The Sun.
London, England, 1848-12-22 00:00:00

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Total loss upon Customs, Excise, and Taxes a:11,477,001
I repeat that I do not propose this as a complete
financial scheme. Many articles an omitted which I
should not wish to be considered to have willingly ex-
cluded, or be thought to have overlooked. I have gone
again and again through the dismal catalogue of our
fiscal burdens, and if there be any of the items of the
Customs or Excise duties which you are sorry to miss from
the above table, be assured that the omission has caused
me equal regret. Bricks ought especially to stand one
of the first on the list for a prospective budget. To-
bacco is a very strong case, but it involves so large an
amount of revenue that I could not include it. The
wine duties also call for a revision, not to name others.
Then there are some duties and taxes, the modification
of which does not necessarily involve a loss of revenue,
and which may be dealt 'with independently of the pre-
sent plan. The duties on foreign and colonial coffee
ought to be forthwith equalized; the property and in-
come-tax should be revised, and a just discrimination
made between fixed and precarious incomes. For a stamp
upon newspapers a stamped envelope might be substi-
tuted, bearing upon those only which are transmitted
by post; and the stamp duties generally call loudly
for an equitable revision. I mention these examples to
show that, by adopting the proposed " national budget,"
you would not be precluded from effecting other financial
reforms. On the contrary, I believe if the industry of
the country were further disburthened to the extent I
have named, there would be au accruing surplus revenue
from the remaining sources of taxation, a hich would
afford the means of continually making further modifi-
cations and reductions of duties. This would have been
the case in times past, notwithstanding all the rests is
tions upon our commerce, if the increased income had
not been swallowed up by Government extrav,gance.
For instance, had not the expenditure been increased
since the time of the Duke of Wellington's Administra-
tion, in 1830, then, notwithstanding the very large
amount of taxes and duties since remitted, there would
now have been a surplus revenue, without the income-tax
A word or two as to the mode by which I would re-
duce our expenditure to the amount of 1835. The great
increase since that year has been upon the army, navy,
and Ordnance. In the year 1835 our armaments cost
us 11,657,000 t; for the twelve months ended on the sth
day of April last they reached, including 1,100,0001. for
the Kafir war, 19,341,0001.; and I expect that the charge
for the present year will not be much less. For the
same time the total expenditure of the Government, ex-
clusive of the interest of the debt, was 26,747,000/., and,
deducting 19,341,000/., the cost of our warlike establish-
ments, it leaves only 7,406,000/. to cover the whole of
the civil expenses of the Government. It will be self-
evident, then, that if any material retrenchment be
effected, it must be mainly upon our armaments, the
cost of which has been increased 7,000,0001.; and this
during a period of profound peace, and in the absence
of all revolutionary convulsions, and whilst each succes-
sive speech from the throne assured the assembled Par-
liament of the peaceful disposition of all foreign Powers.
But if we take into calculation the present reduced
value of commodities, it will be found that 10,000,0001.
expended upon our armaments now will go much far-
ther than 11,6571. did in 1835; and I suggest that you
propose the former anm as the maximum expenditure
for the army, navy, and Ordnance, by which you will
gain about 8,500,000/. of the proposed saving of
10,000,000 Z I by no means, however, wish to commit
your association to 10,000,0001. as the minimum cost of
our armaments, for I have a strong belief that you will
live to see the waste reduced to less than half that sum.
The above-named amount will be three times as great as
that of the United States; greater than that incurred for
the same purpose by Russia, Austria, or Prussia; and,
judging by her promised reductions, nearly, if not quite,
as large as that of France.
The remaining 1,500,000/. to complete the proposed
reduction of 10,000,000/. you will have little difficulty in
saving from all the other heads of expenditure, including
the coat of collecting the revenue, and the mantgemeet
of the Crown lands.
I repeat, emphatically, all hopes of any material re-
lief from taxation hinges upon the question of a large
reduction in the cost of our army, navy, and Ordnance.
If it be objected that I do not specify the particular re-
giments or ships which I propose to redace, my answer
is—that the only way in which the public can restrict the
Government at all, in its warlike expenditure at a time
of peace, is by limiting the amount of money. Disband
a regiment, or pay off a ship to day, and the amount
saved may be spent to-morrow upon steam-basins, or
for fresh fortifications at Gibraltrr, Lsbuan, or Hong-
