The Express.
London, England, 1864-04-08 00:00:00

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and BuOutone . YYer £a el, Hank, Smcmdma.—if ENDS AND
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TRIO EsREM, PAIIIS RitirßN: News. Vlning, Rohm,
Fisher; Mesdames Ilsraton and Kato Ravills—THE CONRDY
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—And DRAWINO-HOOP, BROOND FLOOR, AND ATTICS.

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WTANIA.

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HUM WASH AT LONDON WD J.
?I DAT Mewled. 2h. 59m....A110wea. 3h. 20s.
TO4lollloll Morello, 3h. 41m.....A.barw0m AL Om

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 8.

Now that Mr. GLADSTONE has published a
volume of Budget speeches, it would seem idle to
pay compliments to the oratorical perfection of
his great annual deliverance. But with the pro-
spect of a Tory regime before us, there is a certain
satisfaction in recording that this accomplished
Minister was not unequal last evening to any of
his former achievements, in breadth and clearness,
in copiousness and minuteness, in point and
finish, in closeness and variety, in exhaustive-
ness, and fulness, and nicety of statement. If
ever during Mr. GtensroNE's reign there
shall be no more surplus to dispose of,
it may be that his vast audience on such occasions
will no longer represent a multitude of anxious
and expectant interests : but as mere intellectual
efforts and exercises these Budget speeches will never
cease to be treasured up as examples of pure parlia-
mentary debate, marvels of concentration and
elasticity of mind, instinct with the liberal and
practical genius of our age and country, not more
remarkable for their strength of grasp and shrewd-
ness of judgment than for their generous and far-
reaching views of policy and high integrity of pur-
pose.

Before coining to the disposal of the surplus,
Mr. GLADSTONE, with his usual artistic eye to the
distribution and " keeping" of his figures, disposes
of a few minor subjects. He proposes to levy the
corn duty (of 1846) by weight instead of by mea-
sure, and toconvert the uniform rate of Is. a quarter
into a uniform rate of 3d. per cwt.; but Mr. GLAD-
STONE is too averse from the principle of any corn
duty to be willing to enter upon a course of modi-
fication of the small existing duty. This view of
Mr. GLADSTONE'S is the more noticeable that, with
regard to the far more important Income tax,
hehss displayed the same reluctance to enter upon
a course of legislation for the purpose of correcting
its inequalities ; and from his moat significant
declaration last evening, it is clear that in either
case his reluctance arises from a deep-rooted objec-
tion to the permanence of the impost itself. As
an interesting specimen of Mr. GLADSTONE'S
minute carefulness for the interests of the poorer
classes, his proposed reduction of the license
for the sale of tea in small quantities in
" general shops " in country villages or hamlets,
deserves to be noted : as also his proposal to
equalise the duty for hawkers with one horse and
with two horses. Passing by his equalization of
the stamp duty upon admission to small ecclesias-
tical benefices, his reduction from 61. to Id. of the
stamp duty on proxies to vote at public meet-
ings of joint-stock companies, and his proposal
to legalise by a ls. stamp the practice of marine
re-insurances, and to extend to refreshment house-
keepers the benefit of occasional licenses, we come.
at length to the great question of his dispoaalof the
surplus. Our readers have at least watched with re-
spectful sympathy the recent flood of letters on the
Sugar Duties. Well ; it is to the reduction of the
Sugar Duties that Mr. Gianorrox z devotes the greater
part of this surplus. As to the question of uni-
fonuity or classification, he retsina the classification,
reduces the rates all through, but the highest
rates in the highest degree. Of course, Mr.
GLADSTONE never proposed to himself toremove the
objections of any sugar "interest :" se Finance
Minister helegislates for the benefit of the consumer
first ; and as to all other interests, the principle of
his avowed policy is no favour to any and freedom
for all. Accordingly, Mr. GLADSTONE proposes toi
place the sugar duty in this country at ls., or
more than Is., lower than it has ever reached in
any former year; and to make this "permanent,"
while leaving the tea duty renewable from year to
year.

Turning to the Malt duty, Mr. Giriarrosz
meets that famous Tory Goliath with a pebble
from the brook. There is no shirking, we may be
sure, all that the advocates of repeal have to say ;
but here is a little fact for their edification.
Although, says Mr. GLanirrose, last year gave
us 700,000/. more malt duty than the year before,
yet to this hour the malt duty has not supplied
the loss of that beer duty which was repealed thirty-
four years ago, and which was, in fact, the most
burdensome moiety of the Malt Duty.
The Committee, we fancy, were a little sur-
prised by Mr. GLADSTONE'S treatment of the
Income Tax last night. No one expected
that he world lower that tax again
this year. He has not only reduced the
income tax another penny, from 7d. to Gd.,
but emphatically protests against the idea of
making so vast a resource in national emergencies
a normal and permanent tax, and recommends,
at least, its reduction to the legal minimum of 5d.,
towards which he advances half-way (from 7d.) in
his present Budget. Mr. GLataroxi's considera-
tions upon the income tax are, as indeed he
indicated, equivalent to a declaration of policy; a
policy of peace, retrenchment, economy :
a policy calculated to challenge the
hostility of the Tories, and to defy their rage ;
for it is a policy which will not only stand the
wear and tear of a general election, but commend