The Sun.
London, England, 1831-01-03 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

Prince LEOPOLD returned to town yesterday from a
visit to Earl and Countess COWPER, at Pensanger, Hert-
fordshire:
The Duke and Duchess of CUMBERLAND entertained
the Prussian Minister and a select party of the nobility
and gentry to dinner, on Saturday, at their residence in
the King's Palace, St. James's.

The Duchess of KENT and the Princess VICTORIA at-
tended divine service yesterday in the private chapel, at the
King's Palace, at Kensington. The service was performed
by the Chaplain to the loyal Duchess.

The Duke, Duchess, and Prince GEORGE of Cumber-
land, and their Royal Highnesses' Household, attended
divine service yesterday morning, in their apartments at
the King's Palace, St. James's. The service was per-
formed by their Royal Highnesses' Chaplain.
Prince TALLEYRANO, the French Ambassador, had a
conference, for near two hours, yesterday, with Viscount
PALMERSTON.

Viscount PA L3IERSTON arrived in town yesterday morn-
ing, from the seat of Earl and Countess COWPER, at Pen-
sanger, Herts.
It is expected that the Duchess of KENT and the
Princess VICTORIA will honour Covent garden Theatre
with their presence on Friday evening, to see the new
pantomime. The performances will commence with The
Hundred Pound Note, to give an opportunity that the
pantomime may be concluded at an early hour.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.

IRELAND.

(OFFICIAL CIRCULAR.

DUBLIN CASTLE, DECEMBER, HMO.
Having received and laid before the Lord Lieutenant
letters from Magistrates in several parts of the country,
innouncing that meetings of mischievous tendency, under
various pretext.; of political discussion, or of public amuse-
ment, had taken place or were expected, and requesting
to he informed what course the Government wished that
the Magistrates should pursue with respect to such meet-
ings, I am directed by his Excellency to communicate to
you the view which his Majesty's Government take of this
question, and to lay down a line which, it is hoped, will
be sufficiently distinct for your guidance in the exercise of
the important duties committed to your care.
It will, I am persuaded, be necessary to remind you,
that meetings of the inhabitants of any par;sh, town, or
district, legally convened, and conducted in a peaceable
and orderly manner, and confined to their avowed and le-
gitimate objects, are not on any account to be molested by
the civil force. The Government have no wish to check
the fair expression of public opinion, nor to interfere with
the right of petitioning Parliament, or of temperately ap-
pealing to those with whom the power of redressing
the grievances complained of may rest.
But, I am further directed by his Excellency to observe,
that while he is most anxious to secure to the people the
undisturbed exercise of their constitutional rights, it is no
less his determination than his duty, in the exercise of the
high office with which he has been entrusted by his Ma-
jesty, to guard against any abuse of those rights leading to
a violation of the law or a breach of the public peace.
The law recognizes the fair and legitimate exercise of the
right of petition ; it acknowledges also the right of the
people to meet for the purposes of innocent recreation, and
protects their, in the full and free exercise of that right.
But the law does not warrant any assemblies having a ma-
nifest and direct tendency to a violatio❑ of the public peace
under whatsoever name, or for whatsoever professed pur-
pose they may be convened; and therefore any assemblies
of persons, whether collected under the pretence of peti-
tioning, or of public exhibitions of strength or skill, or
under any other pretence whatsoever, if, from their
numbers, acts, place, or times of meeting, or other cir-
cumstances preceding or accompanying them, they excite
in the minds of his Majesty's well-disposed and peaceable
subjects reasonable fear that the public peace will be thereby
violated, and the lives or properties of the King's subjects
thereby endangered, or if they be so constituted or con-
ducted as to induce reasonable and well founded appre-
hensions, that the motives and objects of the persons so
assembling are not the fair and legal exercise of constitu-
tional rights and privileges, but the accomplishment of
alterations in the laws and constitution of the realm, by
means of intimidation, and by demonstration of physical
force, or by any other than legal and constitut.onal means ;
in these and in all such like cases, such assemblies, how-
ever composed, or with whatsoever professed view col-
iected, are illegal, and are by the law denominated " un
lawful assemblies."

