The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-14 00:00:00

THE SIT St, LONDO', TUESDAY EVE ING,
%MARCH 14, 1818.

request, and of 2,132 bags of Bengal at auction, not
above half sold at rather low rates—good bold white
goodoolour went at 12s, and llamaged 7s to lls 6d,
good bold sound dingy white was taken in at lls per cwt.
SPIRITS.—To- day Easf India Rum met with less at-
tention, still proof of good quality could not be obtained
under is 9d. The market for Leeward Island is quiet,
hut holders insist upon is 10d to 10Id for proof. Ja-
maica was operated in with caution for all purposes, and
4s is the value of fair quality 30 per cent. over proof.
INDIGO.—To-day there were sellers of East India
ludigo at a reduction on last sales rates of 2d per lb,
still there was scarcely any business concluded, and the
market closes with much flatness.
Cocoa.—Holders of West India manifest firmness, and
supply the market sparingly with all sorts, but buyers
are less inclined to operate. By private treaty the sales
made have been trifling, and of 157 bags of Trinidad
offered at public sale, only one lot sold at 505.
COCHINRAL.—The demand has further fallen off for
all kinds of this article, and the supply having. been
upon a large scale, prices have suffered a depression of
2,1 to 3d per lb. Of the parcels offered at public sale a
very small part only sold.
Srices.—For Cassia Lignea the market is in a quiet
state, Arrivals are near at hand, and lower rates are
expected to prevail. Black Pepper cannot be purchased
on lower terms as the supply is small, but the demand
has become limited by private treaty for all sorts. White
is wanted, and realised full rates. Of Pod Pepper
448 bags were only partly sold at 70s to 90s, and
inferior at 4os to 60s, which are lower rates. Pimento
is less required, and former prices cannot be ootained ;
none has been offered at auction, and privately only
small pa-eels have been sold at to 4id
per lb. blaee met with little attention, and
prices are on the decline, although there is only a
limited supply at market. Cloves have been dealt in with
caution, and there is a desire to sell. The purchases
made in Nutmegs him been limited by private treaty,
and rather lower rates are accepted. Jamaica Ginger is
wanted, and holders will not make a concession in the
value. East India is little required, and must be called
rather cheaper. Of African 240 bags at auction were
sold. Cinnamon is offered at easier prices.
MOLASSES.—The Market for West India has been in
a very dull state, and prices are on the decline. We
quote low to fine quality 155 to 19s per cwt, and the
stock is large.
TALLOW. To-day for fine P. Y. C. holders asked
50s 6d on the spot; buyers, however, were cautious in
their proceedings. The market is firm at 46s for de-
livery in the last three months of the year.
OlLS.—There has been no public sale of Fish Oil
since our last report, but 10 tuns of Sperm, 80 tuns of
Southern, and 30 tuns of Seal are announced for Fri-
day. Of all sorts arrivals continue small, yet there is
no improvement in the position of the market, and the
consumption is not so good as of late. There are sellers
of Seal upon rather lower terms, yet buyers operate
with caution in all sort. The market for southern has a
dull appearance, and holders are willing to accept 261 to
281 for low and middling, and 281 lOs to 301 for good and
fine, which are again lower rates. Cod is held for 25/ to
251 10s, but the purchases made are of little moment,
and the market is well supplied. The dealings in Sperm
have been to a limited extent only, yet holders do not
appear inclined to press sales. In the worth of Linseed
Oil there is little improvement to make known, but the
home trade made many purchases, and the ex-
port orders concluded are upon a more extended
scale. For Rape-seed prices are still declining, as the
demand is limited, and the supply yet on the increase.
Cocoa Nut is little wanted, and must be quoted cheaper.
In Palm the sales made to a small extent only, and
prices are on the decline. Olive is held with firmness,
as the d, liveries yet exceed the arrivals, but only a
limited business has been concluded since our last re-
port. Lard Oil finds a dull sale at 471 to 50/, and
Gaound Nut Oil at 385 to 32s per cwt.

