The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON. THURSDAY EVENING-, NOVEMBER 29, 1849.

QUELN 6 BENCH—(`.IMS DAY.)
The calses tried during th© morning were utterly do-
void uf interest, except to the parties immediately
concereed.

SHERIFFS' COURT.-(THIS DAY.)
(Before Mr. Under-Sheriff Boum:m.l.o
FLOCKTON AND c.THERS V. HALL AND OTHERS.
This etas au action to recover dumages for the in-
fringement of a patent known as "Lowe's Patent for
propelling Ships by means of a Screw-propeller." D.-
fendants pleaded toy special contract, denying the plain-
tiff,' titla, &c , but they did not support the pleas, and
their solicitor had signed an admission, and had con-
sented to a verdict for 75/.
Mr. MASSEY DAwsoN stated the case. The patent
bad been granted as long back as 1838. Ile complained
of the conduct of the defendants, who were owners of a
vessel to which the invention had been applied, in put-
ting in such vexatious pleas, us plaintiff'.' right had been
tried in two actions, in each of which verdicts had been
given in their favour. Notwithstanding this, however,
several persons had made use of the invention and con-
tested plaintiffs' right, endeavouring to set the machinery
of the law in motion to ruin others. In this case, the
defendants havingadmitted all alleged in the declaration,
the jury had only to assess the damages at the sum
agreed on.
Proof was given as to the admission.
The jury gave a verdict for 751.
BONSOR V. GARRETT. _ _

The plaintiff is a meat salesman in Newgate Market,
and defendant a farmer near Wellingborough. The
action was brcught to recover 5/. on a dishonoured
cheque on the Northampton Bank. There being no
defence, a verdict was given for 5/.

WHITMORE V. STEVENS.
Plaintiff is the official assignee of a person named
Ridge, formerly, a corn•dealer at Pimlico, but now a
bankrupt.
Mr. Cox, for plaintiff, called a witness to prove the
delivery of goods to a considerable amount to defen-
dant, but the sum claimed was 411. 11s. Bd.
There being no defence, the Jury gave a verdict for
that amount.
A long list of undefended causes was speedily dis-
posed of.

CRIMINAL COURT.—(THIS DAY.)
OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron ALDERSON and Mr. Justice
CRESS WELL. )
MURDER AT MILBANK PENITENTIARY.
John Francis, 33, described as a watchmaker, was
placed in the duck immediately on their Lordships en-
tering the court, charged upon an indictment with the
wilful murder of Thomas Hall, a warder in the Milbank
Penitentiary.
Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Clark appeared. for the Crown,
and Mr. Ballantine and Mr. Robinson defended the
prisoner.
The prisoner is a slightly made man, having altogether
a miserable appearance, but he exhibits a determined
expression of countenance. He has a low, retreating
brow, and is possessed evidently of very little intellec-
tual capacity. He was attired in the usual convict dress.
Mr. BODKIN briefly stated the nature of the fearful
crime with which the prisoner was charged, observing,
with reference to the probable defence which would be
set up, that he was convicted in August, 1845, and sen-
tenced to be transported ten years, and in pursuance
of the sentence he was, in the early part of
1846, put on board a convict ship going to the colonies.
When the vessel was about to leave England he ex•
hibited symptoms which appeared to be those of in-
sanity, and on that occasion he was visited by Dr. Baly,
who pronounced him insane, and he directed him to be
removed from the ship to the hulks. After remaining at
the hulks until August tho symptoms disappeared, and
he was again removed to the • Milbank Penitentiary,
where he remained until the present unfortunate occur-
rence; and during the whole time he was more or less
under the observation of Dr. Baly, but no symptoms of
insanity had since made their appearance.
Mr. Henry Murray, an acting warder in Milbank
prison, said—l knew Thomas Hall, the deceased. I also
knew the prisoner Francis, who was a convict confined in
Milbank prison. To my knowledge he had been there
a fortnight before the 7th inst. He was confined in cell
No. 19 D. On Wednesday afternoon the 7th, Thomas
Hall had the charge of that ward. I was in au adjoin-
ing ward, and about half-past three I heard a shouting.
I suppose it came from the ward. I immediately went to
it. I had to unlock two gates, and when I got into D
ward, I saw the prisoner in the passage which runs in
front of the cell. The ward was locked up at the time,
tut I had pass-keys. There were no other persons at
large in the passage. Lle was nearly opposite 18 cell.
