The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-24 00:00:00

LONDON,
MONDAY EVENING. AUGUST 24, 1835.

The more we consider the question, the more we
find cause to reg,ret the withdrawal of Mr. BIJLWER'S
motion for the Repeal of the Newspaper Stamp Duty,
especially as the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER'S
pledge—for so we believe he calls it—on the subject,
is by no means so specific or satisfactory as Ave could
have desired. He does not grapple with the question
boldly, but seems as though he were anxious to back
out of it. We have read his speech on Friday night
with considerable attention, and, notwithstanding its
apparent frankness and plausibility, can come to no
other conclusion than that it is a virtual begging of the
question. He abandons his high vantage ground
of the moral and political benefits that the Re-
peal of the Newspaper Stamps would confer on
the country, and treats it solely as a matter of fi-
nance ; and thus treating it, thinks that he fairly
disposes of the question, and silences all objections by
stating that he is not in a condition to make " experi-
ments." Now, this, to say the least of it, is a very
injudicious remark, for Mr. SPRING RICE must be

.ell aware that, as a Whig, he has been doing nothing
but make " experiments " for the last four years and
upwards. Had a Tory talked in this strain, we should
not have been in the slightest degree surprised ; but for a
Whir, "and something more," like our present CHA N-
CEL LOR of the Exc lIEQUER, to profess a delicate horror
of" experiments," is not only grossly inconsistent, but sets
us upon reflections by no means favourable to his cha-
racter for straightforwardness and sincerity. We regret

;o be compelled to hold this language, but Mr. S. RICE

has left us no alternative. He led us to suppose not
only that he was warmly in favour of the Repeal of
the Stamps, but also that he would take the very first

favourable opportunity that presented itself of repeal-
ing them ; and yet when this favourable opportunity
does occur, and it is shown bay cad the possiHity of
denial that the " expriment," so far from injuring,
will in reality beneilt, the Revenue, and wll moreo-',.er
be attended with the utmost, benefit to the people, by
furnishing them with sound political knowledge, and
thereby enlisting them among the supporters of
enlightened Government ;—when the question is
thus brought fairly and fully before him, how
does. he act ? Why, ' flings it overboard without
hesitation and without remorse, by stating that he is
not in a condition to make " experiments I" With
every disposition to put the most favourable construc-
tion on it, we can look on the discussion of Friday
night in no other light than as a juggle. If Mr.
Bur. wr R. did not intend to press his motion to a divi-
sion, he ought not to have brought it forward at all,
for it was' of far too much importance to be taken up
and then let drop, merely because it did not suit the
convenience of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHE-
QUER to pay the fitting attention to it.
In thus speaking our mind freely on the subject, we
are far from intending to cast reflections on Ministers
generally ; our remarks are strictly confined to Mr.
SPRING RICE, whose shrewdness and plausibility we
may admire, but whose straightforwardness we are bpi°