The Sun.
London, England, 1844-04-30 00:00:00

fIIØIIIITT

LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 1844.

THE BUDGET.

The great feature of the session clme out last
flight, and, what is creditable to the Government,
came out according to promise. We have known
budgets delayed for weeks after a solemn announce.
ment: that they would be brought out on a specified
day. On this point, therefore, Mr. GOULBURN has
the advantage of his predecessors ; he has also the
advantage of a fall treasury, thanks to the income-
tax ; and, as might have been expected, he went
through the details like a man with plenty of money
in his pocket, in a joyful mood. The total amount
of the income-tax he stated to be 5,315,0001., or about
2,000,0001. more than Sir ItonEtur calculated upon
when he introduced the 13111. Here was cause
for rejoicing, but whether the unfortunate contri-
butors rejoice at the result is another question.
it is gratifying to find however that there are
Causes for rejoicing. On several of the import duties
there has been a- considerable increase. On sugar
there, has been an increase of 200,000/., on tea
;300,0004 on cotton wool 900,000/., and in va-
rious other articles imported into the country there
has-been a proportionate increase. The estimate for
the Excise, he calculated at 13,000,000/., and the
actual amount has been 12,900,000/., nearly within
the mark. In the Post-office there has also been an
increase, and the return shows that it had exceeded
th'e calculation by 28,0001.; and, taking all items into
into account, the actual,BBB7t,tuorin., hasthe exceeded
e
Ole . calculations by
for the year being estimated at 50,15,0,0Lr0/i.g,
while it had actually been 52,138,8401. r
A the other items into account, in several of
which there had been a deficiency, the surplus for the
year ending April 1, was 1,400,0001. The CliAN-
c4Lon of the EXCHEQITER then stated his cal-
culations. for the ensuing. year. The Customs he
reckoned would amount to 21,500,000/., and the Ex-
cise to 13,000,000/., the Property-tax to 5,100,0001.,
and. With the other taxes the total amount would be
51,796;0601; After some other details respecting
the iri6Orne and expenditure of the country, he ad-
!rtfid',,With much satisfaction to the reduction of the
hree..and-Half per Cent. stock, and praised the House
and the' country for the manner in which they had
supported him in a plan which reduced the in-
t,Actlie4 rlovit..:r. dissentients
. enormous sum of 250,000,0001. The
.iv
I.6:.,silialr;she total
amounthardly
being
requirede
onlyn 2oti4Cei 1 theyiol
;,....2!...-, . Fid-,p'EFater tiroportion of that amount arose from
-::-.*:,Offeuinstaricct that residents abroad, and chiefly in
Y-,..! ',.—.----.-ie: colonies, lainot yet signified their intentions. It
-} •-.— -was prObable,..- Meyer, that in due time the greater
C
N.:
_part of theni would signify their assent, and the num-
.'-ber ddissentients would amount to a mere trifle. To

