The Sun.
London, England, 1833-04-20 00:00:00

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Mr, O'CoNNELL has addressed a second let-
ter to the peoph, of Ireland, in which he strongly impresses
on them the necessity of organizing the elective franchise
in " every county, city, town, and borough in Ireland."
A flesher residing in Perth, lately killed a
cow, in whose stomach was found a large bread or table
knife, which had apparently been there for a considerable
time. The animal appe4rad, notwithstanding, to be in
perfect healtb.....Edinburgh Advertiser.

Last night, after a slight discussion in the House
of Commons whether Mr. M. Attwood or Lord
Althorp should be heard first—whether the budget
of the national finances or the budget of currency
" distress" was entitled to the priority in general con-
sideration—the Hon. Mover of the currency inquiry
gave way, and the Finance Minister of the Crown
was allowed, as our friends the Americans express it,
o " occupy the floor." In commencing his address
the Noble Lord very properly adverted to the amount
of reductions effected by the present Ministry, in
order to show that they had consulted the wishes
of the country, and fulfilled their pledges of res.
trenchment given on taking office. This was
the more necessary, as the fact had been denied
by one party, and only coldly admitted by an-
other. The present Cabinet had come ito office
under a solemn engagement to abolish useless
;daces and to reduce unnecessary expenditure.
They had immediately set about the performance
of their task, and the consequence was that in
the course of less than two years and a half they
had abolished 1,387 useless places, and had saved
the country about 231,000/. in salaries. It is true
that the whole amount of this saving had not yet
beeo realized, because, act ing on the principle that a
useless place should not be allowed to exist beyond
the time that its inutility is admitted, they had
abolished many, where during the life of the parties
the public could not enjoy the full benefit of a relief
from their salaries. The retired allowances, neces-
sary to prevent injustice, thus constituted a deduc-
tion of 38,0001. a-year from the general saving
effected by their official suppression. The imme-
diate and permanent saving had thus, however,
been 193,0001. This statement was made by the
Noble Lord evidently with the view of bespeaking
the confidence of the House in the intention, of
his colleagues, and of preparing it for a financial
statement which might not fulfil the expectations
of a neformed Parliament. Whether the suc-
cess of the experiment was equal to the
honest zeal and praiseworthy intentions of the
oble Minister the country will be able to judge.
The statement which he had to make on the income
and expenditure of the current year (thanks to the
publicity of the national accounts) contained nothing
new. We knew before that the income of the year
ending the sth of Aptil,lB32, was 16,618,0161.; we
knew, likewise, that the expenditure of the same
year was 47,858,428/., leaving a deficit of income of
1,240,412/. We were also aware that there had
keen an increase of revenue from the year ending
April 5, 1832, to that ending April 5, 1833, of more
than 200,0001, while there had been a decrease of
expenditure of more than 2,000,000/., leaving the
Noble Lord and the country, at the termination of
the year ending the sth instant, a surplus of income
over expenditure of 1,487,143/., or about a mill:on
and a half. It is creditable to the Government, and
gratifying in a certain degree in the country, that
this excess arise, rather from the diminution of our
expenditure than from an increare of our revenue,
the former being nearly 2,000,000/., and the latter
amounting to less than a quarter of a million. The
esiimated produce of the taxes in the year on which
we have just entered is not taken so high as the
realized revenue of last year, being calculated by the
Noble Lord at only 46,491,128/4 but economy keeps
more than pace with this anticipated defalcation,
and accordingly the votes of supplies to he required
my Government will leave an excess of 1,571,9091.
It is consoling to be assured that we have a surplus,
from wt a e, er cause it springs, and here the task of
a Chancellor of the Exchi quer begins—here he ad-
vances b yond the duty of a mere clerk in the Ex-
chequer—here he has to dispose of his surplus, either
in paying if debt, or in remitting taxation, or in ex-
..h.mgii,g one tax for another, or in maintaining the
existing rate and denomination of all. The Noble
Loid, after some reasoning which could not be ex-
pscted to he either very original or very recondite,
stated it as the result of his principles and reflections,
that it was not desirable, in tine present state of the
country, to maintain a large surplus of taxation for
the sole purpose of reducing debt already incurred.
In his arguments on this subject we perfectly concur.
At present the price of Government securi ies is so
high, that it would be absurd to send the Commis-
sioners for the Sedsing Fund into the stock-market
with great sums in their hands to raise in still further.
The funds are still a desirable investment,—no na-
tional faith is violated by postponing their ultimate re-
demption, and notwit listanding the laugh of faction at
the word" fructifying" applied to this subject, we be-
lieve that money will be as productive in the pockets
of the people as in the coffers of the fundholder,
who does not desire the settlement of his account.
The Noble Lord who presides over the financial de-
partment of the Government seemed to be fully
Penetrated with this idea, arid therefore chose to
dispose of a great portion of his little surplus rather
in the remission of taxes than in the redemption of
debt. He had, to speak in round numbers, about
1,500,000/. at his disposal, after paying all demands
and satisfying all current expenses. What was to
be his arrangement regarding this sum ? Every
Hon. Gentleman who had presented a petition
against a particular tax since the commencement of
the session hoped that his claim would be attended
to first; but the Noble Lord's small modicum could
only satisfy a few of the more modest petitioners,
and not one oldie more extravagant. He had only
1,500,000/. to abate, and some Hon. Members had
demanded a reduction of 20,000,000/. or 15,000,0001.
in commutation and remission, and some had asked
the abolition of 5,000,000/. or 6,000,0001. of
imposts without any compensation at all. Into
these magnificent questions we cannot now ewer.
The presentatation of a budget is not precisely
the occasion of proposing extensive financial changes.
The income tax in 1817 was abolished before the
budget was announced ; and, if any extensive fiscal
revolution had been intended, it would Pet have been
left to the mere delivery of a finaiicial statement.
The Noble Lord distributed his small savings among
different classes of taxes in a manner not, probably,
very exceptionable, and without exciting much gra-
tulation or displeasure. He began with the house-
top—relieved tiles entirely from taxation—then al-
lowed people to advertise more cheaply their ser-
vices or their property—then permitted them to
sail their ships with a reduction of marine in-
surances—then reduced the assessed taxes in the
houses and windows of shopkeepers, chiefly, we be-
lieve, for the relief of the metropolis—thee, by re-
ducing the duty on cotton wool, gave our manu•
lecturers a better chance of supporting competition
in foreign markets; and, last of all, lowered the tax
upon soap for the benefit of the poorer part of
the community. The whole of these reductions
amount to 1,319,000/., but the loss to the revenue
will not much exceed 1,000,000/. or be about
1,056,000/. ; so that a surplus will still remain
for ti e redemption of our debt to the amount of
about 500,000/. By the abolition of the duty on
tiles the revenue losses 37,0001.; by the changes in
marine insurances, 100,0001.; by the reduction of the
tax on advertisements 75,0001.; by the diminution
of the assessed taxes, under various heads, 244,0001.
by the reduction of half the duty on cotton 300,000/e
and by that of soap 593,000/. In this last instance,
though the consumer will be henefitted by the re-
' action to more than 500,0001., the revenue will
not stiffer a proportional loss, as nearly the half of
the defalcation will be wrested from the fraudulent
gains of the smuggler. The Noble Lord, before
, giving his reasons for fixing upon the particular
, taxes which were the subjects of reduction, entered
into an explanation of the grounds on which he bad

