The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-25 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 1863.

In the _House of Lords yesterday Earl RUSSELL,
in answer to a question from the Earl of SHAFTES-
BURY, said that the only information he had re-
ceived concerning the arrest of Poles in Prussia,
and the demand of the Russians for their surrender,
was contained in a despatch from Sir A. Buchanan,
who said that two Polish students had been
arrested and demanded by Russia, but that the
French Ambassador had claimed them as natura-
lised subjects of France, and that it was, therefore,
hoped the Russian demand would be refused.
The Births and Deaths Registration (Ireland)
Bill passed through committee, after some dis-
cussion on tho clauses.

Several other bills were forwarded a stage.

Lord LYVEDEN asked whether the Government
intended to reconsider that part of the act consti-
tuting the new administration of India as related to
the nomination, election, numbers, salaries, and re-
tiring allowances of the members of the Council of
India. He thought the present opportunity a
favourable one for revising the act and remodelling
it where it had proved faulty.
The Duke of ARGYLL said that the Government
did not propose to make any change. The act had
been fully considered by Parliament, and he thought
it worked well:

The Earl of ELLENBOBOUG expressed his satis-
faction at the statement of the noble duke.

Earl GREY presented petiticns from inhabitants
of Australia praying for alterations of the boun-
daries of the Australian colonies.
The Duke of NEWCASTLE said that the applica-
tions made for the formation of distinct colonies in
Australia were so numerous that it would be im-
possible to comply with them all until the different
districts should become more settled and more
populous. The progress of explorations, however;
had of late been so rapid, that he believed it would
in a short time be desirable to create the territory
to the south of the Gulf of Carpenteria into two new
colonies, one on the Albert River and the other on
the Victoria River. But, in the meantime, the for-
mer district would be annexed to Queensland, and
the latter to South Australia.

Their lordships then adjourned.
In the House of Commons,
Sir C. WOOD, in reply to a question from Mr.
Vausitturt, stated that he had not isaued instruc-
tions for the removal of the seat of Government in
the North-Western Provinces of India from Agra
to Allahabad.

On the motion of the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CHEQUER the Tobacco Duties Bill was read a third
timed and pasted.
Mr. CAW, in moving for papers respecting the
condition of natives of British India held to labour
in the Island of Reunion, said that he had learned
that they were reduced to a state of practreal sla•
very.

Mr. LAYARD said that it nppoarcd from the re-
ports of the British Consul that the conditiou of
these labourers vas lately much improved; and the
C:fonsul be;,4•lrettd opporiuuity of bette'
tremthent fur thew. It wl,l not 4lesir4hlts to vro-
duce the whol•, of the ;specs, but he way
to IskibrkAt them to itis hut,. irieudi anti try to
a
n"gt 'with him whAt puftiuns ahctild be fulde
public.

After some remarks from Sir N. Farquhar, Sir
J. Elphinatone, and Mr. Seymour,
Mr. CAvi expreesza his willingness to accept
Mr. Layard's otter.

The motion was then withdrawn.
Mr. HUBBARD moved the fonowin..
revolution :
"'That the incidence of an income-tax
toucuhpionng
netthe
products of invested property should gall
income, and thit the net amounts of industrial
earnings should, previous to assessment, be subjectto such an abatement as may equitab4 adjust the
burden thrown upon intelligence and skill as
compared with property." The hon. gentleman,
after having adverted to the great unpopularity of
the income-tax in its prt sent form, argued at con-
siderable length in favour of tho justice anti the
expediency of the change set forth in his present
proposal. He disclaimed any desire to mbar asq
the financial arrangements of the Governmez;t, and
contended that the House could accept his proposi-
tion without in any way compromising the projects
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Mr. LEATHAM seconded the motion.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that it
was not possible to Bevis•: an income taz that should
not be full of injustice and irregularities. Any alte-
ration such as that proposed by Mr. Hubbard would
not only be contrary to the authority of the most
experienced financers that had ever sat in that
House, but would merely substitute inequalities
that wero novel for those that were well known, and
on that account borne 'with less discontent. He
reminded. the House that select committees, after
the fullest int-L..11-y, bad. been adverse to the pro-

posed reform of the income tax, and had become
convinced that it was unwise to encourage schemes
that were impracticable. He objected to relieve
one class of the community at the expense of
another, and to putting his hand into the pocket
of one man for the purpose of placing its contents
at the disposal of another. It might be urged that
a surplus revenue might enable the matter to be
adjusted, but he held that when a surplus ap-
peared it should not be employed in exempting in-
dustrial incomes from taxation, but in doing jus-
tice to all classes who contributed to the public
revenue. The proposition of Mr. Hubbard would
entail a mass of inequalities and injustice ,Ifkm
which the present system, defective as it wks,4l3as
free, and he recommended the house not to, wiction
so dangerous,a principle.
Ater a feW words from Mr. HUBBARD in reply,
who complained that the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer had wholly omitted to answer any of his
arguments,
The house divided, and the resolution was
rejected by 118 to 70.

