The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-23 00:00:00

REPORT

Of the " Liverpool Financial Reform Association,, ' presented
to the Anneal „Aiming, held last night, fall details of
which will be found in another page,
REPORT.

In presenting an account of the proceedings of the
Financial Reform Association, since the last public
meeting of the members oa the 16th, of Dec., 1852, and of
its present condition, the council 'teal bounl to allude, in
the first instance, to the interruption of that wholesome
and' invigorating intercourse between them • and their
c•mstituents which was conteMplated in the sth rule passed
for the guidance of the association, at its original
institution, on the 20th of April, I£4B—viz.: " That there
shoula be an annual general meeting for the presentation
of a report, and the passing of the accounts." The council
hope, however, that a brief explanation on this point will
be deemed satisfactory.
The annual meeting which ought to have taken place in
1853, was delayed,' from time to time, by circumstances
over which the council had no control, until the proper
period had long passed; and the two next years being
years of warfare, the council, though divided as to the
war itselt; deemed it impolitic, if not unpatriotic, to pre-
sent such an opportunity as a general meeting would have
afforded for any clashing of public opinion, which, by
encouraging the enemy, tnieht have retarded the restora-
tion of peace. This difficulty being removed, the ordinary
course of the association is now resumed ; the expression
of public opinion is again invited ; and the council are
convinced that the most unrestrained discussion as to the
origin of the late war, its policy, progress, and results
tnust be beneficial to the country.
These are questions to be argued otherwise than in a
report of the proceedings of the association ; lint it may
be observe,l generally here that all the di..saStera be the
last two years,—the lamentable sacritce 'di ts.lman life by
other agencies than those of sword .jt get,—the squander-
ing of millions more than woulA hate sufficed to furnish
with every luxury of life the gallant soldiers who were
'suffered to perish for want a its barest necessaries,—in
'short, all the faults and Mlles exhibited in the disastrous
Crimean campaign are not only clearly traceable to defects
In the Military, civil, and governmental services, which
have been exposed, over and over again, in the Financial
Reform Tracts, but were the necessary consequences of
'tho3e defects.

'IN atter the harrowing details first proclaimed by news-
ip i rft correspondents, established before the Sebastopol
•Cenumittee -of the House of Commons, and confirmed by
he Crime:4n Commissioners, Sir John M'Neil and Col.
tulloct, any doubt would remain as to the true source of
such, evils, that doubt must have been removed by the
F-eport of the Chelsea Board of General Officers, who,•
in their laboured attempt to exonerate inculpated com-
manders and subordinate functionaries, endeavoured to
show that no person was to blame for anything that
occurred in the Crimea—that all that was possible
was done by everybody, and that calamities which
might have been avoided by the commonest prudence, the
most ordinary precautions, were, one and all, the results
of inevitable necessity. Hence, whatever may be the value
of the general verdict of acquittal, at which the Chelsea
board arrived, so far as individuals are concernid, that
i,erdict must be regarded as an unpialifted condemnation
hi' the system under which the affairs of the British army,
Military and civil, have hitherto been conducted.
The council do not refer to the catalogue of blunders
'and disasters which constitutes the history of the winter
Campaign before Sebastopol, in order to show that they
Have been true prophets of evil. Their object is a higher
'and a better one. They allude to them, as proving the
'necessity of extensive reforms in the system, which not
'only 'rendered such thtigs possible, hut is made to serve
'as An excuse for tte,m when they occur. According to the
jroverb, " ExP:xience gives wisdom to fools," the dictum
'ay be dou):„ed; but, certainly, the lessons of this hard
and ster.gi teacher are only lost on fools ; and happy would
it he 'tor the nation, if, deriving wisdom from the past,
rulers and people should determine on adopting the
measures requisite for the avoidance of similar calamities
in future.

