The Sun. — London, England, 1842-03-19 00:00:00

to those to tell oho the importation of pie and rggravat those consequences o much deg House Howe for 14 or 15 Lld reduce the Right that be wouhl have iished consvmptiou ; evils which a dearth and lie uo uld thus unp tion of those ar ible character of the purchase. The rerted to the duff Right Honourab reused of fishing.in on the Ministerial t all a, ents receive o a more favourable it Hon. Gentliman use appeared to be dig' than e eniteman would re" • to raise a duty tunce d to hint se , that if he would le sum of 70),0001• hich he had Endes any view to appeared obviously t he 511.,11' duty ba d • the 'Right Ron. had been obtained 9 byintroducin e g a ddition .1 s timul u .tion of f ree labo ur Ler that meditation is retirement front c ed that 700,1' aoe I charge,. bekwag ve intended to red, tnat ice 0001,Bul it ass Le nt for the Right error after siren of the subject. sincerity of t he that he nn? reeve he statements o'er! .dge of subsequeonr! is previous r.., oa rget that quee did i t what they L ough on that be, peeil substantiatea hen submitted by y (her 31ajesty were absent front by free labfit!,. irage the setf.%'' to that it -ot• xs of the per td at a time wh e " .uct i o n to supply Ile Lord fixed 0,1 n she 0' 1 , 1 ! wwhen he dump. f the Right ar in the ivarke! period now hal ell the sugarZ tsumption of that the Weal pl oduce, or he now fuu oj-- might by p oe m Gentleman' tlenaan weo' considerable 3P' e Opr tlf on s of the s her to show th yn ?' Pr , n tity of an d reeved, t Wit ming . the °I ) ! ing icy of not go s slave - l a t he a b ou r, if the for the o°' Le Right Or: as his ea Th e oncerned. ) the Va n ' t he‘ tncellor of ; was, tha t o nislleJ, it i d !ar had exceoo.to : i s f a ctory ° n o t their Ivo Exchequer.',l lit H0110tIr: he represe r 0 l!!!„ was undereti bond autotin in bond in yon' not at preh'eeen; .resume scoo est Indies 0 titer, he ✓ fur the co_ s 2y, 280 tons.; and, 280 usumed so nt was :203, .r, an amPll to uc h des ire& t er, the Rig'', DO/ ; but there eject, to wh'eit ate answer. to t was agre e° . so .11 a measure a l., a i t ada, bo :hey s hoto. so I had beep so it that t' Lord Sfdoe. )t take 1 11 ,ro s to make *)0 ne under t he i'entleman rck, er, they oug."o altered dull_ he intendedi:i If Canada) hat he oug h ,', Hon. Gent 1821, je!ti,fi„; sort stated to 7 3 11ti° that on bi is the Pi. aided by )1e of t on ne w dutY o f wsuration oatfrotpa co ts el t, Lis llntri wn tO , y inmitteei had On" lea of 18:11a to dela ) aed6oo)ii, if the of e detaile dent l,n o ylh !coon ob .) w ould h a v e ,r would lin ale taLieg tie ad ro„ ald have c e 11 d 5 an ts, ,"•- e, hav e a s P e s.r) c " a Geolleilve ear , he Gentle th e o a 1 35 : 1 :51) of the - b e ired to 0 8 . a _j e years Pill they lea s: P fr a far O e e n n n re eito, is non v. 01 2; ug d be ties c_7_ Id be bet•!t: iote fe jo fro o . , ie -- ni t •.0 i all ar too affec t Id fall 0 1° , 1 1)19 • bt rbg Ila no.) s told We' tn . r the o 3 0° dr e s a ,o lot .ley interieit, bstructlt; a r ) , !,00t ),) ; 15 hat flo those e%; e Inot)e 0. l° inuoullo— °lda be 00' 1 110 dou b t r!ii. tin ha Ir•) u ld be far roe 110 W C 34- 'ol 3 s Ug34. Dad 100 w Lli tt utt er e, rac e. for the) ? ' There • s pec tiling let' ,f a ct ar o. with the there' IC-fourth he Rig ht had be en , o , abou t -anti tho env sh to ower of w hat:" [ , O uld t a te; h u r it a logu e • lit Hon. ,enti a n j ed with i o xer he (th e f of t he 1 of nu gi 3 eatc ' try , ,d pros' ) Hu t y e ours ° to 'b e ifeet on i ect all en vellings ee e , e at i ou ti,ed the limits upon.whicn the tax was brought into was t 5 wh .tie should not pursue this subject further. He was 144 of thaorevere might be the feelings of the Hon. Gentleman, try was de se i twho acted with him, that the feeling of the coun near, h ea c s a edlY against the re-imposition of those taxes.— It they were :o reserve in their armoury weapons Z.; P t rind •o)f difficulty and distress, when it would be neces better to forth every exertion, he thought it was Ge ntle _ al, reserve those taxes which the Honourable eer rspert` wished to impose, th an t o reserve a e , _Y tax for a period of d anger and difficulty. But the Ita,"reet,ientleman to that a property tax, under no circutn th ' Might to be imposed except in a time of war. Weal itip es.in e ddretence betwee peace nd war as to the necessity of ' s aase 0 1 8. 5.. t a_xati on ? They imposed taxation,. not merely be ueseult y were at war, but, because that in war there was a ilt, a Y, g a revenue, because they were involved in w anted to extricate theinselyee from the difficulties in plieoolviti?.iTcyi,est,orrida. W ) Ha e d re th tl e i y ey not now precisely in this situa not gone on year after year, bor tadi r 41 4. u rine a nominal peace, but a real war—(Cheers)--a stnamefar as the effect on the finance s of elie country could eal ale If the Ri g h t Hon. Gentleman required the tech - %idask of war to justify him in imposing a property tax, he look at the East.—lmmense cheering.) thr r glee. hat we were engaged in war, which, wile . - ' l orne oth ms to our arms, as in China, or disastrous, as in tak e . er Portions of the East yet produced the effect of en tietefeuPms the coentry the necessity of providing for addi laarase-,lPeeses, and he felt assured that no one would, for one het c onsent to let the glory of England be tarnished for g eod e ci f funds. to support it. The Right Honourable 14heorliitiikthslutthitnit se:vieidnitnhga,thtehe income tax would press unequally and ml different clasees Wh • on his way down to the (the - Chancellor of the Exchequer) had he gof gentlemen walking. with placards—( A laugh) 14 tIgh t ,, , 11 ° 1 1 of course, mean Hon. Gentlemen —( Continued tone r o )-- ; and on those placards were inscribed, " No inqui i."4)C.° `i n j u itiec, no inequality of taxation ;" and the Right tt al e mit Man hail said that it was en unequal and an un alible. I , l e (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) was quite hQio*sihitoat taxation was a necessary evil. It was bored to devise a tax which would not press as a ,°ald not , et s, hnon some class of the community ; and he ~'1 ,1 111 5t lake UPOil himself to say that a property tax was 4ses:l°_,.o tho se - objections which were applicable to all other tern, e " , them look at the taxes on consumption. Did they ;; e the gua llY? Did they press equally on the higher and ,eere ,eer orders of society ? Let it be recollected that , L ,Y the „re articles which were considered merely as luxuries lowei'Per orders but which were actually necessaries among e etle t cell ei's that had been said by the Right Hon. kriee ah • . • 1 A % n .-1y b 01 11. the iniquisitorm, anu vexatious nature of . a ,' e alel oo ,:a had been said with equal force, although not with tgi" sees by many Hon. Members on f ormer occas i ons by • and it would be said on every of those'individuals on whom it might be cceasion found to e,lrrett eh e , a r;) In bringing forward this proposition, the The` theyeads not been insensible to the difficulties t l sts w w t ",eld have . encounter.—(Cries of " Hear.") ."3t by striking at th . e property of the . _country cel raibing a strong feeling in the country against them etnat'rerlitesth. eY knew enough of the country to know that 'gh of "ght be the strength of that feeling, there was 'ltteeet. respect left for the honour of the country, enough ,Yiret o i 'a for the institutions of the country, and a sufficient i'ith rifUfli‘hold them to overcome the feeling, however strong, t r t ,, c i t lali, 'ut he entertained against the tax on account of its question which would be b e tt er di scusse d i n Corn ehssa oer 4 ,,, a gainst the manner in whi c h it was t o b e raised— t, ht C h 'eh would be hereafter proposed, discussed, and amended.—( Hear, hear.) The Right . Hen. r j" 45 0, it appeared, objected to the alterations in the 'l' l °f ff an s aid that duties ad been reduced without the adop k,44',llls -.3 ',,Principle. The Right Hon. Gentleman had made t r , to the first article in the tariff as affording a 1 ) „ r ' :1 1 ., ° h ` the conduct of the Government. Now, the pin e,' a ,ere t ' e" ,the Government had adopted was to endeavour, 4,, i„ -- ; re iaeation in the protecting duties, to give a facility 1 ,71 11 4 -`rskltiction of many articles of great use to the mann- Cthoss to country which had been in effect prohibited, (6Ztaeree endeavour to promote . the interests . of our trade and "Y facilitating our intercourse with foreign States. code rent was certainly true that a !lnction had k r .tho In favour of our colonial possessions.---(Hear.) le . 'sefiee that when our fellow-countrymen went . to distant o k dd;'' world and establishea possessions, and in some 5 1 e r aPires in a manner calculated to benefit greatly the ts , : s abj e Z u t is tY, that it was our duty t . o give to them, our fel e'el i h the same advantages which we claimed for our po‘nliret;r:dast the introduction of foreign merchandise. He did it Il e to say that the tariff was perfect, but that was the Root igen which the Government had acted in proposing ; . 1 1 he' Gentleman hail alluded to the injury which 4 (11 e tsesiircted on the cork-cutters by the proposed alteration la t t rcei eed He (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) had not th e ' II,'" a deputation from the cork-cutters . on the sub . - nerospnt r, 0 4 1-° ,,egh be had appointed to receive one in o f a few slays, and therefore he would not enter at t,poie d 'e a discussion upon the merits of that question, but 1,"'„ kid 4 ,, e 'h how it happened that the Right Hon. Gentleman e h l "" little regard to the interests of the cork-cutters eh:a o p,,, w heri he had proposed his alterations in the . tariff, on Ch ' ,"n a deputation of the cork-cutters . had applied to him tee d aceller of the Exchequer) en the subject, and had coin 'rei4Pt.is;filahe manner in which the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. e h , ei ght refused to pay any attention to their complaints. •Cce, ' i on , Gentleman had not referred to the subject of to who was it that thought of giving tobacco tha n th e atlikthe possessions of the Crown a further protection I ef‘ ° ,,, li acco grown in foreign countries ? Who had ► ks th t ;' t ; ? Why, they had not long since laid upon the "ouse a petition most respectably signed from the ,l e renany, stating in the strongest terms the hard heti ' ; 4 ? ,`" s 3' sustained from not being put on the same reearded their productions with the western IN Ct astri:, They were told of the hardship the East Indies 1,, 1 r I' sol4l ' o M not having their sugar and rum placed . on the g as similar commodities in the West Indies. What iiii lii ; l eur se which the Government took upon that (wee. ree 4 elitt e 3 ' they referred the petition to a Committee. That tor n . e ' Ea rned Report, and the Government afterwards tt'ist ard •ea equalise the duties in the two „ se ere net, a measure to e,e,,seoer2:-( Hear, hear.) They acted . upon the principle f rimg the trade of the East Indies, and giving there . ! th • commodities to this le e "ry, .0P the transfer of heir tt l ref err ed bacce was one of the very articles which h a d e s eti to the Committee in question ; and the Govern eie. hie 0 41 g on the general principle of encouraging the trade :;:rt, ast Indies, made tobacco one of the leading kt, de in their ew. scheme. That step was no e, f r° ,,c l st important to the interests of India ; ~tlee one, should never be ashamed of having, on the f thi s portion of the great empire, to which we neces- j k itt rsa r s "el a superiorit,y of our manufactures, brought great ' th''.'d misery. Ile should not regret that he had re • It, !hotel' t obacco from the duty, and had given them an op that th Y °f s ending that commodity to this country ; and ho INl‘lt:o,ll4aatblobYth:nmeot encouraging the growth of other articles than rain 'eh had been the subject of our dispute with China, he abstain from growing those articles which ;,tl4 ...i. ved us in positions of difficulty and danger.—( Hear. ) it he had now touched on most of the points to which 4 sei d igitt Honourable Gentleman had adverted. He f) the d4ve oe.?a,ion. no doubt, in the progress tittNihi:t.',e,tl,siGn on which they were - about to enter, "e House on matters connected with the particular e l ,l . e h ad i ti been proposed for their consideration, mid to t cPropole'.Mtrnon with his colleagues, the mode in St hICh 1 bit4tlpl e as t to raise it, and to render it asshttle onerous to 1 4 1 , 4 w e , rs ee tild be consistent with the levy of the money th, h elt„ f ~ceutred. The House, however, must not forget ,„ftige t - iris preliminary debate, that the question between lgiefe,`". Gentleman and himself was, whether they t e ~a tax on ro erty, and simultaneously afford 'Vee n "miring com P mer P ee to labouring manufactures, it, g P e ople, and to ' an agitated community, or l,;rtie o c eY should resort to taxes which, though less t id r ' 61 ' the higher orders, would press snore on the N a ally lie less heard of in the circle to which they indi ase i ho,ved, but would not on that account be less felt, eity les s i • 'lle -.4 ainjury on the permanent interests of the corn- He could seriously say that no man had la. e i,," " i an he had to avoid having recourse to a measure be considered by many a burdensome measure, e,,s-e," sincere conviction that under the present circurn teolaie i,rieurnbered with a debt which we must discharge to Net.t.i4rioefe,ZiPts equal to expenditure, with a view to the pre.. Lasti , Wee th'", empire abroad and our character at home—he , es n'Z i th It it Was necessary to successfully achieve tin!, d '' , e t ' t ar ° 4 I Z, give his best exertions to brit - % forward this Glees ihiee;"sme, and he trusted that, whatever inconveni reti' r esult, it would ultimately produce the confi eke klid ''e world at large, in the energies of the peo 'he:l st re w a r e !; 15 sacrifices which the higher and lower „ Ivt e diric' to snake to remedy the pressing evils ef to'clevate the character of our nation in the dpQntd eior,couetry in the woi'd cif the ' C„K * commenced by ' saying that he . thought the ti get, 'louse would be more properly directed to the e f Ski teeaailre proposed b the Government in a Com tse Lott and - 1 ytheresacs • P h t befo're the 10 1 1 R, (10i 4ii, urge at such a time; u 1 , 1 1 ali g h t a discussion it seemed to him that great adt e, s ast l e,tal ar ,, r lse from a discussion on the general policy of e e s atte t ee 'aegements of her Majesty's Government. He tli„mise and the country would be more prepared eirieeebete. and the particular question, when the tl ki st kid 1 ,;e 5 of th e meanies before them was dis l'ite,rt giseussed in the manner it hail been by . /I"lsPee - ,_ rr able F riend. The Right Honourable Gen thetle'„,. (the Chancellor . of the_ Exchequer) r t t %ot eon s :sh '"e measure now before the House was cal th;:le lel e on o „ r eos to the country, the blame rested with the ri,i` re el ' Ge e ;,, s tood around him. He referred to the policy 1 1 the s eres I,*' lt herit during the last four years, and said th ' ,, -4411 d have been earlier taken to supply the ti 'ate _ \ ; v tlele ~ ,Q " ,oistry. That might be so, and he (Lord ' t ui r e et ':t te i-e t rir e ,,;.