The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-06 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 6, 1846.

THE QUARTER'S REVENUE.

The abstract of the net produce of the revenue of
Great Britain, in the years and quarters ending
July 5, 1845, and July 5, 1846, will be found in
another column ; and if any further proof were wanting
of the good policy of Sir ROBERT PEEL in making
the reductions which he made last year in the
Customs and Excise duties, it would be furnished by
this return. Notwithstanding these reductions, the
decrease in the total revenue in the year ending July
5, 1846, as compared with the year ending July 5,
1845, is only 1,011,7731.; while on the quarter, as
compared with corresponding quarter of last
year (the first quarter in which these reductions
took effect), there is an increase of 575,5991.
The total amount of Customs for the year is
17,688,461/. ; for the quarter it is 4,523,3914
showing a decrease in the year of 2,118,5834, and
an increase on the quarter of 23,8431. The total
amount of revenue derived from the Excise during
the year is 12,025,1121., showing, notwithstanding
the total removal of the glass duties, and the great
reductions made is various duties, a decrease, as
compared with the preceding year, of only 49,8871.,
while on the quarter there is an increase of 139,027/.,
the total amount of revenue derived from the Excise
for the quarter being 3,104,711/. This is most satis-
factory, as showing, in the first place, that the Excise
revenue has not been materially affected by the great
reductions that have been made ; and, in the next
place, that the labouring population are, in general,
in such a prosperous condition that they are able to
indulge in the use of those exciseable articles which
constitute the luxuries of the poor. The revenue de-
rived from Stamps is, for the year, 6,988,9401. ; for the
quarter, 1,730,4951., showing an increase on the year
of 142,057/., and a decrease on the quarter of
106,5811. The state of the railway world in 1846,
as compared with what it was in 1845, will satisfac-
torily account for this difference. Under the head
Taxes the revenue for the year amounts to 4,229,8994,
and for the quarter to 2,006,427/, showing an in-
crease on the year of 1,4584, and on the quarter of
5,860/. The Property-tax for the year amounts to
5,183,912/., showing a decrease of 78,042/. There is
however, an increase on the quarter of 99,171/.,
the amount for the quarter being 1,009,162/.
The Post-office revenue we are rejoiced to find goes
on steadily increasing ; for the year it amounts to
794,000/., showing an increase of 115,000/.; for the
quarter it amounts to 181,000/., showing an increase
of 26,000/. It is to be hoped that the new Postmas-
ter-General will introduce those reforms which are
so much needed in the administration of this, perhaps
the most slovenly managed department of the public
service. Great additional accommodation without any
additional expense might easily be afforded to the
public for the transmission of letters, and
if such accommodation were afforded there cannot
be a doubt but that the revenue derived from the
Post office would be greatly increased. No revenue
has been derived from the Crown Lands during the
quarter—(during the corresponding quarter in 1845
the revenue for Crown Lands was 30,000/.)--for the
year it amounts to 100,0001., showing a decrease, as
compared with the year preceding, of 25,000/. The
revenue, under the head IViscellaneous, is for the
year 1,384,0964, and for the quarter 458,001/, show-
ing an increase on the year of 725,2774, and on the
quarter of 444,3491. This includes the sum of
440,000/, being the produce of money received from
China. The total charge for the quarter is 7,425,651/.
The total ordinary revenue fur the year is 48,394,4201.;
for the quarter, 13,013,1871.; showing a decrease in
the year of 1,011,773/., and an increase on the quarter
of 575,599/. ; leaving a consolidated fund, for the
quarter, of 5,785,552/.

THE NEW MINISTRY.
(From The Sun of Saturday Evening.)

The following appointments have been made since
our last announcement :
Master of the Mint Right Hon. R. L. SHEIL.
Secretary of the Board
of Admiralty H. G. WARD, Esq.
Attorney General
One of the Lords of the
Treasury
Under Secretary for the
Home Department .. Sir Wu. SontEuviLLE.
Under Secretary for Fo- The Right Hon. E. J.

reign Affairs STANLEY.
Lord Advocate A.RUTHERYORD, Esq.

The Duchess of SUTHERLAND will be Mistress of
the Robes.
We understand that either Mr. C. BULLER or Mr.
HAwEs will be Under• Secretary for the Colonies.

LORD Jour; RUS3ELL.—His Lordship received
visits on Saturday, at his residence in Chesham-
olace, from several of his political friends. The new
Ministerial arrangements, it is understood, are nearly
completed, and Lord Jour; RUSSELL left town
in the afternoon for Wimbledon. His Lordship is
not expected from Wimbledon until to-day,
when it is confidently expected that a Privy
Council will Le held at Buckingham Palace, when
the members of the new Administratien will be sworn
into office, and will receive their respective seals.

