The Sun.
London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

DAILY WEATHER TABLE.

SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1853.
State of the wind and weather at each of the following
flacoq at nine o'clock yesterday morning. The stations
are arranged in order of latitude.
Fotac RSTONE—N.E., light breeze—overcast.
GREENWICH—CaIm—overcast.
Sri-loop—E., gentle breeze—overcast.
SwINDox--N.W., light airs—cloudy.
YARMOUTH—S. E., gentle breeze—cloudless.
HOLYHEAD—S.W., gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
'1 he returns from the following places indicate the state
of the weather on Thursday Morning; at nine o'clock :
SWINDON—S.W., fresh breeze—cloudy.
CAMBRIDGE—S_,. gentle breeze—partially cloudy.
D Lin/TON—S. , gentle breeze—cloudy (light rains
during the night).
SHAP—S., calm—overcast.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tat DAT —Morning 31 min. after 4 I
Evening 50 min. aft. 4
To-Mo.:mow—Morning 10 min. after 5 Evening 31 min.aft. 5

THE WEATHER.—Sex Orms, JUNE 11
THERMODIETICE, IN THE SHADE.
71—highest since noon yesterday.
60 —lowest this morning and during the nigltt.
74 this day at noon.

BATiOMETZR, 29.82.
WIND, E. - Light breeze, and fine, clear weather.

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tjlt
c"rx, ‘-`,553,111

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1853.

Hostilities must, of course, commence on the
side of the Russians. The first shot must be
fired by command of the AUTOCRAT. Otherwise,
the peace of Europe will continue undisturbed.
It is preposterous to hear the fears expressed by
those who have hitherto been the admirers of the
policy of St. Petersburgh, lest the rupture of the
existing tranquillity should originate in some rash
act on the part of the Allied Powers supporting
the Turkish SOVEREIGN. The expression of this
dread, we say again, is simply preposterous. It
is preposterous, because, from first to last, through-
out the whole of these deplorable transactions, the
temerity and precipitation have been on the side
of the CZAR, and not on that of his political
antagonists. His have been the impetuo-
sity, and the passion, and the dereliction
of duty, and the violation of right, and the aban-
donment of principle, throughout all these irri-
tating negotiations. Not theirs. Therefore,
surely, on " the head and front of his offending"
it is obvious that from the Emperor NICHOLAS,
and not from the allies, will come the peril of war
from some open act of aggression. It will fall
out thus or not at all. Either Russia will make the
first hostile demonstration, or no demonstration
of the kind will rouse the dormant passions of
Christendom. It is, consequently, frivolous for
the quondam organ of the AUTOCRAT in London
to persist in reminding the Cabinets of St. James's
and the Tuileries that the Convention of 1841 closes
against their naval forces the straits leading by the
Sea of Marmora towards Constantinople. Neither
England nor France will, of course, until after
" the peace is actually broken," cause their fleets
to penetrate the forbidden channel of the Dar-
danelles. The terror expressed least they may do
so, and thereby wantonly provoke hostilities, is,
to say the least of it, merely gratuitous. The
policy of the Allied Governments of France and
Great Britain in this matter is as plain as it is
honourable. It is manifestly to despatch their
combined fleets, as they are kno.vn to have been ac-
tually despatched by the 4th instant, to—not into,
but to, the Dardanelles. There they will be in
readiness for any emergency. They will be within
call of the Frenchand British Ambassadors resident
at Constantinople. They will be prepared to
advance under the respective command of Ad-
miral LASUSSE and of Admiral DUNDAS, upon the
instant they may find themselves summoned to
the Golden Horn by her Britannic MAJESTY'S
and
hie
Imperial MAJESTY'S representatives. And
the will not be summoned until war has been
IiRAT.
terallY commenced by the forces of the AUTO-
C
The will not be summoned until the
Russian frontiers have been passed, until the
passage of the Danube has been commenced,
until the boundaries
of Bessarabia have been vio-
lated. Then, but no
t
England will awaken to
atiltl. then, France and
—and, be sure of
this, they will act in earnest"
first warlike movement of the Immediately the
armies of the CZAR
has been learnt at Constantinople thConvention
of 1841 will go for nothing, its restrictions will be
scattered to the winds, not by any want
of
good
faith on the part of the Western Powers, but by
the flagrant turpitude of the Cabinet of St.
Petersburgh, by an overt act of aggression on the
part of the AUTOCRAT. Thereupon no law - will
any longer exist to close against the French
and British fleets the passage of the Darda-
nelles. Those fleets will at once hasten through
the chamois awl of WAWA to
=QM g

