The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-05 00:00:00

(§.44A4A,
. 4. 4441 V,

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 5, 1853.

A more
.complete and decisive victory has sel-
dom been achieved by any Government than that
obtained on Monday night, or rather Tuesday
morning, on the first division on Mr. GLADSTONE'S
Budget. Never have there been so many instances
of unblushing tergiversation as were exhibited on
the occasion by men whom we have hitherto been
accustomed to regard as consistent politicians.
The division list, indeed, affords a deplorable illus-
tration of the subserviency of many popular mem-
bers, who, for once, voted for " men not mea-
sures," and sacrificed the interests of the indus-
trious elmses to the indefensible crotchets of the
Financial Minister. These men have hitherto
been accustomed to condemn, in the strongest and
most unequivocal terms, the gross and pal-
pable injustice of levying the same rate on
every kind of income, without reference to
the source from whence it might be derived.
They have clearly explained the nature of the
inequity, objecting to Mr. DISR.AELI'S project,
which recognised a distinction between the con-
tributors under Schedule A and 0, and B, D, and
E,—that it did not go far enough,—that the
actual difference in value was far beyond the
allowance which he was prepared to make. And
yet these very men have, with a few honourable
exceptions, combined to negative the amendment
of the Hon. Bart. the Member for Herts, which
embodied the great principle they had so frequently
and so eloquently advocated, and to continue the
iniquitous system for seven years longer without
change or modification of any kind.

Let us for a moment consider the substantial
effect and meaning of that amendment. It was,
that the continuance and extension of the tax,
" without any mitigation of the inequalities of its
assessment, are alike unjust and impolitic."
There was nothing factious in this no-
thing calculated to obstruct the Government,
or embarrass the finances of the country. It did
not pledge the House to oppose a renewal of the
impost after a due discrimination between the dif-
ferent descriptions of income. All that it con-
veyed was, that the tax was objectionable in its
present form, and that its renewal for so long a
term as seven years, without some attempt to in-
vestigate its inequalities, was contrary to equity
and expediency. We venture to assert that nine-
tenths of those who obeyed the Ministerial
Whippers-in, who followed Mr. GLADSTONE into
the Government lobby on the division, were in
their hearts and souls convinced of the truth and
accuracy of the proposition against which they
were voting, and had at some time or other, in
public or private, given distinct expression to their
views on the subject ; and yet they voted against
it, and thereby affirmed the justice and propriety
of the impost.
What faith can henceforth be placed in the
professions of public men when we find them so
strikingly at variance with their practice, and
that on an occasion of such vital and paramount
importance as that of Monday last, when the
effect of their extraordinary conduct may be the
perpetuation of a system in every respect as
iniquitous as that which they then sustained with
their suffrages.
There is yet, however, a locus penitentim, a
chance still remains for the partial redemption of
the charact, that have been already so seriously
damaged. The amendment of Mr. MICHELL, ex-
tending only to detail; and not aimed at the
principle of the measure, will be brought forward
this evening, by which it is proposed that no duty
shall be levied in the first hundred pounds of
ercise
in-
come arising from the ex • of any profession,
trade, or vocation, and that a difference of 2d in
the pound shall be made in favour of all such in-
comes above the yearly profits of 1001.1 and less
than 5001.

This is a material improvement on m I
DISRAELI'S proposition, not merely becauseit
a nearer approximation to justice by a farthing is
the pound, the contemplated charge for the first
two years—we do not expect to see the reduction
ever carried into practical operation—being sd.
in place of 51d. ; but, far more, because it offers
an exemption to the first 1001. of all precarious
incomes not exceeding 5001. per annum. This
claim is so equitable, that it would appear almost
work of puperoroptio4 to oar. say Arpoact

its favour. The result of the first division, however,
proves that but little regard is paid to the abstract
justice of a proposition by Hon. Gentlemen who
are prepared to vote black white if it promote the
interests of the party to whom they have tendered
allegiance, or from whose bounty they expect a
" the loaves and fishes "—the
fair proportion of
good things, so acceptable to the numerous waiters
on PROVIDENCE who crowd the lobbies of the
House, ready to take advantage of any chance.
They may, however, for very shame, take advan-
tage of the loopholes for partial escape, to extricate
themselves from the lowest depths of infamy ; and,
although argument and reasoning may be thrown
away upon them, a feeling may be excited among
their constituents that will produce some effect
when a new appeal to the country becomes immi-
nent.

