The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS

FROM THE EVENING PAFERS OF THIS DAY.
GLOBE. —" Open your mouth—shut your•
eyes—and see what Peel will send you !" Such
was, in effect, urged upon the country, in divers
forms, as no more than was due to the newly-in-
stalled Premier; 'Who abked for "time" to
-prepare his nteusures, and then put forth
the same plea, that. his measures might
also have time to work the promised
good. The yobe mooches complied with the
Premier's request: they devoutly shut their eyes
to consequences—opened their• rnoutl►s wide with
expectation—and had the lecome Tax popped in
as the produce of Peel's fina;.cial skill ; while the
new tarit•l; shadow of good things to come—the
substance of which was never to be realised—
completed the amoeut of the Premier's benefits
to the country. In his much-lauded finan-
cial exposition, upon the introduction of his
first budget, the Right Honourable Baronet
founded his claim to public confidence on
the estimates and working of the grand
scheme for restoring the national revenue.
The result has proved that no failure was ever
more signal than has att.•nded the Minister's
scheme of finance; because no estimates were
ever more erroneous than those on which that
ficheme was founded. Sir Robert Peel's grand
expedient for meeting the deficiency in the
national taxation, and for restoring the revenue
to health and efficiency, lats now been in opera-
lion two years. The country is familiar with
its results. The several sources of revenue,
With the increase or decrease, as the case may lie,
on the year and quarter, are thus supplied; and,
as these returns are published by the Govern-
ment, they constitute satisfactory data by which
the financial condition of the country may be
arrived at, and a correct judgment be formed of
the system of taxation to which the Govern-
ment has subjected the nation. The increased
receipts from the Excise for the quarter
amount only to 8,763/. The post-office shows
an improvement of ,0001.;2 but the deficiency
of the latter on the✓ year is 13,00/. This defi-
ciency is, however, attributed to items being
now charged under this, which were formerly
placed to another account. It is thus seen that
the increase upon the legitimate sources of reve-
nue is trifling. Any improvement in those iterns
which indicate the condition of the labouring
classes is, we admit, asubjectofcongratulation. An
improvement in the excise on the yearof3B7,oool•

is, therefore, to be taken as proof, to that extent,
of an increased ability in the consuming classes
of taxed articles to procure a larger quantity of
the necessaries and comforts of life than, for a
considerable period, they had been able to ob-
tain. Still, when the state of depression and suf-
fering, of which the labouring classes had been
long the subjects, is considered, the improvement
in trade, and increased means of procuring more
than mere food, and that of the coarsest kind, is
but trifling. The decrease in Stamps evinces an
apathy in commerce. The diminished receipts
from the Assessed Taxes show that if the Income
Tax enriches the Exchequer in one department,
it induces the individual who is subjected to its
odious operation to curtail his expenses in other
respects. Reduced domestic establishments,
among the more opulent classes of society, and
houses exchanged for tenments of lower rents and
rates, with inability to pay the assessments on even
these, explain the continued decrease upon the
Assessed Taxes. To the Income-tax, therefore,
the boasted improvement in the state of the na-
tional exchequer must be principally assigned.
Even that improvement is the result of the
great statesman's erroneous estimates of the
amount it would produce—errors which cut away
ihe bases of his calculations as to the per cent-
airz.e to be imposed, and the number of years
during which the tax was to be in operation. The
head of Miscellaneous includes, if it does not altoge-
ther comprise, alarge remittance under the treaty
with China—an item which, though it has largely
aided the Exchequer, was not so much as hinted
at in Sir Robert Peel's grand financial exposi-
tion, The same may be remarked of " Corn,"
the duties on which—though they have assisted
the revenue to the extent of 1,300,000/.—were
a god-send to the Minister, though a fiscal
curse to the community. We have gone more
largely and elaborately into the revenue returns
than we have been wont to do on former occa-
sions. The notes of preparation sounded by the
Standard, to prepare the public for Sir Robert
Peel's grand financial triumph, have prompted,
if not provoked, the analysis; which, we
think, will exhibit the great political luminary
somewhat shorn of his beams.
STAN DARD.—It has lately been our pleasing
duty to present to the public a rich array of
proofs of the prosperous advance made by the
empire within the last two years, the effect of
a prudent and patriotic administration of
the Government. Peace conquered and
confirmed—the Britiei territories profitably
augmented—manafactures and commerce re-
stored—boundless fields opened to their
enterprise—and the value of British public
obligations enhanced 10 per cent. To-day
we complete the gratifying work, by announcing
an improvement in the revenue wholly without
example under any circumstances approaching
to similarity. The readers of the Standard
were prepared, by our brief and general, but
accurate, announcement of last night, for
a large increase in the public contribu-
tions of 1843, beyond those of the pre-
ceding year ; in our present number we
lay the figures in detail before them. In the
tables inserted in our first page they will see an
increase, a large increase, in every branch of re-
venue which can by any construction be treated
as an index to the state of the mass of the
people, with reference to their enjoyments
or to their active industry. The year's increase
on the Excise amounts to no less than
387,5031., and the total increase of all sources
of revenue, deducting decrease upon those
heads of taxation which are proofs of distress, not
of prosperity—such as the corn duties and the
stamp duties—amounts, exclusive of the pro-
perty-tax to 1,063,9741.—more than one mil-
lion sterling. Including the property-tax, the
increase would be 5,742,0781., and as respects
the resources of the Exchequer, its abi-
lity to meet the demands of the public ser-
vice, as respects, too, the general ability of the na-
tion, this increase of nearly six millions sterling
is, questionless, a bona fide increase. But this
is not the light in which we wish to have the
returns looked to at present; we would direct
attention to them as evidence of the national
progress, not as evidence of the national strength,
of which, indeed, there was never any rational
doubt: Let us then take the property-tax from
both years, because it was collected during a
part only of 1842, and we shall have a compa-
rative view to which no exception can be taken,

viz..-

842.-44,329,865/., minus 571,0161. property-
tax
[843.-50,071,9431., minus 5,249,2601., pro-
perty-tax