The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY. ,EVENING, JANUARY 22, 1869.

d actic element. We must look to these points, to
the mental diversion of ;the manual worker, and to
the proper habitation of himself and his family, be;
fore we can hope to break the fatal spell cf tha gin
palace, and to see a sensible:diminution either in the
revenue derived from alcoholic liquors, or in the
£7,000,000 or £8,000,000 cost us annually by our

pauperism.
Mr.II3IxTER, at the close of his analysis, finds him-
self face to face with some important questions. In
their direct action the taxes do not bear heavily on the
working man ; but he asks whether indirecty they do
not press hardly on him ? To this we may answer
all the more readily in the affirmative, as undoubtedly
Mr. BAXTER'S estimate of the consumption of tea
and sugar among the working classes, is far too low.
Tea is their great domestic staple, and if the men are
not always contented with it, they take their share,
while their wives and families as a rule take tea two
or three times a day. Even accepting Mr. BAXTER'S
estimate, the £5 a year paid in the form of taxes,
direct and indirect, by the working man out of his
income of £7O, is a far heavier burden than the £960
which he allows to be paid by the fortunate owner of
£lO,OOO a year. As regards occupation, again, the
direct rating of the poor, which Mr. BAXTER admits
to be too often higher in amount than the suburban
rates of the rich, presses very heavily upon the poorer
householders. Amongst the remaining topics, upon
which Mr. BAXTER invites discussion, are the ques-
tions regarding the inequality of licences or taxes on
trades, and the doubt whether any injustice is in-
flicted on the professional man or trader in the rela-
tions between land and personalty.

We have to thank Mr. BAXTER for so thoroughly
examining a matter of such importance, and, whether
or no we accept his conclusions, and agree with the
inferences which he draws, we must acknowledge the
fair and candid spirit in which he has conducted his
laborious inquiry. The questions raised by the con-
sideration of the facts and figures which he has laid
before us are of national importance, and it will be
for the benefit of all classes if they receive the atten-
tion which they merit.

THE new Ministry has hastened to redeem one a
its pledges. On no point of policy had Mr. GLAD.
STONE been so decisive, on no issue had he so
directly challenged his opponents as on the reduction
of expenditure and the consequent diminution of the
national burdens. On none has the Ministry
displayed such anxiety to justify the confident
challenge of its leader. There is now no reason to
doubt that the question of " What will he do with
it ?" will soon confront Mr. LOWE in the form of
the surplus which Mr. GLADSTONE declared the late
Ministry had needlessly lost, but which their succes-
sors would not fail to regain. Nor are signs wanting
as to the probable issue of this economy. Mr.
BRIGHT'S declaration in favour of " a free breakfast
table " was not so much anterior to his assumption of
office as to be without great weight ; it was repeated
at Birmingham in the immediate prospect of an
electoral victory, and received in substance the public
support of the PREMIER. When the economic
policy of the Government has produced its natural
effect, there can be no doubt that the taxes on
useful articles of consumption will receive the most
serious consideration. Scarcely less formal than the
pledge of the Ministry to reduce the expenditure of
the nation is its promise to attempt a diminution of
the burdens which are common to all classes. The
arguments why any surplus should be applied to this
purpose are many. Such a course is in accordance
with Mr. GLADSTONE'S successful policy : he
has never yet been able to deal fully with the chief
items of indirect taxation, but he has rarely left them
wholly out of consideration. The reduction of the
taxes on food is decidedly the means by which
economy can be of the greatest advantage to the
greatest number. The burden presses upon all alike,
and the benefit of a diminution is experienced by all,
especially by the poor. The working man is not
taxed upon property, but the levies upon food and
the local rates press most hardly upon those who
are least able to bear them. Taking all imposts into
consideration, it is certain that the weight of taxation
increases in proportion as the income diminishes. If
the classes which live by manual labour escape all
charges on property, the percentage which they pay
on articles of food is much above that contributed by
the rich, and considerably in excess of those levied
on the middle classes. With regard to local rates
the comparison is similar. The rich family pays,
according to Mr. DUDLEY BAXTER'S estimate, 3s.
in the pound ; the middle-class family 3s. Gd., the
poor family 4s. Add to this the enormous sums paid as
fines on indulgence, chiefly in the form of alcoholic
liquors—a burden which falls most heavily upon the
working classes, and which presses on the innocent
and guilty alike—and the calculation is complete.
The poor contribute the greatest proportion to
the revenue. And, in face of an ever-increasing
pauperism, a policy which shall lessen the taxes
on food must, other things being equal,
be of the greatest advantage to the nation, as it is
most in accordance with the well-established prin-
ciples of economic science. The taxes on tea and
sugar are most unproductive, because the cost of
collection is greatest ; and they are most oppressive
because the price of the articles taxed rises,
as we have previously shewn, more than the
amount of the imposts. The cost of maintaining the
collecting establishments comes from the taxpayer,
whilst the interest on duties'as well as theprofits on cost
price, is charged to the consumer. Nor is the amount
derived to the revenue so great but that a consider-
able reduction may be made without danger.
Taxes on food and luxuries produce half
the revenue ; but luxuries bring twenty-nine
millions ; necessaries not ten. -Without realising all
that is indicated by Mr. BRIGHT'S free-breakfast-
table project, much of this burden on food might be
taken off by a comparatively small surplus. The
fines upon intemperance, as Mr. DUDLEY BAXTER
calls them, neither can nor ought to be removed ;
the fines upon industry are precisely in the reverse
case.
t

