The Sun.
London, England, 1845-04-08 00:00:00

iitornin *ll7-it4

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1843.

The House of Lords met at Five o'clock.
'The Earl of RADNOR entered his protest against
the proceeding.; of Saturday.
In answer to Lord CAMPBELL,

The Duke of WELLINGTON said he could not tell
when the subject of Scotch Banking would be brought
forward, but that he would take care due notice of
the time should he given.
Lord BROUGHAM then moved for certain returns
connected with railways, and animadverted in strong
terms on the mania at present existing for railway
speculations. If all the railways proposed were car-
ried out, 130 millions of capital would be withdrawn
from circulation in the course of the next three years,
and a dreadful commercial crisis would be the conse-

quences.
After a few words from the ERA ^f DALaousrE
and Lord ASHBURTON the returns were ordered.
The Marquis of NORMANBY gave notice of his in-

tention to bring in a Bill for giving the right of voting
at elections to all persons who paid the income-tax.

The Duke of BuccLEucu announced that it was
the intention of the Government to introduce, in a
short time, a measure for improving the sanatory
condition of towns, and that there would be no objec-
tion to extending it to Ireland and Scotland.
The Marquis of NORMANDY then rose for the pur-
pose of bringing before the attention of the House
the manner in which various appointments in the
Irish constabulary had recently been made, and con-
cluded by moving for certain returns on the subject.
Lord STANLEY replied to the speech of the Noble
Marquis. He did not object to grant the returns,
but he wished them to go further back, se as to show
the appointments which had been made by the Noble
Marquis himself.
After a short discussion, in which the Duke of
WELLINGTON and the Earl of ST. GERMANS took
part, the motion as amended was agreed to.

The Common Law Process Bill was read a third
time and passed, and the Sugar Duties Bill was read
a second time, after which their Lordships adjourned.

The House of Commons met at Fouro'Clock.

The Greenwich Colliery Railway Bill was read a
second time, after an ineffectual attempt on the part
Of Mr. HODGSON HINDE to throw it out.

In answer to a question from Lord PALMERSTON,
Sir It. PEEL stated, that no change whatever had
been made in the terms of the convention entered
into in 1839, between this country and France, for
the regulation of the fisheries.
Sir J. GRAHAM postponed the Medical Bills to that
thy week.

The House then resolved itself into Committee on
the Excise Acts, and
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved the
Repeal of the Auction duty.
Mr. G. BANKES opposed the repeal of those duties
on the ground that their repeal would confer no benefit
it. the agricultural interests. The surplus revenue
had much better be applied to the reduction of the
county rates.

A long discussion followed, and upon a division
the resolution of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
was carried by a majority of 137.

The debate in the House of Lords, on Friday
evening last, was of a character, an interest, an
importance far, indeed, above the average of the
discussions in that assembly. It may well suffice
for a text to the future historian, who would trace
the history of our past financial policy to the results
exhibited in our present fiscal condition. It might
have sufficed for a salutary discouragement to Sir R.
PEEL—had the forms told Standing Orders of Par-
liamentary business permitted the business of taxa-
tion to be originated in the Upper instead of the
Lower House—when he first contemplated the proposi-
tion, in 1842, of the property and income-tax. Such
a case, in our opinion, has been made out by two of
the highest authorities in the Lords against the prin-
ciple, and to demonstrate the practical injustice of a
measure that we have had such frequent occasion to
denounce in all its bearings, as to leave it no matter
of doubt that, had it been addressed to a House of
Commons not controlled by a slavish Ministerial
majority, but able and willing to act upon
their own conscientious convictions, the effect would
have been to rescue the country from the position
in which the event of Friday last has left her. The
Income-tax Bill has passed a third reading in the
Lords; and we are now saddled—Ministers do not
attempt to deny, permanently, although ostensibly for
a very limited term—with one of the most disgrace-
ful and oppressive burdens ever placed upon a great
and free people, in the thirtieth year of profound peace.
We by no means intend to impute to Sir ROBERT
PEEL, who has himself worked his way into supreme
officill power from the ranks of the people, that he
would wittingly afflict them with any visitation either
oppressive or disgraceful. It is the instinctive mo-
rality of Ministers, as well as of most " hlammalia,"
not to eat one another. Dogs do not prey upon
dogs ; and one cannot imagine a man of Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S associations and sympathies
disposed to devcur the commonalty. But a
man may take any line of road that is to be found in
the vast country of political experiment, and yet ar-
rive at the very point which his course has been most
carefully shaped to avoid. Giving Sir ROBERT PEEL
full credit for good intentions, we fear that they
have not brought him into any better or more
fortunate position—(we mean always for the nation)—
than this. To return, however, to the debate of Friday,
we find two speeches reported that are most remark-
able for their common-place character, and their
utter want of force and efficiency ; and two, as
much distinguished, on the other hand, by the sound-
ness of their views, the perspicuity of their state-
ments, the neatness of their argument, and the
sagacity of their deductions.

