The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES,—Now that Mr. Gladstone has retired from
his crusade against the charities, we hope he will
reconsider his declaration of war against the clubs,
which in the natural course of things should come
under discussion to-night. It he insist upon it, he
may perhaps succeed. There are, however, many
things which a man in a certain position may do,
but which most men prefer not to do. Mr. Glad-
stone's achievement of assimilating clubs and public▪ -
houses is eminently one of these. He can do it, per-
haps, bat only because he is Chancellor of the
Exchequer. There are many other minor follies
which he might also safely permit himself for the
same reason. People will not refuse the Supplies,
or damage a Government upon the vital point of
their finance, for so small a matter as this. Mr.
Gladstone is safe in the company of his friends, and
he will get a certain amount of applause in a certai▪ n
quarter. People who have not much chance of ever
getting into a club enjoy the fun in the good-
humoured way in which an English crowd enjoys
a good joke played off upon their betters. Its very
absurdity makes the joke pungent. Its curiousin-
justice makes it facetious; for there is a point at
which a minor act of injustice does become facetious
in proportion to the palpable nature of the injustice.
The people know that the clubs are stately, orderly
places, where folk are very careful whom they asso-
ciate with, and where bishops and judges may any
day be seen silently exercising their moral police
influence over the respectability of the institution.
There is a mysterious magnificence about these
palaces which the people do not envy, for there is
too much constraint about them to suit their tastes.
But that a Chancellor of the Exchequer should fix
upon these places a " license," which license is the
badge and tribute of a monopoly supposed to be
necessary to keep liquor shops from becoming dis-
orderly houses, is such a slap in the face, and
such an unprovoked slap in the face, that
the clubless cannot choose but laugh. They
laugh for the same reason that they laugh at
the clown in the pantomime when he turns round
and rubs his hot poker against the wrong man.
The public, however, does not laugh. If by
any reasonable tax upon clubs Mr. Gladstone could
have given relief to other taxpayers ; if he could
have taken a penny a pound off tea or off sugar, or
if he could have abated a fraction from the Income-
tax, we might have seen in the importance of the
object a reason for disregarding the means. We
might still have regretted that Mr. Gladstone had
not the art of doing a necessarily disagreeable thing
in an agreeable manner, and might, perhaps, have
pointed out that a poll-tax upon gentlemen would
be, at any rate, a less insulting tax than to assimi-
late their clubs with gin palaces, and make them
take out licences. But if the Exchequer were to
get a good round sum out of the transaction we
should have said, " He does not mean it as an insult
—he wants the money." But, as it is, he will get no
money that will pay for collecting. It would not
pay a half year's salary to P retired Lord Chancel-
lor. It would not retrieve the smallest blunder in
calculating when to buy or sell Exchequer-bills. It
is too small even for Mr. Gladstone to estimate it
singly. It is but a speck of dust in the balance of
his yearly Budget—a little bit of dust, moreover,
which is but an impertinence in a scale already so
heavy with a surplus of near a million. It cannot,
therefore, be for the sake of the money that the
Chancellor of the Excht (per has chosen to exhibit
club palaces and gin palaces before the country as
having a common character and necessitating a simi-
lar license. Neither can it be a matter of principle.
However false the notion that wherever wine or
beer is served out, there the Excise has a right to
exact the price of a monopoly--which is licence
money—yet we could understand such an idea if it
were consistently carried out. That to " servo out"
beer requires a licence is a proposition that might
be almost dignified into a principle. Mr. Glad-
stone might, under the protection of such a prin-
ciple, expatiate upon the injustice of taking licence
money from publichouses for " serving out" beer,
and omitting to take it from clubs. But he by no
means adheres to his " principle." It is only a
club held in a house of £lOO a year which is in the
same category as a publichouse ; a club in a
house of £9O a year is in a different category,
and is exempt from the necessity of a licence. By
his very exception Mr. Gladstone deprives himself
of all pretence for saying that this tax is defensible
upon the ground on which he put it the other
night. If to " serve out" beer and wine and spirits
. so perilous a thing that the law has a right to
preside over every such transaction, and to surround
it with police regulations and restrict it by licences,
then public-houses and Clubs are undoubtedly
within the purview of the necessity, and the lower
the rent the more reasonable the fear of disorder.
But under this " principle," so also are boarding-
houses and private dinner parties, and even large
families, servers out of beer, and therefore liable.
In all these cases the obnoxious liquids are

