The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-20 00:00:00

Supply the fleet under NAPIER with a proper
number of gun-boats of some such capacity and
character, and at the same time let a military ar-
mament of sufficient strength be despatched betime4
by France and England to co-operate wits, their
maritime armament, now up the Gulf of Finland
as far as Helsingfors-..-and the success of the
attack made by the allies upon the Russian capi-
tal must be assured, and a crushing blow will have
to be stricken at the outset at the heart, or rather
at the head, of the Northern Colossus, the first
trophies won by the swords of the French and
English, under the union-jack and the tricolor,
being the ravaged batteries of Cronstadt and the
capital of St. Petersburg.

The Honourable Gentleman the Member foi
Lambeth last night adduced many cogent reasons
for the extension of the Probate Duties to real
estate. The voice of public opinion has long since
proclaimed the injustice and impolicy of undue
distinctions between different descriptions of pro-
perty. There was a general feeling that the
Legacy Duties should be altogether abolished, or
made universal in their application—that it was
very unfair to charge sums varying from one to
ten per cent. on unsettled personalty, while the
same description of property, if placed in settlement,
and real estate, whethersettled or unsettled, escaped
without any charge whatsoever. In his Budget
last year, the Chancellor of the Exchequer recog-
nised the weight and validity of the arguments
put furward. The Right Hon. Gentleman, how-
ever, declared that he could not afford to sur-
render the revenue obtained from the Legacy
Duties, and that, therefore, he was obliged to
render the other descriptions of property, previ-
ously exempted, liable to the charge. The Suc-
cession Duties Ant was the consequence of this
admission—a statute which, although it has not
as yet brought much money to the Exchequer,
will speedily become a very productive source of
revenue.

It was but a half-and-half measure after all
—a mere instalment of justice. It did not place
the full amount even of Legacy Duty on the land,
and the payment was spread over a series of years
(five years), and the first claim on account thereof
not falling due until the whole of the Legacy Duty
in respect of personalty should be liquidated.
So great, in fact, were the advantages bestowed on
landed property, that (without even taking the
Probate Duty into consideration) the inheritor of
real estate was practically liable to but
little more than one-third of the devisee of chattel
interests of a similar degree of consanguinity.
This was a grievance no less striking than the
total exemption, and one which required early
consideration.
But this was by no means the full extent of
the advantages still retained by the favoured
classes. The Probate Duties, which on the average
pressed with equal weight on the families of the
industrious, were not overlooked, but designedly
omitted from the bill. We do not censure
Mr. GLADSTONE for that omission. The Right
Honourable Gentleman had a task of no
ordinary difficulty in attempting to over-
come the honest prejudices of some, and the inte-
rested opposition of others. It is only simple justice
to say—and we are even more willing to praise,
when it is really merited, than to censure—that
the Right Hon. Gentleman succeeded to the full
extent of his arduous undertaking. He intro-
duced the sharp end of the wedge, and rendered
further progress in the same direction perfectly
facile—the impediments thereto being, if not
wholly removed, at least smoothed away, and
rendered easily surmountable, whenever the fit-
ting opportunity should occur.

That opportunity has now arisen. When we
are compelled to look to all our resources for
meeting the additional expenses of the war—when
we are obliged to consent to the doubling of the
Income Tax, and the increase of the Sugar, Spirit,
and Malt Duties—it is surely time to resort to
every fair expedient to replenish the Exchequer.
Mr. WILLIAMS has shown that 200,0001, sterling
—and the Honourable Gentleman is certainly
below rather than above the mark—might be
realised by extending the Probate Duties to
real property. These duties, it will be iu
the recollection of our readers, are fixed
and certain. They do not vary accord-
ing to the degree of relationship of the suc-
cessors to the deceased. The only distinctions
are-Ist, Whether the property is disposed of by
will, or by operatio❑ of law. The charge in the
latter instance being one-third, or 50 per cent.
higher than in the former, or, in other words,
whether the stamp be imprt ssed on a Probate or
on Letters of Administration. 2dly, It varies
according to the amount, the average being about
21 on small, and 11 on large successions. Taking
the mean, 2 per cent. might fairly be added for
these charges under an equalised duty. The tax,
too, is payable in the.first instance, before any st,T
is taken to realise the estate, or the exercise of
any act of ownership in reference thereto. It is
therefore scarcely necessary to say that it becomes
much more available for meeting immediate expenses
than a charge of a similar character which may be
liquidated by instalments spread over five years.
It is, therefore, just what is required by Mr.
GLADSTONE. It exactly suits his book—and may
therefore be deemed worthy of adoption when he
is able to be in attendance to speak for himseif.
Mr. WILSON, who in his absence (occasioned by a
domestic calamity) appeared as his substitute, ac-
knowledged " the importance of the subject, and
in a great degree the justice of the proposition,"
We may therefore hope that something will
be done even before the termination of the p re-
sent session to cause the good seed thus
sown to bring forth suitable fruits, and that the
candid admission may lead to practical results.
A consoddation of the Succession and Probate
Duties may, therefore, be regarded as inevitable,
and that at no very distant day. The motives
which induced Mr. GLADSTONE to accept payment
by instalments spread over so many years, would
be fully satisfied by accepting mortgages at a mo-
derate rate of intarest,.which should have priority
over all other charges affecting the prospects
created by the will or the inheritor, and against
which Exchequer Bills might at once be issued.
The charge would thus be at once realised with-
out any hardship to the inheritor. He would
be at liberty to pay up at once if he thought pro-
per, and if he could not conveniently do so, he
might demand reasonable indulgence at a reason-
able rate of interest, and could nut be driven into
the hands of the " money lender" to meet the
demand.

Mr. PACKE's " Bill to relieve Dissenters from
the payment of Church Rates in certain cases"
will neither please Dissenters nor Churchmen.
The former v. ill spurn it as unsatisfactory and in-
sulting, the latter as a gross injustice to the most
generous members of the Establishment. It pro-
poses to make two distinct rates, one for the re-
pair of the fabric, of the church, the other for its
services and furniture. The repairing rate is to
be enforced universally, and by a comparatively
summary process. From the other rate a Dis-
senter may obtain exemption by a declaration
before two magistrates that he is a member of a
dissenting congregation-..a declaration which must
be attested ou oath by the minister or two members
of the congregation ! Mr. PACKE must know but
little of the spirit of Dissenters if he thinks they
will either continue to repair churches in which
they
dgo not worship, or consent to a cumbrous
ineminious
charge which they process of " swearing off* a
pberee
fne rpto resented
continue to
justly feel ought never to have
ttillieer.am.rarfaVreerwy
which
hich thwill they
BRAIN-
TREE case has opened to them, and in which they
are so frequently victorious. We certainly should
respect their anti-church-rate
zeal but little if it
could be quashed by such a paltry proposition as
this. So much the less could we respect it, if
they tolerated such a miserable offer after
the
frank and manly aid tendered them by Lord
STANLEY, the Member for Lynn, whose consti-
tuents, we were happy to see, in a vigorous battle,
fought, too, in the best spirit, carried out the
views of their Noble Member by refusing a
rate for the first time. The day is quite gone by
for Legislation in the PACKE style. A much
higher one, of which Lord STANLEY may fairly