The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-29 00:00:00

IMPEPJAL PARLIAMENT,

HOUSE OP COMMONS.—MOxDAT, ArluL 28.
The SPRAICER took the chair at 4 ithek.

PRIVATE BUSINESS.
ABERDEEN PUBLIC RECORDS BILL.—HARWICH
IMPROVEMENT, QUAYS. AND PIER BILL.—
MEATHCOTE'S DIVORCE BILL RICHMOND !
AND LANCASTER TURNPIKE ROAD (WES-
TERN DISTRICT) CONTINUATION OF TERM,
ite., BILL.
Thews bills were respectively reed a third time and
riass.A.
LaIAItING-CROSS BRIDGE BILL.—ROYAL NAVAL
SCHOOL BILL.
There hills were reported and considered.
BUCKINGIIA.MS COMPENSATION BILL.
The order for the second reading of this bill waa
dis-
charged.
PUBLIC BUSINESS.
NEW MEMBERS.
Mr. M osi at xr r, the new Lord Advocate for Scotland, took
his scat for Leith; Mr. Ilavilietetn took his seat for
Boston ; and Mr. Serjcaut MVIORY took his seat for the
city of Cork.
INCOME TAX.
Colonel SIBTIIOI(I' gave notice that in committee on the
income tax he would move that tenant farmers and the oc-
cupiers of land ti eacluiltsl from the operation of the act ;
and also that the pay of military and naval 9ffiCeri be ex-
empt from taxation undeMALT TAX.r the income tax.
Mr. PACK E gave notice that, in the event of the motion
of the hon. member fur the North Riding of Yorkshire
(Mr. Cayley), fur the total repeal of the malt tax, being lost,
lie would move for the repeal of hall of it.
BARREL ORGANS AND ADVERTISING VANS.
Col. SIBTRORP wished to know from the right hon.
gentleman (Sir G. Grey), when he would lay on the table
the copy of instructions which had been given to the police
with regard to the discontinuance of those great nuisances
barrel organs and advertising vans.
Sir G. GREY said that a copy of the order would be
presented to the house immediately.
PAPAL AGGRESSION.

