The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-26 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 26, 1853.

UPPER INDIA RAILWAY COMPANY.-
Notice is Hereby Given, that a MEETING of the SCRIP-
HOLDER, in this Company will be held at the London Tavern,
Bishopsgate-street, on THURSDAY next, the 28th inst., at Twelve
o'clock precisely, to receive a report from the Directors of the terms
of amalgamation which have this day been arranged between the
Chairman of the East India Railway Company and this Company,
and, if approved, to confirm and adopt the same.
JOC ELY N, Chairman.
IV. P. ANDREW, Managing Director.
2, Moorgate-street, London, July 23, 1853.
-

UPPER, INDIA RAILWAY COMPANY.
NOTICE I HEREBY GIVEN, 'I lint in consequence of the
terms of amalgamation entered into between the Chairman of the
Feet India Railway Company and of this Company, on the 234 inst.,
rendering unadvisable any further isnte of Shares, the 23,9r40 muti-
lated Shares, advertised to he issued pro rata to the Seripholders,
will not be issued.

JOCELYN, Chairman.
W. I'. ANDREW, Managing Director.
2, Moorgate-strcet, London, July 25, 1853.

LUCCA AND PISTOJA RAILWAY
COMPANY.
5/. per Cent. Preference Shares.
No!ice is hereby given, that Interest at the rate of 5/. per Cent.
per Annum will become payable on the above Shares after the 31st
instant.
Shareholders will have to leave their Certificates at the Offices of
the Company, for the purpose of having the Interest stamped thereon
previous to payment. Shareholders, who shall have paid up the
whole of the Calls on their respective Shares, will have their present.
Certificates exchanged for new Certificates, with Coupons attached.
K. MACKENZIE, Agent.
CHARLES RUSSELL, Acting Secretary.
25, Tokenhouse-yard, July 26th, 1853.

LONDON and NORTH-WESTERN RAIL-
WAY.—TOURS to WINDERMERE and the LAKES of
WESTMORELAND.—Tickets, available for Fourteen Days to these
Lakes, are issued at the following fares, by any through trains :-
- • --

First Class. Second Class.
London to Windermere and back £3 10 0 £2 10 0
Ox ord ditto ditto
Birmingham ditto ditto
By order, • ...... - .. MARK 111.11611. ~
General Manager's Office, Euston Station, June 7, 1853.

GREAT MILITARY CAMP at CHOBHAM.
SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.
In order to give opportunities for witnessing this grand military
display, TRAINS will run, on and after MONDAY, 4th July,
from WATERLOO to CHERTSEY, STAINES, and WOKING, the
nearest Stations to the Camp, at convenient intervals, from 7 a.m.,
returning in the Afternoon.
Horses and carriages should be at Waterloo Station by 6.30 a.m.,
and will be forwarded by Trains at 7 and 7.20 a.m.
Chertsey Station is within four miles of the Camp, and omnibuses
will he continually running at moderate fares.
Superior private conveyances can also be obtained at Chertsey,
at fixed fares, on application to Mr. Rowland, Swan Hotel.
Arrangements have been made at Chertsey Station for the accom-
modation and refreshment of passengers by these trains.
The Camp is within five miles of Woking, and of Staines Station
four, from whence conveyances can be obtained. The route from
Staines is via Virginia Water.
By Order,

ARCHD. SCOTT, Traffic Manager.

Waterloo Station, July, 1853.

GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. Notice
is Hereby Given, that the next HALF-YEARLY GENERAL
MEETING of the Proprietors of this Company will be held pursuant
to the Act of Parliament, in Bristol, at the Bristol Station, on
Thursday, the 18th day of August next, for the general purposes of
business, and that the said Meeting will be made Special for the pur-
pose of considering and determining the expediency of converting,
under the provisions of an Act passed in the present Session, a por-
tion of the borrowed Capital of the Company into Great Western
ortgage Stock or Irredeemable Mortgage Annuities to be created
and issued either by agreement to the holders of the Mortgages or
other Securities of the Company, or to he issued to other persons to
pay off the Mortgages or other Securities which may become due and
payable, and also to fix and determine the amount and conditions on
which such Mortgage Stock or Mortga,e Annuities respectively shall
be created and issued._ . .

