The Sun.
London, England, 1830-04-28 00:00:00

Dowager of - Bavaria, with the Princess Mary, her
daughter, arrived here yesterday from Munich, on a
visit to her mother, the Alargravine Amelia.
The Grand Duke has appointed Several AMbassadors
Extraordinary to different Courts, to announce his ac-
cession to the Government, and to return the Orders for-
merly given to the late Grand Duke Louis,- viz. Baron
Von Birckheim, to Paris; Lieut.-General Baron Von
Stockhorn, to Stuttgard, Munich, and Vienna ; General
Freystedt, to Darmstadt, Weimar, Berlin, St. Peters-
burgh, Stockholm, and Copenhagen ; Prince Constantine
Von Salm, to the Hague and London. They have all set
out for their destinations.

It is stated in a Pamphlet, entitled, " Re-
marks upon the Revenue of Customs, " that
the attention of the higher Fiscal Authorities
has lately been engaged in the revision of the
present table of duties, with a view to effect sim-
plification, not only as respects the description
or denomination of articles, but also the present
amount of duties. We are not able to say upon
what authority this assertion is made, but we
are quite sure that nothing can be more desir-
able than a revision of the nature alluded to.

It appears from Sir HENRY PARNELL'S
work on Financial Reform, that in 1827 the
rated articles on which the Customs' Duties
were received were 566 in number, whereof

IS articles produced each 100,000 and upwards,making 17.683,115
9 do.
9 do.
20 do.
510 do.
Miscellaneous unrated articles

Gross Revenue - 1V,814,300

Now it has been suggested that if the 510
articles, together with the unrated, were repealed,
the saving of the expense of collection would in
all probability counterbalance the loss of revenue,
and the public would be relieved from burthens
both vexatious in themselves and injurious to
our foreign commerce. As much revenue might
be collected from 56 as from 566 articles, and
there is, therefore, no good ground for upholding
the present system, but that of protection to our
own proluce and manufactures—a ground which
has long been demonstrated to be fallacious—
which is admitted to be so by the principles
upon which the Government have happily for
some years acted, and which cannot, therefore,
be allowed to be set up in defence of the mul-
tiplicity of duties, of which the writer of the
remarks on the Customs is an advocate.

The number of offices in this department
which have been abolished within the last ten
years have been 3,408, and the amount of sala-
ries saved to the public has been 259,7361.
This shows that the Government has not been
altogether asleep, and the relinquishment o f
Ministerial patronage, in order to secure the
promotion of officers according to their merit,
is also a highly creditable and beneficial change.
There are, however, many alterations still requi-
site, especially in that sinking fund, the preven-
tive service. The whole. expences of the pre-
ventive and coast guard establishments, which
are defrayed partly by the Revenue departments
and partly by the Navy and Ordnance, amount
to 700,0001. per annum, and this monstrous
sum not only fails in its end, the suppression of
smuggling, but affords a stimulus to immoral
and criminal practices,—renders the whole of the
population of our coasts more or less disorderly,
and perpetuates civil warfare, to prevent which
is the first duty of every association that calls
itself a Government.

The amount of the superannuation allowances
for this department, which, in 1828, was
189,2361. was reduced in 1829 to 180,1611.,
affording an earnest of the future diminution of
this charge. All persons appointed to situa-
tions since August, 1829, are by a Treasury
regulatiop of that date, bound to contribute to
the superannuation fund. This is perfectly fair
and just; but not so any measure of this kind,
having a retrospective effect. It ought not to
be forgotten that prior to the Act of 50th of
Geo. 111. c. 117, there existed a superannuation
fund in the department of the Customs, originally
created by a deduction of 6d. in the pound on
officers' salaries. This fund, at the time of
passing that Act, the first which awarded super-
annuations by law, amounted to 253,9771. Three
per Cents., which was sold out and transferred to
the general purposes of the Revenue, pursuant
to the 51st Gee. 111. c. 55. By this latter
Act the faith of Parliament was pledged to allow
the officers, having a vested interest in the
abolished fund, the full benefit of that interest, as
if the stock bad never been touched by Govern-
ment, and without any further deductions. The
House of Commons have expressed their opinion
Ito this effect over and over again, nor could any
injustice be more manifest than that of the
I superannuation measure which was rejected the
year before last by a large majority. We often
endeavour to stimulate the Government to re-
trenchment, but we will never urge economy at
the expence of good faith.

The Hampstead Heath Enclosure Bill, under
its old title of " Sir THOMAS WILSON'S
Estate Bill," found its way for the first time
into the House of Lords on Monday night, and
is to be read a second time this evening. Most
anxiously do we hope that it will encounter
among the Peers, the same prompt, the same
spirited opposition that it met with in the House
of Commons. In principle it is in the highest
degree defective, and as a precedent is equally
dangerous, for the very same grounds on which
it is contended that Hampstead Heath may be
built on and disfigured by an unsightly ac-
cumulation of bricks and mortar, will apply
with equal force to any other picturesque and