" served out." If to sell for profit ha the distinc-
tion, as every reasonable man must see it ought to
be, then the gin palace stands alone, and the Club
and `the private dinner party and the family go
free. There is no "principle" upon which Mr.
Gladstone can put this tax which will not go very
much further than he is now prepared to go, or
than the English public will ever permit a Chan
cellor of the Exchequer to go. The principle of
English taxation, so far as we understand it, is to
get as much money as possible at the smallest pos-
sible interference with individual liberty of action.
The only principle discernible in this new crotchet
is to impose an indefensible restriction upon indi-
vidual action without any advantage to the revenue.
To grant a licence is, as Lord Russell and Mr.
Adams now know, to assume a power to refuse a
licence. If you can insist upon a club taking out a
licence to serve out wine to its members, of course
you can refuse the licence, and thus at the will of a
Government department shut every club which
rents a house above £lOO a year. The whole thing
is so utterly unarguable that we might suppose
that it was produced like the tail of Alcibiade's
dog, and intended to be cut off to distract attention
from weightier matters. Well, cut it off, Mr_
Gladstone, and have done with it. It is not a
creditable thing to do, and it is not a profitable
thing to do.
POST.—When the news reached Poland that the
three Powers had determined to address their re-
spective notes to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg the
more shrewd amongst the Poles found little diffi-
culty in guessing at their probable tenor, or at the
nature of the replies which 'hey would evoke. Few
were deluded with the idea of supposing that this
description of diplomatic intervention would in any
way advance the national cause, or practically affect
the question at issue between the nation to which
they belonged and the Russian Government. That
question is one of life or death to Russia or to Po-
land—it is a duel a m 0.4 ; and it is past the power
of the moat skilful or well-disposed friends to pro
yoke explanations or apologies which will he ac
cepted on either side. Prince Gortschakoff, in his
reply to Lord Russell, argues the point of regrant-
ing the constitution of the Emperor. Alexander upon
its legal grounds. Ho maintains that he Poles
have forfeited their right to that constitution by the
Revolution of 1830. This is the old story, which
does very well for foreign Powers, but it is not the
real reason. The Russian Government would be
thankful to pacify Poland by that constitution if
the concession would ensure its loyalty ; but Poland
does not look to a constitution as an ultimatum.
Nothing but absolute separation and independence
—the status quo ante 1772—wi1l satisfy her. Every
concession granted by Russia will be eagerly seized,
but only to be converted into a weapon against that
Power. The constitution accorded by the Emperor
Alexander led to the Revolution of 1830, and the
same constitution granted again would simply be
to purchase tranquillity for the moment at the price
of a still more formidable revolution a few years
later. It might easily be shown that from those
reforms, which the present Emperor prides himself
upon having introduced, the insurrection derives in
a large degree its force—while during the reign of
Nicholas the policy of terrorism kept it quiet. There
is no alternative for Russia between a recurrence
to that policy or the dismemberment of the empire.
It is a painful but undeniable fact that those
national institutions, for the most part elective,
with which. the country has been endowed," al-
luded to by Prince Gortschakoff, have been of
the greatest possible assistance to the Central Com-
mittee at Warsaw, by enabling it to thwart the civil
and military action of the Government; while that
" social transformation which has been undertaken
and accomplished in a few years, and that system
of gradual development which has been applied to
all branches of the public service and to the exist-
ing institutions," has really ha i the effect of render-
ing still more impossible the task of governing a
nation in whom the sentiment of independence is
paramount, and who, in proportion as their moral,
material, and intellectual resources are developed,
become more and more able to give it expression.
It is only natural that such should be the case, but
it also explains the unsatisfactory nature of Prince
Gortschakoff's reply. The position is one which it
would have been impossible for a Russian states-
man to explain to England, and he therefore pre-
fers arguing
the point on legal grounds; but it is
as well that the Powers should clearly appre-
hend the nature and extent of the difficulties by
yvhich the Russian Government is surrounded,
in order that they may be able to measure
accurately the value of their interference. Any
compromise short of Polish national independence
may produce a temporary lull, but that European
peace of which the Emperor Napoleon speaks
with such tenderness will not be ensured to Europe
so long as a spark of Russian authority remains in
the powder-magazine called Poland. Inasmuch as
by the treaties of 1815 Poland is guaranteed by
this country, as one of the contracting Powers, to
Russia, we have no difficulty in perceiving why
Prince Gortschakoff accepts with such readiness
those treaties as a basis. He possibly foresees the
day as not far distant when he in his turn may wish
to appeal to the Powers to adhere to the engage-
ments which they entered into upon that occasion.
Meantime, in his note to the French Emperor, he
contents himself with a few significant allusions to
what he terms " the party of disorder" in Europe.
There can be no doubt of the existence of this
party, or that to their efforts is due the spread of
``the cosmopolite elements of revolution" through-
out the Continent. That they have done their best '

