The Sun.
London, England, 1828-01-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We received last night the French papers of Sun-
day. They contain no news; but as the late Ministry,
after their disappointment at the electoral colleges,
and " tottering to their fall" by the shock of public
opinion, ascribed their unpopularity and misfortunes
to the influence of journalism, it may be of some in-
terest to state how that sovereign dictator is dis-
posed to view the merits, or to decide upon the fate
of their successors. All the papersbegin their com-
ments on the Royal decrees for changing the Cabinet
with a burst of triumph at the defeat and dismissal
of M. de Villele and his colleagues. Of the new
Cabinet they speak variously, but none of theta
with any unalloyed satisfaction or assured confidence.
The Journal des Debats —which seems displeased
that the fruits of the victory which its exertions so
mainly contributed to gain, should not have been ex-
tended to its friends—speaks of the new Cabinet
with formal respect, but no cordial regard—with
affected hope, bnt no real confidence-
6. Willing to wound, but yet afraid to strike,
"Just hints a fault, and hesitates dislike."

"In a representative Government," it says,
" power is a redoubt on which victorious opinion
takes its position and hoists its colours. Those who
are willing to adopt those colours present themselves
and offer their adherence and alliance. If the new
Administration has no banner, who will present
themselves ?Ifthey have, where will it be displayed?"
it then makes out that in neither Chamber can the
standard of the present Ministry be supported by
an arm calculated to inspire confidence or at-
tract adherents. Among the Peers, the Cabinet
may be defeated by the ne w levies ; and among the
Deputies, the three new Ministers, who acted under
Villele in his most unpopular measures, are not
likely to receive the support of an assembly elected
expressly from a hatred of his administration, and
pledged to resist his policy. After developing far-
ther these ideas, the journalist of the Debats ex-
presses his belief that the Cabinet is not definitively
formed, and hints, if it is so, that its existence will
be of short duration. The Constitutionnel, which
may he regarded as the accredited organ of the Li-
berals, the party which has gained most in the late
struggle, expresses a more decided opinion against
some of the members who compose the new Ca-
binet,—men " who share the power—whose most
scandalous excesses they approved under their pre-
decessors." This liberal journal adds, that the com-
position of the Ministry is such as to offer no secu-
rity for a long existence. The grounds on which
rests this opinion are similar to those which we pre-
sented in our leading article of yesterday, and which;
therefore, we shall not repeat. The Quolidienne
seems uncertain what to say, though it is easy to see
that it is dissatisfied. It tells us, that if the present
incomplete Cabinet do not receive an accession of
Royalists, it is not likely to command a majority in
the Chambers. Thus, without some reinforcement,
the fate of the new Ministry is sealed, and its days
numbered, lw the formidable authority of that join-
nalisnz which is alleged to have destroyed the last.—

