The Sun.
London, England, 1833-12-30 00:00:00

BUSRTESS of the HOUSE of COMMONS

" If a new motion be made, pending the former motion,
as to adjourn or by way of amendment, or for the pre.
1 vious question, every Member becomes entitled to speak
again upon that question.
" Every Member may speak in a Committee as often as
21 he pleases.
`5966 " Any Member may speak, after the question put, and
.
- voice given in the affirmative, but not after the voice given
-, in the negative.
535
43 " A question having been once put and carried, either
926 in the affirmative or negative, stands as a judgment of
the House, and cannot be questioned again in the same
session.
(001 '

" If a Bill has been rejected, the same Bill cannot be
5 offered to the House again the same session, nor any
similar Bill ; but if altered in any point material, both
t`3 in the body and in the title, it may be received a second
id time.
.: " Since the union with Ireland, petitions are to he ad-
-80 dressed, 'To the Hon. the Commons of the United
: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament as-
- sembled.' They should be entitled ' The humble peti-
'Tehxecfeopltiowthinogsehaovfe Pbeeeenrs,dewemhiecdhcaaurseesefnortitwleidthd‘raTwh_e
:—That there were several interlincations
tshe signatures were all in the same hand-
tval;;:ttaittohnat the petition was against a tax-bill depend-
btheeen withdrawn without any reason entered on
:1 1
:4
ti
hand-
writing; niinpongreangitisi
it
;Di
hptogeal petition.'
so and erasures,
poertitailotnerawtiaosnsinafonrdmailn.terslinomeaetitoinnises in the
petition ; that the petition was not signed; that the pe-
titiontio of Commissioners was signed only by their chair-
' he journal.

f" The following have been deemed causes for rejecting
petitions :—That the petition takes notice of what passed
in a debate in the House; that it reflects on the conduct
of the judges; that it is printed; or that it contains
matter offensive to the House.
" It is irregular to enter too minutely into the pro-
•ieions prayed for, and to prescribe to the House the mode
of relief: and the doing so may be cause for rejection of
the petition.

" A petition which states any distress, and 'prays to be
relieved by the charity or munificence of the public, ought
not, in point of form, either to prescribe the quantum, or
to mention the fund out of which that relief is to be
granted. The prayer should be general, and it should be
left open to the consideration of the House what the nature
and extent of the relief should be.
" The petition must be written, and not printed, on
parchment paper. It should he in the English language.
A petition in a foreign language will not be received, unless
accompanied with an English translation, which must be
certified to be a correct translation by the Member pre-
senting it.
"The petition must be signed by the parties petition.
jug, with tbeir names or marks by their own bands, ex-
cept in case of inability from sickness, and not by any
agent or other person for them on their behalf. There
must be come signatures on the same sheet or skin as the
petition itself.
" Petitions of corporations aggregate must be under
their common veal.
" A petition signed by an individual as chairman of any
meeting, assembly, or commission, will not be received ex-
cept as the petition of the individual signing.
It is deemed a breach of privilege for any person to
set the name of another person to any petition to be pre-
sented to the House. But some false signatures to a peti-
tion were held not to vitiate those that were good, and the
petition was received.
"If it appear that any persons have signed the peti.
tion for or on behalf of others, such signatures may be
erased before the petition be offered to be presented to the
House, without which erasure it cannot regularly be re-
ceived.

" If a petition not regularly signed has inadvertently
been presented to the Howe, and notice is afterwards
taken of the irregularity, the petition must be withdrawn.
" Every petition must be presented to the House by a
Member, except petitions of the Corporation of London,
which are presented by the City Sheriffs; and of the Lord
Mayor and Corporation of the City of Dublin, which may
be presented by the Lord Mayor of Dublin at the bar of
the House.
" Both the Sheriffs must attend ; but in a particular
case of emergency one of the Sheriffs was allowed to pre-
sent the petition, the House having been informed by a
Member, that the alter Sheriff was confined by illness, or
WAS absent on indispensable business.
' The privilege, that all grants of monA• .''l "------

