The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-12 00:00:00

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-THURSDAY

Mr. s-
WALLACErric7veCll;iareturn of the correspondence
relating to the, resignation of the late Lord Corehouse, judge
of the Supreme Court in Scotland. The motion was resisted
by Sir J. Graham, and ultimately withdrawn ; Mr. Wallace,
however, declaring it to be his intention to make use of the
correspondence another time.
Mr. DUICOMBE then brought forward his motion for
rescinding the rule of the house which prevented the presen-
tation of petitions against any tax under its consideration.
His whole object was to establish the broad principle, that
the people had'tlic Light at auy dux to petition ttgalnpt any
tlx whatever.
After some little discussion, in which Sir Robert Peel
stated that such a course would be inconvenient to public
business, Mr. buncombe's motion was defeated by a majo-
rity of 167 to 136.
Sir R. PEEL moved the third reading of the Corn Impor-
tation bill, up in which
Mr. COBDEN moved as an amendment, " That inasmuch
as this house has repeatedly declared, by its votes and the
reports of its committees, that it is beyond the power of
parliament to regulate the wages of labour in this country, it
is Inexpedient and unjust to pass a law to regulate, with a
view to raise unnaturally the prices of food., ' The hon.
member said that Sir R. Peel had admitted that the object
of the bill was to maintain a high price for food, a principle
which was pregnant with gross injustice to the trading and
working classes of the community.
Sir R. PEEL declined to again open up the whole question
by following the arguments of the hon. member, but he
hoped that the hon. gentleman would not think upon that
account that he was treating him with any disrespect.
On a division the motion of Mr. Cobden was defeated by a
majority of 236 to 86.
Mr. HENLEY moved the adjournment of the debate until
Monday next, upon which the house divided, and the motion
for the adjournment was defeated by a majority of 247 to 68.
A second division took place on the third reading of the
bill, which was carried by a majority of 229 to 90.
Mr. FRENCH then moved a clause to prevent the importa-
tion of foreign flour into Ireland under the provisions of the
act until six months after it should have passed through
parliament.
Sir R. PEEL opposed the motion.
After some conversation the clause was withdrawn.
Mr. A. JOHNSTON moved that foreign flour in such a state
of acidity as to be unfit for human food, should be admitted
at a duty of Id. per cwt., for the purposes of the cotton ma-
nufactures.
Mr. M. PHILIPS seconded the motion, and said that some
manufacturers in the country paid £lOOO a year more for
flour used in the manufacture of cotton than they would
have to pay if their manufactories were in America.
After some discussion, the motion of Mr. Johnston was
negatived without a division.
Mr. WAKLEY then moved a clause to the effect that the
sales of injured wheat and flour should not be included in the
averages, if such wheat and flour were unfit for human food,
and sold for a less price than one-third of that of good wheat
and flour.
4.„Sir R. PEEL thought the proposition would be very delu-
sice in its operation, and would open the door to very exten-
sive frauds in the trade.
Mr. WAKLEY said he had brought forward his motion at
the request of some friends, but from what had fallen from
Sir R. Peel he thought it required consideration, and should
therefore not press it to a division.
The clause was accordingly negatived.
Mr. COBDEN then, on the question that the bill do pass,
denounced the bill as a robbery of the poor.

The bill then passed amidst loud cheers.
The other orders of the day were then disposed of, and the
house adjourned.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-FRIDAY

Mr. LIDDELL,- and other members of the House of Com-
mons, brought up the Corn Importation Bill, which, on the
motion of the Earl of RIPON, was read a first time, and or-
dered to be read a second time on Friday next.
The Ecclesiastical Leases and the Ecclesiastical Corpora-
tions Bills severally passed through committee, after which
their lordships adjourned.

