The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-04 00:00:00

ettentita auit

LONDON, MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1852.

In recent remarks on the hereditary pensions, out
of the Excise and Post-office, to the ducal house of
GRAFTON, we by no means made as much of the case
as we might have done. The plain facts were suffi-
cient. Nothing need go beyond the undeniable truth.
that King CHARLES the SECOND, one hundred and
seventy years ago, threw his natural son on this
tax-ridden country, by granting him a pension of
7,1911. 12s. out of the Excise ; that he gave a further
pension of 3,4071. 10z. out of the Post-office ; that
these two pensions, of 10,5991. 25., were given, not
for the life of the grantee alone, bat made heredi-
tary in bis family ; that the present Duke receives
th'ls 10,599/. 23. every year of his life; that it will be
receivable by all future Dukes, and that, incredible
as it may appear, the Dukes of GRAFTON
have already received as much money from this
grant as, at accumulating interest, would now amount
to over 1,200,000,000/., or more than one and a half
thc- entire National Debt. It is too much to expect,
we fear, that the Duke of GRAFTON will follow the
noble example of the late Marquis CAMDEN, who
voluntarily surrendered to the public the net re-
ceipts of his sinecure Tellership of the Exche-
quer, amounting to an average of more than twenty
thousand a year.
!pais case of the Duke of GrasTrovr, bad as it is,
does not stand alone. The 10,599/. 25., which the
f,',AAFTON family have taken out of the pockets of the
people, year after year, since the time of King
CHARLES, has beers spent in this country, at all
events. But, about the year 1690, an hereditary
pension of 2,9001, was granted by WILLIAM
111. to tho Duke of SCHOMBERO, second in
command at the battle of the Boyne.
Not one penny of all this money has
been spent in this country. For more than one
hundred and sixty years, this Dutch family have
annually received :1,900/ of our hard English
money—they have actually pocketed over
-166,000/.1
which, at accumulating interest, would have amounted
to sufficient to enable the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER to give up the heaviest taxes in his
Budget, and the worst of it is that these pensions—
unless cut off by Parliament—are to last for ever.
Earl COWPER is another of these perpetual blisters.
Fur what services, we know not, this nobleman's
ancestors received a grant of 1,595/. 16s. from the
Dutch Monarch, who was so very liberal of—other
people's money. The Cowraa family, who rank among
the wealthy nobles of the land, have thus conde-
scended to receive a gross sum of over 250,000/. from
this hereditary pension, and they will gladly take it
while one of them remains.

There is another nobleman quartered on the Post-
office. This is the Duke of MARLBOROUGH, to whom
Queen ARNE granted an hereditary pension of 4,000/
a-year—which, in truth, forms the chief means of
his support. jOIIN CituacniLL, Duke of Marlbo-
re.ugh, was a distinguished General, and was well
paid for it, in his day. But it. is " too bad" that his
descendants, for as long as a CHURCHILL may breathe,
shall thus be quartered on the public. Already over
half a million sterling has been paid on 'this account.
Among the Hereditary Pensions, we find the sum
of 1,200/: a-year payable to the “Amignees of the
late eitißLEs BooNE." It may be askod who is this
Boone companion ? That question is: more easily
asked than answered. A curious pl,.ice of family
history is involved in it. There was once a famous
" patriot" called FULTEREY, who was the opponent of

