The Sun.
London, England, 1849-06-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
1 IMES --There will be found in the Times of Satur-
day last no less than eight columns devoted to a report of
the proceedings of the House of Commons in the forte
of a Committee of Supply. Each column of the debate
mieht well elicit us any columns of discussion.
From the mat ble arch in front of 13ucking-
ham Palace, to the colony of Labuan; from the system
of transportation, to the reduction of; the salary of a clerk
in the Treasury; neatly all the topics upon which we have
been writint, and speaking for the last tour or five months
were passed in brief and shadowy review. As compare)
with the excitement of previous Par:iamentary field-days,
the process of voting away money is a quick and melan-
choly one. The burden is fixed upon the backs of the tax-
payers with till the dexterous celerity of a Spanish mu-
leteer. The time has passed for inquiring if the jaded
Inimel is equal to his appointed task ; his hocks and
pasterns may be out of order -; his knees in a ricketty
c >edition; the saddle may gall, and the crupper pinch;
but the time for strapping on burdens and buckling
Cast has arrived. Die work must be got through—one
sonorous crack with the whip, and away we go, trot-
dng, jitiging, and suffering, to our next halting-place.
L'he sums necessary for the public service must b,
voted. There is a great difference between the way
in which these things are managed now, and the
system of twenty years Itel. The tendency of the
'lmo is towards a stricter economy of the public
revenue. So far all is well. Much, however, re-
mains to be done ere we arrive at (net period when
ho administration of the revenues of the State shall
lie considered in the light of a private stewardship
Over 47-54ths of the sum paid into the Exclu (per
we are in a fair way of exercising a tolerably accurate
-upervision. It is sc ircely so as yet with regard
to the remaining 7 54ths. A large margin is left
to the discretion and conscience of those charged
with the duties of administration. A reckless • ex•
penditure and system of unthrift are in certain
departments quite beyond our control. A few
passing remarks when the House is in Committee
of Supply; and a few fleeting comments in the public
journals, which must soon be forgotten iu the presence
of other topics of public interest, and an isolated
act of prodigality, an unfair item, a job, are consigned
to oblivion. To which of these heads shall we refer
en expenditure of 763,296/. upon Buckingham Palace?
Go to Paris, to Berlin, to Dresden, to Turin, to Naples,
in fact to any capital city upon the Continent, and
where will you find Royalty lodged at such an ex-
pense, in such a building, in such a hole? The
present Administration is not answerable for the
'reeks of George IV. nor the bad taste of Mr.
Nash, but it is impossible to help doubting the
propriety of tacking on an extra 150,0001. to the 613,296/.
of expense incurred previous to 1831. We have no
sympathy with the paltry penuriousness which refuses
to contribute amply to the erection of public monu-
ments —for such, in fact, are the palaces—but surely,
in the course of the last twenty-five years, an expendi-
ture of 1,500,0001. upon Windsor Castle seems excessive.
Mr. B. Osborne, on Friday night, mentioned these facts to
the House. They are unfortunately but too well known
to all whose duty compels them to be conversant
with Parliamentary returns ; and yet if we mistake
not they will go forth to many of our readers with all
the freshness of a revelation. The marble arch before
Buckingham Palace cost 80,0001., and now no one knows
what to do with it. It is a pretty object enough, but we
can't place it anywhere with any sort of propriety.
We shall be obliged at last to consign it to some dark
corner, like the monster picture of the Vicar of Wake-
field's family, simply from the difficulty of finding it an
appropriate resting place. Private individuals ruin
themselves whenever they meddle with brick and mor-
tar. The nation in the same way, in its corporate capa-
city, seems destined to burn its fingers, whenever
engaged in the practical cultivation of architecture.
A proposed amendment of Mr. Henley upon the
vote of 57,2001. for salaries and other expenses in
the Treasury, provoked a discussion upon the pro-
priety of reducing the salaries of the members of the
Government. Mr. Henley rested his proposition
upon the ground that, as the object of recent legis-
lation had been to diminish the price of most
articles, it was only fair that such reduction should
take place. Mr. Cobden, although concurring in
the object of the proposition, repudiated the grounds
upon which Mr. Henley hal rested its propriety.
He denied that the reduction in the price of food had
affected the price of articles of manufacture. He
was all for republican simplicity in the habits of
life of the great functionaries. The Honourable
Gentleman appears to take umbrage at the superior
splendour of a Ministerial entertainment, as he does
at the successes in society of a captivating cornet or an
enterprising ensign. " One of the advantages," said he
on Enid iy evening, " which he contemplated from putting
the Ministers of this country on lower salaries was,
that they might set the fashion of uniting a greater sim-
plicity in their habits of life, so that they might impart
their hospitality at a less extravagant expense." Air.
Cobden, with these views, proposes to dock the sala-
ries of the Chief Secretaries of State by 1,000/. per
annum; to reduce them, in fact, from 5,0001, to
4,0001., and see %%hat eff.ct that will produce upon
their sideboards of plate and variety of wines. The
reduction will, of course, go further if they are not
brought down to the true type of Sparta or Man-
chester. Mr. Cobden again hopes, by this reduction,
to g-t a back handed slap at the Bisheps. "If the First
Minister of the Crown," said he, " only received 4,0001.
a year hites:.lf, he woul I not get up and say that in his
opinion a Bishop ought to have 10,00tq. or 15,0001. a year "
rho plan is ingenious etiotOt. Mr. Cobden gives chi clt
to King and 13ishep by the saran move, and, although
the King may save himself by thrusting forward a
pawn to boar the brunt, the Bishop at least roust go.
may be ju.14.,(1 from this littlm samplcinto what topics and
o wha- length we should be led by a formal discussion of
the subjects started before the Committee of Supply. Mr.