the succour of the SULTAN and his Divan at Con-
stantinople. If requisite, they will proceed a little
further than the Turkish capital, entering the Black
Sea through the Bosphorus. All thi will be
effected directly intelligence is received at Con-
stantinople that the Russian army has commenced
its descent into the Danubian principalities. Until
then, nothing will be done by the naval arma-
ments of France and. England in the Mediter-
ranean. Nothing, that is to say, beyond
hovering about at the entrance of the Dar-
danelles. But so surely as information is ob-
tained by the Sublime Porte that the sword
has been drawn by the CZAR, so surely will the
maritime armaments bearing the banners of Queen
VICTORIA and of the Emperor NAPOLEON appear
off Constantinople. Then, woe to the man who
shall have broken the peace of thirty-eight years'
duration, and who, for the development of his
own selfish policy and unprincipled ambition, shall
have brought down the curse of a general war
upon the European Continent I

The Succession Duty Bill was last night read
a second time without opposition, on the distinct
understanding, however, that the discussion on
the subject was only postponed until the next
stage of its progress, and that the debate on the
principle of the measure, and the sense of the
House thereon, would be taken on the question
" that the Speaker do now leave the chair." There
can be no possible objection to this course when a
distinct and positive understanding has been
arrived at, so that there can be no possibility
of either the supporters or opponents of the
measure being taken by surprise. It is
now, however, too late for any effective
resistance to the proposition. We long since
pointed out the imperative necessity of either
abolishing, or materially extending and enlarging,
the operation of the Legacy Duties, so as to ren-
der every description of accumulated and realised
property, whether settled or unsettled, liable to
the tax. Monstrous injustice has already been
inflicted upon the devisees of unsettled personalty,
whether they acquired their rights under, and by
virtue of the will of a testator, or the operation
of the statute of distributions. Enormous sums
have already been extracted from their pockets,
while persons succeeding to real estate, either
as heirs at law or devisees, and also those
inheriting leaseholds or personal property
under the provisions of a settlement were
wholly exempted. This flagrant grievance could
no longer be justified. The public indigna-
tion was strongly excited, and the voice of public
opinion loudly uplifted against the inequitable
and impolitic law. It was the proposed adjust-
ment of the question that rendered the Budget
acceptable, and induced many Fiscal Reformers to
vote for the renewal of the Income Tax, without
modification or amendment, and for seven in place
of three years ; and, having swallowed that
obnoxious dose, they will now insist on ob-
taining the promised equivalent. It is vain
for the members of the territorial aristocracy
who shirked the discussions on the Income Tax,
who suffered the full weight of the burden to be
fastened on the shoulders of the industrious
classes, to suppose that they can now successfully
impede the progress of the Succession Duty
Bill. It should have been considered simul-
taneously with the measure for the renewal of the
Income Tax, for on an equitable arrangement
thereof rested the only hope of .avoiding the charge
upon successions, which will (according to the
operations of the landocracy) prove so very inju-
rious to the interests of their order. The mo-
ment, however, that the Income Tax Bill
passed the House of Commons--the moment
the abolition of the Legacy Duty Bill became im-
possible during the present session—the enact-
ment of the Succession Duty Bill became a matter
of perfect certainty, and those who object thereto ,
have only themselves to thank for the unpalatable I
result.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHP.ITER, in re-
demption of the pledge which, he had previously
given, last night stated the nature of his plan with
respect to corporate -property. It was manifest
that, if the tax upon successions was to be made
general in its operation, some scheme should
be devised to render corporation property
s.ul-,ject to the burden. A corporation "never
dies." There is no succession (except in
cases of alienation) or transfer thereof.. Its ex-
emption, when all others were liable, would occa-
sion many well-founded complaints ; and, there-
fore, some arrangement should be come to by
which a fair average payment might be insured.
What, then, was the course to be adopted ? The
nomination of lives, on the failure whereof 'the
tax would be enforced, would be objectionable, as
it would not answer to have persons selected by
either side, the Corporation or the Government.
If- a term of years were fixed on as the
average duration of - human life, of persons
indifferently selected, a new problem would arise
—When should the term be supposed to have com-
menced ? What allowance should be made for
the period already passed ? We do not conceive
that the solution would be so very difficult, as it
appeared to the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
when one-half of the average period fixed on,
whether 20, 25, or 30 years would appear to be
the time when the first payment might fairly be
demanded, and that payment might reasonably
be required at the average of the Legacy Duties
payable by all the different classes, from the
direct issue of the body of the deceased, to
perfect strangers, or those remote in blood.
There would, however; be an inconvenience
in so many payments coming in at once to the
exchequer, in place of being an annual source of
revenue that would form a portion of the ways
and means in each successive year. Mr. GLAD-
STONE has accordingly proposed, that, in place of
such a tax at distant intervals, there should be
an annual commutation payment, which he fixes
at 3d. in the pound for seven years, and 6d. in
the pound after that time. Here, then, the Right
Honourable Gentleman has given in his adhesion
to the arguments we have so strongly urged. He
has—so far as one branch of this realised
property of the ' country is concerned—come
into our views proposing, in fact, neither
more nor less than an equitable Property
Tax—fairly and justly apportioned---on the
net, not the gross, receipts, and with respect
to which there is to be no exemption ! We
congratulate ourselves on this important accession
to the great principle we have so long and so
strenuously advocated. We emphatically declared
that the Succession Duty Bill would solve the
problem as to the supposed impossibility of an
equitable adjustment of the Property Tax. Mr.
GLADSTONE has now verified our predictions. He
has shown how the matter may be fairly and
justly arranged with respect to corporate property.
Why, we ask, may not the same principle be ex-
tended to all other descriptions of property, real
orpersonal, settled or unsettled. Such an extension

