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LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1865.

Mr. GLADSTONE may be congratulated upon his
Budget of this year, and is appeared to give great
satisfaction to the House. It had, indeed, been
expected that by this time great improvement would
take place, but still it may fairly be said that our
expectations have been surpassed. Although the
speech was not so long as on some former occasions,
Mr. GLADSTONE entered at great length into com-
prehensive details ; and at the commencement of
his discourse he gave an interesting account of
taxation in general, and the various aspects which
surrounded the opening and_ closing of the present
Parliament. Thus apart from the more immediate
and exciting topics of disunion there was much to
attract interest in the consideration of past and
present prospects by so great a master of finance
and so skilled a rhetorician. There is a striking
contrast between the opening and close of this
Parliament. Many circumstances conspired to
render the aspect of affairs somewhat gloomy ;
there was a war with China, and European affairs
were most uncertain and perplexing ; the harvest
of the second year of this Parliament was the worst
that has been known for half a century. Mr
GLADSTONE briefly but emphatically alluded to the
fearful war now raging across the Atlantic, and
made a feeling comment on the shocking event
which has just occurred there, " intelligence which
causes one thrill of horror throughout Europe."
Yet, as the right hon. gentleman observed, amid
all these dangers and trials abroad we have been
mercifully spared. Thus we find that the financial
history of this Parliament is a striking one. The
expenditure has been such as never before was
attained to in peace, and the amount derived
from taxation is larger than at any pre-
vious Period. This Parliament has also met seven
times for the despatch of business. The
civil expenditure has not increased of late years.
Taking all things into account, and striking out
miscellaneous receipts, which are likely to mislead,
it is computed that the expenditure of last year was
£65,957,000, while the expenditure of the first year
of this Parliament was £67,471,000, so that there is
a reduction in round numbers of
a million and a
a half. Comparing the past year with those before
the Russian war, we learn that the increase that has
taken place in the annual charges of the country is
nearly 22f millions. Mr. GLADSTONE remarked
that, "although the expenditure had been a large one
during the period he referred to, he did not believe
that, at any time of our history, the expenditure,'
whether small or great, had been more entirely in
consonance with the general views, wishes, and
feelings of the nation at large." The main busi-
ness of the speech, comparing the expenditure of
the year with its revenue, was, as the Chancellor of
the Exchequer truly observed, a simple and a satis-
factory operation. Indeed it has seldom fallen to
the lot of the right hon. gentleman during the long
period he has had to perform the task of bringing
forward the financial statements of the year to bye

a better Budget to produce than the present one.
Circumstances have been favourable, it is true, to
a certain extent ; but in these matters much must
depend upon the skill and ingenuity of the Financial
Minister. It must be admitted that Mr. GLAD-
STONE is entitled to great credit for the discernment
he has displayed in the elaborate work before him.
It would seem as if he had abandoned some of his
crotchets, and put aside many of those perverse
notions, which militated greatly against his schemes

in former years.
The Budget of this year will be deservedly
popular on account of some of the reductions which
have been made, especially that on the Income Tax.
This impost will soon be reduced to 4d. in the
pound. Mr. GLADSTONE remarked upon the ques-
tion of the Income Tax being permanently abolished,
and said very truly that this was a matter which
must be left to another Parliament. The right hon.
gentleman also alluded, in a humorous manner,
to the pertinacity with which some hon. gentle-
men declared that he was personally concerned
in the reduction of this tax. The Government have
wisely decided that the Income Tax should be re-
duced during the tenure of this Parliament, and
they certainly could not have done a wiser thing,
or one more calculated to benefit the community.
Loud cheers greeted the announcement of the re-
duction by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The
value of, the penny has progressively risen, for Mr.
GLADSTONE stated that whereas he once informed
the house fhat every additional penny might be
valued at a million, he now had to state that for
every penny made the difference of one million and
three hundred thousand. The fire insurance has
also been properly treated. The division which took
place last month showed the policy of the

