The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-02 00:00:00

„
41‘
IF NV,. • 411.441'

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 2, 1853.

It is to be hoped that the adjourned debate on
the Chancellor of the Exchequer's resolution for
the re-imposition of the Property and Income Tax
for seven years more, without modification or
alteration, and Sir E. BErLWER LYTTON'S amend-
ment thereon, will be this evening brought to a
conclusion. Mr. DISRA ELI, on Friday evening,
thought there would be no difficulty in so doing ;
and we believe that there is a general anxiety in
the House and Country to know the result of this
arduous and important contest. Under such
circumstances, then, we may be excused in once
more directing attention to the nature of the
subject under consideration, and the paramount
importance of the decision that may be arrived at.
Before Honourable Gentlemen can make up
their minds to vote in favour of the resolution,
they must be prepared to say that the tax, as at
present levied, is, if not perfectly equitable, at
least as near an approximation thereto as can be
arrived at, to assert that the precarious and fluc-
tuating earnings derived from physical or intellec-
tual labour are as valuable as an equal amount
obtained as dividends from the public Funds or
ground-rents of well-circumstanced real estates.—
that the merchant or trader, the manufacturer or
professional man, enjoys his income by as sure
a tenure, and, in the event of sickness or ill-
health, can as safely depend on the enjoyment
of all the comforts essential to his position as the
owner of accumulated and realised property.
According to the constitutional maxim, every
person is bound to contribute to the national
exigencies according to his means and to his
position. Can the man, then, who has nothing
but his industry to depend on, whose only tan-
gible property is the salary, say of 3001., for
which he has toiled, be considered as having
means equal to his fellow-subject, who has not
merely 3001. by way of interest or dividend, but
also the 10,0001. of capital from which that
dividend was obtained ? The first will be charged
81. 153" or about one thirty-fith part of all that
he has in the world, the whole of which may
have been expended before the visit of the tax
collector. The other will only have the same
81. 15' to pay out of his 10,300/. Not more
than one-twelve-hummth
part_ of his possessions !
Is this fair or equitable this a scheme that
independent represents,
tcaivnesbeofsuthppeoirtnieldusbtryiothuse
midcu.
ad-
jure Ron. Gentlemen, while there
ntihnecroeaBsisdsieB;,timWee , not
to give their votes hastily
or
perpetual':
ttheely? they
who them 7 endeavour to
iniqui-
tous system with all its defects, will
heavy account to render to their defraudedvcoe /la
atituents. They will have to explain why it is
that the British Parliament has been compelled or
persuaded to succumb to the dictation of one nasal
against the clearly-expressed convictions of nine-
tenths of its Members. Never, we believe, was
subserviency
such slavish exhibited at any former
period. We earnestly hope it may not be seen on
the present occasion.
inquirywhether it is just or
We would also
t
rea-
sonable that the present representative of the
people allould eons oeTert
• t or their ouoc _

years hence is Whether they can feel them-
selves justified in arresting the further de-
velopment of the wise and beneficial policy
entered on under the auspices of the late Sir
ROBERT PEEL, and to which a large majority of
their numbers have pledged themselves in the
most solemn manner. Let them, for a moment,
consider their position and the probable tenure of
their seats. The Ministerial Leaders in both
Houses, have declared the necessity not only of a
large extension of the franchise to those who, al-
though heavily tasked, have hitherto been regarded
aspoliticalcyphers without any voice in the making
of the laws by which they are to be governed,
but also of other much required reforms. They
have promised this anxiously-looked-for measure
in the Session of 1854, and there can be but
little doubt that a dissolution will speedily follow
the passing of the New Reform Bill. Is it, then,
a time when the present Parliament should ven-
ture to bind its successors as to the future fiscal
policy to be pursued t Are the circumstances of
the case such as to justify so arrogant an usurpa-
tion as the absorption of all the means that
might enable future Financial Ministers to bestow
relief where it was most urgently required ? We
believe that there can be but one honest opinon
on the subject, and that even if the tax could be
renewed, without amelioration or modification,
it should only be for the ordinary term of three years,
so that fairly-chosen representatives of the people
should be enabled in a Reformed Parliament to
express the views of their respective constituents.
Mr. GrAusToNE, however, endeavours to abrogate
their functions, and hopes to be supported in the
unconstitutional attempt.

The payment of Income Tax may very properly
be held. to constitute one of the best qualifications
for the franchise. None would, according to
Constitutional principles, be better entitled to
the suffrage than those who directly contribute
to the liquidation of the national liabilities and the
maintenance of the national establishments. No
perfect measure of Parliamentary Reform can be in-
troduced.which does not provide such a qualification
—and yet Mr. GLADSTONE endeavours to destroy
the best and most suitable, and thus to create an
additional and very formidable obstacle to the pro-
per solution of this interesting problem. There
are many points of detail, some of which are re-
ferred to in letters which will be found in another
part of this day's impression, and which contain
some valuable suggestions, to which we shall refer
when this great principle has been decided by the
popular branch of the Legislature.

