The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The inquiry before the Privy Council into the cause
of the late unhappy conflagration has not yet termi-
nated. Their Lordships are proceeding to examine
all the witnesses they can find, who are likely to throw
light on •the strange conversation that was reported to
have taken place at Birmingham. We believe, how-
ever, the general impression to be, that the lovers of
mystery will be disappointed. Enough has transpired
of the proceedings to show that the fire can be im-
puted to no worse cause than negligence. The Ex-
chequer tallies appear originally to have been burnt at
Tothill-fields, or to have been used as firewood. The
room in which this collection of them was deposited
being necessary for the accommodation of the Bank-
ruptcy Court, orders were given by the Board of Works
for their removal, and for them to be burnt. The per-
sons employed to execute the order might have done so
with perfect safety, had they burnt them in the open
air, or put them into the fire handful by handful.
Unfortunately they did neither ; but, to save time
and trouble, endeavoured to make short work of
their commission by burning all the tallies they could
at once, which produced the catastrophe. No blame
attaches to the officers of the Exchequer ; for they
have long discontinued the use of tallies, and therefore
have ceased to have any concern with them. The
Board of Works,, too, are equally innocent, for
the order they issued was one not out of the or-
dinary course ; and so far from there being any foun-
dation for the insinuation thrown out in a Sunday
print, that they had been warned by the housekeeper
of the Lords of the danger, it appears that this witness
denied, in the most unqualified and unequivocal man-
ner, that she made any communication to the Board
of Works on the subject. The origin of the fire has
been altogether so clearly accounted for, that we are
sure the Privy Council can continue the investigation
for no other object than to give full and entire satisfac-
tion to the public ; which, perhaps, it would be vain to
expect, unless all evidence that could be offered upon a
question of such national interest had been received
and taken into consideration.—Morning Chronicle.
We perceive, at nearly all the meetings or political
dinners which have lately taken place throughout the
country, that, according to the feelings or interests of
the respective districts, some tax or impost has been
condemned as necessary to be taken off during the
Session. At one place the cry is " Off with the malt
tax ;" at another the window tax is the object of exe-
cration ; while at many we find the whole system of
the assessed taxes declared to be insupportable. It
is hardly, however, necessary to observe that were the
wishes and demands of all these persons gratified, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer would eut but a very-
sorry figure on the next sth of April, tiled the public
creditor would be, we suspect, in nearly as happy a
state as the unfortunate holders of the Cortes Bonds
appear to be at the present time. But we do trust,
that all that is passing will not be thrown away on
the Government, and on Lord Althorp in particular,
and that, during the recess (though some of the
Ministers have been employing themselves somewhat
busily in other occupations, the usefulness of which
may be questionable), he will be able to mature a
budget which may at once evince a determination
to relieve the productive classes from the taxes winch
are now pressing so heavily on the energies of
the country. A desire to effect this has all along been
Professed by the present Ministry, but hitherto there
has been a most lamentable deficiency both of talent
and firmness in the whole of our system of taxation—
and the public has had more than once to lament the
production of a most contemptible budget on the
Friday, nearly every trumpery item of which was al-
tered or altogether struck out by the following Tues-
day. To go no further than the last Session, let us
observe how little was done, and how little talent or
consideration was necessary to effect even that. We
find that the house tax, which must stand first and
foremost, but which we can hardly say was at all con-
ceded by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it being,
in fact, wrung from him, was repealed; that the du-
ties on Almanacks, Directories, on starch, stone bot-
tles, and sweets, were taken off; that, in e'en) instan-
ces, some of the assessed taxes were done away with ;
and, finally, that the tax on sheep-dogs ( I ! !) was
wholly abolished. This last, we presume, is the long-
promised relief to the suffering agriculturists I ! ! That
there may be sound reasons for taking off every one
of the above taxes we do not deny ; but the Noble
Chancellor of the Exchequer must go lower down in
the scale, and commence with those taxes which are
ee this moment pressing on the lowest of the productive
classes, if he expect at all to relieve or satisfy the just
wants of the country. It should be recollected that it
