The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-12 00:00:00

tat :Sam

LONDON :
SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 12, 1842.

Sir Roittnr PEEL laid his financial statement before
the House of Commons last night, in a speech that de-
serves every possible praise. It was at once lucid, forcible
and impressive. At its commencement and at its close, it
was eloquent and commanding: There was, we believe,
but one opinion concerning it ; all agreed that it was a
masterly oration. The Right. Hon. Baronet began about
twenty minutes after five, and concluded at
nine o'clock, having spoken, with almost undiminished
vigour, for upwards of three hours and a half. What-
eirer opinions we may entertain of his policy, we cannot
withhold from him our approbation for the care he must
have taken to master the details of his extensive subject,
and for the clearness with which he explained the plans
of Government. We felt, we must own, somewhat hu-
miliated by cur recollection of the incomplete ant im•
perfect manner in which the chiefs of the party with
which we generallY concur, have on similar occasions
brought their measures before the public, as contrasted
with the perfect preparation of Sir ROBERT PEEL. We
trust that his conduct will be .an example to .them, and
induce them not to throw away any advantage which in-
dustry can command. Having said so much of Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S manner, and the manner of the leaders
of the Whigs, we pass to the matter of his speech.

After.a somewhat laboured introduction, to express a
confidence—the want of which, we fear, suggested
the boast that he possessed it—he stated the revenue
for the year ending April 5, at 48,053,0004, and the
probable deficit at 2,324,0001. He estimated the revenue
for the current year, • ending April 5, 1843, at
48,350,000!. • the expenditure at 50,819,0001.,
leasing a deficiency of 2,569,0001. But besides
the alarreing state of our own revenue, the
Bight Hon. Baronet showed, which has been ne-
glected by other Governments, that the finances of our
Indian empire were going gradually to decay, and from
having a surplus of 1,550,000/. in 1836, there was a defi-
ciency of not less than 2,320,0001. in 1841. Without in-
cluding the deficiency of the Indian revenue, though we
Must in the cad be answerable for its 'credit, Sir R.
PEEL estimated the deficiency of our revenue since 1838,
including 1843, at no less a sum than 10,000,0001. Such
a state of our finances cannot be suffered to continue; and
now we come, afier.this brief statement, to consider Sir
R. PEEL'S plan to remedy this evil.
Discarding all additional taxes on consumptive arti-
cles, because they had
,been carried as far as possible,
and refusing, for many good reasons, to revive any
of the taxes which had already been abolished,
the Right Honourable Baronet proposes to levy a tax
of 7d. in the pound, or something less than
three per cent., on all incomes exceeding 150/. per
annum. Assuming that the incomes of the occupiers of
land is half their rent, which will, we believe, be very

