The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-14 00:00:00

Olt -SAM

LONDON:
MONDAY MORNING, MARCH 14, 1842.

The
.State, it must be admitted, is come to a sorry
pass, under the combined and united guardianship of
Whigs and Tories. Sir R. PEEL is providing a re-
medy for evils, which partly accrued under his prede-
cessor, but the expenditure of his own administration,
undiminished as far as we can learn by one single
piece of economy, is increasing their magnitude.
Moreover, he was no friend of parsimony in opposi-
tion, and when he had the power to influence, if not
to control, the votes of the louse, he never, as far
as we recollect,' supported any one measure to lessen
expense, but Colonel SIBTHORP'S proposal to reduce
Prince .ALBERT'S income. For the present condition
of the finances, we hold him to be as much respon-
sible as Lord MELBOURNE, who, judging by the
progress in wealth made between 1830 and 1837, is
excuseable. for having placed a generous, though
as events have proved, an erroneous confidence in the
growing rOsoures 'of the country. But between
Whigs and Tories Our condition is this, that while
the wail of 'clistress is heard on every hand, while an
almost ..univers-11, demand for 'relief is made, the
Prime Minister proposes, . in a period of profound
European peace, when every part of the country is
secure and unassailed, to place a heavy additional
burden of nearly three per cent. of their income on the
middle classes, the sources of all enterprise, the heart
and soul of social improvement.
On what ground is this done ? The expenditure of
the Government—both parties—both factions let us
say, in Parliament, assert cannot be lessened. We
must have, they affirm, about:5.1,000,0001. a-year to ex-
pend. The bulk of the people who have to
pay the money may say, as the Magistrate
said ,the thief who pleaded as an excuse
the necessity to live, " we do not see the necessity.
Government exists for us and for our benefit, and
when its demands so far exceed our superfluities as to
plunge us, in times of peace, which ought to be times
of prosperity, into distress and difficulties, the Go-
vernment. has ceased to fulfil its appropriate func-
tions, and has become a curse instead of a blessing."
They may well tity, "had the Tory faction not
predominated, the state of Ireland, relying on
the justice of the Government, might have warranted
a considerable reduction in the army. Had not the
landlorb and other monopolists seized the administra-

tion, the enormous' surn.now levied to enrich classes
might have been taken off the industry of the people,
le3srsning distress and lessening discOntent,
which,
would, have eiEll)led the Government to reduce the
expenditure forf:ugland as well as for Ireland, while
it would. base
,augrnented the resources of individuals
and the. -revenue of the State." The necessity, there-
fore, of such a vast expenditure, is merely the neees-
fay of having the Tories in power, and of governing
tho., community by the odious principles of monopoly
.

and coercion...
Before we proceed, therefore, to examine Sir R.
PEEL's Budget, we think it necessary to protest, in
against the suppordtion too readily adopted by
sio • of:ply Literal Contemporaries that a temporary
,;(114p.t. taxation cannot now be opposed.
at comlitioa of Pour own people, nothing
„a.. ht the Goverinneitt in adding to their bur-
;.i..-.4::,.°21.11t4461x R. PEEL was, we admit, loudly cheered in

the House, and is loudly praised by the Press, but we
are not now to learn that it is one thing

" The applause of listening senates to command,
The threats of pain and ruin to despise ;"
and another, and unfortunately a totally different thing,
" To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their history in a nation's eyes."

While Sir ROBERT PEEL was drawing down the
applause of a listening senate, the land, which nature
has made smiling and ruddy with cheerful industry,
is groaning with anguish, caused by measures which
he has supported, and the applause was given to mea-
sures which can only add, we believe, to the distress
and discontent which pervade. Great Britain and
Ireland.

