The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-11 00:00:00

•••.

—that is, if no remedy at present existed, he would '
feel it his duty to bring in a Bill on the subject, and
so remedy the omission. The defect of this case had
arisen from legislative measures introduced for the
purpose of altering the jury-law. The common law
did not apply to the case, and the Legislature had
provided no remedy for the defect.
Lord CAMPBELL was extremely glad to hear
that his Noble Friend had directed his attention to
the subject; but he felt sure that upon further
consideration he would find the opinion of the
learned judges to be, that the right of chal-
lenge to the array had been taken away alto-
gether. They said that a difference or de-
fect arising from partiality was the only ground
for challenging. the array. The matter was taken
altogether out of the hands of the sheriff: where the
Recorder erred there did not seem to be any remedy.
lie would not trouble the' House further on the sub-
ject, resting with confidence on the assurance of his
Noble and Learned Friends.
THE INCOME-TAX.
•
- - - •'

liament, he thought, was entitled to this information.
He also wished to see what had been the working of
the Irish spirit duties. The Noble Duke would re-
collect that, in the first instance, the tax on Irish
spirits had been increased, but this increased tax bad
been followed by a deficiency in the revenue.
The Government very properly took the mat-
ter into their consideration, and repealed the duty.
He wished to see what had been the working
of that alteration, and he trusted there would_ be
no objection to the return. The accounts of
the Excise would show the consumption of the
present year as compared with former years
There were two other articles in which alterations
had been made, and respecting • which he also
wished some information. One was the article
of timber. He considered that the sacrifice of
the duty on colonial timber was most unwise, because
it had not benefited the consumer, while a great loss
had resulted to the revenue. The other :article
to which he alluded was that of coffee.
He believed that the measure of her Ma-
jesty's Government with respect to coffee,
though not, perhaps, so complete as might have
been wished—was not only a step, but a very great
step in the right direction.—(Hear, hear.)
He believed that the great increase which
had taken place in thi; artrele had arisen from this
measure, He was of the same opinion with respect
to the wool-duty for; although the -agricultural
interest had been very "much alarmed by it, yet
he believed that so far from their fears being well
founded it had greatly benefited them. He ventured
to express a hope that the same course with respect to
the duty on cotton wool would be pursued,
as the effect of that tax on our manufacturer in
foreign markets was very severely felt, as in those
markets his articles had to compete with articles
manufactured from cotton that had never been taxed.

Lord MONTEP,GLE then rose and said, that
their Lordships were aware that he had a motion on
the paper of this evening fur the annual balance
sheet of income and expenditure; and accounts re-
lating to trade and navigation in certain
branches. He (Lord Monteagle) would not have
taken up any considerable portion of their Lordships'
time upon this subject had r not an impression,
caused by a paragraph in her Majesty's gracious
speech, been created out of doors, and on that
passage he intended to make a few observations.
The passage referred to said that it would be for them
to determine whether it would not be prudent to
continue the property-tax for a limited period. Now
that part of her Majesty's speech might be inter-
preted in two ways, and it was most material
that it should be properly understood by
the country. Their Lordships were aware that
when the tax was first enacted, its objects were
merely of a temporary kind, and no expectations were
entertained that it would afterwards be made part of
the ways and means of this country. Un-
doubtedly it would not be so objectionable if
it . were only intended as a partial experiment
for the purpose of remitting some other obnoxious
tax, or giving relief in any case that pressed heavily
on the community; but if it were intended, as they
had reason to fear, to make the income-tax part of
the permanent ways and means of the country, then,
indeed, was it essentially necessary that the people
should be aware of the real intentions of the Government.
It was one thing to submit to an inconvenience and
inequality of pressure, as in the case of this tax, and
quite a different one to consent to a permanent impo-
sition. He thought that no one could doubt the ex-
pediency of continuing the income-tax for the present,
and he should state in a few words why he thought
so. Dealing in round numbers there was a surplus
of three millions over expenditure. Now, although
the public were led to consider that this was
a large augmentation of the public revenue,
and that this sum, therefore, fbrmed a fluid
upon which different classes, upon whom particular
taxes pressed, might think they had a right to draw,
it was time that there was an actual surplus of
3,000,0001. But then it was provided by the property-
tax, which yielded 5,009,0001., and was only a tem-
porary impost. Looking t the regular and fixed sources
of increase there was in fact no surplus. There was
quite As great a deficiency now, as when the income-
tax was imposed, if that tax were allowed to expire.
It must be obvious to every one that the expiration of
that tax, under such circumstances, the Government
could not think of ; and he trusted that neither House
of Parliament would consent to its expiration. The
question, then, was, whether the tax was to be con-
tinued as the relief of a temporary pressure, or was
to be continued as a substitute for other taxes to be
repealed. But if it were proposed, on the strength of
the temporary surplus, to reduce judiciously some
taxes which might, as had been found to be the re
suit in the case of other reductions, tend ultimately to
raise the permanent revenue and diminish the deficiency,
no one could object to that policy. The papers which
he was about to call for would illustrate the working
. of the changes which had taken place, and he had
in-
tended to move for another paper, in which he was
anticipated by his Noble Friend Lord Dalhousie,
whom he must take that opportunity of congra-
tulating upon his recent appointment to the head of
the department with which that paper was connected.
This document, which would probably be delivered
in the course of tomorrow, was one of the most
important and valuable papers. illustrative of their
customs laws, that had ever been drawn up or pre-
pared for Parliament. It furnished some inferences,
with respect to their customs duties, of a most
important nature. It exhibited in two com-
parative tables the state of the customs duties
in the two years preceding- the alteration
of the tariff, and for the two years immediately suc-
ceeding that alteration. They were classed in two
different modes. The first was an analysis, according
to the different heads of duty, of articles pro-
ducing from 100!. to 100,0001. a-year ; the
other was an analysis of the respective
amount of duty raised on different classes
of articles. By this it appeared that out
of 22,000,000/. raised upon 813 articles there
were 585, or about three-fourths of the whole, which
produced only 42,000/. a year. Parliament had the
power of reducing the whole amount of the cus-
toms' duties payabl_e on three-fourths of the articles
subjected to duty, at a loss only of 42,000/.
But if such • a proposal ever came before
them, he would suggest to his Noble Friend
that, ir. their anxiety to give all possible relief to trade
and commerce, they ought not to deprive themselves
of the opportunity of gaining jut and correct statis•
tical information. This error had been committed
with respect to the Irish trade. In their anxiety tore-
' move all restrictions from it, they had done away with
the necessity of any customs entries whatever. Thus,