The chair will be taken at one o'clock precisely.
C. IVISSELL, Chairman.
BARRINGTON, Deputy-Chairman.

The Trtnsfer Books will be closed on the eighth day of August,
and will not be opened until after the said Half-Yearly General.
Meeting on the 18th of August.
London Terminus, Paddington, July 21, 1853.

BRIGHTON SELTZER WATER, 4s. a dozen.
Mr. HOOPER 114 s REDUCED his PRICE for Brighton
Seltzer and Fachingen from 6s. to 4s. per dozen. Also other aerated
waters in proportion, and which are unsurpassed, if not unequalled.
Six-dozen hampers carriage tree. Balls and fetes supplied in such
quantities only as may be required. Delivery twice daily. A pro-
spectus with list of prices can be had on application.-1100PER, 7,
Pall-mall East; and 55, Grosvenor-street, Bond-street.

THE ERA, FAMILY, THEATRICAL, and
SPORTING JOURNAL (established l 837) of next Saturday
will contain A View of England and Russia - End of the Session—
Our Metropolitan Public Houses—Gossip " By an Old Actress"—A
Full and Original Report of the Mammoth GOOI)WOOD RACE
M EE I ING, " By TOUCHS f ONE," with a Portrait of the WINNER
of the STAKES, by the eminent Artist, A. F. DE PRADES. Also
Winners for BRIGHTON RACES, and "A SQUEAK FROM THE
STABLE MOUSE." Yachting Struggles Important Cricket
Matches—Exciting Pedestrian Contests, with all the News and
Sporting Affairs of the Week. Send six postage stamps to End.
OFFICE, 3, Catherine-street, Strand.

THE LONDON INDISPUTABLE LIFE
POLICY COMPANY, 72, Lombard•street.

TRUSTEES.
J. Campbell Renton, Esq. I Richard Spooner, Esq., M.P.
Richard Malin', Esq., Q.C., M.P. James Fuller Maddox, Esq.
William Wilberforce, Esq.

DIRECTORS.
Wriliam Adams, Esq., New Broad-street.
John Atkins, Esq., White Hart-court, Lombard-street.
Henry Augustus Bevan, Esq., John-street, America-square.
John Dangerriehl, Esq., Craven-street, Strand.
R. Henry Forman, Esq., Ordnance, Pall-Mall.
John Hamilton, Esq , Alfred-place, Thurlow-square.
John Matthews, Esq., Arthur-street West, City.
C. Octavins Parnell, Esq., Norfolk-street. Park-lane.
William Williams, Esq., Rood-lane, Fenchurch-street.

PADDINGTON LOCAL BOARD.
24, Connaught-terrace, Edgware-road.
The Rev. James Shergold itoone, A.M., Stanhope-street, Hyde-park,
Captain Creed, Bedford-square, and St. Albans.
Roger Gadsden, Esq., Maida-hill West, and Bedford-row.
Charles Pemberton, Esq., Eastbourne-terrace, Hyde-park, and Lin.

_
coin's-inn-fields.
George Y. Robson, Esry., Eastbourne-terrace, Hyde-park, and New.

square, Lincoln's-ton.
W. H. Trinder, Esq., John-street, Bedford-row.
SECRETARY—Chas. Hoghton, Esq.

The Policies of this Company being Indisputable (in terms of the
Deed of Constitution duly registered), are Transferable Securities.
Used as Family Provisions, they relieve the Assured from all doubt
and anxiety as to the future.

ALEX. ROBERTSON, Manager.

