The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-07 00:00:00

II:

csl.o
LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1851.

THE QUARTER'S REVENUE.
The Revenue Returns for the financial year and
siiaarter ending the sth of April instant are of a very
satisfactory character, not only realising the most
sanguine anticipations that had been entertained re-
specting the national prosperity, but
affording the
most conclusive evidence of the expediency of the
fisoal alterations that have been carried into operation
within the last five years, and completely rebutting
the assertions; have been so recklessly hazarded
as to the injurious results of the legislative adoption
of free-trade principles. They exhibit the wonderful
elasticity of our national resources is the strongest
point of view, and should (were such a thing possible)
bring a blush of shame into the countenance of Sir
CliAßLai WOOD for the scanty and limited conces-
sions he is disposed to make even in the
now edition of his " precious Budget." They show
ilearly how much he might have done, and the pal-
pable omission to avail himself of the golden oppor-
tunity is thus rendered more painfully conspicuous.
The accuracy of the financial paradox that 2 and 2
tio not amount to 4-in matters of taxation has long
The present returns prove the
been acknowledged.
converse of the proposl'inn '
•'and show that the prin-
ciple' traction as well as to
is applicable to fiscal subtraction
fiscal addition ; and that if 2 be taken from 2 in mat-
ters of taxation, the hal3nce Fill be much more than
2 ; or, in other words that
will not by any means
that the reduction by one-
half of an existing impostow of anything'
casion a loss like a moiety
of the revenue previously derived therefrom.
Sir ;CRAALBS WOOD, however, disregards these
unquestionable facts —he still blunders on
blindly in the old tracks. What to him are the
Lights
derived
feil"). experience? He looks on them
merely‘as " will.-the-wisps" that must carefully be
avoided' He will not be deceived by such phantasms.
If he fimud it the fashion that horses should draw
p(oughs by their tails he would never assent to the
introducttoe of " unnecessary harness." Indeed we
do not know that he might not consider it a piece of
reckless audacity to sanction such a modification of
the existing syatein,—whether he would not, with a
self-sataiged smirk and an air of conscious superiority,
ask the advocates for change, what were horses sup-
plied with tails for, if ploughs were not to be fastened
thereto ?

Notwithstanding the large diminution of taxa-
Ron daring the past year, we still find that
there is a considerable increase in the ordi-
aary and extraordinary revenue both for the year
and the quarter, the improvement on the former being
40,1191., and on the latter 283,051/. Nor will the
jatifieation that must follow this satisfactory intern-
rene• be in any degree diminished by investigating
The genres/ from which the amelioration is derived.
In the Castoras we find an improvement of
19)3,11. on the year, and of 115,682/, on the

quarter. This would be very satisfactory if
matters had remained in statu quo ; but when we
consider that a large reduction in the sugar duties
took place only nine months since, a reduction which,
it was estimated, would occasion a loss to the revenue
amounting to more than 330,0001. per annum, the
result may be looked upon as truly astonishing, being
equivalent to an improvement of nearly half a million
sterling on that branch of the revenue, and that on a
very favourable quarter, which exhibited a marked
improvement on the corresponding quarters of the
five preceding years.

In the Excise'. we might have looked for a percep-
tible falling off, when we consider that the duty on
bricks was totally abolished. The actual state of
affairs, however, shows a considerable increase both
on the year and quarter, that on the former being
332,3111., and on the latter 121,0631. The abolished
impost was calculated to produce more than 450,000/.
a year. It will, therefore, be seen that the index
which points out the amount of comforts enjoyed by
the working classes—and we may, perhaps, add the
amount of native productions—is steadily pointing to
"set fair."
The Stamp returns are scarcely less satisfactory.
It will be in the recollection of our readers that Sir
CHARLES WOOD took credit for a considerable reduc-
tion of; revenue that would, he declared, arise from
the more equitable adjustment of the changes in cer-
tain branches, amounting altogether to more than
half a miilion per annum. At the time we denounced
this statement as a discreditable " dodge," and de-
c ared that the new scale of duties would be fully as
productive to the Exchequer as those previously in
operation. This assertion is completely verified by the
fact that "there is a small improvement on the
quarter of 9,8831. There is, undoubtedly, a loss on
the year under this head of 248,9051., but less than
one-sixth of that amount has occurred since the
change, while five-sixths occurred before the change
in the law.