And it is the duty of all Magistrates, within wh.)se juris-
diction such assemblies are called together, (being fint duly
satisfied of their illegal nature,) by all lawful means within
their power to prevent such meetings, and to suppre•s and
disperse the same.

His Excellency relies with confidence urn the firm-
ness, temper, and discretion of the magistracy in general ;
and I am directed to remind you, that it is upon the union
of these qualiti-s in the local authorities that the Govern-
inent must mainly depend, in case the peace of the coun-
ty should Ise threatened. His Excelhncy has remarked
with much satisfaction the humane and prudent course
which magistrates of some counties have adopted, of
warning the population of their respective districts of the
penalties to which .they may expose themselves, if led un-
warily into the commission of i'legal acts; and his Excel-
-1 ncy would recommend generally the adoption of this
salutary measure, wherever the state of the country may
app .ar to the Magistrates to require any precautionary steps.
I am directed, in conclusion, to assure you, that while
his Excellency will not fail to visit with his severest dis-
plea,ure any Magistrates who may shrink from the due
performance of functions so vitally important—so, on the
other hand, your efforts for the suppression of acts of out-
rage or of illegality will be duly appreciated or acknow-
ledged.

The Government will perform their part, affording you
the fullest protection in the responsible exercise of your
authority, and in supporting the civil force whrnever it
may be necessary for the preservation of the• public peace.
I have the honour to be,
Your most obedient humble servant,
E. G. STANLEY.

GRAVES OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS.-
The round hillocks, still remaining in most parts of Eng-
land, were, as all historians agree, the graves of the sol-
diers. Four of them together, near Stevenage, in Hert-
fordshire, close by the road, are very large, and New-
market Downs and the plains in Wilts and Dorsetsbire are
full of them.—De Foe.

We understand that the Lord Advocate of
Scotland (Mr. JEFiIItET) and a party of distinguished
Scotch Barristers, are expected to pass through the city
to-day, on their way to Brougham Hall, to dine with the
Lord Chancellor.—Carlisle Journal of Saturday.
DOVER, JAN. 2.—Sailed for Calais the
Duke of Wellington steam packet, with his Excellency
Lord GaAslviu..x, Lady GitANVILLIE, his family, and
suite, on their route to Paris, where his Lordship is ap-
pointed Ambassador from this country. A guard of
honour from the Rifle Brigade was in attendance, and the
usual salute tired from the western heights at the de-
parture of the packet. The brig Alexander, of and from
Hamburg, for the Harannab, was lost on the Goodwin
Sands on the morning of the 31st of December, and all
he crew drowned, with the exception of one seaman, who
was picked up on a piece of wreck in an exhausted state.
One of the Deal boatmen, who had got on board the brig
in the hope of extricating her from the Sands, also perished
on this melancholy occasion. The American ship Orbit,
Captain IL P. Fisrs, of and for Baltimore, in ballast,
from Rotterdam, went on shore about the same time on
the Longsand, and was totally wrecked. The commander •
and crew savel themselves in the long boat, were fortu-
nately picked up by a Boulogne fishing boat, and safely
landed at the port yesterday.

