The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-06 00:00:00

Ctit uu„

LONDON?
WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 6, 1642.

The Revenue tables for the quarter, which will be
found in another part of The Sun, show -a decrease
on the Customs, Excise, Stamps, and Taxes, as com-
pared with the corresponding quarter of last year,
of 288,973/. In the Post-office, Crown lands, and
Miscellaneous items there is an increase of 341,0671.,
showing a total increase in the quarter, of the ordi-
nary revenue, of 52,094/. Such a result is not con-
solatory, as the increase is in what may be called
accidental sources of revenue, while the decrease is
in all the great streams, which usually fill the na-
tional treasury.

In the extraordinary revenue there is an increase
of 465,6 751., and a decrease of 6,4371., making a
total increase of revenue in the quarter of 111,3321.
Sir R. PEEL appears to have been, well convinced,
before he brought forward his income tax, that the
heavy hand of the landlords, on the throat of the
nation, was throttling its prosperity, and that nothing
additional could be got from it till they were made to
relax their murderous gripe.

Included in the revenue of the years ending the
sth instant is 627,2941., obtained from sugar, more
than in the year ending April 5, 1841. It can
scarcely be expected, however, if the accounts given
by the .West India planters of the indolence of the
negroes be correct, that we shall next year receive
an equal sum for sugar, unless foreign sugar be ad-
mitted. At any rate it is a somewhat melancholy
and startling reflection that so much of the income of
the Government, and consequently the order of
the State, should depend on the disposition of the
black labourers in the West Indies. We see nothing
in the Revenue Tables to give us the least satisfaction ,
unless it be the continued increase of the postage
revenue, which has been so much reduced, while all
the duties that have been increased are yielding less
and less. In State arithmetic addition diminishes
and substraction augments. Sir ROBERT PERI, is
about to add to the taxes, and probably he may dimi-
nish the receipts.

Necessity, the tyrant's plea, seems now likely, to be-
come the rule of our legislators. The slave owners in
the United States and in Cuba declare that there is
a necessity for slavery. They mean a necessity-to gra-
tify their lust of wealth and their desire of ease. For
years, aye, for ages, it has been declared that impress-
ment is necessary, which means that certain mistrustfu',
ignorant, and, perhaps, cowardly persons in Parliament,
and in the public service, were afraid lest men, the
cheapest of all commodities, could not be obtained in
sufficient numbers to sacrifice their lives in the so-called
service of their country ; a most idle fear, but on that
idle and absurd fear the crime of impressment was justi-
fied and practised without remorse. It is necessary, it is
said, to put down fairs and all kinds of amusements for
the people, which phrase, when analysed, is found to
mean—that the rich and care-worn envy the common
people the little animal enjoyment they can obtain, and
cry aloud that it leads to immorality, and must be put
down. Necessity is the tyrant's plea of multitudes in
popular Governments as well as of despots where millions
vilely consent to hold their lives and fortunes at the will
of a single individual, and is now as much acted on in
England as in Russia.
Necessity is Sir ROBERT PEEL'S plea for the income
tax. He must have more money, and cannot, so he
says, raise it by any other means. Many Liberals, and
all the Tories echo his must, and on their asserted ne-
cessity the income tax is to be inflicted on us. Analysed and
examined, that word necessity means nothing more than

Sir RonEwr PEEL'S inability, or his unwillingness, to
examine all the resources of the State, and his political
dependence on certain monopolists, which makes it ne-
cessary for him to do their bidding. The necessity for
an income tax to scourge the people, redlly means,
therefore, nothing more than the feebleneSs of Sid?.
PEEL'S mind, or his political dependence on the land-

