The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-13 00:00:00

Trim EVENING, MAY 13,

AM during the week, the entertainments will commence with the
ITv(lectacle of A3IAKOSA ; or, Scenes of Kafir Warfare.
followed by ilel:splay of Equestrian Scenes in the ARENA,
As wing Mr. Coo s's /Only-trained steeds. The infant Victor
%Wide Cooke knd his pet Drawing-room Poly. The Entertain-
eupported by the eminent Artistes of the lUablislirnent.
'to carloads with Hugo Vamp, Esq 's, new Ce Drama, entitled
Wit A DJG; ;or, Life at the Diggings.
~_llea-otllee open daily from Eleven to Fotfr. stage Manager Mr.
V. Wait.

WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
IP iv% Dar --Morning 46 Mill. after 41 Evening 8 mil:Lat. 5
Xe-Meeauev—Vorning 22 rain. after 5 Evening 45 miu.aft. 5

TDB WEVIIIER.—Sox Orrice, Mit 13.
THERMOMETER, 11l TILE SHADE.
88—highest since noon yesterday.
4&—lowest this morning and during the night.
54 this day at moon.

BAROMETER, 30.11.
WIID, S.l3.—Fine breeze, awl cloudy weather. Heavy
Baia in the night.

"
r 6,, '"141-1...044AAP
-41 AC"' `''4-0,44,4112'491 ' dr:,-414#411e,

LONDON,. YRIDAV, MAT 14, 1353,

--.2*-

Mr. GLADSTONE'S proposition ,A ith ro,!atrd to the
eentemplated extension of the Legacy _Duties re-
quires much careful consideration before it can
receive the Legislative sanction, or be suffered to
pats into a law. It must not be forgotten; that
the Right Hon. Gentleman intends completely
to alter the btcsis of the impost, creating a new
end far more productive tax, on a very different
illation from that alrendy in operation. It
ma no Ipnger be a duty on bequests, but a tax
sweuginiono. Every person coming into pos-
meigion df property, reel or personal—whether
under a devise or settlement, taking either as ab-
aolpie owner or merely as tenant for life, or other
interest-,—must pay a tax varying from 1
to 10 per cent., if his possession has been occa-
kioned by the depth of a, former proprietor. The
slistinetions between rents and personalty, settled
or unsettled property, will, so far as the tax is
concerned, be henceforward and for ever anni-
hilated. It is, therefore, to all intents and
rposee, a new tax on settled and real
property, calculated to produce 2,000,0001.
sterling per annum; and, as such, it imperatively
•demends the calm and attentive deliberation of
akt House as to its prof able results, before it can
permititd to pass through its various stages.
it were an existing source of revenue, the argu-
ment so frequently resorted to by Financial
-Xinisters Wight be available, viz., that he could
sot afford to relinquish so 'productive an impost.
'Fit that argument, weak and unsatisfactory as it
under *le most favourable circumstances, is
totally inapplicable in the present instance. The
=WOW must therefore be dealt with on its broad
eta. We must, to ttse the words of Mr. Dts-
-3421a, " a,* oursellves, is it a just tax I is it ab-
4treetedlY a just tax is it a politic tax—a tax
that can be vindicated an principle ?" and, if so, is
it a' tax adapted to the state and condition of the
country ? We must also reflect on the grounds
on 'Which this new impost can be justified ; and if
it- should be intended as a substitute for any
other public burden, we should carefully core-
pare the two, in order to ascertain which is
at the same time the most equitable and the most
expudient, to be well assured that we are not
.elopting a course alike opposed to justice and
eund policy. _

Nos: before entering on these important consi-
flaratiGns we may considerably- narrow t 1 owl_
w•e freely
'eilderi g to i\lr. L 41. Di, TO :SI,:
S e 1 itinently entitled for

(!}3i i,r Cl''J

tpri

IVafd

v sundry

Tna

tiC3 to

ehcusive measure he has brutu;ht
for-
that if th4l

rick II 0 vii ed gi-:

Ind

to be retaibe“

exten-

Leguoy Die w

bg U

Liu.—that no
other

pion to real property
option reunified for Mr. GL ADS TONE, or
Minister at the head of the Financial Dopartifient,
'Lig to listen respectfully. to tho voice of public
.Aad. to yield to "the pressure from wit)
'GAS" n Afich wall no lonoer be resitcd.

