The Sun.
London, England, 1836-03-16 00:00:00

Zhe gun.

LONDON,
WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 16, 1836.

The country will receive with gratitude the measure
proposed in the House of Commons last night by the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, for the consoli-
dation of the Stamp Laws, including the reduction of
the Stamp Duty on Newspapers. The Government
proposes to reduce the tax upon Newspapers to Id.
a reduction which cannot fail to give universal satisfac-
tion, provided the regular rate of drawback is allowed.
As a financial measure, it is by far the most important
that has yet engaged the attention of the Reformed Par-
liament. It did not require the able and lucid exposition
of the Right Hon. Gentleman to satisfy the country that
a change in the whole system was absolutely necessary ;
but we believe that very few, even of the legal profes-
sion, were previously aware that the number of. Acts
which required consolidation amounted to one hundred
and fifty I For many of the most valuable provisions
in the proposed Bill, the. country is indebted to the
arduous labours of Mr. ORD, the Member for New-
port, and we cannot sufficiently praise the candour of
the CHANCELLOR in making this admission in the
hearing of Parliament. As was well observed by the
-Right Hon. Gentleman, " persons in his situation are
apt to receive all the credit due to their subalterns ;"
but it rarely happens that we find them endowed
with greatness of mind sufficient to acknowledge
publicly; and in the way' which he has done, the
extent of their obligations to thOse persons. Were
such acknowledgments general many Members of
Parliament, now looked up- to as prodigies of intelli-
gence, would dwindle down to mere mouth-pieces of the
opinions of others ; and the nation would learn with
astonishment that men undistinguished and unknown,
were the real authors of measures, by the help of which,
their more fortunate fellow-subjects were enabled to
climb to the first dignities in the State. There arc
certain acts of justice for the performance of whiPch
public men are entitled to the Highest praise, and that
of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,with respect
to the Bill for the consolidation of the Stamp laws, is
among the most prominent. We trust that his ex-
ample will influence the future conduct of other leaders
of the House of Commons, including the chief Mem-
bers of the Opposition.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER informed
the House that the Bill which he was about to
bring forward contained no fewer than three hun-
dred and thirty clauses—an immense number, but
yet one hundred and twenty-six clauses less than
the number contained in Mr. G.OtHeBuRN.%%_. Bill
for the same purpose. It is difficult to .c conterr-
Plate so many clauses in one Act, without presuming
great complexity in the details; but until the Bill is
regularly before the public we cannot etre a decided
opinion upon this point. As a matter of opinion, we
have doubts of the expediency of including the News-
paper Stamp Laws in an Act for the regulation of the
Stamp Duty upon Probates of Wills, Bills of Ex-
change, Apprentice's Indentures, Leases, and Bonds
of Administration., We really think that one Act
ought to be passed for the regulation of Newspapers
only ; and which might be made to contain a few
explicit clauses, fixing and defining the laws of libel,
and copyright. To look at this question merely in a
financial point of view, is to examine but a speck of it ;
although we are prepared to admit that there may be
good grounds for not proposing it in any other, in the
present temper of the House of Peers.
The first measure of reform to which the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER -referred in his speech,
as forming a portion of the proposed Bill, was in the
case of Conveyances. He explained to the House, that
by the law as it now stands, the greatest injury is in-
flicted upon the poor, while the immensely rich escape
without incurring more than a nominal tax. The
Stamp Duty under this head is regulated by a graduated
scale, and, after the good old fashion of our ancestors,
taxation decreases in proportion as individuals are able
to bear it. Thus, for example, sums not exceeding
20/. are taxed at the rate of five per cent, while upon
sums five times as large only half the per centage is
charged. But the most glaring injustice is to be found in
the fact, that Bonds of conveyance can only be taxed to
the amount of 2,0001., so that under this iniquitous
system the whole of the duty is levied. upon the respect-
able middle classes. To remedy this monstrous
anomaly,- the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER pro-
poses the substitution of a tax of one per cent in all
cases, which would have the effect of doing justice to
every class without injury to the revenue. This is a most
equitable proposal ; and should it be objected to, we
recommend some Member to bring the refractory
Aristocrats to their senses•by moving the reversion of