pay off Oboe dissentients, he proposed to set apart
200,0001. The total expenditure of the year he cal-
culated at 48,643,1701., the amount of the revenue at
51,790,0001., leaving a surplus of 3,146,8301. Next
came the reduction of taxation, and we regret it is
so meagre. The first reduction he proposed was one
on glass, which would amount to 45,000/. The
second was a reduction of the excise on the article
of vinegar. This announcement excited loud laugh-
ter. He then endeavoured to repress the laughter by
showing the importance of the, article in various
trades and manufactures, but without effect. The
laughter still continued, and he proceeded to another
item, which he said was one of considerable import-
ance—marine insurance. He then stated the re-
ductions in detail, which, on the whole, would
amount to 100,000/. He also proposed to reduce the
stamp duty on agreements made by railway com-
panies. The next proposed reduction also excited
loud laughter. " I mean," said he, " a reduc-
tion in the article of currants.—(Laughter.) Now,
what are currants ? They are but grapes after
all.— (Continued laughter.) I propose to re-
duce the duty on currants from 225. to 155.,"
which would make a sacrifice of about 90,000/. - On
coffee imported from foreign States he would also
make a reduction. The duty at present is Bd., and
he proposed to reduce it to 6d. From this change,
and another on chicoree root, he calculated a diminu-
tion of revenue to the amount of 50,0001. On foreign
wool, which he considered the most important item,
he proposed to take off the entire duty, which last year
amounted to 100,000/. The total reduction on glass,
vinegar, currants, coffee, marine insurances, and wool,
would amount in round numbers to 400,000/. With
regard to sugar, he said it was his intention to move,
when the treaty with Brazil expired in November
next, a reduction on all sugars exempt from the
slave trade, which would throwSepen all the countries
eastward of the Cape, and thereby encourage the
_trade with China. According to this arrangement,
therefore, no reduction will take place on this neces-
sary article of life till next session. The Right Hon.
Gentleman, after some flourishes about the prosperity
of the country and the forbearance of the House of
Commons, conclu,ded his long speech amid cheers.
Mr. HUME expressed great dissatisfaction that the
reductions were not greater, while he commended the
Government for some of the proposed changes. They
ought not, he said, to go on in this higgling manner ;
they ought to set free all those branches of industry
which were fettered by the Excise and Custom laws.
They might also reduce the army, navy. ordnance,
and miscellaneous estimates, and make a saving of
4,000,0001. a year.
Mr. WlLLzaass also expressed his regret that
larger reductions had not been made, and expressed
his firm conviction that the income-tax, instead of
being temporary, would be perpetual.
Mr. BARING said one great omission of the Right
Hon. Gentleman was with regard to the
income-tax ; no mention had been made whe-.
ther it was the intention of the Government
to continue it beyond three years, as originally pro-
posed, and upon that the whole financial calculations
hung. It would have been a more manly course to
have stated whether it was to cease or be continued
for three years longer. The only allusion to it was,
that the subject would be brought forward next year.
He approved of the reductions proposed, and only re-
gretted that they did not go further. As to the pro-
posed reductions on sugar, he could see no reason in
the Government scheme. -It would encourage the
growth of sugar produced by slave States, as much as
if they admitted it at once from Brazil.
Sir ROBERT PEEL pointed at the danger and the
inconsistency of reducing the national establish-
ments, and particularly our naval and military forces,
while other countries were making large preparations
for any hostile event. With regard to the income-
tax, he considered it would be more conformable to
common sense to wait till the period for which it had
been fixed was expired. Next session they would be
much better qualified to discuss the question. He
then repeated what he had stated on the introduction
of the tax, namely, that Parliament, he hoped, would
not be unwilling to continue it for five years, but
possibly, owing to the increasing prosperity of the
country, it might not be required for more than three.
In the meantime it would, be better to wait and see
the result of the proposed ehanges, and the state of
the country next year.

After some remarks from Mr. LarsoucHEßE and
other Members the discussion closed.

Sir G. CLERK gave notice that on Monday next the
House would be moved to resolve itself into Com_
mittee to lake into consideration the question of the
Bank Charter.

The House adjourned at a Quarter to Twelve.
We have not space to give an outline of the pro-
ceedings in the House of Lords, but we call the at-
tention of our readers to the discussion which took
'place relative to the recal of Lord ELLENBOROUGH.
The Duke of WELLINGTON, it will be seen, denounced
in the strongest terms the course adopted by the
Court of Directors. He called their conduct indis-
creet, and added, that a more indiscreet exercise of
power had never been exerted since he became con-
nected with public affairs.

We are glad that the League, through its recog-
nised leader, has spoken out on the subject of
shortening the hours of labour, and shown to the
country that in this, as in all social questions, sound
philosophy is the surest guide to useful philanthropy.
Mr. COBDEN has pointed out the means of effecting
the good which all must desire, the diminution of
factory toil, without inflicting what would be a more
than counterbalancing evil, a reduction of wages, and
consequently of the means of obtaining the necessa-
ries of life. The opposition which Lord ASHLEY has
met from many of the Leaguers, was obviously
directed not against his end, but his means. Unfortu-
nately, we live in an age pre-eminent above all others
for boldness in misrepresentation, and the advocates
of monopoly eagerly embraced such an opportunity
of placing the free-traders in an invidious light
before the operative classes. Mr. COBDEN'S speech
has removed all excuse for such misapprehension,
and we cannot help wishing that it had been made
at an earlier stage of the conflict. Profits
are the wages-fund of the country, and
Lord ASHLEY'S proposal directly and imme-
diately tended to their diminution ; but it is to
be first considered whether manufacturing profits are
at present so great as to he able to endure such a
subtraction as must follow from taking away one-
sixth of the income derived from the most important
branches of British industry. It is on the produc-
tiveness of capital that wages depend ; to render
capital unproductive is to condemn the working-man
to idleness and starvation ; to lessen the amount of
its productiveness is to lower the wages, and, there-
fore, the subsistence of the operative in the same
proportion. It was, therefore, the course equally
pointed out by sound policy and true humanity first
to secure the wages-fund, and then to regulate the
amount of employment. We have been from the
first zealous advocates of the Ten Hours' Bill ; we
lament that there should be a necessity in the nine-
teenth century, and in such a country as England,
for legislative interference to obtain for the working-
men such relaxation of employment as is necessary
for the preservation of their physical health and for
their moral and intellectual advancement. It seems
now to be conceded on all hands that nothing will be
done on the subject this session. Our statesmen feel
that they are fettered and impeded by the inroads which
restrictive laws and the income-tax have already made
on the great wages-fund, the profits of commercial
and manufacturing industry. It is therefore the clear
duty of all who have advocated a Ten Hours' Bill to
consider the means by which the wages-fund may be
so increased as to allow the hours of labour to be
shortened without abstracting from the income of the
working man, which is limited enough already, and
subject to heavy deductions from the unequal pres-
sure of our system of taxation. As wages come out
of profits, and profits arise from sales, it is evident that
an increase of the wages-fund can only arise from
enlarged markets. Let us then earnestly endeavour
to remove those monopolies and restrictions which
close the markets of the world against the products of
our industry. Free-trade includes a safe Ten Hours'
Bill in its blessings ; it will enable the manufacturer
to sell more goods, to pay more wages, and to give
to those in his employment the rest essential to their
health, and the leisure necessary for their social im-
provement. Not only will the manufacturers be able
to give equal, or perhaps more, wages for a shorter
period of work, but the operatives will be in a posi-
tion to command them, as indeed they could have
done in 1835 and 1836, had they, during that pros-