Henley's motion was lost by 81 to 33. So Lord Pglmer-
stou and Sir G. Grey are nut deprived of their c.',efs
haders for another year. The proposed vote of 9,827/.
to defray the charge of Labuan gave rise to the meet
anitneted and interesting portion of the discussion 02
Fealty night. Sir James Brooke, the Governor, is in the.
receipt of a salary of 2,0001 a year. There is a Lieu-
tenant-Governor, at 1,3751 ; a Master Attendant, and
Post master at 500/.; a Surveyor, soot.; Station Surgeon,
416/.; there are besides other charges for public build-
ings, &c., which raise the whole expense to 9,827/. 10;.
To this outlay Mr. Cobden totally objected, arguing
against it with his usual fairness and candour. Here is
Mr. CUbden's account of the origin of Labuan, and of all
circumstances attendant upon Sir James Brooke's Bur-

nean adventure:—
" The origin of Labuan was one of the most curious
incidents of the present day. They owed the possession
of it to a piece of sentimentalism.—(Hear, hear.) An
adventurous gentleman, sailing
in his yacht, took pos-
session of Sarawak, a district of country on the coast
of Borneo, and was called the Raja of Sarawak,
the former Raja, who ceded the district to him,
having been a pirate. lie came to England, and
by means of enormous puffing—(A laugh)—by sen-
timental puffing—persuaded the people of this country
that he was going to settle Borneo. What did he do ?
First of all he was consular agent to himself. He was
Raja Brouke, of Sarawak, and was consul to himself for
aurueo. Being Raja of Sarawak, he took charge
as Governor of the island of Libman, ab nit 300 miles
distant, the difficulty of communicating with which was
giesater than that of communicating with England ; and,
being unable to be in both places, he appointed for
Labuan a Lieutenant-Governor to discharge the duties.—
(ileac, hear.) This Lieutenant-Governor over a settle-
ment without any populatioa hid a salary of 1,3751.—
(Hear.) They talked of the distress of the people of
this country, and yet they gave their sanction to such
proceedings as these. He wished to ask the :Govern-
ment whether it was seriously proposed to continue this
establishment in Labuan?"
Mr. Cobden had, unfortunately, omitted one little
circumstance of which Mr. Hawes and others rose to
remind him. This was, that the Manchester men
took the most prominent part in urging upon the
Government the palicy which led to the settlement
of Labuan. Landon, Liverpool, Glasgow, and the
other great mercantile communities followed in the lead
of Manchester. Mr. Labouchere favoured the House and
Mr. Cobden with chapter and verse. It was in the year
1846 Sir Robert Peel's Government received a memo-
rial from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce to the
following magniloquent effect:—
" That they had heard with great satisfaction of an op
coastport u noift of
erneo h obtaininghaving v ing ah
emostbeen
d
l at
eelsyi r apbrle es
esettlementnhoeut
rhie.
tish nation, in the voluntary offer of the isle of Labuan,
convenience everyr ote
eti pointoo oo ff
and they implored the Government net to suffer any delay
for
theso
important, and
andin protection
ivnieswecsuerin
desirable, aposition
our China trade, and as a refuge for our shipping in case
of distress, as a bulwark in the event of war, and as a
central depot for our trade in the Eastern Archipelago."
What is the difference, morally, between a suggesti
falsi and a suppressio yeri? To be sure, a ver:,
unscrupulous advocate, determined to make his point
good at all hazards, may be expected to address a
jury in this manner, to distort one fact and suppress
another, but happily as yet such are not the
recognised ethics of the British Parliament. In order
to place Mr. Cobden's ingenuity in its true light, we
should say that Mr. Hawes merely mentioned the fact of
the petitions from the commercial bodies. Mr. Cobden
then rose again, and admitted that
" Memorials had been presented to the Government
from the north of England in favour of making Labuan
a colony; but they were too much men of business
to suppose that the Government would create large
establishments there before ascertaining whether the
island would be of any use. But he must
remind the Jion. Gentleman (Mr. Hawes) that those
memorials were prepared in a very cautions manner,
for at the time they were presented an apprehension was
felt that this country wits about to occupy Sarawak—a
portion of the great island of Borneo itself. Under
his imi„,,,e;ess these gentlemen, knowing Labuan to
he detached from Borneo, and to be only seven miles in
extent, very cautiously !stpressed their wish that that
island should be taken possession of by the Euglish
Guverement.'
It was upon this that Mr- Labouchere rose ant ac t
he House right as to the " very cautious manner" in
which the Manchester men had expressed their desire
for the coloniz ition of Labuan. AVe more then
suspect the faire which Sir James Brooke has
acquired from the gallantry and success of his enter-
have
prise must •
given Mr. Cobden some little discern-
fort. Why not It ,ja Cobden as well as Raja Brooke ?
What's in a name ? There exist no euphonical
grounds against such a substitution. Thus we have
flown from Buckingham Palace to Borneo, after the
fashion of the Committee on whose desultory proceed-
ings we arc commenting. It is seldom that we would
recommend with so much earnestness an attentive perusal
of a Parliamentary debate as that of Friday night.

Dispatches were sent of yesterday from the Colon:a.
office to the Uoyeraor of Sierre, Leone.