The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-13 00:00:00

THE

PROPERTY and INCOME-TAX.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR, Whatever may be said of other royal speeches,
I think it must be admitted that the Queen's Speech, just
delivered to Parliament, has much of pith and substance
in it, particularly that part which alludes to the property
and income-taxes.
It was for much too long a time considered a political
truth that those taxes should he only considered as war-
taxes. and that at other times taxes on consumption
should be• alone resorted to.
I have for very many years (and I remember the
former tax on property and income) been 01 ()pinion that
a tax on property is the most legitimate of all taxes; it
produces most money to the Excheqtter, iu proportion to
its amount, and is paid by those who can best afford it.
All our institutions tend to the protection of property,
and ours is the only important country in Europe where
axation falls so lightly on it.
I entirely separate tie property from the income-tax:
the latter ought only to be resorted to in the event of
war, and I say from-its inquisitorial nature, ought to be
submitted to only upon the mist imminent danger to the
country, when victory must be bought-- and chained to
our masts at aey price.
When Sir R. Peel three years ago proposed the
property and income-tax, it was submnted to cheerfully
by the peopie, Its however oneness or distasteful-the
latter was, any expedient was considered better than
!hat we should have a deficient revenue in a time of com-
paritii e peace.
Al,.,st of us remember—and those who do not can easily
refer to it—the statement that was made by Sir R. Peel
when he brought forward his propositions—the estimate
which he mide of its prohatile production; arid the
amount which it actually produced in 1843. the first year
of its complete operation, does not say much for his
financial talents, and certainly does not justify all those
eulogiuniJ that his political friends of all vai ties so freely
encumber him with. The following estimate and pro-
duce will be found nearly or quite cornet:— .
Estimate. Produce 1843.
Lands and Hous•-s
I)ivirlu•nds 646,000
Public Offices, &c.

Prop.rty £2,396,000 £3,555,358

Profits on Trade...'..... £1,250,000
Ditto on Lands

Income £1,370,000 Income .£1.838.,466
Property 3,555,358

£2,396,000

£5,394,224

£3.766,000
Excess 1,628,224

£5,394,224
No one.. can divine, and it is useless to guess, at the
pr-ipo,Lion which it is announced will be made by Sir
R. Pt el next Friday; but we may, I think, very safely
conclude, that the property-tax in some shape or
other. will be proposed to be continued, and in common
with a vcry great many others, I am in grcat hopes that the
pr,,?.rty-tax will alone be proposed to be continued for
a lieriod of from five to seven years, and that it will be
riised in amount to at least 51. per cent. upon all fixed
and tangible property whatever, and if it were carried
op to 101. per cent., it would be so much the better.

THE NORTH BRITIS'II REVIEW—No. IV
This new Review, which has already acquired A
just celebrity among those who have read its able
articles, fully maintains its chstattek in the present
number, and as a .proof of the varied fertility and
historical knowledge of the contributions, though it
contains not less than five articles, all relating more
or
.less to the Christian religion, they are entirely
exempt from monotony and repetitions. These are
" The Scottish Monks, " Life and Writings of Dr.
Arnold," " Palestine," " E.says on Christian Union,"
anti " The Jesuits in France." The first is founded
on several publications which, within the last few
years, have appeared at Edinburgh, edited by Mr.
Cosmo Innes, and extracted from manuscripts which
had been mouldering for ages in the Advocates'
Library. The wild hatred of Popery which all at
once blazed up in the north about the time of Knox,
the destruction of the magnificent cathedrals which
adorned the country, and the almost savage treatment
which the Queen of Scots and the bigoted adherents
of the old religion experienced at the hands of the
Reformers, have appeared to many incomprehensible
on any other imaginable grounds than that the people
were reduced to the lowest degree of barbarism, that
their uncultivated nature was taken advantage of by
designing Churchmen and greedy nobles, and that a
spark thrown among such dangerous materials was
only necessary to light up the conflagration which
destroyed every vestige of the established religion.
The abominable conduct of the clergy, and especially
the bishops, abbots, and monks, however, fully ex-
plains the phenomenon. They were not only men of
immoral lives in private, but they harassed and
oppressed the people. The Church laid its iron grasp
upon everything suited to its purpose, terrified the
dying to force from them bequests, spent their thys
in hunting and fishing and other carnal amusements,
and their nights in revelling and debauchery. The
following picture makws the wonder cease :
" The abbots and monks were wholly given up to
luxury and idleness ; and tht unmarried state of both
the seculars and r,gulars, gave infinite scandal to the
world ; for it appeared, that the res'raining them from
having wives of their own, made them conclude, that
they had a right to all other men's. But their own re •
corded evidence of their guilt, will go farther to settle
the sad truth of the charge. In one of the last Provin-
cial Councils held in Scotland, the canons it promul-
gated, bear the humiliating confession, of the corruption
and profane lewdness of the clergy of almost every de-
gree, at the same time that their gross ignorance of
literature and science is candidly admitted':—' Omnium
fere gEaduum, morum corruptela, ac vitm profane obsce-
nilas, flint bonorum liiieratunt aitiumque omnium, crasser
iynorantia.' The Popes, too, beheld with dismay, the
tottering condition bf their ostentatious dominion ; and
one of the Innocents directed to three English Bishops a
Bull, preserved in the cartulary of Moray, by which
they were enjoined to redress, by all the terrors of the
huensznsi,sihne unpunished e
aaamnocen g
of all
eScottish
tci
cl earl gryu.l e Tthh
they
ecclesiastical and civil powers, the atrocious evils that
marry, he
resign the clerical character, when necessary for their
interests, or the gratification of their passions ; and re-
sume it again at will, in order to enjoy, under priestly
ge, immunity from their., crimes, (No. 260.) They
disobeyed, too, the commands of their superiors, and the
thunders of the Vatican in vain called upon them to re-
turn to the 'strict discipline,of their Church. (Glasgow,
No. 22.)