the old system, carrying on the- graduated scale 'of
ascending duties to the full amount of all Conveyances.
For instance, let the rate of duty on 20/. be 1 per
cent., and that on 40,000/, be at the rate of 6 or 8
per cent,, and Fd iiri Lillis Vhitirig the inirden upon
the shoulders best able to bear it. A motion of this
kind would do much in the way of putting a stop to
the underhand plotting of certain Mtmbers of the
Upper House.
The next measure referred to has reference to the
system of superseding the necessity of endorsing Bills
of Exchange by means of letters of credit, which be
pronounced a direct evasion of the law. As this is a
question of great publi.; interest, we will quote the
words of the Right Hon. Gentleman :
" Of late years there had existed a practice which, however
reluctantly, he could not but characterize as an evasion of the
duty upon bills. A custom had arisen of drawing, in place of
bills, letters of credit, which were passed from hand to hand,
and sometimes even negotiated by endorsement, though others,
more prudent, refused to endorce such documents. The
letters of credit, even quite unendorsei, had been often
made to suppili the place of bills. Unquestionably this
practice was an evasion of the law, but he believed that
one cause of it was the high rate of duty charged on bill
stamps. Hon. Gentlemen would observe that these letters
of credit could never be employed for the purposes of bills of a
longer date, or of greater amount. They could not be used
to any great extent as a means of postpening payment of a
sum, or of obtaining an advance of capital; but these abuses
existed in cases of bills drawn at . very long dates. It was
his intention now to introduce a scale of bills drawn at a pe-
riod not exceeding seven days from the date, calculated not
to admit postponement of payment, nor to allow the raising of
money upon them. On this class of bills he meant to pro-
pose a very slight duty—scarcely more than a nominal 'rate.
In point of fact, the convenience of a bill of exchange payable
to order, valid in point of law, would be of the greatest possi-
ble advantage to the commercial interests and the public gene-
rally, and would be used largely as a substitute for the present
system of letters of credit. He had had much intercourse with
parties who were well acquainted with that system, and their
opinion was that his proposition would give great facility in
mercantile transactions." _ _

With respect to the duty upon Apprentices' Inden-
tures, the new Bill proposes a reduction.of one-half.
This will be of iipmense benefit to the working classes,
particularly in the manufacturing districts.
The reduction proposed upon the duty now charge-
able on Leases is equally well-timed and appropriate.
As the law now stands, the tax upon a lease where
the rent does not exceed 201. is 20s. This tax is to
be reduced to 2s. 6d., or one-eighth, and so on in pro-
portion. It also proposes a reduction of three-fourths
of the duty now charged upon Administration Bonds,
without allowing them to be subject to those draw-
backs which ordinarily find their way into the pockets
of notaries, solicitors, and other professional advisers.
This is an Improvement in the law which has fre-
quently been recommended by thelate Lord Chancellor
BROUGHAM, and•it affords us pleasure to see it em-
bodied in the present Bill. The last measure
touched upon in the CHANCELLOR of the Ex
CHEQUER'S speech, is one. upon which we
shall give no opinion before we have seen the
Bill. It refers to the imposition of a tax upon the
first shares issued in all new speculations, with a view
to prevent a system of gambling on the part of sham
or insolvent companies.
With the great principle of the proposed Bill, as
explained by the CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER,
every Reformer in the United Kingdom muse be well
satisfied. Ireland has certainly no reason to coin-
plain ; for although the Bill proposes the equaliza-
tion of the Newspaper Duty, it enacts that in all the
other items of Stamp taxation she is only to pay at
the rate of half as much as England and Scotland.
By the equalization of the Newspaper Stamp-duty,
English papers will circulate in every part of Ireland—
and this, in a short time, will be productive of the
best consequences ; for it is to her close intercourse
with this country, that Ireland must look for the in-
creasing civilization of her people. All that we now
ask is, that the Bill be brought forward with as little
delay as possible.