MR. TENNYSON.—Our readers will have seen
with pleasure the acceptance, by Mr. Tualaysox, of
office, iu the Board of Ordnance. Such accessions to this
new Administration must confer upon it the confidence
of the country, because the real friends and old advocates
of Parliamentary Reform would not join a Ministry insia-
cere on that great vital question ; at least, we feel confi-
dant of the public character and conduct of Mr. Ticasiv-
soa, that he will separate himself from any Ministers who
may net fulfil their pledges, or who may disappoint the
just demands of the public. The disinterested relation
which has hitherto subsisted between Mr. TENNYSON and
the town of Birmingham, almost prevents our allusion to
the nature of his office, as one so important to the local in-
terests of the town, in connexion with the Ordnance de-
partment. But, paying every tribute to the exertions of
Mr. LAWLEY, so conspicuously displayed in a former de-
bate, on the loss accruing to Government by its partial
manufacture of fire-arms, we must anticipate more suc-
cessful results when the question is brought under the im-
mediate and official consideration of Mr. TENNYSON, and
especially when the Parliamentary duty of the Ordnance
Estimates devolves personally on bins in the House of
Commons. We cannot forbear from referring to the
public reputation of Mr. TENNYSON from his first re urn
to Grimsby, 20 years since; to la:s unsought and purely
disinterested advocacy of the unrepresented inhabitant. of
Birmingham, for three years during the singlarly eventful
question of the transfer of the East Retford franchise ;
to his signal contest, and ultimate certain triumph
over the Marquis of Exeter at Stamford. Equ illy
personally unknown at Stamford as at Birmingham,
except in his public character of a Member of Par-
liament and a Lincolnshire freeholder, he was called
by the unanimous selection of the electors to make
common cause in their emancipation from the shame-
ful shackles of the boroughmongering nomination.
The result is before the country. We will only
further allude to the Birmingham dinner, given
by the late HIGH BAILIFF to the late Ministers ; we
refer to our columns for the report of Mr. _NrizirsoN's
speech at that Memorable and motley dinner, and ask our
townsmen, if M. TENNYSON'S sentiments were unsavory
to the Duke of WELLINGTON and Mr. PEEL, and to some
id the guests, were they not honest and patriotic ; were
they not remarkably prophetic of the present situation and
political prospects of the nation ? We could not alloy,-
Mr. TENNYSON'S accession to office to pass unnoticed an
Birmingham, so largely indebted to his exertions and ta-
lents; and we know that they are most gratefuily !appre-
ciated by the great body of all ranks of society in the
ea
town, with few—very few exceptions. It may soon he
in the power of the inhabitants to give him a BLI Ist intial
mark of their estimate of his public character ; and they
will not forget his decided and constitutional determination
to
principle of.
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or three years continued residence and
pa)mmt......l.l4rangham Jawrnul.
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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Finch Chamber of Deputies -vas on Thurs-
day the scene of new personal explanations, and
beard egain.etaternents from the Prime Minister and
the Minis for Foreign Alitirs, on the external re-
lations of France, and the principles of its foreign
policy. Neither M, Lafitte nor General Sebas-
tiani, the 'Ministers alluded to, added much to their
former disclosures. General Lamarque expressed
regret that Belgium had been torn from France in
1814 by the Allies, and thati had not been re-
united to it at the 'ate revolution. Buonaparte, he
said, chose rather to die at St. Helena than surren-
der the Belgic provinces. It was only the Count
d'Artois who could agree to such a cession. He
only could consent to abandon 12,000 pieces of ar-
tillery. The gallant orator then asked what was to
be the limits of Belgium, and whether the citadel of
Antwerp was to be exchanged for Venloo ? The
Minister of Foreign Affairs replied, that the five
Powers had acknowledged the independence of Bel-
gium, or its separation from Holland, without restric-
tion or condition, but that the question of the limits
had not yet been settled. This question was now un-
der discussion, and he could not be expected to give
explanations on a pending negociat ion. The regrets
which General Lamarque had expressed were
shared by all; but the losses which France had sus-
tained were the result of events, which, in changing
the face of Europe, had subjected the states which
compose it to mutual obligations. High considera-
tions ought to prevail over the national sentiment.
Nothing would be easier than for France to enter
into Belgium and to take possession of fortresses
and a territory to which the national will invited
her ; but such conduct would be the signal of a war,
the consequences of which could not be foreseen.—
The danger of kindling a general conflagration in
Europe deserved the serious meditations of Go-
vernment. As to the difficulties about the naviga-
tion of the Scheldt, the Minister said he would
confine himself to one observation—numely, that
the free navigation of rivers was a principle which
France had proclaimed, and which she would cause
to be respected. M. Lafitte spoke nearly in the
same terms respecting the relations of France to
Belgium. Ilse real question, he said, was whether
did France choose war or peace; and lie declared
that if she wished to preserve peace with dignity, and
to make her rights respected, Frenchmen ought not
to awaken remembrances which are now far distant.
Peace was necessary for France and for Europe.—
After these very satisfactory explanations of the
Executive, the Minister of the Interior mounted
the tribune, and presented the new project of law
on the elections so long expected and so clamorously
demanded. Its provisions are much more liberal
than the existing system, but we are not sure that
they will satisfy all parties. No precise census is
fixed as the qualification of an elector ; but all citizens
who pay the most in direct taxes to the amount of
double the number on the lists existing on the 16th
of November last, are to be electois. The electoral
age is reduced to 25 years. Besides the qualification
from property, an honourable profession entitles to
exercise electoral functions. Thus members of the
Councils-General, members and correspondents of
the Institute, members of learned societies recognized
by law, doctors in the faculties of law, medicine,
and the art., and other specified classes, are entitled
to be electors, without any reference to the taxes
which they pay, or the property which they possess.
The qualification of eligibility is reduced to 500
francs. The law includes 68 articles, and enters into
minute details, on the mode of preparing the electoral
lists, and the regulation of the electoral colleges,
which have little or no interest for foreigners. The
electoral colleges of departments are abolished, and
all the elections will take place in colleges of arron-
dissement. As there was no discussion in the
Chamber, and as the Pupers are filled with debate,
we have no indication, either from the Deputies or
the Journals, of the opinion entertained in the Mini-
sterial project. It will certainly not satisfy the views
of those radical reformers who desired a very ex-
tensive suffrage, and an entire abolition of the money
qualification for being a Deputy. It will limit the
whole electoral body of France to a number much
below 200,000.—Times.