Lord I. RUSSELL mid that he had stated that he
would declare when the house met this day, what court
the government proposed to take with mired to POWs
amendments in the Ecclesiastical Titles Ili 1, which had
been moved by different members, but more especially with
Tisza's' to tie amisiolnia nts peopool by the honourable and
ISArnol mercies r for Mi,U.ur.t (Mr. Malpule). With regard
to the tint clause propumd by the hon. and learned gentle-
Man, it was an amendment to which, in principle, the
rvemnittit had no objection, hut they thought it was more
efficiently carried into a lfet by the word. in the preamble
of the hill. With rsgant to the other clauses proposed by
the bon. and learned member, they found, after full coma-
.h.ration vt the matter, that they could not agree to those
IMO WWI. ut%. With mgaral to the preamble of the hill, he
1•1•111.11 to riserve any übiervationi upon it till the house
had goat through the clauses, and till be knew what were
the • nuirOnents of the MU.
Mr. WALPOLE wished to know if bo was to understand
that the noble lord had no uubje lion to the brat clause
1: oral J. ILCSSELL said that he agreed to the clause in
principle, but he thought it was barter stated and carricd
tutu retest by the recital` n the 1011.
EYLON.
Mr 11. ItAILLIE said that he wished to put a quo ation
to the 'whit lord. The noble lord was aware that be had a
motion um the piper with r. spi et to Ceylon, fur the 211th of
Nay. but IN the hon. 11111•11111er for the North Riding of
Yorkshire haul a notice for that day, as the subject of the
malt tan, it was not likely that his motion respecting Cey-
lon could came Urn on that day. The lion. member gar
Montrose, however, the inportance of the subject,
and how all !indite it was that the house should come to
wow decision on it, hall militants d to postpone his motion
for a ra form of parliament, which stoat hest on the taper
for the lath auf May, pound. al other member' whu had me.
Lion, nn the paper for that night 1.011. nted to give way,with
a view of coshing him (Mr. ILlilli/ ) to bring forward tine
Ceylon queoliani. W hat h. wished to ask was, whether the
noble lord would Clierrisc his influence with those members,
in orals r fo enable him to luring hi, motion forward on the
Flith of May.
Lord J. RUSSELL raid that if the bon. member for
/dualist... Ina made an agrmintstit with the hum. gentleman,
be 'bet no objection that the motion should mamas on on the
lath of May ; lint to, could not, on the part of the govern.
moot, ask other bow gentlemen to postpone their motions,
more especially as the lion. gentleman had an opportunity
of hriogiog forward his motion on a former ocraision, and
foiled to du so. (near, hear.)
I'ItOVERTY TAX BILL.
(In the motion for the rosemial reading of this bill being put,
Mr. sroONElt said tint he wished to state thy reasons
why he could not moo rat to the second reading of this bill.
In the year 1812 the house, uu the motion of Sir It. feel,
toe mated to the imposition of an income tax fur three years
to 'apply a altsficieney and to enable the government to re,
duos indirect laves whirls were said to press heavily on the
allergies of the country ; but it was distinctly stated and
meta rstanal that this tat 1411.1 104 to continue beyond the
period staid. Sir It. Peal hinted indeed that the 111011111 e
tae might be requiira al for two or three yearn longer; but he
said that was a twitter which was to be left to the
discretion of the house. In ISIT the revenue had
nut coins round to such a state as to justify the
withdrawal of the income tax, rand its continuance for three
years was again assented to, but likewise on the um!. r-
standing that the lax ss as not to be ptrnianent. Ire 1!11`1
tar Inutile in I rs.laital and the commercial distrms in Eug-
tand—a distress Mr..' •I, in his opinion, by an emotions
policy—induced the house to content to the continuance of
the income tax for another throe year; but again it was
univerwilly declared that the tax was not to be a ptrmanent
ma. Now they were railed upon again to consent to the
imposition of this tax. But he wished to observe that at
the present moment there were none of those causes in ope-
ration which influent the house to mount to the tax on
former aascasiume. There was a surplus revenue. The
country, they were told, was in a state of prosperity, and if,
molar such cin•umstauers, thus house consented to this lax,
they would be iirtually voting it as a permanent tax. (11cor.)
Did the right loot. gentleman now mean to impose the tax
us Ireland ("Hear. h. ar," and laughter.) If it was
to continue it must fall upon the whole empire. (Hear,
bear.) Ile warned hon. members that this country would
not long submit to such a ; for, although there was
tf mat poverty and destitution in Irtland, he had no hesitation
an saying that in many districts of England the distress
threatened tobeespially great, autl in Suffolk especially there
w ens hued reds auf :won uut uf cultivation through the pressure
of the ',our rate. Many persons paid the income tax who
ought not to ray it. It was impossible that two *Ss of far-
mer., one Lannon good land, and paying high rents, the
other farming had land, and paying low rents, could long
continue to pay equally. If there were a greater profit in
the one caw than in the other, capital would be abstracted
and tranifernsal. In 11433, the late Sir Robert feed, fn
speaking of the budget of Lord .11thorp, said that it eauld
hinny emus notated that if a property tan were tato-
Wished Inland sionild be exempted ; to impose such a tax
on England and Si ualefol, anal to exempt IMland, would, in
his opinion, he highly unjust. In ISIS, Lord Stanley oh-
screed, that if the *lowa of Commons were determined, on
the Mat AptlCAr.lll.• of a surplus to reduce taxes, it would be
idle mid useless to say that the income tux ways temporary tax.
Ile wished now to say a few words on the subject of corn-
mutation. Ile thought it lied been badly arranged with
reapers to the window tax. Thcy had released a great
deal of property whir'[ should be liable, and given relief
where it was not wanted. They heal especially neglected
the formem, whom they had themselves acknowledged to
flu in great distrees. If the hill should obtain a second
mauling he hoped for the support of the noble lord at the
head of the guava rainwnt procuring the exemption of
sums paid for life assurance. The Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer haul pleated for the renewal of the income tax,
that it cashier! him, among other things, to take the duty
utf tirribtr. Now he (Mr. Spooner) had received a letter from
a timber dealer in Yorkshire, informing him that there
would lie no modifications in contracts in consequence of the
alteration in the duties, that in consequence of the de-
mand there would he no alteration in prices. What haul
the reduetiam in the brick duty produced ? Ile believed
that the price of bricks was now within a shilling of its
former prim. He Looked upon the whole of the present
system of income tax as ruinous and inapplicable to the
raising of large sums; anal themfores he begged to move as
an ainenalismot that the bill be read a second time that day
six months.
Mr. Eli ELD seconded the amendment.
Mr. MI: N.rz said he supiwrted the amendment because
he was more aide than most men tat show the unjust work-
ing of the tax. Ile lived among smell manufacturers, who
were constantly complai ll it ig of the injustice with which
they were treated. When they made a return, being
unable w show their books, they were surcharged, and this
WAS. in some caws, two or Mr.; times repeated. All taxes
were disagreeable, but none had the• enormity of this. Ile
would rather bait a bona fide property tax of double the
amount than this inquisitorial income tax. Ills objections
to the tax were —first, that it WAS inquisitorial ; mud second,
that tine re WAS no likelihood of its termination.
prim quit was to lit established that the moment there was '
a trick of surplus it was to he frittered away on bricks ur
windows (although be differed from the hon. member as to „
the price of the former, which he knew to have come down
S .64. the thousand), there would be no hope of the
altos is-
tion of the, intim.. tax. Ili, opinion was that they should
serer get rid of it.
Mr. Fit ELD wish td to make one or two observa-
tidos, lest the vote he was shout to give should be open to '
snioconceptioo. The question was whether many of the
objections to the tax could not be removed in committee.
Ile believed they could ; and therefore• should not oppose
she ',wood muting, at the *AMC time offering no opinion on
the principle. has opinion
the income tax fur the shortest possible tame, to enable the
guyernment to eonsialer whether any and what aubstlttate
could be Sound for the tax.
The CIIANCELLOIt of the EXCHEQUER said that
the mover of the am, nelment and his thief supporter were
quite at, issue in their grounds of opposition. The hon.
member for North Warwiekshire complained of the pres-
sure on the huselowntra in schedule A, while his seconder
wished to doubly the rate upon property ; and while one
asserted that bricks were nearly the same prism, the other
admitted a fall of Se. tel. the 1,0011. The member for Bir-
mingham blamed them for removing the window tax, hut
he (the Chancellor of the Exchequer) remembered thet last
row that hem. member voted for its total repeal. lie did
not think it would require many words to prove the impos-
sibility of areedim: to this hon. member's amendment. Ihe
house had acceded to the repeal of the window tax and the
alteration of the coffee and timber duties, and therefore
they must maintain the income tax. If they agreed to
the amendment of the hon. member for North Warwick-

