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January 29, 1853.] . THE LEADER. 109
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JUSTICE TO MB. AltCHDEACOir DENISON. An ...
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MR. JUSTICE CKAJIPTOJf'S .CONSISTENCY. O...
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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.
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Taxation Reduced To Unity And Simplicity...
ference so far as to desire him to be more economical in his household . The subsequent history of the power of taxation in these countries is , however , by no means in accordance with this beginning . The defective constitution of the Castilian Cortes was further impaired by irregularities insidiously converted by the crown into permanent changes ; the effect of which was gradually , but surely , to transfer to the king that power which departed from an assembly deprived of its popular basis . In the fourteenth century , the Cortes , stimulated hy recent encroachments , were able to obtain from the king an express engagement to abstain in
future from raising money by taxes without their consent ; and they were strong enough , after that period , to refuse subsidies , and to call for accounts . But three hundred years later , although meanwhile even Charles V ., in . the height of his political power and his pecuniary embarrassments , had not laid a tax without their concurrence , yet such had been their real decay , that they only ventured to petition against illegal ordinances . The Cortes itself had declined from an assembly of 190 representatives from more than ninety towns , to a body of deputies from only seventeen towns , and those conservatively jealous of an increase by admitting other towns to the representation .
In England , discontent at taxation led in the eleventh century to frequent collisions between the barons and the king , the former often having , in this common quarrel , the natural aid of the commonalty . The extorting of Magna Charta from John , in 1215 , was followed by a great accession to the active appreciation of public liberty ; and in 1264 , the Commons were admitted to that share in determining the nature and amount of the public imposts , which was finally made paramount in the struggles with the Stuarts , and has ever since led to the most momentous improvements in the purposes and machinery of government in general .
After Spain and England had been , for a length of time , engaged in these struggles with the early difficulties and obscurities of the question of national taxation , France entered on the same course ; but although she made some efforts for liberty , she never had a permanent control equal to that of Castile over the demands of the government ; and her taxation fell sooner by a century into the unchecked power of the king . Separate from' the imposts and charges levied by feudal lords , within their own estates , and from those accruing to the crown from the incidents of the feudal system , the first tax in France seems to have been a gift to the king , Louis-le-Jeune , by a popular assembly in 1145 , of a twentieth part of the income of each person for four years , for the support of the crusado then being prosecuted .
Several other subsidies followed in succeeding reigns ; and in 1290 , Phillipe the Fair put a tax on all merchandize sold in the kingdom—a device readily derived from the practices of the day ; for every petty lord , who was strong enough , fleeced for his own profit whatever merchandize passed his castle ; just as rtpfeges it has been done in India . The anno king having overcome the resistance of the feudatory barons to the authority of the royal legislation within their possessions , called together the States General in 1302 , and admitted to
that assembly the representatives of towns , under the title of tiers-Mat , or third estate , as they hud been admitted to the English parli . uncnt in 12 G 4 . This assembly required that the produce of the taxes should be placed in tho hands of persons of their own appointment , and not in those of the agents of the king . Their object was to ensure tho due appropriation of those funds to the expenses of tho wur with England , which war was the necessity alleged for tho taxation .
