The Sun.
London, England, 1838-10-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

~~~.

We congratulate the public on the very cortsiderah7e
im-
provement of the revenue, as exhibited in the official state-
ment of receipts made up to last night. The net increase
upon the year is, in round numbers, 741,000/. That upon
the quarter just ended is 655,0001. The largest increase
upon the whole year is under the head of Customs, while
in the last quarter the increase under that head is inconsi-
derable. The Excise, on the other hand, presents a di-
minution in the year's receipts, hut an increase during the
last quarter as compared with the corresponding quarter
of last ye ir, amounting to considerably more than a
moiety of the aggregate increase of the quarter. We
cherish the hope that the commercial difficulties in which
this and other countries have been involved having now
passed away, the revenue will be permanently and steadily
pregressive. The prospect, undoubtedly, would be still
more cheering if we had the good fortune to possess a
Chancellor of the Exchequer capable of turning this
prosperity to the best account for the relief of the country
from taxation.—Morninei Post.
It must be highly gratifying to our readers to perceive,
by an abstract of the state of the Revenue published in
another part of our paper, that the accounts of the nation
are in a most favourable position. On the Customs of the
last quarter, there has been an increase o. 33,155/. ; on
the Excise, 388,492/. ; on Stamps, 129,224/. ; on Taxes,
19.9531. ; with other items, which, allowing for a trifl ng
and solitary decrease of 8,0061. on the Post-office, give a
total increase on the quarter of 655,910/. ; and on the
year, as compared with the preceding, an increase of
741,045/. Though we by no means regard the condiiion
of the Revenue as an indication of the efficiency or stae.
bility of Ministers, yet this improvement denotes a
state of commercial, social, and foreign relations of a
character most .cheering to the national prospects. The
opposition which has defeated the policy of Ministers,
must. necessarily to some extent have impaired public
confidence, and the increase of the Revenue, under such
circumstances, is a most gratifying proof that the fitian-
c-al relations of the country are based on a support too
firm to be shaken by the struggles of conflicting parties.
Had the Tories been in power, the result might have been
different, not that we consider the present Administration
to have contributed to the increase of the r‘l,- nue, but we
are firmly convinced that the accession of a Tory Ministry,
and the agitation and mistrust such an event would neces-
sarily engender, would materially contribute to its diminu-
tion. Agitated, however, as the nation is, public confidence
is unimpaired. The state of the revenue must be estima-
ted not so much by the increase it has received as by the
diminution it. has escaped. Ministerial influence, however
directed, has greater tendency to injure than to improve, and,
therefore, favourable as is the state of the revenue, we should
rather thank Providence that it is no worse than indulge
in any extraordinary exultation at its increase. To the
exclusion of a Tory Ministry, however, if not to the
a'ntenance of the present, we may confidently attribute
he encouraging state of the public ledger.-11/iwning Ad-
verliser.

The abstract of the state of the revenue for the quarter
which ended yesterday, exhibits a slight improvement, both
as regards the preceding quarter, and the preceding year.
On the year, the total increase amounts 741,0451. ; on the
quarter, the increase amounts to 655,9101. It roust be
borne in mind, however, that this improvement in. the state
of the revenue is an improvement only relatively to the two
preceding ye ,rs—the most disastrous, almost, in the history
of English finance. On these two years, as compared with
those which preceded them, there was a decline in the in-
come of the country, to the extent of nearly 3,000,0001.
And, although, during the last quarter, things have mended
a little ; yet the slight increase wall be foond by no means
adequate to meet the greatly increased outlay of public
money consequent on the Canadian rebellion, and other
emergencies of the public service. There is one important
fact embodied in the abstract of the revenue just published,
important, in so far as it illustrates the influence of Whig
priciples of government on the coudiiion of the lahowing
poor. There was, last year, a marked decline in the na-
tional income derived from exciseable articles ; and this
year, - despite the slglit improvement in other departments,
there appears a further decline in the excise returns. Our
financial documents supply no other test so decisive as to
the measure of the poor man's enjoyments. The result 'be-
fore us is quite in accordance with the leonine of Whiggery.
The march of Reform" has gradually and regularly les-
sened the labourers' comforts.-41forning Herald.
