The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-01 00:00:00

Cvnina 21m

LONDON, THURSDAY APRIL 1, 1852.

C.incicling as it does so entirely with the sentiments
expressed by ourselves yesterday in reference to the
Earl of DERBY'S apparent attempt at prevarication,
the argument of the Times, quoted elsewhere in our
impression of this evening, appears to us cause for
congratulation. Nothing can possibly be better than
the tone in which our contemporary alludes to the
mingled delicacy and difficulty of the position of the
existing Government. It were well for all parties—
it were well for the country—it were well for the inte-
rests of the Legislature, and even, we will add, of the
Admini•strati .n, if this dispa,sionate estimate of the
Q.Bergency were more generally eppreciated and
coniprebended. %Vern the First Minister of the
Crown, moreover, can find it in his conscience to say
one thing on the I 9 ~h of Fehruiry, and diametrically
the reverse on the 30-h of March, we ciiptrt believe
that ,yc,47 go -d reason is thereby given wlit the
na4tlYdianould repose anything like coufi ience in his
—"th'reient. Immediately before the estimates
v'ere B"%itted to the House of Commons,
and when from the factious peculiarity of
the attitude as'urned by the Opposition, it appeared
to be
..!??t altaltogetherth
impossible that the annual sup.
plies tniglit be actually
`s'oppe- -d the new PRIME
Mi-
NtsTEs conceived it to be
judicious to hold out the
prospect of a speedy dissolution of Parliament. " Only
grant us the estimates," said be
absolutely necessary businkss
theof and so soon as the
essioaccom-
plished I will app-al to the country ,s 11
thel3 new ).
bhat
elected representatives 111,,y n t
has far advanced, and thereby efor.e autumn
relieve the
nation from the chance of being placed
A situation
of embarrassment." That was literally the
the speech delivered by the First Lord of' the of
sury in the middle of February. Yet, a little
area-
longer, and "on second thoughts," at the close pf
iiirChi When the majority of toe estimates have beenl

granted by the Legislature, the Noble Lord deems it
advisable to declare that be dces not in the least
anticipate that the present session will be of
"unusually brief duration," and that be has no
sort of intention of bringing about a speedy dissolu-
tion of Parliament. Is this consistent ? Is it worthy
of a great statesman—worthy of a statesman en-
r trusted with the conduct of the affairs of the British
Empire—worthy of a Minister more truly " heaven
born" than even PITT, if we are to credit the ravings
of one of the political contributors to Blackwood?
Let the judgment of the country pronounce.
Let the answer to these inquiries be given
at the next general election ; and we doubt
not that the minority in which the leader of
the Protectionists will then find himself will suffi-
ciently demonstrate that he was mi-tsken in the re-
cent change of his intentions. It is true that the
Earl of DERBY endeavoured to explain on Tuesday
evening that his opiaions expressed in March and his
opinions expressed in February, contradictory
though they might seem to be at a superficial
glance, were in reality coincident. Neverthe-
less his reasoning to this end was to our-
selves so peculiarly shallow in its speciousness,
that we are tempted to suggest as Bram( did in refer
ence to the metaphysical COLERIDGE, that he would
add to the obligations felt by the public he had
mystified by kindly and benevolently " explaining
his explanations." Throughout the whole of theme
proceedings on the part of Lord DERBY it must be
manifest that he has not acted with a candour and
manliness becoming one who has been called
to the head of the British Government. Ad-
mitted that the Noble Lord and his Ministerial
colleagues were, so to speak, actually "surprised into
power," admitted that their po-ition from the first
moment of their consenting to take office has been
one of almost unexampled embarrassment, admitted
that the difficulties of their situation were at the
outset very singularly enhanced by the factious and
petulant bearing towards them of her MsaesTy's Op-
position, yet it must, at the same time, be allowed that
the moment has been rather ungenerously selected for
avenging themselves upon their political antagonists,
when, having obtained .he votes from the House of
Commons, they shrink from hastening on the crisis
of a dissolution. Happily, out of their proceedings
one satisfactory conclusion is deducible. The very
circumstance of L--rd DERBY shrinking from an im-
mediate appeal to the country is signifiJant of the
fact that he is by no means sanguine of the result of
a general election. Were he confident of that result
being in his favour, the Legislature would be
dissolved before the arrival of Whitsuntide ! Having
once obtained the sinews of war, the Pants Mmis-
TER would relieve himself of the annoyances conse-
quent upon being in a perpetual minority in the lower
branch of the Legislature. Instead of striving to act
thus, however, Lord DERBY uses every means to
protract the present session for as long a period as
possible : wherefore we insist that from these cir-
cumstances the nation is justified in drawing its own
conclusion.