Sixty years before , tho barons of England ( the commons not being yet represented in parliament , ) had entrusted tho taxes to administrators separate from the officers of tho crown . Tho States General , in 1304 , wont further still , in nominating nine commissioners , three of each order , to , locido disputes arising out of matters connected with the taxes . In 1314 , Louis ITutin is said to have bound himself to impose no taxes without consent of the States General—a point which , in that generation , was iih Hindi in < lul >" to in Spain and Kntf liiml as in I-Yance . tort to the
In 1318 , Philip tho ' LonfT ntteinp impose t » x on Halt ' , or la qaldle ; the discontent it occasioned compelled him to ' call together tho Stater , ( lenonil , m which he declared the tax temporary , and justified it l , v the exigencies of tho war . in 1328 , ho re-established and au gmented it by mevo force of prerogative . The f / abclle , or tax on salt , like tho auks , or tax on merchandize , seems to have been merely' « n adaptation to national purposes of u pnicti ™ loiyj before established by tho rapacity or needs of feudal nobles . Some ngos previous to this time , an impost on Halt had formed one of tho many exactions by which the owner
of a castle had often made a profit by means of his strong arm , whether in his hands it was a local and novel device , or the remains of an ancient national tax diverted to his own use . . In 1355 , during the troubled period preceding and following the battle of Poitiers , the States General appointed a committee of the three orders to consult with the king , and also deputies of their own to superintend the assessment and collection of the taxes they granted . Charles V ., the succeeding king , endeavoured to rid himself of the control of the States ,
at first in vain ; but in 1359 , he succeeded , and imposed taxes without their consent , as his father had done . From this period the king sometimes was bound by promise to abstain from taxing by his own authority ; and sometimes he did as he pleased , without regard to promise , until at length Louis XL , after the middle of the fifteenth century , taxed the kingdom at will with remorseless and unsparing hand ; it was only during the minority of his successor that any considerable attempt was made to restore the liberties of the nation in the matter of
taxes , and even then with little permanent success . The king nominated and dismissed at pleasure the generals , or chief superintendents of finances , who had originally been appointed by the States General ; and the constitution of the administration of taxes was put into the form which , with variations of detaiL it retained down to the date of the great Revolution . It was in 1379 , during the period of struggling transition to the undivided power of the crown , that to the aides and gahelle was added the fonage , or hearth-tax , afterwards known by the name of la taille . It is said , but on no sufficient authority , to have been granted in perpetuity by the States in 1439 ; and being without a definite basis of assessment , it grew in later times into one of the severest of the severe
inflictions of the old French taxation . The system by which these various taxes were managed became in time a source of extreme waste and oppression . Our space does not permit us to enter on this part of the subject , or to specify the smaller , but not less vexatious taxes , which were added to the principal imposts we have mentioned . The embarrassments of the system seem to have led , as in India , to the device of farming the revenues ; and that device only added to former evils others peculiarly its own . Where simplicity and directness of relation do not bo
prevail as to facilitate the reference of technical facts to original principles , and where integrity and clearsightedness do not control the actual proceedings , every artificial p lan intended to meet the consequences , only brings round the same evils again in new forms , and with aggravated effect . To evade the difficulty of direct administration of the taxes which arises from want of integrity , by resorting to the practice of farming , is only to replace tho dishonesty or rapacity of the government and its officers , by those of substitutes interested in aggravating every abuse to tho last degree at which it can be borne .
The evils of the farming system are indeed so ob' vious , that we now look back with astonishment on their being endured at all . The fact , however , was that that system lasted for many generations . The explanation is , that , established and long continued abuses appear at the time to most minds us parts of a necessary system of tilings , and it is rarely possible while they exist , to show the real nature and extent of their ill consequences . Time , and the means of comparison , alone supply a detection of the trnth ; and we are probably now labouring , although in a great inca sure unconsciously , under evils which our successors will scrutinize with curiosity and wonder not unlike those we bestow on the fiscal enormities of feudal France .
In those early ages of-modern European civilization , the chief question debated between rulers and jicoplc , was that of taxation ; liberty and its results were little understood , and modern law was yet , but growing out ii viigue and often perverted sense of right . The power of the people grew or faded as they maintained or neglected their control over the supply of funds to the monarch , and their influence over tho expenditure of those funds . We must remark , however , that this wan a result only of the circumstances of tho times ; and more advanced states of society should witness , not
indeed a relaxed attention to the raising and upending of the national revenue , but a diminution of the relative importance of the subject , us compared with other and higher matters . It can bo from no natural necessity that the greater part of the attention of every government is absorbed , and the greater part of the discontents of every people occasioned , by questions relating to the taxes ; and probably the greatest improvement which the progress of society lias brought within reach at present is to be effected by so establishing our taxation on just , natural , and permanent principles , an to leave the attention both of governments and people
free for the higher objects , in respect of which the taxes shouldonly take rank as defraying the incidental charges .
January 29, 1853.] . The Leader. 109
January 29 , 1853 . ] . THE LEADER . 109
Justice To Mb. Altchdeacoir Denison. An ...