to produce agitation in Poland is also extremely
probable, and that, owing to the Russian system of
government, they found there a soil well adapted to
receive the seeds of revolution, is not to be wondered
at; but, to suppose that the insurrection would have
assumed its present proportions without the exist-
ence of a strong national sentiment to give it vitality,
is simply ridiculous. The whole of the Polish aris-
tocracy is deeply compromised in the movement ;
it extends from the most wealthy and powerful
members of the oldest noble families to the humblest
stable-boy, and though the train may have been
lighted by some enterprising members of the party
of action, the fire bas spread far beyond their con-
trol. It is a blaze of patriotic ardour, not of demo-
cratic principle; and when Prince Gortschakoff
endeavours to persuade Europe that the Polish
national movement derives its inspiration from the
European party of disorder, in the hope of frighten-
ing timid autocrats abroad, his misrepresentations
will certainly not have the effect of alienating the
sympathies of the British public from those whose
only aspiration is national independence. Fortu-
nately in this country the machinations of the
" cosmopolite revolutionary party" do not in the
slightest degree alarm us; but we can make allow-
ances for the tone of irritation which occasionally
peeps through the Russian note. It must be acknow-
ledged that the treaties of 1815, though an inexor-
able political necessity at the time, have embarrassed
a good many people during the last 50 years. They
imposed upon Russia an impossible task. When
they placed within her frontier a nation with great
historical traditions and an invincible determination
never to remain there, they perpetuated an act of
injustice which had already been committed against
that nation, and they at this moment bind us by
obligations which are diametrically opposed to
our sympathies. " Why," insinuates Prince God-
' schaktlf, "if you are so exceedingly tenacious in
the matter of the treaties of 1815, do you openly
express sympathy with a nation whose whole aim
and object in the present struggle is to destroy
them ? We are not to blame ;we have tried eves y-
thing. The constitution which the Emperor
Alexander gave led to a revolution ; the iron
rule of Nicholas was eminently conducive to
peace; the reforms of the present Alexander,
taken advantage of by the party of disorder, have
produced the present insurrection." Such is in fact
t he condensed reply of the Russian statesman, who
naturally found some difficulty in conveying the last
idea, and therefore wrapped it in so much obscurity
that we have come to his assistance and cleared it of
all ambiguity for the benefit of our readers. They
will perceive that the rejoinder affords scope for
that exereise of ingenuity and logic which we shall
doubtless find exhibited in the next blue book on
the affairs of Poland.

