The Sun.
London, England, 1829-09-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We alluded yesterday to the resignation of
M. de Chateaubriand, to its ready acceptance by
the King, and the refusal of a private audience
by his Majesty to hear its motives. The un-
happy consequences of treating such a man with
disrespect are already manifest. His cause has
been taken up by •all the liberal press, and his
merits and services to the monarchy are con-
verted into new instruments of attack upon the
Ministry. Always fbrmidable in opposition by
the power of his pen, though perhaps inefficient
in place, from his unaequaintance with business,
the noble Viscount might perhaps have hoped
for a more respectful treatment, from fear, on his
resigning office, though he could scarcely have
hoped for a higher appointment from a confi-
dence in his usefulness. His character with the
Liberals, which was high before, will now be
raised above all praise. He was known to have
liked his dignified retreat in the capital of the
Catholic world, amid the monuments of ancient
grandeur and the splendours of modern art : he
has renounced it rather than desert his princi-
ples. He was known to be poor—to have no
private fortune ; and he has abandoned a weal-
thy sinecure rather than " fare sumptuously" on
the bounty of an obnoxious Administration.—
Such will, with some truth, be the language of
his friends. M. de Chateaubriand, we believe,
has nothing to depend on but a small pension of•
12,000 francs (or 4801.) a year, and the produce
of his writings. The former is said to be al-
ready appropriated to pay off early , encum-
brances, and the large sum which he received for
the copyright of the latter (about 18,0001.) is
reported to be already spent. If this account be
correct, the noble Viscount—the representative
of an ancient family, a Peer of France, lately a
Minister of the Crown, and a few days ago
French Ambassador at Rome, with rich appoint-
ments—will again return to a hired lodging in
some of the suburbs of Paris, and write articles
for the journals. The personal sacrifices which
he has thus been called upon to make to his po-
litical principles, will give additional influence to
his opinions, as well as infuse additional bitter-
ness into his hostility.— Times.
Accounts from the seat of war in Turkey conic
to us generally through such doubtful channels,
and ought to be entertained with such distrust,
that we are compelled in a manner to let our
views of the campaign lag somewhat behind the
real eventf, of it, and to take up with ignorance
as a condition less dangerous than error. A
proclamation of Count Diebitsch, anti two or
three Russian reports of military occurrences
subsequent to the passage of the higher Balkan,
may nevertheless be assumed as vouchers for two
facts-Ist, that the Russian commander felt
some degree of uneasiness at the prevailing de-
sertion of the Turkish inhabitants from the parts
of the country which the invaders traversed; 2d,
that the Grand Vizier with a considerable force
had made good his passage from Shumla to Adria-
nople, first leaving a strong garrison to occupy
the intrenched camp before the former. The
proclamation is couched in terms of singular
and studied mildness. Count Diebitsch ex-
hausts his whole magazine of persuasion to in-
duce the Moslems to remain at their homes,—
to surrender their weapons, that they may be
incapable of resistance to even the smallest
party of his troops,—and to gather in their
crops, which it will cost the Russian soldiery
less trouble to cart away from the Turkish barns
than to reap and harvest from the open fields,
Great forbearance is promised, and the strictest
discipline, if the Turks will only do as the in-
vading General .desires ; but we should like to
hear by what preternatural process a greedy Cos-
sack is to be restrained from plundering an
enemy who has been weak enough to deliver
up his arms. The designs of the Russian
leader, or those which he professes, seem in
some respects curious, for the coolness with
which they are announced. In appealing, for
instance, to the local authorities, Count Die-
bitsch calls upon those of Adrianople, amongst
other places, " not to leave their abodes, but to
continue to direct the administrations, &c.,“
making it a matter of certainty that the Russian
head-quarters are about to be transferred to that
great city. To this, in truth, we see at present
no obstacle which may not speedily and easily
be removed. The small number of troops al-
leged to be under command of Count Die-
bitsch, at Aidos, may, if correctly stated, induce
him to postpone his advance, but only until
reinforcements reach him. The Turks appear,
from gross ignorance, or fatuity, to have wil-
fully surrendered the sole advantage which be-
longed to them, and changed a war of posts into
one of battles—a blunder which there is now no
rational prospect of repairing. Unless, there-
fore, the Russian supplies should fall short—an
event not likely in their actual position, so ac-
cessible to water-carriage—or unless the plague
-should lay hands on them wholesale, there seems
to be nothing—not even an English man of
war—to interrupt the course of the invading
army. If the Grand Vizier has descended from
the hills to Adrianople, he has come but to be
driven from it, or to perish there. The day is
past, or appears to be so, for manifestations of
vigour by the English Government—

