The Press. — London, England, 1854-03-04 00:00:00

piovellct'r•47l. - • .. afo - 1)1P 4 -e y Me 6 No. 44.—V0r.. 11. Vrtes. LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 4, ISM. WHETHER the conduct of Count NESSELRODE has been fraudulent towards England, or the behaviour of Lord ABERDEEN has been false towards Russia, one thing is certain, that we are involved in war,—war which, notwith standing the flippant remarks that abound, we believe will be expensive and protracted. Next Monday will give the people of this country the first taste of the consequences of their present position. The extraordinary demands of fleets and armies are to be en countered by a Finance Minister whose pre vious monetary exploits have been as disas trous as a campaign. Mr. DISRAELI left a balance in the Exchequer at the beginning of .1853 of nearly nine millions sterling ; Mr. GLADSTONE'S balance, at the beginning of 1854, was only one half of that amount, the moiety having been employed by that ecclesi astical financier in a stockjobbing speculation, undertaken against the advice of the Governor of the Bank of England and all competent authorities, by which the public have lost two thirds of a million sterling. Mr., GLADSTONE chose to " bull " ten million Consols at 100, and closed his account at nearly ten per cent. decline,—a decline not mainly occasioned by war, or the fear of war, but by overtrading and a bad harvest, of both which contingencies he had fair notice, and which notice he treated with that cloistered superciliousness which distinguishes him. At this moment, we have reason to believe, there is not a million and a half sterling in the Exchequer. It is possible that before the close of the financial year (April 5) this sum may be doubled by the accruing revenue. That would supply the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER with the sum of three millions sterling to meet his April engagements. What are they? Six millions and a half sterling for dividends on the public debt ; two millions more to pay off South Sea annuities, the remains of his modest conver sion scheme ; and three millions, in addition, alrealy required for the extra supplies voted. Here is a deficiency, assuming that only a moiety of the last item is instantly required, of seven millions sterling, and how is it to be supplied by the wise statesman who persisted with an impending war in repealing the soap tax last year, and in violently precipitating the reduction of the tea duties, which his prede cessor, in a time of tranqu illity , had discreetly proposed gradually an safely to diminish ? What further demands upon our purses the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER will have to announce on the 6th inst. we shall soon know. Monday is the right day for bringing forward this Black Budget. When the Government of Lord DERRY cau tiously commenced the revision of our system of taxation, they combined the relief of the land from its undue pressure with a politic and popular redress of the grievances of the . i -4,10A.p40ftV4V,4' -.111:048144102411444-4'. i . L Xe d e/ ..--, ~. • f • t b ._,_.._. 411 t rf LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 4, trading community, with respect to the assess ment of the Income Tax. The votes of the Irish members, who paid no income tax, de prived the commercial and professional classes of this boon. But the Conservative party proved their sincerity by asserting in opposi tion the same policy they had recommended while in office ; and, if the House of Commons chose to ratify the scheme of Mr. GLADSTONE, who would recognise no difference is the liabi lity of property and income, the members of the Liberal party have only themselves to blame. They were avowedly induced to take a course so opposite to the interests of their constituents, because, by possibly displacing the Coalition Ministry, a promised and "large" measure of Parliamentary Reform would be endangered. They enjoy the unmitigated Income Tax, but where is the " large " measure of Parliamentary Reform ? If the position of the Ministry with respect to this question be the more contemptible, that of their supporters is certainly the more ridiculous. When Mr. GLADSTONE, in opposition, depre ciated the results to t he trading and. profes sional classes of the mitigation of the assess ment of their Income Tax proposed by Mr. Dls- RAELI, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer reminded the Opposition that the time might come when the Income Tax mightbe increased, and that then the degree of relief would be significantly sensible. Has that time arrived ? And what shall we hear on this subject on Monday from the Treasury bench ? The impending financial project will, in all proba bility; be peculiarly interesting to the salaried recipients of 1001. per annum, and especially to those Birmingham clerks with whom Mr. GLADSTONE, with his proverbial cacoethes, is so prone to correspond. What will the Irish members say