The Sun.
London, England, 1842-11-01 00:00:00

SPIgIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. I PORTUGAL.
IFROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY. I The Tagus steam-ship arrived at Falmouth at two
pLOßE.—Agricultural dinners continue to n.m., on Friday, with the Peninsular mails. She left
be followed by speeches from those who attend Gibraltar on the 20th Oct., Cadiz 21st, Lisbon 24th,
'them, which are likely to spoil Sir Robert Peel's Oporto 25th, and Vigo same day; haying fifteen
appetite for h;s own. At these scenes of former passengers.
hilarity, where rampant hopes of an approaching LISBON, OCT. 24.—0 n the 20th inst., the Prince
change of Government from Whig to Tory were • de Joinville, and his brother, the Duke d'Aumale,
the order of the day, the farmers were wont to arrived here from Brest, on board the French frigate
congratulate each other with the assurance that, Belle Poule, escorted by the Coquette sloop-of-war,
under Sir Robert Peel's auspices, "protection and the Asmodee steamer. The two Princes landed
to agriculture" would be secure. No rude hand in the course of the day, and proceeded to visit the
would then venture to raise itself against Queen, who had sent her own carriages to convey.
the " landed interests," much less to reduce I them, and by whom, as well as by her husband, it
the duties which operated as a barrier to the appears, they were received with the most flattering
importation of foreign corn and the introduc- attentions. The Prince de Joinville, after a short stay
Lion of foreign cattle. " To-morrow shall be as here, will proceed to Rio de Janeiro, to receive his
to-day, and much more abundant.l" was affianced bride, the Emperor's sister, Donna Januaria;
chaunted in all the triumphant notes which the Duke d'Aumale's destination is to join the French
speech and song could supply. Sir Robert Peel army in Africa. Both Princes, on the day after their
is Premier; and how changed the scene ! From arrival, went on board her Britannic Majesty's
every corner of the land where the farmers meet, sohooner Lynx, to visit her commander Lieutenant
at market, or at dinner—the voice of mourning, Burslem, by whom they were received with all the
lamentation, and woe, is heard—deploring pre- honours due to their high rank. They have since
sent depression and indulging in forebodings of then been driving frequently about the city in an
coming ruin ! Here and there, the M.P.'s who, open carriage, dressed in plain clothes, and with only
faithless to their elle-netnews, consented to be two attendants.
made the dupes or the slaves of the Government, Lord Howard has had further interviews with the
in the passing of its Corn-law and Tariff—a Go- Duke of Palmella and Senhor Gomes de Castro, on
vernment which obtained office on the pretence the tariff question. The Portuguese, it is said, will
that the interests of agriculture were threatened snake no reduction on woollen cloths or salt fish, al-
by the projected changes of the late Ministry— leging the necessity of protecting their own menu-
endeavour to console their disquieted con- factures, and the fishery company. On woollen stuffs
stituents by hoping that things will not turn and fancy articles they are willing to make some re-
out so bad as their fears suggest. The much- duction, but their consumption here is inconsiderable.
abused farmers refuse to be comforted. They With respect to the comparative value of our imports,
point to their present altered condition; and ask, woollens amount to about 150,0001., while cottons
If results like these show themselves already, reach 800,0001., and the amount might be greatly in-
what will be the full measure of their calamities creased by -a reduction of duty ; this snakes it con-
when the competition on which they must now sidered probable that the question may be settled for
enter with the foreign corn growers and cattle the present by our accepting the present offers of
breeders is brought into full play? We have Portugal; provided her demands on us are not too
given illustrations of the dissatisfaction and de- extravagant.
spondency manifested 'by the agriculturists at The Portuguese still continue to levy a higher
their dinners—not merely in one or two districts, duty on English cheese than on Dutch cheese, con-
but in every part of the kingdom in which they trary to the evident meaning of the treaty.
have been held. Essex, Cambridgeshire, Nor- During the month of August last there entered
thamptonshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, the port of Lisbon 107 Portuguese coasting vessels,
Hertfordshire—in fact, wherever a meeting of total crews 845, and 'tonnage, 4,977. The list of
agriculturists was held, and speeches on the state Portuguese vessels employed in distant or foreign
and prospects of the landed interests made, there trade, and of foreign vessels of all nations, was as fol-
was heard strong expressions of dissatisfaction lows :—Portuguese vessels 32, crew 404, tonnage
with those measures of the Government which 4,506; English vessels, 32, crew 447, tonnage, 5,011 ;
had relation to their interests—intermingled Swedish and Norwegian vessels 10, crew 94, tonnage
with denunciations of Sir R. Peel fbr his decep- 1,677 ; Danish vessels 9, crew 76, tonnage 1,004:
tive policy, and upbraidings of their members Russian vessels 4, crew 43, tonnage 756 ; Dutch ves-
