The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-11 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

Her Royal Highness. the Duchess of Kent visited the
Queen and Prince Albert yesterday, at Buckingham
Palace.

Lord John ttussell had an audience of her Majesty
yesterday.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert rode out on horse •
back yesterday, attended by his Equerry in Waiting,
Colonel Boururie.

Their Royal Highnesses. Prince Alfred, the Princess
Royal, and the Princess Alice, took walking and pony
exercise yesterday.
Lady Carolina Cocks and the lion. Miss lierr hare
succeeded the lion. Miss Murray and the Hon. Miss
Macdonald as the Maids of Honour in Waiting to the
Queen.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Gloucester visited
their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cam-
bridge yesterday, at Cambridge House.
Mr. George La Touche had au interview with the
Right lion. Labouchere, yesterday, at the office of
the Board of Trade.

The Commission for promoting and encouraging the
Fine Arts in rebuilding the Palace of Westminster, had
a meeting yesterday afternoon, at the new Palace. The
Commissioners present were, the Marquis of Lansdowne,
the Earl of Aberdeen, Viscount Canning, ViFcount Ma-
hon, the Hight lion. Sir James Graham, Sir Hubert H.
Inglis, and Mr. Wyse. The secretary-Air. Eastlake, was
in attendance.

Sir Henry Hallord had an interview with the Right
lion. T. Milner Gibson yesterday, at the Office of the
Buard of Trade.

Lord de Tabley had an interview with Sir George
Grey, yesterday, at the Home•office. The Lord Mayor
had also an interview with the Right Hon. Baronet yes-
terday.
The Rev. Dr. Hughes, Vicar Apostolic of Gibraltar,
had an interview with Earl Grey yesterday, at the Colo-
nial• office.

Lord John Russell arrived in town yesterday from St.
Leonard's, Hastings.
A deputation, including Mr. Spearman, M.P., and Mr.
Headlam, M.P., had an interview with the Right Hon. T.
Milner Gibson.

Lord Kinnaird had an interview with the Right Hon.
E. Strutt yesterday, at the Office of the Commissioners
of Railways.
Dispatches were sent off yesterday evening from the
Colonial office for the Governors of the North American
Provinces.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
BETTING AT MANCHESTER.—FRIDAY. -
The only bet laid to day was 500 to 25 asst Swiss
Boy and Flatcweber for the Derby.
DONCASTER STEEPLECHASE.—FRIDAY.
The Handicap of 15 sous. each 100 added. Four miles.
Mr. Crawford's Father Mathew, list 41b 1
Mr. F. Browne nd Dubious, lOst 61b
Mr. Stockdale's Ariel, 9st 121 b 3
Hawksworth, Telegraph, and Fanny also ran. A fine
race with three, won by half a length.
The Union Hunt Stakes of 10 sous. each, 5 ft, and 50

added. Four miles.
NI r. Godson's Dunscroft, syt s ... (G. Moorhouse) 1
Mr. M. Waring's The I.3anler

tion.Captain ilawku'sßrighton Bill

Ur. Andrew's The Ur.l-no'wn

Won by a neck.
The Farmers' Race was won by Buttercup; the
Hurdle Race by Chintz Print; and the Selling Stakes by
Gamin.
DRIFFIELD STEEPLE CHASE.--L-WEDIgEsDaY.
Sweepstake of 5 sous. each, with 50 added ; four yrs
old, lOst 61b ; five, Ilst 41b ; six and aged, 12st.
Four miles.

C‘tptain Reynard's b m Blue Bonnet, aged (Wilson) 1
Mr. C. Reynard's b h Vapour, aged .., ... 2
Mr. J. Lamplugh ns County Member ... ... 3
Mr. R. Rowley ns Reform, aged (31b over) ... 0
Mr. U. Lanabtres Scandal, 6 yrs, 12st ... 0

Mr. Burkhill ns Esperanee, aged, 123 t 0
Captain Broadley ns Otteringham 0
Mr. J. Wilson's br g Ragman, aged, 12st 0
Mr. Collinson ns 11:dnight, 6 yrs, 12st ... 0
Mr. J. Simpson's b h Aggravator, aged .. 0
Mr. Bowman ns bk h Erebus, aged, 12st 51b ...
Won easy by six lengths.

LEAMINGTON ANNUAL STEEPLECHASE.
Acceptances for the Annual Handicap of 25 boys each.
Mr. Lockhart Little's br h Chandler, 12st 71b—Mr. T.
Oliver ns The Curate, last—Lord Strathmore's St.Le'ver,
llst 71b—Mr. R. Jones's b g Wolverhampton, 1 lst7lb
—Mr. I. E Madock's b g Proceed, 1 Ist 41b—Mr. G.
Barry's Sir Arthur, list 41b—Mr. J. Messer ns
Switcher, list—Mr. J. Elmore's The British Yeoman,
11 st—Mr. J S. Moseley's b g Jerry, 103 t 121b—Mr.
Storey us b g Standard Guard, 6 yrs (h b), 103 t 121 b
Mr. W. S. Crawford's Father Mathew, 103 t 121b—Mr.
Captain Thompson's b g Abd el-Bader, 103 t 101b—Mr.
R Clifton's br h Edward the First, lOst 81b —Colonel
Arthur's b h Irish Bard, lOst 71b—Mr. J. Tilbury ns
Khondooz, 103 t 71b—Mr. R. B. Kennedy's ch g Fortune
Teller, lOst 41b—Mr. C. Bevill's Alexander, lOst 211)—
Mr. J. Elmore's Gazeley, lost—Mr. W. Hope John-
stone's Rough and Ready, 9st 121b—Mr. D. M. Arbuth
not's ch g Eagle, 9st 121b—Mr. I. E. Madock's b g Re•
pealer, 9st 121b—Captain W. Peel ns The Doctor,
9st 121b—Captain Barnett's br m Maid of Athens,
9st 101b—Mr. W. H. Cooper ns cb g Israelite, by Bel-
shazzar, 9st 101b—Mr. T. Westley's ch F Gayburst,
9st 101b—Mr. 1). Monte Arbuthnot's ch g The Urchin,
9rt 81b—Mr. I. Day's b m Sparta, 9st 31b—Mr. F.
Wilson ns Naworth, 9st 81b—Mr. E. H. Clarke's br g
Leo, 91t 81b—Mr. W. Holman ns ch g Pembroke,
9st 81b—Mr. E. Cary's Blue Bell, 9st.

