The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We have for some time past regularly reported
the proceedings of the associations formed, and
of the meetings convoked, in the metropolis, for
the purpose of procuring the repeal of the house
and window duties, without adding any note or
comment of our own on their conduct or objects.
Though friendly to the repeal of those taxes,
wliich was the professed object of these associa-
tions and meetings, we could not concur in the
spirit of resistance to the existing laws which they
sometimes manifested, while, neither, on the other
hand, could we, like some of our contemporaries,
formally denounce the mere expression of their im-
patience and distrust at the continuance of an ob-
noxiousimpost, as an evidence or a symptom of
organized rebellion. It is evident now, however,
we may say, to everybody (whatever may be his
opinion of these taxes as an abstract question
of financial policy), and must long have been
apparent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
that they cannot stand the discussions of another
session, nor enter into the budget of another
year. The opinion of their partiality is so
deeply rooted, and the hardship of their exac-
tion is so severely felt by the middle classes and
the retail interest in towns, and particularly in
the metropolis, that their collection cannot be any
longer enforced (so as to render them as pro-
ductive as formerly), without bringing the Go-
vernment into a dangerous collision with the
people—without incurring the charge of fiscal
persecution—and perhaps encountering the risk
or civil disturbance. The shopkeeper or trades-
man, who is already overwhelmed with other fiscal
burdens,—whose humble tenement is assessed on
a rack-rent, probably beyond its value,—and who
is, perhaps, doomed to look from his overtaxed
windows for his way to the debtors' prison or
the workhouse—cannot think with patience, or
without indignation, that splendid mansions in
the country, built at immense expense, and in
which princely incomes are spent, pay less to
the King's Exchequer than his mean and un-
comfortable residence. No argument in the
world will convince him that this arrangement can
be just, equitable, or impartial. It is in vain to
tell him that the duty is a tax upon the rent of
a house, and not on the capital expended on
its erection, or on the fortune spent within its
walls. It is in vain to show him that the
nobleman's mansion would not let for more
than the sum for which it is assessed, though
it were set up to auction to-morrow in cir-
cumstances where speculative tradesmen, with
the power of underletting, were to be the only
bidders. It is in vain to assure him that if, in
addition to the expense of maintaining such esta-
blishments, a tax were imposed on them propor-
tioned to the amount of the outlay incurred in
fitting them up, they would be forthwith pulled
down, like Wansted-house, for the sake of the
materials. It is in vain to explain to him that
his proposed mode of assessment on the gentry
and nobility would be a property tax instead of
a house and window tax,—and that a property
tax levied only on the size of a man's house
would be as unfair as one levied on the number
of quarterings in his coat of arms. None of
these arguments, however enforced, will remove
the obvious vices of a fiscal legislation which
makes the metropolis pay nearly half the as-
sessed house duty of the whole kingdom, and
which fixes the greater share of that immense
load on the shoulders of the middling and in-
dustrious classes, already almost reeling under
the pressure of their own difficulties, debts, and
embarrassments. Perhaps it may be a disad-
vantage attending the collection of every species
of dirert taxes, where no third party is inter-
posed between the tax-gather and the pockets
of the people, but certainly it is a fatal vice in
the assessed taxes, to which we are adverting, that
when they become so unpopular as the latter are at
present, they cannot be levied with success. The
public must have observed the spread of the as-
sociations for a passive resistance to the house-
duty in the metropolis ; and they know the re-
sult of such a resistance to tithes in Ireland.
They have seen numbers of brokers coming for-
ward to declare that they would not sell goods
distrained for these duties ; and, upon proper
explanation, it would probably be difficult to
find purchasers, where the purchaser would be
sure to be denounced by the by-standers as a
robber in league with the tax-gatherer. We
therefore regard the assessed taxes imposed upon
houses and windows as already repealed. We
are convinced that Lord Althorp will redeem
his conditional, though tardy and reluctant
pledge, and we venture to hope that there will
no longer be occasion or excuse for the continu-
ance or the spread of these anti-tax associations,
which, though now aiming at the attainment of
a defensible object by legal means, may, if per-
petuated and extended, in the same spirit of
hostility to the existing ways and means of the
treasury, embrace the abolition of other taxes as
well as those which are now the subject of com-
plaint. We observe by a late return presented
to the House of Commons, that in the year
ending the sth of January last, the amount of
duty levied on inhabited houses was 1,390,9841.
and that on windows 1,202,9311., making to-
gether the sum of 2,593,915/. The erasure of
this item from the revenue of next year, would
certainly create a considerable blank in the
Chancellor's budget, and it is difficult to say
what direct imposts would become favourites
with the people to supply its place ; but when
we consider that the obnoxious assessments
which are now agitating the country with dis-
content from one end to the other, and which
are engendering associations against the enforce-
ment of the law on the dreaded Whitefoot model,
do not amount to nearly the sum levied on that
filthy and poisonous drug tobacco, and do not
exceed a third of the duty collected from the
more deleterious use of ardent spirits, we need
scarcely despair of finding some substitute
among the multitudinous list of articles in the
excise and customs calculated to fill up the void
which would be left by the emancipation of our
household divinities from the surveillance of the
King's surveyor, and the intrusion of the tax-
c ollector.— Times.

