The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-23 00:00:00

Vitninn '&4PN 1
4

LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 23, 1851.

preparations have been made betimes, in various
directions, as preliminarise to the re-assembling of
Par m int. Several of these movements we have
already noticed in onr leading columns, others yet
demand from us a more explicit reference. Among
these latter ecarcoly one can Ise regarded as of more
universal interest to the community than the agitation
latterly re-excited by some enthusiastic Reformers
against the execrable window -tax, the tax imposed by
an unrighteous Legislature upon the free air and
light of heaven. Last evening a public meeting of
the influential parishioners of St. Giles and St.
George, Bloomsbury, was convened in the Music

Hall,- Store-street, for the purpose of adopting
NElyriptinspf the repeal of this most inequitable
ionate exaction. The meeting was
44- by B CAnnELL, Esq., M.P., and,
450 B. B.
- =l-414iiitihWpf his brother representattves were pre-
-4:! ..14t,,41Agtesior, much sympathy was evinced to-
----wards !,14*pject advocated by the originators of the
----,!.(1e6-)niii*On through letters transmitted from several
14.1 jitemiiii of tha House of Commons to the secr3tary.
G:0-:ip;.:uozs among those who thus indicated their
accordance with the feelings of tiaa meeting were such

men as Messrs. WILLIAMS and LUSH INGTON, Lord
DUDLEY COUTTS STUART, Sir BENJAMIN HALL, SiT
DE LACY EVANS, and Sir JAMES DETRE, ex-Lord
Mayor of London. Nothing could possibly be more
unanimous than the sentiments expressed by all
parties throughout the evening's transactions, ne
single reform out of the whole category of well-
known schemes far legislative improvement appealing
so directly or irresistibly to the judgments of the
miscellaneous population. Every man feels more or
less the reasonableness of the desired change, because
all of us in a greater or lesser degree experience the
severity of the infliction complained of. While some
may question the propriety of repealing the malt-tax,
and some even may doubt the necessity for abolishing
the detestable tax upon incor nos, scarcely
a single individual throughout the length and
breadth of the country can venture to affirm
that th duty levied upon windows is not most
grievous and intolerable. The inconvenience
resulting 'from the long continuance of this evil
has become at last too serious and perceptible to
admit of being passed over in any way as a matter of
indifference. We find it affecting not only the mode-
rate requirements of domestic architecture, but inter-
fering almost insurmountably with tl 3e carrying out
of any systematized reform of a sanitary character.
With the maintenance of the window-I we the arrange-
ment of any adequate scheme of ven tiled= appears
to be little short of being absolutely impracticable.
For the consequence of the tax in question is not
merely the exclusion of the dayligl at, but of the
free air in like manner. Hence it has, fallen out that
many thousands of our labouring p oor have been
compelled, through the costliness of v rindows, to live
habitually in actual as well as in mental darkness,
and to breathe, physically as well as morally, a vile
and pestilential atmosphere.

What is required, therefore, is the% immediate and
total abolition of the window-tax—n' )t its gradual,
but its immediate abolition—not its partial, hut its
total abolition. Upon this subject a sere must be no
compromise whatever. The ill does not admit of
being but half eradicated. We must either do all or
nothing, if we would effectually benefi t the population.
Hence we must not be told of house- taxes by way of
compensation, or of any other method of bolstering up
in a wrong direction the ricketty portion of the system
presided over by the Chancellor of tle Exchequer.
The window-tax must be repealed entirely, and the
deficit created thereby in the national income made up
in some other way than by a house-tsx. About this
there can be no hesitation in the minds of our more
experienced and reflective R?Sormers., Consequently
upon a consideration so very obvious we need not di-
late on any account whatever.

