The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-07 00:00:00

The New York Herald of the 23d ult. says :

" The Government has inaugurated a vigorous crusade
against Northern journal s whose articles favour the treason-
able practices of the Southern rebels. The New York _Daily
News was seized by the United States' Marshal in Philadel-
phia yesterday, and its transit to the South and West totally
cut off. The same official also took possession of the office
of the Christian Observer, which has been deprecating what
it calls the present unholy war.' The authorities at the
South appear to be exercising a like supervision over those
Northern papers which do not represent the views of the
rebels. A committee is established at Nashville, Tennessee,
which takes hold of all bundles of all Northern papers, and
prohibits their going further South, unless the tone of their
articles and news suits their peculiar ideas. This ie done,
no doubt, for the purpose of keeping the Southern people in
ignorance of the true feeling of the North and the real ob-
jects of the war."

As illustrative of the inefficiency of the blockade,
a Boston paper publishes the following items :

" The schooner Albion, from Wilmington, with a cargo
of rice and naval stores, arrived at Cardenas August 1, and
reports no blockade of that port on her departure.
" The schooner Adeline, from Savannah, with rice and
naval stores, arrived at Havannah, August 3, and reports
no blockading vessel off that port when she left,
" The Roman ship Roman Tree, from Calcutta, with a
full cargo of gunny cloth and saltpetre, for New Orleans,
arrived at Ravannah, August 5, having been ordered off by
a blockading vessel at the mouth of the Mississippi, and
will discharge in deposit at Havannah.

"The schooner Major Barbour, from New Orleans, with
a full cargo of cotton, arrived at Havannah, August 8 ; re-
ports no blockading vessel in Eight on her departune.
" The schooner Prince of Wales, from Newbern, with
rico and naval stores, arrived at Havannah August 11, and
reports no blockade."
Under the heading " Secession from Secession,"
the New York Herald has the following :
" Ws learn by recent arrivals from the South that the
Governor of Georgia has recalled the troops of that State
from Virginia, in order to suppress insurrection at home.
This is probably an excuse—the real reason being hostility
to Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet, on the ground of their
interflking with State rights, and organising forces in
Georgia for the war without the authority of the Governor,
in derogation of the sovereignty of the State, and in opposi-
tion to the Constitution and the principles of the Revolu-
tion of 1776. The quarrel has been going on for some time,
having been first developed in the case of General Bartow,
who lost his life at Bull's Run, and who had taken troops
and arms from the State in obedience to Jefferson Davis
and in despite of Governor Brown. The quarrel culmi-
nated on the 2d inst., when the Governor disbanded a bri-
gade at Atlanta, commanded by General Phillips. Gover-
nor Brown seized the opportunity to assail Davis and Co.
He said, The great battle of sovereignty which was fought
at the Revolution had to be fought over again,' as there
was an attempt now being made at the South 'to destroy
State sovereignty and build upon its ruins either a monarchy
or a consolidated aristocracy.' That this quarrel will end
in the secession of Georgia from the seceded States there
appears to be little doubt ; and as, according to their own
doctrines, a State has a right to secede, the Confederate
Government are without any remedy. Such is the absur-
dity to which the principle of secession leads, and such the
denouement which we long since predicted. The practical
working of the doctrines of the rebels leads to the disinte-
gration of their own Government, and shows that they will
all go to pieces. But if the evil were to be confined to the
Swath we should not have so much reason to regret it ; but
if the South succeeds in establishing its independence, and
with it the principle of secession, the same evil will prevail
at the North, and secession after secession will be the re-
sult, till at last the 34 States will be 34 independent military,
republics, all warring against each other. The way to pre-
vent this catastrophe is to render the struggle for the Union
triumphant by giving it all the moral and physical aid
which it needs."

--
At the Mansion-House yesterday Edward Hem-
ming, a mining broker, was fully committed for uttering a
forged transfer for five shares in the Wheel Harriett mine.

