The Sun.
London, England, 1857-02-12 00:00:00

LoNtioN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1U

Sir RonaßT PEEL once declared that " the battle
of the Constitution was to be fought at the Regis-
tries." It was a great fact, an indisputable truth,
which he proclaimed. It was not the justice of
the cause which could command success. It was
not the determined energy, the unbending resolu-
tion at the hour of trial, when every nerve was
strained to the utmost, and the coveted prize
was apparently within reach, that ensured the
victory ! No,
it was the close and unceasing at-
tention to seemingly petty details on which the
fate of parties really
depended. Every favourable
elector duly registered constituted a stepping-
atone to office. Often when place and pow©r
seemed within his grasp, when he could have
left his opponents in a decided minority, and as-
sumed the reins of Government, he refrained.
ilia astonished and indignant partisans murmured
at his apathy and irresolution. But he was
playing a deep game. Re well knew that a pre-
mature movement, although it might have given
a temporary triumph, could not have ensured a

prolonged tenure of office. He had watched the
registries, and was fully aware that " the pear was
not yet ripe"—that an appeal to the country
would not have terminated according to his wishes.
The deep-laid scheme succeeded, and he was
placed at the head of a powerful party—which
gave the helm of State into his hands. It was
an instructive lesson, by which not only States-
men, but all persons feeling an interest in the
welfare and happiness of the nation,may—pstifit.
It proved that the struggle should commence at
the very earliest stage, that a trifling exertion
in the first instance will save tenfold labour in
the ultimate struggle !
We now tell the nation that the question o
monetary reform is to be decided this evening.
It depends on the nomination of the Select Com-
mittee to be appointed this day, whether the na-
tion shall obtain a circulating medium adequate
to its wants and exigencies, or be subjected to
severe trials, under which earnest men will
succumb, and many tender females will see their
future hopes blighted, and themselves consigned to
all the horrors of pinching poverty ! Who can
look forward to ten years of incessant struggling
—of semi-penal servitude—without a shudder ?
Who could patiently submit to see the fruits of
hie labours for that period transferred into
the pockets of usurers and money-lenders,
' while his family are enduring bitter privations)
from which they might have been exempted by
timely precautions ? But all this, and more,
must be endured, if the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer be permitted to appoint the packed Commit-
tee of which he has given notice. There are good
men and true on that Committee-men thoroughly
conversant with the subject, but they will be left in a
decided minority unless some changes be
effected. In 1848 Lord GEORGE BENTINCK
struggled earnestly for a better Committee—but
in vain. Sir CHARLES WOOD achieved his object,
and packed the Committee with the avowed
partisans of the unjust and impolitic
act. He had even the hardihood to boast
of that which would have covered with
shi-me any one less strongly imbued with the
principles of red-tapism. We trust some inde-
pendent member will be found with sufficient
courage to protest against the palpable trick, and
endeavour to improve the constitution of the Com-
mittee. On that simple point the ultimate decision
of the question will mainly, if not altogether de-
pend. If, as in 1848, the report be
framed without regard to the weight of
evidence adduced, its recommendations, although
merely emanating from a bare majority of
the Committee, will be acted on, and tho nation
will be condemned to a deficient currency for a
further term of ten years. Industry may starve
under an extravagant rate of interest, that will
check production and paralyse the trade and com-
merce of the country. The contest has begun
in earnest, and the first and most important
position must not be abandoned without an ear-
nest and determined resistance. Let a division
be taken on every objectionable name. By that
means, if the obnoxious member cannot be re-
moved, the nation will at least be apprised of the
mode in which the Committee has been appointed,
so as to take away the weight that would other-
wise be attached to its recommendations.

