The Sun.
London, England, 1856-01-30 00:00:00

THE SUN; LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 30. 1856.

people who were in earnest to gain worthy results
from the War than to appease the demands of the
nation for the remission of War and other taxes,
dissatisfied, as it is, with the paltry achievements of
the Admiralty, with the Whigs and Coburge and
the beggarly terms of peace. Of course the Income
Tax will be the first object of attack, nor should we
be surprised if Mr. DISRAELI return to office
pledged either to extinguish it or to equalise its
preasare ; nothing will save it but the neces-
sities of the Treasury, and the prospect of ad-
juetrnent. Sixteenpence instead of eevenpence in
the pound has dissipated all the mists of Mr.
GLAD/ITONE'S eloquence and sophistry. When the
drops fall large fogs vanish.
Another tax, to which we adverted not long
ago, will immediately attract public attention.
Attacks upon it were, indeed, beginning with
vigour when the advent of war rendered it absurd
to clamour for the repeal of any tax except the
postal one on newspapers. The tax we refer to
is that on fire assurance. The reasons which
have been urged against it are so irresistible that
nothing is wanted but to call piblic attention to
them. If a tax be laid in connection with insur-
ance of property, it ought rather to be in the
slap* of a penalty for neglecting it than in that
of a fine for prudence. Every man ought to
insare. Not only the security of his creditors, if
he have any, but the welfare of his family, and
consideration for those on whom a serious fire
might render him dependent, demand it of him.
Yet, if he fulfil the duty, he pays from one to two
hundred per cent for doing so ! If, through mean-
ness or recklessness he omit it, he pays no tax for
it at all. Were insurance like bread or water, some-
thing indispensable to the possessor of property,
the tax would he universal, and so far just. Being,
however, neither a luxury, which it may be com-
mendable to refrain from, nor a necessary, which
the unworthy cannot dispense with, it is a tax
levied discriminatively on honesty and prudence.
At the same time, the proportion of the tax is
so unnatural. Suppose the proprietors of good
houses to unite to guarantee each other against
the destruction of their property by fire, expe-
rience shows they could do it for ls. W. per
cent. Government therefore steps in and imposes
on them the penalty of 38., or two hundred per
cent., for doing it. The average of insurances
may be about the sum charged for duty, and Go-
vernment therefore inflicts on the prudent part
of the nation about one hundred per cent. for
their prudence. It is a singularly unequal tax
also in relation to the two great sections of the
community—the landlords and their tenants,
and the industriel classes generally. Land is in-
combustible, and the produce of land, through
the legislation of its proprietors, is exempt from
the Government duty on fire insurance. Were
land combustible, its insurance would cost the
landlords at least 2,250,000/, ; farming stock
actually insured would pay nearly 100,000/. ; so
that w© have here a tax in favour of the landed
interest to the amount of considerably more than
two millions and a quarter per annum. Indeed
the whole sum received by Government from those
who happen to possess combustible property un-
connected with land (1,315,4241, in 1854) is just
a million less than landed proprietors would have
to pay if their property also paid three shillings
per cent, for insurance,

We were led to recur to the subject by a novel
and bold attempt on the part of a French com-
pany to do justice for us, despite all the terrors
of Mr. KEOGH and the Court of Exchequer. Indeed
the French seem disposed to quicken our snail-
paced House of Commons, by giving us the benefit of
their commercial laws, perhaps, in return for our
Free-Trade generosity. Our laws of limited
liability having been doctored to suit our mil-
lionnaires at home, an omnibus company actually
is started in Paris for the benefit of London. And
now, a Fire Insurance Company, La France, pro-
poses to effect insurances on English property,
and, as no duty is paid in France for this species
of prudence, it can, without risk, insure us one
hundred per cent. cheaper on the average than
our own Insurance Offices. The company is one
of the highest respectability ; but one English
office insures a larger amount of property, and on
its Board of Management appear the names of
gentlemen of high social and commercial reputa-
tion in Paris. What Sir CORNEWALL LEWIS will say
to this invasion we cannot predict. The company
is evidently confident that he has no legal
means of compelling a French company to pay
duty for the business it transacts in England. In
their prospectus they openly state that they can
do for 2s. per cent, what an English comp-my
charges 4s. 6d. for, because of the Government
duty here ! The insurance companies must now
make some move. The old ones, which, like the
Sun, make 4,000/. or 5,000/. a year by collecting
the duty for the Government, will net spontane-
ously stir in the business. The younger offices
had, as we have already observed, begun the
attack, but have gone to winter quarters during
tho War. We may presume that they at least
will urge upon Government not efforts of doubtful
success to get a verdict against the French com-
pany, but the abolition of the tax. They have al-
ready proclaimed war against this sonsi-barbarous
imposition, and they will hail La Trance as a
valuable ally in a new and vigorous canepaign.

