The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-10 00:00:00

o

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1844.

Last evening the business of the Session was
brought to a conclusion. . The Royal Assent was
given to a vast number of Bills in the Lords, and
three which stood for a second or third reading were
very summarily discussed. On the motion of Lord
WuaniseurrE, the House adjourned till the 2d of
September.
In the Commons, Sir ROBERT PEEL moved the
adjournment of the House till Thursday, the sth of
September. This unusual motion, of course, _gave
rise to a debate. Mr. SHEIL brought forward the
State of Ireland. Lord Jour( RUSSELL, with-
out pretending to give a summary of
the business transacted during the session,
and, indeed, protesting against the system
of Lord LYNDHURST, who, for some years, had made
a stirring speech to his partisans and the country at
the close of the session, took a general view of the
most important events which had taken place. He
alluded particularly to the trial of Mr. O'CONNELL
and his colleagues, to the state of foreign affairs, and
to the great inconvenience of protracting the session
to such a late period.
Sir R. PEEL praised the moderation of the Noble
Lord, concurred with him on almost every point,
then followed the example of Lord LYNDHURST,
though in a different strain, and gave a
most glowing account of the wonders which had
been performed, not only during the session, but
during the three years in which he had been in office.
The motion for the adjournment of the House till the
sth of September was agreed to. The speed-es
made by Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Sir ROBERT PEEL
will be read with interest. They chimed so wonder-
fully together, that the public will not be able to dis-
cover which is Whig and which is Tory. After
some routine business, the ,House adjourned at a
Quarter past Eight. ..s•.,

At the dinner given to her MAJESTY'S Ministers by
the Clothworkers' Conipany,..the Mater proposed

r " Prosperity to Ireland," which was responded to
with loud cheers. Lord ELIOT, as the official repre-
sentative of the Sister Isle, returned thanks, and ex-
pressed his conviction that the time was not far dis-
tant when the people of Ireland would learn to value
the motives and intentions of Sir ROBERT PEEL.
We trust the people of Ireland will not be disappointed.
Hitherto they have only known the motives and in-
tentions of Tory Governments by acts of the most
cruel tyranny, by glaring suspicions of their loyalty
without reason, and by a system of one-sided justice,
which ever screened and promoted Orangemen, and
trampled upon the native inhabitants. A new era,
then, has commenced. The golden age, if it no-
where else exists, is to shine forth with all its splen-
dour in the land of " half-hanging and flame," and the
glory is left to the Conservatives of reconciling that im-
portant portion of the empire to British rule. We
care not by whom this great work is accomplished,
whether by Sir ROBERT PEEL or Lord JOHN Rus-
SELL—whether by the Whigs, or the Tories, or
the Radicals—if the work is only done quickly.
If the Iron Duke, who, is a native of the
country, and the Prime Minister, who knows the
Irish well, should have the magnanimity to do jus-
tice at last to an injured, a brave, and a grateful
people, the one would add an additional lustre, and
me still more glorious to his deeds in arms, and the
other would sanctify the desertion of his party in
granting the Catholic claims. Never had men such
noble field for legislation. One-third of the inha-
bitants of the empire are alienated, because they are
not treated as British subjects ; on that ground
alone a cry has been raised for repeal, , and
hat cry, and that marked alienation from Bri-
tish interests may be put down in six months
')y a straightforward, upright, just, and manly policy.
Is this not an honour worth contending for ? And
what a people they have to deal with! No nation is
more patient under sufferings, no people are more
rateful for kindness, and no portion of the British
empire would be more attached to the Imperial Go-
vernment, if they were only treated with common
justice. Even in their utmost humiliation—when the
most savage penal laws were in existence against
them, when they were treated on the plea of religion
,s outcasts, when the able leaders of the Catholics and
the whole nation, except renegades and, the descen-
dants of foreign settlers, were excluded from every
office oftrust and honour—they still clung to England,
they fought her battles; though enslaved, and in the
utmost extremity of our difficulties, neither the Eng-
!ish nor the Scotch troops surpassed the Irish, in the
!lurious cause of defending their common country.
When the fate of Waterloo hung on a thread, when
the formidable attack was made on the British centre,
when a PONSONBY fell, the Enniskillen Dragoons vied
with the Scotch Greys, and the best cavalry of Eng-
land, in completing the most illustrious achievement of
that terrible day. They have ever been faithful to
us, yet they have been treated as aliens. They
!lave risen against oppression, but they have
,tever sold themselves to the enemy. Their
hearts are with England, yet England has never
responded to their claims but on compulsion.
Let us hope that the bigotry of the dark ages of Pro-
testantism is past, that Catholics are to he placed on
the same footing with Presbyterians, and that atlast
we are to have, not in name, but in reality, an United
Kingdom. This is the only way to put down repeal
And- disappoint the hopes of our bitterest enemies ; and
if the present Government carry into effect what
they now promise, they would gain for themselves a
aame which would be rendered only more glorious by
the rabid attacks of a broken faction.

