The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-22 00:00:00

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OXFORD-STREET.
Under the Managemmt of Mr. CHASM KEAN.
THIS EVENING, MAI= 22,
Will be performed RICHARD THE THIRD. Principal charac.
ter by Mr. C. Kean.
To be followed by A STORM IN A TEACUP. Principal cha•
meters by Mr. and Mrs. W. Lacy.

ASTLEY'S EUROPE'S NATIONAL AMPRITREA.TRE

Lessee and Manager, Mr. William Cooke.
THIS EVENING, MARCH 21,

And during the week, will be presented the new, rand, and
romantic spectacle entitled THE WOODMAN'S HORSE; or, The
False Knight—the Woodman's Horse by the pet steed, Beauty,
expressly trained by Mr. William Cooke.
After which, the incomparable Scenes of the ARENA.
To conclude with BESS OF THE BELL.

Box-office open from Eleven till Four. Stage Manager, Mr. W
West.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TOTS DAY —Morning! 0 rnin.after 7 Evening 33 min.aft.
To.Moanow—Morning 13 min After 8 Evening 0 min.aft. 9

THE WEATHER.---Box Orrms, Mani( 22.
THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
51—highest since noon yesterday.
ST—lowest this morning and during the night.
48—this day at noon.

BA.ROMETER, 30.57.
WIND, N.N.W.—Fresh breeze, with fine, cold, sun,
shiny weather.

cal
e 174
(t_

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 185

Whether it be or be not, in its origin a Coalition
War—as Mr. DISRAELI pronounced it to be in his
animated speech during the course of last even-
ing's dicussion—this momentous struggle of Eng-
land and France against the Russian AUTOCRAT is
at any rate a War directed for the maintenance
of the holiest principles, for the maintenance of
the principles of truth and justice, and for the
consolidating upon firmer bases than ever of the
glorious and complicated system of modern civili-
zation. There is more in this than the rhetorical
turn of a sentence, or than the pomp of sonorous
phraseology. It is simply the utterance of a great
fact, a fact the importance of which deserves a more
general and a mora thorough appreciation. Do the
generality of observers, we would ask, estimate it at
its right value, this warlike movement on the part of
the European Governments ? Let it be considered
for a few moments with dispassionate calmness
and deliberation by each one individually. Here
are we now, in this year of our LORD 1854, enter-
ing upon a conflict against the pride and ambition
of one of the most gigantic empires on the face of
the earth—after the lapse, since the close of the
last great war in 1815, of nearly forty years, of
just nine-and-thirty years of general tranquillity ?
Revolutionary contests have, no doubt, during
that almost unprecedented interval of general tran-
quillity, agitated now one nation aid now another.
But during those forty years, it may be observed with
truth, that there has been no war worthy of being
designated as European, there has been no widely-
extended struggle against each other, in which
the larger Powers have at any time participated.
There has been the French conquest of Algeria.
There has been the emancipation of Greece by the
arbitres of the destinies of Christendom. There
has been the war of Schleswig Holstein, and the
war of the Sonderbund. There have been, at
intervals, the wars of Polish Independence, of
Italian Independence, and of Hungarian Inde-
pendence. There have been intermittent risings
of the Carlists in Spain, and of the Miguelites in
Portugal. The tornado of Democracy has raged for
awhile, and then suddenly died out among the greater
and the lesser States of the Germanic Confedera-
tion. During the last forty years we have wit-
nessed all these and similar explosions of the
Bellicose spirit of the European population. But
between 1815 and 1854 there has not arisen
until now any cause of battle among the chief of
the mightier Powers of Christendom. At last,
therefore, after—in this respect—a lull of the
principal portion of half a century, Europe is
roused once more to a general conflict—by what
summons ? By the summons predicted by the
Captive of St. Helena—by one more sagacious
than C.IESAR, more imperial than SESOSTRIS,
more daring than ALEXANDER, and more
puissant than CHARLEMAGNE. By the war
trumpet of the great northern Autocracy. By
the apparition of the Cossack hordes along the
frontiers of our European civilisation.
It is to oppose the advance of the Russians
westwards that France and England have united
at last their fleets and their battalions. Au in-
cident—this—such as Europe has not witnessed
fur centuries, not, indeed, since the remote epoch
of the Crusades. Hitherto opposed to each other
by a deadly animosity, they are at length com-
bining their energies for a glorious emulation.
At length they are drawing the sword, not face
to face, but side by side. The union-jack
and the tri-colour flutter at last in friendly
proximity—here over the military, and there
over the maritime armaments sent out together
by the two great allied Governments. And for
what purpose are all their mighty energies called
forth ? Not for the gratification of any idle am-
bition, not for the advancement of any selfish
motives, not with a view, as hitherto so very fre-
quently, of a territorial, or a political, or a com-
mercial angrandisement. But for the defence of
the weak—for the punishment of a powerful ag-
gressor—for the vindication of Turkish Indepen-
dence—for the maintenance of Right over Might
—for the blended cause of Truth and Justice—
for the consolidation upon firmer grounds of the
general peace of Christendom.
As if to complete by a crowning marvel all
the wonders of this extraordinary juncture—
during these last forty years of European tran-
quillity, during this interval which has elapsed be-
tween 1815 and 1854, all that had been built up
by the last momentous struggle, at such enormous
cost of blood and money, has been since then
rased to its foundations and utterly dissipated.