" After the previous question, whether a particular ques-
ton shall be put, has been carried in the affirmative, no
words can he added to or taken from it, nor is any further
debate allowed; but the main question must be imme-
diately put.
"When the mace lies upon the table it is a House;
when under, it is a committee; when the mace is out of
the House, no business can be done; when from the table,
and upon the Sergeant's shoulder at the bar, the Speaker
only manages, and no motion can be made.
" When the execution of a subsisting order of the House
is called for, the matter having been already resolved upon
and ordered by the House, any Member has a right to
insist that the Speaker, or any other person whose duty it
is, shall carry that order into execution, and no debate on
the subject or delay can be allowed. This frequently
happens in the cases of admitting strangers into the gallery,
counting the House, when notice has been taken that 40
Members are not present, &c. But in cases where there
is no standing order or resolution of the House, if a Mem-
ber propose any thing, and that proposition be not seconded,
the Speaker takes no notice of it, and nothing is done in
con'equence of it.
" If upon the division of the House, or of a Committee,
it appear that the numbers are equal, the Speaker or the
Chairman has a casting vote upon all questions. But in
the Lords, upon an equal division, the rule is Semper pm.
sumetur pro negante.
"In debating Bills in the House, no Member may
speak twice in one day on the same question, unless the
- Bill shall be read more than once; in which case any
Member may speak as often as the Bill is read. It is
otherwise in Committees, or when in the House the debate
arises upon some motion concerning the order of the
7s. House.

EXTRACTS FROM THE MANNER OF PROCEEDING ON BILLS
IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, BY GEORGE BRAMWELL.
" All motions must be made by one Member, and
seconded by another, before the question is put by the
Speaker or the Chairman of a Committee ; but for the
facility and despatch of business, questions of course, such
as appointing persons to bring in Bills, appointing mes-
sengers to the Lords, &c., are usually put without having
been thus formally moved. The Member who moves a
question (not being an ordinary proceeding) puts it into
writing and delivers it to the Speaker, who, when it has
been seconded, proposes it to the House, and then the
House are said to be in possession of the question.
4' After the question has been proposed from the chair,
it cannot be withdrawn but by leave of the House.
" On the question for leave to bring in a Bill,
and on
all the subsequent proceedings, amendments may be moved.
" On an amendment being proposed to leave out some
words, in order to add other words instead thereof, the
first question put is, That the words proposed to be left
out stand part of the question.' And being resolved in
the negative, then the question is put, That the words
proposed be added.' And being resolved in the affirmative,
the main question, so amended, is put. An amendment
may be moved to a proposed amendment, either to a
question or a Bill.
" The Speaker must read the question to the House as
often as any Member desires it for his own information.
" When questions are moved upon which the House
does not wish to give any opinion, they avoid it by mov-
ing either to adjourn, or for the orders of the day, or for
the previous question, or by making such amendments to
the question as change the nature of it, and make_it in-
o
ptoro adjourn takes
adm,,iAsslbmleoteivoennfobry
the House
owubs
of any motion before made, or question proposed, although
the same may have been long in debate ; and is often re-
sorted to as a method for putting an end (at least for the
day) to a matter which the House does not think proper
to determine by a question upon the matter itself. This
motion, in order to take place of a motion already made,
must be simply, That this House do now adjourn,
without adding to a particular day; nor can it admit of
any amendment by adding a particular day. If the
motion be carried in the affirmative, an adjournment
takes place to the next sitting day, unless the House
shall have come to a previous resolution to adjourn at its
rising to a particular day : in which case the House is ac-
cordingly adjourned to that particular day.
"A motion for reading the orders of the day to entitle
it to precedence must be for the orders generally, and not
for any particular order; and if that should be carried, the
orders must be read and proceeded on in the course in which
they stand. But a motion to adjourn' will supersede
even this motion ' for the orders of the day.'
" The right of making a motion, for the orders of the
day' to be read, in the midst of another proceeding, does
not hold, where the House are actually proceeding upon
one of the orders; it will only supersede a question
upon another matter, not being properly the business of the
day.