We this day lay before our readers the Revenue ac-
counts for the quarter ended 10th October, 1838. It
will be seen that the increase is considerable on the
quarter's and the year's revenue. The income for the
quarter ended 10th October, 1838, is 12,349,0751. The
income for the corresponding quarter of 1837 was
11,693,1651. The increase on the revenue of the quar-
ter is 655.910/. The income for the year ended, 10th
October, 1838, is 43.628,6831.; and fur the year ended
10th Octoher, 1837, 42,887,638 ; and the increase
741,045/. In the quarter the chief increase has been, in
the Excise 388,4921., and in the Stamps 129,2241. The
only decrease is in the Post-Office, 8,0061., which is
easily accounted for. In the year there is an increase in
a the Customs of 450.675/., in the Stamps of 174,9221„
and in the Post-office of 45,2571., while there is a de-
crease in the Excise of 179,4501., and in the Taxes of
46,2231. A new it m aepears in these accounts—the re-
venue from Crown lands. No less a sum than 130,0001.
a year is derived from this source, of which 65,0001. is
entered for the quarter just ended. The favourable
change in the 'revenue proves that the severe crisis to
which the nation has been subjected is now over ; and
though it would be preposterous, with the prospect of
privations front scarcity and high prices which await the
most numerous and important part of the population—
the working chases—to say that we are in a prosperous
condition, yet we hope the best from the successful indus-
try and enterprise of the periple.—Morning Chronicle.
W e publish in another column the official declaration of
the quarter'i revenue ; but we see nothing in it to justify
the hallelujahs with which the Government prints accom-
panied the announcement that it would appear to-day.—

The Ministerial prints have been busily scribbling at our
ebservations of Monday on the Report of the Irish Red'.
way Commissioners, and, with their usual success, they
have managed to sink still deeper into the mire those whom
they
attempted to extricate. They endeavour to justify the
minute details into which the Commissioners have gone as
to the cost of execution, and the return to be expected,
by asserting them to be necessary to fulfil the letter and in
tent of the letters patent—namely, " to guide the
Legislature in the consideration of the projects that
may be brought before it." This is an obvious
absurdity. The foregoing quotation, from the in-
structions given to the Commissioners, clearly shows
that they were appointed, not to determine the ques-
tion of whether railroads would pay the cost of making
them in Ireland, not of what that return was likely to
amount to, and still less, certainly, to furnish estimates for
the public to turn railway-makers themselves, but merely
and simply to inquire which lines would be the most ad-
vantageous for the country at large, in order to assist Par-
liament in deciding on the comparative claims of the rival
lines which have been or may be proposed to it by different
companies, as is so unequivocally expressed in the words
above quoted from the letters patent. It is one thing to
have surveys taken and inquiries made respecting popula-
tion, traffic, and means, of a sufficient extent to compare the
relative advantages of different lines of railroeds ; but it is
surely quite another thing to enter into the minute estimates
of a contractor, and to calculate to fractional parts the re-
turns of the speculation. We ihink,hovvever,the estimates of
the Commissioners are not likely to weigh much with capital-
ists, and that the mischief is likely to be confined to the use-
less exp(.nditure of public money. Will any Whig or
Radical economist look to this? " Honest J be
expected to take it up, seeeig that it is an Irish job, and
oe.".caneot
and he now a joint of the tail, unless he should happen to
hate dabbled in the Kilkenny line, objected to by the Com-
missioners, or his constitu, nts should prefer it to that re-
commended in that Report. But the strongest objection to
this part of the Commissioners' proceedings arises from the
motive which would seem to have prompted it—the de-
sire to make out a case for the advance of public money.
We did not blame the Commissioners for having dis-
obeyed their instructions in omitting to take into con-
sideration, in their estimates of the returns " the
means which may be anticipated from the resources
which may in future be developed." Our only ob-
ject in stating the circumstance was to show the folly
and useless expense of attempting to make such an
estimate; since, although the progressive improve-
ment of Ireland must obviously form (as the Commis-
sioners fully state in another part of their Report) one
of the chief ingredients, if not the staple itself, of the re-
turns to be expected from railways in Ireland, and although
they felt so strongly the absurdity of basing any
the Commissioners were specially instructed to take the
,‘ future means and resources'. of the country into consi-
deration,ou a circumstance so totally uncertain in its pro-
d extent, that they nevertheless omitted it. A
arid trustworthy estimate, forsooth, in which it
necessary to omit—in the teeth, too, of orders—
it form the principal basis of calculation if an accu-
r et ses ge
undertake
er
tdoubtake tthhaet n
es Joint-stockCompaniesreeeulineed e
recommended
by
circumstance which it was impossible for them to
gi:l,,v,ssarlieilituas.on
estubilialtileednu
rate result be desired! We censured the Commissioners for
gratuitouslyd
tsk'ini eOa luwl übanet il o tuehnx()dps e lines.had been made generally known—
and for advising a large advance for that purpose from the
E,,,hequer, without even giving a reason for corning to the
former conclus:on, vvhici., Hdeeti, appeared contrary to tee
t.,t;;.teirients of the Melee ,
•the desire of coin-
paeies arid capitalists ci-t,6 ck it, raiiwey unevrteeiegs
;a Ireland. To this one of the Ministerial scribes replies,