The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 27, .1853.

carried his resolution respecting the Advertise-
ment Duty by a very clear and 'decisive ma-
jority. The sum could be easily spared, and, in-
deed, the Chancellor of the Exchequer was willing
to surrender the amount. But in place of be-
stowing it as a general boon on journalism, in
which all, from the highest to the lowest might
participate, he determined •to offer a handsome,
shall we call it " bribe" or "gratification ?" We
leave it to our readers to fill the blank according
to their own fancies—to the Times. The com-
plaints on this subject are loud and general ; the
majority are indignant at the contemptuous dis-
regard of their views thus exhibited. The substi-
tution of another of his crotchets for that which
had obtained the sanction of the House, and one
which would grdatly affect the value of the boon
about to be conferred on journalists. As we have
repeatedly shown, a reduction of the duty would
not meet the exigencies of the case, and the with-
drawal of a portion, more especially for the pur-
pose of disposing of the balance in the proposed
manner, was merely felt to be adding insult to in-
jury. No, Weventure to assert that the resolution,
deliberately adopted, must be carried out in its
integrity, and that no compromise can be adopted
in this portion of the Financial Scheme.

England is criminal. Otherwise the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, would never have as-
sumed to himself judicial authority—subjecting
the country to criminal treatment--sentencing
the people of the United Kingdom virtually to
seven years' transportation ! Seven years' trans-
portation to the penal settlement of the Income
Tax. A sentence of this duration is ordinarily
reserved for individual felons, convicted after long
trial of some heavy and grievous misdemeanour.
It is seldom pronounced, without defined culpa-
bility in the recipient, upon the aggregate of an
enormous population... It is so, nowadays, never-
theless. Mr. GLADSTONE, like a judge on assizes
rather than a sedate administrator, has—in re-
ference to what we have called the penal settle-
ment of the Income Tax—devoted the inhabitants
of this land to seven years' transportation. There-
fore—we repeat, and the conclusion must be ob-
vious—England is criminal. She will be criminal
at least if she submit quietly to this criminal
treatment. She is criminal already in the
estimation of the CHANCELLOR of the RT.-
CHEQUER. Criminal in what ? Can it be
in having consented, almost without a mur-
mur, to the recent organising of the Coali-
tion—to the formation of a Ministry unsus-
tained by any perceptible principles—to the con-
solidation consequently of what may for that
reason be termed a glaringly unprincipled Govern-
ment Really so it would appear. If the de-
duction be in any way unsatisfactory to the ad-
visers of the SOVEREIGN, they have, in this, solely
and entirely to thank themselves. They have
shaken the confidence of the community in the
good faith of its statesmen. They have trans-
formed consistency into a shibboleth. They
have violated all preconceived ideas as to
the laws of political propriety. They have ren-
dered their past a mockery—their present a contra-
diction—their future a source of national solici-
tude. All this they have accomplished in build-
ing up an anomalous and heterogeneous
Administration. And now, having fulfilled their
intentions, having grappled the reins of office,
having comfortably settled themselves down to
official toil, with a view, no doubt, to their
becoming permanent squatters in Downing-street
—her MAJESTY'S Ministers deem it .but right to
subject the nation to. the penalty due to its late
indifference. They sentence it, through the
mouth of the Financial Administrator, in the
manner already specified—namely, with reference
to this delectable settlement of the Income Tax--

to Seven Years Transportation. Query—Will
the country, having' consented to accept the Coali-
tion, consent also to accept the consequences of
the Coalition ? Having permitted the wholesale
abandonment of principle by the Members of the
new Government, is the nation to tolerate, as
the first result of that concession, the continuance

for seven years of the most unpopular tax ever
- - -

imposed during a time of profound peace upon a
multitude peculiarly alive to such injustice ?
Coupled with this, moreover, we have seen a bribe
of many thousands sterling held out, not by stealth
in a back room at Derby, but openly on
the floor of the House of Commons. A bribe
offered, not by W. 8., not by FRAIL the

