The financial position indicated by the Revenue-tables is , not brilliant;
neither is it less satisfactory than it might have been expected. The tables, show an increase, on the quarter, of 1,9244241.; on the haifyear, of 2,929,699g.; on the year; of 8,314,7811. The increase of the revenue, however, is manifestly due to the increase of taxation, and to little else. It is derived: chiefly from the Customs- and the Income-tax ; the Excise and. Stamps showing some increase on the year but a decrease on the last quarter, and the Post-office shows a decrease throughout We must remember also thaestringent efforts have been.matle to king up arrears of produce in the Ineome-tax.; so that the accounts exhibit the fall- amount' that. could be expected from. the increase of taxation, with the urinal tendency when the pressure is-increased to yield, a. declining ratio of produce. The Board of Trade returns confirm this view, by showing a general tendency to. decrease in. the artieles of consumption ; although- the staple- manufactures generally, remain in an active condition, an& cotton-
actually increases. The country can pay the taxes demanded;; but in paying them it pats a.tighter hand upon the purse-strings,. and-the retail trade suffers by the restraint upon consumption ;. although the manufacturing business moves-steadily, and farming- business is at a premium with the high prices.
In the City, affairs do not brighten; ; and we cannot expect that. with continued. war and increased taxation, and with the Continent. in- ita present doubtful state financially,.the nioney-marketehould &name easier. The bankruptcy of I. C. Mare and Co. not yet explained, has been succeeded by the stoppage of an exceedingly respectable house, that of Moser& De Lisle, Sanvrin, end.De Lisle; the main cause of which, is stated to be the non-fulfilment of a compromise by a house that had failedin America. The breaking- up of some unreported negotiations between the Austrian Rail- ways- and the SocieVe de Credit Mobilier—the continued draught of gold purchased by the Bank of France at a high rate to-give a solidfoundation for " confidence," and the fixing of a price for butcher's meat in Paris as a protection to the public against the monopoly of the butchers during a-season of high prices—are cir- cumstances that tend to show an uneasy condition on the Conti- nente and City-men look across the Channel. with a conviction. that they have not yetseen.the darkest part of the winter.
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