The Sun.
London, England, 1821-06-19 00:00:00

•[MIORNINa CIIRONICLgIa

IVlinisters have .found it expedient' to rerinquish
the :Agricultural horse Tax. We are glad to
gee 'this deduction Made from the amount of our
taxation ; and we trust.lhat it will have the'
effect' of. inducing Ministers to yield something
.tc, the general call for retrenchment. Their own
agricultural supporters 'told them what well
''founded discatislnction existed in the couutry, on
a,&;ount of the unnecessary`niagnitude of our -esta-
Llishrnents. This was well ; but 'it would have'
been better, as,,,ordtMilton observed last night,
'if 'these"Membersy insteitd of now praising Mr.
liume and cauderimin`gllinistersi had not voted
ageing all the numerous.motions of the former
for the reduction of our gstimatfs.—We upder-
iitand Lord hmidoilderry made his appearance

yesterday forenoon in the Agricultural Committee,l
when he announced to the Members present
the determination of Ministers on the subject
of this Tax. This communication was received,
with cheers by the Committee, whom his Lord-
ship invited to dine with him. A Report, drawn
up by Mr. HUskisson, on principles opposed to
those of the Movers of the Committee, was
adopted by a majority of 11 to 8. The-Report,
our Readers will see, was presented to the House
last night, by Mr. Gooch. The Grant to the
Duke of Clarence and Arrears came on last night.
As to the Grant itself we shall say nothing ; but
how hiS Royal Highness could have any claim
for Arrears, we are at a loss-to conceive. The
House, however, by a majority of 131 to 81
thought otherwise. This vote has given the
Duke the money. If the opinion of the country
had decided this matter, the result would have,
however, bee❑ very different.—But it is unneces-
sary to enlarge on this subject.

[BRITISH PRESS.]
The Report of the Agricultural Committee of 11
the House of Commons has at length been pre-
sented to the House, and is ordered to be printed.
The opinion of this Committee is, o anxiously de-
sired
by the House, that the Speaker last night
undertook to have the report printed immediately
for the convenience of the Members, without wait-
ing for the minutes of evidence. The Ministers of
the Crown last night gratified the friends of the
country by waiving all further objection to Mr.
Curwen's .Bill for repealing the tax on agricul-
tural horses. This is the first boon granted by the
Ministers of the Crown to the distresses of the
people during the present Session of Parliament;
and their tenacity on other points, where their
strength was unquestionable from the full attend-
ance of their adherents in Parliament, offers in the
present instance the strong presumption that they
never would have consented tothe present measure
if the firmness, energy, and perseverance of the
friends of the people in Parliament had net extort-
ed this concession from them. If the importance
of this concession to the distressed state of the
agricultural body were estimated by the amount of
revenue derived -from this tax, the value of the
boon could not be rated highly the produce of
the duty does not exceed bOO,OOO/. But the re-
moval oithe tax will operate as a seasonable relief
by preserving the farmers from the inconvenience
and annoyance of harrassing surcharges, and by
enabling them to employ more horses than before
in the cultivation of their lands. Such a tax mili-
tated against the first principles of political eco-
nomy, as, it imposed a duty upon an instrument
of labour. As well might a tax have been im-
posed upon the plough, the harrow, or the
scythe ; so that for this reason alone, if none
other occurred, the tax ought to be repealed.
At the same time we must not be understood as
wishing to speak slightingly of a remission of
even 500,000/. to the people in the way of tales.
We hope it will prove the forerunner of some
more considerable remission of taxes in the next
Session of Parliament. The repeal Bill will be
submitted to the Committee to-morrow (Wed
nesday).

