The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-27 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JCURNALS.

Our paper of this day discloses the miracle,
so far, perhaps, as it is recdful to disclose it, of
the fabrication of Lord Grey's retirement. The
evening and Sunday papers were informing their
credulous readers that Mr. Ellice had stated the
fact of the retirement to Mr. Ross, M.P. for
Northampton, at the very moment when we and
others knew it from Mr. Ross's own acknow-
ledgment, that he had not spoken to Mr. Ellice,
nor Mr. Ellice to him, for more than half a
year ! However, let Mr. Ross have had the pre-
cious intelligence from whom he might, he con-
veyed it to Mr. Sergeant Ludlow, the town-clerk
of Bristol, now resident in London,—the town-
clerk to his principal, the Mayor,—and the
Mayor, by cry of bellman and placard on wall,
to all the town ;—a felicitous and splendid ter-
mination from an obscure and small beginning.
Still, who originated the report ? Yimporte ;
this is the end of it, and Lord Grey stiil retains
his office, and meditates future reforms. But
that ill-starred man the Mayor of Bristol! we
can compare him to none of the worshipful
fraternity of Mayors since the day of Henry VI.
It was then that the Mayor of St. Alban's be-
lieved in the miracle that a blind man, " Saun-
ders Simcox, an't please you, Master," had been
made to see when worshipping at the shrine of
the Saint. Saunders Simcox, then, was the
,",arne of the man who deceived the Mayor of
St. Alban's by a pretended miracle. Sergeant
Ludlow (the same number of syllables) was he
v,.ho misled the Mayor of Bristol by something
which, had it been true, would have been little
short of a miracle. The documents respecting
this affair are in our paper of to-day, and will
amuse our readers.— Times.

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE RIGHT ZION. EDWARD

ELLICE, M.P., AND CHARLES ROSS, ESQ., 31.1%

Cleveland-square, Jan. 22.

Dear Sir,—Having been informed that a letter from
Sergeant Ludlow to the Mayor of Bristol was posted on
Saturday last io the public rooms of that city, containing
a statement that Sergeant Ludlow bad been informed by
you that you knew, on my authority, the probability or
the fact of Lord Grey's resignation ; and having ascer-
tained from Sergeant Ludlow that }ou had communicated
this information to him, I request to be informed on
whose authority it was founded?
As I have not seen you, to the best of my knowledge,
to exchange as many words with you, for the last six
months, it is impossible that you should have been misled
by misconstruction of any conversation between us on
such a subject ; and as I have no doubt you will feel
equally anxious with myself, that the imposition upon
}ourself, and, through you, upon Mr. Sergeant Ludlow
and the Mayor of Bristol, of what I know to be a pure
invention and falsehood, should be trace.] to its proper
source, I rely upon your giving me your best assistance
in discovering the author of it.
I am alwaes yours faithfully,
Charles Ross, Esq., M.P. EDWARD ELLICE.

60, Portland. place, Jan. 22.

Dear- Sir,—The fact you state, of no personal intcr-
cou:se having existed between us for the last six months,
would, I hope, he a sufficient assurance to you that I
never could have circulated the report to which your letter
alludes, on your personal authority to me. I never
mentioned tl e subject but as a general rumour, ncr
did 1 ever hear of it but as a runn,ur which had been
in circulation some time beftre it reached me. Sergeant
Ludlow mint have very much misunderstood me if
he supposed that lever meant to give th report upon your
authority, or on that of any other individual, although
have no doubt I repeated it to him as I had heard it, and
as I certainly at the time believed it myself to be true.
I em, dear Sir, yours faithfully,
The Hon. Edward Ellice, &c. CHARLES ROSS.

Cleveland-square. Jan. 23.

Dear Sir,-1 regret that you should bave made such
specific statements on the authority of general rumour,
end Mr. Sergeant Ludlow should have been induced by
them to make use of my name in his communication with
the Mayor of Bristol. So long as reports are confined to
anonymous contributors to the press, they are perfectly
harmless, and may be Fatly left to the judgment of the
public, who have the hest chance of arriving at the truth
by a reference to the probabilities of the case. In the pi e-
stnt instance, however, the specific words quoted to me
from Bristol from Mr. Seageant Ludlow's letter to the
Mayor, and widely circulated by his worship—,, I have
only time to inform you that Lord Grey is out of office;
the fact has just been communicated to me by Mr. Noss
and Mr. Nichol, who had it from Mr. Edward Ellice"—
left me no alternative but to endeavour to trace the mis-
representation conveyed by them to its source. I applied
to Mr. Sergeant Ludlow to ascertain whether he had
written such a letter, and correctly quoted you as his
informant. He answered in the affirmative. On ap.
plication to you, it appears that your information was
founded on general rumour. As you can give me no
further assistance in detecting the author of this most idle
and groundless fabrication, I must be satisfied with pub-
lishing the correspondeuce that has passed between us on
the subject, both that the public may be disabused on the
present occasion, and the credulity of a portion of it less
xposed to temptation in future by the circulation of un-
founded and mischievous reports of this description.
I am, yours faithfully,
Charles Ross, E.g., M.P. EDWARD ELLICE.