" Man but a ruihagaiost Otbello's breast, tcc. '

However, there is litile more to be•said. What-
ever concerns the much-puffed Greek question
sinks into silly wretchedness compared with the
other interests of the East... Russia has, been
let in to the gates of Constantinople :, she may
withdraw her troops to d plausible and conve-
nient distance ; but who will henceforth dare to
tell Nicholas—" You shall not return at your
pleasure ?"—lbid.
We have often been surprised at the manner
in which in Parliament, the manufacturing, com-
mercial, and agricultural interests are opposed to
each other, as if the interests of all these classes
were not one and the same. It is as absurd to
suppose that one of these can flourish without
the other, or to suppose that the prosperity of
one can be increased by the suffering of the
other, as to suppose that the legs are injured by
the strength of the arms, and would benefit by
the diminution of such strength. In a new
country, every man is agriculturist and manufac-
turer. In the course of time it is found that by
one man confining himself to cultivating the
soil, while others exercise their industry as arti-
sans, all will be gainers. The merchant, as a
middle-man, connects together the cultivator and
the manufacturer. But the demands of the ma-
nufacturers and the agriculturists limit each other.
There canna be more food raised than the ma-
nufacturers can take off; as there cannot be more
goods made than the agriculturists require. We
are supposing a country cut off from all intercourse
with other countries. In that case the- -rnanufac,
turers, the agriculturists, the merchants, must-bear
a proportion to each other. This,ls icot'efre,:cted
by the existence of a class of Styli . Annititants,
by Clergy, Servants of the State These

