The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-01 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES.

Although the principal details of the report of the
Secretary of the Treasury wero forwarded to Europe by
the last steamer, yet a few more items, embracing a
wider field, will naturally excite interest.
The estimated expenditures for the year ending June
30, 1849, aro 65,932,276 dolls.—estimated receipts,
35,100,000 dolls.—the excess of 30,000,000 dolls. being
a remanet of the Mexican war.

Then we have an estimate of the expenditures for the
year ending June 30, 1850, of which the following are
the chief items:— Dollars.
Legislative ••• ••• ... ... 1,169,342 50
Executive ••• ... 918,054 64
Surveyors-general ••• —• ... 54,920 00
Secretary to sign patents for public lands 1,500 00
Commissioner of the Public Buildings ... 6,290 00
Mints of the United States ... 124,746 00
Judiciary ... ... . • ••• • • 583,300 00
Territory of Oregon ... ...• ••• 32,600 00

Annuities and grants
Auxiliary watch ...
Surrey of the coast
Miscellaneous claims

750 00
6,775 00
186,000 00
500 00

Special examiners of drugs
Recorder of land titles in Missouri

6,600 00
500 00

Assistant treasurers, &c.

23,000 00

Contingent expenses of their offices ... 15,000 00
Compensation, &c., to special agents ... 5,000 00
Insane paupers of the district of Columbia 6,400 00
Penitentiary of the district of Columbia 9,830 01
Expenses of loans and Treasury notes ... 20,000 00
Marine Hospital fund ... ... . . 15,000 00
Repairs of Custom-house, Plymouth, N.C. 100 00
Light-houses, &c. ... ... 478,603 33
Surveys of public lands ... ... ... 125,050 00
Completing marine hospitals . . ... 90,001 00
Payment to be made to Mexico ... 3,540,000 00
Salaries of ministers to foreign nations... 63,000 00
Secretaries of legation ... ... ... 14,000 00
Minister resident to Turkey ... 6,000 0%
Dragoman to the legation to Turkey ... 2,500 i.lO
Charges des affaires ... ... . 76,50:0 00
Contingent expenses of all the missions... 35;000 00
Ditto of foreign intercourse „.
... 30,000 00
Intercourse with the Barbary Powers „, 9,000 00
Consul at London ••• .641. • • 2,000 00
Commissioner to the Sandwich Islands... 3,000 00
Consulates at Constantinople, &c. ... 1,500 00
Commissioner to reside in China ..• 6,000 00
Secretary and Chinese interpreter ... 2,500 00
Consuls at the five ports in China ... 5,000 00
Consul-general at Alexandria ... ... 3,000 00
Consul at Beyrout 500 00
Relief and protection of American seamen 100,000 00
Clerk hire, office rent, &c., of American
Consul at London

2,800 00

Army, proper ... ... ... ... 4,432,286 00
Military Academy ... ... ... 170,142 61
Fortifications ... ... ... ... 671,000 00
Armouries, arsenals, and munitions of war 893,581 00
Surveys, lighthouses, &c. ... ... 15,700 00
Indian Department ... ... ... 857,473 45
Pensions ... ... ... ... ... 466,400 00
Arrearages under Act May 1, 1820 ... 1,000 00

General services ...
Marino corps ...

... 8,524,880 58

333,976 80

Total estimates ... 24,153,100 92
The following incidents in the life of General Taylor
will interest many readers:—Zachary Taylor, born in
Orange county, V., November 24, 1784; commissioned
by Jefferson, May 3, 1808 ; victorious at Fort Hamlin,
September 5, 1812; member of the Militia Board, 1826 i
victorious at the Bad Axe, August 2, 1832 ; victorious
at Okeechobee, December 25, 1837 ; victorious at Palo
Alto, May 8, 1846; victorious at Resaca de la Palma,
May 9, 1846 ; capitulation of Monterey, September 24,
1846 ; victorious at Buena Vista, February 22, 1847 ;
elected rresident ©f the United States, November 7,
1848.

DEATH OF MR. ALDERMAN JOHNSON. -- Mr.
Alderman John Johnson expired at his residence,
Millbank, at an early hour on Saturday morning,
after an illness of somo months' duration. The
deceased Alderman, in conjunction with his bro-
ther (who still survives), succeeding to his father's
business, was, in early life, extensively engaged
as a paviour, and both also inherited a large for-
tuno from their father, who made a fortunate specula-
tion in a stone quarry in Devonshire, since known as
the " Hay ter Granite," and who also undertook the
contract for the celebrated breakwater at Plymouth;
this and other speculations tended to place the de-
ceased alderman at the head of the stone trade. In
the year 1836 he was called upon to fill the office
of Sheriff of London, and in 1839, a vacancy taking
place in the ward of Dowgate, he became a candidate,
and succeeded to the aldermanic gown for that-ward. In
1845 he was elected, after a poll, to fill the civic chair,
and during the year of his mayoralty maintained the hos-
pitality and dignity of the office of Chief Magistrate in a
state of almost unrivalled splendour, and among the
many guests who honoured him by their presence at
the civic festive board was Ibrahim I'acha. During the
period he presided at meetings of a vast number of the
metropolitan charities, to each of which ho was a liberal
contributor. Of late years he advocated strong and de-
cided Protectionist principles, being a firm supporter
of the navigation laws, and a decided oppo-
nent of free trade. At the last general elec-
tion ho was one of the candidates for the re-
presentation of the city of London. He also offered
him;elf to represent the borough of Plymouth, but was
defeated. As the deceased alderman ,has been ill for
some time, several candidates for the aldermanic gown
are already in the field. It is understood that the pre-
cept to the ward of Dowgate for the election of his suc-
cessor will be issued on Tuesday next. The death of
Mr. Alderman Johnson :leaves vacant the gown for the
ward of Dowgate, for which the late Sheriff Pilcher and
Mr. Carden are now candidates.

