The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-20 00:00:00

441;1'.171P/11" NMI ti

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 20, 185

In the House of Lords last night,
The Marquis of LANSDOWNE moved the second read-
ing of the Income-tax Bill. He thought that the coun-
try ought to submit to the continuance of this tax for
some short time longer, in order to enable them to
afford relief to the working classes by remitting duties
on articles of consumption; at the same time he
was by no means in favour of direct taxation.
Lord STANLEY would not oppose the Bill, but he
thought the Commons had acted wisely in limiting its
operation to a year. He hoped shortly to see the tax
abolished altogether.
After a few words from the Earl of MALMESBERY,
Lord BEAMIONT, and Lord BERNEES,
,
Lard MONTEAGLE denounced the tax as unjust and
oppressive.
Earl GREY defended the tax, the productiveness of
which had enabled them to give a stimulus to industry by
the repeal of many taxes which pressed upon production,
as an instance ef which he would mention the glass duty.
The Bill was then read a second time, and their
Lordships acjourned.
In the Commons,
The Chairman of the Harwich Election Committee
broueht up the report, which declared that Mr. PRIN-
SEP had not been duly elected, and that the last elec-
tion was void.
A new writ was ordered for Clackmannan, vacant by
the death of Sir W. Monesox.
The House then west into Committee on the Eccle-
siastical Titles Assumption Silt, but no sooner had Mr.
BERNAL taken hiY seat as chairman than
Mr. REYNOLDS moved that the Chairman do report
progress, and a-k tray, to sit again.
Sir GEORGE GREY, after the pledge given on Friday,
did not expect to have been met with this sort of op•
position.

The Earl of ARUNDEL and SURREY and Mr. ROE-
BUCK were in favour of delay.
Mr. GLADSTONE thought the progress of the measure
should be delayed until they had heard the opinions of
the law ctlicers of the Crown on the proposed amend-
G 0,13,1.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL considered the reque&t for the
opinion of the law-officers of the Crown a very reason-
able one.

After a desultory conversation, in which Sir R.
INGLIS. Mr. E. HOWARD. Mr. ItocHE, Mr. KEOGH, Mr.
T. DurroomnE, Mr. HUMF,, Mr. bHAP.MAN CRAWFORD,
and Mr. G. MOORE took part, the motion of Mr. REY-
NOLDS was rsegauved without a division.
On the question being put that the preamble be post-
poned,
Mr. REYNOLDS again moved that the Chairman do re-
port progress, which on a division was negatived by
262 to 46.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL then, at considerable
length, explained the legal operation of the proposed
alterations.
Ater a few words from Mr. M. Gtesort, Sir F.
THESIGER, Mr. ROCHE, Mr. P. HOWARD, L'Jrd BER-
NARD, and Lord J. RUSSELL,
Mr. T. BUNCOMBE contended that as the first clause
was foundi,d on the preamble the preamble ought to be
discussed first.
In this view he was supported by Mr. AGLIONBY and
Mr. KE an, and opposd by Lord J. RUSSELL and
the OLICITOR-GENERAL.
Mr. REYNOLDS again moved that the Chairman do
report progress, which, on a division, was negatived
by 271 to ZiO. The motion that the preamble be post-
ponc.d was carried by a majority of 258 to 45.
Mr. M. J. O'CoNNELL and Mr. ItEricoLDs objected
to proc,eding further with the Bill, ou account of the
lateness of the hour.
Sir G. GREY nrged the Committee to proceed.
Sir ROBERT INGLIS called upon the Liovernment to
adopt some measure to protect the great majority against
, tyrant minority.
I Sir F. THESIGER had an amendment to move on the
first clause, and, therefore, urged the Government to
postpone the further consideration for a day or two.
Sir GEORGE GREY consented to a postponement until
Friday.
The CHAIRMAN reported progress, and the House
adjourned.

