The Sun.
London, England, 1835-05-26 00:00:00

~ ,

taxes which pressed on them in particular. The Noble Lord
had spoken of the effect of foreign competition as injurious to
the agriculture of this country, and had instanced butter. Did
le. not know that there Is as a protecting duty of 20s. per cwt.
cn butter, and a protecting duty on seeds also ? He ( Mr. S.
Rice) held in his hand, a list of articles protected, whether
isely or unwisely, by import duties. It included bacon,
bark, beer, cider, cheese, hay, hides, lard, horses, oil-cakes,
and various other articles. Looking to the amount of tax-
ation which the land bore at present in proportion to the ag-
gregate taxation, it would be found that it bore a less share
than formerly. In the reign of William 111. the whole amount
ef the revenue was 48,000,0001., out of which 19,000,0001.
was raised by the land-tax alone, the other branches of
taxation producing 29,000,0001. ; so that two-fifths of the
whole consisted of the land-tax, which was infinitely more
than its present proportion. In the reign of Queen Anne
the amount of the taxes was 62,000,0001. ; that of the land-
tax 21,000,000/. In the reign of George I. the amount of the
taxes was 56,000,000/. ; that of the land-tax 18,000,0001.
In George I l.'s reign the total taxation was 216,000,0001. ;
out of which 49,000,0001. was produced by the land-tax.
Therefore the agriculturists of the present day, if they
compared their situation with that of the agriculturists in the
reigns to the revolution of George 111., would find that the
proportion contributed by the land at present was less than it
had contributed at any one of those antecedent periods. He
would now address a few words to the Right lion. Baronet
en the subject of the expenses of criminal prosecutions. If it
was considered to be the duty of the State to take upon itself
the expense of the whole of the criminal prosecutions, the
first step should be to act in connexion with the local autho-
rities, in order to have the benefit of a local check, rather than
to undertake at once the" entire charge. If half the expense
of criminal prosecutions were borne at first, sufficient expe-
rience might be gained to allow of a plan being proposed to
Parliament to establish an efficient check instead of a local
one. If, however, the Government took upon itself the entire
expense, there must be the further expense of local auditors,
for the administration and control of the expenses. With re-
spect to the conveyance of prisoners, the Right Hon. Baronet
was right ; the measure ought to have keen adopted before;
for the duty belonged to the Government, and not to the
county where sentence was pronounced, to remove the convict.
In respect to one of the charges which had not been adverted
to, he dissented from the recommendation of the Committee
—namely, that the House should pay the expenses of all Parlia-
mentary returns. If the House should undertake these expenses,
he ( Mr. S. R.) prophesied that every return it called for in future
from any department not under Government would be made
a matter of money speculation. He would tell the Noble Lord
why he could not agree to relieve some parts of the country
from the window-tax. He had already stated that the farm•
ing interest had received relief in assessed taxes to the amount
of upwards of 900,0001. But if the Noble Lord called for
the reduction of any such small amount of taxation remaining
with what fairness could he (Mr. Rice) resist a motion for
the repeal of the tax in towns and other places ? Nothing
could be more calculated than a partial repeal of the tax to
raise an outcry against the agricultural interest, which it was
not its policy to invite. The amount of the window-tax was
1,200,000/. ; and out of 2,846,000 inhabited houses in Great
Britain only 377,000 paid a window-tax at all ; 1,100,000 cot-
tages were exempt. If the Noble lord said that this part of the
tax, which was paid not by the poor farmer but by the rich far-
mer, ought to be repealed, he would do a greater evil to the agri-
cultural interest than the remission of ten-fold the amount of tax -
taxation would do- good.—( Hear.) As far as the present
Ministry were able, they would give all practicable relief to agri-
culture, but this object could not be forwarded by holding out that
the House or the Crown was indifferent on the subject, when
the political connexions of the Noble Lord told him there
could be no relief ; but he should come forward with some
definite proposition. One recommendation of the Committee
was, that a Commission should issue to inquire into the ex-
penses of prosecutions, the fees of counsel, and other mat-
ters. That Commission had been appointed in November last
under Lord Melbourne's Government ; it had carried on its
inquiries, and its report would soon be before the House,
when the House would be in a better condition to legislate on
the subject. He therefore objected to the Noble Lord's Reso-
lutions, so far as they were premature, and so far as they were
indefinite; but let the Noble Lord come forward with a pro-
position respecting the window-tax, or the duty on horses, and
he would meet it; but he would not meet it as a general re-
solution. He could not agree to an address to the Crown, for
it presumed that some interposition was necessary to induce
Ministers to propose a measure calculated for the relief of the
agricultural interest. On the contrary, they were anxious to
propose any such measure, but he saw reason to adhere to the
report of the Committee, and no reason to agree to any unde-
fined resolutions, which might pledge the finances of the
country to concessions which they were not able to bear.
Sir C. BURRELL rose amidst loud cries of " Divide,"
" Question." He trusted the Noble Lord opposite did not
rely upon the operation of the Poor Law Amendment Act as
the means of providing employment for the unemployed agri-
cultural population, for he was satisfied that unless that
measure underwent considerable alterations, so as to enable
parishes to counteract the obstinacy of one or two individuals,
it would entirely fail in its object in this respect.—( Cries of
"Divide," " Question.") His sincere opinion was, that the
evil consisted in the currency system of the country, which, if
not altered in some safe and considerate manner, would, in
the end, not only be destructive to the lauded interests of the
country, but also to the fundholders themselves.—( Renewed
cries of " Divide.") _ _

