The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-12 00:00:00

ANNUAL EREMIUM TO ASSURE £lOO.

Age.— For One Year—.:\ For Seven Years. I Term of Life.
—-- , -- __
25 £0 19 7 £1 0 7 ' £1 15 1
30 1 1 8 1 2 1 1 19 10
45 1 7 8 1 10 9 3 4 7
50 1 13 5 1 19 0 3 19 3
60 3 1. 1 315 b I 60 10
•

In Assurancei tor Advances of Money, as security for debts
or as a provision "for a family, when the least present outlay
is desirable, the varied and comprehensive tables of the Argus
Office will be•found particularly favourable to the Assured.
A' Board of Directors, with the Aledical Officers, attend
daily E. BATES, Resident Director.
A liberal.coramis. sion to Solicitors and Agents.

The o'.Connell Tribute has lost a plumper of 1001
a year.:by.the death of the, late Master of the Rolls.
This.Sum.was regularly' paid into the fund,•with the
signature " Auonymbus" Chn"

It may, however, be useful to make the public ac-
quainted with what is really known here by well-in-
formed people as to the intention of Prussia, as it is of
the utmost consequence that the community should
not be misled by the crude notions of the ignorant or
the interested statements of parties who put forth
such rumours to suit their own purposes, political or
otherwise. We therefore call attention to the follow-
ing facts, which may be implicitly relied on.
The duty now paid by cotton manufactures in en-
tering the States of the League is .50 dollars (71. 10s.)
sterling per cwt. Woollen goods not fulled, and
goods made of woollen mixed with cotton or worsted,
pay 30 dollars (4/. 125.)
' Now the proposition of Prussia at the present con-
ference is, that the manufactured goods of woollen,
not fulled, and of wool mixed with cotton, having
designs printed upon them, shall be considered as
cotton goods, liable to a duty of 7/. 10s. instead of
4/. 10s.

Goods of that description, dyed only one colour,
remain as in the former tariff, at 4/. 12s. per cwt.
The fact is, that when the present tariff was settled,
such articles were only known in the market dyed
white, or of one colour. The French first introduced
printed goods of the description called mousselin-de-
mine. England followed up the example, but pro-
duced an inferior description of article at a lower price.
The consequence was that they gradually came into
use in place of cotton goods of the same description,
the more so, as the latter description of goods paid
2-sths per cent. more duty, although of less value
than the mousselin-de-laine.

Now the duties of the Zollverein not being levied
ad valorem, a change like that here represented could
not be met by a change of the official value as it would
be in England.. The only remedy would, therefore,
be a more correct classification according to the
changed value, and this is simply the nature of the
Prussian proposal.
It must be recollected that as regards mousselin-
de-laine and other fabrics of wool mixed with cotton,
the general principle of the Union tariff prescribes
:hat mixed goods are to be rated not according to the
rate of the cheaper, but of the dearer material used in
its fabrication. This is an exception in the present
tariff which it is proposed to abolish.
The proposed alteration will not, it is supposed,
amount on an average to more than 10 per cent. ad
valorem, instead of 7 or 8 per cent., which is the
amount of the actual duty ; and the question then
becomes, what quantity or amount of goods is likely
to come under the operation of these altered duties ?
The amount of all the manufactured goods of this
description, and which comes under the head 11, title
C, of the tariff; was in 1840 26,298 cwt., and in 1841
30,844 cwt., of which about two-thirds, or say 20,000
cwt., was English.
Now, it should be remembered that these figures
include every description of the article upon which
the increased duty is proposed to be laid, as well
figured and printed as plain, and if we take what we
understand is really the fact, that only about one-third
of the quantity was printed, and of such a description
as to oome under the increased duty, it would be seen
that the great outcry in the Leeds Mercury is made
about an article upon which the alteration of the duty
upon all exported from this country will not impose a
larger sum than under 20,0001. at the utmost.
It must not be forgotten that, as before stated, goods
of one colour remain at the same duties as before.

