The Sun.
London, England, 1830-11-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT or THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We shall endeavour to fill up the short interval
during which curiosity might otherwise have no-
thing to prey_ upon, between the publication of our
Journal and the delivery of the King's speech to.
day, by some slight allusion to its topics. The state
of Ireland will, in all probability, hold an important
place in it. That state may be offered to, and pressed
upon, Parliamentary consideration : but the specific
twine of the measures to be adopted or recom-
mended—if, indeed, any other measures beyond the
firm execution of the laws already in existence he
contemplated,—cannot, of course, be specified in a
Royal Speech on the opening of the Session. We
have before spoken of conferences to be opened by
certain Plenipotentiaries of the five great European
Powers, on the subject of the dreadful scenes now
acting in the Low Countries. We hope the King
of the Netherlands will not conceive from these
conferences any hope of armed assistance from
abroad in the settlement of the disturbances, or the
restitution of his severed dominion. Should he
cherish such a hope, he will be miserably deceived.
Yet the great states may advise reconciliation, end
propose, us arbitrators, terms of adjustment. We
did as much between Spain and her trans-Atlantic
_possessions; but we did not, therefore, take part in
the dispute. The greater proximity of Belgium
may give more force to the representations of the
leading Powers of Europe. Our reorolute abstinelico
from interference in the internal affairs of other
. .

countries will, it may be e:pprebended, evince itself
as relates to Portugal in the cold recognition of a
Sovereign and- a Government, which stative (14-
contents, however well founded, have not been able
to set aside. A full amnesty will probably, how•
ever, be stipulated. The commercial arrangements
With the United States, an account of which will
be found in our extracts from the American Papers,
will also, we dare say, form a leading topic of the
Anyal address. Our own domestic concerns must
of course be touched on in the speech. It is un-
necessary to state bow important a part of these the
construction of the Regency Bill will form, and fm-
possible at present to point out all its provisions,
The law reforms, whatever may be their merit, will,
We believe, be continued : there can be no harm in
moving water which is already muddy and unwhole-
some, with a view to its future purification. Of
the retrenchments we know as yet but little: those
in the diplomacy are the most prominent. It is
said they cannot be made to amount to more than
30,0004 a year.--Times.
The Brussels Papers of Saturday carry us a step
farther than any previous information, in enabling
us to judge of, the final result of the Belgic insurrec-
tion. The new facts of importance which they con-
tain are, the complete occupation of the city of
Antwerp by the Belgians, with the anticipated sur-
render of the citadel, and the promulgation of the
new Belgic Constitution by the Provisional Go-
vernment; No sooner had Prince Frederick made

• Ms unsuccessful attack on
Bruns ls, and beers re-
pulsed from its barricaded street, (however ill-
Judged the attack; or weak the resistance), than all
the world (with the exception, perhaps, of a few
Dutch courtiers) saw that the union between 1101-
land and Belgium was for ever severed, and that the
retention of the latter by the lute King of the Ne-.
therlands could no longer be dreamt of. The feel-
ing of national animosity became from that moment
so exasperated by the cruelties mutually inflicted on
each other, or the atrocities which each ascribed to
the other, that any hope of bringing them again
under the same sceptre seemed for a long time, it
not for ever, cut oil'. - The quarrel between the Go-
. vernment of the Hague and the Brussels insurgents
from, that instant changed its character. It be-
came a Ivar of nation against nation, for final
conquest or unconditional
_submission, instead
of being a partial and temporary revolt of
turbulent subjects against their Sovereign, for
the redries of civil and, political giievunces. The
towns and the country—the citizens and the pea-
gritty of Belgium, rose upon their legitimate autho-
titles as foreign enemies; and all the civil and mili-
tary agents of the King were attacked, not because
;hey had abused their powers, but because they were
Dutch, or connected with Dutchmen. The strongest
fortresses fell into the hands of the insurgents, be-
cause garrisoned by troops composed of the two na-
tions, who differed on the political questions at
issue; and the ranks of the new Provisional Govern-
ment were filled by enthusiastic volunteers, who,
though they could not, perhaps, understand any
abstruse question of administration cr liberty, could
at least comprehend that.the Hollander had no busi-
ness to command south of his (likes and entails. The
Dutch Government should then frankly have de-
cided on the evacuation of Belgium ati its only ehanee
of recovering the cherncter, which it had lost, or•
• • rendering _.available the contingent claims of the
Prince of Orange to the new crown. The situa-
tion was, no doubt, embarrassing ; but some defini-
tive resolution ought to have been adopted. By
,evacuating Belgium entirely, the King would
have surrendered all the pledges which he held
in his possession for obtaining favourable terms
for but at the same time he would
have allayed that irritation which was the
greatest obstacle to their success. His Dutch
Majesty unfortunately could not take a decided
part, and has thus continued more and more
to darken the proapecti of his son and to embarrass
the task of his allies. Having given the Prince of

