The Press. — London, England, 1857-01-17 00:00:00

54 M That the present income•tax laws are mischievously con stituted, and so fallacious in principle, that injustice and oppression must be the necessary result ; and that it• direct taxation is necessary, it may more readily be levied, with a nearer approach to absolute justice, by means of a small property tax. A resolution adopting a petition to Parliament for a total repeal of the income-tax laws was then passed, and Sir John I'akington, at the request of the meeting, consented to present it to the House of Commons. A crowded meeting was held at the LONDON TAVERN on Wednesday to consider the oppressive character of the income tax, and the beast means of repealing the same off all incomes of 150/. per annum. The chair was taken by J. W. STRATTON, Esq., President of the Society for Promoting the Interests of the Trading Community, who opened the proceedings by briefly dwelling upon the despotic and inquisitorial character of the income tax, and complaining that under the present system, while men ware called upon to make a return of their incomes, if the commissioners thought fit to doubt the accuracy of those returns they could call upon the taxpayers to produce their books, and ex pose those secrets which every one was desirous to conceal. The society which had convened the meet ing was composed of tradesmen who felt the oppres sive burden of the tax, and, notwithstanding many unjust taunts and hindrances with which they bad been met, the society had held many meetings both in London and in the provinces, at all of which the utmost enthusiasm prevailed. Mr. UNDERWOOD moved the first resolution : That this meeting has heard with alarm and regret that a large number of warrants of distress and other legal proceedings have been issued for non•payment of income tax against persons not liable, and who are wholly unable to pay ; and this meeting cannot too strongly condemn the practice of alienating the affections of her Majesty's sub jects by the infliction of a tax which, on the one hand, erects a barrier against education, fetters trade and industry, and deprives thousands of the comforts and necessaries of life ; and, on the other hand, opens a door for immorality, fraud, and evasion, especially in its bearing upon incomes from 1001. to 1501. per annum. The speaker condemned the tax as an impediment to the progress of education. It was a libel to sup pose that mechanics or middle-class tradesmen were not anxious to provide a good education for their ohildren, but the tax which MI upon those who had only 1001. a year swallowed up the only fund by which that education could be procured. Mr. GANNON seconded the resolution, contending that the peculiar class who possessed incomes under 1501. was that which required immediate relief. It was the clerk, the small tradesman, the curate, who had only 21. or 3/. per week, whose means were crippled and whose comforts were restricted by the operation of the present system of taxation. He did not object to an equitable adjustment if possible, but he did think it would be absurd to go to the Govern ment and ask them to take "id. in the pound when, in fact, they were pledged to take only 3d. The nation had willingly assented to the burden so long as it was necessary to combat the encroachments of despotism, under the belief that as soon as the war was concluded the tax would cease, but had that been the case? He recommended the meeting and all electors to make the question a test for all candi dates for their suffrages, and he had 11J doubt but justice would be done. _ Mr. SMITH moved an amendment, recommending a readjustment of the tax, but it did not obtain a seconder. The original resolution was then put and carried unanimously. Mr. KNIGHT moved the second resolution, which VMS as follows : That this meeting is decidedly of opinion that, in order to protect persons against a continuance of the present cruel, unjust, and inquisitorial system of deciding cases of appeal, all who feel grieved by any such decision would do well to make a solemn declaration of the filets of the case before the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, or some justice of the peace, and forward the same to the Board of Inland Revenue ; and in case no means are taken to ascertain the truth of such declaration, then to forward a copy of the same to the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer, soliciting the immediate attention of that right hon. gentleman thereto. Mr. Wis . '.En seconded the resolution. As a working-man, he had felt the oppression of the income tax. He was assessed at 1001. a year, out of which he had a blind wife, his wife's sister, three children, and an aged parent to support. His wages as an engineer were 38s. a week, with occasional overtime. Upon appealing to the commissioners he was treated almost like a dog, told he must pay. and because he did not a broker was sent in. Being determined to go to prison rather than pay, he had removed his goods. The money was paid by his wife's relatives; but the effect upon his wife had been such that for three months she was on a sick bed. The next year again he did not pay, and that time he was taken to Horsemonger-lane Prison, where he zemained for ten days, until he was re- THE PRESS. leased by the intervention of the society who had called the present meeting. The speaker concluded by reading a statement of his last week's expenses, which amounted to V. 45., while his earnings were only 11. 