The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-13 00:00:00

9 II N

That the current expesenses of evpryi
must be met by a corresponding taxatioh•M ti‘ tichifided 1
truism, but it is one of the highest proofs of political sa-
gacity and prudence to apply the burden in such a
manner and in such proportions as will suit the contin-
gencies of the different classes who contribute to it. This,
however, it may be said, looks admirable in thecry;-. but
it would be extremely difficult to reduce to actual prac-
tice, since there are so many interests to be consulted in
making laws, and the representatives of those interests
are themselves legislators. Yet what is unreasonable or
disproportionate, and obviously so to all, must impera-
tively claim attention when brought out into open day,
nor can any Administration refuse to entertain the sub-
ject. Among the imposts to which these remarks will
refer, there is, probably, not one more unfairly allotted,
more bitterly felt, or more unwittingly borne, than the
legacy duty. It falls with peculiar severity upon
families with scanty incomes, and it cruelly aggra-
vates the calamity they may have sustained, in the
loss of a parent, whose industry, when living, was
their main support. It is, besides, repeatedly evaded
and it is apparently beyond the reach of fiscal ingenuity
to prevent or cetect the evasion. At any rate, the re-
missness with which this acknowledged fraud upon the
revenue is regarded and visited, while the amount sup-
plied to Government falls avowedly so far shot of what
is due, sufficiently proves that it is in all eves a con-
fessedly obnoxious and unjust tax. We have been led
to this topic by the appearance of a Parliamentary paper
respecting " taxes on succession to property abroad,"
which is chiefly valuable as showing how this question
is treated in foreign countries. According to this report,
it seems that in almost all states where the legacy duty
is charged (and several are entirely exempt from it),
there is no difference made in the species of property
upon which it is levied; and even in trance, where such
distinction exists, the heavier load is placed upon im-
moveable property. The land, itherefore, in the latter
kingdom supports the larger share of this burden; as
it is one of the inexplicable problems of our own
Constitution that the reverse prevails among us. Upon
what strange plea this difference has been established , it
is hard to say; but it is much harder to defend the t t t -
tom by any sophistries which the landed proprietors « t
produce on its behalf. In Prussia, Holland, Sa xo
Sweden, and Tuscany, all property is equally an d i -
differently affected by the tax on succession. Each pay s
its part, and the tax falls fairly upon all members of the
community. There is nowhere a privileged exemption
for any one favoured class ; but while the necessities of
the Exchequer are thought to require the aid of this
measure, no cause of complaint of inequality or injustice
can attend the infliction of it. Our Legislature, then,
has yet something to learn as to the duty of equalising
those branches of the revenue which depend wholly
upon the contributions of the people, and in this instance
most particularly. That the land should be discharged
of payment, and that personalty alone should be respon-
sible, seems a forced and unnatural condition of things,
and one that we certainly hope will not be allowed
to continue long—not longer, at least, than will
give time for a candid admission of the merits of the
question among men of all parties in Parliament.
There is one very pleasing instance of the unwillingness
of a Sovereign to approach this source of revenue in the
pages before us, which gives additional weight to the
argument against its imposition in any country, and
which, we think, will gratify our readers. In the En-
elosnre 3, No. 14 (from Sardinia, where the succession
to real property only is affected), is is stated, in muse
for the imposition of the tan, that—" The extraordinary
necessities in which the late disturbances have placed
the Royal Treasury render inevitable extraordinary dis-
positions for augmenting the receipts thereof, and for
equalising them with the expenses, the amount of which
has been considerably increased by those disorders,
either on their own account, or on account of the con-
sequences which they bring with them. His Majesty
being obliged to authorise an act, which is, however, re-
pugnant to his paternal feelings, has ordered us to render
it as little burdensome as possible to his beloved subjects."
So much expressed repugnance to adopt the measure,
except from imperious necessity, shows bow distasteful it
is generally, and how freely the objections to its collec-
tion are recognised even by an almost absolute Monarch.
This hint will not, we hope, be lost on those at whose
command these returns were printed, and for whose
special information they are intended. We trust they
will bear some fruit in the soil on which they have
fallen, and that the experience and usage of foreigners
will not be-entirely despised in framing future statute,
respecting the tax that we have been discussing. No
good reason can there be why one species of inheritance
should be absolutely and in its degree exempt from the
costs to which others are subjected, but there is every
reason why, in a well-ordered and paternal Government,
the pressure of taxation should descend impartially and
equitably on all.—Times.

RAILWAY FROM NEWCASTLE

TO BERWICK.

NE INCAIiTLE• ON- TYNE, THUALAY:LA special meet.
ing of the town council of this borough was held yester-
day in the Guildhall, ter the purpose of assenting to,
or dissenting from, the formation of certain railways pro-
posed to pass through the town of Newcastle. Thom
was a very full attendance of members.
On the assembling of the council, the Mayor took the
chair, and the Chairman of the Town Improvement Com-
mittee, on whom had been imposed the duty of collecting
information on the subject of railways proposed to pass
through the town, presented a report, entering very fully
into the merits of the respective projects. The line pro-
posed by Mr. Stephenson, the report observes, is called
the Newcastle and Berwick Railway, and it is intende d
to cross the river Tyne by a bridge, at an elevation of
upwards of one hundred feet above high-water mark,
and about ninety yards west of the present bridge.
One of the leading features of this line is, that it un ilea
all the railway stations in one place, near Melville-straet,
from whence the traveller may proceed by railway north,
south, , east and west.

