The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-19 00:00:00

HOSPITAL STAFF.

Newcastle
Ronconi .

Oliver
Syringe
Eva ...

• Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals David Dumbreck,
M.D., C. 8., to be Inspector-General of Hospitals, vice
James Barry, M.D., placed upon half-pay.
Surgeon-Major Richard James O'Flaherty to be Deputy
Inspector-General of Hospitals, vice Dumbreck.
Surgeon William Walter Weld, from the Military Train,
to be Surgeon, vice Reid, appointed to the 92d Foot.
Assistant-Surgeon Leslie Ogilby Patter Son, from the
35th Foot, to be Assistant-Surgeon, vice Mahon, who ex-
changes.
Acting Assistant-Surgeon John Masters has ceased to do
duty, there being no longer occasion for his services.
BREVET.

Brevet-Colonel Edward L'Estrange, ILtired Full-pay,
70th Foot, to be Major-General, the rank being honorary
on
Captain
Frederick William Lambton, of the 71st Foot,
to be Major in the Army.
Lieut. H. W. Norman, of the 31st Bengal Native In-
fantry, and having the local rank of Brevet-Captain in
India, to has e the local rank of Lieut.-Colonel in the East
Indies.

—Coptain Goulde Read Weston, of the 65th Bengal Native
Infantry, to be Major in the Army.
COMMISSION SIGNED BY THE QUEEN.

Durham Regiment of Artillery Militia—Captain Cort-
landt G. M'Gregor Skinner, to be Paymaster.
CGMMISSIONS BY LORDS LIEUTENANT.

County of Worcester—William Haden, Esq., to be De-
puty Lieutenant ; Wm. Hancocks, Esq., to be Deputy
Lieutenant; John Hunt, Esq., to be Deputy Lieutenant.
7th Regiment of Lancashire Militia—. Henry William
Matthews, Gent., to be Lieutenant.
3d Regiment of Royal Surrey Militia—Ensign Henry
Chandos Rivers, to be Lieutenant, vice Conran Kirk, re-
signed.
County of Stafford—Ralph Thomas Adderley, Esq., to
be Deputy Lieutenant.
2d Regiment of Royal Cheshire Militia—Captain Ralph
Smyth, late of the 17th Foot, to be Captain, vice W. E. G.
Thomas, resigned.
• Ist Regiment of King's Own Staffordshire Militia—
Martin Blake, Gent., to be Lieutenant, vice Doyle, resigned ;
Robertson Gilchrist Marshall, Gent., to be Ensign, vice
Mott, promoted ; Robert Hamilton Playfair, Gent, to be
Ensign, vice Hickman, promoted ; William John Bald-
win, Gent., to be Ensign, vice Lambarde, promoted.
Royal Pembrokeshire Artillery Regiment of Militia—
Henry Ackland to be First Lieutenant.
North York Rifle Regiment of Militia—The Queen has
been graciously pleased to accept the resignation by
Major John Morton Jeffery and Captain the Marquis
of Caermarthen, of the commissions held by them ; and her
Majesty does not disapprove of Lieutenant-Colonel Hamlet
Coote Wade, bearing the title of Lieutenant-Colonel Com-
pandant of the Regiment.
BANKRUPTCY ANNULLED.
William Dennis Shutt, ironmonger, Shoreditsh.
BANKRUPTS.
William Wigginton, coal merchant, Bourne End, Buck-
inghamshire, to surrender July 29 and Aug. 26, at twelve,
at the Court of Bankruptcy.
Abraham Harris, tobacconist, Railway-place, Shoreditch,
July 29, at twelye, and Aug. 26, at eleven, at the Court of
Bankruptcy.
William N ewth, milliner, Cradley Heath, Staffordshire,
July 22, and Aug. 11, at eleven, at the Birmingham Dis-

trict Court.
Thomas Thompson, cabinetmaker, Pocklington, York-
shire, Aug. 1 and 29, at eleven, at the Leeds District Court.
Kirkman Smith, stone mason, New Cross, July 29 and
Aug. 26, at half-past one, at the Court of Bankruptcy.
John Lee Castle, linen draper, Moreton-in-the-Marsh,
Gloucestershire, Aug. 2 and 30, at eleven, at the Bristol
District Court.
Robert Procter, corn merchant, Liverpool, Aug. 2, and
22, at eleven, at the Liverpool District Court.
SCOTCH BANKRUPTS.
Hjalmar Hamfeldt, commission merchants, Hamilton.
Charles Turner Gray, hotelkeePer, Inverness.
Jonathan Denoon, innkeeper, Rosemarkie.

COURSE OF EXCIIANGE.—Tats D.Y.
Amsterdam
Ditto
Rotterdam .........
Antwerp
Brussels . .
Hamburg];
Paris
Ditto
Marseilles .. ..
Frankfort on Maine —116 i
111190
Vienna . 11 70 11 90i
Trieste .. ..
Petersburgh
Madrid
4_

Cadiz —49 i
Leghorn ...........• 30 5
Genoa — 25 75
Naples
Palermo —122 t
Messina —122 i
Lisbon
Oporto
Rio Janeiro
New York —
••

49
30 10
25 80
41
122/
123
51!
51

Foreign Gold in Bars (Standard) ....per oz. £3 17 9
Mexican Dollars
1, 0 0 0
0 to 0
Silver in Bars (Standard)

CARPET MANUFACTORY BURNT DOWN AT DUR-
HAM.—On Friday night, between 11 and 12 o'clock, flames
were seen issuiug from the boiler-house of Messrs. Hender-
son and Co.'a carpet manufactory, behind St. Nicholas
Church, Durham. The local engines were soon in attend-
ance, but at one time the flames became so alarming that a
telegraph message was despatched to Newcastle for the
assistance of the firemen there. By the time of the arrival
of the Newcastle brigade, however, the fire had been got
under. The damage is estimated at from £2,000 to £3,000.
It is not known how the fire originated.

NOTTINGHAM PACES--(THIS DAY.)

Mrs. Stowe .
Pactolus....

Boundaway.
Abron.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SHERWOOD HANDICAP.

Four ran.
STAND PLATE

Seven ran.
NOTTINGHAM HANDICAP.

Paul was scratched yesterday.
ROBIN HOOD STAKES.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

. HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY).
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.
Viscount DUNGANNON.gave notice that, on Thurs-
day, he should present a petition from the Archdeaconry
of Buckinghamshire, praying that no alteration might be
made in the marriage law.

Earl FORTESCUE presented a petition from Exeter in
favour of the Endowed Schools Bill.

Lord REDESDALE presented petitions from Kidder-
minster and Glasgow in favour of the Sale of Gas Bill.

