The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-16 00:00:00

'tilt .c.;lvill.

LONDON
MONDAY MORNING, MAY 16, 1842.

In, common with many others, we have felt much
surprise at the little opposition the Income-tax has
er.countered out of doors. However that may be ex-
plained, it certainly is a fact, that less real opposition
1-kus been given. by the public to this imposition than
is given to the 'proposed alteration of the duties on
and timber. Aware of that fact, we have not
eonA,lored it our duty to dwell on an imposition to
which those whom it affects are itlelined to submit.
Ilv'hcn the whole is looked on with so much indiffer-
ence, the Separate parts of it, however glaring may b.
a,few Mgt's of individual injustice, cease to be proper
objects of' public discussion. It was of no use, therefore,
anti is now of no use to say anything nufreofthe gross ine-
qualities of the measure. As Sir IL PEEL brought it into
the House, so it will become the law of the land. Never,
perhaps, was so large and bold a measure passed with
less opposition, and never was the opposition antici-
pated so much overrated. •
In looking about for the causes of this, it seems to
us that the principal one is that the tax falls mainly ,
on those who are much interested, or suppose them-
selves interested in the maintenance of the Govern- ;
ment. They know that the revenue is deficient.
They believe that, unless the revenue be increased,
the Government :will probably be unable to fulfill
those duties which they expect of it ; and hence
they submit, with unexampled patience, to an im-
position to which our ancestors, who depended
less on the Government, and cared much,
Ik,ss to uphold it, would have spurned. It is a tribute
they- willingly pay to maintain and preserve the
instrument from which they expect protection. With
the ChartM claims fresh in our recollection, and the
resistance made by the House of Commons even to
hearing those claims, we cannot doubt for one mo-
ment; that the opulent classes unhappily now dread
the lower classes, and they accept the Income-tax as
a means cr: enabling the Government to protect them
against their poorer fellow-subjects.

Sir ROBERT PEEL has shown his cleverness for his
own immediate purpose, by limiting the tax to in-
Nimes of less than 1501. a-year. That cuts off an
immense portion of the public from contributing to it,
and leaves the number of complainants .too small, scat-
tered as they are through the community, and
having, as many of them have, a direct and im-
mediate interest in upholding the Government, to
MAO any impression on the public. In a debate
on the 12. th ult., Colonel Woon estimated the whole
number of persons who would contribute to the tax
at only 200,000. That WIN probably an under esti-
mate; but that number of persons, paying an average
of .201. a year each on their income, would yield Sir.
ROBERT PEEL the full amount of his tax. If we
double the number, and suppose that 400,000 persons
contribute, an average tax of 101. levied on each
would give Sir ROBERT PEEL 4,000,0001. Every
income of-something less than .350/, will pay 10/.
a -year, whence we may infer, that in this grest,
rich; an'', powerful country, there are not more than
400,000 persons, according. to Sir- ROBERT PEEL'S
calculations, with average incomes of 350/. a-year.
Some few thousand persons will contribute a much
6rger 61,1111 than 10/., a still larger number will con-
tribute something more tient 10/., and a consider-
able 'number will be taxed—all who have incomes
between 1501. nud 350L—at less than 10/. a-year.
But the notorious fact, that there are many persons
with incomes of 1,0001., 2,0001., 3,000/., 4,0001.,
52000/. a.year,
and even greater sums, while Sir
It.. Put. expects to obtain less than 4,000,000/, from
taxing all incomes above 150/.1 at sevenpence in the
pound, demonstrates that the number of persons who
will contribute to the tar will be only a small
section of the community. Whether we adopt
Colonel Woon's calculation of 200,000 persons, or
seek to infer the .number of contributors from Sir
lloaritr Pnees estimate of the account of the tax,
we are equally surprised at the small number sup-
posed by hint to be directly interested in' the support
of the present order of thing;; and able and willing to
coi,tribute to uphold it by subMitting to additional
hardans. In such a comparatively small number, all
or the educated classes too, there are no materials for
a demagogue to work with, and hence the little
.clamour against pssing the tax, and hence the little
opposition it has etrcountered out of doors.
The small number of persons on whom the tax falls
suggests another remark. It taxes, exclusively, a
few rich. This is 'what levellers, in all ages, have
demanded. This is n fiat Lord 1111011-Guam, and se-
veral other speakers and writers, vehemently con-
demned when 'it was pt .oposad to levy an increasing
per tentage on incomes \,s' they increase in amount.
Sir R.- Pxces Income-t ax, levied' on a few per.
e in England of
sona, is a practical' commen 'cement her