The Assessed Taxes show the only falling off in any
important item on the quarter, there being 9,4471.
less produced than in the corresponding quarter of
last year. This may, however, be satisfactorily
accounted fur by the fact that there was an
increase on the last quarter of 25,292/.,
so that it may be considered that the falling off is
ascribable to greater punctuality of payment by the
parties liable. On the year there is an improvemen"
of 17,752/.

The Property-tax appears differently. There the
improvement is on the quarter, to the extent of
20,342/., while the deficiency on the year is no less
than 62,8691. We trust that the firm and unyielding
determination of the community to adjust equitably
this iniquitous impost will render the returns more
correct in this branch than they have heretofore been.
The Post-office shows an improvement on the year
and quarter of 58,0001. and 41,0001. respectively.
The Crown lands remain without the slightest
alteration of any kind in either period,
while in the Miscellaneous there is a de-
crease of 45,8441. on the year, and of 25,986/
on the quarter.

In the extraordinary branches of revenue there is a
decrease on the year and quarter of 5,4021. and
39,9941., while there is an increase of Repayments of
Advances of 205,7771. on the year, and 50,508/. on
the quarter. On the whole, we congratulate our
readers on the most favourable balance-sheet which
we have witnessed for many years, and which affords
the most auspicious auguries as to the future pros-
perity of the country.

Elsewhere in our impression of this evening we pub-
lish a letter addressed to ourselves by the heroic defen-
der of Komorn, that illustrious General whose name
and fame were the other day'so indecorously dragged
upon the carpet by Lord LYNDHURST. Having in
The Sun of the day following expressed our earnest
indignation at the course pursued towards this dis-
tinguished leader of the Hungarians by the Noble
Lord, we can only reiterate upon the matter those
sentiments which we have already articulated. It
will be seen from the statement made by General
Keers„a himself, that during the last twelve months
he has resided on the continent, and he might,
therefore, have reasonably calculated upon being
sheltered from the calumnious accusations actually
levelled against him by an ex-Chancellor in the
Upper House of the British Parliament. Even those
foreigners who are compelled by adversity to seek
refuge under the shadow of our Constitution should
be screened by their very misfortunes from the das-
tardly influences of misrepresentation. Much more
should such as are sojourning in exile else-
where than within the boundaries of the
United Kingdom be protected by the circum-
stances of their position from the malignity of
attacks, the cruelty of which is enhanced by their
being directed against the fallen and the banished.
Magnanimity towards a foe, however, happens to
be of all the virtues, the one least appreciated, and
consequently the least practised by the supporters of
the cause of Absolutism. Any one who ventures
to degenerate into an apologist of the Austrian
regime is doomed in the end to acquire all
those petty peculiarities which have] long cha-
racterised the adherents of the Viennese
Government, and which would appear unfortunately
to be so peculiarly infectious even among their agents
in the remotest parts of Christendom. Hence it has
come to pass that a Noble Lord in the British House
of Peers has so far become influenced by the evil
tendency of the interests intrusted to his advocacy as
to forget the consideration that should otherwise be
shown to every political unfortunate by citizens in
this free realm of England. Without pausing to in-
quire into the accuracy or inaccuracy of the in-
formation afforded to him by the individuals under-
taking to " cram" him with facts and figures,
Lord LYNDHURST, it will be observed, ventured
loudly to impugn the conduct of General KLAPKA as
unworthy of one permitted to shelter himself, in an
evil day, under the eagis of our liberal institutions—
this accusation, remember, being made at a time when
the individual calumniated is sojourning not in Eng-
land, but on the Continent, not having resided in this
country for a period of twelve months, and refraining
scrupulously from an interference with the course of
events such as was here imputed to him by an English
Peer and ex-Chancellor. The glaring injustice of the
charge, we trust, will induce Lord LYNDHURST to
make the only reparation in his power, namely, a
public acknowledgment of it in the Upper House of
the Imperial Parliament. Until this has been done,
he will remain in the invidious position of one who
has wronged an unfortunate hero in the hour of cala-
mity, when secluding himself (away from the possi-
bility of harming the repute of England as the
home of the refugees of Europe) in that retirement
which is alone capable of assuaging the pangs of
exile and the recollections of disappointed patriotism.
Among all the valiant men and true, who drew their
swords in defence of the fatherland of the Hungarians,
not one was more deserving, one might reasonably
have imagined, of consideration than the brave and
dauntless captain who kept the national colours still
flying on the battlements of Komorn, when the gon-
falon of the great army had gone down on the
timorous submission of GORGEY to PASIEEWITCH.
Yet he alone is selected, it would seem, for those
gratuitous misstatements, which are the more shame-
less as directed against the fallen champion of a fallen
actaupsere;seonrt, atuanndyerratthe
rate, against the
of
thecahamtrpiuimonpohfanatcause
des-
potism. Such infamous traitors as C-I,..ORGEY are to be
treated with all imaginable courtesy, forsooth, and
patriots like lieerxe are to be the targets for the en-
venomed arrows of slander, arrows winged with
hatred, and directed against them by passion. Hap-
pily fur the objects of attacks of this character, their
unblemished reputation is the truest shield from
injury, the weapons of calumny falling before it
harmless and blunted. Hence it will be perceived
that the denial put forward by General KLAPILA
in our columns displays none of that petulant
irritation wbich would be inconsistent with the valour
and purity of his conduct, not merely during the time
when he was fighting gloriously under the rule of the
immortal Kossuiw, but since that period of great
achieveraents, since the massacre in cold blood of so
many of his brothers in arms and the dispersion of so
many others of
habitable globe. Let him remember this, however, in
his compatriots over the face of the
the midst of all these calumnies and misrepresenta-
tions, that he retains the warmest admiration of all
the lovers of liberty even in the seclusion of his exile,
and the most cordial sympathy of that English people

