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    Untitled Article

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    , NAPLES,

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    W JUUWii the Rroalor part or mo juaim .- mwn » »< wvu Hitfite of life , and is ntoudily progruifcmiff towards union nnd iudopendenco , n droad silonoe and lethargic wtupor ruiyfn throuirhout tho Two SioilioH . IJVoin timo to time , it in fcruo , thin dojithhlco stillness is interrupted hy tho slu'iolc of Home fraah victim of tho tyranny of tho JJourbon police . J 5 ut tho sound- has Hoareoly died uway , when tho Noiipolibanu and their nfFuirs urp'by othgr Italians , tind ' Europo in gonorul / sufforeil to Ho dormant hi their wnidingv . shoot , as if U » oy had no concern or connection with tho ulinw * ot this world . And yot Nuplos find Bicily form mi important purt of Italy , nor can tho political orguntaiition of tho Poumsula bo ooMM ) loto without thorn . For u long time past , this unhappy Idiwdom has eootnod to posaoHa the soorot of standing- still , in dulianoe ol the laws ol ' nhywioiu attraction ami periodic progression . Hw so \\ ,

    Untitled Article

    practicable in -India- we do not assert , but it deserves to be , and as a novelty is very likely to be . Income and license taxes are direct taxation . Mr . Wilson also inflicts some new indirect ^ ZS ^ S ^ U is to be taxed 6 d . per lb unmanufactured , and Is . manufactured ; and a corresponding impost , as nearly as it can be estimated , like our hop duty , is to-be levied on ine-growu tobacco . Saltpetre , too , is to be taxed on export , on P the suppo sition that as no other country produces the article , the foreigner who needs it will pay the tax . -The idea of making a foreigner pay for what he requires more than its commerciat worth , is conceived in a perfectly anti-eommercial spirit . It Is worthy of the worst times of protection . The peculiar advantages of particular places and particular individuals the -peculiarities of climate and soil , are the sources , of all traffic , and Mr . Wilson ' s proposition is utterly at variance with the free-trade principles by professing and generally acting on which he-gained his present eminent position , fcueh a tax , too correctly imposed , is found to fall , like our former prohibition to export wool , on the industry engaged in producing the commodity taxed . It is consequently a gross injustice to one class , and it may fail . In the present condition of art , saltpetre can be manufactured , and it may possibly be manufactured elsewhere , as cheaply as it can be gathered and made in India . Had Mr . Wilson studied Mr . J . S . Mill ' s work , as we happen to know he has contemned it , he would have seen that an export tax may , under certain circumstances ,, fall wholly on thecountry which imposes it ; and he •• would have avoided imposing a tax on saltpetre manufacturers , erroneous on his own commercial principles , and certain to be injurious . We are-the more astonished at this retrogression , because Mr . / Wilson is sensible that it is a " special tax on the producer , " and points out that the revenue derived from : the monopoly of opium , equivalent to an export duty , is already , from competition , rendering that revenue insecure . He has , too , wisely and justly abolished other export duties and transit duties on articles passing from native states into British territories , thus extending the area of free exchange , and placing all India , like all England , under one commercial law , free to buy and free to sell . To ¦ ¦ ' „ ' encourage . native producers , " suvely lie could do nothing more , barbarously protective than to diminish the value of their productions in the foreign market . . . _ ThVso iin \ y taxes arc more objectionable on pmiinple tiuiu Mr . ' Wilson ' s-tariff , which reduces some duties-, and imposes a uniform ad valorem duty of ten per cent , on all articles now '' subject to import duties , except beer , wine , and spirits , the duties on . which are unaltered ; though it raises , to tho chagrin of the Manchester men and . the advantage of spinners in Madras and Bombay , the duty on cotton yarn five per cent . Naturally , the fonnor ' remonstrate og-tiinst this increase in a protective duty , and thev must , act energetically or they will be obliged to submit . India , under Mr . Wilson ' s ' rule , is to follow apparently the course of Canada and the United Stakes , and maintain , in spite of experience , a tariff-protective and fiscal . His scheme has otherwise the fault of being complicated , as .. if he contemplated rivalry with the discredited and complicated fiscal systems of Europe . . Here , it has been the object of scheming ambition to invent as many species as possible of . annoying taxation . Why should this erroneous policy be imitated in Bengal ? If nn income-tax in such a populous and opulent country be practicable , it mig ; ht be the substitute for all othor taxation . I . I" this be tho object ultiiuotely aimed at , and tho population is— by commencing the tax at n low percentage and . raising it gradually —to bo habituated to it , with a view to extinguish all other taxes , we give it our approbation ; but imposed with other - new taxes it complicates the system , increases the cost , and unnecessarily aggravates tho burden of government . Whether it bo sustainod by an extorted rent , enforced by claiming- tq be the solo landowner , or sustained by taxation , iU ^ pecuniary cost—though , not the injury it inflicts on socioty—is " iKjiinl . Mr . Wilson therefore seems to undcrrato the real burdon of tho Indian , Government by taking only the amount of taxation now levied- — , iS'J , 027 , 973 , and concluding that each of the 182 , 000 , 000 inhabitants of India pays only ono shilling- and fourpoiieo taxation annually . He ought to add the sum tho Government receives as Inndowncr ' m chief , to mako the comparison just . Tho assumption that the people arc very lightly tnjtod may lead to increased taxation . beyond what thoy will readily baav . They hnvo submitted tp our Vulebooauso it is milder and moi'o equitable than that of their former masters nnd tyrants \ but ii to tho old oxactions of land and slave owners wo add tlio fiscal exactions of skilful European unftneiers , wo may irritate them into discontent , resistance , and rebellion . They will hardly bo eneourngod to obqy by being taxed to enforce obocUenoo . SJuah a proceeding anuet Wioruto nt least a substratum of UissatislUotion , which

