The Sun.
London, England, 1828-02-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PTTC JOURNALS.

The discussion in the Counnons last nights
'on bringing up the report on the Address, was.
as interesting as could be expected, the absen
of the greater part of the Ministers being consi-
dered. Fair play was promised to the Catholic
question on the part of Ministers, by Lord
tnerston, without which big Lordship said that
he would not continue a member of the'Admi-
nistration ; indeed, whatever other objections mal
be raised- to the Duke of 'Wellington as chief of
a Ministry, we cannot help thinking-that the
hopes of the Catholics must be improved, not b 7
the transfer of pre-eminence from- Mr. Canning
to the Duke, but—leaving out the intermediate
premiers—by the transition from Lord Liverpool
to his Grace. The Catholics, will not find—
from the habits of military men in regard to te-
li&ious subjects, and from the peculiar connexions
of the military man of whom we are speaking,
! they cannot find—so fierce an enemy in the Duke
of Wellington-as they encountered in the Earl
of Liverpool. The praise of Sir Edward
Codrington was pressed by Mr. Hobliouse ; and
the approbation of the battle eluded by Lord
Palmerston with the address usual on such cc-
easirens There is no precedent of thank-
jug a Commander for winning a battle where
there has Lim, no •- declaration of war,"
said his Lordship. ThiSis erroneous," re.
plies the Member for Westminster : " Sir
Arthur Wellesley was thanked for his victory
at Copenhagen, when no declaratior of
war had been issued, and if Ministers will
not thank the brave Admiral, I will my-
self move the House for a vote of thanks." The
motion will probably only produce fresh evasion.
There is no doubt that Sir Edward Codritigtcn
acted as a British hero ought to act. His coun-
try admires him for his conduct, and will inscribe
his name in the same list on which she has in-
scribed these of her Nelson, and St. Vinent,
and other illustrious warriors : and it is therefore
hardly worth thinking of, if the petty cavils of
Ministers deprive him of the cold formality of a
vote of thanks by the House of Commons. The
last news from Constantinople does not show that
the battle has had any " untoward" consequences.
Times.

We foam that while strangers %vac exeludea
last night on a division, Lord Cliiscieji asked the
Duke of Wellington, as head of the aovetn•
meat, whether the report was correct that A bill
was to be introduced this session, under the sane:-
tion or by the authority of Government, to ranovo
certain political disabilities of the Catholics of
Ireland. His Grace replied in the negative. Thu!,
therefore, has vanished the expectation that the
new Government would concede to the Catholies
all they wanted, with the exception of seats in
Parliament ! for such was the tenour of that ru-
mour to which Lord Clifden alludes, Shak
speare speaks of " a bastard hope " as applied to
one of the Jewish nation. May not the friends
of a liberal policy indulge a kind of negative
hope, that if Government will not itself introduce
the measure in question, it will not oppose it if
introduced by others

The account contained in our City article of
the concerns of the Turks, and the proceedings
at Constantinople, is not without interest. It
should appear that the first and constant reason
ings of this journal, on the probability of Turkey
commencing a war against the Allied Powers,
have been, up to the present time, fully con,
firmed. Turkey remains peaceful and tranquil,
and is adopting every possible measure to pro-
tect the persons of Christians resident within her
domain ; neither have the Russians yet swdlow.,
ed up Moldavia and Walachia. • The chief dif-
ficulty in the present state ofaffzirs•is this,—that
there are now no diplomatists at -Conttantincple
to press the conclusion, .and arrange the terms of
a treaty with the Greeks. e should say, that
the Admirals might offer their cervices for that
purpose, had we not had too recent an example be-
fore our eves of the risk of such negotiators, with
their retinues, entering a friendly port, Theirap-
pearance, if it were not considered as the commence-
ment of a war by the Turks themselves, would be
bruited as such throughout Europe : and the:
funds of all nations would suffer in consequence..
How, then, supposing both the arties willing,
eanapaeifi pacific
Turks arrangement
?This subjectmadebc
deserves betweeii the
Greeks andthe
immediate attention of the mediating Powers.
