The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 30, 1865.

speaking Spanish, were in a great part of African
extraction, and it might be said that nine-tenths of
them were negroes and mulattoes. " These negroes
and mulattoes had 20 years of independence, and
were entirely equal, as regards political rights, with
the whites. They became presidents of the Republic,
generals, senators, in a word they were placed on
equal conditions with the few whites there were in

the island. And what is the position occupied by
people of colour in our Antilles ? There we have
slavery, and this marks the difference of races and
establishes a supremacy of thewhite over the coloured
race. The latter have no political rights, and
although some civil rights have been accorded them
they have always been in a depressed condition, and
held in lower consideration than the white race. If,
then, as is natural and just, we left the negroes and
mulattoes of Santo Domingo the political rights
which they enjoyed before incorporation with us,
what would be said by the free negroes and mulat-
toes of the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico ? Hence
arises the agitation among the coloured classes in
those islands, produced, not by the war, but by the
annexation of Santo Domingo. This sole circum-
stance ought, in my opinion, to have sufficed for
Spain never to have listened to the petition of the Do-
minicans for reincorporation with the mother coun-
try." After reviewing at great length the history
of the reoccupation of Santo Domingo by Spain,
and censuring the mistaken policy pursued by the
Government, the marquis concluded by a defence
of the Spanish army in Santo Domingo, upon
which some reflection had. been cast by Senor Cal-
deron Collantes. He quoted the official reports
of the captain-general to show the frightful mor-
tality of the climate, and the immense losses sus-
tained by sickness among the troops. The question
of Santo Domingo did not affect the honour of the
Spanish nation, and it was a sad disgrace for the
soldiers, instead of falling musket in hand as in
Africa, to die in a miserable hospital.

Fashions for February.

(From Le Follet)

The question of most interest on the subject of fashion
for this month is the style in vogue for ball and evening
dress. Amongst the novelties we remark robes of gauze
embroidered in gold, or silver, or silk. Nothing is prettier
than such flowers on a light, vapoury material, and ladies
of elegance can wear such a dress without appearing to be
dressed in too simple or girlish a manner. There are some
beautiful tulle dresses spotted over with butterflies, or
flowers formed of feathers, or with silver arrows—very
original and exceedingly elegant—but, although needing
no trimming, they are expensive.

Fichus, berthes, and pelerines are made in a variety of
very becoming styles. From numerous models we select
the following :—A berth of tulle illusion, bouillonnee
lengthways, very narrow at the shoulders, and forming a
point at the centre. Ruches of tulle, edged with gold, and
having a white and gold blonde beneath, form the trimming
at the bottom and top of the berthe. A second berthe is
made in Figaro style in front, whilst the back forms braces
and ends in a square postilion basque. It is very pretty
when made of blonde tulle, with flowers and light niches of
pink ribbon put in festoons over a wide blonde.
For more simple dress we find a fichu made high, and
crossed; composed of five crossway pieces of tulle, with a
bouillonne and bows of red velvet round the top, and round
the bottom a wide white lace headed by a narrower black
lace, both finished off with small bows of red velvet.

We must not omit to mention a charming pelerine of
spotted tulle with a double trimming of festoons, very
pointed, and set on in deep plaints. These festoons are
edged with a narrow lace, and above is placed a sky-blue
ribbon run under a bouillonne. The trimming is carried up
the front and round the throat.
For at-home toilette, chemisettes are more than ever
fashionable, for now, with the Russian veste, it is not
merely a guimpe, but the sleeve also which are required.
Many white bodies without vestes:are worn at small soirees
or social dinner-parties, and with a light silk skirt look ex-
ceedingly well ; but care must be taken that the colour of
the ribbon placed under the insertion, with which these
bodies are usually trimmed, suits the skirt. Passementerie
is still the favourite trimming, and deservedly so, for cer-
tainly nothing can be more elegant.
The list of model dresses is so numerous this month that
we must now proceed to describe them, commencing with
ball and evening toilette. _ _ _

A sky-blue satin robe : train skirt, with a plisse of blue
crape; the plaits very large and full, a passamenterie of
white silk and white beads marking each plait, and forming
a chain from one to another. Over the skirt, a tunic of
English lace. Abertho of tulle and crape in large plaits,
114.4,A1 ua.r LvLIuS 4Lv Lcaulv. Envv r ttml

puffed, made of crape and tulle.
A dress of pink satin. The skirt trimmed with three
rows of bouillons of white tulle festooned with bouquets
of roses with dewdrops. Body draped with tulle and
similar bouquets. Sleeves to match. _

A Pompadour taffetas robe. The ground pink ; the
flowers of various colours. The skirt is open in front over
a petticoat of white satin trimmed with bouillonne pink
tulle. The body, which is low, is also open in front,
showing a white satin stomacher, embroidered in coloured
flowers. Round the edge of tho pink body, and at the
bottom of the sleeves, is a trimming of silk cord mixed
with white beads.