AU ,
.1,

secondly, that any measure would be defective
and incomplete which omitted settled property,
and did not place it on the same foundation as
that which passed by bequests. From these-data
it naturally follows, that the only alteration that
remained for the Chancellor of the Exchequer was
either to abolish the Legacy Duties altogether, 'or
to introduce such a measure as that now
under discussion. This, however, does not re-
' move the question from the category in which
it has been placed, that, as a new tax, it must be
supported by much stronger arguments than
would be required for the retention of one
already in operation. The tax for which it is to
be substituted, also becomes an important element
in the calculation, one that should be disposed of
in the first place. Every tax is a grievance. We
must therefore inquire into the relative advan-
tages and disadvantages of those respecting which
a comparison is to be instituted.
The new tax, then, is required for the gradual
reduction and ultimate abolition of the Property
and Income Tax. That will be manifest from the
financial statement of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, and from the nature and circumstances
of the case. It is by means of the additional
revenue to be obtained that the Income Tax
can be reduced from 7d. in the pound to 6d.
in 1855, and again to sd. in 1857 ; and, finally,
abolished in 1860 (that is to say, if Mr GLAD-
STONE'S views can be carried into practical execu-
tion in these respects) ; and that we are, indeed,
even destined to see the end or even the re-
duction of an impost which, if fairly and
justly apportioned, would be of all others
the best and most eligible for the commu-
nity, not merely for the working classes, but
also for the owners of accumulated and realised
property, the territorial aristocracy, and the
moneyocracy. The new tax is calculated to pro-
duce £2,000,000 sterling ; taken with the existing
duties. on legacies, which must be dealt with at
the same time, the amount would be £3,500,000,
which would be nearly equivalent to 7d. in the
pound on schedules A and C. There could not,
of course, be any alteration in the other sche-
dules, for, unfortunately, skill and industry
are not hereditary ; and no financier, we believe,
ever had the hardihood to put forward, or would
venture to enunciate, such a proposition as that
the widow and children of a professional man, or of
a merchimt, a manufacturer, or a trader, should be
required to pay a heavy tax to Government, not
on the property bequeathed to them, but for
the ability, the genius, the wealth-producing
powers of which they have been for ever deprived.
The question, then, merely rests with the owners
of accumulated and realised property of any
description. They are the parties who are
alone concerned. And it is for them to decide
whether it would be more desirable to pay a pro
portion of their income in each and every year, or
to be called upon, at uncertain intervals, to pay
a large proportion of their capital. We believe
that the former plan would be, in every
respect,
the most eligible for the parties, and for the com-
munity ; and we want no further evidence in sup-
port of the assertion than that taken before the
Copyhold Commission, which shoe s the great
practical inconveniences, the ruinous results, of a
tine amounting to one or two years' rental on the.
improved value. Parliament had to• yield to the
loud and general complaints on the subject to
change the law that had prevailed for centuries,
and even to tamper with " the rights of property,"
in order to avert the serious evils incidental to the
system ; and yet, within one short year of the pass-
ing of that salutary statute, Mr. GLADSTONE proposes
to act on the condemned principle, to revive the
impolitic system in its worst forms, and, practi-
cally, to bring all the freehold lands in the United
Kingdom into the most objectionable kind. of
copyhold tenure. And this immediate grievance
is to be borne in place of the contingent and ver;
problematical reduction and ultimate abolition of
the Property Tax. We ask the fundholders, the
landed proprietors, the owners of any kind of
property, to consider calmly and attentively both
propositions, and say which they would really
desire to have adopted, and that, not from preju-
diced or party feelings, but in accordance with the
real merits of the case An intelligent traveller
once said, that a person having to change his
money some half-dozen times in going into dif-
ferent small states would find it gradually
vanishing from the expenses of. the operation and
the extravagant demands of the money-changers.
If Mr. GLADSTONE'S views should be adopted and
carried into practical execution, the inheritor of
an estate that has gone through four or five suc-
cessions within a few years—a matter very pos-
sible—will find himself hoplessly embarrassed,
and obliged to part with the fair domains that
had been handed down through a long line of
illustrious ancestors.

