The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-18 00:00:00

HE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 18 1845.

that great, intelligent, well-informed, reflecting, aye,
and powerful body of them, who range between these
two extremes, will much longer, in the thirtieth year

of the Board had voted, on the ground of its being con-
trary to precedent.
Mr. ROEBUCK said that suspicion would rest upon
those who shut out the light ; and that if the House
did not know all and everything, they would pay no
attention whatever to the reports of that Board.
Mr. WALLACE gave notice of a motion on the subject.
Several other Members addressed the House, and, after
a vindication of the Government by Sir R. PEEL, the
subject dropped.
The House then resolved itself into a Committee of
Ways and Means, and the debate on the resolution for
continuing the income-tax was resumed.
Lord JoHN RUSSELL expressed his regret at the
determination of the Government to retain the income-
tax, which he imagined would, ere long, become per-
manent. He rejoiced to hear that the navy was to be
increased. He approved of the removal of the duties
from cotton and glass, but could not understand why
the auction duty was given up. He thought it would
have been better to take the duty off fire-insurances.
The Noble Lord complained that no details had been
furnished of the articles in which the increase had taken
place in the customs' duties. The Noble Lord, in allusion to
the proposed alteration in the sugar duties, took occasion
to go into the general question of protection, and admitted
that protective duties should be withdrawn gradually
and cautiously, rather than suddenly and abruptly. He
felt the impossibility, under existing circumstances, of
withholding his assent from the proposition which the
Chairman had in his hand ; but he should vote for it,
with the hope that the income-tax would not be con-
verted into a permanent burden.
Mr. ROEBUCK objected to the proposed plan of taxa-
tion as onerous, obnoxious, and mischievous, and con-
cluded by moving as an amendment to leave out of the
resolution the words " professions, trades, and offices,"
not for the purpose of exempting them altogether, but
of subjecting them to a regular system of taxation, such
as he had described.
A long and interesting discussion followed, which was
wound up by
Sir R. PEEL, who repeated his conviction that the
country would be relieved in three years from the
burden of the income-tax, and said that even if the ex-
periment should not meet his expectations, the benefit
to the community would more than overpay the loss to

of peace, patiently submit to see the same proportion
of their hard earnings exacted from them, as
he has been pleased to withdraw from the

superfluity of his own patrimonial and official fortune ?
Does be believe that the retired servants of their
country—scantily pensioned, perhaps, in reference to
the blood and the services they have contributed, but

grateful and content withal for the compensation—
do not murmur at seeing the 7d. in the pound de-
ducted from their modest allowance, and no more
than 7d. in the pound doled out by the cautious sel-
fishness of legislators who are the recipients of
100,0001. per annum ? Has the Premier discovered
in the course of that Alactenas-ship—the courtesies

•..
of Y which, he is so ready in dispensing—that
the men of letters, the political writers who
advocate his Government, to say nothing, for
the present, of those who oppose it—that men whose
income, with a few rare and favoured exceptions, is
already inadequate enough to the demands of their
reputation, or their position and connexions in so-
ciety—submit without the deepest feelings of morti-
fication and resentment, to be mulcted after the
same rate as any of the Right Honourable Baro-

net's own millionaire allies in Manchester, or
in the City ? Or is he indifferent to simi-

