The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-20 00:00:00

Oxt*n_c

LONDON, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1845.

The House of Lords did not sit last evening.
The House of Commons met at Four e'clock.
The Chairman of the Sub-Committees on Standing
Orders brought up reports on several Railway Bills.
Various petitions were presented and notices of motion
given. Among these latter was one by Lord DUNCAN,
for Monday evening, for the repeal of the window tax.
Lord Gits.xviLLE SouEnsEr was understood to say
that he intended to propose that the House should
hold morning sittings, to commence en Friday, for the
purpose of disposing of the Railway Laws Consolidation
Bills; but the Noble Lord, as usual, spoke in so indistinct
a tone, that it was impossible clearly to understand what
he said. Indeed, Mr. AGLIONBY complained of the very
indistinct manner in which the Noble Lord had spoken,
and said, that although he had listened attentively, he
had not been able to catch one simgle word which the
Noble Lord had uttered.

After a short explanation from Sir J. GRAHAM on the
subject of one railway share which he had once possessed,
Sir R. PEEL,:in answer to Mr. M. MILNER, stated that
the Foreign Secretary had never communicated either to
the Austrian or Neapolitan authorities, or to the autho-
rities at Rome, respecting any particular designs isiedi-
fated at Corfu ; and that, so little apprehension had he
entertained that any attempt would be made from Corfu,
that no ectnmunication whatever had been made cn the
subject to the Governor of the lonian Islands. The fact
was, the expedition of the brothers BANDEIRA had taken
every one by surprise. No communication whatever had
been made to the parties themselves, inasmuch as it had
never been suspected that such an attempt was contem-
plated, and any impression that the Government had
allured these individuals to destruction, was erroneous
and without foundation.

Mr. GEO. Slam asked if the duty on sperm oil was
to be given up ?
Sir R. PEEL replied that, after January 5, 1849, the
duty would cease. The duty on whale oil would be
taken off at an earlier period.

After some conversation on the subject of the sugar
deities, the House resolved itself into a Committee of
Ways and Means, and
Mr. Romisucx moved the amendment of which he had
previously given notice, for extending the income-tax
to Ireland. The exigency that required the impsition
of the tax was common to the whole kingdom, and their
united wants should be met by their united means.
He therefore asked the Government to tax, not the
professions, not the trades, not even the offices in Ire-
land, but to tax the realised capital in that country
The Hon. Gentleman then taunted the agriculturalists
with their support of Sir H. PEEL, the manufacturers
with having been bribed into supporting the Budget,
and the Irish Members with having run away from
their posts. He thought it would be just to remove
the stamp duty, which fell on the retail tradesman,
and substitute for it a property-tax, which
would fall upon the rich landholder.
Mr. &LEM opposed the motion, as unjust to Ireland.
He defended his absent friends from the attacks which
had been made upon them, and concluded by urging
upon Parliament the necessity of giving good govern-
ment to Ireland, even in an economical point of view. If
they were to adapt their institutions to Ireland, instead
of attempting to adapt Ireland to their institutions, they
,would make money by it, for they would secure peace,
which would throw open a vast field of enterprise in
Ireland, and in the prosperity of Ireland they would for
all their munificence be usuriously repaid.
Sir JouN TYRRELL supported the motion.
Mr. WILLIAMS had heard nothing from the Hon.
Member for Dangarvon to show that this tax ought not
to be imposed on the landlords of Ireland.

Mr. Ross, Lord BERNARD, and Mr. BELLEW, defended
the Irish landlords from the attacks which had been
made upon them by the Honourable Member for Bath.
A smart and somewhat angry discussion ensued, in the
course of which the words " foul calumnies" were used
by Mr. NEWDIQ&TE, who, on being called to order, apo-
logised to the House. At length
Sir R. PEEL rose, and admitted that, although strict
justice might require the extension of the tax to Ireland,
yet, as there was no machinery for its collection in that
country, the creation of the machinery would be so ex-
pensive, that the Government would not be justified, in
an economical point of view, in proposing its creation ;
therefore, he considered that it would be better to
accept from Ireland an equivalent fur the property-tax,
and, comparing the benefit which would accrue to Eng-
land from the removal of the impert duties with that
which would accrue to Ireland, the latter country would
not be justly dealt with if the property-tax were im-
posed on her.

The di,eussion was continued for some time after the
Right Hon. Gentleman had sat down, Mr. Sergeant
MURPHY, MY. WALLACE, Colonel SIBTHORP, Lord
PALMERSTON, and several other Hon. Members taking
part in it, after which the Committee divided, when
their appeared for the amendment 33, against it 275.
The Committee then divided on the original resolu-
tion, when there appeared for it 228, against it 30.
The other orders cf the day were then disposed of,
and the House adjourned at One o'clock.

The clever speech in which Mr. ROEBUCK last
night brought forward his unsuccessful amendment
on Sir ROBERT PEEL'S proposition for renewing the
income-tax, sth Vxcroau —namelv, And that the
provisions of the said Act, as tar as regards the tax
on property, be extended to Ireland "—provoked a
somewhat smart debate. Nor is this any matter for
wonder. The warmest and most consistent friends
to the great principle of "justice to Ireland" might
well imagine themselves not precluded from advo-
cating, with equal earnestness, "justice to England."
When a people conceive that they are unnecessarily
subjected to an odious and inquisitorial impost, they
are very apt to become at least didactic on the enor-
mity of grinding taxation, in general. But when they
find themselves selected, exclusively, to bear the whole
of the detestable burden, and their brethren and

compatriots of one great integer of the national union
or confederacy, to which they belong, altogether
exempted from it, that people are sure to perceive
the practical hardship they suffer through so invidious
and unequitable a distinction. Their protest and
remonstrances against the unfairness complained of
become animated and indignant in proportion to the
distinctness with which they can detect it. Those
remonstrances and that protest have found a caustic
and sharp-witted exponent in Mr. ROEBUCK. In the
very first course he ran at Sir Ronsa-r, he fairly un-
horsed his adversary. He pushed the Premier home
with the undeniable discrepancy between his own
avowed plea of Friday night last, in apology
for the heavy tax he had to propose the con-
tinuance of, on property and income, " that
it was in order to meet and satisfy the com-
mon exigencies of the country," with the fact of his
having excepted Ireland from its operation. If the
exigencies to be provided for by the stringent and
extraordinary course the Minister has taken be com-
mon, in relation to all the components of the United
Kingdom, why was Ireland to be thus invidiously
released from her liability to her proportionable con-
tribution ? If those exigencies do not affect Ireland,
why was it not shown that they could affect the
condition and interests of England, Scotland,
and Wales, only ? " Frotn Tamworth Tower to
Leddlesdale" is not one• twentieth part of the distance
of Sir Roneser PEEL's:reply from these interroga-
tories. The Right Hon. Baronet faced about to
make a showy feint at tha granite outworks of Mr.
JOSEPH HUME. He hovered about that Hon. Mem-
ber's speech with all kinds of unwonted courtesies,
salutes, and compliments, at the expense of a speech
which was delivered on Friday by an Hon. and Gal-
lant Conservative follower of the Right Hon. Baro-
net, which speech the latter unkindly characterised as
" very foolish," and in a moment of unpremeditated
candour, admitted that " he had heard it with dismay."
Characteristic soothing, this, to be sure, for the
Irish Tory agricultural interest. A leaf, if you will,
out of the same primer, "Discouragement to the
Landed Proprietary made easy," from which, if we