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

yftp, suNI.,__LONOOI4I„, VRIAY SYRNINgtIA.II,9II....

tribute thereto in proportion to the real value of
their respective incomes.
At present the tax is imposed on every description
of income without any regard to the sources from
whence that income is derived, the manner in
which it is obtained, or its probable continuance or
permanency. This nominal equality is really most
unequal in its operations and unjust in its principle.
While in one case it might not amount to one-tenth
per cent. on the value of the actual capital of the tax-
payer, it may in another sweep away every shilling
of which he is possessed in the world, and leave him
still trusting to exertions which at any moment may
be paralysed, either by an attack of illness, want of
employment, or any of the other casualties to which
a person engaged in any trade or profession is liable
every day.
An extremely sensible and well written pamphlet
has recently appeared, under the title of " A
Few Words to the Middle Classes of England
on the subject of the Income-tax," which puts
the question on its true foundation, and which will
be found well worthy of the attention of
those who are anxious to come to a sound
decision on the question. The writer points out
five different classes of property on which the
taxation is now equally enforced, but which really
vary very considerably in degree. Thus there are,
Ist, Incomes arising from real property ; 2d, From
money invested in public or private securities—the
principal of which remains at the disposal of the
owner; 3d, Limited estates, such as annuities for
terms of lives or years, issuing or payable out of
either of the former classes ; 4th, The profits of
persons embarked in trade or manufactures,
who have a certain amount of capital
invested in their business, and who make a profit
thereon, and also on the skill and attention which
they devote thereto; and, sthly, where the profits
wholly arise from the skill and labour of the parties,
whether in the shape of fixed salaries or fluctuating
monies. There may be a vast number of sub-divi-
sions, but it would not be possible to take them into
account, or to legislate thereon. One principle,
however, may be fairly applied, viz.,—let the tax be
levied in proportion to the real value of the capital or
price at which that income would sell, if brought into
the market in order to be disposed of.
But there is another objection to the income-tax,
as it falls on the fourth and fifth classes, which
should not be lost sight of, and which appears to us an
unanswerable argument against its continuance—its
inquisitorial and vexatious character. Nothing can
be more easily ascertained than the amount arising
from fixed and realised property. The statement of
its amount cannot in any degree injure the party who
derives his maintenance therefrom. The case of a
professional man or of one embarked in trade is,
however, very different ; his credit may be materially
injured by the returns he is obliged to make, and
very frequently he is assessed on an amount far be-
yond what he really receives. These are points
which should be attentively considered by the repre-
sentatives of the people befoie they consent to the
demand that has been made for the renewal of the
tax for a further period.