I upon the people shall proceed from the Commons, has
r been established progressively, and its boundaries have been
from time to time enlarged. •
" Prior to 1671, the Commons appear to have been
satisfied with maintaining the principle, that all Bills of
aids and supply, or charge upon the. people should begin
with them, and that the Lords should not commence' I
any proceeding that might impose burdens on the people.
At that period they laid down the rule more largely, and
on the 13th of April, 1671, resolved, that in all aids given
to the King by the Commons, the rate or tax ought not
to be altered by the Lords. The rule was ag iin enlarged
by the resolution of the 3d of July, 1678, that all aids and
supplies, and aids to his Majesty in Parliament, are the
sole gift of the Commons : and that all Bills for the grant-
ing of any such aids and supplies ought to begin with the
Commons ; and that it is the undoubted and sole right of
the Commons to direct, limit, and appoint, in such Bills,
the ends, purposes, considerations, conditions, limitations,
and qualifications, of such grants ; which ought not to be
changed or altered by the House of Lords.
" The first instance that occurred where the Commons
expressly took exceptions to the Lords inserting pecuniary
penalties in a Bill was in the year 1690. The principle
upon which this objection was made, and has since been
maintained, is to prevent the Lords evading the rule, under
pretence of imposing a pecuniary fine or penalty. Upon
the same principle, the Commons have objected to any al-
terations made by the Lords in the application or distri-
bution of pecuniary penalties imposed by the Commons.
" But this abjection has not been extended to cases in
which the Lords, by disagreeing to clauses, or otherwise
amending the Bill, as sent from the Commons, have en-
tthir:zynthdrsactiri,neaf.rottx_,
" The privileges claimed by the Commons, of limiting
should eu:grehth.e_ °Meet upon which
the interference of the Lords in money Bills, may be classed
as follows
" 1. In Bills of aid and supply, the Lords can only
amend verbal or literal mistakes, such as clerical errors,
appearing to be so from the context--..a surreptitious or
unauthorized alteration—or such dates as may have elapsed
while the Bill was depending, and words in conformity
with suck an amendment;—amendments within the scope
and support of the Bill as agreed to by the Commons.
" The Commons also claim the exclusive care of the
accounts of the money granted by themselves.
" 2. In Bills imposing pecuniary burdens on the people
directly, the Lords cannot make any amendment relative
to tolls or rates, or in the appointment of the Commis-
sioners or Collectors; but verbal mistakes in designating
them may he rectified.

ange, would the Whigs yield to that plea ? If
they would not yield to such a plea, then they would
require a Tory Ministry supported by the part of
the country favourable to the Corn Laws to do,
against their notions of policy, what they the
Whigs will not do in accordance with their notions
of policy, and supported by the part of the country
hostile to the Corn Laws! Any measure which
honest men can press upon the adoption of others,
they are bound to attempt to carry when the power
is theirs. It may here be asked, are the Ministers
to risk defeat ? The risk of victory on the side of
the opposition is a much graver question. While
the Government fights the battle of the more intel-
ligent, the more combined, the more energetic por-
tion of the people, it is indestructible, and will take
nothing but glory from defeat. The fable of
Antmus is of excellent application : while he rested
on theground of his power,he gathered new strength
from every overthrow, but when suspended between
heaven and earth—in a juste milieu—he lost his
charm, and was destructible and destroyed.
Mr. Thomson objects to the cry of cheap bread.
He says—
" The cry which was raised for cheap bread, as being
the all-important topic with those who wished ;to change
the Corn Laws, did injury to the cause itself as much as
any thing always must which was not strictly in accord-
ance with truth. His notion was, that cheap bread, in
the sense in which it was understood by those who pro-
ctatmerr-R, -Ina- by Those to whom it was proclaimed,
would oot be the result of such a change as they desired,
The benefit resulting from a c:hang:r in the system would
certainly be a more equal price of bread, and that, instead
of fluctuations to the extent we at present experienced, we
should have an equal range of prices; and above all the
benefits which he anticipated was this, that whereas we
drew the large supplies of grain which we at present re-
ceived at uncertain dines from the country which afforded
them, so there could be no certainty whatever that those supplies would be always equal to the demand, or that they
would afford a fair and remunerating price ; and not only
was the large amount of price which the country evert--
tually paid for grain actually increased by charges of other, descriptions—for instance, by charges for warehousing
and interest, but the foreigner who produced that which
we took from him at uncertain periods had necessarily lit-
tle to be paid for, for paid for at least it must be, and there-
fore he could not acqu:re that taste for the products of our
own country, which, under a fixed and regular scale of
duty, he would be enabled profitably to do."
Thus Mr. Thomson proves, that the present sys-
tem by its various mischievous operations raises the
price of corn, and yet he alleges that to hold forth
the promise of cheap bread upon the destruction of
the system that makes dear corn, is not accordant
with truth. There are certainly other important
considerations connected with the Corn Laws, but
the most important in the eyes of the people will be
a reduction of price, though the amount may seem
insignificant to persons of good appointments.
In conclusion, Mr. Thomson said, with regard to
his conduct as a legislator since his accession to
office—

