The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-15 00:00:00

COUNTY POLICE.

The following letter: refers to the cruel treatment of
Mr. Mackay; beerLseller, Stgike-upon-Trent, of which an
account appeared in The Sim' on the 9th. This version
of the story does not mend the matter much. .The Ma-
gistrates and police in that quarter mustbe a singular race.
Even their apologist admits that the prison was so bad,
that prisoners were chained to a ring like wild bulls kept
for baiting : •
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin---You have inserted Mackay's statement, and I
am rather surprised that the correspondence did not em-
brace the proofs which were adduced before the Bench,
and thereby show what verbose detail had been em-
ployed: parturiunt montes et nascitur mus. They were
only, that Stonier had improperly detained Mackay,
longer than was necessary, as every day a police-court is
open ; and that the cell was so insecure that chaining
was in a manner indispensable, while the accommodation
was also unsuitable; and that Stonier had assaulted
Wantling for resisting search of premises without
a proper warrant. Had cruelty or scoundrelism attached
to the cases, the bench, T. B. Rose, P. B. Broude, and
J. Harvey, would immediately have discharged—not
fined and suspended-- Stonier. There was great pertina-
city in the manner of bringing forward the case, and
much of what was merely adapted to degrade the police
force in the opinion of a deficiently educated population.
As the name of your correspondent does not appear, I
ought to be excused also ; but having been present, and
having taken very copious notes of the whole, Ican vouch
for what I state in contradiction.—Yours,
Tunstall. SIMEON SHAW.

THE ASSESSED TAXES.
(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)
SIR—You have of course seen the shamefully mean
and evasive article in the TiMes of this day, headed
" Assessed Taxes." Is aot the question relating to their
future collection sadly begged and bedivelled? Sir, from
beginning to end, it is a base untruth and fraud. " The
Collectors of Taxes," forsooth, are the persons suspect-
ed, and whose payment& alone are henceforth to be looked
to ; and persons whose distressed circumstances justify
an extension of time, will, as usual, have it I Is not this
mean, drivelling conduct? And so the late and present
Government are not to blame! Oh, no! The Commis-
sioners of Stamps and Taxes are alone the actors, and the
Collectors the persons only to whom the " screw " is to
be applied. Read the circular of the present Govern-
ment, or the Board of Taxes, whichever you like, and
then say who and what is meant.
[The writer here quotes the circular, of which we
gave the substance on Saturday.]
Such, Sir, is the letter of the Surveyor to the people,
not to the Collectors ; and after such a letter, the writer
in the Times has the unbounded assurance to say that
"the question, therefore, is not really between the Board
of Taxes atSomerset-house and the public, but between
the former authorities and the Parochial Collectors, and
we (the Timp, the people's advocate !) entirely concur
with the Cominiioners of Taxes, that some means are
necessary to prevent Collectors from making use of the
public money '—
U The force of vileness can no further go."
What an opinion the Times must have of the intellect
of the people, and what an intellect the writer of the arti-
cle must have! How exculpatory is that 'article of the
present Government and the Board of Taxes, and how
just it is to throw general odium and suspicion upon the
whole body, of Tax. Collectors 1 Why, these latter will
owe " a Testimonial ". to the writer in the Times, and
ought to lose no time in offering it.
Are these the times for the Government, or its agent,
the Board of Taxes, to concoct such a letter and hold
out such threats—after such a year of general suffering,
and an absence of anything like an average amount of
business done—after such a harvest, and such calamities
as fire has brought, and famine threatens? My assessed
taxes amount to more than 1001 per annum, and the
business done by me has been exceedingly small this
year ; yet the taxes of Michaelmas have been applied for
within less than a month after they became due, and in
addition to the merciful hopes held out in the above
letter, the collector has hinted in intelligible terms the
propriety e an immediate payment. It is said that
already, through sheer fear, many have paid—l have not
as yet ; I say I ought not to be pressed until Christmas.
I will then pay, however inconvenient; but I shall return
my letter and recommend every one to do so, and be
prepared for a distress warrant ; the Session will open
admirably well with a speech from the Throne in which
we shall read " I regret to tell you that many of my'
subjects, indeed a large number of them, have refused to
pay, or are incapable of paying, their quotas of taxes,
but I rejoice to say that their goods have been levied
upon, and there is every prospect of the arrears being
obtained with all costs and expenses." What an admi-
rable illustration this would be of the Times' assertion
that the screw is not intended to be applied to the
people, but only as a means of preventing collectors
from making use of the public money."---[Query, should
not the Times say the people's money ?]

DISTRESS IN CARLISLE,.—I know families in
Carlisle, of five and six of a family, who are compelled
to live on 4s. or ss. per week, who have nothing but a
pallet of straw to sleep upon, with little or no covering ;
and in order to keep in life, and that each day may be as
miserable as another, when they divide their scanty vic-
tuals over the week they sometimes have five potatoes
fur each meal, and six human beings for them.—Corre-
spondowe of the Carlisle Journal.