A long discussion took place' last night in the
House of Lords, on the subject of the Irish Education
system—a system of which we always thought highly,
but never so highly as now, when we find it honoured
by the marked reprobation of the Bishop of EXETER.
Every one knows its object, which is to provide educa-
tion for the lower classes of Irish, without distinction
of creeds or parties ; and every one knows also—or
should know, for the facts are notorious—that, as far
as it has yet proceeded, the experiment has been most
successful. Harmony has been produced in places
where before there was only discord ; the Catholic has
been taught to look on the Protestant with the eye of
good fellowship ; and at this very period, upwards of
one hundred and eighty thousand individuals, who but
a few years ago had not the slightest chance of ever
being able to obtain it, are " receiving a sound and
wholesome education." Yet • this is the system to
which the Bishop of EXETER, under the specious
pretence of merely moving for an inquiry, objected
to last night, in the bitterest spirit possible I Not
a single sound argument had lie to urge against
it ; he could not gainsay the fact, that at the
present period, Ireland is more tranquil, more or-
derly, more contented—aye, and more prosperous, too
—than she has been for years ; neither could he deny
that the Education System has been greatly instru-
mental in bringing about this desirable consummation ;
—none of these things could the Right Rev. Prelate
deny, so contented himself instead with bringing for-
ward a variety of frivolous, irrelevant details, by way of
justifying his hostility to the measure. In the course
of his speech, which was characterized throughout by
the true odium theologicuin, this meek apottle thought
fit to denounce one Catholic Bishop as " an arch agi-
tator," and another, as one who was not to be believed
on his oath. And yet the man who holds this lan-
guage professes to take as his guide and rule of con-
duct, the divine motto, "good will and charity towards
men." Who is the real agitator here? Is .it the
peaceable Catholic Bishop who is denounced, or the
fiery one who denounces him ? The Churchman who
does his utmost to further the cause of national edu-
cation in Ireland, or the Churchman who puts forth
every energy he possesses, to oppose it ? None knows
better than Dr. PIIILLPOTTS that if his motion for
enquiry were carried, " it would tend"—to use the ap-
propriate language of Lord MELBOURNE--" to dis-
turb a system which was happily in progress in Ire-
land ,I. and to prpduce heats, ,c9nteritions, ,and animo-
iii,Ws7 thronghout the-country',- which .had-been for:-
tunately, set at rest by . a system that - had been
acted upon by late Governments, for
.the last five
t , ,
. years" ;-none, e ;—none, w say, iinows better. than. the.-:Bishop
of EXETER that . such would be the inevitable
result of his proposal for inquiry ;. yet what does he
care for this, so long as he can serve the purposes of
party, by throwi:g obstacles in the way of Govern-
ment ; and thwarting the progress of one of the most
beneficent, enlightened, and comprehensive measures,
ever projected by an English Ministry ? All that the
Irish system of education requires in order to render
it perfectly successful, is fair play ; but this fair play
the Right Rev. Prelate, and the party with whom he
shallandntoi
ite
rlei
faovrees
thelyt isw ial
it vhaarli:e
with
mthreeisrolve interests,dit
acts,siie
none of it. It tends to the enlightenment of the Irish
mind, and therefore it must be talked down at all
hazards. Diffuse education throughout Ireland,
and
you do more to destroy Toryism in that country, than
a dozen O'CONNELL& could do in as many years.
Hence the opposition of the Tories. Hence, too, the
sophistries of their chief-spokesman, the Bishop of
EXETER. As for religion, that has no more to do with
the Conservative hostility to the education measure, than
it has with the Corporation question. The Tories
regard it simply as a party matter, and as such, oppose
it with all that. desperate rancour in which Toryism is
so notorious a proficient. But as it would not be
discreet to avow motives like these, the Rev. Prelate
contented himself with objecting to the measure—that
it was one calculated only
to give the ascendancy to
Catholicism in Ireland. Now if this be the case,
which we strenuously
deny, who is more to blame for it
than the Bishop hiinself, who by conceding Catholic
Emancipation—after 'having spent hisest days
in writing against it—helped thereby to intro-
duce into the House of Commons some fifty
or sixty Catholic supporters of the Education Sys-
tem ? Had Emancipation never been granted, this
measure would never have been brought forward ;
if, therefore, it possess the injurious qualities which
the Rev. Prelate attributes to it, he himself is in fault.
But it has no such qualities. It is a wise and en,
lightened experiment, which has already been attended

—as' Lord PLUNKETT StitiSfaCtOrliy showed—with
tho happiest results : and will in a few years destroy
all those prejudices and heart-burnings which have so
long distracted Ireland.

It will be seen by our Parliamentary itepott, that
Mr. HANDLEY'S motion for the reduction of the
Duty on Soap was negatived by a large majority. We
?re not at all surprised at this ; nor do we think it-
is treating the Government with common fair-
ness, to press sO many motions • for the reduction
of. different taxes upon the' House of Commons,
when it is clear to the country that Ministers are
making reductions as fast as the state of the revenue
affords the prospect of a shilling of.surplus. Neither
do we think that the taxes proposed for reduction are
Well selected, but rather such as presS most heavily
upon the constituents of each Member. This is not
representing the interests of an empire, but of a hamlet.

