The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-08 00:00:00

THE INCOME TAX.

HERALD.—Of Cardinal Richelieu, one of the
boldest spirits and most masculine intellects that ever
ruled a state; and of William Congreve the drama-
tist, who is nearly as infamous for the profligacy
as he is famous for the wit of his productions, we have
two characteristic and amusing incidents recorded, in
which it is really hard to say whether a violent con-
trast or a whimsical resemblance predominates.
Both the French statesman and the English comedian
seem at one period to have alike forgotten, or misun-
derstood, in what their true eminence and superiority
respectively consisted. Richelieu, who might have
said with Themistocles, " I cannot dance or play the
fiddle, but I can turn a little or a divided state into a
great and united nation," had not learned to feel, like
that calm old Greek, where his real, glory lay ; and at
a time when his renown filled all urope—at a time
when he had not an enemy who did not quake at the
sound of his name, and when his natural love of power
had been gratified in the amplest measure, he not
only pined for literary fame, but what is far more
wonderful, the thought he deserved it, and that,
as a man of letters, rather than in any other
capacity, he was worthy of hereafter remaining in
the remembrance of the world. Congreve, on the
other hand, who owed everything to literature—his
social position, the acquaintance of all fashionable and
the friendship of some great persons—conceived that
his highest claim to distinction or consideration was
in the quality of a " fine gentleman." He said as
much, it will be remembered, when Voltaire com-
plimented him upon his works ; and Voltaire's reply
was not amiss—" Had you been nothing but a gen-
tleman, I should never have thought of coming to
see you." In thus seeming to be unaware of the
talents in which their natural strength consisted, and
out of what fountain flowed their real and unfailing
reputation, these two men, so different in all other
respects, were, we say, alike. But here ends the
similarity, and begins the contrast, even of this very
weakness itself. Both cherished an absurd ambi-
tion ; but the ambition of Congreve was ignoble as
well as absurd, and that of Richelieu, if just as
ill-warranted, was at least aimed at a glorious,
a profitable, and a lofty object. It was not un-
worthy of a statesman to remember that Cruar was
a great author , and though Richelieu mistnnk the
value of his own culture, he made no mistake in esti-
mating the honour, the worth, and the importance of
the new character in which he was anxious to extend
his activity and to confirm his power. He began too
late. Literature generally demands the earliest la-
bonrs to confer tardy rewards—so tardy that, like
its effect and its influence, they are sometimes post-
humous. And it has this extraordinary fate, that
though no other occupations, however eminent, not
those even of politics or of war, will prepare their
votaries to shine in letters, yet there are a thousand
historical instances to show that a life spent in the
" bookish" closet may lead to the brilliant statesman-
ship and memorable legislation of a Papinian, or even
to the military triumphs of a Lucullus, an Epa-
sainondas, and a Peterborough.
Hitherto the history of great nations, with the
exception of one or two of the ancient republics, has
shown that ignorance is the general portion f the
great body of the population ; rudimentary educa-
tion, split into various appropriate or inevitable de-
partments, the lot of the middle classes ; and
literature the privilege of a few select spirits. In
our own day a greater stir and even a violent move-
ment among the masses attract the attention of states-
men. There is a rage for literature, and, above
all, for scientific literature. Science, has, indeed,
done ovonders for us ; made the sea as the land,
brought the distant near, pierced mountains, and
dispatched our messages by the hand of the light-
ning. It is no wonder the people should thirst for
knowledge ; they see its power, they have tasted
its advantages. To its possession they look besides
for political consequences. Schools are founded,
institutes arise, libraries are opened, athenaeums
are multiplied over the face of the land ; the people
cry out to be instructed. Who instructs them ?
Does Mr. Cobden? Ho has political declamation to
offer for the excitement of their feelings ; he has
adulation to bestow on their merits ; be urges the
reduction of the taxes which maintain their national
defences, and which afford means for the endow-
ment or aid of every local establishment which they
may erect for their self-improvement. He had also
denunciations in plenty to hurl against the aristo-
cracy; and meantime that aristocracy is busy in
every part of England in doing what none of the
agitators ever dream of attempting, in meeting the
honest wishes of their countrymen with purse and
with pen,—with word and with asst. .tho h..cure3
for auu,. Siam past delivered at town halls and me-
chanics' institutions all over England—lectures, some
of which are worthy to be preserved for ever, have,
in almost every instance, proceeded from men of
rank ; and two facts are made evident by this singular
spectacle in the actual or contemporaneous history of
our country. First, tilos° who feel a real syuipethy
in the efforts, and a genuine and practical interest in
the destinies of our labouring population, are the
members of the English aristocracy. Secondly, they
alone have been found adequate—as adequate and as
able as they are willing—to take the lead and to show
the way in the educational movement of the people.
The accession of the present Government has given an
impulse, which everybody must have remarked, to these
noble exertions. At the head of those who have thus
bent their cultivated minds to the service of their fellow-
countrymen stands, beyond all question, Sir Edward
Bulwer Lytton, the most finished and universal
man of letters of this age. The views which he
enforced before a large audience at Hertford have
suggested the thoughts which we have here but
touched ; and if his hustings' speech (converting the
clamours which met his appearance into the shouts
of enthusiasm which recorded at once and explained
his triumph) surprised those who did not expect in
the habitual scholar, " sicklied o'er with the pale cast
of thought," the unquestionable eloquence with which
he bore down all opposition ; and if that speech had
the strange merit of combining the solidity of a
state-paper with the popularity of a ballad, we may
in a similar manner truly say that the recent lecture
or oration at Hertford, on the uses of " Knowledge,"
was a whole treatise of philosophy, so arranged and
so composed, so hill of wit and of allusion, and so
thoroughly adapted to the taste and capacity of those
to whom it was addressed, that it proved as delightful
to hear as it is profitable to study. We observe that
a Liberal contemporary, the Sun of the 29th of last
month, has copied this lecture, a masterpiece of close
reasoning, of rapid eloquence, and of brilliant ima-
gination. Neither the Duke of Argyll nor the
Duke of Newcastle, neither the Hon. Mr. Cowper
nor the Earl of Carlisle, not one, in fact, of the many
able and eminent men who have entered this new
arena of intellectual exertion has produced anything
evincing such knowledge of our countrymen and of
their habits, such mastery of All the resources of scho-
larship, or an eloquence so various, so masculine, and
so successful as Bulwer Lytton, the victor in other
fields of mental conflict, has now thrown forth with-
out an effort in the opening of his new
public career.
It is no doubt exceedingly ill-bled to 'speak of any