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merely diminish proportionally the receipts of
the producers. But foreign commerce makes
the matter a little more complicated. A den 3ele
peopled country employs itself in manufacturing
for a country that can employ its industry more
beneficially in the cultivation of land. The con-
dition of the intercourse between the two coun-
tries is the importation of agricultural produce in
return for the exportation of manufactures. To
say that no food shall be imported is to say that
no manufactures shall be exported. The agri-
culturists of England had the wild idea that
foreign commerce could be carried on without
returns. They imagined that the manufacturing
population could be increased while the ports
were shut against food. Supposino. England
were to import freely in return ifor her manufac-
tures, the increasing manufacturing popula-
tion would always demand more and more ani-
mal food from the agriculturist, and all such pro-
duce as cannot conveniently be imported. Corn
is but one of the productions of the soil ; and
even corn would not fall much by the importa-
tion ; because, in all those places which pro-
duced for our market, a great rise of price would
be experienced on a free intercourse. Jacta est
alea. It has been otherwise decreed. The con-
tinent of Europe is becoming every day more
manufacturing. Even North America—between
which and this country a beneficial commerce
of raw produce in return for manufactures might
have taken place for ages—has been forced to
act on an unprofitable restrictive system. We
shall by and by have no other foreign commerce
but that with the countries from which we im-
port wines, spices, sugar, tea, and other lux-
uries, that cannot be cultivated to advantage
in England. In the mean time, as our mann-
ficturing population is excessive, the diminution
of beneficial employment must be felt in the di-
minished demands from the farmer. But misery
cannot be extensive in any branch of the popula-
tion without affecting all the other branches.—
Things find their level, except through a process
entailing much misery on large classes. Each
endeavours to throw the suffering on his neigh-
bour by means of fraud and artifice ; for the
path to poverty always abounds in vice and
crime. Those who cannot subsist by industry
must be maintained, and hence new burdens on
'he owners of land. It would be amusing, could
one be amused with what has reference to so
painful a subject, to hear the evils caused by
restrictions on free trade placed to the account
of free trade. The habits of the country are all
formed on a different state of things from that
which now prevails. The extension of trade
caused by the extraordinary improvements in
British machinery gave, from the demand for la-
bour and the increased reward for it, an astonish-
ing impulse to our population. Hence the early
marriages—hence the miraculous increase of
our cities and towns. The next revolution will,
probably, be the destruction of the most of
the present landowners. A diminished demand
for manufactures, and decay of the manufactures,
must be felt in a fall of the value of land. This
must to a great extent place a mortgagee in the
room of the nominal owner. There are coun-
tries in which the population remains nearly sta-
tionary from the resources being stationary. In
Balbis s elaborate account of Portugal, we are
told " that on the estates which have seigneurs
(donatarios) the condition of the cultivators is
as miserable as was that of the ancient serfs of
Russia. Innumerable imposts,known under the
name of , acoes de terco and quarto, ofjuabadas
octaves dizmo coimas ; the harshness of re-
ceiver ; all this absorbs alinost all the gain
of the labourers, to whom there remains hardly
enough to support a miserable existence. The
young people of both sexes, instead of yielding
to the inclinations of nature by uniting in the
sacred bands of marriage, pass their lives in
libertinism ; others wait till they have made a
little fortune." In a list which he gives of the
males above seventeen, there appears. 310,914
celibatories, and to 631,371 married, and of the
married 143,829 had wives above the childbear-
ing age. This country is not Portugal ; but we
must lay our account, we fear, with changes for
the worse.—Morning Chronicle.
Two letters to the Duke of Wellington have
lately been published by a Mr. John Matson, on
a change in the present system of taxation ;
assuring security to the fundholder, and attempt-
ing to show that bread, under the system pro-
posed by him, will be sold at Id. per lb.; beef
at 3d.; tea at ls.; sugar at 3d.; porter at 14ed.
a quart ; and wine at ls. a bottle. This is a
flattering title for a Pamphlet ; and, indeed, so
flattering that very rational doubts may justly be
entertained of the accuracy of the author's cal-
culations. Of the possibility of realizing such
cheapness in the important articles enumerated,
no doubt, however, can be entertained by any
one who understands the mode in which taxa-
tion may be made to operate ; but we would beg
to hint to Mr. Matson, and to all other tax•
schemers, that the main points to be considered
are, first the possibility of effecting an improve-
ment in the mode of levying taxes ; and,
secondly, whether a reduction in the price of
the articles which he has enumerated will
benefit the country generally. Our pamphlet
writer endeavours to convince the fund-
holders and the owners of property, that the
scheme which he purposes would, if adopted,
materially benefit them ; and so far, therefore, he
is aware of the primary difficulty ; but with re-
spect to the second point, Mr. Matson does not
seem to comprehend that the only benefit which
the country could derive from the adoption of
his plans would be a saving of a great part of the
expenses attending the collection of the taxes
now borne by the community. A change of the
burthen of taxation from the shoulders of one
part of the community to those of another, is
not, it ought to be known, a diminution either
of its pressure or amount. If the taxes fall ex-
clusively on the landowner, the rent of land— the
price of corn, the wages of labour, &c., will be
proportionally higher ; and the only difference
would be, that the landowner would be a sort of
deputy collector of taxes, instead of paying his
proportion along with the remainder of the po-
pulation, into the hands of the state collector.—
Any plan of taxation, therefore, which professes
to benefit the public generally, must proceed
upon the broad ground of reducing the amount
collected from the public ;—whether it be in the
expence of collection, or the amount; necessary
for state purposes in other respects. All others,
we hesitate not to affirm, are delusive in the
highest degree. A property tax, if duly imposed
(we speak not of a tax on incomes, would
undoubtedly greatly benefit the public, because
it could lie collected at a very trifling expense,
and would at the same time brings large amount
of money into the Exchequer ; but the saving in
the collection would be the only benefit ; for the
additional. taxi as we have already stated, on one
portion of the' community immediately Spreads it-
self over every other, and is no more a redue-
Lio„ of taxationl or a relief to the public, than

