The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-01 00:00:00

THERMOMETER.

This day at Two o'clock 44

Barometer-29.80.
Wind—North East ; moderate, and fine.

•
tit SUM

LONDON, FRIDAY, JAN. 1, 1864.

The Revenue Returns for 1863, punctually laid
before the public on this First of January, are
chiefly remarkable 'for inasmuch as out of eight
sources of the National Income only two show a
decrease, the remaining six showing, on the con-
trary, a distinct increase—respectively, an increase
and a decrease upon the year itself and upon each
of its four quarters. The two exceptional branches,
however, under each of which a decrease is but too
plainly visibl'a, are, out of the whole eight, two among
the most important. These are the Property Tax and
the Customs. Under each the decrease is, moreover,
very considerable. So considerable, indeed, as to
overbalance the aggregate increase, referred to, as
evidenced by the six other sources of Revenue.
Whereas—to put the facts here hinted at as plainly
as possible, so as to bring them in a few moments
within any one's comprehension—Whereas the in-
crease upon this last quarter, as compared with the
corresponding quarter of the previous year, 1862,
:amounts to £l,OOO on Crown Lands, to £15,000 on
Taxes (so called), to £3,000 on Post-office, to £106,000
Stumps, to .£173,238 on Miscellaneous,and to as much
39 £753,000 on Excise, making a total increase on
the quarter under those six heads of £1,088,238
it is observable that there has been within the same
interval of this last quarter a decrease under the
the head of Customs to the extent of £350,000, and
a decrease under the head of Property Tax to the
extent of £799,000, making together a decrease of
£1,149,000 on this our last isolated quarter of the
dead and gone twelvemonth. Subtracting from
which aggregate snm indicative of the decrease, the
lesser figures of the total increase, we find that
there is a net decrease upon the last quarter of 1863
of £60,762. The net decrease upon the last nine
months of this same year just completed, is one, it
will be seen, of £169,911. The net decrease of the
Revenue upon the whole year being more than half
a million sterling, or, to be precise, £562 809. Nor
can this unsatisfactory result be in any way matter
either of surprise or of bewilderment, when
we come to examine the eight contrasting items
in one of the last of the Revenue 'Fables, published at
the commencement of the new year. For, although
it is true there will be found, from the particular
table referred to, an aggregate increase upon the
yenr in Crown Lends of £3,979, in Taxes (soi
di sant) of £60,000, in the Post-office of £200,000, in
Excise of £211,000, in Stamps of £338,055, and
under the comprehensive head of Miscellaneous of
£547,157, altogether an increase upon the year,
under those six heads, of £1,350,191—in Customs
alone there has been a decrease of £615,000, and
under the head of Property Tax a decrease in the