tion of debt will be to a small extent diminished.
This tax was, perhaps, more inconvenient than op-
pressive, and might have been left to be adjusted
in the promised general revision of the stamp acts
Probably, the country, which was led to expect a
greater relief to their burdens, will not be satisfied
with this small remission of taxes, spread over so large
a surface ; but they will allow that, without a mere
exchange of one tax for another, they could not
have obtained an abolition of the imposts to which
they most strongly abject—that though our revenue
amounts to more than 4(3,000,0001. there is only a
small portion of it which is not permanently appro-
priated, and that to that portion the present Admi-
nistration have applied the pruning-knife with no
unsparing hand. This will be seen by the follow-
ing statement of the soles in supply for the last
three years, with which we conclude these hasty
remarks :

1831
1832
1833
Thus, taxes to the extent of 3,100,0001. have been
repealed, and the votes in supply are proposed to be
reduced 3.200,422/. This will be admitted as no
trifling reduction in so short a time, and under cir-
cumstances of no little difficulty.—Tintes.
At length the Chancellor of the Exchequer has
screwed his courage tip to the " sticking place," and
la-t nigh!. produced to the reformed House of Com-
mons his Bodge?, or financial statement for the
year. Parturiunt mantes, et nascilur e.rignue
out of an amoral taxu ion of 46 millione, payable in
a gold currency, Lord Althorp, in his bounty, pro-
poses to relieve the admitted I4istre,,ses of the coun-
try by a remission of certain taxes to the amount of
one rdliion three hundred and forty-nine thousand
pounds
• • ! and his Lordship is only enabled to make
this reduction in the forlorn hope there will be an
excess of income over the expenditure in the cur-
rent year to cover that amount. We must refer our
readers to Lord Althorp's statement for the parti-
cular items of taxation intended to be reduced or
repealed. The taxes required to be repealed,
according to the demands of the people, expressed
in their petitions, and at all their public meet-
ings, are the malt, hop, soap, house, mid window
duties, amounting to about ten millions.
Lord Althorp asks them to be satisfied with
the repeal of the taxes upon a small reduction
upon advertisements, marine insurances, a modicum
of the assessed taxes, and a proportion of cotton
and soap and duties, to the amount of 1,349,000/.N!
This Budget may spread satisfaction amongst the
tat-eaters, the idlers, and the people of the con-
solidated Fund, but it must and will spread disap-
pointment and dismay amongst the decaying land-
lords and their drooping tenantry, the industrious
but half-ruined merchants, shopkeepers, and me.
chanics, and the already starving agricultural and
manufacturing population. But, above all, if this
is indeed the only relief from taxation the people
are to obtain from a reformed Parliament, how, and
where, and when are all these parties to seek and
obtain that real redress of grievances to which they
are so justly entitled, arid which was suppoi-ed the
inevitable result of a Whig Ministry and a reformed
Parliament ? We are compelled to reserve further
remarks upon Lord Althorp's statement and plan to
a future opportunity.—Morning Herald.