The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-07 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 1854.

The Financial Statement just delivered in the
House of Commons is in some parts eminently
satisfactory, but there is, unfortunately, an alloy
which materially detracts from the gratification
we might otherwise experience. 'We should in-
deed rejoice at finding such powerful corroboration
of the principle on which we have so frequently
insisted, viz., that reductions of taxation do not
lead to corresponding or proportionate reductions
in the revenue as that afforded by the excess of
the receipts over the estimates, which amounted
• to no less than 1,035,0001., another strong illus-
tration of the buoyancy of our national resources.
A. nearly equal sum, or 1,012,0001., also appeared
crn the credit side of the national balance sheet—
money saved by the economical management of
the money allocated by Parliament for the year's
expenditure. Here, then, was an unexpected wind-
' fall of 2,047,0001., a very nice nest egg with
Bch to begin operations for the approaching
ar. But, unfortunately, there was a serious
item on the opposite side of the ledger. The move-
ment for the conversion of certain portions of the
public debt had proved a complete failure, result-
ing in - a less of about 800,000/. sterling, and
stripping the Exchequer of the handsome balances
an
which would have been so peculiarly valuable at
emergency like the present. We may possibly
have to borrow equal
sums at an expense very far
exceeding the benefits d • erived from their use.
And for all this, the nation •
gains some 15,0001.
per annum, taken from the incomes of persons
who confided in the prescience of the Financial
Minister ; and thereby lost about 15 per cent.
of their entire capital.
Buteven that large
amount by no means represents the total losses
occasioned by the tampering of the Right Hon.
Gentleman with the public debt. The interest
of money was increased, and monetary accommo-
dation restricted, serious difficulties imposed on
our merchants, traders, and manufacturers, while
fundholders and shareholders of every species of
stock saw their property depreciated some ten or
twelve per cent. It is true that a great portion
of that depreciation was occasioned by the unwar-
rantable conduct of the AUTOCRAT—conduct that
has already cost us, or is estimated to cost us,
withir, a short time, more than four and a half
liail ,4•4 ons lot (I&'ect ~ expenditure, and which has
iyzii-idj occasioned damage to a much larger
c 40nrit'l)y- the ile-Prec iation of every description
°I PtOtle.r.ty.. ' But the evil was ' materially en-
aticed far_'
',so- sty the iudiiett losses by depreciatiou
--;
..,.,

11',;IdVd

'

were concerned, by the imprudent dealings of Mr.
GLADSTONE with the public funds.
It may be said-that lie could not have possibly
foreseen that the CZAR would have persisted in his
unjust and impolitic aggression with such unpa-
ralleled perversity, or that he should so obstinately
and unwisely have refused to avail himself of the
numerous loop-holes allowed for him to slip out of
and evade the consequences of the formidable
blunder he had committed. But even at the time
when Mr. GLADSTONE brought forward his propo-
sition, the cloud in the Fast was distinctly per-
ceptible, and it required no extraordinary degree
of political foresight to see that extensive specula-
tive experiments should have been avoided at
such a time. The loss has entirely arisen
from Mr. GLADSTONE'S ambition to found
a high financial reputation at the very
commencement of his career in that important de.
pa,rtment, and he must not be chary of his labour
in attempting to repair the damage he has

