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the gaieties of the Opera are over , through the neighbourhood of the Haymarket . He is accosted by a stranger , whose tale must be told , but instead of being an ancient mariner it is a young woman ; while he listens , a commercial tfft ¥ tttlP « ntei » upon the scene , upbraids with immawl conduct the Minister on whose accents the Stoflfc Exchange is hanging , and threatens to expose him in that
respectable journal whose . « pi-d » tajttl tub-editor assisted the British merchant aforesaid in his expedition to buy up the votes of the British shipwrights . Here is a combination of traits of English life . Mr . Gladstone , however , brought this drum to an abrupt close at the police-office : his money was not extorted from him , and his reputation only profits by the attempt to " expose" it .
The next scene is " Aunt Harriet ' s Cabin , " as Stafford House has now been called ; here Mrs . Beecher Stowe appears as the prima donna , her supporter on each side a Duchess . She discloses to a delighted auditory a totally new view of feeling in her own country , which must not be judged , she says , by any of the signs on the surface . " The women of America" are abolitionists ,
only they cannot say so , on account of the political positions of their husbands—a sly hit at the English ladies , who are not so kept in order . According to Mrs . Stowe , the American Press uniformly acquiesced in Uncle Tom , the Times being the first and only organ that withstands the new movement of the Abolitionists . It should follow from Mrs . Stowe ' s explanation , that she will at once abolish Negro-slavery on her return to America .
The opening of the Crystal Palace in Dublin should be the grand finale of the week ' s dramathe happy ending with a fairy pageant . It is nobler than ours in its origin , although not regal . To William Dargan , formerly railway labourer , now first of Irish patriots , Dublin owes her Industrial Exhibition . The 12 th of May , the dav when
Lord St . Germans inaugurated this fine work , and when William Dargan declined the questionable honour of knighthood at the hands of the Viceroy , will be a great day in the records of Irish regeneration . It is encouraging to find this manly aversion to cheap honours . One is reminded of Peter Pindar ' s account of the reception of a similar offer :
" Here Whitbread lowly bowed , and thanked the king , For offering to make him such a thing . " Dull and expressionless as is the aspect of Continental politics compared to the vivacity of our domestic affairs , there are some significant symptoms of uneasiness . King Leopold has betaken himself to Berlin , and thence to Vienna . Has this aught to do with the alleged threat of Louis Napoleon , that he would occupy Brussels the moment Russia operated against Turkey ; taking
Belg ium as an equivalent for Constantinople ? In the King ' s absence we find the Belgian Parliament raising the effective force of the army to 100 , 000 men ; and we hear that Antwerp is ready provisioned for a long siege ; while several small but important towns have been dismantled . We are threatened with a Congress at Vienna . Meanwhile the Sardinian people have been celebrating the anniversary of their accession to constitutional rights ; Count Mephistophelcs Appony , Austrian Minister , attending the Te Deum .
There is an ominous sentence in the American news : Governor Lane has abruptly seized on a Mexican county , and war is threatened . From India we have brief telegraphic notes , stating 1 that the robber of Donabew has caused the shedding of more blood , but that Sir Jolm Cheape has captured his stronghold . General Godwin , of course , has not yet taken Avra . But General Cafchcart has terminated the Kafir war ; and finally driven Sandilli and the Gaikas over the Kei .
As Lord Palmerston is now a Minister , perhaps be will do something to compel Spain to observe the treaty for suppression of the Slave-trade * It ib quite obvious that the Cuban authorities are incorrimjjk .
