The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-22 00:00:00

IS V NI JANUARY 22, 1844.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TlNS.—Another financial statement is at band.
Till last year, the eve of such an event was as merry
os the eve of Christmas or New Year. There was
always a treat in store, the only question 'being a
choice of agreeables. Sir Robert, like a benevo-
lent grandpapa, or rather like Will Honycomb, sur-
rounded by a posse of holiday folks, presided over the
Christmas tree, and alternately soothed and tantalized
the youthful expectants. 'ift7 voices exclaimed,
" What am I to have ?" " Wait, wait," cried out
the distributor of blessings. " All in good time."
'To the simpler sort he said, " Open your mouths
and shut your eyes ;" and, accordingly, a bonbon
or a plum rewarded their amiable confidence. For
the elder juveniles, and particularly where a little
penchant was confessed, more substantial compliments
were prepared. Will Honycomb had his favourites.
When he played at blindmah's buff, and was in-
vested in his turn with one at least of the attributes
of justice, it somehow or other always came to pass
that his equitable fingers pounced on a certain
laughing young damsel, herself not more likely to be
caught than the rest of
,the crowd. Sir Robert also
had his clue through the devious mazes of the game.
The light step and joyous giggle of free trade be-
trayed that coy nymph to a sagacious and per-
severing suitor. So at each'. new budget we all
knew pretty well the general character of what
was to come. But, alas 1 those days, " the days
when we went gipsying," are kone. There is a tide
in taxation, as in all other human affairs. We
are now at the ebb. The turn was last year, when
there was neither remission nor imposition of taxes.
This year, if we are to practice common prudence,
and set an example worthy ok a great commercial
nation, we must begin to lay on. But how to lay on
is the question. It is A- matter of great soientifio '
interest to the statesman, and of no less practical im-
portance to the public. We have to consider not
merely how much the public Can manage to pay—
how much it can bear without sinking to the earth
or throwing off its burden altogether, but how much
it can carry with the least possible hinderance to its
activity and power. A strong man has bten made to
stand upright with 2,0001 b. judiciously distributed
over his frame ; but then he could not move. Once
disturb the equilibrium, and he would instantly have
been crushed under:his manifold incumbrancea. In like
manner the public is not a row of Caryatides standing
under a ponderous architrave. As the turnpike man
said of John Gilpin—
"He rides a race, be carries weight,
'Tis for a thousand pound."
The great secret of judicious taxation is to lay it en
without hampering the strain of the muscle and the
play of the limb. Half a century of rather severe
experiments has served to enlighten us on this point.
Relieving as much as possible the industry of the
country, the materials of trade, and the prime neces-
saries of life, we have transferred the burden to the
broad shoulders of property. Luxury meanwhile we
have left under its wholesome and profitable incum-
brances. The labourer can just exist without either
direct or evident contribution to the national fund;
but if he aspires to his glass of ale and his pipe, or his
wife to her coffee or tea, they pay no inconsiderable
quota to the Treasury. Eschewing the usual divi-
sion of taxes into direct and indirect, we have just
indicated three subjects of taxation. L The raw
materials of life or manufacture. 2. Luxuries and
comforts. 3. Property. The first of these we have
renounced altogether. No one out of Bedlam would
propose again to enhance the food of millions or
clog the operations of trade. As for luxuries,
the present condition of our working classes
is not such as to warrant any tax which
should put their few comforts not only out
of reach, but almost beyond hope. Nor is commerce
itself se prosperous as to bear heavier tolls. Speaking
of superfluities, whether exotic or domestic, in the
general, and without reference to exceptional cases, if
any can be shown, we must say that the great body
of the British people have not yet their share. Pro-
perty and the luxuries of the wealthier classes are the
third alternative of taxation. It is evident that they
ere the most capable of bearing an accession of bur-
den. But an income tax is a war tax. It can only
he justified on the greatest emergencies, and can only
be borne with the hope of speedy remission. So we
have often said, and so we still say. When the
tax was laid on six years sinee we well knew the
Old Man of the Sea the nation was taking
on its shoulders. Three years since we could only
.+ +ha amomnoement of another lease for
that period. It has now become customary and
inveterate. Moreover there is no choice. This
is a time of war. We have had war with the
elements, and been terribly worsted. Eight millions
fought with famine. We had to ransack the earth for
the means of resistance. A commissariat of 12,000
men provisioned the host and directed the operations.