The pluralist Archdeacon Hale has presided at a
meeting of the London clergy " To consider in what
manner the clergy may best express their opinion
upon the encouragement which will be given to in-
creased desecration of the Sabbath, if the Crystal
Palace, now erecting at Sydenham, shall be opened
as a place of public recreation on the Lord's day:'
In this uncouth statement of the object of the meet-
ing, there is the logical offence called begging the
question, but which, in this instance, we should rather
describe as stealing the question. What right have
these eighty clergymen, with the fat pluralist at their
head, to assume that the opening of the Sydenham
Exhibition after morning service will be a desecration
of the Sabbath ? Does a rich nobleman desecrate the
Sabbath when he walks through his picture gallery
on the Sunday ? Does Archdeacon Hale desecrate
the Sabbath when he sits in his library on the Sun-
day, surrounded by works of learning, inviting his
thoughts and attention ? Is it a desecration of the
Sabbath to gaze at objects of art and master-pieces of
invention ? If so, it matters not whether it be under
a canopy of glass or under the vault of heaven, and
he must be as sinful who allows his eyes to dwell on
the grandeur of St. Paul's or the beauty of West-
minster Abbey, as he who admires the marvels of art
in an exhibition. The question really is reduced to
this—whether the use of the eyes is to be permitted
on Sunday, except for reading the Bible; and Prayer-
book. Nature does not shut up on Sunday in honour of
the Sabbath. The exhibition of the Creator's works is
always open, and always inviting the admiration of the
beholder, sermons in stones, and good in everything. No
one will pretend to say that his Sabbath is passed, that
it can be passed in meditations exclusively religious ;
and if there must be some portion given to secular
thoughts and recreation, the question is, whether a
channel may not be opened for them, innocent and
improving, enlarging information, and stimulating an
intelligent curiosity. People who have toiled six
days of the week will not pass the seventh in prayer
alone, and the simple alternative is whether their re-
creations shall have an addition in a Sunday-school
of art and science, or whether they shall be confined
to their present enjoyments of the steam-boat, the
railroad, and the tavern. No spiritual blockade of a
great city has yet succeeded. Glasgow is an example
of the consequence of holding a place in state of siege
against ell the innocent recreations and Glasgow, for
inebriety, and every abomination of coarse sensuality,
is the opprobrium of Great Britain. Excursions by
boat and rail are better than hotting and debauchery ;
but there are recreations better still than Gravesend,
Greenwich, and Richmond merrymakings, and the
Sydenbam Exhibition is calculated to furnisn them.
It will open a new illustrated book to the public with
giant pages of art and science. The taverns and the
steam-boats will be the losers by this new attraction,
and sobriety and intelligence will gain.
In all the arguments for circumscribing the recre-
ations of the bumbler classes we see paraphrased in
many forms the remarks of the French princess on
the distress of the poor in a scarcity, " Why don't
they eat buns ?" With like understanding the Presi-
dent of Sion College, professing all liberality with
regard to the amusements of the people on week days,
insisted on debarring them on the Sunday. The good
man has no objection to their enjoying themselves on
days when they cannot enjoy themselves, he would
only forbid their recreations on the only day they
have for them. Next hear, Dr. Croly, figuring to
yourself a burly purple priest, who might serve an
artist as lay figure for Dives at his feast :
" I shall be told that the humbler orders, and those
who are confined to trade all the week, require
amusement to refresh them. I cannot accede to this;
the proper refreshment is rest, according to the origi-
