The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

In the course of the present week two cr three
very important decisions have taken place in the two
Select Committees of the House of Commons,—we
allude to those on salaries and the Civil List. The
Committee on salaries came to a resolution on Mon-
day morning last, that in future no new superannu-
ation or allowance ought to be made to retired public
servants, who had filled high offices, without a spe-
cial vote of the House of Commons on each indivi-
dual case,—a very proper resolution, as it seems to
us, considering the abuses which have grown up
under the existing law. A division is understood to
have taken place in the Committee on this question,
the numbers being seven and seven, and the Chair-
man, Mr. Baring, carrying it by his casting voice.
This Committee have also recommended a reduction
of 1,0001. from the salaries ef the Ministers, making
the Secretary of State, First Lord of the Admiralty,
&c., 5,0001. a year; the Secretaries of the Treasury
are reduced from 4,0001. to 2,5001.; and, as all salaries
are in future to he net money, this is not an unfair
remuneration. The Committee on the Civil List on
We Inesday came to a resolution that the salaries of
the Lord President and Lord Privy Seal should be
considerably reduced, or rnther entirely abolished.
The first (and we may say reasonable) proposal was
to reduce them to 1,500/. a year. It was suggested
by the leader of the severer sect, that 1,000/. was
sufficient for those non-efficient officers, without de-
partments and without labour. This proposal ap-
pears to have been considered so preposterous or so
radical by the Tory members of the Committee, that
Lord Stormont proposed to take away all salary
whatever from those two offices; and, strange to
say, he was taken at his word, and this ultra-propo-
sition of the Tory party (probably made in a pet)
was thus adopted by the Committee. We may ob-
serve, that it may be very right to retain these two
offices for form sake, or perhaps , for some use.
Under all Administrations the Lord President
and the Lord Privy Seal are most usefully employed
in sitting the one on the right the other on the left
of the First Lord of the Treasury in the House of
Lords, to occupy the benches and prevent a va-
cuum. They preserve the first Minister from the
severe infliction, which otherwise awaits him, of
being teazed to death by any and every bore who
may have some important suggestion of his own to
impart to the right or the left ear of the exhausted
listener ; and in our opinion 1,000/. is not too much
for such services. We hope the Committee will be
of the same opinion on more mature consideration.
The same Committee has recommended a reduc-
tion of one-third from the salaries of the Great
State Officers of the Household : they think—
and the public agree with them—that 1,5001. or
1,000/. would be quite sufficient for a Lord
Steward or a Chamberlain, or a Master of the
Horse, these places being always conferred
on distinguished members of the Aristocracy,
who of course value the honour of being in imme-
date contact with the Sovereign more than any
salary or emolument. They are amply rewarded by
the importance of the office,—by the pomp-arid cir-
cumstance thereof,—by the fuss, if we may so call it,
of the situation,—by the occupation and the pa-
tronage which it gives them. We are sorry, how-
ever, to learn that the sum total of the reduction
proposed in the Civil List does not amount to more
than 10,000/. Indeed, much reduction cannot be
expected from a Committee formed under very par-
ticular circumstances : it was named under a Tory
Administration, and of course the friends of good
salaries were fully represented ; and those who
were then the Opposition being now the actual
Ministers, the Committee is composed in great
part of the Ministers in and the Tories who are
out, and must, therefore, from its very composition,
be as little diarosed as may be to the use of the
pruning-knife.—Times.
Yesterday was the first drawing-room held by a
QUeen of England since the time of Queen Char-
lotte. The attendance was numerous and brilliant.
We take this opportunity of stating, that several
complaints have been made to us of the extraordi-
nary omissions of the Court Newsman in his record
of levees, &c. We are told, for instance, that he
never inserts the name of the Duke of Richmond
among the Ministers who attend the Cabinet
Councils; and that M. Falck and the Baron de
Zuylen, who are constantly present at the confer-
ences on the affairs of Holland and Belgium, are
never noticed. What the motives of this person
may be, we know not: he probably does not know
the individuals unless they give their cards. At all
events, we have nothing to do with these matters
except publishing them. The account is a circular
sent to all the papers, and with which the editors
-have no more to do than they have with the draw-
ing up of the shipping-list. We may here state,
and we trust with all due courtesy, that our paper
cannot be made a registry for the fashions of ladies'
dresses. There are various publications dedicated
to this elegant branch of knowledge—Nos musas
colimus severiores.—Times.

