The Sun.
London, England, 1804-01-23 00:00:00

. . !

IT has been in, some degree fortunate for HiS
Majesty's preSent Ministers that the public mind
has been too much engrossed, by the awful situation
in which we are placed, to "permit that calm inquiry
into the general egndua of Administration, which
in ordinary times forms perhaps the best safeguard
of the Constitution. But when the salvation
,of the
Country is at stake, when the decision may take
place in a few hours,'when every man knows that
his Liberty, his Property, and perhaps his Exist.:
ence are threatened by an Enemy powerful by
numbers, treacherous by principle, --and eourage-
ous from the prospe4, of plunder, "it is by
,no
means surprizing that many 'objeEts of less com-
parative iMportance 'should be passed over without
observation. There is, however, one measure to
which Ministers stand so unequivocally, 56 solemnly
pledged, and which they appear to have so com-
pletely abandoned, that nothing but the wish not to
impedeGoVernment in their preparations for national
defence could prevent its having been a subject cf
serious discussion, we mean the state of the Civil
List.--eone of the earliest measures of• Mr. AD-
Di NCTON after he came into' Administration was
to call the attention of Parliament to the very heavy
debt with which the Civil List was then encumbered.
In this he was not only justified by 'policy and
humanity, but it was- generally supposed to he the
earnest wish of the greatest Personage in the King-
dom—The subjed underwent a very full discussion
in Parliament, and a very large sum was voted to
pay off the debt upon the Civil List.—Mr. AD-
DINGTON then declared that he should by no means
content himself with paying off' the Incumbrances
then subsisting, for he conceived it to be the duty
of Partianient and 'of Ministers to take effettual
measures to prevent such ae. accumulation in future.
The Right Hon. ur.tble G,-ritternan did not con-
fine himself to general declarations upon the
subjea, but on the 18th of June, r 802, he rose in
the House of Commons and " lamented that there
was so thin a House winn he was about to give so
important a notice ; it would he said be recoließed,
that when the subject of the Civil List was before
the 1-louse, he had stated that he meant to bring.
forward a measure to prevent its accumulation in
future. He was deep!), concerned that the moltipli-
city of public business had prevented him from giv_
ing it-a sufficient degree of attention to bring it to
Maturity. However it had not been abandoned,
and would be brought ferward early next Session, if
not by him, he trusted by some other of His Ma-
jesty's Seivarits. He considered the House pledged
for it as well as 4dministratiou."
After this solemn pledge it will remain for the
friends of :Ministers to point out what measures have
been brought forward, and to explain why the Civil
List is now (with some exceptions) above four quar-
ters in arrear.

* Parliamentary Register for 1802, vol. 3, page 643-

SCOTLAND.

PERTH, JAN. 13.

THE Volunteers were inspected yesterday, at
one o'clock, by General MACDoNALD, in presence
of his Grace the Duke of ATIIO LL.
Colonel M'lCEsztE's Regiment is to hz quarter-
ed here fur a fortnight, and to march in on Tuesday
next.

. . . .
The Prince of Wales's Regiment of Light Infan-
try, under the command of Lieutenagt:.Colonel the
Hon. CHARLES Ici NNA IR Ds have offered their.sr-
vices to enter on permanent duty at Edinburgh, -or
wherever the Commander in 'Chief shall think it
right to order them. . ,
A Subaltern's guard of 30 men, from the zd (or
Montrose) .Regiment of FprfarshireVolunteers, now
do duty atlaunan Bay. Another Subaltern's guard
daily expelled to be on Of 20 men isduty at the
battery on, Montrose Ness.
Tuesday se'nnigbt, the two Companies of May.
bole Volunteers, on their parade, unanimously agreed
to offer to-go on permanent duty.

We learn by a Danish Sltip whichhiCh arrived at the
Island of St. Helena early in September, and which
that a very
left Batavia the .attcr eod of June,
serious commotion had taken place in the interior
of Sumatra, between two high chiefs, whose pre.,
tensions to certain points were strenuously Main-
tained by'.thetn bath. The consequence has been,
that a warfare of a singular nature has taken ;:lace,
without any advantage on either side. Women,
and children of a toletable.age, partake in this sari_
guif.ary confli&. Their metilodiof fighting)s with
arrows, of a dangerous` nature ; the handle is about
three feet in length, and a long "piece of iron wciod,
extremely sharp, is fixed in the top. ' This,pie6e of
iron wood-is-ctiriously barbed; like a hook, and be-
ing poisoned, the effZds are almosi
The dispute has• arisen from one of their Pangerans
dying, leaving dollars behind him to a very. con-
siderable4mounriand several hundred head of buf-
faloes. This property is claimed by each of the
above Chiefs, who seem determined to contend the
point.; Wherever they go, devastation masks their
way.

At an early hour on Saturday sennight, the
infantry of KnittSfVrd were unexpeCily called to-
gether, for the purpose of being inspeded by his
Royal Highness Pit cEVVI LLI OfGLOUCP.STE Et
who was then upon a visit at the' hospitable mansion.
at Tatton Park, the seat of WM. EGERTON, 11:1.
Although his Royal Highness only expressed a wish
to see the corps late' the preceding evening, , and
numbers of the men live at the distance of from four
to six miles from Knutsford, upwards of 250 had
assembled by ten c1!.;',5-aturday morning. The corps
then marched, liValcielf,,Vtheir worthy Major, to
.latton Park,' acid afietxoing through the review
exercise with the greatest promptitude and exa&-
ness, (a very heavy fall of snow preventing them
from going through any evolutions) the Par Nc E
was pleased to express himself. particularly struck
by their Military appearance, and paid some other
suitable compliments highly:gratifying to the Corps.
The Officers of the Corps afterwards partook of an