In the former category we must rank the speeche3
of the Earl of RIPON and Lord STANLEY ; in
the latter our readers will have already classed those
of the Marquis of LANSDOWNE and Lord ASHBURTON.
The speech of Lord RIPON, on proposing the third
reading of the Bill, we cannot help describing as every
way beneath the occasion. The Noble Earl did not
seem to imagine that any extraordinary painstaking
was necessary to vindicate to the Peers the very extra-
ordinary impost which his colleagues had committed
themselves to the course of propounding for a further
term of experimenton the public forbearance or apathy.
His address was accordingly much below even the ordi-
nary run of downright official mediocrity and prosing
common-place. Lord STANLEY'S auxiliary demon-
stration, although relieved by a few touches of that
constitutional vivacity which not even the heavy
artillery of figures can repress, was yet as
feeble and unfortunate' as his efforts on
such service are ever sure to be. He established the
case of hardship with regard to those whose com-
plaints he seemed to think were without foundation ;
and he damaged the defences, such as they were,
which his leader, Lord RIPON, had set up for the pro-
priety of the tax and its continuance. The Marquis
of LANSDOWNE completely routed the whole array of
argument which had been brought into the field to
maintain the principle of that tax. Lord ASHBURTON still
more effectually demolished the positions upon which
the defence of its practical working had been at•

tempted. The result, however, of the evening was,
that the Ministerial movement was accomplished.
The former of these Peers observed, with great
force, that on former occasions this obnoxious scheme
had been advocated on grounds far more intelligible
than any which Sir R. PEEL had yet attempted to
assign. When, at the close of the war of 1815, Lord
LIVERPOOL invoked the Parliament to continue the
then existing property-tax, he did so on the plea that it
was necessary he should have the means of winding
up the expenses of that war to meet the burdens of

which it had been expressly imposed. But the 'louse
of Commons indignantly resisted his appeal, and the
tax was at once extinguished. Two other grounds on
which the tax had now been defended were, that it was
necessary to he raised in order to ply the interest on
the public debt, and to enable Government to keep faith
with the public creditor; and again, thatit was a means
of raising the revenue above all of er means of
direct taxation. In exhibiting the fallacy of both
these assumptions, Lord LANSDOWNE showed that Sir
ROBERT PEEL bad never been in a condition to plead
such an exigency as the former inferred; and he dis-
puted very forcibly the soundness of any theory which
turned upon direct taxation in dealingwith income. A
more intelligent exposition of sound financial principles
than that comprised in Lord LANSDOWNE'S address it
has notbeen our fortune to peruse. The mode in which he
played off the solemn protest of the Sir ROBERT PEEL
of 1840, in his penultimate stage of opposition against
the suggestion of an income-tax by
the Government
of that day, to make good a deficiency of income,
against the equally
solemn appeals of the Sir Ro-
BERT PERr, in the zenith of official
Pow
was capital—it was turning the enemy'seguinnaluBp4osn,
Te nie
himself after the most approved tactics
of ther
himself. But in the speech of Lord Asnnu Premier
u x: the
r
extensive practical knowledge, the acute
observe_
tion, and the experienced judgment of one
of the ablest authorities that can be invoked on such
a question, we find not only a clear detail of the
actual operation of the Income-tax on various classes
upon whom it is levied—of its injustice, inequality,
and oppression ; but also the causes of the necessity
which whether truly or falsely, have been relied upon
to justify the resort to it. We are gratified
to find, that Lord ASHBURTON has thus strongly
and distinctly recorded his objections to the
tax in question on grounds both of principle and

