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

MEETING AT DEPTFORD.

Last night a public meeting convened by this association,
for the pm pose of obtaining a speedy reduction of the in-
quisitorial and oppressive income tax, was held in the
large lecture hall of the Literary Institution, High-street.
The meeting was very numerously attended.
Mr. Alderman Wire took the chair, and among other
influential gentlemen we noticed Mr. M.. Chambers
Mr. J. Thwaites (Chairman of the Metropolitan Board of
Works), Mr. Churchwarden Veness, Mr. Churchwarden
Higham, Mr. Duvall, Mr. Cadell, Mr. Armitage, &c. Col.
Sleigh, one of the candidates for the representation of
Greenwich, was also present. Messrs. Nicholay, Paine,
and Buott attended as a deputation from the parent Metro-
politan Association. _ _

- The CHAIRMAN, who was greatly applauded, 'on opening
the proceedings, stated the object of the meeting, and briefly
recapitulated the circumstances under which the tax had
been originally imposed by Sir R. Peel, and the successive
continuations by subsequent Government, until the break-
ing out of the war with Russia, when Mr. Gladstone, the
then Chancellor of the Exchequer, adopting what he (Mr.
Alderman Wire) considered the sound principle—that the
generation which enters upon war ought to pay its costs,
and not leave them a burden to posterity—proposed to
double the tax during the continuence of the war. That
proposal was, if not cheerfully, at least willingly acceded
to by the nation, as was the subsequent proposition of the
present Chancellor of the Exchequer, to impose an addi-
tional 2d. in the pound, making 16d. in all. In addition
to this increase bf the tax upon incomes originally: Messed,
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 6d.,
and then to sd. in the pound, the whole tax should expire.
If be (.11r. 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 present
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 in theintrocluction
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. THWAITES moved the first resolution, which was—
" That the present charge of 16d in the pound upon pro-
perty and income is unfairly levied and extremelyoppres-
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 thatothis meeting pledges 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 called 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 largo 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 ti ading 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, hear.) 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 in 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 its collection by such offensive machinery.
They wore called upon iu 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,
oppose the continuance of the war tax, and also to an
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having purchased his seat—and, therefore, in one sense,
justified in riot selling it. (Cheers.)
rs.
Mr. VE )ESS, senior churchwarden, seconded the resolu-
tion. _ _

Mr. M. CHAMBERS, M.P. (who was received with great
applause), supported the resolution, and said he regretted
to be under the necessity of leaving the meeting early, in
order to attend the anniversary of the Working Man's In-
stitute of East Greenwich, but ho hoped the cause would
induce them to grant their hearty pardon for • leaving so
soon. He felt a eeep interest in the question under consi-
deration, because it affected very seriously 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 many 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 practical question. One point
it was important to keep in view, which was, that since
1798, when Mr. Pitt first introduced the income tar, 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 forseveral years
PrOViou ; and, Watt upon the wore il,l2Mtallt gXiAncis