The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-12 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 1831.

SPIRIT OF TILE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Of late years the budget has lest much of the in-
terest which it necessarily possessed during the war, when
every year brought with it fresh loans and taxes. It ha•
become rather a sort of general review of the inancia'
operations of the Session, than a disclosure of new mea-
sures. Last night, however, the budget was of mon
usual interest, from the extent of the changes proposed in
our financial systerii, and the eaily period of the Session at
which it was brought forward. Before entering on the
financial statement, Lord Althorp gave an account of the
offices which Government had already determined to re •
duce. Ministers had not, he said, been in office lone
enough to propose all the reductions which it might he ad -
yisable to make. They amount in the whole to two hun-
dred and ten places, including the Vice-Treasurer of Ire-
land, the Lieutenant-General and Clerk of the Delivery to
the Ordnance, the Postmaster-General in Ireland, the Ile_
eeiver- General of Taxes in Scotland, and forty-six Receivers
in England. His Lordship staked that the Noble Lord at the
head of the Colonial Department hoped to be able to carry
into effect the recommendations of the Commission to In-
quire into Abuses in the Colonies ; and that if the Lore
Chancellor was enabled to carry his intentions into
effect, a great reduction would take place in his depart-
ment. He did not state these reductions as any great eco-
nomy in point of money, but as a great diminution of pa-
tronage, and "as a confirmation of his declaration on a
former occasion, that the Government of this country
would no longer be carried on by patronage." The re-
venue, calculated on that of 18'30, after deducting the
duties on beer, leather, cider, and a portion of those on
sugar, amounting altogether to 2,910,000/., might be
taken at 50,060,000/. The estimated expenditure of
46 850,0001. would leave a surplus of 300,0001, which,
his Lordship thought, was coming too near the margin.
Such being the revenue and the expenditure, there is no
room for reduction properly so called; but a country may
be relieved by a change in the mode of taxatbn, as well
as by diminution of its amount. The great feature of
last night's budget was the transference of taxes from
objects on which it pressed injuriously to objects on which
it would be less felt. There were three classes of taxes
to which he bad directed his attention ; let, taxes so
high as to diminish consumption ; 2d, taxes pressing
unequally on the people ; 3d, taxes imposed on parti-
cular manufactures, which took much from the people
without yielding much to the Treasury. These
were the taxes which he had selected for reduction.
In the first class, of which the amount of duty dimi-
nishes consumption, was tobacco. On raw tobacco he
proposed to reduce the duty from 35. to Is. 6.1. a pound.
On manufactured tobacco, from 9s. to 4s. 6d. a pound.
On the other hand, he proposed to impose a duty on to-
bacco grown in Ireland, nearly equal to that levied on
foreign tobacco imported. Another tax in this class is
that on newspaper stamps and newspaper advertisements.
He proposed to reduce the duty on newspapers from 4d.
to 2d., and to withdraw the discount of 20 per cent. now
given. The duty on advertisements was now 3s. 6d. He
intended to reduce the duty to Is. for advertisements
under tea lines, and 2s. 6d. for those above ten lines.
The next tax to be reduced is that on sea-borne coals, the
whole of which is to be taken off. In the third class of
duties—described as interfering with manufactures, and
returning much less than it takes from the people, are—
st, The tax on tallow and candles. 2d, The tax on
printed calicoes, which draws two millions from the
pockets of the people, and yields only 500,000/. to the
Exchequer. 3d, The tax on glass. With respect
to this tax," said his . Lordship, " I beg to say
I consider it a matter of great importance, because
I am convinced glass might be raised into one of
the staple manufactures of the country. ItVe possess the
materials, and our unequalled machinery would give us
a powerful advantage in the manufacture over foreign
nations ; and when once the article is freed from the
trammels of the Excise, and the duty is taken off coals,
I have no doubt the manufacture will rise into prorpe-
rity, and furnish commodities for a great export trade."
4th, There are one hundred and sixty-three small taxes,
which did not bring to the Exchequer more than 2,000/.
a year, amongst those which he proposed to repeal, as, for
instance, the auction duty on the sale of land. The reduc-
tions, then, are—
On Tobacco, amounting to 2,800,0001.,
one-half £1,400,000
On Newspaper Stamps and Advertise-
ments _ 190,000

