The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-22 00:00:00

poorest clerk in a Government establishment is just
as much his vested interest as the sinecure office of
a Peer or Commoner in a Court of Justice; but
while the one is dismissed without ceremony or in-
demnity, at the claims of the other ho' the Go-
vernment and Parliament must stand in awe, and no
improvement, of ever so great national or individual
importance, be allowed to take place, without em-
bracing a good job in favour of the idle, the titled,
or highly-connected, over-paid fee•receiTer. As a
proof of this, we need only refer to the fact that
the four Cur;itors of Middlesex have already drawn

from the country upwards of 6,0001. in the shape
of indemnities for fees, which probably would never
have amounted in the ..irrie to half that net sum.
An office. more especially a sinecure one, depend-
ing upon fees,must be taken, and ought to be held,
subject to contingencies ; and any remuneration
asked for it ought to be calculated upon a moderate
though a just scale. We will, as an instance of one
of these contingencies, imagine an office in a Court
of Justice, the emoluments of which shall have
been swelled to an immoderate amount by the po•
pularity of the Judge inviting crowds of suitors to
that Court ; and we will then suppose the case of
an unpopular or incompetent Judge driving nearly
all the business tit of it, and reducing the fees of
the office in question to one-tenth of their former
amount. Is it to be borne that this officer shall take

the fortuitous high standard as the ground of remu-
neration, overlooking the low state to which his fees
may have dropped, or from which they may have
risen ? Besides which, it may be asked, whether
the very measure proposed, and for which indemnity
is required, is not that very transfer of business from
one Court to another, for which, in the shape we
have just put it, no one, we believe, has yet had the
hardihood to come to Parliament for an indemnity ?

The subject is one of vast importance to the com-
munity, and only wants, we repeat, a sufficient de-
gree of courage and resolution, tempered by a sense
of justice, to bring it to that termination which
ought to content the parties interested, and, at the
same time, satisfy the country.—Morning Herald.

An admirable work on Financial Reform has just
been published by Sir Henry Parnell. In the 13th
Chapter he examines, in a masterly manner, the
subject discussed on Friday in the House of Com-
mons—namely, our Military Expenditure. " Since

1816 (he observes) no less than 156 millions have
been expended on soldiers, sailors, ships, and artil-
lery, exclusive of the non-effective expenditure,
although we have been all the time in profound
peace. The only ground on which it is attempted
to justify this expenditure, so enormously great in
comparison with that of any former peace establish-
ment, is the expediency of being at all times pre-
pared for war. But during the last thirteen years,
there has been less likelihood of war than at any
former period, in consequence of the exhausted con-
dition of all the powers of Europe after the last war,
and the triumphant display of military and naval
force which England was able to make at the con-
clusion of it. If, in 1816, a peace expenditure had
been arranged, on a principle of sound economy,
having reference only to the real wants of the
nation, a very large portion of the 156 millions
would have been saved."

• • • • • • •
" Notwithstanding there is now, in consequence
of the peace of Europe being again established, so
strong a case in favour of a great reduction in the
military expenditure, if the.revenue should keep up
there will be but little chance of its taking place;
for nothing seems to hare any influence in attract-
ing public attention to measures of economy
but a positive deficiency of the revenue. While. in
1827, and the beginning of 1828, the revenue.was
deficient, the necessity of retrenchment was heard
on all sides. When, however, the April quarter's
account of 1828 showed that the revenue was ra-
pidly recovering, not a word more was said on the
subject. Seeing, therefore, that such is the result
of just having revenue enough to go on with from
year to year, and that there is no regard to the con-
sequences of postponing the revision of our financial
%ystem, it will perhaps, in the end be for the public
good if the revenue-should not only be agaiu deft•
cient, but continue so for some time.
" The great amount of the non-effective expendi-
ture in the Army, Navy, and Ordnance shows the
profusion, and the want of due consideration for the
public interests, with which every thing in the na-
ture of Pensions, Half-pay, and Retired Allowances
has been regulated." In a nate, Sir Henry ob-
serves 1--" The following amount shows to what
an extent the principle has been carried of provid-
ing for the poorer part of the upper orders out of
the public purse :

Per Ann.

Military Pensions, Half-pay, tre. £4,900,000
Penciling
Superannuation Allowance

X 6,102,702"

Sir Henry examines the evidence before the Fi-
nance Committee respecting the Army, and ob-
served, " As 87,000 men will provide all the troops
requisite for our foreign possessions, and will allow
of the Foot Guards and Cavalry being kept as they
now are, and will furnish an army of 38,060 men for
Great Britain and Ireland—this force of 87,000
men ought to be considered as quite large enough
for all the public services ; but the number voted
in 1529 was 102,267, and therefore 15,000 men
might be reduced." Colonel Davies moved, as an
Amendment, " That the grant for the troops should
only be made to the 25th of May, 1830,
instead of the 25th of December, 1830, to give

time to the House to ascertain the reductions that
can be made." On a Division, the Amendment
was lost by a majority of 225 to 93. These votes
and the speeches of Sir E. Knatchbull and his bre-
thren are exceedingly instructive. Sir Edward was
quite astonished at the extent of the reductions.
We shall soon revert to the Work of Sir Henry
Parnell ; and we trust its contents will be placed
before the people at the County Meetings, that they
may see how they aro mocked by their pretended
friends, who know better than to support any mea-
sure for reductions.—lbid.

. In returning to the debate of Friday last in the
House of Commons, we must, in the first place,
correct an error which, in the haste of the moment,
crept into our observations upon it on Saturday—
we allude to the statement that the whole amount
of the proposed reduction of expenditure, if taken
off in taxes, would be only a saving of " tenpence
a-day" to each inhabitant of the country. We be-
lieve we need scarcely state that we ought to have
said " tenpence a-year"—a sum, if it may be
termed a. sum, so utterly paltry and insignificant as
to render the magnificent pretensions previously put
forth by Ministers on the subject of economy, as
ludicrous, as they are now discovered to be un-
founded. No. It appears that we are to have
no economy, and, what is more, no reduc-
tion of taxes,—the saving of the million, if
the revenue during the ensuing year prove
equally productive as during the past, is
to be entitled surplus revenue, and to go, as for-
merly, to support that greatest of all delusions, the
Sinking Fund—to keep up the price of stocks on
Change, and to gull the public with the belief that
some time or other the country will be able to pay
off what it never can, and never will pay—the na-
tional debt—the incubus of eight hundred millions
which paralyses the industry of the country—pro-
duces absentees among the middle and higher or-
ders of society—drives our most skilful workmen
abroad—raises up to us rivals in manufacturing in-
dustry in every quarter of the world—and finally
spreads misery and starvation throughout every part
of the kingdom, and among all classes whose industry
its the source of their livelihood. Is such a scheme
as this worthy of the Duke of Wellington ? Or
will the country be satisfied with it ? We un-
hesitatingly allSticer that it is not, and that the
country will not, and ought not, to be satisfied.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer says that, after
paying the interest Of the national debt, and other
fixed charges, which cannot be altered without a
breach of the national faith, he has only twelve mil-