POST-OFFICE NOTICE.
General Post-office, March 14, 1848.
During the ensuing summer, mails will be transmitted
between Liverpool and North America once a week, by
the British contract mail packets, which will leave Liver-
pool for Boston and New York, alternately, on every
Saturday, and will be dispatched from Boston and New
York, alternately, on their return voyage, every Wed-
nesday.
This weekly service will commence with the outward
packets in April, and with the homeward packets in
MAy, and will continue until the end of November, af: er
which time, and during the following four months, mails
will be conveyed to Boston and New York only once a
fortnight instead of weekly.
The following will show the dates upon which
the first six packets will be dispatched during the
summer, both to and from North America, and will form
a guide for the remainder of the year:—
The packets will leave Liverpool for Boston on Sa-
turday the Bth of April, Saturday the 22d of April, and
Saturday the 6th of May.
For New York on Saturday the 15th of April, Satur-
day the 29th of April, and Saturday the 13th of May.
The packets will leave Boston for Liverpool on Wed-
nesday the sth April, Wednesday the 3d May, and
Wednesday the 17th May.
The packets will leave New York for Liverpool on
Wednesday the 19th April, Wednesday the 10th May,
and Wednesday the 24th may.
The branch packet for Newfoundland will be dis-
patched from Halifax on the arrival at the latter port of
the homeward packet from Boston, and the branch
packet for Bermuda will be dispatched on the arrival at
Halifax of the outward packet for Boston.

COURSE EXCH

&NGE.--(THIS DAY.)
if braltar.. • •
Leghorn ........ ••.. • • 31 64
Tealce.• ...... • •
Naples ...... • • ....
Palerazio, per's—
Oporto.. .......... 1. I ki
[Rio Jaaelre ........
liseries Ayres ...... •.
New Tort, 21 days'slgkt
rkiladelphla .....

Amsterdam ..

12 6

Lit-9, at sight 12 1
aettcrdaln •.. • • 12 7
Antwerp.......... •...
liana burgh ......111.1t • It
Paris, 3 days' sight .... 26
Ditto, • • •.•••• • • • • •
Marseilles • . ..........
rlourdeaux ... • • • •
Frankfort ea Maine ....
Petersburgh, Sl'. Itble..
• • • • • • • •
Vienna, etTec. flo • • • . • •
Trieste, ditto.... • • ....
Madrid 46
Cadiz ............. 4S

PAICE/1 ICLLIOM, rag oa.
Foreign Gold la bars.. XII 17 9
New Dollars .... •• 0
rortugal Geld Celn .. 0 0 0
Spaalsk Doableeas .. 0 0 0
Aver in liars ...... • • 0 0

3i1ba0........ • • ......
Barcelona • • •• •• ..

IMPERIA L PA RLIAM ENT.
(THIS EVENING.)

HOUSE OF LORDS.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat upon the
Woolsack shortly after Five o'clock.
Earl FITZWILLIAM presented a petition from
certain clergymen complaining that the funds of many
f )undations which had been left for parochial eccle-
siastical !purposes had been divested from them, and
pra) ing for an inquiry into the conduct of the Ecclesias-
tical Commissioners.

Lord STANLEY presented a petition from cer-
tlin of the clergy in Ireland, complaining of the manner
in which eccle,iiistical property was assessed fur pour-
ratec in Ireland.

Westminster, and various other places, and by Mr.
Williams from Finsbury.
NAVIGATION-LAWS.
Lord G. BENTINCK presented a petition from
Cardigan, praying the House not to abolish the navi-
gation-laws.
SOLICITORS' CERTIFICATE DUTT.
Mr. HEALD presented a petition from solicitors prac-
tising in the town of Stockport, praying the House to
repeal the duty upon the annual certificates of solicitors.