When a Prime Minister of Great Britain, in the
thirtieth year of a profound peace, is compelled to
,upplement the vast revenue of the country, amount-
:ng, on an average, to some 48,000,0001. per annum-
1y the continued infliction of so intolerable an impost
Is the income-tax, producing between five and six
.nillions a year additional, the unfortunates who en-
ioy the distinction of being mulcted 7d. in the pound
in their respective incomes, in addition to their. pro-
prtionate contributions, in all manner of taxes, to the
;eneral annual revenue in question—have some
prima fade reason to complain. All Sir R. PEEL'S
plausibility will not overcome the reluctant conviction
of those who are to be mesmerised out of their seven-
pences for the satisfaction of this cross-bred property
and income-tax—that the superfluous cash, of which he
would so blandly relieve them, would be better in
their 'own pockets than in the' Treasury coffers.
There is, in natural philosophy, no principle of re-
oulsion so strong as that which is excited in a tax-
payer by the contact of a tax-collector. In the
whole range of chemistry, no affinity has yet been
detected so active, universal, or tenacious, as that
which directs the fingers of the Government to the
money of the governed. In practical finance the
.lttinction of a profitable tax, whose productiveness
has once been tested and realised, is a result more
hopeless than, in human pathology—the extirpation ofa
cancer that has once established and rooted itself' in
the system. These, or some such reflections, operate
with your tax-payers, when they demand how it hap-
pens that with a rapidly growing trade—on which
the Minister dilates with the view of eulogising his
.awn Government ;—with a largely accumulating pub-
lic income, on which he expatiates in order to decry
that of his predecessors ;—with an economised expen-
diture, on which he relies for inducing the Parliament
to grant his estimates ;—the greatest and surest
branch of permanent revenue should have, for the last
seven or eight years, exhibited an almost uninterrupted
tendency to decline ? Does the Government, which
demands a cool addendum of six millions, to the
vast product of Customs, Excise, Stamps, and Post-
office Duty, Land-tax and Assessed Taxes, hereditary
and miscellaneous heads of revenue, sufficiently
watch and examine into its receipts in these various
departments ? The recent investigations into the
unbounded and audacious frauds practised at the Cus-
tom-house give a general negative to the last ques-
tion—founded on a particular case, which will well
repay the cost, the trouble, or inconvenience of the
most searching and protracted scrutiny that can be
applied to it. If there be one man in the empire who,
at this time of day, is prepared to concur in the ex-
pectation, avowed with a simplicity, which we might
almost term effrontery some twelve months since,
on the part of the Board of Customs, that,
bad as the case was, "the public had been by that
time apprised of the utmost extent to which the re-
ven tie had been plundered in the department of her
Majesty's Customs ;" we take it his credulity will be
dissipated by the most cursory perusal of the last
Report (supplementary to that of 22d May'list) of
the Commissioners of Revenue Inquiry—ordered by
the House of Commons to be printed on-the 17th ult.
From this report we have no space at present for
making any quotations ; but in the course of next
week we shall feel it our duty to submit large ex-
tracts to our readers, for their better insight into a
system of wholesale fraud, conspiracy, and, robbery,
such as, perhaps, was never before practised to an equal
extent on the revenue of any State. From such an
exposé of utter demoralisation in so many
liberally paid servants of the Crown—of
participated guilt common to lower and higher
classes of officers, each, and all of them, charged with
responsible duties, that they have most scandalously
violated—of imbecility, neglect of duty, and in-
conceivable inefficiency, in the superior authorities of
the department ;—we rise with feelings of mingled
astonishment and indignation. Not one member of
the Board of Custorns--of the Commissioners them-
selves—ought to be exempted from the most
rigorous examination by this Commission of In-
quiry, 'as to the grounds upon which he,' proposes to
excuse the culpable, the slumbering, incompetency of
the body, in its collective and in his own individual
capacity, pending the long existence and practice of
these delinquencies. Not only do the most alarming
circumstances, when br,oUght to their notice, appear
to have awakened bat a very slight or absolutely no
suspicion of misconduct ; not only do discreditable
acts and general conduct, notorious through all other
branche's of their office, appear to have been profound
and sealed mysteries to them, and to them alone; but
their demeanour in reference to proceedings ultimately
adopted, in some few cases, seems to have been still
marked by the same incapacity. Officers were
suspended, only, by them against whom they had
ample evidence to justify a sentence of immediate
dismissal; or, after toeing reported, were not even in-
terfered with at all until their later offences,
or the subsequent examination of confederates,
compelled the i3oaid to steps' of tardy punish-
ment Nor does' ottr t.tee C.6m-