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458 T H E L E A D E R . v [ Saturd ay ^
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THE WEE * I # ^ AJtlitAMENT . THtflBUDGET : FfWST BESWUtTflON AGEEED TO . The week openedW # th the assumption of the adjourned fefeate on the i ««» nfc-tax . Mr . E . jifcLMEB moved an amrt * dment —* After the * wds' far every 20 s . off the- annual value- or fciHOW&t thereat' insert * such annual valuft of any lands * tenements , or Iwreditasftents being Hie net annual value tbetetl , after <** e allowance made fcr rep « k& » , insurance , « A ( i management . ' »
These allowance * are at prese » t made to shopkeeper and traders . The arguments used in favour of the resolution were the general statement ( founded on Mr . Gladstone ' * admission ) that the land is unduly taxed , and the detail of Borne peculiar fiscal hardships in the taxation of land . Its local taxes are 12 , 000 , 000 ? . In addition , it is now to be subjected to the legacy duty , which will press peculiarly hard on land , as successors to landed property are often , through bad tenants , kept out of that immediate income which successors to money obtain . When farm tenants abscond , the assesment of the Income-tax is unchanged , while in the case
of house tenants a deduction is made . Also , the transfer of land ia subjected to stamp duties , while the transfer of money is not ; and of late the scarcity of labour has pressed sorely on small farmers . In answer to these objections it was shown that tb © poor-rates ( the chief " local" tax ) bad decreased since ' 49 , and , comparing farming with manufactures , Mr . Beight explained that land wanted no insurance as factories did j that insurances for farm buildings were unstamped , and that in a most important kind of mercantile insurance , that of cargoes , no allowance was made in the Income-tax assessment . The debate was carried "beyond the subject of the amendment . Mr . Axcock suggested a comprehensive Income-tax , reaching even to wages of ten shillings a week , and enabling the Government to repeal the
duties on malt , soap , and hops , to reduce the tea and tobacco duties respectively to Is . per pound . The cheapness of all those articles would compensate the labouring man for tbe charge . Regarding tobacco , it was calculated that 56 , 000 . 000 lbs , , of tobacco were consumed in this country , yet but 26 , 000 , 000 paid duty , and "it was no use to say that smoking was a . dirty practice , for they had a smoking room in that , very House . " . ( A laugh . ) Captain Scobem , called the Budget " a Budget of equivalents . " Mr . L . Hetwobth spoke highly of the Income-tax , suggesting that instead of abolishing it in 1860 , they should raise it to ten per cent . Mr . PHiLxrpa ( accepting the Budget " as a whole" ) considered tbe grievaacas on tbe land so great that Mr . Palmer ' s " small" proposition was entirely insufficient
as a remedy . The Chancei * or of the Exoheqxteb observed that the adoption of the amendment would involve in inextricable confusion the apportionment of a tax which , unless they kept its details within bounds , was absolutely unmanageable . He did not know whether the late Chancellor of the Exchequer intended to adhere to bis policy of December last , but on that occasion lie had announced a duty on successions , whilst he held out
less prospect of removing the Income-tax thut the present Government . By the immediate financial impact of the present proposition , the Exchequer would be deprived of a sum of 450 , 000 / . It would break up the Income-tax , and with it t he whole financial plan , which Ministers proposed with the view of placing the finances of the country on a secure footing , of maintaining- public credit , and of doing justice between one class and another .
Mr . DiSBAEiii defended the financial propositions of the late Government , and endeavoured to show that Ministers had fallen into great inconsistency in admitting that land was at present taxed 2 d . a pound higher than other property , and yet proponing a new tax on it calculated to produce 2 , 000 , OQOZ . Witb reference to the prcHont amendment , this very plan of assessing tho Income-tax on a not instead of the gross income , had been recommended in the Wrongest terms by the right honourable baronet the First Loril of the Admiralty .
Lord J . RussiiMi contended thut the right honourable gentleman had taken up an entirely different principle 1 ' roin that which he inculcated iu last . December , and oven on List Monday , he having then aimed at establishing a distinction between permanent and precar ious incomes , whilst he now uuid that the holders of permanent incomes should have their burdens ntil' 1 further lightened , and those of precarious incomes not ; at
all . The proposition would aggravate tho exiting inequality for trades and professions , by creating' u now inequality for land , it was evident that these great financial questions wore treated by the right honourable gentleman , if not with exclusively party views , yet with such levity and caprice thut the House and tho country could not rely on any plan coining from him . Looking at this shifting of ground , ho wan inclined to writ , with aa expression perhaps somewhat vulgar if it
bad not been ehadfcWL ky the authority that used it , under which tbimfeftt fr th * pea ? ( Great cheering and laughter . y ' Lord J . " MA * raqn *> argued that the former Government would hare done jw * ice to trades and professions if their plan tad Keen adopted , and the present amend-Went would effect the same end , operating in another direction ; He left the question with confidence to the justice of the House and the country . The House divided , and the amendment was rejected by a m * y ^ cfty of 78 , the lumbers being 201 to 276 . The debate was continued on Thursday . .
