The Sun.
London, England, 1822-10-25 00:00:00

TO MESSRS. BROWELL AND CO.

-London, October 8, 192'2.
N OCTOBER LAST, I had a Fore Sail,
Fore-topmast Stay Sail, Maintop-gallant Sail, Jib, and
Spanker, prepared with your Process, for the Ship Simon
Taylor, myself Master, since which I have been a Voyage to
Jamaica and back, and they are now perfectly free from Mil-
dew, which I have heretofore fottnd so prejudicial to Canvai,
and I am so well satisfied with the efficacy of your Process,
that I intend to have all my New Sails prepared in future.
HENRY MEEK.

RO GERS'S IMPROVED FLANNEL,
Manufactured from his Patent Yarn, of Wool only,
continues to preserve a decided preference over every other spe-
cies of FLANNEL, for its peculiar softness, and not shrink-
ing in washing ; as a proof of which, the very extensive de-
mand he has for the—article, both for exportation and home
,consumption, bears ample testimony. Its peculiar softness af.:
fords warmth and comfort to the tenderest habits,. when other
Flannels' are found unpleasant. A saving of at least onelsixth'
in the quantity necessary, on acc-mnt of not shrinking in wash-
ing, is a strong . recommendation in point of economy. For
Waistcoats, and Ladies Under Coats, it is particularly re-
commended. .
The Proprietor has prepared'an extensive Stock for the ap-
proaching season (in which considerable improvethent has been
' made), so that his friends may be assured they will not be dis-
appointed in the execution of their Orders, which he regrets
was the case during the last Winter.
This Flannel may be obtained from the principal Drapers,
in Great Britain and Ireland ; and wholesale from the Paten-
tee, John S. Rogers, Chester. '

REPORT.
OF THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS.

The Select Committee, who were appointed to consider of the •
best mode of simplifying the Accounts annually-laid before
the Houses of Lords and Commons; in pursuance of severa
Acts of Parliament,ircspecting the Public Income and Ex-
pediture,
the National Debt, and the Trade and Navigation
of the United Kingdom ; and to report their Observations
thereupon to the House; have examined the matters referred'
to them, and hate agreed to the following Report : •
Your Committee, in the first place, directed their attention
to some differences which appeared to exist between the annual
Finance Accounts and the balance sheet laid before Parliament
on the 15th February last; and also to some errors which were
stated to be found in the annual Finance Accounts, as hitherto
made up.
- Upon both of these points, your Committee have received
satisfactory explanation§,which will be found in the Appendix ;
and from• these explanations it appears that those differences
and errors, were chiefly the result of a defect in the principles
upon which some parts of those accounts have hitheiio been
constructed.
The Finance Accounts annually presented to Parliament are
prepared in pursuance of the Act of the 42d Geo. 111. c. 70.
That Act, however, does not prescribe any specific form of ac-
count, but only describes, in words, the nature of the accounts
to be presented.
The forms now in use are nearly the same as those which
were recommended by, the Committee of 1797, and which were
appended to the Report of that Committee.
These forms were undoubtedly a very important improve-
ment at the time when they were first adopted, and they gave a
much more clear, detailed, and comprehensive view of the na-
tional resources, than was ever before presented to the public
eye. They contain a great mass of most useful and valuablis
information; and they may be said to give almost all the
information which such, documents can be eipeCted to afford. •
It may, however, naturally be supposed, that the first attempt
to arrange and methodize so large a mass of multifarious and
complicated details, could scarcely be so completely successful.
as to leave 'no mem for future improvement ; and your Qin-
mime think that the alterations which they are about to suggest
in the form and arrangement of these accounts, will tend ma-
terially
to render them more simple and intelligible.
The principal and most prominent defect in the present form
of the acepunts is, that they neither do nor can exhibit any ba-.
lance between the income and expenditure of the year. The
income side of the account shews the amount collected from the
subject, and the amount paid into the ExChequer within the
year ; and it is obvious, that to give a balance, the expendi-
ture side ought to contain a statement of the payments out of
the Exchequer during the same period. The expenditure sheet,
however, has not been framed upon this principle ; and with
respect to some of the chief heads of service, such as the Army

