New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-10-25

the redeemDg Of Hung arian paper money by the
Austrian Government. The great mass OF those
bills however, are still held, in conceament,
through the whole land until better times shall
come, thOu oh the possession Of a kOssu,h note
is a criminal ofense now by the laws Of Austria
The mode which, despite all these circumstances,
the AusIians adopted Of laying heavy taxation
On the nation, was peculiarly characteristic OF
he stupidity of their administration throughout
The great luxury, might say, almost ueces-
sarv of the whole nation, Is their tobacco. Every
man uses j. The clergym walks the streets
with his pipe in his mouth the Baur SMOKES
at every mea and all through the long evenings :
the gentleman plies the cigar wherever ne Is,
from morning 10 night, IN fair weather ana ioll,
in work or IN play II has become A national
habit. There is hardly farm IN the land which
does,not contain its little tobacco field.
This article. as a lvxury, the AusinaEs very
nationally concluded TO tax That. however,
this taxing product of the soil, and one so much
use by the poorest classes was equally ration
Il, we very much doubt The mode, however,
as said before. and the amount OF the tax, was
the most singular.
The peasant. when he was about to plant ms
tobacco In the Spring. must first wait upon inc
Commissioners and obtain written permit,
(for which he paid stamp-duty.) altogether GO
ing through with very veXatloHs proceeding, ior
a man 10 his situation. After this, he quiebY
plants his tobacco, and Is suffered to rest few
weeks until the plants are a little grown theh
he Is waited upOn,ln, his turn, by the koyai Ooiii
ussloners, who assess the present amount alu
the amount which probably VIII be when the
time Of gathering comes.
vest.time His Maesty'S Commissioners show
themselves at the peasants pallng, and II the
present crsp has been injured, or proves unior-
iunatey short, or falls IN any way below the
first estimates, the unfortunate Bauer must pay
the difference.
But stu he is not allowed TO pay the tax on
lis tobacco and then sell II as he chooses.
That would be tar too much license y for their
theories of government. No, he must carry al
his tobacco-every fragment and leaf, even
what he has been wont 10 use as fodder-to the
Commissioners, who, of course, must be pro-
vided with store-houses and set OF clerks 10
overlook it-all new items of expense-and there
he mus, sell the whole crop at the Government
prices And II he wishes any for has own use,
he can buy il back, also At the Government
prices. What those prices are VIII be eylient
from this instance in the town of NJ. in Heves
Comiiat.
A gentleman there, told me, thattobacco which
he could sell for 40 gulden $500 the centner, ne
was obliged to dispose of to the Government
for from eulden TO II the centner when TO-,
bacco the Government again sold 20 hun ana
others at the rate of 20 gul2en! In the Bi7GT
Copitaf, heard instances of Government taxa
tion even worse than this, where the dead loss
to the planter would approach ninety per cent
And this, be it remembered, not a tax upon an
export, or upon an imported luxury, which the
Government would quite as willingly see ban
ishcd-as in the case OF the English tax upon to-
bacco-but upon product of the country, on
which they only wish to raise as much money as
possible
1 -. III ...la ! .1r,fa
Of the Austrian system, which they would 50
stupidly iasten upon Hungary. The very idea
of taxing product of the soil IN any way, ought
10 have been obsolete. But this sutnmonng
ignorant peasants to the Commissioners Office
these forms and prOceedlngs-thls minute inter
ference in the mans sowing and reaplng-the
expensive outlay for Government officers To ell
feet it all-and the bold interference IN the laws
of trade-show the extreme OF impractical legls-
lation. The results have been what might be
expected The peasants refused TO plant to5ac-
co. If IL must be done under such an array OF
legal proceedings. They had rather not smoke,
than have all kinds OF royal officers haunting
Their barns They burned their seed, and were
imprisoned for destroying their own property
The gentlemen found il would not pay at all TO
raise a crop which they must sell to Government
al a loss of 20 per cent. on Its real value ana
rather than pay such an odious tax they pre-
tered 10 abandon their cigars and pipe.
The new tax has accordingly paid the Aus
TRANS very poorly thus far, and they have been
obliged twice to postpone its full execution
The last time it was to come into thorough ope-
ration was in the beginning of July, when / was
leaving Hungary, and | could not therefore see
Its working but know how the whole people
fell. and know how many of the planters have
entirely abandoned the cultivation OF the plant,
so that have little doubt the Austrian Ministry
viii extort very little from the Hungarlans on
that tax at least.
OF the remaining measures OF the Austrian
Government towards Hungary, and OF the re-.
suits of their Administration upon the nation.
hope to speak in another letter. G l. B.