The Sun.
London, England, 1834-10-17 00:00:00

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PRICE 7D.

COMMISSIONERS OF EXCISE INQUIRY.

In our article upon the Excise, on Wednesday, We

proved to our readers that the report of the Conimis-
sioners of Excise Inquiry was very unsatisfactory as
regarded the summary jurisdiction entrusted to the
Commissioners of Excise. We pointed out how ex-
clusively the evidence upon which the report was
founded had been derived from interested persons, and

how little weight ought to attach to the-opinions of
those who have so long supported so unconstitutional
a system as that on which this Court is based, as well
as the whole of the machinery of the Excise. We can-
not at all understand how so acute a person as Sir
Henry Parnell should have agreed to a report without
examining a witness who might be supposed to be ad-
vwse or dissatisfied with the present system, and had
we not his reports on the other branches of the in-
quiry, we should have concluded that this Commission,
like its predecessors in former times, was intended to
support rather than to correct abuses.
The other reports, however,..so completely prove
that the Commissioners are anxious to fulfil the duty
entrusted to them, that we can only hope that the evi-

dance of some manufacturer or dealer Will induce them

;o obtain more- accurate information upon the subject,

and to revise their third report.
Were we inclined to canvass very strictly the fitness
of the Commissioners of Excise to superintend the im-
portant interests of the manufacturers of the country,
we. could not do better than refer to the Act 'Nib they
obtained last Session, and which we believe, had it not

been for our exertions, would have contained clauses
more vexatious, more inquisitorial, and more uncon-
stitutional, than any which are already in. the pon-
derous folios now receiving the Excise laws.
It appears to be their principle, and particularly that
of their Solicitor, who, from his perfect ignorance of

any thing connected with commerce and manufactures,
is most unfit to frame Acts, either to prevent or check
smuggling—we say; it appears to be their leading
principle that honesty is to be secured by a multitude
of restrictions and threatened penalties—they think it
necessary to enact penalties; and to set officers to
watch, for every little deviation by the trader from
their rules for manufacturing even from " skimming
the waste water" in the manufacture of starch to the
extinguishing of the expiring embers of the fire under
a soap copper—they think it necessary to consider
every tradesman as dishonest, and as unfit to be con-
sulted in the construction of Acts of Parliament to se-

cure the revenue—they are so ignorant as to fear, un-
dcr any circumstances, to receive a deputation of a trade
which has grievances to complain of. They well know the
absurdity of the majority of their penalties and restric-
tions, and retain them only because it is too much trouble
to obtain information from those who could afford it,
and principally because were the Excise laws simpli-
fied and rendered efficient, the labour would be so re-

duced that their establishment would not require half
the present number of officers. The Commissioners
DOW boast of the number of causes they hear, and
the great numbers of hours they are employed ; but
were all tile appeals to the Court which arise from
the vexatious application by litigious officers of old
and almost obsolete laws, to be separated from the
other duty, their labours would appear light indeed.
But if, instead of adding penalty to penalty, and re-

striction to restriction, they were to direct the at-
tention of their officers solely to the ascertaining
the real quantity of every commodity produced, and to
the collection of the duty thereon, let the process of
manufacture be what it may ; and if, instead of a mul-
tittide penalties which are never enforced, there
was one for evading the duty in any way, or under
any pretence, and this was enforced, as well against
the rich trader, as it is now against the poor one.—

`v (iGY~

them without in-

quiry. Next we find twenty dealers, and three retired
Excise officers, declaring that the system is useless,
that when there is a deficiency, it is xvritten off with-
out inquiry, and that no check is afforded against the
admission of smuggled tea into their stocks.
Thirdly we find the examinations of the Chairman
of the Customs—Surveyor of the Customs—Comp-
troller of the Coast Guard, and other experienced per-
sons, as to the quantity of tea smuggled admitted into
this country. Thcy all agree it is small, and it all-
pears that the average annual quantity seized by the
Customs is only about 7,0001b5., which is insignificant
when compared to the consumption-32,000,000 lbs.
Fourthly, we find that the dealers are unanimous
in their expression of the inconvenience and loss they
suffer by this system, and prove its uselessness by the
fact that the cases brought before the Excise amount
annually to between 50 and GO, and these paltry in their
amount, out of 100,000 traders.