would at once place the matteron the most substan-
tial and equitable basis, and render the payments
at the same time more easy to the contributors
and more beneficial to the Exchequer. There is

yet time for its adoption before serious injustice,
and,! we may add, irreparable injury, be inflicted
on the families of those who may die between this

time and the ultimate settlement of the important
and interesting question.

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN AND MIDLAND RAIL-
WAYS.—These two companies have been lately inspect-
ing their permanent ways, as well as devising the best
means of keeping them in thorough repair, and they
have, with that view, as also as the most economical
system, entered into contracts with the Permanent Way
Company for the use of its patents on upwards of a
thousand single miles of railway.
REPRESENTATION OP STROUD.—The address of Mr.
Meryweather Turner, the second candidate for the re-
presentation of Stroud, vacant by the accession of Lord
Moreton to the peerage, is now out. Mr. Horsman at
present suspends further proceedings, until after the re-
mains of the late earl Ducie shall have been interred.
In an address which he has issued to the electors, he
intimatest.a his intention to abstaid from any further poli-
finenaelrnr
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ELECTION COMMITTEES.-(THIS DAY.)

LIVERPOOL.

The committee on the Liverpool election resumed
their sittings again this morning, when the evidence as
to treating was proceeded with. The- evidence was
principally corroborative of what has already been given,
and no new facts of any importance were elicited.

SHERIFF'S COURT-(THIS DAY.)

(Before R. Gurney, Esq., and a Jury.)
WHETTON V. WHETTON.

This was an action to recover the sum of 391. for board
and lodging.
Defendant pleaded a set off to the amount of 451. 10s.

Mr. W. R. Buchanan appeared for the plaintiff, and
stated the case. The parties were brothers, and the ac-
tion was brought on a guarantee by defendant to pay
plaintiff 12s. a week for the board and lodging of his fa-
ther. The defence was founded on an alleged balance of
account. The aecount, however, was in fact closed in
1840, but it was set up that there had been an account
rendered in 1850. In answer to this, it was contended
that the debt was barred by the statute of limitations,
and also by plaintiff's bankruptcy and certificate in 1847.
Mr. Buchanan contended at great length that both by
the Bankruptcy Act under which plaintiff got his certi-
ficate, and by the statute of limitations, any admission
to receive a debt so barred must be in writing, and
signed by the party or some one in his behalf. In the
present instance there was merely a memorandum entered
in defendant's ledger by his son, and not signed by either
party.

- His Honour held with this argument, and directed a
verdict for the plaintiff for 311. 4s. which had only been
proved.

VISIT OP HER MAJESTY TO HULL.

Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased
to notify to the Municipality of Hull that she accepts
their invitation to visit the town in the course of the
current season, but that she has not yet been able to fix
the time when she may be expected to arrive at this
port. But, with her characteristic consideration for
the convenience of her loyal subjects, the Queen directs
Lord Palmerston to make known to the people of Hull
that ample notice will be given them of her coming, that
they may be prepared to receive her in a manner worthy
of themselves and the occasion.—Hull Advertiser.