I '"pon the three last classes, namely--6. DisPoSition of Grants,
7. Arrears and Balances ; 8. Trade and Navigation ;—your
Committee have . no suggestions to make these accounts ap-
pearinr, to be made up in a satisfactory manner • and the last
class having been fully and carefully reconsidered arranged
in its present form by the Board of 'Trade, so lately as the
year 1815. . - •
The five first classes, therefore, are those to which our Com-
mittee wish to direct the attention of the House ; and first, with
respect to
Class I.—PußLic INCOME.—This Class will contain
1. A tabular account of the ordinary revenues, and extraor-
dinary resources, constituting the public income of the United
Kingdom.
2. A similar table for Great Britain.
3. A similar table for Ireland.
These'tables are constructed upon the same plan as those
hitherto presented, but the number of their columns has been
much diminished ; many of the details, which were inconve,
niently given in the tables, have been thrown into the Appen-
dixes ; and the reference to the Appendixes aremade in a mote
clear and simple manner than heretofore.
Class 11. PUBLIC EXPENDITURE—wiII contain
4. An account, 'shewing, on 'one side, the total income of the
United Kingdom; raised from the subject, as alieady stated in
the first of the preceding 'tables ; and on the other side, the-
whole of the public expenditure, exclusive of the sums applied
to the reduction of the National Debt, but including all the
payments made out' of the Revenue, in its progress to the Ex,
chequer, as well as all the payments made from the Exchequer
itself.
5. An account, shewing, on one side,. the total of that part
of the public income, which is paid into the Exchequer. as al-
ready stated in the first of the preceding
.tables, but divided into.
columns, distinguishing that part of this sum, which is pledged ,
to the Consolidated Fund, front that part which is applicable
to other public services; and shewing, on the other side, all
the payments out of the Exchequer, exclusive of the sums paid
for the reduction of the National Debt.
This account,it will be seen, is a part only of the preceding,
and each will shew the same balance between the income and
expenditure of the year. But thil account being confined to
payments into and out of the Exchequer, and not embracing
the payments made out of the Revenue in its progress to the
Exchequer, can be prepared at a . very early period after .tbe
sth of January; the end of the financial year, and this being
the account which will be presented to Parliament at the com-
mencement of each Session, in pursuance of the provisions of
the Act of the Ist and 2d Geo. IV. c. 121, your Committee re-
commend that it should be again presented with the series of
finance accounts, for the sake of perspicuity, and to avoid
mistakes.
6. An account, shewing on one side the balance in the Ex-
chequer at the beginning of the year, and the amount raised in
the course of the year by the creation of funded or unfunded
debt ; and on the other side, the amount of funded and un-
funded debt paid off in the course of the year, and the balance
remaining in the Exchequer at the end of the year.
It is evident that the balance of this account must be the
same as that shewn by the two preceeding accounts ; and this
account, together with No. 1. of this class, exhibits the whole
of the pecuniary transactions of the country within the year.
These two accounts, namely, No. 4. and No. 6. might have
been combined into cne : but your 'Committee are inclined to
think that they are better divided into two ; the transactions to
which they relate are different in their nature,' the'one referr-
ing to the expenditure fot public services, the other to the crea-
tion and payment of debt ; and as the balance of each of the
two accounts ought to be the same, they mutually check and'
confirm each other.
,4; Class HI. CONSOLIDATED FUND—will contain
7. An account .of the income of the Consolidated Fund'
arising in the United Kingdom within the year, and of the' ac-
tual paymenti made on account of the Consolidated Fund within
the same period. •
8. An account, shewing, on-one side, they money applicable to
the
.payment of the charge upon the 'Consolidated Fund within
the year; and,on the other side, the charges which have become,
due upon the Fund` ithin the • year, including the amount of
Exchequer Bills charged upon the Fund at the beginning and
end of the year.
• • It will be seen, that the first of these accounts will skew
the actual receipts and payments within the year ; the second,
the income due, and the, charges incurred during the same
period.
Your Committee think it right to observe,. that the account
of the Consolidated Fund, hitherto presented, although pre-
, pared In the form recommended by the Committee of 1797,
doei not appear to be in strict conformity with the. letter of the
Act of the 42d Geo. lll.'under which. these occounts are pre-
presented; that Act requires an, account of the Consolidated
Fund of Great Britain for the year, and also of the actual pay-
ments thereout 'within the same year, and of the future annual
charge upon the same Fund as the same stood on that day ;
hut your Committee have been informed, that the column in
the present account, which is headed, as the column of" 'ac-
tual payments 'within the year," contains sums which consist
of the actual payments in the first three quarters of the year,
and the charge instead of the actual payments of the fourth'
quarter.
Your Committee propose that these three classes should
succeed each other without interruption, and that the ap-
pendixes of the whole should then follow, By this arrange-
ment the same appendix may be made to answer more than
one reference, and repetitions of, the same. nature will thus be
avoided. .4 .