tire confinement of a piece of water within nar-
rower bounds is a diminution of its quantity.
Of the particular taxes, however, which Mr.
Matson proposes to repeal, we have to express
our unqualified approbation : and of none more
than of the repeal which he proposes of the va-
rious stamp duties on newspapers—not simply
because we arc interested in the prosperity of such
publications, but because a repeal of them would
greatly benefit the revenue as well as the public.
A reduction of the stamp duty on advertisements
and newspapers, would greatly facilitate the
transaction of business, as well as add to the
pleasures of the community, and the amount of
the public revenue. The following extract from
•the Pamphlet will shew the plan of the author,
as well as its spirit and tendency :
" Ist. As to the taxes to be repealed. In my
opinion, the assessed taxes are the most injurious in
their tendency, and of serious consequence to. all.
" By the duties laid upon men servants, the gen-
try are deprived of their services ; a great many
thousands are kept in idleness by day, and have to
be supported by the poor's rate, who would else be
employed as travellers, shopmen, grooms, gardeners,
and in a variety of ways in which they are not, and
at night go poaching and stealing, their labour being
entirely lost to society, instead of its being of ad-
vantage to it.
" The duties upon horses and carriages are also
a great injury to the country. Many thousands of
families of limited income are compelled to do with-
out them, or are driven to other countries where
they can enj:)y them ; thus impoverishing the coun-
try from whence they draw their resources, and in-
juring the revenue to which they would contribute
—give en-ployment to the tradespeople—and bene
fit the agriculturist by the consumption of his produce.
" The house and window duties are also a grie-
vous oppression, causing many families to shut them-
selves up in apartments or rooms without light and
air, who would otherwise be enjoying comfortable
houses, thousands of which remain untenanted, or
are compelled to seek in other countries what they
are deprived of in this.
" The repeal of the malt tax, accompanied by a
repeal of the corn laws, and to which the land-
owners could not possibly object, seeing themselves
relieved inn such a variety of ways. This measure
would give great relief to the manufacturer, the me-
chanic, and labourer ; by reducing the prices of the

necessaries of life in this country, the Manufacturer

would be able to compete with the foreigner, being
on more equal terms: it would also cause a great
many ships to be employed.

"The repeal of the duties upon tea, coffee, and
sugar, these articles having become part of the ne-
cessaries of life. This would not only relieve the
lower classes, but materially benefit the shipowner
and the East and West India merchant, in conse-
quence of the increased consumption which would
take place.

" The repeal of the duty upon soap and candles
would also be beneficial ; the poor would be enabled
to keep themselves clean ; and a great number of
poor industrious women are great consumers of dose
articles, and to them the tax is very oppressive.
" The stamp duties upon transfers of property,
receipts, bills of exchange, newspapers, ulmanacks,
insurance, legacies, &c.

. _
" I think it proper to mention here, that there
are a great number of duties it would be improper
and unjust to repeal all at once, I mean those by
which vested interests are affected; but a scale of
reduced duties might be adopted in order to their
repeal; for instance, the duty upon coals carried
coastwise might injure the colliers in the working of
the inland mines; the proprietors of ships, manu-
factories, houses, &c., having paid heavy duties
upon the articles of which they are constructed, viz.

timber, iron, cordage, bricks, tiles, glass, &c., it
would be a manifest injustice to them to allow others
who had not invested theircapital in any thing upon
which heavy duties had been paid, to be allowed to
contend with them on such unequal terms, not hav-
ing to labour under the same disadvantages; but it
would not be necessary to commit any act of injus-
tice, there being a sufficient number of duties to
repeal without interfering with vested interests; and
if not, the surplus might be applied as a sinking
fund, or the tax on property taken at a lower rate."
—Morning Advertiser.

