The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-20 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1858.

The Budget has been unfolded, and the financial
Minister has carried with him the House and the
country, in favour of the propositions which he
brought forward. The fiscal scheme was not all
that we desired or anticipated, but it was certainly
far better than would have been offdred by Sir
G. C. LEWIS. Mr. DISRAEL/ has justly con-
sidered that, in the face of a very considerable
deficiency, amounting to nearly four millions
sterling, he is not justified in attempting to pay
off any portion' of debt. He will not create a
new burden in order to get rid of an old one, and
therefore he has wisely determined to put an end
to the sinking fund on the war debt, and also to
renew the 2,000,0001. of Exchequer-bonds which
will fall due in May. Theo were matters
that the oppressed tax-payers had a right to
anticipate, and they hare not been disappointed.
Three-and-a-half millions are to be renewed, which
Sir G. C. LBSTIB would have placed on people ex-
hausted by a monetary crisis of unparalleled in-
tensity. The money, if required, could be raised
on very advantageous conditions ; but we believe 1
a large proportion thereof is vested in the Com-
missioners of Savings' Banks, who will be de-
lighted
to receive a security so eligible in every
respect, against which no possible objection can
be raised.

Sevea-eighths of the deficiency are thus pro-
vided for, and a comparatively small sum re-
mains. There is still half a million to be
raised, and Mr. DISRAELI, with rather too fine
an appreciation of the compact of 1853,
one for which he was not in the slightest degree
resp-dasible, determines not to interfere with the
reduction. Yes ; thanks to the Darbyites, the
Income Tax will be reduced to sd. in the pound,
and some reasonable hope is held out of its total
abolition in 1860 ; although that, we confess, is a
matter on which we must still remain sceptical.
There is, at all events, a persevering and ener-
getic attempt to carry out Mr. GLADSTONE'S views,
and for that the opponents of direct taxation
should feel grateful.
But the half million must be provided unless
the Right Honourable Gentleman could
consent to a deficiency. This he hopes
to obtain by an equalisation of the spirit duties
throughout the whole of the United Kingdom, or
in other words by an addition of ls. 103. per
gallon on Irish whiskey. As ,ve have repeatedly
Stated, there is no amount that can be levied on
alcohol that may not be charged. It is of all
others the most legitimate subject of taxation.
There is, however, one check that must be re.- I
apectee. Auy increase that woull lead to illicit
distillation would produce the most demoralising
eoasequences to the community, and at the same
time would prove injurious to the revenue. The
fair trader should receive fair play. He should
not have undue competition forced upon him, as
we fear it will be when the duty is raised
to 7s. 103. ; and there is so large a
margin for the gentlemen who are by no
means disposed to take the revenue officers
into their confidence. Mr. DISRAELI, however,
thinks that it can be levied, and that he will ob-
tain half a million therefrom--trusts that calcula-
tions may be verified, but we confess that we en-
tertain very serious doubts on the point. As We
have already stated there can be so objection
against the principle. It is merely one of figures
to which the revenue returns of next year will

afford the most conclusive, if not the most satis-
factory, answer. But Mr. DISRAELI is not
satisfied with merely snaking both ends meet.
He wishes very naturally to have a surplus
which will be available for the general purposes
of the nation, if all should be right, or would
provide for any unexpected casualty. This
he obtains in a perfectly unexceptionable manner
by a small stamp (Id.) on cheques. Any person
who keeps an account with a banker is probably
liable to the Income-tax. The few pence that
he may have to disburse will be of comparatively
trivial consequence. In all his dealings he is beset
with stamp duties. He has to pay a heavy tax
on bills of exchange, payable at a future day,
and on receipt of any sum exceeding 403. he must
place an adhesive stamp on the receipt. I t
will be no great hardship, therefore, to affix
one to the instrument of payment which will
practically operate as a receipt. It will, in-
deed, scarcely be felt, and we congratulate
Mr. DISRAELI on having obtained such an unob-
jectionable mode of increasing the revenue.