For the reasons just glanced at, public assemblages
of the association have been suspended ; but, in the
interim, the weekly meetings of the council have been
regularly held. At these meetings questions of great
interest, local as well as national, have been discussed ;
the actions of the Legislature, the Government, and of
public servants generally have been watched; correspon-
dence with friends of the cans- in all parts of the king.
'm has been maintained; and much valuable informa-
tion has been procured and disseminated by means of
ieports furnished to the newspapers, and the publications
'of the association. The advantage of maintaining con-
'stantl'y at its post, a body unwarped by any considerations
'of private or party interests—uninfluenced by any
'motive but a desire to promote the public good, must be
'theoretically manifest. Some of the many proofs of its
practical utility will be givtin in the sequel.
Reflection and experience have more and more con-
vinced the council of the soundness of the two great
tprinciples on which this association was founded, viz.,
he strictest econotny, consistent with efficiency in every
branch Of the public service : and the substitution. of an
'equitable system of Direct Taxation for the present
heterogeneous jumble of systems, under which imposts on
,articles of general consumption, and materials of manu-
facture, which increase prices far beyond the mere amount
'of the duties, which are most costly in collection, and most
'demoralising in their effects, and which diminish employ_
'went by restricting Trade, are made to contribute far the
greater part of the whole revenue of the country. On the
question of economy there can be no second opinion : on
that of Direct versus Indirect the verdict would be equally
universal, if the advantages and disadvantages of both
systems were duly weighed. It is deeply to be regretted
that the indignation excited by an existing tax, which is
most unequal in itself, and most annoying in the mode of
its enforcement, should have indisposed the public mind
for the calm consideration essential to the determination
of this important question, and should also have been re-
flected on every tom of Direct Taxation, however different
both in principle and detail. To remove such prejudices
and disseminate sound principles of taxation, the council
have strenuously exerted themselves,"and they rejoice to
say that their efforts have not been wholely unsuccessful.
ga Since the last public meeting of the association,
seventeen tracts have been isitied, all, save one, within the
last two years. It is to be hoped that these have been
studied by the members, and circulated amongst their
Friends; but as there are probably many present who are
unacquainted with these publications, a brief sketch of
the contents may not prove unacceptable.
The first of these tracts, entitled ‘• Turkey, Russia, and
English Interference," was the production of a gentleman
originally opposed to the war, but afterwards, only
anxious to carry it ou vigorously, and bring it to
a successful conclusion. Its two main objects were to
denounce our constant intermeddling in the diimestic
affairs of foreign nations, and the system of secret diplo-
macy which is constantly involving us in disputes, often
ion grounds which would be puerile if they only affected
individuals, but which are preposterous in the highest
degree as between friendly nations. The council hold
that the Parliament and people of this country have a
constitutional right to be consulted before either war is
declared or peace concluded, and that the exclusive privi-
lege of doing both, claimed for the crown, by those who
act in its name, is a usurpation.

The next tract was au exposure of the abuses of the
ecclesiastical courts of record, contributed gratuitously by
Wm. Downing Bruce, Esq., barrister at law. On this
subject the council refer with satisfaction to a beneficial
obstruction of legislation by the Peers during the last
Session of Parliament. They allude to the Government
bill establishing a new ecclesiastical tribunal, at an annual
expense of £50,000, in addition to about thrice that sum
as an outfit, for the transaction of part of the business of
the existing courts, which were to be continued, the deci-
sion of doctrinal disputes, and the °trial of clerical delin-
quents, averaging, perhaps, about half a dozen per annum.
Scarcely ever was there a more flagrant attempt at a
job; yet it received the sanction of the peoples reprtmn-
tatives, and was rejected by the House of Lords.
The next tract, entitled " The way the public money
goes," shows that seven years ago, 37,301 persons, exclusive
of the hosts employed in the royal household, the diplo-
matic and consular establishments, and the civil services
abroad, divided amongst them £5,895,982 in the shape of
salaries, pensions, and retired allowances, teing a general
average of £l5B per annum each. This may appear a
reasonable amount, but when it is considered that of the
number stated, 26,081 receive less than -elsb each, and
thousands of these less than 20s a week, it;will be seen that
many hardworking public servants must be miserably
underpaid, whilst the great prizes are divided amongst a
comparative handful of individuals, many of whom do little,
and not a few absolutely nothing for what they receive.
The tract is an analysis of a parliamentary return of
1819, obtained on the motion of the late Mr. Jos. Hume.
This veteran reformer was a member of the Financial
Reform Association, took an active interest in its pro-
ceedings, and rendered it many valuable services. Proba-
bly the very last commuircation on any public subject,
penned by his hand, was a letter to its president on the
impolicy and prejudicial effects of thellaw of blockade
On his decease, the council had the melancholy satisfac:
Lion of condoling with his family, on an event which was
not only their bereavement, but a loss to the nation which
he had so long, so zealously, and, as regards honours and
distinctions, so thanklessly served. Of this tract there
were issued 2,000 copies. of which about 400 were sent to
ministers and members of both houses of Parliament, and
200 to merchants of Liverpool and Manchester, not
members of the association.

