The Sun. — London, England, 1851-02-18 00:00:00

. ..."'---------- - "nost useful - at --- for, 1 a o•ii lid aiitolt,ted thf,, and valuable class; tio Se e idteign timber was not much used in first-rate ships, it tte,,,. ' 1 " °f great service in the building of an inferior de- No b o f ir - tOI "eels enel SIBTHORP had often said if an 44 el came mg of the ' 1 from h eaven to fill th e p os t o f Chancellor . 114 Muer, p e n ld fail to please everybod . , but in ouiste:ble ion, the statements they had ; I st heard ~ t tiv e ?:11 u ` s Right Honourable Friend . and most respectable 'elver was the weakest and wordiest that had ever been b„, ed is that House.—(Laughter ) What had been 0 ( . 11 t to the country ? \, ng at all. It P a •t p e careless iTktat the Right lion. Gentleman had been gut tilliete Interests of one of the most important classes in the eared t o , / osld r7 i: l ie had hoped that the Right Hon. Gentleman llcl h e " ay e had surplus enough, and he would , have had it, It a - reduced hie own salary and the salary of his coi f t i nto enable him to relieve the farmer fromthe pressure ilcome-tax. tforlellwErZ said, if the Right Hon. Gentleman aa had taken tisfaction to 1381 ehos - " e o f any duty he must have given . lie th„ 7, be its it was he had given satisfaction to nobody. Perti u t, u f t h t the window -tax was a bad tax, h Sir b p e as Much worse. When that tax was introduced but the pro- P I P% tfe' e el he (Mr. Muntz) was almost the only man ot he L,Pposition side of the House who had supported it, 4 4 t 'e clone so upon the express understanding that it tigh t : etnitioue only for three years ; and, to his great _astoe lotaideteti when the proper time for its repeal arriv v d o , tin h g ict its 7atile arlY all those who had blamed him f er hich he leboite4 introduction were voting for its renew' ' d' ht w and j us e. 11 18111 as contrary to every principle of rig tteh, a should like to know from the Chancellor of the t ztr i„ -tiler wh at kr g . klilbtlir,ngs ? Was to be done with reference to manufac bt'le Pa ."4°WN contended that though at all times % t i n rtieniar branch of industry might be found to be t itgre a P there never was a period when England, t i s n m th e e . I ltst." -t 4,' Was in a more flourishing state than at this fecereil y e ere at peace with all the world h ; manufactures l'eve that the istil otue ine prosperous, and he did not . e A liceiv e tb,smwa. thean Y great reason to comain, e 1 r could he ter. -"'''' duty on malt operated againstn nor could he a duty on malt operated against the English k str t„,II;Gea±IDARS had heard the statement of t . he Right ...elin ''' - ‘ 7 ' 4811 the Ch ellor of the Excheuer with mixed le la r g e ; v' eatisfaction Chan regret—satisfaction that he had a _ e I better din at his dis a p n osel—regret that he had not md itl th th.APesitioti of it. He was not inclined to quarrel thine te Peal of the •It • 8 had window-tax, but the Right Hon. Gen- Or / Nil Q t . greatly disfigured his liberality_ by atone.accomaing w, a e „.,, - inaPosition of a heuse-tax. Ide hoped t t ti me C A i, - ;,_ as in the present, the Right Hon. Baronet would h e ,, , s uoast o f es i a surplus revenue ;at t Baronet esae Iveeleh a itt l ,ea P r g s :hOpe g that the Right Hon. s.it k tfl es t t a - ,. ,Inte to take of the duty on receipt-stamp v , i'verel - the Pte een of which in the country was felt very e h ry e • ' l ke' The t ax ee insurances was also one which t 44 ati mi le, re tax amounting as it did in some cases o 444 1 Bizt7 Per t the effect of which was to send e,,,,,,. te l „,..,__ _ cent., fro' u nehto et 7‘'es abroad. It had been hoped that the 1.2 4 the ri ce} ' of free trade would have relieved the country pel b ltl;at ot e' a taat ; the apostle of free trade had well de they tit t h e „. 3 a fungus growing on the tree of mo th no a ; tZTratietntluaencellor of the E m xchequer told them r - 0Z: Ittr i t u . u _ ~ to have that i ost for the sake of free to isj o :94 l a it ': Pinion the tax ought not to be allowed de o ,i t lce•j a r Present form, for surel there was an obvious tras. B ,tleti v .l7 l ng the same . amount of taxati^n on divi sod and v" em the public funds an . d on incomes of a I ll tssi„ e ellsa li t atttr e• In the case of building, the charge was f ew - do the gross amount ; the tax, also, was a gross In ds, tesa. tenant-farmer It was well known that_very a U 4 1 8,0 1 1- 4, r_fa,r,,n'elers derived . any profit from their farm i t :ne e Gt 7 ti .‘ 1 w years. As to the income-tax, he feared 44 e - A., ill'l ( ' ) ciuld never . get rid of that. bo 4 tiut the Chan experienced some disappointment in 16.,.. th q l l l l e t, ll f the dutcellorr hops. He Exchequer had made He lamented to say 104„ (I do": 3•1 interested 7. ' the growth of hops dwteorld now e th,l i l l e %Wi t t , The Right Hon. Baron ta e t t iou h s a , several of Onge had received many: depu 11 °O v i l r la statements contrarious to each other ; but bortrot,; -- Iflht be said by deputations, he should say au the . 1441444 F. districts must be defended by a strong d ta x , Th e lnee to the pressure underwhich they now suf. kittlt Itstt on hops was originall la on as a war % w k . "glnented by Mr. Pitt, a y nd it was never re deoth the as Imposed when protection was . the principle lleg wite , ,i s of the country rested , and the . hop- A IL ° te e - th a46e(t A. in a manner most arbitrary h and vexatious. thiwth att 47 Parts of the country had been given much tee he tae the hop-growing districts, . and he must say In! /e lle di d ° question of relief from taxation was before the I,Z I to d..' t hink that the hop-growing districts were en atl, 1., ANg consideration „ th'IASTE-1, . . • ioe e by?„ said it was, to some extent, satisfactory fat ro wel W er cif cOffee was raised to the same level with a"l t to I ) ,' °f chicory and with the grocer. considered obt`h34,l(ityaluable concession, and one fo H r e which they kfi t ,!Ple f or `___° 9?ank the Right Hon . . Baronet, it being a 4 'litj Bo lt o ,raloh they had long striven. It perhaps was 1 (42 cs a ' w ank the Government for putting . the genuine *r t age, ev el with the adulterated, but still it was some 1 '" Ir ellt 4/ tO what was called chicory, not one-half of 11344 tie* that name consisted of any vegetable ru h . I t , k 4 ,ahl e e oven of d enomination—it was a mass of mere term b I t hle h'ifn,nf excrement • he could use no other .._ lItti.;11;111,, bete"ldonourable Baronet wished to abate the evil f,,z,„ the ~,. the r ecommendations offered to him ; let him 4,, priietiLeaeir7 minute, and put an end to these i \le"•••th oo ,, - ,7- if this were not done he should feel li-vree.... 6 " admitting the value of the cencessisn made , I Pt4' li bi ble r l ty th his intended motion on this s t n o b u je a e . t. There Ne t e bad rose to put one or two e e llbi ° : the Z j a , t .° o d, to be 150,000/. distribn q t a e . d a i l u the way of ik ti eti th iiftenance of pauper lunettes , he desired to '6 et e rld, war proposition extended equally to England, llLliti bet , Ireland; and he next wished too know on ape f„ Pl , e the valuation of houses was o proceed 4yste„ h' e u il e t e ? the rule with respect to farmhouses, to be IsN 411 d t Was he right in understandingtha o t f fa 2 r o m l. - , b, trade buildings, being under the value I k iltile s exemPt fr°lll window and house tax, andd_ or r h t e a t x h e e d r t i ' Ts . above the valu e of 201. were to be rate the"bile Pound? th io , let,'",ght Hon. the , As to the income-tax, he would ask Lastronet intend to insist on the tax,. Ve47l•Y?rnodification of it—any relief from it, for ,1.,!118,,,., i l l.` l iaot'e, ELLOR of the EXCHEQUER t replied, that l ii t t_ u ttlqii l4l ire to offer any observations on he remarks V 141,0 hut he had just heard from the Hon. Member op- I ase,.. u _ e should, on the contrary, confine himself to Iti‘qtai. tearing the questions that had been put to him. klm te lb , 7 n tleltlatt inquired what was intended to be done C l tlst o r t i7L to the house duty in its operation on warehouses ,lshelaldt,..teries. He had stated to the duty on dwelling 4'atietat he intended to propose with regard to ware tiist)e De * -- -..llllbilaint;lfoafctories, and he had supposed that . there misapprehension on the subject. His on t tp -e ; il l euange would be confined to the tax levied on to p t(*... e At th re ePect of their windows, and he begged , b‘lt'w l 4 t he "lode of levying the tax would in future It o , 4t10°,11,,a Arent di principle from that which had hitherto to rite to all new houses, the tax would be levied L eon ) k to v 1 i Do ti kne, leaving the owners of existing houses 18 4 4 B nor f°r their assessments. The Hon. Gentleman t tsi t o t file v. e l r clnestion, to which he had to reply that houses 4ii, 4 bo v Ile ►of 20/. were to be altogether exempt, while p ith h ot , 5 th at „ i , value were to pay two-thirds on the rental, la t h r e v 4. eet traa, paying according to value. Th_en is . ti lt tiu4 Asst° the inquiry respecting pauper lunatics, h to l te lp lv ti l i d. le 14 . utakeaut u th it e e ro n sed do a ni rra , ngement should appl ta to h, Pai r heir ex intended, . 14°444 4 WeB not g howevEenr,gltahnad; S th e e otl p a a n 3 d ,m , a e.u d et is 10 11( 4 Pei:lBes should in all cases be in a precis i 1, 13 , t Y asyt,,Y,,?ae-half) on account of those who were kept *I4'44 TA and one-third for those in private asylum th s e . eo ll4t4 li ae wed -'; 'IS regretted that notwithstanding es li k'ZPos ea the Speech from the Throne, nothing had til t the it. s h e_ . o _ _. . stry .11t li ' e " °r relief f the most suffering class in the uo A,, 3' h a ? '1, 01 4 ,Itsdicel 111ini to the system which came in, he had . Cett do t " ahou te ;i` ne obliged to return He thought a t b y o f ,m so strenuously to destroy. I, o ros e , e rav e corn would thethe ". °II enable th t e h h en e i me ntt em o a n u ly d t o o t. 4 Ind la ne, but to preserve rse -eve -- eed, he was satisfied that 10 per cent. im stittiand oottrl necessary of life would give them whole kt th % orio4 tevenue, while it would not materially a en necessaries. • ttl : r lvt'r.tild be rasaked when the Chancellor of the Exche tl;etles;!!_enta-titpt to receive a numerous deputation from 0r,140 1 ,,'5k?... ( 7,0t the metropolis . on the subject of the t2oorraai he 1, , ,augh.) It was his firm . conviction that - Ulm h e ad Made would be so hostilely received out t he 'Would not be able to carry it out.—(Hear, itt,ellilhe A ~ - ait ,\ then reported progress, and obtained kr p Asril 111 1‘ e t . 114VVEIGERS' ACT AMENDMENT BILL : t-e tere i, ' bloved the second reading of this Bill. te ll'i l tl e kri kre e f i - ea re ttl e o h*te in the Bill. The first was to mee ann screw vessels. By the existing Act s%,4hl,,lttenlilittvoefBB.els Were compelled to take on board a cer- Vit ec l, righ.°llPplies to meet long voyages, but it was 0- I nieb, ' that in the case of steamers and screw titer th:e.nextetael! short voaes this rule should be modi 4lb thb. diet a ,„,. elect was to g enable the commissioners to 4 01;,, /r _as - e a ' 8° as to introduce an alternative . diet ; and Port, Provide that ships which were driven back . Pte; 4 lt' t e g . lll l4' t ifb e ter havin g been at sea, should be examined 1 t kiLiti„ seaworthy. 441 ettara --tux hoped the Hon. Gentleman would not bbiliAltW,holet„htilbs,Bill till an examination had been made wilt, e led of emigration before the Committee for it i P4 stit t k a Itei: to move. The accommodation for emi . VrY, l)le, atld eft i and Australia was in many respects most Of P. tt th 114kVb.. •4e hoped great benefit would flow from 1 11 -121 1sNllite,_7arl not disposed to comply with the request vi L etiZtie tt i .',u Gentleman. The objects of the Bill were 1 ,,,N , Z rse% t ie ter, and he did not think that any r t , igtll t i t ea, the Right Hon Gentleman ht have in . "llti .