THE "PRESENT" PERIOD.—Of late years many
corporate bodies have adopted the practice of issu-
ing an annual, ordinarily with an almanack com-
bined. One of these periodicals has just been cir-
culated by the Royal Insurance Company, and may
be had at the head offices in Liverpool and London,
or at either of their twelve branch establishments
in Great Britain and America. In its " getting up"
this almanack is a specimen of typography, with its
eleven chromo views of branch offices of this
wealthy company ; and its carefully-compiled calen-
dar is faced by blank pages for memoranda. The
accompanying annual report will gratify every-
one interested in prudential progress generally,
while the numerous tables on fire and life in-
surance will guide lingerers on the path to provi-
dence. The concluding pages contain a brief biog-
raphy of the late Lord Brougham, and an obituary
of INIr. Percy Matthew Dove, one of the founders,
and a ruling spirit of this distinguished company.
The cursory notice of this good and able man's life
will be read by many thousands with a sorrowing
interest; but his useful career and the lasting crea-
tion of his active mind will continue a monument
of the man and an incentive to others to benefit
their age and posterity. Allusion to this elegant
diurnal companion for the desk and the domicile
offers occasion to notice the progress of the Royal
Insurance Company. Its foundation, in 1845,
was during a year of political and financial excite-
ment, and its upward development has continued
through many trying commercial periods. To have
been so well founded and built shows that its eleva-
tion is theresultof directorial prudence and the exercise
of great tech eical knowledge by the principal officers.
Fortunate in an undeviatingly able administration
the Royal has gone on, until in its twenty-fourth
year (as stated in the report) it never stood higher
ju public estimation nor had so large a constituency;
w List itslife bonuses are reckoned amongst the larges t
ever ei latiutiously declared Ly any company, its pro-
gress be:tig almost unparalleled in the history of in-
surance institntions. By very satisfactory figures
it appears that t.l'e present yearly increasing income
approaches £Boo,ot,°, the security for fire and life
claims restingon a cap: kal of two millions sterling and
a large reserve fund. This increase being over £2,000
d lily, including Sundays, p:oves that society's po-
pularity and influence. A en.am pillar of the Royal
is its unquestioning certainty a. td promptitude in
sati-fyiug all its just claims, few i.astitutions being
readier to fulfil the duties and purposes for which
they are designed. So long and honourable a
career is a pledge that the Royal will gather
further renown, and be remotely remembered as a
commercial glory marking the unrivalled reign of
Victoria.—Observer.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESTONDENT.)