Colonel SIBTHORP agreed in the opinion expressed by
the Hon. Member for Oldham, that unless something was
speedily done for the agriculturist, a convulsion must be the
result, and he was satisfied that the relief most worthy of con-
sideration, as best calculated to save the arrricultural interest,
was the introduction of a silver standard of currency.—( Loud
cries of " Question.")
Mr. O'CONNELL could not avoid reminding the House
of two facts which had been wholly forgotten throughout the
present discussion. The first fact was, that there was such a
place as Ireland, of which in this instance, a total forgetfulness
prevailed—(hear, hear)—and the next was, that in Ireland
agricultural distress was as great, if not greater, than in this
country. The resolutions, however, promised not one word of
relief to Ireland ; and as for what the Noble Lord opposite
(the Marquis of Chandos) suggested as relief to the English
agriculturists, it amounted to nothing more than, as it were,
the paring of a corn, or the curing of a sore finger. For both
countries there was in this respect but one real remedy, and
that was the mitigation of the horrors of the Gold Circula-
tion Bill.—( Hear, hear.) For his part, he saw no great dif-
ference between the resolutions and the amendment, at the
same time he thought the latter more practicable. He must,
however, reiterate that the distresses of the Irish agriculturists
were in both wholly forgotten.—( Loud cries of " Divide.")
The Marquis of C HAND 0 S replied. He had never an-
ticipated the possibility of being able to please both parties in
the terms of a motion like the present, but he should feel it
to be his bounden duty to put the present question to the vote
of the House to-night. When he had submitted his motion
for the repeal of the malt-tax, as a means of agricultural re-
lief, he had been met with the declaration that such a mea-
sure would ruin the country in a week ; he had been quarrelled
with on that occasion, because his motion was too specific, and
now, when he submitted a more general motion, which last
year had been defeated only by a majority of sixteen, he was
told that it was too general, and the proposition of agricultu
ral relief ought to be more specific. He had but one duty to
perform to his constituents and the country at large, and what-
ever might be the result of the present motion, he should
leave the House with the consciousness that he had done his
best to discharge that duty. He regretted that some of those
who before had supported him, had manifested an inclination
to withdraw that support on the present occasion. If he
should be defeated, he should now deplore it, because it would
manifest the impossibility of making an impression on this
House favourable to the farmers of this country.
The House then divided, when there appeared—
• For the Resolutions
For the Amendment 2ll

Majority .........
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.

On the motion of Mr. SHARMAN CR. WFORD, a
Select Committee was appointed to inquire into the present
system of management in the Court of Bankruptcy, consisting
Of the following Members :
Crawford, W. Pemberton, 'l'.
Pepys, Sir C. 'I wins, Horace
Campbell, Sir J. Lynch, A. H.
Rolfe, .1. M. Pryme, G.
Pollock, Sir F. Grey, Sir G.
Follett, Sir W. W. Itobarts, A. W_
Baring, F. Smith, A.
Hume, Joseph Thompson, Ald.
Warburton, II

The other orders
House adjourned at

If the day were then
Quarter to Two o'c

Inglis, Sir 11. H.
Pattison, Jame*
Freshtield, J. W.
Carter, J. B.
Stewart, P. M.
Ridley, Sir M. W.
Struts, E.
looke, \V.

disposed of, and the
lock.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.
NOTICES OF MOTIONS FOR THIS DAY.