• I:4l._nterfered with by . its being passed .. as soon as p g ar, t l iFt tid w lshed the Bill to be carried in time to meet oya tv,e. s et gas l ' i' i tt e llld steamers sometimes made very long Nes Itth ttri tAwere provisioned for only 20 days, and !o'l_s o i,„..sie h 0 ,, e , , , , days at sea most deplorable results would to" t i .. ?‘ w e ll P 11, therefore, care would be taken to have 0 , 10 4 tlvett bo c k tled. Then, what was meant by a vessel be qer,, ha pe „,rt t ~!" If a master found the wind foul and put thZed? 7 47". for a change, was he to have his vessel Th e 81 11 so, they would take care not to put back, I' 'tie -11 itv... - ea Passengers would be greatly endangered. ittte. kit h -•. read a second time. L Alp . 4114 Factories (Ireland) Bill was read a second lll ,shi . , 4l 3'tp- v to°hltnunTei4„,°htained. leave to . bring in a Bill for este ,,, Itia • *h4t,'.l councils in counties. "rt tttl thi •"""4RVILLE ed for leave to bring in a Bill )„. vof e j aw . moved Pk:Altlij Irej„ ~ s relating to the valuation of rateable pro it Ettl 4la new ti '‘ oohl iie Was - sure every gentl a eman connected ta. B eipi 811 d 7th admit the necessity ot change. The VA, ritif, std t o w " 1 William IV., which was founded on the th,"°, th,,vvrniand valuation for the purposes of county 1 . ) 1 41 44i 10 Act 04:vezdand having made the . unit, was followed 'At 1 6 _4 Iva, t , 9 th and 10th of Victoria, under which the a lt ", th e r ° ue Made on an estimate of the net value, 11 1 ( 1 tiigh t re ent for which, one year with ant) h / te , r 44 p a l 44°I lably be expected to let. Six counties et fter, h -441 under the latter Act. Great difficulties, h 'su ad ari ee r• 8 44. - ght t o , ri, which the commissioner under the -S Ita l b a yllß 44,4 ef 4 ! almost insurmountable in the e p o r f e c s o e n n - t ,ot,. rte thereland, and owing to a variety i; . 4 3 - 1 1 4 Of 1,5, appeals were very numerous. In two ;` °, ,a ',L 9 2Sf ' P VarY the cost of the primary valuation Ain 'i ( )1. • ' the Cost of h • appeals not less It OP " 11 " 2 3 ear" i , "t of 1 la Per cent. he cos primary h al e tl o 91)0/ 4 'Nther case kl'itterLits .3 ; 80, 111 a third, w t as he va le,o2s2tslo. f! • p t ri he mary cost of ppe," r. ‘ne oow , us- i the at of appeals, 291/. ;in another, 'O4 t - 1 7 ariio,-cif primary valu at i on was 1771., the cost of Alta' 'III vabir,Swr4 to 62 per cent. It was proposed to aban rtob-Le.,lo:l° of kroperty Under the Act 9 and 10 Vic ?ltitbt; 4 , t sh aui ,z; the Bill which he desired to lay before the I viti o h. %so the ',PrOpose to repeal that statute, and to sub tilidi 811Ould re s t it!ation under it a townland valuation, k i Wsee4 l ßa for f"'Un tMaltere_d, except with reference to 41, elm, olirteett Years, and under which all local " 4 04 -1 P9Crnataes corutty-rating, LcJ, the like, PhCould AN THE SUN, Mr. SAIMEIR regrette,l that tin rnca..:urc had r.c , t. introduced More. He hoped facilities would be afforded for appeals. In reply to Mr. FAGAN, Sir W. SOMERVILLE said the old townlands would be retained. Mr. SCULLY thoitght the operation of the Bill would be inconsistent with the arrangements under the Poor-law. Leave was given to bring in the Bill. The other orders were disposed of, and the House adjourned at a Quarter to Twelve o'clock. PARLIAMEN TARY BUSINESS. (From the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Commons. MONDAY, FEB. 17. NOTICES GIVEN AT THE PRIVATE BILL OFFICE. The undernamed Bills are appointed to be read a second time on Wednesday, Feb. 19:— Birkenhead Dock Trustees (Alteration of Liverpool Dock and Birkenhead Dock Rates, &c.) Manchester and Salford Extension Railway. Bolton, Blackburn, Clitheroe, and West Yorkshire Railway. Liverpool Royal Institution. Elland Improvement Waterworks and Lighting. Royston and Hitchin Railway. Great Northern Railway Amendment (No. 1). Great Northern Railway (No, 2). Great Northern Railway (No. 3). Islington Cattle Market. Scottish Central Railway. Monkland Railways. Caledonian Railway (Motherwell Branch Extension and and Lesmabagow Branches Lease). Waterford and Kilkenny Railway. LONDON, THE PRECIOUS BUDGET, SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS (From the Times.) We may as well satisfy at once the curiosity of our readers as to the contents of the Chancellor of the Exchequer's Budget for the year ending April 5, 1852. Sir Charles, find ing that he may expect a surplus of about 1,892,0001. for that year, proposes the following measures :—The repeal of the window-tax, and the substitution of a moderate house tax on the better class of houses; a reduction of the duty o❑ foreign timber; a repeal of that on foreign agricultural seed; a reduction and equalization of the duties on foreign and colonial coffee, as well as chicory; a removal of the cost of pauper lunatics, as well as of the approaching census, from the local rates to the Consolidated Fund; another lease of the income-tax for three years, without any modification ; and the application of about 1,000,0001. of next year's surplus towards the reduction of the National Debt. As there still remain seven weeks of the financial year, it is only possible as yet to give an approximate statement of its income and expenditure. The former promises to be considerably greater, the latter considerably less, than Sir Charles ventured to anticipate in his financial speech of the 15th of March last. Hence the surplus, which he then esti mated at a million and a half, and which he partly disposed of, will, nevertheless, probably be found next April 5 to be about 2,521,0001. His estimate of the income for the year ending April 5, 1852, is necessarily founded on the latest returns of the revenue, taking into account the recent re ductions, and various other modifying circumstances. It is as follows: Customs Excise Stamps Taxes Property-tax - .. Post-office ... Crown Lands ... Miscellaneous ... Old stores, &c. .... ... 20,400,000 ... 14,000,000 ... 6,310,000 ... 4,348,000 ... 5,380,000 ... 830,000 ... 160,000 • • 262,000 450,000 £52,140,000 The estimated expenditure for the same yearis as follows : Charge for the Funded Debt, including annuities ... £27,685,000 Interest of Exchequer-bills ... 404,000 Civil List and other charges —. ... 2,600,000 Army, including Commissarit... ... 6,593,945 Navy 6,537,053 Ordnance ... 2,421,171 Miscellaneous, including census ... 4,000,000 £50,247,171 Estimated surplus ... ... 1,892,829 This surplus, in round numbers 1,890,0001., Sir Charles Wood wishes to make the most of. He is also very excu sably desirous to dispose of it in his own way, and without a too servile compliance with the demands of his numer ous persecutors. His ideas of good financial hus bandry have not permitted him to spend it in re mitting a third of the income-tax, which is almost as far as it would have gone in that direction. After con sidering the income-tax in every possible light, and turning over all sorts of propositions for its more equitable adjustment, the only conclusion he has come to is that it is so harmoniously unjust, and so symmetrically wrong, that any attempt to make it fair would only render it more flagrantly unjust. For our own part, it seems the simplest thing in the world to levy a different rate on the dif ferent schedules. As it is necessary to divide income into classes for the purposes of taxation, and as these classes re present the greatest actual differences—differences which everybody feels—we do not see why the Chancellor of the Exchequer should not recognize a classification made to his hand. The pablic feels the difference, and Sir Charles Wood may depend on it that the receipts of the tax are very largely affected by that feeling, perhaps almost as much as if the difference were recognized. Professional men and tradesmen, and all who live by spinning the contents of their brains, are satisfied that there is a deep injustice in taxing those brains, which -to-morrow may be dust or desolation, as if they were broad acres that have drunk in the sunshine and the rain ever since the creation, and will to the " crack o' doom." The result of this general feeling is that people will capitalize their incomes, after rules of their own, to get off the tax altogether. Now, if Sir Charles Wood, who is open to discussion on the mode of assessment under Schedule B, would'also take it into consideration whether 4d. or sd. in the pound would not harmonize better with the actual value of the incomes under Schedule D, we think he might, not improbably allay a deep sense of injustice without much sa crifice of revenue. We really believe that many men would readily pay a tax adjusted to their case who now feel no he sitation in avoiding a tax which they think wholly above it. That the income-tax, however, is full of injustice, is confessed bv the present ri liculous—not to say cowardly practice—of voting it triennially, notwithstanding the increasing deter mination of our free-trade financiers to keep on the blister as long as the patient will bear it. A discussion would neces sarily bring out the anomalies and hardships of the tax, so a discussion is to be avoided by a continual adjournment to this day three years; though if we are to wait till we have a surplus large enough to dispense with the tax altogether, that day, it is clear, will never come. To a mind so keenly susceptible of arithmetical beauty, it must have been a very sore trial not to set the surplus against the window-tax, and save all further trouble about the budget. We will venture to say, that had Sir Charles done so, it would have been thought as grand an idea as the Crystal Palace or any other wonder of the age. The esti mated surplus is about 1,890,0001., and the produce of the window-tax is stated to be 1,856,000/. What an opportunity of doing the thing neatly ! Sir Charles, however, is proof against the temptation. He proposes, indeed, the entire re peal of the window-tax, so that no tax shall hereafter attach to any house in relation to its windows. As it is his view, however, that the objection lies rather against the mode of assessment than against the principle of a tax upon resi dences, and as he wants to do a little execution in some other departments of the revenue, he proposes to lay on a house tax, but of a very different amount to that which existed prior to 1833. The house-tax then was after the rate of Is. 6d. in the pound on a rental of 101. and under 201., 2s. 3d. on 201. and under 401., and 2s. 10d. on 40/. per annum and upwards; and produced in the last year of its existence 1,491,472/. From that impost house property was altoge ther relieved, and it has since been further exempted from the glass-duty, brick-daty, and partially from that on timber. It is now proposed that houses shall be charged as follows: All now paying window-tax, but not of the annual value of 201., to be entirely exempt. All not now paying window-tax, but of the annual value of 201. or upwards, to pay two-thirds of the lowest window-tax, viz., 12s. All of the annual value of -XL and upwards, now paying window-tax, to ay two-thirds of the amount now paid for window-tax. New houses to pay at the rate of ls. in the pound on their annual value, but if they be occupied as shops, public-houses, or farm-houses, 9d. in the pound only. Notwithstanding the elaborate symmetry of this plan, it is far from meeting all the difficulties of the case, and still farther from satisfying the ardent gentlemen who have lately devoted themselves to the emancipation of light. But as the discussion threatens to be rather minute we gladly leave it to its own proper time. As it is calculated that 120,000 houses will on the above scheme pay neither window nor house tax, and as the remainder will on the average pay only two-thirds of the present impost, Sir Charles expects to lose only 700,0001. by the scheme, and to raise 1,155,000/. by his future house-tax. This will, therefore, leave 1,189,0001. of the next year's estimated surplus at liberty for other re ductions. It is sufficient in this place to state very briefly the reductions which have found favour in Sir Charles's dis criminating eyes. With a splendid equality of justice, he proposes to reduce the duty on foreign and colonial coffee, as also on chicory—which Sir Charles does not grow—and on every other root used or mixed with coffee, to a uniform level of 3d. a pound. This reduction of duty will cost 176,0001. It is then proposed to reduce the duty on foreign timber to half its present amount viz., that upon sawn timber from 20s. to 10s., and that upon hewn timber from 15s. to 7s. 6d. This will cost 286,000/. Next comes a duty on clover, grass, and other agricultural seeds, which has been already reduced, with very great benefit to farmers, incompatible with which' still remains to an amount very with the principle of letting raw materials in free. It is to be reduced to a nominal amount at the trifling cost of 30,000/. A portion of the expenses of pauper lunatics throughout the United Kingdom will be charged on the Consolidated Fund to the amount of 150,0001. The reductions thus to come into effect during the next year will be— On sugar ... On windows On coffee ... On timber ... On seeds .