The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-12 00:00:00

SPITIIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

SAIIIP.DAY REVIEW.--after a year of compulsory
inaction, Mr. Gladstone will once more resume the
welc(Jme duty of remodelling some part of the sys-
tor, of taxation. The increase of the revenue will
probably supply a surplus of two millions, and an
additional amount, at present only known to the
Government, will arise from a probable diminution
of expenditure. There is no sufficient reason for
the reduction of the army or navy ; but the enor-
mous outlay on construction, which has swelled the
estimates for three or four years, is essentially tem-
porary in its nature, and it must be supposed, in
some degree, to have effected its legitimate purpose.
If party interests are considered, the Government
has strong motives for anticipating any factious
combination which may be founded on the inchoate
alliance of last session between Mr. Disraeli and
Mr. Cobden. The House of Commons will be more'
cordially disposed to maintain the national defences
if the Ministers show that they have the means of
effecting reductions without interfering with effi-
ciency. A powerful army and navy have of late
promoted cordial relations with France, and they
afford the best security against a rupture with
the captious Government of the United States.
Soldiers and sailors are indispensable, but it
cannot be necessary to be always creating a navy
and inventing an artillery. Although the amount
of the surplus can only be vaguely conjectured,
alternative plans of reducing taxation may be
compared with advantage ; but probably the choice
will practically apply only to the tea and sugar
duties, to the rate of the income-tax, and possibly
to the duty on tobacco. After the lapse of five or
six years, Mr. Gladstone will perhaps be content to
discuss the question on its merits, without dilating
on the supposed breaches of faith which were occa-
sioned by the war of 1854. It may also be assumed
that taxes will not be defended on the ground that
their vexatious pressure produces a wholesome
moral effect on a spendthrift community. Mr.
Gladstone can display equal eloquence, with more
persuasive power, in showing that any changes
which he may propose will increase human happi-
ness by the addition of material comforts, rather
than by any indirect operation on the conscience
and character. The alleged benefits which would
arise from a modification of the tobacco duty are
almost exclusively fiscal, for the artificial price of
the commodity can scarcely be said td.involve serious
hardships. No financier is more competent than
Mr. Gladstone to judge whether the present
arrangement of the duties is the most productive
which could be devised, but in cheapening neces-
saries and luxuries, it would be desirable to give the
preference to articles which are even more univer-
sally consumed than tobacco. As the peculiarities
of the brewing trade render it doubtful whether a
diminution of the malt tax would be practically
expedient, tea and sugar stand first in the order of
reduction among the indirect taxes ; and if the
Chancellor of the Exchequer has four millions to
spare, he will probably concede the redaction which
was proposed two years ago by the Opposition as
more desirable than the abolition of the paper duty.
No measure would be more beneficial to the bulk of
the community, and the loss imposed on the revenue
would soon be partially replaced. The immediate
sacrifice of a million and a half of tea duty would
probably still leave a considerable balance over ex-
penditure. All reductions of taxes are partially com-
pensated by the increased productiveness of the re-
maining imposts, and there is perhaps no portion
of the revenue which might be trusted
to find a circuitous way to the Treasury
more safely than the Income-tax, if the rate
were diminished. If tea is cheapened, more
and stronger tea is used, greatly to the benefit
of the consumer, but with only a proportional or
fractional advantage to the Custom House. A
saving in income-tax would be almost universally
added to current expenditure, and perhaps a fur-
ther gain might accrue to the Exchequer from an
improvement in the accuracy of the returns. There
are persons who would strain their consciences less
freely when the temptation was diminished by a
third_ The strongest reason for reducing the rate
to sixpence is, that the tax might then be ren-
dered permanent during the continuance of peace.
In comparison with recent experience the burden
would be considered moderate, and, as an inci-
dental advantage, the rate would in all cases admit
of easy calculation. Notwithstanding ignorant
clamour and laborious sophistry, it is indisputably
true that an equal and permanent tax on income
exactly adapts itself to all possible tenures
of property, and falls with equal weight
on fee simple estates and on professional
incomes worth three years' purchase. The
truth would have been long since readily accepted
if the tax bad not been large in amount, and conse-
quently inconvenient to the trading classes. As it
is almost certain that the impost will never be abo-
lished, it is better to simplify it, as far as possible,
by the use of round numbers, and by moderation of
amount. A fourpenny rate would be in the highest
degree desirable; but the compromise of sixpence
would perhaps satisfy a generation which never but
once has seen it fall so low as fivepence. It is use-
less for Parliament to pass resolutions against fu-
ture changes, but there is no reason to prevent Ihe
grant, for five or seven years, of a sixpenny income
tax. At the end of such a period, in the absence of
extraordinary pressure, the convenience of unifor-
mity would be generally recognised, and financiers
would probably have satisfied themselves that it is
inexpedient to rely exclusively on indirect taxation.
Mr. Gladstone's Budget will be ingenious, and his
speech in introducing it will be eloquent. It may
also be allowable to hope that originality will be
found compatible with justice.

TIMES.—In the political intelligence from America
we find what the military details do not indicate—
s prospect of something being done to terminate the
thehostilities. war, or at least to suspend The
slightest probability of such a settlement shouldh be
hailed as a dawning hope of peace. The can in
opinion is due to the political victory of thedgeme
cratic party, or rather that victory has given the
courage necessary to avow a dislike of the war that
has always existed. The opposition has been gra-
dually growing, and, even with the assurance of a
majority, was at first cautiously expressed. The
democrats did not make peace their " platform."
They declared for a continuance of the war, but war
made "constitutionally," and not by such measures
as confiscation or encouraging pillage and massacre.
Then men were found who ventured to speak of the
hostilities as a " wretched strife," a "miserable
conflict,"—terms that might apply either to the war
itself or the disastrous manner in which it had been
conducted.
the expediency
From this point to a consideration of
of the contest is but a step.
This step has been mtvie
wole
reason to its counsels has'
and the party that admits
peace may be secured. proposedh a course by which
appears to be given to the lead in the good work
next neighbour Sovereignty State of New Jersey, the
the impulse of the movement t°
New York. But
requested°rerratA; grea-
t city. The Union comes
froni
the great
tion has, by formal resolutioofnl,l:
Jersey to call a Convention
Slave States," that may consider and" and loyal
sures calculated to put an end to the adopt
This
Convention Convention is to meet at Louisville in tahre. course
of the ensuing month. The choice of a place of
meeting in Kentucky, the State that has remained
neutral in the conflict, is not without significance
'
we trust it will not be without result. Still more
important is the fact that the " disloyal States" are
not to be excluded from the Convention. But
to enter into communication with the several
Sovereignties of the Confederacy legally held as in
rebellion requires a previous permission from the
Federal Government. President Lincoln is there-
fore to be applied to for leave to send commissioners
to the revolted States to solicit them to appear in
this novel Parliament, and the President is also to
he
requested to declare an armistice with those
States which accept the call to the Convention.
Whatever may follow on these
proposals, the mere
appearance of the words "peace"and " armistice"
There in public discussion is hopeful. is encourage-
ment, too, in Mr. Lincoln's readiness to oblige any
party. Peace or war, or both at once; alavery or
abolition, or both together—he gives every prin-
ciple a chance. And that power ho leaves to throw
up the opinion that is to obtain the ascendant in.