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

eltktelanri 6"Atith
LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1812

THE QUARTER'S REVENUE.

The Revenue Returns for the year and quarter
ending the sth January instant, will be found in
another part of this day's impression. We are thus
enabled once more to apply an arithmetical test to the
statements respecting the national prosperity which
have been put forward from time to time during the
past year. Opinions may and will, of course, vary.
There are some persons whose object it is to show
that the nation is on the verge of ruin, that the
agricultural interest is in a state of bankruptcy,
and that all others, the trading, manufacturing,
and labouring, as well as 1 the nonproductive
classes, must participate in the distress
which in the first instance has fallen upon the farmers.
The mere fact of a deficiency, no matter how occa-
sioned, will be eagerly seized on by those parties as
affording " confirmation strong as proof of holy writ"
of the truth and accuracy of their gloomy vaticina-
tions. A more candid examination of the subject,
and a consideration of the different disturbing
elements that should be taken into the calculation,
will, however, lead to a very different conclusion, and
satisfy the unprejudiced inquirer that the account is
by no means so unfavourable as it appears to be at
first sight, but that, on the contrary, it is rather
satisfactory than otherwise. We must, however,
confess that it scarcely fulfils our anticipations of
the result of the congress of all nations to the British
metropolis.
The decrease on the quarter immediately arrests
the attention. There is a falling off on the ordinary
branches
and to a small
the most important items. The Post-office,
of the revenue of no less than 936,1011., and
these in
extent the Miscellaneous, are the re-
deeming features, which on the first aspect of arrears
lead us to think
that matters are not quite so bad as
they seem to be.
—l‘ the year, too, there is a falling
off in the ordinary revenue of 57
on the longer term , but we have
the veryimportant items of
Customs and Excise a 8,3351.
ppearing on the right side of the
national ledger.

In the Customs,then,
146189/,
there is an increase of 146,1891,
on the year, but a deficiency
quarter. This latter can, howeof
he satisfactorily
accounted for by the fact that
entire 37,1931. on the
sirzeduetion in the
sugar duties came into operation
which amounted to far more than months since,
thlne:
, and it argues well for the year
notwithstanding that modification of duty, littethat,
still an improvement on the twelvemonth's accounts;
In the Excise, which may generally be regarded
as the index to the condition of the working classes
there is an increase of 89,209/. on the year, but the
falling-off on the quarter is no less than 162,640/.
This is certainly worse than we had looked forward
to. It is true that the corresponding quarter was an
unusually good one,',the receipts having been consider-
ably augmented by the arrears of hop duty which
were then collected, and also by the large produce of
the malt-tax, which was far beyond the average in
consequence of the favourable barley harvest of 1850.
We had hoped, however, that the Great
Exhibition, and the large consumption of
exciseable beverages by our foreign visitors, would
have led to a larger increase on the year than that
which we are now enabled to announce.
In the Stamps there is a decrease both on the year
and quarter—on the former of 162,0921., and on the
latter of 32,236/. The former is far more than ac-
counted for by the alteration in the Stamp duties,
which came into operation last year, and which was
estimated by Sir CHARLES WOOD at more than
double the actual amount of reduction. The quarter's
deficiency is fully explained by the making up of
stocks b y thi;diliferent.stamp vendors, who had per-
'Ositted the quantity on hank to become unusually