the amount of 2,4861. s. sd. have been paid off,
the number of patients relieved has been no less
than 38,891. Of this number 19,209 were
afflicted with malignant and contagious diseases,
1,430 sufferers from accidents, and G 93 totally
destitute, 636 of the latter class being discharged
cured or relieved. To approximate, however,
nearer to the actual results—the number relieved
from the establishment of the hospital actually
amounts to 521,493. Nor is this all : a new wing
is being built, and a prospect of more extensive
usefulness lies open to the institution. No
language of our own can add force to the example
or increase the satisfaction of the benevolent
founder. The success of his work is his best re-
ward ; and those who would do him honour, and
"l•nd unto the Loin," can hardly do so better
than by contributing to the support of the mer-
ciful institution of wliich ho is the acknowledged
founder, and which still has the benefit of his
active countenance and support.

THE CONFEREFCES-EXCLUSION OF

P2USSIA.

We believe that w, shall be completely borne
out by the result Islam, emphatically, we declare
that Prussia will not be admitted to the Confer-
ences ; and, whatever may be the impression at
Berlin on the subject, it is not true that France
has withdrawn her opposition, nor that the British
Cabinet alone raise o'Atacles.--Arorning Post.

probable.

LAT ST NEWS.

THE CASE OF COLONEL TURR.
VIENNA, WEDNESDAY MORNING.

The Emperor, as a mark of cansideration for
his illustrious ally, Qacen Victoria, has granted a
pardon to Colonel Turr.

PREPARATIONS BY SWEDEN.

HAMBURG, JAN. 28.

The War Department in Sweden has drawn
from the Treasury 1,100,000 francs, to be applied
to the urgent defence of the kingdom.

MARSEILLES, JAN. 29.

The Borysthene has arrived with ad vices from
Constritinople of the 21st, and from the Crimea
of the 19th of January.

The steamer Glasgow, with 'TOO troops on board,
has arrived from Kamiesh.

Another conference on the fourth point was
held at Constantinople on the 20th.
The English, French, and Austrian Ambaqsa-

dory attended it.

The acceptance by Russia of the Austrian Pro-
positions was known on the 19th ; it produced an

immense sensation.

A courier was immediately despatched to the
Crimea, where, it is understood, hostilities are

suspended.
M. Thouvenel has received the order of

Aledjidie.

The son of Stirbey is expected at the third

Conference on the Principalities.

It is stated from Erzeroum that supplies are
running short, and renewed with difficulty.

BERLIN, JAN. 28.

The participation of Prussia in the negotiations
and in the conferences for peace is considered as

nearly certain. France is said to hlve renounced
her opposition to it, and England alone raises
difficulties.

The belligerent Powers have agreed on not
concluding an armistice at present, but only a
suspension of hostilities. Prussia has been in-
vited to be present at the Conferences, on the
part of France, Austria, and Russia.

M. do Rauch, Military Plenipotentiary at St
Petersburg, arrived here to-day, and will not re

.urn to his post.

HAMBURG, JAN. 28,

Count Reventlovr having proposed an address
to the King of Denmark claiming a guarantee
of the sacred rights of the Duchy, a strong ma-
jority of the Holstein Diet adopted it.

The royal commissioner, having vigorously
opposed this address, immediately quitted the
hall.

The dissolution of th© Diet is considered as

ATHENS, JAN. 23

The brigands condemned are summarily exe-
cuted. An excellent impression has been produced
by the decorations sent by the Emperor Napoleon.