It should further be remarked, as a matter of fair-
ness towards Prussia, that the greater portion of
mousselin-de-laines manufactured in Germany are
the manufactures of other States, Prussia herself
making but•a very small quantity of the article.
We see no great reason to place more confidence in
the statement of the writer in the Leeds Mercury, as
regards quincaillerie, or as he pleases to call them,
Birmingham goods. We repeat, there is no good
ground for the assertion that any great increase is to
take place in the import duties on that description of
article. •

We, however, have good reason to know that upon
iron and iron goods generally no change will take
place ;nor upon cotton twist; and we believe that, on
the whole, it will be found that this country has
much less cause for complaint than is anticipated by
the writer in the Leeds Mercury.
It will be found, when the tariff really does come
out, that the alteration in the duties, and the increase
upon some few articles, were but a tub thrown to the
whale, to amuse the smaller States, and to prevent the
imposition of heavy duties upon much more important
articles being insisted on.—Correspondent of the
Times.

Music IN AUSTRIA.—In the schools attached to
the convents music is cultivated equally with the
classics and foreign languages. There are some
abbeys where, besides the usual" choristers, their choir
is aided by the students, novices, and professors. A
military band is often united to their instrumental.
music. In a life, uniform and monotonous such as
theirs, where the bell and the dial regulate their every
act, music may well be termed the poetic side. In
the convents on the Danube every species of music is
cultivated. Haydn's and Mozart's instrumental works
are performed there with a degree of accuracy not to
he surpassed in the drawing-rooms of Vienna. The
brothers meet together several times a week for the
purpose of executing these works • nor do they confine
themselves exclusively to Haydn and Mozart, for
their repertory is diversified with Beethoven, Spohr,
Weber, Hummel, Romberg, May seder, Ries, and
Fesca. They are well acquainted with, and execute
with the greatest skill, foreign productions, such as the
inspirations of Bocherini, Viotti, Kreutzer, Rode,
Baillot, and Clementi.—Ma inzer's Musical Times.

SERIOUS AFFAlR.—Yesterday two carters belong-
ing to Portobello, one of them named Purves the
other Fife, brought a case before the Sheriff* Small
Debt Court, originating in some dispute regarding
the sale or exchange of a horse. The case was de-
cided in favour of Fife ; which so irritated Purves,
that on the way home to Portobello, towards which
the parties on both sides appear to have come almost
in company, he called in at Bo.'vden's public-house, in
Piershill, and requested the loan of a gun and flask of
powder, pretending that he was going to shoot rats.
It would appear that Purves then stopped on the road
to load the gun, putting in small gravel stones instead
of shot ; and coming up to Fife near the Abercorn
Brick and Tile-work at the entrance to Portobello,
he levelled the gun and fired at him, wounding him in
the left arm. Surgical assistance was immediately
procured for the poor man ; and Purves was taken
into custody, and brought into the town by police-
constable Ilome of Portobello. The matter is at pre-
sent under investigation.—Scotsman.