Wales is clamouring fur education. In the midst
of all the exciting occurrences of Europe, amidst the
din of fallen dynasties, and the uproar of insurgent
multitudes abroad, the cry of the humble population
of the Welsh counties continues to be audible—im-
ploring the Legislature to interpose between their
physical degradation and their intellectual redemp-
tion. Talk of the Ashantees and the savages of
Polynesia, talk of the Hottentots and the Hill-
coolies, of the Bushmen and the Caribbeans ! there
is immeasurably more reason for anxiety in
regard to the debased and ignorant condition of
Our own fellow-countrymen in the principality
of Wales. Of the wants and miseries of
foreign barbarians there may be much rational
scepticism; the accounts given to us of their be-
nighted condition may be merely the tales of travel-
lers ; Captain BASIL HALL may have drawn very
largely upon his imagination in delineating the social
exigencies of the people of Loo Choo in the Indian
archipselago, and there are very general doubts of the
authenticity of the wanderings among the beautiful
inhabitants of the Marquesas, by Citizen HERMAN
MELVILLE, a mariner of the United States. But of
the accuracy of the accounts made by respectable
Commissioners appointed by the House of Commons
to inquire into the truth or falsehood of the reports
prevalent respecting an important section of
the population of these dominions, there can
be no reasonable doubt whatever. Materials of
this substantial character have been latterly accumu-
lated in reference to the deplorable want of useful
knowledge amongst the Welsh multitude. In the
beginning of the Parliamentary session of 1846, it
will be remembered that the necessity of making
some such investigation was enforced upon the late
Administration by the Hon. Gentleman, the late re-
presentative of Coventry (Mr. WILLIAM WILLIAMS),
and that the then Chief Secretary for the Home Depart-
ment (Sir JAMES GRAHAM) acknowledged the readi-
ness of the Government to forward the views of the
Hon. Member by instituting a comprehensive inquiry
into the mental destitution of the principality of
Wales. Shortly after wards there came the rupture
of the Peel Cabinet, in consequence of the extraor-
dinary fiscal innovations forced through the Cham-
bers of the Legislature, and almost immediately upon
the installation of the Russell Ministry the
.determi-
nation announced by Sir JAMES GRAHAM in refe-
rence to Wales was carried into effect under the
active and patriotic superintendence of his successor,
Sir GEORGE GREY. Three Commissioners (Messrs.
LINGEN, SYMONS, and JOHNSON) were autho-
rised to proceed to the western shore of
this island, for the purpose of guaging the
ignorance and surveying the debasement of
the Welsh with a sort of intellectual theodolite. The
secretary of this Commission was a man eminently
qualified to fulfil its duties, namely, Mr. KAY SHUT-
TLEWORTH, and the reports already sent in have
fully corroborated the accounts originally given by
the Hon. Gentleman the late Member for Coventry,
while they have demonstrated in a remarkable
manner the activity of the three Commissioners and
their secretary.

Some tolerable conception may be formed of the
miserable ignorance of the people in this portion of
the United Kingdom by an enumeration of a very
few of the more general calculations of the Commis
sioners. First of all, it must be borne in recollection
that in 1841 the population of Wales amounted, in
round numbers, to more than 900,000 souls (if we
are not mistaken, the exact number was 911,321),
and that with merely 1,530 day-schools, there were
only two-thirds out of 72,194 children in anything
like regular attendance. In the eight parishes in the
county of Carnarvon, wit.:l a population of 9,447,
there were found to be only two poor schools 1 In
the thirty-one parishes in the county of Anglesea,
with a population of 13,956, there were only five
schools, of the very meanest description I Out of the
126 parishes in the counties of Radnor, Brecknock,
and Cardigan, there are seventy-two parishes (writes
Mr. Symons in his report), without any day-school
at all, and two-thirds of the children of those counties
without any schooling whatever ! The propor-
tions per cent. of the children who do obtain school-
ing (in the other shires not yet mentioned)
compared with the latest census of the population of
the same age, are thus estimated:—Carmarthen, 17.7 ;
Glamorgan, 25.4; Pembroke, 27.7 ; Montgomery,
•ch andis the the
necessitous total
of
18.4 ; Merioneth, 21.7 ; Denbigh, 22.8 ; Flint,
3
North
condition lS' a l e
of
f t 1
, 200 e.
Such 2 ;
humbler classes in Wales, a condition which not
only debars them from most of the
very ordinary
comforts and conveniences of private life, but has
tended to plunge them into a state of deplorable and
degrading sensuality. Upon the former point Mr.
WILLIAMS has very judiciously remarked in his letter
to the Premier :*—" The common people, from their
imperfect knowledge of their own language, are in-
capable of so i
e n itllgib y comprehending as to aid
them in improving their knowledge and skill in their
ordinary occupations." And upon the latter point
an intelligent writer in Fraser's Magazine for
this March remarks—" Petty thefts, lying, cozening,
every species of cLicanery, drunkenness, and idleness,

• A Letter to the Right lion. Lord John Russell, &c.,
on. the Report of the Commissioners appointed to in-
quireinto the State of Education in Wales. By William
Williams, Esq., late M.P. for Coventry. Pp. 31. London:
,Ridgway. 1848.