Warder Sage entered the passage immediately after me
from the other end, and seized the prisoner. I tried the
gates of every cell in the passage, and they were all
locked, the prisoner's cell included. I went into the
officer's ward, and there I saw the deceased Thomas
Hall, laying in a pool of blood, which surrounded his
head. He was lying on his left side. The door of
this room was open. No one could have got to this
room but the prisoner and the deceased. Sage had the
prisoner in custody, and he was immediately taken away
from the ward into the refractory cell, where he was
searched, and we found a pair of scissors upon
him. They were unrivetted. (He too witnessed them.)
They are of the same kind used in the prison,
but have been sharpened at the point. On locking him
up he went back to Hall, and Mr. Baly, the surgeon,
came in five or six minutes afterwards. Hall was then
living. He found the prisoner's earthenware pan lying
about two yards from the door of the warder's room.
There was blood on the bottom and on the side. The
lid of it was in the water-closet. The pan produced
is the one• in question. It is broken, but we have not
found the piece which is broken off. The piece could
not have gone down the pan of the water-closet in a
whole state. While the prisoner was in the passage
opposite No. 18 cell a convict named Chroly said, in the
prisoner's hearing, " Seize the scoundrel, he has mur-
dered Hall, for I heard him groan." Chroly was then
locked up in his cell. The prisoner made no observa-
tion.

Cross-examined by Mr. BALLANTINE—I cannot say
whether Chroly said " I think he has murdered Hall;"
he might have said so, but I am sure he said " I heard
him groan." The cells of all the prisoners are of the same
size. The width of the entrance to each is about two feet.
There is a solid door, and a grating door to the cells ;
the solid door is kept open during the day time, so that
the prisoners can see through to the passage. A person
could put his arm through the bars. The prisoner would
have properly an hour's exercise in the airing yard
during the day. They are not during exercise allowed
to have any communication with each other. A whole
ward is allowed to have exercise at the same time. They
are required to walk about 5 or 6 yards apart. They wear
no masks, and they are not allowed to address the warder
unless they wish to ask for anything they want. They
are punished, if they speak, when it is not absolutely
necessary. When they want to go to the water closet,
there is a signal attached to each cell in order to let tie
warder know. They are not to speak unless spoken to.
The feet of the deceased were laying towards the door,
and his head near his bedstead. The doctors are Dr.
Baly and Dr. Randall.
J. Sage, also a warder, said, on the 7th, the day in
question, I was in F ward. I have been six months in
the prison, and I think the prisoner was there before
me. I heard an alarm when I was in F ward, and I
went to D ward. I found the gate of D ward locked,
and I unlocked it. I saw the prisoner standing in the
centre ward, between the warder's room and the water-
closet. Hs was neither saying uor doing anything. I
heard a groaning, which proceeded from the warder's
room. I did not go in, but I seized the prisoner and
took him to the refractory cell. I returned to D ward,
and went into the warder's room. I was away about
eight minutes. I found Hall on the ground of his room.
There was blood round his head, and he was insensible.
The prisoner appeared in a very excited state, and I
noticed a spot of fresh blood over his right eye. There
was no mark about his person which made it possible
that it was his own blood. He was searched, and
the scissors produced were found upon him. I
attended the deceased until seven in the even-
leg, but he was never sensible. He died on
the following day. I heard Chroly say on
going in, " For God's sake seize the prisoner," or,
Francis, I think he has murdered Mr. Hall." He said
that loud enough for the prisoner to hear, but he made
no observation. I saw the pan produced ; it was in the
water-closet. I remember being examined before the
Coroner. The prisoner was then present. He put
some questions to me, and he did so also on his ex-
amination.
Cross-exatninated by Mr. BALLANTINE.—The pri-
soner was standing quite still, and appeared very pale
and white, as if ho had done something very wrong.
The blood over the eye appeared to be that of another
person. 1 did not examine it particularly. Next day
when examined before the Coroner there was no mark of
a wound on his face.
William Chorley, the convict, in cell 18 at the time
of the occurrence, examined, said—That cell was next
the one in which the prisoner Francis was confined. To
the best of my knowledge he had been there about three
weeks. I was in my cell before him. On the afternoon
of the 7th I delivered water into the cells of the ward,
and among others that of Francis. About half-past
three I was locked up in my cell, and I saw Hall, the
warder,. there about that time, for he locked me up.
