the public Exchequer. Without the supply derived from this source, the condition of the national resources would have been serious, indeed, and the necessity of the impost in such a juncture, was recognised, tacitly at least, by most persons, whatever their political prepossessions might be. The unwelcome duty of announcing to Parliament the short-coming of the public means, which had been anticipated in the estimates of the preceding year, devolved upon Mr. Goulburn, who made his annual statement, according to custom, in a Committee of Ways and Means, on the 8th of May. He commenced his address, by referring to the large measures introduced in the former year for the increase of revenue, and for the diminution of import duties, observing, that though the imposition of the Property-tax and the diminution of the Importduties were contemporaneous, the new tax did not come into opera tion till after six or nine months from its enactment; while the remission of the old duties took effect at once-so that there was one period of the last year during which the accruing income was unequal to the current expenditure. To have postponed the reduction of the duties, when once such reduction had been announced, would have been injurious to trade in all the articles affected by that reduction; and it had not been thought justifiable to meet the exigency, by the only other alternative, the raising of a loan for the year's service. The revenue calculated upon by Sir Robert Peel for the year, from the Customs, had been 22,500,000l. in that he had been disappointed, : only 21,750,000l. A great part of the deficiency had been upon the wine duty, the wine-trade having been extensively checked by the delays of the Treaty with Portugal. There had also been a diminution on the estimated duty upon foreign spirits; but this diminution, he hoped, was owing chiefly to the improvement in the temperance of the people. The timber duty, on which there had been a remission, had produced somewhat less than had been expected from it; but the timber trade was now improving, and with it the produce of the duty. The case was the same with coffee. On the minor articles included in the tariff the loss had been in a somewhat larger proportion. On the other hand, there had been an increase in the consumption of tea, sugar, tobacco, molasses, and pepper; there had been also an increase in the consumption of cotton, and various other articles employed in manufactures, indicating a general improvement in our industry; and he was happy to say, that the rate of that increase had been much accelerated since the begining of the present year. On the estimated produce of the Excise, there had been a deficiency of 1,200,000l., of which Mr. Goulburn proceeded to explain the details. Upon the whole, the revenue had fallen short of Sir R. Peel's estimate by somewhat more than 2,000,000l.: that defalcation was, however, diminished to about 1,250,000l., by a payment from China of about 725,000l. Against the deficiency thus constituted, was to be set the produce of the Income-tax, which had exceeded the expectation formed of it. It was not yet all collect to about 5,500,000l., of which about 5,100,000l. would be net revenue. He might now be asked, in what way he intended to meet this deficiency; and he would at once declare, he had no new measure to propose. His calculation was, that the causes which had occasioned the deficiency of the last year, were of a temporary character; that in the next and subsequent years, there would be a surplus of revenue, and out of that he proposed to discharge the small deficiency of the year gone by. Until the repayment thus contemplated should be complete, the state of things would, undoubtedly, be an irksome one for the Ministers; but the more irksome it might be, the stronger would be the inducement to them to make every effort for keeping down their expenditure. He would next present his estimate for the ensuing year: there were two heavy charges, which did not form part of the ordinary expenses of the year-the one a payment of 800,000l. to the owners of the opium, and the other a payment of 1,250,000l. to the East India Company, on account of expenses borne by them for the China war. He proposed to advance the money requisite for these two payments, and take repayment out of the future remittances from China. He then proceeded to state the probable revenue of the year under the usual heads of Customs, Excise, Stamps, and so forth, making a total estimated revenue of 50,150,000l., in which, however, he included a sum of 870,000l. from the Chinese government; and he followed this calculation with an estimate of the probable expenses of the year, under the usual heads of Army, a total estimated outlay of 49,387,645., which being deducted from the 50,150,000l., would leave a surplus of 762,000l. in favour of revenue above expenditure. Under these circumstances he had not been able, however much he desired it, to yield to any of the numerous applications which had been made to him, for remission of taxation. He trusted, that if there were any error in his computation, it would turn out that he had been too moderate, rather than too sanguine in his estimates, especially