created.
After taking into account the saving of expen-
diture and the excess of income over the estimates
already referred to, the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer calculated that he would be obliged to
discover new sources from whence no less than
2,810,000/. might be obtained, the additional
war expenditure (according to present estimates)
being 4,506,0001. The Right Honourable Gentle-
man very judiciously refuses to retrace our foot-
steps by the re-imposition of indirect taxes which
have been abolished or reduced. He is too well
acquainted with the state of public opinion on
fiscal matters to venture on such a proposition.
He could, therefore, only obtain the necessary
sum by borrowing, or resorting to increased direct
taxation. He has selecte, and, in the
present stage of the case, perhaps not
unwisely, the latter branch of the alternative,
thinking that in the first instance, at least, we
should endeavour to defray the expenditure our-
selves rather than cast any portion of it on pos-
terity. We do not say that he is wrong in so
doing. For the present we abstain from expressing
an opinion on that part of the case, but this we
will say, that if he is now right, he was decidedly
wrong in his conversion project, when at a time
of profound peace, and when the nation was in
the enjoyment of almost unexampled prosperity,
he endeavoured to effect a temporary saving of
interest at the expense of that very posterity
about which he is now so solicitous, coolly
increasing by the flourish of a pen the nominal
capital of the debt no less than ten per cent., all
of which would eventually have to be liquidated
at par. How the admirers of the Right
Honourable Gentleman can reconcile the
two projects, or henceforward vindicate his
consistency,. is more than we can even
guess. We, therefore, leave the arduous task to
those who are willing to undertake it.
The mode by which he contemplates raising the
additional sum is by DOUBLING THE INCOME TAX ! !
Doubling it, with all its glaring inconsistencies
and intolerable grievances flourishing in unabated
strength. Yes, the Income Tax, the days of
which were numbered, as we fondly imagined—.
at least such of us as believed the flattering pro-
mises of the Right Hon. Gentleman. We our-
selves never indulged in such brilliant but decep-
tive visions. And now it is to be doubled, and
that without modification or amendment of any
kind. Our gloomy vaticinations have been thus
too speedily verified ; and we have received un-
exceptionable evidence that in any emergency the
Income Tax is the first source of revenue that will
be resorted to. We do not regret that it should
be so. On the contrary, we have invariably main-
tained that a fairly-apportioned income tax, judi-
ciously discriminating between permanent and
temporary, and also between fixed and precarious
income, is the most expedient, as it is unques-
tionably the most equitable mode of replenishing-
the national exchequer. Our objections were not
against the impost, but against the glaring injus-
tice of the assessment that charged all kinds of
income at the same rate, without regard to its
duration or fluctuating character. Advantage
was taken of the pledge that it was to be allowed
to expire in seven years to obtain its renewal for
the prolonged period without modification. In
vain we warned our representatives of the dodge
—in vain we called on the people to speak
out temperately, but firmly, and to insist
upon the immediate discontinuance of the fiscal
atrocity. A detachment of "Marines" could
not have exhibited greater credence. It was
really an affecting instance of credulity. They
swallowed everything which the ABERDEEN organ,
with its various Gladstonite followers of the Fourth
Estate, chose blandly to put forward. Our salu-
tary cautions were received as if they had fallen
from another CASSANDRA; and we ourselves are
obliged to regret the melancholy facts that
establish, beyond the possibility of doubt, the
accuracy of our predictions.
There is, however, " balm in Gilead ;" the ad-
dition to the tax is only asked for a single half-
year. Unfortunately, the present case, for the
exigencies of the nation, " brooks not of delay."
If we feel the full weight of the burden, we may
console ourselves with the thought that Parlia-
ment must be appealed to before it can again be
demanded by the urgent collector at our doors.
That is certainly a great comfort, and there
is another also. The Right Honourable Gentle-
man, who manifestly has peculiar sources of in-
formation, not available to the community in
general, manifestly looks forward to a speedy ces-
sation of hostilities, and a belief that the four
and a half millions will cover the entire expense
of the war. This affords a cheering prospect,
and will materially improve the feeling on the Stock
Exchange—a matter at which the Right Hon.
Gentleman doubtless arrived, as he may thereby,
in some degree, diminish the losses arising from
his abortive operation of last year. Indeed, the
present may be energetically termed " THE STOCK
EXCHANGE BUDGET ;" for if it had been framed
solely to meet the, views of the money-dealers, it
could not do so more effectually.

It is to be regretted that not a single word
was uttered on the all-important subject of
'economising our stock of the precious metals ;
releasing some portion uselessly stored up in the
vaults at Threadneedle-street--as uselessly, in-
deed, as if it still remained buried in the bowels
of the Ural mountains, or were luring new emi-
grants to the " diggins" of Australia or California,
or of rendering some of that now in daily use avail-
able for our foreign transactions by a substitution of
small notes abundantly secured for the sovereigns
that aro constantly changing hands. On this all-
important subject he preserved a total and un-
broken silence. We yield our full and unmiti-
gated
approbation to the plan respecting the stamp
duties on bills of exchange, rendering foreign bills
equally liable with inland. It is nearly that put
forward by Mr. PACE, to which we have already
directed attention. The Right Hon. Gentleman
thinks that this change may occasion a present
loss a about 100,0001., but that eventually the
receipts may be nearly equal to those levied under
the present system. He need not, however, think
so humbly of the project. We distinctly, delibe-
rately, and advisedly assert that, in place of loss,
large profits will result from the equitable change,
and that in this, again, it will be found that
" honesty is the best policy t"

Another masterly State paper has recently been
penned by M. DROITYN DE L'Huys, and officially
published in the columns of the illoniteur, in the
name of the French Imperial Government. It
is an epitome of the whole of the arguments com-
prised in a recent and memorable correspondence.
The monstrous mis statements of the CZAR are
therein again exposed and refuted beyond the
possibility of misapprehension. Referring to the
dilingenuous 'rummer in which the Russian AUTO-
CRAT iS endeavoiaring to provethat throughout these
occurrences he Las been the victim of a systematic
and preconceived hostility, the French Minister
contents himself with observing, "It is not my
Voice,
it is that of Europe, that replies that never
did an iinPrudent and haughty policy meet in any
indeed, to
age with calmer adversaries." It is true. True,.
an extent we have sometimes thought
absolutely
deplorable. "Calmer Adversaries"
surely man ne,rer had than the Emperor Nicao-
LAS has had, from first to last--adversaries who