THE ITALIAN QUESTION.
The Earl of MALMESBURY begged to ask the noble
earl opposite (the President of the Council) whether the de-
spatch which appeared in the papers that day addressed
by Lord John Russell, on the 22d of June, to the Govern-
ment at Berlin, advising Prussia not to enter into the war,
was authentic, and if so, whether there would be any objec-
tion to lay a copy of the said despatch, with the answer
thereto, on the table of the house ?
Lord WODEHOUSE said the despatch was in sub-
stance correct, there were some inaccuracies that must
have. occurred in its translation—(hear, hear)—but a
copy of the document would be laid upon the table.
The noble earl had said in anotherplace that the present Go-
vernment were following out the course he had chalked out,
but he (Lord Wodehouse) contended that if there was one
line of policy the noble earl had specially chalked out, it
was that of preventing Prussia from interfering in the war.
Lord BROUGHAM hoped that as England had had
nothing to do with war, or in making the marvellous peace,
this country would take the full benefit of her insulation.
After a few wards from the Duke of NEWCASTLE and
Earl GRANVILLE the 'subject dropped.
THE STATUTE LAW COMMISSION.
Lord CRANWORTH rose to call the attention of the
house to the fourth report of the commissioners for consoli-
dating the statute law, and laid on the table a bill for the
further consolidation of the statutes, which he moved should
be read a first time. In the year 1816 a committee of that
house had undertaken the task of consolidation, but it was
impossible for any man not a lawyer to make out what was
meant, hence further consolidation of the statute law be-
came necessary. The present measure did not meddle with
Militia or Mutiny Bills as they were but little referred to
by the public; the subject of marriage would also be left
untouched. The bill proposed would number 94 of the
usual pages of their lordships' Parliamentary papers, and
the whole work of consolidation he considered would be
acomplished in two years. (Hear, hear.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR bore testimony to the zeal
and ability of his noble and learned friend (Lord Cran-
worth.) The work of consolidation was a much desired
object, but he did not think it was to be accomplished by
a eommission such as the last, where the attendance was
voluntary and there was no responsibility; implicit confi-
dence must be placed in any persons selected for the pur-
pose of consolidation. What he should propose was the
appointment by Government of a stag of paid professional
men, who, in addition, might assist Parliament in preparing
bills before they were introduced into either house; this
system, he was of opinion, would much relieve both
houses in the transaction of the public business of
the country. Much had been done by his noble
and learned friend near him (Lord Brougham) in
the way of improving the bankruptcy laws ; much
remained to be done with respect to the law of real
property. (Hear, hear.) His noble and learned friend,
not then in his place (Lord Lyndhurst), had brought in a
bill of much importance touching the mode of taking
evidence, which he sincerely trusted his noble and learned
friend would carry on. (Hear, hear.) There were other
measures most necessary at the present time to be ac-
complished ; for example, the simplification of the orders
of the Lord Chancellors, of which there was a great mass
not even arranged, and one Lord Chancellor scarcely
knew the orders made by his predecessor. (Hear, hear.)
There was only one other point to which he wished to draw
attention, namely, that they must have one set of courts
to decide equitable matters, and another set to determine
legal matters. He thought also that the courts of common
law might, as they had hitherto often done, decide equitable
questions.

Lord BROUGHAM, although much indebted to his
noble and learned friend Lord Cranworth for the efforts he
bad made to consolidate the laws, must yet be permitted to
say a few words on the subject. The men to inquire into a
matter of such weight, seriousness, and importance as the
consolidation of the laws, should not be mere diletante men,
but men of deep learning and wisdom. The difficulties and
entanglement of such an object were great—as, for instance,
when such a bill went down to the other house, it would
then be sifted by men of great learning in the law—great
lawyers, and, on the other hand, it would be dealt with by
men who were not learned in the law. He, therefore,
agreed with his noble and learned friend Lord Lyndhurst,
that a question of such magnitude ought not to be entrusted
to the consideration of so mixed an assembly; and that it
ought rather be committed solely to a body of learned men,
who would not only consolidate, but give a good and satis-
factory digest of the statute laws. It was impossible to
overrate the difficulties of the subject ; and there was, there-
fore, the greater necessity to deal thoughtfully and seriously
with it. He lamented that his noble and learned friend
Lord Lyndhurst was absent through indisposition, for his
noble and learned friend was most anxious to be present,
partly for the purpose of assisting his noble and learned
friend Lord Cranworth, and partly because of the great im-
portance and interest of a question in which he felt so deep
an interest. The noble and learned lord paid a high com-
pliment to the industry and intelligence of Mr. Bellenden
Ker, the Secretary of the Statute Law Commission, and for
his devotedness to:this subject, and the self-sacrfficeshe had
made to promote it, and concluded by hoping that his
noble and learned friend Lord Cranworth would succeed in
his object.

Lord ST. LEONARDS approved of the object of noble
noble and learned friend, but with respect to the expenses
of the Statute Law Commission he must say, if it cost this
country one shilling, it cost it at least £90,000. There were
no fewer than 90 bills prepared under the advice of the com-
missioners. He did not complain of that, but he was of opi-
nion that those bills ought to be subjected to a strict revi-
sion, and that the public ought not otherwise .be put to
great additional cost. The labour proposed to be accom-
plished was enormous, and to attempt to impose such a task
as the consolidation of the statute laws upon the Attorney
and Solicitor-General would be to impose a work on them
which they could never get through. He thought the whole
subject should be referred, to a select committee—a species
of tribunal which, in his judgment, would be the most suit-
able to deal with the question. He did not think they could
have the consolidation with the inquiry and report of such
a committee. There should be some high authority to decide
on a subject out of Parliament. If they had a simple edi-
tion of the statutes unencumbered with notes and commen-
taries, it might prove of great value.
Lord WENSLEYDALE thought while the steps taken
by the commission hitherto to consolidate the statute laws
had admittedly effected much that was valuable, they were
yet not sufficient to accomplish the object in view. He
should recommend that the work to be accomplished be
entrusted to one experienced and salaried officer, a distin-
guished member of the bar, rather than to a commission
consisting of 10 or 12 persons.
.cord CHELMSFORD wished to know whether his noble
and learned friend intended to endeavour at present to pass
the five bills which he spoke of through Parliament, or
merely to lay them upon the table of their lordships' house.
Lord ORAN WOR,TH, in reply, said, in answer to the
questions of his noble and learned friend, his object was so
to consolidate the acts as to leave everything superfluous
out, and shorten the language, and put in only that which
would make the bill a consecutive narrative, and so get rid
of that confusion which now existed.
The bill, after a few remarks by Lord BROUGHAM in fa-
vour of the scheme of codification of the laws, which he for
one, would never give up, and by Lord CHELMSFORD, in a
complimentary spirit to Mr. Bellenden Ker, was read a first
time.

The other business on the paper having been disposed of,
their lordships adjourned.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.—(YESTERDAY.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at four o'clock.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.

