The Sun.
London, England, 1829-10-23 00:00:00

to inquire into the state oldie revenue arid L xpen-
liture of the empire, with a view to reeoreenerid
,!conomv in the employment of the former. and
retitle ion in the amount of the latter. This
locument exhibits a view of the prospective Tei-
iiisterial budget for the eighteen mouths from
January next to July, 1831, making such com-
ments and suggesting such changes as, in the
)pinion of the Committee, the public interest
demands. Any extended account of this in-
quiry would scarcely be warranted by the trifling
interest felt in the subject on this side of the
Atlantic ; but we shall make no apology for a
brief notice of the report, .which, being dated
the 20th of August, may be regarded as the
inost recent publication of the Brazilian esti-
mates. The Commission natueallf-diVO'theie .
labours into two parts, the fir ,rere-rtitig 'to
expenditure, and the last to the; ways and means.
The former is again subdivideeinto six d,-p-irt.-
!nents ; the expenditure, whieltlakes, pla -e tin-
der the Ministry of the Interior,'..i.pfe4Justiee,
Foreign Affairs, of Marine, of War, iof
Finance. The charges of the Interior aiecunt
in the ministerial estimates to 1,105,114 lA-
rees, or about a quarter of a. million sterling, and
the CommisSion propose to reduce. them to
9341,710 milrees. The stun demanded fen- the
department of Justice is 801,857 milrees, ••
and the Commission think that 725,228
would be adequate for the remuneration
all the services performed, under this. lead,
They are equally Unsparin' in the .Inanch
of expenditure under the Ministry fe,r
reign Affairs, which they propnee to rie-
duce from 771,133 to 540,000 They
then arrive at what they call one of the greit
absorbents of 'the public revenue—the g:irine,
which they propose to reduce from 4;920,8f53
to 3,112,400 milt-tees. In the V, Tar Dena-rtment
Lhey find more work for the pruning, knife than
in any other service, cutting doiAn the Le,tiinated
supplies from 7,800,000 to 4,400,000 mlrees;
or lopping off nearly one half. The depart-
ment of the Minister of Finance. shares a similar
fate, the estimate in that budget being 14,011,713
milrees, anti that of the ConunieF3ion amemiting
only to 9,929,885. The whole e,i;inatcd ex-
penditure of the state is thus rei7tieed by the
Commission to 19,672,223 milrees, which taking
the inilree at its late value in Porzu,ral, would
amount to nearly 5,000,000/. s!eriing, llut which,
from the depreciation of the Brazil curiencyi
must fall much below that sum.

• Arming the many evils with which the present
-,ys!em has' afflicted society is the Law of Arrest.
\Yid:out this law it has been deemed impossible tc
,parry on trade to its present extent ; and to el:
lonseribe the transactions of commerce is incompa-
tible with raising the present amount of taxes. Thi
facilities for recovering debts induce persons to hob;
out great inducements to the thoughtless arid inex-
perienced to make purchases, which, we regret to
state, is carried to such an extreme, that even shop-
men and apprentice boys are not exempted from the
lure.-- The effect of which is, that instead of n
young man saving his money first and spending it
afterwards—as was formerly the custom—he now
runs in debt, relying upon the chances of trade, or
the chapter of accidents, for the means of meeting
the demand when it becomes due.

We would, however—if attainment were within
the reach of our powers—lay the axe at the root of
the evil ; failing this, we would repeal the Law of
Arrest, which, although the effect, would soon cheek
the cause. But this, also, is attended with great
difeuity, fraikihe existence of the prejudice wt
have above referred-Th'—namelyi.thattlifjaw of ar-
rest must be co-existent withntitelireittat system of
taxation. Therefore, in our iXtability to_ remedy the
evil, we are anxious to see Inch palliatives adopter
as the Legislature may be inAuced to accord to us;
and-to accomplish this end is the object of the pre-
sent notice.

We need hardly say that-the expeuce of recover-
ing debts is a great grievance to the fair trader;
for it is very evident that the money paid for
costs attending the recovery of a debt is so much
taken from the pocks is of other creditors. This
is so evident a proposition that no one, wu
think, will be disposed to di-muse it. A owes at
other letters of the alphabet 500/.; of this sum, I
claims 50/. He sues A for the amount, which is
ultimately paid with 201. or 301. costs. The pay-
ment of these costs renders A less capable of satis-
fying- the demands of his creditors who have been
less pressing than B ; and consequently the money
which, in the -shape of costs, passes from A to B's
attorney, is Qo much taken from the pockets of the
other creditors. ..