•• ... £330,000 700,0)0 ... 176,000 ... 256,000 30,000 Gain to the public £1,522,000 But as Sir Charles anticipates that the loss by the first of these items will be compensated by the ge neral improvement of the revenue, and as the reduction in coffee and timber will to some extent be made up, it is hoped that the revenue will not really lose more than 1,130,000/. by these reduc tions, which, after the charge for pauper lunatics has been further added, will leave a surplus for future years of 612,0001. As half-a-year's window-tax will come into next year's ac count, this surplus in April 5, 1852, will be 962,000 r. Need we ask what is to be done with this? As honest men, in the midst of all these reductions, we are bound to re member that we are in debt, and Sir Charles, we are glad to say, does remember it. After having increased our debt 27,000,000/. sincethe year 1835, we cannot with decency eat up the whole of our surplus ourselves, and give no thought for posterity. We must be just before we are generous, and still more before we are selfish. There are those, we know, who think it lost labour to attempt any impression on the mountain of our national debt ; but at least let us escape the stigma of often adding, and never subtracting from it. n (From the Chroicle.) . . _ _ The same reasons - which induced the - House of Commons to postpone the debates on the Budget will serve as our *us tmi fiacyatt however,i onfor convenienta t present to o givet discuss some g t en in era d l account of of Sir Charles Wood's statement, and of the financial ar rangements which he proposes to Parliament. He calcu lates that the surplus, which, for the year ending in January last, amounted to nearly 2,800,00 0 1 . will be reduced to 2,521,0001. at the close of the financial year i n A pr il next. D e ducting the portion of this sum which accrued in the first quarter of the year from duties afterwards repealed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer reckons the disposable surplus for the ensuing year at I,B92,oool.—being the difference be tween an estimated receipt of fi ft y-two millions and an esti mated expenditure of somewhat more than fifty millions. The sums granted by the House of Commons for the service of the current year, amounting to 50,776,000/., w ill, he anticipates, be found to have exceeded the ac tual e xpenditure (which he calculates at 50,134,9001.) by no less a sum than 640,000/. It is not proposed that any further reduction shduld be made at present; and although the purchases on account of the Sinking Fund have amounted in the last twelve months to 2,330,0001., to which an equal diminution of the debt will be added during the ensuing year, an increase has taken place in the Ter minable Annuities, which leaves the annual charge as high as before, although representing a smaller principal sum. In opening his propositions for the disposal of the estimated surplus, the Chancellor of the Exchequer declared hi s o pi n i on that the revenue ought habitually to exceed the expenditure by a million sterling. The debt had, he compl a i ne d, in creased by twenty-seven millions during twenty-seven years of uninteirupted peace. It was-necessary, for . the credit of the country, to make a commencement of the difficult task of reducing the amount. To this purpose, therefore, he proposes to apply about one-half of his surpl us , distributing the remainder for the relief of tax payers, and of certain special branches of trade. The chief financial concession, as was previously known, is the remission or commutation of the window-tax. It is, however, to be effected by a somewhat complicated and artificial arrangement, which appeared to puzzle the House to a considerable extent as the Minister communi cated various fragments of his plan in slow succession. His f ( eneral statement of his intention was received in the first instance with peals of laughter, provoked by the declaration that the repeal of the window-tax would be a benefit more peculiarly to the agricultural classes—a representation ex actly analogous to ,Lord John Russell's appeal to the Roman 1 Catholic laity as the persons to be principally protected by COURT CIRCULAR. The Queen and his Royal Highness Prince Albert, accom panied by their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Princess Royal, went to Kew Gardens yesterday morn ing, attended by Lord Charles Fitzroy and Lieut.-Colonel Hon. Alexander Gordon. Her Majesty and the Prince re turned to Buckingham Palace at half-past twelve o'clock. Lord John Russell had an audience of her Majesty yester day. His Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by Lieut.- Colonel Hon. Alexander Gordon, honoured the British In stitution, in Pall-mall, with a visit yesterday afternoon, Their Royal Highnesses Prince Alfred and the Princesses Alice, Helena, and Louisa, took their accustomed pony and walking exercise yesterday, and his Royal Highness Prince Arthur was taken an airing. The Queen had a dinner party yesterday at Buckingham Palace. The company included her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, his Royal Highness the Duke of Cam bridge, the Archbishop of York and the Hon. Mrs. Musgrave, the Duke of Devonshire, Lady Fanny Howard, Baroness de Speth, Earl Grey and Lady Alice Lambton, Lord George Lennox, Sir George Cower, and Baron Knesebeck. The band of the First Life Guards was in attendance in the Palace during dinner, and performed the following pieces:— March ... Waddell. Symphonia, No. 3 ... ... Haydn. Pot. pourri—" Lucia di Lammermoor" ... Donizetti. Waltzer—" The Dream of the Ocean" ... Gungl. Polka—" Les Cuirassiers" Waddell. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, attended by I.lsroness de Speth, went to Claremont yesterday morning, to pay a visit to the Countess de Neuilly, and family. Her Royal Highness returned to town in the afternoon. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge visited her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent yesterday at her resi dence, Clarence House, St. James's. Mr. Borthwick had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday, at his official residence, Downing street, and presented memorials from fifteen places, signed by 3,109 householders, praying for the repeal of the paper duty. Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-office, from the Governor of Gibraltar. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council sat yester day. at the Council-office. Present—the Master of the Rolls, Baron Parke, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Corn wall, and the Judge of the Admiralty Court. Judgment was given in General Steam Navigation Company v. Van Vlissengen—Lamb v. Singh (Bengal)—and Watson v. Wa tercloot (British Guinea), Motions. Gibson v. Campbell (extension of patent) and an appeal (Scotland—Moore v. Clueas (Isle of Man), part beard, were disposed of. An appeal, Newton v. Ricketts (Prerogative Court), was partly heard. NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. Commander William Rowlatt (1847), emigration agent, has received an intimation of his appointment to the com mem" of the Alecto steam-sloop, to be commissioned at Woolwich. This officer entered the navy in 1824, passed his examination in 1830, and was made a lieutenant in IS3B. He subsequently served on the Lakes of Canada, then as emigration agent, afterwards as additional in the Penelope steam•frigate on the coast of Africa, and was promoted shortly after paying off the Waterwitch, 8, for the coast of Africa, having been her first lieutenant. The other appoint ments to the Alecto are the following:— Master--Edward Youell, lately promoted from the flag ship of the Mediterranean by Sir William Parker—an excel lent and deserving officer. Acting Paymaster—Robert G. Webber, clerk of 1843. Clerk—lsaac Hearnden (1849). Master's Assistant—David Moore. Gunner—James Steward. MR. GRANT'S DISTILLING APPARATUS.-Mr. Grant's dis tilling apparatus was tried on board of the Birkenhead steam-troop-ship on Thursday, and produced about 42 gal lons of the most pure water per hour; that is, the apparatus was in operation five hours, and the result 210 gallons of water, which, when tested with nitrate of silver (caustic), retained its brilliancy without the slightest discolouration, while the spring water we are drinking daily, when sub mitted to the like test, exhibited a thick deposit of mud. What a blessing and a comfort it will be to ships making tropical voyages. Banshee steam-packet, Lieut.-Commander Hosken, fitting at Woolwich for Mediterranean service, is to have a com• plement of 63 officers and men. Bonetta, 3, brigantine, Lieut.-Commander C. Wake, fitting at Chatham, is ordered to have a complement of 65 officers and men. A second-class clerk in the Royal William Victualling Yard, at Plymouth, named Scott, has absconded. EXERCISES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN FLEET.—Our Malta correspondent gives us the following report of the weekly exercise of Vice-Admiral Sir W. Parker's fleet The exer cises consisted of bending topsails, shifting topsail yards, and bending and making sails:.— Manoeuvre 1. Manoeuvre 2. Manoeuvre 3. Min. Sec. Min. Sec. Min. Sec. 8 20 ... 13 30 ... 4 0 7 30 ... 9 45 ... 7 30 Queen Caledonia Albion signal. Ganges superb .. 17 0 ... 13 50 ... 7 55 Racer ...... 18 0 ... 9 17 ... 5 13 The Caledonia, in the last movement, being compelled to shake out a reef of her topsail, was delayed by the accident about 3 min. 30 sec., the time in which her feretopsail was double reefed. PORTSKOUTH, FEB. 17.