The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-25 00:00:00

of assessment, or a total repeal of it upon trades and
professions."

This resolution, which was seconded by Mr. G.
CLARKE, was also carried unanimously.
Resolutions were then agreed to with a view of pre-
paring concurrent petitions to Parliament, and forming
district associations in connexion with th• present in
all the large towns of England.
Mr. Alterman Sidney was elected treasurer of the
society, and a vote of thanks to the chairman concluded
the proceedings,

LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND THE

PEERAGE.

(Prom the Morning Advertiser.)

We have deferred for some days adverting to
the feelers which have recently been put forth in
the journals in the interest of the Bedford family,
relative to the reception of Lord John Russell into
the Palmerston Ministry, and his contemporaneous
elevation to the peerage. We have hitherto been
silent on the point until the journals in question
had exhausted all they had to say on the subject.
We presume they have nothing more to advance in
favour of the two honours which they suggest
should be simultaneously paid to his lordship.
Let us now pronounce our deliverance. If the
friends of Lord John are bent on pitchforking the
noble lord into the Upper House, we have no ob-
jection. On the contrary, if that be their wish, we
say "So be it." He will be as well there as any-
where else. Though not possessing the shadow of
a chance of re-election for the city, he would, no
doubt, in virtue of the family influence of the
house of Bedford, get smuggled into the House of
Commons for some place or other ; and in the
Lords he will be rather more harmless than in the
Commons.

So far we acquiesce in the wishes of the persona!
.riends of the noble Lord. But his reception into
he Ministry is quite another matter. Lord Pal-
merston, we trust, will resolutely and successfully
resist all attempts on the part of the families—
the Bedfords, the Sutherlands, and the Devon-
shires—to force the quondam Home Secretary
into his Government. If he do not, he is ruined
as the First, Minister of the Crown. Were Lord
John only an encumbrance in the Cabinet—ware
he simply, from his Finality predilections or de-
plorably defective judgment, a mere drag-chain on
the onward progress of the Governments that,
though bad enough, might be got over. But there
are no bounds to his ambition ; while his mind, in
the pursuit of an object on which it has been set, is
as restless and uncontrollable as the sea. lie would
never be at ease until he had supplanted Lord Pal-
merston in the Premiership. That is the nature of
the man ; and no more can he change it than the
leopard can change its spots. With Lord John in
the Ministry, Lord Palmerston would never have
a moment's peace. He never would feel secure of
his position. Why then should Lord Palmerston
be so simple as even to entertain the idea of again
receiving Lord John into his Cabinet ? To d 3 so
would be a piece of consummate folly. It would be
official suicide. Lord Palmerston never stood
higher in public estimation than he does at this
moment ; nor was his position as Premier ever
more secure. Why then gratuitously introduce
an element into his Administration which, before
long, would inevitably prove his ruin ?
Even already a man so shrewd as Lord Palmer-
ston cannot have failed to discern indications of the
most unequivocal kind that Lord John Russell's
friends contemplate his speedily supersedingp the
e -
ship, and that they only regard his admission into
present head of the Government in the remi r
the Cabinet as the first step towards that end. They
plainly state—and thereby betray the cloven foot
—that Lord Palmerston's day is nearly done ; that
Lord John Russell is ten years younger than he ;
and that the ex-Home Secretary alone would be a
fit successor of Lord Palmerston. This is actually
stated, in so many words, by a journal which first
suggested Lord John's re-introduction into the
Cabinet, and which may be regarded as the organ
of the Bedford family..
We therefore warn Lord Palmerston against the
folly which some of Lord John's friends say he is
half inclined to commit. We are unwilling to be-
lieve the representations made to us on this point
by the friends of him who would have sold not only
England but all Europe to Russia, at the Congress
of Vienna in 1855. Perhaps no greater weakness
can be detected in the character of Lord Palmer-
ston than his belief that Lord John Russell is still
a man of some political importance. He is nothing
of the kind. He is a perfect cipher ; or if he be
good for anything, it is only for weakening what-
ever Ministry he may chance to be connected with.
We put the question to Lord Palmerston, whether
he has ever found any difficulty in carrying on the
government of the country since Lord John ceased
to be connected with it ? If the Premier will be
but plain and candid in answering the question, he
will unhesitatingly say, that so far from the exclu-
sion of Lord John from the Cabinet being an ob-
stacle to the satisfactory conduct of public affairs,
it has, on the contrary, eminently contributed to
the smooth-sailing of the vessel of the State under
his presidency at the helm.
Should Lord Palmerston entertain
over-
tures that may be made to him by the friends of
the Noble Member for the City of toLondotno,nl
any
tender him a seat in the Cabinet, he will
Ministerliny
jeopardise his own position as the
of the Queen ; but he will not
his overthrow.
pathy of the people in the event o
fothe subject, and
There will be but one evnl34lanive the sym-
that will be, that he
tripped up by Lord h Lord Palmerston, it
has enough of his quondam
might be supposed, dfneeselirnvgesonto have his heels
Palmerston was expelled, in
for any more. Lord
give the atter
Secretaryship by Lord
1851, from the Foreign
d not
colleague already, andascould not be expected-fsewish
repeatingthe game, as regards
an opportunity of
_Palmerston
who counsel him to receive
the Premiership.vend
John ; we hope he
on Looefirdmeanto may de-
this—that those are not his real friends, be
Lord John back into his Ministry. He ought to
feel thankful that circumstances occurred when
they who they may,.
they did, to give him a happy riddance of the ex-
Home Secretary.

