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    flfo, 507. Dec. 10, 1859-] THE LEADEB. 1...

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    She g ives at all times all wealth to la...

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    France and Austria, which contained a fo...

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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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    Flfo, 507. Dec. 10, 1859-] The Leadeb. 1...

    flfo , 507 . Dec . 10 , 1859- ] THE LEADEB . 1347

    She G Ives At All Times All Wealth To La...

    She g ives at all times all wealth to labour ; and the labouring multitude are only poor because an ever-increasing sum—now upwards of ^ 70 , 000 , 000 a-year—is constantly taken from them by a system which , at the same time , places innumerable restrictions on their industry . We go cordially , therefore , with Mr . Bright and with the Financial Reform Association , in condemning the State , on account of the enormous sum which it annually takes from the multitude , and the manner of taking it . ¦ '

    _ .... „ . We cannot give the same support to Mr . Bright's plan for increasing direct taxation . H estimates the property of the country at . £ 6 , 700 , 000 , 000 , and ne proposes to levy a tax of 8 s . for every £ 100 of this property , excluding from the tax every one whose property is not of the value of ^ 100 . The produce of such a tax he estimates at . £ 27 , 000 , 000 a-year , and collecting it he would give up the present income tax ; all the customs duties on small . articles ,

    amounthouse tax to all dwellings , and an increase in its amount—would be , we think , " a wiser , safer , and more practicable course than that recommended by Mr . Bright . ( > . ¦ . The least acquaintance with the subject must convince every man that the true art of making each one contribute justly to the public service in proportion to his means , as society expands , as industry spreads into innumerable ramifications , as credit promotes production and assists distribution , and as the classes multiply who collect the debts , distribute the credit , and keep the accounts of all the other classes , is yet most imperfectly known . Were the principle adopted by Mr . Bright made the basis of all taxation , and carried into effect as rates are now levied , by local or municipal bodies , it might lead to some improvement . We conclude that , till the art be better known , and till means be found to collect from every man his just contribution at the time most convenient to him to pay it , and in the manner , the least ' inj-urious to the nation , it is wiser to insist on reduction of taxation than propose extensive changes .

    ing to £ 750 , 000 ; and all the duties on sugar , tea and coffee , on corn , currants raisins , pepper , provisions , paper , books , the assessed taxes , taxes on insurance , and he would reduce the duties on wine to Is . per gallon . He would retain the duties on spirits and tobacco . This would be an immense change ; it would be a great advantage to trade , but , desirous as we are of getting rid of Custom-house and Excise duties , it does not command our approbation .

    Bad as any fiscal system may be , society gets accustomed to it , and to it all the relations of property adapt . , themselves . Accordingly , it has long been and is now universally acknowledged , that changes , even in a bad system , should not be lightly made . Repeated and continual changes are Worse than the worst established system . Mr . Bright ' s plan is ^ clearl y not a fiscal reform . It does not iniply any reduction of taxation —nor any diminution of expenditure , and we ought to look for a reduction , in the amount of taxation as well as a change in its form . Without an addition of direct taxation it is impossible to keep up anything like the present expenditure and relieve trade from Custom-house restrictions .

    But it would probably be better to continue and extend the present income tax , or the present assessed taxes , objectionable as all of them are , than to add another form of taxation to the complicated jumble which already exists . The practice of the United States is according to the principle of Mr . Bright ' s plan . It is the practice in every parish in England , all the rates being levied on property , but they , as the rule , both in the States and in parishes , are levied on all kinds of property , and do not stop at any fixed sum . Mr . Bright stops at £ 100 , and exempts all is ciass

    property below it . Mis project reaiiy a tax , an imitation of the class taxation he condemns . It will rouse against it much hostility , when it ought to unite the tax-paying classes of all descriptions against taxation . In all its phases , direct and indirect taxation is essentially mischievous . In truth , it is a violation of the right o property , which tho Slate is established to protect , and should be kept at a minimum , Mr . Bright agrees with us in desiring to extend the franchise ; when he proposes , therefore , to levy this tax , and to give the franchise to those who aro exempt from it , he would enable them to dispose of other people ' s

    property . How many of the twenty-four millions who live in houses below £ 10 value would bo subjected to this 8 s . on £ 100 tax Mr . Brig ht did not state . We presume , however , that only a very email proportion would havo to pay it . The more destitute and degraded arc the multitude , according to his statement , tho greater would be the injusti ce of a tax which was not to fall on them , lo exonerate them from their fair share of tho national burdons is a presumption akin to that of excludivos

    ing them from tho franchise It g charity where justice should bo done Tho great principle of fiscal and political reform is to connect contribution with appropriation ; to make every man a contributor , and give every one an equal voipe over tho appropriation of tho contributions . Mr . Bripjht ' s plan departs from this essential principle of reform , and is , at the same tiwe , nn unnocossari ty great change . A reduction of expenditure , catting down the civil and miscellaneous estimates , ana abolishing indirect taxation to tho extent of tho amount reduced—with , if necessary , an extension of tho

    France And Austria, Which Contained A Fo...

