The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-07 00:00:00

from any hope of either delaying, or improving the 1

measure.

We have, indeed, no wish to improve it. The uglier
it is, so much the shorter will be the time we may ex-
pect the people to bear it. In our judgment, it is too
much the fashion to consider only the adaptations
of a law, and if these dove-tail in nicely and with
precision, its objects and bearings are frequently
overlooked, from admiration of the skilful work-
manship. There is among men a veneration for
power and skill to whatever uses they may be applied ;
and hence not a few of the soi-disant Liberals of our
day, when they see a law beautifully adapted to answer
an intended purpose, however diabolical that may be, are
quite delighted with the wonderful legislative con-
trivance. The more bunglingly, therefore, a short-
coming, or an iniquitous law, be drawn up, the less
chance there is that it will be long tolerated, and we,
therefore, have no wish to see any so-called improvement
introduced into a law, of Khich the chief object is to
limit the supply of food, and starve a portion of the people,
The sort of discussion, however, to which such enact-
ments lead is worthy of notice. The pro Corn-law
Members were obliged to defend themselves against
insinuations and charges of increasing the number of
towns which supply the averages from improper mo-
tives. They had added, said Mr. HAWES, fifty minor
towns from districts in which inferior wheat was grown,
and only twenty from those districts in which the wheat
is of a superior quality. They did this, however, to de-
grade the present averages, and thus cunningly and fur-
tively raise the duty on corn, while they pretend to
lower it, Such a suspicion is enough to bring discredit
on any legislature, and such a charge must at once make
the Legislature be despised.
Mr. GLADSTONE, Sir E. KNATCHBULL, and the rest of
the Ministerial subordinates, sought to rescue their cha-
racters from the assault. They affirmed, and assured
the House that the towns had been selected from no
such motives ; but the Legislature always sets the public
the example of suspecting the worst ; and though their
assurances could not be contradicted in Parliament, they
will not gain credit with the public.
Another topic which these law-makers discussed, was
how much or how little pigs' meat might be included in
the averages as bread stuff. Mr. WAKLEY carried some
samples of good and bad wheat into the House, and
showed the Members wheat which sold for 365., and
wheat which sold at the same time for 80s. Now
whether more towns be used for the averages,
to allow more of this pigs' meat to be included
in the returns or not, is it a worthy occupa-
tion for the law-makers of this empire, the men
who are to make rules for the guidance of society, to be
engaged in discussing such matters ? Ought such dis-
cussions not to make every reasonable man shrink
from a subject which involves law-makers in a
discussion about their own characters and motives,
and about the relative quantities of pigs' meat and fine
wheat, the sales of which may be returned under the
averages ? The law which involves such discussions
must be an enormous error, for it degrades the Legisla-
ture itself.

We do not boast of much reading in codes and in
• works on legislation, but we have no recollection of any
of the law-makers of antiquity, any of the founders of
great empires, or the builders up of social organization,
engaging in elaborate discussions about pigs' meat and
wholesome food, and about selecting more or fewer places,
in order to get a return of the prices of wheat a shilling
higher or lower. Neither do we remember in any
scientific books on legislation, which it has been
our fortune to meet with, any rules laid down
fin• the guidance and instruction of legislators on such
questions. How to adjust prices, to collect averages, to
discriminate by law between good and bad wheat, to
give the consumers enough, and the producers a fair re-
ward, as far as we know, forms no part of any works on
the science of legislation. The gentlemen of the House
of Commons seem to us to follow an art or science ex-
clusively their own. There is nothing like it anywhere
else. Ordinary men, therefore, can have no clue to their
conduct, and they must not be surprised should their
discussions about pigs' meat, and collecting averages
from more or feWer towns, be neither comprehended nor
admired by the rest of the community. Neither must
they be surprised if the people, wholly unable to fathom
their sublime discussion for the public good, and behold-
ing their anxiety to have the pigs' meat included in the
averages, should irreverently call them in their corpo-
rate capacity, the pigs'-meat Parliament.