PARIS, THURSDAY, January 21.
The Emperor's speech is still the topic of comment ;
indeed, the articles in the journals have lapsed into a
curious phase of controversy. The question now is not
whether the Emperor's speech be good or bad, but whether
the English journals did or did not praise it. The autho-
rities, casting a glance at the Times, immediately sent a
telegram to the effect that the reception of the
speech in England had been wholly favourable.
The Opposition papers point to the Daily News
and deny this. The truth seems to be that the comments
of the English journals were varied, some still keeping to
the old story, others carried away by the manifest supe-
riority of the sentiments expressed'on the 18th over those
of former years. The speech is, beyond doubt, the best
the Emperor has delivered, but that does not prove it to
be remarkably gcod. It is a great improvement on the
hard terms offered in other discourses ; it expresses great
confidence in peace, and throws out some vague hints of
liberal reforms ; but the peace is an armed peace, and the
liberty is yet all to come.
Whatever may ')e the value of the discourse, nothing
could exceed the anxiety of the French people to obtain
it. It was delivered at one o'clock, and was selling
in the streets at two. This feat is managed by dis-
tributing copies beforehand. As soon as the Emperor
enters the ball, a copy of his address is given
to a representative of each of the newspapers ; they
drive off to the rrinting offices where the compositors
await them. Each man gets about three lines of the
precious document : in five minutes it is all in type,
and within the hcur it is corrected ; a brief comment
from the editor is added, and the machines set to
work. The newspapers on the 18th were sold for half a
franc to a franc a copy on the Roulevards, The
speech is immediately telegraphed to all parts of
the Empire. It reached Rouen in twenty-two
minutes, and was sdd in the streets of Marseilles before
five o'clock. The sale of newspapers on Speech day is
fabulous.

The Corps Legislatif sat yesterday, but did less than at
the previous sitting. A demand of interpellation on the
Reunion affair was presented by DS. Bethmont, a few local
bills were presented, and then the chairman rose. There
will now be a short vacancy, during which the
Deputies may study with advantage the Blue-book
and the Budget. This forms a nice total of
about 2,000 pages, crammed with figures—altogether a
lively holiday present. The budget is coming on soon this
year, on account of the general elections. Usually, it is
the last business of the session—the Government reserving
it, because it naturally prefers the task of disposing of the
finances to be as short as possible.
Marshal MacMahon has set out for Algeria. Civil
reform has been adjourned for the time, but not abandoned.
I am told that a new and far more extensive project is
under consideration. It will radically transform the whole
system upon which the colony is administered. Of what
nature this change is to be it would be premature to
speculate upon.
The Temps contains a letter complaining of the dismissal
of M. Sainton, the Mayor of Mergey, by the Prefect of the
Aube Department. The facts are certainly curious.
Lome time ago M. Sainton was talking with the prefect,
and expressed his intention of not actively propagating
Imperialism at the elections, and further of voting
as he chose. If that was not agreeable to
M. le Prefet, he (the mayor) was ready to resign.
"Remain, Mayor," answered the prefect, "and vote as
You please." A little while after M. Sainton received a
note from the prefect, telling him that "his resignation
was accepted !" An admirable illustration, says the
Temps, of the Emperor's recent speech on the liberty of
election and the freedom of the great bodies of the State.
There is much talk at Paris of a sermon recently
preached by the Abbe Bauer at the church of St. Louis
d'Antin. The worthy father took occasion in the course of
his discourse to warmly eulogise the virtues of—the ex-
Queen Isabella !
A man named Legrand was sentenced to hard labour
for life, at Melun, two days ago, for a murder com-
mitted under rather strange circumstances. The crime was
a cruel act of vengeance. The convict murdered a girl of
18 because her father, an innkeeper, had put an execution
into Legrand's house to obtain payment for wood supplied
to him. The miscreant laid wait for the innkeeper's
daughter, and cut her throat. A woman who
had been attracted to the spot by the cries of
the deceased saw the murderer escape into a wood,
followed for a few seconds by a dog which belonged to a
young woman ; the animal then returned to protect the
body of his mistress, but shortly after, accompanied by
several persons, he was again put on the track, which he
followed to a copse, where he commenced barking.
On the spot being searched, Legrand was discovered
in an abandoned marlpit, standing up to his middle in
water, in which he had probably entered for the purpose
of cleansing the traces of the crime from his clothes. He
at once gave himself into custody and confessed his guilt.
He was now condemned to hard labour for life.

