On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • 

    ¦ ;' '^^^ ^ _ L !_111_ I ' " " ¦ ' " . '...

  • 

    NEW INCOME-TAX VICTIMS. Chabmed are cert...

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Whom Shall We Hang?* The Pamphlet Winch ...

    j ^ Sjj , the Duke of ^ fewcuurobis , and . Mr , jflOHEY HEBBEJia ? , ; r v ^ uBiiDBOii ce' said thai if sway enpernal power rvronld mince the sun into a million petty ij ^ bs , the evil-doers of the world might contrive to Wot some of them into darkness . ; ^ hus , the Aberdeen apologist picks out questions and answers from the Crimea catechism , and putting them in unnatural « roximity , extracts a grotesque result . But bis pamphlet is no more an analysis than it ia an exculpation . The torture of evidence , in an exparfe statement ,, may convert neglect

    into caution ; but it caunot neutralise the proofs which exist elsewhere . Even , on this audacious device , however , the writer is driven to . parenthetical suggestions , such as this : — " Men wanted somebody on whom they might , in the mild language of Mr . JjAYard , vent their rage . " Some high official must be made responsible for everything , even for what our law-books call the " act of God ; " and when Mr . Sidney JEejrbeiit reminded the

    grandiloquent assertors of our naval supremacy that the winds of Heaven sometimes rebuked human arrogance , the religious people of England scoffed at the suggestion of a providental reproof with the philosophical seeptiscism of a Hume , or the sarcastic unbelief of a'Voltaire . So , then , it was for the sake of a " providential reproof" that the JEolus af the Euxine dashed the J ^ rince upon the rocks . It was " Providence" that crowded

    the harbour ot Balaklava , so that the good ship could not enter ; that sunk the precious cargo , and deprived thousands of sick , shivering-, famished wen of healing medicines , clothes , food , and comforts , that were needed to keep them alive . And why not " Providence , " also , that created the storm in Euglaud which , destroyed the Abekdeen Administration ? Surely the " Providence" of Mr . Sidney Herbert and his anonymous champion has other than diabolical attributes . But it is often that " Providence" is most

    sadly maligned by those who assert its " supremacy . " The pamphleteer complains that erring men are charged with the responsibility of blunders aud misfortunes , and straightway ascribes our worst disasters to Heaven . It is not , however , witli the writer ' s argument , . but with its spirit , that we are concerned . " Wo are solicitous that men who

    '• bear a character for conscience and scruple should be induced to disclaim this discreditable concoction of impudence nud ribaldry . Mr . Gladstone , at least , will not rest under ithe imputation of having accredited the vulgar pamphleteer who praises him . Mr . ¦ liATARD stated that there were no horses to drag * tho siege guns to their position . AVith "triumphant technicality the writer exclaims , '' " Poor Mr . Layahd ! What malicious bombardier or vengeful aristocrat sold him that

    ^ bargain ? " But the fact remains , that the rtiege guns could not be moved for want ot Worses , which could not bo supplied " for the "j & once from tho resources of the country , or $ rom tho horse-artillery . " A joke about " don'JfeeyV * on shipboard does not alter t ho comploxilonof the ease . There may have been " avast * 4 w l'flf hard lying , " but even tho pamphlet affirms bo mofo than that tho army before ^ fiebastopol was not so wretched throughout iro

    the winter as tho armies which ilod m IJhirgos and Moscow . " Lvt us sec , in the " f frsfc place , what tho Government at home $ d , for tho purpose of supplying ^ ni'iny # itU food , clothes , and shelter . But wait a ^ omenfc , Friend Snarl has something to any iWiithis aCage of aflUiro . ' Talk of tho acts ot SWaniatoBfl , ' hoexclaims , ' why it is a notorious U & d < a scandnloua fact ; , that they woro all pWofcing in -tho Highlands while our bravo ^ Wdiew were fighting and bleeding for their

    icountry . ' ' Nab a Cabinet CouncU , ' ; dum $ si iu & K & P , ' -was held . between the : prorogation of P » rliaiueait . and the ? month of Octonep . 'j ' The Qiiean rherself , ' . ominously observes Growl to Miss . Guundy , ' . was not iu London at any time in September . ' " The plea in mitigation is this : " The time for counsel was past ; the die had been cast ; the army had been ordered to the OrLmea ; and Ministers could do no more than await

    the execution of their orders . They could only watch events , wait for news , and be prepared for every contingency : " which was precisely what they were not prepai * ed for . Our soldiers perished of wet and cold , and the Duke of Newcastle , who justified himself manfully , is thus defended . "It is to be hoped that X . ord Panmtjke will be less Spartan in his notions than his heartless predecessor , ' * and that he will " give them * zephyrs' for the summer . Why , indeed , should he not supply the gallant fellows with umbrellas , or -with those blue veils which our dandies have in our times made an

    article of male attire . They would not be more out of place in the field than on the turf , and so trilling a homage to the manly sentiments of the day would be appreciated by Mr . Lataed ' s admirers . " In another section , the Ministers who were ' " prepared for every contingency" shown to have relied on the capture of Sebastopol bv a coup de main . If they had

    captured Sebastopol at once , and the army had been provided for a long campaign , " what an outcry should we not have heard from the virtuous guardians of the public purse against that aristocratic prodigality which had wantonly lavished the nation ' s resources upon objects so utterly useless ? "What pointed epigrams , what searing sarcasms would not have been showered on the

    overcareful administrator who had had the wisdom to export wooden houses to a stone city ? " A hundred pages have been occupied with assertions to demonstrate that the Crimean army was fully prepared for its arduous and difficult enterprise , and that the Ministers knew perfectly well the nature of the place they were about to besiege , yet here we find among their virtues , that they provided only for a single blow , and expected to lodge their troops without delay iu iC a stone city . "