Sir ROBERT WALPOLE, the Premier who boasted that,
in the House of Commons of that time, " Every man
had his price." It is to be presumed that PULTE-
NET'S was ascertained, for in later years this patriotic
and independent statesman relinquished h opposi-
tion, and (to use SHERIDAN'S expressive phrase) " hid
his bead in a coronet," and became
Earl of BATH.
Contemporary history tells us that he still affected
to maintain a show of independence, and an
appearance of holding
Minister at arm's len the Court and the
gtb.
applied to the Minister Wanting money, he
for a grant, and was given an
hereditary pen
concealing the 1,200/ a year. Desirous of
sfisocnt oof
his thus living a pensionary of
the Crown, and anxious to realize a round sum of
money, he sold his interest in the grant to one
CHARLES BOONE, for somewhat about 30,0001. The
ns was then granted in the name of and to the
family pension
CHARLES BOONE, and the public were thus
kept in the dark as to the connexion of PULTENEY
Earl of Bath, with the Crown as a pensioned patriot
The grant has already been in operation for somewhat
like a century—so that the " patriotism" of PULTENEY
has already cost the country 190,000/.
We have only entered into this fruitful subject—
not sufficiently to show in what manner the public
money has been thrown away. The public, who feel
no personal interest in the Duke of GRAFTON,
the Duke of MARLBOROUGH, the Duke of
SCROMBEEG, Earl COWPER, or "the executors of
the late CHARLES BOONE," have a right to
complain of this waste of their money. And
though it might be disagreeable to those noble and
illustrious personages to do without the snug pensions
which are heir-looms in their families, justice requires
that the grants should be subjected to the strictest
examination, and, if necessary, immediately cancelled.
It is no justification whatever that those people have
had from one hundred to one hundred and eighty
years' posPession and advantage of these grants. So
much the better for them, so much the worse for the
public. The long continuance of a nuisance is no
reason whatever why its abolition should not take
place. We trust that Mr. HUME, or some other Re-
former, will take up the subject, and face it boldly.
Such things are sufficient to create the popular dis-
content which, in some countries, has eventuated in
Revolution. It is monstrous to think of such things
being continued, under a Parliament supposed to be
Reformed.

