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    expressed , « fc once the Portsmouth and the Xiverpool of TNorfcbem Italy . The Government at Toirin therefore proposes to separate the Portsmouth from the Liverpool , to leave the commercial business to Genoa , and to rarry the naval business down to the gull oi Spezzia ; though we do not understand that commercial business will be excluded from that ffwlf . ., , ¦ ,. This project , as we have said , meete with two classes of opponents . Most obviously it is arrested by the Genoese because the citizens of the Italian Iiiverpool do not like

    parting with any business that has hitherto been carried on in th ^ ir por t . This is quite natural , but it is scarcely so far-seeing as we might have expected from the Genoese . Much space will be gained which they absolutely require ; and such extension of trade will be created by calling the Gulf of Spezzia into activity , as to have the eertaiu result of bringing increased business to Genoa . For there is no dcaibt that , as in the case of many extensions of trade amongst ourselves , the

    gross amount of trade divided by the two ports will be infinitely larger than it i 3 at present , Genoa , most likely , being yet richer than she is now . The other opponent is Austria , who is of course using all her influence to obstruct a transfer that threatens her power in more ways than one . Spezzia is , in fact , destined by nature to be a great port . 3 ? or picturesque beatity it has been compared with the Bay of Naples , with which it will vie in extent and safety , while

    the depth of water is greater . The town , which contains about four thousand inhabitants , is beautifully situated on an eminence at " the head of the gulf . Nearer to the mouth of the gulf , on the right bank , is the town of Porto Venere ( Port Venus ) , which still contains ancient ruins , and commemorates the old name of the gulf , Portus Lunaj—Moon Port . The bay is land-locked , and yet is very easy of access . In the midst of it is a natural phenomenon , which is perhaps unparalleled—a fountain of fresh water ai-ises from an immense spring at the bottom of the

    gulf . It bursts from under the sea in the middle of the bay , forming a column thirty feet in diameter , and rising nearly unmixed to the surface , which is visibly raised by the pressure from below . Quite at the surface the water is brackish , but when it is drawn from a depth of thirty-eight feet it is soft and fresh , and colder than that of the sea . It is generally understood that the first Napoleon intended to make the gulf of Spezzia a naval station and nrseual , and to surround this spring with a wall or other apparatus , by means of which ships could lade their water from its source .

    Lying about sixty miles south of Genoa , the gulf of Spez / , ia is to that extent removed from the depths of the bay in which Genoa lies , and it stands more out in tho Mediterranean , and is , in fact , tho key to the naval position of that quarter . If possessed by a naval power , it constitutes a great opportunity for the development of naval strength , and it might be tho instrument for reviving the old nautical valour which onco distinguished tho Genocso and tho Venetians . In its rcai' , ready facilities are offcrod for communication with the Lombard territory ; and should the commercial business of Lorici bo

    developed with the facilities of a freo port , it is more than probablo that a freo trade would bo do facto established with that same Lombard territory , Austrian prohibitions notwithstanding . In . fact , tho opening of a naval station at Spezzia would go fur to introduoo freedom and independence , naval , political , and commercial , into Central and . Norlhorn Italy . Theso arc tho reasons why Austria lmLos tho

    project , and conjures up every influence that can resist it . These are the reasons why tlie patriotism of Genoa should sanction a temporary sacrifice , which is likely to be repaid by immense advantages to Italy , and even by commercial profit to Genoa itself .

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    THE INCOME-TAX OF A TOWN DOUBLED . Oppression , in our day , is usually inflicted only on individuals , or on classes ; seldom do we find the Government extending oppression to a whole town ; yet a case of the kind actually exists at the present moment . The sufferer is not any private victim of a Chaneery suit , any gentleman tabooed by leading political parties , or any section of the working classes ; it is the respectable town of North Shields . The case is stated in the North and South Shields Gazette : — " In 1844 two ^ ersons resident in North Shields weie appointed to collect the Income-tax for the Tynemouth-In district . One of them never acted ; the other , a Mr . Briggs , Ttoofc the whole duty upon himself . la the autumn of 1855 Tie became a bankrupt , at which time he had in his possession a sum of 1700 J ., of moneys collected for Income-tax in his district . This sum he had deposited in his own name in one of the local banks , and it was seized by the Court of Bankruptcy for the benefit of his creditors . The bank , however , did not surrender it without hesitation . Knowing it to be

    Government money the bank declined at first to pay xt over to the Court of Bankruptcy as belonging to Briggs ' s private estate , but wrote to the Commissioners of Incometax , " offering it to their disposal . The commissioners refused to have anything to do with it , and the 1700 ? . went to pay Briggs ' s private debts ; but it was ordered that the deficiency should be made good by a re-assessment of the township and an exaction of the amount over again . "

    These simple facts tell the whole story and its moral . As our contemporary says , ' a more arbitrary act of fiscal oppression was never perpetrated in Turkey than that which has been decreed by our Income-tax pachas . ' In fact , we may suspect the Income-tax : Commissioners of being Mussulmans , so exactly does the treatment of Christians in South Shields aarree with the treatment of

    Christians in Bulgaria and Armenia ; only that in Turkey Proper the Osmanlis . are now mending their manners . The mulct inflicted upon North Shields is unjustifiable by any contrivance of casuistry . The defaulters are not persons appointed by the town . The Income-tax Commissioners appoint a collector , aiid invest him with tho power to enforce payment by summary process . The inhabitants have no kind of voice in the

    matter ; their income is ascertained—or , in many cases , is presumed without ascertaining it : for we have no doubt that Shields , like every other town of the country , is paying a tax upon income which does not exist . Thus created and invested with these arbitrary powers—powers that are entirely inconsistent with the spirit of the English constitutiontho collector rakes up the money . The inhabitants of course obtain their receipt for

    it ; and in almost all cases it is held at law that a valid receipt exonerates the payer from any future claim . Not so in the present instance . The collector defaults , and tho loss should fall upon his principals ; but , in defiance of law as well as the constitution , they now repudiate tho receipts of their own officer , and come upon the town to make good tho loss occasioned by their own bad select ion .

