The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-01 00:00:00

ifll

LONDON, WEDNESDAY. MARCH 1, 1848.

The manifestations which have taken place in all
parts of the country against the odious income-tax
have had the effect of preventing the increase therein
which had been contemplated by the Government.
Similar demonstrations must produce the re-
mission of the most objectionable part of the
impost which it is proposed still to retain, viz.,
the tax upon incomes not derived from realised
property, The present is the golden opportunity,
and if it should be neglected the people will only have
themselves to blame. An entire revision of the tax-
ation of the country is required, by which the bur-
dens shall be fairly adjusted, and shall fall upon the
shoulders of those who in' common jus-
tice should bear the weight. The nation is
now thoroughly aroused. A new association
has been formed in Liverpool to enforce a more
equitable mode of raising the revenue, and the agi-
tation once commenced will be carried on with the
utmost activity and energy. We yesterday inserted
a letter from the respected Chairman of the Anti-
Corn-law League, calling upon the people "to make
another grand and united effort." The appeal will
be responded to in an enthusiastic manner, and" The
National League" will constitute another " great
fact" that will sweep away the existing abuses, and
insure a thorough, an efficient, and a radical refor-
mation in the institutions and government of the
country.

The first step to be taken is to obtain the appoint-
ment of a special committee, to inquire into
the best mode of collecting the national revenue.
The taxes that press on industry, that prevent the
due development of the skill and invention of the
people, must be abolished, or at least greatly modi-
fied. It is not alone the amount of the duties in the
Excise department, oppressive and burdensome as
they undoubtedly are, that constitute the ground
of complaint. The regulations and restrictions that
are in force are of the most intolerable character.
There is a perpetual meddling► with, an inquisitorial
prying into, the most secret affairs of the manufac-
turer and trader, in the articles on which duties are
imposed. lle is no longer the master in his own
dwelling; at any hour of the day or night his
privacy may be intruded upon, the sanctity of
his house violated, on no better founda-
tion than an anonymous accusation, the
whispered, insinuation of a malicious and cowardly
scoundrel. If the enormities of the system were
made apparent and fully exposed, there would be an
immediate outcry that should be respected by our
rulers, and if the duties were not repealed, there
should at least be a total alteration in the stringent
and vexatious regulations that are enforced, and
which operate as a check and serious impediment to
the productive power of the country. If the arti-
ficial restraints were removed, there would be an
ample field for the employment of the people in
useful and remunerative works. Improvements, too,
might be introduced which would lead to consider-
able saving in the process of various descriptions of
manufactures, but which are prevented because
every d,scription of experiment is prohibited by the
authorities. The Excise duties, in fact, contain every-
thing objectionable in taxation. They check pro-
duction, retard improvements, prevent employment,
expose us to the most inquisitorial espionage, lead the
poorer classes into temptations that have demoralised
thousands and deprived families of their natural pro-
tectors, and plunged them in the deepest misery and
distress ; and, finally, a considerably larger sum is
thereby taken from the pockets of the people than
finds its way into the national Exchequer. In fact,
on a former occasion, we have proved that although
the net proceeds of the Excise duties do not amount
to more than 13,000,0001. sterling, yet they cost the
nation at least 20,000,0001., the whole amount of
which falls upon the consumers.

It will be the duty of " The National League,"
by every means in its power, to resist what has justly
been termed " the indirect robbery of the poor." It
is a glorious task, and if the committee of manage-
ment set their shoulders to the wheel with the same
energy and devotion which they heretofore exhibited
in their crusade against one specks of monopoly, an
equally favourable result will be obtained to that
which has already crowned their exertions with such
brilliant success. The principle of a free and un-
fettered trade has been recognised by the Legislature ;
it must be carried fully into effect. This cannot be
the case until there is a total revision of the Excise
and Customs duties. Let GEonce WILSON be nomi-
nated the chairman of the National League, and the
victory is already achieved.

Never has a revolutionary movement been so
rapidly and effectually aided by a variety of for-
tuitous circumstances as the one which has just scat-
tered the younger dynasty of the Bourbons and
proclaimed in the capital of France the sovereignty
and omnipotence of the People.' Everything has
tended to the consolidation of the Republic since the
hour when the Provisional Government was first
installed in the Hotel de Ville. That Government
has at once secured to itself the confidence of the
multitude. It has effected this as much by the
august and beneficent principles it promulgates,
as by the practical excellence of the reforms
upon which it has already adventured. If
these evidences of confidence in the Provisional
Republic were the only meritorious characteristics
discernible in the proceedings of the Parisians,
they would of themselves be, sufficient to display
the generous sentiments by which the humbler classes
are actuated, and their extraordinary capacity for
recognising the great truths of civilisation. But
other testimonies—and testimonies, too, of a very
brilliant description—have been recently afforded
of the absence of all ferocious passion in the mob of
that once brutalized metropolis. In the very midst
of the paroxysm of the popular rising, when the
gamins of the faubourgs were maddened by the
butchery of
Hotel des Ajjeatth* efrrotyn t
wasof the
Hotel Eat —psrsaongciearteess
inrop
re-
spected, decency Was observed, a workman was cut
down by a sabre blow for insulting a gentleman,
another artizan was shot dead by a pistol ball when
endeavouring to break through the window of a
private residence, a third was given into custody for
attempting to carry off some silver from the Tuileries,
sentinels were posted by the insurgents at
the door-
ways of that great palace to prevent bath pillage and
desecration, and, as we recounted the other evening,
the rabble in the very frenzy of insurrection offered a
sublime mark of homage to the Divinity—a mark of
homage so noble and spontaneous, that it is almost
enough of itself to consecrate the Revolution,
and to call down upon the newly-established
Republic the blessings of OMNIPOTENCE. In allusion
to this magnificent act of reverence on the part of a
whole people, when they bore the statue of CERIST
through the streets of Paris, bowing down their
heads before the effigy of the REDEEMER—the
Celebrated LACORDASRE (the cowled orator of
Notre Dame) exclaimed on Sunday, while speak-

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