TlMES.—There- can be no doubt that the
statement which we now
give of the produce of
the revenue for the last quarter will greatly dis-
appoint the more sanguine of our readers. Cer-
tainly a general expectation has
prevailed that
the large sum accruing from the duties on corn,
and the levy of the Income-tax on the Midsum-
mer dividends, would together swell the receipt
for the Michaelmas quarter to a very consider-
able extent. These anticipations have not been
realised; and the loss occasioned by the strike
in the manufacturing districts has acted so pre-
judically on the Excise as to have more than
balanced the account. The increase under the
head of customs, including the duties received
on corn, is but 206,7601., and the PrUperty-tax
only yields 313,844/.; while the falling off
in the Excise has been 434,831/.; on the
Stamps, 101,2241.; and on the Assessed-
taxes, 142,7331. The general result on the
quarter, therefore, is a decrease, instead of a large
augmentation,—though that decrease is only
to the extent of 67;473/. This result tells a more
fearful tale of the sufferings and privations
brought upon the labouring classes by the re-
cent disturbances, than any tact or statement
which has yet been.-made Dublic. To this cir-
cumstance,,,,arl4.4,his_-4149AA0 .great and ap,
palling diminution 9f7tre 'Excise duties—a di-
minution at the rate Of 1,800,0001. per annum,
or nearly one-sixth of the whole—must be attri-
buted. We trust that this calamity is, now
passing away, and that the next quarter's account
will tell a different tale : but at present a new
reason for being reconciled to the property-tax
is presented to view, inasmuch as, but for the aid
given by that potent but justly obnoxious engine
of taxation, the state of the national finances
would apparently be such as almost to exercise
an evil influence on the public credit. The result
of the comparison for the year is less disappointing
than that for the quarter. The items of increase
form an aggregate of 1,302,374/. ; those of de-
crease of only 946,3931. The year 1842, there-
fore, exceeds 1841 by 355,9811.
CHRONICLE.—The revenue accounts,
which we elsewhere publish, will somewhat
startle our readers. The revenue for the year
ended October 10, 1842, as compared with the
year ended October 10,1841, exhibits an increase
of 355,9811. And for the quarter ended October
10, 1842, as compared with the quarter ended
October 10, 1841, there is a decrease of 67,4731.
On the year there is an increase in the Customs
of 171,2781., in the Post-office of 165,000/., in
Miscellaneous of 477,803/. There is a decrease
in the Excise of 733,4481., in the Stamps
of 139,712/., in the Taxes of 62,233/., and
in the Crown lands of 11,000/. This would
leave an increase on the year, including
the mysterious Miscellaneous, of 42,137/.,
but for the Property-tax, which enters into
the last quarter. Most persons have been look-
ing to a great increase in the revenue for the
quarter, on account of the quantity of corn which
has been taken out at a tolerably high duty.
But, even allowing for the Property-tax, which
comes into play for the last quarter to the amount
of 313,8441., there is, as we have seen, a posi-
tive decrease of 67,473/. The increase on the
quarter is, in the Customs, 206,760/. ; in the
Post-office, 52,000/. There is a decrease in the
Excise of no less than 434,8311.; in the Stamps
of 101,224/. ; in the Taxes of 142,733/. Had it
not been for the new tax on 'property it would
have amounted to no less than 381,277/. The
consumption of the people must have fearfully
decreased to make the falling off in the Excise
for one quarter no less than 434,831/. What an
amount of destitution is here exhibited !
HERALD:—An abstract of the national in-
come for the quarter and year ending yesterday
will be found in this day's Herald. It is perhaps
more satisfactory in particular items than as a
whole. The increase on the year-355,981/.—is
not very considerable, and is almost entirely
made up of the trifling amount-313,844/.—re-
ceived under the Property-tax, and the decrease
—67,473/.—on the, quarter would have been per-
fectly insignificant had i not occurred in spite of
the amount of Property-tax paid into the Trea-
sury. The importance of the increase-206,7601.
—in the Customs duties on the quarter, is not
to be estimated by the amount, because it has
been produced under the operation of' consider-
ably reduced Customs' duties. It does not appear
front this abstract that merchants refrained
front entering foreign produce for consump
tion, and paying duty thereon, during the
discussions on the new tariff to the extent
which was alleged, and the prospect of the
lower import duties lately enacted
yielding a
larger revenue to the Treasury than those abo-
lished is likely to be realised sooner even than
Sir Robert Peel had anticipated. It will be re-
collected that while the new tariff was under
legislative consideration we ventured to record a
dissent from Sir Robert Peel's too cautious ex-
pectations on this very point, and certainly
.the
result of the last quarter is confirmatory of our
dissent.. The decrease in the Excise, both for
the year and the quarter, is considerable and
painful, as it denotes continued suffering on the
part of the labouring population. The decrease
in the Assessed Taxes is, too, we fear, ascribable
to the same cause. The Post-office receipts im-
prove slowly—very slowly. The account of this
quarter's revenue is not very important, because
it does not contain any heavy contribution front
the Property-tax. That of the next quarter will
probably afford some materials whereon to cal-
culate the proceeds of that source of public reve-
nue and individual burden.
POST.—We publish in another column the
usual official tables of the revenue for the year
and quarter which terminated yesterday, toge-
ther with similar statements for the correspond-
ing periods which ended on the 10th of October,
1841. There is an increase in the receipts of the
present year, as compared with the last, of
335,981/. ; while we regret to observe that in the
last quarter there is a small diminution, arising
from the circumstance that the produce of the
Excise duties has fallen off to an extent for
which the receipt on account of Income-tax and
the increased Customs revenue from the importa-
tion of foreign corn have not yielded entire corn-
.—The official publication of the Re-
pensation.
veGnuLe°AßcEcounts_is looked to by men of all parties
as a faithful index to the condition of the country.
The impetuosity of partizanship too frequently
induces a disregard of facts. Declamation is
substituted fur argument ; and rumours, fre-
quently unfounded, are made to assume the
character and importance
of ascertained truth.
The authenticated statement appears, and the de-
ception is detected. For this reason we abstained
from giving publicity to the reports that were in
circulation during the last week, respecting the
fearful exhibition which the quarterlystatement of
the Revenue would present. With the knowledge
that an amount of duty of at least a million ster-
ling had been received in the Customs depart-
ment on the importation of corn.alone ; and that
the newly-imposed Income-tax, levied on the
Midsummer dividends and on the salaries of the
in all the official departments,
must servants
must realise not less than 300,000/., we could not
credit the reports which prevailed in usually well-
informed quarters, that the forthcoming official
statement would present a
.decrease in the re-
ceipts. The prediction was m itself so improba-
ble, and the motive which would have been im-
puted to the publication of the error, should it so
prove, so injurious, that we chose rather to wait
the event, than to incur. the resp3nsibility of
alarming the public apprehensions by givingaddi-
tional circulation to unauthenticated and impro-
bable reports. The official accounts have set
speculation at rest; and we regret to state, con-
firmed to the fullest extent the rumours of de-
falcation in the public receipts, notwithstanding
ived
the large amount rece by the Customs during
the quarter on the account of corn, and which,
under the " is an accident, and
not an essential ingredient of the revenue; and
the amount received under the operation of the
iniquitous and oppressive Income-tax. Despite
of these appliances and_ means of increase, the
quarter's accounts (the details of which will b.:
I found in another column) present a fearful diml-
nution!
STANDARD.—The revenue returns for Vie
year and the quarter respectively .:s-
terday, have been made up- The last d
year as
compared with the year preceding, presents an
increase of 355,9811- i the last quarter, as com-
pared with the quarterenclitic, October 10, 1841,
a decrease of 67,473/- It would be wilfully to
deceive ourselves and our readers to treat this
result as satisfitctorY) considered absolutely; but

