The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-11 00:00:00

INDIAN FINANCIAL MEASURES.

The minute issued by Sir Charles Trevelyan, the
Governor of Madras, on the financial measures of
Mr. Wilson, was on Tuesday night promised in the
House of Commons, by the President of the Indian
Council, to be produced in the course of a week or
ten days, when it will be accompanied by other
papers. Meanwhile, the document has been received
in full through the Bombay mail. A report has
been circulated that it was published inadvertently ;
but this was not the case. Sir Charles had been
previously consulted by the Governor-General, and
had stated his views, and those of his responsible
advisers in the Madras Presidency. Mr. Wilson, in
his subsequent speech, had alluded apparently with
strong disapprobation to them, as if they were selfish
claims for exemption on behalf of Madras and Bom-
bay which he had noticed "cropping out in official
documents as being encouraged by gentlemen of
influence," and Sir Charles, it is to be assumed,
has therefore felt it necessary in emphatic terms
to take care that these views shall be fully under-
stood in the Presidency for the government of
which he is answerable. Sir Charles commences
by admitting that the time is come when the finances
of India must be placed on a solid foundation. There
must be no more palliatives. The question is
whether the imposition of an income-tax, a license-
tax, and a tobacco-tax is .a necessary or desirable
mole of attaining the object. What are the
reasons assigeed for the new taxes ? The re-
cent increase of debt, the precariousness of the
revenue derived from opium, and the actual esti-
mated deficiency of income for the current year.
With regard to the first of these, it is urged that,
although it is desirable the debt should not be in-
creased, its existing amount is not disproportionate
to the means of the country, if commerce is left
free, and the people are not harassed. It bears to
the annual revenue a proportion of less than two-
and-a-half to one; while the English debt is to the
English revenue in the proportion of about 11 to 1.
" Our policy clearly is to accept the debt as it
stands, and to direct our attention to the means of
preventing any further increase of taxation." Con-
cerning the precariousness of the opium revenue,
Sir Charles remarks that it has been a common
theme ever since he entered public life, yet the
opium revenue has gone on steadily increasing.
Even, however, if the dreaded falling off should ever
occur it will happen only gradually, and the evil
of new taxes which may then be necessary to supply
the deficiency need not be resorted to in anticipa-
tion. Taxation in England is studiously adjusted
from year to year according to proved necessities.
" If we had an annual revenue in England like
that from opium we should not think of imposing
new taxes to create an insurance fund against its
possible reduction." Next, with regard to the
actual deficit for the current year. Its amount
is stated to be £6,500,000 ; but Sir Charles re-
marks that no detailed estimate of income and
expenditure is given, and that for a demand
for such a sum to be acceded to in the dark
is wholly against English precedents. The
Madras Government, " being responsible for the
tranquillity and wellbeing of about 30,000,000 of her
Majesty's subjects," desire to know what are the
grounds of the asserted deficit and for believing
that the proposed new taxation is necessary. Sir
Charles believes that the calculation is extremely
faulty. Assuming, however, that it can be borne
out, he still contends that the contemplated mea-
sures are injurious and not requisite. That there
is, at all events, ample time for deliberation is, he
contends; shown by the fact that the balance! in
the Exchequer are at this moment larger than they
have been since 1853, and are actually £6,000,000
in excess of those held at the corresponding period
of last year, the total being about £19,600,000. If,
therefore, the desired equilibrium can be restored
by a diminution of expenditure, a hasty rush upon
new imposts will be altogether inexcusable. A
reduction of the vast military establishments and
of the swarm of subordinates connected with them
is pointed out as the true remedy. The state of
things in France, it is alleged, where the plan of
maintaining a large portion of the community in
dependence upon the Government at the expense of
the rest of the community is most acted upon, gives
no idea of the excess to which the system has been
carried in India. "Reduction of expenditure would
transfer the surplus portion of this immense sti-
pendiary class to productive industry, and would
make them taxpayers instead of tax consumers."
Yet in the face of the deficient state of the
labour market the increase in the military ex-
penditure in the current year, as compared with
the year before the mutiny, is £8,519,227, or 65
L3er cent. At the same time the general rise of