We regret to observe that the labours of the
Special Commission appointed to try the rioters at
Winchester are not likely to have as bloodless a
result as those of the tribunal that sat in judgment,
about the same time, on the crimes of the authors
of the treasonable massacres of Paris. The tumul-
tuous assembling of large bodies of the people, to
raise, by compulsory means, the rate of wages—the
riotous breaking of machines which supersede hu-
man labour, and other acts of popular disturbance,
are, no doubt, serious and grace offences, not to be
allowed to go unpunished, even when they have
their origin, as in the present case, in severe and
unexampled distress, without incurring the risk of
the subversion of all law and order; but still it must
be admitted that those offences are far inferior in
danger and enormity to that crime which is properly
called high treason, and which is a deliberate at-
tempt, not merely to get rid of some local grievance
by a demonstration of force, but to overturn the Go-
vernment and Constitution of the State, by sacri-
ficing the life of the supreme Magistrate, or the liber-
ties of the people. The Ex-Ministers of France were
convicted of high treason against the State, com-
mitted under circumstances the most revolting and
atrocious that can be well conceived. They had all
solemnly sworn to the observance of that Charter,
which, from the moment of taking the oath, they con-
spired to destroy. They had all had experience of the
calamities which despotism had brought upon their
country, and the almost total ruin which lawless
power had occasioned; and yet they prepared, by
every means within their reach, to restore that ar-
bitary form of Government which produced, by its
intolerable oppression, the revolution of 1789. They
began their crime in perjury, and they ended it in
massacre; and yet, in the midst of a triumphant and
justly exasperated people, thousands of whom had
lost their relatives and friends by the sabres and
grape-shot which, under the orders of those re-
morseless conspirators, strewed the streets of Paris
with carnage, their miserable lives were spared—
justice accepted of a secondary punishment—the
grave into which their victims fell was not opened
t ) receive them—they were not hurried into the pre-
sence of their Creator with all the weight of unre-
pented blood upon their souls; the doom that with-
draws them from the execrations of the world gives
therm the opportunity of endeavouring to make their
e ice with Heaven before they appear at the tribunal
where earthly judges, as well as those who havC trem-
bled at thtir bar, shall one day receive judgment.
The sentence which spared the lives of those crimi-
nals was received with approbation in this country.
The most ignorant of the populace of Paris, who
expressed sonic strong dissatisfaction at the mercy
extended to those men in their downfall, who
had been so merciless in their power, were called
vindictive and ferocious by persons who, only in the
last Session of Parliament, concurred with the late
Home Secretary and Lord Lyndhurst in calling for
the judicial extermination of the man who defrauded
another of a few pounds by the forgery of any
negotiable security for money, If the populace
of Paris thought that high treason could not be ex-
piated but by blood, they had learnt that doctrine
from their rulers. Their Bourbon Princes had
taught it them by established practice, and the Mi-
nisters and sages of the law never discovered that a
lighter punishment was adequate to the offence until
the treason was committed against the nation. Shall
we, who approve of the sentence which spares the lives
of the French Ex-Ministers, convicted of the greatest
crime known to civil society, send rioters to tke scaf-
fold who have acted under delusion, ignorance, and dis-
tress,and who, however great their offences, have not,
under the influence of revenge or excitement,sacrificed
a single life ? We see it stated that seven men, who
were the most active among the rioters in Hemp..
shire, are ordered for execution. None of these,
except one, we believe, offered any serious personal
violence. Why, then, take the lives of so many ?
The very circumstances which made their offences

