The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-11 00:00:00

the world that Sir JAMES BROOKE retires
from this investigation with untarnished character,
with unblemished honour. And I am persuaded
that he will continue to enjoy the estimation of his
countrymen as a man, who, by braving every con-
tumely, and facing dangers under distant climates,
and perils in unknown lands, has done more to pro-
mote the commercial interests of his country, and to dif-
fuse the light of civilization amongst a people who were
before in the darkness of barbarism." A splendid pane-
gyric and one nobly merited, an eulogiurn reflecting
honour upon the encomiast, as well as upon the sub-
ject of his approval. No wonder the plaudits were
fervent which interrupted and closed those remarks
of Lord PALMERSTON, remembering that the policy of
Sir JAMES BROOKE was the subject under discussion,
and that the auditors of the Foreign Secretary were
the representatives of the English people.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER has succeeded in
obtaining one of those triumphs in which he especially
rejoices, but which are calculated to do greater in-
jury to himself and party than the most decisive and
inglorious defeats. Once more he has by a narrow
majority negatived the just and reasonable demands
of the Scotch and Dish distillers, and continued a re-
gulation alike injurious to the producers and con-
sumers of home-made spirits fur another session.
Six times the House of Commons affirmed
the propriety and sanctioned the principle
of the measure brought forward by the
Noble Lord the Member for Kildare, and yet our
excellent Minister of Finance perseveres in his fac-
tious opposition, and offers obstructions at every stage
of its progress. The will of the Legislature, so
clearly and unequivocally expressed, is by him
despised and set at nought. A single defeat, we
should rather say surprise, occurring on the evening
between the Derby and Oaks, when the great ma-
jority of the legislators were absent, was considered
sufficient to induce the Government to advise their
SOVEREIGN to disturb the postal arrangements of the
country, and to introduce regulations that must ne-
cessarily be productive of the greatest inconvenience
to all classes in society. The will of the House of
Commons expressed on a division was the excuse,
but the transparency of the humbug must now be ap-
parent, whe❑ we find the contemptuous disregard ex-
hibited by one of those Ministers for the result of no
less than six divisions, and that he is supported by his
colleagues in the extraordinary and, for a Cabinet
Minister, unprecedented course he has thought proper
to adopt. .

And what is the subject on which he has
deemed it right to exhibit such perverse and mulish
obstinacy ? Is it one that could by a possibility in-
jure any class of her MAJESTY'S subjects; or that
could unduly interfere with our foreign or colo-
nial trade ? Is there any desire on the part
of the applicants to revive the obsolete doctrines
of protection, now advisedly repudiated by the
House ? Far from it. They demand no favour or
exclusive privilege ; they are the opponents of mo-
nopoly. All they ask is fair play, that the same al-
lowance should be given to the producer of the United
Kingdom that is freely conceded to the foreign or
colonial manufacturer. We have so frequently
entered into the merits of the question that it is
almost unnecessary to allude to any of the details,
with which the reading and the thinking public must
be familiar. It is sufficient to say that the point of
controversy is whether the Scotch and Irish dis-
tillers shall pay duty on the strength
and quantity of spirit brought into actual
consumption, and for which they receive payment,
as is the case with the foreign and colonial producer,
or whether they shall he compelled to pay on it as
it issues from the worm's end, without any allow-
ance being made for the waste occasioned by leakage,
soakage, nr evaporation, which must necessarily occur
if the spirit be kept a sufficient time to come to ma-
turity, and to get rid of the deleterious properties in-
separable from raw spirits of any description.
It seems unnecessary to offer any serious argument
on such a point, which carries conviction on the very
face of it. Sir CHARLES `Noon, however, speaks
as if it were a boon to the distillers that the duty
should be levied at the earliest moment. He drew a
distinction between the Customs and Excise duties—
that the principle as to the former was to levy them
at the latest moment, because up to the latest moment
there was no saying whether the article paid upon
would or would not be exported ; whereas in the
latter it was to levy them at the earliest moment, so
that the duty once paid, the owner of the article
might be freed from any further supervision or in-
terference on the part of the Excise. And is it to
the British Parliament, the elected representatives of
the British people, that such an argument is gravely
put forward by a person holding a high and im-
portant office ? Has he the hardihood to assert
that it is " for the convenience (the convenience,
forsooth!) of the producer" that the duty was so
levied? If such were the case, why do we
find the producers generally complaining of the
hardship, and showing that it compels them
to give an inferior article to the producer ? But the
statement is also untrue. The privilege of bonding
shows that the assertion is unfounded. That very
privilege was conceded in consequence of the
almost universal complaints preferred by the dis-
tillers, and it is absurd to assert that
the regulation was established for their especial con-
venience, when they were obliged to obtain a mo-
dification of the stringent and obnoxious rule. And
the fact that they are allowed to pay the duty,
at a subsequent period, when the spirit is about to
be brought into consumption, renders it a matter of
course that the duty should only be paid en the
quantity and quality brought into consumption.
The reference to the solemn settlement of 1848
was another specimen of gross and palpable folly.
How many of these solemn settlements have we had ?
Was there not an equally solemn settlement in
1847, which was an alteration of the still more so-
lemn settlement of 1845, which in turn varied the
numerous solemn settlements effected within the pre-
ceding twenty years ? And how was it a settle-
ment ? How were the distillers represented in 1848 P
Is it not notorious that they were taken
by surprise, without being afforded en opportunity of
producing any evidence or examining a single wit-
ness ? Away, then, with the farce of relying on such
a settlement ; and even if it were what is alleged, it
is unnecessary to say that no settlement could sanc-
tify such injustice as that to which the distillers of
Ireland and Scotland are subjected.

