The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-18 00:00:00

Zbt

*rtonbliz7biti*n

SUN OFFICE Three o'Clock.

A gross system of mismanagement has long prevailel
in the transport service, and the present Government do
3of seem at all inclined to abate the evil. More accidents
happen to ships carrying out troops and convicts than
to any other class. Scarily a year passes without
• normous loss of life, caused by the wreck of
4.1 d and insufficient ships ; and notwithstand;ng
tha frequrnt occurrence of such disasters, no.
iaquiry has been instituted to ascertain the cause,
nor any plan adopted for securing the lives of thousands
o" human beings placed at the mercy of worn-out cap-
tains and unskilful mates. The only object Go
vernment appears to have in view is `cheap
ness, without at all considering the value of
human life or the co.3t of the troops embarked. This
is grossly absUrd, nay, it is worse—it is an absolute crime,
to risk our brave troops in ships that would hardly le
onsidered fit for conveying logs and spars from
Canada. And, as if they wished to make the
evil greater, they send out these crazy vessels
one by one, so that no relief can be obtained in case of
accident. They are, in fact, wholly unprotected. Would
it no b) infinitely bo:ter. to despatch all the troops at
once in the best sailing vessels that can be obtained, at
whatever cost, under convoy of a ship of war, ready to
protect them, and render assistance when wanted ?
The first vessel despatched with troops. to India is al-
ready ashore off Dungeness, and it is fortunate that the
wreck took place so speedily, or the whole of the troops
might have been driven on the French coast or sunk in
the Bay of Biscay. We sincerely trust some Member
of Parliathent will take up this important question, and
press upon the Government the- necessity of adopting a
new plan, by which not only the lives of the soldiers
shall be placed in greater security, but•the vessels shall
arrive at their destination in the shortest time possible.

Now that the House of Commons has consented to re-
ceive the petitions of the people-against an inquisitorial,
oppressive, and uncalled-for system of taxation, we cab
upon the trading and -commercial classes to- lose no
time in petitioning for the rejection' of so vexatious
a measure. A deficiency of three millions in the
revenue is not sufficient to justify a British Minister
in deranging the whole commercial relations of this

great country—in demanding from every man in
Great Britan an exact . account of the amount
of his • income, 'and so leaving him at the
mercy of an army of hungry tax gatherers, and dis-
honest rivals in trade. But, say the Tories, there is
a deficiency, and money must be raised. As Sir
ROBEILT PEEL has, stolen so much of his plans
from. the Whigs, why did he not take that
portion of it which would have made up the
deficit without any income tax ? Why did he
he not avail himself of the revenue derivable- from an
eight, shilling fixed duty on corn, and the breaking up
of the great sugar monopoly ? Here was money in
abundance provided for him by the budget of his pre-
decessor.

The people must bestir themselves to prevent the
imposition of this tax, Better do that now than
disturb: the peace of the country by rising
up in arms against it, after it has become
the law of the land. We foresee what will happen,
should it be adopted by the Legislature, and, therefore,
we call upon the country to stir in time. The evil must
be cured ; but would it not be better to prevent it?

From Madrid we have news of the 10th inst. The
majority of the Deputies were opposed to a commercial
treaty with England, the advantages of which would not
all be on the side of Spain. They were quite willing to
accept from England any modification of the import
duty on Spanish wines and fruit, but by no means dis-
posed to accept British cottons in exchange, if they could
help it. We arc still, however, of opinion that a commo-
ercial treaty will be adopted, which shall considerably
benefit both countries. We know that such a treaty is
becoming absolutely necessary for the preservation of
the winegrowers, not only of Spain but of Portugal, as
England is now the best wine mart in the world. Wine
and fruit are among the staples of the Peninsula, whereas
manufactures are in their infancy, and but little national
loss can accrue from abandoning them altogether. That
there will be much grumbling at first we expect ; but
when trade is suffered to flow in its natural channel,
conflicting interests will soon find their proper level,
none being sacrificed to bolster up Others.
In a letter from Madrid of the .9th inst., we find the
following announcement, for the truth of which, how-
ever, we do not pledge ourselves :
I have to inform you that Don Enrique Maria Fernando,
the second son of the Infante Don Francisco, is the happy
Prince fixed upon to he affianced next October to her Majesty,
and that last night remittances have been sent to M. Onis by
a Cabinet courier (going to Paris and London), to accompany
him from Vienna to Madrid. He is nineteen years old, whilst
the third eon is still younger than the Queen herself.

