The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-17 00:00:00

THE BUN, LONDO"..*:4, WEDNUM OA. V ItV.E,

meat, how many important representatives have dis-
appeared, either carried away by death, or rejected
through the fickleness of their constituents ! After a
long career of consistent liberality as a politician, the
Father of the House of Commons, the late represen-
tative of Middlesex, has departed. One of the most
extraordinary men of the age has passed away in the
person of DANIEL O'CoxNELL; and the embarrass-
ments of Ireland seem to have become more tre-
mendous and bewildering since the demise of THE
LIBERATOR. Other Members of inferior considera-
tion, but of great personal worth, such as the late
DENIS OTONOR, commonly called the O'CoNoR
DON, have been carried off by disease, and their
places have been supplied by men hitherto strangers
to the walls of the Legislative Chamber at West-
minster. Upon the entrance of several of these
untried representatives into Parliament the public
deserves congratulation, especially upon the entrance
of men such as GEORGE THOMPSON, of the 'rower
Hamlets ; JOHN MACGREGOR, of Glasgow ; or WIL-
LIAM JOHNSON Fox, of Oldham—men who are not
less remarkable for their thirst for constitutional
reform than for their general intelligence or their
superb powers of oratory and argument. Another
class of Members worthy of particular mention are
those who have been recently restored to a seat in the
Lower House after a temporary absence from Parlia-
mentary duties—such representatives, for example,
as PERRONET THOMPSON, of Bradford, and THOMAS
Noos TALFOURD, of Reading. Among this class
we had hoped to have enumerated one of the
most accomplished politicians and one of the
most consistent reformers of the day ; but
the petty jealousies of Lincoln have prevented this
by the reiterated rejection of Sir EDWARD BULWER
LYTTON. Besides, in this individual case, the new
Parliament will lack many of those old and well-tried
representatives, whose services in the cause of liberality
cannot be well dispensed with even now, when their
principles are proving more than ever triumphant
and irresistible. The new House of Commons would
be remarkable if only for the absence of ROEBUCK, of
MACAULAY, Of HAWES, and of HOBHOUSE. FOT
several reasons it is to be hoped that it will prove
otherwise remarkable—first, by the restoration of
those four distinguished men to their proper position
in the Legislature, and secondly, by the memorable
deeds of reform in the passing of which they may be
called on to participate.
The late Parliament will be remembered in history
by a significant and honourable title—the Free Trade
Parliament. May the new Parliament be as pro-
longed, and may it be distinguished from its prede-
cessors by a still more significant and honourable
soueriquet—the Parliament of Five Constitutional Im-
procements—its existence being partitioned into at
least five sessions, such as the following :
I. The session of Currency Reform.
11. The session of Sanitary Reform.
111. The session of Educational Reform.
IV. The session of Taxation Reform.
V. The session of the Ballot.

All these improvements must, in obedience to the
necessities of the time and the impulse of public opi-
nion, be taken into immediate consideration, and tem-
porary arrangements must be immediately made, until
the entire systems of Currency, Sanitary measures,
Education, Taxation, and the Ballot, can be tho-
roughly entered into and recognised. Essential as
such changes are, their simultaneous realisation in a
single session is scarcely practicable ; and, supposing
they were by possibility realised at onee and alto-
gether, the session might with truth be regarded as
a session of political miracles.