Orange a commission to administer the Belgic pro-
vinces, and his Boyd Highness having, in v►rtue of
that commission, entered into certain engagements
for the evacuation of Belglum, his Majesty recalls
his authority and annuls the acts of his son. If he
wished to retain the fortresses of Antwerp, Minn
tricht, and Venloo, for hostile purposes, or for open-
ing a way for the invasion of Belgium from Holland
or Prussia, We might have soma reason to dispute
the good sense of his son in proposing to surrender
them; but the time vas gone by for altering his
policy, or revising his proclamat►ons. The Belgic,
part of the garrison of Aomori) could not be relied
upon, and was, therefore, very properly disbanded ;
hut how could it be supposed that a small corps of
Dutch troops could long maintain such an extensive
fortress, not only against a besieging army with-
out the walls, but a hostile population within ?
The Dutch force, from the time -that it left Brits-
ash), on the 20tb.of kieptimber, had been continti.
any harrassed in its retreat, or in its stations, till it
reached the walls of Antwerp on the 24th or 250
ult. The. Belgic :volunteers arrived before that
place on the 26th. The townsmen within, in league
or in sympathy with their countrymen without, had
disarmed. a detachment of Dutch troops, after u

. -
considerable resistance and had made themselves
masters of several of their military pests. On the
27th ult. the 'contest between the inlinbitarits awl
the garrison was renewed, and the former succeeded
in opening one of the gates to' the Brussels valuta-
' leers. The troops appear then to have retreated to
the citadel, on a convention that they should not b.
molested In their occupation of that tomes* or'of
the arsenal. Though it ni,perhaps lacy to make en
army, under a regular syetern of discipline, observe
strictly, treaties, conventions,:or cvpittilatiOns; the
conduct of ardent volunteers, erne tv levies, cannot be
so rigorously calculated upon. However, this
may be, it is evidtmt from the admissions of
the Baleen* themselves, that the,' volunteers
were the aggressors, atter agreeing to a cessation
of lirtri, —"that they.broke faith. with the garrison,
tliot tbey. consequently, are answerable hit
all the etirlitirptere:eiriirtfieir aektiowledged perfidy,
M. 't/ii4epetlaux, the agent of 'ef3e PrnVisiffiral Uo
serriment, a person not likely ttl palliate the vices
of soldiers, or emblazon the errors of Belgic
volueteers, tells us " that the Doti+ troops were'
provisionally to occupy the citadel, and preserve the
arsenal, but that it appeared that about two o'clock
in the afternoon route votunteert attacked the latter
-past, and that then (Awl ii it till then) the Dutch
retreated to the citadel, end commenced the cm
nomule." The caliunities which followed areiaill ~
iet.
ing to every humane mind, and will probably be
lamented by the King of the Netherlands itti much