Enormous debt and difficulty were incurred. A
hundred thousand werfleft dead on the field of that
bloodless but awful conflict, and a quarter of a million
fugitives disappeared. This is war. If ever there
was a case for levying direct contributions on pro-
perty, there is now. Unhappily, war in its more
literal sense is not yet obsolete. If the lapse of a
generation has effaced Waterloo from the plastic
memory of England, that untoward incident is not
altogether forgotten elsewhere. A great nation
before very long will be released from the spell of its
Prospero, aid if it does not threaten the malice of
Caliban its forbearance is at least net to be answered
for. Unwelcome prudence suggests, that though we
may not absolutely augment our defences, we should
at all events make them really equal to their reputed
and nominal complement. To be only as strong as
we profess to be, we must submit to some increase of
expenditure. Again, under the pressure of the times
and the financial reductions of our late and present
Ministers, we are suffering " deficiency." There is
no mincing or disguising the matter. Famine, pes-
tilence, defalcation, and war constitute no ordinary
crisis. We must admit the necessity, and can hardly
repudiate the title, of a war tax. The difficult and
almost inexplicate question of Property versus In-
come, the infinite gradations of alienable and inalien-
able possessions, fee simple and life interests, we pass
at present all the more readily because public
curiosity appears to have taken another direction.
The problem of the day is, " How to tax a
house ?" We can only state the conditions of
the inquiry. Find a house tax which shall
not offer a premium to gratuitous discom-
fort and unhealthiness by making light and air
costly ; that shall not encourage imprudence ; that
shall not be sometimes a virtual impost on trade. The
first is the evil of the window tax. The second of
the duty on insurance. The third would be the result
of an ad valorem house tax. There are no practical
difficulties in the way of the last, and it would pro-
bably be a palatable substitute for the two former.
The valuations arid machinery of collection exist. The
great drawback is one of imagination rather than fact,
but it is not an inconsiderable one. It is a repealed
tax, and in this progressive country we particularly
object to being revisited by the ghosts of old annoy-
ances. It is, indeed, generally thought that had the
choice between the house .and the window tax been
fairly propounded, and had it not been fully expected
one was sure to follow the other, the country would
hare preferred the house to the window tax. This,
however, but little affects that English prejudice
against revival of taxation which not even the ex-
ample of the income tax can soften. There is the
difficulty, which it is easier to state than remove.
CHRONICLE.—The Government and the people
of France are both in a strange quandary what to do
with A.bd•el-Kader. They find, with a certain amaze•
ment, tkat there is one subject on which, notwithstand-
ing all their bickerings, they are pretty much of one
would, at:the present moment, so
accord.
gratify both Government and
Nothing
people as the Arab
making-
up his mind to
chieftain's good-humou.redly
remnant of his days in
spend the /a belle France. A
voluntary offer on his part to adopt that resolution
would save them a world of anxiety. The dilemma
the Government are in is actually a hideous one. If
they let Abd•el-I(ader go, their royal master will
never forgive them for what he will regard as a most
contemptible weakness on their part. If, on the other
hand, they forcibly detain him, they make light of
the authority, and throw a stain upon the honour, of
the Due d'Aumale, which it is impossible that he
should not resent. One of the —ring's sons has already
resigned the command with which he was in-
vested, from a pique, as it is credibly asserted.
