The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-04 00:00:00

of Ireland is much improved since the recommend-
made by the committee of the House of Lords. (--Vriff;
hear.) Let me not be misinterpreted. It is the inters
of her Majesty's Government to consider the subject ef.a
Consolidated Annuities, but they are not prepared to 'so%
themselves in any way by the recommendations of tin' ee,
mittee of the House of Peers. The Government will e°
Bider that question entirely on its merits ; and I haver
•` „;0.
self prepared, and I will submit to the house, sore,e rit- I
tions which I have carefully considered, and wte he
believe are justified by the circumstances, and thr ea/
beneficial in their operation ; but I beg my hon• ; the
not to go away ander the carry r
that the
Government is prepared to carry into operation
of
recommendations of the committee of the 1101 set
Lords. With • regard to the income and propeAylo
I have laid down- one principle—that direct tasl'oe,
should be as general as indirect taxation, and that 3 of
sure of direct taxation, founded upon a large Schell
exemption ought not to be tolerated. With resPe,,.%.l
that important measure, the property and inconlrvo-70.
have
ment statedprepared to assert, and that ierrinciple which hers
to ac Majesknowie tY's duo
difference between permanent and precarious int elits
(Loud cheers.) Sir, I will not enter into any argn,4l
upon that subject at present. • Although I have c 11700
my observations as they have occurred upon the °there
topics which I have had to encounter, and although it
it
is much that I must still advert to I feel th • a
go
would be impossible that I should on this ne"b„
,blf
discuss a subject which deserves, and will Pr°eo v nooit
d
receive on the part of the House of Commons, pro
and mature deliberation. My duty is to nrk eat
exposition of the policy that her Majesty's Governor
eto
are prepared to recommend ; and all I have s
do is to place that before the house in clewso
manner as I. can. Viewing the property and interne
with reference to the two principles I have laid down' `l,O
that direct taxation ought to be in its nature as gene,,shel
indirect taxation, and that it ought not to be estabnif
upon a system of exemptions ; and, secondly, thattaweea
Terence should be recognised by the Legislature heic, the
realized and precarious income, I will now offer ent
house the rate of duties such as her Majesty's Governor est.
are prepared to recommend to the adoption of ParliaTor
(Cheers.) Sir, notwithstanding the large remission oTildod,
ation which her Majesty's Government have recornLeoool.,
a remission of taxation immediatelyamounting to 3,ou"' to 0
and eventually relieving the consumer of this country
greater extent, it is not the intention of the Goverthe
to recommend any increase in any of the -schedule_is 00'
w property and income-tax. (Loud cheers.) I will first eh
sider and state to the committee the exemptions "
we think it is expedient to recognise and sanction• ip
shall recommend that on all industrial incomes the 8180
tions shall be limited to incomes below 1001. a-year, iDto
being the point at which we consider that wages enter e
the calculation ; and while we assert the principle
just, we are prepared to recommend that the exeinEtipt°,o
should commence at industrial incomes below 1001. iair
incomes arising from property, we take the point of exTeit,il
tion at 501. a-year. (Hear, hear.) I have now t°
id
to the house the rate of difference which we recorrol
should be established between schedules B, D, and -'-'„' told
the two schedules of realised property. I have already rate
the committee that we do not propose to increase tu` 0.9
payable in schedules A and C. That will be takeD'tho
heretofore, at 7d. in the pound. We propose thathrt.e
rate on the other schedules shall be estimated at t
fourths of that rate, and therefore it will be doo
(which will be exactly three-fourths), on seb,e /(1.,
B, D, and E. The produce of schedule A, a"4,1,: )3,
will be, as before, 2,649,0001. The produce of schee''
the farmers' schedule, will be estimated in this mannelohe
We take the estimates of the profits of farmers, not a'4. 0,)
half the rent, as heretofore, but at one-third. (Ch !ever
We have investigated that subject, and find that, be" 00
active trade may be, the whole tendency of late year.s„ 40,1
been to a diminution of profits, and we are quite ssitih.
