The Sun.
London, England, 1830-02-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Mr. HuMe proposed last night reductions in the
Expenditure to the amount of 6,450,0001., which.
with 1,450,0001. surplus revenue, formed an aggre
gate of more than eight millions, to which extent
the relief of taxes was practicable. The reductions
proposed were 1,800,000/. in the army—first, by
disbanding only 20,000 men ; next, by making the
Military Asylum pay its own expences; and thirdly,
by bringing the Staff within its proper limits. In
the Naval Department, the saving proposed iii the
Dock-yard and Transport Establishments %Vag
1,200,000/. In the Ordnance 350,0001. In the
Miscellaneous Expenditure he proposed reductions
to the extent of 1,400,000141 By lowering duties,
the Coast Blockade would be rendered unnecessary,
and this would save 500,000/. Savings in the Civil
List and by sales of Crown Lands would give
800,0001. The taxes of which he proposed the
repeal were the duties of Coals, Soap, Candles,
Leather, amounting together, to 3,131,115/. ; the
duty on Beer, amounting to 3,204,000/.—
The Window duty 1,164,3551., and the duty
on Inhabited Houses
.1,295,9721. Sed quis
custodiet i sos custodes ?• is the question which
will all; .to apficable' to the House of Commons,
so long s cons utel as it at present is. Economy
is the one thing needful A but economy in good earnest is
the last thing which the House of Commons would enforce.
This is not the favourite mode of relieving distress. The
enormous expenditure of this country pas,es, for the most
part, through the hands of the body to which the House
of Commons belong, and therefore reduction of the pub-
lic expenditure is too often reduction of the private in-
comes of the guardians of the public purse. One instance
noticed by Mr. limns speaks volumes :—" The receiver-
Wps were also good things in the hands of the Ministers,
and there was a circumstance connected with them which
'hewed how a County Member was interested in receiver-
ships. A Division of each County took place, in order
that two parties might be appointed to these receiverships,
so that each Member could have his friend provided for,
That of course increased the expense. The Finance
Committee had recommended that these Divisions of
Counties should be put an end to, and that on the
death of either party the whole duty should be per-
formed by the survivor. The Government, much to
their credit, had adopted the recommendation." The
distress which comes home to the. bosoms of the Aristo-
cracy is caused by low prices, fall of rents, claims of
mortgagees; and a relief which would alter the proportion
which the former of these bears to the latter would be
hailed ; but a relief from which the whole nation might
gain, while they individually might lose from it, is less to
their taste. Alinisters have pledged themselves to exten-
sive retrenchments; but Mr. Hume declared himself " un-
willing to consider the resolution of Friday last as any
thing on which the House could rely for relief. What
was the conduct of his Majesty's Government on this sub-
ject ? No sooner did any office become vacant, than it was
instantly filled up. Yesterday the vacant sinecure office of
the Treasurer of the Navy, which a majority of the Finance
Committee bad declared might be abolished, was filled up."
It is proper that the saddle should be put upon the
right horse. The customary :node of speaking on
the subject of expenditure involves a fiction, because it
supposes a power in Ministers to effect a reduction, while,
under the Constitution of this country, it is notorious they
have no such power. Mr. Home says that he had been
weak enough to believe in the promises of Ministers to
effect reductions for the eleventh time, and for the eleventh
time he had been disappointed. How Mr. Hume should
have believed in the possibility of this is to us astonish-
ing. How are the sons and brothers of our great families
to be provided for but by large allowances out of the
public money ? How can the men who nominate the
Members who compose the majority of the House of Com-
mons effect, without the instrumentality of numbers of in-
dividuals, what they must purchase with the public
tneney? In short, the whole system, from top to bottom,
is and must necessarily be corruption. The Embassies to
which Mr. Hume alluded last night, the Lord Lieutenacy

of Ireland, the Colonial Sinecures, the Pensions, are all
necessary to purchase majorities. Let us look to the House

of Commons at the present moment. The still small voice
of reason is drowned, we fear, too often in the clamour of
faction. Mr. Hume, speaking of the duty on corn, ob-
served that last year it " had been productive to the extent
of about one million sterling, the importation having been
larger than for the last twenty-five years. He only
wanted to have the corn trade as free as any other branch
of commerce, and he begged Honourable Members, who
differed from him, to remember bow much the existence of
this duty tended to diminish employment, and the con-
sumption of other agricultural produce, such as butter,
cheese, eggs, pigs, and cattle of every kind. The lower
orders were thus thrown upon the poor rates, and could
not afford to consume what they would otkerwise be ready
and able to purchase: and be was satisfied that the land-
owner would be a gainer instead of a loser by the repeal
of the Corn Laws." It is by the duties on imports that
the country suffers most. It is of great consequence that
this subject should be thoroughly understood, now that
meetings are every where held to effect a free trade to
India. The Hincloos, fur instance, have nothing to pur-
chase our goods with but their agricultural produce, and
duties imposed for the protection of two classes of mono-
polists, the English landowners and West India planters,
exclude nearly all that produce. Their rice cannot be
imported ; their sugar cannot be imported ; bow then can
they purchase from us ? This was admirably put at a
meeting at Glasgow, on Thursday last, by a Mr. David Bell.

