The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-20 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1850

The Honourable Member for Buckinghamshire
brought boldly forward last night some of the
propositions indicated by him during what might be
termed, the post-Parliamentary session, when in
place of enlightening his brother legislators he was
pouring forth his wit and eloquence to the various
bucolic gatherings assembled for the purpose of
mourning over the bier of " Protection," or of en-
deavouring to re-animate the deceased monster.
Although the leadership of the Ron. Gentleman
was repudiated by the " eccentric Earl who believed
in CASPER HAUSER but not in Mr. DISRAELI," and
by a host of others, and his suggestions "laughed
to scorn" by those who would have the Corn-laws—
the entire Corn-laws—and nothing but the Corn-
laws," the Honourable Gentleman has lost no time
in calling the attention of Parliament, and of the
country, to what he considers to be burdens pressing
exclusively on land, and from which, as he asserts, all
the other great interests of the country are exempted.
He has, therefore, moved for a Committee of the
whole House, for the purpose of taking into
its consideration such revision of the laws pro-
viding for the relief of the poor of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
as may mitigate the distress of the agricultural classes,
and he has declared that if his motion be granted it
is his intention to propose resolutions to the effect,
" first, that the establishment charges in the United
Kingdom (about 1,500,0001. fur England, and
300,0001. for Ireland), should be transferred to the
general revenue of the State ; secondly, that certain
miscellaneous rates, which, generally speaking, are
raised by the machinery of the poor-law, but which
had nothing to do with the maintenance of the poor—
such as registration of births and deaths, preparation
of juries—all, in fact, with the exception of police
and county rates—should also be defrayed by
the Consolidated Fund ; and, thirdly, that the charges
for casual poor throughout the United Kingdom
should likewise be transferred to the general revenue."

Considered separate and apart from the general
question of taxation, there is much apparent equity
in the above propositions. It certainly appears, at
first sight, rather hard to charge one class exclusively
—not the agriculturists merely, but the owners of
every description of real property—houses or facto-
ries, as well as land, properly so called—withj a
liability to which all should be subjected in proportion
to their abilities, to which every man should contri-
bute secundum staturn et facultates. But on a
closer and more accurate examination of the entire
fiscal question,l the difficulty will vanish, and the
specious fallacies of the argument be clearly exposed.
Mr. DISRAELI desires to avoid one description of in-
jastice by the perpetration, of another still more ob-
jectionable and inequitable. Ile does not desire to
carry out the spirit of the original Act of Eraz kBETII,
by rendering personal property, as well as real, rate-
able for the relief of the poor, and thus extending
the basis of taxation, but he wishes to transfer
the charges to the Consolidated Fund ; or, in other
words, to replace a certain portion of direct taxation
by indirect imposts, to add to the burdens of the
great body of the people, in order to lighten
the charges that fall upon the territorial aris-
tocracy. For such an object the Customs
duties are to be increased, disturbing and in-
juring our commercial relations with the other
countries of the globe ! For such an object the
odious Excise laws are to be maintained with in-
creased stringency. For such an object the taxes on
knowledge, the imposts on paper, and the advertise-
ment duties are to; be perpetuated, and the free use
of light and air denied to the people. This
is, unquestionably, neither just or equitable,
politic or expedient. It is in direct opposition to the
spirit of the age, and to the whole course of modern
legislation. Can the Honourable Gentleman sup-
pose that Parliament could stultify itself by a move-
ment so retrograde ? Can he suppose that a policy
so reactionary would find favour in the public sight,
or that it could for a moment be tolerated or sanc-
tioned ? Most certainly not ! Let the Honourable
Gentleman move that the entire fiscal system be re-
vised and remodelled—that the existing burdens

