The Press. — London, England, 1854-12-09 00:00:00

DECEMBER 9, 1854. unthought of in this country before. Capacity and competency in the distribution of offices are utterly and deliberately rejected. One consideration alone has weight—political con nection. Government is viewed as the prize of parliamentary intrigue and following; and the dearest interests of theicountry are sacri ficed that cliques may be gratified. Surely the common sense of the English people will not much longer endure this sys tem. Let us, in a war which already severely taxes our energies, and proves so lavish of our blood, demand something like fitness in the occupancy of those great departments to which are entrusted the care of the honour and credit of our country, the proper disposi tion of our armaments, and, of more vital consequence still, the lives of our defenders. Better, a thousand times, that the Duke of NEWCASTLE should be, like his ancestor during the calamitous American war, " superseded," than that he should continue his inglorious official career to the detriment of the nation. Not even to please the hereditary vanity of the Pelham-Clintons can we consent to a second " Iliad of Blunders " being recorded in our history. The family, it is true, has furnished us with some ludicrous examples of incapa city; but we provide posterity with jokes and jeers at too dear a rate when our army is called on to pay for them by its sufferings, and by the cruel waste of its life through unnecessary exposure to disease. MR. GLADSTONE. WE commented last week upon Mr. GLAD STONE'S Budget of 1853. We stated, in his own words, that its principle, its very corner- atone, was the gradual reduction of the income and property tax, and its certain and complete abolition in 1860. We charged him with having obtained the assent of Parliament to this Budget under false pretences, and we proved this by showing, from references to the Turkey correspondence, that at the very time he was making his financial statement, and propounding a Budget, only justifiable in a time of certain and profound peace, he was himself aware—the Parliament was not—that we were on the eve of the present immense struggle. It is now our duty to remark upon his Bud get, or rather his Budgets, of 1654. During the last session Mr. GLADSTONE pro- posed two Budgets, and made at least three financial statements. As we have frequently remarked, he was bent upon outdoing Mr. DISRAELI in every thing. It was the misfortune of Mr. DISRAELI to be compelled, in December, 1852, to propose the Budget which, under ordinary circum stances, would have been delayed till after April, 1853. Without any such necessity Mr. GLADSTONE volunteered a financial statement on the 6th of March last. With it he intro duced his first Budget. He favoured the House of Commons with a second financial statement on the 11th of April ; and he made a third statement, introducing his second Budget on the Bth of May. This course on the 6th of March wait an unusual one ; perhaps it was taken on that account. He chose to anti cipate the result of the financial year within a month of its conclusion, and to estimate the income and expenditure for the year nearly past, as well as for the year to come. But he performed his task with his usual ability, and persuaded the House that a sum of 501. per head for 25,000 soldiers, just enough to send them out to Malta and bring them back again, would be sufficient for the extraordinary ex penses of the Russian war, and that an addition of one-half to the income and property tax Just for one half year, or about 3,300,0001., would see all things right again, under the peaceful administration of Lord ABERDEEN. THE PRESS. But he advanced two propositions which certainly it required all his boldness, and all his casuistry, to establish. The first was, that her Majesty's Government had thought it wise to take so early a period for submitting their measures to Parliament, " because they " thought it well that foreign countries should " see that the earnestness of the nation in the " cause in which it was embarked may be mea- " sured by the promptitude with which it " supplies the means necessary for following " out that course." And his second proposi tion, which he laid down as a principle, was this, " that the expenses of the war should be paid for out of the annual income." •Upon this point he was very precise in his language, as well as very eloquent and emphatic. He said he was convinced the committee was not pre pared to make any increase to the debt. " I " trust," he added, " that they will not be at " any time prepared to take a course so fatal "to the interests of the country." And then, after quoting MILLS and M'Cci.Locit, and arguing the question on political and econo mical grounds, he proceeded to state : I do not, however, hesitate to say that strong as appears to me the economical reasons for adopting the policy I recommend, the moral reasons are equally powerful : the expenses of a war are the moral checks which it has pleased the Almighty to impose upon the ambition and lust of conquest which is inherent in so many nations. The necessity of meeting from year to year the expendi ture it entails, is a salutary restraint and wholesome check, making them feel what they are about. How the Emperor of RUSSIA must have smiled at these propositions ! When this energetic evidence of promptitude and earnest ness, worthy of a great country like England, was explained to the Czar, he was told that it amounted to the augmentation of the income and property tax by one-half, and that for one half year only, accompanied