The Consolidated Board of Excise, Stamps, and
Taxes, is to consist of the following :—Chairman, Mr.
John Wood ; Deputy-Chairman, Mr. John Thornton ;
Commissioners, Messrs. Hart Davis, Thomas llarrison,
Henry T. Stephenson, Charles John ferries, Charles
P. Rushworth, Charles Pressly, Alfred Montgomery.—
Observer. _ _

LOLA MONTES.—This lady, who some time since
caused so great a sensation in Bavaria—consequent on
her elevation to the rank of a Countess by tho ex-King
—is said to have arrived in London on Friday last.
DISCOVERY OF TILE RUINS OF AN UNLNOWN CITY
NEAR Bosoux, ASIA MINOR.—The Constantinople
Journal gives some curious details regarding a city said
to be discovered by Dr. Brunner, ono of the agents em-
ployed by the Government of the Sublime Porte in pene-
' trating into the most remote and inaccessible regions of
the empire for the purpose of a census. While occupied
in exploring the ssndjak (excavations) of Bosouk, on the
confines of Pontus, Cappadocia, and Galatia, Dr. Brun-
ner, whose attention was attracted by the bold and
curious passages opened into the living rock, was ac-
coated by a villager who offered to show him things far
more interesting on the other side of the mountain if he
7 would trust to his guidance. After some hesitation, tho
doctor armed himself and followed his guide, taking his
servant with him. Half an hour brought them round
the mountain; and then the doctor found himself, says
the narrative, in presence of the ruin of a considerable
town. These ruins are situated to the southeast of the
village of Yunkeui and to the north of the village of
Tschei 6, distant halt a league from one another; and the
doctor's profound study of all the accounts, ancient and
modern, of Asia Minor furnish no trace by which he can
identify them. The side of the town is half a league in
length. It contains seven temples with cupolas and two
hundred and eighteen houses; some in good preserva-
tion, others half choked, others half choked up with
their own ruins and with vast fragments cf rock detached
from the overhanging mountain. The houses have com-
partments of three, four, and six chambers—and the
temples ale also flanked with chambers. The largest of
these edifices is twenty feet long by twenty-eight wide.
So far as the ruins would permit the doctor to estimate
it, he conjectures the height of some of the temples to
be fruit( twenty to thirty feet. There are traces of plas-
ter on the interior walls; but not an emblem or indica-
tion, says Dr. Brunner, to suggest the origin or date of
thero-
ruined city. All hs inquiries on te suject
duced from the natives no better answer h
than that these
~
remains are "monuments of the infidels." Some old
erted
men remember to have seen birds nd trees
fro co on the vvalls. Dr. Brunner hideproposeselierum.
city as a puzzle for the archaeologist.—
risitabbed tO the
A bailiff; named Sauvegrain,
wasdebtor whom the
heart on the 24th ult., at Droui by a
ss
h been arrested.
was going to arrest. The murderer
—Galignani.
g child in her
BEGGING TINMASICED.---tAt a late meetinga:Dotfedthe
the Rev. Mr. Branch said
he vs es m
he
with a dyint in-
Sc'eic .sited a room in w .
ster, where he saw a
tNhVaetslae3;hanort
time
Commiseratingcreature's condi-
arms. • w° the wretched
into her history, and her
tion, he inquired
in
answer to means of
livelihood, and,. ___,„ his questions, she
„ oe, sir, my sufferings are great, and so are
Missionarysie e
replied, Mid ; but whe
those of nka c „ ll bay child is gone, I know
hat to do. Bat,"
not w observed Mr. Branch, " it
will be a happy release for you and your child, as you
on
make no exertions while you aro burdened with
her." " Oh, dear ! Si " Sir
pay ejaculated the mother, " when
sheis gone, I'll have to•
while she
Costs 9d. a-day for another child,
nothing me nothing. Unless Ido so, I'll earn
by begging, for it is the children that excite
compassion." In another room in the house Mr. Branch
found forty beggars, vagabonds and rogues, male and
female, •
}oung, old, lame, and blind, gathered round a
fire, all relating their exploits, and planning for their
next attacks upon the public. In a regular wareroom,
in Westminster, he saw exhibited for hire and sale
every variety of dresses, including widows' weeds and
tattered rags, shabby genteel costumes, clerical suits,
Sc., adapted to the different plans of mendicant opera-
tions pursued by the several parties who patronised this
extraordinary bazaar, and who made begging a regular
trade.
The Rev. Thomas Dale has (says a correspondent)
resigned one of his appointments, known as the " Gol-
den Lectureship," a pot, the emoluments of which are
about 5001. a year, and the duties one sermon a week,
delivered on Tuesdays at one of the churches near the
Royal Exchange. There are already three candidates
for the appointment—first, the Rev. Mr. Molyneux, of
Woolwich; second, the Rev. Mr. Gurney, who will, of
course, have the influence of his relatives, theelWashserrs:
Hawes, they being members of the court of the
dashers' Company, in whose gift the lectureshipls.i and
third, the Rev. Mr. Melville—a gentleman l who_ is
incipa of the East
al-
ready chaplain of the Tower,
,and pr
01 a.
India College, with a salary of 2,00
The health of the Earl Talbot is reported in the
Staffordshire Advertiser to be extremely precarious. His
bad a relapse of a disease under
Lordship has recently
which he has been for some tulle niferizig,

