The Sun.
London, England, 1827-06-02 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The debate of last night, in the Committee on
the Coin Bill, in the House of Lords, vas
unique in its way. Some of the leaders of the
Opposition surpassed themselves. The Earl:of
Malmesbury " was very anxious to make Ireland
a wheat-growing country, in order to make it
a wheat-consuming country; which, if it wefie,
the advantage to that country, would be im-
mense." Does the Polish serf eat any of the
wheat he raises ? The Irish would have as little
hesitation in preferring wheat to potatoes, as the
Poles would have in preferring it to horse-beans.
Beef and mutton tickle the palate still more than
wheaten bread, and the time is not remote when
Ireland was a grazing country. Did the loWer
Irish then eat beef and mutton ? The lower or-
ders then, as now, lived on potatoes. Sir John
Dalrymple, in his account of the Rapparees,- is
as loud in his outcry against potatoes as Lord
INlalmesbury can possibly be. It is very ainiis-
ing to hear this gravely uttered, at a time when
the peasantry in many parts of England, includ-
ing Lord Mahnesbury s own neighbourhood,
have been forced to abandon wheaten bread for
potatoes. In the Committee on Labourers'
Wages, the labourers in many parts of Eng-
land are described as reduced to the necessity of
dining on cold Potatoes, on the very fields which
they are preparing for crops of wheat Lord Re-
desdale gravely informed their Lordships,."
culti a-
t was very different in different -counties, that
some parts of the country were well cultivated, and
other parts were very ill cultivated." _We wonder
he did not add, that " fish live' only in water," and
that " on rooks entirely destitute of soil no corn will
grow." Lord Ellenborough, Who' is' never at a loss
on any subject, was also very great in encouraging
the cultivation of wheat in Ireland, anti condescended
to lecture Ministers on the manner in Which they
should improve themselves. during-the recess. A
desperate effort was made by some of the seceders,
to persuade the country of their value as Statesmen.
They had no instinct to discover, that such another
occasion might soon occur. Several Amendmenti
were proposed and rejected, but they succeeded in
giving a blow to the Warehousing, part of the mea-
sure. The Duke of Wellington moved, that the
word's should be added to the Warehousing Clause,
." that no Corn in Warehouse, under Bond, should
be allowed to be taken out until the price passed
665.;" and 78 voted for the Amendment, and 74
against it, giving a majority of foui. - When the re-
sult of the division was declared, there was a loud
•shout in the House ! Bravo, your Lordships !
.This alteration gives quite a new complexion to the
measure. Resignation is, however, a Christian vir-
tue.--Norning Chronicle.

The Budget is not now so exciting a subject
as it was during the War. During the war, every
fresh Budget announced matter which came
home to men's business and bosoms—namely,
the imposition of fresh taxes. But the rapidity
with which debt is contracted, and taxes are un-
posed in war, is very different from the slow and
almost imperceptible manner in which the former
is reduced, and the latter lowered during peace,
and hence the small interest comparatively ex-
cited of late years by the Budget. This year,
however, curiosity to know how Mr. Canning
-would acquit himself in his new character of
financier, and the peculiar circumstances of the
country, made the Budget looked forward to
with more than ordinary interest. Last year
(1826) there was, after defraying the expences
of the country, only one million over towards the
Sinking Fund of 5,500,0001., and the deficiency
-was therefore four millions and a half. But this
-was an apparent deficiency. Certain advances
were made which would be repaid, and payments
were made for expences incurred in former years,
which, deducted from the four millions and a
half, left a real deficiency of 2,100,0001. Taking
the four last years, in round numbers, the in-
come was 230 millions, and the expenditure 210
million*, leaving 20 millions applicable to the
Sinking Fund. The amount applicable by law
for these years, was 21 millions and a quarter,
and the apparent deficiency for the whole was
1,269,0001. But against it was to be placed money
advanced on available securities; there is an actual
surplus, in the four years,ofl,loo,ooo/.after allow-
ingfor the Sinking Fund. So much for last year taken
by itself, and in conjunction with the three pre-
ceding- years. Come we to 1827. The receipts
estimated after 1826, amount to 54,600,0001. The
=expenditure, exclusive of Si nking Fund,51,700,000/. ;
but including it, 57,464,0004 This leaves a de-
ficiency of 2,100,0001. Mr. Canning proposes to
meet the anticipated deficiency by an issue of Ex-
chequer Bills,
He admitted the unnecessary corn-
plexity introducesinto the public accounts by the
Dead Weight Schem,- but stated, as a set-off for
,
the inconvenience caused by it, that the Taxes yield-
ing then only two millions;baj they remained unre-
pealed, would now produce 8,21/0,0001. With all
deference to Mr. Canning, we think be arrives rather
too rapidly at this conclusion. The repeal of Taxes
frequently produces no diminution of revenue, and
;he imposition of taxes no increase. Wad the two'
roillions of taxes amounted to eight millions, we
,u,plect the deficiency in other branches would have
made „-n for the six millions. We doubt the possi-
bility of eitracting more money in the way of taxa-
tion than has lately been extracted from us. In
tebn a tax as notng to
Ireland, doubling' or
pjorple ligwho cannotdd pay fort axed
the produce ; for
articles must abstain from them. It is possible that
some addition might have accrued to the Revenue
- had the taxes remained unrepealA but this does not
follow as a matter of course. The views he took of
the situation of the country were moderate and
guarded. We were glad to hear so decided an
opinion expressed againsttampering with the country,
and for leaving things to take their natural course.
Mr. Canning, on sitting_down:was loudly cheered by
the House, which wished, with few exceptions, to
k give Ministers the interval till next Session for con-
videring the momentous affair of expenditure.—/bid.
t appears that the House of Assembly of
as well as the unfortunate inhabitants
of the CaCey
have had their share of grievances
and that, for no less a period
to contend wilf h ;
than ten years_......:ianiely, from 1816 to 1826,
those grievances have !ieen advancing and accu-
mulating upon the Colt:mists, who have at
length, after long endurance, And no redress,
come forward with a petition to his Majesty, fo,l
the removal of what they consider the master
grievance—a Governor of Lord Bathurst's in-
flicting : his name, indeed, is not Lord Charles,
but Frederick—Sir Frederick Philipps Robin-
son ; and the charges and complaints against
him, all detailed in one petition, and supported
by a voluminous and circumstantial appendix,
are in number no less than 43—comprising al-
leged acts of the most diversified rapacity and
oppression—most of them, however, evincing a
common and uniform tendency to crush every
power and authority in the island but that of the
Governor in his person, and to transfoirm the
mixed Constitution of the Colony into a des-
potism as complete as that of any pachalick under
the sway of Turkey. Shutting up roads—wan-
tonly dismissing police-officers—admitting un-
qualified persons to act as barristers--disrobieg ethers
for no judicial or legal offence but because they op-
posed his measures in the assembly--dismissing mi-
litia officers from the service, after levying on' them
the penalties affixed by law to the offence of non-at-
tendance at parade, with which he charged ;them,
altering, by illegal proclarnatiens, the value of the