for supporting him in passing those measures into sels 3, crew 18, tonnage '273; Austrian vessels 2,
laws. crew 26, tonnage 735 ; Neapolitan vessels 2, crew
STANDARD.—We have lately had in the 21, tonnage 353 ; Brazilian vessel 1, crew 20, ton-
Opposition journals much new fbund sympathy nage 303; Mecklenburg vessel 1, crew 10, tonnage 176.
with ,the productive classes, more particularly It will be seen that the number of ships of all na-
farmers, who are described to be in the road to tions, besides English and Portuguese, amounts to
ruin opened by the tariff and the modified Corn- exactly 32, and their crews and tonnage to 308 and
law; again, the same journals have been loud in 5,987,
complaint of the jacobinical spirit which, by ex- The Suspension Bridge which has been some time
empting from the Property-tax all incomes under constructing has been completed at Oporto, and was
1501. a-year, makes, it is said, for the first time placed in its situation last week.
(the assessed taxes being of course forgotten) There is a report that the Government are making
a distinction between the several amounts of a loan in England; the National has alluded to it
property as objects of taxation. It is surely a several times since Gomes de Castro came in, but the
little ungracious in those who complain of the ex- Correio denied it. The Exchequer bills have not yet
,ercise of the jacobinical spirit in which incomes come out.
of less than 1501. per annum have been exempted, Sir C. Napier came here by the Montrose steamer
to complain now of " the violation of the on Friday, and remains; he was saluted by the Poe
graduation principle." The exemption in tuguese forts on coming in.'
question is surely an application of the graduated
scale in those cases which only can seem to call
for it; as to the " graduation principle," illus-
trated by such cases as follow, it is a simple im-
possibility. No general law ever was or ever can
be so graduated as to meet the circumstances of
particular families or particular individuals. If,
therefore, the Property-tax stood alone, it would
not be liable to objection on this score. But the
Property-tax does not stand alone; if it carries in
it no principle of graduation, it is accompanied by
a compensating principle infinitely more just and
more efficient than any principle of graduation
embodied in words could be. This principle
of compensation is to be found in the modified
corn-law and in the tariff. Take the very cases-
cited by one of our Contemporaries—a lady with a
numerous family of her own, and a dependent
sister, must surely save more than about 8/. per
annum by the reduction in the price of provi-
sions, and of many other articles of use, conse-
quent upon the measures by which the Property-
tax is accompanied. Suppose her family to con-
sist, in the whole, of eight persons, servants
included—and a numerous family can hardly
consist of less—will it be said that the ex-
pense of each will not in the year before us
be less by 20s. than in the year that has passed ?
The widow with six children again must
questionless save more than Si. 12s. upon the
food, clothing, lodging, &c., of seven persons;
and the naval officer, with five children, must be
a gainer in the same proportion. The truth
is, that the measures of the last session, taken
as a whole, constitute the greatest and most valu-
able system of relief to persons with small in-
comes and large families, that was ever vouch-
safed by the Legislature of any country. Per-
sons with very small incomes have the benefit in
the highest degree; for their domestic expenses
are lightened without the imposition of any
new burthen; and those immediately above
them have a very great balance of gain in the
excess of relief above the burthen imposed.
They are only the very rich, they whose incomes
usually exceed their expenditure by a great deal,
that either feel the Property-tax or contribute
very materially to the public revenue. Now what
would a Property-tax, upon a graduated princi-
ple, but unaccompanied by any measure of relief,
do in the cases cited! The two ladies spoken
of; and the naval officer, might have less to pay,
perhaps not more than two-thirds of those sums
with which they are now charged—but two-
thirds it must be, or the graduation would
amount to a scheme of downright robbery of the
rich, to make up the general amount required—
and all that they must pay would constitute a
dead loss, instead of being balanced, as by the
measures of last session it is balanced, by a
great gain. We need not repeat it, that no
imaginable graduated scale could be adjusted
to the different circumstances of different fami-
lies; that can be done only through articles
of consumption : reduce the price of such
articles, and you afford a benefit exactly
proportioned to the number and burthen of
families. If one were to make an estimate of the
expense of a family of eight or ten persons in the
humbler middle class of life, we are confident
that he would find such a family saving 201. or
301. by the measures of last session. But the
Property-tax would take this sum from persons
not possessing less than 700/. or 1,0001. a-year ;
from persons possessing less than 1501. it takes.
nothing. We have said all this before. but they
who have to contend for truth against the arti-
ficers of falsehood must count upon the penalty
of Sisyphus.

