The Sun.
London, England, 1839-11-18 00:00:00

t 'N
EVE N TNG ED IT
r had expired of the period allotted by Parli(m9o qe.
experiment of a penny postage, a Treastiry4iinlit'
is ucd for the establishment, not of a pe fi "Ari
hut of a jburpenny one! to take effect on lia:"
December next. Now, in this minute, prepg.
professes to be with the object of effecting " sfr s kJ*. 14
duction of postage as will be a material relief to the ;
public," one would hardly have expected to find any pro-
position for increased taxation on the conveyance of
letters ; and yet such a proposition is contained in
the minute, and the increase suggested is to a very
considerable extent. This we take to be little better
than a fraud upon the Act of Parliament, the pream-
ble of which plainly points at reduction, not increase,
of the existing charges for postage. We shall pro-
ceed to show, by references to the minute itself, and
to the law as it at present exists, in what instances
an increased postage is about to be established. The
minute proposes that " general post letters shall be '
charged by weight, as follows :
" 1. Letters not exceeding half an ounce, one postage ;
Ditto one ounce, two postages ;
Ditto two ounces, four postages ;
Ditto three ounces, six postages ;
and so on, adding two postages for every ounce up to 16
ounces, beyond which no packet sabject to postage shall
be received. All single postage rates between places
within the United Kingdom, which ~ow exceeds 4d.,
shall be reduced to that sum ; inferior rates to remain
undisturbed, but the letters to be charged by weight."
The Postage Duties Act of 1837 provides, that a
letter consisting of a sheet or single piece of ,caper, un-
der the weight of one ounce shall be conveyed to a dis-
tance of not exceeding 15 miles from the post-office
where the letter shall be put in for the charge ,of four-
pence. Now, without calling in aid of our observations
the numerous places within that limit holding constant
communication with the metropolis, we present to the
view of our readers the following- list of towns placed
within the distance of 15 miles from each other, the in-.
habitants of which respectively !told very consicierablo
intercourse for purposes of trade or otherwise :--
Birmingham and Dudley BirminghanT and Walsall
Birmingham and Stourbridge WolverharmAcn and Walsall
Coventry and Warwick Stone and Ne:vcastle-under-
Lyne
Mar:chester and Stockport Manchester and Rot 'Mae
Manchester and Bolton Bolton and Blackburn
S.-eel:l,lft and Macclesfield Warrington and Prescot
Wigan and Chorley Warrington and Wigan
Leeds and Wakefield Leeds and Bradford
Huddersfield and Wakefield Huddersfield and Halifax
Wakefield and Pontefract Newark and Grantham
Stamford and Market Deeping Sheffield and Chesterfield
Sheffield and Barnsley Durham and Sunderland
Newcastle and Tynewouth Sunderland and North Shiel (Is
Gloucester and CLeltenham Gloucester and Stroud
BridAewater and Taunton Bath and Bristol
Reading and Maidenhead Bury St. Edmund's and New-
market
Winchester and Southampton Cluster and Hawarden.
Under the existing law, the inhabitants of these and
many other towns can comteunicate by letter, of any
weight short of one ounce, at a cluirp of fourpence. The
Treasury minute proposes two postages, or eightpence,
for any weight between half an ounce awe An ounce ; and
thus an additional tax of nearly 100 per cent. would be
imposed by part of a measure professing to effect " such
a reduction of postage as will be a material relief to the
public." There is another provision in the minute which
eould have a similar, though not precisely the same,
effect, but which is, we believe, warranted by the Act
of last Session. As the law now stands, a packet
now exceeding four ounces may be sent by the two-
penny post. The minute provides that
" all letters
not exceeding half an ounce, provided the postage be
pre-paid, shall be charged one pennybut it leaves
persors who do not pay beforehand their present privi-
lege of sending eight half-ounces for twopence—a red; u- ,
lation which appears at first sight not a little inconsise
tent, but which, we presume, has been int:
educed with
the view of encouraging the transmission through the
Post-office of circulars, tradesmen's bills, and invil'ati?Ds
to tea parties, as well as for the purpose of introducOg
the half-ounce regulation into the London district post,
Having thus exhibited some of the proposed changes
in postage taxation, we shall, in conclusion, express
our opinion, that if the Ministers be not prepared at
once, during the limited period allowed for the pm- i!
pose, to make experiment of " the boon" for granting
which they have been bapraised by interested re- t;
viewers, and by equally interested tavern orators ; but
if, on the contrary, they have become alarmed at those
probable effects upon the revenue of their own measure,
which chiefly excited Conservative opposition to it, it
will be fur more just, as regards the inhabitants of towns
circumstanced as those in our list, ay, and far more poli-
tic, too, as regards the probable diminution of the tu?-
rnitted railway competition with the Post Office, to ins. •
graft the scheme of charge by weight upon the scale
adopted. as we find in the year 1765, but making four-
pence
the maximum charge. The rates of postage for !
letters of halt an ounce weight would then stand this :
For not exceeding 15 miles
For. not exceeding 30 miles
For not exceeding 80 miles .. ..... 3d.
And for all other distances 4d.