most dangerous, and most necessary to be speedily
suppressed, constituted their palliation—the general
excitement and the distress which made disturbance
contagious. Most of the members of the present
Government, when in Opposition, admitted our
criminal code to be vindictive and inhuman, by its
multiplicity of capital punishments. We did not,
expect such sanguinary examples would be afforded
to the people in the outset of their Administration.
We did believe they would not allow the French
nation to leave us behind in the race of humanity
and civilization. We hoped they would put down
disturbance without sacrificing life, and prove that
it is the privilege of Statesmen of superior intelli-
gence to make moderation a more effective auxiliary
in the restoration of order than that destroying ven-
geance in which men of weaker understanding place
all their trust. We thought they were aware that
the reign of terror is short and passes away, but that
judicious mercy, particularly in the case of crimes of
sudden excitement, appeals to the reason and sub-
dues the heart. Great and noble would have been
their triumph if they had restored the peace of so-
ciety and the authority of the laws without stain-
ing the holy festival of the God of Christianity with
one drop of human blood !—Morning Herald.
We take it for granted, from the nature of the
relation between the Catholic Clergy in Ireland arm'.
their flocks, that the former must share the ter".}gs
of the latter on all questions of an agitatimr—.iature.
When we perceived the universality of the feeling
in Ireland in favour of a repeal of the Union, we as-
sumed that the Catholic Clergy would ere long
place themselves at the head of the movement, be-
cause they belong to the people, and cannot be in-
different to whatever interests them. The result
proves that we were in the right. Dr. Doyle was
among the first of the dignified clergy who came for-
ward as an advocate of the repeal ; but, then, Dr.
Doyle is the master-mind of the Catholic Church.
However, the clergy in general no longer hesitate to
follow his example, and thus we see them lending
their aid to the collection of a tribute to Mr. O'Con-
nell. Thus, for instance, we find the following para-
graphs in the Irish Papers last received :
" Letters from all parts of Ireland concur in assuring us
that the O'Connell Tribute on the 9th will be worthy of
the nation. A collection will be made at the Chapel of
Sherries, on Sunday next, by the Rev. Mr. Murray ; it
is expected that some gentlemen from Dublin will be there,
and address the people upon this interesting subject."—
Pilot.

" O'CONNELL TRIBUTE, SUNDAT.—Most earnestly do
we conjure every individual, whether of the clergy or laity
of the county and city of Kilkenny, to exert themselves in
such a manner as to place the sum total of their contribu-
butions in a respectable position on the general account of
the receipts. It is most gratifying to us to be informeri
that the Learned Catholic Bishop of this diocese and his
Clergy are resolved to enter into the matter with warmth
and energy ; and+ we a'so observe with equal gratification
that Mr. P. Costello has made such arrangements, in the
way of communicating with the county parishes, as
must ensure a liberal contribution from each."—Killrenny
Journal.

