The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATUIIDA.Y EVENING, MATICI-I 21, 1363.

least, that this time—in regard to a grievance
that has at length become not only so
notorious, but so wholly odious and unendurable
as this double grievance of a mistaken Prison Dis-
cipline, and an ill-arranged system of Penal Ser-
vitude—the House of Commons will no longer
tolerate the usual hocus peens of an inoperative
Commission. The grievance is, surely, too great
and too flagrant to allow of its being any longer
thus quietly, and (es it could alone be if allowed to
pass) disgracefully cushioned by another of these
delusive Commissions. There are men in the House
of Commons, we trust, who will not submit to re-
main apathetic spectators of a repetition of official
proceedings like these, proceedings so seriously
detrimental to the public interests, and so directly
insulting also, we cannot but think, to the dignity
and to the common sense of the Legislature.

We are glad to see that the inequalities of the
Income-tax are not to be left altogether unnoticed
this session. Mr. HUBBARD returns to the charge,
and will move on Tuesday next, "That the inci-
dence of an Income-tax touching the products of
invested property should fall upon net income, and
that the net amounts of industrial earnings should,
previous to assessment, be subject to such an
abatement as may equitably adjust the burthen
thrown upon intelligence and skill, as compared with
property." The principle embodied in this motion
is one which we have always strenuously advocated,
and it seems strange that its manifest justice and
common sense has not secured the support of
the majority of the members of the Lower
House. The difference existing between the
real value of an income derived from secure and
permanent sources, such as landed property,
or funded investments, and the fluctuating means
of a professional man or a clerk, whose earnings
are dependent on individual health and strength
as well as on the caprice of the public, is so very
evident and unquestionable, that it seems at first
sight marvellous that they should ever have
been rated together. The owner of a
small secured property may lose his health
or his eyesight with impunity, so far as his means
of livelihood are concerned, but he who earns his
living by daily or weekly exertion must pay the
same amount, although he knows that next year
his income may be reduced to nothing. The sum
extorted from him by the Commissioners would
serve to effect an insurance for his family, but the
House of Commons, consisting, for the most
part, of men happily independent of
such considerations, refuses to deal with
the grievance. Year by year it has been
spoken of, and cast aside to be considered some other
time. The wrongs of property are more likely to
be heeded than the claims of " intelligence and
skill," but we should hope Mr. HUBBARD'S measure
would find some earnest supporters. The case is
so simple and self-evident that the mast
thoughtless can at once perceive the injus-
tice, so easily rectified that the most indifferent
can find a remedy. In commercial dealings the
probable duration of an engagement is always
taken into account in considering its value, and
surely the uncertain tenure of life incomes should
weigh in the official scale. Mr. HUBBARD'S mo-
tion is very fairly worded and deserves support,
but we can scarcely hope that Mr. GLADSTONE
will adopt the principle set forward. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer, it is known,
has a particular affection for the income-
tax as it stands. We may remember the
reluctance with which he told us he had abandoned
the delightful vision of a shilling income-tax, so
easily calculated, and giving such delighttul re-
turns. Any interference with his favourite branch
of taxation is always very ungraciously received,
and we are therefore not sanguine about the result
of Mr. HUBBARD'S sensible and appropriate motion.
The answer will inevitably be that all such mat-
ters will be discussed in the approaching Budget,
and the result of that Budget will most likely leave
precarious and fixed incomes in the same position.
We hope the House will at all events raise its voice
in favour of a reform, as manifestly called for, and
we must also hope that if public opinion, common
sense, and justice are powerless with our present
financier, they may have some more satisfactory
effect upon his successor.

stabbed to death, and Mr. Finkenstone was dragged
from the waggon, pierced with 26 bayonet wounds,
stripped, and robbed of 5,800 silver roubles which
ho had about him. He only escaped the fate of the
others by feigning to be dead; and when the Poles
came up, after beating off the Russians, they took
him to the camp of Langiewiez, who, at Mr. Fin-
kenstone's r( quest, sent him back to Cracow, whence
he has addressed a complaint to the British Ambas-
sador at Vienna on the subject.