The Express.
London, England, 1852-06-26 00:00:00

TO CORKELSYON I )ENTS.

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LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 26.

To make a member of parliament—or a candidate
for that honour—a Liberal, it is not enough that lie
call himself one. The opposition of Liberal to Liberal
may, therefore, in some constituencies, be more
nominal than real. Still, it is impossible to look
over the lists of constituencies and candidates with-
out seeing that in not a few cases Liberals are knock-
ing their heads against each other. When a consti-
tuency, dissatisfied with a sitting member who calls
himself Liberal, invite a Liberal in whom they have
confidence to contest tho seat with him, there may
be some excuse for this ; though at a crisis like the
present such a movement ought not to be made on
trivial grounds. But when a professing Liberal comes
forward uninvited to try to unseat a Liberal actually
in possession, he ought to be told that if he really-
is what ho pretends to be it is his duty to seek out
some borough or county represented by a DERBYITE,
and try to gain it for the Reformers.
We have already had occasion to denounce the
conduct of the soi-disant Liberals in Finsbury, who
by their intrigues have driven Mr. Ws•LEY to resign,
rather than encounter the annoyance and expense of
a contest against two candidates—Alderman CHALLIS
and Mr. WYLD—the one untried and the other unsa-
tisfactory. We have also had occasion to expose the
ludicrous character of the pretensions of Mr.
VET in Lambeth. Turning from the metropolis to
the provinces, wo find the same unwarrantable
conduct pursued in various places. Of Man-
chester wo need not speak. The business-like
account of the state of the canvass there, given
by Mr. WiLsoN at a recent meeting of the supporters
of Mr. BRIGHT and Mr. MILNER GIBBON, leaven no
doubt that if Mr. Loci' and Captain DENMAN ven-
ture to go to the poll, they will find their proper
place on it. Of Coventry we cannot speak with the
same assurance, and therefore feel disposed to ven-
ture a few words of caution to the electors.

Coventry is at present represented by the old and
staunch, and advanced whig, Mr. EDWARD ELLICE,
and by Mr. GEACII, a free-trader and advocate of
the ballot and suffrage extension. In opposition to one
or other of these gentlemen, a Mr. F. G. Henn ARD,
(whether a relative of old Mother Hubbard, or the
good dame herself in propria persona, does not
clearly appear, though from the tenour of his ad-
dress ono might be disposed to believe the latter)—
solicits the votes of the electors.

Mr. HUBBARD'S address is a very model of the
decorously unmeaning. Every declaration ho makes
is neutralised by some qualification prefaced by an
"on the other hand." He deals liberally in such
neatly turned sentences as "I am firmly attached
to the British constitution in its distinctive features
of a popularly elected lower house of parliament,
legislating in concert with an hereditary House of
Peers, and with the assent of a Sovereign holding
communion with the church of England. But there
is not one opinion in his address that might not be
endorsed by a member of the present cabinet, now
that they have all become conformers to free-trade.
The only indication he gives of his opinions regard-
ing parliamentary reform is an epigrammatic sen-
tence against vote by ballot; and on the subject of
extended education, though he expresses him-
self friendly to it, ho may, for aught that appears
to the contrary, approve of the late Derbyite tamper-
ing with the Management Clauses. One very suspicious
admission he makes that he is " unengaged as yet in
party strife; meaning apparently that he will enter
the house of Commons as a gentleman in search of
a party ;—and one very sill', notion ho insinuates, that
the " experience acquired in a long and active par-
ticipation in commercial pursuits, and in the direc-
tion of the first banking establishment in the empire,
qualifies him to represent the interests and opinions
of Coventry." Mr. MASTERMAN might say as much.
Would the Liberals of Coventry deem the Tory mem-
ber for the City of London a proper representative
of their " opinions?"
Mr. Hemmen says that he has been "requested"
to offer himself a candidate, but that is easily said.
Has he received a requisition to stand publicly origi-
nated or circulated for signatures? By how many
electors has ho been asked to stand ?—and are they
Whigs, Tories, or Radicals? Or has he only him,elf
asked and obtained his own gracious consent to stand?
Any of these cases may be covered by the vague
phrase " requested."
Mr. J. G. HUBBARD'S address has all the charac-
teristic marks of one emanating from a man well to
do in the world, and not encumbered with very de-
cided political convictions of any kind, who is
anxious to get into parliament, to promote private
views of his own, or merely for the honour and glory
of the thing. A Deputy Governor of the Bank of
England is a more important personage than
the proprietor of a large, cheap, ready money
establishment. But if their motives for getting into
parliament are the same, they would be exactly on
a par as legislators. In so far as Mr. HUBBARD'S
address throws any light on his qualifications for
the House of Commons, he may sail in the same boat
with Mr. HARVEY, or at least with Mr. Alderman
CHALLIS. Should he really visit Coventry
.in per-
son, the electors will do well to cross-examine him
narrowly on the chapter of his political opinions and
connexions ; and if he should turn out really to have
some claims to the character of Liberal, to hand him
a list of the constituencies in which Derbyite candi-
dates are unopposed, and tell him to make his choice
of one of them—for he is too respectable a man to be
"sent to Coventry."