lords. •
He has hinted at another necessity, the necessity of
imposing on foreigners by our willingness to make great
sacrifices. Then France will be eager to cherish peace,
and the United States, in which there is now much gas-
conade, will be slow to prosecute a quarrel 'on account of
the Creole, the Caroline, or the Boundary. Then, too,
-it is supposed, that the distant nations of the East, hear-
ing of. our readiness to make great sacrifices, will be
smitten with dread, and that our mighty preparations
will spare many blows. All that may be good, hut the
necessity would not exist did not our Legislature prevent
that mutual dependence of nations which is generated
by commerce, and which would make us fear as little ‘a
quarrel with France and the United States, as that a
quarrel should ensue between Scotland and England, or
• between York shire and Corms all.
Moreover, if this necessity of imposing on foreigners by
a display of patriotism and devotion to the Government be
so urgent, why should it be eo:fined to the middle and
lower classes ? Might not the landlords exhibit those
qualities with as much advantage as other persons ?
Selfish maintainers of their own selfish advantages, they
cheered Sir ROBERT PEEL,- the chosen organ of their
selfishness, when he talked solely about sacrifices and
patriotism, when he called on all classes cheerfully
' to submit to the burdens he is about to impose, but they
never offered up their own, Corn-law on the altar
of patriotism. It is mainly for their advantage that
distant possessions are preserved. They enjoy all the
emoluments and honours of the Government. They
limit the resources of the nation by their monopolies, and
instead of sacrificing these, and su increasing the revenue
in an hour of peril, they call on others to bear all the
burdens of the State, while they reap all the honours
and advantages. Let them set an example of making
sacrifices, and others will follow ; at present they main-
tain this monopoly; they keep in their own hands all the
power and rewards of Government, and at the same time
they assert that there is a necessity for the psople to
submit to new burdens.
Sir ROBERT PEEL, too, while he preaches to us the
necessity of submission, feels a necessity to be a despot.
The claims of the protected classes upon whom he relies,
and whose pretensions he has encouraged, are so nume-
rous, that it is impossible for him to satisfy them. He ,
cuts the matter short, therefore, with an " absolute shall,"
and says it must be as I direct. The multitude of the
claims on him necessarily makes him despotic. The
more the operations of Government are extended, as the
faculties of individuals cannot be extended with them to
grasp the mall, the more despOtic must rulers become. In
our free State they declare, like Sir R. PEEL, that they
cannot remain in office unless they are allowed to have

their own way.
The Emperor Nrettotas might at any time listen to the
few nobles or opulent persons, who might venture to sug-
gest to him-that he was doing them undesignedly an
injury, bat in a free country it is impossible for a Minis-
ter to listen to the reclamations of all who may presume
on his attention. Hence Sir R. PEEL'S ambition in pro-
posing to re-adjust the whole tariff necessarily carries
with it a species of despotism. It is impossible that he
should succeed without suppressing clamours, refusing
to listen to remonstrances, and being, as he avows, des-
potic in his resolves.
Acting on this plea of necessity, we are already far
gone in the way of despotism. Our ancestors valued
trade so highly. that they made it a Standing Order of
the House, of Commons, that no measure, in any way
affecting trade, should be introduced, except in a Com-
mittee of the whole House. They adopted the same
resolution as to religion. Their object was to submit

lany measures, affecting these important subjects, to the
-"ost searching examination, by increasing the stages it
must 6
through, and so add to the guarantees against
Our ancestors, who framed the rules of
hasty changes.
,ven Mr. BENTBA3I has eulogised,
procedure, which -nder the same safeguards.
placed trade and religion
had in his own closet,
Suppose that Sir ROBERT PEL- ~,oe
of the House
after some inquiry by a Radical Comum.. -eh, an-
of Commons into the condition of the Chu.. •

flounced, to the House of Commons a great scheme for
fresh appropriation of Church revenues, and no
slight alteration in its doctrines—suppose he had
coupled such a scheme with a plan for raising the
supplies for the year, and declared that both were ne-
cessary—suppose that he had openly stated that he would
throw up the Government if he were not allowed to
carry both through Parliament, would that not be vir-
tnally, but cunningly, setting aside that constitutional
guarantee against change in religion, which has
been established by compelling every man to
bring forward such changes in a Committee of
the whole House ? It is true, that after ho bad
settled with an obsequious and time-serving majority
that his new scheme of finance and Church government
should be carried, though they hated it, rather than that
he should give up- the Government,
.he would introduce
it in a Committee of the whole douse, observing the
form, while hd violated the substance of the Constitution,.
such conduct would deservedly cause gieat and deserved
reproaches from the religions 'Tarty, and in addition to '
the cry that would be raised against him for attacking
the Church, he would be justly accused of violating the
Constitution.

But this is precisely what Sir R. PEEL is doing as to
trade, and we are not aware of any reason which should
make us, on the plea of necessity, submit to • this cun-
ning violation of the Constitution in regard to trade,
any more than we should submit to it if practised
to the injury .of religion. Sir ROUERT Phrm's
tariff, subject to the modifications which he may
condescend to introduce in it, if he stick to his declara-
tion, is already carried, before it has been submitted to a
Committee. His conduct is, we assert, a canning violation,
in substance, of one of the best safeguards of our Con-
stitution. Even if we approved of all his tariff altera-
tions, despotically proposed as they are, we should ob.
jeet to his lashing them on to a system of finance, and
coercing the House of Commons into an implied assent
to them, by a threat of resignation, before he has even
submitted them to a Committee of the whole House.