... - - .
" My—Lord Provost (said Mr. Bell), I agree in every respect
with what has just been expressed by the Honourable Gentleman
on your right (Mr. Kirkman Finlay), and also with the petition
which has just been read. but I would beg leave to give it as my
opinion, that the commercial and manufacturing distress which
is now felt so general in the kingdom, and has never been felt
more than during the past year, would be much more alleviated
by an increase of imports than from an increase of exports. The
Duke of NVellington has said that the exports of :81) have been
greater than in any previous year. But who has been benefitted
by this increase? The country, I aver, is at this moment suffer.
ing as much as ever it did; and I verily believe, as matters are,
we export too much. I wish the duty on imports and exports to
be regulated so that taxation upon the one may be assimilated to
the other. It is by a diminution of the duty upon imports, I say
—of the taxation upon imports—that the trade of the country is
to be benefitted, in preference to anything else. And, as a cotton
manufacturer, humbly imitating sonic of the manufactures of
India goods arc charged with a duty of
India, I would beg to call your attention to the duties upon the
cottons imported into India. They are subject to a duty a two
cent.—(Hear.) All articles •
and a half per cent. We send Our manufactures to India, inter-
fering with those ',mimed by the Hindoos at this rate of duty,
article of tea, which is now used by every
imported from the
t l white,eata.oednt
eti:h ev,potherehri
lecei
in,ht
ta_inw?
al
East excepting cotton and one or two other articles, are .dl hea-
vilypoor woman 48 WU ao thu inhabitants of this country aunerAllY

(Applause.)"
There can be bnt one opinion aria .ng all dispassionate
sereons as to the extravagance of our establishments.. Pnt
while'all must see the immense importance of a sweeping'
repell of taxes to all our interests, it is impossi• lit not to
f.rl tt e force of what fell from Nfr. Iferrios. Speaking
of the labours of the late Finance Committee, Mr. Her-
ries observed, " if they examined the matter fully, they
11111 find that those who sat on his (Mr. Ilerrles'e)
of the House had had their full ahare in suggesting and
promoting the measures adopted by that Committee.---
(Hear, hear.)—The Ministers had done a great deal in
preparing the measures, and in carryintpnis,g
cut'on had acted with great zeal and good faith. The 1
were some facts which tie Hon. Member should bear in
mind, and some persons to whom he should not be un-
willing to concede the praise that wits due to them. The
Gorrrnment load not only proposed measures of ero-
nowy, but on some occasions had been disposed to carry
them farther than the House would yo.—(Hear, hear,
bear.)---It had wanted to carry measures into execution
in which the House would not concur ; and on snore than
,me • occasion the Ministers had gone further than the
Mouse liked.—(Near, hear.)" This is speaking to the
purpose. Ministers must work with the instruments they
have, and a costly instrument Parliament is found to be.
slinistera are, indeed, responsible to Parliament : hut, as
Parliament is supreme and irreeponsib!e, they turn the re-
sponsibility of the former to their own account. Brit it is
useful to place the evils complained of again and again be-
fore the eyes of the nation, that men may be led to reactt
on the only adequate remedy. A number of Members.
conceived that time ought to be allowed to Minister's to
'eive effect to their declarations, and, therefore, though
they professed themselves anxious for an extensive rednc-
tion, yet they could not, ander each eiretonstancte, sup,
port the motion. On a division, the numbers were—
For the motion (l9
Against it lB4
Majority against the motion —lls
We cannot understand the argument of the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, that the Civil List ought not in he in-
terferes! with on account of the Crown having relineprislnd
large hereditary revenue. One weeld suppose front this
language, that the King was the Proprietor of the country;
and not the first Magistrate of it. What is it to us whence
the money is derived by which the King is supported ?
The only question ought to be, has the first Magistrate of
the country enough ? If he have more titan enough', tho
excess' ought to be applied to the relief of the nation.
he have less, an addition ought to be made to the allow-
mace. Whatever the King enjoys he is plipnogefl to enjoy
far the good of the people. Any other suppirsitien involves
a monstrous absurdity. Does any one suppose that if the
Hereditary Revenue had not keen abandoned to tire notior.;
and it had increased to ten millions for instance, the Kin
w. )old Lave been allowed to possess so enormous an iacorne?
There may be co necessity for disturbing the existing ar-
rangement; but the question mast always be considered
an open one. Sore we are, that if the Revenue were to
fall short of the King's exigencies, the nation would be
called on to make up the deficiency, whatever might have
been the previous arrangement.—Morning Chronicles