The magnificent banquet given on Friday, at the
Reform Club, to his Highness LauAunt I'AcuA, pre-
vents many circumstances of an extraordinary
haracter, the effect of which will not be lost on the

illustrious Prince in whose honour the entertain-
ment was provided.
The heir-apparent of one of our firmest allies, the
future Sovereign of a great and important terri-
:ory, in war the gallant and victorious General, in
Peace the eminent agriculturist and zealous
cultivator of all the arts and sciences,
by which the social relations, the tastes, and habits of
civilised life, are ameliorated and improved ; he had
not rested in the enjoyment of luxurious ease, but
had determined to visit other nations, to become an
eye-witness of their institutions and manners, their
manufactures and commercial arrangements,
not for the gratification of an idle curiosity,
nut in the same spirit by which PETER the
GREAT was animated to investigate fully
the causes by which national prosperity was attained,
:nd, as far as practicable, to introduce into his Gwn
..:ountry the improvements he saw practised in other
nations, to effect extensive and valuable reforms in
the civil and political institutions of his people.
Such were the objects of his journey ; and it is little
to be wondered at that the first public entertain-
ment should be given to him by the Reform Club—a
body of gentlemen associated together in honour
end commemoration of the triumph of the great na-
ional reform by which our Legislature was purified,
and the popular branch of the Senate practically
made, what in theory it purported to be, a real
representation of the people, from which have sprung
the vast benefits of later days—the removal of the
taxes on a nation's food, the triumph of free trade,
and the abolition of all commercial restrictions.

The Chairman, who ably presided over the banquet,

and who proposed the health of the illustrious guest,
was the hero by whom his progress had been
checked, and his triumphant career arrested,
and his victories turned into defeat; but not the less
cordial was the feeling that subsisted between these
gallant men because they had been arrayed against
each other in hostile ranks—each recognised in the
other an opponent worthy of his arms—and such men
must ever entertain the most profound respect and
esteem for each other.

The nobleman by whom the health of his royal
father was proposed had formerly, when filling a
high and important public situation, to which he has
just been restored, after a secession from office of
nearly five years, felt it to be his painful duty, in the
conscientious discharge of the functions of his office,
and in the maintenance of the balance of power,
to oppose that father in his most cherished
plans, and to interpose the arms of Great
Britain between him and the accomplishment
of his most ardent wishes. To this nobleman
was entrusted the more pleasing task of bearing his
testimony to the honourable course pursued by
MEUEMET ALT, under such irritating circumstances,
towards the British subjects and British interests,
placed within his power for a time, which, as he truly
said, was that of a most generous foe.
The occasion, too, was an auspicious one : that very
evening the acceptance of office by a new Ad-
ministration was announced to the country
by their seats being vacated and new writs moved
for in the House of Commons, pursuant to the con-
stitutional principle, which declares that on a repre-
sentative of the people being appointed to a situation
of emolument under the Crown, he must resign into
the hands of the people by whom he was elected the
trust reposed in him, and receive their sanction as to
the propriety of his conduct before he can again sit
or vote in Parliament. The late Ministry had been
singularly successful during their term:of office ; the
nation had enjoyed a long period of commercial activity
and prosperity, almost without precedent ; the finan-
cial affairs of the country had been placed on a firm
basis ; and, notwithstanding the reduction of many
taxes, by which the industry of the working classes
had become oppressed, an increased and increasing
revenue bore the strongest testimony to the soundness
of the principle acted on. The wars in which
this country had been unhappily engaged were
brought to a peaceful and happy termination, and
the honour of the British name and the British arms
had passed untarnished through the ordeals by which
it had been tested ; but, far beyond all, the force
of public opinion had achieved a peaceful victory by
the force of reason and argument only. Monopolies
were extinguished, the glorious principles of free
trade had triumphed to the utmost extent, and mea-
sures giving full effect to the earnest
wishes of the nation had just received the
royal assent, and yet the Minister by
whom all this was effected, and who had
gained for himself the greatest popularity, had
fallen in the moment of his most brilliant triumph.
And why ? Because he had, although conscientiously,
yet, as it was conceived, unnecessarily, or at least
after the great and pressing necessity had ceased,
attempted to carry measures of coercion by which the
liberties of a portion of our fellow-countrymen
would be interfered with and abridged. This
is a lesson which cannot be thrown away on
a Prince of so much intelligence and judgment
as Inaintst PACTIA. We trust that he will take it
deeply to heart ; and be guided thereby in his
future career, and that he may thence discover that
the true interests of a Government are best promoted
by insuring the constitutional freedom of the go-
verned, by obeying the voice of the people, and keep-
ing up in the most liberal and enlightened manner
to the spirit of the times. That he will be inclined
to act in this manner we firmly believe, and we sin-
cerely trust that Egypt may have just cause to
rejoice at the visit of this Prince to the British nation.

