The Sun.
London, England, 1844-12-20 00:00:00

" heroes are never made—least of all are they made by
the prospect of rewards, even as precious as this. Heroes
are inspired by the consciousness of genius and the con-
suming sense of duty, which extinguishes all selfish feel-
ing—when
the country gives to them the meed of her
approbation, she gratifies herself and honours her-
self. I, though not accustomed to shed tears, wept like
a child at the scene in the House of Commons--
wept for joy, not that I was the hero's fellow soldier, but
that-I was an Englishman, and that as an Engli.shenese,
I too had my share in paying the debt of gratitude." A
feeling of the same kind, though perhaps different in
degree, will, we are persuaded, affect every reader of the
honours rendered at Liverpool to our great pacific con-
queror. Apart from these considerations, however,
the proceedings upon the occasion are full of interest. Sir
H. Pottinger's speech is precisely what might be expected
from so great a man. An inferior or less ingenuous per-
son would have magnified his service by expatiating
upon its difficulties, as enormous difficulties the Right
Hon. Bart. must have had to encounter. Sir Henry
alludes to nothing of the kind : he speaks
warmly and generously of the encouragement and
support of the Queen's Government, and of the bound-
less confidence reposed in him ; delights to honour
the hearty and effectual co-operation of his naval and
military colleagues, and takes a noble pleasure in
doing justice to the wisdom and good faith of the
diplomatists with whom he had to deal, whom he
will scarcely allow to have been opposed to him his own
share in the negotiation is treated as nothing. In a word,
according to Sir Hen"y Pottinger's account, Sir Henry
Pottinger was a mere cipher. You may hear of his
talents and labours, the difficulties he overcame,
the immense service he rendered to his country
everywhere except in his owed speech. This is the true
English spirit, the spirit that claims no merit for self in
the faithful discharge of duty, however gloriously or
successfully the duty has been discharged, but anxiously
and gratefully devolves the praise upon all who have
contributed to its success.
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAT.
TIMES.---It well becomes the affluence and enterprise
of Liverpool for that city to have distinguished itself by
entertaining, foremost of all provincial towns or ports,
the distinguished diplomatist to- whom the tribute of
merited homage has been already paid by the repre-
sentatives of the mercantile and trading interests of our
great metropolis. What an ample and gratifying
triumph is his! The triumph of commerce and civiliza-
tion, earned by the bravery of our troops, grounded on
our national character and good faith, and fairly due to
him who, upon his own responsibility, has conducted
negotiations most perplexing and arduous with a people
most strange and exclusive, and has consummated his
work by enlarging the benefits secured to us, indis-
criminately and impartially, to other nations. And
how different such courtesies to the exhibitions which
we so often see so ostentatiously paraded to satisfy
some popular whim that has its day, or panegyrise
some one who passes for a popular hero, till " the ago
discovers he's not the true one"—a casualty not alto-
gether unusual, and always a fortunate result for the
public. But how opposite the two instances ! Far dif-
ferent to words of promise that can end in nothing,
rashly and repeatedly uttered for the multitude, when
the speaker, entirely hopeless of ever making them effec-
tual, caters to his ambition or his avarice, and trusts to
the lucky incidents of the hour to interfere with his im-
possible project, and defer the hollow assurance ; and
such men have been, and have been followed and feasted.
Far different to this—the words, aye, and the deeds, of
Sir Henry Pottinger are recorded in the annals of our
history, and deserve never to be effaced or forgotten. He
has nothing to fear from the variations of the vulgar
weathercock, or any reason to dread the drooping laurels
of a superseded favourite. Previously to the dinner, ad-
dresses were presented to Sir Henry by the East India
and China Association of Liverpool, and other associated
bodies of the trade of that place, congratulatirg him on
his safe return to his native land, and expressing their
admiration of his character and tire line of policy he had
pursued. The dinner may be said to have been worthy
of the occasion. It was sumptuous and well attended.
The usual toasts were received with the usual accompa-
niments, and the proper compliment was paid, of course,
to the illustrious guest for whom the grand festivity was
designed, " whose sagacious, enlightened, and successful
policy," as the Mayor observed in proposing his health,
"has opened a new world to British enterprise and ca
pical." Sir Henry's reply was natural,: modest, and
manly ; and there were several topics introduced which
well deserve to be remarked and recollected. We are
used to count the Chinese (and they pay us the same
compliment) as no better than barbarians. But if so,
there are among them, upon the unquestionable testi-
mony of Sir Henry Pottinger, individuals utterly free
from any tinge of barbarism, and capable of affording
both example and instruction to the most refined people
on the face of the earth. If, on the one hand, we have
every ground of thankfulness that our Envoy was so
well-chosen and so well-qualified for his post, it is at the
same time equally pleasing to find that, on the side of
the Chinese, a Minister similarly gifted was selected to
confer with him. Sir Henry, in speaking of Key-Ing, says
—" Than whom a more enlightened statesman I believe is
not to be found in any country in the world." "A man fully
alive to all the amenities of life, and particularly distin-
guished by a high sense of honour and good faith, which
dictated his conduct throughout all his negotiations with
me." " I could tell you, gentlemen, of such instances
of Key-Inds high feeling and noble conduct as would
astonish you; and I trust at some future period it may
please her Majesty's Government not merely to do hire,
but the Chinese people justice, by making his dispatches
and letters public." We heartily concur with the late
Envoy in this hope, that we may have some better means
of understanding more accurately the opinions and
principles of that distant and hitherto unknown people.
The character given of this Mandarin is, besides, the
more gratifying, as he is one of the primates of the land,
and a blood relation of the Emperor, who may not un•
reasonably be surmised to partake of the same senti-
ments. In giving us this animated sketch of his oriental
coadjutor, the Plenipotentiary offers one valuable
lesson in general politics ; and by winning us to a
better judgment of the character of one Chinese
nobleman, helps to enlarge our views of the nation,
and to make us more of cosmopolites in framing our
treaties and alliances—no inconsiderable improve-
ment. But he gives us, likewise, another lesson, and
a bitter, but very needful, one it is—net to permit our
national character to be disgraced by the dissolute
habits of those connected with the Chinese trade—a
warning that we anxiously desire should be impressed
upon all who have influence (and his hearers were pre-
cisely so situated) in providing a proper remedy for our
degradation, to the scandal of the Chinese, the danger of
the individuals themselves, and the risk even of a rup-
ture between the nations. Among the healths of the
evening her Majesty's Ministers could not be, and were
not, omitted ; and Lord Stanley zealously undertook the
welcome office of responding to the honour, on their
behalf and his own. There is something at such times
generally taken fur granted by the speaker iu alluding
to the customary compliment. He usually assumes that
his talents, his exertions, his endowments, his wit, and
his vigilance, or whatever definite or indefinite virtues
or qualifications may be ascribed to him or his friends,
are so far ascribed, as matters of course, as the
basis of the toast—the foundation of the civility in
wishing him health over the wine. He does not ordi-
narily allude to them himself. Lord Stanley, however,
thinks, or for that night at least thought, otherwise ;
and as he had a great deal to say, and was in ecstacies
at the reception given to the toast, he thought he ought
to make them perfectly aware how properly they had
applied their cheers and applauses, by assuring them,
in good earnest, that they were not at all misplaced !
Their conviction, he told them, was quite right, that
those whom they were honouring were " men of integrity
and honour;" that they laboured most desperately—
nay, most detrimentally, if need were, to " their private
comfort, health, time," &c.—all for the welfare of the
nation I His adverbs were overpowering. 'Well, they
cheered him—that proved how correctly he had spoken,
and how his audience assented, and understood him. In
London we had the mutual compliments of contending
Cabinets ; here we have the exquisite sensibilities of
self-approving virtue. We hope that there are more
dinners in store for Sir Henry, and that her Majesty's
Ministers may take some part in all of them.