It is difficult to conceive anything more absurd
than a system which taxes the whole of aprecarious
income themoment it touches a certain point. Why,
we ask, should an income of 1001. per annum be
reduced below one of 991., or even 981., from the
demands of the tax collector. It is quite clear
that if a certain amount be considered entitled to
total exemption as being barely sufficient to' pro-
vide the necessaries of existence, it is only the
surplus beyond that amount that should be taxed
—the portion which may be considered as at the
disposal of the acquirer. It will be seen that this
proposition only applies to precarious incomes,
—every pound of accumulated and realised pro-
perty being properly subject to the charge. In-
deed there should be no exemption of any kind
under schedules Aor C. As the fate of the Mi-
nistry cannot be considered as in any degree depen-
dent on the success of Mr. MICHELL'S motion, it
is to be hoped that the so-called Liberal members
will vote in accordance with their convictions.
It is even possible that Mr. GLADSTONE, seeing
the general feeling on the subject, may make a
graceful concession. We cannot, however, say
that we rely with any degree of confidence on this
being the case. It is essential, therefore, that
those who wish to make the only possible amends
for their past votes should be in attendance this
evening, to obtain partial justice for those whom
they had previously so deeply injured.

Prophets have not been wanting to threaten
the world with " wars and rumours of wars" dur-
ing the next quarter of a century—disasters which
are, according to them, to closo.the " abomination
of desolation," and to usher in the Millenium.
Yet throughout the whole of Europe there reigns
at this moment the most uninterrupted tranquil-
lity. Whatever clouds appeared of late to be
" looming in the future," have, by this time,
through the agency of • the diplomatists, become
tolerably well dissipated. The Councila of the
Sublime Porte have recovered their equanimity.
The AUTOCRAT has modified his demands upon
the Government at Constantinople. The Austrian
EMPEROR has suddenly grown less eager to draw
the sword in defence of the Christian marauders
of Montenegro. All those ominous movements,
which were recently observed upon the shores of
the Levant, have subsided into negotiations for
the better guardianship of the Holy, Places, by a
common arrangement among the Sovereigns of
Continental Christendom. Instead of conspiring
to cut each other's throats in an outburst of
amiable enthusiasm, the nations of Europe ap-
pear to be now only solicitous to become the
privileged custodians of the consecrated soil of
Palestine. England, it is true, keeps altogether
aloof from these conferences among the Northern,
Southern, Eastern, and Western Plenipotentiaries.
A chivalrous ardour, such as the Saxons and the
Normans knew of old, has given place to an eco-
nomic caution, or a half-political, half-commercial,
indifference. France, however, has not altogether
lost the glorious spirit of the Crusaders. • Some-
what of their romantic daring and of their religious
fervour has survived in the bosoms of her children
and in the palaces of her administrators. Senti-
ments like these were rife in 800, when the
diidem was worn by CHARLEMAGNE. They had
not become entirely obsolete—they had not be-
come wholly forgotten—they were still regarded
with a certain tenderness in 1800, when the
sceptre was grasped by NAPOLEON. A thousand
years had failed to wear away the influence which
this linked together the respective ages of those
two redoubtable conquerors. It seemed in this
regard that there was a sympathy between epochs
thus widely separated from each other—just as there
was discernible a certain resemblance between the
brilliant prowess of MURAT and the magnificent
knight-errantry of ORLANDO. And the same sen-
timents may be declared, we believe, with truth
to have descended from the last, down to the pre-
sent, generation. They were latent in the hearts
of the millions who owned allegiance to the great
NAPOLEON : and they are cherished, too, with
redoubled ardour among the lieges of his imperial
successor. These truths were recognised early in
the present century by RENE DE CHATEAUBRIAND.
Their recognition gave the key-note to the music
of that golden eloquence which won such. rapid
and world-wide popularity to his " Genie du
Christianisme." They were truths, moreover,
which were understood in all their grandeur and
intensity by PAur. DE BERANGER. It was his ap-
preciation of them that caused him to celebrate a
greater than HANNIBAL, a wiser than CAESAR, and
a more wonderful than ALEXANDER, not by any
of those gorgeous terms of panegyric, but—from
his instinctive sense of the popular feelings as
a poet---simply as—"lui qui vn Pape a couronne."
His comprehension likewise of these feelings
throughout France has guided, to a considerable
extent, the Eastern policy of the THIRD NA.-
roLzorr.. And so it has come to pass that the shield
of Gaul has been extended, at the eleventh hour,
over the SULTAN, and that the CZAR has found
his cupidity unexpectedly baffled on the eve, as
it were, of his anticipated seizure of Constanti-
nople. •

