The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

If the language of the respectable part of the press
throughout the country may'be taken as an indication
of the state of public feeling, with regard to the coarse
abuse in which the Times daily indulges against Lord
Brougham, we may say, without hesitation, that the
people are everywhere disgusted with our contempo-
rary. There is not one liberal paper of character which
has approved of the conduct of the Times. We have
made a few extracts from the papers received on Mon-
day and yesterday, from which it will be seen that in
Aberdeen and Inverness measures have already
been adopted by the Reformers for expressing, in
a public manner, their high sense of the merits of
Lord Brougham as a statesman ; and that at
Edinburgh and other great towns the example is
about to be followed. We were sure that the
malice of the Times would defeat itself ; that the
Reformers throughout the Country, so far from
witnessing with pleasure the attempts to run down a
man who has laboured so long and so successfully for
the good of his fellow-creatures, would be induced by
them to rally round him, and to prove, in an unequi-
vocal manner, the indignation which they feel against
his calumniators. The Times is cheered by some of
the Tory prints, and parades, with ostentation, day
after day, the high sense which the Albion entertains
of its merits as an assailant of Lord Brougham. Cob-
bett, too, rejoices that he has obtained the Times as
an ally in his warfare against Lord Brougham and im-
provement. The more respectable Tory journals,
while they do not dissemble their dislike to Lord
Brougham for the very qualities which ought to endear
him to Reformers, are not so much taken with the aban-
donment of the liberal cause by the Times, as to
entertain any other feelingihan that of disgust for the
conduct of that paper. "in manner, in temper, and
in talents (says the Morning Post of 114nday last)
Mr. Brougham at the bar, or in the arena of the Re-
formed House of Commons, possessed every requisite
that could render him valuable to his party ; his very
faults had merit ;" but then, it seems in the House of
Lords, he is in the habitual violation of all conven-
tional courtesy. But our contemporary admits that
" so long as the Morning Chronicle shall merely affirm
the ferocity and wickedness,' the unprincipled ver-
satility,", the utter recklessness of principle,' the
sordid selfishness,' and utter disregard of all decency,'
of the Leading Journal,' we are inclined to believe
that but few will dispute the correctness of the Morn-
ing Chronicle's conclusions." The Times is very
sore at some attacks in The Companion to
the Newspaper. "It is no doubt necessary
(says the Times) that the Chancellor's news-
paper that is to be, when he has repealed the
stamp duties, to open the way for it in his penny
machines, should be handsomely puffed, and that all
existing publications should he discontinued to pre-
pare the field for its success ; but we hold it not ho-
nest that. this necessary, though dirty work, should
be done at the expense of the public. What would
be thought of men who receive their hundreds a-year
for the supposed application of their time and industry
to the 'public service, were seen chalking the walls
with Down with the Times,' and 'read Brougham's
penny trumpet ?' And how does this case differ in
any essential from the more stupid elaboration of the
same advice in a paper under the Superintendence
of the Society for the diffusion of Political Know-
ledge ?" We do not wonder that our contemporary
does not feel quite easy under the lash of the powerful
writer who has so well described its nature and
its impotence in The Companion to the Newspaper.
" The ignorance and the imbecility of certain news-
papers (says this publication)—then packed opinions
and their personal animosities—their sudden loves and
virulent hatreds—their utter contempt for consistency
in their prejudices—are no proof to us that the public
mind is not advancing in the knowledge of political
principles. The people are beginning to value their
facts, while they despise their opznions.' The writer
takes the Poor Laws Amendment Bill as a case in
point. The Times laboured under the hallucination
that it could write down the measure, just as it suppo-
ses that it has made Henry Brougham a great man,
and that it can by railing destroy him. "We have
already seen (he says) what powerful effects have been
produced in the instance of the amendment of the
Poor Lawg, by the diffusion of the facts which
were necessary for a right understanding of the
complicated evils of pauperism, and of the principles
which showed how these evils were to be remedied.
Without this diffusion there would have been little or
no advancement in this particular case. The people
would have been unable to distinguish the statements
and reasonings of their instructed and judicious friends,
from the lies and fallacies of those who would use them
to sinister purposes, and from the equally pernicious
nonsense of, their weak and ignorant well-wishers.'
As it is, Parliament, with the consent and approbation
of the people, and in spite of clamour such as was
never before raised by those whose vocation it is to
make their believers rave instead of reason, has legis-
lated for the poor upon principles of political science.
The diffusion of the science has clearly,_ in this case,
removed the obstacles which prevented or retarded its
advancement."—This is touching a very sore part of
our contemporary. It was very inexcusable in
Members to disregard the advice of the Oracle of
Printing-house-square, and in Parliament to sup-
port Ministers by an overwhelming majority.
However, our contemporary would do well to
profit by some of the admonitions of the writer in the
Companion :—" Those (he says) who ought to be
the instructors of the people are far behind them.
They too often forget the deep responSibility of all
those who deal with the press, and shamefully cast
aW- restraints of honour and decency by which
the intercour, e--4 private life is regulated. What dif-
ference is there between a lie of the pen and a lie of
the tongue, except that the one is ii:flniteline
dangerous than the other ? It has been said- t tzi
murder makes a villain—millions a hero. Upon the
same principle is it that a printed lie goes by the gentle
name of a figure of speech—that a dirty scandal, well
circulated, is called a good joke—that foul langruage,
spread over ten thousand sheets, is eloquence—that the
daily threats of an anonymous bully are held for
courage ?" The Times will not lay the flattering
unction to its soul that this picture is not a good re-
semblance. So well are the features hit off, that the
writer had no occasion to name the Times, and he has
not once namel it. however, our contemporary seems
at once to have recognised himself.—Morning Chron.
In'Blacktvood's Magazine for September, there is
an elaborate article on the influence of the press, which,
if we are not very much mistaken, is from the pen of
the Rev. George Croly. The object of the article is
to show, that as there are more poor people than Lords
—and publishers of newspapers, like other venders,

