The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-24 00:00:00

majority at all, but were very signally defeated, and the
ivas j:1 the rither way. .The Conservative ein,f-
dates were act all rejected in London,•Lut Oil the Con-
trary they gained .two seats formerly held by Whig-
Radicals, and were within ten votes of gaining a third,
Lord John Russell was not returned at the head of the
poll, but at the tail, and the first place was gained by a
Conservative. Encouraged by this success in prophecy,
and priding itself (for the reasons above-stated) in the
accuracy of its information, the Whig-Radical press now
acquaints the pablie with the divisions which exist in
the Conservative ranks, and the total impossibility
(owing. to these divisions) that. Sir Robert Peel should
be able to carry on the Government. We have no
doubt that the prophecies of the Whig Journals as to
the impossibilities of Sir R. Peel's Government will be
confirmed by the event, in quite as marked a manner as
their election prophecies have been.
ADVERTISER.—" To facilitate the operations of
trade, andto provide for the necessities of the public ser-
vice in the manner least burdensome to the community,"
says the Times, "arc objects which recommend them-
selves so plainly to the ordinary sense of mankind, that no
Minister, however stupid, could avoid appreciating them,
or hoWever dishonest, could have any motive for diSre-
garding them.'' ThiS proposition seems to be so self-
evident, that no one could attempt to dispute it; and yet
the whole and every part of our fiscal system is. in utter
Contradiction to it. To facilitate the operations of trade,
taxes have been levied upon every commodity re-
quired : for manufacturing purposes ; to 'provide for
the necessities of the public service in a manner least
burdensome to the community, a system of taxation
has been adopted which falls with a .crashing weight
upon , the . great mass of the people, and requires a
most. complicated and costly machinery to, carry it out !
The proposed revision of the duties upon corn, sugar,
and timber,-has once more turned public attention to
this subject ; hut much as the mischievous incidence of
these and other duties may have been talked about, and
loudly as, the aristocratic spirit of the whole of our fiscal
system may have been condemned, there is scarcely one
person in a thousand who has a just conceptidn of their
real character and tendency. There are few, indeed,
who have any notion of the real amount of the taxes
levied upon the British public. " Of the fifty millions
of taxes imposed
,upon the British public," says a
Manchester Contemporary, " at least forty millions are
paid by the poor ; ' as though the sum of fifty
millions—enormous as it is—were- to be deeMed a fair
representation of the amount of taxes ;levied in the
United Kingdom. The last published finance accounts
give the net receipt, within the year ending the .sth of
January, 1841, at 51,693,5101. 7s. 94d. But it must not
be imagined that these. figures represent the gro:is amount"
of British taxation. They represent seaway one-half
of it, as the following summary will show :

Net income,,as per finance account £51,693,510
Poor rates, county rates, highway rates,
church rates
Revenues of the Churches of England, Ire-
land, and Scotland 11,500,000

7,542,703

Total amount of taxes £70,736,213
But to these must be added the artificial price of com-
modities, occasioned by the Corn-laws, and other du-
ties levied, not to raise a public revenue, but to favour
certain classes of society. The following.may be taken,
upon the authority of the best judges, as a fair repre-
sentation of the cost of the monopolies of the United
Kingdom, as paid for out of the pockets of the people :
Wheat and other corn
Other articles of food 5,000,000
Colonial products
Bank of England

Total cost of monopolies - £42,000,000
Making the grand total of direct and indirect taxes,
112,736,2131. This is as near an approximation to the
truth as the data within reach will enable us to come at.
That it is not an exaggerated view of the subject, in any
single item, we are prepared to demonstrate ; and not
less so, that enormous as is the sum thus annually taken
out of the pockets of the public, for the service of the
State, and the aggrandisenient of particular interests,
there is a sum, almost equal to it in amount, lost to the
public by the process through which our present taxes
are levied. The evils of the whole system are, in fact,
almost incredible. Had it been devised for the express
purpose of working injury to the public, it could not
have been more skilfully framed to answer that pur-
pose. It is complicated, costly, and detrimental to
the best interests of commerce ; it presses with a crushing
weight upon the poor, without exempting the rich ; and
i t exposes the Government to obloquy and reproach,
without adequately providing for the exigencies of the
country. We purpose, as occasion offers, to exhibit and
illustrate these propositions.'Whoever may be intrusted
with the administration of public affairs will find this to
be a topic with which he must very speedily grapple, and
it will be as well to familiarise the public with some of its
details, that they may be the better prepared to pass
judgment upon any reform proposed for its amendment.

MONEY MARKET and CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAV.