The Scotsman of Wednesday last observes with
reference to this momentous question :
" When this project was started, we thought it so mis-
chievous that few honest men would engage in it ; and
so impracticable that no man of 'sense would countenance
it; but Ireland is a country sui peneris, and what would
ruin a cause anywhere else, seems there only to promote
and insure its success. Apparently the call for the repeal
of the Union will soon be even more unanimous than that
for Emancipation ; for, strange to tell, the agitation of this
question seems about to accomplish one of the most
surprising feats to be found, even in Irish history—a re-
conciliation of the inveterate factions of Orangemen and
Cabolics ! _

" It is not many months since the repeal of the Union
was first agitated, and, to our eyes, it then seemed to pro-
mise very unfavourably. It was opposed almost univer-
sally by the men of procerty, including those who were
most decidedly liberal ; it was discountenanced (with a
very few exceptions) by the Catholic Clergy, the guides
and oracles of the people ; and it was advocated only by a
fraction of the Press, while the Dublin Evening Post,
which had long been in a great measure the organ of the
Catholics, with the Northern Whig and other talented
Papers, were against it. In spite of all these disadvantages
it has been making progress silently and rapidly; and from
the consequence it is daily acquiring, it seems very certain
that the suffrages of all Ireland, a few noblemen and great
proprietors excepted, will soon be united in its favour.
When this happens, the Government will have but two
alternatives—to yield to the universal voice of the people—
or to stem the torrent by strong measures, which, consi-
dering the spirit that is abroad, and the effect of the lesson
afforded by the exploits of the Parisians on men's minds,
may involve the country in civil war."
We confess that we have long had our apprehen-
sions on this question, front certain peculiarities in
the social system of Ireland. That country could
not have remained tranquil under such a system, if
left to itself. The peculiarities to which we allude
are—an immense pauper population, competing for
land as a means of subsistence, and a sinecure Church
establishment. Had Poor Laws been established in
Ireland, even ten years ago, an end would have
been put to the multiplication of paupers, and to the
competition for land as a means of subsistence, and
a class of respectable tenants would have gradually
sprung up. The Sub-letting Act could only have
been carried into execution, pari passu with a pro-
vision for the poor; for it is obvious that in the pre-
sent age it is impossible to throw numbers of human
beings on the world without any provision for them.
Again, a country may have an established Church,
or may place all religions on an equal footing; but
we have never heard any other reason assigned for
an Established Church than that the religion esta-
blished was the religion of the majority. In War-
burton's famous Treatise, the alliance between
Church and State is only justified when it is made
with the largest of the religious societies; and hence
the reason and equity, he said, " of the Episcopal
Church's being the Established Church in England,
and the Presbyterian the Established Church in
Scotland." But if the alliance can only be justified
when made with the largest of the religious societies,
when made with a small minority the Clergy
possessed of the greatest power and influence are
necessarily placed in a state of hostility to the Go-
vernment which passes this slight on them. Under
a prosperous condition► of the people, the question
of religion might of itself be insufficient to disturb
tranquillity; but with a diseased social system,
reli-
gion is a formidable element. The wealth of a sine-
cure Church revolts the feeling of justice, the dis-
position to obtain a share of that wealth inflames
avarice, and religion lends her aid to passions suffi-
ciently strong without it. The present Ministry
are placed in a most embarrassing situation by the
question which the proceeding: in Ireland now force
on them. The higher ranks, that is, those who
profess political power, must be hostile beyond mea-
sure to a repeal which would compel the great ab•
sentee proprietors to sell their estates to escape the
absentee tax. On the other hand, the motives
which render the higher ranks hostile to repeal are
precisely those calculated to strengthen the desire
of the other classes for it. Again, were Ministers
to propose measures for a vigorous and searching
nature, calculated to grapple with the evil which
preys on Ireland, with a view to conciliate the body
of the people, we fear the great proprietors would
prove refractory. We confess, under such circum-
stances, we do not see our way clearly, and we
really anticipate no good from the present aspect of
Irish affairs. It is quite a mistake, however, to
suppose that Mr. O'Connell is the cause of the agi-
tation. The state of things in Ireland would raise
up twenty O'Connells were he rernoved.-3forn-
ing Chronicle.
We alluded briefly the other day to some of those
remedial measures which it behoved the Government
to adopt, in order to allay the spirit of discontent
which is abroad throughout every part of the country,
and to restore it to that state of prosperity of which
there is now little more than the remembrance.
These were, briefly, a reduction of all salaries be-
yond a certain amount—the abolition of all useless
placj, sinecures, and unmerited pensions—a reduc-
tion of the number of the standing army, as soon as
tranquillity shall have been re-established—and,
finally, the introduction of an improved system of
banking, or rather an assimilation of the English to
the Scotch system, with permission to issue notes