What the community really complains of is, that
industry cannot now answer all the vast demands
made on it by the Government, by the aristocracy,
by the clergy, and by the numerous classes who live
by one species of taxation or another, and such
being the real complaint, Sir R. PEEL comes down
with a plan whiCh add, on his showing, some-
thing more than 3 11,000/. a year to the public
taxes. Of that sum, we believe, nearly two millions
will be paid by traders, manufacturers, farmers, and,
professional men, who are amongst the most indus-
trious classes of the community, and who stimulate
the industry of others,' To cripple their means is to
cripple enterprisi;4and introduce a wasting disease
into the heart of the community. To take from their
resources for the service of the State, is to divert so
much productive capital to unproductive employment,
is to increase the number of persons who live only
to consume and diminish the number who, in con-
suming, add to the general stock of wealth.
The principal point of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S new
financial plan being his tax on all incomes above 1501.
a year, we shall, on the present occasion, content our-
selves with reminding our readers of some of the
objections which have been made to such a tax. We
may at once state, however, that Sir R. PEEL has, in
order to attain a readier assent' to it, very much un-
derrated its probable produce. He has estimated the
amount of property and income in the country by the
return under the property tax in 1814, but since then
population has increased upwards of 30 per cent., and
the wealth of the community has 'probably increased
in a greater proportion. If his law should
be efficacious in getting hold of the incomes of -the
people, the tax, we believe, will yield nearer 5,000,0001.
than 4,000,0001. Moreover, his alterations in the
tariff, such as the substitution of a tax on cattle and
meat for a prohibition, if it be not a mere mockery
must add to commerce and revenue. On the whole,
we believe, therefore, that his proposition will be
much more injurious than he deems it, and will take
considerably more than he says out of the pockets of
the people.
Those who acquiesce so readily in the proposition
for an income tax, must have forgotten the impa-
tience with which all classes bore the property tax in
1814, the stern demands that were made for its repeal,
and even the compulsion that was exacted to make the
Government give it up before the war, for which it
was enacted, was well over. Against such taxes the
popular voice and the admonitions of science have
been directed ; and he is not a prudent statesman who,
to secure the ascendancy of a party, sets both at de-
fiance. Of such a tax this is Dr. SMITH'S condem-
nation :

" An inquisition into every man's private circumstances,
and an inquisition which, in order to accommodate the tax
to them, watched over all the fluctuations of his fortune,
would be a source of such continued and endless vexation
as no people could rapport."
Mr. M'CuLLocit, in one of his latest works, " The
Statistics of the British Empire," says—
" Taxes on either income or property, though theo-
retically equal, are practically the most unequal that can
be imagined. It is, indeed, quite impossible to assess
them with any thing like fairness. We may get a pretty
accurate notion of the income derived from lands, houses,
funded property, or mortgages ; but all beyond this is
mere guess work. There are no means by which to as-
certain the amount of farming capital, stock in trade,
the profits derived from them, or the incomes of profes-
sional men. No inquisition into the private affairs of
individuals can ever discover these particulars. There
is nothing, in fact, to depend- upon in such cases, but
the declaration of the parties, and we need not dwell
upon the policy of any system of finance that sets the
duty and the interests of the contributors in opposition,
and makes them profit by concealing or perverting the
truth. Besides, although these pr. liminary and insuper-
able difficulties were overcome, and we learned th,, capi-
tal and incomes of different . parties, we should have
other and greater difficulties to surmount before the.tax
could be fairly assessed. The same deduction ought not
JO be made froni all incomes without taking into account
the sources from whence they are derived. To assess
them on a just principle, the present value. of different
incomes, or their value reduced to a perpetuity, would
have to be determined. But it may unhesitatingly
affirmed, 'that to do' this upon a large scale would be
quite impracticable. It is clear, therefore, that taxes on
income or property ought not to be introduced except as a
(fernier resort—as a means of filling the coffers of the
Treasury when the other and more legitimate sources of
revenue are insufficient, and money must still be bad at
all hazards.

" Direct taxes on property have been the curse of every
country into which they have been introduced. To
evade them, people that are not poor counterfeit poverty;
some of the most powerful incentives to industry and
economy are in consequence destroyed, at the same
time that interior stock, machinery, &c., are made use.
of. Such taxes are, besides, most unpopular, as well
from their requiring an odious, though ineffectual, inqui-
sition into the affairs of individuals, as from their being
direct. So much is this the case, that we are well con-
vinced that the raising of eighteen or twenty millions by
taxes on income would be felt a. much greater burden,
and would really be far more injurious, than the raising
of fifty or sixty millions by our present taxes."
If, for a tax of this description, Sir R. PEEL had
abolished or reduced a number of taxes on the neces-
saries and comforts of life, we might, perhaps, have
supposed that his proceeding was justifiable, but the
only tax of this description which he has reduced is
that on coffee. Every thing else consumed or used
by the poor, appears to remain untouched. They
may, perhaps, gain a little more employment by the
reduction of the timber duties and the duties on raw
materials, but these reductions will rather tend to the
benefit of ship-owners and manufacturers than the
working classes. With a strong love also to protec-
tion, Sir R. PEEL continues the discriminating duty
in favour of Canadian timber, in nearly all its odious_
ness, and will still compel us to bring a worse article
from five times the distance at which we could pro-
cure Norway and Baltic timber. In his Budget we
see nothing to admire, but his speech in explaining
it; and, while we deny. any necessity to add to tax-
ation, except that which grows from monopoly, and
coercion, we believe that his additions to it will be
both vexatious 'and mischievous. He unsettles a great
many interests, anrex*cites an immense deal of hosti-
lity to attain very paltry ends.

