The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-11 00:00:00

1310ROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY IN THE and "would be, adopted—that there would be no
jt. EAST.—Read the EASTERN STAR of the 16thquJuly,opnnreee. vacillation or temporising exhibited to friend or
6d. Published every Saturday with articles
tal, 10, Leaden. foe—to France or Russia.--in the transaction.
. orion
eenvery
titillv-settr°eetit,lealt)rderNecrwisissmentnadnoksellers.
He had, by long and meritorious services, ac-
quired the confidence of the people, more espe-
cially in all things relating to foreign affairs, and
when he appealed to that confidence the response
was prompt and satisfactory. The House unani-
mously conceded the demand for the indefinite
postponement of the question ; and the press,
although regretting the application, acquiesced in
the delay with almost equal unanimity.
It was not, however, the personal influence of
the Noble Lord which achieved this triumph.
That had unquestionably great weight. But there
was something more that helped to produce a re-
sult so decisive and so flattering to the Minister.
The tone and manner of the address--the un-
bounded confidence expressed in the representa-
tives of the people when he declared that the
Government required no assurance, that "if, in
any unfortunate event they had to look to the
House and country for support in a just cause,
that support would be cheerfully afforded"—that
" they needed no other assurance than that they
were sitting in a British Parliament," also
produced a striking effect ; and the vie-
r-tory was complete when he declared that
"England and France were united in a
common course of policy, aiming at a
common object, guided by common interests, and
inspired by the most perfect and unreserved con-
fidence in each other."
But in proportio:a to the greatness of the
honourable tribute. thus paid to Lord PALMER-
STON, so great wall be the responsibility assumed
by that distingilished statesman, so great the ne-
cessity of his vindicating the unlimited confidence
reposed in his vigour, energy, and unflinching de-
termination. On his shoulders mainly rests the
burden. We have abandoned to his guidance
matters in which the honour and welfare of the
British nation are largely involved. He must
faithfully discharge the arduous but honourable
duty, and not hereafter hope to transfer any por-
tion of the responsibility to others' shoulders, par-
ticulary to those of the Premier, in whose
firmness of purpose, or unwavering decision, the
people have not equal faith. Should he be
thwarted or interfered with—should a course of
action which he may look upon as imprudent, or
likely to produce disastrous consequences occur, it
will be essential that he should at once appeal to
Parliament for support. He will be held liable for
every sin of omission and of commission, and
must exhibit unceasing vigilance and unfailing
energy. This the country expects at his hands;
and should the anticipations be disappointed, bril-
liant as has been his triumph, still more signal
will be his discomfiture.
We cannot conclude our observations on this
deeplyinteresting topic without warning the people
not to be misled by crude and inaccurate reports,
even although these reports may have all the
appearance of authority. We have already seen
that even intelligence conveyed from the Austrian
capital by electric telegraph cannot safely be relied
on, that what was wholly unfounded in fact has
been transmitted through that channel. We must
not 'again be bamboozled in a similar manner.
Tb.ere is every reason to hope that the temporary
occupation of the Danubian Provinces will be the
only mischief occasioned, that the negotiations
thereby occasioned, and in which the repre-
sentatives of the other great Powers will now
participate, will lead to the satisfactory and pacific
solution of the probl em. Th e pro ciamation addressed
by Prince GORTSCHAKOFF, the Russian Com-
mander-in-Chief of the invading armies, to the
inhabitants of Moldavia and Wallachia (which
will be found in another part of this day's impres-
sion) materially enhances that expectation. It
contains an assurance that these armies come
" neither with projects of conquest nor with the
intention to modify the institutions under which
they (the inhabitants of the invaded pro iinces)
live, or the political position which solemn treaties
have guaranteed to them ;" and what is oven more
satisfactory, a declaration that " the presence of
the troops shall not impose any fresh charges or
contributions—that the forage and rations shall be
paid for from the military treasury, at a rate to be
agreed on. ;" and they are encouraged to "look
tranquiPT to the future, and to engage with con-
fidence in flair agricultural labours and commer-
cial speculations." When we combine these facts
with the approaching arrivals in this country of
two branches of the Imperial family of Russia,
and the probability that the matter would be
ultimately arranged in the manner we have already
indicated, viz., by assurances given to all the
great Powers--parties to the Treaty of 1841—
that the Ottoman Government will respect the
rights and privileges of all the non-Mahorrunedan
portions of its subjects—this should prove satis-
factory, and it will not be derogatory to the hon-
our of the CZAR or of the SULTAN. It will readily
be given, end ought to be accepted.
Meanwhile, although desirous of maintaining
peace, we are fully prepared for war. The com-
bined fleets of France and Great Britain float in
the immediate vicinity of the Dardanelles, ready
at a moment's notice from the SULTAN to enter
the Bosphorus, and pass into the Black Sea.
The first application on the part of ABD-UL-INIEDJID
will be promptly answered ; but there is every
reason to anticipate that the exhibition of readi-
ness will achieve all that can be desired—that
the preparation for war will insure peace, and
that the last appeal to arms may be completely
averted.