e,.t g, i /111.: I; 11 i, it 4,,,
was filled witta a brilliant audience, assembled to
hear a lecture from Professor Miller, On Spectrum
Analysis." The proceedings commenced shortly
after eight o'clock, when Mr. William Fairbairn,
the president of the Association, took the chair.
Thore were on the platform :—Lord:Wrottesley,
Lord Stanley, General Sabine, the Rev. 1)r. Robin-
son, Rev. V. Hopkins, the newly-appointed general
secretary, Rev. A. Vernon Harcourt, &c. After a
few introductory observations by the Presidents
Frofessor MILLER said that, the subject which
like the telescope,
in distant
the Council had requested him to bring betbre them
particular
on the present °cession was one which had, per-
haps, among the scientific gentlemen of the pre-
sent time, attracted as large a share of popular at-
tention as any that could be named. It appealed to
the imagination so p.,werfully ; it revealed 1 110
1:1111 passim
shts6lill-olbgsoed bodies Which
changes
villoaattitdnite(gel Isek:snboworfw,i in
nvestigation,
übiegies.aefot;iro,eol tilitul,ntsgwnwlolotiaitcsloil
hich
composed our solar system, but it appeared further
to reveal something of the nature of the more
distant starry world. Not only did it thus, like
the telescope, make known distant objects, but
like the microscope, it revealed bodies and sub-
stances so minute that would defy any other
mode of investigation to make known, and
had to the present time defied all the sources
of chemical analysis. He would put before theta
in as brief a manner as possible, the successive
steps by which this discovery had been developed.
Like- all other great discoveries, it was not the
work of a single individual. It was a work in
which they were proud to say their own country-
men had borne a prominent part ; and it NN as espe-
cially fitting that this subject should occupy the
attention of the British Association,,as many mem-
bers of the--body had laid the foundation of their
-knowledge ©p tb,3%point., igirst upon' the list of
names-stood that oI New-ton. •-• In 1701 This great
work on optics was given to the public. The spec-
trum, as Nevhon saw it, he proposed to exhibit. The

spectrum was perhaps the most glorious sight the eye
could behold, the beams of white light broken into
colours defied description, and could only be appre-
ciated by those who saw it. Newton, and all the
followers of Newton up to the commencement of the
present century allowed light to pass through a cir-
cular aperture, and this exerted an important in-
fluence upon the phenomena observed. The spec-
trum of the sun presented certain black bands,
which were observed by Workaston ; but he did not
further pursue the investigation. In 1814 a dis-
tinguished German philosopher Fraunhofer, exa-
mined with a telescope the ray of light after it had
thus passed through the prism, and found he ob-
tained a series of black lines. These lines occurred
whatever was the material used in the prisms.
Having exhibited the spectrum of Newton, the lec-
turer proceeded by a series of experiments to illus-
trate the various steps taken in these observations.
Fraunhofer examined the light of various fixed
stars and found that although in the sun's light the
black lines alWays occupied a definite position in
the spectrum, the black lines in the spectrum of the
rays produced by the stars were not always in the
same position. This had proved an invaluable fact
-o opticians in reference to retractive power. Other
tights also exhibited a different system of lines. If
they heated up any substance until it gave out
light, as all solid bodies would if sufficiently heated,
these solid bodies would produce an uninterrupted
spectrum ; but if examined by artificial light there
was a broken spectrum, it being crossed by bright
lines. Dr. Brewster, one of the most distinguished
philosophers of the day, and who, he was glad to
say, was amongst them, was the first to throw any
light on the cause of these lines. He observed that,
if the sun's rays were horizontal they had to pass
through a stratum of 200 miles, or more of atmo-
spheric air at its greatest density; if the
rays were vertical they had to pass through
one stratum of continally decreasing density.
It would be observed that when the
sun's rays were horizontal certain portions
were absorbed. Hence, it appeared to be certain
that particular rays were caused or deepened by the
absorptive action of the earth's atmosphere. In
1832, at one of the meetings of this body, Sir David
Brewster exhibited an experiment, in which he had
found that red vapours produced by one of the
opides airtrogcn had a remarkable power on the
sun's rays. In 1822, Herschell made a aeries of ob-
servation upon coloured light; and he found that by
putting certain salts into the flame of burning.
bodies those flames became coloured. But it was to
Mr. Talbot they owed the suggestion by .khielt.
these observations could be turned to account for
chemical analysis. The colours, in some instances,,
were so closely allied when viewed by the naked
eye that nothing could be seen to distinguish
them; but the moment they were put through the
prism there was a marked and striking difference.
Lithia produced a beautiful red colour to the flame ;
stronchia did the same ; but the difference through
the prism was very apparent. Mr. Wheatstone
gave the first impulse to inquiries into the spectra
of electric light in 1835. He showed a mass of
various spectra produced by sparks taken from dif-
ferent metals. Each metal had its own peculiar
spark, whether the voltaic or magnetic or common
electrical machine was used as the volatising
power. He further showed that it was not due
to the burning of the metal, for he had experi-
mented in a vessel from which the air was ex-
hausted, and instead of air had used carbonate
acid gas, and found the same result to follow.
Professor' Miller continued his experiments by
showing the effects of lead and tin, and said that
the presence of other metals might be detected.
Each metal had its own spectrum. Looking at the
spectrum, they knew what metals they were hand-
ling. The same was the case with different gases,
of which the most impalpable trace could be de-
tected. Thus they were able by the lines in the
solar and stellar spectra to ascertain the presence
in these bodies of particular metals and acids.
Using the spectrum microscopically for analytical
purposes, Professor Bunsen discovered in the residue
of a certain spring, a set of lines he had never seen
before, and which existed only to the extent of
three grains to the ton. This he called caesium,
from its beautiful blue colour. Rubidium had been
discovered in a similar m inner. Having given spe-
cimens of these spectra, the Professor concluded by
thanking those gentlemen who had assisted him to,
make the experiments.