year's income to the extent of no less than
£1,298,000, the two together making a decrease
within 1863 of nearly two millions sterling,
£1,913,000. Hence the net decrease upon this
twelvemonth of £562,809 hint illae lachrymce. It
ought, of course, to be borne especially in mind
while attention is thus directed to the darkest
figures upon the balance sheet for 1863, that the
losses referred to are solely attributable to the reduc-
tion of the impost upon tee,, and the diminution of the
tax upon ineomes and property,reductions boldly ad-
ventured upon last year at the instance of the Right
Hon. the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Only,
again it ought be borne in mind, while saying this,
that had the like been done by his antagonist, that
is to say, supposing that Coiservative opponent of
his had been in power and had so regulated the affairs
of the Exchequer in 1863 as to bring about this
very result of a net loss upon the year of £562,809
sterling—certain are we, that the indignant
eloquence of Mr. GLADSTONE would have been
devoted towards the close of next March to the
reprobation of such very rash proceedings on the
part of an over busy, not to say, crotchetty and
popularity-hunting Administrator. Nowhere is
an especial regard to the good old axiom which
urges us to look before we leap, more urgently
advisable, than in the regulation of each and
all of the innovations that may at any time
be adventured upon in the department of
the Exchequer. Latterly the effort has been made,
under the wise supervision of our master Financier
Mr. GLADSTONE, the effort has been not by any
means to so calculate the national incoming and
outgoing as to have even the smallest reasonable
prospect of a surplus, but on the contrary, and at
all hazard, even with a war expenditure in a time
of peace, to pare the income down, as it were, to
the very quick. Not only has it been thus
with us, in regard to the system of late years
in vogue at the Treasury, even under the
sagacious direction of that department by
Mr. GLADSTONE ; but two other distinctive
peculiarities of his policy as a financier do certainly,
to our thinking, necessitate our regret, even if they
do not actually demand our reprobation. To say
that even Mr. GLADSTONE—not, observe, his often
flouted and reviled antagonist, Mr. DISRAELI, but
the great Financial Minister in Lord PALMERSTON'S
two Administrations—to say that Mr. GLADSTONE
is not a wilful and rash experimentalist in Finance
would be a bold assertion for anyone to make after
the two perverse attempts (happily, both of them,
quite futile) made by him this last year, that is, in his
Bridget of 1863, on the one hand, in the matter of
the club licences, and on the other in his projected
impost upon charitable endowments. Added to
which, even in regard to the abolition of duties
hitherto levied upon a great variety of imports, of
taxes !evied upon this or that article of home manu-
facture, it bears an appearance of singular perversity
to find him, as we do, dealing out remissions thus
during the last few sessions—in regard to what
imported commodities, in respect to what articles
of home consumption ? In regard to the actual
necessaries of life ? On the contrary, in respect
to proverbial luxuries, to such luxuries, let us say,
as playing cards, or as claret.

Few of our social arrangements have been brought
to greater perfection than our postage system,
whether as regards extent, despatch, or regularity.
Its punctuality and fidelity have become so much
a matter of course, that we are hardly fully
sensible of its value. We put our epistle through
a little slit in a wall after affixing a little square of
coloured paper, and then turn away perfectly con-
fident that the next morning will see it lying on
our friend's breakfast table at Paris or Edinburgh,
ou bien encore embarked on its voyage to Shanghae,
or the antipodes, where we shall certainly reckon
on its arriving at the appointed time. We experi-
ence considerable irritation and annoyance if, by a
rare accident, a letter is lost while passing through
the Post, yet we are continually despatching letters
of business or friendship, books, papers, money
orders, circulars, and a dozen other et ceteras, by
its means, which reach their destination with the
regularity of clockwork, without ever giving a
thought to the labour necessary to keep this vast
machinery in working order. If England were
suddenly deprived of the Penny Post we should
appreciate his excellencies to the full even in these
days of good roads and railway communication, and
every year, as the statistics on the subject inform us,
the grand scheme of ROWLAND HILL is increasing
in utility and success. It was a bold idea, but one
based on a sound principle, which cast away all
the old cumbrous and expensive regulations, and
introduced Free Trade into our postage system. To
rely on the support of the many instead of the
patronage of the few, to look for profits to the
number of the receipts instead of to their indivi-
dual amount, is fully in accordance with the spirit
of our own day, but was a principle of commercial
policy less generally accepted when ROWLAND
HILL accomplished his grand reform. There were,
of course, found many who decried the scheme and
prophesied its utter failure—it is probable that its
author himself did not foresee the extent of its suc-
cess. Since the first of those little red portraits of
her Gracious Majesty was affixed to the cumbrous
quarto epistle of those days there has been an in-
crease of 529,000,000 in the number of letters. Of
course the great increase of our trade and commerce
since that time has contributed largely to this re-
stilt, as well as the introduction of the uniform rate
of postage, but that improvement has itself aided in
stimulating and developing our comuiercial activity.
The greater diffusion of knowledge, too, helps to
increase the number, every year adding to the list of
those who can read and write. The proportion of
letters to each person is estimated at 24 in England,
19 in Scotland, and 9 in Ireland. Of course such an
average is merely theoretical, but it affords some
test of national education nevertheless. Taken in
this view we may reasonably hope that a few years
will show a still greater proportionate increase in
the quantity of letters posted, and less discrepancy
between England and the sister country. The num-
ber is rapidly rising, 12,000,000 more letters having
been posted in 1862 than in 1861, and doubtless
the returns for 1863 will exhibit an equal
advance. In the London district alone the
number of letters now pcsted nearly doubles
the postage of the whole United Kingdom
before 1839. Tile addition of the Book Post,
which has proved so great a convenience to the
public, has of course largely increased the labours
of the Post-office. No less than 14,000,000 such
packets were delivered in 1862, while the trans-
mission of 73,000,000 newspapers, or half a million
mare than in the preceding year, testifies to the
general eagerness for political knowledge. How-
ever marvellous the exactitude of our London and
provincial postage may be, the regularity of our
ocean mail service is far more astonishing. A few
instances of wonderful punctuality aro mentioned
in the report for 1862, such as the arrival of the
mails from Sydney, distant 13,000 miles; from
Calcutta, distant 8,000 miles ; and from Hong
Kong, distant 10,000 miles, one hour and ten
minutes before the time when they were due.
Others have arrived at the very moment calculated
upon, and although, of course, the wisest navigator

