The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-07 00:00:00

CRRISTOPHER MUSGRAVE, and the hardy High-
lander, ANGUS MACAULAY. Every man prepared
to die at his chieftain's command, and therefore
far more valuable than the dead, though highly
embossed metal. As one of our greatest living
authors declared—" An Eton boy in his sec3nd
form would not hesitate to sport his crown on the
less pretentious combatant !"
Should the conflict take place, it would be
sacrilege to doubt the result. But, as we have
already stated, " the bark of CLICQUOT is far waur
than his bite," and, therefore, we may reasonably
anticipate that he will pause before he finally
cries " havoc, and lets slip the dogs of war."

Some people don't believe in luck, others do ;
but even the sceptics is the matter somehow can't
do without the word. Who of them has not
found himself sometimes muttering, "lucky PAL-
MERSTON." Recovering themselves, perhaps, the
reasoners add, No, 'tisn't exactly luck that a cat
always lights on its feet, and it can't be all luck
that PALMERSTON always lights on his. It was
not all luck that ABERDEEN, and NEWCASTLE, and
GRAHAM, and Co., all had to walk out that he
might walk in. Still, he had nothing to do with
the ill winds from the Crimea which blew them
out of office and him into it—and which blew
away, too, all the obstructions which H. R. H.
and his Germans would have put in his way. 11l
were those winds indeed ; and it would be hard
to say to whom they blew good, if not to Lord
PALMERSTON.

leltion of 1856. And this while the list of
those same Criminals comprises the names
of PALMER, and Dou, and SADLEIR, and
BOUSFIELD. The vulgar, gambling surgeon,
who drugged to death his wife, bis brother, and
h's boon companions. The brutalised and supersti-
tious sensualist who destroyed his wife also by the
same deadly potion, administered to his victims
by the Rugeley Poisoner. The gentlemanly (!)'
swindler, forger, and embezzler, who escaped the
penalty of his gigantic frauds by a cowardly self-
murder upon the midnight heath. And lastly, the
wretched wild beast staggering home to butcher a
whole family, after taking part, as a supernume-
rary in the grotesque fooleries of a pantomime !
VERGES has secured to himself an eternal infamy
with these and such as these, by that unexampled
and sacrilegious murder with which his insensate
hand has but just now horrified the whole of
Christendom.

It surely was luck, too, when, twice having
incurred several petty defeats in the House—
defeats which made him less firm in his seat—his
enemies twice concocted and persisted in motions
against him, which gave him, when he seemed
weakest, overwhelming majorities. Mr. WHITE-
SIDE'S motion on Kars, and Mr. MOORE'S on
American Enlistment, were nice windfalls for the
"lucky Premier." Then the Peace, too—the
" precious Peace,"—all the nation grumbled at
it ; yet (no one can say why) the grumblers quar-
relled with Lords CLARENDON and COWLEY only,
and the hungry WALEwsicr ; and Lord Emma-
STON got the credit of all the resistance to Russia,
and they of all the yielding. The Premier had
the good luck to pass for a grumbler too.
And then the shower of Bishoprics ! Surely
Bishops did not become superannuated, or die, by
any skill or any conjuring of our " lucky Pre
mier." Surely that was luck. "No Bishop, no
King," said the English SOLOMON j and the Pre
mier is the next man to the King, although there
is one between him and a Queen. It must
be something to grant to the Chapters
of Metropolitan London and Golden
ham not to mention Bath or Ripon --
leave to elect Right Reverend Fathers 1-
GOD to hundreds of churches and thousands o:
clergymen, and Barons holding much-coveted
temporalities, and Peers Spiritual of the realm.
Object to Life Peerages ! Why, our " lucky
Premier" has created them by wholesale ; and
now—surely he never will sink—he has actually
got a Bishopric of Cork, in his hands ! We ad-
vise BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Esq., and Lord Join
RUSSELL, and H.R.H. to note the omen—do whaT
they will the Premier will swim.
The Chancellor of the Excheqver's Income Tv“

has seemed likely to embarrass him of late ;