A dress of light green crape. The skirt entirely bouil-
lonne, caught up with wreaths of violet camelias and green
foliage reaching to the waist, the front wreath being joined
by light foliage to the bouquet on the body ; at the bottom
of the skirt a lace flounce about six inches wide, partly
veiled by the bouillonne. A plain body, with points, trim-
med with drapery of crape. Sleeves composed of one bouil-
lonne of white, another of green, crape ; and a violet came-
lia on eachshoulder. Headdress of similar flowers, forming
a tuft on the summit of the head, and a spray behind. This
toilette made in white, with pink camelias, is extremely
charming. _ _

A white tarlatane dress. Three plaited flounces, about five
inches wide, each headed by a thick chicoree of pink taffe-
tas. Plain body, with round waist. A corselet sash of taf-
fetas, pointed behind' at the top, and finishing off in long
rounded ends, reaching nearly down to the flounces, and
gradually increasing in width ; the whole edged with a
taffetas niche. Large rosettes of pinked taffetas hold the
drapery in the front of the body and on the shoulders. The
sleeves are composed of two narrow frills of tarlatane.
A skirt of white tarlatane, having three flounces bordered
with pink at the bottom : a second skirt, reaching to the
top of the flounces, made of pink foulord, cut in large scol-
lops, and edged with a thick pink chicoree. A similar
chicoree on each side, looping up the top skirt. The body
plain ; a small point in front, and trimmed with three
chicorees, forming a fan. Folds of white tarlatane are
placed round the top, and bows of pink ribbon on the
shoulders.

A mauve satin robe : the skirt made with a train ; the
front embroidered en tablier with steel beads. The body

is low, with a flat bertha, also embroidered with steel beads.
Round sash, wide, embroidered to match, closed in front
with a steel buckle, and finished off behind with a bow
and long ends. The head-dress is of mauve velvet and
steel, and a white feather.
A blue velvet dress. A wide band of guipure round the
bottom and up the left side. Low body, and basques
formed of three pattes of guipure. In the hair, between
the bandeaux, is placed a beautiful bird with wings spread,
and another on the centre of the body.
A dress of cerise taffetas antique, covered with skirt of
tulle, composed of seven narrow flounces put on in waves,
alternately with flounces of white blonde, and dotted with
rosettes of cerise velvet. Low body, with short sleeves,
and bertha of narrow frills and blonde. Sash of cerise
velvet.

A robe of light green satin, opening in front over a skirt
of white satin ; the whole trimmed with point d'Angleterre
and white jet. The body is open, and trimmed with a
fringe of jet.
A dinner-dress of striped 'satin, white and blue : the

bottom of the skirt trimmed with a plaiting of blue velvet.
The body has rounded barques, trimmed with rich figured
velvet, and fastened with buttons Louis XV. style. The
sleeves, which are quite tight, close under cuffs of point
lace.

Another, of taffetas antique, lilac, embroidered round
the skirt with a wreath of grapes and leaves in silk and
pearl beads. The sleeves and body are trimmed to match.
A robe of silver-grey satin, trimmed at thebottom of the
skirt with a chicor6e of black tulle. A flounce of Chan-
tilly, waved, and surmounted by a ruche of tulle worked
with jet. Low body and short sleeves, with fichu Marie
erbtoiabooinrcttettorilmeeltovoteffetCedaeehemahvnbibutrilloreei,y a de.
reßduicakljee,t." Princess," with band
breadth, so
of black
so
as tosholtvaaffettriaas op
a,
gleeed at
th
, opened
fvio-
Anof
vio-
let velvet, on which is placed an ornament of passementerie
and hanging buttons; the edge of the silk cut in large scal-
lops. The body with small barques open over a violet
waistcoat. The bottom of the sleeve has a similar ornament
to that on the skirt. The same ornament forms the joCkey.
A robe of violet satin, cut in large scallops, edged with a
wide band of black velvet. Under-skirt of violet satin,
striped with black velvet, forming a long train. Veste
Russee of plain satin, and waistcoat of striped satin.
There is nothing new to notice either in the form or the
materials for bonnets. It seems to be universally admitted
that the present style is much more becoming than the
high-fronted bonnets were; yet it must be confessed that
the absurd head-dresses made by some, and called bon-
nets, are ;quite as little becoming, and have, besides, an
air of vulgarity. Our leading modistes, however, are
always careful to avoid extremes, and we may safely de-
scribe some of their newest styles, to guide the tastes of our
readers. Thus, a bonnet of light blue velvet, made in one
fastened
the
whereunfulideprieacelarfrgoemnitheehefroofnbtlotondteh,ewchiroc7f,orrasa
it is
point
over
chignon. Under the ruche is placed a small white feather,
with a bow and song ends of narrow blue ribbon. -Blue

velvet in folds across the forehead, with small white fea-
thers between the folds.

A capote of white satin, with three runnings from back
to front, fastened under a 'double niche of white satin,
spotted with rosebuds. Plaited satin and rosebuds inside.
A bonnet of mauve velvet, made in plaits from the front
to the back, trimmed at the back with a cache-peigne of jet
falling over a wide black lace. Torsade of mauve velvet,
and jet ornaments inside.
Black velvet bonnet. Plain front. Pointed behind ;
trimmed round the point with a double niche of pink silk
and sprigs of small daisies of white velvet, and bows of
very narrow pink ribbon.