it is only right to say, that the appearance is
worse than the truth of the circumstances
warrants, and that
.things might have been
much worse, and, as we were proceeding up to the
summer of 1841, must have become much worse.
First, the comparison of the several quarters
ending on the 10th of October, 1841-184'2, is a
very unfavourable comparison for the, latter.
The October quarter of last year embraced a
general election, always. an occasion of extra-
ordinary expenditure, and, as will be seen by the
table, exceeded. the preceding quarter by a
million and a half L--the April quarter by nearly
two • millions. The quarter ending yester-
day, on the other hand, comprised a
very extensive insurrection, which, though
formidable to nothing else, was certainly
fiamidable to the Excise from the shape it took
of a cessation from labour, and, of course, from
expenditure, on the part of the insurgents, as
well as from the shock which it necessarily gave
to the credit and commerce of the districtsdis-
turbed. These circumstances of difference will
go a great way in accounting for the falling off
in the last quarter, which- was mainly in
the Excise, Stamps, and Taxes. There is, how-
ever, another, and a more important view
of the state of the population suggested by the
return before us. The Excise revenue, and every-
other Iranch of • revenue which depends
upon general 6;:tiaTtUption, has. been steadily
diminishing since the New Poor-law Bill came
into operation. This surely cannot be the effect
of accident; this surely must demonstrate to all
men not utterly stupified by the nonsense of the
Malthusian economists, that there is something
financially wrong in the change—something that
affe.qs injuriously classes which once imagined
themselves secure from the reflection of blows
administered to mere labourers—classes that
lately would feel indignant at the hypothesis
of any supposed identity between their in-
terests and the interests of the poor. There
is another important fact established by the '.
late returns, to which we invite the attention of li
those Conservatives who have been disposed to
cavil at Sir Robert Peel's financial system, and.
more particularly at the Property-tax. It is
easy to say that a Property-tax is burdensome,
inquisitorial, humiliating, though none can pre-
tend that is unjust; but easy as it is to quarrel
with the accidents of this, ,which is, in its
essence, the most just of all forms of taxa-
tion, still the plain blunt question re-
mains, what was the Minister to do? Every
man who has the use of his eyes, and
of his reason, must see from the tables be-
fbre us that the limits of indirect taxation (see
the Excise returns) had been passed, and that
the limits of such quasi indirect taxation as the
Assessed Taxes had been, at least, arrived at.
What resource, then, had the Minister, if it was
not a Property-tax •He might, no doubt have
imitated the attempt of the late Ministers, and
of the swindlers whose exploits supply the poi-
lice reports, by wriggling for a few years from
scheme to scheme, " victimising," as the phrase
is,, :one. interest after another, but in the
end it must come to this—a Property-tax, and a
Property-tax not like the present, in aid of many
other sources of revenue, but a Property-tax
commensurate with the whole national expendi-
ture ; and such a Property-tax we need not say
would ultimately resolve itself into a contribu-
bution from capital, and not from income. This
the proprietary classes themselves must admit, if
they cannot show some source of indirect taxa-
tion that would supply the growing deficiency in
the public income.