The Lords' amendment to the Forth and Clyde Naviga-
tion and the Maybole and Girvan Railway bills were con-
sidered and agreed to.
The following bills were read a third time and passed :
Epping Railway; Isle of Wight Railway (Eastern Sec-
tion) ; Llanrwst and Abergele Roads • London and North
Western Railway (Sutton Coldfield Branch), changed from
" Birmingham, Erdington, and Sutton Coldfield Railway
(Western Line) ;" Norwich and Spalding Railway; Ox-
ford, Worcester, and Wolverhampton Railway ; Sandwith's
Divorce (Lords) ; South Durham and Lancashire Union
Railway; WaveneyValley Railway; Wells ancrFakenham
Railway.
BRITISH AND CANADIAN TELEGRAPH
COMPANY.
On the motion for the consideration of this bill, as
amended,
Lord DUNCAN moved the following amendment :—To
leave out clause 30 (giving power to the Treasury to make
agreement with the company for use of telegraph on her
Majesty's service). He deprecated the practice that prevailed
of giving guarantees for the expenditure of public money by
means of private bills, which he considered did not afford a
sufficient check. He also proposed that clause 22 should
, be expunged.
After some discussion the debate was adjourcted until to-
morrow.
FISHING VESSELS PASSING THE NORE BILL.
On the motion of Mr. M. GIBSON,
the t
mittee on this bill were nominated :-.--Mr.
J. Duke, Mr. R. W. Crawford,
Mr. 13ra .10
Gwri ib.
nDs ene mSe
r-
and Alderman Salomons ; and five members to be added by
o following
Ml
the committee of selection—five to be the
quorum -
g bills were agreed to,
and
dhwe
earmeernedmadeanttshtiordthtei
mfe oltwit
ganelstown and Wex-
ford Railway, Bury St. Edmunds Ga_s., Cleveland Rail-
way, Dublin and Drogheda Railway, Finford Bridge and.
Banbury Road, Lancashire and Yorkshire and East Lanca-
shire Railway Companies, Leclds, Bradford, and Halifax
Junction Railway, Newry
Amalgamation, Perth, KinroeY!ssb,AurnarnmdaßgFhaiiflßewalihovacadyosm,, North
hs Eastern and Badele and 11,1
Staffordshire Railway, and Victoria Station and Pimlico
Railway.

DESPATCH TO THE BRITISH MINISTER AT
Mr. BERLIN.
r. S. FITZGERALD g notice that to-morrow he
would ask the noble lord theave Foreign Secretary whether
the despatch which appeared in the evening and some of
the morning papers on Saturday, from the noble lord, Was
authentic.
THE ANTRIM REGIMENT OF ARTILLERY Ar

KINSALE.
Mr. SCULLY asked the Secretary of State for War
Whether any report had reached him of the conduct of the
Antrim Regiment of Artillery at Kinsale on the 12th of

July; and, if so, whether he had taken any and what steps
in regard to that regiment ?
Mr. CARDWELL said that a military and a civil 'in-
quiry had been instituted in reference to the subject, Mit
the reports had not yet been received.
LONDON CORPORATION REFORM BILL.

I In reply to Sir J. SnELLEy iiLa another hon. member,
Sir C. LEWIS said that he proposed to move the second
reading of this bill on Friday night. He would postpone
the further progress of the Highways Bill.
THE BUDGET.
The house having resolved itself into a Committee of
Ways and Means, Mr. MASSEY in the chair,
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose and
said,—l presume, Sir, that it will be for the convenience of
the committee that I should follow the usual practice of
making known to it, before I proceed to discuss any plans or
proposals of the Government, the results of the finance of
the last year. This need not occupy any great length of
time. I will state to the committee the estimates of income
as they were proposed by the right hon. gentleman the mem-
ber for Buckinghamshire when he held the office of Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, during the year 1858 ; the actual
receipt of revenue which took place when those estimates
came to be tested by the result, and likewise the experience
of the year as it stands. The right kon. gentleman estimated
the Customs' revenue at £23,400,000. It produced
£24,117,000. He estimated the Excise at £18,600,000. It
produced only £17,902,000. He took the Stamps, at.
£7,850,000. They produced £8,005,000. The Land and
Assessed Taxes were estimated at £3,200,000. They pre_
duced £3,162,000. The Income-tax, which the right hon.
gentleman estimated at £6,100,000, exceeded that sum by ,
more than half a million, and produced £6,683,587. The
Post-office revenue corresponded precisely with the estimate
of the right hon. gentleman, which was £3,200,000. The ,
Crown Lands, which . he took at £270,000, produced
£280,041, and the Miscellaneous revenues, which he esti-
mated at £1,300,000, amounted to £2,125,944. (Hear, hear.)
The Miscellaneous revenues, it will be in the recollection
of the Committee, are very difficult to estimate with preci-
sion, particularly at a period shortly after the close of a
great war, when extensive changes are in progress in the
manufacturing establishments of the country, which lead to
the disposal of old stores and the substitution of new ones
upon a scale that is sometimes impossible to calculate be-
forehand. The general result on the total of the revenue
of the year was, I think, satisfactory. The right hon. gen-
tleman estimated the entire revenue at £63,920,000 ; its
precise amount was £65,477,284. (Hear, hear.) With re-
spect to expenditure, I do not know that I need trouble
the Committee by referring to the original estimates of the
right hon. gentleman, because they were subjected to cer-
tain modifications in the course of the session, as supple-
metary estimates, adding to the charges for the year, were
brought forward. But I shall state to the Committee the
expenditure as it actually took place. The charge of the
debt took £28,527,484; the Consolidated Fund charge was
£1,940,655; the charge for the army was £12,512,291; the
charge for the navy, £9,`215,487; the Civil services amounted
to £7,169,473 ; the collection of the revenue, or the expen-
diture on account of the revenue departments, was
£4,515,969. There were, besides, two votes retrospective
in their character, one of them for operations in China,
£391,943; and the other some remaining expenses of the
Russian war, £390,580; The total result was to give an ex.
penditure of £64,663,882, against a revenue of X 65,477,284 ;
so that there was in round numbers a surplus of about
£BOO,OOO upon the balance between the income and expen-
diture for the year. (Cheers.) The Committee will pro-
bably wish to know what has been the fate, so far as it can
be ascertained, of the special proposals that were made by
the right hon. gentleman during the last year for the pur-
pose of increasing the revenue of the country. At the
same time they should bear in mind that our experience has
been too short to enable us to pronounce conclusively upon
the degree of success that has attended those proposals. But
as far as we are aware the facts are as fallow :—the ld.
stamp upon draughts or checks was estimated to produce
£300,000, and the augmentation of duty upon Irish spirits,
which was proposed by the right hon. gentleman in such a

