The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-10 00:00:00

TILE SUN,

the iniquitous impost must be thoroughly or-
ganized, when the most energetic exertions must
be made to free the country from the reproach
of injustice. If the various constituencies im-

press upon their respective representatives the
necessity of preventing the continuance of the
tax in its present oppressive and unequal form—if
they let it be clearly understood that the re-elections
of the Hon. Gentlemen may probably depend not merely
on their votes, but on their activity and determina-
tion on the present occasion, the victory would be
secured, and Sir CHARLES WOOD, compelled by the
remonstrances of his colleagues to pay some attention
to the voice of public opinion, would feel the propriety
of yielding—we will not say with a good grace, for
that, we believe to be impossible, to the pressure from

without.
The parties concerned in the more equitable assess-
ment of the impost, generally speaking, are in the
enjoyment of the elective franchise and possess con-
siderable influence in the selection of representatives
for the various localities in which they respectively
reside. They constitute what may be termed, par
excellence, " the middle class," consisting of
merchants, manufacturers, traders, and professional
and literary men, including the clergy of all
religious denominations, and legal and medi-
cal practitioners. These persons do not know
the immense power placed in their hands ;
they have little notion of what they could accomplish

by union and organisation. They should for the time

being sink all minor differences, and co-operate cor-

dially together for the purpose of enforcing that
justice which is denied to their humble petitions and

entreaties. Clubs should be established, every member
of which should pledge himself to oppose every
candidate who would vote for the renewal of
the income-tax in its present objectionable
form. If such a course were adopted
the result would speedily be perceptible. Those who
looked forward to obtaining the " most sweet voices"
of the electors would see the propriety of deserving
their confidence, and would oppose Scledule D with

all their energies.
A brief consideration of the recent return of per-
sons paying the tax under Schedule D will show that
we have not in any degree exaggerated the power and
influence which they possess. It appears that there
are charged in the whole under that schedule, no
less than 144,626 persons, of whom 19,892 are in the
enjoyment of incomes exceeding 5001. per annum,
while the remaining 124,733 receive less than 5001.

