The Press. — London, England, 1857-02-21 00:00:00

170 As a people we are peculiarly jealous of public credit. We know that it is wealth, and character, and power, and we consent to make any sacrifices rather than suffer our good faith to be impeached. The Compact made in 1853 might have been impolitic. It was to some extent unusual. Financial provisions extending over any con siderable period of time must be liable to dis turbing influences from unforeseen events, and hence they ought to be sanctioned with great reserve. But once sanctioned, every possible effort should be made to keep them. There is no reason why faith should not be kept with taxpayers as well as with creditors— with the whole body of the nation as well as with a class of it. If, in this instance, it is held that the two years' Russian war, besides the increased taxation imposed for the last three years, and besides adding forty millions to the National Debt, has entailed such in creased expenditure as to render compliance with the Compact of 1853 impossible, then it would be the duty of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER to fairly state the fact, and to sub mit a bonii•fido scheme of taxation and expenditure fur the consideration of the Legislature. Lord PALMERSTON'S Chancellor of the Ex chequer takes neither course. He, indeed, pretends to respect the Settlement of 1853, but he submits a scheme of expenditure totally inconsistent with it. His Budget is essentially dishonest. It seeks, like the fraudulent accounts of failing speculators, to " make things pleasant " for the present by accumulating enormous difficulties for the future. Let us see how the facts stand. For the service of the ensuing year, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER will re ceive the produce of one half-year's income tax of 18d. in the pound. This will yield 4,500,0001. more than the uniform rate of 7d. That is to say, for the service of the year 1857-8, the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER reckons to receive from the income tax 11,500,0001., equivalent ton rate of lltd. in the pound, instead of 7,000,0001, equivalent to a rate of 7d. in the pound. For the two following years, 1858-9 and 1959.60, he proposes the rate shall be 7d., and there will therefore be received in each year from income tax a less sum by 4,500,0001. than in the year now ensuing. He further pro poses reductions in the duties on tea and sugar, which will reduce the revenue by an amount of 500,000/. more. The total decline, as com pared with the ensuing year, will be, therefore, 6,000,000/. On the other side of the account the CHAN CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER shows that the liabi lities to be met in the year 1858 9 and 1859-60 will be 1,250,0001. more than in the year 1857-8, as the sinking fund for loans raised during the late war will only then come into full operation. It is incontestable, therefore, by his own statement, that while the revenue for 1858.9, and for 1859-60, will be five millions less than for 1857-8, the charge on the revenue will be 1,250,0001. more. How is it possible that this deficit of 6,250,0001. can be met? It must be met by a considerable reduction of expenditure, or by a large augmentation of taxation. If by the former mode, why is the work of reduction delayed? if by the latter, why is the truth attempted to be concealed from the public? The whole financial statement of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER proceeded on the supposition that the increase of expen diture he announced would be permanent. Thus, in the civil estimates, the charges for county courts, for constabulary, for the com mencement of new Government offices, and for other items of a like character, cannot cease with the ensuing year. In the military and naval estimates, the items of increase are not less distinctly of a permanent nature; two new corps are to be maintained,—a hospital train and a land transport service. It would mani festly be absurd to maintain these services for a year, and then to drop them. The increase in the naval estitgates is partly accounted for by the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, on the ground that steamships are more expensive than sailing ships. But aro we to abandon our *team navy in Cyan from the present dsto? THE PRESS. The House of Commons owes it as a solemn duty to the public and to its own character, to take care that it is nut entrapped into a sanction of establishments which it does not desire to see permanently maintained. It ought to deal fairly with the country. Com posed as it is of shrewd, practical, experienced men, very conversant with business, and accustomed to check accounts, and balance ledgers, it must know that the increased ex penditure proposed by the Government cannot be met in future years without increased taxation. It is an insult to common sense to say that the financial scheme of the Government is intended for the ensuing year alone, and that the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER has done enough when he has shown that the revenue on which he calculates will defray the pro posed expenditure. He has deprived himself of that plea by the arrangements which he pro poses for future years, and particularly by proposing to limit the income tax to a lower rate than that which he will himself receive fin• the present year. If his scheme of expen diture be honest, if he believes it necessary for the service of the country, he should, to meet that expenditure, propose an income tax of Is. in the pound, at least, for the next three years. In what a humiliating position will the Legislature be placed should it sanction estab lishments which it will be impossible for the scale of taxation it fixes to defray ! If this financial scheme is affirmed, the inevitable result will be future embarrassment. The vote which sanctions it will be a vote to cause deficiency in ensuing years. The House of Commons will, in respect of foresight and principle, place itself on a par with those swindling companies which mislead the public by promising advantages they know can never be realised. We think it impossible that the House can lend itself to a