The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-17 00:00:00

he might do it out of his own budget, and take the
difference by some of the other taxes where the rich
paid less and less in proportion to their riches.
Under these circumstances, what did the men who
are considered the popular leaders, and are to a great
extent looked up to by you as such ? Did they coma
forward and say, here is the beginning of a great
principle, where at last justice to the people has found
its way into the mouth of a Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, and our prayer is that, not as little but as
much as possible of the expenses of the country may
be taken by this just plan and not by the unjust ?
Did they support and encourage the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to carry out the scheme of justice which
by some special interposition of Providence had been
suggested to his mind, and toss to the winds
the puling prayer of the Conservatives, that
if they were to pay a just tax, it might
at all events be a little one ? No ; they
turned round on the Chancellor of the Exchequer
and said, "It is clear that by joining with the Tories
we can put you into a minority and defeat your plan."
And they did it, and the plan of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer for laying the taxes on the rich instead of
the poor, was defeated, or at all,events maimed and cut
down, by the appearance of twenty of your so-called
friends in the Tory majority, with the effect of pro-
ducing a majority of 164 to 135 against the Minis"-
ters who wanted to begin the removal of your most
crying evil.
And now see what they have done. Had they ac-
knowledged and supported the good work attempted
to be begun, there might have been hopes that the
principle would have soon been carried farther ; in-
deed it was quite clear it must. The Stamp Duties
are of comparatively small amount; but there are
huge masses of taxation in other places, to which this
principle might have been applied, if what call 'thein-
selves the popular leaders would only have
allowed it. For instance, there is the Tea Duty,
where every ounce of tea consumed by you
and your families pays two, three, four, or
five times as much in proportion to its, cost
price, as what is consumed by the rich and powerful.
And the Tea Duty is the source of a large portion of
the revenue ; which every man responsible for having
a revenue or for not having it, must consequently
handle with care. Suppose then the Chancellor of the
Exchequer had thought of ever saying, "The Tea Duty
is another instance of this enormous oppression on the
poor, and lam willing to alter ir. One step at a time
is enough for any man, and the step I am prepared
to take, is to equalize the duty on the poor man's tea
and on the rich, to the extent of what will not dimi-
nish the total revenue by more than will leave me
able to keep a balance on my books." Suppose that
a Chancellor of the Exchequer should have been
moved:in a dream or otherwise, to think of something
of this kind,—and either something of this kind
must be done by some Chancellor of the Exchequer,
or you must remain paying four or five times
over for your tea for ever. How would he be met by
the first counsellor whose advice he asked ? He
would be told, "No ; you cannot do that. If you
try it, you will only be left without a Tea Duty, and
the end will be the bringing in a Protectionist Minis-

try, who will replace theTeaDuty, and the other upon
Curn. There are the leaders of the popular party
ready to join the Tories, to blow you up the first time
ou touch duties of any kind in the way of reforming
the rate of levying."
Here, then, you stick fast. The present Govern-
ment would willingly relieve you from your injury in
this matter, but what call themselves your leaders
will not let them. By their distinct act and deed
the Government is told, " Touch a fragment of
the unjust taxation in the way:of laying it on the rich
instead of the poor, and we vote with the Protec-
tionists." Unless the Government has something
beyond human in its virtue, you will hear no more of
any attempt to shift the taxes to the rich, for your
leaders will not tolerate it.
And here comes into sight another danger ; for
dangers are never single. Do you or do you not
acknowledge at Bradford, that you are better, both
rich and poor, for the licensing of your trade by al-
lowing your goods to be sold for food ? If you do, then
every man of you who has formed an honest
expectation of future advantage whether great or small,
—from the rich man who may have framed the notion
of making Bradford the metropolis of the West
Riding, to the poor man whose views are limited to
being able to save enough to place his little boy ap-
prentice in what he considers a better condition than
nia own,—may look forward to as much of danger as
can arise out of the substitution of a Government
pledged to undo what it is able, in the place of
one that has removed your fetters. Such a change
would not undo everything ; but it would undo much,
and deep would be your regret if you had leen as-
sistant in the process.
And now the case is before you. I may be wrong ;
but while in charge of any kind, I never will lead
into the ditch with my eyes open, though all the
world should call fcr it. If the verdict of your jury
is against me, I am quite ready to be pointed at in the
street, with " There goes the man that would not vote
against the Chancellor of the Exchequer when he
wanted to shift taxation to the rich."

What the course of the Government will be, should
be the object of deep attention to all concerned. For
the present, they only asked to report progresß, in
other words to adjourn, for the purpose of
considering their course. What the rich have
at present established, is that they will
consent to pay the same they did before, but
the idea of paying anything more by the establish-
ment of an ad valorem rate where the poor are to pay
the eighth part of what they do at present, they,
utterly scout and reject, and the popular leaders sup-
port them in it. Thus a great victory in favour of the
people is cut down by the popular leaders going over
to the enemy. If the public would pronounce, as the
Spaniards call it, the thing might be reversed in some
of the subsequent stages. But without it, it hardly
can. The Committee is to resume on Monday
the 221.
On Tuesday Mr. Milner Gibson proposed the re-
moval of the Excise duty on paper, in a most able
speech, and was afterwards supported with equal
ability by Mr. Roebuck. But of necessity the last
night's proceedings told against them. Men cannot
expect to cut down the Chancellor of the Exchequer
in a bad cause one night, and cut him down in a good
one the next. The leader of the Protectionists de-
clared his resolution to join; and it is certainly one
thing to go over to the Protectionists, and a different
thing to !Jaye them come over to us. The resolution,
however, of the Member for Manchester was finally
negatived by 190 against 89.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
AN OLD REFORMER.
London, 17th April, 1850.

RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS.
BRISTOL, Arum 16.
STOCK ExcnariGn.—Our share market was dull to-day,
and prices are lower. The transactions we—Great Western
451 A, —Ditto, Quarters, 12% —.Ditto, 17re/. Shares, 9 dis.—.!
Midland, 3;!.

LIVERPOOL, Amur. 16.
STOCK Excrtarion.—Business on our Stock Exchange
was dull today, and prices had a tendency downwards.
The transactions were as follow :—Lancashire and .
York-
shire, Consol., 32 A —Ditto, Halves, 1514 Ditto, Fifths, 10X,
—Ditto, 32/. Shares, 13s. 9d. c. dis.—London and orth-
Western, 10014—Ditto, New Quarters,
30,4 —Ditto, Halves, 281% dis. South-Eastern and Dover,
121;—Ditto, Consol. (No. 3), 12%—Ditto (No. 4), Regis-
tered, 41a—York. Newcastle, and Berwick (G. N. E. Pur..
chase), 6 per cent. till 1850, 73/ dis.—Birkenhead, Lanca-
shire, and Cheshire, 18YR dis. Great Western, 463/4
111,inchester, Stafford, and Lincolnshire, 12 c.—North Union
(B), 1641/9—North Staffordshire, 1031 i dis.—Sudbury and
Cheshire (N..W. ), Preference, guaranteed per cent., 12

_
MAY, C U ESTE ii,ApRIL 16.
STOCK EXCHANGE.— A considerable amount of business
has been done to-day, but prices are still depressed. The
transactions were as follow : —East Lancashire, 6 9-16 n.—
Edinburgh and Glasgow, 261/2—Caledonian Preference, 51,41
East Anglian, Preference, 6 per cent. I—Lancashire and
Yorkshire, 31—Ditto, Fifths, 10% dis.—Ditto (West Riding
Union), 93/4 dis.—Ditto, Preference, 6 per cent., 1114-
-Ditto (Preston and Wyre), 10%—London and North-
Western, 100—Ditto, New Quarters, 2 dis.—Ditto, Man-
chester and Birmingham, Quarters (C), 14 p.—Manchester,Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, 12 _Ditto, Preference, 6%7
Ditto, Grimsby (201. Shares), 21/I—.North Staffor Thirds,
(N 19.14
dis.—South-Eastern and Dover,. 12%—Ditto, o.
4), 4 5-16—North Union (B), 16414.
BIRMINGHAM, Aram 16.
to-day were— Great
dull. The only transactions
STOCK EXCHANGE.—The share market continues ex-
tremely Western, 48 —Midland (New), 50.

THE LIVERPOOL COUNTY CoURT.—We are in.
el
preference,
fee namedrnetnercentering
gi
sah.u:ououl
upon
formed that no official intimation has yet been received at
Stamford Raffles
the County Court, in reference to the appointment of a suc-
cessor to the vacant judgeship. We understand that amongst
ti,lset,caanrdeilsdiart.esil,
ainin
sanddyitiaonnd to the eThgoemntalesmh
barristers-at-law, the latter being the son of the Rev. Dr.,
names. We believe that Mr. Rafllaeisn,l
his candidature for the vacant office, with admirable feeling
ioosf the authorities he between himself
uduesdierersttoaiwida.tiv.heatalleltctcl letters received in town yes-
terdayo type, y 1
sp
re
r, . wNe, i
lhliaavme
and his
expressedthebeen cghiorie:ht
friend Mr. Blair.—[Since the above was •
announce officially the appointmentin
hay to the vacant post. we believe the business of
court will therefore be at once resumed, and that insol-
tnheems
vents may consequently now obtain renewal of protection.]—
Liverpool Albion.

IVonis are, sometimes signs of ideas, and sometimes
of the want of them.—Eliza Cook's Journal.

A LARGE PIKE.—On Saturday last, Mr. John
Fnock, mess-master of the Ist Life Guards, caught a pike in
the River Thames, at Clewerpoint, near Windsor, weighing
upwards of 221b5,, it was a male fish, and in excellent con-
dition.

[A DVERTISEM fINT.I —A most miraculous Cure of a
Bad Leg of Sixty Years' Duration by Holloway's Ointment
and Pills.—Mr. Barker, of 5, Graham's-place, Drypool, at the
age of IS, had a breaking out on one of his legs, which ulti-
mately formed into an ulcerous sore, and increased in severity
until he was CO years old, when it entirely took away his power
of walking. At last, after seeking relief in vain for so many
years, he had recourse to Holloway's ointment and pills, and
these invaluable medicines have cured him so completely that
he is now enabled to walk as well as most men of 50 years of
age.—Sold by all Druggists, and at Professor Holloway's
Establishment, 244, Strand, London.