    may in the end , before commerce has knitted the two people closely in the bonds of mutual interest , topple down our dominion . . We have read with great pleasure Mr . Wilson ' s declaration , that the internal prosperity of India , corresponding to the increase in trade , is remarkably great . Railways have been " a great success , " though their produce seems to be only £ 330 , 700 , and the interest guaranteed on them £ 1 , 114 , 000 . Landowners have been enriched ; and defaulters , sold up by the lord paramount , have decreased from an annual rental of £ 95 , 650 in 1834-5 to £ 1449 in 1858-9 . Arrears of rent have ' almost ceased to exist . Wages , too , ; have risen in common with wages in Europe , in many cases threefold ; but we can scarcely find in history a ( jovernment which , perpetually engaged in the work of annexation , running into debt , and provoking mutiny , maintaining its power by arming class against class , and fi g hting , country or district against country , except it be one of the despicable and quarrelling tyrannies put down , has really done less for the welfare of the people than the Company ' s Government in India . It cannot justly claim , on account of any great services rendered to society , a greater , revenue . Mr . Wilson , however , honestly declares , like his class , that the Government is to be paid according as the people are rich , not according to the services it performs for them . Commerce must sympathize with the destructive Government , which , being short of funds , " all must contribute their share . " ' Mr . Wilson is well aware that the Government of India has had far less influence over the . -rapid-progress of the people of late than the great increase of gold in the world . Everywhere this lias stimulated . enterprise , ; and made , even in Europe , political , oppression less ruinous and unbearable . The great increase has depreciated this metal in relation to silver , and has caused it to be substituted for silver in use as , coinage in France , Germany , ¦ Belgium * and many other parts of Europe . ¦ , It lias , . at the same time , caused silver to be sent in unwonted quantities to India , where , from remaining exclusively the currency , it has a value it has lost . here . There , it is diffused amongst the immense population , has increased their rewards ,-and stimulated their enterprise . The inci-ease of silver there raised " the price of country produce , " raised wages , increased produce ,.-increased rent , made landlords solvent , and caused the prosperity on account of which Miv Wilson justifies , increasing taxation . - In this justification the truth , honesty , and common sense > generally prevalent in his address , are deficient , and to continue to act in , accordance with it must ultimately increase the embarrassment of the Gowrnmerit .. Though we , continuing to follow , as Mr . Wilson was wont , to follow , the doctrines of free trade , reprehend those parts of his plan which aro palpably at variance with them , and with the approved maxims of taxation which flow from them , we can but remark that , from following them he hns become great . The European intellect , from tho perception of its superiority to the crowd of mean and submissive Asiatics it practically becomes familiar with in India , expands into still greater superiority . Great men' Olive , Hastings , nnd Wellington—are there , developed . Mr . Wilson appears to have . folt the iufluenne , and , mindful of the words which constitute the motto of the EcmioiuiM , has made himself nearly " equal to the sphere of his duly , " and " stretched his mind " to " the compass of his object . " Differing from him . on the points mentioned , we can , nevertheless , congratulate both him and tho country on having got at least one administrator of Indian affairs who sees the difficulties in which they arc involved , and courageously expresses his views . . A . bill was immediately passed to levy the customs' duties proposed by Mr . Wilson . At the same time he announced , a measure for establishing a paper currency ; but , considering the length of this article , we do not regret tlint Sir C . WooiVs apparently unneciissnry delay in producing Mr . Wilson ' s minute , with his own oommontury , in the House of ( Joimnous , compels us to postpone the consideration of this part of his plan till next week .

    Untitled Article

    March 31 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 299

    , Naples,

    , NAPLES ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 31, 1860, page 299, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2340/page/7/