• unsatisfactory to the town's-people, and open a door
for fraud, Sir ROBERT PEEL expects that this tax will
yield about 3,771,0001., of which 1,600,000/ willbe paid by
land, tithes, mine's houses, and fixed property, 150,000/.
by the cultivators of the soil, 646,000/. by funded pro-
perty, 1,225,0001. by the profits of trade, and 155,000/
by public officers. Looking at the advantages already
conferred on the land, and at the immense wealth the
landed people boast of, it seems, if Sir R. PEEL'S esti-
mate be correct, that, including the tenantry, 1,750,000/.
is not a fair proportion for them to pay, while the other
classes will have to pay 2,021,000/. .I\re say nothing of
' the fraud in letting land, which Sir R. PEEL invites
the landlords to practice, by telling them how they, in
conjunction with their farmers, may keep the rent of
each individual under 300/, and so enable the tenantry
to evade their share of the new public burdens.
The income law is not to extend to Ireland, where
there is no machinery to levy it, and, as a substitute for
it, Ireland is to pay an additional. duty of Is. a gallon
on spirits ; and the stamp duties there, except the duty
on advertisements, are to be raised to a level with the
stamp duties in England. These two duties will probably
yield an increased revenue from Ireland of 410,000/.
Moreover, Sir ROBERT PBEL proposes to subject all coals
exported to a duty of 4s. a ton, and he expects this
will yield a sum of 200,000/. The aggregate increased
revenue from these various sources he calculates at
4,380,0001., which will meet the whole expenditure of
the year, and leave him a surplus of 1,800,0001., which he
is to apply to reliQ ving the commerce of the country.
The mode of doing this is to revise the Tariff'
completely ;. abolishing all prohibitions, and sub-
stituting,
speaking generally, three classes of duties,
namely, a maximum duty-of five per cent. on raw ma- '
terials ; of twelve per cent. on partially manufactured
articles ; and of twenty per cent. on manufactured arti-
cles. This will give a great relief, he says, to many
branches of trade; but as the Right Hon. Baronet did not
state the particulars, and as the tariff is not yet
published, we cannot judge of this part of his scheme.
.We have heard that his propositions as to cattle are
these : instead of the present prohibition, the taxes to be
10s. for every head of full grown cattle, ss. for a calf
2s. 6d. per head for sheep and pigs, while meat will be
subject to a duty of Id. per lb., both fresh and salt. If
this be carried, it will permit a considerable importation
_ _ _

both of cattle and of meat, and as the sliding-scale is
not applied in this case, we apprehend that graziers may
have good reason to complain that they are not protected
equally with arable farmers.

The timber duties are to undergo a considerable re-
duction. The duty on Canada timber is to bo reduced

to Is. per load, and on deals and lath-wood to 2s. per
load. Foreign timber is to be admitted at 255. the load,
foreign deals at 305., and foreign lath -wood at 20s. Taking
this reduction of the , timber duty, which, however
great a boon to the manufacturers and shipowners will
not be an advantage to the landowners, in conjunction
with the permission to import cattle at the above-named
duty ; and in conjunction with the income tax, we are

,nclined to believe that the landed interest would have

done better, in a pecuniary point of view, to
have consented to abolish the Corn-laws. It
must be always remembered, that the continuance
of those laws, keeping population in check, and, of
course, keeping in check the growth of the national
wealth, are the main, if not the only cause why the re-
venue of the country does not now equal its expenditure.
All these new taxes, therefore, are to be considered as an
additional price the community pays for the Corn-laws,
and of that price the landlords and graziers at least, we
are happy to see, will have to pay a tolerable share.
On coffee, Sir R. PEEL also makes a considerable re-
duction of duty, from Is. 3d. on foreign, 9d. on East
India, and Gd. on the British colonial to 4d. on the two
latter, and Bd. on all foreign coffee. On stage ;coaches, too,
the mileage is to be reduced to one uniform rate of
three-halfpence, while the license duty is to be lowered
from ss. to 3s. Sugar he does not touch, as he is afraid
of encouraging slavery. Passing over some mincr
matters, we state the conclusion to be, that by these
various alterations, the revenue will be reduced
1,210,0001. That is -the amount of the boon which
Sir R. PEEL gives to commerce and to the consumers,
in return for the heavy additional taxation to which he
subjects the whole people who have incomes above 1501.
a year.

We will not at present state our opinion of this
scheme further than to say that it seems to us to
make very great alterations to comparatively very
little purpose. Contrary to the general spirit and tenour
of Conservatism, it unsettles to a vast extent the rela-
tions between different branches of industry, without
giving much freedom to any. It shifts the burdens to
which the nation 112 s got accustomed, even more than it
enhances them.