HERALD.—Now, if ever, is the moment for a per-
manent and peaceable solution of the Polish ques-
tion. The Russian Government responds with
courtesy to the appeals of the Western Powers, and
declares its determination to develop in Poland an
administrative autonomy, on the basis of provincial
and municipal institutions like those of England.
Practically, although not in terms, it renews the
engagements it had long repudiated, and recognises
the right of England to see to their fulfilment. That
is to say, it allows everything which
a regard for
the interests of the Poles and the dignity of its own
country will allow the English Government to ask,
There is no English statesman who can believe that
the immediate attainment of complete independence
by Poland would be desirable in the interests of

Europe or of Poland itself. There is no one who
believes the attainment possible, and therefore there
is no one who would commit England to the Quixo
tic task of demanding it. Whist the Czar now ex-
presses his readiness to give Poland—an adm'nis-
_

_
irative autonomy—would undoubtedly, if how stly
carried out, pktce the Poles in a better position than
at any time during the last four hundred years of
their existence. A distinct administration and na-
tional institutions would satisfy every real want of
the people. Such an autonomy would allow the fullest
liberty of religion and instruction, full personal free
dom, and every opportunity for the solution of tt,ose
great sccial questions which, if Poland is to remain a
nation, must be taken in hand for settlement at once.
Her aspirations after an independent existence
would indeed remain unsatisfied; the dream of a

reconstitution of old Poland would continue,
dream ; but these sentimental longings, of Whiel
moreover, there is no chance of obtaining the gr°
fication, might well be laid aside in the eo.r3
ment of the solid material advantages which i
guaranteed autonomy would give her. Russ
herself is destined in all probability to underg
some considerable political revolutions which Iva
change the form of her government and alter
.tlo
relations of the different pzovinces of the empire
fii
and the Poles, in possession of all the real belie
of liberty, could afford to wait for i
opportunities
peaceably and surely effecting their independenci
end if those opportunities should never come sv°uo
still have little to regret. That is the queet,
which they have now to consider; and it is °I
upon the decision of which the future of the nano
and perhaps the peace of Europe depends. if the
will accept the offers which Russia makes to E
land, acting on their behalf, the insurrection f°rbe
its sacrifices will not have been in vain. If t.
refuse these offers they may plunge Europe Tb
war, but they cannot effect their own purpose' ko,
Poles will no doubt say—their partisans in Eng:i;ei
and France have already said it for them—that %if;
can place no confidence in the promises of „
This is a statement which, although constA°;',
made, has very little warrant. Russia has, ho)
doubt, governed Poland very cruelly, but alle,rl3,
not in that matter been guilty of much deceit. 14
promises which Alexander made were, indeed,
yoked ; but the Poles gave no smallustifioatiee "
that revocation in their attempt to use what to
freely given by the Czar to extort something w",,,-ng
he could not give them. However, let the Res"
be as bad as they are described—the great vordOei
j
with the Radicals is Asiatic—the Poles leg yID
with very great confidence accept their offers.
the first place, the Russian Government will °tog
every care not to run the risk of such a rebelli
again. Whatever the security it may feel of lino
mate success, it cannot afford, at a time that itt,
busied in introducing liberty in Russia and ill °la
ing great social and economic changes, either 00
incur the odium of Europe or to make the enortoclof
exertion and sacrifices which the suppresslollo
an insurrection clearly justified by its ,eb•
duplicity would impose. Prince Gortschakell "to
serves, with justice, that Russia must have the
lively desire to restore durable peace to Poland.
to
Poles, put in possession of liberal institutions, v;°
use them for their own defence. But apart 9P-, ,„
at
gether from this natural desire to avoid troohlet,l3oo
home, it is the pressing interest of Russia to
another insurrection. By accepting the w-gia
offered them through England the Poles 1",.,00
pledge Russia to England, and England is en"
way to themselves. The Russian Government Vv.
not venture to act with ill faith towards Poland' e•
cause at the same time it would violate its erftliti
ment with England, and an engagement 01 „of
kind would be much more sharply looked N7O,
than it was 30 years ago, when the dread of ':itria
sian power overshadowed Europe. Then All'ho- th
and Prussia were both despotic States ; n°° eat
are constituainal ; and if in Prussia for the 100-4er
the constitution is apparently disregarded the P%pfl
of the people is not the less felt. Austrie',- of
Prussia will oppose a l'outrance any atteroPh."oo
Poland to acquire independence, but they ;oft
every interest in the peace and content of Eltdge
Poland ; and if the Czar should break any Plaid
now made to the Poles they would join Ens
and France to enforce them.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

