The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-14 00:00:00

meats which have honestly resolved to make common
cause with their people.
In the peaceful dissipation of the storm which
seemed impending over Switzerland and Italy we
recognise the evidence of the establishment of a new
power in the international relations of Europe, analo-
gous to that which has been established since their
respective revolutions in the domestic institutions of
England and France, and, like it, affording a guarantee
for the future diminution, if not absolute avoidance, of
war and violence.

IT is doing ministers no more than common justice
to presume that they are availing themselves of the
repose of the recess to prepare for a renewal of their
efforts to extend education as soon as parliament
shall meet. The battle cannot be fought over again
in the new parliament on the same ground on which
it was fought in the old. Government has now been expe-
rimentally made aware that the majority of the sup-
porters of the grant to schools under the conditions im-
posed by the minutes in council would have preferred
a grant for the promotion of exclusively secular educe.
tien; and that they supported the ministerial plan not
because it was the most eligible, but because it really
was the only one in the field.
These facts being ascertained, probably the best
thing that government can do will be to prepare
against next session a comprehensive plan of primary
education purely secular. In a country where there
is but one religious faith, religious education may be
imparted along with other branches; but in a country
where there are many irreconcileable and discordant
sects, and where popular institutions afford these sects
the means of averting any interference with their
respective beliefs, we suspect the religious training
of children as of adults must be relinquished to the
various churches.
1)r. NICHOL, indeed, in his able and eloquent pre-
liminary dissertation, prefixed to the translation of
WILM'3" Education of the People," expresses a de-
cided opinion that it is both possible and ne
that religion should be made a branch of ncae=
primary education. And to show the possibility, i
he enters into a subtle metaphysical disquisition
in which he distinguishes, between " religiousness,"
and the entertaining of " certain views of the logical
relations existing between metaphysical or religious
ideas." Dr. NICIIOL, if we have not misunder-
stood him, appears to think that the inculcation
of belief in the personality and providential action
of the Deity, and of an habitual sentiment of piety to-
wards Him, is all that is required, and that oar
various churches and communions will acquiesce in
nothing more being taught. We suspect that were he
to try the experiment, he would find them one and
all recoil from the proposal as a plan for teaching the
deism of natural religion as contradistinguished from
revelation ; and, for our own part, what Dr. NICEIOL
proposes appears to us to amount to no more than to
give the pupils a correct abstract idea of what is
meant by the word religion, and to accustom
them to speak and think of religion in the
abstract with reverence. But religious inetruo-
tion
and education imply more than this ; they
imply the inculcation of a positive system of belief,
and the inspiring of such a frame. of mind as makes
that belief influential in regulating the conduct. The
abstract thinker may in theory (and in theory only)
view that which is common to all systems of religion
apart for itself; but the mass of the community are,
and most probably ever will be, as incapable of con-
ceiving the abstract idea of religion apart from the
dogmas with and through which it has been inspired
into them, as they are of seeing light except by means
of the colours refracted back by the bodies with which
they are surrounded.
Until men come to be all of one mind in religion,
public religious education must continue to be in-
trusted to the diffiretit churches. But in the mean-
while the interests of society require that provision
should be made for the education of all children to I
the discharge of those duties which every honest man,
whatever his religion, or whether he have any at all,
admits that he owes to society.
There is here a wide field open without trenching
on the domain of religious belief. Reading and
writing are not education, and still less is their un-
failing rhythmic associate, arithmetic. Reading and
writing only enable those to whom they have been
taught to acquire information and exercise themselves
in thinking with more facility under the guidance et
a teacher, or, when a teacher cannot be found, to
supply his place as they best may by books or occa-
sional correspondence. Arithmetic perhaps, strictly
speaking, belongs more properly to the department cd
special than of primary education—to the training
which is to prepare men more for a professional career,
than for the universal duties of citizenship. We need but
turn up the first report of any of our prison commis-
sioners that comes to hand to be convinced that man
a boy and girl have been taught both to read and
write, yet left utterly uneducated ; and if we cast our
eyes back to the early history of our own land it will
not be difficult to discover minds (their opportunities
being taken into account) highly educated who were
destitute of these accomplishments.
Instruction in reading and writing is the best and
easiest way of commencing a child's education,
but they must be regarded as the mere subser-
vient instruments to that education. Education con-
sists in the imparting of indispensable knowledge,
and the impressing of useful habits on the child while
acquiring there* elementary accomplishments, and in
great part by their means. When the teacher, by
repeated explanations and cross-examinations, has
made sure that the child understands what he has
been reading, he has at the same time, te a certain
extent, stored its mind with precise ideas, and
familiarised it with some one or other of
the elements of reasoning. When a child is
obliged to come to school with its hands and face
perfectly clean, its hair combed, and its garments, '
however coarse and dilapidated, freed from dust or
dirt, or is obliged to make itself tidy on its arrival,
before mingling with its comrades, habits of personal
cleanliness and neatness are insensibly acquired by it.
The custom of repairingpunctaally toschool at a certain
hour, of performing certain moderate tasks daily,com-
municates to it the power of regular exertion for the ac-
complishment of a definite end, and super induces that
state of mind which makes the individual feel uncom-
fortable when not employed to some purpose. The
exaction of a certain deferential and courteous de-
meanour towards its play and school-fellows
—of abstinence from gross or impious ex-
presions—all concur, if long enough continued, to
develop habits of real, plain, rational good breeding.
Innumerable occasions occur, both in the school-room
and in the play-ground, for an intelligent teacher,
whose heart is in his vocation, to enlighten the
children under his care as to the duty they owe their
neighbours, and the rights they have to exact from
their neighbours in return. This is real education;
this is what cannot be imparted in the course of a few
weeks or months, or at desultory intervals, but which
requires regalar daily attendance upon schools for
years—two or three at the very least—at the time
when the unforced intellectual faculties are beginning
spontaneously to expand.
Children thus trained may be sent with some confi-
dence to learn trades, and to be exposed to the occa-
sional miscellaneous society, which cannot be avoided
while they are thus engaged. Their tastes and habits
will be so far formed as to make vice and idleness
disagreeable to them; their minds will be so far de-
veloped as to enable them to apprehend more readily,
the instructions of their masters, and to work with
intelligence. They will exercise, is every scene of '
life into which they may be thrown, those faculties
which have been cultivated at school ; they will carry
on for themselves the education which was there
begun until they make themselves full-grown and
valuable members of society. Even those of their
number whom a disposition of more than usual
levity, or a more than usual exposure to bad asso-
ciates, may cause to lapse from the paths of virtue,
will have thoughts and sentiments within themselves,
and associations without, that render their reform-
ton both more probable and more easy than is
case of the untrained.
In all the scheme of childish discipline and instruc-
tion we have now sketched there has been not one
lota of religion introduced. The veriest sectary
could not say that anything was therein proposed to
be taught a child he could wish it afterwards to un-
learn. Nay, more, the habit of mind proposed to be
make them better