cannot reckon with absolute certainty on his arrival
at a given time, without regarding wind or weather,
such instances prove the high degree of skill and
efficiency to which our mail service has been
brought, and increase the confidence generally felt
in this department of the public service. Such
efficiency is not maintained without cost and care.
The number of steam vessels employed is 96, ex-
clusive of tenders. The largest of these is the
Scotia, who is known for her quick passages, and
has just accomplished a remarkably rapid transit
from New York. Eight thousand officers and
sailors are engaged in this work, besides 33 naval
agents. The total staff of the Post-office amounts
to 25,380 p ersons, its revenue in 1862 being esti-
mated at £3,777,304, and its expenditure ac
£2,540,363. It is truly a mighty machinery which
is constantly in motion, and affords a substantial
evidence of the energy and activity of our busy,
political, commercial, and social life. With regard
to the men engaged, it is satisfactory to find that
the compulsory registration of money letters has
greatly diminished the number of thefts by lessen-
ing the temptation, while the Post-office Savings
Banks exhibit a wonderful success. The public
owes something to these men, who, as a rule, dis-
charge monotonous and laborious duties with
civility and punctuality, seeing that they are ex-
posed to all weathers in the pursuit of their calling,
and that many of them have to undergo a good deal
of fatigue and exertion in the transmission of the
night mails. They deserve fair and liberal treat-
ment from the authorities, and such must prove in
the end the wisest and most profitable policy, as
securing a superior class of men for a very impor-
tant branch of the public service. Altogether, the
Postmaster-General's Report for 1862 may fairly
be considered a subject for general congratulation,
as exemplifying the active life of the nation and
the triumphant success attained by the practical
application of enlarged and liberal views.