of expc ' n --,v. The most important point established
va—

in his argument appears to be, that in all the thirty
years of peace, since 1815, little or nothing has been
done towards the reduction of the principal of the
debt. This omission he flatly charges as a normal
error in the financial policy of the present Administra-
tion, as well as in that of its predecessors. He shows
that the vaunted financial operations of Chancellors of
the Exchequer have been limited to reducing the
mere rate of interest, not the sum,of our enormous debt,
which he identifies with the main principle of whatever
weakness is occasionally experienced in the working
of our Government and the excessive inconveniences
and embarrassments to which public and private
credit have been occasionally exposed, without any
apparent adequate cause for such convulsions. In
the event of a war we must have recourse, notwith-
standing our unexampled condition of public prospe-
rity, to borrowing, and that borrowing, from the
neglect of diminishing the capital of the debt, we
could not manage except on terms that would be sig-
nally disadvantageous. There may be little chance
of his Lorship carrying with him a majority of his
countrymen in the favour with which he affects to
regard the institution and operation of a Sinking
Fund ; but we are quite certain that that majority
would concur with us in desiring to see the philo-
sophy of finance, as expounded by Lord LANSDOWNE
exemplified in a practical administration of the na-
tional resources, and a management of the national
liabilities on the bases suggested by Lord ASH..
BURTON.

The accounts from Switzerland, which are to the 4th
instant, are highly important. We stated on Saturday,
on the authority of the Journal des Debah, that the vo-
lunteers and the refugees from Lucerne had attacked
that town on the Ist of April, and, after losing from
800 to 1,000 men, had obtained possession of the place.
The intelligence respecting the great loss of life unfor-
tunately turns out to be true, but the assailants failing
in their attacks, were put to flight by the Lucerne troops
under General SONNENBERG, and completely routed
with the loss of their artillery. An official bulletin,
published by the Government of Lucerne, dated the
Ist instant, announces the defeat of the free corps, who
had left more than 600 men on the field of battle before
the gates. A letter front Berne, dated April 2, gives the
following account of this lamentable affair :
" The corps francs have been completely beaten. General
Sonnenberg allowed them to advance till they got close to
Lucerne, the suburbs of which place had been hastily forti-
fied. He their attacked them with three companies of the
Carabineers of Unterwalden, who at once threw the advanc-
ing columns into confusion, and, after completely putting
them to the rout, it succeeded in capturing the whole of the
artillery, and a large number of horses. The inhabitants of
the country, who had allowed the corps francs to pass
through their districts unmolested, had risen en masse in the
rear of the corps francs. The troops from Argau, which bad
started from Zofinguen, but had not advanced so far as the
others, succeeded in effecting a retreat, carrying two cannon
along with them. The number of men killed and wounded
is calculated at a thousand, but this is merely a guess, as the
official accounts are not yet published."
Another letter from Arau, written on the evening
of the Ist, furnishes the following particulars :
" All is lost ! A part of the expedition has just returned,
and we have obtained the following details from an eye-
witness, who came in with the first column. The expedition
set out in the night of Sunday. When at three leagues
from Zofinguen they were attacked by a battalion con-
cealed in the forest. The riflemen soon beat them off. They
continued to advance in good order, but under continual as-
saults, as far as Ettiswyl, where they were joined by a column
that came from Berne. At Russwyl the army divided; one
column moving on towards the principal bridge over the
Emme, and the other went to the right, and passed the Emme
at Wortheastein. It appears that there was some neglect in
keeping up the communication between 'Use two corps, and
that hence arose all their disasters. The left column, which
has returned, reached the Emme-bridge about six o clock. It
was known that this bridge bad been fortified and under-
mined, and that every other measure for its defence had
been taken. Consequently the column halted as soon as it
came within view of the bridge. Without being impeded by
the battery, which opened, and kept up an incessant fire, or
by the shots of the riflemen placed in ambush behind trees,
shrubs, and other shelter, the leader ordered 100 of his rifle-
men to ford the river, and they did so without any great
loss. On reaching the other side of the water the riflemen
cleared the bridge, and the Lucerne soldiers were driven in
confusion back into the town. The bridge, which had been
broken down, was soon restored, and the column which had
advanced towards the town took post on the height above it,
after having cleared them of the sharp-shooters who had
endeavoured to defend them. Here they waited for ac-
counts of the other column. Night had now come on, and
the invading troops began to be discouraged, the whole
column, having been marching and fighting for twenty-four
hours, without scarcely any respite, was exhausted with fa-
tigue. While the leaders were doing all in their power to en-
courage their men, a severe fire of musketry and grape-shot
opened upon them. They conceived it probable that it came
from the second column, which, in the dark, had mistaken
them for the enemy. A part of the first column became
panic struck, and several companies began to retreat. Find-
ing that they were not pursued, order was soon restored;
but, learning nothing of the second column, the retreat was
continued. At day break they were attacked by a battalion
which was planted in their way with six pieces of cannon.
The soldiers of Lucerne, however, showed so little courage,
that they were soon put to flight. The column was twice
again attacked in the same manner, and twice beat the
enemy back, without causing him much loss, it is true, since
he always contrived to keep himself at a respectful distance.
The vanguard of the column has arrived at Zofinguen, but
the main body is still engaged. As to the second column, no
one knows what has become of it ; but it is presumed that it
has retired into the Canton of Berne."