from their desire to place it as much as possible on
the footing of a coasting-trade, they had put it
out of their power to prove to the Irish
people that their condition had progressively
unproved, and that their consumption of
the necessaries of life was daily extending itself.
Ti!ere were several other curious facts which
were equally apparent in the document before him,
and to eAddi he had. been calling their Lordships'
I,ttent:oo, upoo which ha f.....;ipected considerable dis-
cusion oc id arize. It was not now his intention
to enter- time at. length into this subl2et, but
,xlrn it came to be discussed before their Loi-d-
-shins it would appear that in the reduction
made upon articles of consumption, those reductions
‘votild appear to have been made upon articles of
minor importance. It would also appear that taking
into account the 'Character of the articles that this
reduction had been made upon, there had been
comparatively little or .no reduction upon
articles of raw . .material, upon, articles partly
manufactured, and upon manufactured articles, while
upn the other hand it would appear that the great
increase had taken place upon articles of fool. It
was for these reasons that' he deemed it of much im-
portance to call their Lordships' attention to the fact
that this temporary tax had not produced an equiva-
lent equal to the sacrifice. This was not the proper
time to argue this question, but he did not think it was

out of place in hini to take the liberty of drawing
their Lordships' attention to this tax. In speaking
of articles of food he did not of course mean to include
every article that came under that designation, such
as brandy, &c., but he alluded to the article of tea,
upon which,lie found a considerable increase, and that
circumstance had been fully explained in the document
before him. lie had found that no alteration had been
made in the rate of duty upon that article, which
was 2s. Id. in the pound, though considerable altera-
tion had taken place in the price. Whether a reduc-
tion in the price of the article had been owing to a
reduction in the duty or the value, it was a matter of
indifference to the public, but the result of the reduc-
tion in the price had been an increase in the
consumption of the article to the amount of about a
million of pounds weight. The fall had been in the
price of the article from ?3.6d. to ls. 6d. per pound,
thereby accounting for the increase in the consump-
tion. His reasons for referring to those subjects was
for the purpose of showing that the increase
surplus of the revenue was Rot so great as
had been imagined. Then with regard to
another article of general consumption sugar.
Last year an alteration was made in the duties im-
posed upon sugar. One scale of duty was imposed
sugar the product of British possessions; an-
other scale was imposed upon foreign sugar the pro-
duction of free labour, such as sugars from China,
Jaya, and Manilla ; and power was given to her
Majesty in Council, on satisfactory proof being
given that it was produced by free labour in other
countries, to add those countries to the list. There
was also a clause in the Act entitling countries which
had with us treaties of reciprocity to the benefit of
the reduction. Now he should like to see whether
there had taken place for home consumption
any of that description of free-labour sugar,
not the production of British possessions. He
was aware that the Bill had not come into practical
operation until the month of November last, and,
therefore, it could not be considered as a fair
specimen of the working of the Bill. The
policy of the Government in framing that
Bill was to give the preference to free-labour
sugar, but it would be excessively whimsical if it
should turn out that no foreign free-labour sugar had
been admitted under its provisions, but that
slave-labour sugar' which it was the object
of Parliament to exclu, had been admitted.
rHesepebeeltn
beeniie;dththeeraedinhaidssionof somehim Louisiana, 9
de r
ands i n
hCeo,unancid
those who acted withl
under had
thela s
ttotreaie year
s
contended that Louisiana sugar,
of reciprocity, would be entitled
benefit of the Act. Some Manilla sugar had, bee
believed, arrived, but owing to some difficulty, had
not yet been admitted to home consumption. Par.