We received last night the Flanders and llamburgh
Mail with news to the 10th instant. It appears, by
letters from St. Petersburgh, that a mutiny of 'the
soldiers had broken out in that capital, and that
several officers had been killed. The accounts are
very meagre, and no information whatever is given
respecting the cause of. the tumult. The late storm
had done great damage along the, coast of the Nether-
lands, as well as in several towns of the interior.
An express had arrived at Hamburgh on the...Bth inst.
announcing the death of the Grand Duke of MEcx-
LENBURGII SCHWERIN, on the previous day, after
an illness of several days. He was married to a
sister of the King of PRUSSIA, and was in the 42d
year of his age.

The reported destruction of the British army in Cabool
was very properly made a subject of inquiry in the
House of Commons last night by Mr. S. WORTLEY. We
regret to learn, from the answer of Sir ROBERT PEEL,
that the accounts received by the Government were of a
character little less disastrous than those which have
appeared in The Sun. The Right Honourable Baronet
stated, that an account, not official, " but of the cor-
rectoness of which there could be little doubt, had
been received in a letter from Dr. REID, dated
Peshawar, 16th of January, and addressed to Cap-
tain MACGUECOR, by which it appeared that little
doubt could be entertained that her Majesty's troops
had suffered several reverses. A capitulation, as far
could be judged from the'accounts, appeared to be signed
with the Affghan forces, and by an act marked With a
perfidy and treachery almost as gross as that by which
Sir WILLIAM 34PNAGHTEN lost his life, the English
troops were attacked three days afterwards, and had
certainly sustained great loss; but he trusted that there
was nothing in the accounts which had been received
that ought to create despondency." Most certainly
there is not. The loss of 5,000 men, though a terrible
private calamity, and one over which every good man
would mourn, would rouse the vengeance, rattier than
prostrate the energy of the British nation. But there is
still ground for some hope that the accounts received
are greatly exaggerated. It may be some consolation to
the friends and relatives of officers and men in the Ca-
bool army, that by some persons well acquainted with
India, they are regarded as . not only improbable, but
impossible. Among these is Captain TUCKETT who haS

addressed a letter to the Metropolitan press generally, on
the subject of the extract of a letter from Jellalabad,
announcing the destruction of the CabQol army,
which appeared in a leading article of The Sun of
yesterday, copied from the Times. Without adopting
the sanguine views of Captain TUCKETT, we readily give
insertion to a communication which tells us still not to
despair of the safety of our brave troops in Atighanistan :
REPORT OF THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR TROOPS
IN CABOOL.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Star—lt is with extreme regret I perceive, in a leading ar-
ticle in the Times of this day, that credence is given to a
letter, containing an account of the destruction of our troops
in Cabool. The letter in question is supposed te be dated Jel-
lalabad, the 18th of January; and as the steamer left Bombay
on the Ist of February, there is only thirteen days allowed for
the transmission of the news from Jellalabad to Bombay.

I have no hesitation in denying the possibility of news being
conveyed from Jellalabad to Bombay in that time. From Jel-
lalabad to Loodianah, under the most favourable circumstances,
would occupy eight days. And from our frontier post at
Luodianah to Bombay, sixteen days by the mail, being
through our own territories. Thus making twenty-four days
,for news, which is said to have arrived in thirteen days. By
any other route the period would be longer.
As Dr. Brydon's statemen• quoted by the Times is diametri-
cally opposed to that mace by me, at the Seamen's Hospital
.Charity, I have to request the actual date of the letter, on
which such reliance is placed, may be given, the name of the
place from which it is written, the post-mark of from whence
despatched, and the date of the post-mark. These are points
by.which persons conversant with Upper India will be enabled
to judge of the authenticity of the intelligence given in to-day's
Times. Where ao many persons are se deeply interested in
the safety of their friends, it is only just the fullest examina-
tion should be accorded. I can see no reason to withdraw my
assertion that the troops at Cabool are perfectly safe.
Reports were prevalent in India—previous to the date
fixed in Dr. Brydon's letter for the troops, having left
Cabool—that Colonel Shelton and some officers of his bri-
gade were made prisoners. In Dr. Brydon's letter, Walsh
is mentioned as one of the hostages left with the chiefs at
Cabot)), whilst letters were received front Walsh a month
since, mentioning that he had left Cabool, and was safe with
General Sale's brigade. Also the death of Captain Trevor,
who was assassinated with Sir Wm. Al'lslaghten, was announc-
ed in the English papers giving the Indian news last February.
This shows how completely dates have been disregarded, and I
feel confident when this intelligence is sifted to the bottom, no
good grounds will be found for the statement attributed to Dr.
Brydon, and that it is merely a tissue of bazaar reports injudi-
ciously forwarded to England. I would further call your atten-
tion, at all times, to a comparison of dates with the geographi-
cal po ition from which reports are received, the usual rate at
which intelligence is conveyed being four miles an hour, and
less on cross-roads.