TIMES.—The returns lately published by order of
the House of Commons relative to the public debt of this
country, state that the unredeemed capital of the public
funded debt on the sth ofJanuary, 1828, was 777,476,89 a. ;
in 1831, 757,486,9961.; and in 1841, 766,371,721.; that
the amount of Exchequer Bills outstanding in the same
years was respectively 27,546,8501., 27,271,6501, and
22,271,050/., the second amount including the issue
under the Act of 11 George IV., cap. 26, to pay off the
proprietors of 4 per Cent. Annuities, amounting on the
sth of January, 1831, to 1,662,0001.; that the amount of
terminable Annuities, whether for lives or 'years, was'
for these years respectively 2,610,7541., 3,297,3751., and
4,114,0211. ; that the sums required to defray the charge
of the interest and management of the permanent public
debt during these periods were 25,779,115/., 24,377,3791.,
and 24,442,3031. ; and that the sums paid or required to
defray the interest on Exchequer Bills for these years
were 873,2461. ; 675,000/., and 818,046/. The amount
of all payments made out of the Consolidated Fund of
Great Britain and Ireland, other than on account of in-
terest and management of the national debt and the Civil
List was, for the year ending the sth of January, 1828,
1,853,1721.; for the year ending the same month in. 1831,
1,625,941/. ; and for the year ending 1841, 2,552,791/.
POST.—The circumstance incidentally mentioned by
the supporters of Ministers in their free trade crotchets,
as,a cause of-the cheapness of foreign bills of exchange
just now is also a favourable feature. The exchanges
have been kept up, they say, in consequence of the nego-
tiation
of quantities of American paper on France, con-
sisting of bills drawn for flour sent to that country. A
want of activity in our manufacturing towns is complained
of. Many of the American bills drawn against flour ship •
ments to Havre may be remitted to London to provide
for state and other dividends falling due ; some may be
to discharge old debts standing unliquidated on the
books of our merchants • but the principal portion,
it is likely, accompany orders for goods for the ensuing
fall, as remittances from hence to Dantzic and Ham-
burgh accompany orders for grain._ More work
,may,
therefore, be expected from the operatives of Manchester,
Glasgow, and other places. -
When the reins of power -shall be resigned into the
hands of a party worthy to be called a Government, and
the effects of the errors of the present incompetent dab-
blers in statesmanship can be in some measure counter-
acted by the wiser course of administration that may be
looked for, the country will, in our humble opinion, have
nothing whatever to fear for the future, but every thing
to hope, and this, it is gratifying to know, must now be
soon.

SUN.—There was a dull market for public Securities
to-daty. . The continuation on Consols was rather higher,
viz. Ter cent., and in one or two instances quotations
for ctober were made as high as 891 •tO 90. For
immediate transfer Consols were 898 tO 'l, and for
account or the settling day on Thursday, the same. Ex-
chequer Bills improved a little, having touched 13s. anti
16s. premium, and India Bonds were at 3s. to 6s. prem.
Bank Stock was worth 169, and the New Three-and-a-
Half per Cents. brought 98k to 981. - The Reduced
Three per Cents. were 89 to 1.
There was rather more business doing in Spanish
Stock, but in the other Securities only a bargain here
and there. The Active Spanish Bonds were steady at
19-1 to 20 for money, and got up to 201 . and 20j- for ac-
count. Portuguese New Five per Cents. were dull at
30, and the Three per Cents, at 18. Colombian Bonds
were at 201 to 201 •, and Mexican at 20 to 201. The
Dutch Two-and-a-Half per Cents. were at 511 to 51k,
and the Five per Cents. at 101 i.
With the exception of a decline in Great Western
there was no particular alteration in the Share Market,

WOOL W I CH-MONDAY.
ROYAL MARINES.
The following appointments and promotions have
taken place in the Royal Marines, dated Aug. 17, 1811 :
First Lieutenant Edward Hooker, of the Portsmouth
division, to be Quarter-master at Plymouth, vice Wat-
son, promoted to Captain.
Second Lieutenant G. C. Symonds, of the Portsmouth
division, to be First Lieutenant, and re-appointed to
Portsmouth division, vice Hocker.
" CIRCULAR.
" Royal Marine. office, Aug. 18, 1841.
" Commissions dated yesterday will be laid before her
Majesty, appointing the following gentlemen to be Se-
cond Lieutenants in the Royal Marines, and they arc
to be attached to the divisions opposite their names :
" Mr. Charles Louden Barnard ... Portsmouth
Richard Franklin Tucker Chatham
Henry Watson Hall
Henry G. Johnstone Davis
Frederick William Hall Chatham
Rodney Vansittart Allen
Nerison W. de Conroy

COURT OF BANKRUPTdY.—The following
notice was yesterday posted in the Court on Saturday, and
it may be advisable that creditors who require their di-
vidends should make an early application to the Ac.
ecuntant-General if their cases are " urgent," or elsa
they must remain without their little modicums for the
next two months :
" Lord Chancellor. " Friday, Aug. 20841. , 1
" In Bankruptcy. .

I do order :hat the books of the Accountant in Bank-
ruptcy be closed from the 21st day of August to the 4th
day of October next, and that during that time no draft
for any effects shall be signed -and delivered out, nor any
purchase, sale, or transfer, of any stocks, securities, or
effects, be made by the said Accountant in Bankruptcy,
for or oh account of any bankrupt's estate; provided that
the said Accountant be at liberty to sign orders or checks
for dividends in such cases as may appear urgent."
EXCURSION TO SHEERNESS.--The Lords of
the Admiralty, at the request of Mr. Northhouse, have
given permission to the Star Steamer to lay alongside of
the Camperdown, and inspect the Trafalgar and the
other ships at the Nore, on Thursday next, on condition
of a provision being made out of the proceeds for the
benefit of the poor Infant born on board the Star on the
19th nit