The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-02 00:00:00

P ÜBLIC OPINION.

The Times, referring to Mr. Roebuck's amendment on the
Income-tax, says :—" The unfairness of the Balls palpably, as
Sir Robert Peel put it, that it does not take into account the
duration as well as the amount of the incomes which it taxes.
This injustice Mr. Roebuck does not d st:nctly negative; but
ho does this—finding that all persons to be taxe I are arranged
under several s,thedules, one of which embraces no incomes of
an abAllutely permanent character; and very many of a more
precarious nature than can be at all found in the other srhe-
dules, he proposes at once to exempt this schedule, and this
schedule only, from one-half (the fairness of the proportion
we do no: here discuss) of the impost, as a rough approxima-
tion to justice. An approximation it would be, but one of an
unlucky character. Instead of being what it ought. to be, a
remission of a certain amount of taxation inequitably imposed,
it takes the shape in Mr. Roebuck's hands of a concession to
certain particular interests."

The Herald says:—" 111 r. Roebuck's expedient would not, !
if adopted, have relieved trade, profession, and mental labour,
from the odious inquiries of the tax assessor and commisrioners;
but the removal of some portion of the grievance where the
inquisitorial powers will be greatest, and their results most
opptessive, would have withdrawn a little of the bitterness front
the most nauseous draught that has been effered to the middle
classes since the war. No man in the House of Commons de-
nied that Schedule D would inflict a monstrous injustice on all
who will be driven by the exposure of their affairs into its
grasp, No one could deny that Mr. Roebuck's amendment
would mitigate that injustice; but that amendment was re-
jected because. other acts of injustice would also be thereby
lessened. There might have been something in this excuse
had there been any equality in the injustice to be perpetrated
by all the schedules; but the excess of injustice to be inflicted
by Schedule D is so much greater than the combined injustice
of all the rest, that this excuse is a contemptible piece of special
pleadi
The Post has the following rema: ks:—" The proposition to
tax incomes derived from trades and professions at only half
the rate of incomes derived from preperty, was supported by a
respectable minority, aad yet the support was much less than
many may have expected from the zeal with which some Con-
servative Journals have maintained the same views as those
brought forward by Mr. Roebuck. And it is to be remarked,
too, that the debate upon this Occasion—including the speeches
against the' Government proposal, as well as those in its
favour—was unusually able. The arguments brought forward,
and the temper in which they were brought forward, made the
Aiseussien of to dry. &subject highly interesting, and showed
that in some cases, at all events, we have no reason to be
a.bamed of our present House of Commons, including the
Ore osition."
We quote the following from the Chronicle :-•;-" At last
Sir Robert Pell has been beaten! And by whom? What
worthy and sufficient cause has dissolve t the union of his ad-
herents, and combined friends and fees into a majority against
him ; Is it the pressure of the Income-tax ? Is it the par-.
todity of his mode of applying free trade so as to ruin the hum-
bler monopolists, while he leaves the greater unscathed? Or
is it a general indignation against the deceit by which he ac-
quired rower ? He has been beaten by his own party, even
when supported by
.almost all those of his habitual opponents
who chanced to be in the house when this unexpt cted division
took place at an unusual hour. And the cause which has led
to this sudden insurrection of the Tories against their leader
was nothing but the irrepressible desire of the bulk of the
party to shield the agents of their corrupt practices, and throw
obstacles in the way of discovering truth in a particular case.
Banded in a cause so dear to them, Tories could not be ex-
pected to listen even to Sir Robert Peel; and for daring to
oppose corruption in a l arliarnent of his own collecting, the
Minister has paid the penalty of being outvoted."
'I he Leeds Times, in advising various reformatory measures
in our legislation, remarks:—" We call our country a free
country ; and yet not more than one human being in thirty,
in Or, at Britain, has any political existence. The great mass
of the people are compelled to obey laws to which they have
never given their consent. The non-represented classes are
ruled by the represented classes. They are taxed without
their consent ; and taxation, as has been declared by Lord
Camden, is a tyranny of the very worst kind."
The present condition of the country is thus viewed by the
Liverpool Journal :—" It is a painful and unparalleled spec-
tacle, at this season of the year, to behold, in every part of the
kingdom, signs of stagnation, torpor, and despair. It is idle to
lay the blame on the delay of the tariff. The passing of that
measure can do little fur us. The fall in the price of food is
fully anticipated, but there is mac reason to fear a rise in the
price of wheat, and a further import, than any beneficial change."
ay.LO.I.‘MX--TlZ.tl:l3Z—coiya.:Vl7.at.C;A:.
To-morrow is fixed for the adjourned meeting, under the
fiat issued against the Messrs. Wigney. The examination is
expected to la-t two days.
At Bradford and Huddersfield trade during the past week
has been limited; at Halifax, Hohnfirth, Leicester, and Leeds,
dull; at Manchester and Oldham, stationary; Rochdale is
weekly growing worse.
The stock of bullion in the Bank has been gradually on the
increase since the beginning of last year. In January 1841 it
only 3,557,0001., while according to the last return it was, en
the 23,1 of April, 6,590,0001.
' At the anniversary meeting of the Royal Society of Litera-
ture, the report read stated the income of the past year to have
been 13741. lie. 3d., leaving, after all eakenditure, a balance of
1241. 3s. 6d. Lord Colborne was chosen Vice-President it,
the room of the Duke of Sutherland.
PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.

New barracks are about to be formed in the Tower ; tlie
moat, it is said, is to be filled up, surveys having been for some
making for the purpose.
.LECTI ONEZIVENG.

The writ for the Brighton election has been received;
Thursday next is fixed for the nomination, and Friday for the
polling
The announcement at Blackburn, on Thursday, of Mr.
Turner's defeat, in his petition against the return of Mr. Homer,
led to a disturbance. The windows of Mr. ilernby's Com-
mittee-room were demolished by the work-people, and on the
appearance of the military, Mr. Astley, a stationer, aged 52,
lost his life.