The most interestig part ...
The Times, 1824-02-24T00:00:00

The thott int"tisig psrtf "the Par1iatrnentty.apjooed` ings o-lastrdight was the CHANCKLL0Lof -the Eieiji- *QuEelt statsment of the financial concerns of the year, or What is usually called the " Budget-" This statement is either of great or of very mninor consequence, according to circurmstances; as it may be either a mere recapitulation of noney votes already passed-a kind of new copy and mnore correct classifieation nf a settled bill; or she details of a projected arrangement of the national finances. During the administration of the late CHANCELLOR of the Ex- CEEQcU3E, the Budget was generally of the former charac- ter, and was produeed at the end of the session: the state- mnent of last night was of the latter description. It would be superflaous to enter into the details of the annual Revenue and Expenditure, whichi have already appeared in the balance-aheet which we published a few days ago, and ishich will ba gain found at great length in our Parlia- nentary report. The parc of the CIIANCELLOP of the EXCHEQUEx's speech which was really new claimss more xarticularly our attention. Anticipating no chtnge'- in Ihe political relations of Europe to tequire an ex- traordinary expenditure, and confident in the never-fail- ng resources of the country to maintain a steady re- venue, the Right Honourable Gentleman ventures on hree budgeta at once, and- gives us a prospective 3alance of accounta for three years to come. Assuming ,hst all the different sources of taxation,if allowed to work .ntouched,would be equally productive as in the past year, he proceeds to state the changes vvhiih be thinks advisable, md which Parliament may be expected to adopt. From the abolition of three heads of bounties-that to encourage the whale fishery (estimated at 50,0001.); that to encourage the auring of fish (estimated at 70,0001.); and to promote the mxportation of Irish linen (estimated at I 00,0001.)-he de. ives a saving of 220-,0001. In the propriety of these aboli- tions, every one who has impartially considered the sub- ject must agree, though we have no doubt a great clamour will be raised on the subject by those into whose pockets this sum annually dropped. If we cannot catch whales, )r cure herrings, without a bounty, the trade must be a losing one; and therefore the sooner abandoned the better. Another item of saving to the nation arises from a source. equally legitimate-namely, the reduction of the interest of a part of the na-tional securities. The holders af the four per cents. are to be offered the amount of their 5tock in a three and a half per cent, fund. As the amount af the former stock is 7s,000,000l., the sum that will ac. crue to the public from this saving will be 375,0001. The Dnly question is, whether the holders will agree to this conversion? and this can only be ascertained after the attempthas been made. If the interest of' money continues at its present rate, and the three atnd a half per cent. stock maintainis its present price, there can be no doubt that the bolders of the four per cent. annuities will accept it from the Government, as an equivalent in value to what they could purchase with the amount of their original stockl if paid off at par. This is the more to be expected, as the holders are to be tempted into the transaction by a security against the redemption of the new stock for five vears, or a banus of continued high interest forsomertime,whateyer reduction of interest may takeplace in other funds.Assix months' noticeisrequired before reduction, and six weeks are allowed for assent to the plan, its success must depend upon occurrences that may take place in the interval. Thus we have obtained a saving of nearly 600,000!. annually, in addition to the sum of nearly two millions of surplus already existing, after paying the sink- ing fuund of five millions, and all the annual charges. Into our coifers this year, there has come a wind-fall- which, though a just debt, was not, it appears, expected-wc mean the 24 millions whieh we re- ceive from Austria. When we lent the sum of seven milions to that Power1 *ewiE asatted of punetual repay. mnent; and were told by the CUANCELLOR of the ZxcnE- QUBR of that day, that if the EMt'XoKx did not pay us in- terest and principal, we might sue him for the debt in his own courts. Nearly 30 years have since elapsed; we have all that time continued to pay the interest on the loan; and the amount is now about twenty millions. Buit the Ministers seem to proceed with this fund, not as a debt, but as a deodand; and therefore they have allotted a large portion of it to build churches, and to re- pairpalaces. WVerefer to ourPariiamentaryreport for the details of the mode in which about one-third of it is to be