Already in other respects, and in these also, de-
plorably, 1857 is assuming to itself a character. A
miserable death like that of HUGH MILLER, the
gifted geologist—though counterpoised in some
degree by the tranquil demise, in his ripe and
honoured old age, of a man like JOHN BRITTON, the
late distinguished archaeologist—illustrates rather
painfully, at the " turn of the year" 1856-1857,
the evil flowing from what we regard as the
Disease of the Age, and from the morbid leniency
evidenced in the treatment of our criminals, origi-
nating in the disastrous phantasies of a spurious
philanthropy. It was a premature and agonising
death, resulting from an unnatural over-straining
of the intellectual powers, superinducing or-
ganic disease of the brain, and preparing
the way for a fantastic dread, almost amount-
ing to a pitch of delirium—the dread of burglary
and garotting, those two chief pastimes of the
(talons let loose upon society with a certificate of
vice, and a licence to commit fresh crime, in the
shape of the detestable Ticket-of-Leave !
If the new-born year developes at an equal pace
in horror and criminality, we shall have but
small cause indeed to congratulate ourselves upon
being well rid of its predecessor. HRLYRN forbid,
however, that the fruits of this first week of
1857 should prove to have been but an average
exemplar of what is in store for the world at large
in the year which has but just now commenced.

We recently contrasted the circumstances of a
luau earning 3001. per annum by unceasing in-
dustry and of one who receives the dividends on
10,000 i. S per Cent. Consols,;who are each called
on to contribute the same amount (20/.) to the
Revenue. Their positions, indeed, are so strik-
ingly different that it is impossible practically to
compare their actual means. The man who has
merely a precarious income, of which he may be
deprived the following year or month, even before
-,he visit of the tax-collector, cannot safely calcu-
' ate on anything beyond the amount of cash in
land, and property that could be immediately dis-
posed of at an auction mart. But he does not,
therefore, escape from contributing his just quota
to the National Exchequer. He must submit to
he local burdens of the locality in which he re-
ndes, and must also consume articles on which
luties are levied—which duties, under the most
favourable circumstances, amount to more than
4is fair proportion of the public charges. It is,
therefore, perfectly clear that no change in the
tax can render it perfectly fair, except that of
:ompletely exoneratiag industry, and making it
what it ought to be, a pure tax on property,
justly assessed, and without exemption of any
kind.

no : Admiral BERKELEY pledges himself for tilt
Premier's honour at least ; Lord PARKIIRE offt.:=
to do with 20,000,0001. less than last year ; and,
best of all, Commerce—and the Premier coul
whisper no word in her ear—has set him up whi.
4,000,0001. more for the national revenue tlla;

was obtained last year. The lucky Premier . - It may be said that this might press heavily on
Exports and imports, navigation returns, and the ii persons of very limited incomes. But every such
year's income, fiscal tables, and those of ecclesias ./ person has the means of exercising his indusiry,
tical mortality, all scatter roses in his path. 1 and is far more favourably circumstanced than
And Lord PALMERSTON'S last, how lucky ! I his penniless competitor. If seeking a situation
Southampton is embroiled with an election. A i as a clerk the possession of property will enable
Radical Coachmaker and Whig Governor of tht I 'dm to dispense with, or easily provide the secu-
Bank of England fight like the. lion and the uni- l'
rity generally required, or to get into business on
corn for the Liberal cause ; and the Tory gentle. ,i, own account. In fact, in any and every
man thinks he has a good chance between the two, ,ition in which he is placed he will find
and perhaps he may have. Now, the Premie) ' - advantages, and we are not bound to search
thinks Mr. WEaniguiv is the man for the Liberals : i 3 nicely for extreme instances to .extend the

he is just the man for a Premier to talk wit,

about the Bank Charter and about money matter
in general. The Coachmaker, so many time.