It may not appear to be a matter of much im-
portance to describe the relative situation of
armies, one of which ought by this time, to be
in possession of Constantinople : but there ap-
pears to us nevertheless to be points in them
which may ultimately change, not only the com-
plexion of affairs, but also the anticipated result
of the campaign. The Russian head-quarters
are at Aidos—a small corps is in the possession
of Jambol—another at Karnabat, and a fourth
at Karabenaar. The possession of these posts
or stations ought to prove of the utmost advan-

tape to the Russians ; for Karnahat, on the one
hand, stops up two main passes of the Balkan—
Jambol, another, and Karabenaar is advan-

tageous as an advanced position, in affording to
General Diebitsch the means of moving either
upon Kirk-kilissi or Adrianople, as he may
please, or of supporting any corps of greater
magnitude, which may be ordered against
the latter. The positions are judiciously
taken, and General Diebitsch has to thank the
stupidity of the Turks for permitting them to be
occupied. 011 the other hand, the Turks are
apparently masters of a long line of the Danube
where there is no Russian force of sufficient
strength to oppose them, and threaten the Rus-
sian communications and supplies in the rear—a
considerable army is in Shumla, possessing simi-
lar advantages, and should General Diebitsch so
far forget himself as to diverge from the line of
the coast, and endeavour to render himself mas-

ter of the whole of the country as he advances,
the army stationed at Adrianople might inter-
pose, and materially weaken his force. There is
also another circumstance mentioned in our fo-
reign intelligence, which, although it is of a
merely of an individual nature, may not be with-
out its influence—we allude to the report of
Hussein Paella having been again appointed to

the command of Slimla. This skilful and
gallant Officer, it will be recollected, defeated the
Russians last year in every encounter, and com-
pelled them, by his skilful movements, to seek
shelter on the northern side of the Danube ;
awl during the present carnpain, although he has
not 6njoved the opportunity of performing
equally brilliant exploits, he has been equally ac-
tive, and though twice reported as slain, or taken
prisoner, always contrived to find himself (as
our Gallic neighbours would express it) where
his services arc most wanted. He is again said
to have been placed in command of Shumla, and
we shall be much surprised indeed if some signal
disaster to the Russians do not announce his re-
storation to tlic Sultan's confidence. On the
whole it remains with the Turks whether they
will or will not be victorious. The Russians
have acquired many advantages, and their posi-
tions are well chosen ; but a Napoleon or a Wel-
lington could extinguish them in a week. It
only requires some combination and exertion on
the part of the Turks to save their independence;
but if they will not fight they must fall, and
their fall will be as inglorious as it will be well
deserved.—lbid.

After a considerable silence, the Russian Go-
vernment, under the unassuming title of " Jour-
nal of Operations, frorn the 25th of July to the
sth of August," has published news from its
army
in Roumelia. To some, when they Con.