Meanwhile, there have become visible nume-
rous tokens of an amicable ambition in various
other parts of Continental Christendom. The
promise of the conservation of tranquillity
throughout Europe has been rendered visible by
events elsewhere than within the Council Cham-
bers of the Imperial Palace of the Tuileries. If
hope of the preservation of quietude be
looked for, it is not necessary that we
should search for it solely in reference to
these arrangements as to the future guardianship
of Palestine. It is to be seen to the north and
to the south simultaneously. Northwards it is
becoming discernible in the prospective assemblage,
during this present month of May, at Vienna, of
the Monarchs of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Bel-
gium, Greece, Naples, and Bavaria. Southwards
it is conspicuous in the graceful reception, by the
QUEEN of Spain, on the 28th ult., at Aranjuez,
of the letters accrediting the Marquis de TUR-
GOT to the Court of Madrid as French Ambassa-
dor. The language uttered upon this latter occa-
sion, both by the Monarch and the Diplomatist,
must be regarded as, in all respects, too remark-
able to be negligently overlooked. It is
curious to read the speeches addressed to
each other nowadays by the French Plenipo-
tentiary and the Spanish Sovereign, and to
remember, while doing so, the relations for-
merly subsisting between ISABELLA 11. and the
OaLF:A xs family—or, still more, the opinions which
farther back estranged the representatives of the
Royal House of Spain and the Founder of Cie
NAroixoNIA.N dynasty. On presenting his cre-
dentials, it will be seen that the Marquis de
TURGOT observed—" I have the honour to present
to your Majesty the letters of his Majesty the
Emperor of the French, my august Sovereign,
which accredit me to you in the quality of Am-
bassador :" adding—" His Majesty the Emperor
forms the most ardent wishes for the happiness of
Spain and for the glory and prosperity of the reign
of your Majesty, and charges me to express
them in the warmest terms." Nor is this deemed
sufficient, the representative of NAPOLEON 111.
ntinUing thus—" Sincere friendship between
France and Spain has produced, Madame, in all
times, happy results for both nations ;" and he
adds, moreover,—"
Your Majesty may be persuaded
that the sincere desires of my
t h Sovereign,e
constant efforts, will always tend to increase their
good relations, and to draw closer tisanwdhmichy
unite them." Alto
r &word 9f colavim
vutary rempt

from himself personally, the Ambassador is answered
in a congenial strain by the Spanish Sovereign.
" I receive,"
says her Majesty, " with a great
deal of pleasure, Monsieur le Marquis, the letter
of the EMPEROR of the FRENCH, which accredits
you as ambassador to me : the wish which you
manifest on the part of •
his Majesty for the
felicity of the Spanish nation, and the splendour
of my reign, are the more agreeable to me as I
already possess numerous proofs of his sincerity."
Thereupon, the QUEEN continues, " On my part,
I form the same wishes for the prosperity of the
EMPEROR and of France, and I wilt not let any
opportunity escape for causing the friendly rela-
tions established between this monarchy and the
French Empire to serve in promoting the common
welfare of the two States." Although the senti-
ments here expressed were given utterance to
merely at what may be termed, without much
inaccuracy, the private interview between the
Marquis de TURGOT and the Queen ISABELLA
they are, nevertheless, sentiments so re-
markable, as significant of the epoch at which
we have now arrived, that they have appeared to
us to be especially entitled to our consideration.
Eveiywhere, in fact, not only in Spain, but in
France also, and in England, and in Russia, and
in Turkey, and in Austria, and in Prussia, and
not only in Europe, but throughout both hemi-
spheres, there is a manifest reluctance- to interrupt
with unjustifiable hostilities the beneficent and
prosperous tranquillity of Christendom.

COURT CIRCULAR.