nal command; a quiet walk, and no city more
abounds in parks—the domestic meal, and the do-
mestic evening ; these are in the power of every
family, and these are worth, for the refreshment of
mind and body, all the glittering exhibitions, and
hurried trains, and eager amusements of the world."
He cannot accede to the postulate that people con-
fined to trade all the week require amusement to
refresh them. Toil is to be content with not toiling
for one day in the seven, or with a quiet walk in one of
the parks (which parks these Pharisees have tried hard
to close)—with the domestic meal (which they have
endeavoured to suppress, crying for the prohibition of
Sunday baking)—and finally, with the domestic even-
ing. Here we have the Duchess de Maine's buns
again. " The domestic evening" of the London la-
bourer ! See him in his easy chair by his clean
cheerful fireside, in a carpeted, neat, wholesome cham-
ber, with his family circle about him, relaxing
exactly as Dr. Croly relaxes, after having delivered a
sermon rich with Irish eloquence. See him on his
crazy stool, in a close unwholesome, frowzy garret,
cowering over a handful of coals, testifying to warmth
only by smoke, with a wife and family wry .not
tn
the upshot of, their holicla,,iy- s•dy e aforesaid
quiet walk, tan or-:-Is GUEnn vntn a view of the pomps
t
of the worldin the promenades of the
rich.
The quiet walk, the domestic meal, the domestic
evening, in the power of every family, is, for the re-
freshment of mind and body, according:to Dr Croly,
worth all the glittering exhibitions, hurried trains,
and eager amusements in the world. And yet we
have prelates with their palaces, their equipages, and
tbo'ir thousando a year, and arohdeaotnia with their
pluralities hardly to be numbered, and Crolies with
their fat livings ! What do these holy men want with
all these things, when the quiet walk, the domestic
meal, and domestic evening once a week, should suffice
for human happiness in the condition of the greatest
toil ? Why don't the archbishops take a quiet walk
instead of ten thousand a year ? What occasion has
the Archdeacon Hale for all those pluralities, when
the domestic meal, and domestic evening, in the power
of every family, would be his without the practical
contradiction of the Gospel precept that riches are the
root of all evil ?
In the same strain the Rev. T. B. Murray asked,
" Was there no other way of supplying them with
innocent enjoyment than opening the Crystal Palace
on that day ? Were there not the green fields, the
comfort and quietude of home and family, and atiariYl
other things, which they now happily possess'
common with the rich ?"
Think, sum up, if you have the power of such cte-
culation, the many things which the poor possess. in
common with the rich ! The rich have every day,
every hour of their lives, some
ment which the Sydenham f that very er
Exhibitionjoy-
would extendis an exhil Mon
to the poor. The rich mon house
on a small scale of the perfections of art and
pictures, sculpture,
manufactures, contrivances of
every sort for comfortd luxury. To see and ad-
mire such things, the poor man must go out of doors ;
and for the exhibition which would bring them under
his view he has but one day in the week, and that day
the Pharisees would refuse him, telling him in bitter
who presid
mockery to be content with a walk, with a domestic
meal and do mestic evenin. And ed over
the meeting at which thge moderation of the wants
was so edifyingly preached ? That pattern of
self-denial, Archdeacon Hale, whose life has so
practically illustrated with how little a Church-
man should be content—namely, with precisely as
much as he could get. Talk
of Sunday exhibitions,
indeed I Why, what but exhibition is this
reverend gentleman in the pulpit Sunday ?
What a curious complication e on
__ of
.offices and. emolu-
ments is seen in him. How the sight of him seta the
minds of the congregation
running on money. How
they look upon him, not as a pillar of the church, but

To THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,-Iti the following obaervationB I have ventuied
the asaumption that the increa,e of the wealth of this
country has been in an equal ratio with that of the po-
pulation.
In 1812 the Property and Iflcome Tax produced
13,628,0001, which at 23. in the pound, or 10 per cent.,
without reference to the portion which paid less. may be
considered as indicating an income of 136,284,000/. In-
cluded in this amount is 13,136.000/. levied on incouies
under 1501. a yeir,;on trees and professions not ino'ulcd
in the tax laid on by Sir RJbert Peel in 1842.
Therefore, deducting from ... £136,284,000
The incomes:under 1501. a•year !13,136,000

Leaves •£123,148,000
The population of 1812 was about 12,000,000, and in
1842, when the present income tax was imposed, rather
above, 18,500,000. Assuming that the national wealth
had increased in the same ratio as the population, the
amount liable to assessment should have been
189,853,0001., which amount, taxed at 7d. in the pound,
should produce 5,537,000/., or rather more than
5,500,000/.
On the Ilth of March, 1852, the late Sir Robert Peel
estimated the produce of the tax at 3,771,0001., and
therefore I do not venture on the 26th September, 1842,
when 'I published my Income Tax Tables, to estimate
the proceeds of the tax at more than 4,500,0001., as cer-
tain exemptions were made on incomes from land,
houses, &e., under 150/. a-year, and likewise from to •
nants paying less than 3001. a-year in respect of the oc-
cupation of land.
The following is a statement of the gross amount of
property and income tax received:-
1842 £5,608,548 1847 ... £5,834,795
1843 ... 5,504,157 1848 5,791,332
1844 ... 5,476,49711849 ... 5,669,876
1845 ... 5,711,224'1850 ... 5,617,275
1846 5,791,06711851 ... 5,538,880
It is not necessary to discuss tie question whether a
direct or indirect taxation is the best, but admit that a
tax upon income is a convenient mode of obtaining a cer-
tain large amount of revenue. However, I very much
doubt the wisdom of discarding all other sources of taxa-
tion, and substituting a tax upon property. Fifty mil-
lions annually raised in this way would trench on realised
capital; and if nearly ten times the amount of the present
income tax had to be raised, it would certainly not be
ten times the amount of the present tax to the present
payers; but if our payments on this account were only
quintupled, no little dissatisfaction would be evinced. All
our present taxes, both direct and indirect, may be consi-
dered as paid out of income, which is composed of newly
created property, and forms a kind of floating capital, the
balance of which, after all expenditure has been satisfied,
becomes the gross investment for the year, and is our
addition to realised capital.
A perusal of the evidence before the committee of the
House of Commons, whose first and second reports are
before the pubic, will point out the many difficulties that
surround the subject, and prevent almost the possibility
of arriving at any mode of levying the tax which shall be
theoretically just and practically possible.
I would, therefore, venture to propose an arbitrary ad-
justment, based on two simple descriptions of income,
viz.:—

