The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-08 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8.

Tim town ei Brighton is so intimately concocted
with this metropolis—it has become so neosseary to
our health, to our recreation, and our pleasures—we
meet to it so constantly when ill, when ensued, or
unoccupied—we hear, on its pleasant cliffs, so regu-
larly the gossip of our club., the tittle-tattle of the
paths, and the prime of the Stock Exchange, that we
cannot be uninterested in its local affairs. It is the I
most salubrious sad not the lesat ausesible of oar
enbrubs: it is at ones our promenade, our ride, oar
drive, our hotel, oar hospital, oar church; we cease,
therefore, afford to have its peace disturbed with im-
punity. We may, indeed, wish that it were a more
economical place; that the tariffs of the Bedford and
the Albion were a trifle lower ; that our weekly
bills were a ehmle more reasonable ; that we
mould rids and drive, and live, and even
bathe, at somewhat lees cost. But the
wish is, perhaps, not quite consistent with that
great law of political economy, supply and demand,
which regulates prices; and, if we wilt suddenly swell
the population from 40,000 to 60,000, our ex-
penses then must (mores the pity), proportionably
rise. At all events, for the sake of its advantages,
its comforts, its dinner-giving society, its well-
dressed parades, its flirting shingles, sad its pretty
broughams, we endure its cost. But there our en-
durance stops ; there is a limit to our toleration ; it
W 3 pay its prices, we expect Brighton to be par-
able, quiet, decorous, and well behaved; to conduct
itself u becomes our dignity and its charges; to give
itself up to enjoyment ; and not to tease us with its
squabbles and its wrangles. Against all those who
disturb our tranquillity and reran, we hurl the
Anathema manual/ea; even though he be the Vicar
of the pariah.
And, alas! for Brighton and its visitors; it is none
other than the vicar who disturbs the peace of the
place. He is a perfect bishop in miniature, a Bnom-
YIRLDin little. His income is large—larger by ore
fourth than that of the Archbishop of Pens; his
is great ; his bump of intolerance is well
CtrZpaleld., his practice of meddling is confirmed,
and his habits of begging are inveterate. Occasion-
ally the Master of the Ceremonies may be before him
with the new arrivals, but the odds are certainly in
favour of a race between the Vicar and the Butcher,
whilst the Baker calls after him in vain. He bas
subscription lists and appeals to your pockets fur
every imaginable ecclesiastical object. He'll acquire
funds for and build you a new church, and let it too,
quicker than any priest in the kingdom; and, some-
how or other, whilst io other places the bishops of
the dioceses get the patronage of the 83 new places cf
worship, u church after church arises at Brighton,
its Vicar manages not merely to keep their
ncumbenoies in his gift, but, as is believed, to aug-
ment his income whilst diminishing his pastoral du-
ties. The first step towards a better ecclesiastical
state of things et Brighton would, of coarse, be to
break up that great town into a series of parishes
quoad sacra, and give them independent incumbents ;
5M that step is the last thing our Vicar would pro-
pose ; if taken, he would cease to be episcopal in in-
fluence and patronage, and become merely primes
inter pares : he would cease to have any share in
fees for church services pertormed out of his own
church, and be obliged to fall back on his Easter
offerings and tithe of fish ; he would be confined to
his own district, and not allowed to regulate the af-
fairs eoolesiastical of 50,000 people.
Well, this Vicar of Brighton la an active, bustling,
meddlesome, and not very scrupulous ecclesiastic.
By begging, and importunities of all sorts, he gets
money to build churches; and as the churches are
built, some good is undoubtedly done. Bat he builds
them, es we have seen, on a wrong principle. Some-
times, too, on very bad sites. Moreover, when built,
he presents ti them injudiciously. Thus, ix instance,
he got money for a new church for the fishermen
whom be tithes; and there it is in West-street The
pews will let at high rents ; and though there are
live sittings in it, their occupants, for whom the sub-
scriptions were obtained, are expected to be editlid
by an intotied service ! And all because the incum-
bent is the Vicar's moo, and a high Poseyite. Nor is
this example one of the most flagrant instances of the
Vicar's want of judgment. abuse of opportunity, and
deficiency in sound well-considered views of church
government and extension. His conduct on the ques-
tion of church rates has brought sandal on the
church, and noise and disturbance on the town : hence
our complaint against him.
An ecclesiastic who runabout a crowded watering-
place, subscription books in each band and in every
pocket, who pokes his blind but begging countenance
Into every drawing-room, and whose agents are scour-
ing all its off-streets, Wight, it would be reasonahle
to suppose, have some little asefldence in the Volun-
tary System. The majority of the fourteen churches
in Brighton and all the dissenting places of worship
have been built and are maintained Asti that system.
And if there be a town in England for which it has
due more than for another, it is Brighton. Yet
dors its Vicar utterly repudiate, reject, and put to
acorn, the Voluntary System to which be and his pa-
rish owe so much. The priests who, by its agency,
can band church after church, won't listen to any re-
liance on it to maintain the fabric of the Mother
Church. Though every other place of worship in
the town is, more or less, a testimony in its favour.
He'll not tolerate a stone, or a brick in, or
• dash of whitewash on, the old pa-
riah church that does not come out of
rates and taxes and fiscal impositions. In
1847, he presided over a vestry meeting, which
rejected by a great majority a church rate ;
yet, in utter disregard of the rejection, and defi-
ance of the feelings of the parishioners, the vicar and
churchwardens inflicted (under the unsatisfactory de-
cision of the Braintree case) a minority rate on the
parish. This minority rate they have collected as far
as they could ; but, though one-third of it is still due,
the
.Vicar thought it decent to call for another church
rate in September last. Thanks to Mr. CONINOHAM,
this cell has been parried. Might by experience,
the vestry this time did not refuse a church rate; but,
as a large proportion of the former rate was uncol-
lected, they declined to pass the churchwardens' se-
counts, and thus deprived them of the opportunity of
proposing a new rate. Consequently the Vicar is left
either to enforce the payment of the arrears
of the old rate, or again to impose a
new minority We ; and in either event, it is satis-
factory to know his parishioners are resolved to pm
the legality of such • rate again to the teat mid to
(wry that question, if necessary, to the high.t td.
bu'sal of the country.
Such is the position to which the Vicar of
has brought the church rate question in that
A majority rate he cannot have, and a minority rate
his parers are resolved he shall not have,
exoipt by the decision of the Privy Council or
the House of Lords. There is consequently
nothing for him but either to surrender the rate
and fall back on the Voluntary Principle, or to indulge
in costly litigation for years. Pesos or war? We
are curious to know which the vicar will prefer. The