that system of equalising incomes, or levelling pro-
perty, which has been so much blamed abroad. At pre- I
sent it is confined to all incomes above 1501., but if the
man, with a less income than 1501., should not contri-
bute at all, surely he who has 1511. should not pay as
much as the man who ' has 30,000/. a year.
The principle applied in Sir R. PEEL'S exemption
will be carried out, and the Tory Premier, who has
given by his speeches such a vast impulse to free
trade, will give a still stronger impetus by his acts to
the practical application in England of the levelling
doctrines which have heretofore been practised in a
neighbouring country. Mr. FEARGUS O'CONNOR
congratulated the Chartists on Sir R. PEEL'S Income-
tax as the entrance of the small end of the wedge,
and Mr. O'CoNicoa, seems to have had reason for his
congratulation. Probably Sir R. PEEL supposes
that, having set the ball in motion, he will be able to
stop it when and where he pleases. He will be mis-
taken. His scheme of exclusively taxing the rich
falls in too harmoniously with popular prejudices, not
to derive from them accelerated power, which will
carry it away from his control.

Sir ROBERT PEET, stands, according to his own
friends, in a very curious position. He has avowed
that the, principles of free trade cannot be disputed.
At the same time he is opposed to the free-traders as a
political party, and he is supported by those who hate
free trade, only because they, cannot find, it is said,
an anti-free-trader who would undertake to lead any
party. The Prime Minister, then, who is a free-
trader, carries on the Government by means of
a party opposed to free trade. But this is not
the greatest singularity of the case. Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S Corn-law and his short-coming tariff are
both in opposition to his own professed princi-
ples, and they are adopted out of deference to
the political party which supports him. He advocates
buying at the cheapest market, and his measures pre-
sent this remarkable singularity : They do not ac-
cord with the principles of his opponents ; they do not
agree with the principles of his own supporters ; and
they do not accord with his own professed princi-
ples. They are founded on mere political temporary
convenience. They are a compromise of opinions
between Sir ROBERT PEEL and his friends. They
are based on none of the great interests or wants of
society, and are not framed with any view to its
future condition. Can such law be permanent ?
Why, a little shifting of parties, would make the free-
trade Premier as ready to repeal them to-morrow,
as he is to-day to pass them. Legislation founded on
such a basis, is a disgrace to the Legislature. The
nation cannot and will not long endure it.

A well-informed Journalist says, that the Report
of the Commissioners on Mines will appear to the
public like a romance. It obviously makes him ac-
quainted with a feature in society he had before little
or no knowledge of. But he who has been for some
years writing on public affairs is an extremely well
informed man, and when such was his ignorance,
what must be the ignorance of the bulk of the Mem-
bers of both Houses who have again and again made
laws affecting these people. For example all duties
on coals affect them as well as all duties on provisions.
Even now the Legislature is about to make a law
imposing a 4s. duty on coals exported, which will
probably reduce their earnings, A house carpenter
who set to work to make a roof, knowing nothing of
the wood he had to work with, or the tools he was to
use, would not be likely to end in making a good job.
If a smith knew nothing of the properties of iron he
could mit very well shoe a horse, and if he had not
some smattering of chemical knowledge, as applied to
his profession, he would be called a very ignorant
fellow. It seems, however, that we have public
writers advocating great systems of national policy,
and legislators carrying them into effect, who are far
more ignorant of the society they deal with than any
carpenter or any smith is with wood and iron. If igno-
rant artizans make bungling work, can it he otherwise
with law-makers. We think not, and we apprehend
that the present condition of England testifies that
those who have made our laws have never been sur-
passed in bungling by any apprentice that ever took a
tool in hand.

