The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-06 00:00:00

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I plause.) They might depend upon it that those
persons were not advancing, the Liberal cause who
day after day were using language which alarmed
the timid—nay, he would say, language which in-
ipired distrust in the wise. The men who said
openly that the object fur which political power
was to be extended was that they might attack
property ; who said that political power must be
extended because the whole of the existing system
of legislation—the whole constitution of the coun-
try—was a fraud, a deception, and a snare ; the
men who held forth as the deliberate object and aim
of Parliamentary reform, the accomplishment of a
great political revolution—those men, we might
be sure, were the greatest and the bitterest enemies
of the Liberal cause. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Har-
court proceeded to refer to Mr. Bright's Liverpool
speech, and with reference to his project of a tax
on realised property made the following quotation
from a work of Mr. J. Stuart Mill, written in
1843 :

" The objection to a graduated property-tax
applies in an aggravated degree to the proposition
of an exclusive tax on what is called ' realised
property'—that is, property, not forming a part
of any capital engaged in business, or (it
should rather be said) in business on the owner's
account, as land, the public funds, money
lent on mortgage, and shares (I presume) in joint-
stock companies. Except the proposal of applying
a sponge to the national debt no such palpable vio-
lation of common honesty has found sufficient sup-
port in this country during the present generation
to be regarded within the domain of discussion. . . .
That such a proposition should find any favour is a
striking instance of the want of conscience in
matters of taxation, resulting from the absence of
any fixed principle in the public mind, and of any
indication of a sense of justice on the subject in the
general conduct of Governments. Should the
scheme ever enlist a large party in its support, the
fact would indicate a laxity of pecuniary integrity
in national affairs scarcely inferior to American
repudiation."
A more dangerous and deceptive scheme than that
which Mr. Bright had proposed he (Mr. Harcourt)
never heard of. It was a scheme which would tax
no property which was embarked in trade, but
which would place the whole taxation of the coun-
try on what was called realised property in land, in
mortgage, or in the funds. The effect of this tax
of Bs. on capital would be to take £l3 odd per
annum out of every £lOO derived from realised
property ; and when they recollected that the
average sum held in the funds was only about £lO3
for each fundholder, they would see that the effect
of the proposal would be not to tax rich men but
poor annuitants. Which scheme, then, the present
or that proposed by Mr. Bright, should be described
"as essentially mean and singularly cruel ?" Was
it not the scheme by which it was proposed to re-
lieve large incomes at the expense of small proper-
ties ? (Hear, hear.) Why was it that so long as a
man spent his means no tax should be laid upon
him, but that he should be heavily taxed the moment
he began to save ? It was expenditure that was
the evil of the country, and saving that was its
wealth. Was this scheme which proposed to tax
savings alone a scheme which ought to be accepted
by an intelligent and reasoning people, in the
place of cne which might not be perfect, but to
characterise which as "essentially mean and
singularly cruel" was a false and malicious libel—
it bing a system which was perfection itself when
contrasted with the outrageous and unblushing
project of spoliation ? Mr. Harcourt proceeded to
advert to the probable consequences of such lan-
guage as that employed by Mr. Bright. Was it not
to hold out the idea that the poor wanted Parlia-
mentary reform in order to plunder the rich—that
political power should be put into the hands of
those who had no property, in order that they might
tax as they pleased those who had ? Conceive the
effect of such language, he would not say on the
upper classes, but on the great moneyed classes and
on the middle classes of this country. Would it not
fill them with alarm, and with a sort of instinct of
self-preservation, which said, " Let us fight to the
death ; let us resist rather than permit ourselves
to be spoiled in this manner ?" This was the same
language, the same scheme, and the same principles
which induced the, great and spirited French na-
tion to fly from the intolerable evils of democratic
Socialism to take refuge under the bayonets of an
empire. It was. because the French people, less
reasonable and more excitable than the English,
listened to schemes of this description, and because
they took the projects of one political charlatan
alter another, that they brought on themselves that
condition of social and political anarchy which
made their political existence intolerable and made
them say, " Give us despotism, give us cannon in
our streets, give us policemen at our hearths ; give
us anything to rescue us from a condition of things
which we can bear no longer." And they might
depend upon it that if ever political reform was to
be treated in that spirit it would meet with the
same results. If we wanted political reform and
desired an extension of the power of the people,
we must seek it by convincing public opinion that
there was a class below the existing constituency
who were quite as much prepared to resist those
unjust principles as those above them. He for one
would not enter into this discussion as a war of
classes ; he would not treat this great constitutional
question as one which was to be fought by setting
one class against another, which was to teach the
poor that the rich were their enemies,and which was,
on the other hand, to teach the rich that the poor
infallibly, if they were permitted to have political
power, would despoil those over whom they had
gained a majority. He believed either delusion to
be equally fatal, and he believed both statements
to be equally false. He did not believe that the
rich, taking them as a body, were the oppressors of
the poor, and he did not believe that the poor, if
they had political power, had any desire to despoil
the rich. (Hear, and heers.) Mr. Harcourt, in
conclusion, expressed his warmest gratitude, not
merely for the magnificent testimonials which had
been presented to him, but for the brilliant assem-
blage which had convened to do him honour. It
only remained for him to say, in answer to the
question put to him by Provost Birrell, that it was
impossible for him to say whether, when the next
election came round, he might be in a position to
offer himself to any constitutency ; but he would
say this—and he hoped it would be considered a
satisfactory answer—that he would stand for no
other place until lie had again offered himself to his
warm and valued friends of the Kirkaldy burghs.
(Enthusiastic cheering.)
Provost BIRRELL expressed his gratification at
the answer which he had elicited, and after the
usual complimentary votes the meeting. separated.

