The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

626 vessels, to purchase arms and ammunition, a►nd to enlist desperadoes, with no more attempt at concealment than if they were arranging a " nigger" auction, or planning a new settlement in a swamp of the Mississippi. The project, of course, reaches ths ors of the President, and also ? of course, he issues his proclamation against it, which no one beemo tx, think it worth while to treat with the slightest respect. " A hundred subscription-books are " open," says a Southern journal, " and nearly " half a million of dollars have been subscribed " and paid in. Up to this time these public " movements have encountered no obstacles, " nor will they in future." The pretence for this piratical aggression would seem strange proceeding from any other country. The policy of the Governor of Cuba is described as brutal and barbarous beyond parallel. And for what reason, does the reader imagine? Simply because the African population is treated with more leniency than pleases the slave States of America. Mar riages, it is alleged, are allowed between coloured people and whites; and negroes are enrolled in the militia. Such relaxations are urged to be inconsistent with " the long " continuance of the institution of African " slavery"; and the southern Republicans are preparing for the conquest of the Queen of the Antilles, lest " unmitigated African barbarism should overtake and encompass one of the fairest isles that gem the bosom of old Ocean." As the " filibusters " thus far have closely followed the example of the Lopez enterprise, we hope that their expedition may be attended with precisely similar results. After what has passed, and the warnings they have received, these pirates are in no respect entitled to merciful consideration. They should be hunted down as pests of society, and common enemies to the peace of all nations. It is for the better portion of the American community to show by some decided and public expression of opinion that they hold these villanous expe ditions in abhorrence, and that they are willing and able to assist in bringing the ringleaders to justice. THE DUKE OF NEWCASTLE AND MR. EDMUND O'FLAHERTY. Ova readers may not have forgotten the name of a gentleman who, if not one of the most prominent, was one of the most active mem bers of the Irish Brigade, and who took an active part in negotiating its junction with the Coalition. In duo time he was appointed an income-tax commissioner for Ireland—a post he had to resign on his office being abolished. It now appears that Mr. EDMUND O'FLAHERTT, who was so fortunate as to attract the particular regard of the Duke of NEW CASTLE, has left the country under circum stances requiring explanation. Bills to a con siderable amount are in circulation, which are said to have been issued by him, bearing the names of persons who never signed them ! Amongst these names are several of high political notoriety. Strange, indeed, is the discernment which chooses Mr. SroNoa for a judge and appoints Mr. EDMUND OTL&HEETY a commissioner of the income tax! If Mr. O'FLsimarfs acts concerned only that person himself, we might leave them to a graver tribunal than that of the jour nalist. But we are now enabled clearly to estimate the value of his evidence upon a transaction concerning the character of the present Government. It will be recollected that, when the Coalition first came into power, the Earl of &MINTON alluded to the appointment of Mr. KEOGH, the Solicitor- General of Ireland, as " one of the least re " putable acts of the Government." The words came with great force from the lips of one who knew Ireland well, and had earned such distinction in his popular Irish Vice royalty. The Duke of NEWCASTLE attempted to diminish their effect by asserting that Lord Ditasr's Ministry had offered odic° to Mr. KxOGH, a statement immediately denied in the most positive terms by the Earl of DERBY. THE PRESS' Thereupon Mr. Kzoos raised a discussion on the subject, and asserted that Lord Naas hao asked him to take office under Lord DERBY. But the difficulty was how to persuade peo ple that Mr. lic..eoon had really been offered place under Lard Losaay, and it is now important' to observe the part played in titug matter by Mr. g DmuND O'FLatizarx. To Mr. liEooit's hardy assertions Lord Nlap emphatically roiled by letter—" I distinotii " den y that, either directly or indirectly, made an offer to yourself or your friends, or " that I had, or tbat I assumed I had, any " authority ao to do." Any one who knew Lord Naas would of course be satisfied with his written denial, afterwards repeated in the House of Commons. But the Coalition was in difficulty. It came into power by aid of the Irish Brigade, then led by Mr. SADLEIR (since cashiered), and Mr. Kxoou. A witness was found to depose to a conversation with Lord Naas in a railway carriage (!), in which the Noble Lord was represented to have said that he had offered office to Mr. KEOGH. The circumstance was very extraordinary that Lord Naas, a Conservative, should have made such a statement to a third party, of opposite poli tics. The testimony, however, was hailed by the Coalitionists as fortunate, and pre tended to be accepted as incontrovertible. It was certainly well-timed. Mr. KEOGH used this evidence in his exculpation, and, reading it aloud, asserted, with arrogant air and sten torian voice, that " it left the Noble Lord in "no very enviable position." And the present Solicitor-General for Ireland vouched for his witness as " a gentleman of honour, veracity, and high character"! The gentleman so described by Mr. WILLIAM KEOGH was Mr. EDMUND O'FLAHERTY ! A few weeks passed by, and the convenient friend was not forgotten. He was on visiting terms with the Duke of NEWCASTLE, who has himself related the interest he wok in his affairs. In various modes Mr. E. O'Fiataxan had rendered himself most acceptable to the Coalition. He solicited " private and confi " dential " subscriptions for Mr. KEOGH, and received a hundred pounds from that sympa thetic politician, Mr. SIDNEY HERBERT. The income tax was extended by Mr. GLADSTONE to Ireland, and temporary provision was made for Mr. OTLAMERTY. His allegations against Lord NAAS were his credentials to promotion ! His ready memory found a prompt reward, and, by a righteous retribution, Mr. EDMUND OTLA MEATY has now left his patrons and ducal ally " in no very enviable position." REVENUE RETURNS. TILE revenue return published this week shows very different results from those we have lately been accustomed to expect. There is a decline on the year ending sth July, as compared with the previous year, of 474,3691., and on the quarter, as compared with the corresponding quarter of 1853, of 812,789/. We take the gross totals. An analysis of the items might modify or might exaggerate these results, but the fact of a very considerable decline on the quarter just ended admits of no dispute. And this decline is the more remarkable as the increased malt duty came into opera tion during the last quarter. The yearly revenue from this increased duty was estimated at 2,450,0001., and for the two months which have elapsed since the resolution took effect an amount should have been realised at the least of 400,0001. If this sum be added to the deficiency it will raise the total to 1,212,7891.; and, though any fair allowance be made for the effect of the duties reduced by Mr. GLADSTONE'S budget in 1863, the decline will still be found so considerable as to argue a serious reduction in the means and industry of the nation. Further, be it observed, that this decline is coincident with a vast increase in the national expenditure, an increase to be estimated at not less than from ten to twelve millions per annum. Such an outlay would in the ordinary course of things tell upon the revenue, by stimulating consumption. But whether it be SATURDAY, that the war is producing, as we must expect it to produce, sooner or later, a depressing influence on our industrial and social state—or that the insecurity of the Ministry, and the financial vacillation, blunders, and partiality which have marked the ride of the Exchequer under its present Chancellor, are beginning to produce their usitural effects in drooping confidence and indujori4 depression—we here have the ominous combination of a declining revenue, with vastly augmented expenditure and increased taxation. Often as it has been proved by experience that in matters of increased impost two and two do not make four, the lesson was lost on Mr. GLADSTONE. There is a limit in taxation which cannot be overpassed. Any article of general consumption will yield a certain amount of revenue and no more, and the aim of an enlightened financier should be to discover that point of taxation which yields (and the two interests will often be found identical) the largest return to the revenue with least inconvenience to the consumer. We fear that in the great and, inasmuch as it was partial, unjust increase of the malt duty, the safe limit of taxation was overstepped, and that the public was burdened without any corre sponding.benefit to the exchequer. There is another circumstance which may partially account for the decline in this return. Capital is of all things the most sensitive. It instinctively shrinks from touch. No human contrivance is subtle enough to grasp or hold it. The sudden doubling of the income tax has had the effect of diminishing profits, and of retrenching expenditure. Direct taxation diminishes capital in the first in stance, but it presses in sure course of pro gression upon every class in turn. To tax capital is the most certain and even oppres sive means of taxing labour. That amount which is contributed to the income tax must be drawn from a diminution of expenditure, from the accumulations of capital, or from the wages of industry. The operation in the first of these cases would be the least injurious, yet, as necessary or even luxurious expenditure is diminished, the trade of the country must necessarily suffer ; while to diminish the accumulations of capital is to diminish the motive power which sets all industry in motion. Though an income tax may be the most popular of all imposts with those who are not directly subject to its collection, it is, perhaps, of all taxes, the most injurious to their in terest. They cannot escape its burden. All income must be raised from industry, and the general pressure of taxation must of necessity he sustained by the whole body of the people. If a manufacturer, for instance, be charged upon his profits, and those profits only repre sent (and, on an average, they will do no more) a fair return for his capital and service, he will not rest until the amount be made up to him in some other form. To charge the profits of capital is, in fact, but to burden the wages of labour, and hence it is to be expected that, with every material addition to the income tax, there will be a corresponding diminution in the means and comforts of the masses of the community. The principle that in war, as in peace, the income of the country shall be made to meet its expenses may sound plausibly, and, ex pressed with all the advantages of rhetoric, may be received with much applause in a popular assembly; but we greatly doubt the prudence or the possibility of its practical adoption, and certainly this return supplies no argument in its favour. TIRE RESUMPTION OF LANDS IN INDIA. ONE of the most peculiar features in the pre sent system of governing India is the entire change in the views held by the Administra tion on the succession to feudal properties. In former times when the chief of an indepen dent State had submitted to our authority his rule descended, subject to the tribute agreed upon, to his heirs, whether natural or adopted, agreeably to Hindoo law ; and all feudal fiefs descended in like manner. When the conquest I