OTJEZ OF COMMONS.--.FinnkY

A scene of considerable animation took place, in conse-
quence of Mr. T. T. Duncombe's attempting to present a
petition against the income tax, contrary to the rules of the
house. The crowded state of the, opposition benches led to
the inference that the " whip" had been resorted to in order
o enforce the reception of the petition. Mr. Duncombe in-
sisted on its being received, but Mr. Kemble complained of
the attempt thus made to take the house by surprise, and
moved the adjournment of the debate upon it until Monday.
Lord John Russell and Mr. Aglionby also said it was unfair
that the house should be taken by surprise, and eventually
the further discussion was postponed until Monday.
Sir R. PEEL then moved the order of the day fur bringing
up the report of the committee on the income tax resolution.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL then rose for the purpose of moving
the resolutions, of which he had given notice, asserting that
under the circumstances of the country the proposed income
tax was highly inexpedient to be adopted. The noble lord
contended that it was of great importance to our commercial
prosperity that London should continue to be the money
market of the world ; but this tax would seriously militate
against its maintaining that position, by causing the dispersion
of capital in other directions. He dwelt upon the inequality
of the tax—upon its inquisitorial character—and insisted that
the time
for the imosition of such a tax was singularly ill
chosen and inappropriate, for iu the present state of commer-
cial distress men of business could little afford the investiga-
tions into their concerns inseparable from such a tax. If it
was necessary to resort to taxation for the purpose of raising
the revenue, the
of might with much greater propriety subject
real property to they
e
same probate and legacy duties to which
the other kinds
might also resort to thePruperty was already subjected. They
, and
other taxes on male servants and four-
wheel carriages
been found profitable wheno the assessed taxes, which had
formerly in operation. The noble
lord concluded by moving a
afeoruneadel Qfc resolutions, laying down
propositions upon which he
the following inference :
That, considering the various meansthe of supplying the
g,
ittstphrices of the ne-
cessaries
its character,
present deficiency, without enhancing
hceosussaer itehsaotf
thelit'e
roerneemw
abla
er rfaasstienxg, tirhaticlueopimion of this
unequal in its pressure, and which has hitherto been con-
sidered as the financial reserve of the nation in time of w
is not called for by public necessity, and is therefore nutaad:

visable."
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said that the
pro-
positions contained in the resolutions of the noble lord were
of themselves a sufficient proof that the country was placed
in an emergency which called for a measure so stringent as
the imposition of an income tax. It appeared to him that
the noble lord did not attach a sufficient degree of weight to
the fact, that for some succession of years there had been a
defibi
Incy of revenue to meet the expenditure of the coun-
try. t was not merely because we were at war that Mr.
Pm had imposed the income tax, but because the credit of
the country required the abandonment of the impolitic sys-
tem of loans, which at the best, in times of war, were neces-

I, In re

of the noble lard, that

)t the work

the investment of
capital in our public securities, he adverted to the fact-.-con- I
elusive upon that subject—that since the proposition of an
income tax the funds had risen. With respect to the in-
quisitorial character of the tax he intended to make some
provisions which would materially mitigate its severity in that
particular. With respect to the suggestion of the noble
lord to tax real property, he had to remark that there was a
double fallacy prevalent on this subject, for real property
was in various, cases subjected to the legacy duty, which was
not invariably the case with personal property ; and were
such a tax to be now imposed it would fall chiefly upon syr all
nrnnrietors. whose means would not permit them to avail

themselves of those settlements by which large landed pro-
prietors could evade the imposition of the duty. With re-
spect to a renewal of the assessed taxes, he must say that
such a measure would fall most heavily on the trading" and

commercial classes of the community. The income tE
therefore, the only means by which they could hope to re-
pair the disordered state of the finances of the country.
Mr. WILLIAMS contended that the landed proprietors were
not taxed ir. the same ratio for their real estates as were per-
sons having personal property, however small. He should
propose, when the proper time came, a more equitable in-
come tax than that proposed by Sir R. Peel, and its princi-
ciple should be this,—that in respect of every annuity,
pension, stipend, dividend, or salary, payable out of the
public revenue, of the annual amount of £l5O and under
£3OO there should he charged 6d. in the pound ; of £3OO to
£5OO, one shilling in the pound; of £5OO to £750, one shil-
ling and sixpence; of £750 to £l,OOO, two shillings; of
£l,OOO to £1,500, three shillings ; of £1,500 upwards, four
shillings in the pound. And further, that in respect of all
lands, tenements, hereditaments, and real property of every
description, there should be charged to every person coming
into possession thereof by inheritance or bequest, a duty
equal in amount to the probate and legacy duty, now payable
on personal property.
Sir R. INGLIS suggested that Sir R. Peel should so far

