The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-06 00:00:00

CHARGE.

Permanent Debt.
Terminable Annuities
Interest on Exchequer Bills issued to meet the charge on the Consolidated Fund
Sinking Fund
The Civil List
Other charges on the Consolidated Fund
For Advances, and to pay oft'Exchequer.Bills issued for Advances

Total Charge

The Surplus

The Amount of Exchequer Bills issued to meet the charge'on the Consolidated Fund for the Quarter ended Oct. 10, 1811,
and paid off out of the growing produce of that Fund for the Quarter ended .lan. 5, 142
The Amount issued in the Quarter ended Jan. 5, 1812, in part of the sums granted by Parliament out of the Consoli-
dated Fund for Supply Services
The Surplus of the Consolidated Fund, Quarter ended Jan. 5, 181,

The probable amount of Exchequer Bills required to meet the charge on the Consolidated Fund, Quarter ended
Jan. 5, 1812

But let us go on 7--At the Royal Standard they found
about 1,000 persons ; and at the Eagle Tavern, nearly
5,000, and no less than 37 waiters " busily employed
during the evening." Such was the result of the arduous
labours of these pious functionaries, and such was the
creditable work upon which they were set by their
spiritual employers.
The next paragraph is of a piece with all the rest. It
makes a sweeping charge against these establishments,
describing them as " Schools of evil and nurseries for
our prisons, our hulks, and our penal colonies ;" and it
refers to the " testimonies of many youths -now under
sentence of transportation, and otherwise committed to
our metropolitan prisons," in confirmation of their state-
ment of the evils arising from such. places of resort. We
confess we should like to see these " testimonies," if any
such. exist, and to ascertain whether they were given
voluntarily, or whether they were artfully extracted
by questions so framed as to lead to the
answers desired. None, however, but the great-
est simpletons could be befooled by the nonsense
which this Memorial contains. There was; of course, no
such thing ever heard of as juvenile crime and delin-,
quency beore the White Conduit House, the Eagle, &c.,
hecame places of musical entertainment ! There were
no profligate, wicked, or unnatural parents, who aban-
doned their offspring. to chance, presented to them ex-
amples of the most wicked depravity, who reared them
in practices by which they could scarcely fail of being
trained for " our prisons, our hulks, and our penal colo-
nies !" The best answer to this rhodomontade is, that
the Memorial itself does not state that the Red Lion-
square Missionary spies witnessed any indecent or im-
proper conduct at the houses they vis.ted on their me-
morable Sunday evening expedition. If they had seen
anything reprehensible in this respect, it would have as-
suredly been deemed too good to be omitted. The worst
it speaks of is the appearance of some women of " loose"
character.
But we must hasten to a conclusion. It is only right
to add, that although the Memorial, as we have already
stated, was, in the first instance, sent privately to each
individual_ Magistrate, it was on the licensing day read
in open Court. What, however, was this but sheer
mockery? A mere formal pretext for a predetermined
wrong? The document had already done its work. Its
poison had been insidiously instilled into the minds of
those for whom it had been especially concocted. What
fullowed was meant as-a blind to the public.
As the last act of the farce, and thii is the most cha-
racteristic bit of all, the Red Lion-square Mission had ac-
tually the unblushing audacity to thank God, in a public
advertisement, inserted in the Times newspaper, of Oc-
tober 29, for the " Suppression of Sunday Taverns !"
The impiety of this act is enough to shock any real Chris-
tian. 'That the reader may not think we aro imposing
on him, we quote the very words:—" The Committee of
the London City Mission devoutly thank God for this
great blessing," &c., than which nothing to our minds
can be more revolting. The introduction of the name of
the Deity on such an occasion is not only an insult to
common sense, but an outrage on all proper feeling. The
passage would have been more pertinent and less impious,
if the phrase, " Middlesex Magistrates," had been sub-
stituted for the name of the Almighty.
The Committee, in the fulness Of their exultation, fur-
ther announce that the gates of the. Eagle Tavern, the
Royal Standard, and all similar pleasure-grounds, within
the jurisdiction of the Middlesex Magistrates, had been
on the previous evening closed, thereby, doubtless, in-
tending. to deter • people from visiting them in future.
But, with one exception, White Conduit House, we
believe they are all open on Sunday evenings, as before
the Magisterial resolution. The proprietors of the
White Conduit House have bowed to the opinion of the
Justices, by keeping the Theatrical Saloon shut on those
evenings ; but it is false to say that the Pleasure-grounds
are closed. With regard to the latter, no difference what-
ever has been made. But to the - proprietors of these
places generally, we presume it is wholly a matter of
indifference whether they serve their customers with tea
and coffee, or spirits and water and cigars. Let them,
however, insist upon their indubitable rights to use
every part of the premises they occupy, and some of
which have been reared at an enormous outlay of capi-
tal, in any way they please, not contrary to law, as well
on Sunday as -every other evening in the week. Talk
of vested rights ! What is this arbitrary
-inter-
ference of a set of Justices but an infraction of
vested rights ? And what shall we
say\of the conduct
of the Court in permitting itself to be ear-wigged and
biassed in private, on matters which it ought to have en-
tertained only in its public capacity ? If it had per-
formed its duty, it would at once have denounced the

Red Lion-square memorial as-anaudacious attempt to
corrupt the springs of justice ; instead of which, it has
exposeditself to very injurious imputation. Believing,
however, that there aro many gentlemen among the
Aliddlesex Magistracy inclined to discountenance fanati-
cal zeal and stupid bigotry, it would be well if some such
would take the earliest opportunity of moving the Court
to retraco its steps, and to rescind the resolution passed
iu October last ; or, if this should be thought too dero-
gatory to its dignity, the next best thing it can do will
be to take no further notice of the matter, and to renew
the licenses as usual, at the proper time, without any
future restriction.

* Musical licenses were formerly granted only to such
places as Vauxhall, Ranelagh, Astley's, the Royal Circus (now
the Surrey Theatre), Sadler's Wells, and a few others. The
extension of these licenses to taverns and public-houses is the
work of the Magistrates themselves. In fact, there was no
other authority. If, therefore, any evil has arisen from their
practice, as they are the authors of it, so they ought to be alone
responsible for the consequences. But, to use the late Lord
Castlereagh's expression, they are now " turning their backs
upon themselves." Unfortunately, however, let them turn
Which way they will, they are always ready to show their teeth.

8,177,231
070,4C0
11,910

97,022
402,339
70,000

9,437,965
1,931,371

I I ,372,536

fyilB,6ll
I,BS7,Jl'd

8,242,705
069,955
16,166

97,392
489,800
20,000

P,534,008
1,F57,929

11,3.3,:)37

4,841,151

1,760,6:32