The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-11 00:00:00

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LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, Isso.

THE QUARTER'S REVENUE.

The Revenue Returns for the financial year and
quarter, ending the 10th of October instant, will be
found in another part of this day's paper. A ♦ery
considerable diminution will be found in the receipts
of the past quarter, when compared with the cor-
responding period of last year. But, although at first
sight, this result may lead to the impression that the
tide has at length turned, and that we have seen the
termination of that steady progressive improve-
ment in the national finances, to which it

has been our pleasing duty to direct the
public attention for many successive quarters,
it will, on a closer examination, be discovered that
there is no real cause for despondency, but that the
deficiencies in the various departments may be all

fully and fairly accounted for, that they are not
greater than might reasonably have been anticipated,
under all the circumstance of the case.

The year's revenue, too, notwithstanding the re-
ductions that have been made in the national taxation,
exhibits a considerable surplus over that ending the
19th of October, 1849, which, in turn, was better
by nearly a quarter of a million sterling, than the
preceding year; so that the amelioration is even
greater than might be supposed, and the state of
affairs far more satisfactory than would appear from
the inspection of the present returns.
The quarters ending on the 10th October, 1849, and
on the sth July, 1850, were both peculiarly favour-
able. At the former period there was a considerable
increase of revenue both on the year and quarter, and
that in the most important items, amounting on the
year to 235,5711., and on the quarter to 276,0931,
the improvement in the Excise alone being 185,0031.
and on the Stamps 224,8051.; so that :the receipts
under these heads, notwithstanding the abolition of the
tax on bricks and the change in the stamp duties, are
greater than they were in the quarter ending 10th
October, 1848. The flourishing state of the re-
venue during the corresponding quarter of last year
will make the present appear on comparison rather
unfavourably. But that is really to be ascribed not
to the badness of the present season, but to the extra-
ordinary excellence of that with which it is coin-
pared. The quarter ending the sth July was
also exceedingly prosperous. There were not so many
demands for indulgence, or arrears of taxes suffered
to hang over. Considerable amounts, that were
usually collected int he October quarter, were this year
realised, and brought into the Exchequer during the
preceding quarter, so that, though there has been no
diminution of receipts within the half-year, there will
appear a falling off on the quarter. These facts
would alone be sufficient to account for the unpro-
pitious aspect of affairs ; but there are other causer,
also, in operation quite sufficient to explain the matter,
and to leave the public confidence in the buoyancy of
the national resources without drawback or dimi-
nution.

We now proceed to consider the particular features
of the present returns. The entire increase on the
year is 645,475/., of which 470,708/, is on the ordinary
branches of revenue, and the residue on the extraor-
dinary—the " imprest and other monies," and " re-
payments of advances." On the quarter there is a
deficiency of 289,0081., but as there %as an increase
on the extraordinary branches of 129,095/., the actual
deficiency on the ordinary branches is no less than
418,1031.
In the Customs there is an increase on the year
of 81,242/., and a trifling falling off of 1,3891. on
the quarter. But, looking to the minor branches
comprised under this important item, it will be seen
that the decrease is far more than accounted fur by
the smaller importation of foreign spirits, on which
the falling off amounts to about 200,0001. As, how-
ever, the larger consumption of brandy and rum in
the former year was occasioned by the fearful scourge
that was raging in the metropolis and throughout
the country, in the autumn of 1849, we have
no reason to regret the regluction, although
a loss to the revenue of 2C0,000/. was the
consequence. There are some other small reductions
on silks, corn, cheese, &c ,while, on the other hand,
there are material improvements on sugar, tea, raisins,
currants, &c., amounting in the whole to about the
amount lost by the reduction on spirits. There are
few indeed, we believe, who will not agree with us in
thinking that a revenue derived from sugar, tea,
raisins, and currants, is more desirable than one from
ardent spirits.
In the Excise, which indicates the condition of the
working classes, there is an increase on the year of
531,1861., but a diminution on the quarter of 184,2341.

