The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-01 00:00:00

DARLINGTON.

On Wednesday afternoon, the 30th ult., a highly re-
spectable meeting was held in the Town-hall, convened
by circular, for the purpose of taking into consideration
the income tax proposed by Sir Robert Peel. Edward
Pease, Esq., having been called to the chair, expressed
in strong terms his aversion to a tax of this kind, con-
tending that no necessity existed for such an impost, and
gave instances of its harrassing, operation when a tax of
this kind was last in force. The meeting was also' ad-
dressed in a similar strain by Joseph Pease, sen., Esq.,
Edward Oxley, John Kipling, and John -Nixon, Esqrs.,
all uniting in denouncing the " financial scheme" of Sir
R. Peel as most unjust and inquisitorial,: and a Commit-
tee was appointed to draw up an address to the Queen,
and a petition to the House of Lords, expressive of the
views of the meeting; and the Committee have since agreed
upon the follOwinglor signature and presentation. The
meeting was most unanimous, and but for the short no-
tice allowed would have been more numerously attended,
as the measure is very unpopular in this dikrict.
respectability of the meeting was, hOweVer, unquestion-
able :

To THE RIGHT HONOURABLE. THE LORDS IN PAR-
LIAMENT ASSEMBLED. •
The humble petition of the undersigned Gentlenien,
Bankers, Merchants, Traders, and other Inhabitants
of the town of Darlington : •
Sheweth,—That your petitioners respectfully beg to
call your Lordships' most serious attention. to the:Bill
now in progress to raise the supplies by imposing a tax

upon income. -
It appears to your petitioners that a tax so oppressive,
and so inquisitorial in its operation ought never' to be
reortecl to in a free, and more particularly in a com-
mercial country, except upon the most urgent ne-
cessity,when every other source has failed to supply
the deficiency of the revenue. This, we. submit,
is not applicable to the state of the country,
no such necessity having been shown to Justify the im-
posing so vexatious a burden as an income tax upon the
people. Your petitioners urge 'to your Lordships, in the
most decided manner, that the projected obnoxious mea-
sure of an income tax, if passed into a law, would in-
flict the deepest injury on the industry of those engaged
in trade and commerce, and from the inquisitorial pro-
cess adopted in levyinr, it, would cause a most injurious
exposure of the affairs of individuals, destroy that
confidence which is so essential to the prosperity
of (trade, and surround our commercial transac-
tions with an intricate webb of espionage disgraceful
to a Government based on constitutional principles.
For these reasons your petitioners most respectfully
entreat your Lordships to reject any bill by which the
trade and commerce of the country would be so deeply
injured, which it must inevitably be, if so unjust and
inquisitorial a measure, as that now proposed by her
Majesty's Ministers, should be passed into a law.
And your petitioners will ever pray.
N.B.—Both the address and the petition were signed
by those present, and they have been already signed
by a large number of the inhabitants of Darlington.
" TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

" We, the dutiful and loyal subjects of your Majesty,
the undersigned gentlemen, bankers, merchants, traders,
and other inhabitants of the town of Darlington, beg
leave, humbly and respectfully, to represent to your Ma-
jesty that we have heard with great apprehension and
regret that a tax is about to be revived on the income
arising from trades and professions, and which we hum-
bly beg leave to state is, in the opinion of your peti-
tioners, most unjust in principle, and will be found most
oppressive in its operation. _

" That such a tax is considered by your petitioners as
only justifiable as a last resource, in a period of extreme
danger and distress, and that there is nothing in the pre-
sent state of the nation which either requires or justifies
its imposition.
" That many also of your petitioners have too much
reason to remember the great oppression and hardship
which attended the collection of such a' tax on a former
occasion, the sufferings which from its compulsory pay-
ment it entailed on the middle classes of the community,
and the consequences which followed the unavoidable
exposure of the affairs of individuals, repulsive to every
sentiment of propriety and good feeling, and which your
petitioners most humbly beg leave to state was utterly
contrary to the principles of constitutional freedom, and
the just rights and privileges of Englishmen.
" Your petitioners, therefore, humbly and earnestly
pray your Majesty not to give your royal sanction to
theimposition upon your people of any tax upon income.
" And your petitioners will ever pray."

ST. MARTIN'S IN THE FIELDS REGISTRA-
TION AND REFORM SOCIETY.
Last evening a meeting of the above society was held
at the Cambrian Tavern, Castle-street, Leicester- square,
for the purpose of taking into consideration what mea-
sures they should pursue in reference to the proposed
tariff of her Majesty's Ministers,
Mr. GMAGAN having been called to the chair,
Mr. ELLts, in moving the following resolution—" That
this society do protest against so unjust and inquisitorial
a law as unnecessary while real property does not pay a
farthing towards the burdens of the State"—said
that the resolution was most congenial to his
feelings. He, as a shopkeeper, with others,
bad exerted themselves, and had succeeded in paying
taxes without the inquisitorial interference of a com-
missioner calling upon them to look into their books.—
(Hear.) He when first a housekeeper, paid 201. a-year
for the income tax, and at one time he was not able to
pay it when called fin• ; the consequence of which was
that an execution was put on his goods, and if he had
not immediately paid it the execution would have been
put in form—(lean)
Mr. MIREHOUSE seconded the resolution.
Mr. SOAMES made a few remarks in favour of the in-
come tax.

Mr. GRANT felt surprised that any gentleman should
give his support to a measure of such an inquisitorial
character.

