The Sun.
London, England, 1847-01-06 00:00:00

:'-111 WI; 1m ito

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1847.

THE QUARTER'S REVENUE.

The state of the public revenue, as exhibited by
the returns for the year and quarter ending January
5, 1847, proves still further, if further proof were
wanted, the soundness of the principles of financial
and commercial policy which have of late years been
adopted by successive administrations in this country.
'The Customs, the Excise, the taxes, the property
tax, the Post-office, all exhibit an increase, both on
the quarter and on the year. The Stamps ex-
hibit a decrease on the year of 220,7001., and on
the quarter of 51,7151. A decrease which can be
more than accounted for by the activity of rail-
way operations last year as compared with this.
But even allowing fur the decrease on stamps, and
also a decrease under the head of miscellaneous of
38,9551. on the quarter, the increase on the revenue
for the quarter amounts to 19,8731., and on the year
to 13,0321., and this without the aid of the Chinese
ransom, the receipt of which tended to swell the gross
,ramount of increase as exhibited in former returns.
The amount of Customs' revenue for the quarter is
4,514,7211. ; for the year, 18,310,865/. ; showing an
increase on the year of 205,659/., and on the quarter
of 159,9321. The Excise shows an increase on the
quarter of 269,3181., on the year of 344,1381., the
revenue for the quarter being 3,608,1551., for the
year 12,501,950/. This is most satisfactory, as
showing that, notwithstanding the severe pressure of
distress, that pressure is merely partial, and that the
great bulk of the people are sufficiently prosperous to
be enabled to indulge in the use of those exciseable
commodities which constitute the luxuries of the in-
dustrious classes. The revenue derived from stamps
for the year is 6,931,4141., for the quarter 1,740,687/.,
showing, as we before stated, a decrease on the year
of 220,7001., and on the quarter of 51,7151. The
taxes show an increase in the quarter of 33,848/., and
on the year of 48,566/., the total amount received
being, for •the year 4,272,4081., and fur the
quarter 1,909,8991., a state of the revenue
that proves that the middle classes of society
are in a prosperous condition. The Property-
tax has yielded for the quarter, 450,2191. ; for
the year, 5,395,3911., showing an increase on the year
of 368,8211., and on the quarter of 63,2341. Th•
Post- office revenue still continues steadily on the
increase, and now that Mr. ROWLAND HILL is once
more restored to office, we doubt not but that each
quarter will show a much larger increase than here-
tofore, provided he is permitted to carry out his plans
unfettered by the bureaucracy of the department.
the increase under this head for the quarter
is 14,0001. ; for the year, 85,000/. ; the
total amount for the quarter being 203,0001.,
and fur the year 816,0001. The Crown lands
show an increase on the quarter of 5,0001.,
the revenue derived from this source being, for the
year, 120,0001.; for the quarter, 30,0001. Under the
head of Miscellaneous there is an increase on the
year of 196,7731., and a decrease on the quarter of
38,955/.—the total amount of revenue for the quar-
ter under this head being 29,657/. ; and for the year,
317,090/. The total amount of the ordinary revenue
for the year is 48,604,418/.; for the quarter, 12,486,33g1.
The revenue returned under the head miscellaneous,
is exclusive of the China money. As no money has
been received from China during this quarter,
of course, a deduction must be made fur the
amount received during the corresponding quarter of
last year, that deduction amounts to 475,2801. for the
year, and to 300,859/. for the quarter, we have also to
deduct 32,2001. for the quarter, and 131,3971. for
the year for imp:est and other monies, and 408,548/.
for the year, and 101,7301. for the quarter, for the re-
payments of advances, yet, notwithstanding all these
deductions, we have an increase on the total national
income on the year of 13,0321., and on the quarter of
19,8731. Now, when we consider the great reductions
which have been recently made in the Customs and Ex-
cise duties, we cannot but consider the state of the
Revenue as most satisfactory, proving, as it does to
demonstration, the soundness of those financial and
commercial principles which Sir ROBERT PEEL laid
down and acted on in 1845 and 1846, and which
must henceforth form the basis of the financial and
commercial policy of this country. The surplus of
Revenue, after providing for the charges to the con-
solidated fund, and for the payment of supply ser-
vices, in the Quarter ending sth January, 1847, is
1,365,4551.

It will be interesting to observe the difference of
tone with which the Legislative Chambers of Eng-
land, France, and Spain, will be opened by their
several Sovereigns. In accordance with the delicacy
of the position of the two latter kingdoms, the
tongues of LOUIS PHILIPPE and ISABELLA SEGUNDA
are restricted from the candid utterance of their senti-
ments. The wires by which the royal puppets of
Madrid are set in motion, have been extended beyond

:he Pyrennees to the Council Chambers of the

Tuileries. When the Queen of the Hidalgoes opens
her lips from the throne, she is merely echoing the
voice of the King of the Barricades. The edicts
sanctioned by her signature are literally the pro-
, clamaticns of an Afrancesado statesman. As
the disciples of LOYOLA are said to re-
main as corpses in the hands of their su-
periors, so is the form of Iberian royalty
passive under the influence of the Gallic Cabinet.
With Louis PHILIPPE, again, there are a variety of
repressive considerations to prevent the possibility
of his inaugurative address to the session of 1847
from being characterised by any quality but that of
consummate duplicity. The reproachful shadows of
his own perfidy will rise before his imagination from
the hospitable galleries of 'Windsor; the recollection
of the flagrant manner in which he had broken the
solemn engagements of his ancestor, Piiii.ir of
Orleans, in the marriage of his youngest son with a
princess of the Peninsula will neces. the fmdab
sarilycolroailehle
his
thoughts with the language of guile ,
movements perceptible in the direction of Vienna, St.
Petersburgli, and Berlin, must, in addition to all this,
secretly instigate the constitutional SOVEREIGN to ba
doubly cautious in the expressions of his actual
opinions. Belgium has afforded a, totally different
s,,ectacle. Her ruler has there spolen to the repre-
sentatives of the people with the utmost candour and
honesty
in relation to the past, with decided congra-
tulations in regard to the
anticipation and with
o
confidence and satisfaction inof
the future. In England the spectoacle will
he calculated evk'n more strikingly t
national heart with gratification. It
will fillbe thetl e
office of Tier Most Gracious MAJESTY to recur to the
strenuous efforts of the Government to ameliorate the
sufferings of the impoverished multitude in Ireland,
to comment upon the munificence of the officers of
the Treasury in striving to compete with the progress
of destitution, to refer to the flourishing condition of •
the last quarter's revenue. In allusion to our rela. s