The Sun.
London, England, 1829-10-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNAL

Some of our contemporaries dispute as to the
manner in which Government received the im-
portant news winch we communicated in our
journal of yesterday. We pass over this as
nugatory. There is no doubt of the fact that
intelligence was received of the signature of
preliminaries between Russia and Turkey on
the 14th ult. It is asserted, with respect to the
terms conceded by Russia, that they are not so
moderate as was to have been expected. Upon
this point we may observe that much depends
upon the position of the party who passes judg-
ment. We dare say Russia thinks them rea-
sonable and moderate enough. This, however,
is not sufficient. It is not to be expected, indeed,
that she has offered, or will be content with,
such terms now as would have satisfied her
before she was dragged forward to victory by the
obstinacy of the Turks. If, however, she
means to cultivate the good opinion and esteem
of the other Powers of Europe,—if even she
understands her own real interest, she will not
seek to crush her late enemy into the dust.—
Times.

On Monday last the Standard wished to
make it appear that the Duke of Newcastle was
only attempting at Newark what had been pre-
viously done on their estates by the Marquis of
Stafford and the Marquis of Lansdowne.
" We have no reason," said our Evening con-
temporary, " to suppose that there is any thing po-
litical in the business. It may be no more than an
improvement like what the Stafford family has ac-
complished in the Highlands, or the Marquis of
Lansdowne has attempted on his Irish estates, save
that it is not so extensive in devastation, nor so
cruel is its effect; for, to eject a man from a house
only is a Ilghter matter than to eject him from a
house and farm, farming being his sole means of
subsistence ; and yet, as we remember, the tender-
hearted Times never expended one drop of com-
passion upcn the sufferings of the victims of the
Scotch and Irish desolations."

We noticed on Saturday last the two cases
adduced, and as Mr. Loch has published a very
instructive volume on the subject of the im-
provements executed by the Marquis of Stafford
both on his Scotch and English estates, we
showed, that so (hr from injuring the people on
his estates, he had been a benefactor to them.—
We added, " With respect to the removals of
the Marquis of Lansdowne we are less qualified
to speak. We have no doubt, however, that
the object was also to introduce a better mode of
cultivation, though the same care might not have
been bestowed on the ejected tenantry which was
bestowed by the Marquis of Stafford." We
know that the Marquis of Stafford had been the
subject of much vituperation, on account of the
changes which he had made on his estate ; and
being acquainted with the extent of his efforts in
behalf of the pcople on his estates, we know also
that never was vituperation less justifiable. 'We
took it for granted that in the case of the Marquis
of Lansdowne there had also been removals,
not supposing that our contemporary would
hazard an assertion without any knowledge of
the matter ; and our observations nearly went to
this, that we could not, from our own knowledge,
say whether the same regard had been shown to
the deluded tenantry of the Marquis of Stafford.
We learn, however, on the authority of those on
whom we can place the most complete reliance,
that the Marquis of Lansdowne never made any
such change as is here alleged. His Lordship,
we learn, never divided his land in Ireland with
a view to election purposes, and has never had
occasion to alter the system of cultivation on the
estate, or to increase or diminish the number of
his tenants. Whether the system be bad or
good, that system remains unchanged. He has
never, therefore, been called upon to make any
provision for an ejected tenantry, as they are
living tranquiland contented on their small farms,
whatever these farms may be in a general point
of view, with reference to the prosperity of the
country. So mach for the extensive devastation
of the Marquis of Lansdowne, and the suffering
victims of his Irish desolations. We trust our
contemporary will see the propriety of making
the amende honourable to the Noble Marquis
for the injustice he has done him, in which we
have unwittingly been participators. The au-
thority on which we speak enables us to say that
there is not the slightest fbundation for the ac-
cusation of our contemporary. It is one thing
to drag a man like the Duke of Newcastle, who
seems to set power at defiance, before the tribu-
nal of the public, and another to bring the pri-
vate affairs of a man before . the public without
any cause whatever.—Moriung Ch 1011