The Zurich Gazette of the 2(1 confirms the intel
gence:—

" The Government received yesterday evening from Lu.
cerne the bulletin of the State Gazette, with the following
details. On the 31st ult. the conflict was suspended until
the following day. Yesterday the fight recommenced on the
heights which surround the town. The invaders were re-
pulsed, and left 600 men on the field of battle. Several offi-
cers and soldiers were taken prisoners. The contingents of
Obwalden and Niedwalden (900 strong) displayed great
courage on the bridge of Emme. In the evening troops
arrived from Zug, and took part in the conflict, as did also a
battalion of infantry and two companies of arequebusiers from
Uri. The troops of Lucerne had three killed and several
wounded. Some persons who have arrived from Lucerne inform
us that the volunteers who had been made prisoners by the
troops of Lucerne have been cruelly treated. A great num-
ber of them were massacned by the soldiers without any at-
tempt being made by the officers to prevent it. The hos-
pitals are filled with -wounded. Eight pieces of cannon and
several ammunition waggons were taken from the volun-
teers. Although the free corps had been repulsed on seve-
ral points, they had succeeded in opening the road to Lu-•
cerne on the night of the 31st ult., but after the arrival of
the contingents of Uri and Zug, they were attacked and
forced to retreat. It is said that the Councillor Bauman has
been killed, and Dr. Knobel taken or wounded. Colonel
Donatz has arrived here, and assumed the command of the
federal army, part of which will march toward Russaud,
the frontier of Argand."
The route appears to have been complete. The vo-
lunteers fled in all directions to their respective homes.
On the 4th no further movements had taken place. The
Extraordinary Diet is convoked with the least possible
delay, and was expected to meet on the sth inst.
M. KRUDENER, the Russian Envoy in Switzerland,
addressed on the 27th ult. a note to the President of the
Diet, in similar terms to those of the other foreign
States. His Excellency thus concludes :
"You will not mistake the nature and spirit of the obser-
vations which I have the honour to submit to you. They do
not attack the independence of Switzerland; they merely
touch on certain points, the appreciation of which anarchy
and violence alone could contest to the European Powers.
My Government has directed me, Monsieur le President, to
lay expressly before the eyes of the authorities and parties in
Switzerland, the manner in which this affair ought to be
looked at, and particularly to point out the deplorable conse-
quences which must result from it, if better councils, and
more in conformity with legal order and justice, and respond.
mug better to the sentiments which ought 'to exist between
the Confederal States, should not prevail in your country. I
fulfil a painful duty, but in the motives which have imposed
it on me, there is no other intention on the part of my august
Sovereign, the Emperor, than to render Switzerland attentive
to the dangers which she is incurring, and, if it be still pos-
sible, to preserve her from them."

