The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-11 00:00:00

NG, JANUARY i 1 , 1845.

his i;acciianalian.pfieSt, itovi mouthing pairiotisni, and
now venting libertinism, tli4 seViiige Ot bad men, and
scarce better than the worst, debauching Wives, and pro=
tecting his gown by the weight of his fist, engaged with
Wilkes in his war on the Scots ; and sometimes learn-
ing, and as often not knowing, the characters he attacked,
set himself up as the Hercules that was to cleanse the
State, and punish its oppressors : and, true it is, the
storm that saved us was raised in taverns and night-
cellars ; so much more effectual were the orgies of
Churchill and Wilkes than the daggers of Cato and
Brutus. The two former saved their country, while
Catiline could not ruin his—a work to which such
worthies seemed much better adapted."

VALENTINE .111'CLU7'CIIY. 3 Vols.
Duffy, Dublin, 1845.
This story is from the pen of Mr. Carleton, already
favourably known to the public by his admirable
sketches of Irish character, in which there was more
of truth and force, and less of exaggeration, than in
any similar sketches yet given to the public, with the
sole exception, perhaps, of those by Mrs. Hall. In
the volumes before us, Mr. Carleton reads a useful
moral lesson to the hardhearted Irish landlord and
the flagitious agent; and we would specially recom-mend his story to the attention of all Irish absentees,
for it will show them how often their poorer tenantry
are in the habit of being oppressed and despoiled
while they are absent from their estates, on which
they ought to be frequent, if not constant residents.
The tale is written with point and spirit, and is full of
characteristic sketches, not the least amusing of which
is the sketch of an Irish Squire of the Old School. The
third volume is the most entertaining; in the second,
the interest flags occasionally, and there are some
irrelevant matters introduced, which might have been
omitted, or at any rate curtailed with advantage.

TAXATION.
That tile' eitrrerit eipesePsee of every Government,
must be met fly a corresponding taXotion is an admitted
truism, but it is one of t6e highest proofs of political sa-
gacity rnd prudence to apply the burden in such a
manner and in clich proportions as will sprit the contin-
gencies of the different cleeses who contribute t,,r it. This,
however, it may be said, looks admirable in thecry, but
it would be extremely difficult to redttcc to actual prac-
tice, since there are so many interests to be consulted in
making laws, and the representatives of those iritcreats
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 detect 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 eyes 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 France, 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; and
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 cus-
tom by any sophistries which the landed proprietors can
produce on its behalf. In Prussia, Holland, Saxony,
Sweden, and Tuscany, all property is equally and in-
differently affected by the tax on succession. Each pays
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-
closure 3, No. 14 (from Sardinia, where the succession
to real property only is affected), is is stated, in excuse
for the imposition of the tax, 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 how 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 brar 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 statutes
respecting the tax that we have been discussing. No
good reason can there be why one species of inheritance
should be absolutely aid 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.

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, THURSDAY. —A special meet-
ing of the town council of this borough was held yester-
day in the Guildhall, for the purpose of assenting to,
or dissenting from, the formation of certain railways pro-
posed to pass through the town of Newcastle. There
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 intended
to cross the river Tyne by a bridge, at au 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 unites
all tha railway stations in one place, near Melville-street,
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 Town-moor, ter-
minating in Jesmond-fields, from whence it takes its
departure northward.

The Committee recommended Mr. Stephenson's line, as
most desirable for the interests of the town ; they sug-
gested, however, that a clause be inserted in the Act of
Parliament requiring tLe 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 MTh MAY.
Yesterday Mr. Baker held an inquest at the City of
Paris, Bishop Bonner's-fields, Bethnal-green, on the
body of Mr. W. May, aged forty-four, silk manufac-
turer, of King-street, Old Ford-lane. The evidence
condensed showed that the deceased bad been missing
since the 9th of last December, and his body was
not found until Thursday night last, when it was
discovered i❑ 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 bad 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 hot 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 cuts
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 severest
of the injuries described had been caused after death,
probably by the bottoms of the barges. lie 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 a week. Adjourned accordingly.

DONCASTER RACES.—The nominations, which close
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, 47;
Scarborough Stakes, 8; and for the Gascoigne Stakes,
10. For 1846, the nominations for the St. Leger amounthe
to 153, and the Park Hill, 39. There are also 9 fort,
Two Year Old Produce, and 8 for the Foal Stakes, 1847
The
nominations and 28 for the North of England Produce,
are
in
nominations for the St. Leger of next yetar
unprece-
dented in point of numbers; the highest
previously,be attributed
1841, being 135. This circumstance
The second horse will
1848.
to the recent alterations adopted.
the
stakes, and the
receive 300 sovereigns out
1 euration which will induce
third 100 sovereigns—an
atot come to the post than has
a greater number of horses
race w a
been the case since the period
h f.—Doncastthe
er Gazette.s altered
from 25 sous. pp. to 50
HEALTH OF SIR CHARLES METCALFE.—The
friends of Sir Charles Metcalfe have contradicted the ac-
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 true
that he had completely lost the sight of one eye, he was
not when the last advices came away in the " immenent
danger" described by our weekly Contemporary. Let-
ters have indeed been received from Sir Charles him-
self, dated Montreal, December 11, written in his own
hand, and in a more cheerful strain than those which
had previously been received from him.
THE NEW LAMBETH POLICE-couETS.—The new
Courts are found to be extremely inconvenient and cold,
and until the necessary alterations can be made Mr.
Henry and Mr. Norton, the magistrates, have deter-
mined to hold the Court in one of the rooms of the yri..
vate house in front of the premises in York-row, 4en-
sington-roacl,