[THE TIMES.]
The proceedings in the House of Commons
last night were lively, as a speedy retreat is next
in bustle to a brisk engagement. Ministers, in
contradiction to what had been previously de-
nounced by Mr. Vansittart, gave up the Agricul-
tural Horse Tax without a contest. And this
is all that has been done for the Agricultural
Interest during the present session. Here, there-
fore, we cannot help making a reflection, even
though it is so obvious that hardly any can have
overlooked it, which is, that if the repeal of the
Agricultural Horse Duty is all that is necessary
for the relief of the land-owner and tenant, those
Gentlemen must have greatly over-rated their
sufferings ; for we recollect that they not only
stated, but proved also (that is, in the manner
and with the certainty that most propositions
are proved in the science of political eco-
nomy), that even if rents and tithes were given
up, the farmer could not possibly live by the cul-
ture of his land. What, then, will be his situa-
tion when all the indulgence that is allowed him
.is a remission of the most trivial duty ? And yet
did Lord Londonderry state, that the considera-
tion of this unimportant boon ought to induce
the country gentlemen to agree to the re-impo-
sition of the same tax next year, if his Lordship
foundthat the affairs of government could not be
conducted without it. is it not most affect-
ing to consider that, as years of peace roll
on, there still seems to be no view of effec-
tually diminishing the public burdens, and
giving • the nation ease ? A. new systeth of
economy is indeed talked about; but we still trust
less to Lord Londonderry's general declamation,
than to his specific forethought, in one peculiar
instance—that he may have occasion to renew the
tix upon. agricultural horses : for while ihat.tax,
which had been calculated upon and assumed
as one of the ways and ineanS; is 'withdrawn;
there is as yet .no corresponding reduction of
expence. in•• any quarter ,Whatever. The- repeal
of the tax, therefore, precedes the economy by one
Session. Had:the country gentlemen, vhoare now,
to the great discomposure of his enemies, loudly
praising 'Mr. Hume for his exertions, but • chosen
to support him in any. of •his propositions for re-
trenchnient, then might, the .agricultural horse
duty have been withdrawn bona fide, and the na-
tion would have felt whatever relief the removal of
so trilling an impost would have impiTted. Real and
certain•reliefhas been rendered impossible, by the
reestablishment of all the old•objects of expence
in their full vigour. It isinconceiv.able that men'
who complain, that 'The. :burdens of the years
lately -passed- were intolerable, should have
chosen to take the aggregate of certain expenses,
(appertaining •to the Duke of Clarence,) from
Which thos&years were •happily exempted, and to
clap it all at once to the burthens of the year now
commencingd One would: really suppose tEat
such men were not-aware that the- sum total of
an'iccount was affected' either by the number or
i•amount of the articles of 'which 'it consisted.

By a ,new Act of Parliament, called Mr.
Martin's Act, all Coroners who have' been or
may' be insolventz forfeit their situations.,

PROVINCIAL JOURNALS.

So much has been said respecting the Curi-
STITUTIONAL ASSOCIATION in the London Jour-

nals for and against that Institution, that, in
order to inform our readers of the sentiments
which it excites in other parts of the country,
we have considered it as proper to extract the
opinions of Provincial Editors, and therefore

now take the following article from' _Parleys
Bristol Journal of the 9th instant :

CONSTITUTIONAL ASSOCIATION.
" When bad men combine, good men should associate."

By lIICE.