prevail to a great extant among the least educlted
part of the community, who are said scar rely to re-
gard them in the light (y"' sins." So that by enlight-
ening the minds of the poor Welsh, we should be
also purifying their hearts, by dissipating the dirk
ness of ignorance w: should be scaring the obscure
birds which love that darkness—vice, and hide
coruna, and all kinds of immorality and licentious-
ness. Let the philanthropists bethink them-
selves of the old saying that " Charity begins
at home," and so transform their expeditions to
Terra del Fuego into adventures into the obscurer
corners of Glamorganshire, their pincushions for the
aborigines of Australia, into horn-books for the little
children of Carnarvon. GOD knows there would be
more decency, more consistency, more patriotism,
and more Christianity in such a distribution of their
bounties. Meanwhile the exertions of the Govern-
ment must not be abated, for it must be remembered
that while ameliorative measures are being prepared
the evil is rapidly increasing.

According to a letter from Aix la-Chapelle of the
27th, the events of Paris had produced an extraordi-
nary sensation there.
" The French newspapers had been eagerly seized,
and alarm was already felt respecting the measures
which the Prussian Government would not fail to
take on the first intellizence of the events. It ap•
peared certain that the Landwehr had been called out,
and it was feared that young men of from 18 to 20
years of age would be likewise summoned. An army
of 30,000 men was expected to arrive before the ex-
piration of a week."

A letter from Turin of the 14th states that the
relations between Sardinia and the Cabinet of
Vienna were daily becoming colder. The Austrian
Commissioner, sent to Turin for the purpose of ar-
ranging certain commercial and financial differences,
has returned to Vienna without having been able to
obtain any satisfactory result. Ten thousand men
bad just been set on foot, and two new contingents
convoked.

The Madrid journals of the 25th ult. bring no
news.
The Three per Cents. were done at 291 at 50 days
the other securities were not quoted.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

PROCEEDINGS AT PARIS.

We have received the Paris papers of yesterday.
The accounts from the provinces continue to be
favourable, with the exception of Rheims, where
some serious excesses had been committed.

In Paris all was quiet, and everything presented
its ordinary appearance.
The Moniteur contains the following twelve new
decrees, issued by the Provisional Government :
The First—After promising an abolition, at some
future period, of all taxes affecting food, continues
as a temporary measure all the present imposts, with-
out exception, and calls on all good citiz'ns to pay
their taxes. The same decree promises that the Pro-
visional Government will present to the National
Assembly a Bill for the abolition of the stamp on
newspapers, the octroi and the salt tax, and will
modify all other taxes.
2. Abolishes all titles of nobility.
3. Annuls all condemnations for political offences
against the late dynasty.
4. Proclaims freedom to all religions, and calls on
the clergy to make use of the formula Deus Sedum
lac Rempublicam.
5. Places the Palace of the Luxembourg at the
disposal of M. Lours BLANC and M. ALIx&T, as Pre •
sident and Vice-President of the Commission with
respect to the rights of workmen.
6. Promotes Major-General CLVAIGNAC, the new
Governor-General of Algeria, to the rank of General
of Division.

7. Promotes Colonel Bazcz to the rank of Major-
General.

8. Dissolves the Municipal Council of Paris.
9. Forbids the distribution of placards or notices
without the name of the printer.
10. Places the Petit Luxembourg at the disposal
of M. DUPONT (DE L'EURE), the President of the
Provisional Government.

11. Appoints M. A. BARBES Governor of the
Luxembourg.

12. Restores the rank of Generals of Divition and
Generals of Brigade.
Paris was perfectly tranquil.

M. ARMAND MARRAST has been appointed National
Administrator of the property belonging to the
Crown and the Civil List.

The Council of State, the Academy of Medicine,
the Literary Association, the Syndicate of the Stock-
brokers, and the Tribunal of Commerce have given
n their adhesion to the Government. Even in La
Vendee the Republic had been proclaimed without
resistance.