Duty on Coals and Slates 830,000 ~,,,.., _
On Candles 420,000
On Printed Calicoes 500,000
On Glass 600,000
Auction Duty on Sale of Land 60,000
Miscellaneous Taxes BO,OOO

In all

X 4,080,000-

With respect to the equalizations—French wines now pay
7s. 3d. a gallon ; other foreign wines, 4s. 10d. ; Cape
wines, 2s. sd. He proposeti on all, 55. 6d. a gallon.
The average consumption of wine is 6,700,000 gallons ;
a duty of ss. 6d. a gallon, would give 1,840,000/. ;
whereas, the average receipt has hitherto amounted only
to ,585,000/. Thus, there would be an increase of
250,000/. The next article on which a change is pro-
posed is timber. Rough European timber pays now ss. a load,
and Canada timber 10s. a load ; but European timber, when
cut into deals, pays 455. a load ; while that of Canada,
in the same condition, pays ss. 9d. a load. He pro-
posed to raise the tax on rough European timber to
20s. a load, and to advance the duty on Canada
deal to 30s. This will increase the revenue to 760,000/.
say 600,0001. On raw cotton imported into this
country, he proposed a duty of Id. per pound, to
be allowed on all manufactured cotton exported.
On coals exported there is now a duty of 178. 6d. for
large, and 4s. 6d. for small. He proposed to lay 10s.
on both. This will produce 100,000/. He next pro-
posed a tax on passengers in steam-boats: Is. a head for
every distance under twenty miles, under thirty miles 25.,
and above thirty miles 2s. 6d. In place of the auction
duty he proposed a tax on the transfer of land, of one
half per cent. As no one class ought to be exempted from
bearing its fair share of the public burthens, he proposed a
tax on all bona fide transfers of property in the funds,
of one half per cent. He did not mean to touch cases of
transfer of stock as security for the loan of money. The
following is a summary of the new taxes proposed
Duty on Property in the Funds A:800,000
Land 400,000
%Vine :250,000
Timber 600,000
Cotton
Coal
100,600
Steam-boats

In all X 2,730,000
With regard to the taxes proposed to be repealed, it
was generally allowed that the selection could hardly be
more judicious. The mention of sea• borne coals was
loudly cheered. But the more difficult part of the task
of a Chancellor of the Exchequer is to obtain assent to
the imposition of new taxes. The proposed duty on the
transfer of land was deemed objectionable, and that on
the transfer of funded property was still more so. This
last tax was indeed almost universally condemned. The
whole City opened on Lord Althorp. Sir Robert Peel
saw the occasion favourable for a burst of indignant elo-
quence against all violations of public faith. The tax may
operate injuriously, but a great deaf too much was made
of the objection drawn from the public faith. The in-
come tax might equally have been, in the case of pro-
perty in the funds, deemed a breach of faith with the
creditor. In principle we can see no difference between a
transfer of land and a transfer of stock. The landholder
labours at present under the evil of a system of law of
real property, wh. ich renders the sale of land a difficult
and tedious operation. The stockholder possesses a com-
modity more marketable and more easily transferred ;
and because the law has favoured him so much in the mode
of transfer, that his commodity has a preference in the
market, it is deemed a crying injustice that lie should
be placed on a footing of equality with the landholder..
One advantage possessed over the landholder a
deemed a reason for giving him another advantage. In
Holland, land can be transferred as ea•ily as stock in this
country, and it is more serviceable to the holder, and con-
sequently more valuable; and we have no doubt that the
landholder in England would be satisfied with an equal
facility of conveyance, without the addition of the ex-
emption on that account from the delay in transfer, merely
because land would be more frequently transferred. Still,
however, as the moneyed men of London dislike the tax,
and they will stir heaven and earth against it, prudence
r
perhaps demands the abandonment of it. With regard. to
the t
land,
and leavesi t is, n o
the
prosperousubt,one whurcoh
presses on
on en
the transfer
unfortunate,.
touched. But the same objection applies to stamp duties
on conveyances. And, after all, in taxation we have but
of