Kong. This was the view enterteiued by Sir Sir Henry
Parnell, a great Whig authority, who, in his work upon
financial reform, written when the Duke of Wellington
was at the head es affairs, whilst arguing for a reduction
in the expenditure of our military departments, says—
" Fix upon a much smaller sum, and tell them that they
must make it answer." There is another good reason
for this course. Some influential persons, who are op-
posed to any diminution of the strength of our arma-
ments, yet contend that the present force may be kept
up at a very reduced cost. In their eyes, your maxi-
mum sum may represent a much larger establishment
than you contemplate. These parties, probably, would
be as willing as myself to put an end to the crimes and
cruelties imported into the slave-trade by the interfe-
rence of our costly fleet of cruisers upon the African
coast; or there may be other savings contemplated by
them; so that, perhaps, in their opinion, with an expete
diture of 10,000,0001., nearly as largo an effective force
as at present may be maintainea.
But lam proper( d to contend fur changes in our fo-
reign, colonial, and domestic policy (though I will not
attempt to do so at length now) calculated to facilitate a
reduction in the amount of our armaments. First and
foremost, we must insist that the principles of non-inter-
ference in the affairs of foreign countries, so loudly pro-
fessed by politicians of all parties, shall be carried into
practice in the policy of our Government. During
the whole of last year a fleet as formidable as
that required by the Americans tc.4 watch over their
commerce in all parts of the globe was maintained in
the Tagus, out of the taxes of the British people, for
the service of the conrt and Government of Portugal.
At this moment we have as large a fleet in the Straits
of Messina, engaged in an armed interference between
the King of Naples and his Sicilian subjects, with no
more interest or right on our part than the Govern-
meat of the United States would have to send a
squadron off Holyhead, and assume the character of an
armed mediator between England and Ireland. For
three or four years we have had a fleet in the River
Plate, interfering in the endless and inexplicable squab-
bles of the Monte Pickens and the Buenos Ayrians,
and which has at last ended in a ridiculous failure. I
would wish to see our Government spare the people this
useless expense, by simply following the rule observed
by individusls, of leaving other nations to settle their
quarrels, and minding its own businrss better.
I am also aware that any great reduction in our mili-
tary establishments must di pond upon a complete
change in our colonial system; and I consider such a
change to be the necessary consequence of our recent
commercial policy. lam prepared to carry out logically
the principle of free-trade in our future relationship
with our colonies. Nay more, I always contemplated
that the practical application of that principle would so
simplify the
question, that it would not be possible after-
wards to continue the ruinous colonial expenditure
which we have hitherto sustained. So long as protection
was our ruling policy, the nation believed that the ex-
clusive trade with our colonies compensated us for the
expenses of governing and guarding them. I did not, of
course, share in that opinion; but there was consistency,
if not wisdom, in those who did. But we have now de-
dared that, for all commercial purposes, they shall in
future stand in precisely the same relationship towards
us as foreign countries. For 70 years we have denied
ourselves the right, by statute, to tax them for im-
perial purposes. Under these altered circumstances, as ill
anybody be found, even among the Projectionists, ay,
even Lord Stanhope himself, who is prepared to main-
tain that henceforth the only exclusive connexion we are
to preserve with our colonies is the monopoly of the ex-
pense of governing and garrisoning them? Once let tisk m
see that free trade is the irrevocable policy of the country,
and the Protectionists themselves will join with me in
demanding an exemption from thel:expense of the thirty
or forty little armies which (exclusive of the troops in
the merely military fortresses of Gibraltar, &c.) are
maintained at the cost of this country in all parts of the
globe ; together with the little army always afloat for
the purpose, incredible as such folly may hereafter ap-
pear, of transporting reliefs of soldiers from England to
serve as policemen for Englishmen at the Antipodes !
We have only to give to the colonists that whioh is their
birthright—the control over their expenditure, and the
administration of their own local affairs, and they will
be willing, as they are perfectly able, to bear all the cost
of their own civil and military- establishments.
And, finally, I contend that we must endeavour to act
at home more in secordance with the good old constitu-
tional pr;nciple of governing by the civil, and not the
military, power. We are, I fear, tending towards too
great a great a reliance upon soldiers, and too little on