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I'

THE SUN•

LoNDON, SATURDAY, SEPT. 7, 18t31.

The subjoined comments upon our latest advices
from America were hardly in print, when telegrams
have been flashed to us—indicating a new phase in
the development of that lamentable Civil War.

It was not so much when these last advices left for
Europe that further reverses to the Northern power,
the power of the Federalists, were dreaded—so much
as it would seem that other reverses had actually
happened. No city has fallen, it is true, into the
hands of the Confederates. The Capital of Wash-
ington remains yet unassailed. Bat—signs of the
times are noted there that begin to look uglier
than ever for the North, and more than
ever propitious for the South. Fort Fill-
more—we now learn—has surrendered. The
Southern troops have entered it. If—as
we have already said—the capital itself has
not yet been laid siege to ; it reads disagreeably in
these latest accounts from Washington that
intimation, suggestive of either has the phrase
runs) " treason in the camp," or (almost worse
this, during a civil war) " indifference in the cause"
at issue, i.e., the cause of the Federalists, the cause
of the Union that intimation that the Mayor
of the Capital had been confined as a State prisoner
in Fort Lafayette. Moro than this—" numerous
arrests" are still spoken of as taking place con-
tinually.

There comes news a day later even than the
above from New York. News down to within an
hour of noon on the 28th ultimo—from which
advices we learn darker rumours still of disaster
and defeat to the Federalists.

It was reported at eleven o'clock in the forenoon
of that day at New York, that down in Western
Virginia a portion of the Federal force under Gene-
rol ROZiNCRANTZ had been actually surrounded
(.bowing, however, it will be observed, an evidently
considerable disproportion of numbers), and that
these Federal troops had not only been defeated,
but " badly defeated " by the Confederates,
under General FLOYD at Summerville. While it
blows hot from one quarter, however, it blows cold
from another. For we read in the next portion of
the telegram that a report—this time not from
Western Virginia, but from North-eastern Missouri
—described the Federalists as in rapid advance
from Athens in pursuit of the flying Southerners.
The half-paralysed guardians of the com-
mercial interests of the North are awaken-
ing at length, it will be noted, to a sense of the
urgent necessity there is for a change in the policy
of President LINCOLN. In that awakening we
recognise something like hope for the North. The
deputation of bankers hastening from New York
and Boston to urge upon Mr. LINCOLN the necessity
for a more vigorous prosecution of the war,
may at last rouse the Federal Government, though
tardily, to an adequate sense of the emergency.

In the absence of striking movements in Ame-
rica the prospects of each side are reported to us
with small fluctuations, much like those of Consols
in ordinary states of the market. But a few days
ago, Northerns were down to expectation of an
advance of the rebels across the Potomac. By the
next mail they had risen to absence of any hostile
preparations on the Southern bank after a careful
navql search. And by the last they are up to retire-
ment of the rebels from Centreville and Fair-
fax, the two positions nearest Bull's Run.
The rise, however, is hardly maintained,
for it turns out that the retreat was owing
to two companies of rebels having mistaken
each other for foes, and consequently fired on their
friends. Also that the number of killed and
wounded in Missouri had, been very considerable ;
thus the prospects of the North had receded at
least an eighth from the quotations of the earlier
news of the same day-