Secondary only in importance to the reform in our
monetary laws, and to the regulations that may be
adopted for the purpose of affording a safe and ade-
quate circulation for the country, are the means by
which the revenue of the country is to be raised, the
particular modes of taxation by which the national
Exchequer is to be replenished. There are, we fear,
too many indications of a serious deficiency of the
public income to render it doubtful, that some new
tax must be resorted to, or some old one considerably
I increased in order to enable us to meet our expen-
diture, and to pay the enormous interest of our debt.
The returns for the quarter, ending on the 10th Oc-
tober, showed a decrease as compared with the corre-
sponding quarter of the preceding year of no less
than 1,507,230/. sterling, indeed there was a sad
falling off of our ordinary income under every head
with the exception of the Post-office and Taxes—the
former of which,thanks to the exertions of Mr.RowLaND
HILL, showed an increase on the quarter of 5,0001.,
and the latter also a trifling improvement not quite
amounting to 4,0001. Every branch, however, which
had any relation to the prosperity of the country, or
to the comforts and enjoyments of the great majority
of the people, afforded a melancholy evidence of the
pressure under which all classes have been labouring
for some time past. It is scarcely necessary to
say that matters have not improved since the publi-
cation of these returns ; that there has not been a
greater degree of employment for the labouring
classes, or greater importations of the products of
other lands, so as to yield a reasonable expectation
that the Excise and Customs will present a more
favourable appearance, and that we may not have to
encounter still more serious deficiencies in these im-
portant branches than have hitherto been apparent.
Incomes derived from trade and commerce, too, have
been practically annihilated within the last quarter,
and the persons embarked therein will have
good reason to congratulate themselves if
they are only deprived of their usual and accus-
tomed profits, and have not to deplore still more
serious and almost ruinous losses. On the income
and property-tax, therefore, there must also be a sad
falling off. We are aware that many to whom credit
is of the most vital consequence, whose chances of
ultimately weathering the storm may be dependent
on their still maintaining a fair appearance to the
world, will make great sacrifices for that purpose,
and will consent to pay on ideal profits, which have
no real existence, sooner than encounter the inquisi-
torial investigations into the state of their affairs that
must attend any attempt on their part to escape the
iniquitous impost ; but although they might willingly
submit to pay what could not in justice or in
equity, be demanded (if such considerations could
have any weight with tax collectors), many
will not have the ability to do so. The firms, which
have already been compelled to suspend their deal-
ings— the vast numbers that have already appeared in
the Gazette, and of which so formidable a list appears
even in its last publication, and all those whose situa-
tions are so precarious as to make a similar result but
too probable, and who would dread the comments of
the Bankrupt Commissioner, if a large sum appeared
on their balance-sheets as their contribution to an
income-tax when they were on the verge of insol-
vency—will all be wanting. The chief items, there-
fore, it is to be feared, must still show a deficiency
which must be made up from other sources, and to
which the serious attention of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer must be immediately directed.
Some time since we published a series of articles in
The: Sun showing the grievous injustice and the in-
expediency of the present system of taxation. There
are many taxes which press most unduly on the in-
dustry of the country, and on the laborious classes.
Nothing can be more iniquitous than that those who
are compelled to support their families by their daily
toil, who gain their bread by the sweat of their brow,
should be called upon to satisfy any portion of
the interest of the public debt, of that debt which
was incurred for the preservation of the accumulated
property of the country, and which in common
honesty should be exclusively charged thereon. But
there is a consideration still more imperative even
than that of justice or injustice. The significant
mqo
uuerenstitni odonifr e
etmusthtata taxation
o asked, s
revenue
?ke d, Can a material improve-
rbenremffeecrteexdpbeyriaanneye ihnascresahsoewonf
us that Cocxua is not always to be depended on in
the means by which a
public revenue is to be rea-
lised. In taxation two
make four, or, in plainer words, t wo
adno
innoctreiansveariniabthlye
stor
correspondingy
ienncreassneyto tahre-
taimeloeundtnes
onfo t tplireo d rep::
'witnessed the
revenue derivable therefrom. We have
failure of the experiment of an increaseve
cent. on certain duties, which scarcely of ten per
realised the
tenth part of the amount at which it was estimated,
while we have also witnessed the free-trade
experiments, showing that reductions may be
made, affording the greatest relief to the vast ma-
jority of the people, without any loss whatsoever to

the TExchsquer. It has also been shown that
a considerable diminution in other duties would be
productive of the greatest advantage to our trade and
commerce, and to our relations with other lands : for
instance that on tea, which, if maintained at its pre-
sent rate, must lead to the destruction of
our trade with China. Direct taxation, too,
is not only more easily collected, but
the expense of collection is far lower, and
a larger amount is applicable to the public pur-
-1 poses in proportion to the amount levied from the
people than on any indirect tax whatsoever. Any
increase, therefore, in our burdens must come in the
shape of a direct impost, and the income and pro-
perty taxes are the most obvious sources, indeed, we
might almost say, the only possible sources from
whence it can be derived.