missioners of Customs themselves stop here. We
concur with the Commission of Revenue Inquiry on
reprobating the• mode in which they delegated the
examination of offenders, whom they should have in-
terrogated themselves, to authorities more or less im
mediately subordinate, whose conduct in managing
such inqUiries was exactly conformable to the antici
pations that might have been formed from the impro-
priety of their selection. In the case of WYCHERLEY,
a weigher, it is abundantly evident that inferior officer.
having most important testimony—afterwards fully es-
tablished, to tender against the malfeasance of the func-
tionaries next above them, were so discouraged, so
manifestly intimidated, by the apprehension of se-
riously prejudicial consequences to themselves from
coming forward with such information, that they
either withhold it or gave it in a form much more
meagre than they would have done. In the affair
of Mr. LoNQ (a landing waiter since dismissed, his
malversation having bean unquestionably proved on a
subsequent investigation), the Board remitted
the case for examination to Mr. Ross the Surveyor-
General (an officer whose own conduct is shown to be
open to much animadversion in another part of the Re-
port). " Mr. Ross (Report p. 3) did so ; and recom-
mended the acquittal of Mr. LANG, and reported un-
favourable of WYCHERLEY. . The Board coincided in
his view of the case, and continued to place
confidence in LANG, but removed WYCHERLEY
from where he was a check upon LANG,
and sent him to the docks ; a removal which was, in
fact, tantamount to a punishment." The Commission
add—" We found from the admission of Mr. Knox.
the landing surveyor, that when before the inquiry
the story wasmentioned to him, WYCHERLEY was sent
for, and cautioned as to his proceedings, and told
that such a course would cause his dismissal
from the service, by making charges which he
could not prove." Again—" There was evidently
a predetermined impression that WYCHERLEY was
sure to be wrong; indeed, the whole of the proceed-
ings bear more the character of the trial of WYCHER-
LEY for misconduct and drunkenness, than an investi-
gation into the conduct of LANG for being concerned
in defrauding the revenue." We only add, at pre-
sent, that this accusation was substantiated. What
must we think of the whole system on which the
Customs' Department has for years been conducted ?

We have received Madrid papPrs of the 2d inst.,
but they bring no fresh intelligence. The capital
was tranquil.

The Three per Cents, were done at 271, at 60days ;
the Coupons at 24i, for the lath of September; and
the Floating Debt at 59, at 40 days.

