The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-06 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 6, 1853.

the year and quarter—that on the year
amounting to 920,9991., and on the quar-
ter to 44,613/. s We thus find that a liberal
reduction of duty on an article of general con-
sumption is nearly, if not altogether, compensated
by a greatly increased demand, aid also that some-
thing springs up in other directions that may be
considered almost as an equivalent. This is more
perceptible in cases of the total abolition of taxation.
The money still finds its way to the Exchequer,
although it must be through a different channel.
The strongest, the most powerful arguments,
however, that can be adduced must prove less
convincing than the array of figures now offered
for public inspection, which more than justify the
fiscal experiments that have been attempted, and
afford the greatest encouragement to the pursu-
ance, even with augmented speed, of the course
which we have for some years followed with such
peculiarly auspicious results.
We have already stated that the increase on
the year amounts to no less than 920,9991. It
is, however, right to say, that a considerable por-
tion thereof, viz., 557,537/., is made up by the
extraordinary items—the improvement under the
head' of Imprest and other Moneys being►
192,6321., and under the head Repayments of
Advances, of 364,9051. This latter, however,
affords propitious auguries in several distinct
points of view. It shows that the parties who bor-
rowed money from the Exchequer are participat-
ing in the general prosperity, and that notwith-
standing the debt to the Crown; while it also shows
that these advances were prudently and judiciously
made, and are now yielding handsome returns to
those who accepted the Government assist-
ance for the purpose of carrying on works of na-
tional utility. On the quarter there are also pro-
portionate increases in the extraordinary items—
the " Imprest and other Moneys" showing an im-
provement of 80,6551., and the " Repayments of
Advances" of 83,2511.
On the ordinary branches of revenue there is
still an improvement on the year of 345,4621.,
but a decrease on the quarter of 119,2931. The
latter can, however, be easily explained, and need
not excite the slightest apprehension with respect
to the stability of the existing prosperity even in
the most timid minds. We must bear in mind
the fact that the increase of 345,4621. on the
year is not only despite the reductions and
important remissions of taxation that came into
operation, but also that the year with which it has
been compared was one of extraordinary pros-
perity, embracing as it did the entire period of the
Great Exhibition, which attracted to England a
concourse from all the civilised nations of the
earth, and of course led to a great augmentation
in the consumption of taxable articles. It is,
therefore, peculiarly gratifying to be enabled to
state, that, notwithstanding the substitution of
the House Duties for the taxes on light and air,
the repeal of the duty on bricks, and the reduc-
tions of the duties of coffee, sugar, timber, stamps,
&c., &c., there has been no perceptible loss to the
revenue, but that, on the contrary, the Exchequer
is in a better condition, with a larger surplus
available for further fiscal experiments than be-
fore any of these acceptable boons had been con-
ceded.

Looking to the particular items of which the
account is made up, we find that in the Customs
there is a decrease on the year of 314,6391., and
on the quarter of 182,1931. These deficiencies
are, however, to be explained, as we have already
stated, by the reductions on sugar and timber
that have come into operation during the past
year—to say nothing of the circumstances of our
numerous visitors to the Crystal Palace in 1852 ; and
thatthequarter ending the sth of April in that year
showed an increase of 66,759/., and the year of
97,2161., when compared with the corresponding
periods of 1850-51.

The Excise return—the index to the prosperity
of the labouring classes—is still more satisfac-
tory. There is an increase on the year of
202,8001., and on the quarter of 28,517/., and
that notwithstanding that the former return ex-
hibited improvements on the year and quarter of
57,6741. and of 89,5281. (1) respectively. In
Stamps, too, there has been an addition on the
year of 527,4991., and-on the quarter of 141,7641.
This proves how fully our prediction has been
verified, that the equitable modification of the
duties, estimated by Sir CHARLES WOOD to occa-
sion a loss of half-a-million sterling per annum,
would, after a few years, be productive rather
than otherwise.

In the Taxes there have, of course, been heavy
reductions. 496,9551. on the year and 183,5721.
on the quarter, appear• very formidable. We
must, however, not forget that in 1851 the Window
Tax was abolished, and that the difference between
the quarters ending sth April, 1851, and sth April,
1853, are not more than had been anticipated by
the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER. The loss was
estimated at 1,100,000/., and it has been about
that amount. In the quarter of last year there
was, however, an increase of 127,264/. In the
Income and Property-Tax, which expired at mid-
night, there was an increase on the year of
309,243/., and on the quarter of 83,4061. In
the Crown Lands, on the year, of 62,000/. ; there
is, however, a falling off of 8,000/. on the quarter.
In the Post-office, on the other hand, the de-
crease is on the year 6,0001., accompanied by an
increase on the quarter of 23,000/. ; while in
Miscellaneous the improvement on the year is
79,5141., the falling off on the quarter 22,215/.
On the whole we can once more cordially con-
gratulate the community at large—more especially
the industrious classes—on these peculiarlygratify-
ing results, the most satisfactory which it has
fallen to our lot to notice for many years.