Shortly will be published,

SPEECHES of the RIGHT HON. T. B.
MACAULAY, M.P. Revised and corrected by HIMSELF.

*** As an advertisement has appeared announcing the approach-
ing publication of Mr. Macauiay's Speeches by special licence,
Messrs. Longman and Co. are authorised to declare that no such
licence has been given by Mr. Macaulay.
London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longman.

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Under the management of Mr. Backstone.
THIS EVENING, JULY 11,

WM be performed MONEY. Characters by Messrs. B. Sullivan,
Baekstone, Compton, Howe, Farren, H. Corri, Rogers, Braid, and
Edwards; Mrs. Fitzwilliam, Mrs. L. S. Buckingham, and Miss
Reynolds.
• -

To be followed by MB. BUCESTONE'S ASCENT OF MOURT
PAlt bh ASSITB.
To be followed by RAPPINGS AND TABLE MOVINGS.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OXFORD-STREET.
Under the Management of Mr. Charles Kean.
THIS EVENING, JuLT 11,
win be performed THE DAY AFTER THE WEDDING. Sup-
ported by Mr. and Mrs. W. Lacy.
Atter which, will be presented Lord Byron's Tragedy of SAR-
DANAPALUSL Principal characters by Mr. and Mrs. C. Kean.
To conclude with TURNING THE TABLES. Characters by
N e""" Harley, J. Vining. Chester, and Everett ; Mrs. W. Lacy,
Mans Daly and C. Leclercq.

THEATRE ROYAL ADELPILL
Proprietor, Mr. B. Webstez —Directress, Madame Celeste.
THIS EVENING, Jvir 11,

Win be performed GENEVIEVE. Characters by Messrs. Ben.
Webster, A. Wigan, Leigh Murray, Keeley, Parselle, Paul Bedford,
Cullenford, Woolgar, 0. Smith, and C. J. Smith; Madame Celeste
and Mrs. Keeley.
To be followed by THE CAMP AT CHOBHAM.
After which, NORMA.
To conclude with THE DANCING SCOTCHMAN.

ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE.
Lessee and Manager, Mr. Farren.
Great success of the New Burlesque.
THIS EVENING, JULY 11,
Will be performed LOVE AND AVARICE. Characters by Messrs.
IL Farren, 11. Marston, G. Cooke, and Shalders ; Mesdames Ander_
ton and Bartlett.
After which, an entirely New Burlesque, by Francis Taifourd,
Esq., entitled SHYLOCK, or, THE MERCHANT OF " VENICE
PRESERVED." Shylock, Mr. F. Robson.
To conclude with THE RAILROAD STATION. Sampson Jones,
Mr. F. Robson.

♦STLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE.
Sole LASee and Manager, Mr. W. Cooke.

This popular Theatre is nightly crowded to witness its combined and
unequalled aitractionq. The Grand Military Spectacle of The
Battle of Waterloo, with all its original effects—introducing Exer-
cises as at the Camp at Chobham. The incomparable Scenes in
the *cis, In which that charming Artiste. Miss Emily Cooke, the
wander of the world, is received with whirlwinds of applause, and
the Sporting Hippo Drama of The Chase, Conn an Entertainment
unprecedented in the annals of this Theatre.

Mr. GLADSTONE has achieved his second great
fiscal tiirmph for the session. On Thursday
evening the Succession Duties Bill passed through
Committee. It may, therefore, now be consi-
dered virtually carried —inasmuch, s there is but
little, if any, chance of its being rejected on the
third reading ; and, although some Noble Lord
may protest ell.rnestly ago; ist the pi:nciple in the
Upper House, we cannot for a moment suppose,
in the present state of affr;rs, that any Pr3r
would seriously endeavour t) throw it out, o;
what would be tantamount thereto, to carry an
amendment to any important provision, which, as
a breach of the most cherished privilege of the
other branch of the Legislature, would necessarily
prove fatal to the bill. The consequences of such
an act would be too formidable in the present
lowering aspect of the political horizon to obtain
any support in an assembly the patriotism of
whose members Ins never been doubted or callod
in question. We may, therefore, reasonably
assume that the Succession Duties Bill will
speedily receive the Legislative sanction in its
present form, and that its enactments will speedily
become part and parcel of the statute law of the
land.