The discontent of the Due d'Auniale may vent itself
in the same manner; the more readily from his not
perceiving any other method of clearing himself from
vo unrily
all stain of having participated in the
deceit to which be has been made accessory. And
the motives to this line of conduct will be the more
dou,bt but it was Abd-el-
Kader'surgent, as there can be
reliance on the Dukes Power, as the King's
against all interference the pledge
son, to make good again
which he soleinnly gave, that induced him to sur-
render himself. At the time of the Prince's appoint-
ment, one of the principal justifications alleged in its
favour 14 the Dibats was the inexpressible reverence
which the Arabs entertain for the kingly name and
blood of power. We ridiculed at the time the pomp-
ous parade our contemporary made of such a motive
for so grave an act as we considerev,l that appointment
to be. swe acknowledge, however, that our contem-
porary was better informed than we were as to the
policy which the French Government intended to

pursue in Africa. We admit our sagacity failed us.
It would never have entered our heads to suspect,
until the event developed itself, what it was that a
prince of the blood was wanted in Africa for. Now
all the world knows it. The French Ministry has
indeed to deal with a third difficulty, scarcely
less menacing than. the . other two. Should
they brave the father's anger, save the son's
honour, and let their captive—we beg pardon
—their guest depart, they will be liable, at
any future period, to the severest censure for not
taking proper precautions for the eureeillance of their
fallen foe, wherever he may take up his abode.
Whether they will not be censured also for leaving
the Disc d'Aumale full liberty of action as regarded
a contingency which was sufficiently probable to be
provided for beforehand, we do not undertake to
foretell. There can be no doubt but the Duke con-
sidered he was fully empowered to make the promise
he did. Nor have the Ministry, or their supporters,
dared as yet to allege that he was not. The dilemma
of the French people is scarcely less embarrassing
than that of their Government. They share, perhaps,
the error of the Ministry, in not perceiving how
utterly worn out and wasted are the sources of that
national resistance on the part of the Arabs which, so
long as they remained to him, Abd-el-Kader com-
bined and headed with such incomparable
skill and resolution. Though, we take it,
the hero's submission is in itself the strong-
est proof that he considered that is Algeria
all was lost to the cause of which he had been
so long the forlorn hope. But the French people have
seen so much blood and treasure lavished for the sake
of what they fondly call the " union of France and
Africa," that whether they keep Abd-el-Kader under
lock and key themselves, or make Mehemet Ali deputy ,
gaoler they will never be easy in their minds so long
as he lives. They are, therefore, naturally anxious to
keep him sure and quiet under their own eyes. But
then, to do the French people justice, they do not
wish to purchase the comfortable knowledge that
Abd-el-Kader is under lock and key with any glaring
sacrifice of the national honour, which of course the
Due d'Aumale pledged in the fullest sense, at the
moment that he pledged his own. Even were the
national honour not in question, we doubt if they
would like to see the worthy young Prince's
self respect and integrity thus trampled on.
We render our sincere testimony to the force
and dignity of the remonstrances which the
most independent of the French press have ad-
dressed to the Government, both as regards their
hesitation to keep faith with Abd-el-Kader, and
for their ignominious treatment of him since he has
set foot on the shores of France. Still if M. Guizot
could succeed in intimidating Abd-el-Kader into an
apparently voluntary surrender of the promise made
him, though the Minister would got little thanks or
credit for it, it would be welcomed as a fortunate
solution of a difficulty which presses heavily upon
the national heart. The hollowness and heartlessness
of such an arrangement, if it could be come to, would
no doubt be acutely felt, and sternly reprobated by
individuals peculiarly sensitive to the national honour.