This is the condition to which the Puseyite would
bring the Reformed Church, and here we cannot help
extracting from the article on " Palestine" some just
strictures on the principles of Newman and Pusey,
and the other mischievous innovators in the English
Church, premising at the same time that " sincerity
in their professed faith as Christians," is, we fear, a
very rare quality among them. The writer thus de-
scribes them :

" But, in starting to enter upon this ground, we can-
, not refrain from an expression of the mingled feeling of
grief and shame—of perplexity and alarm, that has at-
tended our perusal of some of the volumes before us.
ienrgm as they hie ya and;
'
and
moreover,t ipot. rhaopohhi cs , i
os
fseethnis anodi
ssr.eaedmihnodGy
English literature,—and especially so much as is biblical
facts arid narratives,important or entertaining, are heard
of, and sornel
mes read by many of that now large Class
of cultured persons, at home and abroad, h
, o, ehnoillig
to turn away from that mass of meet and irrerra
,vi4ence which suAeins the Go‘p I history,g
dwell
with malign pleasure upon the dark Church ;' bile at the ,ama .• Ist'ssiry of the
the indiscretions and font— they are catching at
raries, as affordii their Christian conteMpo-
unbelief. -A co themselves reason enough for their
in this view then, mortifying and distressing
•
is to think that men, occupying responsible positions
in the Church,—inen who, if one may judge by the
alphabetic honours which float at the rear of their names,.
are well infOrmed persons. and therefore are precluded
from the apology .of ignoracce, should exhibit them-.
selves beforethe world as the credulous and unscrupu-
lous swallowers of the monkish nonsense of the East ;
and ss the dupes of the mo-t fl'msy sort of enthusiasm
which a man can be moved by, and which is only just
pardonable in und:a. eighteen ;' and that these
persons—clergy and laity—while they seem, and we
doubt not are, sincere in their professed. faith as Chris-
tians, yet employ their energies, and show themselves all
alive, not in dofence of their evangelic history., such as
inspired men have left it, but of the old wives fables of
the most debauched periods of church history !"
The history and character of the Jesuits are full of
interest, and lay hare the unsupportable despotism
which the modern reformers would establish in these
days of freedom. The
,vast authority possessed by the
General of that dangerous sect, would not be at all
unwelcome to certain of the bishops in our own
church, if we may judge from recent exhibitions.
‘• In order," says the writer, "that an opinion may
be formed of the enormous uncontrolled power of the
General, we shall now enumerate some of the principal
acts he can perform. He admits whom he pleases, when
he pleases, and on the terms he pleases, into the Society;
he can order any member of the Society to perform any
duty in any part of the world; without a moment's notice;
he may reels( from any part of the world any Jesuit sent
thither even by the Pope's orders, and transfer him to any
other country or duty ; he may dismiss from the So-
ciety, at will, any of its members ; he may direct a num-
ber of coadjutors to be sent to a general congregation, .J
and may name the two persons who are to act as dele-
gates from any province, together with the Provincial,
either by directing them to he elected by the provincial
congregation, or electing them himself without farther
trouble ; he alone can summon a congregation ; he ap-
points and dismi-ses at pleasure all the officers and dig-
nitaries of the Society, of whatever rank they be, to
whom he grants more or less of his own power as he
deems expedient, recalling it at pleasure, no one having
any power whatever but as his delegate, and he having
the power of annulling any act which may have been
performed even in virtue of his own authority by any of
his subordinates ; finally, he can inflict what penances
and punishments he thinks just, or freely pardon any
misconduct or misbehaviour."

