The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-11 00:00:00

was repelled, but that they maintained their that no railway Bill now pending before the it Lordships
position opposite to that city with 3,000 men and should be read a third time before the 18th inst.
nine pieces of artillery. The Hungarians had col The motion was agreed to.
lected materials for forming a position at Vay Szen-
Lard COLCHESTER presen ed a petition from the
tenant f.trrcers of va.rious places in Sussex, prayirg their
daheley. The main of the Hungarian army, of
Lordships to tak© immediate steps' for the removal of
70,000 men, under Dembenski, is standing at Vaika ; the heavy turdens at present weighing on the agricultural
and a Hungarian corps of 30,000 men is entrenched at classes.
Kapolna ; another corps of 15,000 men is encamped Lord MONTEAGLE gave notice that on Monday
at Debreczin; a corps of 15,000 is standing at next he should move for certain accounts relating to the
Funfkinchen, while 30,000 are at Muhlenbach Caledonian Ralway.
in Transylvania. General Bern is at this moment Their Lord. Lips then adjourned.
with Kossuth, at Debreczin. The Hungarian ranks
are reinforced by thousands. Kossuth has issued a
proclamation respecting the entry of the Russians,
who he asserts were come, indeed, at the call of the
house of Hapsburg, but hey came to fight for the
Hungarians.
It was known at Pesth that the further progress of
the Russians had been countermanded, and this was at
tributed to the desire of the Court of Olmutz to make
one more attempt at a negotiation with the Magyars.
The arrival of Privy Councillor Von Altbon
seemed to give some colour to the idea that he was
come, to negotiate with the Hungarians.
The Imperial troops are certainly in bad case since
the last engagement; they are standing at Weiselberg,
Bruck, and a part of Sumereln. General Walden
has been wounded in the head. In the camp itself
the men are suffering dysentery, fever, want of
provisions, and want of clothing.—Ramburgh Papers,
May 8.

he Scrske Nowinc, a Servian paper, which is
published at 13elgrad, publishes a remonstrance of the
Ban of Croatia, containing a long list of the grievances
and claims of the Croation nation. The tone of that docu-
ment is a sufaient explanation of the lukewarmness
which Baron Jellachich has of late shown in the war
against Hungary, and of the real cause of his sudden
retreat to his own country. The document proves
that the Ban of Croatia refuses to uphold the present
Cabinet policy of Austria.

HOUSE OF COMMONS May 10

ADULTERATION OF COFFEE WITH

(Continued from our Third Edition of last night.)
The CHANL'ELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said
be could not agree to the resolution, and as to what had
been said about. tho Treasury having a dispensing power
to supersede the• law, the power was given them by the
law itself, in order that they should exer-
cise a discretion, when they thought proper

in matters connected with the revenue.

It was

well known that in many parts of the Continent

chicory was used as a substitute for coffee, and in all
cases mixed with it. He himself had that very day an
interview with a gentleman engaged in the trade, who
assured him that a mixture of chicory was of great Ed-
_

vantage to the consumer, and promoted the use of coffee
to a very great degree. He had had a communication
with the Board of Excise on the subject, and their
answer was, that if the plan of the Hon. Gentleman
were adopted, it would be necessary to institute
a very expensive and inquisitorial survey into the con-
cerns of all the coffee dealers in England. That was a
course he did not feel it his duty to pursue. It was not
done by the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for the
University of Cambridge, who preceded him (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) in the office he had then the
honour to hold; it was not done by his Right Hon.
Friend the Member for Portsmouth, when he was Chan-

_
cellor of the Exchequer; by Lord Monteagle, or the late
Lord Althorp. As to the falling off in the consumption
of coffee, no such thing had happened, for he found that
while. in 1844 only fourteen millions of pounds were
consumed, it had risen in 1843 to thirty millions. Under
all the circumstances of the case, and believing the pre-

sent system Was of great benefit, partieulariy- to the
working classes of society, and that the alteration pro-
posed would prove most inquisitorial, he should resist
the motion.