—8 y letters from China, delivered here this morning, we learn the death of Commander Ince, of her Majesty's ship Pilot. She was at Woosung on the 6th of December, when the Commander was dangerously ill. In the hope that his removal to a warmer climate might afford a chance of saving his life, he was transferred on the evening of the above day to the Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-vessel the Lady Mary Wood and proceeded in her next morning to Hong-kong, but he expired the day before reaching it. His remains were interred in tke ceme tery in the Wong-nei-Chung-valley, with military honours. the Contest, 12, Commander the Hon. J. W. S. Spencer, sailed on the 30th of December—arrived from Hong-Kong for Shanghai—to relieve the Pilot, which was left in temporary command of her First-Lieutenant Anderson; but Hear-Ad miral Austen, C. 8., the Commander-in-Chief, has promoted the First-Lieutenant of the Hastings, Victor Hicklev, to the vacant command, and Mr. F. Stupart, mate of the flag-ship, to the rank of Lieutenant, vice Hickley. The Herald, 22, Captain Kellet, C. 8., arrived at Hong- Kong from the Sandwich Islands on th e l e t o f D ecem b er, and sailed for England, vi a Borneo and Singapore, on the 22d. PLYMOUTH, SATURDAY.—IIer Majesty's steamer Samp son, and her tender, the steam-vessel Bloodhound, will be paid advance on Tuesday , a nd sail on Wednesday with Sir Emerson Tennent, the Governor, for St. Helena. The Athol troop-ship sailed last . evening fo r Si erra L eone. The General Screw Steam N a g a s tiiol sailed a n Cotmtpwaenlyv'es to-day. pa ship Hellespont, Captain Watts, She has one mail for Cape N erd, five for Sierra Leone, and seventeen for the Cape of Good Hope, and 10,0001. in specie for the coast of Africa. The merchant ship Ferozepore, 600 tons, Captain Master ton, in 112 days from Canton , w as off this port to-day, and landed her only passengers, Mr. Cleland and family. She is gone up Channel for London with a full cargo of teas. The schooner Hunter, Robert Pain master, of Yarmouth, from Shields for Trieste, was spoken off the port by the fish ing sloop Champion. FEB. 16.—The packet Linnet was yesterday warped to the sheer-hulk to have her masts taken out; her crew will be paid off on Tuesday. The steam block vessel Sanspareil will be launched on the lath of March next. She will be fitted with engines and boilers at this port. On the sth inst., in lat. 43 07 N., long. 13 47 W., the Maria Grace, of Guernsey, from St. Michael's for London, spoke the barque Apollo, from Demerara, out 72 days, with loss of rudder, which was carried away on the Ist of January. The Cumberland, 70, Captain G. H. Seymour, was taken out of dock yesterday at Chatham, and will be towed to Gil lingham to-morrow, to have her stores put on board. Cap tain Johnson, of the compass department, forwarded her in struments to-day. MR. FLEXMORE'S BENEFIT.—This admirable and popular artist has announced his annual benefit at the Princess's Theatre for the jubilee night of the pantomime, Monday, the 24th inst. The entertainments are very at tractively selected, the play being The Wife's Secret, in which Mr. and Mrs. Charles Kean and Mrs. Keeley will sus tain their original characters; to be followed by the first part of the ballet of Esmeralda, in which, together with Flexmore, the celebrated danseuse Madlle. Auriol, to whose accomplished dancing we have been st rangers f or t h e l as t three months, will appear in the role whi c h s h e fill e d at t hi s theatre a few seasons since, during a run of nine weeks, with signal applause. The concluding piece will be the pantomime of Alonzo the Brave (its fiftieth night of repre sentation), the triumphant success of which has been chiefly owing to the great unrivalled luminary of pantomime him self, who, on this occasion of co urse, su rrounded by his bril liant satellites, Miss Leclercq , Cormack , IL W r i g ht, an d Paulo, will put forth the full Flexmorean effulgence. We have no doubt but that a crowded audience will throng to the support of so desorved a favourite as Flexmore, whose great powers are always exerted to the uttermost, without ever being marred by any affectation or caprice, to ensure the satisfaction, and promote the delight of his patrons—the public. NEW Gas-LIGHT.—An American has applied for a patent for a cheap and brilliant gas, produced on a new principle, which he states can be obtained at a cost less than a penny per 1,000 feet. It is said that no wood, coal, or water is required; that the material can be obtained any where. It is a self-acting and self-creating gas, called into action by an impulse of nature, from whence may be derived a new motive power of light and heat. Au Englishman also asserts he has a plan by which any one may produce his own gas by a machine like a table-lamp, not costing more, and creatiag a superior gas, at one-third the cost of coal gas, requiring only to be turned on and lighted. but that he has not the means of protecting his invention from piracy.— Eapositor. No less than six fires occurred in the metropolis yesterday. One, which took place on the premises No. 1, Dudley-buildings, St. Giles, belonging to Mr. W. Dowle, it is feared, will be attended with a loss of life. The fire com menced in the basement, at which time a boy, six years of age, was therein. The engines attended, and the flames were subdued, but not until the child was f r ightfully burned. He was taken to the hospital, but no hopes can b e entertained of his recovery., TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 18, 1851. his anti-aggression measure. The metropolitan enemies of he window-tax appeared by no means to share in the hila rity of the Prote,tionists, when they were next informed that only one-third of the window duties on existing houses would be repealed. Houses built hencefor ward are to be charged with a house-tax of a shilling in the pound on the rental ; and at a farther stage of the financial revelations it appeared that the reduced win dow-tax is also henceforward to be levied in the character of a tax on houses. All dwellings, old and new, of less an nual value than 20/., are to be altogether exempted from duty. Existing houses are to pay two-thirds of their pre sent window-tax as a final settlement and composition; every owner being at liberty to open windows his plea sure without incurring any further charge. Thus, a house of thirty windows, now rated at 91. 16s. 3d., will hencefor ward be burdened with a fixed payment of 61. 10s. 101 Sir Charles Wood expressed an opinion that the old form of calculating the house-tax according to the rental formed the true principle of assessment. As an excuse for the arbitrary alternative now adopted, he referred to his experience in the matter of the stamp duties last year. An assessment for the house-duty according to the value would increase the taxa tion of the rich, while it relieved the poor, and would pro voke an opposition to the measure which he was not willing to encounter. The difference between the window duty and the new house-tax, with its exemptions, is estimated at 700,0001. ; but of this reduction only half will take place during the present year. The remaining surplus, therefore, will amount to 1,192,000/. hereafter, and for the year ending April, 1852, to 1,542,000/. The farther changes proposed in the financial tariff consist in the reduction of the duty on foreign and colonial coffee—now charged respecti•rely 6d. and 4d. per lb.—to an equal rate of 3d. ; being a reduction of 176,000/. The duty on foreign timber is to be reduced by one-half, at a sacrifice, in their first instance, of 286,090/. Agricultural seeds are to be exempted from all duties exceeding Is. per cwt., making a reduction of 30,0001. The landed interest is to be further assisted by a transfer to the Consolidated Fund of a part of the expense of maintaining pauper lunatics, esti mated at 150,000/. In addition to these reductions, the change in the sugar duties under the Act of 1848 will be measured by a sum of 330,0001. The whole amount, if con sidered as a total loss, is no less than 1,672,C001. ; but Sir Charles Wood estimates the actual reduction of revenue at about 1,280,000/., leaving a permanent future surplus of 612,000/., to which for the ensuing year must be added half the repealed window-tax, or 350,000/. As We have said before, it is impossible to form a satisfac tory judgment of so complex and important a subject at first sight, or to enter into its details. It will be generally thought that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has under rated his surplus, which will probably exceed two millions. It is possible also that the expenditure may eventually, as was the case last year, be reduced considerably below the estimate; but the House of Commons appeared to respond to his appeal, when he declared that, in the present state of Europe, it was not expedient that we should announce an intention of disarming. With Austria openly avowing, under the patronage of Russia, the intention of controlling central Europe by ,military despotism - and in the view of the armed masses which are gathering on the south and east of the Alps, to tread out the last spark of hope and liberty in Italy, and perhaps on the continent—it is well that England should be prepared to speak in a voice to which even the most headstrong ambition will listen. It is well that France is at length awakening to the recollection of her an • cient policy; but a Minister or a majority may any day find that it is more profitable to divide than to dispute the prey. If the duty of protecting national rights and constitutional freedom devolves upon England, it will be well to make some pecuniary sacrifice, which need only continue so long as oc casion requires it. No such apology will, however, justify any superfluous expense, such as the extravagance which so often prevailed in the dockyards. There is, probably, still room in our establishments for a material reduction of cost, without entailing any loss or difficulty. With respect to the policy of maintaining a permanent surplus, we have already expressed our opinion. Mr. Hume is justified in his objection to the plan of purchasing Three per Cents. at 96, when so many taxes remain which check the industry of the people, while others might be greatly reduced without any eventual loss. Tea, wine, malt, paper soap, tobacco, and advertisements would, all or any of them, prove a better investment of money than the discharge of a debt which bears an interest of little more than 3 per cent. Sir Charles Wood indignantly denounced the gambling policy, as he called it, of reducing taxation below expendi ture in the hope of increase; but there is no reason why it should not be brought to a level with the latter, when it is certain in a year or two to overpass it. A bold Finance Minister would further be encouraged to try profitable expe riments, by the diminution of the charge on the debt, which will take place in 1854 from the reduction of the Three and. a-Quarter per Cents., and in 1860 from the falling in of the Long Annuities. We have no space to discuss the income-tax, which is to be renewed in its present form, nor to explain the tendency of the alteration in the window-tax. The Chancellor of the Exchequer truly boasts that his measure wholly puts an end to the sanitary objections to the tax. Windows as they it m hereafter ust be remarked form the b h a a s v i se of bee, n assessment.n o t O a s u t t b h e e 3 0 . thaerer'hawnicill, that the vicious principle of graduation is transferred from the old system to the new; and the capricious scale of charges will apply to houses, as it has hitherto been calcu lated by windows. It will no doubt appear that the metro politan opponents of the window-tax will be greatly dissatis fied with the new arrangement; but the advocates of re duced duties on consumption, and of experiments on elastic sources of revenue, will scarcely regret that so great a reduc tion is not wholly applied to the benefit of property. That farther reductions will be pressed it is easy to foresee, and we hope that some at least may be carried. Sir Charles Wood's announcement of a permanent surplus of a million, with deputations and Members crowding round him for re ductions, is as likely to end in his