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«* almost impossible" of &fr . Xhftmas , cannot he set in opposition to the positive assertions of prac-. tised seamen . No amount of conjecture , made at a distance , can upset an affirmation made by a credible person on tne spot . There is every reason to believe tlie ships were seen . But if so , why was the fact not entered , in the log of the Renovation ? and why did not Captain Coward send put a boat to search the ship ' s ? The former is an unexplained fact ; the latter'is answered hy another qfuestion—Is it unusual that men should prefer their own safety to embarking in an jce-neid on a questionable and dangerous enterprise ? ¦ . ¦
Captain Coward does not explain the ^ absence of a record from the leaves of the log ; but Captain Coward and Mr . Lynch both explain why a boat was not sent . The Henbvation , was an oid ship , the captain was sick , he feared his boat might be lost , and of course the boat ' s crew with her , and , above all , he heartily desired to arrive safely in port . So far that is explained ; Leaving the ships on the iceberg , floating . off Cape liace , in April , 1851 , let us turn to another story of " two ships . " +- ¦¦ ¦ -. ¦ A vessel , named the Doctor Kneip , left Galway on the 3 rd of April , 1851 , and reached Kew York on the 4 th of May following . The ship
was behind her time , and the master , to account for the delay , said that he had met with a good deal of ice on the banks , where he had seen " two vessels , abandoned and water-logged ' '' ] STowy it has yet to be ascertained whether these two ships were seen before or after the 20 th of April , 1851 . If before , they could not have been the ships seen by the crew of tiie Kenovation ; if after , is there not . every probability that they were the same two ships , especially as Mr . Gaspard Le Marchant asserts that there were no sealing or whaling vessels from St . John ' s iostinthe spring of 1851 .
Assuming * then , that we have the two ships clear of the ice , abandoned and water-logged , off the Newfoundland Bank , let us see if we ~ oan discover traces of them further southward . Of course , if the ships seen by the Doctor Kneijo had been some time " 'high , and dry" on an iceberg , they Would not sink at once , but gradually ; and especially if they were the ships of the Arctic Expedition , their timbers would 1 oe pretty dry , and the interior appear comparatively new and bright . Row , it is very strange that in ; April ,
1851 , as the BenjaminMlhin , anomeward-bound ship , coming from Australia , was passing the Western Islands , floating pieces of wreck were observed by the crew and passengers . The captain at the time remarked that they must have beien some time in the water ; and a passenger pointed out , what was certainly very remarkable , that the cabin fittings looked quite briffht and newP These pieces of wreck were
drifting from the Newfoundland Bank . Is it not , at least , possible that the ships seen by the Renovation , the Doctor Kneip , and the pieces of wreck observed by the Benjamin JElkin , were identical P And if we have succeeded in tracking the path of the two wrecks across tho ocean , does not the very peculiarity of their last appearance make it probable that they were the ships of Sir JohnJFranklinP Stranger things have * proved true .
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INSPECTION OP CHELSEA PENSIONERS . Much talk has there been of late about tho ontolled Chelsea I * ensi 6 ners . Parliamentary orators , who believe these islands are sufficiently defended by our " standing army" and oUr navy , and who trust in tho good faith of Louis Bonaparte , have largely counted on tho pensioners as defenders of their native soiL When tho smallnesa of tho numbers of our homo forc 6 s has boon put forward by tho advocates of a national militia , tho retort camo glibly enough . — " Why , haven't you tho pensioners P" When the utterly unorganized and undisciplined state of tho mass of tho people was pointed out , tho objectors to a militia , on tho score pf oxponso , cried out , " Why don't you increase tho standing armyP" Now , it is something now to iitid in tho ranks of English [ Radicals this insane rolianco on n , hired Soldiery , who tnay bocomo hired janisarips . But wb act that aside , remarking , that it was not with ft standing array that Washington won American Independence , or Pnmotfrioz ; drove back tho best marshals of old Europe over tho frontiers of France . Wo leave tho great quostion between it standing army and a militia on one side , and turn to the next substitute , tho pensioners .