The -Ambassadors have very properly received
orders to rally at Corfu ; but we almost hope
that the Grand Seignor himself will meanwhile
add to his forbearance the more active qualities
which his situation requires, and contrive come
means of making conciliatory propositions to hi&
enemies, which, if they be reasonable, the latter
must be compelled to accept. That it may be
known what propositions are esteemed reason-
able, and what not, in the eyes of Europe, we
take this occasion of again making public that
article of the treaty of London, signed last July.
which chiefly relate to that subject .—" Art. IL
The arrangement to be proposed to the Ottoman
Porte shall rest on the following basis :—The
Greeks shall hold of the Sultan as of a superior
Lord (suzerain), and in consequence of this
superiority, they shall pay to the Ottoman errn.
pirc an annual tribute (relief), the amount of
which shall be fixed once for all by a common
agreement : they shall be governed by the ath
thoritics whom they shall themselves choose, but
in the nomination of which the Porte shall have
a determinate voice."—Bid,

upon, produced in
_if we except the admirable train
which fell from
The speech of the Lords Conninioners, and
ebaHteosucsoeuscquent there
of parallel and irony Lord Hol.
remarkable, or which had
l thean d neitherd_ a n y
years
ars duringit advanced in the public Joli-.
I not previously been
thing very
,f the speech, as well as of the
mils. The tone
given general satisfic.
speakers,
non, and to hoe given to the untoward circum-
stances iii „bich the country is placed as fair a
shade of hope as could be reasonably expected.
Whether the calmness which distirguished the
first day's meeting is an earnest of what we are
atiiinedperoliocyf
otfheerSereyssAiodn:
6,01,3 to
.ha.ze
; to
' - more, however, is than we are prepared to augur,
hatshebereeimi
ministratica to
i frame the Speech on the opening
of the Session in such terms as to avoid all col-
, ofel:Peccy
lision ; and the absence of. all the Ministers
froth the Lower House upon the present occa-
sion necessarily disarmed hostility, had it been
inclined to break forth. The debate ill the
Lords contained strikingi. characteristic, that
I t ;s
the late Prime Minister, who was raised to his
station in that assembly from his supposed ora=
torical powers, showed a total want of them upon
this occasion ; while the new Premier, who is
objected to by
his opponents, as being no
speaker, spoke more to the purpose than any
thing which fell from the most practised de-
bater. To the surprise of everybody, Lord
Goderich was nearly silent upon the occa-
sion ; indeed, totally so, as far as reganls tLe
subject on which a full and explicit explanation

was expected from him—viz., the causes which
have led to the dissolution of the Ministry of
which he Led been placed at the head. Indeed,
what Lord Goderich did say only increased the
mystery which still envelopes that event ; for in
defending as he did, and pledged himself to do,
the battle of Navarin, both on the score of the
Treaty of London and the conduct of the Admi-
ral, he at least showed that it was not an unwil-
lingness to defend, or a necessity of abandoning,
that " untoward" event, which led to the pre-
rature death of his Lordship's short-lived
Administration. Minor circumstances, how..
ever, serve to show that the policy of Irr, Can 7
ning is not to be adhered to implicitly by the
present Government ; and, among others, the
direct avowal by the late Editor of the leading
tovernment Paper, that he has been virtually
removed from that situation by the line of eulogy
which he had adopted towards Mr. Canning
bath when living and dead, shows pretty strongly
that " more is meant than meets the ear." To
us, who have never been infatuated with Mr.
Canning's foreign policy, it is no subject of sur-
prise or of regret that the new Government should
be anxioue to disclaim it ; but we shall be curious
to see how Mr. Canning's two personal friends,
Lord Dudley and Mr. Huskisson, will contrive
to amalgamate their views and principles with
. those of an Administration which seems anxious
to disclaim alliance with Mr. Canning's princi-
ples, and even to cashier those who have espoused
them. These arc among the anomalies with
which the present Session of Parliament opens :
and which, to cur apprehension at least, throw
eo small doubt upon any long duration of the
Cabinet as now constituted.—Morning, fict aid.
It has been stated, with something like confi-
dence, that it was the intention of Ministers to
propose, this Session, such a modification of
the laws against the Catholics, as would place
them on an equality with other s thjccts, with
the exception of the admission to ither House
• of Parliament. Our readers sill bserve, from
our Parliamentary Report, that curing the ex-
elusion of strangers on account of a question of
privilege, it was understood that Lord Clifilen
asked our Military Premier whether Govern-
ment intended to bring forward measures this
-Session for repealing, either wholly or hi part,
the Laws affecting the Irish Catholics when
his Grace answered, that there was no intention
Of bringing 'forward any such measure. We
wish Noble Lords would restrain their eageeness
to ask questions like the•- above; the answers to
which must agitate millions of people, till sonic
of those who form the channels of coneunica-
tion with the public are present. The public
have surely a right to expect, that in matters
which co nearly concert» them due pains should
be taken by those who legislate for them to pre-
vent erroneous reports from being put into cir-
culation, or, at least, that they would not take
pains to discover means of adding to the chances
of the public being abused, by the circulation of
erroneous reports.—Mor,thig Cl.tronick.