What we aro told i 1,. that M'CLELLAN is getting
his army into first-rate ordc.,r And drill—that works
are thrown up round Washington which may vio
with those of TODLEBEN in the Crimea—that a
grand review of the army of the Potomac has been
witnetised by the PRESIDENT—that the North has
300,000 men in the field, soon to be 100,000 more,
the south 200,000—that old General WOOL is
putting things in order at Fort Monroe, where he
has superseded Gen. BUTLER ; and, of all things in
the wimid, the arrest of a lady spy, and an authoress

NW.*
too. We are told also that the Southern States are
beginning to secede from each other. The Governor
of Georgia, irritated by President DAVIS having
violated its sovereignty, by assuming to dispose of
his troops without his authority, has disbanded a
whole brigade of heroes who were to have gone off
to the conquerors at Bull's Run. The .New York
Herald exults in the evidence thus practically fur-
nished that the legitimate development of secession
is thirty-four independent military Sovereignties,
warring or squabbling with each other. There
is also a rumour that English and French ships
of war are to demand a breaking up of the
blockade ; we need not say that it can be, no more
than a Yankee canard.

Europe has just now been witnessing another
illustration of the hand to mouth policy of the Em-
peror NAPOLEON. The index finger to this latest
illustration was pointed at it only yesterday by the
Moniteur. Said that official organ of the French
Government,—"The Times and other foreign jour-
nals make comments upon the pamphlet The
Emperor, Rome, and King of Italy,' which are
void of all foundation, and to which the Govern-
ment opposes a formal denial." Well, precisely.
It is what has often occurred before now. The pre-
sent is only another but a more than ever flagrant
instance of the insidious system according to which
the present ruler of France throws out a Feeler
every now and then in the shape of a grandiose
pamphlet that can be afterwards adopted or repu-
diated according to circumstances.

Looking back to this last brochure issued from the
great politico-literary manufactory of such
things, presided over by M. DENTU - who
shall say that the Imperial style, the Im-
perial tone, the Imperial cognisance of facts not
commonly known, we will not say to the public
generally, but we will even say to the inner circle in
the sanctum sanctorum of Diplomacy, were not
visible throughout it? Besides, the idstant reflec-
tion is this—lf the pamphlet were really, as the
Moniteur now ambiguously intimates—[ambigu-
ousy, we say, because, in truth, the repudiation is
not one jot less ambiguous in its language than the
very pamphlet that is repudiated !]—if this
pamphlet were really an imposture, were really in
every particular unauthorised, it must have been
put down, crushed, swept out of existence long ago !
The foreign journals would never have had the oppor-
tunity of making observations upon it, observations
that require to be pronounced erroneous by the Moni-
teur about a week afterwards ! Neither ourselves nor
. our contemporaries could have had time or occa-
sion to draw from the Imperial and imperious lan-
guage used by the pamphleteer "suppositions
totally devoid of foundation." It is idle
to talk of it even. Why, no sooner
could the leaves of this pamphlet—damp from
the press, with the aroma of newness still fresh
upon them—have been placed in tempting piles
upon the counter of M. DENTU, and displayed in
delicate primrose paper-covers in M. DENTU'S win-
dows, than the whole would have been carted away
for destruction by the police of Paris as an insult
to "the Majesty" of France. Let any sane man
read the pamphlet and say otherwise. Why, in its
every syllable, in the whole air and manner of it,
it is not:so much that we are listening to an argument
taken down to dictation by the scrambling pen of
that ready writer, M. MOCQUARD-it is not so much
that we are hearkening to the authoritative tones of
the great imperial writer who has won his title by
his subserviency, meaning, of course, Monsieur le
Viscomte DE LA GUERONNIERE-it is a certain great
personage himself, whose voice is audible in the
every tone of every sentence. We ate perfectly well
satisfied of this—that could the original MS. be

forthcoming, or could we get a glimpse of the proo

sheets of L' Empe re ur, Ronne, et le Rol
d' Italie, the hand-writing of the Third NAPOLEON
would there be discernible. Not perhaps that the
MS. would be found to be an imperial holograph
—nut that, either in the original manuscript or in
the earlier proof-sheets, there would be recog-
nisable little significant ticks and interlineations
coming from no other hand. Apart from the tone
of the pamphlet itself, there is (we would again
particularly direct attention to this point), there is
the length of time that has been allowed to elapse
before the 11Ioniteur has been permitted, or rather
instructed, to repudiate it. That, we maintain, is of
ifself—upon the very face of it—more than sus-
picious.. During the interval that has elapsed be-

