The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-07 00:00:00

the taxes of the country, and doing as little as pot-
s:ble for it ; the blame belongs to tl►e responsible
advisers of the Crown, who are the appointed
stewards of the public wealth, raised under the
authority of Parliament, and who are not more
bound by their solemn assurances of an economical
system of Government than by the embarrased state
of the resources of the country to throw away none
of the money of the people in acts of folly and
extravagance. If the resources of the country
were even flourishing enough to enable it to feed
the vast drain of sinecures without sensible in-
convenience, the principle is so vicious which
takes the money from the industrious bees to
throw it to the drones that only suck the produce of
the hive to which they do not contribute, that a
wise and moral Government will always set its face
against such a diversion of any portion of the wealth
of a State from its legitimate objects. To bestow
what should he the reward of industry, talent, arid
public services, upon luxurious idleness, is objec-
tionable, not merely because it tends to impoverish
a State, but because it also tends to demoralize a
people. The example has a corrupting influence.
But the means of the country are now so circum-
serlred, that if any man receives out of the ptA►lic
money what he does not earn, another is sure to
earn what he does not receive. For instance, to
keep up the full amount of salary for the sinecure
office of Constable of the Round Tower of Windsor,
Government must mulct many a hard-working
clerk, or other inferior officer, of a portion of
the just remuneration for his laborious service.
Such has been the case in numerous instances,
while the, pampered sinecuriats fatten upon the
destitution of their industrious fellow-subjects. No
longer did any " vested rights',' stand in the wey of
the abolition of the sinecure in question, and yet it is
preserved, while the productive industry of the people
is crushed to the earth by the weight of intolerable
taxation. If the reform of Parliament does not reform
the expenditure of the nation, so as to lighten its
burdens and relieve its industry by the saving power
of cheap government, it will be of no practical ad-
vantage. Notwithstanding the general election, there
is a large deficiency in the quarter's revenue com-
pared with that of the preceding year, and that under
the head of Excise. In the mean time Government
is doing all it can by oppressive surcharges upon
the assessed taxes to twist the screw of taxation to
its highest possible pressure. It the people saw
that the enormous sums which the long fingers of
fiscal ingenuity take out of their pockets were ac-
tually applied to the necessities of the State, we
believe they would bear the sacrifict s which they are
obliged to make, if not with cheerfulness, at least
with resignation; but when they see the stagnant
reservoir of sinecures fed from the streams of their
industry—when they see the sources of their com-
fort and independence, the means of paying their
debts and supporting their families with honesty and
credit, dried up by the taxing process, that the for-
tunes of the children of idleness may be overflow-
ing, who can wonder that they should not bear the
burdens imposed on them by their rulers with all
the patience of a people who were convinced that
all their sacrifices were for the good of their country ?
Herald.
Mr. Manners Sutton has accepted the offer of
Ministers to secure, as far as their influence in the
House of Commons can secure, his election to the
Speakership. We see nothing objectionable in this.
Mr. Sutton is a gentleman every way fitted for the
office of presiding over the debates of a mixed as-
sembly of disputants : his cour esy checks the petu-
lant, his firmness controls the impudent, and his
good sense, combined with knowledge, ensures an
unreluctant acquiescence in all his decisions. Add
to this, that his re-appointment will s►ve the retiring
salary of 4,0001. a-year, at the same time that
it gives to a new Parliament, consisting of
at least one-half of new Members, the ad-
vantage of an experienced master in all those ne-
cessary forms which govern and prevent " a mob
of gentlemen" from committing those extrava-
gancies which they would, Ike any other mob, corn-
mit if they were not restrained by rational rules ra-
tionally enforced; and we really think that a better
Speaker could not be chosen. As to any political
advantage to the Ministers in securing or not oppo-
sing his appointment, we are too dull to see them.
The Mght Hon. Manners Sutton is " par negotii.s,
nec supra," and to dress him up with those extra-
vagant colours of " formidable talents which the
Gtey Ministry could not resist," is to perform that
worst office of friendship which injures or degrades
the person intended to be served, and which must
be peculiarly disagreeable to a gentleman of such
correct taste as the late and future Speak,r.—Times.

We this day publish the official statement of the
proceeds of the revenue for the year and quarter
terminating on the .sth of January. It will be seen
that there is an increase in the income of the year,
compared with that of the year ending on the 5 h
of January, 1832, of 546,169/.; and a dirnintrion
in the receipts of the Quarter relatively to the re.
ceipts of the corresponding Quarter of last year,
to the amount of 29,472/. When we look back,
however, to the progress and condition of the re-
venue at the period with which the official compa-
rison is now made, it will be found that the re-
sources of the country had then been in a conti-
nued course of rapid and alarming decay. On'
the sth of January last year, the Revenue fell
short by nearly four millions, in its annual
amount, and by 900,000/. and upwards in its
quarterly amount, of the year and quarter which
concluded on the 5.h of January, 1831. In the
statement now published there certainly does not
seem to be any evidence of solid and lasting im-
provement. There is an increase on the year it is
true, but it is so far short of the amount which
would have been required to recover our lost ground
that we are still three millions and a half behind
what we were on the sth of January, 1831; while
the state of the Revenue of the last Quarter presents
its with the gloomy and ominous fact that the sum
of 29,4721. has to be added to the large defalca-
tion of the corresponding Quarter of last Year, if we
could ascertain correctly our financial position by
comparison with that in which we stood two years
ago. Bur, if the aggregate amount is unfavourable,
we see still greater cause for apprehension when we
look to the detailed items of the Quarter's Revenue.
There is an increase of 358,583/. in the receipt of
the Customs duties, with respect to which acci-
dental circumstances have always an extensive ope-
ration ; while the Excise, the more accurate index
of public prosperity and enjoyment, has fallen off
by the amount of 299,086/. It may, upon the
whole, be very safely said that the condition of the
National Revenue is not such as would have pre-
senrel to a prudent Administration any temptation
Ito incur the expense of an useless and fruitless ex-
pedition, even had a stronger motive existed, to
such an increase of the public expenditure, than the
advantage and the honour of co-operating in efnets
having for their chief object the " dignity and inte-
reqs of France."—Morning Post.

We give in another column, with the highest
satisfaction, the (Zetal statement of the Revenue
for the years and quarters ended the sth January,
1832 and 1833. That statement is, unquestion.
ably, sufficiently clear ; but not being drawn up in
the usual manner, it has been a matter of some dif-
ficulty with us to extract those portions from it
which would enable our readers to comprehend, at
a single glance, its bearings and results. The latter,
as we have said, are highly satisfactory. The de-
crease on the quarter just ended amounts to 29,4731.
—a very trifle in the national accounts—and the
more a trifle in every respect that many of the taxes
ate greatly in arrear in point of collection—that the
candle duty, which appeared in the correspond-
ing quarter of 1831, does not, having been abo-
lished, appear in the quarterly statement of this
year, and finally, that an increase of nearly three-
quarters of a million having °centred in the last
quarter, it could scarcely have been very reasonably
expected that a similar God-send would appear in
that which has just elapsed. There are, in fact,
the most satisfactory grounds on which to account