The Sun.
London, England, 1842-07-06 00:00:00

PUBLIC OPINION.

The Times has the following cursory remarks nn the quar-
ter's revenue :—•' The quarterly return of the revenue, which
we this day publish, contains no feature of importance. Amidst
the wide and notorious prevalence of national distress, it is
some consolation to be enabled to say that its reflux on the
national resources is much less than would have been antici-
pated. On the year ending the sth instant an increase of re-
venue, amounting to 665,1751., is exhibited ; but as a portion
of this increase, amounting to 463,1471., is placed under the
vague heading of miscellaneous,' there exist no possible means
of assigning its just value till the details are furnished. In the
quarterly return there is this discouraginc, element, that in
the comparison with the quarter ending July 5, 1841, there
is a decrease in the customs alone of 426,395/, sufficient
to overbalance all the items of increase which appear
under the other heads of revenue, and to leave on balance
a decrease in the quarterly revenue of 26,427/. The
Post-office experiment makes a slower progress than was anti-
cipated, but is not absolutely unfavourable. The increase in
the year ending the sth inst. is 106,000/., and on the quarter
35,000/. From this point in the returns of the national income
the public may now look, it is to be hoped, for a regular ad-
vance; we do not mean that arising from the Income-tax,
which is a palpable and obvious one, but from the further de-
velopement of our resources as a commercial country. If not,
the great measures of the present session will have been passed
in vain.

The Tones thus alludes to the recent judgment of Lord
Brougham respecting lay baptism :—" On Saturday last Lord
Brougham delivered the judgment of the Privy Council upon
the validity of lay baptism, as viewed by the laws and canons of
the Church of England. That baptism has been adjudged
good ; and we are disposed heartily to acquiesce in that deci-
sion. It certainly derives no slight authority from its accord-
ance with the ecclesiastical law and practice of, we believe, all
the rest of Christendom."

On the subject of the revenue the Chronicle says—" Our
renders will find elsewhere the revenue accounts for the
quarter and year ended sth July 1842. On the quarter, as
compared with the corresponding quarter of 1841, there is a de-
crease of 26,427/. The great decrease is on the customs,
426,395/.
In the Excise there is an increase of
Stamps
Taxes . ....
Post-office ....

£94,000
17,558
28,548
35,000

£175,106

'f we deduct this sum from the decrease in the cus-
toms

The deficiency on the quarter would be
But then the increase on the item Miscellaneous
amounts to no less than... 195,522

Which reduces the deficiency to £55,767
And there is an increase in imprest and other moneys £69,545
Not exactly understanding these items, we, of course sup-
pose that great industry has been employed in the con-
trivances to reduce apparently the amount of deficiency.
In the revenue for the year there in an increase of £779,903
And, after deducting the decrease 114,728

The balance of increase is.

Here again the increase is chiefly in the miscellaneous, 463,1471.
We are glad to perceive that the next important item on which
there is an increase is the Post-office, which has yielded for the
year no less a sum than 539,000/., and on which the increase
'is no less than 106,0001. It is a subject on which the people of
these islands may well feel proud, that after the great revolu-
tion, by which individuals, however distant from each other,
have been admitted to the privilege of intercommunication, at '
an expense hardly felt by the poorest of them, there should, on
deducting all charges, still accrue a revenue of 530,0001., with
the prospect of a still greater increase. Were the Post-office
merely able to pay its expenses, it would still be a powerful
means of forwarding the business of the country, to say nothing
of the additions which so enormous an increase of intercommu-
nication must have made to social enjoyment."
The Herald says —" The amount of revenue for the year
ending yesterday is 45,337,400/., against 44,672,225/. for the
year expiring the same day last year. The improvement,
small though it be, in the income derived from the excise,
stamps, taxes, Post-office, and miscellaneous imposts, is sa- '
tisfactory—the more so, as it occurs during a period when,
were distress universal, those sources of income would have
been depressed in production. There is nothing in the revenue
accounts for the quarter to beget fear or despondency—on the
contrary there is a little to encourage hope. Were all our
national prospects as bright as those of the Treasury, there
would indeed be little to apprehend.

IVIONEY—TIiZIDE—COMMERCE.
The seventh anniversary of the Fishmongers' and Poul-
terer's Society was held )csterday evening at the West India
Dock Tavern, Blackwell. The Report showed the Society to
be flourishing; there were already 2,5501. invested in the
Three per Cent. Consols.
A quarterly General Court of the Proprietors of South Sea
Stock was held yesterday in Threadneedle-street. The divi-
dend declared for the halt-year was one and three-quarters per
cent. ; the present amount of the guarantee fund is 348,8591.
9s. Id. in the Three per Cents.