This is altogether to be attributed to the abolition of

of which was collected in the autumn quarter; in-
deed the receipts from this branch, in the correspond-
ing quarter of 1849, was no less than 240,0001., which
we have not only lost, but we have returned about
23,0001. that had formerly been paid into the E xchequer-
The loss on this single item is, therefore, more than
263,0001., or nearly 79,0001. more than the entire
deficiency, so that in other respects there is an im-
provement to that amount as compared with the very
prosperous quarter of last year; and if it be consi-
dered in reference to the quarter of 1848, it will be
seen that, notwithstanding the abolition of the brick
duty, the total receipts are greater than they then
were, the amount for the present quarter being
4,103,3431., and in 1848, 4,102.574/. The principal
improvement has been in malt, showing that the
welling classes have enjoyed a fair proportion of the
wholesome beverage which is considered so necessary
for the labouring population.
On the Stamps there has been a falling off both on
the year and quarter ; on the former cf 182,433/.,
and on the latter of 179,7191. It must not, however,
be forgotten that an Act passed during the last ses-
sion of Parliament, introducing various alterations in
this branch of the public revenue, which, according to
the calculations of Sir CHARLES WooD, would occasion
a less to the revenue of 300,000/, per annum. These
changes have only just come into operation, but the
dealers in anticipation suffered their stocks to run
out. The activity at Somerset-house is very great,
and we are told that the quantity of parchment sent
in to be stamped has been so great, that the authori-
ties have been obliged to get up a special locality for
the London and country districts, and that it will be
some time before the present demands can be met.
All the employees in that department are obliged to
work overtime. If we couple with these facts
the extraordinary produce of the duties last year,
the October quarter of 1849 showing an increase on
that of 1848 of 224,8051., partly ascribable to a
greater degree of activity in the commercial world,
and partly to the reduced allowance for the sale of
various denominations of stamps, which induced the
various distributors to lay in larger stocks, we shall
find that there is no cause to be discouraged at the
diminution of the receipts for stamp duties during the
present quarter.
On the Land and Assessed Taxes there is an improve-
ment on the year of 8,1851., but a falling off on the
quarter of 16,4441. The Property-tax also shows 30,5021•
increase on the year, but a decrease on the quarter of
46,1421. These latter points may, however, be ac-
counted for, as we have already stated, by greater
punctuality on the part of the payers of these imposts.
In the Post-office there is a decrease on the year of
32 0001., but an improvement on the quarter of
3,000/. On Crown Lands there is an increase
on the year of 32,0001., the quarter remaining
in statu quo; while in Miscellaneous there is an in-
crease of 4,0261. on the year, and 6,8251. on the quar-
ter. On the whole we may consider the returns as
by no means unsatisfactory, and this feeling will
not be altered by the consideration that the country
is no longer expending more than its income,
but that there is still a handsome surplus, after pro-
viding for the interest of the public debt and the
maintenance of the national establishments.

Journalism in France is now more than ever the
exponent of individual opinion. Under the most
favourable circumstances, it has seldom been entitled
to the dignity of being regarded as the organ of
party. Even when abandoned to the most unbridled
license of expression and sentiment, it has been rather
the effusion of personal conviction than the utterance
of the aggregated ideas of the community. The
mask of the anonymous has on all occasions in Paris
been worn lightly enough, insomuch, that it was never
difficult to detect the features of the redacteur under a
disguise so transparent, even,,inlthe crises which have
preceded revolution. It was not more notorious, in
1789, that the sinister ambition of MA RAT was lurk-
ing under the periods of the Ami du Peuple, that
bulletin of the political shambles:! or that, in 1790, the
frenzied genius of DESMOULINi pierced the ears of
the democracy through the cries of the Vieux Cor-
deliers, than that, in 1830, the probity of CARREL, and,
in 1848, the sarcasm of MARRAST found utterance in
the columns of the National, that diminative but
potent standard of the barricades ! Scarcely ever,
indeed, has it happened that the identity of the writers
in the principal newspapers of France has been mis-
taken by the practised eye of the Parisian. So
prevalent, in fact, among our neighbours has been this
faculty for detecting the veritable ego under the col-
-lecive pronoun employed for the sake of convenience
in editorial lucubrations, that in periods of emergency
the people have had recourse to the bureaux of jour-
nalism, selecting the most eminent journalists fur
their most responsible administrators. Hence, on the
occasion of the revolutionary movement of Is3o, it
was a simple publicist thus chosen who moulded into
form the then shapeless materials of the Orleanist
Government. Hence, also, it was from the ranks
of the prominent editors in the French capital
that in 1848 were selected the majority of the states-
men constituting the Provisional Government.
Hitherto, however, with this habit on the part of
the. Parisian journalists to wear the political domino of
the anonymous rather loosely on their shoulders, and
sometimes, indeed, to throw the mask of pretended
secresy aside altogether, the practice has been wholly
and entirely optional. By the new law of the press
the disclosure of identity is rendered compulsory—a
circumstance not always convenient—and the news-
papers of the Republic are already beginning to feel
the evil consequences of this most arbitrary regulation•