. .
Your Committee have been anxious that all the appepdixes
should be made out as nearly as possible upon a similar
plan'; uniformity in' tbSts respect being highly conducive to
perspicuity. . : .

The removal of the London. Bridge Water-
works are proceeding rapidly, and the arrangements for the
erection of the new bridge likewise preSent a formidable ap_.
pearance, The completion of that work will at least occupy
six years. It was contemplated to place a toll on Blackfriare
Bridge, towards paying the expences of building the new bridge,
and in that. Case there would be only two free bridges across the
Thames—the present London Bridge and that of Westminster.

We have already noticed that the New Series
of THE LADY'S MAGAZINE has contained; in
successive numbers, many interesting letters
from this once celebrated character. We are
fUlly 'convinced of the authenticity of these
letters. We were well acquainted with the
fair Author, whom we have known in her tem-,
porary prosperity, and have seen in, the glOom
of a prison. Her fate presents an awful les-
.son •to the young and beautiful, to avoid the
errors of her conduct. But she was not only
beautiful in a very high degree ; she possessed
accomplishments and talents of no ordinary de-
-scription, and a poetical genius, which she has
mlnifested " in many admirable productions.=—•
lice heart Was benevolent, and her conversation
was marked by intelligence, wit, - and humour,
and whatever errors may appear in her life, she
never uttered a sentence that bore any improper
Meaning, and, without any affected purity or fas-
tidiousness, she never suffered any improper al-
lusions to be uttered in her hearing. This testi-
mony in her favour we are warranted in asserting
froth an intimacy of many years. Yet, with all
her beauty, all her accomplishments, and all her
genius, she was doomed to fall a victim to pecu-
niary distress, after having been an object of at-
tachment to one of the most distinguished Per-.
sonagesin the State, and of admiration to the
most celebrated intellectual characters -of the
country.- Fox, SHERIDAN, FITZPATRICK, Dr.
WoLcoT, and most of the' prominent wits of
the day, were proud to pay homage to her tal4nts.
Yet, thus admired, and thus deserving of admi-
ration; for want of that virtue which is the essen-
tial ornament of the female character, she sunk
under misfortune, and the unrelenting severity of
her creditors. is proper, in justice to her me-
mory, to observe, that the high rank of her first
admirer gave an eclat to the gallantis that proba-.
lily might not have excited publiC notice, particu
larly if she had never appeared upon the stage of a
Theatre ; and to add that the protection, as it is
styled, of three other individuals,from all we have
heard, comprized the full extent of her depar-
ture from that strict propriety of conduct which
would otherwise have rendered her the ornament
of her sex, and the delight of society.•
, Ilih No7,ember,
AlrnEart FRIEND—Notwithstanding my perilous situation,
-being at this ,moment weakened almost to the graVe, I cannot
forbear writing ; your last letter, which I saw this morning,
convinces me that this is no time for me to rest in idleness ;
and there is no hazard which my health ,may encounter, that
will not be ant,TMentedby a continuation or my prescnt.anxiety.
To know the worst, even to endure the worst, is far prefezable
to the -menaces,. insults, and unreasonable impatience of my
creditors. - I'maintain that they are unreasonable ; they know
that I have no money; they also know that I have laboured inces-.
santly ; that I cannot create wealth,and that I have submitted to
live in a degrading state of obscurity, if obscurity can .degrade,
these last six months, merely to save my income for their ad..
vantage. have ever since last June supported myself -wholly
by the exertions of my pen ;--three quarters annuity are •now
due ; and the sum of 375 pounds will be forthcoming
'for my creditors. I say will be ; because, though there may
be sonic unavoidable delay, the sum will ultimately be paid.--
I.have received It during seventeen years ; and it i,5 as certain
as fate. Why then will my credifors continue their unreason',
able pressure ? • Why 2 when I am almost overwhelmed with
.sickness? With respect to' situation, I am sometimes fined
with astonishment. I never, during the , last twenty years,
owed so little money ! I have at times been in debt six, seven,
and eight thousand mods, and yet I never trembled. My
tears are now of little magnitude ; but my indignation is • inti-
,nite ! and I declare before Gon, I should consider imprison.
meat in the lowest cell of the lowest jail as'far less degrading
ban the necessity of meanly, basely soliciting indulgence any
lercy, as I have done, from the sordid and the unfeeling.-
do not ..coLsider personal ,importance as in the, =ldle

