The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-20 00:00:00

UST._

THE MONSTROUS SC aLE 01 THE
PUBLIC EXPENDITURE.

(From the Money Market Review.)
We have more than once called attention to the
vast unproductive expenditure which is going on
—not only on the continent but in this country. It
is sapping the foundations of material prosperity,
and, if Continued only for two or three years longer,
will brill,' about an amount of discontent which a
wise Government would do well to avert by timely
retrenchment. The amount of taxation raised in
this country is something monstrous, and, if we
mistake not, is more in the aggregate than the
public have any idea of. By an official paper we
perceive that there were in the Banks of Er,ightod
and Ireland :
Exchequer Cash Balances en 21st Mara,
1860, amounted to
47,983,8C0
The Revenue for the year ending 31st March,
1861, amounted to
73,614,880

X 81,508,240 The cash balances on 31st March, 1861, standing to the credit of the Exchequer, were £6,775,329 ;
consequently, the actual expenditure for the year
1860.1 was £74,922,920. Thus, the expenditure of
the year 1860-1 amounted to the huge sum of
£1,422,000 per week. That expenditure is still
going-on, and yet people wonder at money being
scarce ! The fact is, capital is being absorbed far
too largely by the expenses of the State. This is.
further proved if, as Mr. Gladstone recently ob-
served, we are spending £20,000,000 per annum.
more than we did a few years ago. Surely, as the
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the two Governments should come to some definite
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The troubles which have broken out in America
render it the more imperative that the most cordial
and intimate understanding should exist between
England and France. It seems to us that England.
ought to look with jealousy upon the amount (short
of a really excessive amount) of land force which.
France may deem it necessary to maintain, bat She
has every reason to be jealous and watchful as. re-
gards the increaae in the French navy. Surely
some arrangement might be arrived at between the
two Governments on these points.
As daily witnesses of the anxieties of those con-
cerned in commerce, we are not merely serving the ,
cause of our constituents in advocatingretrenchment,
but that of good government and peace. There is a
general and bitter complaint of the state of trade,
and of the limited amount of expenditure that is
going on among private individuals as compared
with ordinary times. The shopkeeping class
especially suffer, and, through them, the
wholsale houses. The scale of the national expenditure fully accounts for this. No one but
those who dive beneath the surface can, perhaps,
appreciate the effect of an additional 10 or 20 mil-
lions per annum being abstracted from the pockets
of the people for unproductive expenditure. It is
precisely this active money which, spent by the
public at home in comforts (or luxuries if you will)
would cause activity in our home trade, and vivify
commerce.
The mere working of the machine of Government
is absorbing a far larger amount of capital than can
be spared by the money market, or by our internal
or foreign trade. Individuals are obliged to spend
less, because the State spends more.
In all ages
this has 'peen accounted a lamentable symptom.
It is a system which cannot be permanent, because
in the end it must exhaust the country, and then be
corrected. But is it not better to correct the evil
before the process of exhaustion is completed ? We
must say we are surprised at the lukewarmness dis-
played in this vital matter by the representatives of
commercial constituencies in the House of Commons.
Rarely is anything heard when millions are being
voted away, save a feeble remonstrance. As to rival
cabinets, the race between Whig and Tory seems to►
be as to which can spend money the faster or pile
up the higher the already vast expenditure in the
annual balance sheet. The Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer simultaneously deprecates the present scale
of public expenditure, and sanctions it; whilst • Lord Palmerston, a mocking master of the situa-
tion, is applauded vigorously by the official
claqueurs, when he turns aside by some poor jest
remonstrances which swell up from the very heart
of the nation.