The Sun.
London, England, 1860-02-27 00:00:00

of inco

ROYAL VOLUNTEER BALL.—Under the fexcept by a passing sarcasm from the man who
immediate patronage of t must have felt it most, and its most important parts
Her Most Gracious Majestythe QUEEN. Mr. WALPOLE
His Royal Highness the PRINCE CONSORT. are likely to remain unanswered.
His Royal Highness the PRINCE of WALES.
His Royal Highness the Duke of CAMBRIDGE, Commander- makes no pretensions to oratory, beyond the
in-Chief.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of CAMBRIDGE.
„E •
, oratory of facts, and a kindly appreciation
Her Royal Highness the Princess MARI of CAMBlaliu
of their actual bearing on society, but we are
LADIES PATRONESSES.
Her Grace the Duchess of Beaufort mistaken if, when all the illusions of the debate
Her Grace the Duchess of Arg,yll
Her Grace the Duchess of Roxburghe have died away, one part of Mr.WALPOLE'S speech
Her Grace the Duchess of Montrose
Her Grace the Duchess of Wellington will not be remembered by thousands ; they will
HHer Grace
the Duchess of Inverness look to him as the man who told the House of
The Marchioness of Salisbury
The Marchioness of Downshire Commons their case.
Maria Marchioness of Ailesbury
The Marchioness of Westminster: His whole argument was, that all the tea-
The Countess of Shrewsbury
The Countess of Derby sons assigned by Mr. GLADSTONE for giving
The Countess of Kinnoul
The Countess Frances Waldegrave up the paper duty applied yet more strongly
The Countess of Harrington
The Countess of Sefton to the Income-tax. The first was that the
The Countess de la Warr
The Countess Spencer house had pledged itself by a resolution to give up
The Countess of Clarendon
The Countess of Malmesbury the duty ; but, as Mr. WALPOLE observed, that was
The Countess of Donoughmore
The Countess of Beauchamp only a general pledge, and avowedly qualified by
The Countess of Uxbridge
The Lady Laura Meyrick the state of the revenue at the time ; the pledge to
The Lady Constance Grosvenor
Lady William Powlett give up the Income-tax in 1860 was one em-
Lady Alfred Churchill
The Viscountess Palmerston bodied in an Act of Parliament, and had been
The Viscountess Ingestre
the very reason by which the nation was induced
Lady Saltoun
Lady Panmure
to submit to so galling an impost for seven long
Lady Elcho
Lady Stanley of Alderley years. Again, in regard to the obstructions sal
The Hon. Lady Phipps
The Hon. Mrs. Sidney Herbert to be placed in the way of trade by the Excise
The Hon. Mrs. Edward Curzon
The Hon. Mrs. Smythe Vereker regulations, he showed by irrefutable documen-
Lady Armytage
Mrs. Baillie Cochrane. tary evidence that this was a mere fiction. On the
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT.
Earl Grosvenor, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Westminster other hand, such are the perplexities arising out
Volunteer Corps.of the working of the Income-tax, that not fewer
Viscount Ranelagh, Lieutenant-Colonel of the South Middle-sex Volunteer Corps. than 250,000 claims annually are presented
Lord Elcho, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Scottish Volunteer
Corps. for exemption or repayment, accompanied
Lord Colville, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Hon. Artillery
Company Volunteer Corps. with powerful appeals frequently to corn-
Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. C. Lindsay. Lieutenant-Colonel
of the St. George's Volunteer Corps. passion or forbearance. Such is the statement of
The Royak.Volunteer Ball will take place (under the imme-
diate sanction and patronage of her Majesty) on Wednesday, the Commissioners of Inland Revenue.
March 7, 1800, being the day which her Majesty the Queen
has specially appointed to hold a Levee to receive the patriotic But it is the third point insisted on by Mr.
Volunteers from the different parts of the kingdom.
The Ball will be given in TIIE NEW FLORAL HALL, GLADSTONE, in reference to the repeal of the
Covent-garden, which building has recently been completed,
and from its great dimensions, its form, and general arrange- Paper Duty, which is infinitely more strik-
ment, will, when decorated for the above special occasion, in
form a Ball Room of unsurpassed grandeur, ng in regard to the Income-tax " its
A raised Gallery will be devoted to the exclusive accom- greater pressure on the poor compared with
modation of the Ladies Patronesses.
It is proposed to give, out of the proceeds of Ball, Four
the in re and to cheap literature." The
Prizes for the four best Rifle Shots, to be contested duringrich,
g
the ensuing Summer by the Volunteers of the London Dis-
_five pressure of the Income-tax on a cla as of
trict. Each Prize will be of the value of Twenty
Guineas. The Winners of these Four Prizes are then to persons, who relatively arc among the poorest in
compete for a Fifth Prize of the value of One Hundred
Guineas. the kingdom, is intolerably cruel. Take schedule
Further details of the Entertainment will be published
next week. D—trades and professions—the number of persons
TiexETs.—Gentlemen, being Volunteers, may obtain
vouchers for their Tickets through the Commanding Officer assessed under it to the Income4ax amounts to
of their respective Corps,, or through the Committee of
Management, Floral Hall, Covent-garden. 258.000. Of these more than 200,000 are assessed
Each Volunteer who may wish to be accompanied by a
Lady, will, through the same source, be furnished with a on incomes under £3OO a year. "These," exclaimed
Voucher for a Double Ticket.
Gentlemen, not being members of any Volunteer Corps, as Mr. WALPOLE, " are the persons on whom this tax
well as Ladies who desire to be present, will please to apply
for vouchers to either of the Ladies Patronesses, or to the is weighing so heavily. It is not your landed
Committee of Management, Floral Hall, Covent-garden.