The breaking up of the old Tory party, by the
separation of those portions of it which were teach-
able and convertible from those which remain what
we now behld them, the anti-popular opposition of
the present day, may prove, if turned to its natural
uFe, ahe salvation of the British empire. Mr. Can-
ning, had he lived and continued Minister, might in
time have carried the great measure of emancipation
into a law : but, from the resistance which he
would have met with at Court, among the people
of England, and more especially within the walls of
at least one House of Parliament, some years might
have elapsed; and in those years what frightful
risks must have been encountered! The agitation of
Ireland would hourly have increased,—foreigners
would have watched and nursed it. Could any
man answer for the Catholics waiting patiently
the slow progression of their cause in the hands
of a Minister so embarrassed as Mr. Canning was
condemned to be by his position,—deserted by
the whale Tory power, and not venturing to brave
the Court circle by throwing himself cordially into
the arms of the Whigs? An Irish insurrec-
tion would of necessity have grown into n religious
war, the limits or results of which who can
calculate ? When, then, or how, would the country
hare regained even that melancholy point from
which she started on the removal of Lord Liverpool
from office ?—an event which may be said rather to
have disclosed than produced the gulf which yawned
under our domestic policy. The Duke of Welling-
ton understood the veterans of the old Tory party,
and knew that the state of the kingdom required
not one, but a long list of remedies, which they
would not consent to administer. The necessity o
emancipation had forced itself on his mind before
his accession to power, although, unfortunately,
there were circumstances in his personal relations
with Mr. Canning which prevented his co-operating
with that gentleman as a Member of the Cabinet of
which Mr. Canning was to be chief. When the
Duke, however, had to select his own colleagues,
he preferred a mixed cabinet, not bigotted indi-
vidually, nor collectively pledged, against measures
of general amelioration. Although Catholic relief,
or resistance to it, had not been made formerly a
cabinet stipulation under Lord Liverpool, the
question formed, nevertheless, the sole tangible
and ostensible hinge on which turned the difference
between liberal and illiberal,—the new powers
which had substantially superseded those of Whig and
Tory. This question once carried, and the ancient and
nominal rallying posts of warfare removed, symbols and
banners began to show themselves, inviting political actors
of all descriptions to other fields, where, withost breach of
faith or consistency, they may form sew combinations for
the accomplishment or defeat of objects not previously pro-
posed to them. The advantage of the Duke of Welling-
ton's present system is, that, not carrying on the govern-
ment in a party spirit, he cannot be fairly attacked in such
a spirit. Ifs has placed the Members of both 'lorries in a
predicament which has no modern example but in the
early days of Mr. Pitt's administration. The Tory parti-
sans of Lord North, and Mr. Fox's Whigs, thoagh nu-
merous within doors, lost strength without, by every
effort to embarrass and impede a Minister who then had
the reputation of entertaining patriotic plans of upright
and corrective policy. Mr. Pitt appealed from factious
majorities to the nation, and by the nation was presented
with a House of Commons which all but unanimously sup-
ported him. The intrinsic weakness of the separate bands
which flown-ruder the old names of Whig and Tory, op-
pose in Parliament a scattered and ill-combined resistance
to the Government, is aggravated by their irreconcilable
differences one with another. On the first day of the
Session, where the Lords' amendment implied an opposi-
tion of principle to the Address, the Liberal, or remains

. .
of the Whig party, were toned to unite themselves with
Ministers. They would otherwise have been destroyed in
the eyes of the country. So the fanatical fag-end of the
Tories, rejected as unserviceable by the Duke of Welling-
ton, comprised seven of the Mae votes which igured in
support of the amendment. In the Commons, the wish
of some outlying Liberals to show an armed neutral sag,
though without any serious pretext for controversy, had
nothing to rest upon hut a verbal distinction ; and bad
those of the Whigs who voted against Ministers succeeded
in gaining a majority over them, it is certain than they
would soon have rewired a step which could only have
compelled the Duke of 'Wellington to reinforce himself by
'Tories of a deeper dye than any of his actual colleagues.
The appointments to °Mee, since the Session began,
have proved the liberal, and at the same time the
moderate, tendencies of the Administration-51r.
Stuart Wortley, of the most independent class of
what used to be denominated Tories, and Mr.
Frankland Lewis, an equally zealous and able advocate for
the eoireetion of all.speeies of abuses. Retrenchment is

announced—the worst possible cement of party, but the
most powerful instrument for canvassing the support of
the people ; and on the people it is Sow declared, in un-
ambiguous terms, by Mr. Peel, that the Wellington Ad-
ministration places its sole reliance, If we were to paint
the beau ideal of any Government, it would be weakness
in Parliament, and strength with the people. This is the
true sovereignty of public opinion—it is genuine freedom.
The problem, indeed, is not yet solved, whether, in a Le-
gi•lature hitherto much moved by interest, and in a com-
munity where the ramifications of that mean principle bare
for ages been spreading themselves into every house,—the
problem, we say, is not yet quite solved, whether a Minister
can long continue to govern by setting its authority, at de-
fiance ; but sure we are, that if the nation, and the press,
whose function is to represent the national feeling, be
worthy of an honest Government, they will join heartily
to defend the only Minister of the lasi half century, whose
power is inconsistent with a corrupt empleyment of the
public wow, Timm