A petition was presented to the House of Commons
on Friday evening, from Mr. WARBURTON, late Member
for Bridport, furnishing some curious details respecting,
the worthy electors of that borough, and their worthy re-
, presents fives. The document appears among the Parlia-
mentary debates, and, though of great length, will amply
repay perusal. Mr. WARBURTON had no alternative.
Though known and admitted, even by his political op-
ponents, to be a man of high honour, and one of the
most sincere Reformers that ever sat in the House—he
had been maligned by some of the less scrupulous, and by
none more than the Secretary for the Home Department,
who was chased from Cumberland for his apostacy, and
was glad to find shelter in the pocket borough of one of
those Church-and-Sfate patriots whom, in a virtuous fit
of indignation, he described as " great birds of prey."
" What has become of Mr. WARBURTON," said Sir J.
GRAHAM, at the mock election for Dorchester, " the
immaculate supporter of purity of election, the staunch
friend of the late Whig Government, where is he ?"
Mr. WARBURTON is, therefore, determined to answer
the question in person, and promises to lay before the
Committee a scene which the friends of the Right Hon.
Baronet will not thank him for provoking. He voluntarily
comes forward and demands an investigation for himself
and his late constituents. This cannot be refused, un-
less all the Members, and they are not few, who prac-
tised bribery in secret, are determined to protect it
openly. Mr. WARBURTON will tell the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, and enable the House
and the country to judge between the innocent and the
guilty. If such things are done in a place like Bridport,
where the electors generally were considered un-
tainted, what must have been the corruption, the
shameless purchase of votes, and the degradation of
candidates and voters, in a hundred places notorious
for ages, and without any character to lose ? The
systemaltogether is hopelessly corrupt. " The whole
head is sick, and the whole heart is faint." A speedy
and radical cure is imperiously demanded, and all who
throw obstacles in the way, for the purpose of screening
the guilty and continuing these disgraceful practices, can
be regarded only as the abettors of crime, and the ene-
mies alike of religion and morality.

We thank Mr. DUNCOMBE for publicly denouncing the
cowardly practice of certain Members of both Houses of
Parliament, in attacking the character of individuals out
of doors, who have no means of defending themselves, or
of calling their traducers to any account. We are far
from imputing physical cowardice to the Marquis of
LONDONDERUY or Mr.ltotuncx—they have both proved
theansdves brave men, according to the popular estimate
of that quality so common in this country ; but is there
not moral cowardice in attacking the Magistracy of
Sunderland and the framers of the National Petition,
and their pleading Parliamentary privilege when
any explanation is demanded ? The very fact
of being privileged to utter slander with impunity,
ought to prevent a Member of Parliament from stating
all the truth of individuals obnoxious to public censure.
A sense of decency, and a proper feeling of delicacy,
would prevent any honourable man from attacking indi-
viduals unable to defend themselves. The contrary
practice is as base as to strike a prisoner in fetters, or
to assault a woman. If the House of Commons wishes
to retain any hold upon the respect of the people, it
cannot too. soon get rid of sanctioning attacks upon in-
dividuals out of doors. The privileges of Members may
save them from personal violence, but they can neither
screen them nor the House from the odium of the double
charge of being moral cowards and calumniators.