perous period, fixed their desires on a Ten Hours'
Bill. The season of brisk trade is the season of the
operative's strength ; when two men seek one master
the master may dictate his own conditions ; but when
two masters seek one man the position is reversed,
and the operative has the power of legislating for him-
self in fixing the amount and remuneration of his
labour.

The annual distribution of prizes inithe medical
department of University College took place on Satur-
day last in the lecture-room of that noble institution.
Lord BaouGnam—its original founder—presided on
tha occasion, and after the prizes had been all dis-
tributed, proceeded to congratulate the meeting on the
flourishing state of the funds of the University, en its
excellent system of education, and on the high cha-
racter of its professors. Referring incidentally to a
charge which its enemies have more than once
brought against it, his Lordship observed ;—" They,
the College, had no religious observances. They had
been blamed for this, and told they had too little
religion. He differed from those who held
that opinion. It was because they had so
much religion that they considered it too
sacred a subject to be lightly dealt with."
There is infinite good sense in this observa-
tion. Religion is, indeed, far too "sacred a subject"
to be lightly treated ; and the routine system pur-
sued at our Universities in this respect, shows that
people may be in the daily practice of religious ob-
servances, without their devotional feelings being in
the slightest degree called forth. Every one who is
familiar either with Cambridge or Oxford, must
be well aware that it has been the custom there to in-
sist 'on the attendance of the under-graduates at the
College chapel twice a day. This is the rule, but
as it has been found difficult and inexpedient
to carry it out to the full extent, it has been in some
measure relaxed, and the authorities are now—and
have been for some years—satisfied with the attend-
ance of the students nine times a week at chapel.
But even this partial relaxation of a mere religious
observance, with which the heart has nothing to do,
has not been found to answer the purpose it was in-
tended to answer. The attendance, we regret
to say, is still regarded too much as a
" bore," and often do the under-graduates rush
out from their wine-parties at the unwelcome
sound of the bell, hurry on their white surplices, and
go through the required forms at chapel, with no
other feelings than those of impatience and vexation.
The whole thing is considered to be a cold, formal,
monotonous ceremony—a mere matter of religious
etiquette; and the common sense of the parties en-
gaged in it rather revolts from it than otherwise.
Surely the real interests of religion are not—cannot
be—advanced by such a lifeless, mechanical system
as this There is no judicious training or culture of
the mind here—no sowing of such seeds of piety as
shall take root and bring forth fruit in due season.
The whole affair is little better than a hollow
mockery, and we think that the authorities of Uni-
versity College have acted wisely in dispensing with
it. Lord BROUGHAM went on to observe :—" When
this Institution was first established, the projectors
did confidently expect that their magnificent esta-
blishment, in which education of the- highest order
would be taught at so low a rate, would be crowded
with persons eager to avail themselves of such op-,
portunities. At Oxford and Cambridge the same
class and quality of education, for which they would
only have to pay twenty-five pounds per annum at
University College, would cost frOm two hundred to
three hundred pounds, yet the citizens did not send
their children to receive the advantage of this econo-
mical arrangement. They preferred (and he could
not sufficiently express the thorough scorn and con-
tempt which he felt for their conduct) they preferred
making a purse of two or three hundred pounds to
educate their eldest sons at Oxford or Cam-
bridge, and left all the rest of the family
to grow up in ignorance." This is Imo-
ther striking illustration of that rage for
the genteel and the respectable, which is so
conspicuous a feature of the present day. It is astp-
nishing what pecuniary sacrifices, even men who are
fond of money and are impressed with a most en-
sited notion of its value, will make in order to esta-
blish a claim to gentility ! Why do not our citizens
allow their sons to be educated at University Col-
lege ? The system of tuition pursued there is a cheap
one, and it is also of the highest and most
efficient character. Granted, but then it is not gen-
teel—it is not something to boast of in the way of,
superior respectability A rich London tradesman
feels no self-exaltation—no pleasing thrill of vanity
at telling his friends and acquaintances that his son
goes to University College; but he does feel his self-
complacency exalted, when he has it in his power to
inform them that he has a son at Oxford or Cam-
bridge. The very announcement o£ such a fact
raises him in his own estimation—it is a proof,
That he is a man of substance—of respect-
ability—that he is a member of the thriving
family of the Somebodies. And yet, at Uni-
versity College, his son is sure to receive a sound edu-
cation ; moreover, he is still under the parental eye,
and freed from all temptations to extravagance; while,
at Oxford or Cambridge, he is far away from home
constant opportunities of running into expense and
dissipation are allowed him; and the odds are that,
long ere the period arrives for taking his degree, he
is inextricably involved in debt, and has learned
❑othing but the, art •of killing time,. injuring his
health, and blighting his prospects for life!