retaining his treasure as if he were to advertise an intended journey through the mountains of Beloochistan with a train of camels and bul locks, or an evening walk from Seven Dials to Clerkenwell with his purse hanging out of his coat pocket. (From the Herald.) Sir Charles Wood last night presented, to an astonished and disappointed House of Commons, his financial statement for the ensuing year. It was perceptible to every person that the speech of the Right lion. Gentleman excited, even amongst the supporters of the Ministry, feelings the reverse of those of satisfaction. In truth, if the feeling of the House of Commons can at all be taken as the index of the feeling of the country, never was there a Badget more unpopular than that presented by Sir Charles Wood. The House not unnaturally asked for a little time to con sider and understand the not very intelligible propositions of the Right Hon. Gentleman. Financial statements are not in themselves the subjects most easy of apprehension ; and, in good truth, we cannot compliment the Chancellor of the Exchequer upon possessing the art of making things clear in statement. On the contrary, it was very easy to observe in the countenances of Hon. Members, last night, the traces of rather a painful effort to understand the speech that was elucidating, after Whig fashion, the subject of our finances for the next year. " Ignotium per ignotius" seemed the judgment of most of those who looked for an explanation of this complicated question in the speech. If the Budget was an enigma, the expository statement became a riddle of riddles—au interpretation even more mysterious than the puzzle it professed to solve. The criticism of Dangle, in the Critic, is the most expressive comment ary upon " t h e con fSai s r o C n h ar e worsewood confounded" of a Whig B u d get, exp l a i ne d b y . " Egad, after all, the interpreter is the hardest riddle of the two." We may, perhaps, be permitted in part to claim the ex ercise of the same discretion as the Members of the House, and to ask for a little time to understand the riddle. One point, however, no mystification can obscure, and it needs no sagacity to understand. The unjust and inquisitorial in come-tax is to be continued. This is the penalty that the country is to pay for the indulgence in the free-trade theories of Sir Charles Wood and his colleagues. ... „... the nation. Let us ask, ~ Quiquid delirant rages pleettultur Achivi." of a m p o u l i s t e i m c a e l n e t e s o ntoomy in Downing-street are how is it that this odious income-tax, originally levied only rather Th The ravings expensive for a particular purpose—promised to be but temporary—is row becoming a regular and permanent portion of our system of taxation ?We have not space to-day to quote the speeches that on the occasion of its imposition most faithfully promised that its duration should net exceed three years. How have those promises been kept? llere we are now in the year 1851, and we are threatened with the income- tax for three years more. Is there a human being in England mad enough to believe that at the end of those three years its re-imposition will not be again Proposed? The question which Parliament and the country have now to decide is, whether this odious tax upon incom e is to be perpe tuated as one of the instruments of raising our revenue. There is no blinking the true question. It is this every man who votes for the resolution of Sir Charles Wood, votes for a Perpetual income-tax. There can be no possible reaso n assigned for its re-imposition now which will not be equally valid when the three years have expired. It is but delusion and mockery to deny that the true question now to be determined is whether the ineorm-tax is to be levied as long as any one who reads these lines shall have any income upon which it can be assessed. We do not, however, mean to-day to enter upon the discussion of an income-tax. We believe it is a question upon which most persons in England have made up their mind. We only desire to put people en their guard against being cheated by the absurd pretence of a renewal for three years, If we consent to it now we give Chancellors of the Exchequer a lease of it for three years—but, as we know by bitter experience, a lease renewable for ever. The following letter addressed to us by a gentleman who has enclosed to us his card, and who occu pies a high position among the mercantile classes of the town from which his t letter is dated, puts the injustice of be income-tax in a light so striking that we gladly substitute it for any obser vations of our own . "To THE 'EDITOR. OF THE MORNING HERALD. .. sir,—As a very old subscriber to toothy valuable paper, permit 131 C, on the part of myself and friends, , f that you for the part you have taken in exposing the doing under most inquisitorial body, the assessors of the income-tax Schedule D. It has done more keepers, traders in these districts to put the shop , and merchants, f temper . 8,:c., who were under its lash, out o . anwith Government, and created more moral and political inquiry , t .. t? any act in my remem brance.to We do not object property -tax, or the amount of the are no income-tax; but we complain that we are longer the depositary secret of the secrets of our own trade. EY must be laid open to frequently our rivals), and the Commissioners (who are every clerk in the tax office. " The following is one of the queries the party surcharged has to April a 1 850, with the amounts act _heals, for the ptirchase of Zunt of the sales Ipa: usiness done by you de or b anne T r h i e n ,, w ,h r o it l i e n a g for d e a u c y h yoofu the in each three year, years, u i e hi n goods, wages, rent, taxes, and other outgoings, so as to give a debit and credit account of your profit and loss, under Schedule D, for each e d r in d g isti of those years ?' " A pretty document this (and we call ourselves a free people) to be sent into the tax office, where, o f course, every clerk has access share of pro fit I had. what to it. asked eaa m i peawithneerrehlatdr,aadieidd... --.... Hi" If you prefer giving oral evidence before the Corn missioners they money I had in my concern, with other pleasant questions of the same kind, and then civilly told me I might go, as they could not substantiate the . surch age. " Will you be kind enough to giTe these hasty lines a Place in your paper, or such part as you think proper; for I do not think one-half what to, 'that borrowedpartners of the public know what may fall upon them. In some districts I am informed, the assessor and Commission ers act with delicacy, a'nt, the impost is not so objectionable. It is not the tax I object to, but the inquisitorial nature of it. " I am, Sir, with much respect, ‘ ,. A. MANcitesTER --NlEttertasT. " Manchester, Feb. 11, 1851." We protest we think it is high time that a system like that described in this letter should cease. The l ea di ng feature of the Budget is, we repeat, the perpetuati on o f t h e odious and inquisitorial income-tax. For the rest, popular feeling is to be cheated by a repeal of the window-tax— a house tax being substituted for it. Agricultural distress is to be relieved by the remission of 30,0001., levied as a duty upon agricultural seeds ! ! This, as Mr. Frewea very pro perly pointed out, is only a further sacrifice to foreigners of the agriculturists of the southern counties. The ruin of the colonies is to be completed by the abolition of the differential duties on coffee. Canada is to be still further mulcted by the reduction of the duty on timber, and the people of England for all this are to pay the income-tax. Let us not, however, forget that that there is one boon pro mised to the agriculturists—half of the expenses of lunatics is to be born e b y t h e C onso lid ate d Fund! Happy and gra cious concessio n t o th e agr i cu lt u ral interest. It b u d gets o f age kind are t o b e pro d uce d, who on say that the :Wary of the Chancellor of the Exchequer ought not, upon this prin ciple, to be divided between the counties and the Consolidated Fund ? Enough for to-day. Let us repeat as our parting word, that on Friday night the House of Commons must determine whether the income-tax, with all that inquisitorial machi nery so well described by our correspondent from Manches ter, is to be established as a permanent portion of the finan cial arrangements of this country. (From the Morning Post.) The country has now before it the Finance Minister's esti- mate of the expenditure and resources of the nation for the ensuing year. Sir Charles Wood has informed us in what mode he proposes to deal with his again recurring difficulty of a surplus, of whose survival of its birth, however, he is not yet quite certain; and we may infer, from what he said in explaining hiS proposition, the principles on which he pro poses in future to create revenue. The Chancellor of the Exchequer asks the House to grant him a renewal of the existing income-tax—pare and simple, without any modification of principle, or graduation in scale —for a further period of three years. We do not propose at this moment to enter into any de tailed examination of the propositions of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. We propose simply to offer a few general observations on the tendency of our financial legislation, in order to explain to our readers why the decision of the House of Commons on the present Budget appears to us more than usually pregnant with probable important consequences. We mast ask them to go back with us to the 11th of March, 1842, the period when the imposition of the pre sent income-tax was first proposed to Parliament by the late Sir Robert Peel, Now, what were the circumstances of the country at that time? Why, on Sir Robert Peel's acces sion to power, the country, as far as its financial condition was concerned, was in a state of absolute collapse. The springs which had hitherto supplied the tide of revenue yielded a continuously decreasing stream, while the amount of expenditure was concurrently advancing; the condition of inland revenue gave unequivocal symptoms that indirect internal taxation had been strained to the utmost limits of productiveness—the Excise had not answered to the whip ; Customs were drooping; the financial condition and pros pects of India were most gloomy and discouraging ; and, in short, increasing and apparently annually recurrent defi ciences stared us in the face. In this eminent difficulty Sir Robert Peel saw no resource, but, in his own words, " to make an earnest appeal to the possessors of property to make a great present sacrifice for the purpose of repairing that mighty evil." That appeal was cheerfully and nobly responded to, and the gap created by ten years of erring legislation was filled up. Sir Robert Peel, however, entertained views beyond the mere and immediate equalization of income and expenditure. He believed that by an extensive reform of our commercial tariff he could not only ensure a reduction in the price of articles of consumption in the cost of living nearly commen surate with the amount of new taxation imposed, but that his system would, in process of operation, create such an ad ditional revenue, that ultimately he should be in a position to remit the income-tax altogether. We know now but too well that he dreamed dreams which never came to pass. While seduced, probably, by the momentary popularity which such a policy confers, both Sir Robert Peel and the Ministers, who have succeeded to and adopted his principles, have indulged in such continual and progressive remissions of indirect taxes, operating upon consumers, that we now depend upon direct taxation to such a degree that it would be exceedingly difficult to get rid