The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-04-05 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY,

Enantrb.

WANTED, Four or Five CANAL BOATS and Two
RIVER FLATS, in good condition.
Tenders, stating the lowest price, to be sent to K 31, .41er-
cury-office, on or before To=morrow, the 6th instant.

LIVERPOOL DOCKS.
LOANS OF MONEY.

irHE COMMITTEE of the LIVERPOOL DOCKS
I do hereby give Notice, that they are willing to receive
LOANS OF MONEY, on the Security of the Bonds of the
Trustees of the Liverpool Docks, at the rate of ..*'3 10s. per
centurn per annum interest, for periods of either Three, Five,
or Seven Years. All offersto be addressed to GEORGE V. TAN-
TON, Esq., Treasiirtc•-tif the Liverpool Docks, Dock-office,
Liverpool.—By order, DANIEL MASON, Secretary.
Dock-office, Liferpool, February 10, 1853.

Ensurancr No tiro.

A THEN2EUAI LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY,
30, SACKVILLE-STREET, LONDON.
Policies indisputable; Claims paid immediately on proof of
death. Division of Profits. Security of loss of Policy from
Non-payment of Premium by a Provident Fund.
Diseased Lives Assured at Equitable Rates.
Liberal Premiums for Voyagps'Or Residence Abroad.
Annuities to Widows ar.a.Cidldren.
Endowments for Appre6tice Fees and Outfits, Educational
Purpose,i, Marriage Se.-I.temente, &c.
Medical Men ReMunerated for Reports.
LIVERPOOL BILANCE-1 OFFICE :

13, Lancaster Buildings, Exchange-street East.
Mr. ARTHUR DOBSON, AGENT.
METHCALREFERF.E.

TRAFALGAR LIFE ASSURANCE ASSOCIATION
CHIEF OFFICES, 40, PALL-MALL, LONDON.
AGENT FOR LIVERPOOL
• MR. JOHN SMITH. COMMERCE-COURT
Fully subscribed Capital, €250,000, by upwards of- 1,100
Shareholders, whose names and addresses are published.
LOANS.—In the past two years the Directors have advanced
to the public upwards of .€50,000, in connexion with Life As-
surances, in Sums of from £5O £5,e00, and are ready to
receive Proposals for any similar or larger amounts.
Applications for Prcspec4ases, roans of Proposals, Agen-
cies, and all other info creation respecting the general business
of the Associatio re requested to be made to THOMAS
BAYLIS, Eser Manager, London; or Mr. JOHN SMITH,
as above.

CORPORATION or THE LONDON ASSURANCE.
Established A.D. 1720.
No. 7, ROYAL EXCHANGE, CORNHILL, and
No. 10, REGENT-STREET, LONDON.

GOVERNOR, Edward Burmester, Esq.
SUB-GOVERNOR, John A. Arbuthnot, Esq.
DEPUTY-GuyEalloß, James Dowie, Esq.
FIRE INSURANCES effected upon every description of Pro-
perty, with the usual reductions allowed on and in Buildings of
Certified Warehouses, 4,c, and for single management, accord-
ing to the lowest ratesecurro,t.
FIRE NOTICE.
PERSONS ASSURED AG. INST FIRE by this Corporation,
whose Policies expire at LADY DAY, are respectfully re-
minded, that, for their own security, they should renew them
within FIFTEEN DAYS ferh"the said QUARTER DAY.
LIFE ASSURANC,E .—This branch of the Corporation's
business is carried eti without any charge for management, and
offers peculiar ad stages to the Assured.
Prospectuses", Mercantile Fire Rates, and all other informa-
tion may be had at their Offices, or sent free, on application to
JOI-1N SCOTT, 1, India-buildings, Water-street,
C. F. CARNE, 13, Rumford-place,
Agents for Liverpool and adjacent parts; or to
EDWI). ROBERTS, Sandford-street, Birkenhead.

MONEY LENT on PLATE, WATCHES, JEWEL-
LRRY, SILKS, VELVETS, SWOLLENS. and every
description of Manchester and Lee4(Goods, at Half the Pawr.-
brokers Rate of Interest.
Apply at 66, Seel-street, tido doorsfrom Back Colqaitt-street.
Private House

Etberpoot tanbarb.

TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 5, 1853.

DIRECT TAXATION.