sent to. It is true that Major REED has, for the
second time, yielded to ministerial blandishment,
and refrained from pressing an inconvenient mo-
tion. But, notwithstanding the defection of a
self-constituted leader, the fiscal reformers will
proceed steadily and energetically—they will not
yield a single point, without a fierce and de-
termined convict. They have had convincing
proofs of the advantages to be obtained by un-
ceasing and determined agitation, and
the ilftill profit by the salutary lesson.
*
Now that the reduction of the impost has
been virtually accomplished their work has only
begun, so far as the second phase of the question
is concerned. The burden must now be more
fairly and equitably apportioned. The wide dis-
tinction between the proceeds of accumulated and
realised property, and the precarious earnings of
industry must be fully and unequivocally recog-
nised. We must obtain justice for industry !
Now that the fiscal reformers are " well in har-
ness" they must not be contented with a single
concession. If they only continue their exertions
they will obtain a new and far more equitable
assessment, that will at least approximate
to something like fair play. We shall, of course,
hear the Chancellor of the Exchequer. If he
submits gracefully to the popular will, clearly and
distinctly expressed, well ! If not, another storm
must be let loose against him, from which he
will soon be anxious to crave forbearance. As
we have repeatedly explained it is useless to hope
that the impost will ever be completly surrendered.
The battle may as well be fought in 1857 as in 1860 ;
and were we even assured that the burden would
be removed in that year there is no reason why
the community should consent to gross and pal-
pable injustice, amounting to a complete swindle,
for three years, two years, or even a twelvemonth.
The game is in their own hands if they take due
advantage of the golden opportunity before them.
If not they will deserve the contumely with which
they are treated, the robbery to which they are
exposed. Let them still give " a long pull, a
strong pull, and a pull altogether," and no com-
bination of parties—no union of Whigs, Derbyites,
and Aberdeenites—can long resist their just and
equitable demands.

It seems we are to have in all likelihood, before
much longer, a visit here in London, f-om that
very outlandish gentleman FERUKIE KHAN, the
Persian Envoy Extraordinary and Mister Pleni-
potentiary. It is very sincerely to be hoped that
while FERUKI KHAN is receiving our hospitalities
—such hospitalities at least as can be accorded in
simple courtesy to the Ambassador from a declared
foe—the war with his Imperial master may be
carried on by the British Fleets and the British
Forces with the utmost vigour and determination.
We cannot insist too often, or too earnestly, upon
the necessity of our Ministers ever keeping
in their recollection the memorable warning
against this country ever embarking again upon
a Little War, proneunced some years ago by the
authoritative lips of the Duke of WELLIMSTON. A
Little War the Duke considered, wisely and
humanely considered, to be a Great Evil. It is
even more than this, in truth, to our thinking.
It is not only a Great Evil, but a Great Crime. It
is the wanton and idle squandering to no purpose
of so much blood, of so much gold, of so
many lives, of so much treasure. The
ravaging of a territory, the desolation of a
community, the ruin of a people, the devas-
tation of cities, the violation of social exist-
ence, the profanation of the temples of Religion—
all this, and more than all this—because of
the merely pettifogging spirit of a parsimonious
or a I..landering Administration. A. now and
frightful theory of war has latterly come in to the
obvious, and inevitable, and enormous enhancement
of the horrors naturally resulting from this blun-
dering and from this parsimony. It was the sys-
tem upon which England entered, together with
France, Turkey, and Sardinia, into the late war
with the legions of the Russian AUTOCRAT. The
avowed system of fighting at the mouth of the
cannon and of the rile, at the edge of the sword
and at the point of the bayonet, with a pre-
conceived and pre-announced determination, in the
event of victory, not to injure or humiliate the
enemy l A monstrous system. An inhuman
system. A system which is literally an incentive
to battle—an encouragement to our antagonists—
a provocation to more wanton, more continuous,
and more disastrous carnage. If war is to be
made at all, it ought to be made thoroughly. If
it originates in some glaring outrage on
the part of the aggressor that outrage
ought to be expiated on his part, by his oppo-
nent doing him not only injury, but the ut-
most possible amount of injury, by his subjecting
him not merely to humiliation, but to the utmost
possible degree of humiliation. It was so in the
old times, when men fought in earnest as we pre-
tend to fight, namely, in the name of Right, of
Truth, and of (Justice. And the wars thus fought
were, what proved in their result, to be the most
securely productive of Peace, not simply nominal
and illusory, but complete and protracted. So—
for nearly half a century—the great sea fights of
the world were ended with the grand and crown-
ing thunder-crash of Trafalgar. So—for the
same interval in Europe—the great land battles
of the continent closed with the tremendous can-
nonade at Mont St. Jean and at Hugoumont