The county meeting, held at Lincoln, on Monday,
turned out something more than a farce. The Tory
landlords had called upon the High Sheriff to convene a
meeting to petition the House of Commons against the
tariff, and more particularly that part of it by which
cattle, salt beef, potatoes, and other provisions are to
be admitted at a moderate duty. A motion to that effect
was put, the farmers and landowners shouting, no doubt
at the top of their voices, " Down with the tariff," "No
foreign cattle," " No Dutch beef," and after some noisy
discussion it was carried, according to one account,
unanimously ; but the subsequent proceedings would lead
us to infer that the point was doubtful. The High Sheriff
believing the object of the meeting had been accom-
plished, was about to retire in peace, but other parties
interested in the matter, put in their claims to be heard;
the high functionary resisted as that formed no
part of the contract, and declared the meeting dis-
solved. The good people of Lincoln thinking it
not fair that justice should be done only to
one class, appointed another chairman, moved resolutions
against the income tax, and carried them by acclamation.
The conduct of the landlords on this occasion, selfish as
it is in the extreme, can excite no surprise, for it is only
a repetition of their claims to throw off the burdens on
land, to tax the rest of the community for the purpose of
raising their rents, and to control the Legislature when-
ever it shows a disposition to administer even the semb-
lance of justice t 3 the people. This game will be
played throughout the agricultural districts gene-
rally, the Tory representatives will be called
upon to resist the tariff or resign ; and when it
comes to be discussed, motion upon motion will
be made to carve it to the taste of such men as the Duke
of BUCKINGHA 74 and Mr. CHRISTOPHER. We shall
then see of what stuff Sir ROBERT PEEL is made. He
has emphatically a►tnounced that he will suffer no im-
portant modification to be made eitheg of the income
tax or the tariff, and that the fate of his Ministry de-
la-lids on the result. He cannot escape from this en-
gagOment, and the great body of his supporters, there-
finse, will have the choice of swallowing the bitter
pill, or rejecting their leader. They are in-
deed in a sad dilemma. Neither Lord STANLEY nor
any other membOr of the Cabinet can come to their re-
lief, for all are ple, aged to the measures. The Duke of
Buclurians3t, the farmers' friend," no doubt would wil-
lingly lead them to bal,tle, but unfortunately he can form
no staff ,fit to carry oft operations, and they must there-
fore submit to their Itord ;ot.

The Common Counted of :the City of London has voted
an address to our gracious So-YertEtoN, praying her MA-
JESTY, for reasons stated in resolutions of that Court
passed yesterday, to refuse her sanction to any law to
tax articles of food, or to restrict the free importation of
such articles into this country. The Court of Common
Council has been culpably tardy :in coming forward to
set an example to the country. We conceive the proper
time for such an address to have been when Sir ROBERT
PEEL came forward to insult the starviirg poor of Eng-
land and Scotland with his new sliding scale humbug.
On no former occasion., when the best interests of the
nation were at stake, have we have had such reason to
complain of the lukewartaness of the citizens of London,
as since Sir R. PenL began to develope his plans for in-
creasing the generr a distress by increasing the national
taxation. The Cou rt of Common Council very properly
and truly affirms, in its second resolution, that in order
to apply a permanent and sufficient remedy to the ex-
tensive and deep-rc oted distress of the manufacturing
and labouring classes; of the community, it is essentially
necessary to abolish trill laws which restrict the importa-
tion of food. But why was not such an affirmation
made sooner ? What was the Liberal party in the
City about, that it oould not stir before the House
of Commons was tricked into the adoption of
the principle of an income tax in time of peace ? The
Press has nobly done its. duty, and has just reason to
complain of the inadequs:te way in which it has been
supported. No doubt the re will be a vast outcry among
the mercantile ‘llasses when the colt,-::tors make
their appearance to lei -y the obnoxious impost,
but the noisiest i ndividuais are those with whom the
Press can have the least sy.
milathy.
As the citizens of London -will suffer more from the
operation of the linancial and commercial plans of the
Tory Government than any other class in the kingdom,
they had better, if they stir at all, stir in real
earnest. In no part Hof the kingdom can a tax upon
income operate so injuriously upon public and private
credit as within the Lo, radon bills of mortality. They
have wasted their best o, uportunities, and to be heard ef-
fectually have now not, a moment to lose. Since Sir 11
PEEL has declared that she will stand or fall by his Corn
Bill, to compel the- .Parliak -lent to abolish all restrictions
upon the importati( m of foocc:• would be to get rid of the
income tax. Be then the abolition of all import
duties upon food- the watch word of the Libe-
beral party in Lc ndon. The` are persuaded
that no other tneasaxe will permanents; and effectually
remove the pub 4- Glistre is, and so likewise are we. It
is, therefore, their bound en duty, as it is outs, :o leave
no means untried for effe sting so desirable a measure.