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

The important official document which, on
Saturday, was published (exclusively) in this
paper, contained a clear and well defined out-
line of the measures which remain to be taken
for carrying into execution the Slavery Abolition
Act of the last session of Parliament. The
form in which the proposed regulations are ex•
hibited, seems to us to be at once convenient
and becoming. Those enumerated and ex-
plained in the official paper are to be applied,
under the authority of an Order in Council, to
the Crown colony of Guiana (containing De-
merara and its dependencies), where the legis-
lative power is lodged with the King in Council.
It is, however, plainly assumed, that the sub-
stance and spirit of the same instructions, varied
by the circumstances of each particular case, will
be acted upon by the King's Government in all
the remaining Crown colonies, as well as in
British Guiana ; and an expectation is more than
hinted, that in the colonies which possess repre-
sentative legislatures the principle at least, if
not the precise letter, of the same regulations
will be adopted, reference, of course, being
always had to their local wants and peculiarities.
Each Justice having jurisdiction over a given
district is to fix his station there, a track of land
being set apart, and buildings thereon erected,
one of which is always to be a House of Cor-
rection, as near as may be to that spot where the
population of the district appears most dense,
and, therefore, the subject matter for magisterial
interference most frequent. The station thus
fixed upon is to be termed the " Police Settle-
ment" of the district. The Justice is always to
have at his command an armed party of one
sergeant and ten able bodied policemen, who are
to be assisted in any duties of fatigue by a
" penal gang," composed of such persons as
may have been condemned to imprisonment with
hard labour. Periodical (quarterly) reports are
to be transmitted or delivered in by the Justice
to the Governor of the colony concerning the
s'rength and conduct of his police party, and the
condition of the settlement. The police are to exe-
cute the orders of the justice for the repression of
crimes, and for enforcing obedience to the laws. In
determining the procedure to be observed by
these new magistrates in the administration of
justice, great and laudable pains are taken by
Government to facilitate amicable compromises,
and to deter, by reasonable and appropriate pe-
nalties, both employers and apprentices from
bringing forward frivolous, vexatious, or un-
founded charges; and any mode of proceeding
which is found unnecessarily to embarrass the
magistrates, or in any manner to impede the
prompt and effectual administration of justice,
the Governor of the colony is empowered to
suspend that mode of proceeding, and to substi-
tute others, his proclamation for such purpose
holding good until disallowed by his Majesty.
A delicate part of the duty of Government has
been the suggestion of expedient rules for the
classification of apprentices. The three classes
are denominated—" attached,"44Pry-
dial unattached," and " Non.prxdial," or what
we suppose maybe called artificers and domestics.
We du not see that provision has been made for
altering, subsequently to the first registration,
the class under which any given apprentice is to
be ranked, however desirable such a change may
be for both the parties interested. The ap-
prentices are to receive henceforth from their
masters the same amount of provisions, &c., for
their maintenance, in consideration of 45 hours'
work per week, as they now receive for sixty
hours', and no extra labour imposed as a penalty
on the apprentice for misconduct is to exceed
fifteen hours per week in addition to the 45
during which the Abolition Act compels him to
labour. The clauses which treat of the duties
to be performed by the apprentices and employ-
ers reciprocally, have been drawn up with great
good sense, and in a spirit of laudable imparti-
ality. Hard labour, and in some aggravated
cases whipping, but under the sentence of the
magistrate, are the chief punishments resorted
to for neglect of duty, absence, desertion, &c.,
on the part of the apprentice. Repetition of an
offence always subjects him to an increase of
punishment. Drunkenness, insubordination,
turbulence, are marked out distinctly for the
visitation of the law. Women are in no case to
be degraded by whipping, but for offences which
expose men to that species of chastisement,
females shall be confined in the stocks and clad
in peculiar and disgraceful dresses. The em-
ployers are restrained from the exercise of fraud
or injustice towards the labourer by the autho-
rized vigilance of the magistrate, both as to
the nature of all contracts for task or other
special work entered into between the parties,
and as to the manner in which their stipula-
tions have been fulfilled. Fine, and in some
instances imprisonment, are the penalties to be
inflicted on employers for a breach of contract.
We have thought it might be useful to recapitu- '
late, thus briefly, some of the more striking and
important of those regulations which the bulk
of our readers may have been deterred frem en-
countering in the voluminous form in which they
were last published. There are other clauses
designed to govern the enfranchised negroes in
their relation to the state as its subjects, and to
which we omit any present reference from the
inferior interest attached by most people to every
other aspect in which the negro appears, as com-
pared with that of slave transformed into an ap-
prentice. It is but justice to repeat that, as a
whole, this body of regulations reflects the
highest credit on the quarters from which they
have emanated—that they promise a diminution
of real difficulties much greater than we had ever
dared to expect—and that from the introduction
of that new description of magistracy into the
interior of the colonies, with the executive force
attendant on it, which is capable of being en-
larged at pleasure, a foundation seems to be laid
for superseding one day or other the military
garrisons of a large proportion of our colonial
settlements, and for reducing in the same ratio
the mass of our annual expenses.—Times.
We have been much amused by an article
from Biacktuood's Magazine for January, un-
der the title of " Hints to the Aristocracy—a
Retrospect of Forty Years from the Ist of Ja-
nuary, 1834." The writer, while inveighing
against the Reform Bill, furnishes himself the
best justification of that measure. After de-
scribing the various changes which preceded that
measure, he observes:_-
" The Protestant Constitution, the Test and Corpora-
tion Acts, were successively abandoned ; and at length a
desperate and reckless faction got possession of the helm,
and, wielding the whole force of the prerogative to sup-
port the advances of revolution, succeeded in overturning
the Constitution. In what a state has the British empire
been ever since that, disastrous epoch : and what are
the prospects whieli),on the Ist of January, 1834,
open upon her people,?',. Distrust and anxiety universally
diffused; every profession, and occupation suffering and
preparing to suffer ; the• lower orders reused into general
and, fearful activity; the higher lulled into a desponding
and hopeless calm; the bulwarks of the Constitution, the
eecuritiei against spoliation,' completely swept away S and