• The -Commissioners of Excise, anxious, however,.
to support their restrictive system by any means, as-
sume that the survey prevents adulteration. On this
point we find also either the perfection of the system
or its absurdity, as there have been only three seizures
for, adulteration in the last three years.
With this mass of evidence the Commissioners of
inquiry strongly recommend the immediate abolition of
the survey and permit system, and support then re-
commendation by referring to the good effects pro-
duced to the trade by their abolition as regards coffee,
cocoa, and p: pper,
The Commissioners of Excise hoping, even at the last
moment, to blunt the edge of Sir H. I'arnell's pruning-
knife, state, that supposing this system abolished, little
pecuniary saving would arise ; to which the Commis-
sioners of Inquiry reply, " that it is difficult to conjec-
tre how 100,000 persons can be surveyed 2,137,424
times ; how 850,000 permits can be printed and dis-
tributed ; how 300,000 books can be prepared for no-
thing ; and continue, that if its discontinuance upon
tea will cause little or no saving, they cannot but con-
template a considerable reduction of expenditure, when
frig Vonleis in tobaccmnViii-eand spierv,--soap and pa:
pers, are likewise freed from it." That they may be
speedily relieved we hope and trust. It is most extra-
ordinary that laws, which ostensibly are to-secure the
revenue and to piotect the honest trader, should be
nearly unanimously considered not only useless as a
check, but vexatious and arbitrary. We confess that
we anticipate as the result of this inquiry that in a few
years this Board of Commissioners will be abolished.
Let the duties be taken off soap, paper, and vinegar,
and nothing will remain that cannot easily be done by
a department in the Customs; and then the country
will save the expense of this Board, and manufacturers
will be relieved from the greatest check upon their in-
dustry, and upon the improvement of their processes.
It is almost impossible to believe that, a system
should be allowed to exist which enables an inferior
officer to carry the results of the experiments and in-
dustry of one manufacturer to his rival, as also that a
manufacturer should be obliged to submit drawings
and models of his improvements, before he can use
them, for the approbation of Commissioners perfectly
ignorant of his business.—Morning Advertiser.

THE MONEYED ARISTOCRACY OF FRANCE.

A new nobility grew up in rivalry to the elder one ;
and as the positions of society became more compli-
cated and uncertain, a supreme civility to some was
seen side by side with a sneering insolence to others—
a revolution in manners, which embittered as it has-
tened.the revolution of opinions. Thus, the manners
of the French in the time of Louis the Sixteenth had
one feature of similarity with ours at present. A
moneyed aristocracy was then rising into power in
France, as a moneyed aristocracy is now rising into
power in England. This is the aristocracy which de-
mands obsequious servility—which is jealous and fear-
ful of -being treated with disrespect ; this is the aristo-
cracy which is haughty, insolent, and susceptible—
which .dreams of affronts and gives them ; this is the
aristocracy which measures with an uncertain eye the
height of an acquaintance ; this is the aristocracy
which cuts and sneers ; this aristocracy, though the
aristocracy of the Revolution of July, is now too
powerless in France to be more than vulgar in its pre.-
t iisions. French manners, then, if they arc not gra-
. cius, are at all events not insolent ; while ours, un-

if, in the construction of Acts of Parliament for the
better collection of the revenue; a Committee of the
trade was consulted by the Commissieners themselves,
instead of leaving it to the direction of their solicitor—
if, as in every other public board, the commissioners
wera practically acquainted with their duty, then we
might hope to see excise duties collected without the
interference of an unconstitutional and tyrannical court
of summary jurisdiction, and also without a system of
the most absurd and complicated machinery that ever
was devised.

happily, testify on one hand the insolence, while they
do not on the other represent the talent and the grace
of that society which presided over the later suppers of
the old regime. We have no Monsieur de Fitz-Jamcs,who
in i (=lit be rolled in a gutter all his life, as was said of a beau-
tiA7l woman of his time, " without ever contracting a
spot of dirt !" We have no Monsieur de Narbonne,
who stops in the fiercest of a duel to pick up the ruf-
fled rose that had slipped in a careless moment from
his lips during the graceful conflict. You see no
longer in France that noble air, that "great manner,"
as was called, by which the old nobility strove to
keep up the distinction between themselves and their
v,-,orseborne associates to the last, and which of course
those associates most assiduously
_imitated. That

Let us, hOwever, turn to the (first) report on tea
permits and surveys.
To direct and manage these permits and surveys
there are ten acts of parliament loaded with penalties
and restrictions.
The number of dealers surveyed is 101,687, and
the annual number of surveys 2,137,424.
The number of permits annually printed is 850,000,
besides 300,000 excise-books for the trader. Now
this cumbrous machinery was the means of detecting,
in the years 1830, 1831, and 1832, 3,3541b5. of

smuggled tea—the penalties of which amounted to
4731.,' and the tea condemned in consequence of the
prosecutions was 2,5621b5., so that we find against
the expense of 2,137,424 surveys, 850,000 permits,
and 300,000 excise-books, we have penalties an-
nually to the amount of 1571. and 8541b5. of tea !
This proves one of two things, either that the system
is so perfect that smuggling is impossible, or so im-
perfect that it affords no check. We will refer to the
evidence, and leave our readers to decide. The wit-
nesses examined are five Commissioners of Excise,
their solicitor, three officers, three retired officers,
three officers belonging to the customs, and 26 gentle-
men connected with the trade. _ _

. .
manner is gone : the French, so fai: from being a polite
people at the present day, want that easiness of beha-
viour, which is the first essential to politeness. Every
man you meet is occupied with maintaining his dig-
nity, and talks to you of his position. There is an
evident effort and struggle, I will not say to appear
better than you are, but to appear all that you are,
and to allow no person to think that you consider him
better than you. Persons, no longer ranked by classes,
talle each by themselves an individual place in society :

thq are so many atoms, not forming a congruous or
harmonious whole. They are too apt to strut forward
singly, and to say, with a great deal of action and a
gre'at deal of emphasis, " I am—nobody."—H. L. Bid-
zver's France.