We copied a paragraph the other day from the
Sherborne Journal, stating the Sherborne Mercury had be-
come extinct; whereas the fact turns out to be that the
Mercury has only changed hands, and changed the place of
publication to Yeovil instead of Sherborne. Now, this being
the case, we wonder how another paper, from an unworthy
spirit of rivalry, should have published such an erroneous (?)
statement. Whatever difference of politics may exist, truth
should at all times be held sacred, more especially among
journalists, who profess to lead, and not mislead, public
opinion.—[ED. Sun.]

The Earl of Sefton is appointed Lord-Lieutenant
of the county of Lancaster, vice the late Earl of Derby. The
Rev. A. I'. 'Stanley is appointed to the stall now vacent in
the Cathedral of Canterbury.
DEMISE OF THE Rim. FREDERICK VERNON LOCK..
WOOD, CANON OF CANTELBUILY.—It is impossible to describe
the feelings of intense sorrow and regret for the loss of the
Rev. Frederick Vernon Lockwood, son-in-law of the Bishop
of Carlisle. All classes have manifested the deepest interest
in this event, which has deprived the Church of one of her
most useful members, and society of one of her greatest
ornaments. It is to be most deeply lamented that he caught
the infection which has terminated his labours, while visiting
one of his parishioners afflicted with the small-pox. The
Rev. Gentleman was appointed to the curacy of `Scurry the
22d April, 1826, and on the 7th March, 1827, was presented
to the vicarage of Mersham by the late Archbishop of Can-
terbury, and ultimately to the chaplaincy of the House of
Commons, and to a prebendal stall in Canterbury Cathedral.
—Kentish Gazate.
THE CIVIC ENTERTAINMENT.--The Right Hon.
the Lord Mayor received a communication from Lord John
Russell last evening, conveying her Majesty's most gracious
approval of all the arrangements of the civic entertainment
at Guildhall on Wednesday last, and announcing the fact
that her Majesty had been pleased to confer upon his Lord-
ship the dignity of a baronet of the United Kingdom, in
token of the Royal appreciation of the hospitality presided
over by his Lordship.
MARGATE, JULY 10.—The town is filling fast.
The General Steam Navigation Company's steam-ship Prince
of Wales arrived yesterday from London with passengers, in
four hours and forty minutes, being the quickest passage ever
accomplished. The Little Western occupied only five hours
and twenty minutes from Loudon to Ranasgata, both vessels
having called at Blackwell and North Woolwich for pat:-
wagers.

A. w. Way, Esq., has cffered to provide a stag-
hunting establishment for Cheltenham, on being guaranteed
300/. a year by the inhabitants. tz
—e proposes to hunt once
a week while Earl Fitzhardinge's fox-hounds are in the
:untry, and twice a week, with an occasional bye-day, at
her times.—Beth Chronicle.