A capote of crape bouillone and tulle malines, with
straps and strings of rose-coloured velvet. The crown
formed of curled feathers and strings of small pearls, fall-
ing over bouillonns of tulle.
Another capote of blue tulle bouillone and white blonde.
Cacho-peigne of white feathers, with loops of black velvet
worked with pearls. Black velvet and pearls inside the
bonnet.

Coiffures for evening costume are becoming mere and
more varied, and for this good reason, that ladies are be-
ginning to adopt those styles most becoming to them,
rather than to wear a head-dress because it is worn by
others.

Perhaps the coiffure composed of bands of velvet is the
most universally adopted ; and, from the fact that it may be
fastened simply with silver or jet ornaments, or enriched
with agraffes or pens of diamonds, it is equally applicable
either for a quiet dinner-dress or for a more elaborate
toilette. Those of light blue velvet should have pearl or
silver ornaments, and those of ponceau velvet gold or pearl
ornaments.

Another pretty style of head-dress is made with a pouff
formed with ends of green velvet worked with dew-drops
in crystal, and fastened with two long ends.
A charming Urea wreath was made of blue velvet myo-
sotis and silver corn-ears, fastened at the back with 16g
bows of silver lace.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE RUSSIAN
BUDGET.—The practice of publishing annual bud-
gets is so novel under autocratic Governments, and
so commendable in itself, as almost to disarm cri-
ticism, but it must be confessed that the document
recently issued by the Russian Minister is more
valuable as a respectful homage to the demands of
public opinion than for any information to be de-
rived from it. Those who contemplate dealings
with the Russian Government are naturally anxious
to know how far it is habitually exceeding itsincome,
and what is the state and progress of its debt.
Nothing of this kind can be discovered from what is
called the Budget of 1865. The estimated revenue
and expenditure for 1864 are carefully compared
with the estimates for the ensuing year, but no in-
formation whatever is given as to the actual expen-
diture which has been incurred. An existing deficit
is quite as serious when caused by unforeseen, as
when produced by estimated, outlay, and it
would be interesting to know how far the
military expenditure in Poland and Cir-
cassia has exceeded the levies which it has been pos-
sible to draw from confiscation of the property of
the unfortunate inhabitants of those subjugated
provinces. It is not likely that, in a country where
the revenue is so little elastic as in Russia, the
actual deficit has been below the calculated amount,
and it is admitted that the year 1863 was com-
menced with estimates which provided an income of
about £55,500,000 to meet an anticipated expendi-
ture (including extraordinary military and naval
expenses) of nearly £63,000,000, leaving an esti-
mated deficit of more than £7,000,000. In 1865 the
the Minister hopes to fare better. By some slight
natural improvements, and by additional•taxation
upon spirits, it is expected that the revenue will
be raised to £56,000,000, while the cessation of the
drain for warlike operations will, it is hoped, bring
down the expenditure to £59,500,000, thus reducing
the deficit for 1865 to one-half of that calculated
for the previous year. These figures are not
very encouraging, but it is by no means
certain that they tell the whole truth,
and it would surprise no one to find that
the real excess of expenditure in the past year was
something much more considerable than the antici-
pated £7,000,000. The rate of progress of the
national debt of any country, when it can be ac-
curately discovered, serves very well to test the
annual budgets ; but it is not easy to ascertain with
exactness what the present position of the floating
debt of Russia is, and we have already said that the
Budget affords no assistance to any one who is
cnrious enough to enter upon such an inquiry. The
following figures, however, are believed to be not
much in error. At the beginning of 1864 the funded
debt, which before the Crimean campaign stood at
£64,000,000, had risen to £110,000,000, while the
floating debt, almost all of recent creation, reached
the formidable sum of £24,000,000, making the
c0t...‘1 tl,bo ti,byuc. X 101,000,000. failz,, ()MU GURU a 4
loan of £6,000,000 has been negotiated, and Trea-
sury bonds have been issued to about the same
amount, and to corer the expected deficit of
1865 it is proposed to issue about £2,000,000
more. This will leave the funded debt at
£116,000,000, and the floating debt at £32,000,000,
showing an increase of debt, beyond the amount in-
curred upon to the end of 1863, of £14,000,000. If
these figures are accurate, there must be some im-
portant deficiency beyond the £10,500,000 calculated
for the two years by the published estimates. If we'
pass from the broad results to the details given in
the Budget, we find very little to relieve the gloom
which seems to rest on the finances of Russian.
There is none of that marvellous growth of revenue
which in England and France is expected almost as
a matter of course. The land revenue is falling, as
a consequence of the abolition of serfdom. The
Customs duties are less than they were in 1863,
either from a diminution of consumption or an in-
crease of smuggling. Some loss, too, has been in-
curred by the removal of export duties on raw cotton
and other commodities. The licenses and fees which
gauge the state of commerce also show a diminution,
while the only items on the other side of the esti-
mate are about £BOO,OOO raised by additional spirit
duties, and some smaller sums derived from less im-
portant items of revenue. It has apparently become
obvious to the Russian Government that equilibrium
can only be restored by a reduction of military ex-
penditure. Now that Poland and Circassia are
crushed, it is proposed to reduce the army and
navy expenditure by £4,500,000, though even
this saving leaves a deficit of £3,500,000 to be
met in 1865, and will only be effectual as a
financial measure if it is followed by still more
vigorous pruning hereafter. This, however, the
Minister hopes to effect, and, in a country as poor
as Russia now is, it is the only course by which the
gravest embarrassments can be escaped. The enu-
meration of deficits, and the history of the progress
of debt, are far from exhausting the troubles with
which a Russian financier liss to contend. As is al-
most always the case, the accumulation of debt has
been accompanied by the issue of inconvertible notes
to such an extent as seriously to derange the circu-
lating medium. It is argued, with some plausibility,
that the comparative barbarism of the Russian empire
exempts it to a certain extent from the ordinary con-
sequences of a redundant currency. Throughout
the greater part of the dreary regions which acknow-
ledge the supremacy ofj the Czar, the common re-
sources of credit are unknown. In the absence of
banks,'whatever passes for currency is hoarded by ig-
norant peasants and scarcely less ignorant proprietors.
All the ingenious contrivances by which a limited
amount of circulating coin or notes is made in more
civilised States to supply the wants of an almost un-
limited commerce are unknown in Russia, except
of the great commercial centres, and the consequence
is that a very restricted trade requires a much
larger amount of circulating medium than is needed
by the most energetic commercial nations in the
world. Nevertheless, large as is the capacity of the
huge empire of Russia, the Government has long
since contrived to flood it with more irredeemable
notes than it can absorb. The old device was begun
by Catharine 11., by an issue of no more than
£3,000,000 ; but every war has driven the Govern-
ment to resort to the same dangerous expedient,
and after the great Continental struggle in the be-
ginning of the century, Russia was groaning under
the burden of an issue of £100,000,000 of bacon-
,