been received since a similar question was put last
year. But with respect to the payments to the Tem-
ple of Juggernaut, he had to state, that the annual
payment was formerly 60,000 rupees, but so much of
the lands had been restored as reduced it to 36,000
rupees, and it was intended to restore the remaining
lands, so as to render the payment altogether unne-
cessary.

He thought it was but justice that the House of
Lords should have 'time to consider these matters.
It was true they had not the right to alter
any measures, but they • had the right
surely to. exercise their judgment upon them.
Indeed, they did not do their duty without they did
so. He trusted that, in future, Bills of such im-
portance as those he had adverted to would not
be hurried through the House; because the re-
sult was, that their Lordships had not the
opportunity of fully considering them. The Noble
Lord concluded by moving for the papers for which
he had given notice.
The Duke of WELLINGTON said that it
could not be expected that he would be pre-
pared to answer the speech of the Noble Lord.
With respect to the papers, there could be no ob-
jection to the production of them; and the Noble
Lord might rely upon it that it was cer-
tainly the desire and wish of the Government to give
to that House every information upon all these ques-
tions, in order that they might have an opportunity
of discussing them all. At the present moment, he
had already stated, it was impossible for him to follow
the Noble Lord through the discussion of these
questions. Her Majesty's servants it must be ex-
pected would wait till the financial statement was
made in another place, before they interfered in these
matters.
The production of the papers was then ordered,
and the House adjourned._

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Feb. 10.
The SPEAKER took the Chair shortly before Four.
THAMES EMBANKMENT BILL.

The Sheriffs of London were introduced by the Ser-
geant-at-Arms, and presented a petition from the Lord
Mayor, Aldermen, and Members of theTouncil in Com-
mon Council assembled, respecting the Thames Embank-
ment Bill.

Ti 141 SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARIr 1845.

