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    Untitled Article

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    LOUIS NAPOLEON AND COH*IC.\.

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    Untitled Article

    o-m . The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Sept . 29 , I 860

    Untitled Article

    and fivojy distributed-where they are raost wanted , without any urtiiicial obstacles or restrictions being imposed . The want to produce corn and cattle where- we choose and sell them Averc we choose is a legitimate want , which in its nature is satis-Jiablo by aubody without preventing anybody else from satisfying it , and withoiit in-ojudico to the satisfying of the specific principal wants by all mankind . And the absurd and cruel laws which formerly interfered with this right were productive , ns such laws ever ' must be productive , not merely of great direct mischief , in rendering food dear and scarce , but also indirect mischief , ' to an extent almost incalculable , A \ e way safely discuss this piece of abolished barbarism ; but there are things m our social iv-inie far worse than even this which at present are c 3 ¦ . M _ . « « i t I " , a . I . I .. — - _ A _ > & 4 * » . « .. & _ ¦ *« and t ot stolid superstition In

    ^ maintained bv vulgar prejudice a sor fact even in mercantile and - . financial matters l . ree Trade is little mure than a name vyhere men are subject to what may . bo called a s- ( ret astern of taxation , under which they actually don t know wliat t-tiev are paving , and which levies its imposts not m proportion 'to their ability to pay but Upon their necessities and wants , lhcre is no good in attempt" ^ to blink the truth—there can be no such thin- as Free Trade where indirect taxes are imposed . Lpwarcls ot twelve years ' a <* o the writer of this article summarised the duet Directions to indirect taxation , and ha * had the satisfaction of se - oiuo- them subsequently adopted , in theory at least , by our most enlightened economists . One of the chief advantages that has been usually urqed in favo . ur of indirect taxes , looked at from the Exchequer stand-point , is the very thing that constitutes one of its chief defects when viewed from the stand-point of common sense and common lioiiestv . namely , the fact that by this system men are

    taxed behind thier backs and without their knowledge to an extant they would never tolerate under direct taxation when each man could see what he paid . One of the indirect mischiefs of this is a premium upon reckless waste and extravagance" on the part ot the Government . There is not one valid objection—not one objection that will bear a moment ' s scrutiny against direct taxation . The onlv reason it is not adopted is that the unproductive class -in whose haids the legislation of the country is lodged , desire that the taxes should conie out of the industry aiid labour of the country . The objection that direct taxation would involve a disclosure ot people s resources , in order that they might be taxed " in proportion to their ability to pav , " is lutile , inasmxich . as that disclosure takes place now . under the Income Tax . Indeed there is a scheme of direct taxation abundantly adaptable for immediate practical application which niin be explained in very few words . . That men should be

    taxed pro '} ortiQimtely to their capacity is liow regarded in theory , however grossly it is " violated in practice , as a mere truism ; and tor practical purposes there is but one way of measuring this capacity . The method is to reckon a man up and see what he is worth m respect of the year for which the tax is levied . For example : —Take a freeholder With an estate yielding an income of £ 100 per annum , and no other property ; then he is worth for the year £ 3 . 100 , that is £ 100 income received in respect of the past year and £ 3 , lXX > being the market value of his estate at thirty years \ purehase . Take a man with £ 100 received from a clerkship , or other precarious vocation , during the past voor . and no other property , he is worth this £ 100 and no more . Take a leaseholder whose estate brings m

    £ 100 a-year income , and is worth ten years' purchase ; ho is worth Cl 100 for the past year , in respect of which we suppose the tax to be due . Take the ' case of sui annuitant with £ 100 for life , but without power of anticipation , that is , unable to sell his life interest , he would be worth , m respect of any given year , the £ 100 he had received within that year ; but it he had power of anticipation , and could sell his life interest , then he would be worth tins , plus the years' income i suppose his life interest to be worth six y ears' purchase , then he would be worth £ 700 lor the past year , because at any time during that year he would be worth , ft 300 , the value of his life interest , and would have received £ 100 in respect ot the past vear . Supposethen , the taxes to be levied at , say for

