The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-28 00:00:00

ROYAL VICTORIA THEATRE.

UNDER THE DIRECTION OF MR. OSBALDISTON,
Great and extraordinary attraction for the Easter Holidays.
THIS EVENING, MARCH 28.

Will be performed a most interesting New Domostie Drama, in
Three Acts, entitled THE LUCKY HORSE SHOE; OR, THE
LONE CHAMBER OF THE SILENT HIGHWAY —Characters
by Miss Vincent, Miss Coveney, Mesa,. E. F. Saville, Dale, Gard..
per, Seaman, &c.
After which, with gorgeous scenery, dresses, kc., ALADDIN;
OR, THE WONDERFUL LAMP—Aladdin, Miss Vincent; the
Princess, Mrs. E. F. Saville; Widow Mustapha, Mrs. Griffith•.
To conelude with THE RED ROVER —The Red Rover, Mr.
Dale; Fid, Mr. E. F. Saville; Hector Homespun, Mr. Gardner;
Madame de Lacey, Mrs. Lee.

LONDON:
MONDAY MORNING. MARCH 28, 1842.

When Mr. PITT on Nov. 24th, 1797, proposed
his plan for increasing all the assessed taxes,
which was the foundation of his scheme for an
income tax, he stated " that as the plan was new
in the financial operations of this country, it was
- not his intention to call for any decision on its
merits at the present stage of the business."
Ile stated his plan for the consideration of the
House, and though the country was then at
war, though time was of great importance, though
any doubts thrown on his success might have
been injurious to the power of the country,
he did not ask the House of Commons for an
opinion on the subject till after the lapse of ten
days. Sir ROBERT PEEL, far from being so mo-
dest, would have forced the House, if he could,
to have come to a decision on his novel income
tax in the course of a week. If he did not
succeed the fault was not his, but the merit of
stopping him belongs to the Opposition. He
had no good public reason for hurrying through
the resolution. The reputation and power of the
country will not suffer from the delay. No
allies will be disheartened, no doubtful friends
converted into open foes ; and the public inter-
ests would not have suffered, though a month had
been allowed, after promulgating the plan, to
obtain for it public favour and support.
Sir ROBERT PEEL knew apparently that nei-
ther his measures nor his motives would bear a
public scrutiny ; and knowing that he endeavoured
to take the country by surprise and carry his
noxious measure before the people were awake
to the consequences. With this view he kicked up
a great dust about the tariffand about the twelve
hundred rates of duties he is to reduce, hoping
by the help of that to blind the people, but time
having been obtained to clear away the dust,
both his tax and his tariff are attacked from all
quarters, and even by some of his own followers.
If he were in a hurry with his income tax, he was
not slower with his tariff. For the comparatively
paltry purpose of inquiring into the settlements
of Western Africa, and what can be done to re-
lieve the labour market, by lowering the wages
of the negroes of the West Indies, Lord STANLEY
obtains a Committee of Inquiry. He and the
Ministers will not touch a lock of the negroes
wool without the solemn sanction of a Com-
mittee of the House of Commons, but Sir Ron ERT
PEEL takes it on himself, without inquiry, and
without consulting the vast interests implicated,
to propose measures which will affect all the
trades of the country. Scarcely one of the du-
ties which he is to repeal or alter was imposed
without the preliminary sanction of an inquiry,
and most of them, at least all the important ones,
were imposed in bye-gone times, in consequence of
petitions, representations, and claims of the par-
ties interested. All these, with a sort of Bone-
partian 'vigour, the Right Hon. Baronet has un-
dertaken to modify after his own fashion, and to
adjust by his own authority the relative claims
of all the varied interests of this great empire.
Such a proceeding savours of prodigious arro-
gance, and if, on consideration, all the parts of
the scheme were unobjectionable, it ought to be
opposed, in order to discourage in him and others
ouch inordinate presumption. In the United
States, we believe, a Committee has been ap-
pointed to investigate the whole subject, and le-
gis'ation will not there take place till the Com-
ni.ittee hcs reported.
If h be said that the Import Duties' Committee
inquired and recommended many alterations, we
reply, that Sir ROBERT PEEL and his party re-
pudiated the inquiries of that Committee ; stig-
matized them as incomplete and one-sided, and
-what is more, he has not followed its recommen

dations. His plan for altering the timber and
coffee duties, as far as we know, is entirely his
own. That Committee made no inquiries into the

propriety of abolishing the duty on cattle that
we recollect : we are sure that they called no
graziers and farmers before them, and that part
of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S scheme is also his own
device, or adopted from some of the subalterns

of the Board of Trade. It did not originate with

that Committee, though the principle
_ of setting

trade free, on which it is recommended to ParHa'.

znent, was a favourite with most of the Members.

Whatever may be the merit of that part of the

scheme, except as the Anti-Corn-law League
have justly demanded the abolition of taxes on

provisions of all kinds, it belongs exclusively to
Sir ROBERT PEEL.

The principle of setting trade free has been
often enough espoused, but the peculiar manner
in which Sir ROBERT PEEL sets about giving
effect to it is his own. The alterations he pro-
poses were not before dreamed of; they were un.
called for by any class or condition of men, and
must be called ?EEO; crotchet. It is a sort of
free trade whim which has seized the Right Hon.
Baronet. If COBBETT were alive, he would no
longer call him PEEL'S Bill Peel, but PEEL'S
crotchet Peel. He will be hereafter as much
renowned for his Tariff Crotchet as he -has been
tot his Currency Bill. But, though it may
be amusement to his capacious mind to sport with
the interests of nations, it is no amusement to the
public; and it is quite a sufficient reason to op..
pose such a man, that his crotchets are his own,
arid not in strict conformity to those alterations

which any great body of the people demand.
There is not one great interest in the State,
nor one leading public opinion, which strictly ac-
cords with the changes which Sir R. PEEL pro-

1'475
•so * • ,
ir,••
4,7110 ti

'Mt _suit.