After he locked me up ho went to lock up another
prisoner at No: 1, and I then heard Francis call out for
Hall. I told him it was no use to call out for him as he
had gone to fasten up a prisoner, but he kept on calling.
Hall afterwards came back, and asked Francis what he
was calling for, and he said " I want to empty my pot."
Hall asked him it he had not a signal stick in his cell,
saying, " You are not allowed to call out, for if the
Governor had come by at the time he would have
punished you; mind you don't do it any more." Francis
said he would not, and then Hall opened the cell door
and let him out to go from his cell to the water-closet.
He roust pass my cell, and I can see the entrance to the
water closet
}
'mm my door. I did not see Francis go
into the clout, but I saw him come out. I had got up to
ask Hell as he passed for some bread, and I was
waiting for the bread. Hall kept the bread in his room
While I was standing at the door the prisoner came out
of the closet, and I then saw Hall leaning on the trough
near the water-closet door. The prisoner had the pot in
one hand and the lid in the other. Hall rose up and
walked along, as if he was going to 19 cell, and while so
alking I saw Francis strike him with the lid of the pot.
Hall screamed and tell. Ido not know whether he had
anything on his head, but I saw a cap afterwards lying
on the ground. Hall might have carried it in his hand.
The prisoner then rushed upon the deceased and kicked
him, and I "For God's sake do not kill the poor
old man." The prisoner then got up. from Hall and
walked' away towards •Hall's room, and I heard two
blows after that. I then called out for help, and Francis
came running out of Hall's room and stood by the check
,gate, which was open. He had the pot in his hand, but
not the lid, and there was blood on the outside of it. I

said, " Francis, do not, for God's sake, strike
Hall any more ; you'll kill him." Ile made no
answer, but ran across the centre to the other
side of the passage. He then went again to Hall's room
and I heard two more blows, and I kept calling for the
officers. The officers, Sage and Murray, then came and
asked me " what's the matt( r?" I told them I thought
Francis had killed Hall, for I had not heard him groan
since he knocked him down. I saw him taken into cus-
tody by Sage. I cannot say whether the pot and lid
were whole when he came out of the closet, but they
were whole at half-past two, when I took in the water.
I heard the lid fall and break when he struck Hall with
it. On the day before this occurred I had a conversa-
tion with Francis, and it was carried on between cell
end cell through the doors. It was about Dr. Baly. Ho
said he wanted to see Dr. Baly. I asked him why he
did not see him, and he replied that they had said he
had put his name down in the book, but he did not
believe them, fortin another part of the prison he applied
for him at night and saw him in the morning. The de-
ceased came down immediately afterwards, and he asked
to see Dr. Baly, and he told him, " your name is
down in the books, but you cannot see him at a
minute's notice, as he has other prisoners to see as well
as you. You have seen one more doctor, what more do
you want, but I have no doubt you will see him to-
morrow." He did not say why he wanted to see Dr.
Baly but he said something about having some mare
diet at the Hulks, and be would get more diet. In reply
to Hall, he said that he had been, at Milbank prison
eight weeks, and Hall told him that he ought to have
applied for more diet before. The prisoner asked for a
sheet of paper to write to his priest, but Hall said he
could not give it to him, but would put his name down to
see the governor. He said he was a Jew, and could
not see his priest unless he wrote to him. Hall saidehe
would put his name down to see the governor, and
that was all he could do for him. When Hall came
up for his dinner afterwards he tcld him that he
must see the chaplain as well as the governor, and
that he would see the governor next morning, and
the prisoner said "very well." On the Monday or
Tuesday before the 7th Francis wrote to me on his slate,
desiring me to ask Mr. Hall whether they were going to
send some prisoners to the New Model Prison, as there
were six picked out of the worst characters, and he
wished to know
.if he was qualified. I wrote back,
saying I would do so.
Cross-examined by Mr. BALLANTINE—I have been in
the prison seven weeks. My sentence is for seven years.
I was kept in solitary confinement except when I went
out with the officer. I heard no words before the
blow was struck. After the blow was struck I did not
see the prisoner go to the closet.
John Westbury, another convict, who was in cell 16,
next to the room of warder Hall, at the time of the oc-
currence, said—l heard some ono quarrelling ; then
some heavy blows struck, and afterwards Hall cry out
"For God's sake have mercy." Four or five blows were
struck before Hall called out. I heard Hall say " you
will kill me," and then some one say, "yes, I will, you
—." I heard some blows atter that. The prisoner
then came up to my door, and saw me, and he said,
" keep quiet." He had a large pot in his hand.
