The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-28 00:00:00

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SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
(FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.)
GLOBE.—It must be admitted that the proposal
of extending to land the existing taxes on the succes-
sion to personal property is not at present what can be
called a practical question ; that is to say, it is not a
question there is much practical prospect of carrying.
-Neither is it what can •be called • a party question.
There are conscious and unconscious landed predilec-
tions on both sides the House. Lord John Russell
and Lord Howick showed no alacrity to • extend im-
...posts on inheritance. Sir R. Peel on the other hand,
showed no uncomprising front against it on principle.
"This, therefore, must be regarded as an open question,
-demanding discussion, and which must be matured by
that process for ultimate settlement. It appears to us,
however, that Mr. Elphinstone was perfectly justi-
fied in bringing it under consideration at the mo-
ment he did. For what is that moment ? It
is that at which Parliament are just about to
.impose most unequal taxation, by most inquisi-
torial machinery, on the profits of trade and in-
dustry. Surely that was -the moment, it any,
to recal- its attention to the fact that existing taxes
are not equally extended to all classes ! " The
House," says the
.Post, " had just agreed to tax
landed property by sevenpence in the pound
Upon the income derived from it, when up starts
this philosopher to propose a new tax upon the same
description of property." And why not, pray, if this
new tax is merely equivalent to other taxes already
levied on other property, and from which land is un-
duly exempted ? The House is going to lay a new
tax on all income as well as landed. It is going a
step farther—just where arrested by Mr. Elphin-
stone. It is going to extend its new tax to pro-
ceeds of capital which are not net income. It is
going to tax, as income, funds which are clearly des-
'tined to replace capital. Before it consummates this in-
justice against other classes than those which prepon-
derate so decidedly at present in Parliament, is it not
fair to ask it to begin by justice against its own class ?
Would it not call with a better grace for contributions
whi's-th really encroach upon capital, if it could first
point to a voluntary sacrifice of an unjust privilege?
With what degree of decency will it tax traders on
more than their income, after deciding that the public
revenue shall continue less than its just amount by
exempting from taxation the descent to property of
their own order?
ATANDARD.—TIie Southampton Committee has
made the proper use of the advice tendered to it, and
Alr. Fleming has not been pressed for the answer
which the Committee had no legal right to compel,
and which,- uncompelled, he could not give without
a violation of confidence. We hail this return to
the sound legal path with satisfaction, not only as
proof that the Committee's error in the first instance
was merely an error of misconception, but also as
affording a precedent which must render the acts
of this and other Committees more efficient, by
snaking those acts more sober and considerate,
and. the Committees more respectable and more re-
spected. Many projects are offered from day to 'day,
having for their object the prevention of corrup-
tion ; but, questionless, good Committees for the
trial of controverted elections, present the most
natural, the most simple, and the most constitutional
preiientiVe. When men are taught, as such Com-
mittees will teach them in a little time, that they
toast probably throw away the money. which they
expend in bribery; few will be so foolish as to ven-
ture in a lottery so unpromising. We much doubt
whether, if the writs were issued to-morrow, any purse-
laden adventurer would be found to take the chance
of Sudbury or Ipswich. It is no doubt proper to
punish the corrupting candidate and the corrupted
elector, and to punish them as severely as the laws will
permit—and such exemplary punishments, co-
operating with the diminution- of the chances of
,Alecess and of impunity, would go further in check-
ing corruption than the ballot or fifty projects of the
kind ; but we are not to be told at this time of day
that it is the certainty of failure and punishment,
and not merely the severity of the latter, that
prevents crime—indeed the certainty of failure is a
more. powerful dissuasive than even the certainty of
punishment after success. We hear every day of
men committing crimes, the punishment of which is
manifestly inevitable ; but we never hear Of men out
of Bedlam attempting impossibilities. The most
.desperate housebreaker never dreams of committing
a burglary upon the Bank of England ; its walls, its
52oeks, and its watchmen, more than serve the purpose of
penal laws in protecting that establishment. The reason
• why a •manifest impossibility, or even a great impro-
Lability of success, operates more effectually to prevent
.crime than the utmost dread of punishment, is
obvious without any metaphysical research. Oppor,
*illy is, of all the agents of the Evil One, the most
successful tempter ; but manifest impossibilities or
1;y ,inprobabilities, shut out the sense of oppor-
'faulty, and. thus do what the fear of punishment can
merely do—arrest the very first movements to
crlinie. How does it happen that nobody has ever
yet made his way into the House of Commons ifpon
.t forged return? The thing could be effected with
_less ft-cttle and expense than a return by bribery;
nt. it Could not be visited with a heavier punishment
—not, as we imagine, with so heavy a punishment.
The reason is, because the enterprise, though it might
succeed for a day or two, would be sure to fail in the
end. Now, let the same certainty of failure attend a
return obtained by bribery, and you will no more
have such returns than you will have forged returns.

SEVENTY-SECOND REGIMENT.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

stll,--I beg to correct a mistake in your paper of
yesterd:ty respecting the statement given by a Corre-
spondent of the 7Sth Highlanders. The regiment first
known as ~.Lord Seafortle," Highlanders is the present
72d Regiment, the corps which. your Correspondent has
reference to. 111?- father served in the above regiment,
and entered it when .4irst raised, and I myself was also
in the same corps.
For a correct and interesting sketch of the turn out
on Leith Link 3 I refer your readers to an article in
Criambers' Edinburgh Journal, headed " An Edinburgh
Fire-side Story," which appeared about three years ago.
—Yours, respecfully. . W. C.