of it without an entire re vision and re-adjustment of a great portion of our commer cial and fiscal system. Well ! we have now come to a point at which we may stop and consider whether we shall do this, whether we shall turn aside, or whether we shall continue in the path chalked out by the propounder of the commercial policy of 1842 and 1846 ? Sir Charles Wood is for the latter course, and he certainly enunciated in support of his views some of the most extraordinary dogmas in political economy imaginable. He believed, among other things, that no part of any duty on imported articles, the produce of foreign countries, is paid by the foreign grower or the foreign merchant; and that no portion of the Excise Duties on domestic production, such as the malt tax or the hop duty, are borne by the British owner or occupier of the soil, but that in all and every case the contributions to the revenue come exclusively out of the pocket of the consumer. We will not, however, stop to re mark upon this patent fallacy at this moment. We only allude to it because it is in obedience to this code of com mercial faith that Sir Charles Wood is ever pulling a brick out of our system of import duties and indirect taxation through the medium of Excise imposts. Now, the fact to which we wish at this juncture especially to direct the attention of the public is, that every one of these annual petty remissions, which fritters away accruing re serves, rivets the mill-stone of the income-tax more firmly round our necks. By degrees, direct taxation will become the only resource to which the Finance Minister can have recourse to fill his purse when it suffers a collapse. The Customs and l Excise at this m omen t present a flourishing ap pearance. et, without being alarmists, we may venture to suggest thattheir condition i s p oss ibl y, as the agricultural depression is said to be, exceptional. At all events, every narrowing of the area of taxation diminishes the security of the revenue. Suppose that the comparatively small number of articles in future contemplated to be made liable to taxa tion fail to produce the calculated amounts, and not only do not give the Finance Minister the anticipated 612,0001. surplus income, but actually leave him in a deficiency, where will he go for income? The consumer won't allow him to return to import duties, for he has impressed him with the belief that though apparently paid by the foreigner they really come exclusively out of the native pocket. Excise, perhaps, won't produce revenue, even if he is bold enough to make the experiment of attempting the resumption of aban doned taxes. What will remain ?—to what can we resort? Additional direct taxation? After the fashion of the io rant and impatient savage, we can cut down the tree tWget at the fruit, and when that easily attained but peremptory supply is gone, why, we shall have nothing to feed upon, and starvation will stare us in the face. This, depend upon it, is the tendency of our present financial legislation ; and we earnestly urge upon the public and the Parliament to reflect seriously, and weigh carefully, the history of the last ten or fifteen years, before they pronounce a judgment on the pro position of Sir Charles Wood. (From the Morning Advertiser.) Long-looked -for has come at last. The Budget is before the country. Sir Charles Wood delivered himself last night of the mighty matter. The period of his travail is over. He has got rid of a burden too heavy to be borne. lie is relieved from a load of anxiety. This morning he must feel as in a new world. He is doubtless, to-day one of the happiest men in her ➢lajesty's dominions. But though the subject of happiness himself, the Chancel lor of the Exchequer is the author of an incalculable amount of misery to others. His Budget has already been produc tive of great grief in many quarters, and will yet,as it reaches the remotest parts of the country, occasion deep disappoint ment in many more. Little does the Right Hon. Gentle man imagine the amount of misery, in all parts of the land, of which his last night's developments will prove the s)urce. The hopes which his Budget disappointed will prove the pre lude to broken hearts. All classes expected something, and, with one exception, are all doomed to disappoint ment. The window-tax is to be i❑ name remitted, and there are to be reductions in the imposts on coffee, and on a certain description of timber. All other interests have been slighted. Sir Charles Wood has set their claims at nought. The advocates for a repeal of the paper and advertisement duties—the friends of a reduction of the duty on tea—the applicants for the remission of taxes on soap—the claimants tier a modification of the duties on carriages, all, all are doomed to disappointment. Their successive deputations have gone for nothing. Their elaborate statements, their forcible representations, their earnest pleadings, have failed to produce any impression on the mind of the Right Hon. Gentleman. One deputation after another quitted the pre sence chamber of Sir Charles, when detailing the grievances under which their respective " interests " groaned, under the conviction that he was about to do something for them. Deputations are remarkably expert in deducing inferences. And each deputation that lately waited on the Right Honourable Gentleman imagined they saw with unerring certainty indications of his intention to diminish, if not en tirely remove, the burthens under which they severally laboured. The fond delusion is now dispelled. They have awoke out of sleep. They dream no longer. Their eyes are opened. The terrible reality of their situation now appears to them in its true colours. The Budget brings no relief to them. They are booked for certain, with the perpetuation of their burthens for at least another year. To those who are al ready weighed down by what Falstaff would call an "in tolerable quantity" of taxation, the circumstance of seeing no chance of relief for another long year must be disheart ening indeed. Little does the Chancellor of the Exchequer think what long faces and heavy hearts his Budget of last night has already caused in all parts of the country. It may seem paradoxical to assert, yet such is the fact, that, with the exception of not having to receive any appli cations at all for a remission or reduction of taxes, nothing could have been more pleasing to him than the number of " interests " that sought relief. When deputation after de putation was announced to him, he, no doubt, said within himself—. The more the merrier." Had he been applied to by only one or two interests, for the removal or the reduction of the burthens which pressed upon them, he would have had considerable difficulty in resisting their demands. But when his door was besieieed by scores of deputations, representing every concei vable "interest" under the sun, and each more clamorous than the rest, his difficulties vanished. His answer to each was, that as he could not comply with the wishes, or accede to the applications of all, he would not meet the wishes of any. As he could not do everything, he determined on doing nothing, always excepting the measures of relief, if such they may be called, which the Budget announces. The window-tax part of the Right Hon. Gentleman's plan will be received with derision. It is a miserable measure, — in every way worthy of the Papal aggression measure of the Premier. It is melancholy to see the man to whom is con tided the administration of the financial affairs of this great country bringing forward so poor and paltry a measure. Sir Charles Wood is a mere financial pedler. His mind is incapable of forming any great and comprehensive plan. His window-tax proposal is a mockery. It is a downright delusion. It has the impress of dishonesty on its forehead. It professes to be that which it is not. It ostensibly abolishes the window-duties; whereas it does no such thing. Two-thirds of the tax are to be re tained under another name. What's in a name? If the rose by any other name would smell as sweet, the window tax will lose none of its unpleasant odour, because it is henceforth to be paid under the name of a tax on house -rent. A more bungling Budget than that which Sir Charles Wood last night unfolded to the House of Commons, was never framed by a Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is a burlesqne on the office which the Right lion. Gentleman fills. It has this peculiarity about it—that all the interests which sought relief from the pressure of taxation have been refused, while those classes whose clamours were not heard by Sir Charles, sad whose persons did not darken the doors of Downing-street, are the happy men who have received the financial favours of the Right Honourable Gentleman. Swift represents those per sons as happy who expect nothing, because they will not be disappointed. But much happier still must be those who, though they expected nothing, have received benefits at the hands of Sir Charles Wood. Those persons connected with the coffee and timber " interests" must feel themselves the happiest of her Majesty's subjects. But though Sir Charles Wood's Budget has created, and will create, so great an amount of disappointment in all parts of the country, we wish to guard those classes of the com munity who are especial sufferers from the pressure of taxa tion not to fall into the mistake of assuming that the finan cial plans of the Right Hon. Gentleman are unalterably fixed for a period of twelve months. He may yet be compelled to change his mind. Ile was constrained to change it several times last year, with reference to the stamp duties. And what lie was compelled to do before he may be made to do again. The pressure from without which necessitated all alteration of part of Sir Charles Wood's financial schemes will, if applied with equal energy and perseverance, be equally successful now. shoredget whichis tse part s so flagrantly f t e iniquitous, Chancellor of h so glaringly the Exchequer'sthat if the publi c b e b ut true to i tse lf it cannot be o perse vered in. The financial scheme which the R ig ht Hon. Gentleman de ve l ope d l ast n i g ht has many obnoxious things in it; but the cro wn i ng on e is the proposal to perpetuate the income tax fo r th ree years more. Sir Charles does not affect to pretend that th e i nco me-tax, as the measure now stands, t unjust, admits of justification. He has not a word to say in defence of the clause which place s on a f oo ti ng o f equa lity, in regard to the payment of the income impost, the toil-worn author, the exhausted medical practitioner, or any other person earning a bare subsistence by an unceas i ng pressure on his brain, with the more fortunate holder of Consols, the possessor of a certain income from a G o vernment situa tion, or the recipient of rents from heritable or other property of fixed annual value. No. Bold and self-assured as the Right Hon. Gentleman is, he has not the effrontery to make any attempt to show that such a state of matters accords with the dictates of justice. But though not doing this in theory, he does a good deal worse he does it in practice. He proposes the renewal of the in come-tax, with all its unjust and iniquitous provisions, for another term of three years. It is for those who ire the victims of this injustice and oppression, to say whether he is to succeed or not. If they arouse themselves at once to determined effort against the perpetuation of this hideous feature in the Budget of last night, Sir Charles will yet be defeated. Let the country everywhere raise its voice in opposition to the miserable abortion of last night, and the right hon. author of the measure will be fain, as he did last year in the case of the