Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1853-11-11
Pre.persty of the Waited States.

crisis has called into acilOn the dmeuity of fnd;n
money is undoubtedly the most potent. The Cbaas
celor Of the Exchequer is as Mr. Gladstone tra
observes, e1 o6icio man of peace. The dffcul,y
of making both ends meet renders the prospect y
war; appalling asit is ut all times doubly appal;n"
to Financial Minister. That which cuts of tbss
WAYS and means. while it enormously increases III
expenditure-which dams up the sources of tar.
ton ut the very moment when it is draining them
dry-that which can convert a surplus into q ID
fc.t, and deficit into bankruptcy-is legit;.
mate object of financial adherence. Austria car
not keep the excess of expenditure over incomo
within the monstrous amount of fifty millions "s
FORMS In France, Imperial omnipoence cannot
coerce the budget within reasonable dimensions. anS
even we show too much pride at our surplus for per
sons who regard it as durable and permanent nos
session. But there is one man in the world and
that man Finance Minister. who is troubled with
none of these difhculties-nay is just sufferin
under difficulties of precisely contrary charactee
The American Secretary of State, MIR. Guthrie j.
prosecuted by obstinate surplus, which clngs To-
him like the Old Man of the Sea to the neck os
Sindbad and s-perpetually claiming appropriation
where no means exist of Gevoting to the public ser
vice the superabundant riches OF the revenue This
comes of double system of taxation. of a centnn
Government confined to certain enumerated func.
tions which it cannot exceed, and local Govers
ment forbidden to raise revenue by means of Gus
tom houses .,n the frontier. The authors Of the
American Constitution, when they considered and
infinitely defined what should and what should nor
thh
difficulty which the rapid increase of capital would
introduce in adapting the revenue to the wants Of
the State. It never occurred to them that the Gen.
trail Government would be too rich. and that one 0,
the most embarrassing problems for future states.
men would be how to cut down lis resources to The
required amount. Had it been any other kind Of
taxation than that levied through the Custom house
on which the Central Government was to snbsist
the matter would have been easy but The difficulty
lies in the peculiar nature of a revenue from Gus
toms 1t is because that revenue has twofold On
Grafton protective as we'll financial, that the DIFF
fculty has arises. Nobody is fond OF paying taxes
for heir own sake, and the of the Federal
Government would long ago have been cut down to
a level within its expenditure if the question had
not been embroed by the fact that large classes of
American citizens claim an interest in the impOsi
tion of taxes which the State no longer wishes to
receive or the people to pay In other words the
question of Protection supersedes that of the duty
Of the Government to its subjects and requires that
more revenue than is wanted should be raised, in
order that one part of the community may levy
tax the Other
The advent of Freetrade doctrines into America
has dismissed this apparent difficulty, and the PEG.
pie are beginning to learn that raising revenue has
no necessary connection whatever with showing par
ticular favor to any branch of industry. 1t does
not appear. from the tone Of the American papers,
that they have yet acquired very clear or accurate
notions of The true limits extent of the doctrines
of Free-trade One of them protests, with much
earnestness, against what he calls in language more
expressive than accurate. :" a blind horizontal
lit " and another is eloquent on the enormous evils
which fall upon country whose imports continual.
ly exceed its exports. Still however, if the theory
be not very accurate, the conclusions deduced are
tolerably sound. The dread of English compe.
tion is much allevated by the increased cost of pro-
ducon, resulting from the effects of emigration
Australia, and confidence is felt-and that with
great ustice-n the rapid increase of capital. and
the advance which has taken place of late years in
the management and application of machinery
Moved by these considerations, the great mil iority
of the American people is prepared to second the
efforts Of Mr. Guthrie, and to divest him of that
superfuous wealth which be finds so grieyous
burden.
This is indeed singular spectacle,-a great ma
ton voluntaIily reinqueishpg its revenue because
it has more than it knows how tospend and seeking
to pay OF their debt on terms extremely beneficial
to the holders of stocks in order be rid of some
portion of the treasury which is poured into its lap
against its will. We heartily wish Mr.. Guthrie
success in his undertaking. AS concomitaht to his
free-trade principles he is about to substitute sys
TEN of specific for al raLorem duties. The frauds
that were committed under the former system seem
to have been barefaced and innumerable, and we
doubt not that the revenue will be considerable
perhaps an inconvenent gamer, by thus transfer.
ring the power of taxation from those who pay to
those who receive the tax. Altogether, the pres
poets of the change extremely gratifying esPe'
cially it can, it would seem, be effected without
dispeasing any political party or making the repeal
of the present duties portion of the capital of any
class of politicians 1t is fortunate that the change
comes in the shape of an imperious necessity, and
that in order to continue the present system the A.
merican Protectionist would have 10 require that
taxes utterly superfuons and in no degree Whatever
needed for the welfare of the State should be raised
merely to enhance the gains OF one portion of the
community.
1t is refreshing to turn from the contemplation Of
the out and effete despotism of the Old World
where the revenues OF the State absorbed by pro
tless standing armies. and squandering in the nam
tenance of Police employed to suppress thought
and of spies organized detect t-whether the an
nual deficit threatens to absorb in its ponderO@
jaws all, and more than all, which can be wruns
from the exhausted peasantrY-tO this and Ng
orous country, actually bowed down by the weight
of its own prosperity and embarrassed in selecting
those burdens which it is actually compelled by the
force of circumstances to remit With US, when
little surplus gives the opportunity of remission
there are always many I'M justices to remedy"
many grievances to redress, that the difficulty ofF
lection is extreme. and every remissission gives
much pain as pleasure, by the disappointment ltm
hlcts on the advocates OF other remssiOhs In tb
United States the difficulty seems not to chose wbvp
of a number of pressing cases is The most urgnI
but to find any pressing at all. We cOngrau
late our transatlantic brethren on the oxurbera1s
of their resources and sincerely hope that the tr
Guilty of finding Il tax to remit may he the only on
which their Chancellor of the Exchequer will eEs
have to encounter London Times.
QUEER IDEA OF A FRENCH CoMPosER-Ga igHfr
tells curious story of the death by starvation s
cold of a musician that had composed an OPERA ~
was unable to get ii performed. All his resou'V
Gfp1 an6h a oil MT Of n