We refer with concern, but with more indig-
nation, to the narrative of a fresh act of mean
to foreign servility despotismK. cn the part of
Philip, reigning
Louisof the French.
It is the case of Buonarroti,'Mngofrquis of Canossa,
last surviving descendant
age of 74, has
the immortal
Michael Angelo,- who, at the
taken up and imprisoned by the French police, been
to conciliate the favour of the Holy Alliance,
and especially of the blessed Austrian Govern-
ment.e The offence of this illustrious sufferer is
his devotion to the cause of liberty from early
manhood, and his Italian birth. These northern
and eastern despots will drive the world mad
with their outrages • but this is not all. The
French nation, who are in earnest both where
their domestic liberties and their national inde-
pendence are concerned, must see with pain the

obliquities of their so-called constitutional Mo-
narch, and his wavering, but wily policy, With
hatred of tyranny on his lips, and prompt sub-
serviency to its dictates in his actions. The
Regent of Spain might take a lesson from the
fate of Poland, and think a little before she
yields herself implicitly to the councils of Louis
Philip : but of all such things anon,—the pre-
sent text is the possibility of raising a moderate
sum of money, to assist the poor victim of a
Jesuitical police in his defence before the Cour
Royale at Paris. Read M. de Prati's letter.—
Times.

We beg to call the attention of the Govern-
ment and of the public to that part of the letter
of our Brussels correspondent which relates to
the negotiations now going forward for a new
Post-office arrangement between England and
Belgium. Our high direction in St. Martin's-
le-Grand, with all its vis inertia, cannot stand
still while the rest of the world is moving
onward ; but it changes its position or its course
as little as it can, and being a very heavy body,
always in the way, infallibly succeeds in dimi-
nishing the progress or obstructing the career of
more active parties. We formerly showed with
what reluctance it commenced, and with what
eagerness it broke off, negotiations with the
French Post-office--how many obstacles it threw
in the way of an arrangement, and to what small
extent that arrangement was carried,—and we
find a repetition of the same resistance, and an
employment of the same manoeuvres, in its
present diplomatic relations with Belgium
Hitherto our regular weekly communications
with the Belgic provinces by Ostend have only
been two; now it would appear our Post-office
authorities have mustered up courage to con-
template the possibility of arranging a letter-
bag for Brussels four times in the week.
This proposal must, like the French improve-
ments, have come from the other side of the
Channel, as it never would have originated with
our Fabius of the Post-office. Our correspondent
tells us that the Director of the Belgic Posts
intends coming to London to attempt some
further arrangements, and particularly to propose
a mutual communication of journals on some-
thing like a reasonable footing. We can tell him
that he may save himself the trouble, unless our
Government compels its subalterns to attend more
to their duties and less to their profits. Before
he starts from home on this mission, we would
advise him to consult M. Comte, at Paris, who,
along with us, will assure him of the fruitlessness
of his journey. Really it is " too bad" that
matters should be allowed to be so managed. If
the Post-office clerks, or the other subalterns of
the establishment, are not sufficiently paid with-
out enjoying the monopoly of the journals, or
having some leisure time to devote to profitable
extraneous employments, let their salaries be li
raised, and let their effective services be secured
by a proper remuneration, but at any rate let
the work be done, and let public servants have
no sinister interest to obstruct or to embarrass
them in the honest and zealous discharge of their
public duties.—Times.

