The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-31 00:00:00

MEETING AT DEPTFORD.

Inst night a public meeting convened by this association
for, the purpese of obtaining a speedy reduction of the in
quisitorial' and oppressive income tax, was -held in :the
laige-lecture hali of Are Literary Institution, High-street,
The meeting was very numerously attended.
Mr. AlderrnaoWire took the chair, and among other
influential gentlemen we noticed Mr. M. Chambers, M.P.
Mr. J. ThwaiteS (Chairman of the Metropolitan Board ot[
Works), Mr.' Churchwarden Veness,- Mr. Churchwarde
Highana Mr.-Duvall, Mr. Cadell, Mr. Armitage; &C. ' Col,.
'Sleigh, 'oue `ortlic; candidates for the 'representation If
Greimsvich;swars also present,- Messrs. Nicholay, Pain
and Buott nttepded as a depueation from the parent Metr -
politan Assoeitition. . . ' •
Vie CHAIR:IAN, who was, greatly applauded, on openi
the proceed' ngsistated'ffie Obje6t of the meeting, and briefly
recapitulatedkase 'ciradirestanees V under which the tax ,had
been, originally imposed by Sir R. Peel, and the successive
contihinttiona by stbirequflnt Go vea-nmente, until thebres,t-
ing out of the, war. Russia,,,,w4eu Mr.. Gladstone, the
then Chancellor of the tichequeCadopting what he (Mk.
Aldefinan tonsidered the sound piinciplee-that the
generatioi which enters upon war ought to pay itstostis,
and not leave the ir. burden to pitterity-4proposed lo
double We tax during the wail:malice of., the war. That
proposal was, if not 'cheerfully, at least willingly acceded
to by the nation, as was;the aubsequent:propositiou of
present Channollor o the Excihigi-, to impose ita
lion N' Pri pliAtictstrAti eqn.-tirfe 401064154t*
Inc to Ills eitao`of tlatal."-tlTfau at'AmlftoMtrrallytt"
the tax had been extended to Ireland, and to incomes as
low as 1001. a year, the year 1860 being fixed by Mr. Glad
stone as the period when, having been reduced first to 6t1.,
and then to sd. in the pound, the whole tax should expire.
If he (Ar. Alderman Wire) thought the agitation for the
modification or reduction of the tax would have the effect
of increasing indirect taxation he should be the last to join
such a movement, because he believed that direct taxation
equitably assessed and properly collected was the system
under which the country could best compel the Govern-
ment to carry on the business of the country at once effi-
ciently and economically. (Hear, hear.) With the ques-
tion of the inequality and injustice of the tax in its prefieut
incidence upon precarious and permanent incomes they
were hardly called upon to deal that night. What they
were especially called upon to do was, to see that the Go-
vernment were not allowed to profit by a pettifogging
trick which would have disgraced the lowest attorney.
(Cheers.) They were aware that the additional tax was
only granted for one year following the conclusion of the
war, and no longer; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer,
taking advantage of the wording of a particular part of- the
act, proposed in effect to continue the addition for two years
after the termination of hostilities, or until April, 1858, in-
stead of April, 1857. The treaty of peace having been signed
on the 30th March, 1856, the verbal quibble by which this
fraud was sought to be perpetrated lay iu theintroduotion
of the term ratification instead of the conclusion of a
treaty of peace. (Hear.) It was for the people of this
country to say whether they would permit the Chancellor
of the Exchequer to carry out such a violation of the spirit
of the agreement, or whether they would compel the Go-
vernment to carry out the arrangements which had been
entered into in 1853 by Mr. Gladstone. He believed that
if this were done—if the additional tax ceased, as it ought
to, next April, and the people could look forward to the
ultimate fulfilment of Mr. Gladstone's plans, that the people
of this country would cheerfully and willingly submit to
any fiscal burdens that might be necessary to maintain the
dignity and the interests of the country. (Cheers.)