Our readers will find in another column a
report. of a most respectable Meeting of Coun-
try Gentlemen and Farmers, held yesterday at
the York Hotel, Bridge-street, Blackfriars, at
which resolutions were adopted, calling for the
repeal of the Malt and Beer Duties. One of
the speakers, Mr. Healy, observed drily, that
" our Government was t 6 best of possible Go-
vernments, but it was nece'esary to watch it
closely with reference to its expenditure. An
honest farmer, a neighbour of his, was accus-
tomed to say that the Clergyman of his parish
was a very good Clergyman, and that he gave
very good sermons; but that the Ecrmons were
plaguy dear, for that one week with e.nother they
cost 19/. a piece. So he said of the Govern-
ment. It was a very good Government, but it
was a plaguy dear one; and it was the duty of
every real friend to his country to watch over
the public expenditure, and to procure the Abo-
lition or restriction of such obnoxious and op,
pressive taxes as those on malt and beer,
if possible." The Country Gentlemen of
England have grossly neglected their duty
hitherto, for they have cheered on tho
Government in all the mad schemes which have
entailed such heavy burthens on us. But better
late than never. We hail this attempt at a
change of system, and hope that the meeting of
Blackfriars will be speedily followed by meetings
throughout all parts of the country. If the
gentry have only the virtue to make a stand, the
Administration must yield. They have nothing
to do witl details. All that they have to con-
sider is the abolition of taxes. The Government,
when without the means, will devise in what
branches economy can be most safely introduced.
Every man who is at all acquainted with the
domestic history of this country, knows that the
tax on malt, and the hundred absurd regulations
connected with it, have made it impossible for
the labouring classes to have beer at home,
and that they have been driven forcibly to
the public-house. The change has been
most unfortunate. The poor man, as is re-
marked by the Rev. Mr. Townsliend, when
he had beer at home, drank no more than
was necessary, and his family enjoyed his pre-
sence of an evening ; but when once in the pub-
lic-house, he was not always able to leave it
when he ought to have done so. Demoralize
tion treads closely on the heels of the tax. It
happens, singularly enough, in this country, that
]most that ip other countries is considered

the essential expenditure of Government is pro-
vided for by the people themselves. The taxes
in England are therefore far more superfluous
than in any other country. Our insular situa-
tion renders our defence far more easy than the
defence of other countries. How then happens
it that we are so much more taxed than other
countries? The following extract from a Sun-
day contemporary (the Exanziner) will serve
partly to answer this question :
" Common distrust perpetuates common impro-
bity. A man might reform himself, if he were as-
sured that his right and left neighbour were self-
reforming also; bit his argument is, Why should
I renounce advantages which others will take of
me ? Why should I refuse the bribe, and suffer
the persecution of power, while the corrupt flourish,
profit by my surrender, and scoff at my scruples ?
The same cause which makes men, brave indivi-
dually, fly in mol,s, makes even the well-disposed
rogues of custom in the world. Hazards and sacri-
fices must be mutual, or rare indeed is the virtue to
render them.
"An anecdote may illustrate the position. The
monkeys in Exeter 'Change used to be confined in
a line of narrow cages, each of which had a pan in
the centre of its front for the tenant's food. Chanc-
ing to be present one evening at supper-time, we
observed that when all the monkeys were suppiied
with their messes, scarcely any one of them ate out
of his own pan. Each thrust his arms through the
bars, and robbed his right or left hand neighbour.
Half hat was so seized was spilt and lost in the
conveyance, and while one monkey was so unpro-
fitably engaged in plundering, his own pan was ex-
posed to similar depredation. The mingled knavery
and absurdity was shockingly human. had a monkey
reviewer, however,admonished the tribe of the aggre-
gate of loss to the animal stomach, and besought
them to commence the reform of honesty each on
himself, what monkey would have bad sufficient re-
liance on his neighbour's virtue to commence the
practice of forbearance ? Placing the cages more
apart seemed the more rational scheme of reform."
The gentry of England, like the monkeys, were
tickled with the idea of cheating their neigh-
bours. All of them Jobbers, they have quartered
sons, brothers, nephews, cousins, on the public,
in one shape or other. And now they begin to
have a suspicion that they have been all the time

cheating themselves. Another illustration may
be found in I-Icgarth's " March to Finchley,"
where a fellow who is laughing outrageously at a
trick on another, is himself the object of a piece
of cheatery. Better, however, as we said, late
than never. Let the gentry make a stand against
taxes, and leave the Government to find out
economy. A man can only spend what he has.
It is the same with Governments.—ibid.

If the New Police system is to give public
satisfaction, it must work in somewhat a different
way from what it does at present. Every night
we receive a number of reports of cases from
police-officers which place the new guardians of
the peace and morals of society in no very
favourable point of view. We did not spare the
old system of the nightly watch ; we described it,
as the public too generally experienced it—a
mockery of the protection of life and property.
We demanded its improvement, or the substitu-
tion of something better in its place. A plan of
sweeping reformation by Government itself was
at length announced—great promise and parade
accompanied the introduction of the new system.
The public were carefully informed that none
but able-bodied men were to be employed, and
that the scrutiny into the character of candidates
was so severe it was next to impossible for any
but persons of unexceptionable conduct and
morals to find admission into this chosen band
of reformed and purified police. It often hap-
pens that a new actor, or a dramatic piece of
some merit, is injured by the circulation of in-
judicious " puffs preliminary," which lead the
public to form much higher anticipations of the '
" forthcoming novelty " than the experiment
justifies. Something of this sort has happened
with regard to the new police. The Ministerial
Press had been preparing the public to expect
such wonderful improvements, that even a par-
tial failure would naturally excite a deeper feel-
ing or dissatisfaction. That the plan is a failure,
as far as it has yet developed itself, is the
general opinion. It is now sufficiently obvious
that a great proportion of improper characters
had been admitted into the " regenerated "
police, who ought to have made, on their first
appearance before the public, a good moral im-
pression. Many have been brought up to police
offices for drunkenness, and sonic for worse of-
fences. Then, as to bodily powers, certainly no
small number of them are below par;—but this
comes, we suppose, of the smallness of their
wages. If able-bodied men, with character, get
as much for their labour in London any other
way as they are allowed under the police system
they will not cuter the latter, because the duties
are more severe than in almost any other sort of
employment. Parsimony in such matters is a
waste, and not a saving, of the public money.—
It is better to give more liberal terms to have

