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Leader (1850-1860), 15th March 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 10, PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE. THE RAILWAY ASSUR...

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      946 ®Tk &*«*«*? [Saturday,

      946 ® tK &*«*«*? [ Saturday ,

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      Saturday, March 15, 1851.

      SATURDAY , MARCH 15 , 1851 .

      Pnhlit Iffuirs.

      pnhlit Iffuirs .

      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, "Beca...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , "because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dr . Abnold .

      Why Can't We Have A Good Budget ? The Im...

      WHY CAN ' T WE HAVE A GOOD BUDGET ? The impotency of the Government is exposed in its defeats , but it is most immediately felt in its incapacity to make any progress with finance . We have a Government that cannot get so far as to produce a budget ; and , what is worse , we have an Opposition that connives at that non-Government . Next Friday , Ministers are to try again with a new financial statement , —a new budget ; but we are running no great risk in the way of prophecy , if we predict that they will not come up to the amateur budgets that are floating about .

      Such as the one which has obtained considerable attention in Nottingham , and not without reason . We only wish that its author , "R . " , were in Sir Charles Wood ' s place . R . proposes to repeal the advertisement duty , £ 160 , 000 ; the newspaper stamp duty , £ 200 000 ; and the window tax , £ 1 , 800 , 000 . Also he would reduce the tea duty to one-half of its present amount ; he would at once equalize and lighten the pressure of the income tax , by leaving £ 80 of every income untaxed , from whatever source . These changes would occasion a loss to the revenue of nearly £ 4 , 500 , 000 , of which about £ 2 , 000 , 000 would be met by the existing surplus , leaving a deficit of £ 2 , 500 , 000 . This he would supply by an increase of the property tax to Is . per £ 1 , and by certain reductions in the

      expenditure . Very good ; but we think that a Chancellor of Exchequer might do still better . He might get rid of the Income tax altogether ; and in lieu of that he might resort to a tax of five per cent , on the annual value of all property in the United Kingdom . According to the best accounts that lie to our hand , this Property tax of five per cent , would y ield £ 12 , 000 , 000 . Add the present surplus , of £ 2 , 500 , 000 , and you would have a sum of £ 14 , 500 , 000 , or , deducting £ 5 , 000 , 000 for the existing Income tax , a nett £ 7 , 500 , 000 , to work upon . Under cover of such a surplus he might relieve the trade and industry of the country from a vast portion of the burden which now presses

      it—striking off all the " knowledge taxes , " and the window tax ; with a mighty impulse to the progress of sanitary and social reform . There would still remain £ 4 , 500 , 000 ; ana what is the best use to which that sum could be devoted ? First of all , we should altogether abolish the duty on coffee—a boon equally to trade and " the consumer , " that is , to everybody . Also , the duty of 5 h . per cwt . on foreign cheese and 10 s . on foreign butter , swept away outright . We should reduce the duties on tea , sugar , and tobacco to one half of what they arc lit present , with provision for their entire abolition in a few years . All this might be done , and yet , reductions on useless or mischievous expenditure , such as the African squadron , might leave an ample surplus .

      We have said nothing about the National Debt : that must be dealt with by itself ; and will he dealt with . ¦ Protectionists now shrink from the very name of a Property tax ; yet they have had examples . In the session of IH 33 , when Lord Althorp was somewhat in Sir < 'harks Wood ' s predicament , Mr . ( i . F . Robinson brought forward a motion for the entire abolition of the Assessed Taxes , and the duties on malt , hops , tea , sugar , soap , candles , glass , bricks , with several lesser items ; instead of which he would have imposed a Property tax that would y ield about £ 15 , 000 , 000 . Mr . liankes , the Memfur for Dorsetshire , who had been chairman of the