But the mass of the nation would take a different view
of it, and good-naturedly attribute the change in
Abd-el-Kader's intentions to precisely the last motive
that would be likely to influence him. And this
brings us to a trait of the French people, of which
the simplicity and bonhommie might indeed disarm
the most rigid criticism. They account for the
solicitude of the Government to get Abd-el-Kader to
Paris in a way which appears to them the most natural
possible. They say—their journals literally say for
them:—" Only get him to Paris, and the difficulty will
settle itself. Once in Paris, Abd -el. Kader will
know what France is, and never wish to live any-
where else. Once bring this Arab of the desert within
sight of the terrestial paradise and our most
deadly foe will become our firmest friend, or at least
our voluntary and contented guest." Was there
ever such a touching simplicity ? The Neapolitan
proverb is, " See Naples, and then die." The French
version of it ought to be—" See Paris, and then, if
you can, endure to live anywhere else." The hallu-
cinations, to this time, which are at present busy in
millions of French heads, may be taken as setting at
rest one question much debated of late. A people
who believe that the enmity of a man and a hero like
Abd-el-Kader could be mollified by a certain quan-
tum of Parisian amenities—to whom it seems quite
plausible that he should of his own accord prefer to
spend the rest of his life among those to whom he
and his eov,e owe their ruin —are obviously quite
ignoram, um. -.I ‘•
Lord Ellesmere must have been wholly mistaken in
attributing to them any feelings of national jealousy
and hereditary hate and revenge, either towards the
English, or towards any other people.

FIRE ON BOARD THE VICEROY
STEAMER, AND GALLANT CONDUCT OF
TWO OF HER MEN.
Extract of a letter dated Stranraer, Jan. 19, 1848,
received at Lloyd's :
" The steamer reported so hurriedly last night as
being on fire, was the Viceroy, from Glasgow to
Dublin with goods and passengers. When abreast of
Cornwall, the ceiling of the cabin got ignited from the
over. heating of the stove pipe, and in an inconceivably
short time, the whole cabin was in flames, and before
it was got under, all abaft the aftermast bulkhead
was totally consumed With the cabin furniture of all
sorts, and a good deal of the passengers' luggage ;
indeed, some of them lost all that they had. The
passengers are all of opinion, that they owe their
safety to the gallant conduct of two brave fellows who
stuck to the wheel in the midst of the flames, until
they were severely burnt. I trust such heroism and
devotion to duty will not go unrewarded, as was the
case of the helmsman of the Clydesdale,* who wag
crippled for life in a similar state, and who ultimately
died a beggar in the streets of Glasgow, to the ever-
lasting disgrace of Scotchmen.
" The captain; and all hands are represented as
having done their duty well, in which they were ably
assisted by the gentlemen cabin passengers, includ-
ing all on board except some few half-starved Irish
deck passengers, who refused to do anything.
" The Viceroy has left for the Clyde. The day is
very fine, and no doubt she will arrive safe. Had
she not been an iron vessel, all would have been over
with her, and probably many of the passengers would
have gone with her. The late regulation as to boats
is a mere farce—they have no doubt the stipulate"
number, but what is their size ? This vessel had
not boats to carry, with any safety, one-half of the
crew and passengers on board."

* The act of self• devotion, above briefly alluded to
by the writer, was one of surpassing gallantry, forti-
tude, and self-sacrifice. The person spoken of was, we
believe, a Clyde pilot, who, half-burnt to a cinder in
several parts of his person, his eye-sight almost gone,
yet nobly risked his own life to save the lives of those
on board. This he effected, but was maimed for life.
A subscription in his behalf was got up by some persons
in Scotland, who appreciated his bravery and lamented
the sacrifice, but it met with but partial success, and the
amount was insufficient to maintain him with the com-
mon necessaries of life.

Jiwisu FORBEARANCL—In 1569, Don Joseph,
who held a prominent employment at the Court of Con-
stantinople, denounced one of his co-religionists, who
had robbed aid betrayed him. The culprit fled, but the
community outlawed him, and the synod of Rabbins ex-
communicated him. Some years afterwards the outcast,
a prey to repentance, sought Don Joseph, who pardoned
him ; but the religious tribunal would not revoke the
interdict, nor sanction his return to the synagogue. He
then addressed himself to Rabbi Judah Algasy, whose
talents and character commanded universal respect.