A more unobjectionable project of marriage than the
one now assumed it would be difficult to point out.
England cannot consent to a matrimonial alliance be-
tween • the young Queen and a son of the King of the
FRENCH ; a Prince of any of the German houses would
be unpopular with the Spanish people ; and the quarrel
between Spain and the POPE interferes with any matri-
monial project on the side of Italy.

There is not much news in the French journal.; re-
eeived,this morning ; and the little there is has at Euro-
pean,interest. In the Chamber of Deputies, on Satur-
day, M. DUFAURE presented the Report of the Railway
Committee, the reading of which was dispensed with, as
it would have occupied the Chamber fur five hours.
We have given in our Summary descriptions of .the
eight lines recommended by the Committee to be under-
taken first.. We fear, however, that it will be many
years before they are completed. The insane project of
fortifying Paris is swallowing up all the surplus wealth
of the kingdom.

The Reform of the Criminal Code of France is occu.
pying the- serious attention of the French Chambers,
No subject is of more import-nce to the people o:
France.

We learn by a letter from Stettin that the works of the rail-
way from that place t 1 Berlin are proceedingly rapidly, and will
be completed next year. The payments by the-shareholders are
made with great punctuality and promptitude.
The creditors of the late Mr. John Cockerill held a meeting
.on the 12th init. at Liege. It was opened with the reading of
the balance sheet, with a report from M. Soyez, the Delegate
(-4 the Government. These statements showed the amount of
~lebts to be 11,763,564 f., and the assets , •7 17.b75 640 f leaving a
surplus of 6,092,076 f.
A widow, named Vrinion, who had been living for many
years in the Rue Payee, in a state bordering on indigence, suc-
ceeded, about a month ego, to a small property of 2,400 f.
Excited by this piece of good fortune, she indulged in liquor,
and, two nights ago, W 35 brought home by a strange woman,
in a state of intoxication. In the morning, moaning sounds
were heard from her room, and I.er neighbours made their way
in. They found her bound fast on her bed, and gagged so as
to be unable to speak, or even cry out for assistance. When
released, she told them all she could recollect, which was that
sae had been drinking With a woman at a public-house, whom
she did not know, nor of whom could she give any description.
Not unlyher money, but every portable article of value was gone.
A fam.ly fete was lately celebrated in a private residence at
Antwerp, in honour of a female servant, 7'2 years of age, who
I ad completed her 50th year of service in the same family.
An imposing, religious ceremony took place on Sunday last
at BaYeux• The Bishop having received from the Pope the
• retire remains of St. Eulyellitis the Martyr, which we. e ex-
tamed in 1819 from the cemetery of Calista, at flume ; these
relics, inclosed in a rich shrine, were borne on a bier, decked
with flowers, from t.V.* Bishop's Palace to the Cathedral, the
procesion passing along the prii.eipels.trects, the clergy and
.choristers chanting litanies, amidst an immense concourse of
A letter from Constantinople rela'es that a dispute having
arisen between a Greek artisan and his brother i 1 fl-
low-countryinaa, who claimed a debt
which was ae
unable to
pay,• the debto irritated, by the reproaches cast upon him,
waylaid his creditor, on the 21st nit., as he was coming- out of
the Church of SL Mary, and, stabbing him In various.arts of
the body, killed him on the spot. The scene was witto-„rd by
as veial people in street, but they were unable to prey, lit
11 c fatal catastrophe. They were, however, so enraged, that
I. ey .t.et upon the murderer, and beat him till he expired.
SATURDAY, APRIL 16.
BO ÜBSE—PA ltl3,
First Highest Lowell( Last
Price knee. Pm, price.
french 5 per Cants l4B e 5 Ili 75 ... lIS jim 75
107 ... 1 750 ... :.:0 ... 107 50
416 per Cents
In 5 5,„ SI ... SI 5
3 per Cent,
Loan .. .....
,ok of
sank 1,0 Qt. al arcs- IMO
%OWL Sares 5P42 50 ...5042 :0 ...5040
Britian nk ...... ,„. 73 ; f;80 780 •.. 780 •
6 per Cmc., 104•3 i WIN 1044 i 1?,
sp3liel Ac we "j.
Passive
... 5% 2
•-elpotitan
R
• PAILWAY SHAItEb.
••••••••••••••••••••• 805 ... 805 ...805 ~.805
7r.1 310 30 „, 340
• - \
SZT.
4 r. ,•-•
' •
g'•

SUMMARY OF !i'll Eltil

AND
Vttb 4ti,MltOn.

