The Sun.
London, England, 1842-06-15 00:00:00

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LONDON
WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 15, 1842.

The only reason assigned by the Government for re-
fisting I,,fd HowicK's proposal to reduce the differen.
tial duty on foreign coffee, was, that negotiations are
pending wish Brazil, and our Government might have an
advantage in concluding them, if it did not now concede
the reduction of duty on Brazilian coffee. Precisely the
same argument was used by Sir ROBERT PEEL, when
Dr. BOWRING proposed to reduce the duty on French
silks and French wines. The high differential duty in
kept on, according to this theory, to annoy the French
and the Brazilians, and is hereafter to be abolished to
bribe them to assent to the propositions submitted to
them by Sir ROBERT PEEL. On this principle, Custom-
house duties are levied, not because they are necessary
for the Government, or serviceable to our own people,
but from considering the circumstances of France :Ind
Brazil. With all deference to Sir ROBERT PEEL, and
the two Houses of Parliament, we venture to assert that
the affairs of England are not so ably managed as to
warrant them in taking on themselves the responsibilit
of legislating for other countries.
The advocates of this somewhat absur 1, though cus-
tomary proceeding, may say that they continue then"
duties in the hope of extorting some advantage from
France, for our linen yarns, or from Brazil for our
woollens. But why ate the consumers of coffee or
wines now to be taxed to procure, a, prospective advan-
tage to the manufacturers of these two articles ? When
this theory is analysed it is resolved into the old scheme
of taxing one portion of our own people to benefit some
It is a remnant of the bounty system. Let us,
say Mr. GLADSTONE and Sir ROBERT PEEL, tax all
who drink coffee and wine, and by and by we shall
confer on those who spin linen-yarn and make woollen
cloth a great increase of employment and wealth. Our
political-economy teachers proved to us that all such
schemes were a misdirection of the national capital, a
waste of the national resources, an usurpation of indi-
vidual rights, and :at advantage conferred on one branch
of the community at the expense of another. When

gliding GLAIIsTONE and plausible PEEL ?
One very serious consequence of the prospective
reduction of duties contingent on something which the
diplomatists of France and the Brazils may hereaf!er
agree to, was pointed out by Mr. HAWES. It leaves
the duties practically unsettled, and deranges, pro
rant°, the dealings of merchants. They cannot carry on
their transactions with safety. We will be bold to say
that nearly all the duties of the tariff, as now proposed,
are tainted with the same vice. The duty on sugar is
only to be levied for a single year. That on timber in-
volves a prospective arrangement. Coffee, wine, spirits,
wool, cotton, cattle, butter, cheese, have all been sub-
jected to duties which cannot be permanently main-
tained. Sir ROBERT PEEL'S tariff will tend, therefore,
to paralyze trade, by the uncertainty it will introduce
into several great branches of business. It is, how
ever, one of thoie laws which have met the approbation
of some writers, because they can be Massed—not be-
cause they are right and just, Week after week is Sir
ROBERT PEEL spoken of as the most sagacious of states-
men, because he proposes to Parliament only such mea-
sures as will meet the prejudices of his supporters. lie
has, on this principle, carried his Corn-law and his
Income-tax, and he will carry his Tariff. The conse-
quences will be, continual famine, great discontent, and
future changes, begetting, at present, mercantile uncer-
tainty, in his scheme of duties.

Mr. GOULBURN, the night before last, very kindly in-
formed the scaleless people, after they bad lost from Sd.
to 14d. on every sovereign in their possession, because
they could not weigh it, that the majority of the
sovereigns paid into the Bank were only deficient lh or
per cent., so that the loss on an average was only 3d.
each. What good will that knowledge now do to those
who have been inconvenienced and fleeced? It will only
strengthen their conviction that they have been de-
frauded, and may contribute to nourish the ill will
which certain classes entertain for each other.
Mr. GOULBURN mentioned the small deficiency of the
sovereigns as a justification of the proclamation, imply-
ing that the real loss wes so little that it might be easily
borne, and that the people were partly to blame fur
having exaggerated the evil, and suffered themselves to
be imposed on. Does he not see that the less the
sovereigns are depreciated the less any proclamation
whatever was required, and the more the Government
is to blame for having issued it ? We never heard any
complaints of the gold coinage. The sovereigns passed
freely, and their value was unquestioned. No man
weighed them, or was made sensible that they were de-
preciated. No person, therefore, can find any good
reason whatever for issuing the proclamation, and the
Government is generally and loudly accused of having
wantonly or ignorantly caused loss and trouble to the
bulk of the people.