argument against the abolition of the punishment, tha
the recent examples in Ireland had produced in the public
mind a strong opinion in favour of maintaining the
punishment of death. He believed that such was not
the case. Ho would ask the House whether the exe-
cutions which recently took place at Clonmel
were of such a nature as to produce that
effect upon the public mind. Tho Honourable
Gentleman then proceeded to relate the circum-
stances attending the recent execution at Clonmell,
and asked the house whether such scenes were calcu-
lated to produce any moral effect upon the people. He
had been told, indeed, that the effect of such
executions had been to increase the crime of murder,
and he held in his hands letters from various
parts of Ireland, which strongly confirmed such an
impression. He had been put in possession of a remark-
able instance of the inefficacy of capital punishments,
where a man, whosegrandfather and father were executed,
ultimately came to the gallows himself. Now in former
sessions, in bringing forward this question, it had been
his duty to refer to the statistical returns which had
been laid before the house on the subject, but he
had always been met with, the statement that statis-
tical returns were not to be relied upon. No doubt they
were not always criterions to go by; for the returns
themselves proved the fact, that in times of scarcity and
distress, crime of all kinds increased. There [could,
however, be no question ;about it, that crimes which
were formally capital, had greatly diminished since
they had been taken out of that category. The second
kind of documentary evidence upon which he relied was
a most important report which was presented to the
House of Lords in the last session of Parliament. It
would probably be in the recollection of the House that
Lord Brougham moved for a Committee of Inquiry into
the state of the criminal law, and before that Committee
a large number of witnesses were examined, including
some of the leading judges of England, Scotland, and
Ireland; ose of the subjects embraced by the Committee
was capital punishment, and the report the Committee
came to contained statements which strongly sup-
ported the motion he was bringing forward.
Mr. Charles Phillips was entirely in favour of the
abolishment of the punishment of death; and Mr.
Commissioner Bullock was of the same opinion. Mr.
Rushton, the Liverpool magistrate, and a man of great
legal experience, said, in rep!), to a question, that the
punishmenet might be safely dispensed with, adding that
the public infliction of the punishment possessed no
salutary effect upon those who beheld it. But he would
refer to higher authorities still, namely, the judges of
the land.—(Hear, hear.) Lord Denman, when applied to
declined to give any opinion ; but he (Mr. Ewart) be-
lieved he was justified in asserting that that Noble and
Learned Lord was favourable to the abolition of the
punishment, while Justice Erle supported its infliction,
on the ground that the people were reluctant to inflict
it, and that it would never be carried out except in
the most extreme cases. Mr. Justice Maule gave no
opinion, whilst Mr. Justice Wilde, the Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas, admitted the objections against the
punishment were very great. Mr. Justice Coltman
entertained the opinion that imprisonment forlife, without
any hope of its remission, might be substituted without
inconvenience for capital punishment, stating, at the
same time, that he did not think the punishment
operated much on the minds of the people. Mr. Justice
Wightman was of opinion that secondary punishment
might be rendered so severe as to be made
equivalent to the punishment of death, provided it was
inflexibly carried out, according to certain fixed rules,
leaving no discretiion to the judge, but to pass the
sentence.—(Hear, hear.) Looking to Ireland, he
found that Mr. Justice Perrin was in favour of
its abolition, and the substitution of secondary punish-
ment ; whilst the Chief Baron of Ireland was against
public executions, thinking that transportation of
the severest kind might be safely substituted. He
said hanging was a most cruel death, and ought, in con •
sE quence, to be abolished. Such were the opinions of
the Judges of the llnd; and it could not be denied that
they offered strong testimonials against the
continuance of the shedding of blood by the
executioner. On former occasims he had referred t o
former times and to other countries. In the 454th
year of Rome capital punishment was abolished
and they had the evidence of historians that the laws
were never better obeyed, or adnainisterged with greater
profit to the people. In Russia it had been virtually
abolished almost for a century.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

THE LONDON GAZETTE.

(THIS EVENING)

WHITEHALL, MARCH 11, 1848.
The Queen has been pleased to order a cone
d'elire to pass the Great Seal, empowering tne Dean
and Chapter of the cathedral church of Chester to elect
a Bishop of that see, the same being void by the trans-
lation of the Most Reverend Father in God John Bird
Sumner, late Bishop thereof, to the see of Canterbury ;
and her Majesty has also been pleased to recommend to
the said Dean and Chapter Jobn Graham, Doctor in
Divinity, to be by them elected Bishop of the said see of
Chester.

