The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-07 00:00:00

IBEI ',SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY "EVEN

~.~

Slagiciennne, 16, st-v, Capt J Commerell, 1859, E Indies
Majestic, 80, se Capt W Mends, CB, 1852, Coast Guard
Marlborough, 131, sc, Vice-Admiral A. Fanshawe, CB,
Capt the Right Hon. Lord F Kerr, 1852, Mediterranean
Mars, 80, se, Capt J Strange, 1854, Channel Fleet
Medina, 4, st-vl, Capt T Spratt, CB, 1855, Mediterraneah
Medusa, 4, st-vl, Corn W Bowden, 1851, Coast ofaildrica
Megeera, 6, sc, Com J Hunt, 1856, Portsmouth
Melpomene, 50, sc, Capt C. Ewart, 1855, Channel Fleet
Mersey, 40, se, Capt H Caldwell, CB, 1853, Channel Fleet
Mohawk, 4 sc, Corn P M'Dougal, 1856, Mediterranean
Monarch, 'B4, cc, Tice-Admiral E Harvey, Capt H Har•
vey, 1852, Sheerness
Monkey, st-tug, Sec Mas G. Syndercombe (acting), Wool-
wich
Mutine, 17, se, Corn W Graham, 1858, Pacific
Naiad, 42, store-ship, Mas-Com W Dillon, 1843, Callao
Nautilus, 6, Lieut-Com W Grant, 1852, apprentice-ship
Neptune, 91, sc, Capt F Campbell, 1857, Mediterranean
Nereus, 42, store depot, Mas-Com J Barlow, 1853, Valparaiso
Niger, 44, sc, Capt P Cracroft, 1854, Australia
Nile, 90, so, Capt E Barnard, 1859, Devonport
Nimrod, 6, sc, Corn R Wynniatt, 1859, East Indies
Oberon, 3, et-v, Lieut -Com F Paget, 1852, SC of America
Odin, 16, st-v, Capt Lord J Hay, CB, 1854, East Indies
Opossum, 2, sc, gunboat, Lieut-Com G Bevan (acting),
East Indies
Orion, 91, cc, Capt J Frere, 1854, Mediterranean
Osborne, st-v, Mast-Com G Bower, 1842, particular service
Pearl, 21, sc, Capt J Borlase, CB, 1855, East Indies
Pelorus, 21, sc, Capt F Seymour, 1854, Australia
Pembroke, 60, Capt E Charlewood, 1855, Coast Guard
Perseverance, 2, tr-sh, Com E Power, 1850, particular ser-
vice
Persian, 12, Corn E llardinge, 1856, Cape of Good Hope
Pioneer, 6, sc, Corn II Reilly, 1858, East Indies
Plumper, 9, screw, Capt G Richards, 1854, Pacific
Pluto, 4, st-v, Lieut-Com C Simpson, 1818, Coast of Africa
Porcupine, 3, st-v, Capt H Otter, 1851, Devonport
Princess Charlotte, 104, Mast-Corn H Thomsett, 1854,
Hong Ken.-
'
F rometheus, 5, st-v, Lieut-Com T Hollingworth, 1855,
Coast of Africa
Pylades, screw, 21, Capt M de Courcy, 1852, Pacific
Quail, se gunboat, Lt-Corn N Osborn, 1856, Mediterranean
Queen, 86, sc, Capt C Hillyer, 1852, Channel Fleet
Racer, 11, screw, Com the Hon T Pakenham, 1856, North
America and West Indies
Racoon, 21, so, Capt A Paynter, 1851, Mediterranean
Recruit, 6, st-v, Cora D Spain, 1856, Mediterranean
Renard, 4, cc, Corn J Goodenough, 1858, East Indies
Renown, 91, so, Corn A Forbes, 1846, Mediterranean
Retribution, 28 st-v, Commodore H Edgell, C.B, E Indies
Rhadamanthus, 4, st-v, Mas Cons F Sturdee, 1815, parti-
cular service
Ringdove, 4, sc, Corn R Craigic, 1356, East Indies
Roebuck, 6, se, Corn F Marten, 1851, East Indies
Rolla, 6, Lt-Com C Nelson, 1854, apprentice brig
Royal Adelaide, 104, Rr-Ad Sir T Paslcy, Bt, Capt W