shire, they meet not only retain the coffee end lienber
Zeiss as they stood before 'keret/go, buy they must dai
wilbewl the alteration in the window debts. tat caly
arts but they must consent tothe impositiost of additional
duties to make up the deficiency that. small be coaled.
1110 (the Chancellor of the Exchepaso) had stated befcite
*at if the income tax were not renewed there would be i
islicieney of upwards of a minim, and neat year of three
maims and a half. Therefore, after the decisions the
beam bad come to, they had no course left hnt to reject
SOP itansdnient. As to the alterations mentioned they were
immerty cumttions for committee, and at that stage he
ansild be prepared to give them all careful and temperate
enemideration.
Colonel SIBTHORP wished to know whether the right
boa, gentleman intended really to go into committee on
Friday next.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER intended to
go into committee, but there wan an amendment upon the
Speakeg.r's leaving the chair which might occupy the entire
evenrin
M. MACOREGOR considered the tax in many respects
unjust, hut as he was not prepared to vote against the bill
altogether he thought the consideration of any suggestions
for amending it had better be made in committee. If they
refused the tax the house would have to reimpose taxes
upon the food of the people, which he was not prepared to
do, and though he considered that it ought to be modified
in some respects, he could not consent to vote against the
second reading.
Mr. DISRAELI suggested that all the objections which
had been urged were matters of detail, which were rather
for the consideration of the committee than arguments
against the second reading. He for one was not prepared
to express an opinion by a vote against the second reading,
that he was altogether opposed to the principle of the hill.
As his hon. friend (Mr. :Spooner) had had an opportunity
of expres.sing fully what his views were, he would pro-
bably see the propriety. of not pressing his amendment to
a division,but of proposing such improsements as he wished
to be made in the details of the bill when they were in
committee. (Hear.)
Mr. SPOONER. accepted the suggestion, but preferred
that the amendment should be put and negatived.; which
having been done,
The hill was read a second time, and ordered to be com-
mitted on Friday next.
STAMP DUTIES ASSIMILATION BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed.
EXCHEQUER BILLS (11,;66,6001.) BILL.
This bill was read a third time and passed, as was alto
the Indemnity Bill.
NEW SOUTH WALES.
On the motion of Viscount JOCELYN, copies were ordered
of the reports of 1846, 1648, and 1640, of committees of
the Legislative Council of New South Wales, on the sub-
ject of steam communication with Europe; and also copies
of any resolutions passed with reference to these reports
by the said council.
CUSTOMS CON! SI ITT E
_ _ •