per annum, this latter class contributing in the aggre.
gate 661,0001., or a little over 51. each, showing tha'
the average incomes may be taken at about 1701. per
annum each. Now, these persons are with few excep-
tions scattered through the various cities and bo-
roughs, and they all possess, or are entitled to pos-
sess, the elective franchise. It requires but little
argument to prove how greatly the result of
the elections in these districts must depend
on the views of those educated persons. They
would, in fact, constitute an absolute majority of those
who could be brought to the poll in many towns,
and would prove absolutely irresistible ; that is to
say, if they could be induced to pull together steadily
and efficiently. Let any person who doubts the
accuracy of our assertions take the trouble of in-
quiring into the composition of any borough constitu-
ency in his vicinity, and he will speedily be con-
vinced. The experiment is at least worth a trial,
and if once attempted success is certain ; and Sir
CHARLES WOOD will speedily be compelled to come
to a different " conclusion" from that which he had
formerly arrixacrat.
In order to exhibit more clearly the gross ine-
quality and injustice of the present system, let us
take different persons, paying the tax on an income
of 3001., or in other words chargeable with $l. 15s.
each under the contemplated Act. The first is a
fundholder with 10,0001. in the Three per Cents.,
which at the present quotation may be taken as being
worth 9,650/.—allowing for the cost of brokerage,
&c., in disposing of it. In handing in his half-year's
contribution, 4/. is. 6d., he gives something less than
the 1-51,200 th part of his actual capital, an arrange-
ment with which he may be supposed to be very well
contented.
His brethren, the proprietors of ground rents or
well-circumstanced real estate, or the mortgagee whose
money is securely invested at 4 per cent. in land or
railway debentures, are in nearly similar positions.
Their properties, in any of these cases, may be as-
sumed as being worth twenty-five years' purchase,
or 7,500/ sterling ; and therefore, in paying 41. is. 6d.
fur the half-year, he gives about 1-I,Booth of his ac-
tual capital, against which payment he can utter no
reasonable complaint.
There are other less valuable interests in land, such
as estates in small or dilapidated houses, let out at
weekly rents, and held for rapidly expiring leases.
These might not command more than six or seven
years' purchase in the market, and a consider-
able portion must be set aside to provide for
bad debts, &c., but yet the owner must pay
far more than the ground landlord, who
receives his rent withoutdifficulty or trouble, and who
looks forward to coming into early possession of the
entire. The interest may not be worth 2,0001., and the
charges will be for the half-year's income-tax 4/. 78.
61, and for the new house-tax—for that practically
will fall upon such proprietors, and not upon
the tenants-51. 12s. 61, total 101., or 1-200th part of
the capital. That man is certainly not fairly treated
in being compelled to pay 9, 10, or 11 times more
in proportion to the value of his property than his
more favoured brother proprietor. The merchant,
manufacturer, or trader, may make 10, 16, or 20
per cent. on the capital embarked in his business,
and if we assume as the average that the amount be
2,0001., to realize an income of 1001. we find him
paying about the 1-400th part of his capital each
half-year.
Let us finally take the legal or medical practitioner,
whose only income is derived from his own
unceasing and laborious exertions. The half-year's
earnings constitute his only wealth, and indeed he
may consider himself fortunate if he has 150/. that he
can call his own, without being subject to any
demand. He then pays 1-35th part of his entire
estate, or about sixty times as much in proportion as
the fundholder, or fifty times as much as the owner
or mortgagee of well-circumstanced real estates! And
yet this statement does not show the full hardship to
the professional man. How many are there who
have not a half-year's earnings in hand, who have
been compelled to expend their profits as fast
as they are received, who, in paying the tar, apply
their entire capital, and who consider themselves
fortunate if able to satisfy the tax collector without
anticipating their future income.
And this is the system which the people of Eng-
land are called upon to sanction and perpetuate. Be-
cause Sir CHARLES WOOD, totally incapable of per-
forming the duties of his office, cannot devise
a plan for an equitable arrangement, a
task which we venture to assert that any
accountant or clerk in a mercantile house, at 1001.
per annum, could accomplish in a single day, we
are still to be the victims of his incompetence and
incapacity. Once more, however, we repeat, that
the middle classes have only themselves to blame if
their reasonable demands are not complied with.
They have the game in their own hands, if they
only play their cards properly, but nothing will be
done if they remain careless and apathetic.

We publish in another column the protest of the
French Republican refugees against the vile and ca-
lumnious accusations brought against them by cer-
tain Noble Peers and Honourable Gentlemen who, in
the two Houses of Parliament, have suffered them-
selves to be made, we trust unwittingly, the vehicles
for giving circulation to the malignant falsehoods
which the police spies of Austria in this country
have invented in furtherance of the scheme of that
against the liberties, civil and religious,
of mankind,
of which the Austrian Government is
conspiracy
the head, and of which the recent Papal aggression in
this country was an overt act. In this solemn7pro-
test these refugees make use of the following ex-
pressions :
" We, therefore, declare in the most solemn manner
that whosoever attributes to us, the French Republicans,
refugees,individuals have attributed to us, or in any manner
now residing in London, designs such as those
similar to them, is a Tito slanderer."
These are strong expressions, but they are at the
same time true expressions, and we trust that Lord
LTISDHURST, who appears to hold the Austrian brief,
will fur the future, seeing how he has been nai!in-