But will it be considered as completely dis-
posing of the subject, as a final and satis-
factory settlement of the vexata questio. We
think not. It can only be regarded as a
step in the right direction, which must
be carried much further, unless when the
vexations and inquisitorial character of its provi-
sions shall be fully developed, and the numerous
objections that may fairly be put forward against
its practical operation, tested and ascertained, a
fair equivalent, derived exclusively from accumu-
lated and realised property, shall be granted in
lieu ofP the legacy and succession, and we may add
the robate Duties, which, henceforth, and for
ever, may be considered indissolubly united. Any
repeal of the one will necessai:ly involve the
abolition of the other. The only alteration that
can be effected will be the equalisation of the
Succession Duties on all kinds of property, real or
personal, settled or unsettled. Common justice
requires that such an equalisation should take
place with as little delay as practicable,. and a
suitable opportunity for effecting an equitable
arrangement will speedily arise.

It is unnecessary here to repeat the numerous
objections to a Succession Duty of any kind, taken
in its most extensive signification. It is, as we
have already stated, the worst form of direct taxa-
tion, while an equitably and fairly assessed Pro-
perty Tax is the best. It is a tax on capital,
which will be paid not out of income, but out of
the principal money, and will thus pro tanto
dimi-
nish the amount of the inheritance on every occasion
it
*)meswittautheoperationoftiteatatute,

this respect, it differs from a charge assessed accord-
ing to the capitalised value of property, real or per-
sonal, but levied at fixed and certain periods—
and at equal rates. That would be fairly pro-
vided for the current receipts, without trenching
on the corpus of the fund. Not so, however, the
Succession Duty, which would fall at an unex-
pected period, and which might be one, three, five,
or even ten per cent. on the value of the pro-
perty, and which in cases where it could be easily
realised would be liquidated by a transfer of a
portion of the capital; or the sale of a slice of the
land ; or more probably where real estate was
concerned, and the successor did not choose to
part with any portion of the soil—by an applica-
tion to a money-lender, and the mortgage of a
considerable portion of his inheritance. Which
species of impost, then, we ask, is the more eqr'-
table, the one which presses with equal weight on
all, which comes at fixed periods, and the amount
whereof, and the time when it will be called for,
can be calculated with the most perfect certainty ;
or the other, which on each occasion falls three,
five, ten, or possibly twenty times as heavy on
one person as on another, and which may possi-
bly be called for four or five times oftener in the
case of the most heavily charged successions ?
And thus forty or fifty times the amount of money
be levied from one property as from another of
equal value. That this is no extreme case, or far-
fetched supposition, may be easily ascertained
by taking the cases of adjoining estates. The one
which has descended from parent to child in
unbroken succession will devolve only once in a
generation, or, on an average, in 30 years, the
period assumed by Mr. GLADSTONE as the basis of
his calculation ; the other, which has gone to
three or four brothers or more distant relatives,
or possibly to an uncle or great uncle, and thence
through his children and grandchildren succes-
sively, may easily have passed half-a-dozen times
within the same period—the heavier duty being
levied on each event. This is totally opposed to
the just 'and equitable rule " that every man
should be taxed according to his means and the
position he holds in the country ;" and we cannot
conceive how those who have objected to a gra-
duated Property Tax, on the ground that it
practically amounted to neither more nor less
than confiscation, can sanction, or even tolerate,
an impost so diametrically opposed to the prin-
ciple for which they contend, and theinequality
whereof greatly exceeds any ever contemplated
under a graduated Property or Income Tax.
But if the landowners will strongly object to
the impost when its operation is brought home to
their own thresholds, there will be even a stronger
objection on the part of those who so long and so
justly complained of the practical exemption en-
joyed by the landocracy from the charges to which
all proprietors of unsettled personalty were liable
—to the gross partiality still exhibited towards
the favoured class. They will insist that the
principle so broadly laid down by the Chancellor
of the Exchequer shall be fully and fairly carried
out. The Right Hon. Gentleman declared that the
inequality which so long prevailed was "an anomaly,
unjust in its nature, galling to the public feeling, and
becoming more galling from year to year." Ile
clearly proved that it was essential that real
estate, whether settled or unsettled, and also
settled personalty, should, for fiscal purposes, be
placed on the same foundation as unsettled per-
sonalty—that the duty on these various kinds of
property should be equalised ; emphatically adding,
that " the only question was whether that equa-
lity was to be established by exempting from the
tax the property that then paid it, or by subject-
ing to the tax property that was then exempted?"
The latter course was that which he deemed it
most expedient to pursue. But, alas ! his practice
fell far short of his professions—he deliberately
abstained from doing that which he had previously
declared to be essential. In the first place, he
refrained from subjecting real estate or settled
personalty to the Probate or Administration Duties,
thus continuing their unjustifiable exemption as to
nearly a moiety— that the most vexatious
' moiety—of thebr-den ; and again, by establishing
an unnecessary and invidious distinction between
rateable and non-rateable property, charging the
former at only al nit one-half of the latter. Thus
the previous ineqrality caused by the Probate
Duties was further increased, until unsettled per-
sonalty paid four times as much on a succession to
persons in the same degree of consanguinity to the
deceased as real estate, while the Financial Mi-
nister was taking great credit for having equalised
the duties.
Let us offer an illustration as evidence of the
accuracy of our asses Lion, as proof that we have
rather understated the case. Suppose that a
tradesman and small landed proprietor died at
the same time, each leaving to his children pro-
perty of the estimated value of 10,000/.—the
one consisting of stock in trade, money at his
bankers, &c., and the other a compact and well-cir-
cumstanced farm. The children of the former
would, before they could draw a single pound
from the bankers, be obliged to pay 2001. Probate
Duty, if the father had left a will, or 3001. for
letters of adir'nistration, if he died intestate ;
and at the end of twelve months another 1001. by
way of Legacy Duty. The latter would have to
pay 501. in all, by four annual instalments of
121. 10s. each, the first not being payable until
twelve months--(the time when the 3001. or 4001.,
as the case might be, should be paid in full by
the tradesman's foni'ly, —and the remainder
spread over the for- successive years. And this
is what Mr. GLADSTONE considers full and perfect
equality, with which he supposes Fiscal Reformers
will be contented as a permanent settlement of
the question. He is, however, greatly mistaken
on the subject. The agitation formerly offered to
the gross inequality will be resumed with greater
intensity when it is ascertained that the so-called
equalisation, the pseudo equitable arrangement, is
nothing but a gross mockery, and a glaring delu-
sion.

