The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-09 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 9, 1848.

Mr. ANSTEY intimated bis intention of proceeding to a
division.
Sir G. GREY said it was evident no progress could be
made with the bill that evening.
Mr. M. J. O'CONNELL suggested to the bon and learned
member for Youghal not to prom the committee to • division.
As the learned Recorder —a person so high in the law—said
that he could not interpret the amendment, it was better to
allow him three weeks to do so. (Hoar, hear.) l'erhaps,
in that time he could make it be understood by the Lou.
member for Lincoln. (Laughter.)
Mr. HUDSON thought that time should be given for con-
sidering_the dense.
Mr. W. I'. WOOD said that the clauses which hon. gen-
tlemen opposite now wanted time to consider were those which
the hon. and learned member fur Midliurat had declared,
amidst the cheers of those who sat opposite, to be a sham,
and only worth so much waste paper. He could nut hill,
regarding the opposition of hon. gentlemen opposite to these
clauses with sonic suspicion, when they said that the pro-
testant church end throne depended on them, although
they cheered most loudly when the hoe. member for
Midhurst said they were of nn consequence. (Hear, sr.)
As fur him, his faith in his church was CO our, that he did
not care how many bulls wi re introduced. (L iuehter.) He
would not have his church represented as a decrepit old
female. (Laughter ) lie would stand on the truth of
his religion, and did not care for ever so mauy bulls.
(Cheers.)
Mr. S (AFFORD said that this question was 'wilted upon
as one of the greatest importance by the people of this
country, and it was but just that time should be allowed to
consider a clause which constituted a main part of the hill
which had been now for the first t.me proposed by her Ma-
jesty's government.
Mr. P. WOOD said that the object of the words proposed
by the government was to restrict the cl of the bill
which the hon and leurned member fur Midhurst had said
were of no advantage. He could not understand, therefore,
the opposition of hon. gentlemen opposite. (Hear.)
After some observations from Mr. LAW,
Mr. ANSTEY said he would not divide the house.
The house then resumed, and the CHAIRMAN repotted

source than parliamentary greats or issues from the
Exchequer" in the course of 1647. From this return,
it appears, of the gross receipts by revenue depart-
ments in that year no less than 5,904,6901. 17s. 4d.
were deducted by the officials and never paid into the
Exchequer. Nearly six millions of money taken from
the people were never allowed to reach the Treasury;
were subtracted from the efficient control of govern-
ment and parliament. Again, the Bums:received by de-
partments of expenditure from other sou reesthan parlia-
mentary grantsandisauesfrom the exchequer amounted
in 1847, one with another to 1,099,7471. 14s. 2d.
In thc course of one year no less than 7,004,436/.118.7d.
were collected and paid away by officers of govern-
ment at their own discretion, without instructions
from tho minister of finance, and a goodly part of it
without any parliamentary warrant for exacting the
same paid by the public.
Of the amounts deducted by revenue departments
from their gross receipts, and withheld under
one pretext or another from the exchequer,
1,973,5171. Ss. 104 d. fall under the head of customs ;
1,593,6211/. 12s. sd. under that of excise. These deduc-
tions are in both instances distributed under tour heads
--drawbacks, alto want es, and re-payments ; charges of
collection ; other payments ; contributions to super-
annuation fund. The first head contains the aggre-
gate of moneys paid back as not legally due : the chief
objection to this item is the stove:oy and unbusiness-
like fashion of leaving the re-payment to collectors.
The second and fourth heads are liable to the much
more grave objection that it is most inexpedient to
allow servants to put their fingers into their master's
cash-box and pay themselves. The " other pay-
ments," though of comparatively limited amount,
are the worst of all. Under this head are
included the moneys paid towards the support
of judicial establishments in Scotland. A large
proportion of the expense of the Scotch law
courts and auxiliary institutions is quietly de-
ducted from the duties of customs collected in
Scotland—does not make its appeararce in the
annual accounts—and thus prevents parliament from
comparing the efficiency of these establishments
with their cost. In like manner we find that a consider-
able sum is deducted from the excise duties in Scot-
land, and handed over clandestinely " towards the
civil government in Scceland." I'urt of these duties,
also, are withheld from the Exchequer, and appro-
priated to the payment of " pensions granted in the
reigns of Kings CHARLES 11. and N's"tf.trew III."
'the returns from the other revenue departments are
similar iu character : some desiderata the item "other
pay-metes," others the item " re-payments." The
Post-office has its "other payments; " upon which uo
very great light is thrown by the present returns, but
which, w c believe, consist mainly of pensions to two
noble pauper families—Maaticolwucti being one,
The sums withheld from the Exchequer by the
departments of expenditure are of a much worse
character than those withheld by the revenue depart-
ment:. A considerable amount of them is indeed the
fruit of a minor taxation, imposed and levied by the
authority of our bureaucracy without warrant from
peril ,ment. The Treasury, the Privy Council and
Board of Trade, the Home, Foreign, and Colonial
departments, and the I'rivy Seal, have all
their snug fee-funds, imposed, adjusted, ex-
torted, and shared among the dignitaries of these
°likes by their own sovereign authority, in-
dependent of parliament and uncontrolled by it.
These departments are mainly supported by what
they extort from unlucky individuals who have blLEi-
!less to transact with them, and only ask Parliament
to add a little to this equivocal income. No-
thing is said in the return of our judicial establish-
ments, but it is notorious that no inconsiderable part
of the emoluments of law officials is derived from a
similar clandestine, arbitrary, private system of tax-
ation, to which we can n member nothing more
closely analogous than the tolls that used to be ex-
acted by the robber knights of the Rhine. The
Metropolitan Commissioners of Police, and police
courts extract annually from the pockets of the in-
habitants about 262,933/., and the Dublin metropo-
litan police about 33,669/., not without parliamentary
sanction, but without any efficient supervision and con-
trol. The India Board draws from the revenuesoflndia,
under an act of Geont.e 111., a sum which is not in
any year to exceed 26,000/. Over the appropriation
of this fund there is no efficient watch or control
either in England or India.
It must be obvious to every one what a fertile field
for jobbing, corruption, and all improprieties, is
afforded by the seven millions of clandestine taxation
and expenditure over which not parliament, not
even the ministers of the day, can exercise any
efficient control. Surely, now that the voice
of remonstrance against thoughtless and profli-
gate expenditure is raised from every corner of
the land, parliament will find it unavoidable to insti-
tute some inquiry into the abuses which here lurk
concealed, and adopt some efficacious measure for
their suppression. We remember in 1834 or 35 read-
ing a speech delivered by the late Earl of DURHAM at
a public dinner given to Lim by the citizens of Glas-
gow, in which he passed a high and deserved enco-
mium upon Dr. BOWRING'S labours to elucidate the
principles and practice of national book-keeping. The
noble earl claimed a good deal of credit for his party
on account of their disposition to carry into effect the
system of national accounts recommended by the
doctor. The disgraceful revelations of the return to
which we have been directing attention show how
little fruit that vaunted disposition has borne.