Another phase of secret diplomacy is exhibited in the
tract entitled " Black Mail to Russia," the production of
Mr. C. D. Collet, of Lonann, in which it is shown how, in
the matter of the Russo• Dutch loan, British interests and
British money were sacrifices for the sake of bribing Russia
to acquiesce in British arrangements of Continental
matters—a most vicious policy, of which recent events
have exhibited the futility.
Of the next tract, " The War, the War Budget, and the
Ministry,''' a considerable portion was devoted to the
gyrations of the Times newspaper. It may be here
observed, that.if that influential but most versatile organ
of public opinion had, seven years ago, sought the removal
of abuses in Our military system as zealously as this
association, instead of maintaining that that system was
all but perfection, and denouncing the financial reformers
of Liverpool as a set of meddling busy-bodies who did not
know what they were talking about, the Times, in all
probability, would never have had to record the calami-
ties which tardily opened its eyes to the fact that the

system which it had lauded theoretically as the best, was,
in reality, the very worst in Europe. There is no other
military service in the world' in which a man, without
any qualifications for command, can purchase the right to
exercise it. and sell that right again to another equally
disqualified, just as a ship, a hots% or -a bale of merchan-
dise might pass from hand to hand. Some attempts
have been made, under the strong pressure of
public opldion, to reduce the 'military chaos into some-
thtng like order ; but the vicious influences of family
interest, court favour, and political patronage, must have
remained in force until very recently, otherwise honours,
distinctions, and promotion, would never have been
showered so lavishly on men, many of • whoin have done
nothing to deserve reward ; whilst others ought to have
been cashiered for neglect of duty and incapacity.
The Financial Reform Association niay fairly claim
credit for its share in the attempt made recently to
remedy one great abuse in the army, vi 2., the eld Tailor.
Colonel systerr4 which gave military officers the tempta-
tion and the opportunity to mrilet both the soldier and the
public, by eking out their regimental pay with profits on
clot hing, and also withlt he cost of clothing never purchased,
for men born on the establishment as it was termed, but
never embodied. It may be doubted, however, whether
the proposed' remedy will not prove worse than the
disease. An army clothing board has been established, at
the head of which has been placed Sir Thomas Trouhridge,
a distinguished officer no doubt, but profoundly ignorant
of the mysteries of cloth buying arid tailoring. His col-
leagues appear but ill-qualified re Supply his deficiencies
in there respects. They ire—Mr. Ramsay, late a third
class treasury dlttli, bat nephew to Lord P tnmure, the
War Minister; Mr. Howe), Director-General of Con-
trActs, who may know something of such matters. but
whose principal recommendation probably was his rela-
tionship to Mr. Hayter, the whipper-in; and Mr. Godley,
an income-tax collector of two months' standing. who has
been appointed Director-General of Stores. But even if
the board were properly constituted, its functions, as
officially described, render it little more than a channel of
communication between army clothiers and colonels of
regiments—the latter having still, as heretofore, to deal
directly with the contractors, and still the opportunity of
deriving a profit from every contract, besides the
additional allowance of £6OO per annum granted in lieu of
former perquisites. It is evident that much more remains
to be done before we shall cease to hear of flimsy and
ill-made clothing, that only stands a few months' wear;
boots and shoes, of which the soles and upper leather part