eloque rick; • and as much truth but what is
the Prime Minister to do ? It is certain that he
has a surplus of nearly three millions and a half:
But three millions and a half will not afford a reduc-
tion of about fifteen or twenty millions, which, at a
moderate computation, he is urged to reduce, and yet
each interest tells him that the empire will infallibly
be ruined, if the tax which presses upon .it be not re.
moved. This is a distressing position, into which Sir
Robert Peel has brought himself by his surplus ;
but there is consolation. Though each interest
insists upon the necessity of the concession, which
it claims as of vital importance to the empire,
each allows that all other interests may go on very well
as.they are. Thus all the votes being collected, each
interest will have but one vote against all the others, and
thus the result will be a great majority against the taking
off any one tax. 'And in good truth, this result would
seem to be fully justified by the prosperity of the
country under its present system of taxation. We
have not the most distant notion of what the
Premier is to' propose on Friday ; but we know
what we should do in his place—take care
to disoblige no one interest by giving a preference to
any other;. leave the taxes just where they are, and
devote the surplus to the defence of the country, by
additions to our, steam navy, and by the construction of
ports and harbours. his air athlitional recommendation
of this mode of applying the-surplus, that nearly every
sHliegef it would be expended in the wages of labour
—no small of etiiation tosthe poor-, rites, no slight benefit
VS the agriculturiSt and to thel'exci:-e revenue.
THE SENTINEL.—The - perfection Of - a Royal
Speech is to string sentences together devoid of all
Meaning. • Words without ideas, - inane paragraphs,
vhgue generalities, and bed grammar, are the staple
elements of these documents. The Sovereign, we need
not tell our readers, has nothing whatever to do in their
composition ; no more, indeed, than boys in a school
with the speeches they are calk ci upon to spout before
" breaking up," by their elocution-master. Knowing,
as we do, that the undivided and unremitting efforts of
the Oligarchy, since 1688, have been devoted to the
weakening and degrading of Royalty, we are not
surprised that. they should compel their enthrored
victims to recite annually those dull platitudes et
rhetoric, and endeavour to fasten the authorship
on them. However, this dirty trick is pretty well
worn out ; and the public generally are now
aware, that the prologue to the new annual edition f
the Comedy of Errors, to be played by the national
comedians in the Holy Chapel of St. Stephen's, is the
veritable composition of the Prime Minister. Let us
examine some of the paragraphs in the speech which the
Queen' was compelled to recite on Tuesday last, from the
MS. of Sir Robert Peel. Her Majesty says;—" Among
all classes of my people, there is generally prevalent a
spirit of loyalty and cheerful obedience to the law."
If by loyalty is understood a personal respect and
attachment towards the amiable lady who, by
right of primogeniture, wears the Crown of these
realms, we fully admit the truth "of the senti-
ment ; but if the term is intended to be taken in
a wider sense, and meant to convey an idea, that
the people are contented with the institutions
under which they live, then we tell Sir Robert
Peel, that he has put Lingua:4,e into the mouth
of his Royal Mistress, which he knows to be fabulous.
This word "loyalty" is too often used in a very lax and
most unwarrantable sense ; and a logical definition of it
is greatly to be desiclerated. Attack Bishops and the
Church shouts disloyalty ; assail hereditary legislation
and the Peers yell out disloyalty ; in fact, every species
of State scoundrelism, when it receives a staggering blow
from the arm of justice, sneaks behind the throne for
shelter, and attempts to turn attention from its own vil-
belies by some lachrymose whinings over the fictitious
dangers of monarchy. We are told of the " cheerful "
obedience paid by the people to the law. We em-
phatically deny that the obedience is cheerfuL It
arises partly from fear of imprisonment or trans-
portation, and partly through that prostration of
mind and sickness of heart which captives feel after
long years of incarceration; or, it may be assimilated to
that condition of utter helplessness and hopelessness
which the stolen African experiences when pinioned
down with iron rivets in the hold of a slave-ship. Sir
Robert generalises far too much, when he talks of obe-
dience to " the law." What does he mean by the ex-
pression? Does he draw his proofs and illustrations
from incendiarism or poaching, or the dead bodies of
slaughtered gamekeepers? Is it the law that taxes
bread and sugar, for the behoof of that oligarchy whose
miserable tool lie is, that the loyal people press to their
hearts with fond and grateful endearments? Is it the
new poor-law, or the income-tax law, or the tithe-law,
or the law which robs a man of the suffrage, or those
aggregate laws of Customs and Excise which make the
industrious classes pay seventy per cent. out of their
earnings to the Chancellor of the Exchequer? We must
judge'of the whole by the parts of which it is composed,
and which of the parts inspires " cheerfulness,"
"Utor permisso ; caudmque pilos ut equinse
Paulatium vello ; demo tmuli, demo etiam unum,
Duns cadet elusus ration() ruentis acervi."
Her Majesty hopes that the information collected by the
Health of Towns Commission will enable Parliament
" to devise the means of promoting the health and com-
fort of the poorer classes of her subjects." That such
is the personal wish of . her Majesty, we have no doubt;
and right glad should we be to hear that she proposed
to make a royal progress, accompanied by her Ladies of
Honour in the character of Sisters of Charity, through
the Metropolis, under the guidance of Dr. Southwood
Smith and the other medical gentlemen who have given
evidence before the Health of Towns Commission. Let
her visit Field-court and its neighbourhood, Bethnal-
green, Spitalfields, and the Borough Mint, and other per-
manent abodes of fever and miasma, where famine gives
its daily levee to hunger. Let her not fear physical force;
these are the localities where physical weakness demon-
strations are exhibited from the first of January to the
last day of December. The contrast between such scenes
of misery and the gorgeous superabundance of Stowe
and Burleigh, would give her some useful hints as to the
distribution of wealth, and also point out to her how it
happens that the oligarchs can rival royalty itself in mag-
nificence. Would to Heaven, that Victoria would com-
mand such a physical weakness demonstration as we
have indicated, attended by her official advisers ; and,
than, in presence of the ragged, houseless, and starving,
ask them to give an account of their stewardship ? Her
lkisjesty tells the Legislature, that " the state of the law
in, regard to the privileges of the Bank of Ireland, and to
other banking establishments in that country and in
Scotland, will, no doubt, occupy their attention." This is
significant; but we tell Sir Robert Peel, on quite as
good evidence as any that he possesses, that the intro-
duction of a metallic currency into North Britain would
i uin that country. We tell him, that Glasgow would
be a bankrupt city-in six months after the suppression of
cash credits. All the poor who subsist by the fisheries,
would be reduced to hovless beggary. It is lucky for
him that the working men of England have never yet
turned their minds to the truly diabolical system of
which he is the worthless and unfeeling advocate. He
gained personally a million by the vile Bill of 1819, and
his honest father told him he would make that enormous
profit by the spoliating measure. But he is not content.
He wants more, and the more scarce ho makes money
the more power does he throw into the monied class
of which he is a leading member. But we will not believe
that Scotland will ever succumb to this ignoble money-
monger, even though he should be backed by those
League Members, who, shouting free trade, voted with
him to protect the monopoly of that article of trade,
called gold—an astounding inconsistency, which we
w. uld fain ascribe to want of judgment, rather than
want of principle. Her Majesty's speech concludes
with an earnest prayer to Divine Providence to direct
the wisdom and sustain the virtue of Parliament. We
absolutely shuddered when we read the paragraph.
What ! does Sir R. Peel put this language into the
mouth of his Royal Mistress after having done all in his
power to thwart the intentions of Providence by inter-
cepting its bounties ? Has not God given the harvest,
and have out Peel and his crew locked it up in bonded
warehouses, while the hungry have been fainting and
dying for want of sustenance ? And shall a Legislature
thus violating natural law, session after session, dare to
profane and desecrate the sanctity of religion by hypo-
critical appeals to Heaven, when by their simple vote they
can liberate the imprisoned food, and enable every hu-
man being to fulfil the command of his Maker, by earn-
ing his bread "in the sweat of his brow ?" Verily, we
are a most Christian people, and her Majesty is "De-
fender of the Faith."