CIILVERWELL'S NEW WORKS.
111-0 To be had of Sherwood, 23, Paternoster-row , Carvaiho,
117, Fleet-street, Mann, 39, Cornhlll. Price One Shilling each; by
post, Is 6d.

ENJOYMENT OF LIFE.
"Health, Recreation, and Rational Use of Time."

Corrrmurs : —Early Rising—Spring and Summer Mornings—Ex-
cursions about the Environs of London—The Parks, Lanes, Hills
Forests, Fields, High-roads, and other pleasant places—Country
Trips and Rambles—The Sea —London at Night—Evenings at Home
M isic—The Drama—On Eating, Drinking, Sleeping, Bathing, Air,
Rest, Ease, Occupation, &c., &c.

FRAGMENTS FROM THE FOUNTAINS. Two Vole.
Vol. I.
VISIT 10 THE LAKES; SKETCH OF EDINBURGH, &c.

Vol 11.
E LAKES OF KILLARNEY ; REMINISCENCES OF
DUBLIN, &c.

WHAT TO EAT, DRINK, AND AVOID,
"That three score years and ten our course may run."
A popular review of almost every form (cause and cure) of ner-
vously-debilitated health and enfeebled constitution that harasses
the young, besets the man of pleasure, business or study, and em-
bitters old age; with tables and rules for the diet and physical regu
latlon 01 every-day,life•

Iv.
THE PASSIONS.
" What passions hurt the body—what improve,
Truths as refined as Athens ever heard."
SUBJECT :—Life's pilgrimage, from infancy to old age. The ad-
vent of the passions. Chastity and its infringement. The casualties
of licentiousness and dissipation, with illustrations, graphic, narra-
tive, and remediative. Advocacy of early marriages.

MEDICAL ADVICE ON
AND THE SECRET INFIRMITIES OF
YOUTH

DR. SAMUEL LA'MERT, 37, BEDFORD-SQUARE, LONDON,
Doctor of Medie, and Matriculated Member of the University of
Edinburgh, Honorary Member of the London Hospital Medical
Society, Licentiate of Apothecaries' Hall, London, &c., &c.
MAY be consulted, personally, or by letter, on
the various disorders of the nervous and generative system,
resulting from juvenile irregularities and excesses, which have pro-
duced more misery in youth, degradation in manhood, and prema-
turedet eh e stages
opflhifoel than perhaps any other class of dis-
easesogists. Long and practical experience
in
of these diseases has proved that there are in exist
e
sof self-acquired miseries and disappointed hopes in
deske tc:riaroeeyw at
a um nattet
oealsltmeo ern atn
existence, traceable to certain pernicious habits, to which Nervous
Debility, various forms of Insanity, Unhappy and Unfruitful Marri-
ages, Impotency, Local and Constitutional Weakness, and their
endless modifications owe their almost entire origin.
It is absolutely necessary that all men should know that there are
principles of personal management which cannot be violated without
incurring grievous penalties, and when wisdom and regret succeed
the heyday of inconsiderate self-indulgence, how these penalties
may be mitigated, how the sting of their bitterness may be removed,
and how the evil and its congequene es maybe avoided, and above all,
that there is scareely any degree of physical infirmity or functional
derangement to which the timely aid of science cannot apply a cure
in DOCTOR
extensiveTO lt LA'
M practiceEß T
haisnfotrhe a longseries of years been engaged
treatment of these delicate com-
plaints, and s the only legally qualified Physician who, regardless
of the taunts and envy of the hypocritical and mock-modest, has had
the confidence, through the medium of the public press, to direct
attention to these enormous evils, from which no grade of society is
tree. In selecting this department of practice, he has been amply
rewarded by the great success that has attended his efforts in the
treatment of these cases which are too generally confided to the
care of unqualified and ignorant empirics, who, with their pirated
publications, assumed foreign names and titles, and pretended virtues
of their patent nostrums, have inflicted serious injury on those who
have been induced to place faith in their pretensions.
At home for consuitation daily from Eleven till Two, and from
Six till Eight. All letters must contain the fee of 11., and advice and
medicines can be forwarded to any initials or address.
It is desirable that patients wishing to consult Dr. LA'MERT
ghoul first obtain a copy of his work on

THE SUCCESSIONS DUTY BILL.

