The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-16 00:00:00

BECOICD DISPATCH OF THE SAME DATE.

The Hiudostan steamer from Calcutta arrived at
Suez on the 3d instant, with 89 passengers, having
made the voyage in 25 days. The overland mail is
from Bombay of the 16th November, from Calcutta
of the 7th of November, from Singapore of the 6th
of November, and from Hong-Kong of the 29th of
October.

The political intelligence presents no feature cf
more than usual interest. The greatest tranquillity
prevails in India. The Governor-General was pre-
paring to proceed to Lahore and the Peshawur
frontier.

The Nepaulese Ambassador arrived at Bombay on
the 6th ult., from Suez.
The Nimrod Government iron steamer has been
wrecked.

The late rumour of the Affreedees having made a
descent upon the salt•mines on the Kohat frontier
remained without confirmation.

Piracies were of frequent occurrence in the waters
of the Indian Archipelago. Java is tranquil.

The Chinesa on the western coast of Borneo have
discontinued their resistance against the Dutch.

At Hong-Kong the fever has declined among the
,roops.

The gangs of Chinese robbers in the province of
liwangee are gradually dispersing.

TRADE REPORT.

Export market at Bombay and Calcutta brisk, and
looking up. Indigo commands high prices. Sugar
much in demand, with difference (Ausschlag) of two
andes. Saltpetre sought after for shipping. Rice
firm, the supply insufficient. The price of opium
going down. Large quantities of cotton had been
sold and shipped. At Bombay 4,850 bales and 460
candies were sold within the last few days.
The import trade was getting brisk now that the
Indian holidays are over. The favourable rates of
exchhnge permitted some modification in the prices,
and a still more favourable time was looked for on the
arrival of purchasers from Upper India. Large
sales were effected in the inferior sorts of madapollam.
435 bales of water and 100 bales of mule twist
were sold at Bombay. Nothing was doing in coloured
goods.
Prices of metals were going down.
Freights from Bombay to London or Liverpool
2/. 10s. to 2/. 15s. A lower freightage expected.
Exchange, 2s. lid. for paper. A great deal of bu-
siness was done at this rate. On document bills,
2s. 2d. to 2s. 2d.

THE LIMERICK ELECTION.
TRIUMPH OF MR. GOOLD.
(From the Dublin World of Saturday.)
We are delighted to be able to announce that the
Limerick election has virtually terminated in the triumph
of the representative of rational Liberal principles, and
the defeat, not alone of the champion of stolid, stupid,
"learn-nothing-forget-nothing" Irish Toryism, but the
total discomfiture and ignominious rout of the gang of
lay and clerical imposture, who under the " felon flag"
of the Tenant League, have perambulated the county
during the last six weeks, and done their utmost by stir-
ring up the worst passions, by the utterance of the
foulest calumnies, by exciting class against class, to
accomplish their object, which was openly avowed not
to be merely the return of Mr. Ryan, but the commence-
ment of a reign of terror, bullying, and intimidation, in
every county and borough in Ireland.
Mr. Lucas announced, a few days ago, that upon the
issue of the election he would stake the very existence of
the Tenant League. Well, clearly, unequivocally, and
with trumpet-tongue, has the county of Limerick ad-
dressed the delusion " Thou shalt die.', The honest men
of Limerick have literally followed our advice—they
have " repudiated and cast from them" the landless and
peripatetic adventurers, who presumed to dragoon them
in the exercise of their political privilege. Lucas, how-
ever, and his fellows, will still endeavour to trade upon
what remains of popular credulity, which is " becoming
small by degrees, and beautifully less."
The following is from our own reporter:—
Limerick, Friday evening.
The contest is, in reality, at an end. Goold, your
favourite, rides the first horse. The Dicksonites are
sadly chagrined; but the rage of the supporters of Ryan,
the Tenant League nominee, knows no bounds. The
Roman Catholic clergy, almost to a man, at the eleventh
hour, consulted their true instincts, and refused to have
anything further to do with the itinerant bullies of the
Tenant League.
At five o'clock the High Sheriff entered the Court,
and directed his deputies to close the books; he also in-
timated to the Tenant League orators that he would
cause the Court to be cleared at six o'clock. This an-
nouncement gave rise to a disturbance, which for some
time assumed a threatening a,pect ; till candles were, with
one solitary exception,
extinguished. When order was
restored, the meeting was addressed by Mr. Ryan, the
Rev. Mr. Bell, Mr. Joynt, Mr. Fuller, and Mr. Lucas, in
the usual strain, the heads of which may be summed up
in " Partizan Sheriff—bristling dragoons—gross
bribery—landlord tyranny—victorious defeat—right
f petition—murdered families—colours nailed to the
mast—gauntlet thrown down—snivelling, sneaking
Whigs—covert enemies—open foes—traitor priests, Sze.'
They also charged the High Sheriff with limiting them
to one hour's oratorical display; but when it is remem-
bered that they had the exclusive occupation of the
hustings, that all their speeches were ex parte, and the
subjects of which those speeches were composed con-
sisted of unmitigated abuse of the High Sheriff himself,
the authorities, civil and military, and the rival candi-
dates, perhaps the impartial and unprejudiced mind will
admit that the privilege should have been courteously
acknowledged, and not made the means of indulging in
the most unrestrained and virulent liberty of speech.
The followipg is the state of the poll:—
Poll for the Day.
Geoid 74
Dickson 44 ...
Ryan ... 21 ...
Majority of Goold over Dickson
Ryan