THE ARMY AND NAVY.
(From the United Service Gazette.)
Major-General Thomas James Wemyss, C. 8., has
succeded to the unattached pay of 255. per diem. The
Major-General is an old Peninsular officer, and during
his home service since the peace, has gained " golden
opinions of all sorts of men." We lately gave an account
of the presentation of a piece of plate to Major-General
Vireymss, the result of the high claims he had established
to the grateful consideration of the inhabitants of the
northern district.
ROYAL MILITARY ASYLIIM.—Doctor Balfour, who has
been recently appointed medical officer to this establish-
ment, has recommended an alteration in the diet for the
children, which we are sure will lead to the most bene-
ficial results.
THE ADMIRAL OF TILE FLEET.—Upon inquiries at
Cavendish-square this morning, we were informed that
the gallant and distinguished Admiral of the Fleet had
somewhat rallied during the past week, but still con-
tinued in a very dangerous state.
THE ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL.—We regret to state
that the very much and deservedly-respected Account:
ant-General of the Navy, John Thomas Briggs, Esq., is
seriously ill at Brighton.
RETIREMENT OF THE CHIEF CLERK AT THE ADMI-
RALTY.—We have heard from good authority that Mr.
Araedroa, the venerable chief clerk at the Admiralty,
having completed half a century's service, is about to
retire from his arduous and responsible office. His re-
tirement will promote Mr. John Hay, the senior clerk,
to be chief clerk ; Mr. John Briggs, of the second class,
to be one of the senior clerks; and Mr. Thomas James,
of the third class, to the second class.
CONVEYANCE OF TROOPS.—In addition to the subject
of the rations of the soldier, to which we referred last
week, we find that the committee, of which Lord Har-
ding() is a member, is considering the question of the
best means of providing carriage for the troops, their
stores, baggage, &c., in moments of emergency. To
avoid the expense of permanent establishment of carts,
cattle, &c., it has been customary to levy such means of
conveyance just when they are wanted ; but, as they
are not always obtainable when a country is in a state
of commotion, some modification of the plan has been
deemed advisable.

TO THE ELECTORS AND NON-
ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF GLASGOW.
My Friends and Constituents, —I have, during the
last and present month, been frequently requested by
several of my friends, and by a good many of those
who take a leading part in the affairs of these king-
doms, to give a public expression of my opinions
respecting the financial questions which are now en-
gaging public attention, more particularly in the
chief manufacturing and commercial districts in
England, of which Manchester and Liverpool are
the great influential centre points, and of which, as
regards Scotland, our city of Glasgow is the metro-
polis. The state of our revenue and expenditure will,
after the lapse of a month, which will swiftly pass
away, and which leaves but a short time for delibe-
rate consideration, be introduced and discussed in
Parliament. It will, assuredly, occupy a great part
of the time of that Legislative Assembly of which I
have the honour of being a member in virtue of your
confidence in me, when exercising that first of
responsiqle duties confided to you as a sacred trust
by the Reform Bill and the constitution of these
realms.
I therefore consider it my first duty to address
and express to you, as your representative, the opi-
nions which I have formed, after giving this question
my careful and impartial consideration. I have
brought to the aid of my judgment all the informa-
tion I could collect, and the results of the measures,
which experience has proved the most practically
good or the most pernicious in their operation, either
in these kingdoms, in our colonial possessions, or in
foreign countries.
The questions which probably necessarily must
engage the attention and occupy the time of Parlia-
ment are chiefly those of-
1. The taxation, revenue, and expenditure of the
United Kingdom.
2. The naval and military establishments of the
empire.
3. The condnion of Ireland question.
4. The electoral franchise.
5. The sanitary laws and regulations.
6. The means and plans of education.
7. The navigation laws.
8. The commerce and navigation of the country.
9. The whole question of colonial administration.
10. Our foreign policy, and relations with foreign
states.