manner as to produce a complete equalisation between the
spirit duties of the three kingdoms, was estimated to yield
£500,000. Neither of these duties has, however, as yet
produced the sum which was expected from them. We have
no means of knowing precisely what has been the product
of the stamp duty upon draughts or checks, because it is
kept in a single account with the stamp duty upon re-
ceipts, and the only measure that can be applied to that
portion of the revenue which is due to the stamp duty
upon checks is by comparing it with the whole increase
that has taken place in the aggregate produce of the two
duties. The duty upon receipts had been a con-
stantly increasing duty up to the year 1858, and therefore,
if in 1859 we credit the penny duty upon stamps with the
whole increase that has taken place since 1858, that is, upon
the whole, perhaps, the fairest mode of reckoning that can
be adopted. The aggregate duty upon receipt stamps and
draught stamps in the year which ended on the 31st of
March last was £418,000. The duty from receipt stamps
alone, with the addition of the draught stamps which were
formerly required in all cases where draughts passed beyond
a distance of 15 miles, in the year 1857-8 yielded £281,000;
so that the probable produce of the duty upon checks was
no more than £137,000. But, then, it is to be borne in mind,
in the first place, that the duty was in operation for little
more than a period of 10 months instead of 12 ; and, in the
second place, that many persons were already provided
with stamped cheques for the purpose of transmission over
the country, a circumstance that would naturally retard the -
influx of revenue from the new duty until new stocks of
cheques required to be provided. It is very hard to say
what that duty is likely to produce, but, upon the whole,
I think it would be sanguine, with the information which
we now possess, imperfect although it be, to repeat an esti-
mate so high as £300,000. I should think that £200,000, or
omething lower, is in all likelihood the sum which the duty
upon draughts or cheques will add to our revenue. I may
state here that a question has been raised whether it would
not be convenient to abolish a partial exemption which is
found to exist under the present law. Ido not know whether
it was part of the original intention of the right hon. gentle-
man, but under the law, as it stands it has been found that
the drawer of a cheque is entitled himself to receive across
the counter the proceeds of the cheque without payment of
duty. The general opinion, I think, seems to be that that
exemption is not strongly founded either in reason or in con.
venience ; and I also believe that the opinion of, the bankers
of London, considering it with reference to the facility of
operations, is that their trade would be decidedly in favour
of its removal. (Hear, hear.) It is not an important
financial operation, but probably as a matter of fiscal im-
provement, I may think it my duty to make a proposal to
the house for removing that exemption. (Hear, hear.)
With respect to the question of Irish spirits, it is one of
greater interest, and at the same time the change has been
attended with a less degree of success ; but it ought always
to be recollected, in the first place, that all duties of that
description require some considerable interval before their
operation can be correctly appreciated, and, in the second
place, that the measure of equalisation proposed by the
right hon. gentleman was in itself a fiscal reform of very
considerable importance, as establishing one duty between
Ireland, Scotland, and England, independently of its pecu-
niary results. (Hear, hear.) However, the pecuniary re-
sult stands thus :—l7pon. Irish spirits in 1858-59 as com-
pared with 1857-8 we had an increase in actual money of
only £85,000, which is but a very small proportion of what
had been expected to proceed from that source. But, then,
the duty did not take effect from the first day of the financial
year. It took effect on the 17th of April, and between the
dlsteliovferAedpnfr-le,mwhheenndthine ylerealrebner
tnh,euand gh tthhee
pl7etrihodtherewere
was
oniy
about a fortnight, no fewer 1,129,000 gallons of spirits, or
the consumption of two months. (A laugh.) If we take the
additional duty upon that quantity of spirits, which is
fairly due to the accounts of the year, inasmuch as the
period between the Ist and 15th of April formed part of the
financial year, it would add £103,000 to the £85,000 which
I have mentioned, giving a total of £lBB,OOO as the produce
of the new scale of duty for the year. As far as we can judge
from the produce in the period which has elapsed since the
Ist of April last, there a prospect of the duty being con-
siderably more productive ; but at the same time it is hardly
possible to judge of the result of changes of this kind upon
articles of consumption. Where many interests mix with.
and traverse to a certain extent the proceedings of Parlia-
pecuniarye up m ent, and where likewise the effects of your operations depend
in some
uponmem theeasur seasons and the prices of raw ma-
terial, it is not possible to form a conclusive judg-
ment
results of any change in the law
until a year or two have elapsed. (Hear, hear.) Such, then,
is the state of the case with regard to the revenue and ex-
penditure of the year which closed on the 31st of March I
last, and with respect to the measures proposed in the ses-
sion of 1858 for the purpose of providing a surplus of
revenue over expenditure. I come now to a more grave and
serious part of the task which is imposed upon me. I have
to lay before the committee in the first instance an estimate
of the revenue and expenditure for the year which is now •
current. The committee is already generally aware, from
the estimates that have been laid before it, that the expendi- -
ture will be unusually large, and that, consequently,
creased efforts must be made to meet it. To begin with theh
estimates of revenue, the Customs are taken to yieldd for the
year which commenced on the Ist of April last,
d Taxes,'
the Excise, £18,530,000 ; the Land and Aes..sess,
at 5d.,
will close on the 31st of March next, a sum of £23ae,nBsowooo ;
L 3,200,000 ; Stamps, amo,ooo ;
00I0117Crown Lands,
£5,600,000; Post-office, £3,---!"-ts, £1,530,000. It may
£280,000; and Miscellaneous
whichas no definite arrange-
included a sum with respect
of £130,000, which it is morel
ments have been made—a sum
India
the Council ofwill pay out or
be as well to state that in thteitc,rt-ipmenioned item there is
or less probable that
Indian revenue, in
• order to obtain a site on which they may
erect
buildings for the transaction of their business in Ueadenhall-strect. Although to soli,
.43
of the premises in L
m/
extent uncertain, this item has no disturbing effect upo n
the general balance of revenue and expenditure which I
shall present, because, if the Council of India does of
reimburse the Treasury to that extent for the gro a nd
which it would acquire, the Treasury will not incur t, he
outlay for it. The total of the items which I have g ive n
to the committee is £64,340,000; and it may, perb aps
be interesting to the committee to compare this total • wit!)
the estiniate.of last year, in which the right hon. gentle-
man the member for Bucks pfoceedd upon Ale same basis
of taxes, with the exception of those which he himself 'pro.