degree connected with peiSonal" situation. I should feel m).
self precisely the same, in point of consequence, in Newgate,
as in the proudest of palaces. These are matters of opinion ;
and lam tired of the degration which, for a few paltry hun-
&eds., I have sustained, in owing my liberty to the mercy of
creditors.. I might at any periotfpay my debts, could I con-
deaCeral -to accept the means. But rwill not more deeply la-
cerate my already , vvounded heart ; I will not set a blister on
my proud mind; merely-with the hope of extracting a tempo-
rary thorn, which, though it may afflict, cannot debase me.
We differ ii opinion respecting' what is real, and what is ima-
ginary affliction. lam afflicted most sorely, when lam me-
naced, or when'l' ask. indulgence of vulgar natures; but in a
prison I am.proudly cheerful ; I am not then obliged, where I
scorn to solicit kindness ; and I am therefore permitted to in-
dulge that-high spirit which will, till 1 breathe my last sigh, I
hope sustain me. All this I write, my dear friend, to convince
you:hat my plan, which I shall now propOie, will be less de-
structive, because less agonizing to my proud heart, than any
other. In, the first'place, the rent-can be easily paid, the sum
is a mere trifle ; there is now on the premises such furniture as
will nearly settle it, including the fixtures, which are absolutely
necessary for any tenant„ and which I suppose Mr. -- will
have no objection to take.-4 The articles which may be sold are
then enumerated.lf
These things am willing
.to sell, and to appropriate the
money to Mr. —'s use, provided he will take the house off my
hands entirely. At all events I will come to' town and see what
can be done. I shall therefore be much obliged to you to let
me know what says ; and if my proposal is rejected,
I beg yott.to take an apartment, by the week, for me, and I
will try what I , can do, without degrading my pride, or
my., situation. I again, repeat that I never owed so
little money ; and that, if creditors chose -to be rational, all
would-be settled: if they continue to tormentme, they will de-
stroy my existence, and get nothing ; for I have no property.
I have lived twenty years in the gay and buiy world, and I
know that it is totally impossible to be wholly free from debt ;
and I am of Sheridan's opinion, that debt, is by no means dis-
graceful, though it May be inconvenient. Men in trade live
;by-giving credit ; and God knows, all my creditors (Mr. Bes-
ford only. excepted); have.made their charges such, that they
are well paid, if they are paid after seven-years' credit. At all
events, you shall not degrade yourself, my dears Sir, by any
more supplications on my behalf. I will meet my, unfeeling
persecutors ; I will, joyfully enter a prison, to terminate their
menaces. Had I been living on my income ; had I continued
to display an expensive establishment ; to receive my, friends ;
to live like, a , gentlewoman, and as, from my infancy, I have
ever lived, they might have reproached me. But I have
been here shut'up from the world ; I have denied myself
every necessary of life, to the destruction of my health ; I
have toiled, when my
,physician has .declared that my days
were shortened by that toil,—and all to reserve arrears of ray
income for those viho would without remorse see me inclosed in
my coffin !, twill bear such inhumanity no longer. 1 will-re-
sign myself to prison. All that you have engaged for shall be
paid,—the remainder shall be appropriated to my own coin-
forts,—to the restoration of my health. They shall not :drive
me into obscurity, insult, and at last destroy me. I have
proved that I was willing to sacrifice all that rendered life Plea--
sant for their benefit; they are not satisfied, and I can do no
more. .1 will neither horrow,beg, nor steal for them. I haVe
paid within these three years tip*ardS of twelve hundred
pounds; I would have continued' to labour for them, hut I
will not be insulted, while I have no terrors in losing that liberty,
which I only hold at the mercy of capricious minds. I had
made up my mind to pass the whole winter on this heath ; I
ryas content to be buried in oblivion ; to relinquish the pleasures
of social intercourse ; to be an exile; but that will not satisfy