•
The other line is projected by Mr. Brunel. It crosses
the river by a bridge ninety-three feet in height, pro.
ceeds across the Forth to Thornton-street, and thence by
a tunnel, 2,410 yards in length, to the Toivn-moor, ter-
minating in Jesmond-fields, from whence it takes its
departure northward.
The Committee recommended Mr. Stephenson's line, u
most desirable for the interests of the town ; they sug-
gested, however, that a clause be inserted in the Act of
Parliament requiring the Company to commence with
the bridge simultaneously with the other works upon
the line, and proceed with all reasonable dispatch in its
completion.
A long discussion followed the reading of the re-
port, which was at length confirmed by a large majo-
rity, so that the corporation of Newcastle have now
pledged themselves to support Mr. Stephenson and Mr.
Hudson's line from Newcastle to Berwick-upon-Tweed,
in opposition to the atmospheric line proposed by Lord
Howick.

SUPPOSED MURDER of MR. MAY.
On Friday Mr. Baker held an inquest at the City of
Paris, Bishop Bonner's-fields, Bethnal-green, on the
body of Mr. W. May, aped forty-four, silk manafac.
turer, of King-street, Old Ford-lane. The evidence
condensed showed that the deceased had been missing
since the 9th of last December, and his body was
not found until Thursday night last, when it was
discovered in the Regent's Canal, between Bonner.
hall-bridge and the new union workhouse. When
deceased was_seen last alive he had in his possession
several sovereigns—when found he had but one. The
body was found a mile distant from his house, and
in an opposite direction, and his hat and a handker-
chief more than a mile from the canal, and: some
bills belonging to him at a quarter of a mile from his
home. He usually carried a snuff-box and spectacles in
his pockets, but they were not found on him after death.
The Coroner said that the finding of property belonging
to deceased in sueh opposite directions, and so far apart,
gave the case a very mysterious complexion. Mr. J.
Salter, a silk manufacturer, who parted with deceased
at the Job's Castle, Norton Folgate, on the night of
the 9th ult., at eleven o'clock, left him in good spirits,
and of sound intellect, and was of opinion that his
death was caused by unfair means. Mr. Storey, sur-
geon, of the Mile-end-road, who had examined the
body, 'found the tongue protruding, several cuts on the
forehead, on the right eyebrow, and beneath the same eye.
Several of the upper teeth were forced from their sockets
and were found loose in the mouth, and there were cute
inside each lip. The left arm was fractured and so were
several of the ribs. The witness thought, both from ex-
ternal and internal appearances, that deceased had been
immersed in the water during life, but that the sever
of the injuries described had been caused after death.
probably by the bottoms of the barges. He considered
it rather a case of suicide than of death from violence
on the part of others. It having been proved that de-
ceased was a sober, sensible man, in prosperous circum-
stances, the foreman and jury intimated that they could
not come to a conscientious conclusion without further-
evidence. They proposed the adjournment of the in-
quest for it week. Adjourned accordingly,

DONCASTER RAcEs.---The nominations, which dm
on the Ist instant, have surpassed, in point of numbers,
the expectations of the most sanguine lovers of the turf,
and opened a prospect for the future of a more attractive
and gratifying character than has been presented on any
former occasion. For the present year, the nominations
for the Champagne are 42; for the Two Year Olds, 41;
Scarborough Stakes, II; and for the Gascoigne Stakes,
to 153,
105
31,F, ocaranrldBo4t
lh6de,
r.tphraeordnkuocHn:
lnal
n,a td3i
9o:sfofTrorhthetehreeFSoaart.elLsaieger amount
tasoke9s,foll.B4th7:
Tand 28 for the North of England Produce, 1848. The
nominations, for the St. Leger of next year are unprece.
dented in point of numbers; the highest previously, in
1841, being 13$. This circumstance is to be attribute)
to the recent alterations adopted. The second horse Will
receive 300 sovereigns out of the stakes, and the
third 100 sovereigns—an alteration which will induce
a greater number of horses to come to the post than has
been the case since the period when the race was altered
from 25 sovs. pp. to 50 h f.—Doncaster Gazette.
HEALTH Or SIR CHARLES METCALFIL•—TII4I
friendi of Sir Charles Metcalfe have contradicted the 11C.
count of his health given by the Spectator of Saturday'
last. Letters have been received in England from his
medical attendant, which state that although it is taws
that he had completely lost the sight of one eye, he, was
not when the last advices came away in the =teemed
danger" described by our weekly Contemporary. Let-
ters have indeed been received from Sir Charles him-
self, dated Montreal, December 11, written in his owes
hand, and in a more cheerful strain than those whisk
had previously been received from him.
THE NEW LAMBETH POLICR.COURTS.—The Dm*
Courts are found to be extremely inconvenient and c,c.ld,
magistrates, be
bare madedererr:
and until the- necessary alterations
Henry and Mr. Norton, the
vat©min h
edotuosehoinldfrthone intCoofurtthe r
one of tehsoinroomyorskof.;
0-wth, xitu
epri :
'ingots.. rood.

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