FALMOUTH, MARCH. 9.—The Dutch man of-war
steamer Phanaix, from Holland, bound to Madeira and
the Mediterranean, put in here this morning for a sup-
ply of fuel. The Peninsular and Qriental Company's
steam-packet Euzine, Captain Wilson, put in also for
fuel, having left Malta on the 26th February, and Gib-
raltr on March 3. She has a foul bill of health, and
did not land her mails here, not receiving pratique. The
Ripon steamer was at Gibraltar on the 2d inst., and left
on the 3d for Malta. The Sultan was spoken off Cape
Badd on the 18th ult.
Eastern Union Railway, now fifty miles being
amalgamated with the Ipswich and Bury Railway.—
Traffic for the week, February 27, 1848, 1,0211. 19s. 3d.;
ditto, February 28, 1847,-7471. 19s.

Althoue6h the Government have not, as yet, given any
•
intimation as to the extat of the change in the naviga-
tion laws which they intend submitting to Parliament,
bowpee,i
nicniaonni,tssa t alt
onfattihiereve events, assume,
exnattie.from
Ministers,
the
that
sgeneralchange political
li twi
Thence it becomes important to consider whether
there be any peculiar grievance affecting the ship-
owner, even under the present state of the law ; for, if
there be, justice imperatively calls for its removal before
the introduction of any new measure bearing upon the
interests of the merchant navy.
The lax imposed upon the shipowners, for the main
tenance of light-houses, we proclaim to be a grievance
of the most oppressive description. 'Unjust in principle,
and harassing in operation, it is, in addition, wasteful,
inconsistent, and absurd in application. The ship-
owner might complain, and justly, that he alone is select-
ed to bear the cost of an advantage by which the whole
nation is benefited, that he bears this cost to the serious
ernbarassment of his honest efibrts of industry, and that
his case is almost an exception amongst the maritime
powers of the world ; all this he might possibly have
borne, but he catasot, and will not longer tolerate that
the hardly-earned fruits of his labour be entrusted
to the management, and for the benefit of
an irresponsible, self-elected corporation. The
ship .owners of this great kingdom are mulcted, that the
coffers of the Trinity:House may be filled to overflow-
iug! Is it to be endured that any corporation should
have the power of exacting from an important class of
the community a sum of money four times larger than
is required for the purpose for which the tax is levied?
Out of the sum of 312,0001. exacted by the Trinity
House in the year 1845, for the maintenance of light-
houses only 85,000/. was, in fact, expended upon that
object! And when the pillaged shipowner asks, with
reasonable. wonde , what became of the enormous stir
i-
'`Ott, he maYhe`eb` taint With-the preaump-
r s dictum, of the deputy-master of the Trinity House,
who declared to a Committee of the House of Commons,
' that " the light-house rates are as much the property
of the corporation as a freehold estate, and that not even.
the Parliament has a right to interfere in the manage-
ment of them." It is idle and prepoverous to answer,
that the surplus has been applied to " charitable and
other purposes." Why should any self-elected corpora-
tion have the right of dispensing the charities of the
shipowners of England? Why should the shipowner be
compelled to pay one single shilling in the blind confi-
dence that it shall be properly administered? Where
is the necessity, where the propriety of such a compli-
cated machinery of benevolence? The shipowner, ac-
knowledging and supporting as he has ever done the
sacred claims of charity, refuses to accept the Trinity
House as his almoner. Assuredly, even on the supposi-
tion—we think an untenable one—that the shipowner
should be subjected to any tax whatever for the advan-
tages afforded by light-houses, it is impossible that this
age can longer tolerate its administration, as at present,
by a board constituted as is the Trinity House.
Pat, in reality, the tax of the light dues should be
abolissicd totally. The removal of this burdens from a
class is ea led for as a further development of that gene-
ral palmy of relaxation allied), ensures the prosperi:y of
the Haire nation; but it is still more imperatively called
fur as an act of simple justice—the strongest of all ap-
peals with Englishmen. It is unjust that the establish-
ment of light-houses, which, by securing directly the
safety of the :lipping, secures thereby the safe trans-
mission of the nation's property, the nation's commerce,
and the nation's wealth, and thus becomes directly a
national benefit, should, notwithstanding, be supported
at the expense of one particular class.
It would be easy to enumerate special circumstances
by which this grievance is aggravated; the embarrass-
ment, for instance, in which it involves the operations of
the coastiag trade, already so much crippled by the com-
petition of railways; the partiality of exempting every
other description of vessels from payment of the tax, and
imposing it solely upon the merchant navy; the restric-
tion which fetters commerce in cases wherein the light,
dues may exceed the freight; these and many other par-
ticulars %%hie!' characterise this tax in its operation,
might well be urged in support of its abrogation, even
were the principle of the tax itself defensible.
But the shipowners of England require not to rest
their claim for relief upon any such auxiliary support,
however strong. They stand upon the broad solid posi-
tion of just principle— their simple, 'strong appeal is—
the tax of the light dues is unjust, and therefore we are
entitled to its total abolition.