prices has rendered the pay of the
.native troops
insufficient for their support, while, on the other
hand, the rate of agricultural Wages is offering
them every temptation for private employment.
We are therefore, it is argued, in a position of
great advantage at the turning point of two poli-
cies. )Vc may reduce our native armies and int-
. proVe the' condition of the remainder; or we may
retoin them, and " use our strength to impose upon
the pcople of India a new system of taxation Which
is extremely distasteful to them." The people of
India, moreover, while they will submit to imposts
which seem founded on long established usage, are
especially disposed to meet new experiments by
active or passive resistance. In Madras " they
taxation
ner
i sof
calculatedcurse
I would take the restoration of the transit and town
odEntdi
jeLatsbutto thearouse
innsteroaclliu et
their
latent feelings of opposition. The authority of the
Indian law-giver Menu would have no more influ-
ence with them than quotations from the Rubric
or Canon Law would have upon .a country con-
gregation in England suffering from the innova-
tion of a reforming High Church clergyman."
Not one in ten thousand ever heard of the
Institutes of • Menu. In relation to the reproach
attempted to be thrown out, that Madras
and Bombay desire exemption, Sir Charles
simply refers{ to the fact that the people of
those Presidencies think it hard they .should
be* taxed for a rebellion in which they took
no part, but, on the contrary, did all they could to
help to put it down. In Madras a series of well-
considered reforms are in active progress, which,
carried to completion, will change the fade of the
South of India. If the new taxes are imposed,
swarms of harpies will again be let loose upon the
country, whereas, if the people are allowed to pur-
sure their course, the Government of Madras will
" undertake to realise by reduction of expenditure
more than the most sanguine estimates that can be
formed of the net revenue desirable from the three
proposed taxes in that Presidency." It is, observes
Sir Charles, characteristic of the manner in which
these three " tremendous " taxes are proposed to be
applied to all the various peoples, nations, and lan-
guages composing the British empire in India, that
there are confessed to be " absolutely no data upon
which any reliable calculation can be made of their
result." "I can," adds Sir Charles, "assign a fixed
measure of the results to be obtained by the reduc-
tion of military expenditure." The document thus
summarised is dated Madras, the 20th of March, and
is accompanied by a minute of concurrence from
Sir Patrick Grant, the Commander-in-Chief, another
from the Hon. R. Maltby, and another from the Hon.
W. A. Morehead, the remaining member of Council.
The two last gentlemen, however, have signified
that they did not intend their reapective minutes
for publication.— 2 imes' City Article.

GA.RIBALDPS EXPEDITION TO
SICILY.

GENOA, May 6.—Garibaldi and two thousand

two hundred volunteers embarked last night at 12
p.m. Three steamers were lying in the offing, to
which they were conveyed in detachments from
various points along a range of four or five miles
of coast. The concentration of any large body on
a given spot was avoided' not to bring additional
perplexity on the Government, who has shut its
eyes to whatever Garibaldi has been planning for
the last three weeks, but whose sympathy, of
course, can assume no more tangible form.
The scene at the Foce, near Genoa, witnessed
by your correspondent, was exciting in the ex-
treme. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour,
and the semi-reserve with which the movements of
the expeditionary force had been invested, nearly
5,000 persons of all ranks flocked up the beach to
bid the gallant adventurers good. speed. Genoa
gave 200 of her best marksmen from the Societa
del Tiro Nazionale ; the rest were from all parts of
the peninsula, .as the dialects you heard on every
side, in the medley of cheers and leave-taking,
amply testified. As usual with Garibaldi's volun-
teers,' they Were of every grade and calling—
nobles, soldiers; artists, physicians, down to pea-
sants and workmen, all young and vigorous, and
perfectly aware that with such a leader no child's
play lies before them. A few were lads of only 15
or 16. They were all in plain clothes, but their
uniforms, with arms, ammunition, &c., were al-
ready on board ship. They are to wear the scarlet
tunic so identified, in the Neapolitan's imagina-
tion, with Garibaldi's successes over them in 1849,
when the mere sight of one of the red diavoli used
to inspire panic. _
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The funas for this expedition have been supplied
from the proceeds for the subscription for a million
of muskets set on foot by Garibaldi last autumn.
It is not to land in Sicily, but it is intended to
effect a diversion in Calabria. The enthusiasm of
the troops in garrison here has been so roused
that it was necessary to confine them yesterday to
their barracks to prevent their deserting in order to
enrol themselves. This prudential measure has
been made the most of by the authorities here in
reply to the remonstrances of the Neapolitan con•
sul. More has been done, it is alleged, in opposi-
tion to the departure of Garibaldi than the
Austrian Government has seen fit to do with regard
to the thOusands of volunteers, many of whom were
her soldiers, who for months past have been pour-
ing into the Roman Statesfrom Trieste, to swell an
army intended for the invasion of a part of the
King of Sardinia's dominions.
Garibaldi has sanguine hopes of cutting out some
one or other of the Neapolitan frigates which are
on the watch for his appearance. This would be
but the repetition of some of his South American
achievements.