Mr. MITCHELL moved that Mr. John Lewis liirardo
he • member of the select committee on customs in lieu of
Mr. Patton, who has accepted the Chiltern Hundreds.
The CH ANCELLOIL of the EXCHEQUER hoped his
bon. friend would not persist in his motion. It was thought
desirable when the committee was appointed that there
should be upon it some member representing one of the
Irish ports, and he suggested that that arrangement should
be adhered to in tilling up the vacancy which had occurred.
Mr. MITCHELL saw no reason for withdrawing his
motion. The loon. member he had propped was every way
quiditiml by his connexion with the trade and commerce of
the country to, pit on the committee. The Secretary of the
Treasury hail promised to suggest • gentleman MULL the
vacancy but hail not done so.
Sir J. T. BULLEU hoped if the hon. gentleman ob-
jected to withdraw his motion that he would consent to
postpone it to allow the Chancellor of the Exchequer to
consider what lrish member was best fitted for the duty.
Lord J. ItlL:nsikiLL also expressed a hope thnt the mo-
tion would not be premed, and suggested the newly elected
member Inc Cork, Mr. Sevin:nut Murphy.
Mr. MITCHELL objected to Mr. Scrjeant Murphy
as nut being connected with commerce. Mr. Evan, the
late member, represented the trefillg claws, and it was
desirable that Ilia successor in the committee should do so.
ale would "withdraw the motion, and move it again, if ne-
cessury, /111 a future day.
The motion Was then withdrawn.
The Inhabited House (Tax) Bill and the Oustoms Bill
were severdlly brought in and read a first time.
THE CHI:NI:CU OF TILE EXHIBITION.
lord .1. 11l SSELL gave notice that he should move that
the house nteet on Thursday at six o'clock, in c 1119001.11011
of the opining of the grand exhibition on that day.
The other unl. rs of the day were disposed of, and the
adjourned at a quarter ISPOIWCIP.

Che Orprosfs.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
A Sienna Edition ..Tbe Exprena,. containing he same venin'e
ti4vette," v0)11.611,1 every Tuesday awl Friday night, m woe
toe po-t.
Aimee mementaintended for "The Eerier,. Laudon Evening roper,
mot ut ilitice. Botoraneograt, ►y Two o'clock ea the
lay of publication.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE
Tpiti 1,, —Monday', 12h. 49. Aftersom, Ih. Ittre.
Twalecinow—Yogamli. ma. ik. 333 a.

