The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-05-04 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

J. 11.—The Historic Society goes to Warrington on Friday
next. The members of Council of the Literary and Philoso-
phical and Architectural Societies are invited to be present
at the same time.
CLERICUS.—The Church and State Gazette copied our para-
graph correctly, but it contained an erratum. Rector
Campbell did not say that he would " permit," but that be
would prevent, the preaching in the surplice during his
incumbency.
63- We shall be happy, at all times, to receive communications
on subjects of local or general interest ; and if our friends
will be good enough to authenticate the same by their signa-
tures, for our own satisfaction, we shall feel obliged.

Eiberpoot tanbarbo

TUESDAY MORNING, MAY 4, 1852.

THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER'S

FINANCIAL STATEMENT.

A. PEACEFUL revolution has just been accom-
plished, and Great Britain has been de:ivered, for
ever, from the rule of the " Red Tapists." For
centuries past, and more especially since the days
of OLIVER CROMWELL, the administration of the
affairs of this country has been monopolized by a
select few, attached to one or other of our great

antagonistic parties. The battle of opposing prin-
ciples, or policy, has been often lost and won : the
feelings of the people being arrayed now on this
side, and now on that. But in how few cases
have those whose eloquence or talent has mainly
contributed to secure the victory, been permitted
to participate in the rewards ! Whatever leading
statesman may have been called, as the result of
such a struggle, to the councils of his Sovereign,
has been forthwith surrounded by a hungry brood
of men of mere details,—officials, who have served
a sort of apprenticeship to folding papers, compiling
returns ; who are au fait at the proper etiquette
and routine to be observed in conducting public
business. If men of large views, and commanding
talent, have presumed to press their claims to con-
sideration, the reply has been "avaunt!—ite procul
profani 1" They have been told that they were not
possessed of the requisite "official experience," and

second and third rate men have strutted in stations
which better and abler men have won for them.
Lord DERBY, on assuming the reins of govern-
ment, was in the presumed dilemma of having no
such men of " official experience" within his reach.
The subordinates of the PEEL ministry had set up
for themselves, and were bidding independently
for power. Those of Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S go-

vernment were a snug family party, attached by
cousinship, and other similar ties, to the fortunes
of their leader. The Earl of DERBY had, therefore,
before him the alternative of confessing himself un-
able to form a government, or of breaking through
the established rule of things, and selecting men
of high ability, though unused to official life and
its ways. He chose the bolder and more manly
course. He recognized and relied upon the talent
which had gained for him the victory over his oppo-
nents. He opened up " a new mine," and he has
onf
ffic
detailsecfoi
arlt h tanhbneidt Cuigents:
ewast;E:t
htLresi
ceakxnsn,dl Nms
avi
yeL syaobiNan
abate
been rewarded by the discovery of " the genuine
h
ttohi raeet
in enHoe
ed
their absurd pretensions. After the career, thus
far, of the gentlemen placed at the head of the va-
rious departments of Lord DERBY'S government,
and especially after the masterly financial exposi-
tion delivered by the new CHANCELLOR OF THE
EXCHEQUER on Friday night, it must now be
acknowledged that there is nothing so very difficult
in the administrative department of government,
that it cannot be mastered by talent and applica-
tion; and that, for the future, when men of a high
class of intellect are within the reach of a minister,
he need be under no necessity to bid for the services
of well taught parrots, or mere masters of routine
ant precedent.
With respect to the manner of Mr. DISRAELI'S
statement, it is acknowledged to have been beyond
all praise. It was not, as many may have antici-
pated from such a man, merely a well-conned
lesson. He had evidently studied throughout, and
was at home in, his subject. But the matter will
not have satisfied everybody. It has not satisfied
—nay, it has confounded—his political opponents.
They hoped from him for some crude proposition;
some claptrap, got up with a view to attract popu-
larity as a hustings question, but incapable of being
carried out. Mr. DISRAELI, however, has shewn
a most un-Whiggisb aversion to such dishonesty;
and in this he has acted wisely. He has looked a
little beyond the mere emergency of the hour; and
the fact ought to afford assurance, both to the
Whig-Radical party and to Conservatives, that the
Ministry, of which he is a prominent member, con-
template such a consolidation of its power as will
enable it to govern the country, upon a definite
policy, for an extended period. A few unreflecting
members of his own party may also be amongst
the number of the disappointed ; but such men
ought to weigh well his position, and the impor-
tance of maintaining secure the ability of the State
to meet promptly the demands which may be made
upon it. We admit, at once, that with a surplus
revenue last year, amounting to L 2,180,479, some
reduction of particular taxes, desirable in them-
selves, might be advocated. This could be done,
however, only by those who are prepared to submit
to the infliction, for an indefinite period, of the
Income and Property-tax. It should be borne in
mind, too, by such parties, that the surplus in
question could not be depended upon, as likely to
to occur again this year. The late Chancellor had
the benefit of the Exhibition year. He had also
half-a-year of the Window Duties, now repealed,
which, deducting the produce of its substitute, the
Property Tax, amounted to upwards of aOO,OOO.
Mr. DISRAELI has had left him by the Whig party
the Caffre war, the cost of which for the year is
already estimated at --E660,000. Under such cir-
cumstances, the renewal for twelve months of the
Income Tax is inevitable ; and, even with this aid,
the expected surplus for the year, of £461,000, is
rather too small to afford any sensible relief to the

of reduced taxation

In every respect, we consider the course taken by

Mr. DISRAELI as the very best which he could