The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-01 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1858.

The Revenue Returns for the financial year and
quarter ending yesterday have been duly pub-
lished, and will be found in another part of this
day's impression. They indicate the fiscal diffi-
culties bequeathed to the Chancellor of the FY-
chequer by his predecessor in office—difficulties
which have been strenuously denied and emphati-
cally repudiated. Sir G. C. Lewis fancied that
because there were assets sufficient to make both
ends meet, when he was evicted from Downing-
street, all should be couleur de rose with his suc-
cessor, and corn pleined of being held at all
responsible for any embarrassments that
might arise during the progress of the present
and the following, year. More than twelve months
since we explained that there must inevitably be
a heavy deficit, in consequence of the policy pur-
sued by Sir G. C. Lewis, although it would not
be perceptible for some time. Our predictions
have already been verified, although we fear
that still more distinct evidences of our accuracy
will be forthcoming.
Looking to the exact figures, we find that there
is a decrease on the year of 5,188,105!., and
on the quarter of 101,7961., which would be
greatly enhanced in both instances, but for
the increase in the Miscellaneous, which
cannot be considered as a permanent source.
Indeed a private individual might as well
congratulate himself on an increase of income
arising from the sale of a large proportion of his
wardrobe, furniture, or jewellery, at a fifth of
the cost price. It was the late Government that
resorted to this laudable mode of recruiting the
national exchequer, and the present Financial
Minister has, as far as possible, reduced the prae
tice, the increase for the year being 642,339/.,
while that for the quarter was but 79,588!.

In the Customs, the great indicator of our
foreign trade, the falling off on the year was
:67,674/., and on the quarter 270,3101. The
corresponding quarter of last year was, however,
very productive. The reduction in the tee, coffee,
and sugar duties came into operation at the com-
mencement thereof, and dealers refrained from
increasing their utockß, which they permitted to

dwindl3 to the lowest amount, in order that
the parties might obtain the full benefit of the
anticipated change of tariff. This alone would
account for more than double the value of the
reduction.

In the Excise, the infallible indicator that shows !
the amount of comfort and prosperity enjoyed by
the working bees of the national hive, the increase
on the year is 277,0001., and on the quarter,
119,000/. Malt, hope, and spirits have been
the chief agents in producing these results, bu t
there are minor improvements on other articles
of consumption.
In Stamps there is also a decided improvement
—that on the year being 284,981/., and on the
quarter 233,879/. The Id. on cheques promises
to prove fully as productive as had been antici-
pated. In the Assessed Taxes, too, there is an
addition of 57,013/. on the year, and of 2,000/.
on the quarter. These impoats in a great degree
depend on the stringency of the way they are
levied. They do not therefore greatly show the
prosperity of the parties paying. Money collected
by distress, with all the cost of warrants, brokers,
&c., will look as well as that which has been
freely and willingly brought in without any
undue pressure.
The great falling off, however, is in the Income
and Property, which exceeds both on the year and
qparter the entire decrease ; it being, for the
former, 5,838,561/., and for the latter
1,255,953/. These are, however, fortunately the
effects of a reduction of taxation, rather than a
diminution of the sources of revenue. The war
9d., as it was termed, should be an equivalent
for at least 9,000,0001., but there were consider-
able arrears collected during the year, so that the
deficiency was only 5,838,5611., in place of being
nearly three and a quarter millions greater, which
will be the case next year, when the public will
receive the benefit of the full reduction, and the
additional 2d. will also come into operation.
In the Post-office there is an improvement of
165,0001. and 90,0001. respectively, while in
Crown Lands there is a falling off on the year of
8,2031., the quarter remaining in static quo.
We have already alluded to the Miscella-
neous. On the whole, the returns are as
good as could have been expected under ex-
isting circumstances ; but still they show
cause for grave apprehension, unless the Exche-
quer remains under the control of a prudent and,
at the same time, vigorous administrator, such as
Mr. DISRAELI has proved himself to be.

We direct attention to an article from the Times
of this day, suggestive of a plan for carrying off
the Thames sewage by a set of iron pipes, which
may be continued to and even into the sea.

We may remark, at the same time, that the
same idea had been suggested to the proper
quarter on Monday last, with other hints for a
temporary but prompt alleviation of the present
nuisance.

Immediately before the last delightful article
in the July number of Blackwood there is a cqpi-
tal political skit (worthy of particular attention
at t!le prrF,nn!; moment), entitled The Great Im-
posture. It is, as we have intimated, for the
current month, Maga's penultimate contribution
—the concluding paper being a wonderful piece
of banter called " Mr. DUSKY'S Opinions on
Art," a perfect delicious morsel of artistic plea-
santry, in regard to the authorship of which say
we ant AYTOUN aut 4iabolus. It will be very
long, we fancy, before Mr. RUSKIN hears the last
of it—this exquisite specimen of perfectly well-
tempered but destructive and even deadly ridicule.
The mere application to the " Notes" of the fami-
liar couplet from "Rejected Addresses"—