A RETURN of the amount of property assessed
under the different schedules of the property and in-
come-tax, No. 390 of the present session, was re-
cently published. It was moved for by Mr. MILES,
and is intended, we believe, to show how unjustly
' the landed interest is treated by the present system
of local taxation and commercial policy ; as well as to
prepare the public mind for that scheme of relief for
the suffering landowners which the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER has been promising ever since he
began to make a way into office by pandering to
their vicious appetites for poor men's bread. Far,
however, from finding in this document any justifica-
tion for indulging such vague projects, it supplies
evidence of the landlords being now, as ever, the meet
favoured class in the community.
We expected, after the CHANCRLLOR of the Excila-
UU ER'S statement, to find a great reduction in the
amount of rent; but schedule 11, which states the
rent of land in respect to occupation, and is therefore
an index to what the farmers pay to tho landlords,
shows the contrary. It represents the sum of rent on
which tenants pay income-tax in England and
Wales. In the year ending April 5, 1843, the sum
was 41,558,550/. ; and in the year ending April 5,
1851, 42,473,404/.,—an increase of 914,8541., or
2 2-10ths per cent. In Scotland, the sum was
5,211,305/. in 1843, and 5,550,1941. in 185 I—an
increase of 338,7391., or upwards of 6 per cent. If
we take the averages of the three years 1843--45
and 1849-1851, and add Scotland to England and
Wales, the figures ate these—
Rent of land in reopen
England, Wales, end Stollens]. of oeciiirtion.
Average .... 1843-1845 1:46,3* ,28,3
1849-1851

The increase 1849-1861 .. £1,773,647
or 3 8-10 per cent. •
Protectionist journals have taken especial care to
record the reductions of rent made by considerate
landlords, and have informed the public timo after
limo that the most noble and magnihcent Duke of 11.
and the kind hearted Lord C., and the disin-
terested and suffering 'Squire G., with the benevo-
lent Lady P., have lowered the rents of their
impoverished tenantry, 10, 12, 15, or 20 per cent.
But the tell-tale return convicts those journals of
exaggerating the virtues of their patrons, and con-
victs the patrons of having on the whole exacted and
probably received 1,7011,000 r, or nearly 4 per cent.
more at the hitter than at the former period. If
they have in 100 instances out of 300,000 reduced
rent, in all the others it has been increased. It has
been said too, and this must now bo remembered, I

