The Sun.
London, England, 1849-07-30 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 30, 1849.

A strict and searching inquiry is about to take
place into all the circumstances of the late unfortunate
collision at Dolly's Brae, on the 12th instant. An
eminent Queen's Counsel has been deputed to conduct
the investigation, so that there is every reason to
hope that the higher class delinquents, those who fos-
tered the evil passions and religious animosities of
their humbler brethren, will not escape scatbless.
The true causes of the deplorable transaction will be
fully ascertained, and the conduct of the guilty
parties held up to well-merited reprobation. It is
not by inflicting exemplary punishment on the
humble offenders who have been already captured,
and who are now awaiting their trials, that the law
can be adequately vindicated ; they cannot, of
course, be allowed to escape scot free,
or permitted to suppose that such an
outrage could be committed with impunity, but a
minor punishment, accompanied by an unequivocal
intimation that more stringent penalties would be re-
sorted to on all future occasions, might be sufficient
at present. A sound discrimination must also be
exhibited in measuring the degrees of guilt of the dif-
ferent parties. Proper distinctions must be made be-
tween those who deliberately and advisedly endn
gered the public peace, who, armed with deaadly.
weapons, assembled together for the purpose of in
suiting and alarming their neighbours, and between
others whose excited passions, and perhaps in some
degree well-grounded apprehensions, led them into

crime.
...__,".W.SPATIER deeply to be regretted that the salutary
-L p hibiting party processions of every de-
has been suffered to expire. It is
lippotal to calculate the serious consequences occa-
sioned Cy these ridiculous and most impolitic exhibi-
-• tions.,:it is not merely the injury to person ur pro-
pert), ttat occurs during the conflicts that almost
1 invariably take place. True it is, that blood is fre-
quently shed, lives lost, and shocking wounds inflicted.
Houses too are plundered and destroyed, as on the.
late occasion, and heads of families consigned to a

1
f 1 •:;'::---'t

prison, while their helpless wives and children are re-
duced to the verge of destitution, during the punish-
ment of the husband and father. But these evils, la-
mentable as they undoubtedly are, constitute the least
part of the mischief. A spirit of deadly hatred is en-
gendered ; an anxious desire for revenge ex-
cited, in place of living in love and
harmony, and labouring together for the good
of their common country. No opportunity is neg-
lected that affords a reasonable chance of exhibiting
their animosity or wreaking vengeance the one upon
the other. The feeling excited on the 12th of July
survives throughout the entire year ; and many fierce
dissensions, bitter quarrels, and faction fights owe
their origin to the party processions, that cast a stain
upon the otherwise fair fame of the northern pro-

vinces.
It was not, unfortunately, on one day in the year or
by one party only that these objectionable demon-
strations were made. If the Orange flag was ex-
hibited on the Ist or 12th of July, or on the sth of
November, the green flag was also paraded on St. Pa-
trick's-day or St. Peter's-eve. Numerous opportuni-
ties were taken advantage of to exhibit hatred and
defiance of the opposite party, for that, in fact, was
the real intent and object of these party processions.
It was not to celebrate a bygone triumph, the results
of which had long previously passed away ; it was
not to observe a religious ceremony, or a national
fete ; but it was to provoke their neighbours, to
excite fear and alarm, and to produce those sangui-
nary riots that have been so justly complained of,
and the bitter remembrance of which was handed
down from father to son, through successive genera-
tions. There can be little doubt that such assem-
blages were illegal and punishable under the common
law, without any express statute in relation thereto ;
but the ignorant and misguided multitude could not
be persuaded thereof. They were accustomed to
see such exhibitions not merely tolerated but
even encouraged by parties who were entrusted
with the commission of the peace, and who ought
to have known better. If any parties were brought to
trial, it was for an assault, or, perhaps, more formidable
outrages growing out of the transaction, and not for
having merely joined in the procession ; hence they
could not but believe that they were fully justified in
yielding to their own desire and appearing in arms on
the appointed day, believing that those who inter-
fered with their proceedings, or opposed their pro-
gress, would be the real aggressors. And this opinion
was entertained by both parties, and could not be
eradicated from their minds. The Processions Act,
however, dispelled this illusion ; it rendered the
joining in such a demonstration an offence,
per se, subjecting the persons convicted
thereof to severe punishment. It therefore had the
most beneficial effect in that respect. Besides it was
a general enactment, prohibiting every species of pro-
cession, and giving no triumph to any party ; it
was, therefore, the more readily obeyed by all. When,
however, it was permitted to expire, it was supposed
that the Government no longer desired to put down
processions, and that they became legal on the
cessation of the law by which they were expressly
forbidden. Whatever may be the effect of the com-
mon law, those processions will never be effectually
suppressed until the statute be re-enacted and
perpetuated. We believe that there would be
no opposition to a Bill for that purpose
in either branch of the Legislature, but that it would
be passed with perfect unanimity through all its
stages, and that it would not prolong the session by
even a single day. We regret that the Government
should have thought differently, and decided on post-
poning legislation until next year. We trust, how-
ever, that it may be one of the first measures brougbt
under the notice of Parliament next session, and that
in the meantime it may be clearly and unequivocally
intimated to the local magistrates that any illegal
conduct on either side, or any breach of the common
law, will be punished with the utmost rigour and
severity.
____

