The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-27 00:00:00

not intend to grant. Sooner or later the question
must be brought under the consideration of the
Legislature, and it would not only be for the
honour, but also for the interest of the PALMER-
STON Administration to anticipate the inevitable

discussion, and obtain the decision of Parlia-

ment at the earliest possible time. At present
the Income-Tax Association is labouring merely
for the reduction of the impost to the rate at
which it would have stood, from and after the

sth April, 1857—if the bills for continuing it for
a year after the ratification of the Treaty of Peace
had not received the Royal assent. That is un-

questionably the first point to be gained, but it is
only a step towards the goal that must ulti-
mately be attained. As we have repeat-
edly explained, the nation does not object

to a Property Tax, if fairly and equit-
ably apportioned. Any impost is, of course,
objectionable, and the Financial Minister

too often resembles the Irish drummer, who
complained of the unreasonable conduct of the
" floggee," whom he could not please by striking
either high or low. But as the castigation should
be administered in either one form or the other, so
must taxation be continued in order to provide
adequate means for the liquidation of the national
liabilities and the maintenance of the national
establishments.

there is no impost more equitable and expe-
dienrt than a judiciously apportioned Property
Tax. None more objectionable than a charge on
precarious and temporary incomes. The moment
a man possesses "a stake in the country" he
becomes a fitting " quarry" for the collecting
havdis. There is nothing inquisitorial in the pro-
cess by which he is assessed. A certain portion
of bis rents or dividends is stopped in transitu.
In place of receiving 6001. he gets only 5601.,
and. he feels proud in the notion that,
like a good citizen, he has contributed his
portion to the national expenditure. The
public debt fairly fell on him, because any
Parliament was entitled to charge existing pro-
perty, and he received it, whether by descent, or
purchase, subject to all its liabilities. But it is
very diflerent with the man who gains his daily
bread by his daily labour, physical or intellectual.
He feels that his ance3tora had no right to mort-
7.toe his exertions, that if he derived no advan-
tages from their provident forethought he could
DOG be saddled with any liabilities. He was
nominally born free, and should not be compelled
to toil for the benefit of others. There is thus a
preliminary objection to the operation of an
Inamne Tax, which should prevail before any un-
prejudiced and impartial tribunal ! And if we
consent, for the sake of argument, to enter into
turther discussion, it must not be supposed that
we waive or surrender that decisive point.
But supposing that all parties could be equally
assessed without reference to the sources from
whence their incomes were derived, the notion
that all incomes, whether permanent and cer-
tain, or precarious and fluctuating, should
be equally charged, is so absurd that if it had
not received the Legislative sanction it would
seem to be fighting with shadows—to make the
giants first before we kill them—to enter into

serious arguments on a self-evident question.
The idea that the tax will ever be relinquished is
simply ridiculous. The Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, whoever he may be—no matter whether
WOOD, DISRAELI, GLADSTONE, or LEWIS occupy
the station—will not consent to relinquish an
iteon that realises sixteen millions sterling per
annum. It is, therefore, as well to place the
entire subject on a solid foundation, so that in
iany event the people can have no reasonable
~,,r,30 of complaint, We have borne with the tin-
post for no less than fourteen years. Every
Minister, from Sir ROBERT PEEL to Sir G. C.
Lim's, has endeavoured to show that it is not
worth while to amend it, as it is only
for a brief period that he revires it. Mr.
GLADSTONE carried his hypocrisy further than any
of his predecessors, and obtained a much longer
term. But the people, who have served a double
apprenticeship of 14 years, may at last become
rational, and deal with the matter on its real
merits.

Should Lord PALMERSTON decide on a just and
equitable course, he will render himself the most
popular Minister that ever presided over 6. British
Cabinet. Fiscal and monetary reforms are the great
wants of the nation. HO has party satisfied the
country with respect to his foreign policy. They
now want to know his views on domestic subjects.
Let him abolish the Income Tax, place the charge
on property on an equitable basis, and give the
people a really national 11. note, and he will be
the most popular Minister that this country ever
had. His power will be consolidated, his hold on
office secured, and his name will descend to pos-
terity as the English Minister who can spy
name of Eorliglimi,al to b, respected iu every part
o 'die world, and who also made thoir homes
prosperous and happy, by relieving them of un-
just burdens, and creating a circulating medium
that gave every man that great desideratum—"a
fair day's wages for a fair day's work !"

What earthly guarantee can Russia give On a
railway ? For a loan she can pledge her whole
revenue if she will, but for a railroad Russia can
give no guarantee worth an honest man's taking.
We assume, of course, that she does not offer
her four or five per cent, on the fair cost of the
line, be it what it may ; that would be equiva-
lent to creating a new luan to an indefinite
amount, for the payment of the interest on which
she must saddle her revenue with a first charge
for the benefit of the shareholders. She will do
nothing like that. If she would contract with
competent and respectable foreign firms, to exe-
cute the work for a definite sum ; if she would
then take the working into her own hands, of
course executing it by contract, and bear herself
the loss or receive the nett profits, foreigners
might feel pretty safe, that is as safe as in other
Russian securities ; but of nothing do we feel
more confident than that the ultimate sharehold-
ers in any Muscovite railway concession will find
themselves " chiselled" out of fifty, if not ono
hundred, per cent, of their investments.
Prior to all examination, this would be our
conviction, We would urge our friends to avoid
Russian Railway Stock or Shares. just as we
would urge our sons, at the University, or in the
Barracks, to keep out of the Jew money-lender's
hands. If she issues a loan, she has no means,
except those employed
by Austria, or Spain, or
Pennsylvania, of cheating
her foreign creditors.
This would not suit her, that is it all ; should it
Income her interest to repudiate her foreign debt,
we have no more doubt of her (loin.- it than of
her readiness to Hango humane antagonists, ane antagonists, or to
cheat the allies at Bolgrad or the Isle of Serpents.
Not to pay interest on a loan would stop the sup-
plies for all future projects of ambition ; but to
inveigle the simple-hearted ctistoinees of
the
BARINGS, the HOPES, and PEREIRES of Western
Europe, into a speculation which would ruin them
and set her up with military railways, would be
to her matter of exultation. Nay, it Would
raise the popularity of the CZAR to the utmost,
if his troops were seen steaming along 20 mile,
an hour, at the coat of Fra3co wad &gland