vertible notes. Confiscation, Under the name of
special taxation and financial arrangements was tried
for many years as a means of reducing the un-
manageable circulation; but fresh necessities con-
tinually arose, and after the Crimean contest
there were once more £120,000,000 of notes
in circulation. Since that time a series of
half-intelligible transactions with the Impe-
rial Bank have been adopted, in the hope
of restoring the value of the paper 'money.
Loan after loan has been contracted, ostensibly for
this purpose ; and the last operation by which about
£6,000,000 was raised was avowedly intended to
redeem the superfluous notes. Other demands,
however, of a more urgent character swallowed up
these resources, and at this moment the state of the
Russian currency is worse than it has ever been
before. It is said that within the last few years an
intelligent Russian officer, who was asked to accept
the office of Minister of Finance, replied that only
a genius or a fool would undertake the responsibility,
and that, being neither one nor the other, he pre-
ferred to decline the proffered honour. Whether
the actual Minister fulfils either of these conditions
remains to be proved, but as yet he had made little
head against a sea of troubles, and the only thing
to be said in his favour is that he does not seem to
, be aware that rigid economy is the sole policy by
which the threatening financial embarrassment can
be averted.

THE " EXAMINER" ON THE LATE COLONEL
CHARRAS.—It cannot be denied that the Emperor
of the French possesses what the Spaniards, in their