s choice of evils. We wonder that Sir Robert Peel, who
dwelt so eloquently on the inequality of the duty on
transfers of land, forgot the legacy duty, which is liable to
the very same objection. Government deserve great praise
for the endeavour they have made to free the country
from taxes pressing most severely on the poor, and crip-
pling the industry of the country. The taxes they have
proposed to substitute may not be free from ail objection ;
but who would think of comparing the injurious operation
of the duties on transfers of stock and land, with that of
the duties on sea-borne coal and printed calicoes, and glass
and candles? A direct tax o❑ land and stock would
perhaps be preferable to the duty on the transfer.—ilorn-
ing Chronicle.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer last night brought
forward his budget, or financial statement for the year,
desirous rather of satisfying the natural impatience of the
country, than of consulting the convenience of the Admi-
nistration, who hare not yet presented all their estimates.
His Lordship began by stating, that his Majesty's present
Government, as soon as they entered on office had zealously
applied themselves to the task of ascertaining what reduc-
tions could be made in places and offices, without detri-
ment to the public service. He had previously mentioned
some of these reductions. Among them were the places
of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, of Lieutenant-General of
the Ordnance, of the Auditory of the Civil List, of the
Postinaster.General for Ireland, of the King's Sta-
tioner in Ireland, and other offices in Ireland, amounting
in all to sixty. Referring to our report for the other offices
enumerated tvy the Noble Lord, we may mention, that all
the places which he proposes to reduce amount to 210,
with salaries each of from 60/. to 6001. a-year. The
Government, likewise was not only disposed to reduce the
colonial offices, as had been recommended by the committee
which sat on that subject, but to carry their reductions into
all our colonial establishments. The amount of immediate
saving to the public from the abolition of these places, the
Noble Lord admitted could not be great, because in most
cases provision must be made for their present occupants,
but the reduction would at least verify his engagement not
to conduct the Government by the influence of patronage.
In entering on the more immediate object of his financial
statement, the Noble Lord pursued the course usually fol-
lowed on such occasions, by first stating the amount of
supplies, and then detailing the ways and means to meet
them. Though the estimates had not yet been all laid be-
fore Parliament, he would take the charge for the year at
46,850,000/. The revenue for the last year was
50,060,000/., but making allowance for the taxes which
had been repealed, he would state it at 47,150,000/. The
charge would thus absorb the income to within the trifling
amount of about 300,000/. This was running very near
the mark, and allowed little room for reduction of taxa-
tion. From absolute reduction, therefore, no hope was
entertained, but the Noble Lord expected great benefit
to result from modifications of the existing system,—
from shifting the amount from one object to another,—
from relieving productive industry of its burthens,—
from abolishing those duties which press most on the
poor and the labouring classes, and those which check
or prevent the extension of manufacturers. The prin-
ciples on which he proceeded in the plan which be sub-
mitted, were borrowed from a work of Sir IL Parnell's,
which we recommended to public notice last summer.
The same amount of taxation may ;te more or less oppres-
sive, according as it is imposed with more or less judg-
ment. The Noble Lord divided the taxes which he
meant to change into these classes; namely-Ist, those
which were not productive according to their rate, and
the productiveness of which might he increased by a
diminution of the rats ; 2dly, those which pressed upon
manufacturing industry ; and 3dly, those which chiefly
affected the poor and labouring portion of the community.
The first tax which the Noble Lord proposed to modify
was the duty on tobacco. The amount of duty at present
levied was 3s. per pound on the tobacco as imported, and
9s. on the manufactured article (snuff or cigars). He pro-
posed to recluse the first to Is. 6d., and the last to 4s. 6d.
The amount of revenue derived from that tax was at
present 2,800,000/. The loss to the revenue, however,
would not be so much as the half, or 1,400,0001. ; for
he calculated on such an increased consumption as would
reduce that less to 800,000/. Thus, while the re-
lief extended to the consumers of the article would