Sir J. TYRELL said that chicory was a most profit-
able crop for the• agriculturists to grow, for in his own
neighbourhood he knew a farmer who realised 14L to
151. an acre by it. Ile was, therefore, most anxious that
it should be understood no interference would take place
that might injure those who had been already so much
injured by free trade measures.

Mr. URQUHART said what they wanted was, an en.

forcement of the existing law by the-Government, which,
by their orders, was suspended. They had, an admitted
case of decrease of revenue and infraction of the law.
Mr. MACGREGOR said, that he knew from official
experience at the Board of Trale, that it was perfectly
impossible to prevent the sale of chicory, or any article
in a. pulverised state. The only way to prevent it, was
to reduce the duties upon foreign and colonial coffees,
so as to offer iv) great temptation to adulteration.
Captain PHILLIP BENNET said a few words, which
were inaudible in the gallery.
Mr. C. ANSTEY replied.
Sir CHARLES BURRELL said, it would be an
,in-
justice to the agricultural interest to impose a duty en
chicory. It was a complete contravention of the princi-

pies of free trade. -
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that
he only contemplated a duty on roasted chicory, if at alt.
Strangers were ordered to withdraw, and the House
divided, when there appeared—

For the motion
Against it
Majority
REDUCTION OF TAXATION.

62
-51

Mr. H. DRUMMOND brought torward the motion
of which he bad given notice—" That this House do
resolve itself into a Committee, to consider the public
expenditure and the existing sa stem of taxation, and how
far both may he revised with a view to relieve the pres-
sure upon the industry of the country." Lest year he
expressed his surprise that her Mejesty'e Ministers had
not proposed any sufficient plan themselves, or if they
could not, they might have at least moved for a Com-
mittee of that House to aid them. At the close of the
session he expressed his regret that they gave no intima-
tion of such a plan, and said that if they did not they
would compel some independent Member to devise a plan
for them. He now undertook the task with the object
of drawing from Government some plain declaration,
that the country might see what they bad to ex-
pect at their hands. His belief was that there
never was a successful opposition to the rul
ing powers in any country except when there
was an oppression of the hireling. When that was
the case rulers had taken from them that power which
they had abused. The extravagant wars carried on by
Louis XIV. and the waste of public money upon the
puerilities of the Palace of Versailles, caused those con-
vulsions which broke out in France in the days of his
grandson. From that same period over taxation had
gone on in this country till it would appear fabulous to
those who originally imposed the national debt. Now, in
quiet times it was right to take up the question of reduc-
tion of the taxation of the country, to prevent the outbreaks
and misery which invariably followed over-taxation. It
they would be content that the present state of things
should last during their official existence,with their hands
and feet bound in red tape, then another wave of that de-
luge of Democracy which had latterly overwhelmed every
Government of Europe would sweep over them. He
did not say that any measure which he could pro-
pose could save them, but he did say, that if they
would be just and fear not, if they would be de.
termined to relieve the poor, it might be, under God's
blessing, a means to lengthen their tranquillity. But
they must lay hold upon the question honestly. They
must not take up something to delude the people, for
that only occasioned reiterated mortification. They must
be honest in their measures. They must revise every
part of their taxabld system.—(Hear, hear.) They must
be prepared to part with many of their favourite asso-
ciations, with many of their prejudices and long che-
rished habits. The motion was to get- into Committee
to move certain resolutions. The language of that peti
Lion which had been laid on the table, was that all
classes of productive industry were labouring under
pressure arising from excessive local and national taxa-
tion. He held it to be a principle that they ought to
pay for the, protection of property to the value of that
which was to be protected, and also in proportion
to the social condition of the people. Accord-
ing to a 'calculation which be had made on a former
o:casion, upon the supposition that there were 30,000,000
of inhabitants in these countries, and estimating the
number of families at 5,000,000, here was 1,000 000 of
families in the greatest misery and distress. There was