We have already, on many occasions pointed out
the grievous hardship of a tax which requires every
individual in the country to expose the state of his
affairs to the prying eyes of the official investi-
gators ; it is also absurd to estimate at the
same rate a transient income derivable from trades
or professions, from any description of in-
dustry or speculation, which are necessarily
constantly varying, and from which, in com-
mon prudence, considerable amounts should be
laid by as a provision for the families of the persons
by whom these incomes are gained, and also to
guard against a change of circumstance when such
profits may no longer be available, with that obtained
from realised property, such as lands, houses, stocks,
&c. Besides the trouble of the collection, the pry-
ing into profits and all the more objectionable parts of
the present system are occasioned by the charges on
income as contradistinguished from property. Mr.
J. MACGREGOR, M.P., formerly the talented and
efficient Secretary to the Board of Trade, and now
the representative for Glasgow, in his admirable
work, " The Progress of America," has shown that
the collection may be rendered more equitable and
less inquisitorial, by placing it exclusively on the
rents and profits of all realised property, which he
estimates to amount in Great Britain to 200,000,0001.
sterling per annum, consisting of " the rents and
profits of all lands, tenements, houses, constructions,
funds, stocks, and shares, including factories,
warehouses, docks, shipyards, railways, canals,
public funds, Bank of England Stuck,
East India and South Sea Stock, and
the stock and shares of all companies whose stocks
and shares are sold in the market." A reasonable
increase in the amount levied on those sources would
not only provide for every deficiency, but would
allow the total abolition of the taxes on all incomes
not derived from realised property, and of
many others that unduly press on our industry, or
are injurious to our commercial relations. The
abominable tax on light, which is so derogatory to the
health of the people, might also be got rid of, together
with very many of the Excise duties, the most op-
pressive and hateful of all our imposts ; indeed Mr.
MACGREGOR shows that by transferring a few items
to the Customs department the whole of the Excise
establishment might be got rid of. We shall speedily
return to this subject.

There is still nothing of importance in the news
from Switzerland. In the morning of the 11th Col.
BUCKHARDT, who commands the division which is
destined to act against Friburg on the north side, was
still at Berne ; he, however, left at two o'clock.
General DUFOUR was only to leave the next day,
Friday, the 12th, at four o'clock in the morning. It
was believed that he would occupy that day in pass-
ing inspections. It would only be in the course of
the next day (Saturday) that all the troops which
were to march at the same time against Friburg, by
the four principal roads which lead to it, would be
able to put themselves in movement. If we consider
that the points at which they had taken position
were distant six and eight leagues, and even more, like
Bulle, Romont, Rue, Chatel, it will be seen that it
would be only in the evening of Saturday that they
could find themselves in view of the Friburg
which are posted at three and two leagues from the
town. We must not, therefore, expect to receive any
news before two, and perhaps three days. The army
of invasion amounts to 28,000 men ; it has at least 100
cannons ; the Helvetie carries the number up to 200.
The militia of Friburg forms scarcely the fourth of
that number, but with the landwehr and the
landsturm the forces of the Catholic cantons must
amount to from 15,000 to 20,000 soldiers. The com-
bat will certainly be very severe at the advanced posts
and at the redoubts.

The Bdle Gazelle of the 13th mentions a report
from Berne that the Grand Council of Friburg had
assembled, and demanded a suspension of hostilities
until Saturday, which had been granted by the Com-
mander of the federal forces.

