The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-13 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 13, 1848.

PARLIAMENTARY PAPER.
ROUSE OF LORDS (52).—Rrruare RELATIVE
TO OARS CIETITICATZII, &C.—ln Irelandhe tholehe duamty
o unt co on gal
certificates is collected by the OZCIAS : t w
weed in 1847 was 8,2311. In Great Britain there was col-
lected in the ease year : Upon certifloates to kill galas.
165,3951. Ils. Bd. ; upon licensee to sell game, 2,0641, ; as
assessed ales on hounds, dc., 166,6911. No returns exist
distinguishing theme ount of as
Mae on gamekeepers
corn what is paid Hof
savants.

ssouri73l! inbbe' possession. This is all that the
advocates of a revised assessment of the income
tax maintain. They argue that every man—with
or without realised property—should pay the state
for his personal protection ; they argue that they
who have property as well as persons to be guarded,
should pay the state something additional for the ad-
ditional trouble they give it.
The property argument sometimes assumes a
politico-economical form. We are told that to tax
property, discourages the saving instinct which makes
men desirous to accumulate it. Really that man's
wish to acquire property must be faint indeed which
is extinguished by the mere prospect of having to
pay police-rates for a watch to avert danger from
fire and thieves. And it can scarcely be argued
that any discouragement to hoarding implied in a tax
on the owners of property, can do one half so much
to repress accumulation, as a tax upon property-
less industrials which renders it impossible for them to
hoard.
This night will probably show how far the country
can rely upon the clear-el.:Redness and firmness of
the parliamentary opponents of a uniform property
tax. The question at issue excites on its own account
a deep and widely-diffused interest. But when we
consider the struggle for an amended assessment of
the income tax in its true light, as merely the first
skirmish in the arduous and protracted war which has
been declared against financial abuses in general, the
anxiety to see how our representatives will acquit
themselves grows intense in the extreme.

THE Ministers of Foreign Affairs, of Home Admi-
nistration, and of Public Instruction, installed by the
French Provisional Government, have each addressed
their subordinates, and explained their hopes, their
anxieties, and their intentions, with frankness and
with vigour. The words of a far more important
minister in such a crisis—those of the Finance
Minister—were looked to with curiosity and
shrunk
with
fear. M. GOUDCHAVI, j appointed,
from the ungracious necessities of his task.
M. GARNIER PAGr,s who succeeded him—one
who never indeed occupied any very high rank as a
commercial man, but who is possessed of an un-
doubted character for integrity and straightforward-
ness—his brought forth his financial statement, and
his measures for meeting the difficulties of the present.
We stated on Saturday, that the principal of these
difficulties were the three hundred millions of francs
deposited in the savings banks, and liable
to he redemanded, together with a similar
sum in treasury billy, fulling duo to the amount of
about forty millions a month. The shares and funds
in which the deposits of the savings banks were
vested, have declined, some one third some one half, and
cannot be brought into the market. The new loan
could not be counted en, unless the Three per Cents.
were above 70, instead of which they are quoted
at .50. Moreover, public works were in progress,
creating a demand over and above the expenses of
the ordinary budget, ((pal to the amount of treasury
bills becoming menthly due. Join to these the curtest
expense+ of the different departments, and it is evi-
dent that even the pat ment of taxes by anticipation,
which was taking place in Paris with alacrity, hut
which probably would he much more tedious in the
provinces, must be totally insufficient to meet the exi-
gencies of the moment.
To meet these exigencies, the finance minister finds
himself obliged to refuse to pay in specie all depo-
sitors in savings banks of a greater sum than one
hundred francs. The holders of more than this sum
can receive what is above one hundred I:ones only
in treasury bills at four or six months, bearing five
per cent. interest, or in five per cent. stock. Such a
measure may be imperiously dictated by necessity ;1
but a more fatal and pernicious one to the republican
government—for such the provisional one may be
termed—could scarcely be imagined or devised.
It will carry . perturbation and panic amongst
the most industrious and poor and worthy classes,
and will prove the most ungracious address to the,
electors that could have been devised. The finance
minister, indeed, with much justice, flings the blame
upon the ejected government and dynasty, which ex-
hausted
the annual resources of the country ; and
without any cause or pretext, from mere wanton-
ness dilapidated the finances of the country.
The present government, however, proposes to
apply the great and efficient remedy of retrenchment.
It curtails public offices, and offers for sale the plate,
the diamonds, and the domains of the crown. If re-
trenchment in the matter of places will create mal-
contents, the sale of crown lands will enlist a new
class of proprietors in the interest of the republic,
who can, moreover, make the purchase by paying
down one-fourth of the price, the rest to be paid in
bills not extending beyond a year's date.
The last device of the minister for raising funds is
even more problematical than those already enumerated.
He proposes a national loan of one hundred millions
of francs in exchange for Five per Cent. stock at par,
which, with the Five per Cents, at 73 or 77. is so
illusory as to be ridiculous. M. GARNIER PAGES
brings certain general considerations to the support
of his scheme. He points to the debt of France
compared with its territory and population, and thel;
mentions that of England as dependent on our re-
maining masters of the industry and commerce of the
world—" a fragile basis," exclaims the French
minister. His opinion is, that did our commerce not
progress, and our manufacturing industry not re-
maul in fall and prosperous activity, the interest
of our debt could not be met along with our
other necessary expenditure. The Journal des
Debals is very angry with the French minister for
so uncomplimentary an allusion. We fear, neverthe-
less, that there is some truth in the poignant remark,
and we recommend it to the attention of protectionists,
and even of some semi-liberal tories not protectionists,
who seem to think it of very little importance whe-
ther our manufacturing industry progresses or whether
it is stopped short by. clogs and competition.
The French Minister of Finance in the present
expos( treats merely of the ways and means of meet-
ing temporary demands. The permanent system
meditated by the republican government is, we have
reason to believe, to lighten the weight of indirect
impost, which presses down both trade and the great
mass of consumers, and to establish in its stead a
graduated property tax, as that most independent of
panic and unaffected by political troubles, and as the
financial instrument most powerful and most ready
for every emergency.