MONEY MARKET and ClitY NEWS•

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
TIMES.—The English stocks, though evincing
little activity, have improved a shade, the news from
India, now well considered, being believed to be of a
character well calculated to remove the impression of
the ultimate ill-success of our arms in Affghanistan.
India Stock has also recovered, and Exchequer bills
present an improved appearance ; altogetherthe market
closed this afternoon firm and satisfactory.
It has been officially announced that gr. Burdekin,
the Managing Director of the Bank of Manchester,
has absconded. No blame is attached to the Direc-
tors for having in the first instance appointed him
Manager of the bank, but the whole evil is attributed
to his having subsequently become a Director also,
which of course made him at once a master and
servant in the same institution—a position of almost
unlimited power, and which never ought to be
tolerated in any Joint-Stock Company. It is now
time to advert to a circular from "a Shareholder"
of the Bank of Manchester to his associates,
which has been before us for some days, but which,
as it is anonymous, and as it reflects severely upon
Mr. Burdekin, we did not think it right to advert
to before. The " Shareholder" calls attention to
the present position of the Company, which for some
time has paid no dividend, and the shares of which are
now unsaleable at 31., while 101. have been paid upon
them. The losses of the bank, according to this cir-
cular, amount to 700,0001., of which 170,0001. was
advanced to Messrs. Joseph Raleigh and Co., since
bankrupts. This advance the " Shareholder" con-
siders to have been perfectly unjustifiable ; and he
says there is no reason for surprise that the London
agents, Messrs. Denison and Co., should have refused
to accept the drafts of the bank. He therefore urges
that at the next meeting the dismissal of Mr. Burde-
skin and others should be insisted on, and that disin-
terested persons, of high standing, should be appointed
to audit the accounts, and search into the quality and
amount of the remaining assets. No reliance, he
thinks, can be placed in the statements of interested
parties, who are in the receipt of large salaries, and
who must naturally be inclined to carry on the bank,
even to the absolute ruin of the Shareholders. This
circular is dated the 15th ult.
From all that transpires respecting the investiga-
tion now going on into the Custom-house frauds,
there is every reason to believe that the inquiry is not
carried on with that caution which the importance of
the case deserves. The testimony of one of the wit-
nesses who was himself engaged in the fraud, but
who saved himself from the consequences by giving
evidence against his companions, is said to be taken
without reserve, though it it obvious that such testi-
mony should be most rigidly scrutinized. Every day
it is said there are new v►ctims by his word alone;
for as the charges he brings forward extend over a
period of five years, it is found impossible even for an
innocent man to disprove them. It is even reported
that a few days ago a landing-waiter was suspended
merely upon the version which the witness gave of a
conversation held four years ago. The greatest alarm
is felt among the different officers in the Custom-
house, for not only can they feel no security while
evidence is so unscrupulously taken, but it seems that
matters are so managed that the informing party
makes a profit of his informations, and is therefore in-
terested in making them as numerous as possible. If
these evils exist to such an extent as is thus reported,
it is surely an argument against the Board being a
close Court.