The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THITIZSDAY

duty, if we took it at two per cent., would amount
to about THREE MILLIONS AND A-HALF sterling !
We do not see how our aristocracy, then, can
evade the plain fact that, modify the basis of
this calculation how you will, they have again
exempted their property from a duty paid by that of
the humblest greengrocer to an enormous amount.
The two taxes now referred to, ifj us tlyarran ged, leave
the aristocracy in our debt, some FIVE MILLIONS
per annum at least. That is if we and they were
taxed equally, both they and we, might have been
saved this year half our income tax.
Respecting the legacy and succession duties we
have not the details as we require, before us. The
Legacy Duty is, we all know, if we have had to
perform executors duties, pretty plain sailing in
regard to personal property ; from one per cent. to
ten per cent. the duties range with all the clearness
of the different degrees of kindred or affinity. Not
so when it comes to real property. It becomes then
quite an actuarial calculation. We confess our-
selves hardly competent to' it, without more atten-
tion titan we like to give it. But the broad fact is
that all the mystification is in order to save the
owner of real, as compared with the owner of per-
sonal property—to save especially those who ought
to be taxed till parents gave up the mischievous
practice—the inheritors of entailed estates. Nothing
is more adverse to good agriculture, and, therefore, to
public policy—than entails. They richly deserve
a tax of ten per cent., for they deprive the commu-
nity of at least that annual value of agricultural
produce. How largely the landlords save them-
selves may, however, be seen from the fact that
personal property paid last year—the first year in
which the " Legacy" and " Succession" duties have
been kept separate in the accounts—nearly two-
thirds more than real property. The Legacy Duty
having been £1,528,245 ; the Succession (the
Aristocracy Duty) £001,775. Yet it can hardly
be doubted that the value of real property demised
annually must considerably exceed that of personal
property. If we add for the Legacy duty a SIXTH
MILLION to the FIVE MILLIONS, with which we
have debited the aristocracy to the other classes,
we shall make but a very, very moderate computa-
tion. An advantageous thing truly for one small
wealthy class to have the making of our Revenue
Laws!

When we come to the income tax almost every
one feels quite at home. We mean, of course, not
on home terms with such a visitor, but perfectly
acquainted with its essential and incurable ini
quity. No one has denounced its immorality and
inequality, in stronger terms than Mr. GLAD-
STONE himself. But it is not fair to him to re-
present him as having renounced his old opi-
nion. We believe nothing of the sort. He could
easily show in a quarter of au hour, that no tax ought
more thoroughly to arouse an indignant people
for its immediate abolition. In his heart he won-
ders that we are such fools as to tolerate such a
scorpion scourge ; and it is for this very reason that
he laid it on. If anything would cure the country
of spending its money on fleets, and armies, and
fortifications, he thought an income tax would do
it. And it may yet do it. He may yet be right ;
but things may also take the other turn. The nation
may determine to tax realised property, and not
the productions of industry, and the mental labours
of the professional, scientific, and literary man. And
we do not know that Mr. GLADSTONE would be a
determined objector to this ; but he knows full well
that the fear of it was one grand reason why a
Reform Bill was talked away. Ho pointed to the
greater number of tax payers who would have to
choose the house which should pass the next Bud-
get, and the two tax-spending and tax-consuming
houses instantly took the alarm. To talk of equit-
able taxation is to " touch the apple of their eye,"
or, what is quite as sensitive, the gold in their
pockets.
We do not know that the details present any
particular points of interest. Complaint is made
that under schedule D there is great evasion; no
doubt there is. honourable men revolt indeed from
consciously making false statements, but the sense
of burning injustice which rankles in thousands of
minds, must operate in some way. When poor
clerks, and little tradesmen, and all persons whose
labours are their livelihood, see their earnings taxed
to the same amount as the hereditary rent-rolls of
the aristocracy, they must be better than human,
if they do not avenge themselves as best they can.

His Imperial Highness the Prince Napoleon,
with several members of his suite, have taken their depar-
ture from the Brunswick, Jermyn-strcet, for a short time,
on a visit to Portsmouth and Yarmouth. His imperial
highness's yacht, the Jerome Napoleon, remains at Dept-
ford, awaiting his return.