LONDON,

strutted, not only as regards these French refugees,
but as regards General KLAPKA, whom he repre-
sented as being in England at the time he spoke,
whereas General KLAPKA had for months previously
been resident in Paris, and of whom he stated that
he had issued a proclamation, which proclamation, if
ever issued, was a vile forgery, concocted by the
Austrian authorities,—Lord LYNDHURST, seeing
these things, will, we trust, hesitate before he again
ventures to make statements in the House of Peers,
which rest solely on the representations made to him
by his clients, and which are not supported by any
corroborative evidence. That Lord ABERDEEN, cet
excellent ABERDEEN, the prompted of METTERNICH,
the commanded of GulzoT, should, in conjunction
with Cardinal WISEMAN, fraternize with the
monster HAYNAU, and, falling in the wake
of the veracious Bishop HENDREN, denounce
these unfortunate refugees, does not surprise us ; it
is the conduct we should have expected from the man
who opened MAZZINI'S letters, for the purpose of en-
trapping the unfortunate BANDEIRAS ; but that Lord
LYNDHURST should condescend to become a de-
nouncer of unfortunate exiles, is indeed a mat-
ter of regret. If the principles laid down
by Lord LYNDHURST are correct, then ought they
to have been acted upon some three years since—
then should the royal, and the noble, and titled
plotters, who in 1848 abused the hospitality
of this country by plotting the destruc-
tion of the Republican and constitutional
Governments of Europe, which had risen up
during the course of that year, have been at once
deported as conspiring to overthrow Governments
with which we were in amity and alliance; then should
certain persons who are still engaged in schemes for
the restoration of Monarchy in France, and for the
destruction of the Republican Government, with
which we are " in amity and alliance," be also deported.
But my Lord LYNDHURST and his coadjutors must go
much further than this. Negro slavery is as funda-
mental a portion of the constitution of the United
States as the Hapsburgh rule is of the
constitution of Austrian therefore it is as contrary to

the principles laid down by Lord LYNDHURST for
any Americans in this country to do any act tending
to the abolition of slavery in the United States, as it
is for Maxon' and his compatriots to do any
act tending to the deposition of the House
of Hapsburgb. Will Lord LYNDHURST and
his coadjutors dare to interfere in any manner with
any American citizen residing in this country who
shall adopt any means he thinks right Mr the aboli-
tion of slavery ? And if they dare not so interfere,
on what grounds would they interfere in any
other instance ? These false and calumnious ac-
cusations against the refugees come with a very
ill grace from those who have made common
cause with the murderers of RCBERT BLUM and
IiATHYANI, with the woman-flogger of Hungary and
bombarder of Messina ; but the former conduct of
these refugees when in power proves the falsehood of
the present accusations against them. "We may be
calumniated," say these Republican exiles—
" We may be calumniated, but the world will never
believe that men, the very first act of whose advent to
power was the destruction of the scaffold—teen who
accomplished a great revolution without shedding a
single drop of blood, without committing an act of
violence, without imprisonment and without confiscation
—the world will never believe that we are assassins or
incendiaries."

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

'We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
They announce the failure of the negotiations for
the formation of a vrmaei-Legitimatist Cabinet.
All parties now appear to have come to the con-
clusion that the PRESIDENT has never had any serious
intention of forming a Ministry, but that he has
projected impossible combinations in order to have
an excuse for recalling the BAXocU Ministry to
office. M. Onmore*Tim&Rox is so annoyed at the
manner in which he has been "used," that he has
publicly announced in the Ordre that he will not
enter any Ministry of which M. DUFAURE is not a
member, which is tantamount to declaring that he will
never form part of either a Legitimatist or of a
Bonapartist Cabinet.
The Orrin, publishes the following as the reasons
which induced M. LEONDE MALLEVILLE to decline
making part of a BARROT-BAROCKE-J'OULD Cabinet.
It says :
" 1. It did not appear to him respectful to the Assem-
bly to restore to Ministerial functions, without any new
circumstances occurring, two of the Ministers whom the
Chamber had visited with a vote of distrust two months
back. 2. Supposing that the difficulty of forming a
Ministry ought to cause personal questions to be
overleaped, M. de Malleville thought that at least the
new Ministers ought to agree amongst themselves, and
with the chief of the executive power, on the most im-
portant political questions. These questions he con-
ceives to be, in the first place, the law of May 31.
M. de Malleville is in favour of its absolute main-
tenance. Are all the Ministers and the chief of the
executive power of that opinion? In the second place
he deems them to be Articles 45 and 111 of the Conati-