I that the landlords have in many cases divided their
farms seas to bring the rent below the sum at which
the tenant becomes liable to payment of income-tax,
which would lessen the return made by the tax office,
while the landlord's rent was increased. If the farmers
have lost money, they must charge their losses as much
to rent as to the law, which, if it has lowered the
price of what they sell, has also lowered the price of
all that they consume.
Another part of the return is equally and similarly
expressive. Schedule A tells us the whole amount
of property assessed as lands, niessuages, tithes,
manors, fines, quarries, mines, iron-works, fisheries,
canals, railways, gas-works, other property, and ge-
neral profits. In 1814-15 the whole sum was
33,493,3751. for England and Wales, and 6,642,9351.
for Scotland. In 1851 it was for the former
91,1409,9691., and for the latter 10,710,0021; being an
increase in 28 years on both of 45,391,11411.—0 r about
83 per cent. This increase is mainly in property de-
rived from the general industry, to which the owners
of it have contributed a very small proportion. Of
tile whole sum assessed under Schedule A in 1831
no less than 47,833,622/. is from •• lands " alone,
the first item of all the items that compose the
schedule; and that sum equals, within 17,000,000 L,
all the property assessed under Schedule A in
1814-13.

The returns show another point to the advantage
of the landlords. Schedule C, income from public
funds, &c., gives a sum of 27,909,793/. in 1813, and
only 26,433,182!. in 1831 ; so that, in relation to the I
burden of the poor, there has been a vast increase in the
means of the landowners to support them since 1813,
and a considerable diminution in the means of the
fundholders. Within the same period, however-
-184:1 and 1831—the sum assessed as the income of
public officers has increased, taking Scotland into
the account, from 9,718,1311. to 11,09(1,8331., or very
nearly 2,000,0004 Of the public patronage the land-
owners have the lion's share, and they therefore
have received for their dependants and friends a
much larger proportion of this additional 2,000,0001.
than the rest of the population.
The case with profits or income under schedule 1)
is somewhat the reverse. If they increased between
1814-13 and 1801 more in proportion than the pro-'
perty under schedule A—ur from 37,038,989/. to'
71,330,3081., or 119 per cent., an shown under sche-
dule 1), against 63 per cent. increase under schedule
A—while the latter has increased since 1843 nearly
3 8-10ths per cent., profits have fallen off from
71,330,3084 in 1843 to 63,717,010/. in 1831, or about
8 per cent. If we take, as there is a difference of
upwards of 6,000,0001. between the profits of 1843
and of 1844, the average of 1813-1843, and of 1849-
1851, we shall find in the latter period a falling off to
the amount of 1,217,4381., or 1 8-Wats per cent. So
far as the alteration of our policy is concerned—
which took place in 1843, and on which alone the
landowners rest their claim of a tight to relief—they
have not the shadow of a shade of an excuse for any
demand. their properly has been increased rery
much in value teitlioat any carrespontli»9 exertions
on their part, and is, therefore, able to bear addi-
tional burdens if any were laid on it, while the profits
and incomes of the manufacturing and mercantile
classes have decreased, rendering them less able to
bear the additional burdens which idle, greedy, and
unjust landowners lack to heap on them. At the
same time, the burdens of which the landowners
especially complain, the poor rates, as well as sundry
taxes, have been decreased. Thus, in 1843, the poor
rates amounted to 7,083,593/., and in 1851, to
6,778,9141. Asa very large proportion of tf is sum is
for establishment charges, and other expenses, be-
sides feeding the poor, by which the landlords profit,
and as the charge for merely feeding the poor has
been reduced in a still greater degree than the whole
amount of poor rates, the burden on landowners, in
fact, has been lessened, while their property has
increased.

