The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-23 00:00:00

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SPIIZIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS,
,'RO3I THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
(; OBE.—The landlords—ever on the alert to
serve themselves—are devising means to obtain a
large slice of the surplus revenue which the income-
tax and the Chinese compensation money have placed
at the disposal of the Minister. Not satisfied with
even this sacrifice of the general interests at their
shrine, they, by indirect attempts, would willingly
fasten the income-tax in perpetuity unpon the en-
tire nation, if, by so doing, they could obtain the
removal of the malt-tax. The increased consump-
tion of barley would—so the landlords calculate—
enable the farmers to cultivate the growth of that
article at a profit commensurate with high rents.
Thus the landowners' incomes would, they are led to
hope, remain untouched by the Tariff and the Cana•
dish Corn Bill of the Government, which threaten to
lower agricultural prices, and consequently to peril
rents. The farmers have not, it is true, responded
with their usual unquestioning alacrity to their land-
lords' call. They evidently begin to suspect that the
reciprocity of interest on which the landowners
expatiate at agricultural dinners, is a mere
one-sided reciprocity : that, whatever changes
take place, the advantages to be derived
from them are engrossed by the landlords, who
avail themselves of them as a pretext for raising
rents ; while the losses they occasion are left to be
borne by the farmer, without compensation and with-
out censolation--except, indeed, effusions of wordy
condolence, and exhortations to hope. But whether
the farmers will second the movement against the
malt tax, or regard it as a landlords' question,
there is little reason to doubt that the landed
interests will employ all their influence with the
Government, and use all their power in tt
Legislature, to obtain the object on which they have
set their hearts. It becomes necessary, therefore,
to guard the public generally against this contem-
plated movement of the landed interests. It should
be met by a counter demonstration from the great
body of the community. The whole scope and ten-
dency of legislation in former Parliaments bears
evidence of the sleepless vigilance with which the
landlords have employed their power in Parliament
fur their own exclusive advantage. Under one pre-
text or another, successive Parliaments have yielded
themselves to this powerful interest; and have so
shaped their enactments as, on the one hand, to
exempt the landed interests from bearing their fair
share of taxation ; and on the other, to fetter the free
operations of trade and commerce by restrictive
dur,ies, in order that the produce of the soil might
Le pn•tected against that of foreign growth. Every
attempt to diminish taxation by reducing duties
on the importation of agricultural produce from
foreign States, and even from our own Colonies,
ilas been invariably resisted by the landowners.
Ir, on the other hand, a new tax was to be levied,
the force of the landed interest has been in-
voked to obtain either an entire exemption, or a
partial relief, from its operation. The foundation of
this claim set up by the landed interest to special fa-
vour in the distribution of taxation, is uniform ; it is,
nevertheless, fallacious. Its success affords a striking
illustration of what falsehood, if persevered in, will
effect both on those who employ, and those who habi-
tually listen to it. " The peculiar burdens borne
by land," is the statement put forth, and—in the
face of facts which demonstrate its utter ground-
lessness—admitted to a considerable extent by those
who, if they du not, ought to know better. This
argument—false and selfish as it is—will be again
used, as it has often been used within the walls of
Parliament. In the appeal which will be made for
the removal of the malt duty it will be put forth by
the advocates of the landed interests as the basis of
the claim. When pressed for proof of the assertion,
that land is disproportionately burdened—that it
has taxes exclusively or peculiarly its own—the
answer is ready. " The land-tax is," say they,
" a burden peculiar to land, as its very name imports."
What, then, are the facts of the case ? If it can be
shown that this, the strong-hold of the landed inte-
rests in their defence of claims to exemption on the one
hand, and to protection en the other, is untenable,
their case, as against the community, is overthrown.
Let us then look on the land-tax question, with a
view to ascertain whether it be capable of serving the
landlords in the way in which they have employed it.
Sir John Sinclair, in his work on the Revenue, esti-
mates that when the land-tax was first imposed in the
reign of William the Third, and during the reign of
that monarch, the amount contributed to the Exche-
quer was 34 per cent. upon the entire revenue—being
snore than one-third of the whole taxation of the
country. Mr. M'lntyre, in his " Influence of Aristo-
cracies on the Destinies of Nations," gives the same
eetitnate. Speaking of the state of England, in the
reign of William of Orange, he says—" More than a
fourth of the public revenue was derived from the
land-tax. At that time the whole of the revenue was
about 4,600,0001., of which the tax on land was about
1,300,0001." No fact is better capable of demonstra-
tion than that, since the close of the 17th century, land
has increased, in the ratio of productiveness, to a greater
extent than any other description of property. The
incomes of the landlords have been doubled, trebled,
quadrupled— within the last half century. The
sites of large towns, and the land in their neighbour-
hoods, have, in several instances, increased them
twenty-fold, thirty-fold, sixty-fold. Reasoning by
analogy, land-tax should have borne an increase pro-
portioned to the increased revenue required for the ser-
vices of the Government. how stands the fact ? In the
year 1842, the total amount ofrevenue was .52,000,000/.,
to which the land-tax contributed 1,200,0001. The
land-tax redeemed since 1798 ought to be added to
this, seeing the annual payment was sold for a value
equal to it. If this be done, the land-tax ought to be
taken at about 2,000,0001. What, then, becomes of
th. landlords' stock argument, that the land-tax is a
btu den so heavy that it ought to procure for land
an exemption from the fair proportion of the
public taxation, and protection for the produce
or the soil at the expense of the consumers ? A third
at the very utmost, has been added to the land-tax ;
while the common taxes have been increased nearly
twelve times in amount within the same period ; and
this, notwithstanding the vast increase in the produc-
tiv,ness of land would have justified a proportionate
augmentation of the tax which is referred to as its
peculiar burden, in consideration of which it has a
ellitn to exemption on the one hand, and to protection
on the other!
STANDARD.—We publish to-day another letter
from the Bishop of Exeter, the first composition of the
Right Rev. Lord that we have ever printed with re-
gret. The letter, which is addressed to the Dean of
Exeter, might, we think, as a whole, have been spared,
without any injury to the Bishop, or to the peace of
the Church. Even supposing Dr. Bull and Chan-
cellor Martin to have acted wrong in calling on the
public to arbitrate in the division between them and
their diocesan, surely it was not necessary for the
Bishop to imitate the conduct which he condemns.
When a party challenges an umpire as incom-
petent to judge between him and his adversaries, a
simple protest is his proper course ; and there is a
- manifbst inconsistency in arguing before the offered
arbitrator, to convince him that he is incapable of judg-
ing of an argument, if not unworthy to be addressed.
Besides, the general objection to such a letter as we
publish, there are particular objections which we
cannot overlook, but which we cannot notice without
great pain. In the first place, in this new letter—as
through the whole of the unhappy controversy in his
diocese—the Bishop, certainly from no want of can-
dour—for a more candid or honourable man does
not live—but, probably, because attending more
than is fitting to details, leaves altogether on one
side the real cause of discontent—the innovation in
doctrine, with which the attempted innovations in
practice are connected, and of which they are the
symbol. We believe that there is not a single in-
stance, except, perhaps, his Lordship himself, in
which a clergyman, not more or less fa-
vourable to the Tractarian heresy, has taken
an active part in promoting the innovations. In
the second place, the Bishop, in his letter to the Dean
of Exeter, seems to brand as schismatics all of the
clergy and laity, that is nineteen-twentieths of
the whole body of the Church, who offer a respectful,
but firm resistance, to the changes introduced by the
Tractarians. Now this, we humbly submit, is most
ur.i•tA. Besides the manifest impropriety in lan-
guage of calling the compact and immensely preponde-
ating majority of any body separatists from that
body, more than mere separation is necessary to
constitute schism. Schism must he active and aggres-
sive, if there be any meaning in language ; here it is
applied to what 's passive and inert. This the Apos-
tle very clearly points out in his warning to the
Roman converts, to mark and condemn the makers
of schism. "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark
them which cause divisions and offences contrary to
the doctrine which you have learned, and avoid them."
Now here we have described as clearly as words
can describe schismatics—they who cause divi-
sions. We have here no less clearly described heretics
—they who cause offences contrary to the doctrine INCENDIARY FIRE REWARDS.—On Friday a pro-
which you have learned. And if a man were required clamation was issued by her Majesty's Government,
to describe the leaders of the Tractarian move- offering 100/. reward, in addition to a like sum of 100/.
meat, he could not describe them with more from Mr. Richard Eldridge, a timber-merchant, of
truth and precision. No less, too, than the de- Canal-walk, Southampton, for the apprehension and con-
scription of the offenders is the solemn in- viction of the parties who set fire to some timber-sheds
junction "to avoid them -" but if to avoid such belonging to Mr. Eldridge, on Wednesday night last.
6' in the city and in the field," above all, in the A strong suspicion is entertained, but unfortunately not
places of public worship, constitutes a schism—then sufficient to justify apprehending the suspected person.
is St. Paul a teacher of schism. In the third place, ETON COLLEGE, DEC. 20.—1 n consequence of the
vet must, with sorrow, object to the time when, a , n marriages, during this week, of the Rev. Francis Ed-
the circumstances under which, the Right Rev.
Lord
ward Durnford and of the Rev. John Eyre Yonge, both
advances the authority of the Church. This, we con- i assistant masters at Eton College, two fellowships have
b
long and
fess, is what we feared all along from the most un- e vacant at King's College, Cambridge. These
happy controversy. The people have s will be filled up by the fellowships being given
the anptiatincf. the Eton School, Wright, and to Wool-
earnestly invoked the Authority of the Church ley, the senior scholar at Eton.