To these ten questions, there will be added many
others of local and general importance ; but I shall
at present confine my statements and remarks to the
subject of the taxation, revenue, and expenditure of
the United Kingdom. This being a subject to which,
with those of trade, navigation, colonies, and our
foreign commercial interests, I have the most assidu-
ously, and for many 'years, devoted my labours.
I am compelled to remark, at the outset, that I
cannot agree with many very sincere but very san
guine persons, who consider a perfectly equitable
system of taxation practicable. Experience, facts, and
reflections have brought me to consider that the more
numerous are the interests of society, the more varied
their employments, trades, pursuits, sources of income,
and the kinds of property which men possess, the
greater and more perplexing are the difficulties which
are opposed to an equitable adjustment of the
public taxation. With respect to this first great
question, and all others of human legislation, of the
acts of man, who, with infirmities incident to his
mortal nature, can never attain to perfection in this
world, the most that I expect is the best approximate
equitable adjustment of the public burdens, and of the
public expenditure, that all the moral, social, and ma-
terial circumstances of the country which we inhabit
render practical. It is with this view, and this con•
viction, that I shall endeavour to point out, free of
the bias of party or of prejudice, that which I be-
lieve to be within the limits of practical legislation,
rather than contend for all that I would desire—for
all that I would consider the most equitable, but from
which many others may differ entirely in opinion. I
must take, as they exist in the House of Commons,
its members, their intelligence, their prejudices, and,
I fear, in many cases, their interests; and I must also
take the whole condition, in all its elements, of good
and of evil, of these kingdoms—of the colonies—of
public opinion,--and of individual and local in-
terests; all these I must take into my calculation
when I enter upon a financial inquiry, and endeavour
to expound practical fiscal reforms. If we cannot ob-
tain all that others who have gravely considered the
subject anticipate and propound, or all that I would
propose, we ought, instead of rejecting, to prefer ob-
taining such ameliorations as are practical, in con-
f?nding or agreeing with the elements, justly but not
disrespectfully designated by Sir Robert Peel, of " a
proud aristocracy and a reformed House of Com-
mons," and of all the circumstances which strengthen
or enfeeble the pressure of public opinion from with-
out that assembly.
All our researches can discover no Government,
of any nation that ever existed, with a claim to civi-
lization, that did not tax its people. It would almost
appear that taxes are necessarily allied to civilization,
they certainly are to :an age of luxury. Augustus
decreed that all the world should be taxed, and all the
world was taxed. The more complicated the affairs,
the more varied the interests, the more numerous the
pursuits of any, but especially of a great commercial
country—the more highly have the people been
taxed. Greece, Rome, Venice, France, and Hol-
land, are historical examples of this truth. The
example of the United States of America is
usually quoted as a great free country, where
citizens are but slightly taxed. I have taken con-
siderable pains to estimate the burdens of the
general state and local taxes, and of the personal ser-
vioes of the inhabitants of the great Anglo-Saxon
Republic, and I am prepared to prove that the whole
taxation borne by the citizens is far from moderate.
They are a people, however, at all times active; they
have no poor, strictly speaking, except the masses of
human poverty exported to their shores from Europe ;
and though we thrust many of our poor upon them
the citizens of America
.are not oppressed with poor-
rates.
am, however, not going to defend either extra-
vagant exo
rellaiture, nor excessive taxation, and I
frankly declare -
taxed country in Great Britain is the highest
great fiscal reformto
world, and that I consider a
high taxation of G.,:ale absolutely necessary. The
guish that from the tu
Ilritain—for I must distin-
ctionsame time, unequally levied of
each class of those who at the
pnl,,pa,roportion to the means
The first question with regard to burdens.
the amount to levied. This amount to our taxation, is
and the
by the expenditure ; this expen,tnrilleuet be decided
purely subservient to the necessities ought to be
the nation. credit of
This necessity, and the maintenance of this
involves the preservation of our civil liberty and
religions freedom—a just administration of the f
our !domestic tranquillity—security against foreign
dangers—and the protection of our maritime cop.
coerce. The question then is—how far the amount
of this expenditure can be diminished ? Its
minimum amount since the war, was, in the year
ending sth January, 1836, 48,787,635/. ; or, after
deducting the expenses of collecting the revenue and
payments oa its way to the Exchequer, 44,422,7221.
Taking the twenty-one years, from sth January,
1827, to sth January, 1848, inclusive, the gross
and net revenue, and the charges for collecting the
revenue and other payments, were as follows :

- -
Yews Gross Total Charge of Net Amount
E,ning Jan. 5. Revenue. Collection and of
Payments. Revenue.
1828 ... 56,336,819 ... 6,268,486 ... 51,068,333
1329 • •• 54,144,241 ... 5,286,592 ... 48,8.57,649
1830 ... 54,223,412 ... 5,148,280 ... 49,075,132
1631 ... 52,018,617 ... 4,875,674 ... 47,142,943
1832 „.. 51,711,465 ... 5,888,167 ... 45,823,298
1838 ... 50,908,328 ... 4,534,322 ... 46,573,996
1334 49,166,514 ••• 4,408,071 ... 44,758,243
1835 ... 49,223,116 ... 4,321,415 ... 44,901,701
1836
"• 45,767,638 ... 4,364,916 ... 44,422,722
1837 ... 50,81.8,30 „, 4,346,743 ~. 46,572,562

