Star.
London, England, 1830-11-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE JOURNALS.

Curtow ro.x.—The new Administration afford an earnest of their
intention to effect all practicable retrenchment in the public service, by
abolishing the place of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, the uselessness of
which we were at the pains of exposing, on occasion of the nomination
to that once of its late occupant. The union of the Mint with the Board
of Trade is also an important saving, to say nothing of the Lieutenant-
Generalship of the Ordnance, which, in accordance with the recom-
mendation of the Finance Committee (so wantonly rejected by the late
Cabinet), is to be reduced. It la also the intention of Ministers to reduce
their own salaries to the extent, we are Informed, of one-third. The
accounts of the Vice Treasurer of Ireland are to be brought to a close in
the course of a couple of months ; meanwhile, the duties are to be per-
formed without remuneration. It is rumoured that Mr. Doherty is to
succeed Mr. Joy in the Attorney-Oeneralsbip of Ireland.

Tinzs.--A question has sprung up on the subject of the abolition
of rotten boroughs, whether the proprieton of such places ought not to
be indemnified on their disfranchisement. We have been frequently
called upon by letter to give our opinion upon this point, and shall
therefore give it frankly. We answer, yes t they ought to be indem-
nified and we will give an instance in point. A noble lord is said to
have just paid to an honourable baronet upwards of 160,0001. for a

rotten borough, not far from town. The affair is indeed so public, th-t
the House of Commons is at once disgraced if it does not take it up.
And the props.r way to indemnify his lordship and those of whom he
has bought the borough is, by sending them all to Newgate for a breach
of privilege. This is the way in which we would indemnify all the
dealers in the rights of the people for the loss of their infamous trade.
HZRALD.—Let it be the object of Government, as soon as the au-
thority of the laws shall have been successfully vindicated against the
authority of lawless intimidation, to inquire into the causes of the misery
which has driven vast masses of the rural population into a state of
desperate resistance to established Government. The causes, we believe,
will be ascertained without any very long or labourious inquiry—bu' to
supply the remedy -hie tohor, hoc opus eat. How to afford employ-
mem, and adequate remuneration for that employment, to the labour-
ing classes of the country situated as England now is, presents no onli.
nary difficulty to the mind of a statesman. With a taxation which,
when we take the enhancement In the value of the currency effected by
" Peel's Bill," is more than equal to that of the war, and with a state
of prices that only suits tile lowest rate of taxation of a peace esta-
blishment, the farmer is clearly unable to pay adequate wages to his
labourers, and yet discharge his obligations in tent, tithe, and taxes,
without being ruined. The proprietors of the soil, if they wish to pre-
serve their property from ultimate destruction, must therefore come for-
ward, and, wail: they make an equitable abatement of rent to the far-
mer, allow such small allotments of land on the lowest possible terms to
the poor as will afford them some chance of supporting themselves and
families by honest industry, and independently of the parish funds...-
The Clergy should also lower their tithe to a level with the state of
prices. It is better to throw a part of the cargo overboard, than that the
ship should sink with the whole to the bottom. In the mean time it is
the duty of the Governnsent to lighten the burdens of the country, by
making such reductions in tile expenses of the State, as will allow of an
important diminution of taxation.

POST.—The consistency of the Whigs never fails to be conspicu-
ously displayed on whatever subject may arise out of the State of
Politics for the time being. Thus, when they are out of office, they
arc the most boisterous advocates of the Liberty of the Press ; but
when in office the exercise of that liberty is a punishable breach of pri-
vilege, as far as it regards the most important of its functions, that of
freely animadverting upon the language and conduct of the Repr.sen.
calves of the people assembled in Parliament. In illustration of this
melancholy truth, we might fill many of our columns with extract• horn
the speeches of the leading Whigs in both Houses of Parliament ; but .1
we have no room to devote to KO revolting a purpose, it may be sufficient
for us to quote the observation made by one of the most re-
spectable Whigs of the present day (Sir James Mackintosh) In 1113
angry reply to the able and unanswerable speech of Mr. Croker in the
House of Commons on Tuesday evening, upon the subject of the ex.
traordinary, not to say reprehensible conduct of the new Lord Chancel
for. The worthy Knight, on this occasion, feeling that nothing could
be effectually said in answer to the forcible observations of Mr. Croker,
was reduced to the necessity of having recourse to the aid of Parlia-
mentary privilege, a gross breach of which this IVhig champion of the
Liberty of the Press contended had been committed by a Provincial
Journal, in quoting and animadverting upon the language of a member
of the House of Commons in his place.—So much for Whig principles
and consistency !

Canonic LE.—We arc sorry to see from them that the Dutch are sa-
crificing themselves for no other reason than that their obstinate old
king is still determined to fight. The Minister of } inance, in the
meeting of the Second Chamber of the States-General. in urging the
Law of Finance, said, " ' To be or not to be' :is now the qnestion—
that the preservation and independence of the country were to be secured
and that for this purpose a speedy supply of funds was indispensable."
The Law was agreed to by a majority of 47 to 3. We may well be al.
lowed to ask why the security of the country is endangered ? The Dutch
say they wish a separation from Belgium ; the Belgians with to have
no connection with Holland. It appears, then, that the only reason
why the Dutch arc exposed to this danger is, that their Ring will not
abandon a claim to the sovereignty of Belgium. And what is the con-
sequence ? The Belgians, a more numerous and more warlike
people, have invaded Holland ; and the rich, but effemi-
nate Dutch, are in their distress obliged to have recourse to
the brave mountaineers of Switzerland, who, to the number of 7,000,
are about to descend the Rhine, and have already left Basle on their
way to Cologne, in steam-boats. The militia in Maestricht, since' the
capture of Venloo, have been disarmed ; and the population is only
constrained by the fear of the fate of Antwerp. Such is the state of
feeling in the fortresses of Belgium yet retained by the Dutch. On
the other hand, the Belgians are availing themselves of the brave
maritime population of the English coast, with a view to privateer.
log, and throwing the Dutch merchants Into alarm. The seafaring
people of England are not, perhaps, strictly justified, any more thin
the Swiss, in taking part in this warfare; but they will not the less
embark in enterprises consonant to their habits, and which promise
booty. Thus, then, the people of the Seven United Provinces are
reduced to so degraded a condition, that, to gratify the obstinacy of
an old man and a few venal courtiers, they have the meanness and
the folly to expose their country to destruction. When a people be. I
come so lost to all that is good and noble, their doom is scaled.

Tests.—The fire of Willingham, in Cambridgeshire, we should
apprehend to be the work of some single, or some few incendiaries, and
proceeding from private malice, rather than from any ramified conspi-
racy or organised system; and, for our own parts, we have little doubt
but that among the many conflagrations, springing certainly from what
may be called public principle of a diabolical nature—from banded
incendiaries, —some few have been kindled frum the same motive as that
at Willingham,which arc so many added to the number, and in a pro.
portionate degree increasing the alarm. It is a good opportunity for
those who have private malice to avenge themselves, under the covering
of a general feeling. The reports of conflagrations, though continuing,
are, we think, of a more scattered and less alarming nature yesterday
than the preceding days. Some hay and clover has been burned, and
more thrashing machines broken ; but the heroic conduct of a body of
labourers in the vicinity of Winchester, acting under the Rev. Mr.
Wright, the rector of ltchen Abbas, merits the highest applause, and
we hope will meet with imitation.