The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-16 00:00:00

Ott-ulna aittit

LONDON, SATURDAY,MARCH IG, 1850.

The Commons met yesterday at Four o'clock.
After the transaction of some preliminary business,
the House resolved itself into a Committee of Ways and
Means, when
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER rose for the
purpose of making the financial statement for the
year. After bsspcnking the indulgence of the Rouse
on account of the illness under which he was
evidently labouring, the Right Honourable Gentlemen

gait!, that whatever advantages might attend the
bringing forward cf the financial statement at an
1110*4-3PLetiV cf tho session, yet it was atteneei with this
--,---7-111.,are:get that it was impossible to make so accurate
an ei,timate, of the expected income and expenditure as
4 ; it would irst:ltt a later period of the session, and, there-
fere, be boild Hon. Members would bear this in mind
while he made his statement • L. • He had, however, received
rho euugo. uom a gentleman (Mr. Brooksbank) well

~ -.
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known and greatly respected by all, and of whose untimely
death he had, to his great regret, heard that morning.
The income of the country up to the sth of April next
would bc', he estimated, 52,785,5001, the expenditure
50,533,3511., leaving a surplus of about two millions and
a quarter. 'As a proof that they had not been unmindful
of their pledge to observe a judicious economy, he would
remark that the actual expenditure had been less than
the estimated expenditure by 1,625,000/. He did not
estimate the income for 1850 at so large an amount
as the income cf 1849. He anticipated a di-
minution in the receipts from the sugar duties.
He also anticipated a reduction in the amount of Cu:-
toms duties received horn brandy, as a large increase in
the amount of duty paid for brandy had taken place last
year in consequence of the prevalence of cholera. He
also anticipated a considerable decrease in the amount of
duty paid on the importation of foreign corn. In conse-
quence of the diminished importation in the months of
January and February, 1850, a considerable decrease ap-
peared as compared with the corresponding months of
1849. He estimated the probable receipts from Customs
next year at 19,750,000/. Exclusive of beer duties, he
estimated the Excise at 6,600,000/ ; the assessed
taxes at 4,320,0001. ; the property-tax at
5,080,000/. ; the Poct•c,ffice revenue at 820,000/. ;
Crown lands revenue at 161,0001., the miscellaneous at
270,0001., the old stores at 410,0001. He estimated the
total revenue at 52,285,000/. He estimated the expen-
diture for the payment of the national debt, funded and
unfunded, at 28,105,0001, for the navy at 7,613,7594
for tbo army at 6,625,341/ ; for the ordnance at
2,234,417/. He estimated the total expenditure at