The House of Commons finished the tariff last night,
and, tedious as the discussions may have appeared to the
public, we believe there is no example of a popular
deliberative assembly having got through a new scheme
for regulating all the customs' duties of the empire so
rapidly.

The motion to issue a new writ for Belfast last
night, caused a complete exposure of another of those
disgraceful compromises by which the representation
of the people has been bartered for corrupt pecuniary
considerations. Mr. O'CoNNELL proved that an or-
ganised system of bribery had prevailed at Belfast, and,
to avoid the consequences of that, money was paid to
keep back the evidence, and the seat was vacated. The
exposure was so complete that Sir ROBERT PEEL, who
had probably not made up his mind whit course he
should take before he had heard Mr. O'CoNNELL's
statements, voted against issuing the writ, and at once
granted Mr. O'CoNNELL a Committee to inquire whether
a corrupt compromise had taken place or not. Other
compromises, we believe, equally disgraceful, have been
entered into to serve the purpose of a party, in which
the views, feelings, and wishes of the candidates have
been sacrificed, as well as the interest of the electors.
But we hope as the House of Commons has begun the
inquiry, it will carry it out, and not leave one case of
corrupt compromise uninvestigated or unbranded.

An interesting discussion took place in the House of
Lords on Monday night, on a motion made by Lord CAMP-
BELL for a return of the records of the trial of a JAMES
HENDRY, for an assault, at the late assizes at Stirling, hi
Scotland. According to the statement made by Lor.l
CAM/41E1n, a constable named SIMPSON was assaulted in
the discharge of his duty, for which he brought an ac-
tion against the person who assaulted him. No one bi:t
himself had witnessed the assault, and he was put in the
witness-box to prove it. The defendant's Counsel oh-
jeeted that he was an infidel, and therefore not to be be-
lieved on his oath. The Lord Chief-Justice Clerk an 4
Lord MEDWYN, without addressing a word to the wit-
ness, allowed four persons to be examined, to prove the
infidelity of his opinions, and that he was a reader of the
works of VOLTAIRE and VOLNEY. The Judges exa-
mined him at great length upon his opinions respecting
different points of Christian doctrine, and although lie
repeatedly asserted that he believed in a Divine Being,
the Redemption, and was ready, if allowed, to receive the
Sacrament, his testimony was rejected.

Such was the statement of Lord CAMPBELL. The
LORD CHANCELLOR, however, on behalf of the Scottish
Judges, asserted that the witness SIMPSON was not exa
mined touching his religious opinions by the Judges,
but by the defendant's advocate, and that by the law of
Scotland the man's religious opinions being called in
question, the Judges could not prevent such an investi-
gation before admitting his testimony. The result was
the reveres of what was stated by Lord CAMPBELL, fin•
the man was sworn, the accused found guilty upon his
evidence, and sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment.
Now we care very little which version of this story
be true ; if the presiding Judges administered the law
correctly, as we have no doubt they did, that law
is a disgrace to Scotland. Is every man who accuses
another of committing a violent assault upon him, to be
subjected, before giving evidence, to an ecclesiastical in-
quisition as to what may be his opinions upon this or
that point of practical and speculative theology ? Is a
man to have his teeth dashed out with impunity in
moral, justice-loving Scotland, because it can be proved
that he read " Candide," " The Man with Forty Crowns,"
" The Travels of Scarmantado," and the " Ruins of Em-
pires ?" Where is the scholar or the man of taste to 1w
found who has not feasted apon the inimitable wit—aye and
profound genius too, of VOLTAIRE ? We are persuaded
a man might swear the truth as to his having his head
broken, and yet think the author of " Mahomet,"
" Semiramis," " Merope," and " Zaire," a better poet
than those twin constellations of Divine song, Messrs.
STEHNIIOLD and HOPKINS. They manage these things
differently on the south of the Tweed. Lord DENMAN
and the other Judges in the House of Lords, stated that
in this country the only questions put to a witness were,
did he believe in the sanctity of an oath, and the
existence of a future state of rewards and punish-
ments ? These questions were put by the Judge,
and if answered in the affirmative, set at rest all
olk;ections on the score of infidelity. In England
it is not held that men must be guilty of perjury be-
cause they cannot swallow the whole of the Thirty-nine
Articles, celebrate the Martyrdom of King CHARLES,
and accept as entirely orthodox every syllable contained
in the Book of Common Prayer. A witness may think
the bench of Bishops an assemblage of useless old wo-
men, and yet an English Judge will not scruple to trail;
sport a pick-pocket on his evidence, any more than he
would, did be believe that C. J. LONDON was a Bonomeo
in Charity, and H. EXETER a Stylites in self-denial.
Bow-street would present a' queer appearance if con
stables could only be sworn after they had satisfied
the Court that their orthodoxy on the points disputed
by Dr. PUSEY and the bench of Bishops was entirely
unimpeachable.