posed. He estimated the revenue of the year at £63,920,000.
The estimate which I now present would give us about
£420,000 more than that of the right hon. gentleman ; but
I am not able to say that there is in that fact any evidence
of sterling. or extraordinary progress, because that £420,000
Is about the sum which at present appears to have been pro-
duced by the two small taxes which were imposed by the
right hon. gentleman. We come now, Sir, to the estimate
•f the expenditure for the current year, the revenue being,
as I have said, £64,340,000 ; the charge of the funded and
Unfunded debt for the current year, £28,600,000. In that
sum there is included an item of £400,000, which represents
the last payment upon a certain portion of the Long An-
nuities which will have to be made on the sth of January
next. I mention this item now because it is entirely ex-
ceptional in its character. The committee is aware that as
a general rule all dividends, whether upon stock or annui-
ties, are paid half-yearly. In this particular case, how-
ever, it happens that a certain considerable portion of the
Annuities for which the public is liable, and which have
their dividends payable half-yearly in April and October,
expires not at the end of the half year, but at the eud of the
odd quarter, so that a quarter's payment becomes due in re-
spect of that portion on the sth of January next ; whereas,
if the Annuities had continued to run, it would not have
been made until the expiration of the half year—viz., the
sth of April next. The effect of this is to throw upon the
Ways and Means of the year 1850-60 a sum of, in round
numbers, £400,000, which in the regular course of things
would have passed to the debit of 1860-61. The first re-
sult of the cessation of these Annuities is to impose a bur-
den upon the financial year which is now passing. How-
ever, the charge for the funded and unfunded debt is
£28,600,000; that for the Consolidated Fund, £1,960,000;
the army, including the m,litia, £13,300,000 ; the navy, in-
cluding the packet service, £12,782,000 ; the civil service,
what are called the miscellaneous estimates, £7,825,000 ;
the revenue departments, £474,000. The committee will
observe that there is a very considerable increase in the
aggregate charge of the miscellaneous estimates as compared
with those of last year—(hear, hear)—the estimate for the
present year being as I have stated £7,825,000, and that for
last year not having exceeded £7,169,000. I may, perhaps,
without attempting to enter into detail, state briefly to the
committee what are the principal items of this increase.
The committee will recollect that a measure passed this
house about two years ago which imposed upon the public
a very heavy charge in respect of the County Courts. From
that source we have an increase in the civil service estimates
of £49,000 ; the constabulary in Ireland shows an increase
of £36,000 ; the vote for public education, including art, an
increase of about £200,000; the vote for British Columbia,
142,000; that for China, Japan, and Siam, which is a new
acquaintance, and hUs not appeared upon the estimates be-
fore, £25,000; the vote for the Foreign-office site and
buildings, £200,000, 'including, however, the £130,000,
which I have just spoken of as repayable from the Indian
revenues. Last comes the submarine cable to Gibraltar,
£115,000 ; and perhaps this is the place at which I ought
briefly to refer to that subject. The late Government had
entertained a plan for both manufacturing and laying down
this cable from England to Gibraltar during the present
season. The cost of these operations would, it was estimated.
be about £250,000, and when her Majesty's Government
came into office a contract had actually been entered into
for the manufacture of what I believe is called the core of
the cable at an expense of about £115,000. Upon a conside-
ration of the whole matter—which vat be more conveni-
ently discussed in detail upon the vole—and taking into
consideration as a main element the advanced season of the
year, and the extremely short period during which tolerably
fine weather could be reckoned upon, we thought it would
be wiser not to prosecute the plan for laying this cable dur-
ing the present season, and, consequently, a smaller sum is
asked from the house than would otherwise have been re-
quired. The sum which will be asked for is simply the
price of the cable manufactured under contract, which con-
tract we found in course of execution at the time we
entered upon the exercise of office. The total of these
items of increase upon the miscellaneous estimates which I
have stated to the house is £667,000. There are some items
of decrease by which that is partially balanced, and I be-
lieve that the net increase in the amount of the miscel-
laneous estimates of this year, as compared with those of
last, is somewhere between £580,000 and £599,000. Now,
if the committee will take the trouble to add together the
figures which I have given them, they will find that whereas
the revenue ef the year as it is estimated amounts to
£64,340,000, the estimated expenditure will amount to
£69,207,000. Subtract the smaller from the larger of these
sums, the result is a gross deficiency of £4,867,000, and that
is the charge the mode of making provision for which will
have to be considered by the committee. Before Igo into
any particulars with respect to the mode of meeting that
charge I should wish briefly to draw the attention of the
committee to one or two general considerations which ap-
pear to bear upon our present position, and to give it a
somewhat peculiar character. I think, sir, that it is plain
that while this is a time at which it will become the com-
mittee to make an adequate and effective provision by those
means which they shall think most in accordance with the
public interests for the wants of the year, it is likewise a
time at which the attention of the committee should be
rigidly confined to the wants of the year. The first reason
for that is that no one can review; the estimates which I
have laid before the committee without observing that
they bear in no inconsiderable degree an exceptional charac-
ter. The circumstances out of which they have grown
are fully in the notice and in the knowledge of the com-
mittee ; but, without entering into detail upon those cir-
cumstances, I may in general terms say that they are ob-
viously such—l speak especially of the state of affairs abroad
—that if within the next six or twelve months they do not
grow worse we may then entertain a confident expectation
that they must grow better. (Hear, and a laugh.) The
estimates which have been submitted to you bear—l do not
conceal the fact—they bear what may so far be called an
ambiguous character, that while they greatly fall short of
the sums that you have been called upon to vote in time of
war, they on the other hand considerably exceed any sums
which Parliament has been called upon to vote in times of
peace and with reference to the maintenance of peace esta-
blishments. (Hear, hear.) If I take the estimates of the
previous year, which were not considered to be low esti-
mates, as the standard of comparison, I find that they ex-
hibit the following figures :—ln 1858-59 the sum voted for
the army was £12,010,000, and that for the navy £8,890,000.
In every case when I speak of the army I include the
militia, and when I speak of the navy I include the packet
service.. In the current year the estimates voted for the
army, instead of £12,010,000, have been £13,299,000; and
the estimates voted, and willingly voted by the house for
the navy, instead of £8,890,000, have been £12,782,000 ; so
that you have an increase of £1,288,000 on the estimates
for the army, and of £3,891,000 on those for the navy,
making together an augmentation, upon estimates which
were themselves high, amounting to no less thhi about
£5,180,000. That, as I say, may be thought to constitute
an exceptional state of things, from which I draw no other
inference than this, that the present time is thus far marked
out to us as one at which it is hardly open to us to busy
ourselves with extensive prospects or with comprehensive
plans ; but that we ought to confine ourselves to the duty
of making a sufficient and effective provision for the wants
of the year which has actually commenced. (Hear, hear.)
There are other circumstances which I think tend to cor-
roborate that conclusion. Next year has already been
marked out by the proceedings of previous Parliaments as
a critical one in the history of our finance—as a year when
it must be the obvious duty of Parliament, whatever poli-
tical circumstances may occur, to enter upon a compre-
hensive review both of the system of taxation, and also of
the scale of our expenditure. During the next year the
income tax by law will lapse. At the same period, ac.•
cording to the understanding arrived at by Parliament,
certain war duties on tea and sugar which have been
granted for a period of three years from the year 1857 will
also lapse. The disappearance of these duties would
ultimately make a difference in the receipts of the Treasury
of about, in round numbers, £8,000,000. On the other
hand, next year we have the advantage of a falling off
in the annuities, and it will be the duty of Parliament to
consider whether they will endeavour to signalise the year
of escape from so serious a burden as the constant and per-
manent payment of £2,000,000 by something done for the
benefit of the people, or whether they will simply allow
those £2,000,000 to be dragged unnoticed into the general
vortex cf expenditure, to be disposed of piecemeal in aug-
mentation of £lO,OOO on this vote, £30,000 on that, and
1100,000 on another. (Hear, hear.) All these considera-
11°11a will bring the Committee—as they have already
brought the Government—to suppose that the present is not
a Year in which we ought to enter on the consideration of
What
i 8 terraed prospective finance, but that we ought rather
to be contented with temporary, and I might say almost pro-
visional finance, provided it 'be sound. I might also plead
the short period daring which we have held our offices,
which has made it impossible for us, each in his own depart-
ment, to consider in what respecta reduction of expenditure
might be possible. We have come into office with a full
conviction that the great demands made upon the house for
military estimates are demands both justified and required
by the circumstances of the country. (Cheers.) In stating
therefore •to the: Committee the magnitude of the figures
which they involve, it is not my intention to take in respect
any degree an apologetic tone. On the
to those demands in
contrary, I know well that large as those demands are, they
have been voted with freedom and enthusiasm, and that if
it had seemed right to the Government, from the informa-
tion which we possess, to make a still larger drain on the
confidence and patriotism of Parliament, it would have been
as freely and as warmly met. (Cheers.) But apart entirely
from the exigencies ef the public defence and the public ser-
vice, it remains the duty of the Government to consider
what is not only necessary to be done, but likewise to take
care that the funds with which they are so generously in-
trusted are wisely and thriftily expended ; and it is-with
reference to that great duty of public economy—aduty which
no public exigency can set aside--although unfortunately,
certain circumstances of public affairs greatly indispose
the minds of men to its dry details—that the mem-
bers of the Government have, as yet, had no opportunity
of considering, each in his own department, in what respects,
apart from the honour and safety of the country, it is possible
for them to look forward to any alleviation of the public
burdens by way of counterpoise to thepresent heavy demands
which the necessities of the time have imposed on the public
purse.. I must also remind the committee that I have not the.
honour to address it, u is usual)" the case, either before