° e ?ae a word in defence of what was done by `sat time, tit, though he had the honour, during a por all te„ ( ' w e , ' betng himself a member of the Govern hs's 14'3 h e C i 'lling to assume, for the purposes of argil. 14,1 1 14 1;;;4i e 0 a f , s right in blaming the late Government to 41,"Y to ho on, and for not proposing mea•ures for Hut while, for the sake of argument, I ,`?r eise' s e by d'd not think it wise to abuse the patience svh;r t o ersq,,, ,i a d iscussion when great national interests tw e ' h th,:,:thr s ,' as to whether certain persons had acted ac e; e ars judiciously or the reverse.—(Hear.) ,eNtre consider was not whether they were . right te . t -re sago, but what was the natu eof the circesm egit'st!„o te; e tos,„ • ,"eY were placed? The course which it then 'le ‘"at was the serious conaideratien of this s.ub ali-tet„,' eoZ n et 0415. should he addresshimself. Now the Right esS" e rrie s 'iP?stte, in his very able statement the . other d etiii.litee',llot too i° language which he ( Lord Hewick) a . - ,„. boot .° Strou that " , D ll ./ tii e h th g. they ought not to persevere m t ' 4 e M could accumulate debt. He (Lord H.) t 'ar e ary one to I th the Right Hon. Baronet, and he . was te 'eee - ac quiesce any sacrifice which might be es - 6 `, 41 _, the lirnio l u n r ofthe . country— . to maintain N„,,, Nation of debt. So far he entirely con (L : ith th y se gre:' 4ln ent, civil and militaryat the same concur if oweio. Hen. Baronet. If he could make out to him Aetli„„' Li hat these taxes w hi c h he pro as be Lord Howiek) thought, e ise 4 cle ' r i °al e nut that thsee taxes were really re, - * 0 0 , to mder e a sufficient revenue, te a sto," this ° "I an "r° uee debt--if he could herdhh: the of yes, o ho was Y increase of d HoWiek's) Isse po yrepared to take his (Lo.r ' voting asitt ed sal. as a member of thatHot.se d it must ee, f. as !h at tts he thought, on th e other band, d e 'es te we r , 'his d e "e3' were not justified imposing un u nime seriptioo on the j ople unless a necessity Wl tese'r, tee e s " t eld h o e t• If there were e other sources from which he 0. 4 4 wh• t eent, raise —if without pressing so heavily on e,;'/ 1 eortilleY found other means of revenue—that 'ileeti Is. we, e ° _^. ol l . e and safety required—if this coul t d o , 114te!eulZ j \ ti v a o ti fi d e i l in adopting . tl , la v t er cn i u s r t s r e ong fie wo uld : e exarnio l. l , l ,... d th e en y tobeeitieortneorst. raising that al e N ee (se. i'k the Riehl' Hon q ßarOnet ta establish his the' s o " the''' Peel) told them . in the first plaits, ip it th , eotir Portststracasuie of the Right Hon. Gentleman (the Ilsee 1 t Pon wh. ° L eth), of obtaining various sources of in tftia ear 14 th il e . f ; es he v e tt a'efioxetdhelaouse held - an . adverse opinion,th re a_t 'le (Lord Oh. corn, would not have over th ' " e tl but had unwilling to go . e, w a s Mae after what fallen from the Right re the ehi woUWt;dect, „inp oso t'P "te, who had just addressed the 'ait ye 'lis 1-' to avoid ore or two observations upon lia eo kr a fi t A"t on , Friend (Mr. Raring) had stated ed (hit ens that instead of adding to Ow revenue 500.000/. from the importation of corn, it would have been 1,110,0001. The Right lion. Gentleman opposite said, in answer, that if they had imposed thlt fixed duty on corn, the effect would have been that the revenue stated would have been produced, but it could nol have relieved the people. He (Lord Howick) believed this was the correst answer given by the Hight Hun. Gentleman to his ( Lord Howick's) Right Hon. Friend. Now really he thought the Right Hon. Gentleman who used that argument must have laughed to himself at the extreme credulity of his hearers.—(Laughter.) The Right Hon. Ba ronet opposite taunted them (the Opposition) on that side the House wish a want of power with whirl they argued that com mon question. Right Hon. Baronet said the Ss. duty raised the price of the article, therefore the ' consumption became less, and the expected revenue failed. B ut how did this apply to the existing shifting duties on corn. He believed it ayes a unanimous opinion, that if the Bs. duty had been adopted last year the price of corn woule have been considerably less. Ile would net go into betties already fought ; but from the rout of his inquiries he found that if there had been a fixed duty of Bs., the burdens would have been less to the consumer than under the sliding scale. This being, the case, the answer of the Right Hon. Gentleman was totally misapplied, for while there would have been less burdens upon the consume*, the revenue would have been increased. He asked those gentlemen who, like himself, were anxious for the welfare of the landed interest —he asks d them seriously to consider themselves whether they were quite c nvinced that they had made a good bargain for the land n maintaining a sliding scale, and in consequence of that determination subject themselves to an income tax.—(Loud cheers.) He asked them if, when they carne to cast up their accounts' to consider whether they would not find the sliding scale after all rather expensive?— (Laughter and cheers.) But after what had passed in that House, he was willing to admit that they must not now look to corn for an increase of revenue. The Right Hon. Baronet had stated on a former evening that it was in vain to look for an increase of revenue by a reduction of duty. He said that reduction of' duties in many instances was attended with con siderable loss to the revenue, although there was an increase of consumption, and that many years elapsed before the revenue approached •to 'its former state. He ( Lord Howick) entirely concurred with the Right Hon. Baronet. As had been ob served by his Hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth, the Right Hon. Baronet was dealing with shadews. He first created the enemy and then destroyed him. Was there any thing in common between the principle of 'coking revenue by mere reduction of duty, and the principle of endea vouring to increase the revenue by reduction not merely of taxes, but of differential duties ? Now, what was the operation of this? They could import any given article from two countries, and they paid duty upon that country from which it could be obtained the cheapest; the conse quence was, the price was raised to the consumer, although no revenue was brought into the Exchequer, If they remitted that duty, on the other hand the consequence was, that a sum was paid into the Exchequer which at the same time re lieved the consumer. He would take, for instance, sugar, and compare the present rate of duties and the system with that of the change proposed fast year. He was not going to argue the merits of that change—that was another question. The duty on foreign sugar was at that moment a prohibition, ex cept when prices rose to an exorbitant amount; but at other times foreign sugar was excluded. Sugar came in at present at 245. per cwt:, and the proposal of last year was to admit fo:eign sugar at a duty of 365. Now, what was the necessary effect of this? In the first place, every cwt. ef foreign sugar introduced was a positive increase to the revenve of 12s. ; and, besides this, it had a tendency to increase con= sumption, and still further, increase the revenue. Suppose 110,000 cwt., which was the amount the Right Lion. Mem ber for Portsmouth calculated to be the average increase—sup posing this amount was imported, here was a great increase to the revenue and the consumption of the country, while the con sumer of the article received it at a lower price. Therefore, so far as the increase of consumption was concerned, measures of this kind produced a diminution of taxrion ; and, on the ether hand, so far as the revenue was concerned, there was a positive increase. The Hon. Baronet had told them that the duty on wine had been reduced—there had been no increased supply or consumption. But there was no protection reduced on this article, therefore the public was not benefited by the reduction. This remark applied to coffee and tobacco —there was one exception ; but it did singularly enough happen that the Right Hon. Baronet, in stating the articles upon which experiments had been made by reducing the duty with a view of increasing the reven ue , th at i n making that statement lie admitted that with respect to one article the experiment had been successful. What was that article? If he mistook not it was rum. The Right Hon. Baronet stateddhat with regard to rum the reduction of the dat.y was not attended with an immediate falling off in the revenue; but, on the contrary, there was an increase. To be sure it was, and why. Because on rum, and on rum only, of all the articles to which the Right Honourable Baronet had referred, he WAS dealing with a protective duty.—(Hear.) He was dealing with a diffe rential duty; for this duty on ruin was, •in effect a differential duty in c om p ar i son w i t h that raised on British spirits for the consumption of the country. Therefore, as far as the reduction in the differential duty on rum was concerned, it was at ti uded with that very effect which they (the Oppositson ) contended would result. NoW this principle would equally apply to sugar. He would not say that the measure proposed last year was a right one or not, but he would say that that principle could be applied. The Right Hon. Gentleman who had just sat down said that the proposers of the change only calculated an increase of 7e0,000/., and yet he said that with no altera lion whatever that increase had been provided. To that argu ment he. ( Lord Howick) would make th e same ans wer a s he did the last evening. He did not care what they had received. Ile had nothing to do with the estimates they made as to the con sumption of the country. He took his stand on the broad prin ciple, and said that if foreign sugar could come into the market with a differential duty in fa"our of British sugar of 50 per cent. it entitled them to say that if those differential duties were re duced, it would increase the revenue and relieve the consumer, and if they could thus increase the revenue they were bound to do so, and not resort to an income tax.—( Cheers.) He would not go into the argument against that question by the Gentle men opposite, but he would take the liberty of telling the Right lion. Gentlemen opposite and her Majesty's Government, that he believed that the country had seen through that fallacy.— (Loud cheers.) It was last year brought forward, and he could not help thinking that for consistency sake the Right Hon. Gen leman was bound to adhere to it. But. he would say that the country did not go with him on that point. A great number of the Hon. Gentlemen opposite had proved their sincerity to the question of slavery; he (Lord Howick) would venture to say he had not been insincere on the subject of slavery ; but a great majority of the country did not think that the question of slavery affected the produce. They had great suspicions respecting these great advocates of slavery and monopoly.