PRO.POSED FARRINGDON-STREET

TERMINUS.

Yesterday evening a public vestry of the parish
of St. Bride was held in the vestry-room, Fleet-
street, for the purpose of considering the proposed
terminus of the London, Chatham, and Dover Rail-

way. The Rey. M. C. Marshall, the vicar, was in
the chair.

Mr. LAWLEY said he considered the proposed
railway to be one of the utmost importance to the
parish of St Bride, as there was a great deal of
waste ground in the parish for which, at present,
they had no use, and if the scheme proposed was
carried out it would be the means of that land
being occupied. The railway would cross Ludgate-
hill, and its central station would stand upon the
site of the Fleet Prison. It would increase the
trade and prosperity of the parish. He concluded
by moving—" That in the opinion of the vestry the
construction of the proposed extension of the Lon-
don, Chatham, and Dover Railway to a station in
Farringdon-street, and a junction with the ter-
minus of the Metropolitan Railways in Victoria-
street, would be highly beneficial to the city of
London."
The motion having been seconded,
Mr. ROUGH said the vestry should have a plan
of the bridge, as he considered a bridge across
Ludgate-hill would entirely destroy the traffic of
that locality.
After some discussion,
Mr. GILBERTSON proposed as an amendment that
the meeting be adjourned to enable the vestry to
provide a plan of the bridge and an estimate of the
property likely to be destroyed by the railway.
Mr. KILLICK seconded the amendment.
Mr. SMITII, in reply to a question, said the
amount of rated property that would be destroyed
by the railway would amount to about £l,OOO or
£2,000 on Ludgate-hill.
The amendment on being put was lost by a large
majority.
Mr. ARDING then moved that the following be
attached t6' the original motion, "But the vestry
considers it will be incumbent on the directors of
the proposed railway company to place such a
bridge across Ludgate-hill as shall be an ornament
to the city of London." As Mr. Lawley had no
objection, the addition was agreed to.
The resolution was then carried. Petitions in
favour of the scheme were then agreed to, and the
,proceedings closed with a cordial vote of thanks to
the chairman.