The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-03 00:00:00

ett

.0/* LONDON
TUESDAY MORNING. MAY 3, 1842.

We consider that nearly every clause of the In-
come-tax Bill requires to be revised to make it in-
telligible; and that the whole Bill ought to be re-cast
to enable the people to understand it. Our represen-
tatives take a different view, and they hurried through
half the Bill last night, as if it had been a common
Turnpike Act, instead of an Act depriving us of our
property and our freedom. One of the great reasons
for this hasty proceeding is the impatience of the
people to have the tariff. Sir R. PEEL has most cun-
ningly announced certain alterations in the Customs
duties, which have paralyzed trade till they are carried
into effect. Hence the trading community are extremely
anxious to have the tariff settled, and they are even
illing to purchase its speedy settlement by submit-
tin.; to the Income-tax. By the most paltry
br b 3 that ever was offered to a people the
hi lbe of cattle, which will never be brought in, and
of trade, which will never accrue from the measure,
Sir H. PEEL has obtained a cheerful acquiescence in
one of the most gross and bungling pieces of in-
justice that ever a' Minister perpetrated. That the
nation has purchased PEEL'S tariff by an Income-tax
will be a reproach to it in all time to come.

Both Mr. LAnoucHERE and Lord JOHN :RUSSELL
voted against Mr. ROEBUCK'S proposition to reduce
the rate of the Income-tax on industrial incomes, be-
cause they would not impair that tax when it may be
required for war. Sir ROBERT PEEL hag on several
occasions made remarks in a similar spirit. He will
exempt no class now, because no class should be
exempted during war. Motives of that k ind ought
to dictate to all these statesmen, who impose, this tax
in peace—when no great pressure urges therm forward,
and they have ample time to deliberate—to frame it
throughout as equitably as possible, so that i t may be
easily extended or applied during war to r aise any
necessary sum with the least injury or injustice to
the people. That is equally the duty of Lord JOIIN
RUSSELL and Mr. LABOUCHERE as of Sir ROBERT
PEEL; and looking at their conduct, not :Ls popular
leaders—a character they seem inclined to )7eject with
disdain—but as candidates for the Mini dry here-
after, we cannot comprehend their votes a gainst Mr.
ROEBUCK'S motion. They were of opini( >t) that his
motion would lessen the deformities of the tocx , making
it, therefore; more proper during war, and yet they
voted against it. Speaking of them as stal esmen—
not as popular leaders—we do not understand their
conduct.

