The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-06 00:00:00

low, in consideration of the alteration in the law,
which took place from and after the 10th October,
1850.

In the Assessed Taxes the deficiency on the year
is 796,2161., and on the quarter 737,1311.
The removal of the infamous tax on light
and air, however, at once accounts for
the falling off in both instances. The window-tax
produced nearly 1,800,0001. per annum, and was col-
lected half-yearly. It is true that a house-duty
was imposed in its place. Sir CHARLES WOOD
could not make any concession with a good
grace. That unfair and unwarrantable impost,
which charges an increased duty on one description of
property, viz., on houses, from which every other
kind is exempt, has not, however, as yet, come into
course of collection, and therefore the whole of the
half-year's window-tax is practically abstracted
from this quarter without any substitute whatsoever.
The next item is certainly one of considerable im-
portance, inasmuch as it indicates the condition of
the middle, as the Excise does of the working classes.
The :Property-tax shows a deficiency of 78,1141•
on the year, and of 50,7741. on the quarter! ! This
last is truly formidable ; it would represent a falling
off in the incomes of professional men, merchants,
manufacturers, &c., of nearly 7,000,0001. sterling per
' annum ; and it is the more formidable, inas-
much as the corresponding quarter of last
year itself showed a considerable falling off when
compared with that of 1849. We know that a very
general disgust prevails throughout the entire
country at the unfair and un equal operation
of this tax, which assesses at the same
rate the dividends of the fundholders and the preca-
rious earnings of the hard-working merchant, trader,
or professional man, who has not only to keep up an
appearance in society, but to keep up assurances for
his family, and to lay by something for
old age or ill health. This tax will expire in three
months more►; let the chosen representatives of the
English people resolve that they will never renew it,
unless there be a more equitable apportionment of
the charge.
In the Post-office, thanks to the care and judgment
that has been exercised in that well-managed depart-
ment, and especially to the indefatigable exertions of
ROWLAND HILL, we find at last an improvement
on the year and quarter—of 244,0001. on the
former, and 94,0001. on the latter. This is
indeed cheering, and reflects the highest credit on all
concerned in producing that satisfactory result.
In the Crown Lands there is a deficiency of 10,000/.
on the year, and 20,0001. on the quarter. The Woods
and Forests want a thorough reform. If the
same care were taken that a private individual
bestows on his own affairs, a very different result,
indeed, would be perceptible. Look to this, Lord
SEYMOUR, or a strict account may be demanded of the
trust confided to your hands.
In the Miscellaneous there is a small falling off on
the year of 6,3111., but an improvement on
the quarter of 10,183/. In the Extraordi-
nary items we find the deficiency in the imprest
and other moneys, which for the year is
48,0371. and for the quarter 14,7011., far more than
counterbalanced by the greater punctuality in the re-
payment of advances, which show an improvement
of 94,3251. on the year, and of 237,2551. on the
quarter I
On the whole, while the returns above referred to
show no great cause for congratulation, neither do
they afford any reasonable grounds for despondency
either as to the condition or prospects of the

COIIIII

Intelligence from the United States comes to as
ust now under an appearance decidedly melo-

~----
dramatic. Through the accounts yesterday received
from the opposite shores of the Atlantic, we are

enabled to witness the continued ovation of KOSSUTH,
as it were, by the light of the conflagration at Wash-

ington. Every generous heart will be disposed to
rejoice at the former occurrence, and to lament the

calamity which has abandoned to the flames the
beautiful capitol of the North American Republic.

Under any circumstances, the breaking out of a ter,

rible fire like that said to have been raging
on the eve of Christmas at Washington
must be a matter of profound sorrow to
the spectator, whether the city thus destroyed be
the metropolis of a friendly power, or of one at the

very moment in arms against our own Governmen

Of all the casualties to which mankind are subject
these are assuredly the ones which secure the most

immediate and the most unanimous sympathy. Even

when regarded in the remote ages of antiquity, they

excite the regrets of the more reflective scholars at
the destruction of the library of Alexandria, or the

burning of Borne by NERo, or that of the Temple of
Diana by EROSTRATUS. During later times we have
witnessed the emotions with which the people of
Western Europe received information of the reduction

of Moscow to ashes; and when, but a few years since,
came news of a similar misfortune befalling the inha-
bitants of Ilamburgh, we all remember how generous
was the munificence displayed towards the sufferers
by the mercantile classes of England, and more es-
pecially of London. It was as if the recollection of

the sufferings experienced by our ancestors about the
middle of the seventeenth century;on the occasion of
the fire which desolated our own metropolis from Pud-

ding-lane to Pie•corner, had rendered its citizens ever
afterwards peculiarly susceptible of sorrow on hearing
of any similar occurrence. We doubt not, there-
fore, that the melancholy intelligence from the
capital of the United States will be received through-
out the United Kingdom with genuine feelings of
commiseration.

The accounts relating to KOSSUTH are somewha
more satisfactory than the foregoing. His reception
everywhere appears to have surpassed expectation.
As in England, he is welcomed in America by the
foremost of all the champions of the Liberal party on
the European continent. His eloquent voice is still,
we rejoice to learn, raised upon every available oppor-
tunity with a view to diffuse ideas eminently calcu-
lated to forward the cause of an elevated
and organized democracy. Listening to him,
the people of the United States will be
enabled to judge the more correctly as to what are the
real wishes and precise sentiments cherished by the
European population. Happily the lull of the pre-
sent interval is thus employed by the leader of the
Hungarians in proclaiming to nations already
emancipated, nations as great,and powerful as Eng-
land and America, the hopes cherished by his coun-
trymen and,by the other oppressed nationalities. So
that the next signal for the liberation of con-
tinental Europe from the thraldom imposed upon it
by the despots of Germany, those most obsequious
satellites of the AUTOCRAT, may not come upon the
world unexpectedly or prematurely, or without suffi-
cient preparation 1
It is a fortunate circumstance, meanwhile, that we
can call to our remembrance at this moment that an
alliance has been recently commenced between the
nations presided over respectively by the Councils of
St. James's and Washington—thanks to the senti-
ments expressed by the Hon. Mr. WALKER, to the
policy disclosed by Sir HENRY BULWER, and to the
course long adopted in the administration of
Foreign Affairs by the late Chief Secretary
of that department, Lord PALMERSTON. Whatever
may be the conduct of his successor, Earl GRANVILLE,
we
atny interestot to t feel assured, remain long a matter of
he community, seeing that the days
of the Whig Ministry—or, as we have already more
than once designated it, " the GREY Iniquity"—are
numbered. The curiosity of the people of this
icann
country, therefore, is directed rather to the question
of the successors than to that of the future policy of
the present Government.
And as to the likelihood of
Lord PALmeEsToze's re-instatement in office—and
that not as Foreign Secretary, but as
leader of the Administration—we conceive that there
cannot remain much doubt with the generality of the
more observant Liberals .of the United Kingdom.
Satisfied that such wil
l be the course of events before
many months have elapsed, we bear in recollection
somewhat agreeably the portents of a friendly under-
standing between the and the
people of England
citizens of the United States. Fortunately, too, we
can, without extravagance, look forward to the
extension of that alliance to the
Republi-
can_ Government of France, as presided over
by the elected, first of 6,000,000, and then
again of 7,600,000, Louis NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
It is by this time tolerably well familiar to the majo-
rity that the immediate cause of Lord PALM/WT(44'B