is for Miscellaneous Civil Service, and this
amounts to about eight millions. These charges
are divided in the votes of the House of
Commons into seven general divisions, such as public
works (a bricklayers', plasterers', and gardeners'
division); salaries, out of which are paid all the
public officers of the thirty-six public offices,
except those provided for in the Consolidated
Fund, and the clerks in the War-offices and
Admiralty; law and justice, which absorb about
three millions and a half; education, which
absorbs nearly a million and a half; colonial
charges, superannuations and retiring allowance,
and miscellaneous charges. We then come to
the cost of collecting the public revenue. This
was formerly deducted from the income received
by the revenue departments, and consequently
no annual estimate was ever submitted to
Parliament to show at what cost the public revenue
was collected. A change, however, and a very
important one, was made chiefly in 1854, since
which the whole of the expenditure has been
brought before Parliament, and annually voted
in Committee of Supply. The total cost of the
three departments— customs, inland revenue
(excise), and post-offices — and land revenues
and superannuations—is about five millions and a
half. The number of clerks and others employed
by the customs is about five thousand three
hundred, with an average salary of about one
hundred and forty pounds; in the inland
revenue, about five thousand, with an average
salary of about one hundred and sixty pounds;
and in the Post-office, about twenty-five thousand,
with an average salary of about eighty
pounds.

These sums, with a special vote of a million
for fortifications, amount altogether to nearly
seventy millions and a half, the cost of ruling
Britannia for a twelvemonth; and we now
have to examine the other side of the account,
the income side.

The first great source of revenue is found in
the customs duties—customs, many sound financiers
think, that would be more honoured in the
breach than in the observance. These duties
produce about twenty-four millions—the chief sums
being about six millions and a half drawn from
sugar and its varieties; nearly six millions drawn
from tobacco and snuff; five millions and a half
drawn from tea, and nearly three millions drawn
from spirits. The other heads of customs
revenue are wine, corn, coffee, fruits, wood, and
timber (a protective duty), pepper, and a few
other articles. Our tariff about twenty years
ago contained about one thousand articles which
were forbidden to sail in untaxed, but now the
tariff contains only fifty-one articles so taxed.
Even with this great reform, however, it is far
from being perfect, and those who believe that
we enjoy free trade in corn, will be surprised to
hear that an annual million sterling is still
drawn from this staple article of food.

Next come the duties collected by the inland
revenue department. These are divided into
excise, stamps, land and general taxes, and income
and property tax. The excise duties are levied
principally on two articles, spirits and malt, the
first producing nearly nine millions and a half,
and the second nearly five millions and a half.
The other divisions are licenses, railways, stage-
carriages, game certificates, hackney-carriages,
and sundries. The taxes on railways and
carriages are all bad, being checks upon the free
circulation of goods and men.

The Stamp Duties are collected from legacies
and successions (a tax upon capital and not
upon income), from fire and marine insurances
(a tax upon prudence), from probates of wills,
deeds, bills of exchange, penny stamps on
cheques, &c., producing altogether about nine
millions.

The first item under the head of taxes—
officially so called—is the Land-Tax, the oldest
impost in England, which produces about one
million. It is based on a valuation made in
1695, which no one supposes can represent the
value at the present time, but any attempt to
rearrange this tax so as to produce more money
would be nothing less than confiscation. The
Assessed Taxes are raised on inhabited houses,
male servants, carriages, horses, mules, and dogs,
hair-powder, and armorial bearings. They
produce about two millions every year.

Next comes the Income and Property Tax—
a very direct tax—first invented or applied in
England by Mr. Pitt, and successively repealed
and reimposed by many Chancellors of the
Exchequer. Of all the various modes of Sucking
Britannia, this is the one which is the least
popular, both with financiers and the public.
If all the income sucked from Britannia were to
be sucked in this way, Britannia would have to
be ruled, as she was thirty years ago, at half the
present cost. This prospect appears so awful,
that the tax is not popular with tax-makers.
The public dislike the impost because it is a
direct stand-and-deliver tax, and prefer to be
quietly bled to death by the indirect operations
of Customs and Excise. The Income
Tax now produces about ten millions and a
half.

Next is the income derived from the Post-
office. The gross produce of this department
for letter-carrying and banking is about
three millions and eight hundred thousand
pounds; and the total expenditure in
carriage of mails, buildings, postage-stamps,
salaries, &c. (about three millions), being deducted
from this, leaves a profit of about eight hundred
thousand pounds. This is a nice sum for a
Chancellor of the Exchequer to receive for the
use of the country; but it can only be looked
upon as a tax upon the free circulation of
thought. Such a tax, no matter how collected,
is bad in principle, and can hardly be good for
the country. The average number of letters
now passing annually through the Post-office—
irrespective of newspapers and parcels by book-
post (seventy-one millions, and nearly twelve
millions, respectively)—is quite twenty for each
person throughout the kingdom; and the sooner
the Post-office profits are spent in improving
the Post-office service, or in reducing the postal