THE WEATHER TABLE.-THIS DAY.

METEOROLOGICAL RERORTB.

Extreme sea
Fy. 144.1 F. 0
Jan. 22, B. T. 0A ,G 7 • 11 to, F. D. W to
8 a.m. 12
_I 9 1
Nairn
Leith
A.be rdeen 3
300'39r .' . 137 35 ;42 N.N.W. 2
3 E N.W. 1 2 N.N.E. 0.m'0•25', W. 0'22 3
36r—
Shields 30'33r. 41 ,41 N.W. 2 4 N.E. , r.o. 0.18 6
Scarborough 30'26r. 41 ;40 S.S.W. 2 2 S.W. fro 9'19 2
Yarmouth 3o'3Br. 35 33 S.E. 5 6 W.N.W. fine 4
Helder —
Cuxhaven _
Skud wanes
31
Ant r OSS an . • 30'38r. J., 1 N.E. c.m 1
Green castle
Holyhead
Liver pool
Valentia .... 36'34f. V 136 r 4 2 5 N.N.E. Ic.o. 1
Cape Clear.. 30 27f. 29 37 N.E. 2 - 3 N.E. b. c. 1
Roches Pt. 30'295. 40 N. 2 4 N.E.
Penzance .. 20'27r. V I 3.3 N.N.E.
3 4 S. o.c. 0-0-2 2
Plymouth .. 30 33r. 35 2,-,N 1 3 S.S.E. b. 1
Weymouth 30'32r. 40 3. E.N.E.
1 1 B.E. m.o 2
Portsmouth 30'34r. 25 E. 1 1 s. 1
London „ 30'34r. 32 E.
2 1 W.S.W. fbm
C'peGrisNez 30'38r. 27 4 3 N.E. c. 4
Brest .. • ... 30'27r. 34 34 3 3 E. b. 2
30•21 r. 24 4 4 E. c. 3
Roche fort .. 3018 r. 32 ;.; 4 3 B.E. C. 1
Biarritz .... 3012 f. 45 a, 4 m. o'o4 5
Corunna....
Brussels
Paris .....
Strasbourg..
Lyons .
Toulon .... 29'94f, 39 • • 1 5 W. b.f. 2
Heart's Co-
ntent (9 a.m.
local time)

ROMAN

rTATISTICS.

