The Sun.
London, England, 1850-04-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

tagonists, the reasonableness of his motion, the
incontrovertible accuracy of his statenicnts, the force
of his appeal uttered in the name of common sense, of
humanity, and of rational economy, enabled him to
force a division such as amounted to the virtual de -
fiat of the Government. A glance at the close of last
night's proceedings in the Commons House of Par-
liament will show this sufficiently well—a miserable
three being the gross amount of the Ministerial ma-
jority, 77 voting for, and 80 against the pro-
position for the discontinuance of the tax upon
windows. Nothing further, certainly, was re-
quired to satisfy the community that of all
classes of politicians the Whigs, when entrusted
with the reins of administration, are the most
timorous and the least inclined to adventure upon any
scheme of amelioration. Nevertheless, if anything
had been desired to demonstrate this deplorable
fact so vividly as to place it for ever beyond the reach
of incredulity, such would indisputably have been
accomplished by the paltry proceedings of her MA-
JESTY'S Ministers yesterday.
Let it not be forgotten that the injustice of the
window-tax, the tax against which Lord DUNCAN has
long been directing the influence of his most laudable
and strenuous consistency, is notorious throughout
the length and breadth of the United Kingdom
so notorious in truth as to be admitted, directly or
indirectly admitted, by almost every administrative
authority, and certainly by every philosophic writer
who ;is• looked up to as a political economist. Sir
ROBERT PEEL, in 1845, only evaded the motion made
against the window-tax by Lord DUNCAN, by de.
Glaring his readiness to take the matter into consider-
ation on some subsequent occasion—thereby avowing
plainly enough that the impost was ene which ad-
mitted of ultimate abolition. Again, in 1848, on the
introduction of a similar motion by the same distin-
guished Reformer, it was explicitly confessed by
Lord JOHN RUSSELL himself that the proposal was
only rejected by her MAJESTY'S advisers in conse-
quence of the then deficiency in the finances of the
country, the argument, as far as argument could be
adduced, being wholly in favour of the suggested re-
mission. Not only, moreover, has the justice of the
demand, again and yet again brought under the con-
sideration of the Legislature by the Noble Representa-
tive of the city of Bath, been thus openly recognised
by the present Premier and his illustrious predecessor,
but others among the minor administrators
of the affairs of England, colleagues of
Lord JOHN RUSSELL, have energetically insisted
upon the remission of an impost in all respects so
peculiarly iniquitous. The Noble Lord the :Repre-
sentative of Plymouth, at present presiding over the
Board of Sanitary Commissioners, as far back as
1845 enlarged upon the advantages accruing from
the unrestricted admission of light into the dwelling-
houses of the population, or rather, we should say,
insisted upon the necessity existing for an arrange-
ment of this description. Previously, that is to say
in 1842, the removal of the window-tax
had been earnestly demanded by the Noble
Marquis, the present English Ambassador to the
French Republic. All these opinions being in ac-
cordance with the views entertained by men dis-
tinguished in science, whether as political economists,
physicians, or abstract philosophers. M. QUETELET
and M. DUPUTTREN, Mr. COMBE and Mr. CHAD.
WICK, Dr. ARNOET and Professor ALISON,:Dt.:SOUTH-
WOOD SMITH and Mr. ToYNBEE—aII coincided in the
necessity of ample light and ample ventilation,
neither being attainable without the previous
abolition of the tax upon windows. And
concurrent with those were the opinions
expressed by two illustrious philosophers of a previ-
ous generation : DAVID HOME condemning the tax
very energetically, while declaring all poll-taxes
whatsoever to be not only arbitrary but dangerous ;
while ADAM SMITH, the great founder and originator
of the science of political economy, pronounced the
window-tax to be altogether unjustifiable, if on no
other account, on account of its egregious inequality.
Nevertheless, while the iniquitous character
of the impost is thus apparent to the
narrowest capacity, while its unjust and pernicious
effect upon the health and resources of the commu-
nity have been protested against by all these dis-
tinguished and competent authorities, while the Whig
administrators themselves are incapable of concealing
their own recognition of the cruelty of this very dis-
advantageous system—they yet, in the teeth of all
irony and of all argument, of all reason and of all hu-
manity, cling to the window-tax with their old
melancholy and narrow-minded tenacity. " No,"
saith the Chancellor of the Exchequer, " 1,800,000/.
(that being in mound numbers the estimated proceeds
of the impost) can't be spared so easily ! 1,800,000/.
quotha ! No, no ; the window-tax is all very bad,
no doubt, but we can't consent to the abolition of the
window-tax, a tax yielding us annually very nearly
two millions sterling ! Why, where on earth are we
to make up such a deficit as that ? No doubt it