1838 ... 51,319,113 ... 4,188,159 ... 47,130,9541
1839 ... 51,720,748 ... 4,042,0E1 47,678,687
1940 ... 53,440,287 ... 4,082,596 ... 49,357,691
1841 ... 53,444,053 ... 4,282,517 ... 49,161,536
1842 ... 54,465,318 ... 4,279,589 ... 50,185,729
1843 ... 55,223,873 ... 4,278,704 ... 50,945,169
1844 ... 55,501,739 ... 4,362,226 ... 51,139,513
1845 . . 55,103,645 ... 4,555,997 ... 50,547,648
1846 ... 53,873,063 ... 4,630,350 ... 49,242,713
1847 ... 55,583,025 4,639,195 ... 50,943,830
1848 ... 59,230,413 ... 4,727,465 ... 54,502,948
Deducting about six millions of this sum collected
in Ireland, or say even 6,230,413/., there remains
53 millions of taxes levied in Great Britain ; to which,
if we add poor-rates, county-rates, and countless local
burdens, at least seventeen millions, we cannot reduce
the whole taxation of Great Britain for the year end-
ing sth January, 1849, to less than 70 millions
sterling.
The charge of collecting the revenue in the year
ending sth January, 1828, amounted to 3,966,456/.
The other payments deducted from the revenue, in its
way to the Exchequer, amounted to 1,302,030/. This
large amount requires some explanation. At that
time, the payments included other and extra deduc-
tions from the Customs' revenue on account of a much
greater number of drawbacks than at present, on
various articles,lwhich had then paid, but now do not
pay, an Excise duty. These duties were abolished,
on printed calicoes, in 1831; candles, in 1832 ; tiles,
in 1833 ; starch, stone bottles, sweets, mead, and
home-made wines, in 1834; glass reduced in 1835 ;
paper and soap, in 1836 ; and glass duty, nearly
abolished in 1844: and when those articles were ex-
ported a drawback was allowed, but the amount of
those drawbacks is not included in the other pay-
ments, which, with the charges of collection, are
deducted from the gross revenue, which latter is not
the whole revenue, but the gross, after deducting
drawbacks and allowances.
The charges of collecting the revenue in the year end-
ing sth January, 1848, amounted to 3,963,5391. ;
596,7001. more than in 1835.
The other payments from the different branches of re-
venue, in its way to the Exchequer, were the following:—
First from the Customs— a. d.
Quarantine expenses ... ... 16,291 0 0
Warehousing department ... ... 135,660 0 0
Officers connected with the Act of Na-
vigation, and keeping account of the
trade and navigation of the empire,
and Merchant Seamen's Act 10,075 0 0

£162,026 0 0

Payments on account of Trinity lights
and pilot dues, for difference between
charges on British and foreign
vessels ••• ••• ••• •••
Compensations and allowances, coast
guard and naval officers ... ... 41,528 0 0
Judicial, paid out of Scotch customs,
for defraying judicial establishments
in Scotland .. ...
Civil government (Isle of Man)
Corn returns (incidental)
Miscellaneous payments

39,629 0 0

... 93,227 0 0
, 9 335 0 0
..•
••• 306 0 0
66 0 0
•••

duce much lower than its present amount, but we do
believe that the naval expenditure may be reduced
without enfeebling its strength and efficiency. We
believe, by adopting a different system in the British
possessions, and especially in Ireland, the military and
ordnance expenditure may also be greatly diminished.
But the condition of Ireland—the great expenditure
and small revenue of that part of the United King-
dom, meets and perplexes us at every attempt we
make in financial calculations.

I am, however, of opinion, and I feel prepared to
show, that we may accomplish the following reduc-
tions, but not without their being contingent upon
other measures. The reductions I would propose, and
still maintain the efficiency of the services, are :
The naval expenditure to ... £6,500,000
The army expenditure to 6,000,000
The ordnance expenditure to ... ... 1,750,000

X 14,250,000
Expenditure in 1847 ... 18,500,000

Saving ... ... ... £4,250,000
The national debt interest we must not
estimate at less than ... ... ... £28,250,000
Add navy, army, and ordnance ... ... 14,250,000

Total debt, navy, army, and ordnance £42,500,000
Various payments out of the
consolidated fund, from... £2,319,530 to 2,200,000
Miscellaneous services, from 3,561,067 to 3,250,000
Charges of collecting the re-
venue, from ... 3,963,539 to 3,350,000

£9,844,136 £51,300,000
Other payments out of the
taxes in their progress to
the Exchequer, from ... 763,926 to 710,000
Civil list, from ... ... 393,830 to 390,000

X 11,001,892 £10,000,000
Total proposed gross expenditure.. ... 52,400,000
Total of expenditure in 1847 (after deduct-
ing 1,527,8001. for Irish distress)

