The Sun.
London, England, 1826-02-10 00:00:00

THE THEATRE.

COVENT•GARDEL—The Opera of Artaxerxes
was performed last Right, when Mr. BILAIIAM
appeared in the character of Arbaces.- His sing.
ing, throughout the Opera, was in his finest man-
ner, and we need not further add, that it was
inimitable. Miss LOVE was the Artaxerxes',
and she acquitted herself very creditably.—
Miss PATox Wa S distinguishes herself in the
music of 3landanc ; but on this occasion she seem.
ed determined to %Le with the great powers of
the master ‘vlth whom sin had to sing. Puti..t.ies
made his debut upu i this stage as Artabaties. We
are mistaken if his exertions were not fettered by
the anxiety natural to the situation ; for he did tioc
pro uce the effect we had expected with conti.
dence. Miss HENRY made an interesting Scaka;
and the Opera, which was altogether well done,
we9t olr to the satisfaction of a usmerous audience.

THE LONDON JOUItN A LS.
. D 44 LY

Rairacts from the ;11(dttiti g Papers, Feb. 10) 1826-i

[TH a TI M Es.)
The Duke of Wellington set out on his mission
to Petersburg,' on Wednesday night, When
'we lately announced that his Grace had been
selected for this mission, we stated that he was
unaerstood to have a much more important object
to accomplish than to be the medium of convey-
ie►g a few Court compliments on the accession of
the new Autocrat to the throne. We can now
"sonfirm our original announcement, and state, on
authority on which we ourselves place the great-
est reliance, that urgent political negociation, and
not Court etiquette, is the chief object of his
Grace's journey. The settlement of the affairs
'of Greece has been tong an embarrassing ques-
tkm between England and her Continental Allies;
and it is well known, that. in compliance with the
wishes of Austria, the unfortunate Greeks were
last year abandoned to the chances of another
campaign, through which they may be said to have
struggled successfully. The strong feeling of the
.Russian army In favou rof their co-religionists which
was restrained by the late Emperor, cannot so
e►esilt' be repressed by his successor ; and Nicho-
las ascribing the late mutiny and bloodshed at
Petersburgh to this feeling, has declared to his
allies that the only means of escaping danger to
his person and government is to interfere in favour
Of the Greeks. Unless he can act in concert
with his allies, he must act single-handed in this
important enterprise, and in that case ambition
might not stop when humanity was satisfied. To
prevent, therefore, the general war to which the
march of Russian troops against Turkey might
lead, the Duke of Wellington is empowered to
offer our co-operation for effecting the immediate
and complete independence of Greece. Nothing
but so important an object could have induced
his Grace to undertake so fatiguing a journey at
the present inclement season of the year, and in
his present delicate state of health. If Russia
and England join cordially in this object, and
France co-operate, ns nn doubt she will, they can
encounter tr opposition from Constantinople or
Vienna.

[MoRNINO CHRONICLE.]
We have received the Paris Papers of Tuesday
and. the Doile of Weduesday. We do not ob-
serve that the projected Law of Pthnogeniture,
a-trteasure attributed to A 4. de Peyronnet, is ad-
vocated by any of them, while it continues to be
assailed by the Liberal and demi.Liberal .Jour-
nals. The revolutionary nature of the law is
much dwelt on, Marriages, speculations, and en-
terprises of every kind having taken place on the
faith of the law of equal succession, Though the
patent is allowed the power of disposing of his
real estate by will, still the deviation front the
rules ot' the law will appear to the eldest son in
the light of an injury to him, and.there can
hardly.. be a question that it will, as is ob.
served by ' the Courier • Proncuis, cause MOM.
rotas dissentions in Families. Primogeniture, as
we have more than once observed, was hardly
known in France before the Revolution, in the
sense in which it is understood in this country. In
many of the Provinces the Roman Law regulated
the succession, giving to each child en equal
share. In the different Customary Provinces,
the rule of succession was very various. The
custom of Ponthieu gave the whole to the eldest
son. The custom of Normandy excluded laugh.
ters. Some of theta gave the eldest son merely
the addition of the family chateau ; others gave
him an arpent above the share of the younger
children. The custom of Paris, the most gene-
rally followed, gave the eldest, over and above
his share, a chateau (and his choice if there were
more than 0110,vilii all the dependendes„ consist.
in Court, the fosses, the court-yard, the in.
closure or garden to the extent of an aipent, and
if the gardeit was larger, to preserve the or..
Dement of ,the chateau, the custom permitted
the elder to retain the garden wholly, on recnrn-
peming the younger children from other lands.-
14p old, law of succession was indeed a very in.
tricatelnatter, as any one who consults either the
old French authorities, or a work in eight vo.
tomes by Wisserandier„ published its 14305, and
devoted chiefly to the subject of the transmission
of property under the old law.