Mr. James David Randall, resident surgeon in the
prison, said, on the 7th of November last, I saw the
warder Thomas Hall at four o'clock in the afternoon.
He was then insensible. I observed a largo bruise on
the right side of the head, running down to the right ear.
It was bleeding, and the scalp was very much lacerated. I
again attend, d him on the following evening, when he
died. Alter death I examined the head, and found an
extensive fracture of the skull. I should say the wounds
were inflicted by many blows, and by the larger vessel
which has been produced. I have seen the prisoner
many times. I saw him on the day of his admission.
He had been in the prison on a previous occasion, in the
early part of the year.
Cross-examined by Mr. BALLANTINE—I never said to
him, " I have just come from 'Woolwich, and if I had
my own way I would have you flogged well." lam sure
I did not say that, but I won't swear positively. He
had a disease of the rectum—a prolapsus of the rec-
tum. I don't mean a rupture. It is painful when the
bowels act; it is not a very irritating disease. I at-
tended him for it. lle had no inflammation of the bowels
during the time he was in the prison. I did not know
he had been confined as a lunatic. If I had known that
he was a lunatic a few months before he came I should
not have kept him in solitary confinement. Solitary con-
finement is calculated to make lunacy return. If an in-
terval of a year had elapsed from prisoner's lunacy, I
should treat him like the other prisoners
without malting any distinction. Lunacy would
be more likely to return if of an hereditary character.
Re examined—There is ,no solitary confinement in
Millbank Prison ; it is separate confinement. The con-
finement to which the prisoners in this ward were sub-
jected would not make insanity return, unless they had
been insane within two or three months.

Dr. Baly, visiting physician at Millbank Penitentiary,
said the prisoner came to the prison in August last. I
first saw him about a fortnight after he came, and it was
inquired of me whether he was only fit to undergo the
ordinary work in the prison, or pumping, which was
hard labour. I said he was able to work at a trade, but
not at pumping. I believe he was so employed while in
the prison. He had a disease of the rectum, and, in ad-
dition, he was not a strong muscular man. I recollect
seeing him on three occasions. The first occasion I have
mentioned, the second was at a general inspection of the
prisoners, when nothing particular passed; and lastly,
when I examined him to see if be was fit to be sent to
Norfolk Island. He was then suffering from dyspepsia,
and a lowering of the rectum ; and he said he had
passed blood. I went to his cell to examine his stool,
and the result I came to was that he was not fit to be
transported to Norfolk Island. I did not notice any-
thing else the matter with him.
Cross•examined by Mr. BALLANTINE—I must have
examined him in 1846, in order to see if he was fit fur
transportation. I call the treatment at the prison a
modified separate system. In February, 1846,
I certified ho was fit for transportation.
He was well then in body and mind. On
sth March I was sent specially for to the ship to examine
his state of mind. I believed him to be insane at the
' time, and certified accordingly. Mr. Blyth was the
medical man who attended him there. I believe that
the fear of transportation operated upon his mind there
and made him insane. I have seen frequent cases of
persons becoming insane under the same circumstances.
If a person was predisposed by birth to insanity, such a
cause would undoubtedly have more effect upon his
mind. He was then rather in a weak state of body, and
thought that the people about him were going to do him
an injury. Ido not recollect that he broke out with any
uct or violence. There was then no apparent danger of
his attacking any one. It was in February, 1846, that I
passed him as fit to go to Norfolk Island, and he was
seized with this state of terror in March following.
Re-examined—ln cases of convicts seized with insanity
at the prospect of being transported, some have been
sent to Bedlam and some to the Hospital, and I have
known some of them to have recovered and to be trans-
ported afterwards. The prisoner's was temporary in-
sanity, and I have never known after an interval of two
years that the temporary insanity has returned.
This closed the case for the prosecution, and the Court
adjourned for a brief interval.

NEW COURT.
(Before the RECORDER.)
The Court was occupied the whole of the morning
trying cases of petty larceny, none of which presented
any feature of public interest.
Two women, Diana Ring and Mary Ann Dodd, were
indicted, Ring for stealing in the dwelling-house of
Frederick Turner, two shirts and other articles, valued
at 501., his property, and Dodd for feloniously receiv-
ing the same, well knowing them to have been stolen.
