The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-09 00:00:00

Vtit .;1111.

LONDON'

SATURDAY MORNING, APRIL 9, 1842.

The House of Commons was engaged last night from
a quarter, before six to half-past one, with another dis-
c.ission on the income tax. On the motion for bringing
the" Report, Lord JOHN RUSSELL moved a series of
resolutions consistent with last year's budget, and sup-
ported them by au able I.peeeh.
The discussion was not remarkably animated till
Mr. SHIEL made an effective speech at eleven o'clock,
which hit Sir F. BURDETT, Sir ROBERT PEEL, and the
Ministry extremely hard. The Right Honourable
C,,ntleman contrasted the demand for an income
tax with the pacific assurances of her MAJESTY'S
speech at the opening of Parliament, and made the
House feel that the demand was not warranted by the
circumstances of the country. Nor was the Right Hon.
G2ntleman less efficacious in contrasting the situation of
a rrofessional man, with a man of landed property; and
maiming the injustice of the income tax painfully
:apparent.

Mr. SHIEL evidently stung Sir R. PEEL, who, rose to
:?ply after a motion for an adjournment had been put,
I:rid persisted, in spite of some opposition, which must
• ,uvince him that ha will not find all smc,oth water and
Mr gales hereafter, in speaking to .the main questicn.
Ti.n Right Hon. Baronet, as usual, founded his strongest
arguments in the language of his opponents. He bean
with a quotation from a speech of Lord JoHN RUSSELL,
and ended with one from Lord MELBOURNE. He
made out his case more by their statements than by his
own arguments. -He was, however, eloquent in praise
o: cheapness and giving employment to the people, as if
he had not just passed a law to starve a portion
of them by the high prices of corn every year. He de-
fended the proposed timber duties, and he proposed du-
ties .on cattle, and asserted very vehemently that he
does not mean to raise the latter. He appealed, how-
ever, beseechingly to his agricultural friends for sup-
p..)rt, and they by their cheers promised to throw the
farmers overboard, and stick to their party.

At Half-past One the debate was adjourned till Monday.

Mr: T. DUNCOMBE, last night, made another spirited
at 'empt to procure a hearing for the people on the sub-
jet of the income tax. He presented a petition against
from inhabitants of the metropolis, and after the
?FAKER had called order, and stated the rule of the
llause, Mr. T. DuNcomnz respectfully declined to sub-
mit to his dictum, and proceeded to take the sense of
the House on the question, whether or not the petition
hOuld be received. • The SPEAKER admitted Mr.
DuscomßE's right to do so, and declared that it was not
for: him, but the House, to decide what petitions it would
receive. Mr. DUNCOMBE, therefore, persisted and stated
tLlt, on being entrusted with any other similar petitions
be should take • the same course. The Honourable
Member had obtained a strong muster of his friends, and
though the Whigs, more sensible, as usual, to the forms
ot the House than to the welfare of the people, did not
support him, he would have succeeded had the ques-
ti,in come to a division. Mr. KEMBLE, aware of that,
moved the adjournment' of the debate till Monday—
Ai-taking some invidious remarks bout a " side wind,
&c.—which was carried. The question therefore is still
',pen for discussion and for decision, and we trust the
Liberals will assemble on Monday, so as to ensure at least
a numerous minority.

As we know that Mr. DUNCONBE will be attacked in
the Press, as he has been already attacked in the
1.3. 'use, it behoves us to vindicate his course. We
shiuld not be disposed to say much in its
I.vour, did the House of Commons deserve the public
r. spcct. But that House being now a mere party instru-
ment, engaged in perpetrating mischief, the public wei-
r:re—the paramount consideration, warrants the employ-
ment of all reasonable means, whether technically cor-
rect or not, to check its career. The Tories are making
it hateful to the community, and it is for the public ad-
tntage that it beat the same timo made contemptible.
It can best be rendered innocuous by being made impo-
teat. The Tories are not to have exclusively the advan-
t.vges of its vicious formation.