We recently pointed out the intimate connexion
existing between the great question of monetary,
fiscal, and financial reform. Any legislation on one
of these subjects, unless accompanied by great and
comprehensive changes in the others, would be utterly
inadequate to meet the wants and wishes of the people.
We showed that great reductions might nominally he
made in the amount of taxation, without any real re •
lief being afforded to the nation by reason of a con-
temporaneous contraction of the circulating medium,
which would more than neutralise the advantages to
be derived from measures of economy and retrench-
ment. The mode of taxation is also of
no less importance than its amount; so long
as the present unjust and impolitic system of
indirect taxation be retained, there can never be a
complete or satisfactory adjustment of the great
questions at issue between the people and their rulers.
The Liverpool Reform Association, to whom the
honour is due of having originated the movement that
has since made such extraordinary progress in the
public mind, and whose valuable tracts have so fully
and completely exposed the malversation and pecula-
tion existing in many of our national establishments,
fully participate in this opinion. In the report of the
committee, read at the annual meeting of the society,
the followirg remarkable passages may be found :
" Important as the reduction of expenditure un-
doubtedly is, and easy of accomplishment, if honestly
attempted, as the exposure of the wanton, wilful, and
reckless waste of public money, made in our tracts,
clearly shows it to be, yet if reduction of expenditure is
to be the only aim and limit of the labours of financial
reformers, it will infinitely fall short of the requirements
of the country's need, and, as such, will not be worth the
efforts and sacrifices necessary for its attainment.
" A reduction once effected—and more especially if
sufficiently large to satisfy public demands, and thereby
lessen its vigilance—can be easily and gradually, and
very imperceptibly, replaced by increased expenditure,
which may again become ruinous before any further
adequate public opinion can be brought again to bear on
its reductions, as witness the increase of present expen-
diture as compared with th.it of the years 1832, 1833,
1834, and 1835, unless some permanent and self-acting
check be introduced. Hence the necessity of what we
consider to be the most important object of our Asso-
ciation, viz., the substitution of direct for indirect
I taxation."

These are truths that should be maturely and
seriously considered by the people. So long as the
national revenue is levied by means of indirect im-
posts, so long as an undue share of the national bur-
dens and the national expenditure is levied upon the
wages of industry, so long as every man is not
taxed secundum statum et facultates, according to
his means and the stake he possesses in the country,
so long will there be a renewal of the lavish and pro-
fligate expenditure so justly complained of, whenever
agitation shall subside, and the popular mind cease to
be disturbed. The only effectual check that can
be imposed will be the effecting a total alteration of
our fiscal system, which, by making every subject of
the realm contribute directly in proportion
to his powers to the national expenditure,
will supply sufficient inducement to make him care-
fully watch over the public purse, and indignantly
denounce any wanton extravagance—it will, to use
the impressive language of the committee, provide
the only " permanent and self-acting check" that can
be obtained.

Unless this change of system can be effected the
principles of free trade can never be carried cut in
all their integrity. The imposts that are levied for
the purposes of revenue interfere with our trade and
commerce, and restrict consumption as much as if they
had been imposed for the sake of protection, although
the abolition, or we should rather say, the reduction
of the duties on commodities, were productive of the
most beneficial results. Still it was but a step in
the right direction, a means towards an end, and not
the end itself. It only relieved the people of one of
many burdens. Its chief value was that it gave a
death-blow to the principle of monopoly. It affirmed
the great doctrine that " the many should not be taxed
for the benefit of the few ;" but that doctrine is still
practically acted on whenever the burdens that in
equity and justice should only fall on accumulated
and realised property are suffered to press upon the
wages of industry. It is true, that corn constitutes
the chief necessary of life for the working classes,
and that the tax thereon was of all others that which
it was most desirable to abolish. But there is the
highest authority for saying, that " it is not good for
man to live on bread alone," and custom has rendered
many articles to which we have been. long habituated
comforts with which we could not dispense without the
greatest inconvenience,but these are still heavily taxed.
The hard Working sempstress is still compelled to pay
800 or 900 per cent. on the tea- that enables her to
keep her eyes open to perform her almost incessant'

