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May ft: 185ft.] THE LBA P B B. 4A%
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THE INCOME-TAX OF A TOWN DOUBLED. Oppres...
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Mr. Cobden.—Mr. Alexander Laing, manufac...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Italian Portsmouth. The Sardinian Go...
< vmresse & aft once * tke Portsmouth and the T / jyerpool of Northern Italy . The © overnment at Turin therefore proposes to separate the Portsmouth fa ? oin the Iiverpool , to leave the commercial business , to Grenoa , and to carry the naral business down to the gulf of Spezzia ; though we do not understand' that Gomraercial business will be excluded from that galC This project , ds we have sard , meets- wi & ft two classes of opponents . Most obviously it is arrested by the Genoese , because the
citizens of the Italian Liverpool do , not like parting" with any business that has hitherto been carried on in their port . This is quite natural , but it is scarcely so far-seeing as we might have expected from the Genoese . Much space will be gained which they absolutely require ; and such extension of trade will be created by calling the Gulf of Spezzia into activity , as to have the certain result of bringing" increased business to Genoa . Por there is no doubt that , as in the case of many
extensions of trade amongst ourselves , the gross amount of trade divided by the two ports will be infinitely larger than it is at present , Genoa , most likely , being yet richer than she is now . The other opponent is Austria , who is of course using all her influence to obstruct a transfer that threatens her power in more ways than one . Spezzia is , in fact , destined by nature to be a great port . Tor picturesque beauty it has been compared with the Bay of Naples , with which it will vie in extent and safety , while the depth of water is greater . The town , which contains about four thousand
inhabitants , is beautifully situated on an eminence at the head of the gulf . Nearer to the mouth of the gulK , on the right bank , is the town of Porto Venere ( Port Venus ) , which still con ^ tains ancient ruius , and commemorates the old name of the gulf , Portus Lamse—Moon Port . The bay is land-locked , and yet is very easy of access . In the midst of it is a natural phenomenon , which is perhaps tinparalleled—a fountain of fresh water arises from an immense spring at the bottom of the gulf . It bursts from iiuder the sea in the
middle of the bay , forming a column thirty feet in diameter , and rising nearly unmixed to the surface , which is visibly raised by the pressure from below . Quite at the surface the water is brackish , but when it is drawn from a depth of thirty-eight feet it is soft and fresh , and colder than that of the sea . It is generally understood that the first Napoleon intended to malce the gulf of Spezzia a naval station and arsenal , and to surround this spring with a wall or other apparatus , by means of which ships could lade their water from its source .
Lying about sixty miles south of Genoa , the gulf of Spezzia is to that extent removed from tho depths of the bay in which Genoa lies , and it stands more out in tho Mediterranean , and is , in fact , the key to tho . naval position of that quarter . If possessed by a naval 1 power , it constitutes a groat opportunity for the development of naval strength , and it might be the instrument for roviving the old nautical valoui * which once
distinguished the Genoese an < il tho Venetians . In its rear , ready facilities are offered for communication with tho Lombard territory ; and should tho commercial business of Lerici bo developed with the facilities of a free port , it is more- than probable thai ; a froo trade would bo ( le facto established with that samo Lombard territory , Austrian , prohibitions notwithstanding .
, In fact , tho oponing of a naval atation at Spezzia would go i ' to introduce ) freedom and independence , naval , political , and commercial , into Central and Northern Italy , These are the reasons why Austria hates tho
project , and conjurea up every influence that ean- resist it . These are the reasons why the patriotism of Genoa should sanction a temporary sacrifice , which is likely to be repaid by immense , advantages to Italy , and even by commercial profit to Genoa itself .
May Ft: 185ft.] The Lba P B B. 4a%
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The Income-Tax Of A Town Doubled. Oppres...
THE INCOME-TAX OF A TOWN DOUBLED . Oppression , in our day , is- usually inflicted only on individuals , or on classes ; seldom do we find the Government extending oppression to a whole town ; yet a case of the kind actually exists at the present moment . The sufferer is nob any private victim of a Chancery suit , any gentleman tabooed by leading political parties , or any section of the working classes ; it is the respectable town of North Shields . The case is stated in the Worth amd South Shields Gazette : —
" In 1844 two persons resident in North Shields were appointed to collect the Income-tax for the Tynemouth-In district . One of them never acted ; the other , a . Mr . Briggs , f topk the whole duty upon himself . In the autumn of 1855 he became a bankrupt , at which time he had in his possession a sum of 1700 ? ., of moneys collected for Income-tax in his district . This sum he had deposited in his own name in one of the local banks , and it was seized by the Court of Bankruptcy for the
benefit of his creditors . The bank , however , did not surrender it without hesitation . Knowing it to be Government money the bank declined at first to pay it over to the Court of Bankruptcy as belonging to Briggs ' s private estate , but wrote to the Commissioners of Incometax , " offering it to their disposal . The commissioners refused to have anything to do with it , and the 1700 L went to pay Briggs ' s private debts ; but it was ordered that the deficiency should be made good by a re-assessment of the township and an exaction of the amount
over again . These simple facts tell the whole story and its moral . As our contemporary says , a more ai'bitrary act of fiscal oppression was never perpetrated in Turkey than that which has been decreed by our Income-tax pachas . ' In fact , we may suspect the Income-tax Commissioners of being Mussulmans , so exactly does the treatment of Christians in South Shields agree with the treatment of Christians in Bulgaria and Armenia ; only that in Turkey Proper the Osmanlis are now -mendiiisr their manners . The mulct
inflicted upon North Shields is unjustifiable by any contrivance of casuistry . The defaulters are not persons appointed by the town . The Income-tax Commissioners appoint a collector , and invest him with the power to enforce payment by summary process . The inhabitants have no kind of voice in the matter ; their income is ascertained—or , in many cases , is presumed without ascertaining it : for we have no doubt that Shields , like
every other town of the country , is paying a tax upon income which does not exist . Thus created and invested with these arbitrary powers—powers that are entirely inconsistent with the spirit of tho English constitutionthe collector rakos up the money . The inhabitants of course obtain their receipt for it ; and in almost all cases it is held at law that a valid receipt exonerates the payer from any future claim . Not so in the present instance . The collector defaults , and the loss should fall upon his principals ; but , in defiance of law as well as tho constitution , they now repudiate tho receipts of their own oHiccr , and come upon the town to make good tho loss occasioned by their own bad selection .