TOBACCO TRADE.

The new Act regulating the trade in tobacco will
come into operation to-day, and therefore it is as
well that the dealers should be acquainted with the
stringency of the penalties attending its infringement.
The following sections are of high importance :
" Sec. 3. And be it enacted, that every manufac-
turer of, dealer hi, or retailer of tobacco who shall re-
ceive, or take into or have in his possession, or who
shall sell, send out, or deliver, any tobacco or snuff
which shall have been manufactured with, or shall
have added thereto or mixed therewith, or into or
amongst which there shall have been put, either be-
fore or whilst in process of manufacture, or after being
manufactured, or in which there shall be found on exa-
mination thereof any other material, liquid, sub-
stance, matter, or thing than, as respects tobacco,
water only, or in roll tobacco water and oil only, and
as respects snuff, water, or water and salt, or alkaline
salts only, or lime water in snuff known as Welch or
`lrish snuff, shall forfeit 200/.
" Sec. 4. And be it enacted, that all tobacco and
snuff which shall have been manufactured with, or
shall have added thereto or mixed therewith, or into
or atnongs t which there shall have been put, either
before or whilst in process of manufacture, or after
being manufactured, or which on examination shall
be found to contain any other material, liquid, sub-
stance, matter, or thing than, as respects tobacco,
water only, or in roll tobacco, water and oil, and as
respects snuff, water, or water and salt, or alkaline
salts only, or lime water in snuff known as Welch or
Irish snuff, shall, wheresoever the same may be found,
be forfeited.

" Sec. 7. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful
for any officer of Excise, at any time that lie shall see
fit, to take a sample or samples of any tobacco or
snuff unmanufacturcd, or in process of manufacture,
or manufactured, in the stock, or possesion of any
manufacturer of, dealer in, or retailer of tobacco,
paying for the same, if demanded, at the current
whdlesale price of such tobacco or snuff."

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There is not at present, we believe, any probability
that Parliament will be assembled before February ;
at all events, it is quite certain that Ministers will
not advise her Majesty to summon the Legislature
before the state of the revenue on the expiration of the
next quarter shall be before the country.—Herald.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed Wednesday
next for signifying her Majesty's approbation of the
Lord Mayor elect ; after which ceremony, Wednes-
day, being the first day of Michaelmas Term, his
Lordship will receive the Judges, &c., at his residence
in George-street.
NEWFOUNDLAND COD FISIIERIES.—The
Iris,
ar-
rived at Fecamp from the Banks of Newfoundland,
has 30,900 codfish ; and reports the Alexander, Mag-
nau, with a full cargo, and several other vessels from
Fecamp, and states the fisheries to be very successful.
SINGULAR AND FATAL ACCIDENT.—An inques
was held a few days ago, in the village of Pontantown
before W. Bonville, Esq., on the body of Mr. Joseph
Griffiths, accidentally drowned in a shallow mill leet
near that place, under most singular circumstances.
It appears that on Tuesday deceased had occasion to
go to the village of Llangendeirne on business, and
that on his return home in the dusk of the evening,
within a hundred yards of his house, he had to cross
a narrow footballs:lF of wood of two planks, covered
•NVith stones and clods of grass ; there happened to be
a hole in the centre of the bridge, into which his
foot slipped, up to his knee, and he fell backwards,
with his head in the water, which was about twelve
inches deep. No person being present at the time,
he was unable to extricate himself from this singular
and perilous situation, and was consequently suffocated.
Some time afterwards, a woman coming' that way
discovered the deceased a lifeless corpse, suspended
by his foot, his head only being under the water. Ver-
dict—" Accidentally drowned."—Lancaster Guardian.
ALARMING FlRE.—Sunday evening, shortly before
ten o'clock, a fire broke out in the extensile chemical
works and vinegar distillery belonging to Messrs.
Beaufov and Co., situate at the bottom of Lavender-
hill, Wandsworth-road. The flames were first dis-
covered by a person passing the spot. An alarm was
instantly given, and the private engine kept on the
establishment, as well as two others, were speedily
got to work. From the inflammable nature of the
premises the fire spread with great rapidity, and the
reflection was very plainly seen from all parts of the
metropolis. Several of the brigade engines were dis-
patched in the direction, and a good supply of water
being obtained, the flames were confined to the outer
warehouses and sheds, the damage done to which is
very considerable. No less than six engines from
London were on the spot, and a number of brigade
men were ordered to remain on the premises during
the night by Mr. Braidwood, who was present with
the Watling-streetengine.