The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-03 00:00:00

leNZrs, but the neglect of giving such an ac -
knowledgment is not a very heavy charge against
the War-office. There is one public depart-
ment, which it is not necessary to name, in which
this courtesy of answering letters of every kind
has become notorious, but it is a singular fact
that scarcely one suggestion for the improvement
of the business of that department, although
politely acknowledged, has ever been acted upon.
Politeness like this might be dispensed with, as
a mere mockery. The Secretary who receives
twenty suggestions, of which five are good, and
puts the whole of them into the fire after he
has politely acknowledged the receipt of the
twenty, is not, to our mind, so much of the real
gentleman as he who leaves fifteen unanswered,
to acknowledge and adopt five which are worthy
of attention.

Nothing official has transpired as to the pro-
bable successor of Mr. GEORGE LAAII3, ene
of the Under Secretaries of State for the Home
Department, who died yesterday. There was
a meeting of several of the Members of the
Government at the Treasury this morning on

the subject.
It will, we conceive, be rather a difficult
task to fill up the vacancy caused by the
death of Mr. LAMB in a satisfactory man-
ner, as it is absolutely necessary that his suc-
cessor should not only be a man of ability, but
also have a seat._ in fgliament, f kuch.pa
man as Sir ROBERT PEEL, having a seat In
the House of Commons, were at the head
of the Home Department, it would be
of comparatively little importance whether
the Under Secretary were a good speaker, or
well acquainted with the Parliamentary duties
of an Under Secretary of State. As Lord
MELBOURNE, however, is a Member of
the Upper House, it is indispensable that
the Under-Secretary should be a Member of

the House of Commons, for otherwise the
Home Department would have no representa-
tive in that House, and there would be no
person acquainted with the business of that
department to answer the numerous questions put
by Members, and to take a share in the defence of
the Government. There are many able Members
of the House of Commons from among whom an
Under Secretary of State might be chosen, but
there are few who would insure their re-election,
after resigning their seats on the acceptance
of the office.

Next to the intolerable grievance of the Corn
Law, which, thank GOD, the exertions now
making by the people speedily promises to sweep
away,—next, we say, to this great iniquity,
comes the wrong done the people by the exist-

ing system of taxation. The amount levied 1
upon the population is not of itself excessive :
it is the manner in which it is levied that makes
it so severely felt. Divided equally as a
poll tax even, the sum which would be paid
by each individual would not in an indus-
trious community appear enormous ; but when
apportioned fairly upon the property of the
country, it would be absolutely as nothing.
Even our law makers, who have endeavoured
by their excise, their customs, their stamp, their
probate, their assessed and other taxes, to place
the burden of taxation upon the working part of
the population, would be gainers by a change
which should make their fixed property pay, as
it ought to do ; for at present more is lost by the
waste occasioned by the round about mode in
which the pockets of the people are picked,
than would pay the whole government of the
United States, aye, including the discharge of the
last instalment of its national debt.
We have been led to make these observations
by noticing the exertions which some enlightened
men are now making to rouse the public mind
to a comprehension of the importance of this
subject. Among other publications which have
been issued relating to it, is a twopenny pam-
phlet, entitled, " Property (not Income) the
only just Ground for Taxation." The principle
upon which the writer rests his arguments
should never be out of the mind of any Re-
former. He says—
" No axiom can be clearer than, Ist. That property
requires protection. 2d. That protection must be attended
with expense. 3d. That this expense should be deft ayed
in exact proportion to the property protected. This is
justice : no other mode of taxation can be so deemed."
In this it is impossible not to cuncur, and we
cannot doubt that ere long all " the difficulties"
in the way of arriving at this justice will be
removed. With respect to the amount which
might be raised by a Property Tax, the writer

says :
" Taking the whole property of the kingdom at five
thousand millions—which now would be a low estimate
—one penny in the pound would raise 20,533,333/. ;
twopence, 41,666,666/. ; threepence, 62,499,9991. Now
it is admitted on all hands that more than a third of usual
expenditure is paid in taxes. Then a third of 501. is
161. 13s. 4d. ; so that, at the highest poundage he would
be a gainer of 41. 3s. 4d. ; at the next, of Si 6s. Bd.;
and, should the first be found sufficient, of 121. 10s. But
a difference of opinion as to the required poundage, it is
obvious, can no wise affect the principle of taxation."
Without entering into the question of the
correctness of this calculation, it is clear that the
principle is unimpeachable, and another general
election must insure its advocates a majority in
a reformed Parliament.

The late Lord Stanhope had, or expressed, a
great contempt for lawyers. On one occasion he accounted
for this by saying that he had done what none of them
could boast of—read the whole of the statutes through.
The Archbishop of York, accompanied by
two of his daughters, has arrived from his residence, near
York, at his seat at Nuneharn Park, Oxford hire, to
which, since the family inheritance devolved to him by
the death of the last Earl Harcourt, he has made extensive
additions and improvements.
TREVELYAN.—We are requested to state
that the second edition of this new novel, by the Author
of .‘ A Marriage in High Life," revised and corrected, will
be ready for delivery on the 7th instant. Richard rent-
ley, New Burlington-street. Agents for Scotland, Messrs.
Bell and Bradfute, Edinburgh ; for Ireland, Mr. John
Cmßt
huoe
rdmo.
umin
i eii.ygu, Dublin.
ttoiie secure
United
e aOrd r
)K,cieonrpgs
copies,
Kingdom.
rh.eich should
all be
respectablei
Booksellers, and at all the principal Circulating Libraries
INcENDlAnism.—On Thursday last an oat-
rick on the estate of S. Salter, Esq., about two miles
from this town, was observed t
not been for the prompt and efficient
be on fire ; and had it
.assistance which was
most readily afforded by all the neighbours, the flames
rick. must have extended to another There is reason to
fear that this destruction was the act of
an incendiary...—
Dorset Chronicle.;