The Governor-General of Laid is cot yet de-
parted to take upon him that high office, which no
one doubts his Lordship will administer in a man-
ner to increase his own well-established reputation,
as well as to promote the interests of the empire.
The delay will, it is rumoured, afford opportunity to
make a change in the situation next in importance,
if not in dignity, to that of the Governor-General,
which change is thought necessary. Lord Mande-
ville was to have been Secretary to Lord William
Bentinek ; hut some dread of the Secretary's zeal
for proselytism sprang up. It was said that the
tranquillity of our West India possessions had been
Sjeoparded by the indiscreet ardour of missionaries;
tnd who could tell what mischief might arise in the
East, if religious opinions of a particularly strong
east were there diasetniumed tinder the appearance
of authority ? We believe his Lordship was inter-
rogated on the subject, and frankly acknowledged
his views of converting the Flindoos; the suspicion
was thus confirmed, and the fear, as those who en-
tertained it thought, justified. Lord Mandeville,
therefore, we believe, does not go out to India as
Secretary to Lord William Bentinck, or in any other
eapacity. In his Lordship's baggage, we believe,
there has been since discovered an immense mass of
tracts, of which the best .description is, that they
were certainly not bought at Carlile's, in Fleet-
street. For ourselves, we look to the sure word of
prophecy, and thereon found our conviction that
Gospel truth will overspread the earth ; but the
" times and seasons" a superior Being " bath kept
to himself;" and nothing can be more dangerous in
a political point of view, or more rash in a religious
one, than any attempt to anticipate that event by
means merely human ; arid more especially to pro-
duce conversion to a peculiar sect, whose opinions,
operating upon the ignorant subjects of a warm
climate, might inflame them to an incalculable de-
The Gazette of last night announces the appoint-
ment of Mr. Gordon, hitherto our Minister at the
Court of Brazil, to the same office at that of Madrid.
There is not a diplomatic station in Europe which
ealls for more effective abilities in a British Ambas-
sador than the Court of Ferdinand VII. Mr.
Lamb did his business there with masterly sagacity,
and hie ,successor has, we are given to understand,
afforded proofs of talent and penetration at Rio de
Janeiro, which yield a fair promise of success upon
the scene to which he is now promoted. If Eng-
land has in former tintes been a sufferer from the
profligate or imbecile abuse of patronage which sent
so many wig-blocks of the aristocracy to watch over
her interests at the head quarters of her political
enemies, we trust that the evil precedent will be no
longer followed. Men of natural acuteness, of
amiable manners, of solid and diversified experience,
of perfect knowledge of human character, of incor-
ruptible honesty and unshaken courage, personal as
well as moral, are the proper subjects for diplomatic
trusts ; and we are glad to obeerve among the most
::mportant of the late appointment several persons
with these essential qualifications.—/W,
It is not so easy a matter to make a Ministry in
this country as it is in France. The French are
without those privileged orders, which make Go-
vernment Bo nice an affair in England. If a French
Monarch poesesses only sufficient common sense to
avoid cramming his partiality for Jesuits down the
throats of the nation, nothing so easy for him as to
name a Ministry which shalt have the assent of the
t wo Chambers. The French Execotive has only to
esonsait the feelings and inclinations of tip: body of
the people to be. invulnerable. A French Minister
may be an honest man, and if his master understand
his true interest, he will select a Minister possessed
of the confidence or the nation. -But in England a
Ministry have a more difficult task. They have to
please the people, and to please the enemies of the
people at the same time. Honest they cannot be,
or cannot be long. A certain share of character
they must have, becaiiee a certain share of popularity
is necessary to the carrying on of the Government.
Again, a determination to conduct the affairs of the
nation on principles which should have reference to
the good, of the nation pnly, would soon array
against a Ministry all those who possess Par-
liamentary influence. It has beers observed, that
a popular Administration in this calaMtry can
afford to be more honest than on; which is not
popular, inasmuch as it is less under the necessity
.)f expending the resources of the nation in obtaining
majorities. We know not well what to say with
regard to this proposition. An old established Mi-
nistry may inspire both King and Parliament with a
certain degree of awe; and from the prestige insepa-
rable from long possessed power, may feel a certain
degree of independence of particular individuals.—
Hence the honesty and firmness displayed by the
Administration of Lord Liverpool for some years
before his political demise. It would have been too
hazardous an atiair either for his Majesty or any
junto in Parliament, to disturb an Administration so
firmly seated. It was a feeling of this power which-
led the Administration in question to venture on so
many measures in its latter years which at an earlier