A letter from Berne of the 10th says :
" Official intelligence has been received to-day
from Lugano of the 7th. It announces that the
little Tesinese body of troops which had so bravely
repulsed the aggression of the column of Uri, pur-
sued that force until stopped by the night. The
rumour that Colonel Muller was killed is not con-
firmed ; his horse, however, was killed under him.
The two officers of artillery, whose death has been
announced, heve certainly perished, as well as three
soldiers. In addition, Lieut. Muheim of Uri, a near
relative to the Deputy at the Diet, has been badly
wounded. Yesterday, the Vaudese and Genevese
troops (division Rilliet) occupied, in addition
to the Friburgese district of Estavayer, that
of Domprierre ; they were to-day to enter
the districts of Rue and Romont, and per-
haps even that of Bulle, where the Liberal party
is in the majority. They had to endure some dis-
charges of musketry from the landsturmers posted
behind the trees, but they did not fall in with any
regular troops. The most of the cures have fled ; a
few have, however, disguised themselves in order to
remain in their own localities. The federal troops
have taken several hostages to guarantee the safety of
the political prisoners who remain in the prison of
Friburg. I mentioned yesterday that the efforts of
the President of fhe Germanic Diet, Count de Munch,
had failed at Carlsruhe and Munich. The concen-
tration of a cordon of troops on the Swiss frontier
will not take place at the expense of the German
Confederation. I understand that the steps taken by
Prince de Metternich have equally failed at the
Court of Sardinia. King Charles Albert does not at
present feel any desire to direct troops on the Swiss
frontier; and as Wurtemberg will not consent to act
without the co-operation of the Grand Duchy of
Baden, and as France without doubt considers that it
is not prudent to place a great mass of troops on the
Swiss frontier as long as Austria remains inactive, it
is probable thst there will not for the moment be any
ostensible military demonstration against Switzer-
land. The promises which the preceding Austrian
Envoy, M. de Philipsberg, made to the Sonderbund
Cantons, do not appear to be on the eve of being
fulfilled."

The Gazette de Lausanne of the 11th gives the fol-
lowing details of the occupation of Estavayer :
" In the evening of the Bth the Viellen brigade ap-
peared before the town, a detachment of Vaudoise
cavalry preceding it as the advanced guard. On
reaching the town, the troops took up positions, while
the Prefect and Syndic of Estavayer, and the Cure of
Cheyres, were conducted to the hotel of La iteine
Berthe, and interrogated by the Staff. All were after-
wards placed in cars, and conducted to Moudon as
hostages, with about a dozen syndics of the sur-
, rounding communes. The Cure of Estavayer was
not included in this measure, as he engaged not to
do anything that could counteract their operations.
These troops remained at Estavayer only a very
short time; for, on the 9th, they were moving upon
Friburg, having been relieved at Estavayer by the
reserve battalion No. 8, which brought with it two
small field pieces they had taken on their expedition.
The whole of these movements were made without
the least resistance, and with only the single accident
of the death of young Millet de Cudrefin, a carabi-
neer, who, coming up to one of his comrades in a
manner perhaps too abrupt, was shot by him. Millet
was an only son. Murat is not yet occupied by the
troops of either party, although those of the Confe-
deration were expected on the flth.
A supplement of the Nouvelliste Vaudois, of the
10th, states that four companies of the troops of
Geneva had arrived at Payerne from Estavayer,
bringing as hostages the leading authorities of that
district, Ns ho had been transferred to Moudon. At
Klein Diedwyl the troops of Lucerne have made pri-
soners of an entire company of the Carabineers of
Zurich. This check had caused great excitement
among the federal troops, who had demanded to be
led immediately to the attack of Lucerne. A spy
has been arrested at Morat, on whom were found
papers which are said to prove that the canton of
Neufchatel was in secret correspondence with the
Sonderbund.
The Prussian Cabinet is said to have given full
powers to General DS PruaL, Governor of Neufcba-

tel, thus rendering him independent of the Prussian
Charge d'Affaires.
The Voix Cotholique de Geneve says that a com-
mand was offered in Switzerland to General the
Prince of GoNzAGA MANTUA, who replied, " I thank
you for the high honour which you do me. A Catholic,
an Italian, and a Liberal, I cannot accept of this grave
mission. If the Confederation united under the same
colours were attacked by the foreigner my sword
should be at its service as readily as I shall fly to the
assistance of my own dear country when the hour of
her deliverance shall sound." " This reply (says the
Voix Catholique) appears to us worthy of the first
President of the Heraldic College of France, the
wearer of numerous decorations won on many a battle
field."