The prosecutor was a solicitor, and the prisoner Ring
had acted in the capacity of his laundress, which had
enabled her to become possessed of the missing property,
but the evidence failed to make out any guilty knowledge
against Dodd, and she was therefore Acquitted. Ring.
however, was found Guilty, and sentenced to six months'
imprisonment in the House of Correction.

REGISTRATION ALMANACS. FOR 1850.—This new
candidate for public favour, which is compiled by Mr.
W. H. Butterfield, registrar of Islington, and pub-
lished by Messrs. Whittaker and Sullivan, contains
every information on the subject of the law of regis-
tration of births, marriages, and deaths, that can be
required. Parties desirous of being married under
the provisions of the new Act will here find given in
a plain and understandable manner all the information
on the subject that they can possibly desire, and a list
containing the names and addresses of all the officers
of the metropolis and its environs, to whom it may be
necessary to apply. There is also much useful infor-
mation on the subject of registering births, and
against every day in the year will be found tho last I
day for registering a birth without the payment of a
fee. On the right hand side of the calendar will be
found plain instructions respecting the registration
of a birth or death, and the effecting of a marriage.
It is in a form calculated for the vestries of Dissenting
chapels, insurance, or other public offices.
Excessive fear opens the door to desperation.—
Eliza Cook's Journal.
THE MERCHANT SEAMEN'S ACT. SEAMEN'S
ADVANCF !MOTES.—Yesterday a, meeting of tradesmen
and ether inhabitants residing in St. George-iu-the-
East, Ratcliff, St. John's, Wapping, ke., who are ac-
customed to deal with seamen arriving in the port of
London, was held at the Albion Tavern, St. George's.
road, Rateliff, for the purpose of taking into considera-
tion the propriety of applying to Parliament to obtain a
clause to be inserted in the Merchant Seamen's Act,
which will be brought in during the ensuing session, in
order to make seamen's advance notes a legal tender.
Mr. Grumbage having been appointed to preside, stated
that since they last met he and Mr. Golding had seen
some influential gentlemen in the shipping trade upon
the question of making seamen's advance notes a legal
tender, and that they were all of opinion that the only
security for those who received such notes was that they
should-be made a Legal tender by the Act of the Legis-
lature. Mr. Golding. solicitor and secretary to the
Merchant Seamen and Tradesmen's Protection Society,
:aid he had seen Sir D. Le Marchant upon the subject,
who u as of opinion that the tradesmen receiving seamen's
advance notes ought to have legislative protection. He
was of opinion that the owner or agent of a ship ought
to be responsible for the payment of the notes after they
were cashed. Several gentleinen were then named as a
committee to carry the object of the meeting into effect,
and the proceedings ended.
STATE OF ST. STEPHEN'S, WALBROOK.—More than
two years ago we pointed out the miserable condition of
this church, in an article which excited some attention at
the time, but led to nothing, in consequence of the
involved state of the parish accounts. Since then, how-
ever, if we understand rightly, the differenees have been
arranged, so that there seems less reason why the church
should be suffi red to go to ruin or remain in dirt and de-
gradation.—Jiwilitr.

LITEItAT URE.
NATIONAL EVILS and PRACTICAL RE-
MEDIES, with the Plan of a Model Town. Ac-
companied by an Examination of some important
.11foral and Political Problems. By James S.
Buckin,.:, ham.
That portion of' his work to which it is evident Mr.
Buckingham attaches the greatest importance is the
one to which we believe the public will be inclined to
attach the least—we mean his plan for a model town.
The model town of Mr. Buckingham is the Phalan-
stere of Fourrier, with the addition of the prohibition
of the use of all stimulating , drinks, of tobacco, of
gunpowder, and of all weapons of offence or defence,
within the sacred limits of the model town, on pain
of expulsion of the persons offending from the town,
and from all participation in the profits made by the
association, such expulsion including, we take it for
granted, forfeiture of all payments made to the gene-
ral fund by the offending individual. The whole
scheme is one too much calculated to deprive those
engaging in it of liberty of action, to make them
wheels in one vast machine, mere slaves of the
governing power of the community, ever to be very
popular with an Englishman, who prefers the en-
joyment of his individual liberty of action, even
although it may occasionally be accompanied by
poverty, to becoming the mere slave, however
well fed, of any man or of any set of men. Mr.