tween the issue of the brochure and the repudia•

tion of it by the Moniteur, the argument of the
pamphleteer has been afforded the opportunity of
making the tour of Europe. It has been distri-
buted among the reading public all over
Paris, it has been scattered far and wide
ail through France, it has been discussed
by numberless foreign newspapers, more parti-
cularly by the press of the United Kingdom.
And then it is—when it has done the work it was
intended to do—when it has acted as another deli-
cate and yet daringly obtrusive Feeler—then, but
not sooner, it is cooly pronounced to be unautho-
rised. Still ambiguously, as we have said, but yet

in spite of the ambiguity of the words, with suffi

cient distinctness. The pamphlet has done its duty
for the nonce, and it is now thrown aside like a
sucked orange. No wonder the correspondent of
our chief morning contemporary, writing from Turin
on the fourth inst., could—aided by the light of a
sadly protracted experience—find himself con-
strained to announce even then (on the 4th Septem
ber, forty-eight hours before the repudiation of the
brochure in the columns of the ilfoniteur yesterday
morning!) 'The French pamphlet ".L'Ernpereur,
Rome, et le Roi d' Italie, has created no sensation
here." Adding "The Italian officials were well aware
that no official importance could be attached to this
sympathizing publication" Nay, the correspondent

at Turin does not content himself with speaking
out thus plainly. He goes on to remark, with an
emphasis of conviction that is assuredly.impres-

sive :—" It is very certain that up to this time
no motive for hope has been held out to
King VICTOR EMMANUEL'S advisers. What-
ever newspapers and the telegraph may say to the
contrary, I have reason to feel assured that n 3 step
has been taken, nut only towards the removal of
the French garrison from Rome, but even towards
an intimation to the Popo that he will be left to his
fate and must prepare to come to terms with his
Italian neighbours or his own Roman people."
These positive intimations recollect, come direct
from Turin l And they come as the expression of
the deliberate opinion of this observant and ex-
perienced English correspondent. Hardly can hip
assurances reach our shores nu,reover when they
are justified to the letter in a remarkable manner

by the repudiation of the pamphlet referred to,
through the columns of the official organ of the
French Government.
Yet this is the policy, the profound and enlight
ened policy, that M. MICHEL CHEVALIER would
have England and her statesmen abandon every-
thing to with implicit confience. If anything at
all were required to demonstrate the wisdom of the
words that fell from the lips of our veteran Premier
only the other day at Dover, upon the occasion of
his installation as Lord Warden of the Cinque Port,
—words so extravagantly resented immediately
afterwards by M. CHEVALIER—that demonstration

would be found amply supplied in this last flagrant
evidence of the facility with which his Imperial
Majesty of France can play fast and loose with
the hopes and fears of all parties and sections of
parties throughout Christendom.

" How to shelve doing justice to Income-tax
payers," would be the appropriate title to the
Report, such as it is, of the committee which sat
on Mr. HUBBARD'S scheme this year. The Report
itself bears the stamp of its intent on the face
of it ; and when the mode of its concoction is ob-
served, its real character is still more evident. Mr.
HUBBARD himself was in the chair, and of course
could not vote except the members were equal.
Such members of the committee were absent as
left a majority of five to four for the shelving
policy. As the time was hastening away, the
evidence taken far from complete, and four widely
diffe'ent reports were proposed by the Chairman,
by Mr. LOWE, by Mr. SOTHERON ESTCOURT, and
by Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, Mr. CRAUFORD
proposed, and the Chairman concurred with him,
that the Minutes of the evidence should be printed
and reported to the house without observations.
This proposal, obviously required by the state of
the discussion and investigation, the gentlemen of
the shelving parted outvoted by the temporary
majority of one. Having succeeded thus far,
and Mr. HUBBARD seeing the determination to
burke the subject, and, therefore, taking no further
active part in the matter, Mr. LOWE and Mr.
ESTCOURT withdrew their Draft Reports, and the
five proceeded on that of Sir STAFFORD NORTH-
COTE. The result was very singular. Remem-
bering, we suppose, the story of the advice once
given to a Judge, they struck out all Sir STAFFORD'S
reasons, and gave only his conclusions. They were
agreed to do nothing ; such was their will and
pleasure ; but, beyond the conclusion to leave
acknowledged injustice where it is, they had
nothing which they dared to place before the
public. The budding Tory Chancellor of the
Exchequer has the honour of heading the refusal
of Income-tax justice.

