The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-23 00:00:00

THE DUTIES ON GRAIN.

A meeting was held yesterday, at the Corn
Exchange Subscription Rooms, Seething-lane, for
the purpose of considering the proposed alteration
in the levying of duties on grain from measure to
weight. Mr. W. S. Lindsay, M.P., occupied the
chair, and the attendance was very numerous.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the business, explained
that at the meeting previously held at the Baltic
Coffeehouse, it was determined that the freight
should be paid in future by the quarter, as hereto-
fore. It was also thought desirable that under these
circumstances the duties should be paid by weight,
and he communicated to the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, in forwarding him a report of the proceed-
ings of the meeting, that a deputation would be
happy to wait upon him to discuss the question at
any time he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer)
might think proper to appoint. The following day
the right hon. gentleman replied that he had re-
ferred the matter to the Commissioners of Customs,
and their report, he presumed, was favourable from
the communication he (the chairman) had received
from the Treasury, stating the matter would be con-
sieered, and requesting those interested to furnish
him with a table of the scale of duties proposed to
be substituted for those at present in operation, and
which must provide against any loss to the revenue.

Mr. COVENTRY said that the resolution he had to
propose was as follows That it is the opinion
of this meeting that the present system of charg-
ing the duties on grain is imperfect, and that it is
desirable that the same should be levied by weight
instead of measure." Formerly grain was sold en-
tirely by measure, but now it was almost entirely
sold by weight ; it had also been decided that freight
should be charged by weight, and it ought naturally
to follow that the duties should be levied in the same
way. By taking the duty by measure they paid
the larger amount on the inferior article, and in
addition to this the expense of measurement added
from 30 to 40 per cent. to the duty.
Mr. HUBBARD, M,P., said that he had been asked
to second the resolution, and he had hoped that
before doing so he should have heard the opinions
of some of the gentlemen present whose experience
and observation would have entitled their views to
considerable weight. The case, however, appeared
so remarkably clear, that it was hardly necessary
to offer anything in support of the statements already
put forth. This was one of the cases in which ex-
perience and practice had provided a remedy for an
existing grievance, and the freight being charged
by weight, and the sales being effected on the same
principle, no doubt the Government would see the
advantage of extending it to the levying of the
duty. At present, so far from the duty being
in harmony with the value of the article taxed,
in many cases the duty increased in an
inverse proportion to the value of the article ;
nor did this observation apply to one article
alone, but it referred to the various kinds of grain.
It was now proposed that one duty should be
levied on all kinds of grain, and that duty being
levied by weight would correct the inequalities of
which they now had a right to complain. Taking
the imports during the last year he found they had
been—

Quarters. lb.
Wheat
Barley
Oats
Beans 479,758 of 456
Peas
Rye 1,694 of 464
Maize
giving a total of 16,491,813 qrs., uprwihfictheiraednui/Yn
of £824,690 had been paid, and which,33B,
020 tons,
weight, would have amounteddtoat3,
48. 11d. and
the duty on which, being 14ev5i9e0,
being the same
ls. 3d., would realise £6d2er,
amount as was raisedu
They therefore proposed
per ton. ) could
to
form duty of ss.
offering to the Chancellor
heha d
muchf
e t(1h: simplifyerlEe.Hsretueuhhsrbeeeeznmuait
nreadr
sttea ecruo second_
system.b
diy
not anticipate any difficulty in carrying out this
arrangement, and
ing the resolution.
Mr. MITCHELL cordially supported the resolu-
tion, believing that the alteration would be certainly
beneficial, though it would not entirely remedy the
Na
they
teeneiti put complained.
led
evirrlsheofr:s.loiileui v
resolution
carried unani-
mously.
Mr. S.
RALLI proposed the appointment of a com-
mittee comprising several influential members of
the trade to consider a scheme to be laid before the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. He condemned a
proposition that hod been made in the matter by
Mr. Osborne to impose a duty of is. on 480114 of
wheat, 4001 b. of barley, and 3201 b, of oats, in lieu
of the present levy, and he (Mr. Ralli) further
expressed his disapproval of two other schemes that
that had been submitted, arguing that the ton being
the standard measure of the country ought to be
adopted as the basis.
Mr. RUSSELL, M.P., seconded the appointment
of the committee.
Mr. OSBORNE defended the proposition he had
made, and urged that the quarter having been
hitherto the measure by which all business had
been traneacted it was desirable that it talonl d he