(From the Globe.)
A verbosa et grandis epistola of the illustrious ob-
scure Mr. Oastler appears in the columns of the
Standard last evening, and furnishes the worthy topic
of its first leading article. We shall say nothing per
sonally of this individual ; because he is about to take
his trial, as having been one of the mouth-pieces of that
sedition which the scribes of the Tory party blew into
flame for electioneerinc, ends—and then threw away
the bellows. There is, however, a tenacity about the
Standard, dear to the zealots but obnoxious to the po-
liticians of its own party, which forbids it ever to have
quite done with an old pair of bellows which has ever
made a blaze amongst the " Tory de nocracy." Even
Cobbett was amotlgst the " white-headed boys" of
the Standard, because of his inexhaustible Iliad of
abusive reiteration. Any one possessed of such a fund,
and who will appropriate some of it to abuse of the
Whigs—although lie may devote the rest to abuse of Peel,
and the moderate Tories—will keep a corner in the heart
of the Standard. Thus Mr. Bronterre O'Brien and Mr.
Oastler continue to figure amongst its firm geniuses and
respectable gentlemen, long after every one else has done
with them ; and if the Rev. Mr. Stepheas does not take
rank with its sound divines, it is because its theological
circle is filled already by the Greggs and O'Sullivans ;
and because the first-named personage has become too
moderate lately to be fit company as a " boon-
companion," for clerical Tcryism. Excess of the
vituperative, and dearth of the reasoning faculty,
are the sole essential requisites to the fa.eour of
getatineToryism. Assumption and abuse have b en called
the " logic of power." They are no less the logic of
powerlessness—the resort of " desperate and degraded
factions." There is nothing more natural than that
those of the organs of Toryism who have the sort of
tenacity which the Standard has, of tools that have once
served its turn, should still cling to their old elcetioneer-
ing league with the " physical force" fraternity.
(From the Courier,)

The Proclamation of Governor-General Thomson on
his landing at Quebec, and assumption of the Go-
vernment, which will be found esewhere, although
no pr,cisc indications can be drawn from it of the
line of policy to be followed under his administra-
fon with reference to either of the Canadas, and so
far, therefore, rather vague in its general purport,
is cot however without interest, and u ill be perused
pith satisfaction rather then otherwise. The re-
condiation of " existing differences," and the remedy
of '' proved grievances," are the leading and the most.
delicate points of his mission, which, if undertaken
with judgment and firmness, equal to the candour and
moderation with which they are mien ed tr, there
is reason to hope may be crowned with the success„
of which in any event they would be deserv-
ing. Neither in the language nor in the tone
of this document do we perceive any trace of
that foregone conclusion of the adoption of that
" Durham" policy which, rather extra officiously it
would seem, had been announced on his behalf by parties
here understood to represent the opinions of that No-
bleman. From the determination expressed on the
contrary, in the concluding paragraph, to " uphold
the rights of the Crown," it may fairly be in-
ferred that the scheme, fanciful as subversive,
of " responsible (Colonial) government" propounded
first by Mackenzie, and subsequently embodied in the
Report of Lord Durham, will be and is thrown over-
board at once. His Lordship himself has lately partly
denied and separated himself from the gross absurdity
justly chargeable upon him ; nevertheless, although
the report itself may be, as he informs, us the work of
other he, of course, can alone be answerable
for
a
document in all its bearings, to which the sanc-
hands ,
sanc-
tion of his name was lent and not formally retracted as
as a whole,

(From the Standard.)
A Ministerial journal gives this morning the com-
fortable assurance that " the state of South
Wales demands serious attention ;" this we do not
doubt ; but a little serious attention applied some
months ago, would have rendered it less necessary
at present. The ominous hint is, however,
we suspect, from the accompanying observations, nothing
more than a pioneer working to make room for the rural
police project. We are told " that soldiers cannot be fairly
entrusted with the preservation of order throughout the
country ;:small detachments are exposed to the danger of
being tampered with." The proof of this danger is the
evidence of some soldiers of the 45th, as to propositions
made to them by the Chartists, to which propositions
the faithful and gallant men replied by saying
" that they would do their duty," and, if or-
dered, fire upon the Chartists, and it is known
that they kept their words—so little success had
the Chartists in tampering with the military. But
would the enemies of order be necessarily as unsuc-
withruralpomliocreemferne,qutoenstalaicnidt
ces'si.l in tampering
whom they would have necessarily
less observed opportunities. It is idle, however, to say
more upon this subject. What could' an imperfectly-
disciplined police force have done at Newport ? No-
thing. In all such cases of extensive insurrection the
military must be calied its sooner or later, and the sooner
the better for the interests of order and humanity.

Lord and Lady Rolle are entertaining company
at Bicten, in Devonshire.