(From, the Times.)
Lord Derby's amendments had last night the fate
which he probably anticipated, the first being lost by a
division of 102 to 68, exactly three to two, and the rest
being negatived without a division. Nothing less
could be expected for proposals at variance with the
whole financial legislation of this country. Every mea-
sure of finance assumes things as they are, and makes
no attempt to spare those who may happen to come
more within its range than they would have done had
they seen it beforehand. It is the business of the Mi-
nisters and the Legislature, answerable for the main-
tenance of government and the credit of the country, to
procure what is wanted for that purpose without any
compunction for those who are caught unawares. Lat-
terly, indeed, remissions have preponderated so much
over inflictions that the more usual inquiry on the ap-
pearance of a budget is the benefit which falls to each
man's share ; not the lugs. If a man is fortunate, he is
congratulated ; if not, it cannot be helped, and there is
an end of it. Tho repeal of the corn laws touched, or
was supposed to touch, rather severely the holders of
leases. What of that ? They had to pay their fixed
rents with corn at a reduced price. In the last
century, when a man built a house, he commonly
filled it with small windows, half for ornament
and half for use. Pitt had- no mercy on archi-
tecture, and left the occupier of a house with a
hundred windows to get out of his scrape as well
as he could. The existing state of things, whether con-
tracts, or leases, or settlements, constitutes a great fact
for the operations of a Minister, and he takes it as he
finds it. Hardships, of course, there must always be,
but, if we once begin to recognise a vested interest in
any condition or arrangements that happens to be par-
ticularly affected by a new law, tice path of legislation
will be so clogged and hinderea that we must come to a
stand-still.' —But, -After all, the grievance alleged for
Lord Derby's amendment is not that this or that person
has incurred extra damage for want of timely notice, but
that he has not been able to evade the coming tax—eva-
sions being so common, it seems, that Parliament is to
recognise the right of evasion, and to give a certain
scope, or law,' for the purpose to all ingenious per-
sons averse to the payment of taxes.
Lord Derby's difficulty, however, is rather of a meta-
physical than a substantial nature. He evidently cannot
understand, or does not choose to understand, how the
extinction of a charge can be a positive accession of pro-
perty. Let an estate pass at the death of one man to
another, and Lord Derby admits the latter to be so
much the richer ; but if the latter has had to pay the
former 5001. a-year as long as he lived, and on the death
of the former has so much more to spend on his conti-
nental tour, his establishment, his horses, his pictures,
or what not, then Lord Derby will have it he has suc-
ceeded to no property ; he has only so much less to
pay to somebody else. In effect it is exactly
the same thing as if the annuitant had derived his 5001.
a year from the funds, and, on dying, had left it of his
own accord to the present possessor. The whole force
of the argument against taxing successions arising from
past dispositions of property consists in the apparent in-
justice done to the purchasers of reversions, who, after
fakir), all payments and all chances into account, give
for the reversion just as much ac it is worth. The
chance of a succession tax never entered their minds,
and, according to Lord Derby, they think themselves
defrauded. But the purchaser of a reversion, who finds
himself relieved from the income tax thereon, partially
in three years, and entirely after seven years, does not
thank Mr. Gladstone or Parliament for the boon ; and,
if the relief more than covers the new tax, he has no
right to pretend an injury in one case and no benefit in
another. He does not think he has more than his
fair right in the one case, and cannot pretend to have
less than his due in 'the other. If he is sensible, he
takes taxes, as they take him, just as they come.
It is evident that much misconception prevails on the
subject of the bill, chiefly, we suspect, from people not
giving themselves the trouble to understand it. To
ascertain the real working of a measure is one thing, to
make a clever speech against it another, and the second
course is all that it has been thought worth while to at-
tempt in this instance. Lord St. Leonards, for example,
made the simple mistake of supposing that a widow would
pay duty on succeeding to her husband's interest by
virtue of a settlement made by her father, in which case,
as he alleges, the father would see his property, while
in the hands of his own descendants, paying succession
duty in his own life-time. But the fact is, the widow
would not pay duty at all, any more than under the
existing legacy duties. We conceive, too, that he
must make an equal blunder—for we can find no war-
rant for the assertion in the bill—when he says that it
will exact the larger rate of duty on each succession of a
• property that has once passed to a stranger. The opi-
nion is so extraordinary, and so at variance with the
spirit of the bill, that we can hardly suppose it to be
serious. Certainly there is not one word in the bill to
justify or suggest such an
_interpretation. Each sue-