stamp duties, to lay violent hands on his own financial offspring. (From the Daily News) If ever there was a Chancellor of the Exchequer on whom it was incumbent to bring forward a Budget that would re deem his own character, and reflect some respect and Dopu• lFity on the Administration, it was Sir Charles Wood last night. That gentleman must, or ought to, have felt, how unfortunate has hitherto been his career. Compelled to deal, in his first years of office, with a famine and with continued deficits, he still failed to persuade the country that his mode of meeting those deficits was either acceptable or wise. Still, every one made allowance for the difficulties of his po sition; and so he stumbled on, until during this year, the last year, and the year to come, this Minister has had a sur plus to deal with of at least sever. millions in three years—a surplus, too, that the buoyant rise and prosperity of the country might have enabled hies to give away wisely at seedtim• and gather up again at harvest. With the mantle of Peel upon his shoulders—with a House of Commons and a public full of admiration for what Peel had accomplished, and most ready to venture any ex periment in pursuance of the s a m e p o li c y, w hat might not a Chancellor of the Exchequer have done? He might have immortalised himself, and given fresh youth to his party. For the old age of parties, after all, is the slumber of doing nothing, the incapacity that loses opportunities, with the fatuity that sees not dangers as it approaches. Sir Charles Wood has done not one of the things that he might have done. Fascinated, or it might be said—petrified, like his colleagues, by the menacing attitude of that agricul tural interest, which the popular force had compelled to sacrifice their private interest to justice, the whole thought of the present Chancellor has been to propitiate that in terest, and to dole out to these country gentlemen what financial boons he had to bestow, not largely enough to con ciliate them, but in dribblets, which they accepted and de spised. After his peddling with the stamp duties last year and flinging the brick tax to the agriculturists, who did not thank him, one might have expected this year that he would have looked largely around him, dealt out the surplus, and arranged a scheme of finance in some way becoming his po sition and the progress of the age. He had been driven close last year in a division on the window duties, and these he especially declared his intention to deal with. Well; the remission of such a tax would have been a boon to the industrious classes. And all men consoled themselves that if no new impulse was to be given to trade, still that the civic classes would be rid of a barbarous and heavy tax. Greatly will they be mistaken. The good Chancellor is not the man to do anything largely, frankly, or wholly. He is a genuine pedlar, who will give the people an inch, but never an ell ; who will higgle with them for a fraction ; and who could never bring his mind to let one hand part with a shilling, without a prospect of filching back ninepence with the other. Such is his mea sure about the window-tax. Repeal it, indeed! Bless the mark ! The man had not the heart to do anything so frank. And so the window-duty is to be abo lished for all new houses, but they are to pay a five per cent. tax on the rent. The owners of existing houses are to be gratified by a remission of one-thirl of their present window - tax. But shops or houses worth more than 204 must pay 9d. in the pound; and so must farmers who live in houses above that value. So that in lieu of the window-tax, which could not be augmented from its unpopularity, John Bull has got a house-tax, without a grievance to plead against it —five per cent. on the rent to commence with, and ready for the first augmentation that is to come. The house-tax, it is plain enough, will not be paid by the owners of house pro perty, although the Chancellor argued upon the few claims such property had to exemption. The house-tax, like rent itself, will be paid, nine-tenths of it, by the industrious, the trading, the professional classes. It will be paid out of in come, not property; and is, in fact, but an immense aug mentation of one or two schedules of the property and income-tax, and those already the most unjustly over burdened. After having combined as much blunder, pettiness, and injustice as was possible in the chief measure of his Budget, what could be expected from the smaller items? Some of them are just enough, as far as they go, and as the make weights of a good and large scheme, might haN e passed. We last week recommended the reduction of the timber duty in justice to the shipbuilders, and of the coffee duties, if real coffee were any longer to be tasted. These are unex ceptionable. But what shall we say to the marvellous ge nerosity of taking 1.50,000/. of the expenses of pauper lunatics and flinging it upon the Consolidated Fund? This relief of the locality Sir Charles Wood would not give to towns, but merely to country districts; and these he probably would rid of all the expense but for the cherished necessity of retaining for the county justices that control over the expenditure, whether paid by the Consolidated Fund or not, which the Chancellor thought indispensable to the being of the state. In truth, Sir Charles Wood, in these arguments, and indeed throughout the whole speech, seemed labouring to prove his fitness to serve as a Chancellor of the Exchequer in a Stanley and Disraeli Ministry. The squirearchy itself could show nothing more orthodox or more crass than Sir Charles Wood. After such a Budget as,this,propounded at such a time, we may consider the days of the Whig Ministry to be numbered. Lord John Russell is a spirited leader, well able to face about, and when foes close around him, show undaunted courage, with the resources of a free and liberal politician. But what can he do with such a colleague as this? how can lie face the clamorous crowd of angry religionists with a Bill that does not satisfy them, yet disgusts the poli tician? How does he meet the public, accustomed to and expectant of that address and even grandeur in dealing with financial difficulties that recoaciled men to burdens, and re placed discontent with conlidence? Sir Charles Wood's Budget will this day be welcomed throughout England by a shout of derision. It is not that an amendment might be carried against it, but any amendment; and the b es t wou ld be a vote repudiating the whole thing on the simple ground of the incapacity of its proposer. PROPERTY AND INCOME-TAX. A Parliamentary return Printed on Saturd a y, at t h e in stance of Mr. Moffatt, contains the followin g p art i culars with reference to the operation of the income-tax, which the Chan cellor of the Exchequer intends to re-impose " for a limited period." The total number of persons who paid i ncome - tax in the year ending the sth of April, 1849, was 144,626, and the gross amount received Ras 5,605,532/. The receipts are thus made up : Schedule A . ... £2,656,796 ..• 320,098 „ C ••• ••• 750.781 „ 1) .•• •• • ... 1,529,398 „ E ••• ••• •.. 348,459 The total income on which; the duty was charged was up wards of 54,000,0001. The amounts received from the various classes of income were as follows: Under £l5O a year from 35,799 persons ...... £77,998 £l5O and under £2OO from 38,902 persons ... .. 178,654 200 and under 3uo from 28,274 persons 300 and under 400 from 14,162 persons ... 400 and under .500 from 6,896 persons 500 and under 620 from 5,010 persons 000 and under 700 from 2,878 persons 700 and under SOO from 1,852 persons 800 and under 900 from 1,549 persons 900 and under 1,000 from 775 persons 1,000 and under 2,000 from 4,659 persons 2,000 and under 3,000 from 1,286 persons 3,000 and under 4,000 from 622 persons 4,000 and under 5,000 from 327 persons 5,000 and under 10,000 from 617 persons 10,000 and under 20,000 from 215 persons 20,000 and under 50,000 from 96 persons ... • 80,511 50,000 and upwards from 19 persons SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. TATTERSALL'S—YESTERDAY. LIVERPOOL SPRING CUP. 6 to 1 agst Mr. Meeson's Doubt—takoa to 1001. LIVERPOOL STEEPLECHASE. 10 to 1 agst Sir John 10 to 1 agst Abd-el-Bader 10 to 1 agst Maria Day 10 to 1 agst Rat-trap 12 to 1 agst Vain Hope—taken 14 to I agst Peter Simple 20 to 1 agst Rescue 20 to 1 agst Maurice Daley 20 to 1 agst Fugitive 25 to 1 agst Venice 25 to 1 apt Currig—taken to 100/. The movements on this event were confined to a dc cline in Vain Hope and Peter Simple. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE HANDICAP. 9 to 1 agst Mr. Meiklam's Cocktail—taken METROPOLITAN HANDICAP. 12 to 1 agat Lord Eglinton's Comus CHESTER CUP. 11 to I agat Mr. Treen's Rhesus, 5 yrs, 7st-12 to 1 taken freely 22 to 1 apt Mr. J. Brown's Haricot, 4 yrs, 6st 121 b —taken 25 to 1 agst Lord Strathmore's Montague, 5 yrs, 7st 21b—taken 30 to 1 agst Mr. Saxon's Black Doctor, 3 yrs, sst 41b 50 to 1 agst Mr. Liater's Nancy, 3 yrs, 4st 121b — taken to 2004 3,000 to 45 agst Mr. Carew's Eva, 5 yrs, Est 41b—taken 1,000 to 15 agst Mr. Disney's Sir Richard, 5 yrs, 7st — t 1,000 to 10 agst Mr. Herbert's Spot, 5 yrs, 7st 31b-1 1,000 to 10 agst Capt. Lowther's T a rn Wadlin, 5 yes, Est —taken Several hundreds were laid out near the close upon Rhesus at 12 to 1. the layers refusing to go on; the bet ting apart from this was flat anti u nimportant- DERBY. DE RBY. 6 to 1 agst Mr. Howard Prime Munster—taken an,, 's Grecian — t a ken _. freely 6 to 1 agst Mr. Halford's afterwards offered 12 to 1 agst Mr. Nichol's Newnnuster—takea and afterwards offered 12 to 1 agst Mr. Osbaldeston 's Mountain Sylph co lt 22 to 1 Mr. Gerard Sturt's Lamartine—taken 25 to 1 agat Mr. Meiklam's Constella t i on —t a k en asst 25 to 1 ags t Mr. J. Clark's Marlborough B uc k —t a k e 30 to I 30 to 1 agst Lord Stanley's Storm—tak en 40 to I agat Sir J. Hawley's Confessor—t to 1001. 1,000 to 20 agst Mr. Higgins's Theseus —taken 80 to 1 agst Mr. F. Garner's Serus—taken 100 to 1 agst Sir G. lleathcote's Lady Geraldine colt —taken Grecian and Newminster were in great force , sever al hundreds havin g b een l a id out on cacti at the quoted pikes; 25 to 1 was taken to a good deal of money about Constellation, 80 to 1 to two or three hundred pounds about Serus, and 10,000 to 100 a b out the Lady Geraldine colt. OAKS. 2 to I agst Lord Caledon's Sister to Wanota—taken 2 to 1 agst Lord Stanley's Iris—taken g Ty rs SALMON FISHINGS. tir If the measure of success on the opening days oft C season are to b e t a k en as a cr i ter i on o f t h e salmon fig":--t--".;`45,„,, ings of 1851, i t must be admitted that the prospect r41;`... not very pl easant for the tacksmen, as will be apparc from the foll ow i ng notices:— THE SPEY. —This river, the fishings of which hitherto let a t a very large sum, has been taken in hand. 't I S.itataT with the coast fishings adjacent, by the proprietor himself (the Duke of Richmond l, the offers made having been considered too low. It has been thought that the stake and bag-net fishings on the coast were the main cause of the decline of the river fishings, the frequent annoyances to which the fish were subjected along the coast causing them to abandon to a very great extent, their former haunts. In the present instance it has been resolved, in as far as possible, to obviate this objection, by removing all the stake and bag nets between Port Gordon and Speymouth. Operations were commenced on the Ist of February in the river, but with very little success. Of the few caught, several were foul, and, of course, re turned to their element. TAY SALMON FISIING.