The Sun.
London, England, 1859-04-01 00:00:00

motion of which Mr. WYLD had given notice,
which could be laid before the public. Had there
been one, we presume we must have known of it
long ago. It is natural to infer, therefore, that
mysterious party tactics were the real reason,
tactics which would not bear to be spoken of,
which the " conspirators," in the polite sense in
which Mr. DISRAELI used the word, might know,
but which they were pledged not to divulge. We
have neither seen nor heard any argument to shake
our main position, that when a motion was made
by Opposition Reformers, whose object was to throiv
out a Government Reform Bill—to throw it out
by a vote of censure on its errors and defects—that
the motion ought on the face of it to notice the chief
defect of the bill. We maintain that one chief
defect—we might say the chief defect—was the
omission of the Ballot. A defect of far more im-
portance than either of those which the resolution
did notice; a defect which, had it not existed, the
Ministry would have carried their bill by popular
enthusiasm, had they even been pertinacious on the
other points.

If this view be correct, and the Ballot Society
will certainly not deny its correctness, how can we
justify the course taken by Mr. BERKELEY, Mr.
GIBsoN, Mr. BRIGHT, Mr. Fox, and other leading
supporters of the Ballot ? Mr. BRIGHT has himself
borne witness that on no other subject has there
been such unanimity in the vast and numerous
meetings which he has addressed. Other points
in his bill he has had to argue for and defend as
best as he could, but for the Ballot the argument
which sufficed was the uniform acclamations of his
audience whenever it was mentioned. Sir JAMES
GRAHAM, too, an unconverted, and therefore im-
partial witness, told the House plainly that it was
the point in the programme of Reformers, which
had made more progress than any other ; the point
which he seemed to intimate he must concede, if
he sought re-election at the hands of his present
constituents. When a Reform question is in this
position in the country, we submit that it is not
one which should be made the subject of private
arrangements between cliques in the House, but
that it should be dealt with as one which on no
occasion could be allowed to fall into the back-
ground. It might be very convenient to the Whig
clique not to be compelled to vote, that, to be satis-
factory to the people, a Reform Bill must include
the Ballot ; it is unpleasant to have to vote that
black is white, as Lord JOHN RUSSELL, Sir
CHARLES WOOD, Mr. JAMES WILSON, and Mr.
BAINES did last night; but if the old Whigs are
thus prepared to vote falsehood publicly, let them
by all means have the opportunity of showing
themselves in their true colours. That the Ballot is
essential to a satisfactory Bill, it seems childish to
deny. Public meetings say so. The votes of 238
members of the present House have said so,
and they would not have said it could they
have helped it. How, then, can it be denied that,
on this occasion, the vote of every supporter of
independent voting ought to have been recorded in
favour of the Ballot.

We must think, too, that the unusually large
number of members present shows that it was the
proper time to demand their vote for or against a
great national question. When will Mr. BERKELEY
be able to gather together 626 members of the
House of Commons again? Yet, had he and his
usual supporters but filled their posts, very few of
the 626 dare have deserted theirs. The country
would have had such an opportunity as it has
never yet had of seeing what its representatives
would do, as well as say, on the point which it has
so unmistakeably insisted on. It may be said,
and it is all that can be said, that the hour was a
late one, but that was not the reason why nearly
200 members left the liouse.j A word from the
leaders on this question world have retained
nearly all of them, and the subject is too well
understood to have needed any protracted dis-
cussion.

We think Mr. WYLD, and the 99 members who
voted with him, are entitled to the thanks of the
country for their firmness in its service. Let them
mot be daunted. They are the strength and kernel
of their cause. The men who will pay no regard to
the convenience of cliques, who will stand to their
colours when others go down into the cockpit, these
are the men who eventually defeat all opponents.
Mr. MILNER GIBSON himself, on the Newspaper
Stamp, and Mr. BRIGHT and his colleagues on the
Corn Law question, pursued the very tactics which
they have abandoned on the Ballot, and which Mr.
WYLD and his supporters have very properly
adopted. Let them adhere to their tactics, and
they will soon render any combination of Reformers
impracticable which does not consent to the Ballot.

The Revenue Returns for the financial year and
quarter, which have just been published, are, on the
whole, of a satisfactory character. It is true that
in each period there is a considerable decrease, on
the former of £2,404,229, on the latter of £809,712;
but in both instances it is more than accounted
for by the falling off in the proceeds of the
income-tax. That falling off was not occa-
sioned by any want of means on the part
of the people, but simply because Mr. DISRAELI
kept faith with the community, and permitted the
charge to be reduced in accordance with pledges
given by a different Minister to a former Parlia-
The deficiency under that head alone
amounted for the year to nearly five millions
sterling, or, according to exact figures, £4,902,528,
or, in round terms, two millions and a half more
than the total deficiency. The distinction for the
quarter is not so striking. The sum lost by the
change in the income-tax is £907,601, while that
under all the heads united only amounted to
£809,712.

ment.

For • the year there is an improvement under
every head save that above referred to. That on
Customs alone amounts to more than a million
sterling, viz., £1,008,839. That on the quarter,
however, bears but little proportion thereto, being
only £25,943. There is thus unquestionable evi-
dence that our foreign trade is improving, and that
there is a gradual, albeit, a slow return of com-
mercial confidence.

The Excise, the index to the comfort of the
working classes, does not show so favourably.
It is true that there is an increase
of X 77,000 on the year. The paper duties have
largely increased, in no less, indeed, than £195,000 ;
but at the same time hops have returned £70,000
and Irish whisky £40,000 less than before.
On the quarter there is a positive loss of £64,000
from the reduced receipts from spirits. Let not
the teetotallers lay the flattering unction to their
souls by supposing that it is a reduced consumpt ion
that produced the change. On the contrary,
it is probably larger than ever it was ;
and the additional duties have not only
totally failed to produce an increase of revenue,
but have led to a deterioration thereof. This result,
which is but another illustration of apparent
anomaly in fiscal legislation, clearly indicates that
there is a limit of taxation which cannot safely be
exceeded. The reason is obvious. The moment the
duty is made so high as to afford a large profit to
the illicit distiller, there are but too many ready to
enter on the demoralising traffic, and to embark in
gambling speculations which may lead to enormous