We regret to find that the accounts from Leland
are not calculated to allay our apprehensions for the
peace of that country ; but while we candidly ac-
knowledge that the letters received in town from
the counties of Meath and Louth report a state of
things that must create uneasiness in the minds of
every friend to the country, we cannot but deplore
and deprecate the facility with which some of our
Evening Contemporaries receive and publish the
most exaggerated statements from the sister island.
The simple fact is no more than this :—The rustic
and half-famishing population on the contiguous bor-
ders of Meath, Cavan, and Louth, have assembled
in large bodies, and entered into resolutions to de-
znand a lowering of the rents paid for potatoe land,
and a rise in their own wages; and, as far as we
are yet informed, their demands, thus improperly
urged, are not very extravagant. The peasant
in Ireland who had the misfortune not to be with-
out land, was here compelled to pay the owner
or occupier for his potatoe garden, a rent:vary-
ing from Si. to 12/. per acre, while his wages
fluctuated from 4d. to 10d. per day. The tariff
agreed upon at those rustic assemblages from the
information that has reached us,. se.elts to fix the
former at 6!. per annum, and the latter .et Is. per
day. Though while strongly reprobating the course
these unfortunate people have taken to obtain an
alleviation of their sufferings, sse would, at the same
time, bespeak the commiseration rather than the
vengeance of the Government towards these mis-
guided people. Their old opponents—the as-
cenoancy gentry of Ireland—cry out " Rebellion,"
and demand martial law and the proclamation of
those districts, that they may be afforded, under
the fearful powers of the Insurrection Act, an op-
portunity of transporting the unfortunate wretches
they have driven to despair. We would say it was
the duty of a humane Governmenr.gs we doubt not it
is the inclination of his Majesty's present Ministers,
while they take all fitting precautions for the safety
of the country, to hesitate ere they entrust power,—
and, above all, arbitrary power—to men whom the
history of that ill-fated country has shown to be so
little deserving of the trust. From our letters, it
appears that a great meeting was to have been held
at the village of Nobbor, on the north-east borders
of the county of Meath, and that on the evening of
that day a conflict took place between some of the
people and a part of the police or military force in
the town of Navan, some twelve or
fourteenlir
me
notiles
nearer Dublin, the particulars of which
accurately known when the post left Dublin,ethoig though
it appears some lives were lost. We have seen one'
letter, written on Monday, by the lady of a highly
T2spectable gentleman of. that county, at present in
town, residing within a few miles of Navan, and
who seemed to have been so wholly unconscious of
danger, as to say " I shall drive out to post this
letter."—Morning Chronicle.
The revolution seems to have been .every where
in Italy effected with the greatest ease. A thorough
conviction of the necessity of this change has long
been entertained by all well-informed persons in the
Peninsula ; and it is well known to every one who

has visited Italy, that the Italians have been pre-
pared for the first favourable contingency. le wobld
appear from the last accounts, that the prevailing
opinion at present is to form a Federal Republic.
In this resolution we are inclined to think there is
much wisdom. Italy has long been divided into a
number of States, the people of which differ from
each other equally in character and civilization, and
it would be as well to limit the functions of a ge-
neral Government to the concerns of the whole
Peninsula, while each little Republic attends to its
own separate affairs. In general, from the division
of property, the residence of the landowners in
towns, &c., the habits derived from these old
republican institutions, the Italians are gene-
rally democratically disposed. In all these changes
which are taking place throughout Europe,
the less that we interfere, either directly or
indirectly, the better will it be both for the people
of the countries affected by the changes, and for our-
selves. It is not for us to make outeelves the
champion of every King who is driven from his
throne, or of every people who wish to improve
their institutions. Our insular situation places us
beyond danger from any conceivable result ; and
those who are entrusted with the disposal of the re-
sources of the naticn, are not warranted in wasting
them in the quarrels of other States, on any vague
principle of sympathy or liberality. In this respect
the French arid ourselves are very differently cir-
cumstanced. The French cannot, if they would,
isolate themselves. Their language and literature
are the language and literature of Europe. What-
ever takes place in Paris is felt in every country,
from the Straits of Gibraltar to the Frozen
Ocean. The revolution of July was the commence-
ment of an European revolution; and nothing but
the inability to chastise the Parisians prevented the
Russians, Austrians, anti Prussians, from advancing
instantly to Paris. The despotic Powers were fully
impressed with the danger of the example to their
own subjects, and their delay afforded no proof of
their abandonment of all intention to grapple with
the new Power. The instinct of the French teaches
them that their monarchical neighbours can never
become their friends—that they will seize the first
opportunity to attack them, and on the principle of
insuring their own safety, they naturally seek to en-
courage the spread of the revolution. Who does
not see that the Italian revolution paralyses Austria?
Who does not see that a revolution in Germany
would secure them against a combination of despots
on their northern frontiers ? If they abuse the con-
fidence reposed in them by the nations, and seek to
establish their ascendancy in Italy and Germany,
they will once more range against themselves the
indignation of the people of Europe. However this
may be, in the mean time the French cannot, if they
would, be indifferent spectators of the grand struggle
which is agitating Europe from one extremity to the
other. If the French Government, from a desire to
conciliate the other Governments of Europe, does
not share the sympathy of the people in this emer-
gency, it will assuredly be borne down. The French
peopleknow that the (.Governments in question are not
to be conciliated, and that the putting down the diffe-
rent revolutions would be the watch-word for the
movement against themselves. Separated as we are
from the. Continent, and secure against all attack,
let us attend to our own affairs, prosecute the re-
forms and improvements which the time demands,
and avail ourselves of the blessings which are within
our reach. Burdened as we are, the resources of
the country are so great, that if we avoid rushing
into war, we shall every year feel the load of our
taxes less heavy. It has hitherto been our good for-
tune, that in our dissensions foreigners have not in-
terfered with us; and if we had only not interfered
with the affairs of foreigners, all would have been
now well with us. Better, however, late than
never. What is it to us whether Belgium remain
separate or unite with France ? We repeat it, no
good can be derived from any combination with
Foreign Powers, which can compensate for the in-
jury we must sustain from embarking in another
war. Reform and improvement must come; the
danger is rather from too great impatience on the
part of the people, than from any ability of the
Aristocracy to resist them. All we require is,
peace and the uninterrupted prosecution of our in-
dustry; and every good must follow in their train.—
Morning Chronicle.
It is not in the nature of things probable that,

