The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-12 00:00:00

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TO CORRESPONDENTS.
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LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBEI 12.

A wow. useful or valuable body of information
was certainly never communicated to the public than
that which the Daily Airs has found means of
printing in its columns. We allude to the evidence
taken before the Income Tax Committee. And we
must confess, that on perusing it,we arc more than it
* loss to account for the desire on the part of minis-
ten to suppress or withhold one single day from the
tax-payers that which is so vitally important for
them to be acquainted with.
The income-tax has been voted for a short period.
The subject comes on again speedily for discussion;
and it is not on the very eve of such a discussion that
people ought to receive information and then he
ready with such opinion and expressions of opinion,
as would influence the legislature in their consi-
deration of such a question.
Nothing can be more contradictory of preconceived
ideas, and even of the dogmas of the treasury bench,
than the testimony which came forth before tho
committee. Nor could any disclosures be more cal-
culated to remove the universally entertained objec-
tions to direct taxation in general, and to the income
tax if fairly assessed, than the admissionsof the chief
officials employed in its collection.
There existed a series of prejudices, one might call
them axioms, relative to the income-tax, which pro-
cured its silent condemnation by numbers of men.
thee prominent point of belief with respect to it was,
that whilst real property could not escape a fraction
of its percentage, the happy denizens of Schedule 1)
were able to make such arbitrary returns of the in-
conics derived by them from trades and professions,
that their contributions to the revenue by means of
direct taxation were completely below other men's
mark, and altogether illusory.
The testimony of Mr. Pliwsskv and Mr. WELSIT
completely contradicts this. Far from admitting that
tradesmen, merchants, or professional men make
false returns, or returns unfair to the revenue and to
the rest of the community, these officials declare that
nothing can be more easy than to form a
due estimate of a tradesman's profits. Common fame
is seldom wrong in the apprts:iation of his income,
and, if there he doubt, there are his books, an uner-
ring standard to appeal to. In the ease of mer-
chants, the same authorities tell us that their habit
is to make returns much oftener in excess than the
contrary, and that instead of claiming an exemption
for losses they had much rather conceal and say
nothing about them. Mr. Wmsit bears the same
testimony with respect to lawyers. And the
testimony of Mit. l'itEssi.v guts strongly to the
conclusion, that instead of the owner of real pnqx-rty
paying rigidly the full amount of the income-tax,
whilst predisesional men and tradesmen can shirk it,
the very contrary is the truth: the full amount of its
liabifity being inure often gut rid of by real pro-

PertY.
That the reverse of this was indisputably the
awe was the gnat, and almost tole, reason
fur resisting the proposal of alt jar ventage
upon earners than upon proprietors, and upon
life interests dm upon permanent ones. So
sweeping and invidious an accusation agsinst a large
class of the community of systematically defrauding
the reviune was nut indeed openly made, but it was
more than hinted and implied, and without its truth
being admitted, ministerial excuses for being unable
to make it ditferentv between the two kinds of pro-
perty are unintelligible and absurd.
M hen the result of this testimony of the income-
tax officials themselves is tansidered, and when the
testimony of those who described the American mode
of levying their income tax arc considered and taken
together, it is but reasonable to expect that every
public man —minister or nut a minister—will arrive
at the session of IN:;! with the settled opinion, that
the income-tax can be adjusted as a lair and
equable and most inexpensive mode of levy-
ing from each a certain portion of that
which the stater nets:milks require. Were
the burdens of the country what they ought
to be, its whole taxation should be levied in this
fashion. We feel, however, that this is impossible,
and will for a long time be impossible. Fur we feel
all the inconvenience and danger of screwing the
income-tax to a point that would make the compari-
son of the Englishman's burdens to those of the
foreigner so sensible as to act as a direct premium
upon the emigration of skill, capacity, and capital.
Much, however, may be dune to render the income-
tax more productive, and even less costly- in levying,
by doing away with exemptions. Indeid, those on
real capital might almost all be swept away, at least
fur future provision and investments. It is no doubt
tantamount to a diminution in the rate of interest.
lint when that is understood beforehand by those
who invest, and by those who are to depend upon
the interest, injustice is done away with, and none are
mulcted beyond what they bargained for and must
have expected..
It is. however, for the minister to take these new
lights intoconsideration, and fur the Cif INCEI.LOII of
the Exciiittent, we trust a new and efficient one, to
come forward, no longer with the excuse of impossi-
bility. 1 a hiding of his feebleness under the gabar-
dine of l'irr and of PEEL, but with evidence that he
has grappled with the question, and at least attempted
a solution.