    Our Shiolds contemporary declares that the wrong will not be endured without a struggle : — " Tho first attempt to enforce it was mot with such a firm front in North Shields , and provoked such a burst of indignation fill over tho kingdom , that tho Commissioners desisted for a while , but now they have resumed hostilities . ' But tho threatened town is not inactive . Wo undortttand that a meeting of t |> o commit too a |> - pointcd to rcsidt tho ro-aHsosBmont will bo hold immediately , and that it will probably bo succeeded by another public mooting . "

    Good . We cannot , however , hold out very strong hopes . Exactly the same wrong was inflicted upon Greenwich . Greenwich , of course , was indignant—resistance was organised — we heard much about British . Constitution , and all that sort of thing j and ultimately Greenwich— -paid . At the present day , this is usually the end of popular agitation . Gentlemen assemble

    in public meeting , appoint a chairman , pass resolutions tnat they will not endure this or that , call for an outbreak of indignation from the whole kingdom , Bet a few journals writing upon the subject articles which look like a final declaration of war—a proclamation with the principle JSTo quarter and no surrender , and then we learn some day that the denounced act has been . accomplished , and the country goes on && before .

    The fact is , that if the country had taken the matter into its own hands , we might have got rid of the whole Income-tax long ago . It is a bad impost , excusable only for a temporary purpose , like that which Peel designed for it ; but as a permanent part of the revenue , it is clumsy , injurious , tyrannical , unfair , and disgraceful to the country that tolerates it . If men of the Tyne really ' unite together , ' as our contemporary advises them , c with hearts and brains and purses ready to defend their right , ' they may relieve themselves from this wrongous infliction . Will they do so ?

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    Mb . Cobden . —Mr . Alexander Laing , manufacturer , Hawick , has received a letter from Mr . Cobden , in acknowledgment of a copy of resolutions passed at a public meeting in that town , sympathizing with Messrs . Cobden , Bright , and Gibson on their recent defeats at Huddorsfield and Manchester , In this communication , Mr . Cobden thus accounts for his defeat : —" The invitation to become a candidate , which emanated from a public meeting , did not reach me till after my opponent , who occupied an influential local position , was already in the midst of a canvass from door to door throughout the borough—an ordeal which I at once declared I could not go through for all the seats in Parliament—and his

    success was insured against all possible opposition , no matter from what quarter it might have come . In fact , my entrance upon the contest was at the time simply and solety a mistake ; but , owing to the circumstances under which it was fallen into , it involved no blame or serious responsibility to any one . " Mr . Cobden adds that , at the time he gave up the borough of Stockport for the West Riding of Yorkshire ( for both which constituencies he was elected at the general election of 1847 ) , he perceived that he was giving up safe anchorage for dungerous waters , and anticipated the present result ; but he was persuaded by his friends to sit for the West Riding . He " was the first to declare that it would be

    impossible , after the free-trada question was settled , that the largest county constituency in the kingdom should continue to bo represented by one wholly unconnected with it by birth , property , or residence . " He concludes by remarking : —" For personal reasons , it is convenient to me at present to bo relieved from the duties of Parliament . I must confess , however , at the same time , that there never was a moment when , on public grounds , I would have more gladly taken my seat in the House of Commons . "—At a meeting of tho Catholic electors of Leeds , held at tho rooms of tho Catholic Literary Institution , on tho 17 th of April , it was unanimously resolved that an address bo presented to Mr . Kichard

    Cobden . Tho document sets forth tho high sense tho meeting entertained of the services rendered by Mr . Cobden to tho Roman Catholic body in always upholding civil and religious liberty ; and expresses regret that tho country should , for tho present , have lost tho parliamentary services of " so great , so useful , and so honest a man . " Mr . Cobdort , in thanking tho Catholic electors of Leeds for their address , says ho opposed tho Ecclesiastical Titles Bill of 1861 on tho same grounds that ho would have opposed a Bimilar bill affecting tho church government of the Wesloyans , tho Independents ,, or tho Baptists—viz ., because it interfered with religious liberty .

    Tmb Oxrono PnoFKssoKSinrs . —Mr . Matthew Arnold , M . A ., was on Tuesday elected Professor of Poetry by a majority of 85 over tho Rev . John Ernest Bodo , M . A . Tho numbers wove , respectively , 863—278 . — Tho olection of a Professor of Political Economy took pluco on ( ho same day . Tho candidates wore— -Mr . Noatc , M . A ., who polled 194 votes ; tho Rev . , 1 . K- '*• Rogers , M . A ., 180 votes ; and Mr . Nassau Willmm Senior , 128 votes . Mr . Neato , who is tho newly elected M . P . for the City of Oxford , ie therefore chosen by a majority of 04 .

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    May 9 . 1857-1 THE IBAPBB . M 7

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 9, 1857, page 447, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2192/page/15/