Under the previous slovenly but effective arrange-
ment, the fame of a great political writer was per-
mitted to enhance the prestige attached to organs
manifestly the emanation of various intellects. Ac-
cording to this system of partial revelation, the pro-
ductions of the most obscure contiibutor were not
unfrequently elevated into importance, by being at-
tributed to some one or other among his illustri-
ous colleagues. Consequently, when each sepa-
rate article comes to be authenticated with
its signature, the force of many evaporates in
the disclosure, and the weight of the paper itself
upon public opinion becomes proportionately di-
minished. Some of not the least remarkable journals
in Paris, even at this early period after the inno
vation, discover the advantages arising from the old
and optional plan of explanation. A joke in the
Charivari, when it appears before us formally en-
dorsed by M. DELoRD, loses inevitably much, so to
speak, of its aroma and piquancy. A tart criticism
in the Patrie, when explicitly fathered upon
M. FOES:ADE ; a fervid outpouring of devo-
tional rhetoric in the Univers, when subscribed
(as a sort of stereotyped ainsi-soit il) by the tame of
M. VLUILLOT ; a vigorous digest of events in the
political section of the Ordre, when cramped from the
We into the I by the autograph of M. CLIAMBOLLB ;
leading articles of the most brilliant excellence, when
signed in the Union by M. LARENTIE, in the As-
sentblie National by M. DE LAVALETTB, and in the
Pouvoir by M. DE CASSAGNAC—dwindIe down
into merely so many personalities instead of re-
maining as heretofore disquisitions capable of
influencing the judgments of the general community.
In some cases the result has become ludicrous, in
others matter of real commiseration. One news-
paper has been transformed by the change into a
most ridiculous misnomer, being no longer the
Opinion Publique, but the Opinion de M. FRANGOIS
NETTEMENT. In the instance of the poor Constitu-
tionnel, again, the dignity of the editorial
plural becomes shrivelled up at the end
of all the principal leaders into a sort of flip-
pant Nous VERON ! From the ill effects even
now experienced it would appear, from rumours be-
coaling prevalent in the literary circles of the French
cwital, that overtures are being made to some of the
chi& f publicists of the nation to lend the aid of their
great names to the no longer, in any instance, anon).-
!nous labours of juurnali=rn. To this end, it is re-
ported that M. GUIZOT is about to be enlisted
in the service of the Journal des Debats,
while the Siecle will be assisted not improbably
by the practised hand of M. DE LAMARTINE.
Whatever the result of these negotiations may
be (whether or not M. PERRIE is to be thus aided on
the Si6cle, or M. BERTIN on the Journal des Debuts),
it is certainly being considered seriously is Paris if
• it may not be advisable to enlist among the acknow-
ledged journalists of France, not only the ex-Minister

Of LOUIS PHILIPPE and the ex-Miniiter of the Pro-
n • +l,,a I

not oniy M. uizuT and M. DE LAMAUTENE,
but bl. MARRAST and N. TRIERS, with
such men, moreover, as BARROT, and HUGO, and
BERRYER, and MONTALEMBERT. Under all circum-
stances the innovation can only prove disadvantageous
to the French journalists themselves, being rather be-
neficial than otherwise as far as their contemporaries
in other countries are concerned. To the former the
change may prove a most irksome inconvenience, to the
latter it can only appear in the light of a mcst inte-
resting experiment. A very few additional weeks will
be sufficient to show whether that experiment is suc-
cessful, or whether that inconvenience to the
journalists is compensated by a corresponding im-
provement in journalism.