to the Budget, who have already been so handsomely *arded--for their dis creet expulsion of the late Government from office ? At this moment of menaced aggravation of sufferings already too severe, one is naturally apt to inquire why these additional burdens are to be endured ? Why are we at war ? What is the cause, and what the object, of the struggle ? Will the Ministers inform us? Lord CLARENDON the other night made a bouncing speech, which contrasted with the in firm, perplexed, and abject tone of his previous addresses, and caused, therefore, some sen sation. The patrician benches yielded a frigid cheer; Lord ABERDEEN looked as if he were taken prisoner by a Cossack; the military clubs the next morning were in a state of martial stir. Lord CLARENDON denounced the Muscovite treaties, and said that, " as Europe " was at length aroused, there should be no " peace allowed which did not define the posi " tion of the two countries, putting a final bar " to the aggressions of Russia, and securing " Turkey her proper place in the great corn " munity of nations." " These be prase words ;" and yet on the very table before which the Minister uttered them lies the very despatch to her Majesty's Ambassador at Constanti nople in which Lord CLARENDON recorded his solemn and statesmanlike conviction that, " although Russia might be crippled in a war " with England and France, Turkey in the " contest must be irretrievably ruined." Are we to submit to fresh burdens in order to secure the irretrievable ruin of Turkey ? Then there is the Csaxesuoa of the Ex CHEQUER, who has the g racious Aloe to pro pose these burdens. He say many, and. - ? "- • +•41 1 .1.. n`A..; ' - 4.••••• • *".....' .., , ~ , ''445011411141=1 .o a • .t. .'• 7 Ld 1. :J - ~-; :1" r , ' " 1 i• - ... •', 41 - . • • V 1 i' • 1854. PRICE SIXPENCE. i very opposite, things, at different times, with .1 an unfaltering voice and countenance; yet it i would seem to require all the resources of the !, 1 order of Loyola for him to advance and r,, , recommend the imposition of fresh taxes, for the sake of maintaining " the integrity and " independence of Turkey." Why, he takes the same view of the integrity and independence of Turkey as Prince MENscluxors does. He says they are not the same things as the integrity and independence of France and England. He quibbled away the whole casus belli at Manchester; and it is generally under- stood that when requested by his colleagues to reply to Mr. COBDEN, in the recent debate i , I on foreign affairs, he declined, on the ground that in the main he really agreed with the member for the West Riding. Will Lord ABERDEEN, who first suggested the Greek-Church policy to the Emperor of RUSSIA, as an equivalent for conquest, which alarms people; who communicated his con- gratulations to the Times newspaper in May last, that the Menschikoff " ultimatum " was ac cepted • who, when the passage of the Pfuth occurred, wrote to a "foreign conspirator" • at Paris that it was only the ignorant and the a evil disposed who could look upon an entrance , into the Principalities as an act of invasion; : 1 who devised the Vienna note ; who subse- ) quently proposed the coercion of the Turks to the acceptance of a similar document ; will Lord ABERDEEN persuade the people of this country to endure fresh burdens, in order to • establish the system of peaceful aggression, and to accomplish " the policy of conni- vance"? And what are these fresh burdens to be? With the whole weight of our local taxation resting on real property, with a widely- extended Income Tax secured for seven years ; with a heavy Succession Tax, founded on prin- ciples equally impolitic and unjust, now coming into grievous operation, what hope is there, what hope should there be, of increas- ing the direct taxation of the United King- dom? Some years ago we were told that indirect taxation had reached its limit. Since then we ) have, perseveringly and too precipi- tately reduced its amount, but no one more wantonly and more unwisely, than Mr. aidD- STONE. What if Parliament were now to lir timate to him that the bounds of direct taxation have not only been attained, but I passed ? THE BURSTING OF THE REFORIit BUBBLE. MINISTERS have long since shown themselves incompetent to act with decision : their con- i em duct in last night's debate proves 'them equally unable to speak with frankness. Rarely in ' any assembly has so solemn a farce been wit - nessed as that in which Lord Jour; Russitu. 1 yesterday played a leading part. The Reform Bill was to be put off—a reason must be assigned—no absolute pledge could be given, i 1 but it seemed expedient to hold out hopes that the delay might be only temporary, partly lest I ) Radical supporters should be alienated—partly ) also in consideration of the speaker's recen i professions still fresh in parliaments. memory. All this Lord Jon; undertook to . do ; and all this he did, with the gravity and I % dignity of a Minister assigning real readOn4 I 4