The Press. — London, England, 1858-04-24 00:00:00

VrattYings in Varliamcnt. HOUSE OF LORDS-MONDAY. THE " CAGLIARI " CASE. Lord WENSLEYDALE asked if the Government intended to refer the case of the seizure of the Cagliari to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Coined. lie believed it would be the best possible mode of obtaining an opinion on the subject. The Earl Of MALMESBURY would consider the sug gestion made by Lord Wensleydale, but could not give a definitive answer. The question of the seizure of the Cagliari was divided into two distinct parts; the first had an exclusively English interest, being the detention and imprisonment of the two engineers. On that point the law officers of the Crown were unanimous in their opinion that the imprisonment of those two English subjects was illegal, and that the Government might demand compensation for what they had suffered. On that opinion the Government had acted; a demand for such compensation had been made. With respect to the legality of the capture of the Cagliari, there could be no doubt that the sympathies of this country were with Sardinia, hut he felt that he ought not on account of those sympathies to overlook the fact that be was respon sible for doing what was legally right, and, therefore, it had been impossible for him or the Government to act until they had a clear report from the law officers of the Crown : There had been no time to consider that report; but he might mention that the law officers of the present Govern ment who bad declared the capture and seizure of the Cagliari to be legal had also declared that the confiscation and condemnation of ti:at ship would not be legal. It was not clear whether there had yet been any bone fide confis cation and condemnation of that ship He believed that the condemnation had not been officially announced to the Government of Sardinia, although the ship was detained, as was contended, with a view to confiscation and condem nation. Without being able to give a decided answer, he thought the suggestion of the noble and learned lord worthy the consideration of the Government. PATRIOTIC FUND. On the motion of the Duke of NORFOLK, an ad dress was agreed to for copies of correspondence between the Commissioners of the Patriotic Fund and other parties reiating to the case of Mrs. Rosina Bennett and her children. In the discussion on the subject Lord COLCHESTER and Lord ST. LEONARDS defended the commissioners from the imputation of partiality in administering the fund ; Lord CAMOVS admitted Cant in the ex planation of the commissioners the charge had been completely and satisfactorily answered. The Customs Bill went through committee. Their lordships then adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS—MorgnAy. The report of the Committee of Supply was,brought up and agreed to. The house having resolved itself into a Committee of Ways and Means, The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, in a speech remarkable for its lucidity, made his financial statement. Mr. Disraeli began by adverting to the great changes which had taken place in the com mercial condition of the country since the financial statement of his predecessor—changes which had clouded and di s t ur b e d t h e prospects indulged in in 1857. The American panic, he observed, had acted in a disastrous manner upon our own commercial condition, and towards the end of the year a mone tary crisis, in which the rate of discount reached ten per cent., had produced severe distress, and pressed heavily upon the revenue of the country. After reading returns of the British trade and navigation in 1853, 1856, and 1857, and comparing them with the returns for 1853, the year before the war, he pro ceeded to consider our financial condition—the charges upon the revenue, and the means at our command to meet them. There had been, he said, a considerable restoration of commercial confidence : capital was abundant, money was cheap, and the prices of the main articles of consumption were lower; but it was his conviction that, although the general condition of the country was at the present moment sound, and a lth oug h t h ere were indications ofimprovement, he could not indulge the belief that there would be a rapid return of the spirit of enter prize. After stating the amounts at which the several items of expenditure had been estimated for the last year by the late Chancellor of the Exche quer, and their actual amount, he detailed the esti mated expenditure for the year 1858-50, viz.:— Funded and Unfund e d D e bt Civil List, ,1,;c,1,900,000 11,750,000 Army ,000,0008(10,000 Navy **************** Miscellaneous Civil Services Revenue D epartments 4,700,000 3,0J,000 Liabilities $67,110,000 memorable THE PRESS, APRIL 24, 1858. The resources to meet these charges he estimated as follows . Customs X23,400,000 Excise Stamps Land and Assessed Taxes .. Property and Income Tax Post-office Crown Lands . 