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

(I...X.44aiMing tit 14

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1851.

THE QUARTER'S REVENUE.
The Revenue Returns for the financial year and
quarter ending the sth of April instant are of a very
satisfactory ot*Tacter, 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
fiscal alterations that have been carried into operation
within the last five years,
and
completely rebutting
the assertions that 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 in the strongest
point of view, and should (were such a thing possible)
bring a blush of shame into the countenance of Sir
CHARI,II WOOD for the scanty and limited conces-
sions he is disposed to make even in the
new edition of his " precious Budget." They show
clearly 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
do not amount to 4 in matters of taxation has long
been acknowledged. The present returns prove the
converse of the proposition, and show that the prin-
ciple is applicable to fiscal subtraction as well as to
final addition ;:and that if 2 be taken from 2 in mat-
ters of taxation, the balance will be much more than
2 ; or, in other words, that the reduction by one-
half of an existing impost will not by any means
occasion a lose of oythiog like a moiety
of the revenue previously derived therefrom.
Sir :CHARLSIS Woou
' owever, disregards these
unquestionable facts . e still blunders on
blindly in the old What to trite**. him are the
lights derived from eitulieece ? He looks on them
merely as " will.o-the-wraps" that mast carefully be
avoided. He will not be deceived by,such
phan. `
asms.
If he found it the fashion that h
04s - should draw
ploughs by their tails he would ntier assent to the
introducttoa of " unnecesskxharness." Indeed we
il• not know that he might not consider a
it
piece of
reckless audacity to unction such a modification of
the existing aystena,—whthr he would not, with a
self-satisied 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
*hereto?
Notwithstanding the lzrge diminution of taxa-
tion during the past year, we still find that
there 'is a considerable increase in the ordi-
-eaary and extraordinary revenue both for the year
-and the quarter, the improver/la-it on the former being
,' . e 446419/., and on the latter 283,0511. Nor will the
. pratideatioa that must follow this satisfactory intelli-
. ,
.
.gen 4 be in any degree diminished by investigating
-, the situ: acs from which the amelioration is derived.
-', ';!. IV, the Cutouts we find an improvement of
' fait $99/. era the 'year, and cf 115,
, 6821. 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
332,511/., and on the latter 121,0631. The abolished
impost was calculated to produce more than 450,0001.
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
tact that there is a small improvement on the
quarter of 9,8831. There is, undoubtedly, a loss on
the year under this head of 248,905/., 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 th quarter, there being 9,4471.
less produced than in the corresponding quarter of
last year. This may, however, be satisfactorily
accounted for by the fact that there was an
increase on the last quarter of 25,2921.,
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 17,7521.

The Property-tax appears differently. There the
improvement is on the quarter, to the extent of
20,3421., 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 wilt 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 pericd,
while in the Miscellaneous there is a de-
crease of 45,8441. on the year, and of 25,9861.
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 50:5081. 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
►he most auspicious auguries as to the future pros-
i;erity 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 articu'ated. It
will be seen from the statement made by General
KLAPKA. 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 posiiion 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 ad 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 aegis 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-
falond the great army had gone down on the
timorous submission of GORGET to PASKEWITCH.
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;seonet, atu
anndyerratthee against
eclipse t the
a triumphant champion of a cause
de
des-
potism. ..
potism. Such infamous traitors as GORGEY are to be
treated with all imaginable courtesy, forsooth, and
patriots like KLAPRA are to be the targets for the en-
venomed arrows of slander, arrows winged with
hatred, and directed against them by passion. Hap-
pily for 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 KLAPKA
in our columns displays none of that petulant
irritation which would be inconsistent with the valour
and purity
e
when he
wßoseafisguhltmin, fighting gloriously under the rule of the
immortal
but since that period of great
achievements, since the massacre in cold blood of so
many of his brothers in arms and the dispersion of so
many others of his compatriots over the face cf the
habitable globe. Let him remember this, however, in
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

THE SUN,