The slow coach of the session actually achieved a
single stage last night—Ministers succeeded in post-
poning the preamble of the Ecclesiastical Titles
Assumption Bill. The recognised leaders of the
Irish Brigade, of course, were active in their ?infec-
tious obstructions, but after several manoeuvres of
guerilla warfare, Lard JOHN, the JEHU of the State,
drove through triumphantly so far. The Hon.
Member for Dublin fired the first shot. He took
quite superfluous pains to exculpate himself from the
imputation of acting otherwise than from the purest
motives, and in the most straightforward manner.
Who could ever dream of charging that distinguished
senator with being a party to any proceedings savour-
ing of the vexatious ? His entire conduct throughout
the progress of the measure has been characterised by
too strict a repugnance to the slightest violation, either
in spirit or in letter, of any understanding agreed
upon, to have rendered it necessary for him to apolo-
gize for opposing the motion that the SPEAKER leave
the chair. According to his own admission, indeed,
" there was an understanding that he (Mr. REY-
NOLDS) and those Hon. Members who usually acted
with him should not oppose that motion ;" but great
emergencies demand tactics of a superior order ; and
who so fitting a judge of the propriety of the policy
to be pursued as the Hon. the ex-Lord Mayor of
Dublin ? Mr. GLADSTONE, indeed, expressed his
conviction that it would be inconsistent with the
spirit of the arrangement entered into with the
consent of all parties on Friday night, that an ad-
journment should take place before practical progress
had been achieved, and the House rejected Mr. REY-
NOLD'S motion that the Chairman report progress, by
a majority of 216. But 46 patriots rallied round the
Hon. Gentleman, and although, in a subsequent sally
of a similar nature in the course of the evening,
sixteen of the thanes fled from him, whilst " the ty-
rant majority " was numerically augmented, is not
the fame of LEONIDAS and his sacred band ever dear
to the recollection of patriots ?—and has not Mr.
REYNOLDS gallantly proved himself the champion of
the persecuted POPE, the vindicator of the extension
of religious blessings, and of the freedom of con

science, and the intelleptual advancement consequent
on the purifying dominion of the Church of Rome ?
Neither was another Irish representative, whose
talent is really considerable—the Hon. and Learned
Member for Athlone—inactive on the occasion. The
Mselrf.
gallant Brigadier (for the characteristic modesty of
RaEnirrionns having repeatedly disclaimed for him-
the -ratls
chieftain
minant in other position than that of a private in
c:_'svt e hail Mr. KEOGH as the acknowledged
if less
proftuzhe
obfrilliantand formidable confederacy),
wrung an enthusiastic
celebrated morning
assembled senators
had it not been for
minaci oratorical embellishments, leas ful-
metaphor than when recently he
c tribute of admiration from a
wicthontem
the dtri iii) aY
question at issue, might have
mainly having nothing
Whatsoeverthef
circumstancelteogadlol o rwei,twhohfitchi which,
singular Bequests Bill
tended much to the
(if genuine)
.
was jostling in his brain with a silh
misconception of the true spirit of the Eili
his la-
cubrations on the former subject, rendering
more
muddy the stream which can sometimes fall from his
lips wish sufficient clearness and even brilliancy. In
sober truth, he made a sad hash of it lair eeet,iog.,
and the polished wespon of the SOLICITOR• GENERAL,
who rose immediately to reply, found every joint and
crevice in his armour. He was convic'ed of trying

to pass off as original a notable objection first hatched
in the fertile brain of the representative of Finsbury,
and of vaunting the discovery of that curious phe-
nomenon termed in the vernacplar "a mare's nest,"
by proclaiming as a startling mystery that the Go•
vernment bud adeptsd a portion of the Honourable
and Learned Member for Midhurit's preamble,
whereas it had been Lalionved by the Plums