Since the doctrine of non-interference was
proclaimed as the polar star of their policy by
the various great powers of Europe, we have
had nothing but interference in the internal
concerns of nations. A new instance of this
intermeddling spirit, which sooner or later must
embroil all Europe in a general war, is threat-
ened in the case of Spain. The people of that
country, like the people of every independent
State, have a right to choose their own Sov-
reign and their own form of Government. That
right is one of the most important that can
belong to a nation, and ought to be held the
most sacred of any ; yet, because a question of
disputed succession has arisen in Spain, she is
menaced with the interference of other powers
to settle that question which it is the proper
business of the Spanish people themselves to
determine. Being friendly to constitutional
principles, we should, of course, like to see
them take root in every State in Europe where
the soil is prepared for them, and the political
climate is genial enough to make it likely they
would flourish. We should, therefore, like
to see the people of Spain reject a claimant
for the Crown who, like Don Carlos, is the
avowed representative of political absolu-
tism and religious intolerance ; but, if the
people of Spain prefer him for their ruler to the
infant, who is supposed to be the symbol of a
new and more liberal system, we have no right
to attempt any control upon their choice.
France or England has no more right to interfere
for the purpose of forcing a constitutional Sove-
reign on the throne of Spain than Spain would
have to force an absolute ruler upon the throne
of France or England. That England will
plunge into the folly of an armed interference to
regulate the succession to the Spanish throne,
and to aggrandize the family of Louis Philip,
we do not think at all probable. The loss to
our commerce, and the disgrace to our naval
glory, which attended our paltry attack upon
Holland, for the purpose of establishing the son-
in-law of Louis Philip, as a regal vassal, in
Brussels, to the " King of the barricades," must
rather have indisposed our Ministers to under-'
take other costly and perilous enterprises for the
benefit of the pseudo-liberal dynasty of Orleans.
The interference of France, by force of arms,
is thought to be more likely. The Cabinet
of the Tuileries give currency to the supposi-
tion by concentrating troops on the Spanish
frontier, and exciting anew the French vi-
sions of "la gloire,' by the din of martial
preparation. But the question arises—Will
France dare to interfere without the co-operation
of England, or the permission of Russia ?
What can be done by intrigue Louis Philip will
do, not to establish a liberal Government in
Spain, but to aggrandize his family by securing
for a relative the throne of that country, just as
he was --lately endeavouring to procure the
sceptre of Portugal for one of his sons. To
interfere, even for this -purpose, requires more
political courage than Louis Philip has ever
displayed—and a greater indifference to the
frowns or smiles of the Northern Autocrat,
than has ever yet marked the character of the.
" citizen-King." Though nothing is more
likely than that the events of which Spain and
Portugal are the theatre will eventually lead to a
European war, yet it is not because we think
Louis Philip is about to interfere in either
country by force of arms. He is fond of the
clap-trap display of military exhibitions, and,
until entirely cast off by Russia, he will conti-
nue to pay submissive attention to the com-
mands of that Power—and unless Russia aban-
don Don Carlos, he will not attack him.—
Morning- Herald.

The instructions given to Prince Schwartzen-
berg by the Northern Powers, on his departure
to the Hague, have been, we understand, frankly
communicated to all the members of the Con-
ference, in the full confidence that nothing

could be found in them calculated to throw the
least suspicion on the perfect integrity and good
faith of the Governments from which they
emanate, or to warrant any doubt as to their
earnest and anxious desire to bring the long-
pending disputes between Holland and Belgium
to an equitable and satisfactory termination.
Against the language or tenor of these instruc-
tions no complaint is or can be made by any
of the Powers whose representatives constitute
the Conference of London. But although
no complaint is or can be made with respect
to these instructions, it is said that the
Ministers of France and Great Britain
have been unable wholly to conceal their
disappointment and dissatisfaction upon the
occasion. If we are rightly informed, these in-
structions are couched in terms of perfect and
cordial friendship towards the King of the Ne-
therlands, convey no rebuke upon any portion of
the past conduct of his Government, nor in-
sinuate any menace for the purpose of controlling
its future course. They express, as might have
been expected, an anxious wish for the final
settlement of all the questions which yet remain
to be decided, but for their settlement upon fair
and equitable conditions, so far as the interests
of Holland are concerned ; while they studiously
avoid every expression that could possibly have
been distorted into the slightest symptom or
indication of a disposition on the part of the
Northern Powers to coerce the King of the
Netherlands into any measure that might in his
judgment compromise the welfare of his sub-
jects or the independence of his dominions.--
Morning Post.