There is another point that must be inquired
into. By what machinery does the Right Hon.
Gentleman propose to carry the tax into operation ?
Let it not be forgotten that it is a tax, not on the
income, but on the capitalised value of the inheri-
tance. How is this value to be ascertained ? And

if it can be averaged for the purpose of the tax on
successions, what is there to prevent its applica-
tion to the Property and Income Tax, thereby
removing the only impediments to an equitable
adjustment of that impost ? We submit these
interrogatives for the consideration of the Hon.
Gentleman. It would be well if they were pre-
pared with satisfactory responses before giving
their votes in favour of the new tax on succes-.

slot's.

At length the Report on Manning the Navy
has been issued by the Committee. Long and
eagerly expected, it has at last arrived. It would
be impossible, notwithstanding our impatience
hitherto in this matter, to regret for one moment
the delay which has actually occurred. Although
to all appearance unconscionably protracted, for
that delay we have now, in this really masterly
Report, been fully and most satisfactorily com-
pensated. Without any further preface, we
would here at once express to the different mem-
bers of the Committee our admiration for the so-
licitude they have evinced for the well-being of
the country in every stage of their prolonged inves-
tigation. Scarcely anything of real importance,
referring to the matter under inquiry, has been
by them overlooked, either through neglect or in-
difference. They appear to have gone carefully
through every one of those eleven sections which
were submitted to their scrutiny by desire of the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. They have
entered scrupulously into all; not forgetting a
single detail ; and they have rendered their in-
quiry effectual because they have conducted it
systematically. Firstly, they have considered
" The entry and training of boys and seamen, and
the periods of service for which they are engaged."
Secondly, "Whether such periods of service could
be advantageously extended, and the regulations
which it would be advisable in such case to adopt."
Thirdly, " The practicability of permanently re-
taining the services of boys and seamen, as is the
case with the Royal Marines, so as to insure the
means of rapidly manning her MAJESTY'S ships
when required for service." Fourthly, " Whether
a period of service abroad might be followed
by a period of service at home, in the coast-
guard, dockyards, or home ports." Fifthly,
"Whether a reserve of seamen might not be or-
ganised to remain in England, reference being had
to the scheme recently laid before Parliament for
that purpose." Sixthly, " Whether measures
could be adopted at the present time, in order to
secure the services of 'a large body of seamen for
the defence and general service of the country :in
a case of emergency." Seventhly, " The ques-
tion 4, of pay and prize-money, and especially the
clause of the Act sth and 6th WILL. IV., c. 24,
relating to bounty." Eighthly, "All regulations
.it
,-;amen ,canners." Ninthly;
pressnt
,t,oTpehotatywateoefrsgoaoudd-
conduct badges and of pensions." Tenthly, "The
putry of seamen intoantlr coast-guard and docy-
of seamen into Greenlbi‘sit
:Y arils." Eleventhly iisttioits;,ita"k'Yhe admission
and their sup-
to the consideration of the Comstnuliiiiieteetes,
port therein." The,,e were submittedai it is
upon these eleven propositions fo r inquiry that
th,, committee have now definitive ly pronounced.
Before they a110v,.1 ti
~Leieseives t c arrive at aaly