toil. Sugar, " the corn of the tropics," still pays
enormous duties in proportion to its original value.
The bricklayer's labourer must pay four times the
cost price of his pot of beer or porter, on account of
the malt and hop tax, and if he solaces himself
during the interval of labour with a pipe of Indian
weed, the expense is increased tenfold by the exorbi-
tant impost, that not only checks consumption, but
produces smuggling and frauds on the revenue, and
demoralizes numbers of our people, who are thus in-
duced to become habitual violators of the law.

Here, then, we find the multitude paying
the great bulk of the national taxation on
what have become actual necessaries of ex-
istence, while our trade with China, with the
sugar and tobacco growing countries, still remains
undeveloped, and that impulse is withheld that would
be afforded to our manufactures, by an increased
consumption of those commodities, and an increased
" purchasing power" in the producers. Nay, even
British industry is discouraged by the malt and hop
taxes, which impose additional and most unequal and
partial burdens on our own farmers, and practically
check employment. All these imposts should be
totally and for ever abolished. The national expen-
diture should be defrayed solely by imposing equal
burdens on every subject in proportion to his means;
and we may conclude in the impressive language
of the Council of the Association :—" A permanent
reduction of expenditure, and a completely liberated
commerce with free industry, therefore imperatively
demand, as the very basis of their existence, Direct
Taxation."

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris papers of Saturday and
of yesterday.
On Friday the law on the press was passed by a
majority of 300, and on Saturday the law for pro-
roguing the Assembly from the 12th August to the
30th September was passed by a majority of 294 to
247. In the course of the discussion on the Bill M.
DUFAIIRE declared that the Government would be
responsible for the public security and for the safety
of the Constitution, and the Republic during the
recess.

Divisions among the majority are becoming every
day more manifest. The Legitimatists who have
joined the reactionary conspiracy for the sole purpose
of bringing back the Absolutist Prince HENRY V.
with a legion of priests and Jesuits. in his train, are
becoming jealous of the provincial popularity of the
PRESIDENT;and are afraid of a Bonapartist restoration.
They consequently threatened to secede in a body
from the majority if the PRESIDENT were permitted to
make any more claptrap speeches after the manner
of those at Chartres and Ham, and accordingly, to
appease the Legitimatist susceptibilities, the follow-
ing appeared in the Moniteur of Saturday :
"In the journeys that the President of the Republic
has made to this day, public functionaries have addressed
to him by speeches their respects and felicitations.
This usage which had, under the monarchy, been pushed
to abuse, ought to disappear from our habits. The
President of the Republic cannot, without doubt, but
feel flattered at receiving the felicitations of the civil,
religious, and military authorities; but it would be much
better addresses should be conveyed to him without
being spoken. The President of the Republic would be
happy, especially, to find in them the sincere and com-
plete expression of the wants and wishes of the popula-
tions which he visits." _ _ _

It is amusing to find the different sections of tho
reactionary party already squabbling over the spoils
of the not yet defunct Republic. "First catch your
hare," gentlemen ; it will be time enough to consider
how to cook it afterwards.

The Moniteur contains three decrees, confiding,
ad interim, to M. DE TRACY, the Minister of Marine,
the functions of the War Department during the
absence of General RULHIERES ; to Al. DUFAURE,
the Minister of the Interior, those of Public In-
struction and of Public Works, in the absence of M.
DR FALLOUX and M. LACROSSE, all of whom have
accompanied the PRESIDENT on his trip to the opening
of the first section of the Tours and Nantes Railway.
The:PRESIDENT set off yesterday morning for the
Orleans line, accompanied by a numerous suite. His
absence will be for four days.
General DE GRAMMONT has been elected as repre-
sentative for the Loire, and MM. ECRASSERIAUX and
DELAJUS have been returned for the Charente In-
ferieure.

The Prince DE CANINO will, it is said, be put in
nomination for the department of the Soane et Loire.
These papers announce the death of Marshal MO..
LITOR. The melancholy event took place on Friday.
The veteran was in his seventy-ninth year.
The budget for 1850 is to be brought forward on
Saturday next.
It was rumoured on the Bourse that England and
France had agreed to make a joint effort to put a stop
to hostilities in Hungary by mediation.
M. DE TOCQUEVILLE has fixed Monday, Aug. 6,
as the day on which he will be prepared to enter into
a discussion on the affairs of Rome.