... 57,704,614

Total proposed saving £5,304,614
These calculations ar•, however, based upon greatly.
diminishing the amount paid out of the revenues of
Great Britain, and spent for military and police pur-
poses in Ireland, which I will hereafter notice. I
think, further, that we might possibly reduce the
gross revenue nearly half a million more ; or say
Gross revenue, including charges of collection,
52,000,0001.
Now, the next consideration, and the greatest diffi-
culty is, how to levy this revenue in the most equit-
ably practical manner.
First. With respect to the chief sources of re-
venue—the Customs and Excise :--

In 1840, I submitted a pro forma tariff, reduced
to 20 rates, or heads of Customs' duties, to the Corn-,
mittee of the House of Commons. I there stated
that it was far from being the best commercial tariff
I would propose, for that I considered all articles the
essential food of man, and all raw materials for ma-
nufactures, should pay no duty whatever. But, under
all circumstances, it was the most approximate scale I
then thought practicable. It
.was, however, a far
better revenue tariff than the present ; for I propose
(though not on principle) a fixed duty of Bs. per
quarter on wheat, and duties of from 10 to 20 per
cent. upon provisions generally ; 10s. per cwt. on
butter; Bs. on cheese; and from 2kd to 5 per cent.
upon most raw materials, and 10 per cent. on ma-
nufactured articles. Instead of reducing the duty on
colonial wood from 10s. to ls. on fir timber, and to
2s. on deals, &c., I proposed Is. 6d. per load on tim-
ber, and 1 ls. per load on deals, and I reduced the
foreign duty on timber from 555. to 255. per load,
and on deals in proportion. I proposed on all other
woods, for ship or other building purposes, a duty of
sa. and 105. per load. The revenue levied on timber
of all kinds during the year 1839 amounted to
1,603,1911. I contemplated a large increase in this
revenue. But the duty may be said to be abolished
on all oolonial timber. It has been so on all furniture
and on nearly all ship-building woods.
In 1846 the quantity imported of all colo-
nial timber, not deals or split, reduced
to loads, was, in round numbers, about
800,000 loads, which, at 7s. 6d. per load,
would yield a revenue of
_

Deals' staves, &c., about 500,000 loads,
would yield, at lls. per load ...
Foreign timber, about 580,000 loads, at
251. per load, would yield .
Foreign deals, about 300,000 loads, at 30s.
per load, would produce ••• Oa
Oak and other ship building and furniture
woods, from British possessions, 60,000
loads, at 55., would give ••• •••
Ditto ditto, foreign, 40,000 loads, at 10s.
per load

£300,000

316,000

725,000

450,000

15,000

... 20,000

Total revenue from timber ... £1,826,000
The present revenue is about half this amount, and
as we have abolished the duty on cotton wool, sheep's
wool, flax, and hemp, and most other raw materials, I
would now recommend that the duty on timber should
be altogether repealed. It has already been abolished
on mahogany and on all furniture woods, on logwood
and on all dyewoods, and on several kinds of ship-
building woods. _ _ _

I also- proposed in that tariff a protective duty on
colonial sugars of 103., viz.-20s. per cwt. on colo-
nial sugars, and 30s. per cwt. on foreign sugar. I
contemplated by this tariff an increase of revenue
which would have prevented the necessity for any
new tax, and, considering the vast distance which
then appeared to separate us, between the then exist-
ing corn-laws, sugar, and other duties and any real
approach to free trade, that tariff, which was really
throughout protective, was considered a most revolu-
tionary and desperate project, and that too by men
then high in office. I was only, however, two years
in advance even of the most timid statesmen of the
day. Lord John Russell, as the leader of the Mel-
bourne Government, proposed, in 1841, the fixed
duty which I had submitted to the Committee in the
previous year, and it was proposed to reduce the pro-
hibitive duty on foreign sugar to a revenue duty of
86s. and 5 per cent., or to a duty of 375. 9d. 3-5 per
cwt. The agricultural protectionist party, and those
who represented the West Indian interests, combined.
They refused to receive those rates of protection, and
the Melbourne Ministry, on being in a minority, im-
mediately resigned. Instead of Ss. per quarter, the
agriculturists will, in a month, have no protective
duty whatever; and the West Indians, who bare now
only a few shillings, will, in three or four years, not have
one farthing. Both parties were, assuredly, not wise
in their generation. They both, however, assert, in
no Christian spirit, that they have been betrayed by
Sir R. Peel. The tact ia, they have deceived them-
selves; he never has deceived them. He voted against
a fixed duty ; but he never promised them any more
than a moderate sliding scale ; and if that should fail
(as it did), he gave them no pledge that he would not
abolish the duty on corn altogether. He never pro-
mised them high protective duties on sugar. He
would have shut out sugar produced by slave labour,
if that should have proved practical, but he would
not exclude any sugar produced by free labour, and
he gave them the benefit of that experiment, which,
when it failed, he joined in voting for that measure
which he considered more practically good, as every
able and wise statesman would and will do.
At the end of 1843 I again examined the whole
state, item by item, of our taxation—the revenue it
produced, and the expenditure. I reduced the result
of my labours to as precise a shape as I could,
and printed a very few copies of the document for the
the confidential use, at the time, of a few persons. On
19th of February, 1844, the substance of this docu-
ment appeared in a leading article of the Times. This
contained a free-trade tariff, as far as the revenue
would allow, an exemption from duties upon com-
modities, and also a pro forma financial project. In
that project I proposed to abolish all taxes then under
the excise (excepting spirits, malt,and licences),all the
assessed taxes (excepting the unredeemed laud-tax),
and all the duties of Customs, except on eight articles.
I then) with a good harvest, a flourishing trade, and
peace over the world, estimated that a gross revenue
of 50,000,0001., including charges of collection, would
be required.
My project, calculated with great care, then stood
as follows, viz. :