—The fishing commenced in the Tay and tributaries on Saturday last, the Ist inst. From the previous heavy rains and consequent flooded state o f the river, it was impossible to cast a net at any of the stations below the town; and at the upper stations the take was very moderate-33 salmon in all. Of these, 15 were taken at the Linn of Campsie (last year 25 were caught at the first haul), 5 at Bellymore, 7 at Burnmouth, 2 at Pitlochrie, 3 at Waulkmill, 1 at Almond ; below the bridge, I. At the North Inch station (formerly one of the best in the Tay), there were none taken on Saturday, and only two on Monday. The fish were generally large, and would average about 15 lb. each. This week, from the change of weather, the flood has subsided, and the river is comparatively clear, but the take at the lower stations has hitherto been very indifferent. Practical fishers are inclined to blame the practice of dragging the river with trout nets near the close of the season as one cause of the growing deficiency of salmon in our rivers of late years. Fishing was resumed in the North Esk, on Saturday morning last, with partial, and in some instances, very small success. A good number of fish were. as usual, killed near Marykirk, at the first. " shot ;" but the fishings about the estuary have not hitherto been pro mising. Hence the price of salmon, which was last year at this season Is. 6d., is now 2s. 6d. per pound. With regard to the Forth, the Stirling Observer says —" Saturday being the Ist of February, the fishing was commenced in due form, but with very little success, as only two fish were caught daring the whole day, and no better success has hitherto dawned upon the tacksman. Whether the 'spate' had any effect, we do not know, or whether we are to argue from this that the present will be as unsuccessful as last year." ABERDEEN.—The fishing continues dull, and prices consequently remain so high as 2s. per pound. Even of the fish that are caught, few, according to some of our connoisseurs, are in the best possible condition. DEVEFLON SALMON FISHINGS.—These fishings have this year opined somewhat auspiciously—thirty fish being the catch of the first day's fishing. A large num ber of foul fish was got, which were, of course, restored to the river. The Ayr Observer states that in the Doon the nets were drawn for the first time this season on Saturday, but the river was considerably swollen, and the result was only one small fish; though now considerably fallen, there has been nothing since. —lnverness Courier. RAILWAY SHARE MARKETS. BRISTOL, FEB. 17. Srocic EXCHANGE.—The share market opened firm to day, and continued good throughout. The transactions were as follow :—Bristol and Exeter, 86 3 4 Great Western, Ori ginal Shares, 90,i ex div.—Midland Stock, 6214. LIVERPOOL, FEB. 17. STocic Excrusrox.—The share market has been buoyant to-day, with a steady inquiry for every description of stock. The transactionsjwere as follow:— Aberdeen, 14—Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire, 8 dis.—Ditto (late C. and B.), 2014—Caledonian, 12% East Lancashire, 141, E Great Northern IS —Lancashire and Yorkshire, 59 , 4—Ditto, Fifths, 7% dis.—Ditto, Preference, 6 per cent., 1314—Lan caster and Carlisle, Thirds, 7% p.—Liverpool, Crosby, and Southport, % p.—London and North- Western,' 135—Ditto, New Quarters, 6% p.—Ditto, Fifths, 6% p.—Ditto, Quar ters (C), 3 3-16 p.--Manchester, Sheffield, 'and Lincoln shire, 35 , 4—Ditto, Quarters (No. 1), 7% till 1853, 13— Ditto, Preference, 12—Midland, 62 3 / 4 Ditto, Halves, 14% dis.—North British, 9 1 / 2 —North Union (B), guaranteed by London and North-Western and Lancashire and Yorkshire, 167—Scottish Midland, 10%—Shrewsbury and Birmingham (A), Ski t —Ditto (B), s%—Sbrewsbury and Hereford, 1 15-1 6 dis.—Shropshire Union (Railway and Canal), 2 13-16 dis. —South-Eastern and Dover, 26 .;i—Sou th Staffordshire, 3 14 dis.—York, Newcastle, and Berwick, unpaid-up, 1 dis.— Paris and Strasbourg, 4 , A dis. MANCHESTER, FEB. 17. STOCK EXCRANGE.—There has been a good amount of business done to. day, and the market closes very firm. The transactions were as follow :—Eastern Counties, London and North-Western, 134%—Ditto, (C), Quarters, 3 5-16—Great Northern, 18 1 / B —Leeds Stock, 59 Sheffield Stock, 36% Ditto, 101. Preference, 12%—Ditto, New Pre ference, p.—Ditto (No. 1), 13 M—Ambergate, 5 dis.— Matlocks, 3jA dis.—South-Eastern and Dover, 26;i—West Ridings, 5 5-16 dis.—Caledonian, 12 5 ,i;—Edinburgh and Glasgow, 34 1 / 2 -• Lancaster and Carlisle, Thirds, 7% p. BIRMINGHAM, FEB. 17. STOCK EXCHANGE. —The share market was extremely steady to-day, and all descriptions of Shrewsbury and Bir mingham Stock were iu considerable request, but few sellers were to be met with at existing rates. London and North- Western closed at 134. The transactions reported on 'Change were—Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire, Preference, 17 ) ; p.—Shrewsbury and Birmingham (A), 4 3 / 4 dis.—Mid land ( Birmiudham and Derby), 34. GENERAL THEATRICAL FUND.—This excellent in• stitution is worthy the fostering hand of the wealthy and charitable, for it protects the poor player when he can no longer " strut and fret his hour upon the stage ;" bat by the aid of the benevolent, and the small subscriptions they scrape together year after year from their small salaries, it enables them to go down the bill of life with peace and comfort ; and who so ready and willing to assist in so phi lanthropic a cause but that man, whose works are tilled with Christian spirit and divine truths? Charles Dickens, Esq., has nobly and generously volunteered to fill the chair at the next annual dinner, on Monday, April 14, at the London Tavern. Come, all you whom the poor player has beguiled of a tear, or whiled away an hour with laughter, and assist his tottering steps, now he has fallen into the " sear and yellow leaf." BEDFORDSHIRE ELECTION.—The nomination of candidates for the representation of the county of Bedford, in the room of Viscount Alford, deceased, took place yester day in the front of the Shire-hall, Bedford. Colonel Gilpin, the Protectionist candidate (who it had been expected would have walked over the course), was proposed by the Hon. Rice Trevor, M.P., and seconded by M r . Lindsell, while Mr. Naughton, the tenant-farmers' candidate, who is a free trader, was proposed by Mr. Lattimore, and seconded by Mr. Willis. The high-sheriff, who was accused of great par tiality, declared the show of hands to be in favour of Colonel Gilpin. Mr. Haughton's friends demanded a poll, which is to e,mmence on Thursday. ME. DIsRAELI'S " LIFE AND REIGN OF CHARLES I." NEW EDITION REVISED BY THE AUTHOR, AND EDITED BY HIS SON, B. DISRAELI, M.P., 2 Voes.—A more valuable ad dition to history can scarcely be conceived; but what is of far more importance, in the present times especially, is, that Mr. Disraeli has thrown great light upon the transactions of the present day by his consideration of the events which happened centuries ago. If the republication of this great work had been valuable in no other respect, its re-appear ance could not by any possibility have been more opportune than at this time. liis son, the eminent and distinguished Member for Bucks, has indeed rightly conjectured that the chapters of this work on the " Genius of the Papacy," and on the " Critical Position of our earlier Protestant Sore• reigns, with regard to their Roman Catholic Subjects, from the consequences of the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy." are peculiarly suited to the exigencies of the present moment. These portions will prove most useful, and may open the eyes of many, who are on the edge of the precipice to the danger at their feet. —Messenger. [ADVERTISEMENT.]—The Observer Journal.-- The extensive publication or the Observer commences by Mr. Clement, junior, at No. 170, Strand, at Four Sundav mornings, in time to be forwarded by all the early Sunday morning railways and steamers. Price of the Ob. server (forty folio columns), Sixpence. A Monday Edition, best adapted for the country and abroad, is regularly pub lished at Four o'clock Monday afternoons. Two of the gentlemen who have so successfully conducted the Observer for the last 37 years, still continue at the helm, namely, Mr. Clement and Mr. Doxat. [ADVERTISEMENT.] Wonderful Cures daily ef fected by Holloway's Ointment and Pills of Bad Legs and old Wounds.—lf these valuable medicines are used according to the directions given with them, there is no wound, bad leg. r ulcerous sore, however obstinate and long standing, bta k w will yield to their curative powers. Numbers of persons who are of been patients in the great hospitals, and under tehneefited:rhan eminent surgeons, without deriving the least effect.-- o i liS t o h T ld il b E y been cured by Holloway's Ointment and Pily, b w when every other remedy bad failed. For swellings,glandula:-reis no medicine that all Drag/ins and can n ry b y e scurvy , usedand other with so diseasesmood d a o n f PARK S.—The , m .. e metallic lay' IMPROVED PATHS, SC, formed in the , has at at Professor Holloway's Establishment, 244, Strand, London. Park,of a material call ~s footpaths which have been recently Zoological which in colour an li face re _e bl s fined ,ravel c , of the Commissioners of Woods and Gardens, Regent's s tracted the who,att;elircrer to test its applicability to the . Forests, . e dl oy E al Parks, have directed iSlessrs. ogrrral purposos of tli patentees, to lay down immediatelyand Armani, the pa a specimen con tiguous to the mansion of his Gra ce t h e Duke of Sutherland. Loss OF THE STEAMER JOHN AD A Ms.—The Ame rican papers contain accounts of the loss of the steamer John Adams on the Mississippi, on the morning of the 27th ult. Th e vessel was bound for Cincinnati with a heavy freight and a large number of passengers, and when near the head of Island 82, struck a snag or stump and sunk in two minutes. The cabin parted from the hull, and the latter went down in about 60 feet of water. She had about 90 or 100 deck passengers, a few of whom only were saved. The cabin in breaking from the hull, separated in the middle, which doubtless was the cause of many of the cabin passen gers saving their lives. The ladies in the cabin were all saved. After suflering many hours in the water, they were enabled to get ashore at the plantation of a Mr. Carter. The foi ward portion of the cabin, including the fixtures, floated down to the h ea d o f I sland 83, where it grounde d . The number was as follows :—Cabin passengers, 100; deck, The officers, 11 ; crew , fi remen, an d h an d s, 32 ; to t a l, "23 0 number saved was—Cabin passengers, 84; deck, 5 l ; , 123 8, I 1 ; craw, firemen, and hands, 7; total, 107; The deck passengers were Californians and German ost tlicer and Irish emigrants, going to Cincinnati. NEVETT, R.A.—. DEATH OF LIEUTENANT-COLO N ELn at Woolwich 3 s Intelligence was received in the l,h g o arr had left Eng c lanti e. .in terday that this gallant officer, • of the Royal A • tale the command Ar t i llery [ last to ‘ [ September K - , bad died en the 21st of December, shortly at Hong- (-1 1 .• after his • a rrival at that unhealthy station. Lieutenant- Colonel Nevett served in Canada from 1812 to the end ofthe . Ile enterea the service as Second Li eutenant, M a war.rc s, 1810; „ as pro moted to First Lieutenant, D ecem - I e 17, 1813; Captain , Octob er 26, 1831 • B revet M a j or, Novembero r vember 9, 1846; and Lieutenant-Colonel, November 1, 1848. By his decease Brevet-Maj or S ymons will be pro• no ted to Lieutenant - Colonel ; and Se con d C apta i n M au d e , : adjutant to the Royal Horse Artillery, to the command of a company, and at the same time will vacate the office of Adjutant to the Horse Brigade. Lieutenant-Colonel Tom kyns is the next officer in rotation for foreign service.