The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-12 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1869.

Whenever the Emperor NAPOLEON takes occasion
to declare himself in favour of Peace, it is the fashion
at once among many people to declare that he means
War. Tlie Marquis de LAVALETTE, his Majesty's
Minister for Foreign Affairs, seized the opportunity
afforded him by the pertinent inquiries addressed to
bim as the departmental mouthpiece of the Impe-
rial Government, to give on Saturday last in the
Legislative Chamber, so unequivocal and unambiguous
an outline of the Foreign Policy of the French Go-
vernment, that for once we should imagine there
will be no such sinister conclusions drawn as to the
designs of NAPOLEON 111. Better than any words of
comment upon them could possibly be, will be the
actual declarations made by the French Minister for
Foreign Affairs himself. Referring to Germany, the
Marquis de LAVALETTE denied that there had been
any special negotiations either entered into or con-
templated by France. " This attitude on our part,"
he added, " shows our sincere desire to maintain good
relations, avoiding all in: erference whatever in affairs
that are purely German. Changes .such as have
occurred in Germany are followed, before complete
tranquillity sets in, by an intermediate period
of aspirations, misunderstandings, and regrets.'
As to Italy, while he remarked, on the one
hand, that the Italian Ministry had re-entered a
path dictated by Conservative principles—" On the
other hand," he said, "the Pontifical Government is
also progressing in the reconstruction of its forces ;
but the moment has not yet arrived for us to return,
purely and simply, to the September Convention
and to evacuate the Pontifical territory." Refer-
ring to the Paris Conference of last year, in re-
gard to the threatened rupture between Greece
and Turkey, the French Minister said, and with full
reason, that far from having humiliated Greece, that
Conference had afforded the grand spectacle of the
whole of Europe calmly waiting several days for
the decision of a small country on the momentous
question of peace or war. " Greece," said the Mar-
quis de LAVALETTF, " came away from the Confer-
ence more powerful than before, for she had inscribed
upon her flag respect for the principles if interna-
tional
law, which are in vogue among all civilised
countries." He, moreover, paid a merited tribute o
respect to the firmness of King GEORGE, who, he ob-
served, had abided by his resolutions, notwithstanding
the revolutionary agitation which prevailed in Greece.
It was i❑ the closing passage, however, of the Mar-
quis de LAVALETTE'S reply to the interrogation of M.
JULES FAVRE, that the strongest declarations were
made by him, as French Minister for Foreign Affairs,
as to the political designs of the Imperial Govern-
ment. That passage is worth quoting in its entirety.
The Minister said—" Our foreign relations are good.
We may say that peace, the object of our wishes, is
neither compromised nor uncertain, and that we
shall maintain it by all legitimate means. In the
West we shall do, under different circum-
stances, all that which we did to preserve peace in
the East. A fearful responsibility would attach to
whomsoever, giving way to national susceptibilities
should hurl two great nations one against the other'
The policy of France is the policy of peace, a policy
which we shall uphold with the aid of the great powers
of the State and with the aid of Almighty GoD." No
wonder that, on the Minister resuming his seat, there
arose from all parts of the House loud and prolonged
cheering. So satisfactory indeed was the effect pro-
duced by those statements, that M. TIMERS took oc-
casion at once to tenda his thanks for them to the
Imperial Government.

Sccir a remarkable Budget as that which has just
been proposed by Mr. LOWE is not to be exhausted
in one criticism. It involves not only'new incidents,
but new principles of taxation. As Mr. LOWE pro-
poses to bring forward his resolutions to-night, he
leaves very little time for the consideration
of his somewhat startling, and certainly novel,
proposals. The fact that they are novel should
have prevented this unwonted haste. It is easy
enough to decide upon the proposals of an ordinary
financial statement ; for instance, to say if a sur-
plus should be devoted to the reduction of direct or
of indirect taxation. But the present Budget is of
quite another kind ; its arrangements are so new,
and, in some respects, so complex, that they have
fairly bewildered both journalists and legis-
lators. For instance, Mr. BARNETT, a banker, as
well as an M.P., thought that Mr. LOWE had pro-
mised a period of nine months during which the
payment of the assessed taxes would be suspended ;
whereas he meant only that his period of exemp-
tion should apply to the assessment, not to the
collection, of the assessed taxes. As the Times
points out, the customary assessment now in process
of computation refers to articles kept in the year
1868-9--that is to say, during the last twelve
months. The new assessment, conducted under
the Excise officials next January, will refer to the
year 1870 ; and it plainly follows that there will
be no assessment whatever having reference to
the nine months from the Ist of April, 1869,
to the Ist of January, 1870. If bankers and
M.P.'s have thus been misled by Mr. LowE's scheme,
journalists have been equally at fault. Some of them,
like the editor of the Saturday Review, whose forte
is not finance, have wisely been content with gene-
ralities, and with dilating on the coup de:thedtre which
surprised the House of Commons on Thursday night.
The Daily Telegraph, in a letter on the " Meaning
of the Budget," which endeavours to appear
a semi-official manifesto, declares " that the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCIIECtiTER does not intend to
levy in advance all or more than a mere fraction
of the taxes by manipulating which he gives these
unexpected remissions. The sole change in this
respect is made in the collection of the assessed taxes,
and affects a revenue of about one million sterling."
This explanation itself requires explaining in order
to upderstand how Mr. Lown hopes to raise the
which he requires, sill
more than g 3,000,000