is to a commutation of the present taxes rather than to
a diminution in our expenditure that we must look for
relief, and the burden of those imposts, which are now
pressing so heavily and injuriously to the whole com-
munity, on labour, should be cast upon the property
of the country. For, as has been aptly observed—
" Labour is the ultimate source of all property. * a
Leave labour untaxed, and it will soon relieve property
from the original amount of pressure, by furnishing to
taxation a perpetually extending surface." It is by
the abolition of the tax on the various commodities
necessary for the support and comfort of the productive
classes, that the desired relief can be afforded. And
we must confess, that on taking a review of all these
burdensome imposts, we are of opinion that no one
would be productive of such vast benefits to the com-
munity as the total abolition of the malt tax. We are
aware that there are many reasons also which can he
adduced for the taking off other taxes by the respec-
tive advocates for their abolition ; but there is none
which, on every ground either of finance or morality,
we think can compare with it. The subject, however,
is one of sufficient importance to merit the fullest dis-
cussion, and we shall again return to it on the first
opportunity.—Morning Herald.
The Conservative Meetings which have recently
taken place, in each of the three members of the
United Kingdom, have produced the happiest effect.
They have drawn together bodies of men who have
the welfare of the country sincerely at heart, and who
required only the consciousness of strength, which such
re-unions are calculated to produce, to convince them
that it is in their power to sway the policy of Govern-
ment, and thus to secure to the nation the utmost de-
einor e of welfare and safety which an honest and discreet
exercise of the functions of Government can confer.
These meetings have had the further effect of con-
vincing the people of England that, with few and in-
considerable exceptions, the Gentlemen of the United
Kingdom are not satisfied with the materials of
which the present Administration is composed ; that
they do not repose confidence in its actual members ;
that they are averse to many of the principles which
govern its conduct, and to all the subterfuges and
compromises to which, in the absence or feeble-
ness of principle, it habitually has recourse ; that
they have a firm and well-considered faith of
the possibility of constituting an Administration more
honest, more wise, more patriotic, and more na-
tional than the present ; that they see, in fine, how
little now remains for them to do, but the completion of
an operation which has been advancing for some time
with a rapidity constantly increasing—the transmission,
namely to the lower ranks of society or opinions and
feelings with respect to the merits, or rather the deme-
rits, of the Whig Ministers of the Crown, which have
long been predominant among its more elevated classes.
Such have been the salutary effects of the Tory Meet-
ings which have recently been held in' England, Ire-
land, and Scotland. Lancashire, Glasgow, and Dub-
lin, Wexford, Perth, and Kent`have contributed nobly
to this guarantee of national security and of national
renovation. Gloucester, Somerset, and Down are
about to add their solemn denunciation of the base
traffic which has enabled selfish and sordid statesmen
to purchase power and pelf by pandering to revolu-
tionary passion. The gentlemen of every county will,
no doubt, speedily follow the example of those we
have named ; and thus the nation will he finally dis-
abused, the interested charlatans who have so long
made profit of its misplaced confidence be fully ex-
posed, and the way to power be prepared for Statesmen
who have enough of talent and of virtue to serve the
people, and too much of both either to flatter or
betray them. Such being the natural tendency as they
are the legitimate objects of Conservative Meetings, it
can excite no surprise that the latter should be assailed
by the clumsy ridicule and the'virulent reproaches of

the Journals whose present interests are associated
with the dominion of Whiggery. It is quite natural
that in the estimation of Journals of this description
the Whig Dinner at Edinburgh in honour of Lord
Grey should be a great manifestation of national senti-
ment, while the assemblies to which we have alluded
are described as consisting of " fragments of the com-
munity," of " units against thousands."- We are glad
that the Whig Journals thus continue to harp upon
the Edinburgh Festival in honour of their political
creed. That they thus glorify themselves upon a cele-
bration of which, in all its circumstances, the lowest
class of Tories would feel heartily lashamed, is only a
proof of the weakness and poverty of their cause, of
their wretched penury in subjects of boast, of the
deplorable abasement of their adherents in numbers
and in power, in mind, and in estate. What Con-
servative assemblage, since we are presumptuously
challenged to a comparison, has ever presented
so degrading a scene as that of the Grey Dinner ?
