The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-31 00:00:00

knaves. The House of Commons is represented as a wise
and august assembly. What it was long ago I shall not
say ; but in our days it is full of disorder and confusion ;
the Members that arc capable and mindful of buiiness are
few in number, and the rest m:nd nothing at all. When
there's a party job to be done, they'll atts ad, and snake a
hideous noise like so many Bedlamites; but if the House
is to enter on business, such as giving of money or making
of public laws, they converse so loud with one another in
private knots, that nobody can know what is doing, ex-
cept a very few, who fur that purpose sit near the Clerks'
Table ; or they leave the House and the own of business,
as they c.d! them, to mind such matters."
Ana how should it be otherwise? Why is a man
who buys his seat to attend to the interests of the
country, or to trouble himself with business ? The
representatives of the people are not the commis-
sioners of the people, stn• to Parliament to attend
to the interests of the people, but the leaseholders
for a time of the power of taxing the people of
England for their own benefit, for which they have
paid a consideration. We must postpone the con-
siderations of the various plans of the author of the
pamphlet to a future day . Morning Chronicle.

REVENUE DUTIES ON NEWSPAPERS.

(From the Glasgow Free Press.)

A public meeting of the trades of this city and
neighbourhood was held on Monday in the Lyceum,
Nelson-street, for the purpose of considering the
propriety of petitioning Parliament for the removal
of the duties on newspapers. The meeting as-
sembled ut twelve o'clock, and presented compara-
tively a thin attendance.
On the motion of Mr. W. Cameron, Mr. BENJAMIN
GREY was unanimously elected Chairman, who
stated that the object of the meeting was decidedly
directed towards the moral and political condition of
the operatives, arid that a series of resolutions, to-
gether with a draft of a petition, would be submitted
to the meeting for approval. He said he willingly
accepted the chair at such a respectable meeting.
Mr. W. CAMERON moved the first resolution, to the
effect that, notwithstanding the great increase of
scientific knowledge, and its application to the pur-
poses of life, the condition of the working classes is
deteriorating in a proportion which evidently strews
that there is something wrong i❑ the present mode
of governing society, and that under an enlightened
Administration, and with a more general diffusion
of knowledge among the people, sc:ence and ma-
chinery would be rendered more sub,ervient to the
wants and necessities of the whole community. He
adverted to the recent destruction of property in
England, a measure, he said, which all regretted, as
it was calculated to destroy the very support of life.
The operatives deprecated such conduct, as well as
the measures that had been resorted to for putting
down the same by means of hanging and transporta-
tion. In reference to the assertion of a too nume-
rous population, he stated that the resources of the
country were completely adequate for all, and that a
limit ought rather to be put to machinery.
Mr. CAMPBELL, in seconding the resolution, en-
tered at some length into tire subject of the present
condition of the operatives, and said, that the know-
ledge diffused among them had been their principal
preservative against the various acts of violence re-
cently perpetrated in another part of the kingdom.
In the course of his observations, he referred to the
statement laid before the Howe of Commons by
Mr. Colquboun, f, om which it appeared that the re-
sources of the country in 1812 amounted to 261
millions, while the taxes were only GO millions—a
mere feather in the balance. He ascribed the dis-
tress of the operatives principally to tile introduction
of machinery, and the existing competition of capi-
talists. He considered the best method to get rid
of the evil, was to promote knowledge and union
among themselves, by which means they would
obtain an ascendancy, as the working classes com-
posed about two-thirds of the whole population. He
recommended the adoption of unions similar to that
of the United States of America, each trade com-
bining, and the whole amalgamating in a general
body. The peace of capital would be thereby
advanced for the benefit of all parties. The opera-
tives, by the present system, were hoodwinked acid
cheated out of their real produce. Ile recommended
co-operation as a means of taking idle hands out of
the market, and preventing competition among
workmen, in which they accepted reduced rate of
wages. In adverting to the formation of a news-
paper, he referred to the tax of 4d. on each number,
which he considered was a tax on knowledge, and
ought to be abolished.
Mr. Joirel MADAM, in proposing a resolution re-
lative to the existing necessity of improving their
condition by a diffusion of moral and political know-
ledge, entered into an outline of the plan of the
publication alluded to, and recommended as a means
for alleviating their hardship, that they should
strictly adhere in union.
Mr. ALEXANDER GARDNER moved tile third re-
solution, which included an acknowledgment, that
a tax on knowledge was next to a tax on bread, the
most iniquitous measure that could be resorted to
by arbitrary power. lie trusted the load would
soon be thrown off, as the tax tended to deprive
them of receiving arty information, and was calcu-
lated to make them the easy dupes of their op-
pressors. He referred to France, where matters,
he said, had been managed better, and where, in
consequence c f Charles X. threatening to extinguish
the press, they had succeeded in dethroning that
Monarch, and expelling him from their country.—
, The press of the country generally advocated the
interest of the few in preference to that of the many.
Mr. JAMES KING, rt, moving that a petition in ac-
cordance wimh the resolutions be adopted, was
seconded by Mr. James Frame, in an excellent speech,
breathing a spirit of freedom, cultivated by an exten-
sive information on the physical and intellectual
condition of the operatives, in which he par-
ticularly set forth the grievous and exorbitant fees
connected with the three principal professions, and
he had no doubt of the meeting succeeding in
their object if it was pursued with calmness and
deliberation.

It was then agreed that the petition be trans-
mitted to the Lord Chancellor and Mr. Hume,
for presentruion in the respective Houses of Parlia-
ment. After a few objections to the introductory
part of the petition, the original motion was carried.
After a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the meet-
ing quietly separated.

THE MONUMENT.—It was at first used by
the members of the Royal Society for astronomical experi-
ments, but was abandoned on account of its vibrations
being too great fur the nicety required in their observa-
tions. This occasioned a report that it was unsafe; but
its scientific construction may bid defiance to the attacks
of all but earthquakes for centuries.—Fansily Library,
XIX., Lives of Architects.
AGITATION WlT.—The following is an ex-
tract from a speech reported to have been delivered at
die-union agitation meeting the other day, at a place called
Phi' sborougb, near Dublin, by a Mr. STEELE, one of Mr.
O'CoNNEct's sub-agitators :—" I think it is from this
spot an Irishman ought to record his sentiments respecting
ANCLESEA—Iet him hear it from this place—l write it,
ANCLESEA, the liar.—(Cheers, 'bravo STEELE.') I once
called bins the flower of chivalry, the august ANCLESEA.
Yes, I thought hirn one of the noblest beings that orna-
mented human nature; but I now wish it to be recorded
that I now entertain the greatest indignation and contempt
for him;—the absolute ANGLESEA, the despot, and the dis-
grace of his country. I don't know whether any of his
agen's are listening to me—l don't care. I wish he were
present, that I might tell it to his face. There is SOLOMON
STANLEY, his Secretary; do you know how he got the
name of SOLOMON ? I told it before on ➢londay, in the
Arena, and with your permission will again relate it—(' Go
on, tell it out, STEELE.') The story goes—l do not know
it from mysTlf— when he was in College, emplmyed reading
' Cubbett's English Grammar,' he had a half-starved
cat in his room, and a pound of mutton-chops, which he
intended for his dinner, was stolen. Ile questioned the
maid about it, who laid it on the cat ; upon which STAN-
LEY tml the cat by the scruff of the neck to the next
cheesemonger's shop, weighed it, and finding the cat, who
was accused of eating the pound of chops, did not alto-
gether weigh half a pound, by this ingenious device de-
tected the theft of the servant-maid. Such is the man
-ANCLESEA Selects to assist him in governing Ireland."