The Navy Estimates for the ensuing year were
yesterday presented to the House of Commons, iu
pursuance of the pledges to tkat effect gives by
Sir G. C. LEWIS. A vigorous economy is clearly
perceptible in every line, and that, we rejoice to
say, without any material abatement of the effi-
ciency of that very important branch of the na-
tional service. More than a moiety of the total
cost has been struck off at one fell swoop. The
full amount of the reduction is not perceptible in
the first instance, the present demand being
8,109,168/. against 15,812,1271., the sum
claimed last year. But in the present estimate
the coast-guard service and naval coast volunteers
are included, for which last year there was a sepa-
' rate charge, amounting to 486,0281. ; so that the
actual sum provided by the Exchequer was
16,298,0551., about a quarter of a million more
than the gross receipts from the obnoxious Income
Tax. The total saving will be no less than
8,188,98 V. ; so that, as every penny in the pound
produces a million sterling per annum, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer can afford to relin-
quish half of the unjust and oppressive impost on
account of the navy savings alone. And when
the reduction, even on the amended estimates, in
the military and ordnance departments are taken
into account, the entire saving in the national
armaments will amount to nearly 18,000,0001.
This comparison, be it remembered, is made with
a year of peace, and, therefore, the entire Income
Tax may be given up without any demand for a
substitute ; and, if the Financial Minister be
closely pressed, there is no doubt that he can, at
all events, gracefully yield to the popular demand,

and consent to the total repeal of the War Income
Tax Acts, and fall back on the sd. in the pound
provided by Mr. GLA.DSTONE'S Act of 1853. This
is the only possible way in which he can vindicate
his reputation from the stain of the " pettifogging
quibble," and prove that he did not seek to take
advantage of a mere oversight, which any man in

,rivate life would be ashamed to avail hioa4elf of.

The Times now tells u', with an affectation of
gracious condescension, that it " believes that the

just wishes of the public are to be gratified, and
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will announce
to-morrow that he is prepared to relinquish the
9d. (!) in the pound of extra Income Tax, which
was imposed to meet the exigencies of the war I"
" Thank you for nothing, said the Gallipot." We
are not indebted either to Sir G. C. Limns, or to
his trusty henchman of Printing-house-square, for
the concession. had we adopted the disinterested
advice of the leading journal, and considered it
" scarcely worth while to talk very strongly about

the Income Tax before we knew the extent of the
*necessary evil, and how much money was wanted,"
or believed that "it was equally useless to protest
against any tax that happened to be galling us,"
we shotild have been complimented by Sir G. C.
LEWIS, and permitted to pay the full 16d. in the
pound, which would doubtless have been applied
to pay off a portion of the public debt, or in some
other way exceedingly gratifying to the Money-
ocracy. But the People, thoroughly aroused, took
the matter into their own hands. They would
not believe that " the oscillations of the needle of
the War Income Tax were beginning to yield to the
strong attraction of 1858, and to show evident signs
of settling down at that point in the compass."
They thought it well worth their while to fight

against what they were assured was their inevit

able destiny. And thus, having pnt forth their
mighty and irresistible power, and given the

Chancellor of the Exchequer a hint almost as sig-
nificant as that given to the intruding Irishman,

who was " kicked down stairs," they have re-
versed their destiny, and obtained an adequate

reward for their exertions.

We again tell the Times, and its patron and
friend, that the extra war tax is not 9d., but 1 ld.
But for the legislative mistake in adopting the
word ratification of the Treaty, in place of conclusion
of the Wax, the tax would be but sd. in the
pound, and that is all that the people will con-

