The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIIE BUDGET.

(Prom the Times of this day.)
The martial enthusiasm of the country has shown itself in
almost every possible way- -in subscriptions for the orphan
and widow, the sick and wounded, in deposing an unsuccess-
ful Cabinet and est tblishing a Committee of Inquiry, and this
week is giving to au ally the most splendid reception ever
accorded to a foreign potentate. It is now to receive its last
trial. The British public has to receive the bill and pay it
" like a gentleman." Certainly it is a trying moment when,
having spent a week in an hotel described iu your " Hand-
book" as " eapital, but expensive," and having enjoyed your-
self so much as to have lost sight of the expenses, you receive
your little account, and see a fabulous sum tolal of francs or
thalers at the foot of the column. In the present instance the
trial is the greater, inasmuch as the success has been inconsider-
able, and the enjoyment very qualified. Nevertheless we must
pay with a good grace, and that all the more, inasmuch as it
is better to pay in the pocket than in the person. Pecuniary
loss short of utter ruin, is a triflo compared with loss of life
or limb, of father or son, of brother or friend. So let the
Bric ish nation hear with its boasted equanimity that, in con-
sideration of the war now raging in the Crimea, and soon
about to rage in the Baltic, and in commutation of death or
wound, cholera, dysentery, scurvy, typhus, frostbite, or hos-
pital fever, the Chancellor of the Exchequer calls on us to pay
forthwith one per cent., more incornetax, and a little more
of that indirect taxation which we have been so busily and
cheerfully repealing these dozen years or more- Yes, the
income tax, which the year before last was put on a vanish-
ing scale, on the strength of a succession tax ,which was
gradually to fill up its place, and which then stood
at 3 per cent., but was last year raised to 6 per cent.,
first for half the year, then for the whole year, is now
to be 7 per cent. for the current year at least. Cons dorinm
that the reduction of indirect taxes has not prevented the
price of bleed, meat, and other principal necessaries of life
from rising to a very high level—considering, too, that some-
how local rates of all kinds have been rising lately year after
year, much to the inconvenience of householders with limited
incomes -seven per cent., that is, Is, 4d. in the pound, is a
very serious addition to the burdens of British life, and,
what is worse, is one step more towards the old ten per cent.,
whioh, if the war continues, we shall probably have to pay.
-

(From the Times' City Article of this day.)-
The first*quotation • for the Omnium, as •he combined
stocks of the new loan are termed, was 1 A to a premium, and,
after having declined to 1* premium, it closed at 4 to *.
The manner in which the market premium for the new loan
is calculated is as follows :—The value of 100/. Consols is
891. 155., and of 14s. M. terminable annuities for 30 years
111. 12. This makes 101/. 75., or almost exactly la pre-
mium. Its actual value, however, is rather more, since this
calculation assumes the entire subscription of 1001. to be
paid at once, whereas the instalments extend over eight
months, and the employment in the interval of the money
not called up would yield, even at the low rate of 2
per cent, now obtainable in the Stock-Exchange, about
12s. The value of the terminable annuity, moreover,
has bed taken as low as 16/. per 11., while the quota-
tion to-day was 16 to 16i, a purcase having been
made at the latter price. Under these circumstances, the
intrinsic woyth of the
ers .omnium woUld appear to be 2 p.m.
The lett of allotment were promptly delvered yesterday,
and, although a general curtailment was necessary of the
amounts applied for, it was impartially made. Tho applica-
tions were supposed to have been fully 10 per cent. in excess
of the total required. There seemed but one opinion as to
the equitable nature of the contract for all parties. It is
understood that the margin of profit to the subscribers in the
Emancipation Loan of 1835 was almost precisely the same as
that now obtained.

(From the Daily News of this day.)
The Budget, in short, is quite as much Mr. Gladstone's as
Sir George Cornewall Lewis's. Of course, the ex-Chaneellor
of the Exchequer is not so unnatural a parent as to quarrel
with his own offspring because it is being nursed by another.
His opposition, therefore, is disarmed. Again, it is not the
cue of the Derbyites to make a serious onslaught on Minis-•
ters yet ; and this silences another financial critic—Mr. Dis-
raeli. Sir G. C. Lewis has therefore no hostilities to appre-
hend beyond a partisan -warfare conducted by a few guerilla
chiefs, unconnected with and independent of each other. If
we mayjudge by appearances, they intend to make of certain
items ol the Budet a handle for ventilating their notions on
sundrr abstractg principles of finance and taxation, but to
offer no serious opposition.
As to the increased taxes proposed by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, they are probably neither much, better nor much
worse than any others that could be suggested.

( From the Morning Herald of this day.)
Our worst anticipations as to our new Chancellor of the
Exchequer are more than realised. It has been.our fate to
listen to many budgets ; from Mr. F. Robinson (now Lord
Ripon), from gr. Canning, from Mr. Goulburu, from Mr.
Herries, from Lord AlthorP, Mr. Spring Rice; Mr. F. Baring,
&c., but an exhibition so deplorable as that of last night we
never heard. The two last Chancellors of tie Exchequers,
Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Gladstone, each, on making his finan-
cial statement, kept full houses fixed in admiration for four
or five hours at a stretch. Sir G. C. Lewis condensed more
matter into a speech of an hour and three quarters ; but the
house, half empty, did not listen to him He huddled up his
conclusion in haste, and sat down without a cheer i
The cool, dry, clerk-like way in which the matter was
handled excited the wonder of the house, and drew forth once
or twice a derisive cheer. But the general feeling wahimself s, that
the budget could not pass. The
his
sought that a general view of his whole plan might be
taken ; and we should say that a general vote, condemnatory
of the whole scheme, would be concurred in by a majority of
the house.

(From the Morning Advertiser of this day.)
The additional taxation, corning, as it does, in conjunction
with the loan, will be exceedingly unpalatable to the country;
and the burden will be borne with so much the less resignation,
because the war, which has rendered it necessary, has been
so grossly mismanaged, and has been carried out with such
manifest want of vigour, as to compel them to come to the
conclusion that Ministers have not up to the,,present hour
been sincere in the desire to destroy the prestige, by diminish-
ing the power,.of Russia. Before the House of Commons ac-
qniesces in the proposals which the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer means to make, for so large an addition to the taxes of
the country, it is to be hoped that it will take care to exact
guarantees that the war will not any longer be carried on in
the same bungling, half-hearted manner in which it has been
conducted until now. Let it never be forgotten that this
year the total expenditure of the country is to be no less than
the astounding sum of 86,000,0001.