Had the troops been forced to leave Cabool—which I still
maintain they have not—they never would have retired on
Jellalabad. They were aware of the difficulties General Sale
had experienced in the mountain passes, from the sudden hos-
tility of the people. Therefore Colonel Shelton would not
have attempted those passes, incommoded with eleven hundred
cavalry and horse artillery, when he could, by retiring through
the open plains to Ghuznee and Candahar, derive the greatest
advantage and protection from those arms of his force, besides
being strengthened by the ti oops at Ghuznee and Candahar.
the tatter amounting to three thousand men. The Report
quoted in the Times to-day is stated as received at Jellalabad
on the 18th of January, 1842.
The Agra 'Achim 700 miles distant from Jellalabad, quot-
ing news received from Cabo lup to the 20th of December,
1841, in the paper of the 22d of January, mentions, "as a re-
port not to be believed," that the ladies of the camp had fallen
into the hands of the enemy, and that Colonel Shelton and some
officers of his brigade had become prisoners. The destruction
of the English was an easy addition to a bazaar report, and com-
pletes the whole of what is now published as authentic, and oc-
curring after the sth January, and first made known at Jella-
labad on the 18th January.
I trust the party in possession of Dr. Brydon's letter will
give the date, place, and post-mark, and thus enable a proper
estimate to be made of the value of the intelligence.

•
1 have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient servant,
29, Poultry, March 11. HARVEY TUCKETT.
From the tenor of the conversation in the House of
Commons, it is clear that if the disastrous news
from Affghanistan be ccnfirmed, the Government
has determined upon the line of policy to be pursued.
There will be a war in earnest—a war in which for the
first time in the world's history England will take the
field as a principal against the Affghans. Of the policy
and results of such a war we have already expressed our
opinion.

Owing to the length of the debate on Friday night, and
of the financial documents, which appear in another part
of the paper, we have little room for comment on other
maters even of great public interest, but we cannot pass
over, altogether the objection made by Sir R. PEEL to
Mr. WARD'S motion for an inquiry into the exclusive
burdens on land. Let us finish the debate on the
Corn-law, said the Right. Hon. Baronet. Now,
when one of his main arguments for a tax on provisions
rests on the extraordinary charges to which landowners
are subject, and when he has repeatedly declared that
he cannot state the amount of these charges, how are
we to account for his backwardness to ascertain a fact
that must affect the very principle as well as the details
of the Bill ? Only because he is afraid of the truth. Mr.
P. M. STEWART asserted, and he has not been contra-
dicted, that the balance is in favour of the land-
owners. Sir ROBERT PEEL, no doubt, is afraid that
an impartial Committee would establish this point,
and he is, therefore, anxious to resist the
inquiry till the Bill be passed, and the inquiry be-
come a mockery. Mr. WARD, we trust, will persevere
'in his motion. Let him be prepared with documents
and calculations, and though he fails, as he certainly
will fail, in obtaining a Committee, he must compel the
Ministerial party to answer ;him. This will serve his
purpose, and enable the public to judge which statement
is the more entitled to credit.

Another topic adverted to last night was the wild
scheme for transporting English clergymen to foreign
lands, and converting them into bishops at the ex-
pense of the mother country. If the people of Canada, or
the. West Indies, want Protestant Bishops, they will
be willing to pay for them ; and if they consider
them useless lumber, as the Scotch Presbyterians
and the Irish Catholics do, of what benefit can they be
to the Christian people ? Lord STANLEY does not pro-
pose to increase the emoluments of the West India
Bishops—he only wants to add to their number, and
after they have officiated for some time, or (as
Sir CHARLES NAPIER facetionsly but correctly de-
scribed the duties imposed upon them) made parties
of pleasure for visiting the different islands,
in steam-boats, his Lordship will come down to the
house with a woful tale of the hardships to which these
strolling Bishops are subjected—of their poverty and their
piety, and transfer some 10,000/., or 20,000/. a year out
of John Bull's pocket into the pockets of men who
profess to be the successors of the poor and hard-working
apostles.