The Moneteur publishes the following decrees :
" FRENCH REPUBLIC.
"LIBERTY-EQUALITY-FRATERNITY.

" The Provisional Government declares—
" That every new system of policy should be based
on a new system of credit and impost.
" That the system of taxation of the French
Republic should have for its object the more equal
partition of public contributions.
" That this justice will have for a natural result
the amelioration of the condition of the public, and a
diminution of the charges which weigh upon labour.
" That there exist at !present imposts of which the
suppression is very lawfully demanded.

That one of the :first laws presented to the
National Assembly will be a new budget, in which
the Provisional Government will satisfy wishes which
it partakes, especially those regarding indirect im-
posts, the octroi, the stamp duty on the daily press,
and all other taxes which affect the subsistence of the
people and the expression of opinions.
" The Provisional Government is resolved sincerely
to propose to the National Assembly a budget estab-
lished on the above priniples.
" But it considers it to be its most imperious duty
to recal to the citizens that every system of taxation
cannot be determined by a Provisional Government;
that it belongs to the delegates of the whale nation to
judge sovereignly with regard to that; that every
other conduct would inAr4 on its part the most rash
usurpation.

"It moreover repeats that the French Republic,
though succeeding a Government of prodigality, and
corruption, accepts and h.rmly desires to fulfil all its
engagements, to rest faithful to every contract.
" That in the midst of the passing difficulties inse-
parable from every great commotion, it will be an act
of the greatest imprudence to diminish the resources
of the Treasury.
" That by doing so one would run the risk of
suspending or compromising the most important
services, and be less pre pared to make face against
events of which France .and Europe may be the wit-
nesses.

"From these motives the Provisional Government
decrees:— _ __

"Art. I. All imposts, 'without exception, shall con
tinue to be levied as before.

" Art. 11. All good citizens are called on, in the
name of patriotism, to offer no obstacle to the pay-
ment of their taxes.

" Art. 111. The Provisional Government engages
itself to present to the National Assembly a budget,
in which the stamp duty on the periodical papers, the
octroi, the tax on salt shrill be abolished, and a law
which will completely modify the system of indirect
contributions.
" The Members of the Provisional Government."
(Here follow their signatures.)
" FRENCI-1 REPUBLIC.
" mnEaTT—EQUALITY—FRATERNUT.

" The Provisional Go vernment being firmly re-
solved to maintain the f:ee exercise of all religions,
and being anxious to associate the consecration of re•
ligious feeling to the great act of reconquered liberty,
invites the ministers of all the forms of worship
existing in the territory of the Republic to call down
the Divine blessing on the work of the people, and
to pray that both the sip irit of firmuese and f re •
gulation which founds institutions may be vouchsafed
to it. In consequence ale Provisional Governmen
calls on the Archbishop of Paris and all the Bishop,-
of the Republic to substitute for the old form of
prayer the words :
" Domine, salvam tfac Rempublicsin.'
" The Minister of Pul)lic Instructiion is charged
with the execution of the :present decree."
The following appears in the Gazelle des Tribe-
naux

"It is announced to utt; that the company of the
Northern Railway has dei :tared to all the workmen
and agents of its enterprise that it has decided to
admit them to a participation in the profits. The
participation is to be settled in the following manner.
The products are to be d ividEd :-1. To salaries ; '2
To the interest of the capital, and to paying it off ;
3. The profits, beyond these two chapters, to be
divided between the ahareb olders and the agents and