Groom, official assignee, Abchurch-lane; Nicholson and
Parker. Lime-street, City.
William Penny, brewer, Newport, Monmouthshire,
March 30, at eleven, and May 2, at one, at the Bristol
District Court. Acraman, official assignee, Bristol;
Phippen and Craven, Bristol.
Weetman Dickinson, miller, Clayton West, Yorkshire,
March 27, and April 17, at eleven, at the Leeds District
Court. Hope, official assignee, Bristol; Bower, Token-
house-yard, London; Sykes, Wakefield.
John Hartley, machine maker, Bury, Lancashire,
March 30, and April 15, at eleven, at the Manchester
District Court. Hobson, official assignee, Manch ster;
Johnson, Son, and Weathcrall, Temple, London; Blair,
_Manchester.
Thomas Tattersall, corn merchant, Liverpool.
Benjamin Barber, dealer in lace, Nottingham.
Jonathan Beckett, ironm.nger, Liverpool.
Frederick Francis, ironmonger, Folkstone.
Jacob Ordoyno, broom maker, Swan place, Old Kent-
road.

William Fuller, carman, Hoxton Old-town.
William Dyne, corn dealer, High-street, Stoke New-
ington.

LATEST PRICES OF SHALLEs,
IN BANKS, ASSURANCE, AND OTHER COM

PANIES' STOCK.
From the Official List,

PUBLISIIED EVERY TIJEDAT AND FRIDAY EVENING.

LONDON. TUESDAY, MARCH 14.
JOINT-STOCK BANKS.