Either the sword ought not to be drawn at all, or,
being drawn, it ought to be " driven home," in-
stead of being employed for the wanton effusion
of human blood, and the wanton waste of human
lives. If the Peace of the World is violated—
that violation of the Peace of the World, with a
view to its future consummation, ought, in rea-
son, in truth, in justice, in humanity, to be
avenged. So should it be with regard to Persia.
So should it have been with regard to Rus-
sia. So had it been. in regard to Russia,
we should never have heard of the stab-
bing of the wounded in the Crimea, of
the murder of the boat's crew at Hango-Udd,
of the cold-blooded butchery of the Turkish sailors
at Sinope. All that can be learnt now in refer-
ence to the doings of our seamen and of our sol-
diers in the Persian Gulf, since the seizure of
Karrak and the capture of Bushire, is that they
are doing—nothing I At the most that the Bri-
tish squadron has been pottering about some-
where in the neighbourhood of the Persian fort
of Mohammarah, near the mouths of the Shatt-
al-Arab. Meanwhile, the Saes, declaring a
Holy War against his English assailants, and
mustering his forces with "hot haste" in the in-
terior of his empire ! Are we ever thus to have
the horrors of war aggravated by needless delays
and procrastinations ? Are we ever henceforth to
have the atrocity of war enhanced by beginning
it with the announcement to the foe that we do not
intend to bring down upon them either harm or
humiliation ?

The documents we published on Saturday must
satisfy :All who took the trouble to examine them
that, even in the affair of the Arrow, the British
autly.irities were legally as morally right. We
did apprehend at first that there might have been
technical error, though the broad facts of the case

i‘ Feb. 11.

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12. 1857.

were such as to satisfy all but the devotees of
routine, and to justify our Commissioner and

Admiral in acting as Statesmen rather than as
red tapists. We only want a little more of their
decision nearer home. A brutal savage, who
converts the fairest spot in Europe into a prison, ,
till his gaols are so full that he is obliged to con-
vert his victims into South American exile-colo-
nists, would, on the testimony of Lord J. RUSSELL,
have been none the worse had his palace been
threatened with similar treatment to that bestowed
upon the " yamun" of the Canton 'Viceroy.
It is now clear that the Arrow was both de facto
and de jure a British vessel ; that the Mandarins
hauled down the British lag ; that they know-
ingly violated the Treaty by arresting au alleged
criminal otherwise than through the British Con-
sul ; and that they intended a wanton insult to
the British, an insult in which, but for the firm-
ness of Consul, Commissioner, and Admiral, they
I would afterwards have gloried.

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE..

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
DUBLIN, THURSDAY MORNING.
DOWNPATRICK.

The polling booths were opened yesterday morn-
ing at 8 o'clock, and shortly after that hour the
agent of Mr. Johnstone raised a technical objection
to the registry of votes. The assessor stated that
the objection could only be decided by a Committee
of the House of Commons. One was then re-
corded for Mr. Johnstone ; for Mr. Ker there wet.'
137 votes polled.

It is also clear that the principal demand of
the Admiral is one which YEll has no pretence for
evading ; not only by the general Treaty after
the war have the British and other foreigners
right of free entrance into Canton, just as into
the other four ports ; but, though the right was
waived for a time, the agreement with KEY-INa,
yEll's predecessor, settles that question. It was
made in April 6, 1847, and states explicitly
that " it is therefore now agreed that two years
from this day's date, British officers and people
shall have free entrance into the city." After
April, 1849, therefore the savage Viceroy had no
excuse for excluding us ; and the error has really
c3nsisted in allowing seven years to pass on with-
ont enforcing the terms of the agreement. It may
be very well at this distance to pretend that it would
be of no advantage to our trade to insist on free
intercourse with the city and the Chinese autho-
rities—but the fact stares us in the face, that not
only does offioial opinion in the East negative
this conjecture, for it is no better ; but all private
letters from Canton, a❑d, above all, the merchants
whose trade and property suffer by the proceed-
ings, take the directly opposite ♦iew. They repre-
sent the natives as willing to trade with us, and
ascribe all the resistance to the Tartar Govern-
ment, and its employing, for purposes of its own,
the vilest of the rabble to injure and annoy