barber, not by MORGAN the bricklayer, bui

by the Members of her Britannic MAJEsTv's
Government. A bribe not to some half-inebri-
ated elector, " but to a portion of the Fourth
Estate—to- a division of the Press—to • a section
of incorruptible (!) Journalism. Well, the people
of England see a Budget brought under the con-
sideration of the lower branch of the Legislature,
having in it those two remarkable items—the re-
newal of the Income Tax for seven years--its
,renewal until 1860, when it shall " cease and
determine," and with this the remission of up-
wards of 40,0001. sterling hitherto derived from
the stamp upon newspaper supplements. Ministers
must have counted rather confidently upon the
gullibility of the British population, before
they could venture to introduce such pro-
posals in the course of their Financial Statement.
If we might judge, indeed, from the facility with
which the Budget has entrapped the veteran Mem-
ber for Montrose, we should presume that the
Cabinet had not altogether calculated without its
host. The 'bated breath of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, using the word in its double applica-
tion, has decoyed the Political Father of the whole
body of the Reformers into a virtually uncondi-
tional acceptance of the Budget in its entirety.
The melancholy extravagance of this proceeding
on the part of Mr. HUME was sufficiently in-
dicated by the deformity, or distortion, or
perhaps we should • rather say by the di-
rect contradiction and irredeemable absurdity
of his argument. His argument, in fact, was
this—" I so fully concur in all that has been said
by the Hon. Baronet the Member for Herts in
condemnation of the Income Tax as heretofore
levied, I so fully agree with him in reprobating
its injustice and severity, that I shall give my
cordial support to the Budget of the Right Hon.
the Chancellor of the Exchequer." In other
words, " I regard the Income Tax as so odious,
without some distinction being made between pro-
perty fixed and precarious—that-4 shall forward,
by every means in my power, its extension to in-
comes of 1001. per annum, and its renewal for a
period of no less than seven years' duration."
Never was there a more preposterous non sequitur.
And this from the veteran Reformer.! The course
pursued by him in this matter bears a painful re-
semblance—we venture to introduce a quo-
tation from Othello, even with the fear
of the Earl of CLARENDON before our eyes
—bears, we say, a somewhat painful resem-
blance to that of lAGO, when exclaiming, in a
voice of indignation, " Stab ra man in the dark I'
all the while perforating with
0, .shame, shame !"
his sword the bosom of the duped and defeated
RODERIGO

TRH DUBLIN EXRIBITION.—The number of season
tickets sold up to yesterday evening was 5,312. There
are now nearly 1,300 men employed at the building
*rely day.
PRICE or GOLD.—The quotation of gold at Paris is
about at par (according to the last tariff), which, at the
. English. Mint price of 31. 175. 100. per ounce for
standard gold, gives an exchange of 25.17; and the ex--
change at Paris on London at short being 25.07 k, it
follows that gold is about 0.38 per cent, dearer in Paris
than in London. By advices from Hamburg the price of
gold is 427 per mark, which, at the English Mint price
of 31. 17s. 100. per ounce for standard gold, gives an
exchange of 13.6 ; and the exchange at Hamburg on
London at short being 13.5, it follows that gold is 0.12
per cent, dearer in Hamburg than in London. The
course of exchange at New York on London for bills at
60 days' sight is 1091 per cent., and, the par of exchange
between England and America being 109 23-40 per
cent., it follows that the exchange is nominally 0.17 per
cent, in favour of England : but, after making allowance
for charges of transport, .the present rate leaves no profit
on the importation of gold from the United States.
DIVIDEND.—A circular was issued yesterday by Mr.
Coleman, the accountant, announcing a first dividend
of 7s. 6d. in the pound on the estate of Messrs. Coll-
mann and StOlterfoht, who failed on the 10th of January,
and whose direct liabilities amounted to 153,811/. It
is undrsrstood, at the same time, that the general liquida-
tion o f the estate is proceeding as favourably as was anti-
ciPat'_4d. when the meeting of creditors took place in
Febr.vary, and that further early distribution may be
look. for.