50,613,5861. He, however, intended to propose
an increased expenditure of 150,0001. for the
New Houses of Parliament, and if that were
agreed to, it would leave a surplus of
1,471,0001. Various propositions had been made for re-
ductions of taxation. It had been suggested that the
tea duty should be reduced, that the window duty should
be abolished, that the timber duty should be abolished,
that the malt-tax should be rerealed, but it would be
impossible to repeal any of these taxes without providing
some substitute. It had been proposed by an Hon.
Gentleman, whom ho was very sorry not to see present
in the House, that a great portion of the local taxation
of the country should be thrown upon the Consolidated
Fund. He was sorry to find that that proposition had
received such support as it had done, because he con-
ceived the adoption of it would be the final step towards
the reversal of the system cf commercial policy which
had been adopted for the last 20 years, and which went
to reduce the duties on all articles of general consump-
tion, and thus to relieve the industrial classes, by trans-
ferring the burden of taxation from the poor to the rich.
Upwards of 8,000,0001. had been actually re-
moved from articles of consumption, but these
figures showed but a very small portion of the benefit
which the industrious classes had derived from the re-
moval of duties from articles of consumption, because,
independently of the advantage; which they
had actually derived from a diminution in
price, they had also derived a great
benefit from the increase of employment consequent upon
the increase of consumption. As a proof of the atcu,
mulating wealth and capital of the country he would ob-
serve that no less a sum than 148,000,0001. had
been invested in railways ; but, with all this
wealth, the condition of the poorer classes
was most wretched, and yet, in the face of
this a proposition for relieving property from
taxation, and transferring it to the shoulders of the poor
had received the support of a large number of Members
of that House. He believed that if the Hon. Members
who supported that proposition had considered its effects
they would have paused before they had supported it.
He believed that the agricultural interest was suffering
from a merely temporary depression, from which it
would speedily recover by the reaction upon them of the
prosperity of every other interest. He admitted that
the price of corn had been lower than ho had anticipated,
but at the same time he believed that such
a depression cf price would not be permanent;
neither did ho attribute it entirely to free
trade, because in France, Belgium, and Holland,
where a rigid protective system was in full force,
the price of corn had fsllen even lower than it had ever
been in this country. The fact was, in all these coun-
tries there had been an unusually prolific harvest, and to
that, and not to importation alene, was to be attributed the
fall in price of corn. He believed that the skill and energy ef
the agriculturists would surmount all the difficulties under
which they were labouring, but he would not deny but
that many might sink beneath the pressure, but no great
improvement could take place without injury to many
persons. Look to the railroads—would they abolish
railroads because innkeepers, coach-masters, and turnpike
shareholders had been in many instances ruined ?
Having referred to the various proposals which had been
made for the disposal of the surplus of 1,500,0001., he
would state his own views. The first idea that had
struck him was that some reduction should be made in
our debt. Since 1833 there had been borrowed
35,000,0001., while all the money that had been
applied to the reduction of the debt had
been 8,000,0001., being a surplus of debt of
27,000,000/ He had hoped, seeing the House had re-
fused to increase the taxation in 1848, and had forced
him to borrow, they would not, when there was a surplus,
insist upon a decrease of taxation. The rule seemed
to be, when there is a deficiency to borrow, but
when there is a surplus do not reduce your debt. It
was of the utmost importance that a high state of public
credit should be maintained both to the public and to
individuals, because the higher the state of public credit
the lower was the interest of money in the market.
Nevertheless he was not prepared to say that he would
devote the whole of the surplus to the purpose of the
diminution of the debt. He proposed for the purpose of
relieving the landed interest to make a considerable re-
duction on stamp duties upon the transfer of real pro-
perty up to 1,0001., and to equalise the duties after a
large amount; and he proposed to adopt the same prin-
ciple with regard to the stamp duties on mortgages.
He proposed also to reduce the stamp duty upon leases—
he proposed that a here the stamp duty now payable
upon a least) was IL, it should be reduced to 2a. 6d.,
and so on in proportion. He also proposed, for the purpose
of improving the dwellings of the labouring classes, to
accede t) a total repeal of the duty on bricks.—(This
announcement created a great sensation in the House,
and was received with loud cheers.) He thought thet
the repeal of this duty would not only conduce
to the improvement of the dwellings of the
labouring classes, but would also conduce to
the improvement of agriculture, and to the advantage of
the owners of land. The amount of losses he anticipated
in the revenue were, upon stamps a little under 300,0001,
upon bricks to a little over 450,000/., making a total of
750,000/, being half the surplus. The other half he
proposed to devote to the reduction of the debt.
He also intseded to propcso an advance of 2,000,000/. to
England and Scotland, and of 1,000,000/. to Ireland, for
drainage and improvement ; of this latter sum ho
should insist . upon 800,000/. being appropriated to arte-
rial drainage. These sums could be advanced without
adding to the debt, and on their repayment they would
be available fur its reduction. With regard to the re-
duction of the national debt, he proposed to devote
250,0001. to the extinction of one portion of it by dis-
charging
the Equivalent Fund" in Scotland, and to re-
tain in the Exchequer the remaining surplus of 500,0001
The Right Hon. Gentleman concluded by moving a vote
c.,f 9,200,000/. to be raised by Exchequer-bills.
After a long and somewhat desultory discussion the
vote was agreed to and reported.

Distinction has fallen on the Whigs, and honour
of a peculiar kind descended on the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER, through that most wonderful finan-
cial statement which was last evening submitted to
the }louse of Commons by the Right Honourable
Baronet in the glorified form of a
BRICE-DUST BUDGET !

Often as we have heard the old proverbial saying
of the mountebank throwing dust in the eyes of the
gullible for the purpose of rendering it difficult for
the public to detect his quackeries, we certainly
never dreamt of seeing the adage realised by the
oration of an English CHANCELLOR of the Excrsu-
QUER. Yet so it has come to pass—the Government
of England having officially deputed the Financial
Minister to try the experiment upon the community.
Conscious of the responsibilities devolving upon him
in such a very hazardous undertaking, Sir CHARLES
WOOD yesterday brought forward his annual state-
ment with an apparent sense of his temerity, sprink-
ling very lavishly in the eyes of the population the
dust of the sophistries arising from the trituration of
an argument on Bricks ! Never, we are bold to say,
were the financial confessions of any previous
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER characterised
by such an accumulation of littlenesses and
evasions, such insolent defiance of the People,
such abject cringing to the Opposition, such treason
to the cause with which the Administration had been
previously identified, or such a deplorable mixture of

timidity and audacity in one glaring act of Ministerial
tergiversation. Debased as they have long been in
the national estimation, never before bad the Whigs
fallen so low as in the grand evidence of politi-
cal apostacy afforded by themselves in their