      Finance Committee , further pointed the moral of this tale : — " Government admit they cannot « o further without a substitution of tuxution . to that I think we mimt comn if wo want to r « lirve tho burdens « f the country . IVti outfht to tiuleavonr , an much as passihlo , to spare the ) poor , and place the burden on the opulent , no : m to coinniute u Urur portion of tuxes , and let . the weight fall on

      those who are best able to bear it . That can only be done by the imposition of a property tax ; and , if it be necessary , the sooner it is done the better . It is saia that an income tax or property tax would bear with peculiar pressure on landed property . This I believe to be an error : such a measure would operate greatly tor the good of the poor , and the landed proprietor would reoeive his share of the general benefit . " What is the real difficulty in breaking from our miserable cramped nig htmare of inaction , to enter upon a new lease of genuine public exertion for the good of the country ? It is , that the classes who give the colour to our political system , the aristocracy and the middle class , have lost the full sense of nationality . They are suffering the function of Government to slip through their fingers . By neglecting its duties , property is losing its rights . Land used to bear the charge of military service , and that of the poor ; now charged on local rates and on the general taxation . Taxation has been extended , but not representation . Every effort has been made to keep public administration and lawmaking in the hands of cliques and interests . Jointstock companies of political traders have multiplied , and in their general rivalry they have grown strong enough to estop each other , until at last the universal resistance , coupled with indifferentism to national objects , ends in a perfect stand-still . Even now , limited as the constituency is , the great effort is not to " appeal to the country" ; because the rivals expect that power will fly from their hands . They know that the time when they will be able to mismanage no longer is approaching ; they know that the next election will be the occasion for the outburst of vast latent discontents ; they dread a " confusion" which will disturb interests and

      unsettle clique arrangements . Therefore are they content to go on without real government—with a powerless Premier and a budgetless Finance Minister .

      Courting La " Belle France." Louis Napol...

      COURTING LA " BELLE FRANCE . " Louis Napoleon is canvassing : that the supreme executive power will continue in his hands , no matter under what title , beyond his lawful term , we have not the least shadow of doubt . How it is to be brought about in the teeth of the constitution , with the compact hostility of the Assembly , is somewhat puzzling ; but what matters it ? Credimus quia impossibile . Constitutions in France ever since the days of Sieyes are a lucus < l non lucendo .- so called from their instability—something to be speculated—operated upon . The Assembly are a body of men , set up to talk sense—if they canonly to give zest to the people ' s incorrigible waywardness and perverseness .

      The French will keep Louis Napoleon for the same reason for which they had him at first , —to baffle the calculations of sober wisdom ; to give their vote to the very candidate whose pretensions convulsed the knowing ones with laughter . And truly , whatever might be thought of the first election , the French can hardly do better at present than to abide by the choice then made ; and by another freak of their wilfulness , disappoint those mere bunglers in Royalisin , those Chambordists and Orleanists , who have not even grace enough to wear their mask till their pitiful farce is played out .

      The French do not understand freedom , we verily believe , and must rest satisfied with what they call " order . " But let order , at least , be purchased at the lowest possible rate . Let us have no riots and bloodshed for a mere change of masters . Till France has learned to belong to herself—and how soon will that he ?—there is nothing to gain but very much to lose in the substitution of a Bourbon for a Bonaparte . What is , is for the best ; and restorations are the worst of revolutions . ^ France must needs wring the neck of her poor Constitution . So be it : but u continuation of Louis Napoleon's Presidency can be effected by a mere . shuffle in the Assembly — at the utmost , a dixhxdt llrumaire . But the return of either Royal branch would cost years of civil and foreign war .

      Meanwhile it is simply curious , since , as we think , Louis Napoleon has become a necessity for France , to see how he betakes himself to the task of inflicting himself upon the country . In the first place , he " reforms" the departments ; a large , batch of prefects and sub-prefects , bashaws with two and three tails , has b «; cn lately published in the Moniteur . Tho appointments have taken every man by surprise . They are obscure men , the creatures of tho obscure members of the Cabinet .