These measures, however—the odious and inquisitorial
income tax, the changes in the tariff—rest altogether on
necessity, that tyrant's plea—the necessity for more
money—the necessity for keeping Sir R. PEEL in office,
and the necessity, therefore, of assenting to his schemes
as he issues them from his bureau. With much pre-
tence, however, he says that he has done justice to all
classes. If that be true, what has been done by every pre-
ceding:Minister and by the Legislature? What did he him-
self do and advocate, when he defended and upheld the
very laws and protecting duties he now proposes to
change ? He is driven to make the change from neces-
sity, and, Conservative though he be, he cannot avoid
altering the old regulations which he has taken office to
maintain. Neither in doing it can he avoid pronouncing,
like some Radical, a sentence of condemnation on the
very laws and the very Legislature he calls on the peo-
ple by severe penalties to obey and serve.

All the accounts received from India confirm the pre-
vious news of the destruction of the British force at
Cabool. By the blackest treachery on the part of
AKBAR KHAN a massacre of our troops took place un-
paralleled in atrocity in the records of the most savage
warfare. We will not here inquire by what misma-
nagethent on the part of the military commanders of the
force at Cabool the army was reduced to the necessity of
accepting a dishonourable treaty at the dictation of the Aff-
ghan Chief. That will be investigated hereafter. Enough
that a treaty was signed by AKBAR KHAN guaranteeing
fur our, troops the safe evacuation of Affghanistan.
Hardly, however, had the British army comnieuced its
retreat when AKBAR KHAN issued proclamations calling
upon all good Mussulmans to rise and destroy the in-
fidel Kaffirs. A copy of one of them was trans-
mitted to India, of which the following is a trans-
lation :—" I, MOHAMMED AKBAR KHAN, by the
Grace of Goy, Lord of, &c., have slain the Lord of the
Kaffirs, and am about to drive them out of the country.
It is your duty to annihilate them on the road; rise up,
surround Jellulabad, and exterminate the infidels." The
Lord of the Katlirs here alluded to, is Sir WILLIAM Mac-
NAGHTEN, whose treacherous assassination is thus avowed-
by the KHAN. As the Shah SOOJAH obstinately re-
fused to quit Cabool with the British troops, remaining
behind at the had of 3,000 men, there is: every reason
to believe that he was quite aware of AMUR'S treach-
erous intentions. For our own part, we.are as fully per-
suaded of the fact as if we had before us the evidence of
the concoctors of this foul conspiracy. According to
the best accounts the British force at Cabool consisted
in all of 5,000 fighting men and 7,000 camp followers.
They left Cabool on the sth of January, the snow was
then a foot deep ; they had not sufficient clothing, and
were miserably off fur food. On the 7th they entered
the Khoord Cabool Pass, where the enemy poured down
upon them from all sides, and a frightful slaughter
ensued. The following day such as escaped were again
attacked on the Ilufft Kothul, a bleak precipi-
tous mountain, where, benumbed and power-
less with cold, nearly the whole sepoy force miser-
ably perished. The guns were spiked and abandoned,
and the ladies who had accompanied their husbands in
these unprecedented perils given up as hostages to the
traitor AKnAR, who pretended that he could not
repress the murderous attacks of the Affghans. Four

native regiments were here destroyed, the 3d, 35th,
and 54th Bengal Infantry, and a Regiment of the
SHAH'S. Her Majesty's 44th still struggled on till
tha Commander, Brigadier ANQUETIL, who succeeded
General ELPIIINSTONE, was killed. This was on
the 12th—seven days after the evacuation of Cabool.
A panic seized them, they were thrown into con-
fusion, and no longer recognised the authority of
their officers, some of whom they struck with their
muskets. This accelerated their destruction, and nothing
was now left but every man to shift for himself. The
destructive result has been already stated.

Such is the lamentable news from Cabool. But our
loss, though dreadful, is far from being irreparable.
We have still a powerful force in -that country,
which requries only to be concentrated under an
able General to reverse this sad record of our
disasters. We have 10,000 troops, under General Now
at Candahar, 1,000 at Ghuznee, 2,000 at Jellalabad, and
1,200 at Khelah-i-Ghilzie, making a total force of 14,200
men. A reinforcement of 30,000 men has been ordered
from India, li,hich requires only to arrive in time to
effect the complete subjugation of the treacherous and
cruel Affghans.

What is most wanted at this moment is an intelligence
in India capable of guiding the valour of our troops.
With the highest opinion of the military talents of our
officers, we are constrained to avow that recent events
in Cabool have forced upon us the painful conviction,
that had they not been wanting in military foresight
and prudence, we would not have to record the
distressing intelligence found in our columns of this day.
Valour is one of the least of the great qualities essential
to the success of a Commander-in-Chief in carrying on
a war in such a country as Affghanistan.
We have a terrible struggle before us in Affghanistan
and China ; but with firmness, prudence, and ability, we
shall be carried triumphantly through it. We have
no grounds for exultation, neither have we any room for
despair. In warring upon the Afghans we no longer
seek vengeance for the treachery of a Chief, but for the
treachery and cruelty of a whole people.