proceeding so dainnatory of its character, and so surd of ultimate detection and punishment. The country is not entitled to expect impossibilities at the hands of its representatives, but it is entitled to expect from them fair dealing. It has a right to know what the general features of its financial con dition are likely to be in future. It throws discredit on our representative system to make promises to the people from year to year of remissions of taxation which it is never intended to fulfil. What scorn and contempt do members cast on their constituents when they act on the principle that they are not to be trusted with the facts of their financial state! If it is necessary that after the episode of the two years' war our permanent expendi ture shall be increased by six or seven or eight millions, let the truth be plainly told. The Government may be assured that by such a course it would stand infinitely higher in public estimation than by attempting to gain a sanction to such expenditure by false pre• tenees. The House has to vindicate its cha racter, as an assembly of honourable and clear sighted men, from the insult thrown on it by this delusive financial scheme. MILITARY AND NAVAL ESTABLISH MENTS. IN connection with the Budget is a question requiring from the Legislature the fullest and calmest consideration. It is whether, in con sequence of the late war, any considerable addition shall be made to our naval and mili tary establishments. Lord PALNIERSTON has placed the affirmative of this question in the most favourable light when he said that he proposed to " utilise the experience gained " during the war." The whole subject must be discussed in the debate now proceeding in the House of Commons, as it lies at the root of a scheme of national finance; but we hope that so grave a matter may be viewed and treated free from the indignation which the illusory financial proposals of the Government are sure to excite. On the general principle that this country must maintain armed services of sufficient SATURDAY, strength to guard it from any sudden attack, and to form a nucleus capable of prodigious expansion in time of war, there can be no dis pute among reasonable men. Recent events have occasioned such a change in public sen timent that the arguments of the old Peace party are not likely to be listened to with much favour. Wo regard it as settled that the country will decide on maintaining such armed establishments as shall secure it from the danger which would otherwise threaten it in the event of any sudden outbreak of hosti• litics. What the amount of those establish ments shall be is the point for consideration. It is not unimportant to recollect that, while for the twenty years previous to the Russian war our naval and military services were gradually increased, circumstances occurred which tended to lessen our necessity for any considerable standing army for domestic or for colonial use. The police force, which has been gradually extending since its first establishment, is now spreading over the whole country, and may be relied on to suppress any of those social disturb ances which, occasionally occurring in past times, required the presence of troops in different parts of the country. We may hope, besides, that the course of society tends to the eradication of that turbulent spirit which formerly made particular localities dangerous. When Ireland was the " great difficulty " of successive Governments, whether Whig or Tory, the presence of a considerable and efficient army was required to maintain the public peace. Thanks to the decline of " agitation," troops arc as little required for the preservation of order in Ireland as in any other part of the United Kingdom. The principle that our colonies shall be taught to mainly rely on themselves for a pro tective force has been so far acted on as to render fewer troops necessary in our colonial possessions than were formerly maintained there. These three changes place a much larger force at the disposal of the Executive for foreign service, or for any unexpected contin gency, than it could formerly command. In their effect they probably equal an addition to our army of 50,000 men. The extension of our Indian empire requires that a larger body of European troops should be permanently stationed there, but the expense of such addi tion is defrayed from the revenues of India, and the total effective strength of our army is thus increased without any addition to our military estimates. For our own part, we strongly doubt the expediency of any expensive addition to our armed services over the ordinary estab lishments previous to 1854. It is a mistake to speak cf such increase as necessary that war may not find us unprepared. Let war come when it may, it must find us unprepared. When war does come, a necessity is laid upon the nation to put forth all its resources. Its life is at stake ; it has to battle for existence ; and no effort can be too great, no sacrifice too costly, to enable it to emerge from the contest with honour and success. In peace, on the contrary, its armaments should be essentially defensive—they should be directed to secure the country from the possibility of being suddenly taken at a disadvantage, and not to the prospect of tluowing an invading army on a tbreign territory. Services that are not used for a number of years must inevitably fall into decay. To be vital they must be active. When maintained without that real practical employment which calls forth all their energies, and compels them to adopt late improvements and new fashions, they must degenerate. The pre• tence of being always ready for war is a delusion and a snare. The countries which act on that principle are found least prepared for war when the time for mortal and pro tracted strife arrives. A pugilist who was always in training would never be able to fight; the constitution cannot support the perpetual wear• and tear. And countries are much more debilitated than strengthened by the weight of immense armaments. We think it should be the policy of this country while maintaining an efficient force for all purposes of defence, and for the service of our extended empire, to engage the nations 1