The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-13 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 13.

IT is now understood that Lord JOHN RUSSELL
will open the parliament without enlisting any
Pcelites in his ranks. lle is,—it is said,—to make his
explanation on reform, and then to appeal to the
country. Let him well consider his position mean-
while. _ . .

A close parish is a fraud upon the neighbourhood ;
a close borough is a fraud upon the county in which
it lies; but a close cabinet is the greatest fraud of
all, inasmuch as it not only engrosses every perqui-
site and privilege of state, but usurps the right to
express the will, and to wield the power of the
nation. . . .

We are told upon unerring authority that it is •
blessed thing to see "brothers who dwell together
in unity ;" but nothing is mid about brothers-in-
law ; and am for cousins or more indirect connexions

there is not a word mentioned concerning them. Lord
Jon: is too well read in divinity to strain the mean-
ing of a text; but it might he perhaps as
well for his reputation for worldly wisdom if
he would try to stretch his political con-
fidence beyond the degrees of consanguinity.
His own position in this respect is indeed peculiar,
for he has only one of his immediate relations in the
cabinet—a somewhat remarkable, and to uticandid
observers, a quite unaccountable circumstance. We
read the fact, however, of Lord lisi-ro's appoint-
ment as Lord Privy Seal, and his continuance in
that capacity, in another light. The thing has an
esoteric meaning, and ought, perhaps, to be judged
of in that ismse. Lord Jolts -has too much shrewd-
ness and too much of what BENTII ill loved to call
enlightened selfishness," to stow his ship with
lumber of his nem. A good deal belonging to other
people he might and actually did take on board;
but that was obviously a sacrifice made to
humour them—part of the bargain made with
the lieutenants, or a perquisite exacted by
the mate. Such things constantly occur. But
who ever heard of an experienced captain putting to
sea in rough weather with a helpless father-in-law
for coxswain ? Natural affection forbids the
thought ; and the Pante. NI iNisrea, whatever be his
other faults, has never been accused of being deficient
in humanity.
After much reflection, wo have come to the con-
clusion that the circumstance is to be accounted for

in a way. not generally thought of, that its con-
tinuance is attributable to similar considerations, and
that the sequel will convince the world that from
first to last it is only to be ascribed to a lofty dis-
interestedness. When Lord JOHN found in the ori-
ginal formation of his cabinet in I1;16, that one
after another two-thirds of the great offices of
state had been appropriated by the fortunate
family, he resolved to fill up what were kit
forthlyith with persons whom he knew that he could
do what he liked with, and who he knew would
readily make room for competent successors as soon
as he desired it. He knew full well that nothing
but "adverse possession," as the lawyers term it,
would save the Privy Seal or the Admiralty, or even
the Foreign Department itself, from the *lnsatiable
Connexion; and he hastened, accordingly, to pn-
occupy those posts with individuals outside the pri-
vileged degrees. Mark how the event has justified
his foresight in two instances already out of the
three. No sooner did Lord At pay the debt
of nature, than the Admiralty was "enclosed," in
addition to the official feofs already held by the
Family from the crown ; and the brother-in-law of
Sir G. GREY was brought into the cabinet. And, still
more recently, have we not seen the place so long occu-
pied by the veteran PALMER4TON tilled up instantly by
the cousin of Lord CARLIsLE ? We are not now con-
sidering the personal merits of either Sir Facsicts
B tam: Or Earl GRANVILLE ' • or their fitness
respectively for the posts with the duties of which they
have thus been entrusted. We are wholly occupied
at present with the claims and qualifications of the
rest of her NI Lawn's subjects, and observing
on the anxiety shown by the PREMIER, in 1816, to
save for their benefit a few of the crumbs which fall
from the Fortunate.' table. And following out in
logical sequence the view we have just stated, we
have not the slightest doubt that were Lord Nltsfro
forced to resign to-morrow, a great effort would be
made to secure the Privy Seal for an off shoot of
either the llowsittis or the finess. And this we
surmise is the only conceivable reason why the
septuagenarian earl is retained as permanent locum
teivertv. It is simply to prevent scandal; which,
—such is the perversity of a cavilling world,—it
unhappily fails to do.
But now that the negotiations with GRAD t and
CARDWELL are broken off, and that it is more than
ever necessary to seek strength from the commonalty
of the liberal side, a good opportunity, is afforded for
testing the truth of our charitable theory of patri-
cian motives. We have always believed that the in-
articulate PRESIDENT of the Bosun of CONTROL had
been placed where he is just for the same reasons as
the LORD PRIVY SEAL. And considering that the
said functionary bas now received for his inappre-
ciable services since 1846 upwards of 20,0001. of the
people's money, and has been further rewarded by
the Soviiimix with the Barony of Broughton de
Gifford, we humbly submit, on behalf of the excluded
commonalty of three kingdoms aforesaid, that the
gentleman in Cannon-row has been already amply
paid. We frankly admit, however, that if what he
has done during the last five years is good value for
• peerage and 20,0001., it is quite beyond our vulgar
knowledge of political arithmetic to calculate what
his value would be for the rest of the decode. On
the NOM of economy, however, we should bo in-
clined to say that a less expensive description
of public servant might answer as well, and would
better suit our financial condition, with a Kaffir war
on hand and other struggles imminent.
Again we say, it is a rare opportunity for
Lord low, to carry out what wo are willing to
persuade ourselves was his primary intention, too
often abandoned or too long postponed, of forming
and leading an administration which should repre-
sent fairly the talents and attainments of the great
liberal party in the legislature and in the nation. lie
has already three minor offices at his disposal, and
without going further, we have named two cabinet
places which everybody would approve of his de-
claring vacant. If he can summarily dispense with
the abilities of Lord PALNIER,TON he can hardly keep
his countenance
•rand.,pretend that he cannot do with-
out Lords Miso and BROUGUTON. Whom he ought
to name in their stead it is not for us to say. All
we demand is that we shall have no more lords and
no more cousins or brothers-in-law. After five years
of wanton and offensive exclusion from all participa-
tion in the executive government of their country,
it is time that the middle claws should be re-Ql-
- to their proper privileges.
But if Lord Joni( Itessei.i. will persist in the
fatal system which has well-nigh brought his go-
vernment to utter wreck, and which may thereby
give • transient hope of power to the avowed friends
of social and political re-action, then upon his head
and upon those of his foolhardy emaciates in •
short-sighted monopoly of official power, must rest
the consequences. they have kindled a feeling of
resentment at this scheme of exclusion which will
yet make itself felt. The narrow selfishness of
bureaucracy in France led to far different results
than the fall of a minister; and though we are in
England happily incapable of the excesses into
which our more excitable neighbours were drawn,
we are firmly persuaded that a further adherence oa
the part of the whigs to maintain their unconstitu-
tional oligarchy, will tend to the formation of a
spirit of hostility to which it would be difficult to
prescribe bcflinde.

