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

.At

LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1854.

Cannot OA united army of
.French and English
soldiers be despatched even now with considerable-
effect into the Baltic, to be there landed on the
coast of the Gulf of Finland, so as effectually to
co-operate with the combined fleets in their pro-
posed attack upon St. Petersburg It is earnestly
to be hoped that the advisability of this move-
ment may be deliberated upon betimes by the
allied Governments. There has been D. general
feeling for a long while past that measures of this
kind should have been adopted, and that Russia
should have been assailed from the north simul-
taneously by a maritime and military armament.
It is by no means too late even now to repair the
apparent error of omission, if any such blunder
still actually continues at this moment to admit
of reparation. According to the latest accounts
received from the distant waters approached by
way of the Skagerrick and the Ca tegat, dated
on the 16th instant from Stockholm, it appears
that even then the united fleets of France and
England had not penetrated the Gulf of Finland
further than Hango, near Helsingfors, The ice
has not yet broken up sufficiently to admit of
free navigation. Nay, we know perfectly well,
from those well acquainted with those waters,
that the long-desired melting away of the ice
so as to open up a clear passage beyond
Cronstadt cannot, under ordinary circumstances,
be expected much before the close of May—the
severity of the wintry season extending some-
times even to the first two or three days of June.
However this may be just now., it is by no means
too late for a considerable body of French soldiers
to be conveyed northward—time enough to
admit of their aiding Admirals NAPIER and
DESCIIENES in their onslaught upon the
Russian capital—time enough even for the Gallic
army to be strengthened by the timely arrival of
a British contingent. A calculation the reason-
ableness of which must be quite apparent, when
it is remembered that, as before observed, the
combined fleets had not, up to the close of the
first fortnight of the present month, advanced
further up the Gulf of Finland than Hango, near
Helaingfors.
-Examine, moreover, yet more close the last
advites received from Stockholm, and it will
`be still more clearly manifest that there
is 'force in our argument, to the effect that
Russia should be assailed from the north,
not merely by a maritime, but also, and
simultaneously, by a military armament. It
will be observed from this intelligence that there
is a hatred against Russia rife among the Swedes
and Norwegians. It will be perceived that this
cordial sympathy with the Western Allies of Tur-
key has already had its sufficiently-significant
ruifestation —insomuch that the King of SWE-
T. was made aware of the animosity che-
rished by his subjects in regard to the Mus-
covite Government, while - reviewing his fleet
on the occasion of their recent arrival at
Elfsnabben. Advantage ought.surely to be taken
if this extraordinaily opportune display of feel-
g on the part of the Swedes and Norwegians.
An allied army sent by France
debarkation on the coast
ofand England for
he Baltic, or rather
of that important branch
of t
at
en
Gulf of Finland, would t he Baltic called the
very satisfactorily
towards the precipitation-of events
in the North,
so that the open declaration of Sweden and Nor-
way against Russia might come simultaneously with
an attack by sea and by land against St, Peters_
burg.
The attack by sea, we have already ob-
served often enough, cannot possibly be made
directly by the fleets themselves. it can only
be made by the fleets acting through gun-boats,
and this simply because of the shallow water
extending beyond the insular fortifications of
Cronstadt to the extremity of the Gulf of Finland,
and so on, up the river Neva, to the very walls
of the Russian metropolis. So shallow is it, in-
deed, that it is altogether inaccessible to vessels
drawing more than eight feet of water—a diffi-
culty, however, by no means insurmountable, as

may be recognised on a glance at English-buil
steam-gunboats such as the Nix and the Salaman-

der. Vessels—these two just mentioned—
drawing only five feet of water, even
when fully armed and equipped, being 160
feet in length, 24 feet in breadth, and 11 feet in
depth, with engines of 160-horse power, giving a
speed
-of 15 miles, and carrying on board 4 32-

pounders and 4 68-pounders—projectiles adequate
for any emergency in wnich it might be deemed
requioite or advisable for them to be engaged.

Supply the fleet under NAPLSn 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 betimes
by France and England to co-operate with 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 fox
Lambeth last night adduced many covent 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
Imade 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 forward. 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 Act 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. starling
—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 in
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 operation 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 impressed on a Probate or
on Letters of Administration. 2dly, It varies
according to the amount, the average being about
2-J; on small, and 1 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 step
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 himself.
Mr. Wu.soN, 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 prcposition."
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 consolidation 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 interest, 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, be
might demand reasonable indulgence at a reason-

able rate of interest, and could not 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 cougregation—a declaration which must
be attested on 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 cuntinue to repair chinches in which
they do not worship, or consent to a cumbrous
ignominious
and
chargg
been which
process of "swearing off" I,
thety justly feel ought never to have
them,o
presentedut continue
TREE case has opened to Very much will they
prefer to
the warfareth which the BRAlN-
em\and in which they
are so frequently
victoriors Vzeeecertainly
respect
little
tio:u should respect their anti-chtirch-ra.t
could be quashed by such a ea
paltry proposition as
this. So much the leas could
the
b they tolerated such a miserable offerafter the
Lord
frank and manly aid tendered them by
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 oile, of which 4ord STANLEY may fairly

be regarded as thd type, is arisen even in the
Conservative ranks.

We observed that it was unjust to all the more
generous and liberal Churchmen also Why, it
was but the other night in the Muse of Lords,
that the Bishop of OXFORD himself, following the
Earl of ABERDEEN and Earl NELSON, opposed the
Earl of WINCHELSEA'S resolution about the defi-
ciency of church accommodation, on the ground of
the wonderful liberality of Churchmen since the
Government grants have ceased in the erection of
new churches ! The Bishop had 'the fullest con-
fidence in the efficiency of the voluntary principle
for the erection of new churches, and most com-
pletely does the report of Mr. HORACE MANN,
which was of course appealed to, justify that con-
fidence. But what, then, can be more unrighteous
than that one old parish church in a district,
which certainly never cost the worshippers a
penny for building, which was probably taken
from the Roman Catholics by their forefathers,
should be repaired by rates levied upon Church-
men who have contributed large sums to erect
their own district church, and must still contri-
bute to its repair. Besides, worshippers in the
district churches are not, like Dissenters, to be
exempted from paying the second rate for the
furniture and worship of the old parish church,
having at the same time to pay by voluntary sub-
s3ription their own current expenses ! We trust
so unworthy a proposal will share the fate of the
" innocents" of the session, many of which were
worthy of a better fate ; but as the debate is at
hand on Sir W. CLAY'S motion for the entire
abolition of Church Rates, we refrain at present
from further remarks.

A morning journal, which has often been
charged with being in the interest of Russia, pro-
pounds a plan for treating Turkey like the Pun-
jaub. The effect of this is manifestly to serve
Russia, by strengthening the hands of the party
in Turkey who are opposed to European alliance.
A hundred thousand men would not be so effec-
tive. There is no help for a thing like this ;it
was one of the dangers which ought to have bee❑
met by augmented activity and energy. The
most fortunate circumstance in the way of coun-
teraction is the presence of both an English
and a French army. Before they can occupy
Turkey like the Punjaub, they must agree on the
division ; and when villains proceed to a division
of this kind, they often fall out, and the almost
certainty of the fact is a security to honest men.