concede in the details of his income tax as to allow in all
cases the first £l5O of income to go untaxed. This would
be a great relief to all persons of small incomes ; and he must
say that this was quite consistent with the right hon. baronet's
own proposition that incomes under £l5O a-year should not
be taxed at all. He would also state his belief that the coun-
try would prefer a property tax of four or five per cent. to
having the machinery of this income tax.
Mr. P. M. STEWART approved of the suggestion of Sir
R. Inglis.
Mr. G. PALMER said, he was not open to the charge of
inconsistency because he was willing to give a trial to mea-
sures with which he was not perfectly satisfied, and with
which, he believed, the agricultural interests were not satis-
fied. He supported the proposition of an income tax on the
ground of necessity, and he thought the opposition to it came
with an ill grace from those who had brought the finances of
the country into such a state as to render the imposition of
an income tax indispensable. The new tariff he could not
say he agreed in, but as they were to have a new edition of it
on Monday, he would only express a hope that such im-
provements would be apparent in it as to render it less
objectionable.
Sir W. SOMERVILLE could not conscientiously support the
proposition for an income tax, for he did not think the cir-
cumstances of the country were so desperate as to require the
imposition of a tax the nature of which' was so inquisitorial.
Captain HAMILTON opposed the resolutions of Lord J.
Russell, and denied that the income tax was an aristocratic
measure, or one at all calculated to favour the landed interest.
Mr. SMELL admitted that Sir Robert Peel had acted in a
bold and manly manner, but he thought his first difficulty
would be the result of his success. The right hon. baronet
could easily carry his income tax ; but when it came to be
paid, and when it came to be known that no deduction was
to be made for fire, food, clothing, or rent—when all its odi-
ousness and attendant humiliation should be brought home
to the people, they would be tempted to ask whether it was
necessary that such a tax should be inflicted upon them—a
tax at once unjust, inquisitorial, and immoral. The right
hon. gentleman then proceeded to comment on the tariff,
contending that the duty should not have been taken altoge-
ther away from Canadian timber, and that the'duty on sugar
should not be maintained at its present amount. They pro-
fessed not to reduce the duty on sugar lest they should give
encouragement to slave-y, and yet they reduced to Bd. the
duty on 'slave-grown coffee. He then quoted the speech of
Sir F. Burdett, when the income tax was repealed at the pe-
riod of the peace of Amiens, in the course of which he said
that the infamy of an income tax should be stigmatised and
branded. If the right hon. baronet once succeeded in put-
ting this blister on, it would become perpetual, and the more
it would draw the more it would adhere. The tax was de-
nounced by the whole country when formerly in operation ;
it had been denounced by Mr. Wilberforce as immoral, and
by the late Sir R. Peel, who said that it was the worst tax
that could be resorted to by a minister, and that it was a mis-
take to say that it did not press upon the poor, for whatever
pressed upon the middle classes must also press upon the
poor. It was an unjust tax; it was almost iniquitous, for it
laid the same ratio of tax upon the intellect of one man which
it laid upon the acres of another.
As soon as the right hon. gentleman sat down,
Mr. BROTHERTON moved the adjournment of the debate.
Sir. R. Peel rose immediately to speak, and it became a
question whether he was entitled to address the house, or
whether it would be an evasion if, upon the question of ad-
journment, he was to address himself to the main question.
After hearing the opinion of the Speaker,
Sir R. PEEL said, he should adopt this course, and then
proceeded to show there was an absolute necessity that the
country should make some great effort in order to rescue
itself from its financial difficulties. He referred to the flou-
rishing condition of the revenue when the whigs entered upon
office with a surplus revenue of three millions, and to the
lamentable state of the finances when they left it, with a de-
ficit of five millions. In addition to this there was a deficit
of two millions in the East Indies ; and yet he was to be told
that he had made out no case for the imposition of an income
tax. Were they to, be told that this country had met with no
disaster? When bad this country met with such a disaster
as that which had recently occurred? A whole army butch-
ered ! Only three persons saved out of £13,000 ! The evil
was not irreparable,—it should be repaired by the energy of
their councils and by the bravery of their army ; but with
such a disaster staring them in the face, and with such an
immense deficit in the revenue, how could it be asserted that
there was no necessity for an income tax ? The right hon.
bart. then proceeded to contend that there was no other eer-
fistn mode of supplying tho deficiency than by means of an
income tax, and that an increase in the assessed taxes, as
was suggested by Lord J. Russell; would press as heavily
upon the professional man as would the income tax, and
would be attended with the additional evil of holding out a
temptation to the man of property to reside out of the king-
dom. With respect to the tariff, he hoped his agricultural
friends would suspend their judgments until he should have
the opportunity of stating to them the whole case, when he
was confident he should be able to show them that their fears
from the low duties in that-tariff were unfounded. The right
hon. baronet admitted the inequality with which the income
tax pressed upon different individuals, but so did every other
tax, whether direct or indirect. He also admitted that in-
quisition was inseparable from an income tax, but if the im-
position of such a tax was necessary they must be content so
to modify it as that the honest man should not pay more than
he had a right to do, in consequence of the evasions of the
dishonest. The right hon. baronet resumed his seat amidst
very general cheering.
Mr. BROTHERTON charged the right hon. baronet with
violating the rules of the house by speaking on the main
question when speaking to the question of adjournment.
The SPEAKER declared the right hon. baronet to have been
in order.
The debate was then adjourned.

