The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-01 00:00:00

The Weather—Sun Office, April 1, 1864.

THERMOMETER.
This day at Two o'clock 50

Barometer-29.67.
Wind—South-West ; fresh breeze, and fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tins DAY.—Morning, Sh. 20m.—Afternoon, Oh. 10m.
To.moaßow.-Morning, 9a. 51m.—Afternoon,:10h.13Gm.

1, ikt '4*V;-
ea.
t.

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 1864.

The Revenue Returns, which will be found else
where tabulated symmetrically with a view to en-
sure thus facility in the way of reference, revea'
altogether a result radiant with promise in regard
to the future, with solid satisfaction in regard to
the present, and with considerations fraught 'Kith
consolation in regard to the past. And this
for the simple reason that these Revenue Tables,
exactly as they stand now, give all possible indica•
tions of the advancing and expanding prosperity
of the population. True, that there is a deficiency
of nearly £225,000 upon the last quarter as com-
pared with the last quarter of the year preceding—
a deficiency not far short of £400,000 upon the
whole twelvemonth as compared with its predeces-
sor. But—while the fact is so, undeniably—it is a
fact resulting not from any falling off in the re-
sources of the country, but simply, solely, and
viholely from Mr. GLADSTONE having used his
pruning knife last year, it will be remem-
bered, with so bold a hand. There has bean a
decrease upon the year in the Customs alone to the
extent of £Bo2,ooo—a decrease attributable chiefly
to the reduction last year of the tea duties by no
less than sd. in the pound. Again, last year, as we
all know, the income tax was diminished by 2d. in
the pound. Yet, then, it is true, instead of the
consequent falling off proving to be in any way
'remarkable, it is, on the contrary, very much less
of a falling off than could reasonably have been
anticipated. It is a falling off, in fact, upon the
whole of this twelvemonth last past of no more
than £l,lB3,ooo—the proceeds of the year 1864
under the head of Income Tax being £9,081,000,
'bile in 1663 under the same head they amounted
remembering that every
to £10,67,000. And,
pound under the Income Tax has
penny in the
hitherto been estimated as representing in round
numbers about £1,100,000 revenue, the lowering of
the impost last year to the extent of 2d, in
the pound having resulted in a falling ff of
£1,483,000, shows as cliarly as that two
and two make four, that the result is certain there
could have been reasonably hoped for by upwards
;€7oo,ooo—seeing that the actual diminution has
been £1,483,000, whereas the t wopenes in the pound
should have been held to represent £2,200,000 or
thereabouts. There is noticeable an increase of
venue this year by £323,000 under the bead of

stamps—stamps having yielded in 1864 £9,317,000,
and in 1863 £8,994,000. Taxes, again, so-called

have improved by the sum of £168,000 on the year
just ended, the yield under them in 1863 having
been £3,150,000, whereas in 1864 it has been a yield
there of £3,218,000. If the Customs have produced
to the revenue during this last twelvemonth a total
less by near the £BOO,OOO, as already shown, than
they did in the year immediately preceding—the
E seise has considerably more than made up the
deficiency. There, instead of the returns show-
ing any falling off at all, much less
falling off to the extent of £BOO,OOO, and
upwards there is an increase of more than £BOO,OOO,
there is an increase of fully £1,052,000! The E
cise returns, which in 1863 amounted to £17,155,u00,
having in 1861 advanced to an aggregate of
£18,207,000. The falling off upon the year's re-
venue, as compared with the revenue yielded by its
immediate predecessor, is to the extent of £394,593
—the national income amounting, in the year end-
ing 31st of March, 1864, to £70,208,963, as com-
pared with an income of £70,603,561 from its
immediate predecessor. Upon the whole, therefore,
the results are eminently encouraging. The Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer having himself anticipated
a modest surplus of £500,000, finds his anticipations
exceeded agreeably enough, now that he is about
to submit his newly prepared Budget to the House
of Commons, by about £2,000,000.