Our Shields contemporary declares that tho wrong will not be endured without a struggle : — " Tho iirat attempt to enforce it wus mot with , such a firm front hi North Sluolda , and provoked such ft burst of indignation all over tho kingdom , that tho Commis-Hionors deviated for n while , but now they have resumed hostilities . But tho threatened town is not inactive . Wo undorntand that a meeting of tho commit too appointed to rcriirtt tho I'G-uHSosHniant ' i will bo hold hiuneclialoly , and thnt it ; will probably bo succeeded by another public mooting . "
Good . "We cannot , however , hold out very strong : Hopest Exactly the same wrong was inflicted upon Greenwich . Greenwich , of course , was indignant—resistance was organised — we- heard much about British Constitution , and all that sort of thing ; and ultimately Greenwich- — -paitT . At the present day , this is usually the end of popular agitation . Gentlemen assemble
in public meeting , appoint a chairman , pass resolutions that they will not endure this or that , call for an = outbreak of indignation from the whole kingdom , set a > few journals writing * upon the subject articles which look like a final declaration of wap—a proclamation with , the principle- No quarter and no surrender , and then we learn some day that the denounced aet has been , accomplished , and the country goes on as before .
The ikct is , tihat if the country had taken the matter into its own hands , we might have got rid of the whole Income-tax long ago . It is a bad impost ,, excusable , only for a temporary purpose , like that which Pjeel designed for it ; but as a permanent part of the revenue , it is clumsy , injurious , tyrannical , unfair , and disgraceful to the country that tolerates it . If men of the Tyne really ' unite together , ' as our contemporary advises them ,, ' with hearts and brains aaid . purses ready to defend their right , ' they .. mayrelieve themselvesfrom , this wrongous infliction . Will they do so ?
Mr. Cobden.—Mr. Alexander Laing, Manufac...
Mr . Cobden . —Mr . Alexander Laing , manufacturer , Hawick , has received a letter from . Mr . Cobden , iu acknowledgment of a copy of resolutions passed at a public meeting in that town , sympathizing with Messrs . Cobden , Bright , and Gibson on their recent defeats at Huddersneld and Manchester . In this communication , Mr . Cobden thus accounts for his defeat : — " The invitation to become a candidate , which emanated from a publio meeting , did not reach me till after my opponent , who occupied an , influential local position , was already in the midst of a canvass from , door to door throughout the borough—an ordeal which I at once declared I could not go through for all the seats in Parliament—and his
success was insured against all possible opposition , no matter from what quarter it might have come . In fact , my entrance upon the contest was at the time simply and solety a . mistake ; but , owing to the circumstances under which it was fallen into , it involved no blame or serious responsibility to any one . " Mr . Cobden adds that , at tho time he gave up the borough of Stockport for the West Riding of Yorkshire ( for both which constituencies he was elected at the general election of 1847 ) , he perceived that he was giving up safe anchorage for dangerous waters , and anticipated the present result ; but ho was persuaded by his friends to sit for the West Riding . He " was tho first to declare that it would be
impossiblo , after the free-trade question waa settled , that the largest county constituency in . the kingdom should continue to be represented by one wholly unconnected with it by birth , property , or residence . " Ha concludes by remarking : — " For personal reasons , it is convenient to me at present to bo relieved from the duties of Parliament . I must confess , however , at tho samo time , that there never was a moment when , on public grounds , I would have moro gladly taken my seat in the House of Commons . " — At a meeting of tho Catholic electors of Leeds , hold at tho rooms of tho Catholic Literary Institution , on the 17 th of April , it waa unanimously resolved that an address bo presented to Mr . Richard
Cobden . The document sota forth the high sense the meeting entertained of tho sorvicoa rendered by Mr . Cobdon to tho Roman Catholic body in always upholding civil and religious liberty ; andexpresaea regret that tho country should , for tho present , have loat tho parliamentary services of " so groat , ao useful , and so honest a man . " Mr . Gobdon , in thanking tho Catholic electors of Leeds for their address , says ho opposed the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of 1801 on the same grounds that ho would have opposed a similar bill affecting tho church government of the Woaloyana , tho Independents , or tho Baptists—viz ., because it interfered with religious liberty .
Tun Oxporo PftoiPKsaoitBmrs . . — Mr . Matthew Arnold , M . A ., waa on Tuesday elected Professor of Pootry by a majority of 85 over tho Itov . John Ernest Bode , M . A . The numbers wore , rcspoctivoly , 8 G 3—278 . — Tho election of a Professor of Political Economy took place on tho same day . Tho candidates wore— -Mr . Noate , M . A ., who polled 194 votes ; tho Rov . J . R i-Rogers , M . A ., 180 votes ; and Mr . Nassau William Sonior , 128 votes . Mr . Noato ,. who is tho aowly olcotod M . P . for tho City of Oxford , is therefore chosen , by a majority of O '< 1 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 9, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09051857/page/15/
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