    France and Austria , which contained a formal guarantee to Austria of her Italian possessions . The existence of such a document was at first contradicted by Lord Palmerston , "I am bound , " he said , "to say that this . is the first time I have ever heard of it . " His lordship ' s peremptory and unconditional denial gave the impression that the assertions of Mr . Disraeli were totally unfounded , and that no treaty of such a nature as described by him could be in existence . A week afterwards , however , in consequence of a renewal of the subject , we find Lord Palmerston admitting the existence of such a document , though only as a scheme or draft : — " I am inclined to think that the information we

    received yesterday is correct , and that that treatythat convention—for it was only a temporary convention , to have force only during the period of the continuance of the war—never was signed . " But three days later the noble lord fully and freely acknowledged its existence to . the House He attempted to g loss over its object , nature , and intended duration , and said that it was for " the mutual regulation of the . French and Aus > - trian troops which might be in Italy , -in the contingency of Austria declaring war against Russia . : — and Austria never having declared war against

    THE CHOICE OF PLENIPOTENTIARIES . The approaching Congress continues to be the subject of discussion , as it no doubt will remain , until its inauguration , and to its close . The choice of plenipotentiaries by each state affords ground for endless ^ peculation and interminable sifitings of character political , personal , and diplomatic . Though much was urged in favour of sending Lord Palmerston to represent England , and though , in . many respects , so fit a representative cannot be found , yet on the whole , we think he is better at a distance from the scene of action .

    His private views are in favour ; of Italian mde-r pendence , and these he will have the opportunity of pressing upon the English agent during the coui-se of the sittings of Congress ; while , if he were present , he would be liable to be acted upon by passing circumstances and events ; perhaps be induced , by motives of expediency , to yield on points in themselves apparently of but little importance , yet involving questions of principle , and , in short , be less useful to the cause of constitutional freedom , progress , and enlig htenment , than when inhaling the liberty-inspiring air of England , and animated by the independent and outspoken sentiments of the British nation . That Lord Palmerston is one of the most , if not , emphatically ,

    the most , remarkable men of modern England , is undeniable . None of our statesmen can surpass him in grandeur of combination , quickness of perception , boldness of execution , and , above all , in his knowledge of men , whom he can , with magnificent adroitness , bring to concur in the accomplishment of his designs . His great strength resides in himself alone , and not in a party , since he represents none , is the leader of no political body , and owns no army enrolled under his parliamentary banner . More than any other man he may be considered as the representative ol the British public at large . And yet , in spite of this , we find his political exertions , at various epochs ot his diplomatic career , intimately connected with the most retrogressive and repressive measures , as at 1 eter

    well at home as abroad . The massacre - loo , the approval of the slaughter of the Manchester Radicate , the enactment of the Six Acts , are so many charges brought against his liberal and progressive policy by his political opponents . The acts of the Vienna Congress , when the populations of Europe were disposed of aa if they had been so many flocks of cattle bred for slaughter ; the restoration of the Bourbons in Franco , Spain , and ; Italy 5 the reconstruction of Denmark , and Germany ; the cession of Belgium to Holland , of Finland to Russia , of Venice and Lombardy to Austria , and tho repartition of Poland , have all met with the co-operation of Lord Palmorston . It will not be forgotten that the haste with which lip manifested his adhesion bo the government following the coup iVitat of December 2 , 1851 , brought about a ministerial crisis ia England . Nor is his veracity less open to attack ; though we aro by no tuat tu

    means prepared to aony no ana » " ¦ " »•«» are fully at liberty to shelter themselves behind the pleas of political expediency and misinterpreted expressions , under which meaner men are emitted to eoek safety and impunity . During he debate on the answer to the Queen's openmff speech of tho 3 rd February , 1857 ,, Mr . tfisraol 1 alluded to a secret treaty concludod beacon

    Russia , that convention , although signed , became a dead letter , and never had any application or effect whatever . " In the rejoinder of Mr . Disraeli the following words occur : — " I state again that there is a treaty-r-a secret treaty ^—between France and Austria , the object of which is to guarantee the security of the Italian possessions of Auslrja—that it has been extensively acted upon—that , to the best of my belief , it contains on its surface no limitation of the period of its operation , and that the character ¦ given-of it by the noble lord the other night is entirely incorrect . " . : ¦ feel that it is

    On various grounds , then , > ve matter of rejofcing that England should not send the Premier to the approaching Congress . It is better that a diplomatist should be employed who , while of undoubtedly inferior abilities and standing , will not be liable to be betrayed into taking the part of the strong against the weak , and whose subordinate position will offer some advantages , as giving England the opportunity of expressing her opinion in a more decided way then she could do if the statesman , who nominally represents it , were sent to Paris empowered to act on his own responsibility , and according to his own unsupported judgment .

    If mere repetition and reiteration would suffice to inspire confidence in the declarations of the French Emperor , we might consider it as a settled fact that the late rulers will not be restored . He says they shall not be replaced by force , and all the world knows that their former subjects will never receive them back voluntarily . But the great fear is , that the imperial language , declaring that foreign intervention shall not be employed to force the dukes upon the Italians against their will , will be found to be susceptible of political onri imiwinl nuibble and iufffflery . The annals of

    diplomacy tell of two different species of intervention . The first has in view the maintenance of the equilibrium of the great powers , so that one state may not be rendered powerfnl to tho pro ^ udice of another . This species of intervention arose in tho 15 th century and was largely applied in the 16 th , serving as the basis o * the religious wars of that period , and ultimately occasioning ' the Wars of Succession . The second species of intervention relates to the changes which occur in . the internal Government of states . It originated m 1772 with the first division of Poland , served as a . pretext tn Prussiain 1788 , to re-establish the House of lirst

    , Oram'o hi Holland , and occasioned tho wars a-rainst tho French Revolution , undertaken to prevont Franco from governing herself according to her own will . Finally , the Holy Alliance made it a European law and a perpetual system , in order to prevent any change in . the internal form oi government of tho respective states , when such change might appear to threaten tho existence o * So feig ning dynasties and monarchies as reestablished by tie Government of Vienna . Intervention of the first kind may be justined on n ? moiplos of right , and is undoubtedly practically ioneiicial . Intervention of . the latter kind u totally destructive of the right appertaining to every people to govern itself , and consequently » s a direct violation of international low as at prosent established . If the Emperor Napoleon Ul

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 10, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10121859/page/15/