The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-22 00:00:00

T iIE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 22, 1856,

our taste, we must honestly confess, was the cha-
racteristic fashion in which Sir HOUSTON, in his
turn, alluded to the warlike spirit of our mercan-
tile population upon great emergencies—when he
said—" England, generally speaking, was a com-
in nation, unlike those who made war their glory
and occupation : but when the row began they shut
their shops." As ill luck would have it, however,
in the latest instance of a row of this kind—on
taking the shutters down again, we have had to
make rather a considerable haul upon the till.
Without very much of the compensation spoken of
so boastfully by Sir ARCHIBALD at any rate
on the part of the great national ser-
vice ! Nevertheless—if the Royal Navy did
just next to nothing during the late struggle,
either through lack of a foe, or through lack of a
way to ferret that skulking foe out—we have still a
matchless maritime force, and gallant tars enough
and to spare—not the least gallant among these
our gallant tars being the honoured Guest of
Greenock on Friday evening, Admiral Sir Hous-
TON STEWART, the newly appointed Commander-
in-Chief of the British war-ships in the American
waters.

" Too late !" "Too late 1" says the Times.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer made April fools
of you in the spring, and fools you must continue
till April, 1858. "Better late than never," we
reply. We bargained for sixteenpence in the
pound, as we understood, till April, 1857. If
we pay it afterwards we deserve the cap and bells.
But we shall certainly try which is master—we
or GEORGE CORNEIVALL LEWIS. If he be not
ready to make his Income Tax bearable, we know
who is, We have the consolation so freely prof-
fered to disappointed lovers, and with all due
respect for the Edinburgh Reviewer, it he does
not review the tax to our satisfaction, we had
much rather have BENJAMIN DISRAELI, Esq., and
an amended tax, than Sir GEORGE and his intoler-
able weight with him. We are so mercenary that
the dowry of a lighter, better adjusted tax would
console us for all the charms of our present love.
We advertise the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
therefore, that he is to have an agitation whick
all the blandest suggestions of the Times, and all
his own pressing necessities, and all the heavy
metal of his discourses, can never put down. The
Income Tax was " lynched" at the close of the
long war ; it was " lynched," at least the aug-
mentation of it was, when Sir CMARLES WOOD
tried it on. If Sir GEORGE desires to witness
another repetition of the ceremony let him perse-
vere. We can guarantee him the treat. Should
he not like it when he sees it, he can either walk
out of his tax or his office, as suits his convenience.
We can assure him of the people's entire indiffer-
ence on that score.

How long is the period of Fiscal gestation, or
incubation to last ? We are told the amount "is
necessary for the Chancellor of the Exchequer's
financial arrangements." We wonder who told our
contemporary so ? We suppose there is but one
person who fully knows the stage of development
which the embryo budget has reached. Has he
told the delicate fact to a professional gentleman
whose assistance may be desirable in the hour of
the Chancellor's sorrow ! We have all known
new fiscal "arrangements" adjusted in a few
weeks, a month or two at mast ; and we fancy
that if Sir GEORGE be put on his mettle he can
have an alternative ready ii no long time. We
take another and a very common view of " neces•
sity," to wit, that it is the mother of invention ;
and perhaps there is hardly a class of officials who
more need such an aid to invention than mediocre
Chancellors of the Exchequer—gentlemen of the
CORNEW.A.LL LEWIS and CHARLES WOOD class.
Their hereditary sin is to repose at ease on any tax
the people will let them have in quiet ; there they
lie—you would think them paralytics—upon it
till—like persons we have seen in the street at the
approach of the police,—so they, at the approach
of an indignant people,—quietly take up their
traps and walk off.
But, after all, we shall have a few millions more
of national debt. So be it then. We prefer that
to paying eleven-pence in the pound more Income
Tax in 1858 than we were fated to bear by Mr.
GLADSTONE'S Act of June, 1853. According to
that Act next year we were to have paid but five-
pence in the pound, and to have paid that amount
till 1860, and not, as the Times erroneously states,
till "April, 1858, unless the tax be revived by
another war." Now that difference between fice-
pence and sixteenpence we, like the " premature
agitators" at public meetings, cannot endure in
patience, though only for another year. We re-
gard that elevenpence in the pound as an odious
swindle. We meant to pay it one year after the
war. We decline to pay it any longer. The
Minister played with loaded dice when he intro-
duced the cheating word " ratification" into his
Act ; 'and, as in the late SIDEBOTTOM case, we re-
fuse to honour a bill, even if we have accepted it,
when it was drawn by one who had taken us in.
Be knew when he could get the ratification ; we
did not. We confounded it with signing the
Articles of Peace. When first challenged by him
as to our debt, we stood amazed at the cunning
of the trick. One year's debt for fair play was
then becoming due. We thought only of meeting
that, and half overlooked the other ; but now the
other bill is becoming due, like Mr. SIDEBOTTOM,
we bethink ourselves. Having paid prodigiously
to the reckless wasters of our money for two or
three years, we scan the hill a little closely—we
remember that it was got by a Treasury trick—
we repudiate the transaction—let the sharper
bring an action against the tax-payers if he please
—we will meet him in the House. We ask, is
not this the sentiment of every honest English-
man ?

