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    "^0 THE XEAPEB. [No. 349, SA.-nrai >AT

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    ERANCE IN PERSIA. Ateey absurd paragraph...

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    THE WORKING OF THE COUNTY POLICE ACT. Th...

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    The Uismg Against The Income-Tax. The In...

    the tax , -which , happens to he such as it ia intended in the case of one man , is wrong and oppressive in the case of nineteen or ninety-nine other men . It is a bungle from jfixst to last . Ifc has become a conflict of evasion on one side , and assumption on , the other . But that is far from being the worst . In the desire to get at * the truth' according to the Budget , the officers of the Income-tax go

    prying about into the private affairs of people , play the eavesdropper , pick up tittletattle , and make up a story better or worse . The Income-tax tribunal has become an inquisition , its officers an . army of domestic spies ; and the English people , who might throw off this most odious oppression , are learning to content themselves with sneaking evasions . The ultimate moral results are far

    worse than the hardships of the tax . # The impost is wrong financially , since it is impossible to ascertain , with any degree of accuracy or elasticity , the true nature and amount of individual income . It is absolutely ^ impossible to assess the impost on the principle of a rating . If you want to tax

    a man according to his enjoyment of means , tax his expenditure , tax the commodities on ¦ which he lays out his money . AH the evils resulting from taxation on . consumption arise solely when the taxes are imposed heavily upon one article and lightly upon another , so as to force the purchaser in his choice , and to interfere ¦¦ with , the natural

    ^ movements the market . the whole amount of taxes to be levied be fairly imposed upon articles of consumption and Tisej \ yith a practical equality ml round , in proportion to the market value , a man will as readily lay out his money in one direction as in another ; there will be no interference with the movem & nt " of the market ; and we shall have the" exact corelative of an

    incometax—taxation upon expenditure . * But this would cause some trouble to the Chancellor of the Excheguer . It would need a practical knowledge of trade and its coin ~ niodities . It would require some ingenuity . And since we only take our Chancellors out of the high walks of literature , or out of families whose parents hare retired from trade , or out of that still more exalted class who are hereditary legislators , and thus literally heaven-born , we cannot expect to have , as Finance Minister , a business mau who understands trade and sympathizes with the people .

    The Income-tax was a useful instrument for effecting a temporary purpose . "Whatever pedantry may preach about the virtue of direct taxation , it becomes essentially vicious as soon as it becomes lasting ; and no people who managed its own affairs , would tolerate sucli a burden . The continuance of the Income-tax is the one sufficing proof that the English people does not manage its own affairs . ! N " o , our affairs are managed for us , not even by Parliament ; for the puppet character of ^ the House of Commons is now an established fact . Members and constituencies

    are taken in and done for by those who have made the business of election a trade . The effect is , to place the management of the country , its government nt home aud abroad , its whole wealth and patronage , in the hands of & very few men indeed . Two dinner parties , one' for the Ministerial side and one for the Opposition side , would give ua tho whole

    number of ' statesmen' who , between them , arrange our affairs for us , —who dictate to us f * j ? f alia 11 do in Parliament or in Europe , atid tell ua what to pay . Poor Mrs . SwynrHET , whose counsel , the other day , surrendered an estate for her , assuming that she X *?? T ^^ , ^ roiua , and telling her that the best had been done for her—that poor lady waa the exact counterpart of the

    British nation , whose counsel alienates its property , makes compromises , and then sends it in the bill of costs . If the middle class had stood by the great body of the people , and had rendered the representation more truly national , the great tax-paying multitude , the middle class , would not have been thus at the mercy of the administration . The Income-tax we pay is the fine for our political sins ; we cannot relieve ourselves from the

    fine without exposing our political disorganization ; we cannot hope to get rid of the Income-tax until we call out the people itself . The two things go completely together . If there is to be really a great public movement , let us have it ; and then we shall have Income-tax , not reduced , but repealed , and also something like tliat complement of the Reform Bill which was promised to the people in the Birmingham Bull-ring , but of which they have been defrauded ever since .

    "^0 The Xeapeb. [No. 349, Sa.-Nrai >At

    " ^ 0 THE XEAPEB . [ No . 349 , SA .-nrai > AT

    Erance In Persia. Ateey Absurd Paragraph...