The laSt European war, remember, the last " war
of the giants," was carried on for the revival of
Bourbonism and for the destruction of Bonapart-
ism. At what enormous expenditure to England,
we know by the increase of the National Debt, by
the increase of that debt which exceeds all the debts

.--
of all the other nations of the earth put together,
according to the acknowledgment made a few
nights back in the House of Commons by her
MAJESTY'S Chancellor of the Exchequer. Well,
after all this—How are matters at present situ-
ated ? Why, twice since 1815 have the Bour-
bons been rejected by the French multitude—

in 1830 the elder, and in 1848 the younger
branch of that dynasty which had been dragged
back at the chariot wheels of the Kings of Eu-
rope over the corpses of so many millions of their

fellow-countrymen. And'now, in 1854, England
's adventuring again upon a general war—with

her most trusted ally the Imperial ruler of France,
the head and champion, and representative of the

once obnoxious cause of Bonapartism. It is well.
For, never again, we believe, can England be the
Quixote of " Legitimacy."
Under this astonishing combination of circum-
stances, is it that the two principal Powers of
Western Europe, the two foremost Empires in
Christendom one the greatest military and the
other the greatest maritime nation on the globe,
are now entering together upon a struggle in which
the barbarism of Russia is confronted by the fleets
and the armies of civilisation. As indicative of

the nature of the two causes, Russia has prepared
for the struggle by a forced loan, while France has
obtained the sinews of war by a voluutary loan,
which voluntary loan has been eagerly advanced
by her own people, within an interval of a few
days, nearly to the full amount of the requested
350,000,000 francs. The former being regarded,
naturally enough, as a direct robbery, and the
latter as a safe investment.
It might almost have been reasonably expected
that the German Powers would have been alienated
at length from the councils of the AUTOCRAT, now
that a daring taunt on the part of his official jour-
nal has led to the disclosure of the secret
correspondence between the British and Rus-
sian Governments. It so happens, however,
that Austria is too much of a vassal, and
Prussia too ranch of a cypher, in regard
to the northern Autocracy,
to admit of their
withdrawal from a Position of neutrality at

the sneers of the Emperor NICHOLAS. Thus
circumstanced in regard to Germany, Eng-
land and France, looking only to themselves
and their alliance, relying upon the justice of
their cause and confiding in the aid of GOD, are
entering with their whole energy, and with an
enthusiasm impossible to witness without emotion,
upon the perils of the great battle in which they
are recognised as the arch-champions of the civi-
lisation of Christendom.