But if this be a great grievance in cases where
the debt is_ to a large amount, what is it where
small turns are concerned ? For instance—a man
goes into a shop and gives an order for goods to
the value of thirty-five shillings. Though this
transaction is supposed to be for money, the cre-
ditor evades the payment, either from a .lack of
cash or of principle. To recover this debt in the
County Court, supposing him to be litigious as well
as poor or unprincipled, the skopkeepermust incur
the risk of. an. enormous expellee of costs ; and
successful, must entail that enormous expence or,
the debtor. If the creditor be a „roan
_of thought
and of principle, he must prefer putting up with the
loss' of his property to embarrassing the debtor,
although he knows Mtn to he of dishonest character.
But if he could :recover without, the infliction of
the-enormous attendant expence, and without the
delay which at present places(' the creditor at the
mercy of the debtor, the case would be very dif-
ferent, The -s,llopkeeper would recover his due;
the creditor would be compelled to pay " what he
ought, and what he bought;" and many a man,
and many a family, would be.4aved from irretriev-
able ruin.
Our object is to induce the inhabitants of this
town to petition Parliansent for the establishing a
Court of Requests in. Brighton, for the recovery o!
sums, say under 51. or 10/. Besides the great sav-
ing in point of expence,At would have this good
effect :—The Court of -Requests would be an open
Court. It thence follows, that if a man were un-
able to pay, his ability would become generally
known—his facilities to obtain credit would be di-
minished, and he would be preserved from the con-
sequences of speculating or living beyond his means.
A Court of Requests would also be invaluable in
cases of disputed accounts, where the parties are
obstinately disposed, end inimical to each other.
Some persons may say that these stubborn natures
are justly punished by the results to which we have
referred above ; but this is not a Statesman's view,
whose duty it is to enable a man to assert and re-
cover his legitimate rights, with as little inconve-
nience as possible to him who withholds it, whether
from unworthy motives, or from an erroneous im-
pression.
A case that has just transpired we shall take the,
liberty of citing in illustration of our position. It is
that of a disputed debt. The particulars are these :
Mellish, a coachman, and a very respectable man,
had agreed to supply a young woman, named
Streeter, who keeps a fruit and green-grocer's shop
in this town, with a certain quantity cf walnuts at
a stated price. The agreement %vas not reduced
to writing. The walnuts were delivered. Streeter
says they were not according to sample—Mehish
says the contrary. She refuses to pay, and he in-
sists. This transaction took place, we believe, in
1826. Well—at length Mellish applies to a lawyer,
who issues a summons from the County Court
—to which the defendant puts in an appear-
once. The cause proceeds step by step, from the
July Court, 1828, to that held the Bth October,
1829, when the matter comes on for trial. The
evidence, as a matter of course, is conflicting—but,
the plaintiff has the good luck to get a verdict to
the full amount claimed by him, with one shilling
superadded as damages, carrying costs.
Now comes the gist of the matter. Plaintiff's
attorney delivers his Bill of Cests, which of course is
submitted to taxation. It comes out of that fiery
ordeal, and assumes the following shape :