Every Lady and Gentleman's name must be inscribed on Proprietor—it is not your rich manufacturer—
their Tickets, as the Tickets are not transferable.
Dancing will commence at Ten o'clock. it is not your opulent and powerful merchant.
Refreshments will be supplied during the evening by the
Messrs. Gunter, of Berkeley-square. No, itlis your hardworn tradesman, your struggling
At One o'clock the Supper will be served by Messrs. Staples. clerk, your needy professional man."
Tickets for the Ball, 255. each ; which will include refresh-
ments, supper, and wine. This is the class which so rarely finds an advo-
The Vouchers must be exchanged for Tickets on or before
Saturday, March 3d, at the Floral Hall, Bow-street, Covent- eate in the House of Commons, yet the class which
garden ; or at the Libraries of Mr. Mitchell, 33, Old Bond-
street, and Mr. Sams, 1, St. James's-street. needs one as much as any. The artizan and
N.B.—As the number of Tickets to be issued is, of necessity,
limited, preference will be given to those who first present operative are thought of. Mr. GLADSTONE tells
their Vouchers for exchange, us that his budget is meant to find them em-
ployment. The rich, of whom for the most
part the House consists, want no advocates
they say little about themselves, but always vote for
themselves. But those who are in the condition,
which appears at first sight the one we are taught
in Scripture to pray for, " neither poverty nor
riches," are those who are most severely scourged
by the GLADSTONE Income-tax. It is remarkable
that in the same prayer we are taught to
say " remove from me vanity and lies." Mr.
WALPOLE tells us that to this class the
Income-tax schedule is an irresistible tempter to
lie to the collector, who, they are quite sure, is
wronging them.
There is not, in truth, a poorer class than the
middle class, whose incomes are below the line
drawn. by Mr WALPOLE, and yet above the low-
water mark of the Income-tax. It is a class
which must have a respectable dwelling ; which
must have decent furniture ; which must
keep a table not to be quite blushed for
if a friend steps in; which must dress so as to not
betray the difficulty of paying a tailor's bill ; which
must educate its children fairly; and must keep a
servant and keep up appearances, and not unfre-
quently must pay a Church-rate from fear of the con-
stable, while it pays too liberally for its means to-
wards the support of Dissenting worship, from honest
conviction. And this class is increasingly feeling
its relative poverty. The highly-paid artizans
press on its sensitiveness from below ; the
different grades of the wealthier classes from
above. The first men rise from illiterate intelli-
gence, find a competency in an income of between
£lOO and £3OO a year; but their children
feel the position a trying one. They can-
not dress as servants, or well do menial work.
They have no capital. The girls become governesses,
the boys clerks, and some of them, luckier than the
rest, contrive to marry before the reign of the more
generous instincts and sentiments is subverted by
that of a selfish prudence.
This is the class—to 200,000 of whom Mr. GLAD-
STONE is a merciless taskmaster. For him they must
make bricks without straw. Would to HEAVEN
they would bestir themselves to force him to make
a budget without an Income-tax ! They could do it.
They form half the constituency of most boroughs.
They have but to tell him—We will no longer
smart for your " landed proprietors," whose rents
rise with the foreign commerce of the country;
nor for the " rich manufacturer," who makes his
hundred thousand a-year out of the treaties for
which we pay Income-tax ; nor for the " opulent
and powerful merchant," who rolls in wealth by
wholesale dealings in the manufacturers' products.
Let your landlords, and manufacturers, and mer-
chants pay what they please—for tariffs which over-
fill pockets—we demand to be dealt with on
totally different scale.
If the class whom Mr. WALPOLE pleads for
would but bestir themselves, they could even now
give this tenpenny-tax on their uncertain lives and
labours a rude shake. They can do the two
things which, combined, never fail to tell on mem-
bers. They can write to their own represen-
tatives,them
and tell their minds.
These Senators, as Mrs. BEECHER says, are
men, after all. They have hearts like other men
e
—and while they will vote grandly with party
in the House, when an individual case comes
before them they feel it like others. They are
generally gentlemen, and would not violate confi-
dence. Let now several of their constituents in
each place but write and tell them confidentially
how this tenpence grinds on their very soul; and
half the members written to would see Mr. GLAD-
STONE himself, or the 'Treasury whip, and tell him
that some great change must be made. The other
way, that of petitioning, is obvious, and should be
adopted where a false shame does not prevent. But
ill electors can write ; and they will be wise if
they do, and at once.

BENSON'S WATCHES.
" Perfection of mechanism."-3lorning Post.
Gold Watches 4 to 100 guineas.
Silver Watches
33 and 34, Ludgate-hill, London, B.C.
Bend 2 stamps for Benson's Illustrated Pamphlet on Watches

ENGLISH OPERA,
COVENT-GA RDEN. __ _

There is hope at last for us that the Serpentine
may really be cleansed. The new Chief Commis-
iioner of Public Works acknowledged, on Saturday
afternoon, that he did not think the plan now be-
ing carried out, nominally to that end, was at all
" a good plan,"—indeed, the Right Hon.
.Gentle-
man went the length of saying, quite frankly, that
he, for his own part, should never have thought of
adopting such a plan ! " But," said Mr.IOWPER,
"my hands are tied." The work has actually been
commenced with a view to the carrying out of that
expensive and ridiculous and dirty scheme of Mr.
IiAWKSL EY—that perfectly absurd, and worse than
worthless scheme, which was adopted in a moment