lar emotions of natural disgust and just indig

nation, actuating that enormous mass of the clergy
and the legal and medical professions—civil, military,
and naval servants in active service or on half-pay,
tradesmen, annuitants, &c.; whose annual incomes
are large enough to bring them within the scope of the
lower extremity of the scale—we take his minimum
of 150/. ; but are too small to carry them beyond, say
3001. a year ?
Our own feeling is that 5001. would not be too
high-pitched a minimum. But certainly from 3001.
to 5001., an income-tax of 2/. per cent. ought to be
the maximum ; from 5001. to 7501. ought not to pay
more than 31. per cent. ; frem 7501. to 1,000/. than
4/. per cent. ; from 1,000/. to 5,000/. might bear 51.
10s. per cent. ; and all incomes above 5,000/. 71. per
cent. As a constitutional principle, however, our
own anxiety is still greater as to the term
of renewal than the rate per cent. We shall feel that
the House of Commons will utterly forego its most
essential functions of a vigilant fiscal control, and one
of its highest duties to the people, if, in accordance
with the ominous appearances of consent, or of apa-
thetic indifference, that attach to its vote of last night,
it entertain on any future stage the monstrous propo-
sition of continuing the income-tax at all, for a period
of three years prospectively. And the people—what
are they about? Where are the petitions from the
country, from every district of the metropolis ? Let the
Minister, we repeat, if it must be so, take his tax for one
year; and, meanwhile, let them see what he can
accomplish if he will be honest enough to redeem his
undertaking to put down sinecures, and economise
the public expenditure, especially as to the collection
of the revenue. We hope this chapter of good inten-
tions includes a rigorous supervision of the Customs'
collection, as to product, as well as the cost of its ma-
chinery. We are not quite so credulous as to expect
much will be done in the way of reductions of pen-
sions, sinecures, or official patronage, after Parlia•
ment shall have been wheedled into giving so out.
rageous and so blind a vote as the continuation of the
income-tax for three years to come !

the revenue.
After which the Committee divided, when there ap-
peared:—For the amendment, 55 ; against it, 263 ;
majority, 208.
The House shortly afterwards adjourned, at Twenty
minutes past One.

We retain, in its fullest extent, the conviction we
have expressed on the general results of Sir R. FEEL'S
financial statement of Friday last. The scheme of
fiscal reform which that statement announced has
many features of an impressive character, and,
withal, very unusual in the aspect of such Ministerial
expositions. The proposal to deal with so large a
number of little-productive duties as 430, now ap-
pearing on a tariff comprising but 820 articles ;—the
declaration of his own and his Government's adhesion

to the general principle of getting rid of all duties
whatever upon exportations, as far as may be prac-
ticable ;—his determination to release the important
article of glass from the heavy imposts which have so
long paralyzed the progressive improvement of its
manufacture, and crippled the extent to which a most
profitable trade in it might be carried on both at home
and abroad, by accumulated imposts which have
pursued it from the raw material to the last stages of
its perfected manufacture ;—his intention of abolishing
the duty on raw cotton, the staple of so vast a pro-
portion of the products of our manufacturing in-
dustry ; and his pledge to put down sinecures, to cut
off all unnecessary branches of public expenditure,
and to economise the collection of the revenue ;--
these are, all of them, manifestations of a sound,
vigorous, and salutary policy, to which we should hope
the spirit of party itself, in this country, will not be
disinclined to extend its ready and cheerful encou-

Intelligence has been received from Lisbon to the
11th inst. A rather stormy discussion had taken
place in the Chamber of Deputies, on a motion rela-
tive to savings' banks, brought forward by the Go-
vernment, the object of which was to confer exclusive
privileges on a new Company, with little regard to
the interests of depositors. The finances of the
country are in a deplorable state, and, owing to a large
deficit, a fresh loan of 1,500 contos will be required.
Their Finance Minister should take a leaf out of Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S book and try an income-tax.
Senor CARVALHO was much better, and hopes were
entertained of his recovery.

ragement. The mischief of encumbering a scheme
of Customs' duties, or of Excise imposts, with vo-
luminous details, none of which is found to yield to