The declaration that a witness considers the form
of oath administered to him binding upon his conscience,
is all that the law ought to require from any person in
any country. There can be no greater fallacy than the
vulgar impression with respect to oaths. ' 'We have
paid some attention to the subject, and so far as our ex-
perience has led, we have ever found that men who pro-
fessed to believe the most, were the readiest to tak:.
oaths, and-to break them too. Hypocrisy is the safest
cloak for perjury. Justice and common sense says
that the man who wilfully and spitefully breaks
his neighbour's bones should be punished fur it,
no matter whether that neighbour be or be not a
Christian. To this extent, therefore, the law of Scot-
land, as laid down by the practice of two of the most
eminent Judges of that couttry, calls for speedy amend-
ment, and w e trust Lord CAMPBELL will lose no time it
bringing forward a Bill to that effect.

Arr. IVALLACE has given notice of four clauses, two of
great importance, relative to the Scotch Church, which
Ate will propose by way of amendments, in the event or
the Bill to regulate the exercise of Church patronage in
Scotland being committed. We may tell the Hon.
Member at once, however, that he will be saved the
trouble, for the Bill will either be withdrawn at the
second reading, or be rejected by a large majority. The
General Assembly settled that point last month ; and
were the plans of the Member for Greenock even to be
entertained by the House, and finally passed into a law, the
Non-Intrusionist clergy would denounce it as a most
outrageous interference with their spiritual authority.
Mr. WALLACE properly looks to the interests and wishes

science repudiates such a scheme, is it.sufficient to make of the people, while these are the very last considerations
Parliament adopt it that it is now recommended by that influence the minds of those reverend fathers who
!lave ,o long disturbed the pelzee of the ketch Church.
Dr. CHALMERS, in one of his late speeches also settled

that point, and would therefore reject with infinite con-,
tempt and disdain the following clause, " that on every
occasion when a vacancy shall occur in the holy ministry
in any parish in Scotland, that the same shall be filled
up on the clear and distinct principle of unfettered elec-
tion, by those who at the time of such vacancy occurring
shall have their names recorded in a list to be kept for
that purpose, as persons of good character, and being in
habitual attendance on the ordinances of religion in the
parish church." This is an excellent clause, and to make
it perfect only a slight addition is required, namely,
that all persons untainted by crime shall be admitted to
the ordinances of religion in order to deprive the Church
of any pretence of interfering in the election. The third
clause is still better, and consequently would be more
unpalatable to the clerical agitators, for it provides that
'the established clergy shall confine themselves to their
own proper calling, and in no way interfere with the
appointment of those who are to become their
brethren." We are not aware what is the cha-
racter of the clergyman under whom the Honourable
Member for Greenock sits (using the Scotch phrase), but
if he is a hot Non-Intrusionist, the fate of Mr. WALLACE
as regards Church privileges, is sealed. Nothing short
of excommunication could atone for such a wanton inter-
ference with the rights of the Church.

