The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-04 00:00:00

SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1841.

in the displacement of so eminent a Judge, a
strong additional reason fur separating the judi-
cial from the political functions of the LORD
CHANCELLOR.

It is a disgrace to our customs and institutions
that the first Judge of the land should be treated
as a political partizan, and changed with every
temporary victory of rival factions. Thus Lord
LYNDHURST, says the Times, has been thrice
placed on the Woolsack, which means only that
the faction of which he is a devoted par-
than has been thrice in office. Since he was
first placed on. the Woolsack, fourteen years
have elapsed, and four times within that period
hp the Chief Judge in Equity been changed on
the victory of one political party or the other.
At this moment there are three LORD CHAN-
CELLORS alive—two pensioned, and one on the
Woolsack. The system is extremely bad, and
the public will now be made painfully aware of
it by the removal of so excellent a Judge as
Lord COTTENHAM, whatever may be the talents
and acquirements of the man who supplies his
place.

Lord COTTENHAM was never distinguished by
any outrageous political sentiments. His suc-
cessor was, in his younger days, more than aWhig,
and in his latter days is more than a Tory.
It is one of the unhappy auguries of this fatal
Administration that its first law officer, its great
Judge, is the declared and hated enemy of
eight millions of his fellow-subjects. We know
not whether Lord COTTENHAM Will not in the
end be more regretted as a politician, even
than
as a Judge.

We have just received from an authentic
source in Syria a distressing account of the de-
plorable misgovernment of that country by the
Turkish authorities. ;Notwithstanding the pro-
mulgation of the Hatti Scheriff the Christians
are everywhere subjected to insults and annoy-
ances unknown while Syria was under
the iron yoke of MEHEMET ALT. In a
letter from a distinguished British officer at
Bey rout we find it stated that even in that town
—in the presence of the British flag—all persons
in the streets were to rise on the approach of a
Turkish Captain, and not to presume to sit down
before he had passed, with other tyrannical
and capricious regulations of a like descrip-
tion. " The Turks," writes this gallant officer,
" have all of a sudden made demands on the
people which greatly frightened everybody.
They demanded a tariff of 12 per cent. upon
every article, so that if a mountaineer has
but one orb of silk he is to pay upon selling it
12 per cent., and then the articles he purchases in
return must pay 12 per cent., so that, in reality,
he pays 24 per cent. This amounts nearly
to one-fourth of the people's property,
which is to be thus taken from them every
year. The PACHA has likewise, with the con-
currence of the Council of the Mustashan, de-
manded the tribute money from the Christians,
viz. 60 piastres and upwards each, according to
his or her rank. He next demanded a tenth of
their property. Next the Weregie, or poll-tax
—the impost whose exaction caused the Syrians
to revolt against the Egyptians. From Le-
banon, oppressed by war exactions, he de-
manded a sum in purses equal to 20,0001. ster-
ling. These demands are made without even the
power to enforce them, and in the teeth of the
most solemn promises that the hard battle which
the people fought for the SULTAN would obtain
for them the mildest treatment. Moreover, these
demands are made by the Turks when the minds
of the Syrians are unsettled, and when French,
Russian, and Egyptian emissaries are going
about in crowds, stimulating the people to throw
off the yoke of the brutal Turks. The Christians,
too, are badly treated by NAJIB PACHA. at Da-
mascus. He forbade them to wear white
garments, and otherwise so oppressed and haras-
sed them, that they mourned the departure of
IBRAHIM PACHA, tyrant as he was. Such op-
pression failed not to excite general indignation.
The people every where were ready to revolt,

