The Press. — London, England, 1857-01-31 00:00:00

JANUARY 31, 1857. The qualities which render the Falkland Islands so eligible for this purpose may be classed, perhaps, under three heads,—their complete isolation ; their situation in the centre of a great maritime thoroughfare; awl their natural resources, which might be deve loped into the materilds of an extensive and profitable trade. The first would prevent the danger of contamination to any neighbouring people ; the second and third would both afford that supply of labour which is indispensable in a convict settlement ; and the third would gradually superinduce that growth of a free population which, within certan limits, is another most desirable element That it would in time exceed those limits, is, in our opinion, nothing to the purpose. The islands would remain a penal colony for many generations ; and beyond a certain number of years we are not called upon to look. Legislation which is effective for a century is very good legislation ; independent of which consideration it should be remembered that we shall be no worse oft' at the end of that time than we are now, while we shall have enjoyed the advantage of a cen tury's additional experience in dealing with the subject, and of a century's freedom from the pollution engendered by the concentration of crime amongst ourselves. To those with whom the authority of Governor RENNIE may still weigh, in spite of the formidable array of arguments which have been brought against him, we offer the following extract from that gentleman's own report to Sir Joan PAKINGTON in the year 1353. We alluded to it in our article of last week ; we now give his exact words. After speaking of the increase in shipping, and the stimulus thereby given to trade, he continues : In the year 1819 f put up for sale twelve allotments, of one acre each, of suburban land near the town, suitable for the working?classes to build on or to cultivate as gardens. and the amount realised averaged 61. an acre, being three times the usual Government price. A few weeks since, having been given to understand that other parties wished to have an opportunity of purchasing similar allotments, I selected eleven of the same extent, but not quite equal to the former iu situation. The prices on this occasion averagel 111. an acre, or sis times the usual tined sum, and twice that of 1819 ... . . . Small, comparatively, as the instances are which I have the honour to communicate, I trust thy may lead to a more just appreciation of the capabilities and utility of this colony, and the favourable prospects which it alLrds to steady ate industrious emigrants. We may observe, before quitting this part of our subject, that the arguments in favour of Western Australia as the site of a penal settle ment have b" en not yet overthrown ; and if, as seems very probable, that region should also prove available for the purpose, we may fairly suppose that the lips of those who object to transportation on the score of its imprac ticability would be finally closed. The question of labour admits of being stated in very simple terms. Which is on the whole best for sticiety, to save so many pounds by the employment, of convicts at home, or so much pollution by paying their passage to the Antipodes? On the danger and the extent of that pollution we have already expressed ourselves strongly. But it is impossible to state it. in more terse and forcible language than that employed by Mr. EDDY in his second letter : The same miasma which, when concentrited, as it now is in England, is in the highest degree pestilential and reproductive, dispersed and ventilated becomes innozious. This is exactly the point we have ag►tin and again urged ; and as yet we have certainly seen no arguments adduced by the holders of opposite opinions which have shaken our belief in its importance. On the supposition that criminals mly be divided into corrigibles and incorrigibles—an idea which deserves attention—it is quite pos aible that localities like Dartmoor, or even the Hebrides, might be turned to good account. It is, perhaps, possible that a small class of the very worst criminals might be detained at home in perpetual imprisonment and seclu sion ; and in that case there would be no objection to making use of their labour. If the large body of less depraved criminals, of which these characters are the mature speci mens, were constantly thinned by trans portation, the number of felons at home might be kept down to a very low average, while the class sent abroad would experience fewer difficulties in the path of reformation. Whether THE PRESS. this is a practical scheme or not, we do not undertake to determine; but such seem the only conditions on which penal prisons could be maintained in this country with advantage. THE DAN LIB lAN PRINCIPALITIES—SHALL THEY BE UNITED. SMIE weeks back we received from a native of the Danubian Principalities a logical and eloquent argurnnit in favour of the union of the tAv.) provinces. At that time the question was in abeyance, owing to the dispute on the Bassaraiiian frontier, but it has new become of practical and