EMORI4INT6 issotAt.o.]
Mr. Maiieriy has given notice of a motion for
the ,repeal of rite Assessed Taxes. We cannot
think whet Mr. Moberly means by this. is it to
please his constituents—or the parishioners of the
parish in.ahich he resides ? Or does'he think
to' please the great mass of the people by bringing
forward such a motion ? Mr. Moberly, webelieve,
knows somethiog about the national accounts. lie
knows that the income of the country does not
mount to more than 55 millions. lie knows that
the expenditure amounts to 50 miliions,namely,3o
inlllions for time Debt, and millions for the
Goirrrnment leaving a $llll4llB of five millions
tOWOrth the liquidation of a, Debt, amounting to
400 Willem, Now the Assessed Taxes, we ire.
hove, amount to three millions a year; and if
Mr. Moberly succeeded in persuading the Par.
giunoot to abolish them, Mr. Moberly would
take away so moth from the Sinking Fund of
ire millions, and Leave only a Sinking Fund of
two millions, Mr. Moberly, therefore, would
place orin this predicament with regard to our
Debt of 800 million4—that during peace we
Should be paying it off at the rate of two millions
a year only. Now we put it to Mr. Moberly,
*irtither it would be honest to place, the country
in such et situation. We hope, therefore, that
Mr. Moberly will have the good sense not to pro-
steed in his ruotion---If he persists, we hope that
he will not meet 'with a seconder, If, during
image, we do not lessee the load which presses
of t the country, sod which is mainly caused by
the taxation 'required to pay, tire interest of the
Asti shall he in a dangerous situation in
case of a war--and we may be sooner plunged
lOW a war than we are at present aware of. Our
Government would• not send such a man as the
Duke of Wellington to Russia, except that it
ilsought it prudent to put the Russians in mind

that England had such a General. Can Mr.
Moberly' read the newspapers, and observe the
dissertations every'tinw and then put forth in
them, when the 'Quarteily, Revenue accounts
are printed, And there appears- a trifling' falling
off in the taxation ; and yet. would Mr. Alabeily,
in the face of such dissertations, take off
so much taxation as three millons a year. Now
suppose Mr. Robinson, this evening, were to
come down to the House, and state that in conse-
(pence of the reduction of 3 millions of taxation,
the Revenuer:instead of being 55 millions, was.
only 52, what would be the price to-morrow of
our funds—or what would be the price to which
they might fall before the time gamblers had
recovered from the shock ? We would ask Mr
Maberly whether, if he were in debt, his friends
would not think it - the most honourable course
for him to pursue—to get out of debt as fast
as he could ? It is the same with a nation.—
If a nation be in debt, the sooner it relieves
itself the better. Now Mr. Maberly could only
relieve himself from debts by spending less than
his income. A nation should do the same thing.
Would Mr. Moberly again introduce the policy
of the Statesmen of the days of William 111. and
George 111. of shrinking from taxation ; and in
preference burden their descendants with debts ?
If Mr. Pitt, and other "great Statesmen," ns
they are called, had done their duty they would
have taxed the people of their times the sums ne-
cessary to carryon the wars in which their Masters
engaged; and not have borrowed the money_instead.
It is clear that the people of Mr. Pitt's time could

have given the money in taxation, because they
had it to advance in loans. We are no friends to
taxation, when taxation can be avoided ; but if
taxation be necessary to relieve us from a dan-
gerous situation—if taxation be necessary to avert
such a revolution Ili occurred in France, we are
then friends to taxation. If taxation be neces-
sary to reduce the Debt during peace, let it be
continued—for if, during peace, the Debt be not
in some respect mastered, wo must see sad con-
sequences in the event of a war.