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A DKEAM OP TAXATION.
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[ As it is tlie object of this paiper to encourage the free expression of those who have power of thought land utterance , essays are occasionally admitted to which the editorial sanction may not be given in full detail . That an entire change of our fiscal system is needful—indeeil > rather that a system of taxation should be established—is a feeling fast gaining ground With all persoris capable of judging in such matters . The principles of our contributor are undoubtedly sound , Tbut'the details of a new system requne much deeper consideration than he appears to have bestowed on them ; and we by nomeans think those proposed of value , except as the roughest suggestions . —Ed . ]
rriHOUGH Mr . Gladstone is a gifted and conscientious man , and X though Ids financial genius is considerable , yet manifestly iHs not he who is destined to solve for us the great problem of taxation . In the first place , he is too crotchetty and casuis . tic- ^ -too inclined to the complex and the entangled . In the second , he is sig-nally defi * cient in pith , purpose , and persistency . The leading principles of taxation ai-e the following : — Taxation should be as fairly apportioned and distributed as possible . . It should never interfere with the productive power of a country . It should never hamper a country ' s external or internal trade . It should never tempt to evasion or dishonesty . Taxes should bo levied at a minimum of cost , and through the
very simplest machinery . . They should not bo complicated with moral considerations ot a pedantic , sectarian , pharisnic kind . , Surely our present taxes answer none of all these requirements . They are exceedingly unfair ; they are obstacles , not helpp , to commercial intercourse ; they tenipt the unscrupulous to cheat the Government ; they are levied at a maximum of cost , and in the most complicated fashion ; and they are mixed up with all the cant of the conventicle- ; all the humbug of the hypocrite , and mo . au in response to the moaning of the JVIawworms . , In a thorough , comprehensive reform of taxation the first thing we should do would be to sweep away the Custom-house , which wo regard as a stupidity' and a "barbarism . How absurd to talk ot free trade while duties are paid on the export and import of' any article whatever ! England seeks , to mako herself the gathering point of tho
World ' s commorcp ; and this is a noble aim . But it must bo an turn futile and fruitless as long as tho Oustom-houso rises—ugly , idiotic , and brutal—^ in the path of . civilization . The Custom-house having fallen , the excisemen and other robborfl would , along with tho custom-house officers , have to look out for some better trade than that of being troublesome . We should forthwith proofed to simplify . We should have in London one grand department for the taxes , instead ot a hose 01 lessor and , it may bo , clashing departments . -To this one grand department the Government tnx-collcctors all over tho country would bo immediately subie « t . The system of lioensos might bo lot
made universal . Why should you force oortuin cIuhsos to pay liconsos , while so many other * are exempted ? But licenses lor lire would often be better than liconsos annually paid for . llioy would immensely . diminish the labour of the collector , win o the person receiving the license , ' having-, , once paid , wpuld bo iroo from W future anxiety . Let an tittoynoy , for instance , pay nhn cod pounds , and then lot him practise in any part of * io JJiiusft & he choose * . There , might also bo ¦ apoolflo J— ' < £ general liconsos , according to c . roumstar . ceB . I »/ ' ? ' !! ™ te 1 to bo to sell coffee or toa , ho might pay so much . but if > ' <> ™ l ** ' ° a grooor in tho widest souse , then he would pny ft grocer « license .
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and treachery . The court of appeal decides , on what seem sufficient grounds , that there is no proof of treachery ; and therefore , the crime not being of so heinous a character , reduces ^ the peridot Stakna ' s punishment from twenty to fifteen years , while it confirms the sentence of death on Volpi . . Again , as a matter of course , there is an appeal from , this sentence to the Upper Court of the Supreme Tribunal , which appeal comes off ,-after foiiT months' delay , on the 9 th of September , 18 o 9 . The only ground of appeal brought forward is one winch according to our notions of law , should have been brought forward from the first , namely , " that the guilt of Stakna is not sufficiently Vjovecl oh the linsupported statement of his accomplice Stakna , and that the evidence which corroborates this statement only constitutes an a priori probabilitv of his guilt . " The Court , however , dismisses this appeal at oncel on the ground that it is not competent to take cognizance of an argument based on the abstract merits of the case , and therefore confirms the sentence . - On the 25 th of November the sentence is submitted to , and approved by his Holiness the Pope . On the 3 rd of January , IS 60 , orders are sent from Home for the execution to take place . On the 17 th the authorities of Viterbo notify to the prisoner that Jus last appeal has been dismissed , and " call on the military to lend their support to the execution of the sentence ,- " and on the ^ following day , two years and eight months after his arrest , Sta / r > a is executed for the murder of TTgolini on the Piazza della Rocea , at Viterbo . On that day , too , appears the first report of his crime and trial . The third and last murder case , of which I have obtained a report , is of a very simple character . In July last there were two galleyslaves in the bagnio of Civita Vecchia , Antonio Simonetti and Domenico Ava-stzi . Simonetxi , the murderer , was a man of ¦ thirty year * , whoso life seemed to have been a Ion " career of crime . He had enlisted at an early age in the Pontifical Dragoons , and served for seven years . On leaving the army he became a _ porter , and withinra few months was sentenced to the galleys for life on a charge of highway robbery ; then to five years ' hard labour for theft ; and again to seven years at the galleys for an atternpfc at escape . How the last punishment was consistent with the . existence of the first j is a Tact