Midici, his able lieutenant, is to start in four or
five days with 2,000 more volunteers. Events are
thickening. Here it is generally expected that
Lamoriciere will make a descent on Romagna in a
few days.

of the zccolid division cf the Mediterranean fleet,
-under the orders of Rear-Admiral Minas, C. 13., is
now cruising in the channel bets yeti ...is island
and Sicily. It consists of the following ships ;
The Hannibal, 91, bearing the Prear-AdmiraPs
flag, the Neptune, 91, the Agamemnon, 91, the
James Watts, 91, and the. Cressy, 80. The ships
remaining in port are the Marlborough,'l3l, the
St. Jean d'Acre, 101, the Renown, 91, and the Lon-
don, 91 ; all ready for nett. A Russian line-of-battlo
-ship is abo in port refitting, with a Rcar-Adwirars
11.1 L; flying."
licr iilajusty's Royal paddle yacht Victoria and
Albert has been lashed alongside the slicer jetty of
Portsmouth Dockyard, for the purpose of receiving
her new shaft, which arrived in the yard yesterday
morning. The staff of the steam factory are at work
upon her day and night, and her repairs, &e., are
expected to be completed in about a week's time.
The Algiers, 91, screw, Capt. G. D. O'Callaghan,
will go out of Portsmouth harbour to Spithcad to-
morrow morning, to rejoin the first division of the
Channel fleet at Spithead, on the completion of her
repairs and refit.

The adjourned Court-martial assembled yesterday
morning on board her Majesty's ship Victory, in
Portsmouth harbour, under the presidency of Rear-
Admiral Superintendent Hon. G. Grey, for the trial
of Lieutenant Patrickson, serving on board hei'
Majesty's ship Asia, steam guard ship of ordinary
at that port, on a charge of drunkenness preferred
against him by his commanding officer. The trial
of the prisoner was adjourned on Tuesday last owing
to the sudden illness of the prisoner. On the Court
assembling yesterday morning, the prisoner pleaded
guilty to the charge, and threw himself on the
mercy of the court. Mr. Hoskins, solicitor, who at-
tended as the prisoner's "friend," made a few
observations to the court in mitigation of punish-
ment, and handed in several excellent testimonials,
which the prisoner had received from officers under
whom he had formerly served. The court was then
cleared, and on its being re opened, the finding was
read by the Deputy Judge-Advocate, which de-
clared the charge proved against the prisoner, and
sentenced him to be dismissed her Majesty's ship
Asia, and to be placed at the bottom of the list of
lieutenants.
The contractors for the construction of No. 10
dock, in Portsmouth Dockyard, and for the works
necessary to form its junction with No. 7 dock,
are erecting a retaining wall in the latter deck
for the purpose of withstanding the pressure of
the water when ships are docked or undocked dur-
ing the time the present works are in progress,
and also to enable them to excavate the ground be-
tween Nos. 7 and 10 docks, and form the granite
communication between them. When the work is
complete the whole, from the harbour entrance to
the steam basin, will equal the Great Eastern steam-
ship in length, but, from its want of depth and
breadth, would be, of course, unable to take in that
ship. The width between the entrance piers at the
coping will be about 80 feet, with a depth in No. 7
dock, in midships from coping to the floor line, of
32 feet. No. 10 dock gives an extra depth of 5
feet, and a greater breadth at the lower altar, owing
to the manner of its construction, and it will also
have a greater depth of water at its entrance than
any other dock in this yard. The chief value of the
two docks being thrown into one will be owing to
the circumstance of its affording an additional en-
trance from the harbour to the steam basin, and one
that will be much easier of access and more availa-
ble at certain times of the tide than the one now in
use.