We have received Madrid Journals of the sth inst.
On that day, in the Chamber of Deputies, Count DE LAS
NAVAS asked the Minister for Foroign Affairs if there
was any truth in the report that France was intermed-
dling about the marriage of the young QUEEN. We give
the answer in the Minister's own words :

In answering this question I must observe great prudence
and circumspection ; but I will say enough to reassure the
House in that respect. The dignity and honour of the nation
will not sutler the interference of another Government in an
affair which regards us exclusively. The nation will consider as
an insult any pretension to the contrary. Thus, the Govern-
ment will never yield to the exigencies of any other nation, but
will, consult the interests of Spain, and adopt the course which it
deems most beneficial for them. Such is the political principle
by which the Cabinet will be guided in this affair.
The sth being Ascension Thursday, the Bourse remained
closed.
Intelligence from Bircelona of the 6th inst. states, that the
feast of the preceding day passed off without any disturbance.
•

There is no political news in the Paris Journals ex-
cept a rumour that a French squadron was to bombard
Tunis, and a Dutch fleet to attack Naples. Of course
there is not a syllable of truth in either of these reports.
Such, at least, is our impression.
There is no longer a doubt that the Railway Bill will
be carried. The following is the substance of a speech
delivered by Marshal SOITLT, upon it in the Chamber of
Deputies, on Thursday. It will be borne in mind that
Members of the French Government have the privilege
of addressing either Chamber :
He had declared before the Committee his opinion, that
the vast system of railroads now proposed ought singularly to

favour military operations on the north and east. Lower Alsa-
cia was evidently the point which an enemy would choose for
entering France. That was so evident, so well known, that he
committed no indiscretion in announcing it from the tribune.
Once that the enemy had entered France, it could easily turn
Strasburg, take the high road to Saverne, .and reach the inte-
rior of th country. As kr as the defence of the kingdom was
concerned, he attached the greatest importance to the direct
line from Paris to Strasburg, for Paris being a centre of
concentration for troops, and at the same time the
north containing a great portion of the army, it was '
absolutely requisite that the Government could trans-
port with rapidity, with the shortest delay, 45,000 to 50,000
men, to stop up the entrance by Lower Alsacia. It
must not be lost sight of, that since they had lost Landau,
and that Sarrelouis had passed under the power of
another Government, France was continually open to at-
tacks on the side of Lower Alsacia; therefore it was neces-
sary to have the means of speedily transporting troops there.
He was of opinion a branch line ought to be taken from the
Strasburg railroad to Metz. In fact, Metz had become a
strategic point, and an entrenched camp ought to be esta-
blished there for the reception of all the troops coming from
the North to meet an enemy renetrating by. the quarter he
had stated. There was no doubt that in time this branch
communication would be demanded by the Government. As
to the East, a line ought trepass by Dijon. If France was at-
tacked, and an enemy. had entered by Lower Alsacia, it would
not enter by that point alone. An army would evidently en:
deavour to penetrate by the Alps, and the strategic point of
that line was incontestably Dijon. This was known to every-
body, and the Chamber might recollect that when the Emperor
wished to re-enter Italy, and was preparing for the battle of
Marengo, it was at Dijon that he concentrated his forces.
Therefore, there was no doubt on the matter; Dijon was the
strategic point. The two strategic railroads were, therefore,
that of the Alps by Dijon; and of Strasburg by Metz, and the
execution of these two lines was of the utmost importance for
the defence of the country in a military point of view.
The following extracts include ail that is of any in-
terest in these papers :
The following details of the capture of English fishing-boats,
which we mentioned a few days ago from a Dieppe journal, are
given in the Temps :--" On the night of the 26th alt.,
English fishing-boats came in great numbers to the oyster-beds
near Granville, to commit depredations. The commandant of
the station, M. Mortemard de Boisse, perceived their ma-
noeuvres, with his own cutter, the Renard, and the Es-
piegle, commanded by M. Latouche, came on them when at
full work. Eighteen were captured, loaded with more than
50,000 oysters, and many more could have been taken, fur
there was quite a little fleet of them, had the crews of the
cutters been numerous enough. The captured boats and their
crews were brought into Granville the next morning."
A letter from Hamburgb, via Antwerp, dated the 7th,
states that the pulling down of houses to prevent the progress
of the flames, had not been successful. 'thirteen streets, says
this letter, had been destroyed, and the number of houses burnt
was 1,300. The letter adds, that no further attempts were
being made to arrest the fire, the men who had been employed
being worn out with fatigue, and the canals dry from the con-
tinued easterly winds. The letter concludes in these words:
We are at the mercy of God. If heaven does nst send
us aid, we do not see what parts of the city can be saved."
A Vienna correspondent writes on the 4th instant:—
" Our new Ambassador from Turkey, Akif Effendi, ar-
rived yesterday. The Turkish Envoy to London was de-
tained at Belgrade by indisposition, and will not arrive
for several days. Count Flahaut has given a splendid dinner
in honour of his sovereign's fete. Prince Meternich being too
unwell to attend, was represented by the Count de Goes, first
Marshal of the Court. The Pope's Nuncio proposed the toast
to the health of the King of the French ; Count Flahaut that of
the Emperor of Austria.
A letter from Berlin, May 2, states that M. de Rochow, the
Minister of the Interior, had, after a long interview with his
Sovereign, given in his resignation, which was accepted. His
successor is Count Arnim, formerly Governor of the province
of Posen.

