The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-13 00:00:00

eiVnina attlt

LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY i 3, 1851.

The Commons met yesterday at Twelve, and resumed
the adjourned debate on the Papal aggression.
Mr. P. iIowARD denied that there had been any ag-
gression committed, and opposed the proposed measure,
because it wt. 43 a violation of the principles of religious
liberty. In his opinion the attempts which had been
mode to get up an anti-Pap.il agitation had signally

Mr. NA tr:En declared his: intention to stand by the
Act of 18.2'9, but stated that it was their duty to take care
that no eatthly power sly ul l control or get above the
Constitution of this country, and that therefore they
were bound to pass some such measure as thatnow
pror,osed, in order to put down Papal aggression. The
Pc pal aggressors cried out for civil and religious
ITherty, but what they meant by that was the practice
for themselves of unrestricted intolerance. The Hon.
and Learned Gentleman then proceeded to complain
th‘t Popery had been greatly encouraged in Ireland of
late years by the manner in which successive Govern-
ments had exercised their patronage in that country, and

concluded by declaring that there could be no doubt
but that Cardinal WISEMAN had violated the laws.
Mr. KEOGH denied that the Roman Catholics had
received more than a fair share of patronage in Ireland,
and declared that as a Catholic he should laugh to scorn
any Pope or priest who should attempt to interfere with
his allegiance to the Crown or his obedience to the law.
Ile taunted Lord JOHN RUSSELL with the declarations he
had made in 1845 and 1846, sad contended that the
POPE had every reason to believe that his appointment of
this hierarchy would not be disagreeable to the Govern-
ment.

Mr. C. ANSTEY opposed the extension of the Bill to
Ireland.

Mr. SPOONER supported the Bill, and hoped the Noble
Lord would carry out the principles enunciated in his
letter to the Bishop of DURHAM,

Colonel THOMPSON considered, after the declaration
of the organs of the Romish priesthood, that the time
had come when Protestantism must be put down by force
of arms, that some measure such as that before the
House ought to be adopted; ho regretted that it did
not go further.

Mr. IlumE considered this a measure of persecution,
and was sorry to find such a proposal emanating from
the Government.

Mr. OSWALD considered that no aggression had been
committed, and should oppose the measure.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, in reply, admitted that his pre-
sent conduct was inconsistent with his declarations in
1845 and 1846. At that period he had placed confidence
in the Roman ecclesiastics and in the POPE, and he
had since found that confidence misplaced. The POPE
could not have been misled by anything that occurred
in Rome during Lord MINTo's visit, for he (Lord J.
RUSSELL) had declared in his place in Parliament three
months after Lord MINTO had quitted Rome that the
Government would not consent to the erection of Roman
Catholic sees in this country.
Mr. FAGAN moved the adjournment of the debate.
Mr. LAWLESS, in seconding it, continued speaking
until Six o'clock, when the House adjourned.

To-morrow the annual Budget will be brought
before Parliament by the Right Honourable Baronet
the Chancellor of the Exchequer. A little patience,
and the hitherto hidden intentions of that Minister
will be known throughout the length and breadth of
the United Kingdom. It would, consequently, be
idle to indulge in any elaborated conjectures, and
worse than idle, absolutely ridiculous, to venture upon
any definite predictions. All we need do, is to wait.
Hopes, of course, may be entertained ; though the
disinclination (in one sense constitutional, but i❑ an-
other moat decidedly unconstitutional) shown by the fi-
nancial administrators of England to relieve the masses
from any tax that happens to be lucrative, is enough
of itself to diminish, if it does not actually extinguish,
such expectations. Besides which, Sir CHARLES
WOOD has so very frequently disappointed the
country, that it were preposterous to ,repose an im-
plicit confidence in his judgment or discretion. Yet,
with a most vivid, and even painful recollection of his
notorious Brick-dust Budget of 1850 weighing upon
us at this moment of suspense—we are, nevertheless,
sanguine that in the present memorable year, we
may witness the remission of one or two, at
the very least, of our most irksome imposts
through his interposition as the head of the financial
department. According to the interests of the dif-
ferent classes throughout the community, various
duties will be regarded as demanding a priority of
abolition. The farmer will look for the instant aban-
donment of the malt-tax ; the West Indian planter for
a decrease in the duty on ,coffee ; the grocer for the
diminution of the impost on tea; the publisher for
the remission of that on paper—and so on, among all
the branches of reform, and among all the sections of
the population. Whatever may be his personal pre-
dilections, it should be the care of the journalist, under
circumstances of this description, to select for pre-
ference in his lucubrations those particular fields for
improvement, the penetration into which would be
the best calculated to benefit the greatest number in
multitude, without any distinction of rank or class
whatever. Among such objects of financial innova-
tion two unquestionably occupy a position of para-
mount importance. Allusion is here made, of course,
to the necessity for the abandonment of the taxes im-
posed on windows and on advertisements.
Every individual, more or less, is interested in the
abolition of the latter impost, every one, more or less
resorting at some period, or under some contigency, to
the aid afforded to enterprise by advertisements. The
poorest and the wealthiest amongst us is accustomed
to this method of forwarding their wishes, either when
ministering to their necessities or their luxuries.
The opulent landowner and the impoverished artizan
alike have recourse at one titile or another to the ad-
vantage of proclaiming their wants to the world
through the mouthpiece of an advertisement. If one
is solicitous to barter an estate in Devonshire with a
view to purchase a property in the county of Middle-
sex ; if another is desirous of vending a particular
commodity, the excellences of which have not hitherto
been recognized; if one is for selling a favourite
race-horse, or for buying a yacht of the most ap-
proved construction, and the other is for obtaining a
situation either as a domestic servant or a handi-
craftsman—the advertisement is the trumpet em-
ployed to render their wishes audible to the miscel-
laneous crowd, and the means, consequently of
putting them in a fair way towards carrying out
their determinations. Every one, more or less, there-
fore, we repeat, is interested in the abrogation of the
law imposing a tax on advertisements. The
farmer, the grocer, the West Indian planter,
the publisher, the brewer, and the paper-
ruaker, the innkeeper and bookseller, are, in a
way, so to speak, equally interested in looking for-
ward to the ultimate removal of this very onerous
and ill-considered grievance. For the abandonment
of the advertisement duty, therefore, we are all of us
hopeful. Whatever may be decided upon in reference
to other imposts, that is universally allowed to be
altogether indefensible.
Equally unanimous are the people of this country
upon another, and yet more important subject of a
similar description. We speak of the tax on windows.
Yesterday, a monster meeting, convened at a very
short notice, in one of the largest structures in the
metropolis, attested the fervour with which the mul-

