On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
author of the system , who has just had the opportunity of controlling its operation and correcting its defects , has told you that he cannot contemplate any change which shall not be injurious to the system—when you nave had the example and experience of twenty-two years—when no reason can be given for this inquiry upon which any reliance can be placed , except that supplied by the language of the honourable member , when he says that the time has come for abandoning the phantom of mixed educationthat phantom being the reality which I have describedwhen you can have nothing more successful than a system embracing in its sphere a larger relative number of youths than are receiving the same education in any other country in Europe , —I hope you will agree with me that it is been
highly inexpedient to agree to the motion that has made to-night . ( Loud cheers . )" Mr . Whiteside observed , that the answer just given to the motion amounted to this—that the national system of education in Ireland was endangered by it ; yet that the system was so admirable , that the more it was inquired into the more its merits would be discovered . The question was not about a majority or a minority , but of reason and right . The clergy of the Church of England had a right to read the Scriptures in the Church schools , yet they dared not do it if they had a grant from the National Board . The motion came commended by its fairness and its justice .
Lord J . Rtjsseix , with great spirit said , that Mr . Whiteside had sufficiently disclosed the object of the motion when he said the clergy of the Church of England claimed the right to read the Scriptures to all the children in the schools . If this should be conceded , the Roman-Catholic priests would claim a similar power , and the whole system would be destroyed . It was a question , therefore , of maintaining the system or abandoning it . After an attempt to adjourn the debate , which was negatived by a large majority , the House divided upon the original motion , which was rejected by 179 to 109 . The great subject of the week , however , has been the debate on the resolution in the Budget , respecting
THE INCOME TAX . But Monday night , when it began , was not remarkable for more than an almost barren skirmish . The House having resolved itself into a Committee of Ways and Means , on the first resolution , granting a tax upon incomes until April , I 860 , Sir E . B . Lttton moved , in lieu of the resolution , that the continuance of the Income-tax for seven years , and its extension to classes hitherto exempted from its operation , without any mitigation of the inequalities of the assessment , are alike unjust and impolitic . He admitted that there was much in the Budget worthy of the high reputation of Mr . Gladstone , and of the approbation of
the country ; but he insisted that the prolongation of the tax for seven years was unnecessary , and that , if it were otherwise , the tax ought not to be continued without those reforms which were called for by the general sense of the country . Among other objections to the scheme of the tux , he alleged the manner in which it had been laid generally upon Ireland , in exchange for a debt due from certain classes ; while the landed interest in England , without enjoying any speciul relief , were to be bunleued with a new tax of 2 , 000 , 000 / . a-year ; and that , believing that the remissions of taxation would not bo reproductive , there wus no gimranteo that the Income-tax would cease in 1860 .
Mr . Lvj .: j , y . n Denison" opposed this amendment . Looking at the various compensations contained in the Budget , ho was anxious , heasiid , to express his contentment with tlie whole scheme , to which , regarding it as a whole , he ^ uve his en tire and cordial support . Mr . Hooker , representing at once an agricultural constituency and commerce in his own person , felt tho greatest dismay at the plan propounded by the Chancellor of : the ( Exchequer , which offered no relief to owners or occupiers of bud , while the tax upon successions would tend "to breakup the great landed aristocracy of the country . "
Mr . IIlJMK expatiated upon the inequalities of tho present scheme of tho tax , the defects of the system of assessment , nnd the abuses existing in Lhe collection , and eulogized the merits of what is termed the ' Actuaries' plan . ' He must , however , he said , look at the financial measures as a whole , and ho found in tho other parts , especially tho legacy duty , which was their great eluirm , a hill equivalent for tho defects of tho Jncoino-tuK . Colonel HiDTiroitp had iilvvnys opposed the Tncometax , and , retaining his objection to an impost which , however good iu a time of war , was unwarrantable in a period of ponco , he should oppose the resolution .
Mr . Fag an , admitting that tho superstructure of the Ministerial plan was great and statesmanlike , resisted that part of it which subjected Irelantl to the Fncomo-t . ix , us mi equivalent for tho abandonment of tho CimsolidiiUid Annuitica . Ho protected uguiuut the introduction of thutto annuitiwn into tho plan , iuaivting
that the labour-rate , forming part of the charge , had been misapplied ; and entered into details to show that Ireland had derived but slender advantages from the remission of taxation for which the Income-tax was imposed . He further contended that the imposition of this tax would be inconsistent with the Act of Union , which stipulated that Ireland should contribute to the general taxation only in a certain proportion , which had been already exceeded ; and he urged the cruelty of taking advantage of a breathing-time , which Ireland seemed now to enjoy , to oppress her with an Incometax .