Mayor of his nati've borough, may do well enough
for that office, but member of Parliament is quite

another thing. To be sure he would represent

Southampton, for he knows it thoroughly ; but
Mr. WEGUBLIN would represent Bank Stock and
bullion, and the rate of discount, and, above all,
the luxurious monopoly of issuing 14,000,0001
of notes, in addition to receiving 3 per cent.
interest on that sum—to issue them on the secu-

rity of the nation, and to take just now 6i pet
cont. for it all. That's the man for our easy-going
Premier.

Rut how to get at the pars of the electors--
that was the difficulty. If Lord PALMERSTON,
the Prime Minister, should proffer his advice it
were all up ; electors of every grade would kick
at official interference ; he would but insure the
return of the worthy coachmaker. But, as luck

,Lmunity from taxation for those who have so

ag practically enjoyed it, or to legislate solely
r the benefit of the drones to the exclusion "of

ie working bees of the social hive." The latter are
Aided to some portion at least of the sympathies

the Legislature, which they would undoubt

odly receive to a far greater extent than at pre-
sent but for the simple fact that every member
!_aust be enrolled amongst the propertied class by
reason of the qualification, which (with some few
exceptions) must be specified before taking his
seat ; and as he is disposed "to stand by his

order," we can readily conceive the influences in
operation, and the grounds on which the taxes on
profits, or rather gross receipts, were justi-

would have it, a hot Weguelinite, in the person
of Mr. LANXESTIIII, came to Broadlands on "pro-
fessional " business ; there the Premier was Pre-

mier no longer. He was but the Hampshire
landlord ; and, business done, why should he not

" Quod volumus, faci/o credim,us," is
ime-honoured apophthegm, and the owners
a" property greedily listened to the special
iheading of Mr. GLADSTONE, although "the
Q' ill small voice" must have occasionally
Omrbed their repose by stating that they were

fi~l.

lr.aning on broken reeds," and that they were
the parties who should send large amounts of
c,)nscience money to the Chancellor of the Exche-

cuer.

But even amongst the propertied classes there

gossip on local politics as any other landlora 4'3 very wide distinctions which should be re-
would de ? So Mr. LANKESTER and the Premier ! J-Pised. The spirit of COOKER has clearly
of England, "as Hampshire gentleman," chat oTT,...sed the absurdity of charging at the same
over the Southampton election, and the mate =l.te terminable and a perpetual annuity—like,
pertincu lord allows himself to be duly pumped by - ance, the Long Annuities, which expire in
the Southampton ironmonger. As luck would have 1860, and Consols which last until redeemed for
if, too, the Premier forgot to remind Mr. Lex-1 an ample equivalent by Parliament. 1501. a
LESTER that the conversation was confidential ;1,1 year in the on• is worth 4161., in the
and, as luck would have it again, Mr. LANICES I other 3,750/. The former pays 21. Bs., the latter
TER forgot that an undress chat was necessaril, 58. 4d. per cent, on the capitalised value : that
confidential ; so that between the lucky presence is to say, exactly nine times the rate. The annu-
of Lord PALMERSTON near Southampton, and the itant is really taxed on his capital. Of the 4501.
two lucky forgets of the Lord and the froa- which he will receive within three years, 34/. is

monger, it leaked out for the benefit of all South 7or interest, and 4161. for capital, while the fund-

ampton that the first servant of the Crowu was
for WEGUELIN ! Letters, honourable to both
sides, immediately pass between the Coachmaker

r colder enjoys the whole 450/, as interest,--the
lifferenoe in this point of ♦iew being as 1 to 13.22,
r little more than the 2-27ths of the amount.

and the Lord, but the job is done. With Lor.;

It is also notorious that house property is far

PALMERSTON'S usual luck he has contrived to
avoid injuring his man by irritating officiousness,
has even gained sympathy for himself as a man
wronged by a breach of confidence, while yet he
has given his client the full benefit of his great
"me' How many Lords or Premiers had ever
such luck as this ?

ass valuable than lauds or dividends. Seven,
eight, or nine per cent, can readily be' ob.
rained for investments in the former, while
less than half the amount can be realised in
:he latter, and yet there are special charges on
houses, from which other property is exempted.
We need not refer to the House Duty of 9d. in