all the mighty interests of the empire laid open to the
caprice and the invasion of a reckless revolutionary faction,
driving before them a weak and vacillating Administra-
tion. Such is the sad termination, so far as time has yet
advanced, of this glorious and animated era, and such the
prospects which that generation have to leave to their
children, who received from their fathers the sacred deposit
of the British Constitution !"
But, as he truly observes, everything must
have a cause, and the cause of the revolution of
1832 is to be found, according to the writer in
Blackwood, in the misconduct of the English '
aristocracy.
" In investigating the causes which had previously
prepared the nation for the prodigious change which our
rulers have effected, there is one which strikes us as pe-

culiarly prominent, and to which sufficient attention has

not hitherto been paid in any discussions on the subject ;
and that is the separation which had insensibly grown up
during the last thirty years between the higher orders of
the aristocracy and the middling ranks by whom they
were surrounded. If the knowledge of the causes of a
complaint is the first step towards its cure, the considera-
tion of this subject must appear to be a matter of vital
importance at this time, in order to unfold the means of
stemming, if anything human can indeed stem the fur-
ther progress of disaster.
" That the higher ranks—understanding by that term
the class of considerable proprietors, of whatever political
opinions or party—cannot of themselves, without external
aid, resist the attacks of their inferiors, is evident from
the consideration that they are not one in a hundred
amongst them. How, then, has it happened that they
have so long, and in so many countries, succeeded in
maintaining the ascendancy due to property in every well-
regulated state, notwithstanding all the jealousy which the
prospect of their opulence must have occasioned? Simply
by awakening the affections and supporting the interests of
their inferiors—by mingling with their amusements and
taking a share in their desires, and sympathising with
their wishes—by throwing down the unseen but hateful
barrier which separates the noblesse and the tiers etat,
and making the people feel that they would lose, not merely
v....L.4.w. 1... a f- .ohs, the
aristocracy were destroyed."
According to the Hindu Mythology, the
world rests on an elephant; but as we do not know
on what the elephant itself rests, we are just as
wise as before. What was the cause of the mis-
conduct of the aristocracy ? Why did they
neglect the classes below them ? Because the
machine of corruption could move without their
giving themselves any trouble. The slaveowner
of Jamaica or Virginia, having the power of the
whip, does not seek to persuade his slaves to
work. The system of corruption under Pitt
and his successors became so gigantic, that the
boroughmongers found it no longer necessary
to use even a semblance of conciliation. In