Where have Tories, assembled in honour of any of the
leaders of their party, shown themselves incapable of
the ordinary decencies of society ? At what Tory din-
ner have the hours dedicated to harmonious intercourse
and convivial enjoyment been consumed in mutterings
and bickerings between the leaders of that party ?
Which of the numerous Tory celebrations we have had
the happiness to record has been followed by a fierce
paper war of sarcasm, invective, and recrimination,
among the most distinguished of the guests ? What
Tory has found it necessary to intrigue or canvass for
a second banquet in order to heal the wounds inflicted
upon his personal vanity at the first, or to promote in-
dividual objects of his own, in which the great majority
of his party do not concur ? When has a meeting of
Tories been indebted for the whole or any part of its
interest to the general anticipation of the community
that it would be embraced by any one member of the
party as a fit occasion for the reproach and denuncia-
tion of another ? At which Tory assembly has a
leader of the party been compelled to suppress the na-
tural feelings of resentment against those by whom
he knew he had been betraved—at which has a Grey
been confronted with a Brougham ? At what Tory
dinner has a leader of the party sat in momentary
dread of some attack of malignant though not un-
founded reproach—at which has a Brougham been
confronted with a Durham ? We have been led to
ask these questions, or rather to institute this compa-
rison, by the affectation of contempt exhibited by a
Morning Paper for the Conservative Meetings which
have produced and will produce the most salutary ef-
fects upon the public mind, in every part of the country
where they have been or may yet be held. The Times
is attempting in vain to stem the current of public
feeling. It may perhaps continue this fruitless effort
yet a little longer—yet a little longer indulge in the
language of contempt towards the Conservative power
of the country. But it will not long persevere in so
hopeless an attempt, nor permit itself so unprofitable
an indulgence. The moment is visibly approaching
when the Times will perceive how very imprudent it is
to resist the stream of public opinion, when it will
suddenly transform itself, if not into one of the best at
least into one of the most vehement of Tories, when
it will become to all the rest of the Whigs what it has
already become to Lord Brougham.—Morning Post.
We resume our notice of the proceedings of the
Superior Council of Commerce, now assembled at
Paris. At the second sitting the first witness examined
was M. Andre, manufacturer of porcelain. He was
of opinion that goods made of pipe-clay might be ad-
mitted under a sufficient protecting duty. Without
such a duty he thought the admission would injure
the porcelain manufacture. " I cannot conceive," he
said, " why we should not manufacture articles of
earthenware like the English, if we really felt the want
of them. We should be able to make them good if
we were to sell them for ten or twelve sous more the
dozen. For some• time past we have manufactured
what is called opayrue porcelain ; it is made of pipe-
clay, and looks bet ter, but is not worth more than that
which is sold at a cheaper rate. English goods of
pipe-clay are almost as good for use as porcelain. If
they were admitted with a duty, either a small quantity
only would enter, and that would have no effect on our
manufacture ; or a large quantity would enter and
then we should betake ourselves to the manufacture
of similar articles." He says that he thinks his own
countrymen could produce all earthenware goods
cheaper than the English if their manufactories were
more conveniently situated. " In England' he observes,
" they are all close to canals, while in France some are
so placed that they must necessarily procure all their
materials by land carriage." Being asked what pro-
gress had been made of late years in the manufacture
of porcelain in France ? he answered that the pro-
gress had been " enormous." " Where we produced
what may be represented by 4,000,000 in quantity,
we now produce 4,soo,ooo—which would be equal
to a quantitity of 8,000,000 at least, if the compari-
son were made in reference to the prices now charged,
and the prices obtained for the same goods ten years
ago. When I first began to manufacture porcelain,
we sold plates for from 12 to 13 fr., which we can
now offer wholesale for 5 fr. 10 sous." In another
part of his evidence, he says—" As to the English
white porcelains, I would willingly permit them to
enter without any duty at all. To the English porce-
lain attaches this peculiarity--namely, that metallic
substances enter into its composition, in consequence
of which it will take all sorts of colours. The colour

turquoise is a colour which they very often make use
