The Sun.
London, England, 1857-03-27 00:00:00

THE NEW AMERICAN TARIFF.

President Pierce's last official act was the signa-
ture of the new Tariff Bill, which is now a law. As
was to be expected, it bears marks upon its face of
its compromise character, and of the haste will
which it was hurried through Congress, but on the
whole it is a very fair law, and will be acceptable
to the people and the me' chanty. It may be de-
scribed in one word as a regular reduction of all the
duties now paid. Those who do business with
abroad are aware that importable commodities are
now classed under nine heads, which piid duty as
fillows respectively :-100 per cent., 40, 30, 25,
20, 15, 10, 5, 0. These now stand respe,Ctively
80, 30, 24, 19, 15, . 12, 8,4, and free.
This estimate is not strictly correct, some of the
schedules having been enlarged, while others
have been curtii!ed ; but in the main it will give
an idea of the work done. A great number of tir-
merly dutiable articles, including wool !ivor,h le,s
than 28c.. per pound, fruits, spices, drugs, cherimi
call, and dyestuffs, are transferred to the free list.
The iron makers and wool manufacturers made so

fair a fight that the 'reduction in the duty on most
kinds .of manufactured woollens and irons is only
six per cent., the tax being cut down from
30 to 24 cent: This, of course, must only
be regarded as the entering wedge. Now that the
work of breaking• down the manufacturing mono-
polies has begun, it is not likely to be stopped until
'he tariff is fairly adjusted to a mere revenue stan-
dard, and the nation emancipated from he taxat on of
the manufacturers. A year or two under the re-
duced duty will go far to convince the manufic-
turers themselves of the wisdom of such policy.
One of the best changes that have been roarle is the
removal of 70 per cent. duty from 'orandies and
spirits. The 100 per cent. ditty was imposed on the
principle that spirtu us liquors, being a luxury,
ought to be heavily taxed. The facts seem to
show that the people regard them as a uecerk,ary of
life—such a necessary, indeed, as no legal prohibi-
tion will suffice to exclude from universal
u,e. Such being the case, • the effect of the
duty has merely - been to heighten the price of
liquors, and the successive failures of the
wine crops in France occurring simultaneously,
whole,tome liquors have risen quite out of
the reach of the poor. Vile poisons have been sold
iii their place, with such results as the least notion
of toxicology will suggest. The people of the
United States have been -poisoning themselves de-
liberately for four or five years. Good brandy is
not to be had, almost at any price ; and the work-
ing men, who are used to drink it and must have
take vitriol and other corrosives under its name.
The new tariff will have the effect of cheipeuing
brander about one-half ; so that th-re is a prospect
that the moderate consumers may be supplied with
a wholesome article at something between 3 dollars
and 4 dollars a-gallian. It is estitnat• d that the tariff
will reduce the revenue about 20,000,000 doliais.
This would answer the purpose, especially as goods
warehousedbetween th'sdate arid tile e idol the fiscal
year are to lxnefit by the tariff. But estimates of
this kind are very liable to be wide of the mark.
It would not be at all surprising, cotabideritig the
prosperity of the country, the syStematic progress
of agriculture in the West, the growth of our ship-
Ping and man tifa ituring interests, our means of-in-
ternal communication, and the strong prospect that
convuLs'on which the rails ad schemes before us
have rendered certain will nit take place within a
year or two, if our merchants so lerg ly increased
their ord• rs for the fall that next year's receipts
rfer°alndyd-w"tel'is,olveerac't tah4is hper:ilvtYararsitnicioretsoef(lfr a6y. 00Atlo-
-75 Rer cent, •• let this he maintained throughout.
and ty the time Cougre-s meal we shall
ntle'ead3eaanrOther reduction of the tariff;---New. York
Herald.

ELECTORS IN CITIES AND BOROUGHS IN ENGLAND AND
WALES —Tile total number regiHtere, was 421,413. In
England 409,Q58, and in Wales 11.455.
ELECTORS IN IRELAND.—At the I,t General election
the number on the register was 179,483 In countis
149,854, and in cities and boroughs 29,634.