Of the principle of a property tax largely applied, and
so abolishing the restrictions that are now imposed on
trade, not intending to injure it, but to obtain a revenue
from it, we approve ; but the tax on income will be, we
fear, only vexatious, while it is not large enough to allow
of the heaviest fetters being struck off commerce. The
direction Sir ROBERT PEEL has taken is right,
but he halts at the entrance of the path.
He will find, we believe, no gratitude from the
classes be proposes to relieve, and no little
opposition from those on whom he now, for the
first time, imposes a burden. We cannot augur, brilliant
as was Sir IL PEEL'S speech, any splendid success for
his policy, particularly as the greater part of his state-
ments, wherever they partook of a general character, were
all favourable to commerce and to the consumer, and all
at direct variance with the principles he contended for on
the'corn question. It is obvious his leanings are towards
free trade, and he is now painfully obliged, almost every
day of his life, to contradict himself, and to be instru-
mental in destroying his own reputation and his power.

COURT CIRCULAR.
The Queen held a Court and Privy Council at half-past two
o'clock yesterday afternoon, at Buckingham Palace.
At the Court his Excellency Baron de Hugel, Envoy Ex-
traordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from his Majesty the
King of Wurteroburg, had an audience of the Queen. His
Excellency was introduced by the Earl of Aberdeen, K. T.,
her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State fur Foreign Affairs,
and conducted by Sir Robt. Chester, Master of the Ceremonies.
The Privy Council was attended by his Royal Highness
Prince Albert; Lord Wharncliffe, Lord President ; the Duke
of Wellington ; the Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Privy Seal ; the
Earl of Aberdeen, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ; Lord
Stanley, Secretary of State for the Colonies; Sir James Gra-
ham, Secretary of State for the Home Department ; the Earl
of Haddington, First Lot d of the Admiralty; Lord Fitzgerald,
President of the Board of Cent 41; Sir Henry Hardinge, Secre-
tary-at-War ' • Sir Edward Knatchbull, rlaymaster of the
Forces ; the Earl of Li rerpool, Lord Steward ; the Earl Dela-
war, Lord Chamberlain ; and the Earl of Jersey, Master of
the Horse.

At the Council some alterations were made in the roll of
Sheriffs for the present year.
Mr. C. Greville was the Clerk of the Council in Waiting.
Her Majesty gave audiences to Lord Wharncliffe, the Earl
of Jersey, Sir James Graham, and the Duke of Buccleuch.
The Court was attended by Viscount Hawarden, Lord in
Waiting ; Lord Ernest Bruce, Vice-Chamberlain ; Sir Frede-
rick Stovin, Groom in Waiting; Lord Colville, Lord in
Waiting on Prince Albeit; and Sir Edward Bowater, Equerry
in Waitir:g on his Royel Highness.
Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal was taken an air-
ing yesterday to hampstead Heath, in a carriage and four.
Baron de Hugul, the Wurtemburg Minister, had an audience
of his Royal Highness Prince Albert yesterday at Buckingham
Palace, after his presentation to her Majesty.
Her Majesty and Prince Albert honoured Drury-lane
Theatre with their presence yesterday evening. The Royal
suit o consisted of the Countess of Dunmore, Hon. Miss Lie-
vereux, Hon. Miss Stanley, Viscsuntess Hawarden, Sir Fred.
Stovin, Colonel Buckley, and Sir Edward Bowater.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent visited her Ma-
jesty the Queen Dowager yesterday, at Marlborough House.
The Duke of Cambridge visited her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Kent yesterday, at Clarence House, St. James's.
The Duchess of Gloucester visited her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Crmbridge yesterday. at Cambridge House.
The Duke of Cambridge, attended by Colonel Jones, honoured
Sir Henry Halford with his company at dinner on Thursday
evening, at his residence in Curzon-street. His Royal High-
ness afterwards honoured the Marchioness of Londonderry with
his company, at Holderness House.
The Duke of Cambridge visited her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Gloucester yesterday.
Lord Grimston, M.P., Mr. Brocklehurst, M.P. (Maccles-
field), and a deputation of silk throvvsters, including Mr.
Woollam, St. Alban's, Mr. Bennet, Macclesfield, Mr. Per-
cival, Sandbach, and Wheelock, Cheshire, Mr. Shute, Wat-
fbrßcLipnaond, rd
n Thursday,
drieka' Essex, had an interview with the Earl
of y, at the office of the Board of Trade.
The Duke of Wellington, and ether Cabinet Ministers, at-
Ripon on Thursday,
tended a meeting
allafternoo at Sir Robert Peel's pri-
vate residence in Whitelgardens. n
Captain Fitzroy, and a deputation of shipowners of the out-
o.
The Duke of Ric..mond bad an interview with the Earl of
Ripon on Thursday.
apto rtthse, hadeaa
radn
eifnTt erravdi wi th the Earl of