cession can only be by one death, and is rated according
to the relationship of the deceased. Lord Derby honestly
confesses he has not mastered the bill, and, that he may
be at liberty to throw out objections without being an-
swerable for their soundness, quietly leans on the opinions
of nameless lawyers, with just a hint at his own utter
indifference to the subject. The truth is, it was impos-
sible to get up the steam. The objects for whom the
sympathy of the public was to be asked were unfortu-
nately just those who are usually more envied than
otherwise, and whose little disappointments we all bear
with wonderful equanimity. The worst case his lord-
ship could picture last night was that of a young
gentleman who at the age of twenty-five succeeds by
the death of a third cousin, or of an entire stranger, to
50,0001. a year. Before the unhappy youth has reco-
vered from the shock of this terrible disaster, the tax-
gatherer comes upon him for 85,0001., or about 19,0001.
a year for four years and a half. The result is, that for
that tedious period, at the most critical period of the
young man's career, his miserable pittance of 50,0001. a
year is reduced to 31,0001., unless he can sell one-
twentieth of his property to clear the rest. Another
hard case instanced by his lordship is that of the specu-
lator who has bought a reversion without any idea of
paying duty upon it. The great majority of such rever-
sions are those of sons, brothers, and nephews ; and the
duty will be accordingly one, three, or five per cent. on
the life interest of the original successor. But what
amount of commiseration are we to bestow on the He-
brew capitalist who has bought a reversion of 10,0001.,
and finds, on succeeding to it, that he has to pay rather
more than 401., or 101. a year for four years ? If we
must be indulgent and pitiful, pray let us have a more
ill-used and suffering object.
The division, it will be seen, was a decided muster of
the forces on both sides ; and the effects of the struggle
were as much out of doors as within, for as many were
kept away as were induced to attend and vote. Strange
faces were seen in the house. Our Foreign Ministers,
the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and noblemen who have
long retired from the public gaze, for one reason or an-
other, were there to assist at the triumph or downfall of
Government. The whippers-in themselves were baffled
in some instances by the unfamiliar aspect of the peers
they had evoked. A Ministerial majority was expected,
but neither side had calculated on one so conclusive.
The bill is now safe, and we have a fair prospect of see-
ing an end to the income tax, which the succession
duty will render superfluous as soon as it is in full rpe-
ration.

(Ron the Morning Chronicle.)