The Peninsular and Mediterranean mails have been
received, but they bring no news of importance. The
dates are Cairo, March 19 ; Gibraltar, 29; and Cadiz,
30 ; Lisbon, April 1. The Viceroy of Eayrr
arrived at Cairo on the 12th from his tour
in Upper Egypt. IBRAHIM PAcuA has been dan-
gerously ill, but is now better. The Nile is very low—
much lower than last year at this season—and there
is ground to apprehend that the navigation may be
seriously impeded.

Not a single case of plague has occurred at Alexan,
dria for several months.

Madrid papers of the 29th and 30:1 ult. have been
received. The Gazette of the latter date publishes an
arrangement with the Bank of San Fernando for the ad-
vance of 180,000,000 reals to be applied to the wants of
the State during April, May, and June, at the rate of
sixty millions per month. The security upon which the
credit is given for the month of April consists of public
effects, producing at the current price from twelve to
fifteen millions in cash, and twenty millions in derega-

tions upon quicksilver. The Committee on the esti-
mates had made their report, wh.ch was entirely favour-
able to the schemes of the Finance Minister.

On the 29th the Three per Cents. closed at 33 11-16
for cash, and 341 at 60 days ; the Five pers Cents. at 251
at 60 days ; the Debt without Interest at 8 at 60 days ;
and the Coupons at 28i at 60 days. On the 13th a good
deal of business was transacted at the Puerta del Sol,
the Active selling at 261 at 60 days, and the Three per
Cents, at 35.

The Paris papers are chiefly accupied with the affairs
of Switzerland, which excite much interest. Both
Chambers met on Saturday. The Peers were still occu-
pied in discussing the Colonial Bill relative to the state
of slavery, but had come to no vote on the question of
emancipation. Is the Chamber of Deputies, an addi-
tional Tariff Bill was under consideration. The new
law for raising the ditty on oleaginous seeds
had created great dissastisfaction
At a general meetin at Marseilles.
g of
the oil InftnUfaCturerS

it was unanimously resolved that, in consequence of the
ruinous measure lately passed by the Chamber of De-
puties, respecting the import duty on sesame, it was im-
possible to carry on their business ; and that, conse-
quently, their mills should be stopped, their workmen
discharged, and that all the manufacturers without ex-
ception should go immediately up to Paris, and appeal
to the Chamber of Peers against the decision of the
Deputies.
The Bill for arming the fortifications of Paris con-
tinues to meet with opposition. About seventy officers
of the National Guard have petitioned against it, and
the list is daily increasing. The Ministry, however,
have resolved to check this attempt at insubordina-
tion. On the report of General JAQUEMINOT, the
Commandant of that corps, the officers who signed the
protest against the arming of the fortifications are to
be brought before a Court of Discipline, and they are,
in the meantime, suspended from their functions.
The Pat/ ie gives the following account of a duel,
which took place in the Bois de Boulogne,
on Wednesday, between the Duke dIT— and the
Marquis de in consequence of a dispute which
arose between them on the preceding day, at a sporting
dinner. A toast having been given in English by the
Marquis tie C—, the Duke observed that among
Frenchmen French ought to be spoken. To this the
Marquis replied—" The English language ought not to
be disagreeable to you, and you should comprehend it,
for you, who are a PRITcHARD'S man, have voted in fa-
vour of the English Ministry." This was followed by a
violent altercation, which led to the meeting, which was
with swords. The sword of the Duke passed near the
heart of the Marquis, whose wound, however, though
severe, is not considered to be dangerous. The Duke
was also slightly wounded on the hip, and is for the
moment confined to his bed. The names of the parties,
it nJw appears, are the Duke D'lTzEs and the Marquis
DE CauvrEßE. The wound of the latter will, it is expected,
confine him to his room for some days.
The news from Switzerland on Saturday had a favour-
able effect on the French Funds.