19s. 9d. Mr. WALKER described the treatment which he had undergone. Ho kept a small chandler's shop at Bromley, the takings of which were only 31. 10s. a week, of which the profits were only 10s., making together with his occasional earnings as a dock labourer a total annual income of less than 40/. Nevertheless, he had been assessed at 1001., and, notwithstanding an appeal, the demand was insisted upon, and he was in hourly expectation of being taken to prison. These facts he had solemnly de. posed to before the Lord Mayor. Mr. KERRY denounced the quibble by which the existence of the double income tax had been pro longed for another year. Tl►e meeting shortly after broke up. At OXFORD a meeting was held in the Town-hall on Tuesday, at which the mayor presided, supported by the aldermen and many of the town council and principal inhabitants. Mr. Reynolds moved, and Mr. Councillor Wise seconded, a resolution : That the continuance of the present charge of Is. 41 in the pound levied on income, and the mode of assessment, are offensive and unjust; and as the understanding at the time of the passing of the Act of Parliament, by which the tax was increased, was that it should continue in force for one year after the termination of the war, and no longer, this meeting is of opinion that the Act of Parlia• ment ought to be repealed on and after the sth of April next. Mr. Taylor, artist, moved, and Mr. J. J. Faulkener, a member of the town council, seconded the following amendment : That this meeting, while it affirms the correctness of th principles of direct taxation, views with alarm the condition of the industrious classes, arising from the oppressive operation of the tax upon the wages of labour and pre carions incomes, and will not feel satisfied with anything short of the immediate and total repeal of the income tax. The amendment was carried by a large majority. On the motion of Mr. Alderman Grubb, seconded by Mr. J. J. Faulkener, the following rider to the amend ment was carried unanimously : That in the opinion of this meeting economy ought to be prosecuted in every department of the public service ; that no additional taxes ought to be imposed on the ne cessaries of life ; that the financial policy of the late la• merited statesman, Sir Robert Peel, ought to be fully carried out, and that direct taxation is infinitely preferable to indirect taxation. A petition to Parliament was adopted, embodying these resolutions. At CANTERBURY the following resolutions were pro posed and passed unanimously at a meeting of the inhabitants, held at the suggestion of Charles l'urton Cooper, Esq., of Denton Court, at the Guildhall of that city, on Thursday evening, Jan. 8, viz.:— That a Government will ill perform its duty which, when the nation is not engaged in any great European war, shall continue a tax so unequal and so unjust, so prying and inquisitorial, and yet so liable to evasion, so vexatious, galling, and oppressive, and altogether so obnoxious and odious as that now levied upon income; and that Mr. Pinion Cooper be requested to transmit a copy of the fore. going resolution to Viscount Palmerston. At TAI - sros last week a meeting of influential inhabitants of the town was held in the Guildhall, to petition Parliament against the income tax. The bailiff' of the borough, Mr. 11. Parsons, was in tle chair. A resolution was adopted, declaring the con tinuance of the present heavy charge of 16d. in the pound levied on incomes, and the mode of assess ment, oppressive and unjust. At SHEFFIELD a meeting was held on Wednesday evening, the mayor, Mr. J. W. Pye Smith, in the chair, and a resolution passed that this prolongation of the burden appears to the meeting most un reasonable, and that the war portion of the tax ought to terminate with the other war taxes at the end of the current financial year. Mr. W. H. Hague op posed the resolution, regarding the income tax as a "glorious tax." Mr. Isaac Ironside moved an amend ment, having reference to the Chinese and Persian wars. The mayor said he thought the amendment was out of order, and that he could not put it; whereupon Mr. Ironside left the meeting. An animated discussion ensued, and eventually the resolution was carried with but three dissentients. Other resolutions of a similar character in condem nation of the tax, and a petition to Parliament founded upon them, were agreed to. At TEwitEsat - nv an anti-income-tax merting was held on Tuesday last. The mayor