he financial year has commenced or shortly after its com-
mencement. Nearer four months than three have now
elapsed since the commencement of your financial year; and'
none of your financial measures, therefore, can be made
practically retrospective. Subject to the effect of these gene-
ral considerations, I come now to ask the committee to reflect
by what mode of supply shell we raise the sum which will
enable us to meet the heavy demands of the year ? Of
course this great question divides itself at. first .into these
two branches—shall we attempt to raise the necessary funds
by borrowing or by taxes ? The committee will have to
consider whether this is an occasion on which it ought to
resort to the expedient of a loan. The sum which is re-
quired is between £4,000,000 and £5,000,000. It is certainly
a large sum to demand from the tax-payers at a short no-
tice. But, on the other hand, it is a sum which has never
driven 'a British Parliament to the expedient of augmenting
the national debt. (Hear; hear.) I think we are all nearly
agreed on. this, that in time of peace nothing but a dire ne-
cessity should induce us to borrow. (Hear, hear.) What-
ever doctrine may be theoretically held and propounded by
high authorities with respect to the facility with which we
bear the burden of a national debt, I do not think that any
man standing in my place would wish so to apply that
doctrine as to relax the sound manly sentiment which
fills the British people with aversion to the principle of bor-
rowing to meet the ordinary expenditure of the year.
(Hear, hear.) There have been cases undoubtedly-but
they were exceptional cases—in which we have resorted
to borrowing even in time of peace. Two I may
quote, but I quote them only that the committee may bear
freshly in mind how different were the circumstances
from those in which we now stand. In 1835 the Govern-
ment of Lord Melbourne borrowed £20,000,000 for the pur-
pose of negro emancipation, but that was a service to mark
an epoch in a nation's life—(hear)—and it had no connec
tion with the ordinary expenditure of the year. Again, in
1847-8, my right hon. friend the present Secretary for India
made a loan of £10,000,000, but it was for the purpose of
meeting a frightful visitation in the sister island, and at the
time it would have hardly been possible to raise by the taxes
of the year the sum for which he was compelled to apply to
Parliament. Those two cases are entirely different from this
in amount, because one sum was four times, and the other
twice, as large as that I have now to ask at your hands.
They were different in principle, because while one related
to a great and extraordinary visitation of Providence, the
other was connected with a permanent social change, the
opportunity of which could not again occur. You are now,
on the contrary, called on to meet an expenditure which,
legitimate and needful as it is, has reference strictly and ex-
clusively to your own wants—to the wants of the time in
which you yourselves are living. (Hear.) It appears to
the Government for these reasons, and I hope it will also
appear to the committee, that this is not the occasion for a
loan. (Hear.) Another matter we are bound to take into
view in considering this question is the condition of the
country. I must express my firm conviction that there
never was a period when the people of England were better
satisfied of the justness and necessity of the demands made
upon the public purse, and that there never was a time
when they were more able or more willing to meet them.
(Hear.) I refer it alike to the hearts and understandings
both of those who hear me and of those out of doors who
will consider our discussions and debates, whetherwe should
not shrink from our duty and disgrace the memory of those
who have gone before us if we were to hesitate to say that
we will provide for the wants of the day in which we live,
not in such a manner as will further embarrass our posterity,
but out of the resources immediately at our command.
(Hear.) There is another reason, too, not altogether agree-
able, at which I may slightly glance. There will soon be
another public borrower in the market with whom I have
no desire to compete. My right hon. friend the Secretary
of State for India will have to make another application to
Parliament in addition to the measures already taken, in
order to meet the exigencies of the Indian service ; and if
the Committee will allow me I would rather leave the field
clear to him, and be dispensed from interfering with his
operations. (Hear, hear.) -What I have presumed to say
with regard to a loan appears to me equally applicable to
the mode of borrowing by instruments at a short date, such
as Exchequer bills. If ever there was a time to which this
mode of borrowing was inapplicable, it is the present, be-
cause its effect would be, not to throw the burden on pos-
terity, but upon the year 1860, which we shall all agree is
already charged to its very utmost. If, then, I have suf-
ficiently got quit of the first alternative of making provision
by borrowing for the deficiencies of the present year, and if
we seem to be driven by considerations of justice and policy
to the other alternative of looking to taxes for the means of
meeting our expenditure, we have one other question before
us —shall we look to direct taxation or to an augmentation
of our indirect taxes ? I propose not to enter into any ela-
borate or detailed inquiry, because I think a very few
minutes will suffice to dispose of this portion of the subject.
But, inasmuch as there is nothing irrational in the first idea
of resorting to indirect taxes for either the total or the par-
tial relief of the exigencies of the State, let us calmly advert
in a few words to the articles upon which alone it might
perhaps be possible to think ofobtaining rapidly and effec-
tually some considerable amount of revenue. Those articles
which I think would present themselves to any Finance
Minister engaged in the disagreeable task of selecting new
subjects of taxation would, I think, ordinarily, be malt,
spirits, tea, and sugar. I confess it is my own opinion, and
it is the opinion, I believe, of all my colleagues, that it
would not be desirable to propose any augmentation of the
duty upon wait. (A cry of Hear, hear," from an hon.
member on the Opposition benches, which occasioned some
laughter.) I am glad to have given consolation to at least
one anxious and wounded mind (a laugh) ; but we must
frankly own, and I own it the more frankly as I was the
person who proposed the measure that when we did, under
strong necessity, in a time of war, propose a great augmen-
tation of the malt duty, although we derived from it a large
sum of money, yet that sum of money did not altogether
answer our expectations. (Hear.) It is not a very elastic
revenue. It is a large revenue, but it does not seem sus-
ceptible of bearing additional burdens. (Hear.) On the
whole, therefore, what seems obviously to be the dictate of
good sense is that under present circumstances, we should
let well alone. Well, then, the next article I mentioned
was the article of spirits, and I believe that, judging from
what I hear of the accelerated deliverances from bond of
spirits in different parts of the united kingdom—(olaugh)—
there is a portion of the public who either think themselves
or who think that somebody thinks they are, very proper
subjects of taxation. (A laugh.) I should be very sorry to
give a pledge which was intended to bind future years, be-
cause the principle upon which the House of Commons has
I think,- uniformly proceeded with respect to spirits has
been, not that we ought to lower the duties upon them as
much as we can consistently with the interests of the re-
venue, but that we ought to raise the duties upon them as
much as we can consistently with the policy and necessity
of preventing the growth of a contraband trade. I wish
merely to say that we wish that question to be postponed
to a future year. The committee will recollect that we
have been very bold, and I am thankful to say, upon the
whole very successful for a series of years in our operations
upon spirits. From the year 1853, when it was my good
fortune to take the first step in that movement, down to the
year 1858, when the right hon. gentleman put the last hand
to the work and completely equalised the spirit duties in
the three kingdoms, we have had a number of successive
changes which have upon the whole been, I think, emi-
nently satisfactory in their results ; but I will give the
general figures very briefly, so as to enable the com-
mittee to form their own judgment. In the year 1853, when
we began to deal with the spirit duties, the total amount of
duties collected upon British spirits—of course I do not in-
clude either colonial spirits or brandy—was, in England,
£3,165,000 ; in Scotland, £1,867,000 ; in Ireland;£l,267,ooo.
In 1859 the total amount of these duties collected in Eng-
land was £4,073,000, being an increase of £907,000. That
was upon a uniform duty, and no change, except a very
trifling adjustment, had taken place in England; but, at
the same time, England had been deriving supplies from
Scotland and Ireland in a manner that it would be hardly
possible to show upon the face of the account. England
showed an increase upon the.face of the kccount. Scotland
had risen from £1,867,000 to £2,750,000, showing an in-
crease of £832,000 ; Ireland from £1,267,000 to £2,364,000/
showing an increase of £1,097,000. The general result has
been that from this most legitimate source of taxation we
have had an idcrease between 1853 and 1859 as follows :
The total in 1853 was £6,301,000, and the total in 1859 was
£9,lBB,ooo—(cheers)—or an augmentation of £2,887,000,
which I trust we may look on substantially as a real addi-
tion—without a single moral drawback attending it, but
rather the reverse—to the amount of the permanent re-
venue of the country. After making due allowance for the
progress of the population in the three kingdoms, I think
we may say that from £1,000,000 to £1,200,000 of that sum
has been due to the augmentation of duty imposed by Par-
liament in successive years upon the kingdoms of Scotland
and Ireland. Considering, however, with what difficulty
the whole subject of the spirit duty has been attended in
Ireland ; considering how recent, how great, and how rapid
ha'e been the augmentations of duty in that country, for
they have hardly had a single year's rest—Chancellors of
the Exchequer from time to time have been so anxious to
get back upon them—and considering that at this moment
our success has been complete, so that we have no reason
to believe that a contraband trade has received any stimu-
lus ; but, on the other hand, considering how short an
experience of a few months is for determining a matter
so serious as that—l mean the question whether there
is a danger of stimulating the creation of a new contraband
trade on a greatly extended scale; considering these things,
we are certainly of opinion that it would bo unwise, and, at
all events, premature, to raise at the present moment any
question with respect to the general increase of the spirit
duty through the three kingdoms. With regard to a par-
ticular increase to take effectin England, or in England and
Scotland and not in Ireland, whatever the yield to the Trea-
sury might be, it would be decidedly a measure of retrc-
gression and not of improvement. (Hear, hear.) That is a
step which I think that we should not, under any circum-
stances, be disposed to take. Therefore malt gives us no
hope, and. spirits yield us no means of replenishing the pub-
lic tretisury. Now, what are we to say of the more impor-
tant and more vital article of tea and sugar 9 I have
pre-
sumed to impress upon the committee the opinion that we
are dealing at present not with a prospective and perma-
nent finance, but with the finance of the moment ; that we
are ,marring provision for the year; that we do met wish to
tie the hands of Parliament, if we can avoid it, with re..