Mr . Bfck dwelt upon the sufferings of the farmers and producers of the country , and declared his intention to oppose every part of the Budget . Mr . Bi / ACKETT , approving the Budget as a whole , noticed a few matters which , he thought , required alteration in it . His constituents felt the omission of the timber duties ; and regretted that the Income-tax had been extended to incomes of 100 ? . a-year while the franchise was withheld . Mr . Kntghtxey , on the other hand , looking at the Budget as a whole , disapproved of it ; agreeing with Mr . Gladstone ' s premises , he demurred
to his conclusion . Mr . W . Williams justified the extension of the Income-tax to Ireland , disputing the arguments of Mr . Fagan , and approved of the Budget in its entirety . Mr . Maguire , on the contrary , denied the justice of inflicting upon Ireland , in her present condition—which was worse than in 1842—an addition of taxation , not only unjust , but wanton and cruel . Mr . Waknee defended the Irish aspect of the Budget , of which he warmly approved as a whole . Mr . Newdegate denied that , upon Mr . Gladstone ' s own showing , there was any necessity for continuing the Income-tax .
" Now , what was the remainder of that scheme ? The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposed to remit the soap duty . This was another boon to Manchester ; and when , he would like to know , were these boons to Manchester to end ? ( ' Hear , hear , ' from the Opposition benches , and laughter from the Ministerial side . ) For the last eight years they had been doing nothing but legislating for Manchester —( cheers from the Opposition benches)—and , as Manchester had whispered a wish to have the duty on soap remitted , the Income-tax was to be continued for seven years in order that this boon might be granted . He considered that the measure of the Chancellor of the Exchequer involved another blow at the agricultural in-The
terest . ( Laughter from the Ministerial benches . ) House had decided , by a majority of two to one , to maintain the duties upon butter and cheese ; but what mattered the decision of the House ? The Chancellor of the Exchequer came down and told them they must reverse their former decision , and remit the duties upon butter and cheese . ( Cheers from the Opposition . )" Mr . Monckton Mixnes , though he regretted that the discrimination between fluctuating taxed incomes could not be obtained in renewing the Income-tax , would not on that account oppose one of the greatest experiments of financial revision ever proposed by a Minister of tho Crown . Sir Wiiliam Jolifpe
remarked upon the various and incompatible views upon which the Budget had been supported , and upon its incongruity with tho principles of free-trade . Mr . DjtUMMOND denied that the legacy duty would , as Mr . Booker had suggested , break up the aristocracy ; it was nothing more than a tax upon elder brothers ; tho aristocracy of France had been broken up by younger brothers in the National Convention . With regard to the Income-tax it was not fair to object to it as an unpopular impost ; it was tho substratum of a scheme for creating a machinery by which the national debt might be ultimately reduced . Mr . Muntz said it was with regret that lie opposed the Budget , because it contained a great deal of which ho approved ; but he
could not support so oppressive a tax as the present Income-tax—a foul blot upon the Budget , which he advised the Chancellor of tho Exchequer to amend . Mr . Staniioi'E argued against the inequalities of the Income-tax in its incidence upon land , and he protested against imposing a further t : ix upon land of 2 , 000 , 000 / . a-year , without taking into consideration il s peculiar burdens . Mr . . 1 . Haix took a view different from that of Mr . Fagan , and approved of the budget as rehiUiifj ; to Ireland . He protested against members considering the scheme solely with a view to its efl ' ect on their own constituencies . They were there to legislate for tin ? empire . On the other luind , Mr . Gkooan objected to the Irish points of the Huclget .