There is a class of sayings in all mother tongues
to the effect that the worse leads and the better fol-
lows. In the mixed teams one sees abroad, while the
shaft horse is a colossua, the leader is a mule or an
ass. Accordingly, those terrible questions under
which acute politicians see "the point of the wedge,"
or " the snekL, in the grass," usually relate to the
unfortunate, the neglected, and the criminal. The
point of the wedge showed itself last night, happily
not yet at the very heart and core of the old British
oak, but in some of its sap and rotten wcod. " The
Prison Ministers Bill" is a proposition to appoint
and pay chaplains for other than Churca of England
prisoners when they are sufficiently numerous, and
after a severe debate it went through its second read-
ing with no very triumphant majority. Besides
pairs, 152 Liberals and Roman Catholics thought
it their duty to support Sir G. Grey, and a compact
phalanx of 122 ultra-Protestants voted against the
Bill. The majority is probably sufficient to carry
the Bill through the Lords, but the Division is close
enough to show how little real zeal there is for con-
sistency or fairness, or even the improvement of
criminals, when the least glimpse of a great horror has
once occupied the foul. In the abstract, and in the
simple and natural view of the case, the 3,000
Roman Catholics in our prisons and the 1,500 in
our convict establishments require spiritual care
quite as much as their Protestant fellow criminals,
and are too considerable a body to be passed over.
We are bound to do for the Roman Catholics just
what we do for the Protestants, not leaving it to
their choice whether they will receive pastoral visits
or not, but sending the chaplain to them, and leav-
ing upon their own heads the responsibility of re-
jecting him. So long as we confine our attention to
the poor wretch absolutely in our grasp, and shut
up body and soul from all other influences, we can-
not dispute that we must get at his conscience as best
we may. Every consideration of humanity and reli-
gion brings us to this point. We pride ourselves on
the care we take of the prisoner. We keep him warm,
sweet,and dry ; we sustain his spirits with plenty of
wholesome food ; we give him moderate work to
exercise and amuse him ; we cheer him with the
hope of release before his time, and flatter ourselves
that we send him out a wiser, and better, and
stronger, and happier man. We then compare our
prisons with those which Howard visited, and which
the old Bourbons kept up wherever they reigned.
The real difference is that our prisons sustain life,
and those prisons were only the plausible means of
a more cruel death than that of the scaffold. But
we cannot do all this without going a step further.
As we take the body under our care, so have we
taken the soul—the soul of the Papist as well as the
soul of the Protestant. This duty, too, we must
discharge on our own established and now national
principles of religious toleration and equality.
It is the fact of our having the entire charge of
these poor creatures that leaves us really little
choice in this question. No doubt that charge is
troublesome and disagreeable. It is much easier and
cheaper to shoot, to hang, or to starve criminals, or
to let them rot and forget them. Not only is it
easier, but in some places you must either destroy
the class, or be destroyed by them. We, on the
contrary, are undoubted masters, and can do what we
please with the criminal, only at a rather inconve-
nient cost and trouble. Such responsibility cannot
be discharged without doing all we can for the
souls whose ill-conditioned state has brought them
to this pass. The very utmost that could be said
in reply to these plain considerations last night
was that prisoners might have the priest if they
wished. This is as much as to say that the respon-
sibility of spiritual correction and improvement rests
on the prisoner, not on the authority which has put
him in prison, Yet we do not leave Protestant
prisoners to choose for themselves. We send them
the chaplain whether they wish it or no. Soldiers
are under our care, and, accordingly, we give them
Roman Catholic and Presbyterian as well as Church
of England chaplains. Being free, they can de-
mand chaplains of their own persuasion. The only
reason upon which we could refuse to prisoners
what we grant to soldiers is that they are not free
and are therefore at our mercy. But this is a plea
which the nation cannot entertain for a day. We
must do our best for these poor creatures. Nobody
pretends that they are best left alone, or that the
Church of England chaplain will have much chance
with them, or that it is even fair to give him either
the monopoly of access or the practical advantage
arising from being the authorised and paid official.
As a general rule nothing is well done that is not
paid for. The most zealous priest will flag before
long if his services are not acknowledged as services
usually are. Ho may be glad to see this prisoner
or that, if he can take his choice, but he will not
undertake all the Roman Catholics in a prison, with
all the variations of character and condition certain
The
answer
tthoethl.iaisbcigerur.taeyitateannodf
to be found in it. So, if the work is to be really
done, it must not be left to an unpaid amateur, do-
ing what he pleases because he pleases to do it. But
is not this the point of the wedge, and are not fur-
ther concessions certain to follow ? So thought 122
gentlemen last night, and a good many more, count-
ing the pairers. It must be admitted that one thing
leads to another, and as this measure is advocated
as a supplement of existing arrangements, so it will
in its turn be the basis of further requirements. If
we provide chaplains in prisons for men hardened
in crime, and so far past gentle influences, whY
yet
for the Irish poor in this country, who are not
in so hopeless a state ?
is that the Roman Cathopbtetictiinobguieth:vosfitodhwoonrsmiasstheirs, own
a
master, and
leave the re
independence raentednsi
°fsnitsshtisen State.incompatible
Any attempt to endow
would
dldg
obegtointhanedasesnisdt in
not likely to
tmoney,bo priesthood
which
ents wholly unfettered and unob *g d
harleee. of a for-
midable power, and which would
penetrate fur-
point of the wedge is So the
ther in that direction. The
sibility of an— stoppage is the impose
j agreement
Rome that should have theor understanding with
the various institution same political effect as
what is s and arrangements forcing
called the Union
We have not undertaken of Church and State,
the spiritual care of the
Roman Catholic out of doors for we have not taken
him in hand at all. The prisoner we have taken in
hand, and
we are therefore answerable for his
spiritual care. But
will not the precedent lead
further ? That •is a question which it is needless to
answer, for it is impossible to do a generous act, or
even an act of justice, without being immediately
called on to do a good deal more of the same kind.
The world, disgusted and despairing of good, looks
about for some one better than the common herd,
and when it finds him engaged in some good act im-
mediately beseta him with petitions for more. So
it is only too probable that what we do for a few
hundred prisoners we shall have to do for others.
But it is no business of ours to put claims in the
order of precedence, and tell people what else they
may rightly ask when one thing is given. For tha
matter now in hand, magistrates will not be very
lavish with the funds at their disposal, and
.will
take care that the pries
oodt
of er
the forms his office sqicantlyd
with a view to the g o prisoner's soul
those poor amends which the worst man may make
by a full public confession.