BRIGHTON FRIDAY.—TIIE GALE OP WEDNESDAY.
—The schooner in distress, off Brighton, yesterday afternoon,
proved to be the Sylph, of Jersey, laden with calm. It appeati
eoxffLpittitolenhoarPaticintAe the
master and whole
oy being on shore that
atth the hcerev:vs, avtt. iatnh
hct the exception
when she broke away from her moorings, and drifted at the
mercy of the waves the whole of the night. Upon the men in
the life boat boarding her, the poor boy was discovefed, half
dead with fright; they immediately took him into their boat,
and, after getting a few articles, left her in a sinking state, and
within half-an-hour she went in twelve fathoms water. The
account in the Times and Post this day, stating that ten lives
were lost in the Economy, off Littlehampton, is incorrect, as
the whole of the crew were saved, as stated in my yesterday's
account.. The Flower of Weymouth, Capt. Cant, laden with a
general cargo, on the night of the gale, Was driven from the
Isle of Wight to Hastings, where she ran ashore, and, by the
brave exertions of the Hastings fishermen, the whole of the
crew were saved.
Two days ago a man named Boequet, the keeper of
a public-house at Abbeville, and who had long been known
'for his ill-treatment of his wife, for which he was put into
prison for a shOrt time, in January last, having had a new
quarrel with the unfortunate woman, shot her with a pistol,
and, rushing into the street, with another pistol, shot himself,
and fell dead. His victim dird a few hours afterwards..
The Swiss papers mention that the cranes returned
to the neigbbourhood of Perne on the 15th ult., and that this
is considered an infallible sign of the winter being ended.

THE FRENCH MAIL.

The French papers of Wednesday have arrived. The
following are the only extracts in them worthy of
notice :

We find the following from Constantinople, 16th ult., in the
Journal de Smyrna :—Tbe steamer which arrived on Satur-
day from Trebisonde, brings information of an extensive fire at
that place on the evening of the 4th inst. It raged the whole
of the night, and destroyed 500 shops, about ten houses, and a
khan, but f• rtunately the greater part of the property contained
in them was saved.

The three Deputies of the Greek, Armenian, and Armenian-
Catholic population of Pera, who were appointed to make the
distribution of the ground situated in the quarter of Pere,
lately destroyed by fire, have just been arrested and impri-
soned, on a charge of fraud in the exercise of their functions.
—Le Comma ce.

We find the following in the Memorial Bordelais :—" The
difficulties concerning the etiquette to be observed in re-
mitting his credentials, raised by Court de Salvandy at
Madrid, are now set at rest, in consequence of the corn-
muoications which have taken place between the French
and Spanish Governments, and also between Lord Aber-
deen and the Count de St. Aulaire, who have taken part
in the question. It has been decided that the rank of
Ambassadeur de Famine shall no longer be sustained by the
French Envoy at Madrid, but that he shall henceforth have
only the title of Minister Plenipotentiary, and shall deliver his
credentials to the Regent conformably to the Constitution of
1837, and w:cording to the interpretation of the Cortes them.
selves. We believe that we can affirm that the appointment
"of the diplomatist to fill this office will soon appear in the
Moniteur, and that he will be ordered to go to his post imme-
diately, in order to put a stop to an unpleasant pos►tion, which
is not suited to two nations identified in interest and political
principles. M. Olezaga will shortly return to Paris to con-
tinue his diplomatic mission to our Government in his charac-
ter of Minister Plenipotentiary, as before, thus sparing the
two countries the useless expense of a sumptuous embassy.
Le Constitutionnel.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.

