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

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Morning Advertiser repeats the advice which it
gave yesterday to the people, respecting the ineome tax :
—" The machinery of an income tax once fairly in the
hands of any Government, and who can foresee the ex-
tent of its operations ? The danger is imminent, and
the time pressing. Let every constituency meet without
a moment's delay; and, as petitions cannot be received,
requisitions should be immediately forwarded to your
representatives, calling upon,them to exhaust every con-
stitutional means which the" forms of the House place
within their power, to defeat a measure which would
make you the taxed accomplices in the perpetuation of
the odious and destructive monopoly of bread—a mono-
poly which denies the bounties of 'Providence to an in-
dustrious but suffering people."
The Chronicle thus compares Mr. Pitt's with Sir
Robert Peel's income tax :—" That income tax was to
support the war ; this income tax is to support the Corn-
laws. That was for protection against foreign invasion ;
this, for protection' against foreign grain. That was to
subdue the French ; this is to starve the poor. Sir
Robert Peel has surmounted Mr. Pitt's difficulty ; he is,
with greater-facility ' allowed to approach the riches of
the rich ;' for he comes to increase them much more by
one impost than he takes away by the other. It it is sad
cant, this talk of touching the rich by Sir Robert Peel's
income tax. Both directly and indirectly, in itself and
in its connexion with the Corn-laws, it bears hard beyond
all proportiod, upon the middle and industrious classes,
and through them upon the poor."
We take the following from the Times :—" We have
perused lately a sensible pamphlet by the Rev. John
Sinclair, on the efforts now making by the Church to
extend its means of education, which suggests some re
marks on that subject. Without at all participating in
those exaggerated hopes which some people entertain of
the ameliorating effect of mere reading and writing and
arithmetic on the habits of the people, we yet look upon
the instruction of
.the poor, conducted by right hands
9,nd on right principles, as the most powerful instrument
of improvement which is within our reach. Instrument,
we say—not cause ; for the truest advantages of instruc-
tion are to be found, not in itself, but in its usual and
natural accompaniments--Lnot in the knowledge which is
its immediate object, so much as in the sentiments and
habits which may have been given with that knowledge
—not in the mere fact that a poor man can read, can
write, can sing, can argue, so much as in the steadiness
and sobriety, forethought, self-command, and obedience,
by which such attainments, be they great or small, have
probably been gained."
The Post says :—" In looking over the Hand-loom
Weavers' Report, it is difficult to repress a sensation of
disgust, as one marks the style in which the concoctors
of that Report deal out the slang of that wretched
system of opinions which greedy commercialists are
pleased to style economical philosophy.' The Com-
missioners to whom we have referred are, undoubtedly,
shrewd, clever men in their way ; but their guiding
principles are most false, and their view's are, by conse-
quence, most narrow, most degrading, most mischievous."
The Morning Herald observes, in an article on the law
of debtor and creditor:—" The London tradesman will
find some difficulty in persuadingc, Sir Robert Peel, we
suspect, that if he will oblige the tradesmen of the
country by giving them some more summary remedy
than they now possess against their creditors, the Right
Hon. Baronet will find them ready to pay double taxes
and pay double price for their bread. The tradesmen of
this country, in general, and especially of the metropolis,
are without doubt a highly respectable, very numerous,
and deservedly influential body in the community. But
we marvel at the facility with which this member of
that important body assumes everything against the
fraudulent animus of the debtor, as much as we do at his
other assumption, that if they were only released from
this liability to be cheated, it would be all well with this
great country throughout all its relations."