The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-27 00:00:00

doubts, and svarn!ngs from the jealous spirit of lo-
calism whico the surveillance of Solt;era 'Elise in-
spotors, and the veto of Somerset house authorities
had filled with alarm. Experience has indeed done
much to abate this feeling of hostility. Grail!, cor-
rective good has' been undoubtedly accomplished;
and the conciliatory temper in which the administra-
tion of the department has been of late years con-
ducted has disarmed many of the most suspicious de-
fenders of parochial independency. It is a mistake,
however, to suppose that hscatuas one peculiar and
dangerous malady has been cured by doses of Cen-
tralic Acid, we are at all disposed to extend its use
to less urgent cases, or to consent to its being mingled
with our ordinary food. 'The deadliest poisons are
wisely resorted to on rare occasions, but even then
they are employed with infinite reserve ; none but a
quack would think of prescribing their unnecessary
use, and none but fools would submit to be so
drenched with them And a surer or more deadly
political poison than centralisation society has never
been known. Yet this is one of the nostrums recklessly
recommended by the great quack doctor now in vogue
with the country gentlemen—the celebrated mesme-
riser to whom they have blindly surrendered them-
selves. We do not profess to be in the secrets of the
Tory camp, but we may venture to foretell that, should
the present Ministy remain in power, a Bill will be
introduced during the coming session, proposing that
what are termed the Establishment Charges Of the
poor-law should be paid out of the Consolidated Fund,
thereby exonerating the localities from a certain por-
tion of the rates which they are now by law obliged
to provide for by self-assessment in the olden way.
The poor stupid squires will be made to believe, for
the time being, that their broad acres being relieved
to the extent of three halfpence or twopence in the
pound, they will, at the end of the year, be just so
many three half-pennies the richer; and they will
cheer and shout at the notion of getting so much in the
way of compensation of the industrious classes of the
community, who took from them their precious right
to tax the people's food, quite forgetting that if
500,0001. additional be added to the list of Civil Con-
tingencies, new taxes in some form must be imposed
on the entire community in order to provide for the
same. Many of the squires no doubt believe that the
Consolidated Fund is a sort of miraculous mulch cow
that never goes dry ; and that whenever their cupidity
happens to be thirsty, it is only necessary to order
another pail to be filled for their special and separate
use. The official dairymen declare that no supposi-
tion can be more utterly groundless, and that in point
of fact they are frequently in great fear lest the pro-
duce should not be sufficient to enable them to supply
the demands of those to whom they are already under
engagements. To speak plainly ; if any further por-
tion of local burthens be transferred to the general
taxation, new taxes either on property or on industry
must be imposed. We need hardly pause to ask whe-
ther the former alternative is likely to be resorted to by
the present advisers of the Crown. They have in-
veighed against the property and income-tax that
now exists for ten long years, and they would abo-
lish it to-morrow, if they dared. Mr. Herries ac
tually proposed, in the session before last, to apply
the surplus in the Exchequer to its partial liquida-
tion ; and the whole Protectionist party voted that it
ought to be gradually put an end to. What, then, is
to be done ? Mr. Disraeli is pledged against each
and every one of the excise duties, and he has always
maintained that Lord George Bentinck's was the
best and soundest theory of finance—that, namely,
which would emancipate domestic industry from all
restrictions, and rely on import duties wholly
for the vast revenue we require. The ad-
ditional half million, therefore, cannot come
out of an increased excise. There remains
but one resource—some novel impost on our
foreign trade. Which of the many articles freed
from the fiscal yoke by Sir Robert Peel is to be sa-
crificed once more to propitiate the landlords, time
will soon reveal. We pass to other, and, if possible,
more serious considerations- Let the fatal prece-
dent be once set for centralising the taxation and
expenditure necessary for purely local purposes, and
what is to prevent the gradual absorption of the
whole into the annual estimates of the Empire ?
Some giddy or ignorant talker may exclaim—" The
fear is idle—no man in his senses could be found to
propose it." Is he quite sure of that ? Or does he
not know that the proposal of a national rate for the
support of the poor has actually been made—aye,
and very recently too—in deliberate and well con-
sidered form, by one of the most prominent members
of the present administration? We allude to the Noble
Earl who fills the post of Secretary.of State for:Foreign
Affairs. A Select Committee was appointed in the
course of last year by the House of Lords to inquire
into the nature and method of levying local assess-
ments. It consisted of many distinguished indivi-
duals, and, amongst others, of Lord Malmesbury.
The evidence taken by it was highly curious and
important, especially that given by Mr. C. Lewis,
whose large experience and powers of observation
enabled him to state, as he did most clearly, the diffi-
culties and dangers of a centralised system of poor
relief. Nevertheless. at the close of the proceedings,
Lord Alalmesbury placed on recoid Li 3 ,ouviction
that a national rate for the maintenance of the desti-
tute, and a centralised administration for its disburse-
ment throughout the kingdom, amenable to a great
functionary sitting in London, was the best remedy
for the existing inequalties of rating, and that it
ought to be adopted by Parliament. This then is
what we are drifting towards. The transfer of the
Establishment charges is only the first step; but it is
a step which, once taken, will inevitable be followed
by each successive Government that may come into
power, for sake of the ever-expanding range of pat-
ronage and influence it too palpably tends to afford.

THE REGISTRATIONS.

CITY OF LONDON.-SATURDA.Y.

The revising barrister sat this morning, and con-
cluded the revision of the lists for the city of London.
Mr. Sydney Smith, the agent for the Liberal interest,
then addressed the Court, and stated that the account
of claims and objections upon the whole of the lists
stood as follows:—Claims by the Liberals, allowed 38,
disallowed 33. Claims by the Conservatives, allowed 1,
disallowed 3. Objections by the Liberals, sustained
477, failed 31. Objections by the Conservatives, sus-
tained 443, failed 137. Objections by both parties,
sustained 211, failed 4. Upon a comparison with pre-
vious years it appeared that in 1851 the Liberal claims
allowed amounted to 43, disallowed 24. The Conserva-
tive claims allowed 1, end failed 6. The Liberal objec-
tions sustained were 613, and failed 54. Conservative
objections, sustained 623, failed 119. Objections by
both parties, sustained 240, failed 2. In 1851
' the Liberal claims sustained were 42, failed
18. Conservative claims, allowed 1, failed 3.
Objections by the Liberals. sustained 538, failed
83. Objections by the Conservatives, sustained
576, failed 161. Objections by both parties, sustained
180, failed 8. It would be seen by this comparison that
the number of claims and objections had gradually di-
minished. In 1850 the claims and objections, by both
sides amounted to 1,726; in 1851, to 1,611; and in the
present year to 1,378 only. This was to be attributed to
the improvement in the manner of making out the lists
of vcters, and also to what ho considered to be the sound
policy of the Legislature in retaining the same barrister
to revise the lists in one district, and to the same agents
being engaged on each side, by which means the rules
laid down for the guidance of all parties were well un-
derstood. There only remained for him the pleasing
task of thanking the barrister for the satisfactory man-
ner in which the court had been presided ever.
Mr. Brown, the Conservative agent, having added a
few words,
The BARRISTER said he coincided in the remarks
made by Mr. Smith as to the improvement in the method
of making out the lists, and he returned thanks to the
agents on both sides for the assistance they had rendered
to the court.