We have accounts from Lisbon by the Peninsular
steamer to the 22d of April, where public affairs re-
mained nearly in the same state. The troops in the
fortress of Almeida, with BONED! at their head, still
continued to bid defiance to Viscount FONTE NOVA
and his 4,000 men ; and not only so, but it now turns
out that the rebels have really been able to get up
something in the semblance of a guerilla party in
their favour, so as to give an appearance of popularity
to their cause.

Two Royal decrees had been published, one esta-
blishing what may be regarded as tantamount to
martial law throughout the kingdom, and another
prolonging the suspension of the Habeas Corpus and
the liberty of the press, to the 23d of May next
Several suspected persons had been shipped off to
some distant colony without any form of trial. Among
them 8.7 e the Deputies LEONEL TAVARES and GRIJO,
the editor of the Tribuno, ANTONIO DB CUNHA, and
HOLTREMAN, a lawyer.

Madrid papers of the 21st have been received, but
they bring no intelligence of the slightest interest.
The QUEEN was to leave Madrid on the Bth of May
for the Baths of Echavaleta, in Guipuzcoa.
The following appears in a Barcelona paper, and
shows that the present movement among the Carlists
is encouraged by Don CARLOS himself:—

" The ex-Carlist Brigadier Domingo Forcadell, who has
been seized en the frontier, had about him a Royal dispatch,
again appointing hint Brigadier, and three patents of the
national order of St. Ferdinand, all of them signed by his
pretended King. A few days ago the Carlists severely
wounded two French Custom-house officers who were in pur-
suit of them."

The Castellano, a Madrid paper, announces, by
authority, that no change in the Cabinet is con-
templated.
The Three per Cents. were done at 36 for cash, and
363 at 60 days, and the Five per Cents. at 221 at
60 days.

The heaviness of the debate in the French Chamber
of Peers was much relieved on Friday by a violent
attack by Count DB MONTALEMDERT on the Univer-
sity, and by the President compelling a Peer to make
a speech. The Noble Count, after a long speech in
praise of the clergy, referred to the religious side of
the question, and asserted that the majority of the
young men who left the University came out sceptics
and disbelievers. Let the experiment, he said, be
tried. Take one hundred youths who had terminated
their studies-, and not ten Christians would be found
amongst them! Religion was every- day attacked in
its dogmas either directly or indirectly—by works
published by certain professors, or by discourses de-
livered to their pupils. The Minister of Public In-
struction, M. VILLEMAIN, indignantly repelled the
charge, and denied that the University was hypocritical
and tyrannical. It accorded liberty, he said, but under
proper regulations. In reference to England, he
reminded M. DE DIPNTILLEMBERT that no college
could be established without a Royal charter, and
that it required the Reform Bill to authorise the
foundation of the London University, after a struggle,
which lasted 25 years, of the Catholics against the
Protestant Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.
As to M. DR MONTALEIIDERT and those whom he
represented, they had not said what. they really