We have not space to enter into lie grounds
on which these various reductions are proposed
and justified. The Commission s anictimes ge!!;
satirical, and at other times becomes intligna'nt
at the extravagance on which they-are called to
report. They find out that two noble Mar- ,
guises who had been judges of the Supreme
Court, and had been promoted to places in the
Administration; still retained their judicial sala-
ries after they had retired from judicial duties.—
On this they observe that the nation is too poor
to support, by • accumulated sinecures, idle-
ness and vanity. In remarking on the ex-
penditure of the Foreign Ministry, they ex-
press an opinion that Ministers of the second
order should be sent to France, England, Austria,
Russia, Rome, and Colombia. What Courts
shall have Ministers of the first order ? It would..
appear none. So that the Brazil commission,
in their diplomatic arithmetic, start from the
number 2. They cannot withhold a sigh whets
they think of the London mission. " Would to
' God," say they, " that there never had txisted
a London legation ! Then the treasury of
Brazil would have been more fortunate.!ll7
To make this " oxala" speak to the eye as well
as the car, they point the expression of their re-
gret with three marks of emphasis as above. In
coming to the Department of Marine they object
to the quantity of stationery employed in the
office of the Minister, and—properly enough,
perhaps—think a porter and four deputies too
many for opening his door. But the climax of
their surprise and repugnance is reserved for the
expenditure of the War Department, which they
say is enough to drive the blood back into the
heart ! • It supposes an army of 26,000 men,
and makes out a budget to be merely an arbi-
trary estimate to obtain money. A very delicate
point is touched in the remarks of the Commis-
sion on the expenditure of the Finance depart-
ment, which includes not only the charge of col-
lecting the revenue, but the payment of the divi-
dends on the public debt. We cannot go further,"
say they, " without asking, have the interest and
sinking fund on the Portuguese loan in Lon-
don been paid ? Have the dividends of the
last six months of 1828, and those of the year
1829, been yet discharged ? If they have
not, where is the money ? If the Commis-
sion can lend its ear to public report, there has
been no interest paid on the loan, the payment
being suspended by the omnipotence of the Lon-
don legation. If this be the case, !haw, without
some explanation, are the respective sums ad-
vanced which show an uninterrupted continuance
of the transaction ?" To these questions the
London Brazilian Legation and the English
Portuguese hondholders can respectively ipeti:e
the best answers—the former as to what 'has be-
come of the money, and the lattee. is to whether
they have received it. Some e:planation, how-
ever is due from the one to the other, as the
original
nhis ac
towardsivadebtor
o i
s interceptedccr comp huts aois that
risibl,aas third.
defeated,ris it ey.t
inter-
Brazil would do well to enforce punctuality in
the discharge of her pecuniary obligations, as,
from the
st
cneodxpe
f her
direvenuelure comparedtisliot xuvintlliiktelli
ye
abro nest e. I
that she may :still require the aid of foreign credit.
The deficit presented in the Ministerial budget
fo
year amounted to 7,800,000 milrees, awl
the proposed reductions of the Commission still
left a deficiency of 1,055,853 milreep,. Ac,
however, the Commission diminished. the expen-
diture of the estimates, so they
anticiprced income of the , exalB3oggera,ed the
'year makina it
to be 22,840,367 es. here is some danger,
that as the menib-ers of
the Mini the Commission are not
ste:a of the State, they may found
it mol'e easy to propose reductions than to effect
them ; and more popular to calculate on a
productive revenue, than to realize it by extort-
ing high taxes.—limes.
v ,ttt

X. s. (1.
Bill of Costs . 4l 1 0
Damages 0 1 0

41 2 0
Taxed off 12 14 6

28 7 6
DJ t

£29 7 6
Falstaff's three quarts cf sack to one poor half-
penny-worth of bread is a fool to this. Debt—Ore
Pound !! Costs of plaintiff's attorney—Forty-
one ! ! ! for defendant's attorney will also have a
bill of costs.

Now, observe the operation. The plaintiff, who
gains his cause, loses not only the sum sought to be
recovered by him, but 11/. 143. Gd. besides. This,
be it remarked, is a favourable case; because the
defendant is solvent. But bad she been insol-
vent, the whole of the 411. 2s. cos•s would have
&lien upon the plaintiff, because the liwyer dways
secures his money.
Now, without offering a remark •on the respecta-
bility or otherwise of that practice, which weto4l
A snipe,
town, and prononneetl by him the
s Nveighing five ounces, was killed on
DitEW, the
•
either carry into Court or defend an ;laic)"
sa
reference Thurday last, on Itoborott, Down, by Mr. R. OxEN RANA,
contemptible a consideration (we wr''e
loarrig'ietshtoll.oegiosvt:it(:afet t ih
of the conmon species of the snipe..
of Devonport. It has been shown to Mr. to the sum claimed, not 11,!.c! :cats), it must be evi-
dent to every
in this town would be attended with trader that the existence of a Court I
of Requests
incalculable benefit. In the above caste, the plaintiff I A bird of the hybrid species, between the
—presuming upon the goodness of his case, for pheasant and black grouse, Was abet an Monday last,
do not venture an opinion to , borders of Dartmoor, and is now in the po
(Hoary aze of 109 *session of Air.
Kaye recovered his due, witl,v)4 ilitlicting slid) an DRFW, of Devonport, on the
for the porpi;se cf. hciog stOtT,d
amount of damages upon, the defendant ; which da- preserved.
mages, oc it observed, is so much t:ken from in-
dustry, for the support of that which yiclds nothing SonTelriseert,oai6int
years, in full pos2ession cf his faealtie*.
to the Country.