The Commissioners of Land-Tax fur " the rest" of
the county of Middlesex, viz., all the districts not in-
cluded within the city and liberties of Westminster,
assembled yesterday at the Sessions House, Clerken-
well, to hold that which, under the terms of the Act
of Parliament, should be their annual meeting, but
which has practically been only the third meetiug for
more then a quarter of a century. From the ex-
tremely narrow and limited views entertained by the
majority of the Commissioners it would be a matter
of but trivial importance if they totally abstained from
any effort, however faint, to discharge the duties
confided to their charge, fot they only meet to
lend their sanction to that which is unanimously
admitted to be gross and palpable injustice. A set of
Marionettes would, in fact, be more eligible, for
while they could register, with equal efficiency, the
decrees, which charge one shilling in the pound,
or upwards, on one division, and less than one
farthing in the pound on another, they would
at least be spared the blush of shame that should
suffuse the brow of every man who felt himself to be
a participator in the transactions. We do not, how-
ever, despair of some beneficial results attending
those assemblies ; already an active and intelligent
opposition
,has been organized, and the truth is not
only forced on the unwilling ears of the
majority, but it finds its way into the public journals,
and will be " wafted on the wings of the press
throughout the length and breadth of the land." The
clear and able statement of Mr. COPPOCK will, there-
fore, produce its fruit in due season. The crying
grievance will be remedied, and a fertile source of re-
venue rendered available to the national exchequer.
We have so frequently directed attention to the
abuses that have ari'en in the administration of this
hew, originally one of the most judicious and equitable
modes of collecting the imperial revenue, that
it might be regarded as a work of supererogation if
we now entered into any prolonged explanation on the
subject. We may, however, more especially under the
present circumstances of the country, and the pecu-
liar interest with which every fiscal question is in-
vested, be permitted once more to give a brief ac-
count of this the most politic and just of the
..many
imposts to which the people are subjected, and
which, if fairly carried into execution, may be re-
garded as the proper basis for direct taxation.

In the olden time, from the Conquest until the time
of the Commonwealth, the national establishments—
there was nu public debt—were maintained out
of the Royal estates ; or whenever there was a defi-
ciency, by contrioutious from the landed proprietary
throughout the country. The territorial aristocracy
were, however, then in the ascendant, and they ac-
cordingly transferred many of the burdens from their
own shoulders to those of the industrious classes,
and the infanaoue Excise duties were imposed in
place of those charges which had been removed from
real property. The Restoration afforded no relief.
On the contrary, the chains of the taxpayers were
eouole-rivetted, and in 1665 a tax on beer and other
was granted as a hereditary revenue to the
liquids was
as a recompense fur the abolition of
the "Court ofWards" and " Liveries," and
" tenants in capite," &c.
lAfter the revolution the Legislature, however, ap-
Peered disposed to act more justly towards the of roXXot•
The required funds were authorized to be raised by
means of the "land-tax," as it was termed, but which
really charged a poundage on land, and a tax on per-
The 4th Wm,sonal property, whether productive or unproductive.
and Mary, c. 1, was the statute
which
gave explicit directions for assessing and col-
lecting the amount ; and although
many statutes
Passed regulating the impost, more
have since been
especially the 38th George 111., c. under which
it is now levied, the Commissioers for the several
districts are still--we shall not say guided—but
actually governed by the proportionsby the
assigned
Act of 1692, from which no departure, however
urgently required, has ever been allowed. Nu eke"'
tion in the value of propeity has ever been recog raised,
and thus we find, that while some districts are pay
ing as much as is. 61., 24., or even 2•. 91 in
the
pound (as for instance Snengay, in Cambridgeshire),
others were escaping for considerably less than a far-
thing in the pound. Those best able to pay were,
therefore, the lowest contributors, while depreciated
property was kept up to the highest point. The
entire county of Laucaster, including Liverpool,
Manchester, Pie ston, &c., is, for instance,
only as-
sessed at 20,9891. 14s. 61., while the City of London
is charged at a valuation of 123,3991., the
city and liberties of Westminster at 63,0921.,
and the rest of the county of Middle-
iex at 107,6021. 11.!. 7d. These chsrgea,
though most enormous, when compared with the
amount claimed in the county cf Lancashire, do not,
however, show anything like the disparity existing
between the different localities. We find, for instance,
that the parishes of Sr. Andrew's., Holborn, and St.
George the Martyr, are paying more than is. in the
pound, the assessment being 9,0181., while St.
Pancras escapes for 2d. in the pound, being assessed
only at 1,7761. 15s. 7d. Fortunate St. i\larylebone,
however, distances all its metropolitan rivals, the
charge being less than a farthing in the pound, the as-
sessinecit on the entire parish being only 4921., far less
than the value of single dseelling.housee in that im-
portant
locality. Liverpool, however, is still better
off, the inhabitants of the modern Tyre only bring
one-sixteenth of a penny, or little
requiredin ore than
t to
upa y e
q
uarter of what the oppressed Mary-
lebonians are compelled to pay.
These anomalies caanot much longer be permitted