As to the inherent 'unfairness et the Incomif
Tax, we might refer out -readers, if need
could be, to the elaborate picture of its
injustice to every individual drawn by the Times
itself. It were utterly unreasonable to sup-
pose that a whole country would consent to be
squeezed in that way to save trouble to any
Heaven-born Chancellor whatever. Every one
feels that he is wronged somewhere. Every one,
besides the amount of money, has something to
resent. This is about the worst that can be said
for any tax. Let Manchester grumble as it likes,
no Custom-house or Excise duty
,ever levied has
created such a deep feeling of wrong as the Income
Tax. The very man who pays on his exact in-
come is wronged, because others do not. setter
far submit to a little enhanced price for some
luxury, to a direct tax for a dog, or a carriage, a
something not absolutely necessary, to anything,
rather than to living thus under an Income-tax har-
row all our lives, and one with teeth, too, more
than three times their proper length, if Sir G. C.
LEWIS is to have his way. There is one unmiti-
gated evil in an Income Tax not half enough
noticed. The clerk with 1001. or 1501. a•year may
just pay his way, and look decent in the count-
ing-house or the church—if he have no family. If
he have many, or if he have half-a-dozen children,
he is almost a beggared man—indefinitely poorer
than the other. Yet he must pay the ruinous
tax—to him absolutely ruinous. He has no
means of economising. If luxuries only are taxed,
bard though it may be, he can do without them.

He can sacrifice animal gratification to external
respectability—but under an Income Tax like ours
he cannot evade the merciless infliction. In a
word, an Income Tax is almost the only tax
which compels the man who is relatively poorer
than the agricultural labourer to pay it. If it be
continued in any shape, the first 15W. of any
man's income ought to be exempt.

The Duchess of Atli°ll has arrived at the St. George's
Hotel from Windsor Castle.

The Earl and Countess of Lichfield have left the St.
George's Hotel for their seat in Staffordshire.
Lady Macdonald has left the St. George's Hotel to
take her turn as Lady in Waiting to the Queen at
Windsor Castle.