company on contact with adhesive soil ; axes that will not
cut; and picks that break at the first, second, or third
blow against any hard substance. What a world of
injustice as regards the soldier, and of peculation as
regards the public, was revealed by the Minister of War
when, in announcing to the House of Lords last session,
that he had of his own authority, and without parliamen-
tary:sanction, increased the pay of private soldiers in the
Crimea, he expressed his conviction that their former pay
would have been amply sufficient, but for the caprices and
exactions of commanding officers.
Two tracts have been devoted to the suggestion of im-
provements in the various departments of the public
service, of each of which the London Administrative
Reform Association took 2.000 copies for gratuitous dis-
tribution. With Mr. Samuel Morley, the first chairman
of this body, and some of its leading members, the council
have been in most friendly communication; and they have
now the gratification of seeing amongst them Mr. John
Arthur Roebuck, its present president. The objects of
the two associations are in fact nearly, if not quite iden-
tical, there being scarcely one of the Financial Reform
tracts which does not bear directly on some question of
Administrative Reform. The council rejoice in the
acquisition of such an auxiliary. though conscious, as their
allies must also be, that little substantial or permanent
good can be effected, if, whilst measures are taken to
improve the efficiency of subordinate employes, the higher
offices of the state are still to be all but monopolised by
men of aristocratic birth and connections, who disdain
trade and all connected with it ; if youths, fresh from
college, who can repeat the names of Homer's heroes, or
Acton's hounds ; trace the pedigree of heathen gods and
goddesses ; scan classic authors ; or tell the altitude of
the mountains in the moon, but are utterly ignorant of
all that relates to the practical business of life, are still to
be foisted into most responsible situations, as they may be
under the treasury-minute, which enables the minister
to dispense with any preliminary scrutiny before the
new Board of examiners. Principals as well as subor-
dinates should be properly qualified ; for, if the
former fail in conduct or capacity, the latter, however
competent. and however zealous, are pretty sure to go
astray. Efficient heads being provided for the different
departments, to them should be entrusted the power of
promotion, punishment, and dismissal, subject to parlia-
mentary control ; and on each of these heads of depart.
mcnts would then fairly rest the whole responsibility for
that particular branch of the public service committed to
his charge.

Three other tracts are devoted to an expose of" Govern-
mental improvidence;" and two to the " fiscal doings''
of the last session of Parliament, may be mentioned as
bearing on the same question of' Administrative Reform.
Amongst the remedies suugested by the council, is the
appointment of a permanent finance committee of the
House of Commons. for the supervision of all financial
business—a matter hitherto neglected or slurred over by
the national stewards, in a manner which would entail
disgrace and dismissal on a highway board or parish
vestry. In furtherance of this object, the council issued
a circular address to nearly every member of both Houses
of Parliament, and twice petitioned the House of Com-
mons. The circular was also forwarded to the news-
papers, many of which published it, and warmly approved
of the suggestion. There is reason to believe that to these
and other remonstrances emanating from the association,
it is owing that rather more attention was paid last session
to financial business—that the shamefully neglected state
of national audit was made known, and that there is now
some prospect of improvement in the management of the
public purse.