the publie income a large and permanent return, is
of far more extensive operation than the casual
observer may suppose. All fiscal intervention on the
part of a Government with the trade of its subjects is
malam per se ; and derives only a limited and inci-
dental justification from the necessity which exists
for making that trade contribute, at the
most convenient stages of its transactions,
its fair proportion towards the revenue re-
quired to defray the expenses of the State.
This necessity, we don't dispute, is a permanent one,
It must be met and satisfied. But it is highly expe-
dient that it should be so met and satisfied in a man-
ner to cause the leastmaroes
most
oc apossiblescoe:,tr
the
hb contribute
tem atannoyancechheinfue
nraydtsi
bdryei
(II u-iwr
whichei 11
disproportionate,N ow , the very
altogether,
llightnesstogethe
r f
in a
to the total amount annually
fipotoriinsstuteoohf
baee
expense,
parealised
.
amongduty renders, those w
inno
ain the ratio of this
smallness bof totalit ; and
amount, is the inquisitorial or med-
dling nature of the interference on the part of the re-
venue department and their officers requisite to en-
sure its collection. The evil increases both in the
intensity of its principle and the area of its operation,
by being multiplied on these 430 commodities ; and it
is well that so prolific a source of needless vexation
and embarrassment to trade is to be cut off. The
whole stream of authorities, from Sir J. CHILDE, Sir
W. PETTY, and the older economists, down to the
more modern school of ADAM SMITH, OSWALD of
Dunnikier, and MACULLOCH, will set in in favour
of the signal practical advance towards free trade
which the Premier has made, by the avowal of his
bold, intelligible opinions on the question of export
duties and their removal. There are few of our ma-
nufactured products, in the extension of which our in-
dustrial labour is more deeply interested than that of
glass ; and the Premier has certainly, in this regard,
selecteda boon, about the value of which there can be
little doubt or cavil. The great encouragement that
a trade must derive, the staple of which, in its per-
fected manufacture, carries the burden of a duty
nearly 300 per cent. on the value of the raw material
from which it has been elaborated, needs no comment.
But there is a national incidental value attaching to
the signal remission of duty to be granted in this
instance. Till within a comparatively recent period
the multiplied islands, islots, and creeks which are
profusely scattered about the western shores of
Scotland, were enabled to sustain their hardy and
simple population by their fisheries and the vast
quantities of kelp and seaweed which they pro-
duce in enormous abundance, on those as well as
other portions of the British coasts. The burning
of this kelp, &c., produces to the native population
we speak of, abundant ashes and salt, that enter-
ing largely into the consumption of our glass works,
proved one of the most beneficial, as well as most
certain, among the stinotniederlleysotuhrecesopetroatwiohnichoftthheayt
wereacctuostotmmendktohloowok for their subsistence. It is
painful
system of injudicious duties, the decease of which we
shall soon have the happiness to witness, has inter-
fered with, and almost exterminated this humble but
important trade of a humble but invaluable peasantry.
Excise OP Customs' duties that touch the raw ma-
terialst? , ative manufactures must he, of course, de-
structive in proportion to the lowness of their first-
hand price, and to the distance of their transport to
the market of their consumption. Thanks to steam-
boat navigation and free-trade advances, we venture
to indulge a sanguine hope for the early re-establish-
ment of this portion of the kelp trade. Geographical
distance has already ceased to be an impediment to
its revival, and obsolete errors in fiscal legislation are
fast dying off, we may hope, under the influence of
more philosophical and enlightened principles.
The same observations, of course, apply to raw
cotton, except that hitherto it could scarcely claim
to be called a national staple. We have no doubt in
the world, that it will soon be largely remitted from
our Asiatic, Australian, and African dominions, and
thus become one of our great colonial staples. To
bring about this consummation, Sir R. PEEL has
adopted precisely that step which was of primary exi-
gency. And so far—so well.
But the renewal of the income-tax—for three
years, and without modification of any kind—this
we do regard as a most capital, a most unfortunate
deficiency, a positive vice or offence, in his
Budget. Does Sir ROBERT PEEL doubt the fact
of the grievous injury which that most
inequitable, most unrighteous principle of a common
ratio of contribution from all classes of payers, inflicts
on all small-salaried clerks, officers, and others who
work hard and incessantly to obtain their respective
tosalarmiels.,
aoryeaanrnrliroluments, varying from
1501.1
Does he imagine that the peop—

A little excitement has been caused in Paris by
new symptoms of movement on the part of the clergy
against the Government with reference to the Edu-
cation Bill. M. Dorm, M. Timm, and, indeed,
most of the leading men in France, have taken a de-
cided part against the claims of the Bishops to control
the whole system of education, and bring the youth
of the country again under the dominion of the
Church. The Court also has evinced feelings op-
posed to such claims, and, consequently, the clergy
are disposed to throw every obstacle in its way. M.
Durex, some years since, published a work on the
Liberty of the Gallic Church, which was allowed to
possess considerable merit. Against this work the
Cardinal Archbishop of LYONS has just issued a con-
demnation, which, however, according to the Consti-
tutionnel, had been drawn up and signed on the 21st
of November, 1844, but kept back for some special
purpose, M. DUPIN at present holds an important
legal appointment, that of Procureur- General of the
Court of Cassation, and this strange edict of the
Archbishop is, therefore, regarded as an attack upon
_ _