of in England for this purpose : it would not be pos-
sible to employ it on our porcelain. The English de-
corate porcelain in their very manufactories them-
selves, while the French manufacturers confine them-
selves to making it white and plain. This is an ad-
vance. If the porcelains which I deliver to others,
who decorate them, could be decorated in my ma-
nufactory, I should be able to sell them for five per
cent. less than I sell them for now." M. Andre is im-
mediately asked" Have you not recently increased
the prices of your white porcelains ?" He answers,
" We have not increased the prices : they have quite
naturally increased themselves in consequence of the
demand, which has considerably increased, and which
has become greater than the supply." Our readers
will recollect what M. Hautin said about probibition.
"My yoke is still for prohibition—l do not conceal
it ; I and uiy brother manufacturers have lived under
the shade of that tree," said the candid monopolist of
crockeryware. We described this tree as one that
sucked nourishment from a nation, in order that a few
individuals :might idle beneath its shade. Can there
be anything more strongly illustrative of the accuracy
of this description, than the last answer of M. Andre ?
" We have not increased the prices of white porce-
lain,"
says: M. Andre ; " it is true that they have in-
creased, butt then they increased themselves quite natu-
rally, for the consumers want more of the article than
we have inutlustry enough to produce, and therefore the
price has risen.' Thus the earthenware manufacturers
of France not only charge the community an exorbi-
tant price for the commodities they produce, but they
actually refuse to furnish as large a quantity of those
commodities as the uses of the public require, and
which the public therefore would be forced to take
at a monopoly price. The French consumer is to pay
a scarcity as well as a monopoly price, because the
manufacturers desire still to lounge under the shade of
M. Hautin'g tree—prohibition. Does not this cir-
cumstance demonstrate that M. Desormes gave a most
true character of the manufacturers of his own country
when he described them as having neither energy nor
perseverance, and as never thinking of taking the trou-
ble to work Eke the English ? One would hardly have
expected to meet with the endurance of such a condi-
tion of things in a nation which boasts that it "is at
the head of E uropean civilization." The evidence of
M. Andre, however, will be read, as it deserves to be,
with interest. He is evidently a very intelligent man,
and well acquainted with his business ; he gives his
evidence in ail open, straight-forward way, and puts
one branch or the question under consideration in a
new light. We mean that which relates to the intro-
duction of English white porcelains without duty. The
decoration of these articles, in which the French are
supposed to txcel us, while our style of decoration is
certainly not so well suited to the taste of France as the
French style is, would giveemployment to a vast num-
ber of addit'tonal hands in the latter country, while the
manufactures of the articles themselves would have
the same eject in England. For the rest, the French

public would no longer have to pay even a monopoly
price for white porcelain, much less a monopoly price
and a scarcity price to boot. The next witness exa-
mined was M. Stephane Flachat, one •of the editors of
the Courrier Francais, who it appears lins spent some
time in the investigation of the subjects of this in-
quiry. He gave an account of conversations and com-
munications between himself and the principal menu-
facturers of earthenware in France. The result of
these was a conviction on the part of M. Flachat that
the repugnance of the manufacturers to the substitution
of duties for prohibition would generally be found
greater or less in proportion as their manufactories
were further from, or nearer to, places whence fuel can
be obtained at the cheapest rate. We think this very
likely ; but to listen to objections which have only
such foundation would be to admit something more
than the propriety of prohibiting foreign goods from
entering the French markets. It would establish this
further principle,—namely, that the goods of French
manufacturers whose places of business are disadvan-
tageously situated, ought to be protected against simi-
lar productions from the workshops of their fellow-
-!ounti ymen which arc more conveniently placed. For
instance, the manufactories of Gien and Montereau,
to which all materials are conveyed by land-carriage,
and of which the productions are carried to the market
by the same expensive mode of conveyance, should be
protected against the productions of M. St. Criq-
Caseaux, and against those of M. Hautin, whose ma-
nufactories are situated on the Oise and on the Seine.