On the motion foe bringing up the Report of
the Address, last night, the King's Speech form-
ed the subject of another discussion. _Lord Pal-
emerston on this occasion would seem to have
been unprepared for a posing question put by
I%lr. Hobhouse, whether it wee the intention of
Ministers to move a vote of Thanks to sirXd-
ward Codringtort on a--ccount'ole." untoward"
affair of Navarin ? His Lordship said he was
not awsre of any such intention. We can easily
conceive, that in cases where the most signal-me-
:it has been displayed in an engagement, a Go-
nernment, enXious to continue. on good terms
with the Power which has suffered in such en-
gagement, may be averse to propose a vote of
Thanks to the offieers, lest the expression of
thanks for the merit of the officers should be
construed into satisfaction at the event. But
the thanks of Government have already been
viven to Si; E. Codrington and the other of-
ficers, in the honours conferred immediately after
the battle, so that it is too late now to hesitate,
from any fear of
giving umbrage to our " an-
cient Allies." To refuse to follow up this first
step of conferring honours, by a vote ofTliauks, is
:eying, that Government have repented of what has
elreedy been done; for our ancient Allies are not ca-
nable of entering into the nice distinctions between
L
*he thanksoftheting,and the thanksof Parliament,
and will attach perhaps more importance to the
former than to the latter. However, Ministers,
it seems, would fain now sink Nayarit], and as it
is always held a sufficient argument against a
measure to which a Ministry is inclined, that
there is a precedent for it (though when inclina-
tion runs in favour of a measure, the want of
precedent is never an objection.) Lord Palmer-
eton argued that it had not been usual to vote
the thanks of Parliament except. for Military or
Naval Service against an enemy of the country,
after war has been declared. It is not usual, of
course, because it is riot usual to destroy the
fleets or armies of friends,, except ellen it is
wished to deprive them of the means of injuring
us as enemies. When, however, an officer, in
the execution of his instructions, destroys the
fleet of a friendly Power, the merit of the ser-
vice, and not the occasion, should determine the
honours to be paid to him. If the officer had
been beaten by our ancient allies, under circum-
stances redounding to his disgrace, the eircum-
etanee of theevent not being unlowa •e/ would not
have screened him from the consequence of his
misconduct ; and it seems, therefore, hard on an
Officer, that where misconduct would be ruin,
merit should pass unrewarded. The skill and
valour of 'the Officer should determine the na-
ture of the reward, and not the occasion ; for it
seems that an Officer who has been exposed to
ten times more danger than another, and has
displayed ten times more merit, should be ex-
losed to the mortification of seeing that other
oaded with hon Ours, while his deeds 4rc passed
over unnoticed, But precedents,
as 6%/ere
know, are awkward
eungs to deal- with. It so .
happened; that Mr, Hobhouse was in this case
able to produce a precedent in point, and that,
precedent one which it is
Something -surprieing
that our Military Premier
s'liOuld have forgotten,
namely, the thanks of Pa.rliame-rin voted to him-
.neif for the Battle of Copenhagen,- -N-hich was f
iburht against :.a1:1- Ally, during Peace and while
1.16 ,!‘*" in
negociations were wav
such matte!, i to state the real ground—,tile
want of will. The Battlee-nof Copenhagen was
-ohly an untoward event to the poor' Danes.
Having destroyed their capital, and
pox_
- session of their fleet, we were indifferent as 'to all
else—at present we are sorely perplexedsbetween
our love of humanity and our attachment to our
ancient Allies, who, it may hi: owned, have
odd ways with them, of impaling, and so
forth ; but who, nevertheless, according to
Lord Strangford, arc excellent fellows and
necessary, as Mr. Southey would say, ill
the scheme of Providence, in so far as
they promote the interests of this moral
and religious people, by converting the fairest
regions of the earth into wildernesses. Mr.