THERE is an unmitigated selfishness and positive
dishoneety in the advocacy, by the organs of Libe-
ralism, of a system of direct taxation, as the means of
raising the National Revenue. If it were really de-
signed to impose on everyman an amount of taxation
proportionate to his means, such a system-would
still be -open to grave objections, and none would
be more violently opposed to. it than those who are
now the most clamorous for its adoption. This is,
however,--not the intention of-the present agitators.
By direct taxation they mean a system which shall
press upon all the upper classes, and leave untaxed
the great bulk of those who constitute the majority
of the Borough electors. This favoured class is-to
receive all the benefit from the remission of Customs
and Excise duties, and yet pay none of the equiva-
lent which is so eagerly advocated to-be substituted
for it. By the system of exemptions, altnost in-
separable from any system of direct taxation, the
possessors of incomes below £l5O claim freedom
from that portion of the public burdens ; and though
it is a favourite axiom of the Liberalisers that
taxation and representation should go together, we
had a proof of their honesty when the late CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER'S proposition to levy
the house tax down to £lO a-year was rejected.
This was a proposition to which we strongly ob-
jected, from very different motives ; but it was
positive dishonesty in those who advocated the
application of the system to other classes. The
men belonging to the latter class obtained a large
share -of political power by the Reform Act, and
the use they make of it is to free themselves .at
the expense of those above them. We cannot be-
lieve that any system of direct taxation would be
so equitable as that of indirect, which levies upon
each consumer an amount proportionate to his ex-
tent of consumption ; but, supposing that it should
be adopted, whether by way of Income-tax or House-
duty, it would be the height of injustice to exempt
any man who claims to enjoy the privilege of the
franchise. In that case, however, it would be a
species of political suicide, for the effect would be
to throw the whole of the burden on a portion of
our own countrymen; whereas, by a judicious
system of Customs duties upon imported goods, a
part of the burden is borne by the foreign producer.
It has been found, in numerous instances, that a
reduction or abolition of duty on importation has
enhanced the price of the commodity to the profit
of the foreigner, and consequently the injury of our
own pe0p1e.7.,.1f French brandy, with a duty of 15s.
a gallon, can now enter into competition with
British made spirits paying about half that amount,
what would be the prospect for the latter, if both
were upon an equality ? Even in some of the Excise
duties the public are benefited, as in the instance
of the Malt duty, which is now paid without com-
plaint by beer drinkers, while its abolition would
render necessary a doubling of the present Income-
tax. So long as indirect taxation can be made
available for national requirements, without crippling
the springs of industry, or:unnecessarily depriving
the public of the means of enjoying those luxuries
of foreign growth which custom has made necessaries,
it is impossible to devise a system which will press
with more equality and prove less burdensome. Direct
taxation should only be resorted to under an emer-
gency such as we trust we may long be spared from;

but deliberately to substitute it for the former, is in
fact to perpetrate the crime of the socialists in
France, and virtually to confiscate property for the
benefit of industry. There is no mistaking the
object of the Radicals, both in and out of Parlia-
ment, in their speeches and writings; but it is to be
hoped, notwithstanding the doubtful aspect of the
present Administration, that there is sufficient good
sense, public spirit, and, above all, common honesty,
in the majority of the House of Commons, to pre-
vent such an iniquitous scheme being carried into
effect. It behoves, however, the Conservative
electors throughout the country, who have anything
to lose, to be on their guard, to attend as they
ought to do to the registration, to struggle manfully
at every election for the return of Conservative
candidates, and not to believe that the battle is won
so long as they have such an unscrupulous foe to
deal with. It is a favourite plan of the Radicals to
foster the belief that there is no longer any distinc-
tion of parties, and the treachery of the PEELITE
faction has done somewhat to encourage the sup-
position. But it is pregnant with danger, and the
first fruits will be found in the gradual adoption of
that fatal system by which the ten-pound voters
seek to relieve themselves at the expense of the
class above them.