The council have issued a tract on the decimalisation of
coinage, weights and measures, conceiving that such a
change:will be attended with most beneficial consequences,
as regards the community generally in all the ordinary
transactions of business, and also as regards the State,
by the very considerable reduction in the staff of clerks
and accountants, in almost every public department which
it will render practicable.
A tract on the royal household exhibits both the costli-
ness of that establishment, and its worse than uselessness
for its professed objects, which are--the personal comfort
of the Sovereign, and the honour and dignity of the Crown.
It is shown that the purposes for which something like half
a million is annually expended are oligarchical not royal.
The council yield to none in true loyalty to their
Sovereign ; they grudge nothing that is essential to her
happiness, or comfort, or the proper maintenance of the
dignity of the Crown ; but, convinced that those objects
are in no way promoted by the crowds of parasites who
surround her, regarding the Royal Household as a concen-
tration of the abuses which prevail in other departments,,
a constant example' of extravagance to the aristocracy,
operating through them on other classes, and believing the
system to be as repulsive to the Queen personally, as it
must be to the reflecting portion of her subjects. The
council have ventured to put into the mouth of her
Majesty an imaginary speech to Parliament, which, wild
as some may deem it, probably conveys nothing more than
she would herself think, feel, say, and do, if, with a full
knowledge of the evils which require reform or abolition,
she had also the power of carrying her wishes into effect.
But, though nominally at the head of the greatest empire
the sun ever shone upon, the Sovereign of this country is,
in reality, helpless against the oligarchy which rules it in
her name. It is, therefore, the height of injustice to
charge upon her abuses over which she has little, if any,
more personal control than the meanest of her subjects.
The sovereign and the people have one common interest;
when once this fact comes to be thoroughly understood
and acted upon, the long reign of the factions which
have preyed upon both will soon see its termination.
It may, perhaps, be regarded as a symptom of some
change for the better that the Times neWspaper
which, 'seven years ago, lavished all its powers of
sarcasm on the financial reformers of Liverpool for pre-
suming to criticise the constitution of the royal household,
has come round to the very opinions which it then de-
nounced. In that paper of the 19th of March last, there
was an article on the subject, apropos to the
plunder of the royal plate, on its way from Buckingham
Palace to Windsor, as sweeping in its condemnation as
anything 'that ever emanated from the Financial Reform
Association. It is there shown that, notwithstanding the
multitudinous staff of principal porters, assistant prin-
cipal porters, gentlemen porters, yeomen porters, extra
yeomen porters, common porters, and porters of various
other titles and degrees, not a single individual of them all
could be found to degrade himself even by superintending
the loading and conveyance of the royal plate ! It was
left to the care of a common carrier and his men, 'just as
if it had been an old applewoman's crockery ; they
stopped to drink by the way, as carriers will do, and
whilst they were engaged at their potations some clever
thieves rifled the waggon and got clear off with the most
valuable part of the spoil. It is only a fair presumption
that the servants of any other department of the royal
household would be just as valuable, in any emergency,
as were those of the staff of porters on this occasion.

The object of another tract published by the Association
was twofold—first, to show the gross injustice, and mani-
fold anomilies of the existing duties on profits, commonly,
but most improperly, called the. Property and Income Tax ;
and, secOndly, the great advantages which would result
from such an equitable adjustment and extension of that
tax as should require from every man, no more, and no
less, than his fair contribution towards the proper wants
of the state, and would at the same time, render the impost
a substitute for all the taxes which now depress and
cripple commerce, manufactures and industry. On this
subject the council have also issued two addresses, the
first of which the Times published on the 23th December,
1856, the second on the 16th instant. Both were accom-
panied by long editorial comments, in which there was not
a single argument, either in justification of our present
fiscal system, or against the principle of direct taxation,
but a superabundance of sneers, cavils, and objections, all
founded on the difficulty, or supposed impossibility, of
carrying that principle into operation. 0,1 the other hand,
the council have received very numerous communications
from all parts of the kingdom, some of them from gentle-
men of landed property—all, with one single exception,
expressing unqualified approbation of the change suggested,
and some of them speaking of it in the most enthusiastic
terms. That sound principles are making progress has

THE NORTHERN TIMES.--LIVE,RPOOLI FRIDAY.

been manifested at Belfast; and various other places ; and
they will contrive to do so in defiance of the attempts of
the Times to piyt an gxtftiguisber tipon them by its sneers,
or by its silence. The council can never believe either
that what is just is not also practicable ; or that gross and
manifest injustice in human legislation is incapable of a
remedy.