FRANCE.
PARIS, TUESDAY EVRNING.
The Emperor and the Etnpregs yesterday re-
ceived the hereditary Prince of Reuss-Schleiz. The
r Prince was accompanied by the Count de Hatzfeldt,
' the Prussian Minister, and by M. do Ranch, the
aide-camp to his Serene Highness. Their Majes-
ties also received the Turkish General of Division,
Dervish Paella, who was presented by the Ottoman
ambassador.

The M oniteur contains a notice to the families
of soldiers and sailors who have died in the East,
to send in their claims to the special commission
• without delay, the sailors' to the prefects or the
maritime authorities by the 20th of February, or
to the Minister of War by the Ist of March.
The 'onstitictionnel considers peace as a fait
accompli, and M. Granier de Cassagnao is iuditing
a sort of millennial od© in halting prose, in honour
of that glorious epoch.
_BounsE, Jan. 20.—The following were the quo-
tations

Cash. fr. a. End of Month
ti per Cents (l5
—f. —e.
3 per Cents 69 60 09 95
Now Loan 7O 70 --
Bank Shares 3275 Roman
Credit Mobilier 1450 Austrian
Belgian Fives 93 Spanish Threes--
Piedmontes( (3)

the 23d Dec., except in th proposed rectification of the
frontier between Moldavia and B-ssarah,a, in exchange
for points occupied by the enemy on the Russian territory.
This is not the place to examine whether those proposi-
tions contain, better than those, of the Luperial govern
meet, the conditions necessary to secdre the repose of the
East and the security of Europe. It suffices to state
that an accord is de facto established on several of the
fundatnentel bases of peace. In presence of this accord,
in presence of the wishes manifested by the whole of
Europe, and in face of a c.,alition which tended to
assume larger proportions and looking at the sacrifices
which the prolongation of the war imposes on Russia,
the imperial government has not thought it its duty
to postpone by accessory discussions a work of
conciliation, the success cf which would satisfy its dear-
est wishes. It consequently gives its adhesion to the
propositions transmitted by the Au,trian Goverrment
as a project of preliminaries for negotiations for peace.
By her energetic attitude in presence of a formidable
coalition Russia has shown the eamifices which she is
ready to make in the defence of her honour and of her
dignity; by this act of moderation the Imperial Govern-
ment gives at the same time a fresh proof of its sincere
desire of terminating the effusion of blood, of putting an
end to a struggle afflicting for civilisation and humanity,
and of restoring to Russia and to Europe the blessings
of peace. It has right to expect that the opinion of all
civilised countries will give it due credit for this mode-
ration."

The German, Journal of Frankfort states that
M. de Titoff, Russian Envoy at Stuttgardt, has
received orders from St. Petersburg to hold him-
self in readiness to leave in order to attend the
Peace Conferences. He was, it may be remembered,
one of the Russian Plenipotentiaries in the Con-
ferences of Vienna last year.

PRUSSIA.
A letter from Berlin, of the 24th, in the
Hamburg Correspondent, says :—" The English
Government has followed up the note which it
had addressed to the French Cabinet, on the in-
terpretation to be given on the fifth point, by a
second document on the same subject. It is in
the form of a circular despatch, addressed to the
English legations, in which it makes the neces-
sary communications on the position of Eugland
as regards the question of peace. England ex-
presses much satisfaction at the unreserved accep-
tance of the programme of peace by Russia ; but
she will not consider the object of the war as at-
tained unless Russia consents to a series of other
conditions which England had previously made
known to the Allied Powers, and witk a view to
which the fifth point was reserved. These points
have been alt eady mentioned, and every one asks
whether Nicolaieff will be comprised in the for-
tresses to be suppressed in site Black Sea."
The "Military Society of Prussia ' celebrated
on the 24th at Berlin the anniversary of the birth
of Frederick the Great. The King and princes of
the Royal family were present, as were also M. tie
Humboldt, Generals de Wrangel and do Groben,
the Minister of War, and other superior officers.
The King's historiographer, M. Preuss, delivered
a suitable speech on the occasion.