" Who runs may read."

FOR.EIGN.

The Commerce states, that the meeting at sea of four French
ships of the line had created considerable sensation in Malta,
and induced a belief that they were proceeding to Tunis. The
Governor immediately ordered an equal force to be got ready
to sail for that destination, when it became known that those
ships were returning from Smyrna to Toulon.
The Journal de Smyrne, of March 29, says:—" The depar •
tore of Admiral de La Susse, with hi, two vessels, the Inflexi-
ble and the Santi-Petri, is talked of for the end of the week.
Baron de Bandiera left on Sunday, in the frigate Venere, for
the coast of Syria. It is supposed that he will touch at Rhodes
and Castel-Rosso, to inquire into acts of piracy which have been
lately committed in that neighbourhood. Nothing new has
taken place in Syria. The Christians are still undergoing ill-
usage from the Druses, and have been obliged to abandon the
greater part of the mounta:n."
_ _ _

" The Clamber of Deputies reformed, on Friday, the 114th
article of the Code of Criminal Instruction, relative to indivi-
dual liberty. The code gave the Judge the pewter of setting
an accused at liberty, on bail, when the penalty incurred by
him was only of a correctional nature. The new article, sub-
stituted in its stead, makes it imperative for him to do so..
M. Dufaure, Chairman cf the Committee of the Chamber
of Deputies, to which the Railroad Bill had been referred for
re-examination, read his report to the Committee on Saturday.
M. Dufaure recommends the construction of six principal lines,
♦iz.-Ist, the Northern line, with a double entrance into Bel-
gium, by Lille and Valenciennes, and a branch line destined to
unite Paris with London ; 2d, the line to Nantes ; 3d, the
Bordeaux line; 4th, that between Paris and Marseilles; sth,
another between the Mediterranean and the Rhine; ana 6th,
the Eastern-line, extending trcm Paris to Strasburg.
The Spanish Chamber of Deputies was occupied, on the Bth,
with a discussion on the proposition for requesting the Govern-
ment:in the name of the Cortes, to present a 13,11 relative to
cotton manufactures, as premised by article two of the Tariff
Bill of last year. Several of the Deputies spoke, but the Is-
cession was by no means animated, as the Ministry made no
opposition to the proposition.
There were some rumours in Madrid that the Spanish Ca-
binet had addressed to the French Alinister fur Foreign Affairs
a note protesting against the pastoral letter of the Archbishop
of Paris to the French clergt, in obedience to the• Pope's mes-
sage, to put up prayers for the Church of Spain.
The Memorial Bordelais states that Al. ()tied°, a Spanish
capitalist, residing at Bordeaux has applied to the Spanish Go-
vernment for permission to establish pint-stock barks at Se-
ville, Cadiz, Barcelona, Malaga, Bilbao, Valencia, Corunna,
Santander, Saragossa. and Burgos, each with a capital of six
millions of rtals (1,500,000 t.), and to have the power of issuing
notes, so as to facilitate the operations of credit.

The Basle Gazette announces that the new constitution of
the canton of Schwytz was adopted, on the sth instant, by a
majority of twenty-five to seven. By this constitution there is
to be a Council of the canton con&sting of sixty-six members,
with an Executive Council of seven. The lair tribunal of the
canton is reduced to nine members, and, ~in cases of condemna-
tion to death, there is to be a right of appal to a Court com-
posed of thirty-three members. There a:e to be no unpaid
functiomarie, and the con"ents are to pay taxes not merely to
the State, but also to the districts.

The Constituent Assembly of Geneva adopted, on the 10th,
the article of the new Constitution which fixed the number of
deputies for the canton at 176.
A letter from M. Linan, Engineer-in-Chief of Canals at
Cairo, which has just been published, gives an interesting ac-
count of the public works which Mehemet Ali is getting ex,
cuted. He has finished this year in Upper Egypt, all the
works of the canal, on which nearly 400,000 workmen were
employed. "In fcur months," say this letter, " more than
forty millions of cubic metres of embankments of dykes and
canals have been exeeuted, and thus Upper Egypt is at present,
so to speak, sheltered from the untoward effects of an inun-
dation. All the bridges and other works have been com-
menced, and next year all will be finished. There will be
wanting to complete this great system,of eanal'sation and na-
y gation only the grand canal of Suebe-Sillily, in Upper Egypt,
the removal of the bars of the dyke k t the point of the Delta,
and lastly the communication between the two seas."