270,000 Miscellaneous 63,120,000 The expenditure being 67,110,0001., and the esti mated revenue only 63,120,0001., there would be a deficit of 3,990,0001. This deficiency, he remarked, was not occasioned by any falling off in the resources of the country. lie considered it under two heads —first, the amount occasioned by our undertaking to pay debts; secondly, the amount caused by the ces sation of taxes. The first, amounting to 3,500,0001., was created by the War Sinking Fund, 1,500,0001., and the payment of 2,000,0001. Exchequer Bonds. He strongly urged the inexpediency of continuing the ar tificial attempt to ray debts without a surplus revenue, which was a revival of the old principle of the Sink ing Fund ; it was in his opinion highly fallacious and erroneous, and ought not to be kept in operation at least until the Exchequer Bonds had been paid off. Would the house, he asked, raise a loan to discharge engagements to pay off debts for which we had no means ? Would not this he a clumsy mode of squaring accounts? The raising of money to pay debts would only plunge us deeper into debt. fhen, was the house prepared to discharge the engagement by additional taxation ? It would be a perplexing question how to raise 3,500,0001. by taxation. He recommended the house to terminate the special Sinking Fund system either by repealing the act, which he considered to be false in principle and in jurious in practice, or to resolve to suspend its opera tion until the Exchequer Bonds were provided for, which would relieve the finances of 1,500,0001. a year. With regard to the Exchequer Bonds, he might propose to fund them ; but that course, he con sidered, would be unjustifiable, and contradictory to the conditions which the Government and Parlia ment had entered into when they were issued. If they were to be met, however, it must be by a new tax. At all events, the spirit of the engagement should be fulfilled ; hut they should be met out of the revenues of the country, and there should not be a permanent addition to the debt. He felt it to be his duty to place the finances in a position that would be advantageous to the country, and he recommended to the house to postpone for some years the payment of the Exchequer Bonds— an arrangement that would secure their discharge out of the revenues of the country. With respect to that portion of the deficiency caused by the falling off of the revenue, that had been occasioned by the cessation of a tax of a very Property and hcome Tai. . . The importance of that tax was not to be measured, he said, by its amount, but by the mode in which it was assessed, the manner in which it was levied, and the social principles involved in its collection. This impost, unjust and inquisitorial as it was regarded, could not be made a permanent feature of our &cal sys•em. But, although this was his opinion, and, believing that the agreement of 1853 should, in spirit, it' not in letter, be carried into effect, it was possible that the country, however anxious to obtain this result, might not be unprepared to bear this year the burden it had borne so well the last ; although a deficiency arising from the cessation of taxation must be supplied by taxation, and the deficiency would be converted into a surplus if the committee should con tinue the income tax for another year at the same rate as that of last year, it was, nevertheless, the deliberate opinion of her Majesty's Minsters that the deficiency of the revenue ought not to be supplied by an increase of this tax. But, if its fall was not to be disturbed, the house must feel that it was absolutely necessary to support the revenue by the imposition of new taxes. It might be said that the expenditure could be reduced; but this process could not be ac complished in haste ; it required time and investiga tion. Although it would be possible to earn a mo mentary popularity by retrenchments, unless they were the result of thought and management they would only lead to a fatal reaction of expenditure. In discharging the unpleasant office of selecting a new tax, he was consoled, he said, in reflecting that every one would feel a relief in the fall in the rate of the income tax, and the mode in which he would attempt to supply the remaining portion of the de ficiency was by a proposition which be considered reasonable and wise—namely, to equalize the duties on spirits, which, he calculated, would give to the Exchequer 500,0001. a year, thus putting an end to the deficit. But he thought provision should be made to secure a surplus, and as no form of taxation was more popular or less annoying than stamps, ho proposed that when a cheque was drawn there should be a stamp ; and this tax, he estimated, would pro duce 300,0001. Mr. Disraeli, in conclusion, ob served : Considering the position of the Exchequer at this mo ment, lam not prepared to ask the committee to impose au) other taxes. I would ask them, however, to permit me for a moment to remind them of what may be the position of this country in the year following the present, for, although we hear many taunts about "prospective finance," I think that any person in the office which I now have the honour to occupy would be greatly wanting in duty if he brought forward any proposition without having exercised some foresight in regard to it, and weighed in some man ner its influence upon