The Conservative demonstration at Exeter at
which Sir STAFFORD NORTFICOTE made his remark-
abie speech on the condition and prospects of the
Ministry, was ono of considerable importance.
These meetings are increasing in frequency and
numbers, a sign that the party which they represent
is gathering its forces and preparing for active exer-
tion. it is a sign, too, of that probability of success
which has a wonderful effect in stimulating the
enthusiasm and enforcing the convictions of politi-
cians. Although the greater part of the territorial
nobility and a large proportion of the landed gentry
are known to incline to Conservative views and
feelings, still it requires some prospect of success i❑
the political arena to awake such animation in
rural retreats. The meeting at E xeter was by no
means unimportant, since the leading men of the
county attended it, and it had a specific purpose,
being held to promote the return of Lord COUR-
TENAY, eldest son of the Earl of DEVON, for that
city. The coming election was of couree prominent
among the topics of debate—that election which is
beginning to show with terrible distinctness through

the vista of the future. " Next year at farthest
—possibly this year" is the warning cry sounding
very differently in the ears of the Ministerialists
and of the Opposition. It has often provoked very
different feelings in:their respective ranks, since
time after time, when the Conservatives have ap-
pealed to the country on Government questions, the
answer has been unfavourable. They have usually
lost in a new Parliament any temporary advantage
which they may have gained in the old, and the
threat of a dissolution has been a potent weapon in

tho hands of the Government. The Liberals
had a most captivating programme—Reform,
Retrenchment, Free Trade, Peace. and
National Honour were foremost in the

list, while the Conservatives had nothing they
could bring prominently forward as their own,
But unfortunately for Lord PALMERSTON'S Cabinet
and supporters, people have begun asking when
the performance is going to begin, and discover that
Reform means rest ; retrenchment, lavish expendi-
ture ; free trade, a duty on foreign rags ; peace, an

embroilment in half a dozen places; while the
maintenance of national honour has made us the
laughing-stock of Europ© and America. Under

such circumstances the public feeling has been
gradually turning towards less voluble professors,
and it only needs the Opposition to come forward
with a bold, manly, and independent foreign policy
to secure the respect and support of the people.
The addresses the other evening were in harmony
with the general feeling on this matter; in fact,
no considerable body of influential Englishmen

could be got together at present without express-
ing some of that indignation and irritation so uni-
versally felt throughout the country at the attitude
which England has been made to assume. Lord

COURTENAY, the future candidate for Exeter, whose I
address gives promise of his being no idle or inca-
pable representative, very truly said, with reference
to the peace-at-any-price policy of the day, that,
although war was a cause of great evil, and the
misery arising from it was incalculable, there were
evils nearly as great. It was a grave !natter for a
State to abdicate its functions, and an evil
greater than war itself was the loss of
national spirit. " The noble lord very
justly reproached Earl RUSSELL with having in-
sulted Russia without benefiting Poland, and
having lost the friendship of the Confederate
States to subject themselves to nothing but insult
from the Federal Government. Mr. GARD, the
Conservative member for the City, boldly declared
that the present state of things could not last
much longer, and expressed his conviction that
the Opposition had already a majority in the
House, a majority which they might reasonably
hope would be greatly increased at the next general
election. The Hertfordshire victory was of course
cited as an inspiriting example, and probably
the success in that case will lead to several others,
since it has encouraged the Conservatives to
united action, and has given them the stimulus

of that hope which is always so powerful an
auxiliary. A sanguine man has tenfold the chances
of success of a desponding and hopeless mortal.
Mr. DISRAELI, as Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE
amusingly told his hearers, is what his enemies
call a sanguine man, and his friends a man of
great courage, and to his possession of those
qualities the Conservative party unquestionably
owe much of their recovered position. All its
members are now recovering spirit and energy,
and are looking forward with confidence to the
promise of the future; but it was not so at one
time. It is to be hoped they will profit by the
experience of the past, and when they attain their
long sought ambition they will show that they have
taken warning by the errors of their predecessors,
by pursuing a firm and consistent policy abroad,
and by faithfully fulfilling the pledges which, in
the hour of anticipated triumph and doubtful suc-
he public at home.
cess, they have given to t