Mr. AUSTIN, a solicitor, observed that he had met many
professional gentlemen, who were Tories, and who depre-
cated the introduction of the income tax. It might happen
that an attorney had not an income above 2001. a-year, and
that a person might be willing to engage him in under-
taking a cause in the litigation of which thousands would
have to pass through his hands, but on going to Somer-
set-house, finding the amount of his income not to ex-
ceed 2001. a year, he would refrain from entrusting the
management of his affairs to him. Was it, therefore,
not evident that the tax was inquisitorial ? A tax of a
more oppressive nature could not be proposed.
The CHAIR3IAN suggested, as an amendment to the
resolution, that " real property does not pa' a farthing
to the burdens of the State," should be added, "in the
shape of probate or property duty," as he considered
that if a probate duty were passed, there would be no
necessity for an income tax.
The resolution, as amended, after a few observations
from Messrs. Ilockon, Vurfleet, &c., was agreed to.

• SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—The position of Sir Robert Peel, as
head of the Government, is at the present mo-
lt-tent the most humiliating that can be predicated
of a Prime Minister. The grand panacea which
Ile engaged to -furnish for the financial embar-
rassments of the Exchequer and the deep com-
mercial distress of the country, and which he
•took several months to concoct—so pressing was
the danger, and so imperative the necessity for
cn4ideratiott and skill in the practitioner—has
bF en received with chagrin by his own party, and
with decided opposition by the country. Day after
:day arrives; but, instead of bringing any inti-
, mai ion of subdued feelings of dislike on the
part of the opponents of Government, or any
newly-kindled sentiments of approval from those
who profess to be favourable to its continuance
iii office, each new day opens with the horizon of
public opinion still clouded. Every token of an
approaching storm with which the sunset marks
the sun's arise. The Times refuses to utter a
single sentence in approbation of the obnoxious
tax. The Herald makes no sign of coming to
the rescue of the Premier from the threatened
demolition of his projected impost. The Post
alone evinces any sympathy with the Minister in
this the season of his difficulty. • But the support
derived from this quarter is rather damaging than
beneficial to the measure. The only consolation
to the Right Hon. Baronet, which breathes
through the columns of the sympathizing, organ,
is derived from the " majmity".in the Commons,
which the landlords have supplied to him for
their own purposes. In other words, let not the
Premier be perplexed and dispirited by the
coldness of friends and the opposition of
enemies—let him not suffer his courage to
cool, nor his purpose to fail—there is a ma-
jority in the House sufficiently devoted to his
pleasure to enable him to pass whatever he
thinks proper to propose : he may therefore safely
enjoin silence on his colleagues, lest they expose
.themselves by manifesting their ignorance ; and,
leaving the debate in the hands of the Opposition,
calmly wait for the division. This may be pru-
dent, but it is insolent, and will at no distant pe-
riod provoke retaliation, against -Which the pha-
lanx providedby the landowners will be unable to
protect the Minister. Even the journal which ad-
ministers the cordial, infuses ingredients into the
cup of most bitter qualities, which do not merely
neutralise the sweetness of the flatterino-sugges-
tions, but absolutely overpower their effect. The
Post admits that the Bill cannot pass in the
form announced by the Premier in the elaborate
speech by which he introduced the resolutions:
•it must be altered—modified, improved. This
is faint praise—questionable support, considering
the quarter whence it emanates, and that, of the
entire morning press in- the interest of Govern-
ment, the Post is the only journal which has
uttered a single sentence in aid of the Premier's
• scheme.
STANDARD.—We have already shown that
the pretence of rude intrusion by public officers
is perfectly false, and now we add, equally false
is it to say, as the Globe says, that " the officers
appointed under the law will have authority to
inspc.‘et any man's ledger." Every man's ledger,
and every man's house, will be sacred from in-
spection or intrusion, and the only case in which
the privacy of the ledger can be violated is that
in which the owner himself shall produce it in
a defence against the charge of the surveyor, be-
fore a private tribunal sworn to secresy. But
'such cases were very rare under the old income
tax, and they will be still more rare under that
which is proposed. To make a false return
for the saving of 3 per cent. is much less proba-
ble than the making a false return for the
saving of 10 per cent. If a man acknowledged
-any. income, he could scarcely venture to re-
duce it more than 1001. per annum below the
truth under any circumstances; but as this
Would save hini no more than 31., he would
."liardly incur the inconvenience .and eclat of a
surcharge .for that sum, though he might to save
•I • • 7 10/ but what can seldom happen, will he even I
less frequently suspected, and except in ex-
tremely fiacgrant cases no surcharge willbe heard
of. We do not say that the millowners of
1842 -may not act as Mr. Charles Buller says
-the InilloWners. of 1816 acted, but are we to
have them brought forward as objects of public
sympathy. These gentlemen boast to have
realised more than the whole landed capital of
the United Kingdom in about 25 years—that
is, according-,to Mr. Macqueen's calculation,
1,900,000,000, or, in round numbers, two thousand
millions, being at the rate of eighty millions a
year. This, questionless, looks like exaggeration ;
but mark, if it be exaggeration, it is not ours,
but the exaggeration of the millowners them,
selves, and whatever it is there must be some
foundation for it. Whether the millowners realise
eighty millions, or eight millions, or the tenth part
of the latter sum in each year, surely they ought to
contribute some part of it to the public service;
. and we can imagine no means of reaching
any part of it but an income tax—no means
of ensuring an income tax which must
. not involve the necessity of bringing per-
- verse and dishonest men occasionally to
Ir)ok. • Such men only, however, will give
occasion for surcharges or inquiry. We
repeat it, that the incomes of 999 out of every
thousand men-Lindeed, we may say, of all honest
n'en—are as well known within a few pounds to
. their neighbours as to themselves. They will
give no trouble and will be subjected to none.