sider the very unexpected inaction of that army
during this interval, this modesty will not appear
out of place, particularly when this inaction is
coupled with the conduct of the Turks, which
does not at all justify the representation which
previous private accounts had given of it ; at
least, they do not deserve the contumelious epi-
thets which certain writers in France and Ger-
many has e of late taken pleasure in bestowing
upon them ; and, instead of being a despicable
rabble, we have the admission of their opponents
that they never evade any fair opportunity of
measuring swords with the latter. On two oc-
casions they are mentioned as the assailants ;
and, in one of these, the " impetuous attacks"
of their cavalry are noticed by the party best
able to appreciate them. On the former of these
occasions, we are strongly inclined to suspect
that the Russians, though they claim the advan-
tage, had decidedly the worst of it ; and, indeed,
it would be difficult in any other way to account
for their subsequent retrograde movement. We
are told that General Krassowsky, who, upon the
advance of the main army, had been left behind
to watch the Grand Vizier at Shttmla, set out on
the 27th from Jenibazar, where he had previously
remained at a respectable distance from his op-
ponent, to reconnoitre the positions of the latter.
However, the Turks, apparently not relishing
this design to espy their situation, sent for-
ward two detachments, consisting of 10,000
men, to meet him, who immediately attacked,
and though we are told that their attack was
" repulsed," yet the victors returned to their
old quarters the same day. Exclusive of our
suspicion that the issue of the rencontre is not
fairly represe►►ted, we further suspect that the ob-
ject of the movement is intentionally falsified,
and that it was not a reconnoisance, but a fruit-
less attempt, supported by the whole of the forces
under General Krassowsky, to prevent the Grand
Vizier from marching off with the greater part
of his troops, who, we learn from an article in
the Paris Papers, under the head of Belgrade, has
since arrived at Adrianople, where he has as-
sumed the chief command, confiding to Hussein
Paella the care of defending Shumla. The next
operation is also termed a reconnoisance, but it
was undertaken by a division of the main army,
in the direction of Jambol ; and here again the
reconnoitring party had to sustain a sharp en-
aarrement with 15,000 Turks, infantry and ca-
valry, under Halib Pacha ; and here again the
Russians ran away—or, in the words of the
official despatch, " returned' to their former
quarters at Karnabat. This appears to have
been a very sharply-contested action, in the
course of which the Turkish cavalry made
repeated impetuous attacks, and a party of
Russian cavalry is said "to have found
its way" into Jambol—and, as no prisoners are
mentioned, and the amount of slain is not given,
we are inclined to surmise that the issue was not
so favourable to the Russians as they pretend.
As the Turks also fell back after the battle, a
small party of Cossacks, who were left behind,
occupied Jambol, where they found a consider-
able booty in provisions and military stores. All
this time, Count Dicbitsch himself lay snug at
Aidos ; and we learn from the Warsaw article,
already alluded to, that he was still there on the
6th. However, his time, in this military Pat-
mos, was not wholly spent in inaction, having
concocted there and drawn up a proclamation,
of which the apparent magnanimity, we trust,
will not mislead the Turks, to whom it is ad-
dressed, and which lie issued on the 31st July.
Never were such terms offered before by a vic-
torious army to an invaded and discomfited na-
tion ; and it is either a rare instance of magna-
nimity and sound policy, or a misgiving with re-
spect to the serious risk of " advancing as far as
Providence shall please." On the whole, we
think the news less favourable to the Russians
than their previous accounts had led us to expect ;
and it is clear that, as they approach the long-
wished -for goal, their difficulties and risks will ac-
cumulate in a ratio nearly geometrical.—Morn-
ing Herald.

The Court Circular stated yesterday that the
Police Magistrates had made their periodical
Report to the Home Secretary of the state of the
metropolis. We should like to know whether
this Report contained any allusion to the dis-
graceful state of the Strand, and other principal
thoroughfares, where troops of licentious females
parade in a manner most offensive to public de-
cency—insulting modest women with the gross-
est language, disturbing the peace of the neigh-
bourhood with incessant brawls, and assisting
thieves and pickpockets in their nefarious depre-
dations. We should also like to know whether
any notice has been taken in the Report of t:iose
nurseries of banditti called flash-houses, where
burglaries and robberies are planned, and spoil
divided, in the very vicinity of the police offices.
Indeed, the increase of burglaries in the metro-
polis of late is quite alarming, and shows that
property is in a very insecure state, notwith-
standing the price which the public pay for its
protection.—Bid.