house on this subject in an unmistakeable

manner, and here also the Government have

done well in conforming to the popular
wishes. It is certain that this change ought to
have been made long before. After all the reduc-
tions that had been made only a "narrow margin
was left," but Mr. GLADSTONE said that sufficient
remained to allow them to meet the expressed
wishes of the House upon this point. The duty upon

insurance will be reduced to a uniform rate of ls. 6d.,
and the ls. duty upon the policy to a penny stamp.
This is a step in the right direction, and it is to be
hoped that it is an earnest of the future reduction
when more convenient for the revenue. Mr. GLAD-
STONE has not generally shown himself ready to
meet the wishes of the House in this respect, and
the acknowledgments of the community are due
rather to those who have striven strenuously for
the reduction in the face of great opposition
on all sides. The duty on tea will be re-
duced sixpence in the pound, which will
be the only indirect taxation that is reduced this
year. As for the Malt Tax, Mr. GLADSTONE con-
siders that its total abolition will be the " death-
warrant of our whole system of indirect taxation,"
and as for its reduction he could say little as yet.
The loss to the Exchequer would be very great in
order to reduce the price of beer one farthing a
quart. There was great truth in the remarks of
the right hon. gentleman as to the advisability of
the duty on tea not being heavier than that on beer;
the latter is now taxed at twenty per cent., while
the former is forty per cent. During his observa-
tions Mr. GLADSTONE paid a tribute to the late Mr.
COBDEN. " Well and nobly" as testimony had
been borne to him in that House, Mr. GLAD-
STONE said that he could not forbear from
offering his raced of acknowledgment to one who
had done so much to secure restriction from the
commerce of the country. No civilised country
but has joined with us in paying the tribute of re-
spect and the testimony of honour to his memory as
the right hon. gentleman truly observed, and his
eloquent offering to one with whom he was closely
associated in a great undertaking reflects honour
on the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Mr. GLAD-
STONE expressed satisfaction at the circumstance of
this country being the first to lead the vanguard of
civilisation in respect to the freedom of trade and
industry as in regard to locomotion, thus realising
the worms of the poet—
To serve as a model for the mighty world,
And be the fair beginning of a time."
Altogether it may be considered that this Budget
of 1865 is a decided success, and that it will meet
with general approbation from all classes of the com-
munity. Its shortcomings may be rectified upon
another occasion, while its benefits are great, and
their effects cannot but produce the happiest results
Tar and wide. The reduction of the Income-tax, in
itself, would render an indifferent Budget in other
respects a popular one, and this possesses many
other merits of a solid character and significant

nature.

It was only to be expected from the profound
and universal feeling of horror and regret which
has been excited throughout the whole country
by the murder of President LINCOLN that some
public exposition of the sentiments of the English
people should immediately be sought for. The
general feeling on the subject has been shown with
unmistakeable unanimity in all ranks and in all
parts of the Kingdom, and the American people
will we hope receive with mournful pleasure these
cordial expressions of English sympathy. English-
men have been believed, and justly, to have inclined
to the Southern cause ; in fact, they have long
recognised what the Federal party in the
States has failed to discover, that the principle
for which the South is striving is the very principle
which lies at the root of English and American
liberty—the right of peoples to choose their own
form of Government. Englishmen have grown
wiser since the days of Lord NORTH, but Americans,
it would seem, have retrograded since the time of
WASHINGTON. But however strong may be the
interest which the English, as a nation, have taken,
and still take, in the Confederate cause, it does not,
in the least, interfere with their indignation and
horror at this crime just committed, or their sym-
pathy with the nation which has just received such
a shock. The many qualities which distinguished
LINCOLN above his fellows, and especially the
moderation of his tone regarding the Confederates,
all tend to make his loss a very great one at this
crisis.

