The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIC jOURNALS.

The Times is inclined to regret that the Uovernment
should have taken upon itself the burden of the official
inquiry into the incidence of local taxation. In declaring
that the Government would undertake the subject as soot
as their hands were freed from the great task they bar(
set themselves to accomplish, Mr. Gladstone added that,
had they desired ease or delay, nothing would have suited
their purpose better than to assent to the motion of Sir
Massey Lopes. The reference of the question to a royal
commission would result in shelving it for half-a•dozen
years. This seems to be an exaggerated estimate of the
time that would be absorbed in inquiry and consideration,
but everyone must applaud the industrious spirit of the
Ministry in taking the investigation into their own
hands. We have seen too much of late of govern-
ment by committeecs and commissions, and it has
almost come to this—that the responsible administration
has been absolved from all tasks of more than ordinary
difficulty. Yet, while we recognise the enthusiasm of the
Government for work, we cannot but feel some hesitation
whether in this especial business despatch would not have
been more certainly secured by the inquiry of an indepen-
dent body receiving and sifting evidence in a manner
almost public. When the incidence of local taxation is
closely analysed, questions of extreme nicety and difficulty
arise, such as are not easily solved by persons immersed
by their daily occupations in masses of details. But we
do not wish to discourage the ardour of the Ministry.
They are strong, they are energetic, they arc able, and,
moreover, they have a certain number of followers loosely
attached to particular offices who are ready to be turned
to any work. Let them take up their self-assumed task.
When they shall have accomplished the disestablishment
and disendowment of the Irish Church, they will have
proved such capacity for applying great principles and re-
ducing an infinity of details into order that the re-settle-
ment of the local taxation of England will be child's play
for them.

The Daily News refers to the question raised by the
I landed interest on the subject of local burdens, and says
that Sir Massey Lopes wishes for a royal commission to
inquire into the amount and the incidence of local taxa-
tion. His object seems to be to put a good part of this
taxation on the universal back. He and those who sup-
port him have cast longing eyes on the Consolidated Fund,
and they think that if iu this way town and country
joined in paying the county taxation, and town continued
to pay its own, they should have arrived at something
like rural felicity. Sir Massey Lopes thinks that the
landed interest has never been compensated for
free trade, and that its burdens are grievous to be
borne, and he is certain that inquiry into those
burdens would result in such a case of suffering
as would make an ungrateful nation, which will not now
touch them with one of its fingers, take them on its own
all-enduring shoulders. Mr. Goschen cannot see the need
of inquiry, and we think the country will agree with him.
What the counties really want is, not to shift their
burdens on the back of the country at large—this is an
old and exploded device of the landed interest—but to
bring their whole expenditure under responsible control,
This is the true direction in which to look for the adjust-
ment of county burdens. The establishment of financial
boards, as proposed by the Government, and the eventual
readjustment of the whole system of poor law rating, will
enable the ratepayers to do something to help themselves,
and that will be far more effectual than these vain calls for
help to the Jupiter of the Consolidate,' Fund.
TheStundarJ,after remarking thatlast yearßethnal-green
paid 3s. lid. in the pound for the relief of the poor, while
Bd. was paid by Hanover•square, says that under such
circumstances change must coma. gr. Hardy has heralded
it by his co union fund. What has now to be done is to
establish a common basis. The poor of London should be
maintained by the ratepayers of Loudon, without distinc-
tion as to parish. But with such comprehensive
measures to debate upon, we may expect that further
questions will arise. To use the ordinary phrase the
question will be " ventilated," and public attention
will be drawn to points hitherto overlooked. Principles
will be laid hold of, and the further application of these
principles will be demanded. The propriety of an assess-
ment based solely on rental may be disputed. The ques-
tion is one of personal ability. The real principle, it will
be urged, is not merely what a man's house is worth, but
what he is worth himself. A nobleman may pay no more
rent than a tradesman ; a man with a fortune no more
rent than a professional man whose fortune has to be
made. Why should real property be burdened and per-
sonal property escape ? Two hundred millions of income
going free from a host of charges which properly belong
to all alike will scarcely be tolerated. However, these
further questions ought not to delay the correction of ad-
mitted errors, though we have not the least expectation
that the passing of these two bills will bring us to per-
fection, even though we take them in conjunction with
an equalised metropolitan poor rate. But it is enough
to know that the present course of things is in the right
direction, so far as this subject is concerned.
The Star refers to the proposal made by Lord Bury to
the House of Commons with respect to the re-election of
Ministers of the Crown, and says that the house of Com-
mons would none of it; and the little bill for abolishing
the statute of Anne was not even permitted to be brought
as far as the bar. The inconveniences alleged to be expe-
rienced are not great while the advantages of the practice
are considerable. It is well that at the moment of taking
office Ministers should be called upon to put their princi-
ples before the country in a popular shape. The know-
ledge that this must be done beneficially affects the
choice which a Premier makes of colleagues ; and
occasionally, as in a case recorded by Sir
Robert Peel, compels a Minister to dissolve, who
otherwise might take office without consulting the
feelings of the people. Moreover, at the hustings on which
Ministers present themselves for re-election, the public
questions of the time are thoroughly popularised. The
House of Commons does well to guard everything that
secures the free play of popular opinion on the conduct of
every member of it. Not only is it bound to protect
against all possibility of royal intrusion the rights which
it exercises under the Constitution, but it is bound
to.guard that exactitude and freshness of representation
which the people have a right to demand against any
proneness on the part of the House itself to govern the
country autocratically. This, at least, is no chimerical
fear, for it is not long since the rights of the people had to
be secured by a complete bouleversement of a House or
Commons, in which even many Liberals claimed the pri.
vilege of governing, and disavowed all real responsibility
to the people. Against all such dangers the new House
of Commons does well to provide, and it has begun well in
preserving the statute of Anne.