Oriental fashion, calls the estrella feliz. Louis
Napoleon has survived the deaths of many of his
enemies. He has survived Cavaignac, a high-souled
and high-principled man ; he has survived the ac-
complished and profound strategist, Bedeau ; he has
survived that sturdy Republican Minister, Frangois
Arago, the astronomer ; he has survived the deep
thinker, the philosophic and earnest De Tocqueville;
he has survived the democratic Prefect of Police,
the Citizen Caussidiere ; he has survived the Presi-
dent of the National Assembly, Armand Marrast ;
he has outlived Alexandre Thomas, one of the most
earnest, conscientious, and learned of the writers of
his country ; he has survived the democratic Mini-
ster of Finance, Goudchaux ; and he has survived a
man, recently departed, who had as much energy
and talent as any one of these—Colonel Charras—
who died on Tuesday last at Basle, in Switzerland.
From his democratic opinions it might by many be
supposed that Charras was a man of humble birth
and fortune, sprung from the loins of the working
democracy. There could not, however, be a greater
error. Charms was the son of a General of high
character and principles, who was appointed to the
Military Government of the Puy de Dome in the
reign of Charles X. To this office he was originally
named by Clermont Tounessee, Minister of War in
the Ministry of Villele, and he was continued in his
functions by Marshals Gerard and Soult, both
Ministers of Louis Philippe, after the Revolution of
1830. Young Charras, who was born in 1808, in the
same year asthe now Emperor of the French, received
a careful education at the hands of his father. In his
sixteenth year, soon after the accession of Charles X.
in September, 1824, he entered the Ecole Polytech-
nique, in which seminary he not only greatly distin-
guished himself by his talents and acquirements, but
also by his open and manly character. From the
Polytechnic School, having chosen the Artillery as
the. special branch of the profession to which he
attached himself, he was despatched to the Ecole
d'Application de l'Artillerie et du Genie at Metz, in
Lorraine. In this great Military Academy he was
no less distinguished than at the Polytechnic, and
when he left it to join in the active business of his
profession he was exceedingly popular, notwith-
standing the brusqueness of his manners and the
advanced nature of his political opinions. Already,
in 1829, when scarcely 21, Charras was as well
known for the vehemence of his opinions in the
French army as was our own William Napier 20
years earlier in the British. In the following year
the French. Revolution of 1830 broke out, and in
the three days of July the young officer of 21 (who
had months before distinguished himself in the
columns of the National as a writer), distinguished
himself also as a combatant in the attack on the
barrack of the Rue de Babylone. Charras soon
discovered that his contributions to a democratic
journal were as displeasing to his commanding offi-
cers as were those of Carrel ten years previously,
when he was a sous-lieutenant in the 29th Regiment
of the line, in garrison at Befort. Though Char-
ras had early enough obtained the grade of Captain
of Artillery, yet at that point his promotion
stopped, doubtless because of his political opinions.
He resolved therefore to get himself transferred
from the Artillery to the Infantry, with a view to
service in Africa. This was effected under the
War Ministry of Soult. After three years' service
in Africa Charms was made Chef de Bataillon.
After the events of 1848, when Francois Arago
held the portfolio of War, awaiting the arrival of
General Cavaignac (who had been appointed War
Minister), Charras was telegraphed for to Algiers
to act as Under Secretary, a post which he at once
accepted. It has been said that his conduct in this
capacity was harsh and inconsiderate, and that seve-
ral old officers of Royalist opinions were removed
from their command and mis en retraite. Some few
cases of this kind wholly indefensible certainly oc-
curred ; the blame, however, rested not with Char-
ras, but with his superior, Arago, who held the portfo -
lie of War till Cavaignac arrived. The personal de-
meanour of the Under Secretary, though not highly
polished or courtly, was that of a frank and manly
soldier. Arago's manner, on the contrary, was

more trenchant and abrupt, and his views were more
unbending. Much of the blame that ought to have
fallen on the principal was transferred to the Under-
Secretary by the public. But the army and his
brother soldiers were well aware that the sin was
not Charras's. For a few days in May, 1848, Arago
had become so unpopular that Charras filled the
office at War till the arrival of Cavaignac on the 15th,
and during this time there was no complaint of any
injustice. If there had been, it is plain that the
department of the Puy de Dome would not have
returned Charras to the National Assembly by more
than 82,000 votes. While a member of the As-

sembly Charras gained the esteem of those who
differed from him by his directness and straight-
forwardness of purpose. He avowed himself a Re-
publican but a moderate Republican, of the school
f o ktia -hand with liberty. Though a member of the Comit6
de Guerre in the National Assembly, Charras never
separated the duties of a soldier from those of a
good citizen. He opposed on Parliamentary grounds
the Ministry of the .20th of December, and he was
still more vigorously and more energetically opposed
to the policy of the Elysee. Such a man as this,
though only enjoying the rank of Colonel of Artil-
lery, was a formidable opponent ; and on the 2d of
December, 1851, Charms was arrested in his bed in
the Rue Duplot. He made, like his superior officer
Dedeau a desperate resistance, and would have
used his pistols had they not been seized while he
was between sleep and wake. Charras felt the
attack on his personal liberty a crime not to be con-
doned. He declined to avail himself of the am-
nesty issued a couple of years ago, and refused to
return to a country from which, he contended, he
had been unjustly and illegally expelled. He occu-
pied the enforced leisure of his exile in writing a
history of the campaign of 1815—a work ably and,
on the whole, fairly executed. The talents and
attainments of Colonel. Charras were considerable.
He was a master in the science of his own pro-
fession, as is apparent from his criticisms on the
campaign of Waterloo. He has'exposed to demon-
stration the errors of Napoleon, • and proved with
remarkable clearness that the charges of treachery,
disobedience, and incompetence which the Emperor
would fix on his lieutenants are without a shadow of
foundation. This work, printed at Brussels, is so
popular, that in 1863 it had attained a fourth
edition, and a fifth has been called for. Colonel
Charms had also written a work on the campaign
of 1813, which will be published by his widow.