Pro forma View of equalising the Annual Revenue
and Expenditure, presuming that the Excise and
Assessed taxes, and the stamps on marine and fire
assurances, and also the duties of Customs (except
on eight articles) should be abolished, and adding
distilled spirits and malt, now under the Excise, to
the Customs, and Excise licenses to the Stamps::
abolishing all other of the Assessed taxes, and! the
whole Excise establishment.
First. Assuming the total annual expendi
tare not to exceed £50,000,000
Revenue, necessary to meet this expendi-
ture to be raised as follows

1. From uniform duties on (1) tea ; (2)
sugar and molasses ; (3) coffee and

cocoa ; (4) tobacco ; (5) distilled
spirits ; (6) VfIEIC3 ; (7) dried fruits ;
(8) ...£21,500,000
2. Home distilled spirits ... 5,000,000
Malt, whether made at
home or imported from
abroad ... ... 5,000,000

3. Stamps, leaving out marine and fir• in-
surances, and including licenses now
under the Excise.— ...

4. Unredeemed land-tax ... ... ...
Deficit to be provided for during the first

year

31,500,A00

7,500,000
1,200,000
9,800,000

£50,000,000

This deficit to be levied, not by doubling, or rather
more than doubling, the present income-tax, but by the
less inquisitorial and more direct and equitable plan of
an annual assessment, in the pound, upon the annual
value of all realised property, viz., the rents and profits
of all lands, tenements, houses, constructions, funds,
stocks and shares including factories, warehouses, docks,
shipyards, railways, canals, public funds, Bank of Eng-
land stock, East India and South Sea stock, and the
stock and shares of all companies whose stocks and
shares az, bpught and sold in the market.

Total of all the above artlclesi

14 Quicksilver ••.. ••
15 Barilla and bark . • • ........
16 Saltpetre .•..•••••• • • • • • • • •
17 Metals ........ ••..•• .. • •
18 Hides and skins • • ...... •• ..
19 Tar and Turpentine
20 Oil : Train, sperm, palm, olive,

and cocoa-nut..
22 ...... • •
23 Dyes and dyeing stuffs ..
24 Animals .• • • ...... ........

25 Bacon, beef, pork, and *hams
26 Eggs ..... ........ ......
27 8utter........ • • ......
28 Cheese ......
29 Fish of all sorts, now nearly
all tree .
30 Corn : grain, meal, and flour
31 Seeds : viz., clover, rape, flax,
and liuseedt ..............
32 Rice • • • • .. • ............
33 Silk manufactures

34 Gloves
35 Other articles

Totals ..........
Deduct corn ....

Totals exclusive of corn ..
Deduct provisions and seeds,
Nos. 24 to 32, except cern

Totals exclusive of corn and
provisions ...• •• .....
Deduct cotton wool and raw,
materials, duty paid .... • •

Total, deducting articles now
duty free • • .......
* Now all free except hams.

68,6881

20,819,20

1,328
21,570
9,665
25,746
72,741
87,964

84,684
206,464
2,1338
68,100

4,379
33,524
262,967
136,0541

98SI
.575,407,

107,111
35,793
244,076
26,199
73G,168

23,606,124
575,407

23,030,7171

.51,4751

21,209,1861

1,080
9,171
9,321
98,767
10,4411
3,3331

65,602
174,602
1,718
9,100
5,304
!3,803
24,606
186,667
117,272

580,8161

1,988'
1,107,817

51,310
22,840
286,535
28,557
404,737

23,849,560
1,107,817

22,449,901

922,0161

22,741,7431

20,502,589

700,325

free
free
free!

22,041,41$

814,698

43,434
free
free

*16,226
17,325
free

4,915
28,261
152,977
90,207

3,105
13,912

43,834

2,360
217,623
32,442
408,939

21,578,149
13,912

21,564.237

325,G59

21,827,8531
t All

21,238,578

21,226,720!
except clove

ii 21,238,578
-er free.