On the motion of Mr . Con dun the debate was adjourned ; mid by arrangement it wan resumed on Thursday . Mr . (! oiii > i : n resumed , on Thursday , the debute , adjourned on Monday night ,, by complaints of the mode in which the revenue nurplus had boen disposed of , remarking that since IH 51 there had been an addition to our military and nnvul establishments to the amount of 1 , H 70 , OOOA lie alluded to the affected terror of an invasion , observing that not , only did nobody now fear invasion , but nobody would admit that ho ever did
fear it . Far the extravagance in this respect , however , he admitted that the public was to blame . If , he said , Government , powerful as it was , hardly saw its way to a majority on the Budget , it was from the difficulty of finding a direct tax to supply the place of indirect taxation . No year could pass but must witness the reduction of the latter form of taxation . He described the reference to the Income-tax as the most declamatory and least satisfactory part of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ' s speech , but argued that the Income-tax was not more objectionable than many indirect taxes which he mentioned . Approving the American system of income assessment by other than tho taxed party , and of making the assessment public , he proceeded to contend that , as regarded the nonmodification of the Income-tax , Government had not
shown good cause for doing nothing . He said that the late Government had shown a right intention of dealing with the question . He next tore testimony to the bold and honest conduct of the present Government , who had grappled with a subject which had defied Mr . Pitt in the plenitude of his power . He would take their measures with both hands . He thought Government had acted wisely in extending the tax to incomes of 100 ? ., for he would lay ifc upon every income upon which it could be collected with profit . As regarded Ireland , he was an advocate of the utmost religious and fiscal equality , and he thought
that there could be no safety for the proper working of the legislature if members sat for parts of the kingdom which paid less than other parts . Irish members at present took little interest in Imperial expenditure , unless it in some way affected their own country , and if it did , they made fight for the "bauble of a lordlieutenancy , or for Kilmainham . He was opposed to allowing people to help in taxing their neighboura on condition that themselves were not taxed . He advised the Irish to close with the proposed bargain , and
dwelt upon the relief it afforded to the humble agriculturists of Ireland . That country lad been stated to owe a debt to England of about 300 millions ; at all events , he advised its" representatives to let the inequality of taxation disappear . As regarded the tea and tobacco licences , he hoped the subject would be reconsidered , and he advised the Chancellor of the Exchequer not to malce two bites of a cherry in the case of the advertisement duty , which he thought should be entirely taken off , and a charge made for
postal advantages . With regard to some minor portions of the Budget , lie expressed his approval , and alluding to that portion of it relating to the Legacy Duties , and the silence of the House of Lords on the subject , compared to its apparent unpopularity in the House of Commons , he quoted the mot of a French diplomatist , who told him that the reason was , that one house was the Chamire des Pairs ( Pbres ) , and the other the Chambre des Mis . Apart from the objections which he had made , he hoped that the Budget would pass the House , as he believed ifc had been already accepted l ) y the country .
Mr . Serjeant Shee resented the imposition of the Income Tax upon Ireland as a breach of faith , and a gross wrong and injustice towards that country , which already contributed its share towards tho revenue of the empire . He made a personal attack upon Mr . Cohden for being generally unjust to Ireland , and especially for his " ingratitude" towards tho Irish members , without whom the corn laws would never bavo been repealed , and Mr . Cobdon placed in hi » present position . He concluded with a vehement exposition of the " wrongs of Ireland j" a fierce attack upon all English governments ; and an unqualified declaration of opposition to the Budgot .
Mr . Rioauuo , after pointing out some of the inconsistencies in tho preceding speech , addressed himself to tho subject of tho Income Tax , und alluding to the complaints of its unequal assessment , declared his emphatic belief , after hearing all the evidence beforo the committee , that be had been in error in supposing that any re-adjustment was possible . Ho had arrived at the conviction that such a course wits impossible and impracticable , without tho infliction of a fur greater amount of injustice than was now com |> luined of . Upon this ground , and hi « general boliof in direct rathur than indirect taxation , he gave the Budget his unqualified support .
Mr . F . FitENCii attacked Mr . Cobden for giving up the point , in reference to the modification of tho Income Tax , and with regard to tho general quewtion , showed various reasons why , in hi « belief , the tax should not be extended to Ireland , and why ho should give his determined opposition to the entire Budget . Mr . Bni . i / kw , m an Irish member , took an opposito \ ievr of the quetition . Ho believed that the proposal aa regarded Ireland would bo a great boon to the tenantfanner of thut country . He objected , howarot , to the
Untitled Article
412 THE LEADER . [ Satorday ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), April 30, 1853, page 412, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1984/page/4/
-