The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-24 00:00:00

LOIEJS,

TH 2 EM,

The Moniteur publishes the following from
Algiers, dated the 19th :
" The Emperor and Empress yesterday morning
laid the first stone of the fine Boulevard which is to
run along the shore, and which, while giving to the
city a delightful promenade, will at the same time
render material advantages to agriculture and com-
merce, as a means of communication. The religious
ceremony was performed by Monsigneur Pavy,
Bishop of Algiers, attended by his clergy. This
Boulevard is to take the name of the Empress. An
immense concourse of persons, both French and na-
tive, were collected, eager to see their Majesties,
and the ceremony displayed a most picturesque
character. During the day the Emperor and the
Empress went on to the Arach at the entrance of
the Plain of the Mitidja, to be present at the
grandest Arab fete ever given in the country.
Under the skilful direction of General Jusuf con-
tingents of the Kabyle infantry and cavalry of the
three provinces, with all the Aghas and Caids at
their head, had been assembled to come and pay
homage to the Emperor. After a sham fight be-
tween the different tribes a grand fantasia took
place by from 9,000 to 10,000 horsemen rushing
forward at the swiftest gallop and discharging
their firearms before their Majesties tent; after-
wards a magnificent charge was given by 12 squad-
rons of Spahis, crossing the plain like a hurricane,
then followed tilting matches, gazelle, ostrich, and
falcon hunts ; a grand filing-off of the Touaregs,
with their faces veiled, and mounted on their
camels ; and of the Chambas, those inhabitants of
the depths of the Desert, and the future carriers
of French commerce into the Soudan. After, in
short, one of the most splendid spectacles that
could be imagined, all the Goums, forming an
immense line of battle, advanced majestically,
with banners displayed and muskets held high
in the air, towards the eminence on which
the Emperor's tent had been pitched. The chiefs,
clad in the richest burnous, alighted from their
steeds and came in a body to present the horse of
homage, caparisoned with gold, and thus perform
an act of submission to the Sovereign of France.
At this moment, rendered solemn by the beauty of
the scene and the warlike appearance of the various
tribes, and whose long resistance has given glory
to the French arms, the Emperor could not prevent
himself from giving way to visible emotion. The
Bey of Tunis was gresent at this grand solemnity.
In the evening the city gave a grand ball, but the
Emperor alone was present. The Empress, in con-
sequence of accounts which she received of the
alarming state of her sister, the Duchess d'Alba,
did not accompany his Majesty. To-day their
Majesties were present at the grand review of the
French troops, who had been brought together
from the three provinces for the fete. The Bey of
Tunis was at the review, but soon took leave of
their Majesties to return to Tunis. The Emperor
will be present this evening at a grand banquet to
be given by the city, after which their Majesties
will embark on board the Aigle, and leave at mid
night, so as to arrive about 4 o'clock on Friday at
Marseilles.