be 1,400,000/, the Exchequer would only suffer
a diminution of income to the extent of 800,000/. The
next duty which he thought it useful to modify was the
duty of stamps on newspapers and advertisements. At
present the duty on each stamp was 4d., with a discount
of 20 per cent. He proposed to make it 2d., without any
discount. All advertisements at present paid a duty of
3s. 6d.; he proposed to reduce it to Is. for each adver-
tisement of less than ten lines ; and 2s. 6(1. for all above.
The saving to the public would be 19Q,000/., and the loss
to the revenue he calculated at 100,000/., the difference
being made up, according to his Lordship's calculation,
by an increase in the circulation of papers, and in the
number of advertisements which the diminished rate was
expected to produce. He now came to a tax which had
the double vice of pressing heavily on the poor, and dis-
couraging manufacturing industry,—namely, the duty on
sea-borne coal. This he proposed entirely to abolish. It
amounted, with a small duty on slate, to 830,000/. The
tax on tallow candles was particularly liable to objec-
tion, on more grounds than one. It took snore money
from the people than went into the Exchequer. It pre-
vented the manufacture of candles at home, where it could
be done cheapest, and made the consumer pay the
manufacturer's profit. Its amount was 420,000/. a-year ;
but in the present year the revenue would not suffer
to that extent, as he had yielded to the advice of
the manufacturers, not to let the abolition take effect fur
half a year, in order that their stock might be consumed.
The next tax which he would abolish was that an printed
cottons, which brought only 600,000/. to the Exchequer,
out of 2,000,000/. which it took, in the first instance,
from the pockets of the manufacturers. Besides this ob-
jection, it pressed most heavily on the poor, and had thus
every vice which a tax could have. The last article of
importance which his Lcedship proposed to relieve of
taxation was glass. The duty on this article was a most
obnoxious
inipos!. It discouraged industry,—it pre-
vented extension of an important manufacture, for the
increase of shich this country offered every facility. The
Lord bad no doubt that when the tax was abolished,
our
the
possession
of the raw material, our possession of plenty
of fuel, and the cheapness of labour in this country, would
render glass an article of export. The produce of this tax
was 600,0001 The Noble Lord mentioned a variety of
minor taxes which lie intended to abolish, amounting to
140,000/. The whole of these reductions would amount,
in shape of relief to the country, to 4,080,000/., and
would occasion to the revenue an estimated loss of
5,170,000/. But as the revenue could not admit of this
great deduction from its annual amount, it was necessary
to provide substitutes for the impolitic or oppressive im-
posts of which he thus suggested the repeal. The Noble
Lord purpose proposed to equalize the duties on
all
hoe o
urn m
furttuss ofo withis
er o
and to raise all to ss. 6d. per gallon.
T
gallons at present annually consumed
m 50ei0,000 ; the duty levied on the quantity, at
amounts
the rate which he proposed, would be 1,840,000/. ;
the average receipt had only been 1,590,000/. lie there-
fore estimated the increase at 240,000/. The next
article from which he expected an increased revenue,
from a modification of duty, was timber. European
timber at present paid a tax of 455. per load ; and
Canada only ss. He proposed to make the former 40e.,
and the latter 10s. The increase from this source
he estimated at 600,000/. Though he had proposed to
abolish the duty on printed calicoes, yet he did not see
the same objections to a duty on cotton which would affect,
not one branch of the manufacture, but the whole. He
proposed a
Penny a pound on all the cotton wool imported.
From this he expected 500,000/. The Noble Lord pro-
posed a duty
on exported coal, and a tax on steam-boat
passengers, which would bring each 100,000/. The last
source of revenue which be proposed as a compensation
for the reduction or repeal of objectionable duties which be
had mentioned, was a tax on the transfer of landed and
funded property. The fundholder, in the opinion of the
Noble Lord, could not complain of a tax which equally
affected the sale of landed estate. It was no breach of
faith with him, that he was not exempted from burdens
which fell on other interests. He submitted to the pro-
perty-tax, and his Lordship saw no difference between the
principle of that tax and the present, as neither were ex-
clusive. The duty thus to be imposed is a half per cent.,
and is estimated. in amount at 1,200,000/., two-thirds o'
Willa are expected to arise from the transfers of stock. The