That we should have a peculiar satisfaction in ob-
serving the earnest agitation now !reeking throughout
the country, but especially within the boundaries of
the metropolis, cannot be matter of sur-
prise to our readers, seeing that they
will doubtless bear in mind how heartily
we have advocated during a succession of years the
abolition of a sg stem which seems to be at length
approaching its downfall. Remembering, moreover,
that within the last fortnight we called upon the more
sincere and practical Reformers of the United King-
dom to hold meetings in the chief parishes of the
land, and otherwise to re-animate the promoters of the
movement against the window-tax—eve have watched
with particular pleasure the ready response yielded
to that call by the speedy assembling together of the
promoters of the desired improvement. Las t evening's
discussion of the question must be regarded as not
the least remarkable that has taken place now
for a considerable period. Not, of course, but what
most of the arguments employed by the different
speakers have been already brought forward repeatedly
with a similar intention. Not but what scarcely
a statistical fact vas mentioned that had not been
reiterated very frequently before, 30 frequently in
some instances as to have rendered those facts almost
worn out and threadbare. But these same facts and
arguments, unanswerable under all circumstances,
ware placed last evening in a light so cogent and for-
cible as to withstand all possible opposition. After en-
largin g upon the iniquitous nature of the particular tax,
for the purpose of protesting against which the meeting
of yesterday was convened, Mr. WAILLET observed,
with very significant emphasis, that it would be just
as well to avail themselves of the present fervour with
a view to the carrying forward of other and yet larger
legislative improvements. He maintained, among other
things, that it would be ridiculous and contemptible to
rest satisfied with success in this one direction, and not
to endeavour to force the small end of the wedge of in-
novation in still further. If the Reformers continued
satisfied with a solitary triumph like the one here pro-
jected, they must, he insisted, be made of different stuff
from what might have been anticipated. "Why, if they
do," he exclaimed, if they do find themselves so very
easily satisfied in their hunger after improvement,
" they must be mere homeopathists in reform to be sa-
tisfied with such a globule." Such, however, we do
not at all regard as probable. A feeling has been
excited throughout the country such as cannot so
readily be appeased, a feeling of hatred towards that
most execrable, system of taxation which has at last,
we believe, been doomed to destruction by the grow-
ing enlightenment of the community.

It is scarcely worth while to attempt to conjecture
with any degree of preciseness the measures which
the Ministry have prepared to submit to Parliament
in reference to what is familiarly termed the Papal
aggression. The nation cannot now be much longer
kept in a state of suspense in respect to the course to
be adopted upon a subject in which it has so univer-
sally interested itself. In less than a fortnight the
Ministerial curtain must be drawn up in St. Stephen's,
and the views of the Governm,nt be unveiled to as
anxious an auditory as probably was ever assembled
in the House of Commons. But though the anxiety
will be intense to ascertain the result of the delibera-
tions of the responsible advisers of the Crown, yet,
I will Parliament approach the discussion of the
vexata ;cucestio with considerable advantages.
The pulse of the united empire has been felt through-
out. The wishes of the country could scarcely have
been more clearly ascertainektban they now are, if
there had been a special appeal made, and a new
Parliament convened expressly to legislate upon the
grave difficulties presented by the extraordinary pro-
ceedings of the Vatican. It is remarkable that at all
the meetings, clerical and lay, the proceedings have been
characterised by a moderation and an unanimity truly
astonishing. Considering the excitable nature of the
subject upon which they were convened to petition, and
the extent of the injury sought to be inflicted upon
the rights of the Crown, we should not have been
surprised had popular resentment pressed for the re-
vival of statutes of a severe and forbidding cha-
racter. It has proved otherwise. Whatever the
spirit of toleration has effected, in a consti-
tutional manner, for the religious welfare of the
community at large, they sought not to infringe
upon. They limited themselves to requiring
that the nature of the remedy to be devised should
not go beyond the necessity of the case; in a word,
tht Parliament should, by law, practically place
matters,
in regard to the public exercise of the Ro-
man Catholic faith, as they stood previous to the
celebrated apostolical letter of the Pore. Such, and
a
in so far as the civil part of the controversy was con-
cerned, was the moderate course which the people
were inclined to see pursued by the Legislature.
Every Member of either House ought, by this time,
to have his mind free from any oscillating opinion ;
at any rate, after the example set by the country, he
must be prepared to come to the senatorial debate in a
calm and dignified spirit.
Pius IX. seems, however, to be bent upon
forcing the British Senate to look to his hierarchy in
Ireland, as well as to that which he has recently set
up in England. A second
severing an ancient Roman Catholic diocese
Ire-
land, bull is come to light,
of
title of Bishop of Ross. Dr. Rana and appointing an additional •
PEromceayd.be a very
Bishop v, ith the
partworthy
of
the man, butop E wea
a denounce
breach o
ft this eintghisonthe
faiths with
passed,
Pro-
testant empire. Before the Relief Act Was
we were assured that we could always depend upon
the allegiance of the Roman Catholic Bishops, because
ops,
I they were always selected by the POPE from among
the three names submitted to him by the priesthood in
Ireland, who had themselves, subjects of the
British Crown, from their own body elected-
to recommend them as respectively eligible to fill
any vacant sea. In Dr. CULLEN'S case the POPE
broke through this principle, his HOLINESS wan-