Tin' Times scolds Prince SCRWARZENBERG for
not having followed up his military conquest of llun-
gary. of Italy, and finally of Prussia, by granting
free institutions to the peoplo of the Austnan em-
pire 'rhe Turns rejoiced an every triumph of the
Austrian army, did its utmost to further its loan, and
scouted every constitutionalist and every liberal
that raised hand or pen against this ascendancy of
the HAYNM'S and A minsenGttArzes.

Hu the Tim, a read history ? Did it ever in the
pages of any history yet discover that an absolute
—or, above all, a conquering sovereign, ever did
grant lice institutions to his people ? Did ever any
nation vet obtain free institutions and self-develop-
ment by any other means than by wresting
them from their sovereign, and enjoying
them as tho fruits of bold hearts and hands,
of self-sacrifice and of resistance Never.
The only chance for Germany and Germans
to have acquired, or laid the foundation of constitu-
tional liberty in these three momentous years, was
their having successfully resisted the military force
brought against them, and won their freedom as
Englishmen, as Frenchmen, as Americans. as Swiss,
as every country that is free has done, by the
sword. We know all the inconvenience, the anarchy,
nay-, the possible horrors of successful popular re-
sistance. But unfortunately it is the only avenue
to freedom, and the most orderly and loyal of popu-
lations—our own for example—has passed through
that avenue and followed that path. There is no ex-
ception for the Germans. If ever they are to be
free, or to have a constitution, they must conquer it.
They had undergone all the trouble, the anarchy, the
inconvenience and losses, necessarily attendant ou such
a struggle. All they wanted was to succeed, and to
enforce constitutional guaran tees on their ignorant and
reluctant sovereigns. But these appealed not to their
own bayonets only, but to those of Russia. The
Times and its followers were delighted thereat,
and clapped their hands in ciultation at the tread-
ing down of the people and the crushing of their
hopes. And now, forsooth, they affect to bo sur-
pnied thit it has led simply to the establishment of
the old, and worse than the old, absolutism.
How could politicians, so acute as the Times, sup-
rose that it could lead to any thing else ? In despot-
ism, as in constitutionalism, public affairs and public
men advance by the aid of parties. SCIIWAUEN-
Butu has not prevailed ssithont having been sup-
ported by the whole body of reactionists,
of men interested in the old order of things,
men belonging to the c Just, the aristocracy, and
to office. These have been his intimates, his friends,
his counseliots : anti you would have him, after con-
quering be them, turn from them and adopt the con-
stitutionalists, whose friends he has shot and hanged,
and whose party he has scattered, either in exile or
through thu thousand prisons of the empire. Does

the Times suppose that Prince SCHWARZENBERG,
having won his ascendancy by the army, can do
without the army? Does it suppose that he
could set aside the military chiefs, and esta-
blish even civilian government in any P
province P
Or does the Times suppose that the King of m:sus,
for example, after having turned his back on the
constitution of his kingdom, and the constitutionalists
of Germany, to give himself up entirely to his little
tory aristocracy, and his old officials, could by any
means get hack to the position he has abandoned, or
take other instruments than those into whose hands li
he has fallen ? No—neither monarchs nor ministers
have that full liberty of action, which can
change at any moment. There are turns
in their career, crises in their fate, which
depend on the courage, the wisdom, and disinterest-
edness of their decision. But when wanting on those
great occasions, no after-thought can recover them ;
and the most despotic minister or king is borne along
with a current as strong as is the weakest and most
insignificant of their subjects and inferiors. As to
Prince SCIINUtUENDERG now granting a constitu-
tion, he could no more do it than the SULTAN could
establish Calvinism as the religion of his dominions.
The Austrian dynasty and rAyinte is supported
he corporals and sergeants, by the guard-house and
tfic drill. Its life, its force, and what is called its

i •
administration, s there. And we defy an Austrian
minister to find confidence,obedienee, or solid support
elsewhere. What the Times asks of Prince SCIWAR-
ZENIIERG is simply an impossibility. German
governments, and German princes have proved them-
selves utterly incapable of anything but absolut-
ism, and the only possible mode of extricat-
ing the country from such a disgrace and
such a misfortune, is a renewal of popular resist-
ance. The Germans have, in fact, their revolution
to make over again. They will think some time
ere they attempt it, for it implies the necessity of
dealing with a million of bayonets. But as to
hoping for any degree of freedom, or any even
expenment or shadow of constitutional govern-
ment from any other source, he must be
utterly ignorant of Germany, of the German people,
and of German princes, who dreams of it. Indeed in
no country has an octmyed constitution ever yet suc-
ceeded. rreedom is one of those things that must
be won, and hardly won, and by the people them.
selves; the idea of its being given, and gratuitously,
from a general's tent, or a court eamarilla, is an ab-
surdity. And the Timex, though it fondles such an
idea, well knows its worthlessness.