Williams, 1841, Devonport
Royal Albert, 121, cc, Rr-Ad Sir C Fremantle, K.C.B,
Capt H Lacon, 1856, Channel Fleet
Russell, 60, cc, Capt G Wodehouse, 1854, Coast Guard
St Jean d'Acre, 101, sc, Capt T Thompson, 1847, Mediter.
St Vincent, 102, Rr-Ad the Hon G Grey, Capt T Wilson,
1853, Portsmouth
Sampson, 6, st-v, Capt G Hand, 18.52, East Indies
Sanspareil, 70, sc, Rr-Ad C Talbot, Capt A Wilmot, C.B,
1854, Queenstown
Saracen, 4, Mas-Com W Stanton, 1852, East Indies
Satellite, sc, 21, Capt J Prevost, 1856, Pacific
Saturn, 72, Capt U Ramsay, C.B, 1843, Pembroke
Scourge, 6, sc, Corn W Jones, 1854, Mediterranean
Scout, 21, sc, Capt J Corbett, 1857, East Indies
Scylla, 21, sc, Capt R Lambert, 1855, Mediterranean
Seagull, 2, sc gunboat, Lt-Com W Chimme, particular ser.
Sharpshooter, 8, sc, Lt-Com C Gibbons, 1848, C of Africa
Sidon, 22, st- v, Capt R Crawford, 1856, Cape of G Hope
Simoom, 8, sc, Corn J Cooke, 1852, particular service
Siren, 16, Corn G Balfour, 1856, S.E. Coast of America
Skipjack, 2, sc gunboat, Lt-Com J. Murray, 1848,W Indies
Slaney, 2, sc gunboat, Lt-Com H. Led, 1855, E Indies
Snake' 4, cc, Corn H Harvey, 1857, East Indies
Snap, 2, sc gun-boat, Lieut-Corn W Butler, 1855, E Indies
Sparrowhawk, 4, sc, Com J Byng' 1856, E Indies
Sphinx, 6, st-ves, Corn G Day, VC, 1855, E Indies
Spitfire, 5, st-ves, Lt-Com W Chapman, 1859, C' of Africa
Spy, 3, Lt-Com J Hanmer, 1848, S E oast of America
Starling, se gun-boat, Lt-Com J Whitshed, 1854, E Ladies
Staunch, 2, sc gun-boat, Lt-Com E Pollard, 1855, B Indies
Styx, 6, st -yes, Corn C Vesey, 1854, N America and W Ind
Supply, str-sh, Mast-Com W Balliston, 1854, Woolwich
Surprise, 4, cc, Cora Lord E Cecil, 1857, Coast of Africa
Tartarus, 4, st, Cora A Mansell, 1855, Mediterranean
Termagant, 25, cc, Capt R Hall 1855, S E Coast of America
Terrible, 21, st-ves Capt F Glasse, C 8,1816, Mediterranean
Terror, 16, Capt F Hutton, 1844, Bermuda
Topaze, 51, sc, Capt the Hon J Spencer, 1854, Pacific
Tortoise, 12, store-sltip Ascension
Trafalgar, 91, sc, Capt E Fanshawe, 1845, Channel Fleet
Tribune, 30, sc, Capt G Hornby, 1846, Pacific
Triton, 3, st-ves, Lt-Com R Burton, 1849, Coast of Africa
Urgent, se troop-ship, ComH Hire, 1854, particular service
Valorous, 16, st-v' Capt W Aldham, CB, 1853, W Indies
Victor Emmanuel, 91, sc, CaptW Clifford, C B, 1847, Med
Victoria and Albert, 2, st yt, Capt the Hon J Denman, 1841,
Portsmouth
Victory, 101, Vice Admiral H Bruce ; Capt R Cooto, 1854,
Portsmouth
-Viper, 4, sc, Corn W Hewett, 1858, Portsmouth
Virago, 6, st-v, Corn M Dunn, 1856, particular service
Vixen, 6, st-v, Com L Lambert, 1858, Pacific
Vulcan, 6, sc troop ship, Com A Strode, particular service
Vulture, 6, st .v, Capt G Parker, Mediterranean
\-1111.1i :Tea:
ilcziehnesiflg,uet2yl(
is27o,27B"e2c:gnac-p_babttptss7t
utru,
apLtr-tg-
Robinson,oCGmoonllrdvls,mill :wl,eocf ir etßhl 18818455267, E Indies
EC
Chatham
1840, Devonport
Woodcock,'2, sc gun-boat, Lt-Com G Bosanquet, 1855, E
Indies