JUSTICE TO MB . AltCHDEACOir DENISON . An esteemed correspondent who certainly cannot be accused of sympathy with the High . Church party , thinks that " Denison and his friends have had hard measure . * " Denison , " he continues , " is right in saying that the aphorism , ' A Churchman should have no politics , ' does not apply to the members of the Established Church , and that the act of Gladstone ' s is a distinct piece of political latitudinarianism , such as he spent the early part of his life in denouncing , and which they still denounce . " We have never disputed the fact . Our ground of quarrel with Mr . Deniaon h , that he , who abominates Erastianism and State Churchmanship — that he who concurred with " D . C . L . " in his now famous aphorism , should suddenly turn round , and take a violent part in politics , not only
in his own University , where the anomaly of a clerical constituency makes the act somewhat excusable , but in his own county of Somerset . We have always pointed out tho extraordinary position of the Established Church , which makes its priests politicians , and rewards them for being so . And we last week ventured to comment on the inconsistency of this dependence with that independence demanded by Church principles , and to point out that the true , the possibly saving course for the Clergy , would be to leave politics alone , and attend to their clerical duties . Mr . Denison has fairly a right to that defence which places him in the ranks of State Churchmen and political parsons . But we still hold that it is a shocking fact that a member of the Church of England , professing strict Anglican principles , can conscientiously become a hot politician .
Mr. Justice Ckajiptojf's .Consistency. O...
MR . JUSTICE CKAJIPTOJf ' S . CONSISTENCY . On Thursday we were informed , on no less authority than that of the Times , quoting Mr . John Wynne , the late Irish Under-Secretary , that Lord Eglinton was induced to commute the capital sentence pronounced upon Kirwun at the suggestion of the two Judges who tried him . Tho information is gratifying but odd . Were not these the very gentlemen who sympathized with , the verdict , and was not one of them Mr . Justice Cramptqn , tho man who assured tho " wretched criminal" that there was but " a
short period left to him in this world ? " We have a dim and misty recollection that this pious Judge did , whilst postponing the execution of the capital sentence for an unprecedentedly long time , go with , unctuous particularity into the origin of Kirwan ' s immorality , and the prime cause of his ultimate execution . Wo do remember an illogical , but virtuous , expression of judicial indignation at adultery , and an opinion , from the Bench , that irregular affections must invariably result in hanging . But of course we do not for a moment suppose that the Judge who , aspiring to the chaplaincy—vacant at the time , we presume—assured the convict that in a month he might reali / . o "
overlasting happiness , " and obtain " a crown of eternal glory , was at that time intending to recommend him to mercy , or to beg of Lord Eglinton to commute * a sentencewhich ho then said ¦— possibly believed — was righteou . sly pronounced . We are rather inclined to credit the account which tolls thai , in the person of mistaken orthodoxy , the learned Judgo fancied that ho ivm doing' a service to religion in promoting- injustice ; and that upon reflect ion , and on seeing tho earnest protest imido Ivy us and others in favour of law and of tho principles of evidence , bo repented him of Liu Lynching eccentricity , and determined njost honourably , though at the sacrifice of his consistency , to assist in . saving the life of one whom he had improperly , though honestly , helped to convict . Would that Lord Campbell might do'the same , juid , having bad his iling at the Inquisition , and bis cheers from tho mobtho only persons who lire over likoly to approve him -say boldly that tho verdict which his small jokes and great partiality succeeded in obtaining was us wrong as regarded . Dr . . Newman , whom everybody knows to bo innocent , us were those of Mr . Justice Crampton concerning Kirwan , whom nobody believes to have boon proved guilty . Ah to tho ultimate destination of Kirwan , and ( ho men ; coin mutation of hi * sentence , this much remains to ho said . True , hois either , as law goes , innocent or guilty- He cither dn . servos capitul punishment nioro than over did any man whose earner ended at Tyburn , or ho in injured * and ill-used , and walks the earth im instance of what prejudiced juries—married men , probably , for tho moat part may do in tho way of injustice whore— perhaps under tho pressure of domestic " ' influence--they venture , possibly on a basis of exporiouue , to nay , that tho joulousy of a wife of twelve yearn' standing , though not proved , in a siilHciont motive for bor murder by a husband , nnd that assuming tho murder , tho supposed motive may bo deemed identical " with tho unknown caunn . Uut Lord Eglinton has , it mtisf . bo admitted , this much of apology . Ho may fairly say it was not for him to roi-Kiniueiid her Majesty to do what , watt unconstitutional , to toll tho jury that they had forgotten their oatlm , or the
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 29, 1853, page 109, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29011853/page/13/
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