Dividend Amount
NMI, of Company. par of Paid. Price
Annum. Share.
-
s. d. s. d.
Australasia 40 9 0 40 9 e -
.tritshlsorth American 51. per cent. 50 0 0 50 0 0 -
Ceylon ••••..•• • • • • •• 6/. per cent. 25 0 0 25 0 0 -
.lonsmercial of London 61. per cent. 100 0 0 20 0 0 -
'2,olonial -
Gloucestershire • • •• • • 115 l per cent.
lonian •••• • • •••• .• 61. per cent. 25 0 0 25 11 0
Login and Westminstr 61. per cent. 100 0 0 20 0 0 2234
13 0 0 -
London Joint-Stock ... 61. per tent. 50 0 0 10 0 0 -
Provincialof Ireland.. 81. per cent. 100 0 0 25 0 0 -
Ditto, New.• ••••• •• 81. per cent. 10 0 0 10 9 0 -
National of Ireland •• 51. per cent. SO 0 0 22 10 0 -
Nat. Provncial of Eng. 61. per cent. 100 0 0 34 0 0 -
Ditto. New... ••• • •• 51. per cent. 20 0 0 10 0 0 -
South Australia •• • ... 22 10 0 -
Union of Australia.... 61. per cent. 25 0 0 25 0 0 -
Ditto 210 0 -17ni•a of L0nd0n..... 61. per cent. 50 9 0 10 0 0 -
Union of Madrid ..... 10 0 0 40 0 0
INSURANCE COMPANIES.
Dividend Amount
Name of Company. per of Paid. Price
Annum. Share.
X s.
1. d. X d.
Iblon •• •• .• •••• • • • • V. 10e. 500 0 0 50 0 0 75
Alliance Brit. and For. 6 per cent. 100 0 0 11 0 0 17%
bitt, Marine.• ••• • • 61. per cent, 100 0 41 5 0 I -
Atlas 134.6 d. pr eh. 50 I 0 5 9 8 14%
Britisii Commercial •• 7e. per share 50 0 0 5 0 9 b 7,
Clericl,Med.& Uen.Life 51. per cent. 100 0 0 10 0 0 20
31. 100 0 0 II 0 0 -
13s. 50 0 0 5 0 • 11
Slagle ••• • • • ...... •• • • 6s. 50 0 0 b 0 0 syi
Eng.& Scot. Law •• •• 51. per cent. 50 0 0 212 6 -
European Life ••• • • • 534, per cent. 20 0 0 All paid. I -
FandlyEndownwt Soe. 41. & its. 4 0 0 4 0 0 -
Freemasons' .• • . bl. per cent. 20 0 0 1 0 0 -
Giobe
Guardian •• ••• • • • 51. per cent. 100 0 0 36 10 0 45
!mperial Fire •••• • • • • 12 per cent. 500 0 0 50 0 0 220
imperial Life •••• •• •• 12s. 100 0 0 10 I I 14%
Indemnity Marine •• • • 11. sh. & be. 100 0 0 11 13 1 -
Law Fire .. ••• . • • 100 0 0 2 10 0 -
LAW 1 ife •... • ••• • .. 11. be. 100 0 0 10 0 0 45
Legal and General Life 50 I I 2 0 0 -
Londcn Fire •••• • • • • 10e. 25 0 0 12 10 0 13%
London Ship • ••• •• •• 105. 22 0 0 12 10 9 13%
100 0 0 15 0 0
sled. Invlid&Gen.Life 4%1. per ct. 50 0 0 2 0 I 239
National Lean Fund.. 51. per cent. 20 0 0 210 0 -
National Life.- 81. per cent. 100 0 0 5 0 0 -
Palladium Li 10...... • • 51. per cent. 50 0 0 2 0 0 -
Pelican . • •• •• •• 83
Pn teal x ....... 3/. p. ct. & bs. -
.'lotector Life ••.. • .. Si. per cent. 20 0 0 1 0 0 -
r6vident .. 11. ss. 100 0 0 10 0 0 -
Kock Life............ 4s. 5 0 0 010 0 4%
ltoyal Exchan7e Si. per cent. Stock. - 1 -
Snn Fire.
i,itte Lite . • • •• • • . •• ii. Is. - -
Universal Life.....• •• 10%1. pr ant. 100 0 I 810 0 -
Vi..tturia Life . . -
DOCKS.
Dividend Amount
Name of Company. per of Paid. Price.
Annum. Share.
- -
Commercial .
East and West India 6l. pr cent. itock. 110
East Country
L mdc,,n .
itltto Bonds ..... •• . 4/. per cent.
9t.liatharine .... • ... 5 per cent. Stock. 77%
Ditto 80nd5........ 4%1. pr cent. -
Seuthampton •• 21. per cent. 50 0 I SO 0 0 1 22
WATER-WORKS.
Dividend Amount
Name of Company. j per of Paid. Price
Annum. Share.
X e. d. X a. d.
Birmingham. ••••• • •• I Its. 25 0025 0 0-
emit London.. ••••• • • i 31. 100 0 0 175
Grand Junction •• • • 2/. 10s. 41 13 4 92
31. 100 54
Jew Itivr Lndu Brdge j 21. 10e. 55
rauxball ........... ; 100 0 0 104
West Middlesex . . . 151.15a.prcnt. 63 12 9 118