His Excellency Count d'Apponyi left the Aus-
trian Legation on Sunday evening foehis estates in Hun-
gary. The countess is expected at Chandos House this
evening from Paris, and will afterwards repair to the Isle
of Wight until the return of the Court about the end of
next month.

His Excellency M. Isturitz, the Spanish Minis-
ter, is on a tour in Ireland, and is at present visiting the
far-famed Lakes of Killarney.

The Duchess of Hamilton has arrived in town
from the Continent.

The Duchess (Emily) of Beaufort and Lady Edith
Somerset are staying with Viscount and Lady Blanche
Dupplin, at Dupplin Castle, Perthshire.

The Earl and Countess of Devon and Lady Agnes
Courtenay, after visiting their estates at Newcastle, county
of Limerick, have gone on a visit to the Earl and Countess of
Dunraven, at Adare Manor.

The Bishop of Lundon and Mrs. Tait arrived at
the Palace, Fulham, yesterday, from the Isle of Wight.

THE lIOPSIN KENT.—The favourable change in
the weather which has taken place lately has arrived too
late to be of any service to the hops. The failure of the
growth is well nigh complete and extends to all parts of
the county. Some excellent plantations which usually are
very productive, near Orpington, are this year almost en-
tirely worthless. Many of the poles are absolutely bare,
and the plant has, in few instances, arrived at maturity.
In the county around Maidstone there is an almost utter
absence of good, useful hops. The plantations look black
and withered, and the loss sustained by cultivators will be
most severe. To make matters worse, the wheat crops have
been very light on most lands, although they have been
housed in very good condition. Those who retained their
last year's growth of hops will, of course, more than re-
cover the loss they have sustained this year, but these cases
are very exceptional.

A RUSSIAN MAN OF WAR BLOWN UP IN THE
Gunr OF FINLAND.—A letter from St. Petersburg, Sep-
tember 4, says—l have this instant learned the melancholy
news that a Russian man of war, which returned some
days ago from the Pacific, has blown up in the Gulf of
Finland, very near Revel. Unfortunately, it appears, that
of the number on board only a thirtieth part were rescued
from perishing in the sea and taken on shore, and several
of these were horribly mutilated. This dreadful catas-
trophe, of which it has been impossible to ascertain the
cause, has overwhelmed with grief the inhabitants of Revel
and other to'vns on the coasts of the Gulf of Finland. This
Russian vessal of war thus destroyed by an explosion of
gunpowder, was constructed only a few years since in the
Imperial dockyard of Archangel, in the White Sea.
TilE GREAT EASTERN.-IVith regard to the
Great Eastern, it is now proved beyond all doubt that the
ocean can be navigated in these huge ships not only with
perfect safety, but in far greater comfort than in vessels of
smaller size. In port, or out of port, the Great Eastern has
done and withstood all that could be expected from any
fabric built by human hands. Her performances in the
gale at Holyhead Harbour. showed that, no matter how ter..
rible might be the fury of the elements, she could be held to
her anchors and moorings. In her various trips round the
coast
sufficient
of England she had been exposed to very severe wea-
ther, and no vessel could have behaved better. Now that
the experiment
has
twice effected the
has
passagebeen extended,of
theAtlanticand tilnf i s
safety,huge
sufficientcient
has been done to show that Mr. Brunel was right in his
mechanical calculations, and that, as far as speed and safety
are concerned, bulk and volume are not disadvantageous to
a sea-n-oing ship. The question of whether er no it is more
profitable to employ one larger vessel instead of four or six
smaller ones for the transport of goods remains purely one
for commercial men. It must be decided with reference to
the economy of fuel, to the time occupied in loading and
unloading, to the power of concentrating merchandise at a
given moment at a given spot in sufficient abundanc9 to
freight so huge a ship. These, however, are calculations
which fall within the usual domain of mercantile fore-
thought, and it will soon be ascertained whether it is more
profitable to build ships like the Great Eastern, or to adhere
to the more ordinary dimensions and lines which our ship-
builders have beers hi the habit of employing ilithert9.
I 7
Once //76Ck.