GLOBE.—The Chronicle remarks maliciously, that
" many acute and experienced heads are of opinion that, if
the further progress of the Corn-bill is vigorously opposed,
the country gentlemen will so far recover their wits, and
get so much spirit, that nearly a dozen may *ote against
the third reading." Nearly an equivalent to the 'number of
tailors that make a man—did actually leave the house on
Wednesday night and refuse to vote in favour of the se-
cond reading of the Peel Corn-bill. The following is the
little flock of seceders on the side of monopoly :—Mr.
Archdall, Fermanagh county ; Mr. Allix, Cambridge-
shire ; Mr. Bankes, Dorsetshire ; Mr. Burroughes, East
Norfolk ; Mr. Jos. Neeld, Chippenham ; Mr. John
Neeld, Cricklade ; Lord Ossulston, Northumberland ;
Mr. Wodehouse, East Norfolk. Sir R. Vyvyan paired off
against the Bill, Kith Mr. Stanley, of Cumberland.
It will be seen from the above list, that if none of the
other malcontents with the measure have yet contrived
to pluck up spirit to vote as well as to speak against it,
Mr. Blackstone's eloquence and example have produced
an effect at least negative. It operated, indeed, ob-
serves our Morning Contemporary, ad modum reci-
pientis, on the slow nature of the squires. It induced
none, indeed, to follow it. Mr. Blackstone walked into
the lobby without a friend. But it startled Mr. Buck.
fit representative of what Lord Howick called the bar-
barous' agriculture of Devonshire, to such a degree, as
to suggest to him the notion that it was necessary to at-
tempt some excuse for voting the reverse of former
pledges. Some more lively and sensible natures it acted
on to such a degree, that early in the evening they went
away. The progress of conscientious conviction con-
tinued to the end of the debate ; and Lord %Vorsley's
taunting speech completed in one instance the work of
Mr. Blackstone. An English county Member, who sat
opposito his Lordship, and who, during the course of his
speech, is said to have exhibited to the P imiring Com-
mons the outward and visible signs of a wholc -ome re-
morse, rose when strangers were ordered to withdraw,
and rushed out of the House.

STANDARD.—The Opposition Journals are now
filled with some rather inconsistent complaints against
the Irish Government. On one side, they make it
ground of accusation that the persons accused of the
murder or a poor man named M'Ardle, at Rathfriland,
have not been convicted ; on the other, that in various
parts of the country, persons are proved to have
committed perjuries in prosecuting accused par-
ties. What has the Irish Government to do with
these things ? Ardle was murdered foully
murdered. We have read the trial of the case
arising upon his murder' with attention, and can
have no doubt it is one of a very black number, but
betwean concluding that A has been murdered, and
concluding that C, D, and E have murdered him, there
is a wide difference ; and upon the best attention we
have been able to give to the trial, we are not satisfied
that the accused are even probably the guilty parties :
we are quite sure that a London jury would acquit
them upon such evidence as was produced. Un-
happily, however, Irish juries have more reason
to be cautious in such matters than English juries.
The case of Archibald Sly, accused by a conspiracy of
witnesses to have murdered a man where no murder was
committed, is probably in the recollection of most
readers. NoW, if the deceased in that case, who died by
a fall from his horse, had been, in fact, murdered, though
not by Sly, there is almost a certainty, that Sly must
have perished as a murderer, though an innocent man.
There is also the case -of a priest (Burke, we
think), at Cork, suborning a perjured prosecution
for murder, and fifty other like cases that must be
fresh - in the recollection of Irish jurors, -to make them
extremely cautious in' matters of blood, particularly in
cases where sectarian influence may be supposed to
operate. This is unfortunate, and it cannot fail f"equently
to obstruct justice ; but jurors are on their oaths, and
charged with an awful responsibility. Even the possibility
of consigning an innocent man to the gibbet is a frightful
imagination. The other ground of complaint, the proo,
that many persons have committed perjury for rewards
is another unhappy indication of the difficulty of
administering justice in Ireland. 'Without rewards you
will have no witnesses to aid in the punishment of
crimes ; but the offer of rewards must always operate
more or less as a bait to perjury, and, therefore, wit-
nesses
are again distrusted. Between the inflammation
of sectarian feeling on one side corrupting witnesses,
and the danger of rewards corrupting them on the other,
juries scarcely know how to act ; and thus justice must
be imperfectly administered, because justice can no
where find that certain truth without which she can-
not act.