The Post is afraid that although the Solicitor-General
will find it easy enough to prove his case in proposing his
University Test Bill, he will find that his opponents will
be able to impede its progress. The controversy on the
subject is worn to rags ; the arguments on both sides are
exhausted. It has been shewn, beyond all doubt and
Ml dispute, that these tests are prejudicial alike to
religion and education ; that they contravene the
rights of conscience, and are hostile to the interests
of the universities ; that they present a temptation to
duplicity, and impose a penalty on honest convictions.
The axiom that it is not wise to retain laws which it is
neither proper nor convenient to execute, has become, as
it were, the handwriting on the wall. Still, truths
which could not be denied have been evaded, and
the opposition which it was impossible to maintain
on the open ground of principle has shut itself up
in the stronghold of prejudice. But the lesson
of history, as it relates to the question, is that
exclusive laws are the weakness, not the strength,
of the institution that has the misfortune to be embar-
rassed with them. It has been well said that they differ
only in degree from the dungeon and the stake ; that they
are just the maximum of persecution the age will submit
to. Indeed, the utmost they can do is to make a sort of
time-bargain, to reduce enemies to a state of apparent
acquiescence, and to restrain them, for a time, from overt
acts of antagonism, and in doing that they intensify the
opinions and feelings which are really pregnant with
danger.

The Telegraph takes credit to itself for its recognition of
Lord Mayo's merits when he was unjustly assailed. When
the Earl of Mayo was appointed Indian Viceroy,„nearly
all our contemporaries set up a howl of wrath—it was
" disgraceful," "shameful," he was " entirely unfit," be
must be recalled. The Times, the Spectator, the Saturday
Reticle, the Pall Mall Gazette, and the Economist, all
shouted out their horror and their wrath ; and the Indian
newspapers, borrowing their ideas from London, echoed
the shriek. We said at the time, " Give Lord Mayo fair
play ; he may not be a man of genius, but in Ireb2;nd he
was cool, sensible, well bred ; and lie may mcace a very
good Governor-General of India." Now the tables are
turned ; the Indian papers speak enthusiastically of Lord
:Nlayo's popularity, the corresponder.;;s of English papers
follow suit, and everybody aliticipates good results
from the appointment :,nce all but univer•
sally decried. I3ut why did aallndounrotee:eiatre,3:neyixocrkairtriieinew
agree to bark down Lord Mayo? The answer—sum 'led
by 1)r. Johnson—is, ' sheer ignorance."
totliing whatever of bini personally or as a statesman.
am:gni:anis:
...ibxecycliiieasd• aoll:(llYff•oeiand tFhlens'elesleb:l2(llger materials thata.scaitreididtyv
lenounce:l him. Surely the press can hardly expect` .'
mstain its own influence, when statesmen find thatlsoine!
and other
toti,rll,iiiiiceioapfle—rsooilii
personal
then
db
or t
li
cjli'
amen their wisest acts are those mosltlobittiT:l:3,
reckless writers. On certain topics, doubt,
:an judge as well as aethluae
public laws,')a( facts
of
,ctics of subordinate administrators are reuaitlsylavlbo-
obrveiiogints
questions politics, t 1;le o
butp
lotliulttl.,, appealvhnelnv
to those who come into immediate contact. wilhotremo,--Oi
hlottivve
that
Disraeli "knew
,til:infa(:%nridiyaTirlse..
wl‘'olrasr ill an unjust - they were il'•
contemporaries
nominated
\lv Jeorred that our impetuous
informed.

THHtD EDITION.

NOTICh.

The Fourth Elition of " The Suez " of last Evening was
published in time for delivery in town at 7.30 p.m.

SUN OFFICE, 7 o'CLocK.

INDIA.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
BOMBAY, Feb 5 (via Brindisi).

Ameer Shere Ali made a triumphant entry into
Cabul on the of January amid great rejoicings.

A telegram from Cashar states that the Govern-
ment has taken measures to prevent further depre-
dations by the hill tribes, and is about to send

troops to pursue thew.

TURKEY.
CONSTANTINOPLE, Feb. 23.
An official notification has been published here
to-day, which states that the Porte and Greece,
having accepted the declaration of the Conference,
and diplomatic as well as commercial relations be-
ing on the point of resumption, the Sultan has
ordered all the measures alopted against Greek
subjects and shipping in consequence of the ulti.
matum to be annulled.