town has been waiting for his decision for some weeks
pest. Perhaps, Mr. Weans willAreadr..
Meanwhile there hae, of. course, beets the lead
amount of angry oortispoedease .14 tie ltaeai aggro-
papas on the subject; and into trtlia vicar be. bye
good deal of ingenuity and no littlebsd taste dragged
the ellitatv. Ind takes shelter ender the inflame of
his high character aed exalted positioo. But this
sharp trick of hie has not ted one of his lend-
ing parialtiosers from y telling the Archbishop
(detail:MOAT that the view's " precast and habitnsll
node ofprobed is a biting coustant satire
en his = as a pesos maker." So his
reverense has not, as the lawyers any, " taken much
by that usetise."
Now it mast sot be supposed that the people of
Brighton are "a mean, .st of radicals;" for,
though they have so inherent love of taxation, they
have never been backward in taxing themselves when
public funds were reallyeesdfuL They pay very high
poor-rates, partly owing to the wretched system on
which the union is managed, bat not a little to the in-
indictees charity of their visitors, which crowds tbel
town with beggars and paupers. They pay heavy I
rate. for the improvement of the town; they built a
tows ball that coat them 40,0001 ; have a debt of no
less than 140,0001.; and have contracted (whether
wisely or not is another matter) to purchase the
'Paribas for 63,0001. Let no man then may, leost of
all their vicar, that they reject a penny church-rate
to save their pockets.

TR= area great many points of similarity la the
present position of the several European governineate.
All of them were so equally mismanaged nadir the 1
aroient system that abuses and bad government pre.
duosd a revolution. In al there countries the govern.
leg classes bowed beneath the storm, and plum
made the moat humble apologies for past despotisms,
end the most solemn promises to grant and to stag '
port liberty for the future. All seised the opportunity
to restore their power by military force. and all
entered, in consequence, upon a system of reaction
which renders the old breach between prince and
people wider than ever, and more hopeless to fill up cr
repair.
All countries are now under military rule, and the
first and chief thought with each government is how
to raise a revenue to meet not only the extraordinary
but the great ordinary expenses. All those countries
have tried loans, and in general have decried the
paper money issued by their constitutional predeces-
sors. The consequences have been such ruin, dis-
content, and loss of credit, that princes have been
utterly unable to raise money amongst their own sub-
jects except by some kind of compulsion. They have
tried foreign markets with equally bad success,
All, therefore, in their distress are recurring to the
same alternative--an income tax. Spain, France,
Austria, Prussia, the Pope, have come to place their
financial hopes and faith in direct taxation. The
late troublesome times, stopping both trade and con-
sumption, have killed the customs and excise, so that
in fact there are no ways and means left save an in-
come tax.
In countries, however, where property is very
equally divided, such as Franc., an income tax will
be extremely difficult of establishment. For if small
fortunes be exempt, the produce of the tax will be
small; if small properties are included, the whole
Glamor peasant proprietors would organise resistance
and a general refusal to pay the tax. The great de-
partments of France are, indeed, already organising
sash a resistance against M. Passe's scheme. The
reestablishment of the duty on drinks is likely to
have a similar effect upon equal numbers of depart-
meats. So that the French government is certainly
reduced to very great and grave perplexity. It -ign-
log by military force, it cannot reduce the army ; and
yet as long as public order merely depends on inti-
midation, and as long as the powers of the state are
in oontot, it is imposille to expect that revival of
consumption and of trade which would fill the
tressary by the receipt of customs. The great
objection to the republic is its not being
• revenue-producing form of government. The
objectors do not see that any monarchy
by which they could replace it would require even a
argerl military force, and would create still more
numerous, more wide, and more fatal divisions.
Leaving, however, the closely-intermingled ques-
tions of taxation and of the form of government to be
stilled by the struggling factions of France, let us
turn our attention to the other side of the Rhine.
The Prussian government has proposed an income
tax of three per cent. on all yearly thoom s above
1,000 donors; retaining a class tax, or graduated poll
tax upon the industrious population. This is graduated
for one penny a mouth on the lowest clue of labouring
men, to six or seven shillings a month upon th shop-
keepers not considered to be worth a thousand dol-
lars a year. The peculiarity of Prussian finance ia,
that at lead one-fifth of the revenue proceeds from
crown domiens, which, so unlike our Weeds and
Forests, are exceedingly well managed and prods,.
tive. Two-fifths more are raised by direct texition
but as the greater part of this is raised by laud tax,
paid by non-seigaorial lands, the substitution of as
Income tax for this and the iodurry tax, would be
a mode of equalising the burdens even more than
increasing them.
The letter of our Vienna correspondent, which we
published a day or two ago describes the income sod
property tax which the government of Austtia is intro-
elucmg, and which is more lenient to the labouring
clam than the Prussian class tax. All locale s under
300 aeries are to be exempt. In this nlrtM the land
and house tax, valued at 62.3 per cent., is pre carved.
The profits of trade are taxed 5 per cent. nes: pos-
sess d of salaries are to be taxed according to a gra-
duated scale of from one to ten per cent., a pre eveent
e some importance, considering from whence it per
cmds.