foreigners.
It will be seen from the documents that the
evidence of the wanton attempt to inflict
humiliation ou the British was complete.
The vessels of war wore at some dis-
tance, and present impunity was therefore
certain ; but the evidence on which was founded
the demand for full satisfaction, such satisfaction
as should teach all the subjects of the Viceroy that
he must be humbled who attempted to humble
the British, could not well be stronger. The
vessel had a British Master THOMAS KENNEDY—
we have his affidavit ; the master was breakfast-
ing on board the lorcha Dart, fifty yards ahead of
the Arrow, with JOHN LEACH, who speaks of the
Dart as his
vessel—we have his affidavit. Both
of these persons understood a little of Chinese.
Two Chinese sailors themselves, one of them be-
longing to the Arrow, were also examined—we
have their affidavits.
On the testimony of these four persons we are
informed that several Chinese boats, with a con-
siderable number of officers and men in them,
were ssen to leave the Dutch Folly and near the
Arrow ; that they boarded her ; that the Manda-
rin ordered a subordinate to haul down the Bri-
tish ensign from the mizen-gaff ; and soon after
the blue-Peter, which was flying at the foremast
head, was hauled down also ; that the master, with
two captains of other vessels, immediately put off to
the Arrow ; and that, having bound all the others,
at the master's request, the Mandarins left him
two persons with the vessel. According to the
Chinese sailors' statement, before the master re-
turned on board they pretended it was not a foreign
vessel, in spite of the flag, the name painted
in large characters, and the assurances of
the sailors. But even after IiENI4EDY came
on board, they still rowed off with tie men they
had seized. It will not be creditable, after this,
to raise again the question of the intention of the
Chinese and their Governor.
The question of the ownership of the Arrow is
also finally set at rest. She was the property of
a colonial resident at Hong Kong ; and so far
from having obtained a registry collusively or by
corruption, as was insinuated by YEH, the whole
question of ownership happened to be one of un-
usual notoriety. The vessel was taken from
pirates ; and sold by the Chinese ; the first owner
made a claim upon her after she had been pUr-
chased, and she became the subject of an Admi-
ralty trial, and finally of au arbitration. As the
result, the Mr. BLOCK referred to by TELL advanced
the money to HONG AMINO, the present owner of
the vessel, to complete the purchase, instead of
receiving it for corrupt purposes. The treaty with
China, it should be added, expressly provides for
this class of vessels being treated as British vessels,
and the regulations also provide that such vessels,
if they have sailed before the time of receivin g
the licence, are to renew it on their return.
What, then, would those who wish the Tartar
rulers to enforce the exclusion of Englishmen from
the city and from intercourse with the Chinese
have us do ? Are we to go on for another cen-
tury or two tolerating this selfish, and, to the
natives, ibarbarising policy ? Is trade to be
another name for submission to every degrada-
tion which barbarian caprice sees fit to offer ?
And are the Austrians of China to glorify them-
selves to the natives as those who can treat the
powerful " barbariaus from the West" as they
please ? Surely it is neither humanity nor justice,
to China itself, to suffer civilisation to be rejected,
snubbed, insulted, and refused intercourse by
their savage and obstinate Tartar masters. For-
bearance to enforce the Treaty and the agreement
of 1847 has only emboldened proud and obstinate
Governors to presume on our supposed want of
courage. Their whole course of dealing with
foreigners
had become intolerable. The Treaty
had remedied all this at the other ports, and it
became high time that no further insult should be
tolerated. Whatever the issue, and we do not
believe it can
be a distant one, the thanks of com-
mercial men are due to our Canton authorities
for teaching the Chinese that English merchants,
attached as they
are to trade, are not prepared to
lick the dust of Tartar feet.

THE LATE MR. HA YD Y.

ST. ANN _
'8 SCHOOL ELECTION.

The following letter
of the Times : 1-1:e been addressed to the editor

" Sir,—A few weeks since you kindly called the atten-
tion of the subscribers to the case of the orphan boy of
peer Mrs. Haydn, and interested yourself in his admis-
sioninto the above school. Many votes have poured in
in consequence, and,
if you will further give publicity to
the case by inserting these fsw lines, I have litttle doubt
that he will be elected on Friday.
it As the author of the Dictionary of Dates,' Book
of Dignities,' and other valuable works, Mr. Haydn
is too well known. to need any further allusion ; but,
as a friend of hie, I may
say that he was himself a
man full of the milk of human kindness,' and that his
children are deserving of commiseration.
" am, sir, your obedient servant, ,
"A FRIEND or MB. HAYDN s.