If PI

The debate in the Fruit .11 Chamber of eery on the
Secret Service Bill, was cdat 1 of the meat animated which

has taken place in that assembly since the opening of the
Session. Upon no other occasion were the acts of the
Government so severely criticised. Viscount DUBOU-
CHACE censured the Minister of the Interior for per-
mitting the most sacred mysteries of religion to be openly
ridiculed on the stage, and complained that clerical ha-
bits were worn by actors for the express purpose of ren-
dering the clergy public objects of contempt. Admitting
the entire propriety of placing as few restrictions upon
writers for the stage as possible, and fully persuaded
that a theatre is capable of being made one of the finest
national schools in the world, we quite agree with M.
DunoucitAGE that the utmost vigilance is necessary to
prevent it from degenerating into a sink of immorality
and irreligion. Our own stage is not so pure as to war-
rant a severe criticism upon that of our neighbours, but
in this respect we neither outrage the national religion,
nor the national sense of decency, to the extent that is
permitted in Paris.
The next Peer who attacked the Government was the
Marquis DE BOISSY D'ANGLAS. He complained first of
the Ministerial system of swamping the Peerage by new
creations of the tools of Government ; but he was met
with a shout from the President about infringing the
Royal prerogative. The Noble Marquis next referred
to the Spanish question, and in the coarsest language
denounced ESPARTERO as an intentional regicide. He
was followed by Count DE MONTALEMBERT, who said
that a whole session had passed, during which the Mi-
nistry had really accomplished nothing. The sugar
question ; the Belgian commercial treaty; the railroads,
of which bits of odds and ends only were proposed ; the
question of liberty of public instruction ; the recruit-
ment of the army ; and the right of search question
--everything, in short, was postponed, to the great
injury of the nation. He next adverted to Spain, and
abused the REGENT, whom he denounced as the enemy
of France. The friends of France were CHRISTINA and
jeer partizans, and he blamed the Ministry for not more
openly supporting them. The Chamber listened with
considerable impatience to the attacks made upon the
Spanish Government. But by far the most remarkable
of the speeches made was that of the Duke DE DREUX-
BREZE, a Royalist Peer, complaining of the despotic
tone of Ministers since the rising of the fortifications of
Paris. The principles of the Constitution were, he said,
set aside, and the will of individuals made the rule for the
guidance of the Government. Means were resorted to for
neutralizing the Parliamentary opposition, to which he
should not advert ; but it was quite clear to them all that
Ministers now dictated their plans to the Chambers.
The Press was in a greater state of thraldom than when
the Censorship existed, and the completion of the bar-
ricades would be the signal for the extinction of the last
spark of its remaining liberty. We give the conclusion
of the Noble Duke's Speech in his own emphatic ex-
pressions, as nearly as a translation can preserve them :