This worthy Rabbi thus wrote to the Beth-din (religious
tribinal):—" My dear brethren;a contrite and repentant
sinner claims my support and influence with you; and I
hasten to grant it to him, for it is painful to think that
the condemned must remain all his life riveted to the
chains of banishment. It is indeed too cruel to say to
this man that his plague is incurable, and that his suffer-
ings can only cease with his life. Besides, this would
be excluding from the repentant all hope of return, and
constraining sinners :to persevere in the path of evil.
Ministers of a merciful God weep for those who fall into
the abyss of sin, and are there engulphed; and we should
never refuse a hand to those who seek to escape. Re-
pentance is a second innocence, which is entitled to the
acceptance of man, and meets the pardon of God." The
members of the sacred synod understood the noble lesson
embodied in these words, and annulled their decree.—
Bee Levi's 7'ales.
THB DETACHED FORTS FOR THE CONTROL OF
PARIS.—The Courrier de la &Ohs contains the follow-
ing on the armament of the forts of Paris :—" The
forts of Charenton, Nogent, and St. Denis have directly
received their materiel of artillery, from Rennes, and no
portion of it has been conveyed to Bourges. A few days
ago, four waggons laden with gun carriages and wheels,
for the fortification of Paris, passed through our town.
The National de P Ouest positively affirms that the guns,
hitherto intended for the defence of the Atlantic coast,
had been carried to Paris. The northern journals have
likewise denounced the removal to Paris of numerous
pieces of artillerycast at Douai. There is not a single
direction of artillery, to our knowledge, that has not sup-
plied its contingent for the armament of the fortifications
of Paris, and, in presence of those facts of public noto-
riety, when there does not exist a single piece at Bourges,
a general officer, who had become popular by his fidelity
to Napoleon in exile, has presumed to declare, from
the tribune of the Chamber of Peers, that the law re-
specting the armament of the Parisian citadels has been
executed."

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 21.—A squadron of armed
steam-vessels, to consist of twelve of various sizes
and power, is ordered to be assembled at Portsmouth
and kept ready for service. They are each to have
two engineers, six stokers, and ten seamen, with the
usual warrant officers, on hoard. An inspector of
steam machinery afloat is to be appointed to keep the
engines, &c., in order, and it is expected that Com-
mander Starmer, who brought
,the llecla to England
from the Mediterranean, will be the naval officer
placed in charge of them, and will communicate with
the Commander in-Chief and other official persons as
to what may be required to keep them in efficient
order. It appears these twelve steamers are to be sent
round from Woolwich and Sheerness, and are in ad-
dition to the Centaur, Cyclops, Gorgon, Retribution,
and others, now in the port.
Her Majesty's brigs Sappho and Orestes are to be
got ready for service. They will be completed by
the dockyard artificers in a few days, and join the
other experimental vessels to be commissioned in
February.
The Prince Regent, 90, Captain W. F. Martin, is
vedrs. y Her sparsgetting her topsail yards across alongside the jetty,
but her progress is necessarily
slowandla
and
ous for want of sufficient hand-
rigging are equal in size to those of a 120 gun-ship.
nt
ste commencewart
E
p rigginghi n et onteo,
The Britannia, 120, was taken into the basin to-
-msaoirlerdow.
willdayTheandlou yesterday
for Van Diemen's Land with " free settlers" from
the hulks. •

The Firefly steam-sloop, Lieutenant-Commander
Ponsonby, is alongside the dockyard fitting for ser-
vice on the coast of Africa. She has received a
mizenmast, but, as she is but a small vessel, and no
alteration has been made in the disposition of her
mainmast, the effect is the extreme of unsightliness.
The Sharpshooter, iron screw steam-vessel of 200
horse power, built on the design of Mr. Fincham, the
master shipwright of this dockyard, is alongside the
Pitt hulk, ready rigged as a brigantine, and apparently
only in want of officers and men to be ready for a
commissioned trial.