that the test of the farmers' profits has been taken too t 0
(Cheers.) We have taken, therefore, one-third the rentiy,
the measure of profit, and not one-half ; and consellech is
under schedule B, the farmers will pay 156,0001., vnate,
exactly one-half what they pay under the present .041
From schedule C, I calculate that there will be rece:the
746,0001. at 7d., as at present. Under schedule re•
mitigated rate, the estimate is that 1,162,0001 will be
ceived, and that under E, also, under the mitivfifo
rate, 248,0001. will be received. The total of the
schedules will be, it is estimated, 4,061,0004 ;a.
estimate the increase—if the exemption is limited to
comes under 501. upon property, and under 1001. uPellad.
dustrial incomes—l estimate the increase at about 430,p0
But I think it right to say that in that estimate
who
taken into consideration the position of the clergyman he
has not more than 1001. a-ybar. The position in wnle•ol.
is placed, in the manner in which the duty is now rsi.lo.)
is extremely severe, and I may say unfair. (Hear, fereoo
He is rated under schedule A at the highest scale, wee tol
a Dissenting minister who has 100/. a-year, being retail the scale of salaries in the mitigated schedule, ''!,49
$
have an advantage. The position of a clergyman let,
fact, the position of a person working for a salary, the
from the nature of the property from which he derivesoge
sources of his maintenance, he is deprived of the advan
of the mitigated schedule. And, therefore, it is nece?,l' he
to make special provision for him, because he must stnitio
assessed under schedule A. I have estimated
probable diminution from this source under schedlliany t,
at 30,0001., bnt I have taken that into ace° ,itt
and it will not affect the figures which I have 4%•
down, of 5,361,0001., as the produce of the income" e
I add for Ireland the modest sum of 60,0001. (Langbt
,i;.
The total sum will be about 5,421,000. Generally sP:„iiat
ing, I think I may say that the general result will be, ;40
probably the property and income-tax will about prou"ot,
the average that is produced by the present existing 3for
Perhaps it may be advisable for me to make provisionthe
some slight diminution ; but, generally speaking', 00
average will be about that of the last three years of oat
present tax. And, if the house should adopt Ai
proposition, I think the result would not materin,
affect our fiancial income. Assuming, for the moniec)„
that the property and income-tax as I have now laid it.
fore the house will not affect our Budget of the year, 1, ig
' pi
now necessary- for me to approach the ways and means
which the diminution of the revenue occasioned by the 0.1,,,e„"
sures that I have recommended on the part of her P-4.0";
jesty's Government may be met. It is necessary 0
me, however, before I enter upon that, to make 0;0
reference to a subject of great interest, and in which 0
have increased the public expenditure. (Hear.) Sill),
will be my duty on a very early occasion to place 0.
fore the house a supplementary estimate for the exPeal
diture of the coming year with reference to the natietvhe
defences. (Cheers.) It will, of course, be necessary in ate
usual financial statement for 1853-4 to make an estinilo
which I shall have to place before the house, and to t:1
into consideration the whole expenditure of the year; 4. to
therefore that will be the more convenient momen"
nil
advert to that subject. I know the great difficulty is
delicacy of touching on a subject of this kind, 1911;011.
my mind the difficulty is much increased, and the 400
cacy becomes much greater, by a prudish affectnio
of reserve than by speaking to the house with the nese
frankness with which I should address them upon 3 s 0
formal occasion. (Hear, hear.) Sir, we are about to prePe4
no inconsiderable increase to the estimates, and we Tot
be met with the question of peace or war. Now the r.
is, that the measures which we are going to lay before 'O,
liament, and which we have the confident hope that Faro.
ment will adopt, have nothing to do with peace or loof
(Hear.) We should have brought them forward njire•
any circumstances, and I believe that those who have ,the
ceded us, or those who may succeed us, would act infoce
same manner. (Hear, hear.) When we came into °p ;
we found the estimates for the year already on the t*der
we accepted them; and, as there was a general 11-1140,
standing that they were the estimates of onr predecess the
they were passed without being canvassed, and thus the
the progress of public business was facilitated, and opt
appeal to the people hastened. But the subject wasa it
that necessarily engaged the attention of the nation, Oar
was one also that must engage the attention of the a1)V.,11
ment. There was no question what dynasty wand
the throne upon the other side of the Channel. -"beta
not turn upon what may hays been said or done elset
that the attention of the nation was drawn to the sta'"Of
the national defences. That attention was drawn orig,„'n tof
by the highest military authority of the land. The euefethe
being so long at peace was brought to the attention o,heir
most industrious people in the world. It was drawn be
attention while all the tendencies of the age seemed
those that secure tranquillity and happy repose. ;0
~
,w,°
a•
that there was no panic or precipitation, but, on tbe,„tri
trary, a prejudice against what the people of this COu-....af
supposed to disturb the dreams of repose and prospe:o-40
in which they indulged. But sooner or later the idea ocl
afloat, and seized the public mind. It was taken more .01
more into consideration, and, totally irrespective of exteliot
circumstances, the nation arrived at the conclusion
this country was not in that state of defence that was
~,,r1
sirable. They arrived at the conviction that it was of prim"„ro.