I. Mr. Robinson,—Motion relative to the right of British sub-
jects to a concurrent Fishery on that part of the coast of New-
foundland commonly called.the French shore.
2. Mr. Ewart,—Address to the Crown in favour of the appoint-
ment of Peers for life.
3. Mr. Hutt,—To call the attention of the House to the grievances
of British Subjects resident in Hamburg.
4. Mr. Wyse,—Bill for the establishment of a General Board of
. . .

Charities in Ireland.
5. Mr. Roebuck,—Bills to repeal the Cannon Tenures and the Ca-
nada Land Company Acts.
6. Mr. Mullins,—Committee on the Irish Fishery Laws.
7. Mr. Youlett _BillThomson, to alter the Lax s relating to the

Trade in Corn in the Isle of Man.
t. Mr. Sinclair,-13i11 to enable the Inhabitants of Burghs of Ba-
rony in Scotland, to elect their own Magistrates.
P. Mr. A. Trevor,—Copies of information respecting disturbances
at Eastbourne and Ampthill.
10. Mr. Jervis,—Bill to amend the Law relating to offences
against the person in certain cases.
11. Mr. Poulett Thomson,—Select Committee on the Timber
Duties.
ORDERS OF THE DAY FOR THIS DAY.
I. Horsham Election Petition—Ballot for Committee at three.
2. Cork County Election Petition —Ditto, at a quarter after three.
3. Sale of Bread Bill—Committee.
.1. Wood Duties Bill—Second reading.
Totnes Roads and Bridges Bill—Third reading.
ti. Annual Indemnity Bill—Committee.
7. Consolidated Fund Bill—Second reading.

MIRACULOUS.—On Wednesday as J. Eaton was
employed in a well, 30 feet deep, at Boreham, Hertford, a
large portion of the brickwork gave way, and buried him.
The bricks fortunately formed a sort of arch over him, leaving
a small aperture to admit the air. His deliverance was effected
after he had been buried alive for more than ten hours. He
had received no set-ions injury.

LONDON,
TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 26, 1835.

The petition of Mr. CHILDS was presented to the
House of Commons last night by Mr. HUNIE, and
gave rise, as our readers will perceive, to one of the
most important debates which have taken place this
session. Mr. HUNIE, in a clear and forcible speech,
detailed the arbitrary and cruel treatment to which Mr.
CHILDS had been subjected, and called the attention
of the House to the necessity of an immediate aboli-
tion of Church Rates. The only person who could
be found in the House capable of vindicating the op-
pressive proceedings of the Church authorities of Bun-
gay was a Mr. F. KELLY. This Hon. Gentleman,
who seems not to be altogether free from a
certain muddiness of understanding—a sort of
haziness of the intellectual faculties declaimed

lustily against Mr. CHILDS for having " evaded
the law, and made his petition the vehicle of
unfounded and cowardly calumnies." We perfectly
agree with this gentleman, that nothing can be more
cowardly, nothing more base, than for a man to avail
himself of ally privilege he may possess, whether that
of petitioning the Legislature or of sitting in judgment
on the petitions of others, for the purpose of calumny ;
and we assure him we will willingly co-operate with
him in holding up such a character to that public
hatred and contempt which he so justly merits. But
how does Mr. K. prove his charge of calumny
The first passage he quotes from the petition is
the following :—" The Petitioner therefore prays
your Honourable House to take measures for the im-
mediate abolition of the barbarous and anomalous
powers of the Ecclesiastical Court." The House saw
no calumny in this, and loudly cheered the speaker,
who then discovered that he was not disposed to com-
plain of any language, however strong, which Hon.
Members might use upon the state of the law. The
sentiment at which he was horrified was contained in
the words " that the law was capable of being em-
ployed, as in the present case, to effect the worst pur-
poses and gratify the rancour of religiouS intolerance."
Now the first of these propositions nobody—not even
Mr. KELLY—can doubt, and the second is fully
warranted by the whole tenor of the proceedings in
this case. The religious intolerance, however, is not
charged upon Archdeacon GLOVER. We at least have
never imputed the least blame to him, nor have we
heard his name mentioned as connected with this
transaction, but with honour. He interfered as a
peace-maker—a character becoming a Minister of the
Gospel of Peace.
. _ _

