The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-04 00:00:00

agents iii fvery trantaction of ,buying and selling. .The
hers of the obuntry people that Attend at fairs and markets, with
minute quantities of commodities, excite much surprise is one
who remarks the thinness of the • surrounding population,
whilst the nnmllet of Jews, apparently Mere spectators saknts-
ing through such collections Of peasants, enema no Lew mars-
ord inary.

No paper, or any other itibatitute fot tnetallio motley, eireti-
lutes in the country; and the value in Specie of eViry conimodity
thut is produced at home, is very low, and the productions of
foreign countries, exclusive of the taxes that are impesed, very
high.

Cows are of various raced, ati4 T thiiik differ more in their va-
lue than in any country. I have ever visited. The.commtm breed
of the country are worth about 275. or 28s. per head,. MS
Ukraine, or, the best, from Pod Olia, are estimated tiiiicth higher,
averaging 3i.; and some few, very good, are worth 4t. to!.
Flocks of Sheep vary too, but not to much as cows; the leivest
of the native breed are worth per head 35., and, the beet about
ss. fid. or 6e Merinos are very rare at preseOt; awl worth from
Bs. to 9s. per head.' '

The corn Spirit or whiskey is sold hi the eoitntry at 10d: per
gallon ; but paying a high distis or being &subject of mono-
poly, farmed by the Government to distillers on the entrance of •
the cities and towns, is retailed in them from as: to Sa. (hh per
gallon. Horses; except those of foreign races, are as low in
proportion aS cows and Sheep. The price of meadow bay in the
capital was from 14s. to lbs. per ton ; so little is sold in the
country, that it would have been difficitit to state what ie the va-
lue before calicoee of conveyance is paid.
There are few burdens laid exclusively on the land, except the
10th Groseben tax. That was originally a war tax, and is so
still denominated, though contindesl after ten years of a peace,
and there exists no present probability of its being speedily with-
drawn. A small sum is leeksl in each district for the repairs of
roads, bridges, and tither local purposes; but that and the land-
tax scarcely eseeedi 2b per cent, on the presumed annual value of
the land.
The tithes are very moderate, and chiefly cOinpotinded for at
fixed rates, which can never be altered withbut the consent of the
owner. Under one of their monarchs, the clergy were called
upon to pay Contributions to the state, at a rate which they gave
as the annual value of their livings; and, upon these valuations,
compositions have been settled. As the patron, with the consent
of the Archbishop, (a consent seldom withheld,) can remove an "a
incumbent, they are necessarily too dependent to enter into,con-
tests about tithes. The secular parochial clergy are commonly
men of slight education, usually the sons of peasants, to whom the
somewhat elevated character Of priest, With its small emoluments
and freedom from hard labour, forms a sufficient inducement to
enter on the ecclesiastical profeasion. I was tisld, but cannot
vouch for its accuracy, or for the extent to which it may be curs
tied, that since the Jews have been prohibited from keeping public
houses, the parochial priests hare become in the villages the chief
retailerflef whiskey, and thereby inereaSe their otherwise scanty
incentes.
The other taxes fall tin there cm the landed interest thaw on
other classes of the community. They are chiefly on consump-
tion; that on beer forms a part, and is collected by a Monopoly
let to farm by the Government, to broVers. All foreign coins
moditieS,' such as sugar, coffee, and wine, have heaVy duties un-
posed, These are collected from ill the consumers of them ; and
few of the agriculturists can at present eti'ord to purchase such
luxuries, hut must be content with honey, (kitsl chicory routs,
and whiskey, as euhatitutes for thein,
The 'whole revenue., according to the statements of official man,
does not exceed 2,000,0001. sterling, As one-fourth of the po.e
pulation, the tenants and peasants of the Craton, are exempted
from paying the tenth Groschen Ms, She heaviest of all the sus-
posts ; the sum extracted from the rest of the subjects amounts to
1511. per head annually. The whele popnlation of the resent
kingdom is between 8;800,000 and 4,000,000, Living increased
since its establishment 250,600.
The revenues do not pay the expences of the GoVeritment, but
the deficiency is nettle up by remittances from Petersburgh, which
usually amount to 4,000,000 silver roubles, or nearly 600,0004
sterling. The forced military service, and quartering of trotipa;
are burdens on the land, which are difficult to reduce to any money
estimation. The young men of good families ate expected to bets
come cadets in a service whirse pay will testizely clothe them; and
the strongest of the labourers are selected ait privates, without the
forniality of asking their consent, or ,drawing lots. When hi
quarters, the ufficera occupy the best 'apartments in the Ileum"
of the 'proprietors, whilst the privates are lodged in the peas
mints' cottages. At present, the military are under good
discipline; but still they have means of extorting, from those
on whom they are quartered, something beiond the use of
bare walls.
Of late years the attention of the Government, of those pri-
vate nobles who have adequate means, and of the richer Awe,
has been drawn to manufacturing. The very low rate of la
mere manna] labour, the extensive market of the rot Russian
dominions being opened to. the Poles, and the cheapness of raw
products, have contributed to the establishment of numerous
but not large undertakings, which, as fur as I could form a-
,judgment, promised to ,be, beneficial to the individuals concerned
in them.