Lord R. MONTAGU moved two resolutions re-
specting the Appropriation Bill, which, after some
discussion, were carried.

The Limited Liability Amendment Bill was read
a second time.

Other business was then disposed of, and the
house adjourned at one o'clock.

As we anticipated, the debate on Mr. HUBBARD'S
motion terminated in its decisive defeat. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer has always supporters
enough in the Commons to enable him to resist
without much difficulty the attacks of adventurous
reformers upon his favourite hobby of direct taxa-
tion. The scheme of Mr. HUBBARD may not be
without imperfections. It may present inequali-
ties of its own, and be open to considerable im-
provement; but why does the Chancellor of the
Exchequer refuse to admit the justice of the prin-
ciple involved in it ? As a triumphal overthrow
of his adversary's arguments in favour of recog-
nising a distinction between the incomes derived
from trades and professions, and drawn from
permanent sources. Mr. GLADSTONE cited an ima-
ginary instance of a widow, with half-a dozen chil-
dren to educate, deriving an income of £2OO a-year
from the funds, and a City merchant with a clear
annual rental of £20,000, and gravely asserted that
it was proposed to increase the tax on the means of
the one for the sake of diminishing it on the other.
That this is an extreme case the warmest advocates
of Mr. GLADSTONE cau hardly venture to deny,
but, even taking it at his own reckoning, the
principle remains the same. Ten years hence the
income of the widow will be unchanged: ten years
hence a commercial crisis, a sudden panic, a
rash speculation may have left the merchant
prince a beggar. It is useless for the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer to take refuge in
convenient generalities, in assertions of the
injustice as well as impolicy of " taking from
one man to give another." The common sense of
mankind is against him, and the diffirence betweee
a snared rental, which no fluctuations of health or
commerce can affect, and an income wholly depen-
dent on the changes of trade, the vagaries of
fashion, the vicissitudes of health and strength,
is too self •evidant to be disproved ; and the in-
justice complained of by Mr. HUBBARD and Mr.
LEATHAM has been too widely felt to be disposed of
by the eloquent platitudes of Mr. GLADSTONE. We
agree with Mr. HUBBARD in anticipating a
final triumph for his cause, for the argu-
ments of his opponents cannot redeem the
present system of assessment from the charge
of cruel inequality. "I will never," said Mr.
HUBBARD, " acknowledge a defeat in numbers to be
a defeat in principle," and whatever the incomplete-
ness of Mr. HUBBARD'S proposed reform, we consider
the principle on which he based his motion to be
incontrovertible. Its justice has already been ad-
mitted by one financier, and we may surely hope
that is possible to combine due regard for
the interests of the national exchequer with
some consideration for the hardships of the
struggling professional classes. It is the obstinacy
of Governments in refusing to admit the manifest
inequalities of the existing system, that renders the
income tax the most odious of all financial burdens.
Its imposition is felt, as an eminent statesman of the
present day once said, to be " iniquitous, impolitic,
and unjust," and until our Chancellors of the Ex-
chequer show a little more readiness to redress the
grievances of the people, we can scarcely anticipate
that the Income-tax will be looked upon with more
favourable eyes.