" I'm a blessed Glendoveer,
'Tis mine to speak, and yours to hear"—

the reference to the High Commissioner from the
Court of Nature : the parenthetical regret ex-
pressed that' " the pitch dark of a winter's night,
it would be difficult for any one, iu the present
state of art, to place satisfactorily on canvass
the scrupulous exactitude of the allusion made to
the particular state of the atmosphere existing in
the mouth of August, "from about five minutes
before two to about twenty minutes after,"
together with the next comment upon the picture
which had evidently been painted rather earlier
—" (about five-and-twenty minutes before two
is the time I should assign to it)" —all these
touches are perfect of their kind : we can scarcely
read on for our laughter.
.So, too, is it with the
reproachful lamentation immediately afterwards,
that in all the various galleries of the year,
" Amid all the rendering of grass and cowers
there is not a single dandelion"—not one group
of toadstools—not a solitary daddy-long-legs—
above all (pathetically this last) " nowhere any
frogs :" closing—after a heraldric reminiscence of
the lording of those reptiles—with " Let us have
some frogs next year 1" CAR any one, even a
Ruskinite pur et simple, fail to grin with delight
over Lhe eulogium of " The painting of the nail
brush, showing where friction has worn away and
channelled the bristles in the middle ?" Or over
the whole generalised commendation of that in-
dubitable Paul Veronese (somewhere) —to
which is subjoined " I would particularly note
the third hair from the top of the right whisker
of the cat in the corner, the painting of which is
very precious !" To say nothing of two amazing
entries, to wit—" No. 24. This is directly imi-
tative both of TITIAN and GEORGE CRUIKSHANK,
with SMITH'S handling, and BROWN'S manner,"
and further un " No. 40. The sky i 3
weak and heavy, the distance too hazy, the mid-
dle distance absurd, and the foreground like a
cartload of bricks ready for use. However—on
the whole-1 consider this the leading picture of
the year." Absolutely, from first to last, nothing
could possibly be more delightful than this exam-
ple of Mr. Dusxy's Opinions. It will do Mr.
aUSEIN a world of good—or, at any rate,
his readers—supposing Mr. DUSKY himself to be
incorrigible.

But there is the immediate precursor of this
artistic skit—the political skit, already particu-
larised as the paper entitled " The Great Impos-
ture."ln this ag© of imposture—some
wonderingly inquire—what possibly can that
mean ? Which of all the Giant Humbugs, of all
the colossal Yagites, of all the stupendous shams,
can reasonably claim for itself the prerogative of
of being regarded as "The Great Imposture."
y---WHIGGERY. Reid it, free and
The answer comes now, through Maga, somewhat
opportune]
enlightened Electors and non-Electors, one and
all. Here you have "The Great Imposture" in
a state of coma—ef collapse—blown—burst up—
shelved—cushioned. Listen to the writer for
one brief interval. lc g Whet, \Vhiggery ?' slid I
over to a bluff Radical, who has a sincere abhor-
rence of the sect. 'Jobbery,' was the curt reply.
'Jaw end nothing else,' was the answer of a
second. British folks to foreigners,'
cried a ? and more than once I have been
assured that bosh' was the proper synonyvae.
Fur my own part I have been compelled to aban-
don in c lespair the attempt at any solution beyond
a negative one. But sure and certain am I that
Whigg, cry is not Liberalism." That is the one
inevitable conclusion. It is the conclusion at
which the true and independent Liberals in the

Howe have already a,rrivecl. It is the conclusion

at which the vast majority out-of-doors are now
rapidly arriving. To it every sane politician
pointi—like, the needle to the Pole. From it
there is nowhere among them observable the
slightest deflection, the smallest divergence. Sure
and certain are all—Liberals old and young,
north, south, east, and west—that Whiggery is
NOT Liberalism.

VOCAL ASSOCIATION, ST. JAMES'3-
.
HALL.

The sixth and last of this excellent series of con-
certs was given last night at this hall, affording a
full and varied programrae of rather novel inte-
rest. Mendelssohn's "Hymn of Praise" was pro-
duced with most satisfactory effect, • the leading
parts being undertaken by Miss Louisa Pyne, Miss
Stabbach, and Mr. Montem Smith ; and the
choruses by the Vocal Association, the members of
which deserve great praise for the skill and care
which mark their treatment of concerted music.
`Herr Joachim's "Overture to Henry the Fourth,"
played for the first time in England, was, in our
opinion, an efficient proof that great executive
power is by no means invariably allied to original
compositional genius. Herr Joachim without
doubt, among the greatest of violinists, and must
stand in the foremost ranks as a finished artiste, but
the specimens which we have heard of his "creative"
attempts fail to impress us with the notion that
he possesses the essentials to qualify. his amLition.
Something more than harmonic combinaaions,
complex reminiscences of the
.old masters, and
astonishingly difficult passages, are necessary to
form a composition of lasting* merit. There is a
fearful amount of spasmodic and mysterious elabo-
ration existing in all the branches of the Fine Arts
at this period. We are met at every turn by
wonderful poetry without meaning, wouleiful
paintings without expression, and wonderful
music without melody. The elements of all
truly great productions consist of simplicity
and earnestness, as the poems of Gshismith, the
pictures of Hogarth, and the operas of Mozsrt
vividly illustrate. If some of our modern aspirants
to Fame would recognise the natural and sbeau-
tiful laws of Art, rather than the abstruse
and "impossible" phases of Rhapsody, the
world woild he a vast gainer by the
ratio* re term. The other constituents of the
concert were'of a charming and most satisfactory
character. - The part songs, rendered by the Asso-
ciation, left nothing to be desired, and evidently
yielded intense gratification to a crowded audience,
among whom was Madame Goldschmidt Lind.
M. Benedict, as conductor, performed his duty
with his accustomed ability. We shall be• ready to
cordially and joyfully hail the announcement of
another series of these concerts next season, for
they have formed a most important and attractive
feature in the musical entertainments of the pre-
sent one.