The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-27 00:00:00

THE BUDGET.

The house having resolved itself into a committee
of ways and means,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
rose amid loud cries of " hear, hear," to make his
annual financial statement. In commencing his
observations he referred to the Chinese war, and
said the clouds had passed westward, and the
latest trouble that bad become known was that
which yesterday arrived from America, and which
created one general thrill of horror throughout the
country. He was thankful that this country had
been tranquil, and he might say that
on the whole its trade and commerce and general
condition bad been prosperous and satisfac-
tory. Its income during the past k
nyoewanr
had been greater than had ever ben
either during a time of peace or war, whilst the
expenditure for the same period had never before
reached such an amount either in troubled o
tranquil times. The expenditure for the
year 1864-5 was estimated at £66,890,000
the Appropriation Bill was for £67,730,000, whilst

the actual expenditure was £66,40,000, which was
less than the estimate by no less a sum than
£611,000. (Hear.) The right hon. gentleman then
proceeded to compare the expenditure of the country
with the revenue for the last year, and said that the
total revenue for the year amounted to £70,313,000,
showing a surplus over the whole of the expendi-
ture of £3,851,000. (Loud cries of " Hear,
hear.") With respect to source of revenue,
the Customs had considerably increased, and the
revenue derived from the Excise had increased up-
wards of £1,000,000, showing most clearly that
general prosperity had been the cause of general im-
provement. There had also been a great increase
in both malt and spirits, both of which had yielded
more than was estimated. (Hear, hear.) The
right hon. gentleman then compared the position
and condition of the country in the years 1840 and
1852, the outbreak of the war with Russia, and
the year of great expenditure, 1859, and compared
the revenue with the expenditure of the present year.
noHooeutnsbtay said satisfactory as the financial position of the
deficient
safelywas at r
harvestet hi e e
d wouldon presentefnort
entirely
yes yetitunpgsl
ee
upset
andr
year,
prosperity e,s
ebr it
etaoysai couldubecause
eaa
calculation. (Hear, hear.) The national
debt had been reduced during the pre-
ear
to byd
ednuoctiolnem sumthethsaumn isv,o3te4od,oofoOr,
fa or
sauenbtjecyt
fortifications, while the reduction of that debt
for the last six years had amounted to the goodly
sum of, in round numbers, £17,000,000—(hear,
hear)—which was, on an average, £3,000,000 a
year. (Hear, hear.) He looked favourably
on the results of the reduction of the
paper duty, but it was a source of great gratifica-
tion that the trade of this country with France,
both in imports and exports, continued steadily to
increase, and he would take that opportunity of
saying that the impression that prevailed in some
quarters that the expenditure of France was greater
than England, such an impression was altogether erro-
neoui—(hear, hear)—and the fact was easily apparent
because the French accounts were kept with a clear-
nesS and precision worthy of the highest admiration.
The imports for the past yearhad been £294,000,000;
the exports, £212,000,000 ; making a total of
£489,000,000, or an increase of £219,000,000 since
1854. The right hon. gentleman then proceeded
to argue that the comparison of the trade
of England with that of France, was
not a fair one, but the countries most subject to
such rates, such as Belgium and Holland, were the
best tests for comparison, and comparing it with
either of these countries, the trade of Eng-
land would be found to have increased rather than
diminished. He then passed a glowing eulogium
upon the late Mr. Cobden, and said a more devoted
public servant never existed, and alo that the result
of his brilliant genius had yet to be fully felt in
order to enable us to put a just appreciation
on his transcendant abilities. Having read over
the different sums estimated for the present year,
he said he now come to the difficult task of dispos-
ing of the surplus. (Hear, hear, and laughter.) He
proposed to charge the duty on transfer of shares and
conveyances by a different mode of stamp. The
duty on agreements on small tenements would be
reduced from 6d. to id., and the tax of appraise-
ments would be reduced naturally to 3d. Special
pleaders could have a licence for three years. He
also proposed to reduce the duties on charter par-
ties from ss. to 6d. ; and he also, proposed
to reduce the charge now made on time
policies on marine insurances, and the duty
on the Railway Assurance Company, the Acci-
dental Death Company, and Plate Glass In-
surance Company would be modified. He
now came to the consideration of the argu-
ments that have been put forward for the
reduction of the malt tax, which, according to some
people, although it only brought the country
£6,000,000, cost the consumer £20,000,000. If the
malt tax was repealed, he was of opinion that
that would be the death-warrant to our system of
indirect taxation. But reduction was not repeal,
and that was the point to which he should invite
their attention, in order to ascertain at which point
reduction should commence so as sensibly to lower
the price of beer to the consumer. After the most
careful calculation he had come to the conclusion
that the taxation on a barrel of beer, that is the
beer within the barrel, amounted to 20 per cent.

