The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-14 00:00:00

" Oh strangest symptom of times out of joint !
Verbose malignity mista'en for point,
Diffuse parade of commonplace for style,
And for free speech a pleonasm of bile."

"Hail, veteran rider, with the battered jack
And tatter'd plaid on thy marauding back,
With ragged spear, six Scottish ells in length,
And dudgeon knife, and bow of wondrous strength,
(To say nothing of its being as long as the spear)

" Ready in foray, stiff in stour to stand,
A Reiver from the waste of Cumberland," &c.

Restricted though the purpose of the poem would
seem to be from its title, the Satirist by no means
confines himself to taunts of a political character.
Nothing comes amiss to his insatiable greed of
derisive merriment. Admiring TENNYSON, as he
tells he does in a foot-note, he nevertheless can-
not resist inquiring—
" Shall daily puffs from swift oblivion save
ALFRED'S late howl o'er British ARTHUR'S grade ?"

An inquiry, by the way, which none of those
among our readers can possibly marvel at, who
bear in recollection our strictures upon. the fune-
real ode of the Poet Laureate. Although num-
bered in the ranks ourselves, we cannot resist the
luxury of a chuckle over Lord MAIDSTONE'S pre-
vious taunt, addressed to the living chiefs in the
schools of criticism :

" And these are they, forsooth, who simpering sit
On office-stools, and hold the courts of wit ;
Who bridle PEGASUS, make CLIO stare,
And push APOLLO from his awful chair."
Disgusted with the lack of taste evident among
the reviewers, the Noble Lord appears, in fact, to
have resolved henceforth to content himself with a
more select and discriminating audience, leaving the
plaudits of the ot roXXot to lowlier and more
readily contented ambitions.

An tua demens
Vilibus in ludis dictari carmina malls ?
Non ego : nam satis est Equitem mihi plaudere, ut audax,
Contemptis aliis, explosa Arbuscula
As about the happiest example of Lord MAID-
STONE'S satirical fun, we should perhaps select that
passage in reference to the dangers threatening
the Noah of the Political Deluge—in the course
of which we are asked—
" Safe can he wander through the pathless dark,
With all the beasts at variance in his ark /
How shall the self-denying lion pass
A friendly morning with the pert young ass ?
Or old-wife's canniest contrivance pen
Reforming Reynard with an Oxford hen ?"
It were something like ingratitude, moreover,
after the laughter we have drawn from its perusal,
were we not, however cursorily, to commend the
humour of that drily-delightful appendix in which
are set forth, in such irresistible array, specimens of
the bathos of SAVAGE LANDOR, " the deep-mouthed
Boeotian." So leave we in good part—to subside
as it best may—" The Deluge" of the spiteful but
sprightly MAIDSTONE.

