The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-12 00:00:00

EiPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
GLOBE.—Sir Robert Peel, succeeds very well
ip argument while he can hguip.(;4l hoininenz ; and only
fails when he must address himmai directly to great
national interests. Ile demonstrates very triumphantly
that his opponents have, at one gotiod, declared that
beginning the year with a 4604 must lead to an in-
come tax, and at another, that avatension of probate and
legacy duty to land would be inexpedient. All that is
very fair by way of retort upon taunts of inconsistency;
and heads of parties will always find missiles enough of
that kind in Hansard. Whether Sir Robert Peel
or Lord John Russell is more liable to citations ad-
verse to their present position on the income tax
we neither know nor care. Whether the former has
been more uncivil to the clay soils, and clod pates,
of country gentlemen, or the latter more ill-tem-
pered towards his Opponents in general—is
wholly indiffeient to us. We ask only, which of
these statesmen now represents the most national
policy. It is singular nobody seems to have a word to
say for Sir R.Peel but himself—for we can hardly deem
his Chancellor of the Exchequer, oor man !--whose
fate is to play Bertrand to his Robert Maoaire—eny
exception. The utmost any "independent" Member
can bring himself to say for his policy is, that "he
'votes against his own conscientious conviction " for
Sir Robert, for fear of worse. So much for his Corn
Bill and Tariff, and for the sentiments of the power-
ful party who broucght him in expressly to prevent
Corn-law and Tariff reform. And then, as regards
the income tax, is there a soul who, in sppech or
writing, will say a word in favour of that ta, in or
out of doors ?
STANDARD.—We are not for ourselves ashamed
to confess that our care for the success of Sir
,Robert Peel's financial plan is in no small degree
connected with anxiety for the success of the prin-
ciple of Sir Robert Inglis's motion. Let the finan-
ces of the country be placed in a healthy condi-
tion—let a rational financial system be adopted
to retain the finances in the healthy condi-
tion—and we trust to the right spirit of the
country to force upon its gig:isktors the discovery
that nations have duties beyond making war and
" devising trade" duties, to the discharge of which
the British empire is emphatically summoned by
Him whose summons we may not disobey. It
mey be said that these considerations are not
very intimately connected with a proposition fot
making 1501. a-year the unit . upon the income tax
scale. We reply, that every proposed amendment
in such a case is a fault found—a fault 'found not
only in detail, but the principle of the measure—
• and this being so, we hold it to be the duty of a manly
disez-etion' to overlook the fault, for the mike of the
final and general good, which the multiplication
of faults alleged must have the effect of defeating.
Mr. Shell "aired his common places" with eon-
• sicierable liveliness and pretension at the close of
his speech; Ise affected to apprehend a great
increase of perjury from an income tax, and
contrasted the zeal which had been shown
to suppress Irish perjury by Lord Stanley's Bill
with the indifference to perjury seemingly mani-
fested in the introduction of an income tax. Now,
without meaning to suggest any offensive recollec-
tions, we would remind that the oaths to be'adminis-
tered by income tax Commissioners—Van"' are to be
administered, which is yet doubt*l—ere to be admi-
nistered to a very different class of persons from the
oaths adminietearod under thepresent Irish registration
laws. No sari be sworn (if Ely are to be sworn)
izi England Ana income is net eillitnated at more than
MCI. a-year, wad these area) te worn only in the rare
case of a disputed surcharge .; but the complaint
against the Irish perjuries is, that they are committed
by persons whose real income is lea's than 101. a-year
—and we have the evidenee of Roman Catholic
Bishops, Roman Catholic Peers, Roman Catholic
Members of ttie House of Commons, Roman Catholic
barristers, and Roman Catholic solicitors, for the fact,
tli_it the class of persons rssesaing less than 101.
a-voai in Ireland are frightfully (Bishop Magaurin's
word) prone to slight the obligatloti of an oath. Now,
this eatenot he said of the classes of persons of 150/.
a-year income, or, thanks to Vrovidenee, of any other
class in this country.