I cannot hope to explain . Of Ava ^ i nothing is told , except that he was an elderly man , condemned to a lengthened imprisonment for heavy crimes . Prisoners ) , it seems * sentenced for long periods , are not sent out of doors to labour on the public works , but are employed within the prison . Both SisioNispi and AvAifzi were set to work in the canvas factory , and , according to the system adopted in most foreign gaols , they received a certain amount of pay for their labour . An agreement had been made between them that one should twist , and the other spin the hemn ; and tlie price paid for their work was to be divided between theni in certain proportions . About a fortnight before the murder this sort of partnership was dissolved at the proposal of Simonetti , and some days after Ayan ' zi jna'de a claim on his late partner for the price of two pounds of hemp as not paid for . ¦ There seems to have been no purti . cniai ^ disp'ute about this , hut on the morning of the murder Simonetti was summoned before the overseer of the factory , on the ground of his refusal to pay the sum claimed by Avanz-i , tif fiftcchs baio . cclii , or sevehpence halfpenny . Simonetti did not deny that Ayajtzi had some claim upon hirri , but disputed the amount . At last the overseer proposed , as an amicable compromise , that SniONirrTi should pay seven baiocchi , as a settlement in full , sooner than have a formal investigation . Both parties gladly adopted the suggestion , and returned to their work apparently satisfied . An hour and a half after , while Avanzi was sitting ait . his frame , with his face to the wall , " Sijuonetti entered the room with an axe ho had picked , up in the carpenters' store , and walking deliberately up to Ayanzi , struck him . across the neck as he was stooping down . Almost immediate death ensued , and on the arrival of the , gnnrd , SixrONETTr was arrested at onqe , anil placed in irons . With what the report calls-justly " laudable celerity / the case was got ready for trial in a week , and on the 30 th of July the Civil and Criminal Court of Civita-Vecchia mot to try the prisoner . There could be no conceivable question about the case .- The murder had boon committed in a crowded room , and , indeed , the prisoner confessed his guilt , and only pleaded gross provocation as an excuse . There was no proof , however , tliat Avaxjsi had used irritating 1 language } and even if he had , too long a time had elapsed between the supposed oftence mid the revenge taken for provocation to servo as a » excuse . 4 Indeed , as the sentence of the Court argues , in somewhat pompous language , " Woo to civil intercourse and human society , if , contrary to every principle of reason and justice , an attonjpt to enforce one ' s just and legal rights by honest moans wore once admitted as an extenuating oireumstanoo in tho heaviest , crimes , or as a sufficient cause for exciting- pardonable provocation in the heart of criminals . " Tho tribunal , too , considers that tho orimo of thp prisoner is aggravated by tlie fact that his mind was not impressed by the horrors of his rosidonoo , or tho dreadful aspect « nd pad fellowship of his thousand unfortunate companions in guilt , or by the flagrant penalties imposed upon him for so many crimes . ' On all those grounds the Court declares the prisoner guilty ot tho wilful murder of A \ anzt , and sentences him . to deat . li . ' On the morrow this sentence is convoyed to SutowKXXi , who nppenls . With considerable expedition , tho Supreme Tribunarmoet to hoar tho ciibo on tho 23 rd September . The prisoner nlloffod before this Court , thiit'liia indignation had boon excited by improper proposals mntlo to liim by tho murdered man , and that it was pu this account that their partnership had boon dissolved . Uosiaes certain inherent improbabilities in this story , tho Coiu'fc decided tlmt
it was incredible that , if true , SiiioiirETTi should not have brought it forward at his first trial .- The appeal was therefore dismissed , and the sentence of death confirmed . ' This , sen tence was notified to the prisoner on . the ISth of November , who again appeals to the higher Court , which meets on the 29 th of the same month . This Court at once decided that there was no ground for supposing the crime was not committed with malice prepense . It is not stated whether the sentence was submitted to the Pope or not ; but on the 20 th of January , 1860 , the rejection of his final appeal is notified to the prisoner ; and on the 21 st the execution takes place > and the report is published . Now , if I had wished solely to' have decried the Papal system of justice , I should not have given the report of the last- ' trial , ' which , seems to me far the most favourable specimen of the set I have come across . I have little doubt that all tlie criminals whose cases I have narrated were guilty of the crimes alleged against them , and fully deserved the fate they met . My object , however , has been to point out certain reflections on the Papal system ' -, which must , I think , force themselves on every one who has read these cases carefully . The disregard for human life , the abject poverty , and the wide-spread demoralization throughout the-. Roman , people indicated by these stories ; the great protraction of the trials , and the utter uncertainty about their date of occurrence ; the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence , and the identity between the Court and the prosecution ; the want of any cross-examination ; the abuse of the unlimited power of appeal ; the extent to wLieh this appeal , from a lay to a clerical Court , places justice virtually in the hands of the priests , and the utter absence of any check on injustice through publicity ; and , finally , the secret and private character of the whole investigation , are all things patent to the most careless observer . If such is Papal justice when it has no reason for concealment , and has right on its side , what would it be in a matter where injustice was sought to be perpetrated imd concealed ?
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March 10 1860 . 1 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 253
A Dkeam Op Taxation.
A'DEEiM OF TAXATION .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 10, 1860, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2337/page/13/
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