Though Lord Althorp contents himself with
informing the Parochial Committees that he and
his colleagues have made up their minds on the
subject of the assessed taxes, without condescend-
ing to inform them what that determination is,
the evening organ of the Treasury is permitted
to be somewhat more communicative, and hints
pretty plainly that the Government means to
propose to Parliament the repeal of the house
tax and the continuance of that on windows.
This w ill be glorious news to the whole tribe
of " window peepers," yclept surveyors, who
have been looking for some time upon their
doom as certain, and who, having screwed the
house tax, in the shape of surcharges, up to a
point beyond all bearing, may now expect still
to enjoy a feast of lights. If such, however, is
the determination of Government, or if, as is
more likely to be the case, such is put forth as
a feeler, we trust that its members will be induced
to reconsider it before they venture to propose
to Parliament such a measure of mere half con-
cession, and one from which, if resorted to,
we venture to predict, they will be ultimately
driven by the force of public opinion. We
do not deny that the house tax, as
compared with the window duties, is the
most unequal, and therefore the most odious ;
but as compared with any fair and equal heads of
taxation, their injustice proceedspari passu, and
equally calls for repeal. The window tax, as
well as the house tax, is as often as not a tax upon
man's necessities rather than upon his means,
while it is quite notorious that it reaches neither
the wealthy absentee nor the man of wealth who
avoids « the cares of housekeeping." The win-
dow tax, tco, is a war tax, from which, in the
eighteenth year of peace, the country has a right
to see itself relieved. It is a tax upon air and
light, those first gifts of the all-bounteous Au-
thor of nature, and as such upon the health,
liberty, and enjoyments of his creatures. There
is besides one point of view in which the win-
dow tax resembles in inequality the house tax
itself, and which, though not often adverted to,
must, when mentioned, be obvious to every one.'
We allude to the severity with which it falls
upon old houses over new ones. In the
country this is particularly the case, where the
old crazy inconvenient mansion has fre-
quently double the number of windows to
those in a modern, much larger, and
more convenient edifice. But the country will
be told, no doubt, when the time comes, that
the state of the revenue demands the continn-

ance of this one of these two unjust imposts.
This might be very true provided it was also
true that no further reductions of expenditure
could be made, and that no head of more equal
taxation could be found as a substitute for this
unequal one—the contrary of which we believe
in both instances to be the case. We are as
anxious as any part of the community can be to
keep faith with the public creditor; but we see
no reason why the public creditor, as part of
that community, should not be expected to share
in keeping faith with himself; and we do not ap•
prebend that we should be very wide of the
mark were we to say that the house and win-
dow taxes are not paid by one half the persons
who receive half-yearly dividends at the Bank.
Upon the whole we feel convinced that no half
measure upon this subject will satisfy the coun-
try ; and that Ministers, if they mean to meet the
difficulty, inuct look it manfully in the face, and
decide upon it in the spirit of justice, equally
regardless of clamour on the one hand, or of par-
tiality and selfishness on the other.—Morning
Herald.

