The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-01 00:00:00

back to us by the Spaniards. Saving and ex-
cepting that falling off to the tune 0f_X192,745
in the Quarter's Miscellaneous returns, every
other item of the returns for this last quarter
looks favourably—shows an increase; An increase
of £l,OOO through the Crown Lands—of £57,000
through Excise—of £87,223 through Customs—
of £126,758 through Stamps and Taxes—of (here,
however, comes the " haul" for Mr. GLADSTONE !)

£1,499,181 through the Property and Income
Tax ! Sooth to say—all but A MILLION AND A
HALF increase upon the quarter—only £Bl6 short
of £1,500,000 increase upon the quarter—through
the Income Tax alone ! There is the fatal faci-
lity—so tempting to your " rough and ready"
Financiers ! There is that all but irresistible temp-
tation to your ambitious Chancellors of the Ex-
chequer—inviting them to sweep off this and to
sweep off that, to diminish here and to abrogate
there—and to square all pleasantly, off-hand, by an
odd penny of income, an odd penny yielding
another odd £1,000,000. Taking the total increase
within the quarter, we find it to be actually no less
than £1,771,165 altogether. But—subtracting from
that aggregate the falling off under the head of
" Miscellaneous" to the extent of £192,745—we find
still a net increase of Revenue upon the quarter of
more than a million and a half, of £1,578,420. It

must again be born in mind, however, that of this
net increase within the quarter to the tune of
£1,578,420, almost the whole has been contributed
by the proceeds of the Income-tax. Insomuch is
this obviously the case, that deducting
from the net increase upon the quarter
(amounting, as we have seen altogether to
£1,578,420), the increased proceeds of the quarter's
returns of Income Tax (amounting to 1,499,184),
there remains only an increase of £79,236 to be
distributed among the other items enumerated.
Or, supposing this to be regarded as in every
way an unfair method of computation, namely,
the deducting of the Income Tax increase upon the
quarter from the total of the net increase upon all
the items in the Revenue—Even when we subtract
the Income Tax increase upon the quarter to the
extent of £1,499,184 from the total of the increase
(not of the net increase, but of the full increase
generally) to the extent, as already seen, of
£1,771,165, we find but £271,981 left to distri-
bute among all the other items of Crown Lands,
Customs and Excise, Stamps and Taxes. Still recog-
nising this one alarming fact, that the Income Tax
may be counted upon to fill up all the gaps that may
be left by the most experienced Financier in the
world—there are indications so auspicious in the
yield of the returns generally during the past
quarter, and generally, too, during the last year,
that we are disposed to look hopefully to the
diminution of that Burden when the spring of 1862
shall bring us within view and hearing of Mr.
GLADSTONE'S next Financial Statement.

The Federalist cause strengthens. In skirmishes
the Southerns have had the best of it, but in more
serious military operations the Northerns. The
petty successes alluded to, seem to be due to the
appointment of civilians to commands, instead of
conferring them on trained officers, and the results
might have been anticipated. They did not want
courage, but skill to lead. General SCOTT finds his
hands strengthened by these mishaps to demand
that the educated military servants of the Union,
the officers of the regular army, shall be promoted
to the posts where they are needed. Besides the
mismanaged affair at Great Bethel, another has oc-
curred at Vienna, a small town on the Virginian
side of the Ohio; the commander of the troops
managed to convey them in railway carriages to a
point where some rebel artillery enfiladed the train ;
they had to scramble out of the cars as best they
could, with the loss of many killed and wounded.
To set against these casualties, quite trivial in
regard to the main objects of the strategy on either
side, the North has to boast of its steady success on
its grand line of the Potomac, we might add in
Missouri also; There have indeed been panics in
Washington itself, from rumours of large Southern
forces approaching. Nothing indeed is more sin-
gular
than the ignorance in the North of the mili-
tary strength and movements of the South in Vir-
ginia. It might have been supposed that tho iden-
tity of language, and the fact of many Unionists
existing in the very heart of Virginia, would have
kept the North fully informed of all that was going
on within one or two hundred miles south of the
Potomac. The reverse is the fact. The North knows no
more of the positions and strength of the rebel
troops south of the great river, than the Allies in
the Crimea did of the Russians north of the Tcher-
naya. We incline to the opinion that they are not
so numerous nor so well equipped as those of the
North, certainly not strong enough to menace
Washington, which is now well protected on
Arlington Heights, south of the rivet ; and that
they will have quite enough to do to defend their
Virginian capital, Richmond, for any length of time,
when once General SCOTT moves in earnest against
them.

It is evident that the successes of the South have
been those of isolated encounters while General SCOTT

has succeeded in the most masterly way, hitherto,

in his main plan. We heard many bragging tales
from the South of the impossibility of driving
them from their strong position at Harper's Ferry
—the General concentrated the movements of three
bodies of troops, one a large one, towards the
position, and they quickly found that if they did not
run to their comrades eastwards in all haste, they
would soon be in trap, to answer for feloniously
and treasonably taking possession of Federal pro-
perty. The old General is thus forcing the
Southern troops together to their Virginian
Armageddon, at Richmond. It is not thought
they will stand long at Manassas Junction, but
, probably have to quit that as they did Harper's
Ferry. Richmond they must fight for, if they £ght
at all. Though not a fortified place,
St. James's River on which it
the hills on the it is said that
stands are favourable to fortifications, and that a
vigorous resistance may be mad, there. In Mis-
souri, the Unionist Commander-General LYON
seems to have acted with great and successful
Ivigour.
The Governor of that State issued a pro-
clamation to raise 50,000 men ; General L-ToNs
treated it not technically, but practically, regard-
ing it as manifest treason—attacked the Governor
at once--drove him away from the capital Jeffer-
son, encountered the troops the General had with
him, killed 300 of the rebels, mortally wounded
their leader, took 600 prisoners, and sent Governor
JACKSON to find distant quarters in doable quick
time. It can but strike one that a little such deal-

ing with facts as facts, in the first instance, might
have prevented all the present difficulties.
We should not be at all surprised if the cool
strategy of General SCOTT put an end to the whole
struggle without any great battle. The North
intends, at any cost, to put forth its strength, and
such strength as to render Southern resistance
hopeless after the coming winter. We heard from
the best authority of the damping effect on the

South of the Northern awakening on the fall of

Fort Sumter. How, at once, all talk of attacking
Washington was abandoned, and the only demand
was that the North would let them alone. A

similar proceeding seems to be now before us. The