THE DIFFICULTY OF DIFFI-
CULTIES.
(From the Sentinel.)
In 1835, Sir R. Peel announced to the country
that his great difficulty was Ireland. That removed,
he felt confident that he could maintain his adminia-
tration against all opposition. Ten years have won-
derfully changed the state of affairs. The difficulty
of Ireland remains in undiminished force, but added
to it is the difficulty of Britain. To make the revenue
square with the expenditure—to raise that revenue
without destroying industry—to provide employ-
ment for capital without disturbing vested
interests—to liberate trade from the fetters of
monopoly—in a word, to reconcile the rights of
labour with the rights of property—this is the
problem to be solved, this is the difficulty of difficul-
ties. It is one which does not affect Sir R. Peel
alone ; it lies in the path of every man who aspires
to the rank of Prime Minister. Hitherto the solici-
tude of our statesmen has been confined to keeping
faith with the public creditor; henceforward they
must make arrangements to keep faith with the
public debtor. With a general fall of prices, it will
be impossible to keep up high taxes. With wheat
between forty and forty-five shillings, which will be
an average permanent price with average crops,
rents must fall, and then the waters of bitterness will
rise up and reach the Corinthian columns of society;
then will come that conflict between the land-
holders and the fundholders which wise men
have long foreseen, but for which statesmen have
made no provision. "It will last our time," said the
heartless George the Fourth ; but he had the sagacity
to predict that when the proposed day of settlement
did arrive, the consequences of violating justice would
be awful to the wrong-doers. Already has the cry
gone forth from agriculture that it sinks under the
pressure of taxation, and a committee of 120 power-
ful and talented names, aiming at a repeal of the duty
on malt, is a warning to Sir R. Peel that even those
who placed him in power are now about to demand a
recompense which circumstances must compel him to
refuse, even should the refusal drive him from the
helm of the State.