my persecutors ! They will not suffer me to endure a passive
obscurity, a silent seclusion from all that renders lift.desirable.
Nothing less than torture will, with them, expiate the crime of
owing a few hundreds,—even where I have already paid nearly
as many thousands ! Shame—shame on such injustice ! Let
them recollect that the-tortures they inflict will, in time, render
my feelings callous, and make me indifferent even to those
claims, which a fine sense of rectitude has hithertoat all times
'taught me to acknowledge. I shall thank you to press Colonel.
11— for the quarter he has promised; if you will send me
twenty-fiVe pounds of it, in order that I may pay two or three
old. bills here, I will come to town and replace the sum, so as
to exonerate you from all your engagements already made for
me.. Do not indulge in the smallest regret that I have taken
this resolution to brave my fate. A. prison is, to me, no pu-
nislunent. I have endured such menaces., such insults, that
I should call such captivity a species of freedom ! 1 should be
at least beyond the reach of further :persecution : and to 'know
the extent 9f misery is, in my opinioni to have more than half
subdued it. Had 1 owed Ave or six thousand riounds, I might
have made some degrading effort, to avoid, perhaps, a perpetual
imprisonment. But in the present case -I will not stoop to a
mean and abject exposure, while I can and will labour in a
proud captivity. It shall not be said at any future period of my
life, or after 1 cease to live, that I was rescued from-a prison by
charitable contributions. God ! I should-lose my reason !—L
should expire !—my heart would burst with indignation !
Two years of my income will pay all my debts. Shall
I then volunteer a bankrupt poverty, and beg of those
who would cease to respect my feelings, - so degraded,
so' debased ? I am almost frantic at the idea of such
an act. Pray lose no time in procuring. the quarter's annuity,
and pray also hire a neat but not expensive lodging for me, by
the week. I hope in about a fortnight to decide on this busi-
ness, some way or other, effectually and definitively. I have
done four months' penance—shut up from the world :—I have
had time to ruminate, and lam decided. If ray creditors con-
tinue to persecute me, I will go to prison, and set them at de-
fiance. My conduct has proved my honesty; my retirement,
my industry, have evinced my wishes to avoid his last resource;
Lam driven into the snare,—and I will prove that I have forti-
tude, though they have not humanity. I ask a thousand times,
I ask your pardon for troubling you with this long letter. But
it is the last I will write upon these subjects.. It is time that
your toil and my anxiety should termidate. You have implor-
ed—l have suffered. You have endured much solicitude on
my account,—l am nearly reduced to the margin of the grave !
All will avail but little ; I must rob, or I must go to prison.—
I must encounter all the scourges and all the thorns of a slowly
consuming persecution, Or bravely submit to a peaceful, and at
lest unmerited captivity. Had I money, this instant, though
on a sick bed with a blister on my poor aching. breast, though
the wind whistles round my house, and my physician shakes his
head in hesitating apprehension, I would set out for London.
Nothing shall keep me here, the moment I have the power to
depart. It is too nielancholy to contemplate, from a chamber
of pain, a bleak andsolitary heath ; to-await the arrival of every
post, for some new source of suffering. To endure the most
unexampled bodily pain, with a mind unsoothed by the conso-
lations of society !—I,—I ! who have lived in the very zenith of
brill ipnt pleasures,who have been, perhaps undeservedly beloved
even to idolatry—to be driven from the world—to labcu:inunde-
lighted solitude ; for whom ? fora few unfeeling creditors ! The
idea will not bear the investigation of a reasonable mind. -I find
my soul revolt from it; and I must resist,—or perish. You say
that a cloud of difficulties is fast gathering over me. I think,
my dear Sir, that my clouds are dispersing, for my darkest
cloud is the obscurity to which 1 have been consigned these
four months past. I have been twice in captivity'—l never shed
a tear,—l was always proudly
.gay, and lifted by the spirit of
my sOul.above all adventitious circumstances : for, I know not
how it. is, hut I am always more high in mind when most de-
pressed in fortune. This is not vaunting;—my friends have
seen proofs of the assertion—they have seen me brave, in pro-
portion as I have been persecuted. - -
All that I now request, is your zeal to obtain the quarter from
Col. :Vl—, to send me the sum I mention, and to hire for
me a decent loging- My creditors shall see that I will disdain
to supplicate ;—I, am, probably too near the grave, to hazard
any event that may diSgrace my memory ; and I should con-
sider a.prison, with an untarnished mind, as a glorious monu-
ment ; while the turf which would cover the humblest grate,
would be to me too dear, were it'fitiehaSed or begged at the ex-
pence of personal-importance.'
Adieuland GOD bless you !
MARY ROBINSON.

[This is probably the last letter Mrs. Robinson ever wrote.—
Lodgings were taken for her, but she was too weak to be re-
moved to.them. She lingered, hoWever, till the end of Pe-
cember, when she was. released 'from the manifold troubles,
which she so often describes as vexing her past her patience to
endure.' She' was buried at Old Windsor ; and against the
wall of the churcb, near the road side, is a tablet to her me-
mory, placed there at her particular request, in the belief that
the most disting,pished of her admirers, seeing it as he passed,
and calling to mind what she had beet, would pay the tribute
of a sigh to her untimely fate.—ED.]
The Note subjoined to this Letter was written
by the Editor Of the Magazine.