The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-12 00:00:00

mand, if our subjects are to be entrapped into
them, that they shall be made prisons fit for
British subjects.

But we need not reprint the narrative we quoted
on Thursday from a provincial paper, furnished
by Piaui himself. Intimidation, torturing it might
ba justly called, long, weary confinement, without
permitting the recognised British authorities to
Isee the men ; refusal to liberate at once ; a trial,
only after nine months' false imprisonment ; and
the health of both and the reason of one danger-
ously threatened—these things constitute the
charge against Lord CLARENDON. Well r might
PARX say, at one part of his narrative, " Thus
we two English subjects were kept for three long
months rotting in a filthy dungeon, awaiting our
trial in a town in which resided an English consul,
within gunshot of an English man-of-war, while
the authorities at home were blandly explaining
to the House that the jurisdiction of the Govern-
ment was beyond all doubt." Oh ! could the
Jack Tars on board that man-of-war have but re-
ceived an order to settle the question, their
English hurrahs would have done it without firing
a shot.

Of one thing we are fully assured, that Lord
CLARENDON can never again be the Foreign
Minister of England. The Cagliari affair alone is
fatal to his claims. England will never consent
to place the guardianship of our citizens abroad
in his hands. His name would be as fatal to the
acceptableness of a Cabinet as that of Lord CLAN-
RICARDE himself. But the Cagliari affair is not
au isolated one. Lord CLARENDON'S whole policy
has been altogether a BONAPARTE policy. Not
one directed to the commendable object of cement-
ing the French and English Alliance, but of
strengthening the alliance between the Cabinets.
Lord CLARENDON has seen everything with Count
W4LEwsicr's spectacles ; through them he has
looked at Belgium and at Sardinia, as well as at
•ur own Statute Book, and into the humble book-
shops of this metropolis. At the Treaty of Paris
he was at WALEWSKI'S service to sit by and hear
the Belgian Press attacked and threatened. Soon
after, he was but too happy to oblige WALEWSKI
by giving Sardinia a very imperious intimation
that she might be too liberal for the comfort of
Louis NAPOLEON'S counsellors; and to finish all,
he came out with his long orations in the House
of Lords to prove that Count WALEWSKI and his
Colonels were right, and that all England and the
House of Commons were wrong in voting them to
have been in the wrong !

Now, we want no more such Foreign Secre-
taries, such literally Foreign Secretaries—men
who have become almost Foreigners, and foreigners
of the class, too, whom we like least of all. We
are by no means sure, could we but know Cabinet
mysteries, that it was not Lord CLARENDON who
precipitated the fall of Lord PALMERSTON. We
used to think the latter at least au Englishman,
though a Tory got by accident among Liberals,
just as Lord STANLEY is now by accident among
the Tories; and, we are slow to believe that, with
all his faults, he is not at heart one of us still.
Lord CLARENDON plainly is not. He is sold to
the Continentals ; and if be be a necessity to a
PALMERSTON Cabinet, then we can only say that
Lord PALMERSTON can never be Prime Minister
again.

We have recently explained the vast import-
ance of the financial scheme which will probably
be promulgated on Friday next, or at all events
in the ensuing week, by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer. On that scheme will, in all proba-
bility, depend the permanency of the Government.
Should it be satisfactory to the great body of the
poop., if w;11 ;,-nrincicildr4 to flinlarto thoso who
have acted hilly towards them on the point whore
f factious vote woum en mueeunv rewarrtert by

immediate appeal to the country, which would,
we believe, be clearly and unequivocally answered
—and by no means to the satisfaction of those
who provoked the manifestations of popular feel-
ing by free and independent constituencies.
We have already stated the leading features
that ought to appear in the new Budget—vie., a
renewal of the Exchequer Bonds, and a modifica-
tion of the Income-tax, discriminating between
permanent and precarious receipts. The people
know that they have nothing to expect from Sir
G. C. LEWIS in the way of relief. He is wedded
to the Income-tax in its present unequal and
oppressive form. He would make no change to
render the assessments more equitable. It is
probable that, if in office, he would propose its
continuance at sevenpence in the 11. until
1860, by which he would gain 2,000,0001.
per annum, towards supplying the defi-
ciency which he himself had created by paying
off the Exchequer Bonds last year, and redeeming
the Sound Dues by a single payment, in place of
by instalments spread over at least 20 years,
and not taking any equivalent for the Sardinian
loan, which was creating capital for the benefit of
posterity at the expense of the present generation.
He might also impose additional imposts, or in-
crease those already in operation until they
become intolerable. But there would not be the
slightest hope of his affording the slightest relief
to the overburdened tax-payers in any matter
however impolitic or inequitable. The stereo-
tpyed answer of Sir Cnevaxiii WOOD, when he
was at the head of the Financial Department,
that "the tax produced so:many thousands, which
he was certainly not disposed to part with," would
be that returned to every complaint, however
well founded.

It has been more than hinted that one of his
projects for obtaining money would be increasing
the duty on Irish spirits to the rate now paid in
England. We are convinced that any such scheme
would not only prove a total failure, -so far as the
revenue is concerned, but that it would be pro-
ductive of very disastrous and demoralising conse-
quences. In Ireland we quite agree that spirits may
be properly taxed to the very highest amount
that can be procured without creating
an illicit trade. But, unfortunately, there is a
certain limit that cannot be passed 1 The mo-
ment that illicit distillation becomes profitable,
that a sufficient insurance fund can be created
against loss, at that very moment the dangerous
traffic will be stimulated and fostered. No mea-
sures of precaution will suffice to put it down.
All the efforts of the Revenue Police will be fruit-
less—when the success of one attempt will more
than recompense the failure of two others.
Many well-informed persons are of opinion that
the utmost limit has already been touched. Nay, it
is more than probable that it has been passed.
Corn is fortunately cheap, and that is the illicit
distiller's opportunity. His stake is less in
amount, while the grain, in case of success, is in-
creased in an inverse ratio. The temptation to
" wet grain" is therefore incomparably greater
than while it was comparatively scarce and dear,
and war or semi-famine prices were maintained.
Under such circumstances it would be most
unwise to put on a further duty ; but these are
matters with which Sir G. C. LEwis could not
grapple. He would go on without con-
sideration, until ho found the revenue ma-
terially damaged, and illicit distillation with its