— (Cheers.) But this was by no means the oely article to which the principle could be applied. The Right Hon. Baronet had told them of coffee, and the Right Hon. Baronet told them that a revenue amounting to 170,0001. he expected to lose. Now he was very glad to hear that there was to be a reduction on the article of coffee. Ile thought it would be a great advantage to the consumer. But when the que:stion of whether they were to make it necessary or not to impose so odious an impost as an income tax, he did think it became the House to pause before they determined respecting coffee in the manner in which the Right Hon. Baronet had pro fessed. It was in their power to deal with coffee in a manner that, instead of producing a loss to the revenue, there would be a considerable accession of the revenue. The Right Hon. Baronet proposed to reduce the duty to 4d. in equal rate on colonial coffee. Now, instead of this, suppose the Right Hon. Baronet bad levied an equal duty on all coffee, by %illicit he would remove the absurd necessity which now existed of transhipment, and a voyage from the Brazils to the Cape, and bringing it home. By-the-bye, he could not help ob serving I.ow consistent this was with the doctrine held by Gentlemer opposite with respect to slavery. —( Loud cheering.) Now suppose th e Right Honourable Baronet had merely applied one uniform duty of 9d. to all foreign coffee, the result. would have been that instead of a loss to the revenue of 170,000/., it would produce a large addition to it. They would throw into the Exchequer all the money uselessly ex pended in a voyage to the Cape ; all the expenses of a double voyage, a double loading, all this would be sent direct into the Exchequer, with a relief to the consumer. droll,the Right Hon. Baronet p ro p ose d anot h er art i c l e f or reduction, and he proposed to deal with timber, from which he calculated a loss of 600,000/. He believed that great relief would be felt by the consumer, and that the diminution would increase the revenue; but he would not enter into that point then ; but he thought many would ageee with him that it was not wise to deal with timber in the manner pro posed. He agreed with him that the duty on timber required revision, and he called on the Right lion. Baronet, the dome Secretary, to deal with the question as he pro,-osed in 1831. (Sir James Graham made an observation across the table which was inaudable. ) He had listened to the Right Hen. Baronet with great gratification on Fri lay last, and lie heard with great delight from a Minister of the Ciowit the liberal principles of commercial policy he then relvocated But. be confessed when he came to look through the propesed scale of duties, he was surprised, to find that the scale so little accorded with those principles. lie could not agree with the Right lion. Baronet in establishing differential duties in favour of the coloniee In the filst place, the operation of the differential duties was undoubtedly to impose a tax on the people of this country, on the articles produced in the col-miss. And this could Only be considered in the light of a bounty on colonial produce, and thus the extra price fell on the consumer to the whole amount of tux,e (i r• ) and diverted industry from its natu ra l sources . : Ile was persuaded that the really sound policy was that there should be no monopoly allowed either as regoded the mother country or the Colonies. That was what lie was perruaded was the right policy upon which the Governmeet should act ; but the contrary was the principle adopted by the Right Hon. Gen tleman opposite. The Right lime Baronet said the principle adopted by her Majesty's Government was to give the same advantages in essence though not in degree, to the Colonies which her Majesty's subjects enjoyed in this country. If it was pos,illle to establsh a completely free trade between this country and the Col-Ines—such a trade as existed between it and Ireland—it would be different. If the Colonies were to share our burdens it would be dill, rent; but the Right Hon. Baronet WAS aware that that was not possible. He knew well that the Colonies could not be included in the same revenue system as the people of this country had, and therefore when a great measure like his was introduced— a measure which was to affect the conntry at large—the very first thing he proposed in it was to tax unnecessarily ,the people of this Country.—(Hear, hear, and (leers from rho Opposition benches.) 'I he Right Hoc. Baronet fu st laid a heavy burden upon the people ef this country, and next he greatly and materially injured the colonies themselves by diverting their industry from its natural channels. hat was the effect of the policy of the Right Hon. Baro net, but what he (Lord Howick) would recommend was to deal fairly and impartially with the people of both c iontries.— (Loud cheers from the Opposition and counter cheers.) He was for extending advantages to the people of the Colonies, anti also to the people of this country.—( Renewed cheers. ) That was the principleof the policy to which he (Lord Howick ) was at all times, and should ever be, favourable.—(lncreased cheers.) He was, at the same time, aware that opposite prin ciples were now Nit) long in existence to expect that his views could be carried out, No doubt habits had grown up, and in terests were created by the present policy—interests which it would not be thought prudent or desirable to disturb. He did not mean that the principle of policy for which he contended should be at once carried to its fullest extent; he was not anxious for violence, or for the disturbance of the re lations and interests which at present existed ; but what lse considered to be the correct policy was that when the House had to deal with those inter. ste—when they were to make changes in the existing state of effeirs, those changes should all be made under the diiectien of a mind policy.—( Hear, hear.) When they had to deal with differen tial-duties, they should diminish them, and not increase them.— (Cheers.) Was that, he woulel ask the House, the -principle which was to be found embodied in the plan proposed by the Right lion, Baronet? No. On the contrary, the very oppo site was the principin which the Right Hon. Ilaroeet scented to have adopted.—(" Beer, hoer," and cheer:.) The Right lion. Gentleman advetled to the duties upon eau-de-cologne, and other matters of comparatively little consequenee, het there was one article of which he (Lord Howick) could not but take m gi et r—he meant tobacco. It appeared that now tobacco might be ire - opted from America and the West Indies at a duty of 2s. 9d. a pound, whereas it pad 3s. a pound when imported from all other countries. In the returns yiiiptt were laid on the table of the House, he found the item of duty on to bacco votive(' in British possessions was—" None."— whereas i t a ppeared that the whole amount of duty received for tobac-_e, this produce of foreign ementties, was 3,498,000/. What would be the mettle of the Right Rijnpropo sition? Practically, the West Indite; could have no advantage whatever from the Right Hon. Baronet's measure, for it gave THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MARCH 19, 1842 to the East Indies a preference of 3d. a pound. Te'liw, he (Lord Howick) believed. that that amounted to the full value of the article itself.—( Hear, hear.) Suppose that the East Indies could raise tobacco at something less than double the co t for which it could be produced in America, what would be the result of the Right Hon. Baronet's measure'? The effect would be, that the whole supply of tobacco would, in a short time, lie derived from India, and not from. America. 'What would be the further effect? Beyond all doubt, it would be 'a retaliatory effect in America ; yet there would be no per cep!ible difference or advantage to the consumer.---( Hear.) No advantage of any stet or description to the consumer. bin, at the same time there would be a direct, loss of eight per cent. upon the revenue of 3,500,0001. In the course of time the American supply of tobacco would gradually fall off and the Fast Indian supply would increase—if that took place the British people would 10. e 8 per cent. without any benefit whatever to the British consumer or any real benefit, as he (Lord Howick) was prepared to prove, to the country. If the measure was once adopted and an attemet was afterwards made to retra e the laity steps then taken or recall the error the House would be met with the cry of vested interests (as they were •Iways in the habit of being met in that House when ever a question of that nature was mooted), and it was well known that those interests would be too strong for them when they came to remedy the evil and then their only course would be to saddle the people with a new tax in disguise, wider the name of a protec tion—( Cheers) —and while that was dune to India at the same time, with the most " wonderful consistency "—( Laughter)— they preVented the people of this country from cultivating tohaceo, lest it should be interfering with " vested interests;" upon that principle, he ( Lore Howiil) supposed it was that his lamented friend Lord Sydenham had brought in a Bill only a few years ago to prohibit the growth of tobacco in Ireland ; he ( Lord Howick) was never so astonished as when he heard the !light lion. Baronet say that the late Government had re- ferred the question of equelismg the duty upon East Indian and West Indian to a Committee, and that they had equalised the duty on rum and sugar. With regard to rum and sugar at that moment the supplies were entirely derived from the West Indies. There could not be any loss to the revenue; On the • contrary, there would be a chance of extending the supply. Then with regard to cheese and butter, it appeared the duty upon those articles amounted to 375,000/. There was now no protection whatever in favour of the colonies—in the same way with regard to tallow. The The duty on colonial tallow was now Is. a cwt., while the duty on foreign tallow was 3s. 2d. a cwt. The duty on foreign tallow amounted to 186,00 e/. ; but when the colonies had already an advantage, why should the duty be reduced, leaving the duty on foreign tallow at 3s. 2d. ? On the whole, he (Lord Howick) felt bound to express his opinion, that the policy of the measure proposed by her Majesty's Government was not satisfac ore, or based upon sound principles. He believed they could raise a very large portion of money which they re quired, by mi which could not be so injurious -to the country, or so direet a pressure upon the people. Parliament was bound to inc ease the revenue of the country by diffe rential duties, which at the same time would operate as a relief to the consumer. They were bound to do that upon every principle of expediency, but the tax proposed was one of a peculiar and different character ; the situation which he (Lord Howick) held not long ago under the late Govern ment caused several letters to be written to him upon the subject of the proposed measure; amongst them he had re ceived one letter from a gentleman who had served as lieu tenant' in the naval service for many years ; at the age of 23 he was otiliged , to retire in consequence of a severe wound he had received, the wound was so severe that he was in capacitated from following any other trade or profession ; he was lia ing, himself and his family upon his half-pay, that officer was now receiving an income of 1531. a year, which came exactly within the scope of the Right Hon. Baronet's measure.— ( Hear, hear.) He ( Lord Howick) knew that the Right Hon. Baronet would say that it was very easy to find out. individual cases of hardships—(" Hear, hear" from Sir R. Peel)—un doubtedly it was very easy to find such cases of hardship.— (Cheers and counter-cheers)—but every one should admit that the Hight Hon. Baronet's measure affected thousands of indi viduah and families in the country, who were circumstanced • similarly to the officer to whom he (Lord Howick) had alluded --( Hear, )rear.) While it affected these people they had no. possible refuge, and through the sum which they were obliged to pay under it, was in itself small, it was to them a sum of very great importance—(hear)-and in many instances it might be unjust and excessive. He might cite several instances cf hardship which might arise under the proposed measure; they were so numerous, one could scarcely remember them ; but there was one thing quite sure, that in any event the mea sure pressed more severely upon the humblest classes than it did upon those posse ss i ng l arge p ro p er ti es. F or i nstance, an Irish landed proprietor with 70,0001. or 800,000/. a year would not pay the tax which a wounded soldier, whose only means of subsistence was 15W. a year, should be obliged to pay.—( Hear. ) But therewas another consideration which he confessed weighed very powerfully with him, in inducing him to say that he would net consent to such a tax as this. It was this—that he knew well from past experience, that these protective interests, as they were called, were so powerful, and always had so great interest in that House, that he was persuaded they never would make that reform in our commercial policy, which he believed it was of the greatest importarce for the welfare of this country to establish. If they said they would grant no new taxes unless the interest of the community were considered, be believed if they did not succeed now they very speedily would.—( Hear. ) For though the Hight llon. Gentleman had a great majority who would support him and the income-tax, yet would he find that by and by—as had been the case in 1816—when the repeal of the income-tax came to be considered, they would leave him, and would be found walking in the lobbies. He would say that it was a consideration which ought very greatly to weigh with the House, before adopting this tariff, which wou'el be accompanied with great loss of re venue, and while it would be difficult to repeal, would be the danger which might arise from the difficuliy of maintaining the tax. There were some other points on which, if he did not feel that he had already taken up the time of the House too long, he should have been anxious to have entered on would once more repeat, that in voting with his Right lion. Friend against the i ncome t ax proposed by the Right Hon. Gentleman, he was voting, not against the adoption of any measures, however severe, however onerous, which might be really necessary for maintaining the honour and sa ety, and stivency of the country. Show him the necessity, and he re peated he was ready to vote for the income tax ; but lie could not reconcile it to his sense of duty to his constituents, and to the distressed people of this country to impose this burden on them, unless at the same time they adopted all those measures which were in their power for the mitigation of the burdens they were now suffusing.