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 29.

Toe more we see of the workings of the Roman
catholic hierarchy, and of its head—the POPE—in
Ireland and other European countries, the more we
are compelled to entertain the disheartening fear
that the great and glorious principle of religious
tolera:ion, which has made such pro,,,,,ress in the old
world, and reached its full development in the new,
is yet destined to be called in question, and that even
in the most enlightened and free countries.
The working and the influence of the Roman
catholic system in Ireland has been in no way so I
fully brought to light, and so glaringly presented to
the world, as by a letter written by the Earl of eLt-
RENDox, in Dublin, to the Earl of SHREWSBURY,
in Rome. His mind and pen set free by
that complete confidence which one peer must
have in another's honour, the Lotto DEE'rENANT of
Inland makes a clean bosom of it to the Earl of
StinEwsurav, depicts the conciliatory and liberal
conduct of the catholic prelates who rose to eminence
by native choice, and contrasts them with the tur-
bulent, subversive, hostile, and rebellious policy of
palates recommended to the PIE by the physical
force party in Ireland, and sanctioned and appointed,
by that Port: on no better grounds than mere spite
to the English government for nets no wise concern-
ing Ireland.
It is plain enough that the deprecatory letter of the
Vtetmor was intended to appeal to the Yon: and
to enlighten him. It acknowledges on the face of it,
that his HoitsEss was far more muster of Ireland,
than any British Viceroy or parliament, and that the
Roman catholic episcopal bench in Ireland had but
to 'rive its orders either upon education or upon
land tenure, and that these orders ran paramount
'to either votes of parliament or proclamations of the
crown.
Is government long possible under such a system?
Evidently it is only possible on the condition
of yielding to every demand and every decree
of that hierarchy. We doubt that it will at once put
forward its full desires and demands. It will put
forward its MURRATS at one epoch. to seal a
compact and conclude a compromise. But it will
have a M'IIALE behind to denounce them, and a
CULLEN in futon, to treat former concessions as
mere rubbish to be trodden down to form the
solid floor of a fresh battery of new demands.
Estimating future English governments at the
average of weakness, eternally in need of con-
ciliating that powerful body which the Irish catholic'
must gradually form in parliament, we may look
forward, as to a certainty, to a series of concessions
to the Roman catholic 'hierarchy of Ireland, until
they are the de juror as well as the dr facto rulers
of the country. The only possible barrier
against such a spiritual tyranny would I*
in the Roman catholic laity; but, masters
of education, of the peasantry, and the con-
fes-ional. and cultivating the old divisions and hatred
of the Celtic against the Saxon race. the clergy must
remain predominant, and the catholic laity of Ireland
will not have the power or the courage to resist their

clergy.
We should be glad to be proved wrong. but we
seriously and sincerely fear that the Roman catholic
church, built as it was fur the p of rivalling,
beating down, and defending itself Zainst temporal
despotism, is too strong. too authoritative, too
dictatorial to be kept in harmony with the other
powers of the state, except by temporal despoti,m.
One thing is certain, that constitutional monarchies
have not yet found the means, or solved the problem,
1 of living with a catholic hierarchy in peace.
A separation of church and state, it is said. will
solve the problem. No doubt it would solve a great
many problems. As long as Roman catholicism is
hut a sect insignificant in numbers or in the zeal and
o faith which keeps it together and lodges power in
the priesthood, so long its separation from the state
might lead to no inconvenience. But an independent
Roman catholic church, counting millions of men,
minds, and aims, and led by a hierarchy
with a shrewdly directed and hereditary po-
Hey, wmitil soon be master of any government,
monarchic or republican, that maintained no de-
fences or kept no guarantees against it. What these
defences are we are not prepared to MT. But de-
cidedly, if the most ignorant and backward sove-