THE " SPECTATOR" ON THE MALT TAX.—
Liberals are apt to be a little unfair in their argu-
ments for the malt tax. They will not always reason
the matter out as a question of national policy but
treat it too frequently as one of class interests or as
a cry raised only for political purposes. I generally
find, said a Liberal member recently amidst the
laughter of his audience, " that those who oppose
the tax are Tories," as if that had anything what-
ever to do with the matter in hand. We generally
find that those who oppose oppressive duties are
Whigs, but that is not reason sufficient to justify a
Tory government in keeping those duties on. Still
less is it an argument to assert that the repeal of
the malt tax is only a farmer's question. If it were
it ought to be discussed just as much as a mer-
chant's question or a manufacturer's, but it is not.
It is a question, for every voter in England outside
the ranks of Mr. Lawson 's clientZle, and for every
Liberal- statesman,—for every voter, because if he
is' a sensible person he prefers sound beer to bad
wine and worse spirits ; for every Liberal statesman,
because the thing most needed at this moment is to
disabuse agriculturists of the notion that the Liberal
party is at heart hostile to them. That notion,utterly
false, corn-growing being just as much an industry
as cotton making, and a far more extensive one,
sways even so moderate a speaker as Lord John
Manners. In his speech at Leicester on Saturday
the member for North Leicestershire, who was try-
ing to be almost. painfully fair, still allowed himself
to assert that the only chance of repeal was to con-
ciliate the urban population, who thought the tax
one beneficial to them. Such a belief divides the
country bylines which are not political but sectional,
and makes all improvement tardy by creating an
irritable suspicion in the mind of every farmer and
landholder that any reform proposed is secretly
directed against him. Even when Liberal members
repudiate such an idea, as Mr. Milner Gibson did at
Ashton, they are still very apt to treat the farmer's
demand with something of contempt, to offer argu-
ments they would never think of producing in
the House, to tell people, for example, as he did
his constituents, that as the malt tax was only 12fr
per cent. upon price and the tea duty was
33f per cent. the latter had the higher claim. The
President of the Board of Trade of all men must be
most certain that the amount of a tax is no test of
the injury it inflicts. There are trades which a 3 per
cent tax would kill, and trades, such, for instance,
as in quinine or saltpetre, on which five times that
rate would have scarcely a perceptible effect. A duty
levied on the sea-board costs the merchant only its
amonnt and the consequent loss of demand, an
excise costs those and the loss from interference in
manufacture besides. The first principle of all true
hnance is to get rid as far as the necessities of the
State will allow of every tax which seriously restricts
an industry, and the true point Tor those who ap-
prove this tax is to show that it does not restrict an
industry as much as some other impost. To say
that it is not protective, as, for instance, the Scots-
man does, is very little to the purpose. The farmers
do not allege that it is protective in the sense of
protection against the foreigner, but affirm that all
other excise duties having terminated—except one
upon spirits which nobody wishes to abolish, which
we should probably keep up even if we did-not want
the revenue--it is hard that their industry alone
acaild be pubject to an undue reotriction. That re-

striction, they urge, arises in this way. They have
land, in some counties a great deal of land, which
will grow rather poor barley. They cannot grow it
because while the duty is levied on quantity it is not
worth the maltster's while to malt any but the very
best sort of grain. The duty, as they contend,
operates to create a monopoly in favour of the pro-
ducers of the very best barley, a monopoly not se-
cured by the quality of their article, but by the fact
that the malting constituents in good barley pack
into a smaller compass, that in fact the saving of
duty is a bonus granted by the State in favour of
the least bulky article. It is the old question of the
sugar duties. Suppose them made uniform, it would
only pay the importer to purchase the very best,
and colonies producing worse—i.e. more bulky
sugar—would in fact have a differential duty
levied against them. The malt duty is uniform,
and the uniformity acts as a differential duty
against poor barley. This is the first grievance,
and not merely the duty, which it is alleged with
truth is paid by the people who drink beer. If all
barley could be malted the duty would be a some-
what cumbrous tax upon all people not teetotallers,
but it prevents barley which ought to be malted
from being so consumed. The farmers therefore
urge that if the Exchequer can spare the money, or
any part of the money, they ought to be relieved, and
if they cannot be relieved altogether then the duty
should decreased pari passu with the income-tax
until it is gradually extinguished. Of course some
of them say things very unlike this, and talk bom-
bast, as irritated men generally and Mr. Busfield
Ferrand always are apt to do, but we have endea-
voured to state the argument of the moderate sec-
tion, of the men who, like Lord John Manners, ad-
mit that the Treasury must be filled, and who do
not believe that anybody wants to crush them, but
who still think their reasonable freedom of cultiva-
tion is impaired by the tax. It will be necessary to
listen to them, for the single business in England
except cotton which is at this moment not sharing
in the general prosperity is agriculture. With
wheat selling through last year at an average of
38s. per quarter, farmers whose calculations and
leases are based on a minimum of 40s. are not likely
to look with complacency or even fairness on any
tax which interfere with their efforts to find some
paying substitute. , Their difficulty may be all their
own fault, as the gentleman who informs the Times
that he has grown seven quarters per acre evidently
thinks ; or all the landlords' fault, for screwing
up rents and preserving game ; or all the black
beetles' fault, for anything that anybody's
blame has to do with the matter. There is the
scrape undeniably, that it is no use for the moment
to grow wheat on poor land, and that barley upon
such land is prohibited by revenue law, and the'
farmer is perfectly certain to make strenuous efforts
to get out of it. He cannot get back protection,
even if he wanted it—and we are talking of sensible
men—but he can get rid of a differential duty
against poor land, and Liberals may rely on it he
will try. Their duty therefore as practical men is
to consider not whether the complaint comes from
farmers, or landlords, or labourers, or tailors, but
whether the plea for reduction is as good as any
which other trades can produce. That is not quite
so certain as the farmers think, but it is much more
probable than some Liberal reasoners appear dis-
posed to allow. There are very few duties remain-
ing to be taken off, and among them not one except
that on spirits which presses close upon the springs
of an English industry. Neither tea, coffee, sugar,
nor tobacco are produced in these islands, and of
them only sugar can be said to be more beneficial
than beer. The ridiculous shilling stillleft upon corn
ought no doubt to go,but with wheat at presentprices
that necessary reduction can very well wait a little.
There are no indirect taxes of moment to abolish,
except 'fire insurance, and although reductions on
tea are popular it would not be quite safe to poll
England on the choice between that and beer.