The statement of the tumult which is said to have
taken place at the sale of Mr. MORRIS goods,
is quite incorrect. There was, and could be, no
tumult at the sale, because it was private. The
Churchwardens might have taken Mr. CHILDS'
goods if they had been so disposed, and their resorting,
to the Ecclesiastical Court, with all its severities, can-
not be imputed to any other motives than the gratifi-
cation of a persecuting spirit. It may appear to
Mr. KELLY a most presumptuous thins; in any man
" to set his sernplcs of conscience above the powers of
the law ;" but he must be told that the Legislator
who attempts to make or to maintain laws oppressive to
the consciences of men, has not yet learnt the elements

of his profession. •
In the progress of the debate, Lord JOHN Rus-
SELL stated that the Government intended not to
introduce any measure this Session for the abolition
of Church Rates, or any other Dissenting grievance,
as their whole attention would be devoted to the two
great measures of Corporation Reform and the Re-
form of the Irish Church. In the propriety of this
we perfectly agree, and the more readily as we gather
from Lord JOHN'S speech that the entire abolition is
not contemplated—a resolution on the part of the
Government, which we hope they will re-consider,'for
it will be anything but satisfactory to the country.
But let us once get Corporation Reform, and we have
full confidence In the liberality of the Government.
The distresti of the agriculturists was last night

made the subject of a motion by Lord CHANDOS, for
`he discussion on which we must refer our readers to
the debate. Want of room compels us to postpone
our own observations on this question till to-morrow.

The Earl of RODEN again brought forward the
subject of the late Dublin procession last night in the
House of Lords, expressly declaring however—being
doubtless somewhat crest-fallen by the defeat he re-
ceived at the hands of Lord MELBOURNE on Friday
last—that " he did not wish to call for punishment on
the individuals who took a part in the late procession"
(compassionate Peer !)—" he only rose to put in a
.Maim to impunity for another class, of very different
principles, and to express a hope that if, hereafter,
the loyal Protestants of Ireland, as was their custom,
In th:ir Au) aity to the
KING, and their attachment to the principles which
placed the present family on the throne of this realm,
they should not be punished under a law which it was DOW
refused to enforce." This " claim to impunity," as
his Lordship discreetly calls it, is mere humbug ; for
what Government would ever dream of punishing Pro-
testants for showing " their loyalty to the KING ?"
But attachment to Majesty, and attachment to intoler-
ance are two very different matters ; and this last is
the only demonstration by which the Irish
Orangemen have ever signalized themselves in

their July processions. Their loyalty never
was, and never will be, to the KING, as the
impartial ruler of the people ; but as the prejudiced
head of a faction. So long, for instance, as GEORGE
the FOURTH countenanced the principle of Protestant
ascendancy, who so enlightened—who so illustrious a
Monarch in the eyes of the Irish Orangemen—who
so loudly cheered at their processions, and toasted at
their festivals ? When, however, his M4JESTY was
compelled from circumstances to throw the ascendancy-
principle overboard, by granting Emancipation, who so
lost to all sense of justice and prudence—so fallen from
" his high estate," as this same SOVEREIGN, whom
the Orangemen had before looked on as a sort of
demi-deity ? With his present MAJESTY the case
has been precisely the same. So long as he encou-
raged the Councils of a Conservative Cabinet, so long
was he the Orangeman's idol ; but now that he has
called in a Reform Ministry, we hear nothing but the
language of complaint—respectfully subdued indeed,
but significant enough, notwithstanding—from these
red-hot ascendancy-men. Away, then, with the Earl
of RODEN'S boast of an Irish Protestant's loyalty
He is loyal only to his own party.