—( Hear, hear.) He should be perfectly pre pared when the time came to vose for such taxes es set re really necessary to maintain the revenue of the country.—(Cheers. ) Lord J. RUSSELL said he wished to say only a few words. He considered very much with reference to the Right Hon. Gentleman's speech, the arguments which might be adduced in favour of the course he professed, and the result he had come to was very similar to that of his Noble Friend who •had just sat down. He thought it was their duty, in the first place, to do away with those burdens which were most onerous to the Commons of the e. untry ; and he thought that it was a great omission in the plan of the Right Hon. Baronet that in sugar he eas now raising up a new mo no p o l y ; an d w h ereas t h e West Indies in 1841 produced more than sufficient for the consumption of this country, they were now unable to furnish enough ; the remaining produce therefore came from the East Indies, and we were every year increasing the quantity anti the amount of capital which was ve3ted in that country. He did not consider that what was proposed with respect to the reduction of duties was good—reducing them in many instances very suddenly from a very high prohibitory duty dowu to 20, 10, a 5 per eent.;•totally inconsistent with the plan proposed with respect to corn—a 50s price and a4O per cent. duty.—( Hear, hear.) He therefore thought, that with regard to cninmereial matters in sugar and corn, repre sented as they were by great interests, defended by rich mer chants and great planters, they did not dare to apply those duties which they had themselves acknowledged to be the true and just principles of commerce.—( Hear, hear,.) Last year that Hon. Gentlemen said that they (the Opposition) brought forward. their mesures on account of their own necessities. That taunt might do very Well then, but, in the present year, they (the Ministry) had a great majority—they is-ere looking with a patriotic view to the benefi , s of their country ; yet, in respect to one of the main a ticks of consumption they had not attempted to carry those principles into rifest. The tariff raised up new colonial interests, new advantages and new re. sieictions in favour -of interests which had yet to be made. It would much injure our inter course with foreign countries, and would destroy th e commerce of the country. Be it recol lected unless they had very strong re-sons to collect a re venue, or telt; bound towards a great body of men who were existing by„some peculiar class of industry, that any legislation on thug subject would be mere mischief. Their bu siness was riot to legislate alone—to impose new burdens, and in niece wantonness to a number of prohibitory duties —it was the most mischievous ceurse they could pur sue —(Hear, hear, hear.) Such libeing the case with regard to the general commercial policy, he had next to consider what might still remain to be done on the subject of finance. The Right lion. Gentle man said there was an enormous deficiency. lie thought his Night Him. Friend had shown that if the plans of last year had been adopted, that deficiency would not have been so great. —(I feer, hear.) Their abhorrence of slavery and the slave trade might have been so greet that they could not have adopted his Right lion. Friend's plan with regsrd to sugar, but he thought that so far as finance was concerned, 1,800 000/. would have been secured, and the deficiency now, instead of being 2,500 oeol.,would not have been more than 600,000/ or 700,000 a., but it was so enormous, because they had neglected to adopt the means which would have tended to depress it.--( Hear. ). As mittens at present stood, he would not be bound to say that he would refuse measures of taxation which would make it clear that by the next year the revenue would be made equal to the expenditure.—( Hear, hear.) lie would not now no into any defedce of the measures of last year, but in 1840 his lien. .Friend proposed measures of taxation to make the income equal. to the expenditure. In 1841, likewise, measure were proposed which, as they considered, would have the tendency to make the revenue equal the expenditure ; he was, there fore, on prineiple, ready to admit that now, in 1842, they ought to make some exertion to that effect ; and not having begun with this measure last year, and the affairs in India and China still requiring expense, agreatcr taxation might now be required than last year, but he could not conceive, even making. this admission, that the deficieney'was so great as to make it neces sary, to resort to the income tax.—( Ile?, hear.) He thought it was admitted, as far as principle went, that it was a tax to be resorted to only in times of very great emergency—admitting that fresh laws might be imposed in the emergency of war, still the emergency must be very great indeed which would require such an exertion as this.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") And with regard to the objections to the income tax in point of authority. He had first the authority of the Right. l ion. Baronet, the First Lord of the Treasury, and then of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, against adopting this tax in pr - ferenee to others. When, in 1810, his Hon. Friend (Lord J. Russell) proposed an addition of five per cent. to the CusteMs and Excise, and ten per cent. to the assessed taxes, tile Right Hon. Gentleman said they thought it the best course that could be pursued ; and with the deficiency of less than 2,500,0001., to resort to a new tax on general articles of consumption, or an income tax, was not advisable.—( Hear, hear.) • On another occasion, when the Hon. Member for Birmingham brought forward a measure proposing a tax on income, the Right lion. Gentleman gave s no opinion on th e expe di ency o f such a tax ; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer said it was not advisable to lay a tax on capital in a diffused state, but that it should be had out of its sources.— . ( Hear, hear.) Such at any rate was his opinion in 1840. That was his objection to are income tax. Ile ( Lord J. Russell) had seen it reported universt} elrlaYgtu:nej elsewhere, that it was better to lay taxes on capital which was distributed. He did not mean that the Right Honourable Geetlemen were justified in coining to an opinion, now that pthreafterwaitt,lhoonuottsitonerveseorryt gtroeaitt._ne(ccaesiatry; an income tax was necessary, but he only stated them as and difficult}' wy fa ian c sg t, was his (Lord John Russell's) objection to the measure of an income tax. He thought the deficiency of ') 500 0001 might be easily supplied by reducing the restrictive ' system, and the addition of such- axes as might make -up the who l e sum required, even if they had recourse to the increase of vans' aseSsed taxes which had been taken off to the ,0(0,0001. by Lc rd Ripon, hi 1823, for four asilltleoteulnettkhl o e r ci;:iages and her es.—( Cries of " Hear, hear.") evil of a tax of this kind was not confined to this ; it was site which was universally felt, and its beim -, felt, is a better argument against et than the most 0 refined which could he made use of—he meant its : t :vould oblige the honest tradesman of small inquisitorial eltaracter.—(Hears hear.) effects woui P • were great to reveal the amount of his income, which would be I made public to the community; and again, it would induce a man who wished- to conceal the be equally noxious, if not, more so, inasmuch as it state of his affairs, to attempt, by evasion or false returns to avoid this tax, and induce a great part of the com munity to depart from that truth and sincerity which ought to characterise proceedings o n a ll occas i ons. — ( H ear, he ar .) trig oh j strangest objection of all against this tax was, th a t it was con sideredtheirwould by everybody as a last resource. 11,s Rig been reducedht Hon. Friend had told them that 26,000,0 00 / • of taxes had since the peace. The id ea i n foreign countries was, that they were reduced to resort to that tax which they must impose— that. tax by which they sustained themselve s w h en t h ere w as a inuirny at the Nore, and th e F rench army victorious anise: over the whole of Europe—when Napoleon raisol his gigantieefforts, end they were °lilted to,strain every effort to resist him. He was disposed to consider that having ..:itniahs.niedd:re the r ni e tt a leh s i, n t i isnasdn, question ty were carrying their resort to a strong measure of taxation would raise us in the For ch estimation of foreign countries. He was still of opinion that they should make the revenue equal to the expense,. but by making it so by this measure, they were making a struggle, as it were. whenaker should ; ft s o hc h c oe t t l i t t l e i ß e i b ag S g e i p lat e i i mo tioni n h f a i r a tt e e eo x ef l i t t l ht t e t c s h e ßh e ni Gen tlemane ght made a modification of his measures, he ( Lord Jeltus sell) should consider those modifications ; but he thought it net fair to press on the Right Hon. Gentleman any particula.- modification. He thought the argument used by Mr. Pitt during the war was, that there were incomes which were ife incomes, and would cease with life; yen placed them on the same fteit.ng as tl e posses s° • - of a heavy rent-roll—in fact, the tax would be very objectionable. lie ( Lord J. Russell) thought if the tax were objectionable in the time of war, it would be doubly so in time of peace; anti that it might be opposed with stronger reasons now than then—( Hear )—more especially if he understood the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that he considered this tax the most preferable one that could be imposed. The Right Hon. Gentleman said, " Oh, but we will not agree to imposing a tax on articles of consumption, because they affect the condition of the poor, and because he thought that men of property ought to be taxed."—( Hear. ) As the Right Hon. Gentleman was so careful of the comforts of the poor, perhaps the next time the House went into Com mittee, the question might be put, " Why should not the people have food cheaper ?"—( Cheers.) If it was the motive of the Right Hon. Gentleman to guard the comforts of the poor, he ought not to forget altogether the price of corn.—(Much cheering.) For his part, he would give his vote in Com mittee against the proposition of the Right Hon. Gentleman, aril if that proposition should be carried, and come back to the House, he should propose resolutions, and take the sense of th e House upon them ; and he would take the sense of the House as to the state of the country now, and he would show that there was no necessity to resort to tire odious and most unjust tax which the Right Hon. Gentleman proposed.—(Cheers,,) The House then went into Committee, when Sir R. PEEL rose and said—Sir, I can assure the Noble Lord that the motion which he teas given this ni g ht t o t h e House of his int e nti on t o offer determined opposition to nay proposition has nots'in the slightest degree disapeointed or deterred me.—( Great cheering troathe Ministerial benches.) Notwithstanding the silence of the other night—(Cheers)— notwithstanding the calmness with which my proposition was met, anti the declaration that it would be considered coolly, and would be disposed of upon some one pi inciple, I believed that in the attempt which I was about to make to meet the dif ficulties in which the country was involved by the financial administration of the late Government—( Great cheering and counter cheering)—l Pit the most perfect confidence, that whatever proposition I should make—whether by a continuance of the system of loan, or by the imposition of a tax upon the capital and property of the country, or by new bun dens on the working classes by taxes on the articles of consumption—l never anticipated that I should have an easy task.—(ministerial cheering.) But I felt this -I . felt confident that my chief opponents would ba those who had involved the country in these difficulties.—(Hear, and vehement Tory cheering.) But—(looking to Lord J. Russell)—you shall not divert the attention of the country from the real point at issue..—( Great cheering.) This is not a ,question of eau-de-cologne.— (Cheers and laughter.) This is not a question of colonial asses.—( Renewed laughter and cheers.) Sir, I never saw the Right Hon. Gentleman so much excited as he was on the ques tion of colonial asses.—( Laughter. ) He contemplated with the calmness of a philosopher the annual deficiency of two or three millions; but the thought of colonial asses being brought into competition with foreign asses, with a protecting duty of Is. 6d. per head, fired him with ind i gnation.—(Lauehter and cheers.) But that is not the question. The que lion is this. You having had the financial administratioa of this country for five }ears, in what. condition is the country now placed ?—( Tory cheers.) But you say that the time is come when your tamper ing with the savings' banks— (Cheers)—and your five per cent. increase on customs, will no longer avail— (Loud cheers)—and that the time is come when some vigor ous measure must bs resorted to, to restore the finances of the coup ry.—(Cheers)—that you would support a severe and vigorous measure to equalise the deficiency.— ( Hear.) But there is a deficit upon what you will have to pay this year. There is a deficit of three millions since I spoke last on this subject.—( Hear.) It has been necessary to send additional reinforcements abroad, in consequence of your policy— ( Renewed and vehement Tory Cheers)—and it will be my duty, in order to take the means necessary for vindicating the honour of the British army, to propose additional estimates to those which I have a t lready laid before the House.