Grand total.. ..•• •• " ••

LATEST NE WS.

A letter from Teheran to the 3d January, via
Russia, states that Issa Khan, who governed the
town of Herat in the name of the Shah, after
having defended it against the Persian troops,
has been assassinated by an Affghan. Shine the
taking of Bushire the English have attempted
nothing. A squadron had appeared of Port
Mohammaree, at the mouth of the Shat-al-Arab.
The garrison were ordered to resist.

Our latest advices from Naples state that the
King remains shut up at Caserta. The people
are gloomily silent. The police form the only
visible Executive Government. There are ru-
mours, but their source is not traceable, of serious
tumults in Sicily.

The opening of the Hanoverian Chambers took
place yesterday (Feb. 11).

The Count de Kielmansegge, Royal Commis-
sioner, read the opening Speech, which announced
that the elections had been favourable to the Go-
vernment, and afforded ground to hope for a so-
lution of the financial difficulties.

A letter from St. Petersburg confirms what has
been stated with respect to the instructions given
to M. de Kokockine, Russian Minister at Naples,
to the effect of insisting on the necessity of a mc-
dification being introduced into the internal policy
of the kingdom. The represehtations of the Rus-
sian Ambassador are to be supported by Baron de
Cants, Prussian Minister at the Neapolitan
capital.

Accounts from Bucharest of the 2d state that
the Austrians troops in the neighbourhood were
making preparations to depart, but that far the
moment no idea of moving could be entertained,
as the cold was intense, whilst the high grounds
were too deeply covered with snow to permit the
transport without a heavy loss of artillery and
baggage.

FRAIgOE.
PARIS, WEDNESDAY.

By imperial decree, Baron de Pierres, equerry
to the Empress, has been appointed first equerry
to her Majesty, and the Marquis de Lagrange,
equerry to the Emperor, has been appointed equerry
to the Empress.

BOURSE, Feb. 11.—The following were the last
quotations
Cash. fr. c. End of Month.
44 per Cents
3 per Cents 6B 10 68 40
New Loan —
Bank Shares 4,100 Roman
Credit Mobilier 1,340 Austrian 90
Belgian Fives ... 994 Spanish Threes --...
Piedmontese (5) _ 90 75 Home Debt

Wages to seamen and marinei.
Victuals for ditt0.............

••
Admiralty Office • •
Coast ouard service and Royal Na-
val Coast Volunteers
icientific branch
.........
Her Majesty's establishments at
home • • • •
Her Majesty's! establishments
abroad .......
Wages to artificers, &c., employed
her Majesty's establishments at
home... .....
Wages to artificers, &c., employert
in her Majesty's establishments
abroad
Naval stores, &c., for the building
and repair of ships, &c. ........ New works, improvements, and
repairs in
Medicines and medical stores
Miscellaneous services
Total P

152,224

25,420

884,390

63,383

,395,450

578,415
40,000
76,722

3,277

11,071

306,774

56,530

1,605,050

326,024
25,500
13,250

for the effective service..
Half-pay, reserved half-pay, and
Retirement to officers of the Navy
and Royal Marines .• • • ......
Military pensions and allowances..
Civil pensions and allowances

6,584,720

691,603
476,163
147,682

162,259

36,182

Total for the naval service.. ••

3,146,279

16,200

7,902,164

FOR THE SERVICE OF OTHER DE-
PARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT.
Army and ordnance departments
(Conveyance of troops), [voted in
a separate estimate last year.] • •

207,000

8,109,168

218,441

3,162,482

Total
Add—Coast Guard service voted
last year in the estimates for the
revenue departments .. • • •• • •

get De-

4,758,918

8,109,168

Csaamss WOOD.

,rease .• •.7,702,959
•• .. 486,028
Decrease,
1,188,987

Ron/LT PEEL.

Admiralty. Feb. 4, 1857'
The estimate for the Post-office Department (packet
service) for the year 1851-58, separated from the navy
estimates, but prepared by the Naval Department, i
965,064/., being a reduction of 208,68 ,