as by any other man in Europe. One of the most
flourishing cities on the continent has, in time of
general peace, suffered more from the troops of its
Sovereign than it did formerly from hostile armies.
But who was the cause of this terrible catastrophe ?
Not the King, who is called " a barbarian' on
account of this cannonader—nOt the General, whose
duty was to retain his post and to protect the lives
of his men at every hazard,--but the undisciplined
bands of volunteers, supported by an infuriated
rabble' regardless of all ties, and disposed to break
through all engagements) As the time draws near
for the meeting of the National Congress, the
Provisional Government has not only been
exerting greater activity and vigour to free the
country from its enemies, but to prepare for it the
project of a new Constitution. A copy of this Char-
ter, sutkiect, of course, to the revision of the Con-
gress, is published in the Brussels Papers of the
29th and :19th ult. Projects of this kind have of.
late been so commonly manufactured, that any
school boy, tolerably acquainted with such lore,
could fabricate one in a forenoon. The present at-
tempt embodies of course all the approved doctrines
on free government, and is probably neither better
nor worse than the great majority of such constitu-
tional sketches. Its most striking characteristic,
after what we know of the republican notions of
M. de Potter, is its declaration in favour of an here-
ditary monarchy, with a hereditary chamber of
nobility. If adopted by the approaching National
Congress, the Belgians will only have to call in the
Prince of Orange to complete their political hierarchy,
and reconcile themselves to the regular Govern-
ments of Europe. Many of the articles of this pro-
ject (which, by the way, is about twice as long as
the French Charter) will no doubt be modified in
passing through the hands of the national represere
tatives; but others are nearly the same es in their
present fundamental law. The most striking inno-
vations are the establishment of direct election,
Ministerial responsibility, and the restoration of jury
trial.— Times.

A pamphlet has just been published on the sub-
ject of Parliamentary Reform, in the shape of " a
Letter to Henry Brougham, Esq.," which deserves
the serious attention not of that gentleman only,
but of the Legislature, and of the country. Some
of its•conclusions are, indeed, sufficiently startling,
and others of a nature in which we cannot join ;
but it exposes, with great accuracy and attention to
facts, the evils of the present state of the repre-
sentation, and proves to demonstration that what-
ever that state may be, it is one which was never
contemplated or intended at the time when the
franchises were bestowed upon our different cities
and boroughs.
" The point," says the author of the letter, in ad.
dressing Mr. Brougham, "to which you have directe.l
your attention in the existing system is, after all, only a
sin of omission. It is a defect, and nothing more. And
defects, though not to be disregarded, are sometimes corn.
paratively harmless. Sins of commission, on the contrary,
—the workings of venality and profligacy—can never be
harmless. These, if suffered to remain in the system, are
vastly more hurtful and injurious than a thousand defects.
Were the number of large towns which are without re-
presentatives, twice as great as it is ;—were Norwich, and
Leicester, and Bristol, and York, all unfranchised,—etill,
were all the remaining open boroughs in the kingdom
freed from bribery, and rendered the scenes of pure and
free elections, we should have a far better and a far more
useful Parliament than any of modern times ; and Leeds,
and Manchester, and Birmingham, though continuing un-
represented, would speedily feel the beneficial influence of
the change. 'While, on the other hand, if Manchester
and Sheffield, and Leeds, and Birmingham, be all supplied
with Representatives, while the profligacy of a hundrsd
other boroughs remains without correction—small indeed
will be the eubsiLintial public benefit derived from the
addition.

" And if the removal of this great positive evil he, on
the other hand, more important than the cure of a nega-
tiVe evil of defect,•—it is, I fully believe, on the other, quite
as easy a task for the band of the statesman. The oppo-
sition to the remedy proposed cannot, in either case, be at
all formidable. If no solid reason can be opposed to the
enfranchisement of the great unrepresented towns,—still
lest can any plea or defence be offered in defence of that
system of notorious bribery which now reigns in nearly
all our open boroughs. All that concerns the originator
of a remedy in either case is, to see that in the measure he
proposes, be introduces nothing, nonessential in itself,
which may he used to defeat the proposition. Let his plan,
well matured in all its parts, contain nothing bearing a
semblance of injustice to any individual. Let the sup.
pressiou of profligacy, aril the putting an end to those
enormous expenses which at present belong to borough
elections, be the only object, and it will be difficult to frame
even a decent pretence fur opposition to such a plan,"