Every thing announces that a desperate
struggle is at hand in Spain. Two parties,
widely differing in opinions and actuated by
opposite interests, are already marshalled in hos-
tile array against each other, while the military
officers in the command of provinces are at
variance with the Executive, menacing the Queen
Regent, and dictating to her the measures she
is to adopt, and cautioning her not to employ
such men as may be displeasing to them. The
Governor of Catalonia further tells the Regent
acting in the name of the Sovereign whom he
has acknowledged, " that his exertions and
those of his party have hitherto kept down the
Revolution in one of the most turbulent pro-
vinces of the kingdom, and secured her autho-
rity against the combinations of a numerous
body of Carlists." This is the picture which
the Governor himself draws of Catalonia, at
the same time insinuating that, if those exer-
tions are not rewarded, or if the Regent does
not confide the helm of State to Anti-Carlists,
meaning the Movement party, the cause of her
daughter is lost. Coupled with the affairs of
Portugal, what a frightful picture of the Penin-
sula will our Foreign Minister have to present
to Parliament. Everybody is anxious to know
what can be said upon this subject in the King's
speech. We have committed the same error in
Spain that we committed in Portugal, which
error may be summed up in these very few
words :—We have endeavoured to prevent the
fundamental laws of two independent kingdoms
from taking their due course, and have opposed
ourselves to the wishes and interests of the great
majority of the people of both. We have con-
temned the rights of two nations for whose
independence we lately fought and bled, by
supporting the factions by which they are re
spectively oppressed. Lord Palmerston undertook
to decide who was to be the King of Portugal ;
and now Louis Philip, fortified by this ex-
ample,
pretends that it is for him to settle the
destinies of Spain, his family being deeply
interested in the affairs of that country. It is
not easy to anticipate the consequences of our
erroneous policy in Spain ; but what has befallen
us in Portugal is visible to every eye. There
Lord Palmerston has been foiled and outwitted.
Having assumed the right of nominating the
Sovereign, he considered that he was equally
entitled to appoint the Regent, very frankly
declaring that Palmella was his choice ; and he
has been thwarted by the very person whom he
lately hailed as the liberator and regenerator of
Portugal, investing him with full powers to
carry into effect all the benign and beautiful
system of reform which has produced so much
happiness, concord, and prosperity in the
United Kirgdom. Don Pedro it would, how-
ever, seem, is by no means tractable, for he
availed himself of the first opportunity to
slip the noose that had been placed round
his neck. Having accomplished the first
part of his object by obtaining possession of
Lisbon, he thought it high time to throw off all
restraint, and govern according to his own will,
just as he wished to do in Brazil. For this he
found that he stood in a false position. From
the moment his true and original design in
going to Portugal became apparent he knew
that he was distrusted by his late supporters,'
and when the plan for removing him from the
Regency developed itself he saw that there was a
determination to turn the tables upon himself.
No man knows better than Don Pedro that it is
common in ignoble minds to illtreat those who
have been degraded into a state of dependence
upon them. He, therefore, having first secured
a French interest, resolved to break the Down-
ing-street trammels, for nothing has all along
been more offensive to his dignity, or more re-
volting to his feelings, than
.the style and title of
" Duke de Braganza, and Regent in the name
of the Queen," the only titles which Lord Pal-
merston allowed him to use. It is difficult to
touch upon the affairs of Portugal with any
degree of calmness, when the consequences of
our follies and inconsistencies are considered.
in the ninth year of his reign, Don Pe-
dro unmasked himself in Brazil. He has done
the same in Portugal, even before he has suc-
ceeded in placing the crown upon his head.
He, however, is entitled only to the smaller
portion of the blame. He ought to have been
better known before he was trusted. The cala-
mities of Portugal chiefly rest upon the heads of
our Whig Ministers. They ought to have fore-
seen and appreciated the dangers to which their
conduct was sure to expose a nation always our
faithful ally ; instead of which they sacrificed, in
their ignorance and folly, the honour and sub-
stantial interests of Portugal to support a faith-
less despot ; and, to further the ends of City
speculators, allowed even our municipal laws
to be violated. For his preposterous conduct
towards that country it is to be hoped that Lard
Palmerston will be called to a strict account.
" Regent in the name of the Queen !"
forsooth, when all the time the poor suffering
girl is a State prisoner in the Necessidades, and
her father's bureau is filled with legal opinions,
obtained in Paris and Lisbon, to show that his
abdication in her favour was illegal. If we are
not falling, as principals, into similar errors in
Spain, we are abetting and encouraging Louis
Philip while he commits them. The events
which have happened since Ferdinand the Se-
venth's death, are likely to prove as lasting and
as calamitous in their effects as those which fol-
lowed the demise of King John the Sixth.
These common misfortunes tend indeedtounite
the population, and eventually the Governments
, also, of the two sister divisions of the Peninsula,
an object which it has not hitherto been consi-
dered the special duty of British Statesmen to
promote. M. de Rayneval may think that he
has done wonders in locating M. Martinez de
la Rosa on the spot lately occupied by M. Zea.
The system, however, to be pursued is the same.
M. de la Rosa may be an excellent poet and a

moq accomplished man. He has been called
" the Rose and Pink of the Constitution," and
his plays have been pronounced delectable ; but
he is no Statesman. He has neither
the experience nor the nerve required to conduct
the helm of State. Chiefly engaged in culling
the flowers of literature, he never aspired to such
a distinction. It is in fact well known that he
has been put forward only for a temporary pur-
pose, of which Messrs. Rayneval and Villiers
hold the secret ; but if he has the feelings of a
good Spaniard he may render an essential ser-
vice to his country (although it is a query whe-
ther Llander and the other Captains-General
will be satisfied with his appointment), if lie
assembles the Cortes according to the constitu-
tional forms and ancient usages, in order to
receive from them a declaration as to who is the
lawful successor to the throne of Castile. If he
does not do this, and express his abhorrence of
military massacres, he will be hereafter judged
with the same severity as that which has over-
taken IVI. Zea.—Morning Post.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAN. 25.