The Sun.
London, England, 1831-09-29 00:00:00

to bim, could reasonably be contemplated, could go
beyond the charge of 300,0001."—Parliamentary
l
Debates, April 5, 1824. The first item in a state-
ment laid before the House last night, for expences
already incurred at -Windsor Castle, is 594,0001.—
nearly double the sum I—and a farther sum of
177,000/. is proposed for carrying on the improve-
ments there ! besides 267,0001. already granted
for furniture. Thus, so far is 300,0001. from
being sufficient for the building expenses, that that
sum hardly pays for the furniture. Windsor Castle,
however, is something to look at and admire, be-
cause it was left a noble structure by a noble race of
Kings to their descendants or successors. But of
thee, thou structure of crockery, raised on an ob-
structed puddle !—of thee, thou Buckingham-
house, or palace, or hole, or hovel, what are we to
say ? Two hundred and fifty-two thousand pounds
were all that was required for the completion of this
nondescript : nearly twice the sum has been ex-
pended, and it is unnecessary to say more is re-
quired. Can any one wonder that we are a distressed
people ? But what is more remarkable still is, that
a commission was appointed to controul the expenses
of these buildings :—" So far from there being any
disposition to lavish themoney which it is proposed
to apply (as the gestures of some Honourable Gen-
tlemen opposite seemed to indicate), it is the express
desire of his Majesty that the direction of the ex-
penditure shall not be under the sole eontroul either
of himself, or of any department of the Govern-
ment, but it is his Majesty's desire that a commis-
sion be appointed for that purpose."—Chancellor of
the Exchequer's speech on opening the Budget of
1824. To the Commissioners, then, Parliament
and the nation ought to betake themselves for re-
dress. We do not say, if the expenses had exceeded
the estimate by any moderate sum, that we should
in that case have adverted to the conduct of the
Commissioners, or asserted their liability ; but where
there has been such an evident neglect (or some-
thing worse) of duty, it is but proper that they
upon whose judgment and supposed integrity the
public was induced to confide, should repair the da-
mage they have done. The private fortunes of the
Commissioners ought to supply the lavish expendi-
ture which they have sanctioned. It was on their
responsibility that the House agreed to the repairs
and building of the two Palaccs. While we were
making these remarks, we have received a document
of considerable importance, which follows :

WINDSOR CASTLE and BUCKINGHAM PALACE.
" The Select Committee appointed to inquire into Matters
connected with Windsor Castle and Buckingham Pa-
lace ; and to whom the papers presented to the House
by his Majesty's command on the 15th day of Febru-
ary, 1831, together with the minutes of evidence
taken by the Committee in the last session of Parlia•
rnent, and the papers laid before them, were referred ;
have agreed to this their first report, which has re-
ference only to the furniture of Windsor Castle.
" The Committee have ascertained that the
amount of Parliamentary grant for furniture
at Windsor Castle, was iC4137,000

" That the sums paid to certain tradesmen in
the department of the Loid Chamberlain,
on account of their bills, amounted to 217,943
" That there has been paid to the tradesmen
in the department of the Lord Steward, for
kitchen furniture 1,7(78
" That there has also been paid for tapestry 3,550

" Making an aggregate of 23,261

" That the balance of the Parliamentary grants in the Exche-
quer is consequently 43,7:391.
" The Committee,•after the best inquiries they were
able to make, resolved to recommend the payment of certain
balances due to the tradesmen, whose bills were either
withi❑ the original estimates delivered, or the excess of
whose bills above their estimates was satisfactorily
explained. These balances amounted to 11,603/. 9s. Id.
Messrs. Morel and Seddon had been paid the full amount
of their estimates, 143,0001. ; but the bills by them de-
livered were for the sum of 202,9631., and a balance was
consequently claimed of 60,963/.
" The Committee felt that they were wholly incapable
of fixing any value on the furniture so provided, and yet
that they could not be justified in advising the payment of
so large an excess over the original estimates, without en-
deavouring to obtain further information. Certain charges
for differ. nt articles of furniture, to which the attention of
the Committee had been specially directed, were, at their
recommendation, submitted by the Treasury to the exami-
nation of competent judges, who, however, after a prepa-
ratory inspection of the same, declined a task which they
considered themselves wholly incapable of performing.
" The Committee having thus failed in an attempt to
value those selected articles of furniture, which might have
been a criterion of whether the general charges in the bill
were or were not extravagant, at length entered into an
arrangement with Messrs. Morel and Seddon, that they
should deliver a statement of the sums actually by them
expended in labour, materials, and trade charges, and the
profit to them accruing; this statement to be verified by
the examination of their books, by an accomptant to be
appointed by the Treasury.
" Mr. Abbott was consequently appointed; and after
due consideration of different reports presented by him,
and the answers thereto made by Messrs. Morel and Sed-
don, and after the examination of many witnesses as to
the fair profit which ought to be charged by upholsterers
for such costly and elaborate furniture, your Committee
report that the bill of Messrs. Morel and Seddon, origi-
nally amounting to 203,9631. 6s. 5d., should be di-
minished to 179,300/. 13s. 9d.
" Messrs. Morel and Seddon having paid 1,0501. to
the Lord Chamberlain's Office, in part of fees, a practice
to which the Committee strongly objected in all instances,
and to which the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury
have in this case especially objected, the'Committee recom-
mend that this sum should be repaid.