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A HORRIBLE AFFAIR.
The following extract of a letter from Lahaina,
Sandwich Islands, gives an account of a most horrible
occurrence which recently happened at a neighbour-
ing island, dated March 22 :—" You will have heard
from Captain Green, of the Ontario, that three men
deserted from him last Friday night. To-day two of
them returned; they were brought to the United
States Consulate Agency, and made one of the most
horrible statements I ever heard. They, as they say,
hired a boat of three natives on Friday eve, and started
for Hawaii. There were three in the boat—viz.,
Walter G. Pike, of New Windsor, Orange County,
New York ; Robert M'Carty, New York City ; and
Jacob Von Chief, belonging to Middletown Point,
New Jersey--the latter a coloured man. They
pulled all Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, and
their nights, and became exhausted, and were unable
to pull any longer. On Tuesday they drifted on the
rocks at Lanai, and, having been without food or
fresh water the whole time, and having drank salt
water, they were in a state of starvation. They
were not able to get up the pall (precipice), and
agreed to cast lots to see who should die for the
benefit of the other two. The lot fell on Von Clief,
who was killed by blows on his head with a stone;
they then cut his arm and throat and drank his
blood ; after which they cut a piece from his right
arm and ate it. After they became strengthened
they got up the pall, and met with some natives,
who gave them food, and brought them across the
island, and to this place, in canoes. The natives have
been examined, and confirm the statement made by
the men. The dead body was found as they de-
scribed, and buried by them. The governor will
send to Lanai to-morrow for the women they first
saw after landing, and for the remains of the boat."
We are informed by a letter, that these men were
subsequently tried for murder, and acquitted ; and
subsequently tried for stealing the boat, and fined
eighty dollars and costs. Having no means of paying
the fine, they were working it out on the public
roads.—American Paper.