It will be seen from recent letters of oar Roman
and Neapolitan correspondents, that the governments
of south and central Italy have become fascinated by
the same scheme. So that the chief, permanent, and
universal result of the insurrections of 1818 and re-
action of 1849 will be the establishment of a general
income and property tax throughout Rump-.
Severe as this may weigh at present, ttis system
&direct taxation is not one of those results of 1848
v the people will have reason to regret. In the
Inc place, it will remove moot the greatest obstacles
to German unity, as well as to free trade. It wiil
take from governments the excuse of keeping up a
protectionist tariff for mere purposes of revenue; and
baying accustomed the larger end poorer muses of
the population to have their necessaries rind more
necessary luxuries untaxed, it will become difficult
to tax them hereafter; the only resistance will be
found in countries where the land is more subdivided,
and is the actual proptrty of the cultivator. In
France,for example, the objection. to direct t.xation,
as indeed to any taxation, are such, that ill. re is but
the one remedy, the irremediable necessity—re-
duction.
We could go on to show the similarity of posi'ion
of the different governments of Europe. All of
them, for example, are at the present moment more
=2. pressed by reactionary than by popular exi-
And the reaction in all countries is com-
posed of pretty much the same elements. These are
the landed interest, the sacerdotal interest, the old
functionary interest, and the military in-
t; or
which might be joined the capitalist
totems , or that which is called the Haute Commerce. It
is singular that although in every country the go-
verment is composed of the inzat repressive,
and anti-pspnlar statesmen that could be found with
any capacities for office, nevertheless all these mar-
vative ministers are engaged in a struggle, not
against popular exigencies, as we said, but against
rigid and reactionary ones.
The efforts of Louis Nero Leos, and of BARBA?
and DITFAIHIE, to withdraw their shoulders from the
triple yoke of military, eacerdotal, and legitimist
in-
Eaence, are bat too plain. The objections of the Pre- ,
'Admit to the late ministry are simply that they did
not make these efforts with sufficient energy and reso-
lution. And yet the President seems little more able
than BA.SROT to shake off from his shoulders the
triple old man of the mountain.
At Berlin, MANTIIIFFEL, the most tort' of officials,
is so ont-toried and out-talked by the rem:moist/1, that
their extravagance almost drives Aim to be liberal.
A month ago, MANTSUPPIL supported the constitu-
tional dogma that the Prussian House of Commons
should have the power of voting or rejecting the
budget. The Lord STANLETS of Prussia will not
hear even of this; and they actually con emplate
the establishment of a Prussian lower chamber without
thispomer. In Austria, BCHWANSZNBERO and BACH,
bed as
they were, are still overridden by HATNAII.
NAHVAIS is in a similar predicament at another ex-

,EBB, THURSDAY

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et: ms-
ut.* that agier3. ast.Hareded
ourtiers. Asa last t• be few
Sonosturnsacts,-

to be feast* that
Ale NAR.
vases...lli b. L sway, end their places SW by
pewely unary mas, who, baying the insane tax,
and the wow ea which it is founded at their dis-
poni], may porpetwute a aorta% regime upon this
Iry tyr to twit own gistifiestienv pewee, and
suriebniest, unfit Zeros mess period whose esm-
sisamment will have some sfinliitity to of 1848,
but whom termination will be very different ladled.