• .t.ne the. Pact-- not
io govern thefii, and but for the British officers,
who in some sort compelled the Pacha to forego
the more odious of his claims, the Turks would
have been again driven out of Syria. But as
the Pacha insisted upon being made personally
acquainted with the state of public feeling in
Lebanon, a meeting of Emirs, Sheiks, Bishops,
and other chiefs, took place at Ain Anoob, a vil-
lage about three hours' journey from Beyrout.
About 800 mountain chiefs attended. The Emir
BESCIIIR proposed to the meeting, in the name
of the Government, the adoption of a tariff of 12
per cent. on silk, oil, and tobacco, and also
over and above this an annual payment
equal to 20,0001—one-half to defray the ex-
penses of the Government, the other to pass
into the Imperial Treasury at Constantinople.
After six days spent in deliberating the chiefs
declared that the people were not able to pay
12 per cent. tariff ; that they could not pay the
SULTAN more than about 7,0001. annually, but
that they were willing to serve their country
free of expense; and that 1,0001. per annum
was a sum sufficient to defray the charges of the
Government. Syria had no need of so many
Pachas, nor could the country afford to pay the
salaries of the many useless officers quartered
upon it by the Porte. The meeting, in conclu-
sion, declared that the chiefs would peti-
tion the SULTAN respecting these grievances,
and if redress was refused they would im-
plore the interference of the Great Powers
on their behalf. Every body now looks
to what the Porte will do, and if an un-
favourable answer be returned the people
will redress their wrongs by force." Another letter
from an officer travelling in the southern dis-
tricts of Syria, states that the Turks there
have neither money, industry, nor activity of
any kind. They depend for subsistence on
what they can plunder from the Christians and
Jews. They are as proud, as idle, and as inso-
lently tyrannical as their ancestors were when
they first overran the Greek empire. Such are
the accounts given by the most intelligent British
officers of high rank and unimpeachable integrity
of the state of Syria. They speak for themselves.
Nevertheless, we shall take an early opportunity
of making such comments upon them as we find
suggested in other valuable documents received
from the same quarter.

The Paris Journals of Wednesday have all
reached us, but yesterday's express from Paris
enabled us to anticipate much of their contents.
The following extracts are not, however, without
some interest:—

(From the Toulonnaise of the 29th August.)
" A steamer is to fetch Vice-Admiral Bauden and his
family. It is since said that the steamers Veloce and
Camelion will bring back the new Maritime Prefect, wbo
is expected in the beginning of September.
" The squadron, it is said, will not go far, because
several ships of the line, for instance the Friedland, have
not clothing for the sailors. The Diademe of the line,
which has not gone to sea with the squadron, is to un-
dergo some repairs in the roads.
"At the monient of our going to press, the steamer
which is to bring the mail from Africa has not arrived.
We do not know to what cause this extraordinary delay
is owing ; the weather is very fine, and the only reason
which we can account for the non-arrival of the packet
is, that it has been detained at Algiers for the public
service. It is very impatiently expected, and will pro-
bably arrive this evening, or in the course of to-morrow.
The Sentinelle de la Marine of the 29th thinks that
the delay of the packet is doubtlessly occasioned by the
gale, which must have prevailed two days on the coast
of Africa. The same journal says that the general in-
spection of the squadron by Admiral Hugon, commenced
at the llyeres islands on the 28th.
A letter from Madrid of the 24th observes that the
withdrawing of the Bill for the cession of the islands of
Annabon and Fernando I'o to England, coincides with
the evacuation of the Isle del Rey at Mahon by our
Government. It now remains to be seen whether the
English will evacuate the establishment they have
founded on Fernando Po, as we have evacuated ours at
Mahon.—Le Commerce.
The King of Saxony, during his stay at Munich, be-
stowed the Cross of the Order of Merit on Dr. Herrmann,
the distinguished political economist, and chief of the sta-
tistical bureau.

The President of the Second Chamber in Baden, Pro-
fessor Duttlinger, died at Friburg, on the 24th instant.
M. Duttlinger was one of the oldest and firmest advo-
cates of reform, and the cause of liberty in Germany
loses in him one of its most respected and most active
advocates.
The llamburgh Papers state that the Supreme Tri-