Of the origiuul intent of the Charters the author
observes--

'0 Unquestionably, it was meant that the inhabitants of
the place so chartered should elect for themselves repre•
eentatives in Parliament. It was Hot, however, intended
that this should be ►lone by an universal-suffrage scheme.
Nothing can be plainer than that the mere day-labourer,
uneducated,. anti ignorant of all political doctrines, and
also necessarily exposed to the influence of his employer,
was intentionally left out in conferring this important fran-
chise. Nothing can be more clear than that this class was
passed over, in bestowing the right of election. The
franchise is always found to be vested, distinctly, in
seine defined and ss•lect class of the inhabitants—in the
freemen, or the free burgesses, or the free barons, of the
place so chartered.---clearly showing, that it was intended
to place the elective power• in the hands of the middling
classes of each town. This would have been more effec-
tually done by enfranchising all who were assessed upon a
certain value to the poor-rate ; but these charters were
given before the poor-rate book wart brought into use ; and
therefore the only means that then existed were adopted,
of confining the franchise within the desired limits. Oc-
casional residents in these boroughs were not meant to be
included,—therefore it was stipulated, that the elector
should have acquired his freedom, which generally ren-
dered a certain servitude necessary, and ensured his being
a lona fide inhabitant and denizen of the town. The
labourers of the place were not contemplated,..--and there-
fore, for it seetuld reason the franchise was made to at-
' company the freedom ; the princiid object of obtaining
which, at that period, was to enable the poseeeeer to be-
come a reaSter-trader, and to do business on hii own
ac-
cotunt."

Of the mode in which the system now works we
find the following account :
" Matters of this-kind are best illustrated by example.
A deputation of keen eleetioneerers came up, on the last
occasion, from Barnstaple, to search for two candidates
who were willing to spend some money, and also for
voters, either in existence, or who might lie manuc4c.
mud. Having found their candidates, they also met with
a young man, whose employer I well know, whom, with
many others, they proposed to snake into a voter. Ue
had only completed his twenty-first year three days, when
he was carried down to that borough ; hie freedom granted
tai him, the cost being paid by the candidates; his whole
'espenees defrayed ; and be- wu sent hack to town with
from 101. to rd. clear profit. He had never before seen
Barnstaple, nor had lie any interest in the place, or any
knowledge of the candidates or their principles. Whet,
then, was his claim to become an elector of that borough?
Vesely this, that his father had possessed the freedom,
and that his descent, therefore, entitled him to he ad-
mitted to it. Anil this was no solitary ease. Scores of
similar votes were manufactured in that very plies, on
that same occasion ; and many thogsantle in the various
open boroughs similarly circumstanced.
" This system is making the most rapid strides; indeed
it must 40 so. This Barnataple youth might be only one
of many sons, all ennally entitled ; And each of them con.
ferring the same right upon all his male offspring. Thus,
at Mahlon, -in Ewe, several thousand wrong thins enti-
tled, have been admitted to their freedom, and become
legal voters, w itbin the last few years. And so, in a
greater or less degree, at all other places which have been
of late contested.

" Nothing can be plainer than that voters thus made,
will he, in a great majority of c►see, venal voters,--men
whose only object and purpose is to make money by their
franchi►e. -Thus, in July les►, a reprobate youth assaulted
his father, and
,was taken hefOre a London Magistrate, to
whom his defence. was, that, his father bed refused to take
,the necessary steps to obtain for him the freedom of Ito-
Chester, which freedom, be said, '‘ would be worth sixty
pounds,to him." Why worth sixty pounds? Because he
would be able, every fifth ur sixth year, to plunder some
East India Director or Lord of the A.dmiralty of liOt. or
$Ol.-fer his vote, 'wider the-name, of course, of, expenses.
And this youth, too„Wati not .a Rochester inalh-.be was
London journeyman, totally unacquainted With the wants
and unconcerned in the interests of tl►at town. But yet,
by the law, he was rutitle►i to be made an elector of Ro-

chester, while scores of respectable inhabitants of that
place, supporting its trade, bearing its burdens, and inte-
rested in its welfare, bad no legal china to be admitted to
that franchise.

" The natural consequence of the elective power being
thrown into the hands of this class of men is now begin•
fling to be clearly seen. Statutes against bribery may be
multiplied ad infinitum, but as long as nine-tenths of the
voters consist of labourers and mechanics, who come to
the poll without a ►overeign that they can call their own
—and as long as candidates and their agents are found to
slip into their hands bank-notes for 101. or 201.,—50 lung,
in defiance of five hundred anti-bribery statutes, will the
most extensive venality flourish. I passed through several
boroughs, at the period of the late election, and heard
every where the same open confession of the proceedings
then going on. At Nottingham, one gentleman confessed
to having paid away, in the election of 1826, above
3,000/, in bribery in a single day. At Leicester, the
voters, in anticipation of a contest, expressed their hope
that the price of votes might rise to 101., as they said it
commonly did, if the struggle was severe. At Hull, one
of the sitting Members dared not appear before his con-
stituents—not for any defalcation of duty in Parliament,
but because he had not paid " the polling money" for the
last election. At Shrewsbury, and at Maidstone, and at
Eve'hatn, and at Bristol, the same kind of language
showed clearly that the price of votes was in every case
the prevailing idea in every elector's mind."