fact, the writer in Blackwood, if he were aware
of the conclusion to which his premises point,
ought to worship the Reform Ministry for ren-
dering it necessary for the aristocracy to endea-
vour to be on good terms with their inferiors.
It was Pitt that destroyed the aristocracy by the
grand system of corruption which he organised.
When the system of clanship was in force in the
highlands, it became necessary to the chiefs
to be on good terms with their followers, and
the most endearing intimacy prevailed between
them. But the moment clanship was destroyed, the
vassals became of no importance to the chief,
and they were neglected. Down to the time of
Louis XIII. of France the noblesse lived in the
country among their dependants. Cardinal
Richelieu exerted himself to destroy the power
of the French aristocracy, and he succeeded.
On the loss of their power, they abandoned their
dependants, who were no longer useful to them,
and repaired to Paris. On the breaking out
of the French Revolution they found themselves
utterly without influence. Where men are
necessary, they will be courted, and where un-
necessary, they will be neglected. Borough-
mongering has a necessary tendency to self-
destruction. It led to expensive wars, and
expensive wars led to increased corruption, by
which all our institutions became so many
fictions ; and at the moment when the aristo-
cracy seemed at the height, they were precipi-
tated into the gulph, from which they can never
extricate themselves. But, independently of
the causes assigned by the Reviewer, there are
others. During the period mentioned by the
writer in Blackwood, the face of the country

became covered with commercial and manu-
facturing towns, and in such a state of society
an Aristocracy can have little influence. Trade
is a great leveller. The landholder may retain
much influence in remote parts, but in large
towns he can have little. Commerce and ma-
nufactures add to the income of the landholder
and multiply his enjoyments ; but they deprive
him of the consequence he enjoys in a simpler
state of society. If any of our great Aristocrats
were to mix with the workmen of a cotton-mill,
and to hob-nail with them in the public-houses,
he would rise in their regard, but might probably
become their butt.—Morning Chronicle.

It is now some time since the circular of Lord
Althorp to the Churchwardens of the Kingdom
appeared in our columns, yet we have, within
the last few days, received constant communica-
tions on the subject of it. We therefore take
this opportunity of informing our Correspon-
dents, in answer to their numerous inquiries of
whether they are " obliged" to give the infor-
mation demanded by his Lordship, that, if they
mean " obliged" by law, they are justified in
taking just the same notice of Lord Althorp's
circular as they might feel inclined to take of a
letter from any one of their acquaintances which
should inform them that he "should feel greatly
obliged by their letting him know the amount
of their respective butchers' hills, and the quan-
tity of meat of that description consumed
in their several families." We shall not
dwell now on the flagrant assumption of
authority upon the part of Lord Althorp
in addressing the Churchwardens throughont
the kingdom on the subject to which his letter
refers, either in his capacity of Chancellor of the
Exchequer or of Commissioner of the Treasury ;
nor shall we offer any observation on the slight
offered to those Reverend Prelates who might
well be looked upon as the proper channel
through which to collect information ; upon
which information, be it remembered, it
was intended that a measure of Church
Reform should, probably, in no small degree be
founded. We shall now confine ourselves to
the simple question, whether Lord Althorp is
sanctioned, either by his official situation, by
prescription, or by Act of Parliament, in de-
manding from the Churchwardens such infor-
mation ; and we answer, once and for all, that