BURNING OF THE MANUFACTORY OF
ARMS AT TOULA, IN RUSSIA.

The Emperor of Russia has just set out to inspect
several of the southern provinces of his vast empire.
It is said that the object of his journey is to see with
his own eyes the terrible devastation caused by the
fires in the manufactories of Toula. Whoever knows
the importance that this event may exercise upon
Russia will not be surprised at the haste with which
the .Emperor hastened to the spot. In fact, in the
city of Toula exist the only manufactories of fire-arms,
besides three fonndaries of artillery, and six hundred
forges, which furnish cutlery and hardware to all
parts of Russia. The arms manufactured here are as
good in appearance as those of England or France,
but cannot pretend to their solidity. The environs of
the city are full of villages belonging •to the crown,
the inhabitants of which are entirely free from taxes,
though living in a very fertile plain, well watered, and
covered with immense fields of corn. These wretched
serfs, impelled by despair, and unable to procure the
Means of existence for their families, have themselves
set fire to the manufactories which have caused their
ruin. For centuries these expert but unfortunate
workmen continued to toil, from father to son, for a
wretched pittance, which barely sufficed to sustain
their miserable existence, and without the hope of one
day reaping the fruits of their labour. According to
the mode in which they were made to work, no single
piece was executed by them. One village was obliged
to supply so many thousand barrels, another as many
thousand screws, a third as many thousand blades,
&c., which were finally deposited in the magazines of
Toula. As this was the only manufactory in all
Russia, and as the constant wars in which Russia was
engaged required an enormous quantity, each new
campaign of the Autocrat added to the misfortunes
of the workmen. It may, therefore, be easily conceived
that they wished by one effort to put an end to their
insupportable situation. They hoped that the ma-
nufactory being destroyed, the Emperor would cause
new ones to be immediately constructed in the capital,
and that if even a part of their number were taken to
the capital, their situation could not but be improved,
but their hopes have been deceived. The Emperor has
taken with him distinguished architects, ordered to re-
build new manufactories, and his departure has been
hastened because he was desirous himself to choose a
more isolated spot than before, and urge on the work.
It is impossible to say how much this affair has em-
barrassed the Government. There were fortunately
enough arms in the arsenal of St. Petersburg for pre-
sent occasion.

Si; F. Doyle says, that abolishing this system would
expose a revenue of immense importance to the great-
est possible hazard, and that without this system there
is no check against the introduction of smuggled tea
into every part of the country. Five Commissioners
agree precisely with their Chairman ; but their Solicitor
tries to be witty, and says, " I think it is (that is, the
present system) calculated to check smuggling to a
great degree. We must always bear in mind, in
Excise regulations, never to expect to have any re u,
lation that will be an actual prohibition to fraud. You
might as well try to have an inimitable bank-note."
So much for the Commissioners and their Solicitor;
but let us see what they say in another place
" Sir F. Doyle.—Question. In point of fact, there
is no accurate check of decreases of stock ?—A. There
cannot be, because it depends almost entirely on the
account of the trader himself.
" Sir John Malcolm.—Q. Though the law requires
the trader to enter daily the amount of his small sales,
it is hardly possible to control that operation So as to
secure its performance ?—A. Without a much closer
system, I should think not ; it is not so valuable as we
could wish, nor can we much rely upon it.
" Q. Then there is no actual controul over a de-
crease of stock ?—A. None over the daily decrease.
" Mr. Plunkett.—Q. Do you consider that the
survey and perfect system is so efficient as to prevent
a tea-dealer from getting smuggled tea into consump-
tion ?—A. No, I do not. I have no doubt dealers
may get a considerable quantity of smuggled tea into
consumption.
" Mr. HET II ER IN G TON, Surveyor-General.—Q.
Does the regulation which requires entries to be made
of the sales by the dealers afford an effectual check upon
the decrease of their stock ?—A. No, I think not. It
is a business which is not very strictly kept up, for we
have hundreds, if not thousands, of tea-dealers who
cannot write at all."
At one moment we find these able Commissioners
representing the present system as absolutely neces-
sary, and at another they all declare it is no check at
all I What can this mean ? Are these the persons
in whose hands the prosperity of many important
branches of manufacture ought to be entrusted ? We
think not, and we will now examine the evidence of the
tea-dealers.

First, we find that ten of the principal dealers of
London, Manchester, and Liverpool say, that the offi-
cers do not weigh their stocks nor examine their books,

t take the account of sales om

SECOND EDITION.

SUN OFFICE, Simon o'clock.

THE LONDON GAZETTE

THIS EVENING.

At the Court at St. James's, the 15th day of October, 1834,
PRESENT,
The King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.
It is this day orderd by his Majesty in Council, that the Parlia-
ment, which stands prorogued to Thursday the 23d of October in-
stant, be farther prorogued to Tuesday the 2.5 th day of November
next.