The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-08 00:00:00

'::..cottblZtfition

SUN OFFICE Three o'clock.

Extracts from New York Papers, received to the
19th, will be found in another part of The Sun. We
deeply regret to have to state, that no real progress
has been yet made in the settlement of the Boundary
question. In fact, we are assured by a private letter,
from a well-informed correspondent, that there is not
the least likelihood of the success of Lord Asia-
BURTON'S mission.

There is some prospect of a war between Mexico
and the United States, the Mexican Minister for
Foreign Affairs having addressed two imperative and
insolent notes to the United States' Ambassador,
calling upon his Government to repress the move-
ments of the sympathisers in favour of Texas, and
threatening to regard non-compliance as a declaration
of war. DANIEL WEBSTER, on the 15th ult., for-
warded the following answer to the Mexican Go-
vernment :

On the receipt of this, you will write a note to Mr.
de Bocanegra, in which you will say :—That the Se-
cretary of State of the United States, on the 9th of
July, received his letter of the 31st of May ; that the
President of the United States considers the language
and tone of that letter derogatory to the cha-
racter of the United States, and highly offensive, a.;
it imputes to their Government • a direct breach
of faith ; and that he directs that no other an•
swer be given to it than the declaration that the conduct
of the Government of the United States in regard to the
war between Mexico and Texas, having been always
Hitherto governed by a strict and impartial regard to its
neutral obligations, will not be changed or altered in any.
respect or in any degree. If for this the Government of
Mexico shall see fit to change the relations at present
existing between the two- countries, the responsibility,
remains with herself. •

Every arrival from Greece brings us accounts of
the deplorable condition to which King OTHO'S mis-
government is reducing that fine country. One writer
states positively that the Greeks are, physically speak-
ing, more miserable at this moment than they were
while prostrate beneath the despotic hoof of Turkey.
We question whether the narratives of any of the
many English travellers who wandered over Greece
previous to the revolution presents a more striking pic-
ture of general misery and universal misgovernment
than the following extract of a letter from Athens,
dated the 21st ult., to which we invite the attention
of the Government and people of this country :
The most horrible tyranny is exercised in all the pro-
vinces to get in the arrears of past years, and the ill-
placed indulgence allowed to the state debtors, for politi-
cal purposes, is now found to be an evil and a serious
one, for they are no longer able to pay as they would
have been, had the amounts been claimed at the proper
time, when the country was in a much more favourable
condition than it is at present. Now, small debtors of 10
and 20 francs have one or two soldiers sent to live at free
quarters, and to eat up all their substance, Others, who
have paid and hold the receipts of the fiscal agents, are
dragged to prison, to compel them to repayment, be.
cause the agent has not made entry in his books. The
oppression is so great in the mode of levying the tithe or
land-tax, that the extent of corn crops is less than it used
to be ; and I have the assurance of intelligent travellers
through the provinces of Messenia, Elis, and Tryphilia that
the peasant, by the abuse of power of the tithe-collector
and the commercial authorities, is plundered of one-
third his produce, instead of paying one-tenth as the Jae
requires. I can answer for the truth of this assertion,
from personal observation. The shepherds, too, are the
objects of special persecution. The pasturage tax, which
in Capo d'lstria's time was 10 lepta a head, is now 36
lepta ; to this must be added 7 lepta communal tax,
4 lepta duty on wool, together 46 lepta, besides duty on
his cheese and butter ; altogether the poor shepherd
pays annually 1 drachma, or near 9d. sterling per sheep,
and very often, when payment is enforced, his
flock is sold, and barely fetches that amount a
head. The discontent arising from these oppres-
sions is great, and the destitution of a great part
of the peasantry is such that we may anticipate
troubles ere long ; for men must have bread. M.
Monastiriottis, the Governor of Sparta, reported to his
superior, the Home Minister, that thousands of families
in Sparta were starving for bread, and that unless a
quantity of food were provided, they would arm,
and provide themselves with the means of subsist-
ence in the neighbouring provinces. For three months
a deaf ear was turned to these representations ; and it
was only when the threats were about to be carried into
effect that a miserable supply of bad wheat and maize
was doled out. The Government neglect everything.
In Mainor and at Calamata misery has caused numbers
to be attacked with leprosy, and the disease is conia-
gious in the highest degree ; yet the Government allow
the poor wretches to wander about, and provide no hos-
pital or lazaretto for them. At Chiarenza the brave
Suliots and Chimariots, after great difficulty, offered an
asylum by the Greek Government ; and some 150 of the
families of these warriors went there, and, after infinite
delays, at last the Government built them huts, and en-
gaged them lands and the means of subsistence. I
myself saw these huts the other day falling into ruin,
only three being occupied ; and, on inquiring what had be-
come of the families, I was told they had nearly all died
of starvation, and the remainder had fled. At Catochi,
near Missolonghi, some hundreds of individuals, belong-
ing- to the families of the deserters, are held in banish
ment prom their homes, without shelter, without food,
and scores' of miles from any one who feels an interest
in them, to coOPel the deserters to return. Can any-
thing be so iniqn,:tous as this system ?
The share whici: England has had in placing
OTno on the Throne pf Greece will surely justify
any interference on the part of Lord ABERDEEN,
which may have the effect of re:ieving Greece from
this system of tyranny. We cannot ,say that remon-
strances have not already been addressed, on the part
of the Noble Foreign Secretary, to the Gfeek Go-
vernment; but if not, we entreat Sir ROBERT PEEL
to lose no time in recommending it. Among
the British residents in Athens a general belief
prevails that King OTno is encouraged in the fatal
policy which he is pursuing by France. Tilis
appears to us very improbable. We cannot
discover any benefit that France could derive from a
civil war in Greece—and a civil war will undoubt-
edly result from a perseverance in the present policy
of the Greek Government. Were Russia to support
the mal-administration of King OTrto, her motives
would be intelligible enough ; but what in the world
can France gain by plunging Greece into all the hor-'
rors of civil war ?