I was assured by two noblemen at the, head of different depart.
meats of the Exeetitive CloVernthent, that within the last six years
more than tStr,ooo fOreignere, chiefly Gernnuoi, and almost all
mainifatturenii had emigrated from their own country , and, esta-'
blishtxi thenlselves in Poland. They have some privileges in re-,
gard to taxation. Those of them who are Prowstants are supplied
with ehurAies awl ministers, at the expellee of. the Government ,
though on a low 841:11e ; and they are, for a prescribed period,. free
from the Military einiseription.
The cloth made from the native wool is coarse, rod may not be
very neatly falniirated; hut as it, reaches the market* of Russia
without any impost, and enters into competition there with goods
mannfaetured iu England, the Netherlands, and Germany, which
are subject to high duties and the expenses of conveyance, it can be
sold at correspondent low prices. Them manufacturing establish-
moms are, Mr the most part, on a small scale ; but some of them
of a higher class, for necking liner cloths, have imported machinery
of various kinds from England, or have copied it from what boil
been inverted. In the application of that machinery they have
not been very aticeessful ; but as long as it continue's to be Alen
marlin, that it is better to wan. deur cloth and bad cloth made at
home, than to tiny good cloth and cheap oluth from foreign .Owtse
tries ; and whilst the maxim is practically applied by imP°'l64
heavy (Milo/ on the cloth all other eptintrio, there will be tvcott7
uiderable demand for what is made? •
cloths made fOr
I did not hear of any other goods than woollen
distant markets; but of late, establishinentu have beta formed fur
making linens, cottons, iron wares, and paper, solely for donlestig
the Aid of capitals to which the Go-
,ern m consumption,eutlms and chic by
r

. .
The project which was the •rhieflavourite when I was in Po-
land, was the working of mines. • It had been brought under the
immediate attention of the-GovernMein, by an offer from a•joint
stock company fortned in England, to take the mines on lease
for a term of years; Though the proposal was not accepted, it
produced an excitement both on the ministers and on private in-
dividuals, and became the general topic of discussion. The mines
have hitherto been worked but to a smelt extent, barely suf.
ficient iron being extracted to supply the scanty, domestic de-
Iron& The iron is said to be of an -excellent iivalitT, the ore
capable of being raised with- but little labtnti, and the minor
situated in the- distriets Where. both coals and 'Wood, are abun-
dant.

Betides the tninta of iron and coal, there are others hitherto
slightly worked AI calamine and copper. The atterition
ativxl;ened by the i:nl l
had time 'ta
i';llm.;:eal)tBrt(hl.lllevat:to.tr Itetrrt olentla):ltitt,4tellsi'Y:l:iitnom
~rlir~aketi till
the content of tltc
In the mean time s.v,,ral Pcl,4 have in this country,
on a mission from the, Minister- at Ware..la, to exaotinl th!',
wtod foe dirctinisliiii4 !Acme in 01,1" /41“1 ton
quite the know); dt.e of the, most improve,' 111,4110(1s pro. " tir'
for aepioating the metals froin the ory. Un, imhviatiLlt tOO, Whl'S
11" nu cm of ralamitie awl coals, with whom Y lieciitneititinaintad
at Cracow, has resolved to yiait the mining 4110eri,*Of trAtettnd'
early in the next spring, to learn tin most ,aeonoutid4l 1T.M111144.,
ennductinT, his operations. Th,.. low prices of food and tit labour.,
must facilitate-the business of minim; extensively contemplated, if
capital can he found to pay for that lslmor, and to wait for the re.
tarns till the produce of the tniitets ran he re-converted into money.

(TO RIR epoTiwarn.i