Already 1857 is assuming to itself a character.
It has not yet entered upon its teens, and lo ! all
the crimes of its tainted predecessor are instanta-
neously surpassed in atrocity by the initial murder
of the twelvemonth--that perpetrated on the 3d
instant, in a Church at Paris, by an unfrocked
priest, Ivan the venerable person of the Gallic
Primate, Monsignor SIBOUR, the Metropolitan
Archbishop. The infamy at once achieved for
himself by VERGES exceeds proportionately with
the sanctity of the place in which the deed of
blood was done, proportionately also with the
nobility of the victim sacrificed by this unparal-
leled act of assassination, the most odious of the
many wretched Criminals whose blood-guiltiness
has imparted so much horror to the mere recol-

the pound, the unfair substitute for the unwim
and impolitic Window Tax, and the innumerable
charges that altogether in some localities amount
to 30 per cent. on the rental. It would be far
better for the houseowner to pay on the capital-
ised value, as we have suggested, than under the
present system.

We might multiply instances of oppression and
injustice. Sufficient has, however, been said to
~how the imperative necessity of a speedy revi•
sion of the entire system, so as to render it truly
charge on Property, and not a cruel and op-
pressive impost on fluctuating or precarious
profits.

The Master of the Rolls proposes to proceed • on the
15th inst. to settle the list of contributories of the
Electric Telegraph Company of Ireland.

LATEST NE WS.I

FINAL SETTLEMENT OF THE
DISPUTED TREATY.
PARIS, WEDNESDAY MORNING.
The Moniteur of this day contains the following
" The Conference has signed a protocol which
puts an end to the difficulties which have delayed
the execution of the treaty of the 30th of March.

The Conference, with unanimous accord, has de-
cided that the frontier shall follow the valley of
Trajan up the river Yalpuch, leaving Tiglorad and
Toback to Moldavia, and that Russia shall retain
upon the right bank Yomrat, with 330 versts of
territory. The Isle of Serpents is to be considered
as part of the mouths of the Danube. The Con-
ference recognises that it was the intention of the
Congress to re-establish, by Article 21, the terri
tories west of the new boundaries in their former
situation ; and to conform to the intentions of the
negotiators of peace, it has decided that these ter-
ifitories shall be annexed to Moldavia, with the
exception of Dolk, on the Danube, which will
revert to Turkey. The Conference has decided,
moreover, that the boundaries shall be settled and
take effect by the 30th of March at the latest,
and that at the same date the Austrian troops
and the British fleet shall have evacuated the
Danubian Principalities and the interior waters of
Turkey. The Commission of the Principalities
will then be able to enter those provinces, and
proceed to the execution of its mission. At the
conclusion of its labours the Commission will re-
port to the Conference, which will re-assemble
according to the terms of Article 25, in order to
settle by a convention the final agreement between
the contracting parties as to the organisation of
the Principalities."

The Paris correspondent of the Nord gives the
following version of what took place at the first
Conference :

" The first Conference was held, at half past one
o'clock, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Count
Walewski took the chair. The second Plenipoten-
tiaries present were—Baron Brunow, Lord Cowley,
Baron de Hubner, Count de Hatzfeld, Marquis de
Villamarina, and Mehemet Bey.
" The Plenipotentiaries of the four great Powers
alone spoke. The Plenipotentiaries of Prussia,
Sardinia, and Turkey were silent by common agree-
ment during the whole of the sitting.
" The sitting was opened by a speech from Count
Walewski. The business discussed was the draft
of the protocol and of the tracing of the new fron-
tier line on the confines of the territory ceded to
Russia in compensation for Bolgrad.
" As regards the evacuation of the Principalities
by the Austrian troops, and of the Black Sea by
the English fleet, it was touched upon but slightly.
" The discussion was calm, dignified, and cour-
teous on all sides.