These facts are as notorious as the sun at noon-
day—Corruption in the shape of money, or money's
worth, is universal, and the question no longer is,
not, what it ought always to have been " what are
the principles and integrity of the candidate" for
Parliamentary honours, but what influence does be
possess—what places has he to give away—how
much money can he afford to spend ?—Arid what
is the consequence ? Why, that the interests of
individuals and districts are attended to, but not
the interests of the public—that large and unne-
cessary public establishments are kept up which
might be dispensed with—that the people are
heavily taxed, and the public income voted away,
night after night, without that rigid inquiry
into the uses of, or necessity for, it which ought
to be instituted by the representatives of the
people. Proofs of these facts lie thick in all
directions, and we do not in consequence know a
more imperious duty on the part of the Legislature
than that of putting an end to such a state of things,
pregnant with so much evil, by a thorough reform
of the Commons House of Parliament—we do not
mean a reform including universal suffrage, the
ballot, and annual Parliaments, but such a reform as
will give to the middling classes of society a share
in the election of those who saddle them with
taxes, and have the direction of their use. Such a
reform would strengthen the bulwarks of the Con.
stitution—satisfy every rational person, and keep at
a distance from the country those deplorable intestine
divisions to which the nations of the Continent are
now a prey; but we repeat it, nothing less will be
of any use, or save the country in the long run from
similar visitations.—Morning Advertiser.
Gregory King, who took such pains to obtain art
accurate acquaintance with the resources of this
country, compares England, France, and Holland,
with respect to income and taxation, at the two
periods of 1688 and 1695. In 1688 the taxation
of the English was per head 7s. 3d,, that of the
French 155., that of the Dutch, 21. 3s. Rd. On
the other hand, the Englishman consumed to the
value of 71.41., the Frenchman, 51. Os. 9d., and the
Dutchman 51. Already, in 1695, the Englishman
was close on the Frenchman in point of taxation.—
The English paid in taxes 1/. 4s. per head, the
French 1/. .55., and the Dutch 3/. Is. 7d. The
Englishman consumed 71. 35., the Frenchman
4/. 18s. 2d., and the Dutchman 41. 13s. 9d. The
industry of this country hits made an astonishing
progress since that time, and resources of which
our forefathers could hardly have dreamt have been
developed. But, unfortunately, taxation has more
than kept pace with our resources. An extravagant
expenditure is the great disease of the country.—
There are no means of checking that expenditure,
for the body which ought to controul it is interested
in its increase. It is observed by an able writer,
that " Property is the machinery by which self-
interest is worked. It is a collection of the neces-
saries, conveniences, and luxuries, for human use;
und, as long as mankind are subject to their pre-
sent wants, desires, and vanities, those who possess
property must possess the means of influencing the
conduct and commanding the services of those
who have none. Hence the laws which mono•
polize property, monopolize power also ; hence
the direction which the laws give to the de-
scent of property, the freedom or restraint with
which they admit of its transfer or sale, influence
the nature of Government." The above may serve
as a key to the Government of this country. The
laws by which the descent of property is regulated,
give to a comparatively small number of individuals,
possessed of large properties relatively, which,
however, form but a small part of the aggregate
property of the country, the power of making that
aggregate property subservient to their views,
through the instrumentality of taxation. The great
body of owners of property are unable to help
themselves. The small number of individuals name
majority of the body which has the regulation
of taxation. The author of a Letter to Henry
Urougham, Esq. on the present state of the English
Representation, tells us, what is very true, that—
" Our modern corruptions of the Constitution have
thrown the power into the hands of those who cannot he
independent. Omitting (he says) from our calculations
the freeholders of the counties, and the 'lectors of London
and Westminster, it may be safely asserted that of the
whole remaining body of the electors of England three-
fourths are of the labouring class is. And it may with
equal truth and safety be asserted, that nearly the whole
of these three-fourth,' are in some way or other bribed.
Let any man who doubts this fact inquire in any of the
large boroughs as to the ordinary practice. Let hint amk
at Nottingham, or at Leicester, or at Hull, or at Evesham,
or at Shrewsbury, or at Warwick, or ut Stafford, or at
Bristol, or at Malden, or at Maidstone, or at Liverpool;
and he will find that in every instance bribes are uniformly
paid to all who will accept them ; in other words, to all the
voters who are of the labouring classes. But will not com-
mon sense tell us, without inquiry into the facts of the case,
that matters must always take this course? How run a
poor man vote independently ? A seat in Parliament is
An object so coveted, that the strongest efforts are always
used to gain it. And when these efforts are brought to
hear upon the day labourer, or the mechanic toiling his
fourteen hours for the present wages of the weaver, how
are they to be resisted ? First, there is his landlord—he
who ean tura his family into the street ; then there is his
einployer—he who can deprive his family of bread t and
if these cannot be efficiently used, then there is the ten
pound note to a man who has not five shillings in the
world, and whose rent-day, perhaps, or his wife's confine-
ment, is near at hand."