A Berlin letter, of the 6th instant, says that the calico-
manufacturers of Prussia have presented a petition to the
King, protesting against any increase of the duties on cotton
thread.

A letter from Naples, April 27, in the Augsburgh Gazette,
says—" A communication from the Minister of the Interior
concerning the differences which have arisen between the
Neapolitan Government and Holland, has been posted up in
the Exchange. It is said that the Minister of Foreign Affairs
has to-day addressed a circular to all the Consuls on the same
object. The merchants are informed by it that, as it is pos-
sible that hostile measures may be adopted at any moment by
Holland against the commerce of the Two Sicilies, his Majesty
wishes them to adopt all the measures possible to guarantee
their property from attack, and recommends them even to use
if necessary a different flag from that of Naples."
By the Pharamond, which arrived at Marseilles on the 7th,
we have received news from Algiers of the sth. It was said
that General Changarnier, who left Blidah on the 27th of
April, with a great convoy for Milianah, had penetrated into
the country of the Hadjouts and the Beni-Diener, and had
captured above 6,000 head of cattle, oxen, sheep, and goats,
and 50 camels. He had also brought away 350 prisoners of
those tribes. Another great convoy was to leave Algiers on
the sth for Medeah. A deplorable scene took place at Algiers
on the Ist inst., on the occasion of the execution of a German,
who had been convicted of having assassinated two of his com-
rades, near Douera. This execution was accompanied with
atrocious en cumstances.— Commerce.
BO U USE-I'Am, Tut RSDAY, MAY 12.

I.lrst Highest Lowest last
Price Price. Pric, Prier.
ttrench 5 per Conte 119:50 ... 119 55 ... 1 9 40 ... 119 40
per Cents lO7 50 ... 11i7 50 ... 107 50 ... 197 50

3 per Cents
flank of nance
&Witte 13.thic 1.0(V1. Stiaros 100 ...1040 .1040 ...IP4O
5,000 f. Shares 5661) 5060 ...5060
Belgian Bank
1861 lt 50 ...1050 ...1. 50 ...1056)
Belgian 5 per Cents. ..... .104 104 ... 104 104
3 per Cents., 1840 1(154 ... 1054 1055( 105
3 per Cents 73 65.1 .. 73 75 ... 73 65 ... 73 7,5
Spanish Acme .. 15 21 24% ... 24%
Pa5MTe.........• ... 43 4% ...
Portuguese 5 per Cents. 31% 314, ... 31k,
• eaJoutan lO7 75 10 50 ... 107 25 .. u 7 50
mat) 103% IC4 118% ... 104

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