presided. Reso. lutions were passed against the continuance of the war tax beyond the sth of April. A meeting in opposition to the income tax was held also at LINCOLN on Saturday. A letter from Major Sibthorp, M.P., concurred in the objects of the meeting, and several strong resolutions against the tax were unanimously adopted. SATURDAY, At LFED3 a public meeting of the town was held on Thursday, for the purpose of expressing an opi- nion on the tax. In MILE-END on Wednesday night an anti-income. tax meeting of the vestry of the hamlet was held at the Town-house. Dr. Snowe presided. A resolution, to the effect that the present income tax and its despotic and inquisitorial character were most op. pressive and unjust tcwards the professional, com mercial, and trading portion of the community, and that its continuation beyond the sth of April would he a breach of faith on the part of the Government, was agreed to by a large majority. Sortigit 6orrrspantrtntr. BRUSSELS, January 14. THE remarks of Sir Robert Peel on the different occurrences in his official visit to Moscow are not less an outrage to common sense than to good breeding. They are palpably unjust, abound in im proprieties, and are not warrantable in matter or style. An offensive personality pervades the speech, and the discourtesy towards the Empress of Russia, the Prince de Ligne, M. de ,horny, and other per sonages displeasing to the caprice of Sir Robert Peel, is wholly without justification. The Junior Lord of the Admiralty might have remembered that the size of a country is not always commensurate with its importance. Commerce and industry, to which he is indebted for his actual position, under free institutions and a fortunate locality, may elevate a prudent and painstaking people in the scale of nations to a rank far beyond the relative extent of territory. Besides, the dictum that Belgium was the smallest kingdom in Europe is incorrect. Sir Robert Peel's topographical knowledge is not sound. The representative of Belgium at the coronation of the Emperor of Russia was the Prince de Ligne. A careless education, of which a fatal "facility of language " aids the detection, may have caused this prurient censor to overlook or forget the memoirs of the celebrated favourite at the Court of the Empress Catherine 11. Apart from other considerations, the Prince de Ligne represented an historic name con nected with one of the most glorious reigns in Rus sian history. He was selected and worthily chosen on account of an hereditary title which is not depreciated in his person. This prestige is ap parently of no account to Sir Robert Peel, and he stands out in unhappy contrast to the Belgian noble. A " novus homo " should refrain from abusing a patrician for an advantage to which he cannot lay claim ; above all, he should not injure by folly and impertinence the basis of his •' locus standi," and thus cast discredit on his own name which in a past sense is associated with honour and reverence. The Prince de Ligne is the President of the Belgian Senate. Unlike others of the Belgian nobles, he accepted faithfully the Constitution of 1830 ; he takes his part in the political affairs of the day, and, by his services in the Senate and in the province where he has an immediate interest, he performs actively and honourably his duties to his King and to his country. To such a person does not belong the misnomer of "insignificant." He does not revile his neighbour; he did not abuse the official confidence placed in him ; he does not mis apply or waste his vast substance unworthily; neither does he disparage the high nomenclature he has inherited. There is no deeper mortification than to experience the blushing shame kindled by the unjust trespass of a countryman against an un offending foreigner. Upon the ungentle notice of the Empress of Russia, and the censure of others, conveyed in slang terms and unlicensed language, it is not necessary to dwell. The public press of Eng land has well performed its duty on the occasion ; and by that honest course has deprived the insane insults of any mischievous tendency. It has fitted the ornament of something more than " insignifi• cance " upon the head that is suited to it. That press will always reprobate, justly and severely, a wanton employment of the coarse invective that too often sullies the diction of a plebeian intemperance. Sir Robert Peel accepted a public mission of com pliment and courtesy. It was faithless to betray the trust with wilful insuavity. The murder of the Archbishop of Paris having been committed by a priest bas placed the Ultra montanes in a sore dilemma. Verges, although sus pended from officiating, still belongs to the Roman priesthood, and has no right to abandon his ecclesi astical habiliments. Several suggestions have been privately made in order to prevent his appearance at the criminal bar in a sacerdotal character; but these attempts to avoid the obloquy that must attach to the insufficiency of priestly education to purify