" You may rely upon the following as a correct
statement of what took place, and of the point
where the difficulty lies.
" England is ready to evacuate the Black Sea as
soon as the special Commissioners shall have fixed
upon the ground as the new line of the new Russian
frontier. Austria consents to the same engagement.
" Russia is happy at the equitable intentions
manifested by those two Powers ; but as the Com-
missaries may take an indefinite time in fixing the
boundary line, ought not a term—for instance,
the 15th of February--to be fixed for the comple-
tion of their labour.

" Austria was the first to reply to thiS objection,
and discussed the point at some length. If Russia
could state betsrehand the period at which her
commissaries would have finished their work,
Austria could not do so. It is moreover impossible
and imprudent to fix any stated period for work of
that description, as one can never be certain of
accomplishing it within the given time. The Con-
ference might be convinced of Austria's readiness
to evacuate the Principalities ; it might, in that
respect, place full confidence in' Austria.
"England is of the opinion that considering the
difficulties of execution, the simple engagement
should be taken on either side to evacuate as
soon as possible.'
" Russia replies that there was a time when
such a declaration would have been deemed suffi-
cient, but there were antecedents now which made
a aore categorical engagement preferable.
" Austria dwelt upon the difficulty of evacuating
the Principalities as speedily as Russia desires. In
winter there are obstacles for an army not to be
encountered by a fleet.

" This observation did not meet with any reply,
and the point was generally agreed to.
" Russia, however, persisted in asking that some
definite period should be fixed for the evacuation
of the Principalities by Austria, and of the Black
Soa by the English fleet.
" The Plenipotentiaries of England and of
Austria then declared they were without instruc-
tions on the point, and must refer to their respec-
tive Courts. This was thought reasonable, and
the sitting broke up. The members perfectly
agreed upon all the questions in principle, and
with the intention, or rather the firm hope, meet-
ing next time to sign the final protocol.
"Despite the rapidity of transmission of de-
spatches by telegraph all the points of detail were
not settled on Saturday.'

VIENNA, TIIISDA.X.
The news from all quarters respecting the
Neuchatel question is favourable.
Austria insists on a special Conference to be
convoked on the affairs of Switzerland and
Prussia.

It is stated that Frankfort or Brussels is to be
the place of meeting. Prussia is said to approve
the suggestion, but to insist upon being repre-
sented.

Count Buol and Barons Bach and Bruck have
been summoned by the Emperor to Italy.

BERNE, TUESDAY.

The question of peace or war is yet suspended.
The enthusiasm, if possible, increases. An honour-
able peace, and full recognition of the integrity
of Swit2erland and the rights of Neuchatel as a
Federal Canton are insisted on. Great patriotic
contributions have been offered to the public
cause, and various districts have offered largo
numbers of volunteers.

MADRID, JAN. 6.

A general disarming is ordered, and immense
quantities of arms have been seized in Madrid
and in the provinces.

It was confidently rumoured in Paris, yesterday,
that Switzerland has conceded a general political
amnesty, in the interest of peace, as a means of
compromise without diminution of her indepen-
dence and dignity. Banishment will be recorded
against the Royalist insurgents.

AUSTRALIA.

LIVERPOOL, JAN. 6.

A telegraphic despatch has been received stating that
the packet-ship Montmorency, one of the Black Ball
liners, had landed her mails and passengers at Dun-
more East, near Waterford, on the sth inst., in 70 days
from Melbourne. Her date of sailing would thus be
the 27th October.

ROYAL INSTITIITION.—Yesterday afternoon Professor
Faraday delivered his fifth lecture, on Attractions, at
the Royal Institution, which was, if possible, more
numerously attended than on the former occasions. The
Prince of Wales attended.

The public meeting convened in reference to the ease
of "Kingsford v. Merry" is to be held on Wednesday,
the 14th inst.
A. special general meeting of the proprietary of the
Bank of London is called for the 26th inst., when a
dividend is to be declared.
The Eastern Counties Railway Company are offering
4) per cent. per annum interest for loans on debentures
for three years.
The Admiralty will receive tenders on the 20th inst.
for the supply of 85,000 pairs of shoes.