MORE PEACE HUMBUG.—THE COCKNEYS
AND LOUIS NAPOLEON.
ONE of the most recent manifestations of a desire
for peace took place a few days since, when several
of the London papers published columns of names
appended to a declaration of merchants, traders and
others of London, avowing that no feelings of an
unfriendly character towards the French people
eatst on the part of the English people; deploring
the evils of war; and proclaiming- their earnest
desire for a continuance of peace. 'We are further
informed that a copy of this declaration was pre-
sented on Easter Monday, by a deputation, to
Louis NAPOLEON, who received it very gra-
ciously. There is something so apparently amiably
in any aspirations for amity, that to find fault
appears a most ungracious 'task. We shall, how-
'ever, not refrain from exposing the absurdity of
the proceeding we have alluded to, as one un-
worthy of the genius of 'Great Britain. In thus
voluntarily seeking to 'fraternise with the French
nation, the subscribers to the declaration are ob-
livious of the fact, that the people for whom they
profess such friendly 'feelings are the least to be
trusted of any with 'whom we have to •deal. Their
history during the last sixty years has been a
record of revolutions of the most revolting charac-
ter ; at one time heaven-defying infidels, and at
another superstitious bigots ; now'the most brutal
tyrants, and then crouching slaves.; twice over-
' throwing a BOURBON dynasty, and once an
ORLEANS monarch of their own choosing; and
their last move the acceptance of an adventurer,
under whose-away no one is allowed to say that his
soul is his own. In commercial transactions the
advantage has always been or their side, and to the
detriment of England, as fares they dared. Their
first Bt3OtCAPARTE laboured to shut out English
Commerce from the Continent of Europe ; and
under every form of Government they have ex-
cluded 'British products by prohibitorytariffs, as
far as possible. In political transactions, their
friendship was never to be relied on, as' was shown
in the affair at Tahiti, which was gratuitously pro-
voking' a quarrel ; in their conduct on the Syrian
dispute, which threatened to lead to a broil; in the
treachery about the Spanish Marriages; and so
very -recently, in the absurd claim to the Protec-
torate, of the Holy Places, which is not yet finally
settled. It may be remarked that, although no
allusion is made to Leuis NAPOLEON in the de-
claration, it was presented to him by a deputation—
a proceeding the propriety of whiCh it would be
(=cult to centre,. If IL were Illtenaell fur the
EMPEROR, why did it not profess confidence in
his 'Government, though such an assertion would
have proved the extent of English credulity; for
LOUIS 'NAPOLEON', ,in his utter' disregard of all
obligations that stood in the way of his own ag-
grandisement, has shown himself unworthy of any
confidence. On the other handeif it be intended
for the'French people, of what value is it, when it
is well Inown that they have no will of their own,
either for peace or war. But, even if we suppose
the latter case, that public opinion in France-were
as free as it is in England, what have we to hope
from the good feelings of a people who view useas
jealous rivals in trade.; who feel still the mortifica-
tion of our having defeated them inwar ; and who
have no•sense of Christianity or morality to which
we can-appeal. We have no desire to undervalue
the blessings of peace; or to weaken that proper
dread of the horrors of war which all should enter-
tain. We. can readily coincide with the opinions of
those who signed the declaration, as to the, advan-
tage of cuEivating, the arts of peace,but we may
depend upon this, that we have nothing to expect
from any reciprocity of good feeling on the part of
the French people. .Under present circumstances,
the decision rests with the self-elected EMPEROR,
and he will be solely influenced by its effect upon
his own interest ; but, should the question rest
upon the popular suffrage, the same result would
be arrived at, for it would depend upon opinions of
national advantage or martial glory, and not in the
slightest degree upon any regard for the English
nation, or any desire to preserve that pretended
good understanding, which has never been main-
tained upon other•than a hollow foundation.

LEFORM OF THE GOVERNMENT
OF INDIA.
THE demand for a thorough reform of the Govern-
ment of India is daily exciting more interest, and
it is reported that the ABERDEEN Cabinet, in fear
of a defeat, have resolved to forego their intention
of maintaining the Board in Leads:than-street,
except for one year, during which an investigation
may be entered into. It is clear that the more
inquiry takes place, the more glaring appear the
evils of the present system ; and now that the
apathy towards all affairs connected with India,is
being shaken off, and the public attention is aroused
to the subject, the more urgent will be the demand
for improvement. One of the most important
portions of the British empire, a dominion exceed-
ing in extent, population, and resources, any other
of its possessions, is now solely maintained, in order
that twenty-four individuals—who have by some
means, which we will not stop to particularise,
obtained the position of directors—may enjoy the
patronage of lucrative appointments. It were far
better that the whole of this patronage should be
vested in a Minister of the Crown—though that is
not the inevitable alternative—if only the result
were reached of rendering the resources of India
available for national advantage; but it is difficult
to conceive a system more repugnant to any hope
of improvement than that which now prevails. It
was remarked by Lord WILLIAM BENTINCK, a
Governor-General of India, so far back as 1837,
when speaking of the patronage enjoyed by the
Court of Directors, and the mode in which it is
exercised, that "there exists, in consequence, on
the part of the home authorites, an interest in the
administration precisely similar to what formerly
prevailed as to commerce—that is, directly opposed
to the welfare of India." Lord ELLEN BOROUGH,
also a Governor-General of India, has strongly
condemned the exercise of patronage by the Court
of Directors, and recommended its removal to
other hands; and other high authorities have agreed
in denouncing the system AS the deadly Upas tree,