" period, would have been its death-warrant. But
when we say that a popular Administration can af-
ford to be more honest than an unpopular one, we
are supposing an Administration already firmly seated
and secure, not only of the' people, but of the
suffrages of the two Houses. 'lt is one thing to op-
pose aMinisteralreadyfirmly seated, and another to op-
pose a Minister of recent appointment. Now we fear
that in a recently-named Administration, the very Ito •
nestywhich would entitle it to popularitywould deprive
it of support in Parliament. Those who command votes
know well that the interest of the people and their
own are at variance ; and though they might not
dare to oppose even the public-spirited measures of
an old Administration, they would be almost sure
to attempt the overthrow of an honest Ministry of
recent formation. If the King, and the Ministry
were, indeed, to be identified, there might be a bet-
ter chance of success in the attempt to conduct the
Government on honest principles. But then the
King and the Ministry must be agreed as to the
principles on which the Government shall be con-
ducted, and the patronage of the Crown must be
disposed of in such a manner as to strengthen the
Ministry, and not to weaken it. The idea of ob-
taining favour through any other hands than those
of the servants of the Crown, necessarily unnerves an
Administration, and invites to opposition. The
higher ranks of this country require a lesson, and
they will receive one ere long. The patience of
the people seems to tempt them to a somewhat too
open display of the beauties of the British Consti-
tution. They" forget the libraries of useful know-
ledge—they forget that there are now no longer
any Church or King mobs, not bought with a price.
An honest Minister may find it difficult to obtain ma-
jorities in Parliament; but an attempt to carry on
the Government with regard to the opinions and
feelings of the nation, may, at this time of day, lead
to consequences of which they do not dream.—
Chronicle.
One of our Contemporaries, in noticing the Re-
venue Account just published, has inserted the fol-
lowing remarks :
" In looking at it for the Quarter only, we are sorry to
observe that there is a Decrease in Taxes, deriVed both
from the Customs and Ecise. Together, the Decrease is
a quarter of a million, which, if continued at the same rate
through the year, would be a million a year. This does
not look well, because the Revenue principally depends on
these descriptions of taxation ; we rather think, therefore,
that the old plan, to a certain extent, must be had re-
course to—of taxing many imported commodities much
higher than they are at present taxed ; for instance, wool,
cotton wool, raw silk, and other things. The three
things that we have named, would bear a much higher tax
than they bear at present."
We pass over the first part of this statement,
wherein we are informed, that " a decrease of a
quarter of a million in each quarter would be a mil-
lion a year," and proceed to notice that part of it
which:would seem to recommend " higher taxation
on imported commodities, for instance, wool, cotton
wool, raw silk, and other things." The readers of
the paper alluded to, must, of course, infer from this
statement, that the deficiency arises in consequence
of a reduction in the duty on these articles, when,
in fact, the circumstances are precisely the reverse
of this. Our Contemporary has coupled the Ex-
cise and the Customs together, and, in consequence,
a decrease appears upon the total; but, if Ave
look at , the Cnstoms separately, it will be
found that there is only a difference of about
11,000/., and that not arising from a decrease in the
consumption of any one of the articles alluded to—
indeed, during the last Quarter, duty has been paid
on a larger quantity of Cotton than was ever before
known in a similar period,—but chiefly upon Sugar,
upon which there has been less received by about
120,0004, when compared with the corresponding
Quarter of last year; so that the excess of duty
received upon those and other articles, has lessened
the deficiency that would otherwise have occurred,
from 120,000/. to 11,0001. Nay, further, Sheep's
Wool, Cotton, or Silk, are not, nor indeed is there
any other article but Tea, subject to a duty of Ex-
cise on importation, and it is in the Excise only that
any deficiency worth noticing has occurred. But, to.
place the absurdity of these oft en repeated statements
of our Contemporary in a still clearer light, we sub-
join an extract from the very same paper, published
only a few days since :
" It would appear, from a variety of accounts received
from the United States, that the manufacturing of cotton '
(roods is making rapid strides. We should not be surprised,
if, in a quarter of a century, the United States should net
only be independent of us, so far as cotton goods are con-
cerned, but also, if the United States became a great ex-
porter of cotton goods, even to the United Kingdom itself.
That part of the world is the seat for cotton in a raw state,
and, therefore, why should it not be the country for cotton
goods ? Already, the United States' people beat us in coarse
cotton (roods, and this is owing to the very cheap rate at
which they can be manufactured, by means of machinery,
which we have heard is almost equal, if not quite equal, to
our own machinery."

We are far from coinciding with our Contemporary
in the view here taken of the subject; but this is
not the first thing of the kind put forth by our Con-
temporary, so that, while every file of Foreign
Papers is ransacked to find matter which would
make it appear that nothing but ruin and desolation
is in store for our manufacturers at home, our Con-
temporary is diligent in recommending those mea-
sures, which, were they to be pursued, would of course
render our own manufacturers unable to compete
with the foreigner, whose burthens, in otherrespects,
are comparati►•ely light. But, to return to the sub-
ject which we set out by noticing—our Contempo-
rary proceeds to say :
" The Increase in the Customs for the year was 625,000/.,
but the Decrease on the Excise was 779,000/. There can
he nothing congratulatory said respecting this Increase on
the Customs, because the Decrease on the Excise more
than counterbalances it. A Session or two ago, a certain
part of the taxation was transferred from the Excise to the
Customs' department. This is transferring accounts for the
increase of the Customs and the decrease of the Excise.
Our Contemporaries do not seem to be aware of this trans-
ferring."