We have no doubt that if the site of the manufactories
of these two gentlemen had been as ill-chosen as the sites
of the manufactories of Gien and Montereau, they would
have proposed some such measure. Being asked his opi-
nion respecting the amount of the duty that should be
imposed in the event of a modification of the tariff, M.
Flachat said that with regard to plates he thought that
30 per cent. on those of common earthen-ware, and 10
or 15 per cent. on those of fine earthen-ware and pipe-
clay, were the very highest duties that the Government
ought to concede to the French manufacturers, and that
these duties should be imposed only for a time. The
examination of M. Honore, a manufacturer of porce-
lain, closed this sitting. He decirred that if the prohibi-
tion were removed without the substitution of a suffi-
ciently.high duty, the French manufacture of pipe-clay
would be annihilated. He did not, however, state what
amount of duty he considers sufficiently high. A part of
his evidence is curious as further illustrating the noncha-
lance with which these gentlemen exhibit the monstrous
deformities of a system which in the samebreath they de,
clare to be perfectly symmetrical, and worth all the money
the French people pay for keeping it as it is. After
stating that the French manufacturers are fifty years
in arrear (which is very different from the account
given by M. Andre), that there has been great inert-
ness on their part, and that they require the stimulus
of the removal of prohibition and the substitution of a
sufficient duty in its stead, he is asked whether he
thinks that if this notion of his were acted upon, the
consumption of French porcelain would be at all en-
dangered ? He answers, " I should wish, in the first
instance, that the duty on foreign earthenware was
sufficiently high ; then what came in would serve as
models for us, and our manufacturers would be stimu-
lated to produce the like. This is my case as to por-
celain. For some years past the English have en-
cumbered us with tea•services of gilt porcelain,
coloured red and blue, which are sold here in our
retail shops at a great profit, for from 72f. to 80f., and
which are purchased in England for from 255. to 30s.
Since then I have sold only very rich services. The
sale of the common has ceased. Here, then, is an ar-
ticle which hasbeen lost to our trade by English compe-
tition." The interrogator at the Council says to him—
" But, nevertheless, you are said to maintain competition
with the English in foreign markets ?" M. Honore re-
plies, " Yes, with regard to articles in which we watt
to rival them ; but with regard to those articles in
which we have not sought to contend with them, they
have the advantage over us." Now, if this be not
mere idle vapouring, it is another proof that the ques-
tion of lowering duties and removing prohibition on
foreign earthenware is simply this question, namely—
whether the French nation shall or shall not still be
called upon to pay large sums of money for the sup-
port of idle or inexpert manufacturers. Their want of
skill may he their misfortune, but their indolence is a
vice which should be the more annoying to the French
consumer in consequence of the unblushing impudence
with which it is confessed, and protection and counte-
nance for it demanded. It is clear that what M. Ho-
nore states must, if true at all be quite as true with re-
gard to competition with foreign manufacture in the
French market as in the markets abroad to which
French produce is exported. The reason, therefore,
according to M. Honore (we have seen that in this he
concurs with M. Andre) that the French pay so much
for articles of earthenware, is to be found in the indo-
lence of the manufacturers, who, nevertheless, are still
modest enough to ask for prohibition, or for such pro-
tection as will enable them to continue to work as little
and as ill as suits their convenience, while they charge
for their productions just as much as they please.—
Times.