OSBORNE, WEDNESDAY.

The Queen and , Prince, accompanied by Princess
Helena and. Princess Louisa, drove out in a pony car-
riage yesterday afternoon, and returned to Osborne about
six o'clock. The Hon. Colonel Grey was in attendance
on horseback.

The Duchess of Kent visited the Duchess of Glouces-
ter yesterday at Gloucester-house, Piccadilly.
The Duchess of Kent, accompanied by the Princess
Adelaide of Hohenlohe, and attended by Lady Anna
Maria Dawson and Sir George Couper, honoured the
Lyceum Theatre with their presence last evening.
The Bishop of Nova Scotia had an interview with the
Duke of Newcastle yesterday at the Colonial-office.
The Earl of Clarendon received the Cabinet Ministers
at dinner yesterday evening at his residence in Gros-
venor-crescent.

Dispatches were received yesterday at the Colonial
office from the Governors of the West India Colonies,
and also from the Governor of Gibraltar.

THE BOARD OF TRADE RETURNS.

The Board of Trade returns for the month ending the
sth of April were issued this morning, and furnish still
stronger evidence than was afforded even by the previ-
ous returns of the prosperous state of every branch of
industry. As compared with the corresponding month
of last year, they show an increase in the declared value
of our exportations of 1,486,8181. In this increase al-
most every article has shared, but the most prominent
items are metals, cotton manufactures, haberdashery
(which has reached a total exactly double that of April,
1852), and woollen, leather, silk, and linen manufactures.
In hardwares, also, there has been a considerable aug-
mentation, and beer and ale likewise exhibit the extra-
ordinary extent of shipments to Australia. In looking
at these results allowance must be made, as on former
occasions, for the manner in which the respective amounts
are swollen by the general advance in prices ; but this
has operated only in a limited degree, the increase in the
quantities as well as in the value of each article exported
being in most instances extremely large.
DECLARED VALUE OF EXPORTATIONS.
Month ending April 5, 1852, 6,400,415/. ; ditto,
1853, 7,887,2331.
The comparative imports and exports of raw material
show a very large increase in the impoi Ls of
,every arti-
cle, except tallow.
• The aggregate value of ovr expo' s during the first
quarter of the present year has been 20,391,723/.,
against 16,575,7481. in the like period of 1852, showing
an increase of 3,815,9751., or 23 per cent., which has
occurred in the following order
Month ending— Increase.
February 5 ... £1,410,060
March 5 919,097
April 5 1,436,818
The quantities of imported articles taken into con-
sumption present an almost general increase. Grain,
flour, salted provisions, cocoa, coffee, sugar, wine, spirits,
tobacco, fruits, and spices, have all been. used to an ex-
tent- that demonstrates the constantly improving condi-
tion of the people. Tea is the only item on the unfa-
vourable side, and the diminution in this article is,
doubtless, to be attributed in some measure to the cessa-
tion of purchases on the part of the trade pending the
production of the budget.

DEPARTURE OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADIAN
MAILS. - Yesterday morning, about half-past nine
o'clock, the United States mail steam-ship Atlantic,
Captain West, sailed from the Mersey with the usual
mails for the United States and British possessions in
North America, upwards of 100 passengers, and a large
and valuable cargo of general merchandise on freight.
INDIAN AND AUSTRALIAN OUTWARD MAIL—The mail