tution. According to M. de Malleville, the public un-
easiness is above all caused by the unconstitutional pre-
tensions of certain friends of the Elyi4. Is there any
intention to disavow these pretensions? Is there a firm
resolution to declare publicly that the Constitution will
be strictly conformed to, and that, if three-fourths of the
votes should not be obtained in favour of the revision,
no proposition will be made to the Assembly to vote that
course by a simple majority? Is there also a firm deter-
mination to announce that the President, not being re-
eligible, will not bo a candidate in 1852? If M. de
Malleville had obtained complete satisfaction on all these
points, no doubt he would have accepted."
In the Legislative Assembly, the law regulating
the National Guard was read a second time by a ma-
jority of 452 to 206.
M. LAMARTSNE has addressed a long letter to the
editor of the Pays (of which journal the Poet-states-
man has become proprietor) instructing him in the
line of policy which he is henceforth to pursue. M.
LAMARTINE gives the following as the resume of his
policy :
" It is in fine that policy which, since the Constitu-

tion is at work, has sincerely desired the fusion of the
Republicans by preference with the Republicans by rea-
son, and with the Royalists united by a patriotism to the
moderate Republic. It is that policy which bewailed
whenever disaccord appeared to arise between the legis-
lative power and the executive power; which honoured
the first magistrate of the Republic when he used lan-
guage in conformity with his constitutional position, and
which blamed him when ill-sounding projects wale
allowed to buzz about him, and when his future fate was
placed to all appearance elsewhere than in that of the Re-
public. It is that policy which, in place of wickedly
and falsely dividing the social classes into opposite
interests, and in so creating the antagonism of pro-
fessions under the derisive name of fraternity, believes
that there is but one and the same interest for all
classes and all professions ; and that all political genius
consists in discerning the point where all interests con-
centrate, and snake use of each other to create social
harmony, the masterpiece of civilisation as of religion.
It is that policy which, like every one, admits that there
are some practical faults in the Constitution, but which
does not think that it is necessary to break it to pieces
in order to amend its machinery. It is that policy
which desires the revision of the Constitution, if the
Assembly, well inspired, should vote it, to satisfy the
country, but which does not desire it at any price, and
which doss not consider it good unless voted fairly by
the majority prescribed by the fundamental compact. It
is that policy which, above all, desires to see universal
suffrage restored to the people, and which believes so-
ciety to be stronger with the co-operation of all than
with the monopoly of some. -It is that policy which,

when once universal suffrage shall have been restored,
believes that the Government will resume its security,
that the Assembly will gain new strength is the act of
prudence and justice which it will have accomplished
towards the people, that the President of the Republic
will recover a lawful popularity, that the country, re-
stored to its rights, will also be restored to tranquillity,
that it will vote coolly in place of passionately in the fu-
ture elections of the Assembly, and for the onffily aceof Pre-
sident, and that the danger of 185$ will be o
warn-
ing to it to be prudent, and the starting-point of a se-
cond period, backed by labour and prosperity, or the
Republic or order."
The Assembly has determined to adjourn from
Wednesday next to the Wednesday following for the
Easter holidays.
We find the following in the Constigatlionstlt,—" Some
persons having interested themselves on behalf of M.
Mania, ex-President of the Republic of Venice, who
now resides in Paris, and demanded an allowance for
him from the Government, the request was imme-
diately granted by the Minister of the Interior,
and M. Manin was requested to call at the office for re-
fugees. He yesterday went to the Prefect of Police, and
after expressing his thanks for the generous intentions
of the Government towards him, said that, having ob-
tained some pupils for the Italian language, he could st
present dispense with any assistance, and hoped that the
allowance intended for him would be divided among some
others of his countrymen who had not been equally for-
tunate in finding resources."
The Patrie of last evening says :—" M. de Lamartine,
from to-morrow, assumes the direction of the Pays. M.
Arthur de la duironniere, chief editor of the Presse,
quits that journal and joins the Pays. It may he
remembered that this gentleman, before he be-
came connected with the Presse, was the editor of M. de
Lamartine's journal the Bien Public." The Bul-
letin de Paris states that the Pays will support the prin-
ciple of the revision of the Constitution and the re-election
of the President. It adds that the Conseiller du Peuple
will be united to the Pays under the same management.
The Bourse was agitated, and less confidence was en-