must be anxious to please their customers—they will
advocate opinions acceptable to the mass of the people
rather than to Lords. " A great Conservative No-
bleman (he says) takes in, perhaps, three or four daily
papers, and that is the whole encouragement whiZli his
• 100,000/. a year gives to the Conservative Journals.
Sir Walter Scott took in one, and that was the limit
to his influence over the daily press. Ten radicals,
subscribing together, take in as many as the noble-
man, and five times as many as the Great Unknown
—that is, ten persons on the democratic side, whose
united income is probably not 500/. a year, neu-
tralize one Conservative, whose income is two
hundred times as great as all theirs put together, and
exceed four-fold that of the greatest genius in modern
times." As opinion governs the world, and newspa-
pers inspire the people with opinions unfavourable to
the Conservatives, it becomes necessary that the Con-
servatives should devise means for influencing the press.
A Vauban of Me Press is wanted, who shall devise
the means of organizing the powers of thought in all
effective and systematic manner, in defence of the Con-
servatives. Without money, however, there can be no
Vaubans, and no Conservative fortresses. " Durincr
the war (he says) each of the two services, military
and naval, in Great Britain, cost 15 millions annually ;
why, a hundredth part of that sum judiciously applied,
would buy up the whole press of London, and
turn the great majority of the national talent into

