The Sun.
London, England, 1842-04-13 00:00:00

SIR ROBERT PEEL'S
_ _EQUAL IN

COME TAX

(Continued from the last Number of the Examiner.)
Passing by, for the present, the incomes derived from
the public funds and other securities, and the salaries of
public officers, let us consider that from " trades and
professions." In 1814, the assessable amount of this was
37,058,9981, and now Sir R. Peel, taking cam. not to al-
lude to what it then was, estimates it at 56,000,004.
If this be true, the mercantile and wanutheturing capi-
tal of the country has, within eight-and twenty years,
increased by une-h4f, while the rent of land. has
stood still, and the capital engaged in its cultiva-
tion declined by one-qiird of its whole amount. In
1814, the income derived from the rent of land ex-
ceeded that derived from " trades and professions," by
upwards of 20,000.0001.—n0w it falls short of it by
16,600,0001. So touch for "protection !" Deducting
one-iourth from the income of " trades and professions,"
Sir Robert reckons that it will yield a revenue of
1,220,000/, which is 20 per cent, beyond what he ex-
pects from the landlords and their tenahts put together.
The inequality of any income tax is clear, from the
total impossibility of assessing it on any fair and just
principle ; but Sir R. Peel's is downright odious, from
the gross partiality it shows to !;ome classes of property,
and its virtual proscription of others. It is needless to ,
add that the favoured class is the landed interest. On
Sir H. Peel's own sliming, this and its sharc of the im
post are as follows:

Rent of Land £39,400,000
Rent of Mines, &e.... 1,500,000
i h(s. 3.500,000
Profits of Ten tuts... 38,396,000

• • £82,796,000 £1,127,197
Here is a property of upw,(rds of eighty-two millions.
which yields but 1,117,197/. but which, were it assessed
on the same principle as all the other de,eriptions
or property are, ought to have yielded 1,83:3,037/. It
pretends to be assessed at 7d. in the pound, and is, in
reality, assessed only at 4cl. Sir B. Peel. therelm-e,
besides preserving their monopoly to the landlords, pays
them, to pass his Bill and keep his pace, a wholesale
bribe exceeding seven hundred thousand pounds per
annum ! !

Coming no.xt to the income of the indtEtrious classes,
let us see how Sir IL Peel deals with it. kledording to
his own estimate it is as follows : .`
House Rents
... Tax' £549,450
Public Funds, &c 30,000,000 ... Ditto ... 646,000
Shares 3,429,000 ... Ditto ... 75,362
Trades and Professions 56,000,000 ... Ditto ... 1,200,000

£114,429,000 • £2,470,812
The great body of the owners of this description of
property has no majority in the House of Commons—no
monopoly to defend—no power to keep a Minister in
place. Consequently no bribe is paid to them, but, on
the contrary, the 7d. in the pound is ex!icted to the last
farthing; and it follows, of course, that under a pretended
equal :ax of 21. 18s. 4d. in the hundred, they are actually
taxed by 64 per cent. above the favoured class. Any
tile that chooses to follow these few simple figures will be
at no lots to detect the juggler in his trick.
But even this is fir too favourable a statement for Sir
R. Peel's scheme. From the 82,000,000/, and upwards
hich come under the head of land, we must deduct
three-fourths for the clerical tithe which are enjoyed by
the clergy as mere annuitants ; and this sum, as well as
the 7,000,000/. of public salaries, must be added to the
incomes of those unconnected with the land, or living by
means more or less precarious. In this case, the assess-
ment for the first will be 80,021,000/., its contribution to
the income tax 1,074,420/., while the assessment for the
last will be 124,420,4001., and its contribution will be
near 2,700,0001. Thus the boasting and boasted—the
petted and the favoured landed interest will contribute to
Sir R. Peel's Equal income. tax but twenty-seven parts
in the hundred,—but Ewe shillings and one penny
in the pound, while in return for this pittance it
.
receives from the contributors of the remaining part of
thu 3,700,000 t, twelve millions, at least, for the corn
monopoly, and two millions, at the lowest reckoning,
through its exemption from the probate and legacy duty.
The trading and manufacturing interests, on behalf of
themselves and the working classes, complain of such
distress as they never knew hi:Awe, and prove the Corn-
lttW to be the principal cause. The patriot Minister
answers, " Let the Corn-laws continue ; and in order to
perpetuate them, in so far as in me lies, let the impost
which your fathers abhorred be reimposed, and in such
a shape, too, that the complainants shall contribute
13s. 4d. in the pound of its amount, while the opressors
shall pay but Gs. Bd. !"
This is the very antithetis of justice and fair-play.
" Bold and honest Sir R. Peel 1" say sonic over-liberal
Members of the House of Commons. We cannot join
them, but.willing, at the same time, to concede to any
sort of merit, its due weed of applause, we say to Sir
Robert, just as we would have said to Barrington, or to
any other gentleman of his class, that ilistinguished
himself by the lightness of his fingers abote all his con-
temporaries, and who, as the reward of such excel-
lence, acquired a domicile for life at the Antipodes,
" Dexterous and unscrupulous Sir Robert—yet not ab-
solutely, after all, so nimble but that we feel your hands
in our pockets 1"
Sir R. Peel's income tax, therefore, starts on an
avowed principle of partiality and gross imequality ; but
the working of the measure will give rise to endless in-
equalities, which, although transparent enough, are no!
quite so much on the surface.
M. Lef