Of course, with a deficiency of four
no reduction of taxation could be anticipated.
Taxes on prudence and on knowledge would have
their claims fairly balanced when there was a sur-
plus, but the consideration must be postponed
until that surplus is apparent. 1860 seems to
be " the good time coming." Everything is then
to be accomplished—the Income-tax will only be
remembered from its gross inequality, and there
will be an Utopian readiness to discharge all fiscal
obligations. We, however, believe that the
Ineome•tas will still survive, that it will be a
perpetual blister on the sides of the middle
()lasses. We do not, we cannot complain
of Mr. DIARA.ELI having avoided the diffi-
culty during the present year. It was almost
a miratulons feat to have been enabled to do so,
to have allowed the reduction of 2J. in the pound
to be amomplished. For that he will receive many
blessings from humble roofs, and many cheerful
matrons will rejoice in garments which they have
procured for thenaselves and their children out of
the remitted charge. But next year, and if he
goes on as he has done, he will have another finan-
cial scheme to develope—he must grapple with the
Income-tax—must render it more equitable—and
induce the real creators and producers of national
wealth—those who earn their daily bread by
their daily labour, physical or intellectual, to
believe that they are not swindled. Considering
the short time he has been in office, and the
factious opposition that would have been offered
to any fiscal project, we are deeply grateful for
what Mr. DIfiIIAELI has achieved, but we shall look
forward confidently to a further improvement ;
and although we cannot anticipate the abolition
of the income tax, we shall anticipate a reasonable
recognition of the distinction between permanent
and precarious incomes. It is from Mr. Ms
'ima alone that we can expect it, for Mr. GLAD-
aToxi, and Sir C. WooD, and Sir G. C. LEWIS,
have given unequivocal indications of no change
or modification at their hands, and we sincerely
hope that tl*y mail never have the opportunity !

The necessity for further Harbours of Refuge
along our coasts, has perhaps never been more
strikingly demonstrated than it has been very
succinctly in a document, which, nevertheless,
merely refers to the want incidentally. This
document is no other than the last annual Report
addressed to the Lords of the Committee of Privy
Council for Trade, by the Surveyor-General.
The report, as usual, is followed by an ingenious
abstract of returns as to the actual amount of
wrecks and casualties occurring in 1857, on
or near the shores of the United Kingdom.
It is an abstract as clear in its ar-
rangement, as it is succinct and com-
prehensive. It is so tabulated that it in no re-
spect whatever admits of the possibility of mis-
apprehension. The facts accumulated during the
past twelvemonth, beginning with the Ist of
January and ending with the thirty-first of
*comber, are not only classified with a punc-
tilious regard to accnracy, but are minutely and
scrupulously analysed. The result is precisely
what could have been most earnestly desired.
With this official paper in our hands we can esti-
mate to a nicety the extent of the loss sustained
both in life and property during the year last past
—and by comparing the returns of 1857 with
those annually preceding it, we can distinctly re-
cognise the extent of our advance towards the
diminution of these peculiarly insular calamities.
Altogether it is satisfactory to find that the Sur-
veyor-General can write—and with perfect truth
—" The wreck experience of the year is •n the
favouroble." Yet the magnitude of the
dangers to be contended with may be appreciated
all the more forcibly when we add to that en-
couraging announcement an epitome of the casual-
ties here, in regard to this "favourable" year,
deliberately enumerated.
Let it be observed then, in reference to 1857,
that the number of ♦easels wrecked, stranded,
foundered, or in any way damaged or destroyed
by maritime casualties, on or near the coasts of
the United Kingdom, were no less than 1,143
altogether. Recollect that these ill-fated ships
represented an aggregate burthen of 218,570 tons,
and were manned by very nearly 10,000 seamen,
as many as 9,819 souls having been thus griev-
ously imperilled. Remember in addition
to this, that of all the jeopardised
"hands," but 1,668 were saved from actual
shipwreck—eight by individual exertion; 243 by
assistance from shore, with roeket and mortar
apparatus, ropes, esc.; 398 by life-boats ; 507 by
ships and steamboats ; and 512 by small craft,
coastguard boats and luggers. It is curious, by
the way, to note the proportion of the differen

degeriptions of vessels which were thus auhjected in
1857 to wrecks and casualties—there being enu-
merated in the total of 1,143, but one of each of
the following, namely, of yachts, hookers, cobles,
and chasse mark ; two keels ; three dandies (!);
four flats (!); fire ketches ; eight snows, and
eight cutters ; 11 luggers ; 21 galliots ; 39
steamers ; 51 brigantines ; 58 ships (so called) ;
65 smacks ; 68 sloops ; 129 barques ; 311 brigs,
and 354 schooners. The catalogue showing a
terrible cre.scendu of danger from the smacks, on
thrcugh sloops, and barques, and brigs to the
most seriously imperilled of all crafts, viz., the
schooners. Perhaps the most striking passage in
the whole of the impressive and sententious re-

port of the Surveyor-General is that in which he

thus comments on the extraordinary advance

(4u advance of no less than 94 upo❑ 1856, or as Ile
puts it to us rather fearfully 52.5 per cent. on

the whole of the casualties on the entire coasts),

the extraordinary advanco in tho number of