as he now saw indications of improvement, on which he thought himself entitled to rely, in the augmented consumption and reviving manufactures of the country. He then stated the substance of several important returns, respecting the state of industry, in the three great towns of London, Liverpool, and Manchester, confirming this favourable view, particularly as to the cotton, linen, and woollen manufactures. Dis. tress, indeed, was still prevailing in other branches of our industry; but an improvement in the greater branches must necessarily extend itself in no long time to the others. Therefore, though he was not in a condition to make a flattering statement of the country's resources, he trusted the time was not distant, when the Chancellor Chancellor of the Exchequer would be able to come down with a proposal, for easing the industry of the country, by important remissions. He concluded by moving a vote of 47,943,000l. Mr. F. T. Baring asked, why the money already received from China, was brought into the general resources of the year, instead of being the public Exchequer. Without the supply derived from this source, the condition of the national resources would have been serious, indeed, and the necessity of the impost in such a juncture, was recognised, tacitly at least, by most persons, whatever their political prepossessions might be. The unwelcome duty of announcing to Parliament the short-coming of the public means, which had been anticipated in the estimates of the preceding year, devolved upon Mr. Goulburn, who made his annual statement, according to custom, in a Committee of Ways and Means, on the 8th of May. He commenced his address, by referring to the large measures introduced in the former year for the increase of revenue, and for the diminution of import duties, observing, that though the imposition of the Property-tax and the diminution of the Importduties were contemporaneous, the new tax did not come into opera tion till after six or nine months from its enactment; while the remission of the old duties took effect at once-so that there was one period of the last year during which the accruing income was unequal to the current expenditure. To have postponed the reduction of the duties, when once such reduction had been announced, would have been injurious to trade in all the articles affected by that reduction; and it had not been thought justifiable to meet the exigency, by the only other alternative, the raising of a loan for the year's service. The revenue calculated upon by Sir Robert Peel for the year, from the Customs, had been 22,500,000l.: in that he had been disappointed, only 21,750,000l. A great part of the deficiency had been upon the wine duty, the wine-trade having been extensively checked by the delays of the Treaty with Portugal. There had also been a diminution on the estimated duty upon foreign spirits; but this diminution, he hoped, was owing chiefly to the improvement in the temperance of the people. The timber duty, on which there had been a remission, had produced somewhat less than had been expected from it; but the timber trade was now improving, and with it the produce of the duty. The case was the same with coffee. On the minor articles included in the tariff the loss had been in a somewhat larger proportion. On the other hand, there had been an increase in the consumption of tea, sugar, tobacco, molasses, and pepper; there had been also an increase in the consumption of cotton, and various other articles employed in manufactures, indicating a general improvement in our industry; and he was happy to say, that the rate of that increase had been much accelerated since the begining of the present year. On the estimated produce of the Excise, there had been a deficiency of 1,200,000l., of which Mr. Goulburn proceeded to explain the details. Upon the whole, the revenue had fallen short of Sir R. Peel's estimate by somewhat more than 2,000,000l.: that defalcation was, however, diminished to about 1,250,000l., by a payment from China of about 725,000l. Against the deficiency thus constituted, was to be set the produce of the Income-tax, which had exceeded the expectation formed of it. It was not yet all collect a total estimated outlay of 49,387,6457., which being deducted from the 50,150,000l., would leave a surplus of 762,000, in favour of revenue above expenditure. Under these circumstances he had not been able, however much he desired it, to yield to any of the numerous applications which had been made to him, for remission of taxation. He trusted, that if there were any error in his computation, it would turn out that he had been too moderate, rather than too sanguine in his estimates, especially as he now saw indications of im to about 5,500,000l., of which about 5,100,000l. would be net revenue. He might now be asked, in what way he intended to meet this deficiency; and he would at once declare, he had no new measure to propose. His calculation was, that the causes which had occasioned the deficiency of the last year, were of a temporary character; that in the next and subsequent years, there would be a surplus of revenue, and out of that he proposed to discharge the small deficiency of