Lord Vernon has left the St. George's Hotel.
Lady Margaret Beaumont gave birth to a daughter,
on Friday last, at the family mansion in Piccadilly.
Her ladyship.and the infant are going on favourably.
Sir Charles Wood. left London on Friday for his seat,
Hickleton Hall, near Doncaster.
Lord Granville succeeds the Earl of Burlington as
Chancellor of the University of London.
The Daily News, Sun, Morning Advertiser, and Atlas
were seized at the Paris Post-office yesterday.
Durham Cathedral is shortly to be lighted with gas.
The Indian mail, which arrived on Saturday from
Alexandria, Malta, and Gibraltar, has brought 20,8861.
The demand for gold in payment for silver continues
on a moderate scale, and on Saturday about 20,000/,
was taken from the Bank for exportation.
Lord Palmerston lately granted to Mrs. Laurie—the
widow of the author of the well-known work on Foreign
Exchangss and other subjects connected with commerce
—lOOl. from the Royal Bounty Fund.
The specie arrivals of the week, including the gold by
the Persia on Saturday, have amounted to about 500,000/.
The exports, exclusive of 480,0001. of silver to India, are
estimated at about 100,0001.
The Commissioners for inquiring into the changes for
superannuation, and the deductions from the salaries of
the civil servants of the Crown, have appointed Mr.
Maitland secretary to the examiners of civil service, to
act as secretary to their commission.
TIE LATE GALES.—Last summer the Elder Brethren
of the Trinity House erected on the Rundle Stone, at
considerable expense, an iron beacon and mast, sur-
mounted by a ball fixed about 30 feet from the base.
During the recent severe gales the whole fabric disap-
peared.
THE EXPENSE OF THE PUBLIC DEBT.—Last year the
expense of the public -debt was 28,112,825/. The inte-
rest alone was 23,133,0611.
THE OFFICE OF COMMON SERGEANT —Another meet-
ing of the friends of Mr. Bodkin was held on Friday at
the Guildhall Coffee-room, for promoting the learned
gentleman's election. Resolutions, in conformity with
the objects of the meeting, were passed unanimously.
M. JULLIEN'S MUSICAL TOUR.—During M. Jullien's
provincial tour, which commences at Liverpool on Fri-
day next, under the direction of Messrs. Cramer, Beale,
and Co., Madame Gassier will, for the first time, intro-
duce Paganini's celebrated variations on the " Camay al
of Venice," which have been arranged expressly for her
by Mr. Benedict. The remarkable vocal powers of
Madame Gassier will enable her, in this very interesting
novelty, to produce an effect which perhaps no other
singer of the present day could accomplish.
CRYSTAL PALACE.—The sixth of the Crystal Palace
Winter Concerts took place on Saturday, Madame
Rudersdorff singing for the fourth time the very pleasing
ballad, " Weel may the Boatie row," as also the scene
and aria from "Faust," "Die Stillenacht entweicht,"
and "Ben Z, ridicolo" of Raudegger. Madame Ruders-
dorff sang the various passages with considerable effect,
and was highly applauded. Signor Andreoli again dis-
played his great powers and musical abilities in the
performance of Mendelssohn's concerto for the piano
in G Minor, and M. Viotti Collins elicited deserved
applause for Paganini's " La Clochette."
SOUTH-WESTERN RAILWAY.—The directors of this
company, on the announcement of Redpath's frauds,
though they go into a rigid scrutiny of their books and
accounts at the end of every half-year, and had no reason
to suspect anything wrong, closed the books at the end
of November, and instituted a rigid examination into
every department, including the transfers and registra-
tion, ordinary and preference shares, with the debentures,
I the whole comprehending some 5,600 accounts. The
labour, of course, was exceedingly great, but the result
repaid them with a confirmation, to a penny, that all was
right.—Herapatls.
CENTRAL GAS CONSUMERS' COMPANY.—An extraor-
dinary general meeting of the shareholders of this com-
pany was held at the London Tavern, to consider the
propriety of the company proceeding to Parliament, in
conjunction with the City Gas Light and Coke Com-
pel y, at the next session, to solicit a bill for the amalga-
mation of the two companies. A resolution was unani-
mously passed to the effect that the amalgamation ought
to be adopted on the terms proposed by the City Com-
pany if the proprietors of the Central Company were to
come in as preference shareholders at 10 per cent.
I‘EGIMENTAL DOG OF THE 42D ROYAL HIGHLANDERS.
—The noble Newfoundland dog, which for a number of
years has been attached to and followed the 42d Royal
Highlanders, died in Stirling Castle, on Wednesday
morning. " Captain," as he was called, was a great
favourite of all the officers and men of the regiment, and
he is in reality " mush regretted." He belonged origi-
nally to Dr. Laird, of the Naval Hospital in Bermuda,
mid when the 42d was stationed there in 1847 be
attached himself to the regiment, and no persuasions,
threats, or even blows, would induce him to leave them
and rejoin his master. The worthy doctor seeing the
attachment the aromal had conceived for the tartan,
generously made a present of him to the regiment, and
he has with the most unflinching fidelity remained by
them ever since.—Nortle British Mail.
THE REPRESENTATION OF GREENWICH.—About 500
signatures have now been attached to the requisition in
course of signature at Greenwich to Lieutenant-General