THE COURT.—We have reason to believe that her
Majesty and Prince Albert will leave town for Windsor
Castle, with the remaining youthful members of the
Royal Family remaining at Buckingham Palace, as soon
the Royal physicians pronounce it desirable, and will
probably subsequently proceed to Osborne until the pro-
rogation. The Court will shorily go into mourning for
his late Highness the reigning Grand Duke of Saxe-
Weimar, father of the Princess of Prussia, and uncle of
Prince Edward, and whose dangerous indisposition
caused the rather sudden departure of the Prince and
Princess and the young Princess Louisa for the con-
tinent.

THE PRINCE OF WALES.—His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales, who, when he arrived at Windsor
Castle last week, was in a state of convalescence, is now
perfectly recovered, and rides out in the mit twice
a day.

THE KING OF HANOVER.—Acco?.nts have been re-
ceived from their Majesties, the King and Queen of
Hanover, mentioning their safe arrival in the Hano-
verian dominions. Their Majesties would have remained
longer in London, bv.l for the breaking out of the measles
in our Royal farn,4.

PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT. —We believe the
Ministers intend, if possible, to get through the busi-
ness the house, so that the prorogation of Parliament
may take place early in August ; but from the amount
of business before the house, it is difficult to come to any
precise calculations on the subject.
HEALTH OF LORD JOHN RUSSELL.—We are happy
to be able to state that Lord John Russell, who has
been indisposed for some days, is much better. On
Saturday evening the noble lord received a select circle
at his residence, Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park.
The Earl of Aberdeen and the Earl of Clarendon have
bad several interviews with the noble lord during the
past week.

- HARROW SCHOOL.—By her Majesty's gracious com-
mand, an extra week will be added to the ensuinc, Mid-
summer vacation, in honour of the birth of his Royal
Highness Prince Leopold.
DEPARTURE OF THE EUROPA.—Shortly before noon on
Saturday the British and North American Royal Mail
steam-ship Europa, Captain W. C. J. Lang, sailed from
the Mersey for Boston and Halifax, with the usual mails
for the United States and British North American pos-
sessions, 125 passengers, and a large cargo of general
merchandise on freight. Her mails were carried out in
charge of Lieutenant Reid, R.N., Admiralty agent.
ROYAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY OF ENGLAND.--
GLOUCESTER, Saturday Night.--The arrangement for
the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society, which
will be held next wnek at this city, are now in a for-
ward state. The actual business of the meeting in fact
aha has
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to-
day several of the animals intended for competition
arrived, and were placed in their stalls. The exhibition
takes place on Llanthony Farm, in the occupation of
Mr. William Jones, situate close to Gloucester, on the
Bristol-road, and the grounds, Which are quite level and
Well drained, are admirably laid out,