workmen, in the proportion of the capital in money to
the capital in labour.',
The. Managing Committee of the Association for
the Defence of National Labour has addressed the
following circular to the members:—
"Gentlemen,—The gravity of the circumstances
imposed new duties on your association. The Re-
public is proclaimed. There is no power without
order. And order is the idea which dominates the
association of which you have constituted us the re-
presentatives, and which you have founded out of the
pale of all political opinion. Without order, in fact,
there is neither consumption, nor labour, nor wages—
no present, no future. Such must be the sentiment
of our associates, and therefore we rely on their co-
operation. Events render it indispensable. They
have induced us to promise to the Minister of Com-
merce that, to contribute to the maintenance of order
every manufacturer, &c., will make it a duty in pro-
portion to his means to create employment. It is
thus that every shop will become a national shop;
and as such will be entitled to the protection of all.
Flat this situation imposes grave duties on industry.
You nobly understood them when, in the year which
has just passed, you maintained labour, and assured
the nourishment of the working classes. The sacri-
fices which humanity then imposed upon you, an
enlightened patriotism now demands. You will not
be untrue to your former conduct, and within the
limits of what is possible you will renew the sacri-
fices previously made. Especially employ your per-
sonal influence that your example may be followed
by all. It is thus—it is by these means—that we
shall draw closer the union between all citizens.
And, let us not forget it, the union of citizens is the
peace of the country ; there to-day is the first element
of labour, the first element of public security and
prosperity. Accept, &c.
(Signed) " ODIER, President.
" MIME RE L, Vice-President.
"LOUIS LEBEUF, Secretary.
JOSEPH PERRIER, Treasurer."
The following petition has been extensively pla-
carded in Paris :

" Petition for a Bill to establish a national pension
fund for every workman that bas attained the age of
fifty -five years.
" Every citizen of the two sexes from seventeen to
fifty-five years of age shall be bound to pay each day
two centimes, or 60c. per month, or 71.50 c. per
annum ; every town or village shall be bound to pay
for the totality of its inhabitants.
" Every workman employing workmen or servants
is bound to keep back this amount from their wages,
and is to be considered responsible therefore.
" Every father of a family who is unfortunate, and
has several mouths to support, shall be de jure
exempted from paying his annual quota until such
time as his family shall be able to work.
" Are excluded from the advantages of the pension
fund all persons having a revenue above 8001. a year;
the most severe laws to be made against such persons
as should rob the money of the poor.
"A scale of pension is to be fixed, giving 500 f. a
year at 55 years, 700 f. at 65 years, and 1,100 at 75
years.
" The pension fund is to be for all citizens—thus
bankers, notaries, advocates, in a word, all persons
who may have been favoured by fortune all their life-
time, will have as much right to it, if they become
unfortunate, as the workman who all his life-time has
known only labour and privation.
" What workman is there who cannot save fifteen
centimes per week ? Who is there that would not
blush to receive alms when age shall have weakened
his strength and courage ?
The pension which he will receive will be the
economy of his whole life, and if he throws a glance
backwards, it will be to bless the progress of civilisa-
tion.

" The day on which this law will pass the pay-
ment of the pension may commence, since from the
age of 17 to 55 all citizens will contribute to the
common stock; and since the funds in place of being
capitalized will be distributed every year. During
lit years the State will have little to add in order
to complete the pensions, but after that period it will
every year have an enormous sacrifice to make. Let,
during the fifteen years, the twelve millions which
were gven to a single man, be capitalized. Let the
resources of the civil list be added to them, and the
sum:will be more than sufficient. If fears are enter-
tained not to obtain a sum sufficient to pay all the
pensions, let the diamonds of the crown be sold, as
well as the articles of value found at the Tuileries.
The most glorious crown of a government ought to
be the happiness of the people.
" MAINCENT.

cathec who never violated his vows, I plight my,
own,
"through your medium, to the French Re-
public.
" ' Receive, gentlemen, this manifestation of a
profound sympathy, and a devotion which only asks
to be put to the proof.

(Signed)

" PIERRE-NAPof.EON BUONAPARTE.