the public work done well, than, for the sake of
a miserable economy, to have it ill done, or not
done at ail. But then, we may be asked, have
we not been the advocates of economy, and have
we not rather called out for retrenchment on the
part of the Administration, than additional en-
penditure ? Undoubtedly ; our economy, how-
ever, does not mean a niggardly penury with re-
gard to the humbler agents of • Government, to
enable rich and great men to enjoy bloated sine-
cures, or squander the public revenues in luxu•
rious extravagance. The present Government
had held out great promises of retrenchment and
economy ; but, though they have pared down
the salaries of poor clerks, c4rtailed the allow-
ance:; of half-pay officers, and limited policemen
to wages tb4t, cannot give them a decent sub-
sistence, we hear cf no great sinecure, on its
falling vacant, being abolished, and its revenue
appii.d to relieve the burdens of the people. Yet
the abolition of one or two of those rich e,;:cres-
cences of state wool afford means to enable the

to be better paid, and the public better
protected. The state of the streets every night
is quite enough to convince any impartial per-
:on that the new police is not a very efficient
body. Thieves and abandoned women plunder
and insult passengers—offend decency and mo-
rals, in all our great thoroughfares, without much
fear of molestation ; yet those who are so deli-
cate of meddling with the notorious offenders
who disgrace our streets and public places are
the persons most likely, on less excusable occa-
sions, to display energies beyond the law. They
make up for their remis-,..ness in one care by arbi-
trary insolence in another. Thus the honest
citizen may suffer from the violence which the
bold violater of the laws has reason to disregard.
Lindoubtedly there arr.._ many members of the

new police who do their duty with firmness and
sound discretion—and we give an instance of
conduct creditable to come of the body in another
part of our columns to-day, wishing, as we do,
that the public should have an opportunity of
forming a right opinion, by being put in posses.
sign of facts on both sides of the question,—
There are other cases, which, if the facts are cor-
rectly stated, call for the dismissal of, the

men. At a Police Office, a person who is by
trade a broker was brought up by a police-man,
and charged with being drunk and assaulting him
• in the execution of his duty. The officer, how-
ever, did not wish to press the assault, which
made the Magistrate express a suspicion
of his motive. The defendant stated that the
• charge was altogether false, and said that he was
in his shop on Saturday evening, in the act of
chastising a boy, who had been left to watch
• his property, and who neglected it, when the
police-man came into the shop and struck him a
violent blow on the head with his staff, which cut
it open, and he then dragged him through the
streets to a watch-house, where bail was offered
and refused, and he was obliged to lie on the
ground bleeding from the head,' and it was not
until twelve o'clock on Sunday lie was liberated
on bail, although he was a housekeeper, living
within a few yards of the office. Now this state-
ment may be true or it may not—it came to us
in the shape of a police report, and we do not
vouch for its correctness—but it demands in-
quiry. If such oppression and violence have
been practised they ought to be stigmatised by
the superiors of the New Police as they deserve,
lest the example might be contagious, and give
colour to the charge of military despotism—but
if the statement be a false one, the investigation
of the truth will exonerate the police from the
odium of a charge likely to make a very bad im- '
pression.—Morning Herald.
In another part of our Paper will be found an
account of a meeting which was held yesterday,
on the subject of the malt and beer duties ; and
glad we are that it has been taken up in the stre-
nuous :;tanner in which it is now likely to be
prosecuted. There are few taxes more oppres-
sive in every respect than those which are im-
posed on malt and its products ; and none which
bear with greater severity on the comforts, not
of the labouring classes only, but of nearly
three-fourths of the whole population of the
country. The amount of the tax is enormous—
the mode of its collection obnoxious and expen-
sive, and its direct tendency that of benefitting
the rich at the expellee of the poor. A diminu-
tion of the tax to one-half of its present amount
would do no injury to the revenue, while it could
not fail to operate a most beneficial increase in
the consumption of malt liquors, both with re-
spect to the labourer, the agriculturist, and the
land-owner. More barley would be consumed
in malt, and a better price would be given for
it to the farmer, and a better rent again by the
latter to the land-owner. There exists, in fact,
every reason for greatly diminishing the amount
of the present taxes on malt and beer, and none
that has yet been discovered for continuing them
at their present rate.—Morning Advertiser.