seems very hard upon the people, the poorer classes
especially, to place them in the pleasant alternative
of paying through the nose into the Exchequer,
or of living in physical as well as in moral and in-
tellectual darkness ; we're very sorry for them, you
know, very—but don't you see that you might just
as well ask a placeman, in place, for his salary, as a
Chancellor of the Exchequer to lop off, 'at one fell
swoop,' 1,800,000/.1" Such is the gist of the Minis-
terial opposition to the window-tax now-a-days. Was
ever anything so barefaced ? They dedicate so much
of their unexpected surplus to the liquidation of
the national debt ; they throw so much
in the shape of brick-dust into our eyes just to blind
us to their unconscionable maladministration ; and
they squander withal one million annually on the sup-
port of that great maritime swindle, done, Stiggins-
like, under the garb of morality, the African
squadron ! Why, if we had some bold financial Ad-
minis►trator—no %Vhig, mind, but a statesman with a
soul and an ambition, a ruler at once brave and pa-
triotic—we should see the 1,800,0001. produced by
the window-tax abandoned soon enough, and without
any inconvenience whatever. Yet how, some may
ask, could this be accomplished ? Now ? Look at
this perfectly useless and ,lamentable blockade of the
slave-coast of Africa, swallowing up an annual mil-

lion ! Look at the remission of the humbugging
brick•dust duty ! And look at that portion of the
surplu3 devoted to the liquidation of the national
debt! Had the Whigs clubbed these three
things together, they could readily, and
without inconvenience, have yielded to the
pressure of a great necessity, the necessity
gradually growing imperative for the abo-
lition of the tax upon windows. But "one might as
well do anything most bard" as try to extort the
boon of a large and wholesome reform from the grasp-
ing timidity of a %Vhig Government.

night, the supplemental Bill for
The Solicitor-General again brought forward, last
facilitating the sale
of encumbered estates in Ireland. Its true intent
and meaning is at length understood, and it Was ac-
cordingly read a first time with the unanimous assent
of the House. The lion. and Gallant Gentleman the
Member fo; Portarlington withdrew, for the time
being at least, the opposition which he, no doubt
honestly and conscientiously, offered on its first intro-
duction. It will now receive the mature and atten-
tive consideration which the vast importance of the
principle so eminently deserves. As we have already
shown, it is calculated to bring capital into Ireland, or
rather to enable the parties who may become purchasers
of encumbered estates in Ireland, to make the capital
which they may invest in real property available fJr
the purpose of improving their newly-acquired lands,
and fully developing all their capabilities. Full and
remunerative employment will be provided for the
labouring population in the districts that may be so
fortunate as to come within the scope of the new Oct,
and the first great want of Ireland will thus be sup-
plied in those favoured localities. But why, we again
ask—why should it be so limited and restricted in
its operation ; and why should the existing proprietary
of Ireland be deprived of all participation in the pri-
vileges about to be conferred upon those who saay
choose to displace the ancient owners of the inheritances
which have descended to them through a long line of
ancestors. The " bounty " (as Mr. C. H. BOWEN
happily designated it) thus granted is calculated to
inflict serious injury upon a class already sufficiently I
damnified by the recent legislation for Ireland. When
en artificial value is given to certain properties, which
must materially enhance their market prices, all
ethers must he depreciated in an inverse ratio. When
glioh APPllrifies are trivet) to a new body of inoum-

the agency of the Commissioners, Except at an
enormous sacrifice and a ruinous rate of interest,
until the debentures which will pass from hand to
hand, without expense or difficulty, by a simple
endorsement, and will circulate freely in the money
market, can no longer be obtained. In proportion,
therefore, as the new corners will be benefited the
old holders will be injured, and the British Parlia-
ment should not, and we believe will not, sanction an
act of such gross and palpable injustice, although the
aggrieved parties be a body so little favoured as the
landed proprietors of Ireland.