It is satisfactoky to find that notwithstanding the
capture of LANGIF.WICZ, the Poles are continuing
the contest withUabated ardour, and with at least
partial success. We learn from Posen that two
engagements have:taken place in the Palatinate of
Kasai and Apatuoy, in both of which the Poles
were completely victorious. ,r4is proves an indo-
mitable spirit, that hopes against hope; as it were,
and perseveres, with the courage that is born of
despair, in advocating its just claims th'Ough sur-
rounded by unpropitious adjuncts. Europe looks
coldly on while the brave people are pouring out
their life blood to gain their independence, or at least
to offer up with their lives a protest against its vio-
lation. It appears that another engagement has
also taken place at Makorowo, but the result
is not yet known. It has, however, been ascertained
that a great number on both sides have been killed
and wounded, It is to be deeply regretted that it
I appears evident, from the news received from vari-
ous quarters, that the unhappy dissensions that of
old militated against the cause of the Poles still ;
exert their fatal influence. This is most lamentable,
and every means should be used to obviate the
least dkisension prevailing, when, if ever needed,
unanimity is indeed wanted. Nocausecanthriveifite
supporters cannot sgree, especially one so en virJned
by dangers and beset with difficulties ss that of the
Polish insurrection. A h0n.,,,,s divided against itself
cannot stand, we are told on the highest authority,
and these men should take this lesson to heart
before they attempt so arduous au undertaking. It
is a thousand pities to mar by their own fancies
or prejudices so noble a task, and so glorious an
endeavour. One thing, at all events, seems to pro-
raise well, and that is that the fall of LANGIEWICZ
has not damped the expectations of the troops. It
is stated in the Presse of Vienna that " all the chiefs
of the insurrection are convinced that it will hold
out for a long time yet. It was foreseen that
LANGIEWICZ would be beaten, but this does not
take from the insurrection anything of its intensity."
Thisis very satisfactory, since nothing could be more
disheartennig to the gallant chief himself than to
learn in his captivity that theater of the good cause
had waned on his defeat, and was threatening to
set altogether. The Czas of Cracow also refers to
the event in the same tone We know not who
will replace the Dictator, but the incident of the
19th is only an episode, and by no means the termi-
nation of the strife." Whatever may be the final re-
sult, for the present at all events, we see no reason
to fear the ignominious termination of the strife on
the part of the Poles. At all events if they are
forced to retire from their unequal strife, and cease
their arduous struggle, they will have won the
applause and approval of all true hearts; and no
civilised nation, and no free people in the world,
but will accord them their sympathy, and pray tha
on another occasion they may snoceed better when

~~

they take up arms in the sacred cause of pro aris et
foci&

Since writing the above we have received a tele-
gram that conveys the intelligence of a victory for
the Poles, Prince WITTGENSTEIN was taken prisoner
by the insurgents, having been wounded. The
loss by the Russians appears to have been
very great. This intelligence must renew the
hopes of all doubting and wavering spit its, and let
us trust that it may be a happy augury for the
4,uture as regards this heroic and persecuted people.

Since CAVOUR'S death, matters have fared ill
with the Italian Government. The greatness of
the dead statesman has been increasingly demon-
strated since then by the failure one after another
of his surviving successors. RICASOLI, the last
amongst atem, gave way, after he had been but a
comparatively brief while in power, before the in-
trigues of RATTAZZI. The latter himself succumbed,
as we know, to the force ofj*vents—dragging
down GARIBALDI from the fatalheight of Aspro-
monte, but being himself dragd down in the
very act, as it were, of effecting the great Condot-
tieri's overthrow by means of the Bersaglieri, under
PALLAVICINO. It was then, when Fortune failed
to sustain RATTAZZI in power at Turin, that the re-
sponsibility of the Presidency over the affairs of the
embarrassed Government of Italy devolved, for
another interval, upon FARINI. That passing in-
terval has now abruptly closed in its turn. MIN -
GHETTT, in obedience to the will of VICTOR EM-
MANUEL, has assumed his place as President of the
Ministerial Council, still retaining, however, as a
trust of especial importance, the Portfolio of Finance.
Rumours were flying about Turin, only yesterday,
to the effect that it was not FARINI who had ten-
dered his resignation, and what is more, had had that
resignation of his accepted. PASOLINI also was
not only reported to have intimated his desire to be
allowed to withdraw from the administration ; his
resignation was formally announced in the Chamber
of Deputies yesterday by the new premier, Signor
MTNGHETTI. The ministry of Marine, moreover,
was said to have been placed within reach of the
acceptance of Signor SELLA. The Secretary-General,
namely the VISCONTI VENOM, was likewise an-
nounced by the Premier MINGHETTI from his place
in the Chamber of Deputies, as the newly
appointed minister for Foreign Affairs. It
is consequently a more or less radical change
in the arrangement of the principal offices of the
Administration that has recently taken place.
It is rot the incident, simply, of one Minister, but
of several Ministers resigning, and being replaced
by outsiders, if not members of the Opposition. At
the same time, it is next to impossible to believe,
for an instant, that there is being effected,
or that there is about to be effected, any
appreciable change whatever in the policy
of the Italian Government, We take the
occurrences we are alluding to, on the contrary, to
mean—if they mean anything whatever in the way
of real significance—that it is precisely because
there is to be no change at all in that policy, that
FARINI and PASOLINI had tendered their resigna-
tions, giving way in turn—the latter to YEN OSA,
the former to MINGHETTI.