Prudent and provident politicians, aware he .w much
our revenue depends on commerce, and Inn v exten-
sively our commerce may be interrupte d in war
—for they: cannot expect, with the grow ing mari-
time power of the United States, to have the same
command of the sea hereafter, as during ; the great
French war—might take calm and wise • measures
during peace to provide for the exigencies of war, and
one of those measures might be a complete revision of
our syStem of taxation, including a well-del ised In-
come-tax, against which neither classes no: 7 indivi-
duals should have any reason to complain. Unques-
tionably, such a tax must be the main resoure e in time
of war, and, consequently, Sir:R. PEEL shottl d not, in
peace,
,propose it, unless it be made tus just as
possible. No other statesman should su ft ar such
a tax to 'pass--if he would not wholly re list it—
without puggesting and enforcing every imr ovement
in it of which it Was susceptible. Upon th al tax the
national credit, and even the national rode i ndence,
may be ultimately based, and therefore pri ident and
provident statesmen of all parties, imposir g it in a
time of peace, should labour zealously to make it
perfect. "
..
( onsidering ROEBUCK'S suggestion ;ts an im-
provement in the tax, we therefore cannot al 7 Tove of
the condUct of the ,Ministers; hut, look ina at the
tax under this huge aspect, it is a complete dist 4 ace to
Sir RoIIEUT PEEL'S Ministry. Instead of fat iming
an almost perfect measure, he has taken Mr. 2 PITT'S
plan, and tord LANSDoONE's plan, which those: s. tates-
men adopted in great haste, and under great p irecsure,
when all the faculties of the people were abs( abe d in
a great eon'test ; and, adopting its absurd se hedt des,
he has introduced that measure into the pres mt P ar-
liament. He and his colleagues seem, they efc,re, to
disdain the'light of knowledge, and to be con& !Tr t with
acting in #w dark ignorance which always pr ev: Ails in
a time of tiatnult.
According' to Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Bill, he n lakes
no distinction :between incomes which last for Ili e, or
for a term Ofi'y:iiirs, and those which are perpea ial ;
none between t4,..i"nconaes which are the reseal t of
property already- realised, and, therefore, as stabs as
property itself, and those which depend on daily it
vidual exertion, and are as uncertain as health ; a one
between the incomes which the State confer s or
guarantees---stich as the income of the land] or's,
kept up by it Corn-law, or those it gives the 13ai *of
England by its charter, and those which it neither con-
fers nor guarantees, but only taxes, such as those of '-.the
merchant, and farther, and fishermen, who gain t he jr
annual income by the daily sweat of their own brow , it
dependent of any protection from the State. It m: Ike
no distinction between casual incomes and thos
which are definite and constant ; but, with a broad and
a rude hand, condemns all income, without reference
to its source or its nature, to pay the same rate to
the State. This is rough injustice. In order to
make such a tax available in war, all these points
ought now to be considered ; and not to consider-
them is to be short-sighted.... It'L a Mere iiving from,
hand-to-mouth statesmensitip, Worthy of GOULBURN,
but unworthy of the reputation which PER:. lats gained,
It is neither within the compass of our Journal,
nor our inforrnation, to draw up an outline of a per-
fect income -tax, settling the payment of eVety class in
proportion to its means—to the permanency-- those
means, ar Fose
(I
means, and to their source—in realized and n-
teed property, or in unprotected industry ; nt can, without any hesitation or doubt, say ) .we 4
that a
thoughtful statesman would not have abruptly
re-
jected
Mr. Romlactes amendment without a ppiy•na• some more equitable principle, to Schedule D -thani
prorosed by Sir R. PEEL. He leaves it una. than
is
all its original rudeness and deforrniti; and its injus-
tice is so glaring that both the Times and tl le Herald
condemn it in strong terms. A party feeli n might
have prevented •Sir R. PEEL from re-consif lergin that
cause i a statelman-iike view of it woul, boge

tated, we think, some observations to the following
effect :

I admit that this clause includes incomes of Va-
rious kinds, subject to various differences. There
.ire, as my Right Hon. Friend the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEOUER says, the incomes of an old esta-
blished banking-house, like that of the Messrs.
COUTTS or HOARE, the profit in which is as certain
and as easy of attainment as the rent of the Duke of
BEDFORD'S or BUCKINGHAM'S estates; and there are

the incomes of a physician and a barrister, every guinea
of which depends on his own personal exertions. It in-
cludes the incomes of great brewers, like the Messrs.
BARCLAY and PERKINS, and the yearly salaries of
their head brewer, clerks, and foremen. It includes the
vast proceeds of discount brokers, such as Mr. GUR-
NEY and Mr.OVEREND, who turn over a million a year,
and gain 30.0001. or 40,0001. by the operation ; and
it includes the weekly pittance of newspaper com-
positors, reporters, and editors. It includes the
revenue of princely merchants like the Messrs.
i BARING and ROTHSCHILD, and it includes the hard-
earned fees which are given for the daily and nightly
labours of surgeons and apothecaries. It includes the
proceeds of manufactures, embracing the enormous
incomes heaped up by a PEEL, an ARKWRIGHT, a
RUNDELL, a GALT, a MARSHALL, a GRANT, or a
GREG ; and it includes almost the humblest publican
and retail trader. I must, therefore, admit that
clause embraces incomes of very different characters,
which ought not to be taxed to the same degree, nor
on the same principle. While lam disposed to agree
that the income derived from daily toil, or industrial
incomes, should in some way be spared, I cannot
assent to reducing the tax on those gigantic incomes
which are embraced by this clause, and which the Hon.
Member's amendment would rate at only 34-d. per
pound. The Hon. Member has not comprehended
apparently the extent of the Schedule I), which is
a wide net with small meshes taking in the Levia-
thans of the monied world, and entangling the smallest
fish which swim."