The Leander, 50, just finished building on the
design of Mr. Blake, late master shipwright of this
dockyard, is now ready for floating out of dock.
The third building slip under the galvanized iron
roofing is now ready for use, and the dock adjoining
is progressing very fairly towards completion.
The Plumper, auxiliary screw-sloop, is very
rapidly proceeding towards readiness for launching.
The Arrogant, 46, auxiliary screw-frigate, remains
alongside the above in stain quo.
The Princess Royal, 90, is again assuming the ap-
pearance of an intended ship. Her midship frame
timbers are up again, and she is otherwise getting on,
evidently with an intention of perfecting her this
time.

The Royal Frederick, 110, alongside of the above,
appears ready for launching.
In Harbour—The' Victory, 104, flagship of Ad-
miral Sir Charles Ogle, Bart., Commander-in-Chief,
in want of a few hands • the Excellent, gunnery-ship,
Captain Chads, C.B , also in want of men ; the Royal
yacht Victoria and Albert, Captain Lord Adolphus
Fitzclarence, G.C.8.; the Prince Regent, 90, Capt.
Martin, fitting for sea ; the Blenheim, screw steam-
guardship, 56, Captain Yates, also fitting, or refitting
for service; the Firefly steam-sloop, Lieutenant-
Commander Ponsonby ; the Fire Queen, steam-
yacht, Acting Master Commander Allen (pro tern.);
and the Echo, tug.
In Dock—The Ajax, 56, steam-guardship, re-
ceiving her machinery, and fitting for commission ;
the Leander, 50, finished building; the Orestes, 18,
refitting; the Sappho, 16, ditto; the Fairy, royal
yacht, to receive new boilers, &c. ; the Undine, to
receive new tubes to her boilers, new funnel, new
composition on her bottom, &c.; and the Dee, stu-
dents' steam-vessel, for sundry improvements.
In the Basin—The Britannia, 120, to be rigged ;
the Retribution, steam-frigate, of 800 horse-power,
to be rigged as an advanced steamer, ready for service
on short notice ; the Kite, steam-vessel, Acting
Master Commander Balliston, being fitted as a tug for
service at Bermuda dockyard; the Swallow and Rocket,
steamers.

At Spittle2d—The Stromboli steam-sloop, Com-
manderthe Right Hon. Lord Amelius Beauclerk,
awaiting sailing orders.
On the Stocks—The Princess Royal, 90 ; the
Royal Frederick, 110; the Arrogant, 4G; and the
PlumEer,
sa IllOuciatc ULCGIpo,
weather.—Five o'clock, p.m.
CHATHAM, JAW. 21.—The Triton, steam-packet,
is completed; she was finished painting yesterday,
and goes out of dock on Saturday, the 22d inst., when
the Banshee will be taken in to be coppered and fitted
for service. It is proposed to make some alterations
forward. Her figure-head is removed.
The Sealark, 10 guns, Commander Monypenny,
was to have sailed on the 24th inst., but, owing to
some alterations required, she will remain some days

longer at this port:
The Hercules, store-ship, is ready to go out of
dock; her bottom has been newly coppered, and the
coppering was completed yesterday.
The Hermes, steam-sloop, is completed in every
department, and she is quite ready for being commis-
sioned.
The Goodwill, Pledge master, sailed on the 20th
instant, with stores for the Woolwich and Deptford
yards.
A court-martial has been held on board the Poic-
tiers, ordinary guard-ship, at this port, of which Cap-
tain-Superintendent Price, of the Ganges, was presi-
dent, and ➢ir. George Essell, solicitor, of Rochester,
deputy judge-advocate, for the trial of Henry Buck-
stad, an able seaman belonging to the Ocean, for
desertion ; and, evidence having been given of a
former desertion against the prisoner, the Court found
him guilty, and sentenced him to twelve weeks im-
prisonment with hard labour, the two last weeks to
be solitary.