the defence of order and justice ;" i. e., into the
defence of the Conservatives. " Numbers now
retain the great majority of the pleaders on the
side of Democracy ; by a skilful direction of the
weight of property, the balance might soon be cast the
other way." There seems some little flaw here. It is
possible to buy up all the journals, no doubt ; but it
is not possible to buy up the readers also ; and new
papers would start up to supply the place of those sold
to the Conservatives. The writer has here a hit at
the Times. " The extraordinary and unblushing
effrontery with which many of the leading democratic
journals of the country abandon their principles, and
veer about with all the almost daily fluctuations and
caprice of
~public opinion, sufficiently demonstrates
that its conductors for the most part consider it merely
as a trade, and would be perfectly willing, for an ade-
quate consideration, to turn it to any other purposes
which might present a more inviting aspect." But it
might not be safe for every newspaper to imitate the
Times. After all, the great desideratum, namely, to ob-
tain readers for conservative journals, remains to be dis-
covered. Mr. Croly, or whoever is the writer, has
some strange notions. " The advocates of education
(he says), overlooking all the dictates of experience,
deaf to all the revelations of religion, insensible to all
the conclusions of reason, uniformly asserted, that to
make the human mind virtuous it.was sufficient to
render it enlightened ; and that if the people were only
taught to read, there could be no doubt that they
would select only what would improve and elevate their
minds. But the inherent depravity of our nature has
speedily shown itself amidst these dreams of political
enthusiasts." Delighting only in evil, men are only
pleased to receive encouragement to do evil from news-
papers. Hence newspapers have an interest in cor-
rupting the people. This is proving a little too much.
How does it happen that both in this country and
America the most acceptable preachers are they who
inculcate a self-denial approaching to asceticism ?
How does it happen that the Press of this country is
much less licentious than it was twenty or thirty years
ago ? The writer is thus mktaken in supposing that
the great bulk of the labour of the manufacturer is
made for the higher ranks. "In every other depart-
ment," he says, " wealth can counterbalance, and more
than counterbalance, the influence of numbers ; but in

determining the character of the daily or periodical
press, it has no such power. The great bulk of the
labour of the manufacturer is made for the higher
ranks." We refer him to Mr. M'Culloch's Dic-

tionary of Commerce, or some other book of autho-
rity, which will show him that in all the great manufac-
tures of cotton, woollen, linen, iron, &c., the bulk of them
is for the great mass of the people.--Morn. Chronicle.
Without diving into the mysteries of Spanish finance,
which beat hollow the juggling contrivances of the
conjuror KATERFELTO, we may venture to suggest to
the Spanish financiers to try the simple plain course of
honesty, which will sooner lead them out of their diffi-
culties than the cleverest contrivances of a fraudulent
ingenuity, and will save them a great deal of trouble,
and their country a great deal of disgrace. Spain has
wealth enough to enable her to pay all her debts to
the full, if she has only the virtue to prefer a just and
honourable course to a dishonest one. If she would erect
an altar to liberty, let her erect it on the rock of politi-
cal rectitude—let her "be just and fear not." She
wants not wealth so much as character. Of the latter
she cannot afford to lose any, and she will certainly raise
her character in the eyes of Europe by paying her debts.
Why do her financiers and legislators perplex and en-
tangle the question of debt with political consideration?
Were not the debts of the Cortes, and those of the des-
potic Government, equally contracted upon the basis of
confidence in the national faith and national honour ?

In each case the existing Government bound itself
and the country to the payment of the moneys bor-
rowed on the terms contracted for. The country, as
well as the Government, had the benefit of those
moneys ; but it would he particularly base not to pay
all that is really due on the Cortes Bonds. The moneys
for which these bonds are the security were lent to
enable Spain to regenerate her Constitution, and to
take her stand in the attitude and power of freedom
among the nations of the earth. The attempt was un •
successful, not only because of the armed interference
of Bourbon despotism, but because of a sad deficiency
of wisdom, manly decision, and virtue, among the
leaders of the movement. Let her begin her present
work of political regeneration under better auspices—
under the auspices of those virtues which invest with
moral power and splendour the poorest nation, and
exalt the glory of the greatest. If the foundation of
the work of national reform be laid in national
fraud how can it prosper ? The project of Toreno
was a recommendation of fraudulent insolvency.
The British creditors should have spoken out
upon the subject ; they should have used the
language of men who had been deeply and
grievously wronged. But when they assembled lately
to state their case they, to use a vulgar expression,
minced the matter more like " mice in cheese" than
spoke in the language of Englishmen, who had long
neglected claims of justice to enforce, and upon whom
a gross fraud was to be practised. Some of those per-
sons who gave its tone to the meeting of milk-and-
water remonstrance would be exceedingly indignant
with a common swindler ; but swindling on a national
scale excited none of their gall and bitterness. They
enforced their claims, and wished others to do so, as