importance that the shores of this country should be ear,
tected, and that its defence should be complete. ("-"Go'
hear.) If I were asked, on the part of her majesty's :0
vernment—in no other way would I presume to gice,,eat
opinion—what I thought was the tendency of the PreiTtia.
age, and what the general course which present ciricjoog
stances indicated, I should say without reserveLsPe„,o4,
from the bottom of my heart in all sincerity, that I be'-'„"i.
the predominant feeling of the present day was in fave.;,;hey
peace. (Cries of " Hear, hear.") But I believe the to
sures her Majesty's Government are going to recononeear"
Parliament will tend also to the preservation of Pes the
hear, hear)—and, on considering this subject aft,erse ee
general election, we felt it to be our duty to n 3 if it
time in recommending the necessary measures.
sa it
be a fact—and I assume it to be a fact, heel° alf
is our opinion—that this country is not PreP de'
defended, and that it wants to be properly 00
fended, let due preparation, we say, be made for the
defence. On considering the question, we thought the
best thing was to do it completely. We thoughvotti
best thing to do would be to put the navy of this °lid to
in the position which we believe all Englishmen wislierecl,
see it in—(hear, hear)—and the plans we have mat 'wig
and which, if the house will support our propositions, will
be carried into complete effect, will be plans which
ice
settle this question of national dyefuenwicenfo
for
haveev aer—
(loud crar,
of (hear, hear)—that is to say, you
ll your von
d
senals and strong points in the kingdom defended, an; its
will have a real Channel fleet, which can assemble fro ,1.0.
different rendezvous when necessary, and which is tb34ve
per garrison and protection of the country. It vvoula, the
been convenient for her Majesty's Government to doe-1081r
riel
question, as they would, if they had not felt Ato be tee
paramount duty to bring it at once before the the
of Commons. They were busied with measures 00
tendency of which, they believe, will be in 000
time to reduce the expenditure and the establishilo
of the country. But they felt that it was °oaf
impossible to mix up a question of this importance, f.
from its nature, of such urgency, with questions were
ministrative reform. They felt that, if the count!! to be
not properly defended, and if the people wished It at
properly defended, the question was one whicb,,l„' have
once to be completely and definitively settled. " Diet°
taken those steps which we believe will insure the eeTt; asIC
defence of this country. It will be necessary for m° be of
for a supplementary estimate. I hope there will not the
difficulty raised on the part of the house. The state of
„.a,
finances, as I shall show in a few minutes, will perfectly . t
thorise me in asking a supplementary grant for the pi
year, to be supplied from the ways and means ; .01!
year we shall ask your approval of an estimate told
increase our general etimate about 600,0001. H. avin'
the committee that its will be my duty to ask it„sAti:3'pear,:
a supplementary estimate of the exenditure of it.flosen,
which has occurred since the Appropriation Asec-beor_ot
I think it will be convenient if I give some for
io
the state of the finances, so that the committee rav_, the
an opinion as to what ourfrsoumrplirtv
be
present financial year, ghiwchl tbllastutphPelYeluc:ii.
for the expe
ure
afforded for the supplementary estimate. „twee ".,1
of the year since the appinrompr:katiniognt.haeFloe,_
_wohoe,oczn
recollect that in the early part of the y
to estimate what would be the surplus,
B::clidmll3l:T,Bo—fifeitTn:
wouldnou ne e bed
m 4 6yo ,
will perkisP°ol.
,tibonut'of asking a vote 1-2
collect that on a subsequent occasion I cam down
tional for the MiKntaefiln.r war. The committee e an