"It strikes me that the income included in this
clause may be divided into two classes. The first are
incomes derived from capital actively employed in
trade, and managed by its owner ; they consist chiefly
of profit. The second are incomes exclusively derived
from salaries, wages, and fees, of which profit forms
no part. The persons who gain the latter, employ no
capital, except that . which may have been vested in
their education and talents, which kind of capital the
persons who gain income
.from the former source also
possess. Many persons of both classes, such as
hankers, master manufacturers, publicans, shop-
keepers, and apothecaries, are in the receipt both of
profit from the capital they employ in their busi-
ness, arid of an income, which is in reality the
salary of their professional skill. There may be some
difficulty to distinguish between the former and the
latter. It would be necessary to ascertain the capital a
he employs, and allow him on that the average rate of
interest ; the remainder of his income might be con-
iidered as his professional salary. He would have to
report both classes to the Commissioners. This rule
would apply to all trades ; and, having made this dis-
tinction, instead of lumping all kinds of trades, pro-
fessions, and vocations under one schedule, I will
place the capitalists in a schedule along with the
landlords, and I will tax them full 7d. in the pound,
,ma their profit, and I will levy a smaller per centage
on all incomes derived from fees, salaries, and wages.
For that portion of their income which is not profit,
but the salary of professional skill, they shall pay a
smaller per centage, I will not say whether it shall
be the half, or 31d., as proposed by the
Honourable Member for Bath ; the amount
must be the subject for much consideration. I must
go into the market, and ascertain the estimated
value of incomes ; but I am quite clear that FEES, SA-
LARIES, and WAGES should not be subject to the
same rate of taxation as PROFIT from capital or
RENT of land, which is income realised without any
trouble, and realised especially by the guarantee and
protection of the State."

A wise and thoughtful statesman would, we think,
have made that distinction amongst others, and would
have taken time to work it fairly out. Sir R. PEEL,
by his exemption of all incomes less than 1501., ad-
mits that those who have not much should not be called
on to pay; and, by a parity of reasoning, he admits that
those who have something more than 1501., derived
from uncertain wages, fees, or salaries, should not pay
so much as men with 3,0001. or 4,0001. a-year, derived
from capital, which income is as certain as rent, or as
the annuities paid by the State. He will find, there-
fore, by that admission, and by not working it out
fairly through all classes and descriptions of income,
that he proposes to commit a gross injustice, and that
his Income-tax, if passed in its present unlicked, unsci-
entific form, instead of being the sure basis of a great
revenue for all kinds of exigencies, will be so hated
that it will be thrown off, and his whole system of
finance be tumbled to the ground. 'We do not advocate
the tax ; we have only endeavoured to show on one
point, what an imperfect, wretched, bungling contri-
vance it is, with regard to those objects which Sir R.
PEEL, and that class of statesmen, seek to obtain.

Mr. T. DUNCOMBE last night presented to the
House of Commons the petition of those who have
ranged themselves under the banner of the Charter.
It bears the incredible number of 3,315,752 signa-
tures, all of the industrious classes, and is, we con-
sider, well worthy of the attention of politicians and
of the public. We know a little of the classes who
have signed the petition, and it is our solemn convic-
tion that they do not use such language, as " where
representation is denied, taxation ought to be re-
sisted," without meaning to act on what they say
whenever they find an opportunity favourable to their
success. After making all reasonable reduction in
the amount of the signatures, the number of petitioners
will be so vast, and the language they use is so strong,
that the circumstance must be regarded as most signi-
ficant of the state of the people.
It is clear that they have lost all respect for the law ;
they have some respect, but not much for the power
of the ruling classes ; they have some dread of the
police and the military, but these will, in the end, be
found feeble substitutes for willing obedience and
affection. Three million discontented petitioners,
forming the very heart, bones, and muscles of the com-
munity, protesting against almost all our institu-