    , illustration , 5 s . percent ., the freeholder would pay £ 7 15 s ., the leaseholder £ 2 13 s ., the limn of precarious business with £ 100 , earned within the past year , and no property , qs .. and the annuitant with power to sell his life interest £ 1 15 s ., and this would be perfeetlv just and fair ' as they are worth for the year last past the respective sums of £ 3 . 100 , i' 1 , 100 £ 100 . and £ 700 . The man who has no other propertv than the £ 100 earned during the past year pays 5 s ., and the freeholder being thirty-one times as rich ought to pay thirty-one times as much , and so of tho rest . There is only one objection to tliis system , namely , that it is perfectly just and reasonable , as well as simple and practicable ; incidents , which , ns thnigs now stand in financial matters , are generally fatal to whatever

    they are predicable of . One of the merits of the method of taxation suggested , is that by being tho fairest and raost equitable that can bo devised , it wovmnrinimise the temptation to make false returns , and shirk the - payment of taxes , whereas under the present iniquitous and irrational svetem , the inducement to commit , what is in the eye of the law at least , a fraud upon the revenue , is maximized , So much for the general principle . AU indirect taxation , including the " licensing system , " is simpl y an obstacle to production , « shackle upon freedom , ft commercial nuisance . Instead of taxing : a man upon wealth that lie hns produced and realised , it imposes as acohdition precedent to ,, thcj oreutiou of wealth n burdensome and vexatious pecuniary mulct . It is an nntieipative line upon industry , n penalty imposed beforehand upon enterprise and labour , It is an oppressive and a cruel difficulty needlessly thrown in way of a man ' s getting Ins living by an honest calling , and jpro tanto stimulates a tendency towsort to illicit means of f ining a livlihood . What can be at once ft grosser infringement of the subjects' liberty , a more flagrant

    they arc worth has been systematically set at nought . In n . wr . rd , indirect taxation is totally ' irreconcilable with tho i ' ree trade principle , and it . would be unjust to those . far-seeing and enlightened public men , who .. single-handed , ' forced the adoption of this srreat principle so far as it has been recognised' and reduced to practice in our legislation , upon a reluctant government , in spite of -the most formidable opposition in parliament , that the aristocracy um ! landed interest , with all its resources of power , position , anvl wealth Could organise , and who are still labouring to work out h ; logical and legitimate application in -all the details of our ccoiioi : uci-l regime , not to trive them credit here for their achievement . It would not only " be unjust , it would be inappropriate to omit the names of Mr . " Cobden and 3 Ir . iJimmT in connexion with tls :-

    violation of free-trade , or more flagitious as an impediment to commercial enterprise , than the evils involved in the two-words " paper duty ? " We give this instance because it is rendered notable b y recent discussions . It may be true .-that there lire worse taxes than this in existence , with such a mass of penalties and tines still imposed upon the sale and production of articles of primary necessity , but in principle it is as bad as _ the worst of them ; while for pretended purposes of revenue" it is almost too trifling to deserve notice , though large enough and mischievous enough to hamper and damage , not to say cripple , a most important branch of industry . It may be less bad an infliction than the income and propertv tax , as hitherto levied , for the simple reason that iu these last the principle of taxing men in proportion to what

    present subject , because their labours have produced , and i-vtn destined still to produce the most fundamental and bviH-ik-nit reforms that have perhaps ever been effected in our social eeijn !> i ; i \ Perfect freedom of production , and distribution , of which dhvc ' taxation is an essential condition / is indissolubly bound tip with . tin . best and real ( not the spurious and counterfeit ) liberty of the subject whether political , social , or religious . The tyranny of . cast and t-ia > - social despotism : the stripping an innocent wife of her propel ty . i \\ i <] giving it to be squandered by a profligate worthless hu-Vanu still invested with the power of coercion , at least ,. if not with that <; i

    " moderate correction with a stick as thick as the thumb :: penaltk--and insults inflicted upon all other religious sects m favour c-f t ! ::: doininant one ; the government usurped by one of the'three estate-- ; ci the realm , and that estate converting the crown into a . sc-alof uihe-c . and the . commons into its own representatives—these are of the very essence of that effete feudalism whose main pillar and supp- ' rt v . a .-the system- of " protection " and consequent indirect taxe ^ -. v . l : kii the labours of ' these great- ' economical , reformers-have >\\ v ] 'i : -Kwny . And as practical sociologists ; Mr . Cobdex and 3 h \ JJiUuni will !••• more . and more appreciated in proportion as the sckv . c : i- U' . '• ¦ : understood .