When the Royal Academy was originally
founded towards the close of the last century
literature was gracefully wedded anew to Art, by
the nomination, as honorary members, not merely
of the wise SAMUEL JOHNSON, but also of the gentle
OLIVER GOLDSMITH. It is gratifying to observe
each year the cordial maintenance of that same
feeling of brotherhood among Artists and Men of
Letters which was thus signalised by the Academy
at the period of its organisation. Perhaps
there is no more interesting incident in the an-
nual dinner given under the roof of the National
Gallery at the approach of the May Exhibition than
the reciprocation of generous sympathies between
the disciples of the art of Painting and the culti-
vators of the art of Literature. At least we
must acknowledge at once that it is so to ourselves.
Gonerally we believe, moreover, that this is the
case too with the multitude. It must be ad-
mitted this season, however, that possibly another
incident, and one of a very different character,
will command in the public mind priority of con-
sideration. The retrospective glance, we mean,
with which Sir CHARMS EASTLAKE introduced the
customary toast of the " Army and Navy," with
especial reference to the office of Commander-in-
Chief. This retrospective glance must by
the majority of those present at the ban-
quet on Saturday evening have been con-
fidently anticipated. It could not easily
be forgotten that upon the previous occa-
sion, upon the last anniversary celebration of the
founding of the Royal Academy, there was pre-
sent at the festive board that venerable warrior,
whose ashes have since been interred with such
surpassing pomp, under the dome of St. Paul's
Cathedral. It cannot be lost so easily to remem-
brance, that the interest with which the Duke had
been, during so many years, observed wherever
he made his appearance---as one of the most not-
able among living historical personages—was that
day enhanced by the recollection that it was the
day upon which his birth had always been com-
memorated. However familiar, therefore, the
form of the veteran had become by that time to
the guests there collected together, his presence
was hailed that evening with a more than ordinary
enthusiasm, and was viewed by even the most
apathetic with no common degree of satisfaction.
It may have been from a vague species of presen-
timent. For, as it afterwards proved, that was
the last occasion of his public appearance. It was
the last public dinner he is known to have at-
tended. Naturally enough, therefore, on propos-
ing the routine toast of " Army and Navy," the
President reverted with some feeling to this not-
surprisingly well-remembered circumstance. Con-
sidering the advanced age of the Duke of WEL-
LINGTON, it was interesting to be reminded that
then, so shortly before his dissolution, his Grace,
who is said not merely to have appreciated the
works of the great masters in the art of Paint-
ing, but also to have taken delight in those
of living artists—" On the evening before the
close of the exhibition [last year]—not to mention
intermediate inspections—honoured the Academy
with a visit [unconsciously a farewell visit], care-
fully surveying all the principal pictures, making
his observations freely, relating anecdotes in refe-
rence to the subjects of some of the works, and
taking an interest in meritorious productions of
the most opposite character." This was an inci-
dent worthy to be preserved, we take it, net
simply as another token of the vigour of intellect
sustained to the last in his ripe old age by the
Duke of WELLINGTON, but also as another and
delightful illustration of the sympathies binding
together the members of the most opposite
professions. If any further token of the
existence of these same sympathies between
the Artist and the Warrior were required, it
would be discovered in the cordiality and grace
with which Sir CHARLES EASTLAKE, now that the
great captain was no more, introduced in the
toast already mentioned the name of on.e of the
few surviving heroes of Waterloo, that of the
only Field-Marshal now in the British army not
of Royal Blood—that of the Marquis of AIirGLESEA..
[Shame, be it said, by the way, that neirther the
baton nor the coronet have ever been conferred
upon Sir CHARLES NAPIER, the conqueror of
Scinde, the hero of Meanee, and the victor
of Hyderabad!] To this solitary Field-
Marshal, not of Royal Blood, the eulogium
of the President of the Royal Academy was ad-
dressed with peculiar taste, and delicacy, and sen-
timent thereby closing appropriately enough
what we are fain to believe will be deemed the
principal incident of the banquet this season,
according to popular estimation.
Reverting to the reflections with which we
prefaced our remarks upon the plenary sympathies
flowing reciprocally between Art and Literature,
we must add, that to ourselves the revelation of these
same sympathies on Saturday evening was, as it had
often before been, a subject of peculiarly grateful
contemplation. As evidence of the sincerity and
earnestness of the reciprocation alluded to we may
mention the genial terms in which the Dean of
ST. Perm's and CHARLES DICKENS respectively ac-
knowledged the toast with which their names had
been coupled, namely, that of the " Interests of
Literature." As elucidative of one of the secrets
of these perennial sympathies between the culti-
vators of Art and Letters, Dean MILMAN observed
that " some high feeling of art" was absolutely
requisite to the annalist, the poet, the dramatist,
and the romancer ; in fact, throughout all the de-
partments of Literature. Speaking of this, he
remarked that " without the faculty of painting
by words,
St • • g out in full form the great
scenes of history, /Ir.
have been so MA.CAULAY would not
great an historian ; and if their
friend opposite (Mr.
BULINER LvrroN, and Dicers` had not a feeling
TALPOURD), and if
for Art they would a (4_4 ye /nit* "iztrairdies

and novels as they had." Undoubtedly. Every-
thing considered, there is little chance, conse-
quently, of any untoward disseverance of the dis-
ciples of those two great schools in the self-created
system of popular education—namely, the student
of Art and the student of Literature.