As the session of parliament now draws near, it
becomes interesting and important to find out what
the plans of her ICieary's opposition may be.
Hare they any? Or, are they going to retire on
Mr. Insaaet.i's amusing powers of criticism and his
enjoyable capacity of sarcasm ? Will they be aggres-
sive sad suggestive; boldly attacking a weak govern-
ment; ready themselves to form a strong one? Or,
will they merely follow up the trick of ministers;

pick off their measures singly ; and weaken still
more what is already helpless enough, without
being themselves prepared to assist the QUEEN
and the country out of a difficulty in which
they would be delighted to place both? Are they
going to set up as parliamentary reformers?
Or will they resist any extension of the
suffrage, and oppose any redistribution of the repre-
sentation which dues not give to agriculture greater
weight than it has in the House of,Commons? These
are questions un which public curiosity is be-
coming alive. What are Lord DERBY and Mr.
Dna:Acta going to do? The country wants to know.
And do those two distinguished personages still pos-
sess the confidence of the country gentlemen of Eng-
land ? Perhaps their organs will say.
Their representative amongst the morning journals
of the metropolis occasionally assumes a comical,
devil-me-care, jaunty, Irish air of liberality, that ill
accords either with its habitual gravity or with the
antecedents of its party. It has no objections
to a large measure of parliamentary reform.
Nut it. On the contrary, making a wry
effort at happiness, much as CUMBERLAND did
when forced out of a smile at SHERIDAN'S
comedy, it would rather like a reform hill. Only—
and then comes a score or two of objections to quiet
any apprehensions of the tory leaders and camp fol-
lowers, if it has gone further than they wish. So
that we really learn nothing on that subject worth
knowing from the Morning Herald, probably because
it has nothing to tell. (1f this, however, we may be
tolerably sure, that its friends will try in some shape
or other to perpetuate the preponderating influence
of landlordism in counties. lk it therefore our duty
' to watch that point of the coming measure closely;
for the aristocrats in the cabinet have, of
course, a strung leaning to the aristocrats out of
the cabinet; awl at the last Bedfordshire election
the head of the ducal house of RussEt.L—(more liberal
though he be than Lord Jotts)—preferred seeing a
tory squire returned as knight for that shire, rather
than soil his hands by helping in a free-trade
farmer. _ _ _

Of protection, in the plain, frank,undisguiscashape
of laws torabse rents at the expense, and by unflinching
suffering and privation on the rest of the community,
it is probable little will be heard in the coining ses-
sion. Even the Duke of RICHMOND now admits that
until the country rises and demands to have bread
made dear by a statute of the realm, the present
ruinous plenty and frightful cheapness will have to
be endured. And on that topic the country is so ab-
surdly apathetic at present, that the tory journals
rarely or ever now venture to reproduce their stereo-
typed demonstrations that cheapness has utterly and
irretrievably ruined England.
llisitamt's fine
realised.
spun theories about cheap
money have now been ised. Capital is to be had
in all the abundance he sighed for two years ago
without a re-issuc of one-pound notes; private wealth
now competes with exchequer bills for drainage ad-
vances; the interest on mortgages may now be
reduced; gold is a drug; and no little of the imports
from California must be laid out in agricultural
improvement. Events have therefore silenced Mr.
DisitAELt on this point; and reason and refutation
in past sessions will probably have done as much for
him in the present session on the graver theme of
shifting the local taxes on land from the bucks
of the squires to the shoulders of the people. We
shall see.

