The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-05 00:00:00

DUTCH MAIL.

THE HAGUE, APRIL 3.—The Staats Courant of
this date contains the following :

" PROCLAMATION.
" We, William 11., by the grace of God, King of
the Netherlands,- Prinee of Orange-Nassau, Grand
Duke of Luxemburg, &c., &c.
" Looking up gratefully to God, we address these
words to you, beloved fellow-countrymen and sub-
jects, to express to you our most heartfelt gratitude
for your united co-operation in effecting the volun-
tary loan. The rich and the less opulent have the
greatest claim to it, but those also, and how many are
they, who though totally exempt, yet animated by
the noblest feeling, have offered their savings on the
altar of their country.
" Fellow-countrymen,--The motto of our fathers,
" Concord is power," is Eagain realised among us.
Attachment to the old Dutch fidelity in fulfilling, at
whatever price, every engagement. We may hope
that a blessing will rest on this fidelity. Let every
one who has contributed to the prospect before us,
enjoy the pleasure of consciousness of having done his
duty.
" Netherlands—Let us pray to God, to pre-
serve and increase the good spirit by which the
nation has now again proved itself to be animated,
that remote posterity may enjoy the fruits, and that
the people of the Netherlands may continue to be a
patriotic, unanimous, and religious nation.
" Herewith, beloved fellow-countrymen and sub-
jects, we recommend you all to God's holy keeping.
"This proclamation shall be immediately published
and posted up in the usual places, and printed in the
Staats Courant. _ . _

" Given at the Hague, 2d April, 1844.
(Signed) " WILLIAM.
" By his Majesty's command,
"The Director of the King's Cabinet,
"A. G. M. VAN RAPPARD."

" The Minister of Finance, conformably to
Art. 19. of the Law of the 6th of March, 1844, in.
forms the public in general, that the inscription of
the loan and voluntary contribution (30 florins of the
latter being reckoned for 100 florins in the loan)
amount to 127,000,000 florins, and that therefore
the extraordinary tax on property will not take
place.
" The result has been obtained by an addition to
the King's original share, after the inscription
amounted to about 126,000,000.
" The Hague, April 2, 1844.
(Signed)
—The States Courant, April 3.
THE HAGUE, APRIL 2.—The Law of the 6th of
March has raised Holland from a crisis, the fatal con-
sequence of which might have been incalculable. This
law has consolidated our credit abroad, has restored
confidence at home, and removed obstacles which pre-
vented the Government from proceeding with calm-
ness and firmness in the course of improvement and
economy. Accordingly the Arnheim Courant pro-
poposes to open a subscription, in order to strike a
medal in honour—of whom du you suppose?—of two
of the Members of the States-General, who voted
against the law Can we wonder, after this, if the
Ipublic treat certain Governments with cor4teniPt ?
i Journal de lQ 'Jaye, April 3.

" VAN HALL."

FROM THE MoRNING PAPERS OF TIIIS DAT.
HERALD.—We believe that many years have passed
since a newspaper has had to congratulats• its readers
upon such a financial return as that which it is our
gratification to present in this day's Heratd. The
return was made up yesterday, one day before the
regular day ; but against this we must set off the
leap year, so that the periods to be compared are
equal, each consisting of 365 days ; and what is the
result of the comparison ? An increase upon the last
year of no less than four millions three hundred and
eighteen thousand one hundred and sixty-seven pounds
sterling. This increase pervades nearly all the sources
of revenue ; absolutely all the important ones—viz.:—
Customs
Excise
Property
Post-office
Crown Lands . .
Miscellaneous
The heads of decrease are : •
Stamps . . .. 12,699
Taxes
It is right to remark that under the head of pro-
perty-tax, four quarters are counted in the last year
against three quarters in the year preceding ; and we
must, therefore, in order to approximate to a perfectly
just comparison, deduct the property-tax of this
year's quarter, corresponding to the omitted quarter
of last year—namely, of the July quarter. This we
find to amount to 861,7091. After this deduction,
however, the year's increase will be found to amount
to nearly three millions and one half sterling. We
cannot, by any use of language, improve upon this
fact ; and here we present it to our readers, accom-
panied by our sincere congratulations.
CHRONICLE.—The quarterly revenue tables,
which are usually made up on the sth of April, were
completed yesterday, on account of this day being a
close holiday. They will be fund _in another
column, and it gives us pleasure to learn from them
that the productive energies of the community are
not impaired. The increase in the quarter is—Cus-
toms, 384,9101; Excise, 85,316/. ; Stamps, 45,885/. ;
Taxes, 1,987/. ; Property-tax, 107,627/. ; Post-
office, 30,0001.; Crown Lands, 30,000/. ; making a
total increase in the ordinary revenue for the quarter
of 685,7251. There is a decrease under the head
Miscellaneous of 500,2641., which, though balanced
against them in the account, scarcely affects the
sources of revenue derived from the industry
of the people. The total increase in the
quarter, both of ordinary and extraordinary
revenue, is 825,2981., from which, deduct-
ing the decrease, there is a sum of 325,0341. more
than in the corresponding quarter of 1843, to be ap-
plied to the services of the State. In the year there
is a decrease in the amount of stamps of 12,699/., and
in the amount of taxes of 73,0641., but on all the
other branches of the ordinary revenue there is a con-
siderable increase. The total increase, deducting the
decrease of the revenue for the year, is 4,318,167/.,
which is, however, less than the amount of the Pro-
perty-tax, 5,356,8871., by 1,038,7201. This turns
out, therefore, a much more productive tax than Sir
Robert Peel anticipated; and the sum it yields shows
that the whole of the incomes of 1501. and upwards,
the limit of the tax, amount to something more than
200,000,0001. a year. What a prodigious mass of
wealth! On the whole, these tables are satisfactory
as an index to the still increasing trade, consumption,
and wealth of the community.
ADVERTISER.—The usual abstract of the
yearly and quarterly revenue, issued last evening,
appears, like everything emanating from the present
Government, far more gratifying to a casual view
than to a close examination. There is, on the year's
income, a total increase of 4,318,1671., of which
325,0341. appears on the quarter just closed. This
total increase has been chiefly effected in the follow-
ing items:—