I do not flatter myself, Gentlemen, that my feeble voice can
stop the Government in the downward course it has taken.
There are times in which men of conviction have no other
means of testifying their love for their country, but by barren
warnings. It is this part I fill to-day, desirous as I am, if not
of developing, at least of indicating the truth at the moment
when a conspiracy seems formed to stifle it. A sincere friend
a liberty, under whcse banner I placed myself at the commence-
ment of my political career, M. de Martignac, exclaimed, in
I 829. with mournful accents, " We are proceeding to anarchy."
I will say, with an equal conviction, in presence of all that
passes around us, and of the bastilles which are rising up,
" Take care that we are not proceeding to despotism, and
through it to anarchy."—( Great agitation.)
And well might the Chamber be agitated. It is the
language of prophecy—language which we repeated in
varied terms, day after day, during the period the Forti-
fications Bill was before the Chambers. But save in the
columns of the Commerce it found no echo in France.
Even the Republicans, for whose extinction the walls
were proposed, hoard only in our warnings the prompt-
ings of our fears. Row ridiculous ! Once reduced to
bear the yoke ofdespotism, France can be no longer an ob
ject of terror to any country. She is powerful for good or
evil only, while she is free. Did we dread France, and wish
to weaken her, we would advance millions to embastile
Paris. Instead of one wall round the capital, we would
cry out for five, each thicker than the wall of China, and
a thousand times as well defended. But the Noble Duke's
prophetic warning did not long agitate the Chamber.
The Minister of the Interior rose, and expressed pro-
found astonishment that any one should complain
of restrictions being placed upon the freedom
of the Press, when it was known that the
Press of France was free even to licentiousness.
The Government was the guardian of the Press, and
never interfered but to cherish 'it ! He next referred,
with the same disregard of truth, and unblushing assu-
rance, to the other points in the Duke's prophetic speech,
and was responded to by a vote of the Chamber, adopt-
ing the Secret Service Bill by an immense majority.
The following extracts from the French Journals of
Monday include all the general news contained in them
of any interest
A letter from Amsterdam, 3d April, states that M. Tan
Holt has began his Ministerial career with a most important
measure, viz. a new organisation of the Council of Ministers.
The Staats publishes a Royal Ordinance of the following
tenor :

" We, William, &c. &c.
" Considering that it is necessary that heads of the Minis-
terial department should previously deliberate on all projects of
law, and all objects relative to political interests, in order to
introduce unity and harmony into all the branches of the ad-
ministration,
" We have resolved-
1. A Council of Ministers shall beheld to examine together
all the above-mentioned subjects.
"2. The Council of Ministers is composed of all the beads of
the Ministerial departments."
The other articles enter into various details.

From Galignani's Messenger we find the following ridicu-
lous statement gravely given this morning in the leading co-
lumns of the National, and quote it as a specimen of tne ab-
surdities which are occasionally put forth by part of the Paris
press upon English affairs. Of the attention due to such ar—
rant nonsense our readers will be able to. judge when we re-
mind them that the " Pretre dissident," talked of by the Na-
tional, was no other than his Grace the Archbishop of Canter-
bury himself, who performed the baptismal ceremony, assisted
by the Lord Bishop of London, and other heads of the English
Protestant Church. We can assure the National that the op-
position it speaks of would be thought quite as droll in England
as in France

" The Government of Queen Victoria, and even her dynasty,
have, at this moment, to contend against a kind of opposition
which was unexpected, and which, in France, would appear
exceedingly droll. The greater part of the Anglican clergy pre-
tend that the young Prince of Wales having been baptised by a
Dissenting Minister (pretre dissident) is therefore incapable
of ever becoming King of England. In England, the head of
the State is at the same time head of the Church, and the
clergy, therefore, think that the National Church would lose
its purity, and even be destroyed, if at the head of its hierarchy
were to he placed a Prince who had not received orthodox bap-
tism. The Bishop of London and his clergy have already pro-
tested against the legitimacy of the succession of the Prince of
Wales to the throne. The Bishop of Winchester has followed
the example, and not a single clergyman of his diocese has
failed to sign his protest. The whole University of Oxford
has expressed itself in the same way, and it is announced that
the Bishop of E:eter is earnestly and successfully getting up a
similar demonstration."