We have received a file of the Jamaica Dispatch
to the 7th February inclusive. Wc extract the follow-
ing from these papers :
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 6.
The House met to-day, and his Excellency delivered the
following speech we give an abstract :
" The very extraordinary nature of the message I have re-
ceived from the House of Assembly compels me to point out to
the Legislature of Jamaica the position in which the conduct of
one of the branches has placed the Colony ; to that branch
therefore must I more particularly address myself, while I re-
view its proceedings during the present session—while I point
out what disposition it has evinced to meet the wishes of the
mother country.
" Two messages I have recently sent down on the subject
of the Police Bill, and the Act in aid, have placed my views
of the manner in which these two measures have been treated
in the Assembly, in too clear a light to require more than a
very few remarks.
" I pressed on you the establishment of more Courts of
Assizes, so strongly recommended by the presentment of the
Grand Jury. You took no notice of it. A revision of the
lawl affecting the discipline of gaols and other places of con-
finement was recommended to - you. All these subjects
have remained unnoticed. The whipping of females,
you were informed by me, officially, was in prac-
tice ; and I called upon you to make enactments to put
a❑ end to conduct so repugnant to humanity, and
so contrary to law. So far from passing an act to prevent the
recurrence of such cruelty, yon have in no way expressed your
disapprobation of it: I communicated to you my opinion,
and that of the Secretary of State, of the justice of cutting
off the hair of females in the House of Correction previous to
trial ; you havo.paid no attention to the subject.
" I informed the House that in the question of the British
Government, the taxation imposed by the local authorities on
the property of apprentices was quite illegal ; you totally dis-
regarded this suggestion.
" I sent you down no less than font messages on the subject
of an extended system of education; as no measure on the
subject has emanated from the House, can I do otherwise than
conclude that you are indifferent to it ? I informed you that
25,0001. sterling had been voted by England for the support of
education in the Colonies with still further assistance being af-
forded, and you have taken no steps to make it available.
I transmitted to you dispatches from the Secretary of State,
recommending the repeal of the 33d Canon, with a view to in-
crease religious instruction in the colony. You have not at-
tended to the recommendation. I recommended the introduc-
tion of an Emigration Bill ; I pointed out to you the injury
done to the poorer classes of the claimants for compensation,
by the schemes of interested persons I communicated to you
the circumstances, owing to your own decision, relating to the
Police Bill—you nave taken no notice of it.
" Besides these measures, in which no enactments have be-
come law, there are many measures of much importance to the
country, which are either before you for amendment, or laying
on the table of the Council for their consideration.

" Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Assembly,
" I thank you for those supplies which you have granted for
the service of the colony, and have to regret that your resolu-
tion to do no more business, should leave the public creditor
in danger of not receiving his just right."
. - -

We have been assured that, after the Message from the
House yesterday, there was a Privy Council held on that gub.
ject, when there was a tic at the Honourable Board ; and the
course adopted was carried only by the casting vote of the Go-
vernor. Sir Amos Norcott is said to have dissented from the
opinion of the Governor. It was currently reported in Spanish
Town, that the Governor would quit our shores before the Bth
of March. God send that it may be so, as we know of no
measure which would so speedily restore order to this distracted
colony."—Jamaica Gazette, Feb. 6.
" We regret to announce that Mr. Frater has been com-
pelled, through the interference of his Excellency the Go-
vernor, to resign his commission as Major-General of the
Cornwall district. During the holydays, Mr. Frater found it
necessary to place a guard over the powder magazine, which,
besides being in a dangerous situation, was considered inse-
cure. On the Governor becoming acquainted that a sentry
had been placed there, he directed his Secretary to write to
the Colonel of the regirrient, to ascertain why he had done so ?
The answer was, that it was by the order of the Major-Gene-
ral. His Excellency, instead of being satisfied with the re-
ply, wrote an order that in future the Major-General would
not be at liberty to mount guard, without first obtaining his
sanction ; in consequence of which, Mr. Frater begged leave
to resign his command."
IMPORTANIF.

The Jamaica Dispatch of the 6th February' says :—" We
solicit the attention of our readers to a careful perusal of the
whole proceedings of our Assembly during this week, from
which they will learn by what a succession of weak and ill-
advised measures his Excellency has driven the Assembly to
a defence of their privileges, and which, by rendering the
breach betwech them irreparable, ended in a prorogation to
the Bth March—thus leaving the whole business of the colony
in the same state, reckless of all consequences. For our part,
we cannot see how his Excellency can ever again meet the
House."

" HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, FRIDAY, FEB. 5.
" FURTHER PROROGATION OF THE ASSEMBLY.

" Shortly after the House met, Mr. Secretary Nunes
brought down the following Message from his Excellency tho
Governor :___.

MR. SPEAKER

"• I am commanded by his Excellency the Governor to in-
form you, in reply to your Message of yesterday, that although
he is aware how unusual it is to consider in one Session any
matter which has taken place in a previous one, when no allu-
sion has been made to it in the opening of Session, he will
still, in his anxiety to promote the public convenience, to
which he has at this recent juncture shown so much attention,
communicate to the House again what he before, as he
thought, had fully explained in his proroguing speech—
his conviction that he had committed no breach of its
privileges. „.Such a declaration must, to calm and dis-
passionate 'binds, show what was his real intention ;
but where his abject could not be private—where it must be
exclusively to the advantage of the Island—and the conve-
nience of the public—he regrets to find that his acts were met
by anything but a corresponding feeling. Reparation he
cannot consider to be called for, where no offence was con-
templated ; nor, as he has distinctly stated before, committed
by him. He encroaches in no manner on their privilege—he
did not interfere with a,ny business before the House. He
merely, in studiously respectful language, intreated their at-
tention to what be considered a most decided benefit to the
pcolony, whose interests they arc charged with. He, there-
fore, trusts that they will not sacrifice those interests to
what he cannot but consider a most constrained construction
of an act, originating in the most friendly feelings towards the
Colony.' "
" A long debate ensued. The Speaker at the request of
several Mpnbera 'rose, and in a luminous and-eloquent speech;
pointed oat the only -course which the House could pursue ;
and-in taking a review of the several proceediDgs, connected
with the breach of privilege,- showed that the .Governor had
rendered a reconciliation impossible, unless Ile now made the
most ample reparation. Ultimately -the House came to the
following resolution :
" That his Excellency's Message, reiterating that he had
committed no breach of the privileges of the House, is not
satisfactory ; and therefore the House cannot, consistently with
its own dignity, or with advantage to their constituents, pro-
ceed any further in the public business—they adhere to their
original resolution.'
The House is therefore prorogued to the Bth March next;
by which time we hope his Excellency will be comfortably
settled in Sligo."—Jamaica Dispatch.

Leiters have been received from the British Auxi-
liary Legion, dated the Bth March. On that day the
main body of the Legion was four miles beyond Tre-
vino. The men were, for the most part, recovered from
their recent illness ; and very few patients were in the
hospital.

We understand that Mr. Dominick Brown, M.P.
for Mayo, is about to be raised to the Irish Peerage, in which
there being three titles extinct, there is at present a power
under the Act of Union to create a new Irish Peerage.
Sir Roger Greisley, Bart., retires from the. repre-
sentation of South Derbyshire at the next general election, and
it is intended to place Francis Hurt, Esq., of Alderwasley, in
nomination.--ihrminghant Gazette.
INTERESTING FOUNDLING.—In the Liverpool
workhouse there is a very interesting and beautiful female
child, now conjectured to be between two and three years of
age. She was found exposed on some steps in Ranelagh-
street in May last, when she was supposed to be about eighteen
months old. She was dressed in an old lilac printed frock,
a pink cotton bonnet, and a fine linen chemise, marked A.
The only words she could articute plainly were "papa" and
" mamma." Every inquiry was made, but in vain, to discover
her unnatural parents. She is of fair Complexion, stout, with
a fineness of her
blue eyes, and fine curling hair. From tit the words she
linen, the mode in which it was marked, 'am:
uttered, which are rarely used by the children of :he humbler
d:c
or working classes in this part of the country, it is aPlpr
that she had been stolen, used for the purpose ofbtegg,:":'
robbed of her better clothes, and exposed in th.e m anner de-
scribed. As several instances have occurred inLondon and
other places of children being stolen, we give this publidity to
the facts in the hope that it may lead to some discovery • a d
to make the circumstance as extensively known as possible,
shall feel obliged if our Contemporaries would copy the para.
graph.—LiFervooi Paper.

DUBLIN ELECTION COMMITTEE.
(THIS DAY.) •

The Committee met at the usual hour, when 44 votes, in
pursuance of an agreement entered into between the agents on
both sides, were struck off. The Committee then went into
individual votes not coming under any of the previous de-
cisions. Of this class there were 12 struck off when our re-
porter left.