The Sun.
London, England, 1839-06-14 00:00:00

derstand, of the proposed plan of employing stamped
covers deranging the present paper manufacture.
The supposition now is that the stamped covers
to be used, in order to avoid the risk of forgery,
must be made of a particular kind of paper,
for manufacturing which, one individual claims a
' patent, though it is doubtful whether he legally
possesses it. To all paper manufacturers hut the
one fortunate owner of the patent this would be a
serious injury, and it remains with the authorities
and with the:public to ascertain whether all the ad-
vantages of Mr. HILL'S plan cannot be secured
without inflicting a serious injury on a num-
ber of enterprising tradesmen. Uniformity and
simplicity are the great elements of that plan,
but to these must be added freedom of choice
and action. Numerous cases will readily occur to
the reader, such as a man in a distant village being
unable to get a stamped cover, the supply being ex-
hausted, or having to send a considerable distance
for one before lie could write a letter, which would
render the compulsion always to write a letter on
stamped paper, or seal it with a penny adhesive
stamp, ofo serious inconvenience. The question
therefore is, whether the two methods may not be
advantageously combine,], and the use of stamped
covers adopted by those who approve of them,
while it may be left optional to other per-
sons to write on unstamped paper, and
pay for their letters on putting them into
the Post-office, or on delivery. We are not suffi-
ciently well acquainted with Post-office manage-
ment to decide what exactly are the advantages and
disadvantages of these different plans, but we should
suppose that the uniform rate will so much facilitate
the receipt, sorting, and delivery of letters, that it
will cause little or no delay to take a penny with
a letter instead of the stamp, or to demand
one on delivering it. The Committee of the
House of Commons confined their recommenda-
tions to reducing the postage, and to making it uni-
form, and do not countenance the stamp cover, the
use of a particular kind of paper, or the
compulsory payment in advance. The pro •
posed exclusive use of stamped envelopes
is, we understand, decidedly objected to by some
of those who have most closely examined the ques-
tion, as tending to encumber a useful plan, and to
deprive the public of many of the advantages which
a low uniform postage is calculated to insure.

It will be seen by reference to our Law Report
that the Sheriffs' Court have assessed the damage done
to Mr. STOCKDALE by the publication of the
House of Commons at 1001. How will the money
be levied ? Mr. HANSARD will not pay, and the
Sheriff will issue, we suppose, a writ in execution.
The House of Commons will thus be brought into
direct conflict with the Courts of Law, its servant
will have his property taken away, or his person
will be incarcerated for obeying its orders, or the
Courts of Law, having issued a solemn judgment, will
allow their authority to be set aside. We
look to the denouement of this plot with some
interest, but without anxiety. The real useful
authority of the Parliament will not be abridged by
its not being allowed to publish libels ; and the
utility of the Courts will not be lessened by the
Parliament undertaking to amend the libel law.
Disputes between the House of Commons and the
Courts have in former times set the nation in a
tumult, one half siding earnestly with the Courts,
and the other half siding as earnestly with the
Commons ; but all parties at present look on this
contest with calmness, not to say indifference. This
is a satisfactory proof that both the Courts of
Law and the Parliament, arc more correctly valued
than formerly. As the knowledge of the public of
their doings has become accurate, they have ceased
to feel for either of them a blind reverence.

The abolition of slavery in the French colonies begins
n attract the serious attention of Lours PHILIPPE'S
Government. In the Monileur of Wednesday we find
two Royal Ordinances upon the subject ; the first
commanding an annual census to be taken of the slave
population in the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe,
French Guiana, and Bourbon, which is to be presented
to the Government with a Report carefully detailing the
facts connected with the moral improvement and nume-
rical increase of the slaves ; and the second amending,
Royal Ordinances of 1831 and 1832, defining the cir-
cumstances under which slaves may become en-
titled to their freedom. An increase to the number
of 34,000 .individuals has taken place in the slave
population of these islands within the last seven
years—that is, since the date of the first of the
amended Royal Ordinancei. whatever be
the language of the French Government the work of
emancipation will go on very slowly in the French colo-
nies. 'rhe French are bad colonists at the best, and
know in general nothing about the requisite pnrcess for
qualifying a slave population for the enjoyment of civil
liberty. Could the Government be brought to declare
the children of all slaves born after a certain day to be
free, and adopt measures for training them in the know-
!edge, language, and habits of free citizens, the sure
'oundation would be laid for a gradual, safe, and general
emancipation of the whole coloured race without involv-
ing the sacrifice of one franc piece of either public or
private property.
The French Ministry are experiencing very little op-
position in the Chamber of Deputies on the Budget.
The Coalition appear faithfully observant of the implied
contract among the leaders of the several sections, to
the effect that where no increase appeared in the items
beyond the sums voted for 1838, they would be adopted
after the usual Ministerial explanations, showing their
continuance to be called for by the exigencies of the
public service.
The Court of Peers met on Tuesday for the trial of
the prisoners of the 12th and 13th of May. The names
of nineteen individuals appeared in the act of accusation
or indictment, of whom fifteen were present. The other
four had not been taken, notwithstanding the unremitting
vigilance of the Police. The prisoners in custody were :
—Barbes, a lawyer, wounded; Rondil, an umbrella
maker; Mirlon, 56 years of age, a labourer, and liberated
felon; Lemierre (Louis Joseph); Philippet ; Detrade, a
toyman, wounded; Guilbert, 37 years of age, a currier;
Longuet, a commercial traveller; Austen; Bonnet; Nou-
guez ; Martin, a pasteboard maker, 19 years of age,
wounded ; Lebarzie ; Dugas; and an Irishman named
Walsh, who of course took part in the " row" for the
pleasure of having a bit of a "scrimmage." We should
say that mere accident led him to fight o❑ the side of the
rioters, did we not know that the generous impulse of
helping the weaker party is generally uppermost in the
breast of Paddy, when about to exercise his cudgel in a
quarrel not his own.
The latest accounts from Bayonne are to the 9th
inst., but they merely state that by mutual consent the
Carlists and Christinos in the Basques are reposing
after the toils of the late three days' campaign.
lisranTEno's " occupation" will never be " gone," if it
be left to his own management. Only let the Treasury
supply him with money, and he will contrive to fight
more battles in the Basques without winning an inch
of territory than it cost Timone. to conquer all Asia.
The subjoined extracts include what little other news
there is in the French Journals :
The Augsburg Gazette has published a letter, dated
Pestb, May 31, which say that letters from Servia an-
nounce disturbances in that country ; they do not state
whether these disturbances arc of importance, but they
seem to be of a political nature.
The Austrian Government, it is added, had taken mea-
sures to secure the frontier towards Servia.
This communication of the German Journals gives a pe-
culiar interest to tile following letter, which we have this
moment received :

.‘ VIENNA, JUNE 3. —nie trews which I lately gave
respecting the presence of numerous Russian agents in
Servia, Montenegro, and other countries adjacent to Hun_
gary, is fully confirmed. The Government is in posses-
sion of the most positive information on this subject. The
departure of the Russian Ambassador appears to be certain,
and in all probability he will not return to his post here.
" I believe that I shall be able to transmit to you in a
few days an acc:unt of the measures taken by the Cabinet
of Vienna relative to the affairs of the East. The crisis
cannot be prolonged for the stutu quo is no longer tenable ;
it must be shortly put an end to, whatever be the repug-
nance to war manifested by the three other great Powers.
The communications between our Court a::d that of
Berlin have been less frequent for some time ; and this
coolness is ascribed to the religious affairs which might
become very serious in case any accident should concur
with them.

" Our exchange has recovered from its alarm, but it is
on the alert."