The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-06 00:00:00

We publish in another column the usual quar

terle account of the revenue for the year and
the quarter ending the sth of January. We
regret that the statement is not more flattering
to our wishes for financial prosperity, though we
at the same time think that it affords no room
for despondency. The, quarter ending yester-
day, as compared with the corresponding quarter
of last year, exhibits a decrease of 903,218/.,
and the decrease on the whole year, as com-
pared with the year ending the sth of January
1831, is 3,984,175/. This latter decrease is
about an equivalent for the abolition of the beer
and leather duties, and therefore, though some-
what greater than was expected, need excite no
surprise. The deficiency in the last quarter,
which appears both in the Customs and Excise,
but chiefly in the latter, is more to be regretted,
but ought likewise to have been anticipated. The
business of a great commercial and manufac-
tte log country like this, cannot be interrupted
or deranged by political agitation without
affecting the comforts of the people,—without
checking consumption, and consequently di-
mieishing the sources of the public revenue. If
the revenue has, therefore, fallen off in the last
quarter, the opponents of the great measure of
Reform, who have so long kept the nation in a
ferment, are alone to blame, and may add a de-
ficient national income to the other offences for
which they are responsible at the bar of the pub-
lic.— 7 imes.
The official report on the finances of the
United States, the principal part of which we
give this day, is a paper which ought to become
the manual of every English statesman. Here
is a country, second only to Great Britain in
power among marine States, overflowing with
prosperity and happiness ;—one which knows
not the meaning of internal tumult ;—one of
which all the citizens, with scarcely an exception,
can command the necessaries of life, meat, drink,
clothing, and shelter from the elements, in abun-
dance,—one in which labour is sure of its re-
ward ; vet, where Members of Parliament are
chosen by universal suffrage,—where neither
tithes nor Game Laws are to be found, and
where the Chief Magistrate lives with dignity
on an income from the public of about 5,000/.
per annum. See how this country is taxed,—a
country of 12,000,000 of inhabitants. The re-
venue, then, raised upon the United States last
year eks been about six millions and a quarter
sterling, and yet the Government has contrived
to devote to the liquidation of the public debt
within the same period, no less than 3,300,000/.
sterlitT,—more than double what the ma-
nagers of English finance have been able
to bestow upon the same object, out of a reve-
nue of 46,000,000/. ! But if we inquire how
it happens that America has been able to do so
much, and England so little, towards that most
desirable of all ends,—whether for an individual
or a nation,—the solution lies upon the surface.
The civil list of the United States, which covers
the whole expenses of the civil Government,
from the President to the youngest clerk in of-
fice, throughout all the departments, administra-
tive and judicial, together with the cost of the
entire, much extended, and well-executed diplo-
macy of the Republic, in her intercourse with
all the nations of the civilized world,—covering,
further, that item so formidable in the finance re-
ports of England usually described as miscella-
neous,—that civil list, during the year just
expired, has very little exceeded half a million
sterling,—ahout one-fifth, we apprehend, of that
of England. Again, the military service, including
the army itself, fortifications, ordnance, Indian af-
fairs, army, the militia, and internal improve-
ments, the last article including the great roads,
canals, and general communications throughout
the country, does not amount to more than
1,.250,000/.—less actually than the ordnance
estimates alone for a single year's expenditure in
Great Britain ! The next head of expense in this
report is the nary. We know well what navy
estimates are in England—what injustice to-
wards friendless officers is provided for and sanc-
tioned by them—what procigality, the result of
uncha,tiscd obstinacy, stupidity, arrogance, and
indifference to the public interest, in some ofthe
executive civil officers. To perpetuate this
ruinous system, and to protect its authors or
abettors, the accounts of some of the Boards
under that department have, it has been proved,
been learned with all the marks and tokens of
studied mystification. Who will ever find out
what has been charged to the people of England
for the single article of alterations in certain
classes of our men of war ? That no wasteful
vagaries are tolerated in the marine department
of the United States, we may judge from the
fact that the sum total charged to that
branch of the public service is but 670,000/.
feerling feer the year 1831. Yet wherever an
American Interest requires it, there an Ame-
rican frigate or squadron is assuredly to be
found. Yet, moreover, besides five large fri-
gates, eleven heavy and effective corvettes (slily
termed sloops), and seven schooners, the dock-
yards are filled with valuable timber and stores
for the maintenance and rapid increase of the
navy, the fruits of parsimony and a real respon-
Aibility_during a succession of years. Can it,
from a few such circumstances as we have
glanced at,—can it, we say, surprise any think-
ing man, that the whole debt of the Republic is
now reduced to 24,000,000 of dollars, or about
4,000,000/. sterling ? Can it surprise any body
that, under a system of rigorous and salutary
superintendence by the nation, no such phrase
as "carrying on the President's business" has
ever occurred to the imagination of any Minis-
ter when calculating the result of a measure pro-
posed to the Congress or Senate of America.
But ponder well the happy consequence of the
progress made in paying off the public debt of
America. The sinking fund accumulates, but
does not (as in other countries) melt like a
snow-ball. While the estimated revenue for
1832 exceeds by the difference between
28,000,000 and 30,000,000 that of the pre-
ceding twelvemonth, the expenditure is reduced
from 14,000,000 to little more than 13,000,000;
and the stupendous phenomenon will in about
twelve months from the present date be pro-
duced, of a national debt utterly aunihilated by
a young republic,—that debt which, originally
created by war with England, has been regularly
and wisely diminished during every year of
peace ; while the same, peace leaves England
saddled with a debt, little short of the full
amount at which it stood when the miserable
treaty of Ghent was signed by Mr. Goulburn.
There are other matters of considerable though
secondary, interest, and connected with Ameri-
can finance, discussed at large in this interesting
and able document, but we must here conclude
our notice.— 7 ;Ines.

We call the attention of our readers to our
report of the Surrey Sessions, for an account of
a dispute between the Grand Jury and the