We do not condemn that smuggling which 'renders
vain an unjust system of protective duties ; neither can
We do aught but praise a cunning contrivance which
thwarts or upsets a tyranny. By'dint of the basest
andering to the most ignorant prejudices; by dint of the
most scandalous frauds, the Tory party has placed its
&lief at the head of affairs, and he has plainly avowed
he means to govern by the help of his majority for
party purposes, and in a tyrannical manner. In
1 pA'suatice of his oo,:cct, which we can only cha-
.rAeterise as a combination of trick and audacity,
1)::, has taken advantage of an almost forgotten practice
of the youse of Commons, to stifle the voice of the
people. For the public welfare he ought to be de-
f.ated, and Mr. DUsCoMBE has added to the claims he
already has on the gratitude of the people, by his
soirited and judicious attempt to place the petitions of
his constituents on the table of the House of Commons.
The Tories may now learn what sort of passions they
SAT rousing, and what sort of w,?ttir)ons they are now
D.t it 1:),2 admitted that
sharpening foi• the combat.
they can have recourse to similar arts, and being a
majorit u
,7, must be sucssful, and may carry things with

.. . . .
• --• .4 high hand,. they
.cannot Sl,Lcceo with.. the country.
17? ',Nrtlither is it consistent with Conservative polic):.;For ttie
safety of the aristocricy the political passions should be
lin•itted to sleep. The whirlwind sweeps from the earth lofty
t• r.i ersand trees, and spares lowly huts and bend ing sh rubs
Grbs- a..ive policy. e.: ?. : :1.... ..,-i .! cettki
,-;•.1, - in the conntry
il...nd s well as in Pairliti.w.
,4,
ern. IL t; ire'S that Sir Eoekarx
PEEL and his friends should be' most;i speciously moderate

pea to

and most systematically calm. None but revolutionists
can gain by throwing society into a ferment. The Con-
servatives have got all they can get, their object is to
bold what they have got, and every kind of agitation
such as that, Sir 11. PI EL has 'excited in the country,
and is exciting in Parliament, must be fatal to their
power. The advantages of an exciting policy must, in
the end, belong to the opponents of the Conservatives.

In another part of The Sun will be' found several
letters respecting the election of a successor to Mr.
CHALMERS, the present Member for the Montrose Dis-
trict of Burghs. Owing to the bad%state of his health h e
intends to resign, and recommends as a legacy to his
constituents a gentleman of the name of CEAI:NEGIE to
supply his place. We have no wish to interfere with
the choice of the electors. They can judge for them-
selves, but it appears from the correspondence that this
candidate does not come forward of his own accord, but
is placed in opposition by some cause or another to Mr.
HOME, the most useful Member, without exception, that
ever sat in the House of Commons. Mr. HuitEis a
native of that district; he has done great honour to his
country by his independent conduct in Parliament ; he
has never solicited place or pension for himself nor for
any one of his party, and during the last twenty years
has produced, by his indomitable spirit and untiring per-
severance, more important changes in the financial affairs
of the country than was ever eftected by any individual.
This is a matter of notoriety admitted by his
foes as well as his friends ; and we should therefore
regard with . great regret any attempts to bring
forward an obscure country gentleman, or tradesman, to
keep out of Parliament one who has '.so many claims to
the support of his countrymen. During his long and
useful career no questions were agitated of such im-
portance as tho.rc now befNore the House of Commons—
no man, at the present time, is more acquainted with
the trade, commerce, and finances of the country, and
any constituency which would reject him for an un-
tried candidate would commit an act of great injustice
themselves as well as to their country. In several points we
did not agree with Mr. HUME as a Member of Parliament
and more particularly those which related to reductions in
the Army and Navy ; but circumstances are now altered
—he, as well as many others who advocated economy in
times of peace, must now see good cause for exertion
and for maintaining the honour and dignity of the
country. when threatened from so many quarters, and
would be the first to support energetic measures for
meeting the difficulties with which we are surrounded.
When we look, too, at the feeble lesistance made to
strange innovations by men Calling themselves Liberals—
when O'CONNELL is silent, Lord J. RUSSELL is luke-
warm, and few are left to fight the battle of the
people, we may be excused for expressing an anxiety
for the return of a man who, in the Tory reign of Ltvrt
Poor. and CASTLEREAGH was ever undaunted, and
persevered in his determined purpose till eves -the Totten'.
borough representatives were obliged to yiekto .c.)ni4they
denounced as'a visionary Radical and a bikted
vator. Mr. T. DuNcomßE is almost the °atone the.
old Liberal party that remains firm to theltopie. He.
wants the support of such a Colleague as JOiwn
and if we do not mistake the Scotch charaeter, he will
not want it long.