Brownlow expressed his regret and disappoint-
ment, that in the Royal Communication no
notice whatever was taken of Ireland—and a
pretty picture he drew of what is going oh in
. that country.—" Can the King's Government
(he said) be ignorant of the state of Ireland
Do they know that at this moment two-thirds of
the population of Ireland arc unemployed, ex-
cept such casual employment as sprtng and
harvest qyard ? I find no expression of sorrow
at the misery that still oppresses that country,
and which daily separates hundreds and thou-
sands of people from the soil. I believe that
that separation is necessary, with a view to the
improvement of property lit Ireland, and the
improvement the condition of those which arc
left behind; but those who are so separated have
no occupation, and death and starvation are
staring them in the face." It is a very comfbrt-
able doctrine to men of property, that with a
view to the improvement of that property they
may consign hundreds and thousands of
people
daily to death and starvation. We have heard
a great
deal in the House of Commons of the la-
hiSproperty ; and we
hour of the poor man being
arc prepared, therefore, to hear Honourable Gen-
tlemen, who argue for killing the Irish daily by
hundreds and thousands, with a view to the im-
provement of theirproperly, contend that the la-
bourers of England ought equally to kill them
by hundreds and thousands, with a view to the
improvement of their property—labour. We
are not for fastening- on Mr. Brownlow the ad-
vocacy of the inhuman doctrine of the Irish
Landholders, being persuaded that his state-
ment was made with a very different view. It
was observed by Lord Pahnerston that " it is
true that a system of compulsory emigration has
been organized, which, I CO!ift;s3, it seems to Inc,
does not reflect much credit on those who are
engaged in carrying it into execution. I really
wonder that persons of property should lend
themselves to such measures." The sentiment
is more creditable to the heart of his Lordship
than to his head. Persons of property, like the
rest of the world, prefer themselves to others ;
and when there must be victims, would rather
that others should be the victims than them-
selves. Very few men in a shipwreck would
scruple to thrust others off a plank in order to
save
;themselves. It happened to us once, when
a Church, in which we were, was supposed to be
falling, to succeed in entrenching ourselves in a
gable window, but if we had not been securely en-
trenched, a number of very pious men would have
thrown Us out, with the view of saving their own
lives at the expence of ours. Such is the way of
the world. The reproach ought chiefly to fall
on the English Gentlemen, who have the power
to rescue • the Irish from their destroyee3, and
their own labourers from the pauperization pro-
duced by the competition of these hundreds and
thousands daily separated from the soil, on ac-
count of their cold-blooded indiffereme. How
is the poor man to be protected from the oppres-
sion of the rich, but by the law ? If the poor
man has not the protection of law, how is he to
be protected ? Why, instead of twaddling about
the inhumanity of this or that, do they not at
once enact a Poor Law,.which would force pro-
perty to look after the poor ? If the men of
property in Ireland have over-traded in the mul-
tiplication of human beings, why should they be
allowed to throw all the consequences on the poor
-ignorant creatures themselves ? We advocate
Poor Laws on the ground of their preventing the
excessive population of a country. Till Mr.
Pitt and the Country Gentlemen took it into
their heads that the Poor Laws should be de-
parted from, by the innovation of paying wages
out of rates, both the friends and opponents of
the English Poor Laws always allowed that
they kept down the numbers of the people.
Why then do not the English Gentry, who surely
have an interest in preventing themselves from
being surrounded by a peasantry of poachers and
thieves, insist. manfully for the introduction of a
Poor Law into Ireland ? If we are to have a
free intercourse with Ireland, let us start fair—
let us have the same advantage and the same
burdens. Lord Palmerston observed, also,
Surely neither my Honourable Friend nor the
people of Ireland can feel any diutrust, when
they know, as they do, that my Right Hon.
Friend (Mr. W. Lamb,) the Secretary for Ire-
land, who has succeeded so well in conciliating
the confidence and good will of all parties in
that country, and displayed so much discretion
and temperance in conducting its affairs, conti- •
nued to occupy that situation." But his Hon.