Buckingham is so wedded to his pet Socialist theory
that he makes it a matter of reproach to the State that
it does not advance capital for the purpose of trying
the experiment of the organization of labour. We
protest, in the name of justice, against the State em-
ploying its funds for any such purpose. The State can
pipueosrsttsyet
that
osaftn
ao l
lfu against
fazes
igsahi but such as it levies from all the indi-
vidualsafol all against
atghaei
nsCesOrtlayseitexiettUeortfinnagl all,
et the
otehri;ta
ei
sts
,e
t. T
foo 1
say,
e,lefovrytfhuen funds
administration
de fromfene e allooff
jastic eaalntlodfaonlrla,
vtfyho
e:
ttbhheeen deneafid tmfe
oincf
iesatorfafettiwoh
ne
(laoi
nvf
de
justice
and the pro-
onus tl thieves,should
b e
leviedis
for j u just; therefore
support
osnfidtot
nhoieesf
the police ; but it is clearly a robbery atthsotisileeewvyaataxes
aurpmony
great argument against the corn-laws), and therefore
Mr. Buckingham reproaches the State because it
refuses to commit a robbery. It is true Mr. Buck-
ingham may quote cases in favour of the course
which he would fain have the State adopt, but the
result of the experiment of State advances for private
objects has beenlin every instance so disastrous, that
such cases are to be considered rather as beacons to
be avoided than as precedents to be followed. On the
other portions of Mr. Buckingham's book we can be-
stow (always excepting his proposal of an additional
advance of money to Irish landlords) our almost un-
qualifiect commendation. His plan of Financial
Reform is admirable. As he truly observes—
" The only efficient remedy for all the evils resulting
from our existing mode of raising the national revenue,
is to make at once, or with as little delay as practicable,
a change from the system of indirect to one of direct
taxation: and to let that taxation be confined to one
object only, the incomes of the inhabitants of the country.
In the assessment of such incomes, however, it would be
essential to make a clear distinction between incomes
derived from trading, professional, or precarious sources
—incomes derived from annuities fixed and certain for
life—and incomes from heritable or permanent property
descending to heirs;—and to fix the rates of assessment
on each of these in a progressively increasing scale,
lightest on the first, heavier on the second, and heaviest
of all on the third.
" The reason of such distinction is self-evident. If' at
any time these several incomes had to be capitalized, or
turned into a given sum by a payment made for the
whole of either of the three, there would be three
broadly distinct valuations for each. The trading, pro-
fessional, or precarious income, being liable to cessation
from illness, incapacity, or falling-off in receipts, might
sell perhaps for seven years purchase; the annuity for
life, depending in each case on the age of the individual,
might, on an average, sell for 14 years' purchase; while
the income from heritable and perpetual property in
land, houses, or funds, would sell for at least 21 years'
purchase. The proper ratio of taxation for such incomes
would therefore be in the same proportions of 1,2, and 3
per cent., as representing the exact relations of 7, 14,
and 21 years of relative worth."
This plan solves the great problem which has for cen-
-1 turies puzzled Chancellors of the Exchequer; it
secures the maximum of revenue with the minimum
of expense in the collection of it, and while the
revenue may be increased to any extent, the expense
of collection remains stationary, whilst at the same
time that distinction is drawn between temporary and
permanent income, without which any income tax is
a gross injustice. After explaining at length the
principles upon which he justifies the imposition of
this income-tax, to the exclusion of any other sources
of revenue, Mr. Buckingham adds :
"To make this income-tax as light as possible on all
classes, and at the same time as productive as the national
1 expenditure would require, it should be spread over the
widest surface. Not only all England and all Scotland
should contribute to it, but all Ireland also; for 501. a
year of income in Ireland could better afford to pay a
tax of 1/. per cent. than the same sum in England, as it
would go much farther in the purchase of necessaries
there than here;—and the same would hold good of all
higher incomes. The Channel Islands of Guernsey,
Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, and the Lilo of Man, should
all be brought within its operation; as there can be no
good reason why the subjects of the same realm, merely
from their living in these .isolated spots, should be
entirely exempted, as they are at present, from their
fair share of the burden of taxation; they paying no
duties on tea, cuffee, sugar, wines, spirits, or tobacco, all
so heavily charged with duties to their fellow. subjects
elsewhere. For the same reason—the equitable distri-
bution of these burdens among the whole of the subjects
of the crown of England wherever they are scattered—
the Income-tax should be paid by all the British-born
residents of India, who pay no taxes to the Indian Go-
vernment, and all our colonial possessions, from the
sessions are maintained and protected by British
a n governorsineom e doof wsnolt.oat
yh
ee
ahru. m bsloe sil
ot
n ngd itivsi d
tuha w
el
se hdo i
st possessedant
pox
fleets and British armies, British governors,
and British officers of various grades, paid out
of the Treasury of England—so long ought the dwellers
in them, who enjoy this protection, to contribute to the
fund out of which it is paid for; and if this be thought
a hardship, let those among them, who are able and wil-
ling to support themselves, without any :aid from the
mother-country, be permitted to do so, and save us the
cost; while to all who contribute to the payment of the
income- tax in the same ratio with those living at home,
it would be perfectly just to grant the privilege of hav-
ing their representatives in Parliament, in conformity
with the well-known maxim of Magna Charta, which
makes taxation and representation co-equal.