to exist. Itiliiiiifficient to direct the public attention
strongly to the_point to ensure a speedy measure. of
relief. We perceive that a delegation is to wait on
the CHAIt CELLO& of the Excu EWER, with
the view of urging the Right Honourable
Gentleman to bring the subject under the con.
sideration of Parliament. Such proceedings were worse
than useless when Sir CH ARLES WOOD held the
seals of office, and presided over the financial
department of the Government, but with Mr.
DISRAELI we look for more auspicious results.
We cannot forget that the Right Honourable
Gentleman has himself complained of the hard-
ship to which his constituents were subjected in
being compelled to pay Is. sd. in the pound, while
other counties, far more populous and more rich, are
let off for 2d. An equal charge of ls. in the pound,
while it would relieve many, would give nearly
5,000,0001. sterling to the Exchequer; or, if ex-
tended to personal property, according to the spirit
and intention of the original statute, would give a
revenue of more than 11,000,0001. sterling, an
amount which, if judiciously disposed of, would
not only authorise the abolition of the malt
and hop duties, of the taxes on knowledge,
and many other unfair and impolitic im-
posts, but would also allow of considerable reduc-
tion. on tea, tobacco, wines, &c., and place the na-
tional burdens altogether on a sounder foundation.
Let, then, the deputation do its duty, and let fiscal
reformers of all classes lend their aid to the intro-
duction of a better system, and we shall not have long
to wait for the beneficial results we have anticipated.

Elsewhere will be found a very admirable article
on the injustice of the taxes imposed on newspapers,
extracted from the columns of the Expositor. Coin-
ciding cordially as we do with the argument put
forward by our contemporary, we anticipate as
eagerly and as confidently the dissipation, or at any
rate the amelioration, of the existing evil by the
Right Honourable Gentleman the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER. From him happily somewhat
larger benefits may be looked for than could posesibly
be the case with his predecessor : and none the less
securely, in the present instance, from the circum-
stance of his distinction as a man of letters and his
connexion at one period with periodical literature.
The inequality of the system of taxation complained
of is not the least intolerable portion of the grievance.
As the Expositor very justly observes, it is som"
wbat unfair to impose a duty of ls.
6d. upon
every separate advertisement in a newspaper,
and yet to permit advertisements to appear elsewhere
without any impost whatsoever. Placards may be
posted up at pleasure in any omnibus or in any rail-
way carriage, elegant frames containing them, adorned
with glass and veneered with mahogany, may be
suspended at the entrance of any warehouse;
nay, large boards may be pasted over with
them in public places, as in the neighbourhood
of Waterloo-bridge, and all this may be done
without a single one of those advertisements being
subjected to taxation. It is only in the columns of a
newspaper, or in the fly-leaf of a magazine or a
quarterly, that a duty of is. 6d. is rigorously levied
upon every single announcement. Nor is this the
only extent of the inequality—the same impost, as is
by this time tolerably notoriou,, being inflicted upon
such advertisements as those without distinction, be
it an advertisement of a penny pamphlet
or of a guinea annual, an advertisement of a
poor servant girl out of work, anxious to obtain a
situation, or of some wealthy old " hunks," anxious
to sell an estate in Wiltshire with a view to purchase
another in Cumberland. These are among the in-
numerable evils in the way of inequality alone
which demand the speedy and effectual interposition
of the Legislature. Let us hope that some such in-
terference in regard to the taxes upon knowledge
may soon be witnessed, now that the financial affairs
of the country have been intrusted to a really ener-
getic and enlightened Chancellor of the Exchequer.

A. question relating to the dilapidated condition of
the old, and to the propriety of constructing a new,
bridge at Westminster, will be put this evening to
the Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests by the
Hon. Baronet the representative of the University of
Oxford. To-morrow we shall take occasion to enter
more fully into the consideration of this matter—
regarding it, as we have long done, as of very
singular importance to the interests of the metro-
polis—and shall revert in our strictures not merely to
this night's discussion in the House of Commons,
but to the elaborate report of the Westminster
Bridge Commission of 1851, addressed by them to
the Lords Commissioners of her MAJESTY'S Treasury.
Towards the close of that report we are rejoiced to
observe, that the argument we ourselves have all
along maintained is, at length, to the full recognised
by the Commissioners—those gentlemen insisting
that from the uncertain expense inevitable in
maintaining the present ruinous structure, even for
purposes of temporary convenience, it is obviously
desirable that " the permanent bridge should be com-
menced and finished with as little delay as possible."
This, we repeat, is so fully in accordance with our
own opinions, that it will be not without peculiar sa-
tisfaction we shall take occasion to revert to the sub-
ject to-morrow, with a view to its more careful consi-
deration.