M. DITARCOURT, the French Ambassador at
Gaeta, has arrived at Toulon, and M. THEODORE DE
LESSEPS, the brother of the late Envoy to the Ro-
man Republic, has been dispatched to London on a
special mission.
The Salut Public of Lyons, of the 27th, says :
" Since yesterday there has been an unusual move-
ment of the troops in our city. Several regiments have
left, or will leave to-day for the frontiers of Savoy. We
are not aware what are the circumstances which have
given rise to this congregation of troops towards the
frontier, but it is probable that it has been caused by
the negotiations between Austria and Piedmont."
The intelligence of the conclusion of peace between
Sardinia and Austria is confirmed.

The Presse has the following as to the difficulties
which had attended the negotiations :
" Since the evacuation of Alessandria the conduct of
M. Bruck has been marked by continual tergiversation.
It would have been imagined that Austria was appre
hensive of some movement which might weaken the ef-
fects of the battle of Novara. The entrance of our sol-
diers at Rome and the state of siege of Paris have
completely changed these dispositions. Since that
the tergiversations have all finished—the only exigen-
cies have been brought forward: Amongst the condi-
tions which Austria would wish toimpose on Piedmont,
there is one which has never, until now, been brought
forward. The question is to force Italy nolens volens to
enter into a customs league. Doubtless, this would at
one time have been a grand conception; but, in the
present state of the country, it is to be questioned whe-
ther it can politically and commercially submit to the
conditions which Austria would impose on her. A cus-
toms league would doubtless be all to the interest of
Austria, and to the detriment of France, and it is there-
fore strange that Piedmont has not met with more sup-
port from our Government. The result of this league
would be in a short time to render all Italy tributary to
the capitalists of Vienna, and to throw all the trade of
the Mediterranean ports and of the Adriatic into the
hands of Austria. This has been clearly the object of
M. Bruck, and it is that which has excited the attention
and raised the objections of Piedmont. If she refuses it
is probable that war may recommence, and if she yields
the whole country will be in revolt."
The Bourse on Saturday was rather firmer, but
the amount of business was still limited. Threes
for the account closed at 53f. 35c., and Fives at
87f. 95c.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE, JULY 28.

_ -
East Indian, 3—Namur and Liege, 534—Orleans and
Bordeaux, 2yB—Central of France (Orleans and Vierzon),
11%.

SPAIN.
Madrid journals of the 24th have been received.
Their contents are unimportant.
MADRID BOLSA, JULY 24.—Three per Cents.,
26k; Five per Cents., both paper. Exchange on
London, 50 75.

PEITZ COUNCIL AT OSBORNE FOR THE P. ROROG.A•
TION OF PARLIAMENT.—(THIS DAY.)—This morning
at nine o'clock, the Marquis of Lansdowne (Lord
President), Viscount Palmerston (Secretary for
Foreign Affairs), Sir John Hobhouse (President of
the Board of Control), Sir George Grey (Secretary
for the Home Department), the Right Honourable
H. Labouchere (President of the Board of Trade),
Earl Fortescue (Lord Steward), and the Hon. H. L.
Bathurst (Clerk of the Council), left the Waterloo•
bridge terminus of the South-Western Railway for
Gosport, where they would embark on board the Fire
Queen royal steam-yacht for Osborne, where her
Majesty held a Privy Council at one o'clock, to
arrange the Royal Speech on closing the session of
Parliament. The ceremony by Lords Commissioners
will, it is expected, take place to-morrow, at the
House of Lords, at two o'clock. The special train
with the Ministers will return to town at six o'clock.
The Noble Premier will meet the Queen at Balmoral
Castle on her return from Ireland, and the Marquis
of Lansdowne will join her Majesty in Dublin next
week.

MADAME VESTRIS' BENEFIT AT THE LYCEUM.--•
The benefit of Madame Vestris is fixed for this evening
at the Lyceum. The announcement of this fact is tanta-
mount to saying that the number of persons•the house is
capable of holding will be accurately ascertained to-'
night. The performanccs consist of BlanchCs lively
comedy The Follies of a Night (in which Mr. Charles
Mathews and Madame Vestris appear), The Beggars'
Opera, with Madame as Lucy, Miss Kathleen Fiizwilliam
as Polly, asd Mr. W. Harrison as Macheath, and. Bor
and Cox. Mr. Sims Reeves has given his valuable ser-
vices, and will appear in the last scene of Lucia de
Lammermoor, and Mr. C. Mathews will speak a farewell
address.
The steamship America, Captain Harrison, de-
parted _ from Liverpool, on Saturday afternoon, r
Halifax and New York, with the usual North-American-
mails and 100 passengers,