Well, the resolution with respect to the Income
Tax has, after all, been carried; sub silently. The
anticipated discussion has ended in smoke ; not a
single member was forthcoming to demand even
an expression of opinion in favour of a more
equitable apportionment of the charge, or to pro-
test against any increase of the burden until some
attempt had been made to render it more tolerable
to the community. It is perfectly clear, there-
fore, that public opinionis not represented in the
House ofCommons. Were it so, many indignan t pro-
testswould be offered against the iniquitous impost.
The golden opportunity for obtaining some kind
of modification would not be treated with such
contemptuous indifference and careless apathy.
One notice of amendment only was given.
One gentleman only appeared honestly desirous of
bringing his views before the House and the coun-
try, and he was absent through inadvertence at the
time first appointed. Sir HENRY WILLOUGHBY'S
amendment did not, however, strike at the root
of the evil. It did not even in any degree assail
the obnoxious principle of the equal taxation of
all descriptions of income, or the oppressive and
inquisitorial mode of collection. All it aimed
at was, that the additional threepence-halfpenny
in the pound should be collected by two
half-yearly payments, in place of the whole
being - levied for the half-year commencing
ou the sth of April next. This proposition
was moved on bringing up the report. We con-
fess that we did not feel greatly interested in the
result, which, as might have been anticipated,
ended in the rejection of the proposition. It
clearly would not suit Mr. GLADSTONE'S purposes,
who may want to continue the additional pay-
ments, in case the Emperor of RUSSIA should not
be brought to reason quite so speedily as may be
anticipated ; and in ' the strange subservience
that appears to be exhibited by men of all parties
to the fiscal Autocrat, it seems tolerably certain
that his commands will receive ready obedience.
We confess that we cannot fathom the motives
of those who were once reputed to be independent
members, but who now appear to be the most
servile followers of the Minister. It has, we
know, been asserted, that any suggestion or pro-
position for providing the sinews of war should,
under present circumstances, be accepted, not
only without resistance, but without remon-
strance—that the representatives of the people
should be willing not only to vote all the
supplies requisite for the vigorous and ener-
getic waging of war, but that they should do so
in the very mode suggesteth by the head of the
financial department. We must, however, pro-
test against this slavish doctrine, which would
reduce the body, once so potent, to little better
than the condition of a parcel of Marionettes, whose
only duty was to receive and submissively register
the decrees of the Minister of the day. The most
strenuous Ministerialist cannot be more ready
than ourselves to encounter any burden, or any
danger in the cause of honour, justice, and hu-
manity, that we may be enabled to protect the
comparatively feeble when unjustly and wantonly
attacked, and to resist the unwarranted aggres-
sions of the powerful oppressor. But that does not
compel our assent to a grievous act of injustice to
thousands and tens of thousands of our country-
men, or induce us to close our eyes to their
wrongs and their sufferings.
If the war could not otherwise be carried on,
we might be induced to surrender our decided
convictions for a time, and even endeavour to
persuade our fellow-sufferers to bear the inevitable
evil, if not patiently, at least silently. But
there is no such necessity. The money could be
just as easily collected under an equitable as an
inequitable system. Indeed, the less obnoxious
to the charge of injustice, the more freely and
willingly would the demand be responded to. It
is before the crotchet of Mr. GLAD3TONE that the
popular representatives are bowing down—a
crotchet not shared in by even two of his colleagues,
or a tithe of their supporters in the Commons
House of Parliament—a crotchet which is pro-
ductive of the must demoralising influences on the
public mind. Convince the people of the injus-
tice of any charge, and a very considerable
proportion will endeavour to evade it by
any means whatsoever. , It is true, that
many will respect the law, however objection-
able, but such submission will not be general, and
great numbers will resist an unfair demand by
unfair means.
Now, if there were no other reason to be urged
in favour of a modification of the tax, the argument
on behalf of public morality would be irresistible.
We should remove the temptation to fraud and
deception. We have it, on the very highest autho-
rity, that a fair assessment may be made under
every other schedule save D only. An unexcep-
tionable witness, Mr. PRESSLY, in his evidence
before the Select Committee, said—" At present
everything being charged at its first source, we
are quite sure of the tax upon every penny ; we
get every penny upon the dividend, and every
penny upon a man's salary ; all that we do not
know is the profits of a man's trade, but in all the
other schedules it is collected to a penny without
any disclosure whatever." The profits of trade
cannot, however, be ascertained with any pretence
to accuracy. When the Commissioners surcharge
a trader, it is a mere guess, and it not unfrequently
happens that when they make the attempt, they
inflict gross injury on the party, who may, while
acting in the most bona fide and straightforward
manner, be charged double or quadruple his fair
proportion. Those who make up their minds to
defraud the revenue succeed but too often in
doing so. Mr. TILL declares that " the decision
must be taken, generally speaking, according to
the conscience or the will of the party who comes
to appeal, or makes the return." While Mr.
TIMM adds his testimony that it "is almost im-
possible to get evidence to prosecute a man for a
false return under Schedule D, the amount of his
profits being only known to himself." Need we
wonder then, that, to use the words of Mr.
PRESSLY, " there is great evasion on the subject,"
or can we impugn the opinion of that exp:Tienced
officer, that " the longer the tax exists, the eva-
sions will go on increasing under Schedule D 1"
Surely, then, a regard for public morality should
induce our rulers to du something to remedy this
serious evil. If the people show themselves reso-
lute, the attempt will be made ; but while they
remain apathetic and indifferent, nothing will be
done. There can be no doubt as to the state of

- _
public opinion, but it should be proclaimed in
distinct and unequivocal terms, so as to leave no
possibility of mistake. It is for the people them-
selves to do so, and for fiscal reformers to take
the lead in exciting the necessary agitation on the
subject. There is yet time to achieve a triumph.
The resolution of Monday, and the bringing up Cl
the report last night only authorised the
introduction of a bill. There will be sundry
stages at which the unfair principle may
be as-
sailed, and, if the chances be thrown away, the
people will fully merit the perpetuation of the

grievance.

VISIT OF THE QUEEN TO THE OLYMPIC THEATRE.—
Her Majesty and Prince Albert and suite last night
visited the Olympic Theatre. The house was crowded
in every part.

The Court will return to Windsor fur the Easter holi-
days, on Saturday, the 15th proximo.
Lord and Lady Lyndhurst and the Hon. Miss Copley
have left George-street, Hanover-square, for Turvill-
park, Henley-on-Thames, until the week after 'next,
when they return to town for the season.
Mr. Peto and Mr. D. Waddington paired on the
Ministers Money (Ireland); Mr. Peto for, Mr. Wad-
dington against, the amendment.

PALL Ik TEE PRICE OF BREAD.-1/ esterday a general
fall in the price of bread took place throughout the me-
tropolis, of one halfpenny in the 41b. loaf. The best
bread at the West-end is now 101 d., and 1 ld. the 41b.
leaf; second quality, 9d. to 94d. ; and third quality,
81d. and Bd. In the eastern and southern metropolitan
districts the same quality of bread is sold at all times
one halfpenny less for the 41b. loaf than in the central
and western districts.