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LOU OS, March 13.
The Earl of FALMOUTH presented petitions
from Newtown, in Hampshire; Penley, in Shrop-
shire; and Ruan, in Cornwall, against the admission
of Jews into Parliament.
IRISH POOR- L AW.
The Earl of LUCAN rose, according to notice, to
draw the attention of the House to the state of the
Irish poor-law as regards the rating of lessors.
The Noble Earl contended that nothing could
be more unjust than the present Irish
poor-law was to the landed proprietors
of Ireland, and he was surprised that any Government
should have proposed or should consent to administer
such a measure. The rate should be levied on the
occupier and not on the lessor. The law was a
monstrous law, and he was at a loss to conceive
what defence of it could be made by the Government.
The Noble Earl then went into a long detail of the
proceedings adopted by the Government is relation
to a beard of guardians with which he himself was
connected, to enforce the payment of the poor-rates,
which proceedings he denounced as grossly unjust.
The Earl of ST. GERMAN'S defended the con
duct of the late Government in introducing and
carrying this law. It had been found absolutely
impossible to collect the rates from the occupiers of
small holdings, and yet it would be most unjust to
exempt this description of property from contributing
to the poor-rates, and therefore it was determined that
the lessor should be assessed to the rates instead of the
occupier, and the Act provided that the rates should be
recovered from the lessors. The lessor, in fact, was placed
in precisely the same position as the other ratepayers.
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE said that the paid
guardians of the union to which the Noble Earl
(Lucan) had alluded, had been obliged to adopt
legal measures to enforce the levying of the rate,
Inasmuch as when they were appointed to succeed
the unpaid guardians they found the union absolutely
without funds. They had no alternative but to levy
a rate as they had done, inasmuch as they had been
refused access to the valuation of the parish, and if
the Noble Earl felt himself aggrieved he had the
right of appeal.
Lord STANLEY understood that there was a
practical difficulty in obtaining a remedy if a person
found himself unjustly set down upon the rate-book
asimmediate lessor. He had, within a limited pe-
riod, to find out the parties who were really liable,
and to give them notice.
The Marquis of CLANRICARDE observed, that
if the lessors were dissatisfied, they had the power of
appeal.
The Earl of LUCAN believed that no instance had
occurred in Ireland, or at least in Mayo, of a lessor
having. appealed.
Earl FITZWILLIAM considered that the landed
proprietors of Ireland should have the largest share
in the administration of the poor-law in that country.
He was sorry to say, that during the last few years
observations had been made in public and by the press
—he wished he could say such remarks had never
been made in either House of Parliament, which were
calculated to weaken the influence of the landed pro-
prietors of Ireland, and to lower them in the esti-
mation of their countrymen. The Government and
the Legislature seemed to consider that, having passed
a poor-law for Ireland, they had done all that was
necessary ; but he contended, looking not to the rate-
payers alone, but to the thousands who were to be
the recipients of relief, that neither the Legislature
nor the Executive Government had—so far as the
poor-law was concerned—done their duty to the sister
country. He expressed an apprehension that the
distress in Ireland would be as great this year as in
the last, if not greater ; and he should, therefore,
wish to see large national works established, and an
extensive system of emigration carried out.
After a few words from the Earl of LUCAN in
reply, the motion was agreed to.
On the motion of Earl FITZWILLIAM, there
was ordered a return of the number of able-bodied
male adults receiving relief in the several unions of
Ireland on the Ist of December, 1847, and on the
Ist days of January, February, and March, 1848,
The House then adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Match 13.
WAYS AND MEANS.
On the order of the day for resuming the adjourned
debate on going into a Committee of Ways and
Means,
Mr. HUME suggested that the debate on the in-
come-tax ought to be brought to a close as soon as
possible.
Mr. BANKES said the Honourable Member
should specially direct his remarks to the Right
Honourable Baronet the Member for Tamworth.
Sir H. PEEL said the Hon. Member ought rather
to blame the Hon. Member for the city of Warwick
and the Hon. Member for Stamford, for they it was
who really commenced the debate.—(Laughter.)
The House then went into Committee.
On the question being put,
Mr. MACGREGOR said it might be presumptive