—(Hear, hear.) The actual deficiency at present is 2,570,00 e/. Now the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. Baring) was delighted with en error which, after pushing through my tariff, he was fortu nate enough to ciscover. 'That was, that I had made the de ficiency 2,570,01. V., when it was really no more than 2,41)0,0001., and he taunted me therefore with my arith metical inaccuracy. The difference was on account of the 100,000/. which I thought necessary to provide for any demand that might arise —(3linisterial cries of " Hear, hear.") But, Sir, I must deprive myself of the consolation which the Right [lon. Physician offers to- me—(Laughter)— because, as to this deficiency of 2,569,000/., it must be pro vided for by vote.—( Hear, hear.) But I think that a provi dent Minister will provide, not merely for that which may be necessary within the year, but what may be the expenses at tending the measures in whici he is engaged. I thought that the expedition to China would be, fdr the year 1843, a defi ciency of 1,300,0001. ( Hear, hear.) But I propose merely to include in tie estimate 500,C00/., because I thought it might be necessary for all actual payments in the course of the year ; but that leaves 800,0001. of actual expense unpiovided for. Still I thought it would be better, in the first place, to provide for the demands which are instant and to snake pre paration for the deficiencies we may expect. Now there is a clear net deficie ncy of three millions, which we have to pro vide for in some way or other; and the question is, how is that to be done? All here concur that it ought to be pro vided for by adding to the revenue. All appear to abandon the policy of increasing in time of peace the debt of tire country. I e ished to avoid any imposts which would embarrass our com merce, or to add to the burdens of the working classes. I pro pose, therefore, by a tax upon the income of the country, to be borne by these, the greater number of whom, comparatively speaking, are in easy circumstances, and this will . produce the sum of 3,700,000/. The question then is, if my facts are ad mitted, if it is admitted that the policy of reducing the protect ing duties is admitted, and that this sum must be provided for in some way or other, the question between me and the late Government—the question which the House has to decide is— whetter I am to be aliowed to relieve the country from its financial difficulties, or the Government is to be restored to those who are answerable for these difiieulties.—( Great Tory cheering.) The Noble Lord says that if I had proposed any , other measure he would have given me his cordial support. But the Noble Lord said lie would oppose the tax upon spirits iLI attempted that, and the Right Hon. Gentleman (Mr. B. ) said that he considered an increased duty on spirits was injudi cious. (111 c Right Honourable Gentleman here made some ob servations across the table, in answer to Mr. which was not heart!. ) Sir, I did anticipate that if I resorted to a tax on salt or leather, I should be told how ob noxious those imposts were; and that if I should propose any other, I should have received the Noble Lord's most cordial support. But, Sir, the Noble Lord says, that as I have pm posed an income tax, he will bring forward resolutions against me, and those resolutions will involve the Corn-laws and the sugar duties; and it will be for the !Lowe to say whether you will adopt an income tax or a fixed duty on corn. —( Hear, hear.) Hon. Gentlemen whosay that I will ruin the culti vation of oats in Ireland by arty reduction of the duty on foreign grain will, of course, oppose the Noblei Lord. I had thought it was the prevailing opinions on the other side, that there was no more just impost than that on foreign tim ber. I thought it had been said, tint the result of that im post was, not only that it shut. us out from foreign mark -ts, but prevented us from making an exchange of our manufac tures. I thought it was urged that we were c ,, mpelled, bs the operation of those duties, to give a preference to Canada timber. The proposal I made was to attach a nominal duty on Canada timber. The loss to the revepue, I know, will be considerable ; but I reconcile myse lf to it from the im pression that, when you deal in great articles, it is, upon the whose, good p o li cy to make such a reduction as shall insure to the consumer the benefit of that reduction. Sir, I read a publication, edited by a gen tleman connected, and holding [nigh office with the party oppo site, who was always looks 0 upon as a great authority with respect to commercial matters, mid I think myself the publi cations of Sir Henry Parnell are entitled to considerable weight on many points—but I am sure 1 heard him appealed to from the other side as almost conclnsive authority on matters 0 revenue—and I find him, selected as he was for high office, stating an opinion with respect to the duty on timber, that it may be too great a sacrifice of the revenue to remit all duties on timber, and proposing, instead of a duty of 11. 10s., a much lower duty. Ills proposal was a duty of 1/. ss. on foreign tim ber, and of 103. 011 colonial timber, and the duty which I propose to take, is a duty of 253. on foreign timber, and a duty of 30s. on deals, and to adroit colonial timber at a nominal duty.— ( Cheers from the Opposition.) Perhaps Gentlemen opposite wish to have the duty on colonial timber retained, but I leave the House to judge whict is the best plan acd the wisest policy —to lower the duty and encourage the introduction of the best timber, or to lay on a duty of 50s. on foreign timber, and a -duty of 20s. on Canadian timber.—( Hear, hear.) Sir H. Par nell is right. I cannot help thinking if your object is to relieve the pressure on the springs of the industry of all classes—the ship-builders, the owners of :end, the owners of manufactures, the builders of cottages, and houses of every descriPti. n—if your object be to make reductiotis in any article of consumption, I doubt verb much whether the reduction on the duty of any other article would give such general relief to the active industry of the country as an increasing facility to time importation of foreign timber—(Cheers)—if you can do it with justice to the interests of the colonists. Sir, with respect to coffee, l a , really sur prised at the opposition made to the reduction of the duty 1 After the evidence on that article.—( Hear, hear. ) r taken before the Import Duties Committee as to the israelual i ncrease of the consumption of coffee—after the evidence : gaen by the keepers of coffee-houses in London as to the immense importance which the labouring- classes attached to its ' - I did not expect to hear from the opposite side any cneapness, objections arising from the sacrifice of therevecue._(Cheers.) Sir, I did consent to run the further risk of a large d e n o i enes in the. evenue, by lowering the duties on coffee, nu ki ng tin .; total deficiency to be supplied equal to 4,300,000/. Sir, Ido not deny the force of the objections to a tax on the income of' the people.—( Hear, hear.) I expected to hear that it was a novel proposal in a time of peace, but is any man w h o can be deceived by suc h fallacious and injudicious observa tions?—( Cheers.) Sir, it is the public, necessi t .. evhiCh justi fies recourse to that tax—(Cheers) —whether it occurs in time of peace or war. And because you do not hear the sound of the cannon—(Cheers)—ringing in your ears, you draw the hasty conclusion that you are living in profound peace.— (Cheers.) Elevate your vision till it embraces your Indian frontiers—look to the war you are carrying on to the West of the Intlue.—(Cheers.) 1 say nothing of the justice of it— but looking to the war we have to sustain, can you flatter your selvee that you are li v in g i n a time of peace?_( Hear, hear. ) Looking to the Syrian ex sedition, and concurrently with it to the China expedition, I ask you doyou want proof of the. financial necessities of the crisis—and can you be ignorant that you are not living in a time of tranquillity ? — ( ( 'ileers. ) Sir, the Noble Lord says—" D o not,inspose, this tax, be cause you con vince foreign estates of your position." Sir, never mind what the impression of foreign countries is. —(Loud cheers.) Do that which you believe to be just arid consistent wills sound policy, and if you have a deficiency to supply in time of peace, and if 'you think it more just that the affluent classes should contribute, than that ouebould impose taxation on articles of consumption, inane recourse to that policy. _(L oud caeer ing.) I think if you allow yourselves to be influenced by paragraphs in newspapet s, you are not acting a worthy part, if you attach importance eo them.— ((heers.) If you do that wheels right, an.' which you be . ,- '" r lieve to he sound policy, depend on it foreign countries will be more likely to admire you- far the sacrifices you submit to, and the exertions you make corresponding to the necessity of the occasion, than if for the purpose of removing erro neous notions on their part you adopt measures which you do not believe to he just and consonant with your interests.— ( Cheers.) The question is whether you are to make up the deficiency by an income tax or by laying taxes on articles of consumption. 'here is no a:ternative.—(" Oh, oh," from the Opposition.) to you mean to say that, by any other means you can supply a deficiency of 4,000,00 C/. ? (Loud Cheers.) Can you show any- middle course between the imposition of a .tax . on property sod the imposition of taxes on general consumption.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.' ) You may say you would have recourse to a house-tax—(Hear) —to the assessed taxes ; but I can only say that Mr. Pitt, in 1797, adopted that course, and in the next year he resotted to a property tax, and lie proposed a plan by which, taking the assessed taxes of a preceding period as the teat of property, he tried ih . get l lo per cent. on an income tax. He was obliged to abandon that, RAC/ believe the House would agree it was more inconsistent than a prsellereLtax. An i ncome tax is objected to as being inquisitori :1. tot deny the forte of the übjec tion—( Hear)s— but Ibelicve ill 'tax of three per cent. ou the hit:owes of the people fur the peapose of raisins ! supplies which are absolutely necessary for 'the' country, is infinitely less onerous and inore just than any other tax you could im,:ose.—(Cheers.) I hive a strong conviction that if this proposition receives the sanction of the House the actual sum which each person will contribute will be ex ceedingly small.— ( clear.) I have a strong conviction that if the whole of this plan receives the sanction of the House, there will be a diminution in the cost of living, which will repay to t he contributor a large portion of the tax.--( Cries of " Hear.") Take the case of a man of 5,000/. a-year. He will contribute to the income tax 15: 1. per annum. But I say my firm belief is, that if these proposals be sanctioned by the Ilt use, the saving in the cest of living may be set off against the 150/. which he will contribute, and I believe his burden would there fore be lees than it would be under any other tax which we could impose.—(Cheers.) The Noble Lord takes the case of a man of 1531. a-year. Why the line must be drawn some where, and of course wherever it falls it will necessarily pm css heavily.—( Hear, hear. ) It is impossible to point out any tax that will not be liable to a similar objection.—( Hear, hear. But even in the case of a person of 1501. or 2001. a-year, have still a confident hope that the deduction in the cost of living will afford that man a great compensation for the actual amount of the tax he will pay.—(Cheers.) Suppose the Noble Lord takes the window tax instead. He must give exemptions on account of a certain number of windows. I might say a house of seven windows is liable to the tax, while the next hotise having six windows is exempt from any payment what ever.—(Cheers.) Wherever the line is drawn first it must be on a principle somewhat arbitrary I must admit, and difficult to be maintained by strict reasoning, so that it is impossible to prevent the occurrence of some cases of hardship. It is not fair to condemn a tax by pointing out cases of individual hard ship that will occur under it. You are bound tether to con sider-it in its general results, and then fairly to ask yourselves wh..ther, by any other tax equally just, it is possible to raise the sum required to meet the exigencies of the country.— (Cheers.) Sir, I said I would avail myself of the earliest opportunity to give seine explanations with regard to the machinery I shall propose for the collection of this tax ; and I assure the Right Hon. Gentleman that if I declined answer= ing that question which he put to me the other day, it was from a strong impression that I could not, in an answer to a question, give full and satisfactory information to the House on that subject, but that it would be infinite) , better to reserve ie for the period when I should have an opportunity of gob g into, the matter more fully than I could when there was no question before the House, or at least none but that of the Bight Honourable Gentleman.