It may be reasonably calculated that the
members of the Coalition Cabinet are in no
way ambitious of being regarded as a Do-
Nothing Administration. Yet what have they
hitherto accomplished ? Possibly, however, it
might be argued with some show of justice,
that we are scarcely fair in assuming that their
conduct during the past quarter is a criterion of
their merits as a Government. Admitting, never-
theless, that the brief period which has elapsed
since their consolidation into a Ministry precludes
them from the opportunity of revealing their ad-
ministrative capacities, we may undoubtedly shape
our inquiry as to their merits in a different form
by asking—What prospbcts have they held out
as yet in reference to any comprehensive
or systematic improvements ? Without fear
of contradiction, we may at once answer
—None. None, at least, entitled to any ear-
nest or exalted commendation. The Easter
Holidays have passed by, and Parliament has
again assembled, and still the country remains
without the promise, without even the promise of
half-a-dozen, out of a score, or rather one might
say out of a hundred most desirable innovations.
Everything is postponed. Instead of measures
being introduced, Commissions are to be formed
for the purposes of investigation. Delays are pro-
lific of delays. Procrastination is born of procras-
tination. " Hope deferred " must again sicken
the hearts of the community. The multitude is
once more required to exercise the virtue of
patience—learning '‘.to labour and to wait," like
the Young Man who answered the Psalmist accord-
ing to the beautiful verses of Professor LONGFEL-
LOW. Illustrations of our accuracy in venturing
upon these unwelcome assertions, may be culled at
all points from the proceedings of the Imperial
Legislature. Parliamentary Reform, for example,
is coolly given the " go by" for another session.
It is complacently presumed that the matter is of
such importance as to admit of yet a little more
consideration. We are warned against precipi-
tancy. Precipitancy, forsooth I As well accuse
the Seven Sleepers of over-activity. Again
—the settlement of the East Indian difficulty
is to be deferred by poitponement after
by our rulers in a number of other remarkable
particulars. this, we take
postponement. So likewise has it been.resolved
particulars. Notwithstanding
for granted that the Members of the ABERDEEN,
RUSSELL, GLADSTONE, GRAHAM, CLARENDON Ad-
ministration, have all along from the very outset
been animated
what is termedin the cant
phrase of the day--the the best intentions. Of that
phrase
dab
we feel, from our hearts, and in our conscience,
thoroughly convinced. We are persuaded that

not one among that motley group of Statesnlen
can be regarded as capable of being classed
with those individuals who are indifferent
to the allurements of power, animi nil
magnce laudis egentes, persons blind to the
glory of securing a really noble and beneficent
reputation. We rest satisfied that they cordially
accede to the truth of the old classic opinion,
that we never view praise with contempt until we
have ceased to perform actions really praise-
worthy, non pries laudes contempsimus, quam
laudanda facere desivimus. Nevertheless, all
these " good intentions" have failed hitherto to
ripen into good performances. Perhaps, after
all, there is some reason in that facetious con-
jecture of the political writer in the current
number of Blackwood, insinuating a sort
of legislative and administrative dead-lock arising
out of the anomalous and embarrassing position of
the present Ministry as a Coalition. " Every
one of them," says the contributor to Maga,
"every one of them, knowing he cannot do what
he would, keeps his eye on his neighbour, that he
shall not stir." It is, according to his estimate
of it, precisely what Mr. Purr calls " situation"—
" every one holds his dagger at his fellow's throat,
yet none dare strike." May not this be a fitting
retribution. Everything was sacrificed by the mem-
bers of the existing Cabinet-for-the-d-elight of gain-
ing one situation—meaning "office"—and the very
realisation of this desire has been productive of
another situation meaning the " dead-lock"
already specified. Yet to gain this enviable position
our rulers, as we have implied, sacrificed boldly
all jealousies, contentions, and predilections, to
say nothing whatever about mere consistency. It
was with. a rather indelicate perception of the diffi-
culties arising out of the incongruity of the prin-
ciples cherished by the different Members of this
Coalition Cabinet that Viscount MAIDSTONE--
alluding, of course, to the Ministerial Ark floun-
dering about in the present Political Deluge—
inquired only the other day, with such comical
indecorum—

"How shall the self-denying lion pass
A friendly morning with the pert young ass ?
Or old-wife's canniest contrivance pen
Reforming REYNARD with an Oxford Hen ?"
How, indeed—when the reoonciloment of all these
bewildering differences (remember that !) is left
entirely and unconditionally to the judgment of
cet excellent :

"A good old man who very fondly hopes
With patent sand to manufacture ropes !"