by the really religious public, to such a purely secular
system of national education. At all events the
chance of their giving their anent to it renders it
, worth while to ran the risk of a rebuff.

Tux amount of revenue annually collected in this
country by means of direct taxation is little short of
nine millions and • half. The assessed taxes yield*
for the year 1843, 4,385,0671. ; the income tax yielded
during the same year 4,989,8001.; in all 9,374,8871.1
Independeti of the general question which may,
and moat probably will, be raised next session, us to
whether the field of direct taxation ought to be
widened or narrowed, the question as to whether the
direct taxes we actually pay might not be more
equitably apportioned, and more economically col-
lected, can scarcely fail to force itself on the attention
of parliament.
With regard to the income tax, the main objections
to it, as at present levied, are the disproportionate
weight with which it falls on limited incomes, and
the unjust exaction of a similar per centage upon the
wages of industry and on the profits of realised pro-
perty. Before, however, we attempt to suggest a
remedy for this, it may be as well to look a little
more narrowly into the state of the assessed taxes,
which are virtually in the aggregate a property tax.
The main items are, taking, as before, the returns for
the year 1843, sufficiently near the average for our
present purpose :
The window tax
Benoit, 200,231
Carriers 420,903
Hones foe riding, ks
Hone dealen 10,860
131,037
=powder
Armorial beerier' ...... .............. 67,137
GUM duties
To which add—
Unredeemed load-tae
£1,139,148
This last item is the fruit of one of the greatest
blunders ever committed by an English Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer. Tho aggravated diffi-
culties in which the occupant of this office for
the time then being was involved, about the
year 1789, made him grasp at any means of filling
his coffers. Amongst other expedients, he offered for
sale the fixed revenues of the state. The landowners I
were enabled to liberate themselves from a long_ll
I established, equitable, and far from heavy burden
cm their properties, at a very inadequate price
by the Land-tax Redemption Act. This, how-
ever, is the least part of the mischief that
has been occasioned by the measure. Had the I
land tax been complete.y redeemed, instead of par-
tially—had the measure been compulsory and of uni-
versal application—it would have left the field clear
foe the imposition of some more equitable tax. As it
is, however, it furnishes a never-failing plea against
imposing any further taxes upon land.
As to the other taxes enumerated, the mere amount
of revenue they yield shows the expediency of
getting rid of some of them. The taxes on hair-
powder (4,2121.) and horse dealers (10,8601.) are
instances of that unadvisable class of imposts which
from their slender returns do not in reality compen-
sate for the coat of reigns them, and the annoyance
and irritation they occasion. It may further be ob-
jected to the tax on hair-powder, that it is inquisito-
rial and often evaded. Tho same objection applies to
the dog tax, the tax on armorial bearings, and the
game duties. A still more grave objection may be
urged against the tax on horse dealers—its manifest
njustice. Why tax only one class of dealers, letting
others go free?
The tax on windows is perhaps one of the least
defensible in our whole catalogue of imposts. It is •
bounty on malaria and sickness. It is unequal in its
assessment, for large houses do not require the same
number of windows in proportion to their rents as
small. It is, besides, inquisitorial and vexatious in
the assessment and collection. Lastly, it restricts
the employment of manufacturers of glass, of joiners
I who make window frames, of glaziers and painters.
The theorists who admire sumptuary laws may feel
a predilection for the tax upon servants ; but if we
look only a little below the surface, it is easy to de-
tect the injurious operation of this tax. It limits the
number of servants employed, and consequently di-1
minishes the employment of those who would work i
for them—cloth manufacturers, tailors, hatters, shoe-1
makers, &c. It also, by throwing so many people
out of employment,. increases the poor rates.
The tax upon carriages operates injuriously exactly
in the same manner as the tax upon servants. It
throws coachmen and other persons employed about
horses and carriages out of employment. It prevents
many coach-builders, coach spring makers, curriers,
harness-makers, saddlers, cloth-manufacturers, and
similar tradesmen from finding work.
The tax upon horses has also had a tendency to