by the moderate issue of 1,750,0001. of Exchequer Bills, and that only in advance of revenue. When he was told that the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER had declared, amidst the cheers of the House of Commons, " This, sir, looks like an inten " tion of carrying on the war with vigour ;" and when it was further explained to him that Mr. GLADSTONE had declared be was not prepared to sanction any increase to the National Debt, " that he considered such a " course fatal to the interests of England," why, we can only say we think the Czar must have reflected with satisfaction on the sagacity and adroitness displayed by " his friend who " knew him so well, and had such full con " fidence in him," in choosing such a Finance Minister as Mr. GLADSTONE. The second financial statement, that of April 11th, was an explanatory one on the part of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, and was distinguished principally by the observa tion of Mr. THOMAS BARING, that Deficiency Bills formed the key-stone of the policy of Mr. GLADSTONE, and by his prediction that Mr. GLADSTONE would be obliged to resort to a loan, probably at the least favourable moment. The third financial statement, that of May Bth, contains eight columns in the Times of preliminary matter, in defence and laudation by Mr. GLADSTONE of himself. He then pro posed the following additional estimates, viz.:— Army . . . . £300,000 Navy . 4,550,000 Ordnance . . . 1350,000 Militia . . . . 500,000 Extraordinary . . 850,000 "-^ 'MA And his ways and means were : Additional income tax £3,250,000 Additional duty on spirits 450,000 Readjustment of sugar duties . . . . 700,000 Malt tax, increase from 2s. 9d. to 4,. . . 2,450,000 _ 6,850,000 „ As a considerable amount of this second Budget would not be received in the course of the financial year ending April 5, 1855, he obtained authority from Parliament to issue Exchequer Bonds or Bills, to the extent of 6,000,0001., in anticipation of the revenue, to be repaid at stated periods. And he made his general account of income and expenditure, during the year ending sth April, 1855, to be as follows : 1155 1. Revenue as estimated in Budget of 6th March . . £50,056,000 . . 2. Exchequer Bills authorised under . same Budget . . 1,750,000 3. Amount of new taxes imposed under Budget of Nth May, which would be received before sth April, 1855: Income tax . . £220,000 Spirit duty . . 400.000 • 620,000 • • 1 , 600 , 000 2,840,000 Sugar duties . Malt tax . 4. Exchequer Bonds or Bills proposed to be issued 5,500,000 X 60,746,000 ExrEsurrunit. 1. Estimates on *Budget of oth March . . £50,180,000 2. Additional estimates in Budget of Bth May . 0,850,000 63,039,0(X) Surplus, or " Margin" £3,707,000 This sum of 3,707,0001., which Mr. GLADSTONE called his margin, he took for the unascertained expenses of the war. He stated distinctly on this occasion that he asked the House "to " make what he hoped would be an ado:Tato " provision for the expenses of the year ;* and " the view the Government had taken was " this—that this provision should be made by " an addition to the taxation of the country." In the month of July, or the beginning of August, some additional estimates were pro posed for artillery, small arms, and some other departments in the army, navy, or ordnance, but of no very considerable amount. These, with the estimates for the packet service, and the excess of the civil service estimates above the original amount, reduced the margin to 3,000,000/. This three millions formed the subject of the vote of credit of 25th July, which was passed ; but in the House of Lords, after a constitutional remonstrance from Earl FITZ.. WILLIAM, who declared that there never was a speech made on such an occasion of which it might be more truly said, that it conveyed scarcely a single idea to the Parliament to which it was addressed, than the speech of Lord ABERDEEN, who proposed it—and in the House of Commons, by the inducement and promise of the speedy occupation of the Crimea and destruction of the " great fortress," held out by Lord JOHN RUSSELL We have thought it desirable to place this summary before our readers, in order that at the eve of another session they may have be fore them the financial operations of the last one. And we arc bound to state that we cannot conceive a course more likely to have led to the disasters which have actually occurred than that taken by Mr. GLADSTONE in the session of 1854. A miserable dribbling out of insufficient estimates—first in March, then in May, then in July ; the first ludicrously bombastic, before the war had actually com menced ; the second propounded in a manner which indicated irresolution and tardiness, and with that niggard reluctance to incur a neces sary expense which, in all great undertakings, is a sure prelude to extravagance and loss. We now commend Mr. GLADSTONE to the Commons of England. We can assure him we have been only anxious to render him jus tice—we sincerely hope the House of Com mons will do the same. THE NEW SECRETARY TO THE POOR• LAW BOARD. THAT the Coalition Ministry have been sin gularly unfortunate in the distribution of their patronage is now thoroughly admitted on all hands, and it has been often our duty to point out how grossly the interests of the public service have been sacrificed in this respect. It was, therefore, with no surprise, but with very sincere regret, that we have observed the announcement in the official organs of Govern ment that Mr. ABRAHAM HAYWARD had been appointed to the post of Secretary to the Poor- Law Board. The importance of such a post li ■ ■ M