The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-24 00:00:00

SOUTH AMERICA.

Although the accounts from Valparaiso represent
that General Ballivian bad failed in his attempt on
Bolivia, this seems doubtful, as advice. from Tsona
and Anguipa to the 2nd Dec. say that be and Linares
had a large force of cavalry at Nal. It is said that
they have received orders from Roses to retire 80
leagues within the Argentine frontier, but, on the
other hand it is believed, which is much more likely,
that he is privately supported by Rosa. with
the view in mos of his success to reclaim for the
Argentine Commonwealth the provinces of Jujui and
Chichaa, which are southern provinces of Bolivia,
lying near Potosi. This adds a new complication to
the Buenos Ayrean affair, which must now be
brought to a final issue. It is the old policy of
Rows to set up factions and partizans among his
rivals, and the operations of Ballivian on the Bolivian
and Paraguayan frontier may fur a time delay his
northern rivals.
News through Chile states that a great rising of
the Indians in the Commonwealth of Araucania hes
taken place under one of the most renowned caciques,
who has kept up cor.stant negotiations with Roses.
This is likely to embroil him with Chile, which has
old grievances against him. Ilia policy is the same
around the whole Argentine frontier, but it is very
questionable whether the proceedings will be success-
Jul in averting his fate. AU seems to point to one
result, the union of Brazil, Monte Video, Entrerios,
Paraguay, Chile, and Bolivia, animated by one senti-
ment, and determined to crush Roses and his system.
Such forces, backed by the co-operation of European
auxiliaries, are likely to prove too much for his gauche
resources. This view seems to meet with the sym-
pathy of parties hire, and Buenos Ayrean stock, never
much or deservedly in favour, has largely declined
here, while Brazilian keeps its price in the markets
of London and Amsterdam.

AU accounts agree that Bolivia is on the eve of a
political crisis, and although General Belzu exhibits
great vigour in the maintenance of his power, the
country is so divided by partite as to render his con-
tinuance in administration hopeless.

ACCIDENT TO THE AMERICAN MAIL
STEAMER ATLANTIC.

(PROM OUR OWN OORRISPONDENT.)
LIVERPOOL, THURSDAY EVENING.

The friends of the passengers by the United
States mail steamer Atlantic, which sailed
hence for New York on the 28th of December,
were very much surprised this evening by the
return of some of them to Liverpool, when
they had every reason to believe that they had
long since reached their destination. It appears
that the Atlantic experienced very severe wea-
ther, and when she had been out nine days, and
had accomplished a considerable proportion of her
voyage, she unfortunately broke the shafts of both
engines during a hurricane, and the paddle boxes
being both carried away, she was totally disabled ;
for six days afterwards, however, she tried to
make a westward course, bat was finally com-
pelled by the state of the weather to bear up
and return, and arrived at Queenstown (Cork)
yesterday. It is satisfactory to be enabled to
report that the crew and passengers are all well, and
' that the vessel bad not sustained any damage but to
her machinery.

ON DIRECT AND INDIRECT TAXATION.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE EMPRESS.

Stn,—l have read your observations on taxation
in this day's Express with great attention and
with some regret. You seem to hesitate as to the
wisdom of removing indirect and of increasing direct
taxation ; and the reason you assign against direct
taxation *that all direct tales can arterially increased
without additional expense and without delay by the
vote of the House of Commons. You very properly
condemn the window duty ; and you consider that its
removal will be the removal of one great inconsis-
tency of late years in the acts of the legislature,
viz., in having declared a general Board of Health
necessary, and in giving it powers to tax to an almost
unlimited extent, in order to have the means of im-
proving the !mall of the masses of the people ; and as
it is also admitted that light and fresh air are
essential for that object, we have continued the
window tux, al:hough windows are the only means
by woich light and air can be supplied to amend the
health of the people. That anomaly will be removed.
And you object to the house tax, though less objec-
tionable, because its amount may be increased at any
time by an act of parliament.
In the first place it will be iccumbent on the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer to show to the house that
any substitute for the window tax is necessary. In
the second place, if the tax shall be absolutely neces-
sary I shall approve of it because it shows to the
people the amount of money taken from their pockets,
and every addition to that tax will be intelligible to
every man, and he will then take means to keep the
tax as low as possible.

You seem to forget that Mr. Pitt's boast was that
be could raise, and he did raise, millions of taxes
from the people without their knowing it; and the
means he used was indirect taxation, by which the
taxation of this country has been increased more than '
three-fold since Mr. Pitt's peace budget of 1792. I,
therefore, hope you will concur in the opinion 1 now',
offer," that thebest of all taxes are direct taxes raised
by the simplest means, and on the realised capital of
the country, not on profits of professions, &c. t and
that all excise taxes on manufactures, such as the tax I,
on paper and on eoao, &c., ought to be abolished.
By the latter, or indirect taxation, the people pay a
large increase beyond what goes to the public exche-
quer, and that is one of the results of bad taxation.
If the chief objection to direct taxation is the faci-
lity of increase by a vote of the parliament, I may
observe that it affords equal facility to the reduction
of the tax by a vote of parliament, without disturbing
interests which the very indirect tax has created; and
when the tax is removed or even is modified,
persons engaged in the trade aff-oted by the indirect
or excise tax, suffer great lows on a variety of things.
But by direct taxation, whether on land, hover, or
stock, no such injurious results are caused. I may
mention that the taxation of Belgium, by adding to
or &creasing the number of centimes of taxation on
property, without any change in the machinery, is an
example of the great advantage of the simplicity and
facility of direct taxation ; and I hope that mode
may he considered by parliament when the subject of
taxation comes before it.

Every tax is an evil, and one thing needful to
lessen the evils of direct taxation is to have a good
taxing body. Its oonsti.ution should consist of per-
sons enjoying the confidence of those who pay the
taxes, and elected purely and freely by the majority
of such taxpayers. Tne duty of that taxing body,
which now is the House of Commons, is to attend to
the wishes and want., and to act in accord with the
feelings, and with proper regard to the interests, of
the millions of persons who do in reality pay the
greater portion of the taxation of the country. I ask
you whether the House of Commons (half filled with
nominees, under the imperfect and limited system of
election of the members of that house), is the proper
taxing body under the description I have given
of it ?—and whether, if all the taxes were direct,
and every shilliog levied by the government was
known to the people at the time the tax was exacted,
the present system of taxation could be allowed to
continue one year? I say the present amount of taxa-
tion of this United Kingdom, as to the parties who
now pay and the manner that it is ►evied (now to the
tone of 57 millions sterling, at • time when the price
of the produce of the land is so greatly reduced, and
the profits on all kind of trade, and the wages of large
masses of the population are reduced), would not be
allowed to cmtinue for another year.
To all these, therefore, who really desire financial
reform, I advise them to direct their attention to
reform the House of Commons, the present taxing
body, and they will then be certain of obtaining the
objtcta so vital to the future welfare of the country.
Jan. 20. J. H.

MYSTERIOUS OCCURRRNCL—OR Saturday morning,
the coachmen and helper of Mr. Thomas, of Ltadford Cot-
tage, near Whiteparisb, Wilts, not getting on at the usual
hour, a fellow .errant was :equated to aroma than, but on
proceeding to the r. om occupied by the two men, immedi-
ately ever some newly .erected stables, he failed to obtain
any answer from either of the ileer.n. Alarmed at this
circumstance, ►e succeeding in effeetng an entrance to the
room tbrourh the window, and, to his horror, found both of
' 1)1.411°w-servants dead.—Bat4 Chronicle.