THE DUTY ON FIRE INSURANCE.

The close of last week brought us to quarter-day
—a fact which it may seem somewhat unnecessary
to record. We have a motivc,however, for doing
so. On that day there was due to Government from
certain taxpayers of the kingdom the sum of
£300,000, or thereabouts, and the same amount
will be levied in each of the three succeeding quar-
ters of the year. Altogether. something like
£1,300,000 will thus find its way into the Exche-
quer as a contribution to the revenue, and, as the
amount is considerable and the principle of the tax
quite unique, we ask for the attention of the public
while we examine its bearings. This seems the very
time for reductions and readjustments. Silk duties,
wine duties, Customs' duties of all kinds have been
doomed to extinction, and we shall be much sur-
prised if we cannot make out a case against the im-
post of which we are speaking—the duty on fire
insurance.
Thousands of our readers will have found in
their letter-boxes during the last few days a cer-
tain obliging reminder from their insurance offices,
and whic a adopts this method of intimating that,
unless a specified sum be paid within 15 days, the
guarantee desirable against fire will cease and de-
termine. The offices, however, are wise in their
generation. They are at the pains of analysing their
demands, and of discriminating in the very terms of
their notice between their own dues and the exac-
tions of Government. The premium, or payment
required for the purpose of insurance, is so much
—the Government duty on the transaction is so
much more, The first point, therefore, for conside-
ration is the proportion between these two consti-
tuent parts of the sum—the next is the general
character of the tax itself.
On the former of these heads, the case presents,
as few will deny, a very startling aspect. The
Government duty exactly trebles, in ordinary in-
stances, the original demand. The premium com-
monly required by insurance-offices is ls. 6d. per
cent. That is the consideration for which they will
guarantee an insurer against loss by fire, Supposing
that no particular or unusual risk attend the trans-
action, the offices will insure any property to the ex-
tent of £lOO in value for the payment of eighteen-
pence per annum. On the back of this, however,
comes the Government tax, and that tax is 35. per
annum, so that the whole amount claimed by the
insurance-office becomes 43. 6d. Compare this with
other taxes, and the impost will be found almost
prohibitory. Even brandy was never made three
times as dear as it need be. We have been taking,
too, a mere unit of measurement—the single £lOO ;
but multiply it, and see how the figures run up. It
is no great thing to insure for £2,000. What with
stock in the case of a tradesman, and ordinary pro-
perty in the case of independent householders,
nothing is easier than to find this amount of obliga-
tion incurred. Be it remembered that.the reckoning
must include every article in the house from top to
bottom—not only the furniture, the plate, and the
wine, but the wearing apparel of every member of
the family, and all, in short, which a fire would con-
sume. Now, as far as the necessary charge goes,
an insurance office would take the whole risk for £1
lOs. per annum, whereas the duty levied by Govern-
ment
Let
u perfectlys actuallyenormous.
ewr
Ines
consider
ssl s the demand to £4 lOs. The
insurer is thus taxed £3 upon 3Os.—a proportion
self. Of course in sdomeretsheenscehaitraicstaerd
direct
etthteatax
andit-
alaeltsloixeidnu.pso.Aoninaresernigse a tax upon property, but we'ven-
tare to say thathntever yet was a property tax so
with the
favour
least more kiiso se ee
scheme
etmh
ee otherdid
notd afiyn tdo placeuch
property.
public,proposed
th butan
thoseits principles
insurance
eaet
duty. He wouldito reasonableimprudence
eetnaxed all property alike, with-
erty, would o
r notlec
vehiateosd.
stock
tiuooten allowingk;
a shupt ri;
a right of exemp•
ebhit'iirnetgated a tradesman s
purposes of: ax upon
.goods ob-
wognuoirsawnicsehewshtaoteeveeernries of
taken
t propertyi
k
ob-
tained merelyfor the ale. In the insurance
no
of fire. A man with £5,000 worth of
udnuttyil owner
plate or fur-
niture in his house is not called upon for a penny,
Provided he choose to remain uninsured, h w ereas
his neighbour, with a stock in trade worth £5OO,
must pay 15s. yearly to Government, besides 78. cd.
to the Insuranceoffice, if he wished to be guaran-
teed against ruinous loss. The tax, therefore, is
levied, not upon property, but upoi the act of se.
curing it. If a man chooses to run the risk of
being beggared, Government
will encourage him in
his recklessness by exempting him from a tax ; if
he is too cautious to incur this peril, he must pay
for his wisdom. It is in vain to argue that the de-
lay does nut really operate in this manner, and that
the amount is too small to deter anybody from in-
suring his goods. The duty turns a payment
£1 into 13, and it would be preposterojis to sup-.
pose that the latter obligation would be accepted as
freely as the former, if a reduction of £2OO per
cent. upon the cost of a thing will not bring
it into
more common use, what becomes of all the specula-
tions on which Mr. Gladstone founds his budget .
What is the good of cheap silk or cheap claret un-
less cheapness means increased custom in the

article ? If there is truth, as assuredly there is, in
the relations traced between price and consumption,
it follows necessarily and directly that the heavy
duty upon insurance discourages the practice of
insuring, and that a premium is thus placed by
legislative enactment upon culpable imprudence.—
Times.

