The Sun.
London, England, 1829-10-12 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We publish the official returns of the revenue
for the years and quarters ended on the 10th inst.
On the year there is a general decrease of about
146,000/. ; on the Customs, for the whole year,
there is a deficit of nearly 400,0001., which has
been within a trifle compensated during the last
quarter by (it is said) a considerable influx of
duty on imported corn ; but no materials for an
exact comparison on that point between the two
years or quarters can be held sufficient without
having before us the return of what the respec-
tive corn duties have yielded. It is not with uti,
any ground of satisfaction that the Customs
should be raised by the receipt of duty on large
importations of wheat, since it is nothing better
than a direct tax on the subsistence ter the lower
classes throughout England. In the Excise
there has been a falling or! 'upon the quarter con-
siderably more than equivalent to that In the
Customs for the entire year, being 446,000/.
But in other hrteeehes, as stamps,
taxes, and mis-
rellaneoun, there appears an improvement both
on tsi-ie year and quarter, viz.
-Quarter. Year.
Stamps. • • t...E42,000 £129,400
Taxes - 34,300 69,500
Miccelleaeous ... 75,000 44,700
In the Post-office there is an increase of 9,000/.
sipon the year, but, a falling off of 8,0001. on
ihe quarter. It appears that the only quarter of
the past year which exhibits an improvement in
the Excise over the corresponding'onc of the year
preceding is the first, viz., that ending on the
oth of January, which e,ieicled 800,000/. above
the corresponding quarter ending January, 1828;
in each succeeding quarter there has been a
failure in the taxes arising from articles of home
•consumption, a circumstance not very surprising
ttrbep It.'e consider the prevalence of idleness,
PRl:ay forced by the failure of markets, in part
voluntary, from the spirit of combination, during
the whole summer. It may, of course, be at all
times taken for granted, that any cause which
throws the industrious classes out of work re-
dueee in the same ratio the productiveness of
the •steise revenue. We are happy to learn that
in this respect the hopes for the ensuing season
have begun to improve, the fine spinners at Man-
cnester, who had been for six months in a " turn
cut" against the masters, having recently re-
turned to their looms, and the above great centre
of the cotton trade having again manifested its
usual state of order and activity. There is, we
believe, but little doubt that there has arisen in
many quarters a more lively demand for the staple
manufltctures of this country.—Tinics.
Our readers will find, in another part of our
impression, a report of the proceedings at the
dinner of the Cheshire Whig Club, on Friday
list. The first speaker was Earl Grosvenor, who
alloried to the measure of emancipation, and
ridiculed the absnrd expectations of those NVIIO
CCpreised themselves astonished that Ireland, in-
stead of being the most degraded and discon-
tented, did not instantly become one of the
most elevated and happy of nations. His Lord-
ship thought that " one measure was still abso-
lutely necessary, and without it it would be im-
possible to effect any permanent improvement in
the condhion of Ireland ; be meant the intro-
diction of poor laws." After alluding to the
state of slavery in the West Indies, his Lord.
ship approached what to him was, he said, a sub-
ject of some delicacy—Parliamentary Reform.
They bad heard (he said of a fair and a free
Representation being the spirit of the Constitu-
tion ; but he had never heard any of the Com-
pany present advocate what was termed equality
of Reeresentation. Such a doctrine, absurd as
it was, he never expected to proceed out of the
mouth of men in any consideration. They might
as well expect equality of property, which all knew
was created by a variety of circumstances. So it was
that the varying circumstances of the country gave
birth to avariety of Representatives. He, however,
would say, that when Boroughs decayed, he
thought it but just that the elective franchise
should be transferred to those great and popu-
lous towns which were now unrepresented ; and
when convicted of corruption, the franchise
might with propriety be extended to the hundred.
But undoubtedly it was desirable that the towns
of Manchester, Leeds, and Birmingham should
send Members to Parliament ; and if such a
Representation could not be obtained by the
means to which he alluded, a distinct Act of
Parliament ought to be passed by which the
right should be conferred.' As to the panacea
to which his Lordship attaches so much im-
portance, a representation of the various inte-
rests of the country, and the introduction of Re-
presentatives for two or three large towns, it
really appears to us to be of very secondary im-
portance. In the present day there is no want
of means for making known the sentiments of all
classes of this country to Parliament. The peo-
ple of Leeds, and Manchester; and Birmingham,
can never he at a loss, in these times of raeid
diffusion of information, for channels through
which to convey their sentiments to Parliament, on
any matter in which they are particularly interest-
ed. What is the great object of a Constitution ?