if they were soliciting favours—and were almost grate-
ful that they were not treated worse. They moved
and Carried a vote of thanks to Lord Palmerston, for
doing nothing for the creditors, and we wonder they
did not also propose a vote of thanks to Toreno for
doing all he could against them. Intemperance is one
thing, but manly decision and energy is another. The
great Greek orator would not believe a client who
came to complain of a serious injury, because he spoke
of it as man who did not believe it himself. Now, as
to Lord Palmerston, how did he earn the thanks of the
holders of the Spanish bonds ? Was it by entering
eta-the.Quadripartae treaty without making any stipu-
lation for Ilictr---payment ? Our Ministers broke
through the often-proclaimed principle of non-inter-
vention, to intermeddle in the internal disputes
of Spain touching the succession to the crown. Eng-
land had just as much right so to intermeddle as
France had to interfere in the question of succession
in this country between the House. of Stuart and that
of Hanover. But, having resolved on this obtrusive
intermeddling in 'a strictly national question, why did
not the Whig Ministers make it a condition of their
assistance to the " Liberals," or to the Government
of the Queen Regent, to obtain some terms for the
British creditors of Spain? Had Lord Palmerston
procured the insertion of such a stipulation in the
treaty he might, indeed, have been entitled to a vote
of thanks from the bondholders ; but as the ease
stands we must say that these bondholders have not
been more cheated by Spanish Statesmen than be-
trayed by our 'own. The French Minister, Admiral
de Rigny, is stated to have adopted a high and ener-
getic tone of remonstrance with the Spanish Ambas-
sador at Paris, and threatened to transmit him his
passports if justice be not done to the French cre-
ditors. If this be true, justice will be done them ;
but has Lord Palmerston done anything of the sort
for the English creditors ?—Morning Herald.
We resume the subject of the legacy duties, and
proceed to the proof of the general fall in the money
value of commodities. We will first, however, examine
into the effect of this change upon the accumulating
property of the country.
The annual average capital paying duty from
1820 to 1824 was £33,555,903
The annual expenditure of the country

Averige price of wheat
The average annual increase of property during this
period, was apparently checked, being only from
28,996,0001. to 33,550,0001., but the price of wheat
fell from 775. 11d. to 555. sd. ; the corn value, there-
fore, of the 33.5 millions, the price of wheat being 555.
was much greater than would have been, had wheat
remained at 78s. Computed in wheat the increase of
wealth beyond the previous five years would be as
29.9 to 46, instead of 29.9 to 33.5 according to the
return ; so that under these very unfavourable circum-
stances we find the energy of the country rising supe-
rior to the temporary difficulties under which it labour-
ed. The next period carries us through the bubble
years, viz., 1825 to 18291 The amount of capital

ggr I ) I
7 - • ;

wasted upon the schemes of 1824, 1825, and 1826,
has been variously stated, but twenty or thirty millions
is a low estimate. Let us again refer to the returns.
The annual average amount of capital paying
duty from 1825 to 1829 was £35,730,311
The average expenditure