TILE INQUISITION IN THE PAPAL

STATES.

The .3lonitore di Bologna, in a recent number,
contains the following remarkable article, and still
more remarkable document annexed to the same,
relating to the present legislation and authority of
the Inquisition in the Papal States. The article is
from the pen of the Chevalier Achille Genneralli ;
the decree is simply the written law, publicly
affixed in all places of general resort, under which
the towns of Pesaro, Rimini, Fano, Pennabilli, and
the surrounding villages and districts have, during
the last 19 years, been made to yield obedience to
the harassing and vexatious system of prying and
spying into the most minute domestic affairs, as
practised by the Inquisition :
" If Europe only knew, as well as we do, the true
character of the Government of the Court of Rome
in the unhappy provinces subjected to its sceptie, it
would be much less difficult for those provinces to
obtain that emancipation to which every people has
a right when the power oppressing it is based on an
unchangeable and incorrigible immorality. Not the
least of the iniquities now dominant in the Papal
States is the Holy Office, or Inquisition, which
actually exerts its malignant action in all its fish
ness, and in such a way that its legislative and
executive autocracy is placed above the other
powers of the State. If any one, looking to the
miliness of modern manners and to the progress
which has been made in civilisation, should feel in-
clined to doubt the existence of the Inquisition in
the Papal States, he need only examine the docu-
ment which follow on these words. It may be read
in print—nay, it is actually the living law in the
provinces of Urbirse and Pesaro, and in those bor-
dering thereupon; and in order that no one may
forget that the law is inviolable, not only are copies
of it to be publicly seen in the vestries and in the
churches, but likewise in the taverns and in the
shops ; and woe to him who should attempt to tear
them down. If this document had not been a revela-
tion for Europe we believe that Europe would have
received with less stupefaction the intelligence of
the manner in which the child Mortara was torn
from his parents.
" In the decree of the Inquisition which we have
civilised
ninevcfdieo
nriwses
eheudi
tseowht htowhieierodend
;Iftedrvseuic
oh as
fran,
are the
puerile and ridiculous,
passages
hsht
ee,.prohibitionslaughterwi
th him
imn ti the et
toowthaoo
offerliet
similara:gr eHbmeoe
pl ninyet
ras
mit
tt
iieotnrmt
se oad; rndt, eon f
fio
ask
whicht c e
thifindfe Fatherwpt
points,
ie na
atsaru,er
Inquisitors
however,
einsv idet
livingor o,r
st
onehioe
in
mttihmaeyes when the ignorance of the public may be so
confidently reckoned on ; and one may further ask
beth the CaHouolryt oof Rffieoemact whyall there
eshoulde
sienn
ttehde shey
menays
of such Superhumantransformed imbecility ? But, far worse
thani
ntfhoirsi,ner we th
intoevilelv a dorkutoy of ftheeonsspeLnaened,
with the penalty of excommunication launched
against all who fail to inform against offenders ; to
receive heretics is declared an action punishable by
the sacred tribunal; the contact with Jews is
enougd
h. under This
decree
ereheaviest denunciations ! And
these laws are in forceoeoinntaliBn6ao.
an
exhortationßat isthis f
notor
the purpose of encouraging self accusation, and pro-
mises merly to those who shall accuse themselves.
The legislator,. however, has taken good care that
the promise shall not be invoked as a right by those
to wkom it was addressed, and he therefore made a
lvaerr3; simple
ner reservation.
mercy should
ould bepraetiHaede doenclylarmeldenthathteabsoinmuis-
rir who might feel inclined to accuse himself to his
reverence had not been anticipated in his accusa-
tion either in that or in some other tribunal of the
Inquisition.' Thus, as the Holy Office has for its
foundation secrecy, the Father Inquisitor, who
might wish to apply a little of the torture, or the
bastinado, or fasting, or imprisonment (even per-
petual imprisonment) to some unfortunate being,
politically suspected, would be at ample liberty to
do so, by merely asserting that the person spon-
taneously informing against himself had been al-
' ready informed against in some other branch of the
Inquisition. His word would suffice, and his decrees,
in consequence, would more than suffice. In this
way traps are laid for the weakminded by the reve-
rend instruments of the Court of Rome; but we
have reason to believe that the persons so weak-
minded are few in number, and that those who seek
to ensnare them have been mistaken in their calcu-
lation.
" Meanwhile it will not appear extraordinary if
we address to these Father Inquisitors a single ques-
tion. Amongst the documents which relate to the
Papal Government, and will shortly be given to
the world, we have found several from which we
know that certain inquisitors, vicars, and bishops,
by a trait of peculiar compassion, have revealed the
revelations thus obtained to the director-general of
police in Rome, who thought it right, in order to
add compassion to compassion, to imprison all those
informed against and their adherents, to commence
trials in order to procure the condemnation of a
prodigious number of persons accused, many of
whom, after a long term of years, are still waiting
the completion of their appointed punishment. We
have discovered letters from the head of the Roman
police (he is at the present day an archbishop and a
cardinal) suggesting to the compassionate vicars of
the Holy-office the questions which they ought to
put to the persons making spontaneous revelations,
in order to discover, not sins, but political conspi-
racies and attempts to raise up Italy from its abject
state. What explanations will the reverend fathers
give of these facts ? A friend of ours possesses a
letter of the Cardinal Bishop Castiglioni (who was
subsequently Pope Pius VIII.), addressed to another
cardinal, a legate of the Holy See. In it he informs
him of attempts made by the patriots, reveals to him
their political secrets,7adding, these things I have
not learned by means of the confessional, but in
another way.' If one must exclude the suspicion of
the confessional, that implies that it is not for the
very reverend fathers, clothed with inviolable
secrecy !
" Meanwhile, as the document which we now
offer to our readers contains likewise an exhor-
tation, we too would address an exhortation to
the reverend fathers ; and it is to the effect, that
the time of a self-satisfied ignorance has passed
away; that the priesthood only covers itself with
ridicule when it gives such Warnings as those in
the following law, when it requires the denuncia-
tion of heretics, and endeassours to brand all those
who are not Catholics as if they positively were not
human beings ? The massacre of St. Bartholomew
belongs to a bygone age, and the inquisitors may
reserve their work for the epoch at which some
new world shall be discovered.