guilt before the committing magistrates, or taken in
fivranto delietoi and the bungling legislation which has
loaded the statute book with acts to amend or repeal other
acts, or parts of acts, thus rendering the law such a mass
of confusion and perplexity, that the ablest judges are often
puzzled to know what it really is, and not unfrequently
give opposing decisions, when the plain and obvious
principle is, that a new act should comprise all such por-
tions of the preceding statutes as are intended to be
retained, repeal the rest by their omission, and enact such
new provisions as may be necessary, thus embracing the
whole law on that particular subject.
From this hurried and imperfect sketch of proceedings
since the last public meeting, it must be manifest, at least
so the Council hope, that the Association, though compa-
ratively inactive during part:of the period, has rendered
important services, and that, with increased means, and
additional acting members in the executive, it may be
instrumental in rendering many more. The steady sup-
port of a great number of the original members, and the
acquisition of many new ones, especially of late, in
Loudon, and other parts of England, Scotland, and
Ireland, as well as in Liverpool, may be taken as indica-
tions that the Council have retained the public confidence ;
and the accounts show the Association s own financial
affairs, though not in a very flourishing condition, are so
far satisfactory, that it is out of debt, and has a small
balance in its favour. With additional means, its
efficiency might be very greatly increased, by the
employment of able lecturers, the gratuitous distribu_
tion of short tracts and broad leaves, and the establish-
ment of a systematic course of agitation, such as led
to the triumph of the Anti Corn Law League. The legacy
of 41,000 bequeathed to the association by one of its
earliest and most zealous members—the late John Collett,
Esq., formerly M.P. for Athlone—may serve as a nucleus
for more extended operations ; but on this it would be
scarcely prudent to calculate until the money is actually
in hand. In the meanwhile, the strength of the associa-
tion will be best promoted by increased exertions on the
part of existing members, and the enrolment of fresh
recruits.

Most unfortunately for its own fame, and for the nation,
the otherwise glorious anti-Corn Law League imagined
that its mission was accomplished, and Free Trade
established, when the restrictions on one article only were
abolished, instead of continuing its labours until com-
merce and manufactures, were, perfectly freed by a
properly adjusted,system,of direct taxation, from all the
fetters and clogs which a false and most mischievous
policy has placed upOn them. Instead of committing
suicide when the first triumph was achieved, the league
ought to have made that the starting point for fresh
struggles and fresh successes against monopoly and
restriction. Its dissolution wa4 a grievous mistake; but
still more grievous is the error of many nominal free
traders, who now, instead of demanding a complete
revision of our fiscal system; woultl seem to desire the
continuance and increase of restrictive duties, which press
most onerously on the poor, by joining in the clamour
against a tax which, whatever be its defects—and they
are many—has at least this merit,—that it, effectually
reaches the rich. Every real free trader mast be an
advocate of direct taxation. _