There can be no difficulty in extending and gene-
ralising the measure, so as to confer a " Parliamen-
tary title" on every debenture holder, and to afford
the same facilities for transferring by simple endorse-
ment the charges on every description of estate. Old
encumbrances might be paid off and satisfied,
or placed on an entirely new footing, and
at an easier rate of interest. Money to almost any
amount could readily be obtained at three-and-
a-half or four in place of five or six per cent. ;
and this would at once reduce the amount of interest
payable by one-third of its former amount, which
would thus remain at the disposal of the proprietors,
and enable them to discharge more efficiently the
duties imposed upon them, which have at all times in
Ireland, and more especially since the passing of the
new poor-law, been peculiarly onerous. This great
desideratum would be further promoted if the
Government were to undertake the manage-
ment of every transaction, requiring the
owner to pay the amount of interest, after the rate
of four per cent. per annum, into the Bank of Ire-
land within a certain limited period after it became
payable, and to guarantee 31- per cent. to the holders
of such debentures. With such a guarantee they
would speedily be quoted at a high premium in the
money market, particularly if there were no direct
dealing or possibility of collision between the debtor
and creditor—the former depositing the amount of
his liability in the Bank, and the latter calling for it
at fixed periods, as he would for his dividends in the
public funds, and with an equal certainty of being
paid the amount to the day.
Tais principle is partially sanctioned by
the new measure, for the Solicitor-General last
night declared that " one thing, at least, was very
manifest, that provision ought to be made for the
payment of all sums due for interest money at some
fixed time and place, and the place proposed to be ap-
pointed for that purpose was the Bank of Ireland,
where a department might be created for the purpose
of receiving and paying the interests on those estates,
somewhat in the manner of dividends." Here, then,
one part at least of our suggestion will be carried
out; all that remains is " the full and satisfactory
guarantee" that would render the holders
perfectly contented to receive the same note
of interest payable on Government securities, and
that such a course is in contemplation may be
gathered from what fell from the Right Honourable
Gentleman. lie said—" It would, of course, be neces-
sary fur some company, or persons, to guarantee the
punctual payment of those several sums of interest, and
remuneration out of the interest itself might easily be
awarded to them. Looking, then, at the case as it
stood, he thought it exceedingly probable that some such
arrangement could easily be carried into effect." No
guarantee, however, could be so effectual for
all persons as a national guarantee, and one-half
or even one quarter per cent. would be amply suffi-
cient to secure the country against the possibility of
loss, and even to leave a handsome surplus to be ex-
pended on arterial drainage or other works of public
utility in Ireland.
A provision might also be added for the gradual
redemption, by means of a sinking fund, of all those
charges, so that the proprietors may eventually come
into the full enjoyment of their estates, without being
subject to any encumbrance or liability whatsoever.
The principle of the Prussian landshaft, or mort-
gage banke, to which Mr. C. H. BowEN has directed
the attention of the Premier in the admirable
pamphlet to which we alluded on Friday last, would
in fact obtain every object that the best friends of
Ireland could desire. It is, therefore, no new or un-
tried experiment, but one that has already been fully
tested, that has been " weighed in the balance, and
not found wanting." It elevated the proprietors of
land from the depressed condition to which they had
been reduced by the protracted war, and restored
them to the position which they were justly en-
titled to occupy. 13 it not then, we ask,
due to Irish proprietors, that something should be
done, and that speedily, to elevate them from "the
slough of despond," in which they have been involved,
through no default of their own, but simply through
the mislegislation and naal-administration of affairs in
Ireland through a long series of ages ? and have they
not an unquestionoble right to call upon Government
to reverse their former policy, and to do something
tangible for their benefit, although the aid has been
deferred even until the eleventh hour ?

CABINET COUNCIL.—(Tars DAY.)—The Ministers
assembled this afternoon, at two o'clock, in Council
for the first time since the holidays, at the Foreign-
office, Downing-street. There were present Lord
John Russell, the Marquis of Lansdowne, the Mar-
quis of Clanricarde, Earl Grey, Sir George Grey,
Viscount Palmerston, the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, the Earl of Carlisle, Sir Francis Baring, Mr.
Labouchere, and Mr. Fox Maule. The newly-appointed
First Commissioner of the Woods and Forests (Lord
Seymour) is not, we believe, to hold a seat in the
Cabinet.