1. Permanent income.
2. Temporary, precarious, or industrial income.
If the tax on permanent income be fixed at 4 per cent.,
while the tax levied on temporary incomes—as trades,
professions, &c.—is only charged 2 per cent., as an
average, I think the arrangement would bo aooopted as
Isir and equitable.
O❑ reference to the evidence berore the committee of
the House of Commons, it will be found that ono half is
the average suggested to ,be adopted when the parties
under the proposed now system should omit to make a
return of their age.
It may be said that if 2 per cent. is a fair tax on tem-
porary income at the age of 40, it is too much for a man
of 50, aLd too little at 30; but if the average be nearly
j tist w must be satisfied.

Viewr,l theoretically, it certainly seems quite right
that all property protected should contribute to the ex-
penses of the State in an equal ratio; but the principal
difficulty of obtaining returns of the amoant of every
man's property, as well as of his not income, is insur-
mountable. To my mind, the evidence before the com-
mittee is conclusive. _

Assuming that the tax is imposed at tho rates I have
suggested, and that no exceptions are to be allowed, wo
shall find that the revenue derived will enable us to re-
lieve the pressure of various taxes at present acting in-
juriously on the commerce and energy of the country.
If wo continue the assumption, that the wealth and
population of Great Britain have increased in the same
proportion, wo may take, as a bhsis for our calculation,
the fact that the 12,000,000 of people in 1812, have in

1852 beeonle more than 20,000:000,*
Adopting the mode of calculating followed
in 1842, as an approximation to the
truth, we shall find that the total amount
of assessable income will now not be
less than . - £227,140,000
And of this amount the temporary incomes
from trades and professions will be

57,306,000

Leaving - - - - £169,834,000
of incomes liable to the higher scale of
taxation.
Therefore permanent incomes of 169,834,0001.
at 4 per cent. - - - . - £6
,793,000
And temporary incomes of 57,306,0001. at
2 per cent. -

1,146,000

Making a total of - - £7,939,000
Allowance is not made for a deduction of one-fourth
from the rentals of occupation, but I feel confident that
the margin is sufficient, and that the annual amount of the
tax may be fairly estimated at more than 8,000,000/. or
2,500,0001. than is at present raised by the tax on pro-
perty and income.
As there is a reasonable prospect from the increasing
prosperity of the country that the surplus revenue may
also amount to a large sum, we may hope that very
nearly 5,000,0001. of other taxes will be removed.
As it is of importance that the number of articles sub-
jected to taxation should be as few as possible, the first
item deserving our notice should bo that of
Produce in
1550.

Miscellaneus articles of customs and excise,
retaining only those which, for particular
reasons, may be necessary ..• •• •
Coffee is much consumed by the labouring
classes, and might be entirely freed from
duty

£716,047