Who are thepensioners £ They are a b p d ^ y 6 f men who have served their country for a limited time , who have given the . best days of their lives to assert its power * and niaiiitain its honour . Many of them have shed their blood in the fields of Spain and Belgium , and India , and wear oh their breasts inedais and stats as marks , of honour . Tliey have done the ; duty ~ demanded : of them , and they are paid a smalt sum per diem by way of acknowledgment and feeompericeJi They area rough , but a soldierly looking set of fellows * and , on the whole * much the worse for" wear . Now , we ask the owners of property , are these the men upon whom they would like to rely fbi active service in case of an invasion P
Last Wediiesday they were reviewed in Hyde Park by t 1 iel ) uke of Cambridge . . reeling som 6 curiosity on the subject , we walked into the Park to " assist" at the spectacle , and we sa # just itie set of men above described . T ^ ev marched ^ wheeled , formed into squares , fired , deployed into line , and went through all the exercises usual on such occasions * We have no wish to find fault with theni ; they did their best , and , taking their age and infirmities into account , they did well . But they were not for one moment , to be compared with , a large body of Guards wllo , in their smart white fatigue dresses , were exercising
in the hollow ground nearest to Kensington Gardens . It was quite clear , even to the eye of a civilian , that the pensioners would be knocked up with two days hard service in the open field . When they came on" to the ground and . piled arms , tworthirds of themwere , in ^^ fiye minUte ^ , smoking short pipes . Many brought their wives and daughters with them * and before the whole formed into line , the wooded table land of the Park presented the ordinary phenomena of a pic-iiic party . Such are the facts of Wednesday ' s display . And the conclusions we draw from them are ,
that we have no fight to expect great services from these men who have served their time , and whose present pay is but a small equivalent for toil and wounds undergone ; and that they are unfit for field service , and valuable only as a reserve , or as defenders of fortified places . They would , be easily defeated by a less disciplined body of men , who possessed youthful spirits , ordinary British pluck , and elastic limbs . Andottr moral is , that if discipline , once acqiiited , is so potent through life as to enable a body of wortlout men to present an appearance so forniidable , what might not be accomplished if the whole
virile strength of the nation Were regularly disciplined from youth to manhood , and rendered capable of acting with steadiness , rapidity , and unity P No man was ever the worse for having his limbs perfectly under command ; and no kind of exercise is so efficient for that purpose as military drill . Combine it with education , even the present ordinary education of the people , and you add tenfold strength to the nation , not only for active warfare—Which we abhor as much as any man—but for the common purposed and everyday wants of life . [ Depend upon it , discipline of the body , as well as discipline of the mind , is essential to make a great people *
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TAXATION BEDUCED TO UNITY AND ' SIMPLICITY . III . No ay atom of taxation can be framed so as to avoid entirely tho cost of collection ; tho question hotweeu different systems is , on this point , ono only of comparison . tlnliko , however , what takes plnco in respect of all other expenses , the cost of collection is not hero suffered to remain a simple question : the incidental effect of a tax is always included in tho discussion ^ Hut why should this bo done in rospeet to taxation—that is , paymont for protection—when it is not dono in respect to rent , insurance against ( ire , tho purchase of clothes , service , instruction , or anything olso ? Them seems to bo nothing in tho service , or in tho necessary conditions or jnotfe of its remuneration , which should draw a difficulty into ono that is not found to exist in tho other . Tho ideal of perfection , in this view , seems to bo that tho total amount drawn from the people , should just equal tho nett cost of the working of tho government , with tho inero expense of collection super lidded . But it is Universally itgreed , that this ofl ' cet is not attained by rtny system of iridirect luxation ; for besides tho cost ( if collection , there is also tho effect of a tax on tho construction , manufacture )/ commerce , consumption , or wo of the article taxed ; and a system of indirect taxation is ohnrgcable , not only with , its own
am 6 f coliticiioii , fcutwfth . ijte ctisi to : tfife i ^ isida \ m the disaflva ^ ages or dfepriva ^ cWs which ate' £ Si ? remotebut iibt lessi certain e ^ is . y e ; /^ fecfe . hand , a tax M jpropfer ^ ^«^^ siniph / ds property , has nosucEtifteTior cdflgeauehce « It ( Jcc&sions nb prefbfefice ctf p * 6 judiic 6 in respectf of any object ; ^ litteiy freej it is neiiher itioH iioi jessthan a cast in ] cident to the very ilattire of ptop ^ tty : it &ives mrfe than it tkJcfes ^ irdy . . . ' mote £ ' erb : aps it is orily ^ 6 f latd thai ; We hdve approfithM to & just estimate ¦¦ of ilie disa ^ trbtfsi effects of taxation
whichareattributable" to indirectness alone . For generdtious ^ wei heaped impost ^ on evferyjvfiriety of 6 bjectsV until , indeed , to accbtapTisfe the fli&ealt iiiveiitioh of ^ iiew tax , was to earti the gratitude : of tli « $ miTiigter of the day / W $ have at lengthV htiwev ^ r , td 86 itit extent , leriibved these bu ^ deits > and the H&W elasticltt discovers tHf iiiis usp ' eete'd At ijinf of pkst repfesssioif . fexatioil tad beeii niacte [ . a seiencd fehtitel y thrbii gii its been
indirectness ; it had equaMy ihglde it ctir ^ iB . We find bii eVerV tand example ' s to io'rifirih dur views . The Crystal M ^ swears the question , wliether tie conception of sucli a stotetur ' e inay iibt long siiice iiavfe anticipated the ^ ossilbiiity of execution . How maiiytiotisaitids 6 f liters tetbained -anwritten ttrtdef ^ a heavy tai bii postage ? UoW tiiiihy staging iHduths have ifeen fed % the repeal of the tax on bread ?