pressing importance ; and it is very proper that the persons most interested in the decision to be taken should have an opportunity of making their views and wishes known. This corn • munication first discusses tie question of the legality of a union of the Principalities, and shows from the admissions of the Turkish Government, and from the treaties between the Porte and the Principalities on record, that there can be no objection to union on that ground. Ho asks If the Princi t ialitia, as they fully intend, continue after their union to do honour to their engagements towards the Porte, to pay their anmial dues, and Cause their prince and his heirs to be recognised at his accession by the Sultan, will the Porte have any cause of complaint? He then proceeds to show that there are precedents in favour of the project he advocates, and iu eloquent terms states the advantages which he believes would result from the union : The Principalities have not only right, they have also precedents in favour of their union and the extension of hereditary right to their prince. Both before and after their recognition of the suzerainty of the Porte, Wallachia and Moldavia were more than once united under hereditary princes—under Mircea 1., in 13139; under Stephen the Great, iu 1199; and under Michael the Brave, in IWO. lint more important still, and nearer to our time, the Porte itself, in 1830, admitted the necessity of the union in the 371st clause of the organic statute, where it qualifies that step as a union which circumstances alone have hitherto prevented, but the advantage of which cannot be denied for a moment. Need I add that yet more recently, in 1854, the Grand Vizir, Aali Pacha, also desired the union, which he then considered quite legal, and most advan tageous to the Turks. As regards the right of the Roumans to choose a foreign prince rather than a native, the Porte surely cannot deny it, seeing that she gave them foreign rulers on every occasion on which she usurped the right of appointing those princes. This right of the Prin cipalities to be united being once proved to be legal and not contrary to those of any other power, diplomacy, one would think, should be satistled; but as diplomacy desires also that the Principalities should show the advantages they anticipate from the union, as it wishes to know why we Routnans of Moldavia and Wallachia wish to be united, I will give the reasons. We desire the union because we are one people, ho noienous, identical as no other people in the world are or can be ; because we have the same origin, root, language, Intl religion; the same traditions and history ; the same institutions, customs, laws, and ad ministrative regulations; the same tendencies and aspira tions, hopes and fears, interests and wants, to satisfy; the same frontiers and purpose to defend, because there is less difference between the two Principalities than there are between two English counties, two French departments, or two Turkish villages. There is no natural barrier, and no visible sign of their separation. Everything tends to unite, nothing to separate them, unless it be the illwill of those whose wish it is to see them divided and weak, in order that they may make the country a stepping-stone for the conquest of the Ottoman empire. Should these reasons appear yet too vague and indefinite, 1 would add, we wish for union under a Western hereditary prince, that we may give the Government that stability which the political system of Europe and the particular circumstances in which the Principalities are placed require. We desire it that we may in return spare our country the convulsions and foreign intrigues incident to the elections of our princes; for these might become the cause of our destruc tion, as tlniy always have been of our misfortunes. We believe that none amongst the candidates named for the Throne would have the personal authority or family prestige to cause his acceptance by competition, or enable him to stand clear of all foreign influence. We consider it cheaper, better to have one yearly grant to the Throne, one Court, one Administration ; we shall have a better chance of a good prince, a good president over our legislative body, a good metropolitan archbishop, an able commander of oar army, a first-rate chief of the staff, clever repre sentatives at Constantinople,minister of finance, and comp• , trollers. We believe it easier ti find capable men to fill one legislative assembly, one court of supreme appeal, one ministry, and one staff—more advantageous to have one board of customs, one direction of luarautines, one post. otlice, one board of public works. Having one capital, we should bring our resources together ; and we may have at , less expense a bank on a good basis, a university, military school, a commercial agricultural class institution, a college of arts, a tine public library, a national museum. The union of our military forces under one flag and one command would enable our army to provide efficaciously for the national defence, and erect it into an advanced guard of the Ottoman army. We specially desire the union, because it