conclusion whatsoever upon one solitary particu-
lar, they appear to have invariably subjected the
subject in hand to a minute, and painstaking,
and almost, so to speak, microscopic investiga-
tion. They have, to this end, examined both
seamen and officers in the Royal Navy, besides
others connected with the mercantile marine, as well
as divers shipowners and public functionaries.
From these different sources, moreover, they
acknowledge, and not without considerable reason,
to have derived " much valuable information."
Every separate statement made in the course of
the document seems, indeed, from those portions
which we have already perused attentively,
to have been admirably well authenticated.
' A catalogue of the various witnesses summoned
before the Committee is given at the close of the
Report as a sort of appendix ; while as early as
the fourth section of it we find honourable men-
tion of the Admirals of the Fleet, Sir BYA3I MAR-
TIN and Sir GEORGE COCKBURN, to whom the
Committee allow themselves to be largely indebted
for their many inestimable observations.
Perhaps the most notable announcement made
throughout the whole of this important and ela-
borate document is one which occurs in the very
next paragraph. That paragraph (§ 5) expresses
itself in one part as, follows :—" The general cha-
racter of the evidence thus' brought before us, con-
firmatory as it is of our own experience, has
led us forcibly to the conclusion that the
present system of entering seamen into her MA-
JESTY'S Navy for• short terms of servitude, and
then discharging them; is highly detrimental to
its interests and efficiency, and requires an entire
revision." Now, if only for that one announce-
ment we should welcome the Report before us
with no common degree of satisfaction. It is
a declaration that goes to the very core of the
existing grievance. It asserts what we ourselves
have long maintained. It proclaims the existence of
an evil which we have for years- past in these
columns, again and again, in the strongest terms
of which our vocabulary is capable, denounced
and reprobated. After this the matter under con-
ideration cannot be once more—as it has been
already so frequently—cushioned. It must now,
perforce, extort the interposition of the Imperial
Legislature. For it has received at last an of-
ficial recognition. A. committee has at length
been found to avow in so many words that " the
present system of entering seamen in her MA-
JESTY'S Navy for short terms of servitude, and
then discharging them is highly detrimental to
its interests and efficiency, and requires an
entire revision." Having spoken thus directly
to the point, and that too in the plainest
possible language, the • Committee go on to
explain how it is they would sug-
gest that the evil complained of should be
remedied. Among other things they say, with-
out further delay in the way of mere circum-
lcution, " These evils would, in our opinion, be
eifotaally remedied, so far as the peace establish-
ment of the Navy is concerned, if both men and
boys were entered for longer periods." Bearing
all these coi: siderations in view, they avow,
shortly afterwards, that they have arrived unani-
mously at the conclusion " that the time has ar-
rived for placing her MAJESTY'S Navy on a more
permanent basis, on a similar principle to that
established in the Army and Marines," adding that
the change would be calculated, in every respect,
to be productive, both to the Crown and to the
Seamen, of numerous and solid advantages. Al-
though we cannot, of course, recognise how any
basis that is once permanent can be rendered
" more permanent," and although we would
hereby enter a passing exception to that ludicrous
flaw in the language of the Report, we cannot
but hail with unalloyed satisfaction the whole of
the remarkable clause in which this fantas-
tic slip of the tongue, or rather of the
pen, is encountered. For the Report thus affords
us ample reason to augur well for the future de-
velopment of the most national, but hitherto the
most neglected, of our warlike professions. The
precise manner in which it is proposed that the
service shall be reorganised will be interesting,
matter for subsequent and more deliberate consi-
deration.

We have much pleasure in directing public
attention to a :Report of the Fourteenth Annual
Meeting of the Shareholders in the NATIONAL
LOAN FUND LIFE ,ASSURANCE SOCIETY,
which will be found in our front page. We have
attended all the previouo meetings of this excel-
lent Institution, but never saw so full, so re-
spectable, and so satisfied an assemblage as we
witnessed on the present occasion, We cannot
but feel assured that this is a very Auspicious
augury of its future and increasing prosperity.