The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-14 00:00:00

THE MARRIA LGE BILL.

PATIO,. Ti,

Against
For.
Al -on. Captain WymiliaM.
Mr. 11. A, Bruce.
Mr. T. Baring. N r. B. Btanhope.
M r. R. Hodgson.
Mr. A. Layard.
St r A. Hood.
1U r. ITillwyn.
Paron Lionel de Rothschild Nr. Cross.
r. M. Smith.
DI
Mr. Collar.
Baron M. d.o Rothschild. L ord A. Hervey.
• .7-1 on J. Cole.
Sir F. Kelly.' AI r. Boit.
Mr. A. Smith,: li. on. 11. Cole.
Mr. Moffatt
. Et 'sl of Pective.
Mr. Freeland.
Sir R. Filmer. Sir F. Heygate.
Mr. Grenfell. Si r M. Stewart.
Dn Jackson. ,'.c rd Ingestre.
~
Lord Ilartington. Lo rd 'Stanhope.hi,... W. Wynne.
Colonel Berkeley.
i Mr. Le goy.
Mr.- FenwiCk.
Belnd.
Sir J. Trelawny. ' Mr.
;010l lel Dickson.
,
Mr. Liddell. si:,.E, Iterrison.
Sir J. Johnstone. Mr. C.. 'ye.
Mr. stansfeld. Mr. -bli. Cormick.
Mr. Whalley. .
Mr. noliall (L 1 Mr. lerosterd. .
Mr. Childers. i T tie 1 .orei, il_dvocat k:-
. Cavendish.
Mr:ill. Lewis.
Colonel Powell. l3itor.ni.Vioviit
Mr. Hankey. ' Mr. B. Moore.
Mr. Coningham. 1 Mr. W. hiteside.
ANALYSIS OF .1 II E DI VISION.
Present (including tellers), 261.•
English. Iria.ll. 6 118
For the bill lO7 5 c.,,, 'Ma,. Total.
Against - l5O
In the majority were 28 Radicals, inc:llth ng Mr. Glad-
stone. In the minority, which included 1,4,:ra ' Palmerston,
wore 14 members who usually act with the t.
patty.
•
lOnservative

AIR ,BRIG.HT M.P., ON THE IN C:OME:
TAX.