Friend and the people of Ireland also see, that a
Right Hon. Gentleman has been made Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, for no other apparent
reason than because, during his Administration,
he gave the greatest dissatisfaction to the people
of Ireland. If Mr. Lamb is to be the salvation
of Ireland, on account of the system on which he
acts, we must impute to Mr. Goulburn, who ac-
ted on a totally different system, the evils which
afflicted that country. We continue Mr. Lamb
for the good he 'does by one system, and we ele-
vate Mr. Goulburn for the evil he did by
another system. Beautiful consistency
Both Houses of Parliament again sat last
night. In the Commons, a little supplementary
scene to the first night's exhibition was presented
in which Mr. Brownlow (poor Mr. Brownlow)
sustained the most prominent part. Tho whole
was truly farcical ; and yet we cannot help in-
dulging in some serious reflections on the occa-
sion. Mr. Brownlow was once respectable, and
most sincerely do we regret that he should have
so departed from those sound principles, the
profession of which formerly raised him to so
distinguished an elevationlin the public esteem, as
now justly to subject himself to the imputation
of insincerity, at least, on a question which of
all others was avowedly considered by him as of
the most vital importance to the security of the
State. Not only has the Hon. Gentleman most
lamentably committed himself in this respect,
but he last night expressed his opinion in such
terms upon the subject of the recent occurrences
in the East, as to prove either that he has en-
tirely surrendered his judgment to the views and
purposes of party, or that he is not only totallyi
ig"rallti of .the- merits i,of-
ivhich-he the• subject upon
ventutedto comment, but also or the
first and most obvious principles of the • law of
Nations. After the elaborate elucidations which
fro!' time to time we have deemed it our duty to
subunit to our Readers upon this subject, we feel
that we should not be warranted in occupying
their attention any
further at the present mo-
ment in regard to a
;question already so fully
we -cannot
decided. But help adverting to the
strange -and unaccountable_ reasoning of Mr.
Hobbouse and some other Gentlemen, who af-
fect to see no' difference between the circum-
•
stances.of the battle of Navarin and those of Co-
penhagen.
Is it possible that any man be-
stowing the slightest attention upon passing
events, can venture to say that there is the least
resemblance between these two cases ? Or can
it be necessary for U 3 to remind those Honour-

able Gentlemen, that the attack upon the Danish
fleet took place in consequence of such an under-
standing and arrangement having taken place be-
tween the Emperor Napoleon and the Danish
Government, as to remove all doubt of the exist-
ence of a plan to place the Navy of Denmark at
the disposal of the most inveterate and impla-
cable foe with which on any occasion England
had ever before had to contend ; whilst the de-
struction of the Turkish fleet at Navarin was an
unprovoked aggression against an old and faithful
ally, proceeding not from any wilful design on
the part of the brave Admiral, but the want of
due precaution and wisdom on the part of those
from NVIIOI4I he received his instructions.
They cannot in possibility, we think, be
unmindful of the difference, wide as the poles
asunder, of these two cases ; and therefore in
sincere anxiety for their character, we hope to
hear nothing more from them upon the subject.
In the House of Lords, during the exclusion of
strangers, a question was put by Lord Clifden
to the Duke of Wellington, which might well
have been spared. This question, as our readers
will have seen, was whether his Majesty's Mini-
sters
.intended to propose any measure to Par-
liament for the repeal in whole or in part of the
Penal Code affecting the Catholics of Ireland ;
and the answer was prompt and decided—as the
Noble Lord no doubt expected it to be—in the
negative. The faction in Ireland, who omit no
artifice by which they can hope to agitate the
nation, have been industriously employed ever
since the formation of the Duke of Welling-
ton's Administration in disseminating the re-
port, that a partial kind of emancipation for
the Catholics was one of the intended mea-
sures of the new Ministry. They knew that
this report was without the least shadow of
foundation in truth or in probability : but they
knew also that to excite hopes which were not
to be and could not be realized, was one of the
most effectual means of fomenting discontent.
We have now explained the true motive of the
delusion which it has been attempted to practise
upon the Catholics of Ireland, and we rejoice
that it has been so soon and so effectually dis-
pelled. These agitators have been playing a
double game. By a singular inconsistency,
while they countenanced the rumour, that at
least a part of the Catholic Claims were to be
granted by the Administration of the Duke of
Wellington, they have becn passing Resolutions
in their mock and incendiary Parliament, that
every man who directly or. indirectly supported
that Administration should be deemed an enemy
of Ireland. What are we to infer from this,
unless it be that they would be more invete-
rate against a Government disposed to yield a
partial concession to their demands, than even
to one which Nvae determined to refuse reso-
lutely all concession whatever ? The Govern-
, went has now openly taken its ground. Let
them then take ;theirs. They are deprived of
the advantage of sssailing the Government at
once by open attack and by clandestine mancsuvre.