he is not. His Majesty's Government by and
by may, perhaps, find a pretext for employing a
few more of their friends by instituting " a Com-
mission" to inquire into those matters on which
Lord Althorp now seeks to be informed ; and,
indeed, considering their partiality for this plan
of putting money into the pockets of their friends
and supporters, it is matter of surprise to us that
" a Commission" was not resorted to in the first
instance. It will then be subject for considera-
tion whether " the ecclesiastical rovers" are
entitled, by any law at present existing, to
answers to their polite inquiries. At present
the affair is with the Churchwardens, and
to them we have given our answer. By this
letter emanating from Lord Althorp we are led

to imagine that to his Lordship will be intrusted
the honour of introducing the proposed measure
for Church Reform to the attention of the
House of Commons ; and we already anticipate
the clear, the able, the fluent exposition which
the subject will receive at his hands. We have
not forgotten the ability displayed by Lord John
Russell when a no less celebrated measure of
Reform was introduced by his Lordship ; and
an able coadjutor in the office of Master of the
(Reform) Ceremoniei is now presented to us in
the person of Lord Althorp. We forget, in-
deed, if his Lordship can pretend to the same
claim for this distinction as was possessed
by Lord John Russell, that of having written a
book antithetically opposed to the measure to
which he was called upon to stand Parliamentary
godfather ; but we believe Lord Althorp's wri-
tings have not been directed to ecclesiastical
matters. Posterity will set us down as owing
a deep debt of gratitude to Lord John Russell
and to Lord Althorp. From the lips of the
one, will they say, did his contemporaries first
hear the great outline for remodelling that Con-
stitution under which their country had ascended

to the highest rank among the nations : under
the inspired eloquence of the other did they
first contemplate the great and extraordinary
changes which took place at that period in the
direction of their religious institutions—insti-
tutions under which the churchmen of that era
had united the munificence of the Noble with
the piety of the Prelate. Thus will posterity
say of Lord John Russell and of Lord Althorp.

—Morning Post.
The advantages which I3.ussia has gained in
be East of Europe,, hot more by the _superior
cleverness of her diplomatic agents and political
emissaries, than by the supineness or culpable
connivance of the Ministers of France and Eng-
land, she does not seem disposed by any means
to relinquish, in consequence of the tardy re-
monstrances of the representatives of those
Powers, who, now that the mischief is done, have
been instructed to protest against that which it
was the duty of their Governments to have pre-
vented. The Turkish empire may be regarded
as defunct, and Russia has constituted herself
as the heir of an immense materiel to assist the
progress of her ambition. The weak-minded
Sultan, whose passion for innovation, without
any talent to conduct the great work of remo-
delling an ancient people, peculiarly bigotted to
their ancient customs, and the sanguinary and
treacherous violence to which he had recourse,
in order to bring about his crude and precipitate
projects, gave the finishing stroke to the already
decaying empire which a race of barbarian war-
riors had planted in Europe, through the corn-
bined efforts of valour and enthusiasm, which
swept away all opposition, and gave a ter-
rible splendour to the early career of the
conquerors of Byzantium which for centuries
filled Christian Europe with astonishment
and alarm. The first shock to this once
formidable power, then threatening to over-
run all Christendom, was given by the Polish
chivalry, led on by the renowned John Sobieski,
who routed the supposed invincible bands of the
" Prophet" of Arabia under the walls of Vienna,
the spoils of which capital, but for that saving
interposition of the Poles, would have gone to
enrich the Seraglio. The gratitude of Austria
to that gallant people is well known. The in-
famous partition of Poland, for the co-operation
in which the Austrian Monarch required the
price of a nation's blood, has placed the proofs
of that gratitude on a record which will preserve
its imperishable ignominy to call forth through
every age the execrations of the civilized world.
Austria, as well as Prussia, having assisted
the Russian Government in its nefarious
designs upon Poland, until they were consum-
mated by the utter extinction of the last re-
mains of Polish independence, are now covertly
engaged in furthering the projects of that in-
satiable ambition which has at length placed
Turkey in the grasp of the Czar. This is not to
England a question merely involving the rights
of insulted humanity, not, does it call upon her
by the faith of a solemn treaty, which, in the
cases of Poland, met with no attention ; it ap-
peals not to her feelings on any ground of ge-
nerosity or national honour ; it addresses, what
the cold and calculating minds can feel that
despise the former—her sense of self-interest—
her selfish feelings ; for the existence of her
commerce in the Levant is at stake—her naval
ascendancy in the Mediterranean is threatened,
and even her East Indian possessions are brought
nearer the grasp of that ambition which we al-
lowed to efface Poland from the map of Europe,
after erecting it into a barrier against her
aggressions in Western Europe. Whether
our Government really feel shame or not at
having so completely sacrificed our political
and commercial interests to Russia, we cannot
tell. There is at least an affectation of peni-
tence for the criminal neglect of the obvious
duties of British Statesmen, and remonstrances
are made, but we suspect that the feeble tone
of our Foreign IVlinister will never scare the
vulture from the prey on which it is now
fastened. Nor let our Government place much
reliance upon the Doctrinaire Government of
France. That Government may seem to go
along with them in making unavailing protests
against the Turco-Russian treaty, but Louis
Philip and his Ministers would betray England
at any time, if they thought that an alliance with
the Autocrat would procure them greater
advantages. Still our Ministers must have
some answer for questions that will be put in
Parliament, and so they are strengthening our
fleet in the Mediterranean ; but if it be only to
make an empty ineffectual demonstration, like
that against Holland, they will cover themselves
with indelible disgrace. If they once allow the
Russian fleet to take possession of the Darda-
nelles, the weak betrayal of British interests will
have been consummated, and England must
prepare for a sanguinary struggle, or sit down
content with an infamous surrender of national
influence and commercial relations.—Morning
Herald.