On the second resolution , " And for anS in respect of the occupation of such lands , tenements , or hereditaments ( other than a dwelling-house occupied by a tenant distinct from a farm of lands ) , for every 20 s . of the annual value thereof , one moiety of each of the said sums of Id ., Qd ., and bd . s for the above-named times respectively . " Mr . Vansittabt moved , as an amendment , the omission of the word " moiety" and the insertion of tbe words " third part . " The motion was supported by Sir Fitzeot Kelly , Mr . Banxes , Mr . Maxins , and Mr . Stanhope . They argued that the English farmers should be taxed as lightly as the Irish and Scotch , that the present profits of a farmer were far beneath one half the rent ( a standard *> f assessment established In * 42 , when wheat was 60 s . ); that farmers rarely kept
accounts , and therefore could not take advantage of the assessment under Schedule D , legally open to them ; that they were unduly burthened with peculiar local taxes , and could not well bear those special burthens , nor the unmitigated Income-tax , as " agricultural distress" was still in existence . Mr . Gladstone met the amendment in a polite spirit , bat quietly refuted the arguments of the Opposition . The comparative disadvantages of Irish and Scotch farmers justified the lighter rate in their case . In comparing the present profits of the farmer with the profits in . past time , one must look not alone to the prices of commodities but to the quantities produced , the quality , and the cheapness of production . But the farmer had the means , under
Schedule D , of averting an unfair assessment ; that such unfair assessments were not many was proved by the fact that last year , upon a total assessment of 330 , 000 ^ ., the amount of relief claimed was between 5000 £ . and 6000 Z . only . Mr . Bright sneered at Sir ^ itzroy Kelly '« " Suffolk brief ; " pointed out that the amendment proposed to tax a farmer paying 800 ? . a year on 1001 . a year only , while , in fact , such farmers usually kept horses , followed , hounds , and lived in a style of comfort and" gentility" very different from tbe way of life with a mechanic having 21 . a week ; and roughly characterized the proposal as " the most impudent proposition he had ever heard in the House . " Mr . Hume attributed the losses of farmers to their habit of
nob keeping accounts and their want of capital ; and Sir John ViltjIErs Shelley showed , from the prices of wool and other articles of farm produce , that there was now no better trade than that of the farmer . On a division , the amendment was thrown out by 120 to 60 ; and the resolution was then put and carried . Having now so far advanced tho Budget towards acceptance , next came the
LEGACY DUTIES . Mr . Gladstone made a statement of the Government plan of taxing successions . The following was the resolution before the Committee : — " That , towards raising the supply granted to Her Majesty , tho stamp duties payable by law upon or for , or ia respect of legacies , shall bo granted and made payable upon and for every succession to the beneficial enjoyment of any real or personal estate , or to tho receipt oi ' anvpor * tion or additional portion of tho income or profits thoroof that may take plnco upon , or in consequence of , tho death of any person , under whatever title , whether existing or future , Hueh succession may be derived . " He thus defended tho general principle of such taxes : —
"It seems to me tli at tho passing or carrying of pro * perfcy in perfect ; Kocur . it . y ovor the great barrier which death places between mun aud man is tho highoat achievement —the most signal proof of tho power of civilised institutions . I think that ability to dutermino the future with respect to property , and to fix its course from man to man and from lifo to life— passing over ono contingency and another , and extending tho private , personal will of an
individual into a distant futuro—limited no doubt , and wiMoly limitod , by law—ia « m instance so wgnal of the groat beuofil , conferred by law and by . civil institution * upon mankind , and of tho immense enlargement that comes to natural liberty through tho medium of law , thai I < miii conceive nothing more natural than that if taxes are to bo raised at all , in tho midst of these arrangements the Rdato should step in and take a just portion for it * noooBnitiea . "
He tlion oxpluuied the proposition of tho Gorernr uuiiit . WhotUor tho tax should ho equal or unequal , thoy would not yot Hay : at present they hut asked an approval of its principle Mr . Disraeli had said that W the extension of tihis tax to real property was intended to redressthe undue weight of Incouae-tiaonintwlli goi ** ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 14, 1853, page 458, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1986/page/2/
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