_:ranc, an innkeeper, at Fromereville, in the
Meuse, has lately exhibited, at the Sub-Prefecture of Verdun,
a carriage of his invention, which is moved by mechanism with-
out horses, and is mAle to run by any person on the front seat,
who can keep it in motion without any great effort or fatigue.
The carriage is open, the wheels and axletrees are '!•,f cast iron,
and it weighs about 5301 b. English. U. Lefranc went in it
from Fromereville to Verdun, a distance of five miles, in an hour
The mechanism is said to be extremely simple.
ANOTHER COAL-PIT ACCIDENT.—On Thursday
morning last, one of the most alarming coal-pit accidents oc-
curred at a pit in Orcliffe, that has happened for a number of
years in this district, thoughl not attended with immediate loss
of life. It appears that on the morning in question the miners
descended the pit as usual, about twenty in number, and re-
sumed their labour for a short time, when the tire-damp ex-
ploded with most alarming fury. A great number of the poor
unfortunate workmen are severe!y burnt, and some, it is pain-
ful to relate, are in a very perilous state. The names of the
sufferers we have been able to asce. tain are Joh* Grey, a..d
fa
re iMarsh,nfo
r brothermed th a t
five
ed
or
s six otherhs°,
sister, w
Pemberton, are also very severely burnt.—
two persons of the namesw of
wrehsoidereinsidCehaaptel-lane.
Bolton Free Press.
According to a letter from Constantinople, of the
9th ult., in the Leipsic Gazette, a difference has arisen be-
tween the English and French Ambassadors and the Austrian
Internuncio, respecting the choice of the new Emirs,
who are to be named for the Government of the Le-
banon. " France," says this letter, " pretends that the
choice of the chief of the Maronites ought to be with
The Austr
'her, as the
an I Catholics of Syria are under her protection."
internuncio maintains the contrary, and states
that the Deputation of the Maronites now in Constantinople
have solicited the protection of Austria. The English Am.
bassador, on the ocher hand, is said to have insisted upon
the Druses having a chief of their own independently of the
Maronites. Austria, it is added, would join with France, if
she would agree to the appointment of the Catholic patriarch
of the Lebanon as temporal chief of the Maronites.

A FASHIONABLE THIEF.
A Berlin letter, in the Constitutionnel, giv
the following account of the discovery of it o
g
extraordinary series of audacious frauds and r
beries lately committed in that capital. Ala,„
of rank, having been robbed of a packet of `"cer
sury bonds, applied to the police. The o!,ed
questioned her as to the persons who had vistit'lle
her in the course of the day preceding'. Al 4
lady named several of distinction, and an'be
them one who had been introduced to her as t;
Marchioness of Hereford, of a noble F.1107,e
family. From what reason does not appealifs
suspicions of the officer at once rested on
high dame, and, going to her residence eariY_ive
next morning, he entered her chamber bilis
she had risen. Announcing the -object 01
visit, at which of course the Marchponess,ele.
pressed her surprise and indignation,' be
Gls,
mantled her keys, and searched all her (11.4
drawers, and closets. Nothing that appeal
suspicious was found, but there were i,llny
„0
things of an extraordinary nature. Among ne
were the minutes of a writing addressed to
,„4
King, on the subject of the religious differetivt;i.
in Prussia, and a correspondence with well
science. With these papers was a plate o.l's
per, which the officer took to the lady who h
applied to him. She at once recognised it
irtfeb
token of swne peculiar event in her fifunnily,she had always kept in her jewel-box. Thio
aY
was brought, opened, examined; and not oknaft
was the plate missing, but it was discovered t"..,
all the precious stones of the ornaments it con'
"
tamed had been taken out, and false jewels 5_,,e
stituted for them. This box must have h.7,-,1
taken away, and kept several days befhre it
replaced. Inquiries were made, and it
covered that the real jewels had been 90.1"Ae.
respectable jewellers at Berlin. This led t0..75;
discovery of other robberies and frauds; and'
timately to proof that the pretended Maellioiwiti
of Hereford, who under this title had
Berlin for a long time in sumptuous style, ;.1
the daughter of a forest-keeper at Hersfort,
Westphalia. She had in her passport converted
the words of Mensen aus Hersforten into MAN
chioness of Hereford, being greatly facilitatekeo
her assumption of her noble character, by tl
fluency with which she speaks English. She
confined in the criminal prison.

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