FRANCE.

PARIS, TIIVItiDtT EVT.NINO.

M. (lupin has just pronounced, at the agricultural
meeting of the Nicvre, one of those popular speeches
in which he seasons politics with a homely senten-
tiousness aptly to the relish of his moral listeners.
Through the prudent reserve which the president of
the Assembly maintains generally, two points stand
out from this speech with sharp distinetnes.s—namely,
that no revision but a strictly legal one is to be
dreamed of, and that the essential matter in 18.32 is
to get a good Assembly}•. The passage enforcing the
latter view is so remarkable, that I give it verbally :

The essential business is to have a good Legislative As-
sembly; for, with a revolutionary Assembly treading in
the steps of the Convention the best' president would be
soon devoured, whilsty with an Assembly of firm, capable,
tried men, a president, were he even socialist, would be
easily curbed and kept within bounds.

This is highly important, as showing that the
leading men of the Assembly, who stickle tiir legality,
are prepared to conform so strictly to the law as to
admit the sway of a socialist president rather than
desert the legal ground. On the other hand, no-
thing can better expose the main vice of the present
constitution, than the assurance that, under the pre-
sent order of things, the legislature can elkctually
control and paralise the executive power.
M. I is said to have announced to some friends
that he was about to pay a visit of some few days to
Englund, and then return to preside over the C:om-
mittee of Permanence.

You are aware that the famous plot detected by M.
Culler has been daily losing that terrible and atrocious
character, wherein it was at first dressed by the cre-
dulous creatures of the prefect of police. In fact it
seems the discovery of secreted anus has been limited to
a bmee of buttoned foils and the duellingsabre of a Ger-
man student; fifty of the supposed ringleaders have
been dismissed, and Marchais, the secretary of Ledru
Rollin, pronounced guiltless of treasonable practices
against the state. People were prepared to see the
last vestiges of this notable conspiracy removed by
the liberation of the remaining prisoners, when M.
earlier's humour for
_protecting society by cramming
the cells of the Rue Maxus has burst out into fresh
activity. A regular razzia has been made upon the
habitations of the thirty Hungarians who reside in
Paris. The apartments of M. Vucovicz, Kossuth's
Minister of Justice, have been visited with the mi-
nutest scrutiny ; all his papers seized and ex-
amined, and he himself threatened with expul-
sion ; but, nothing appearing against him, he has
been left unmolested further. I understand that
Colonel Kiss do Nemeskir, who commanded at
Buda for the Diet previous to Windischgratz's
occupation of that fortress, was yesterday morning
arrested in his lodgings, and conveyed to the prefec-
ture of police. Col. Kiss has been very quietly. pursuing
the study of his profession as military engineer; his
arrest has thrown his friends and fellow-countrymen
into consternation, and the greater part of' them
tremble under the apprehension of a similar blow.
If it should turn out that the government of Louis
Napoleon is undertaking a systematic persecution of
foreign refugees, merely to gratify the vindictive
rage of the German and Russian courts, the punish-
ment of such meanness may be safely left in the
hands of those who will be shortly his judges—the
French people. In the meanwhile, Paris is really
growing as Intolerable in the respect of being worried
by the police as Naples. King Ilomba himself could
hardly devise a more monstrous proclamation than
that which is now posted up all over Paris, menacing
with expulsion all resident foreigners who do not
present themselves personally to M. earlier in the
course of the week. The nuisance of this despotic
piece of absurdity has been sufficiently, manifested
during the two first days of the week. The throng
of M. earlier's visitors in the Rue do Jerusalem has
been such that many have to wait several hours
before they can offer themselves to the desired in-
spection. This vexatious obligation, the waste of
tune, and the troublesome impertinence of a police
interrogatory, is more easily borne by Poles, Russians,
Germans, and other foreigners, inured to the brutal
excesses of power in their own country; but to an
Englishman it feels particularly odious, and he
blushes with indignation to sec the barbarous prac-
tices of Russia brought so near to the door of his
own country, to satisfy the moody suspicions of dis-
tant despots, who dwell in constant terror of shadows,
and plague all communities exempt from their de-
tested rule with raking after the victims of their
fears or vengeance.
The offices at the Prefecture not being able to
hold the immense number of foreigners summoned by
M. earlier's ukase, the garden of the prefect has been
turned into a waiting-place, and counters to mark
the rank of each in the expectant file are distributed.
The execution of this decree of police sill be extended
to the departments. The measure was discussed in
a cabinet council previous to being decreed by the
prefect; and it is said that a bill will be presented
next session for converting it into the regular law of
the realm.