Sir Ron Era PEEL'S modified Starvation Bill passed
the House of Commons oa Thursday without a division.
As only ninety voted against the third reading, the ad-
vocates of a free trade in food saw the inutility of pro-
tacting an opposition which would be sure to be borne
down by overwhelming Whig and Tory majorities. In
the early part of the night Mr. COBDEN sought to get
rid of the BHT altogether by his motion, to the. effect.
that as Parliament could not by legislation raise the
price of wages, neither ought it to raise the price of food,
thus contending for its free importation ; but after• a
rather interesting debate, his motion was lost by a
majority of 150—only 86 votes being given for, and 286
against it. The opposition to the Bill would have been
greater, but the House having voted the principle
of an Income-tax, several Members of the Whig
party were rather impatient to obtain - something
in the shape• of an equivalent. That the slip:
pery Premier having obtained the Income-tax,
might wriggle out of his pledges about Corn and the
Tariff, appeared by no means improbable to many
Members on both sides of the House. There was there-
fore something of an impatience to pass the Bill, seeing
that the Opposition was not strong enough to effect any
modification of it, and that •Mr. CHRISTOPEUZR and his
friends had no chance of extending its provisions for the
robbery of the commercial classes. But the Bill has
another and by no means silent ordeal to pass through
before it can become the law of the land. We anticipate
for it a stormy reception in the House of Lords. We
have no doubt, however, whatever be the result, that the
few friends of the people in that assembly of titled breae-
monopolists will fearlessly perform their duty to GOD
and their country. Earl FITZWILLIAM, the Marquis of
WESTMINSTER, Lord RADNOR, and Lord BROUGHAM
will be sure to distinguish themselves on the right side.

On the third reading of the Mutiny Bill an attempt is
to be made to insert a clause to the effect that it shall
not be lawful to inflict corporal punishment by flogging,
in time of peace, on any private soldier or non-com-
missioned officer, save for offences committed on a line
of march, or for theft. No reasonable objection can be
made to this small modification, as experience has proved
that severity is not always followed by the expected re-
sults, and that mimes formerly expiated by the most
dreadful of all punishments have rather been on the
decrease since the mitigation of the criminal code.
Flogging now is not inflicted to one-fourth of the extent
that it was some years ago, but this, in place of injuring
the discipline of the army, has, from all accounts,
had the contrary effect. A soldier, who has
once been subjected to the disgrace rarely re-
covers his good character, he feels himself de-
graded in the eyes of his comrades, becomes
altogether reckless of his conduct, and, from a repetition
of offences, is generally at last expelled from the regiment.
Sine flogging became less frequent, the condition of a
common moldier stands much higher in public
estimation ; he is not regarded as a mere
animal, incapable of being influenced by any
other motives than the dread of corporal punishment;
and respectable young men, do not therefore feel the
same repugnance to the service as they did when it was
disgraced by the offscourings of our gaols, and by pu-
nishments which no mast of spirit could submit to without
lasting shame. Why not carry the experiment still farther?
The objections still urged against mitigation were made
when HOZEILLY, MACKINTOSH, and other humane legis-
lators repeated, Session after Session, their motions for
altering the criminal law, and every one of them has
proved utterly groundless. Why then should not soldiers
and sailors be treated like the rest of the community ?
Humanity, kindness, and mercy often secure obedience,
when severity and cruelty not only fail, but harden
men in crime. Several officers justly boast that
they have commanded regiments for many years without
inflicting corporal punishment. NELSON avoided it as
much as possible; and for that reason,more perhaps than
his daring spirit, he became the idol of the navy, and a
word of reproof from him had more effect than the
brutal floggings inflicted by tyrannical and cruel officers.
The present time is peculiarly favourable for the change.
A vast proportion of the army is composed of young men
of good character, greater perhaps than at any former
period; and for their sakes, as well as to encourage
others to enter, this degrading, revolting, and mischie-
vous mode of preserving discipline should at once be
abolished.