. .k.,

LYNN—TUESDAY. dalog
A fair attendance at market to-day, with a mid t-
,,
show of wheat, in excellent condition. The demo
„,dtel
steady, and sales were made at late rates. Barley'
Oats fully maintained their value. Beans sold read"
extreme quotations. to?,
White ..47s to 51s f Barley. . ono ;‘•
RQd

, J 37..
.30s • • 44s to 47s Grinding • 200°,0
Beans to —s I Oats..
New 368 to 42s I Peas

HULL—TUESDAY.
The wheat trade during the week has been steauPole",
day there was a small supply of English wheat, rsatil
was taken off at last week's currency. Foreign WI ae
neglected, but not quotably lower. Spring corn of
scriptions met with more demand
Wheat - Old white, -48 s Od tOu!Z

~...per qr Js - 478 voj
Old red
7)
New white ..
New red '•• • ,) ~
444 485 s: Og dds d
tt 4 to°
34b i s:
Barley.... English malting 32s Od to oos "..1
t°
Grinding 26s Od
Saal and Oderbruck
Holstein and Danish 2Bs Od to iigl OA
Grinding
Oats English, old
Archangel and Riga, per at 22r0:800
Friesland and Dutch A tO ni
Swedish and Danish 061211„ 463
Beans ....English, old, per qr 4ss 0 44S 141
~„
New pigeon 42s Od to
New tick. 4os Od to lAA! 04
Egyptian
Peas .. Foreign boilers .
Grinding
Tares .... Spring .
Indian Corn
Linseed, feeding
crushing •
Linseed cakes (Hull)
Foreign
t
Rape cakes
Bones 1968 11555 —4-533062300;5: ttt :°:00: ddddc
11:1°:
1 663
'r.
- 4";
s 11:°°:::Oa
A og°
6 5 oto "

NEWARK.—WEDNESDAY. . 293 t 02900
White wheat new, 45s to 53s Barley, grinding' . 1s NO
Red do. 4ss to 47s Oats, old, .. ...... os toyo
Old white —s to —s New do .......... 43s W
Red do. —s to —s I 8ean5........... •,is to
Barley, malting 37s to 42s 1 Beans, new.....' ("
Peas, ....40a to 445.

COAL .
Prfoes of Coal per Ton atMARKET the olose of the Will-et, O. tie
s. d. .15
den Main
.......... 0

Byt.ss' s Bebside West

Davison's West S ib
ley ................

Hartley ...15 0
Wylam 15 0
Carway and Duffryn 0
Malting . 19 6 Walls End. .14 g
Hastings Hartley l5 0, 1
Wharneliffe ......... 11 0
Tanfield Moor Butes 12 6 Hetton . ........... ..1u 0
Lambert's West Hart- i Braddyll'a Hetton• •'' . 1/ 0
ley 14 9 , South Hetton ........
.0
North Pelton Gas 13 0 , Russel's Hetton •• • ' ..0
West Hartley 15 0 , Gosforth ...........

