The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-14 00:00:00

the whole, we earnestly recrArnnend the Chancellor
of the Exchequer to reconsider his plan, and-not re-
fuse to profit by public ()pinion, like the late Ad-
ministration.-IV/orning herald.

The public has now had time to digest a little
the articles of the Budget, and, perhaps, with the
digestion a more temperate and calm constitutional
feeling may come on. It will be seen that the chief
objection urged by Sir Robert Peel was to the im-
position of a stamp duty on the transfer of funded
property. We objected to it likewise, and if our
information should prove correct as to the sum likely
to be raised by it, there will be no great difficulty
in relinquishing it for some other less offensive. The
removal of the duties upon sea-borne coals merits

and meets with decided aPprobation. An end, it is

remarked, is thereby put to the wdiole of the
coastwise duties; and of course a Reform, as the
French call it, of persons employed in collecting
them will follow. The abolition of the duty

on candles is equally satisfactory, and will be
sensibly felt. There are some duties, the re-
moval of which, as Sir Robert Peel jusly re-
marked, is not proportionably felt by the consumer;
that upon candles cannot be of the number, for the
consumer has always the remedy in his own hands

by himself making, and that without any great
stretch of ingenuity, the article he wants, if the
dealer do not come down in his price. The chief
subjects of discussion in the Budget are, the dimi-
nution of the tobacco and the newspaper stamp

duties, and the imposition of the -transfer Of
stock duty. To the reduction of the stamp
duties on newspapers, speaking professionally,
we can have no objection. As there may,
however, often be difficulties in determining the
number of printed lines in a manuseript presented
for insertion, and as misunderstandings might
thence arise between the advertiger, the newspapers,
and the stamp-office, we think that it would be better
to fix one rate (say Is. Gd.) for all advertisements,
than to have a tlottWe scale of Is. or .-?st 04 accord-
ing to their length. The produce of the tax would
then be as great, while the inconvenience of its col-
feetiu:l would be diminished, and one motive be re-
moved for giving imperfect notices from the desire
of avoiding Government charges. These doubtful
points, however, may easily be modified or changed:
aud, upon the whole, notwithstatuftig the local
troubles in the rural districts, we cannot help re-
marking on the easy tone of confidence with which
Ministers, both ins and outs, speak of the resources
of the country. So much the better for England,
we say ! It is not inappropriate to the present sub-
ject to offer to general notice an observation trans-
mitted to us by a valuable correspondent. Times
of commercial and manufacturing difficulties are ge-
nerally evinced, and even measured, by the bank-
rupt list in the Gazette, Now we are assured by
him, that for many months past, besides the dimi-
nution in lumbers, the magnitude of the dealings of
those who have failed has been comparatively nc-
thing.—Tinw,
- - - - - -

There is, we believe, but one opinion with re-
gard fo the propriety of the choice of the taxes about
to be repealed or reduced. The duty on sea-borne
coals was one of the most wickedly partial and op-
pressive that could possibly be devised; and were
there no other proof of the superiority of our own
times, we might cite this tax, which no Statesman
durst think of propo-ing, and which, at all events,
no Parliament would now grant. The wonder is,
how such an infamous tax has been suffered to con-
tinue so long. When it was proposed to remove
the duty some dozen years ago, a strong opposition
was, however, made by the Members of the inland
counties, on ;he ground that capital had been em-
barked in mines, on the faith of the tax on sea-borne
coal continuing, and that, were the tax to be repealed,
this capital would be lost. But at that time Lord
Durham (then Mr. Lambton) and the other Mem-
bers who advocated the repeal were not properly
backed by the country, from sufficient pains not
having been taken before hand to prepare the people,
and they were borne down by the parties inter-
ested in the perpetuation of the injustice. Due pains
have, however, been taken of late to exhibit the
tax to the public in its true colours. An excellent
pamphlet, attributed to Mr. M'Culloch, placed in a
strong light the information obtained by Parliamen-
tary Committees, and derived from other sources;
and this pamphlet having been most extensively cir-
culated, and the newspaper press having generally
lent itself to the diffusion of the facts and arguments
contained in it, no Ministry, no body of men could
any longer have resisted the repeal; more especially
after the disturbances in the Home Counties, in
which the sufferings of the poor are so much aggra-
vated by the tax. The reduction of the duty on
newspapers and on advertisements will also prove
highly beneficial. To allude. only to books. The
duty on advertisements amounted to a prohibition
to publish works below a certain size; and it made
I a deep inroad into the profits of all books to which
the public attention was drawn. We instance
books; but the observation is soseeptible of general
application. The effect of the reduction of duty
will necessarily be an extension of the means of com-
munication to the public. To avoid all cavilling
about lines, as columns of newspapers are of various
breadths, and the print may be large or small, it
would be better to say a certain number of words.
The disposition of Ministers to favour the diffusion
of knowledge through the press, is, at all events,
highly praiseworthy. The repeal of those duties
which pressed with peculiar severity on industry, as
the duty on printed cottons and on glass, also meet
with general approbation. The repeal of the duty
on candles is also a great boon. With respect to
tobacco, opinion is not, we believe, so favourable.
The tax is still sufficiently high to afford a strong
temptation to the smuggler. Where the prime cost
of a commodity is almost nothing, the half of such
a duty as the praseet one on tobacco, will allow of
little or no diminution of contraband. It strikes us,
too, that the use of tobacco being attended with
very injurious consequences (a veteran snuff-taker
can hardly speak to be understood), a better subject
for taxation can hardly be selected. It is, at all
events, a luxury; and before relieving luxuries, the
catalogue of necessaries should be exhausted. With
respect to the taxes substituted for those repealed or
reduced, we are happy to be able to state, that it
has been determined to abandon that on the trans-
ference of stock. After the opposition which it
encountered in the House, we were prepared for its
abandonment, and we think Ministers have acted
wisely in yielding at once to an opinion so unequi-
vocally rosoifested in every quarter. The tux on the
tratodereuce of land, will, we suppose, be also aban-
doned. Indeed, of the two, ales on land seems the
meet partial in principle, as it will bear almost ex-
clusivel on the smaller class of landholders. The
great landholder's estate goes by succession to his
eldest son; but the owner of an petate of 500/., or
even VON. a year, usually conveys it to trustees
for sale, and distribution among his children. By
the smallest landlielders, therefore, the tax would
almost exclusively be paid.--elforning chronicle.
Lord Altborp's financial career has commenced
most inauspiciously, -Ai, outrageous proposal of
taxing the transfers of stock has raised a storm
that men such as constitute the present Ministry
are totally incapable of allaying. In their distress-
ing embarrassnient, the Chancellor of dee Exche-
quer had yesterday (Sunday) a meeting not only
of his official colleagues but of his comoserpial and
city Merida. Lord Althorp informed them that he
continued unaltered in his opinion respecting the
justice of the proposed measire of taxing the trans-
ter of stock ; but that if his friends dissented from
him, he would. riot persist in it.—Mr. Baring stood
prominently forward in the declaration of his opi-
nion, that the proposed tax was et once obnoxious
and iispraetieable, and must in reason and policy be
abandoned. An income tax, chiefly referable to
the funds, was then suggested, .but received with
disapprobation.; and on its being proposed to be
made general, it was objected that its application to
Ireland would under the present circumstances be
highly imprudent. Nothing specific was determined
1 upon. All was doubt and uncertainty at the break-