and rash in him in presenting himself to the Com-
mittee at that early period of the evening, but, as he
had had many opportunities of collecting information
on the subject, which, if he were hot very stupid, ought
to enable him to give the House an opinion upon it,
he trusted the Committee would allow him to say a
word or two before the debate proceeded further.
—(Hear.) No subject could be of more importance or
could be more entitled to the calm attention and
scrutiny of the House, than the one now under dis-
cussion ; and however painful it might be to him to
oppose the administration of his Noble Friend the
First Lord of the Treasury, he could not conscien-
tiously support the continuance of a tax for three
years, which he considered to be not only
unequal but unconstitutional.—(Hear, hear.) But
before he went into the question of the tax itself,
perhaps the House would indulge him for a few mo-
ments, whilst he attempted to clear up some
misrepresentations which the House had been put in
possession of with reference to himself. Ha felt it
to be his duty to declare that he fully concurred in
the wisdom of the policy which the Right Hon.
Baronet the Member for Temwor h pursued
from the day he entered office in 1841 till the
time he left it; and whatever might be stated to
the contrary, he must be allowed to expess
his belief that the measures he introduced
were his own, and the public were indebted to him
alone for the benefit which they had conferred upon
the country.—(Hear, hear.) With regard to the
extract read from the Glasgow paper the other
night, it was, he supposed, in the report of a meeting
at which upwards of 6,000 were present, and
where five or six Chartists catne forward, one of
whom he believed began the riots the other day at
Glasgow to get up a disturbance.—(llear, hear, and
laughter.) One of them asked him if he did not pre-
pare Sir Robert Peel's tariff, but he declined to an
swer him, and thereupon a monsterous uproar took
place.—(Hear, hear, and laughter.) In order to
quell the noise he stated that he would endeavour
to give him an answer, and he distinctly stated that
had the Right lion. Baronet or himself been in office
he would not have given an answer to it, because he
considered it an impertinent question.— (Hear,
and laughter.) He, however, stated to the fellow
who asked the question, that at the time to
which reference had been made, he was Secretary to
the Board of Trade, and that the Right Hon. Baro-
net, who was then Vice-President, directed him to
prepare skeleton schedules for the new tariff ;
and that the Right Honourable Gentleman
himself, and a young gentleman who was
at the time his own private secretary,
were all who had access to these schedules.—(Hear,
hear.) That was what he did say at the meeting,
and he regretted to state that the only two Glasgow
papers that told the truth in reference to the meeting
were the two opposed to him.—(Hear and laughter.)
He objected to the tax because it was unequal,
unpopular, and oppressive in its operation.
He thought this country and Scotland
had great right to complain unless the tax
was extended to Ireland.—(Hear.) Ile considered
that the expenditure of the country was excesssive,
and required alteration and reduction. He thought
it would be one of the greatest calamities that the
country could endure if the Chancellor of the
Exchequer was unable to pay the dividends on the
public debt; but he had no doubt such a calamity
might be avoided by a proper economy in the ex-
penditure. if history was to be taken as the teacher
of national policy, it would be found en a reference
to her pages, that prosperity depended upon a sound
system of finance. Frederick the Great, who found
the Prussian Exchequer in a miserable state when he
succeeded to the throne, succeeded, r: otwithstanding
all the expenses of his wars in Silesia and elsewhere,
to put it on a footing which enabled him to pay off
all the debts of the country, and to leave a large
sum at his death in the Exchequer. On the
other hand Austria, a country equally fertile and
productive, if not more so, than Prussia, was
never placed under any sound system of finance,
and from the days of Maria Theresa down to the
present time nothing but difficulty and distress pre-
veiled in that country. Maria Theresa herself had
to beg money of her people, to hold correspondence
with Madame Pompadour and another royal para-
mour, to melt down the silver plate in her chapel, and
to resort to other expedients ill becoming the dignity
of a great queen of a large kingdom. The failures
which took place in Austria in 1811 and 1813, af-
forded an example to all the countries in the world
which wished to maintain its independence. The
Hon. Member quoted Schiller's " Hietory, of Bohe-
mia" in proof of his assertion, and contended that
every nation, from the Roman empire downwards,
had owed its prosperity or fall to the sound or un-
sound condition of its system of finance. It was the
undoubted right of the House of Commons—for the
Constitution had wisely and justly entrusted it with
the initiative in all questions of taxation—to act in the
most unrestricted manner with respect to proposi-
tions of this nature. Ile trusted the House would
never adopt a policy of mere expediency, but go at
once into the question of our expenditure, rather than
continue in a three per cent. income-tax, which could
not possibly meet the emergencies of the Exchequer,
for three years. He would say that the best policy
would be to grant a three per cent., or a fire per cent.
tax, or more if necessary, for one year, and to enter
at once on the whole question of taxation.—(Cheers.)
He considered it his duty to make this appeal to the
House, because he considered that such a course
would be in accordance with public opinion—not a❑
ignorant, a noisy, and a riotous public opinion, but
the opinion of the enlightened and the intelligent, as
represented by an unanimous public press, with only
three solitary exceptions that he could learn. lie
should, therefore, vote for the motion of the Hon.
Member for Montrose.
Mr. Alderman SIDNEY considered it due to the com-
mercial and working classes of this country that he
should give expression to his opinions on the question
before the House. With the working classes he had
mixed much, and he could assure the House that the)
felt strongly on the subject. lie considered that the
tax would not be at all needed had proper economy been
resorted to in the expenditure of the country ; and he,
therefore, thought it to be his duty to give his vote for
the proposition of the Honourable Member for Montrose.
The Honourable Member went into a statement, show•
ing how heavily the shopkeepers suffered from the
enormous amount of taxation to which the country was
subjected, including poor rates, and instanced Norwich
and Leeds, as cases that had, amongst others, come
under his own knowledge. In Leeds, the rate for the
poor in the present year, was as high as ss. 4d. in the
pound ; and four out of every five who commenced
business had failed. The Honourable Member here
entered into a statement of the failures that had oc
curred in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, and other
great cities and towns in the latter part of 1847, am,
concluded by stating, with respect to the defences of
the country, that the best guarantee for those th,fenc s,
if required, would be found in a reduction of the tax-
ation from which trade and industry were so much
suffering.