There is no news of importance to English read-
ers in the French papers. They confine their
marks entirely to the forthcoming elections in France.
The Royalists, the Republicans, and the Doctrinaires
are all in the field with their programmes of soundins;
common places. _ _ _

The three steam-boats, the Archimedes, the Papin, and the
Blasco de Garay, built at London for the Papal Government,
will immediately quit Paris, to proceed up the Seine and the
Yonne, pass through the Canal de Bourgagne, and descend
the Soane and Rhone to Marselles. The steamers will touch
at Toulon, Genoa, Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, and Orlie, and
proceed up the Tiber to the walls of Rome. —Moniteur.
A general order, dated Algiers, the 20th of May, announces
that each of the three provinces of Algiers, Oran, and Constan-
tine, shall be henceforth administered separately by a Military
Int endent. Constitutionnel.

The Toulonnais of the 9th has the following from Al-
giers Our army has left us to go and meet General Bu-
geaud, and he having gone a:great way into the country, it fol-
lows that we know nothini, except by hearsay.
"We are persuaded that General 13ugeaud will come to
Algiers, after his stay at Blidah. We expect him with im
patience, for he will see with his own eyes the state of our
affairs. Pei haps he will comprehend our doubts of his sue-
ces es, for he is obliged himself to have a regiment to accom-
pany him from Blidah to Douera, and even to Dely Ibrahim,
within a league and a half of Algiers.
" It is still said that Abd-el-Kader is in the East, yet he
attempts nothing, and Ben Salem does not appear. We attri-
bute this tranquillity to the desire of the Bedouins speedily to
get in their harvest, and we are confirmed in this by the re-
ports of the Arabs, who come from time to time to get them-
selves taken, to serve afterwards as spies."
The other Toulon journal, the Sentinelle de la Marine, of
the Bth says, " The news from the East is not favourable."—
Commerce.

SUMMARY OF NEWS

AND
, VUbitt OPtlitOtt.

" Who runs may read."

FOREIGN.

The King of the French presided at a Cabinet Council on
Sunday, and signed the Royal Ordonnance for convoking the
Chambers for August 3, and the Electoral Colleges to return
Deputies on Saturday, July 9.
A letter from Havre of the 12th just., says :—His Royal
Highness the Prince de Joinville arrived this morning f. om
Paris, almost unattended, and has taken his passage on board
the Grand Turk for Southampton to-morrow. The Prince
may, therefore, reach London on Tuesday afternoon, and thus
put an end to all the silly reports that have been so industriously
circulated.

The Moniteur Parisienne announces that the King of the
French had reduced the terms of imprisonment of M. Lange
Levy, printer of the Charivari, and M. Proux, printer of the
Mode, sentenced for seditious libels ; the former to six months'
confinement, the latter to three months—to two months and
one month.

The Commerce persists in maintaining the truth of its state-
ment, that a complete rupture had taken place between Queen
Christina and the leading members of her party, in consequence
of ker refusal to join in, or sanction any further insurrection in
Spain. The Commerce, therefore, calls upon the Regent to
publish an amnesty to recall to Spain the refugee Moderados.
Letters from Toulon of the 9th, on the authority of advises
from Algiers of the sth, mention that rumours were in circu-
lation in the latter port, that the province of Constantino had
risen against the French. General Bugeaud was at Blidah,
Alsd-el-Kader was in the East organising the tribes.
The Journal du Geneve of the 10th announces that the new
constitution was adopted by the Electoral Colleges, by a majo-
rity of 4,844 against 530, The constitution of 1814 had only
2,444 votes, out of 40,000 inhabitants, whilst that of the con-
stitution of 1842 had about double, say 4,844, out of 59,800.
The Suabian Mercury of the 10th inst. states, that the
Russian Givernment had entered into a negotiation with the
house of Steiglitz to obtain the funds necessary for the con-
struction of the railroad from St. Petersburgh to Moscow.
The sum required is 50,000,000 rubles, to be advanced at the
rate of 10,000,000 each year. The Treasury had proposed to
guarantee an interest of 5 per cent. to the lenders.