Amongst the persons with whom the council have been
in communication on this subject was Lord .Stanley, to
whom the tract on the income tax was submitted. In refer.
ence to the scheme there sketched, his lordship says :—" I
agree in the preferability of direct over indirect taxation,
if two conditions be conceded—the first, that of equality
between classes, which, by the capitalisation theory, seems
attainable; the second, that of accurate knoeiledge by
government of private incomes, which I know no means of
obtaining. It is this latter difficulty, more than the
former, which prevents many public men from acceding
to the principle of a large extension of direct taxation."
In the opinion of the council this is a concession of the
whole question. The preferability of one system over
another is admitted; they hold that it is the duty of
"public men," and of government, to set seriously about
encountering and removing the obstacles which prevent,
or retard, the adoption of the best. They are also convinced
that if direct taxation be rendered just to all classes, as
it may be, it will be willingly borne, to the full extent
required, for just and economical government ; and,
further, that cases of fraud and evasion, which are new so
numerous, and which have been palliated, nay, almost
justified, by a minister of the crown, as naturally resulting
from the oppressive nature of the present tax, will become
only exceptions to the general rule of honest payment. To
devise a proper system of taxation is the business of the
government or the legislature ; to insist that the thing
shall be done is the business of the people; but, in any
case, the council hope that the Financial Reformers of
Liverpool will adhere to the second great principle of their
association, viz.—" the adoption of a simple and equitable
system of direct taxation, fairly levied upon property
and income, in lieu of the present unequal, complicated,
and expensively collected duties upon commodities."
The council have devoted a tract to an examination of
the mode of keeping the national accounts, with a view to
show the facilities which it affords both for the commis-
sion of fraud, ann its concealment when effected. That
this is no visionary danger is proved by the embezzle.
naents and defalcations that have taken place from tune to
time, and most especially by the Exchequer Bill Forgeries,
which to this day remain a mystery. It is highly probable
that these robberies discovered, almost fortuitously, bear
no proportion to those which have altogether escaped
detection ; or, at least, exposure: As bearing on these
facilities for fraud, the revelations, before the select
cemmittee of last session, on public moneys, and Particu-
larly those made by Lord Monteagle, Comptroller of Her
Majesty's Exchequer, are perfectly astounding. The
reported evidence proves conclusively the following
facts :-Ist. That the public money once voted, its
disposal is completely at the discretion, not merely of the
Lords of the Treasury, but of heads of departments and
their subordinates : 2nd. That the appointment of sup-
plies by the House of Commons is nothing better than an
idle form ; money voted for specific purposes, being
constantly, and systematically applied to other purposes
not intended by the House of Commons. Thirdly. That the
control exercised by the Comptroller of the Exchequer,
excepting as to matters of form and technicality, is merely
nominal.a fact further acknowledged and deplored by his
lordship, in a letter to the President of the association,
touching the Hereditary Pension job; fourthly, that the
audit of the public accounts, for which many thousand
pounds are annually paid, is really worth less than nothing;
and, lastly, that the general supposition that the whole
gross revenue is now paid into the exchequer, without
any stoppage lie transitu, excepting only that derived by
the crown lands, is a complete delusion. To effect this
latter object the late Mr. Hume laboured zealously for
years, and imagined that he had, in part at least, accom-
plished it; to complete what was left undone, with the
exception of the crown lands, the late Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Mr. Gladstone, passed a bill through Parlia-
ment, iu 1854 ; yet we have it on the authority of Lord
Monteagle that, in the way of stoppages and payments
beforehand, all goes on now exactly as heretofore—that
the gross revenue is not paid into the Exchequer—that the
Comptroller of the Exchequer ha's no check whatever
over the abstractions made from it on the way; that he
does not know, and has no means of learning, whether
what the Receiver-general receives and pays into his
account is what has been, or ought to have been received
and paid in or not, and, in short, that the only alteration
that has been made consists in a formal juggle of accounts.
Such being the modes in which the public money is kept,
distributed, and accounted for, it can only be said that if
all public servants are honest, amidst such temptations
and opportunities, the fact may safely be called miracu-
lous, even in au age when miracles are supposed to have
ceased. The tract in question endeavours to show clearly
what the national " finance accounts " are, and what they
ought to be. It is mainly the composition of Mr. Henry
Lloyd Morgan, of London, a gentleman to whom the
public is largely indebted for his successful labours in
the cause of Customs reform, and also for his endeavours,
through the press, to force upon the Government au honest
and intelligible system of public bookkeeping. In a recent
letter to the secretary, Mr. Morgan says What little
I have been able, to do is mainly owing to the invaluable
information conveyed in the financial reform tracts which
I have carefully studied." This testimony must be
gratifying to the members of the association to whom the
knowledge that Mr. Bowyer moved for the return, which
shows the disgracefully neglected state of the national
audit, in consequence of his having read the tract on
" Government Improvidence.," and the probability that
Sir Francis Baring was induced to move the appointment
of the select committee on public moneys, by similar
means, will be additional sources of satisfaction, as
proving, the practical utility of the association.
Besides their own publications, the council have
adopted, for circulation, the pamphlet of the Rev. Mr.
M 'Conley, on the 'mismanagement of Cathedral funds;
conceiving that, as the author exposes pretty much the
same sort of abuses in the temporal concerns of the_
church, as those which flourish so luxuriously in the State,
and does not touch on any doctrinal pOints, his work came
strictly; within the objects of the Financial Reform Asso-
ciation, and might be distributed advantageously amongst
its members.