The survey of two more of the contract mortar
vessels, numbered 31 and 48, built for the Admiralty
towards the close of the Russian war, has just been
completed at Chatham Dockyard, the vessels having
been hauled up out of the river on the slip in order
to facilitate the survey. The result of the inspec-
tion has shown that both the vessels are as rotten
as those first inspected, and utterly unfit for further
service ; indeed, so rotten were they found to be that
after a portion of the planking had been removed
enough was exhibited to satisfy the officers ap-
pointed to inspect them that it was unnecessary to
extend the survey, and they were accordingly closed
up and sent afloat to await an Admiralty order for
them to be broken up. It is not yet known whe-
ther the Admiralty will have ali the gun and
mortar vessels lying in Chatham harbour hauled
up at the dockyard and inspected with the
view of ascertaining their condition, but, as
they were all built by contract, there would
seem to 'se no doubt, from those already sur-
veyed, that the majority, if not nearly the whole,
will be found so rotten as to render them un-
fit for further service. The two mortar ves-
sels numbered 30 and 32 are being taken to
pieces by a numerous body of shipwrights, and the
planking having been removed and the timbers laid
bare, their fearfully rotten state is at once apparent.
Scarcely a timber can be discovered which does not
contain a liberal quantity of " sap." Indeed, por-
tions of the timbers may be picked to pieces with
the finger, showing the disgracefully faulty timber
which, there can be no doubt, was purposely used in
their construction. The workmanship is likewise
of a very inferior character, and contrasts strongly
with that exhibited in the vessels of war under
construction on the adjoining slips, the hired ship-
wrights who are employed breaking them up fre-
quently remarking that the timbers of the vessels
seem to have been " thrown" together.
The new 12-pound Armstrong battery inspected
last week by his Royal Highness the Prince Con-
sort, at Woolwich, was yesterday delivered over from
the Arsenal to the Artillery for service. Unlike the
guns of that description which have hitherto left the
Arsenal, either in cases or enveloped in canvass
wrappers, the guns of yesterday were transported
through the town with no greater degree of secrecy
than the guns of former years.
Two other cast-irons guns, 6-1 inch bore, manu-
factured for the special purpose of being hooped,
and intended to be rifled according to Sir William
Armstrong's principle, were yesterday tested at the
Arsenal butt, Woolwich. The charge used on the
occasion was similar to the last—namely, 161 b. of
powder and a cylindrical rod of iron weighing 160
lb. Both guns withstood the test well over 60
rounds, and at the 62d and 63d rounds the breech
of each gun was forced clearly off the chamber
without a single fragment or splinter. The proof
was ordered to be continued until both guns had
burst, in order that the authorities may decide the
question of cast iron guns for rifling definitively.
Her Majesty's screw steam-schooner Ranger,
Commander Wratislaw, yesterday took her depar-
ture from Woolwich for Greenhithe, where she is to
remain about three or four days, after which she is
to be detained a short time in the Channel for ex-
periments, and proceed thence to the West Coast of
Africa, her destined station. Before leaving the
basin the vessel was inspected throughout, and
the crew mustered by Commander Hawker, doing
duty as Commodore-Superintendent in the absence
of Commodore Drummond, on leave.
The paddlewheel steam-vessel Medusa, Comman-
der William Bowden, was yesterday warped into
the outer basin at Woolwich, to return storm and
prepare for paying off.
Her Majesty's naval transport Diligence, Master
Crooke commanding, yesterday commenced ship-
ping dockyard stores at Woolwich.
The contract vessel Llewellyn yesterday arrived
at Woolwich Arsenal pier, laden with returned
Government war stores from Gibraltar.
The contract screw gun-vessel Cormorant, 4,200
horse-power, built by Messrs. Wigram and Co.,
Blackwall, arrived in Chatham Harbour on Wed-
nesday evening to be surveyed.
The Wanderer, 4, screw gun-vessel, one of the
contract steam gun-boats built during the Russian
war, which, on being surveyed, was found to be very
rotten and 'defective, is ordered to be sent from
Chatham to Sheerness to be repaired ; but the gene-
ral opinion appears to be that, from the state, she is
in, she is not worth the expense of repairing.
Mr. J. Allen, Assist.-Surg., has been ,onfirmed
in the Liffey; and Mr. Patrick Keel, ./k.se' LA.-Burg.,
has been confirmed in the Industry.

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