THE " OBSERVER" ON THE METROPOLITAN OMNI-
BUS MONOPOLY.—It would appear that nothing
short of fresh legislation will bring the company
which monopolises the omnibus traffic of the metro-
polis to their senses, and secure justice to the public.
We stated in the Observer of last week that so fully
did the directors of the London General Omnibus
Company feel that the local travelling public of the
metropolis were at their mercy that, even should
there be a public show of any kind, or a slight
change in the weather, then they made it a pretext
for increasing their fares 25 and even 50 per cent.
Little could it be supposed when those observations
were penned that this company were likely to realise
the complaint against them within so short a period
as one week. It could hardly be supposed that in
consequence of a slight change of weather this com-
pany, who have the entire traffic of the metropolis
in their hands, would venture, instead of 50 per cent.,
to increase their fares to 100, and even, as we are
credibly informed,in some instances to 150 per cent.
I et, nevertheless, it is true.,sir thk,
neral" reduced as well as raised their fares in ac-
cordance with the indications of the barometer,
there would not be so much ground of complaint—
the public would not then be under the delusion
that they were about to indulge in a threepenny
ride, for which, at the:end of their journey, or dur-
ing their progress, they subsequently found out
they had to pay sixpence, and in some instances
even as much as ninepence, or in the latter instance
an increose of 200 per cent. 'All this would be un-
derstood, and the public becoming alive to it,would
regulate their travelling accordingly. On most of
the lines, however, yesterday morning, the omnibus
company doubled their fares without giving the
slightest notice to the'public. On the Waterloo line
of route, from the York and Albany, through Re-
gent-street and the Strand, the omnibuses were
filled, the start made, and the vehicle had proceeded
a short distance on the journey, when an intimation
was made that a rise in the fares had taken place by
the conductor putting his head in at the window,
and exclaiming, " Fares, sixpence, ladies and gen-
tlemen, for any distance." Many, on hearing this,
looking upon the demand as an imposition, stopped
the vehicle and alighted, preferring rather to walk
than submit to it. On the Hampstead-road, and
Camden-town and King's-cross lines the same sys-
tem was adopted during the early part of the
morning, but on the second journeys the conductors
were provided with a sheet of paper, which
was temporarily pasted inside, with the words
written thereon, " Sixpence any distance ;" and it
is asserted that during the first and second journeys,
knowing that the mass of riders were compelled to
be at business by a given time, as much as nine-
pence was charged for the ordinary threepenny and
fourpenny journey. A great amount of indignation
was manifested by the public, and grave doubts
were expressed as to the legality of this proceeding.
We believe we are correct in asserting that, without
due notice, painted prominently on some portion of
the vehicle, such charges are not legal, and cannot
be enforced.: However, legal or not legal, we are
quite certain in the long run that the London General
Omnibus Company will find their policy in this re-
spect a failure. Within a brief period the northern
suburbs of the metropolis will in common with
others form a portion of the great Metropolitan
Railway system ; and the Omnibus Company may
rest assured when the advantages of competition in
this respect is attained—a competition they cannot
by any possibility run off the road or get rid of—
their present treatment of the public will not be
forgotten.

The Opinion Nationale publishes a communicated
note from the Ministry of the Interior, correcting a misin-
teapretation of certain passages in its comments on a pre-
vious note. That journal had erroneously insisted that the
city authorities wore to be blamed for unnecessary delay in
settling the indemnity to be paid to the parties expropriated
to make the new Rue de Turbigo. - _ _

CENTRAL ASIA.—A letter from St. Petersburg,
dated 18th inst., notices as follows the sitting of the
Imperial Geographical Society on the 14th December, at
which very interesting news was given concerning the
countries of Central Asia. Mr. Struve read an account
of a voyage he had made in company with Mr. Potanine,
towards the sources of the Irtisch, to the Lake Zaissane,
and to the mountains of Tarbigataisk. According to the
information collected by the author, it appears that the
Kirghises and Tatars are inclined to form fixed settle-
ments, and have begun to found villages, one of which is
situated at about forty kilometres to the south of the
mountains of Tarbigataisk. After Mr. Struve, Rear-Ad-
miral Boutakoff gave an account of his exploration of tho
Sir Dada. He has ascertained that this river is navigable
to a distance of 800 kilometres from Fort Perowsky,
which gives a total length of 1,500 navigable kilometres
from its mouth. It is still unknown if higher up the river
has a sufficient depth to carry boats. Rear Admiral Bouta-
koff has met as fax as Fort Djoulck traces of canals and of
some towns, the existence of which dates as far back as
Tamerlane. The desert lands begin higher up. All the ter-
ritory comprised between the Forts Perowsky and Djoulck
is at present inhabited by a numerous and active popula-
tion, who occupy themsells with husbandry and breeding
cattle. The Kirghises dig water canals, drain the bogs,
construct dikes, and live on good terms with the. Cossack
colony established near the fort. Every day there arrive
Kirghises and wandering Korakalpacks, who abandon
Khiva and put themselves under our protection. The Aca-
demical Gazette publishes the account of a voyage of explo-
ration of the river Soungoura, a tributary stream of the
Amor. The steamer ascended the river as far as
Guirine, a Mantchouria town of 100,000 inhabitants, which
serves as a seat of residence to the governor of the country.
The borders of the Soungoura, which traverses Mant-
chouria from south to north, aro well peopled, and the in-
habitants gather in crowds round the Russians to admire
their dress, and especially the steamer working its way
against the current by means of its paddle wheels. It results
froth this first voyage that the Soungoura is navigable from
the Amoor as far as the confluence of the Nani-Outa, but
that further on there are shallows. It remains now to
aticataki if the IsTani-Ctuta irsQt. navigable.