    The pamphleteer riots in heartless frivolity on the subject of the miserable horses without manes or tails , who were shot by scores to save them from starvation . " It is not possible to decide whether the voraeity of tho quadrupeds was intercaudal or suieaudrtl . " The sick and wounded , it is

    true , remained " during tho winter m a condition " unquestionably as deplorable as can be conceived , " because their tents were " miserable ; " but the administration was not to blame . " No reasonable foresight could have ant icipated" that bettor habitations would be required . Here , again , tho admission is made that tho existence of the British

    arm } ' was staked on one chance—that ot capturing by a coup ilt ? main a place which . Lord K . vot . an avowed ho hesitated to attack . Reallv , tho apology was not worth tho scandal of its publication . Tho moral fits well to the fable . What loos all this parody imply ? Nothing less than tho " anxious " doubts which have been

    felt by tho most reflecting men in the community , whether our form of government , with the largo accesaion which tho liberty of npoe . ch and actioa has received during tho laat forty years , will work as successfully in a time of war , as it : lias unquoationably worked in peaec . " Prince Ai . bbbt ' s Trinity House oration is then quoted as " well-deserving of meditation , " and wp arp left to consider

    ^ hfethe ^ . affcer / jthe . ^ gue ^ teM agonies through which ithe English nfttaoft Jbas » ta * iiggled tp constitutional freedom , a dictator , a dead jProsSj . and , < a dumb senate , migHt not be the best gifts which to could receive from fortune . "Who is answerable for these suggestions ?

    ¦ ;' '^^^ ^ _ L !_111_ I ' " " ¦ ' " . '...

    ¦ ; ' ' ^^^ ^ _ L !_ 111 _ I ' " " ¦ ' " . ' l ^ PtBtliS

    New Income-Tax Victims. Chabmed Are Cert...

    NEW INCOME-TAX VICTIMS . Chabmed are certain readers of the Times with the suggestion of " Omega , " that the Income Tax which it " gravels" us to pay , should be inflicted upon the domestic servant . " There is nothing , " cries Mr . Fap , " which I hate so much as your overbearing ,

    tyrannical , unjust treatment of inferiors "— -a sentiment knocked out of him by the rough behaviour of Captain Absolute ; and Mir . Fag , smarting under the practical hauteur of the Captain , turns round and kicks the little boy off the stage . " Omega , " who seems to have been mulcted by the Commissioners under the CHAXCELIiOB OF THE EXCHEQUER , turns

    round and proposes to inflict the grievance on the domestic servant ; and it is amazing what grand motives he gives for the suggestion . " In the present position of affairs , as regards the struggle with ourselves and our allies against Russian despotism , there can be but one opinion as to the imperative duty , both religious and moral , of all her Majesty ' s loyal subjects to bear a portion of the burden which this struggle must of necessity entail upon us . " The practical suggestion ,

    prefaced by this " religious and moral" exordium is , " that all domestic servants , from the powdered butler , and the pampered valet , to the drudging kitehenmaid , " should eontribute to the revenue . Evidently , " Omega " has some grudge against domestic servants , " Many of them , " he sayys , " are in the enjoyment " positive luxuries -which thousands , although highly educated , " Ac . " Whether the loaf costs Is . or Is . 6 d ., makes no difference to them . " " The present standard of

    wages is a matter of very serious consideration with housekeepers of moderate income ; looking to the future and to the war , increased taxation is in . prospect ; and a stand must be made against the high rate of wages . " " Alpha" falls in with " Omega , " " The wages of the principal servants in the large establishments of this eountry , " says "Alpha , " " are above 50 per cent , more than they were during the last war ; and in some cases servants are receiving more than

    the greater majority of the working curates in this country . " "Sigma" has a just grudge against the " easily worked class of upper servants , including stewards and butlers , grooms of the chambers , cooks , upper coachmen , stud grooms , housekeepers , and female cooks who are not taxed to tho income-tax under schedule D . " " Si < rma" " during the last

    eighteen years traded with the aristocracy through their upper servants , " and ho is prepared to state that " many of those persons , whose wages average fifty or one hundred guineas per annum , exclusive of lodging , light firing , and food , are those who ought to put a shoulder to the wheel . " Numbers more will agree with "Alpha , " and " Omega , and " Sigma ; " wo can imagine any number of careful housekeepers " aggravated at tjio conduct of their domestics , who would do inclined to rush into print , nnd * o wflij * v /> nm » nn « . iinnn tho contumacious , the roifcen-° * 1

    ful , the stupfd , tho heedless , in tho ^ ff f income-tax . Indies who keep cnrcU ^ moB have standing objections * ° «™ r ^ iSf Sieta 32 ^ SSST ^ 'SSSsS zEtss & xszssstfEZ

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 28, 1855, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28071855/page/11/