—(Cries of Hear, hear.) In referring to the period when the income tax was last laid on, I believe I shall not speak of a time obscure to the House ; for though the interval is considerable, and few perhaps have had personal experience of it, many of those gentlemen I now a !dress are conversant with financial subjects, and are perfectly aware of the principle on which that tax was collected. But, in order to make myself per fectly intelligible to the whole House, I shall, for the sake of those Members net conversant with financial detaiL-I must refer to some points already well known to those wl.o have made finance their study-1 shall propose as a rule for the collection of the tax, the machinery, speaking generally, that was applied by the Act brought in by Lord Lans downe, then Lord H. Petty, in 1806, in the Administration of Lord Grenville and Lord Grey ; and a reference to that Act will give to any Gentleman who may wish to ascertain it a precise knowledge of the mode in which I propose to collect the tax. The property tax was collected and assessed and will be collected and assessed under those general regulations which apply to the assessment and collection of the assessed taxes and she land tax. There are its every county in Eng land certain land tax Commissioners, called Commissioners of land-tax. These Commissioners of land tax will be em ployed anti required to appoint, speaking generally, from their I own body, but they are not strictly limited to their own body, certain Commissioners, who will be called Csminissioners fu r general purposes. These Commissioners for general purposes will have the selection of others, who will be called Additional Commissioners. I am now, in fact, stating the general operation of the Act of leo6. The number of the Additional Commissioners is not limited ; but, ge nerally speaking, they will be the same as those charged with the assessment on property. I will not here go into the details to be observed respecting the assessment on Bank Steck and East India Stock. There was, in the Act, a special mode for the assessment of that Stock, and I will adhere to it. I shall propose, so far as the G overnment i s concerned, that the collection, and general superintendence of the income tax, shall be under the control of the officers of stamps and taxes ; and by those officers, so far as is aval ble, who are employed in duties connected with the land tax. Tim Local Commissioners will have the appointment of assessors who will deliver at certain times blank forms of r,turns, and the inhabitants of their respective districts with minute instructions as to how those returns shall be filled up. Each person will be required to state in the return the annual value of his property, in case his property arises from land or the rent of houses, or in short if it comes under the specifica tion of the schedule A. With resi ect to the profits arising from trade, I will retain the provisions of the Act of 1806. The profits arising from trade for the year shall be c , l:•ulated according to the average of the three preceding years, but of course it will be necessary to provide for cases in which the trade has not been carried on for so long a time. But here I need not enter into t-hesedetr.ils as they may be seen in the Act. But the general principle is that the profits arising from trade shall be calculated by the average of the three preceding years. 'Well respect to incomes arising from professions, the calcula tion of profits will be according to the 'average of the year be fore. I really believe the chief difficulty attending the plan of the Government will occur in schedule B, respecting trades anti professions. As for dividends in the funds, a particular prevision is not required, this being a sort of property, the ae- Inowledgment of which few deprecate, and of which the amount is tolerably notorious; and since the time of Mr. Fitt and the new Assessment Act, the value of land can be easily ascertained. I am therefore willing to concede to the Right Honourable Gentleman that the force of ob jections on account of its inquisitorial nature will apply to the incomes arising from trades and professions. Then I propose that the returns shall be sent to the two additional Commissioners, and shall be accessible to the surveyors acting under the Government. The returns shall be sent seal e d to le Commissioners, and shall be inspected by them, find they shall have power to send for the surveyor acting under the Government to make a surcharge on that assessment. Then, as the law stands now, and as it did in 1806, there is an ap peal from that surcharge to a Special Board, chosen by the general body of Commissioners, and called Commissioners for General Purposes. This Board shall have extensive powers, and can demand from the other authorities precise informa• two as to the nature of profits. This provision I propose to retain, because the policy of the law has been with respect to assessed taxes, 'and with respect to a property tax, not to make the collection depend on the will of the Government, but that it is more consistent with the constitutional usage th3t parties locally interested should be employed in the task of as sessing and collecting, because they must have the confidence of their neighbours in the performance of their duties. I pro pose to leave these provisions of the land untouched. But., though in theory it may be more consistent with constitutional usages to employ persons possessing the weight of local autho • rity in collecting and assessing, yet a greater objection is raised against those very parties sitting on appeal on the affairs of their neighbours. It is urged as peculiarly objectionable that parties should be called out exposing to their neighbours and those who might be their friends, or individuals opposed to them from pet tonal or political animosity, the actual state of their private affairs. Therefore I propose to give those parties an option with respect to appeals. I propose to permit the tax offieent to appoint a certain number of persons to be called Special Com missioners, and to have the power of hearing appeals as well as the Commissioners for General Purposes under the Act of 1806, that those parties shall have the full option of going before the Commissioners for General Purposes, if they please ; but, if they prefer it, they may appeal to the Special Commis sioners, who shall be responsible to the Government, tinder the control of the tax-officers, and sworn to perfect secrecy. The parties shall then have the option of appealing to either of the Boards of Commissioners, but, of course, this proceed .ing must be final. It will not be necessary, I apprehend, to extend the operation of this provision beyond those parties who will come under schedule B. But having stated these de tails, of course I shall reserve to myself the power of making alterations if I think proper, and I trust the House will not think worse of the plan it some alterations be found necessary in minute matters--( No. ) Considering' the vast . number of persons, and the intricate combination of interests invoiced in the working of the scheme.—(Cheers.) In matters of principle there will be very little alteration, but in matters of detail I must reserve to myself the unfettered power of avail ing myself of the benefit of any information I may yet receive —(Cheers)—for my desire is to make the Bill as satisfactory to all classes as I can.—(lllttels cheering.) I hope it is possible to introduce into the Act provisions not in the old to enable parties once having made a return of their incomes, whether arising from trade calculated on the profits of the three preceding years, or from professions calculated on the profits of the year before, to make some arrangement by which they may be able to compound for the assessment.—( Hear, hear, and cheers.) I think every effort ought to' be made to guard against fraud and evasion. One objection against the income tax is the peculiar severity of its operation on those who are determined to act honestly with the Government. I mean to diminish the force of that objection. I think that without introducing an enactment of peculiar j severity, the tax imposed ought to be one calculated to give every advantage to the honest man, presenting at the same time_ ,every discouragement against fraud and evasion. I still hope to be able to effect a composition that may extend over the whole period of the operation of the Act. Ido not mean to say that in all cases it ought to be obligatory, but I think where parties are satisfied that the assessment is a just one, that a composition shall be made in the same manner as in the case of the assessed taxes. The general policy of a composition ought, I think, to be admitted. In expressing my desire to snake this arrangement, I ho,,e I shall not be precluded from taking any course afterwards by what I have stated now, but I do trust that this will be accepted by many as a great improvement in the law ; I trust that without incurring any great risk of evasion or fraud, this com position may be effected. The House will perceive that there are three provisions in this law, which were cot incorporated in the former law. First, there is the option of an appeal be fore the.local Commissioners, and if the exposure of private affairs is objected to before them, it gives the option of going before the Commissioner appointed by the Government, a stranger to all parties, and sworn to secrecy, to make the appeal, and give his decision on the assess ment. Secondly, a facility was given • fgr compound ing for the payment of that composition to ex:end over a period of three years. I believe I have now answered the general questions that had been put to me by the Right Hon. Gentleman. I apprehend that the present establishment of the Board of Stamps and Taxes will be'hardly su Peient for the satisfactory discharge of the duties that the measure will im pose upon them. All I can say on this point is, that in em ploying additional officers, care will be taken to employ persons of good general character 'and integrity, and every endeavour will be made to prevent any permanent incumbrance being thrown upon the country, from 'that em ployment of additional officers which, I trust, will be merely temporary. I beleve I have now s t a t e d all that it is neceE sary for me to state. There is, however, one other provision which I propose to include in the Act. Under the former law many persons did object to having to make the pay • ment to the assessors o fthe sum due by them on account of the tax. Though there might be no inquisition by them into the private circumstances of parties, yet it was quite as painful to them for persons in the neighbourhood to know the exact sum paid on their property from which it could be inferred what their return had been, and what was the amount of their income. Now I propose to enable them, after the assessment is made, to make their payment or amount of the assessment into the Bank of England, without giving any name at all.—(Hear, heir, hear.) There was a proposition to this effect in the Bill introduced by Lord Henry I'etty, but I also propose to extend the option of payment to the brinehes of the Bank of England in different parts of the country, and I tru4 there will he" some advantage found in not confining the payment strictly to the principal establishment of the Bank of England in London. 1 do not know whether it is desirable that I should give an answer to other questions that have been put to me. One question has been put to ins respecting terminable annuities. I was asked whether or not I proposed to make any deduction of the duty levied on terminahleannuities, as compared with the duty on the dividends from stock. •I may state that Ido not propose to make any deduction en terminable annuities.— (Hear, hear.) I feel that when we once begin to make distinc tions as to the nature of property, it will be absolutely necessary to abandon the tax. If it can be shown that the Bank of England ought to be favonred, if it can be shown that distinctions ought to be made in favour of the powerful and wealthy and affluent, it will be shown that remissions ought to be made, on a similar principle, to a much greater extent. If the tax is to t•eimposed at all, it ought to be a fax - made uniformly on the income of the country. If ex ceptions are to be made to the contribution to the tax, or discrimi nations made as to the sources from whence the income is derived, it * may be applied to all. lam therefore bound to s ate, that I cannot admit the justice of remitting any portion of the duty leviable by the letter of the law upon terminable annui ties. No such exemption was made by the Bill of Mr. Pitt, in 1798, no such exemption was made in the Bill of 1800; then, though the Act had a much longer period to run, still the tax was levied on terminable annuities, there being certain Exchequer annuities to which it was applied, which were very analogous to the present terminable annuities. The principle for which I contend is that of a tax of three per cent. on the income of the country, and from that tax I make no remission on account of particular circumstances. I now leave this question in the hands of this House, and I am quite sure that it will be for the public advantage that the determination of the House should be made known, at the earliest period con sistent with due deliberation upon it. Of course, the whole financial policy of the year, and other equally important questions, together with the determination as to whose hands the Government of the country should be placed in —(Hear, hear, and cheers) —must be dependent upon that deeision. If the House thinks it desirable to adopt the principle of the Noble Lord, and thinks it right that a tax should be levied on corn by a fixed duty—if the House does anticipate that by reducing the duty on foreign sugar, or any other of the necessaries which the Noble Lord recommended—if it believes that by a remission of that duty it can meet the diffi. culties of the country, then it will adopt the policy of the Noble Lord, and reject my proposition. But, after mature considers. tion, lam not prepared, without stipulation, seeing our pros. 