There is a rumour abroad in quarters entitled
to some credit, but too good, we fear, to be
believed, that Ministers are seriously engaged in
considering whether, instead of abolishing the
house tax only, as being the most obnoxious
and most unequal in its operation of the assessed
taxes, it would not only be wiser and more con-
ducive to the public interest, but well as a mea-
sure of greater popularity, to do away with the
assessed taxes entirely, and to impose in lieu of
them, a direct property tax. We do hope and
trust that the rumour is not without foundation,
though, as we have already hinted, we fear that
it is too good to be credited, and the con-
templated measure too just, as well as too
much exposed to aristocratic opposition, to be
brought forward by a Ministry gifted with so
much timidity, and so much dread of the
wealthier classes, as that which is now intrusted

with the reins of Government. Whether,
however, they will or will not have the courage
to propound in the ensuing Session of Parlia-
ment such a mode of raising the revenue neces-
sary for defraying the expenses of the country,
there can be no doubt in the mind of any reflecting
person, that to that complexion the taxation of
the empire must ultimately come, as well as that
of all the modes by which the revenue can be
raised ; it is' the most just, the most impartial
—the cheapest, and the least liable to objection.
There was a period, we allow, when the bare
idea of either an income or a property tax car-
ried a certain degree of odium with it, which was
afterwards very righteously improved into its over-
throw by all who had an interest in getting rid
of the tax upon their property, and laying it upon
the shoulders of those who had little or any ; but
that delusion has passed away—the continued
pressure of unequal and heavy taxation has
brought new notions with it—and it may be
fairly enough alleged that three-fourths of those
who were formerly the abettors, on various
grounds, of indirect taxation, in preference to
all other modes of assessment, do not now care
a straw in what way the tax be levied, provided
its amount be diminished. The thing aimed at
—the universal desire, is to get rid of unne-
cessary expense in the collection. and unne-
cessary pressure in the amount ; and there is
assuredly no way in which this object can
be so safely, so easily, and so advantageously
obtained as by the commutation of all
domestic taxation into a tax on property.
There are, no doubt, disadvantages attend-
ant upon this mode of levying the re-
venue, and many objections to be encounteredt
and to be put down, before It could be carried
into effect; but what tax is not subject to dis-
advantages, and liable to objections ? Is not
every tax an evil ; and is it not, such being the
case, the part of a wise financier, as well as of
a wise people, to choose the least evil—that is
to say, the cheapest tax ? But the truth is,
that all the objections which have been urged
against the imposition of a property tax are either
visionary, and have no foundation, or are mere
bugbears, invented by the wealthy to frighten
those whose interest it is to desire it, into oppo-
sition to it. There are none of them which are
not applicable to some one or other of the taxes
with which we are at present saddled ; while of
many of them it may be fairly enough alleged,
that they are rather recommendations than dis-
suasives. Upon these points, however, we
must defer our observations, until to-morrow.—
Morning Advertiser.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.