Vacancies, Promotions and Appointwou'

in the Civil Service-

(From the Civil Service Gazette.) 1168beell
COLONIAL-OFFICE.—Mr Henry Russell IleYsharn
ti...„sl'lotea
appointed a clerk in the convict service, Western
INDIAN-OFFICE.—Mr. Hugh C. Briggshas been sPr'
a temporary lerk.
THE ADMIc
RALTY.—Mr. Frederick Powell has bees iv
pointed a clerk in the victualling-yard, Malta-
f Neal'
POST OFFICE.—Mx. Pellatt, postmaster 0 ..
castle-on-Tyne, has been appointed postmaster of Solicr,
ampton. Mr. Edward Macgowran has been aPP°illte
clerk at Dumfries. Mr. Haverty has been pronaoted from
of clertel
the old supplementary class to the second class
sorting office, Dublin. Mr. M'Clintock has been Pr°l7l„°ba•
from the redundant establishment of clerks to the Pr"
tionary class of clerks, sorting office, Dublin. i 001;
Cusroms.—Mr. John R. Blackford has been. aPP°q,,,D 5
clerk in the examiner's office, London. Mr.Manrice,,
has been appointed a clerk in the examiner's office,l,°ll the
Mr. Mr. Alfred J. Wood has been appointed a clerk inbeea
examiner's office, London. Mr. John H. Jefferyri'as gr.
appointed a clerk in the searcher's office, London.
elell,
Charles de V. Wood has been appointed an extra ,
London. Mr. Charles E. Sullivan has been aPP°it-
ect
gite
clerk for general business, Liverpool. Mr. Thomas 13'`.
L
has been appointed 18th clerk, Dublin. Mr. Williataio
Massy, has been appointed 10th clerk, SouthanlPoll'
James Moway has been appointed sth clerk, Aberdeen
00,
T. D. Thorpe, clerk of the second-class in the loft
London, has been promoted to be chief clerk in thei,;th
room. Mr. H. H. Hooper, clerk of the third-e
socond
long room, has been promoted to be a clerk of the clergy
of
class, long-room, London. Mr. W. H. Sharmand, $
the fourth-class, long-room, has been promoten to Li-Lov,
clerk of the third-class, long-room, London. Mr. 31;flig tea
son, clerk of the fifth-class, long-room, has been Pr- °
to be a clerk of the fourth-class, long-room, Lon en'
INLAND REVENUE.—Stamp and Tax Branell•-441:cre'
Lomas, committee clerk, has been appointed assistsila-r
.
tary, Stamp and Taxes, vice Mr. C. Hay, retired. fir.
Joseph Prendergast has been appointed committee
vice Mr. Lomas, promoted.
ExcisE BEANcH.—Mr. Henry Geo. Attfield, Staf'
ftio cer, d
te
forda division, Stafford collection, has been apP°ln
miner. Mr. William Lindsay, officer, Glasgow, 12th„,ilter,
sion,kr Glasgow collection, has been appointed 0011, /It
Mr. Wm. Tulse, officer, Edinburgh, 2d division, rtdinfh)(lii
collection, has been appointed officer of Liverposit"oocr
sion, Liverpool colleetion. Mr. Wm. Long, drol:r„tt or
Glasgow, 14th division, Glasgow collection, has
pointed officer of Glasgow 7th division, Glasgow c°7;4011
Mr. Peter Fisher, officer, Glasgow, 13th division, got dir
collection, has been appointed officer of Glasgow,
sion. Glasgow collection. Mr. John P. Sibthorpe, w t
10.4
officer, Glasgow, 14th division, Glasgow colleetite
been appointed officer of Glasgow, 13th division, 61 rider
collection. Mr. Edward Pinnix, officer, Tenterdella
Canterbury collection, has been appointed soc*
Brighton collection. pottedIRELAND.—Mr. Edward Murtagh has been sPpptibli'l
third class clerk, secretary's department, Board () to
Works,
vice Mr. Octavius H. Braddell, transferral'
cotuatanrs Department.