In the growth of the principles founding the groundwork
of this association, in the establishment of other associa-
tions, having, more or less, kindred objects in view, in the
widely spread conviction that something must be done to
reform effectually the abuses which prevail in every
department of the state—in the very disasters which have
proclaimed the defects of our system !of administration
to the! whole civilisel ;world; and in the palliatives
which those disasters have forced upon unwilling
functionaries of the Government, the council see every
motive for perseverance—none for despair. The only
ground for apprehension lies in the possibility thdt the
public generally, roused by events into temporary
%cavity, may again sink into a state of apathetic
indifference to matters vitally affecting our own interests
and the welfare of the nation. In such possibility lies the
necessity for increased 'exertions on the part of such
associations as this. Perseverance, therefore, is what the
council recommend to the association, and concluding
their report with this recommendation, they indulge the
hope that their successors will, with equal zeal and
greater ability, labour to bring to a successful issue its
combined objects—Financial Reform, Direct Taxation, and
perfect Freedom of Trade

During the last two sessions of Parliament, various
petitions from the council have been presented to .the
House of Commons. Amongst them were two on the sub-
ject of a permanent finance committee : one praying that
ministers of the crown may have, ex-ojicio, access to both
Houses of Parliament, for the purpose of explaining their
measures and policy, without votes in the House of Com-
mons ; one against the Apellate Jurisdiction Bill, and one
against the improvident purchase, without any Parliament-
ary authority, of hereditary pensions for which no public
service was ever rendered. The council also protested,
through their president, against another most unwarrant-
able job, said to have been in contemplation, viz., the
granting of a perpetual dowry of £70,000 per annum
to the Princess Royal on her nuptials, with the probable
successor to the Prussian Throne. The fact that scarcely
a word was said either against the pension or the dowry,
until the council protested against them both, may be
mentioned as an additional proof of the utility of a body
like the Financial Reform Association, ever watchful over
national interests, looking to measures, not to men, having
no personal ends to serve, and seeking the public good
alone.

Another example to the like effect may be cited in the
address of the council to the people of the United States
of America, which elicited so gratifying a response from
the mayor and citizens of Philadelphia, and was cordially
welcomed by the most influential portion or the American
Press ; and yet another in the fact that, but for this
association, Liverpool would have been wholly unrepre-
sented in the congress of free traders recently held at
Brussels. In the first instance, this association had no
inconsiderable share in convincing the respective govern-
ments that on such grounds as their diplomatic squabbles
presented, two nations so united by ties of blood, language,
and mutual interests, would not fight. In the seconli, the
effects, on the minds of continental free ' traders and
protectionists which must have been priduced by the
non-representation of Liverpool on such an occasion were
avoided. One of its vice-presidents, Mr. Francis Boult,
most handsomely volunteered to act as the delegate of the
Financial Reform Association, and, at the instance of the
council, measures were taken which resulted in the
Chamber of Commerce also sending a representative.
On another question more strictly local,—the opposition
to a most improvident disposal of the site of the old
borough gaol—the council took the initiative.

Amongst the many other subjects which has occupied
the attention of the council from time to time, the follow-
ing may be enumerated :—The advantage of having one
central building in each town or district, for the transac-
tion of all business connected with taxes, general,
municipal and parochial ; the monopoly of the Bank of
England, and the absurdity of paying to that institution
large sums annually for the loan of its own paper, on the
security of that of the Government; the injustice of the
system under which the whole country is made to pay for
metropolitan improvements, such as the widening of
streets, sewerage, or the formation and maintenance of
public parks ; for police magistrates, police courts, police-
men and gaols, for public rejoicings, a,nd for various other
matters, which the inhabitants of the provinces have to
provide for themselves ; the defective state of the criminal
law, under which the country is put to all the expense of
formal trial in the cases of offenders acknowledging their