All this is very true. But all this is better known
to those who have the power than to others. They.
will not, with their will, consent to abandon the ad-
vantage the/ have. Parliament is the last place to
think of. The first point is, that the mass of the
owners of property ss ho have an interest directly at
variance with that of those who mune the majority
of Parliament, 'should bestir themselves, The sub-
stantial power is with them, and when they are seen
to be in earnest, Parliament, in its prudence, may
deem it necessary to attend.to them. Tril a demon-
stration is made, Parliament assuredly will not yield
one jot. We hold all plans of reform in the present
stage of the business as comparatively unimportant.
Give us only such a franchise as shall represent the
mass of property, and will undertake to obtain Au-
thor improvements in time. As was well observed
by a contemporary (the Scotsman), the principle of
a Government determines its conduct. At present
the conduct of the Government must be oligarchical.
Let property in the mass have the ascendancy, and
the new principle will gradually work its .way to
perfection,—Morning chronicle.

We can, an the best authority, inform the public
of this country, and more particularly
with a view
to caution the people of Brussels, and the Belgians
generally, that the author of various calumnies which
have appeared in the columns of certain of our
public prints, reflecting on the conduct and character,
and calculated to injure the- cause of the Belgium!'
in the eyes of Europe, is one Mitchell, who received
his education in Germany, and became a follower

