The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-01 00:00:00

gil

MAILS
The West India Mai* including Bermuda, Name, Samna,
Honduras, New
Mat°an. era erne Tampico, end Porto Bleo, ant
eat:lading Uwe@ for air Jaernel, =Cm, ;Mate Marina,
Mains, Panama, West Coast of Saab and St, jesn.de.
Nicaragua, will be made up en the morning of the tied Merck.
reo overland mails Mr Gibraltar, Malta, ;Reese, the io6lllllbbildi,
igny,g, °Won, Rong-Kong, and China, i.e Peutbamptee,
will -be made op on the moraine of the ird Mdreh.
The mails for the Brazils, the River Plate, Monte Video, Pe
boon Bahia, Madeira, and Buenos Ares, will be made up on tho
we of the 1U Muth.
lin oarcland Mooed mails, via Moraines, tke
maderranesn,
Fern, Aden, Ceylon, India, Hoag Kong, ne., will be ade up on the
evening; of the' Mareb.
The malls for Drank North America, Berm ads, and the United
states. will be made up on tar evening; of the 10• It Match.

NOTICE.
Tan number of 8 VAMPS issued to the DAILY NEWS
by the authorities of the Stamp-office, during the year 1847,

was:
From J. 1, to Dzc. 31, 3,447,009
This, we believe, is within eight per eent. of the number
issued to the Morning Herald, Morning Chronicle, tad
Morning Post, ALL PUT TOGETHER.
In addition to the above, issued to the DAILY NEWS,
Morning Paper, there were issued for the Evening Edition,
TILE EXPRESS,
From Jam. 1, to Dza. 31 778,714
Which was more, we believe, than were issued either to
the Globe or Standard, Evening Papers.

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ALBEIT unwilling to criticise severely any expres-
sions of ministers, at a time when they have so
promptly withdrawn the most exceptionable part of
their budget, in deference to public opinion, we feel
that there are some things in Sir C. Wooo's speech of
Monday evening that cannot be allowed to peas with-
out comment.
" Even those honourable gentlemen," said the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, " who, on
former occasions, had supported the change from
indirect to direct taxation, had been amongst the
loudest in denouncing the increase proposed by
ministers."
Where is the inconsistency ? When the income
and property tax was first proposed it was ap-
proved of by many, as a means of guarantee-
ing a sufficient revenue even in the event
of a falling off in the customs returns from the remis-
sion of customs duties. The three per cent. property
land income tax was the price paid for the emancipa-
tion of commerce from excessive duties. But no re-
mission of duties exercising a prejudicial influence on
I industry and commerce was offered in return for the
additional two per cent. of property and income tax
which ministers have asked, but have been compelled
Ito forego. Because men were found willing to give
three per cent, per annum out of their income in
repayment of a great benefit, had Sir CHARLES
WOOD any reasonable ground to expect that they
would give two per cent. more without any prospect
of deriving advantage in return ?
So, with respect to the proposal to distinguish be-
tween professional incomes and incomes proceeding
from realised property, the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
citeutrea appears to deem it a conclusive argument
against such an arrangement, that it was not asked
when the income tax was first imposed. It was
asked even then: that it was not more strenuously
insisted upon was owing to the circumstance that
men were too intent upon seeing the experiment of a
partial substitution of direct for indirect taxation
entered upon ; that they made up their minds to
bear an unequal distribution of the former for three
years rather than interpose delays. But now that
the experiment has been made, and we believe in the
opinion of a majority, made with success, they are
anxious that the system, if it is to be persevered in,
should be perfected ; and, therefore they insist upon
having the tax fairly apportioned. They demand
that an income, worth only a few years' purchase,
shall be taxed at a lower rate than a permanent
income of the same nominal amount.
Again, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER de-
fended the increase of expenditure which has been
unremittingly growing upon us since 1837, by the
allegation that improvements in administrative go-
vernment have been the cause of the increased out-
lay. There is no doubt that the present immensely
improved system of Post-office service necessarily
costs more than the old inefficient one ; and that more
being spent in working it, a less surplus remains to
be paid into the treasury. There is no doubt that
the attempts making to introduce a more humane and
efficient system of prison discipline add temporarily
to the national expenses. There is no doubt that
even the inadequate grants made of late years for
educational parpeses help to swell the amount of na-
tional expenditure. But the advocates of retrench-
ment maintain that these and even greater expenses
of the useful class might have been incurred without
any increase of the aggregate expenditure. They say
that there still remain on the estimates many items
of outlay entirely useless, many which were originally
introduced, and are still kept there for purposes of
political corruption. And they argue that if these
superfluous and noxious charges were lopped off, there
would be, without any increase of national burdens,
a wide margin of income left to apply in carrying out
these measures of public benefit to which it is sought
to attribute the whole of our increased expenditure,
and many more of a similar kind.
Both the fallacy by which an increased and an un-
equal income tax is sought to be palliated, and thatby
which an unduly large expenditure is sought to be
cloaked, have their origin, not in erroneous opinion,
but in an ill-regulated will. The statesmen who pro-
fess to attribute weight to them are bent upon per-
sisting in a system of compromise. They want
annual estimates which will cover quite irreconcileable
classes of expenditure. When power could be obtained
and held in defiance of public opinion by the majority
of voters in a parliament framed under " virtual
representation," ministers had no motive to
spend public money on efficient government,
and a very strong motive to expend it in
conciliating partisans. There was a limit for taxa-
tion by going beyond which discontent and mutiny
might have been excited; but they kept themselves
within this by pinching useful establishments to
lavish the savings in corruption. Since the people
obtained a real voice in the election of parliament,
they have insisted upon some return for what they
pay as taxes, in the form of good government. And,
to do the statesmen of the present day justice, all of
them—of all parties—evince a predisposition to gra-
tify so natural a desire. But, unfortunately, all of
them are, at the same time, unable to
emancipate themselves entirely from traditional
maxims of statecraft. While they admit that
a large portion of the national revenue ought
to be laid out on objects of public utility, they at
the same time conceive it necessary to ensure sta-
bility to their power by reserving a modicum to be
spent in securing friends, after the fashion of the un-
just steward in the parable. Now moderate estimates
might cover ample means of corruption, under the
old system. And moderate estimates may cover a
liberal expenditure for the public advantage under
the new. But it is impossible to persist in both
kinds of expenditure at once, and at the same time
keep the estimates within any, reasonable bounds.
Herein lies the mistake made by the CHAN
CELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER. lie imagines that he
can provide the money required for educa-
tion, improved prison discipline, an efficient
Post-office, &c.; he imagines that he can at the same
time keep upon the estimates a number of boards, and
special jobs, that may afford light (or no) employment
and a comfortable income to political supporters and
their friends ; and, lastly, he imagines that he can do
all this, and keep the estimates at a figure that will
be tolerated by the country. He is mistaken, as the
events which have already taken place since the com-
mencement of the session may have led him to sur-
mise, and as those which must follow, if he perseveres
in the course to which he apparently inclines, will con-
vince him.
Henceforth statesmen in this country must be pre-
pared to deal with the public as with full-grown and
intelligent men. Anything in reason—anything in
doe proportion to their means—they will be found
ready to pay towards the support of government ;
but of a government that makes its usefulness felt.
They will insist upon having money's worth for their
looney. They will have every item of expenditure
strictly canvassed, and its advantage or necessity
made obvious. And they will insist with equal per-
tinacity upon having proof that the salaries attached to
public duties are really worked for. No ministry