The Patria of Florence, of the 7th inst., announces
the military occupation of Fivizzano by the Mode-
nese troops, without any summons, on the sth, at
half-past eleven. The Gonfaloniere and the Grand-
ducal Vicar have protested. The Patria, which is a
semi-official journal, closes this statement with the
following significant paragraph :
" We cannot recognise in this act of Modena a
legitimate execution of treaties. We recognise in
this proceeding a serious offence against the law •f
nations, much more so, as that execution was neces-
sarily to depend on the negotiations now in progress.
Whatever may be the result of this act, the responsi-
bility of which lies entirely upon the Cabinet of Este,
the Sovereign of Tuscany and his Ministry will be
comforted by the consciousness of having neglected
none of their duties ; and the whole of Tuscany, in
feeling herself so violently dismembered, will, as a
last adieu to her brethren, protest in the name of
Divine justice, against human injustice, and have
confidence in God, who avenges in the course of time
the sufferings of nations by the triumph of na-
tionality."
The Patria of Florence, of the 6th, publishes a
decree of the Grand Duke of TUSCANY, on the for-
mation and arming of the active civic guard. The
election of officers and sub-officers is to take place
by, at the latest, the 25th of this month. By
article 2 of the decree, the citizens, who have done
duty in the provisional civic guard, are authorised
to form part of the active civic guard, although,
according to the regulations, they were to have been
incorporated in the reserve. The same journal an-
nounces, on what it considers good authority, that
the Cabinet of Vienna is resolved to adopt a line of
peace and conciliation with respect to the question of
Lunigiana. The civil magistrates of Florence have
decided that 2,000 crowns shall be devoted by the
city to the purchase of muskets for the civic guard,
and another sum of 1,000 crowns is to be employed
in purchasing equipments.

Madrid papers of the 9th and 10th have been re
ceived.

General JOSE CONCHA has been decorated with
the grand cross of the Order of Charles 111., and
appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry.
It is said that CHRISTINA is intriguing for the pur-
pose of displacing the Marquis of MIRAFLORES from the
recently-created office of Governor of the Palace,
and conferring it upon her husband, Mutioz. The
Q[JEEN-MOTHER is also exceedingly anxious to pro-
cure the Portfolio, either of Public Instruction or of
the Interior, for BRAVO MURILLO.
It is reported that General MANUEL CONCHA will
go to Paris as Ambassador.
The Heraldo intimates that there is no truth in a
statement of the Clamor P üblico of the Government
having determined to order SALAMANCA and Esco-
SUM to leave Madrid.

On the 31st ult. a band of Montemolinist insur-
gents entered Guisona, and remained for two hours,
during which time they levied contributions on the
inhabitants.

An important arrangement has been concluded
between the Government and the Bank of San Fer-
nando, by which the bank is to make certain advances
to the Government, on the security of the incoming
revenue. The arrangement is to last for five months,
beginning with November, and in that period the
bank binds itself to advance 365 millions of reals, and
to pay the interest on the debt falling due on the 31st
of December.

MADRID BoIAA, Nov. 10.—The Three per Cents.
were done at 26k, at 50 days ; the Five per Cents.
at 14/ for paper; the Debt without Interest, at 4} ;
and the Coupons at 11.

We have received the Paris papers of Monday.