'petits and peculiar position in which we stand with reference to foreign countries. I am not prepared to advise the remission of the duties on foreign sugar ; and not being able to do so, I 'am unwilling to advise a remission of the duty on sugar, the produce of our own colonies.—( Hear, hear.) The more I I,ok on this subject, the more I consider tho sum we require, the more confident I feel that the best measure to which the !louse can trust for a supply, is to trust to a tax on the income of the wealthy, rather than attennaing to impose the duties on articles either of customs or excise, which have been referred to, and in which, in many cases, an abatement has been made. I be lieve that an attempt to impose these taxes again, especially if they are to be of a temporary nature, will much more disturb the applica tion of capital to the operations of active industry, than calling on each man to contribute 3/. out of every 1 eel, of his income. I have a strong conviction that the great mass of the labouring classes in this country will consider the voluntary determination of the wealthier portion of society to accept for itself; for the purpose of relieving the burdens upon industry —I have a strong conviction that on the part of the public of this country, it will be generally held as a strong proof of the determination of the upper classes to bear their fair share of the public burdens.—(Cheers.) Although I admit that the tax does in some respects press with ad. ditional severity on account of the uncertain nature of profits upon that portion of property derived from trade and manufactures, yet, when it is considered that one main object of the imposition of this plan, is to reduce the duties on the raw material of menu. factures, as the best chance of a revival of commerce, I do enter tain a confident expectation that this proposal will be especially of advantage to those who are connected with trade and manufactures. With respect to those who have land, or derive their income from professions, I have also a confident expectation that, by reducing the cost of living, it will, in a great part, compensate to them for the peculiar burden thrown upon them. But even if I cannot offer them that advantage, yet they will, by con senting to this burden, instead of throwing it upon articles of consumption, oiminish the force of the attacks of those who are agitating Use public mind to a state of great excitement. Even if I give them that compensation only, I trust it will be considered au advantage, and I hope that in three years, we may anticipate such a relief to trade and manufactures, that we may be able to dispense with the tax. I trust that we may find such a re vival of commerce and industry that we may have the satisfaction of contemplating a satisfied and contented people, satisfied from the proof they have received that those of the highest stations in society, the comparatively affluent, are pre pared, at a crisis of gnat commercial and financial difficulty, to lay on themselves a full portion of the charge necessary to Le incurred from the circumstances of the country.—(Loud cheers, amid which the Right lion. Baronet resumed his scat.) A resolution was then put into the hands of the Speaker by the Right Honourable Baronet, which was read at length by the clerk at the table. We understood the resolution to relate to the pro. posed income tax. Mr. LABOUCHERE then rose to address the House, but the Eight Hon. Gentleman was for some time almost inaudible, front the noise that prevailed. The Bight Hon. Gentleman was mindere stood to say, that he was very sensible how difficult was the task imposed upon him of addressing the House, after time speech of the Right Hon. Baronet, upon a question of such magnitude as that under their consideration. He would, however, claim the indulgence of the House while he proceeded to make a few observations upon that speech. The Right Hon. Baronet began by saying, that although his (Mr.Labouchere's) Noble Friend (Lord J. Russell), when he first heard of the intention of her Majesty's Government to propose an income tax, had declared that lie would give that proposal his best consideration. Although his Noble Friend had made that declaration, the Right Hon. Baronet began by saying that he had heard that declaration with incrtdulity, and that lie was perfectly satisfied that the Noble Lord had at that time made up his mind to oppose the tax in question—(Hear, hear) —nay, more, the Right Hon. Baronet went on to say that whatever might be the financial propositions of the Govern ment—whether they had proposed that or any other tax—the Noble Lord and those who acted with him, would be equally prepared to oppose any course which the Government might take.—(Cheers and counter cheers.) Now he (Mr. Labouchere) would not reciprocate imputations of that kind.—(Hear, hear.) On the contrary, he was ready to do the Right Hon. Gentle man that justice which he had refused to the party opposed to Min—(!feer, hear)—and strongly as he objected tos the course which the Right lion. Baronet had taken, lie was nevertheless prepared to avow his conviction that that course heal been adopted by the Right Hon. Gentleman upon motives worthy of his situation as a Minister of the Crown, and that he had not re. sorted to the present expedient without believing that it was his ! duty to recommend it to the House and to the country. He con fessed that he thought the taunts and imputations in which the Right lion. Geutleman had indulged came with a peculiarly bad grace from him.— (Hear, hear.) It was true that the Right lion. Gentleman. had been all his life opposed to the party now arrayed , against him, but he had hal ample opportunity of witnessing the course they had pursued.—(Hear, hear.) He (Mr. Labouchere) thought the Right Hon. Gentleman might recollect occasions, and those neither few nor unimportant, uhen the Noble Lord and those who acted with him, had stepped forward, and when the Right s ilon. Gentleman was in some danger from the lukewarm support or the open desettion of his own supporters, and when gleat principles were at stake—had thrown away all party feelings, and had cordially concurred with the Right !toil. Gentleman in up. holding measures which they believed to be for the public interest.—(Loud cheers.) With these instances fresh in his recollection, he confessed he was suprised to hear the Right Hon. Baronet indulged in taunts whicg were equally indelicate and uncalled for.—(hear, hear.) Time Right Hon. Baronet in the course of Isis speech had introduced various topics extraneous to the question before the House—topics relating to Use policy of the late Government. Ile would not follow the Right Hon. Gentleman in the discussion of those points, because he felt that it was not desirable to divert the attention of the House from the great and important subject then under their consideration—a question which demanded the greatest calmness and the most serious deliberstion, and which was assuredly quite enough to oc cupy their attention on the present occasion without mixing up with it other questions. The Right Hon. Gentleman seemed cx. tremely surprised at the course which they (the Opposition Mem bers) had taken on that occasion. He supposed it was owing to that !surprise that the Right Honourable Gentleman could not imagine that any honest and public motion had guided them in the course they were pursuing. lie confessed that lie had heard the expression of such an opinion, from the Right Hon. Gentleman, with peculiar astonishment, when he re collected thelanguage which, at no distant period, the Right Him. Baronet had held with regard to a property tax, at a time when there was a deficiency of 2,500,0001. to the revenue of the country. The . Right Honourable Baronet, in the de bate upon the budget, in 1840, said, that " there being about 2,500,0001. to be raiser!; to attempt to raise that small sutra by a property tax, or a tax upon general consumption, would not be ad. visabte, and, thereffire, upon the whole, he gave a preference to the principle of the plan of the Right Hon. Gentleman." It appeared that all through the speech of the Bigot Hon. Baronet there ap peared to run a tone of exaggeration, both with regard to the financial difficulties of the country, and, what was still more im portant, with reference to facts which could not fail to produce an impression upon foreign countries—(Hear)—when they found such language fell from the lips of a Minister of the Crown. The Bight Hon. Baronet, in order to induce the House and the countt y to swallow an unpalatable impost, had indulged a language which he (Mr. Labouchere) held to be extremely dangerous when coming front such a quarter. The Right lion. Baronet, talking of the difficulties in which we were involved, spoke as if we were engaged in wars of frightful magnitude. Now he (Mr. Labouchere) did not mean to undervalue the importance of the recent effects in Affghanistan and in China, but at the same time when he heard the Prime Minister of this country which had grappled, and grappled successfully, with the combined forces of Europe under the greatest conqueror of modern times—when he heard the Prime Minister of such a country talk as lie had talked of the inroads of the barbarous class of Aff,shans, and of our struggles with China—he owned that he heard such language with surprise and regret. He could not help thinking, from the whole tone of the speech of the Right Hon. Baronet, that while he pro. fessed to believe that the proposed tax would be favourably received by the country, he had a secret conviction that a tax so inquisitorial was repulsive and abhorrent to the feelings of the English people, In order to persuade the !louse and the country to adopt that tax, he had therefore highly coloured the picture of our difficulties. He should also say that he did not think the Right lion. Gentleman had fairly stated the alternative proposed on the Opposition side of the House for our financial difficulties. The Right Holt. Gentleman had said that If the present Opposition had the luck to be now in office, they would still propose no other measures than those which they had submitted to the House last year. Notv he (Mr. Labou chere) continued to believe that those measures which could then have been proposed—and he deeply regretted that they had not been fairly tried, in order that they might have a full experience of the results of a commercial Corn-law, and a com mercial Sugar-law. lie also regretted that the failure of her Majesty's Government, on that occasion, had deprived him of the opportunity of bringing forward the improvements of which he had given notice in the tariff: But he was now perfectly prepared to own, at least for himielf, that he very much doubted whether, under the present circumstances of the country, by any mere modi fication of duties, they could fully meet the public exigencies. lie should say that, upon that or upon other subjects, the late Ministry, if they had continued in office, would have taken such steps as they might consider most conducive to the honour and .safety of the country, and most likely to equalise the revenue and the expenditure of the country. The Bight Hon. Gentleman himself seemed to admit that'if the Corn. law prepared by the late Government had been carried, their sugar_ duty and their improvements in the tariff had been carried, there would now be no necessity for an income tax. He wished that sub. ject were well understood in the House and the country. And he hoped that whatever people might think of the Corinlaw and the sugar duty, they would know that the price they paid for them was an income tax.—(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.) He owned that when he heard those ad captandum arguments used on the other side of the Ilouse,about their proposals being favourable to the poor, and pressing exclusively on the rich, be could not help thienlstingotalciact, when thepoor and men o f sma ll p ro p er ty came to under s t an d that if the principle of commer c i a l re f orm had been adopted th e y would bC. lick from the change, and they would not, as in the taut be subject to the effects which would indirectly follow from the income tax. He could not help thinking that it would not seem even to them that the Government had taken the course most fa. vourable to their interest.