We cite the taxes on food ; fdf ^ althotigh m . ^ official systems 6 f thought , we may elassiry imposts as iijose Of revenue , and those df prdtection , there is , in reality no diferehce of effect "between them . The tax will wort according to its nature , call it what we inay j and perhaps the remoter grievances of indirect taxation are nowhere more cleariy exposed thatt in the history of oxtr happiiy condenjned corn laws .
These remoter effects are due riot so much to taxa tion , as to indirectness of taxation . An . ecpiable tax on all property would interfere but little with the use ef any particular-kind of property ; the burden borne equaily by all , would be light on each . But taxes with special weight on particular articles prevent , to a great extent , the enjoyment of those articles , without giving additional facilities , in any sensible degree , to the use of the many articles exempted . If an insurance were regulated by the number of candlesticks in a house , the candlesticks would soon disappear , without any addition dfiriipbrtance to the rest of the furniture .
The bare cost of coliectioii isy then , not the only datum required for answering the question , —how much does any particular system of taxation take from ihe people , beyond the sum required for the nett expenses of the Government ? For the consequences of an indirect tax may take from the people , without giving it to the Government , more than a large cost of collection , hay , more even than the tax itself . Mere cost of collection is one out of the many considerations which affect the question ; but it is only one .
Contrariwise , in the direct system , the cost of collection is the sole consideration . No special consequences result to ifc from concentration of the burdens of the State on particular articles , A tax as simple as it is complete , applies without escape or exemption to everything alike ; and the cost of protection to property differs in no respect , as to its effects , from the cost oi its insurance , its removal , or its repair .
It has , indeed , been said , that a ; tax on property W 6 uld , in a succession of years , amount to confiscation . Here is , however , an error . If the tax be great * -than the annual realised result of the property , no doubt tne tax would , in timo , absorb that property : irUt if it i » tess , ti » o property will suffer no positive decrease trom taxations , In tho case of any particular property , it can m «» consideration with the rest of the community , wno jom in the common cost of protection , whether tho luinun result of the property to its owner bo or bo not grower than tho tax . . , ,
Whether , in the case of any couriiry , the to 1 ^ ™ V tion requisite for a certain average degree ° \ f ^\ or bo not greater than tho annual nett realized van iriust depend oil considerations of great moment , it cortain other points of view , but on which wo can " now enter . Lot it suffice to say , that , whero P ^ P ^ J is so periloiisly situated , that tho cost of ^ vornu'Oi ^ protcetion is groater than tho annual advantage o Mm , Cither tho property will be abandoncel , or M < and less cbstly security must and will satisfy tiw o Of the owner on the aid of the . Mtate . In the lattei c ^ the Government is relieved of responsibility : n ^« ^ fend themselves moro , and call oh the Stuto it » >
may be seen in inany countries . | V fri sketching a system of direct taxation , w « y first ohsorvo , that tho remarkable simplicity <>* P" % afrangomonts wliich commonly attends tne a < i of a Sound principle , is BtrJldngly brought out
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8 Sf ' ¦ '' : ' ¦ ¦ ¦ ' . ' . ^ ¦ ¦ : >¦ ' $
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 5, 1852, page 538, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1938/page/14/
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