    ERANCE IN PERSIA . Ateey absurd paragraph ha 3 been permitted to appear in the columns of Le J ? a ?/ s , asserting a claim on the part of Prance to the island of Karrak , the Icarus of classical geographers . According to our ' inspired' contemporary , who has evidently studied to some purpose the fable of the dog in the manger , this islet was ceded to the Prench consul at

    Bussorah , m 1769 , by Kerim Khak , " probably the wisest of the sovereigns who have reigned over Persia in modern times . " The cession of Karrak ¦ would , perhaps , not generally be accepted as an illustration , or proof , of that monarch ' s wisdom , were it not at the same time borne in mind that at that period the coirjacent islands of Karrak and Kishm were in the possession of the Arabs , and not , even nominally , a dependence of the Persian crown . Were it otherwise , it is strange that

    no objection to the occupation of that post by British troops was made in 1838 . The silence preserved on that occasion is certainly not attributable to any partiality for perjide Albion entertained by the Ministers of Louis Philippe . Besides , there must surely be some political statute of limitation . It does not appear that the French flag ever floated over any of the rocky islands iu the Persian Gulf , and at the commencement of tho present century Fcttteii Ali Shah expressly

    prohibited " any of the grent men of the French nation" from obtaining " a place of residence , or dwelling , in any of the islands or shores of the kingdom of Persia . " A few years later , Mirza Reza , ambassador from the Court of Teheran to Napoieon , was instructed to offer the co-operation of a Persian army for the invasion of Khorassan , but warned not to concede any pied a terre to this

    new ally . "If the French require a station or port in the province of Fars for their passage to Hindoostan , do not consent . *' Such an injunction would have been quite superfluous had either of the contracting parties looked upon Karrak as au appanage of France . But in aiming at being official , the Pays never attains higher than being officious . It is only a waste of time to construct a battery against its unreal mirage of battlements . The appointment of Sir James Otttham , " the Bayard of tho East , " as he was called by the late Sir CHAitiiES Napiek , clearly indicates tho intention of Government to act with decision . In the ordinary course of events , tho command of tho expedition would have devolved on , Brigadier Stalker , an estimable mediocrity , quite capable of permanently occupying a barren island . But from the hurried departure of General Outran , before evon his health was thoroughly re-Btored , it iB evident that events are

    anticipated of some magnitude and importance The time has perhaps arrived when the Sepov and the Cossack shall decide by arms the future destinies of Central Asia . All that England demands is the unbiassed indepeudence of Persia . She seeks neither political nor moral control , but tke establishment Of a strong neutral government between the Aras and the Indus . Such , however , is uot the design of the Muscovite . The weakness of her neighbours is the opportunity of Russia . By stirring up foreign wars ami

    internal commotions she has reduced to a mere shadow the once powerful kingdom of Nadir SnAU . A little more compression a little more deglutition , aud the coils of tke Northern constrictor would lie along the frontiers of British India . To avert such a contingency is the ultimate object of the present expedition to the Persian Gulf .

    The Working Of The County Police Act. Th...

    THE WORKING OF THE COUNTY POLICE ACT . The County Police Act , passed last year , is now being brought into operation , the magistracy of the various counties being resolved to all appearance , to give the most complete effect to the intentions of the Legislature . It will be remembered that the appointment of chief constables rests with these gentlemen

    who have no doubfc abundant means of testing the qualifications of the candidates—generally unattached military men , for whom the act provides , not only an adequate salary , but a highly honourable position . It would hare been a serious mistake to have created , in the post of chief constable of the county police , an ofiSce which a gentleman would have been unable to fill .

    The law , apparently , allows great latitude to the magistrates charged with the task of cai * ryiiig out its provisions . It is rather an enabling than a compulsory act , so that ita success depends entirely upon the methods adopted by the local administrators of the several counties . Indeed , the provinces have been hitherto insecure , lesson account of particular deficiencies iuthe law , than on account of the imperfect and irregular system adopted to protect life and property , by placing one district witlv another under the reasonable

    surveillance of the police . "We have met with a printed statement on . this subject , from the pen of Captain Acheson ' , which is confirmative of some views we put forward when the Government bill was under discussion in . Parliament . Captain Acheson lays the utmost stress upon the adoption , not only of a proper management and supervision with regard to each county force , but also upon the establishment of a complete system of communication between the Metropolitan , Borough , and County Police .

    The first duty of a chief constable , tlien , according to this view , would bo to have the county in which he is stationed mapped out , and to familiarize himself witli every part of it . He should distribute the men under his command into detachments nud guards , and patrols should be organized to keep the country under inspection day and night . Visits should bye made to these patrols at

    uncertain periods , and the result of such supervision , together with all other matters relating to them , should bo reported to heftd * quarters weekly as well as monthly , with nominal and numerical returns , & c . Forms similar to those used in the army , such aa pay , forage , and contingent accounts , would simplify the receipt and discharge of au monetary accounts connected with tho maintenance of the constabulary .

    Iu the able memorandum from which wo borrow theso views , it is proposed to extend the scope of the constable ' s activity , so that the county police , besides being employed to

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 29, 1856, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29111856/page/12/