The correspondence between the Government and
the Messrs. LAIRD is now before the public, and it
is satisfactory to know that there is thus an oppor-
tunity of becoming more intimately acquainted
with the details of this remarkable case. In the
first place, there was a churlishness on the part of
the Government in refusing to publish the official
correspondence which put an appropriate finish to
the long course of uncourteous conduct and unwar-
rantable interference which distinguished the whole
of their proceedings in the matter. It Was not of
so much conezquence in so far as regarded the de-
sired information being circulated, but it was of
importance, as it testified, to the total want of
fairness that characterised the authorities, and it
was an insult alike to the Messrs. LAIRD and the
public in general. Those who study the reports
here presented to notice will be amazed at the
tissue of shuffling cxclaes,'and lame and impotent

conclusions which mark the whole course of the
official communications. It is lamentable to reflect
upon the state to which political hesitation and
paltry concurrence with the demands of a bluster-
ing Government have reduced our Ministers, when
they stoop to play such a part before an influential
firm as that here concerned in the dispute, and
which discussion they know must eventually be-
come potent to the whole nation. W hat a mass of
subterfuge and double-dealing must take place in
those inner circles of correspondence by which the
wheels within wheels of official and diplomatic
occurrences are carried on. A more straightfor-
ward course than that adopted by the Messrs.
LAIRD could not have been found. Their frankness
must have been a marvel to those who dealt with
them in this very underhand transaction of the
authorities of the realm ; their moderation was
surprising, considering the severe tests to which
they were put by the shifting policy and irritating
demeanour of their opponents, and their decision
furnishes an excellent example for all who may
hereafter be placed in positions somewhat similar. I
It is to be trusted that it will be long before another
instance of such unjustifiable interference with the
rights of the subject, such contempt for the inte-
rests of the community, and such wilful disregard
to the honour of the country takes place. At all
events, if they cannot alter the course of events,
the public can now judge for themselves of the
details of this vexatious affair, and form an opinion
as to the inconsistency which marked the course
of conduct pursued by the Government, an incon-
sistency which never attends the actions of those
who act from definite principles and do not veer
about to suit the purposes and satisfy the demands
of arbitrary Statesmen in other lands, but firmly
maintain the course which honour, truth, and jus-

tice sanction, certify, and uphold. Could anything
have been more absurd than the excuse given for
seizing the vessels, that information received by
Government authorised them to believe "that a
forcible abduction" would'take place of one or both
the ironclads. It is really almost incredible that
men in such a position of importance should
stoop to such mean and paltry devices.
Only those who are ashamed of what they
are about would think of having recourse to
such expedients. The answer of the Messrs. LAIRD
is a very proper one to this ridiculous supposition,
and this one paragraph of itself is a sure and suffi-
cient denial to the extraordinary suspicion thus put
forward :—" Both vessels are incomplete and unfit
for sea going, the second vessel has not even got
masts or funnel in, and both are in the sole charge
of our own pople." This in itself is a decided re•

futation of the statement made for the express pur-
pose of authorising more extreme and stringent
measures. Messrs. LAIRD also very properly sug-
gested that when the falsity of the same information
had been discovered the " vexatious restrictions,"
which were causing them such incalculable loss and
annoyance, might be removed. But a more unim-,
pressible man could hardly be found than our
Foreign Secretary, and what was it to him if all
kinds of disasters occurred to our own subjects, if
only the cherished friends on the other side of the
Atlantic were appeased. Another very discredi-
table thing was the refusal on the part of the an•
thorities to comply with the request for a trial trip
of the El Toussain being made, Such an act of
gratuitous insult is quite unparalleled. It would
appear as if throughout the whole course of these
proceedings the efforts of the Government were
directed
.to effect one object, and that to
provoke and irritate the Messrs. LAIRD

into some overt uct of contumacy or
opposition, which might furnish a good excuse for
taking the most decided steps and proceeding to
extremities. Such a gratification was withheld
from them by the deeLled demeanour and judicious
self-control of the parties in question. How many
there are, however, who could not, or would not,
brook such insults patiently, and, therefore, would
be goaded to a fury which would prove fatal to
them. Another important consideration is that
suggested by Sir HUGH CAIRNS, in his memorable
speech in the debate in the House concerning these
vessels. It is that the Government have no right
to ruin the subjects of this realm by their uncalled-
for interference and vexatious delays. In this
instance it is a firm which is rich enough to sustain
the losses inflicted by Ministerial attacks that has
been selected, but the argument is the same as if it
had been one of moderate means, or struggling with
difLulties. The whole course of these proceedings
is characterised by the greatest inconsistency, and
the more we study the details the more we must
regret that English Ministers should thus violate
the spirit of the English Constitution.

The Injustice of the Income Tax,