Mr. Brighi, f; ;11.P., has written the followin, to
the chairman of a recent anti-income tax mem 'ling
at Birmingham :
" 4, Hanover-street, London, Mareh 11, 1E ;62.,_
"Dear'Sir,;--I have feceivcid your letter an d a.
copy of the resolution on the subject of the ineomo,
tax,. and thank you for them. I am not surFised
'at the hostility which you descril'e a e existing- in
411
. nIW it of ,• persons in Birmi.ig ham against
,4ttis:mk; iig::**42,: Ora
Y'
oßly. surpri 'sod at the
-Patieitee;Ll • think I 'itCeita-ay bulpabie: patience,:
with which it has been so long endufecf.. At the:
same time I regret to say that I cannot see t 1 ..e wis-
dom of the course you recommend with a vl -3w to
procure the repeal or alteration of the tax, rn id it
.does not appear to me to offer any prospect or, suc-
cess. I cannot, therefore, pledge myself to act as
yoiwish, that is, to undertake to divide the hot. 'so
against the present income tax laws on every pos-
sible occasion.
"The evil of which you complain is net to be got
rid of through the direct action of Parlianlentt and
the course you recommend to my colleague an d to
myself would, I fear, only subject you to disapp o,•nt-
ment, and us to ridicule. The House of Comm,mls.
and I may say Parliament as a whole, includi n g
both houses, finds no special grievance in heavy
expenditure and heavy taxation, and the inequali's
ties of which you justly complain, tell in favour
of the rich, and especially in favour of the owners
of Ni hat is called real property. It is not from Par-
liment, therefore, in the first instance, you are to
look for redress.
" The income tax was imposed in the year 1842
to enable Sir Robert Peel to begin the reform of the
tariff. The tariff has been to a groat extent re-
formed ; and,:although the Customs tinges produce
more now than they did in 1842, the ioconie tax
remains with a heavier pressure and a 'wider
field. The cause is on the surface. Parli:aroent
consents now to an annual expenditure about
twenty millions in excess of that of 1642 r
and the income tax raises one-half of the ;n-
-creased taxation required by this increased
expenditure. If I complain to Govemment or ter
Parliament that this expenditure is unvecessary,
and this taxation burdensome, Governatent and
Parliament tell me that the nation is not Of my
opinion, and that the people do not blame OW one
or suffer sensibly under the other.
" I believe a very heavy taxation can rarely, VC'
haps never, be levied with much regard to justice.
Iu this country, where the rich only govern,4
equality and fairness in taxation are impossible.
The rich may spend the public revenues with a
careless prodigality, but they will fight with a des-
perate unity of purpose to place the burden on the
whole people, with little regard to the means of
these who are to bear if. In the United Kingdom
there are seven millions of men who p;ty taxes, and
of these about six millions are never consulted as
to the amount which shall be spent, or the mode in
which it shall be raised. Of the one milliou who
are apparently consulted, it may be said that poli-
tical power is so unequally apportioned among
them, that less than one-fourth of them nominally-
elect a majority of the members of the House of
Commons, by which seventy millions of 'Lazes are
annually collected from seven millions of men, and
which determines the mode in which this vast sum
shall be raised, and how it shall be expended.
" I have now had an experience of nearly twenty'
years in the House of .Commons, and during that
time I have given such assistance as I could tr,o
every attempt b keep down expenditure, and to
make taxation more equal and more just. The
expenditure is now twenty millions more than it
was when I entered Parliament. Since 1853-4,
when Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell led
the nation into war with Russia, the public exche-
quer has been open to the rapacity of the military
services, and they have revelled, without check, in:
the wealth which industry has created. These old
statesmen, steeped in the traditions of the last gene-
ration, conceive the grandeur of a country to COLt,
sist in the vastness of its taxation, and the extent
of its military preparations, and they have suc-
ceeded in so exciting the foars and imposing upon
the understanding of the middle classes of the
people, as to induce them to tolerate n con-
stantly-growing
ne mo
fe npt
e,
aacnedwao
übl
du rhdaevne odf r
va
exna t itohne
rw
forefathers
into revolt.

"The English middle class believes itself to be
represented, while its representation is mainly a
fraud. The great mass of the people are purposely
excluded from all representation. Force is no longer
used as the instrument of tyranny amongst us; bat
fraud, and delusion, and alarm, and panic are found
in our day more profitable than force. I write to
f the middle class ;
t great class, in many things
and I say that until that
you, who, in respect to the subject of our corre-
spondence, are a representative o
when it lists to any
great duty, so powerful-shall
examine public
itself
d shall shake free from the
so intelligent, so moral. an
affairs for itself, an
impositions which are so impudently practised upon
it, I see no hope of any sensible diminution of the
, burden of taxation, or of any more just apportion.-
went of that taxation from which it is impossible
to escape. If the middle class prefer an alliance
with the aristocratic and ruling party, to the cor-
dial co-operation and help of the great nation now
excluded from the franchise and from all political
power, they must be content with a profligate Go.
vernment expenditure, and a taxation burdensome
from its amount, and insulting from its inequality
and injustice.

" I hope I need not tell you how glad I shall be
to witness an expression of opinion in favour of
economy. 'rile old watchwords of the Liberal
party were ' Peace, Retrenchment, and Itvform.'
Of late years, under the lender:44 of Statesmen
hope of Bimini
Commons. I
who care for none of these things, the party has
become enfeebled, dtbiuched, and humiliated, and
has trampled in the dust the only principles on
which it has any pretence to become a.
' party.'eh e d er
" I cannot give you any
more equal tayation from the Home oi
c.ns.nrs
should only add another to the manyt di
afterl
people if I S; ern to en them,ti.
can
be on the
; cc, that nnY ling
neatly twenty years'
be done there, in your direction,except under a
rcsistcd, and which can
pressure which cannot
tbe I
experience,
shall rejoice if that
only come from witheua.nd
it will give me infinite
pressure be created,.. ,
aria to obey it.--I am, With
satisfaction to assist
it and
s
great respect, yours

" JOHN BRIGHT.
4,
To
John S. Manton, Esq., Regent Works
Birmingham." ,