The Hon. Member for Greenock has refused to
act as an Income-tax Commissioner. True to the
declaration which he made in the House of Commons,
when this unjust, inquisitorial, and tyrannical mea-
sure was before it, he will in no way assist in inflicting
it upon his countrymen. We trust he will have many
imitators. No one opposed to the tax can be blamed,
even by the Government, for refusing to have any
thing to do with its collection. The following is the
letter in which Mr. WALLACE communicates to the
Clerk of Supply for the county of Renfrew his refusal
to act as an Income-tax Inquisitor under the auspices
of a Tory Chancellor of the Exchequer :
__.

Kelly, July 26, 1842.
DEAR Sir.,--I have received your letter of the 20th,
informing me of my being chosen a Commissioner to
carry into effect the Act commonly called the Property-
tax Act ; but the proper name of which is, the Income-
tax Act. As I consider the tax as an unconstitutional,
tyrannical, and unjust one, I will take no part whatever
in its administration. Were Itodo so I should consider
myself as no less degraded than I upon the law it-
self which inflicts it as disgraceful in a country of free-
men. You will, therefore, have the goodness to intimate
my determination to those it concerns in the Upper and
Under Ward of the county, by laying this letter before
them. I remain your obedient servant.
ROBERT WALLACE.
To Wm. Barr, Esq., Clerk of Supply, Paisley. •

There is very little news of interest in the French
Journals received this morning. What items are
worthy of notice will lie found in our Foreign Sum-

mars.
BOURSE--PARIS, SATC,RDAY, AUG. 6.
First HigheSt Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French 5 per Cents 118 70... 118 75... 118 50... 118 50
4 per Cents 101 75... 101 75... 101 75... 101 75
3 per Cents 78 25... 78 25... 78 78
Bank of France 3215 ...3215 ...3215 .. 3215
Lallitte Bank I,ooof 1027 50 ..1027 50...1025 —.1025
5,000 f 5040 —.5040 —.5040 —.5040
Belgian Bank .
Belgian Fives lO2l ... 1021 ... 102 k 102
1840 IO3A ... 103 k ... 103 ... 103 A
Spanish Active 224 ... 22A ... 22A ... 22A
Neapolitan lO5 65... 105 65.... 105 65... 105 65

Ronian

1031 ... 1031

RAILWAY SHARES
St. Germain B2o' 825 820 ... 825
Versailles, R.B ...... 292 50... 292 50... 292 50... 292 50
L.B 95 ... 95 ... 95 ... 95
Rouen
Orleans. 555 ... 555 ... 555 ... 555
Strasburg to Bale 202 50... 203 75... 202 50... 203 75

PATRONAGE.—A striking illustration of the ab-
surdity of this part of the law-church system is to be
found in the case of Roman Catholic patrons. The late
Duke of Norfolk, for instance, a thorough Catholic, had
twenty-four livings. It is true they can only be con-
ferred upon clergymen of the Established Church, but
what an opportunity does it give to such patrons to in
troduce—especially now—persons favourable to a union
with Rome. The Puseyites seem especially adapted to serve
the purposes of such patrons.--Leicestershire Memory.