ARRANGEMENTS FOR FORWARDING MAILS TO CANADA
any particular route or by any particular line of
—Letters for Canada, unless specially addressed to be
.will in future be forwarded, as a rule, by the
mail-packet, whether British or, Canadian, which
may
despatched from this Ecounfry after they are
pfipseoranssett btytkeebd.sThe British
• packets leave Liverpool every
Saturday, and the Canadian packets are appointed t •
sail from that port once a month during the. winter
season, commencing on Wednesday, the 26th instant.
The rates of postage chargeable on letters, 4tsl, by thee*
two lines of packet, will remain as heretofore.—By
command of the Postmaster General, ROWLAND HILL= ,
Secretary.—General Post-office, Noy, 21

the war, But upon the declaration of peace the Mini
ter proposed an income-tax at the rate of 5 per cent
and when the country rose up against it the reply of ti.
Government was that, though they had pledged then!
seives not to continue a war-tax, they were not pledge:
to abstain from imposing an income-tax as a peace-taei
They then proposed to exempt all persons possessin:
incomes under 1501. a-year, but, that also being defeatee:
the Ministry were obliged to give way. History shove
them that if they acted energetically no Governmeo;
could withstand the expressed desire of the people.
He hoped, therefore, that this movement would be goner.
ally taken up throughout the country, and if it were
there was little doubt thatthe required concession would
be made. Oa the whole he thought that no reduction
of present duties would give such immediate relief to the
people at large as that of the additional income-tax, im-
posed for the support of the war. (Cheers.)
Dr. JOHN WATTS said that, although agreeing in the
main points of the arguments used by the previous
speakers, there were some upon which he differed. Re
should be very glad to see the unjust mode of taxing the
people remedied, and that professional persons who ob•
tained a livelihood by the labour of their hands or brain
were not placed i❑ the same position as men whose in.
come was derived almost entirely from causes which
would remain whether they were alive or dead. The
property and inceme-tax last year was about 16.000,0001.
and assessed taxes 3,000,0001., so, of the 54,000,0001:
which comprised the general peace taxation of the
country there still remained 35,000,000/. to be raised.
by indirect taxation. The Customs' duties did not
properly represent the indirect taxation, beams
something like 22 per cent. was added to these
during the transit of the goods from the importer
to the consumer. The Excise daties also pressed ♦ery
much upon the labouring classes, because they had a
tendency to diminish the production. Theynow proposed
to remove 8,000,000/. of direct taxes, whereas, if they
directed their efforts to the removal of 8,000,000/. Of
indirect taxation in the shape of duties, allowing for the
increase to which he had alluded, the amount of relief
actually afforded would be 10,000,0001. By removing
the income tax they would render it necessary for the
Government to raise 45,000,0001. of indirect taxation.
Dr. Watts continued to speak at some length amid
much interruption, the meeting evidently disagreeing
with his observation on the expediency of procuring ti
remission of the import duties.
A. good deal of discussion followed, the speakers
taking widely different views as to the expediency of the
tatal repeal of the tax, when
The CHAIRMAN pointed out the advisability of con-
fining their efforts to a practical object.
The resolution on being put was carried unanimously.
Mr. W. COLE then moved the following resolution :
" That the present system of levying the income tax, by
taxing precarious and permanent income alike, is mani-
festly unjust, and leads to a general and systematic
evasion ; that the despotic and inquisitorial mode of
assessment is repugnant to the feelings of Englishmen,
and has been submitted to from time to time under the
impression that the tax was only for a temporary pur-
pose ; and this meeting hereby pledges itself to use every
legitimate means to obtain either a more equitable
adjustment of the tax, and an improvement in the mode