The persecution of the Hungarians at Paris is
the result of a runtre-coup at Vienna for the liberation
of Kossuth. I may mention. by the way, that Kos-
suth is expected to laud at Southampton on the 6th
of October, the anniversary of the murder of Count
Latour at Vienna, of the butchery of Louis Bathy-
any at Pesth, and of the other Hungarian generals at
Arad. Kossuth will embark at the port near Broussa.
As the American steamer destined to convey this
liberated patriot to England is out of repair, he will
embark on hoard an English steamer.
I have this afternoon received news of the libera-
tion of Colonel Kiss. He was seized as president of
the Hungarian committee. This position was held
by Count 'folcky, who is absent. and has since de-
volved upon M. Vukovricz. Colonel Kiss was obliged
to pass the night in confinement at the Prefecture;
was submitted to a searching interrogatory this
morning as to his connexion with schemes for revo-
lutionising Europe, and then liberated with the inti-
mation that he would receive orders to quit Paris in
three dace. Several other Hungarians are menaced
with immediate expulsion. When the conduct of
the French government towards the Hungarian
refugees is completely known, I shall be prepared to

give you full particulars as to the disgraceful be-
haviour of the authorities on this matter. Thus the
heir of the conqueror of Austerlitz and Marengo con-
deicends to impose upon his ministers and highest
functionaries an implicit and servile obedience to the
dictates of the Austrian court, and harasses and ex-
Feb the unfortunate exiled champions of Hungarian
independence, at the bidding of the executioners of
Bathyany.
The French Mediterranean squadron, under the
command of Admiral Parseval-lleschenee, has just
returned to Toni m. _

A newspaper of Martinique has been seized for
copying an article of M. ScheeLeber, who is to be pro-
secuted for the authorship.
The Moniteur contains a decree promulgating the
convention of February 5, 1848, between his then
Majesty, Louis Philippe, and the free Hanseatic town
of Hamburg, for the reciprocal extradition of fugitive
criminals in France and Hamburg.
Another decree directs that rough cast iron (funk
brute), destined to be made up into machinery for
re-exportation, shall hereafter be admitted into
IFrance duty free, whether arriving by sea or land,
land whether in French ships, or the ships of the ex-
porting country. In the latter case a declaration of
Ithe ongin of the iron will be required. Sufficient
security must be given for the re-exportation, or re-
placement in bond of the weight of metal imported.
Notwithstanding the want of animation at the
Bourse, the funds experienced today considerable
fluctuations. The Fives closed with a fall of 45
centimes at 91.80. The Threes fell 35 centimes, and
closed at 55.85.

ITALY.

NAPLES.

The Omnibus of Naples announces that the theatre
of San Carlo, in that capital, is to be opened for se-
veral successive nights, for the benefit of the victims
of the late earthquake in the province of Basilicata.
The celebrated composer, lii Giosa, has promised to
write a new opera gratuitously for the purpose, and
several distinguished singers have offered their ser-
vices on the same philanthropic terms.
Our Naples correspondent writes, on the 4th, that
Poerio is still in bed in his dungeon at Ischia, chained
to the wall. lie adds:

" His Neapolitan Majesty very narrowly escaped
death on Saturday last. The king was driving some
members of the royal family in the vicinity of the
Caserta Railway, and was about to cross the line, not
observing a train was rapidly. advancing. A coun-
tryman rushed forward and held the horses' heads,
to the great consternation of his majesty, who, not
percetving the danger, imagined a hostile intention
on the part of the man who was in fact saving his
life. Late accounts from the scene of the terrible
' earthquake by no means diminish the accredited
extent of loss of life and property. tip to the pre-
' sent moment the government is unable to publish the
returns, as excavations continue. Every assistance
has been offered to the sufferers, and we have con-
certs and theatrical representations in aid of the
inhabitants of Melfi, so many of whom are homeless
and in poverty."