MORTALITY in the METROPOLIS.
The following ar3 the results of " A Table of Mortality in
the Metropolis, showing the Number of Deaths from all Causes
Registered in the week ending March 5, 1842." The Table is
issued from the Office of the Registrar-General:—

Weekly
Average
l A3B-9.40-1.

CAUSES OF DEATH.

Total.

ouri-Four
Winters) Years
Epidemic, Endemic, & Contagious Diseases 141 199 190
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves, and Senses 158 160 149
Diseases of the Lungs, and other Organs of
Respiration
Diseases of the Hea-t and Blood-vessels 19 21 18
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and ether
Organs of Digestion ...
Diseases of the Kidneys, &c
Childbed, Diseases of the Uterus, &c 6 11 10
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and Muscles 6 7 6
Diseases of the Skin, &c 3 1 1
Diseases of Uncertain Scat 126 115 104
014 Age, or Natural Decay
Deaths by Violence, Privation, or Intern-
pei ance
Causes not specified
Deaths front all causes . 957
Average Weekly Deaths .. 1017 912
Population Average Deaths
enu. Weekly in
merated Deaths the
1641. 183F-9—V-1. Week.
West—Ker.sington, St. George
( Hanover-square), Westm in- Four I Four
ster, St. Martin in the Fields, Ye rs. Winters.
St. James
North—St. Mary-le .bone, St
Pancras, Islington, Hackney 365,660 162 182 189
Central—Saint Giles and Saint
George, Strand, Clerkenwell,
Holborn, St. Luke, East Lon-
don, West London, City of
London 373,803 188 213 179
East—Shoreditch, Whiteehapel,
Bethnal Green, St. George
in the East, Stepney, Poplar 392;495 206 228 199
South—St. Saviour, St. Olave,
St. George( Southwark ), Ber-
monthey, Newington, Lam-
beth, Camberwell, Bother-
hitlae, Greenwich .... 438,060 221 243 249

Total 1,870,727 912 1017 957

It is slated that under the term Metropolis are comprised the
32 districts herein mentioned, which include the City of Lon-
don with and without the walls, the City and Liberties of
Westminster, the out-parishes within the Bills of Mortality—.
and the parishes of St. Mirylebone, St. Pancras, Kensington,
Fulham, Hammersmitl. Chapeky), St. Luke (Chelsea), Pad-
dington, St. Mary (Stoke Newington), St. Leonard Brom-
ley), St. Mary-le-bow, Camberwell, Greenwich, St. icholas
arid St. Paul (Deptford), and Woolwich. The population, as
enumerated in 1831, was 1,594,890; and in June 1841, was

1,870,727. The weekly avenge for 1838, 1839, 1846, and
1841, was obtained by dividing the deaths in the four years by
208, and the deaths in the four winters by 52.
TEMPERATINKE IN TILE WEEKS ENDING
Feb. 26. March 5.
'Highest
Lowest 35 35
Daily Mean •••.. 0000000 •••• 42 45
General ftegister Officv,_Marc 10, 1842.