At first sight it appears very strange that the
mercantile and the manufacturing classes should be the
advocates of a system under which they appear not
to have gained, and the landowners should be such
furious opponents of a system which has inflicted no
loss on them. The explanation, however, is palpable.
We cannot accept as en ti rely satisfactory the statement
made by the CHANCELLOR of the ExcitEutrEn and
some otherpersons, that the returns of profits for 1830
comprise the incomes of the bad years 1817 and 18118,
and therefore show a less sum in 1850-1. In addi-
tion to that circumstance it omit be remembered that
the bulk of the incomes under Schedule 1) are
derived from the sale of commodities, and as prices
fall the nominal incomes of individuals will be less.
Thus, suppose iron was at 101. a ton, and the
income derived from all the iron sold 1,000,0001.
a year, at the rate of 10 per cent. profit on
every 1001. of capital employed in the trade, if
the price of iron fell to 51. per ton, and the rate of
profit derived from it was the same, the in-
come on the whole sale would be only 500,0001. But
a great reduction of price has actually occurred in
almost every commodity, and of course the income of
all theme whose incomes are derived from the sale of
commodities is proportionably reduced. At the same
time, provided all prices have fallen equally, no one
person will have reason to complain. What the
tradesmen have to buy will have fallen as well as
what they have to sell, and the whole body will be
no worse off than when prices were higher. With
the fall of prices, however, a great deal more trade is
done; acd thus, while the trader loses nothing posi-
tively by the general fall, all traders gain by a great
increase of business.

The landlord's income is not determined by prices;
his rent is usually a fixed sum, and he gets the
same amount, though prices fall very considerably.
His income, therefore, nominally remaining the same,
while it will, in consequence of the fall of prices, pur-
chase more commodities, he is very much benefited.
If, however, any reduction takes place in the amount
of his rent, he feels it excessively. In the majority of
cases, probably in seven-tenths, the landowners of
England are in debt. When an estate is mortgaged
or encumbered with payments on account of dowers
or provisions to younger children, for the landlord to
lose 10 per cent. of his whole nominal rental, while
he has to pay all the incumbrances in full, is to lose
the greater part of his substance. A part of the
nerviest) in the value of land arises from extended
cultivation, from fresh capital embarked in it,
and there may well therefore be a considerable in-
crease in the value of the whole property assessed
under schedule A., while the bulk of the landlords,
their estates being encumbered, may have suffered
very• much from a very small reduction in the rate
of rent.

We believe, however, that their apprehensions—
needy men as they are—are far in excess of the
reality, and that while their share of the annual
produce of industry has been very much increased,
their actual sufferings or losses—considering the
grout fall in the price of almost everything they
have had to buy—have been very small. After all
that can be said on either side has been said, the
alteration of our policy was not the immediate
cause of the fall in price. It only gave permission
for the industrious classes to exert themselves in par-
ticular directions: these exertions caused the fall in
price, and it thero had been no new inventions
coining forward—no now soil anywhere to break up—
no improved methods of cultivation to come into use,
the alteration in our policy could not have lowered
prices. That was brought about by a great many
natural circumstances which the old restrictive legis-
lation—to the great injury of the community—tried
to counteract.

LONDON AND SYDNEY Goix, MixiNo COMPANV.—
Yoderday a meeting of the registered adventurers was
held at the others, 2, Winehester•buildinus, in order to re-
construct this company. The chair was occupied by Mr. F.
A. Catty. A series of resolutions were moved by Sir Chas.
Kirkpatrick, Bart., seconded by Mr. liolgate, rind carried
unanimously, by which it was agreed to reconstruct the
company under the title of " The Monarch Gold Mining
Company," to reduce the present number of shares to
25,000, and to increase their nominal amount to 10s. each.
An arrangement was also sanctioned to allot ~000 of the
shares to Messrs. Weatherly and Baleouilie, who were to
pay 1,0001. for them, and to assign to the trustees all their
interests in ►ands in Australia, and also the I,CrViCra of
Captain Langley. The rules for the new company were
then adopted, end the meeting haling given their chair-
man a vote of thanks, ailjourind. Several curious and va-
luable "nuggets," and specimens of gold quartz, which
had been brought, over a few clays ago by the Blackwell,
attracted much attention.

SMUGCLINII IN SO1.! TIIANIPTON. Some consider-
able time since • large quantity of tobacco was wired in the
Itchen river in Ilants hy the Custom-Louse officers; some
of the parties concerned in the trai.sfetion wire tututimd mid
others imprisoned. Through a of s,-me of the
guilty ones a highly respectable tradesman of Southampton
has !wen implicated in the affair and has just been appre-
hended and held to bail.