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

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

    jHEBN , the Duke of JSmvrGAaaxB , aud Mr . fitDJEEY HEUBEttlC . Burke o » ce > said that if amy supernal power would mince the sun into a Hvillkrar petty orb * , the evil-doers of the world might- contrive to blot some of them into darkness . T jius , the Aberdeen apologist picks out questions and answers from tlie Crimea catechism , and putting them in . unnatural proximity , extracts a grotesque result . But his pamphlet is no more an analysis than it

    is an exculpation . The torture of evidence , in an exparte statement , may convert neglect into caution ; but it cannot 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 Mi \ Layamd , Tent their rage . " Some high oflicial must be made responsible forever-thing , even for what our law-books call the " act of God ; " and when Mr . Sidney IIebjbeht reminded the

    granddoquent assertora 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 HtrirE , or the sarcastic unbelief of a Toltaiee . So , then , it was for the salve of a " providential reproof" that the JEolus of the Euxine dashed the Prince upon the

    rocks- It was " Providence" that crowded the harbour of Balaklava , so that the good ship could not enter ; that sunk the precious cargo , and deprived thousands of sick , shivering , famished men of healing medicines , clothes , food , and comforts , that were needed to keep them alive . And why not " Providence , " also , that created the storm in England which destroyed the Aberdeen

    Administration ? Surely the " Providence" of ] M > . 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 and misfortunes , and straightwa y ascribes our worst disasters to Heaven .

    It is not , however , with 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 bo induced to disclaim this discreditable concoction of impudence , and ribaldry . Mr . Gxadstoite , at least , will not rest under the imputation of having accredited the \ ulgar pamphleteer who praises him . Mr . IiAYAUD stated that thcro wore no horses to drag the sicgo guns to their position . With triumphant technicality the writer exclaims , " Poor Mr . Layjuid ! ' What malicious

    bombardier or vengeful aristocrat sold him that bargain ? " But tho fact remains , that the fliege guns could not bo moved for want of horses , which could not he supplied " for t he nonce from tho resources of the country , or from the horse-artillery . " A joke about <( donkeys" on shipboard docs not alter the complexion of tho case . There- may have been " avast deal of hard lying , " but even the pamphlet affirms no more than that the army before

    Sebaatopol was not so wretched throughout tho "winter ns tho armies winch tied from Burgos and Moscow . " Let us see , in the first place , what tho Government at home < Ud for tho purpose of supplying tho army "With food , clothes , and shelter . But wait a -ttoment , ftViond Snarl has something to say at this stag © of affairs . * Tnlk of tho acts' Ministers , ' ho exclaims , * why it i « a notorious JJd a scandalous fact , that they woro nil mooting in tho Highlands while our bravo Bwdiers woro lighting and bleeding for their

    pouatry . ' ' Hot . a Cabinet ; Coujociy cHmee ' in SNAtfj ' was lield , between the * prorogation of Parlian ^ nJb asml the . ^ jnonth . . of Octob er . ' ' The . Queen herself / ominously observe * GruowL to Miss Gbundt , * was not ; in Xton- ? don 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 Crimea ; 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 prepared for . Our soldiers perished of wet and cold , and the Duke of Newcastle , who justified himself manfully , is thus defended . " It ia to be hoped that Lord Pinmuee will be less Spartan in his notions than his heartless predecessor , " and that he will " give them ' zephyrs' for the summer . AVhy , indeed , should he not supply the gallant fellows with umbrellas , or with those blue veils which our dandies have iu our times made an

    article of male attire . The } ' would not be more out of place in the field than on the turf , and so trifling a homage to the manly sentiments of the day would be appreciated by Mr . Latakd ' s admirers . " In another section , the Ministers who were " -prepared for every contingency" are

    shown to have relied on the capture of Sebastopol by a coup de main . If they had captured Sevastopol 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 wantonlv lavished the nation ' s resources

    upon objects so utterly useless ? \ Y hat 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 oceunied with assertions to demonstrate that the

    Crimean arm } ' 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 in " a stone city . "

    The pamphleteer riots in heartless frivoiity on the subject of the miserable horses without manes or tails , who were shot by scores to savo them from starvation . " It is not possible to decide whether tho voracity of the quadrupeds was intercaudal or suicaudal . " The sick and wounded , it is true , remained " during the winter" in a condition " unquestionably as deplorable as

    can be conceived , " because their tents were " miserable ; " but tho administration was not to blame . " Xo reasonable foresight could have anticipated" that better habitations would be required . Here , again , the admission is made that the existence of the British army was staked on one chance—that of capturing liy a coup de main a place which JLord Raglan avowed ho hesitated to attack . Reallv , tho apology was not worth the

    scandal of its publication . Tho moral tits well to tho fable . What Iocs all this parody imply ? Nothing less than tho " anxious " doubts which have been felt by the most reflecting men in tho community , whether our form of government , with tho large accession which the liberty of speech and action 1 ms received during the last forty years , will work as successfully in a time of war , as it bus unquestionably worked in peace . " Prince Albert ' s Trinity House oration is then quoted as " -well-deserving ol meditation , " and we arc loft to consider

    rarhether , after , the great ciyil agonies though which the . Engjjsk nation has struggled to constitutional freedom ,, a . dictator , a dead press , and a dumb senate , might not be the best gifts which we could ' receive from fortune . " Who is answerable for these suggestions ?

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

    INCOME-TAX VICTIMS . Chahmed are certain readers of the Times with the suggestion of " Omega , " that the Income Tax which it " gravels" U 3 to pay , should be inflicted upon the domestic servant . " There is nothing , " cries Mr . Fag , " 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 Mr . 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 Chaxceixok or the Excheqtjeb , 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 kitcbenmaid , " should contribute to the revenue . Evidently , " Omega " has some grudge against domestic servants . " Many of them , " he say ; s , " are in the enjoyment ' of positive luxuries which thousands , although highly educated ,- * - * & c . " Whether the loaf costs * ls . 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 \ rar , 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 country , " 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 the income-tax under schedule D . " " Sigma" has " during the last

    eighteen years traded with the aristocracy through their upper servants , " and he is prepared to state that " many of those persons , whoso wages average fifty or one hundred guineas per annum , exclusive of lodging , li"ht , firing , and food , are those who ought to * put a shoulder to tho wheel . " Numbers more will agree with "Alpha , " and " Omega , and "Sigma ; " wo can imagine any number nf enroful housekeepers " aggravated" at the

    conduct of their domestics , who would be inclined to rush into print , and to inflict vengeance upon the contumacious , the lorgecful , the stupid , the heedless , in tlio «»» a f f n ° * J ? income-tax . Ladies who keep care ™ hova « B mmmmi exactly suited to their own irritated tempo * .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 28, 1855, page 719, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_28071855/page/11/