PRICE 7D.

following is a brief summary in figures of the whole state-
ment :

Income of 1830
£50,060,000
Deduct loss by taxes taken off 1830 0,910,003

Income left for 1831 47,150,000
Estimated expenditure of 1831

Surplus for 1831
300,000

Income for 1831, as above 47,150,000
Arrears of Excise more in Jan. 1821, than in 1830 580,000

47,730,000
Deduct taxes taken on'as estimated 3,170,000

Add taxes to be laid on 44,560,000
2,740,000

47,300,000
Deduct estimated expenditure for 1831...
Surplus for 1831 £450,000
Taxes Reduced. Estimated Loss.
Tobacco
Newspapers
Coals and Slate. ..... ...... 830,000
Candles 420,000 From October :200,000
Cottons 500,000
Glass 600,000
Auctions
Miscellaneous BO,OOO

;C4,030,000 53,170,000
Taxes Added.
Wine 240,000
Timber ... 1360,000
Cotton 500,000
Coals lOO,OOO
Steam lOO,OOO
Transfers 1,7'00,000

Taxation Reduced 2,740,00i)
1.340,000

X 4,080,000
We have thus presented an analysis of the budget, which
is at all times expected with so much anxiety; and hope gave
to the budget of this year a peculiar interest, because the
distresses of the people seemed to justify the expectation
of peculiar relief. It is certain the taxes are to be dirni-
nislied,--diminished, it is conceived, to the amount of about
1,250,0001. : but while we do ample justice to Ministers
for the benevolence of their intentions, the kindness of
their wishes, we really cannot help expressing our surprise
at the list of articles on which they propose a reduction of
impost. It may be thought by some, that the people are
not always the best judges of the nature of the relief to
be afforded to them. We, however, are not of this opi-
nion : it needs no great sagacity to know " where the shoe
pinches,"—" where the burden presses ;" and it would
have been not only popular, but substantially useful to
release or relieve those articles against the taxation of which
there has been the greatest excitement. In this sense we
readily allow that much has certainly been done with re-
spect to candles and sea-borne coal ; but who, in the name
of wonder, either expected or called for any relief in the ar-
ticle of tobacco,—that vile, stinking, semi-poisonous narco-
tic, which, if it could he excluded altogether from the king-
dom by heavy taxation, we should be all so much the better
and sweeter ? We really could not for a while believe our
own eyes when we saw this article set down as one, at
this time of want, from which above a million of taxation
was to be withdrawn. The mistake in some other articles
is less striking, and it would require our entering more
into detail to expose the error. The relief afforded in the
stamps of newspapers will scarcely be felt, and the scale
by which we hear advertisements are to be graduated (the
Chancellor of the Exchequer may not have been aware),
besides being improper, was under consideration in Mr.
Pitt's time, and was discovered to be vexatiously imprac-
ticable. The equalizing duty on foreign wines is a rea-
sonable one ; hut why Cape wine should be equally taxed,
unless to prohibit its growth altogether, we cannot see.—
We suppose the Chancellor does not expect any revenue
from that branch of our colonial produce ; nor, perhaps,
will any but the colonists themselves much regret the loss
of the article itself. The new stamp duty upon the bona
fide transfer of property, which will not affect gambling
transactions and time bargains, is not, we apprehend, well
judged, and will be found to oppress those who sell through
distress. In fact, it will increase time-bargains, and be a
benefit only to ion:Wier...—. Times. - -
The Chancellor of the Exchequer brought forward last
night, in the House of Commons, his budget for the en-