HORRIBLE MURDER AND MUTILATION OF
A FEMALE NEAR PUTNEY.

From an early hour on Thursday morning, a feeling of
most intense excitement was occasioned in the villages of
Roehampton and Putney, and the surrounding neighbour-
hood of Surrey, in consequence of the discovery of a murder
of a most firightful and appalling nature, which was made
under the following circumstances :—lt appears, that, on
Wednesday evening, Daniel Good, a coachman in the ser-
vice of Mr. Quelay Shiell (who is said to he an India mer-
chant, residing at Granard Lodge, Putney Park Lane, about
a mile and a half from Roehampton), stopped in a pony chaise
of his master's, at the door of Mr. Columbine's shop, a
pawnbroker, in Wandsworth, and agreed to purchase a pair
of black knee-breeches, which he was allowed to take on
credit ; but, having been seen to take off the counter a pair
of black trousers also, he was followed and questioned about
it, but drove off before the chaise could be searched. In-
formation being given to the police, policeman Gardner, with
Mr. Columbine's lad, and a young man named Robert Speed,
proceeded to Mr. Sheill's, to apprehend him. They found
him ; and, as he denied the robbery, they searched the differ-
ent stables ; and, while thus employed, aided by Mr. Ough-
ton, Mr. Sheill's bailiff, Gardner, in a stall at the further
end of the stable, under some trusses of hay, found something
which he thought was a dead pig ; and, on his making the
exclamation " What's this ?" Good rushed out of the stable,
shutting the door after him ; and, before Gardner or his
companions could collect themselves sufficiently to prevent
him, Good succeeded in locking them in on the outside, and
taking out the key, which was subsequently found in a shrub-
bery near the spot, and effecting his escape. On closer ex-
amination, the object in the stall proved to be the trunk of a
female, and the abdo m en was found to have been cut open,
and the entrails, &c., extracted. Superintendent Bicknell
and Inspector Busain, of the police, being informed, sent for
a surgeon, who found that the head had been taken off at
about the third or fourth of the cervical vertebrae, apparently
after death. The right arm had also been taken off above
the shoulder joint, and the left arm under the shoul-
der joint. Through the chest was an incision from rather
above the sternum, extending down nearly to the pubes ; and
another incision, right and left, extending to the osilium.
The legs had likewise been taken off, just below the head of
the thigh bone. The whole of the cuts through the flesh had
been evidently made with a very sharp instrument, the edges
being remarkably clean ; while the bones had, on the con-
trary, been divided by being hacked or chopped with some
blunt instrument, the edges being much jagged. The sto-
mach, as well as the whole of the intestines, the liver, uterus,
&c., had all been removed, and were, like the head, arms,
and legs, nowhere to be found. In the opinion of the sur-
geons, the body is that of a female from about twenty-four
to twenty-six years of age, and from the appearance of the
body it is considered the unfortunate woman had never been
a mother ; but whether or not she was eneienteat the time of
her death could not be determined, the uterus, &c. being re-
moved. During the time occupied by the examination of the
