO THE MARQUIS OF

" His Excellency, Lord Marquis of LONDONDERRY,
' the Irish General—Peace be with you! Know that the
Commandant, BOISSONET, has communicated to me your
letter. You are, indeed, a man of a good heart, and it
was you who kindly visited me at Amboise, and it is
quite one of the impossibilities that we should forget
your visit and your bounty : For a Sherif [meaning a
Noble] is he who 'never forgets the good done, and
does not recollect the evil.'

" The Emperor NAPOLEON has set me free : May
GOD prolong his life in the Empire and increase him in
victory. I shall remain obliged to him to the end of my
life, and my children after me will inherit my gratitude
to him.

" I cannot visit you in your country because my de-
parture is at hand, and my mother is old and infirm, and
I cannot leave her.

"May God increase your good, and be gracious to
you : and peace be with you.
"This is from your friend,

With the above peculiarly Oriental missive
closes that interesting incident, which seems for
.a while to have brought the Spirit of the Fast,
or the Shadow of the Desert, or the "Breath of
Araby the Blest, " for a brief interval into
the bosom of Christendom. The heroic wanderer
is at last on his passage to Turkey—freed
from the thraldom of France—seeking repose
in the dominions of the young Sultan, ABDUL-
MEDJID. Peace go with him—for he has not
only fired our imaginations by his valour, but won
our sympathies by his gentleness. The lovers
of the Cross have learnt for once a lesson from a
champion of the Crescent. The Arab has taught
the European. The disciple of Islamism has re-
vealed, in a very touching and persuasive manner,
one of the most exquisite of the virtues inculcated
by Christianity—resignation under misfortune.
His reward has already been assured to him—for
is not ABD-EL-KADER at liberty ? Yes ! He is on
his voyage to Broussa, after his prolonged sojourn
at Amboise. And he carries with him the
recollections of beneficence and magnanimity.
In anticipation he may even now, and with truth,
count upon the sheltering generosity of ABDUL-
MEDJID, while in retrospect he bears in grateful
remembrance the fact that in the hour of sorrow
Lord LONDONDERRY was his Advocate, and NA-
POLEON the THIRD his Deliverer. The EMIR, con-
soled under the weight of captivity by the sym-
pathy of the MARouis, can no more forget that he
is protected by the SULTAN, than he can lose a
remembrance of the day ►hen he was nobly libe-
rated by the EMPEROR.