We could have pardoned the writer of this article,
had he simply contented himself with taking credit
for a discovery at once so acute and consolatory.
But it is somewhat whimsical to find this gentleman
imputing ignorance to the rest of the London Jour-
nals, when he states, " our Contemporaries do not
appear to be aware of this transferring." We have
only to observe, that the transfer of the•duties al-
luded to took place on the sth April, 1825 ; and,
as in the years 1826 and 1827 the duties have been
collected in a manner precisely similar, and the sub-
ject under discussion is the comparative increase or
decrease of each individual branch of the revenue,
we confess ourselves at a loss to conceive why an ex-
cess in any one should account for a difference in
the receipts of another, part of the public income.
We have before stated that there has been no excise
duty on aey article imported since sth April, 1825,
except tea, and the increase in the Customs clearly
shows that the consumption of foreign produce is
greatly augmented.—New Times.
If a man's knowledge of the nature and extent of
a disease is to be judged of by the remedies which
he prescribes, we should say that the Doctors of the
Home Department, in the mode of cure which they
profess to adopt for the manifest defects and errors
of our Police system, betray a miserable want of
knowledge of the disease, and aptitsele for its cure.
When we hear on all sides of an increase of crime,
and a total absence of that security and prevention
which should be the main objects of such a system
—When 'M.' see the most daring offenders braving
Justice at its very door, and the wisdom and gravity
of the Magistracy evaporate i some jaundiced sneer
or contemptible joke—who would expert that the
only remedy which higher wisdom prescribes for the
most defective system which ever slandered the in-
stitutions of any country is the publication of a daily
newspaper, of a confined circulation ? This is
miserable mummery indeed—a kind of patching and
botching which the veriest hedge tinker would
never think of applying to a vessel already full of
holes. The public—who
pay largely for a protec-
tion which they do not receive—must surely think
strangely of those who can adopt such State
tinkering as this. If a man's house is robbed of

his plate, or his purse or watch filched from his
pocket, how exceedingly farcical must it appear that
the panacea which the Home Department pro-
vides for these evils is, that they shall be
made known at the eight Police offices the
next morning; by which time the plate has
passed through the crucible, the contents of the
purse have been divided among the gang, and
the watch has been, in slang language, re-christened.
But, to increase the apparent folly of the scheme, all
discretion is taken from those who ought either to
possess sound judgment or are unfit for their sta-
tions ; and they are actually called upon to divulge,
as soon as it comes to their knowledge, every clue,
the secresy of which may constitute its main value.
This quackery has not, to our comprehension at
least, the merit of being even a palliation for any of
the evils of our Poliee system. Instead of a paltry
placebo like this, the actual cautery should have
been applied to the disease. Instead of overloading
the already arduous labours of Clerks at Police
Offices, with the useless additional labour of be-
coming Police Reporters, and demi-editors of a
Thief-takers' Journal, why was not a Commission'
appointed by the Home Office, composed of honest,
independent, intelligent persons, to inquire into
and state what are the errors and defects of the pre-
sent Police system, and what the most likely method
of rendering it—what it has never yet been—really
available to the public service ? Such a Conamission
wisely constituted would have shown those whose
duty it is to be master of the subject many things
of which we suspect they are at present ignorant.—
It would have shown them that the present system
is, in its workings and details, both rotten and use-
less; and would convince them in a monient that
this project of a daily Robbery Gazette can .be only
calculated, in the eyes of the discerning part of the
public at least, to add ridicule to injury. A system
of prevention is the one thing wanting. Our prt-
sent Police, on the contrary, is a system of encou-
ragement.—Morning Herald.