SUN OFFICE, Seven Clock.

THE LONDON GAZEVIE.
(Tills EVENING.)

WAR OFFICE, DEC. 21.
10th Regiment Foot-Ensign. Charles Rowland Berkeley
Calcott to be Lieutenant, without purchase, vice Baumgart-
ner, appointed to the 834 Foot; Gentleman Cadet Augustus
Barton White, from the Royal Military College, to be En-
siga, vice Calcott, Dec. 22.
17th Foot-Gentleman Cadet George Tito Brice, from the
Royal Military College, to be Ensign, vice Marsh, appointed
to the 83d Foot, Dec. 22.
28th Foot-Lieutenant Edward Collins, from half-pay of
the Regiment, to be Lieutenant, vice Cotton, appointed to
64th' Foot ; Ensign John Meacham to be Lieutenant, without
purchase, vice Read, appointed to 83d Foot; Gentleman
Cadet Vesev Truell, from Royal Military College, to be En-
sign, vice Meacham, Dee. 22.
334 Foot-Captain Thomas Bunbury Gough to be Major,
without purchase, vice Galloway, promoted in 70th Foot ;
Lieutenant Edward West by Donovan to be Captain, vice
Gough ; Ensign J. Cochrane to be Lieutenant, vice Donovan ;
Gentleman Cadet Alexander Bruce Wallis, from the Royal
Military College, to be Ensign, vice Cochrane, Dec. 22.
34th Foot -James Edwund Clutterbuck, M.D., to be As-
sistant-Surgeon, vice Eaton, appointed to 70th Foot, Dec. 2:1.
55th Foot fieutenant Thomas Ryan, from half-pay 50th
Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice James, appointed to 70th Foot;
Gentleman Cadet William Barnston, from Royal Military
College, to be Ens gn, vice Fairtlough, appointed to 70th
Foot, Dec. 22.
56th Foot-Lieutenant George Leslie, from half pay 4th
Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice Mainwaring, appointed to the
834 Foot, Dec. 22.
624 Foot-George O'Donnell, Gent., to be Enign , without
purchase, vice Alceck, appointed to the 83d Foot, Dec. 22.
63d Foot-Gentleman Cadet John Dalbiac Luard, from the
Royal Military College, to be Ensign, vice Penton, ap-
pointed to the 70th Foot, Dec. 22.
64th Toot-Major George Duberley, to be Lieutenant-
Colonel, without purchase; Brevet Major James Draper, to
be Major, vice Duberley; Lieutenant the Hon. James Lyon
Browne, to be Captain, vice Draper; Dec. 22.
To be Lieutenants, with purchase-Lieutenant Sydney
Cotton, from the 28th Foot; Lieutenant Richard Charles
APCre,a, from the 97th Foot; Lieutenant Matthew Fanning,
from the Ist West India Regiment; Lieutenant George
Hamilton Twemlow, from half-pay of the 4th Foot; Lieut.
Arthur Edward Mulloy, from the 74th Foot; Lieut. Archi-
bald Edward Coch rams Forster, from half-pay of the 28th Foot ;
Lieut. Doveton Downes Greentree, from Ceylon Rifle Re.gi-
ment ; Lieut. Charles Frederick Brockman, from the 76th
Foot ; Lieut. Godfrey 'Lyon Knight, from Ceylon Rifle Re-
giment ; Lieut. Walter Johnson, from the 73d Foot ; Ensign
John Henry Capel Loft, vice Browne, Dec. 22.
To be Ensign, without purchase-Frederick J. Hutchison,
Gent., vice Loft, Dec. 22.
To be Assistant-Surgeons-Assistant-Surgeon William
Henry Short, from the Staff; Assistant-Surgeon Andrew
Lieth Adams, M.D., from the 824 Foot, Dec. 22.
66th Foot--Lieutenant Charles William Aylmer, from
half-pay of the 4th Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice Ellis, ap-
pointed to the 83d Foot, Dec. 22.
67th Foot-Lieut. John William Percy, from half pay of
4th Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice Mackenzie, appointed to
70th Foot; Lieut. Henry Sollers Gunning S. Knight, from
half-pay of the 21st Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice M'Nair, ap-
pointed to 70th Foot, Dec. 22.
70th Foot-Major Thomas James Galloway, from 334
Foot, to be Lieut.-Colonel, without purchase, Dec. 22.
To be Lieutenants, without purchsse-Lieutenant John
M'Kenzie, from the 67th Foot ; Lieutenant Charles
Alfred Poyntz James, from the 55th Foot; Lieutenant
Paul Frederick de Quincy, from the 80th Foot;
Lieutenant Attilio Scheberras, from the 80th Foot;
Lieutenant George Augustus M•Nair, from the
67th Foot; Ensign Frederick Willington ; Ensign Charles
Blewitt; Ensign Edward Wilson • Ensign Oates Joseph
Travers; Ensign Charles Crawley, 'Dec. 22.
To be Ensigns, without purchase-Quartermaster Charles
James Perry, from the 4th Foot, vice Wellington; Ensign
Augustus Penton, from the 63d Foot, vice Blewitt ; Ensign
Edward D'Heillimer Fairtlough, from tne 55th Foot, vice
Wilson; Gentleman Cadet Arthur Saltmarshe, from the
Royal Military College, vice Travers; Gentleman Cadet
Augustus Edward Henry Acze 1, from the Royal Military
College, vice Ceawley, Dec. 22.
To be Assistant Surgeons -Assistant-Surgeon Deodatus
William Eaton, from the 34th Foot; Acting Assistant-Sur-
geon Christopher Bakewell Bee ano, Dec. 22.
73 Foot-Lientenant Robert Hole Walters, from the Cape
Mounted Riflemen, to be Lieutenant, vice Johnston, appointed
to the 64th Foot, Dec. 21.
74th Foot-Lieutenant William King, from the Royal
Canadian Rifle Regiment, to be Lieutenant, vice Mulle-pay,
pointed to the•64th Foot, Dec. 22.
70,h Foot-Lieutenant Robert Hyde Page, from half-pay
50th Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice Brockman, appointed to
the 64th Foot, Dec. 22.
80th Foot-Lieutenant Frederick Miller, from Ist West
India Regiment, to be Lieutenant, vice de Quincey, ap-
pointed to:the 70 Foot; Lieutenant Charles Frederick Amid,
from 3d West India Regiment, to be Lieutenant, vice Sche-