—the interest of the public debt—the maintenance
of the national establishments—the support of the
poor (which may be justly regarded as a great social
duty on the possessors of every kind of accumulated
and realised property)—and all the other charges,
local or general, should be equalised, and fairly
and equitably distributed over the entire,
and we promise him a support more
strenuous and more honourable to himself than any
which he can receive from the advocates of protec-

tion and monopoly. Let him then, we say, turn his
unquestionableitalents to purposes so meritorious, and
his name will be blessed in the cottages of the
labouring poor, and he will be hailed as.the benefactor
of his country. _

Such a result would be more congenial, more glo-
rious, than the devotion of his exertions to an un-
grateful and insubordinate party. How has he
hitherto been treated by those for whom he was la-
bouring energetically and incessantly, whom he en-
deavoured to raise into some degree of respectability
as a party ? Although !there was no other person
among them who could for a moment bear compa-
rison with the Honourable Gentleman—who was
qualified to lead or direct the Parliamentary warfare—
he was sneered at and contemned by those who
had not capacities to understand. his views—who
could only repeat the parrot cry of " Protection,
protection "—whot because they could not achieve
impossibilities, would not lend their aid to accomplish
what might really be within reach. The speeches
delivered by many of the advocates of monopoly du-
ring the latter end of last year, and cheered and ap-
plauded by the gaping multitudes, cannot already be
involved in oblivion. Their most redoubted cham-

pion, most brilliant orator, was attacked with a viru-
lence and animosity greater than had ever been
evinced towards the leading champions of free trade !
The sarcastic sneer, the half suppressed insinuation,
more galling to a man of genius and sensibility than
the direct and open accusation, was freely resorted
to ; and yet he still labours in their cause, and applies
his powers for their benefit. Let Mr. DISRAELI come
from amongst the ingrates. Let him endeavour to
ameliorate the condition, to mitigate the sufferings of
the entire country, and he will achieve a fame more
pure and more enduring than any that could be at-
tained by mere party triumphs. The invitation is
cordially given—we trust the time may arrive when
it will be as cordially responded to.

A bold remonstrance has been addressed at last to
the Austrian Government in Hungary by one of the
most distinguished of the military leaders in the late
movement. General GEORGE KLAPICA, now resident
as a refugee in this metropolis, has found himself
constrained, by all the nobler and more generous
impulses of his nature, to appeal to the German in-
vaders of his country against their cruel infraction
of all the solemn engagements entered into by them
with his unfortunate fellow-citie,:ns. Hearing, as
tl:e heroic defender of Comorn has done so repeatedly,
of the executions, and confiscations, and imprison-
ments, and expatriations which signalized the triumph
of the despots, General KLAPKA has been compelled
to protest against these atrocities in the sternest lan-
guage of indignation. " I cannot but believe," says
he, speaking of the late violation of all treaties by the
Austrians, " I cannot but believe that this high trea-
son against military honour is the act of uncunscien-
tious toadies." Addressing himself to the principal
criminal, the infamous HATNAU, he recall to
the recollection of that sanguinary monster
the exact nature of the terms entered into
by him with the heroic garrison of the fortress
of Comorn, and the acceptance of which terms
alone induced them to consent to a capitulation.
Otherwise than by those solemn stipulations and
formal engagements the last stronghold of the Meg,-
yars would have defied the entrance of their antagon-
ists. What the precise character of the treaty
between Hareteu and KLAPICA was has already now
for some time been sufficiently notorious—namely,
that it insured the immediate cessation of bloodshed
on the part of the predominant power, whether
on the field of battle or before those ruth-
less tribunals which have recently acquired
such an infamous celebrity, the military courts-
martial. It was especially provided that the
first step taken by the Austrian Commanders
in the way of conciliation would be the prevention of
further executions at Arad. In corroboration of
these assertions, says the Hungarian Captain, now
addressing HAYNAU, it was alleged that the EMPEROR
had to that end sent thither his own Adjutant-
General, Count GRUNICE. How far these specious
promises have been fulfilled the world at large is
aware. Actuated by the desire to bring some
solace, some alleviation of suffering, some security
from death to those unfortunates among
their fellow-countrymen, the garrison of Comorn
at length yielded up their patriotic ambition to the
benign dictates of humanity. They capitulated—
"none of them," says their gallant leader KLAPILA,
" having any idea that the only reason your Ex-
cellency (i. e. Haveau) had for urging the capitula-
tion was the desire to execute the bloody sentences
against the doomed patriots unpunished and un-
avenged." Alas ! their confidence was reposed in
men as pitiless as they were revengeful—their faith
was in the faithless. " I will not enlarge on these
events," continues the illustrious Hungarian.
Then, in the sombre language of a warning
prediction, be reminds ITAYNAIJ "Public opinion
speaks with a loud voice, and history will decide
whether your Excellency has deserved well of the
EMPEROR and of the Austrian Monarchy by the
executions of Arad and- Pesth." Yes, history will
decide this question in letters of flame and with a
voice of thunder ; it will say whether the monster
who slaked his thirst for vengeance in the blood of
Kiss, and Aumcn, and BATTLIYANY, in the blood of
noble statesmen sacrificed on the scaffold, in
the blood of heroic soldiers shot down like
dogs in batches, in the blood of gentle
ladies, scourged on their naked shoulders in
the public squares—history will declare, we say,
whether the infamous chieftain who has been guilty
of these most diabolical atrocities is entitled to
honour or to degradation, to homage or to execra-
tion. It will proclaim whether he should be re-
garded as a worthy champion of the cause of his
Sovereign, or whether in perpetrating, under the
shadow of imperial authority, crimes of such
bloody dies, he has not invoked on the dy-
nasty he was sworn to exalt a vengeance
that must ultimately prove its destruction.
The elucidation of this doubt it cannot be difficult
to conjecture, if we only take as our guidance to the
solution of the problem the most renowned records of
ancient or modern annalists.