of any amount in value. The adoption of these
measures, and more especially of the last, would con-
tribute greatly, in our opinion, to the prevalence of
satisfaction throughout the country, and its gradual
restoration to a state of comparative prosperity;
but there are other measures calculated to aid
the promotion of the same desirable end, and
in which we confidently expect to find the pre-
sent Government more forward than any of its pre-
decessors to adopt; and these are, the abolition,
first, of all taxes which yield but little to the re-
venue, and are collected at great expence ; and,
secondly, the reduction of those whose decrease
would not'only cause no diminution in the total
amount paid into the treasury, but stimulate pro-
duction and consumption. These two classes of
taxes comprehend, we believe, every tax, short of
a total change from one object of taxation to an-
other, with which the Government could be fairly
called upon to intermeddle, consistently with a due
regard to public credit; but hoer much good might
riot be effected by attention even to the simple pro-
cess which we recommend ! In the first class are
comprehended the duty on printed cottons, which
yields a mere trifle to the revenue—is collected at
considerable expense, attempted to be evaded,
and indeed often successfully evaded—and
which cramps a branch of industry in which
the country as yet remains without a rival—
in the second, the " taxes on knowledge" stare
every one in the face as iniquitous, burdensome, and
impolitic. The paper on which we write—the ink
and pens which we employ—the paper on which
our readers are now perusing these observations—
the type and the ink with which they are printed—
all—all are, in some way or other, ground in the
mortar of taxation; and when it is remembered in
addition, that this paper carries with it a stamp
amounting in direct payment to half the price for
which the whole paper is sold—that on every ad-
vertisement which appears in its columns a tax
of three shillings and sixpence is levied—that trou-
blesome forms had to be gone through originally
before even the first number of it could see the light,
and heavy securities be entered into—we say, when
all these things have been taken into consideration,
and it is further reflected, that we are blessed
with a law of libel, which declares the publication
of the truth to be the subject of fine and impri-
sonment, and that that law is so indefinite, that
no one can with certainty ascertain when he is, or is '
riot, guilty of having written a libel,until an officious
Attorney-General, or Jury, have decided on the
fact—the wonder is, that newspapers should exist
at all, or that any means should be left to the
people of ascertaining what is passing around
them, except pamphlets and books ! Here, indeed,
the finger of taxation has been laid on, in a manner
injurious to every object proposed to be attained by
it, but the prevention of the diffusion of useful know-
ledge ; for there can be no doubt, that were those
taxes only to be reduced which are levied directly
on newspapers—the stamp, and the advertisement
taxes—the Exchequer would be infinitely more bene-
fited than at present, the :production of every article
employed in them, and, in consequence, the quan-
tity of employment to the working classes greatly
increased. If our limits would permit us we
could easily chew how these results would be pro-
duced—how the Exchequer would be benefitted—
employment furnished to many who are now desti-
tute of it, and knowledge more generally diffused
among all classes of the community ; but we feel
that the whole matter is too self-evident to require
such illustration, and that the members of the pre-
sent Government are too enlightened not to em-
brace the very first opportunity of showing that
neither in this, or in any other matter, de two and
two make four in political arithmetic. Let them
try the converse of the proposition—and sorse of
the members of the present Government ere pledged
to such a course—and we venture to predict, that
not only will the receipts of the Treasury increase,
but the tranquilli+y, the employment, and the
prosperity of the country, be greatly augmented.—
Morning, Advertiser.

THE YEAR ONE.

(From the Examiner.)