the year gone by. Until the repayment thus contemplated should be complete, the state of things would, undoubt-provement, on which he thought edly, be an irksome one for the Ministers; but the more irksome it might be, the stronger would be the inducement to them to make every effort for keeping down their expenditure. He would next present his estimate for the ensuing year: there were two heavy charges, which did not form part of the ordinary expenses of the year-the one a payment of 800,000l. to the owners of the opium, and the other a payment of 1,250,000l. to the East India Company, on account of expenses borne by them for the China war. He proposed to advance the money requisite for these two payments, and take repayment out of the future remittances from China. He then proceeded to state the probable revenue of the year under the usual heads of Customs, Excise, Stamps, and so forth, making a total estimated revenue of 50,150,000l., in which, however, he included a sum of 870,000l. from the Chinese government; and he followed this calculation with an estimate of the probable expenses of the year, under the usual heads of Army, himself entitled to rely, in the augmented consumption and reviving manufactures of the country. He then stated the substance of several important returns, respecting the state of industry, in the three great towns of London, Liverpool, and Manchester, confirming this favourable view, particularly as to the cotton, linen, and woollen manufactures. Distress, indeed, was still prevailing in other branches of our industry; but an improvement in the greater branches must necessarily extend itself in no long time to the others. Therefore, though he was not in a condition to make a flattering statement of the country's resources, he trusted the time was not distant, when the Chancellor of the Exchequer would be able to come down with a proposal, for easing the industry of the country, by important remissions. He concluded by moving a vote of 47,943,0007. Mr.F. T. Baring asked, why the money already received from China, was brought into the general resources of the year, instead of being opium owners of the East India Company, which had been excluded from the other side of the account. Mr. Goulburn said, that he thought the first claim on the China compensation-money, was the repayment of the cost of the Chinese war; and he had, therefore, applied the first money to repay a part of the expenses actually incurred in that war. tax. Mr. Hume contended, that the diminution in the regular revenue had arisen, in a great measure, from the additional taxation imposed in the shape of IncomeHe was delighted that the Government had been disappointed in their expectations from the duty, which they had so unwisely imposed upon coal. A deficiency was now admitted, of more than 2,000,000l., on the computation made by the Ministers last year; and, when it was considered that a large sum received from China, and not included in that computation, was brought into the year's receipts, the deficiency would be found to approach 3,000,000l. To balance the income and expenditure now, on the principles of Sir Robert Peel, it would be necessary that the Income-tax should be doubled, so far were we from having yet arrived at that equalization, which, Sir Robert Peel's supporters had boasted, that we were about to realise. He saw no reason to suppose, that the receipts of the next year would, as Mr. Goulburn had calculated, exceed the receipts of the last. The only way to relieve the country, was to diminish our expensive Army and Navy, and then we might take off the Income-tax, and the taxes upon raw materials tion of cotton was merely the result of very low prices, and of the great efforts which, at those prices, the manufacturers were making, to keep their people employed. He then went into the question of free-trade: he was of opinion, that Sir Robert Peel, after his professions on that subject, was bound to carry the principles of free-trade to their full extent, or else to resign his office. The right honourable Baronet had not done better than the Whig Chancellor of the Exchequer, who, at any rate, had carried on the Government without an Income tax. Mr. F. T. Baring reminded the House, that Sir Robert Peel, when he stated his computation of regular revenue last year, had professed to have made it under the mark, yet it had fallen very short even of that computation. It was true, that a large Income-tax must greatly diminish consumption, and of consequence, revenue; but this was a deficiency beyond all reasonable allowance. But for the receipt from China, it would have been a deficiency of almost 3,000,000l., and that was more than even the produce of the Income-tax had been able to compensate. The new duty on coals had been a failure; when imposed last Session, it had been treated as a tax upon foreigners, which, if it had been, it could have claimed but little approbation, just at the moment when we were trying to get our neighbours into good humour with a view to free-trade. But it had not turned out to be a tax bearing upon foreigners, but rather upon our own trade and shipping. Equally unfortunate had been the tax on spirits in Ire |