berras, appointed to 70th Foot, Dec. 22.
82d Foot-Ensign John Sprot. from the 83d Foot, to be
Ensign, vice Richardson, appointed to the 83d Foot; Acting
Assistant Surgton George Thomas Finlay, to be Assistant
Surgeon, vice Adams, appointed to the 64th Foot, Dec. 22.
834 Foot-Major William Henry Law to be Lieutenant-
Colonel, without purchase; Brevet Major Edward Townsend
to be Major, vice Law; Lieutenant Septimus Alphonso
Frederico Cary to be Captain, vice Townsend. Dee. 22.
To be Lieutenants, without purchase-Lieutenant Samuel
Read, from 28th Foot; Lieutenant Edward M. H. Mainwar-
ing, from 56th Foot; Lieut. Thomas ParkeriWright, from 2d
West India Regt. ; Lieut. James VerlingEllis, from 66th Foot;
Lieutenant Johri Norris M'Kelvey, from half-pay 4th Foot;
Lieutenant John Mead, from the Ceylon Rifle Regiment;
Lieutenant Movvbrav, Baugartner, from 10th Foot; Ensign
William Kavanagh liookey ; Ensign William John Nunn;
Ensign Stephen. William Metge; Ensign Herbert Stanley
Cooper, vice Cary, Dec. 22. •
To be Ensignee without purchase-Ensign Francis Henry
Digby Marsh, from 17th Foot, vice Bookey ; Ensign Ussher
William Aleock, from 62d Foot, vice Nun ; Ensign Marma-
duke Nelson Ri ehardson, from 82d Foot, vice Metge ; Gen-
tleman Cadet Thomas Roland, from the Royal Military Col-
lege, vice Cooper ; Gentleman Cadet Thomas Graham, from
the Royal Military :College, vice Sprot, appointed to 824
Foot, Dec. 22.
To bs Assistant-Surgeons - Assistant-Surgeon William
Nettleton Boyce, from the Staff; Acting Assistant-Surgeon
James Hamilton Bews, Dec. 22.
97th Foot-Lieutenant George Webb, from half-pay of
the 21st Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice '3l‘Crea, appointed to
the 64th Foot, Dec. 22.
HosPITAL STAFF.-Acting Assistant-Surgeon Thomas
Manners to be .Assstant-Surgeon teithe Forces, vioe Short,
appointed to the 64th Foot; Grahame Auchtnleck, M.D., to
be Assistant-Surgeon to the Forces, vice Boyce, appointed to
;he 83d Foot, Dec. 22.
WAR-OFFICE, DEC. 21.
Gth Dragoon Guards-Lieutenant Brent Neville, from 46th
Foot, to be Lieutenant, vice Fredricks, who exchanges,
Dec. 22.
3d Light Dragoons-Cornet Robert Hodgson, to be Lieu-
tenant, without purchase, vice H. W. White, deceased.
6th Dragoons--Captain Henry Dalrymple White to be
Major, by purchase, vice Arkwright, who retires; Lieutenant
Frederick Wellington John Fitz-Wygram to be Captain, by
purchase, vice White; Lieotenant Henry William Walters,
from 15th Foot,' no be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Fitz-
Wygram, Dec. 22.
12th Light Dragoons-Captain Edward. Morant to be
Major, by purchase, vice the Hon. Robert Needham, who re-
tires; L.eut. Chanles Sabine Augustus Thellusson to be Cap-
tain, by purchase, vice Morant ; Cornet Frederick Arden to.
be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice Tkellusson ; Assistant-Sur-
geon Robert Vill iers George, M.D., from the 69th Foot, to
be Assistant-Surgeon, vice Gunning, deceased, Dec. 22.
17th Light Dragoons-Lieut. Edward Calvert Arneman
Haworth to be Captain, by purchase, vice Miles who retires;
Dornet Robert White to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice
Haworth ; Augustus Frederick Cavendish Webb, Gent., to
be Cornet, by purchase, vice White, Dec. 22.
2d Regiment of Foot-Staff Surgeon of the Second
Class George Roghe Smith to be Surgeon, vice Harvey, ap-
pointed to the 76th Foot, Dec. 22.
16th Foot-Gentleman Cadet 'John Crosby Vaughan, from
the Royal Military College, to be Ensign, without purchase,
vice Baker, deceased, Dec. 22.
18th Foot-Assistant-Surgeon Frederick Burton Phillip-
who
son, from
exchanges, 34th Foo
Dec. 22 be Assistapt-Surgeon, vice D'Arcy,
.
20th Foot-Ensign Francis Padfield to be Adjutant, vice
Tornson, who resigns the Adjutancy only, Dec. 22.
21st Foot-Captain Willoughby Harcourt Carter, from
64th Foot, to be Captain, vice Holland, who exchanges,
Dec. 22.
27th Foot-Captain Lord Thomas Charles Pelham Clin-
ton, from half-pay Unattached, to be Captain, vice Charles
Vereker, who exchanges; Lieutenant Oliver Langley to be
Captain by purchase, vice Lord T. C. Pelham Clinton, who
224 Foot-Gentleman Cadet Henry Charles Frases, from
the Royal Military College, to be Ensign, without purchase,
vice Goodfellovr, whose removal from 10th Boot has been
cancelled, Dec. 22.
retires; Ensign William Archibald Kidd to be Lieutenant, by
purchase, vice Langley; Sir James Lawrence Cotter, Bart.
to be Ensign, by purchase, vice Kidd, Dec. 22.
28th Foot-Lieutenant Henry Robert Crew Godley, from
64th Foot, to tie Lieutenant, vice Morphy, who :exchanges,
Dec. 22.
34th Foot-Staff Surgeon of the. Second Class William
Denny, to be ' Surgeon, vice Bain, promoted on the Staff;
Assistant-Surgeon O'Connor D'Arcee M.D , from 18th Fost,
to be Assistant-Suegeon, vice Phillipson, who exchanges,
Dec. 22.
40th Foot-Lieut.-Colonel Severus William Lynam Stret-
ton, from the 64th Foot, to be Lieut.-Colonel, vice Stopford,
who exchanges; Assistant-Surgeon Joseph Burke, from the
50th Foot, to be Surgeon, vice Mapleton, appointed to the
Staff, Dec. 22.
46th Foot-Lieutenant John Jestyn Williams Fredricks,
from 6th Dragoon Guards, to be Lieutenant, vice Nerille, who
exchanges, Dec. 22.
50th Foot-Acting Assistant - Surgeon Andrew Acres
Stoney, to be Assistnnt-Surgeon, vice Burke, promoted in the
40th Foot, Dec. 22,