They do not contain any intelligence of the com-
mencement of hostilities in Switzerland, although
they mention that a rumour prevailed at Lyons to the
effect that the Federal troops were in possession of
Friburg. The following, which is the conclusion of
an article, on the strange refusal of the Pore to re-
ceive M. LECLERCQ as Ambassador for Belgium, " be-
cause he is a Liberal, and not inclined to submit to
the tyranny of the Jesuits," which appears in the
National, affords a curious insight into the real state of
affairs in Rome :

" It is, moreover, a fact, which, with many others,
demonstrates that the accession of Pius IX. has not,
as was said, suddenly changed, as by a miracle, that
Court of Rome where tradition exercises such domi-
nion. It may be-that Pius IX. is most desirous to
renew those relations with the Belgian Government
which this misunderstanding had interrupted. It may
be that he estimates at their just value the puerile
pretexts alleged to excuse an act so serious as the
refusal to receive M. Leclercq. We may even admit
further, that the language attributed to the Roman
diplomatist may appear to Pius IX. as unbecoming
as it does to the Belgian Cabinet and to ourselves.
But is there not a College of Cardinals at Rome as
well as a Pope ? We have already repeated several
times, and we shall have occasion to repeat it again,
that there is not a constitutional monarch more de-
pendent than Pius IX. No title is refused to him
which is the sign of omnipotence; but, as vigilant
guardians of Catholic interests, the great officers of
his Crown have reserved to themselves the easily-
abused right of conducting according to their fancy
the entire foreign affairs of the Roman Government.
They
might have spared Switzerland the cruel ex-
perience of a civil war, but they would not. Two
Governments have lately thrown off the yoke of the
ultra-Catholic faction, viz., the Belgian and Bavarian
Governments. The Roman Court has excited mi-
serable chicane against both—a proceeding which
causes us no surprise."

These papers all consider the occupation of Fiviz-
zano by the troops of MODENA (an occupation against
which the Grand Duke of TUSCANY has protested)
as an
affairsentiments of M. GUIZOT on this subject may be
gathered
from
iomnvtolvin
the following
important consequences. The
llowing remarks, which appear
in the Revue des Deux Mondes :
f

I" The Duke of Modena took possession of the dis-
trict of Fivizzano, which, in virtue of the treaties of
1815, was to revert to him at the annexation of
Lucca to Tuscany. We lately stated that, in pre-
sence of the formal letter of the treaties, no legal re-
sistance could possibly be made against that incorpo-
ration, but that the new subjects of the Duke of
Modena had a right to demand at least the mainte-
nance of the institutions they enjoyed under the
Tuscan domination. The Duke of Modena appears
to have come to no decision on the subject. At all
events, we believe that it would have been more pru-
dent on his part to compromise matters with Tuscany
and exchange for an adequate compensation the aban •
donment of his sovereign rights ; tor one of two things
must happen—he will either deprive his new subjects
of the rights they were in possession of under their
former Sovereign, and then he will excite discontent
and perhaps sedition ; or he must leave them the en-
joyment of those rights, in which case he will intro-
duce into his own territory institutions of a more
liberal nature, the spectacle and contact of which will
not be without danger. If we be correctly informed,
the determination of the Duke of Modena met with
little encouragement from a high influence which he
is in the habit of consulting. A recent journey
which the Prince made to Vienna, with a view to
sound the ground and ascertain how far he could rely
on a powerful co-operation, did not produce the re-
sult he expected. He, nevertheless, thought
proper to avail himself of the letter of treaties, and
caused Fivizzano to be occupied on the .sth,
On that day three hundred soldiers entered that
small territory; 100 remained at the foot of the hill
on which the town is situate, and the other 200 en-
tered it without experiencing any resistance. The
account of that occupation produced a lively agitation
throughout Tuscany. At Florence, Pisa, and Leg-
horn, several thousand volunteers had inscribed their
names to march to the assistance of their former
countrymen. During several days a collision ap-
peared imminent and inevitable. The Grand Duke
himself protested against the occupation of Fivizzano;
but that protest merely bears on the form of the occu-
pation, and its having taken place without due notice.
As to the question of right it cannot be contested,
and the chiefs of the Liberal movement in Tuscany
must have themselves admitted it, for the effervescence
had subsided, and would not probably be attended
with any serioui consequences.
The Consittutionne/ has the following on the same
suilect
The question raised between Tuscany and the