Foreign Mail Packet List•

MAILS DUE. XlO.
Aurzalia and Mauritius, via Southampton. ...... gal r
via sain
Brazil and Cape Verds, by British packet. ...... . „of 9.f
Cape of Good Hope, Ascension, and St. Helena.•%st ',4,
China, Penang, and Singapore, via Southamptov.;7o
via Marseilles
o, 0.
Falkland Islands
Gibraltar, via Southampton ..
India (Calcutta), and Ceylon, via Southampton oip
via Marseilles ..•
India (Bombay), via Southampton .......
via Marseilles
P ortugal
...
Nlalta, Egypt, and Aden, via Southampton ...... go, 0
Oporto and Vi ,
via Marseilles ..............
Newfoundland .............................. 15,
go . .
U. S. and British N. America, by Brit. packet.. • s,
by U.S. packet...o
by Canadian packet' "14. f,
W.C. of Africa, Madeira, and Teneriffe ............. ;9,
Bahamas, via New York ..................... :NOY ‘,
Mexico
All parts of "West Indies, including Chili, Perot lay
California, and British C01umbia............
011
le4
THE WEST RIDING REGISTARSHIP.
rec.- 00
made to Parliament shows that the gross recciP's.e
by the Registrar of the West Riding of Yorks,legitilt
last three years have averaged 43,443, and the le' ASO
fees £1,630 a year, which annual income was
the recent contest.

Births. 74
GILES.—On the 4th inst., at Westlei h Vic/1
Devon, the wife of Charles S. Giles, Esq., Pay 4 1:130
060
H.M.S. Warrior. of a son. f Os
LESTER.—On the 3d inst., at Swanage, the wife ° , the
L. Lester, of a daughter.
liner
STYLE.—On the 4th inst., at Glenmore, C 0...- 00,
Hon. Mrs. Style, of a son.
~,, fa,
SAVILLE.—On the 2d inst., at Foulmire .1-.—.,„tgagt- 0
Royston, the Hon. Mrs. Arthur Savile, a a u- -„r a.
TAGORE.—On the 3d inst., the wife of Profess
Tagore, of a son.
~folif
Marriages.
, g 0 o„lvidar,
ALEXANDER—WOOD.—On the Ist inst., a..i.--°: 0- :tee-
Brighton, William Alexander, to Mary J,1:11,,";011's ~
daughter of William Wood, Es late of ‘-'s- ' Esq., Oil;
London.
dit tho„„tto,„0
DURRANT—BARTON.—On the 301 h ult., - f ay' f t.•
Embassy, Sir Henry Josias Durant, Bart., °liter of
Hall, Norfolk, to Alexandrine Charlotte,
daagod "''
late General Sir Robert Barton, 1i•1'33,.;
Barton, of Montagu-place, Montagu-squat
•
00
Deaths. SO 0,1
Ethel a
GIBB,—On the sth inst., at Osidge, Rees ' -''' • 173 el's'
youngest daughter of Major Gibb, Royal Eog
itiglit
six days.
HAHTounE.HLToorNd.ii—aOnetrhtoen4,tahgiendsti2,. at Teddeslel. the
00.
terrace' I
HonnEu.--On the 4th inst. at at 3, Beigrave- °-
Wife
lico, Mr. Valentine T. Horder,. aged 60.
Maria,
KEMSHEAD —On the sth inst., at Poole, . 0
WARDELL.—On the sth inst
Dr Kemshead, of Cambridge House, Southeile.a, vegeo
vol
co
park, John Lloyd Wardell,"Eerl., aged 71. , E. per,ver,
WESTEY.— On the 2d inst , Elizabeth, wife Z 0,1,10's 0
Westby, Esq., of Roebuck Castle, co. Pp. danceo
wood°
of Lord Justice Blackburne, late Lora
Ireland. ithig;sAlte
WRENCH,—On the sth inst., at the Vical'arijorot
Eliza, widow of the Rev. Dr. Wrench, lam
hurst, Sussex, aged 65. at 10, Albert.ro a

Ro
London : Printed and Published by WILLI/01,1116e- 10;41,101
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Ts % Svig -
in ~h-ecdotiO"
Strand, in the Precinct of„ the Savoy,
Mlddlesas.—Thuraday, May 7. 3863.