As every objection which Lord Derby entertains to
the Succession Duty Bill goes to the root of the measure,
inexperienced bystanders may wonder why the House of
Lords was not asked to throw it out on the second read-
ing. The reason is simple, and perfectly intelligible.
His lordship held so many proxies that he might have
found himself too strong. In committee, however, only
the peers who are present can vote ; and, as is shown by
the Government majority of 34 against the first amend-
ment proposed, the result
.of the mode of attack chosen
by the chivalrous ex-Premier was sufficiently certain to
secure him against the inconvenience of a ruinous victory.
Even the shallowest and dullest members of the arty. p
appear to have comprehended and seconded the prudent
policy of their leader. It is true that no amendment
could reconcile Lord Winchilsea to the provisions of so
odious and infamous a bill. Rather than consent to a
tax which compels the proud barons of England to bear
their share of the national burdens, the conscientious
earl would have divided alone against the second read-
ing, if he had only been present. But he was not pre-
sent on that solemn occasion ; and, considering the faci-
lities for locomotion which exist in all parts of the
country, we may fairly assume that any peer who was
not in his place stayed away on purpose. Lord Win-
chilsea, after all, acted with as much sense and honesty
as the eloquent leader of the Opposition.
Lord Derby utterly denies that, 'during his own Ad-
ministration, any scheme for a succession duty was
under consideration ; but he can scarcely dispute the
fact that his Chancellor of the Exchequer made, without
contradiction, an exactly opposite statement. It is
highly probable that both ex-Ministers have spoken the
literal truth, except that the intentions attributed by
Mr. Disraeli to the Cabinet ought to have been repre-
sented as confined to the breast of one individual mem-
ber. The ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer may have
made up his mind to try some fresh experiment in finance,
without thinking it necessary to consult the ill-informed
colleagues who were certain, at the proper time, to fol-
low his direction. The subject may not have been dis-
cussed in the Cabinet, yet the late Ministers may have
been practically pledged to a course utterly inconsistent
with their present arguments.
Lord Derby has no quality of a good party leader,
except an entire absence of scruple. Uniformly timid,
and generally rash, he rarely fails to compromise his
character for judgment, at the same time that he carefully
guards himself against the possibility of obtaining a seri-
ous advantage. Having rendered victory impossible by
refusing a contest on comparatively favourable ground,
he gratuitously publishes to the world the selfish policy
which his party would follow if their power seconded
their wishes. It might, in a certain sense, have been worth
their while to make an effort which would have embar-
rassed the Government, rendered new combinations neces-
sary, and displayed the formidable power o f the Opposition.
But what advantage could under any circumstances result
from the avowal of impotent injustice, it is for Lord

Derby and his followers to explain. The proposal to
exempt vested reversions from the new tax was infinitely
more iniquitous than would have been a refusal to ac-
cept any portion of the bill. The division was taken on
the amendment because it was certain not to succeed ;
yet it would, perhaps, have been more prudent to pledge
the party to a smaller measure of injustice. It is time
for the more serious politicians of the Upper House to
review the character and conduct of their ostentatious,
make-believe leader. When the House of Lords prac-
tically supports the prudent policy of the Government,
it is at least unnecessary that it should incur gratuitous
unpopularity merely because Lord Derby wishes, from
time to time, for an opportunity of displaying his un-
doubted rhetorical powers.
The most cursory reader of last night's debate will be
struck by the feebleness of the arguments against the
general principle of the bill. Without descending to
Lord Winchilsea, we may refer to Lord St. Leonards
for a proof of the enfeebling influence which faction may
exercise on the astutest intellect. " Suppose," says the
ex-Chancellor, " a person denudes himself during his
lifetime of property, by transferring his estate to his
child. Hitherto the law had looked with great favour
and approbation on such conduct, but now the feeling
was to be completely changed, by a measure which he
could not but characterise as confiscation." Yet
Lord Malmesbury himself could explain to his lordship
that, in the case supposed, the succession duty will not
attach at all. The son who receives a free gift from a
living father cannot be said to take a benefit by reason
of death. The more plausible portions of the noble and
learned lord's speech were sufficiently answered by the
Lord Chancellor ; and, in truth, the justice of abolishing
the preference hitherto allowed to settled property can-
not be better demonstrated than by simply stating the
case. If a commutation for a property tax is to be
levied on the occurrence of death, it is sufficiently clear
that the devisee who succeeds by will ought to be
placed in exactly the same .position with the-remainders
man under a settlement. Great landowners tie up their
property—the middle classes leave their resources free ;
but in both cases the children succeed to the father, not
by reason of parchment arrangements, but by the rule
•f nature, confirmed or recognised by law. Lord
Derby's assertion, that " men of small revenues derived
from settled property would feel the hardship of the
tax more severely than large landed proprietors," in-
volved an entirely false assumption. Men of small
revenues have not, for the most part, their property in
settlement, and they would, therefore, have derived no
benefit from the success of the amendment which was
ostensibly supported by the Opposition. Lord Cran-
worth said, and with truth, that the popularity of the
measure arises from the perfect comprehension of its
character by the bulk of the community.
tthoet
ahmmokunt hta wt
hthech
it injusticepro d u
coefsa_toarx,
incLreoardsesptehrebyrasteioemofs