employed--namcly, 300,0001. for *Yindsor Palace, and 500,0001. for new churches. Still, however, with the above savings, and the surplus already stated, mnre than four millions of an excess will eist at the end of three years; " and (exclaims the right hon. gentleman) what " shall we do with this sum ?" The employment of it which he then proposes is to enable him to diminish the tax on imported wool from 6d. to ld. per pound, (estimated at 300,000].) ; the tax on sea-borne coal brought to the port of London (estimated at 100,0001.) ; the tax on silk (esti- mated at 462,0001.); and that on rum (estimated at 150,0001.) In relation to the plan, of which we have above given a summary, we must observe, that the public diblike had long settled upon various taxes, as grinding aiid oppressive; and in addition, or in confornity to national feeling, Go- vernment itself had seemed to sanction the general con- demnation of certain of the assessed taxes by the repeal of one half of them last year.. Of the remaining, half, none is so odlious as the window tax-none so universally felt as iu- convenient and eppressive. It is impossible to assign any just or honourable reason why the rern*inder of this tax should not have been relinquished the present year, as had begun to be very generally expected. First, the machinery, morb,vexatious than the tax itself, would have been got rid of. We should have heard no more of the wiudow-peeper, aiid in that odious tribe of inqimisitors, wvho survey our abodes like fellows meditating a burglary. But this is notall, -nor even the chief part of the reason for repealing the window tax. It is a direct tax. The attainment of it brings Government immediately into contact with the peo- ple: its agents come vith their books, and take the money from your pockets. Government may be felt ia the indi- rect taxes, but is uot seen. Surely, theu, a Government courting the love of its subjects, would avoid those eticoun- ters which must eugeinder anger and dissatisfaction; anid as the demand of a direct tax, like that upon windows, is pe- culiarly hateful, so also is its repeal most sensibly and universally beneficial. An; indirect tax, like that upon coal, for example, if repealed, is repealed- to any bodv rather than, and before, the people. It is repealed to the propri- etor of the pit, to the k3elman, to the merchant, to tht subordinate venders; for all these absorb their portion otf the proffeire boon before it reaches the general population of the oiuntry,, to whom, indeed, but little is left to re, ceive. But' the remission of a direct tax is from band to hand:.it is at once given by the,Governmnent, and taken by the subject. $o odiousinterloW rsobtr ade.o Wseize.a share. .It. appeAr; that somen of- -tue prohibitions upoii foreign products are to t pjepealed; and a tax, as upon silk, ail. initting of the imiportation. and affordinig a reve-nue, to be substituted. 'heVolicy of suli a measur is just, and so very; a1psrong.ba 1ovcrnmer t,only t oi-sin.he-Igene l; wiilZp.aruiahoposstoi,f and~ will ot -bi immediately.rn. h. Th Austriaz loancomes next under'considerationm Wte ov 13hit 1brr.'HEuitin hS) ' lsWlttcrto fg;srI. rp ., ~flarSST aitld Zcr41MtmLI- 'says, that'GorveecteFte. AW^t .o t'bl i n-?ui fte "susnm.*uli~. the- Auairia'ia rittienL his. a+qi. SEi .'l:ce at thei lipoaa,f,or i I liqssia ooth deiit due ?'xrw that-p6, oie Oz-.iei Thj.3t'ii.:'. imoet'. Thcrrect ode of expreswi6n: te wokd lioWI(d&y, be6 casc =' o,aposition for: the debt." And -wer -er, inst*l- ments paid up in such a ;Mnawer: ? Tlie; flrst -init'- Ment is only four per cent. upon the w_vholeC" tl the lat,, Which is not to beconie due tll,T4eMigd.. summer of 1827, is fifty-two par cent., or .n than half, the composition: atid five per cent. is tlial to the eontra-etcrs for Prompt payminnt; at i tiUni *when Govern. nient is'redici6ig a public stdckfrom four tn, three aind an bhaI, te its own subjects. -Upo this latterproject we shall have occasion to speak more at large here4ftir, as sthesherme is developed. The CRANCELLOR of theRExCssvea cafla the Emperor of AuSTaaA'S empitib "a Ooi.send: He will be pleased to recollect, howeve, thit--itlls not 11 sent yet. Some of the modes of applying the money pl2ca it the disposition of Government, are more exeeptionable than the methods by which it is to be raied:--Three-hundred thousand pounds for repairs in Windsor Castle! and that after the Cottage, and the Pagoda'! DE NHAx, we recollect, in his poem of Cooper's-hill, says thit the elevation oa whicl the Castle stands was raised by nature for.rhe.build. ing, and the building fitted to the eleyaion. He little thought that a structure for which nature had done so mulch, could, by a taste that countetact4 n2ture, Pro?e so costly to the people of this conntry.