The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-09 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 9, 1867,

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has given
notice that in the course of the present month
he will move a resolution in Committee of Ways
and Means, " with a view of founding upon it a
bill for continuing the present duties on tea and
sugar for two years from the Ist of April next."
We are, in one respect, grateful for the notice,
inasmuch as it will afford ample time for the na-
tion to protest emphatically against the proposi-
tion. The Chancellor of the Exchequer has very
recently boasted of the ample funds at his dis-
posal. He has deemed it expedient to pay off
1,125,0001. as compensation to the Danish Go-
vernment for the abolition of the Sound Dues, re-
fusing to avail himself of the privilege of liqui-
dating the amount by instalments spread over 20
or 30 years. He bad previously arranged for
the payment of debts amounting altogether to
3,150,0001., so that the whole amount wiped off
during the present year will be no less than
4,375,000/., and now he asks to continue impost'
that have long been unequivocally condemned,
without the slightest necessity for such a course.
We trust that the chosen representatives of the
pe)ple will not submit to be made the instru-
ments for registering his decrees, but will assert
their independence, and discharge their constitu-
tional functions, as the guardians of the national
purse. _ _

The tea and sugar duties were granted last st s-
sion, for a single year on very erroneous data. We
shall not say that there was any actual fraud—
" For you must know the difference is immense
Between a simple lie and false pretence ;"
but certainly there was an unoandid statement
that deceived the House, and led to the con-
tinuance of imposts that would not otherwise have
been sanctioned. Sir G. C. LEWIS declared that
the amount was required for the exigencies of the
Exchequer, but he did not say that it would he
applied to pay off the full amount of the Danish
claims. Had he done so there would be no
ground for complaint. The duties would have been
either sanctioned or refused by competent authority.
The people might and would have complained
respecting the unnecessary burden, and also of
the breach of faith with the importers and
dealers in tea, but he would be protected by
a sevenfold shield. His responsibility would be
shared with every other member who supported
the impost.
The manner in which the notice was given was
' also peculiarly ungracious. It was while present-
ing estimates to the amount of 500,0001. for the
expenses of the Persian War, of which the House
knew nothing until the presentation of "the
little bill." Their business was not to con-
sider the policy or justice of the expedi-
tion, but to pay t It was strictly in accord-
ance with the approved German model, bu
there was no English precedent I Indeed, as the
Prince CONSORT, on a memorable occasion de-
Oared, " The British Constitution is on its trial,"
and if it can pass successfully through such
stringent ordeals, it must be made of very tough
and elastic materials.

We shall say nothing of the rather question-
able taste, that brought the subject forward
at a time usually devoted to other pur-
poses. The Speaker decided it to be in
order, and therefore we should not complain of
the "sharp practice." But we sincerely hope
that the House may vindicate its own honour and
its unquestionable privileges, and the most eligible
mode of so doing will be to refuse to
sanction the resolution of which Sir G. C. LEWIS
has just given notice ! Indeed that notice is alt
that can be require:], for there will be ample time
to discuss the matter at the beginning of
next session, and to have a Bill disposed
of, one way or the other, before the ter-
mination of the financial year. As all measures
of reform have been postponed to a more conve-
nient opportunity, we think it is only fair tl.at
those of taxation should share a similar fate—that
if the people can obtain no relief, they should, at
all events, not be saddled with fresh burdens.

Salutary counsel—counsel most wise and salu-
tary—was addressed by Mr. MANGLES, on the
12th of June, 1857, to the Cadets at Addiscombe
—in a speech of a very remarkable, and, we may
venture to add, of an almost prophetic character.
An extract from this speech we give elsewhere in our
impression of this evening. An extract supplied by
Mr. MANGLES himself—(in self-defence)—to the
chief among our morning contemporaries. It will be
seen, upon the most casual glance through this
very apt quotation, that the advice addressed upon
the 12th of last June to the young Cadets at
Addiscombe, by the Chairman of that day's pro-
ceedings, had reference to a matter of the very
last importance to stripling officers then upon the
eve of being absorbed into the ranks of the Angle-
Indian Army in Hindostan. Of the kindly and
generous spirit in which the words were spoken
every rational man, we conceive, must, upon the
instant, rest perfectly assured. " Although a
Civilian," Mr. MANGLES may be reasonably enough
presumed tohavegenuine sympathies with the "gal-
lant and distinguished" service with which it has been
his good fortune to be thus personally though indi-
rectly (during.'" the best years of his life") asso-
ciated ! Apart from this even, his position as
Chairman upon that 12th of June, 1857, clearly
authorised bim to proffer whatever sentences of
friendly admonition and conscientious forewarning
his Judgment (enlightened by his Experience)
might at the moment dictate to his Lips, in the
course of an oral Address delivered to a cluster of
"young men who were just entering, or who had
just entered the Indian Army"—by—the expres-
sion is Mr. MANGLES' own—" one much older
than themselves."
And that Advice ? It had reference simply
tobytheir the treatment of the Native Officei s
European Comrades ! "It was
alleged," said Mr. AI....A.NGLES, upon the 12A1 of
last June to the Cadets at Addiscombe, " It was
alleged, he feared too truly, that the kind and
cordial feeling of comrades in arms, serving the
same Government, and bound to allegiance awl
loyalty by the same military oath, had been super-
seded by a cold and distant demeanour, if not
some instances by positive rudeness of behaviour.
Such a state of things was greatly to be deplored,
If If that estrangement of officers from men,
especially of English from' native officers, was al
lowed to continuo and grow, it was impossible to
calculate the fatal consequences that might ensue."
Observe, especially, the words here given in italics,
and recollect that these words were uttered as far
back in one respect, and yet as recently in at.-
,other, as the 12th of this last June ! Reraem -