We will submit a few facts and figures to our
readers. They may enable them the better to ap-
preciate the real perils by which we are surrounded,
and will give to our argument all the weight of a
stern and unaccommodating arithmetic. Let us,
then, contrast the fiscal relation of a working man
with eleven shillings a week with that of a landholder
with a rental of one hundred thousand pounds.

-William Gladstone, a labourer, presented a petition
to the House of Commons, stating that he earned
eleven shillings weekly, and that he cousumed one
ounce of tea, two ounces of coffee, eight ounces of
sugar, eight ounces of meat, eight pounds of flour,
seven pints of ale, and one quarter of a pint of brandy.
Of these articles, the untaxed price was 2s. 411; the
Excise and Customs charged on them was Ss. 41
Gladstone, therefore, paid out of his eleven shillings
a week a tax of about fifty per cent. on his necessary
food.

Let us now inquire into the burdens imposed on
the man with a rental of 100,0001. We can fix his
land-tax exactly, because we know the rate of the as-
sessment. We can do the same with the present in-
come-tax. We can only do so approximately on his
consumption of food and his articles of luxury, since
these will vary according to his mode of living. Ne-
vertheless, we may form a pretty accurate estimate ;
and this, indeed has been done by Mr. Macintyre, in
his work on " Aristocracies." Availing ourselves of
his conclusions without filling up our columns with
his details and enumerations, we arrive at the follow-
ing result :
Land-tax £2,716 17 11
Income-tax
Taxes on consumption..
Direct taxes on articles of luxury,
as servants, horses, &c .. 358 11 8

£6,992 2 0

Thus we perceive that the man with 100,0001.
per annum pays seven per cent. to the public
revenue, while the labourer, such as William
Gladstone, pays fifty per cent. If the injustice
stopped here, it would be sufficiently infamous ;
but the crime against industry is as yet only half
disclosed. The landowner, by virtue of the corn-
laws, compensates himself for the seven per cent. he
pays to the State. He does much more, as we proceed
to show. We are again indebted to Mr. Macintyre
for the following deeply interesting facts.
In the British Islands there are 46,522,000 culti-
vated acres. If the corn-tax only amounted to twenty
millions annually, this would increase the rent of
those lands Bs. Bd. per acre. The rental of this sur-
face of soil is computed at 75,000,0001. If the bonus,
Ithrough the corn-laws, be taken at the low estimate
of twenty millions, it would equal twenty-five pe
cent. of this rental, for take away the monopoly the
rental would :fall Jo 55,000,0001. Thus, the land-
owner, with a rental of 100,0001., stands thus:—
He levies a private tax on the consu-
mers of food of • . £25,000 0 0
He pays a personal tax to the State of 6,992 2 0

Net Annual gain ..18,007 18 0
We must entreat the reader to bear with us a little
longer in these arithmetical demonstrations. By
figures we can best prove the graspings of the oli-
garchy, and we will do our best to force truth even
on the unwilling, and rouse even the sluggard from
his deceiving slumbers. If what we are now about
to transcribe fails to rouse our readers from apathy,
they deserve to have a tax-gatherer permanently do-
miciliated at their firesides.

From 1793 to 1816, the taxation raised
was £1,560,000,000
Deduct expenses of country supposing
we had been at peace
Expense of War £1,100,000,000

