The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-30 00:00:00

be shaken, if not shattered, in the madness of triumph.
Surely, there is nothing so magnanimous in the act of
punishing before the legal question is set at rest, lest
the Repeal leaders should be ultimately found to have
been illegally and unconstitutionally convicted, as to
induce the Government to peril its own existence, and
to jeopardise the national peace, in order to enjoy the
satisfaction of placing a political opponent within the
four walls or it prison! We know we speak the Ben-
tie:tents of moderate men of all parties, when we say that
it would not only be more just, but more politic, because
more safe, to allow the sentence upon O'Connelland his,
-6 d-efelidants, if passed, to stand suspended until the
appeal made to the House of Lords is determined. The
defendants would be, of course, held in their recogni-
zances to appear and abide the judgment, should the
writ of error be set aside. We, however, anticipate the
discussion of a question which is yet future—a contin-
gency which, in all probability, will never happen.
STANDARD.—The Chancellor of the Exchequer
will this night make his financial statement. The Budget
this year presents itself under very favourable circum-
stances. There is, for the first time during a
long series of years, it bona fide surplus to
be disposed cf, instead of a demand to impose new
burthens or a lame apology for " a bottomless
deficiency." -We doubt, however, whether the
difficulty of the Finance Minister's position is much alle-
viated by this happy change in the financial condition of
the country. It is often as perplexing and as invidious
to make a selection for the awarding of benefits as
to make a selection for the imposition of burthens ;
indeed, if the benefits or the burthens, as the case
may be, happen to lie in a small compass in propor-
tion to the number of persons to which either is open,
the distribution of benefits is the less likely to prove
satisfactory ; for in that the majority must suffer dis-
appointment and what they will think unjust neglect ;
in the imposition of burthens, the over-looked majority
will be thankful for their escape. We have already
heard one hundred different claims for the remission
of particular taxes in coasideration of the surplus ;
indeed, we believe there is hardly one tax in the
schedule of the public revenue, for the reduction of
which a claim, supported by excellent reasons, has not
been put in. This is the natural course of things. Swift,
in his Instructions to servants, lays down this rule :
Ascertain your employer's income, and then consider
that the whole of it is to be- spent—whether you
are- cook, coachman, groom, footman, lady's maid,
or anything else--en_ your own particular de-
partment. And this is just the way in which men
reason with reference to the income of the public. This,
however, is not the way in which a statesman can
safely reason ; he must first look to the security of the
income of which he proposes to dispose, and calculate
with a little more caution than one of our Contem-
poraries, which contends, that because the existing
taxes afford a surpltA this year, less than the exist-
ing taxes must afford a greater surplus next year.
Having obtained a tolerable assurance of the sum to be
disposed of, the prudent statesman will then consider
not the claims of this interest or of that interest.,
but the claims of all ; and in acknowledging the
claims of all, he is pretty sure to disappoint
every one. Unhappy office of a finance mi-
nister, who, however he be called to act,
is sure to be unpopular, unless he be dishonest. Mr.
Burke truly says, it is as impossible to impose taxes
and be popular, as to "love and be wise;" and with equal
truth may it be added, that it is impossible to take
off taxes without giving offence to the majority,
probably to all ; for if the reduction affect all
universally, " their common shares in such pro-
portion fall," that the- relief becomes a mockery.
We 'say these things, not that we know,
or pretend to know, what will be pro-
posed in the Budget, for the secret has been kept with
remarkable care and with unprecedented success. No
one in fact, even hazards a conjecture—but we speak in
anticipation of the grave, and probably, in appearance,
well-grounded complaints which will he offered to-
morrow, whatever the proposition opened to-night ;
complaints almost sure to be loud and angry in propor-
tion to the good policy and the justice of those pro-
position&

CORONER'S INQUEST.
Mr. Wakley held an inquest on Saturday, at the
Bedford Head, Tottenham-court-road, touching the
death of Mr. John Herman Merivale, late one of her
Majesty's Commissioners in the Court ofßankrVey,
who died suddenly at his residence, No. 12, Bedford-
square, on the evening of Thursday last, under the
following circumstances :
Ellen Andrews, housemaid in the service of de-
ceased, said she saw her master on Thursday morning,
when he appeared in excellent health, and left home to
`itt—end his Court as usual. He returned to dinner
about six o'clock, and about half-past nine, Mrs.
IVlerivale and two of her daughters ran up stairs to
witness in a state of great alarm. They said they
thought deceased was in a fit, and witness immediately
ran down into the dining-room, where she found her
master in a sitting posture in his easy chair, and quite
dead. Medical assistance was sent for, but life was
found to be quite extinct. Miss Merivale had in-
formed witness that her father was left after dinner
to take his usual nap, and not joining the family in
the drawing-room at the accustomed time, she went
to learn the cause of his absence, and found him as
described. Witness had not the slightest suspicion
that be had taken poison, and believed that his death
was perfectly natural.
John Wright, the butler, said he had attended de-
ceased at the dinner-table that day, and thought him
in excellent health. Early in the morning he had
complained of slight head-ache, but he subsequently
told Mrs. Merivale that the pain had entirely left him.
He was not in the habit of taking medicine.
Mr. Henry Hildyard, surgeon, said he found de-
ceased in a recumbent posture in his arm-chair.
Knowing that his efforts would be useless, he did not
attempt to restore him. He considered deceased to
have died from apoplexy.
The CORONER briefly remarked on the melancholy
nature of the case, and the jury immediately returned
a verdict of—" Natural death. The deceased gen-
tleman was 67 years of age, and very generally re-
spected.