tions, condemning the expense of the Monarchy,
severely reprehending the wealth and avarice of
our anti-Christian priesthood, arguing that the
whole system of representation, and consequently of
law-making, is unjust, is, we crave leave to state with
all the earnestness in our power, a phenomenon un-
exampled in the history of mankind, and not to be
dealt with by the ordinary rules of policy. This is
one of those cases for which the " file affords no prece-
dent," and we earnestly implore her MAJESTY'S Mi-
nisters to look at it calmly and dispassionately. Hove.
do they mean to govern this mass of men in spite of
their own opinions ? How do they mean to coerce
them ? How can they hope to enforce a law which
the bulk of the community despise ? These are not
trifling questions, nor are these trifling difficulties.
They are not to be successfully grappled with by an
income-tax and a tariff. The condition of England,
in a much larger sense than Sir R. PEEL has chosen
to take it up in, as exemplified by the opinions of the
people, will force itself on the attention of the Go-
vernment.

Lord ASHBURTON has arrived in the United States.
His Lordship will find plenty to do in the accomplish-
ment of his mission to occupy him for several weeks.
HoGAN, whose arrest and dismissal by the authorities at
Lockport, on a charge of being concerned in the burning
of the Caroline steamer, was noticed at the time, is again in
custody. He ventured a second time into the United
States, and was arrested upon old c!iarges at the suit
)1 a rascally Sympathiser named quELLEiii. This
troublesome affair must be disposed of before anything
else can be thought of. Then there is the war between
:Mexico and Texas, which will increase the difficulties
about settling the Boundary Question. The rumour
in New York was that the Mexicans invaded
Texas in two bodies to the number of 21,000
men, and that they were marching towards San Antonio
de Bexar, and Goliad, and Victoria. We would
take a bet that the Mexican army is less than ore-
fourth of the strength abov.,., stated. We feel quite
certain that the invading Mexican army is not 5,000
strong, and also that if it penetrates far into Texas not
a tithe of it will ever return to Mexico. In the United
States, the excitement in favour of the Texans is
naruense. Munitions of war for the Texans were col-
lo,',ting at New Orleans, and crowds of Sympathisers were
collating in the frontier States, ready to march to
Galveston to the support of their friends. What we have
now mos; to fear, is the annexation of Texas to the

United States. That is what all the Sympathisers are
looking forward to.

The Railway Bill occupies the French Chamber of
Deputies to the exclusion of everything else. On Thurs-
day and Friday the debates upon it-were very animated.
but the subject is wholly without interest to English
readers. The new Minister of Finance is exceedingly
sanguine as to the inexhaustibility of the national re-
sources. lie is for commencing all the proposed lines
without a moment's delay, and for carrying them on
simultanbously with the fortifications of Paris.
There is a good deal of miscellaneous news in the
French Papers, of which all that is most interesting will
be found either in our Foreign Summary, or the sub-
joined extracts.
A circular has been addressed by the Director-General of
Customs to the different Customs-houses in France, announcing
that, as the Government of Russia and the United States have
consented to exempt French vessels entering their ports by
stress of weather, from payment of tonnage duty, there is to be
reciprocity in favour of Russian and American vessels in French
ports under similar circumstances, as is the ease with all the
other countries which have consented to this reciprocal engage-
ment.

The Carlsruhe Gazette has the following letter from Vienna,
of April 2l :—" Several German journals, copying certain
English and French papers, have repeated that the mission of
M. Pageot, was for the purpose of negotiating a marriage be-
tween Queen Isabella 11. and a Prince of the house of Bavaria.
If such was the object of M. Pageot's mission, he might have
spared himself the trouble of coming here, fur the Northern
Powers would never agree to a plan, the result of which would
be to deprive the family of the Bourbons of the throne of Spain
Gazette de France.