The English Journals have not arrived.
The Spanish Chamber of Deputies resumed its legislative
operation on the 28th of March. M. Escorial moved that
they should begin by discussing the Budgets of the several Mi-
nisterial departments separately, sirce the Report of the Com-
mittee on the General Budget is not ready.
The Ministers having supported this motion, it was carried by
a majority of 80 to 40.
The Courrier of Lyons, of the 2d says—" When we spoke of
the fetes which were to take place at Tunis on occasion of the
celebration of the marriage of the Duke of Savoy, we said an
amnesty was spoken of, but without stating anything positively
on the subject. To-day our private letters enable us to an-
nounce the good news as certain. They say, a full and entire
amnesty will be granted to the persons proscribed in 1821 and
1831. On the announcement of this wise measure the people
of Turin loudly expressed their feelings, and his Majesty Charles
Albert is said to have been pusliely congratulated by all classes
of society.
" We believe that this act of sound and wise policy will be
soon officially published."
It is to be hoped that the amnesty will be extended to politi-
cal emigrants from 1831 to the present time.—Commerce.
DUTCH FUNDS.--AMBTXXDAtd, APRIL 4.
Money. Bills.
Actual Dabt, 7.% per Cent
Jitto, ditto 5 pet ceist.
Antal t Syndic,4 4 p
ercent cent 024
93
Ditto, ditto, 34 p
Commercial Company. 44 per cent 156 156%
Ditto (1635 and 1H37) 5 per cent.
Loan 1637, 5 per c0nt..... ........... ...... 96% 99%
Exchange on London, One month l2 12%
Twe months 12 05
Hamburgh,bne month 35 50
Two months 35 25
Dutch Papers, April 4.
AUSTRIAN FUNDS.—Vierirca, MARCH 26.
rive per Coats. Metalliques
Foal per Cents... ......«....».......»
Three p:r Cents
Bank Shares

LINCOLN COUNTY MEETING, APRIL 4.—(From a Cor-
respondent.)—This meeting of farmers to oppose Sir R.
Peel's tariff as regards cheaper. beef, mutton, &c., has
just taken an odd turn. After Lord Winchilsea, Mr.
Chaplin, and others had been grimacing and squabbling
for four hours, the Hon. Mr. Clifford stepped forward
and proposed a strong resolution, condemnatory of the
income tax. The High Sheriff refused to put it, saying
it was not part of the requisition. The meeting became
uproarious, and the High Sheriff declared it dissolved.
A N ote of thanks to the High Sheriff was refused, and
groans were returned instead. The Right Hon. the Earl
of Yarborough was then called to the chair, and the mo-
tion of Mr. Clifford (brother to Lord Clifford) was
carried with unanimous acclamation. All the dull mo-
notony of the meeting vanished in an instant, and Com-
mittees were formed to send round the petitions to all
parts of the county for signature.
OVERLAND ROUTES.—Messrs. Allen and Co., of Lead-
enhall-street, Publishers to the East India Company,
have just brought out a very useful Map of the Overland
Routes between England and India, both by the Red Sea
and the Persian G ulf. On the same sheet also are laid down,
on an enlarged scale, the routes between London and
Marseilles, between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea,
and between the Mediterranean, Black Sea, and the
Persian Gulf. They have been drawn and engraved by
Mr. J. Walker, and are finished in excellent style,
The Voyage to India round the Caps of Good Hope
is also distinctly laid down. To persons about to perform
the journey, or interested in Steam Communication
with. India, this Map is essentially valuable.
Her Majesty held an investiture of the Most Honour-
able Military Order of the Bath, this afternoon, at Buck-
ingham Palace. His Royal Highness the Duke of
Sussex, Grand Master of the Order, attended.