of the Napoleon School, and who, latterly, has
edited the News from Howe (an English news-
paper), which appeared three times a week at Bros-
s s.-2116:71 ing Chronicle.
This day the first Parliament of the new reign
will meet : and circumstances both of an external
and internal nature combine to give it an interest
seldom, if ever, accompanying the same event. The
time present generally appears to be on some ac-
counts the most important; and this is too often
magnified by public writers in a way which events
do not justify. The era at which we, however, are
now arrived may, without any hyperbole, receive
this designation. Never, we believe—not excepting
even the period of the Revolution—was there one
at which the British Legislature were called toge-
ther under circumstances so truly important as those
which must now arrest its attention. Our next
publication will inform our readers, in the King's
Speech, what the view is which Ministers take of
our situation—a situation, the awkwardness and
untowardness of which have not been a little en-
hanced by their own blindness and indifference here-
tofore to the signs of coming danger. Most gladly
shall we hail the Duke of Wellington if he now
turns out to be the man who can rescue the country
from her present unenviable state. But we doubt
it—for his own honour we doubt it; for, if the
Duke possesses the skill or the secret of our national
deliverance, he would have exerted it long ago, be-
fore the danger arrived at its present appalling
height. Ou the other hand, if his Grace is really
unequal to the task, how can he justify to himself
the occupation of a station for which, both by anti-
cipation and subsequent actual experience, he has
found himself unfit ? At any rate, affairs have :ar-
rived tat a crisis on which the Legislature can no
longer tamely look. Those whom the country have
so recently and solemnly deputed to guard their in-
terests will be highlr criminal indeed if they do not
wring from the Ministry an immediate attention to
the people's complaints, and a speedy redress of
their grievances. No one need despair of the coun-
try, or of seeing its prosperity and tranquillity
speedily restored, if the task is set about Tromp tly
and in earnest. Those who look upon Downing-
street as their world, are never likely either to dis-
cover the disease, or understand the remedy. But
even the most purblind of these must now be com-
pelled to look abroad beyond the narrow confines of
their selfish territory; and, looking abroad, they
must see, partly of their own creating, tokens which
even self-preservation must teach them no longer to
despise.—Morning Herald.
Although a reduction in the Civil List, like every
other practicable reduction in the expellees of Go-
vernment, will be acceptable to the country, yet it
can be of little avail in diminishing the pressure of
taxation without reductions of a still more important
and extensive nature. Though the English people
justly feel indignant at the vast sums of money that
are taken out of the revenues of an over•taxed na-
tion to be lavished on sinecurists, pluralists, and
other pampered favourites of power by whom it is
not fairly earned, they are not disposed to be parsi-
monious towards their Sovereign. They know
that, though the expenditure of a King should not
be extravagant, yet the Royal establishment should
be kept up on a scale becoming the grandeur and
dignity of the office. But indeed the whole of the
Civil List forms but rc small portion of the public
expenditure which the taxes are raised to defray;
and that every person will admit who is aware that
nearly thirty times the amount of the sum settled
by Parliament on the King, and out of which so
many pensions are paid, is required to pay the inte-
rest of the national debt—the price of our past am-
bition for military glory. It is true the Civil List
need not be by any means so high even as the pro-
posed reduction will leave it if the Crown lands had
been properly managed, and we hope this subject
of the Crown lands will be rigidly investigated in
the present Session of Parliament. The manage-
ment of those lands has been proved to be in
farmer years a prolific source of the most dis-
graceful jobs, by which the Crown and the
people were defrauded; what it is now, in other
hands, remains to be seen, and we shall be glad if,
upon an inquiry such as the importance of the subs
ject demands, it shall appear that the system now
adopted can, in every respect, be advantageously
contrasted with that which hail formerly prevailed.
The full profit which those lands can fairly return
ought to be ascertained by Parliament, with a view
of seeing whether they may not be made available
in the great work of the reduction of taxation. We
know that in several of the minor departments of
Government a rigid system of retrenchment has
been carried, or is about to be carried, into effect ;
but we wish to see the pruning-knife of reform ap-
plied to the loftier and more luxuriant branches of
State patronage. While the nation grudges not
Fair remuneration to hard-working men, it is not
equally satisfied to ace the wealth of the State la-
vished upon those who are not labourers in the vine-
yard. The catalogue of luxurious idlers who fatten
upon the taxes of the country must be cut down.—
Any plan of retrenchment which does not touch the
sinecures will not be satisfactory. Will Parliament
reduce the income of the King, and not touch the
sinecure salaries of such men as Lord Ellenborough
and Lord Arden ? If so, the country will hare
great reason to complain. It is a grievous thing that
the productive industry of the many should be op-
pressively taxed to support the pampered idleness of
at few. It may, indeed, be said that sinecurists
have a " vested interest" in the portion of the
public spoils which they enjoy—but, as it is money
received without what is legally called a considers-
don, we presume the contract comes under the de-
scription of what lawyers mean by a nudunt pactunt,
which is null and void. At all events, if it have
any law on its side, it must yield to a still more
of public necessity—for not idly
powerfulltsitbti ehrraidth,‘a:Saltas populi suprema eat lex."
Faith has been frequently broken with the tax-
pay t rs,
inasmuch as taxes have been kept on long
after the period of time, or the happening of circum-
stances, to which they were originally limited—as,
for nstmee, the window tax. Indeed the whole of
the assessed taxes were originally laid on es war
i
taxes, and yet we see them still enforced as rigidly
as ever in the fifteenth year of peace ! We are
inclined to believe, however, that our stutes-
6mtrenalaYill find the productive industry of the
country
cannot rally from its present state of
de-
pression, sinless relieved by the repeal of the as-
sessed taxes; but, as we are advocates for keeping
faith with the public creditor an long as the country
is not reduced to absolute insolvency, we think it
may be found necessary to impose another tax iii
their place, which tax must be, as the fairest and
least oppressive of all, u property tax. But first we
would insist upon the Government carrying into
execution a plan of real retrenchment and economy,
by abolishing all useless offices and all sinecure ap-
pointments, that no other taxes may be retained or
imposed than dime which are absolutely requisite
to defray the just and necessary expenses of the
State.—Morning Herald.