Be id. there articles there are ethers which will
be found interesting to the general reader, among
which are Dana's System of Mineralogy, Thornton's
British Empire in India, and Travels in Kashmir and
the Punjaub.

AN APOLOGY FOR. THE NERVES; or their
Influence-and for,o,tanee in Health and Disease. By
Sir George tqfevre„4l I).. Fellow of the Rotial Collet,e
of PhysiPians, late Physician to the Rritish Ernbas,cy at
the Cowl of St. Paersburoh' 6*e. London, Long-
man a d , 1844.

This is certainly the most popular, the most read-
able, and, the most understandable physiological
treatise we have ever met with. The recent dis-
coveries of Liehig seem to have turned the heads of
our modern physiologists. They look to nothing but
the mere chemical compiisition of the solids and the
fluid., and are fast retrograding into the exploded ab-
surdities of humoral pathology. They are a species
of medical Pusevices, who, paving attention exclu-
sively to external., neglect that by which alone what
would he otherwise the lifeless form becomes animated,
and lives, and moves, and bas its being. In their sys-
tems the nerved go for nothing. It was high time
that a protest should be entered against those exclu-
sive views; and we are rejoiced to say the nerves
could not have found a better apologist than Sir
George Lefevre. He, is a shrewd observer, has bad
ample 'opportunities for observing, and has turned
them to excellent account. But it is not alone as a
F cient,fie nreduction that this work is worthy of all
praise. The ordinary reader will find it one of the
most entertaining of :hooks. The legislator and the
Atate.man may find in it much that is worthy of
study. We quote his observations on physiognomy
and phrenology as an instance
" Lavater, is too much forgotten in the present day. His
facial angle cannot but :persuade those who study it care-
fully, that they can read the man in his physiognomy. There
is nothing repulsive to religion or morality in these doctrines.
The same Almighty power which created the whole may
have assigned different 'functions to its parts. We are not
all created with the same moral or physical powers : St.
Paul has said that some enjoy gifts which others do not.
But all phrenologists are not agreed as to the seat of the
organs of specific moral qualities ; and so long as there can
be any doubt upon such a point, the whole science must dis-
solve as the baseless fabric of a vision. It is sometimes ob-
jected to phrenology, that it is an apology for immorality and
crime, and that the vicious may screen themselves under its
cloak. This objection, however, cuts both ways, for if our
actions or propensities depend upon organization, then to do
good or ill is not voluntary on our parts. We should not
have more power to doill in one case than of refraining from
it. in the other. That certain states and conditions of the
brain do influence moral actions, is beyond all doubt. Not
only do the various forms of insanity prove it, but also the un-
conquerable propensities manifested by some who are still re •
puted of sound mind. The disposition to steal is not unfre-
quently innate, where no plea of want can justify it. I knew
the son of a Polish nobleman who had this propensity—no-
thing could cure him. All means had been tried, the mildest
and the severest, but to no purpose. There are few shop-
'keepers in London who cannot point out persons of rank who
will readily lay out 100/., yet, if they have an opportunity,
will steal a yard of lace. It is useless to multiply similar in.
stances. Accidental circumstances coincide in giving great
weight to the opinion of physical cerebral derangement in-
fluencing the moral man. ' The most pious have been made
reprobates by a fall from a horse. I, myself, knew an in-
stance of a highly-gifted youth becoming a dull, foolish lulu
from' this very cause. He laboured under convulsions for
some time, and recovered all but his senses.
" Dissection does not always afford us sufficient physical
evidence. Our senses are too obtuse to identify these subtile
conditions, but we have sufficient moral proofs that some-
thing does occur,—that some change in the balance is effected,
some disorganization of the nervous mass; for we dad friends