Last Monday Mr. D. HILL, the Recorder of Bir-
mingham, in his address to the grand jam made
some most sensible and forcible observations upon
the number of our criminals and the state of our
criminal law generally. He complained that more
than one-third of those arraigned at the present
session had been previously summarily committed,
and in some cases no less then seven or eight times.
While complim'enting the magistrates for the mo-
deration and equity with which they have hitherto
fulfilled their duties, he desired that further powers
should be extended to them for dealing with minor
cases which come under their jurisdiction, to the
end that severer sentences than it is now in their
power to inflict may be entrusted to them, so that
the certainty of prompt and severe punishment
might deter the evil disposed from misdemeanours.
While we agree with Mr. HILL to a certain extent
in extending the powers of the magistrates, we do
so with this proviso, namely, that those who sit in
judgment on others shall be themselves beyond re-
proach. If we wished to give a foreigner a speci-
men 'of English justice and fair play, we would
invite him to one of our metropolitan police courts,
presided over by one of our stipendiary magistrates,
where he would see justice meted out at the dicta-
tion of law and combined. The very criminals
prefer this off-handed settlement of their peccadil-
loes, and often plead guilty, to obtain the magis-
trate's sentence rather than chance their case
before a jury. But would any sane man
think cf extending this power to county
magistrates, gentlemen who hold their responsible
positions not to their aptitude for business.
or legal ability, but solely from a property qualifi-
cation as it were, and who are in most cases depen-
dent on their clerks for the interpetration of the
statutes. There are, no doubt, many exceptions to
this list ; but these rather prove the rule, than
otherwise. Let the power of police magistrates be
extended as far as may be deemed convenient to the
public interest ; but, at the same time, let those
invested with so responsible an authority as must in
such a case devolve upon them, be men uninfluenced
by local or personal interests. In short, let the pre-
sent county magistracy, as it exists, be abolished,
and in its stead let stipendiary magistrates be ap-
pointed to every district throughout the country.
This will entail, no doubt, an extra expense on the
county rates in one form; but, on the other hand,
it will relieve them of much unnecessary expense
occasioned by the prosecution of futile and petty
charges at the sessions, which could have been dis-
posed of out of hand by a competent judicial autho-
rity in a primary investigation. It is high time that
the administration of the law, to however small an
extent, should not be left in the hands of game-pre-
serving country gentlemen, and others equally
incompetent for legal jurisdiction. We trust that
when further powers be granted to our magistrates,
a strict revision may be made of those eligible to
appointment. We would in future, so far as prac-
ticable, have stipendiary magistrates appointed by
the Government to all important posts, and where it
may not be con venient to appoint such persons that the
individual in whom is vested a magisterial power
shall be amenable to the stipendiary magistrate of
his district. Mr. HILL animadverts upon all prison
discipline and the general management of prisoners.
He remarks that—" No man, no woman, can come
out of gaol the same being he or she was when they
went into gaol—they are either better or they are
worse. If the discipline which the law has ap-
pointed, and which has been administered upon
them, has not had the effect of preventing a repeti-
tion of their offences, why they must become more
hardy, more ready to offend again; while they have
gained experience, through the previous offences
which they have committed, of how such offences
are to be committed with safety. The consequence
is, that they come out again with a greater determi-
nation to do wrong, and with greater power of
doing wrong with impunity." We have on many
previous occasions:expressed our conviction that, if
the regimen and discipline in prisons were more
strict and severe, and the treatment of the inmates
of workhouses more lenient and charitable,
crime would be much reduced. A man may be
driven to theft in the first instance by want, and
from the impossibility of obtaining relief through
tho agency of the parochial circumlocution office.
But once having entered on the course of crime, he
gradually proceeds with that career which ulti-
mately renders him a charge to the country. In
Mr. -HILL'S remarks upon the crime of embezzle-
ment, the learned Recorder asserts that he is sorry
to observe that it is on the increase, and. he justly'
charges employers in general with aiding and
abetting the offence by their over-confidence in
untried servants, thus leading them into tempta-
tion, and he further maintained that while the
criminality is on the part of the servant, there is
too often imprudence on the part of the masts;,
and the question naturally arises whether im-
prudence, which has for its result the fall from
rectitude of a fellow-creature, is not to
some extent tinctured with criminality. After
dilating upon the relations of master and ser-
vant in general, Mr. HILL remarked that he
frequently observed that persons are often put in
trust
ivof
debtsmone byfnyrthem, theirem amna d in various
sters, as stewards
w ways
ya t
t on
handle their master's money, who could not rea-
sonably be supposed to have the requisite caution

which every person ought to have who is clothed
with such a trust. We perfectly agree with the
learned Recorder in these opinions; we hold that
a man who has the power of preventing the per-
petration of a crime, and fails to do so, is, in reality,
an accessory to that crime before the fact, and that
to place temptation in the way of a servant is a
crime, both moral and eocial. It were well if
other of our able and learned Judges would deliver
such practical and homely truths in their addresses
to the Grand Juries in general. We are satisfied
that words, like those of the learned Recorder
of Birmingham, can never fall unheeded.