who have learned to love as well as to respect the
Hungarians.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of Saturilay
and of yesterday.
In the Legislative Assembly yesterday, M. YVAN,
a member of the Mountain, was elected one of the
Secretaries.

General BEDEAr has addressed a long letter to the
journals exonerating himself from the charges brought
against him in the recently published letter by the
late Marshal BUGEAUD on the subject of his conduct
on the 24th Feb., 1848.
" Some conferences (says the Assemblie Nationale)
were held yesterday morning at the palace of the
Elys6e. Amongst the persons present was M. 0.
Barrot."

In the course of an article on the state of parties,
which appears in the Presse, M. EMILE DE GIRAR•
DIN thus describes the situation of his quondam pro-
teg 6, M. LOUIS NAPOLEON BONAPARTE :
The situation of M. L. N. Bonaparte is at present
that of a man employed on a railway, deaf and presump-
tuous, uselessly warned, and perceiving, when too late,
that he is caught and about to be ground to nothing be-
tween two trains rushing from opposite directions."
It is said that M. DE FALLoux, who is acting in
complicity with the Emperor of AUSTRIA, is endea-
vouring to bring about a transaction between Louis
NAPOLEON and the Count DE CHAMBORD. MM.
GUIZOT and MOLE are, it is said, in the plot.
A letter from Algiers, of the 30th ult., says :
" A rather serious affair has just taken place in the
Oued Sahel. A new chief, known under the name of
Box BAGHELA, having assembled a body of men
from among the Zaouaouas, the Tolbas, and the other
unsubmitting tribes on the southern slopes of the
Djurjura, attacked on the 19th the Zaonia of Chel-
late, and carried off 3,000 sheep and 300 oxen from
our chief Sr BEN ALI Cinair. The latter, betrayed by
his people, was obliged to fly alone, and take refuge
in the camp of the Goum of observation, under the
orders of Lieutenant BEAUPRETRIL This success of
the Cherif is likely to have a disastrous influence on
our tribes, already acted on by intrigues. In order
to prevent any insurrectional movement, a small
column, under the order of the colonel-commandant
of the sub -division of Aumali, established itself among
the Beni Mancours, and immediately commenced
constructing a house of command fer BEN ALI
CHERIF. The last accounts from Aumali, dated the
27th, announce that the tribes which had abandoned
the young Marabout, on the attack of the 19th, had
just repulsed the Cherif Box BAGHBLA, who, after
a combat which cost him 10 of his men, fled, and took
refuge among the Mzeldjas."
The Five per Cents. were done on the Boulevard
at 93f.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, APPAL 5.
Boulogne and Amiens, 9%—Central of France (Orleans
and Vierzon), 175 East Indian, 15!4—Luxembourg, 13/
—Ditto,:3%—Maria Antonia, B%—Northern of France,l4%
Orleans and Bordeaux, Rouen and Havre, 10%—
Sambre and Meuse, 4%.