t hI ne cQr euaasre
teorn. Increase on
the Year.
Customs £658,335
Excise.
Property-tax ......... 2,900,599
Post-office 15,000
At first sight it would appear that this increase in
the Customs and Excise has arisen from an increased
consumption of articles subject to those duties ; but
the real fact is, that this increase has arisen from the
more vigilant management of the Custom-house, since
the recent exposure of the enormous frauds of which
it had previously connived at the perpetration, as
well as from the more stringent enfnrcement of
the Excise laws generally. The supposition of any
material improvement in the 'cundition of the people
is a sheer fallacy So much for one portion of this
vaunted increase ; and with respect to another, that
presenting the largest item—the income-tax—the in-
dustrial classes, the chief sufferers from this iniquit-
ous impost, can find but little cause of congratulation
in recognising the vast amount which is wrung from
their hard-wrought earnings to fill the general coffers
which misrule has exhausted, and which the authors
of that misrule would leave in a state of bankruptcy
rather than forego a single item of their own super-
fluities, or in any way reduce their extravagance and
profligacy.. The total amount of the income-tax for
the year is upwards of five millions three hundred
thousand pounds, an excess of nearly one million and
a half over the Premier's calculation. What are the
reductions to be made in consequence of this excess?
Or are we to have, as Sir Robert Peel recently in-
timated, this most unjust impost continued beyond
the three years which was at first fixed as the period
of its duration ? These are questions to which the
country ought emphatically to require a distinct and
specific answer from those intrusted with its govern-
ment.

MONEY IVIARKET and CITY NEWS. I
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
CITY, THURSDAY EVENING.
CHRONICLE.—Parties, whose opinion is entitled
to weight, say, that the objection of " preference," 1
started against the plan of exacting security from
issuing banks to protect the bill-holders, does not
affect the justice of the principle, for they contend it
is right that the Legislature should secure this pre-
ference. Looking upon bankers' notes in the same
light as money, they contend that the Crown should
take care that no paper should circulate whose per-
fect safety is not secured. Depositors, they say,
need not lodge their money with bankers unless they
choose, deposit being a purely voluntary act; but
this is not the case with respect to holding country
issues, which " pass as money, from hand to hand."
It is to be kept in remembrance, nevertheless, that
bankers' notes are not a legal tender, and that no
person is obliged to receive them in payment of
debts. But it is true that they possess a general cur-
rency, which renders it very odious for any indi-
vidual to refuse the notes of banks in good credit.
They are looked upon, in fact, as if they were legal
tenders; and it is, perhaps, fair and expedient, that if
the CPown allows others to exercise the prerogative of
"coining," that legislative means should be taken to
secure the safe operation of the trust.
SUN.—The:English Funds leave off very firm, Consols
having been as high as 991 -, though last quoted 991 1.
The New Three-and-a-Half per Cents. rose to 103 to 4.
The disposition to sell Spanish Stock continued this
afternoon, parties being anxious to take their profits in
case of a re-action. The Five per Cents. were 26k to 1;
and the Three per Cents., 36/ I. Mexican, Deterred,
were 161; Russian, 117 to i; and Portuguese, Con-
verted, 46g.
The additional transactions in Railway Shares have
been these:—Bristol and Gloucester were 194; Great
Western, 35; Ditto New, 20; Ditto Fifths, 6; Man-
chester and Leeds, 42; -Ditto Half, 18; Norwich and
Brandon, 51; Newcastle and Darlington, 20i; Paris and
Orleans, 16; Ditto and Rouen, 161 to j; trad South
• Eastern, ez New, 2} premium. Eastern ()unties, 11k;