Government, at the instance of the Right Hon.
Gentleman the Member for South 'Wiltshire, has just
had printed a return of a rather interesting and
timely character. It contains a select group of par-
ticulars respecting the position of officers in the Royal
Navy of England, such as tends very far indeed to de-
monstrate the necessity existing for the recently
projected innovations. Scarcely any thing, we be-
lieve, could more strikingly show the want of im-
provement in the system, until now so pertinaciously
persisted in by the Admiralty, than the facts, simple
enough in themselves, but of importance as displaying
the evil tendencies of a system, collected together in
this brief but significant document. Among other
details recorded in it are some rather remarkable
ones, disclosing the circumstance that there are
already on the list of admirals no less than forty
who have not served a sufficient time as captains to
entitle them to their flags! Forty—that is to say,
two full admires, seventeen vice admirals, and
twenty -one rear-admirals—and this with the con-
currence and consent of the authorities. Added to
which we discover that among the first
100, and among the second luo respectively,
on the Captains' List, according to the return above
mentioned, there are in the former instance just fifty-
four, and in the latter no less than eighty-four who
have not yet served a sufficient time as captains to
entitle them to their flag, any more than the forty ad-
mirals already particularised.
Another revelation of some significance in the do-
cument referred to, is the number of officers
who, as retired rear-admirals or retired cap-
tains, have at any time since September,
1846, accepted the retirement. Of these 218
have been ennumerated, thirty-eight among the num-
ber having, however, died since the period of their
retirement, so that 180 are surviving upon the list
indicated. Altogether we find from the official
statements made in the return moved for by Mr.
SIDNEY HERBERT, that among the officers now on
full pay there are 11 flag-officers, 75 captains, 99
commanders, and 433 lieutenants, making just 618
in the aggregate. Those officers who are at present
holding employment, though not on sea pay, are thus
mentioned ; 7 captains, that is to say 1 under the
Customs and 6 under the Admiralty; 64 commanders,
of whom 59 are under the Customs ; and 309 lieu-
tenants, of whom 263 are in like manner engaged in
the same avocations. From all these particulars it
must be sufficiently apparent, we conceive, that the
demand for a change in the system pursued at
the Admiralty was not made before it was abso-
lutely required. Enough evils in all conscience
must be allowed to be hero rendered
visible within the limits of a very narrow epitome, to
admit of the pruning-hook of the reformer. In this
respect the return, printed at the instance of Mr.
SIDNEY HERBERT, must be regarded as a complete
justification of the arguments so frequently, though
until now so ineffectually, put forward by ourselves.
They reveal, among other things that, as had long
been suspected, promotion as well as kissing may go
by favour—promotion not only in the military,
but also in the maritime professions. But that the
statements above published are given upon the autho-
rity of the Government, we doubt not but that they
would very generally have been viewed as assertions
of rather dubious authenticity. As it is the facts are
placed now beyond the reach of all denial. The
authorities at the Admiralty have not only shrived
themselves in the hearing of the whole nation,
but have given earnest, moreover, of their
determination to enter upon a course of amendment.
Those, consequently, who may hitherto have found
reason to lament over the degeneracy of the naval
system will perceive in recent events cause to exult
over very large indications of improvement—improve-
ment such as would have reflected credit even upon
SAMUEL PEPYS, one of the ablest and worthiest of the
Admiralty Secretaries. A somewhat considerable
interval must, of course, elapse before the re-
forms sketched out for itself by the Admi-
ralty can be fully realised. This, however,
can be no reason for regret to any sincere well-
wisher of the Royal Navy of England, seeing that
the delay will prove the means of preserving from
injury the interests of those who, howsoever un-
righteously, have attained the dignity of officers,
together with a proportionate allotment of pay and
prerogative. Improving suddenly or by jerks must
always be pernicious in its effects upon any system,
no matter how vast may be the ulterior good desi-
derated from the improvement. To render this good
really desirable and positively advantageous, it must
be arrived at by a means the most agreeably gra-
duated. Fortunately this has been the manner in
which the changes have been projected by the Admi-
ralty ; so that we are enabled to look forward to
their development with the most unalloyed satis
faction

RATS AND THE EXHIBITION.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.
Sir,—One good to be attained, indirectly perhaps,
from the Exhibition, is the repudiation, once and for
ever, of our ugly, uncomfortable, and unhealthy head
gear —hats.
For this purpose I suggest the formation, in London
and in every provincial town, of an "Anti• hat League,"
the members of which shall one and all abjure the pre-
sent unsightly chimney-pot hat. Ten or twenty gentle-
men, in a town of twenty thousand, would be quite auffi-
cient to start the thing. d myself have taken the solemn
league and covenant to-day.—Your fatthlul servant,
J. E. SANDILAND3 GRAHAME.
Barton hall, May 15.

DEATH OF THE VISCOUNT STRATHALLAN. --- We
regret to announce the death of the Lord Viscount Strath-
alien, at his seat of Castle Strathallan, in Perthshire, in the
afternoon of Wednesday last. His Lordship, who had
reached the ripe age of 85, began to show tokens of declining
strength some time ago; but his last illness w,s only of a
few days' duration. The deceased peer, James Andrew John
Laurence Charles Drummond, Viscount Strathallan, Lord
Maderty and Drummond of Cromlii, was born on the 24th
March, 1767. The family of which he became the represent- 1
ative was a branch of the noble house of Drummond.
D turn OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR WILLIAM
Morasos, K.C.B.—This distinguished officer died on the
he filled theraulffiinc
!,§.13. inst., at his residence in Saville-row, at an advanced age.
Isne represented the district of Clackmatinan and Kinross
filled sevtheraatl
nil
er!3 1842 on Liberal prineipl, s. General Morison for-
merly in the Madras Artillery, and held the rank of
the Company's service. For some time
Supreme Council 'IX"'
SIR AI%DRIES STOCdKENSTRO3I.
e of Deputy-Governor of Bengal, and also
of
ftijileir appointments of trust in the East, in-
cluding
Commissioner, and President of the
India.
who has so long been mix-
news must be well acquainted,le --This gentleman,
and with whose name the- 1411-11)oin the Government of Africa,
of the readers of African
Friday evening, by the Maidstenarriv
e, East India trader. Sir
Andries shortly after his arrival left by
ed at Plymouth on
railway fur the me.
tropolio.