The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-10 00:00:00

TO CORR ES PO N Dlt N TS.

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TUESDAY MORNING, JAN. 10, 1854.

THE statement of the National Revenue, which
was published on Friday, is, upon the whole, satis-
factory, though not perhaps more favourable than
might have been anticipated, when we take into
account the vast increase in Imports and Exports;
and the general activity in trade and manufactures,
by which the year has been distinguished. It will
be seen, upon reference to the tables in another
column, that on the account for the year the
increase in ordinary revenue is £702,808, the items
on which there is a decrease being—Taxes,
£223,975 ; and Miscellaneous, £117,354. The
increase is further augmented by imprest and
other money £245,026, and repayments of
advances £368,091, making a grand total of
£1,315,925. Upon the account for the quarter
this state is almost directly reversed, there being
an increase of £63,000 on the Post-office, and a
decrease on every other item of ordinary revenue,
the total decrease being £299,297. The decrease
in Customs and Excise may be readily accounted
for by the‘reductions on Tea and Sugar duties, and
the abolition of several minor Customs' duties, and
the Excise duty on Soap; but it is not so easy to
account for the falling off in Stamps, Taxes, and
Property-tax, inasmuch as the new penny receipt
stamp is believed to have yielded more revenue
than the previous higher rate, and no alterations
have been made in other taxes, except the imposi-
tion of a new one on succession to real property.
Upon the whole, however, the account is satisfac-
tory, affording fair evidence of the elasticity of the
national resources, augmented as they have been
by the extraordinary gold discoveries in our Aus-
tralian colonies.

So much for the past, and advantage has been
taken of it to lessen, though in a small degree, the
annual charge upon the country for the interest of
the National Debt, no less a sum than £6,048,758,
having been devoted out of the balance in the
Exchequer to pay off the holders of certain stocks,
who have declined to commute them, in addition
to the large sum which has been devoted every
quarter out of the surplus to the purchase of stock
by the Commissioners for the Reduction of the
National Debt. If, however, we may place any
reliance on the predictions which are confidently
made of this country being on the eve of an expen-
sive war, we shall soon have full employment not
only for all our spare revenue, but also require
great additions to our present system of taxation.
The great mistake was committed in making the
Property-tax a source of income in time of peace ;
but the Government may have some credit for the

precautions which appear to have been taken for
rendering the British Navy efficient, and the zeal
with which they seem to have carried out the plan
of the Earl of DERBY for augmenting the National
Militia. It would, however, have redounded more
to their credit, had firmness instead of temporising
spared the necessity of warlike operations ; for,
whatever may be the issue of the present contest
between Russia and Turkey, it will be difficult to
disabuse the public mind of the impression that
it would have worn a different aspect had the course
pursued by the English Cabinet been dictated by
wisdom and honesty of purpose.
A notice in the London Gazette of Friday,
declares the surplus income for the year ended
10th of October last, to be £3,247,423115. 11d., of
which a fourth part, or £811,855 17s. 11d., will be
applied towards the reduction of the National Debt,
together with £3,951 135.10 d., the interest received
on account of donations and bequests.

AN attempt has been made to derive some
practical benefit from the Census of the Popula-
tion which was taken in 1851, and, as one step in
this direction, an elaborate statement has been
published respecting the state of religious worship
in England. To those who are curious as to the
various phases of Dissent, it will, no doubt, afford
some interesting details as to comparative strength
of numbers, but its chief value is comprised in the
information afforded as to the Church, and the
progress which it has made in providing accommo-
dation for Divine worship. It is true that many
bodies of Dissenters have made great exertions to
extend their peculiar doctrines, and in numerous
instances have shown far more zeal than those
who profess to be members of the Church ; but,
notwithstanding, this, it is gratifying to know that
the Church far outnumbers all who dissent from
her teaching, and that her progress has been more
rapid, particularly if we may judge from the
increase of her buildings. It appears that, in the
thirty years from 1801 to 1831, the total number
of new churches did not exceed five hundred, at
a cost of more than a million from the public
funds, and not quite twice that amomit from in-
dividual contributions ; whereas, in the twenty
years from 1831 to 1851, more than two thousand,
new churches were built, at A obarge on the publio•
. Cauds• of only about half mitts" but OX/Vg ANT.