body, Sergeant Palmer, Y 6, was attracted by a strong and
very disagreeable smell, to the harness-room, which adjoined
the stable in which the body had been found. The door was
found to be locked, and upon its being opened, the stench
was most overpowering, and to use Palmer's words, " nearly
threw him on his back." Observing a pile of wood in the
fireplace, where there was no stove, he found that the pile
had been laid ready for ignition, and had been formed as fol-
lows :—Two blocks of wood formed the base, about a foot and
a half apart; across these blocks were two bars of iron, trans-
versely placed at either end, and upon that other wood had
been placed with coal ; the object of thus forming it being
evidently to secure a quick vent, similar to that of a furnace.
/laving carefully removed the material of the pile, Palmer
discovered a quantity of ashes, chiefly wood ash ; and on ex-
amining them, he discovered amongst them a number of frag-
ments of human bones in a highly calcined state, which ac-
counted for the unpleasant odour above mentioned; and on
their being shown to Mr. Shillito and Mr. Allen, they at
once declared them to be portions of the skull, arms, and thigh
bones, and bones of the fingers, &c. of a human being.
Soon after daybreak, Sargeant Palmer, 6 V, on turning up
some bay in the stall next to where the trunk was found, dis-
covered a large quantity of blood. This apparently was the

.
place where the unfortunate woman was murdered, and thence
dragged into the next stall, which is wider, for the purpose
of severing the body into seperate portions. Sergeant Pal-
mer afterwards, in the stable, found tied, under some straw
in one of the mangers, a mattress, two blankets, and a sheet;
which had, no doubt, been procured for the use of the un-
fortunate woman previous to her decease. The sergeant
next searched the harness-room, and collected a great quan-
tity of calcined bones, amongst which were portions of the
skull, and more of the arms, legs, and finger bones. Inspec-
tor Busain, on Thursday morning, found a large carpenter's
axe in the harness room, with which, no doubt, the murder
was committed, for the pole was covered with blood. He
also found a small band-saw, which, from being covered
with blood, was, no doubt, used in severing the arm and
thighiu found bones.
A lantern belonging to Good was subsequently
fl
in one of the hedges. It appears, that, on Thursday
evening, about seven o'clock, two men in the neighboured
saw Good and a young
woman enter the of the spot-
ted Horse public house, Roehampton. Good was well
known to both of them, the
young woman was not. They

att some grog togetijer, sad sliptTred to

but tha latfer said, "jn No, you shall not have it, except with
my life." She then told him that she had lost a brooch
which he had given to her ; and Good said, " I value that
brooch much, and I gave it to you because I thought you
would have kept it." Some angry words afterwards ensued,
but ultimately went away quite amicably. A boy of eleven
years of age, calling himself Good's son, also states, that on
Sunday last- his father fetched a woman he called his sister,
from No. 18, South-street, Manchester Square, London,
where she had lived two years, saying he had got a place for
her; and the lad had not seen her since.—The officers have
not yet been able to apprehend the miscreant.