Among the many taxes on knowledge there is
none more thoroughly objectionable in every point
of view than the Advertisement Duty, which is
alike inequitable and inexpedient—as much op-
posed to equal justice, as it is to sound fiscal policy.
It is, indeed, based on the most erroneous princi-
ples, casting the chief portion of the burdens on
those least qualified to sustain them—and oppo-
sing a serious, and, in many cases, an insurmount-
able obstacle to the dissemination of the informa-
tion which is of such vital importance between
vendor and purchaser, and master and workman.
The importance of such publicity is well known
and thoroughly appreciated in America. Take up
almost any one of the 350 journals published daily
in the United States, and you will find a display
of advertisements not surpassed in the Leviathan
of English Journalism, and far exceeding any of
the other nine of the English daily newspapers.
Why is this ? Is it ascribable to the superior
wealth or population of the North American Re-
public ; to its more numerous commercial trans-
actions, or because employment is more difficult
of attainment therein than in this country ?
Certainly not ! In every 'respect there would
be a greater demand for publicity through the
medium of the press here than at the other -side
of the Atlantic but for the Advertisement Duty,
which exercises its malign influence in preventing
those whose wants are most urgent from making
them known to the quarters in which they might
be supplied. If a starving sempstress, ground
down to the lowest by the liberal slopseller, who pays
id. or 2d. for making a shirt, desires to obtain
more lucrative occupation, the Advertisement
Duty acts as a practical prohibition to the accom-
plishment of her moderate demands ; the clerk,
shopman, or artisan out of situation, is
unable to detail his qualifications, and to
explain how his services could be useful. The
impost may be of little consequence to the rich
capitalist seeking employment for a large sum of
money ; to a landed proprietor anxious to dispose
of or mortgage a large estate ; or even to a wealthy
merchant or shopkeeper desirous of calling atten-
tion to the superiority of quality and economy of
the price of his goods. But it is of vital importance
to the small shopkeeper, the struggling trades-
man, and to the working classes generally—to all,
indeed, who are earning their daily bread by their
daily labour. It is a matter of gross injustice to
such persons to say that they are only charged at
the same rate as their more fortunate brethren.
In such cases the pretext of equality merely adds
insult to the previous injury. As well might an
equal poll tax on the peer and the peasant be
justified, and the half-starved Irish cottier be
Called upon to contribute as highly to the liquida-
tion of the national liabilities, and the mainte-
nance of the national establishments, as the owner
of Wide spread domains, or the comfortable mil-
lionaire.

is also ver
The injustice to thte. proprietors. of newspaper
property
why the Press should
jrn
vertisements in.
aral±lontheg.
cals should be charged, while
nuisance, or the placards in
omnibuses, the chalking
the desecration of the National
be permitted to escape With
be
taxed—whyl t is hard to
As ady-
agazines, or periodi-
cals
advertising van
onratihlway carriages and
Moe
numents
and even
im
u should
system be indeed judicious, it should be If the
e extended
so as to comprise every class of Advertis
unwise and impolitic, it should not be put on sif
A reduction of duty would not meet the necessityll
of the case, and the total amount collected, under
160,0001., is not of such importance to the revenue
that the anxiously sought-for boon should be only
partially conceded. We trust that the CHAN-

of illustrious reputation to sacrifice principle and
consistency, in order that they might, at all cost,
oust their opponents from office, and form them-
selves into a coalition Government. We were
the first, in fact, to fasten upon the new Ministry
that soubriquet of " The Happy Family," of
which Lord MAIDSTONE here makes (p. 37) such
odd and fantastic application. Beyond this, we
were the foremost to raise the voice of mingled
remonstrance and indignation against those who
we conceived were degrading the character of the
Fourth Estate, and jeopardising the dignity of
the empire, by the .ignorant abuse and insolent
vituperations directed against the friendly ruler
of a neighbouring and unoffending population.
Not less wonderingly than Lord MAIDSTONE have
we ourselves long since marvelled over a recent
and very flagrant infatuation—of which he himself
now exclaims—

Contenting ourselves, however, with a compre-
hnnsive protest against the charge of partisanship
—as unprovoked as it has, we are bold to say, on
our part, been ever most scrupulously undeserved
—return we to a cursory glance at the drolleries
indulged in by our poet-pamphleteer.
Brief though it is, " The Deluge" is, perhaps,
the most vigorous satire that has appeared since the
"English Bards and Scotch Reviewers." The
secret of its vigour is its boldness. Viscount
MAIDSTONE cares not one jot who it is he happens
to have selected for the shafts of his ridicule.
" Prepare for rhyme—l'll publish right or wrong :
Fools are my theme, let Satire be my song."

Against " Peelite Medusas" and " Whig-snapping
turtles," against " Thrashers from Erin," and
" Sharks from Middlesex," he hurls the arrows of
his flippant and indiscriminate malevolence. Pas-
sing. in review the principal members of the coali-
tion, he greets them all in succession with the
choicest phrases of sawn, culled from his ample
and acidulated vocabulary. For the Premier in
particular, he has a greeting of peculiar earnest
ness