" The account will be as follows: X. s. d.
" Balance due to various tradesmen, ex-
clusive of Morel and Seddon 11,608 9 7
" Balance to be paid Morel and Seddon 37,350 19 71.

£49,959 9 21
" The balance of grants in the Exchequer Icing
43,7391. there will remain to be provided for by Parlia-
ment, to complete the sums due fur furniture at Windsor
Castle, 5,2201. 9s. 2141. less such sum as may be repaid
by the Lord Chamberlain's office for fees received.
" The Committee trust that they do not exceed the
duties intrusted to them, if they express an opinion that a
very heavy expense has been incurred for furnishing
Windsor Castle, without due regard to economy, and
without sufficient check from the proper authorities.

'• The appointment of a Furnishing Committee, so far
from realizing the •expectations of the Lord' of the Trea-
sury, who in their minute of the 27th July, 1826, say,
Lards receive with much satisfaction the corn-
munication of th:s arrangement, under which they
are convinced that the service will be executed
in the manner best suited to the peculiar nature of
it, and most consistent with the utmost economy
of which such an expenditure may be susceptible,' has, it
is to be feared, been productive of an increased • lavish ex-
penditure, inasmuch as neither the Treasury nor the Lord
Chamberlain's Office appear to have considered themselves
responsible, while the members of the Furnishing Com-
mittee did not supply any adequate check on this extra-
vagant waste of public money.
" The Committee strongly deprecate the practice of
establishing any irresponsible Boards, who thus relieve the
proper authorities from the performance of duties which
strictly belong to their official situations.

" Sept. 27."
Our readers will observe that the authors of this
report are not the body composing the Commission
first spoken of, which we believe was called the
Comistittee, or Commission of Taste. The authors
of the report just insetted were, we presume, chosen
as a cheek upon the " Taste" Committee, whose
names ought to be made public, as well as their pro-
perty liable for the scandalous extravagance which
they have sanctioned.—Times.
The Edinburgh petition, in favour of Reform,
received 36,159 signatures, a larger number than
ever subscribed any former petition from that city,
though it remained open little more than two days.
The Caledonian Mercury observes, that " if the
Peers are inclined to believe men upon their own
words, there will be no difficulty, we should think,
in persuading their Lordships, that the interest
taken by the people of Scotland is not a jot abated;
but rather increased. Since our last we have re-
ceived so many notices of meetings of communities,
e land,orp rfaotri out,ies,pp purpose o
publicaunrd:
of petitioning
bodies, in all
lhe
thatScotls-
L 1
it is quite impossible to enumerate the
t
quite evident that, before the end oefmt;h e but it
week,
the table of their Lordships must groan under the
load of petitions from this country. No fewer than
twelve petitions we observe go from the public
bodies in Perth alone." In short the petitions in

favour of this Bill, as we have already stated, may •
be considered a tolerably accurate census of all the
male population of age. The Anti-Reformers form
so small a fractional part of the population that the
result is hardly affected by them. This comes of
ill-timed taunts. Had the Anti-Reformers held
their tongues on the subject of the senti-
ments of the people, the Peers,—many of
whom know nothing personally of what the
Ipeople think,—might have been spared these
formidable demonstrations. Some of them might
have conscientiously believed that as the people
were silent, there was something in what Mr. Crofter
said, in the beginning of the discussions, that the
absence of petitions for Reform in any number
.
for many years proved that the call for now was
not the result of any settled determination of the
people, but a passing impulse, and that the people
had returned to a state of indifference. But, unfor-
tunately, the assertion was made in time to allow
the people time to give a most striking demonstra-
tion of the falsehood of it, before the second reading
of the Bill in the House of Lords. No Noble Lord
can now pretend to have any doubt that the people
are united and determined on this great question.
The Peer who votes against the second reading of
the Bill, must do so on the ground that the opinions
and feelings of a nation ought not to influence its
Government. He must be prepared to approve of
the worst despotism ; for if we know anything of
freedom, it is essential to it that the opinions and
wishes of the people should influence their Govern-
ment. He who says that three hundred men
should disregard the opinions and feelings of a
nation, must be prepared to maintain the prin-
ciple, that 30 men, nay that one man—an Aristocrat
—may equally disregard the opinions and wishes of a
nation. The -opinion begins to prevail that their
Lordships are more reasonable than it was ever
thought they sstould be. Mr. Hume, at the Middle-
sex meeting, said he could not believe that the
House of Lords would " refuse a concession de-
manded by an united people. He could not believe
it, numerous as were the acts of their Lordships'
Howse which testified ignorance and imbecility of
understanding.—(Hear, and a laugh.) The House
of Lords, he repeated, would pass the Bill. It
mattered not that a majority of their Lordships was
in grain opposed to it ; for they had passed the Ca-
tholic Bill, though equally opposed to it, at the
mandate of a bold soldier-statesman.—(Hear.) Yes,
in one day a majority of 128 Peers wheeled round
on the Catholic question." The Caledonian Mer-
cury observes, in the same spirit—" Calculations are
now beginning to be made of the strength of the
divisions, and within the last day or two we
have received information which dissipates all our
fears, and makes us morally certain that the
Bill will pass the Upper House with very
slight modifications. It is not estimated that
more than 320 of the Members will take part, either
in person or by proxy, in the present proceedings.
Of that number the opinions of 140 are known
certainly to be in favour of the Bill, and those of
120 as certainly to be against it. About 60 have
not declared themselves, but of these wailers upon
Providence no very alarming, doubts are entertained
but when the time conies they will appear in the
ranks of the favourers of the Bill." But the people
must not relax in their efforts. In the language of
our great poet, they must not—
Bate a jot
Of heart or hope; but still bear up, and steer
Hight onward."
They have the best of all causes; but it was well
observed by a speaker at the Sheffield meeting on
Monday last—" It had been said of the old Scotch
Covenanters, that the admonition of the leaders was
Read your Bibles, but sleep upon your match-
locks ;' in a similar strain of exhortation he would
address his townspeople to hope in the Lords, but
to trust in themselves.—(Applause.)"—Morning