Price of wheat' 60s. 11d.
Speculations, and various causes, prevented the
accumulation of wealth in this period, and if we com-
pare the value of the capital in corn as before, the
comparison will be still more unfavourable. Thus the
capital in the years 1819 to 1824, was 35.5 mil-
lions, and wheat 555. 5d.; but in 1825 to 1829, it
advanced to 35.7, and wheat 60s. 11d.,
making
real proportion in corn as 33.5 is to 31.2, instead" the
of
33.5. to 35.7. So that, in fact, there was no ac-
cumulation of wealth. But it is unnecessary to dwell
upon this period of misfortune ; let us rather reflect
upon the very extraordinary accumulation of wealth
which took place from 1805, when the capital upon
which duty was paid amounted only to 4,450,9341.,
asd compare it with the amount bequeathed in 1829,
viz., 39,667,277/. Let our readers recollect, also,
that the average expenditure during those twenty-four
years was above 58,000,0001., besides an expensive
machinery for the collection of loans ; let them also
mark the public men who have been, during this pe-
riod, predicting ruin and bankruptcy to the country—
such men knew not the resources of the country—
they knew not how to appreciate its industry and
energy. That the public has suffered from the waste
of public money, we are most willing to admit ; but
we contend, at the same time, that had not the re-
strictions upon trade been removed, had not monopo-
lies been gradually driven before the tide of sound
principles, the reduction of the expenditure of the
country would not alone have produced the results we
have stated. But let us examine 1831, 1832, and
1833, and we shall find stronger evidence of the sound-
ness of our conclusion.
The annual average amount of capital subject to
duty in the years 1831, 1832, and 1833 £41,613,778
The average annual expenditure 47,000,000
The average price of corn 58s.
The increase here is extraordinary, from 35,700,000
to 41,613,000, and the price of wheat a little lower
than in the previous five years To what is this rapid
increase of wealth to be attributed ? Can it depend
upon any cause but the impetus which has been given
to our commerce by the removal of restrictions, reduc-
tion of taxes, diminished expenditure, general good
government, and a confidence and satisfaction, in the
minds of the people generally, in the measures of the
Administration, and in the result of the further im-
provements which the same Cabinet promises to the
country ? How could a country prosper equally under
an administration fostering monopolies and a large ex-
penditure ? How could a country accumulate wealth when
its whole population were engaged in a determined at-
tempt to destroy boroughmongering influence, and
to obtain for themselves a more direct influence in the
government of the country ? But let us not be satis-
fied with these results. They only shew the mines of
wealth which will be opened by a still further exten-
sion of the principles of free trade. Let us not be
satisfied until we can buy of every country that which
it produces at the least cost and in the greatest abun-
dance. If we receive the produce of foreign countries,
something must be returned—no matter whether di-
rectly or indirectly, the result to England is the same.
Let not the progress of the pure principle of free trade
be retarded by the foolish notion that we ought to buy
only of countries who admit our manufactures. That
is not free trade. Buying of all who offer their pro-
duce cheap, must force a corresponding sale. It is
folly for England to refuse to buy in a cheap market,
because she cannot in that country sell particular
wares. It is a common mistake to consider payments
in gold as unprofitable to this country, and to look
upon such payments in a different light to payments
in manufactures. If we pay in gold, we must first buy
the gold. We have then, as well as the profit on our
manufactures, the profit on conveying the gold to
Europe, and supplying the various markets. It matters
not how we pay for goods, but it does matter that we
buy every thing we want at the lowest possible price.—
Morning Advertiser.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOUSE.