The protection of the persons and properties of
the inhabitants of a country. Is that object an-
swered by our present Parliamentary Representa-
tion ? Certainly not. Would that object be
answered by the transference of the franchise
from a few decayed Burghs, and the throwing a
few others open to the adjoining Hundreds, and
the introduction of Representatives from a few
of the large towns ? No. The property of the
country would still be at the mercy of such men
as the Duke of Newcastle, who would compel
the Ministry to purchase their concurrence.—
You may vary the Representation as much as
you please, the character of a public body must
depend on the majority; and if you still leave
to a number of families to control the people,
you do nothing. Newark is not a, decayed Bo-
rough, it contains nearly ten thousand inhabit-
ants, but circumstances place the inhabitants in
the power of the. Duke of Newchstle. How
manytother towns, of considerable size, are ult.
der the dominion of other individuals ? We
• hold all these nostrums of variegated representa-
tion to be downright quackery. Aelnitt such a
suffrage as should be identified in interest with
the community, and there would be no diffi-
culty in finding channels of communication be-
tween all classes of men and the Representatives
in Parliament. Raise your qualification, if you
please; the country will be represented if the
property of the country be represented. But
allow the fundamental vice to remain in your
Constitution which. allows a few families to com-
mand the majority, and you may patch and patch
for ever; every one of the evils which have created
the desire for a reform in the Representation will
remain. Lord Grosvenor must be aware that a
majority in the House of Commons is returned
by a smaller number of individuals than the
number constituting that
.ritajerity., Suppose
that a majority of the fepresentatives were
named directly by the King, instead-isf being re-

turned by Borough Proprietors, and that the
Minority were as variegated as the heart of man
could desire, would his Lordship call such a Re-
presentation a security against abuse ? But of
what importance is it to the nation that a majo-
rity of the Representatives are returned by two
hundred, or returned by one ? In the one case,
their proprietors would be at the mercy of one—
in the other case, at the mercy of two hundred.
The different speakers in their turn glanced at
the various subjects which now occupy the pub-
lic mind. Mr. Wood very happily ridiculed the
absurdity of those who would render England
prosperous by cutting off' intercourse with other
countries. " The Alarmists, driven (he said)
from their religious monopoly, wish to make it
appear that prosperity would be found in framing
resti ictions on commerce. We confess we are
rather disappointed at no allusion having been
made to the proceedings at Newark. How can
men call themselves Reformers, and talk of the
necessity of retrenchment, and yet blink the con-
siderations which the proceedings at Newark so
forcibly suggest ?—Morning Chronicle.
Though no one will be found to doubt the
firmness of the Duke of Wellington's nerves, we
confess that the present aspect of affairs, both at
home and abroad, is sufficient, we should ima-
gine, to make even his Grace shrink within
himself a little, at the singular situation in which
he finds himself to stand, in the face of his own
country and of Europe. If the fame of any
living man was above all others to be envied, it
was that of the Duke of Wellington ; if the si-
tuation of any public man was ever more than
any other unenviable, it is that of his Grace.—
Some wiseacre who presided at a City feast the
other day is reported to have said, "It is but
too true that the difficulties of the country are
great, but the Duke of Wellington is the man
to carry us through them." Certainly, if a name
would do it, the Duke's is " a tower of
strength." But the same poet has said, " what
is there in a name ?"—the truth of which the
Administration of the Duke of Wellington
has hitherto but too feelingly proved. When
the country saw the Duke of Wellington
called to the head of affairs, it had a right
to expect, and did expect, that his Grace
would have renounced the errors of his pre-
decessors, and bent his great mind to the
one object of rescuing it from the difficulties in
which the mistaken policy of the Canning and
Goderich Administration, and the theories of
Messrs. Huskisson and Peel, had involved it.