THE Glasgow riots are to all appearance nothing
more than a very had case of the " meal-mob," as the
disease is called in the north. Complaints had been
made about a week earlier by the destitute unem-
ployed of the inadequacy of relief according to law.
A committee had been appointed, of which all the
magistrates were members, to provide for the imme-
diate wants of the complainants ; but some difference
of opinion arose between the relievers and a portion
at kast of the relieved, as to the efficacy of the
measures adopted. A meeting of the unemployed, at
which not more than 3,000 or 4.000 are said to have
been present, assembled on the public green,
and were addressed by some mischievously
impassioned orators. Some of their number
were sent with a representation to the relief com-
mittee, and having been induced to hear reason by
these gentlemen were, on their return to their still
excited companions, received as traitors. Forthwith
the fierce crowd pour into the heart of the city, and
dividing into two bands one proceeds to the east-
war.l, pillaging the bakers shops and provision stores
—the other to the westward, taking arms from
the gunsmiths, and valuable trinkets from the jewel-
lers. Wherever the mob spreads, it is uncontrolled
master, its irruption having been unlooked for, and no
preparation made to meet it. But only a compara-
tively narrow region of the city appears to have been
the scene of its exploits.
The proceedings of the rioters already glanced at,
together with their really inconsiderable numbers, in-
dicate the composition of the mob. It consisted of
the most destitute of the destitute, and among them,
of course, the most lazy of the lazy. These were the
bread pillagers. But mixed with them was also a
strong detachment of professional criminals, with
whom Glasgow, in proportion to its size and popula-
tion, is more amply stocks d than even London. These
were the stealers of guns and trinkets. But, in the
ebullition of the moment, every individual of either
class was stimulated by emulation and the intoxica-
tion of destruction to wilder acts of devastation.
The real working classes of Glasgow did not join
in the excesses. They do not appear to have
been stirred to mutiny even by the melancholy
death of an innocent citizen in consequence
of what appears to have been the culpable precipi-
tancy of a civil functionary and a body of out-pen-
sioners. We have always had great doubts of the ex-
pediency of employing these old soldiers in such cases.
A man who has shed blood in battle loses the reluctance
to take life fore by mere civilians. Soldiers who have
been long leased from discipline lose that me-
chanical habit of self-control which imposes a check
upon them while still regimented. In addition to
this, an old soldier sees danger from the near ap-
proach of a numerous mob more clearly than a
civilian ; and age and want of practice have
somewhat relaxed his nerves. Partly from dis-
regard of the lives of others, partly from
a greater liability to panic than other men—
the old pensioners appear to us the very worst class
that can be employed in civil disturbances. And the
matter is not mended when they are placed without
an officer under the command of some civic func-
tionary. But luckily the irritation of the honest
workmen did not overbear their Scotch prudence and
induce them to impart a new character and other
aims to the tumult. The last advice' received at the
time we write, relate to the *tato of attain at 2 rat.