In introducing the subject of his financial propositions
on Friday night in the House of Commons, Sir R. Peel
expressed great satisfaction at the "composure and con-
tentedness of mind " which he felt on the occasion, add-
ing, " I should be unfit to stand in this place where so
many Ministers of the British Crown have stood, if I
did not feel the buoyancy and alacrity of spirit which
ought to sustain every public man who endeavours faith-
fully to discharge a great public " duty." It is astonish-
ing what " buoyancy and alacrity of spirit" Tory Mi-
nisters always exhibit, when preparing to lay a fresh
tax upon the country ; and we have generally
remarked that this " buoyancy and alacrity "
increase in exact proportion to the load of taxation
to be imposed ! The reason is, that Toryism is then
most iu its element, when it is furnishing additional oc-
cupation for that amiable and popular public functionary
—the tax-gatherer ! It is never so happy as when de-
vising ways and means for sounding the depths of John
Bull's pockets ; and if the old fellow object to this in-
quisitorial process, and venture to denounce it as unjust,
uncalled for,' and so forth, astonished and disgusted
Toryism instantly taunts him, as did the late Lord
Castlereagh, with exhibiting "an ignorant impatiende of
taxation !" Sir Robert Peel expressed no " buoyancy or
alacrity of spirit" when proposing his scheme for reducing
—in however small a degree—the Corn-law impost; but re-
serves his extacies for the Income-tax, which undoubtedly
is a project calculated to call forth all a Tory Minister s
animal spirits, and make him every way happy and com-
fortable. It is gratifying to reflect that comprehensive
taxation—whatever other equivocal qualities it may
posiess--Lhas at least this positive advantage—it throws
the. Minister who proposes it, into transports of happi-
ness. Let this be John Bull's consolation for the impo-
sition of an income-tax ! But other materials of conso-
lation are not wanting to him, for Sir Robert 'Pee' ex •
pressly stated last night that—however it might be with
Ireland--the "proper machinery for taxation" was al-
ways at hand in England. Happy John Bull Your
commerce may be depressed—your ships may be rotting
in your harbours—your seamen may not be found when
wanted—you may be yearly declining in prosperity ;
but thank God, you have the proud satisfaction of know-
ing, on your Prime Minister's own authority, that the
" proper machinery for taxation " is ready to be put in
action against you at the shortest possible notice !
The. Financial discussion, is, we understand, to be re-
newed next Friday. At the close of the debate resolu-
tions to increase the tax on Irish spirits, and put an end
to the allowance now granted in Ireland on malt, and to
apply 8,000,0001. out of the Consolidated Fund to the
service of the year, were agreed to.

-- -
Mr. Wyld has just published a small sketch of the
City of Caubul and its environs. The extent of the place is
about a mile square, the river intersecting it to the north of
Timow Shah's tomb. The Hissah or Hirsah occupied by the
British troops, with tile fortification around it, almost approaches
nottlie ecxiteye,edthing 200 yards.
eiistancebetween the Bulla Point and the walls
Lord Win. Paget has published a statement in
which he denies in the strongest terms any knowledge, much
less participation, in the foolish affair which has made so much
noise at Paris, and asserts that his solicitor has a letter in his
Possession which proves that Cassidy did not go to the bed-room
without the highest authority.
On Saturday the Lord Mayor, several of the Al-
dermen, and a great number of the members of the Court of
Common Council, assembled at the Guildhall, and thence pro-
ceeded in State to Buckingham Palace,to present Addresses to
the Queen upon the occasion of the bitth of his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales.
A JuvgraLE FlEND.—Sarah Burton, residing at
kegworth, being the mother of four illegitimate children, who
reside with her, one da
arrowf
t in
h
bow
account and
he reproof. last week had occasion to reprove one
of them, a boy named James, aged eight years ; the boy having
hatiatmheotthimer, time
oan
rsof
hoa.nd tHhereaptuentehdiatothshroeaott
into execution, and shot the arrow (which was pointed with
a horse nail) into one of her ears, which had such an effect
upon her that her life is in great danger. We have since been
inforMed that the woman died on. Wednesday night. at five
o'clock.—Derby Mercury. •