TEE ROBBERY OF PECKHAM, THE POSTMAN.—
Notwithstanding the most strenuous exertions on the part of
the Post-office authorities, no clue to the thieves who stole
the letter-bag from William Peckham has been discovered.
It is said that the Post-office authorities have suspended
Peckham, who has been in the service twenty-eight years,
and bears an excellent character. Several inquiries have
been made at the Post-office for missing letters since the
robbery.
Eau.rrum.—ln the leading article on the land-tax
in yesterday's impression, we are made to say that " previous
to the late convulsions on the Continent the land-tax in
France yielded 23,5C01. ;" a casual misprint for 23,500,0001.
FATAL EVENT.—It is our painful duty to record a
most dreadful accident that befel the Rev. George Pretyraan,
of Great Carlton, eldest son of the Chancellor of Lincoln.
On Saturday afternoon last, as he was passing through a
hedge with a gun in his hand, its contents were unhappily
lodged in his body, arid in a few seconds he was a corpse.
The whole neighbourhood, by whom he was deservedly re-
spected and beloved, are thrown into the utmost consterna-
tion and grief, especially the family of the Rev. W. Smythe,
of Elkinton Hall, to whose daughter he was on the point of
being united in matrimony ; and it is awful to relate, that in
the very week in which his marriage was to have taken
place will be the day of his funeral.
PROTECTION OF INVENTIONS AT THE 1851 MEIJI-
BITION.—N correspondent of the Builder says—The paper on
" Cheapening Patents," in your last number, is a step towards
agitating this question,—at least, I hope so. Perhaps you
will be humane enough, also, for the sake of the humble
workman—l repudiate the term poor—to throw out a hint to
the prime movers of the intended Exhibition in 1851, as to
the absolute necessity of publishing what sort of protection
they intend to hold out to inventors who are minus the means
to protect themselves with 1201. paterits—and whose anxiety
is immense—to exhibit their inventions to the discerning
world. I know three, who, with your humble servant, all
Englishmen ! have dared to exercise some ingenuity respect-
ing machinery connected, with manufactures, and articles of
domestic use. But, Sir, one of the perfections of human
reason !—i. e., the patent law—forbids us to be too commu-
nicative to each other, and, consequently, with everybody
else, having very naturally a terror of the black flag before
our eyes; for of what avail are small craft against the well-
equipped pirates who so abound in a trading community.
How are inventors and improvers, without a shot in the
locker, to steer in 1851 ? Night not many a good and useful
thing (even though it were only suggestive of something
better) be still kept in darkness for want of paternal security
when realised before the public eye?
LIBERAL CHARITY.—The venerable BarOneSSN.lll.
de Rothschild has given new clothing to 650 boys of the Jews'
Free School for the Passover Festival.—Jewish Chronicle.
THEmetropolisLTE
a IIUNGARIAN WAR.—There is now, in
Jewish Rabbi, of the name of Margoliouth
A
this
Perl, whose congregation at Sztcniy, near Waitzen, is totally
ruined by the late campaign. The Rabbi, who is a very
learned and pious man, informs us that the town was for sixty-
four hours successively bombarded by the Russians and then
pillaged. The distress is inde,cribable, and lie has come over
to these hospitable shores for assistance. His documents are
unquestionable.—Jewish Chronicle.
MANCHESTER TRADE REPORT, APRIL 9.—The
,mv
ha
irke t
cht
mighto-da y h
h have
es
hfaeielne d
anticipated, t o
which,gns of
byf
many,
goodswere fmo nactill& hopede
efokr., fromelast r improvedheavy goods geed s especially,
aspect
theth e
market has been very dull; and though prices keep firm,
goods of all descriptions move off slowly. The Indian mar-
ket takes off a large quantity of light cloths, at prices rather
more remunerative (say 2d. to 21Ad. a piece), than those of
ds eenmt
apnrdi cseest,.
paun
retch prse
sr
eordsu. c ell i
ea
es eo n
sui
dnewrieldl int
concedeghattothe
this day week. 36-inch shirtings-have still little sale at re-
It
h continentalthe
trade will be materially improved by the end of the pre-
sent month, as most of the orders at present in hand
are
worked up

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON.—Her Majesty
the Queen and his P►oyal Highness Prince Albert, accom-
r anied by the Prince of Wales and the Princess Alice,
honoured the Zoological Society by visiting their gardens in

the Regent's-park yesterday afternoon. Tne Roy—al visitors
directed their attention more particularly to the fine collec-
tion of animals which were recently received from the Em-
peror of Morocco, and which her Majesty has graciously
• --