The charge brought by Mr. STANTON against the
Southern people of having plotted this dastardly
assassination is, therefore, as ill-founded as it is
unfair. Is it likely that the Confederate leaders
would plan the murder of the very man who was
most disposed to treat them with moderation ?
Coupled with the cruel attempt on Mr. SEWARD'S
life, the event would seem to point in a totally dif-
ferent direction, as if it were instigated by the
enemies of the South rather than by their friends.
Why should the two most calm and reasonable men
be suddenly removed from the Council to make
room for the intemperate JoruisoN, who but the
other day talked of hanging the foremost men of the
South " as high as Haman," for Mr. STANTON, who
at once seeks to fix the stigma of this crime upon
the " rebel cause," and for BUTLER, whose mildest
terms are wholesale expatriation for the peaceable
population of the fair Southern States. It is more
likely that the crime, if not the result of private
vengeance or personal animosity, is the work of
some wild Abolitionist, some fanatical hater of the
South, who thinks that " Greek-fire for the people,

and hell-fire for their leaders," are the best terms
which the Washington Cabinet should offer. The
language recently uttered by Parson BROWNLOW is
a sufficient indication. of the lengths to which the
New England party Trill go, and when such terms
are used by their leaders we need not wonder if
men of still more viol ant passions and ill-regulated
minds are transported into that condition of frenzied
enthusiasm in which everything done for the cause
appears not only permissible, but heroic. We
are not surprised to find that Mr. MASON, the
non-official representative of Confederate interests
in this country, addressing a public protest against
the assertions of Mr. STANTON, that the murder
was directly the work of the " rebels." Such asser-
tions Mr. MASON indignantly repudiates as " atro-
cious calumnies.". He points out that JOHN WILKES
BOOTH, the presumed assassin, is of a radical family,
and believed to have strong Radical opinions, his
very name indicating the political creed in which he
was educated. "An origin and mental training,"
as Mr. MASON observes, " little likely to engender
the slightest sympathy with the great cause of the
Conservative South." The Confederates, he
might have added, have had many op-
portunities of assassinating their enemies,
but have never yet disgraced their cause
by such a crime. BUTLER left New Orleans in
safety. SHERMAN has rested in the Southern cities.
The PRESIDENT himself was, but a few days before
his untimely death, mixing freely among the people
of Richmond. Surely there was, then, no lack of
opportunity, if there had been any such cowardly
purpose in the hearts of the Virginians. Unless some
much stronger evidence than the mere conjecture
of the War Secretary is adduced, Englishmen may
freely acquit the great Southern people from parti-
cipation in the crime.
All over the country yesterday there were tokens
of general sentiment. Immediately on the receipt
of the news the day before, the members of the
Commons who were present in the House, signed
a irief address to the American Minister
expressive of their sympathy ; and, as being the
spontaneous and unanimous exposition of the feel-
ing of the moment, it is perhaps more valuable than
the more formal address which is to be moved in
both Houses on Monday evening. Such a motion
will, undoubtedly, be passed without a dissentient
voice, and all must share in the hope appropriately
expressed by Lord DERBY, that the terms of the
Address will be such as to exclude all party feeling,
leaving only that expressions of horror at the crime,
of regret for the loss of the President, and of sym-
pathy with the feelings of the American people, in
which " every man, woman, and child" can parti
cipate. But the expression of sympathy was not re
stricted to the Parliamentary area alone. The promi
nent men of the City assembled yesterday to represen
the mercantile community ; the Americans resider
in London were also convened; the Germans pre.

pared an address of condolence ; while all over the
country, at Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham,
Preston, Newcastle, Bradford, and many other
towns, as well as in the metropolis of the
sister kingdom, public meetings have been
held mid addresses of condolence have
been prepared for Mrs. LINCOLN and for the
American Minister. Such a general and sponta-

neous exhibition of sympathy does honour to the
English nation, while it must convince the Ameri-

cans of the unanimity and sincerity of their senti-
ments. If the miserable man, who has thus
obtained a disgraceful prominence, thought to
distinguish himself by his act, he must be
disappointed at the result of his cruel work.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN was never so much honoured
by the English people as since the news of his sud-

den death ; and unless he belonged to those who
really desire the reign of anarchy and terror, it is
difficult to see what his party is to gain.

The American meetings to which we have
referred was postponed until Monday, in
order to give Mr. ADAMS an opportunity
of being present. On MOnday, too, the leaders of
our political parties will have the opportunity of
expressing their sentiments. Scarcely in America
itself can the news have excited greater horror or
more profound regret than it has occasioned in
England.