Mr. KENNEDY'S resignation of 'Tiverton in favour
of Lord PALMERSTON, is a handsome set-off against
his vote on the Repeal of the Union. There he com-
mitted a glaring folly. Here he has redeemed himself.
Of course the Opposition Journals are in arms against
the Hon. Member's resignation. It is "an amiable
subserviency to the wishes of Government," quoth the
Morning Post, and then proceeds to crack a joke, none
the better, for having been penned by Mr. PRAED.
However, subserviency or no subserviency—for
really the matter is not worth discussing—Mr. KEN-
NEDY deserves no slight praise for the apparent good
feeling that has prompted the surrender of his seat.
Through his means the country will again reap the
benefit of Lord PALNfERSTON'S services ; and what-
ever objections may be raised to some branches of his
Lordship's foreign policy, still when it is borne in
mind that he kept England—and through England,
Europe—in a state of tranquillity for upwards of four
years, when his opponents, one and all, declared that it
would be a miracle if he preserved peace for as many
months, it is impossible to deny that his policy, on the
whole, has been of the greatest advantage to the
country. At the present crisis we need his Lordship's
services more than ever. France is in a most feverish
state; Spain is convulsed in every limb, nerve, and
joint ; and nothing but the precautionary measures of
a Peace Minister can prevent us from imbibing, in
some degree, the Continental epidemic.
Our Contemporary, to whom we have before alluded,
gives Mr. KENNEDY no praise for the disinterested
sacrifice of his seat, but hints that he has been in-
duced to make it, in the hope thereby of getting a
snug birth under Government. Such an insinuation
is quite a matter of course with our Contemporary,
whom we believe to be equally incapable of conceiving
a better motive, or inventing a worse.

We are glad to perceive that it is the intention of
Mr. Fox MAULE to introduce a Bill, with the sanc-
tion of his Majesty's Ministers, to abolish the various
Turnpike Trusts within a radius of ten miles of the
metropolis, and to substitute a rate on the parishes
through which the various roads pass. This contem-
plated amelioration of the old vexatious system of pro-
viding the " means" for the " ways," like all other
improvements, will, of course, be opposed by a host
of " vested interests," jobbers, contractors, and lizfjus
generic onznes. There are however, we apprehend,
few persons to whom the eternally recurring inconve-
nience of the toll bars, and the insolence of the
keepers, is not too familiar. We cannot stir a step,
without being exposed to delay and insult ; and if we
are lucky enough to escape those usual inflictions, we
never can at any time, in any way, or under any cir-
cumstances whatever, be free from the annoyance of
first taking the ticket, then producing it at this bar,
then at that—now taking another ticket, on another
tiust—and another, and another—alternately classify-
ing and arranging them, to the end of the journey.
Then, OW tinne return, the same process of Te-prodne-
tion, at every gate on the road, must be undergone—
the rain, perhaps, all the while descending in tor-
rents, and the horses rendered unmanageable by so
many checks at the gates.
No person, of course, would have any right to com-
plain of the inconvenience if it were inseparable from,
and consistent with the general good. But the present
system is, to the full, as prejudicial to the public in-
terests, as contrary to the public convenience. The
proposition to make a parochial road-rate contains the
elements of sound policy and equal taxation ; and those
who may oppose it will, we are persuaded, do so only
because they know not what they do, and are ignorant
of the principles of national taxation. We trust that
the parishes which may be affected by the Bill in con-
templation, will discard all petty parochial narrow
views, and be prepared, in an enlightened spirit, cor-
dially to welcome a meritire of rrartirll I,rnoqt,
the
of which will, in reality, fall equally on all
classes of the community.

Yesterday Lord PALMERSTON was waited upon by
Mr. RICA RDO, the Contractor for the Spanish Loan,
in order that the public might learn if the British Go-
vernment had received any recent despatches from
Spain, which would justify the impression that Don
CARLos was likely to overcome the QUEEN'S forces.
Mr. RICARDO added that he was induced to apply for
information to the Government, in consequence of ru-
mours having been set afloat, to the effect that Don
CA RLOS had recently obtained signal victories
over the QUEEN'S Generals. Lord PALMERSTON
assured Mr. It tcAnno, and the gentlemen who accom-
panied him, that the dispatches received by the Go-
vernment did not contain a syllable which went to cor-
roborate these idle rumours. On the contrary, his
Lordship was assured that the QUEEN'S cause was to
all appearance as triumphant now as it had been far seve-
ral weeks. This announcement was made on 'Change,
just before it closed yesterday, and the consequence is