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF EXCHEQUER, Feb. 19.
(Before the Lord CIuEF BARON and a Special Jury.)

_
THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL r. REILLY.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition of yesterday.)
The jury returned a verdict for the Crown for the single
value---7721. 16s.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

OLD COURT.

Caleb Morris and Charles Crickler were indicted, the former
for stealing a purse and two Si; Bank of England notes, the
property of George Rogers, and the latter for feloniously re-
ceiving one of the notes, well knowing that it had been stolen.
Mr. Ryland prosecuted, and Mr. Prendergast appeared for
the defence.
The circumstances under which the charge was preferred
against the prisoners will be fresh in the recollection of our
readers from the police reports, and it will therefore not be
necessary to go into them at any length on the. present occa-
sion. The prosecutor was at Greenwich on the lit of April,
last year, and while proceeding to the railway-station, on his
return to London, he lost his purse and its contents. The
purse was shortly afterwards picked up by a lad named
Stevens, who was at the time an apprentice to the prisoner
Morris, who is a tradesman at Greenwich, and he took the
purse home to his master. The prisoner examined it, and
said that it contained two 51. Bank of England notes, and he
claimed them as of right belonging to him, but, at the same
time, souse sort of promise was made to the boy,
that he should receive 2/. as his share, and it
appears that seventeen shillings were in point of
fact given to him by his master as part of the 21.
Some evidence was adduced to show that the prisoner Morris
changed one of the 51. notes in London, in payment for a
pair of trowsers, and in order to connect the other prisoner
with the transaction. The boy Stevens, deposed that Morris
gave him the second 5/. note and told bim to get it changed,
and that soon afterwards he said that he had done so, and at
the same time observed that the notes had been advertised,
and if they did not mind they should get into trouble about
them.

Mr. PRENDERGAST addressed the jury on behalf of the
prisoners, and called several witnesses who gave them an ex-
cellent character.

The RECORDER SUM m eirup, and the j ury acquitted Crick ler
and returned a verdict of Guilty against Morris, but, at the
same time, strongly recommended him to mercy, in which
recommendation the prosecutor also joined.
The RECORDER sentenced him to three months' imprison-
ment without hard labour.
The Court then adjourned until Monday, March 3.

The Directors of the Cen'r .1 Sambre and Meuse
Railway, accompanied by Mr. Drapier, Mr. Taylor the
engineer, and the superintendent, had an interview
yesterday with the'Belgiall Minister.