Sir William Codrington to offer himself as a candidate
for the seat vacated by Mr. Rolt, and they include the
names of all classes of the electors. It was stated in
our impression of Friday that a majority of 30 published
names appended to the requisition of Mr. Sleigh, the
only candidate now in the field, though it purported in
specific terms to emanate from electors of the borough,
were not upon the electoral register now in force. That
statement was made upon the best evidence—that of the
register itself. Mr. Sleigh has been pleased to deny this
in the most positive terms; but, notwithstanding his
denial, it remains an actual, patent, and incontrovertible
fact, ef which au man may be satisfied who will take the
trouble, as the writer has done, to examine the register
for himself. It was added that some of the voters who did
sign had since the announcement that Sir W. Codring•
ton was about to declare himself a candidate requested
to withdraw their names from Mr. Sleigh's requisition.
That also was literally true. Mr. Sleigh, however, in
his letter, dated on Friday last, which appeared in this
journal on the following morning, said, " It is perfectly
incorrect, up to the present hour, that a single elector
whose name is attached to my requisition has either di-
reetly or indirectly, by word of mouth or by letter, sig-
nified to me, or any member of my committee, a desite
to withdraw his name from the requisition." Now, early
on Thursday morning, the day before Mr. Sleigh made
that declaration, Mr. James Seaward, a voter, and one
of the requisitionists, wrote to him, stating that he had
signed under a mistaken impression, and requesting his
name to be taken off any future copies of the requisition
that might be printed, adding that he had adopted that
straightforward course in order that it might not be
said he was sailing under false colours.
EXPLOSION AT THE MONKBRIDGE IRONWORKS.—On
Saturday morning an explosion took place at the works
of the Monkbridge Iron Company,Whitehall-road,
Leeds. About five minutes before 8 o'clock twaondterinrifiae
explosions were heard in rapid succession,
moment the brick chimney, the burning cinders, and
r
boiling metal from the refinery were
Edward Dickenson,r e
to a great height. A man named
who was at the moment engaged in stirring the fire,
was thrown some distance by a quantity of molten
metal striking him upon the face and breast. He fell,
almost instantly rose, but was knocked do vn again by
the descending bricks and rubbish. Another man work-
ing
at the refinery was scalded by the molten metal
about the hands and thigh, but his injuries were not
very serious, and he walked home. Dickenson, how-
ever, was found to be dreadfully injured. The molten
metal had burnt into the flesh, and it was necessary to
cut away his apparel. He was conveyed as speedily as
possible to the infirmary, where he lies in a precarious
state. At the time of the explosion, there were from 25
to 30 cwt. of metal in the refinery, all of which was
blown out, Tire sides of the troughs were knocked over
and broken, and one of the iron pillars was fractured,
while one plate of iron fell through the roof of the forge,
and another was blown across the river Aire, which
fl eivs by the side of the works. The cause of the acci-
dent is not known positively, but it is thought to have
arisen from the water in the troughs hay.ing. by some
means found its way amongst or beneath the molten
metal.—Leeds Mercury.
THE COURT MARTIAL ON LIEUTENANT DEANE. The
result of the late court-martial at Gosport on Lieut.
Deane, of the 22d Foot, was promulgated on Saturday.
It will be remembered by our readers that Lieut. H.
A. Murray Deane was brought to trial about three
months or more ago on three charges, which were to the
effect that he had wilfully failed to fulfil the terms of a
written guarantee given by him voluntarily to the offi-
cers of her Majesty's 22d Regiment whileinlndia to pay
of
them, six months after the landing the regiment in
England, all sums of money due from Paymaster Bar-
low, for having abused the trust imposed
in eurer of the private funds belonging to the officerass;traenad.
for having, while acting paymaster, torn or destroyed a
ledger containing
leaf or leaves from the officers'
accounts of Paymaster Barlow, with view to conceal
the am nut drawn and received' w
by that officer. The
Court had been ordered about a month since to reconsi-
der their finding, but though they acquitted Lieut. Deane
of any fraudulent intent, f and admitted that he had ap-
propriated all the lost
uthds to some, though not the
right, regimental uses, they nevertheless sentenced
bins to be cashiered. His Royal Highness the Comman-
der-in-Chief thereupon advised her Majesty not to con
firm the sentence, because, nowever reprehensible
Lieutenant Deane may have been for giving a guarantee
which he could not perform, there was no moral turpi-
tude in his conduct. The Queen was graciously pleased
not to confirm the sentence, and Lieutenant Deane was
therefore " acquitted." We are informed that a court of
inquiry, consisting of Major-General Breton, Lieut.-
Governor of Portsmouth and commanding the South-
West district; Lieut.-Colonel Evelegb, commanding the
20th Regiment ; and Lioat.-Colonel Ingram, command-
ing the 97th Regiment, is ordered to report, on the con-
duct of the other officers of the 22d Regiment respent-
ing the proceedings in reference to this case.