suing year. His Lordship premised by saying, that the
great and general anxiety which pervaded the country
with respect to the financial intentions of Ministers was
the cause of the matter being submitted to Parliament at
an earlier period of the Session than usual, and, though
some of the estimates were still incomplete, he hastened to
take the sense of the house and of the country upon the
plan, with its merits or imperfectione. The Government,
of which he was a member, was entitled, he submitted, to
claim merit for having already abolished, or being pledged
to abolish, no less than 210 offices. Amongst these were—
,. The office of Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, Lieutenant-General
of the Ordnance, and Clerk of Delivery ; also Auditor of the
Civil List. The Treasurer of the Military College, and the Trea-
surer of the Military Asylum—an office in the department of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer—the Postmaster-General of Ire-
land, the Resident Surveyor, Resident Surgeon, the King's Sta-
tioner in Ireland and four clerks, certain persons in the Privy
Seal Office in England; two Commissioners of the Navy, and
two Commissioners of the Victualling Board ; the Superinten-
dents of Transports ; the Paymaster of Marines; with his esta-
blishment,'consisting:of sevenpersons ; seventy persons in the:dif_
ferent Dock-yards, at salaries of from Mi. to 6001. a year; In-
spector. General of Stamps ; the Distributor of Stamps in Cum-
berland; the Receiver-General of Taxes in Scotland; forty-six
Receivers-General of Taxes in England—(Loud cheers)—the
Husband of the 4i per cent. Duties; the Commissioner of Se-
questrations at St. Domingo; the Paymaster of Sufferers and
Dutch Officers;"—
besides large reductions to be made in the Colonial and
Chancery departments. There reductions arc more im-
portant as showing an economy of patronage than 01
public money. The Noble Lord then proceeded with his
plan, explaining that its great object was to assist the in-
dustrious classes by the reduction, not of direct taxation,
by v.hich they would be but little benefitted, but by the
repeal of those indirect taxes upon consumable articles
which had a tendency to prevent the investment of capital
and the employment of labour. He proposed, therefore,
to commute the whole of the taxes, or parts of them, upon
the following articles, for taxes upon others, by reducing
that on tobacco—One half (Irish included.) Newspapers
from 4d. stamp duty, with 20 per cent. discount, to 2d.
without ; and advertisements from 3s. 6d. duty, to Is.
for ten lines, and 2s. 6d. all beyond. " Sea-borne coals"
—in that shape, altogether. Tallow candles, printed cali-
coes, glass, auction duty on land, and some other taxes, to
be partially repealed. The effect of these reductions would
be nominally a remission of 3,190,0001; but, as they
are to be partly replaced by taxes on other articles, prac-
tically only 440,000/. The new taxes which the Noble
Lord proposed he then stated to be en the following ar-
ticles :—Foreign wine, which is to be equalised at ss. 3d.
upon all descriptions(French wine now paying 7a. 3d.) Tim-
ber of all descriptions tube increased to 10a. per load. Raw
Cotton, Id. per lb. Coals, as a " duty on exporta-
tion," 101. Steam-boats—a newly-invented impost of le.
a head upon every passenger for twenty miles; 2s. and
2s. 6d. over thirty. And transfers of property, either in
land or in the funds, to be charged with one-half per
cent. at each transfer. The produce of this commutati*
the Noble Lord estimates will be—
Wine .£ 2 10,000
Timber 600,000
Raw Cotton 500,000
Coals exported lOO,OOO
Steam-boats lOO,OOO
Transfers 1,200,000