COLLECTION OF THE INCOME-TAX,

0 UARTERLY.

The present Parliamentary vacation has been
unusually prolific in events of stirring interest. The
mind of England has been concentrated, after its
wont, upon a single figure and upon a single subject.
Garibaldi has been to us the hero of en epic poem,
the brilliant events of which succeed each other
with all the regularity of fiction and all the impres-
siveness of fact. While our own sky has been over-
cast, and our own temperature cold and winterly,
our thoughts have been on the sunny shores of the
Mediterranean or amid the golden valleys and arid
mountains of Calabria. What will Garibaldi do
next? Is he going at Austria ? Will he force
France to draw her sword in defence of the Pope ?
Will he overthrew Cavour, or will Cavour out-
maneinivre and overreach him ? These have been
of late our favourite subjects of contemplation, and
nothing very particular has happened to remind us
that we have affairs of our own. We have only
two wars on hani at the present moment, and both
aro so remote that we cannot bring ourselves to feel
a very thrilling interest in the results. The voices
that have disturbed our repose for the last seven
months are delightfully silent, and the nation is per-
mitted therefore, without interruption from any
quarter, to fix its attention on the rising fortunes of
Italy and her patriots. We have the double satis-
faction of being at rest ourselves and contemplating
the troubles and turmoils of others.
There is one person, however, and that neither
Garibaldi, Cavour, nor the Emperor Napoleon, who
is never long at rest himself, and never long suffers
anybody else to be so. As well expect the caged
tiger to cease pacing backwards and forwards
within his narrow limits as suppose that any vaca-
tion, any time of relaxation or quiet, can lull to rest
the morbid activity of our Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer. The word " repose" is not in his dic-
tionary, and that which he does not require for
himself he is determined not to allow to others.
He is always managing for us some charming little
surprise—something that nobody could expect, and
which, if they did expect, everybody would unite
in deprecating. He is a perfect master of the sud-
denly disagreeable. He has effectually divorced the
idea of surprise from the idea of pleasure. His de-
light is to excite oar most especial wonder, and he
has, indeed, considerable claims, in this quiet and
steady-going country, to take rank as the inventor
of a new science, which may perhaps, be known to
future ages under the name of financial thauma-
turgy. At the beginning of this year we had all
made up our minds to have, financially at least, a
quiet life. We had a windfall of some two millions,
and a deficit in prospect which rendered that wind-
fall very acceptable. Suddenly the French treaty
burst upon us, and before we had time to recover
our breath from this unlooked-for operation we
found ourselves landed, by the most eloquent budget
on record, in a deficiency of 12 millions. A succes-
sion of financial operations followed, on which we
will not dwell. Suffice it to say they ended with
the demand of a million credit, whin nobody had
expected, and for which no particular reason could
be given. We had undergone about as many sur-
prises as the national nerves could bear, and the
rising of Parliament was felt as a relief, because, it
had, at any rate, fixed a period, as we vainly
thought, to Mr. Gladstone's financial.evolutions.
The chapter of accidents and the possibility of offi-
cial change were before as, and we certainly did
not expect another sur i-e, at least before Parlia-
ment had again assembled. Bat we little knew our
man. Mr. Gladstone has in store for us a change
which, if we mistake not, w;11 create quits i's much
sensation and give him and everybody else quite as
much trouble as even he can desire. It is a little
domestic revolution, to which we have no occasion
to invite the attention of Paterfamilias, for it will
certainly be brought to his notice in a much more
pointed manner than through the columns of the
Times.
It may be remembered that, among the other
shifts to which Mr. Gladstone bad to resort in
order to balance l';9 accounts with the current year,
there figured side by side with the Spanish windfall
a quarter's income tax. Whether this expedient,
which a pardon of the income of next year was
drawn back to fill a place in this, suggested the
change we do not know, but certain it is that what
the Budget treated as a matter of account is about
to be reduced to a matter of fact, and that it is the
intention of Mr. Gladstone to collect the income
tax quarterly, instead of half-yearly—commencing
the operation with the 20th day, just past, of this
present month of September. Our readers in their
capacity of contributors to the revenue, which can
never long .be absent from their minds, are doubt-
less aware that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
shears his flock—that is, collects the income tax—
twice in the year, leaving such wool as may grow
within the period of six months to be snipped off
by the payment of the assessed taxes. The year is
at present divided for our greater ease and satisfac-
tion into four periods. In December we pay our
income tax, in March our assessed taxes, in June
again our income tax, and in September again our
assessed taxes. The stars which rule the fate of
the British nation have placed the income tax at
the e solstice, and the assessed taxes at the equinox.
his is to endure no longer, and the inhabitants of
the different schedules must prepare themselves to
pay four times a year instead of twice. Mr.
Gladstone's desire—very natural in the position
to which he has brought our finances—of gaining
to the credit of the present year a quarter's income
tax, and indemnifying the next year and all
succeeding ones by a similar anticipation, bas no
doubt been the cause of the change ; but it is
easier to see why the thing was done than to
jiretify the doing it. The very consideration of
convenience which recommends quarterly payment
the other stchhee
du
les.
in the case of official salarifes
quar-
terly payment in the caseo
The burden of a tax
-consists not only in the sum
actually paid, but in the trouble and annoyance at-
tending payment. At a time when the only pros-
pect
is, through the agency of
we have before us
Mr. Gladstone, a large increase of the income tax
—at a time when in defiance of all his former pro-
fessions he has made this tax the sheet-anchor of
our financo and a permanent and indispensable part
of our ordinary revenue—he does ill, we think, to
try the patienco of the public by doubling the
trouble connected with the payment. Something,
no doubt, will be gained in the way of interest by
taking the money at the end of the quarter instead
of leaving it to fructify in the pocket of the tax-
payer till the end of the half-year; but this gain,
cht cstm.,Nr it he, ie really a new tax, imposed by the
willquapleasure of •Olttdatone, without the