etnodtaeldetxhpeen3dl:t
PUBLIC INCOME AND EXPENDITURE.—.The total
gp3in,f6doonimsin.
It(te Sear ended
of Marc
hiding X 1,050,000 for fortificatioug, was £70,352 .
lure, inc 8 ,007
, leaving a balance of £251 559
est
198. ld., ~ - 158. 11d. The
revenueholfewywnxit;od,
balancee in the Exchequer, at the same date,
an to £7,263,838 19s. 6d. this Fn • amounted in
9 - -ni including
money raised for fortifiesti wg Z 50,000 of the
onq,

THE EXHIBITION of ALUMINIUM and
ALUMINIUM BRONZE.
SPECIMENS, illustrating the appli-
-2,000 cation (Ornamental and Useful) of these In-
teresting Metals, ARE NOW ON VIEW

at
MAPPIN BROTHERS'
STREE NEW ROOMS, 222, REGENT
T.
Admlaaion by Card.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.-
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE WEEK.
*1:11IS EVENING (Thursday), April 23 (Subscription Night),
Debut of Madame Therese Ellinger, as Mete° Orsini.
LUCREZIA BORGIA.

Principal Characters by Mdlle. Titlens, Madame Therese
Ellinger ; Signori Gassier, Soldi, Lbaldi, Bossi, Bertacchl,
Caabonl

Conductor, Signor AR DIT
Ta c ,nclude with the New Ballet, L A FARFALETTA.
Saturday Next, LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR. New Ballet.
Doors open at half-past Seven. The Opera will commence
at Eight o'clock precisely.
Prices :—Stalls, One Guinea ; Reserved Box Seats, Half-a-
uinea ; Pit Tickets, Bs. 6d. ; Gallery ztalls, ss. and 7s. ;
G,Jlery, 2s. 6d. ; Private Boxes, in the Gallery Circle, to
admit three persons, 21s.
Notice. - It will be necessary for those parties who intend
visiting the Reserved Bux Seats (at 10s. Cd. each), to attend
in Evening Costume.
Boxes, n- Stalls, and Tickets may be had at the Box-office of
the Theatre (under the Colonnade in the Hayman et', whichtoni
is open daily, under the superintendence of Mr. Nugent, from
Ten till Six ; and at all the principal Libraries and Music"r
sellers.

THE ATR E-R YA L, DRURY-LANE.-
Lessee and Manager, Mr. Edmund Falconer.
For the Benefit of Miss Lydia Thompson.
THIS EVENLNG, April 23, for the 362 d time in London,
PEEP O'DAY. Mesqrs. Henry Lorraine, Walter Lacy, C.
Verner, Addison, J. Graham. G. Spencer, T. Neville, ;
Misses Cleveland, Clara Weston, Hudson, Arc.
To conclude with MAGIC TOYS. Valentine, Miss Lydia
Thompson.