The people of England like a Government
which is free from ambiguity—which speaks out
its mind freely upon all important subjects : and
whatever encreasc of malignity the plain speech
of the Duke of Wellington—if indeed any in-
crease be possible—may occasion in the minds
of the turbulent demagogues of Ireland, will be
more than compensated by another effect it is
sure to produce, that of rivetting his Administra-
tion more strongly to the affections, mad giving it
a deeper hold upon the confidence of the British
nation. The Empire is n ow under the sway of an Ad-
ministration which understands the interests and the
wants of all its members, and particularly of Ire-
land---4hich will do all that can be done to
confer substantial benefits upon every portion of
the King's subjects ; but which will do nothing
merely in order to amuse and delude any of
them. Those who believe that nothing can be
done for the advantage of Ireland unless the
measure of Catholic Emancipation be
carried, are by virtue of their creed the greatest
enemies of that country. For what is the true.
effect of their doctrine ? Is it not to set up an
impossible preliminary, and thus in fact to dis-
countenance it' not to interdict all attempts at
practicable improvement ? England rejoices,
and Ireland ought to rejoice, that we have no
longer a Government capable of this stupendous
folly.—Morning Post.
A writer in a Morning Paper has endeavoured
to shesv, that by the present mode of collecting
the duties on wine, the high priced article which
is drunk only at the tables of the rich, bears an
impost of only ten per cent., while some of the
lowest priced wines, which never appear but at
the tables of the middling classes, pay a duty of
about 170 per cent. The latter extreme is a hy-
pothetical rather than a real case ; but the truth
of the general statement cannot be denied, that in
this, and in every case where the duty on an
article, which varies greatly in quality and price,
is regulated, not by these essentials but by the
adventitious circumstances of the country where
it is grown, the sound rule of taxation is unsuited.
We cannot see, however, that the plan of the
writer, and the recommendation of the journal
wherein it appears, are a whit better in principle
than the present one ; for, leaving out of sight
the notorious fact that France produces many
wines much cheaper than Madeira, or Sherry, or
even Lisbon, it is proposed that all French wines
shall continue to bear the same duty (7s. 3d. per
imperial gallon) as at present ; so 'that the
country still, and not the value of the article,
would fix its amount. It is proposed at the
same time that time Hungary wines shall pay only
the same duty as Madeira and Sherry, although
it is from Hungary that we procure the dearest
wine that is drunk in. this country or anywhere
else—the " Imperial Tokay." The same neglect
of principle, or forgetfulness, we know hot
which, has classed the Rhenish wines with Ma-
deira, though some of our very dearest wines
are the produce of the Rhingau. Neither can
we see the force of the argument for lowering
the duties on wines, which, so far as our re-
collection goes, we have never known prescribed
in sickness, we mean such as Lisbon, Malaga,
or Teneriffe, that that lowering would prove a
boon to the poor. Returning, therefore, to the
lled esurteidn,s
country subject
premises laid down in the article alluded to,
which seem sound enough, what we should stre-
nuously recommend would be an ad valorem
duty, without any reference to the country
whence the
wine was procured,
onlyrol then_ to
sturecahtiesex,eNCl
which
b
01
ns as might arise
f
to Portugal, and such as might arise out of
the favours which we arc bound to extend to
our own colonies. Clarets arbeeiei
rated
noticing,by atitle
writer, whose plans we have
.50/. per hhd. or about four francs a bottle ; but
although the finest growths are so high, there
arc excellent Wines, such as, if imported at an ad
valorem duty would be very generally used in
this country, to be had at one half that price,
and very fair clarets, not English clarets, indeed,
as they arc called, which are strengthened with

brandy, for our less delicate palates, may be good
for a franc. These last, if importable at a duty
of 50 per cent. ad valorm, would not cost in
this country above a couple of shillings a bottle.
The same observation applies to ports as to
clarets. The light and low-priced ports which
never reach this country, are much more
delicate, and more salutary, than the coarse
strong wine which the peculiarities of the
Portuguese wine code compel us to use.—
These we might readily procure if the duty
were imposed in the way we reeommcnd.—
As to the fear that impositions might be
practised on the officers, we have fume, nor
can any reasonable man. It is always in the
option of the Crown to take the goods at the
price entered, on payment of the per cent. for
charges, when any such trick is suspected ; and
that power of the Crown will always prevent the
merchant from entering valuable goods lower
than lie ought, for the sake of an abatement of
duty. We have mentioned 50 per cent., but we
did so merely by way of illustration. The only
way in which the rate could be fairly struck,
would be by ascertaining precisely the amount
of duty at present received, and the value of the
wines for which it is paid ; and having done so,
to fix the new duty in such a way as not to en-
danger the revenue.—Nero Times.