It will be observed by the foregoing table there has
been a great advance made, as far as the Customs re-
venue is in question, towards the pro forma scheme which
I proposed in 1843,and that out of the 34 heads then yield-
ing the whole Customs revenue (excepting 404,7374),
the duties have been abolished on-1, cotton wool; 2,
sheep wool; 3, silk, raw, waste, and thrown; 4, flax and
hemp; 5, quicksilver; 6, barilla and bark; 7, saltpetre;
3, metals (nearly all); 9, hides and skins; 10, tar and
turpentine; 11, oil, train, sperm, palm, olive, cocoa-nut,
&c.; 12, dyes and dyestuffs; 13, animals living; 14,
bacon, beef, and pork (except hams); 15, fish of all
sorts (anchovies, salmon, turbots, oysters, and eels ex •
cepted); 16, seeds (all except clover); 17, rice. So that
there only remain 16 of the 34 heads, and of the 35th or
miscellaneous head, which included, in the tariff of 1841,
about 384 articles, absolutely enumerated, with special
duties, in that tariff, the duties have all been abolished,
and so have the duties on all unenusnerated articles
whatever. There now remain about 150 articles still
specified, as enumerated in the tariff. which altogether
have yielded only 408,9381. in 1847, but the duty on
many of those arttcles is so purely nominal as not to
amount to one-eighth per cent. We may remark that
the duties on coffee have been reduced from the several
duties of 15d., 12d., 9d., and 6d. per lb. to duties of gd.
and 4d. ; on sugar the duty has been greatly reduced,
and on a scale which will in three years admit them at
revenue duties, without distinction as to the place of
growth ; on foreign spirits from 225. 6d. to 145., greatly
on spices, on tallow from 2s. 6d. to is. 6d. per cwt., but-
ter from 20s. to IGs. per cwt., cheese from 10s. to ss. per
cwt. The duties are also abolished on bacon, pork,
and beef ; and the duties have been either abolished or
reduced to revenue duties on every article of impor-
tance excepting tea, tobacco, and wines upon the first
of which the high duty is certainly the most objection-
able of any tax now remaining upon articles of con-
sumption.

We shall now proceed to examine the duties of Excise
and
Theth e
Excise Assessed d
uTtTex:s.y
yielded in 1843 a revenue of
14,450,903 L Sir 1t,,0
Itbh3e,er9tgl. yieldedo, e6ses6l2aaltm.
revenueoev then abolished boobfiriitschthkheesad,
6xtshyci eei:3aor2d9uritoe);;
vo3enonsu,a3eu3ea9tmli Onuslnnt amounted
ch
hackney and stage carriages, 104,867/.; hops, 440,403/ ;
licenses, 993,0111.; railway-tax, 61,9481.; poet-horse
duty, 161,118/4 ditto licenses, 6,8321.; paper, 761,174/;
soap, 896,6481.; sugar, 1691.; malt, 4,456,7381.; home-
made spirits, 5,245,490/.
Now, there is not one of the above taxes, except that
upon spirits, to which we do not highly object, and we
are equally opposed to Excise laws, and even to the
necessary rigour of those laws; but from what source
are we to replace the revenue derived from them. The
least objectionable of the above taxes are certainly in
their order—spirits, malt, railway-tax, and licenses, aid
we would abolish all the others first. Spirits, malt, and
licenses yielded, in 1847, 10,764,018/4 the remaining
articles—bricks, Irish game'certificates (only 8231.), car-
riages, hops, paper, post-horse duty, soap, and sugar,
3,242,494. It would be a great relief if all the latter
amount were, as it ought to be, abolished.
The revenue of stamps, duties of legacy, probates, &c.,
yielded in 1847, 7,082,433/. in Great Britain, and
588,990/. is Ireland; total, 7,871,423/. The most ob-
jectionable of these duties are those on marine and fire
assurances, amounting to 1,257,591/., and the duties on
stage carriages and hackney coaches, 329,0771. They
produce together a large revenue, 1,587,6681. I am,
however, of opinion that these duties may be abolished,
when a much more productive distribution of the stamp
duties can be male, and by adjusting the probate and
legacy duties, as proposed by Mr. Pitt. The revenue
now under the head of stamps might, after abolishing
the marine and fire insurance duties, and stamps on
stage carriages, on being more equitably levied, realise
at least its present amount, or say 7,500,000/.
The assessed taxes come next. They are not levied
in Ireland, and in Great Briiain they yielded, in 1847.
viz., land-tax, 1,154,7451 ; window-duty, 1,663,3201. ;
or both, 2,818,065/.; and the other taxes, on servants,
carriages, horses, dogs, horse-dealers, hair-powder, ar-
morial bearings, game licences, and the additional 10
per cent., amounted to about 1,735,795/. All the latter
duties are, as well as the window-tax, highly objection-
able, being unequal in their pressure, offensive in their
collection; and the window-tax is injurious to health,
and to the construction of dwellings.
The income-tax, which does not extend to Ireland,
realised in Great Britain, in 1847, 5,612,654/. The
Post-office yielded a net income, in 1847, of 923,0001.,
and a gross revenue of 2,181,9501; and the Crown lands,
&e., about 480,0001.
I have now gone through the heads of revenue, and
I have therefore to propose a pro forma project, with a
view to raise a revenue for defraying the lowest amount
to which I believe it will be found practicable to diminish
the expenditure, viz.:—
A gross expenditure, including charges of
collection, and all payments now made in