It appears, on an examination of the new "Roman
Catholic Directory," published permissu superiorum, and
under the sanction of Archbishop Maiming, that there are
thirty peers of the three kingdoms and fifty baronets who
profess the Roman Catholic faith, and also thirty-eight
members of the House of Commons. There are now
thirteen Romish " dioceses," including the "archdiocese"
of Westminster, all which, taken together, form the
" Province " of Westminster, with Archbishop Manning
atlits head. Of his twelve "suffragans," there remain only
two, Dr. Ullathorne, of Birmingham, and Dr. Brown of
Menevia and Newport, who were among the hierarchy re-
vivediby Pio Nono under Cardinal Wiseman in 1850. The
other " suffragans " are Dr. Grant of Southwark, Dr. Turner
of Salford, Dr. Brown of Shrewsbury, Dr. Roskell of Not-
tingham, Dr. Goss of Liverpool, Dr. Vaughan of Ply-
mouth, the Hon. Dr. Clifford of Clifton, Dr. Amherst of
Northampton, Dr. Corntbwaite of Beverley, and Dr. Chad•
wick of Hexbam. During the past year there have been
no less than 63 Romish priests ordained in England and
Wales, 56 belonging to the regular, and seven to the
secular clergy. There are 19 Roman Catholic Chaplains
to the Forces, including three "on half•pay." The
total of Roman Catholic priests in England and Wales is
given as 1,489 ; the number of churches, chapels, and
" mission stations" as 1,122 ; the monasteries, or convents
of men, as 67; the nunneries, or convents of women, as
214 ; and the colleges as 18 in all, including some " pre-
paratory colleges," or, as we should term them, schools. Of
the chapels in England Wales, no less than about 640
are registered for marriages, and therefore, the Directory
says, " may be regarded as parochial." The Roman
Catholic Church in Scotland, it appears from the same
authority, is presided over by four bishops, and geographi-
cally divided, not into " dioceses," but into " districts."
These are three in number—the Eastern, the Western,
and the Northern. These " districts " number 201 clergy,
who serve 207 chapels and " mission stations." Besides
these, there are in Scotland eighteen convents for women
and two colleges. It may be interesting to know that the
list of Roman Catholic peers in 1769, just 100 years ago,
included only eight English and six Irish peers.

POLICE IN

—Titis Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

NOVEL SYSTEM OP FRAUD.—Charles Rhodes, a ser-
vant, out of place, was brought before Mr. Knox on a war-
rant by Sergeant Cole, 23 0, charged with obtaining
money by fraud, from Mrs. Carlton, wifo of Mr. James
Carlton, coffee house-keeper, of No. 4, North-row, Gros-

venor-square.
Mrs. Carlton said that the prisoner bad been in the
habit for some time past of coming to her house as a cus-
tomer, and, on different occasions, tendering her in pay-
ment of his bill, what she took to be sovereigns, but
which were merely shillings gilt. [The coins were pro-
duced, and the words "One Shilling" had been attempted
to be erased, but had been very clumsily operated on.]
She placed the coins on receiving them in one piece of
paper, and did not find out that they were not sovereigns

till some days after.
Mr. Knox said that as far as he understood the prisoner
each time tendered a sovereign, which was not one, and
received 10s. change. _ _ .

Sergeant Cole said that was the case. On taking the
prisoner into custody he said that he had only paid Mrs
Carlton twice, and that he could prove it was all wrong.
In answer to the prisoner, the prosecutrix said that she
received four coins altogether from him.

The prisoner was committed for trial.
WINDOW SMASHING—COMMITTAL FOR TRIAL.—Two
miserable-looking women named Mary Smith and Jane
ilealls were charged before Mr. Knox with breaking two
panes of glass of the value of £3O, the property of Mr
Alfred Faulkner, hosier, 107, Regent-street.
Mr. Faulkner said that about six o'clock the previous
evening he was called down stairs, and found that the pri-
soners bad each broken a pane of glass of the value of £l5
each. The women admitted that they had broken the
window, and did not appear to want to get away, and said
that all that they wanted was to ba locked up.

James Taylor, assistant to Mr. Faulkner,:said that while
taking some things from the window he heard two crashes,
and on going outside found two panes of glass in the win-
dow smashed, and the prisoners standing there. They
said that they wanted to be locked up for a night's lodging.
Police-constable John Holman, 37 0 R, said the pri-
soners were given into his custody for breaking the win-
dow, and they said they had done it with stones, and the
stones were Iroduced. Smith said, on being asked why
she did not go to the workhouse, that she had been to the
casual ward so often that she was ashamed to go any
more. She also said that she had been to the House of
Detention for six months for a similar offence in Regent-
street, and once had a month for tearing up her clothes in
a workhouse, and that all she wanted was to be locked up.
Mr. Knox said that as for being locked up the prisoners
had managed so well that they would, no doubt, be locked
up for a long time, as they had rendered themselves liable
to five years' penal servitude. The prisoners would be
committed for trial.