But no—on assuming the reins the Duke ap-
pears to have considered, that there was but one
road which the Government machine could travel,
and only one jog-trot pace at which the hacks
which drag it along could go ; and has been
quietly contented to let the whole have their
own way, apparently regardless of the precipices
and quagmires to which that road must inevi-
tably lead, and has at length reached. When
the Duke cashiered Mr. Huskisson he had a
fair opportunity of dismissing his policy along
with him ; and when his Grace found the means
to induce Mr. Peel to abandon the great prin-
ciple of his public life, his abandonment of his
currency principles too could have been no very
difficult matter to bring about. There are those
who excuse the Duke's apparent supineness at the
dangers and difficulties of the country, by saying
that he waits till matters come to a crisis. God
knows that crisis seems pretty nearly arrived : but
we would not libel the Duke's high name by for a
moment giving in to any such opinion. The
Duke's error, if we may be allowed to say so,
lies in a want of political courage ; in a fear lest,
in renouncing the errors of others, he should
appear to be embarking on a sea of expediency
and of experiments, inconsistent with the staid
and settled maxims which ought to characterise
the measures of Government. But the age of
expediency and experiment is that which his
Grace has to overturn ; and the sooner it is re-
nounced the better. No timidity, no courtesy,
must be allowed to stand in the way of that re•
turn to sound principles, the departure from
which has brought this once-flourishina country
to the brink of ruin and dismay. What Mr.
Pitt used to call " experience and the evidence
of facts" are come upon the country with
astounding force ; and the Government cannot
much longer, if it would, remain inactive and
unmoved by such experience as is daily breaking
in upon every class of the community.—Morn-
ing Herald.

A BLACK 11A RE.—Mr. REID, of this place,
preserver of birds, &c. has now in his possession a black
hare, which was shot near Newark-upon-Trent; and a
fine specimen of the hoopoe (upupa epopa) a bird very
rarely seen in this country : it wi,s shot in the neighbour-
hood of Doncaster.--Doncaster Gazette.

AN AGED HEBREW COUPLE.—In Coventry
there has lived, for many years, an aged couple of the name
of Gmes. The poor old man is now about 100, and his
wife is about 97. In his younger days he made trunks for
sale, but latterly he has been unable to follow his usual
avocations, and has been under the necessity of applying
for parochial relief. There are but few of the descendants
of ABRAHAM in Coventry, and those few not the most
affluent, consequently they are unable to render the old
couple the assistance which they need. They make use of
COHEN'S house as their Synagogue, on their Sabbath. Mr.
J. GRANT, one of our Directors, has lately been to Lon-
don, and called on Mr. ROTHSCHILD to relate the history
of this venerable couple, when that distinguished indivi-
dual not only gave Mr. GRANT two sovereigns for them,
but expressed himself much obliged to that gentleman for
bringing the case under his notice.—Coventry Herald.
MIGRATORY BIRDS.—At this season of the
year, the departure and arrival of migratory birds attract
the notice of the attentive observer of the operations of na-
ture. During the summer months the copses, and hedge-
rows, the pastures, and the woods, teem with the varie-
ties of the feathered creation, and offer to the ornithologiq
delightful subject matter for instruction, reflection, or
scientific research. Nor has the eye of genius disdained
to glance upon so delightful a science,—a science slow, in-
deed, in its growth, founding itself on the results of con-
tinued observation, and perfecting itself, if to perfection it
can ever arrive, in the progress of years. The eye of ge-
nius disdains not to glance at and ennoble by its scientific
cl issification the observations of less gifted individuals of
various times and in various places : and hence the use-
fulness of notices, in a provincial journal, trifling perhaps
in themselves, of local occurrences, and appearances in na-
tural history which contribute to that aggregate mass of
facts to be afterwards systematised for the instruction and
delight of mankind. Although the habits, instincts, and
enjoyments of migratory birds, are during their summer or
winter visits, pretty accurately known, of that starring,
mysterious, and powerful impulse which guides their ar-
rival at or departure from our shores, little positive infor-
mation has transpired. Wherever their destination, in
what m inner and by what signs they are guided in their
migrations, their flight across our island generally takes
place during the stillness and safety of night. The fact
has been observed repeatedly; and as serving to mark the
season of flight, it may be noticed that on Friday last, at
half-past ten o'clock at night, an immense body of migra-
tory birds, presumed to be swallows, the rushing action of
whose flight was remarked by an intelligent inhabitant,
passed over this town in an easterly direction. Indeed
this and the other delightful tribes of summer visitants
have now departed, with the solit try exception of the latest
brood of the chimney swallow, which still lingers in me-
lancholy fittings around det tched dwellings. Of the
migratory birds which (October 7) have arrived in this
neighbourhood to share the winter enjoyments which our
island affords, we may enumerate the following :—The
redwing, woodcock, lieldfare, mountain finch, short-eared
owl, merlin hawk, siskin (frin;illa spinus), -grey wagtail,
sad the ash-coloured plarilse...Poncaster Gazette.