in the case of population and labour, the supply and
the demand can always accommodate themselves to
each other. There must be, from temporary and

,ocal causes, frequent excesses and wants, both o;

the one and of the other. But that, speaking gene-
rally, either England or Ireland is over-peopled is
untrue, and a mistake which those only fall into
whose view is limited to partial inconveniences,
without embracing (as the eye of a Statesman
ought to do) the situation and the interests of the
whole community. We have two parties in this
country, who have taken up the opposite sides of
this question with a more than ordinary degree of
zeal, not to say of rancour,—the over-population
emigrationists, with Mr. Wilmot Horton at their
head, who think that nothing but expatriation can
remedy the redundancy which they assume; and
those who, under the lead of Mr. Sadler, look upon

its people as a nation's strength, and who would,
therefore, by a better distribution of our po-
pulation, retain it at home as the source of oar
own wealth and strength. Though we incline
decidedly towards this latter class of political
economists, we do not see why the views of each
might not to a certain degree be met—that is, why
b th home colonization and emigration might not be
encouraged and practised at one and the same time, as
remedies for the pressing local evils under which
same parts of the kingdom are now suffering. Pos-
sessing, as we do, extensive and fertile foreign pos-
sessions, they present a natnral outlet for such parts
of our own people to whom a new country may be-
come desirable. We say desirable, becaus,, unless
emigration be entirely a free and voluntary act, we
kn.ow rot how it differs from that which, under an-
other name, we inflict upon the worst of criminals.
But the plan propounded by Lord Ho,,vick goes
still farther than this. It not only proposes to com-
pel men to leave their country whether they will or
not, but actually taxes the rest of the community,
in the ;,hope of a new species of national debt, with
the cost of the!r transportation and location. Now
this, we trust, is w iYt Parliament will have the good
sense to set its face against. Encourage emigration
if you please ;—t empt men, by evc.,l fair and honest
inducement, to people countries which may hereafter
be the attached and valuable scions of the parent
stock; but let us have irQ compulsory removals, no
mortgaging of poor rates, ,till you have convinced
us (which you cannot do) that our nativ-, resources
are exhausted, „that we are dying of e plethorc.,,
which nothing but eopiotz depletion can relieve.
Turning to the other party, we ahwnld say, " It is
time that you did something more than wrist and
talk. Your principl:s have been sufficiently dis-'
cussed. if Are; are of any value, tic times call for
their practical adoption: While to the Govern
, ment we should say, that, 4:stead of taking up the
extr,Ane views of ether branch of I:hese political
theorists, th,,e'r policy and their duty. is to cull the
best and most practical parts from each ; to hold'otit
to voluntary emigrants every reasonable inducement-
and advantage which our colones pre-ent;', and open
still more widely those minei of native, wealth and
cultivation, whiel, both in England and Ireland,
pres=ent the means of supply of labour, which, if
rightly applied, are capable, if w; mistake not, of
silencing the over-populationists for at ;eat another
century,—Morning Herald.

NATIONAL LIBRARY-SERI E 4 OF STAND-
ARD NoVELS. —We are requested to state that the first
Number of the " Standard Novelist Series of the Natitinal
Library, will he ready for delivery, with the Magazines,
on the first of March, comprising COOPER'S Tale of " The
Pilot," the three volumes in one complete, for 65., beau-
titully illustrated and neatly bound.