forence to anything. that they take plate in iiitnre years ;
that we wish that Parliament when it meets again after the
recess should be in a condition to face as a whole the great
and serious question of revenue and expenditure that it
will then have to meet. (Hear, hear.) But if these conside-
rations be just, they form a most powerful argument against
meddling at the present moment with the indirect taxes of
the country—(cheers)—because you cannot touch one of
these indirect taxes, and especially you cannot touch the
taxes that are derived from tropical articles, without greatly
interfering with the course of trade. (Cheers.) You may
tax your malt,you may tax your home-made spirits ; you then
interfere with trade ; but you interfere with trade far more if
you touch sugar, or if you touch tea that has to be brought
from what I may call the extremities of the earth. (Hear.)
Ido not speak now of the interests of the consumer. I
speak simply at this moment of the interests of trade, and
I say it would be contrary to those wise and circumspect
rules which govern the proceedings of Parliament in regard
to its fiscal legislation if they were to permit themselves to
interfere with those great and capital trades of the country
for the purpose of supplying what we must call a momentary
derangement. (Hear.) But there are other reasons which,
I confess, amount for me to a demonstration, and more
than a demonstration, upon this subject. I know not whe-
ther those deliverances within the last few weeks of spirits
from bond, in anticipation of what was shortly to take
place, of which I spoke, showed confidence or a want of
confidence, but at any rate I will proceed to lay as well as I
can an argument which appears to be conclusive before the
committee. When we deal with a question between direct
and indirect taxation, we deal to a certain extent—imper-
fectly and roughly no doubt the distinction is taken, but still
it is in fact and in substance a true distinction—we deal to
a certain extent with a question between a rich man and a
poor man. (Hear.) Direct taxation falls upon the middle
and wealthy classes, but indirect taxation weighs with
much more serious pressure upon the poor and labouring
man. This was felt by Parliament at the commencement
of the Russian war, and in the effort which it made in suc-
cessive years to meet a large portion of the demands of that
war by means of new taxes it carefully observed the main-
tenance of a due relation between the amounts of direct and
indirect taxation. (Hear, hear.) And I think l without
going into minute particulars, I may that it was the deter-
mination of Parliament, as evinced by its acts, that of that
portion of the war expenditure which was to be drawn from
taxes, the greater part should be taken from direct taxes,
and the lesser part from indirect taxes. But now let us
see what has happened since the close of the war. The war
closed in the month of March, 1856, but the finance of the
year 1856-7, although it was a year of peace, was not,
and could not be, a finance of peace, because it was
a year of transition, and, in fact, a great part of it
was consumed. in bringing home armaments from the
Crimea. That year, in fact, was a year of war more
than a year of peace so far as the expenditure
was concerned. But in 1867-8 began a finance of
peace, and a reduction to a peace establishment. My right
hon. friend the Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment found himself under the necessity, with reference to
the demands of that year, of keeping up a portion of war
taxation. Had war taxation been entirely removed on the
31st of March, 1857, the duty on sugar of the lowest class
would have gone down to 9s. 6d. per cwt., the duty on tea
would have gone down to ls. per lb., and the tax on
incomes would have gone down to sd. in the pound. My
right hon. friend, finding the necessity of a partial reten-
tion of 'war taxation in order to meet the scale of expendi-
ture which had been, or was to be sanctioned, maintained
that portion of taxation distributed between its two main
heads. He requested Parliament to continue a modified
part of the extra duties on tea and sugar ; but he likewise
retained 2d. in the pound on incomes, which would have
dropped if the act of 1853 had been suffered to take its full
effect. My right hon. friend obtained from Parliament the
continuance of those extra tea and sugar duties from April,
1857, to March, 1860, of a period of about three years, and
the result has been as follows :—We have kept at a certain
porton of war income tax, that is to say the imposition of
2d. in the pound which would have lapsed under the act of
1853, and which yielded two millions of money. But that
we kept up for one year only, from April, 1857, to March,
1858. (Hear, hear.) In the financial year 1858-59 the in-
come tax went down to the limit whtch was provided for
in the act of 1853, but the tea and sugar duties continued
at the limit at which they were fixed for a period of three
years by the act of 1857. The result is shortly this—if we
look at the three years 1857-60, during those three years
we shall have raised, of what must be regarded as tempo-
rary war taxation, two millions only from direct taxation in
the shape of income tax, and three millions a year from tea
and sugar, or nine millions of indirect taxation. (Hear,
hear.) If that be a true state of the account, and I
believe it cannot be impeached, then, I say, what-
ever may have been the anticipations of the pub-
lic out of doors, whatever the patience of the traders
or of the consumers, it would, in the view of the
Government, be a positive breach of duty, and an act of
gross injustice towards the consumers, if at this moment we
were to ask you to add one single shilling to the imposition
of indirect taxation. (Cheers.) But if it be not slaying the
slain to pursue this question further, I would likewise re-
mind the committee of the position in which we stand for
raising money at this moment by customs and excise duties.
