The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-18 00:00:00

nish to suit his inconvenience. It can
only take note of his year's income, and if the re-
gular £2OO or £3OO has been received it will not
deduct the expenses of apprenticing his son, or
paying for a daughter's wedding or a doctor's bill.
It is upon the large and struggling class who are
ranged under that elastic schedule D, which in-
cludes the QUEEN and the chimney-sweep, that the
Income Tax presses most heavily., and the great
saving which our author would make in their

weekly housekeeping (from which, however, he
would deduct half for the direct taxation) would
ill suffice to atone for the addition to its weight. The
Income Tax has always been unpopular among all
classes in this country, though, no doubt, it is a
very useful and reliable assistant to the financier.
Both direct and indirect taxation have their merits
and their disadvantages, and as, in spite of re-
formers and philosophers, our social and political
systems cannot be exactly squared and conducted

on rigid mathematical principles, perhaps the best
way of settling the difficulty is to adopt a middle

course, and by continuing a moderate combination

of both to avoid the evils and inconveniences in-

separable from an exclusive adoption of either.

Sir JOHN PAKINGTON'S remarks upon Education
are always worthy of attention, and those who take
an interest in such subjects will be glad of the

oopportunity of perusing the speech made by the
right hon. baronet at Kidderminster on Wednesday.
Several influential persons were present, and the
proceedings assumed a very animated character.
Sir J. PAKINGTON moved a very appropriate reso-
lution, to the effect that " the continued increase
in the numbers of candidates for examination during
the eight years enumerated in the annual report of
the Union of Institutes, is highly encouraging to
educational efforts, and by tending to raise intel-
lectual attainments and the social condition of the
working classes, helps to promote the best interests
of the country at large." It is encouraging to
notice the great increase that has taken place in the
numbers of those who attend the night schools, and I
such statistics as were furnished the other night
afford unmistakeable signs of the good that is being
done by the energetic efforts of those who promote
these undertakings. Sir J. PAKINGTON mentioned
that in the first year of the union, 1858, the classes
and night schools contained only 342 pupils, but
the numbers had increased until now we find
that they reckon 1,443 pupils. Surely this is
cheering intelligence, and should silence the remarks
of those who have been very ready to sneer at these
attempts, and predict but a short existence to the
schemes of education among these classes. It
proves that the notion is gaining ground, and that
education can no longer be confined to the
affluent.

The right hon. baronet gave an amusing
instance of the mistakes which are constantly
' being made by a certain set in society,
who look down with contempt upon the
praiseworthy efforts of those who would extend the
cultivation of the mind in every possible direction.
He happened the other day to overhear a conver-
sation between two ladies who lamented the scarcity
of servants now-a-days ; one of them expressed her
perplexity and the other explained the cause of the
evil as that " horrid education." "It turns the
heads of the women," said the Hon. Sir J. BAKING--
TON. He hoped there were no persons present
who for one moment entertained the notion that
" PROVIDENCE had blessed this favoured country
with great wealth, great prosperity, and a teeming
and prosperous population, in order that one-half
of that population might be kept in ignorance to
supply the other half with cooks and housemaids."
Such a course of reasoning is false to the best
interests of society, and subversive of all sound
doctrines of improvement and moral culture. We
have madegserfs butso : andpoor show in abolishing the custom
of keeping eepin
putting down the slave trade,
if to suit the benighted fancies of prejudices and
selfish individuals we are to allow our fellow crea-
tures to waste their talents and suffer their faculties
to rust and decay, stultifying the gifts of their
MAKER to suit the arbitrary notions of exclusiveness.
All right-thinking persona will denounce such a
course as that advocated by these ladies who were
unfortunately the exponents of the views of too many.
How much wise-minded arid truer is it to do our
utmost to forward the condition of those who have
not been able by their birth and fortune to command
educational advantages. Sir J. PA KINGTON de-

dared that he was happy to think the great ma.

jority of his countrymen considered that the more
they diffused blessings of education, and the more
they "enabled the working classes of the country
to cultivate and improve those intellectual faculties
which GOD had given them, the greater would be
our national happiness, and the more enduring our
national greatness." Such are noble sentiments,

worthy of all honour and appreciation, that deserve
to be cherished in the minds of the community, and
cannot be too highly extolled or too widely chs-
Prising deg-ice,
geminated. Crime and cruelty vanish in a sur-
and as education is advanced and
prospers, that is to say, education in its proper
sense, a course of instruction that trains the mind
in the know ledge of religion and the respect of

that " the abolition of the malt duty would be the,
death-warrant of the whole of our system of indirect
taxation." The writer of this little pamphlet, so-
far from considering this an objection to the pro--
posed abolition, believes that the substitution of:
direct for indirect taxation would be " an object
worthy of the ambition of the Liberal party," and
r asks why its members do not unite for the purpose.
But we apprehend that on this matter, as on some
more closely connected with their political profes• •
sions, the Liberal party would exhibit some consi—
derable differences of opinion. Taxation is like a
heavy burden, which the bearer shifts from shoulder
to shoulder, thinking whichever side he has it on that
it would be lighter on the other. At first sight when
we look at the matter it seems very pleasant
to propose having tea, coffee, tobacco, malt, wine,
spirits, and a good many other of the comforts:and
luxuries of life totally unencumbered by those in-
convenient duties which give the shopkeeper and
other agents so very convenient an excuse for over-
charging the public. But although to the political
economist at his desk it may seem a much more
simple and advantageous system for all payments
to be made direct to the Government, and every
one, after paying his direct taxes, to be left to buy
what he will free of burden, the man of limited
income will at once perceive the drawbacks to the
proposed change. Every one knows the inconve-
nience of paying a fixed sum out of a limited amount,
and the small scope which such an arrangement
leaves for management or contrivance. The clerk
or small trader, with an income of two or three hun-
dred a year, will not thank the financial reformers
for doubling or trebling his income tax, and taking
off the duties on wine, tobacco, and other luxuries
which he never touches. A man may accommodate
his inclination to his circumstances. As the expenses
of his familyincrease he may reduce his superfluities,
but the tax collector can make no such allowance.
If he knows, from any exceptional cause, that he
will have extra demands upon his purse, he may
alter his way of living to meet them, but
the tax paper will not increase or dimi