the Constitution, with which M. Dun N's work is in
accordance. A Cabinet Council was held on Satur-
day, at which the subject was taken into consideration,
and the result was that Archbishop BONALD has been
summoned to appear before it to answer for his con-
duct. "The public," says M. THIERS' journal "look
to the conduct of Government in this affair with
interest—a Government which has created embarrass-
ments everywhere, which can neither see before it,
nor direct, nor resolve. It overwhelms itself in an
affair with the clergy, as it has done with Otaheite
and the right of search." We find no articles or news
in these papers of the least interest. Even the in-
terest in the division on the Secret Service Money
Bill seems to have evaporated, and no business what-
ever was done in the Funds, at Towroru's, on Sunday.

„THE SUN” EXTRAORDINARY

EXPRESSES.

THE BUDGET.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—It is to the Extraordinary Edition of The Sun
we are indebted this morning for a most sopious report
of the Premier's Speech on the financial affairs of the
country, none of the other papers we are in the habit
of receiving having the slightest allusion to it. And it
gives me great pleasure in returning thanks for the kind-
ness of the proprietors in forwarding that edition.—l am,
Sir, &c., J. M. GAFNEY, Secretary.
Chamber of Comaterce, Wexford, Feb. 16.

SIR ROBERT PEEL'S FINANCIAL STATEMENT.—We
have received, through an Express Edition of The Sun
of yesterday, a full report of Sir Robert Peel's Financial
Statement, made in the House of Commons yesterday
evening.—Dublin Evening Post of Saturday.
Yesterday (Friday) afternoon, between four and five
o'clock, Sir Robert Peel rose in the House of Commons
to make his " financial statement and this (Saturday)
forenoon, we received from Mr. Horn, of Market-street,
Newcastle, an "Extraordinary Express Edition" of The
Sun newspaper, containing upwards of eight columns of
the Premier's speech I—Gateshead Observer.
We received this morning, at half-past six o'clock, a
late edition of The Sun newspaper of last night, con-
taining the whole of Sir Robert Peel's important finan-
cial statement, from which we give an ample breviate.
This is but one of the extraordinary efforts of Mr.
Young, the proprietor of The Sun, and we beg to ex-
press our obligations to that gentleman.— Yorkshire Ga
Bette.
We have received a second edition of The Sun, con-
taining the financial statement of Sir Robert Peel, in
the House of Commons, yesterday.—Dualin Evening
Packet.
In consequence of being favoured at an early hour
this morning with an extraordinary edition of The Sun,
we are enabled to lay before our readers the important
report of the speech of the Premier last night, in the
House of Commons, in reference to his financial mea-
sures.—Presbn Guardian.

Summonses were issued last evening to the Ministers
to attend a Cabinet Council, at the Foreign-office,
Downing-street. The meeting was appointed to take
place at two o'clock. Most of the Ministers were expected
to be present.
SUPPOSED MURDER AT RENDLESHAM —HORRIBLE
AFFAlR.—lnformation has just reached us, from what we have

every reason to believe to be authentic sources, that a fright-
fld murder was committed late on Saturday night last, on
the estate of Lord Rendlesham, in Suffolk. Report states
that his gamekeeper, who lives close to the Hail, re-
turned to his home late on the above-named night, in a state of
intoxication, and after a few minutes' time desired to icave again.
His wife remonstrated against this, and shut the door to prevent his
getting out; a quarrel then ensued, and the maddened gamekeeper
at length snatched his gun, levelled it at his wife, and, report says,
blew her head to atoms ! He was on Sunday committed to the Bride-
well, at Woodbridge. He declares thak he did not intentionally
murder her, but, in the struggle, the gun went off by accident. He
has a family of four children. Such are all the particulars we feel
Justified in giving to the public,—we fear they are too correct.
Rumour is busy, but we decline trusting too mnch to it, in an affair
of so soul-harrowing and tragic a character.—lpswich Express.
DIABOLICAL MISCHIEF.—An attempt has been
made to alter the setting of the switches on the Maryport and Car-
lisle Railway, near the Wigton station, apparently with the intention
of causing a collision between the trains passing to and from Carlisle.
Fortunately, the circumstance was discovered in time to prevent any
calamity.—Carliste itteriQt.

DAY'S NE

W S.