X.
Proprietors' capital.. 14,553,000

:est . • . •••. • • • 3,376,C83
'ublic deposits (in-
cluding Exchequer,
Commissioners of
National Debt, Sav-
ings-banks, and Di-

vidend accounts).. 7,908,643
Other deposits ...... 9,249,619
Seven day and other

961,806

£36,052,786

Dated the 21st day of December,

SOCIETY or ARTS..--The fifth ordinary meeting of
this ociety was held on Wednesday. at their offices in
Jobn-street, Adelpki—Mr. George Moffatt, M.P., Vice-
President, in the chair. The minutes of the last meet-
ing having been restd, and a ballot taken for four new
di, ectors, who were all unanimously elected, Dr. Bate-
man read a very ek,quent and interesting paper on the
art of printing, tract ng its progress from the time it was
discovered, with all its various improvements, tip to the
present time. At tht, conclusion of the Learned Doctor's
paper, Mr. Davenport (the assistant-sccretary) and other
gentlemen illustrated the subject by describing various
presses, types, speciamns of typogrttphy, &e., exhibited
in the lecture-hall, and which had been supplied for the
purpose by Messrs. Sliarwood and Co., Wilson and Co.,
Clymer and Co. Baker and Perkins, Levy, Robson, and
Co., Figgins, Whit.ing, &c. The business of the meet-
trig was concluded by a cordial vote of thanks being
given to Dr. Batetrinn for his communication.
Sir George Grey has left town for his seat, Fallodon,
Northumberland.