A do•nothing policy, there, lends no charm,
in fact, to the retention of office by an ener-
getic, much more, be it said, by an ardently
patriotic statesman. Months flit by with the whole
powers of the State in comparative inaction— 1862
merges into 1863—winter gives place to spring—
and still the southern provinces of the new
Italian Kingdom are held in allegiance solely under
the pressure of a. military occupation ! 8 till the
nominally coalesced principalities straggling down
the length of the Peninsula, skirting round the
Papal States, linking together the once Kingdom
of the Two Sicilies with the some time Austrian
province of Lombardy, and with the now expanded
and dominant Sovereignty of Piedmont—still all
these heterogeneous portions of the newly
defined Kingdom of Italy fail to combine
and blend
.together harmoniously ! Still, above
all, the fortresses of the Quadrilateral are
occupied by their German garrisons. Venetia is
still held by Austria as an integral part of her
dominions. For two years consecutively not an
inch of ground in advance has been gained by the
Italian Government. Ever since CATOUR'S death,
to reiterate for a moment the remark with which
we commenced—ever since the death of Count
CATOUR, the Liberator of Lombardy, the Obtainer of
Savoy and Nice, has had " his will" as completely as
the "Ancient Mariner" in the ballad of COLERIDGE.
CANUTE has placed his curule chair adroitly upon
the verge of the line of high water mark, and there
with a very grandoise affectation of supreme power
has said to the waves of the Italian Revolution,
" Advance no further !" Thaw waves have ever
since then been boiling and surging in vain against
the rocky barrier of the formidable and all but im-
pregnable fortifications of the Quadrilateral. They
have chafed and foamed as vainly around
the central Ararat, And all the while
the impression produced upon the mind
of the superficial spectator has been, nay, still is—
that the CANUTE of France, who sits there upon his
throne of State to the west—high and dry, as we
have said, above high water mark—ia "monarch of
all he surveys," is lord even and master of that
stormy sea of . the Italian Nationality ! " Thus far
shalt thou go, and no further ! " And the tide—as
if in obedienae to the Imperial mandate—goes no
further. It lashes vainly at the base of the Quadri-
lateral. It rages innocuously around the Ararat. A
change, if change there is to come in all this, must
come perforce from an authority superior in puis-
sance even to hia Imperial Majesty of France,
NAPOLEON 111. It must be the result of the rising
of some new hurricane of events. It rntiq ba pro-
nounced—that new and more potent ull-tudatc than
any affected to be uttered by ibt. French Ljovereigt•
—it must, on the contrary, b?, articulated by the
fox Populi, said awfully by the proverb to
be the Vox Dei, If uttered at all—this
final mandate for which Italy, for which Europe,
has so long been waiting and listening in eager
expectation—it must so be uttered ! Yes—thus
and thus only will it be uttered—if at all !

The Europe of Frankfort gives an analysis of
the despatch upon the 13,)1ish question addressed
by Earl Russell, on the sth March, to the Russian Govern-
ment and the other Powers who signed the Treaty of
Vienna. The suggestions contained in this document are
stated to be as follows :-Ist. An immediate amnesty in
favour of the insurgent Poles ; 2d. The realisation of the
promises made by the Emperor Alexander I. to the Poles
in his celebrated proclamation of the month of November,
1815 ; 3d. The immediate convocation of the Polish Diet.
The departure from :it. Petersburg- of Count
Thun, the Austrian Minister at the Court of Russia,
is an event which had Lem anticipated for some time, and
has no peculiar significance at the present moment. Count
Thun will no doubt be speedily replaced by- another diplo-
matist. Although the relations between Austria and
Russ'a are not just now of the most cordial character, the
present arrangement cannot in any way ba considered as
indicating increased coolness.

EMIGRATION MEMORIAL TO TIIE LORD MAYOR.
AND THE MANSION HOUSE COMMITTEE.,—Last ENTII-
ing a meeting of the Lancashire Relief Committee of the
parish of St. Paul, Covent-garden, was held in the vestry,
the Rev. S. M. Mayhew presiding. A. long memorial was
prepared and agreed to, urging upon the Mansiod :house
Committee that a portion of the funds now in hand should
be applied for the purpose of assisting some of the distressed
operatives to emigrate to British colonies. It was resolved
that a deputation should wait upon the Lord Mayor to pru-
swat the memorial.

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