The friends of Ministers are we understand ex-
erting themselves in every direction to inspire the
hope, that notwithstanding all that had passed, the
Ottoman Porte may yet yield to the demands of the
Allies. The signal for these attempts to propagate
delusion throughout the Country, there is no doubt,
has been hoisted at head quarters, and will there
continue to fly, provided the Ministry (several
members of which have, as all the world knows, al-
ready begun to flutter their wings), should not take
flight in the meantime, until the first discussion of
the Tripartite Treaty in Parliament is well over.—
The inducement of Ministers to beguile the nation
into this delusive hope is both evident and cogent
enough. The character of the Treaty is such, apart
from the actual consequences it has produced, as to
excite dismay in their minds, when required to sub-
ject it to the judgment of the Legislature ;
it is natural, therefore, that they should wish
most anxiously to separate it, up to the
time of its Parliamentary discussion, from the
disastrous effects which have already arisen, or are
immediately threatened from it ; that they should
desire to snatch an approbation of the Treaty, in the
abstract, and to disguise or put out of view, until
that approbation has been given, the war—the war,
not for English objects, but for objects diametrically
opposed to the welfare and safety of England—in
which it has involved the country. And what is
the alleged ground of this hope to which Ministers
and their adherents so anxiously invite the Nation
to cling ? Is it that the Turkish Government has
begun to show the least symptom of submission ?
Let the dispersed Ambassadors of the Alliance an-
swer the question. No : The only ground is, a
vague presumption, which the whole language and
deportment of the Turkish Government contradicts,
and its fears and its prudence must eventually re-
strain it from embarkingin hostilities with thegreater
part of Europe. It is not improbable however that
the Ottoman Porte can see the limits of what
it has to fear, and the course which prudence
really prescribes to it, somewhat better than its
enemies (when they thus build up an argu- '
ment most convenient to themselves upon its
supposed feelings) affect to believe. What in truth
has Turkey to fear beyond the loss of Greece
(which may be as well and as honourably lost by
withstanding an unjust Treaty as by yielding sub-
mission to it), in which England, France, Austria,
and every other Power in Europe, with the single
exception of Russia, would not have cause for re-
gret and apprehension in common with her ? And
if the other Powers of Europe anticipate that f ur-
key will in the end submit to injustice and brook in-
sults from considerations of prudence, may not she
more reasonably anticipate that considerations of pru-
dence will in the end prevail in their Councils,
and compel them to check the career of that in-
justice and outrage with which she is threatened?
The argument in Downing-street has been, and
is, that the dread of annihilation will compel
the Ottoman Government, however reluctantly,
to submission ; while the 'argument in the Se-
raglio has been, and is, that England has
a more permanent and deeper interest in pre-
venting the destruction of the Ottoman Power
than any which she can have in the attain-
ment of all the ostensible objects of the Greek
Treaty, and that the power of England is therefore
substantially pledged to the preservatoin of the
Turkish dominion. In comparing the merits of
these two adverse pieces of political reasoning, it is
impossible not to allow, humiliating as the confes-
sion may be, that the advantage is wholly on the
side of the Barbarians, or that apart from the consi-
deration of intrinsic merit, the argument of the Bar-
barians is the more likely of the two to achieve a
practical triumph. The practical triumph of either
.depends greatly upon the degree of perseverance
with which it is likely to be maintained, and in this
respect the chances are altogether against Downing-
street, and in favour of the Seraglio. The same
sovereign will which suggested, can still uphold the
argument of the Oriental Sultan; but the Sultans
of Downing-street will find ere long, if we mistake
not, that their reasonings and volitions are subject to
unsparing animadversion, and to effective controul.
—Morning Post. .

SHIPPING INTELLIGENCE.

LIVERPOOL

MONDAY, JAN. 7.—High water seven minutes past
two o'clock.—Wind E.—Arrived the Lord Goderich,
Long, from Bay Chaleur, with timber—Scipio, Harper,
from Miramichi, with ditto—Elizabeth, Quayle, from
Killough, with grain—Homer, Robinson, from Ballina,
with oats—Cameos, Haram, from Oporto, with wine—
Hazard, Ravely, from Newfoundland, in 14 days, with
oil and fish—Lord Blayney, Stewart, from Cork, with
butter and grain—Town of Liverpool, Brett, from Water-
ford, with cattle—Melamp's, Monteith, from Leith, with
sundries—Comet, Phillips, from Dublin, with the mail.—
Two brigs off at four o'clock,
CLEARED OUTWARDS,---The Huddersfield, Ramsey, for
Jamaica.

A few nights ago, a most atrocious robbery
was committed at Dollar. As a young man, on Isis way
from Aberdeen to Ayr, was entering the village late in the
evening, two ruen.sprung from behind a hedges
and, pre-
senting pistols, threatened instant death in case of resist-
auce. They robbed him of 21. Is., and stripped him of a
suit of new clothes, leaving him in a state of entire nudity.
Not yet content, they then knocked him down, and kicked
him in a most brutal manner. After he had somewhat
recovered, lie walked on a few yards-to the nearest house.
His ideas not being yet very clear, when he put his head in
at the door, all that he could say was—that he had been
robbed and murdered ! The good man of the house was
complacently smoking his pipe at the fire-side before' going
to bed. At the word
" murdered," his frame received
such a convulsive shuck, that he actually bit the pipe in
two. " Lord hae mercy on us a'," said he, "how did
they do that, man?" The poor man was so much affected
that lie could make no reply.- His host immediately pro-
ceeded to give him the assistance which his case required,
and in a few minutes made him comparatively cemfortable.
Although the affair drew forth the greater number of the
villagers, the two villains who bad committed the robber,
escaped.— The Scotsman.