(We shall give the conclusion of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer's speech in a later Edition.]

Letter from the Hon. J• N. Mason,

The Index publishes the following
TO THE EDITOR 01' THE INDEX.

"Sir,-Time will develope the mystery as yet attending
the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, late President of
the United States, and the attempted assassination of Mr.
Seward, his Secretary of State. I desire only to repel at once
the calumnious assertion of Edwin M. Stanton, the Secre-
tary of War, in his letter to Mr. Adams, printed in the
London journals of this morning, that these acts were
'planned and set on foot. by rebels, under pretence of
avenging the South and aiding the rebel cause,' and of
which he says there is evidence obtained. .
"Mr. Stanton's letter is dated on the 15th April, and
states that Mr. Lincoln was assassinated in the theatre at
half-past 10 the previous night, and died at 20 minutes past
seven on the morning of the day that he wrote. I adduce
this to show how unlikely it is, in the hurried excitement,
and the necessary occupations attending such events, that
any but the wildest theories would prevail in regard to the
cause of the event, or the objects of the perpetrators. Mr.
Stanton adopts that which he deemed would be the most
useful before the public of his country. Should the
' evidence' to which he refers to support his calumny ever
see the' light, it will be scanned with the experience de-
rived in regard to other evidence, unscrupulously fabricated
in the same quarter, during the present war, for base
political effect. It is the crudest conception, too, that the
murder of Abraham Lincoln was planned and executed for
the purpose of aiding the rebel cause ;' but I can well
understand that it may have material influence in aiding
the cause of that overpowering party in the United States
which Mr. Stanton is the type, and Andrew Johnson, who
succeeds as President, with Butler of the notorious prefix,
are the exponents and leaders—a party in whose path the
late President and his Secretary were acknowledged
obstacles in their projected schemes of plunder and rapine
to follow their dominion over the Southern States.
"For the rest, 1 learn from a well-informed source in
London that Wilkes Booth,' who is accused of the deed,
is a son of the celebrated English actor of that name, was
of his father's profession, which he pursued principally in
the Northern States, and was generally understood as in-
heriting those traits significant of his father's name, Junius
Brutus Booth, by whom he was named John Wilkes, after
the great English Radical—an origin and mental training
little likely to engender the slightest sympathy with the
great cause of the Conservative South. As to the crime
which has been committed, none will view it with more
l
abhorrence than the people of the South, buht,tthiteyiswtille
know, as will equally all well balanced minds,ds et
necessary offspring of those
have Eng-
der in every form of unbridled
of the South by Northern armies,
nalised the invasion eenelsiceofusbe,lo whichh (.1‘ and mu.r-
luonardeebrus,kaendd ctehioisaeinolyv,eratnhdemt.berefore instigated, by their
"Pardon the length of this note. I desired only in-
stantly to repel the atrocious calumnies in the letter of Mr.
Stanton.

4, very respectfully yours,

"3- M. MAsox.
"24, Upper Seymour-street, Portman-square,
London, April 27, 1865."

Bank of England Return,.—Last Evening.

An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth Victoria,
cap. 32, for the Week ending Wednesday, April 26, 1865.

ISSUE DZPLETMENT.

Notes Issued 1.e....428,793,055

Government Debt £11,015,1C0
Other Securities .. 3.634,900
Gold Coin & Bullion 13,910,445
Silver Bullion ....

£28,560,415

£28,560,415

,EPARTMINT.

Government Semi-

ri ties (including
Dead Weigh tAn-
nutty) .£10,081441
Other Securities 19,057,1
Notes
Gold and Silver 81050
Coin

3 J,435,189
MILLER, Chief Cashit r.