VITZLIC OP 3NXON.

The Times c o ! aTn; the Trtg remarks on Lord Nor.
manby's speech on Friday night in the House of Lords :
" Lord Normanby has been meddling with edge tools, and, as
was probable, has cut his fingers. On Friday evening he made
an attack upon the Lord Chancellor for his appointment cf
borough magistrates, and certainly tcck as little by its motion
as any lion. or Noble Mover that we remember of late. The
charge was, that the Conservatives had appointed b 64 new ma-
gistrates since last September, increasing those in Hull alone
Loin -24 to 32, the additional gentlemen being all of Minis-
terial politics. Lord NormanWs ape( ch did not itself promise
much for his cause. It was really the production of a person
who had nothing to say, and was ready to catch at any straw
which would support any charge, or suggest any insinuation,
however wanting in justice or in point, by which his speech
might be swelled into a sufficient extent of tediousness."
The Post observes, with reference to the war-mania still
existing to a certain degree in France:—" If French writers
and orators will vapour and talk incessantly about what France
may accomplish by warlike means, she cannot but expect to be
met with language indicating a sense of the folly and injustice
of such bravado. If France do not mean to go to war, it is
very absurd to be filling the minds of an inflammable popula-
tion with ideas of war. If she does mean to go to war, she
will do a most absurd thing. Let her remember what was the
end of her warfare when she had so great a tvenius as Napoleon
to guide her energies and to direct her battles. Without him
can :he expect better success than she had with him ? Does
she wish to witness again the scenes of 1814 and 1815?"
In an article on the subject of Free Trade, the Adcertiser
thus cursorily allud, s to Sir R. Peel's tariff:—" In exclaiming
against the unwise policy of prohibitory duties, he has modified
those constituting the opprei4ion cf the present system to the
least possible extent ; and while the great articles of alimentary
consumption are left nearly as they were under his predecessors,
small monopolies are broken up, producing not so much general
good a., perhaps, individual embarrassment. But the moment
must come when the objects alluded to must he compassed, al-
though the present Premier has shrunk from the permanent
fame which would have attached to his accomplishment of
them, and we assume it is only in expectation of that moment
the country maintains its comparative quiet under its present
intolerable circumstances."

The following is from the Chronicle :—" We do not wonder
that the farmers should reproach Sir Robert Peal with incon-
sistency, both as regards the Corn-law and his income tax
opinions. If there is one man in Parliament more, deeply
pledged to opposition to an income tax than another, that man
is Sir Robert Peel. On turning to the Mirror of Parliament,
we Snd that; on the debate on the budget of Lout Althorp,
on April the 19th, 1833, Sir Robert Peel made the following
energetical speech against an income tax I think Lkewiso,'
said the Right Hon. Baronet (Mirror of Parliament, p. 1,331),
that the Noble Lord has done well in not proposing an
income or property tax. Nothing but a case of extreme neces-
sity canjustify Parliament in subjecting the people of this
country, in a time of peace, to the inquisitorial process which
must be resorted to in order te render the impost productive,
and to have recourse to such a machinery for the purpose of
raising 2or 3 per cent. would be most unwise. Such a tax is
a great resource in time of necessity, and therefore I am un-
willing, by establishing the nisatISTING inquisition with which
it must be accompanied, to create such an odium against it, as
would reader it impossible to resort to it in time of extreme
necessity.' Who could have believed that the individual who
delivered the above speech in 1833, would be found proposing
an income tax in a time of peace?"
We take the following from the Herald : —The slightest
glance at Sir Robert Peel's entire political career, administra-
tive or legislative, will establish that he is not a stationary poll-
cian ; he has, throughout life, been a statesman of moderate
opinions, and in moderation there is always progress. Again,
Sir Robert Peel has fever been an impracticable or obstinate
politician ; lie has never made his own convictions the absolute
standard of right and wrong—of action or inaction—but has
bended his personal opinions here a little and there a little, ac-
cording to the necessities of the times and the pressure from
without. Sir Robert Peel has not, moreover, deep and enthu-
siastic convictions ; he is a practical statesman, sufficiently
easily acted on by external circumstances, or the state of par-
ties. He has always been of the juste milieu; and politicians of
extreme views ha. c no right to snake his moderation a ground
of complaint against him."