John Card, who was about a month ago brought before
the LORD MAYOR, charged with having appropriated
several sums of money, the property of his employer, Mr.
Edmunds, a silk and crape manufacturer, of Milk-street,
was finally examined.
It was stated that the prisoner complicated the accounts
by paying in smaller sums than he received, and for some
time supplying the deficiencies thus made from the accounts
paid to him in liquidation of other accounts.
Mr. Adolphus and Mr. Ashurst attended for the prose-
cutor, and Mr. Humphreys for the prisoner.
The unfortunate man has a large family, and was much
respected before this charge was brought against him.
The witnesses were, after Mr. Hobler read over the de-
positions, bound over to give evidence at the Old Bailey,
and the prisoner was fully committed for trial.
A woman of miserable appearance, named Ann Gregson,
appeared upon an information filed against her by the Soli-
citor of the Customs, for having harboured a quantity of
smuggled tea, tobacco, brandy, and cigars.
She pleaded that, although she had let the goods into
the house, she did not know what might be the conse-
quence. Her husband was jointly prosecuted, but did not
appear.
An officer of the Customs having gone to No. 2, Bark-
ing Churchyard, in consequence of intelligence which he
had received saw the female defendant, and told her what
he was, and that he wanted to search the hause. He found
in one of the rooms the articles specified in the information,
and seized them, and she begged that he would not deprive
her of them, as it was the only way she had of getting a
shilling, and she did it unknown to her husband.
The LORD MAYOR—Was her husband in the house at
the time? The witness answered in the negative.
The Solicitor to the Defendant submitted that the infor-
mation was not available, as it charged the husband and
wife conjointly with having harboured the contraband goods.
Now the husband was not present, and in the appeal wade
to the officer the woman stated that her husband was igno-
rant of the matter. In the case of the " King against
Ransdill," in which it was dedided that smuggled spirits
were found in the house in the absence of the husband, the
judgment of the Magistrates was quashed in the King's
Bench. Under the 83d section of the Act the Customs
had the power of convicting a married woman, and upon
that section they ought to have prosecuted, but the defen-
dant not having been proceeded against under that section
the charge was not tenable.
The Solicitor to the Customs said it was every-day prac-
tice to pro'secute husband and wife conjointly, although the
former might have been absent when the seizure was made.
The Loan MAYOR could not imagine how, because one
party was absent, it was therefore to be presumed the other
party was innocent.
Mr. Hobler observed that the woman made herself a
femme sole by her own statement, and was not improperly
or informally prosecuted.
The LORD MAYOR—I hope it is not the intention to
proceed against the husband.
The Solicitor for the Customs sa'd it was not, and that
the Board were willing to, accept of one-fourth of the pe-
nalty, 10/.
The LORD MAYOR then convicted the woman, and the
goods were of course condemned.
Another person was convicted in the penalty of 61. 10g.,
being one-fourth of the fine to which the Customs were
entitled, for having in his possession a quantity of smuggled
tobacco and cigars.
The contraband trade, it appears, is carried on to a great
extent, with the assistance of the numberless steamers which
come into the port of London daily.
A ticket-porter named Browning, was charged by a gen-
tleman named Arundel. The case was one of public interest.
Mr. Arundel had employed the defendant to take some
luggage from the Hull steamer across the gangway to the
Custom-house Stairs. The time occupied could not have
exceeded five minutes, and witness offered to the defendant
a dshilling,iete butly
handedth e latter
t e
him.demanded
AAs the
tfourhe
ds he
ei sings,
appeared as , which were
immegross imposition, witness determined, for the sake of the
public, to inquire into it.
The LORD MAYOR--I suppose the fare you had to pay
from Hull, 173 miles distant, was five shillings.
Mr. Arundel—Exactly. The ticket-porter seemed sur-
prised when I offered him the shilling, and told me that I
did not understand the nature of the case, for that he was
entitled to fourpence for each package ; but, he must have
called a cloak, and a parasol and a reticule a package to
make out his demand, and these articles could scarcely have
been meant as packages to be charged by the Legislature.
The Lord Mayor said that the ticket porters could
charge fourpence for each box or bag they carried, but it
was ridiculous to put such a construction upon the Act as
to say it comprehended every little article.
The defendant said that he had been obliged to get a
person to assist him ; that he had not charged sufficiently

,
, Ei 1E lv 1834

,—(Laughter)—and he gave a description of the herculean
labour he bestowed upon the job, which was greatly in-
creased by the obligation upon hint to call a coach.
A. Ruler of the Ticket Porters' Company---My Lord, if
this man has overcharged he can be punished by our Court.
But he an't overcharged. He has undercharged.
The LORD MA-Yon—Then his conduct ought to be pub-
licly noticed, for be is the only ticket porter that ever under-
charged.—(Laughter.)
Another Ruler—lt is, you see, my Lord, in contempola-
tion to make a halteration in this matter ; but, my Lord,
until the halteration as in contempolation is made, why the
things must remain as they be.—( Laughter.)
The LORD MAYOR—No doubt of it, Sir. You have a
very clear notion of the business. However, whatever may
be the opinion of the rulers, it never was in contemplation
to charge the public at the rate you say, and it is very
likely; that the alteration in contemplation will convince the
ticket porters that they have been doing themselves no ser-
vice in the course they have pursued. It is not probable
that because a man is a ticket porter he will be considered
entitled to four shillings, when the business can be as well
done for eighteenpence by another person.
Several of the rulers stated that they were exercising
their right.
As Mr. Arundel's purpose was answered in publicly
complaining of the ticket porters' mode of charging, and as
the Chief Magistrate's condemnation of it was quite satis-
factory, that gentleman declined pursuing the case further.
One of the rulers observed, that if a ticket porter de-
manded fourpence for carrying an umbrella, or a cloak, or a
reticule, he was guilty of an offence for which he deserved
severe punishment.