THE BOURSE--SATURDAY. APRIL 5.
First Hleh.st Lowest Last
Price. Price. Price. Price.
French Five per Cents. .... 117 70 •• 117 75 .. 117 65 .. 117 65
Fours ............ •• 107 .• 107 ••• 107 .. 107
Three per Cents.... 85 75 .. 85 85 .. 85 75 .. 85 80
Loan ............. 86 30 86 60 .. 86 10 .. 86 55
Bank of France .... •• •... 3230 —3230 "3230 ..3230
Conin Eank. I,ooof Shares —lO9O ..1095 ..1095
Belgian 8ank............645 .. 647 50 .. 645 .. 647 50
lie:gian Fives, 1840 •• •• 1,3% .• 103% 103% .. 103%
1842........ 104% .. 105 .. 134% .. 105
Four.and-a-Half ... P:l% .. 1 o 17y .. 101% .. 101%
Two-and-a-Half... 12 40 .. 62 40 .. 62 40 .. 02 40
Spanish Active •• .• 4 i 3( .. 46% .. 40% .. 40%
Threes •••• 414 .. 41% .. 41% .. 41%
Passive ••••••••• .. .. .. ..
Neapolitan . 102 .. 102 .. 102 102
Rgalall .•• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 104 10 .. 104 10 .. 104 .. 104
RAILWAY SHARES.
-• '

St. Germain ..
Versiilles, R.B ••••••• • •• •• 640 .. 640 .. 640 .. 640
L.B•• •• .• •• •• •• 397 50 . 397 50 .. 390 .. 390
Rouen••••••••••••••••••••1150 . 1151 2i "1135 ..1135
Rouen to Havre.........,.. 973 .. 975 •• 970 .. 970
Orleans •• •• •• •• .• ••• •• ..1305 ..1305 ..1282 50 .•1282 50
Strasburg to Bale•• •• •• •• 336 25 .. 336 25 .. 330 .. 330
Avignon to Marseilles— .• —1:25 ..1125 ..1117 50 . 1117 50
Bordeaux to Teste •• •• 220 .. 222 50 .. 220 .. 221 25
Paris to Sceaux • • • • •• 680 .. 680 .. 680 • • 680
RAILWAYS FOR. THE ACCOUNT
St. Germain • • •• •• •• ••1202 50 ..1202 50 ..1502 50 ..1202 50
Versailles, R.B. ••• •• ••• •• 647 50 .. G 47 50 .. 635 .. 635
L. 8..
Rouen •••••.•• •• •• •• •••• • •1135 ..1155 ..1137 50 .. 11 •7 50
Roucu to Havre 975 ~ 975 .. 970 .. 970
Orleans . •• •• •• •• •• •• •• •• 1307 50 ..1307 50 —l2BO —12.5
Strasburg to Bale •••••• •• •• 336 25 .. 337 50 .. 330 .. 330
Avignon to Maneilles•• •• "1125 .. 1125 ..1112 50 ..1112 50
Bordeaux to Teste .•• •• •• •• 232 50 .. 222 50 .. 222 .. 222

HAMBURGH and FLANDERS MAIL.
HAMBURGH, APRIL 4.—Yesterday afternoon the ice
from the Upper Elbe came down in large masses. There is
much floating ice in the Middle Elbe, but it drifts down
rapidly with the ebb. All the Upper Elbe is free, and in the
afternoon the ice which came down from the Upper Elbe
yesterday and to-day has almost entirely disappeared, and is
supposed to have sunk. There is only a little ice between
Ghickstadt and Cuxhaven. With this we hope we have con-
cluded our accounts of the ice for this winter.—Hamburgh
Papers, April 4.
The Chamber of Representatives met to-day, and the
Minister of the Interior presented some projects of law. A
proposal of M. Donny relative to the pilot dues at Ostend
was taken into consideration.
The Chamber adopted, with only one dissentient voice, the
project of law for prolonging for three years the law relative
to the exemption from import duties of machinery and
machines, the construction of which is not known in Belgium.
Yesterday a grandson of the Viceroy of Egypt passed
through Belgium on his way from Vienna to Paris.
M. Knepp, Counsellor of Legation, coming from Berlin
with dispatches from London, had a fall the day before yes-
terday into the moat of the city outside the Narrow Gate.
Ile was conveyed to his hotel, with some severe contusions
on his head.