What, then, are they going to do? Perhaps the
report of a meeting held last Thursday so far off us
in Newcastle-on-Tyne, on the income-tax, is sugges-
tis eof their tactics. At all events in its origin it
jumped with what the London journals of the party
have lately been amusing their readers; and though
its result was,— as will be seen from the report in yes-
terday's Daily Noes,—more rational than the propo-
sition it first aimed at, it is by the first moves of the
straw that the real wishes of the party are to bo esti-
mated. Let us just see, then, which sort of a tory
movement was attempted to be launched on the Tyne.
Sonic ten days ago a requisition appeared in the
local papers to the Mayor of Newcastle to call a
meeting on the subject of the income tax. This the
worthy Mayor (an excellent and tried liberal)
at once did. First and foremost amongst the requi-
sitionists was Mr. HonGsos lltsliE, who formerly
represented the town in parliament, and who, in
retiring last election, attempted to saddle his brother
on the representation. Now, Mr. litsiDE is a crafty,
subtle, self-seeking tory, who is not likely to make a
move of this sort without consultation with the
chiefsof his party. It is important, therefore, to
understand what it was Mr. HODGSON lIINDE put
his name to ; for it may teach us how the wind is
setting in.
Now the meeting he and his tory allies requested
the Mayor to call was for the purpose of petition-
ing parliament against the renewal of the property
and income tax is any shape erlialerer. 'This, at all
events, was plain speaking; it went direct to people's
pockets. But the Newcastle liberals were too wary
and sagacious to be caught in Mr. HEIDE'S trap ;
the total repeal of the property tax they saw very
clearly would have, and was meant, to be replaced
by an impost on human food ; and aimed at nothing
less than a fixed duty on corn. Accordingly, they
resolved to oppose the proposition; to meet it by an-
other for the revision of the income-tax, by which
property might yet be made to pay at a fair rate to-
wards the burthens of the state. And at the meet-
ing they carried an amendment limiting the repeal
to the tax on incomes derived from trades and pro-

Mr. lIINDE'u argument in favour of total repeal
was characteristically crafty. A partial repeal would
only enlist a few interests; whereas a total repeal
' would unite all : let us go, then, for the aboli-
tion of the tax in tote. But, in this appeal
to popular credulity, Mr. HINDE forgot two im-
portant points ; first, that so far as proptza and
capital are concerned, the tax is a tax,
it is levied on those who can pay it and w o are al
ways boasting of the deep stake they have in tho
country, and who insist on having great establish-
ments to protect their property; secondly, though •
revision of the tax might be met by increased eco-
nomy, a total repeal would leave • void that could
not be so met. " 'bey would have," said Mr. HINDS,
" to submit to some other taxes to meet the defi-
ciency." Yes, there it is.
To meet • deficiency of five millions and • half,
the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER must tax some
article or articles of general consumption. Now,
what is there he can tax ? Tea he can't fall back on ;
for already it is burthencd with an enormous import
duty ; nor tobacco, for it Tay. from 30 to 160 per cent
duty; nor sugar, nor coffee, nor wine, nor spirits, nor
malt, nor soap; loran these the CHANCELLORof the Es-
t:IIE44I:ER has now under oppressive contributions.
What, then, is there but corn,—but bread? And to that
it comes. A total repeal of the property and income
tax in the present state of our finances means the
re-imposition of a bread tax. Wisely, therefore, did
the keen and sensible men of Newcastle reject this
new trick of the protectionists, and limit themselves
to what is practicable—the retention of the tax on
property and the revision of the tax on income—
without repaving the way to another corn-law. The
good example they have set will not be lost on other
towns, if Mr. HINDeII meeting there be the com-
mencement of a new tory crusade.
But there are other persons besides the tories on
whom the result of this meeting ought not to be lost;
and one of them is Mr. CIIANCELLoR of the Ex-
CHEQUER. And what ought it to teach him? Why,
that not half a dozen sensible men can be assembled
together in any corner of the kingdom who (whilst
assenting to the principle of direct taxation and to
the application of that principle to property) do Nit
denounce its extension on the present scale to incomes
derived from trade and profession. Let him read
the evidence of his own revenue authorities—(which
after the last session closed we published from the
minutes of his seer( committee);—and there he will
find them explaining how easily jester principles
might be applied to the two sources of income.
Let him read the proceedings of the meeting
of actuaries of the insurances offices which
we reported only the other day ; and there
he will see principles laid down for calculating the
real value of temporary income. And now let him
read this report of the Newcastle meeting; and there
he will find proof that the industrious middle class
will no longer submit to have their daily exertions
taxed as if they were the accumulations of centuries.
Under such circumstances, Sir CHARIER WooD
will be a rasher man than even we think him, should
he propose a simple unreformed renewal of the tax next
session. If, however, he do, the proposal will end
in sending him to pick his teeth somewhere else than
on the Treasury Bench of the English House of
Commems.