The Sun.
London, England, 1827-12-05 00:00:00

habit, it is probable that they will continue to
rub on without them. But be this as it may, it
would be hard if individuals were to be deprived

of the power of resorting to -those shifts for se-
curing themselves independently of the law, to
which men thrown on their own resources will
naturally betake themselves. The Grand Seignior
is Sovereign of the wild regions, harassed by
the Arabs; but Turk as he is, lie does not
complain of caravans which have been plundered,'
negotiating with the Arabs for the restitution of
their property. The English, in like manner,
must manage with the Arabs in the best way
they can. We have never blamed Magistrates
or police-officers, but the system. We have no
doubt, that many of the police-officers are pos-
sessed of both abilities and cool courage in no
ordinary degree ; but the system does not allow
them to employ their.abilities or courage for the
good of the public.. They could not exist on
their allowances, and were they not to be. paid
by those who have recourse to them, they must.
starve. The greater the number of depredations,
the greater the call for their services,
_and conse-
quently the better their income. If people will
be so stupid as to. suppose that police-officers
must monopolize all the Spartan virtue of the
Country—that while all other persons are seek-
ing to improve their incomes, these men should
exert themselves to eradicate that on which their
incomes depend, reason would only be thrown
away on them.—lbid.

We yesterday stated that we could no-longer
hold out hopes pf the-possibility of peace being
preserved with Turkey, and we alluded to the
complexion of the intelligence which had been
received. We may now state more in detail,
which we can do from good authority, that our
Government are in possession of despatches from
Vienna, of the .25th of November, containing
the latest accounts from Constantinople, which
are of the 10th, at night ; and we have good
reason for believing, that the pufport of them is
that the Divan held very high language on the
subject of the destruction of the Turkish fleet
at Navarin, and talked . of some measure of re-
paration as being an indispensible preliminary to
the renewal -of a good Understandin, between
the Porte and the Allies. It appeared that an
account, or a rumour, of a descent on Scio by
Lord Cochrane and General Church had greatly
exasperated the Sultan—that he had directed
preparations to be made for an extensive arma-
ment, and that he lisd talked of accepting the
unjust war forced on him by the Allies. It is
alsa understood, that all means of Austrian in-
terference haci;ceen,fruitlessly exhausted. We
believe that no fears were entertained for the per-
sonal safety of the Ambassadors, whose de-
parture was yet. a matter of uncertainty, though
it is most probable that it has taken place. It
will not be supposed that the Expedition against
Scio could -have been in the remotest degree
countenanced by the Allied Commanders ;• so
far, indeed, from this being the case, we have
reason to know that they interfered to prevent it.
The reports at Constantinople of the actual de-
scent, may have arisen from the • knowledge of
the intention to undertake. the expeditiOn, which
may have been afterwards abandoned ; for we
cannot learn that there is any account of its hav-
ing actually taken place.—lbid..
Though the Stamp Duty upon Newspapers
May be supposed .to secure a monopoly to their
owners, we trust there is by far too .much ho-
nour, among those who possess that description
of property, to. wish to see the usefulness and
freedom of the Press shackled and circumvented
by any undue extension or tortured construction
of the burdens under which it labours. There
are various publications, both weekly and
monthly, of the highest character and utility, all
of which deal in certain matters in common with
the Newspapers—such as the Prices of Corn
and Stocks, Deaths, Marriages, &c. ; but which
are still widely different in their real character
from the sort of Journal to which- the Stamp
Duty in question was meant to attach. If this
were not so, and a fair common-sense line could
not be drawn, it would be impossible for any one
fact to issue from the Press without the impri-
. matur of Somerset House ; and we know of no
greater violence and injustice which could be
committed towards the liberty of the Press than
tile annihilation which such a regulation would
produce Of various cheap works of great value
and utility. If, as we have said, we have any in-
terest in the matter, it-is just the reverse of, that
svh ich the line. we are taking is calculated to serve ;
.lot we trust we can look to general principles,
utterly divested of any sordid motive ; and we
should be untrue to the principles of truth and in-
dependence—which we are at all times anxious
to promote—were we to hesitate for a moment
iu deprecating the attempt which is now making
by the Solicitor of Stamps to inflict upon a use-
ful;tliough subordinate, class of publications, an
impoSt which we are convinced.was never origi-
nally meant to reach them. Those who own
and manage the Newspaper Press in this country
have, God knows, burdens and difficulties
enough to. contend with ; and, instead of
doubling their circulation by being ,enabled
to vend their commodity st a price Phig.ll
would bring it within one's reach, they are tied
down to a price which brings it comparatively
, within the reach of the few. To supply that de-
ciency to a certain degree, other publications of
a different character have arisen, which would
most of them, in the end, be put clown, were the
present attempt to tax them to. succeed. We
do not mean to say that we believe that any
such intention exists ; but such, we are per-
suaded, would be the effect of the measures
which are commencing.. The truth, we believe
to be, that the Stamp Duties having, from va-
rious causes, fallen off considerably. from. what
. they used to produce, an attempt Is making
by extraordinary vigour, to make up the Ile.
fieiency from other sources. The low price
of landed property, and the reduced rate of inte-
rest, have very much reduced the :ad valorem
duties on sales and mortgages ; and the abolition
of the lottery has, we have no doubt, diminished
the Stamp Revenue to an extent which had not
been calculated upon. To supply this, the Re-
ceipt Tax is firs; resorted to; and now certain
cheap periodicals are to be brought within the
denomination of newspapers. This latter attempt
appears to us to be quite preposterous, and Will
not, we trust, succeed. Those who are attempt-
ing it but little reflect how very sin.all an addition,
.iny, would be gained to the general resrenue,
were they to succeed. How many printers, for
instance, who are tax-payers, . would be thrown
out. of employment—how much the excise duty
on paper and other coinmodities used in the
trade would be diminished were they to succeed'?
In fact, the freedom of the
Post Office. seems to
drawexactly that
_Duty is entitled to limit which the Newspaper
avocations border u i between it and those whose
t. No paper eau go
free which has not the Government stamp upon
it ; and to attempt to call that a newspaper which
only copies articles of intelligence from journals