A cowardly article in an Evening Paper, which
has pretensions to official information relative to the
arrest and expulsion of Mr. PRITCHARD from Ota-
heite, has induced the war party in France to believe
that the English Government• have yielded to the
French, and that no reparation will be demanded for
the " gross outrage, accompanied by gross indignity."
Even the French Government papers, though they
ought to be better informed, infer that the affair is
all but settled. These are the words of the Journal
des Debuts :—" The English journal admits, and it is
what we have said from the commencement, that the
English residents, after having protested against
French occupation, were bound to wait for instruc-
tions from their Government ; that if they have
thOuglit -proper to resist by their own strength, they
have done so at, their own risk and peril, and without
having a right to claim in any way the protection,
or engage the responsibility of, their Government,
which they had not consulted. •It admits that, in
the case where Mr. PRITCHARD had commenced by
his own actions a private war against the Government
at Otaheite, the English Government was not bound to
follow in that path one of its subjects, who was acting
without its authority; and that the French authori-
ties consideiing themselves legitimately in possession
of the sovereignty, it was not only their right, but
their duty, to deport Mr. PRITCHARD. The ques-
tion, it will thus be seen, is much simplified, and we
are persuaded will be promptly and honourably ar-
ranged."
We believe that the statements referred to are
entirely destitute of foundation, and that the Eng-
lish Government have in no way altered their views
of the subject. Sir ROBERT PEEL; the Duke of
WELLINGTON, and Lord ABERDEEN, bays all ex-
pressed their sentiments in language not to be mis-
understood, and though the outrage has been repeat-
edly referred to in both Houses, they have never made
an admission, or anything resembling an admission,
that they could yield in this manner, and throw
Mr. PRITCHARD overboard. Such random statements
do immense mischief. Far from satisfying the war
party in France, they only make them ri.se in their
demands, and heap additional abuse on England.
The Courrier Francais, and, indeed, most of the Op-
position journals, have songs of triumph on the oc-
casion.

The accounts in these papers from Morocco,
though they add little to the previous intelligence,
are, on the whole, of a peaceable character.
According to the Presse, the French and Belgian
Governments have entered into new commercial ar-
rangements for a mutual reduction of duty on certain
articles of import. The following are said to be the
proposedmodifications

- France is willing to lower the duty on raw hides, imported
from Belgium and of Belgian origin, from If. 20c. per 100
kilogrammes to 50c. per 100 kilogrammes. On dry hides the
duty will be lowered from sf. to 2f. 50c. The present duty on
rough marble is 2f. 70c.; it will be reduced to If. The duty
on hops would be lowered from 65f. 50c. to 45f. And the
duty on pit coal will be also lowered from 10c. per 100 kilo-
grammes to sc. per 100 kilogrammes.
Belgium, which has hitherto exacted a duty of 83c. on
French pit coal, will reduce it to sc. The manufacturers of
Ghent having to complain of the opposition they meet"with
in the printed cottons of England, the Belgian Government
has resolved to raise by 50 per cent. the duties exacted at
present on English printed cottons at their frontiers. It offers
to France to except it from the ordinance upon that subject,
and, as far as regards France alone, to maintain the present
duties. Lastly. The resolution of the 14th of July, 1843,
which raised the duties on woollen thread and cloths, and
upon fancy articles and artificial flowers, will be withdrawn,
as far as the provisions regard France ; or, in other words,
the resolution will hold good in regard to all other countries,
but will be withdrawn as regards France.

TUE BOURSE—THURBDAYI AUGUST 8.
First Highest Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French rive peresas 121 .. 121 40 .. 121 .. 121 15
•••• 110136 ••
110136 •••• 113106
rFourour-perandc-ae-nta!f 10613
Three per cento.•, 81 75 •• R 1 80 .. 81 70 .. 81 75
Bank of France., .• • •• .• • 3105 ..3110 3105 •.3110
Lattitte napjr, 5,000 f. Sharesso7s • • 507 k •5075 .•5075
-Belgian Bank-- .... ••• •• • 675 .. 67& 675 675
Belgian Fives, 1840 .... • . „.les .. 1051 .. 105 .. 1051
1842 .. ask •• 1081 .. 1081 1081
Spanish Threes
Passive sz • 51 .•
Portuguese Five per Cents.. 43 .. 43 .. 421 • • 421
Neapolitan• •••••• • • • •• • •• 98 55 .. 98 55 .. 98 55 98 55
Roman • . ...... .........•• 103 f •• ion .. 1001 •• 1031
RAILWAY SHARES.

