are
_announcement_ of such a measure, the Government had to consider
whether it would prove a permanent or only a temporary reduction, and
to act accordingly. After profound consideration, they satisfied
themselves (whether justly or not remains to be seen) that the
diminution of revenue would prove only temporary; and to secure the
_immediate_ benefits of the measure, they imposed a temporary
income-tax, the onerous pressure of which was to cease as soon as
matters should have come round again. That period they fixed at the
expiration of three years. After an interval of two years, do their
calculations appear to have been well or ill founded? Let us see.
Early in March 1842 they announced the proposed new tariff, (instantly
producing the effect on the customs duties which had been
anticipated;) and succeeded in bringing it into operation on the 9th
of the ensuing July. The deficiency of revenue which ensued was so
very serious that it would have alarmed the whole country, but for
their confidence in the firmness and sagacity of Ministers,
particularly as evidenced by their announced measures. We have not at
the present moment before us the earliest _quarterly_ revenue returns
of the period referred to; but it will suffice to state, that such had
been the extent of the reductions effected, that the deficiency on the
_year_ ending on the 5th October 1843, amounted to no less a sum than
L.1,136,000; the decrease on the _quarter_ ending on that day being
L.414,000. Still, however, each succeeding quarter--or at least the
latter quarters--gave more satisfactory indications of a rallying
revenue; and we are enabled to announce the highly gratifying fact
that, up to the 8th of the present month (December,) the customs
duties returns _are of the most decisively improving character_. The
receipts of duties for the port of London alone, during that period,
exceeds the receipt on the corresponding period of last year by
L.206,000; while the returns from all the outports, especially from
Liverpool, are of the same cheering character, and warrant us in
predicting that the returns to be presented on the 5th of the ensuing
month will afford a most triumphant proof of the accuracy of the
Minister's calculations and the success of his policy; for be it borne
in mind, moreover, that his income-tax realized, in the year ending on
the 5th October last, the immense sum of L.5,052,000. As far,
therefore, as concerns the direct _financial_