The re-adjustment of the income-tax offers an ex-
cellent opportunity for a simple and satisfactory re-
adjustment of the suffrage also. Three things, at
least, appear to be pretty well settled in the public
mind—one, that the tax cannot be dispensed with,
for it will never be endured that any of the ar-
ticles which have escaped Custom-house annoy-
ances should be again subjected to them, and dis-
pensing with the tax by economy is, we suppose,
quite out of the question ; a second is, that if
retained it must be rendered as equitable as possible,
and the possibility of making it at least twice as
equitable as it now is, has been fully demon-
strated. A third point, on which all the present
payers of the tax are agreed, is that it ought to be ex-
tended to all incomes which are above what is deemed
sufficient to support a working man and his family.
We know of but one objection to this, and that is, that
the articles which are consumed as largely by the work-
ing man as by the rich man, or even more so, are
just those by which the largest revenue is raised, and
that, therefore, the lower we descend, the higher we
find incomes taxed, indirectly. The answer seems
short ; to abolish by the increased income-tax these
duties which press most heavily on the working man's
comforts ; and to give trade and the country the
benefit of increased imports, and consequent increased
demand for British manufacturers, and the saving of
the cost of collection. We will assume, however, that
there can hardly be a question respecting the necessity
of extending the tax least obstructive of commerce,
and most cheaply and easily collected, as widely as
possible. Now, it has often been suggested, even under
the present income-tax, that every one who pays it
should have a vote, nor can we conceive that anything
could have prevented the cordial adoption of so
reasonable a proposition, but the little-minded and
selfish opposition of the late Premier. No one might
touch the Reform Bill but himself ; and apparently
to gratify this silly vanity neither income-tax payers
nor ten-pound householders in counties, might have
votes. It would seem, however, that nothing would
combine more unquestionable qualifications for a vote
than payment of the income-tax. We mean, of
course, in the view of those who insist upon a pro-
perty qualification and object to universal or manhood
suffrage. If extended as far as Mr. Husia's report
(which appeared at length in The Sun of the 31st of
July) proposes, it would comprehend all the better off
among the working classes—all that well-satisfied,
and often intelligent, portion of them whicphhysialiscas
little given to change, and as averse to it
force " agitation, as the middle classes, or the
aristocracy themselves. No one, indeed, could
pretend " danger to the Constitution," or
" danger to the Throne," from that class of operatives
which any income-tax would reach. Then what
.2
recommendation would the simplicity of such a quail-
fioation be. Mr. COBDEN, in defending a suffrage
based on the payment of poor-rates, always contended
that we must have a more simple and easier mode of
registration ; and that although a few might be casually
left out who ought to be in, yet that the rate-book
would be a register free from all doubt or complexity.
It is already made use of (thanks again to the perti-
nacity of Lord JOHN RUSSELL) as a fertile source of
annoyance and disfranchisement; but, adopted as a
register, it would be the very reverse. This is a
very important point to the comfort of electors, and
indeed to giving us the full constituency indicated by
the Reform Bill itself. Thousands of votes
are lost, because persons will not submit
to the loss of time and unpleasantness of waiting
for hours in a Registration Court. And where the
cases are defended, our columns at the present time
will show, that the majority of persons who cannot
sustain their vote, lose it through some worthless in-
s formality, being meanwhile of the very class which
the Reform Bill proposed to enfranchise. It is surely
high time that all this were done away with. The
battle of the Constitution ought not to be fought in the
Registration Courts, but at the hustings. The vic-
not to depend upon the cavils of lawyers,
tory ought
and the unscrupulousness of paid objectors or claim-
ants, but upon the votes of those who have a tight
from their social position to the suffrage. The rate-
book would certainly accomplish this ; and the
parish collectors, with the receipt papers of
the past year, would render personation al-
most impossible. And equally simple, equally
efficacious to prevent imposture and harassing liti-
gation, would be the income-tax collector's book and
receipt. Indeed it would seem that on this plan the
present costly system of Revising Barristers might be
entirely dispensed with, and the existing local officers
do the whole of the work. It is quite certain that no
false claims would be made, and the lists of persons
assessed to the income-tax, and therefore entitled to a
vote, being printed, it might even bring to light some
few individuals not hitherto honoured with the
annual visit of her MAJESTY'S tax•collector. We
can readily conceive of one objection on the Radical
side, and one objection only; that the suffrage would
not descend sufficiently low. We think we
might
even meet these gentlemen, and meet
them in a way which would, perhaps,
not even alarm those who rejoice in the title of Li-
beral Conservatives. In theory, it would be best by
pecuniary wants of the state, en-
far to supply the
tirely, by direct taxation. In that case, as even those
who in no reasonable sense possess property, would
yet enjoy protection of life, they ought to pay some-
thing. Indeed there should be a uniform poll-tax for
the equal protection of life which all enjoy, and a
property-tax graduated according to the kind and
amount of property for which protection is asked.
The only objection to such a poll-tax under a large
extension of the income-tax, is that it is paid already
by the poor man's consumption of tea or tobacco;
supposing, however, these duties largely reduced or
abolished, through the increased amount of the in-
come-tax, a small poll-tax might yet be added, say,
five or ten shillings, or half-a-crown, if it were pre-
ferred, for each individual. Then, again,
it might be
left optional with all persons not assessed to the in-
come-tax, to pay this poll-tax or not, as they
pleased. Some may smile at the idea of a volun-
tary tax. Few, it will be said, would
pay it to acquire a vote ; well, our Tory friends