Gross.
226
la 9
128

THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Srx,—ln all the mighty gatherings against Papa
assumption, few, if any, of the speakers have men•
tioned what appears to me the cause of the Pope's late
steps. There has been a division between blaming
late and present Governments for their tolerant acts
towards the Papacy and the Puseyites in their preach-
ing and teaching Romish doctrine, but the bishops
have been untouched. Now, Sir, I consider nearly
the whole blame of the Pope's conduct lies at their
doors. What have many of them been doing the last
few years (I speak not of Exeter, who has openly
upheld Popery) but in their charges speaking against
these growing errors, and then privately doing all they
could to foster them, and filling up their appointments
with men holding these opinions? Now, Sir, the Pope
was not ignorant of this double-dealing. It is what
he teaches his bishops to do when they are not strong
enough to declare themselves; holding ecclesiastical
dominion, be was very likely to overrate the power of
these spiritual lords, and it will be a serious thing for
the Church of England if the public mind is diverted
by its zeal against the Papacy from that reform which
is so loudly called for, especially in its bishops. What
has the Bishop of this diocese (Gloucester) been doing
but filling up all his livings with men of this party,
and whilst he
wwhasileutptreorfinesgsihnigs oZiesnhlytoaggeatintshtemthoeurnt, of his diocese,
and at the Bristol Tract Society speaking the same
language, he has, to my knowledge, been acting in a
manner quite inconceivable, except from a determina-
ion cf still doing the same.—l am, Sir, &c.
T. BEALE BROWNE.
en, Andoversford, Gloucestershire.

Ham

THE AMERICAN MAILS.—The British and North
American Royal Mail steam-ship Niagara, Captain Stone,
which would leave New York on \Vednesday, the 4th inst.,
may be expected to arrive in the Mersey iu the course of to-
day. It is expected the Niagara will bring the Message of
the President of the United States. The United States mail
steam-ship Atlantic, Captain West, which would leave New
Yolk on the 7th inst., may be expected to arrive in the
Mersey on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning next.
The United States mail steam-ship Baltic,Captain Comstock,
sailed from Liverpool on Saturday evening, shortly after six
o'clock, for New York, taking out a large mail, and a fair
complement of passengers (104).
L and Lady James Stuart, with Miss Stuart and
Mr. Herbert Stuart, arrived from Dumfries House, at Mount
Stuart, Rotbesay, on the 28th ult. A few days afterwards
Lord James was waited on by a deputation from his consti-
tuents and friends in that quarter, inviting him to a public
dinner, which was arranged to come off at Rothesay yester-
day, and was expected to be very generally attended,—
Greenock Advectiler.

THE INCOME-TAX.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Slll,—SomeTeEo7lll; which have recently appeared
in The Sun on the unequal and inconsistent operation
of the income-tax have led me to believe that you
will not be unwilling to call the attention of your
readers to the injustice inflicted by that ill-advised
impost on a numerous class of the community, whose
peculiar position, and, generally, narrow circum-
stances, might have claimed the protection of the
Legislature against excessive taxation. I therefore
propose, with your permission, to exhibit in your
columns a slight illustration of the oppressive bearing
of that tax on all life annuitants, and more especially
on those who have invested their capital on annuities
at a late period of life.

A widow, aged 60, sinks her jointure of 1,5001. on
an annuity of 1501. Her capita!, inve3ted in Con-
sols, at 96, would have produced an annual income
of 461. 17s. 6d., or, in other words, that sum re-
presents the annual value of her capital in perpetuity.
The duty on that sum (if exacted from her)
would have been 11. 7s. 4d. She is now compelled
to pay the tax on an income of 1501., or 41. 7s. 6d.
a sear.