put on board the Ripon yesterday, at Southampton,
for the Mediterranean, India, China, Batavia, and Aus-
tralia, consisted of 261 letter bags and boxes. There
were 22 bags for the Mediterranean, and 239 boxes for
places beyond Egypt ; 27 of these boxes contained letters,
and 212 contained newspapers. There were 53 boxes
for India, 8 for China, and 100 for Australia, 13 out of
the 100 contained letters, and the rest newspapers. For
Melbourne there were 78 boxes, 6 containing letters,
and 72 newspapers. For Sydney there were 55 boxes,
4 containing letters, and 51 newspapers. This has been
the second mail for Australia vid, India, that has been
dispatched, and the largest and heaviest that ever left
England. It weighed about 10 tons. Among the 40
passengers who went out in the Ripon, about a dozen
were for Australia. Captain Fitzgerald, R.N., was
also a passenger, and has gone to India to join H.M.S.
Winchester ; and Mr. Down, a brother to Captain
Down, of the Chusan, who is gone out to Melbourne in
an official capacity.
SCREW V. PADDLE.—The Bengal screw steamer, which
brought home the last Indian mail, performed the dis-
tance between Malta and Alexandria, 820 miles, in two
days 20 hours, whioh is the shortest time the voyage
was ever performed in, and she must have averaged 12
miles an hour to have done it in the time. There is no
doubt that this steamer, the largest at present in the
world, can run, under very favourable circumstances,
19 miles an hour. She has fully answered the most
sanguine expectations concerning her, and has preyed
the Yankee notion that length of itself gives speed, be-
cause steamers of such enormous length as the Bengal,
which is nearly 320 feet long, have not to breast every
wave. All persons interested in the screw, and who
have watched the performance of the Bengal, have pro-
nounced that the days of paddle-box steamers are num-
bered, and that they will be supplanted by screw steamers
as effectually as the mail coach has been supplanted by
the railroad.
AUSTRALIA.— The Statesman arrived yesterday from
Port Philip, having sailed on the 30th of January.
The total amount of gold she brings is not at present
known, the advices only giving the shipments from
Geelong, which were 10,339 ounces, valued at about
42,0001. The intelligence by this opportunity is two
days later, but comprises few points of interest. An
arrival by private escort of 20,204 ounces of gold had
been announced, and the latest accounts from the mines
were satisfactory. New discoveries had been made at
Ballarat, the value of which appeared to be undoubted.
The quotation of gold in Melbourne was 31. 12s. 6d. per
ounce. Sales of real property continued to be made at
advanced prices.
ONE HUNDRED TONS OF SPECIE.—The specie brought
home by the Magdalena from the West Indies, Pacific,
and Mexico amounted to nearly three millions and a
quarter dollars in value. About half a million dollars'
value of it was in gold ; the rest was in silver. A very
large portion of this specie was from Mexico. It took
28 hours to transfer the specie from the Mexican packet
to the Southampton one at St. Thomas. The whole of
the specie was dispatched to London from the South-
ampion Docks yesterday ; it weighed nearly 100 tons,
and occupied nearly 20 specie waggons. The Magda-
lena brought the largest and most valuable cargo ever
known. The West India Company will net by her
cargo and by her passengers' fares about 10,0001. The
Magdalena had a splendid run from St. Thomas, having
performed the distance of nearly 4,000 miles in little
over 14 days.
DEATH IN THE SNUFF-ROL—Yesterday Daniel Can-
non, snuff and tobacco manufacturer, was fined by the
Commissioners of Excise in the mitigated penalty of 251.
(his liability being 3001.), for mixing chromate of lead
with snuff. The analytical officer of Excise having re-
ported the adulteration, Mr. Cannon stated that he had
no idea of defrauding the revenue or the public by in-
creasing the weight of the snuff, and that his only ob-
ject was to add brilliancy to the article by the mixture.
Mr. Commissioner Stevenson observed that the act was
not only illegal, but deleterious to health, and therefore
cautioned the defendant against a repetition of the
offence.
DRS. TJLLATHORNE AND MOORE.—We understand that
the legal advisers of Drs. Ullathorne and Moore have
decided upon making application to the Master of the
Rolls for their liberation from custody, on the ground
that their committal has been abuse of the power of the
Court. Affidavits. will be put in to show that the de-
fendants had previously tendered all the property they
were possessed of ; that their personal inability to pay
was never questioned by the bank managers or their re-
presentatives ; and that their imprisonment is not un-
reasonably believed to be the result of an expectation,
on the part of the official managers, that the money
would be paid by the Roman Catholic body. Should
this application fail, the .rev. gentlemen will go before
the Insolvency Court, for which their papers and
schedules are now prepared.---Birminghwa Gazet:e.
A letter from Mayence of the sBth ult. says :—" At
the theatre here last night, just as the performance had
finished, and the audience were withdrawing, a sharp
cry was heard behind the scenes. It was soon circulated
about that one of the actors having in vain besought an
actress, who was about to leave the company, to change
her determination and stay, had, in pretending to give
her a farewell kiss, bit off part of her nose. The wound,
though not dangerous, will require, it is supposed, five
or Nix weeks to heal up.