in other words, in proportion to the property assessed.
An estate, he says, of 50,000/. a year, passing to a
stranger of a certain age, will involve a payment, on the
part of the successor, of 85,0001. in four years. The
example would have been equally intelligible if the
rental had been assumed at 500/., and consequently the
tax at 850/. ; but trifling incomes and petty contributions
excite no sympathy in Lord Derby's mind. There is a
sufficiently simple answer to the grievance complained
of. All fiscal injustice consists in inequality ; and the
hardship suffered by the heir of a great estate is to be
measured by the excess of his payments as compared
with those of a millionaire of equal wealth. A landed
estate in fee of 50,000/. a year is worth at least 1,500,000/. ;
and on that sum a stranger in blood would be charged
150,000/., not in four years, but in a single sum. It
would be easy to vary the illustration indefinitely ; but
a single instance furnishes a sufficient reply to Lord
Derby.
The Lords have acted wisely, both in avoiding a col-
lision with the Commons and in preferring the public good
to their own seeming interest. Having done their duty,
they may now, in their individual capacity,jfairly balance
the gains of their order against its losses, even in a finan-
cial point of view. The Duke of Argyll was amply jus-
tified in saying that the late Government made the
new impost necessary by their factious and dangerous
proposal of a differential income tax. So great
an excitement had been created in the country by the
countenance which a Cabinet gave to popular fallacies
on that subject, that even the strength of the present
Ministry would probably have been unequal to the task
of establishing a just, equal, and permanent income tax.
As Mr. Gladstone was determined not to sanction,
tinder any temptation, the first instalment of confiscation
which Mr. Disraeli had recklessly offered, there was no
practicable alternative except to limit the duration of the
tax ; and it was necessary to find some means of replacing
the deficit which would be created by the relinquishment
of so large a proportion of the revenue. It would have
been imprudent, if not impossible, to raise the necessary
amount by any new impost on commodities. Property
offered the only taxable subject-matter, and the existing
legacy duty supplied both a precedent to be followed and
a crying grievance to be redressed. A just financier
could only choose between the abolition of the legacy
duty, and its extension ; and a Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, in search of a revenue, necessarily preferred the
only course which could supply the sum required. The
landowners will pay a proportion of the new burden ;
but they have in prospect the reduction of the income
tax, and they have been saved for the present from the
principle of confiscation which is involved in every scheme
of a graduated tax. The aristocracy may be assured
that the Marquis of Lansdowne speaks advisedly when
he tells them that the present bill places the landed in-
terest in a far better position than they held when they
enjoyed an unpopular exemption.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE

LONDON, BRIGHTON, AND SOUTH COAST,

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
yesterday at the Bridge-house Hotel, London-bridge,
for the general purposes of the undertaking, and also to
determine upon the consolidation into a 5 per cent. stock
of the 5 per cent. 501. shares of the company, lettered
F, to be thenceforth denominated "Five per Cent. Stock
No. 3 ;" Mr. S. Laing, M.P., in the chair.
The report, an abstract' of which appeared in The Sun
of Monday, the 18th inst., was taken as read.
The CHAIRMAN commenced by alluding to the arrange-
ments made by the board which enabled them to hold
the first railway meeting every half-year. There was
some inconvenience in this, but the Brighton being the
first railway company to hold its half-yearly meeting, of
course it had some effect on the tone adopted by other
railway companies, for it struck the key note, as it were,
to which the proceedings of the others were attuned.
The general result of the half-yearly meetings was, on
the whole, discouraging, as compared with that of the
corresponding period of the preceding year. The
general result of the traffic of 1852 showed a larger
amount than in 1851, although that was an exceptional
year ; but on going back to 1850 the result of
the receipts on all the railways showed a con-
siderable increase of traffic in 1852 over that of
1850. But there was also an increase in the expenses,
and no doubt the increase in the traffic of 1853 would be
attended with increased expenditure. The Brighton
report now submitted showed an increase in the
receipts, and also an increase in the expenditure. The
increase of traffic in the half-year amounted to 23,0001.
over the corresponding period of 1852. This was a very
large increase indeed for the first half of the present
year, as every one acquainted with the Brighton traffic
knew that the traffic in the first half of the year was al-
ways smaller than in the second half of the year ; while
the standing expenses of both half-years were nearly
equal. The increase in the working expenses during the
half-year amounted to about one-half the increased re-
ceipts. Among the items of increased expenditure in
respect of the increased traffic was 2,0001. for interest
on increased capital, leaving 9,0001. available for divi-
dend on the ordinary shares, being an increase of 4s.
per cent. for the half-year. He considered that the in-
crease of revenue had been very satisfactory in all de-
partments. The increase in the traffic was obtained
from the natural development of the traffic on all parts
of the line. The seeds they had sown, by accommodat-
ing the traffic of the various districts, the running of
express trains, and other arrangements, were now bear-
ing fruit on different parts of the line. The greatest in-
crease was on the Croydon line ; the value of land had
increased in the vicinity of the railway, and he hoped
that a large accession of traffic would also arise from
other parts of the line. The increase in the annual ex-
penses arose chiefly from two causes, the workingexpenntshees
in consequence of the increased traffic, and interestnoature
increase ofcapital expended on works ofa permanent
expenses re-
public safety. The increase in the working required to accommodate the traffic and to ire the
rise.)
the Anotherinhthe
they were to increase the traffic solved itself into an extra lengtffiheofittrammusmt ihleeaghye,
giving
dinigf
increased accommodation aicnceormeasmeoddaetxiopnentosethaerepsueb
price of materials and wages of labour.rco. m( II
theoeanr
the revenue only left
sult ; and if every addition to
he thought they ought to be well satisfied with_
one-
halftwheorlee-
the amount available for dividend and interest for
increased capital expenditure to accommodate the in-
creased traffic, the result. would be highly satisfactory to
the proprietors. The working expenses for the two half-
years were nearly equal in amount, but for the first half
of the year the working expenses averaged about 48 per
cent. of the receipts, and in the second half-year about
35 per cent. of the receipts, owing to the *ter being
greater in amount during the second half of the year
than in the first half of it. The average expense of the
year was 42 per cent. of the receipts, which was not un-
favourable. They had to incur a large expenditure of
capital for permanent objects to meet the requirements
re I
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si
stier
possible
reeneadtsctucitol
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due
eeontxsh. t
expand
they had
nyudhatfnaoai
and
of the increased traffic. The attention of the board had
arrivedtibwth esaee
sypn rehevias eddanet pi; directed
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while
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oee
outlay on permanent improvements was, of course, a great
obstacle to the closing of the capital account. 2 His opi-
nion had not changed with regard to the closing of the
capital account ; but it was not a question whether it
was desirable, but whether it was possible under existing
circumstances. If they were paying a fair dividend to
the shareholders, and enabled to lay by a surplus every
half-year to meet those increased charges on capital
account, they would be in a condition to close it ; but