The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-23 00:00:00

ME BUDGET.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE
SlR,—Having been officially, as well as individually,
concerried in what has been termed " recent financial
and economical legislation," or, more properly speaking,
thOse.changes which have been effected since I had the
honour- te-submit 'to the celebrated committee of the
Douse of Commons on import duties, in 1840,. a tariff of
commercial and financial legislation, which legislation
was soon after carried much farther into effect than I at
fiat proposed by Sir R. Peel, in 1842 and 1844, I con-
sider it now an imperative moral and public duty on-my.
part to scrutinise, and, in its fallacious and unjust points,
to' expose and, to do my utmost to obstruct the financialmeasures of the present Government, as set forth in the
bndgetAthe Chancellor of the Exchequer. I feel it,.
sir, my duty to do so, not .only as discharging a sacred
rOponsibility as a man entrusted by one of the greatest
cities in Europe, not to represent the citizens as a mere
delegate, but as a legislator in the Imperial Parliament.
• ;This discharge of the duty which I owe to our coun...,

try, in common with every other member of Parliament,
I consider of an importance, at the present time of peril -
and uncerfaintY, paramount to every other legislative .-1`

cOngidration-:--
First—l contend that the pruject is unnecessary and

aiioc•having
, ,
exigencies
warn to!c calamities—of
el .afitt smy i
tie wells ao of
on the..
ut
hneseplir on fid w
`atehi I °expenditureh that the
tthhii this
niiisfortunes :and disgrace—
aPrdrteidonlanl.' arePvaecni tuYeo, f‘Niitbsii2%laiug°ledniusneeocintut'be VI lleltvrieeqdusiriethainiatrhgee
Yfiasre,cood•witillyttiopepotreosts?iivyeaaanalditunbtarnb c
• hot maintain that, .
imdertaken thi-. war, to which I cannot see an earnlyattr;-_
T4nation,--except by a dishonourable peace, the .
mitit pay the expenses to which they
their wisdom or.tbeir folly, bound ,12emselves.
Thirdly--I do not admit that, in order to procure the
additional revenue necessary to meet the expenditure, i
have, whether in
isijust, wise, or expedient to increase the dutieso.n sugar" . •
tea, and, coffee, which have become, as essentially KS,
bread, the daily sustenance of all the inhabitants of the.
Unked-Ringdora. - •
Fourthly—I deprecate the increase of those duties, not
only as unsound. in principle, and as a disappointment to
the nation, but especially reprehensible in the face of
the high prices of corn and other articles of foodt- and in
utter disregard of the sufferings of all the labouring
classes, great numbers of whom have been some months-
out of employment, and enduring severe privation. - ---
Fifthly—l protest, and I believe the nation generally..
will do so, against the unfairness, the negligence, and. -:.
the absence of sagacity on the part Of the Government',
in not affoiding the public the opportunity of bidding for;.
the necessary loan, after the successful and econonoreal.'
example lately carried into effect by. the Government of.
France—instead of adopting the old, pernicious, and
indolent practice of raising the loan through the mono= ---
poly of one chief capitalist. ___

Sixthly—l condemn as unsound the project of rais-
ing a loan by perpetual annuity, and by the contingent
bait or temptation of 14s. Gd. per cent. terminable in- 30
yt.ars, the action of which project being inevitably to re
duce the value if consoli, and, the principle of which is
to add 16,000,000/. in the first place to the permanent
debt ' • for the proposal to pay off 1,000,000/. a year is
as absurd a.delusion as paying off the whole debt by a
sinking fund.
Seventhly—Admitting as I do that it has become in-
dispensable to provide, in addition to the present re-.
venue,-a-sum not less than 23:000,0001., I Contend that'
by the simplicity-- of a loan, to be raised by public'coni= -
petition, and on the principles of terminable annuities,
that 20,000,0001. in terminable annuities, taking an
average of fifty years, might be forthcoming by such
competition, and consequently without thl) oppressive
increase of the duties on tea, sugar, and coffee—articles
more than any other the solace of our cottages; and 'of
the labouring population in towns, and rural and fishing.
villages, as well as necessaries to all other classes.
Lastly—l believe that if the Chancellor had at once
said, " cannot provide the whole expenditure within
the goat, ; T cannot add to, the permanent debt, and I
must have recourse to terminable annuities, and I will,
as has been successfully done recently in France, and;
as was the practice in this country until Mr. Pitt, in an
evil hour, in 1793, pursued a more slothful but most
pernicious course—set up the loan to public competition"
—then, I am persuaded that he might have procured
20,000,0001. on about the following terms, viz. :-
5,000,000/. on annuity terminating in 44 years-at 4 pr. ot. -
5,000,00,0/. 48 „ at si „
5,000,000/. 52 „ at 82
5,000,V00/. 56 „ at 34