diminish the resources of honest labours. But it has
the further mischievous effect of restricting exercise
for health by increasing its expense. It is particu-
larly objectionable as a tax upon hired horses. Many
who cannot afford to keep horses, on account of
the expense, would frequently hire horses by the day
or hour to the great advantage of their health, west
it not for the high duty exacted every time a hens
is let.
It ie evident, even from this cursory review, that most
of the assessed taxes are prejudicial on account of their
indirect or secondary consequences ; most of them on
account of their inquisitorial and vexatious character;
one on aceonat of its partiality; and others on account
of their petty returns, which necessarily make the
per-centage of collection disproportionately high.
Now all of these taxes press or are meant to grasa
upon the classes who possess some property.
are insidious property taxes. The same amount levlmi
by means of a direct tax upon the rents and profits of
realised property would not take more net revenue
lout of the pockets of the owners ; would, probably,
require them to pay less in addition as the cost of
l letting ; and would be free from impertinent inquisi-
torial pre-examinations, as also from mischievous
secondary consequences.
Substitute for the income tax as it at present
stands the same amount of direct tax on the rents
and profits of realised property, and the ag-
.ate revenue now raised in the form of
income tax and assessed taxes (excluding the
unredeemed land tax) might be collected by a much
more simple and less expensive machinery. The
weight of what is now levied as income tax would
also be by this means more equitably apportioned.'
The scanty stipends of the merchants and lawyer's
clerk, of the man of letters, and of the whole class
to which they belong, would thus be thrown free.
While the tax would be imposed upon those who,
having realised property to be guarded, are fairly
liable to pay for the protection of the laws in pro-
portion to the value which they secure to them.
Lastly, were the redemption of the yet remain-
ing land tax made compulsory, land would be
placed for the future in respect of national bur-
dens on the same footing as other property. There
would then be no longer any shadow of plausibility
for the sophistical allegation that, because a part of
the land is encumbered with an hereditary burden,
none of the land ought to be taxed. And thus a
revenue of from ten to twelve millions annually might
be raised by the simple and just process of a direct
impost, the collection of which would, in a short time,
be felt less grievous than the existing vexatious and
inquisitorial taxes alone.
As we hinted at the outset, the expediency of adopt-
ing this suggestion involves no previous decision as to
the comparative merits of direct or indirect taxation.
The proposal merely relates to a more equitable and
less oppressive mode of collecting about the same pro-
portional amount of revenue from direct taxation
as is derived from that source at present. It is not
necessary for our present purpose to enter upon the
knotty points relating to the incidence of taxation,
involved in a comparison between the direct and
indirect systems. Neither is it necessary to inquire
into the expedieney and justice of extending to Ire-
land the blessings of the assessed taxes, or any sub-
stitute that may be adopted in lieu of them.
the

SOME horrid fascination would appear to lurk in
the act of poisoning—some diabolical voluptuous-
ness to be stimulated by its commission. The
poisoner who once escapes with impunity is
alniest certain to repeat the criminal act. The
modern BRINVILLIERS, whose case is recorded by
FEUERBACII, carried poisons continually about her—
fondled, cherished them, as a witch might do her
are said to have sparkled, as from
blo emotion, when the packets
her while under examination.
indulgence of the acquired propensity
•dermme the vital powers, the common
ensuring secrecy are sometimes
tTMEE, the Warrington poisoner
conversation with the chemist

10•111
impress. ed'aujpo"nh4':, eTild—Wit-vrould make them better fondled, cherished then
prepared for religions instruction; while, if the familiars; her eyes are
worst came to the worst—if any of them were a thrill of pleasurable
doomed to paw through life without having that were exhibited to het
• arkieet Sad mast cheering of the intellectual senses In the eager indulgence
• aweitemedmithln them—they would at all events be stealthily to undermine I
=Li nay,far as this world only is precautions for enaur
tstratul asmbers of •
. Is difficult to conceive anysoc'oblectyt.ions being made neglected. ANN MtTP
of her husband, in a c
s. •