A professional man, or artist, at the age of 70, in-
capable of further exertion, invests his capital of 9751.,
the savings of a long and laborious life, on an annuity
of 1501. ili3 capital, invested in Consols at 96,
would have given him an annual income of 301. 9s. 4d.,
the duty on which would have been 17s. 9d. Ile is
compelled to pay the tax on an income of 1501., or
4 -

7s. 6d. a year.
A worn-out servant of a mercantile firm, bank, or
public company retires, at the age of 70, on a pension
of 1501., the value cf which (even supposing it to be
secured to him for life) is 6i years' purchase, or
9751. He is also compelled to pay the tax on an in-
come of 150/., or 41 7s. 6d. a year.
A capital of 4,8001., invested in Consols at 96, pro-
duces a clear profit income of 1501., the duty on
which is 41. 7s. 6d. Thus we see that

Income in Annual Per Cent. on
Capital. Perpetuity. Tax. Capital.
£4,800, producing £l5O 0 0, pays X 4 7 6, or Is. 9d. per ct.
1,500, worth 46 17 0 „ 4 7 6, or ss. 10d. „
975, „ 30 9 4 „ 476, or Bs. 1 lid. „
and that, by a strange perversity in legislation, those
individuals whose necessities impel them to the most
rapid consumption of their capital, are taxed in a ratio
increasing with the degree of their necessities.
The annual payments on a life annuity are simply
repayments (with interest added) by instalments,
according to the stipulations of a contract, of capital
received from, or on behalf of, the annuitant, the in-
stalments including a larger or smaller portion of the
capital advanced, according to the age of the annui-
tant at the time of making the contract; for instance,
the present value of an annuity on the life of a per-
son aged 90 is considerably less than two years' pur-
chase, and a person of that age would purchase an
annuity of 1501. for about 2631. He would receive
back at each annual instalment more than half
the amount of capital invented. His original capital
being 263/., he would have to pay the tax on an in-
come of 1501., or 4/. 7s. 6d., which is exactly equal
to 1/. 13s. 31. per cent. per annum on his whole in-
come, the tax on capital invested in the funds being
one shilling and ninepence per cent. per annum.
Will any one undertake to give an intelligible ex-
position of the principles on which such a system of
taxation is based ? If the measure of taxation be not
the wealth and substance of the individual to be taxed,
but the amount of money that may come into his pos-
session, by any means, from any source, or by any dis-
tribution he may make of his capital, within certain
given periods, and if the instrument of such a system
of extortion is the use of an ambiguous term, a
quibble cn the compound word income, then, really,
it would puzzle a philosopher to distinguish between
such an off-hand mode of raising revenue and arbi-
trary confiscation.
And what is the excuse or pretence set up, in the
nineteenth century, for a system (or rather a prac-
tice) that would have disgraced the middle ages ?
" The difficulty of adjusting the details of a plan of
direct taxation,:so as to meet exactly all the various con-
ditions of property and income." Exactly I Why the
Chancellor of the Exchequer made no attempt at any,
the slightest approximation towards the solution of
the problem of equitable adjustment; professing his
inability to untie the knot, he gallantly cut it with
his sword of state.

The Parliament consented to raise revenue by a
blindfold scramble, and the humble and prmerless
classes were condemned to pay the penalty of the igno-
rance, indolence, or dishonesty of the Legislature.
But the pretence of difficulty is 'an imposture.
Tables, showing the value of life annuities at all ages,
and at various rates of interest, may be purchased for
half-a-crown, and it would not cost the State 5001. to
furnish every assessor in the United Kingdoms with
such tables, duly authenticated, applicable to the cir-
cumstances of every annuitant, and showing also the
rate at which the duty would be equitably charge-
able, either on the sum annually received, or on the
value of the annuity ; indeed the Chancellor of the
Exchequer must have been suffering under a total
dereliction of memory when he alleged the difficuly
of so simple an operation in defence of his crude and
sweeping measure ; for the Government was not only
in possession of annuity tables calculated by its own
officers, but was in the constant practice of applying
those tables, in the commutation of pensions—that
is, in the payment of a present sum of money to the
pensioner as an equivalent for the annual payments.
By the ambidextrous policy of the Finance Minis-
ter the tables are held to be valid in making a
hard bargain with a pensioner, but, when excessive
taxes are to; be squeezed out of classes of the
community destitute of political influence, the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer ignores mathematics.
The equitable adjustment of the income-tax—so