We agree with Mr. HUBBARD that such a con-
clusion of the matter cannot be regarded as the
conclusion ; and it is, therefore, gratifying to learn,
from his letter to Mr. JOHN STUART MILL, con-
taining comments on the reports and proceedings
of the Committee, that the hon. member sees no
ground for discouragement to the advocates of Re-
form in the actual position of the question. Doubtless
the Government and its officials will endeavour to
use this miserable report as a conclusion of the whole
matter; but a real grievance cannot be thus sup-
pressed. While incomes, almost as diverse in their
practical value as gold and silver, are taxed as if
they all resembled the more precious metal, the
receivers of what we may call the silver incomes
will make their voice heard.
It is well known that some eminent mathemati-
cians have contended that an equal tax on all in-
comes, be their source what they may, is equitable
as well as equal. It is one of the innumerable
cases in which pure theory must yield to the modi-
fications of facts. Each kind of income, that for
instance derived from professional skill, and that
from land or money in the funds, pays as long as
it lasts—therefore pays, they say, proportionably.
Proportionably to its duration, we grant ; but not
proportionably to its " expendible power." An
income from the funds may be entirely expended,
and its possessor at his demise, or during an inca-
pacitating illness, will leave to his family the same
income as they had ever enjoyed. If the profes-
sional man does the same, his death beggars his
family, and a paralysing illness adds the charge of
his own support. Taking the funded and the pro.

fessional income, as fair examples of the two great
classes of income, the dictum of the equity of equal
Income-tax assessment is seen and felt by every
heir to disease and mortality. The mistake of the
mathematicians refereed to is quite as great as if

they calculated the-mechanical power of a system of
pulleys, as though it were precisely in the ratio of
the velocity of the bodies moved, with no regard to
such uumathematical facts as friction and rigidity of
ropes. Illness and death are the friction and the
ropes which the practical man cannot afford to
overlook .

Of course the stock objection to Mr. HUBBARD'S
valuable suggestions was too plausible not to be
brought forward—it would not precisely meet every
individual case. Of course not. But will the Perfec-
tionists, or rather the advocates of gross imperfection,
because perfection is unattainable—will they venture
to generalise their argument. Will they lay i t
down that no reform in any department is to be
attempted, till one can be devised which shall bear
hardly on no individual case. If they will not
maintain this absurdity their argument is utterly
worthless. But they know it to be so. They know
that no statesman ever pretended that his proposals
would remedy every evil of the kind they were in-
tended to meet. No law reform, or political reform,
or tariff reform, ever proposed to do more than to
redress a large proportion of the inequalities
incidental to every general arrangement. The
praise of Mr. HUBBARD'S scheme is, that it is a
long stride in the right direction. Show him
how to make it a yet larger one, and no
one would be more thankful ; but in the name of
common sense and equity do not reject it because it
is not of perfect application.
Mr. HUBBARD, like the late Mr. JAMES WILSON ,
holds it to be necessary to regard the community
for income tax purposes, in classes, The reason is
that to estimate the comparative value of individual
income would be a most costly, if not an impracti-
cable task. There is, indeed, one distinction not
regarded in these modern discussions, but which
was not overlooked in the old income-tax—the
number of persons dependent on one income, We may
advert to it more fully on another occasion ; we
merely remark now that, in the case of incomes
under a certain amount, the difference is one most
painfully felt, and that it is one with regard to
which there is hardly the possibility of imposition.
The difference of the real income of two clerks both
receiving £303 a-year, but one having no family,
the other anxious to educate and start in life re-
spectably six or eight children, not to mention larger
families, is obvious enough. And it may well
be that an aged parent, on one side or
the other, depends on him also. We know
some of the ready replies. But no reply can
convince probably even the childless clerk, and of
course not the other, that the income of the former
cannot better afford a tax than that of the latter.
The £3OO is indeed, in one case the income of two
persons, in the other of eight.
Two notions seem to have had no little influence
with the committee. Neither, however, will bear
discussion. In opposing the undeniably sound
principle of Mr. HUBBARD that "net income only
ought to be taxed," Mr. LowE, one of the hardiest
defenders of present Income-tax injustice, had
nothing better to say than that the present practice
had arisen rather "from practical convenience
than from abstract speculation," That some-
thing must be conceded to practical convenience
is true. Mr. HUBBARD'S stopping at classes,
Is distinguished from individuals, is a con-
cession of that kind. But to represent a
system as rising from it, is to damn it hopelessly.