"'Paris, 29th Feb., 1848: "

The Conslitulionnel says—
" The following fact merits to be cited :—On the
night of Thursday, when the people were still under
the impression of the victory which they had gained,
an individual posted up at the corner of the Rue
Richelieu a written paper, containing the name and
address of the persons with whom MM. Guizot,
Duchatel, and Hebert had taken refuge. That in-
dication was followed by an appeal to vengeance.
Already the crowd was gathering round the spot full
of emotion, 'when a patrol of workmen advaneed,
with a corporal of the National Guard at its head.
The latter approached, read the placard, and cried
out—' My friends, they who make such dastardly
denunciations have not fought in our ranks!' and he
tore down the paper amidst the applause of all.
" We are informed that, in addition to the library,
pictures, and rich furniture saved at the château of
Neuilly, the silver plate was also rescued from the
flames. This plate, valued at about 1,200,000 f., and
which now becomes the property of the nation, has
been also deposited at the Maine of Neuilly."
The following is from the Memorial de Rotten :

" We learn from an authentic source that several
members of the Royal Family arrived at Eu in a
pitiable condition. The Duchess of Orleans came
with her two children, but without any attendants,
covered with mud, and almost without clothing. The
keeper of the chateau and his wife were obliged to
furnish them with garments and other supplies. As
soon as the report of their arrival reached the town,
the National Guards turned out en masse, and went
to the Palace, every issue of which they guarded,
protesting their resolution not to quit their post, let
whatever might happen, until the Princes were in
perfect safety. It was, in fact, rumoured that they
were pursued by a furious band, determined to mas-
sacre them. They afterwards, under an escort of the
National Guard at Eu, embarked at Treport.
The Duchess DE MONTPENSIER (says the Ami de la
Religion), having lost her way at the Tuileries in the
confusion of the KING'S flight and the entrance of the
people, was met by a physician of the Court, and by
him enabled to rejoin her family.
Galignani of Thursday has the following news from
Belgium:—
"The King and Queen of the Belgians and their
family came from Lacken to Brussels on Sunday, be-
tween two and three o'clock in the afternoon. At
three o'clock the King presided at a Council of Mi-
nisters. Their Majesties and family did not return to
Lacken, but will remain for the present at Brussels.
The King received in the course of the day Lieut.-
General Prisse, the Military Governor, and several
other persons. '

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, MARC% 2.

Boulogne and Amiens, BX—Namur and Liege, 4% ex
int.—Northern of France. s%—Orleans and Bordeaux, 3%
—Paris and Lyons, 27/B—Rouen and Havre; 11%—Sambre
and Meuse, 6A—West Flanders, 1.

ALARMING ACCIDENT.
(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

RUGBY STATION, MARCH 2.—An accident occurred
to-day on the London and North-Western line, at
Weedon. The draw-bridge over the water was omitted
to be closed, and an engine, with a luggage train, which
could not be stopped soon enough, has fallen in, and the
traffic on both lines is stopped for the present. There is
not less than eight passenger trains delayed in conse-
quence, and the passengers have to walk across planks
to the other side and get into an up train to come on
here, and the first train has just arrived since the acci•
dent, half-past seven, several hours over due.

The soldiers from the barracks at Weeden have ren-
dered every assistance.
There has been no train from here to Derby since
three o'clock, and how long we shall have to wait no one
can inform us.

P. S. I have just heard that no one is hurt, and that a
beat laden with bricks was going through the bridge,
and the engine tumbled into the boat which sunk to the
bottom.

MARKET NEWS._(THIS

CORN EXCHANGE-FRIDAY.

The present week's arrival of English Wheat coast-
wise has amounted to only 1,540 quarters, chiefly from
Essex. To-day the stands were very scantily filled with
samples, and the demand for all kinds of Wheat of home
produce was very steady at fully Monday's quotations,
and at which a good clearance was effected. Fine par-
cels of foreign Wheat moved off fully at extreme cur-
rencies, but the middling and inferior kinds were much
neglected. Scarcely any Barley was on offer. Most
kinds were in moderate request at unaltered prices.
Superfine Malt was quite as dear. In other kinds so
little was doing, that prices were nominal. Oats were in
moderate request, at late rates. Beans, Peas, and Indian
Corn were the turn lower. The top price of Flour was
46s per 280 lbs. _ . _