The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-17 00:00:00

LONDON,

majority, was an unjust and iniquitous burden.
Again, we had imagined, and we still cling to the
belief, that a duty which excludes the light of heaven
from our dwellings, and fosters disease in the crowded
haunts of the poor, should rank among the number
of those taxes which press heavily and unjustifiably
upon " a heavy-taxed people." We might enumerate
a multitude of similar cases, in all of which, of course,
we shall henceforth count upon the zealous co•ope-
ration of the Gallant Member for Lincoln ; but, with
all our abhorrence of unfair taxation, we must con-
fess that we had hitherto failed to recognise that
obnoxious characteristic in Mr. EWAaT's Bill.
If the proposition were to impose a tax
upon all libraries and museums at present
existing, or to be erected in future, then, indeed, we
should have regarded it as similarly baneful and op-
pressive as the tax now levied upon paper, which
tends to obstruct the diffusion of knowledge among
the people, or as the duty on windows, which re-
stricts the enjoyment of those necessaries of bodily
life, air and light. But no Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer at the present moment threatens to impose
another restriction upon the diffusion of knowledge,
or to effect another curtailment in the enjoyment of
intellectual light, by levying a tax upon libraries and
museums. ►moo, untaught by Colonel SIBTRORP, we
had felt no alarm. The trifling sum in question (which
is not, be it remembered, to be levied by Act of Par-
liament, but merely to be suffered to be levied by the
people of any borough, the majority of them consent-
ing thereto), so far from being a restrictive tax upon
knowledge, appeared to us, on the contrary, a direct
means for its promotion. And we deemed it exceed-
ingly improbable that any burgesses possessing the
ordinary amount of common sense would hesitate to
avail themselves of the proposed permission, the
foundation of schools and libraries, and all other in-
stitutions which tend to promote moral health, being,
to our thinking, about the best money invest-
ments, and the cheapest social protective systems
of which it is possible for the members of any com-
munity to avail themselves. Colonel SIBTHORP is
evidently of another opinion, his wise economy in-
clines him to the course advocated by the man
in the fable, who, when the lion was at the door, and
all were eager to lend a hand to keep him out, sug-
gested the advisability of admitting the intruder in
order to turn him out again. So it is that Colonel
SIBTHORP and many of our Legislators are disposed to
act with regard to Ignorance and the monster vices
following in its train, which are now so rapidly and
effectively destroying, and threatening still further to
destroy, the hearts and intellects of the people.
Let us teach the young, let us diffuse
knowledge among all, is the cry of those
who truly recognise the existing evil and
the imminent danger. Let us build schools and
libraries, and remove every restriction upon the ne-
cessary elements of moral and mental life. Let
libraries, well furnished with good books, rival the
attractions of the beer-shop and the gambling-
booth, and let cheap journals containing
the news of the day meet the poor man
at his own hearth when returning from
his toil. So shall temptations, which now
prove too often irresistible, lose their power, and so
will the hearts and intellects of the people be no
longer the stolid abodes of ignorance or the fruitful
fields of vice. Such are, one would imagine, the sug-
gestions of a prudent economy. But what says
the Gallant Colonel and the Legislators aforesaid ?
We will not tax the people, say these philanthropic
men, neither will we suffer them to tax themselves
for such purposes—" they are taxed enough
already No, not one penny shall be levied for
the erection of libraries. Let the lion in, we
will turn him out again. We will allow
you, nay more, we will compel you to pay for prisons
and convict-ships, and police, and gaolers, and hang-
men ad
,infinitum. Pounds you may and
you must lavish in the attempt to put
down crime; but you shall not bestow one
farthing for its prevention—" you are taxed enough
already:' For this new version of an old adage the
country stands indebted to the Honourable and
Gallant Member for Lincoln.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.