far, at least, as annuitants are concerned—instead of
being impracticable or difficult, is proved to be the
easiest and most simple operation that can be ima-
gined. To carry it into effect nothing is required but
honesty of purpose. It is imperatively called for by
morality and good faith, and the operation may be
performed with mathematical precision.
But the barbarous injustice of the income-tax, as
it presses on the means of subsistence of the aged an-
nuitant, does not require mathematical demonstration.
The capitalist, who can live on his profits, may spend
his whole annual receipts without anxiety for the
future; he has a fund destined to the support of his
family, who will be provided for however suddenly
he may be taken from them. The annuitant is,
generally, and the pensioner, invariably, far ad-
vanced in years—the only hope either can have of saving
those most dear to him from absolute destitution, is
in the small saving he can make from his annual re-
ceipts. But here his parsimony is frustrated by the
tax-collector, who takes the bread out of the mouths
of his children.

We have a theory of " equality before the law ;"
and a doctrine has long been held and propounded by
higs and Tories—that" every man, in a free state,
is bound to contribute towards the exigencies of the
state, according to his means—his wealth—his stake
in the country." The doctrine is implied in the
theory, but has it been enunciated, with a mental re-
servation in favour of predominant interests ?
Has it, in fine, any relation with realities ? or is
it a mere political clap-trap employed by party
leaders, to flatter our insular conceit, or propitiate
the ignorant impatience of taxation ?
These questions, in connexion with the foregoing
facts, are submitted, in the hope that a satisfactory
answer may be elicited from some one more conver-
sant with the more abstruse departments of political
science than Your obedient servant,
AN OLD ANNUITANT.
London, Dec. 12, 1850.

FINE HANDS.—We do not know a corporeal dig.
tinction which the exquisite covets more than a small white
hand, a member which will fit easily into a lady's glove, and
may Ike exhibited upon a snowy cambric handkerchief, with-
out its colour suffering by the contrast. To many, as well as
to the late Lord Byron, such a hand is a distinctive mark of
" gentle," or, as we should rather say, "genteel" blood. We
confess that this is a feeling with which we have never sym-
pathised. The bronze hand, with its power of muscle, and
its swelling veins, is to us a far more gratifying object, for it
tells of exertion, and society holds on to civilization by its
stalwart grasp, far more securely than the most aristocratic
fingers would enable us to do. We are all the more inclined
to preserve this feeling, after reading a paper lately contri-
buted by Mr. Wawa to the British Association, upon the
ancient Iberian population of the British Isles. That gentle+
man stated that from an examination of the sword-hilts of
those warrior hunters of old it was evident that they must
have had very small hands—much smaller than the men of
the present day. The Danes too, and the Vikings—the sea-
robbers—the maurauders and pirates of ages ago were dis-
tinguished by the same peculiarity; their massive swords
scarcely furnish room within the guard for the delicate grasp
of a lady's taper fingers, while the Saxons, the werkersof the
earth, are marked by the large hand of the labourer. The
small hand is the representative of luxurious uselessness, the
large hand of earnest toil ; and, just as the small-handed
warriors of old vanished before the sturdy continuous energy
of the large-handed Teutons, will idle beauty pass away
before the truth of industry, and the labour of the large-
handed will at once support and rule the world.—Eliza Cook's
Journal.

We some time since alluded to the intended sale in
the extensive ware-rooms of Messrs. Cook and Co., 246 and
248, Regent-street, preparatory to the alterations in their
establishment for the approaching year. Since our remarks
were written, the sale has in good earnest commenced, and
we may safely ask the attention of our fair readers to the
opportunity it affords them. The attendance is very great,
and whether purchasers are attracted by the beauty of the
goods offered, or the bond fide character of their disposal by
the proprietors, the demand has been incessant; in fact, the
ware-rooms have been turned, we might almost say, into a
sort of afternoon lounge for our fashionable folk. The deco-
rations which are in preparation, under the care of Messrs.
Cook's architect, will, we have no doubt, place this fine suite
of apartments amongst the most attractive in the \Vest-end
during the next season. And we cannot help congratulating
these gentlemen upon the novelty of the idea, and the spirit
in which they purpose carrying it into effect. An emporium
for the sale of prize specimens of art during the next year is
indeed a happy thought; and we look forward to the col-
lection with large hopes that it will prove a most agreeable
amusement even for those who, like ourselves, are more
admirers than purchasers of such rare property.—Court
Journal.

MAGAZINES, &c.—( CON TINUED.)
THE CATHOLIC I[IAG..-I.ZINE AND
REGISTER.

A very particular interest attaches itself to the cur-
rent number of this monthly organ of the Roman Ca-
tholics, a consideraUe portion of it being devoted to
the subject of the present extraordinary movement of
Protestantism throughout the United Kingdom.