would say, so much th? better ; the country could
dispense with their wisdom. And our Radical
friends must own, if the poll-tax were low, that the
persons refusing to pay it did not value very highly
the privilege of a vote. There is indeed another ob-
jection, supposable, to the scheme of such voluntary
poll-tax voters, namely, that a rich candidate would
qualify them, and then bribe them in a mass, or inti-
midate them if dependent on him. We reply, we do
not dream of another Reform Bill without th 4
An extended suffrage without, is, as has been truly
said, only an extended curse to its possessors. In the
suggestion now made we cannot be charged
with constitution-mongering, hardly even with
Radicalism. Household suffrage, with the
rate-book as a register, is but a local tax-paying
suffrage. Income-tax voting has, moreover, been
proposed already. We only add further, that direct
universal taxation, or nearly that, if adopted, fur-
nishes an excellent means to carry out one of our
oldest constitutional maxims, that taxation and repre-
sentation should be co-extensive. We almost think
that the repeal of some excise or customs duties, con-
nected with such a simplification of their claim to a
vote as that new suggested, would go far to reconcile
those who do not now pay the income-tax to an ex-
tension of it which would include them. At all
events, if the principle were settled that payment of
direct Government taxes to some amount was to be
in future the title to the vote, we should be troubled
with no more demands for an extension of the
suffrage.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of Saturday
and yesterday.
The Government have received the following dis-
patches :
" Montpellier, Oct. 2, Six in the Morning.
" The Prince after the dinner at the prefecture went
to the ball at the theatre, where his Highness was
greeted with enthusiasm. He went round the ball-room
saluted by the persons present with a thousand cries of
'Vive l'Empereur."
" Marseilles, Oct, 1, Half-past Nine in the Morning.
" The Prince set off yesterday morning for Aix. He
visited on his way the aqueduct of Roquefaveur. The
mayor and the municipal council of Marseilles had pro-
ceeded to the spot to compliment the Prince and do him
the honours of this magnificent monument, which was
raised at the expense of the commune of Marseilles. His
Highness examined it with care, and testified his admi-
ration. Ho presented the cross of the Legion of Honour
to the engineer who planned and executed the aqueduct.
" The Prince, who is in excellent health, afterwards
continued his route to Nimes, where he would arrive at
two o'clock. He was everywhere received witifilties of
Viva l'Empereur "
" Montpellier, Oct. 1, Half-past Two.
" The Prince arrived at the terminus at half-past
twelve. He was received amidst cries a thousand times
repeated of Vive l'Empereur!' The crowd was im-
mense on this passage, and the people were animated
with an indescribable enthusiasm. From the railway
the Prince went to the Cathedral, where he was received
by tho bishop, surrounded by his clergy. The Prince
has just entered the
prefecture. There a bouquet and
grapes were offered to him by a group of young girls
dressed in white, amidst cries of Viva l'Empereur!'
" Four, v. It.

" The Prince has just been present at the siege of the
citadel. He was received, as in the morning, with
Vive l'Empereur!' The tiling off of the people is be-
ginning at the Peyron."
M. REGAUD) Mayor of the city of Aix, and
Deputy, delivered to the PRINCE the following ad-
dress :

" Prince, welcome amongst us. The inhabitants of
the city of Aix are anxious to receive worthily the
nephew of the Emperor, the saviour of France, and
their generous benefactor. The railway to our town,
and the restoration of the tobacco culture to us, are
a guarantee that you will not forget us in the
important question of a canal to bring the
waters of the Verdon into oar streets and country dis-
tricts. The city of Aix was formerly the capital of
Provence, the residence of a king and the country of
knights and troubadours. Fallen from its ancient splen-
dour it has afforded itself consolation by its cultivation
of literature and of the arts. It has constantly remained
devoted to the ideas of order, authority, and power.
Prince, you are at present the representative of these
ideas in Franca. May God watch over your life, for
never, perhaps, did the fate of a great nation depeud so
mach as at present on a single head. Sach are the wishes
and sentiments which I have the honour of expressing to
you in my own name, in that of the municipal council.
and in that of the whole town of which I express the
sentiments."

The PRINCE replied—
" Monsieur le Maire,—l thank you for the sentiments
you have expressed towards me. I shall be happy to
have it in my power to contribute to the prosperity of
your town by a branch line of railway, and the resto-
ration of the cultivation of tobacco. I have the most
ardent desire to see all the great towns of France united
together by lines of railway, as all the men of order
and devotedness to the cause of the country are united
by the generous sentiments whioh you have just ex-
pressed towards me." _