titude await the remission of this most iniquitous and
unjustifiable of all kinds of taxation. The veteran
advocate of its removal, the noble representative of
tle city of Bath, so long in the last mentioned
capacity, the colleague of Mr. ROEBUCK, was appro-
pri stely selected as the chairman of the demonstra-
tion. With the name of Viscount DuzicAN, the Anti-
Winduw-tax movement, has come at last in a great
measure to be identified. It was consequently, we say,
but right that he, of all men, should have been

chosen to occupy the post of honour upon this most in-
teresting occasion. Everything considered, moreover,
the meeting held on the 12th instant, in Drury-lane
Theatre, possesses not only an especial interest, but
a very peculiar significance. According to the as-
surance of one of the speakers on the stage platform,

the community may rely upon the abrogation of the
_ . _

Act inflicting this detested duty upon windows with
a feeling little less than that of absolute certainty.
" It is fully expected," said Mr. CHARLES LCSHING-

TON, " and I can almost stake my existence for it,
that on Friday next (namely, to-morrow) the Chan-

cellor of the Exchequer will announce the entire and
unconditional repeal of the tax on windows." Such

a repeal cannot, assuredly, be regarded as premature
in its character. Neither can the demand for it,

wade by the vast majority of the population, be
considered in any manner ill-timed with refer-
ence to the diminution of the amount of
the national revenue the surplus in the
Exchequer already exceeding the round sum of
3,000,0001. sterling. Beyond which, a very reasonable
but encouraging calculation has placed the probable
increase of this surplusage by an aditional 2,000,0001.,
in consequence of the extrordinary stimulus likely
to be given to trade in all its branches by the
rapi4ll7
approaching Exhibition of the Industry of all
NatrAs. With an actual surplus in hand of

3,000,000/., and a probable, we might almost say a
certsin, iocrease of that burplus by an additional
2,000,000/., it is surely but reasonable on the part of
the people to hope for the abandonment of such ter-
rible and now unnecessary burdens as the imposts
placed upon windows and on advertisements. As
was observed yesterday, very justly and very perti-
nently, the window-duty is a war tax, and as such it
ought most assuredly to have been long since re-
mitted. In demanding its removal from the present
advisers of her most Gracious MAJESTY, moreover, we
are only requiring from them the development
of that policy with which their political
creed is associated, the policy which, in fact,

placed in their hands the reins, and with them the re-
sponsibilities, of government. Need it be explicity
said, that the policy we speak of is the policy of free
trade ? Upon this consideration, let the community
listen to the emphatic language uttered yesterday by
Viscount DUNCAN. He insisted, among other things,
that the present Administration was bound in this
respect to carry out to the full the
liberal and free-trade principles which had resolved
them into a Cabinet and invested them with all the
prerogatives appertaining to the Ministerial possessors
of office. "We have a right," said the Noble Lord,
"to call upon such a Government not to stop short in
those principles, but to glee us free trade ix light and
air as well as in bread and provisions !" That bril-
liant and epigrammatic sentence should not speedily
be forgotten. In the event of any further delay in the
realization of our wishes in reference to the duty on
windows, it should be assumed as the watch-cry of
the movement. It should be inscribed as it were upon
the banners of the agitation, be adopted as the motto
for every pamphlet advocating the remission of the
impost, and emblazoned over the dais of the principal
table upon every future reform association. Let us
look forward, however, hopefully to the financial
statement about to be made by the Right Hon.
Baronet the Chancellor of the Exchequer, sanguine
that in it may be found the fulfilment of the predic-
tions of Mr. LUSHINGTON.