Yet, in the midst of all these intestine wars
of the Cabinet these interior wranglings
in the Ark—we can fancy its occupants awed
into a momentary panic by that terrible cry of
" Breakers ahead V' An obstacle discoverable
by even the most purblind amongst them in the
grim approach to that inexorable and inevitable
Budget. Yes, in that direction at least, there is
some source of satisfaction. There, at least, we
can have no additional procrastination. It tempts
one to a tolerably free reading of SHAYSPERE.
The Budget, the Budget is the thing with
which we'll catch the conscience of the Govern-
ment. At any rate the financial difficulty
of the Administration can no longer be blinked.
Already we are hastening to its consideration
perceptibly, with every throb upon the dial.
The renewal of the East India Charter may be
deferred. There may be further delays in the
reform of the general system of representation.
The problem of education may even now at the
eleventh hour be adroitly waived by some ingeni-
ous postponement. But, under any circumstances,
the country must find itself empowered to regard
the Budget as the test of the real character of the
Administration. The last financial year has just
closed. The new one has within the last
few hours commenced. Mr. GLADSTONE is
thus impelled in spite of himself to the turning-
point in the destinies of the Coalition. Will he
draw wisdom from the experience of his immedi-
ate predecessors ?—or will- he, according to the
wont of one of his Ministerial colleagues (a Right
Hon. Baronet who once wore the gold robe to no
better purpose than to scatter brick-dust in the
eyes of the population), will he, according to the
wont of Sir CHARLES WOOD, speak with the
fatuity by no means peculiar to a Chancellor
of the Exchequer ? " Video meliora, proboque :
deteriora sequor." That is scarcely credible
with a statesman as gifted and astute as
the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for
the University of Oxford—and yet to hesitate in
entertaining the mere possibility, we should be
setting at nought the remembrance of many
grievous national disappointments. Whatever
else may dismay him in the onerous task of laying
his Financial Statement before the House of Com-
mons, Mr. GLADSTONE will be sustained at least
by' one very considerable encouragement. Ho
will have the unlimited support of all the combined
forces of the Coalition. It was under no such inciting
auspices that Mr. DISRAELI adventured upon his
famous exposition as to the Ways and Means of the
country. Whether it were factious or not factious, an
Opposition of very formidable numbers, and of
very stubborn resolution, was arrayed from first
to last against the scheme of that Right Hon.
Gentleman. After the close of his elaborate state-
ment, he was rewarded by little beyond the honest
and hearty eulogium of that most candid of all
Protectionists, the Representative of the North
Riding of Yorkshire. It will not be thus with
his successor the present CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER. He will have marshalled against
him no such banded antagonists. He, too,
will have doubtless somewhat more ardent
and more numerous encomiasts. If the
knowledge of this do not inspire Mr. GLAD-
STONE with an over-confidence in the security of
his own position, it will be well for the fortune of
the country and for the stability of his party—if
there really be such a thing discoverable anywhere,
under the roof-tree of the Reform Club, or under
that of the Conservative. For doubts like these
will insinuate themselves upon our recognition in
the thick of all this wide-spread political confusion
—a confusion almost reducing one to the profound
condition of unbelief expressed by Mr. MONTAGUE
TIGG when he exclaimed—" I reject the supersti-
tions of ages, and believe nothings I don't even
believe that I don't believe—curse me if I do I"
It thus happens that Mr. GLADSTONE enjoys the
privilege of bringing forward his Financial State-
ment precisely in the delightful crisis of this
epoch of bewilderment.

" Hit him hard, he has no friends 1" The
homely adage has but too much foundation in
fact. We find not merely individuals, but
classes, occasionally ostracised, whom it is the
fashion to run down, until every puny whip-
ster thinks that he may gain character by
flinging a stone against far better men
than himself: For many years the tide has
set in steadily against Railway Directors
and railway Shareholders. The railway interest
generally appears to be the mark for every en-
venomed shaft that can be launched against it.
It would almost seem as-if those to whose spirit
and enterprise we are indebted for the iron net-
work that intersects the country, affording facili-
ties for intercommunication hitherto unknown,
and which but a few short years ago
would be regarded as totally impossible,
were looked upon not as national benefactors,
but as persons on whom it was desirable to inflict
the heaviest blows, the greatest possible discourage-
infant. This feeling was recently illustrated by
one of the cartoons of our facetious contemporary
Punch, which represented a couple of Railway
Directors, bound " Mazeppa-like," to a loco-
motive engine, in order to encounter the
danger of the first collision ; it is
also
ex-
hibited in the anxiety to render Directorscriminally responsible for any fatal accident,
although it might arise from causes beyond
their control, and not averted by any reasonable
precautions. And it shone conspicuously in the
motion which was last night brought under the
consideration of the House of Commons, but sub-
sequently withdrawn, as soon as the missiles had
been cast against the party assailed.
That there have been many formidable acci-
dents it is impossible to deay. But could these
accidents be averted ? That is one question; and
considering the other conditions demanded—of
extraordinary speed and numerous trains—are

they' more numerous or destructive than we have
every reason to expect ?is another. We believe
that no more deserving body could be found than
the railway officials, from the highest to the low-.
est. The very prejudice excited against them has
perhaps produced greater vigilance. We should
only desire to see some of their assailants placed
in their position for a short period (if the
experiment could be tried without serious
damage to life or limb). We venture to assert, that
if such were the case they would receive a salutary
lesson in mild forbearance and Christian charity
that would be beneficial for the remainder of their
respective lives.