Allusion is subsequently made by General KLAPKA,
in his communication to General HAYNAU, to the
equally solemn engagements entered into between
them as to the course to be pursued towards the
capitulators by the agents of the Austrian Govern-
ment. lie announces that the original document, of
the capitulation of Comorn is still in his possession, and
that, finding all its more important provisions
glaringly violated, he raises his voice for those who
have trusted the German's word of honour and the
German's signature, and who have consequently been
deceived. Instead of reaping the advantages of the
unconditional amnesty granted to them, the garrison
of Comorn were mostly banished from their native
land by warrants of exile, with an intimation that
their expatriation would prove eternal. Eight days
after the surrender of the fortress, that is
to say, at a time when no reclamations
could possibly be made, these stringent passports
were distributed among the members of the
garrison—among the members of that garrison, be it
remembered, who had been promised an uncondi-
tional amnesty. Several, however, of these did not
receive even this small chance of escaping from the
clutches of the Austrian despotism, some of them
being actually arrested in defiance of the engage-
ments of the capitulation, and others who had previ
ously obtained the ordinary passports being men-
tioned in a proclamation as guilty of the crime of
high treason, and in consequence of that imputed
guilt being summoned to appear suddenly in
the presence of a military court-martial! Again,
instead of carrying out that portion of the treaty
which promised the unconditional dismissal of the
Ilonveds, the Austrian authorities insisted on enlisting
both the regiments of the line and the Hussars._
thereby completing in every particular their course
of duplicity and falsehood. Against this atrocious
infraction of all the principles of honour, of all
the usages of civilized society, And of all

the holiest instincts of humanity, Europe
has spoken in terms of horror and astonish-
ment. In addition to these cries which have already
resounded from all parts of Christendom we have
now heard the indignant voice of one of the banished
Hungarians threatening HAYNAU, and through
HAYNAU the Austrian Government, with the male-
dictions of posterity. That voice will not have been
raised in vain if it only carry alarm (we cannot
hope it will carry remorse) into the bosom of the
Viennese Councils.