6 METROPOLITAN BUILDING ACT.
RUINOUS BUILDINGS.
In the new Metropolitan Buildings' Act, which
takes effect from the Ist proximo, there are se-
veral provisions framed to prevent a recurrence of
accidents arising from dangerous buildings being per-
mitted to remain until they have fallen down. The
object of the 40th and three following sections is to
compel the owners of dang(rous buildings to repair or
to pull them down, and in case of default the Citr of
London (if the property be in the City) or the parish
to put up a hoard for the protection of the public, and
to repair or pull down the ruinous houses. The mode
of proceeding is a simple one. A surveyor under this
Act, and the overseers of the parish, on receiving no-
tice of any building being in a " ruinous and dan-
gerous condition," they are forthwith to apply to the
official referee, to direct the surveyor to make survey,
and upon the receipt of the survey a copy is to be
transmitted to the City of London or parish. Notice
is to be given to the owners, and if the repairs or de-
molition are not began in fourteen days, then the
authorities mentioned are to repair or pull down the
buildings. The materials are to be sold, and in case
of deficiency, a claim is to be made on the owner, and if
he refuses a distress warrant is to be issued. It is fur-
ther provided, that in case the owner refuses to pay
or has no goods for distraint, " then it shall be lawful
for the person who shall at any time thereafter occupy
any such building or the ground where the same
stood, and he is hereby authorised and required to
pay and deduct the same out of the rent thereof, and
that if he neglect or refuse to pay such deficiency
then it shall be lawful for the said Lord Mayor, or
two or more such justices of the peace, and they are
hereby authorised and required to cause the same to
be levied by distress, and sale of the goods and
chattels of any occupier of the premises, together
with the costs of every such distress and sale.' By
the 44th section, any damage to adjoining buildings
or to furniture, &c., from ruinous buildings, is to be
made good, and can be enforced under the Act.

HE FUNDS-(CLOSING PRICES
BRITISH FUNDS.
__ _ _

COLLIERY EXPLOSION NEAR
. MORRIsTON.
(Abridged from the Cambrian.)
Soon after the workmen entered the Pentre-
felin Colliery, the property of the Swansea Coal
Company, situated near Morriston, on Monday,
they were alarmed by an explosion of foul air
in one of the headings, ignited by a collier named
Thomas James, who was most severely burnt. The
workmen immediately proceeded from all parts of the
pit to the scene of the lamentable occurrence, where
they found the three lifeless bodies of John Hopkin,
aged 20, Matthew Fisher, aged 20, both of whom
were unmarried, and Thomas Morgan, a boy, ten
years of age, who had been most shockingly dis-
figured, his head having been detached from the body
by the violent concussion of air consequent upon the
explosion.
An inquest was held on Monday and from the
evidence it appeared that the pit had been left un-
worked during Saturday and Sunday, and that the
deceased boy Thomas Morgan, who was employed to
turn the fan which cleared the mine of foul air, was
I too young and too weak to work the fan effectually,
and that the working the fan had only commenced a
few minutes before the men entered the pit.
The jury, having deliberated, returned a verdict of
" Accidental Death," with an opinion, " that had the
fan been worked during Sunday night, or early on
Monday morning, the explosion would not have oc-
curred ; that there is blame attached to the overman
for not having seen that the pit was properly cleared,
and for not having employed a person sufficiently
strong to work at the fan."