Mr. HEADLAM felt that he would not be adequately
discharging his duty to his constituents or the cues try
if he did not state the grounds on which he meant t,
give his vote on the question before the House. Ths
Hon. Member then addressed himself to the arguments
which had been advanced by the Noble Lord (Lord
George Bentinck) and other Hon. Members of the
House in favour of a return to indirect taxation, and to
that system which would tax to the consumers in this
country the produce of foreign countries. That was the
first argument which had been advanced in the House
against the renewal of the tax. The second argument
was that the tax was unjust, unequal in its operation,
and oppressive; and the third was that the expenditure
of the country was increasing to an alarming extent for
the last few years, and ought to be reduced. Ha would
address himself to those arguments. Her Majesty's
Government thought that the tax was best as it was,
and held out no hope of alteration, therefore they
must not rely upon them. He approved of the substitu-
tion of direct for indirect taxation, although when it was
imposed it was denounced as inquisitorial, and vexatious,
and arbitrary. Upon the inequalities of the tax many
of her Majesty's present Ministers enlarged, and he
thought that the present proposition, equally unjust and
equally unequal, came with a peculiarly bad grace from
them.—(Hear.) There was another subject of alarm,
namely, the extent to which these estimates had in
creased of late years.—(Hear.) The apprehension of
war was the alleged reason of this. The interests of
the working classes were most affected by the evils of
war. They should be taught to understand that truth,
and to aid with the nation at large in the peace move-
ment. At the same time, considering the state of the
country, and the elements of disorder which were at the
present moment scattered around them, he felt it to be
his duty not to oppose the present proposition of her
Majesty's Government.—(Hear.)
Mr. SANDARS said that he was sure the Noble Lord
(Lord John Russell) did not know the feeling of the
country,.
or he would not have proposed the reimposition
of this tax in its present form. The way in which that
tax was imposed uppri the industry of the country was
most unjust. It should not be imposed upon the pro-
duce of industry in the same way as on realised pro-
perty.—(Hear.) The time had arrived when there
should be a complete revision of the system of taxation.
(Hear.) The time had arrived for economy and re-
trenchment. The tax of 5 per cent. on the assessed
taxes ought to be repealed, and also the window tax. It
the tax was continued on probate and legacy duty, it
should also be imposed upon the descent of real property.
He did not see upon what principles of justice Ireland was
to be exempt from the income-tax. They were now told
that this tax was to be a permanent tax; therefore, he
said, that it behoved the House and the country to see
that it was placed on a sound basis.—(Hear.) He be-
lieved that none of the evils predicted would follow from
the rejection of this tax. The Hon. Member for West-
bury (Mr. Wilson) had defended the free-trade policy in
corn, but he differed with him on that subject. Ile also
dilated upon the inequalities of the income-tax, but he
was greatly surprised when he expressed his intention to
vote for them. Although ho could not recommend a
reduction of the army in the present posture of affairs,
he thought that greater .ccinurny was possible, and that
the Hon. Member for Montrose should have appended
to his motion a proposition f, l. a committee of inquiry
on this subject. In Canada the feeling of the failure
of the free trade system was Tory geueral, kle thought