On Saturday morning the celebrated female
elephant, 'Mademoiselle Jeck, who, since her perform-
ances at the Adelphi Theatre, has been makiog a tour in
the'provinces, entered the London Docks, and embarked
on board the Ontario New York packet, bound fur
America, where she is engaged to give the Yankee. a
taste of her quality. The sagacious beast, previous to
going on board, tried the strength of the platform erected
from the quay' to the vessel, by first placing one foot upon
the boards, and striking against them. She then placed
another foot on the platform, pressed it, and, after care-
fully examining both sides of the wooden erection for
several minute*, finding all secure, boldly. marched for-
ward, and took up her quarters in a *pactoos apartment
on deck, made for her reception. Her Siamese ladyship
afterwards amused the passengers by partaking of biscuits
end grog with the sailors ; and, at eight o'clock, the ship
kit the dock, and, with the huge elephant, was towed
down the river by a snowier. An iromenie concourse of
persons were assembled in boats on the Thames to witness
Mademoiselle's departure.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, Nov. I.
WELSH V. STRACEIAN AND OTHERS.

This was an action by Mr. Thomas Welsh, for-
merly of the Argyll-rooms establishment, against the
assignees of Mr. Rowland Stephenson, to recover
the value of certain pictures which bud been depo-
sited for safe custody with Mr. R. Stephenson in
1823, on the occasion of the plaintiff's going to the
Continent in that year.

Mr. BROUGHAM Stated the plaintiff's ease, and
called witnesses to prove that the plaintiff was the
owner of the pictures, amongst which were Harlow's
celebrated picture of the iambic Family, Mr. Kean,
in Sir Giles Overreach, Ferren, Jones, and Farley,
in the Clandestine Marriage, and Miss O'Neill, in
Constance; and that they had been deposited with
Stephenson, who ,had acknowledged from time to
time, up to within a short period before he quitted
the country, that they were the plaintiff's property.
Amongst the witnesses called was a pupil of the late
Mr. Harlow, who stated that the plaintiff employed
Mr. Harlow to paint the picture of the Kemble fa-
mily, and that it was finished and paid for in 1817.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL, for the defendants,
admitted that the case had been made out with re-
spect
,to the principal pictures, and it was agreed
that a verdict should be taken for the damages laid
in the declaration; to be reduced to nominal da-
mages on the delivery up of all the pictures except
those two.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

John Smith, who was some days ago brought
before Sit' P. LAURIE, charged with having robbed
numbers of public-houses, was examined again. It
was generally supposed that it would be matter of
great difficulty to make out a ease against him, as
is no instance except one had he ever been appre-
hended with any of the stolen property in his pos-
session. Very much, however, to the satisfaction
of the licensed victuallers whom he had visited for
the purpose of stripping their beds, this one excep-
tion was forthcoming on the day it was feared the
prisoner would have been discharged.
Mrs. Lee, the owner of the Coopers' Arms pub-
lic•house, Tower.hill, stated, that, on the 12th of
August, the prisoner walked into her house and en-
gaged a bed for the night, and paid for it. He thmt
went out, saying it was possible he might not return,
but he did return, and went to bed. At about five
o'clock in the morning witness heard a noise in the
next room, in which one of the other lodgers slept,
and she tapped at the wainscot, immediately after
which she heard a scuffle on the stairs,

A man, named Necker, stated, that he heard a
tapping at the wainscot, and put his hand over to
the chair for his watch, to see whether it was time
to rise. He was surprised to find that the watch
was gone, and that some silver had also been taken
out of his pocket. He started up, and going to the
door, which was standing open, saw the prisoner
sneaking down stairs, seized him by the collar, and
accused him of the robbery. " Here it is," said
the prisoner, returning the watch and money.
" Don't say a word about it. It is all right."—
Witness, thinking that it was impossible for the pri-
soner to get out of the house, went up stairs to put
on his trousers; but the prisoner slipped out at a
window and escaped.—Fully committed for trial.

Several other licensed victuallers recognized the
prisoner as a customer who paid his shilling, ac-
cording to custom, for a pair of sheets, and departed
early in the morning.