We have closed the year one of the People's Cause.—
We have closed a year that has teemed with events of
a grandeur and importance to mankind, unparalleled
in the history of the world. We have closed a year in
which Justice has wielded the sword of Victory, and
Fortune lent her wheel to Truth. We have closed
a year which has carried the mind of Europe forward
an interval of ages beyond its antiquated trammels and
thraldoms. We have closed a year which has dated the
decrepitude of despotism, and the Herculean infancy of
the democratic power; and must not our recollections
swell with pride, and our expectations be full of cen-
Elence ? The past indicates the future. Abroad we
have the example of France, both for imitation and for
warning. Her people have set before us the great lesson
of virtue—her Government of error. The Representative
Government, which rests on a narrow constituency, is like
the Logan stones, which the finger of a child may move.
Reverse the position—place the cone on its broad basis,
and a giant cannot stir it. The existing error our neigh-
bours will redress; but the process is one that we wish
could have been spared to their temper and virtue. If
we draw too much, even on the wisdom of men, we are
sure to come to the lees. France has not done enough
for herself, hut she has done enough for the world, and her
after-troubles will not affect the force of her example.
The fault is as palpably marked as the passage of glory.
The tyranny of one went down, and a hydra wriggled
into usurpation. An oligarchy settled into power. The
French Chamber of Deputies is now not much better than
the British House of Commons. As this is the season of
retrospects, before we quit allusion to France, we must ex-
press our satisfaction at the recollection that we have at all
times, and under all circumstances, done justice t- :fie
qualities of her estimable people-
4, When all around, as with an air
Of gloom and sorrow, preachY ' „pair,"
we, alone, contended for the sure-',, intelligence and un-
quenched spirit of the peon'_ of France; positions which
engaged us in a shi controversy with the Morning
Chronicle, which has since seen its error but not the occa-
sion for confessing it. We may be allowed here to revert
to anticipations that have been in the most material points
fulfilled. Eight months before the glorious three days of
July we observed:—
" If France for the second time achieves her liberty, it will be
under circumstances the most favourable that the world has ever
seen, to the construction of a wise form of Government. Hers
will not now be the out-breaking of a slave, but the last deliver-
ance of a people who have been sufficiently near the possession
of their just rights to be prepared for their exact occupation,
and their temperate enjoyment. France has had her Revolution
of Blood; her next will be the Revolution of Reason."

For these views we lay claim to no extraordinary reach
of political sagacity, but we do claim to freedom from
the prevailing errors of the Press, which has a confidence
for every thing, except the virtue that sleeps, but dies
not in instructed nations ;* and here we would quote a❑
observation, of excellent philosophy and comfort, from
Col. Napier's admirable History of the Peninsula War :
It has been observed, by political economists, that where a
gold and paper currency circulate together, if the paper be de-
preciated, it will drag down the gold with it, and deteriorate
the whole mass ; but that after a time, the metal revolts from
this unnatural state, and asserts its own intrinsic superiority.
So a privileged class, corrupted by power and luxury, drags
down the natural character; but there is a point, when the
people, like the gold, no longer suffering such a degradation,
will separate themselves with violence from the vices of their ef-
feminate rulers. Before that time arrives, a nation may appear
to be sunk in hopeless lethargy, when it is really capable of great
and noble exertions."
Thus, too, it has been in this country, with regard to
the reformation of the State. Six months ago, we were
told that the people concerned themselves not about Par-
liamentary Reform, and that it was fruitless and idle to
agitate the question. But now for the proof—Circum-
spice. For more than two years, we alone argued for the
Ballot, and in vain called upon the self-styled Liberal
Prints of London to aid us or correct us by the declaration
of their opinions. The Ballot was not then the fashion;
and they were silent. The Sun was, we believe, one of
the first which declared for the essential of Reform, and
before conviction had penetrated, like light, among all
classes of people. The Press is now in throng coming to
the opinions which we have solitarily maintained, through
good and evil report ; persuaded of truth, and careless of
all besides, except, indeed, the cheering consciousness of
the inherent strength of our cause. the value of our ob-
jects, and the integrity of our motives. " Truth," says
the admirable De Foe, " inspires nature; and, as in de-
fence of truth, no honest man can be a coward, so no man
of sense can be bald when he is i❑ the wrong. He that
• With the exception of the Examiner, the London Press
was in raptures with the appointment of the Polignac Ministry.
We opposed the delusion, merely on the presumption that figs
were not to be expected of brambles; a truth which our san-
guine brethren are ever averse to admit.