The Paris Journals of Wednesday have all reached
us; the followingare extracts from them :

STOCK EXCHANGE, Two o'CLocK.—For cash, Five per
Cent. opened at 117 f. 95c.; Threes at Of. ON
The Committee on the Bill for Closing the Accounts of the
Widget for 1840, were yesterday engaged on those of the Mi-
nister of the Interior. The Minister of the Marine has not
yet sent in the documents for veryfying his accounts, the exa-
mination of which is consequently postponed. The Committee
has nomiaated M. Etienne to be its reportcr.
The Minister of Public Works attended the Railroads' Com-
mittee yesterday to impart all necessary inforMation on the
lines intended to be followed. It was agreed that tho Govern-
ment should furnish plans and estimates before the Committee
should come to any resolution.
The Chronique of Liboume, of the 3d inst., informs us, that
upon an order of the Ministet of the Interior, received by tele-
graph, the police had that day paid a domiciliary visit to the
residence of M. Huerta, a refugee Carlist, formerly Chief of
the Order of the Augustines in Spain, and seized all his papers,
but M. Huerta hi.pself was not arrested.
The Siecle gives the following letter from Algiers, dated the
30th :—" We have received news from the province of Oran
of which there are different versions, but which are unsatisfae-
tory, oven admitting the most tavourable explanation. 'I he
following appears to be rretty positive. General
Bedeau, who had left Tbmcen with three battalions
to execute a razzia upon a hostile tribe, had succeeded in
his enterprise, and was returning• to head.quarters with his
booty, when of a sudden Abd-el-Kader, who we were told
a few days ago, had been abandoned by everybody, and be-
come a fugitive, appeared at the head of three to four thousand
infantry, and fifteen thousand regular cavalry, who, accord-
ing to the official reports, had either perished in battle
or come over to our standard. A battle ensued,
respecting which the accounts are contradictory. Ac-
cording to one return we have sixty soldiers and seven officers
kaled, according to another only four soldiers and one officer
were killed. It is stated by some persons that Ahd-el-Kader,
after having recaptured all the cattle taken by General Bedeau,
followed the.army to Tlemcen, whilst others affirm that he fled
with the loss of 150 men— .The, Gevernor-General set out
yesterday on his expedition. During the "ablence.of die army
the duty of the town will be performed by the militia, and a
Colonel will act as Governor. The close of the winter has
been very fatal to the shipping on our coast. In addition to
the numerous 's lost at Bona an l Algiers, twemvy-three
merchant vessels: been lost • Oran, and Wr:! in the
roae6fea:l of Arzo(n.
In the Spanish Chambrr of Deputies two pi ojects of law
were presented on the 30th of March, the one to declare that

the Ist of September shall be declared a national fete; the
other, relative to the establishment of a line of steamers be-
tween Spain and the Canaries. The two projects were'referred
to the respective Committees. The Espectador says, " The
provisional deputation of Cadiz has sent an address to the Cortes,
requesting that that city may be declared a free port, as the
only remedy for the progressive decrease in the population of
the city."
A letter from Tolosa of the 2d, in the Phare de Pyrenees,
says that General Radii will shortly go to Pampeluna, without
prolonging his tour of inspection to Irun and the line of the
Valley of the Bastan.
The Castor steamer, which has just arrived at Toulon, brings
letters from Algiers of March 27. General Bliguard was still
at Algiers, but be would very shortly set out for the projected
expedition. The bad weather had delayed the movement of
the troops. The General is much annoyed at having been de-
ceived in going to Blidah to receive submissions, which have
not been made. It is resolved to carry en the approaching
campaign with vigour.— Commerce.