"It may be added, as a collateral advantage, which
this system of personal taxation would present—that if
the Legislature saw fit to extend the electoral franchise,
and wanted to establish a broader
.and surer basis of
qualification than now exists, here would be one ready
to their hands; as few would be disposed to deny the
franchise to the man of full age who should pay his
annual tax on 501. of income: aid in that case the only
proof of his qualification, as a voter, would be the pro-
duction of his receipt for the same, duly signed and
attested."
With regard to the collection, Mr.. Buckingham is
of opinion that--
"It would be sufficient for this purpose to have one
register office in each large town of each county; at
which, one Receiver-General, and half-a-dozen clerks,
thehe r parsons
go
to re-
quired the
would be all the machinery required. The payment
should
returns,ci quarter-day;
arte r da).;
should (.i
t,
and
office themselves, or send their documents and cash
to
oe
makemade
their Every
through their bankers, without requiring to be waited on
by the officers of the Government. And if, at the close
of the payments made for each quarter, a List of De-
faulters was published, in the local as well as metropo-
litan papers, as the game list certificates now are; and
each defaulter not paying within a defined period, were
made liable to double payment for such default, and to
be deprived of his electoral qualification for a year, with
power, as at present, todistrain on the defaulter's property
if necessary, there would be very few omissions. To
avoid even the expense of these register offices and their
attendants falling ou the Stute, a small fee of a shilling
to be paid for each quarterly receipt—making four shil-
lings in the year, on at least 5,000,000 of payers—would
realise 1,000,0001. sterling, and pay the cost of 200 such
register offices, at 5,0001. a year each, so as to save all
expense whatever in the collection, and make the whole
revenue come into the Treasury without a single shilling
of deduction."
The plan propounded by Mr. Buckingham for the
equitable liquidation of the National Debt is the only
one that is at the same time practicable and just that
we ever remember to have seen proposed. It is as fel-
lows :
" To create a new stock, to be entitled ' The National
Annuity,' which should begin to pay an interest of 5 per
cent., or 100 shillings is the firstyear, and gradually ex-
tinguish both principal and interest in 100 years of time,
by the diminution of Is. per annum only on the interest,
tilt it came to nothing. .
"To convert all the existing Stocks of Consols, Long
Annuities, Exchequer-bills, and every other kind of Go-
vernment Security, into this new Stock, at the fair mar-
ket rate of value for the *day, say with the Three per
Cents., at the par of 1001,. and without loss to the
individual holders, paying off, of course, as usual, the
dissentients. if any.
" Thus, for every 1001. so invested in the' National
Annuity,' the holder would receive 51 interest for the first
year, 41. 19s. for the second, 41. 18s. for the third year,
and so on—diminishing by Is, per cent. only in each
succeeding year, till iu 100 years the principal and
interest would both expire.
" That this would be an equitable mode, no one can
doubt, as it proceeds upon the recognised principle of
, sinking perpetuities at small interest for annuities at a
larger rate. That it would be popular could be hardly
disputed, because it would take twenty years to bring
down the interest to 4 per cent. —and forty years to bring
it down to 3 per cent.—by which time probably all the
present holders would be in their graves. Even after
this, it would take another sixty years to bring it down
gradually to extinction, in which time other generations
would have passed away.
" While, therefore, the yearly diminution would be so
small as scarcely to be felt by any one in his income,
there would be one-hundredth part of the National Debt
wiped off every year, and consequently so much less
taxes required to pay the interest. And if the genera-
tions after the present should find the funded property
of their great-grandfathers extinct, this would be only