There is the greatest reason to believe, notwith-
standing the pompous denial of Earl Grey, and the
eloquent bluster of Lord Brougham, that the Par-
liamentary efforts of the Opposition, supported by
the rising indignation of the country, have, as the
Marquis of Londonderry said in the House of Lords,
given a turn to the diplomacy of his Majesty's Mi-
nisters, and compelled them, at least for a time, " to
assume the virtue, if they have it not," of respect
for the national character, and of a determination to
truckle to the French Revolutionary Government
only in a moderate and plausible degree. Can any-
body who has watched the progress of events doubt
that but for the interference of the Opposition a
considerable body of French troops would have re-
mained in Belgium ? Is it not notorious that their
stay was a settled thing, and that the arrange-
ment was spoken of by Ministers and their friends
as unobjectionable, until it was proved by
unequivocal symptoms to be repugnant to the feel-
ings of the British nation, as faithfully represented,
with respect to this matter at least, by the Oppo-
sition in Parliament ? And what, we beg to ask, did
produce the sudden change of language and of po-
licy on the part of Ministers and their adherents, if
it was not the Parliamentary and popular resistance
with which they were threatened, and of which they
had already experienced some of the effects ? And
are we still to be told that the continued occupation
of Belgium by a French army would have been a
matter of no consequence ? What could have been
the motive to this occupation ? To guard. against
?
another triumphant inroad of the Dutch This
could scarcely have been pretended, since the King
of Holland had engaged not again to attack the
brave Belgians, and his word is surely as good
as that of Louis Philippe. To keep the brave Bel-
gians faithful to their new allegiance ? No such
motive could have been alleged with any appearance
of respect to the principle of non-intervention. To
pamper the inordinate and encroaching presumption
of the movement party in France, and to sustain_ the
tottering throne of her revolutionary King Yes,
this no doubt was the true reason, for it is the only
one that can be rationally imagined why the Go-
vernment of France desired, and the abject Ministry
of England would have consented, to convert Bel-
gium into a barrack-yard of France, and this it is
which makes it of the utmost consequence that the
des4o has been resisted and abandoned. It may
suit the temporary purposes of feeble or dishonest
Administrations, but it cannot be conducive to the
peace or welfare of mankind that the national vanity
of any people should be pampered, or the foun-
dations of any throne be rendered for a time
more secure, by such means. It is scarcely
to be supposed that the French Govern-
ment has condescended, without some equi-
valent, to abandon Belgium, in deference to an Eng-
lish Ministry, or even for the purpose, truly French
though it be, of keeping in power an English Mini-
stry which professes unbounded confidence and in-
culcates unlimited submission to France. Bound-
less confidence and submission are not usually so
rewarded in the intercourse of nations. France
has obtained an equivalent, we may be sure, ere
she loosened her grasp of the prey which she held •
in her clutches. And every thing concurs to
point out that the equivalent is the Peninsula.
The wretched evasion of the treaties which give
Portugal a right to the protection of England—
the renewed and increased vituperation which
our leading Statesmen daily pour out upon Don
Miguel—the caresses lavished upon his virtuous
and itinerant brother, the fugitive of Brazd—
the robbery of the Portuguese fleet by France—the
intrigues of the British Consul in Lisbon—the hopes
and excitements by which the malcontent subjects of
Don Miguel are stimulated to revolt—all express,
in a mariner not to be mistaken, that the Peninsula
is to be revolutionized, and the Government of Por-
tugal certainly, and that of Spain probably, also to
be overthrown, not to benefit the people of Spain or
Portugal, who desire no such change, but simply
to gratify the movement party in France, and to
direct its revolutionary energies from the throne
which it set up only a year ago, and would now, if
not otherwise amused and engaged, very speedily
overthrow. What are treaties, what is justice or
hemanity, what the peace of unoffending nations,
what the rights of national independence, when