" For the present, it suffices to exhibit for the in-
dignation and scorn of civilised Europe the follow-
ing document, which fitly represents the immora-
lity and the barbarism in which the temporal and
spiritual rulers of the Papal States still endeavour
to keep their subjects plunged :

: " ' bEeIiEE.

" We, Fra Filippo Bertolotti of the Order of
Preachers, Master in Sacred Theology in the cities
and dioceses of Pesaro, Rimini, Fano, Pennabilli,
and in the districts and places adjacent, Inquisitor-
General of the Holy Apostolic See, especially dele-
gated to watch against heretical pravity :
" We desiring, as is required by the duty of this
holy office entrusted to us, that the Catholic faith
(without which, as the Apostle St. Paul writes to
the Hebrews, it is impossible to please God) should
be preserved in this our jurisdiction immaculate
and pure from all heretical contagion; and it being
evident to us by experience that many through
malice, others through disobedience, and others
through ignorance, ha re not fulfilled the absolute
obligation under which they lie to denounce to the
Holy Office the offences relating to the same, and
that there arise thence the most serious inconveni-
ences and errors, not only against good morals, but
also expressly against the Catholic faith ; we, there-
fore, to whom there should be especially at heart
the glory of God, the full preservation and increase
of the holy faith, and the salvation of souls, in
order to obviate all disorders, by the apostolic
authority granted unto us, command, in virtue of
holy obedience, and under the penalty of excom-
munication, in addition to the other penalties de-
nounced by the sacred canons, decrees, constitu-
tions, and bulls of the supreme pontiffs, by the
tenor of the present edict—all and every person of
whatever state, rank, candition, or dignity,
cul whe-
ther ecclesiastical or sear, that within a month,
ten days of which are o,,signed for the first, ten for
the second, and ten for the third peremptory term,
they shall reveal or legally notify to us, or to our
vicars, or the respective ordinaries of the places, all
and each of those persons respecting whom they
know, or may have obtained, or shall obtain notice:
" ' That they are heretics, or suspected or taxed
with heresy, or abettors, or receivers, or defenders
of heretics, or have adhered or do adhere to the
rites of the Jews, or of the Mahometans, or of the
Gentiles, or may have apostatised from the holy
Catholic faith :

" Who have committed or commit acts from
which there may be inferred an express or tacit
2,9,Teement with the devil, by practising incanta-
tions, magic, sorcery, offering unto the same in-
cea.se or prayers ia order to find treasures, or other