"MMARY NEN11,4,,

AND
evinton.

" Who runs may read."

PUBLIC OPI MON.
The Chronicle thus briefly alludes to the last disastrous in-
telligence from Affghanistan :—" There appears in the Indian
press a strong disposition to censure General Elphinstone for
the convention signed after the murder of the Envoy ; and it
is said that nothing but downright fatuity could have induced
him to march out of his cantonments, which he might have
safely held for another month. Without more precise infor-
mation, it is impossible to say how far these strictures may be
founded in justice. In some quarters, it is stated that the con-
vention was forced upon the commanding officer and the poli-
tical agent by the garrison. This, at all events, should sug-
gest caution in adopting such strictures. A large force is cen-
centrating at Peshawnr, and the utmost energy was apparent
in preparing to retrieve these disasters. Upon the policy of
this proceed►n; at least these Will, we apprehend, he no differ-
ence of opinion. As to the course ultimately to be pursued in
Affghanistan, it rests upon the same grounds precisely upon
which the expedition was undertaken."
The Morning Herald says :—" At what cost will the new
expedition into Affghanistan be made:? Already Lord Auck-
land's declaration of Simla has expended at least twelve
millions sterling, and has brought the Indian treasury into a
state bordering on insolvency; has involved the East India
Company in debt, has begot one loan, has caused the expendi-
ture of India to exceed its revenue by one million and a half
sterling, and has retarded the material prosperity of British
India, Whence are the funds for new Dooranee wars to be
derived? are the rots of India or the people of England to de-
fray their cost ? Will capitalists lend en the security of the
wilds of Central Asia? Sir Robert Peel has distinctly told
us that permanent derangement of the Indian finances must
disorder those of theltnperial treasury; is there, any hope that Aff-
ghan wars will re-pay their expenses? Can Lord itlleriboreugh,
Napoleon-like, make trans-Indian hostilities maintain them-
selves? Financial considerations, as well as dangers and diffi-
culties, must give- way to considerations of nat.onal honour.
This is true ; but whatever course is decided, let it not be en-
tered on in the dark ; let the country know and understand its
position and its liabilities, and the worst that is to be appre-
hended."

The Advertiser reverts to the question of the income tax,
in the following terms :—" Never was there a measure against
which so much was said. or so little done, as the proposition
for burdening the country with this iniquitous tax. The re-
cess has now come to a close, and though the unpopularity of
Sir Robert Peel's scheme has become greater every day, its
chances of being, defeated are as remote as they were on the
day of the adjournment, or even more distant ; for then, at
least, the people felt prepared to second with energy any vigo-
rous lead that might have been made towards the ind;gnaut re-
jection by the nation at large of the obnoxious project. If
this had been done, the Minister would never have dared to
-au his odious, proposition, and we are compelled to tell the
-a agait,st the income tax, in the words of Coriola-
who should find them lions—find them
-f putting on a bold and determined
'414 before the party who would
-,lv,nauttered complaints

Clamour,

nus, that—f 1 Lk,

ham.'

For instead 6

front, they have shrunk in Lim,
hunt them down, and they h ,ve
wherC they should have thundered defiance

• ^RI Affgha-
-trous

The Post observes, with re.erence to the hews 1.,
nistan—" Looking as coolly as we can upon the whose diva

transaction front the comjnencement, tve have reason to come
to the conclusion that our • own -errors are chiefly to blime, and
that our own energy must set all right again, so tar as the
honour and power of the nation are
,concerned. While there•
forci, we mourn for the brave that are no more, and deeply
sympathise with the sorrow of many an aching heart for the
fathers, hmobands, brothers, sons, who have died in this lament-
able defence and retreat ; let us remember that, as Britons,
we are not to grieve, but to ”xert burselires, 'and that our duty
is to efface the memory :,of temporary defeat by permanent
triumph."
The Times has the following remarks on the subject of the
Indian news ;—" We are saying as little as we can well make
up our minds to say, when weexpress our feeling that seldom
has there been a British officer whose conduct stood in bud'
grievous need of explanation its that of General Elphinstone. As
long as he was in command, from the beginning to the end, the
British movements seem to have been charactersed by a weak-
ness and indecision as unworthy as it has proved fatal. From the
first it would seem, by our accounts, General Elphinaone discou-
raged or prevented the more rigorous measures which were
urged by Sir W. 111acnaghten. In a position where the defen •
sive course was plainly impracticable—wren to be inactive was
simply to starve—he allowed (as we are told) a supposed—or
perhaps real—despondency and vacillation in the troops to pre-
vent that bolder line of conduct which, dangerous as it might
have been, was the only one which was open to him. Even
the small captures of grain which enabled the troops to retain
their position as long as they did, were undertaken " at the so-
licitation of the Envoy.' "