—( Hear, hear.) He tonfessed, that ; strongly as lie was o p posed to an income tax, and deeply as he felt the evils which would foltow from its adoption in a time of peace, if the Right Hon. Baronet had come forward with a really bold, comprehensive, and just meastne of commercial policy, he should, upon the whole, have his support. If the Right. Hon. Baronet had. stated that his income tax was merely an expedient to which he had recourse until the trade of the Country was fully developed, and that he had merely proposed an income lax, and in order to make sere fir a time of a sufficient revenue, he, ftir one, should not have condemned the course. -Ile could not but regret the determination of the Right Hon. Gentleman with regard to the sugar duties, more especially now that France and other countries were about to alter materially their enactments upon that article of consumption. Be certainly could not but regret that the Right Hon, Gentleman had notmeet,o u w g h b e t n i t t e h x , e r v e s t l was e t r e y r t F r i e e a s s u o g n a r d o u r t i mesaakti ng s s p u r c ert a l t n m a o l: teration. (Hear, hear.) Then with regard to the the timber duties, he could not help saying, that from the manner iu the Right Ilmi. Gentleman prapwsel regar to these which a t b o m l i t e 'g b i e s r la e t ) e a w s it i l f r the Right Hon. Guitleman was desirous of making his deficit as large as he (nuke—(llear, Lear.) Ile must say, that a more wanton and makes abandennsent of the sources of all revenue, he had never before heard of. It had never before entered into the imi timber mind of any trade yG as ern a source`intmtalt a l t altogether revenue, ive lieupleer now looking came a to thatiectotileCo:o- part of the plan iu which the Right Hon. (kWh man mainly de pended to make the plan palatable to the commercial and maim tecturieg interests of the country—he meant the im proved tariff: Ile (Mr. Labouchere) was as well aware as any man could be of the extreme difficulty of the subject, and he would never be found raising petty cavils at the details of a measure of that kind, if he approved of the prin ciple. If he approved of the_ principle, he thovght it was only fair to leave to the Government the arrangement of minor details, He would admit, that there were parts of that tat ill' which were • great improvements upon our present commercial system. But when he considered the principle upon which the !miff had been constructed, he considered it so faulty at d ao crioneous, that he believed if the House should unfortunately adopt it, the disadvantage attending it would greatly outweigh all its bene fits. His Noble and Right Hon. Friends near him had already aluded with great enlargement at the field of colonial protection. He (Mr. Labouchcre) was not one of those who desired that a preference should be given to the Cirlonies in the Home Market. On the contrary, he thought the Colonies were entitled to a fair and moderate, but not to an extravagant preference.— (Hear, hear.) But the principle adopted in the presept tariff was a very different o.ie. It extended to everything. There was no article in the world the trade of which was placed upon an equal footing between the colonies and foreign countries. In the great article of tobacco, for instance, the colonies had been placed upon an equal footing with other nations; and he should regret to see the day when England should inscribe upon her colonial code, " Hereafter everything shall be protected." Sir R. PEEL—There is a protection upon colonial tobacco. Mr LA BOUCHERE was surprised to hear that observation from the Right Hon. Gentleman. It was true that a differential duty on tobacco in fevour of our West Indian and North American colonies had been proposed by Mr, Huskisson, which he (Mr. L.) rejoiced to say had totally failed. No considerable quantity of tobacco had ever been imported either from the West Indies or rem the North American colonies. The Right limn Gentle.. man (the Chancellor of the Exchtquer) had taloned film (Mr. L.) with having approved of the petition of the East India Company, praying for an equalisation .f the duties on East and West India - produce. He Lad entertained and acceeded to the motion for all appointment of a committee to consider the petition which be had given no opinion on the subject. The Right Honourable Gentleman had alluded to his (Mr. Labouchere'e) having consented to the equalization of the duties on r inn, but it should he recollected that they bad already conceded an equalization of the duties on sugar, mid he considered the equalization of the rum duties as a corrollarey, and lie could not but recollect on that OCCISIOII the Right Honourable Gentleman himself was al most alone in his opposition to that measure, loudly proclaiming that it would be the ruin of the West Indian interest.—(Cheets.) He (Mr. L.) had oil that, as on various other occasions received deputations from various Gentlemen connected with the East Indies. They had asked him to take the opportunity to ceualise the duties on East and West India tobacco. His reply was, that nothing should induce him to propose such a measure. Ile had said, that if they complained of a great difference of duty as a grievance he was willing to do away wills the nominal differential duty in favour of the W. st Indies, but that nothing should induce him to adopt as a principle, the allowing a great moeo- • poly interest to grow up in the East Indies, ill tobacco. —(flear.) The deferential duty at present proposed, although only 3d. in the pound, was, considering the mice of tobacbo, rte. tually a protection of 100 per cent in favovr of East India to bacco. The soil of India was favouraLle to the growth of tobacco, and the-consequence would be eventually to transfer the whole of our tobacco trade from Amctica to the East Indite, and thereby to saeratice one eighth part of our revenue- lie belied the Right Hon. Gtntlernam would recommeed that part of the measure. Anxious as he was to avoid trespassing too long on the attention of the House, lie could not sit down without adverting to the in. come tax. All those who had experience of what an income tax was, had describtel it as a most grievous burden. The Right Hon. Gentleman had proposed certain moeificarions of it, which might, pettier's, in a very slight degree, obviate some few of the objections which had been made to it. He had !aver heard of any statesman who had not allowed that theminciple of an income was objectionable. Sir It. PEEL—Sir Henry Parnell. Mr. LABOUCHERE—It was the first time in this country that such a tax had been proposed i n ti me o f pe ace. Ad /111 Smith, the highe s t autism ity on these su bj ec ts, had o bj ected to it as most inquisitorial and vexatious in its operation, and as one to which no people would patiently rubinit. In the latterproguostic he a-as wrong. The people of this country had submitted to it when engaged in hostility with a foreign foe it had become necessary to subind to such an impost to maiutain the honour of the country ; but he believed it was quite impossible to exaggerate the vexatious nature of the tax. During the last year of its continuative there hail been 1 1,000 surcharges made in the City of Loudon alone, of those 3,000 had been set aside on appeal, alter an elaborate exami nation of the circumstauces of the parties, and 7,000 hail not appealed, probably thinking it a less evil to submit to an -unjust tmpo t, than to submit their affairs to the inspection of the I:uric:sus. But, suppose those surcharges to have been just, what must have been the pestilential in. . fluence upon the P orals of the country of such a tax, when it could induce parties to have recourse to guilty evasions, in order to evade aasessment. It was well to talk of the se, recy of the Commission. ers, but in realty that seetecy had been very greatly observed.—(Cheers.) He wisled to guard against the misrepre sentation which slowed that thera did lint exist upon his (Mr. L.'s) side c f the House the same determination to take effectual measures which the financial difficulties of the country . that existed on the other side) but he found it difficult to per. suede himself that the first tax that they ought to have recourse to should be the (list which the peeple had insisted not bring taken etf: the moment peace was restores!. Ile did not mean to say that it might not have been necessary to have recourse to an income tax in time olpeace, but they ought to try all other means behire they constrains d the people of England to submit to a heavy burdee, alien to their habits, inquisitorial in its character, more vexatious in proportion to the amount levied than any other tax which had never before been imposed in time of peace, and had always been re. screed as x last resource to fill back upon' ill time of war. But when the occasion arose, he could assure the Right Ilon. Baronet opposite that uotwithstanding the imputation thrown upon Ilia Noble Friend, he might rely that they would be found quite as ready to adopt the most efficient means to meet the difficulties the Right Hon. Baronet could possibly wish. Mr. lIA WES rose to move the adjournment of the debate, but Lord WORSLEY said he wished to ask a question of the Right Hob, Baronet relative to an inquiry he had made of the Right Hon. Baronet a few evenings ago. The question he had put to the Right 'Hon. Baronet was what revenue he expected to derive from the duty on corn. When lie put the question to, the Ilieht Hole Baronet, he said be would give it his early consideration. With re. spect to the proposed income tax, he (Lord Warsley) did not think the country had had time to judge of it.—(llear, hear,) He believed it was not understood. There was another thing lie wished to allude to, and which was, that the proposed tax was to be looked einem as a bonus upon bad farming. (hie of the grounds upon which the Right Hon. Baronet justified his tax, was the state of India, and he could not help saying that it was a fortunate circumstance that the news arrived from India the night before he made his proposal.—(Laughter, and cheers.) For firmly years the expenses had been going on in India, and India had required a great number of troops but it was the first tinie they had been asked for an income tax to defray expenses. He had only to hype that the Right Hon. Baron e t would say what he expected to derive freen the duty on corn, as the general feeling was that it would be a very large amount, It seemed to be the: unanimous desire of the country to know that betoro the Corn.law Bill passed. Sir ROBERT PEEL said his unwillingness to answer the ques. tion was from no motives that had been ascribed to him. Perhaps the Noble Lord bad heard the speech of the late Chancellor of the Exchequer on this subject, in which he said it was almost impos. sible fur any one to form an. accurate catimete of the probable amount of the iMportation of corn. Ile found that the oldest officers of customs and exc'se were frequently at a loss to estimate the probable amoont. It mainly depended on the state of the bar. vests. If there were favourable harvests, the amount increased ; if there was an unfavourable harvest, it diminished ; and thus it was impossible to form an accurate estimate. Nothing could be more difficult than to form an estimate of the pro duce of corn; it depended so much upon the harvests. How ever, he calculated upon the met ipt of 500,000/. at all events, lions the Customs entirely, without ref, recce to the state of the seasons, whether good or bail, Ile (Sir It. Peel) merely endeavoured to u co m ult i t ii , r b n u r t a a n t :i i ne i r ne tb t e iil l e ue li s ,, ti s oLl o r u ,f hi th ga N in oi sa le y, l ( 7 , d m as no w , e ,c ll rs a o s n e n... accurate idea of the amount of duty upon corn, as it was so much a matter of tweet ainly. Lord WOlleLEy, in rising to explain, said, from what the Right Hon. Baronet had stn ed be seemed to calculate the duties to be derived from the Curn.hill at a very low rate.—(laughter and Cheers). The Right Hon. Baronet had said tut a very short time ago that it %Told -have the effect of increasing the duties, and it would secure a more regular trade in corn. Sir itonERT PEEL, said the Noble Lord's question could he solved in a very simple way—,suppose the rests in the scale weee given to an eminent accountant, it would be for him to calculate the anniunt of the duty which might he paid.—Laughter.) The House then resumed. The Cm/ORMAN reported progress and asked leave to sit again. • The other Orders of the Day were then disposed of and the House Adjourned at Half. past Twelv,., HAMBURGH I%IAIL. BERLIN, MARcii 9.—Mr. Van Komptz does not retire from the public service, but continues to be one of the Privy Coun. cillors without any precise position, but with full salary as m inis! er. The family of Van Kalkreuth, ‘‘Mich 'is distinguished in Prussian history, has lately received Goan his Majesty, as an acknowledgment for scrvieeg formerly rendered to the state, a present of 100,000 dollars. BERLIN, MAncii 12.—W e are able to state, on good au. thority, that the expenses of the King's visit to England, which the newspapers have estimated at half a million, sometimes at Beo,ooo dollars, or even more, did not amount to quite 80,000 dollars. The Crown Prince of Bavaria leaves us on the 14th. The Duke of Nassau is expected this evening. The last a ccoun t s f ront St. Petersburg, confirm the news that the Empress and the Grand Duchess will come to Ger many; They will probably pass a week at the beautiful coun try-scat of Fischbach, belonging to PrineeWilliam, his Majesty' s uncle, and then pro cee d to Ems. Th e Emperor, it is said, wilt go to the Hague. 12.—The ratification of the Conven tion for the purchase of the Chatham Islands concluded in the name of the New Zealand Company and .of a German Colo- nisation Society, were to be exchanged to-day, but it was agreed to delay the exchange in order to employ the interval to settle the preliminary political* questions, and to complete the organisation of the Q)mpany, the foundation of which has been laid in Harnburgh, by subscribing for shares. A ramification of the So.iety through Germany seems to be desirable.— llamburgh Papers, March 15. Probably respecting the sovereignty of the islands. DUTCH FUNDS.--.A.MeTXXDAIII, MARCH 15. Money. Brno. Actual MIA, 2% per Cent • 0000000 ••••••••••• 5941 l Jilt; ditto 5 per cent. Amen .:;vinlic,4% per cent 22 91 Ditto, ditto, 3% per cent.... ..... 761's LI% CounntrcialCompanv, 4 p er cent ...... Ditto (MIS and 18.375 5 per tent. 2 Loan 1S 'a*.', 5 per cent... ............. I'2 12 t . c: Exchange on I,nition, Otis month...-. Two months ..... » l3 rS Ai Ilamburgh, One ni ontti Two niontto. A MAH 9 Metuniciucs five per eGMIS. • 'a ................... . ............. Faikr pc) (.014. . .. Dutch Papers, '76 it rrc . r Cents. 13auk sharts ........... 161 i us 1 ail A N 1,1 j 11 ;4 1721 ... 1 v 0. 4,NN al .107 ~