already exists in our hearts, because we have the conscience of our cow- 101 mon destinies, and of onr identical mission; because we have but one mind, which will be tortured if possible to all eternity, but which cannot be divided. In other words, we want it because we require tranquillity to augment, under the shade of peace, and for the mutual interest of ourselves and of humanity, the moral and material resources cf our country, and live in good friendship with the Turks. If, however, ignerance or the bad faith of some few l'achas should prevail above the legal wishes of a people of five million souls, sepported by the greatest powers of the world and all intelligent Europe, we should be fatally thrown into endless agitations, and instead of becoming an instrument of defence and civilisation, we should become a me ats of destruction against the Ottoman empire. This is no threat; it is a real and imminent danger for Turkey as well its rr the Principalities. We earnestly ask those who have the power, to set it aside, while there is yet time. Without committing this journal to any decided opinion on the subject, we mast say that wa think it difficult to resist the force of these arguments in favour of union of the Principalities. THE INCOME TAX. At MARYLEBONE a meeting was held at the Court house on Wednesday evening, Sir James John llamil ton in the chair. A letter from Sir B. Hall, in which he referred to the recent declaration of the Chancellor of the Exchequer as a proof that it was never the in tention of the Government to take advantage of the act by which the additional tax of ninepence in the pound is continued until April, 1858, and declared that he himself was in favour of a readjustment of taxation, having been read, Mr. Nicholay charac terised the letter as " a jesuitical emanation from her Majesty's Chief Commissioner of Public Works, instead of a letter from the liberal member of 31arjlebone," and, in a speech denunciatory of what he alleged to b 3 Government trickery on the question, proposed a resolution declaring that " the immediate abolition of the war Ud. became a solemn obligation on the part of the Government." He expressed his opi nion that the disgraceful attack upon Canton was in- tended by the Government to give a colouring to the continuance of the tax. Mr. Whitmore seconded the resolution, which was supported by Mr. James Bell, M.P., who said that an attempt would be made by the Government to embarrass members of Parlia ment, either by declaring its necessity in consequence of the Persian and Chinese wars, or that if taken off it will retard the principles of free trade. He was sure the country would never submit to that. Mr. Jacob Bell moved the second resolution : That the income and property tax, as at present levied, being unjust in principle, inquisitorial in character, and especially oppressive to peraons of limited incomes, re• quires great and important modifications, before it can be rendered acceptable to the taxpaying community. This resolution, together with a petition to Parlia ment and a resolution that all incomes under DOI. per annum be untaxed, were unanimously adopted. At St. Mary's, LAMBETII, a crowded meeting was held in the vestry-hall the same evening, Mr. T. W. Stratton in the chair. Mr. Knight moved a resolu tion, declaring that the income tax cannot be iin. posed upon persons with incomes of less than 1501. per annum, without great cruelty and injustice. This resolution having been seconded by Mr. Under wood, Mr. Williams, M.P., delivered a speech in favour of relieving the class upon whom the income tax most heavily bears, and cf exercising greeter econc.my in the expenditure of the public money. A petition was also adopted. The inhabitants of the two Wards of CRIPPLEOATIC held a crowded meeting on Thursday, at which reso. lutions were proposed and passed against the con tinuance of the additional Od. beyond the sth of April next, anti a petition to Parliament praying for a more equitable adjustment of the tax adopted. The ratepayers of the Ward of BISHOPSGATE held a meeting on Tuesday, and passed resolutions con demning the present system of levying the income tax, and framed a letition accordingly, to be pre sented to Parliament by the City representatives. A meeting of the inhabitants of CHESTERFIELD was held on Wednesday in the Municipal-h'll for the purpose of petitioning the Government on the sub ject of the repeal of the income tax. The mayor, Mr. W. Drable, occupied the chair, and the meeting was attended by the principal tradesmen of the town. The Rev. Mr. Calder, M.A., proposed a resolution for the repeal of the war 91 after April next. Mr. W. E. Dutton seconded the resolution, which was citified unanimously. At DERBY a numerously-attended public meeting was held on Tuesday, and iesulations advocating the repeal of the war 9d. and the general revision of the tax unanimously passed. A letter was read from Mr. L. Heywortii, M.P., advocating a reduction in the tax and the adoption of indirect for direct taxa tion, and he also contended that the repeal of the Customs' duties would secure for us the amity of the A