      Kven ho : the President holds his Ministry in his pocket : tho Ministers hold the prefects in theirs , and since time immemorial these latter have always carried a French election in their pockets .

      French . So far as in him lies , he can see no reason why the militia of the Seine should not elect their officers , down to the very corporals , on the good old plan of equal rights . But the Assembly will have it otherwise . The elections of the 25 th of March must be put off . They are concocting a new law for the organization of the Guards in the Assembly . The same hand that disfranchised the people at large will equally defraud the citizensoldiers . The President grieves , but can afford no

      Next , Louis Napoleon bids for the goodwill of the National Guards . He stands up for universal suffrage . He is the " chosen of December . ' The vote of all has made him . He has no finger in that sad mess of the electoral law of the 31 st of May . It was not he that robbed the people of their birthright . It was that desperate set of Reactionnaires , of pseudo-Democrats , who have but too large a majority in the Assembly , and who conspire against him no less than against the liberties ot the

      help or redress . Again : four regiments of the line are about to quit the capital , and the President will hold a review . Be it understood , however , no cry is to be allowed to the men under arms . Frenchmen are bidden to hold their tongues ! Good reason why . The President canters along the Boulevards on Sunday : the shouts of " Vive FEmpereur ! " burst from the crowd . A few recreants set up the opposition cry , " Vive la Republique ! " the zeal of the Imperialists breaks bonds , and the Democrats are silenced with fisticuffs . The four regiments are , therefore , requested to bottle up their enthusiasm . If there is among them a veteran that believes in the metempsychosis

      of an uncle into a nephew , who insists on associating Bonapartism with French glory , well , let him bide his master ' s time . 1852 has not yet dawned . The day is not far when the President will throw himself on French sympathies . He will then know how to bestow on the people , the army , and the National Guards a vote , ere he solicits it in his behalf .

      Progress Of Assurance. The Railway Assur...

      PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE . THE RAILWAY ASSURANCE COMPANY . Assurance is one of those practical applications of the principle of concert which are multiplying around us , —one of the most direct and most esteemed . It is the spreading of risk over a larger surface—quite against the doctrine of mere " competition" ; and it curiously comes as an alleviator to that hurried haste with which competition sends

      us travelling about by the flying railway , " to buy in the cheapest and sell in the dearest . " Our ancestors made their wills before leaving the wilds beyond Epsom or Harrow for London . In our own day , provident fathers find it a shorter and surer way to " insure" their lives . You may do it generally—investing your savings in the best of all forms , with the least trouble . A policy of insurance is a directer mode than any of laying by for your

      progeny . You may do it also specially , for a journey , lest the horrors of the rail cut short your saving opportunities . You may now do it for all railway journeys . Everybody travels . The railway drags every man from his home , flow few now die in the place of their birth ; how many live in two places at oncefor existence in one place , for business in another . The metropolis alone is daily entered by 20 , 000 persons , and daily do 20 , 000 leave it ! The accidents are few . It is safer , says the p hilosopher , to go by rail to Birmingham than to walk—so many risks does the slow pedestrian undergo . But , if rare , the railway accident is terrible when it comes . As the coachman , the surviving old many-caped Tory of the whip , says , to show his horror at the innovation— " When a coach does go over , well—¦ there y * are ; but when there is a railway c'lision , where are yer ? " Which is painfully true . Yet you must travel . After an old coach accident you might at least " save the pieces" of yourself : but now !—you are distributed on either side of an embankment , or amalgamated vvitli a bridge , or sent into tho next county . We well remember seeing a railway train after a slig ht accident . The mischief was over before alarm could be aroused , and a Htono truck had onl y cut oil * one side of half the train . But that was a trifle compared to u real " smash . " Yet you must travel . The worst part of that modern monster , the " collision , " is the reflection of what is done , not to you , but to those whom you are to leave behind . You can bear the agony of the crushed limb , but

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 15, 1851, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15031851/page/10/