The Sun.
London, England, 1825-04-16 00:00:00

good. But if low duties are, as they have proved
themselves, the most liberal feeders of the na-
tional finance, undoubtedly this Custom-house
expedient for building one high tax upon another,
must have a fearful tendency in the opposite
direction. it appears from the Bogota state-
ments, that smuggling is the only trade which
has profitted much by these unfortunate prac-
tices of the Colombian Customs, and that the
receipts into the treasury are for the same rea-
son deplorably out of comparison with the mag-
nitude of the duties. Such a consequence
could never have been meditated by the Con-
gress of Colombia, nor by the Government.
The evi!, too,-is the more to be lamented, because
the bUlk of the revenue in that couniry is de-
rived from taxes on importation. Bolivar, when
he return, will not scruple, we are sure, to profit
by the example of the English 'Minister, and to
recommend to Congress a reduction of the corn-
, mercial duties as the most fertile source of riches
to the State. With respect to the other charge
hinted at above,—we mean the bona fide adoption
of the ad valorem scale, estimated by the actual
price of the article, and not by the exacting spirit
of the Custom-house,—there is on the face of it this
objection, viz. the possibility that the merchant
might under-rate the cost, for the sake of a frau-
dulent reduction of the duty. The remedy would,
on the other hand, be • simple enoughnarnely,
giving an option to the Custom-house to take the
goods at the merchant's valuation, paying him 10
per cent. over, as profits of trade. This, with a
general reduction of duties, it is conceived,-would
be a sufficient guarantee against fraud, a queller
of smuggling, an encouragement to fair and open
commerce, and an immediate stimulant to the
revenue. If, as we once already observed, the Go-
vernment or Old Spain, or the revenue department
of Old France, had been concerned, we should
have despaired of convincing their reason, or pre-
vailing over their inveteracy on questions like
this. But infant republics, if they labour tinder
some of the-disadvantages belonging to another
kind of infancy, have at least its freedom from
prejudice to redeem them. We have little doubt
that the Colombian Government will -.soon per-
ceive, and endeavour to remove these commercial
evils—thus reaping for its own citizens even more
than an equivalent for the benefits it bestows
upon other nations.

[MORNING ct-ittoxicLEd
We received, at a late hour last night, the
Pas-is Papers of Wednesday, with the Etoile of
Thursday. Elsewhere we have given extracts
from them. The speech of M. Royer Collard in
the Chamber of Deputies, in the Sitting of the
12th, seems to have tnade a profound impression.
M. de Peyronnet and the crafty Jesuit, the
Bishop of Ilermopolis, took notes of it. The
following passage towards the conclusion is
very striking: 44 In breaking a long silence, I
wished to mark my keen opposition to the
Theocratic principle which threatens religion and
society at the same time—a principle the more,
odious that the torch is not kindled in our days,
as in the days of barbariousness and ignorance,
by the sincere fury of an excessive zeal. There
is no Dominick now, and neither are we Albi-
genses (marked movement in the Assembly.)
The Theocracy of our times is less religious
than political ; it forms a part of that sys.
tern of universal re-action, by which we are
carried away ; what recommends it is, that
it has a counter revolutionary aspect.—Un-
doubtedly, Gentlemen, the Revolutiou was
impious even to fanaticism, even to cruelty. But
let.us beware, it was this crime more especially
which ruined it, and we may predict to the
counterrevolution, that reprisals ,of cruelty,.
though merely written, will bear testimony
against it, and will sully it in its turn (strong
rumour on the right). There are times when
penal laws in matters of religion give to the
disposition a character of atrocity. Montes-
quieu has said this, and - the history of latter
ages proves it. We may judge that there
are other times when these same laws are
only a degrading corruption. Remember, Gen-
tlemen, the old age of the great King, and of the
days which followed the days which. came so
close on the Revolution. Consult respecting that
sad period the most pious and wise conternpOra-
ries. Fenelon wrote these very - words on the
15th March, 171'2, three years before the death
of Louis the Fourteenth :--4 The present morals
of the nation throw every one into the most vio-
lent temptation to attach himself to the strongest
by all sorts of meanness, cowardice, blackness,
i and treachery.'