O.F this total, the Land paid
Industry paid

£1,560,000,000
Or, the tax on Property and Land was 8 per cent.
The tax on Industry was 92 per cent.
In these proportions, then, was the national debt
contracted : it was incurred to save the estates of the
oligarchy, and they contrived, through their mono-
poly of legislation, to make the working classes pay
nearly the whole cost of the protection. When the
danger was over, by the fall of Napoleon, it might
have been expected that industry would have re-
ceived sonic compensation for the fearful sacrifice it
had made in the hour of peril. Quite the reverse.
The oligarchy first passed a corn-law to raise their own
rents, and make those who had saved them from
ruin, eat dear bread ; then they abolished the pro-
perty-tax, which drained their own purses ; thirdly,
they converted a paper debt into a metallic debt, and,
by so doing, indirectly increased the value of their
own rentals, by reducing the price of all commodities.
Since then, the working classes have dragged on a
wretched existence, at famine wages, while the middle
classes have been racked in body and mind to
maintain the respectability of their position. All
sorts of fallacies have been invented to disguise the
truth. Over-population, over-production, too abun-
dant harvests, and other similar absurdities, have been
proclaimed as the causes of the distress, and the reme-
dies proposed have been just as stupid as the descrip-
tion of the disease. The people have been studiously
deluded by newspapers, whose proprietors derived
enormous profits by acting on the money mai ket ; and,
whoever ventured to insist on a paper currency, was
held up to ridicule and execration, as a bankrupt spe-
culator, seeking to serve his private ends by issuing
" sham" money. That was the phrase. It was a
" telling" phrase, and well has it served the purposes
of Lombard-street and Capel-court.
It is cur duty to tell the working classes of this
realm, that unless the taxes are taken off industry and
placed on property, relief to them is utterly hopeless.
Without this fiscal reform, all the enactments of
the Legislature will be valueless as waste paper.
Now, there are but two ways of effecting this adjust-
ment ; either by levying directly the whole of the
taxes on property, which would require a rate of
about thirty per cent., or by an issue of taxation
notes to the amount of the annual expenditure. If
gold is continued as the standard and measure of
value, and its price kept permanently low by
Act of Parliament, profits and wages must remain
low, for it is utterly impossible that they can
rise above the standard by which they are mea-
sured. This truth should be ever present to the
minds of the people. Only let the acorn -laws
be abolished, and wheat will fall down to a scale cor-
responding with that of all other commodities, and
then the full workings of the Bill of 1819 will be felt
by the farmers, and when rents fall from this cause,
let the fundholders tremble. They will be robbed
with the same coolness as the industrious classes have
hitherto been robbed. Then the landlords will transfer
all their affections from the public creditor to the
public debtor. We have shown what they have done
in times past, and what they are doing now ; in the
same spirit will their future policy be dictated.

AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM.

(From Punch.)

The Agricultural Museum, lately opened under the
auspices of the Royal Society of Agriculture, will
well repay a visit to the rooms of the Society, in
Hanover-square. For the information of persons
visiting London, we supply an imperfect catalogue,
which will direct the visitor to what are certainly the
Lions of the Museum.

Case 30. —Very curious, containing specimens of
" The English Labourer" (vulg. " The Country's
Pride"), natives of the various agricultural counties,
presented by different boards of guardians.
No. 1. A Buckinghamshire labourer.—Stands
feet high—weight, nine stone—colour sallow—eyes
sunk—bones very prominent. The smock-frock nine
years old—breeches ragged—boots very bad—found
in damp cottages. Fed upon bread and water, with a
little bacon. When taken, attempted to destroy him-
self in the house. Mind uncultivated. Habits sullen
and brutal.
No. 2. A Norfolk labourer.—Characteristics as
above. This is one of the incendiary species.
Nos. 3,4, 5. Essex, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire
labourers.—The curious visitor is requested to ob-
serve the clothes of these interesting specimens. The
cases by the side of each contain portions of their
usual food, and a week's wages.
Case 40.—Contains a treasure, which is indeed
unique, and which the Society feels justly proud of:—
A new coat ! I purchased by a labourer with a fa-
mily, on 7s. a week wages ! As far as the Society can
learn, the only one ever exhibited I
Case 54.—The identical bat used by Lord Co-
ningsby in the game at cricket played by his Lord-
ship with real labourers. There is always a crowd
round this case, and no wonder.
Case 60.—Asovereign, returned by Lord Radnor
to a poor tenant on quarter-day ; sent from High-
worth. By many considered the gem of the collection.
Case 100.—Very old " duties of property," disco-
vered lately in Ilolderness House, by the Marquis of
Londonderry. When furbished they have a very
imposing appearance, and Were brought out with
groat effect by the noble owner at a recent dinner
ns of a new givceasn
etol2hoi S.
—teNn aunmtry eroin
us Ireland.specimens
ine
inven-
tion, called " the rights of labour." The ingenious
forefathers,patentee declarestbo ug
b thatthe
e thesesecret
beenwere
lost.known
Htoe our
forefathers, though the secret has been lost. He ex-
great results from their re-introduction.

We are requested to state, that a paragraph which
appeared in our last paper, copied from the Perthshire
Courier, having reference to the sale of the estates of
the late Lord Lyndich in Perthshire, is incorrect in
several places. The salts of Lynedoch and Balgowan,
to Messrs. Simpson and Thomson, are made by Mr.
Graham of Balgowan, not by the trustees of Lori Lyne-
(loch, and are conditional sales, dependent upon Mr.
Graham's power to sell, which is disputed by the heirs
of entail, and will form a question in the courts of law
—Edinburgh Advertiser.
Sir Joseph Radcliffe, Lady Radcliffe, family, and
suite, left Rudding Park, Knaresborough, on Wednesday
morning, and arrived at the Euston-hotel the same
night. Yesterday morning the party left for Blackwell,
and embarked on board the General Steam Navigation
Company's steam ship Soho, for Antwerp. Sir Joseph
is expected to bo absent from London three or four
Moths.