    'flie . instances we have' given are apposite fox illustrati : i :, r " : v fundamental axiom in its practical application . It should net li .-v a moment be lost sight of . Like those great cosmieal lav . > . - -iiui ugravitation , ¦ which " , operate with perfect indifference tu lnn ^ nitudo .-. aud while the rain drop is ¦ not too insignificant for their inlWu-iuv . control the motion * of astral systems so vast that our n . il . cy \ v ;> v might be but the visible fragment of one of them , it dvlcrnii : ) t alike the morahty or immorality of individual action * , and tli . „• • !¦ ness or baduess of public laws and institutions .

    Untitled Article

    TJH E correspondent of the Tiou * has discovered an .. th-. r Cm ! -h . i Bos well in the Mayor of Ajaceio . who , it so ^ n * . ha .-- iv-.-i addressing , the Emperor of the Fkench . on his late vi-it t- V . r island , in terms of the most profuse adulation . * u ni ' -u-n " 1 }¦ i latter article is often adjudged to Princes and Potentate * , so-. p . etnr . ' - for no conceivable reason , sometimes for liberties never granU-d . u ' . i / i for reforms never carried out , though often promised , that ^ i ; e iglad now and then to find a good solid pedestal w U \ A > -wnwe J ..: u all the wind

    may take her stand , and blow her trumpet to .-. iVa do not know whether this is the EMrrnor . ' s lir > t vi . » u u >; ... nest of his family ( it certainly is not the first vi > it of hi > rtuthv . : ' . ; . as we shall proceed to show ) . His feelings , one would think . 1 ! V > - have been strange enough as he * tood amongst the white wnlN i / . H red roofs of Ajaccio . its cactus hedges , and sugar loaf hills : e- ;) eoiiiiO if he visited that library of the Prefecture whiJi cmt . im- t . !• little note written by his uncle when a simple utiLtv 1 . 1 arulu . j claiming for his motlier a few roods of nursery garden a > lu" ii-l . J hastLiHi vi 1

    —the mother of tho Box 3 Lr . v « TKs I Here , at . « > .. : . - ^ nuiy receive praise without nausea , for it is just . In one v . r . ; > i : ; . : ¦ respect he has accomplished , and that inn l \> w v *•««> . f < . ¦> ' C i-i ¦ '• what no previous government or dynasty bus etievted . y r i « . rl :. i ! - even , at temped ; not Pisans . nor GiiNorsi :. nor 'ii : . ! - nor the English in their short , nor the French intlu : r Miir ^ ^ " - " tiun , till their present ruler came to the throne , lu- lias \ n \\ u >'< , ' and lor over , wo trust , to gysteumtic brignndisui . to \ iw '; - " dett , a , and to the curse and disgrace of private !\ ssa . ^ ir . a ; v : i . '• ¦¦\ hateful serpent ever biting its own tail in n w \ mv . ^ ar . d i }< ¦ ' ¦ "¦ - ' circle . He has been in earnest , and used the strong nar . d ; . n r ... states of tho Church nillatro is an institution : in < . ii '« . Hve the lai >

    is still a child of the family : in Xow Orleans republican eiuvu -y ^; J ' not prevent n horrible crop of midnight murders ; in Ivoh . i . u ' . •' assassin is connived at and sheltered ; therofori * , it ^ in > T rmatter to break a whole people of tho connnr . ed habit ¦ « .. » bu ¦ ¦ •» - •'•• • and tliis Lot-is > . you : oN has done for the enuilo ol i \ : * va . c , ^ It Ima been hard work s one of the last systematic VnxuUt * . Avrv •¦> in « narrow cave , difficult of access kept four hundred tr » -on * «• • • tiU his provisions were exhaustetl—i \ ny attempt to seize him wui , certain death ; and no doubt many similar instance * ot determine

    Louis Napoleon And Coh*Ic.\.

    T . nil TS VAPOT . F . OX AND COK ^ R - X .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 29, 1860, page 830, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2367/page/6/