It is gratifying to observe the entire absence of party
prepossession and factitious rivalry in the selection
which Lord Jolts RUSSELL has made of his col-
leagues. This peculiarity of his Ministerial arrange-
ments has indeed been carried to an excess—but an
excess which: while it is in accordance with the liberal
tendencies of the age, does not deteriorate from his
character as a sagacious and discriminating leader.
Whatever ill-success may have attended his en-
deavours to break down still further the barriers of
political partizanship, by the amalgamation of the
retiring and the approaching Cabinet, his proposi-
tion to retain Lord DALHOUSIE at the head of the
Board of Trade, and Lord LINCOLN in the Secretary-
ship for Ireland, was worthy of this ever-memorable
crisis ; it was worthy of the catastrophe of
parties ; it was peculiarly and eminently
worthy of so illustrious a Reformer as the now Prime
Minister of England, Lord Jous RUSSELL. A more
signal method could scarcely have been adopted to
proclaim that the policies of the new Administration
would be based upon the most comprehensive and en-
larged principles—that the RUSSELL Cabinet would
not be conventional but cosmopolitan. These most
gratifying announcements were virtually made on the
noble Premier's visit to the residence of the ex-First
Lord of the Treasury, at Whitehall-gardens. The
announcement was thereby made implicitly, but it
was yesterday delivered explicitly through the ad-
dress issued by Lord Jous RUSSELL to the
electors of the City of London. From the
tenor of that remarkable letter it is easy
to perceive the scope of the reformatory
intentions which his Ministry is determined to
fulfil—a scope of conspicuous breadth and generosity.
Satisfied, however, as every rational man must be
with the certainty of future improvement to Great
Britain, through the instrumentality of those Minis-
terial measures which will proceed from a Cabinet
guided by such a statesman as Lord JOHN RUSSELL,
it becomes a matter of no inconsiderable importance
to remark in the expressions of his Lordship's address,
the germs of those constitutional reforms which it
will be his particular pleasure to advance. Far from
considering that commercial freedom has been
altogether realised by the extraordinary achieve-
ments of his predecessor, and far from indo-
lently abandoning himself to quietude in regard
to the removal of still existing restrictions, Lord 1
JOHN at once proclaims his determination to con-
summate what has been so gloriously commenced,
and not to abandon such matters until free trade is
universally applied throughout this country. In
proof of this resolution he observes, " I trust that
the measures of commercial freedom which still re.
main to be accomplished will not occasion the renewal
of angry conflict." It is not difficult to perceive that
the sugar duties are implicated in this sentence.
Having thus guaranteed the realisation of the most
cherished hopes of the multitude, the Noble Lord
assumes to himself a still bolder and loftier position by
the declaration of the abstract truth, that " Great
social improvements are required !" He thereby
kindles up the expectations of the people, nor are
these expectations quenched by any mincing pro-
gramme of the improvements which he conceives to
be so requisite, and for the attainment of which it will
be the purpose of his Administration to struggle.
Foremost among what Lord doll's considers to be
the national grievances, we perceive that of the in-
sufficiency of popular instruction :—" Public educa-
tion," says he, "is lamentably imperfect." Next in
importance, according to the Noble Lord, is the re-
organisation of the criminal code ; or, as he happily
expresses it, " the treatment of criminals is a pro-
blem yet undecided." Again, the diffusion of
health among the population of the empire appears
to be a subject calling loudly for the interposition of
both Parliament and Ministers. Lord J. RUSSELL
acknowledges the necessity of some immediate atten •
tion to that demand, where he says, " The sana-
tory condition of cur towns and villages has
been grossly neglected." So much fur the
especial improvements proposed by the new Ad-
ministration with regard to Great Britain in a gene-
ralised point of view, and with reference to which
many especial circumstances are, as a matter of
course, understood; in other words, there are the
"ablative absolutes" of local reform. For example,
the entire system of model prisons and solitary
confinement, and the proportions of punishment to
proportionate crimes, and the establishment at Pen-
tonville, are all to be comprehended in the simple
reference to "the treatment of criminals." Again,
the Normal schools, the " Godless colleges," the
religious endowments, the prevailing ignorance
of Wales, and, we heartily trust, the "ragged schools"