Mr. THwArrEs moved the first resolution, which was—
" That the present charge of 16d in the pound upon pro-
perty and income is unfairly levied and extremely oppres-
sive ; and that when the tax was first increased, it was by
act of Parliament to continue in force for one year only
after the termination of the war, and no longer; and that
the acts for increasing the tax ought to be repealed from
and after the, sth of April next ; and that levying the in-
come tax upon permanent and precarious incomes is a
grievous injustice, and that its inquisitorial and arbitrary
mode of assessment is extremely harassing and oppres-
sive ; and that this meeting pledgee itself to use every legi-
timate means to obtain a more equitable adjustment of the
tax, or a total repeal of it upon trades and professions."
He could add but little to the statement of the chairman,
but he had very strong objections to the tax upon preca-
rious incomes, and it was clear that the addition of 9d was
intended only to continue for a definite and a limited time.
It was for the people, who were ca!led upon to pay this
large addition, to insist upon a bona fide fulfilment of the
arrangement entered into, and not to permit the perpetra-
tion of such a trick. It was, indeed, humiliating to think
that any Government, because of the large amount yielded
by the tax, should have had resort to such a mere verbal
quibble as this, and he trusted the borough of Greenwich,
low as it had sunk as a corrupt Government borough -
(hisses and cheers)—low as it had sunk, would yet show by
its attitude on this occasion, that it was not prepared to sub-
mit to such an imposition. He had also to complain that,
in that district especially, the commissioners, by their
surcharges, were treating the trading and professional
classes most unjustly and insultingly. They appeared to
look upon the returns made to them as untrue, and they
all knew that against such arbitrary surcharges there was
'no chance of redress upon appeal. (Hear, hoar.) When
' he saw this combination of trick and oppression on the
part of the Government, he could not help asking himself,
if the representative system of this country was iu that
state we were so fond of boasting of? (Hear, hear.) ,There
was something unsound in it, or the people of this country
would never permit the Government to levy such a tax,
and to continue itsleollection by such-offensive machinery.
They were called upon in these circumstances to do their
individual duty—to take care that their one representa-
tive now in the House of Commons did his duty—(hear,
hear)—and, farther, to take care that the man whom they
sento pipnotsoe tthhaet
ehooenas
ne
et
ao
nce ot
fh et
the
ea c
war
na
rt steaaxt, p
andl ed g
alsoe d h
to s
ae himself
equitable adjustment of any future impost upon property
and in.comes. (Cheers.) He trusted that whoever went
oihnvatevori
nPgt aorpl ivaarnsche
an
st
efdor
Government.hti hs e msea
seat—and,
Thatt
nd d
hn,
eot thwbe
roe
eufs
loedrn to
et
g,
oin
hand
ni
eonf
free—not
es e
—t Ines
ome
justified in not selling it. (Cheers.)
Mmrr:mch.upr.ch(wwahr6dewna,
was receives resolu-
tion.
twhiethgreat-soulnld
VME:CEntshAse; supportedeßseeEneneiosa rsatil
ye
of
leaving
the
ed
meetingsaid he regrettedeai l
y i
in
be
r
:as°
induce
eueut attendosntoehdoeEast
to the
Greenwich,gran anniversary
t heii bhue
ta ofr thep
hopeda rWd ontr
hkfeionrcga
leavinguM sea %'
so
soon. He felt a oeep interest in the question under consi-
deration, because it affected very serioudy a large body of
his constituents. The legal, the medical, and the commer-
cial classes all suffered deeply at present from the tax. But
he found also that it most grievously pressed on ratray of
the labouring classes in the borough: There were impor-
tant principles involved in the question, whether there
should be any tax upon incomes at all ; and if so, whether
there should be any- difference between the tax upon
permanent and casual or precarious incomes. They were
not, however, met to discuss the abstract principle that
night, but to grapple with'.a praetioal question. One point
it was important to keep in view, which was, that since
1798, when Mr. Pitt first introduced, the income tax, up
to the present day, not one advocate of such a tax had
ventured to say more than such a tax should be' imposed
only in times of war or of great emergency. Sir R. Peel,
when he re-imposed the tax in 1843, did 'so, first, on the
ground that it was necessary to meet the deficiency of two
or three millions a year which had existed for several years
previous; and, next, up,m the more important ground,