Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 69, No. 427, May, 1851Various
General
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 69, No. 427, May, 1851
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
|10,000 " 50,000 | 6,572,146 | 371 | 191,687 |
|50,000 and upwards | 1,720,593 | 22 | 50,184 |
| +--------------+---------------+-----------------+
| | 59,511,547 | 147,659 | 1,735,753 |
_Note._--From a Return ordered by the House of Commons to be printed
31st May 1849.
So that out of £1,685,977, which was the sum received from persons
in trades and professions in Great Britain that year, no less than
£677,000 came from 125,371 persons whose incomes were under £500
a-year, while only _one thousand five hundred and eighty-one_ persons
were assessed as having incomes above £4000! This dreadful tax
therefore is, _par excellence_, the shopkeeper's, manufacturer's,
and professional man's tax; and they are assessed for it in numbers
sixty times more numerous than the rich. And yet the assessment of
all is laid on at the same rate! Is it surprising that the Chancellor
of the Exchequer said, in support of this tax, that it was so unjust
to all, that no one was worse off than his neighbour, or had any
reason to complain? And let every tradesman, manufacturer, clerk,
and professional man, who pays this odious and unjust tax for the
next three years, recollect that he owes the burden _entirely to the
Free-Traders_; for if they had not been in a majority in the House of
Commons, Lord Stanley would have come in and taken it off.
Two statesmen, belonging to different schools, have come prominently
forward during the late Ministerial crisis; and to one or other of
them, or perhaps to both alternately, if they live, the destinies
of the empire, for a long period of time, will in all probability
be intrusted. These are Lord Stanley and Sir James Graham. Both are
men of great ability, vast application, extensive experience, tried
business habits, great oratorical and debating power; but, in other
respects, their characters are as opposite as the poles are asunder.
As usual, in such cases, while their characters bear the marks of
distinct individuality, they are the types or representatives of
the two great parties which now divide the British empire. The
first is straightforward, intrepid, and manly--patriotic, but not
vacillating--willing to undertake the burdens of office, but unwilling
to do so unless he can carry out the principles which he deems
essential to the salvation of his country. The second is ambitious,
cautious, diplomatic, desirous of power, but fearful of the shoals with
which it is beset; and desirous so to shape his policy and conceal
his intentions, as to avoid shipwreck by coming openly into collision
with any powerful party in the state. The _device_ of the one is the
steady polar star of duty; the guide of the other the flickering light
of expedience. The first refused the Premiership when offered to him
by his sovereign, because he thought the time had not yet arrived when
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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