The passage of the PRINCE PRESIDENT through
Avignon was marked by an act of reparation, which
consisted in restoring the Sisters of Saint Joseph,
who in 1844 and 1845 had been driven from their
convent, which bad been converted into an hospital
for the Vieillards de la Charite, and which in its
turn had been converted into the communal barracks.
At the earnest request of Mgr. DESIELAY, Arch-
bishop of Avignon, their convent is to be immediately
restored to them, the PRINCE having in person an-
nounced the event, in a visit which he made to the
establishment. The news was received with loud
acclamations, the multitudes crying out "His uncle
gave us these good sisters ; he has restored them to
us I May God bless him for so doing I"
The following is the text of the decree signed by the
PRINCE PRESIDENT at Toulon :
" Louis Napoleon, President of the French Republic,
wishing to give to the town of Toulon the development
which the importance of its population, and the rank
which this great military port occupies in our national
glories and wealth, have long demanded, on the report of
the Minister Secretary of State of War, decrees :—Art. 1.
The fortified enceinte of the town of Toulon shall be
immediately increased. The bases of this enlargement
shall be established according to the Bill presented the
17th May, 1846.—Art. 2. The Minister Secretary of
State of War is charged with the execution of the pre-
sent decree. Given at Toulon, 28th September.
" LOUIS NAPOLEON.
(Countersigned) "A. DE ST. A RNA.UD,
Minister of War."

The Bishop of MARSEILLES has received from the
PRINCE PRESIDENT the cross of the Legion of
Honour.

According to a letter from Marseilles, the window
of the room in which it was intended to place the
infernal machine, was to have been masked by a
large eagle, the out-spread wings of which were so
contrived that by touching a spring they would have
folded together, and unmasked the murderous ma-
t chine.
A letter from Paris, in the Independanee of Brus-
sels, says :—" I am informed that the PRINCE will
again leave Paris immediately after his return, but
he will not go to St. Cloud. He is expected at Fon-
tainebleau on the 20th, to enjoy the pleasures of the
chase. His carriages, horses, and dogs, have been
already sent there. The PRINCE will have numerous
visitors, and the hunts will be organized on a princely
scale. The Palace of Fontainebleau has been re-
paired, and a part of the old furniture which had been
removed to the Garde Illeuble of the Crown, has
been replaced in its original position. Crowned eagles
are to be seen in every direction."
The Constitutionnel contains a short article in favour
of ten hours' labour per day in factories. It points
to the reductions made in England and Belgium in
that respect, and is of opinion that the same practice
might be safely introduced into France. The Pays
makes the late tour of the Emperor of AUSTRIA in
Hungary the text for an article, in which it indicates
pwoi
itnht
sa
oconsiderable shareewhich
of
obit ingenuitydeolaresextishte
between
France and Austria at the present moment. In both
countries the Head of the State, it remarks, has
thought fit to make a tour through part of the terri-
tory, and has everywhere been greeted with acclama-
tions. Even the parts of the country which not long
since were most marked by revolutionary doctrines,
have yielded to the general impulse, and afforded their
meed of acclamation. The inference which the Pays
comes to from all this is that the principle of authority
has been again recognised in the two countries,
and that neither of them is likely to again
fall so easily into their late errors. The Union,
referring to some remarks of the Assembles
Nationale relative to the loan of forty millions
declares that it
when 'on the throne of Portugal,
contracted by Don MiGuEL in the year 1832,
quite a green with that journal in considering the
debt to be perfectly legal, and one which Portugal is
fairly ci tiled on to reimburse.
The SiMe, referring to the late condemnation of
MM. F.'OUGERE and JOURDAN, two of the gentle-
men con nected with that journal, to a heavy fine for
an offence against the laws of the press, takes occa-
sion to remark on the exceedingly difficult position
in which the French newspapers are at present placed,
and to call for some modification in the existing laws
on the' press.
The Journal des DObats has some remarks on the
Ministerial crisis in Belgium, but its article is not of
any g teat interest, being mostly of a speculative
characi .er.

BASIN ESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
I 40NDON STOCK EXCHANGE, Oc'r. 2.
ndian Peninsula, 7%--Grand Junction of France, 5%
_
Char] eroi and Erquelines, I.6%—Dijon and Besancon, 3
B—Madras, 7y, —Namur and ;Liege (with
interest),. Byi —Northern of France, 2814—Paris and Lyons,
GrLeau
eLabourg
23y—Paris and Rouen, 35 —Paris and Strasbourg, 30—
Great
L ,
Farb, OMR, and Cherbourg, 6 %.•-lioueu And Lliwre, 16ys.