our future prospects. Now let us see, if the arrangements which I have proposed are agreed to by the committee, what will be our prospects in the year following this. You will have again a loss on the income tax, as compared with your present revenue, of 1,000,0001.; and assuming that all things remain the same, and that your revenue and expenditure are exactly what they are now, you will have a loss in 1859.60 of 1,000,0001. in your income tax, while 2,000,0001. of Exchequer Bonds will become due. You will have this 3,000,0001. reduced by the amount of surplus which I may obtain this year ; but say that you have to meet 3,000,0001. of deficit. Now, I put it to the committee—is that a prospect which ought to alarm us? Can we entertain a doubt but that with fair commercial prosperity, with a fair revival of trade in this country, the resources of our revenue, aided by well considered and wise retrenchments, will be sufficient under these circumstances to meet our engagements, to pay these bonds, and to encounter that diminution of income? ( Hear, hear.) Well, if you do that—and I feel confident that you will be able should no disaster against which human prevision is unavailing overtake the country—in what position shall we stand in that famous 1860 which has been the pivot of modern finance ? There are certainly 2,000,0001. of bonds due in that year ; but you will have annuities to the amount of something like 2,150,0001. per annum expiring at a time when I hope and believe you will possess a large, a bounding surplus of revenue; and you will he able, if not to the letter, at least in spirit, to accomplish the plan of the right bon. gentleman. It is for that reason, in order that we may act fairly, candidly, and sincerely towards the country on this question, in order that the wise arrangements of the right bon. gentle. man may be assented to, and that that great p olicy—for a great policy with regard to the income tax I believe it to be—should he accomplished, that I shall propose not to encumber 1860 or 1861 with the blonds which at present we cannot meet, but I shall propose that in 1862 and 1863 1,000,0001. should be apportioned to each year. ( Hear.) When that is done I have no doubt the polioy of 1853 will be carried into effect. ( Rear, hear.) I now submit these propositions to the candid consideration of the committee. When they recollect the expectations of the country as to the revenue, and the fact that at the end of last year, and indeed so late as the period at which I assumed office, the estimated deficiency was not less than 8,000,0001., 1 hope they will not be dissatisfied with the information that by the rallying of the revenue daring the last quarter, and by judicious retrenchment, the immense deficit that so long brooded over the spirit and depressed the energy of the country has been dissipated, notwithstanding the reduction of an impost most odious to the people, in a manner which guarantees an entire accomplishment of the policy of the right hon. gentleman the member for the University of Oxford. Tine result will, 1 think, be satisfactory to the country as well as to the committee; and I trust that these propositions will not only receive the candid consideration of the committee, hut obtain, after due thought and dis• cussion, the cordial acceptance of the country. (Loud cheers, in the midst of which the tight hon, gentleman re sumed his seat.) A brief conversation then ensued. The increase of the spirit duties was generally approved (except by Irish members); the postponement of the pay - ment of the Exchequer Bonds was objected to by some members as in reality a re-borrowing of money upon these bonds, and it was predicted that consider. able resistance would be offered to the stamp upon cheques. Mr. GLADSTONE urged a reduction of the expenditure; Mr. CARDWELL recommended a con tinuance of the 2d. in the pound income tax; while Lord JOHN RUSSELL lamented that the payment of the debt incurred in the late war should be practi cally repudiated. The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER replied to the objections made to his Budget, and insisted upon the accurate, though temperate and cautious princi ples upon which his estimates of the revenue for the current year were founded. The resolutions were then agreed to and ordered to be reported. RECALL OF LORD HOWDEN. On the order for going into a Committee of Supply, Sir DE LACY EVANS drew attention to the recall of Lord Howden from the office of British Minister at Madrid. He thought it of much importance that the policy wa bad pursued with regard to Spain should not be retrogressive, and, as no cause had been assigned for the removal of Lord Howden, which had caused much regret throughout that country, he hoped the Government would be able to say that the change had not originated in a foreign Court. Mr. S. FITZGERALD said there was not the slightest justification for any of the insinuations of Sir De Lacy Evans, which were most unprecedented, and if the course were to be followed the example would b 3 most dangerous. The removal of Lord Howden did not imply, and was not intended to imply, cep- I