Versailles,R.B... •••••• •• •• 380 .. 380 .. 378 75 .. 378 78
L. 8.- •• •• •••• 238 75 .. 238 75 .. 237 50 .. 237 50
Rouen • • •
Rouen to Havre 752 50 .. 755 .. 752 50 .. 753 75
Orleans ..
Strasburg to 8a1e.... •• •• •• 239 75 .. 238 75 .. 237 50 .. 237 50
A.vlgnon to Marseilles— •••• 765 •• 765 • 765 .. ;765
RAH WAY SHARES FOR THE ACCOUNT, Urn OF AUGUST.
St. Germain . 887 50 .. 887 50 .. 887 60 .. 887 50
Versailles,R.l3 • ...... . 360 .. 380 .. 380 .. 380
L. 8.. •• •• •• •• 240 .. 240 .. 240 .. 240
Rouen ...... •• •• •• • ...... . 980 .. 982 50 .. 977 50 .. 977 50
Rouen to Howe— •• •• •••• •• 752 50 .• 757 50 .. 752 50 .. 755
Orleans
Strasbulig to Bale-- —•• •• 238 75 .. 238 75 .. 238 75 . 238 75
Avignon to Marseilles•• •• •• 766 20 .. 766 25 .. 765 •• 765

MEDICAL WITNESSES IT CORONERS' INQUESTS.---
Mr. Wakley, M.P., held an inquest yesterday on the body of
Mr. Edward Mottram, engraver, Little Britain, Aldersgate-
street, at that gentleman's country residence, Muswell-hill,
Highgate. The deceased, who was seventy years of age, got
up as usual on Wednesday morning, and was preparing to
leave his country seat for London, when he was seized with
an apoplectic fit, which terminated fatally, notwithstanding
the immediate attendance of medical aid. Evidence of the
above having been given, Mr. Wakley inquired if the jury
desired the medical gentleman why attended deceased to be
examined, observing, at the same time, that it would only
entail unnecessary expense on the parish. The jury having
expressed their desire that the medical gentleman should be
examined, Mr. Wheterall, surgeon, Highgate, was called in,
who stated, without having made a post mortem examination,
that in his opinion deceased died of apoplexy. Mr. Wakley
(addressing .Mr. Wheterall) asked him if he had added any
testimony to what they had already received ? Mr. Whet-
erall admitted that he had not. Mr. Wakley was satisfied
that Mr. Wheterall would. give that answer, " for what,"
continued Mr. Wakley, "further information could he give
when he had not opened the body ? He was most anxious
that in every case that came before him a post mortem exa-
mination should be made ; but when that was not deemed
necessary he had no idea of making the parish pay for a
medical witness, as he was resolved not to fool away the pub-
lic money." Mr. Wakley concluded his observations with
an encomium upon Mr. Wheterall's treatment of deceased.
Mr. Wheterall assured him that he had merely attended from
a desire to prove that everything that was possible was done
for deceased. Verdict—" Apoplexy."
Last week, there was sent to London, from Doe
Park, near Woo;ton, a rye straw, measuring nine feet.
The rye in the field from which it was taken is higher
than has ever been seen in this country, the lowest straw
being at least six feet.
EXTRAORDINARY LOW TlDES.—Yesterday after-
noon, shortly after two o'clock, the tide was exceedingly
low, owing to the high winds which have prevailed during
these last few days. The steam-boats were unable to land
passengers at Blackfriars-pier for some time. At Waterloo- •
bridge the water was not thirty feet across, and could easily
be waded through, • •

T,IIIS DAY'S NEWS.

THE QUEEN QUEEN AND THE INFANT

PRINCE.
The following bulletin of the Queen's health
issued this morning:—

" Windsor Castle, August 10, 18441
" Eight, A.M. •
" Her Majesty goes on favourably.
" The infant Prince continues well.
(Signed) " JAMES CLARK, M.D.
" CHARLES LOCOCK, M.D.
" ROBERT-FERGUSON, M.D.

SOUTHAMPTON, AUG. 10.—The Pacha, Cap
Wilson, arrived here this morning ; she left Gibs
c
tar, Aug. '2, Cadiz 3, Lisbon 5, Oporto 6, and Nrig°'.
At Gibraltar were her Majesty's ships Formidable
and Caledonia, the Danish frigate Gifior and the Thetii.
At Tangier her Majesty's ships Albion, WarsPite'
and Ilecla,; an American frigate, a Danish frie
a Swedish frigate, a Spanish frigate, corvette; brig;
and steamer. French—Three ships of the line, °l)h
frigate, and three steamers. At Cadiz—The Fre%
brig of war Volage. At Lisbon—No foreign vOse.,‘
of war. At Vigo—Nil. Spoke on the 6th, at
off Viana—The Montrose.

1
The Lord Chancellor has been pleased to aPPot
Daniel Higley Richardson, Esq., to the imports
office of Master of the Court of Bankruptcy.