The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-30 00:00:00

amount yearly of 77,000,000 lbs. Upon Thursday
evening next, at a period not further removed
from us therefore than the day after to-morrow,
that distinct choice--Shall it be Tea ? or Shall it
be Paper—will come formally under the consi-
deration of the House of Commons.

Already that House, in Committee of Ways and
Means, has decided favourably in regard to the two
first items in the series of resolutions brought before
it as part and parcel of the year's Budget by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. By the first of
these resolutions, the duty on Chicory or
any other vegetable matter applicable to
the uses of chicory or coffee, raw or kiln-dried,
was on Monday, the 15th instant, fixed at the
rate of 12s. per cwt. By the second resolution,
the first really important resolution, the income-tax
was imposed for another year, only last evening, on
Monday, the 29th instant, at 9d. in the £1 upon
all incomes above £l5O per annum, and at 6d. in
the £1 upon all incomes ranging between £lOO
and £l5O per annum inclusively. Otherwise there
has been remitted in the former instance, as com-
pared with the last year, the tenth penny, and in
the latter instance, according to the same compari-
son, the seventh penny of this most oppressive
and unpopular of all the War Taxes yet
levied during a Time of Peace—a Tax still main-
tained, however, at 9d. and 6d., though pronounced
long since by our present Chancellor of the Exche-
quer to be not only grinding and almost intolerable,
but absolutely (it is Mr. GLADSTONE'S own phrase
remember) nothing less than demoralising. Settled
the Little Question of the Chicory Resolution ;
settled the Great Question of the Income Tax
Resolution—both of them satisfactorily—there
follows next in order upon the Chancellor of the
Exchequer's catalogue the third resolution—the
Tea and Sugar Resolution.
It is upon that Resolution, so far as it relates to
the duty upon Tea, that the House will on Thurs-
day next, upon the day after to-morrow, be called
upon to decide for or against the Budget, for or
against the policy of Her Majesty's Government.
It is apparently in itself a purely fiscal question,
and in it when viewed as such, lies the weakness
of the position occupied by Her Majesty's Govern-
ment. But it is certainly also much more than a
mere fiscal question, it is peculiarly and in a very
special manner, a political question, a question
involving within it the whole policy of the Cabinet,
and in it, when so viewed, lies the real strength
of the attitude assumed in that position by Her
Majesty's Government.

The design of the Opposition, as it has now
been at length formally explained to the House of
Commons by the right hon. gentleman the leader of
the powerful body of the Conservatives, is doubtless
when regarded either politically or financially, as the
noble lord the Prime Minister allowed last evening
perfectly and strictly legitimate. It will evidence
itself upon Thursday evening, when the third
Budget Resolution comes under the consideration of
the House of Commons in Committee of Ways and
Means, by a very plain and comprehensible Amend-
ment, then and there to be proposed in Committee
by the hon. gentleman the member for Liverpool,
Mr. HORSFALL. An amendment to the effect that
the word "Tea" shall be struck out of the place
in which it now stands in that third resolution, and
that in lieu of it there shall be inserted words
continuing up to the Ist of October merely, the
war duty upon tea ; a war duty, we all know, of
ls. sd. per lb„ and insuring its fall to ls. per lb.,
after the Ist of October. That, of course, in antici-
pation of what would then be virtually obliterated
from the Budget scheme of the year, the resolution
immediately following,that proposing the abolition of
all duties whatsoever upon button-board, mill-board,
paste-board, and scale-board, and with those upon
paper of any and every denomination ! Let the House
of Commons in committee decide upon remitting
the supplementary sd. per lb. upon tea—a remission
to date from the Ist of October next—and the
notion of abolishing the duty upon paper necessa-
rily falls through altogether. Calculating the
annual consumption of Tea at the rate already
particularised, i.e. at the rate of '17,000,0001b. per
annum, the estimated result of this remission on the
finance of the year would, in the first instance,
that is, dating merely from the Ist of October,
and allowing for no increase of consumption,
£lBO,OOO less than a round million, or £820,000
in all ! Though it is not to be overlooked,
of course, as a circumstance apart from all
reasonable calculation that the loss would be
inevitably and materially reduced by the certain
increase of consnmption consequent upon a remis-
sion of duty so very considerable. The bait held
out to the majority is, no doubt, tempting enough.
The alternative about to be put to tile House in
Committee has been most adroitly selected.
Nothing could well have been more skilful'
than the tactics of the powerful Conserva-
-1 tive Opposition, Either way—so far as the remis-
sion in the abolition of a duty is concerned—the
c3untly will be the gainer. The advantage secured
to the nation by the remission of the sd. per lb.
upon tea being, however, manifestly far more
generalised, far more widely diffused among
the peon le, far more directly brought to
the homes and hearths of the labouring popu-
lation than that other, in itself, of course, obvious
advantage ensured to the commerce of the United
Kingdom by the total repeal of the duty upon
paper! A repeal of duty very welcome to trade,
very advantageous to literature, very desirable for
educational purposes, avid especially desirable
in our great newspaper establishments.
But still —we must perforce admit thus
much—not by any means so directly as the sug-
gested remission of sd. per lb. upon tea, " coming
home," according to Lord BACON'S phrase, " to
men's business and bosoms," coming home, literally
bonze, alike in the noblest mansion and the humblest
cottage in the land, to every family circle of Eng-
lish men, women, and children.

The reply of Laid WODEUOUSE to the Earl of
MALMESSBURY last night will be read with entire
satisfaction on both sides 'the Atlantic. It is at
once kind, respectful, and wise. It expresses the
interest which all of us feel iu the peace and
prosperity of the great country V; hich has sprung
from ourselves ; it shows a right estimate of the
position which the Union has taken among the
principal nations of the world ; one which, like
many parents in regard to their adult offspring, we
were rather slow to accept fully and cordially as
we now do so ; and it shows that our Government
is ready, as oar people are, to be, if we could, of
any service in healing the unhappy breach between
the South and the North; but, that we do not proffer
our advice unasked, and, therefore, probably un.:
welcome, to either party. It is, indeed, with one
party only that wo are at present in diplomatic
relations.

Under the circumstances not only of our com-
mon family and language, but of the probable
effect of so painful a calamity as civil war in
America on our political and commercial interests,
Lord MALMESEURY did not doubt that her MA-
JESTY'S Ministers had already done their utmost,
" by officious means," to bring about an arrange-
ment by Which so dreadful a calamity might be
averted, lie wished therefore to know, firet,