We remember to have seen an article in an old number
of the Edinburgh Review, in which the doctrine of the libel
law is very gravely and elaborately handled. In that inge-
nious paper it is asserted that the Press has no more liberty
by the laws of England than by the laws of Turkey ; that
whatever freedom we enjoy, exists by mere tolerance; and
that the Attorney-General's interference. with, political libels
is a novel and monstrous nuisance, which ought to be abated.
The writer then proposes—no doubt by way of puzzle—that
the legislature should be implored to define with precision the
nature of political libel, and embody its every possible charac-
ter in the shape of an Act of Parliament.—We know not whe-
ther Mr. Brougham has ever seen the article to which we allude ;
but we remember well, that, by a singular coincidence, he was
understood to be preparing, about the same time, the project of
a law of which he afterwards explained the outlines to the
House of Commons, and which proposed to embrace most of the
above liberal and enlightened, but somewhat impracticable
provisions. How the thing was dropped we do not precisely
recollect at this moment ; but, owing to some cause or other,
an abortion certainly ensued. However highly, therefore, we
may estimate the integrity and disinterestedness of Mr. Brough-
am as to this particular subject, we are sure our readers will
concur with us in thinking, that his judgment upon the Consti-
tutiOrial Association ought not to be quite definitive, when they
remember that it is the opinion of one who demanded of the
legislature a strict local definition of the offence of libel,
when he might as well have asked them to square the circle
—under pain of being held to sanction a system not less
barbarous than that of Turkey or Japan.
We say, Mr. Brougham's opinion, however weighty on all
other subjects, cannot, for the reason we have given, be per-
mitted to decide the character of the Constitutional Asso-
ciation, which he has honoured with his invective. We
know not whether this Association contain in itself the elements
of much public good ; but sure we are that it can do no harm,
and that its objects are not only legal but laudable. The dread-
ful outer}, against it by the Hunts, and Hones, Thelwalis, and
Woolers, et hoc genus omne, is no unequivocal compliment to
its vigoirrnand hardly required the solemn-confirmation of'Mr.
Brougham's remonstrance in Parliament. We can see nothing
either in the principle or the objects of the Association which
can give reasonable offence, except to the banded enemies of the
Constitution—or to some innocent and over-compassionate gen-
tleman like Mr. Brougham, who, by a contradiction to all the
known laws of human sympathy,. feels a generous interest in
the fate of political libellers, just because he is not, and never
was a political libeller himself. The Association proposes
to aid in putting down blasphemy and sedition, as they are
circulated by the Press ; will any one , deny that they are thus
circulated to an unprecedented extent—or dare to assert in plain
language, that the suppression of so disgusting a nuisance would
not- be every way desirable ? It is not much more than a year
since the legislature proclaimed, by some novel enactments, the
magnitude of the evil which the licentiousness of the Press was
working ; and there is no way left, therefore, to the Whigs, in
which they can decently impeach the important statement.—
The legislature has matte salutary enactments—the laws have
adequately provided for the punishment-of offenders; but the
laws cannot be put in motion but by, the aid of *republic or pri-
vate prosecutor. The officeof an Attorney-tianeral is an
invidious one as to this most important matter fend we can-
not wonder if there be an occasional shrinking frOncduty, most
natural perhaps in the individual, but most injurious to the
public. What then -is to be done ? Public and private prose-
cutors equally shrink in their individual characters from the
risk,and odium of an urgent duty ; and that which individuals
cannot or will not perfOrm, must be done by combination.—
Where is the offence of this tmion ? We grant that it must
be an offence in the eyes of eslr. Brougham and of all others
—if others there be—who concur with him in voting
punity to all sorts of political libels, provided at least that the
legislature cannot reach them before-hand by an apt definition—
because every expedient which shall give vigour and certainty
to the penal visitations of the law, must be deprecated by the
man who, in effect, condemns the whole system. But if the
system be good and salutary, the combination which provides
for giving it effect cannot be reprehensible. Why, after all, is
Mr. Brougham so much startled by the exertions of a combi-
nation not to elude but to aid in executing the laws ? Must
there be no .co-operation but upon our side—and is it only in
support of offenders that it has become lawful to combine ? A
subscription for hone, who is by trade a vulgar merciless li-
beller of all that is sacred to British feelings, was quite right ;
and the Whigs did not blush to lend to this martyr the benefit
of their countenance, and the less equivocal aid of their purses.—
Now we would ask Mr. Henry Brougham, whether the com-
bination and the Whig-radical subscriptions, which were to
aid hone in defying the law, or to console him for its in-
flictions, could be otherwise distinguished from the union and
the contributions of the members of the Constitutional As-
sociation, except that the one was destined -to resist, and
and the other has been established to uphold, the laws .of
the country ? The Constitutional Association is accessary, of
course, to the punishment of offenders—and we know the. of-
fice is always invidious, but not always blameable ; but the
subscribers to Hone were accessary to the pollution of the pub-
lic mind, and we know that such conduct can never be-guilt-
less. To punish the offender may seem harsh, but must be
wholesome and just ; to contaminate the people can never cease
to be infamous.
We repeat, that we duly appreciate the motives which must
have influenced Mr. Brougham in his late assault upon the
Constitutional Association—but wo cannot so readily follow his
arguments. The Attorney-General prosecutes by an ex officio
information ; that is bad and tyrannical, and Mr. Brougham
has said so an hundred times ; but the Constitutional Associa-
tion can only prosecute under the auspices of a grand jury, and
yet the same Mr. Brougham has most consistently declared that
it is a great deal worse. The Whigs and Radicals have One-
bined, and are yet perhaps combining ; but the Tories must not
combine for any one purpose, nor contribute their mite. to the
good cause of the constitution, without being denounced as a
new inquisition against freedom, which must be put down. Such,
at least, is the imperative and energetic language which
the revorters have presumed to put into the mouth of this ac-
complished Commoner, when speaking of the amstitutional
Association. But deeply as we may regret any difference of
opinion with so distinguished a statesman as Mr. Henry
Brougham, we must take leave to say, that he appears in this
instance to have been rather more dictatorial than argumenta-
tive; and that we think better of the Constitutional Association
than to imagine its existence to depend entirely on his FIAT.
The epithets " conspiracy, inquisition," Ite. so liberally ap-
plied to the association, must go for nothing, of course ;
for it must be a novel species of " inquisition" indeed
that will consent to make its way to the detection of guilt
through the forms of British justice, and the double defence of
British Juries. But it must ever be a subject of regret to us,
that the liberality of Mr. Brougham's theories should have in-
duced .hina to advocate that dangerous impunityfor political
libellers, of which 'he so little requires to claim the benefit in
practice ; and that the first and bitterest enemy in the House of
Commons of the Constitutional Association should have been
the very man who, from the known temperance and decorum
of his public discussions, has least of all others to apprehend
its animadversions !,

ANECDOTE OF Ma. WHITFIELD.--,-Wilell Mr.
WHITFIELD came, in the concluding'Part of his
sermon to plead for his Orphan louse, and was
mentioning the excuses by which men of diffe-
rent characters are accustomed to defend them-
selves against the good works which they .have
the opportunity but no inclination to perform, by
a. singular felicity.he hit on. the very case of a
!gentleman of consideration, who was one of his
hearers ; and to his astonishment said, that
" there were some men so obstinately hardened
against Christian beneficence, that if they were
at• any time to be in a situation, where they
thought it possible that they- might be persuaded
to it, they took the precaution, in order to secure
them Selves against every impression of this kind,
to empty their pockets in their own houses be-
fore they ►e.ft them." The
_gentleman was so
confounded by an address so unexpected, and
which came so -directly home to him, that he
went about among his acquaintance and borrow-
ed half-a-guinea for the collection, for he had
taken the very step alluded to by the preacher.