Customs and excise duties are very convenient in one point
of view, viz., that you begin to get the duty the night you
make.the financial statement, and if you make the financial
statement just after the close of the financial year you get
12 months' duty for 12 months' taxes. But what is our case
now ? We might resort to the odious course of laying on
3d., 4d., or sd. a pound on tea, and 35., 45., or ss. per cwt.
on sugar, but we should not get 12 months' duty. Three
and a half months are irrecoverably gone and counted with
the past. One and a half months more have already been
forestalled by payments in anticipation. (Hear.) .At this
moment the Exchequer of the country is richer than it
ought to be by upwards of a million of money in duties on
tea and sugar, which have beenpaid in advance, earlier than
they would have been paid in the natural and ordinary
course of trade, by parties who supposed that it might be the
possible pleasure of Parliament to enact an increase of those
duties. That being so, we arrive at a point which can be
easily anticipated. (Laughter.) The divining faculty of an
intelligent audience altogether outruns either the power or
necessity of a detailed statement. It remains to consider
what we shall do with the income-tax. The income-tax, as
I conceive, was introduced into ourfiscal legislation for two
great purposes and at two different periods. The one was to
effect permanent and salutary reforms in our commercial and
fiscal system, and the other was to meet in the manner the
most efficacious sudden public exigencies. I wish it had
been my fate to ask the committee to vote an augmentation
of the income tax for the former rather than for the latter
of these circumstances. I trust that the day may yet come
when, if the income tax is to be continued, Parliament
will recollect that it derived no small sort of passport as a
peace tax to the public favour or public endurance for this,
that it was associated, as it has been, with other changes of
the law productive of the widest and most permanent social
benefits. (Cheers.) This other purpose, of meeting great
public exigencies and extraordinary demands on the public
purse—that is, demands extraordinary in amount yet strictly
referable to current wants—althoughit be not one so pleasant
to entertain, yet it is one equally legitimate, and I put it
broadly, that in a case like this, *where. for the dignity,
honour, and safety of the country, we are called upon to
make great and rapid efforts in the augmentation and ex-
tension of our defences, the income tax is beyond all others
the regular and legitimate resource to which to resort.
(Cheers.) Ide not know whether the committee would
like me to lay before them any facts with regard to the con-
dition of the income-tax, and the expectation the country
has entertained that it might he found practicable at a
period now approaching to part with it. (Hear.) Ido not
speak of the augmentation which I am about to propose, but
I speak of the income-tax with reference to its acquiring a
place of permiTience in finance. In the year 1853 there was
an expectation that the revenue of this country would so
thrive under the system which had been in operation that
we should-be able to dispense in seven years with the aid of
the income-tax as an ordinary tax for the purpose of na-
tional income ; and, so far as depends upon the revenue of
the country, and the simple consideration of the revenue,
hat expectation has been entirely fulfilled. If I go to the
expenditure of the country as it was in 1853, and if I compare
that expenditure with the present revenue, there is not an
expectation which was held out in 1853 (I do not speak of
details, but I speak of general results) which has not been
more than satisfied and fulfilled. (Cheers.) In 1853 the
revenue was £59,024,000, and the expenditure £55,769,000.
In the year 1859-60—taking, of course, the estimated
revenue—the revenue is £64,340,000, showing a growth of
£5,316,000 in revenue, which is a sum as large as an in.
come-tax of sd. in the pound. (Hear.) But that is not all.
We must balance our revenue with expenditure. The ex-
penditure in 1853 was £55,769,000. The estimated expen-
diture of 1859-60 is £69,207,000 ; so that while our revenue
has been growing £5,316,000, our expenditure has grown
£13,438,000, and that is a very simple, transparent, and
conclusive explanation of the difficulties with regard to
parting with the income-tax. (Hear, hear.) When I say
that the revenue has increased to the extent of £5,316,000,
I would remind the committee that that is entirely inde-
pendent of the advantage next year from the falling in of
£2,246,000 Long Annuities, which indeed increases the re-
venue up to £7,000,000, being enough, as I can show if we
go into details, to enable us to part both with the income-
tax of sd. in the pound, and likewise with the war duties on
tea and sugar if only our expenditure had not increased.
That is the simple case, which at a future time, if' it is
thought right, I will display in more detail ; but I pledge
myself that, taking the revenue as it stands and is estimated
to be, there would not have been the slightest difficulty in
dispensing both the income-tax and the remaining war taxes
on tea and sugar, if it had not been that the exigencies of
the public service, as stated from time to time, have created
new calls, which of course mast be met by resorting to cor-
responding taxation. '(Hear.) £4,867,000 was the sum
which I ventured to state to the committee as the gross de-
ficiency which we shall have to meet. But there is a ques-
tion which I am about briefly to open, and a source from
which (without exposing ourselves to any objection which
applies to borrowing, and without inconveniently interfer-
ing with the course of trade or private interest) we may
yet draw a limited sum in alleviation of the public burdens.
It is a source not altogether new to this house, because it
has been mentioned from time to tune by Chancellors
of the Exchequer, and it has always been felt that the