Making a total of X. 2,740,000
The Noble Lord then stated the general account to be
thus :
Income of last year X47,150,000
Arrears of Excise to be added 550,000

47,730,000
Deduct for old taxes to be reduced 3 190 000

Add new taxes ... 44,540,000
",740,000

47,280,000
Deduct expenditure for the year :x,850,000

Clear surplus, to form a Sinkiug Fund

430,000

This statement generally was received with sati,ilic
tion by a great part of the House. In the debate which
followed, however, many parts of it were objected to, and
particularly the tax upon transfers, which was contended
to be a breast' of faith with the public creditor, and
a direct violation of the Act of Parliament, which Wes
said to protect this species of property against all taxes
or deductions. The impost was warmly attacked, and
not very vigorously defended. Some of the new taxes on
the raw material toe were questioned as to their good
policy; but the discussion of the articles in detail wa••
postponed by common consent to a future opportunity.
The business of the House of Lords was very unimportant.
--.ltlorniny Herald.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer made the annual
financial statement to the House of Commons last night,
and proposed, it will be seen, very extensive alterations.

First, as regards the reduction of taxation. The du-
ties on sea.botne coals, on tallow-candles, glass, and
printed cottons, are to be wholly repealed ; and reductions
are to be effected in the duties on newspapers, tobacco,
and French wines. Of these, the repeal of the duty on
sea-borne coals is a bola to the poorer classes of the com-
munity in particular, which will be viewed with general
satisfaction throughout the country ; the same may be
said as to the duty on candles; for the rest, remission of
taxation is never unacceptable, though we think the ar-
ticle of soap might have been selected with far more pro-
: priety than that of tobacco; the former promotes cleanli-
ness, and is a necessary of life—the reverse of these qua-
lities appertains to the latter. The whole amount of taxa-
: tion remitted is 4,080,000/. ; the loss to the revenue is
estimated at 3,170,000/. We now come to the most im-
portant partof the subject ; the new taxes to be levied to
partly counterbalance the above reduction, of which the
total amount is estimated at 2,740,0001. The (hale., on
the following articles are to be raised :—Portuguese
wines, raw cotton, and Canadian timber; a tax is Mr-
ther to be laid on passengers by steam-boats; and lastly
it is proposed to levy a duty of ten shillings per cent. on
the transfer of stock, and impose an additional duty to
that amount on the transfer of landed property. There is
not one of these projects that is not exceedingly objection-
able. By the first, an unwarrantable injustice is done
towards an old and faithful ally who affords peculi tr ad-
vantages to the British trade for the purpose of favouring
France whose commercial policy is and ever has been hos-
tile to it. By the second project an important principle,
that of obtaining the raw material as cheap as possible,
is abandoned. The third threatens an extent of injury
to the colonial and shipping interests, which we sin-
cerely trust no Ministry will be suffered to inflict. The
fourth is impolitic, as impeding communication, which
in a commercial country like this ought rattier to be by
every means facilitated. But these projects, ill-judged
and unreasonable as they are, sink into insignificance
when we approach that monstrous violation of law and
public faith, the imposition of a duty upon the transfer of
funded property. Is it credible that such a proposition
can be made, when a clause in every statute under which
such stock has been created, distinctly and specifically de-
clares that NO duty whatever shall be imposed upon tra fis-
firs ! The argument upon which it is attempted to
justify this flagrant breach of faith, is as preposterous as
the proposition itself. Mr. Pitt, it is said, by his income
tax, imposed a tax upon funded property, and thereby
committed as much a breach of faith with the public cre-
ditor as can be committed by adopting the present plan
that there is no distinction between the cases—and that
whatever is objected to Lord Althorp was equally
chargeable upon Mr. Pitt. This argument was seriously
and repeatedly urged by Ministers and their supporters
last night in defence of their proposed measure ; and re-
ally, were it not actually exhibited before us, we never
could have conceived such amazing fatuity in any set of
men, however ignorant or incapahl, - Can they not un-
derstand that Mr. Pitt's was a general income tax, to he
levied on every species of income, however derived?
Does not the income derived from funded property
come under the general denomination, and what reason
could be adduced why the income derived front that
source should be exempted? would not such an exemp-
tion have been altogether unjustifiable ? Mr. Grant was
peculiarly unfortunate in his citation from Mr. Pitt's
speech on this subject. "No objection," said Mr. Pitt,
" can be taken by the fundholder, since every description
of income or property is equally affected." Why here
is the very ground of difference between Mr. Pitt's
plan and that of Lord Althorp. The former was
a general tax ; the latter is partial, unjust, and illegal;
a direct violation of faith and of several express Acts of
Parliament. Though it is not regarded in such a light
by the. Government, we look upon this measure as a revo-
lutionary measure; we see in it the first step towards that
avowed and most cherished project of the revolutionary
party,—the attack upon the national creditor ; the fraudu-
lent abolition of the national debt, the eternal ruin of the
credit of the nation, the destruction of her character, the
annihilation of her power. We should feel greatly
alarmed for the immediate consequence of a such a state-
merit as this from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and
shothl anticipate a fear ful panic in the City, did we not be-
lieve that the public will participate with us in thelconvic-
tion that no Ministry could succeed in carrying such mea-
sures through Parliament, and that the present Government
mast either withdraw their obnoxious and absurd protects,
or retire from a situation which they have *hewn themselves
little qualified to fill. We have neither time nor space to
treat the subject more particularly to-day, and must there-
fore refer our readers to our Parliamentary report for fur-
ther details. We must however observe that another mis-
chievous feature of this untoward budget is exhibited in
the summing up of the reduction sod increase of taxation,.
leaving a balance of about 500,000/. of deficiency to meet
the charge of the public expenditure. This is the result,
according to the figures of Lord Althorp; but he ventures
to convert this deficiency of half a million into a surplus
of about the same amount by the aid of certain anticipa-
tions of improvement, the grounds of which he was not
fortunate enough to make anybody understand. Upon the
whole the two great features of Lord Althorp's plan are-
1. The violation of solemn engagements towards the public
creditor.
2. The entire abandonment of a surplus revenue, and the con-
sequent rejection of the principleof redeeming the National Debt,
We regret that a gentleman front whom we had been led
to expect very different conduc', should have uttered such
amtitnents in the early part of the proceedings of last night,
as could not possibly be tolerated by the House. Besides
being laughed and scoffed at in the course of his ludicrous
and unwarrantable observations, the Speaker felt it his duty
to call him to order upon the necessary points of propriety
and decorum. We allude to the observations so indiscreetly
made by O'Gorman Mahon, on the occasion of a petition
for the repeal of the Union being presented. —Moist. Post.