PRESENT POSIT lON OF THE
ANTI-SLAVERY CAUSE.
(From the Anti-Slavery Reporter.)
The returning season engages us to take a mo-
mentary retrospect, and a cursory glance at our pre-
sent position.
During the past year we have seen, with regret,
the formation and partial execution, by the British
Government, of an extended plan for transporting
labourers from Africa and the East to the West India
colonies ; but we have to record, with satisfaction, the
stand taken by the Government against those pro-
visions of the colonial ordinances by which the pecu-
niary burden inseparable from the importation of
labourers would have been thrown on the population
at large. And we are not altogether without hope
that the experimental proof furnished to the Govern-
ment of the inefficacy in practice of the most skil-
fully devised regulations for securing the freedom of
emigration, and the aggravated mischiefs which are
resulting from the vast amount of emigration to
Mauritius, may induce an alteration of their course.
At home we have witnessed with high satisfaction
the introduction into British legislation of a principle
of fiscal regulation favouring the produce of i'ree
labour, from the practical operation of which we feel
warranted in anticipating the happiest effects.
The last year exhibits two new features of an en-
couraging kind in France. On the one hand we have
witnessed the origination of a monthly publication,
the French Abolitionist, devoted to the cause of eman-
cipation, and adapted to enlighten and interest the
public mind. On the other we have seen the public
mind itself for the first time roused to action. The
presentation to the Chamber of Deputies of petitions,
both numerously and respectably signed by the inha-
bitants of Paris and Lyons, calling for the imme-
diate and complete emancipation of the slaves in the
French colonies, which took place in the spring of
last year, constitutes a new epoch in the history of
anti-slavery effort in France ; and the commence-
ment, as we hope, of a series of efforts which cannot
but be crowned with ultimate success. The debate
which ensued on those petitions witnessed the conse-
cration to this great cause of some of the most distin-
guished talents in that kingdom.
In Holland an effort to advance the work of eman-
cipation has been made by the publication of a peri-
odical, entitled Contributions to a Knowledge of the
Dutch and Foreign Colonies, from the influence of
which much good may be expected. And we have
some reason to believe that, although no overt mea-
sure has yet been taken on the subject, the Govern-
ment is seriously directing its attention to the extinc-
tion of slavery in the Dutch colonies.
Of Sweden, happily, more than this can be said.
King Oscar, setting the first example on the part of
the crowned heads of Europe, of an act so noble, has
sent to the assembled States of that c )untry an inti-
mation of his desire to emancipate the slaves under
his dominion ; and it may be hoped that ways will
shortly be found to overcome the practical difficulties
of the question.
In Denmark, during the past year, an Anti-
Slavery Committee has been formed, consisting of
highly influential and respectable men. This body
have already presented a petition to the assembled
States, for. the early abolition of slavery in the Da-
nish colonies. This petition has, with the full con-
sent of the Government, been referred to a Committee,
whose report upon it is expected with interest.
Of Spain we have as usual to speak in terms of
regret. It is true that, at the present moment, there
is before the Cortes of that country a proposition for
annexing new penalties to the prosecution of the
slave-trade ; but experience forbids us to hope that
such a law, if passed, would prove anything else than
a dead letter.
In Portugal the same enlightened and patriotic men
who in the preceding year brought forward the ques-
tion of emancipation in the eastern possessions of that
country, have, during the past year, renewed the
discussion of it; thus doing themselves honour, and
authorising an anticipation of success at no distant
period.
The progress of the cause in the United States, we
rejoice to say, is beyond question. The recent Pre-
sidential election has called into vigorous action the
body of abolitionists now known as the Liberty party,
and has exhibited a most cheering increase in their
numbers and influence. Acquiring the respect of
both great parties in the Union, it is not too mu.‘lt
to expect that the balance of power may, ere long, be
in their hands.
Another cheering indication in the United States
is the progress of anti-slavery sentiment in ecclesias-
tical bodies. Very important proceedings have taken
place, in relation to slavery, in the Methodist Epis-
copal Church, in the Presbyterian, and several other
communions ; all of them making it evident that the
consciences of religious professors are extensively
touched by the appeals which have been made to
them, and warranting the assurance that the leaven
will rapidly leaven the whole lump.
It is an additional ground of encouragement, that,
after many battles (not fought in vain), the Legisla-
ture of the United States is at length open to the dis-
cussion of the great question of slavery; the rule of
Congress which required petitions all anti-slavery to
be laid on the table, commonly called the gag rule,
having, among the earliest acts of the present session,
been rescinded. It cannot be doubted that the friends
of freedom will avail themselves of the open door thus
set before them.
We can scarcely think it less than favourable to the
anti-slavery cause in the United States, that the pro-
slavery party have pursued with so much acrimony
the system of vexatious prosecution and revengeful
punishment, on the charge of aiding slaves to escape ;
since these proceedings must tend to awaken universal
disgust, and to combine humane persons of all parties
in opposition to a system requiring for its support
such detestable measures.
On the whole, the anti-slavery cause wears, we
think, a favourable aspect. The work to which we
apply ourselves, indeed, is vast, and the opposing in-
fluences we have to encounter are both powerful and
obstinate. Better elements, however, are in effective
operation ; and slavery is everywhere, by the deplor-
able mischiefs which it produces, aiding their progress.
No slave colony is prosperous or contented. We are
confident that none can be so; and we believe that, in
the end, emancipation will be accepted as the best
and only remedy for the many ills inseparabl -aad-
junct to the institution of slavery.