another million of families consuming twice as much—
another three times as much—a third million four times
as much, and a fourth million five times as much as all
the rest. Their taxation ought to proceed upon the
principle of letting the lowest class go free altogether,
and laying on the whole of their taxation in the same
way that the assessed taxes were laid on, making them
mount up progressively, not diet by any system the poor
would altogether escape taxation, for they could not lay on
taxes in any way that would not indirectly
press upon the labourer. They ought also to
make men pay in proportion to their station in society.
It was of very little consequence to a labourer who sat
upon the throne or occupied the upper places of society.
He thought it was Mr. Macaulay who said that
to a man who could not get his supper, it was no
consolation to know that we could not go to war without
the consent of Parliament.—(A laugh.) These things
might be of great importance to those who were in power,
or so placed that they might anticipate a direct share
in its benefits; but to the vast mass of the people that
mattered very little. He did not agree with a statement
he had often heard, that the majority of the taxation
bad been- intentionally made to bear upon the poorer
classes, and to exempt the rich. The very contrary of
that had been proved by his Hon. Friend the Member
for Buckinghamshire. But he believed that as there
was-always an indirect tendency on the part of masters
to combine against their men, so there was also an in-
direct tendency on the part of Governments to make
taxation bear unequally.—(Hear.) In a certain sense,
indeed, it was almost impossible to avoid this inequality.
If they took one pound from a man who bad only
101., they in reality took more than when they took
104 from 100/, 100/. from 1,000/. or 1,0001. from
10,0001.; and, in order to counterbalance this natural
and real inequality, there ought always to be a direct in-
tention on the part of the Legislature to throw the direct
burden of taxation on- the highest classes. The feeling
of the working classes was, that this could never be done
until they themselves returned Members to Parliament;
but if the House agreed to this Committee, with the
view of applying a practical measure, it would render
that reason at least nugatory. Another resolution he
should propose, if they went into Committee, would be
to reduce the salaries of civil officers, in order that they
might be enabled to reduce the amount of taxation levied
on stamps and assessed taxes. The whole tendency of
their recent legislation was to reduce prices to the con-
tinental level. He did not believe that could ho helped.
—(Hear, hear.) Even independent of legislation, he
did not believe that it was possible, in a time of peace, to
keep up prices beyond the general level; but that
being the case, the tax-payers must have continental
prices also ; they must have back the prices of
1794, when the whole of these salaries were
raised on the express plea of the enhanced price of com-
modities, when, to his own knowledge, 50/. was paid for
what could now be purchased for 101.—(Hear.) They
would have free trade in salaries—(Cheers.) He heard
it sometimes said, oftener out of doors than in that
House, that there seemed as if there existed an inten-
tion to fine officials, and treat them as persons who had
committed a misdemeanour. Now he took no pleasure
in proposing the reduction of any mau's income, or
any man's comforts. But there was no discretion in this
ease. Reduction was an act of necessity. The distress
of the people was great, their burdens were heavy, and
they were imperatively called upon to lessen them.—
(Hear.) They must cut down the civil service cf the
army and navy. lie alluded especially to the extraor-
dinary expenses for building steam-vessels, and the
building of ships on 'trial, and of course he should
have a similar resolution to offer with respect to
the salaries in that department. It was necessary the
House should take the initiative in these measures. The
Noble Lord at the head of the Government, who was
pretty determined himself, when once resolved, would
not reduce salaries unless they forced him—unless they
gave him the power of saying that he had no alternative
but to obey the resolution of that House, and on that
ground they ought to arm him with that power. With
respect to colonial expenses, they had had so many de-
bates of late that he was almost afraid of touching upon
that subject. So long ago as 1823 a pctitiou had been
presented by a Colanial Governor, setting forth reasons
,why the colonies should be governed by a Board, but
Since that time nothing had been dyne Al the matter.